It was hours of agony before any of them could move, think straight, do anything. Melinda had managed to stagger to a cab to get home rather than collapsing on Phil's fresh grave, but only succeeded in collapsing onto her living room floor instead. It was agony.

None of them were sure how long it had been when they eventually came to. Their connection wasn't even clear. Melinda pushed herself upright, stumbling to the kitchen for some water. She coughed and felt blood in her mouth. Great. "Guys?"

Izzy wiped her nose. "What the hell happened?"

"Hell if I know." Tori grunted, "If I missed work because of this it is not going to be easy to explain."

Melinda winced, trying to will away the remaining headache. It was like the hangover from hell. "Is it just me, or are we..."

"Fuzzy?" Izzy asked, "Yeah, feels like that."

Tori swallowed two aspirin. "Even Peggy never mentioned anything like this. Or Garrett."

Melinda's conversation was cut short by a knock at her door. All three looked up. "Who's that?"

"Damned if I know." Melinda muttered, peering through the peephole. She froze.

"Agent May." Director Fury said, before she opened the door, "We need to talk."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Melinda swallowed the lump in her throat. "He's alive."

"Yes." Nick said calmly, watching her reaction. "I know it's a lot to take in."

She laughed bitterly. "I- we have been in agony for hours Nick. And now... he's alive."

"Yes."

She sighed, burying her face in her hands. "Why can't I sense him?" She was a mess of days old clothes, covered in dirt, but she didn't care.

Nick leaned back in his chair. Sun streamed through the window onto the table between them. "He's drugged right now, and we're gonna keep it that way for another day or so at least." He steepled his fingers. "Which is why I'm here. He can't know what really happened here."

May rolled her eyes. "And what did happen here?"

Nick didn't quite meet her eyes. "To bring him back, we had to use an experimental procedure. We've been developing it, but so far all we know is that once a patient is aware of what happened to them, their mental state starts to decline."

She bowed her head. "So you told someone with a mental connection with him."

Nick raised an eyebrow. "The way he tells it you've been blocking him out for years. Everyone, actually. Now you just have a reason to."

Melinda glared poisonously. She didn't like being used, even if it was for a good cause. The only cause she had left. "What do you need?"

"He'll come to you in about a week." Nick said. "He's got permission to form his dream team, plane with a bar, the whole works. He's gonna want you on it." She couldn't argue with that. "In the next few days you need to give me a list of agents you want on the team. I'll make him feel like it was his idea, and you'll be all set."

May swallowed. "What about Victoria and Isabelle?" Just saying their names like that felt wrong. She didn't want to drag them into this. It was only her who was broken, only her that needed to block Phil out. They didn't need it. "What are you going to tell them?"

"Same thing everyone's going to hear." He said steadily. "Coulson was dead for a few minutes before resuscitation. His death was a play to get the Avengers to work. He's been on rehab in Tahiti ever since, on some powerful pain medication."

The whole thing put a sour taste in her mouth. "You really think they'll believe that?"

Nick shrugged. "Sure. Memories are being implanted in his mind. They don't need to believe the story if they can see it."

Melinda swallowed the sour taste, the lump in her throat, the bile at this very idea. "I don't like this." She said. "I want you to understand that."

"But?"

She sighed. "But he's alive. And I'm going to keep it that way."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Fitz handed Jemma a glass of water and some pills downing his own. "I don't know what's bloody going on." He groaned. "But I don't like it."

"You and me both." Jemma muttered, "I get enough of people laughing at us for spending time together without our headaches synching up."

Fitz paused. "Uh, Jemma... you know how sometimes- ladies- when it's... you know, that time, of the month," He was turning red, "They- well, they can..." He trailed off, staring at the floor.

Jemma scoffed, "Honestly Fitz, you think you've picked up on my PMS?! I don't even get headaches, and besides, I'm not due for another two weeks!"

"Okay," Fitz cried, turning away, "I did not need to know that Jemma."

She rolled her eyes, going back to her microscope. The lab had that artificial chill to it that couldn't quite permeate her lab coat. "Oh please, it's totally natural! The body sheds the lining of the uterus, menstrual blood flows from the uterus through the opening in the cervix and passes out of the body through the-"

"Okay!" Fitz interrupted, "I get it, just stop!"

A snigger came from behind them. "Nerds."

"What?" Both of them whipped around at the voice. "Who's there?"

The lab was empty. Fitz looked to Jemma. "Y-you definitely heard that, right? And you promise you can't throw your voice?"

Jemma shook her head, walking closer to where the voice came from. "I swear there was someone here, I-I definitely heard it."

Fitz rubbed his eyes. "Maybe we need to take a break. We're working too hard."

Jemma turned, surprised. "How could you say that? Our work is fascinating!"

