A/N: Hey. Look. I've emerged from the wilderness.

Well, not really. But I've finally worked out how to get to the next massive event, which will happen in the next chapter or the one after, and you're going to hate me even more because, knowing me, I'll probably just end up publishing it and then waiting nearly two months to publish the next one. Yay.

Basically, because it's been such a long time, this chapter takes place just over a month after the previous one. We've missed some pretty big events that I didn't know how to write about, so please don't judge me (actually, I probably deserve judgement. I'm terrible to you all). I have Writer's Block on practically all my stories and it hurts.

Also, this ties in with some Season 3 events, namely the fact that Simmons is back. I know I said I wouldn't write much about her, but between Instagram, FanFiction and YouTube I basically know what happens to her anyway. So she comes back a little early, which was pretty risky to do because I haven't even watched Season 3 yet (first episode comes out tomorrow, I'm so excited) but if you're worried about spoilers then don't worry. I don't know anything either.

If you're really worried about spoilers and don't even want to her Jemma's name, PM me and I'll send you a brief summary of the chapter without spoilers (I'll just say that she's back) but honestly there is only, like, two things mentioned that could be considered spoiler-y and they're such big things that you probably know about them already.

Anyway, it might be a while until the next update. Like I said a month and a half ago, I'm really busy.

Surprising though it seemed to her at the time, the next few weeks of Skye's life were happy ones. She still worried about the team and what was going on without her, but over time Ward assured her that they could look after themselves and that there was no need to worry.

It was like being caught in a time paradox; with every day that went by she felt safer and more comfortable and less worried about everything else. Ward healed and went back to his brutal fitness regime, only this time around, when he trained her, Skye found that she could (to a certain extent) keep up with him. She got fitter and better, and felt more peaceful than she had in months. There was nothing to worry about here. No running water, no internet, crappy electricity that cut out almost every day, but in a way that was nice.

Eventually, she stopped thinking about escaping, too.

Of course, sometimes she still considered trying to get a message out to the team, just to say that she was fine and that they didn't have to keep looking for her, but Ward had proved that there was nothing there she could use. Now, she was allowed all around the facility - he had explained that they were in an abandoned SHIELD base - and she knew for a fact that there was nothing here running on electricity apart from the lights, the fridge and the oven.

They got food from a supermarket twice a month - Ward put on a hoodie and a pair of sunglasses and then bought everything they needed with a gun in his back pocket. He thought it was too risky for her to go, which she didn't really believe, but didn't bother to argue about. If they had food, she figured, what was there to worry about? And although most of it was canned, they had some milk and eggs and fresh food just after the supply runs. They also grew fresh fruit and vegetables (well, he did) and they always bought toilet paper and soap and everything, so despite there not being a working toilet, sink or shower, they weren't exactly living like savages.

It was a pain having to purify water before they could drink it, however. She would never get used to the taste of those chemicals, but she would never forget them either.

Ward told her one day that, if she liked, it was probably somewhere around that time where she could call him Grant.

She laughed and told him to shut up.

"Skye, can you grab some water? I want to see if the instant milk powder works with cereal," he said.

"You're disgusting," she replied. "You sicken me. I'll never look you in the eye again."

Ward laughed. "Not a fan of instant milk?"

She retched.

"OK, I'll get the water myself. Do you want coffee?"

"Ward, even if we had some way to heat up the water, and coffee, I would never even go near instant milk powder. I may have grown up without parents, but, believe or not, I am not a total barbarian." She finished her speech with a pointed glare. "Also, the only cereal we have is cornflakes. You hate cornflakes."

Perhaps it was these arguments which drew them closer together, she mused. The ones where both knew tiny facts about the other, and used them against them, but not in a bad way. In a way that just made them ... happy.


Coulson sat at his desk and tried not to fall asleep. It had been a long day, but he still had a lot to do, and he didn't feel in the least bit like sleeping.

Two weeks ago, Natasha had sat down and bluntly asked him when he was going to leave.

"I don't mean to be rude," she said matter-of-factly, "but you can't stay here forever. You're not even trying to find this agent.

"There's nothing we can do to try," he'd protested, but the team left the next day. Clint told him not to die again.

May came in. "What the hell's wrong with you today?" she asked. "Do you have any idea how much Simmons needs you right now? She's completely lost and you - and Fitz - are probably the only ones who can help her."

Simmons. Simmons, Simmons, Simmons. That was why he was so stressed, or at least part of it.

They'd found her, but she was different.

Quieter, flinching at loud noises, scared of sudden movements, clinging to Fitz like a lifeline and yet at the same time completely unable to bear his sympathy, his acceptance. She was scarred.

She didn't talk about what had happened to her, but they knew that she'd been on an alien planet, and that she had been there far too long. She didn't even believe that it was Fitz who was there rescuing her, she was so alone.

And today she'd started working in the lab again. Every movement, every time she said something, it seemed like the scientists were watching, waiting for something to happen. Eventually Coulson had had to ask Simmons to go and get something from the other side of the base and then shout at them all.

"Coulson! Are you even listening to me?"

He looked up, bemused. "Today is the two-month anniversary of Skye's disappearance."

May didn't give the reaction he was expecting. "Are you kidding? We get one dead agent back and you can't even be happy about it because you wish it was the other?!"

"May," he whispered, guilt freezing his insides like ice. "You know that isn't true."

She sat down opposite him. "You're right. I'm sorry."

It wasn't true.

Well, it was a little true, but he wasn't wishing Simmons back there. He just wished that they could have Skye too.

"Phil? Can I ask you something?"

He nodded permission.

"Why did we never go back to Ward's base? Why did we never attack again?"

He looked up. "What?"

"We never went back. We never got Ward."

"I guess it never really crossed my mind, after all those men we lost."

"But think about it. We get a big team, a really big one, and corner him. He won't be able to get out."

"We'll lose people," he warned.

"Not as many as we will if he goes free."

"But," he said. May raised an eyebrow. "May, he's probably already left. Why would he stay when he knows that the place is compromised?"

She put her head in her hands. "I'm sorry. I didn't think."

"It's OK," he said gently. "We should at least check this place out. Maybe he left something behind."

"It's Ward," she said.

"Still."

He needed this. Needed some sort of closure.