Chapter One
Melinda May opened her front door to the familiar sight of Phil Coulson. He stood before her, mutely, his face a mask of nothing, dull and lethegic. It sent her blood pressure rising.
"What's wrong," she asked concerned. He looked awful, he was jacketless, the fabric of his shirt wrinkled and... She would have to say grubby. The cuff were undone the sleeves showing tell tell signs of creases that signified being rolled up, not unusual for Phil, especially when he was stressed. The difference here was the casual way they had been pulled down without being re-fastened.
She tried to think back to when she had seen him last, it must have been Saturday lunch time, Phil had taken a rare night off, he had been fine then. It was Monday morning now, Sunday being her day off. Since then something big must have happened to reduce her usually stoic boss to the crumpled figure now before her.
"Nick... he-s dead," he looked up with tears in his eyes.
"What..." She moved forward and reached for him, he came into her arms willingly which was the biggest tell of his emotional state. She kicked the door shut with her foot.
"Car accident, early hours of Sunday morning, I've spent the whole time at the hospital," the last few words were sobbed out of the man, "but there was nothing they could do," May held on tight as he fell apart.
Nick Fury had been Phil's husband and long time partner in all things until recently. Fury, the bastard had broken it off four months ago, leaving Phil devastated. If May were honest she had never really liked Fury, he had been controlling and overbearing, especially in his relation with the man in front of her. In her opinion, her best friend was too good for him but they had been together a long time, longer than the time they had been friends even.
Over the last few months she had seen Phil withdraw into himself and she hadn't like it but she felt sure he could work his way out of it and find someone 'better'.
One of the major problems had been that Fury and Coulson were business partners in the restaurant, it hadn't helped with the break up there was nothing clean about it.
Phil was the peoples man, he basically ran the restaurant day to day. Fury, never one to get his hands dirty was the money man; he had done the accountancy and kept things afloat but with the split things had been very strained between them and May suspected that Phil had backed away from as much contact with the man as he could. Coulson had told her a few months back, that Fury was refusing to allow Phil to upgrade some of the equipment in the kitchens. When Phil had asked the imposing man if he could buy Nick's share out, the door had pretty much physically and metaphorically been slammed in his face, which left Coulson's hands pretty much tied with all the contracts.
She lead him over to the couch and sat down beside him as he rested his head on her shoulder, he looked a mess, for all the crap Fury had thrown at him he'd still had feelings for the jerk (May winced internally it didn't seem quite right calling him a jerk now he was dead but he was every bit that while he was alive). He'd passed up the best guy he could ever expect to find and left him on the scrap heap still expecting him to run the business that he took a large percentage of the profits from. All the while he ran around like a playboy, dressed up to the nines in a mix of gangster and daddy kink leather tench coat, and Phil had to work like a dog just to keep everything ticking over.
"Have you slept?" May asked gently.
He shook his head.
"I'm going to get you a cup of tea and then you can stretch out on the couch for a few hours okay?" She would offer him her bed, but she knew it was pointless, he was an old fashioned guy like that, he wouldn't take it.
He roused a little by her side and croaked, " I need to go and open up."
"No Phil, not today, I'll call Skye she can go and put a notice on the door."
"We can't afford to lose the customers, May."
"One day isn't going to break the bank Phil, and I won't go demanding a paycheck for today if that helps."
He smiled slightly, and nodded, he looked terribly tired and May suspected he really wouldn't have the energy to move if he tried.
She left him sitting staring out completely stunned by what had happened. She put some water on to boil, shut the kitchen door, picked up the phone and quickly dialled Skye's number. It only rang twice before Skye's bright and cheery voice answered.
...
"Yo May, what can I do for you today."
"Skye."
The young girl picked up the tone straight away and sobered, "What's wrong?"
"Skye, I need you to go to the restaurant and put a sign on the door that we aren't opening today."
"Shit, what's happened, we never close. Is it AC?" She pleaded.
"Skye," she said quietly conscious of the man in the other room. "Phil is here with me, he's okay, but Nick was killed in a car crash yesterday."
"Oh God," Skye repeated in not much more than a hiss. "Is... Phil is he okay, no, god that's a stupid question is there anything I can do?"
