A/N: The next 5 drabbles take place between the time when Skye was captured and tortured to her looking in the mirror from the end of the last drabble. Feel free to send more requests.
"Just calm down, Skye. There's nobody trying to hurt you." Coulson's face was scrunched up with concern as he held Skye, rocking her back and forth. "It's ok. Relax."
Skye's fist was balled into his shirt, her eyes tightly shut. A shrill sound came from her pressed lips. "No! No!"
Coulson shook her slightly in an attempt to wake her up from her nightmare. "You're not in that cellar anymore. You're alive, and safe. Skye, you are so safe!" His voice broke on the last word he found himself recalling a separate time where Skye was even closer to death.
Skye seemed to realize she was in no apparent threat and relaxed in Coulson's arms, burrowing her head into his side. Her hands loosened on the wrinkled cotton of his button down.
As Coulson sat there, Skye's erratic breathing evened out as her nightmares faded to something more pleasant. He watched over her, a sad frown etched across his usually good natured features. He should have known it would only be a matter of time before someone hurt Skye again. He wasn't so lucky as to be able to give her the safety she deserved.
Skye had been on the brink of death before. And now she wasn't so much on the brink of death as on the brink of losing herself in her fear.
Even when she talked, her eyes were more dull, her actions less bold, her stride less confident.
Coulson could remember comforting Skye after nightmares before, especially after being shot in the stomach. He'd almost lost her then. He and the rest of the team had been so afraid of losing her again when she was captured. They had scrambled for every possible way to save her. And when they found her in that dark cellar, crying noiselessly, they knew they had failed.
Now the objective was to help her in any way they could. They'd let her be compromised too many times and their luck would eventually run out.
As Coulson pulled the blanket over her body, he swore to himself that she'd be safe.