InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Shut up, LOST is on!"

Agent Hill believes in the system. (agenthill) wrote in valarlogs,
@ 2012-07-30 16:51:00

Entry tags:

!complete, agent phil coulson, john blake, maria hill

Who: Maria Hill and John Blake, with special radio guest Agent Coulson.
What: The world's most uncomfortable stakeout.
Where: Outside a warehouse, somewhere in California.
When: Monday night.
Rating: R for language, feelings, and every bit of suppressed anger possible.
Status: Complete.

Like she'd told Coulson, 'good to be back' was probably an understatement. Hill had felt way too much like a rat in a cage for the past few weeks. Between being bed-ridden after the quake and being ordered to take at least a few days off before she went back to work, she was tired of feeling useless and was full of pent-up energy. She was ready to go back to her routine of helping people and taking down criminals even if she still had a few stitches, cuts, and bruises (not to mention split knuckles, but that was another story). They looked worse than they were. It wasn't the best mindset for a stakeout and coming from anyone else besides her partner she would've thought it an attempt to "go easy on her" on her first day back. But she knew Coulson better than that. He'd put her on the stakeout because he trusted her to make sure the job got done.

Not that she minded spending time with cops. Some agents had the whole superiority complex thing going on, but Hill had always respected the local PD as the people who did the real "dirty work": domestic violence calls, break-ins, that sort of thing. The FBI did the big stuff, yes, but regular cops were the guys who kept the day-to-day things running. Plus, they usually had interesting stories, she mused as she pulled the nondescript black car into the location Coulson had sent her. Heck, she'd even picked up coffee and donuts for her and her partner for the night. That's how good of a mood she was in. She just hoped whoever it was didn't show up late, because she probably wouldn't have the willpower to keep out of the donuts for too long.

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	comingback 2012-07-31 12:54 am UTC (link)
	So many words unspoken in the air. Apologies, insults, accusations, maybe a lot just in between. "God. What I wouldn't give for something to shoot right about now." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	agenthill 2012-07-31 12:58 am UTC (link)
	"Seems like we got rid of the furballs too soon." She remarked dryly. Humor was the only way she could force herself to remain calm. Even then, it was difficult. Being faced with something she considered one of her biggest mistakes was hard enough; sitting in a car with him for hours on end was damn near impossible. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	comingback 2012-07-31 01:01 am UTC (link)
	And God, he wanted to fight her. To have a knock down, drag out fight, sort all this shit out and... what? Kiss her? Walk away? Fucked if he knew. It was going to be a long night. "You seeing anyone?" Oh yeah, Blake. That'd make it better. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

agenthill
2012-07-31 01:11 am UTC (link)

There was enough tension in the car to make even the most unflappable person uncomfortable. This was what happened when an unstoppable force met an immovable object.

The question caught her off guard, so much that she turned to shoot him an odd look. It was the first time she'd actually looked at him since he'd gotten in the car.

"No," Maria answered. Not since you, she added silently, but didn't say it aloud. "You?"

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	comingback 2012-07-31 01:15 am UTC (link)
	Blake shrugged, looking at his hands. "Not really." Dany wasn't 'dating' category yet obviously, and he didn't want to push it. He huffed out a little sigh, shaking his head. "Want me to call Coulson? I can take point." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

agenthill
2012-07-31 01:19 am UTC (link)

There was a part of her– a large part, really– that wanted to scream at him. To say screw the job, screw the tension, and just fucking vent things out, so maybe she'd stop feeling sick to her stomach.

Somehow, his suggestion just made that worse.

"John, come on. He'd probably laugh at that suggestion. We've been chasing this lead for months."

It had come out a lot crueler than she'd meant it.

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comingback
2012-07-31 01:23 am UTC (link)

"That isn't what I meant and you know it," he all but growled, patience fraying.

If they were going to make it through this, he had to release the tension somehow. And since shooting someone wasn't an option, he had to distract himself.

'Find a happy place' was a shitty way of putting it, but more or less that's what it boiled down to. He looked out the window, trying to find something to focus on.

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agenthill
2012-07-31 01:30 am UTC (link)

Neither had she. Actually, she'd more meant it in a way that implied that her partner was a tiny bit of a control freak, not that he was incapable, but she didn't feel the need to explain herself.

And she wasn't apologizing this time.

Instead, she just reached for her coffee and took a calm sip, that infuriatingly cold facade back in place. "You can use the radio if you want."

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	comingback 2012-07-31 01:33 am UTC (link)
	John ignored her, focusing instead on the family sitting in their front room, farther down the street. They were watching some movie, faces lit by the TV and everyone happy. God, that must be nice. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

agenthill
2012-07-31 01:45 am UTC (link)

Maria followed his gaze after a moment with a frown. What the hell was he staring at?

Oh.

Oh.

There was an irritatingly familiar pang of guilt. At one point, she'd loved him. And their future might have even been like that family in the window, had it not been for her inability to let herself be happy for fear of having it taken away. If she destroyed something herself, at least she still had control over it. It was why she'd shut down and gone cold, why she'd become so combative in the last few months. It hadn't even occurred to her until after the end what it'd done to him, but god, when it did... It was something that still haunted her.

Maria didn't really know what to say. Instead, she just sort of nudged the donut box towards him, kind of like how a puppy would nudge its favorite toy towards someone upset. It wasn't much, but it was something. A tiny show of sympathy.

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	comingback 2012-07-31 01:48 am UTC (link)
	Blake felt the box tap his hand, and he understood. Forgave? Not yet, maybe not ever. He didn't have that much in him. But he took the donut, nodding his thanks. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	1stnameagent 2012-07-31 01:49 am UTC (link)
	The radio crackled in the car. Coulson's voice cut through the tension as if it wasn't there. "Let's move." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	agenthill 2012-07-31 01:53 am UTC (link)
	Maria opened her mouth to say something. She wasn't sure what; an apology? Or something infuriating? She didn't know. She never knew with him. What she did know was that she'd never been happier to hear her partner's voice. "Finally, something to shoot." Her hand was already on her holster as she grabbed the radio. "Ten-four. On the move." (Reply to this) (Parent)

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