First Words
So, Montclair wasn’t too bad when it wasn’t pouring down rain. The place was nice, and his neighbors were all harmless according to the extensive background checks SHIELD put them all through.
However, despite the fact that he wasn’t too upset about being relocated to New Jersey anymore, he was still dealing with the fact that he had a baby to take care of. He read every single parenting book he could get his hands on. He read articles to learn what he should and shouldn’t do, he read about how (Y/N) should be developing and the time frame for each development.
The first few weeks were met with little sleep and a lot of irritation. (Y/N) seemed to be nocturnal, not wanting to sleep at night and wanting to sleep the day away. It took him weeks to get her on a somewhat normal sleeping schedule.
Changing diapers was something he never imagined himself doing, but he was now a master at doing it. He had even learned to put (Y/N)’s hair in pigtails every once in a while when she wasn’t too fidgety.
Even though he had been living with the baby for four months now, he still couldn’t actually see her as his. Legally, (Y/N) was his daughter, but she didn’t feel like his daughter. So far, it just felt like a really long babysitting gig that he wasn’t getting paid for.
He went to leave the kitchen, having finished his morning coffee, only for someone to knock on the door. On instinct, he recalled exactly where his gun was hidden in a safe in the living room. He headed for the door, peering through the peephole to see that Fury was standing on his front porch. Coulson quickly opened the door to reveal the director of SHIELD.
“Morning,” Fury greeted as he strolled inside.
“Good morning, sir.” Coulson replied as he shut the door. “Um…any reason for the visit?”
"Just checking in on you.” Fury answered. “How goes parenthood?”
Coulson sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. “Well, I mean…it’s alright I guess. I’m still getting used to it.”
Fury smirked, “It’s been four months.”
“A very long four months.” Coulson muttered, crossing his arms. “I’m not sure how well this is working out, sir.”
“I have all the faith in the world that you have this handled, Phil.” Fury stated sincerely. “I’m assuming the neighbors are buying the single father story?”
“Yes, sir.” Coulson nodded. Faintly, he could hear that (Y/N) was babbling in her room. She was awake, and would probably be getting cranky for breakfast soon.
Coulson made his way to the nursery with Fury following him. Once they stepped into the nursery, Coulson saw that (Y/N) was standing up in her crib. He stopped in the doorway, eyes round as he saw her standing on her own two feet. She had never stood up before, and it was…well, it was kind of awesome to see that she was actually growing more than just her height and weight. She could stand.
“Hey, kid,” He chuckled, making his way over to the crib. She squealed excitedly, smacking the side of her crib as she smiled up at him. She had a few teeth that had finally finished coming in. Coulson was already dreading the next round of teeth growing in. Teething made (Y/N) fussy, and he wasn’t eager to go through that again.
“Dada!”
He froze, feeling his eyebrows shoot up at the word. It was her first word, at least it was the first thing she said that sounded like a word. And not only was it was her first word, she saw him as her father. This child saw him as something he never imagined being, and he felt his heart swelling as he realized that it didn’t matter how he felt about being a father, it only mattered that (Y/N) saw him as one and she did.
Suddenly, everything seemed to click into place for him. (Y/N) might not be his biological daughter, but that didn’t make her any less his. Especially now that she had called him dada.
He was a father.
Her father.
“That’s me,” He grinned, scooping her up. “Good morning to you, too. How about we go to the park today?”
She giggled, squishing his cheeks together as she smiled at him.
“Seems you’re doing just find, Phil.” Fury looked almost smug. “Looks like I made the right choice with you.”
Coulson smiled at the ten-month-old in his arms as she smiled broadly at him with those few teeth she had.
“Yeah…I guess you did.”