I realized that I have forgotten the usual disclaimers. Just in case anyone wondered, I don't own the Avengers or any of the wonderful characters Marvel has created. I just like to play with them.

I hope you enjoy this chapter.

Thanks so much for the review on chapters 6 and 6.5 Reviews make me very happy.

Lupin fan 1, Shadowbeats22107, and Ella: I'm glad you enjoyed the bits with Natasha and Clint. I just felt that neither Natasha or Maria would have close female friends so I thought I'd see if a friendship between them would work. I think it does.

Hervissa: Thanks for reading. I'm glad you're enjoying. I'm trying to differintiate more between story and notes, but what posts doesn't always seem to come out like it was laid out. Hopefully I'll figure it out eventually.

The guest who said they enjoyed the background stuff: Hopefully you really do, because this one seems to have a lot of background.

All For Jesus, bookworn2345 and others who were kind enough to simply let me know you wanted more: Thank you. Hopefully, this will do.

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Risks Chapter 7

Maria ran a finger along one of the scars on Nick's chest. He watched her for a few minutes, simply enjoying the feel of her touch. Finally, he spoke.

"What's on your mind?"

She shrugged, not meeting his gaze. "Just thinking."

He waited patiently while she continued tracing patterns on his bare chest. After a few minutes, she continued.

"I know you have your sister and her two grandchildren."

When she paused again, he ran a caressing hand down her arm.

"Yes," he encouraged.

"And at least one ex-wife."

"Just the one," he hastened to assure her.

"An ex-wife," she repeated, seeming to relax a little. "I guess I was just wondering about any other branches on the Fury family tree."

He studied her. "You don't really want to hear my life story, do you?"

She shrugged casually and folded her hands on his chest, resting her chin on them. "Sure," she told him. "You've read my files and know all about my background, but I really don't much about where you come from."

He grunted and pulled her close.

"You asked for it." He thought for a few moments, deciding where to start. "First off, I'm actually the only branch on the Fury family tree. I changed my name when I got involved with my commando unit. We all did. Thought it would offer a little bit more protection to our families."

Maria nodded her understanding.

"I was born to Thomas and Olivia Davis in Hell's Kitchen, New York. My dad was..." he stopped, looking for just the right words. "I suppose he really wasn't cut out for family life. He would work for a while, sometimes a few months, then would quit or get fired over something. The next job wouldn't last quite as long, the next one even a shorter time, and so on until finally he'd just be hanging out with his buddies at the pool hall or the bar. Finally, mom would get fed up and tell him to get a job or get out. He'd suddenly hear about a great job opportunity in Detroit or Kansas City or Santa Fe or some other someplace and he'd head off to make his fortune and send for us later."

His hand continued gently stroking her hair as he went on.

"We'd get the occasional post card or collect phone call, then those would taper off. After a few months, he'd show up at the door, flat broke and ready to try again and the cycle would start all over again. I think I was about thirteen the last time he took off."

"You never heard from him again?" she asked.

"Nope," he said, his tone indicating that this subject was closed.

"And your mother?" she prompted.

"Mom," he answered, "was amazing. She was generally working two or three jobs, waiting tables, cleaning offices, throwing newspapers. Whatever it took to keep a roof over our heads, clothes on our backs, and food on the table. Ended up working herself into an early grave. Died in her sleep of a heart attack a few weeks after my younger sister graduated from high school."

He paused, feeling the pain of the loss again. Maria pressed a gentle kiss on his chest. "Sounds like you inherited her work ethic."

Nick smiled at her. "I suppose." He continued his story. "Ann was the oldest. With mom working so much, she ended up shouldering most of the responsibilities around the house. She made sure we ate and slept properly and got our homework and chores done. She and Carl started dating when she was in high school and got married shortly after she graduated. He moved in with us. They said that they couldn't find a decent place on his police salary, but I think they stayed there for us."

She nodded encouragement as he gathered his thoughts.

"Stephanie was born a few years later. She was their only child and they both doted on her. She loved them both, but there was no doubt in anyone's mind that she was very much a daddy's girl. She was absolutely devastated when he was killed in a car accident. That's when she hooked up with Carver and got started on drugs. Everyone tried to talk to her but she wouldn't listen to us. Carver moved from using to dealing. When the kids were born, Ann pretty much took care of them full time while Stephanie and her husband continued with their own lives. Then, Keisha almost died."

A concerned look crossed Maria's face. Though she didn't consider herself a 'kid person', Nick's great niece and nephew had touched her in an odd way that she wasn't ready to admit, even to herself.

"She was about two years old and she found his stash. She had broken a bag open and had stuff all over her, but hadn't ingested anything, fortunately. The whole incident finally scared some sense into both of them. They made up their minds to just walk away from it all, but good old Uncle Nick talked them into going to the authorities with what they knew, turn state's evidence against their supplier, scumbag by the name of Trudeaux. Unfortunately, he found out before the feds could get them moved. Came in with a couple of his people and took them out. Steph managed to get the kids hidden, but they saw everything."

