NOTES: Thanks to the_wordbutler for the beta and for loving this story. And thanks to all of you who read it.
"What about this one?" Anna asks as she steps out of the closet.
"It's fine," Phil answers automatically.
She shoots him a dark look, but he misses it since his focus is on the tablet in his hand. He gave up paying attention to her outfit changes three dresses ago, and it's not helping her mood. "Phil," she says in a sharp tone.
His head snaps in her direction, eyebrows slightly raised over his glasses. "I'm going have to do some sucking up, aren't I?"
"I can't find a damn thing to wear, and you've been sitting on that bed for the last forty minutes in your suit. You probably won't even have a single wrinkle when you finally get up."
"I'm magical," he replies.
"You're something," she mutters as she steps back into the walk-in closet. She peels off the latest dress—a purple, form-fitting cocktail number—and sighs as she inspects herself in the mirror. She's always been petite, which she's mostly fine with except maybe the lack of curves in her figure. Thin has been the norm for her body shape, sometimes too thin when life beats her around.
Phil appears in the reflection—wrinkle-free as she expected—and he wraps his arms around her waist and kisses her temple. "You look beautiful no matter what you're wearing."
Anna snorts as she walks out of the embrace. "I'm not in the mood for you to start kissing my ass right now."
"Are you in the mood for me to kiss near your ass?" he asks with the barest hint of a smirk.
"While I wouldn't mind a repeat of this morning, we're running late enough as it is."
Phil moves to where her dresses hang and pulls out three of them. "These are my favorites, but you're not wearing this one," he tells her as he places a little, black dress back in its place. "I'm not sure I want you wearing that while out with Tony Stark."
Anna eyes the two choices left. "You know I've already tried on both of those tonight, right? Oh, wait, you don't because—"
"I'm sorry," he interrupts. "It's a new piece of intelligence I needed to skim before we left."
She bites her tongue before the question Needed or wanted? can sneak out. It's been hard remembering that the last few days of having Phil around is not going to be the new normal for her life. She's let her mind fall into the illusion that he'll run S.H.I.E.L.D. from one safe, secure place, and she'll see him most days than not. But that's not how it's going to happen. Phil's too hands-on to sink into a desk job.
She grabs the dress from his right hand—white with a cut-out in the back—and dresses silently. Finally dressed, they make their way out of the bedroom to find Jemma and Skye cuddled up close together on the couch, halfway through a movie. A heaping bowl of popcorn is set on their nearly-shared laps, and Felix lounges behind them on the back of the couch, currently pawing at Skye's hair.
"If you go some place good, bring us back dessert," Skye requests.
"There's ice cream in the freezer," Phil tells her.
"I know, but I'm in the mood for rich people food."
Jemma looks at her like she's speaking a foreign language. "What does that even mean?"
"We're not bringing you back food," Phil reiterates, moving steadily towards the door.
Felix let out a cry as Anna passes, and she turns to look at her cat. "I'll be back. You have your girls, you'll be fine."
Unsatisfied, the cat jumps down from the back of the couch and begins to trail Anna out of the living quarters. Phil points a finger at Felix. "Stay," he commands.
"He's not a dog," Anna tells him.
Jemma and Skye begin calling to the cat. Felix looks back and forth between his two options and settles for returning to the spot on the couch when the younger women offer to share their snack.
"Please do not feed my cat popcorn," Anna tells them.
Jemma smiles innocently. "Please do not feed your cat any more popcorn?"
"If he has to go to the vet at three in the morning for some digestive thing, you guys are taking him."
"She can fix whatever might go wrong," Skye argues while pointing at Jemma. "It'll be fine. We're just going to have a quiet night here on the couch."
"By quiet do you mean making out?" Anna questions. "Because that's a really comfortable place to do it." She laughs as Skye's face turns into a mortified expression and Jemma blushes. "Have a good night," she tells them in a sing-song voice.
"I believe that falls under the category of 'trolling,'" Phil comments as they wait for the elevator in the hallway.
"Look at the old man trying to get hip with the vernacular."
Before he can snark back, the elevator doors open to reveal Tony and Pepper. Tony shakes his head and looks up at the ceiling. "JARVIS, take us back up. We're supposed to be fashionably late, not arriving at the same time as them."
"My fault," Anna says as she and Phil enter the elevator. "I was late because of fashion. Didn't mean to steal your thunder."
"It's fine," Pepper reassures. "Sushi okay with you two?"
