CHAPTER NINE: Relaxing

It was eight o'clock the following night when Phil finally returned home from work. "There you are," Pepper said, sitting on the couch with her feet curled up beneath her. She had a half-eaten bowl of stew in her hands and the TV flickered ghostly grays and blues across her face in the dark room. She hiked her shoulders and shushed herself when she noticed that he was on the phone. Pepper muted the TV.

"That's entirely irrelevant to the situation," he said into his phone, nodding a quick greeting to the woman on his couch before heading into the kitchen. "QNBT14 is barely out of testing and I did not authorize its use on our man. My agents were getting results using their own methods and I fail to see how-"

Short pause.

"I don't appreciate being interrupted, agent." Coulson's tone was abrasive and stern. Each word was so sharp, it could saw through cedar, and in that moment, Pepper was grateful that she was not on the receiving end of Coulson's 'boss voice'. "Who ordered you to administer that drug?"

Pause.

"Can you verify that?"

Pause.

"I want to see that documented in triplicate and sitting on my desk first thing in the morning. And Delancy? The next time I find you operating without proper orders, I'll have your ass working in Records for the rest of your days. Understood? ...Good. Now put Barton back on the phone...Clint? Get his statements put on record and make sure Hill knows. I want him taken off this case." Coulson reemerged from the kitchen, holding a bowl of stew to match Pepper's. He gingerly sat down on the couch so as not to spill, letting out an exasperated sigh.

When he was comfortably situated, he responded, "I don't know. Put him on Blake's task force. Don't call me unless it's important." With that, Coulson aggressively pressed the End Call button and slammed his phone down onto the coffee table, putting the bowl down next to it. He sighed and flopped backwards in exhaustion. Rocking his head to the side, he looked at Pepper. She was cocking an eyebrow at him with a tiny smirk. "Hi," he said.

"Hi," she replied. "Tough day at work?"

"Uhh," Phil groaned, rubbing his forehead in a fatigued gesture. "Insubordinate little...idiot almost compromised everything."

"Oh no," Pepper said, brow furrowing.

He sighed again and looked back at her. "It's fine though," he said tiredly. "We got it under control."

Pepper narrowed her eyes at him. "You look exhausted. How late were you up last night?" she asked.

Phil looked to the side. The lamp was still on the table from where he had stayed up doing his paperwork. Was that just last night? It felt like ages ago. "I'm not sure... It was late."

"You need to go to sleep."

"I need to eat."

"Eat something, and then go straight to bed."

Phil shook his head sadly. "I have to send an email too, and then review the-"

"No," Pepper interrupted firmly. "You're running on fumes, Phil. You need to relax."

He gave a half smile. "You'll find that S.H.I.E.L.D. agents aren't very good at that."

"Relaxing?"

He just nodded in response.

"Well," Pepper said, "I'll just have to teach you, then."

Phil cocked an eyebrow and Pepper just smiled.

"Eat your stew," she said.

Coulson wordlessly obeyed and the two sat in peaceful silence as they ate their dinner. After a few minutes, Pepper got so distracted watching the TV that she didn't notice Phil pull out his cell phone. The bright light from the screen illuminated his face in the dark room. She quickly snatched the device away from him.

"Umm," was all he could say as he thought of how to respond.

"You're done eating," Pepper noted plainly, slipping the phone into the space between her thigh and the armrest of the couch.

His eye-line followed the device until it was out of sight. He looked up at her and narrowed his eyes at her nefarious smile. She knew he wouldn't reach for it there. The phone was lost to him. "Miss Potts, it's very important that I send this email. I have work that I need to do."

"It can't wait until you're in the office tomorrow?"

He shook his head. "No it cannot."

"Not even if your apartment caught on fire?"

"Excuse me?"

"What if your whole building was on fire and you were unable to send your email? Would it be possible for you to send it from the office then?"

Coulson stared at her for a solid five seconds without moving, then, "Please don't set fire to my house."

She laughed and punched his leg good-naturedly. "I'm just saying, if you're willing to make an exception for an emergency, you should make an exception for this. I mean look at you, Phil. You're exhausted! You have so many bags under your eyes, you look like the airport luggage claim."

Coulson scowled at the comment. "Gee, thanks," he said with a sarcastic shake of the head.

"And you forgot to call me Pepper," she added.

"No I didn't. When did I do that?"

"Just a second ago. You called me Miss Potts again."

He tilted his head slightly as he tried to remember. Meanwhile, Pepper just added, "See? You're tired, Phil. You're overworked. You forgot we were friends."

He just scoffed and shook his head. Her concern was kind of endearing.

"Here," she said, turning on the cushion to face him more. "Take off your jacket."

