Author's Note: So I probably shouldn't work on too many stories at once, but this was demanding to be written and keeping me from focusing on anything else. I'll still update everything as regularly as I can, which will be more often as soon as finals are over.

Disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever, own Agents of Shield.

Melinda's eyes shot open in panic. They scanned the room quickly. The only familiar thing they could find was Coulson, who was dozing off in a chair next to her. She blinked in confusion as she pushed herself into a sitting position. At the sound of her movements, Coulson jerked awake. "Melinda!" he exclaimed. "Thank goodness you're finally awake."

"Where am I?" Melinda asked. The words felt like sandpaper against her dry throat.

"The Playground," Coulson answered.

Melinda racked her brain, but she had no memory of a base called 'The Playground'. "What happened? How did I get here?"

"You went on a mission that ended badly. Simmons said that you might be experiencing some memory loss. What's the last thing you remember?"

The world could be ending, and Coulson would still be calm. Though it could be infuriating at times, right now it was reassuring. Focusing on his voice was the only thing keeping Melinda from panicking as she realized just how hazy her memory was. "I've only got bits and pieces of getting a divorce and withdrawing from active duty, but the last clear thing I can remember is you telling me to let the girl go," she said finally.

A look of surprise broke out over Coulson's usually calm face. His eyes widened, and his lips parted slightly. A sense of dread settled into Melinda's stomach as she carefully observed him. "Melinda, that was seven years ago," he said.

"No," Melinda responded automatically. "That can't be right."

Coulson gently touched her hand, and Melinda was reminded of a certain child that she was trying very hard not to think about. She flinched away, ignoring the hurt on his face. Instead, she focused on her breathing, which was quickly growing out of control.

"You went on a mission with Agent Morse to find a rogue Hydra member when you were shot with a device that causes temporary memory loss, according to Simmons," Coulson explained gently.

"How temporary?" Melinda demanded.

"Unfortunately, we have no way of knowing for sure. Simmons said it should only be a few weeks," Coulson answered.

Melinda swallowed hard. Her heart rate was increasing, and she found herself powerless to control it. Her breaths came in faster until she was hyperventilating. She wrapped her arms tightly around her stomach, hoping to provide herself some form of comfort as her body spiraled out of control.

"Melinda, you need to calm down," she could hear Coulson saying. "Breathe deeply."

"I can't," she choked out. Melinda brought her knees to her chest and buried her head. It was all too much.

"I know that you're disoriented and overwhelmed, but you can do this," Coulson said, encouragingly. He sat with her in silence as she fought to get her panic under control. When she could breathe normally again, she forced herself to look into Coulson's eyes.

"That's never happened to me before," Melinda said.

Coulson smiled kindly. Something was different about it, and that scared Melinda, because the man in front of her may no longer be the man she knew. A lot could happen to a person in seven years, especially in their line of work, and people could change.

"I would be more surprised if you didn't panic," Coulson replied calmly. "This is a lot to take in for anybody. Even you."

"Has it really been seven years?" she asked with a shaky voice.

"I'm afraid so."

The pair sat in silence for a moment. Melinda twirled the soft bed sheet around in her fingers as she scanned the room again. She appeared to be in some kind of quarantine box, except the door was open so she must not be that badly off. With a sigh, she leaned back and closed her eyes. "So, what's happened in the past seven years?" she asked, dreading the answer. Her heart was beginning to pound again, and she could feel bile rising in the back of her throat. She considered telling Coulson to wait to tell her, but the uncertainty was eating her alive. She needed to know, even if it completely overwhelmed her.

"Quite a lot, actually," Coulson replied, seemingly oblivious to her distress. "You've got a lot to catch up on."

"What happened to May?"

Upon Skye's arrival in the almost empty lab, Jemma looked up from her work and smiled warmly at her friend. "How much did they tell you?" she asked.

Skye crossed the room to lean across the counter from Jemma. "I ran into Bobbi. She told me that May got hit with some weird Hydra disc and lost her memory," she explained. "She seemed pretty worried, but she said that Coulson was with her."

"That's good," Jemma replied, nodding. "She'll need someone to explain what's happening when she wakes up."

"And what is happening?" Skye questioned.

Jemma gestured to the metal disc in front of her. The underside of it was covered in blood and barbs and wires. Tentatively, Skye reached out to touch the hydra symbol on the top of it. The steel was cold, and she quickly withdrew her hand. "What is it?" she asked.

"It's similar to what Hydra was using to disintegrate people, except this is designed to send out electrical impulses that cause memory loss. Luckily for us, the design is still being perfected, and the effects are only temporary," Jemma explained. "Coulson asked me to look at it to make sure, and it's the same model. May should make a full recovery in a few weeks."

Skye breathed a sigh of relief and slumped against the counter. She checked her heart monitor and was unsurprised to find that her pulse was high. After a few deep breaths, she brought it back down again. Now that she knew her SO was okay, she could relax.

"May also shouldn't completely lose her memory. Only a good chunk of it will be gone. She probably won't remember who we are," Jemma added.

Skye swallowed a lump in her throat and nodded. "That's alright. Because she'll get it back. Right?"

"Right," Jemma assured her. "I know this will be tough, but May's our friend, and we have to help her."

"Right, of course," Skye replied absentmindedly, nodding to herself. Her thoughts were back with May, wondering if she was hurt or frightened, or if she was even awake. What was the last thing she remembered?

