Confessions
It was very early when Scott heard a knock on his bunk door, rousing him from the semi-coniuos state he’d been in.
“Who’s there?”
“Daisy”
“Who’s the 40th president?”
“Ronald Regan” She stood with her arms crossed.
“I wanted to be sure you were you and not… well the other you.”
“Very funny”
“Well, I try.”
“Well, I can’t sleep. And I’m guessing you can’t ether.”
“You caught me.” He said, sitting up.
“It’s just… can we talk?” She asked him
“That’s what we’re doing, isn’t it.”
“No.. I mean about us. About what happened?”
“We talked earlier, remember. What’s there left to talk about? We did the deed and moved on with our lives.”
“No, I don’t think we have….”
Scott sighed in agreement. “No, you’re right. If we’d moved on, we wouldn’t have been yelling like that. God, how do ‘friends with benefits’ types do this? They sleep with each other like it’s nothing. We get roped into this against our will and we can’t get over it.”
“Before we go any further, I want to know how long you’ve had a crush on me.” She asked him
“You knew?”
“Kinda obvious. Every time I came into your little shop back at the Playground you started stammering and rambling. You have a hard time even looking me in the eyes.”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
“Try me…”
“Ok, honesty time. All cards on the table.”
“Sounds fair.”
“Daisy… since I first saw you, to be honest. Way, way back at The Hub. You were pinned to the wall by your bracelet. I though the yelling fit was especially cute.”
“You worked at the Hub?”
“Yes, yes I did. Hell, I had to clean up the mess you two left.”
“The hack I had Simmons do to find Fitz and Ward?”
“Director Fury was both pissed and impressed. He told me he wished they’d found you sooner.”
“Found me?”
“To recruit you as an agent. And I quote, and sanitize ‘What the heck was she doing living in a friggen van in an alley if she was this darn good!?!’ You can fill in the rest.”
“How do you know that? You knew the director personally?”
Scott ran his hands over his face. “Shut the door and press the orange button.”
Daisy did so, and sat down next to him on the bed.
“You know how in the old days, agents had numbered levels?”
Daisy nodded.
“Do you know what my level was?”
“Four I think”
“No, like Fitz-Simmons, I was a five. However, that was only on paper. I was in what was known amongst ourselves as ‘Level Zero.”
Scott at that moment heard a thud followed by muffled whispering. He got up and opened the door. Fitz-Simmons, having been leaning up against the door evesdropping, suddenly found themselves falling forwards onto the floor.
“Yes, Level Zero was real,” Scott told them, deadpan “now go back to sleep.”
The married couple sheepishly got up and walked back to the bedroom.
“Note to self, soundproofing doesn’t work. Where was I?” He said, sitting back down “Level Zero was a sort of a special, unofficial, internal security division, we reported directly to Director Fury. Our job was to look for bad seeds in our various departments. Our security clearance was much higher than it was supposed to be. We were privy to a lot of stuff even the best agents didn’t know. I knew about Project T.A.H.I.T.I. and what happened to Coulson after he died. I knew where the Playground was ahead of time. I knew there was something important on the Illiad. When all hell broke loose, not only did I know Fury was still alive, I was with him when they found Fitz and Simmons in the ocean.”
“So you do know Fury personally.”
“What can I say? I really don’t like to toot my horn, but I’m a legacy.”
“Your parents were in SHIELD?”
“And my grandfather, Kent Riley. He was an early agent. Knew both Howard Stark and Peggy Carter personally. Trained under the surviving Howling Commandos. Never stops talking about it… When I told him I was joining up, he was over the moon. When I said I was assigned to IT, he didn’t speak to me for two weeks. He nearly missed seeing me off to the academy…”
“Wow. That’s harsh.”
“He kinda looks down on anyone not in the field. He’s old, they get that way. I should introduce you two sometime, he’d go on about how field work went in his day till your ears bleed. When I told him I’d been made a field agent, he actually, honest to God, fainted.”
“Wow… Do you mind if I ask? Is he?”
“He’s positive for the genes but never underwent the process.”
“Mom and Dad”
He shook his head. “same. I’m of Inhuman heritage on both sides, but the only members of the family with powers are myself and Barty, and he’s my third cousin.”
“Daisy, you are the only person aside from Fury and Coulson in the whole world who knows all this now. I never even told Director Mace, partly because I didn’t trust him as far as I could throw him and you’ve seen how far I can throw things. You have to promise me you will do your absolute to keep this to yourself.”
