Lucy had kissed and been kissed many times over the years. But no one compared to Steve. In his arms, she didn't notice the shyness, the inexperience. In his arms, she was the only woman in the world and she felt it, right to her bones. He could make her feel unparalleled just by looking at her. And he was just too tempting not to take advantage of, too. Her lips parted in a slow grin as she felt him surrender to her, the shift of her body even closer bringing the hem of her camisole bunching up about her own ribs. "I feel it's only fair to warn you, captain," she murmured against his lips, "that your virtue is in real danger right about now."

His eyes slid open to regard her with a look that could only be described as adoring, enamored. He felt her warm body beside him, reminding him of what they'd shared only a little over a week earlier in another time, another place. Why did it seem like it had been so much longer" "I already lost my virtue," he reminded her quietly, murmuring back against her lips, between soft and unrushed kisses. "And my heart," he added, their kisses lighting the fire within that heart that he had given so readily and freely to a woman he'd barely known but had fallen in love with, just the same. "Marry me, Lucy. Don't make me wait."

"You'll never lose anything," she argued gently between those kisses, warmed through as he reiterated his intentions, feeling the never-quite-banked embers of her desire for him glowing in the midst of the rush of tender love that rose in answer to his quiet request. "I'd marry you today if I could," she heard herself say, briefly wondering how put out Johnny and Liv would be if that was possible. She owed her sister the opportunity to witness that big step in her life, but perhaps Liv wouldn't be as put out as she would be. The words that had been such a struggle the day he'd walked away from her came tumbling out once more, repeated more often in the last ten hours than she'd ever done in her lifetime. "I love you," she whispered against his lips, her voice rich with feeling as her arms tightened about him. "I can't face another day without you, Steve. I stopped living between your leaving and seeing you again last night."

"I'm not going anywhere, Lucy....Well, I mean, I am, but..." He sighed, knowing now that they were rested, their duties were going to take them apart once again, at least for a little while. He gazed into her eyes as his fingers stroked her cheek, all the longing and loneliness mirrored in his blue eyes, the desire to join their lives together once and for all and forever. Her words of love sent his heart soaring once more, as though his heart had wings, beating only for her. "I know it sounds crazy. I know we hardly know each other, but I don't care. I love you, and I don't want to wait any more." It wasn't just about the joining of their bodies or even their hearts, but their lives, forever promised to each other, not only in the eyes of men, but in the eyes of God, a union no one would be able to contest or to break.

She was quiet for a long moment, revelling in his sheer presence, in the knowledge that she'd taken her first true leap of faith and he'd been there to catch her and keep her from harm, exactly the way Johnny had been for Liv, exactly the way she had envied for so many months. "We've got the rest of our lives to get to know each other," she said eventually, her fingers softly stroking against his back as she spoke. "People don't stop growing just because they're in love, and ....well, I've been a child for so long. I want to grow up with you, Steve." It didn't matter that technically she was the older adult here; she was far more immature than he was in many ways. They could teach each other far more than they could ever learn on their own. "I think I just worked out a way for Fury to get what he wants," she added with a sweet little smirk, wondering if he'd be able to follow her line of thought without needing it explained.

Steve frowned at the mention of Fury, who he trusted about as far as he could throw him. Though he seemed to have Steve's best interests at heart, Steve knew it wasn't really him Fury cared about, but his beloved S.H.I.E.L.D., an organization that possessed the kind of power that could easily become corrupt and with a man at the head of it who had wielded that power for his own means and would more than likely do so again. Whether Fury's agenda matched Steve's was yet to be seen, and though Steve was a soldier, he abhorred killing for killing's sake. "What he wants is for me to sign on the dotted line and become one of his operatives." But Steve didn't wear the S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform; he wore the uniform of Captain America, a symbol for hope, liberty, and justice. "And he probably wants the same from you," he guessed, remembering the uniform she'd been wearing only a few short hours ago.

"Oh, I don't mean you, love," she was quick to assure him. "But if he wants me, he's going to have to do something very nice for me in the very near future." She winked at her lover, gently nuzzling her nose against his. "I'm a doctor, Steve. A trained emergency medicine and surgical doctor. I don't do experiments, I won't be involved in anything that isn't helping people in a very direct, hands on way. And if his little file is even halfway accurate, he'll know that. But if he really wants me on his books, I have conditions. And one of those is definitely going to be marrying you as soon as bloody possible."

