Darcy got up super early the next morning, she wanted to be out of the house before Phil woke up or emerged from his room. Last night had been one of the most horrible nights of her life. Never before had she felt so embarrassed ... so played in her entire life. She was furious at Phil but she was also pissed at herself for letting her emotions get in the way of a work mission. Her first big mission and she fell for the senior agent. It didn't help that he was being 'Mr. Flirty' with her either; Darcy felt like she had been led on. He had kissed her with so much passion, his hands were tangled in her hair, and he put his fucking tongue in her mouth. Why the hell would he kiss her like that if it was only to cover up what they were really up to? Dunham didn't show up until about a minute after they started kissing. He made it very clear to her though, that the kiss was just a cover. And he totally admitted that he had led her on.
Phil Coulson was a jerk.
Darcy quickened her pace walking down the road towards the school. Third day of art camp today - Darcy didn't want to be there. She was tired and in a foul mood; putting up with shit from brats and 'Stepford whack jobs' was going to send her over the edge. Of course, hanging out with Agent Douchebag was probably going to be worse. She wished Clint was here, he would make everything better. Probably not, but at least he'd try to. She exhaled deeply, she knew that she had to go forward with the mission. She would have to continue to be Mrs. Darcy Coulson but she had no intentions on being friendly with Phil while they were alone. She'd work with him on a professional level, and that was it.
Darcy walked into the school and into the classroom. The kids were running around like little maniacs, as usual. "I'm here," Darcy said walking over to Barbara and Melissa.
"Oh, honey, you look like you didn't get much sleep," Barbara said with a little pout.
Melissa nodded. "Is everything alright? I hope you and Phil didn't get into a fight."
Darcy put on a fake smile. "No, everything is fine," she said. She wondered why that would be the first thing that popped into Melissa's head.
"Oh, good! He just seems like the biggest sweetheart," she smiled, grabbing a canister of popsicle sticks.
Darcy wanted to roll her eyes. If Melissa wanted to have Phil, she could. They probably would be great for each other. Probably make really cute babies too. Darcy wanted to gag at that thought. "What craft are we doing today?" She asked, putting on a paint smock.
"We're making popsicle houses and then painting them! Doesn't that sound cute?!" Barbara giggled.
"Adorable," Darcy mumbled. She spotted Annie sitting by herself in her usual spot. Darcy smile and waved. At least as soon as class started she could disappear back there for a little while and talk to her. Annie never said much, but she liked having Darcy around her.
"Which reminds me," Barbara grinned. "Ken and I are having a dinner party on Saturday. You and Phil are invited. Just bring your specialty to share with everyone. I'm making a pot roast, and Melissa is bringing a cake."
"Oh, that would be wonderful! I'm sure Phil will be thrilled," Darcy tried to make up some enthusiasm. She didn't really want to go to a dinner party but it was another opportunity to snoop around. She and Phil had been here over two weeks and hadn't really figured anything out about the town; other than the people here were weird. Maybe that was it; this town just had weird people. "We'll be there!"
"Great! 7 p.m on the dot! Don't be late!" Barbara smiled and then walked away to pass out sticks to the kids.
"So how is Phil's book coming along?" Melissa asked, as she squirted paint into little cups.
"He has a rough draft of the plot and now he's on to getting character ideas," Darcy replied. She hated how Melissa said Phil's name; she made it sound like she wanted to devour him.
"Well, you tell him he's more than welcome to base a character off me. I would love to be in his book," Melissa practically purred.
"And in his pants ..." Darcy thought bitterly. "Oh, I'm sure he'd love to base someone off you. You and him will have to chat at the dinner party,"
"Oh, I plan on it," she smiled as she walked away.
Darcy could feel her blood boil. For being upset at Phil for acting like an asshole, she sure was getting jealous. Darcy huffed out a big breath and headed back to the table with Annie. She smiled at the little girl and sat down across from her. "Hi, Annie."
"Good morning, Mrs. Coulson," Annie smiled shyly as she spun her bottle of glue around on the table. "I'm not very good a building things. My house is not going to be pretty at all." She wrinkled her nose, looking down at the pile of wooden sticks.
"Hey, I'm not good either but between you and me, we are going to make one awesome house. We'll paint it and put glitter and stickers on it, and everyone will be super jealous!" Darcy smiled, as she began to fit the sticks together.
Annie laughed. "Okay. Can we paint it pink?"
"You bet your ass ... I mean, butt! You bet your butt we can!" Darcy said. She closed her eyes for a moment. Last thing she wanted right now was to have Barbara or Melissa scold her on using bad language. They'd probably make her wash her mouth of with soap.
Annie giggled again and then started to brush glue onto the sticks. Darcy had to get a few times to help other kids but she made sure she always came back to Annie. "Wow, that is one awesome house!" Darcy smiled, as she looked at the lopsided popsicle house. Annie had painted it pink and was not adding purple glitter to it.
