So, here's the second half to abrupt. It contains Pen's encounter with Clint along with a mild family story. Sorry if the family story seems out of place. I tried to flow into it, but it didn't work as well as I'd like and I didn't want to move it to another chapter because it links with the next chapter. So, it's in here and hopefully it's not too badly pieced together. Hopefully this is up to you guys' expectations.
Enjoy everyone,
Illusinia
Prompt: Abrupt part II
Pairing: Darcy/Clint, Phil/OFC
A tangle of limbs and sheets covered the king-sized bed in Phil's apartment, both occupants of the bed breathing a little hard and looking more than a touch dazed. Suffice to say, neither Phil nor Pen had expected things to be quite that intense when they'd come stumbling through the door. Then again, they hadn't been doing much thinking either. Once Phil had explained that Darcy was fine, probably at her own apartment with her husband-to-be and infant daughter, Pen had shifted her focus to catching up with Phil in a less...verbal way. Not that he was going to complain. As Darcy had said multiple times, he'd been living like a saint since Pen's accident.
"So is it safe to assume you missed me?" joked Pen, trying to lighten the mood even as she winced while sitting up. Phil felt a little bad about that. He could have been more careful.
She'd hit him if he apologized though, so he instead wrapped his arm around her waist and rolled her on top of him. "More than you know." He let the emotions he'd kept bottled up tightly since her accident, the sense of losing a part of himself, float across his skin.
Pen winced a little, cuddling closer and pressing her body to his. Instead of speaking though, she allowed her own emotional energy to float over his skin. Her actions in these cases were always stronger, allowing others to experience what she wanted them to feel.
For a few moments, they lay there in silence absorbing each other's presence and allowing it to revive their souls. Their bond which Pen swears she didn't create but which Phil knows she somehow did. A strange sense of always knowing where the other is and what the other is thinking.
Still, Pen had never been perfectly patient. If Phil was honest, he'll admit that one of the reasons he always liked Clint was the similarities between the archer and Pen. It made it easy for Phil to figure out what Clint was doing and put a stop to anything he felt the need to stop (most of it he let the man get away with).
Shifting around a bit, she raised her head to meet Phil's eyes. "So, who's this husband-to-be of our daughter's and have you threatened him with bodily harm and death should he fuck up?"
Sighing, Phil rolled them again so they were both laying on their sides with Pen pulled flush with his body. "His name is Clint Barton, he's been an agent with S.H.I.E.L.D for close to 12 years, and he's absolutely in love with our daughter. Also, he's one of my best agents."
"Does he know he's dating his handler's daughter?" questioned Pen with a touch of a smirk. It reminded Phil how devious she could be when she wanted to be.
"Yes, and he didn't run," confirmed Phil. "Though, admittedly, we didn't tell him until after Molly was born."
"Our granddaughter, right?" asked Pen, brow furrowed slightly.
"Correct." Reaching up, one of his hands shifted through Pen's hair softly. God, he'd missed being able to do this.
Pen looked thoughtful for a moment before a smirk curled up one corner of her lips. It was a devious look that Phil was all too familiar with. It meant someone was going to be broken very shortly, by the end of the day if not within the hour. "He's passed the first test then. Now he needs to pass the second."
Phil eyed Pen wearily. He wouldn't stop her, there was no way that could be fair to her, but he would rather not have to replace his best agent. "Second?"
"Yes," confirmed Pen, smirk now a full-fledged grin. "Me."
Clint sighed as he closed the door to the apartment he shared with Darcy and Molly. They'd moved in together after Darcy had informed him that she was pregnant. Despite any reservations about the matter on his part, he wasn't going to let Darcy live alone while pregnant with their child. It wasn't in his nature.
Dropping his keys in the bowl in the entry way, he moved into the living room of the apartment and froze.
There, in the middle of their couch, sat a woman who Clint didn't recognize at all. She was older, but probably not that old. Maybe in her late forties at most. Familiar dark hair hung down her back, drawn into some kind of a half ponytail to keep it out of her face an allow dark blue eyes to monitor his every movement. And she was watching like a hawk despite her very relaxed and unaware manner. It was a pose that he'd seen Natasha assume a hundred times when attempting to be non-threatening just before she dove for her target's jugular. Something about the woman struck a cord with Clint though, as if he knew her from somewhere.
