A few weeks had passed since Agents Doyle and Miller had had their covert meeting with Captain America, of all people. In the meantime, they'd both done a little digging, as asked, but had not yet taken any action or met with Evchenko, as they were waiting for further instructions from Cap. AJ was starting to wonder if he'd imagined the whole thing and had even suggested as much to Meg, who assured him it had all been real. He'd done a little digging into his own family tree and found some interesting information there, but until Cap got back in touch, there was no one to share it with but Meg. As it so happened, it was just when Doyle was starting to wonder if the man would ever get in touch with them again that they got the call.

"Meg, it's him!" AJ declared, with obvious excitement as his cell phone went off.

Looking up from her computer, Meg chuckled at his excitement. They'd uncovered a few interesting things since Croft had passed on the message about looking into a certain person on the CIA's books, things the captain was likely going to be interested in. She smiled at AJ's enthusiasm. "Well, answer it then," she told him in amusement, pulling up the relevant files on her screen for his ease.

"Answer it, right. Of course!" he exclaimed, clearing his throat before tapping the phone to answer the call. "Ahem, Doyle here." He shifted to glance at Meg, nodding his head as he tucked the phone beneath his chin and gave her a thumbs up. "Yeah, she's here," AJ replied to Cap's question. "Uh huh. Okay. Give me a sec," he said further, pulling the phone away from his ear and setting it on the desk. "He wants me to put him on speaker."

"Hang on." Rising from her seat, Meg moved to check the windows were securely closed, and flicked on the television, bending to unearth something that had been passed onto them through Drew from her brother-in-law from the depths of the couch. When she flicked that on, it created a quiet bubble around within the apartment, in which they could talk without being overheard by anyone outside it. "Now."

AJ nodded, waiting for Meg to secure the room so they could converse with Captain America, er, Rogers without anyone listening in. He tapped the phone again, setting it to speaker so the three of them could talk freely. "Go ahead, Cap."

"Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you both," Steve was heard saying. Unless someone was able to perfectly mimic his voice, it was definitely him. "I, uh ....I sort of ran into a snag," he said. "It turns out this is bigger than I thought. Have you heard anything from Evchenko?"

AJ exchanged a curious glance with Meg, letting her answer for them both, wondering what kind of snag Cap was talking about.

Meg glanced at AJ, smiling a little. "He's due to meet us in New Jersey in a couple of days," she told Steve. "I called him and used my alias to convince him that having dinner with Jake and Sophie was the best possible thing he could do to mend fences between them. He seems quite interested. Is this snag something we should know about, captain?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna send you a file," he told them further, the tapping of a keyboard heard on the other end of the phone. "I think we might have found Evchenko's Achilles' heel." And it had happened entirely by accident. "Her name is Alyona," he told them further, confident the line was secure, thanks to Stark's tech. "We think she's his daughter." It took a moment or two before the file showed up on Meg's screen for them both to peruse.

Meg pulled the laptop closer, opening up the file to bring up the photograph attached. "Evchenko has a daughter?" she asked, genuinely surprised. "That's nowhere in his file, either at the CIA or MI6. Are you absolutely confident of your information, captain?"

"About as sure as I can be. The girl told me herself. I saw it in her head. Long story. She was part of a Hydra project. It's all in her file. He got attached, and Hydra saw that attachment as a liability. Evchenko's connection to Hydra is the girl. We have her in protective custody. I don't like using her as leverage, but my guess is Evchenko will willingly sell out Hydra to have his daughter back."

Meg frowned, rubbing her forehead. "I don't think I want to know how you saw what was in her head, do I?" she mused, exchanging a wary look with AJ. "Well, it gives us something to work from, but he'll likely want proof that we know where she is. Can you make her a burner phone and pass the number onto us" That way he can contact her, but he won't have any way of finding her, or passing her information along to Hydra if we don't manage to turn him."

"Yeah, I can do that," Steve replied, though it wouldn't really be him doing that but someone else on his team. "I don't want this to become a hostage situation. She's not being held here against her will, but for her own protection. She's been through hell enough already. If we handle this right, it's a win-win situation. We reunite a father and daughter, gain a couple of new allies, and get the lowdown on Hydra. I'm also sending you some coordinates. We believe it's a Hydra base, deep in Siberia. Their main research facility. We want to take it out, but before we can do that, we need to know it inside and out. If Evchenko wants to stop Hydra from doing this to anyone else, then we need whatever information he has on that base."

