In our dreams
Summary: "They started four days after New York." Daisy meets her soulmate in her dreams.
A/N: Soulmate AU, where they share dreams before meeting. Basically a Pilot rewrite.
They started four days after New York. The weird dreams. It's always her and that man with the kind eyes, staring at each other from across a white-ish void. He seems a bit lost and out of place. He hasn't talked yet, but neither has she.
She hasn't told anyone about these dreams, but she started pulling away from Miles. There is something about this man; he's older than her, but there is something...too young and too sad in him. Like he hasn't lived in this world, just barely existed.
She searches the internet about dreams – it's what she does when she wants to learn something; search. She learns about the shared dreams. About soulmates. She vaguely remembers the girls saying stuff like that, about dreaming up their soulmate, it wasn't uncommon for the boys in the St. Agnes telling them they dreamt them, too.
The first time she tries to learn who he is, it's her first night alone in Cloud.
'The name's Daisy. Who are you?' dream-her asks.
He looked so surprised to hear her voice, like he didn't expect her to be anything more than a night vision. His eyes got big and his mouth opened slightly.
'Oh.' he breathed out.
Daisy woke up, shocked herself.
'I'm a bit lonely.' she told him another night.
'I'm sorry to hear that.' he said softly.
Daisy smiled.
'You have a soft voice. You looked like the kind of person, too.' she said.
'I do?' he seemed surprised. 'I don't think anyone ever called me soft. Beside my mom, anyway.'
'What sort of people do you spend your time around?' she wondered, teasing.
He chuckled.
Imagine her surprise when her van's door opens one day and he is standing there, with another suit that puts a bag over her head, interupting her podcast.
"I appologise for the lack of finese. Agent Ward has a little history with your group, the Rising Tide." he said.
Daisy frowned.
He didn't seem to recognise her, and she wonders if he is supposed to know about the dreams or not, if he is really her soulmate and she wasn't having some vivid halusination.
"It's you, isn't it?" she asked him, instead. She should probably be more concerned about herself, but she can't help herself. She tentatively reaches over the table and touches his hand.
"What?" he asked, wonder seeping in his voice.
"It is you, right?"
"Oh. You mean..." he blinked.
"Unless, I totally got the wrong person and that would not come as a surprise at all." she babbled, worried.
"Agent Ward, please walk out of the room." he said, serious.
"Sir, I don't think that's a good idea."
"Duly noted. Now, out." he looked up at Ward with a frown.
The younger agent, reluctantly, walked out of the room.
Once they were alone, the older agent looked at her almost in awe.
"The dreams?" he asked.
"Yes."
"I never thought..."
"That you'd actually meet me? Yeah, me neither." she nodded.
"You..."
"You never told me your name."
"Phil. Phil Coulson."
Daisy smiled.
"It's a good name. I like it."
"Daisy?"
"Yeah. Skye's my internet handle. Well, truth be told it's the only name you'd find me under."
"And Daisy is...?"
"My real name. The one my parents gave me."
Phil smiled.
"Both beautiful names." he said.
"Are we going to spend time complimenting our names?" Daisy asked, raising an eyebrow.
"No. We were looking for the hooded hero. We really are trying to help him, Daisy. I know you don't trust us, but..."
"Maybe I can give you the benefit of the doubt?" she suggested.
Phil smiled.
"I would like the chance to prove to you we are trying to help."
"It's not because we are soulmates, is it?"
"No." he shook his head. "Just because we are, doesn't mean you must trust me without me earning it. It doesn't mean you will like me without me putting the effort."
"Doesn't that mean I have to work to gain your trust?"
"You aready have it."
"You're a strange guy, Phil Coulson."
"I listened to your podcasts. I like the way you see things. As a profiler I can tell you are an amazing person, trying to help people. It's my turn to prove to you I can do that, too. Help people."
Daisy looked at him for a moment, then sighed.
"Ok. I'll tell you what I know."
Coulson smiled and got up. He gave her his hand.
"Come with me, then." he said.
He led her to the command center and there, Daisy passed him Mike's driving lincence.
They had found him long before the rest of his team had returned.
"Is this the hacker you went to look for?"
"Skye's an asset." Coulson replied, a little defensive.
Daisy stared at him.
"I am what now?"
"An asset. Someone with exeptional skill who could do a lot of good, with or without SHIELD." he told her. "What did you find?"
Soon, they had gotten sucked into a semi-scientific explanation of the scientists' findings, and an embarrassic narration of a video recording of the lab before it exploded.
"I have the audio files." Daisy said. "Would those help?"
The science twins agreed and thanked her.
"You do?" Coulson asked, awestruck.
"I had a mic shot up there, but there is too much noise for me. I don't have the right equipment to clean it up." she explained. "If I get my van back to the alley you took me from, I'll send them over."
