May 23, 2009
"Have you gone absolutely batshit?"
Phil stood there, hands clasped behind his back, with his trademark mild facial expression just because he knew it would piss Fury off even more. "You've completely lost your mind!"
Fury stood behind his desk, fist planted firmly on the surface. His single eye flashed in anger. "If we let everyone read in their girlfriend, the whole world would know what we do. I don't need to tell you what a fucking circus our lives would be if that happened."
"I'm not sure what the problem is. She already has the highest civilian security clearance; she's been declassifying documents, which means she's likely seen some of our less dark records. Besides, we need help with records management. We need someone to come in and make sure we're doing it right. Contracting out to her lets her be read in." He paused. "Besides, I've updated my file to list her as my next of kin. I don't want her lied to if something happens to me."
"Phil, I don't give a rat's ass."
He opened his mouth to object, but Fury overrode him. "That doesn't mean you've not made a good argument. I'm not giving an answer now because I don't like the precedent this could set. Dr. Schulz may in fact be qualified, but I can't just read people into SHIELD just because agents want to talk to their flavor of the week."
Phil crossed his arms, mouth pressed into a firm line. "Nick, you know that's not the case here and I would ask that you not say such things to me again."
The director raised his eyebrows, but Phil stood firm. Then he sighed, "Go back to work, Phil. We'll talk about this later."
Phil nodded. "Thank you, sir."
Fury called out after him. "Not a word of this to her, Phil."
He nodded again. "Yes, sir." Then he quickly exited.
That didn't go quite as he had hoped, but it wasn't a no. And that was almost a good thing.