NOTES: Thanks, as always, to the_wordbutler for helping me with my words. This ties one stoory arch and gives a clue for the next one. Hope you enjoy. Thank you so much for reading.
"We make quite the pair," Anna declares. They're back in the medical ward of the base. Phil sits in a chair across the room with sensors placed everywhere around his head. She sits on a bed waiting for Jemma to attack her with a saw. Technically, the attack is to remove her cast, but Anna gets nervous whenever someone places a rotating blade anywhere near her livelihood.
"I'd come over and hold your hand," Phil offers, "but I'm a little tied up at the moment." He points to the leads and wires attached to his head, and Anna shakes her head.
"Normally, I'd at least politely laugh at that like a good girlfriend should, but I'm a little busy trying not to lose my shit," she responds as she tries not to flinch when Jemma whirs the blade as a warm up. "I'm just going to close my eyes, turn my head, keep really still, and you can tell me when it's over."
"That's what she said," Skye quips as she enters the room. Her eyes flick back and forth between Anna and Phil, and it obviously becomes a struggle to maintain a neutral expression. "What's going on?"
"Agent—sorry," Jemma apologizes. "Director Coulson requested a brain scan, and Anna's X-ray showed that her cast was ready to come off."
Skye turns to Phil, concern clearly written on her face. "Everything okay?" Before he can answer, she shakes her head a little and looks at Anna. "Wait, pregnant women can't have X-rays."
"Not pregnant," Anna says.
"And," Jemma clarifies, "it's only an issue if the X-ray is of the abdomen."
"Oh," Skye responds, her shoulders slumping slightly. "Okay then."
Anna steals a glance at Phil. "I think she might win the award for sounding most disappointed."
Skye rolls her eyes. "You guys do whatever you want with your reproductive systems. I just thought, I don't know… Your first baby was really cute and—"
"What are you talking about?" Anna interrupts. She can hear the harshness in her tone, but she doesn't care. "What do you know about that?"
Jemma grimaces. "You mentioned a medical history, and I wanted to be fully prepared, so I had Skye find your records from Atlanta. There was a picture in the file, and I know it's violation of confidentiality, but all I did was show her the picture." She ducks her head in embarrassment. "He really was an adorable baby."
"How do you have a picture of him?" Anna asks.
Phil tries to lean forward, but purses his lips when he can't move his head. "You don't have one?"
Anna shakes her head. "We forgot to pack the camera. None of our family made it in time, and we never left the hospital."
"Your doctor took it," Jemma answers. "He needed it for your son's medical file. The doctor was hoping he'd add him to his list of trial patients for the procedures he would've gone through."
"Can I see it?" The words are out of Anna's mouth before she realizes the thought was even there. Jemma nods, puts down the saw, and grabs a tablet. It takes a few seconds and several swipes at the screen before the image is displayed. She hands the device to Anna, who takes it with a shaking left hand.
His little face isn't quite what she remembers, but time has had almost twelve years to mess with her memories. She'd forgotten how her son had inherited his father's brow and her nose. The picture was taken during one of the few times he was wide awake, and he looks content. That's the part that causes her breath to seize in her chest.
"Skye, I'm a little tied up at the moment," Phil says. "Can you at least sit on the exam bed next to her or something since I can't?"
"Yeah, sure," Skye says hurriedly before sitting next to Anna and awkwardly wrapping an arm around her shoulder. "What happened to him?" she asks softly.
"Have Jemma tell you later," Anna says. She doesn't have the energy to go through the story again. Instead, she traces the outline of the man's hand in the image. It's resting over the baby's chest, probably to cover up the sensors attached there.
"Someone you know?" Skye asks.
Anna nods. "My husband." She points to the scar on David's index finger. "He and his little brother were putting away dishes one night when they were kids and decided to have a sword fight with steak knives. Kevin sliced his finger open." She tries to force down memories of how she was going to make matching father and son shirts. Her boys, as she was supposed to call them.
She blinks away tears and holds the tablet out for Jemma to take. "If you could send me a copy, I'd appreciate it," she requests. "My sister never got to see him."
"Of course," Jemma promises. She exchanges the tablet for the saw. "Ready?"
"Why the hell not," Anna answers, and Skye squeezes her shoulders. A minute later, cool air meets the skin of her wrist for the first time in weeks. The sensation is worth the awful smell it brings.
"I need you to listen carefully to me," Jemma says, her authoritative doctor tone ringing clearly in her voice. "Do not push yourself. I know you want to get back into fighting shape as quickly as possible, but do not rush things, you'll just do yourself more harm than good."
Anna nods as she slowly flexes her fingers. They're stiff, but there isn't any pain. She can't help but frown at the noticeable loss in muscle tone in her hand and wrist. And despite Jemma's warning, she's already calculating how hard she can push herself. It's probably a good thing she doesn't have a cello with her.
"All done," Jemma announces with a smile. "You'll want to soak your hand for a bit for the next few days, and be gentle with it. New skin is very delicate."
"Got it," she replies before looking over at Phil. "Want me to stay?"
