Love Will Remember
Disclaimer:
As always, I own nothing!
Rating:
T
Genre:
Romance/Hurt/Comfort
Pairing:
Coulsye
Lyrics Used:
Ashley Tisdale "You're Always Here"
Author's Note:
This idea just came to me, the other day, while I was listening to Selena Gomez's song "Love Will Remember". I got thinking. Hey, if Reina and...what's-his-face...used a machine that fucked with Coulson's brainwave activity right after dosing him with some sort of anesthetic when they abducted him...Who's to say that couldn't mess with his memory? Wipe out more than it revealed? Especially given the way that they kept warning him not to fight it ('cause it would kill him)...So, I decided to roll with it. If for no other reason than just to get it out of my head so I can focus on other stories and videos I wanna do. (If y'all wanna see my videos, just hit me up on YouTube. My screenname, there, is Coulsye Productions. … Shameless plug, I know.)
You're Always Here With Me
Pull myself together | I know it's for the better | Now | It's my turn | It's my turn to carry this way | Nothing is forever | You can't predict the weather | Now | You'll be there to help me carry this way
They say that love won't die | And, then, I realize | What will be will be | You're always here with me | And, in the darkest night | I feel you by my side | What will be will be | You're always here with me
And, if the day goes by | And, you start to question why | Tell me why | There is a way to hold on | You just gotta stay strong | Close your eyes and you will find | Love lives on inside
"Just want to say..." Phil Coulson began, carefully. His team had been through enough-or, so, he'd been told, at least. He didn't need to burden them with the fact that he couldn't remember anything. At all. He remembered his name. He remembered New York. But, he couldn't remember anything about the people surrounding him. So, he had to play his cards right if he didn't want them to suspect anything. "Thank you..." He finished, finally, faking a smile to-hopefully-satisfy his team. Watching as they all just stood there, returning his smile-all except for the one named Skye, however, who seemed to be on to him, already-he thought he'd succeeded. "Get back to work." He added, in a falsely playful tone, hoping to distract them from his struggles. Watching as the rest of the group dispersed, he saw that he was left alone with the stunningly beautiful woman who seemed to know he was hiding something. "I heard what you did for me." He told her. That much was true. He had been told of the lengths that the young woman had gone to locate him. As much as he appreciated the efforts, he couldn't wrap his mind around how anyone could consider one person-himself, in particular-important enough to go to such drastic measures. One thing was certain, though. It definitely meant the world to him that she did think that highly of him. "I think it's time..." He began, softly, gently reaching out and holding her wrist up to examine the bracelet wrapped around it. He recognized it as something he'd first learned about when he first joined S.H.I.E.L.D. He knew it couldn't have made her efforts to find him any easier. "That we remove this..." He added with a warm smile as he steadfastly ignored the electric shocks racing up and down his spine as his fingertips accidentally grazed her skin. Leaning forward, slightly, he spoke a simple two-word command into the bracelet. "Disengage bracelet."
"Are you kidding me?!" The young woman before demanded, sarcastically.
"Thought you'd like that." Phil added with what he hoped was nothing more than a warm, knowing smile. A somewhat uncomfortable silence stretched between them as the young woman before him-he remembered someone addressing her as 'Skye'-chuckled softly was she instinctively rubbed her newly freed wrist.
"Back in that room..." Skye began, softly, breaking the silence. "Did they learn anything?"
Phil didn't know how to answer that. He knew he hoped they didn't. But, without his memory of what had happened, he couldn't be sure. But, he knew if he said that, it was game over. So, he kept his response as simple as possible. "No."
"Did you?" She asked, pressing the matter further. His suspicions that she was on to him were only growing stronger the longer she spoke to him. "I heard what you were saying..." Damn it... Phil thought to himself, as he frantically searched for a reply.
"It wasn't real." Phil replied, vaguely, buying himself time while he constructed his response. "They were just...messing with my head..." Looking in her eyes, he knew she wasn't buying it. "But, I appreciate your concern." He finished, hoping that an honest remark would be enough to appease her.
"Phil, what's really going on, here?" Well, there went that theory. "You haven't been yourself, at all, since we got back." Skye argued, stepping closer as she lightly gripped the collar of his jacket, drawing his full attention. "This is me, you're talking to." She added, before raising one of her hands to tenderly caress his face. "You know you can always tell me anything..." She insisted.
Phil didn't know if it was her close proximity or if it was the hand on his cheek or the warm sincerity-or desperation, as some may call it-in her voice as she spoke...Maybe it was the combination of the three. He didn't know. But something about one or all of those details brought every last one of his walls crumbling down as a lone frustrated tears escaped down his cheek before she gently wiped it away with her thumb as he spoke. "I just...I can't...Remember...Anything..." He admitted, frustratedly.
