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adangerousbond · 2 years

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The Lies in the Truth Ch2

Honestly have no idea what to say, two years later and I was thinking about Dousy and this story the other day, and here we are. I haven't written for any show in ages - have written two of my own novels that will probably never see the light of day - but otherwise I have been very quiet. Who knows if I will one day write more of this, didn't really expect to even write another chapter.

And if anyone has any new show ideas hit me up, I have watched a lot but nothing that has made me want to write for, or even really get invested in a ship for.

Anyway, read chapter two below, or at AO3 or ff.net

Apologies for any mistakes!

There had been nothing abnormal about the job, it had come with no warning, but that was to be expected with an emergency. The car practically waiting to take her to the plane only spoke to the urgency, and the out of country excursion normal amongst the clients she had. The fact that a private security team was coming along was nothing uncommon either, the shared plane was simply schematics and practical. Nor was it irregular that the team leader was one that she hadn't worked with before.

She had been ushered onto the plane before barely even been given a chance to get up to speed, and sitting opposite a man she had never met, before she had even realised that although the private security firm accompanying her was one that she had worked alongside before, she didn't know a single one of them in this instance. Doing up her seat belt as the plane readied for takeoff, she ignored the look of curiosity from the unknown man.

"Daniel Sousa," he greeted with an outstretched hand, a friendliness to him that had put her more at ease than most people did even after she had known them awhile.

"Daisy Johnson," she had responded in kind, with a touch more reserve.

"Oh, I know," he grinned at her, unfazed at the narrowing of her eyes at his statement, "our client tells me you are the best."

"And yet, they told me nothing about you," she smirked back, taking a moment to fully take in the man sitting opposite her, and having to admit she didn't mind what she saw.

"You get a chance to catch up on the ride here?" he asked, going straight into business mode, another thing she could add to the list of things she was beginning to have that she liked about him.

"Somewhat, they have been hacked and a hefty ransom is being requested," her answer honest, the drive to the plane hadn't been long enough to get too far into the information that they had provided her, "haven't got to the part that seems to require your team though."

"One of the directors has also been kidnapped, looks to be the same people, if only based on timing as nothing else about the two situations seem linked," he shrugged at his statement, a calmness to his voice as he outlined the situation told her very quickly that he was likely quite good at his job as well.

"Which one?" her interest was piqued at the information, her mind rallying it all together.

"Kerry Summers," his head tilted slightly, evidently interested in her thought process, and not bothered by her knowing it.

"Ah, that makes more sense," nodding at the name as if it was the final piece to her puzzle that she had been searching for, and with that problem solved, she returned to the light playfulness that had graced the start of their conversation, "to how they got in, not to why your team is here."

"We also handle K&R negotiations occasionally," his smirk returned, seemingly unfazed by whatever change of pace she threw, "why does that make sense to how they got in?"

"I know their Cyber security inside and out, I couldn't work out how they had gotten access to so much of their network," Daisy stated simply, the one thing that had bugged her about the situation had been that they had gotten through to the network that she had thoroughly checked over not long ago, and how it might effect her business ongoing if word had gotten out.

"How does having Ms Summers change that?" he questioned with interest, searching himself to find all the answers.

"A few of the higher ups in the company can remote access the network with numerous access codes, as well as providing finger print and heart beat identification every 5 minutes," she explained as basic as she could, it was harder to access than she had made it sound, they would still need hacking skills, but nothing too major.

"So, that's why they need her, at least now we know she will still be alive," his instant acceptance of her knowledge and lack of making her prove herself was refreshing, most people in his line of work would have asked far too many follow up questions on a topic that they wouldn't even understand just to try to undermine her.

"This was actually one of the flaws I pointed out to them, did a whole plan on how to fix it which they obviously didn't follow," a plan that she had spent quite a bit of time on, which had included a GPS component and a live video feed, but she figured that either they hadn't got around to it, or had liked their privacy too much to go through with it.

"I'll be tipping they do now," he smirked, something telling him a lot of people had mistakenly overlooked her in her life.

"Guess it means I get paid twice, so that's something," she glanced out the window of the private jet; yet another thing she got out of their misfortune.

"A nice overseas trip that is fully paid for and charged at our emergency call out rate's not so bad either," he agreed, his grin still in place as he continued, "especially not when the companies good."

*********************************

They had landed into the middle of an already full scale operation, their presence greeted by more information to catch up on and a plan about to be set in motion. A plan that she had quickly decided wasn't going to work, and from the shared glance from Daniel, she realised that he was in agreeance.

For the first few hours, Daisy had simply sat to the side, watching everything unfold without the ability to do anything about it but research every aspect of the hacking and kidnapping. Delving deep into the job at hand, she had paid little attention to where the team from the plane had gone to or what they were up to, that was until they had sought her out, or more precisely; he had.

He had approached her in the hopes she had something that might work after the plan they had arrived to had failed, and she had given him one – albeit risky and a touch on the crazy side. Once he had realised that she was being serious, he had agreed, his seeming instant trust and respect something that took her a moment to accept, but brushing her own, personal issues aside, they made her plan a success.

The celebrations afterwards at the bar of the hotel the client had put them up at were large and lively, but she had found herself not in the mood to lose herself to the open tab on offer. Slipping away from the group, Daisy wasn't surprised when he had both noticed and followed after her, a part of her had been hoping that he would; a part that she would neither admit or voice, not even to herself.

"Can't believe that plan actually worked," she chuckled as he came to a stop next to her, her eyes trained on the numbers above the elevator that she was waiting on, but she could see him watching her closely out of the corner of her eye, and she couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about.

"I can," Daniel shrugged, turning his attention to the elevator as well the moment the doors begun to open, following after her as she entered.

"Why?" she asked bluntly, pressing the button for the floor they were both on – not that she had actively tried to know where his room was, they had just been given their key cards at the same time.

"You seem like the kind of person that once you set your mind to something; you succeed," the ease at which he just said things about her, as if he had known her much longer than he did, was something she wasn't sure she would get used to.

"Not always," she sighed truthfully, a lifetime of not succeeding weighing on her statement.

