I know, another Philinda story, xD Who needs to sleep at night? I hope you'll like it!
They stopped a few feet from the base and got out of the car. Coulson approached her without saying a word, knowing she was too stubborn and proud to accept what was about to do. He removed his jacket and covered her bare shoulders with it, getting a slight shudder in response. However, he was not quite sure if it had been due to cold or the tingling he had also felt when he touched her.
"Thanks" she muttered in all honesty, with a small grin.
For his surprise, she didn't complain. She was wearing a petticoat too short and thin for her taste, her tattered dress under the arm with her high-heels, and the last thing she wanted was to get to the base looking like that. Besides, even if she would die before saying it out loud, she loved how gentlemanly he was with her.
"For nothing" he replied, shrugging his shoulders to downplay the issue. He advanced to her to open the door and let her go first. One gesture which was not lost on the rest of the team, who were waiting at the entrance to the base.
Once inside, there was a silence quite uncomfortable for everyone. Lance, Trip, Mack and even Fitz tried to avoid setting their eyes on May's bare legs, which caused Coulson a pang of jealousy, though he didn't say anything about it. The woman grabbed his jacket tightly against her body in a small attempt to hide herself.
"What the hell did you do at that hotel?" exclaimed Skye, gobsmacked. Everyone just looked at her and she blushed. "Okay, that sounded bad. But, what happened? Where's your dress?"
As any answer, May just held it up, rolling her eyes.
"It's a long story" said the director, exchanging a look with May. She nodded, clearly tired. "Tomorrow we'll explain you the rest. We got the painting, don't touch it" he added, leaving it on the couch as who leaves a coat. "Now we gotta... She has a burn..."
May nodded again, and they both abandoned the stay toward her bedroom.
"That was... so weird" Mack said, once they were alone.
The young agents had installed at the entrance as they waited for the other two. The bets hadn't lacked, as well as the jokes and the cans of beer they had drunk during the mission. Nobody knew how he had gotten them, but Lance seemed to have a lifetime supply hidden somewhere in his bunk.
"It was really weird" muttered Fitz.
"What do you think that happened?" asked Trip, sitting down in one of the couches.
"It was a trap?" Skye ventured.
"Nah. I think they did it" intervened Mack.
Everyone laughed at the assumption. And it was that, even if they weren't going to say it out loud, not while there was a chance the others might be hearing them, everyone had thought of the possibility that something had happened between Coulson and May.
"I wouldn't mind" commented Hunter, kidding, talking for the first time. "Oh, don't you dare to tell me you didn't see her. Her legs..."
Skye dealt him a strong blow to the shoulder, preventing him on finishing whatever he was going to say about May's legs. Trip and Fitz also showed their displeasure, but Mack just laughed, nodding.
"Keep on dreaming, Hunter. You are such a perv" she complained, yet she was smiling. "However, beeing you, I'd be more careful..."
"The last one who tried ended underground" added Fitz.
"Dead?" he exclaimed, gulping and rethinking once more his idea of May. Geez, he would never understand that woman. Trip and Skye started to laugh, even Fitz couldn't help but chuckling by hearing that. "This ain't funny, who killed him? Coulson or May?"
"He meant right under us, in the basement" she said, as Trip and Fitz bumped fists.
"Ahh... Ohh" he muttered, connecting the dots.
"Yeah, and with most of his bones broken"
"For real?"
"And Coulson almost killed him" Skye smiled.
"Oh... Good to know" he said, causing them to laugh even harder.
"But, being serious" ,said Trip, after a while, "do you think something happened between them?"
"I don't know" admitted the girl. "Tomorrow I'll see if I can get something from May. There is no way she's not letting me ask questions. Meryl Streep would have been jealous of her acting"
"Totally... I think it all reduces to a bang... either a gunshot or the other" commented Hunter, smiling.
"Ugh, you are disgusting, man" said Mack. "But it doesn't matter, twenty bucks that something happened"
"Make it thirty, I say no" replied Trip.
