"You saw Agent Hand's ghost?" Skye said.
Jemma nodded as she fought back tears. Agent Hand had come back to haunt them. She wasn't surprised, not really. After all, it had been a member of their team who had murdered her. And they hadn't taken any steps to recover her body or have a service for her. With the Hydra situation and Ward, and now what was happening with Director Coulson, Agent Hand had completely slipped through the cracks. Jemma felt tears slipping down her cheeks and she didn't try to hold them back now. Poor Agent Hand. She had done so much for Shield and then they had just let her slip through the cracks. It wasn't fair and it was really no wonder that she had came back to haunt them.
"Hey, it's okay." Trip said. "What happened?"
Jemma blinked, trying to pull herself together. "I was trying not to look too much at everything, and I must have taken a wrong turn because when I looked up the two of you were gone. I was trying to find you, but there are so many little rooms, I got turned around and I was still trying not to look. And then I bumped something, and she was right there! Agent Hand! She's came back to haunt us!"
"Agent Hand's haunting a sex shop. Is anyone really surprised by that?" Skye murmured. "Jemma, calm down, it's okay."
"You were trying not to look at the stuff in here, right?" Trip said. "So you were trying not to look, you bumped into someone and maybe you thought it was Agent Hand because you didn't get a good look at them. That has to be what happened."
"Agent Hand?" Fitz said as he hurried down the hall, his arms loaded down with packages and a shocked expression on his face. "You saw her too?"
"Fitz?" Skye said as she looked closer at the items he was carrying. "Why do you have ten packages of edible underwear, and is that chocolate body paint?"
"I was looking for some dip for the smores bars, and some snacks for later. Agent Hand, Jemma, you saw her too?"
"I did." Jemma said. "Back that way. Fitz, you saw her too?"
Fitz nodded. "I was just trying the chocolate, and maybe I opened one of the packs to make sure it was fresh for the ride home and then she was there! She just popped up out of nowhere and yelled at me to stop eating things I hadn't paid for! She told me to get out! She wanted to know if Coulson knew I was here! It was her!"
"It was her! She's come back to haunt us! She must blame us for her death! I knew it was her, I just knew it!" Jemma moaned.
"Calm down! Both of you calm down!" Skye told them. "Come on, we don't need to draw attention, remember? It couldn't have been Agent Hand's ghost. Fitz, you were eating. How good a look could you have gotten anyway? It had to have been another customer, or didn't Ms. LaRue say something about a niece?"
"She mentioned Coulson, though. How would the ghost have known about Coulson unless it was Agent Hand?" Fitz asked.
"Maybe we let something slip?" Trip suggested, even though he was almost sure they hadn't.
"Or maybe Agent Hand is haunting us. Maybe she blames us for her death! Or for not giving her a proper funeral!" Jemma moaned.
"Come on. She's been dead for awhile. If she was going to haunt us, wouldn't she have shown up before now?" Although maybe the store they were visiting had lead to the ghostly appearance? No, Skye was not going to let herself go down that road. That road could only lead to a permanent ghostly presence.
"Excuse me, but is there some sort of problem?" Effie called as she came down the hall. "I thought I heard shouting."
"A ghost! We saw a ghost!" Fitz exclaimed before Skye or Trip could think of some sort of cover story.
"A ghost?" Effie said. "You saw her?"
"Saw…. Wait, there is a ghost here?" Trip asked.
"There used to be an old tavern here." Effie said with a nod. "Parts of it were actually used when the house was built. The story is that the tavern keeper's daughter walked the halls of the old building, and some people have said they they spotted her in the old sections of this house, but I can't say I've ever seen anything myself." She looked closely at Fitz and Jemma. "The two of you really did see something?"
"It was horrible." Jemma murmured.
"Terrifying!" Fitz said.
"I can't say that the ghost has ever done much more than startle people before but apparently she really shook the two of you up. Why don't you come to the front and have some cookies to calm your nerves? Everything's better after cookies."
"Are the two of you okay?" Skye asked as they got into the van after a much longer stay for cookies than they had planned.
Jemma nodded, even though she still felt a cold chill just thinking of what she had seen. Agent Hand, she was sure it had been Agent Hand, but nothing else had happened the entire time they were there. Could she have been mistaken? As they pulled out of the parking lot she turned to look back at the house, and then gasped. There, going down a path in the rear, it was Agent Hand! "Drive! Quick!" She shouted as she grabbed for Fitz. It hadn't been a mistake! It hadn't been some other ghost! Agent Hand had came back to haunt them!