Dialogue Prompts

[1]

"If you want, we could go together?"

How does he do that? Daisy wonders. How does Phil Coulson always know when she needs his support. No one else has managed it, not so consistently and regularly as he does.

"I'd like that," she says gratefully, and he smiles at her, squeezes her upper arm briefly, then gestures at the door, and she goes out, aware that his hand is hovering at the small of her back, as if he wants to touch her some more, but doesn't quite dare. It's a familiar gesture, like the arm squeeze, and she thinks that he might be the most decent man she knows.

They head down the hallway together, only separating so they can go to their quarters to grab an overnight bag. She'll admit, she's nervous about going to see Cal – Dr Winslow as she must learn to call him now. It's been a few weeks since he went through the TAHITI program and she just wants to check in on him, make sure that it's holding – she suspects her worries are irrational, but given what happened to Coulson, she thinks she can be forgiven for her concerns. And Coulson himself doesn't seem to mind – or think she's being irrational.

She heads through the hangar to where the SUVs are parked, and is surprised when Coulson beckons to her from beside Lola. She's even more surprised when he holds out the keys on the palm of his hand.

"You're letting me drive Lola?" she asks in a disbelieving whisper.

"Well I can't," he says, slightly lifting his arm, in its sling, off his chest.

"I know, but – well, I just figured we'd take an SUV."

He shakes his head, smiling. "Are you saying you don't want to drive Lola?"

"I want, I want," she says quickly and almost snatches the keys from him.

He chuckles, then leans over and pops the trunk, and she puts their bags inside, then they climb into the car.

She smoothes her hands gently over the steering wheel. "Hello beautiful," she whispers, then she starts her up, puts her in gear then, flashing a laughing smile over at Coulson in the passenger seat, she pulls out and heads out onto the street. Her trip to see her father suddenly seems a bit less daunting now.

[2]

"Come home safe."

Phil's words make Daisy smile briefly as she heads up the ramp into the Zephyr3: they've become a ritual, almost – something he always says to her when she's heading out on a mission and he's not coming too. She can still clearly remember the first time he said them, when she was going off to fight HYDRA for Charles Hinton, and the way she'd squeezed his shoulder when what she'd really wanted to do was kiss him. At the time she'd suspected that he'd have liked to have kissed her, or hugged her at the very least, but they were both being terribly professional – and they hadn't yet admitted their feelings for each other. They were also, she's fairly sure, pretty terrified thanks to the vision Daisy had had of Phil shooting her, not knowing at the time that she'd actually seen him shooting a reflection of her.

They've been together for a year now: Daisy's the Director of SHIELD – the first ever Inhuman Director, but not, she hopes, the last. Phil, meanwhile, is her co-Director and in charge of 'Optics', managing SHIELD's public image, and although he often accompanies her on field missions, today he's got a meeting with the President, and since she has the ultimate say on SHIELD's funding, Phil has to go and see her even though Daisy knows he'd rather be running backend for her mission.

As she strides into the Command Centre of the Zephyr, greeting her waiting team of Inhuman and human agents, she silently wishes him luck with his funding meeting, knowing he'll be mentally wishing her luck with her mission. And yes, she plans to come home safe.

[3]

"It's not your fault," Phil tells her, and Daisy refrains from rolling her eyes at him.

"I'm pretty sure it is my fault," she says. "I mean, I'm the one who quaked you across the gym and into the wall bars, breaking – " She squints at them. "four of them, and cracking your ulna."

"Daisy," he says softly.

"Phil," she sighs. He's been telling her that things aren't her fault for years, and mostly it's true (like when she was Swayed by Hive and tried to kill Mack and Phil, and brought down a chunk of the roof of the hangar), but sometimes it's not true.

She bends down and scoops him up from the floor, even though he's quite capable of walking.

"Daisy?"

"Yeah, Phil?"

"What're you doing? I can walk."

She chuckles. "I know Phil, but admit it, you love it when I carry you bridal-style."

He blushes, and she's always charmed when he does that. "You promised never to mention my secret shame," he observes in a small voice.

She laughs softly. "Don't worry, Phil, your secret's safe with me." She brushes her lips against his temple, then carries him into the Infirmary.

Jemma Simmons looks up, her expression full of concern, and Phil immediately says, "It's fine, Dr Simmons. Daisy's just being dramatic."

She laughs again, then sets him down on his feet. "Phil's right," she tells Jemma. "I was just messing around. He's got a cracked ulna in his right arm."

Jemma winces, then guides Phil over to a scanner. "Dare I ask how it happened?" she asks.

"I quaked him across the gym while we were sparring," she says. "Broke four of the wall bars, and cracked his arm bone." She sighs. "I'll get Mack to see about putting some padding on the wall bars, or possibly taking them down – I don't think anyone's used them since Peggy Carter's days."

"Taking them down might be the safer option," Phil agrees.