"Clint Barton, I'll assume?" She may have asked a question, but her voice said she knew the answer already.
"Yes ma'am," assured Clint wearily. He and Darcy lived in Stark Tower, so he doubted the woman was going to do him any harm. JARVIS would stop anyone random from just wondering in, which meant she had to arrive with someone who had clearance to access the upper floors. "You are?"
Smirking slightly, she stood and moved towards the kitchen where he could hear coffee brewing. "Good. It wouldn't do for random men to be wondering into my daughter's apartment, but assumptions tend to make asses of people."
Daughter's apartment? But that would mean... Clint felt his brain shut down. No. There was no way. Phil and Darcy had said she didn't remember anything. So what was Penelope Coulson, former S.H.I.E.L.D nightmare, wife of his handler, and mother of his fiancee, doing in their apartment?
"You really will catch flies if you leave your mother hanging open like that," commented Penelope as she emerged from the kitchen with two cups of coffee in hand. She held both out to Clint, allowing him to choose which one he wanted. He recognized it as the courtesy it was: an acknowledgment of the inborn paranoia that was shared by all agents who had ever spent time undercover.
Snapping his mouth shut, he chose the one furthest from him naturally and moved to sit on the couch. Pen took the chair facing him. For a moment, she watched him with a weary eye while sipping at her coffee. Clint did the same, though he knew that she was probably gaining more information about him from their exchange than he was. Darcy hadn't inherited her powers from her father after all.
After a few minutes had passed, Pen set her coffee aside and leaned forward to meet Clint's eyes dead on. Her impassive face and unwavering stare reminded him of attempting to stare down Phil. Ideally, he wondered if she was capable of staring down his handler. And if she ever had.
"Yes, I have stared down Phil," broke in Pen, drawing him out of his thoughts. For a moment, he was tempted to ask how she'd known what he was thinking, but remembered just as quickly Darcy's own knack for knowing what was going through other people's heads. "Several times actually, usually when he's being overprotective or stubborn about something stupid. Once or twice after he almost got himself killed in the field too. Do you know why I'd here, Clint?"
The sudden change of topic didn't make Clint's head spin only because he was used to Darcy's own tendency to rapidly move through conversation. "Uh, I'm guessing you're here to see Darcy, but she's out. Her and Phil took Molly to the park." Wearily, he glanced towards the door. "Do either of them know you're here?"
"Phil does," confirmed Pen mildly. "He's distracting Darcy to give us a chance to talk." Picking up her cup again, Pen took a sip without looking away from Clint. Damn, if she wouldn't make an excellent interrogator. Hell, she probably had been given how small S.H.I.E.L.D would have been when she started working there. "You see, Clint, I've been a bit...out of commission for a while. Which means, we haven't had a chance to talk as I would have liked for us to. That means, we get to do our talking now."
Clint gulped a little. Somehow, the way she said 'talk' made the word sound ominous. Then again, Pen was a pretty dangerous person from what he'd read of her file. He considered responding for a moment, but decided to let her continue. The look she was giving him said she was using 'talking' as a way of saying that he was going to listen to what she had to say and not interrupt anyway. Also, it said he didn't have a choice.
"Now, I'm sure by now you know that Darcy is different," continued Pen. "Special." Clint nodded. "She's told you, I'm going to assume, about the way she sees the world and what that means." He offered another nod. "Good. That means you understand to an extent what she can do. But, you see, I have those same powers. Powers which can be used to cause a lot of harm. And I'm not afraid to use those powers to harm people who hurt my family, especially my daughter. Do you understand what I'm saying, Clint?"
Hurt Darcy and she'll crush him like a fly. Leave him twitching on the ground the way Loki was when Darcy lit him on fire. Scramble his brain so badly he'll never function again. Yeah, he got it. Nodding at her, he gulped slightly before offering verbal confirmation. "Yes, ma'am. Loud and clear."
The grin Pen gave him was borderline sadistic. "Good. Then we're on the same page." Craddling her coffee in her hands, she leaned back into the chair. "So, tell me a bit about how you and Darcy met."
