Author's Note: I have to thank my husband, an experienced martial artist, for choreographing the fight scene. Hope you enjoy!
"We appreciate you babysitting for us," Fitz told Coulson as they sat in the living room of Fitz and Simmons's home in Scotland. "We haven't had a night out together since Eleanor was born."
Coulson was holding five month old Eleanor Elizabeth Fitz-Simmons in his lap and making silly faces at her. "It's my pleasure, Fitz. I've been looking forward to spending some time with my goddaughter. I still can't believe how much she looks like Simmons. She's got the same eyes, the same nose, and the same smile. Those crazy curls, on the other hand, are definitely from you."
Fitz laughed. "My mum said that my hair looked exactly like that when I was Eleanor's age."
"Your mum must be excited to have a grandchild."
"She is. She's always buying Eleanor new clothes and toys. So are Jemma's parents. They bought her the outfit she's wearing now." Fitz motioned to the purple onesie with the words "Smart like Mum" written in pink.
"Actually, I have something for her too," Coulson said, taking a wrapped present out of his bag.
Fitz opened it to discover a black onesie that said "Future S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent" in white letters. Below the words was the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo. "Thank you, sir. To be honest, I hope she picks a less dangerous profession. Jemma and I almost lost each other so many times. If we lost Eleanor…"
Coulson put a hand on Fitz's shoulder. "I understand."
"Are you planning to try to recruit her when she turns 18?"
"Honestly…the thought had crossed my mind. If she turns out to be as brilliant as you and Simmons, she'd be a tremendous asset to S.H.I.E.L.D.."
At that moment, Simmons came down the stairs to join them. She was wearing a red dress and matching heels. Grinning, Fitz stood up and walked over to her. He took her hands in his. "You look beautiful, Jemma."
"You look quite handsome yourself," she said, admiring his dark suit and red tie. The couple exchanged a heated kiss before they remembered that their former boss was watching them.
"Sorry about that." Fitz was unable to make eye contact with Coulson. "Jemma, look what Coulson bought for Eleanor."
Simmons picked it up and gasped. "A 'Future S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent' onesie? That's amazing! I didn't know they made such a thing."
"I had it made," Coulson said with pride. "I know a guy."
Simmons looked at Eleanor sitting contentedly on Coulson's lap. "It seems like you two are getting along."
"We're doing great. Aren't we, Eleanor?"
Eleanor didn't answer, but she smiled a toothless smile at her mother.
"Please feel free to call us if you have any questions about anything," Simmons said.
"I read the instructions Fitz gave me." Coulson held up the ten page document he'd been given soon after he'd volunteered to babysit. "They seemed very thorough. I doubt I'll need to bother you."
"You wouldn't be bothering us," Simmons assured him. She was starting to feel guilty about leaving her daughter. Fitz sensed her apprehension and squeezed her hand.
"We'll be okay, I promise," said Coulson. "You guys deserve an evening to yourselves. Go have a good time."
Fitz and Simmons lingered for a few more minutes before kissing their baby girl goodbye and walking out the door.
Eleanor cried as soon as her parents were out of sight. Coulson rocked her in his arms. She cried.
He put her down on the floor. She cried.
He put her in a baby swing. Still she cried.
Coulson took her out of the baby swing and held her again. "How about I sing you some of your favorite songs?" He sang "Twinkle twinkle little star," "Baa baa black sheep," and every other song mentioned in Fitz's instructions. Still she cried.
"Maybe you're hungry. Fitz said that you had a bottle before I came, but maybe you want another one." He removed a bottle from the fridge, heated it, waited a minute for it to cool, and then attempted to put it in Eleanor's mouth. She shoved it away and continued crying.
"So you're not hungry. Maybe you'd like a toy." He gave her a little monkey stuffed animal. Then a horse stuffed animal. Then a teddy bear. Nothing worked.
Coulson began to think that he was the worst babysitter ever…and then he had an idea. He used the controls on his prosthetic hand to make his Captain America inspired shield materialize. Eleanor was so surprised that she finally stopped crying.
Coulson breathed a deep sigh of relief. "You like my shield, huh? Your dad made it for me. He's a really smart guy."
Eleanor looked at Coulson like she understood him and agreed with the sentiment.
Coulson held her close to his chest. "Speaking of your dad…there's something I've wanted to say to you. A few years ago, your mom was studying a big alien rock that turned out to be a portal to another planet. When that portal took your mom away, your dad spent six months looking for her without any success. I admired his determination, but I thought there was nothing more he could do. I told him that he needed to say goodbye to your mom, that she would want him to move on. If he had listened to me, he never would have found her. They never would have gotten married and you would never have been born. So for that, I'm truly sorry."
Eleanor responded by spitting up on Coulson's shirt.
"I guess I deserved that. Hopefully now we're even." He wiped his shirt with some paper towels and then glanced at Fitz's instructions. "Okay. According to the schedule your parents left, we should be getting you ready for bed now." He changed her diaper, put her in pajamas, and sat with her in a rocking chair in her nursery. Many minutes passed as they rocked in silence.
