Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. You are absolutely wonderful. Look, a new chapter in under two months. You even get it before Saturday because I had a snow day today and had time to go through the edits. I may even try to squeeze another chapter in before Infinity War comes out.

This chapter has been proofread by the wonderful EveSpring who is taking over proofreading duties on this story.

We have a large time jump in this chapter of several weeks. It is now late October 2014. We are also getting to the point where things are going to diverge heavily from season two of Agents of Shield and the rest of the MCU. Material has been gathered from these episodes (and subsequent movies) but has been twisted for the new timeline. There's even been some stuff that's come to light in season five of AOS, which will be incorporated to give the characters more depth.


Chapter 28: Checking In

October 2014

"I'm going to kill Stark." He heard his girlfriend say the moment she popped up on the large screen in his office. Phil wasn't even that surprised. He is certain that two months of working closely with Stark would make anyone near homicidal. The fact that it's been two months of minimal progress makes the situation worse.

"You can't kill Stark. He's Fitz's father. Besides, I doubt he's done anything to warrant it." Phil replied with a smirk.

"He doesn't even listen to his own boyfriend and he's going to get himself killed. I don't want to have to deal with consoling Steve or Fitz." Melinda replied.

"Which you would have to deal with anyway, if you kill him." Phil pointed out to his girlfriend.

"You didn't have to listen to him have sex with your friend for the last two hours when all you actually want to do is sleep after spending the day fighting Hydra agents. It is the middle of the night here. Yet, I can't sleep because of their 'I'm so glad you're not dead sex.' They are way too loud." Considering what happened on his birthday, he's sure she's mostly complaining because of the sleep deprivation.

"He is the main reason I don't have to fly coach all by myself right now to find additional agents and we are getting another non-toolbox location. We are also not completely in hiding because of the Stark lawyers, so you can deal with Stark being Stark until we find what you need to find." And Coulson really hoped that was soon because he missed his girlfriend horribly.

"Have you found other agents?" May asked.

"A few. Several actually. And I'm sure 90% of them are not just new shield for the Stark industries dental plan, but there's still going through vetting. I have a good feeling about Davis." Phil explained.

"If you'll find someone who can take my place, I will do the thing with the tongue and the handcuffs as soon as I get back. I just want this mission to be over. This safe house is way too small for this many people." Melinda complained.

"And as much as I want you to do the thing with the tongue in the handcuffs, you are the only person I trust to be there that Stark won't shoot on sight. I assume the fact that you're calling from a safe house over a highly encrypted line that Jarvis initiated means that you didn't find anything?" Phil asked.

"Friday is the one responsible for this highly encrypted call updating you on our lack of progress. Stark is upset with Jarvis for cooperating with Romanoff and therefore has not switched back yet, which is causing problems in its own right, such as flying into walls." Melinda remarked dryly. He almost wants to ask if video exist of that.

"Still?" Melinda nodded her head on screen. "It's been weeks, months, even. Actually, it has been so long that Dr. Campbell put Dr. Cline-Hand on maternity leave this morning."

"I bet she hated that." Melinda snarked.

"She is absolutely furious. And she only agreed to it because she may be in the early stages of labor." Phil sighed. "We lost one of the nurses because of her. She's transferring to an actual job in the Stark medical division because she can't deal with Isabel anymore."

"And now you understand my Stark Dilemma. The needle is apparently in a different haystack. Which means we have to keep looking. Which means spending time in this tiny safe house to regroup before the next mission instead of coming back to the tower or playground."

"It always is." Phil side. Annoyed that his murder weapon was still out there. Who knows what Hydra could be doing with it. He would sleep better at night once they have it back. "Was there any progress at all?"

"The Hydra stronghold in Budapest is now under UN control."

"And?"

"We found another haystack to look into. The new joint task force also has 15 operatives to question."

"Only 15?" Phil asked.