His brows arched slightly. "I beg your pardon?"

"Well, you're obviously just going to get on your computer if I say 'go to sleep' and then leave you out here alone. So we're just going to have to make you relax some other way first. And you can't do that while you're still in uniform, so take off the jacket."

"It's not exactly a uniform," he commented even as he obeyed.

"It is to you," she answered and eyed him with a smile when the expression on his face told her she was right. He handed her the jacket and she tossed it on the floor, noticing the small grimace on his face when she did so.

"Shoes," she said, and a moment later he had kicked both of them to the floor. She looked down at the black leather of the agent's shoulder holster. It was a sleek, stark contrast to the crisp whiteness of his dress shirt and it accentuated his broad shoulders. She smiled and nodded slowly. It was indeed a sexy look. "I think you might be right about that thing," she acknowledged, eliciting a light chuckle from him. She moved to undo the straps, but his hands stilled her.

He watched her as she silently withdrew her hands and then he removed the weapon and holster himself. He laid the items on the coffee table after checking the safety on his gun. Then he sat back against the couch.

Pepper moved towards him again slowly. "Now this," she said quietly, reaching for his tie. This time, he let her, keeping his eyes always fixed on hers, even as she concentrated on her own hands. She was surprised that they shook slightly. It was something in the way he was looking at her. She grabbed hold of the silk knot and gently pulled the tie loose, slipping the fabric out from around his collar in a smooth, long movement.

Phil inhaled deeply.

Pepper wasn't as careless with the tie as she had been with the jacket. She folded it twice and then laid it on the table next to the gun. Turning back to Phil, she scooted slightly closer to him, returning her hands to his neckline. This time, her fingers quietly undid the top button of his shirt. She noticed, but pretended not to, when Phil subtly gulped underneath her movements. Pepper's hands hesitated a moment, and then decided to undo the second button, her eyes lingering on the light layering of hair that was revealed on his chest. When she finally tore her eyes away, she found him staring at her, a heated look in his gaze. Pepper gulped too.

She glanced down at his waist, her eyes landing on the buckle of his belt. Looking back up at him, she saw him wait patiently, watching to see what she would do. He inclined his head the slightest as he saw her slowly reach for the belt. God help me, he thought silently.

Her hands gingerly grabbed the leather and slipped it from the metal buckle. The fingers that were not undoing the hook from the hole were sprawled out like the legs of a spider, careful to not touch anything but the belt itself. She finally disconnected the strap from the buckle.

As she pulled on one end, Phil felt the leather circle his waist, eliciting a satisfying hiss as it snaked through the loops of his pants. He hadn't known such a gesture could be so intoxicating, but he certainly knew it now.

Pepper held the belt in her hands, looking down at it, keeping her gaze away from his. The leather was warm to her touch. After a moment, she moved away from him slowly. "There," she said as she set the belt down onto the table and sat back against the couch. "Now you can relax."

Coulson didn't know what to say. After several long seconds, he simply managed to form the words, "Thank you."

"Give it an hour," she instructed, finding the remote control to the TV and unmuting it, refusing to look back into those intense eyes. "Just relax for an hour, and if you still need to get work done, then you can."

Phil watched her for a few more seconds before finally turning his attention to the television. There was an exceedingly gorgeous woman sitting next to him, and he felt as if every inch of his body was noticing so. Exercising all his strength and self control as a trained secret agent, Phil kept his eyes on the screen.

After thirty minutes, both of them had survived the intense moment and had managed to relax back into the couch. By the end of the hour, both pairs of eyes had fallen shut, and the credits to the TV program scrolled quietly on the screen.

Sometime later, he awoke to the smell of lilacs flooding his senses.

He became aware of a weight on his shoulder and, as he opened his eyes, he found that it was Pepper's head, fallen gently against him in peaceful slumber. Coulson's cheek was resting against the crown of her head, and their breaths were almost in unison. (An amendment: This was the most pleasant awakening Phil Coulson had ever had.)

He noticed her arm draped carelessly across his leg. She was so beautiful. Even her arms were stunning. Coulson cast a silent glance over at her, though he couldn't see her face from his vantage point anyway. He looked back at her hand.

A bold thought entered his mind. He debated it for several pregnant moments. Phil suddenly felt like he was back on his high school prom date, the youthful pounding in his heart simply building the more he toyed with the idea. Even after mustering up the courage, he still felt slightly nervous as he finally committed to the decision.

He moved his hand to gently cover hers as she slept.

Pepper stirred in response, squeezing his leg slightly, breathing in deeply and nuzzling her head farther up on his shoulder.

Phil couldn't help the smile that spread across his face as she snuggled against him. He couldn't have asked for a better reaction out of her. He nodded his cheek gently against her hair and let himself revel in the moment.

