It's been exactly seventy three days since Agent May and Director Coulson have stopped talking to one another.
To be fair, Melinda May hardly ever spoke anyway, so it would be more accurate to say that it has been seventy three days since Phil Coulson has spoken to her.
Instead, the rest of the team have been running back and forth between the two, delivering mission related information to May from Coulson – when they could find her of course.
She'd been gone more often than not; the longest she'd been away was for nearly two weeks.
Skye can't really remember how it came to this.
There had been a huge fight on the bus with the whole team watching; she'd never seen Coulson go off like that at anybody.
But the tension had been there for months before it happened.
It's worse than the fall-out they'd had during the whole HYDRA debacle.
Much, much worse.
Skye's well aware it has something to do with trust issues and disobeying orders – at least that's what she remembers from the fight.
It had started off quietly, angry glares and arguing in hushed whispers, and the team had joked that Mom and Dad were quarrelling again.
But then it had escalated.
Louder and angrier; they were all so scared for what would happen next.
But then it had stopped. And they hadn't spoken since.
It's the morning of Christmas Eve, they're back at the playground, and it's been quiet for days.
They're all thankful that the enemy threats have decided to let them enjoy the holiday season by not causing any problems.
Skye's never had a proper Christmas with a family before, and now that Lance and Bobbi are back together, and Fitz and Simmons are getting along again, she's demanded proper celebrations.
Bobbi's made them reservations under an alias, because they're still SHIELD agents and Simmons says it's like they're going undercover again, and she's created elaborate backstories for everyone.
Coulson is still her absent American father, but they're getting along better now that she's living in the States with him. Skye's his daughter from an affair with 'some American lady', to which Coulson had interjected, vehemently denying his undercover persona's involvement with prostitutes.
Skye insists that Fitz's cover be a guy from the States, probably because she wants to hear his accent again, and Lance is now Jemma's uncle on her mother's side. Bobbi's his wife and she's brought along her adopted older brother Mack.
And Trip is just Trip. No one will question that.
They had planned the night over a week ago, and to be honest, they were all excited at the prospect of just being able to share a quiet evening together; one that a normal family would.
They even have a tree set up, piled with gifts for one another.
Skye's longed for this her whole life.
It's three in the afternoon when May returns.
She's been gone for nearly a week, nobody knows where.
May simply acknowledges them as she heads towards her office, and as soon as she's out of a hearing range, Simmons begins to panic.
'Bobbi's only made bookings for the eight of us-
'I'm sure I can ring up the restaurant and add one mo-'
'And how am I supposed to come up with a cover last minute?'
Skye clamps both her hands down on Jemma's shoulders.
'Calm down. Chances are May won't want to come, especially with everything that's been going on.'
Jemma looks both relieved and saddened at the same time.
'But nobody should have to spend Christmas alone.'
Bobbi and Skye both look at the expression on Jemma's face, contemplating her words and realise that she's right.
'Look, I'll go and ask May if she'd like to join us, and if she does, we'll sort it out, okay?'
'Okay.'
Leaving Jemma with Bobbi, Skye takes the familiar route up to May's office. As expected, her S.O. is in the room, at her desk, almost buried beneath a mountain of paperwork.
Skye knows that it's Coulson's doing; he'd ordered it when May had left last week that 'all non-emergent files were to be dealt with by Agent May upon her return.'
She knocks softly on the open door and May hasn't even looked up at her when she says 'What is it Skye?'
Skye takes a step into the room.
'We- the team, we're going out tonight- all of us- to have dinner together, and it's last minute but we can still change the reservations if you-' she starts to explain, until she is cut off.
'That won't be necessary.'
And by the tone in her voice, it appears that she is done with the conversation.
Dinner is a wondrous affair.
They're at a fancy restaurant in their formal wear, and Bobbi must have called in more favours than Skye could count to get them reservations at a place like this on Christmas Eve.
The food is amazing, and they don't even have to pretend to act like a strange dysfunctional family, because they really are.
In Skye's opinion, it was the best night ever. She had those closest to her around her, and she'd even gotten an encrypted e-card from Ward, wishing her a Merry Christmas from wherever he was right now.
She only wished that May was here too.
And that May and Coulson would make up and she'd have her de-facto parents back.
She wondered if there was still enough time to write that on a Christmas wish list to mail to Santa.
They forgo dessert and head back to the playground after dinner is done. After changing out of their fancy dress wear, they're sitting around the lit-up Christmas tree in matching sweaters that Jemma had insisted was a tradition.
There's one set aside for May on an empty arm chair, and Skye is itching to just go upstairs and call her down to celebrate with them, but Coulson's here and she knows the only reason that another argument hasn't broken out is because they've avoided one another.
It's almost midnight and Simmons has a Santa hat on and Fitz is wearing antlers and Bobbi and Lance are telling them about a chaotic Christmas they'd celebrated back when they married.
Trip's teamed up with Mack to convince Coulson to let them work on Lola, and he's not budging but Skye swears she saw the tiniest hint of a smile from the Director.
They open their presents at midnight and there's shreds of wrapping paper strewn all around them.
Bobbi and Lance have gotten them all expense paid trips to the destination of their choice, which Bobbi says didn't cost them a cent and to which Lance responded was because of the amount of flirting she had done with past flings.
Mack nearly bursts into tears when he opens the little box from Coulson and finds a folded neatly note that says 'Don't damage Lola.'
