Darcy had been bored the minute Phil left for work that morning. She had finished her cereal, dumped the remaining milk down the sink, rinsed her bowl out and then sat back down on the couch. She watched a rerun of the 'X-files' while trying to do a sudoku puzzle that was in the newspaper. A newspaper she found in one of the kitchen drawers that dated all the way back to July 17th 2007. She wasn't trying to be nosey by snooping through his stuff, she just really needed something to do. Besides the newspaper, she found very little: A half pack of gum, a book of matches with some German name on it, a button that looked like it came from a suit jacket, and a Post-It note with some random numbers written on it. Nothing at all to exciting or thrilling. She made her way into the bedroom and started to go through his closet, nothing in there except a few suits hanging on the rack and some dress shoes neatly lined up in a row on the floor. She was beginning to think that Coulson was one of the most boring people on the planet, except then she remembered their little encounter they had the night before; Coulson was anything but boring.

Darcy sat down on his bed, smoothing her hand over the sheets. She sighed, tipped back until her head hit the pillow, and closed her eyes.

She could still feel his lips on hers, kissing her with such fervor and sweetness. She had been a bit bolder, and nipped his bottom lip, which led him to moan softly. His arms wrapped around her tighter as he whispered in her ear how beautiful she was. Her lips moved down to his neck, and she kissed every inch of exposed skin she could reach without his collar getting in the way. His hands stroked up and down her back with firm pressure, and he tilted her head to the side, kissing a little trail across her jaw and down her neck. He moaned and called her a tease when she suddenly grabbed his neck tie, winding it in her hand and then yanking it playfully, bringing his lips close to hers, but not kissing him. He had smiled as he watched her pop open the buttons on his blue dress shirt, and she ran her fingertips up and down his undershirt. He tilted her face to his, letting his tongue slide across her lips until she opened up and allowed him deepen the kiss. She pressed closer to him, feeling his heart pounding against her chest. A chill ran up her spine when he slipped his hands under her t-shirt, his hands roamed freely across her back and slowly made their way around the front, gliding lightly over her delicate skin. She made a soft noise as he gently tugged the t-shirt over her head and tossed it to the side, and they had both chuckled when it landed on top of the lampshade, before turning back to their kissing.

She started to lean back on the couch, pulling Phil on top of her, but he shook his head and pulled her to her feet instead. He was trying to drag her into the bedroom, but stopped and pushed her against the wall kissing and nipping at her neck. She told him that she wanted him here. He seemed confused at first, like he wasn't sure what she was asking, and when he finally got it, he tried to direct her towards the bedroom again. She had been persistent and persuasive, and he called her 'Little Miss Bossy' then finally gave into her demands, pressing her firmly against the wall and taking her right there.

And, oh god, it was so good.

Afterwards, he had picked her up and carried her into the bedroom, laying her on the bed and covering her up with the sheet. He started to move away, but she grabbed his arm and pulled him into bed with her. She rested her head on his chest, and he wrapped his arm around her, and they both laced their fingers together, just before drifting off to sleep. When she woke up in the morning, he was gone.

Darcy sighed, wishing for another night like that, but knowing that it probably wasn't ever going to happen again. He had been moody and distance when he came back from his run, he told her he was sorry and that it couldn't happen again. She opened her eyes finally and rolled to her side, looking at the nightstand. She wiggled over to the edge of the bed and pulled the drawer open, maybe there was something of interest in there. Guys usually kept interesting things in their nightstand, right? On second thought maybe she'd find something she'd rather not see.

Jackpot.

The drawer had about twenty or so comic books inside it, and Darcy chuckled slightly as she pulled a stack of them out. So Phil Coulson was a bit of a geek. She wasn't going to lie, that just amped his sexiness up to a whole other level. For the next couple of hours she sat on his bed, reading all his comics, making sure she sealed them properly in their plastic bag after she was done reading each one. These were definitely something that he took great pride in caring for, some of them were newer, but a few of them were older than Darcy was. However, all of them looked as if they were in mint condition. She neatly piled the comics up and placed them back in the drawer.

Darcy glanced at the clock on the nightstand, it wasn't even noon yet. She was going to go absolutely stir crazy. Finally she decided that she should wash her clothes but found out after texting Phil that he didn't have any laundry detergent, even though he had a washer and dryer. The rest of the day she laid around on the couch channel surfing. It wasn't until the clock read 7:00 that her stomach started to knot up, and it wasn't because she was starving. Phil was supposed to be back around now, and although Darcy was excited to see him, she was also nervous on how he would act around her tonight.

