AN: Thank you all for the congrats and reviews! They're much appreciated! I have begun to study for the licensure test and have an interview this Thursday that I'm praying goes wherever God leads it. To say I'm nervous is an understatement…And on to the story!

I do apologize, but the next chapters might be a little shorter with everything else going on, however they should give a glimpse of what happened.

Chapter 4 Can't Catch a Break

Jemma felt numb as she headed to the lab. She took in a deep breath and grabbed the vials of Skye's blood, ignoring the mess from the shower. Walking over to the computers, the scientist felt little comfort from the familiarity of her workstation. She focused on what she knew, setting the computer up and letting it run diagnostics on the samples before she began cleaning the lab.

Fitz headed downstairs after he saw Coulson standing watch over Skye, wanting to check up on his best friend.

He walked into the lab only to find his lab partner picking up the wet towels, quiet tears streaming down her face. "Hey Jemma," he said quietly, heading towards her.

"Oh Fitz," is all Jemma managed to get out before the sobs came. He immediately closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around her, letting her cry. "She's so…scared and…and she doesn't even recognize us as her team," Jemma told him in between sobs.

"We got her back, Jemma. She's safe now. We just need to help her," He whispered, trying to stay positive even though he hadn't seen what had exactly happened. He ran his hand up and down her back, trying to console his partner as best as he could while she continued to cry on his chest.

Once her crying had calmed down, Jemma pulled back from Fitz who wasn't ready to let her completely go. She wiped her nose with her sleeve, "I'm sorry," she stated.

"No need to apologize Jems, you're my best friend. You wanna talk about it?" he offered.

"Oh, Fitz" she sniffled, letting a few more tears run down. "She is covered in bruises, and her ankles and wrists…the lacerations…she fought them," Jemma tried to explain. "She's really scared of all of us, but Coulson the most. When I pulled a needle out," Jemma covered her eyes with her hand and shook her head, unable to explain the fear that she saw in Skye's eyes. "She had all these puncture wounds on her arms."

Fitz had placed his hands on her shoulders, trying his best to ground her.

"And the bite marks….I think I'm going to be sick," Jemma continued quietly. He definitely had not been prepared to hear that, and yet she had had to see it and deal with it with no preparation. He pulled his favorite scientist back into a hug and just held her. Jemma simply enjoyed being able to let her emotions go.

"We'll get her back Jems," he whispered.

Once the british scientist was able to pull herself together, the duo split apart and began to clean the lab, picking up the shower equipment and drying off the floor and benches. They worked in complete silence, each caught up in their own thoughts, till the computer informed them that the diagnostics were ready.

*******AoS*******

Ward had just finished with his shower before walking over to Skye's bunk to find Coulson leaning on the wall, close to the doorway. The older agent didn't acknowledge his return, his attention focused on the sleeping figure. His rookie was passed out, and for that he was grateful. She needed all of the rest that she could get.

Ward leaned on the doorway, arms crossed, watching the analyst sleep. The two men remained silent, neither moving till they heard the scientists heading towards them.

"The lab results are done," Jemma quietly stated, holding papers in her hands. Coulson tilted his head, indicating for them to move somewhere else where they could discuss the findings. The team leader called May to join them, wanting her to be there as Simmons explained the results.

"What's our status?" Coulson asked as May walked towards them.

"We are approximately 350 km out from the facility and we are stuck here till the blizzard calms down. Camo is on," May answered, not missing a beat. "With the blizzard, I wasn't able to contact SHIELD headquarters, but have set the system to keep trying every 30 minutes."

"That will have to do for now," Coulson nodded before turning his attention to the two scientists.

The silence ensued, before Fitz jumped in, "oh, that's us," he stated, realizing that everyone was looking at him and Jemma.

"There are traces of different types of hallucinogens in her system and sensory enhancing drugs," Simmons explained as she pulled up the labs on the monitors.

"Sensory enhancing drugs?" Ward asked, crossing his arms in preparation for the answer he didn't want to hear.

"They increase the activity of the sensory preceptors and cause a neuro-chemical imbalance that effect the brain resulting in abnormal processing of sensory stimuli…" Simmons took a deep breath, finally able to look at the team who looked a little confused. She tried to not get caught up in the science lingo, even though it helped her to dissociate what she was saying from her friend. The others needed to be on the same page. "The drugs altered her sensory perception," She finished.

Fitz stepped right in, not missing a beat. "A small pat on the cheek could feel like your face got an extremely hard pinpricked slap." His eyes widened, realizing what he had just said. He covered his mouth with a fist, regretting the analogy less than a second after it had left his mouth.

Ward closed his eyes, as images of the bruises ran through his mind. They had sexually assaulted her with these drugs in her system…He stopped his thought process, not being able to handle the rage and hate that were building up inside of him. He needed to stay focused if he was going to help her. They would make them pay, of that there was no doubt.

"There is one drug component that we couldn't figure out," Simmons continued, not wanting to focus on the last statement and what it meant. She highlighted the lab results. "Its not anything that we've seen before. And I don't know its effects."

"So we go to the facility and get a sample before we blow the rest of the buildings," Ward stated in a determined voice. The team began to move away from the table till they heard Simmons' apprehensive words.

"There's one more thing. She's possibly going to go through withdrawal and with the high concentrations in her system…" Simmons paused trying to find the right words. "there's a chance that it's going to get rough."

"How rough are we talking here?" Coulson asked, before turning back to face the scientist and crossing his arms.

"I might need to give her a few small doses of the hallucinogens so that she doesn't crash. Withdrawing it really fast could result in too much stress that her body can't handle," Simmons regrettably stated. "She could possibly have seizures or respiratory distress. I can't say exactly how she's going to react to the withdrawal, especially with the unknown component."

Placing his hands on the table, "So we're giving her the same crap that they gave her?" Ward asked the scientist, more than annoyed at the situation. They just couldn't catch a break.

Coulson couldn't help but notice the small step that Fitz took towards his lab partner. "I would like to reiterate that I don't know how her body will react. We can see how she does and give it on a sliding scale. She'll be in a lot of pain and discomfort if we don't, Ward." Simmons explained, dreading the time they would find out the reaction.

Coulson nodded. "We set another trip to the facility and see if we can find out what that last component is. May and I will go."

"Sir," Ward jumped in after hearing that he wasn't going.

"She needs her SO here, Agent Ward. If you haven't noticed, she's scared of all of us, with you being the least terrifying." Coulson explained, beginning to lose his patience as his frustrations kicked in. Ward wisely remained silent.

"Do we know how long this blizzard is expected to last?" Coulson turned his attention from the younger agents to the screens.

"A day or two, tops," Fitz jumped in as he brought the weather patterns that he had studied earlier that day.

"Ok. Lets look at the schematics and get that sample from the facility." Coulson stated to his second in command. "Simmons, keep us updated on any changes and see if you and Fitz can find anything else out about that last component. Ward stay with Skye, just in case."

"Yes sir. She should be out for at least a few hours with what I gave her," the scientist replied.

Coulson merely nodded in reply before everyone went to their delegated tasks.

AN: Please review and tell me your thoughts! Hope you enjoyed!