Back Home || Will & Maria
will’s leg shook nervously as he waited to speak with this maria hill. coulson had set up the meeting thinking that she might find his story and information useful. useful for what – he had no idea. but he would tell her everything about the planet maveth and what his life had been like for the last 14 years. the thought made him snort. really – what was there to tell? everyday was just him trying to survive or beg for a swift death. if anything, coulson and the rest of his team knew more about the hydra stuff. will had just been an unknowingly pawn in all of that. a sacrifice to the inhuman who inhabited the planet with him.
when he heard the door opening, he quickly smoothed his hand through his hair. it was nice to finally have a proper haircut and shave – at least he looked presentable and not as malnourished as he had been a month ago. his dark brown eyes scanned over the woman’s features – she looked all business. he was used to that, though, having spent some time in the air force and being around women of high rank. jemma, to a degree, was like that. she was bossy and he found that quite attractive. his stomach did one of those weird flip-flops that made him feel ill when he thought of her now. they had been together for three months on the planet, they had fallen in love, and then she got rescued. she ended up coming back for him and he thought their relationship would pick up where it was left off. however, she told him that her feelings were conflicted between him and her best friend. she wanted to step back for awhile so she could figure things out. even though earth was full of people and life – he never felt more lonely.
“good morning,” will said, standing up and put his hand out for the woman to shake. “captain william daniels.” he hadn’t been in the military or nasa for over a decade, but he assumed he still held his title. “it’s nice to meet you.”
There were very few people Maria trusted. She shared that trait with her predecessor, in fact. It was a hazard of the job they did and the rank they held. True, she felt like there were more people she actually trusted. Fury's trust had always seemed...limited. Maybe it was by necessity. But, even with her, it always felt like there were things he held back, compartments with zero access that had nothing to do with his personal life. Even Maria locked the personal compartments up tighter than rumours of Captain America's virginity. But, Phil Coulson was one of those few people Maria trusted explicitly with the job. If he said there was something about this Captain Daniels she would be interested in, Maria would meet with the man to find out if Phil was correct.
She'd asked Phil to set up the meeting at a neutral site. Maybe, it was more accurate to call it a shadow site, a secret location not known to be connected to S.H.I.E.L.D. In the aftermath of Project Insight and the Hydra debacle, the last thing she needed was to be seen having secret meetings with anyone on S.H.I.E.L.D. premises that she didn't want irrevocably tied to the agency. Part of her wished for the comfort of her field uniform instead of the dark shirt and skirt she'd opted for. She wasn't Pepper Potts who could make heels seem deadly, merely efficient. But, she didn't want to make this **look** like an interrogation.
"Captain Daniels." Nodding politely as she entered, Maria took his hand in a strong grip to shake firmly. She smiled just a bit as she motioned for him to sit and took her own seat. "Please, have a seat. I'm Maria Hill, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I understand from Agent Coulson you've had quite a time of the last fourteen years. I understand we have you to thank for the safe return of Agent Simmons, as well."