Rewritten 2018

Make You Feel My Love ~Book II~

Disclaimer: I do not own The Winter Soldier movie! All rights go to Marvel. All I own is my own characters and their stories.

~Chapter 27~
Goodbye

Steve ripped the yellow police tape off of the front door of what used to be their apartment. Together they entered hand in hand. Without saying a single word, they both let their eyes scan the wreckage left after the incident with Fury nearly two weeks ago and, letting go of each other's hands, they started to pack together those things they wanted to keep.

Maria went into the bedroom almost immediately, while Steve stayed by the bookshelves, grabbing a few of his belongings there. She opened the closet, grabbing her suit and remaining daggers before placing them into a bag along with her boots. She still didn't have a lot of possessions and so, she closed the bag after that. However, there was still one thing left in the closet that belonged to her.

Her sword.

Her eyes glanced at the sword, a strange pang of pain hitting her in the chest when she looked at it. Slowly, she turned away from the sword and grabbed her bag.

"You're not bringing it?" asked Steve, startling Maria.

He stood in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe and watching her with curious eyes. As she shook her head, Steve furrowed his brow and walked up to her.

"Why?"

"It was a gift from Artur," she said, causing Steve to tense up slightly. "I want to forget him."

Steve nodded, relaxing again which Maria noticed. The pain in her chest disappeared at the thought of her having made the correct decision with that. Of course, it hurt her to do this. It hurt her to have to simply let him go even though he still held a place in her heart. But knowing that Steve was more than okay with that, made it seem easier. Artur had hurt her more than anyone else. And now that he was gone – dead – she needed to let him go completely in order for her to continue with her life; in order for her to move on from Hydra and SHIELD. She knew this and she was going to do it too.

"Good," he said, placing a hand on her cheek, a soft smile appearing on her lips. "You've got everything?"

"Yeah," replied Maria, nodding her head.

"Let's go. Fury's waiting for us at his funeral."

"That sounds so weird," chuckled Maria as she followed Steve into the living room.

Suddenly, Steve stopped, causing Maria to lift her eyebrows at him before she rounded him and looked him in the eyes. She couldn't quite read the expression on his face, though he quickly explained why he'd stopped as he said; "I'm gonna miss this place."

"It was a nice apartment," she agreed before frowning when she looked at the large hole in the wall from where Bucky had shot Fury.

"Not just that… But I'm gonna miss having a place to stay at," he said. "A home."

"We're gonna find something new," assured Maria, placing a hand on his arm. "Something better. Maybe we can search for a place in Brooklyn where you grew up."

"It's gonna look a lot more different than it did back then," said Steve with a sad chuckle before he locked eyes with her. "But I'd like that."

She smiled at that, squeezing his arms slightly where she was holding him. Softly, she leaned forwards onto her tip-toes, their lips slowly inching closer to each other's. Then, with a smirk on her lips, she dodged his lips and placed a soft kiss to his cheek. He chuckled, instead embracing her tightly around her waist. As she rested her chin on his shoulder, her gaze accidentally fell onto the bookshelves behind them. There, something caught her eye and, sarcastically, Maria gasped as she saw that Steve hadn't packed one of her favorite books. She swatted his arm playfully before walking over to the bookshelf, grabbing the book quickly and turning to look at him.

"You cannot leave this here," she said, showing him the book. "You can't just leave one of Tolkien's best work-"

"Maria." The expression on Steve's face was far from amused and Maria quickly shook her head.

"Of course, that's just my opinion-"

Steve pushed past her and grabbed something from the bookshelf right where she had grabbed The Hobbit. Much to Maria's surprise, it was a small camera. Most likely, it had been hidden behind the books.

"The intruder… Remember? When I said I'd heard someone walk around?" realized Maria, grabbing the camera from him and taking a better look at it. "They must've planted these here… And I walked around in just a towel!"

"That's why Fury didn't trust anything…" said Steve quietly.

"That's why he wrote everything down on his phone," added Maria, understanding what Steve meant. "Eyes everywhere…"

She simply watched as Steve took the small camera from her again before crushing it with his bare hand, a stern look on his face.

"They took our privacy; our home." Letting what was left of the camera fall to the floor, Steve grabbed her hand. "Never again. Come on, let's leave this place." Suddenly not bothered by leaving their apartment, Steve all but dragged Maria out of the flat, the soldier only slowing down once Maria had gently placed a hand on his arm, giving him a soothing look.

"They're gone, they can't do that to us again."

"Thank God," sighed Steve, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

The ceremony for Nick's funeral was beautiful. Flowers were placed everywhere and (former) SHIELD agents all held talks about how great Fury was. As far as Maria knew, only a few of those agents knew Fury was still alive, so they all had to keep up pretense that they indeed were sad.

