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The sun was certainly warm, and Nick Fury, the old man that he was, certainly had to admit that it felt good. As he looked around at all the people surrounding him on this pristine, white beach he also came to the conclusion that, for once, it felt good not to be on his guard the least little bit.
Well maybe he was just a little on his guard, since after all, he'd been in the spy business for most of the years he'd been alive and, as they say, old habits die hard.
Looking around though, he had to hand it to Howard. The man might not been the warmest man on the face of the planet (Howard's son's words, not his own), the man still had indeed known how to pick out a place that was the real life representation of perfect paradise.
Clear blue waters.
White sand beaches.
Four star resort housing and...
Sand suddenly all over him, his blanket, and in his drink brought him out of that sentimental line of thinking. He sat up, muttering a few choice words under his breath as he did, turning his eye on the responsible party.
A few inches, at the end of his beach blanket, laid flat on his face was Fury's former subordinate.
"BARTON!"
At Fury's growl, Clint pushed himself up from the ground, spitting out the sand he'd eaten. The archer glanced Fury's way, and said a quick "Sorry, sir!" before scrambling up on his feet.
"Don't forget your volley ball!" the former director said, tossing it after him, which his former agent caught it with ease.
Maybe he should move to somewhere else?
But where?
Indeed he looks in both directions down the beach and doesn't see a single spot or place unoccupied by a group of people. But that's what happens when Tony and Pepper decided not only to invite all of the Avengers with their families but they also invited Coulson and most of the members of his team as well. Fury doesn't know if he can agree with the decision that where most of SHIELD and the Avengers all wind up taking a week off at the same time. But at least had consented to allow them to keep a cloaked helicarrier nearby, which helped Fury feel better about joint Avengers, SHIELD vacation.
Wait! What situation? It's not your job to keep an eye on the world anymore, Nick!
No, that's what Coulson and his team are there for, and besides there is still someone keeping watch for anything the next big bad guy might want to try. Or, that's what Coulson had told him anyway, but looking around the beach, he thinks the man might have lied to his face.
But what did it matter to him? If mayhem were to breakout into the world right now, the it would be the Avengers and Coulson's problem to deal with, not his.
Still old habits die hard, and...
"Hi!" said a small voice, a child's voice.
Fury sighed, opened his eye again, and looked up. A little girl was standing there, smiling brightly down at him.
Red hair and freckles.
Stark's girl. Great.
"Whatcha doing?" the girl asked.
"I'm trying to rest... to take a nap."
"Why?"
"Because I want to."
"But why?"
"Because it's fun!"
The little girl, Eva... wasn't that her name? Yes, Eva, giggled, and replied to his statement, "No, it's not! Naps are boring, and for babies!"
"Whatever you say, kid!" he said, laying back, and closing his eye, he hoped she'd go away.
When he didn't hear her voice saying anything else to him for well over a minute, he thought his plan had worked. He opened his eye again just to be sure she had indeed left, and found to his annoyance Eva was still there, standing over him. He started to say something to her, like go away, only maybe not so bluntly put, as she was only a kid after all. Tony Stark's kid but still a kid nevertheless. He'd just opened his mouth to tell her to please go away when a much taller person blocked out the sun behind her.
"Hey Eva, what are you doing?"
Fury locked his eye on the third party that's joined their little... interaction, and he glared.
There standing was Phil Coulson, dressed in shorts, Hawaiian shirt, and some kind of drink that had a little umbrella. He had a grin on his face that told Fury he was enjoying this entire situation where Fury found himself completely out of his element!
Of course, being a child, Eva totally missed this, and instead she craned her neck to look up at the grown up behind her.
"I'm trying to talk to Uncle Fury, Uncle Phil, but he doesn't want to talk to me!"
"He doesn't?"
Eva shook her head.
"Well that's because Uncle Fury is a gru... just wants to spend his vacation differently than the rest of us here, and that's okay if he does."
"But naps are boring, Uncle Phil!"
"Well they might be to you and me, but I don't think that they are to Uncle Fury. Come on, why don't you go find something more fun to do and let him do what's fun to him?"
Eva looked in her not so fun Uncle's direction, "Okay." She sounded reluctant to follow the suggestion, but then she started to leave the area. She didn't get five feet away before she turned around and came back over to the blanket.
"What now?" Fury muttered.
As both of them watched, the little girl reached into the small purse hanging by her right hip, and pulled out something. Fury couldn't see what it was until she held out her hand towards him.
"Here you go, Uncle Fury!" she said, moving her hand to emphasize her desire that he takes it.
Fury knows he's got no choice but to take it if he wants her to leave and get some peace. So he puts his hand out to take it, and Eva places her gift into his hand.
He'd thought getting a closer look at it would give him some sort of clue what on Earth it was. No, such luck for him as he flipped the thing over and over in his hand. All he knew about it, was that it was a band made of pink, red, and purple colored strings tied together.
"Like it?" Eva asked
He didn't have to look at Coulson to know the man was trying not to laugh, so he would be absolutely no help in this situation the former SHIELD director found himself in. Fury had fought countless bad guys that included terrorists, modern day Nazis, robots, aliens, and beings who believed themselves to be gods and, he'd won against them. But he was unsure what he was supposed to say when it came to answering one little girl's simple question.
Thankfully he didn't have to as one of the other kids, her brother Fury thinks, called out to Eva, and waved for her to come over where a bunch of the kids were playing. Before she left though Eva did something so unexpected that Fury didn't know what just happened until he snapped out of the shock. The little girl stepped even closer to him, and she reached down to wrap her arms around his neck, "Love you, Uncle Fury!" With a quick peck to his cheek, the little girl was off running towards the other kids.
Fury didn't move for several seconds, and then he raised his hand to where the little girl had kissed his cheek. A suspicious sound of someone clearing their throat in a poor disguise to hide the fact they were laughing made him snap out of his surprise, and he glared upwards, "I swear, Coulson, if I wasn't afraid I'd be stuck with the job again, and if I wasn't even more afraid of what Agent May would do to me, then I'd... oh what the hel... heck! Go ahead! Laugh like I know you're wantin* to!"
The bout of laughter burst into was so loud that everyone on the beach caused everyone stop what they were doing, including the kids, and most of the vacationing SHIELD agents to look in the direction of their Director. It is only when Coulson's laughter started to die down did a lone, British, male voice state what everyone else, or at the least what the adults, were thinking.
"Oh wonderful! Coulson's finally gone completely coo-coo for Coco Pops!"