"It looks bad." Annie frowned and set her paint brush down. "Look at the roof."
"Well," Darcy said, sitting down again. "I think it's cute. I bet fairies would use it as a hideout in the woods!" Darcy smiled.
The mere mention of the woods made Annie turn white as a sheet. She shook her head over and over. "Not the woods ..."
"Annie are you okay?" Darcy asked, placing her hands on the little girl's.
Annie hushed her voice. "Never go into the woods. Promise me, Mrs. Coulson, never go into the woods ..."
"What's in the woods, Annie?" Darcy whispered, making sure Barbara and Melissa weren't staring at them.
"... People that go into the woods ... Some times they don't come back," Annie whispered, shaking slightly. "There's a monster in the woods ..."
Okay now, Darcy felt like this mission was getting interesting. Finally something was happening. "A monster? Annie, what do you know?" Darcy asked.
Just then the bell rang. "Okay, kids! Let's clean up! Mrs. Coulson can you collect the paint trays?" Melissa yelled over all the chatter in the room.
Darcy looked at Annie, and then stood up. Damn it, she really wanted to talk to Annie some more. Find out what else she knew about this 'monster.' "Maybe we can talk later?"
"No. I don't want to talk about that anymore," Annie shook her head. She looked away from Darcy and started to clean up.
"Okay, have a good weekend, Annie." Darcy looked at her for a minute; whatever she knew, it scared her. Darcy sighed and walked away to collect the trays from the kids. When she got back home, she knew she needed to tell Phil about all this. She wasn't looking forward to speaking with him, but knew she had to. She needed to push whatever anger she had for him to the side for now.
Phil could hardly get any work done today. He had been trying to type up a report to send into Fury all day. He'd get half way done and then he'd delete it and start over. He had made a pot of coffee but forgot to drink it. Darcy had left super early this morning; he was awake in his room when he heard her get up. He wanted to go talk to her but figured she wouldn't want anything to do with him that earlier in the morning. He just hoped that when she came home that maybe they could talk about what happened last night. He sighed and started typing again but stopped when he heard the front door open.
He heard Darcy coming up the stairs and then a knock at his door. "Phil," she said in a voice that was more flat than her usual bubbly voice.
"Come in," he said, his heart began to beat harder. "Hey," he smiled at her when she walked in the door.
Darcy didn't smile; instead she walked over to the futon and sat down on it. "That girl, Annie, that I told you about. Well, I talk to her today and when I mentioned the woods. She went all pale and got spooked. She said that people that go into the woods, sometimes don't come out."
Phil nodded. "There have been several disappearance cases over the last few years. No bodies where ever found. We should start looking into the their files and see if we can piece together anything. Did she say anything else?"
"She said that there is a monster in the woods. She wouldn't elaborate, and said she wouldn't talk about anything else," Darcy said looking around Phil's bland room. Her room was so comfy and his was just plain and stale looking, like a prison.
"A monster? Let's go over the files again and start looking for more clues," he nodded. Things were certainly strange in this town, and they were getting stranger by the minute. He smiled again. "Good work, Darce."
"Thanks," she said blandly as she got up and headed to the door. She stopped and turned around. "Oh, yeah. We have a dinner party at Ken and Barbie's on Saturday." She turned back to the door to walk out.
"Sounds fun," Phil said quickly. "Darcy, can we talk?"
"I'm exhausted, Phil. Maybe later," she said as she walked out and headed into her room.
The talk never happened. Not that night. Not the next day. Or the day after that.
It was Saturday afternoon, and Darcy was relieved that she survived the first week of bratty child art camp. One more week of that shit and she'd free! Of course, she was still stuck in this craphole town for another month. If she and Phil couldn't solve this case before then, S.H.I.E.L.D was going to pull them back and stamp a big 'fail' on the assignment. Darcy certainly didn't want that to happen, not on her first mission. She had spent the last couple of days in her room, reading over the files on the town, hoping to find a clue of some sort. She had barely talked to Phil at all unless it was to ask him a question about the case. He'd answer her and she'd head back to her room before he had the chance to start up a conversation. However, tonight, she and he would have to act like an in love married couple at the dinner party. Darcy groaned at the thought of having to sit through a long drawn out evening with Ken, Barbie, and their weirdo friends. She closed the file she was reading and headed down stairs to the kitchen.
Darcy frowned, looking up at the clock. She needed to head downstairs and starting preparing the broccoli quiche she was planning on bringing to the dinner party. One problem though. Phil was down there sitting on the couch. He was probably going to try and talk to her about the other night. She had been trying to avoid the subject and him for as long as she could. Maybe if she was lucky, he'd head out into town or close himself up in his room until it was time to go.
"I gotta get the Quiche made for tonight," she said as she came down the stairs.