He listened carefully to what she was saying. He'd already guessed as much, assuming Fury had dangled some carrot or other in front of her face in order to get her to wear the S.H.I.E.L.D. uniform, and he assumed that carrot was himself, though it seemed the situation was a bit more complicated than that, and he didn't have the whole story yet. While he was reassured she wanted to marry him as soon as possible, something else she said cause him to narrow his eyes and set his jaw, looking quietly angry. "He has a file on you? Why does Nick Fury have a file on you, Luce" He can't possibly know about us. I didn't tell him a thing." Why the heck would Nick Fury be interested in a doctor who hadn't even been living on Earth for the last year or so"

The memory of Director Fury's calm voice informing her of a parentage she'd spent a lifetime pretending she didn't care about flared in Lucy's mind, setting her face flushing with uncomfortable anger. Anger she didn't want Steve to see, ducking her head to keep the expression from his direct gaze. "He ..." She felt her tongue cramp up against saying the words aloud, and growled for a moment to clear her throat. "It seems that my sister and I have been watched for most, if not all, of our lives," she managed in a tight voice. "Apparently our real father was something of a genius and he passed it on to his children. All of us." She shook her head. "I don't believe it. I can't believe it. Howard Stark is not my father."

Steve Rogers was not easily shocked, having seen so much in his short life that very little surprised him anymore, but that one statement from Lucy caused his mouth to gape open for a moment. He couldn't have heard her correctly, could he" Whatever discussion there had been of marriage was momentarily forgotten in the wake of this latest bit of information. "I'm sorry, what?" he asked, trying to maintain his composure, hoping he'd heard her wrong.

The look of gratitude she gave him for taking the weapon away from her was, indeed, childlike, large eyes filled with relieved trust as the dangerous thing was taken out of her hands and away from any possibility of her hurting anyone. "If he knows we're coming, won't he just ....not be there?" she asked thoughtfully, laying her shaking hand against her hip to still the unconscious release of tension. "And, um ....just so I know we're talking about the same person ....tall, eyepatch, infuriatingly vague?"

"There is only one Nick Fury," Steve replied, affirming her description. He checked the weapon to make sure the safety was on, and then shoved it in his belt on the side opposite his bruised ribs. The suit was worse for the wear, as was he, but he didn't really care about his appearance at the moment. He seemed to notice her shaking hand and the worried look she was trying to hide, but couldn't really hide from him, and he tipped her chin upwards to face him, needing her to understand what this was all about and that it changed nothing between them. "I'm not angry at you, okay?" he asked, intelligent blue eyes softening when they met hers. "You didn't do anything wrong, Lucy. This is about Fury and Stark and S.H.I.E.L.D."

Lucy was, for a moment, dumbfounded. No one had been able to put together the little signs that betrayed what she was hiding before, no one but her sister. But that was how it should be, wasn't it' No one but the closest people in her life should be able to see what she really was, and Steve had, without even trying, sidled straight into that part of her heart. No wonder he could see her uncertainty. His reassurance went a long way to calming her, but it didn't assuage her confusion.

"Are you sure you want me there?" she heard herself ask him tentatively. "I'm pretty sure Fury doesn't want me knowing the details. He might not talk if I'm there." And I'm really not sure I want to know everything. Who wants to know for certain that their billionaire father abandoned them to grow up just on this side of poverty"

"You want to know the truth?" he asked, knowing more than anyone how hard and painful the truth could be, but it was better than a life of uncertainty, or worse yet, lies. "He owes you the truth, and he won't keep it from me." As untrusting as Steve was of Fury, he had a feeling the man wouldn't keep the truth from him if Steve asked him for it directly. Steve had, after all, made the biggest sacrifice anyone could have asked of him for the sake of his nation. There was no one who loved his country more, and at the very least, Fury owed him a few answers in return.

"I ..." Lucy hesitated, the uncomfortable roil of anger and sense of distrust of that particular authority figure making itself known for a moment. "I don't know if I want to know the truth," she admitted with disarming honesty. "But I need to know, if only so I can make damn sure Liv never has to." Fiercely protective, Lucy was absolutely certain that her sister was never going to know just who it was who had abandoned them unless some good could come out of it. She let out a shuddering sigh, straightening her shoulders. "All right. Lead on, captain."