"I'm in" said Fitz, for everyone's surprise.
"So am I" said Skye, raising a hand. "We would have noticed it"
"Well, I'm with Mack" announced Hunter. "They are freaking ninjas. Besides, she wasn't even wearing her dress..."
Comments, suppositions and laughter continued for quite a while. More beers appeared as if by magic, and the stakes did nothing but multiply. Some said it was obvious that something had happened and others argued that no, but that something would happen in the not too distant future. Sure it that no one could argue, was the excellent couple they did.
Meanwhile, Coulson and May were already busy in her room. The petticoat was gone, and so was his suit. They were on the bed, and at that time May bit her lip to suppress a moan.
"I'm sorry" apologised Coulson, applying one more time the liquid on the burn of her shoulder.
"It's fine" she replied, clawing at the mattress.
Both had changed clothes nothing more to return to the Playground. The director had put on another suit, much more casual and comfortable than the last. On the other hand, May had replaced her revealing clothes for a simple black pants and a sports bra of the same color, which left Coulson enough room to work on her wound. He had forced her to lie down on the bed, telling her that if she did not wish to call the doctor, at least she'd have to obey him.
"I really don't know since when it's supposed you are an expert on healing burns" May complained in a murmur.
"Well, you hate going to doctors and this one was the only cream I found" said Coulson sullenly. "Shut up, Melinda... and don't move so much. You have a piece of glass embedded here"
She rolled her eyes, then hissed when Coulson removed the fragment of lamp from her shoulder. Probably with a doctor she would have stayed cold as ice and wouldn't have complained at all. But with Phil it was different. She didn't have to act in front of him, she could just be herself.
"I bet they're cracking up laughing" he suddenly commented, trying to distract her. "The kids, I mean"
"Yeah, laughing at me" she muttered, rolling her eyes.
"They're probably betting..." he said, covering her wound with a piece of gauze.
"Nobody would blame them... Hey, this thing is good" said May, moving her arm.
"Told yah" he replied, very full of himself.
May stood up, stretching, while Coulson closed the bottle and kept the rest of the utensils in a medicine cabinet.
"Thanks, Phil" she smiled, what didn't stop to surprise him.
"For what?"
"For everything"
Coulson smirked gently. Then he brushed a lock of her hair, fixing it behind her ear.
"You are beautiful" he said, almost without thinking.
He seemed to be contemplating a work of a gallery that had visited many times. A magnificent and mysterious painting that never before had stopped to watch. She blinked a few times, surprised. She had discovered him throwing furtive glances at her along the day, yet in a different way from the other guys. But she had assumed that he was amused to see her in a dress after so many years, not that he thought she looked pretty.
"Okaaay" she replied, suddenly worried for his mental health. "I think my evil doppelganger hit you in the head, Phil.
He chuckled. He wasn't quite sure about why he had said something like that out loud, as all those thought about her beauty usually stayed in his head, but didn't regret it at all.
"It's true" he insisted. "... I never saw it before" He was lying, but she didn't have to know that.
"Thanks" May rolled her eyes. "You really need to get some rest"
"Just like you... But first, come with me to the office"
"Phil, I'm really not in the mood to discuss that right now" the other muttered, putting on a tank top over her sport bra.
"Neither am I, we can talk about it tomorrow. Just... come with me. Please" said Phil.
She nodded with a sigh, surrendering. Nostalgia quickly flood her again, as she thought about how that night was like so many others they had lived all those years ago, when they were just a couple of rookies having fun while doing missions and traveling the world. It was always the same;they were successful, at least most of the times, and returned to their hotel or base wounded, exhausted ... And with a slope explanation.
"Ten dollars they are making bets right now" he suddenly said, as if he were able to read her mind. They left her room and headed to his office.