Stark, Banner and Barton came as well to pay their respects. Clint knew about Fury still being alive, but as far as Maria knew, Bruce and Tony were being kept in the dark. She felt bad about that, but figured that Fury had his reasons and she wasn't going to go against him.

However, it was difficult not to say something when Tony and Bruce both looked rather upset as they approached the empty coffin to say a few last words. Steve had to hold her back from explaining everything to them, placing an arm around her waist to stop her approaching them.

"I'm sorry, Dalton," said Tony after the ceremony, the billionaire approaching her and Steve. "I know he meant a great deal to you."

Racking her brain for something to say that would not screw everything up, she just put on a fake smile, "He was the reason for why I am who I am today, yes. But, frankly, if you hadn't been stalking me Fury wouldn't have found out either."

"You say that," sighed Tony with a shake of his head, "but the files that have been released say something else."

"We've been actively avoiding them," explained Steve as he noticed Maria squirm at the mention of those files.

"Turns out SHIELD knew all along that you were out there acting as a fake Batman to Hell's Kitchen with little Red Robin by your side."

"Daredevil," corrected Maria, earning a shrug from Tony.

"He knew. All along. Sonofabitch just wanted you to be introduced to them by someone you trusted." Maria glanced at Tony who seemed a little angry, or rather annoyed.

"That means I trust you, Stark. That's a compliment," said Maria quietly.

"Whatever." Tony sighed, putting on his sunglasses as he turned towards the doors. "Take care, Dalton. Rogers."

"Stark," greeted Steve.

.

.

.

"So, you've experienced this sort of thing before," said Fury as he approached the three heroes; Steve, Sam and Maria.

"You get used to it," shrugged Steve, the three of them looking down at the grave stone with Fury's name on it, placed over an empty, buried coffin.

Maria grabbed Steve's hand as he said that, leaning into him slightly.

"We've been data mining Hydra's files. Looks like a lot of rats didn't go down with the ship," said Fury, looking over at the three heroes.

He was standing before them, still watching his own tombstone, with sunglasses on and a hoodie over his head. Since Fury was supposed to be dead, he couldn't really be seen wandering about the streets with his eyepatch on. It was his signature look and he'd be found out easy with it on.

"I'm headed to Europe tonight," said Fury. "Wanted to ask if you'd come."

He was looking at Steve and Maria's heartbeat quickened. She didn't want Steve to leave. Not now that every piece of information about her was out there and she knew she'd get some kind of negative response from society. She needed him more now than ever.

"There's something I gotta do first," said Steve, relief flooding through Maria.

"How about you, Wilson? Could use a man with your ability," said Fury, turning his gaze to Sam.

"I'm more of a soldier than a spy," responded Sam, though not after having looked at Steve and Maria first. Clearly he didn't want to go anywhere without Steve or Maria yet.

"And you, Dalton?" asked Fury, turning his gaze over at Maria.

"I think… I'll stay," said Maria, squeezing Steve's hand.

"Anywhere he goes, aye?" said Fury, causing a blush to appear on Maria's cheeks before she nodded. "I've got something for you. Martin asked me to give it to you before we parted."

Fury quickly unzipped his jacket before retrieving a brown folder that had been resting there. He handed it over to her and she took it from him, offering him a smile as a thanks. The folder read: "Hydrus Acidulus" and she immediately knew what it was about.

"Is Martin going to be okay?" she asked quickly.

Fury smiled, nodding his head. "He's got some trials ahead of him. But as far as I know he's… found a team of his own." Fury seemed content with that reply, even if it confused Maria. "And, if I were you, I'd take a look at some of those files we've obtained from Hydra. Some of them might hold some answers."

"I-" Maria immediately tried to find a good excuse not to, but Fury cut her off.

"Sometimes we have to go through painful trials to find out the truth." He gestured towards his missing eye, but explained this no further. "The pain is worth it."

"What do you mean by that?" she asked, though she only got a pointed look from him, telling her to find out on her own.

"Alright then," he said instead, shaking Sam's hand before going over to shake Steve's. "If anybody asks for me, tell them they can find me right here."

As Fury shook Maria's hand, she nodded her head, agreeing on what he was telling them. Of course, after everything that had happened, he wanted to stay under the radar for a while. Or maybe even the rest of his life. Especially if he was serious about wanting to find those Hydra agents that had managed to slip away. With a last nod of his head, Fury turned to leave.

"You should be honored," said Natasha's voice from behind the three of them, making them turn around to see her walking up to them. "That's about as close as he gets to saying 'thank you'."