"Sure," Phil answers.
Tony points a finger in Phil's face. "This is a legendary sushi master we're talking about here. Don't go drowning the food in soy sauce and wasabi. It's a crime against the fish and highly insulting."
"I'm aware," Phil replies as he swats Tony's finger away. "I'll also be able to carry on a full conversation with him in fluent Japanese. How about you?"
"Why are we doing this again?" Tony asks Pepper.
"Be nice," she tells him.
Tony drives them to the restaurant in a car that barely fits all four of them. Dinner starts out pleasant enough. Pepper asks how Anna's hand is healing.
"Not fast enough for my liking," she answers. "But it'll get there eventually."
"I'd love to hear you play," Pepper says.
"That makes two of us," Phil mutters.
Anna shakes her head. "Not until I feel ready. I'm not back to where I want people to hear me yet."
"I'm sure you're better than you think you are," Phil replies.
Once dinner is served, it doesn't take long for the conversation to be dominated by Phil and Tony about how they're going to make their agencies work together. There's talk of security threats, bombings, stolen technology, and what a mess all of that can turn into. Anna tries to participate in whatever conversation Pepper is attempting to start with her, but her mind runs away with what the gentlemen are discussing. She thinks of Phil taking on all of that, of Ward attacking her, of the sluggishness of being drugged, and of how she lost Phil once already. It slowly starts overwhelming her until she's bolting for the restroom.
Pepper slowly opens the door as Anna splashes cold water on her face. "Everything okay?" she asks.
"How do you do this?" Anna questions. "I thought I knew what this was like with David, but we never talked about his work. He left, he came back, and we never talked about what happened in between." She shakes her head. "How do you live this life?"
"Still trying to figure that one out," Pepper answers. "There aren't that many people who can understand what it's like to watch your boyfriend fly into a black hole with a nuclear warhead on his shoulder." She slowly reaches over to place a hand on Anna's shoulder, but the touch still causes Anna to jump. "Do you want me to get Phil?" she asks.
Anna hesitates before she nods. "I'm sure you won't have to look far."
Sure enough, Phil peeks into the restroom as soon as Pepper opens the door. His face is lined with worry as he trades places with Pepper. "I'm sorry," Anna apologizes.
"You didn't do anything wrong. I shouldn't talk about work around you."
"Your work is your life. If you don't talk about it, I'm never going to know what's going on with you." She closes the distance between them and rests a hand on his cheek. "I've been an idiot. Playing house the last few days, thinking this could be our life from now on. But it won't be."
"Anna—"
"I'm not blaming you, Phil. If I want to be with you, and I do, this is just something I have to get used to."
He pulls her into an embrace and she takes the opportunity to further commit his qualities to memory: the smell of his aftershave, the feel of his chest against hers, the faint scratch of his five o'clock shadow as he nuzzles his cheek against her. "What do you want to do?" he asks quietly.
"Play for you."
"You said you weren't ready."
"And you could leave tomorrow to put out some fire and never come back," she tells him. She feels guilty for cutting their double date short, but neither Tony nor Pepper say anything about it.
When they enter their quarters, the living room is dark and empty. Anna grabs Phil's hand and pulls him behind her to her practice room. She grabs her concert cello and readies herself while he sinks to the floor, back against the padded wall. "Any requests?" she asks.
He shakes his head. Already the tension that formed at dinner is visibly seeping from his shoulders. Anna closes her eyes and settles on a piece she composed after watching the sunrise while staying at her sister's house in Arizona. It's one of Phil's favorites, and she can almost hear his grin over the melody.
When she finishes, they sit in a peaceful silence for a minute before Anna asks, "We're doing okay, right?"
"Yeah," Phil answers. "Don't you think so?"
"I think I'm a hot mess, and I don't know what you're doing wanting to be with me."
Before he can respond, JARVIS alerts them there is a guest at the door. "Who is it?" Phil asks.
"I'm not allowed to say," JARVIS replies.
"Stay here," Phil orders, his face tight and serious.
Anna puts down her cello, but cracks the door open so she can see what happens. She watches as Phil grabs an icer pistol and shields his body behind a corner before telling JARVIS to let in their guest.
The next thing Anna sees is a woman stalking around the corner and slapping Phil in the face before quickly kissing each cheek. The sharp movement causes the hood she's wearing to fall away and reveal a distinct hair color.
It's his redhead.