Chapter Text
"No loss is felt more keenly than the loss of what might have been. No nostalgia hurts as much as nostalgia for things that never existed."
- Rabih Alameddine, An Unnecessary Woman
New Mexico. That's when it had started.
Coulson had pulled her aside while Jane ran ahead to check on her equipment, directing agents on where to place things, ensuring that the lab was exactly as it was supposed to be.
"Miss Lewis-"
"Darcy."
Coulson's hands stilled as he looked up, a business card half removed from the neat leather case he'd pulled from the interior pocket of his jacket. The implacable mask faltered for the briefest of moments before it was slapped back into place.
"Miss Lewis sounds like a school marm," she'd explained and, for just a second, she thought he'd looked amused.
“Miss Lewis-”
“Darcy.”
He just stared at her, eyes narrowing very slightly, and she smiled back. “I can do this all day, Agent iPod Stealer. I get paid the same nothing no matter what.”
Coulson extended the card after that, letting her take it before continuing to speak. “Dr. Foster is being-”
“Difficult? Stubborn? Stupid by not accepting a fat government check to do what she was going to do anyway?”
“-I was going to say released to continue her research, but if that’s how you’d like to think of it, by all means.”
“You were so thinking it too. Don’t lie.”
He ignored her. She thought that was probably smart, because she wasn’t lying about being able to do this all day.
“Your employer has declined S.H.I.E.L.D.’s offer of patronage, but if you find yourselves in need of assistance, don’t hesitate to call.” He paused again, as if he were already regretting talking to her. She had that effect on people, sometimes. Mostly on Jane. “The direct line to my office is on the front of the card, but my mobile number is on the back.”
“You’re totally flirting with me.” Darcy’s grin grew as Coulson’s expression settled into that impassive mask. It could have been hiding anything. She chose to think that it was concealing an intense feeling, like lust, and not at all an intense feeling like shut-the-hell-up-Darcy. “It’s okay, you know. I’m incorrigible and irresistible. It was only a matter of time before you succumbed to my wiles.”
“Miss Lewis-”
“Darcy.”
“-I’m not flirting with you.”
Darcy smiled, tapping the business card against her lips. “Yet.” She waved the card at Coulson, stepping away from him toward Jane. “I like tulips and dark chocolate. And Mexican food.” She turned away then, slipping the card into the back pocket of her jeans. She didn’t need to look at him to know he was watching. And probably rolling his eyes. That was usually what happened.
A little more than a month passed before she used any of the numbers on the card. She hadn’t even told Jane that Coulson had given it to her, because it was one of those things that would send Jane off on a tangent about her research and how it was important and how Big Government was going to ruin everything. She was paraphrasing, of course, because she very rarely listened when Jane went off on those rants.
The sun had set hours before and Jane was still hard at work going over the latest round of satellite data, so Darcy took a moment for herself and slipped up to the roof. She sat on one of the lounges once the fire was burning and pulled both her phone and the card out of her pocket. Even though the sky was dark with the Milky Way spectacularly bright overhead, making it even later on the east coast, she dialed the hand written number on the back of the card first. A guy like Coulson always had his phone on him.
He picked up on the third ring.
“How can I help you, Miss Lewis?”
“Darcy.”
He didn’t say anything. She grinned, pulling her blanket closer. It might not be winter, but desert nights got cold. “Are you at the office? You are, aren’t you.”
Darcy thought she heard a huff of what sounded like amusement on the other end of the line. “I am, actually. Which is good for you, since you called. What do you need?”
“I need to know who was pawing at my iPod.”
“Today?”
“Not today, you doof. When you guys had it.”
“Good. I was about to tell you that the surveillance team assigned to you and Dr. Foster isn’t quite that thorough.”
“Ha ha. Im going to start calling you Agent Sassypants.” There was another huff. This time she was almost positive it was laughter.
“What’s wrong with your iPod, Miss Lewis?”
“Darcy. And I found a couple of new playlists on there today, so someone seems to have had their way with Mae West.”
“Mae West?” That voice was a little too innocent sounding to Darcy, though it was possible that she was reading more into it than necessary.
“Yes. Mae West.”
“I had no idea you were a fan.”
“Dude, Mae West is my personal hero. Not only was she a successful woman in a male-dominated industry, she took something that most would consider to be a liability at the time, her unapologetic sexuality, and used it like a weapon to get where she wanted. And that was decades before the Women’s Lib movement. She’s an icon.”
“I'm sure she’d be honored that you named your iPod after her.”
“I’m sure she wouldn’t give a shit about it, but your sarcasm is both noted and appreciated, Agent Sassypants.”
They never got back around to who had added the playlists to her iPod, but Big Band music started to grow on her.