My previous chapter may have confused a lot of you (thanks PhantomKnight88 for pointing it out :-)), and for that I apologize. I was trying to introduce a new character back there... and perhaps I did it rather poorly. Um, just take note of the new guy's powers and shelve it for a while in your memory palace. He'll reappear some time later.

Here's the next one to make up for it. I swear, this would be my last chapter for today. I seriously need to study now. More to come in a couple of days.

"I cannot believe she tried to do something like that." Coulson paces back and forth outside the quarantine chamber that temporarily houses their newly-empowered agent. "It's stupid! And careless!" He mutters, "And totally stupid."

May watches him carefully at the corner of her eye; not tearing her gaze from Skye's sleeping form. "I agree."

"She shot herself, May." He tells her, as if restating the fact would make the thought easier to swallow. "In the head."

"Yes she did." She deadpans.

Coulson rubs his face in frustration. He is not even close to finishing his tirade. "With a real gun."

"Uh-huh."

Coulson halts on his steps and shoots his friend an incredulous look. "Will you stop agreeing with me?"

She raises her eyebrows. "Are you done?"

His jaw tenses slightly. He almost says no but thinks better of it. He sighs. "Yes."

They both stood silently for a moment, staring at Skye's pale face as she slept on, unmoving. Fitz has definitely outdone himself this time. The clear glass that houses her was enough for them to see her clearly, but it was also reinforced with vibranium so it wouldn't shatter when she wakes up and unintentionally releases her power again. This does not change the fact; however, that what they'd place her in is nothing different than a cage.

It's his job now is to make sure that this won't end up being a permanent thing.

"Good thinking, what you did." Coulson says.

"I was not the one who modified the gun." May tells him, not interested in taking any credit whatsoever. "Thank our two scientists upstairs."

"But it is you who thought that we would need to change her gun in the first place." Coulson insists. When May told her what the team did the moment he got back, he was a little disappointed that he did not come up with that plan himself. But then again, not in a million years did he consider Skye to be even a tiniest bit suicidal. "Real gun on the outside, ICER bullets on the inside. Gotta say, I'm impressed."

May says nothing. Another wave of silence fills the room.

"How—" Coulson closes his mouth the moment his question began leaving his mouth. All this time she's harboring self-destructive thoughts under his nose, and he didn't even notice. Sure, she's willing to have Hunter shoot her if she gets out of control, but he thought that's just a very last option kind of thing. "She's—"

He rethinks his words. Regroups. "How did you know that she's—" Coulson hesitates, and is relieved when May follows exactly where his train of thought leads.

She tore her eyes from Skye and narrows her eyes at her friend. "Suicidal? She's not." She sighs, clenches her hands behind her back. "She's selfless. And she blames herself. That's never the best combination."

He could not agree more. Skye may need some serious talk soon. Knock some sense into her stubborn head. And maybe hug her and never let go. He's still having a difficulty accepting the fact that his hacker agent and surrogate daughter just shot herself in the head.

In her freaking head!

Sensing where Coulson's mind went, May fully turns to him. He may try hiding how shaken he was by Skye's actions—hell, even she was shaken—but she knows the new SHIELD director better than that. "She's confused. Overwhelmed," she reasons. "Sometimes that's enough to make even the good ones tick."

Coulson lets out a sigh. "I could not begin to imagine what it's like to be in her shoes right now." He could easily count on his fingers the number of truly good people he knows in this world. There's no doubt in his mind that Skye is one of them. She does not deserve this. Any of this. "Must've terrified her."

"I think what concerns her more is how the team would react to the change in her. She's scared of scaring us away… of being rejected again. Like before."

He nods, understanding. The foster homes. Not being a good fit. That was her greatest fear. It still is. "Now I know why you are so eager to attack her before she left." He tells her. "To show how un-scared you are of her, you know, despite being aware that she could probably make your heart explode inside your chest. Unwittingly."

She shoots Skye a fleeting look before returning her eyes to Coulson. She draws a breath in, purses her lip. "If she's looking for rejection, she needs do so much better than throw me across the base."

He nods once more, chuckling. "When you grabbed her from the ramp, it was then when you changed her gun, was it?"

She crosses her arms and goes back to staring at her junior agent, confirming what Coulson just voiced out without saying anything. She hoped it was enough to end the conversation.

"But still, a little head's up about the gun would not hurt." Coulson tells her, unable to let go. "I almost got myself killed back there."

"No chance to." May replies flatly. "You left quite in a hurry."

He smiles. The first one he had in a while. "Well, I did make it there on time."

She bites her lip, deep in thought. So much for dropping the conversation. "Anyone who knows you would find it very difficult to kill you." You should get that by now.

His head momentarily goes back to when he was still obsessed with that alien writing, to a point of almost insanity. His memory of May's firm refusal to kill him if things go sideways is still clear as day. But then again, whenever the topic of killing him is brought up. a certain semi-Asgardian never fails to come to his mind. Too eager to kill him, that one. "You clearly haven't met Loki."

May's reaction is perhaps the closest thing to a smile she could offer. Her posture more relaxed now than it was in San Juan, when she came back to the bus carrying an unconscious Skye in her arms. "She would never kill you." May tells him.

He finds that comment laughable. Of course, consciously, Skye wouldn't kill him. She would never intentionally do that. But that's the thing. The vibrations she emits escapes from her even without her thinking. "She could though. I mean, make no mistake, my own safety was not much of a concern for me at the time, and I am willing to do everything I did all over again if that could save her, but come on May. Have you seen what she's done with the place?"

Her response is just as cryptic as the look she gives him. "Have you?"

Comments? Suggestions? I'd love to hear from you.

Btw, for those of you who have read my NCIS fics and are still patiently waiting for updates, please forgive me for my extended absence. I am not planning to abandon any of them... it is just that Cote's departure (and now Michael's plan to leave) had been slowly siphoning all of my muse's energy. I'm still working on trying to nurse it back to health. I'm planning to rewatch some old episodes soon. Maybe they could revive my muse somehow. Wish me luck.