"Not going with him?" asked Steve, he and Maria walking towards her to meet her halfway, while Sam stayed behind to give them some time.

"No," she replied, keeping her hands behind her back.

"Not staying here," concluded Steve by the way she looked at them.

"Nah…" she shrugged. "I blew all my covers, I gotta go figure out a new one."

"That could take some time," replied Maria.

"I'm counting on it," she replied simply before looking over at Steve. "That thing you asked for; called in a few favors from Kiev."

As she removed her hands from behind her back, she revealed a brown folder; reminding Maria of the one she was holding in her hands at the moment. Steve took it from her gently, looking at it as though it was going to haunt him the rest of his life. As Maria looked down at it, she still didn't understand what it was as the name of the folder was in a foreign language she didn't speak. Though Maria doubted Steve understood what her file was about either since she hadn't told him much about the purple bullets yet.

With a glance over at Maria, Natasha lifted herself up onto her tip-toes before she kissed Steve's cheek ever so softly. Maria only rolled her eyes, lifting an eyebrow at Natasha as she looked over at Maria with a smirk.

"Don't think you're getting away easily," she said simply before doing the exact same thing with Maria, her lips pressing a soft kiss to Maria's cheek.

"You know, I'm going to miss you," said Maria, earning a smirk from Natasha. For the first time in her life since her grandmother's and her mother's passing, she was telling the truth; for the first time she was actually going to miss another woman in her life. She saw that as some extreme development. The genuine gratitude and happiness in Natasha's eyes at hearing those sincere words come from Maria made Maria smile.

"We'll see each other again," said Natasha. "When the next mission starts."

And with that, the assassin turned around and walked away, swaying her hips a little extra to which Maria only smiled as she shook her head.

Sam walked over to them, standing next to Maria with his hands tucked down into his pockets.

"You know," said Maria, turning her head to look up at Steve. "It's unhealthy in a relationship to keep secrets from each other."

Steve chuckled, looking at her with an amused smile on his face. "You show me yours and I'll show you mine."

The two of them exchanged folders and as Maria opened Steve's her heart warmed slightly at the same time as it fell. The folder was all about Bucky and what had happened to him after the world war; everything that Hydra had on him. It was sweet of him to want to go after Bucky, but at the same time, Maria couldn't deny the fact that she simply wanted some alone time with Steve in which they just stayed in one place for a while and bonded. Though such thoughts were wishful thinking. They had abilities and they were using them to do good in the world. It was nearly selfish to want to hide away from the world and just be a normal couple for a while.

"You're gonna try and find him," concluded Sam as he looked over Maria's shoulder, earning a nod from Steve as he scanned the file he was looking through with eager eyes. "Mind if I tag along?"

Steve looked up and smirked, shaking his head; "Not at all."

Maria closed the folder, handing it back to Steve as he finished reading hers.

"You're not gonna like this," said Steve, looking directly into Maria's eyes. "But I think you should stay."

"What? No, I'm coming with you," said Maria, shaking her head. "I'm not leaving your side."

"You won't be," said Steve, offering her a smile which she didn't mirror. "We're still a team. Just… Not working together at the moment. If I need your help, I'll tell you."

"But you won't."

"Maria-"

"No, I want to know the actual reason behind this," she said, getting a little upset which she tried to hold inside of her.

Steve nodded his head, exchanging a look with Sam. "I got this a few minutes ago and I think it's best if you stay so that you can figure this all out." He gestured towards the folder in her hands before he grabbed his phone from his pocket, unlocking it and showing it to her.

It was a text message which he had gotten. She read it twice.

"Maybe… But you have to promise me that you'll truly call and that you're not going to be away for too long," said Maria, pointing a finger at him.

He raised his hands, nodding and smiling down at her. "I promise."

"You find him," said Maria, looking at both Sam and Steve now. "You find him and bring him home."

Maria gave Sam a hug which he gladly accepted, holding her close to him.

"Take care of him," she whispered into his ear before letting go of him. With a single nod of his head, he turned around and started to walk away, letting the two of them say goodbye in private.

"Be careful," she said, placing her arms around his neck and leaning in close to him as he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"I always am," he replied before placing a kiss against her lips. "Keep me posted."

"Yes, captain," she replied before placing another kiss to his lips.

The last kiss lasted longer than the first one. It was a longing one that neither of them really wanted to end. Maria still didn't quite understand why she wasn't allowed to join him with his search. After all, Sam was allowed to join. Though she didn't question it. She knew he loved her and she respected his decision. After all, he had been right when he had said that there were a couple of things she needed to check up on herself.