His fingers brushed against her chin and he dipped his head to offer a brief, hopefully reassuring kiss. He wasn't angry with her, but angry in part because of her and for her. He didn't want to think what might have happened had he known the truth of who she was; he didn't want to think it might have mattered. He was convinced it wouldn't have, but he understood now why she reminded him so strongly of Peggy. Even so, she wasn't Peggy; she was Lucy, and he had fallen in love with her before he'd known that Peggy's blood flowed in her veins. That had to mean something. He closed his hand around hers, needing her to understand one thing more before they left the relative safety and privacy of the makeshift hospital room. "We're in this together, got me" I'm not going anywhere, no matter what Fury tells us." He hoped she'd feel the same.

The kiss was what did the trick. The last vestige of stubborn fear melted away as his lips brushed hers, loosening the knot of tension that had tied itself about her wary heart the moment he had pushed away from her in the bed. She had no idea of his own struggle, that the mysterious woman he had loved before was a relation of her own she knew nothing about. Her fingers clenched about his, unafraid of hurting him by holding on as tightly as she could. "I'm not here for him," she told him simply. "I'm here for you. Nothing's going to change that."

He smiled briefly at her reply, not wanting to let go of the anger just yet though, until they'd confronted Fury. "Then, here goes nothing," he said, holding fast to her hand as he turned them both toward the door. Breakfast, shower, gratuitous sex, everything pushed aside for now, until they could talk to Fury and set things straight. He unlocked the door and pulled it open, looking out into the hallway to see if there was anyone around. He needed to find Croft or another agent who'd know where he could find Fury and could get them there with relative ease.

There were plenty of people around, in fact. The field hospital was at its busiest at the end of a long night shift, with doctors, nurses, orderlies, and patients pretty much everywhere you looked. But there was Agent Croft, leaning against the wall opposite, suspiciously casually, as though he was on guard but not actually supposed to look as though he was. He practically snapped to attention as Steve came into view, a hint of hero-worship on his studiously blank face. "Everything all right, sir?"

Steve was either blind to the hero worship or he simply chose to ignore it, but it was more than likely the former, assuming Croft was just an attentive agent trying his best to do a good job. Steve flicked a glance around at their surroundings, frowning a little and wondering if he wasn't being selfish by putting this bit of personal business above his duty and the needs of the citizens of New York and the better part of the East Coast, but with any luck, it wouldn't take long, and he'd be back to work in a jiffy. He bit off his initial response, not wanting to worry anyone by telling Croft that everything was not right, choosing instead to be quietly blunt.

"You have access to transportation?" he asked, coming to a halt in front of Croft. "I take it you're my shadow," he added, glancing around again and realizing that Croft had more than likely been standing guard outside their door, just waiting to be needed.

"Yes, sir. Will you be requiring transportation, sir?" Behind Steve, despite everything, Lucy had to bite down hard on the inside of her cheek. For two days, Croft had gotten away with tailing her everywhere she went, saying the bare minimum and doing even less. Suddenly Captain America was right there, and the agent was as helpful as could be. She didn't, however, hide the smirk when Steve mentioned the "shadow". Croft had the decency to look a little uncomfortable. "No, sir. Not yours, sir."

She carefully didn't mention that he was Captain America and therefore above suspicion anyway, not particularly wanting that argument to happen at all. She didn't want him thinking that his alter ego had anything to do with her being right there with him. As Croft commandeered the ATV, she pulled the back door open, crawling inside before she replied. "I wish I had your confidence," was her eventual answer. "It's not really me I'm worried about, it's Liv. I don't want her caught up in any of this, Steve. She's happy where she is."

He said nothing until he had climbed into the vehicle and settled himself beside her, feeling just a little bit guilty for taking her and himself away from their duties to indulge his need for answers. There was still a lot of work to do. It would probably be weeks before life was restored to anything resembling normal, but there would be plenty of time to catch up when they were done with their little chat with Nick Fury. Once settled, he reached for her hand, his face a shade paler from the effort it had taken to climb into the vehicle, though he made no complaint. "You haven't told anyone else about this but me, have you?" he asked, turning his head to face her.

