The Little Things in Life

by Rinnalaiss

100 Prompts. Phil Coulson has a life outside of SHIELD. It's tough to maintain: all the on-call, travel, and the secretive nature of the organization. But when work is so all-consuming, it's the little things in his personal life that keep him grounded. Like Laura, the one woman who's willing to stick around and put up with the long-distance. Phil/OC. Lots of fluff! Now rated M.

4. Museum

March 27, 2008

Phil could hear Laura approach when she was still about ten feet away but let her sneak up on him anyway.

She kissed his cheek from behind. "Guess who."

He rose from the bench where he was watching people on the National Mall and gave her a proper peck on the lips. "Hi."

Laura pulled away with a smile and sat down next to him. "So how long are you here this time?"

He put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into him. "I only have thirty-six hours."

She frowned, then stood and pulled him up with her. "C'mon. If I only have you for about 20 of those hours, I have to show you something."

Phil walked with her down the Mall and across Constitution Ave. to the National Archives. After flashing her badge with a "Hey, Joe, he's with me" they were waved through security. After going up a flight of stairs and threw a few restricted access doors, Phil found himself in a dimly lit exhibit space.

Laura flipped a light switch and spread her arms out. "My baby's finished!"

He looked around, impressed. He'd been hearing about this project for several months. She was in charge of this year's Congress Week and she chose as her exhibit theme The Importance of Congressional Hearings. There were pieces on the McCarthy Hearings, school integration, hearings following the Lincoln and Kennedy assassinations… and then Phil saw it.

There had been committee hearings on Captain America. His legs moved almost of the own accord over to the display. According to it, there were several hearings following his disappearance, but they were mostly about whether or not to recycle the image for propaganda value and whether or not to expend the resources to help Howard Stark in his expeditions to find him.

He noted there was no reference to HYDRA or Erskine's serum, but then he remembered that only SHIELD had record of that and that the records that others had were still classified.

Laura came up next to him and put her arm around his waist in a sideways hug. "So what do you think?"

Phil's eyes, which had been fixed on the display of photographs and brightly colored propaganda posters and other memorabilia moved to hers.

"It's amazing!"

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A/N: Just a note—this does take place before SHIELD recovers Steve Rogers from the ice.