"Well, I thought you were worth betting on," his belief in her was another thing she couldn't wrap her head around, not where it came from or why he held it so quickly.

"Oh, yeah?" she cocked her head slightly, eyebrow raised as she turned to face him, before continuing in a teasing tone, "and what are you betting on now?"

Taking her playful tone as permission, he placed a hand on her side to stabilise them both as he reached down to kiss her, the height difference between them seemingly only realised by the two of them in that moment. He had pulled back all too soon for her liking, as she closed the free space between them mere moments after, the second kiss heating up quickly, and only interrupted by the ding of the elevator advising them that they had reached their floor.

"This, whatever happens, doesn't mean anything," she stated as they exited the elevator, the walk to her room giving them a pause.

"Course not," he had agreed with a lopsided grin, the rules that she was giving out clearly not throwing him for a moment.

"I'm serious, we might have to work together again one day, and this won't affect that," she was still not decided herself if she was trying to talk him out of it, or set boundaries for herself, all that she did know was that she was definitely not disappointed at his acceptance of the rules.

*********************************

Try as she may, she hadn't been able to stick to her own words, messaging him only days after returning back to their city. At first, she was able to get away with telling herself that it was just that it was an itch to scratch and easier to send him a message than deal with finding a stranger, but she quickly found herself seeking out his company for more than just sex, and that was harder to lie to herself about.

A part of her wanted to blame him; he never turned her down, even if he was busy he would give her a time that he was free, he had basically made his home more open to her than she had felt about any place. He never cared if she was there for sex or just to hang out, he had understood the desire to simply just not be alone, but he also never pushed her for more.

He reached out occasionally as well, and she had learnt that quickly that although he appeared unfazed about everything; he too had demons that he was trying to move past. Neither judged the others nightmares, or fears, neither judged the sleepless nights, or the scared skin that carried stories they weren't quite ready to share.

A night a week, turned into a couple, and before she knew it, she was spending more time at his place than she was at her own, and the more time she spent with him, the more she felt like she needed to run, but she found herself unable to. The comfort and safeness that she felt around him, was something she had searched for for so long that she had long ago given up on, and now that she felt it, she craved it even more.

Not the type to pour their heart and souls out to each other in long winded conversations about their life, they instead learnt things in titbits- a history learnt in throw away lines, but it was enough. Enough for him to know she had grown up on her own, and enough for her to know his constant calmness came from growing up with only sisters, and his nightmares came from his arm days.

The first big step between them had come at Christmas time, a turning point of sorts that cemented that even if they don't talk about it, or would even admit it, they were kinda something. Daniel had been forced to stay in the city, to be the one on call with his company should any emergency arise, meaning he couldn't go home to spend it with his family.

He had turned over one night, hesitation creeping over his face as he asked her to spend Christmas day with him, quickly iterating that it didn't need to mean anything, he just didn't want to spend it alone. She had frozen for a moment, a lifetime of lonely Christmases enough to harden her to the holiday, but she had agreed, finding herself liking the idea.

*********************************

"I wish I could be there too," he spoke, smiling at his family on the other end of the video call, the screams and laughter from the kids, along with the faint Christmas music playing in the background, making Daisy miss once more the dynamic she had always wanted on Christmas as a child.

"I just hate the idea of you spending Christmas on your own," one of the Sousa sisters voiced through the living room, "do you at least have a tree?"

"Yes! Of course I do," Daniel moved slightly to make sure the lit up tree behind him was visible on the screen, a slight glance in her direction, as if asking for permission to disclose her being there to his family, something she found herself nodding to before she had a chance to really think.

"Good, I guess that is something," his sister sighed sadly, having no idea of the other, silent conversation happening.

"Plus, I am not alone," he told her carefully, moving over to stand next to Daisy for a moment, just enough to get her in the frame as well, as she smiled and waved shyly at the phone.

"And who is your lovely friend?" an older woman on the screen asked, as the one sister was joined by more of his family at the admission.

"So, now you join us mum?" he chuckled, moving back to stand by the tree, knowing better than to push too much with her, and just thankful for what she had given already.

"Don't avoid my question son," his mothers voice was full of love, adding another tinge of sadness to what Daisy had grown up missing.

"And put her back on, we have questions," the sister from earlier demanded, a beeping sound drowning out her words.

"I think you have other things to attend to," Daniel took the saving grace, saying his goodbyes as quickly as possible, and turning his attention back to her with a sincere smile, "thanks."

After that, there was a slight shift between them, a sense of closer that they still made sure not to comment on, but it was definitely something that silently made them closer. It had only been a couple weeks after that he had left her out the unspoken about key to his place, and a month after that that she had asked him to play her husband for the night.

*********************************

That night had only been a week ago, and though, true to form they hadn't spoken about it, the faint feeling of the rings on her finger and the look in his eye as he spoke about his reason for 'marrying' her still lingered. Taking a bite of her toast to push aside the memory, she rolled her eyes at the sight of her phone ringing that early in the morning.

"Jemma, it's only 7am," Daisy answered the call nonetheless, scolding her friend jokingly.

"Your up already aren't you though?" Jemma reasoned down the line, no forgiveness to her tone at all.

"Yes, but not the point," she chuckled in response, setting the phone onto speaker so that she could continue eating her breakfast.

"Has Kora called again?" a question that was clearly on Jemma's mind, even if it didn't quite warrant a call at that hour.

"Yeah, she wants to catch up, but I'm not sure," Daisy gave her the answer anyway, glancing up at the curious look that Daniel was giving her from his spot at his table, the new information piquing his interest.

"What did you tell her?" the next question followed as if on cue.

"Just that I'm busy this weekend and will get back to her," the truth had been the easiest option for now, anything further and she needed more time to consider.

"You're not sure it's a rabbit hole you want to go back down again, completely understand that you are worried about them burning you again," Jemma spoke thoughtfully, broaching her point of view carefully.

"But?" Daisy groaned at the evident continuation.

"Just that she seems to be reaching out, and she seems like she could really use a big sister," the words came through the phone and into the silence of the room purposely.

"I'm not cut out to be anyone's sister," she answered quietly, a hint of hurt hiding beneath the surface that she didn't want to comment on, ignoring the way the man across from her reached out and squeezed her hand in comfort.