"Poor kids," Maria muttered.

"When he realized that they had been there, he made it a personal mission to get rid of them, too. The feds went ahead and relocated them and Ann, since arrangements had already been made, but said that they wouldn't offer anything more since the kids were too young for their testimony to put him away. When Trudeaux popped up again, Ann called me and I took care of moving them myself."

"So why do you think it's your fault?" she asked him, recalling his comment to his sister that he was the reason they had to keep moving.

"Because I was the one who encouraged them to go to the authorities," he told her. "They were just going to walk away, leave him alone."

"Because it's a well known fact that drug dealers just let people do that all the time," she commented, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"He might have," Nick countered.

She looked at him, disbelief in her eyes. "Really?"

He chose to ignore her, continuing his family tale.

"My brother Robert is next. He felt that he had to step up and be the man of the house when dad was gone. Look out for the rest of us. Tried to teach me about how to be a man, even though he hadn't really had anyone to teach him."

He paused for a moment. "He's currently serving a live sentence at Riker's Island." He looked at her, watching for a reaction, but her carefully schooled features revealed nothing.

"After Robert was Victoria. She was smart, pretty, popular in school. She was a cheerleader and ran track. Then she met Vincent."

His dislike of the young man was evident.

"He told her that he loved her. He didn't want her spending time with her friends, because they were trying to turn her against him and because when she was with them, she wasn't there for him. He didn't want her involved in sports because the uniforms were too revealing and that meant that she was trying to seduce other men. Then he started isolating her from her family, too. He would tell her that we were jealous and didn't understand how much they loved each other and that he was afraid that we would convince her to leave him. She got pregnant and had a beautiful little boy. I think she hoped that would prove how devoted she was to him, but instead it just gave him someone else to beat on."

"When we did get to see her and Christopher, there were usually bruises in various stages of healing. She always had some tale about falling or running into something. Even if she did admit that Vincent had done it, it was still her fault. She hadn't had dinner ready on time or the baby had been crying too much, or she had smiled at the 90 year old guy next door. He only did it because he loved her so much."

He caught his breath, having to force the next words. "Finally, he loved them so much that he beat them both to death."

Maria's eyes filled with sympathy. Not knowing what to say, she reached up to gently stroke his face. "I'm so sorry, Nick."

He continued. "When the police told us what had happened, Robert took off, and I took off after him. I knew he was going after Vincent, but I'm not sure what I thought would happen when he found him."

She waited.

"Finally found him holed up with another girl. They fought, then Robert pulled a gun. I didn't even know he had it, or at least I tell myself I didn't. There was a struggle and the gun went off. Vincent was shot in the chest. Probably dead before he hit the ground. The police arrested us both on murder charges."

"But he had just killed two people," she protested.

"That's just it," he responded. "He hadn't been charged with anything. She had never called the police, so he didn't have any history of domestic violence. His father had political connections in the area so even the neighbors wouldn't say anything."

"But certainly a good lawyer"

"Would have cost more than we could afford," he interrupted. "His public defender tried, but he was young, inexperienced, and under pressure. And the DA offered a plea deal that Rob felt he couldn't pass up."

"Life in prison in exchange for what?" she asked.

"Me."

"You?"

He nodded. "If he took the deal, they wouldn't pursue charges against me. He figured mom had already lost enough without me going into the juvenile system as well. I don't know if it was his idea or theirs, but they also insisted on getting me involved in a mentoring program. Ethan was a special investigator with the DA's office. He took me under his wing, introduced me to Oscar, who had been his mentor. They spent time with me, got me into the gym, taught me how to box. Ethan was a former Army Ranger, Oscar a Navy Seal. They showed me a lot about being a man."

Maria smiled at him. "They did very well."

"Glad you think so," he said, smiling back at her.

"Are they still around?" she asked.

"Ethan passed away a few years back. Lung cancer. Oscar's your basic crotchety old man living in a retirement center upstate. I check in on him from time to time. I pretend to be put out having to go see him and he pretends to be annoyed to see me."

After a few moments of silence, she prodded. "Ann, Robert, Victoria, and Nicholas. You mentioned a younger sister?"

"Elizabeth," he confirmed. "She's the brains of the family. Always had her nose in a book and never forgot anything she read. Breezed right through school, got a full scholarship. College, medical school. Doing very well for herself. Partner in a successful medical practice, happily married, couple of kids in college."

"Sounds like you're pretty proud of her."

"Yeah, I suppose I am."

He smiled at her, reaching down to run his fingers through her hair. "But you're probably wondering about Caroline."

"You ex?"

"My ex-wife," he confirmed.