"Those were the only ones we could prevent from taking their cyanide pills or throwing themselves in front of bullets to avoid being captured." Melinda remarked. "Also, Everett Ross from CIA is a useless moron."

"Of course he is. Cyanide pills are so ridiculously cliché. It's like our lives have become a bad spy movie."

"We are spies."

"Yes, but it's usually more interesting than this. More aliens, less paperwork." Phil said pointing to the stack of the stuff on his desk. He really wished everything could be done on the Stark Pad but that wasn't always an option. Mostly because they're afraid to transfer a lot of it to digital. The newly created file for the first 084 was currently on top of the pile and he doesn't want anyone else to get their hands on it.

"Recruiting new members and avoiding getting shot should be exciting enough for you right now. We did agree no fieldwork while I am on detail. You're actually doing what we agreed?" Melinda asked with a glare.

"Yes. If Natasha was not in the middle of her daily staring contest with the prisoner of vault D she would verify that I've done nothing remotely close to fieldwork since you left. I haven't even been doing a lot of recruiting for the last week due to other more pressing things. Maria has been doing most of it. I think this is her punishment for not telling Stark about Fitz." Or Natasha/Natalie for that reason.

"Maria also chose Ward. We all paid for that mistake." Melinda mumbled under breath.

"We all learned from that mistake. Our candidates are going through orientation." Phil told Melinda to put her at ease.

"Good."

"If I actually have a choice, I would be overseeing the orientations myself. Instead, I am spending most of my days at an undisclosed military base going through various objects that I really wished Nick actually shot into the sun." Yes, the laser gun from Peru turned out to be helpful, but a metal obelisk that turns everybody who touches it into stone really should've been sent up into the sun. Stark's gauntlets so far have been the only thing that can touch it.

"So Colonel Rhodes has convinced the military that you're a subject matter expert that can help them sort through everything that came from Shield?"

"Marcy helped as well." Phil replied.

"I am almost surprised she has been nearly useful for once."

"I think it's just to pacify her boss Roslyn Price. Or Piss her off. I'm not sure which."

"Did you find anything interesting?" May asked.

Lots of artifacts with alien writing, none of which resembles what I've been carving on walls. Something that may be a cryo pod. Also, the original 084 is sitting in Vault E after we switched it out for a fake two days ago.

"Nothing I want to disclose over this line, despite Stark's assurance that it's encrypted." He answered instead.

"It is encrypted." Melinda pointed out.

"Yet we keep talking about haystacks and needles which tells me you don't believe the line is encrypted enough to have a real conversation." Phil responded.

"Even Stark's Tech isn't infallible." Melinda responded just as he heard the door to the room open.

"I brought you a sandwich." He heard Simmons say just as she came into frame with a plate of food in hand. "The good news is unlike the last place, the kitchen is well stocked with fresh food, even if the soundproofing leaves much to be desired." Phil could hear a moan in the background.

"Really, I thought they would be done by now. 'I survived getting shot twice' sex should not take that long. Nor should they really be engaged in anything that strenuous." Simmons remarked as she sat down next to Melinda.

"Stark or Rogers?" Phil asked with a sigh.

"Rogers."

"Nothing to worry about. The bullet went straight through the shoulder and was halfway healed by the time we got to the Quinjet." Simmons expanded. "You really need to eat." She said passing May a sandwich before she sat down on the other bed almost out of frame.

"I assume Simmons is your roommate?" Coulson asked

"Yes, because nobody wants to share with Tony and Steve and I preferred not to share a room with Dr. Banner and Sam." Simmons responded.

"Does she at least snore less than Clint?"

"Yes." May replied. "He's being relegated to the couch after what happened last time."

"Do I want to know?

"Apparently, sleep deprivation can trigger a Hulk transformation." Melinda replied dryly.

"I'm not surprised."

"How is Leo doing? Has there been any progress with the occupational therapist?" Simmons asked excitedly changing the subject. Note to self, asked more about what happened next time he's alone with Melinda.

