stormbird. ( steve rogers, rewriting! )

eight.

After everyone had cleared out of the command room, I followed Director Fury to the infirmary. There was a doctor waiting there already, syringe in hand, ready to give me my daily injection.

I should probably explain. A little while back, maybe 5 or so years ago, I was on a mission with Nat and Clint, in Hong Kong, China. We were tracking the whereabouts of China's most successful drug lord. We broke into one of his warehouses, guns blazing, trying to recover some stolen files and a hostage agents he had taken, trying to exchange the agents life with immunity from the American government and Shield.

As you can probably tell now, we weren't keen on the deal. After we had gone in, guns blazing, Natasha and Clint had gone to recue the hostage agent, Agent Thompson, and I had gone to recover the files, and various USB's.

After doing all that, and destroying their databases as a bonus, I met Natasha, Clint, and Greg Thompson at the rendezvous point at the entrance.

-- Flashback --

"I got it!" I screamed, running up to them, pushing aside some of the guards with a gust of wind. "Good, lets get going!" Clint yelled. He and Nat were supporting Greg Thompson's unconscious body between them. He was one of the taller, buffer agents we had.

"Okay, lets- Look out!" I screamed. I pushed the three of them to the side as I saw two guards get up and fire. They landed three feet away, and had I not pushed them with my air ability, two of them would have been dead.

I tried to duck and cover myself, but I was still hit. Not fatally, thank God. There was a graze on the side of my head, and the a bullet in my shoulder.

I fell to the ground, blacking out as my head hit the hard pavement, Nat and Clint's yells filling my ears.

I woke up four days later with a barely healed shoulder and a pounding headache, the prospect of physical therapy making me groan.

As if that wasn't bad enough, Director Fury and Dr. Laura came in. "Shay, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news," Dr. Laura said, sitting down. "But you have anemia. Its a result from your incredible blood loss, and as a result of your somewhat unstable diet of late, you weren't producing enough blood cells." She says.

"Also, because of your rare blood type, AB-, we do not currently have any blood donors as of right now. You are iron and vitamin deficient, your tests have shown us that much."

She held up a syringe. "This is an iron injection. You will have to get one everyday if possible for you to remain healthy. We can give you some pills to increase your vitamin intake." She injected the iron injection into my right arm as I processed the information.

-- End of Flashback --

Five years later, still taking a daily iron injection and a colorful array of vitamins of all shapes, sizes, and colors.

"How do you feel?" The doctor asked me as she injected the iron. "Fine." I replied coolly. "You do know I can do this by myself, correct?" I asked. She nodded. "Yes ma'am, but I'm also here to discuss some things with you."

"My name is Agent Simmons." she said, extending her hand. I shook it, replying, "Agent Elrend. What is it we need to discuss?" I asked as politely as I could.

"Well," She began. "You seem stable, actually. You're condition hasn't gotten worse, and you're on less medication than when you first started out, which is great. We haven't had to amp up your iron injection, but we haven't been able to lessen it either."

"So, we can't really do anything except continue the same treatment you've been undergoing, and just hope for the best." She said. I nodded, slipping off the table. "If that's all Agent Simmons..."

"That's all ma'am." She replied formally. "Please, call me Shay. If not Shay, then Agent Elrend. Only the Captain can get away with calling me ma'am, and that's only because he comes from the 40's, so I'm cutting him some slack." I said.

She laughed lightly. "Yes, of course Shay." She emphasized on the 'Shay' part. I smiled, starting to walk out. "Have a nice day Simmons!" I yelled over my shoulder.

Fury walked up to me as I exited the infirmary room. "You're still not going to tell them?" He asked me. I shook my head. "Barton, Romanoff and Thompson will try to take responsibility for it." I said. "They'll say some crap about if I hadn't saved them, then I wouldn't have this condition."

"And honestly, knowing all of them, I'll get nothing but pitying looks, which I've never appreciated, as you know." I said. He nodded.

"I understand your reluctance to tell them Agent Elrend, but if something were to happen to you-"

"But nothing will." I interjected, crossing my arms. "I'll be fine. You cannot tell anyone, especially Nat, Clint, and Coulson."

"Can't tell me what?"

I turned and saw Phil standing behind me, coffee in one hand, stack of files in the other. "Nothing!" I replied. He raised an eyebrow.

"Shay...."

"You should tell him Shay." Fury said behind me. "Simmons, Dr. Laura, and I don't have to be the only ones to know." He turned and walked down the hallway, leaving Coulson and I standing face to face.

"You can tell me Shay, you know that." He said, walking closer to me. I sighed. "Not here." I grabbed his wrist and pulled him to my room, where I shut the door firmly.

He sat on the chair in front of the desk, and I sat parallel to him, on the edge of my bed. "What is it Shailene?" He asked. Oh, he really wants to know. He only uses my full name when he REALLY wants me to tell him something, or if he's really pissed at me.

I took a deep breath. "Five years ago, Barton, Romanoff and I went on the mission to Hong Kong to recover stolen Shield files and to rescue Agent Thompson." I say. Phil nods, putting the coffee and files on my desk. "I remember."

"I was shot in the shoulder and my head was grazed on the right side. When I woke up four days later, Dr. Laura told me that I had anemia, caused by iron and vitamin deficiency. Ever since then, I've been on this carnival colored array of vitamins." I pulled open the drawer on my bedside table and gestured to the various pill containers.

"Blue for vitamin A." I said, pulling out a tablet container of blue pills and putting on the bedside.

"Cream for vitamin B."

"Orange for vitamin C."

"This weird gold type color for vitamin D."

"Some white fiber pills."

"And, a thing of red anti-depressants, which I don't know why I have." I placed all the tablet containers on the bedside, swamping the small surface.

"Every agent of your caliber has anti-depressants." Coulson said. I raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.

"And I have these wonderful bad boys too." I pulled out an already loaded syringe and put it on the table. "That's my iron injection."

Phil looked at the bedside, then back at me. "Why didn't you want to tell me about them?" He asked. "I didn't want anyone to know, not just you." I said. "Especially not Nat, Clint, or Thompson. Knowing them, they'd only blame themselves."

Coulson nodded. "I understand Shay. I'm not upset." I smiled, and hugged him gratefully. "Thanks Phil." I said. He hugged me back lightly, patting my back gently.

"Go on now," He said, pulling away and standing. "You should head to the lab. I think Stark and Banner might need you there to keep things sane."