"This being ...?" she queried, though it was fairly obvious that the only this he could be referring to was her apparently cold-hearted genius of a birth father. She shook her head, folding his hand between both of hers as her fingers stroked over his skin. She seemed to need that physical contact. "Who else could I tell?" she said softly as the ATV got underway. "I'm not sure I believe it myself."

He didn't really need any time to consider a response, knowing how Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D worked better than she did. "He's got no reason to lie to you," he reasoned, studying her with his steady blue-eyed gaze. The anger that had bubbled to the surface a short while ago had subsided a little, and he was thinking a little more clearly. "I should have seen it sooner. I knew you reminded me of her for some reason." He raised his free hand to brush his fingers against her cheek. Now that he knew the truth, the resemblance to Peggy was clear to see.

Dark eyes lifted to his, quiet uncertain suspicion rising in the depths of a gaze that was dominated by the only thing she could really believe in at this moment, namely the depth of her feeling for him. Trust and love were all she had to hold onto while the basis of her being was under scrutiny. "Her?" she ventured quietly. "The first woman you loved?"

He blew out a small sigh of breath, turning his face toward the window to watch the wreckage of his beloved city as they passed by, but not really seeing it. Instead, he saw another time, another place - bombed out London, a city populated by a people with an indomitable spirit, who refused to give up, no matter how horrible the devastation. Was it any wonder that Peggy had been English and that she was Lucy's family' "Her name was Peggy Carter. Margaret. She was an officer with the S.S.R." He left it at that for now, either to give her a moment to let that piece of information sink in or because he was too lost in the memory to continue.

Carter. What had Fury said that first day' Product of an affair conducted between Howard Stark and Elizabeth Carter. But it couldn't be the same family, could it' Lucy frowned thoughtfully, caught up in the mystery without considering the implications for now. "The S.S.R. was the division you joined, wasn't it?" she asked him curiously, thinking of the t-shirt she'd spent every night for a week wearing in bed. "I thought that was an American division."

He kept his eyes focused on the ravaged city as the ATV made its way through the streets presumably on route to S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ. "S.S.R. is what later became S.H.I.EL.D. Strategic Scientific Reserve. It was an Allied organization, not completely American. Howard Stark worked for the S.S.R. He was a..." He trailed off a moment before he continued, his voice temporarily stuck on a single word. "A friend. He and Peggy....I thought they were..." Fonduing, he thought, but she'd never understand that reference. "There was this....vessel. A lot of people were gonna get hurt if I didn't do something about it, so....I put her down in the ocean. I don't know what happened after that. When I woke up, seventy years had passed. Everyone I knew was dead. I don't know what happened after I....I don't know what Howard did after that. Life went on without me."

Everyone gone but Peggy, but she was an old woman by now, and he was still barely over twenty-three years old. "Fury never told me that Howard had any other children. He just handed me a file and told me to look it over. Catch up on the last seventy years."

Lucy frowned, saddened by the loneliness and regret in his voice as he spoke. Her fingers tightened on the hand she held wrapped in her own, her body instinctively leaning close, glad she was on his right side. "All I really know about Howard Stark is what his publicity released," she said quietly, wondering if anyone had tried to fill in the vast gaps in Steve's lifetime for him. "He built up Stark Industries from nothing, advanced technology by decades all the time. I think he was killed in a plane crash with his wife in '91." Four years after we were born, she added in the privacy of her mind. She scowled at the mention of Fury. "That man keeps a lot of secrets he doesn't have any right to."

"And Tony..." Steve broke off again, closing his eyes a moment as the faces of all those he'd once cared for drifted past his mind's eye. "I think Tony resents me. Resents all the time his father spent trying to find me. Time he should have been spending with his own son." Steve dropped his gaze finally to glance at the hand that was clasping his own, before turning to meet hers, his eyes wet with unshed tears. "When I woke up, Fury gave me a job, a purpose, but the world's changed, Luce. Everything used to be so black and white. Now it's all shades of gray, and I'm old before my time."