Or maybe she just wants to know more about Leo. He's pretty sure this is the first time he's really spoken with Simmons in at least a month. Any readouts he's been getting on the ongoing hunt for Hydra has been coming from either Melinda, Rogers, or Stark.

"You know if you actually spoke with him he would give you the answer to that question. Have you been in contact with anybody?" He asked.

"I have a little. Skye set up a fake email account. But he always says he's fine when he's not fine. And I'm sure Friday is filtering the messages. I don't think she likes me very well. Skye hasn't been that helpful either. Most of my conversations with her have centered on her asking about my alcohol consumption and me asking her how to use most of the surveillance equipment. I really regret not spending a semester at the school of communications as suggested by my advisor." Simmons explained and Phil stared to where she was talking to his girlfriend alone.

Was it so much to ask for a little time to talk to one another? It wasn't like he seen her in the last few weeks. These check in calls are really all he had and he was lucky to get one a week. The team has mostly been staying dark with Stark popping up in various well-publicized locations for business meetings to throw Hydra off the trail.

"Fitz is in the lab right now analyzing a few things that we picked up from the military recently." Part time but she doesn't need to know that. "He's good. Happy even."

"Really I…" Simmons started to speak but was cut off by May.

"I'll check in again in a few days if where not back by then."

"I hope your back by then." Surely they will have to come back to New York soon. How many more Hydra strongholds can there be?

"We might be back soon. Stark wants to make contact with his sister, again." Melinda explained.

"Which one?" Phil asked just as the screen went blank. That's when he noticed Natasha was standing behind him just out of range of the camera. Of course she was.

"So should I assume that you didn't tell her you spent two hours carving on the walls three nights ago?" Natasha asked. "Just like when it happened the first time, three weeks ago?"

"No because Simmons showed up to try to get May to eat something that's not a ration bar before I had a chance to." Actually he wasn't planning to tell her anything but Natasha didn't need to know that, Simmons provided him with an out.

"I spent half the night replacing the drywall so it is a big deal and you owe me. Also, you use Stark interrupting your call with her as an excuse not to tell her last time. I'm not sure how many times I'm going to accept that excuse." Natasha said as she takes the seat in front of his desk.

"You didn't need to repair the drywall in my office. I would've done it later." Phil said trying to redirect the conversation.

"No, I had to because there are too many new people on base who don't need to know about what their boss does at 3 AM when his girlfriend is not around. I don't completely trust half of Maria's recruits or the new doctor yet and he would be the first one brought in because Dr. Hand is officially on maternity leave and the main nurse quit."

"Not quit. She asked to be reassigned, and I granted it." Because Dr. Hand yelled at her for an hour last week

"You're carving on the walls again."

"It could've just been a fluke." Phil said defending himself.

"A fluke was when it happened last month. This is the second time since May left. Obviously the super soldier antibodies that you ingested during your birthday orgy have finally worn out of your system and May is no longer around to provide you with a booster."

The director would love to deny her accusations except his chronic episodes of carving took a 10 week break after the incident on the night of Steve's birthday, the day before he and May decided to go along with Starks idea of the perfect birthday present.

"I think you need more than four people for an orgy." He joked trying to distract Natasha.

"That does not change the fact that you were exposed to vast quantities of the so-called "super soldier antibody" and obviously they were counteracting the side effects of what was used to bring you back."

"May has the antibodies in her system."

"And you haven't had sex with her in two months due to the search for the scepter. I could have Dr. Campbell run a test to see what your antibody count is as well as try to figure out why it's behaving differently in you than everyone else but I don't think we want that." No, he did not, because that meant he would have to explain everything to Dr. Campbell and he did not want to do that.

"You don't because you don't trust him." Phil said out loud.

"I trust no one but I really don't trust him." Natasha argued. "He's hiding something and not just the fact he has powers."

