Previously: After explaining that Ward was present when Lincoln and Skye were kidnapped, Bobbi became visibly upset. While they were having a tiff May surreptitiously hurried Lincoln out of the room.

Present Day:

May hurried Lincoln from the room as soon as she saw the signs.

Eyes wide. Quick breathing. Clearly nowhere near the rest of them as far into his own head as he'd become.

Honestly, she was surprised Morse hadn't seen it earlier. But for as strong as Bobbi was, her scars had been physical as well as emotional so she'd become accustomed to letting them show recently.

May knew something about suffering on the inside. And as much as Skye or Bobbi might have been hiding feelings as well, Lincoln surely took the cake.

She pulled him into a conference room and guided him into a seat, kneeling down in front of him.

"Hey," she said. "You with me?"

His blank eyes drew up slowly, meeting hers as he nodded in measured strokes.

"You're ok. You don't have to go back in there."

His eyebrows knitted in confusion. "Yes I do."

"You don't," she assured him.

"Right. Because I'm weak," he scoffed.

"No, not because you're weak."

"Skye thinks I'm weak," he said. Melinda stayed quiet to let him explain. "She told me as much when we were still at that place. And she hid things from me. Wouldn't even tell me Ward was there."

"That doesn't mean she thinks you're weak."

May watched tears he was clearly ashamed of begin to accumulate. "I don't want to see him, though."

"So don't."

"But that will just be proving Skye right."

May was in the midst of shaking her head. Despite how experienced she was with this herself, she wasn't exactly the best talker.

Thankfully, quite a big talker walked in.

"Hey, what's going on in here?" Hunter asked gently, strolling through the open door with two water bottles. "You ok mate? Oh right sorry, dumb question. Here."

He handed out a bottle, but Lincoln just turned his head. May grabbed it for him.

Hunter put a hand on Lincoln's shoulder. "You're gonna be ok, we promise. We're not going to go anywhere."

He shoved him off. "It's too good to be true. All of it."

"Being back at SHIELD? Trust me, it's really not all that great. You lived here for a bit, close quarters and mediocre food…"

"To be honest, the food at the last place probably was better," Lincoln mumbled. A hidden smile began trying to escape.

"Right, there you go," said Hunter. May smirked. A bit.

Lincoln turned away, taking gulps of breath as he clearly tried to calm down. He shook his head and sighed. "Looks like I'm having a freak out," he said shrilly, trying to play it off. "Sorry."

"This is a freak out?" said Hunter. "Oh, you have much more self-control than me."

"Doesn't everyone?" asked May.

"Hey!" he said in offense, but there was no fire behind it. Lincoln shrugged a bit awkwardly. He could tell they were being a little soft with him, but May didn't think he minded just by his facial expressions and the way his tense shoulders relaxed. He had said he could do with some coddling.

And, in complete honesty, May did not think that made him weak in any sense.

There was a loud and sudden growl coming from right outside the door, followed by a blonde blur rushing passed in stomps.

"Was that Bob?" asked Hunter.

Lincoln nodded. "You… might want to talk to her. She's upset."

"Wait. I thought she was talking with you and Skye?"

"Skye, uh, Skye's the one that upset her."

"No," May corrected. "Ward's the one that upset her. Skye was just wrong on how to bring up the subject."

"Skye's angry," Lincoln said in a bitter tone. "She did do something wrong. She's letting her anger and frustration take over."

"You can't let it take over, you're right," May said as Lincoln's eyes quickly grew dark. "But you need time to get it right."

"Sure get it right… because you have it all down perfectly, I'm guessing."

"Hey, now don't get testy-" said Hunter, but he was overlapped.

"Skye told me the story. She told me what Jiaying said. You became some SHIELD robot! And you quit."

The room stilled as Lincoln seethed, though May didn't so much as move. Hunter just looked on in a sort of stupor.

"Hunter," May said, still staring at Lincoln quite intently. "Go check on Bobbi."

The man nodded instantly, only to pleased to have an out. "Yes ma'am."

He hurried away.

May came in closer to Lincoln, enough that he shifted at the uncomfortable proximity. "It takes time. It took me time to realize I made a mistake leaving, because I belong here as a specialist. As Skye's SO. As your SO." She made sure to stress the importance, as it had never become official. His eyes widened. To be honest, she couldn't be sure if the shock was from the admission of from the amount of words she was sure to never have said to this person all at once before. "But I can't change what that experience did to me. And if it made me a robot… that's because I'm dealing with it every day."

Two tears finally fell from Lincoln. He shook his head and his voice cracked. "I don't want to be different. I was finally liking who I was. I thought I could be brave with SHIELD… but Skye's right, I'm a coward."

"If you keep saying that and pitying yourself, that's exactly what you'll become," May told him. He nodded.

Then, she hugged him.

It was the best thing Coulson could have possibly done for her in Bahrain.

"Think I can start tomorrow?" Lincoln huffed in a watery laugh, hesitantly wrapping his arms around May.

"By tomorrow. Training's still at six."

He nodded and mumbled something about hoping this was real once again, but May was sure it wasn't meant for her ears. Maybe he wasn't aware he'd even said it out loud.

May realized they still had a long road ahead of them.

A/n: Ok, should I update tomorrow or the next day? I'm trying to figure out a pace you guys like! Sorry this wasn't the best chapter. May is hard for me to write and I rushed it, but hope it's ok.

This is in reply to a guest, but anyone who is sensitive to triggers should read!

Firstly, about the trigger warnings. Thank you for reminding me of those as to be honest I forgot and that's my bad. With the eight months my mind automatically thought "oh they'll know they went through something" but I said I'd put trigger warnings and I didn't so that's on me! I've put a torture warning over the whole story as I'm not sure how much would warrant a trigger warning, plus considering they're hurt at least in bits so often it just makes sense that if you aren't for torture to stay away from the story as a whole. Anything different/worse than what's already happened I will put up a warning for.