"Oh, please," and there was the opinionated drawl he was going to have to get used to, "Tony Stark is a selfish, spoiled little rich kid who built a soldier suit and decided to save the world while simultaneously making it a hell of a lot more dangerous all on his own. It's a bit late in the day for him to be hanging onto his daddy and using him as an excuse to be an arse." She met Steve's gaze as a snort from the driver's seat attested to the fact that she hadn't bothered to lower her voice to express that opinion. Her expression softened in the face of Steve's distress, though, and with that softening came a gentling of her tone.

"Nothing was black and white back then either, Steve," she murmured gently, speaking with the knowledge of the unlearned lessons of history. "People just didn't look at the world the way they do now. You just need to find your place here again, that's all." She inched close enough to touch her forehead to his. "I'll help you, if you want me to."

"You're always hungry," Lucy murmured, giving him a very specific look from under her eyelashes, willfully making a very good try at making him blush without being blunt or crude at all. Up front, as the ATV turned off the street and down into a partially flooded garage at the sub-basement level, Croft was busily talking into a radio. It would seem that Steve was going to be fed, though what on was another matter entirely.

"Not always," he corrected with a smile, assuming neither of them were talking about food. There was a time and a place after all, and as soon as he was healed, he was determined to put aside some time and find a place. With Croft busily chatting at the radio, Steve leaned close to press a kiss against Lucy's lips, letting her know without speaking that he still felt as passionate about her as ever, despite their separation. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, after all.

Hmm ....was that mission failed or mission accomplished" Lucy didn't care; blush or no blush, she had Steve confident enough to kiss her properly in company without worrying about her reputation or his. She smiled beneath his lips, gently teasing him into a kiss that was perhaps a little deeper than he intended, her palm smoothing tenderly from his cheek to his shoulder before she allowed the moment to end, just a littl breathless. "You're getting very good at that," she breathed to him, nestling close as the ATV came to a halt.

Croft cleared his throat tactfully, not looking at them as he spoke. "We've arrived, sir," he pointed out helpfully. "Elevators from this level are off limits due to the flooding, but we should be able to catch one from B2."

Distracted by Lucy's kisses and the brief but encouraging touch against his shoulder, he was a little slow to respond to Croft's remark, his gaze fixed on Lucy's, his mind circling back to what had set this entire trip off to begin with - the talk of marriage. "That's fine, Agent. I'm injured, not crippled. I can do stairs." He frowned a little before continuing, lowering his voice for Lucy's ears only. "Are you sure you want to do this" I can do it alone. It's not too late." He wasn't afraid for himself. What was Director Fury going to do' Fire Captain America" But he'd let his anger get the best of him, and he didn't want to force her into doing anything she didn't want to, despite their promises to do this together.

She sighed softly, feeling the unaccustomed honesty bubbling up before she could stop it. She had a feeling that lying to Steve was going to be virtually impossible, even if it was for his own good. "No, I don't want to do this," she told him quietly. "But I have to know, and ....you're probably the only person who can get those answers." She shrugged reluctantly, resting her temple against his shoulder for a moment before straightening once again. "I'm not going to let you walk in there and take heat for me, Steve."

He tipped her chin up to meet his gaze once again, rubbing his thumb against her cheek. "We're in this together, Lucy. I'm here for you and with you. No matter what we find out, my feelings for you aren't going to change. Understand me" You're stuck with me, Dr. Broderick, for better or worse." He attempted a smile, quoting part of the vows he hoped to be officially reciting to her one day soon, the sooner the better.

"Oh, I understand," she managed a smile in return, sweeping her thumb over his lips as she curled a hand to his cheek. "Don't think for a moment that anything he says is going to change how I feel about you. It just might ....put me off balance for a while, if he has proof of what he's saying." It wasn't much of a warning, but it was out there. She would talk to him about it later, when they had a chance to be alone together in privacy, in relative assurance that no one was listening in.

Steve returned the smile, a little relieved that they'd both promised not to let any of this change their feelings for each other, even if it did change their lives. He couldn't help but wonder how Tony was going to take all this, but at the moment, that was the least of his problems. "Time to face the music, I guess," he said, a little worried about how Fury was going to react to them leaving their posts to discuss what amounted to personal business.

