A/N: Hey, so, reference to the comics in here if anybody catches it. :)
Skye was sitting on the couch in Coulson's office two weeks later, her feet settled on the cushion next to her and her tablet propped up on bent knees. Coulson was sitting at his desk, working on a list of names. He was hoping to find some old friends that were still loyal to the agency, but he was finding it difficult to earn their trust when they couldn't have face-to-face meetings.
"We need some sort of secure network to be able to communicate." Coulson sighed, rubbing his eyes. Skye looked over at him.
"Um, hello? That's like my forte." She pointed out, and he moved his hand away from his eyes to look at her while he thought.
"It needs to be very secure." He told her, and she gave him a wry look.
"C'mon, AC," She scoffed, and closed out the inventory she had previously been working on. She swung her feet down to the floor and stood up. "Don't freak out," She said when he'd frowned, "I'm just going to get my laptop."
She smirked at him as she left the room, and his frown deepened.
"I wasn't freaking out," He muttered.
There was a knock on his door and he looked up, frown falling away. Simmons was standing there, her notebook in her hands. He gestured her in and leaned back in his chair. She approached his desk but didn't sit.
"I don't have much of an update, yet, sir. I'm still running tests. I would just like to suggest to you… don't go exchanging blood with Skye anytime soon, okay?" Simmons told him, and he raised his eyebrow.
"I wasn't planning to, Simmons, but I'll keep that in mind," Coulson replied slowly, spying what was written on the front of Simmons' notebook, and furrowing his brow. "Cheese?"
"What?" Simmons asked, confused. He gestured with a nod of his head toward her notebook. "Oh!" Simmons laughed the way she did when she was nervous, and she flipped the book around. "My notes on you. Well, you and Skye, now. It started out with you, of course, when we first started running tests on GH-325."
"Cheese?" Coulson repeated, and Simmons shrugged.
"You know, like 'The Big Cheese'? I figured it would be better to use a codename than have a notebook with 'Agent Phillip Coulson' on the front of it."
"Ah," Coulson replied, giving her a small smile, and she relaxed, and even smiled back a little bit.
"How have your symptoms been since last week?" She asked, and he was mildly uncomfortable to watch her flip open the notebook to a blank page.
"It disconcerts me that you have notes on my love life." Coulson said, and Simmons looked uncomfortable as well.
"It usually helps if I keep focused on the science of it." Simmons admitted, shifting her feet. Coulson sighed.
"Skye and I haven't… We've stayed out of contact."
"What do you mean?"
"We haven't touched."
"At all?" Simmons sounded surprised.
"At all." Coulson confirmed.
"She's in here a lot, though, isn't she?" Simmons sounded surprised, and concerned, which Coulson narrowed his eyes at.
"She leaves the room if I ask her to." Coulson replied with a carefully stoic look on his face. "And she leaves the room if she feels the need to."
"No arguments?" Simmons still sounded surprised, writing furiously in her notebook.
"No arguments."
Simmons finished writing, and looked up toward him seriously.
"You can't do that." She told him in her 'doctor voice'. He looked surprised.
"I can't do that?" He repeated, narrowing his eyes and leaning forward. "What do you mean, 'I can't do that'?"
"It'll get worse." Simmons told him seriously. "Haven't you noticed anything already?"
There was a long moment of silence, and Coulson shifted uncomfortably in his seat, looking away from her.
"I've been dreaming about her more lately." He admitted, still avoiding eye contact. He could hear her pen scratching into the paper, and sighed.
"What is the nature of these dreams?" She asked as she wrote.
"Is that pertinent?" Coulson replied shortly, and Simmons jumped slightly, hesitating.
"Um…"
"They're realistic." Coulson replied angrily, folding his arms across his chest, glaring at his desk.
"As in…"
"Let's just say all my biological functions are working properly, okay?" Coulson gave her a steely glare, and she blushed furiously.
She at least gave him the dignity to hold off on her notes until she returned to the lab. She waited a few moments before continuing her questions.
"Has this happened…" She couldn't even finish that one, but he knew what she was asking.
"Not since I was in high school," Coulson admitted, and he sounded… kind of amused. Simmons felt her cheeks grow warmer and she looked toward his fake window. It showed a picture of a beach, and she frowned, finally looking directly at him again.
"Sir, doesn't that picture… remind you of Tahiti?" She asked carefully, concerned, and he sighed.
"That's the point," he replied sadly. "It reminds me why we are here in the first place. It keeps me… grounded. The anger distracts me when I become too focused on thoughts of her."
"Sir… You shouldn't do that," Simmons told him again, softly. He narrowed his eyes toward her, and she continued before he could express his annoyance. "I've been running a long-term test along with some of the other things I've been doing. Keeping samples of the blood close together for long periods of time, but not allowing them to interact. This morning, I had removed the barrier between the two and allowed them to mix."
"And?"
"It just gets worse, sir." Simmons told him instead. "The desire only gets more intense. I'm not saying you should…" Simmons took a breath, sorted out her thoughts, and continued, "I think you should monitor your interactions. But don't fight them. I believe that carefully handled, minor, intimacy will help contain the attraction at least. But if you continue the way you are right now…"
"What?" Coulson asked firmly, his lips thinned.
"You will do what both of you are afraid of. You will lose control." Simmons was serious, and Coulson closed his eyes, a pained look on his face.
"I didn't want this." Coulson said quietly, and Simmons gave him a sympathetic look.
"I know, sir." She said softly.
