How can anyone not be afraid of love?
"How can anyone not be afraid of love?"
Coulson's question follows a half hour of silence between him and Daisy as the two of them sit in an SUV outside the house of a man they suspect is tied to the Watchdogs. As stakeouts go, it's been fairly boring, but Daisy's glad to be out in the field for a bit again: with Mace still in bad shape after his experiences in the Framework, Talbot and the politicians had, very reluctantly, accepted Coulson's suggestion that he and Daisy take over as acting temporary (with much emphasis on the 'temporary') Co-Directors until Mace was fit to take over again. As a consequence they've spent the past week since she got (almost) everyone out of the Framework buried in reports and she was starting to get cabin fever. She isn't entirely sure, however, that this op is a good way to deal with her cabin fever – things have remained awkward between her and Coulson since he kissed her, despite her assurances that she's forgiven him.
"What happened to 'Feel the fear, and do it anyway'?" she asks lightly. "I've done that over and over and over again throughout my life."
"But you're much braver than I am," he says softly, and she snorts.
"Says the man who climbed into the wheelbase of the Bus to rescue me from Ward. Says the man who chased me down into the temple in San Juan, knowing there were bombs down there that were about to go off – the man who had no weapons and no backup, but went down there anyway so I wouldn't have to die alone."
"But those were the right thing to do," he protests.
"And kissing me wasn't," she says flatly.
"Daisy." He sounds like he might cry, she thinks, and wonders why he's raking this up again.
"I thought we were past discussing this," she says, and hopes she doesn't sound too unkind.
"I thought so too. But I can't stop thinking about it. About how I hurt you, but also – " He swallows, the sound loud in the hush of the SUV.
"Also?" she asks curiously.
"Also, how good it felt. How much I'd like to do it again – properly."
"Phil." She sighs his name a little despairingly.
"I know, I know. I'm being – "
She cuts him off in a more urgent tone. "Coulson. Movement." She bolts out of the SUV, leaving the door open so that the sound of it closing won't alert the Watchdog sleazebag, and runs quietly, stealthy as a cat, across the street. She can feel Coulson close behind her – senses the way his vibrations have changed now that they're focusing on the mission, not his feelings.
She carefully Quakes the guy, knocking him on his face, and in moments she's securing his wrists behind his back with a zip tie.
She hears Coulson start to speak behind her, then his words are cut off abruptly, and she raises her head, her knee still in the small of the guy's back, and raises her right hand, only to find that Coulson's being held with his back tight against the chest of a second Watchdog who's basically using Coulson as a shield against Daisy's powers.
She curses silently, then lowers her hand.
"Up," snarls the guy holding Coulson, and she slowly gets to her feet.
She makes eye contact with Coulson, even though there's little in the way of street lighting here, and she gives him a tiny nod. He abruptly bends forward, startling his captor, who grunts as he's forcibly bent forward too, and Daisy sends a tightly focused burst of vibrations at the guy's shoulder, which is just powerful enough to throw him off balance and away from Coulson, who promptly turns and shoots him with an ICER.
She's turning back to the guy she took down even as he kicks out at her, and she fires another burst of vibrations at him, this time breaking his legs by way of discouraging him – he screams at the audible crack of his bones, but she feels no regrets.
"Now stay down," she says with a snarl. She's turning back towards Coulson when two shots ring out fast and sudden, and she bites back a cry of pain as she feels a bullet hit her left arm. She's already turning in the direction from which the shots were fired as she realises that Coulson's also been hit, and is down, clutching at his left calf. She can't see the shooter, but she sends a wave of vibrations across the street, which slams into several cars, setting off their alarms, and also throwing the man who was crossing the street towards them, backwards so that he slams into the wall of one of the buildings opposite.
She moves over to where Coulson's sprawled on the ground, bleeding far more heavily than she is, and she swears under her breath, then pulls out her cell and calls Mack for a medevac: her only consolation is that she and Coulson aren't too far from the base.
Then she shrugs off her leather jacket, pulls off the button down shirt she's wearing underneath, and starts tearing it into strips so she can make a tourniquet.
"Your shirt," Coulson protests weakly.
She rolls her eyes. "I can buy another shirt, Phil," she says. "You're not so replaceable."
DJ-PC-DJ-PC-DJ
"Daisy?"
She's wakes with a quiet groan, deciding (not for the first time) that she really hates getting shot, and opens her eyes to discover she and Coulson are in adjoining beds in the Infirmary.
"Yeah?" She scrutinises him carefully, warily easing herself up one-armed into a sitting position. He looks pale and in pain, and she wonders why he hasn't had any painkillers.
"Can I tell you something?"
"Of course," she says.
"I love you. That's why I kissed you the other day."
Her eyes go wide and she stares at him. "Phil?"
"I just wanted you to know that before – well – you know, in case anything happens – " He breaks off abruptly as Daisy slithers off the side of her bed and, ignoring her dizziness and dragging her IV stand with her, moves over to his bed. "Daisy?"
"I love you too, Phil," she says, and bends down to kiss him very thoroughly until they're both breathless – which is sooner than she'd like, sadly.
"Oh," he breathes, and it's obviously a revelation to him.
"And nothing's gonna happen to you," she says. "Well, nothing except more kissing, and some cuddling when I've got both arms working again."
"And more than kissing and cuddling?" he asks in a tiny, hopeful sort of voice.
She snickers. "When you and I have both been declared medically fit, yes."
"Okay," he says softly.
"Softie," she says, and he flushes, then bites his bottom lip, and she can't resist kissing him again.
She just hopes their recovery time isn't going to be too long.