things we lost in the fire
flames, they licked the walls tenderly, they turned to dust all that I adore
“Really… He is stupid, I know, but not that stupid!”, she muttered, (...). “Wait--are you two serious?”, it really didn’t make any sense in her head.
{ S.H.I.E.L.D ACADEMY, BEFORE GETTING INTO ELIAS ACADEMY }
Something about how her teachers were looking at her was telling her there was something wrong. Peggy Coulson was one of the best “soldiers” the academy had received since they fully recovered from the H.Y.D.R.A threat. It took a really great time to get it all in order, to get new future agents, either on operations, communications or sci-tech. Being one of the best, it was really strange to have that feeling, like she had done a terrible thing, like she had failed and was now one of the worse future field agents to become.
“We need to talk”, Peggy got defensive as soon as she felt someone coming from behind her, but smiled a bit seeing it was just her own mother. “Mom? What are you doing here?”, she asked, confused, already being pulled by her arm. “Is something wrong?”, she kept asking, seeing something was definitely not right. There were a bunch of signs to indicate that, but nothing would make her so sure than agent May, the Calvary herself, showing up to escort her. “As I said, we need to talk”, she answered, serious. The little Coulson could feel a cold feeling inside of herself. What the hell had happened?
“Peggy, honey, please”, Phil tried, sitting in front of his daughter on the interrogatory room in their bus. “I didn’t do it, dad!”, she complained. “Why would help someone to hack S.H.I.E.L.D system, that’s just insane!”, continued, trying to understand why, exactly, she was being questioned about it. It wasn’t like she was involved with someone who would do that, right? “Have you heard who did it yet?”, Melinda decided to ask, noticing her daughter was clueless. “No?”, Peggy raised an eyebrow in return, making her parents roll their eyes. “Come on! Who was it and why am I being blamed for that?”, she asked, trying to cross her arms on her chest but clearly failing with the strong and weird handcuffs they had put on her. They once used these on freaking Loki, for fucks sake, why are they doing this to me, I am human and fucking powerless!!!, she thought as stared at the object.
“It was Noah Ward”, Coulson finally said, after a long stare at his ex-wife and a got a nod in answer from her. Peggy couldn’t help but laugh, a sarcastic laugh like she couldn’t believe it. “Noah, really… He is stupid, I know, but not that stupid!”, she muttered, but looking at her parents, she could feel they weren’t playing around. “Wait--are you two serious?”, it really didn’t make any sense in her head. “As serious I could possibly be”, Phil tried out a smile at her, taking the handcuffs off her. “We would put a normal pair on you, but I really wanted to see your reaction at being arrested with this”, he added, laughing amused at the lesson he had just given his daughter. Peggy rolled her eyes, massaging her pulses. “Very funny, dad”, she frowned at him before going back at the real situation there. “So, how did you find out?”
“As you said, he is stupid”, May crossed her arms, serious as always, though she was mostly like that when she was doing her job. “We tracked the hacker down and got into Skye’s place, she was as clueless as you were when we said it was coming from her house, so we connected the dots”, she explaned, sighing. “Though we both doubted you would be involved, Fury and others wanted us to talk to you to check if you knew something”, Phil completed, standing up and walking around the table, stopping on Peggy’s side. “You know what that means, though, right?”
The eighteen-year-old girl looked up at her father’s face, a both amused and lovely expression towards her. “No?”, she answered as another question, confused. “We’ve been talking--”, he started and she realized what it was about. “Oh my God, no”, she then stood up and her mother only gave her ‘the look’, which made her shut up. “You already knew we were considering this”, she said, Peggy opened her mouth to say something, but Melinda continued: “It would be great for you to meet… Other kind of people, Peggy. Look at what kind of relationship you put yourself into”. The girl only rolled her eyes, laughing. “Who would say the Ward kid was mostly like his mother but still be a bother like his father, right?”, she tried to defend herself, but failed. “We do think you could get more into something new, at least once, dear”, Phil then said, throwing his arm around her shoulder. “You will still be one of the best of your classes here when you come back. See that as a mission in which you just need to be a normal teenager with friends and all, what about that?”, he asked, but she frowned a bit.
There was no way to disagree with Phillip Coulson’s face. Anything bad could come in a good way when it was him saying it. Peggy knew that was more like a punishment than a chance to be “a normal teenager”, for giving a way in to Noah into S.H.I.E.L.D, though she really had done nothing. But you know, being Coulson’s kid, they needed to show off they were doing something about it, even though she was innocent.
In Peggy’s mind, though, she knew she would have a little and good talk with the Ward guy. They’ve been a couple for less than three months and had more arguments than good moments, but that was the last thing she would handle with him.