Meg tapped the co-ordinates into a second computer, unsurprised to see that it came up with an apparently barren patch of snow somewhere in the middle of Siberia. "If it is a Hydra base, we'll need higher level clearance to get a look at what?s there," she mused. Her eyes wandered to AJ speculatively. "We've been discussing the possibility of including our boss in this. Baxter Hayes is a good man, and he brought hell down on the heads of the people who sent us into danger ill-informed. That isn't the action of a man who is affiliated with them. But the decision, ultimately, belongs to you, sir."

"I've known Director Hayes for years, Cap. He's a good man. He served in the military before joining the CIA. You can take a look at his file, if you like, but I'd trust him with my life," AJ put in, having known Hayes a lot longer than Meg. He didn't bother to mention that Hayes had been a friend of his father's or that he'd helped AJ get into the agency.

Steve said nothing for a moment as the two agents made the case for bringing their boss in on things. With an operation this big, it was probably better that way anyway. They'd have more resources to work with, and they wouldn't be doing anything illicit under their boss' nose. "If you trust him, that's good enough for me. We need Evchenko, and you're our best bet for gaining his trust."

Meg let out a breath, releasing the tension she'd been holding. "I'm glad you feel that way, sir," she told Steve, reaching over to squeeze AJ's hand. "Our meeting with Evchenko is set for two days' time. We won't be able to hold him for long without arousing suspicions, but if your hunch is correct, he'll contact us with the information we need."

"It's more than a hunch," Steve replied, not bothering to explain how he knew that. He'd been inside Alyona's head; he'd read her dossier, but more importantly, he'd seen her memories. That settled, it was time to move onto the next order of business - that of Petrov. "Have you been able to dig up anything on Petrov?" Steve asked.

"Thank you, captain. We'll be in touch," Meg promised, relieved that her request hadn't been too presumptuous in the first place. AJ's stammering might be a sign of an intense conversation about to come, but he'd understand why she'd asked, hopefully.

"No, thank you," Steve replied, just before the line went dead.

AJ frowned as he looked over at Meg. "What was all that about?" he asked, regarding the request about his father.

She bit her lip, meeting his eyes guiltily. "If Hydra uncover us, the first thing they will do is go for our weaknesses," she told him. "Mine is you. Yours is your father. He deserves to be somewhere safe, and I can't think of anyone better suited to making him a safe place to live in than Tony Stark. The man might be a megalomaniac, but he's on the captain's team. A team that looks after each other, and we're a part of that team now."

AJ heard what she was saying and was actually grateful she'd thought to think of his father, but that wasn't what had him blinking in surprise. "I'm your weakness?" he asked, obviously not having expected her to say that. "If I'm your weakness, doesn't that make you mine?" he countered.

She laughed a little, shaking her head. "I don't know," she pointed out to him, saving the information they had been sent onto a flash drive and removing it from the computer before closing it down. "What I mean is ....you're my weakness, but you're in a position where you can defend yourself, to a certain extent. Your father can't, and neither can the people who care for him at the moment. By making him safe, we protect ourselves as much as him. And he'll not be used as leverage or taken as hostage, or killed in petty revenge."

"If Hydra finds out, but if we're careful, they won't," AJ pointed out, though he saw her point. He didn't bother to contemplate where Stark might put his father for safe-keeping, but hopefully it wouldn't be so far away that AJ wouldn't get to visit with him. "So, does this make us Avengers?" AJ asked, with a slight smirk on his face. However worried she'd been about asking that favor, AJ didn't seem to hold it against her or even question it further. He'd been surprised but not angered by it, it seemed.

"Mini-Avengers, maybe," she laughed, rolling her eyes at him. "You will never catch me wearing a silly suit like they do." She nudged his shoulder with her own; thanks to some unexpectedly altruistic donations of Stark tech, she was completely healed far sooner than either of them had hoped for, though they were keeping up the illusion at work for their own reasons. "We need to decide how we're approaching Evchenko. And whether or not I have to dye my hair yet again."

"Haven't you ever heard of a wig?" he teased as he nudged her back. He'd have to transform himself into the Jake personae, as well, but it wasn't a big deal shaving and dying his hair blond. "He's gonna be pissed when he finds out we're CIA," AJ said, stating the obvious. "And we don't want him to think we're threatening his daughter." He huffed a short laugh. "I still can't believe the guy has a daughter."

"Which is why we need them to set her up with a burner so he can call her straight away," she pointed out lightly. "She's the best bet we have of assuring him that she's in safe hands. To be honest, if we're lucky, she'll do all the hard work so we can get right down to the need to know quickly." She leaned back against the cushions, idly playing with the idea of closing down the bubble around them. But this conversation might still have a few sensitive subjects left in it.

