Summary: Coulson and May raid an old abandoned Hydra base and come away with files that pertain to Coulson specifically. This file, so thin and old, tells secrets about Skye that neither Agent Coulson nor Agent May were prepared for, much less Phil and Melinda.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Warnings: This story contains elements of non-con for unauthorized gamete harvesting and fertilization.

Phil felt sick. His stomach was in knots and his heart was pounding a mile a minute in his chest. He needed the world to stop, just for a minute, just stop. Melinda called out to him but her words were lost in the rushing through his ears . The file's words before him were dark and accusing and he wanted to plead his case, to apologize, to rejoice and mourn and scoop Skye into his arms and never let her go.

She was his daughter. He had a daughter.

He tasted bile in the back of his mouth and quickly pulled his trashcan to himself in just enough time to empty his stomach contents. He felt a cool hand on the back of his neck and he thanked his lucky stars that Melinda was the only one awake at this hour. She ran her hand through his thinning hair, something he was once sensitive about but took comfort from when it was Melinda.

This was a terrible, terrible tragedy. He wished Skye had never uncovered that old Hydra base. He wanted them to keep going as they were but he needed the information from that lab and now he had it and oh God he was so excited but the devastation strangled any joy out of it. Skye was his daughter and he hadn't known and they'd been living together for almost 4 years now. His heart skipped a beat and the urge to laugh smothered itself.

It took a while but eventually his stomach stopped rebelling and he set the trashcan down on the floor. He muttered something about brushing his teeth but made no move to get up. With an efficiency that Phil had come to love Melinda brought him his toothbrush with toothpaste already on it and a glass of water.

There was silence even after he had finished cleaning out his mouth. Melinda stood there by his side, hand on his shoulder. He was more grateful for her presence than he could ever articulate but he and Melinda had never needed words. He continued to stare at the closed file on his desk, trying to fully absorb the information it had bestowed him.

"Melinda." She squeezed his shoulder. The address was purposely intimate and she seemed to realize so. Gods, Asgardian or not, he needed her so bad right now.

"Phil." He felt her fingers loosen as they began to rub up and down his back in long strokes. "Whatever it is, I'm here. We'll handle it together with our team." The words were meant to be comforting but for the first time ever the mention of his team made him want to turn tail and run.

"I'm Skye's father," he blurted out. Melinda's hands stopped their movements and he cringed. Slowly the movement started up again. He couldn't face her. She'd told him multiple times that he wasn't the girl's father and he had acknowledged the fact but now there was documented cold hard evidence to the contrary. "Read the file. Start to finish. I need a breath."

He expected May to grab the file and sit down, ready to read the reports cover to cover but instead he got a hug. She was warm against his back, her long hair tickling his neck and the side of his face. She had hooked one arm over his shoulder, the other slipping under his arm and she clasped them over his heart. Her thumb subconsciously ran over the ridges of his scar. The touch was so intimate it made him catch his breath until he relaxed into the caress.

"Whatever is in there, it does not change the fact that you are a good man, Phil." He wondered at her perceptiveness. He didn't know if it was because they'd known each other close to 20 years or if she was just that good. He supposed it could be a bit of both. "We both know that if you had known you had a child out there that you would've dropped SHIELD and gone to become dad of the year." It stung, the thought of having never had the past he did with both Melinda and Strike Team Delta; years of missions and inside jokes and gentle touches that warmed his heart. But she was right. He would gladly give all of that up to have been there for Skye during her childhood.

"Let me know when you're done." He replied. He got up and took the trashcan with him. Having a task to do, something solid and with tangible results always helped to settle his mind. He'd happily do all household chores tonight just to keep from falling into the terrible land of "what ifs".

He found himself in the hangar, staring up at the BUS. He wanted to go inside and take cover in his old office but there were repairs and upgrades being made and he didn't want to disturb that. Instead he took in the sight, thinking back to all the time he and Skye spent on the plane. A grin made its way to his lips as he thought about when she was new and locked in the containment cell, when she sat with him in his office because she was feeling awkward around the rest of the team in the beginning and later when she felt he was working too hard and would have the latter two meals of the day with him.