"Not quaking your Co-Director into them might be the safest option of all," Jemma observes.

Daisy snorts. "Yeah, I know that, but we were sparring, so you know."

Jemma just shakes her head before bending over the scanner's screen and Daisy meets Phil's eyes. He pokes out his tongue, and she rolls her own eyes – she knows he's trying to make her laugh because she knows he knows that she's feeling guilty about getting him hurt. Maybe it's time to set up a separate room for her to train in – with padding on all the walls, and possibly the ceiling too, just to make sure. She'll have to talk to Mack about it, she decides.

[4]

"We should probably get started," Phil says, and Daisy smirks at him, which elicits a puzzled frown.

He probably doesn't realise that she finds those five words pretty sexy: the first time he used that phrase he went on to show her how the GH-325 was affecting him – making him carve weird alien symbols on the wall of his office. She associates them with the beginning of the even closer relationship they developed that year as a consequence of everything that led to her gaining her powers and having her Inhuman DNA unlocked. Besides, the idea of them doing things together – even before they were lovers – but separately from the others has always made her feel special.

"Isn't that a bit formal, in the circumstances, Phil?" she teases. She's lying naked on their bed, and he's just come out of the shower, and is wearing a bathrobe – why he put that on afterwards she can't imagine.

He flushes, and drops his gaze, and she sits up, then crawls down the bed and grabs his upper arms as she kneels at the foot of the bed. "Hey, I was teasing," she says softly.

"I know," he says, lifting his head to look at her. "I guess I'm just a bit nervous."

She smirks. "It's not like we've never had sex before, Phil."

His blush deepens. "We've never had unprotected sex with the intention of trying to have a child before," he points out.

"And that makes you nervous?" She guesses she can understand that – hell, she's a bit nervous herself – not at the thought of the planned fucking, but at the idea of becoming a mother, because after adopting two Inhuman children, they've decided they'd like to have one together.

"A bit," he admits. "I'm 55 years old, Daisy – which is not a young age at which to have a family."

"You've got a family, Phil. You know that Andrew and Antonia both regard you as their father, despite the racial differences."

"I know," he says quickly. "That's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant," she assures him. "And while I understand your concerns, I think you're worrying unnecessarily." She slides her hands up his arms to clasp his shoulders and pushes herself up on her knees so they're face to face. "Don't worry about making a baby, just concentrate on giving your superhero wife a good time, and with luck Mother Nature will do the rest."

He smirks. "I reckon I can manage that, at least," he says.

"Good boy." She begins kissing him, even as her right hand slips inside the bathrobe that she's just tugged open, and he moans into her mouth as she begins stroking his half-hard cock.

Once he's fully hard, she throws herself backwards on the bed, legs spread wide, and gives him her most seductive look. "C'mon Phil, show me your moves."

He chuckles, and climbs carefully onto the bed, then crawls up it until his body's hovering over hers. "You're so gorgeous," he whispers, then he guides his dick into her slick heat and she tugs his body down onto hers before he begins to thrust.

[5]

"Welcome home, Agent Johnson."

Phil's voice and expression are soft and loving, and she smiles up at him tiredly as she's wheeled into the house. It seems strange no longer being called Director Johnson, but she'd decided it was more practical all round if she stepped down – she's going to be out of action, probably for months, and it's silly to try to go on being the Director.

She can remember the first time he'd greeted her like that – after she'd got herself back to the Playground following Andrew's intervention to save her from being Swayed by Hive – she'd been a wreck then, too, although at least this time she's in her own mind and not suffering from withdrawals or anything awful of that kind.

"How are you feeling?" he asks.

She'd shrug, but it'd hurt too much. "Like I went 5 rounds with the Other Guy after Banner lost control."

He winces, then looks at Jemma as she comes in. "What's the recommended course of action, Dr Simmons?"

"Well, as little 'action' as possible for the next few weeks, at least, I'm afraid."

Daisy scowls half-heartedly, although she already knows this – Jemma went over it with her before releasing her from the Infirmary.

"The good news is that Daisy heals quickly thanks to her Inhuman DNA. The bad news is that there's a lot to heal, and some of the breaks are pretty ugly, so although she'll heal quicker than either of us would, it's still not going to be a quick recovery."

"Can I carry her?" Phil asks hesitantly.

"As little as possible. You'll have to lift her in and out of bed and the wheelchair, and on and off the toilet. I recommend only sponge baths for the first two weeks as she won't be able to stand up long enough to shower."

Daisy's tempted to say something darkly mordant about maybe putting her in a hole in the ground instead, but she knows it'll upset Phil, so she bites her bottom lip and keeps her terrible sense of humour to herself.

"If you need any help, day or night, call my cell," Jemma concludes.

Phil nods, and Jemma gently squeezes the top of Daisy's left shoulder. "I'll see you next week, Daisy, for your checkups."

