I seriously wanted to make this just a double feature, but then more and more ideas showed up and now it will be more chapters long.
It plays in the same universe as the other Poppy-chapters.

Disclaimer: I still don't own Marvel nor Inspector Barnaby.

Orange Poppy

Hill.
So, he had been right all along.

"I thought you were dead," he blurted out, a lot more accusingly than he had anticipated.
She looked at him, her face barely readable.
"Captain Rogers, Maria Hill died in that car wreck. She's dead, I'm sorry. I had to make a couple of hard calls for very good reasons, and that was one of them. But anyway - since unfortunately I do owe Nat a favour, you can stay with me for a bit and I might be able to help with resources. But I swear, I will not go back into the field, under no circumstances. Is that clear?"

Nat nodded, while Sam had apparently decided it was smarter to shut up and Steve still didn't know what to say. Finally, as their host started the car again and drove back into Causton, Sam cleared his throat.
"So, what do we call you?"
"I don't mind, if it's just us," she answered courtly, "it would be the easiest though if you stick with Marian. I'm just "Mama" for my daughter, but I don't want to risk confusing her and having her blurt something out that she shouldn't."

Maria. Hill. Had. A. Kid.
He just put it together right now. Steve's mind was reeling. There was silence for a moment, before Sam clapped her on the shoulder from the back.

"Congrats on the kid, Commander," he told her sincerely.
"Thank you." She sounded surprised, but not unhappy.
The captain wondered how Sam could get over the betrayal so easily, but after all, he hadn't known her that well back then. He pointedly stared out of the window until they came to a stop in front of a pretty medium-sized house with a neatly kept front-garden.
"There we are," she told the others, "the babysitter should still be here, please don't scare her. Be nice."
"Any husband or partner we should know about?" Nat asked.
Steve was surprised she didn't know, after all, she had apparently known about quite a lot that he had been unaware of.
"On a business trip, therefore, the babysitter" the now-detective replied.

Hill let them into the house, turning on the lights and taking off her shoes. The others followed her example, leaving the shoes on a wooden shoe rack in the hallway. Right away the soldier noticed an array of womens' shoes which must be Maria's, the tiniest girl's shows which probably belonged to her daughter, and a couple of mens' shoes. So the husband had not necessarily been another lie then.

A young woman with an easy smile was coming towards them, her eyes widening as she saw the group.

"Lynn, these are my friends, we met unexpectedly in Causton," Maria explained.
The girl nodded, blushing furiously when Sam smiled at her.
"Josie has been amazing, she is sleeping now, Mrs Watson."
Maria smiled.
"Thank you. Will you get home okay?"

Lynn nodded again, sneaking a last look at Sam while Maria paid her and then led her to the door. As soon as she had left, Maria turned on what seemed to be a high-quality alarm system sneakily camouflaged in the house. Then she turned towards the group.

"I will say, I was not expecting guests," she told them, almost apologetically, "so I will have to make up the guest room. It has a couch that can be converted into a double bed. And I have an air mattress that we could squeeze in as well. The couch downstairs here would work, too, but it's probably calmer on the first floor. Unless Josie starts to cry, in which case you will just have to deal with that."
"That's fine," Sam told her, still quite relaxed, "just hand us the stuff and we will set it up."

She showed them to a medium-sized room on the first floor next to two rooms which must be her own and her daughter's bedrooms. Judging by her tiptoing, she was very used to getting around the house like that and trying to avoid waking up her baby.

"This is it. You can use the wardrobe if you want to. There are two douvets and pillows in it. I will get you a third set, I have it stored in my closet, just a moment. Bathroom is next door."

When she reappeared a few minutes later, her arms were full of clothy items - when Nat started to take the first ones from her he realized it was a towel set for each of them as well as bedsheets. Then she disappeared again, just to emerge from her own bedroom with another douvet and pillow.
She looked them all up and down critically, and while it reminded him a lot of the taxing look of his former SO, there was something else in it now as well.

