❝He always held out hope that you'd eventually find your way back to us, and you did.❞

♡₊˚ ⴵ・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆

Natasha

"I'm sorry," I apologised as I stood in front of the director's desk, trying to control the tears that were threatening to fall. "I shouldn't have told you all that, I just didn't know what to do-"

"Natasha," Fury cut me off. "You did the right thing. I know that you're worried about Aurora and you want to help her, and I also know that she is probably terrified of my reaction and that you wouldn't want to make her worry more than she already is."

I nodded my head.

"She said she was going to visit Coulson's grave and I couldn't stop her, she was insistent on going," I explained. "I knew I just couldn't let things go unnoticed."

Fury nodded slowly.

"Aurora's good at hiding her true feelings. And she's been different since the whole Red Room debacle - to be expected - but I probably wouldn't have noticed."

I nodded, and silence blanketed the room. I lowered my gaze, yet I could still feel Fury watching me carefully.

"Is everything okay with you?" he inquired, breaking the silence.

I looked up at him and met his concerned gaze.

"Natasha, I'm no therapist, but I'm not going to tell anyone if there is something bothering you."

I took a deep breath.

"Me and Maria broke up," I told him honestly. "Last night."

Fury's eye narrowed slightly and his face displayed confusion. He didn't say anything - an indication he wanted me to explain.

"I couldn't hurt her by lying about how I really felt. She had her suspicions about if I was still in love with her or not, but I always thought I did, but I guess I just fell out of love with her overtime," I explained.

"Do you know why you fell out of love with her?"

"Because of Aurora."

Fury blinked, visibly taken aback.

"I didn't realise how much I'd fallen in love with her until recently, but I couldn't live without her..."

♡₊˚ ⴵ・₊✧⋆⭒˚｡⋆

Aurora

The wind blew my hair slightly as I ran my fingers over the engraved letters on the grave that read 'Philip J Coulson'.

"I miss you," I murmured. "You were always there for me. Even when things got tough, you'd find a way to fix it. Now you're not here, and things are tougher than ever. I'm trying my best to fix things, but no matter how hard I try..."

I sighed gently, and the wind seemed to sigh along with me, sending a chilled, gentle breeze towards me that made a cold shiver run down my spine and the hairs on my arms stand up.

"I only wish I had gotten to say goodbye..." I spoke, voice cracking. "If I was there, I would've slaughtered the damned Asgardian that killed you. He'd be dead instead of you."

My last words came out in a venomous tone, silently cursing the Asgardian who had killed Coulson. The closest person I ever had to a dad.

Then, another thought crossed my mind. Natasha.

"I guess, at the moment, the person I rely on the most is also the person I thought despised me. After telling Nat about how I ended up in the Red Room..." I shook my head sadly as I thought of her reaction. "I thought she despised me."

My fingers traced over the other engraved words on Coulson's grave.

1964 - 2012

A beloved co-worker, son, adoptive father and S.H.I.E.L.D agent. Bravely gave his life to protect the lives of many.

"I can't live without her. I feel like everything in my life is collapsing around me, but she's there, holding me up," I admitted. "I'm so in love with her. I don't know whether you would've approved, but I know either way, you would've supported me."

I knew that Coulson wasn't going to rise from the grave and speak to me, but something about just telling him everything made my heart a little lighter, despite the grief that clutched at my heart and toyed with my feelings.

"Truth is, I'm scared. I'm scared of what will happen. I'm scared of hurting people," I continued, my voice shaking. Dropping to a whisper, I continued, "I'm scared without you Phil... I don't know what to do, things are going wrong and you're not here to help me fix it, I can't- I can't-"

I felt a pair of arms wrap around me and pull me to my feet, before I was pulled into a tight hug. Panicking at first, I tried to push the person away, but when I heard my best friend's voice, I relaxed again.

"Nat told me I'd find you here," Bobbi murmured. "I thought I'd come check on you."

Within seconds, I found myself crying into her shoulder as she kept her arms wrapped tightly around me.

"You need help Aurora. I know you won't admit it, but you do," the blond woman told me gently.

"It's all my fault Bob," I whispered through tears, my Scandinavian accent thickening as it did when I was upset. "I shouldn't have trusted him. I shouldn't have listened to his lies, I knew better than that, now Coulson is dead and I didn't even get to say goodbye!"

"It's not your fault," Bobbi told me in a reassuring tone. "You were only 19. You've grown up a lot since."

"I was turned into a cold-hearted killer," I replied. "That's not growing up."

Bobbi pulled out of the hug and held my shoulders, looking into my eyes with determination.

"You know now not to trust people so easily. You have grown up."

I dropped my head with sadness.

"It's my biggest regret. I just wish I had the chance to say goodbye to Coulson."

Bobbi's face formed a small smile.

"This is going to sound a lot worse than I mean it, but Coulson wasn't sick with worry for you," she begun.

Looking back up at her, my head tilted with confusion.

"He knew how strong you were. He knew you would fight back and eventually come back. He always had hope for you, even though he didn't worry too much about if you were alive or not. He knew you weren't that easy to go down," Bobbi explained. "Coulson missed you - a lot - but he never feared that you were dead. He always held out hope that you'd eventually find your way back to us, and you did."

Bobbi's speech made my heart feel a little lighter, and I wrapped my arms around her again, wiping the tears from my cheek.

"Thankyou," I whispered.

"Always," Bobbi replied hugging me back.

Drawing back, I looked at Coulson's grave again - flowers laid around it carefully, the grass around it trimmed neatly.

"Shall we go back to the Triskelion?" Bobbi asked.

"One minute," I replied.

Walking towards a patch of grass that was littered with daffodils, dandelions and daisies, I picked out a few daffodils, before walking the short walk back to Coulson's grave. Crouching down, I rearranged some of the flowers, before placing the daffodils down.

"I love you Phil... thanks for being the best dad."