"Agent May?" Natasha spoke tentatively, knocking on the door of her old SO's apartment. She wasn't sure how to deliver the news, but she knew it wouldn't end well. "Mel?" She asked again, knowing that her change in address would let Mel know that something was wrong.

Melinda opened the door to see a red eyed Natasha holding a very large bottle of vodka. "Can I come in?" The redhead asked, receiving a slow nod from the older woman. She walked over to Mel's couch, taking a seat. Phil had picked it out when he and Mel first moved in together, it felt strange sitting on it without him.

"What happened?" Mel asked, quickly retrieving two glasses for the pair.

"Before the battle, on the Helicarrier." She began, only for tears to start streaming down her face again.

"It was attacked." Melinda nodded, having heard that much from her desk in her secluded office. "Did something happen?" She was already on edge. Natasha never cried, only something terrible could have happened. She also knew that Phil hadn't called her, was he injured?

"Phil, he…" Natasha choked, taking a deep breath. "He tried to take on Loki alone."

Nothing more needed to be said between the pair as Melinda broke down, sobs wracking her body. "I should have been there." She kept repeating, each time her sobs getting louder and more heart wrenching. She could feel it; a piece of her had died with Phil.

…

Melinda had mourned for weeks, only leaving her apartment to get more alcohol. And then she received a call from Director Fury.

"I've done something you might not like Melinda." Fury frowned when she answered the phone. "I brought him back."

Melinda didn't say anything. She couldn't find her voice, but she did find the end call button and pressed it after a long silence. She was angry. No, she was more than angry. She was furious. She'd mourned Phil, she'd buried him and she'd had to spend the last month trying to find a way to live without the only thing that made her life make sense.

When the rest of Fury's calls and visits came, she felt less and less angry, but she began to mourn again. He wouldn't remember her, and he may not even survive very long given the procedure Fury would barely tell her about. And she would have to spend years of her life working with a man who wouldn't remember their marriage, their child or the look she would get in her eyes when he would pull her close after a long mission and whisper to her about nothing. And that killed the last piece of her she had left.

…

"I'm sorry you had to go through that Mel." Phil whispered, pulling her close. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to hold you, to ease your pain."

"You were dead; you couldn't have changed any of that." Melinda whispered back, curling into his side.

"I'm still sorry." Phil whispered, continuing to talk about everything and nothing until Melinda fell asleep in his arms. It was perfect to him, to have her back. But he knew that it might not last long, so he pulled her closer, wanting to spend as many borrowed seconds with her as he could.

…

"Director Fury." Coulson smiled falsely, waiting for the perfect moment to lose his temper. After all, he couldn't have May or Hill stop him from pummeling the man.

"Agent Coulson." Fury nodded, shaking Coulson's hand. "Shall we take this up to your office?" Fury asked, apparently already knowing what Coulson was planning.

"Are you sure that's a good idea sir?" Maria asked, alarm clear in her expression.

"This is a conversation we need to have alone." Fury nodded, following Coulson up to his office.

Within a few seconds of the door closing, Phil threw a right hook at Fury, knocking the man against the door behind him. "You son of a bitch." Phil growled, hitting the man a few more times. "How could you take away my family?" He demanded, continuing his assault. With one last punch, Fury was on the ground with a bloodied face, showing no intention of fighting back.

"I did what was necessary." Fury shook his head. "It was remove those memories or have you go insane, which by the way is very likely to happen."

"I don't care." Coulson shook his head. "I saw first hand what is going to happen to me, and I don't give a damn. This is my wife and child I'm talking about. Why would you take that from me? For years, Melinda has been the only thing that has kept me from losing my mind and you are fully aware of that. And I don't want to hear your god damn excuses, I want the truth."

"Then I can't give you the answers you want." Fury surrendered, standing up.

"Get off of my plane." Phil growled, his eyes burning, his jaw set.

"I'm giving command of this unit to Agent Barton; I can't risk you losing your mind when we need your head clear." Fury informed the man before walking out of the office. "I'll take Hill and Romanoff back with me."

With one last howl of anger, Phil punched the wall behind his desk, his fist going through the drywall panel.

"You're fixing that." A voice smiled from the door.

"Skye." Phil smiled slightly. "I hope you don't mind a hole in your office."

"No." Skye shook her head. "But I do mind that one of my agents is far too pissed off right now. Calm down."

"You've said yourself; I'm practically your dad. That means I override your orders." Phil quipped.

"When we land I'm giving you some time off." Skye sighed, moving slightly further into the room. "Take May with you and spend some time away from SHIELD, I can handle the plane for a few days without you."

"If I'm having time off, you are too." Phil raised an eyebrow at Skye. "The whole team could use a few days."

"I'm going to tell Fury that I will take over the plane if he lets me look into TAHITI and your daughter." Skye smiled, taking a seat at Phil's old desk.

"You like the chair?" Phil smiled.

"It might convince me to take the position anyway." Skye smiled. "I haven't had a desk job in years."

"It's not all its cracked up to be." Phil joked, walking out of the office. "Take some time for yourself."

"Maybe when I fix everything Fury's managed to mess up." Skye laughed to herself, heading for the door.

AN- So this was a short chapter but I wanted this to be just about Coulson so I removed most of the stuff I wrote with Skye for a future chapter.

Please let me know what you think by leaving a review and please follow the story if you want to read more.

Amyx