Tears filled her eyes as their lips parted and she bit her bottom lip, looking down at Steve's chest as she fought against the tears. Softly, Steve placed a thumb underneath of her chin, trying his best to lift her face up, but she fought against him.

"Let me see your beautiful face one more time…" She lifted her head up, leaning against his touch. He wiped some tears away. "It's okay," he said, offering her a soft smile. "We'll see each other again soon."

All she could do was nod and smile back at him. A part of her knew it was true. After all, if there was no actual lead, which Maria had seen that there wasn't, he couldn't stay out there hunting and searching for his friend consistently without getting anywhere. Then again, Steve was a very persistent man.

He turned away from her to catch up with Sam. Maria hugged the folder close to her heart, staying in the shadow of a large oak tree which stood a few inches away from Fury's gravestone, casting a large shadow over her and most of the graves near her – until Steve and Sam were out of her sight. A sigh escaped her lips as she realized she was now standing alone.

At least for now.

She turned around, starting to walk the opposite way Steve and Sam had walked. It was not towards the exit, but towards the part of the graveyard that was older. As she walked, all she really could think about was the text message Steve had showed her:

Can't reach Maria. Tell her to call me ASAP. Very important.
It's about her powers.

- Stark

Having plucked a small flower from a bouquet of roses placed beside a gravestone dedicated to a; "Wonderful wife, mother and grandmother", Maria stopped by the outskirts of the graveyard. Her eyes scanned the small row of tiny gravestones, all dedicated to different people she was related to though that she never got to meet. Perhaps if she had been a part of a normal family for longer than just a few years she would, at some point, have been invited to weddings or dinners… but as faith had it, she never was.

All of them were called Miller, Maria's mother's maiden name. Her fingers played with the rose in her hands nervously and she found herself looking around many times, as though she feared the person was not dead and would reappear to scold her once more. The grave she stood before hadn't been checked on for quite some time. In fact, Maria had been surprised it was still there. After all, she never got a bill to pay for any gravestone.

She kneeled down in front of the stone, strongly aware of how her mother was but a few feet below her now. The grass stained her jeans almost immediately, but she didn't care. She placed the folder down on the ground before gently placing the stolen rose on the dirt before the stone. Before retrieving her hand, she let her fingers brush against her mother's name, her fingers nearly shaking at being so close to her again.

It was frightening, in many ways, to be there. Not only because she had barely even attended the funeral, only appearing at the ceremony but not staying to watch her mother's corpse getting buried in the dirt forever, but also because it made old memories come back to her. Old memories of pain, fear and unhappiness.

"Sorry about the flower…" said Maria, retrieving her hand at last. "It just felt weird to come empty-handed…"

Maria's mother hated roses. Exactly why, Maria never really understood nor had she dared to ask.

"I just wanted to…" She inhaled loudly, looking up at the bare sky above her, narrowing her eyes slightly as the sun shone down on her. "I don't know why I came. I mean, I never liked you. I think I have a vague memory from when I was a baby where you were actually kind to me… but that might just be my mind trying to make me feel less angry."

She lowered her gaze towards the gravestone again, tears now threatening to spill over.

"I never said goodbye," continued Maria. "But I just want you to know, that I don't mind. I don't mind that you're in there, dead and rotting. I don't mind that you freaked out over dad leaving. Because look where it got me! I've got friends! People who love me…" Tears were now falling down her cheeks rapidly. "That's more than you ever had… That's more than you ever thought I could achieve… I hope you're down there. Burning and rotting for what you did to me."

Furiously, Maria wiped away the tears from her cheeks, forcing herself to stop crying and man up. Her mother wasn't worth the tears. Taking in a deep breath, she calmed her beating heart down before grabbing the folder again, standing up.

"I've got a female friend now. I'm over you." With one last look at her mother's grave, she turned away, determined to place that part of her life behind her.

And Maria was quite sure that her mother would never come back to haunt her again. She was even sure that she would never have to tell Steve more in detail what really happened, or anyone else for that matter. It was a part of her life she would never have to convey to anyone as not even SHIELD's files had that information about her. She could let it be forgotten, forever. She could move on now.

How wrong she had been then and there to think so.

Walking away, she smiled at her actions, pausing briefly to smile at her grandmother's grave. She, in that moment, was sure that the only thing she had left to worry about was society's reaction to her past.

She was so sure.

As she walked away, she reminded herself to keep her head held high throughout the upcoming ordeals. Because if she did not, she could not prove to society that anyone could be a hero.

And was that not what Maria resembled; the strength to be a hero no matter where you come from?

At the very least, it was what she wanted to convey to people. Because that was what she was trying to convey to herself.