Skye nearly misses the last gift under the tree, on account of all the mess they've made.
'There's still one present left to open.'
She reaches beneath the discarded ribbons and wrapping and picks up the shoebox sized gift. It's neatly wrapped but there's no card attached, just a printed tag that reads 'Phil.'
'Guess this one's for you A.C,' Skye says as she hands it to him.
He looks surprised and confused.
'Is this from one of you?'
One by one the team members sitting around shake their heads, and they're all moving closer, curious to see what the box might contain and who had left it there.
'Do you want me to scan and check if it's a bomb,' Fitz asks, always eager to be helpful, but Coulson shakes his head.
Cautiously he opens up one end of the wrapping, and slowly slides the box out. It's black, and looks like any plain old box used to store things.
His heart nearly stops as he takes off the lid and sees the contents.
There's a stack of envelopes, all labelled with his name and he struggles to breathe as he picks up each one and sees what's written on the back.
Agent Phil Coulson Tony Stark & Pepper Potts
Phil Coulson Natasha Romanoff
Agent Phillip Coulson Bruce Banner
Phil, Son of Coul Thor
Phil Clint Barton
Phillip Coulson Steve Rogers
The team is silent and all eyes on him as he holds the envelopes in his hands. They're all contemplating whether they should leave him alone, or stay and make sure that he's okay.
As if in disbelief, he places the envelopes back into the box, and picks them up again, this time one by one.
When he's reached the bottom of the stack, he notices that the one marked Phillip Coulson on the front and Steve Rogers on the back, is thicker than the rest.
Gently, he eases the envelope open, and empties the contents out onto the ground in front of him. There's a sheet of paper, folded into three, a smaller piece of paper folded in two an-
His Captain America Trading Cards.
Well, he's pretty sure these ones aren't his, on account of Fury telling him that they were stained his blood and destroyed prior to the battle of New York, but they're exactly the same.
Except for the words written in black sharpie on each one.
Captain America. Steve Rogers.
He picks up the smaller piece of paper, the one folded into two and opens it up.
Agent May said you would want these, even now that you're gone.
His hearts in his throat and his teams watching him cautiously as he puts everything back into the box, closing the lid.
Picking it up as he stands, he quickly exits the room, leaving his entire team sitting around, watching his retreating figure.
He's gone up to his room and left the box in there before heading down the hall to May's office.
He's walking as silently as he can and when he reaches the room, the door is open and the light is on inside.
She's sitting at her desk, reading through documents and there are stacks on files on the floor. There are bags under her eyes, and she's thinner than before and he realises how long it's been since he's just had a chance to look at her.
'I can't-' he starts, and she freezes at the sound of his voice.
'I can't even remember why I was angry.'
She puts down the file that was in her hand, and finally looks up at him.
Her usually guarded expression is gone, and he can see the pain in her eyes.
'And how I've been treating you, its- it's wrong. And unfair. And you haven't done anything wrong- I-I just, and what you've done for me- I, It's all my fault, I'm so sorry Melinda.'
He's walking towards her as he speaks, and her head his moving slightly just to follow his movements.
'Phil, I-'
He's reached where she is sitting now, in her office chair behind her desk, and he places one hand onto her cheek, softly, staring into her eyes.
'These past two months have been the worst, not speaking to you. And it's Christmas Eve and you're sitting alone in your office doing paperwork because I was mean, and cruel.'
His right hand hasn't stopped stroking her cheek, and he reaches for her hands with his left, gently pulling her into a standing position and right into his embrace.
It's been so long since they've done this, and he's missed her as much as she's missed him.
He wraps his arms around her waist and she leans against his chest, breathing quietly.
'Thank you for the gift, I haven't had a chance to react to it yet, but there's time for that later,' he says jokingly, lifting one hand to softly run his fingers through her hair.
'I want to see them and tell them I'm alive. And I want you to be there with me when I do it,' he murmurs softly, and she's frozen up again.
'Phil, I'm not sure tha-,'she begins quietly, but he cuts her off, breaking off the embrace and placing both hands onto her shoulders.
It's silent for a while as neither of them speak and they're just staring at one another.
'I love you Melinda.'
He's breathing heavily and her eyes widen, and it's as if time has stopped.
Until she takes a step forward, and tilts her head up at him and he leans down and their lips touch.
And then suddenly everything is happening all at once. His heart is pounding as she wraps her arms around his neck, his looping around her waist and they're close, closer than ever.
They pull away breathless and they're still locked together and he's grinning and so, so happy.
'I love you too.'
He holds her even tighter, and presses a kiss to her temple, one hand stroking her back.
She can't remember how it happened, but one moment they're standing there hugging and the next they're sitting on the floor of her office, leaning against the back wall. He has one arm around her, and is playing with her hair, her head is resting on his shoulder and their fingers are laced together.
That's how the team finds them the next morning, after Simmons insists they check to make sure May and Coulson are alright, because it's silent upstairs and she's afraid they may have killed each other.
Mack and Trip have refused to come with them; Mack's down with Lola in the garage and Trip says he doesn't want to walk in on anything M rated.
They're both asleep, sitting up against the wall, and they both have small smiles on their faces. Skye clasps her hands together and nearly squeals of excitement, because apparently, she didn't have to write to Santa to have her Christmas gift delivered after all.