"Shall we dance?" Lucy murmured with a vague attempt at humor as she pushed the car door open and dropped out into three inches of swirling, debris-filled water. Croft was already waiting by the access way into the shaft that contained elevator and stairs, patient and sensible enough to know that so long as he followed Steve's orders, he wouldn't be culpable for bringing them here in the first place.

"It's now or never," Steve replied, pushing open his own door to find a flood of water on the ground, but three inches was nothing, compared to what it could have been. He'd been through the muck and the water enough to find three inches undaunting. His boots splashed through the murky water as he rounded the vehicle toward Lucy, glad that the boots that had been provided as part of her uniform were practical enough to keep her feet warm and dry. They were, at least, more useful than the gun they'd provided.

Sandbags had been laid across the entryway to the access shaft, but even they had not been able to keep the floor beyond dry. Croft led them through a key-coded, locked, and guarded doorway, and into a stairwell so brightly lit it made Lucy wince and shade her eyes. Clinical lighting, she told herself. Hospitals, official buildings, army bases ....and apparently super secret service centers, too. Her hand tightened in Steve's as they descended, not at all looking forward to what had to be coming.

He felt Lucy's grip tighten on his and knew she was nervous, but whether they talked to Fury now or later, it was something that had to be discussed. The anger Steve had felt when Lucy had first told him about her parents had faded, and he almost wished he could reignite that anger before they came face to face with Director Fury, but maybe it was better to maintain a cool, calm head. Either way, they'd come too far to turn back now. One way or another, he and Lucy weren't leaving S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters until they had some answers.

Steve didn't find it necessary to mention the injury he knew Fury must know about by now, not finding it relevant. Injured or not, he'd find a way to make himself useful until he was healed and could resume his efforts in the field.

The eyebrow above Fury's eyepatch rose as he studied the pair standing in front of him, taking note of how Dr Broderick herself was keeping very quiet and very still. There was a certain amount of satisfaction in knowing that the c*cky young woman who had left here three days ago was now scared of what he, her current employer, could have done to her. "Understood, Cap. Would this be the same background Dr Broderick herself declared to be a fairy story, or have I missed something?"

Lucy's jaw set, anger flooding back in, albeit silently. How dare he imply his intention to joke about something that cut so deeply' She took a half step forward, the clench of her fingers around Steve's warning enough that her temper had been pricked.

Steve was astute enough to know that Fury's prodding would raise Lucy's hackles, and he purposely stepped in front of Lucy, holding out an arm to keep her behind him. He knew Fury wasn't going to do anything to her, so long as he wanted Steve on board, but it would only make things more difficult for both of them if Lucy flew off the handle. "If I may, I'd like to request access to her file and that of her sister's. I'd like to know if anyone has seen fit to inform Tony of this....information. I'd also like to know why this information was withheld and why Doctor Broderick and her sister were abandoned."

The eyebrow lowered, the lips offered a hint toward a smirk. "Captain, you know as well as I do that all information is given on a need to know basis," he pointed out, leaning back against the table. His eyes, however, weren't on Steve; he was watching Lucy get a grip on her temper, and wondering just what would have happened if Captain America hadn't been there to protect him from that particular Englishwoman. "Tony Stark does not need to know. He is volatile at the best of times." He studied Steve as the requests were laid out. "I cannot authorize giving you access to another agent's confidential files, Cap, especially files which were instigated at the request of a dead man. Any and all information pertaining to the doctor and her sister are contained within those files, after all."

Steve shifted his weight from one foot to the other, leaning just slightly to one side to take the pressure off his injury. His expression was slightly strained, but whether it was due to his injury or to the fact that Fury was side stepping his request was unclear. "With all due respect, sir, Howard Stark was a close personal friend, and if there is truth to this story, I need more proof than your word." There was a veiled threat hidden there somewhere, as Steve called Fury's bluff. Fury had to know that Steve had his own resources, and he wasn't above going to Tony and spilling the beans if he felt it would gain him access to the information he wanted. "If the Broderick sisters are Stark's daughters, then at the very least, there's the question of an inheritance at stake here, or should we let the courts decide that?"

Steve wasn't really interested in the money, but was using that angle to try and convince Fury to get him the information he wanted. He knew Tony would be furious, and if Fury wanted Steve to keep his mouth shut, he was going to have to do better than that. "If all of this is true, I'd say Lucy has a right to her father's file. That is a need to know basis, sir."

