That night Phil and Melinda hadn't gone to sleep. There was too much work to do. Ward was a Hydra mole and God only knew how many others were there.
It was vital to expose them and save the others, to create new safe houses the moles could not know of.
The future of S.H.I.E.L.D. was in their tired hands.
"Alright, so, moving from here to here," said Phil pointing to the holographic maps ahead, "We should get to our checkpoint without being noticed."
"Unless they installed some kind of alarm. In that case-"

May never got to finish that sentence.
As she was speaking those words, her eyes had been captured by a live feed on the screens in front of her.
"Phil!" she said pointing the little screen streaming from Skye's bunk.
The girl was extremely agitated. She was sleeping; a nightmare from which she probably couldn't escape.
She was tossing and turning and almost crying from how much scared she was.
"We have to get to her!" Phil stated.
Melinda nodded and they were both already on the go.

The woman knew exactly what was going on with poor Skye. It happened almost every night to her since Bahrain. And almost every night Phil knew how to calm her down. Most times they would sleep together in her bed, large enough to avoid any kind of physical contact. But it would have been lame to deny that they had sometimes woken up in a comfortable embrace, or with their hands entwined.
Whatever relationship they had, was evolving like that. Slow but relentless. He was the one who kept her nightmares away, the one that made her sleep safe. How could she not fall for him?
"It's locked from the inside. Damn it!" she grumbled as soon as she got outside Skye's room.
"Let me handle it." Phil stepped in

It was only a split second. His fingers brushed against hers. The shivers he felt lasted a lot longer.
As he got set to break into Skye's room, he remembered all those times he had done the same with Melinda's door, before the one gave in and left it open, an obstacle less to the end of her nightmares.
The first time he had found her like that he had almost burst into tears himself. Melinda, his Melinda, reduced to a scared kitten, a defenseless puppy.
The woman always concealed her pain ad her fears and at night they came back to haunt her.
And he did his best to send them away. It had been difficult at first, but then she stopped trying to resist. Very often now he would sleep in her room, holding her hand or embracing her during the night. It was a remarkable progress in their relationship, and to him it was enough. He could see in her eyes that she liked it too, that she finally felt safe. He had fallen in love with her too long ago and lately he felt his feelings were almost returned.

"Here we go." He said turning the handle one last time.
Skye was screaming and crying, holding on to the blankets and throwing kicks in the air.
"Whatever it is, it is tormenting her." Phil said stepping closer to the girl's bed.
Melinda couldn't speak. "Phil, do I.."
"Do the same?" Phil finished for her. "No Mel, at times even worse. But hey, we always made it to the morning, right?"
We. The fact that Phil had spoken in plural had somewhat reassuring with it.
"Skye..Skye it's me. It's Coulson. Listen to my voice. I know you're there. Whatever it is, it is not real. You-"
"You're just having a nightmare. And you're strong enough to get out of there. Follow my voice Skye. Follow it and you'll be safe." Melinda continued, delivering the lines she was used to hear from Phil.
He looked at her with a huge smile and two eyes that Melinda knew were in love with here the moment she saw them.
Only Andrew had looked at her like that, and it was their wedding day.

Skye was still shaking, still screaming and crying,
"Skye, hey. Listen to me. This is Coulson speaking and May is with me. We know it took us a bit to get to you, but now we are here. You can do this, Skye. Come to us."

In her nightmare Skye was at the orphanage. Another family had brought her back and now they were punishing her for that. "I only wanted a family!" she screamed. "Why can't I have a family? Why can't anyone love me?"
The woman who was dragging her upstairs turned to her. "Skye, hey. Listen to me, this is Coulson speaking."
Why did the woman have a man's voice? "May is with me,"
May. Coulson and May. "We know it took us a bit to get to you, but now we are here."
The door of the orphanage wide opened , revealing the two Agents in their S.H.I.E.L.D. uniforms. All the kids ran out, running for their freedom.
"You can do this Skye. Come to us."
Skye looked the perfidious woman right in the eyes. "Farewell you ugly witch." She wiggled out of her grip and ran to May and Coulson. "I do have a family. Look at them. They're Agents Coulson and May and they're y family. They protect me. They love me. And they love each other."

And while Skye was hugging the imaginary Coulson and May, she opened her eyes to the real ones that couldn't believe the words she had said and didn't even notice she was awake.
"Phil.."
"Mel.."
"She just said-" Melinda had tears in her eyes.
"I know. And she's right, Mel. We are her family. And I love you."
"I.."
"Oh, come on. It's obvious you love him too." A sleepy voice coming from behind said.
"Skye. Oh, thank God."
"Thank you! And I'm sorry you had to intervene. Though I'm glad you did. By the way, I was sincere in my dream. I couldn't wish for a better family than this."

Phil was still staring at Melinda and the woman, in the grip of so many emotions she couldn't elaborate, took his hand and Skye's simultaneously.
"I think it's impossible to deny at this point. You framed us, Skye. We really are a family now." She said smiling, something that she did very rarely. "Oh and, Phil," she turned to him squeezing Skye's hand as if to take strength from her, "I love you too."

Skye's squeal that served as background for their first kiss, is one of the sounds none of them will ever forget.