"That's not true, you've been mine for years," Jemma stated quickly and firmly, her response gaining a massive grin from Daniel.

"Aww, Jemma, too sweet," Daisy gushed, whether or not she believed the words, she knew her friend meant them.

"Well, it's the truth," her friend reiterated the sentiment.

"You've been a great sister too," she told her, sharing a grin with Daniel, who had overheard enough of their conversations to not be surprised at their ability to get sidetracked on their topics easily.

"I know, I'm the best" Jemma's smile was almost visible down the phone.

"Anyway, what did you actually call for this early?" Daisy questioned with a laugh, trying to get the conversation back on track.

"Oh, right, so the catch up today has changed location," Jemma got to the point of her call.

"But, I was so looking forward to seeing May's place," Daisy responded disappointingly, in all the years of working with the team, she still had yet to get to go to the older woman's place.

"I think Coulson had chosen that location without checking with her first and I don't think it went down well once she found out," Jemma's explanation both making sense and sounding like something that Coulson would have done.

"So, your place now?" Daisy guessed it was the next best thing, central and large enough for them to all catch up without the chance of neighbours listening in.

"No, Mack and Yo-Yo's," the answer through the phone not the one that she was expecting.

"Wait, that's like an hour out of town, has the time changed?" she realised quickly that her easy going morning was about to be a lot more rushed.

"No, hence my early morning phone call," Jemma brought the conversation round full circle, the point finally coming out fully.

"Gee thanks, when did you find out?" Daisy questioned between sips of coffee, a faint complaint behind her tone.

"Only just before," Jemma assured her without missing a beating, pausing for a second though before admitting; "but, Mack told Fitz last night."

"And neither thought to let me know?" not that she was surprised that the didn't, they had properly both thought that the other would tell her, and their group text was on a pause after May had gotten too annoyed at it.

"You have plenty of time, you don't even have to wrangle a toddler," Jemma tried to reason, clearly feeling a little bad for only telling her last minute.

"Don't suppose I can hitch a ride with you guys?" Daisy knew the likely answer before she asked, knowing the lack of offer spoke to the response she would get.

"Well you see..." her friend hesitated, looking for the right words as to not sound rude, or like she had had plenty of warning.

"You've already left haven't you?" she finished for her, guessing what the rest of the sentence would be.

"Not quite, but we are about too," Jemma stated apologetically, the sound of Fitz in the background attempting to get their daughter dressed only proving her point.

"Helpful," Daisy sighed, failing at keeping the amusement out of her voice.

"You get away with being late, we don't" Jemma pointed out with a chuckle.

"How do you figure I do?" Daisy questioned with confusion at where the other woman was going with her statement.

"Oh come on, May and Coulson practically are your pretend parents, you get away with everything with them," Jemma snickered, her eye roll practically visible through the phone.

"Not entirely true," Daisy shot back, grinning nonetheless as the two said their goodbyes, or more so; a see you later.

"Guess you better get a move on too then," Daniel smirked at her from across the table, making no further comment on anything he had heard.

"Can I," she paused as he handed her a set of keys, without her even having finished her question, "thanks."

"Have fun with your spy friends," Daniel told her grabbing a different set of keys as he collected his things to go into the office.

"They're not spies, well I guess some of them are, but Jemma and Fitz aren't," she told him, at the start Coulson and May had been the only ones that were actual CIA, a fresh team that had recruited Fitzsimmons and then her, before Mack and Yo-Yo had joined later, with a few coming and going throughout that hadn't stuck together like the 7 had, or hadn't survived.

At first she was hesitant, not for the life that she would give up to join them, but to join a team at all, regardless of what side they were on. She had always floated around, never been one for team sports, but Coulson had seen something in her and stuck with her. And even though the team had disbanded a while back after a particularly gruelling mission, they were still the closest thing to family she had.

"Kinda feel like on a CIA team, even the non agents are spies," he teased back, pausing at the door to hear her answer.

"Maybe you should be happy I seem to like spies," she shot back, mirroring his smirk at her words.

It had taken her more than an hour to get ready to leave, the tight schedule changing her whole morning, but it wasn't long before she was heading down the same stairs that Daniel had; towards the garage. When she had first gone to his townhouse, she had thought that the bottom level was just extra house, or maybe even a second residency, until she had followed him down and realised just why he had chosen this particular property.

Still today, she was amazed at the collection of vehicles he had acquired, and obvious taste for the classics – all with their own parking spot surrounded by information and history that he had gone to great lengths to gather. The other defining feature of the collection was that they were all sports cars, new or old, they all sounded and performed like they belonged at a race track.

Toying with the key for the Maserati that he had given her, she slid it into her jacket pocket before opening the door to the four door coupe, the vehicle the main one that she drove, simply because while it was expensive and fast, it was much more of an everyday car when compared to most of the rest of his collection. Sitting in the drivers seat, she pressed the ignition button and the sports car roared to life instantly, the sound of the engine bringing a smile to her face as usual.

*********************************

Pulling up to the farm house that Mack and Yo-Yo had brought not long after the odd group had returned from their last mission, a home base of sorts for the two to return to amongst their adventures, Daisy parked alongside the FitzSimmons large SUV. The growl from her vehicle enough to have caught everyone's attention and alert them to her arrival.

Hesitating for a moment after she turned the vehicle off, she gathered herself up before stepping out of the car. As much as she loved the entire team, the family she had created with them, it still always took herself a moment to get back into the dynamic that she had never known elsewhere, but now that she had – was terrified to loose.

"Sweet ride," Coulson nodded approvingly as he walked around the sports car with a gleam of excitement to his eyes, the two words enough of a greeting for the two.

"Yeah, goes alright," Daisy grinned back, hugging everyone one by one as they got to her.

"Where did you get it?" his eyes narrowed at her, another question left unspoken that from anyone else she would have felt resentment from the insinuation, but she knew that from him, it more joking than judgement.

"Tremors," Mack greeted her with the nickname he had given her what felt like a lifetime ago – on the first mission they had worked together the building they had been in had exploded, but moments prior she had thought she had felt something and they had gotten out just as it came crashing down.