"Does it not occur to you, Cap, that Howard Stark may have had good reason not to want his wife and son to know he had been unfaithful enough times to produce twin girls?" Fury asked politely, finally taking his eyes off Lucy to gauge Steve's temper for himself. "I understand you are familiar with the maternal line yourself." Yes, he knew Steve could find out the truth in a different direction. But he hadn't got to where he was by folding on the first drawer. "I am sure you are quite correct, Cap, but regulations state - and have always stated, right back to the S.S.R. - that no confidential files may be handed out to anyone who does not have a direct interest in them, to wit family, medical personnel, high command, or the person to whom those files pertain. Your request is denied, Captain."

Behind Steve, Lucy's eyes narrowed as she listened to this litany of excuses, her grip on her temper failing utterly. "That is a load of claptrap, and you know it!"

Of course, he had good reason, Steve thought. He didn't want his wife or son to know about his indiscretions. Steve's lips formed a thin line and he imperceptibly reached for the table to balance and steady himself. Steve closed his eyes a moment as Lucy's temper got the best of her. "Lucy..." he said quietly to gain her attention. "Think about what he just said."

He wasn't quite sure why Fury was playing this game. Maybe he wanted to see whether Lucy would figure it out for herself, but Steve was slowly losing his patience, along with his ability to stand straight at attention much longer. Volatile. It seemed that trait ran in the family, though he hadn't completely seen Lucy's volatile side just yet.

It wasn't her name that caught her attention, or the gentle tone of Steve's voice as he used it. It was his sway, the way he reached out for balance. The doctor in her rebelled. "You need to sit down," she told Steve firmly, shutting Director Fury out of her mind for the moment. One hand gripped Steve's arm as the other pointed to the nearest chair. The look in her eyes said it all; Don't even think about arguing with me right now.

Thankfully, he made no argument, allowing Lucy to steer him toward a chair, just hoping she wouldn't do anything stupid while he sat there, unable to come between them. "Ask him for the file, Luce," he told her quietly. "You're medical personnel and you're family," he pointed out, hoping to save time and energy arguing with the man when it was clear to Steve that he'd denied his request but wouldn't deny Lucy's. Not to mention she was the person whose file he was asking for.

She met Steve's gaze with just a flicker of amusement. It seemed that when Lucy lost her temper, she was quick to cover it with humor. It didn't bear thinking about what happened when she couldn't do that, but maybe a glance at Tony Stark's temper was a step in the right direction. "I know," she murmured to him, gently laying her palm just barely against his ribs, checking for heat. Satisfied, she turned to Director Fury. "Director, I am formally requesting access to the files kept on my family - Howard Stark, Elizabeth Carter, myself, and Olivia Broderick, my sister."

Fury studied her for a moment, impressed again but this time with the way she and Steve seemed to mesh into an effective unit. He did, however, still have a trump card to play. "Your request is denied, Dr Broderick. Access to those files is restricted to official S.H.I.E.L.D. personnel only."

Fury turned back to them, that one eye that saw so much and concealed more taking the time to study man and woman closely a moment longer, deciding on the best course of action. "Are you aware, Captain, that while the Avengers did a sterling job of protecting the world during the Tesseract Incident, over a hundred civilians were killed or seriously injured?" he asked in his stern voice. "Casualties which could have been avoided if we had been prepared with more than a few unreliable Phase Two weapons. I am talking about medical and remedial care," he clarified, before the inevitable protest made itself known. "S.H.I.E.L.D. displayed a fearsome lack of preparation for the clean up. Protection goes farther than just killing the bad guy. Unfortunately, it is extremely difficult to locate and recruit medical personnel of the correct level of knowledge and experience to be able to handle such dangerous situations."

Beside Steve, Lucy groaned, realising what Fury was getting at, and slowly lowered herself into the chair next to his. "I don't believe this ..."

"I'm aware," Steve replied, narrowing his eyes at the implication, implied or otherwise, that he could have done his job better. He felt bad enough for every life that had been lost on his watch without the man having to rub salt in the wounds, but he understood what he was getting at. Steve took a lean against the table, almost as if he needed to hold his own head up. The loss of lives weighed heavily on his conscience, and Fury knew it. "It doesn't hurt that she's Stark's daughter, does it?" he pointed out, glancing at Lucy's reaction to Fury's remark, and recognizing something going on between them the pair that he didn't quite grasp.

