In the Still of the Night

A/N: And here is yet another chapter. Nothing too exciting happens in this chapter, but I promise that next chapter will be interesting...see the author's note at the very end. ;)

Also, two things: someone wrote a review for the last chapter saying that Cap's identity is common knowledge, which I know, and you all know, but for the purpose of this story I decided to not make it common knowledge. As I said in the author's note in chapter one, not everything will be 100% canon so just go with it. But thanks to the reviewer who brought that to my attention.

The second thing is another reviewer was asking about how Natasha knows that Coulson was still alive. Thanks for bringing this up because I honestly never even thought about it (binge-watching Agents of SHIELD in two weeks made me forget that Coulson being alive isn't common knowledge haha), but in my mind I established that once Coulson was made Director of SHIELD he had to come forward and say he wasn't dead. It would be hard to run SHIELD as a Director who everyone thought was dead, so all SHIELD agents know he's alive now (including Natasha, Steve, and the rest of the Avengers as well).

And now, onto the chapter! Read & review, as always! :)

-PenPaperParadise

Chapter Nine: Spying is Trying

Vera was stuck at the museum yet again, and the only thing that kept her going happily was the fact that she knew that she and Steve were going out that night. The two of them had been going out for only a few months but she already felt happier than she had in a long time. She was surprised about that, actually; Vera thought she would never be happy again...not after Joey.

Every time she thought about Joey, she felt like the hole in her heart grew a little bigger and emptier. It had happened so long ago but it did not hurt any less than the day she had found out...

Vera shook her head, clearing away the thoughts of her past. I can't think about that now, she tried convincing herself. It happened a long time ago, and it's over. I won't ever get him back, and I need to accept that. I have Steve now.

She smiled at that thought. Steve really was a great guy. He was so different than most guys she knew today – guys who were selfish and rude and had low standards. She and Steve had so much in common; she was surprised, actually, about how much he was into vintage things just as much as she was. And she was surprised at how willing he was to embrace Vera's different ways of thinking: her mom had raised her with ideals that were considered old-fashioned these days, ideals like expecting her man to be a gentleman and waiting to have sex until she knew he was the "right guy." Most guys she had dated in the past thought she was too much of a prude, but she stuck to her morals. And Steve put up with – no, not put up with, accepted these ideals and Vera was truly grateful for that.

Although...Vera did know that Steve was hiding something – or many things – from her. He was always rather mysterious about things like his work and his family and his past. She couldn't blame him, though; Vera herself hadn't told Steve everything about her life yet. So she figured she should just be patient and wait for both of them to be ready to talk about those things.

Her musings were interrupted by a knock on her door.

"Vera?" Michael opened the door slightly, glancing anxiously at her.

"What is it, Michael?" Vera asked. She leaned forward, excited. "Did you find out more about the file?"

Michael's eyes grew wide. Something's off with him, Vera thought. "Uh...no," he answered nervously, casting a sideways glance down the hallway outside her office door. "But, uh, there's someone here who needs to speak to you...She said she's from the government..."

Vera's heart nearly skipped a beat. The government? she thought, panicked. Oh God, if the government knows we've been poking around in the archives and found something to do with SHIELD and didn't report it...

"Oh...let her in," Vera said carefully.

Michael stepped aside and let in the government agent. She was a rather beautiful woman with short, straight red hair and a slim physique. She was wearing a smart pantsuit and Vera saw that there was an I.D. tag on her jacket with her name, Agent Natalie Rushman, on it, and underneath it was a government logo: the FBI. Oh Jesus.

"So, what is this file you said you're having a problem with?" the agent asked, stepping into Vera's office. Vera could almost sense a smirk underneath the woman's patient smile.

"Oh, that," Vera said, laughing a little and waving it off. "It's just a file with information on a new exhibit we're creating that an intern lost. Not really a problem." If the protected file was so important that the government wanted to get involved, Vera knew there was something fishy about it and she wanted to know more. So she decided to play innocent.

The woman said nothing to Vera's response, but her smile widened a little more.

"Please, sit down," Vera offered, indicating the chair across from her office. The agent obeyed. "Now, I don't mean to be frank," Vera continued politely, "but who are you and why does a government agent need to talk to me?"

"My name is Agent Rushman," she said without batting an eye. "And yes, I do work for the government. As an FBI agent. I'm here because it's come to my attention that something happened with the museum's security system."

"The security system?" Vera asked, continuing to play innocent.

"More specifically, the archive computers. Apparently there has been a breach in the archives that was deemed suspicious by our department and I'm here to investigate it."

"Really? Well, I don't see what that has to do with me. Maybe you should speak to the head of security."

"Given that this breach wasn't reported to authorities, I had a feeling that I should probably get some other people's information before going to security."

"Are you saying you don't trust our security team?"

Agent Rushman smiled a little, leaning back in her chair. "I'm saying I can't just go off of one person's account of what happened."

"So why come to me then? I'm just a curator."

"Based on the records we searched on the day of the breach, you used your keycard to get into the archive computer room that same night."

"And what night was this?"

The agent's smile subtly grew. "Saturday, June fourteenth at approximately ten o'clock P.M."

"I probably did use my key card that night," Vera said coolly, although on the inside her heart was beginning to race. If the FBI finds out I'm lying to them..."I go into the archives all the time to do research."

"That late at night?"

"Sometimes I do. My job often keeps me here late."

"And your intern? Michael, is it? Does he go with you on these frequent 'excursions' to the archives?"

"Sometimes," responded Vera. Oh no, what if she already interviewed Michael and he told her everything? Then she would know for sure I was lying... "I'm sure he was with me that night, he sometimes helps me find things on the computers. I confess I'm not that great with technology, so he helps me work the computers to find the information I need."

Agent Rushman just nodded slowly, looking cool and confident. Like she knew something Vera didn't. And that scared her.

"Well, Agent Rushman, I don't know how much help I can be to you. I didn't know about the computer breach until you just told me. I don't have any other information to give you."

"Spoken like someone who's hiding something," the agent responded, dropping all pretense.

Vera laughed. "I assure you, I'm not 'hiding something.' If I was, you'd know because everyone in the museum knows I'm a terrible liar."

The agent looked at her dead in the eyes. "That's something in intend to find out." She stood up and Vera followed suit. "Thank you for your cooperation."

Vera picked up on the agent's undertones of suspicion. The two of them shook hands. The agent's grip was strong. "It was my pleasure," Vera lied. "And if I hear of anything strange, I'll let your department know."

"I look forward to it."

The agent left without another word and Vera was sure that all-knowing smirk never left her face. Vera shut the door behind the agent, letting out a long breath. She knows, Vera told herself. She knows about the hacker. Why else would a government agent come here and talk about a possible security breach?

And yet...how did they find out about the security breach? It wasn't even picked up by the Smithsonian security, so why would it bring attention to the government? Unless...unless the FBI had already been monitoring the museum when they discovered the breach. But why would they monitor a museum? Sure, there were valuables within the museum that had the potential to be stolen, but why on earth would the FBI get involved in something like that? All these questions made Vera's head spin.

Why did I have to stumble upon that stupid file? she thought glumly. My life had been so much less complicated before that...

Oh well. At least I've got my date with Steve tonight...

Little did Vera know that as "Agent Rushman" left the museum that afternoon, she was planning on getting answers and getting those answers with or without Vera's help. It doesn't matter that you didn't tell me anything, thought Natasha. I'm going to break into the archives tonight anyway.

A/N: All I can say is, the next chapter will be when the sh*t hits the fan. Dun dun dun. ;)