Darcy felt her skin prickle as her, Phil, and Molly stepped off the elevator and onto the living floor of Avenger's Tower. Something felt off, like the echo of something she hadn't felt in a while. A presence she hadn't felt in a long time (hey, sometimes the villains had the best lines and Vader redeemed himself in the end, so it was all good). But it was familiar and comforting all the same. Two feelings which didn't mesh in her mind.
"JARVIS, is someone visiting the Tower today?" asked Darcy as she started down the hall quickly towards the apartment she shared with Clint. Molly didn't protest the increase in speed, just shifted in her sling to look up at Darcy with wide, curious eyes.
"Yes, Miss Lewis," confirmed JARVIS. "Agent Coulson escorted a woman up here earlier just before he left for the park with you and Miss Barton."
"A woman?" Darcy's brow furrowed in worry as she turned to face her father. "What woman? Dad, what's going on? You've been squirrelly all day, even for you."
Phil shifted a little and motioned down the hallway towards the apartment. "I think it would be easier to show you than explain this. You'll need to see this for yourself. But, perhaps I should take Molly?"
"What, am I at risk of fainting?" asked Darcy with a slight snort even as she handed her daughter over to Phil.
"Just to be safe," explained Phil.
Darcy gave him a weary look then nearly bolted for the apartment. Her father would have warned her if it was something dangerous, but the nagging sense that she knew this energy source made her move faster. Something about it was soothing to her, but her mind kept saying it could be dangerous for Clint.
Reaching the entrance, she unlocked and flung open the door before rushing into the living room. And freezing at the sight before her.
Clint was sitting on the couch, looking decidedly uneasy. He was leaning forwards casually, elbows balanced on his knees, but the way his knuckles were turning white belied his nerves. And right across from him, legs crossed as she leaned back in a chair sipping coffee, was her mother.
Both occupants looked up as Darcy burst into the room, one in relief and the other in joy. Her eyes darted between both individuals before her eyes focused completely on her mother. She swore the woman hadn't changed at all since the last time Darcy saw her.
"Darcy, you're home," greeted Clint as he stood quickly, moving to Darcy and drawing her into a hug.
She broke eye contact with her mother for a moment to hug Clint in return, offering him a quick kiss as well. "Hey Clint. Are you alright?"
Clint shifted a little but nodded none the less. "Fine. Just meeting your mom."
"Uhuh," replied Darcy, eyes shifting back to Pen, surprise still written across her features. She wasn't even sure what to say. After all, what do you say to a woman you haven't seen in 14 years?
"Darcy," murmured Pen as she stood, eyes examining her daughter. "Look at you." A sad smile tugged at the corner of her lips. "Sorry. You're father warned me that you were an adult now, but..."
"You still weren't expecting it," finished Darcy. She could feel the confusion still rolling off her mother. Confusion about what had happened, what she had missed. Shock at seeing her daughter fully grown in front of her (at least, she was assuming that's why Pen was shocked).
"Exactly," confirmed Pen. Her eyes passed over Darcy one more time before sliding to the door were Phil stood holding Molly. The little girl blinked at Pen for a moment before reaching out a hand towards the other woman. Pen didn't hesitate as she approached Phil and Molly, giving the little girl her hand. "And you must be Molly."
Molly blinked up at Pen, fingers pressing to her grandmother's palm. Darcy could see the energy shift that was occurring and knew Molly was trying to identify this new woman.
Without thought, Darcy spoke up. "That's your grandmother, Molly." Though the concept of a grandmother wouldn't be clear to the little infant, Darcy knew her daughter would be able to at least associate the word with the person in front of her, which was all that mattered. Trying to teach her daughter simple associations was something Darcy was attempting to start on. It would make things easier later on.
Pen looked a little startled by the name, as if it was foreign to her. Glancing up at Phil, she let the matter sink in for a moment before shaking her head and straightening up. "God, I'm old."
"You aren't old Pen," assured Phil, one of his hands reaching out to wrap around her waist while the other continued to cradle Molly in her sling. "You're younger than I am."
"I guess," muttered Pen, but Darcy could see the beginning of tears in her mother's eyes. She could actively count the number of times she'd seen any emotion other than amusement, annoyance, anger, or worry on her mother's features. Tears had been a major rarity that Darcy had seen maybe twice in her life. And one of those times, she was pretty sure her dad had almost died.
