Trust Me (Phil Coulson Love Story)

You Amaze Me

Charlotte woke with a start. Her phone was ringing. She looked over at the clock and groaned. It was two in the morning. Who on earth could be calling at this time at night? Or morning as the case was.
       “Hello?” Charlotte answered in a sleepy voice. She could hear the, oh so familiar sounds of her work place in the background and had to hold back a groan.
       “Charlotte.” Came the voice of one of the nurses. His tone was calm and soothing, the usual tone of voice that was used when giving upsetting news. Charlotte sat up and turned on the night stand light.
       “What’s wrong? It isn’t Stark is it?” She worried. Stark may be irritating, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be sad if something happened to him, he was still a great guy.
       “No Stark will be leaving here in another couple hours.” He replied causing Charlotte to relax a bit. Then he continued. “It’s your niece, Sophie. She was on her way home from a school dance and she was raped and beaten. She came in thirty minutes ago. I just called your brother and he is on his way here, but he sounded drunk again.”
       Charlotte whipped the covers off her body and jumped up. Running to her dresser, she grabbed a pair of faded blue jeans and put them on.
       “I’m on my way.” She said before she hung up. Her heart ached for the suffering that her niece had gone through and had yet to go through. She reached into the closet she shared with her husband and grabbed a shirt. It was the shirt she had been wearing the day she met Phil. It was blue with Capitan America’s shield in the middle. They had known each other for three years and had been married for a little less than a year. A lot of things had changed but she had decided she would never get rid of that shirt.
       Pulling the shirt over her head, she slipped on some flip flops and left the house, grabbing her purse on the way out. She sent a text to Phil, telling him what was going on and where she was if he came home to an empty house.
       Arriving at the hospital, things felt eerily quiet, like the calm before the storm. She rushed through the doors and looked around. Seeing the nurse that had called her in, she slowed her pace and walked over to him.
       “Charlotte.” He said, noticing her coming towards him. “I think you had better go see your niece now. Your brother should be here any minute and we need you to calm Sophie before that happens.” He led her towards one of the private rooms with a gentle hand on her back.
       When Charlotte stepped inside she had to hold back a gasp. She had seen cases like this many times, but when it was a family member it was a whole different story. Her nieces face was bruised and swollen. Her lip was split and her right eye was swollen shut. When she saw Charlotte she burst into a fresh batch of tears. Charlotte rushed to the side of the bed, throwing her purse into the hard plastic chair nearby. She lay next to Sophie on the hospital bed and pulled her close, comforting her as best she could, by holding her and telling her that it was not her fault.
       It was only ten minutes later that Sophie’s father came stumbling through the door. Charlotte held back a scowl as she took in the unkempt figure of her brother. Before his wife Sophia died, he was an amazing guy. He loved his wife more than anything in the world and when they found out that they were going to be parents, they were over the moon. When Sophia began having contractions three months too early, the doctors had to do an emergency caesarian to save the baby. They tried everything, but his dear wife didn’t make it and Charlotte’s brother sunk into a deep hole of drinking and drugs that he couldn’t seem to crawl out of. Not that he ever tried either. The pain of losing his other half was too great for him to bear.
       “What did you do this time slut?” He growled at Sophie as Charlotte stood up, ready to step in between them and get in the line of fire if she needed to.
       “Daryl” Charlotte started towards him, determined to keep Sophie safe from this hurt. She was fifteen and was too easily hurt. “I don’t think now is the time to be making a scene.”
       “Shut up Charlie!” Daryl snapped drunkenly at his sister. He lumbered over to the bed and glared down at his only child, who cowered away from him in fear.
       “Whatever happened to the slut is her own damn fault.” He hissed down at the girl, who had tears spilling down her eyes yet again.
       That was all Charlotte could take. She went around the bed and placed herself between her brother and her niece.
       “It is not her fault that your wife died Daryl! It is not her fault that her ride home from the dance didn’t show up!” Charlotte poked him in the chest, forcing him to back away from the hospital bed that held her now crying niece. “You were supposed to go get her and you go drunk again instead! So if it is anybody’s fault! IT’S YOURS!” she spat at him. His eyes glittered with rage and his hand flew forward. There was a loud crack as his open palm hit her face.
       Charlotte gasped at the sudden pain and stumbled back a couple steps from the force of the blow. He looked at her in triumph.
       “If I ever see her in my house again I will make her regret it. She has no home!” He spat at his sister, who stood there holding her still stinging cheek staring at him in shock.
       “Yes she does.” Came a male voice from the open doorway. Phil stepped into the room and faced Daryl. Moving confidently, Phil placed himself protectively by his wife, placing his arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to him. Charlotte looked up at her husband with a confused expression.
       “She has a home with us. That is where she will go when she is released from here.” He looked lovingly down at his wife, then to his niece who stared at him in surprise at his declaration. Daryl glared at each of them in turn.
       “If her stuff isn’t out of my house by tomorrow night, I will burn it all.” He hissed in defeat, then turned and stalked out of the room.
       “Am I really going to live with you?” Sophie hiccuped as she tried to catch her breath. Phil looked at her and smiled gently to reassure her.
       “Yes” he spoke softly as he pulled a chair over for Charlotte. “You will come live with us from now on. I don’t want you going anywhere near that house again. I will have someone go over and pack up your stuff and take it over to our house. There are two unused rooms that you can choose from. Both of them have a bathroom and walk in closet. When you get out of here, we will go get some paint to paint it with.” He looked at her bruised and swollen face and smiled again at her. “Everything will turn out fine. You will see.”
       Turning to his wife, he placed a gentle hand under her chin and turned her face so he could look at the spot that had been hit by her brother. Charlotte bruised easily and he knew at first glance that it would be purple in a couple hours. His hand moved over it gently, softly examining it but not hurting it in the least.
       “Sometimes you amaze me.” She whispered to him.