A/N: I'm still kinda new to this show and fandom so I don't know all that is going to happen. So far I've seen S1 and a few eps of S2. I was so angry at Coulson for how he treated May in the ep Providence. He threw years of friendship away and I felt like he had some serious apologizing to do. This is my way of dealing with that fight.

I know he will be Director and I won't really be going into how the fact that he's still was revealed to Tony, Maria and Pepper.

Also I like the idea of Melinda, Pepper and Maria being friends and Melinda finding her way at Stark Industries.
One last remark. English isn't my native language so sorry for any mistakes.

Chapter one

Working out had always been her way of clearing her mind. So here she was, just like every day, in Stark Industries gym. It had been a while now since she'd left her old life behind and had started at Stark Industries. After leaving SHIELD she had been at a loss. She'd stayed at her mother's for only a week before moving on. Contacting Maria Hill seemed to be a logical step. Maria had only just started working at Stark Industries, but had managed to get her a job too. Her only demand was that there'd be no digital paper trail of her employment. She didn't want anyone from her former team find her. Though she missed the team, missed the action, she liked it here. That in itself was already quite a surprise. Stark had put her in charge of Pepper's security team and gave her all the freedom to do what she wanted. He was a good person to bounce ideas off and he seemed to really value her opinion. Add to that that Pepper was a great person to work for too. Neither of them doubted her or her abilities and seemed to put their trust in her. Something she needed at this moment in time. All in all, her sudden departure form SHIELD had ended up better than she'd expected.

That didn't mean she didn't think about them anymore. She thought about her team each and every day and she still worried about them. She was afraid that one day she was going to get the news that all of them were gone and that it was her fault. But leaving had been the only option. There was no place for her on the team anymore. Not when there was no longer any trust. Not when such harsh words had been spoken by the one person she trusted most. The anger and betrayal she'd seen in his eyes still haunted her dreams. As did those words. She meant nothing to him anymore. He held no faith in her and maybe he had never had. Maybe, all that she thought they had, their years of friendship, maybe that was all a lie. Looking back, that seemed to be the only conclusion. Phil had never been the person she thought he was and she'd been wrong in giving so much of herself to him. She still couldn't believe that her words had meant so little to him. He'd waved her words of caring away as if she'd only said them to placate him. Apparently her best friend had never truly known her. That hurt, that betrayal, it would take a lot of time for those wounds to heal, if they ever would. The loss of her best friend, this time not because he was presumed dead, but because he didn't want her anymore, that was a hole in her heart that would probably never heal.

However what she did know was that she was a survivor and she would also get through this. It was another battle she was going to win. Sure more bruised and beaten up than before, but that only meant she had to toughen up even more. She would not make the same mistake again. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me and Melinda May wasn't a fool.

Maria observed her friend as she punched the boxing bag with quite some force. She was happy Melinda was here. It was nice to have her friend around. She knew Tony and Pepper were happy to have her around. Even Melinda seemed sort of happy at times, but the sadness in her eyes, that never seemed to disappear. Melinda had refused to tell her what had happened. But she knew her, knew that she would never run away from anything or any one. This left two options, one; her quitting was her merely been following orders, but that didn't seem right. Her refusal to have any contact at all with her former team, even more so with Agent Coulson, brought her to option two; she had been forced to leave. No matter how many times, in whatever way, she asked, May never talked about it. That subject was not to be spoken about. Another subject not to be spoken about was Phil Coulson which could only mean Phil Coulson was the reason Melinda May had left and even more important the reason for the sadness in her friend's eyes. She'd known Phil and Melinda for years, every since the academy, and she'd known them as best friends. Throughout their highs and lows, and there had been many, they could always count on each other. How could it be that their foundation suddenly meant nothing anymore. What had happened? She wanted to know but she wasn't going to contact Coulson. It was clear that May didn't want any contact anymore with him and she would respect that. So she was going to be the friend May needed at the moment and she would defend her whenever necessary. Grabbing two pairs of boxing gloves Maria approached her friend. "How about it?" She asked, holding the gloves up.