"Mack," her grin widened, hugging the closest thing to a big brother she had.

"I don't care where you got it, as long as I get to drive it," he stated as he pulled back, the small group turning to head towards the deck that they had come from before she had arrived.

"I'm just glad that you finally made it, it seems like it has been so long since we were all together," Yo-Yo grinned amongst the group, a sense of sadness at the time that had past.

"It's been too long, feels like forever," Jemma nodded in agreement.

"2 years, 8 months, 23 days, if you want to be exact," May stated simply, as if it was something that was completely normal for her to know.

"She got bored on the drive up and worked it out," Coulson gave them a better explanation to why she knew.

"Is there a reason for the catch up?" Daisy asked the question that had been bugging her since the request to catch up had come in, "not that I'm complaining."

"There's always a reason, you should know that by now," May stated as if it was a lesson she had tried and failed to drill into her students, her students in this case just being a random assortment of misfits that somehow worked as a team unit.

"What is it?" Jemma tried to keep the slight groan out of her voice.

"A mission?" Yo-Yo put forward the most obvious guess that they were all thinking.

"Of sorts, I know a couple of you will be out, but we have a situation that only this team can face," Coulson approached the topic in his usual roundabout way.

"Sounds about right," Mack made no effort to hide the complaint in his tone, although he was one of the only other member's of the team to stay on as an active agent, he had gotten used to a more structured way of completing missions that didn't coincide with how this team worked.

"A couple of us out?" Jemma zoned in on the part of the statement that she hadn't understood, missing nothing about the way the team leader had spoken, "obviously one of us will have to stay, but who else?"

"Yo-Yo," May shrugged as if it was an obvious answer, the rest of the group frozen at the implication as they all tried to determine its truth.

"What? How? How do you know?" Mack looked shocked, glancing between his girlfriend and the team leaders, trying to work out if she had shared anything with them.

"It's May, she knows things," Coulson made no move to explain their knowledge further, smiling at the two broadly.

"But we only found out recently?" Yo-Yo confirmed the detail with confusion at how they knew, a hand coming to rest on her stomach to solidify it even further without even thinking about it.

"This is so exciting," Jemma jumped up to hug the other woman the instant that the insinuation was proven true.

"Congrats guys," Daisy told them genuinely, a grin crossing her face without her even realising it.

"So, why us?" Fitz brought the conversation back on track after a few more minutes of congratulating their friends.

"We need a team we can trust with all the skills this team has, and on short notice," Coulson glanced around the group to gather what he needed to from their individual reactions, always working away on his mental dossiers on them.

"Really, no other team around you trust, I thought we weren't even a team anymore," Daisy threw some of his own words back at him, still hurting slightly at the way they had simply all disbanded seemingly without a second thought after their last mission.

"We will always be a team, just in a different way," Mack told her the same thing he had tried to convince her of back then.

"How dangerous?" Jemma skirted around the side issue to get to the particulars that she was more concerned on.

"I'm not going to lie, it doesn't come without risks," Coulson stated, not giving much out.

"Yeah, but, like on our scale, how bad is it?" Fitz pressed for more details.

"Probably about a," Coulson thought about his answer carefully, but the smirk on his face told them he wasn't putting as much effort into it as he was making out, "6 and a half."

"Our scale was out of 8, 8 being certain death," Fitz reminded him with a serious tone, that coming from him sounded more of a joke than anything.

"Oh, right, why did we pick 8 again?" Coulson's eyes narrowed as he continued to mess with them.

"Infinity death circle," May shrugged, giving the answer regardless of if he actually needed it.

"Right, well a 6.2" Coulson changed his number rating either way.

"What was your scale if an 8 only drops it by .3, your maths doesn't make sense," Fitz shook his head in frustration.

"That still sounds pretty bad," Daisy pointed out, not entirely sure she wanted to jump straight back into a super dangerous mission with them – no matter how much she had missed working, she definitely hadn't missed nearly dying all the time.

"Could be worse, could be a 1," May put forward her opinion on situation.

"That would be so much better," Jemma grinned at the older woman, not entirely sure if she was joking or not.

"Anything less than a 5 means we don't really need you guys," Coulson shrugged as he spoke unapologetically.

"Don't need us, but want?" Fitz twisted the words around slightly.

"Debatable," May held back a smile at the looks of feign hurt from the rest of the team.

"Oh, come on, you missed us, we all know it," Yo-Yo grinned broadly, knowing she was correct.

"So, can we circle back round to Daisy's car?" Coulson changed the subject, clearly not wanting to only dwell on the business side of things.

"Yeah, is it yours?" Yo-Yo questioned directly what everyone was wondering.

"Looks too well looked after for that," May stated with a smirk.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Daisy fired back, crossing her arms in an attempt to look hurt, but she couldn't help but grin back.

"We all saw the state you kept that van in," Fitz shrugged nonchalantly.

"Unfair," Daisy glared at them all, not really having a leg to stand on to fight back.

"But, kind of true," Jemma winced at her friend in apology at siding against her.

"Do you know where she got it Jemma?" Mack turned the question to the only other one of the group that might have the answer, and might be more forthcoming with it.

"I'm guessing it belongs to the very nice male acquaintance of hers," Jemma answered carefully, glancing at her friend with a grimace in apology once more.

"Acquaintance? We shared donuts with him Jemma, I think we can call him a friend," Fitz laughed at his wife's wording, both of their statements gaining interest from the rest of the group.

"I don't think it's our labels that are the problem, Fitz," she responded a touch quieter to her husband, knowing full well that everyone would still hear her.

"Hey!" Daisy scolded her friend, both at the statement and the sharing in the first place.

"Male acquaintance? Is it serious?" Yo-Yo grinned, zoning in on the important words.

"How long?" Mack added to the line of interrogation, elbowing the interrogatee playfully.

"We are not allowed to ask questions like that," Fitz stated bemusedly, gaining his own elbow to his side from his wife.

"Do we at least get a name?" Coulson turned slightly to watch Daisy closely, trying to gather as much info from her body language as he could.

"And remember we are CIA, we can easily just run his plates," May reminded her mater-of-factually, pointing at the car in the driveway to back up her statement.