Skye started when the door opened, pulling her out of her thoughts. She turned to see Coulson standing in the doorway looking worse for wear. Though his expression always remained neutral, his eyes gave his worry away.

"Is she alright?" Skye asked.

Coulson nodded as he walked closer. "She just woke up a short while ago with no memory of anything since what happened in Bahrain seven years ago. I filled her in. Now, she needs to rest."

Skye and Jemma nodded in unison and exchanged looks of relief. "Thank you for the update, sir," Jemma replied.

"Can I go see her?" Skye asked.

"Not now," Coulson answered gently.

Skye bit back her disappointment and nodded. "Just tell me that she really is alright."

"Of course. She's May, after all."

Skye remained unconvinced, but she said nothing as the Director excused himself and left the lab. She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. It was shaping up to be a very rough day, and her muscles ached as proof. She knew she should leave it, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was very wrong. She knew Coulson, and his eyes suggested that he was lying.

"I'm going to check on her anyways," Skye decided.

"Are you sure that's wise? May is probably very distressed, and you wouldn't want to make it worse."

"I'm sure," Skye answered with conviction. "She needs me."

"Skye, I get that the two of you are close now, but she needs rest," Jemma replied firmly.

With a sigh of defeat, Skye nodded. "You're probably right."

Melinda awoke next in a tangle of limbs and sheets, unable to determine where she began. As hard as she tried, she couldn't slow her breathing as she fought against the blanket wrapped around her legs. She kicked it free and brought her knees up to her chest. She wrapped her arms tightly around them and buried her head, hoping to create some sort of shell to protect her from the outside world. As she shivered, she knew that it wasn't the outside world that she needed to worry about, but it was all she could do.

The voice of Katya was still echoing inside her head, even after awakening from her nightmare. Melinda couldn't erase the child's eyes from her mind; couldn't un-see that outstretched hand as the girl advanced towards her. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, but it didn't matter. The girl was still there.

Melinda jumped at the sound of the door opening. Her eyes flew up to meet a pair of unfamiliar ones, yet as Melinda stared, she could sense that she knew this girl. She went over what Coulson had told her, trying to put a name to the face.

"I'm sorry," the other women began. "I probably shouldn't have come, but I had to see that you were alright."

Something about her stance reminded Melinda of herself. She held the other women's gaze for a moment, analyzing her. "I am," she finally answered.

The other agent nodded awkwardly and turned to leave. "Right. I'll just go."

"You're Skye, aren't you?" Melinda asked.

She paused for a second before turning back. "How did you know that?" she asked.

"Coulson said I was training someone named Skye. You seemed like the type," Melinda answered. "Besides, it felt right."

Skye continued to stand in the doorway, wringing her hands. Her discomfort was written plainly across her face. Some inexplicable part of Melinda yearned for her. Deciding that it must be her subconscious remembering the girl in front of her, she shifted to her right and patted the space next to her on the bed. "Sit with me."

A look of relief washed over Skye's face as she joined her. Already, Melinda was beginning to feel more relaxed. She could feel her heart in her rib cage easing up, and her breaths came in slow and steady. Leaning back in the bed, she could observe Skye's face as the other agent did the same.

"I'm glad you came," Melinda said, breaking the silence.

"Me too," Skye replied. "And I'm glad that my presence didn't just freak you out more."

Melinda huffed at her response. "I may be disoriented and confused right now, but I know that I know you."

If Skye replied, Melinda didn't hear it because her eyelids were growing heavy, and her mind was shutting down. She tried to fight off the oncoming blackness for a few seconds, but sleep took exhausted body quickly as she collapsed onto her pillow.

With an affectionate smile, Skye brushed the hair out of May's face. Her insides felt warm at other agent's trust in her. For the first time in a while, Skye felt truly happy.

She hadn't meant to come down here, but as her thoughts wandered to May, so did her feet. By the time she had accidentally reached May's door a third time, she knew that she was never going to rest if she didn't check on her.

It had come as a surprise when May trusted her. Skye didn't know what she was expecting, but it wasn't the other women looking so vulnerable and scared. Now that she was asleep, her face took on a more peaceful look that made Skye's stomach tighten.

"Sleep well, May," Skye whispered as she stood to leave.

It had never been harder for her to turn her back on May.

Once she was back wandering the halls, Skye felt like it was finally safe to breathe. Everything was going to be okay, or at least May would be. The thought of something happening to May froze Skye's blood with fear. She cared too much about her SO to see her hurt.

When Skye ended up at her bunk, she smiled to herself. Was this her body's was of telling her that she needed sleep? If it was, she wasn't going to complain. She was exhausted, and a quick power nap to help her get through the rest of the afternoon could only help.

Skye was about to crash onto her inviting bed when she heard a voice coming from her doorway. "Skye? Did you see her?"

She couldn't hide the smile as she turned to face her friend, who was leaning against her doorway. "Yes, Jemma. I don't know how, but it just sorta happened."

Jemma laughed and rolled her eyes. "Of course you did. Is she alright?"

"I think she is," Skye answered honestly.

"Well, you look tired," Jemma replied. "I'll let you sleep."

With her friend gone, Skye collapsed onto her bed and buried her face into her pillow. It didn't take long before she could feel herself drifting off.