He inhaled deeply, mindful not to disturb her with his movements. God, he needed to be more careful. He could feel himself treading deeper and deeper into dangerous waters with this woman. She seemed to have an affect on him not many people did. Watching her practically undress him several hours ago had been an extreme test of his restraint, and he was still not totally sure how he had managed to endure it without making a fool of himself. Now, with her head set lightly on his shoulder and her hand resting quietly underneath his, that feeling of giddy excitement was returning to his veins. He took another breath to calm himself down.

Eventually, he knew they would have to move. They couldn't stay there forever. Coulson debated his options. He wondered if it was really possible to pick up and carry a sleeping woman without waking her, like people did in the movies. He had done it once or twice before, and it worked then; but those situations were usually influenced by significant blood loss or exposure to toxins of some kind. If he had to take a guess, he'd say those reasons were probably why his companions had never woken up in transit before. He had never tried it with just a regular case of sleepiness, though. He was nervous that he couldn't pull it off.

Which would be more awkward, he wondered, for him to wake her up now and have her discover that she had been sleeping on him (and that he had been letting her)? Or to try to move her to the bed, with the potential of either succeeding or waking her somewhere in the process? He decided that, while the first option would be undoubtedly awkward and hard to explain, the second had at least the hope of working.

His mind made up, Coulson slowly started to move out from underneath her embrace. It took some work, but he finally managed to maneuver her into his arms and he stood up. Pepper's head flopped tiredly back onto his shoulder, her face turned up towards his.

Coulson looked down at her, feeling ever inch of her body that was being held tightly against his own. Her face was just inches away from his. He could feel the steady puffs of air leaving her parted lips and crashing against his cheek. He let the proximity linger, staring into her face by the dim glow of the TV. She was so beautiful.

Phil didn't know why it should surprise him, but he was shocked all the same to discover that, in that moment, with everything in him, he wanted to kiss. And for several long moments, he considered it. The slightest of movements, the smallest retraction of his arms and the tiniest dip of his head, and her lips would be his...

But his propriety sighed, and he tore his gaze away from her perfect mouth. He knew she would wake up, and there would be no possible excuse he could give to explain a kiss. And that wasn't even to mention, of course, that kissing a sleeping person in real life was not exactly as romantic as it was portrayed in fairytales. In fact, Coulson acknowledged that it was more than a little bit creepy and totally lacked in the consent department.

No, kissing her now would not be a good idea. It was tempting, but he had learned through the years how to deny himself such temptations, no matter how difficult it may be. And so, ever the gentleman, Phil Coulson locked his eyes straight ahead and gingerly carried the woman in his arms to his bedroom.

He was grateful that she had not made the bed that morning, because it made getting her underneath the covers easier. When he had tucked her in as much as he dared, he looked once more at her sleeping face. A small, blissful smile graced her lips and she had a single lock of hair that had fallen across her face in the move. Coulson smiled softly to himself and started to reach out to clear away the hair.

Pepper shifted quietly in her sleep and gave a little moan, "Tony."

Coulson's hand froze.

It hovered less than an inch away from her face, but he didn't dare move it any closer, or pull it away. He was caught off guard by the intense pang that hit his chest at that instant. His brow furrowed as he slowly withdrew his hand, leaving the lock of hair lying haphazardly across her face. He frowned at her in the darkness and he backed slowly away from the bed, recoiling away from the invisible blow that had been dealt to his gut at her words.

He turned quickly and left the bedroom. His reaction had been uncontrollable, and it concerned him deeply. It was no secret that Stark and Pepper were involved. Why then had he been so surprised and disturbed by her quiet slip of the tongue? Did he actually think that Pepper Potts cared anything for him? Him?

Coulson huffed as he crashed back onto the couch, not even caring that he hadn't applied the usual sheets and blankets. And if his eyes started to sting and grow moist in that moment, he blamed it on exhaustion.

The next morning, Pepper awoke and stretched lazily in the big bed. She turned on her side and instantly frowned. That was strange. Someone had closed the door between them during the night.

Hello friends! I know that the last chapter was a tad short, so hopefully this one helps make up for that. Please let me know what you think of this chapter!

Author's Note: Delancy, the agent to whom Coulson is talking in the beginning of this chapter, is one of the two agents who check the perimeter breach in the first Thor movie while Thor is trying to recover his hammer. Good for him. I guess Coulson didn't have to follow through on his threat to demote him to Records. ;)

Another Author's Note: QNBT16 is the name of the "brand new and extremely potent truth drug" from the Pilot episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. What appears in this chapter is its predecessor by two generations, QNBT14, which is not yet to the approved par of the 16 variant.