Don't You Worry Child

Hallelujah

Chapter Summary:  Fury's funeral has Samantha finally breakdown but she refuses to stay down for long; Grant Ward has a surprise in store for Samantha and Steve.

Soundtrack: Hallelujah by Alexandra Burke

 Samantha tossed clothes out of her suitcase like it was going out of style. Why didn't she have anything to wear? She threw a shoe behind her, a black patent leather kitten heel, and Steve had to duck as he walked into the room from the bathroom they shared in this hotel room – the same one they'd stayed in for Peggy's funeral. "Why am I having a shoe thrown at my head?" he asked confused.

Samantha continued to toss clothes out of her suitcase as she yelled "I have nothing to wear for this funeral!" Maybe she was being melodramatic but she didn't really care, Steve wrapped his arms around her as her body was wracked with sobs as tears finally started to stream down her cheeks. She'd been holding them in, holding everything together since the day she'd discovered Fury's body. The stress of that combined with the trial finally seemed to make her crack, in a hotel with only her fiancé to see. She was glad that only Steve could see her like this.

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The outfit she'd eventually decided on was pretty yet conservative, perfect for a funeral. With Steve's help, Samantha had settled for a black silk blouse, a black pencil skirt – God she was getting sick of having to wear those – and black patent leather kitten heeled slingbacks, the same ones that had almost hit Steve in the head that morning. As she took to the podium in front of her late boss' grave, her hands shook with grief "When I first met Nick Fury, I was a teenager and he offered me a job. No resume, no questions asked, no evidence that I might be loyal to the organisation he led, just knowledge of who my father was and the fact that I tried to help him out of a sticky situation. That was the kind of guy Nick Fury was – trustworthy. You could tell him anything and chances are, if you'd told him not to tell – unless what you'd told him was of importance to national security or something like that – he wouldn't tell. Now, he went on about his trust issues, the types of people who had given him those trust issues but he didn't have them – not really anyway. Nick Fury was tough as nails. If you did him wrong be prepared to get hauled over the coals for it and more. Yet still, he was one of those people who cared, really cared. There aren't too many of those left. I remember when I first started back at S.H.I.E.L.D, he used to call me into his office just to make sure that I was okay and that I wasn't making plans to kill my then ex-boyfriend. That was just who he was though; kind, honest and a take no prisoners kind of guy," she said, teary-eyed "He was... he was a good man, one of the best men I've ever had the fortune to know and I'm sad – so unbelievably sad – to see that he's gone," she added before leaving the podium.

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The balcony of her father's hotel room was oddly quiet given that there was a wake going on. Still, everyone was inside and, for whatever reason, she needed the peace to organise her thoughts. She couldn't stand in there and listen to everyone reminisce about Fury when the last thing she had said to him – even if it wasn't the real him – was that he was toxic. She leant out over the balcony, thinking about what she'd said to the person she'd thought was Fury when she heard "God, Dad would have loved this view," It was Miranda. Samantha turned to face her and smiled politely.

"Balconies always were his go to spot at a party, never did find out why," Samantha replied, a small smile on her face.

"Were you two... close?" Miranda asked and Samantha couldn't quite tell what was being implied. She didn't even know what Fury had been to her. She knew that – at the end, before she discovered his body – he was the enemy, she knew that she'd seen him as her boss for a long while but anything more... she didn't know.