"If you have laundry to do, the washing machine is downstairs in the small side room. I can show you tomorrow. Do you need meds or are you all set?"
"All set, thank you," Steve confirmed, talking to her for the first time since the revelation as he took the set of bedding.
She nodded.
"I'll be next door for a second and then downstairs."

She disappeared into her daughter's room and the three of them were left in the guest room, staring at each other for a moment. Then Steve turned towards Natasha.

"You knew?" he almost hissed, "you knew she was alive, with a kid, all this time? Or even better, you helped her disappear?"

Nat crossed her arms in front of her, the image of defensiveness.

"Yes, I helped her to set it up. Fake her death."
"Because you had orders?"
"Because she's my friend!" Nat hissed back. "She needed help and I agreed. And it was not my place to tell anyone about it. But if it makes you feel better, she was our superior, too. So you might call it orders, if you want to."

Steve only shook his head, dumping the bedding on the sofa before turning around and storming off. Sure, it was childish, but he was just so furious right now. Furious at Hill, but also especially at Natasha with whom he had been even closer. Who had cried about Maria with him, and never said a thing. Stomping down the stairs, he still couldn't help but wonder whether going for a run now was worth the risk of being caught. Probably not. And despite his fury, he didn't want to endanger the others. So, when he stopped in the hallway again, he was a little bit indecisive. When he suddenly heard crying from upstairs, he sighed. Great, now he had woken up a little girl. He should apologize. But that would probably make it worse, right? He really did not know how to deal with children, he realized.

Light was still coming the living room, a good-sized room with an eating area marked by a long rather rustic table and a sitting room area with two comfy looking couches a little bit further back. Blankets were folded over the sides, some of them clearly for children, judging by the teddy and dragon and unicorn prints. There were boxes in one corner that seemed like they would hold toys, but there were also some laying around on the floor - very different from the orderly deputy director he had known. He was fairly certain he could even make out cooking books on one of the shelves, right above a mixture of crime and romance novels. As far as he could see, the whole house seemed so normal, so provincial, almost, not at all what he had Maria Hill expected to live like. He wondered how much of this was true and how much had been faked to fit in in Causton.

He turned around when he heard steps behind him. It was Sam who gave him a smile, stepping closer to clap him on the back.
"I know Steve. But look at this," he pointed around the room, "what do you see?"
"Uhm, a house? A strange house?"
Sam rolled his eyes.
"A life."
He nodded towards a picture on the wall, Maria with her baby sitting on the floor in a chaos of plushies. Clearly a candid, she seemed almost startled by the picture, but almost glowing at the same time.
"I am not an agent, but I have quite a good sense for people, too. And I think she is serious about this. This is a life. A life she could certainly never have had with SHIELD and HYDRA. I am sure she had her reasons, Steve. And I think you should talk to Nat. She said she can sleep on the couch, or you can do that, I don't care, but sort it out."

He gave Steve another knowing smile before flopping onto said couch.
"Who do you think Josie's father is?" he wanted to know, just as the captain had reached the door.
"I don't know. Another agent? It wouldn't surprise me," Steve answered, "as far as I can see, there aren't any photos of him around here. I just hope she has at least been honest to him."

When he approached the stairs, he noticed the kid seemed to have stopped crying. Instead, he suddenly heard voices coming towards him. They were very faint, probably cut off by the door, but definitely Hill and Nat talking. He knew he shouldn't, but he carefully crept up the stairs, pausing in the middle to listen.

"-adorable," he heard Nat.
"Thank you. But yes, of course she is. The best."
There was silence for a moment.
"I never thought I'd see you as a mom, Masha."
"Believe me, neither did I. Most days I still can't really believe it. And then I am scared without end to mess something up. Seriously, none of these aliens were as scary as the idea of being a bad mum. But apparently that's normal. At least I have read that."

There was more shuffling, and then the two women excited the room, stopping on the landing.

"Soooo..." there was a pause. When Nat went on, her voice had another quality to it, less serious, more teasing. "After all that trouble, I still don't know who knocked you up."
"Nat!" Hill hissed, obviously trying not to wake up her daughter, "I will not tell a 'How I met her father' story here!"
"But you know who knocked you up,right?"

