Because I have to love whoever Melinda May was married to - and I think Phil Coulson has to have loved him, too.
Not mine - just borrowing for fun.
"I've got an operative coming in with intel. Info is on your tablet."
Koenig nods at the Director and goes to prep an entry code. When he sees the identity of said operative, he stops and turns back to the staircase.
"Should I get a room ready?"
Coulson waits a long, long beat before he nods. "I guess you should. He might have a reason to stay."
Koenig doesn't know the Director well, but he's starting to know some of his moods and expressions. The look on his face right now is utterly conflicted. Because it's not like their guest is unwelcome. But something in the way his boss' shoulders droop the slightest bit tells Koenig that there's a personal story behind Coulson's look that he's not privy to.
At least, he's not until he pulls up the operative's file, long after the Director has headed back upstairs, and Koenig reads through the information to prep for yet another lanyard polygraph clearance.
"Married once. Current status: Divorced."
And then Koenig knows exactly why this guest may be hanging around.
The mission took a day longer than planned due to a storm that slowed evac, and Skye is bone tired. She swallows any complaints she wants to lodge because the woman beside her flying the plane is twice as tired and three times as bruised. May held off a HYDRA security patrol on her own, giving the rest of the team time to rescue the two gifteds being held against their will. Tripp's on a separate mission in Canada picking up friendlies. So May has to fly the plane no matter how much pain she's in. Skye tries to pretend that she can't tell May's entire right arm shakes every time she moves it.
The ride home is quiet, which Skye's getting better at. She still can't resist peppering May with questions on the way out, but coming home... she knows they need that time to regroup, get their heads through the what ifs and almosts of the mission behind them so they can reboot when they get back to the Playground. It's one of the many things May has taught her the past few months. Leave the mission behind.
Skye knows she harps on it because May never wants her to be unable to do it. Bringing the mission home blew Melinda May's life apart. That she cares enough to want better for Skye makes the younger agent kind of love her S.O., not that she'd ever say it out loud.
Home today means medical for May and helping Koenig settle the gifteds in a protected space until Coulson decides where to relocate them, and the rest of the team getting patched up, cleaning weapons, and debriefing. So it takes a while for them to gather again to get some food, May gingerly - and stubbornly - trying to chop vegetables for the pasta she promised to make.
When the man drops from the second floor landing, Skye startles, but then she sees his face and even though they've never met, she recognizes him, so her potential fright turns to awe because she's heard so many stories and wow... he's here and his eyes are... wow.
He tosses her nod of his head, then moves toward May, and Skye half expects the older woman to say something or glance behind her at whatever is going on, but instead she keeps working, wincing despite her best efforts when a stubborn piece of broccoli makes her bicep tighten.
But if Skye thought she was shocked by the appearance of their visitor, she was about to have the word redefined.
The man walks up behind May... right up against her... his hand settling on her tortured arm. His palm glides down her skin to the knife and slips it out of her grasp.
"Why don't you let me finish that?"
He leans in closer if that's possible, his breath moving the hair that rests against May's neck, and Skye would swoon at the chemistry between them if she wasn't starting to feel a need to jump in and tell him to back the hell up, because everyone knows that even if they won't admit it, May is Coulson's... person.
Then May turns and looks up at the man, a smile on her face Skye has never seen... and it steals her words.
"I didn't know you were coming."
"Wanted to surprise you," he says, a smile on his face now, too.
The kiss is too much, and Skye puts her hands over her mouth to stop herself from squealing because are you kidding me? Melinda May is getting kissed right in front of her... by freakin' Hawkeye... and it seems like it's definitely not the first time.
"He's upstairs waiting for you," Barton offers once his lips are free, and May nods and slips out of the close quarters to head for the stairs.
Skye jumps up off her chair the moment May's boots reach the landing. She rushes up and starts washing some of the extra vegetables.
"So... you're Clint Barton?"
"I am," he says casually. "And you're Skye, one name only, current trainee of Melinda May."
"Who you know. Well."
He grins, and Skye can't deny that this guy is charming as hell.
"I should know her. Well. I used to be Mr. Melinda May."
Skye drops the squash in the sink. Even the cold water that splashes into her face isn't enough to take the shock away.
Melinda can feel the tension in the room the moment she gets there, but the years have told her there's little to be done to help it. Clint and Phil are friends. She and Phil are friends. Clint and Melinda are each other's history. It was the least expected outcome of their odd trio friendship... Clint and Melinda married... and it stunned everyone, but honestly no one more than herself.
