Title: A Different Kind of Special

Paring: Lincoln Campbell X Reader

Warnings: none!

Spoilers: nopenopenope

Request: yes! By the one and only  Marshy_Marshmallow. Hope you enjoy it! 

Author's note: While researching for this one-shot, I spoiled myself for AOS season 3. R.I.P susiephalange. I'm off to cry a river. TTYL. 

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All of your life, you had been known as Coulson's kid. That was it; you'd been adopted into his weird life after something tragic happened to your real parents, and ever since, you'd been brought up into a life of espionage and connections with spies and superheroes alike. But, apart from the times you'd witnessed the training sessions of Captain America himself and Natasha Romanov, this was the icing of the cake on what normal defiantly was not.

There was a young man, and a very angry man, and another man, and a girl on your father's team, and they were all fighting. At first, it seemed like a standard fight, hand to hand combat, selective weaponry, but then - one man disappeared.

Into thin air.

To be fair, you had no clearance to be in the building whatsoever, and you'd escaped from the safe house in upstate Pennsylvania to Milwaukie to see what he was hiding. It wasn't fair - he wasn't around anymore, and demanded you to not bother him like you were the burden that he never insisted you were before. But this was different. Nobody could just teleport; there was no scientific evidence or research to back it up!

"Well, what have we here?" you turn, and your breath is lost in your chest. His eyes are erratic, hair wild, lips pulled back into a snarling, creepy smile. "They took my daughter, so I'll take his!"

Before he can lay a hand on you, you spin, and bolt down the hallway you came down. While your inner monologue is reminding you of what a stupid idea it was, your body decided to do something very stupid indeed. Cramp. "Don't touch me!" you cry out, closing your eyes.

There's a flash of light, and suddenly, you were away from that man, and -

"Where am I?" You whisper.

You're standing in the middle of what seems to be a courtyard in somewhere that looks to be the complete opposite end of the world. The buildings and the landscape are most defiantly not where you had just been. You let out a choked gasp.

"Hey, hey, don't worry," a calm voice reassures you, and you feel a hand placed your shoulder. At the touch, you can't help but jump, no matter how nice their voice is. You catch sight of your rescuer-slash-kidnapper, and for a moment, your heart stops. He's gorgeous. "Hey, I'm Lincoln. And Gordon came back to rescue you from Calvin."

You shudder at the thought of him. "What - where am I, Lincoln?" You repeat. It's only now you realise that there are people, of all sorts of colours and appearance - some appear to be visibly inhuman, some like the X-Men's Nightcrawler - and that they have stopped their things. To stare. "Why are they  looking at me?"

His eyes narrow. "They've just never been told it's impolite to stare."

Gordon grunts. It's only now you realise that he has no eyes; that his face consists of a healed-over forehead, nose and mouth. It's his mouth that's pulled into a grimace. "Jiaying will not appreciate a human in Afterlife."

Lincoln frowns. "I know, Gordon. I'll take responsibility."

You shudder. "I'm sorry to sound like such a downer but I just want to go home," you tell Lincoln. His eyes are sad, and without speaking, agree with you. "I wish I never came to see what he was hiding from me."

Gordon's hand twitches, and nudges your arm. "Who was hiding what from you?" He implores.

You feel your heart race. "My dad, Coulson. I'm his daughter. Well, I thought I was. I'm adopted." What good are you at being an agent if you just give all the intel? Internally, you berate yourself.

Lincoln's eyes widen. "We need you get you far away from here..."

You agree, "__________. I have a feeling I might be killed -,"

Gordon nods,. "I'll take you back to where I found you at once." He holds you his hand, and after a glance to Lincoln, you take it.

By the time you father rings you - the same time, every night - your head is back on your shoulders. But, unluckily, his is not.

"I saw that the safe house had a breach late yesterday," he starts off the call. "You alright, kiddo?"

You laugh, but not the way that suggests that anything he has said is funny. "I breached the safe house, Dad. I was stuck in here for three months, and I caught intel that you were in Milwaukee and I ran for it."

You can hear his eyebrows rise. "I know you miss me, but I just can't visit at the moment.  It's hectic." 

You nod, and forgetting that it wasn't one of his newfangled video-holo chat, you elaborate. "Yeah, yeah. I know." You pause, and quickly add. "I met some people, they were nice."

"My kind of people or your kind?" He asked.

You shrug. "They took me to a great zen garden just out of town. Great company." You dumb down. If you tell him what you saw, he would go ballistic. And that was exactly not what he needed at the moment. "I'm sorry," you fake a yawn, "I'm so tired, I think I'll hit the hay early. It's nice hearing from you, Dad."

Your dad chuckles, and you can only imagine how dark the bags under his eyes are. He isn't that great a spy when he's supporting himself from coffee and team morale. "You catch the forty winks you need, and maybe more for me, okay, kiddo? I love you." 

A week passes pretty quickly, and for someone cooped up in a three-bedroom safe house in Pennsylvania, that's something. While most people would be missing human contact, you're missing one person in particular. The one who had pulled you out from danger, and had the most beautiful face you'd ever seen with your own eyes before you, and not in a male-model agency.

Lincoln. What a name. Before, it made you think of a bearded man sitting, a statue, a president. Now it was a name which made your heart race at the thought of him. You wondered what he was doing now, and why Afterlife was such an exclusive place, and if he was okay, and that Jiaying (you couldn't help but think it was such a pretty name) wasn't too hard on him for your arrival and soon departure.

An idea struck you. 

"Gordon?" you speak to the air before you. "If you can hear me, I - I just want to see Lincoln again." You pause, and realise just how crazy you would sound if anyone else was around to hear you. "Look at me, the crazy girl who talks to nothing."

There's a laugh, behind you. "Nothing? I'm right here."

"Lincoln?" you turn, eyes wide. He's standing by your bed, his purple shirt bright in the lamplight. "Oh my gosh, I - I just wanted to uh, say thank you for saving my life the other week. But I bet you do that often, and it's no big deal." you prattle on, and add, "I mean, erm, thanks."

His smile is warm, "You're welcome, ________."

Your eyes light up. "You remembered my name?" you gush. 

Lincoln nods, taking a step toward you. "I don't think I'd forget anyone like you easily," he confesses, and adds, "And, you left an impression on me. You see, I haven't met anyone like you for...a long time. It's hard for people like me to meet humans."

You raise your eyebrows. "You're not human?" you question. "You look pretty human to me." you pause, and add, "Is that why I had to leave Afterlife pretty quickly? I'm just a human?"

Lincoln takes a sharp breath, "You're not 'just a human'," he frowns, and closing the gap between the two of you, he whispers, "You're a different kind of special."

"You sure know what to say," you breathe, taking in his earthy scent. "How about you kiss me now?"

"I think I just might."