"Seriously? A bet on a bet?" she replied. "Besides, I can't be against that"
"Fine... Ten bucks Skye will check the security records to see us dancing"
"Bah, that's so obvious" she smirked, thinking fondly in her young and curious student. "Hum... I bet they're betting about whether we did it or not, and if it's like that how I lost my dress"
"That's obvious too, silly" he said, opening the door to let her in. "I have an idea. So, let's just say that we did something... who do you think would win?"
"Now that's a good one" May sat on his desk as he did the same on the chair. "I think that Trip and Hunter"
"Not Skye?"
"No. She thinks she's too clever to be misled"
"Well, I don't think so. And Trip is so responsible... Five dollars for Hunter, Mack and Skye" Phil said. "Five for each one"
"Five? Make it ten and you got yourself a deal" she replied.
Coulson accepted and they shook hands, amused, remembering the old times. "So, what are we telling the kids? Skye is so going to ask you what happened tomorrow at training"
"Maybe we could let them believe that something did happen. We'd know who bet and I would get my thirty bucks" suggested May.
"Yeah? And how?"
"Look at this"
May stood and grabbed her dress, which she had left there when they had gone to get the cream and the bandages to patch her up. Not thinking it twice she teared a pice of fabric and left it on the couch.
"I really liked that dress" murmured Coulson, remembering how she looked in it.
Ignoring him, May left the room and came back within a minute later with one of her shoes and the petticoat.
"Skye is coming in a few minutes to make sure we are here, pretending she's coming to tell us that dinned is ready" she said, as she put the shoe on the corner of the room.
Laughing, Coulson stood and appreached her. He took the petticoat and ripped it neatly in the half, leaving both pieces at the carpet. They dedicated the next five minutes to mess up the room, throwing some papers and folders to the floor and moving the pillows of the couch.
"That's it" Phil admired their work, contemplating somewhat sadly his disorderly office. "It looks as if a hurricane had passed through here"
"Hey, we passed through here" she said, with a small grin playing at the corners of her lips.
He smiled, a little blushed. They heard steps at the hallway and before she could say anything May had dragged him to the bathroom. They opened the door a bit, just enough to take a peek of what was going on.
"Hey guys" Skye sing-songed as she entered the room. "OH MY GOD"
"What is it, Skye?" asked Trip, appearing right to her. "Oh. Is that...?"
"MY EYES" Exclaimed the girl, dramatically hiding her face with her arms.
"Oh, damn it, we owe Hunter and Mack" the other complained, as he walked his sight through the room and let out a whistle. May stuck her tongue at Phil, who rolled her eyes and handed her a bill.
"No, no, he said that something had happened during the mission" said Skye. "And he can't prove it"
"Hum, you're right" smiled her friend.
"Now, who had bet on this month?"
The other two looked at each other. Seriosuly? Monthly bets about their non existent relationship?
"You, Mack, and me"
"Awesome"
At that moment, Coulson had what he considered the most brilliand and childish idea of his entire life. He turned on the shower and gave a strong stomp to May, who couldn't help but letting out a whimper of complaint. In vengeance, she smacked his shoulder lightly.
"Ah!" he exclaimed. Well, her definition of lightly. "Just see their reactions"
The two young were stunned, staring at the door and to each other as if they were watching a tennis match.
"Okay, I think I just have been traumatized" Skye declared, pale and with a low tone. The senior agents had to cover their mouths to avoid laughing.
"I'm sorry, my sis" Trip surrounded her by the shoulders with an arm, pulling her closer. He knew that she considered them her parents, and understood the pain she was going through.
"Oh, yes!" yelled May, unable to stop herself. Coulson had tears of laughter in his eyes. "Oh...!"
She couldn't say anything else, because the poor agents had run away while pretending to have arcades. May Coulson looked at each other and finally bursted into laughter. He turned off the shower, but before doing it splashed her with water. She frowned. He thought she would be angry, but instead she filled the vessel in which he put his toothbrush and tossed it at him, soaking his jacket.
"Hey, that's cold" he complained, shivering as the cold water ran down his chest.
May just grinned, and they came out of the bathroom. They started to tidy the office, commenting Skye and Trip's reactions and wondered about how much thet had bet.