Phil looked up from the newspaper and nodded. "Quiché? What kind?" Darcy was an excellent cook, every thing she made tasted like it was from a five star restaurant. Though the last few days, she hadn't cooked anything for him. He had to make his own food, which consisted of several soggy peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; cereal; and Hot Pockets. His stomach growled at the thought of Quiche.
"Broccoli and cheddar," she said blowing past him and into the kitchen.
"Yum," he said getting up from the couch and leaning up against the kitchen door frame. He watched her get bowls and ingredients out for several minutes before he spoke again. "Would you like any help? I'm not much of a chef, but I can crack eggs."
Darcy shrugged. "If you want to." She grabbed the carton of eggs and slid them over to him, then turned away quickly. She actually fantasized about her and Phil cooking together. She would teach him how to make a proper Italian dinner. She'd make her famous sauce, which she'd deliberately get a little on the end of his nose, and then kiss it off. Things would progress from there and by the end of it, he'd make love to her on the kitchen table. It was a cliché fantasy, but it was her fantasy. Well, it was her fantasy. Darcy began to chop the broccoli and dump it into a bowl, glancing ever so often at Phil as he broke the eggs.
"Do you have a fork or something over there?" he asked.
She raised her eyebrow. "What for?"
"To fish the shells out," he looked over at her, smiling sheepishly.
Darcy rolled her eyes and handed him a fork. "Seriously? Three eggs in and you got shells in it? You had better get them all out. I cannot serve a crunchy-egg shell-quiche to them ... Even though it sounds rather tempting."
"You can blame your incompetent husband," he grinned. When she didn't smile back or say anything he went back to fishing shells. Minutes of silence went by, and as each one passed, Phil got more and more anxious. "I'm sorry."
"I don't want to talk about this right now, Phil," she said as she took the eggs away from Phil and began to whip them.
"I think we do, Junior Agent Lewis."
Now he was pulling rank on her. That wasn't fair.
"Okay fine, Agent Coulson." She poured the egg mixture into the pan and then turned to look at him, crossing her arms.
"Darcy, I don't want to have to discuss this as agent to agent. I rather you and I talk about it as friends ... If we are friends ...still." He took a step closer to Darcy, but kept his distance.
"Okay, say what you need to, Phil. I have to start getting ready for tonight." She slid the Quiche into the oven and set the timer.
His stomach began to knot up. He had been practicing for days on what he was going to say to her, but now that he was in front of her, he had forgotten everything. "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or embarrass you in anyway. I'm sorry I didn't give you some warning before kissing you."
She shrugged. "I'm over it. I know the safety of the mission comes first." She started to walk out.
"You come first, Darcy," he said quickly. She turned around to face him, a blank look on her face. "I never wanted to hurt you."
"I thought you wanted to kiss me when we were on the porch swing," she said looking down at the ceramic tiled floor.
"I did. I was going to if the swing hadn't broke," he confessed.
She looked up meeting his gaze. "And the kiss in the car didn't mean anything then?"
"It was a very nice kiss. I'm not going to deny that I wasn't into it," he looked down at the ground now. "I wouldn't have kissed just anyone like that. There's rules though ... S.H.I.E.L.D has strict rules on relationships with other agents. We could both get into a lot of trouble. You're becoming a remarkable agent, Darcy. I can see it just within the short time we've been on assignment. I don't want risk your career, because I know how much you want to be here."
She was touched. He hadn't mentioned anything about his own career, which Darcy knew that he would be likely let go from S.H.I.E.L.D (what that entailed, she didn't know ... she didn't want to know either ... he'd probably have his mind wiped clear because of all top secret stuff he knew). He did care for her, really care for her but he was being the responsible agent and pushing his personal feelings to the back so that she wouldn't fuck up her career. Phil Coulson saw in her what many agents at S.H.I.E.L.D didn't. She felt horrible for everything she had perviously thought about him. "I'm sorry," she whispered.
"You didn't do anything Darcy," Phil smiled softly.
"For yelling at you. I treated you like an asshole."
"I was an asshole. I could have ... should have went about things in a different way," he chuckled softly.
'You're a good guy, Phil Coulson."
"So ... am I out of the dog house?" he asked with a smirk on his face.
Darcy raised her eyebrow. "Well, we'll see how that Quiche turns out." She smirked and then walked out of the kitchen, heading upstairs to take a shower.
Darcy took a quick shower, threw on some shorts and a t-shirt and then headed to the kitchen to pull the Quiche out of the oven. She set on the counter and then ran back upstairs to get dressed. The bathroom door was cracked open just slightly and she could see Phil leaning over the sink, shaving his five 'o' clock scruff off his face. He was bare chested with a towel wrapped around his waist. She spent a couple of moments staring, hoping that she could will the towel to fall off.
"You need something, Darcy?" Phil said poking his head out of the bathroom.
