Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even the laptop I'm writing on except for Philippa Coulson. Marvel owns these wonderful characters and the plot lines and everything else. I just want to borrow them
Nicknames
Originally she was supposed to be called Clara after her great-aunt. Then her uncle went away with the Rangers and her mother decided to name her Philippa instead, a nod to her favourite brother. Of course as honourable a name Philippa is it is a bit fanciful for her. She suited Jane or Anne, she wasn't a Philippa. Philippa should be tall and confident and a warrior, she was none of those things. She was a slightly too short, overly shy and passably clever girl with grandma glasses and a Captain America rucksack. She refused to answer to Philippa, she stuck with Pip. When she was in year 2 some of the other girls in her class decided she should be called Pipsqueak because she had mousey brown hair and the most anyone got out of her was a squeak.
The only time she spoke more was to her mother's family. Each holiday she would fly with her mother out to the huge suburban house in Seattle, she liked it there because it rained. (One year they went to Los Angeles and she hated the heat) She never got on exceptionally well with her family, they were loud and confident, like Philippa should be. She loved talking to her great grandmother though; she was a determined old lady with plenty of wit and a fierce gaze that could make even her uncle fold. She admired her uncle Phil, he wasn't always there because he was with the Rangers and he had to fight but whenever he was there he would give her a present. He had given her the rucksack, and the pencil case, and the sweat shirt. He didn't mind that she was quiet; he told her quiet people sometimes had something really important to say but they were waiting for the right time.
When she was 12 she changed, she changed a lot. She had a growth spurt, she wasn't supermodel height but she wasn't far off. She discovered the miracle of hair dye and went for a chocolate brown and then she cut most of it off leaving a sharp side fringe and ponytail. She went swimming every day, ran on the weekends with her mother and then spent an hour each night doing a yoga/Pilates routine her uncle had told her about. She became the epitome of tomboy. She had changed her thoughts on Philippa as well, Philippa should be graceful and lady like. When she was 12 she also found out that her great grandmother had been died. She became Phil in honour of her; she was the sort of person that others believed to be useless and frail. Phil was strong and powerful and equal to any boy so don't you dare touch that Captain America pencil case Tommy Brown or I will kill you.
The confusion began when her mother died, a car crash that took Sophie but only scratched Phil, and she had to go and live with her uncle Phil. They didn't have a problem at first because in the apartment he was Flip and she was Pips, if they were talking to someone else it was 'the Uncle' or 'the Niece'.
Of course difficulties arose when her school was closed due to snow and her babysitter was on holiday leaving the two Coulsons to head to the HQ together.
She stayed in his office all day but it got to lunch time and one of her uncle's assets dropped by, literally.
"Hey, it's a mini Coulson, what's it called?" She didn't actually mind that the mystery man talked about her like a zoo animal as long he wasn't insulting.
"Barton, this is my niece." He turned to her, "this is Clint Barton and he has the social maturity of a 4 year old at best." She nodded and waved but returned to her book, it might have been about Captain America.
"Are you going for lunch? Phil?" Both of them jerked up their heads and Clint laughed. "I could forgive the Captain America book but she's called Phil?"
She scowled, her uncle did to.
"Technically I'm Philippa but I prefer Phi and so does he." She watched the wide eyes, her accent tended to do that there.
"Coulson, Coul-niece? Or maybe Phil 1 and Phil 2?"
He dashed out a minute later with the newfound knowledge that there were two Phil Coulsons and that was fine.
Hope you liked it, please comment. Thank you for reading.