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Some days, Jessica Drew wanted to throw her phone into the ocean. Other days, she would have settled for dropping it out the window and letting the New York City traffic crush it beneath its tires.
Today was a day in which she had considered doing both.
But, as her phone rang for the fourteenth time, Jessica did neither of these things; though she sighed and rolled her eyes, she left the newspaper sitting open to the fourteenth and fifteenth pages on the coffee table and walked over to the kitchen bench to see who was calling her. Even before she picked up her phone, the words Carol Danvers flashed up at her and, despite her annoyance with the incessant ringing of her phone since it had woken her that morning, Jessica smiled.
“Please tell me you have something more interesting to tell me than Stephen Strange did,” Jessica said once she had lifted the phone to her ear, “though preferably not as interesting as Rhodey’s concerns about the new Captain America.”
‘Sounds like you’ve been busy today.” Jessica could hear the smirk that had no doubt made its way onto Carol’s lips at Jessica’s less-than-joyful greeting.
“Busy with all the wrong things.” Jessica sighed. Turning to lean back against the kitchen counter, she looked over at the newspaper on the coffee table. “I’m supposed to be looking for work, not worrying about every thought that pops into one of the Avengers’ heads.”
“Not having much luck playing Detective Jessica Drew?”
“I will. Eventually.” As she spoke, Jessica crossed the distance from the kitchen counter to the sofa (which wasn’t very far at all), flopping down on one of the sofa’s half-stuffed cushions. “As soon as people start calling me for said detective work, that is. And as soon as the paper starts putting my adverts before the twenty-first page.” Jessica sighed. “Anyway, you called me?”
“I need your help,” Carol replied.
Jessica waited, but Carol didn’t say anything more. “Help with… what?” she asked.
“Some, uhhh…” Carol hesitated, and that’s when Jessica knew this was going to be bad. “Some space-related business.”
“Carol Danvers” -
“I know, Jess!” Carol responded before Jessica could even say what was on her tongue, “I know you said you wanted a break, a quiet life for a while, but” - Carol hesitated again - “I could really use your help up here.”
Jessica sighed. “Carol Danvers, I think you’ve won the award for the most time-consuming call of the day.”
“That a yes?” Carol asked.
Jessica hesitated, but in the end, she said, “yeah, it’s a yes. Provided you get down here and tell me what the hell is going on that means you need my help.”
“Alright,” Carol said. Barely a second later, a knock echoed off Jessica’s front door. Jessica laughed, dropping her phone from her ear to find that Carol had already ended the call. Leaving her phone sitting on the coffee table, Jessica got up and crossed the apartment, flicking the lock undone and opening the door.
“You are ridiculous, you know that?” Jessica asked. Carol just smiled. “I could have said no, you know. What then?”
“Then I would have sat outside the door and waited for you,” Carol replied. Jessica laughed as she envisioned it; opening her front door some hours later (when she inevitably ventured out for food to put in her incredibly empty fridge) to find Carol sitting against the opposite wall, knees hugged up to her chest, blonde hair falling over the old Air Force jacket she still insisted on wearing, even though it was well past its best days. Not to mention, she didn’t even work for the Air Force anymore.
Jessica couldn’t help but think that the sight of Carol sitting in front of her door might have been one of the cutest things she had ever had the opportunity to see.
“Maybe I should have made you wait,” Jessica said with a smirk. But she stepped back from the doorway, pulling the door open with her. Carol didn’t need to be told to come inside.
“So,” Jessica called over her shoulder to Carol as she closed the door, “are you going to tell me what’s got you asking me for help?”
“Can’t I just have missed you?” Carol asked. When Jessica turned away from the door, she was standing in the middle of the living room, hands stuffed into the pockets of her jacket.
Jessica felt her cheeks starting to burn. “If you wanted me to believe that,” she said, even as she smiled, “you should have opened with it.”
“I did miss you though, Jess,” Carol replied.
Jessica let out a breath that was almost a laugh. “It’s been ten months, so yeah, I’d hope you missed me.” She walked into the kitchen, leaning against the kitchen bench and crossing her arms. Carol didn’t move.
“I’m sorry Jess,” Carol said, quickly followed by, “and I’m sorry about this too. I know that you wanted a break from all of this” -
“It’s fine, Carol,” Jessica said, a soft smile ever so slightly lifting the corners of her mouth, “I get it. I know you wouldn’t be asking me to do this if you didn’t have to.” She paused. “Well, before I said I wanted a break you absolutely would have come to me if you didn’t have to, but” - Jessica stopped speaking as Carol let out a laugh - “but you don’t have to apologise. I get it.”
Carol didn’t seem to have anything to say in response to that, so a silence fell between the two of them, during which Jessica found herself looking at Carol. Afternoon sunlight streamed in through the window to the right of her, illuminating the side of the blonde’s face with a yellow glow. If Carol hadn’t already had powers beyond anything Jessica would ever be able to comprehend (not surprising, considering she hadn’t even fully comprehended her own abilities yet), she might have said the sunlight made Carol look magical.
Instead, she just thought it.
Jessica cleared her throat, pushing herself off the counter. “Right, why don’t I make us coffee while you tell me what brought you here?”
“Or,” Carol replied, “I could make the coffee, because then it’ll actually taste like coffee, and I can tell you why I’m here once I’m done.”
Already halfway to the coffee machine, Jessica stopped, turning to look at Carol again. “I am perfectly good at making coffee, thank you very much,” she said, crossing her arms.
Carol laughed. “Oh, you can certainly make it, but I wouldn’t call it good coffee.” She crossed from the living room into the kitchen, stopping just in front of Jessica.
Jessica furrowed her eyebrows at Carol. “I should have made you wait outside,” she said, but it was only a moment before her serious facade broke and she was smiling. “Alright,” she conceded, sliding past Carol and walking around the counter to sit on one of the stools, “but you’re starting your story while you’re making coffee. I need time to consider how annoyed I need to be with you about this interruption.”
“You can thank Nick Fury for this too,” Carol said as she approached the coffee machine, standing on her toes to open the cabinet above it and take out two mugs, “he was the one who suggested I come and see you.”
Jessica sighed. “Of course he did.”
Carol laughed, and Jessica felt as if she could listen to the sound of it all day. Maybe there was a positive to Carol coming and asking her for favours after all.