His first reaction was regret when he immediately felt her withdraw her hands from his collar and his face as she retracted away from him. Had it been a mistake? He couldn't help wondering if he should have kept his struggles to himself. But, those concerns faded as he watched her cover her mouth in shock at his statement. "My God..." She breathed, stunned by Phil's admission. She had just assumed that he was just in shock or had experienced something traumatic that just didn't want to talk about. But, this?! This, she never would have expected! "You don't...remember anything?" She asked, in awe. "At all?"
"No..." Phil admitted, as he averted his gaze. However, he soon felt Skye's warm, soft, hands gently forcing him to look at her.
Staring into the eyes of the man that she loved-even if she could never admit it, aloud-Skye saw the pain and frustration written in them and ached for it. Unable to stand the sight of his struggle any longer, she wrapped her arms around him, drawing him into a hug. At first, she felt him tense against her body, but it took everything she had to hold back a relieved sigh as he finally relaxed into the embrace.
Burying his face in the crook of her neck, Phil felt something he hadn't felt in far too long. Safe. Here in these arms, he felt at home...As if nothing could ever touch him. And, right now, he was craving that feeling. Tightening his grip on the young woman in his arms, he silently prayed the moment would never end. Here, in her arms, he could pretend that everything was fine. That he wasn't missing God only knew how much of his own memory. As Skye buried her own face in his shoulder, he couldn't hold in the soft sigh.
Finally, as all good things always do...The moment came to an end as Skye slowly withdrew from his arms. Fortunately, she only moved far enough away to look him straight in the eye, as she asked "Do you remember anything? About being taken? About Mike Peterson? About Reina?" Slowly, Skye felt her heart sinking lower and lower as each question was met with a regretful shake of the head.
"I can't remember anything after the battle of New York..." Phil admitted, shamefully. "I don't remember this plane or...or any of you..."
Finally stepping back, fully, Skye barely covered the shocked gasp as the full gravity of what Phil just said sank in. "Oh my God..." She breathed. "You don't remember me? Or Ward or May or Fitzsimmons or...Or any of us?..." She wondered, softly. She had heard him all too well, the first time. But, some masochistic part of her brain needed to him repeat it.
"No..." The tired desperation in Phil's voice tore Skye's heart to pieces within her chest. As he watched her taking in everything he was saying, Phil found himself momentarily mesmerized by the way he could almost literally see the gears turning in her mind as she analyzed the situation.
Finally, his trance was broken when she turned toward the lab and shouted "JEMMA!" After the ringing in his ears subsided, Phil watched as a brunette with a fairer complexion than Skye's joined their conversation.
"Yes, Skye?" The brunette, apparently named 'Jemma', replied through her thick British accent.
"We have a serious problem..." Skye replied, dropping her voice to a lever slightly lower than usual. "Coulson doesn't remember anything...At all..."
Glancing back forth between the hacker and the senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Jemma offered her first logical conclusion. "Well, it's not at all uncommon for people who have just experienced something horribly traumatic to-"
"I'm not saying he doesn't remember anything about being taken..." Skye clarified, impatiently. "I'm saying he doesn't remember anything...About anything..."
Jemma's eyes widened as she finally understood the full meaning of what Skye was saying. "What?!" She breathed, just as stunned as Skye had been when she found out.
"He said he can't remember anything after the battle of New York..." Skye elaborated as she stepped over to stand next to Phil before lightly laying one hand over his shoulder as the other gently landed on his chest as she looked up at him while speaking to Jemma, once again. "He doesn't remember any of us..."
"Bloody hell..." Jemma breathed, still struggling to wrap her mind around the situation. Looking into the eyes of the man she looked up to as both a mentor and a friend, she could see that Skye was right. There was no recognition written in the piercing blue orbs, whatsoever. Just a vulnerable desperation to remember anything about anything around him. Her heart ached to give the man the answer he so desperately sought. I just don't know how...She thought to herself, desperately. "Come on..." She replied, taking a light grip on Phil's free arm to lead him to the lab. "I need to examine you...I need to see exactly what we're up against..." And, if there's any way in hell that I can stand a chance of solving it...That part, she left unsaid. God knew Phil had enough on his mind. He didn't need any of it compounded with her own worries.
Author's Note:
Well, whadda y'all think? Was it okay? Did ya like it? Do you want me to continue? If you want more, ya gotta leave a review and tell me! I hope you've enjoyed my little offering!
~Skye Coulson