"Clint, why don't you take Molly and go out into the kitchen to fix something to eat," suggested Darcy, eyes meeting Clint's and pleading with him to go along.
Apparently, he picked up on the reason for her request quickly though, because he was already reaching for Molly's carrier when he answered. "Anything specific you're feeling like?"
"Pasta," replied Darcy. "Maybe something with a light, fresh sauce?"
"Done," assured Clint as he kissed her cheek before collecting Molly from Phil and retreating from the room. The door clicked shut behind him.
Glancing at Pen, Darcy felt her heart sink at the almost lost look on her mother's face. Her eyes darted to Phil and she mouthed 'how long' at her father. His return of 'last night' brought all the pieces together. Her mother was going through shock.
For a moment, she silently spoke with her father through facial features and minor head motions. The result was an agreement to move her mother to the couch and make more coffee. Darcy went to complete the second task while Phil handled the first. She wasn't surprised when the sound of quiet sobbing started to cut through the room.
Clint looked up as Darcy entered the room 20 minutes later, looking more than a little worn. Not that he could blame her. "How's she doing?"
Darcy shrugged, shaking her head and dropping onto a stool in front of Molly. "Hard to say. Dad said she broke down last night after a nightmare. It'll probably only get worse from here. I haven't looked up the symptoms of PTSD since I was 15 and suspected my dad was suffering from it, but I'm guessing she's going through something similar."
"It's going to be a shock," agreed Clint as he set a cup of coffee in front of Darcy and turned back to a pot on the stove. "She'll get better though. I've read your mom's file, she's a fighter."
"Even fighters can break, Clint," reminded Darcy, hand reaching for the mug and drawing it close to her body. He could see the worry in her shoulders and face; he doubted she'd ever seen her mother like this before.
Still, something inside urged him to reassure her. Yeah, this whole thing was going to be a shock, but when her mother threatened him, all he saw was strength and the urge to fight. Pen would be just fine. "She'll pull through this, Darcy. Believe me. But for right now, what she needs is you and Phil. Family can make all the difference in a bad situation."
"Tell me about it," sighed Darcy, setting her cup aside and offering her fingers to Molly who took one in her little hand. "Dad's with her now, talking." A faint smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. "It's nice to see him happy again. He hasn't been the same since mom's accident."
"He loves your mother," pointed out Clint, checking the pot before reducing the heat and turning to lean against the counter across from Darcy. One of his hands took her free one, his thumb creasing the back soothingly. "I'd be just as bad if something happened to you." Glancing at him, Darcy furrowed her brow in confusion. She looked ready to argue, prompting Clint to cut her off. "I mean that, Darce. If I were in your Dad's shoes with you, well, I'd be in one hell of a bad place."
"Clint..." His name came out as a concerned whisper, her hand turning over to grip his firmly. "I promise Clint, I won't leave without a fight."
Clint smirked a little, leaning across the counter to kiss her softly. "Good."
The sound of a throat clearing softly from the doorway brought them both back to reality and the fact that they were sitting in the very public Avenger's kitchen. Lucky for them, it was only Phil standing in the doorway.
Glancing at her father, then Clint, Darcy released her husband-to-be's hand and slid off the stool to approach her father. "Dad, how's mom?" Somehow she kept her voice neutral, calm. Clint could hear the worry though, and he knew Phil could too.
Phil shrugged slightly. "She's alright. Exhausted more than anything at this point." Pausing, he shot Darcy an apologetic glance before rocking slightly back on his heels. "I think we're just going to head home, though. You're both welcome to come along, of course, but she needs to be somewhere less..."
"Plagued by nosy scientists and a multitude of testosterone that someone could drown in?" suggested Darcy with a faint smirk. "A place not filled with people who will ask too many questions if they find out she's here?"
"Something like that," confirmed Coulson a bit sheepishly.
Shaking her head, Darcy leaned up to kiss her father on the cheek. "Just take her home, Dad. Mom's still in shock. If I'd known she'd only gotten her memory back last night, I wouldn't have barged into the apartment like I did earlier." Coulson gave her an unhappy look, but his daughter waved it off easily. "Seriously dad. I'll have more time to talk to mom when she's feeling less discombobulated. Who knows, maybe I can finally get her to tell me about Moscow."
