August 13th, 2005
Intellectually, Phil Coulson knew that texting and driving was a Very Bad Thing. Texting and driving in a city was even worse. But he couldn't change where he was and his operative couldn't give a verbal report.
…which was why he wasn't entirely surprise when he felt a thud.
"Shit," he cursed, and when the traffic light turned green, he followed the white sedan to the curbside and stepped out.
"You hit me."
Phil was not expecting the other driver to be so direct and was stunned for a moment. "Uh." Real intelligent, Phil.
The woman crossed her arms. "The light was red, and you hit me."
She was impeccably dressed. Her dress was tailored and to the knee and she had an identification tag attached to the belt around her waist but he couldn't read where she worked. With the shoes she was wearing, they were almost the same height. Her curly brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail presumably to combat the brutal humidity of a D.C. August.
He shifted his weight as she walked around him to inspect the damage to the car. "I'm really sorry about this. It was completely my fault."
He thought he heard her mutter, "but I just paid this off" as she flipped her phone open to start taking pictures of the dent, but he might have been mistaken.
Phil frowned in concern. "Are you okay? You weren't hurt, were you?"
She shook her head. "I'm fine. Late for a meeting, but not hurt. You?"
He grimaced. "Embarrassed, but otherwise fine."
Pausing in her picture taking, she turned to him and took in the suit. She quirked an eyebrow. "Late for a meeting, too?"
He chuckled. "Something like that. So… how do you want to do this?"
She shrugged. "Look, you seem like a nice guy. Professional. But nothing against you—I'd prefer to go through the insurance companies."
Phil nodded. "That's fine. And I won't hold it against you if you want to file a police report."
She gave him a look that said are you for real?
"I made a mistake and I take ownership of it," he responded with a small grin. "I fix mistakes. It's kinda my thing."
She laughed, but he could tell she was unsure of how to take that comment.
He fished in his breast pocket for a business card and a pen. After he wrote down the name of the insurance company that SHIELD used on the back along with his off-hours phone number, he handed it to her.
"If you need anything," he began, "I can be reached at any of these numbers. My policy is with the company on the back of the card."
She walked back to the backseat door and pulled a leather portfolio out of a professional looking tote bag. Opening it, she removed her own business card and scribbled on the back.
She handed it to him. "The insurance company's name is on the back."
Phil took it and pocketed it. "Again, I'm really sorry about this whole thing."
She smiled genuinely, "Hey, like we decided earlier—none of us is hurt, so it's a good day." It was a really pretty smile, he thought.
He returned the smile and nodded. "Do you want me to give you a call when I've spoken to my insurance agent?"
She nodded. "Yes, that'd be great. Thank you."
He extended his hand and she took it in a firm shake. "I'll talk to you soon."
With another smile, she responded, "Talk soon."
They returned to their vehicles, and Phil watched as she drove off. When her car disappeared into the traffic on Pennsylvania Ave., he fished out her business card.
Laura Schulz, Ph.D., C.A.
Archivist
Center for Legislative Archives
National Archives and Records Administration
Huh. So she was educated and had a clear interest in history and politics. She also maintained control of the situation by keeping him on his toes during the entire interaction. And she was pretty.
Phil had some research to do.
A Level 2 agent handed him a memo at 5:00 that afternoon, and Phil accepted it with a nod. As he flipped through it, he took note of important things. Laura Schulz, born February 17, 1970, joined the National Archives and Records Administration as a student technician in 1993 while getting a dual Masters in history and archives management. Following completion of the program, she was hired there full time and entered a history Ph.D. program, which she completed while working at NARA.
Currently, Phil noted, she's worked professionally in two different departments in the agency. In the first, she and her team were responsible for declassifying government records. For this function, she was granted Top Secret security clearance, which she still maintains. In 2003, she was promoted and transferred to the Center for Legislative Archives as Senior Archivist.
He flipped to the last page to the summary of other public records. Schulz was married in 1999 and divorced in 2003. She had a spotless driving record, but police were called to her place of residence twice for domestic disturbances. The agent who compiled the memo noted that the first time precipitated the divorce proceedings and the second happened during. The second incident was her husband threatening her to withdraw the divorce papers. She then filed a restraining order on him.
Well… the Top Secret clearance was a definite plus.
He fished out his personal cell and punched in her number. "Dr. Schulz? This is Phil Coulson. From this afternoon? I spoke with my insurance agent and he's ready to work with your company to pay the claim."
Phil paused, and listened to her talk. When she was done, he cut in. "Actually, before you hang up. I was wondering, uh, if might possibly, uh," Words, Phil… use your words, "be interested in getting dinner—or drinks!—sometime." He plowed on, "See, I feel really bad about the accident and I want to personally make it up to you and… Friday night? Uh, yeah. Yes! Friday night works great! I'll get reservations somewhere and let you know. Wonderful. Yes, I'll talk to you soon. Okay. Bye."
That went much better than he anticipated. Now to set up those dinner reservations.
He knew just the place.
A/N: So The Winter Soldier spawned a massive fic idea. Like the summary says, this is going to be a reinterpretation of the cellist mentioned in Avengers. For some motivation, I decided to use an old prompt table from lj. At the moment, it looks like the chapters are going to be episodic, rather than continuous and they probably will be out of order. It's early yet, so that might change.
This starts pre-Iron Man and will continue through The Winter Soldier and Agents of SHIELD, so there will be spoilers for that.
The last notice is that these are definitely movie!verse because I haven't read any of the comics.
Disclaimer: Don't own. This is purely for my own entertainment. Also texting and driving is the worst idea ever. Don't do it.