Coulson nodded.
"I'll go with her." Agent May – if Daisy remembered right – said.
"Right. Ok, then."
"You'll be fine." Coulson told her softly.
Daisy gave him a subtle smile and a nod.
As life would have it, Mike made an attempt to flee with his son, to start anew somewhere else, abducted Daisy to help him with that and then nearly blew off in the train station. Daisy blew out a breath, as she leaned against the couch she was sitting on later that day.
She would be taking Ace to his aunt with Coulson tomorrow morning, but she couldn't sleep.
"Can't ssleep?" a voice asked softly from behind her.
"Hey." she grinned up to him. "I've been thinking. What happens now? With us, I mean."
"What do you want to happen?"
Coulson sat down next to her.
"I don't know." Daisy shrugged. "Do you think we'll still share dreams?"
"We'll find out if we fall asleep." Coulson replied. "You want to test that out first?"
"I mean, I know you now. Would I still find you? But..."
"Too wired to fall asleep?"
"Yeah..."
"Beyond that?"
"You know that I like you." Daisy shrugged.
"And I want to be worthy of you. I want to earn your trust."
"You're on the right track for that." she smiled a little.
"What do you want, Daisy?"
"Right now? To cuddle with you. Fall asleep in your arms and see if I meet you in my dreams. I want to see how it feels, sleeping next to you, waking up with you."
"Can I?" he asked, opening his arms.
"What, right here?"
"I...uh..."
Daisy chuckled, and leaned into his offered embrace. She sighed, content, once his arms closed around her.
"This feels nice." she said, softly.
"Yeah." he agreed. "Anything else?"
"If I wanted to get into a relationship with you, what would that entail?"
"There would be a need to transfer you or me in a different team, if it was found out. Or we could be very discreet and make sure it doesn't affect the mission. The changing of teams happens so there is no power imbalance and so you don't send your significant other into danger."
"That's bull. If you love someone, in the same team or not, you'd still worry about them."
"I didn't make the rules." he shrugged. "And if we had met before May, I'd probably be supporting that rule."
"I really can't imagine you doing that."
Coulson hummed.
"I think I've changed since then. A lot."
"I'd like to hear all about that later." she sleepily.
"Sleep. I'll be right here."
Daisy hummed, getting more comfortable, before she fell asleep.
She found herself inside that same white-ish space, waiting for Coulson to appear. He didn't make her wait long.
"Phil." she grinned.
"Daisy." he smirked.
She ran up to him and hugged him close.
"We can still meet in our dreams." she grinned. "It'd feel lonely if we didn't."
"Yeah." he held her close and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
"You know, I think I already trust Phil Coulson." Daisy said quietly. "It's just..."
"Agent Coulson that needs to earn your trust?" he finished.
"Yeah. Is that weird?"
"No. It isn't." he shook his head. "You know, this is the first time we touch each other in our dreams."
"We never tried before." Daisy said.
"True. If you join my team, we could try this from distance." he said, thoughtful.
"Join your team?"
"Yes, I'd like you to join my team, help me take down Centipede. Come aboard as a consultant."
"Can I think about it?"
"Daisy, of course." he pulled back to look her in the eyes. "It's your choice. I'm with you anyway."
"Thanks, Phil." she sighed.
(At some point they did move to their bunks to sleep.)
The next morning, Daisy and Coulson took Ace to his aunt's. And after explaining what happened to Mike and promising to hear from him soon, the two left.
"It's a brave new world," Daisy teased, "and a really old car."
"Lola can keep up." Coulson replied, earning a delighted chuckle from her.
They get inside.
"What about you?"
"Join a ride on the crazy plane?" she wondered, "I'm not exactly a team player."
"We're in a position to do some good. You'd be a great help. And you'd be getting a front row seat to the strangest show on Earth. Which is, after all, what you wanted."
"I managed to hack SHIELD. From my van. Are you gonna show me something new?"
The phone rings and Coulson glances at her as he answers, getting informed about an 0-8-4 in Peru.
"What's an 0-8-4?" Daisy asked, curiosity piqued.
"You have exactly 10 minutes to decide if you really want to know."
"We won't be at the airport in..." Coulson flips a switch and Lola starts levitating, "10 minutes." she finishes lamely.
She looks at Coulson and he puts on his sunglases, smug grin on his lips.
"The tide is rising."
Daisy chuckled and leaned in her seat. When Coulson sped up, she laughed.
She didn't have to tell him; he knew she was joining his team.
He reached and took her hand, squezed once and let it go, as they neared the airport. He gave her a smile. Daisy smiled back.
They would need to practice on being discreet, because they were definitely not starting only a business partnership.