"That was the most childish thing we've ever done" muttered May, with a small yawn, falling into the sofa.
"Maybe. But it was hilarious and totally worth it" he replied. His jacket was now at the chair, drying, and he had rolled up his sleeves to the elbows. He sat down next to her, handing her glass of scotch as he drank a little from his own. "Just like the old times"
"I guess..."
"Come on, May, just confess you had fun today" said Phil, smiling.
She rolled her eyes, taking a long sip before answering.
"Fine. Just a little... I hate undercoves" she grumbled.
"They're funny... and what are we gonna do if we have to go again? Send Skye and Trip?"
"I seriously doubt they will address us ever again after tonight" May interjected, with a small smirk of guilt.
"You're probably right... I liked dancing with you" he commented, amused, remembering the moment. The conversation had been somewhat painful for both of them, but that didn't matter anymore. They'd have time for that next morning.
"I'm glad you enjoyed it, because it's not happening again" declared May, leaving her glass, now empty, on the table.
"Not one last time?" Phil asked, standing.
"What do you mean?"
He turned on the radio and the soft melody of All the way flooded the room. It wasn't Sinatra's original version, the one they had danced all those years ago back at prom at the Academy, but the duet with Celine Dion. And, somehow, that was even more like them. They were a duet, a team. He reached out a hand in her direction and she took it, rolling her eyes and rather shyly, just like she had done that night. She stood and put her her hand on his shoulder, as he did the same in her back.
They started to dance in silence, to the rhythm of the song and the deep melancholia that it caused them. It wasn't a useful or sexy dance like the last time they had danced that same day. It was sweet, sad and reassuring at the same time. Oh, he didn't know if destiny had picked that song or his own subconscious, but it was amazing the way the lyrics represented their current situation.
When somebody loves you, it's not good unless he loves you, all the way... Was it love what they felt? Well, it was obviously more than friendship.
Happy to be near you, when you need someone to cheer you, all the way... They'd always been there for each other
He made her turn slowly, leaving her facing away to him when he caught her and held her by the waist. May closed her eyes, leaning her head against his chest, feeling his heartbeat in her ear.
When somebody needs you, it's not good unless she needs you, all the way... Oh, damn it, she really needed him
Through the good or lean years... Through Bahrain and Tahiti, the list was infinite
And for all the in between years, come what may
Who knows where the road will lead us? Only a food would say...
But if you'll let me love you, It's for sure I'm gonna love you all the way, all the way
"Did you mean it?" he suddenly said.
"What?"
"All the acting. Today" Coulson explained. "The kisses, the dancing, the nostalgia crap and the shiver I know we both felt when we put on the rings.. You know that the I love you are not as necessary as how we think.. Did you mean it?"
"Phil, I..." she started, confused.
"Because I did" he said.
She didn't know what to say, did that mean that he actually loved her? Was that even possible? Why did he love someone like her? It was a good thing then that the song had already gave her the words.
"I really need you" said May, as she turned around in his arms to see his face. She really loved him, but the past had taught her that maybe she wasn't meant to be loved, causing the words to remain stuck in her throat.
He leaned towards her and kissed her gently in the lips. They closed their eyes, enjoying the moment as Sinatra's voice sang what they were both thinking.
Taller than the tallest tree is, that's how it's got to feel
Deeper than the deep blue sea is, that's how deep it goes if it's real... Yes. It was.
But if you let me love you, it's for sure I'm gonna love you, all the way
"I promise" whispered Phil, as they pulled apart and the music stopped. They looked at each other in the eye. Then, without any other word, each one made his way back to their bedrooms.
The next morning, it was as if none of that had happened outside of their heads. The memory felt surreal, too distant and too perfect to be something but a dream. But they didn't care. Because they knew they would love and have each other, all the way.
I don't usually add songs or lyrics, but I was listening the song and couldn't help but noticing how much it was like them. So, what do you guys think? Please post some reviews!