Melinda squinted into the morning light that woke her. She blocked the sun with her hand, even though it hurt to move her arms. Everything was sore. She stretched uncomfortably and managed to stand. Somehow, she had slept for hours in that chair, and now she was paying for it. She rolled her neck, the sorest part of her body, a few times, hoping to stretch the muscles.

She probably looked like death, but she didn't care who saw her. It had been a rough night on everyone. They would understand. Except, as she thought about it, she didn't want Skye to see her for some reason. The other woman had seen too much vulnerability already, though admittedly, she had hardly seen anything. It was the idea that she might that bothered Melinda.

Pushing open the door, she stepped into the empty hallway. The bus was quiet as she made her way to a bathroom. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it for a moment. Her body begged to go back to sleep. Forcing herself to move, she turned the facet on and splashed cold water onto her face.

Feeling a little more awake, she looked into the mirror. She could see the hard lines that this job had left on her face over the years. Gently, she traced over them, wondering when she had begun to look so tired.

You know when, a nasty voice tugging from the back of her mind replied.

It was Bahrain that had taken the light from her eyes and the warmth from her smile. Bahrain was the reason for her exhaustion, and as hard as she tried, she couldn't shake that demon from her shoulder.

She exited the bathroom feeling no better. She stalked through the hallways like a ghost. No one approached her; not even Coulson. No doubt they were all scared of her when she got like this. Her face reflected the anger within, and it kept them away. She didn't mind. She needed to be left alone.

Upon entering the room with the large screen, Melinda nearly groaned. There sat Skye, looking annoyingly cheerful and awake. "Good morning, May," she greeted her.

"Good morning," Melinda grumbled back.

"We intercepted a message from Centipede. Coulson asked if I could hack into it and read it," she explained, motioning towards the numbers moving about the screen.

"Can you?" Melinda asked.

Skye gave her a disbelieving look and answered, "Of course."

Despite her black mood, Melinda chuckled slightly. Skye glanced back in surprise before quickly masking it. The other women wasn't a hardened agent yet. Her face could still be an open book. Melinda smiled with amusement before catching herself. She frowned quickly, hoping Skye hadn't seen.

Within a few minutes, the numbers turned into letters. They were randomly placed, spelling nothing recognizable. "And we have another code," Skye announced sarcastically. "Yay."

This time, Melinda was powerless to stop the warm laugh that escaped her, causing Skye to join in. With her bad mood gone, she let herself smile. After all, it was just a smile. It wouldn't bring the walls she had built up crashing down.

"Give me a few minutes, and I'll have this decoded," Skye added, typing in things Melinda knew nothing about. Hacking was Skye's world, and though she would never admit it, Melinda admired her computer skills.

"May, can you meet me in the lab?" Coulson's voice rang in her ears.

"On my way," Melinda responded. Turning the earpiece off, she addressed Skye. "I'm headed down to the lab. Good luck here."

"Luck has nothing to do with it," Skye responded as she left.

Melinda chuckled one more time before putting her scowl back in place, but her heart just wasn't in it. Skye had made her feel warm, and it scared her. If she opened herself up to that, she would feel everything that she had been trying to shut out over the past few years. Letting the good in wouldn't help; it would only get drowned out by the pain she had been blocking out since Bahrain.

Being cold and occasionally mean was how Melinda survived. If she let all those feelings in, she would eventually go mad. Still, being with Skye, she wanted to let herself open up again. She wanted to be like her.

Angrily, she shoved those thoughts away. She could never go back to how she was. Her mood had turned sour again by the time she pushed open the lab doors. "What is it?" she snapped.

To his credit, Coulson didn't flinch. "How quickly can you get us to the hub?" he asked, not looking up from his work at the microscope.

"A few hours," Melinda responded. "You couldn't have asked that over the intercom?"

Coulson turned to face her, looking at her in concern. "I also wanted to ask if you were okay."

Melinda's face softened. "I'm fine," she replied.

"I know last night may have brought up some painful memories," he continued.

"I'm fine," Melinda repeated forcefully. "If that's all, I will go ahead and get us into the air."

Coulson nodded, still watching her with worry. She stalked out, scowling at the ground. Today was going to be a long day.