She remains grateful that their friendship survived their passionate but ultimately doomed attempt at normalcy that, for a little while, felt like home.
"Was Clint able to help much?" she asks, getting straight to it. She knows Coulson had put out a feeler to Clint months earlier to find a few select operatives in hiding.
"He was," Phil reports, his glasses dropping from his hand to his desk. "We have locations on a half-dozen key operatives, and he was able to establish a communications link for us with Stark so we can contact the Avengers in an emergency. Apparently they've all decided to forgive me for the fake dead thing."
"In your defense, you weren't faking."
He's surprised by her joke, and it makes him smile. Melinda smiles in return. Phil's growing older right before her eyes, the weight of rebuilding so heavy on him that sometimes she isn't sure she can keep him going. But then some little thing she does makes Phil laugh or smile, and it feels like maybe they might be able to keep walking until the road they're on provides a safe place to rest.
"He was excited to see you."
Melinda nods, even that small movement sending pain radiating down her back and arm.
"It's been a long time. And it's always good to see Clint. He's taken over dinner."
"Thank goodness he can cook."
She laughs at that, and the sound eases a little more of the darkness in Phil's eyes. But she watches questions form behind the sparked light and waits, wondering if he'll ask them... if this time, he'll finally find the words.
After a long moment of silence, Melinda realizes the answer is no, and she moves toward the stairs.
"I should go check in with Mack on the plane's hydraulics. See you at dinner?"
Phil's "see you then" floats behind her as she makes her way back downstairs.
"You were married to Hawkeye?"
Skye can't help herself. She tried so hard not to ask all through dinner, but now that they're alone and May is finally letting Skye run the damn ultrasound over her arm to help with the swelling, she can't resist another moment.
"I was. For almost two years."
"What... I mean, how did that happen? And why did it stop happening?"
May sighs and redirects the ultrasound wand to a sensitive spot.
"We were both looking for something. For a little while, we found it with each other. Then we realized it was time to move on."
"But you guys... I mean, you sort of radiate hotness when you're near each other."
May shakes her head at that.
"Hotness is not the basis of a good marriage. It doesn't hurt, but it's not enough."
"But... ex hook-ups, right? I mean... that's totally a thing, so you guys..."
The moment she asks, Skye regrets it, because she honestly doesn't want to know. She kind of hates the idea of May with anyone that isn't A.C., even if they're both too stubborn to go for it.
"Clint's found the place he belongs," is what May gives as her answer.
"And have you found yours?"
The softness in May's eyes is unexpected when their gazes meet, and Skye feels something in her heart tug because it might be the saddest expression she's ever seen on May's face.
"I'm where I need to be, Skye. That's really all that matters."
Clint can always get Phil to drink, even when they're technically working and shouldn't. There was some resistance and "I'm the director now" crap, but two vodkas in, Phil's tie is gone and his sleeves are rolled up, and Clint recognizes his friend in the burdened, exhausted man in front of him.
Finding out Phil was alive had sent Clint into a little bit of a tailspin. Not that he wasn't thrilled at the news, but the part of him that still felt guilt over helping Loki get onto the helicarrier... to say the death of his former handler had hit him hard was to speak the understatement of the century. But Melinda and Natasha had gotten him through that, and now... now Phil was back.
"You can let me handle some more of the recruitment," he offers, hoping to do more to help than just drop off some information. "My gut is pretty good."
Phil nodded. "It is. But I..."
"You think you need to do it all. I get that. But that's what trusted allies are for, Phil. Easing the load just a little."
A pause and a few sips of vodka fill several minutes, and then Phil leans forward, elbows resting on the table.
"It would help more if... if you wanted to lead some missions for us. Melinda is... she's taking on too much, but I can't tell her to do less when she's so vital to what we're trying to do."
"Of course you can't. Even if you tried, good luck. God has never made a more stubborn creature than Melinda May. I should know."
Clint has waited all night for an opening and his words give it to him; he knows it from the look that cuts his way. But watching them through dinner has only confirmed what he suspected from the brief communications they've been able to share since S.H.I.E.L.D. fell.
"I still love her, Phil. I always will. What kind of an idiot would I be otherwise? But Melinda's not mine anymore. And the talking to she gave me about Nat made it very clear she no longer considered me hers."
"Talking to? I thought all those stories about you and Romanoff were rumors."
