A/N: This fic is co-authored by malintzin and mrstater. We've been shipping Phil Coulson and Audrey Nathan ever since The Cellist was first mentioned in The Avengers, and The Only Light In the Darkness only made us love the pairing even more. We're holding out hope that one day Audrey will make another appearance on Agents of SHIELD, and that this time, she'll find out Phil's alive. This is our take on how that might happen, post-season 2/Age of Ultron (so be warned, here there be spoilers!), though of course we know the upcoming season three will likely make this AU. ;) We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we've enjoyed writing it. We've chosen to adopt a non-linear timeline, but it shouldn't be confusing if you notice the date stamps at the start of each chapter. And of course, brace yourselves for lots of interactions with characters from both AoS and the MCU!

Washington, DC - 2014

The man in the suit leftover from the 90s swallowed visibly as he squared his shoulders beneath the padded jacket sleeves, attempting to weather the storm of Tony Stark's wrath. Or, to put it more accurately, Charles Thompson, a poor administrative drone of the government cemetery, regretted setting foot outside his house this morning as the billionaire pummeled him with verbal abuse. In Tony's diatribe, insults like incompetent moron or retarded automaton were actually the kindest ones, and Pepper didn't have it in her to stop him from reducing Thompson to a metaphorical punching bag.

To be totally honest, she wasn't sure she'd pull any punches herself. Ever since they received Audrey's call, no amount of self-control had helped Pepper to get rid of the constant pressure in her stomach. She felt literally ill, and disgusted, and angry. Learning that SHIELD had been corrupt all along had been too much to take. She and Tony stayed up two days straight, glued to the news as the images of the battle of the Triskelion played over and over again on CNN and Fox News and MSNBC, journalists and political pundits commenting on and on and on. Tony might have tried to get ahold of Fury and Maria Hill a hundred times before the former Assistant Director made contact, in dire need of legal protection.

All of this was such an impossible mess.

But this, this was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. Pepper bit her lips in frustration, her nails leaving deep traces in her palms as she fought for control. Somebody had dug up Phil Coulson's grave. And somebody else actually thought that their deceased friend had ties to Hydra. Had she and Tony not flown to DC immediately, the police might have started to interrogate Audrey, the former girlfriend of a deceased SHIELD/Hydra operative making a prime suspect.

So yes, the man who started all of this by calling the police in the first place, and not the immediate known family-which Audrey was per Coulson's will-deserved every bit of the verbal abuse thrown at him. And whoever dug up the grave was in even bigger trouble…

Pepper took several deep breaths to keep the burning sensation in her veins at bay. Tony probably wished she'd let loose, get a little more Extremis, but on this occasion, she was more than willing to simmer and let him hand this...zealot…his ass.

"I know how puny little pricks like you operate," Tony was saying.

Pepper snorted in spite of her anger. Puny, really? Obviously her boyfriend had spent a lot of time with Bruce Banner.

Tony went on, "You're desperate to prove your dicks can actually be seen without the aid of a microscope, so you lead these witch hunts. But you don't have the balls to actually take on people who are alive to defend themselves, so you go all grave rob-"

His words choked off, and she followed his gesture to the grave site behind Thompson, where Audrey had approached the caution tape to peer down at the six foot deep hole in the ground. Pepper had a flash of memory of her friend in almost that exact spot two years earlier, barely able to stand without her father's supporting arm around her because of her grief. He can't be gone, she'd said, over and over, through her tears.

She wasn't crying now, though, which seemed out of character, given that her late boyfriend's body had not only been exhumed, but his character was being called into question.

There was no mistaking the emotion Tony fought back as he advanced into Thompson's personal space.

"Let me tell you something, you paper-pushing peon. Agent Coulson sacrificed himself so the Avengers would have a chance to defend the world. He was braver than any of us, and he didn't even have superpowers. But you? You're nothing but a fucking coward."

Agent Coulson.

Pepper didn't know what made her crack, the name or the tremble in Tony's voice. Their wounds from the Battle of New York and the Extremis fiasco had barely begun to heal when SHIELD collapsed. This was too much.

