"It seems we have a bit of a problem…" Melinda informed Phil the moment the two of them were out of hearing range of the Playground's other occupants once they'd gotten Rogers and Barnes settled in.
"Melinda," said Phil irritably as she trailed him towards the medicine cabinet in his bathroom. "I spent the entire flight back here babysitting three juveniles; I need an aspirin and a kiss – not in that order – and then I might be able to handle a problem."
Melinda obliged, giving him a quick kiss and then watching as he quickly downed a couple of pills.
"Okay," Phil said, turning to her and bracing his hands behind him against the bathroom sink. "What's the issue?"
"I've been on the phone with Maria practically all day trying to work this thing out, and she doesn't think that there's a way for her to slip out of Stark International without Tony and Pepper noticing her disappearance – not considering how high of a position she holds in the company."
Phil's eyes drifted closed and he let out a deep breath before asking her, "What do you suggest we do?"
She took a horribly long time to answer, and by then Phil knew what she was going to say before she said it. "I say we let Stark and his girl in the loop if that's what it takes. Not just for Maria, but because Stark could be a real help to us too."
"The only thing Stark is, or ever was, is a major pain in my a**," Phil declared.
"I know that, but he is a brilliant scientist – and if we're really going to rebuild SHIELD, we're going to need more than just Fitzsimmons working in the labs."
"Fine. I'll give Maria a call tomorrow morning and tell her to tell Stark and Miss Potts anything she deems necessary."
"What if Stark 'deems it necessary' to come along with her?" Melinda queried.
"Then I want golden handles on my casket," Phil said dryly. "Solid gold straight from the streets of Asgard – and a closed-casket funeral so no one has to see the hole I put in my own skull."
Melinda almost laughed at that and Phil glared at her until she schooled her features into a more appropriate expression, laying her head over on his shoulder as she said, "I'm sorry. It'll be okay, though; we're doing well – you're doing well. Things will work out, I'm sure. You'll just have to get used to having all of these adopted kids hanging around again."
Phil smiled down at her, replying, "At least I've got a kicka** step-mom for them helping me with them now."
Melinda could only wince at the very idea of her trying to play mother hen to all of these grown "juveniles."
Pepper had just stammered a lot until she'd decided to be angry that her boyfriend and the other Avengers had been put through so much unnecessary pain.
Stark had thrown things – lots of things. Some at Maria, some simply at the wall, and one particularly old vase had gone through Tony's particularly huge flat screen television. That alone would've made Stark unhappy on a bad day. Add to that the fact that Maria had just told him that Coulson had been alive these part two years, and the billionaire had disappeared down into his lab and drank himself into an oblivion from which he was not fully freed even the next evening when he and the two women landed in Playground base in Stark's private jet. The base to which Stark had decided he and Pepper would be moving, multi-billion dollar company and Maria's protests be d***ed.
Hung-over wasn't the first impression Maria had wanted the man to make on his new teammates, but still, she had to try very hard not to smile directly at Steve when she saw him waiting with the rest of the group when the door to Stark's jet opened.
"Nice to see you again, Agent Hill," Coulson said, stepping up first to shake her hand. "I can call you 'agent' again, can't I, since we are getting SHIELD back off of the ground?"
Maria knew that was a bit of a jab at her past comments about SHIELD being "over," but she didn't care about that either, just nodded and smiled. "Sure thing, boss."
"I like the sound of that," Coulson smiled and turned to the others gathered around them, remarking, "You all need to take lessons from Agent Hill here."
"Only in your dreams!" Agent Barton called out to him.
Coulson rolled his eyes as he turned back to Maria, murmuring, "As you can see, very little has changed in some areas." She grinned until he added, "Now, go over there and say hello to our boy, Cap, okay? Barnes busted him on your relationship yesterday while Romanoff and I were still in the air brining them back here."
"Is it a problem?" Maria asked worriedly.
"No. As the new director of SHIELD, my first order of business was to get rid of the fraternization rules."
"I bet Agent May was happy about that," Maria murmured quietly with a smile.
Coulson replied instantly, without even a hint of surprise at being caught, "We both were. But the relationship is kind of being kept low key so far, and we'd like to keep it that way for now. Bigger things to worry about, and all that."
"Of course," Maria nodded in understanding. "Speaking of which, who exactly knows about mine and Steve's relationship?"
Coulson flinched, answering slowly, "Everyone… Barnes and Romanoff made sure the news spread like wildfire."
"Wonderful," Maria replied under her breath, trying to decide if she meant that earnestly or sarcastically as she broke away from her conversation with Coulson to go to Steve.
"You!" Tony said loudly, pointing at Coulson when he finally spotted him in the crowd. "And I are going to have words. Big time words. Words that kids shouldn't hear and live television won't air. Got me, Agent Coulson?"
"Yes, Mr. Stark," Coulson said calmly, turning to Pepper and saying as she appeared at Tony's side apologizing for his hung-over state. "We also have that room ready that you requested. You wanted it as far away from the labs as possible so he was 'less inclined to become a science hermit', right?" Tony protested as Pepper nodded tensely at his side. "Alright," Coulson said, turning to an African American man and ordering, "Agent Triplett, show Miss Potts and Mr. Stark to their room please."As Tony was dragged onto the elevator, he heard Maria apologizing just like Pepper had been, but Coulson brushed her words aside, replying a little sadly, "I expected it from some of them; they have a right to be upset."
