The sun has set and there's hardly anyone on the beach. He finds her sitting in the sand by the edge of the water.
He walks over and sits next to her and she's staring out at the ocean in front of them. Neither of them speaks for a while. The only thing that can be heard is the gentle sound of the waves.
"I haven't been to the beach in ages," she says, which he already knows. There's not really anything she could say that he doesn't already know about her, but he's always willing to listen to her voice regardless.
"Well there's never time to do this sort of thing," he says.
She sighs and lies back in the sand, looking up at the stars.
"A lot has happened this past year," she says quietly. "Almost too much."
"Nothing we couldn't handle."
She giggles and he smiles because he's never going to get tired of hearing that sound.
"It seems like yesterday we were just a couple of kids at Sci-Tech."
"Now we're just a couple of kids on Coulson's team."
She doesn't say anything for a few moments.
"Do you ever miss it?" she asks.
"Miss what?"
"The Academy. Do you miss it?"
"Honestly, not really. Bit of a loner until I met you," he admits. "You changed everything."
He can tell she's looking at him but he keeps his gaze locked straight ahead.
"You changed everything for me too, you know," she says, sitting up, and this time he does look at her.
She's smiling just the slightest and he can't help but smile back.
He really wants to tell her just how much she's changed his life because he's not quite sure she understands.
But then she laces her fingers with his and rests her head against his shoulder and maybe, just maybe, she does realize how important she is to him.
And that's a good thing, and it's about time, because over these past few months he's noticed he can't really live without her.