Steve went to a PTSD meeting and dragged a less-than-enthusiastic Michaela with him.
Sam was counseling other veterans.
A female war veteran said, "The thing is I think it's getting worse. A cop pulled me over last week, he thought I was drunk. I swerved to miss a plastic bag. I thought it was an IED."
"Some stuff you leave there, other stuff you bring back," Sam told the group. "It's our job to figure out how to carry it. Is it gonna be in a big suitcase or in a little man-purse? It's up to you."
After the meeting, Steve and Michaela waited for Sam as he finished saying goodbye to the veterans.
"I'll see you next week," the female veteran said.
"Yeah," Sam answered.
"Yeah."
Sam walked over to Steve and Michaela and said, "Look who it is. The running man and the running woman."
"Caught the last few minutes," Steve replied. "It's pretty intense."
"Yeah, brother, we all got the same problems. Guilt, regret."
"You lose someone?" Michaela asked, biting back her own emotion.
"My wingman, Riley. Flying a night mission. Standard PJ rescue op, nothing we hadn't done a thousand times before, till RPG knock Riley's dumb ass out of the sky. Nothing I could do. It's like I was up there just to watch."
"I'm sorry," Steve and Michaela apologized.
"After that, I had a really hard time finding a reason for being over there, you know?"
"But you're happy now, back in the real world?" Steve asked.
"Hey, the number of people giving me orders is down to about zero. So, hell, yeah. You two thinking about getting out?"
"No. I don't know. To be be honest, I don't know what I would do with myself if I did."
Michaela shrugged. "I was never in. Even though I'm friends with him." She pointed to Steve.
Sam smiled before saying, "Ultimate fighting?" Steve laughed and Michaela chuckled. "It's just a great idea off the top of my head. But seriously, you could do whatever you want to do. What makes you happy? What about you, Mick? What makes you happy?"
Michaela shrugged as she and Steve said, "I don't know."
"Being a doctor doesn't make you happy?"
"No, it does, I-I just feel like something's missing," Michaela admitted softly. Or someone.
---
That night, Michaela made her way back into the apartment she and Steve shared. Living together saved money, and the two didn't have to worry about the risk of romance as they were more like brother and sister.
As Michaela put away dishes, she heard music start playing and quietly grabbed the bat she kept in the hallway.
Steve, meanwhile, cautiously entered through the window and grabbed his shield for protection.
The two found Fury sitting on the couch in the dark.
"Mick and I don't remember giving you a key," Steve said.
"You really think I'd need one?" Fury replied. "My wife kicked me out."
"Didn't know you were married," Steve and Michaela replied.
"A lot of things you two don't about me."
"Mick and I know, Nick," Steve answered. "That's the problem." As Steve turned on the light, he and Michaela noticed Fury's injuries for the first time, but Fury indicated for them to be silent. He turned off the light and wrote something on his phone and showed it to Steve and Michaela; 'ears everywhere'. "I'm sorry to have to do this, but I had no place else to crash." He wrote another text and showed it to Steve and Michaela; S.H.I.E.L.D. compromised'.
"Who else knows about your wife?" Michaela asked and Fury showed them another text; 'You two and me'.
"Just... my friends."
"Is that what we are?" Steve asked.
"That's up to you two." Suddenly, Fury was shot three times from through the wall and collapsed. Steve and Michaela looked out the window for the shooter, then they quickly dragged Fury to the next room. Before they left, Fury handed him the flash drive. "Don't... trust anyone." Fury passed out. Steve and Michaela heard someone breaking into their apartment and heard their neighbor calling out to them.
"Captain Rogers? Angel?" Sharon Carter called. Steve and Michaela saw her walking in with her gun pointed. "Captain, Angel, I'm Agent 13 of S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Service."
"Kate?" Steve and Michaela called.
"I'm assigned to protect you two."
"On whose order?"
She noticed Fury lying injured on the ground and replied, "His." She went to Fury then contacted S.H.I.E.L.D. through her radio. "Foxtrot is down, he's unresponsive. I need EMTs."
"Do you have a twenty on the shooter?" a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent asked and Steve and Michaela noticed the shooter though the window.
"Tell him we're in pursuit." Steve and Michaela smashed through their window and ran after the assassin, who was the same mysterious man that had exploded Fury's car. The two chased him through an office building smashing through the walls. When they finally caught up with him on the roof Steve threw his shield at the assassin, but he caught it with one swift move, then threw it back to Steve and jumped down the building and disappeared.
Michaela frowned, having seen the man's eyes for a mere second. She didn't dare hold onto hope, but maybe, just maybe, hope was on her side.
---
Natasha went to the hospital and met up with Steve and Michaela. They watched doctors operating on Fury.
"Is he gonna make it?" Natasha asked.
"I don't know," Steve and Michaela admitted.
"Tell me about the shooter."
"He's fast and strong," Michaela answered.
"Had a metal arm," Steve added. Just then, Agent Maria Hill joined them.
"Ballistics?" Natasha questioned.
"Three slugs, no rifling," Maria replied. "Completely untraceable."
"Soviet-made."
"Yeah." Suddenly, they watched in shock as Fury's state deteriorated.
"He's in V-tach," a male nurse informed.
"Crash cart coming in," the female nurse said.
"Nurse, help me with the drape," the doctor stated.
"BP is dropping," the male nurse warned.
"Defibrillator!" Steve, Michaela, Natasha and Hill watched in shock as Fury was flatlining. "I want you to charge him at one hundred."
"Don't do this to me, Nick," Natasha muttered.
"Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear!" Fury was given a shock with the defibrillator. "Pulse?"
"No pulse," the male nurse said.
"No pulse," another doctor repeated.
"Okay, the first doctor said. "200, please. Stand back! Three, two, one. Clear!" Fury was given another shock. "Give me epinephrine! Pulse?"
"Negative," the male nurse stated.
"Don't do this to me, Nick," Natasha muttered again. "Don't do this to me."
The four watched the doctors as they continued to revive Fury but Fury was still showing as flatlining. Steve and Michaela turned away as they finally called his time of death.
"What's the time?" the doctor asked.
"1:03, Doctor," the female nurse replied.
"Time of death, 1:03 a.m." Steve and Michaela looked down at the flash drive Fury had given them.
---
Natasha, Michaela and Steve were in a room where Fury's dead body had been laid out. Natasha was looking at Fury's body with tears running down her face.
Hill joined them and said, "I need to take him."
Steve and Michaela went over to Natasha and called, "Natasha." She didn't respond. Instead, she tenderly touched Fury's head then turned and walked out. Steve and Michaela followed her. "Natasha!"
"Why was Fury in your apartment?" Natasha asked.
"I don't know." They were interrupted by Rumlow.
"Cap, they want you back at S.H.I.E.L.D.," Rumlow said. "You too, Miss Evans."
"Yeah, give us a second," Steve replied.
"They want you two now."
"Okay." Steve and Michaela turned to Natasha.
"You two are terrible liars," Natasha told them before she turned and walked off.
Sitwell, on an earpiece, said, "STRIKE team, escort Captain Rogers and Miss Evans back to S.H.I.E.L.D. immediately for questioning."
"I told them," Rumlow replied.
Steve noticed the vending machine next to him and Michaela, then the two walking towards Rumlow.
"Let's go," Steve and Michaela said.
"Yeah," Rumlow replied, turning to the agents. "STRIKE, move it out." As they left, Steve had hidden the flash drive behind a pack of Hubba Bubba gum in the vending machine.