Steve had the faint impression Hill had just slapped Nat on the arm.
"Thank you very much Romanoff, yes, I do."
"And he knows about her?"
"Yes. Are you done?"
"Therefore, your husband, is he Josie's father?"
"If you must know - yes. Yes, he is, and yes, I am certain about that, and yes, he knows."
"And what did Fury say after you named your baby after him? He does know, too, doesn't he?"

Steve could almost imagine the dirty look Hill was giving the Black Widow right now.

"He does. I think his exact words in response were 'why not Nicolette?'. But I think he was pleased."
"And what did you tell your husband? Didn't he find it weird that you named your daughter after another man?"
"Romanoff, as far as I am aware Barton's youngest son is called "Nate" right? So I think you should quickly shut up."

"And does your hubby know what you were doing in your past life?"
"He does."
"Why did Fury let you go?"

There was silence for a moment.

"It's Fury we are talking about," she only said, a very strange no-answer to the question. "And seriously Romanov, you are far too curious for your own good! Just as Rogers WHO KEEPS LURKING ON THE STAIRS!" she hissed, making Steve turn red.

He decided to strategically retreat when both women came towards him, obviously on their way down. He finally followed them into the living room, sitting down next to Sam while Hill brought four glasses and a couple of different drinks. With a satisfied sigh, Nat took the vodka silently looking at Steve.

"I'll take the whisky," he answered roughly.

Nat just shrugged while Hill filled the other three glasses. He noticed there was decidedly less in the one she took for herself. Then she looked at Steve.

"Do you have questions or do you simply want to yell at me?" she asked him dryly.
"How can you be so calm about it?" he asked her, incredulous.
"Alright. I can be calm about it because I thought this through many many times. With every option I had. And each time this one turned out to be the best. So I made the decision to disappear as throughly as possible, and I had to die for that. I had Nat help me because she understood the dilemma I was in. But I am truly sorry I caused you pain."
"Why didn't you tell me? The rest of us?"
"Because you wouldn't have understood. The mission - work - it was and is first for you. Always. And that's what it was for me, too. Only this time it wasn't. You gave up a life with the first woman you loved for the world. But I could not give up my child, no matter whether the world needed me or not. And truly, Rogers, I don't care if you think that's right or not. It's what I needed to do. And that's why I asked Nat."

Steve nodded numbly, turning her words around in his head. She had a point, though - he likely would not have understood. If he sounded bitter or accusing, she didn't seem to mind.

"Was it worth it? Your position, giving up power, stopping to make a difference, in exchange for a cop-live in this tiny town in rural England?"
She frowned.
"Absolutely. And I think you have something inherently wrong here, Steve. I gave up power, the feeling of command. And yes, maybe it hurt my ego a little bit. But I also stopped having to do bureaucratic stuff I never liked, and putting my body through the wringer, not sleeping for days. Well, okay I still often don't sleep for days between cases and a baby, but that will pass. Hopefully. Until they hit the moody-teenage-phase and keep you up wondering where they are and what mess they get themselves into. Anyway. And I DO make a difference, just not the way you think. These people here? If their beloved die here in Causton, it shakes them just as much as when New Yorkers are killed by aliens in New York. It doesn't matter. Loss is loss. So don't tell me my job isn't important. Besides, I like living in Causton. I like to see my daughter growing up here. I like knowing I will be able to afford university education, and that she will be covered by a public health care system. I miss New York and I miss you guys like crazy, but I am happy. Anyway, so the three of you are in quite a mess, or so I have heard," she raised an eyebrow, "so it is a bit hypocritical of you to talk to me about decisions and consequences like that, don't you think?"

She took a sip of her drink.

"Can we maybe discuss that tomorrow?" Nat interferred, eyeing Steve warily.
"Of course," Hill agreed, "if you don't mind, I will go to bed quite soon, since my baby will be up and going fairly soon in the morning and needs someone to entertain her."

She chugged the rest of her drink and got up, giving the others a fleeting smile, before walking up the stairs.

"So," Sam started, "have you figured out sleeping arrangements yet?"