As he looked at the beautiful baby in his arms, Coulson found himself imagining a life in which he had children of his own. Who would their mother be? Maybe Audrey…in a world where she didn't think he was dead. Maybe Rosalind…in a world where she hadn't been murdered by Ward. Maybe someone he hadn't met yet? No, no, no. The director of S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't have the luxury of being a family man. There was no way to be a good parent when you were constantly saving the world from imminent destruction. Fitz and Simmons knew that; it was why they had left S.H.I.E.L.D. before starting a family. Being godfather to their baby was most likely the closest he would ever come to fatherhood, so he intended to be the best godfather possible.
Just as Eleanor fell asleep, an alarm sounded throughout the house. Eleanor immediately woke up and started crying.
"It's okay, it's okay," Coulson said, patting her back. "It's just the security system your dad installed." He moved to a control panel on the wall and entered the code he'd learned from Fitz's instructions. The alarm turned off. "That was the perimeter alarm, meaning someone is within fifty feet of the house. Let's check the security cameras and see if we can find out who it is."
Accessing the camera feed, Coulson saw a group of men carrying rifles heading for the house's front door. They were wearing black tactical armor decorated with a familiar octopus logo. "Hydra, I know you guys are evil, but did you have to come after me when I'm babysitting?"
Coulson kissed the crying baby's forehead and laid her in her crib. "You stay here," he said. "I'll be right back." He slipped his pistol from its holster on the small of his back and checked the clip. He had six rounds and there were eight men on the monitor. Taking a deep breath, he stepped into the hall.
He crouched at the top of the narrow stairs, concealing himself as much as possible around a corner. The front door exploded inward and the Hydra soldiers rushed inside. They began to fan out, each man scanning the room. Coulson started firing. His first shot missed. His next two bullets were more successful; they were head shots that took two soldiers down instantly. Coulson's fourth shot clipped another soldier's neck and the man staggered, pressing his hand to a sudden outpouring of blood. The remaining soldiers returned fire. Coulson lunged back down the hall as bullets tore through the corner of wall where he had been hiding. His ears were ringing from the gunshots, but he heard the sound of feet rushing up the stairs. Coulson activated his Captain America shield, sprinted toward the stairs, and leapt like a diver going into a pool.
One of the soldiers had nearly reached the top of the stairs. Coulson's shield hit him squarely in the face. His head snapped back, he went limp, and he and Coulson fell barreling down the stairs. Four more soldiers flanked the bottom of the staircase, but none could get a clear shot past their compatriot and the shield. Coulson landed in a heap and rolled. While protecting his left side with the shield, he fired upward, catching a soldier on his right under the chin. The man's body dropped beside him. Bullets from the surviving soldiers ricocheted off the shield. The men swore as they were peppered by shrapnel from their own rounds. Coulson caught a glimpse of two soldiers flinching on the far side of his shield.
Where the last soldier had fallen, another stepped in, lowering his rifle toward Coulson's face. Coulson stood up, knocking the barrel of the rifle away. The soldier brought the butt of the rifle around to smash him in the face. Coulson moved just in time and the blow struck him on the shoulder instead. It hurt like hell. He drove the barrel of his pistol under the belt line of the man's flack vest and fired his last round into his enemy's belly. He let the gun drop along with the man and turned to face the two remaining soldiers.
Coulson advanced, watching them through the shimmering pattern of his shield. The soldiers seemed rattled. "Put your guns down," Coulson said in his most commanding voice. "Surrender now and you can still walk away from this." The light of his shield suddenly flickered and went out. He looked down at his inert left hand, realizing that the battery was completely drained. Using it to entertain Eleanor had been a mistake. "Well, that's not good." The soldiers opened fire.
Coulson plunged to the floor, pulling one of the dead men over himself and using the man's armor for cover. He fumbled for the rifle still tethered to the corpse, switched it to full auto and returned fire blindly. He got lucky. The last two soldiers dropped down dead.
Coulson rolled the body off of his chest and scooted over to the far wall. His heart was racing and he sat with his back against the wall, working to steady his breathing. Sitting against the wall next to him was the soldier he'd shot in the neck. He was still alive, but very pale. His breathing was ragged and his hands were pressed to his throat. As Coulson studied the soldier's face, he realized his enemy was young, probably in his early twenties. He didn't look like a coldblooded assassin; he looked like a kid who'd made some bad choices.
Coulson addressed the dying soldier. "The next time Hydra tries to kill me, I hope they come to the base. It was really rude of you guys to shoot up my friends' house. They're good people who have suffered enough. More than enough."
"It wasn't supposed…to go down…like this," gasped the soldier. "They said this was…an easy job…easy money."
"Hydra told you that taking out the director of S.H.I.E.L.D would be easy? Talk about adding insult to injury."
"You're the…director of S.H.I.E.L.D?"
Coulson's instincts told him the young soldier's surprise was genuine. His voice hardened as his anger rose. "I wasn't the target. You bastards were after FitzSimmons!"
"Who? No…the asset."
"The asset?" Coulson's own words came back to him. She'd be a tremendous asset to S.H.I.E.L.D.. "Oh God. You were here for the baby?"
The young man said nothing. He was gone.
Coulson sprinted up the stairs to Eleanor's room. When he entered the nursery, his heart stopped.
The crib was empty.
Thanks for reading! All comments are greatly appreciated.