Chapter 9 – Stevie

January 10, 2014, 5 a.m.

Stevie had insisted in riding in the ambulance. Despite the crying infant - and the extreme irregularity of the situation - the EMT's didn't say no. Maybe it was because she still had her shield, or maybe it was just because of the look on her face. The EMT's worked furiously all the way through the drive, into the hospital. Fury didn't open his eyes once. They finally stopped her when they took him into the operating room, but they did let her stand outside. She watched through a window with Hill and Natasha, who had appeared suddenly at the hospital although no one seemed to have notified her.

"Is he going to make it?" Natasha asked, voice choked.

"I don't know."

Stevie sat in an uncomfortable hospital chair, shield propped against one side, diaper bag against the other. She had finally gotten Maggie back to sleep, wrapped in her favorite blanket – pink and soft.

"Tell me about the shooter." Natasha didn't take her eyes off Fury as she spoke.

"I didn't see much of him. He's good."

That shot – through a window and a set of blinds - Stevie knew enough about sniping to know how hard that was. She closed her eyes, pulling up her memory of the glimpse she'd had of him.

"His left arm...It was armored."

"Armored?"

"Metallic."

Natasha's mouth opened silently. Closed. Was it fear? Surprise? She turned to Hill, who stood at the window, biting her lip.

"Ballistics?" Natasha asked.

"Three slugs," Hill replied. "Soviet made. I doubt we'll be able to trace them – this is a professional."

Stevie remembered at that moment that Natasha herself was a Soviet assassin. Extremely well-trained.

Three slugs. Only one shot through the window. Fury was shot twice on the way. The assassin followed him to my apartment. Stevie looked at the baby in her arms. She was sucking her thumb, damp tracks of tears still on her cheeks. Damn you, Fury.

She felt guilty as soon as she thought it.

Something was happening on the other side of the glass. Machines were beeping, surgeons calling out curt, urgent instructions. Stevie stood carefully, tucking the blanket around Maggie as she came closer to the glass.

"Don't do this to me, Nick," Natasha murmured, so softly that Stevie didn't think anyone else could have heard her. The other woman looked...stricken.

Fury's body jolted as the doctors shocked his heart – once, twice. Natasha and Hill both flinched.

There was a pause. Hill put her hands to her mouth. Natasha swallowed heavily. One second. Two. The doctors were staring at the clock, at their instruments, displays of lines and blinking lights. And then, it was like the room exhaled. The doctors bowed their heads. Slowly, they began to put the instruments away, roll the machines back to their corners. There was no need to hurry now. Natasha made a strangled sound. Hill tuned abruptly and left the room.

Stevie rocked her daughter. Kissed her forehead. And used the movement to hide the USB drive as she tucked it inside her shirt.

They let her see the body. Lying there on the table, bereft of all his force of personality, Fury looked old, and small. Stevie didn't know how to feel. She'd worked with the man. She'd joked with him, fought with him.

He lied to me.

Natasha stood by Fury's head, arms folded, jaw clenched, as if she was about to give the man a stern lecture.

For all the time they'd spent together, Stevie knew very little about Agent Romanoff's life. She had done something terrible, back when she worked for the Soviets. Something she wanted to atone for. What had Fury been to her? A father? A savior? Or was this all just another act?

Agent Hill opened the door behind them softly. "They need to take him," she said unsteadily.

Natasha nodded. She put her hand on Fury's forehead briefly and left the room. Stevie followed her. There was no reason for her to stay. As soon as they were in the hall, Natasha whirled on her.

"Why was Fury in your apartment?" she asked, voice low but intense.

"I don't know." Stevie said. Maggie half woke with a cry, and Stevie bounced her in her arms, hoping the interruption would make her lie less obvious. Natasha arched one eyebrow skeptically.

"Cap." Someone said behind her. She almost jumped before realizing it was Rumlow. "They want you back at HQ."

"Can I have a second?" She remembered the message on Fury's phone. SHIELD COMPROMISED.

"They want you now." He said with an apologetic smile.

"Alright."

The drive jabbed her in the ribs whenever she breathed. She needed to get it to Tony. She needed to get Maggie to Tony. Rumlow walked to the door, where a STRIKE team waited to escort her to Pierce. No way out.

Natasha had read her as easily as ever. She took a step closer, spoke in a low voice.

"Do you want to leave Maggie with me?"

Two days ago, Stevie would have considered it.

"No," she said. "It's fine."

Natasha smiled - more crookedly than usual.

"You're a terrible liar," she hissed.

Stevie took a breath, let it out. Come on, Rogers. What's the plan? Natasha was stalking off, back stiff with anger. Rumlow waited for her, one eyebrow raised. Maggie sighed deeply in her sleep. In front of her, a man opened up the vending machine, began stocking it with candy bars and bags of chips. Stevie's stomach growled. She'd been up all night without eating. There it is.

"Excuse me," Stevie asked with a smile. "Can I ask you for a favor?"

When she caught up with Rumlow, she was awkwardly unwrapping a granola bar with one hand. And the USB drive was gone.

The cloak and dagger stuff begins...Stevie isn't a natural spy like Natasha, so we'll have to see how she manages!