"Fine," Daisy caved, figuring that they could find out easily enough, and thought maybe a name would allow them to move on, "Daniel Sousa."

"Wait, seriously?" Coulson's attention pricked tenfold at the name, everyone suddenly even more invested at his increased interest, "as in ex Army intel Daniel Sousa?"

"I mean he was, but surely you don't know him?" Daisy shook her head in disbelief, surely two of the most important men in her life couldn't know each other.

"Now the head of a top private security firm, which in hindsight is probably where your paths crossed," Coulson continued his outline of the one he was talking about, making it clear it was the same person.

"It was," Jemma exclaimed, giving the others the information once more.

"How do you know him?" Daisy groaned at the solidification that he did know who he was.

"I don't, he is somewhat of a legend amongst the spy game," Coulson spoke almost wistfully, and excitement to his tone reminiscence of a kid talking about an idol.

"Really?" Fitz questioned, the new knowledge giving him more clarity over the man he had met the week prior.

"He was an integral part in quite a few very difficult, very important missions, helped take down a lot of bad people until he took shrapnel in the field and it got infected and he lost his leg from the knee down as a result," the team leader continued his briefing on the man in question.

"Seriously, you can't even tell," Jemma stated with wide eyes, surprised that neither her or her husband had picked up on it, less surprised that her friend had never told her any of this.

"Ended his Army career, there was talk of him possibly coming back, but then not long after word was he had accepted a very good offer and had gone private," he finished his quick run down, the excitement still clear as day across his face.

"You sound like a fangirl," Daisy joked, both amused at the turn of events and trying to move on from the topic of her love life.

"That's because I am," Coulson grinned at her, a truth to his words that she took at face value.

"At least he has your approval," May told the man next to her with a smirk, ignoring the glares from Daisy, "didn't think she would ever manage that."

"Surprises me too," Coulson nodded in agreeance, "so, what's he like? When can we meet him?"

"Chill, we are not even that serious," Daisy tried to brush the question off, to her surprise the thought of them meeting didn't bother her as much as she had expected, but she definitely wasn't going to tell the team that.

"Yeah, right," Fitz snorted, calling his friends bluff, "you say that like he wasn't pretending to be your husband just last week."

"And pretty damn convincingly as well," Jemma backed him up.

"We just went over he was a spy once," Daisy tried to reason, glaring at her friends for telling the group.

"Why was he pretending to be your husband?" Yo-Yo asked, her brows furrowed at the information as she tried to piece it all together.

"Because Jemma made me go to a fundraiser that Jiaying and Kora were at," Daisy sighed as she explained, knowing that it was just going to increase the interrogation at hand.

"I have so many questions right now," Coulson shook his head at the conversation at hand, still trying to wrap his head around it all.

"You're not allowed to ask questions," Fitz stated, almost rehearsed, as if he had been told it a number of times before.

"We have a lot," Jemma chuckled, clearly the one to have told Fitz he couldn't ask.

"One question each, and I get to choose if I will answer or not," Daisy caved to the group's stare down that they were giving her.

"If you don't, do we get a new question?" May sought out guidelines.

"Yes, but only two chances," Daisy stated, trying to gain some sort of control over the situation at hand and finding that she was very much failing.

"How long have you known him?" Mack started, going to basic and easy that she appreciated.

"6 months," she answered simply.

"Follow up?" he pushed, fairly certain of the response before she even gave it.

"No," she answered quickly and flatly, glancing around to see who would ask next.

"Did he just have rings laying around for last week or did he get them especially?" Fitz's question was clearly one he had wanted to ask since the party the week before, his words raising a few eyebrows amongst the group.

"High end fakes," she gave as basic an answer as possible, trying to skip past it as painless as she could.

"So, he specifically had them designed and made, right, totally not serious," Jemma grinned at the information, quickly clarifying her words as she did, "not my question, just a comment."

"Did you meet on a job?" May returned to simple and easy.

"Yes," Daisy continued with her brisk and minimal responses.

"So, you knew who each other was and what you's did from the beginning?" May kept going, catching herself before she got pulled up, "I know, no follow up questions."

"Yes," Daisy stated anyway, figuring it was easier to just go with it.

"Did you sleep together that job or was it more a down the line of knowing each other type of thing?" Yo-Yo asked with a smirk, her question much more borderline as to if it would pass, and she knew it, as the rest of the group grinning in amusement at her directness.

"That job," Daisy decided they could move on quicker if she just answered it, and a part of her was worried what her second choice would be if that was her first.

"Is he as attentive as he seems he would be? He definitely seems like he would be a ladies first kind of guy," Jemma continued the topic with a chuckle, everyone's eyes flying to her as her words sunk in.

"Jemma!" Fitz scolded his wife, laughing nonetheless.

"Simmons! Please don't answer that one Daisy," Coulson nearly jumped up, the question not something he wanted to hear.

"Didn't plan on it," Daisy stated honestly, her friends question not actually surprising her as much as the rest, knowing that it had been hard for her to not ask all her questions all this time.

"Fine, have you met any of his family? Or even his friends?" Jemma tried again, opting for a more PG question this time around.

"His family know of my existence, haven't formally met them, but have met a couple of his friends," Daisy knew that her answer surprised them, as she turned to the last of the group awaiting their question.

"Does he make you happy?" Coulson spoke after a few moments, taking his time to make his choice.

"Yeah," the word came out quieter, an honest truth to it that made the team smile back at her, at the end of it all, that was all that really matter to them, and they all knew how hard that was for her to admit out loud.

#aos #aosfic #dousy fic #dousy #just good old dousy #au #dousy au #Daisy Johnson #daisy x sousa #daisy x daniel #daniel sousa #two years later and still love this ship #yes i know it has been forever #myfic #i actually miss having a ship to want to write about #nothing has taken my interest recently #agents of shield #agents of shield fic

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momentofch-aos · 1 year

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NEW POST - Always a Knockout

Prompt : "not again"

“Word is that Carter and Thompson are fighting in the main gym sir.” He stuttered it out, staring at his shoes while Daniel sighed.