She nodded before asking “Was May Level Zero? She was keeping track of Coulson.”
“No, she was just reporting back to Fury as more of a babysitter. We looked after whole departments.”
“Wow… So you spied on spies.”
“Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodies?” he said “Who watches the watchmen?’ Basically we were supposed to be Fury’s eyes and ears in the rank and file. Problem was, Hydra was a step ahead of him. The others all died before they began their assault. I was the only one to survive. Can I tell you something a bit personal? I actually spent those weeks, on the run with Fury and the others, trying to get away from General Talbot and company, hoping you were OK. Same when you guys disapaeared into the future, when I was trying to keep one step ahead of Hale and that Darth Emo of a daughter of her’s... When Hive grabbed you, I wanted nothing more than to go chase down and kill the son of bitch myself. But I knew there was a risk he’d take me two.”
“Why have you never said anything about how you felt before?”
“I still was just a repair technician. As a Zero, I worked for Fury personally. Once he went completely dark, I was just another SHIELD agent, my job was to fix things. You spent your time chasing down bad guys, I spent mine chasing down faulty wiring. I didn’t think you’d pay attention to someone like me. I didn’t think I could compete with guys like Lincoln. Hell, when Coulson asked me what I wanted for going on the mission to save Barty, I was only kidding when I asked for a date with you. I was testing him on how serious the situation was. I thought he would offer me double the money I asked for or a better promotion. Honestly, all I really wanted was full field agent status without having to spill the beans to anyone else. I didn’t think he’d actually set me up with you.”
“Wait, what? I went out with you because you asked. Remember? We were walking away from the scene and you said ‘Wanna grab a drink? I know a great little hole in the wall with some awesome pinball machines.”
“I thought you…So, If I’d just…”
“Maybe… I mean, once I got to know you as more than ‘the cute guy downstairs I take my laptop to when I accidently quake it to bits and don’t have time to fix it myself’. I do have to admit, watching you throw that tanker truck across the parking lot… That was pretty cool.”
“Coming from you, I’m a bit speechless.”
The two sat silently for a few moments.
“You know,” Scott told her “you’ve spent a lot of time getting me to open up without contributing.”
“Well, I mean, you know my story. Everyone does. I just wanted to know you better. I guess... There were a lot of holes in my search of your background.”
“You were goggling me, weren’t you…”
“I haven’t had a lot of luck with guys. Most of them had issues at best and were downright psychotic at worst. OK? I wanted to know the kind of guy I had been unwillingly hooked up with in case….”
“In case?” Scott asked, puzzled.
“I…” She stammered,
“We agreed, Cards on the table” Scott reminded her.
“My period was late the next month.” She said “I was worried I was pregnant.”
Scott sat there for a minute, before simply saying “I see. You wanted to be sure you didn’t have an asshole, or worse, for a baby daddy…”
“I don’t mean…” She started.
“No. No. I understand completely. That’s fair.”
“I know we both… want to know if… If what happened… between us… meant something.” She said, still stammering to the point of tears.
“It probably doesn’t.”
“Then why didn’t we stop?”
“We were caught up in the moment. We were so… aroused we didn’t realize we were back to normal until afterwards…”
“Did we? Or did we continue because we enjoyed it? Because we wanted it.”
“I don’t know.”
“I think we both know one way to find out…”
“I guess so…”
The two then threw themselves at each other.
Several hours later...
“Scott… Scott… wake up” a voice yelled, rousing him from his sleep. He climbed out of bed, tossed on his pants and opened the door. Jemma was standing there in a bathrobe. “It’s Daisy, she’s not here, and her bed is cold like she never slept in it. She…”
It was at this point Jemma noticed Daisy, naked and groggily waking up in Scott’s bed, followed by noticing both of their clothes strewn on the floor. “OH… Oh God… Ok… Well never mind…” And she scurried off.
“What was that?” Daisy asked, yawning.
“Your overprotective best friend…”
He sat down on the bed. She pulled herself up to him and the two kissed again.
“You find any answers?” She asked
“No, how about you?”
“Nope. Maybe we should try looking again sometime…” She said, wrapping the blanket around herself, picking up her stuff and heading for her bunk.
At this point, Skye appeared, clutching her head again. “Holy Crap… did you guys just…?”
“You know,” Scott said deadpan “if we ever find a way to go to your reality, I am so gonna pester your wife about your sex life…”