"Alright," agreed Phil with a sigh, leaning over to kiss Darcy's forehead. "I'll call you later and let you know how she's doing. And Moscow is confidential, you know that."
"So if I call Nick and ask him for the report, he'll tell me it's still classified nearly 30 years later?" challenged Darcy with a smirk. "I call bull."
Clint took that as his cue to be able to hop into the conversation, as well as direct Darcy away from anything with the term 'confidential' attached. If Director Fury gave her the ability to dig through the confidential files, he was going to get an ear-full about some of the stunts he's pulled in the past year at minimum. "Have you alerted Director Fury yet to the change in Agent Coulson's condition?"
Phil nodded, turning to face Clint. "Yes. I alerted the Director early this morning. He has made a S.H.I.E.L.D psychologist available for her to discuss matters with."
Clint couldn't help but wince. He hated the shock doc's, mostly because they liked to prod at uncomfortable parts of his life. Still, he knew that sometimes they worked and Fury wouldn't make anyone he wouldn't use himself available for someone like Pen. "That's good to hear, sir."
"Didn't mom break a few of them before?" questioned Darcy curiously, head tilted slightly back in consideration.
Phil smirked slightly. "If by a few you mean every one of them she was assigned to, then yes. Fury went so far as to allow for her and I to attend sessions together for the sake of the doctor."
Clint whistled. "Wow, he never even went that far with Natasha and I."
"Neither of you ever necessitated a therapist to see a therapist," pointed out Phil, smirk slightly proud. "Pen is very good at causing psychological damage."
"Why did Fury think you could keep her under warps?" questioned Darcy, eyebrow cocked. "No one can tell Mom what to do."
Phil shrugged, looking a little shifty. "A few of the times may have been punishment for actions that may or may not have directly impacted Pen's need to speak with a therapist."
"In other words, Moscow," surmised Darcy, apparently accurately based on the expression that crosses Phil's face. At Clint's raised eyebrow, she elaborated. "I'm almost positive that Moscow is my parents' Budapest."
"Not quite," corrected Phil, "but close. Regardless, I'm taking Pen home for the night. This whole thing is a bit overwhelming."
"Just a bit," snarked Darcy in return with a roll of her eyes. "And I am going to find out what happened in Moscow one of these days."
"That's classified information," repeated Phil, S.H.I.E.L.D mask falling back into place as he turned towards the hallway.
"Sure it is," returned Darcy, though Clint could hear the teasing in her voice. "I'll find out one way or another, Dad. You'll see."
The smirk in Phil's voice was evident as he stepped out of the room. "Of course you will, Darcy. Of course you will."
Nearly a week passes before Darcy brings up her mother again, though Clint knows she's been visiting both parents every day. He can only imagine the degree of difficulty that comes with accepting a paradigm shift like the one Pen is suffering. Still, when Darcy walks into the gym on Monday without Molly in her arms, Clint knows her parents have to be around somewhere.
Phil had taken a brief sabbatical over the past week, though no one seemed to know why. A few of the older agents kept shushing up the the rumors that would crop up though, so Clint guessed they knew more than they were letting on. Then again, those same agents were also the ones who had been around for longer than anyone could remember, so there was a good chance these people were friends of Pen's. Or at least had been at one point in time.
"Hey Darce," greeted Clint as Darcy reached the edge of the mats. He'd been throwing punches at one of the many bags scattered around the room. Normally he'd be sparring with Natasha, but the Russian woman had disappeared somewhere.
Darcy smiled as she stepped onto the mats, leaning up to kiss him despite the sweat covering his body. "Hey Clint, what's up?"
Clint nudged the bag which was still swaying slightly beside him. "Workout. What about you?"
"Just got out of a meeting with Fury about my requalifying tests," replied Darcy with a sigh. "He wants me to retake all qualifying tests except the firearms one. He figures getting as out of shape as I did while pregnant won't actually affect my shooting. Plus, as he put it, he tried to make mom requalify for everything and ended up getting an ear-full about the difference between pregnancy and debilitating diseases."
"Debilitating diseases?" asked Clint uncertainly, hand reaching for his towel where it was thrown over the back of a chair.