"Yeah. Thanks Jemma."

"Take care," Jemma says, and heads outside with the medics, and Phil crouches in front of the wheelchair.

"I'm glad you're home," he says softly.

"Me too," she agrees. She doesn't tell him that she doesn't consider this ground floor apartment to be home – it's not the home she and Phil have shared for the last several years, bringing up their family, because that place would be totally unsuitable for someone in her current medical condition. Thankfully the children are old enough not to need constant care – in fact Antonia and Andrew are both away, in their first and second years of their degree programs, respectively. And the eight year old twins, Calvin and Jiaying, are staying with Mack and Elena and their two children.

"I'd better get you to bed," he says and begins pushing the chair along the hallway to the bedroom.

"I wish we could go to bed together," she says, and his prosthetic fingers brush lightly against the nape of her neck.

"So do I," he tells her.

She sighs softly, hoping he won't hear, and mentally curses the asshole – an anti-Inhuman scientist – who did this to her. The fact that he killed himself at the same as breaking a huge number of her bones is small consolation – she'd have preferred to see him tried under the new legislation that's been brought in to protect her and her people from this kind of thing.

Once in the bedroom, Phil carefully lifts her from the wheelchair and positions her on the bed. "I'll do everything I can to make time pass more quickly," he promises, and she nods.

"Yeah, Phil, I know."

"What can I do for you first of all?"

"Lie beside me and hold my hand?" she asks hopefully.

He hesitates for only a moment, before nodding, then he takes off his shoes, and circles the bed to lie down next to her. She can tell that he'd been on the verge of asking if she was sure, and she's grateful that he hadn't – she doesn't want him second guessing her or mollycoddling her.

He clasps her hand in his and turns his head to press his lips lightly to her temple. "I'm so sorry you got hit like this," he says softly.

She sighs. "Perils of the job," she says.

"Mmm."

She wonders if he's thinking that it might be time for her to give up on fieldwork. She's not gonna lie, while she'd been lying immobilised in plaster in the Infirmary, she'd considered it – but she'd rejected the idea: if she doesn't go out there and do her damnedest to stop the bad guys, other agents will, and they could wind up dead, not merely out of action, and while she has breath in her body, she will not give up trying to kick the bad guys' asses.

"After Jemma declares me 100% fit, I want to go away for a few days – just me and you, initially."

"Oh?" His expression's gone from pensive to speculative, and she smirks.

"Yeah, Phil, I'm talking about taking a break to fuck you senseless."

He laughs, clearly delighted. "That sounds like an excellent plan, Agent."

"I thought you'd think so. It'll be your reward for putting up with me in the interim."

"Okay, first, I'm not 'putting up with you' – there's no 'putting up with' involved. You know this, Daisy. And second, I'm your husband, of course I'm going to look after you. I don't need to be rewarded for that. That said, if you want a few days away so we can shag ourselves silly, then I'm your man."

Daisy chokes on laughter. "'Shag ourselves silly'? Wherever did you dig that up, Phil?"

He snorts. "Hunter, way back when."

"I might have known," she says, rolling her eyes.

"Do you need anything?" he asks.

"Just you, right now. I'll let you know if I need anything else."

"Okay." He gives her hand a careful squeeze, and she squeezes it back.

DJ-PC-DJ-PC-DJ

A little over six weeks later, Daisy insists on carrying Phil bridal-style over the threshold of the beach front house they're renting for the next ten days – half of which will be spent here alone, the other half will be spent with their children.

"You're a dork," he tells her as she carries him into their bedroom.

She snorts. "Sure, Phil, and you're not."

"Never said I wasn't," he says in a sing-song tone that makes her giggle.

She tosses him into the middle of the bed, startling a yelp out of him, then she kicks off her sandals before climbing onto the foot of the bed and proceeding to strip him.

"Fuck, Daisy," he mutters once she's got him naked.

"Any second now, Phil, I promise," she reassures him, and standing with her feet either side of his knees, she proceeds to strip off her own clothes – not that it takes long since she's only wearing a sundress and a thong. She poses for him a bit once she's naked.

"What d'you think, Phil? See anything you like?" she asks.

He curls his hand around the base of his cock, idly rubbing the pad of his thumb against his balls. "Yeah," he agrees quietly. "Now c'mere."

She chuckles, then kneels down, and he reaches for her eagerly. She understands his eagerness – it matches her own. Her recovery has been long and at times very painful, and it's a huge relief to have been declared fit finally. She positions herself, still on her knees, over Phil's groin, and he sits up, then helps to guide his cock into her, before kissing her deeply.

"Okay?" she asks when he releases her mouth.

"Very," he responds, and she smiles, then starts to rock slowly back and forth, tightening her inner muscles around his dick.

This first time she plans to take things slow. Later, though, it's gonna get a bit fast and furious.

"I love you," she whispers.

"I love you, too."