She put a firm hand on Tony's shoulder and spoke very slowly, stressing each syllable that came out of her mouth.

"It doesn't matter. This happened under your watch, Mr. Thompson, so you're responsible. Maybe you're an accomplice too, for all I know. In these times of suspicion, we all have to be careful. Our lawyers and Miss Nathan's will contact you and your administration soon. Pray we find the body soon…"

She had to force the words past her lips. The lips that he had kissed more than once before they decided that friendship suited them so much better.

She couldn't do this anymore.

As she turned to walk away, Tony said, "Well, I have nothing to add to that."

Pepper could feel him start to follow her, only to pivot back one last time.

"Actually I do. Prayer probably won't be very effective, you can bet your nonexistent ass we'll find the body, and you should be terrified of the lawyers because they're...well they're mine."

He waited till Thompson was sufficiently spluttering, then caught up to Pepper, taking her hand.

"Hey. You okay?" He looked as if he anticipated some kind of backlash from her. And Tony always tiptoed around the topic of Coulson. "I probably made things worse back there, but...well, what do you expect?"

"No, Tony, they made it worse," Pepper gritted out through her teeth as she gestured to the police that remained cautiously in the distance as Audrey observed the now empty grave. "And I'm not okay."

But she took his arm and found comfort in his warmth. She was the lucky one here. She only grieved a friend.

"But not as bad as...you know…"

Tony drew her close and pressed a lingering kiss to her temple before he shifted his gaze to the solitary woman by the grave.

"We should go to her," he said. "The whole lack of crying thing is as weird to me as the whole missing body thing. Isn't it to you?"

Pepper silently considered Audrey's profile. She was pale, paler than she had been even during the funeral. But there were no tears, just a hollow, puzzled stare. Had the most recent events finally broken her?

"I don't know… She did sound calm when she called this morning. Too calm."

Cautiously, she and Tony joined Audrey by the yellow tape. Pepper didn't know what was the more disturbing sight, the now empty coffin or the police agitation around it or the fact that Audrey seemed to be the least affected of the three by the whole circus.

"Are the police going to poke around for long?" she asked, not looking at them.

"I don't think so," Tony replied. Pepper turned around to see that Thompson was making his way toward the group of officers like a dog with his tail tucked between his legs. "They've got their report…Literally nothing here to see, folks, move along... I think Pepper made it clear to Thompson that this investigation is about the people who did this. Not about Phil. Or you. Speaking of, is there anything we can do for you, Audrey? You name it, it's done."

Besides bring him back?

Pepper cringed. Audrey might not have said it out loud, but her expression was painfully clear, more than two years after Phil's demise.

"No, thank you," she whispered, forcing a smile.

For a minute or two, the trio remained silent, considering the mess in front of them. Another wave of nauseating grief and anger gripped Pepper's stomach.. She just couldn't understand what was going on.

And if Audrey's puzzled expression was any indication, neither could she.

"Do you believe in ghosts?" Audrey said out of the blue, her tone self-conscious, as if she couldn't believe the conclusion she reached.

Tony caught Pepper's eye, his brows twitching upward.. Clearly, he thought recent events had done a number on Audrey, undone whatever progress she'd made in the grieving progress with the therapist he'd set her up with. She'd been stuck for a while in the denial phase.

"Audrey..." Pepper moved from Tony's side, reaching out for the other woman. "Is there something about the Daniels incident you didn't tell us?"

Audrey hesitated, as though searching for just the right words..

"I don't know, I'm probably losing my mind… There were four agents present in Portland, but I only met three of them. One remained invisible the whole time… And I think they might have known Phil, but one was so young, she couldn't have been on active duty two years ago." Audrey shook her head. "I'm not making any sense."

"None of this makes much sense," Tony said, "so that's par for the course, really."

Pepper shot him a look, even though she knew he was trying to be encouraging, in his way.

Turning back to Audrey, she asked, "Are you saying this mysterious fourth agent might have been...Phil?"

"Like hallucination Phil?" Tony asked. "Or Phil Phil?"