Darcy nodded. "You know, about how pregnancy is a temporary physical condition and not a completely debilitating disease that keeps a woman from doing anything etc, etc, etc. Mom was fine with the physical stuff- that she got. What she took offense to was the suggestion that she might have forgotten any of her training. And she may have bullied Fury into personally retesting her."
Both of Clint's eyebrows shot up in surprise, even as he gave a low whistle. "That must have been one hell of a test."
"Rumor is she kicked his ass," confirmed Darcy with a smirk. "Problem is, the only people present were dad, mom, and Fury. And none of them will talk about it."
"I wouldn't either," pointed out Clint, wiping the sweat from his face with the towel. A glance at the clock told him it was almost noon. "Want to grab something for lunch?"
"Definitely," agreed Darcy. "Do you mind if Mom and Dad join us? They're upstairs now."
"Coulson brought your mom here?" asked Clint, a bit of a furrow forming on his brow. "Uh, is that a good idea?"
"Probably not," replied Darcy with a shrug, "but Mom was getting REALLY bored. And you don't want her to be bored."
Clint winced a little, imagining how Darcy got when she was bored. Yeah, definitely a bad thing. The remnants of one of Darcy's 'projects' from her pregnancy had sat in the freezer for nearly a month before he'd just trashed them. The kitchen from that day had resembled an active bomb range. One that had been hit by a nuke. "I can imagine your mother bored would be a bad thing."
"Very bad," confirmed Darcy with a smirk, one hand reaching out to brush over his arm. "Now come on, let's get up there. I'm starving."
"Give me five minutes to grab a shower?" requested Clint with a smile, one hand sliding up her arm gently.
She hummed, her eyes going slightly out of focus. "Mmmm, only if I can watch."
"Only if you strip too," agreed Clint as he started backing towards the Men's locker room. "No fair in making this a one-sided thing."
Darcy grinned and started towards the men's locker room while giving Clint a look that made him want to pin her against the closest flat surface. "Deal."
When Clint stepped into the breakroom on the twelfth floor of S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ, he wasn't sure what he was expecting. It definitely wasn't this though. Clearly Darcy hadn't been expecting this either, if the furrowed brow she was sporting was any indication.
Steve, Natasha, and Thor were all cooing over Molly where she lay happily in Pen's arms. Phil was sitting beside his wife, smiling softly at his granddaughter. This wasn't the surprising part though. Hell, Clint would be more surprised if his teammates weren't cooing at Molly. Even Natasha couldn't help cracking a smile when she saw his infant daughter.
No, what shocked him were the two other high-ranking S.H.I.E.L.D agents in the room who were laughing with Pen and Phil. Sitwell wasn't such a surprise; Clint had at least heard rumors that the man had a sense of humor more morbid that Phil's. But Blake's presence was borderline shocking.
"Darcy, why are two of the scariest S.H.I.E.L.D agents next to Phil and Fury currently laughing with your Mom in the break room?" asked Clint uncertainly, brow slightly furrowed.
Darcy blinked for a moment before her eyes lit up. "I bet Dad told them Mom was back."
"Huh?" Clint could follow a lot, but he was more than little confused at this point.
"Mom and Dad were two of the first S.H.I.E.L.D agents," explained Darcy with a shake of her head. "Blake was with them in that group and Sitwell joined maybe two years after S.H.I.E.L.D began. They're the only agents I can think of other than Fury who are still around now."
"What about Hill?" asked Clint, brow still furrowed.
"Hill joined after Mom's accident," replied Darcy with a shrug. "She's a good agent, which is why she rose like she did through the ranks. Blake and Sitwell could have risen too, just like Dad, but none of them wanted to and Fury saw no problem with letting them train the younger generations of agents. Why move some of your best from their positions if they don't want to move?"
"Good logic," muttered Clint. "But I thought you weren't making any announcements about your mom yet."
Again, Darcy shrugged. "It's probably got to do with cheering Mom up. Besides, they were all close for years. If anyone would have a vested interest in seeing Mom again, it would be the two of them. Well, and Fury, but he's already seen her."
Clint watched silently as his wife-to-be moved into the room at that point, walking straight up to where Phil was sitting and dropping a kiss on her Dad's cheek. "Hey Dad, how's Molly doing?"
"She's an angel," replied Pen with a smile. "Better than you were at her age."