"I'm an old fashioned man, Simmons," Coulson opened his eyes and looked at her; she'd never seen such vulnerability in his eyes before. "Things like sex… it's not a flippant thing. It's important. How is she supposed to know that when this serum is messing with us like it is? She's never going to know whether it's me or whether it's the serum."
"She'll know," Simmons promised him, "If you tell her. Remember that Skye's not the stereotypical young woman. And she knows you, sir." Coulson looked appeased, and she waited a moment before saying, "This is one of the reasons I believe my plan will help. That way, you can choose when to take the next step."
"The fact that is a when, now, and not an if." Coulson replied quietly, and Simmons gave him a half smile before heading out of the room.
"I think it was always a when, Director." Simmons said at the doorway, and Coulson lifted his eyebrows in surprise.
Simmons disappeared and Skye walked in with her laptop open in her hands. She glanced up at him as she returned to her spot on the couch.
"What's that face for? Simmons have any news for us?" Skye asked, most of her focus pointed toward her laptop.
Coulson heaved a heavy sigh and stood, moving to the front of his desk. He hesitated there, and leaned back against it.
"How have you been handling our… arrangement?" He wondered, and she raised her eyebrow, suspicious of his casual tone.
"Fine," She trailed off, setting her laptop to the side. "Do I need to leave?" She asked, and he shook his head quickly, moving toward the couch and sitting next to her. She stiffened; part of the arrangement had been keeping a good couple feet of space between the two of them. Coulson turned to look at her.
"Simmons believes that what we are doing right now is dangerous." He told her, and she frowned.
"What part of what we're doing?" She wondered.
"The not touching part." He said, and Skye swallowed.
"Oh." She said.
He looked at her carefully for a moment, and raised his hand toward her. She flinched away, and he hesitated.
"If we're careful, we may be able to control it," He told her, and the look of determination on his face made her hopeful. She was also just hopeful for him; it had been agonizing these past weeks trying to keep from even just reaching out and sliding her hand across his as they worked together.
"She doesn't want day-by-day updates, does she?" Skye asked, and Coulson laughed.
"There's that humor," He said, pressing his palm against her cheek. Skye immediately closed her eyes and sighed, a smile forming on her face. She opened her eyes when his other hand pressed against the other side of her face, and he was smiling too. He looked at her for another long moment.
"AC," Skye whispered, giving him a small nod, giving him permission. He leaned in and kissed her softly and languidly, and she felt like it was the best kiss she'd ever had in her life. She slid her hands up to the lapels of his jacket, pulling him further toward her, and his fingers slipped into her hair.
Five minutes later, there was a knocking on the door, and they disentangled themselves quickly. Coulson stood and moved toward his desk, clearing his throat lightly.
"This stuff needs a warning label," Skye breathed, as Coulson readjusted his tie. "Warning: may cause intense, spontaneous make-out sessions. Symptoms also include constantly thinking about what makes your boss so freaking hot, and dreaming every night about – "
"I think I get the warning label, Skye," Coulson growled out, his fingers gripping the edge of his desk.
"Right. Sorry." Skye fixed the hem line of her dress, smoothing it down as Coulson called into his office whoever it was on the other side of the door that had interrupted them.
"I thought that I should add – " Simmons stopped when she caught Skye's glare. "Um…"
"You should also add in your notes that Skye has experienced the same symptoms as I have." Coulson said to Simmons before Skye could say something, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"What symptoms?" Skye demanded, forgetting her annoyance at the interruption, at the same time Simmons said,
"She told you that?"
The two girls stared at Coulson with surprise. He smirked, and Skye threw her tablet stylus at him.
"You've had the dreams too? Why do you keep hiding these things from me?" Skye demanded, approaching him. He held his hands out to grasp her shoulders and keep her arms-length away.
"Excuse me for wanting to keep my sexual thoughts from the woman I'm trying to woo!" Coulson retorted, and Skye rolled her eyes.
"God, you're so old fashioned," She groaned in annoyance, grabbing his jacket and yanking him toward her, giving him an open-mouthed, dirty kiss. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her against him, leaning his hips back against his desk.
"I would just like to remind the two of you that I'm still standing here." Simmons pointed out nervously, looking at an empty spot on the floor.
"Sorry, Simmons," Skye breathed, wiping her hand across her mouth and stepping away from Coulson. He looked a little short-circuited, and only blinked. "What did you want to add?" Skye still sounded a bit breathless.
"I – nothing, I think you've figured it out on your own." Simmons offered them a timid smile, and then disappeared. Skye stared at the empty doorway for a moment.
"You think she actually had anything to say, or was she trying to catch us in the act?"
"Please don't talk about us being in the act."
Skye grinned at Coulson, who was pinching his lips shut.
"I should get back to work on that program." Skye pointed out, and Coulson nodded, staring at her lips. "Okay?" She said, and he nodded again. She sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "I can't concentrate when you're looking at me like that." She informed him, and he blinked his eyes up to meet hers.
"Looking at you like what?" He wondered, and she smiled, chuckling.
"I'm going to go work in my own office, okay?" She told him, and he looked disappointed.
"You don't have to. It's okay." He insisted, moving around to sit behind his desk.
"It's pretty boring, what I'm doing right now. This is all code work." Skye said, and he shrugged.
"I don't mind. I like your company." He said, and Skye smiled.
"I like your company too." She told him, sitting in the chair across from him.
A/N.2: *sings* - I love reviews, reviews make me happy.
Thanks everyone who's favorited, reviewed, or even just read. You is kind, you is smart, you is important.