Jason Michael Carroll's "Hurry Home"
There were very few people in the secret government agency of S.H.I.E.L.D. that knew about Phil Coulson and the life he lead outside of work. A grand total of seven people knew that he’d lost his eldest, a son, James Buchannan Coulson – Jimmy for short – in Afghanistan, 2008. The number was even smaller for the people who knew what exactly had gone down in Budapest 11 days later. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s secret program to bring back the dead had created an unbridled monster capable of leveling a country’s capitol city. S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Strike Team Delta: Barton, Romanoff, and his daughter, Stephanie Margaret Coulson (Stevie) had gone into the mission not knowing who they were tracing. The result? 2,324 people dead, nearly a billion dollars’ worth of damage and a body lost among the wreckage of Budapest. Strike Team Delta reported that they’d taken him down with a headshot at close range. The report didn’t identify who took the shot – it didn’t have too when Stevie walked out and left her life at S.H.I.E.L.D. three days later. Her entire life had been S.H.I.E.L.D. She was now, simply gone.
It’s hard to acknowledge that Fury was forced to bench him after his son died in Budapest. He spent three months sitting beside the phone waiting for some word or communication from his daughter when news reached him: they’d found Tony Stark. He knew. He had to get back to work. Before he went insane. So few people had this number, he wasn’t worried about leaving such a corny message on his machine. It might just be the thing that brought her home.
~*First Verse*~
There was never a day that he didn’t wish his wife weren’t still here with him. Sarah Avery Coulson (nee Carter) had been killed on a mission when she was six months pregnant with Stevie. How Stevie had survived remained a miracle – but Phil hadn’t even known… He went from being a married father of one, to a widowed father of two. He’d had trouble connecting with his daughter many times over the course of their lives – often fighting or avoiding her when Jimmy wasn’t there to act as a buffer. So he strummed the old guitar Barton had left at one point and sang:
~*Chours*~
In the aftermath of Tony Stark’s grudge match with his late godfather Obadiah Stane, Phil was exhausted. Physically, and mentally, he needed a break. He hadn’t stepped foot in his family’s home since leaving to ‘debrief’ the mad genius and he didn’t know. Would his daughter have called?
~*Second Verse*~
Her godfather, Jasper Sitwell, had left a message but there were no other missed calls. There were thirteen different channels of communication she could have used – but as the days went by… he heard nothing. She’d been gone long enough for Tony Stark to start dying from the device he’d had surgically implanted in his chest and he had no clue where she might be. Aliens were real and on Earth and he had no idea where she might be. Her grandmother started forgetting things and had to be put into a permanent care facility for retired agents and he still had no communication what-so-ever. Not even Fury or Romanoff could find her. She’d dropped off the map and disappeared.
~*Chorus*~
Once upon a time Maria Hill might have been the one to become the step-mother to Phil Coulson’s kids. They’d dated off and on for the better part of six years before the little family had been ripped apart. Being one of three female influences into Stevie’s life… she had to wonder if she was really ever going to come home. Almost four years of that message staying on that same old number without any word… She recommended he take it off. She didn’t have the heart to explain she thought Stevie might be dead when he refused.
~*Third Verse*~
Stephanie Margaret Coulson had spent her entire life in S.H.I.E.L.D. and knew how to disappear when she ran. She couldn’t bear to face her father after Budapest. She couldn’t bear to face her team mates Barton and Romanoff or her boss Fury after failing to take the shot sooner. She couldn’t bear to face her grandmother who saw a dead daughter in everything Stevie did. She couldn’t bear to face her future step-mom who would have convinced her to stay. So she ran. She ran and she hid and she made a life for herself outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. But for all that S.H.I.E.L.D. had taught her, it never covered aliens.
~*Fourth Verse*~
Almost four years after Stevie walked out of her old life the sky above her new one ripped open and aliens spilled out. She fought long after most of the other business owners around the area of her little bar had fled. She killed as many as she could and directed civilians into the subways away (hopefully) from danger. She caught the tiniest of glimpses from her former team mates and four new heroes fighting back against the onslaught. Finally the battle was done, the aliens were down, and she gave in and called the number she’d been terrified to make contact since she left.
~*Chorus*~
The front door of Phil’s home creaked when Nick Fury pushed it open. It’d been years since he last swung by. It’d bothered him seeing Jimmy’s shoes on the rack like they were waiting on him to step into them and go for a run. He’d pick up Stevie’s hoodie from the back of the couch and Phil had nearly taken his head off. The promise he’d made to disband the T.A.H.I.T.I. project in the wake of the Budapest disaster weighs heavy on him as he moves around Phil’s home office removing classified material. He thinks nothing of the phone ringing until he hears his dead best friend singing to his daughter come home. He’s walking into the living room to cut the call when he hears the message: “Dad, I’m on my way”.
He walked in just in time to hear her say
Dad, I'm on my way