"'You're an idiot. Tell Natasha how you feel. Don't make the same mistakes again. Kiss the girl while you still can.' So I took her advice. You were our boss. You were supposed to think they were rumors. But Nat and I are... what I'm trying to say is... you don't have to worry about me."
Phil feigns ignorance and tries to look outraged at the implication, and Clint downs his drink and pours another.
"You wanted to punch me on our wedding day. I saw it all over your face. But you didn't, because it would've hurt Melinda. And when I told you we were getting divorced, you wanted to punch me again, because you thought I was doing wrong by her. But you didn't. And that time, it was because you realized I was gonna be out of your way."
Clint doesn't add that then Bahrain happened and changed everything. He doesn't need to.
"Since I got here, you've been staring a hole in the back of my head, wondering when I'm leaving. And we're friends, so I'm not taking that personally. But, Phil, if you love her that damn much, just tell her. Because she's never gonna say it first. She's too afraid to lose you to risk it."
With that, Clint finishes his last drink and stands.
"I gotta get to sleep. Meeting Nat in D.C. tomorrow to get the gear Banner needs. After that, I'll lead whatever missions you want to throw my way. Especially if it means we keep May out of harms way a few more days of the year. By the way, Natasha said to tell you that next time you're in New York, if you don't come by the Tower for dinner, she's kicking your ass."
He heads off to his room then, and all Clint can think about is how happy Natasha will be when he tells her that Phil and Melinda are finally together. Because there's no way the dopey grin on Phil Coulson's face doesn't signal a sea change... and Clint's just damn glad he was around to give them a push.
She's walking around the gym despite the hour because she's in pain and lying still is only making it worse. Melinda's tried meditation and the level of painkiller she's willing to ingest when action could be required at any moment and still, her arm is screaming at her.
"You and Clint?"
Phil's voice surprises her and that more than anything tells Melinda how tired she is. He's rarely able to sneak up on her. The question is an even bigger shock. She had almost accepted that he'd never ask.
"Friends who were more than that for a little while. He's in love with Natasha. That's the way things are supposed to be."
He nods and moves closer to her, his hands finding her arm. As he slowly begins to knead the sore flesh, Melinda feels her whole body relax into him.
"I've had some vodka and Clint just lectured me. I'm being honest about that so you don't find out later and think I'm only saying this because of those two things."
Melinda nods, relief racing through her, and it's about so much more than her aching arm.
"I love you. I've loved you forever. And when you married Clint, I wanted to kill him, but I didn't, because he's my friend and you loved him. And then I lost you again after Bahrain, and I... I didn't fight hard enough. Maybe I thought I had more time."
His left hand leaves her arm to brush her chin and lift her eyes to his.
"I'm an idiot. So I'm gonna tell you how I feel and not make the same mistake again. And then if it's okay with you, I'm gonna kiss you while I still can."
Her words to her former husband are a caress coming from the lips of the man she loves, and Melinda can't resist the smile that widens across her face.
"That sounds like a good plan."
"I love you," he says, and Melinda feels a vise around her heart release because she can finally stop keeping this one last secret from him.
"I love you, too."
And then he kisses her... while he still can... and Melinda's fairly certain she never wants him to stop.
Skye's restless post-mission and she knows she should be sleeping, but her mind is racing, though the truth is, it's not racing about HYDRA or anything mission related. No, she can't stop thinking about the new side of Melinda May that she learned about today.
It's not that she can't picture May and Barton together - like she told her S.O., their chemistry is obvious, and he's funny and charming and all the things she'd imagine a guy would have to be to win Melinda May's heart. But she's always imagined that A.C. and May were each other's soul mate, as much as she hates that romance novel terminology. And it's weird to think of May that happy with someone else in the same way it's always hard to think of Coulson happy in Portland with the cellist.
When she rounds the corner and sees A.C. and May through the open gym door, she starts to go in to check on them. But then they're kissing, and Skye can't take her eyes off them. It's the most perfect thing she's ever seen, even though they live underground and are on the run and have a million people trying to kill them.
She loves the easy way Barton teased about being the former Mr. Melinda May. Loved the way it spoke of his respect for May as a person, as a leader, as the badass that she is. And as she turns away from the Director and said badass, Skye can't help but think that maybe the only thing Phil Coulson's ever wanted to be more than Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. is Mr. Melinda May.
Skye can already picture some far off day when she'll make business cards that say just that... just to tease him.