"You know?" He knew because Stark told him, but agreed to keep the information close hold for now. Everyone just thought Dr. Campbell was taking shooting training as a precaution not Phil slowly preparing Dr. Campbell for fieldwork once Hand was back from maternity leave.

"I'm observant." Natasha replied with a shrug. "Of course he doesn't know that I know."

"Which means he still thinks he's keeping a secret from you and he actually is keeping it a secret from everyone else." Phil argued.

"Or it isn't the fact that he has powers but how he has powers." Natasha replied.

"That's a possibility. Right now I prefer you not scare him away because we need a doctor with Isabel on maternity leave and Simmons and Dr. Triplett on assignment."

"Fine. Although we're telling May about the carving next time she makes contact."

"Not until she's back in person."

"Unless it happens again before she comes back." Natasha told him with an angry glare. He didn't think anybody's glare could be worse than May's but Natasha's was. That gave him another reason to hope that Melinda found the scepter sooner rather than later.


"I'm not backing down on this." Natasha has never met anybody more stubborn than Phil Coulson. Of course if it wasn't for his stubbornness, she probably would be dead right now. However, she won't back down on telling May if this keeps happening. She may have agreed to pull the trigger if things go badly, but not keeping May in the dark. Natasha learned that lesson the hard way after the Stark debacle.

"OK." He reluctantly agreed. "So did you get anything out of Ward this afternoon?" Phil asked trying to move the conversation to safer ground which was unfortunately Grant Ward at this point. Obviously, he really doesn't want to discuss the literal writing on the wall.

"I thought you would've been watching?" Natasha asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Dr. Suarez won't let me." And by his tone, it was obvious he was not happy about that. "Apparently it's better for my emotional health if I completely divorce myself from the Grant Ward situation. Especially after finding out he manipulated two of my agents into having sex with him. As my deputy director, you get to make all Ward based decisions." Natasha raised an eyebrow at his use of the term deputy director.

"I thought I was just your Acting Deputy Director until May gets back."

"You think that May actually wants the job of deputy director?" He asked seriously.

"No," she answered quickly without hesitation.

"Do you think you and Stark will be able to work together anytime soon?" Considering she hasn't even talked to him in the last two months, the answer to that was obvious. Maybe she needs to amend her earlier statement.

"No."

"Then I rather have you here as my number two for as long as you wanted."

"Just so I can handle your Grant Ward problem?" She asked only slightly annoyed.

"Not just that. Although at least you are making some progress with him."

"Very little progress." Much to Natasha's frustration. "The only thing I got today was that his source for the information about Skye's parents is someone he refers to as the scientist in the flower dress. He won't actually give me a name unless Skye is there or anything else for that matter."

"We don't need him to give us a name. His source is Raina."

"The one responsible for kidnapping you last December?" Natasha asked vaguely remembering reading that report.

"Yes. Her we can find."

"And you want me to find her?" Natasha asked. Not that she wouldn't be that upset about finding the woman because Natasha would like to hit her a few times, for kidnapping Coulson in December.

"I don't exactly sleep well with her still on the streets so I would like to find her anyway. Unfortunately, even with the money from the patents we still don't have all the resources to chase down every lead, especially if they could just be a wild goose chase."

"And we already have enough of those."

"At the same time, Skye only showed up on our radar because she wanted to know where she came from." Coulson explained.

"I always found it's better to focus on where you're going then how you got there." Natasha replied. "But I'll talk to Skye about it before I decide how to proceed."

"Thank you."


"I feel like we should have invited Trista over for movie night." Isabel said as she laid in her bunk trying to get comfortable.

The keyword was "trying" because she looked quite uncomfortable and in a lot of pain in Trip's opinion, despite the special memory foam mattress brought in for the really really pregnant lady. To distract Isabel from bedrest, Trip decided that they should have a movie night. Okay, Skye decided that the two should have a movie night. Trip was really Isabel's only real friend on base as well as her baby coach. According to one of the baby books Skye picked up while he was getting to know family in Arizona last week (under the guise of installing new security equipment at his half-sister's house) Isabel could be in labor for a while. And yes it was weird to have a sister older than Aunt Marcy. Hydra was creepy.