“Not again.” The Chief murmured under his breath before dismissing his agent who practically scampered down the hall towards the gym. At a slightly slower pace Daniel followed, internally rolling his eyes and mentally preparing to deal with the both of them.

Or: Daniel is done with them both

***********************************

Realised i only have like 6 weeks to get these complete! So short and sweet it will probably be! (she says as everything ends up thousands of words longer than necessary)

@agentcarterbingo

#peggy carter #peggy is a badass #daniel sousa #peggysous #jack thompson #the chaotic trio i miss so much #daniel is done with them #agent carter #fanfic #marvel #acb2022

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thatscarletflycatcher · 8 months

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There's something that has been gnawing at me since I saw some comments on the look-how-they-massacred-them poll for Daniel Sousa -with which I didn't want to engage then and there because I really didn't want to pick up a fight with another Daniel fan, there's few enough of us, but also because the argument was very difficult to articulate.

It is difficult to explain how Daniel Sousa is screwed over by Endgame without making it look like either "he deserved Peggy as a prize" or "he was the perfect prize for Peggy", because it all begins by understanding the experience of WWII and the building of the morale of WWII. Something that Markus and McFeely seemed to perfectly understand in Agent Carter, which inclines me to believe it was specific insistence of the Russos, whose concept of narrative and storytelling is at the level of a belligerent and not very bright 4 year old, that gave us that mindblowingly stupid "happy ending" for Cap and Peggy. Or maybe Markus and McFeely are just arcane creatures, at times intelligent and at times really dumb. Anyways.

Point is that both CATFA and Agent Carter understand that for these characters, fighting WWII is a matter of "each doing their bit", of, as Steve put it in The Avengers, to lay on the barbed wire so the one that comes after you can pass on. And in the process of doing that, you have great loses and suffer great grief. The price of war is immense, and for these people the price of war is the price of freedom (yes, that celebrated Steve speech from CATWS is also sharing in that same spirit. It's kind of impressive how until that awful mess of Endgame, the perspective of Steve as a character from movie to movie is one that addresses how some 1940s things are outdated, but how many others are still relevant and inspiring. It is a surprisingly nuanced take on History, that of course the Russo "Cap is an outdated relic that belongs in the past and should stay there" brothers don't seem to have what's needed to grasp).

In that context, the most coherent tone for Steggy is tragedy. Because that is what happened to many, many, many people during the war. You meet, you fall in love fast, because there is no time. And then suddenly the other is gone, never to come back. And all the promises of youth and life and future the other person represented, are gone with them. People who lived through 2020-2022 have some idea of what it is like for projects, opportunities, and years of your life to just vanish. Now you make that five years, eight months, and to mention "just" the British, 1 out every 100 people live in 1939, dead, and over 350.000 permanently disabled. If you were 20 in 1939, your life would be practically on hold till you were 26. It's a whole lot of grief, and an intense grief, that you don't solve the way you solve a random missing connection in a romcom like Serendipity or The Lake House. Doing so is cheapening and bastardizing the grief and trauma of a whole generation of people in different countries.

So, Agent Carter. Here we have a story focused on a group of people, spies, who, in different fronts and with different outcomes, made it through the war and are now facing this new world they are living in, and all the grief of their respective losses. The focus of the story is Peggy, a woman who, like many others, was allowed a wide range of action during the war, and is now subconsiously perceived as a threat by many of her male coworkers. It's a desperate bid to "go back to the way things were before", and her presence is a constant reminder that they can't.

Sousa occupies a very similar position to Peggy's: he's also a reminder that the war happened and that there is no way back, no magic solution, no pretending. And that's why both are ignored, and displaced, and why both struggle to prove themselves in a subconscious way while living by the continued principle that they are doing their bit. That is their lifeline that keeps them sane and working all throughout s1 of Agent Carter.

That's what we mean when we say Peggy and Sousa are equals, and that Sousa is contented with letting her have the spot; not because he's her inferior or her dependant, but because he's her equal -in intelligence, in ideals, in resourcefulness, in loyalty, but also in their relative positions in the power ladder- and does not feel threatened by her because of it.

(It is in this context, btw, that Peggy's rebuke of Daniel's "rescue" of her in the first episode must be understood. Because she was once treated like any other officer/agent of her same rank, she has knee jerk reactions to both being demeaned and being protected. It's also an important theme of that beginning of the series that Peggy needs to learn to let her friends in, and that she needs their help, and that that doesn't make her too weak to protect and defend them.)

But also, in another way, when we talk about Sousa becoming Peggy's husband, it has to do with the sentiment Krezminsky expresses in the series:

The ship of Steggy had sailed and was gone forever since the moment Steve became the legend in the ice and Peggy "Cap's Girl", this embodiment of the ridiculous damsel in distress we hear in the radio drama that plays on one of the episodes: Peggy fell in love with Steve when he was a scrawny, sickly lad, because she loved the man he was inside, but now forever for the world she is just another superficial, weak girl lusting after the handsome godlike rescuer, the picture of the eugenic dream of the übermensch. In Daniel Peggy loves and finds all the same things she found and loved in Steve, but in a different light, because Sousa is a different person, with a different life story, plus something else: they have both gone through war and its loss and grief, and come to the other side in need of rebuilding and finding new meaning in life and hope for the future.

In a world where the Dark, Tall and Handsome Hero of the Six Pack, Alpha Dominance and Endless Stamina reigns supreme, Sousa as a love interest is a remarkable and -sadly- bold statement about the things that truly matter in finding one's life partner.

So I think here is a reasonable point to start talking about Sousa in Agents of SHIELD. Because here's where someone would rationally say "well, but you see, there he's also chosen as a love interest!", and the reasons why context in AoS changes everything are multiple, so let's go there.

But before that, let me make clear that I do wholeheartedly believe the writers of AoS meant to honor Sousa, and sincerely tried to do their best with what they were given. That doesn't change what the end product ended up doing and saying about him.

