WHO:Maria and Cameron WHAT: Cameron goes to help Maria out with her nail situation WHEN: Recently WARNINGS: PG-13ish STATUS: Closed and Complete
Cameron made short stops at the grocery and hardware stores getting what he needed, and then was on his way toward Agent Hill’s house. He felt nervous a little, as far as being around this almost the absolute boss type person. But he also felt confident in his craft, and trusted her. It was an odd juxtaposition of feelings, really, but he went with it. What choices did he have? He was constitutionally unable to say no when someone had a need.
That was what had almost gotten him killed at the Triskelion, and again at the Battle of Sokovia. And he didn’t regret it then, or now. It was who he was. Even if it sometimes caused him anxiety. He could deal with it.
At her house, he parked and slid out, lifting out his new toolbox with everything in it, as he did so. He wore a slightly rumpled looking set of overalls, as well as boots as he trooped up to her door and knocked.
***
Breaking an artificial nail hurt! Maria thought it would make a great interrogation technique. Better than bamboo shoots under the nails, that’s for sure! Sue and Pepper hadn’t warned her about this possibility, and Maria wondered if that had been on purpose.
She was glaring at the bent nail when the knock came to her apartment door. The hand was shaken out as she opened it then waved Cameron in. “I kind of want to know if you did this for Romanoff when we placed her on Stark.”
***
“Sorry, boss. I don’t gloss and tell.” He gave her a small smile as he stepped in, closing the door behind himself and glancing at her finger as he set his toolbox down. He opened it and took out a small spray.
He held out his hand to her. “Let me see your finger, please. We need to stop that pain first.” His voice went from kind of nervous to confident as he concentrated on something he knew well.
***
Maria huffed for not getting an answer. Now she’ll just have to ask Natasha herself since now she really wanted to know. She’d been trained extensively for covert ops, knew the kind of details that would go into a cover, but she’d never needed to fall into a role that required high heels and manicured nails. Makeup wasn’t even a thought. Her idea of makeup was the bare essentials.
With a grimace settling on her face she held out the offended hand. The nail on the index finger was indeed bent, but it hadn’t torn the nail bed, fortunately. “Seriously. We should replace the bio-glue in the med kits with this stuff. It held up better than the time I had to glue a knife wound shut.”
***
The spray went on quickly, and numbed the finger. And he nodded. “That a local, it should knock out the pain and make this go faster.” He grinned. “Okay, we should sit.” He waved a hand toward chairs and whatever else there was to sit at.
“I can repair the nail, or set new ones, or simply remove the artificial one. Whichever you want done.” Cameron had assembled his tools carefully. It wasn’t a S.H.I.E.L.D. kit, but then, he didn’t have the resources to build one of those. What he did have were the field equivalents, from his training to make do if ever it was needed, in the field, to switch ops.
He much prefered computer work. It was less dangerous.
Well, when someone wasn’t pointing a gun at your head, or crashing an evil robot near you that wanted you dead.
So… sometimes.
***
A sigh of relief escaped Maria once her finger went numb. Geezus! These things really were a constant low level torture!
She gestured toward the small, round dining table near the kitchen then went to take a seat. “Take it off,” she said in not quite a grumble. “They’ll make me get a new set soon enough anyway.”
***
“You’ve got it. And when they do bring them to you? Just have them package them and bring them to me. I’ll set them for you in a way that will keep this from happening again. I’ve got your back.” He said it matter-of-factly, and he meant it. He would take care of her. She had been his boss and had taken care of him. And she and Nick Fury had moved into the line of fire to save him from an Ultron sentry. That meant a whole lot.
He settled to a seat, opening his toolbox and revealing the tools within were not normal. Soon, chemicals, water, a few bowls, a small battery, and some wires, were all connected. With something like a lopsided grin, he held out his hand to Hill. “If the lady will give me her hand?”
***
Well, she had meant that Sue and Pepper would take her back to the salon, but Maria was getting an idea. One that Sue and Pepper might like, and appease Maria’s sense of privacy at the same time.