"I remember that," stated Sitwell with a slight hum. "Took hours to get her to quiet down when she got going."
"Must have gotten it from Dad," teased Darcy, her eyes dancing slightly as she looked over her shoulder at Sitwell. "And I'm sure Molly got her good behavior from her father."
The barely concealed throat clearing would have been insulting if Clint didn't know he deserved it. His reputation preceded him in that area. Well-behaved was definitely not a trait listed in his file.
Natasha hadn't even bothered to hide her snort, just turned to Molly with a smile. "Don't worry little one, I'm sure there's more of your mother in you than your father."
"Hey," complained Clint petulantly, "I have some good qualities that don't involve shooting."
"Yes, you do," agreed Darcy, her smile soft. One of her hands reached towards him, bidding him to come join them. He complied easily and slide his hand into hers. "So, ready for lunch?"
"Almost," replied Phil easily. "I thought I'd invite the others along, if you don't mind."
"Others as in..." pressed Darcy wearily. Pen was giving him the same look.
He just offered both women reassuring smiles. "Others as in Director Fury and the missing Avengers along with Dr. Foster. I thought it would be a good way to introduce you to everyone Pen, while offering the Director, Sitwell, and Blake a chance to see you again."
"If the memories I got from you are any indication, I'm pretty sure I should be angry with Fury at the moment," commented Pen with a touch of annoyance.
Steve furrowed his brow a little in confusion, but Darcy cut off his question. "Mom got her memory back because Dad's memories of their time together triggered hers and brought everything back. She also saw what happened while she was still knocked out from the explosion that caused all this. Namely, the argument between Fury and Dad over what to do with Mom."
Clint winced slightly, exchanging a look with Natasha but not commenting. This definitely wasn't something he wanted to get in the middle of. Not if he wanted to stay on Pen's good side. Phil shifted slightly and looked like he was going to say something too, until Tony waltzed in with Jane and Bruce in tow.
"So anyway, productive morning I'd say," declared Tony with a nod.
Jane didn't look so convinced. She looked more livid. "You blew up half the lab. How is that productive?"
"Because we learned what not to do," replied Tony easily, eyes scanning the room as he took in the odd gathering before landing on Pen. He ignored Jane's grumbling in favor of approaching the table with a worrying smirk. "Well, it seems S.H.I.E.L.D has a new guest present. Allow me to introduce myself: Tony Stark, billionaire-genius-philanthropist-superhero. And you would be?"
Pen snorted slightly, clearly trying to restrain her laughter. "Penelope Lewis-Coulson, wife of Phil Coulson, former S.H.I.E.L.D field agent, and probably the last person in this room that you want to piss off. Well, short of my daughter. She might be more dangerous to you."
Darcy's shoulders shook slightly as she restrained her laughter. Clint had to admit, Tony looked like someone had just randomly walked up and slapped him with a fish before declaring themselves the king of Narnia and riding away on a unicorn. He'd never seen the man actually looked shocked; surprised awe was the closest the man could get.
"That explains the baby," commented Tony mildly, curiosity clearly piqued. Without comment, he spun a chair around and dropped into it backwards, arms folded across the back. His eyes narrowed slightly as he took Pen in. In response, she barely blinked.
Phil leaned back slightly, catching the eyes of the other two agents in the room. Clint noted the smile they all shared before refocusing on Tony. He wasn't sure he wanted to know what that was about.
After a moment of examination, Tony nodded his head as if he'd determined something and dropped his chin onto his hands. "I can see it. So, you're Phil's wife, hm?"
"To my knowledge I still am," confirmed Pen with a nod. "I'm hoping we don't have to go through that again."
"You're still my wife," assured Phil. "I made sure of that."
Tony hummed slightly, eying Phil and Pen with a smirk. "Sounds like a story, probably dealing with either an insane wedding or an insane proposal. My money's on the former, though I could see Agent hanging out of a helicopter with a ring in hand. Oh, that reminds me: I need ideas for how to propose. Pep's picky sometimes and I don't feel like completely screwing up like I did with the apology strawberries. If she quits again, I might actually be in trouble. So, Agent, since you are the only married man in the room, how did you propose?"