Like Peggy is the main character of Agent Carter, so Daisy is the main character of Agents of SHIELD. As much as you can say all the team characters are important and get the focus, Daisy is the one which the narrative insists on making the focal point, as the arcs of several seasons hinge on her, and we are expected to sympathize with her first and foremost in any situation in which she is personally involved. But unlike Peggy, Daisy is a superpowered individual. She's more like Steve than Peggy; she's practically a demigod. She is capable of ripping Earth apart with just her hands. Where Peggy and Sousa were equals in the power ladder in-universe, in AoS the distance between Daisy and Sousa is abysmal. That imbalance is the first thing that leads to Sousa being put in the position of Daisy's Boy. The fact that he ends up in space with Daisy's last minute sister who is ALSO an inhuman does not help things.

As a side note, there's something to be said about futuristic prosthetics in AoS and how they interesect with disability. But I'd rather not get into it because it is a thorny subject and I don't feel qualified to speak of it.

In a different way, Daniel being Peggy's love interest in Agent Carter is balanced out by his having a life of his own and many interactions with other characters throughout the series. He pursues his own lines of investigation, he conducts interrogations of his own, he comes up with plans, he teams up with Krezminsky and with Thompson and in s2 he has downright made a life for himself as chief in California with a fiancé and all. There is a clear sense that he exists as a character outside of pining for Peggy.

In AoS, the opposite happens. Part of it is owed to the writers writing themselves into a corner: to take Sousa out of his timeline, they have to do it in such a way that his disappearance is inconspicuous, which means killing him. They do it the best way they can think of, honoring his alertness and intelligence, by making him realize HYDRA is infiltrated in SHIELD decades before anyone else does. But as a consequence, Sousa becomes the man out of time: there's no future for him, because he has died, and unlike Steve, he's not being brought back because he himself is required. They just save him because they take pity on him and the tragedy of his life. So he has no mission and no significant previous connection with anyone on the team. One of the concrete things in which this is evidenced the most is with the switch from being addressed as chief Sousa to Agent Sousa. He was chief, but between that SHIELD and this SHIELD there's not such a connection by which he can claim that title. There's no subordinates to manage. So he's sort of default-called agent without really being a proper agent.

So the writers choose the fish-out-of-water concept for him. Which is far fetched. This guy lived through wwii in a high spy setting where intelligence has knowledge of powerful interstellar aliens. He's most definitely not bewildered by phone cameras, guys. He would quickly adapt... if, again, you know, he was brought back for a mission. But the reality is that from a Doylist POV, he was brought in to be Daisy's love interest, and the only thing he can offer to her, in this huge power imbalance I have pointed out, is chivalrous manners and quaint WWII style references like when he tells her "Agent Johnson, we are going home"; both can be very charming to a modern woman, but they are things that highlight the cultural and psychological distances that separate them, and make it glaringly obvious that they have barely anything in common.

The series tries desperately to give them common ground in the time-loop episode, with this idea that Daisy is like Peggy because she sacrifices herself for others and to protect others all the time. Which is laughable because, again, in Daisy's condition of beloved main character that embodies the tortured, quasi byronic heroine that we understand to be the hallmark of about one half of the contemporary superhero type, the narrative and the characters in it bend all sorts of ways to accommodate her, not the other way around. Peggy's type is different because it is rooted in that WWII morale/frame I was talking about at the beginning of the post.

As a consequence of all of this, Sousa barely interacts with anyone that isn't Daisy (he has of personal scenes, what? one or two with Coulson, the scene where Jemma gives him a new prosthetic, and then he's given an idea to give to Mac in the finale. I don't remember any other non-Daisy ones), has no unique role to fulfill in the mission (specially because so much of the plan is entwined in Fitz and Jemma's rescue plan that was NOT counting with Sousa) and no personal goal to achieve, which weakens his standing as a character outside the romance plot, and when it comes to the romance plot, he has nothing in common with Daisy, and he brings nothing to the partnership other than... narratively forced love, and chivalrousness.

In the end, Daniel, who was a character and a person of relevance in Agent Carter, is nerfed and turned into a prop for the rushed happily ever after of the main character of AoS. And that, in my books, is being screwed over. That's what makes his becoming Peggy's husband and building a life and a future with her a much better and more preferable outcome for Daniel; he gets to build a life of meaning by his own significant work and significant connections, in his own time and place, with a wife who is his equal and with other people that have lived through the same collective experiences of trauma and grief he did.

#Daniel Sousa #Agent Carter #AoS #meta #peggysous

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slashtakemylife · 4 months

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Peggy lives under the shadow of Steve, even when she's the main lead

With the release of What If and Peggy Carter taking on the role of Captain America, Marvel is very likely patting their back on their "feminism" and how they've given us a badass female leader that can have her own spotlight however it's very easy to see how we are still seeing this story through a males eyes and male focus only.

1. The curse of being Cap's girl, she can only be his

Honestly the misogyny on Peggy's character actually begins since the first movie but we'll get into the little details later, the first glaring ones to me begins ever since the Cap 2 movie, when they show Peggy as old she has pictures of her kids but none of her husband, why? We are even told she's had a good life, a full life, so where is her husband?

Because in the patriarchal way, Peggy Carter, even as an old lady who has lived her full life and is basically allowed to... is still Steve's. It's more likely they didn't want to show who "filled his shoes", so to speak, this imaginary man, this husband who got to have Peggy, "bested" Captain America and you can't have that can you? I know it may sound stupid but we are dealing with a male's worldview.

It even shows when in her interview you can see how she still hasn't quite gotten over Steve, she even seems to reluctantly say, "That's where I met my husband", in that interview you can see she is still affected, aka she hasn't gotten over him but then you got to remember, she's married now, she's supposed to be over him, why is she still so affected? Why does she speak of her husband like an after thought? Why did she even marry a man when clearly she wasn't over her last? Peggy isn't the kind of woman to marry just because she had to, you know she would only marry a man she fully loved, not just to not be a spinster.

The answer is that in the male worldview, no one can supplant Steve Rogers but not because Steve Rogers is someone you can't forget but because in the male eye, Peggy is Steve's property, for someone else to have her it means they "won" over Steve and you can't win the representation of maleness. Peggy at best got second scraps, yes you heard it, Peggy's husband is just supposed to be a "second best" beside Captain America, I'm sure he was a lovely husband and father but no man can ever "best" America's representative of maleness, remember this is the worldview from a male perspective.