Her eyes took in all the different items Cameron had brought and one brow lifted. They sure as hell didn’t look much like what had been at the salon, but she still put her hand into his. “Lady, huh? Since when did I become a lady?”
***
Cameron blinked and stopped, mouth opening and shutting as his awkward came back. “I, ah… sorry, I was just… uhm… it was meant as a joke?” His voice might have squeaked a little bit. “Er, yes.”
His face a hot red, Cameron ducked his head and go to work, gently stroking her fingers with a brush connected to whole mess, and the artificial nail, the seal wiped away by the effects of what he was doing, came off as easily as a piece of paper floated to the floor. He nodded.
“Want me to get rid of the others?”
He gestured at her hands, still holding her finger, which he then brushed with a second brush, which removed all of the adhesive used to latch the artificial nail down. A third brush brought a cooler liquid, also slightly electrified, which would help stimulate her nail and skin to make it feel and appear as if there had never been a foreign object covering her natural body.
***
Maria grinned. “At east, Kline.” She forgot what kind of affect she could have on SHIELD operatives and agents. Especially here. Apparently, she’d gotten used to being off duty. She blamed Peter.
She gave him her other hand as she nodded. “Might as well do all of them. Did you bring new nails?”
***
Her comment made him blush and nod. “Sorry, ma’---er, Maria.” He sometimes thought he was normal, and then he had moments when he was pretty much only a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent. But he could handle this. He started work on her nails, removing the artificial nails with care and ease.
“Not exactly. But I can harden your natural nails, and coat them with color that will last a little longer than normal color.” He shot her a shy smile.
“If you want me too, that is.”
***
If Maria had more experience in social interactions she might think Cameron had a crush on her. Things being how they were, the only explanation she could come to for his awkwardness was that she had a reputation within SHIELD and a higher rank. He hadn’t been here for very long. He’ll get used to it and maybe drop this ma’am crap.
“Sure, go ahead.”
***
She would be right. He had always tried to not show it, or act in any way unprofessional. He respected her a great deal, and was not about to make or do something to disrespect her, or who she was. He thought a lot of her, really. Both as a person and as an agent.
Right here and now, he would do his best to just do this, and sink back into it to forget how nervous she made him.
And so he got back to work, removing false nails, the under-glue, and the residue, then hardening the natural nails themselves, giving them a strength that normally didn’t form on human nails. Her nails would now be useful at things, at least for a short time.
“This place seems a good one, and it’s odd being away from… everything.”
***
Maria watched Cameron work, all the while taking mental notes. She knew what Pepper and Sue’s standards were for this by now.
“What’s the last thing you remember from home?” she asked casually, but still with an edge of authority in her voice. She never quite lost that.
***
Cameron glanced at her, one eyebrow rising as he worked. This sort of conversation he could handle. His own voice slid into a more professional leveled sound and pace. Old habits.
“Debrief after the Sokovia mission, ma’am. I was in the locker room when I… showed up here.” His skin turned a brilliant red as he admitted that and he ducked his head over her nails as he forced himself to go on. “I’d put in for an assignment with Director Coulson's new SHIELD units, but hadn’t heard anything yet.”
***
Okay Maria would have to be entirely blind to not notice that blush. And she’d have to be completely stupid to not understand. Seriously? She’d been pretty certain that her reputation among SHIELD was that of an ice queen, cold fish. Bitch. This was surprising.
“I can’t see why the request wouldn’t have been approved.” SHIELD had been restructuring. Coulson had been doing a good job. Fury hadn’t had any complaints, at least. Cameron had earned the right to have whatever position in whatever faction he wanted.
***
Cameron kept working as he listened, then paused, almost done, to look up at her. As he finished his work, he spoke slower, a bit of caution in his voice.
“I had intel(read rumors, but passed by a guy risking his career and maybe a jail sentence to bring it) that General Talbot and Secretary Ross were… looking unfavorably in the direction of everyone involved in the Sokovia situation.”