"Ah, perhaps you could let the others know, be careful with Jemma, I think she was one of the few of us that actually liked the guy," she tried not to sound too bitter.
"Of course. I can do that. Can I... Maybe... Come around later, I take it AC is staying with you?" She asked using the nickname that only Skye used for Phil.
It had come about a couple of years ago when Phil and Fury had stopped by on their way to some swanky do that Nick was dragging his husband to at one of the more upmarket casino's in town. The staff had listened all day to how it really wasn't Phil's scene but Nick had apparently insisted it was good PR and networking was the name of the game these days. The restaurant was very much Phil's baby, so no one was that surprised that Phil drop in on the way to their night out. He had walked in wearing a tux, and Skye's, well let's face it, every woman's eyes in the restaurant had pretty much popped out at the sight. He had looked stunning, and Skye had immediate swooned, and jokingly said, "Oh... my...god... its James Bond."
He had laughed and jested back, "That's Agent Coulson to you Skye."
"Oh, AC you've made all the ladies go weak at the knees." She loved teasing him and sure enough she gotten a little blush and head dip out of him.
Fury had been miserable as always (really Skye couldn't understand what Phil saw in the guy, but he clearly adored him, otherwise he won't put up with the way he was treated by the man.) Fury had frequently looked at his watch and then grumbled, "Hurry up Phil, we are going to be late, I only agreed to come in here to stop you whining so much." Skye had shot the man an irritated glare, he ignored her as he usually did all the staff apart from May, who Skye felt, had the measure of the man, and for some reason he didn't fuck with her. When she had turned back to Phil he had looked deflated, but mumbled about just checking in the kitchen. Skye hadn't seen them leave, but the AC nickname had stuck.
She was brought back to present when May said worriedly, "I'll give you a ring and let you know what's going on, right now I've persuaded him to lay down on the couch. It happened early yesterday morning, Skye, from what little information he has given up I think he's been at the hospital ever since, he looks wrecked."
"Poor Phil." She muttered sadly, "I'll get to the restaurant now and get in touch with the others let them know what's going on and not to bother either of you."
"Thanks Skye, I'll speak to you later."
...
May replace the phone on the charger and sighed, Skye was a good girl, Phil and her had warmed to each other straight off, she was damn good at her job too. Apart from herself and Phil of course, she was the only other full time member of staff Phil had employed, everyone else was on a part time contract, which suited most of them as they tended to be students working through college. May herself had been very sceptical about the girl, she had practically come off the streets and on first look she had been wild and brash. Typically of Coulson, he had seen something in her, had nurtured her, moulded her into the job, and May conceded that she would make a fine manager one day. She already ran front of house efficiently and had paid back Coulson in spades with her work ethic and loyalty.
May finished off the tea and head back into the other room two cups balanced in one hand. Phil was exactly as she had left him and when she came around the chair he looked up at her with a rather watery smile and took one of the cups with his two hands as she offered it to him. She went and sat in the chair by the couch. She wanted to drink her tea quickly and then get him to settle down for a few hours sleep, hopefully.
She watched as he stared at the hot liquid making no effort to actually drink it, "You okay Phil?" She knew the answer of course, but she really just wanted to hear him speak, he wasn't an overly talkative man at the best of times but he wasn't a quiet one either, he had a tendency to babble in an utterly charming way, although he had definitely been more reserved since his marriage breakup, but he was still as warm and generous with his time as ever. She loved him dearly and would always stick by him, he was an odd mix of strength and vulnerability, the brother she never had.
"Tired," he sighed.
"Drink your tea, I've spoken to Skye, she's going to sort out the restaurant, you don't need to worry about that, okay?"
He quirked his lips up at her, "Yes ma'am."
"Good boy," she jested back. She grew serious, "I don't remember either of you mentioned anyone, did he have any family?"
"No, both his parents were long gone, no siblings," he sighed, "I'll have to deal with the arrangements."
Melinda could cry for him, it didn't seem fair that he was going to have to sort out his estranged husbands estate, nevertheless, they had still been business partners so she supposed that a lot of it would have tied Phil in anyway.