It was painful and Phil felt tears welling in his eyes but he refused to let them fall. The emptiness in his chest and the vice on his heart were consuming him and constricting around him and he couldn't breathe but Skye was his daughter and it was everything he wanted. A sort of choked gasp left his lungs and he sucked in another breath, counting to regain his equilibrium.

He stared up at the open hangar doors and prayed.

-:X:-

Melinda sat in Phil's chair with the file in front of her. It was odd, she thought, the jealousy that was eating away at her. Not jealousy of Phil, she could only be both devastated and happy for him –and that was an odd tangle of emotions already- but of this woman whom he had a baby with. This unknown woman that had Phil for a night and nurtured a baby in her womb for nine months, birthed her and then just gave the baby away.

Then the guilt hit; around the time that Skye was born she was already dating Andrew, if not already affianced. She knew she loved her ex-husband when they were married but she also knew she hadn't completely given him her heart. Because a part of it had always belonged to Phil, romantic or no.

She shook herself, focusing again on the file. It was rather slim compared to most but it wasn't redacted, which was unusual as it was clearly labeled "Level 7". Almost anything past Level 4 was redacted and as it leveled up the redactions got heavier. Melinda steeled her resolve and opened the file.

It was gut wrenching.

Melinda had been wondering if Phil had conceived the child while on mission; it was not unheard of to have to seduce a target or two and not just for female agents. She knew too, that Phil could be terribly appealing; he thought he was terrible at the whole thing but he didn't realize his honesty and wit were just as charming as smooth lines and heated glances that usually occur during a seduction. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case.

In the early years of his career at SHIELD he sustained major wounds to his ribs, pelvis and femur and from the medical report included Melinda was shocked he was still walking without a limp. It must ache during the winter, she thought absentmindedly. From that injury they took a blood sample, like with most agents in the same position. However it seemed they didn't just put metal into him and take a little blood. They took viable gametes as well.

Hydra was running through SHIELD even then, apparently. May's fists tightened on the folder.

Sleeper agents of Hydra had been taking high level and high profile agent's DNA and testing them. They started trying to artificially breed and engineer genetically superior spies. Coulson, already a highly decorated agent, had been chosen.

Phil had never made love to an unknown woman and left before he knew he had a baby on the way. The woman, an Agent Willow Zhang stationed in the Beijing SHIELD base, had never felt her baby kick in her womb. There had been no love, no consent and no knowledge of their union because all of it happened in a lab. Then through in vitro fertilization, a young science back then, a local Chinese woman, known only as Subject I-09, had been impregnated to incubate and protect the baby that would become Skye.

SHIELD Agents, true SHIELD Agents, caught wind of what was going on and began pursuing the leads and the sleeper agents decided to purge the project. Many of the women, their babies, both born and unborn, were eliminated though the report for Subject I-09 remained incomplete. They obviously never found the woman and her child because the SHIELD agents had brought Skye to an orphanage and the girl had been in their protection ever since.

Melinda tried to keep her emotions out of it but as she continued to read through the documents detailing the investigation and the recovery of the single surviving experiment –baby her mind supplied. Skye, she corrected herself- she felt adrenaline and rage course through her.

The man she cared most about and the girl he loved like a daughter, who was his daughter, were both violated in a way that they would have to deal with but hell if any of them knew how. She wanted to rip those double crossing agents to pieces, she wanted to bring them to Phil and let him at them. He was a calm and collected guy but when his rage was sparked it was genuinely unnerving. Melinda wanted to run her hands through Skye's hair as she comforted her and let her know the circumstances of her birth held no play in how they loved her.

She closed the file and took a deep breath. She needed to find Phil and have him talk about this. She knew him well and she knew he'd want to tell Skye. They had to come up with a plan.

Fin.

I don't have plans to continue anything past here but if I get the urge to I might write a follow up of when they tell Skye.