Author's Notes: Second fanfiction in just a few months, what the hey. I swear, this fandom is giving me all the plot bunnies. Who else loved Andrew Garner? Also, I seem to be having a thing for colors, but this isn't necessarily a companion piece to Silver.
Disclaimer: And yes, I borrowed lines from the show again, but I'm entirely responsible for putting more meanings and feelings into them.
BLACK
She was a vision in black.
Andrew has always loved how the dark hue stood out against the paleness of her skin—the color highlighting her petite yet toned frame, her ebony locks framing her delicate features. The contrast made her look more intimidating than her reputation preceded, and yet it was one of the things about her that caught his eye all those years ago.
Even though he hasn't seen her in a long time, Melinda May was still a vision in black, and it took his breath away.
As good as she was sneaking up on people, she had always commanded his attention, and when he saw her out of the corner of his eye at Culver, he felt the pull immediately.
"It's messy and..." he trailed off, losing his train of thought momentarily. "... and surprising." He hastily excused himself from his student, moving past him and down the stairs. He glanced around the area as he descended, trying to determine if she came alone or otherwise; he could feel her eyes on him, although what she was trying to determine, it wasn't clear.
That was the thing about Melinda: He could never read her, and for someone who made a living out of figuring people out, that was frustrating. Once upon a time, it drove him crazy—enough to fall in love with her, but after Bahrain, it only made him feel so helpless.
"Long time," he stated, giving his ex-wife a slight nod. She was a vision in black, and he wondered how she could still be so beautiful, after all these years and after all the battles she's fought.
She looked as guarded as he felt, although she had always been an enigma to him. "Yeah," she answered. "S.H.I.E.L.D. needs your help," she added after a brief pause.
S.H.I.E.L.D. needs him. She needs him. He felt that familiar, although long dormant, soaring of his heart—an effect she always had on him, every time she asked for his help and he could try and prove that he could give that to her.
She was a vision in black, with a smile on her face that made her heartbreakingly beautiful.
Andrew marveled that she was actually doing so, and even more so that he was the one who made it happen. After Bahrain, it seemed as if he would never get to see her smile again, but the curl of her lips and the happy sound of her laugh that filled the air after a moment were real—so real, in fact, that he felt his heartstrings being tugged.
"You look good," he had said just a moment ago, and now he wondered if he could take it back and say what he really meant: You're beautiful.
Just hours of being with her, and he was falling all over again.
She was a vision in black, yet the sight of Melinda in battle made reality crash in on his indulgent fantasies of starting over anew with her.
This was one of their biggest marital problems, in the first place. She was an agent, and while he's had his time with S.H.I.E.L.D., he was more of a doctor than anything else. She can need him from time to time, but he can't always help her, and he hated seeing her in situations when there was nothing he could do.
S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn't changed. She hasn't changed. And with that, he knew, even if they had one more chance together, it would still end up the same way as the first time did.
"There was a reason I moved on back then," he told her as they stood by one of the company vehicles ready to take him back to Culver. "I have another reason now," he concluded, the words weighing more than what was actually said.
She was a vision in black when he walked away from a life with her the second time around.
End.