He shakes his head. "Go get a shower. I'll meet you back at my quarters when I'm done."
It's been a while since a shower felt so good. Without the nuisance of wrapping her hand in plastic and worrying about getting it wet, she can fully relax under the hot spray. She also finds there's slightly less tension in her shoulders; that's probably due to telling Phil the whole story of her past.
She hears Phil call out for her as she steps out, so she quickly wrings out her hair and wraps herself in a towel before walking out into the main part of his quarters. "How'd it go?" she asks. He tosses a robe her direction, and she slips it on so the towel can be wrapped around her head.
"Jemma didn't find anything," Phil answers. "I told her I was sleepwalking since she doesn't know about the alien side of things. I showed the carvings to Melinda and Skye. They're going to do research to see if they can find similar markings anywhere, other than what Garrett drew, and Melinda told me if I started feeling the urge again, then I should ask Jemma to hook me up for another brain test."
"Guess that's better than some of the outcomes I'd imagined," Anna says.
Phil nods. "You and me both." He crosses the distance between them to wrap her in a hug and place a kiss on her toweled head. "You okay?" he asks quietly.
"Yeah, I was just caught off guard. I didn't know there was a picture of him."
"I've got it on a tablet I brought back with me if you want to send it to your sister."
"No one can trace it back to here, can they?" Anna asks.
"No. Skye made sure of that."
"Okay."
"I was kind of hoping you'd still be in the shower," he tells her, his voice playful, before he nips at an exposed earlobe.
"That can be arranged," she offers, but he shakes his head.
"I'll be quick. It'll only take me a few minutes."
"What every girl loves to hear," she snarks back. Anna uses half of the time he's in the shower trying to untangle her curls with her fingers. The remainder is spent sitting on the bed to first send an email to her sister, and then to stare at the image once more.
When Phil emerges, he's clean-shaven and smells of soap. Dressed in only boxers, he sits down on the bed next to her. It's all she can do not to bury her nose in the nearest patch of bare skin and take refuge in the scent of body wash.
"Can I see?" he asks softly, hand halfway outstretched. She nods and gives him the tablet. Phil stares at a moment before saying, "He was very cute. And I'm so sorry you had to go through that."
Her breath shudders in her chest, but she manages to fight back most of the tears. "I was sitting here trying to think of a good name, but I can't pin one down. I think I was just going to let David pick and only argue if it was something really stupid." She rests her head on his shoulder and asks, "Have any good baby names?"
The question'd seemed innocent in her head, but from the way she can feel Phil tense against her, she knows he doesn't agree.
"Anna—"
"Sorry. I was just curious," she says as she starts to pull away.
Phil grabs her hand to keep her in place next to him. "It took a long time for me to accept the fact that I was never going to be a father. We're talking years. And with all that's happened in the last couple of days, all the dirt I've thrown on top of that idea to bury it has vanished. I can't sit here and think of baby names if it's never going to happen. And it doesn't have to happen." His face is open to show her that the last thing he wants to do is put pressure on her. "But I can't have you saying we'll never have kids and then you ask me what I'd name them."
"That's fair," Anna admits. "And I wish I could give you a straight answer on this, but I don't know." She twists on the bed so she can look at him. Her eyes flicker over the scar on his chest, her brain still adjusting to its presence. "You are the only person I'd consider having a child with, but the last thing I want to put you through is something like that. I have a body that makes broken babies and—"
"Just because it happened once doesn't mean it will happen again," he interrupts. "Don't say that."
Anna rolls her lips and nods, but she can't quite believe him. "So what do we do?"
"Let's wait. Give ourselves some time to figure the rest of this relationship out."
"A year?" she asks.
Phil takes a second before nodding. "Sure. A year from now we'll see how things are and go from there. And until then, I need to figure out how to rebuild an agency while being a decent boyfriend."
"And I need to get used to you rebuilding an agency."
Phil grabs for the tablet and together they begin to make a list of rules so that, like S.H.I.E.L.D., they can put things back together carefully and to last. There are conditions like talking to each other every day (obviously allowing leeway for extreme circumstances), in-person contact at least twice a month, and not hiding things from each other anymore with the exception of keeping the other safe.
When the list is complete, Anna snuggles up against Phil's side. "If it weren't for the cat, you know I'd offer to stay here forever, right? I could just spend all day hidden away from all the intelligence, be your wench. Or provide in-cabin ambiance music on the plane."
Phil smiles. "It's been a few days since I looked at budget reports, so I can't give you an immediate answer for your proposal."
"You could pay me in orgasms."
"I think there's at four different regulations against that."
"Oh, official-sounding talk. Sexy." Anna laughs as Phil tackles her to the bed.
"We could give you a ride back home, if you want. I was planning on making a trip to New York anyway."
"Yeah?" Anna stills beneath him, and she can feel the surprise on her face. So far he's seemed bound and determined to keep the fact that he's alive a secret. And while she'll be happy not to play the grieving girlfriend anymore, part of her is sad that she'll have to start sharing him with more people
Phil nods. "I think it's time others found out I'm alive. Especially since Tony Stark is trying to privatize world security."