Summary: Steve Rogers and Director Fury have a talk about Rebel Columbia.


fatherhood


"You know, I expected this kind of shit from Stark," Fury said, raising a single eyebrow.

His tone was casual, almost flippant, but Steve knew better than to take it at face value. Fury tossed the newspaper across the table towards him, saying, "But no. It's the Boy Scout of America that gets his face plastered in the tabloids."

Steve glanced down at the newspaper - The New York Post. At the top of the page, the headline read: CAPTAIN AMERICA: BABYDADDY OR DEADBEAT? Beneath that was a popular image of Captain America after the Battle of New York; next to that, an image of Rebel Columbia, face hidden by her goggles. There were arrows superimposed on both images, noting the blonde hair, tall stature, and even their jawlines, as if that was all the evidence the paparazzi needed to prove paternity.

It was almost funny, in a way. Steve had never taken these kind of papers very seriously, even back in the war. He had a hard time suppressing a smirk. "And you're telling me people actually believe this sort of stuff?"

"Enough of them do, and it's becoming a problem. And your problems are also my problems." Fury said. He leaned over, jabbed a finger on Steve's face printed on the paper. "You have no idea what this really means, do you?"

Steve wasn't an idiot. He just crossed his arms, jutted his chin at the paper. "She's another super soldier. Wouldn't be the first time someone tried to reinvent the serum." He paused, then thought to add with an edge of mocking: "Didn't SHIELD try to do that?"

"This isn't our handiwork," Fury replied flatly, looking a little peeved that Steve brought it up. SHIELD's multiple attempts at creating the next Captain America had all failed in wildly different but also consistently terrible fashions. It wasn't exactly a thing they wanted to be remembered for. "Trust me, I would know. But whoever created her - it's the real thing. We've seen what she can do, and apparently she knows it, too. I don't think the star and shield get-up is a coincidence."

"It can't be the real deal."

"Oh, it is," Fury nodded gravely. "It deflects bullets and takes no damage. Agent Thirteen even reported it blocking tankfire. That seems like the real deal to me. So, Rogers, anything you want to tell us?"

"What? About the girl?" Steve was a little stunned by the demanding tone in Fury's voice, like the Director had already decided Steve guilty. Still, he couldn't fathom why or how. "You're not seriously - I can't believe it. You actually think I'm the father."

"Not gonna lie, Rogers. This stuff doesn't just happen."

"Well, I'm not, okay?" Steve threw out his arms, standing up at the same time. He felt his ears flush with anger and resentment at being accused of this. And the embarrassment. Not just the fact that he might've been a...a father, but that he'd also hide it. "Is that good enough for you, or do you need a blood sample now?"

"Unfortunately," Fury turned his gaze to the window, clasping his hands behind his back as he observed the landscape of Washington D.C. It was a rather beautiful day to be wasted on this topic. "Columbia declined to offer any DNA samples, and what we gathered from scenes hasn't been enough to tell us what we want to know. It also doesn't help that you won't give us a sample, either."

"A fact not likely to change." Steve replied. He had made very sure to protect his privacy when he rejoined SHIELD the previous year. There were going to be no mistakes this time. He wasn't going to let anyone try to abuse the serum again.

"Be that as it may," Fury said, a little tense. "We still have to investigate. I trust you enough not to lie to me about this."

"Because I'm not."

"Are you sure?" Fury glanced at him over his shoulder.

Steve paused. "What do you mean?"

"Are you absolutely sure that there is no possibility that you could've ever fathered a child in the ninety-odd years you've been on this Earth?"

"What do you want me to say? That I dug myself out of the ice to have a kid and then went back until you guys found me later?" Steve shot back. He may be old, but his memory was as sharp as ever, and he'd be damned if he'd let something like this slip under the rug. The simple matter was this was completely illogical. Impossible, even.

"And have you ever met Rebel Columbia?"

"No."

"So until today, from the moment you woke up in last year the possibility of you having a child never occurred to you?"

"Should it have?" Steve demanded, glaring at Fury. He was getting particularly annoyed with all these questions, especially now that he was getting the feeling that Fury knew more than he was letting on. Which would be par for the course. "I don't even know her name! Do you?"

Fury opened his mouth, paused, then withdrew. He turned away from Steve, which was enough of an answer he needed. Tucking his arms behind his back, Fury walked to the window and gazed out over the DC skyline. "We're still working on building her file. But I think its safe to say that the resemblance? A little too uncanny if you ask me. How do you plan to deal with this?"

"Me?" Steve raised his eyebrows, at first defensive before understanding it was a serious, and honest question. "I don't know. Stark's given me a call, and I know I have to follow up on it… I want to see her. I do."

"Good," Fury nodded once, and only now began to look faintly pleased. "If she's anything like you, then I can already guess how much trouble she'll cause. Cut that off at the pass. See if you can get down to the bottom of this whole mystery. Paternity test or not, I gotta make sure there aren't any other super soldiers running around that I don't know about."


A/N: This was originally how I was going to open Bitter Protocol, a sort of Prologue like last time, but by the time I finished Rebel Columbia I had a better idea of how I wanted to start the sequel, so this scene got scrapped. It was also a bit too jarring, as we don't really return to Steve's POV for a while, and I was afraid this would make him too unsympathetic. Its ultimately not canon as I don't have the media jumping on the whole 'Captain America's a Baby-Daddy' thing going on, but I like to think that Steve and Fury had a similar conversation to this, before Steve sees Mia on his own.