Month: May 2012

This is his “second chance” at life; never mind all the other “second chances” that he’s had before. Never mind all the hospital trips and near death experiences and life changing events that had defined the majority of his career with S.H.I.E.L.D. This time it really was a second chance, because this time he really had died. His heart had stopped for nearly five minutes while the medical team fought to drag him back, and it had only been luck that he had survived. Luck in where the fatal wound actually struck. He doubted that he would ever know if the blow had been on purpose or if Asgardian physiology was just different enough, but the blade had glanced off of his heart instead of bisecting it.

Absurdly, he briefly considers calling it a new lease on life, a chance to change things and become a better person, but seeing as he is still an employee of S.H.I.E.L.D. that doesn’t quite seem to fit the bill. With all the electronic documents listing him as deceased, it is only on paper that his survival has been recorded and apparently that is the way it is going to be for the foreseeable future. A future that, according to the Director, will be best accomplished in the company of his family. More specifically with the one member that is even remotely prepared to deal with an injured secret agent: his youngest sister.

Phil had expected to find things along the same lines as the last time he had seen Penny, back before Stark and Ironman and superheroes. He was prepared to deal with vapid starlets approaching him for whatever illegally concoction Penny had come up with this time, and for men so stupid that they made farm equipment look like Stark when it came to thinking. He knows that he’s been less than charitable in these assumptions, but those were the sort of people that Penny had surrounded herself with since her teenage years and he really hadn’t expected any change.

He certainly hadn’t been expecting his sister to be friends with scientists, let alone dating one. He could see her sleeping with one, yes. Especially one that had the sort of charm and charisma that Stark so happily flaunted, but Leonard could barely string two sentences together around him, let alone seduce someone like his sister. It boggled the mind that so much could have changed in the few short years (five is not a few, a traitorous part of his mind whispers to him, but he ignores it with the ease of long practise) but change it apparently had.

He’s seen Leonard come and go a handful of times since that first awkward meeting, and it wouldn’t have surprised him if Penny had run off with her boyfriend instead of sticking around to help take care of her older brother. He’d been prepared for it, prepared to be left to take care of himself because he still sees the little sister so determined to make something of herself by herself, that when she told Leonard that she didn’t want to leave her “recovering addict” of a brother alone for too long it had honestly taken him by surprise.

Although it was nice to be reminded that at least one of his sisters still cared about the wayward son, it was much nicer when he finally managed to convince her to out on a date. It gives him the necessary time to check in with Fury and settle his nerves in regards to Barton and Romanova’s current statuses. He is less impressed with the Director’s decision to keep his agents in the dark about his survival, but he has to admit that he isn’t anywhere near recovered enough to deal with the sorts of things that come with being the handler to two master assassins. It still rankles, and the thinly veiled argument lasts for almost an hour before Fury finally signs off. Phil grits his teeth against the annoyance and pops a handful of pills with the intention of getting a good sleep.

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK! “Penny.”

With a groan that is part exasperation and part pain, Phil twists just enough to be able to stare at the door and attempt to telepathically convey the need to go away at whomever is on the other side.

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK! “Penny.”

It doesn’t work. The injured agent grunts as he rolls off of the couch, and manages to very slowly push himself to his feet. A wave of dizziness washes over him and he winds up clutching at the arm of the couch to keep his balance and attempt to keep his lunch down.

KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK! “Penny.”

It feels like it takes an eternity to cross the few feet between the couch and door, although it’s barely enough time for the nap interrupter to finish a sixth round of knocking and calling for his sister. It takes all of Phil’s energy to yank the door open and glare out at whomever it is who wants to face the Coulson brand of irritation.

“You aren’t Penny.”

The petulant confusion in the man’s voice is enough to jump start Phil’s medication-addled brain, and he finds himself wondering at the odds. Doctor Sheldon Cooper, a man that S.H.I.E.L.D. had briefly considered recruiting before his particular neuroses and less than comforting history with the US Government had held them off, was standing on the other side of the door looking for his sister.

“Why aren’t you Penny? Where is she?”

His tongue felt thick in his mouth, but he managed to form words around it. “Because I was born first. And she’s out with… Leonard, I think his name was.”

“Leonard? But— but she’s supposed to be here so she can take me to the comic book store because he’s working!”

(And that was how Phil Coulson met Penny’s craziest neighbour Sheldon Cooper)