"We started dating in high school. She was a freshman, I was a junior. She was beautiful, vivacious and high spirited. People were drawn to her and she could have had her pick of boys, but for some reason, she focused on me."

"Understandable," Maria interjected.

"She knew that I planned to enlist as soon as I graduated, and she insisted she was okay with that. She would go ahead and go to college, get her degree, then, in a few years we'd both be settled in our careers and would get married." He considered for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure I believed it even then. She wasn't big on delayed gratification. She wanted what she wanted, when she wanted it. Well, about a week before graduation, she came to me and told me she was pregnant. She said that her granny said to tell me I'd better be at the church at noon on Saturday to do right by her."

"And you did?"

"Of course I did. You don't argue with granny."

She shrugged. "I wouldn't know about that."

"Anyway, she thought that with a baby on the way, I should drop my plan to enlist and go to work with her uncle at his law office. I told her I had already committed to the military, but she thought I should just go and tell them I had changed my mind."

"Just like that?"

"Yeah. She never did really understand how military life worked. She thought I should explain to my CO that I needed to stay there, work regular hours, be able to leave whenever she wanted me to..."

"Yeah. I'm sure that would have gone over really well," she said.

"Things were pretty tense between us. Honestly, I was almost relieved when she decided to stay in New York when I shipped out. Probably better anyway, since I moved around a lot with the special projects they kept assigning me to. Anyway, Kyle was born about 7 months after the wedding. I finally got to see him when he was about 2 months old. I tried to work things out, be home more often for his sake, but things just seemed to get worse and worse with Caroline. She'd get angry because I didn't grill her about every little thing she did while I was gone. She thought I should want to know who she had been spending time with, what she had been doing with them. In hindsight, maybe I should have been more curious."

"But you didn't want to be like Vincent," she commented.

He studied her for a moment. "I didn't want to be like Vincent," he acknowledged.

"Our daughter Veronica was born about 2 years later. The marriage officially lasted about 3 more years, but it was never really what it should have been. I suppose I should have put more effort into being a husband and father instead of focusing on being a soldier."

"Seems like I've heard that it takes two people to make a marriage work," she told him.

"Or not work, in our case," he replied. "I guess neither one of us was ready to make the sacrifices we needed to be together. But at least, she kept trying. She remarried about a month after our divorce was finalized. I think she's currently on husband number five. Unfortunately, it's the kids who have paid for our mistakes."

"I'm sure they've done fine."

"They have, but that probably has more to do with my Ann than it does with me. They spent a lot of time with her. I sent my child support checks, sent money to Ann to get them presents for their birthdays and Christmas, saw them when I could, but it still probably wasn't enough."

He shrugged. "Still try to keep in touch somewhat. Cards, letters, the occasional phone call. Of course, they're grown now. Ronnie is..." he paused, considering for a moment before smiling wryly at her, "About your age or a little older. Kyle is a couple of years older than that. He's a neurosurgeon, lives outside of Denver. Married to a lovely young woman named Amanda, 2 daughters. Ashlee is 10, Aubree is 6. He gets to New York a few times a year for conventions or consultations and we try to have dinner together when he's here. He doesn't seem to be angry with me or his mom. Ron teaches high school math in Sacramento. She and her husband Grant have a 9 year old son, Jake. I can't really tell how she feels about me, but at least she hasn't cut off contact with me like she has with Caroline."

Maria studied him silently. Finally, she spoke. "It's a good thing you have such broad shoulders with all that guilt you insist on carrying."

"If I want to be lectured about guilt, I'd have told all this to the base shrink," he told her with a mock glare.

"No lecture," she corrected, "just making an observation. In my last performance review, my boss mentioned that I was very observant. Besides, I certainly hope you don't get this relaxed with old Dr. Rehmer."

"No," he assured her, "his bushy gray eyebrows and the ear hair don't do it for me."

"Glad to hear it," she responded with a grin.

He rolled to his side to face her. "So, that's my story." He knew his next question could push her too far. "What's yours? Tell me about the Hill family tree."

She stiffened, then pushed away from him. Not meeting his eye, she shrugged. "You've read my personnel files. You know my background."

"I know basic facts, but I don't know the feelings," he answered gently.

Suddenly, she yawned hugely, covering her mouth as she glanced over at the clock. "Wow. Is that the time already? We should really get some sleep. Lots to do tomorrow," she commented as she turned her back to him and closed her eyes.

'Not bad,' he thought to himself. He'd half expected her to storm out on him for bringing up her past. He softly kissed the top of her head before curling around her.

"Good night," he whispered softly.

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Hope you liked. This turned out to be more character background stuff than I thought it would be. Sometimes, a story part goes in a direction of it's own and I think most of this is or will be important at some point. Please let me know what you thought. I really love the reviews. Now, I have to make a decision. I have the next 3 (and maybe a half) chapters roughly mapped out, but I need to figure out which order works best. Either would work, but...