"I felt his presence, I don't know…" Audrey visibly struggled against the tears. "Maybe this whole Daniels thing brought memories back."

"I'm sure it did," Pepper said, and a few tears slid down Audrey's face. "How could it not? How could any of this not?"

To have Phil's honor and heroism called into question...worse, called a lie… She wiped moisture from beneath her own eyes.

"And now, this…" Disbelief crept into Audrey's tone. Pepper understood the feeling well. Phil was dead for God's sake; why such a mindless act of profanation?

"I wish I could call the agents who helped me," Audrey went on, "but they didn't leave a number. Understandable, in the context..."

Pepper agreed. Even if they went on with the good fight, those rogue SHIELD agents were being chased by all the police in the world.

"I suppose I'm very lucky they knew how to find Daniels so quickly after he escaped…" she whispered, almost to herself. "I mean, how could they know? If Agent Barton had come up, I'd understand. Or Agent May. She went back to the field on some secret mission, but then went dark. Andrew's very worried… Do you think one of your contacts might know where she is?"

"I'll ask Maria Hill if she's been in contact."

She would ask about the agents who'd gone to Audrey's aid, too. How had they known? Why would they be watching out for the girlfriend of an agent who died years ago?

"Just be forewarned," Tony said, "the lawyers have advised her to not to be in contact."

Forewarned was forearmed, Pepper knew, but she frowned slightly at him. "You're still talking to Andrew, then?" she said, touching Audrey's shoulder. "That's good. Did you tell him about these...feelings?"

"Not yet. I meant to see him before heading back to Portland." Audrey fished a pack of tissues out of her handbag. "I suppose I need it badly."

"Hey, look who you're talking to," Tony said. "No judgment here. So stop apologizing for yourself, okay? And don't totally distrust your feelings."

Pepper raised her eyebrows at him, and he added, "I concur with Pepper, talking is good. I talked to someone once. He fell asleep, but...he wasn't that kind of doctor."

Audrey let out a chuckle at Tony's ramblings. From time to time, his nonsense did do some good for people, as strange as it seemed.

"He liked you, you know."

"I assume you're referring to Pepper," Tony replied, and Pepper's thoughts went back to that last time they were all together, in the Tower. Why is he Phil? Pepper's eyes misted even as she smiled.

But Audrey was insistent. "No, I mean you."

Tony smiled, sadly. "I think you're confusing liking me with liking to tell me he told me so, or that SHIELD was watching me. Or whatever."

"That too," Audrey conceded with a teary smile. "But I suppose you never saw him around someone he really didn't like…"

"Guess not," Tony said, looking contemplative. Pepper squeezed his hand, and he looked up at her. "Did you?"

Pepper considered the question pensively. This was a territory she was loathe to explore again, Tony didn't need that.

"Well, the way he talked about Obadiah when he stayed behind to investigate the Iron Monger mess… It wasn't nice." What she couldn't say was that Phil looked like he would have put a bullet in Obadiah's head happily and then gone on with his day without giving it another thought. "And he must have hated this General Ross to ask you to go after him…"

If Tony's eyes had darkened at the reference to Obadiah, the lines of his face looking a little more deeply etched, the look passed quickly enough at the second memory she evoked. "That was fun, jerking Ross' chain. So Phil approved?"

"More than…" Audrey chuckled in earnest. "He looked like Hannibal in the A-team when he told me. He even indulged in a cigar."

"Sends me to do his dirty work, and then doesn't even invite me to celebrate afterward?"

"He learned from the best, or the worst…" Audrey teased as they reached the car. "Consider yourself lucky. Phil always did Fury's dirty work, and he had to pay for his beer as well."

Before she climbed into the car, Pepper took one last look at the cordoned off grave, tried not to see the police tape or the upturned earth. It felt strange enough simply to be visiting Phil's graveside in a state of shock and distress for the second time in as many years. At least this time, Audrey was able to pull herself together, to reminisce about happier times; when Tony suggested they go out for a beer, she agreed.

Maybe, Pepper thought, they would finally be able to move on.