"I know it's fascinating Jemma, but we're in the lab all the time! I'm just saying maybe we should take a day off every now and then, get some air or something."

Jemma sighed. "I suppose you're right. It can't hurt to leave the lab every once in a while."

Victoria Hand watched from the video feeds. She raised an eyebrow. What were the odds of two members of the same cluster already knowing each other? "I think I've got them." She muttered.

Melinda appeared beside her, looking at the feed. "Maybe." She said. "Hard to tell without testing it."

"Well you know we can't go around staring deeply into every agent's eyes. If any of them even are agents."

"I know." Melinda looked away. "Tori- I'm sorry this happened."

"It wasn't your fault." She said steadily. "We don't blame each other, you know that."

"How's your nose?"

She rolled her eyes. "From that little tap? I've gotten worse from cadets. Sci-tech cadets."

Melinda knew that in any other circumstance she might have smiled. Instead she just said, "Thanks for the help." And went to leave.

"Melinda," Tori's voice stopped her. "Has the connection been feeling strange to you? Over the last day?"

She paused. "A little." May admitted. "It feels... fuzzy. Maybe that's just what happens when we get this small."

"I miss him too you know."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

May managed to make a trip to the labs later that day. She could see the two young scientists bickering a mile away. If they weren't in the same cluster she would be very surprised. Then again, if they were they had played some odds knowing each other before their second birth. She hadn't heard of such a thing before.

The girl, Simmons, caught her eye through the glass and smiled politely.

The shock through her system wasn't one Melinda had felt for a long time. She turned on her heel and walked away.

It was definitely them. She pulled her phone out to call Fury. She knew who she needed for Phil's little dream team.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Skye groaned, sitting up. It was hard to steal aspirin when she could hardly walk in a straight line. What the hell was going on? The sandwich hadn't been that bad, but it was enough that she was hallucinating British scientists?

She pulled her laptop over, checking the news. More on the battle of New York. She glared at the screen. SHIELD. She hated SHIELD. Hiding the truth from those who needed it most. Families broken up because they thought they knew best. What gave them the right?

Skye started the recording on her laptop, clearing her throat. "The secret is out." She said, letting herself speak freely. She could edit it later.

Skye listened to the rain on the roof of her van. She didn't know what was going to happen to her by picking a fight with SHIELD like this. She didn't really care. It wasn't like they could hurt her any more than they already had. Any more and any of the homes she'd been to had.

She wasn't feeling sorry for herself. She was just tired of relying on other people. She didn't need them, but so many kids like her did need answers. So many were lost and alone because of SHIELD's secrets.

A sound outside her ran made her look up, and Skye looked to the window. Curly hair, blue eyes. She stared. The same hallucination twice? That couldn't be right. She waved.

He turned. He looked confused. Scared. Skye went for her side door. "Hello?" She called, the rain pounding on her head in the warm spring air. "Who are you?"

But when she made it to the front of the van, no one was there.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Part of her was dreading that feeling of Phil coming back. Having to distance herself from him when he had died, and all she wanted was to see him again, feel him again, touch him again.

But she couldn't. For both their sakes.

May was asleep when she felt that flickering feeling across their minds. Feeling sick, she tried to force it back. She rubbed her eyes, feeling a headache coming on, and decided to start her tai chi. She wasn't sure she could do this.

"Melinda."

Just that one word was enough to bring her walls crashing down. "Phil." Before she knew what she was doing, May was hugging him tighter than she'd hugged anyone in her life, both of them collapsed to the floor of her apartment in the dark.

"Ssshhh, it's okay." He soothed, stroking her hair, and it was only then that May noticed she was trembling. She knew that Fury wouldn't lie to her about this, but part of her hadn't accepted that he was alive until that moment.

She took a gasping breath. "We thought we lost you."

"You did." He murmured, holding her tightly. "But I'm back now. I'm back." Phil squeezed her tighter, "God Mel I'm so sorry, I was so scared..."

She squeezed her eyes shut to keep from crying. "Don't do that ever again."

"I won't." He promised. "I'm sorry, I- I should have been paying more attention."

She bit back a sob. "I'm the one who decided to birth a cluster in the middle of the battle of New York."

"You didn't know it was going to happen. None of us did." All she could feel from him was forgiveness and love. It would be so easy to just give in to it. Give in to him. "It was too late by the time we realised."

Melinda shivered. "I missed you so much."

"It was less than a week." He murmured, then paused. "Though I guess that's a long time after sharing a mind for almost thirty years. I- I tried to get through to you guys from Tahiti, but I think the meds were too strong."

"It's okay." She whispered. "You're here now. We're all together."

Two more pairs of arms joined their hug, and for once May didn't pull herself out of it. "We're going to be okay."