Old flames
OH SHIT. I realized that I was officially stuck. Trying to hide myself so that she would recognize me, would be even more suspicious. So, I just turned around, put my phone to my ear and started speaking to nobody with a squeaky voice, so she wouldn't know.
I 'talked' on the phone for about 3 minutes. Interrupted by a hand on my shoulder, I turned around, thinking it was Mel. Instantly regretting it.
"Phil?"
I looked around, internally sighing.
"Hey, Audrey."
"Oh my God." She put her arms around me and kissed me. I pushed her away.
"Uh, I'm sorry, I,-" I followed her eyesight, which landed on my ring.
"Oh." She slightly frowned, "You're married?"
I sighed, "Yes. I am. A few months now."
"Oh." She softly smiled, "Who is she?"
I bit my lip, "Melinda." Audrey had met her more than once. Their relationship was like Phil and Andrew's. Short. They hated each other but never showed it. Audrey had asked him if there was something going on between them, a few times.
"I knew you loved her."
"I,-"
"Phil!" Melinda called out as she walked towards us, with a coffee in her hand.
She looked up when she reached us, "Audrey."
Audrey smiled back, "Agent May, good to see you."
Melinda handed me my coffee, shooting a look that said 'What the hell is going on?' And walked back to the counter to get her tea and two muffins.
"How far long is she?" Audrey pulled me back.
"How, how did you know?"
"I can tell."
I nodded, "about 6 weeks."
"First pregnancy is always hard."
"It's not first, it's,-" I sighed, "third."
"Did she have two miscarriages?"
"One." I smiled, "We have a 27 year old daughter at home."
"Oh, well. OK. I gotta go. My flight is booked for 2 and I don't wanna be late."
"Of course."
I stood there, just thinking after she left. Not knowing my surroundings, I flinched when Mel said, "She gone?"
I nodded, "Yep. Left when I told her we have a 27 year old daughter."
She snorted, "Of course, she did."
"Let's eat. I'm starving. And also eating for two."
"Yes, you are."
We ate in silence until Melinda broke the silence, "I was thinking, we should take a break."
I raised an eyebrow, "From S.H.I.E.L.D. Not that long. Just a week." She sighed, "Andrew emailed me those two tickets to Mauii a few weeks ago, as the wedding present from him."
"It's not a bad idea."
"No, it isn't."
"I agree. We should take the break. I can ask Daisy to take over for a week and if she doesn't want to, Bobbi will do it."
"We can ask Daisy if she wants to come along too. But I was hoping it would just be us."
"Oh?"
She sighed, "Don't get me wrong. It's nice to have Layla back. But it isn't any different than before. We still call her Daisy. Which makes sense. But come on, you have to agree that we haven't had a good vacation since forever."
"Yeah, like 25 years."
"Exactly."
"Let's do it, then."
She nodded, and resumed eating her muffin.
We finished eating and disposed of the the garbage.
"Let's call Daisy."
Melinda called Daisy's personal phone and put it on speaker once we got back to our room.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Daisy."
"Mom? You guys good?"
"Yes, Daisy, we're good."
"Daisy, we called to ask you if it would be fine if we went away for a few days. You're obviously welcome to come. But we were wondering if you'd be fine with being in-charge for a week."
"Uh, yeah. That's fine. I'd say yes to the invitation but I know you guys have been through hell and back. So you guys need some time together."
"Thank you, Daisy."
"No problem. So, when are you leaving?"
"Uh, tomorrow. We'll just leave from the apartment. You can come by if you want to in the evening. I will have to prepare some notes for you so you can easily take over."
"Awesome. Look, I got to go. Call you later?"
"Yeah. Okay. Bye."
I ended the call and handed the phone back to Melinda.
She fell down onto my lap and looked at me.
"We're going to be parents again."
"We are."
"You okay?"
"Yeah. I'm good. Don't worry." I sent a reassuring smile her way. She nodded.
"I'm tired."
"It's only been an hour."
"I'm carrying a tiny human. You really wanna do that?"
"You're right. I'm sorry."
She rolled her eyes and mumble what I heard as 'idiot' as she layer down on the bed.
"Ha. Your idiot."
I went outside the hotel, down to the apartment so I could work on making the plans for Daisy without disturbing Melinda.
I settled down in the Living room once I got there. Sighing, I got up and made some coffee. I worked on the plans for about 3 hours before my phone rang. Melinda. I answered the phone after the second ring, a worried Melinda answered, "PHIL!? Where are you?"
"I'm fine, Melinda. Just came down to your apartment to work on the plans for Daisy."
"You should've told me."
"I left a note on your forehead."
"You DID WHAT!?" I heard shuffling from her side, probably looking for the note on her head. Sighing, I gave up.
"It's on the bedside table."
"I'm going to kill you."
I scoffed, "I'll be there in two minutes." I smiled, "You can kill me all you want when I'm there."
Once I got to our hotel room, the sight broke my heart. Melinda was sobbing on the bed while holding a box of Kleenex.
"Mel? What,- What's wrong?"
"You said kill you again. It was worse than Bahrain the first time. I can't do that fucking thing. I can't kill you. Not again. Because it breaks me every single time, even if it's just a broken arm or something you're stressing about." She wiped a stray tear, "These hormones are fucking me up."
I pulled her closer to me and rubbed a pattern on her back. "Shh, Melinda. I'm fine. Focus on my heartbeat. Match it."
I could feel her heart slow down as her sobs decreased into whimpers and soon stopped. "You want some water?"
She nodded, and I reached out to the glass of water on the bedside table.
"Wanna talk about it?"
"Just a sec."
She finished her water and handed me the empty glass, which I kept on the table.
"I,-When you died the first time, I became a murder bot. I went back into the field for a week. I drank a lot. I blocked everyone and everything out. I,- I almost committed suicide. I thought better of it though. I went to your apartment because I was in your will. I couldn't empty it. I couldn't,- couldn't sell our memories. It was worse than Bahrain. It was literal hell. So, I kept the apartment and registered it as a safe house for S.H.I.E.L.D. Only for people I could trust. After all that, I became an alcoholic. I used alcohol to get rid of that empty feeling in my heart." I sniffed, "I became an emotionless kill bot."
"Oh, god, Mel." I hugged her and kissed her forehead. We sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Melinda scoffed.
"These hormones are fucking me up."
"Maybe."
"Love you, you know."
"Me too."