At 8:20 Phil finally came home.

"Darcy, I'm back," he called out as he entered his apartment, setting the laundry detergent and a brown paper bag on the table. He gave her a slight smile when she got up from the couch and walked over to him.

"How was your day?" Darcy asked as she picked up the bottle of detergent and inspected it.

"Hellish," he sighed, stripping off his suit jacket and hanging it over the back of the chair. "I hope I got the right stuff."

"Oh yeah, this is good. Thanks. I figure while, I'm here I might as well wear my own clothes. But they really need a good washing first," Darcy smiled and then her gaze shifted over to the brown bag. "Dinner?"

"Yeah. I stopped at the sushi place I was telling you about. I hope that's alright with you?"

"Raw fish?" Darcy wrinkled her nose. "Okay, I'm up to trying anything once..."

"I grabbed you a California roll. No raw fish. No worries." He gave her a smile and picked up the bag, carrying it into the kitchen area. He began to unpack it, and Darcy grabbed glasses from the cupboard. "Were you able keep yourself occupied today?"

"Yeah. I was bored as hell, but I managed," Darcy chuckled, pouring Dr. Pepper into the glasses. "You got some comic collection. I mean, I saw you reading one yesterday, but I had no idea you were such a-"

"Geek?" Phil looked up at Darcy, and smiled a little bit.

"Geek. Nerd. Yep... one of those. I read them, but don't worry I made sure that I didn't wrinkle the pages and put them back in their little bags. You a big Captain America fan then?" She asked as she carried their drinks out to the living room.

"He's iconic. A real hero," he said as followed Darcy, carrying their plates.

Darcy looked back at him and giggled. "That's cute." She said as she sat down on one end of the couch, and watched him as he took his seat on the other end, making sure he was as far as he could get from her. "So how do I do this?" She grabbed her chopsticks and poked at the rolls a little bit. "What's this funky green stuff?"

"Wasabi. It's pretty hot, so try just a little bit first," Phil explained before picking up a piece of sushi and putting it in his mouth.

Darcy watched him intently, and then looked down at her food. "So I just put the whole thing in?" Darcy asked as she picked a piece up. "Good thing I gotta big mouth, huh?"

Phil could feel the heat rushing to his face and he looked down at his plate before Darcy noticed.

Except she did notice. Then she realized what she said and how she had said it.

"Ooops. That sounded really bad, didn't it?" She apologized. Was that the first thing he thought of? Oh, Phil, you dirty boy. "The sushi is good."

They didn't speak anymore after that, they just sat there at and ate in silence, both not really looking at each other, except for little glances now and again. It was driving Darcy mad. "So, do you want to talk about it? Last night. 'Cause I feel like if we don't, it's just going to make this situation worse."

"There's really nothing to say. I'm sorry, that I... Let things get like that last night." Phil placed his plate on the table and leaned back on the couch. "I'm supposed to be watching over you, and I feel like I took advantage of you instead. It was rather poor judgement on my part. I don't know why..."

"I can give you at least three reasons," she grinned. "You're a man, I'm a smart sexy girl, and you haven't gotten laid in a while." She ticked them off on her fingers.

"I thought we were going to have a serious conversation?" Phil kicked his feet up on the coffee table.

"I am being serious. Those are all valid reasons, right?" She grabbed a pillow off the couch and hugged it in her lap. "I mean, I know the first two are... Not sure about the last one..."

She was fishing for an answer.

"I don't feel real comfortable about talking about-"

Darcy rolled her eyes. "I'll take that as a yes," she smiled at him. "Honesty Phil, stop beating yourself up over this. These things happen. People get caught up in the heat of the moment. It's not a big deal. You didn't take advantage of me, I was totally willing. If anything I took advantage of you," she shrugged. Darcy was no angel, she had her fair share of one night stands and hookups in the past. One night of fun and the next day she could totally forget about the guy. Phil was different though, she wanted more. She craved to be close to him, not just in a sexual way, but to actually get to know the real him and not just his agent side.

Darcy squeezed the pillow tighter, before looking up at Phil. "If it makes any difference, I had a wonderful evening with you last night. Yeah, things escalated quickly, but it didn't make it any less special. Not for me anyway. Was... I not," her voice choked up as she searched for the right word. "...Good?"

Phil leaned forward on the couch and furrowed his brows together. She was asking him if she wasn't good? She had been the best he ever had. She had been hot and sexy; sweet and demanding. He had never been with anyone like that before. She was incredible. "Darcy," he spoke quietly, not looking up at her. "You were... perfect... amazing. That's not the issue though, it's the fact that I'm assigned to protect you-"

"I felt pretty protected in your arms last night."

