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"You're supposed to help me, Rogers," Maria informed him, curt and displeased, arms crossed as she stood behind her desk in the Headmaster's office. "Not make my job harder."
Steve Rogers was both teacher and trainer in the SHIELD School for the Gifted, and normally, she thought she could depend on him to carry out her policies. This time, he ground his jaw and gave her that mulishly stubborn look she was coming to recognize all too well.
"She wasn't ready for the exercise," he said. "Skye's been having difficulties all semester."
"Yes, she has," Maria answered coolly. Skye's 'difficulties' with accepting her powers once they'd put in an appearance were practically legend throughout the school by now. She was the most uncooperative of the newly manifested currently in attendance, and yet she worked the hardest to minimize any risk of her power damaging others. "Which is why she should have been required to move to proactive powers use training weeks ago. On your recommendation, I permitted her to wait until today."
"She's not ready."
Maria sighed. "Captain Rogers. Her gifts are going to continue to grow and they aren't going to wait until she's ready. It is our job to make her ready. Am I clear?"
He stiffened and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
It was quite late by the time Maria had worked through her list of students that needed immediate attention. She locked away the records when she was done and went down to the medical wing where at least one light would be on.
It wasn't a lamp, not that odd lights were unusual in this facility. The light glowed red and a low voice, thickly accented, told a story Maria probably wouldn't have recognized had it been in English.
She stopped in the doorway and looked at the injured student. Pietro's lifesigns were good, stable. Dr. Cho claimed it was only a matter of time before he recovered from the incident.
"Wanda," Maria said quietly. "You should go to bed."
The red light spiked as Wanda sent it to light the lamp and dropped her hands to Pietro's blanket. "I cannot sleep," she said at last.
"You have class in the morning." Maria hesitated then flicked on the two-way monitor on the bedstand. "You'll know if he wakes up or anything happens, and the night nurse is on duty. I promise he'll be fine without you for a few hours."
Wanda lingered a moment longer, then nodded and let Maria walk her out of the room.
Just before they went their separate ways, Wanda turned and said a quiet, "Thank you," before disappearing into the darkness.
Maria thought Wanda should hate her. But then, Wanda had always respected Pietro's right to make his own choices, even whether or not to follow orders or step in the line of someone else's fire.
"I need something stronger." Maria waved away Pepper's offer of hot chocolate.
Pepper raised her eyebrows, looking mildly amused as she started in on the beverage herself. "Long day?"
"Lincoln overloaded the generators in the boys dorm," Maria informed her. "They're out of power until he can figure out how to fix it."
Pepper winced. Fixing the messes they caused usually always took longer than anyone really liked. "At least he didn't burn down the kitchen."
Maria sighed as she sat down at the breakfast nook table with her cocktail. "No, only all the wiring. Your husband's threatening to indenture all of them into servitude to pay for whatever supplies it'll take."
"They'd remember it at least." Pepper gave that longsuffering look and smile she usually directed toward Tony when he wasn't deserving of much, much worse.
Maria swore she only kept the man around for the convenient maintenance work a mechanical genius could provide and Pepper. Mostly Pepper.
"I'll talk to him," Pepper promised. "So." She settled in across from Maria. "What's really bothering you?"
Maria opened her mouth, then closed it, then smiled and shook her head. "I think I'll handle my own problems tonight. You go get some sleep."
"With my annoying husband?" Pepper asked with all due affection.
Speaking of annoying husbands...
"Yes," Maria agreed.
"Took you long enough," Steve mumbled sleepily as she crawled into bed beside him.
She didn't answer at first. There was too much to say and nothing at all to say.
Finally, he rolled over, flicked on the small lamp, and sat up to look at her. "Maria?"
She sighed. "I just want to sleep for four hours before I wake up with twenty new hungover Alicias."
"Or Pietro setting fire to the carpet?" Steve asked, that faint wry humor in his tone that had always been so endearing.
She smiled as she stared at the ceiling, lost in memory for a moment. "I don't think he's up to that." The smile faded as she remembered Wanda's fitful sleep and restless vigils. "Not yet."
Steve said nothing for a long moment. He had opposed that exercise too, and she had overruled him. Twenty newly manifested gifteds, and none of them had enough control over their own powers that she could feel comfortable with them off-campus for a cup of coffee.
"It's not your fault," Steve finally said.
Maria looked at him instead of the ceiling. "Don't condescend to me, Rogers."
"I'm not," he replied. "I'm—"
"Offering comfort? Reassurance? They're alive, Steve. They're alive because they can learn how to handle going down while they're here where it's safe and we can help them." She swallowed down the hard feeling in her throat. Not all of her classmates were still alive. Gifteds who did not get training died or committed manslaughter every year, month, week.
His voice softened a little. "Maria."
She rolled her head over to look at him. She didn't really want to fight.
"I don't blame you for making the tough choices," he said. "Just maybe remember they're not soldiers yet."
She smiled softly. "Like you are?"
"Just following orders, ma'am."
"Like you did today?"
He sighed. "Like I will tomorrow."
She nodded curtly. Their whole marriage was a series of compromises and listening to each other's tactical advice in the greater goal they shared alike. "I'll have Sam make sure she's okay before we run her through a crowd scenario."
He kissed the side of her head gently. "Thank you."
Maria paused as an amusing thought hit her. "On second thought, I'll have Andrew do it."
"Oh?" Steve drew her down under the covers and reached out for the light. "Why Andrew?"
"She'll be in a wonderful mood if she can get blackmail stories out of him about Melinda."
Steve's hand paused on the switch. "And how are you going to get him to agree?"
"He's been wanting you to cook for him," Maria replied promptly. It wasn't exactly a secret who lit the kitchen on fire last Valentine's Day before stoically and calmly putting said fire out with admirable emergency handling skills. "I think eggplant parmesan and I get the leftovers."
Steve sighed as he turned out the lamp. "Yes, ma'am."