"You may have noticed that Howard Stark's genius appears to have been handed down to his son," Fury continued in his mild tone, not even looking at Lucy, who had put her head in her hands and was attempting to pretend he wasn't about to share what she thought he was about to share. "He displays a rare aptitude for the mechanics of technology. His sister, there, has the same kind of genius, in the field of emergency medicine." He paused, giving Lucy a chance to speak. When she didn't take it, he went on.

"In 2004, a small museum in London, England, was taken over by a terrorist organisation by force. They were armed with machine guns and grenades, and they used explosives to rig the doors and windows against infiltration. The visitors and staff of that museum numbered 47 at the time of the incursion, and were subject to a good deal of violent treatment at the hands of the terrorists. 47 people were taken hostage, Captain. After 17 hours, the SAS went in and subdued the aggressors. 48 hostages came out alive and mostly in one piece, despite several horrific injuries, and they attested to the fact that it was one seventeen year old girl with no medical training or experience who had delivered a baby, set bones, and dressed wounds not only for them, but for the men who had attacked in the first place. That girl was Lucille Broderick."

Steve looked back at Fury, lifting his head from his lean and arching a slow brow as the man revealed an incident that Steve would have more than likely read about in Lucy's file had Fury allowed him to read it, as requested. He turned his glance to Lucy, knowing by her reaction that what Fury had told him was true. He wasn't overly surprised that Lucy possessed the kind of courage, intelligence, and determination to have done such a thing. Even though he'd only known her a few days, he knew enough about her to know she was capable of that and more and this seemed to be, in part, why Fury wanted her. Proof in point was the fact that he didn't seem quite as interested in her sister as he was in Lucy. He seemed to quietly consider the situation a moment. Though Steve had learned some things he hadn't previously known, Lucy still had a lot of questions. "Would you give us a moment?" he asked, the question for Fury, though his eyes were on Lucy.

The Director, surprisingly enough, didn't even consider saying no. He simply nodded, and moved away once again, returning to his contemplation of the screens on the other side of the room. A moment later, Lucy lifted her head out of her hands, her face bright red with reluctant embarrassment. "There was no need for him to have told you that," she muttered, not happy with the incident that had set her on the path to becoming a doctor being bandied about again.

"Why not?" Steve countered. "Would you rather have told me yourself" It doesn't matter, you know. Nothing he tells me will make one bit of difference." At least, not as far as his feelings for her went. He wasn't about to tell her that she was a hero, knowing she'd only insist she'd done what she had to do at the time, which was exactly what he'd have said about himself. Though he was impressed with her actions, he already knew what she was capable of. "What do you want, Lucy?" he asked bluntly, as he reached for her hand, once again cutting through the crap to get to the bottom line.

"Besides you?" she asked, folding her hand into his as he swept away everything that was cluttering the conversation to expose the raw roots. "I want my sister to be safe and kept out of this. I want to know the truth, no matter how angry it makes me." Her other hand lowered to wrap over his knuckles as she looked down at their joined hands. "He's right, you know," she sighed reluctantly. "I am pretty much made for the job he's trying to cram me into. I'm twenty-five, and I have the knowledge and qualifications of a consultant specialist when the average age for gaining that rank is the mid-thirties to forties. I don't like hospitals, but if I have to work in them, I'll choose the emergency room every time. I just don't like feeling as though I'm being cornered."

Intelligent, caring blue eyes studied hers as she laid out her feelings, her desires, going right to the heart of the matter. He knew there were other ways to find out the truth about her past, but he also knew they'd eventually end up circling back around to the question of whether or not to join S.H.I.E.L.D. at one point or another. Though it might be unofficial, they practically owned him, and if they got married, she'd more than likely end up working for them anyway, one way or another. He sighed, feeling as though they'd reached an impasse. "You're not really. There are other ways. It's just..." He glanced over at Fury, trying to keep his voice as hushed as possible. The man knew enough about them already; they deserved at least a few moments of privacy.