Skye watched as Chen blanched at her words; her eyes shooting open and looking at her sharply through Skye watched with a careful look, raising her eyebrow. Chen, or May did not expect that question; completely thrown from the look of it.
"How did you-"
"When you fainted…. I turned your mask off." Skye started, holding a hand up as Chen opened her mouth, a flash of anger washing through her face. "I'm sorry I did, but I needed to know who was under the mask. I don't know what I expected to see, but I thought if i saw who you really were without you knowing it'd make trusting you easier again from the lie. I didn't expect to see...well you."
Skye looked away and sucked in a deep breath. Pausing before speaking again. "I thought you were dead… for over 5 months… only to find out that you were my SO, pretending all this time." She shook her head. "I can understand why, May. Really."
She felt Chen's stare at the side of her head. "Don't call me that."
Skye shook her head, though complied. Throwing around her 'name' could get suspicious; after all she needed to keep the metal check that Chen was her real name; to not slip up. The new face though; huge help.
"Look, I have the right to be upset with you, Chen." She started. "You could have told me!"
"I didn't want Coulson to find out."
"Yeah, I figured but you could have trusted me." Skye growled, folding her arms. "I would have thought that what we've been through, you could confine with me…"
Chen shifted beside her to kneel beside her, hands supporting her up against the wall. "Less people who knew...the better. Less risk of exposure, Skye."
It annoys Skye to hear the annoyance in the woman's tone. "So what…. I can keep a secret. I could have easily ratted you out but I didn't. I respect you, even now but how you're even here opens up a lot of questions. I can't understand how. I watched what he did. I know all the bull shit on why you stayed hidden. I can see what he did to you from what i saw on that clip to your PTSD you're dealing with now. I know the lies you made about your 'ex' is about Coulson. You are good. Brilliant, I really have to hand it to you, playing a whole new person..." Skye shook her head, looking to her knees though inhaled deeply the hot air in the room.
"I didn't know I could have come back, Skye." Chen answered after a moment with a softer tone she expected her to have " I don't know… how either, not really."
Skye scoffed though with little mockery in it. shaking her head again with a shrug. "What happened to you?" She had heard Coulson's side of it, not May's (with the obvious reason).
Chen moved back down, against the wall with a deep exhale "I realized Ward was hydra…. I turned back. I got back too late, of course. Coulson was mad. I didn't know what had happened to cause this fresh hell of anger… Still don't. ."
"Ward killed koenig." Skye answered quietly. "Edited the forensics and said you were hydra into one of the picture windows. Coulson was.. going to forgive you for the phone after what happened with Audrey and Daniels but the apparent betrayal again just..."
"...fueled him into a rage." Chen shook her head. "I know he didn't mean to kill me. But I feel his hand around my neck every time i panic… the way he crushed my throat-" Chen stopped and closed her eyes but Skye could see the picture she was painting.
The panic May must have felt… the confusion of being attacked and not knowing why. The pure fear of what was happening and being useless to stop it. As someone as strong and as badass as May… Skye really couldn't blame her for the PTSD or the other side effects. Bahrain was bad enough once. But this was no doubt on a much bigger scale; having actually been killed. Experiencing death… Coulson himself was the only one who knew what that could do to someone.
"What happened, after? Coulson said you disappeared… the security camera never really got a good look below knee shot."
Chen sighed deeply. "I… came up out of a lake."
Skye looked to her shapely "A lake?" she echoed, not quite sure if she heard correctly "Seems…random"
"It was… the place of my first death, apparently."
That surprised her. "You died before?"
Chen shrugged. "I don't remember. I was too young. My parents never told me."
"I suppose...coming back from the dead is gonna rock your childhood." Skye agreed with a soft nod… still trying to wrap her head around the fact May died and came back. Twice. If May had known then she wouldn't have mentally suffered from the assault to this degree. "This is so… trippy."
Chen beside her snorted, "You have no idea... "
"Wait, your clothes were left behind! What happened at the lake?" Chen looked to her and raised an eyebrow though Skye figured what that meant. "Oh…. you were bare-ass naked. Talk about an awkward situation. What'd you do."
"Just stole a picnic blanket from a family… I'm just glad i wasn't arrested for streaking." Chen chuckled
"How many times have you died so far?" Skye probed, curious more now.
"Err...three… I got involved with cybertek.."
Skye frowned softly, a couple of things sprinting to mind "How did you know to even go there… and to fight Ward in the factory?"
Chen laughed softly. "I have my ways, Skye."
Though Skye could tell she wasn't going to tell. But it was oddly refreshing.. To see May, or Chen in this instance opening up more than she had ever done in the past as pre-death 'May' had… it was nice to see this side of her. Properly bonding with her. Here she used to think May was a robot.
Though May had never been a robot; May before acted through actions than with words. But May as Chen… she had been stripped back raw, it seemed. Pretending to be someone else...that gave her the opportunity to open up in another way. Words as well as actions. May was just…human.
Skye sighed deeply, turning her head to look at the fire. "I won't tell Coulson."
Chen didn't answer her but heard her exhale deeply as well.
"Sorry for punching you in the face, again… and causing you to faint...turning off your mask like that" Skye added again softly.
Chen shrugged. "It's okay, you don't need to apologize. I should have expected this sooner, if I'm honest."
Skye chewed her lip a moment. "Who else knows?"
"Only Simmons."
Skye snorted, "So just me and Simmons...Okay. I can work with that and keep the charade going as well. You'll probably have to tell Simmons I know…"
Chen nodded. "I'll put it with my todo list.".
They fell into silence but now… the air felt a little better between them now. Comfortable. "I do like this room though…" Skye mused. "If i bought marshmallows we could have had smores."
Chen smiled though Skye watch her move and lie down onto the mats. "Good place to have a nap…"
"Why don't you?"
"You're here for starters… and I'm paranoid." She pointed out with closed eyes. "Insomnia is a side effect so I don't get good sleep."
That brought the mood down a little, to Chen's mental health."You can mediate..in corpse pose?" Chen's eyes flickered open but she could see the light humor in her eyes. "Bad joke?"
"A tad."
"Sorry."
Chen's chuckle hung in the air though they both settled back into the silence. Enjoying this and the peace and quiet… they sure as hell won't get much of an opportunity like this again..