"I'm sure Cap will take care of it," AJ remarked, regarding the cell phone. "So, where are we meeting him' It's probably safer if we meet him in public, but we can't risk anyone overhearing. What are you thinking?" he asked. Left to his own devices, he'd have come up with his own plan, but he was curious what was going on in the pretty little head of hers.

"Drew has an apartment in New Jersey," she told him with a wicked little smile. "She's offered it to us on the condition that we don't break anything." Meg laughed a little, remembering how silly that conversation had been. "It keeps Evchenko out of New York, and out of D.C., but still gives us a private place where we can interrogate him. As far as he knows, he's coming to Jake and Sophie's private apartment."

"What about his entourage?" AJ asked, knowing the man never traveled without at least six bodyguards. That could be a definite problem, but then, they'd probably have the room wired for bugs and cameras, anyway.

She raised a brow. "Do you doubt our ability to take down a few bodyguards who won't even see us as a threat until it's too late?" she asked innocently. "I was thinking that we can lull him into a sense of security that will make him confident enough to send them away for a few hours."

"You thinking about getting him drunk?" AJ queried, with a smirk. No, he didn't doubt their ability to take down a half dozen guards. He just didn't really like the idea of them being there at all.

"No, I mean ....he thinks he's coming for a nice meal with a nice young couple who want to make amends for leaving his house party so abruptly," she reminded him. "He has no reason to suspect that we have any kind of ulterior motive, and he's confident enough in himself not to want to be surrounded by heavies while he relaxes in company. He might station one or two outside the door, but we won't need to use force with him. We have a photograph that will instantly catch his attention, after all."

"True enough," AJ admitted. "I don't really want to use his daughter this way, but I guess we have no choice." He leaned against the couch, considering everything Cap had told them. "We should definitely approach Hayes." AJ frowned as he remembered something. "I forgot to tell him how we're related."

"You'll have your chance," she promised him, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "We'll talk to Hayes tomorrow. We have enough evidence to be able to convince him, not to mention the ringing endorsement from Captain America."

It seemed Steve Rogers' mother had been distantly related to AJ's father's family. It wasn't a close familial tie, but enough that the shared DNA resulted in them being practically twins. "Yeah," AJ replied with a grin. "Wait until he finds out I'm Captain America's long lost cousin."

She laughed again, tweaking the end of his nose. "You volunteered to cook tonight, don't forget," she reminded him fondly, pushing up from her seat to locate the tech that had given them very useful privacy in a not very private apartment building. "I'm very demanding. I insist on being fed."

"I haven't forgotten. I am perfectly happy to feed you anything you want," he replied with an equally mischievous grin, letting her take that any way she wanted. He closed the cover on the laptop and set it aside before rising to his feet. "What are you feeling like tonight' I'm thinking stir-fry."

"I feel like you have an unhealthy obsession with Chinese food," she informed him fondly, finally turning the bubble off. The noise of the TV and the muted sounds of the rest of the building filtered back in, resuming a sense of normality. "As for that anything, I reserve the right to demand it for dessert."

"If you're sure that's what you want, I'm only too happy to oblige," he replied, settling his hands on her hips to draw her close. He was also just as happy to return the favor.

Drawn close, she settled her hands against his biceps, nose to nose with a smile. "Oh yes, you're very obliging," she teased, brushing the tip of her nose to his. "You're also angling to order in, aren't you?"

"Would I do that?" he asked, not really expecting an answer. It didn't matter much to him if he cooked or they ordered in, but they still had a lot of work to do. "So, are we saving work for the office, or working overtime?" he asked, wondering if they were putting business before pleasure or the other way around.

"We need Hayes' clearance to get anywhere near what we need to look up," Meg mused. "I guess this is our night off." Blue eyes sparkled impishly as she looked up at him. "However will we fill the time?"

"Hmm, another game of Truth or Dare?" he queried, though they hadn't actually played that yet. "Or we could just skip the Truth and go straight to the Dares," he teased, his arms going around her waist.

She laughed, curling her arms around his neck as she kissed him, deliberately lifting both feet off the ground to the tune of the double thump that was her shoes deciding they'd rather not be attached to her feet any longer. "Can I go first?" she asked in a sultry murmur, lowering her feet to stand on her toes in the circle of his arms.

He had no objections to being kissed, giving as good as he got, lips parting to take a breath before smiling in response to her question. "Ladies first," he replied, picking her up off the floor and turning to carry her in the direction of their bed. If he had his way, it looked like it was going to be another night for ordering in.

If he had his way. Her last words before they reached the bed were a little less than encouraging.

"I dare you to make me dinner ..."