Just a note before you read this chapter: This story doesn't stick to the exact same timeline as the show. I've referenced certain events here that shouldn't have happened yet (aka it didn't happen in Season 1), but for the sake of this story - just try and take those standalone events that I've mentioned and pretend that they've already occurred. Bare with me. Hopefully it's not too confusing!


Coulson sat alone in the empty hospital waiting room, his hand gripping a cup of dark roast that had gotten cold. The stark overhead lights were so piercing, that he lowered his head and shut his eyes. He had been trying to fight the pessimistic thoughts that were flooding his head. His thoughts were locked on Fitz. The blood. Simmons. He couldn't afford to lose him. Trying to escape the brightness of the waiting room, he walked out into the front yard of the hospital. The grass was dry, brown and brittle, withering away what little life it had left. The cold air startled him, waking him from his thoughts. The sad truth was, Coulson didn't know if things would be alright. Fitz was in critical condition, there was a chance – a chance that he would have to watch his young engineer die. Coulson clasped his hands together in a self-pacifying gesture, trying to reassure himself. It'll be fine. Fitz will pull through. He's strong.

"You plan on talking to me about your hand?" May appeared around the corner, worry in her expression.

His gaze dropped to his hands. "What about it?"

May lifted her brows as her expression hardened, "You think I wouldn't know?" She took a few steps closer to him, taking his shaking hand into hers.

"It's been tremoring the whole flight out. You're getting worse."

Coulson let out a sigh, taking back his hand, as he reluctantly straightened his tie. "Did the rest of the team see it?" he asked, shifting uncomfortably, avoiding her eyes.

"No. They're good. But Skye is asking the usual too many questions. I'm not sure they know how bad it is" she fixed her eyes on him.

"Okay." Phil took in a long deep breath, trying to calm his nerves. His mind reeled with jumbled thoughts. He was too tired to think -

"Phil" May looked up at him, her eyes glassy for a change. Melinda May had always been a rock. Firm. Decisive. Some would say cold, but he knew her. She always had his back, and was a constant source of strength. She trusted him, and allowed herself to be vulnerable around him, because she – they, had always been there for one another. She blinked, her lips parted then closed. No words came out. Her shoulders felt heavy.

His eyes were weary but he remained focused on her as he stared into her eyes. Her gaze softened, and she swallowed hard, struggling to keep her emotions in check. He knew what she was thinking.

"How's Simmons?" she asked softly. Looking down, May reached for Coulson's hand as a sigh escaped her mouth They didn't want to admit it but losing Fitz... They would lose Simmons too.

"Amazingly resilient." he gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"An experience like that, it takes a while to sink in." She flinched as he brought his hand up to touch the wound on her shoulder. His eyes unwavering as he thought back to Bahrain.

Tears threatened to fall out of her eyes. "Do you know how long it's taken me-?"

"I know." he interrupted. May wasn't always like this. She was different once. Warm. He wrapped a hand around her, rubbing her back as they walked back into the hospital room.

It was going to be a long wait.


It took too much energy to stay mad at someone who cried so much. When Skye wiped out all of their identities, she hadn't fully considered what they were really giving up. Memories. Proof. Photos. Tangible things that reminded them of who they were. And if Fitz – if Fitz didn't wake up, Jemma would have nothing. Nothing but painful memories in her mind that would torment her, and replace the once happy moments they had together. Skye looked down at the tattered photo she had manage to salvage in the mess. A photo of Fitz and Simmons on their graduation day, his hand around her back, his eyes on her as she smiled at the camera with a wide toothy grin.

They were happy. So happy. And she laughed to herself, when she thought about how ridiculous it was that two geniuses couldn't figure out that they were in love with one another.

Skye never had a family before. She never belonged until she met them. All of them. Fitz was like a brother to her. She loved him. Her chest tightened with emotion as she struggled to hold back the tears. Convulsive sobs shook her body as she collapsed against the wall. She stood there as she tried to steady herself, her heart pounding, breathing rapid as the tears poured out. Her lips trembled as she punched the wall, again and again, disregarding the fact that she was hurting her hand.

"Fuck!" she glanced down at her bloody knuckles, feeling stupid.

She was so stupid. Stupid, stupid, stupid. How could she not have seen that Ward was HYDRA? This was all her fault. She should have seen it coming, she should have done something. Shoot him. Kill that son of a bitch.

She was suffocating. Her hand squeezed her eyes shut.

"No, nononono, no no" she cried out, shaking her head blindly as panic rose through her chest. Skye screamed, her hands clutching the sides of her head. Her lungs were sending distressed signals to her brain, her breath caught in her throat as the terrors filled the veins of her heart.

"Fitz..." she whispered.

"Fitz was a clutz again." he said nervously. "uh.. she's just clearing up the mess. It's my fault." he gestured towards the broken glass in the med bay, "I knocked over the lamp when I was taking a sample of Skye's blood". He lifted up his trembling hand, his voice shaking slightly, "I don't know, I guess – I guess my coordination still needs work." He looked down, avoiding Jemma and May's eyes. He played around with the tablet in his hand, hoping to distract them. "I was anxious to double check the results." He clicked on a few buttons on the screen, turning it towards May and Jemma. "Her DNA is an exact match to what it was before. She's clear." Fitz breathed heavily, stealing a glance at Skye. Whatever he had done, he had just bought them some time.

"What did you just do?" she stared at him in disbelief as he worked on bandaging her up. He held her hand in his, firmly pressing a piece of cloth over her bloody hand. Tears welled up in her eyes as he told her about the drastically different DNA results. She looked up in shock, afraid to think about what that would actually mean. He looked up to meet her eyes, his hand over hers. "We should keep it between us." His voice was uncertain but the look on his face said otherwise. "I'll keep you safe. Until we figure it out okay?" Skye nodded slowly, as she bent down to pull Fitz into a hug. She started crying on his shoulder, shaking her head. "This is all my fault. I let this happen. I-I'm so sorry" she quivered in his embrace. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her closer as he stroked her back. "No. It's ok, it's ok. You're just different now." He turned his head to look her in the eye. "There's nothing wrong with that." She buried her face deeper into his shoulder, sobbing when he whispered in her ear, "It's all going to be alright, I promise".

Nothing was alright. She had failed him. He had kept his promise to her, but she - she failed him.

Her body trembled as she staggered forward towards the door, photo in one hand. Tears ran down her face, as she gave in to the feeling. Something inside of her broke. She stood by the door, in the pain that latched itself in the depths of her soul. She cried until she felt herself feel light. Everything he had done for her and here she was - helpless. She couldn't help him. The weight of the pain she felt now that she was alone was crushing her.

Skye was about to hit the wall again when she heard footsteps in the hallway.

She quickly wiped away the tears that had dropped onto the photo, trying to hide all evidence of the meltdown she just had. She had to be strong. For Jemma.

"Why do you have that?" Jemma's voice cut through the silence like a knife. Jemma approached Skye cautiously, her eyes never leaving the photo Skye had in her hand.

Skye looked up at Jemma and blinked like a deer caught in the headlights. She opened her mouth, straining for words. Nothing but frantic sounds came out. It wasn't until she felt the slap across her face knock her breath out that she managed to process what had just happened.

Her voice was quiet, "I miss him too, Jemma."


Author's Note: I took the advice of AgentofSassArwenFolchart, and tried to explore the POVs of the other characters. I hope I did them justice. Writing the Phil x May scene was particularly hard for me - I wasn't too sure on how to give May more emotion whilst still staying true to her character.

But please leave a review! I really appreciate your input/suggestions. You may have more influence on the story than you think!