Cameron hesitated, then nodded. “Before I could learn any more, I was here.”
***
Maria sighed as a grimace settled on her face. “I’m not personally aware of that, but I heard things got...hairy.” And Stark went off the deep end, but none of that was anything she was willing to talk about since she didn’t have solid intel on it. “I came here from just after Sokovia myself, so I’m almost as in the dark about it as you are.”
***
Cameron nodded as he shifted back. “All done.” He looked up curiously. “There are others from farther along? I’d heard from others here that people could come in from any time, but it seemed… I mean… wow.” He had seen gods, aliens, monsters, and superheroes. Even then, time travel seemed hard to believe.
Cameron sighed. “I keep meaning to ask Agent Fitz about the time travel idea, and if he might be from the future, but I wasn’t sure how much future I wanted to know.” He felt like it was almost too much, somehow.
“Anyway, with that news, i wasn’t sure when, or if, I would get the job.”
***
Maria nodded as she took her hands back to admire her nails. “Some are farther ahead than you and me.” Which was why she knew about Tony. “Don’t worry about the future. According to the intel I got we go back to exactly where we left off and don’t remember this place. Consider this place a time out. A chance to do whatever we wouldn’t get to do back home.”
***
Cameron nodded, sitting back and watching her as he put away his tools. He paused as she said they would forget. “Huhn. That is even odder than the time travel.”
He considered her then, as she spoke those words, and he grinned. “I might have to think on that. A time out to do something we had never done back home could be… fun.” And amazing. He shoved it all away, not thinking of how he would enjoy taking her hand right now. Nope. He controlled his blush this time, and nodded.
“Are you enjoying it here?”
***
She really was unaware of how bad Cameron had it or she maybe wouldn’t say what she said next. “I guess so? I actually have a social life and am seeing this guy.” She frowned in thought as she looked at her nails. “I think. We’re spending time together anyway.”
***
Cameron nodded, making his saving throw against revealing his feelings this time, and smiled a little even. “Yeah? Good. There’s nothing wrong with a social life. It can be complicated. I’ma SHIELD widower. But… here? I wish you luck, Maria.” he still had to force the last word out, old habits being what they were, but he liked how it sounded.
Damn. That was about that that went.
He straightened his shoulders. “LIke I said, let me know if you get new nails you want put on better. I can make sure this doesn’t happen again.” He nodded as he rose.
***
There was if you never had a social life before and had no idea what you were doing. Maria sometimes felt like she was back in basic training. But she wasn’t about to burden Cameron with that. Not when she had a proposition for him.
“Kline, how would you like the chance to make some good, extra money?”
***
Cameron blinked. “Ah, sure. I wouldn’t mind that. What do you have in mind, bo-, er, Hill?” He blushed slightly at his slip, and cocked his head to the side, eyes on her, curious.
Extra money?
***
Maria chuckled but didn’t comment on the slip. “You remember Pepper Potts. Well she and Sue Storm are the ones dragging me to a salon every other week. I’m pretty sure they’d like a private stylist. If you’re interested.”
***
Cameron stared for a minute, blinked, and considered it. “Huhn. I never thought of it before, but… sure. Why not? I know how to do this, and might as well get paid, huh?” He chuckled.
“Alright, sure. You’ve got a stylist.” He laughed a little, never even having thought of that idea before. It had been part of his SHIELD training, and he had even dallied with being an on-call field and mission prep specialist, but computers had always called him, and he had been far better at that.
But this… this was cool. And presented a chance to be closer to Maria as well. So… win win.
***
“Good,” she said with a smile then admired the work he’d done on her nails. “I’ll let Pepper and Sue know then let you know when we want to make an appointment.”
***
“Sounds good.” He nodded to her and rose. “I’ll leave you to your night, then. See you around.” He smiled a little, and turned to go.
What an odd night… and an odd turn of fate.
***
“Take it easy, Kline,” Maria said without getting up. “And thanks. I owe you one.”