In response, Phil and Pen broke down into laughter with Sitwell and Blake attempting to contain theirs to some extent. Darcy was covering her mouth and apparently trying to avoid breaking into the same laughter as her parents. Tony looked absolutely confused and more than a little scared (as was everyone by now because, really Phil should NOT laugh that hard), but before he could say anything to that effect, Fury cut into the conversation.
"Phil didn't propose," informed Fury from his post in the doorway. There was a single file in his hand which he dropped in front of Pen on his way to the coffee maker. "They forgot to actually get married until after Darcy was born."
Jane's jaw dropped in shocked. "They forgot?"
"How do you forget to get hitched?" asked Steve as he scratched his head in confusion. "Isn't that kinda what you do before you have a kid?"
"I'm more curious how they realized they'd forgotten," snorted Clint, one eyebrow rising in curiosity. "That's not exactly an every day conversation.
Coulson smirked, his laughter now under control. "We were talking in the break room one day..."
Phil smiled at Darcy, rocking her a little in his arms while Pen ate. They'd brought her into work because Pen was still on desk duty, they had their own office, and neither parent really wanted to be separated from their daughter at the moment. The break room had seemed like a good place to set up for lunch, in part because a number of the older agents who knew them had been asking if they were going to bring their daughter by anytime soon.
"Do you ever feel like we forgot to do something?" asked Pen as she crumpled the wrapper from her sandwich and reached for Darcy.
Phil handed their daughter over so Pen could hold the infant for a bit. They knew each other well enough that Pen didn't have to say what she was referring to for Phil to know she was talking about their relationship. "Yes, but I can't put my finger on it."
"We're living together," started Pen, listing off what they had done.
"We have a daughter," continued Phil, a hand reaching out to touch Darcy's own.
Pen nodded. "We have a house, intertwined lives, and stable jobs. What did we forget?"
"Forget in relation to what?" asked Fury as he walked into the break room and grabbed an apple.
"Our relationship," replied Phil and Pen, both agents looking up at the same time.
Fury shook his head. "Marriage. You fucking forgot to get married."
Pen and Phil blinked at him for a moment, then turned to look at each other and spoke at the same time. "Oh."
"He's right," confirmed Pen. "We did forget to get married."
"We should correct that," agreed Phil with a nod of his head. "Courthouse after work?"
Pen nodded. "Might as well. Nick, can you come act as our witness?"
Fury shrugged and nodded. "Sure. Not the weirdest thing I've been asked this week."
"Thanks," grinned Pen in response before she handed Darcy back to Phil and stood. "I'll call the courthouse and see if we can just swing by."
"Might as well go soon," suggested Fury as he headed out the door. "Just let me know when."
Everyone except Sitwell, Blake, Darcy, and Fury stared at Phil like he'd grown another head. Then looked to Pen. Then back to Phil. A few mouths opened like they wanted to say something but closed again before any sound could escape. Even Clint was blinking at his two in-laws like they were insane. And he'd been expecting something strange like an off-handed proposal while jumping out of a burning helicopter.
"That's just...I'm not sure there's a way to respond to that," commented Jane at last, her shock clear.
Steve shook his head. "No disrespect intended, but I woulda thought marriage would kinda be the first thing done after finding out your girl is pregnant."
Pen just shrugged, standing and grabbing her jacket in the process. "My father was dead by then, I wasn't speaking to my mother, and when we found out, well, we were more worried about our jobs than something like marriage."
"Forgot to get married," muttered Bruce with a touch of a smile. "I don't suppose anything can be normal when your involved with S.H.I.E.L.D though."
Clint shrugged. "I like to think my proposal was pretty generic."
Darcy shot Clint a raised eyebrow. "You proposed by hanging a sign that asked 'Will you marry me?' over the entrance hall to our apartment the day we brought Molly home. I'm pretty sure generic has to involve kneeling and some place nice."
"You didn't like the way I proposed?" asked Clint, brow furrowed.
"I never said that," replied Darcy. "I just said it doesn't qualify as generic. It wasn't exciting, but my parents didn't exactly have an engagement."
"Which your grandmother did not approve of, for the record," added Pen, leveling at look at Darcy. "She said you'd better have one."
"Do I want to know what grandma threatened to do if I didn't?" asked Darcy uneasily.
Pen shook her head. "No, you don't. Now, are we going to eat or not?"