The only time Peggy ever gets some agency is in her show and there's a beautiful scene at the end of season 1 where we literally see her tell Steve good bye, she gets over him, by season 2 she is well over Steve, she's still affected, mind you, of course she misses him but he is no longer her world, in fact she can now flirt and get into the idea of finding new love and she does in Sousa.

It's really unfortunate when the Cap's girl curse gets landed on them because Steve was never supposed to come back into her life but then he did and of course this means crashing all her progress, they didn't just made them break up, they killed Daniel Sousa, there had to be no trace of competition so Steve could very joyfully land in the past and fit into her life as if he never left

Steve Rogers never gets over Peggy but Peggy did but since Steve wants Peggy, the writers took that progress back and made her love him again no questions asked.

2. On Captain Carter

Wow Marvel is sure patting their back thinking they nailed "feminism" when they grabbed Peggy Carter and turned her into Captain America.

In the first episode, they do get it mostly, she is bigger, she's strong and she leads the Howling Commandoes but there's one little trick that lets you remember, this is still a man's world.

Steve's Hydra Stomper.

In the original format, aka the movie, they sell Peggy to us as a top agent, and she is, we get some badass moves from her at the beginning but once Steve finally gets into his role as Captain America, she gets placed behind the scenes, it's the classical "woman in a high position" but really the real high position is Philips, Peggy at best is only seen removing little flags from maps but we never actually see her in combat until the end but of course she had to be there, otherwise how will we get to the final kiss scene amairight?

We should've expected the same treatment right? Especially since there's a very telling excuse for Steve to stay behind lines and be the master behind it, he's skinny now, he isn't fit for battle at all but he can still help coordinate the Commandoes right?

Wrong.

You can't leave Captain America, even in his skinny form, out the battle, what is he? A woman? Those double standards are what hit me, no one cared if Peggy Carter joined the fights, she doesn't have to, she's not supposed to, we all know she's Cap's girl, she's not a soldier so no one bats an eye but when the roles are reversed, it's inconceivable that Steve takes his assigned role as a love interest.

How interesting it is that when male characters are placed in the love interest role they just have to fight to be interesting right? It's almost offensive to put a man as just a love interest that does nothing but be there right?

I am also glaring at you Gwen Stacy, Gwen Stacy as Peter Parker's girlfriend is literally just a girl that got caught by the baddie and Spiderman accidentally killed but when they reversed the story and now it was Gwen as spiderwoman and Peter the boyfriend... He turned into a lizard, yeah the boy couldn't just be the boyfriend and I'm not even sure if he was the boyfriend or just the friend which also, red flags! Peter can have girlfriends but Gwen can't.

Back to Peggy, if they had only shown that first episode, it would've been good, some minor double standards with Steve's Stomper but meh, I'll live.

The real treat is the sequel, I'll also make an honorary mention on how also in other episodes they still grind Steve hard and show you she is very much in love, not a fancy, she hard loves him, not even Steve showed that much fanatism, but hey, back to topic.

My biggest glare to this episode starts with the Watcher himself, he says he never does sequels and honestly he's right, he shouldn't because the result is honestly shit, from a Peggy character pov

They copy the plot of Steve Rogers story instead of making a new one for her.

Yup, you heard me and fine she wasn't going to deviate much I know but they seriously stuck way too much into Steve's story up to the point where it doesn't work and yes I'm glaring at you Winter Soldier arc.

The Winter Soldier arc works so well because Steve and Bucky have history together, Steve and Peggy have just feelings, the relationship between Steve and Bucky and Steve and Peggy are severely different, in both cases.

For Peggy it is because she is a strong willed woman, she's had to fight her way everywhere, Steve sees her as an equal and both understand what it is to constantly be fighting to prove to others who you are because by being a woman/weak man, everyone looks past you, they undermine you, that is the Steggy dynamic.

Bucky is very different, he's exactly the opposite, he's a man of his time, he's charming, healthy, strong and noble but he isn't too moved to act the way Steve is, he isn't as strong headed as Steve is, he's been blanketed by society but thanks to Steve he gets inspired to stand up for others, remember that while Steve tried to enlist, they had to draft Bucky. One of the things about their relationship is that Bucky treats Steve as an equal too but not an equality of same struggle like he and Peggy, Bucky merely treats him as a friend, he pushes Steve out of his comfort zone, I mean he put him on the Cyclone, they rode on the back of a freezer truck, Bucky drags Steve into his adventures and treats Steve like a friend, not a sickly kid and then later on its Steve the one that has to repay the favor when it's Bucky the one's that the Winter Soldier. It's loyalty to their years of friendship and Steve knowing Bucky's character the best.

So no you can't just exchange roles and honestly the fact that if you see every single episode of What If, you quickly realize that while they may all start from a slight deviation, it leads to completely different scenarios totally outside of any MCU story.

Yondu not keeping Quill doesn't form a slightly different Guardian of the Galaxy, it generates an entire new Avengers team, they even get rid of Jotunheim and Asgard as an after thought, there's absolutely no step to step plot in any MCU movie, it's a brand new story

Same as Iron Man after the New York battle not going through the hole, it launches him into a crazy Space Race in Skaandar and while yes we get a repeat of characters and themes and places, it gets rebranded and adjusted to the characters it has, that being Tony Stark and even delves with other character's themes such as Gamora and Tony striking a friendship and both getting rid of Thanos.

This doesn't happen with Peggy, they reuse Steve's storyline, again and even pull other movies move by move, the episode is an interesting take but too close from the plot of the movies while every single one of them has deviated and found new interpretations of the characters under different scenarios, with Peggy this doesn't happen and they are trying to fit her neatly in Steve's story with slight changes but NEVER does she ever get out of the mold of being intently focused on Steve.

Even Natasha points on her dating like "what if he's named Steve?", Peggy also will never look at another man, it being her own version of "Sharon Carter", which we must remember Steve shared a kiss with, we won't ever get a whiff of a "Sousa", maybe a grandkid or something, nope you bet we never will because while Steve can, Peggy must certainly can never, she's is solely and only Captain America's girl, Steve Roger's love interest.

#peggy carter #captain carter #what if #what if...?#marvel #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #marvel mcu

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