Looking up, May smiled. She never did say no to a round of boxing. She nodded and took the gloves. Both women were in good shape and boxing was one of their strengths and whenever they went head to head, it was a good exercise for both of them. A short while later Pepper joined them in the gym. She watched her two friends in the boxing ring as she stretched before she started on the threadmill. She was happy Maria and Melinda had joined their company. They knew what it took for her to run the company, knew how busy she was. She never had to apologize if she missed one of their girl nights or dinners because of work or because she wanted to spend time with Tony. She didn't know Melinda very long yet, but she had come to really enjoy the woman's quiet nature. Melinda May was someone you knew you could always count on, no matter what and with her being in charge of her security, Pepper knew she didn't have to worry and neither did Tony. Melinda didn't say much but when she did, she was always direct and honest and she liked that too. As a CEO she had a lot of people who lacked those qualities. She had worried about her in the beginning when she'd heard about Melinda's demand of no paper trail. She'd worried she was in danger, but after Tony had checked some things out there didn't seem to be any threats. It probably had something to do with her history at SHIELD. Pepper had tried to talk to Melinda about it but clearly the subject was off limits and she respected that. She had only asked that if there was anything she could do, to let her know which Melinda had answered with that all familiar nodd. She did still wander about the sadness in her eyes. Something had hurt her deeply and just like SHIELD it was off limits. She'd talked to Maria about it and it seemed like Agent Phil Coulson was the reason for the sadness. She didn't know Phil very well, but he seemed like a decent guy. Maria had told her Phil and Melinda had quite a history. She wondered what that exactly meant, but Maria hadn't really elaborated on it.

A short while later Tony Stark entered the gym. He grinned as he saw the three women. How his life had changed these last couple of years and he could only say it was for the better. His eyes immediately sought out Pepper and admired her form for a moment. Pepper Potts was one special lady and he felt blessed she was strong enough to endure his erratic behavior. He looked at the two women in the boxing ring. Both a true asset to their company and also to their private live. He considered them friends and he was happy Pepper had them in her life. Also he felt better knowing May was there to make sure Pepper was safe. Melinda May was a no nonsense woman who also seemed to be able to shut him up with a mere look. He liked that about her. He'd looked at her SHIELD file and knew she was a more than capable fighter, trustworthy and very good at what she did. He had no doubt that if necessary Melinda May would give her life to protect the woman he loved. He walked up to Pepper and stopped the threadmill.

"Hey!" Pepper exclaimed.

He grinned at her. He liked riling her up. "How about a bet?" He nodded towards the boxing ring.

Knowing he wouldn't leave her alone until the bet was made she grabbed her towel and bottle of water and followed him to the ring. "What are the stakes?"

"If you win, you get to wear the suit." He knew she wanted to. "If I win, you throw a party for me."

"Really? You want a party?"

"Yeah, I do."

"Fine. Melinda's going to take Maria down in the next ten minutes."

Tony shook his head. "No. Melinda's going to go down in the next five."

"Deal." They shook hands and Tony stole a kiss before they turned their attention to the boxing ring.

They didn't have to wait long to because not even a minute later, Maria Hill was down on the floor. "Hand over the suit mister." Pepper grinned.

"No, it was less than 10 minutes." Tony objected.

"If it's about the minutes then no one won. No, I bet Melinda would take down Maria. She did. I win. I get to wear the suit."

"Fine." Tony mumbled. "Maria." Tony addressed the woman who was currently being helped back on her feet again by Melinda. "I expected more from you. And Melinda,.." He turned to the other woman. "Next time we'll go a few rounds in the ring, okay?"

Melinda nodded and smiled her familiar small smile. She could handle Tony.

"Then I'll invite Bruce and Steve. They are going to want to see you getting your ass kicked by Melinda." Pepper grinned.

TBC...