Phil gave her a tiny smile. "I really enjoyed last night, but Darcy, we just can't... Even if we could... I'm twice your age."

"Isn't that every man's fantasy? Being with a way younger girl?" Darcy asked with a little smile playing at her lips again. "You'd be livin' the dream."

That caused Phil to chuckle, and he smiled at Darcy. "I don't want to known as the dirty, creepy old man around SHIELD."

"You're not that old."

"I'm 44."

"That's not old."

"Darcy, when you were born, I had already been working for SHIELD." Phil looked up at the clock. It was almost 10:30 already. So much for getting some work done tonight. He looked back at Darcy, who was just staring at him with that little smile still on her lips. He would do anything right now just to kiss those lips again.

"Wow really?" Darcy scooted a little closer to the edge of the couch. "You've been there a long time. You must like it."

"I believe in the work they do," Phil nodded. "I feel satisfied that I can contribute to their cause. And-"

"It's a dangerous job, but someone has to do it," Darcy said in a voice trying to imitate Coulson.

He smirked. "Something like that." She was sitting there, looking all pretty, and he wanted to do nothing more than just scoot close to her and put his arm around her. She could snuggle up to him, and they could watch some stupid comedy on T.V, it would the perfect finish to the crappy day he had. He sighed knowing that it couldn't happen, he wouldn't let it; instead he picked up his plate and then Darcy's. "I'll take these out. You can take the bed tonight, I'll sleep on the couch," he said as he walked into the kitchen and began to wash up the dishes.

"I can sleep on the couch. You're the one who has to go to a job in the morning. You need to sleep on something comfy so you can get a good rest," Darcy got up and carried their glasses out the kitchen. "I'll dry," she said picking up a dish towel and started to dry the silverware he just washed up.

"Trust me, I've slept in worse places."

"I bet. SHIELD seems like a tough-ass job," Darcy said, as she wiped a plate dry and then stuck it in the cupboard. "Did you ever want anything else in life? Like just a normal 9 to 5 job? Or like, a wife and kids? Anything like that?"

Phil turned off the water and turned away from Darcy as he wiped up the kitchen counter. "I was almost married once."

"Oh..." Darcy hadn't really expected him to say that. "What happened?" She asked, figuring Phil wouldn't go into any kind of detail, so she was surprised when he actually did.

"We got engaged in a rush. We only dated about six months. It might have been me pushing to get married or it might have been her, I don't really remember. Our relationship wasn't solid though, mostly because of me having to lie about my job constantly."

"So she didn't know you were in SHIELD?" Darcy asked.

"Darcy, you have to understand that SHIELD isn't a mainstream organization yet, we try to keep our existence pretty low key. Have you ever heard of us before the incident with Thor?" He asked.

Darcy shook her head no.

"I wasn't allowed to let her into the SHIELD part of my life. Even if I could, I wouldn't have wanted to tell her. She was safer without that knowledge. But, things started getting bad when I'd leave in the middle of the night and wouldn't return for days... weeks. I couldn't take any of her calls or even let her know my whereabouts while I was on a mission. She started to get jealous of my job. Finally she was fed up and gave me an ultimatum-"

"The job or her," Darcy finished.

Phil nodded. "Guess you can tell which one I chose. I haven't really dated since then," he flipped off the kitchen light, and they both headed into the living room again. "Darcy, I'm married to SHIELD. It's my job; it's my life."

"Maybe..." Darcy reached over and placed her hand on his. "You just need to find the right girl. Someone that already understands that super-secretive side of you."

He wanted to kiss her.

"Maybe," he said softly, looking intently into her eyes.

"Phil, if its the age difference-"

He put his finger up to her lips to stop her from speaking. "It's getting late, Darce, and I still need to get a few things done for work before tomorrow morning. Go ahead and take the bed tonight," he whispered, dropping his finger from her lips, it caught one of the soft curls of her hair, and he played with it for a second before dropping his hand completely.

She just wanted to be his everything at that point. She wanted to tell him how much of a crush she had on him. A crush that went all the way back to the time when he and his thugs stole all of Jane's equipment (not to mention her iPod). She had only seen him a few times in New Mexico, but it was enough to make an impression on her heart. When she found out he was the agent to protect her, she took it as a sign. It was dumb, but she believed in that kind of stuff. If she told him all this now, would it change anything thing between them? "Phil..." She started to but her voice cracked.

"See you in the morning," she said giving him once last look before heading into the bedroom and closing the door softly behind her.