"Uh ... yeah ... I mean no ...nope, I'm good," she ducked into her room before he hand the chance to see her cheeks turning scarlet. Things were easier when she was mad at him. Now they were complicated again. Even more complicated now that she knew that he sort of had ... or did have some feelings for her, but wasn't going to act on them because of the risk of getting them in trouble. Darcy sighed as she stripped off her t-shirt and shorts, leaving her in her black lacy undergarments. Quickly she dried her hair and put on some black eyeliner, a few coats of mascara, and a bright pink lip gloss. She gave a sultry look in the mirror; imagining how Phil would react to seeing her like this. Would he blush and look away or would he grab her and smother her with kisses? She hoped it would be the latter but knew it would be more something like the first.
Walking over to the closet, she grabbed the short teal dress from the hanger and slipped it on. She had bought this dress for some reason a long time ago but never had worn it until now. Of course it was one of those with a damn zipper in the back, and she struggled to pull it up. She danced around the room with her arm behind her back, tugging at the zip. "C'mon ..." she muttered. She tripped over her overnight bag and smacked the lamp off the nightstand. "... fuck ..."
"Darce? It's almost time to go," Phil's voice called from the other side of the door. "You okay in there?"
"I'm fine. I just tripped over my bag and knocked the lamp off the table," she answered. She swore she heard him chuckle softly. "What time is it?"
"6:40," he answered.
"Fuck." That was not the answer she wanted to hear. "Alright, I'll be down in a minute," she groaned.
"Are you sure, you're okay?"
"Yep," she grunted, pulling at the zipper. She managed to get it up a couple of inches. How did she get it up when she tried it on at the store? Oh yeah ... the sales woman helped her. She heard Phil step away from the door. "Actually ... I do need some help." Either he helped her zip up or they were going to be super late to the party.
The door creaked open. "What can I ..." Phil's voice trailed off at the sight of Darcy standing there with her dress hanging open in the back. He knew why he was called in there now. It wasn't the first dress he zipped up (or down) but the thought of doing it to Darcy sent some major chills through his body.
"Can you help me get this fucking thing up? We are going to be late to the party, and I don't want to be scolded by Barbara. She said seven sharp, and she meant it." Darcy said looking over her shoulder to Phil.
"Sure," he said taking the zipper in his fingers and slowly started to zip it up.
Darcy closed her eyes, wishing so much that he was going the other way with it. There was complete silence in the room, except for the sound of the zipper and the shallow breaths of her and Phil. "Thanks," she whispered.
"Do you want the necklace on too?" he asked, pointing at the delicate gold chain on the dresser.
"Yes ..." Darcy said as she watched him in the mirror.
Phil picked up the necklace and placed it around Darcy's neck. She moved her hair out of the way and he fumbled with the clasp for a bit. "There," he said as he looked up and caught Darcy's eyes in the mirror. "Beautiful," he whispered.
Was it so bad that all Darcy wanted to do was turn around, knock Phil to the bed and have her way with him? Tear his shirt open and lick his chest? God, if they had more time she probably would, and it wasn't helping that it looked like he was fighting the same urges. "I'll go down and get the Quiche wrapped up. You excited for the party?" she asked, trying to get her mind out of gutter alley.
He chuckled. "Yeah, I can't wait. I'm more excited for some your delicious food though."
"Melissa is really excited to see you tonight," Darcy said as she walked over to the door. "I think she thinks she has a chance with you. Or at least she thinks she's going to get you into bed with her."
Phil smirked. "I'm a happily married man. Very happily married."
"Good," she looked back at him. "You think 'Fictional Phil and Darcy' do it a lot?" She couldn't help to ask.
"Bit of a random question," he chuckled as he followed her out of the room.
"Well, I'm sure it'll be a question Ken will ask tonight at the dinner table. I want to make sure we're on the same page," she said laughing. "He'll probably want to know our favorite position as well," she joked.
"Hmmm, bent over my desk while I take you from behind?"
Oh fuck. Was that his secret cliché fantasy? Because Darcy was totally into that. In fact, it just became her new favorite image. "Wow, wasn't expecting that answer," she squeaked out, walking into the kitchen.
"Well, author Phil is a creative guy," he said as he watched her slip her heels on.
"How do I look?" Darcy asked, spinning around once for him.
"Rawr," Phil growled and gave her a goofy grin.
"Did you just 'rawr' at me?" Darcy giggled, picking up the Quiche. He was back to being his adorable-self. Even though there probably was no chance they'd end up together, she was still happy to have 'Flirty Phil' back.
"I got a hot wife, what else can I say?"
Darcy smiled at him. Fuck the party. Darcy wanted to stay here and have sexy times with Agent Coulson. Hell, she'd even feed him the Quiche in bed if he wanted it. Anything as long as she and he were alone together. "We better get going, Agent."