"She's busy." Keeping an eye on my uncle's sister who may or may not have slept with my mom. But he couldn't tell Isabel that. He wasn't even supposed to know that. Why did he let Skye and Jarvis hack that file? That was why Trip decided not to look for parent three. What he's learned so far has been traumatizing enough.

"Yes with your cousin. You have no idea how happy I am that Trista finally made a move. Apparently only the evil Hydra agents were heterosexual. You know, except for the asshole who killed my wife, but I guess deep-seated closet cases don't count." It turns out that Zola's algorithm made Hydra deliberately avoid GLASS members for recruitment which explains why new SHIELD has such a high percentage of LGTB members.

"Not like that." Because Sharon is just pretending to be Trista's girlfriend, even note Trip knows Trista really has non-platonic feelings for her friend and pretending to be her girlfriend is hard on her. However, just like the old SHIELD, some things are still need to know and Isabel doesn't have the clearance to know about the constant surveillance of the current head of Hydra's estranged wife.

"Besides, Sharon's not even in town right now. She's chasing down possible ex-Hydra members in I think … You know I'm not sure what country she's in at the moment; probably Western Europe."

The hunt for the elusive Sergeant Barnes has not been going well. Considering the stories he heard from Uncle Dugan, Trip is neither shocked nor surprised.

"I'm sure I'll find out where she actually is when she gets back, hopefully not empty-handed this time." Trip tells her.

"I'm sure whatever she's actually doing is significantly more exciting then forced bedrest." Isabel complained.

"Well you're 50 weeks pregnant." Trip joked.

"37 you asshole. I could totally work for another week."

"I thought Dr. Campbell said that you were in the early stage of labor? Is Friday monitoring you?"

"Yes, but whatever. He's a baby doctor, what does he know." Trip responds with a look. "I don't mean OB/GYN. I mean, fresh out of med school and this is not even his specialty. I think I might be the first uterus he has seen that has not belong to a girlfriend. Unless he just plays for your team, then I'm even more concerned."

"He said your cervix has started to dilate." Trip shot back, ignoring her other comment.

"Just a little bit. This could take days. It's not like in the movies where the amniotic sac breaks and instant baby. I really wish I still had all the baby books that Victoria got when we decided to go the in vitro route, just so I could make you read them all. I just wish she was still here." Isabel said sadly. Trip knew that she missed her wife greatly. That added to the stress of this pregnancy. It must be hard to carry the children of a dead woman.

"Skye picked up a bunch when we were in Arizona. And she's making me read them."

"Bless her, but that kind of makes me miss Vic more. We were supposed to raise these babies together and she's not here now because of the asshole. I hate him so much." Isabel said on the verge of tears.

"I know." Trip gave her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Would it be cruel and unusual punishment to stream me going into active labor down to his cell as I curse him out for being the reason I don't have my wife's hand to crush as I squeeze two watermelon sized children from my vagina?" Isabel acted like she was joking, but Trip knew that she wasn't.

"Unusual although I don't think somebody who has done what he's done would be affected by it." Stuff like that doesn't work on the heartless and obviously Grant Ward was heartless.

"True but it's still going to be my happy thought during active labor."

"I thought you were supposed to picture a beach or something peaceful like that. I'm going to have to read that coaching book again."

"You can think of beaches when I'm accidentally breaking your hand mid-contraction, I'm going to imagine torturing the hydra asshole that killed my wife."

"Fair enough. So are we doing Star Wars, Star Trek, or Lord of the Rings tonight?" He asked.

"Vic was the Tolkien lover in our relationship, so not right now. And, As much as I want to stare at Chris Pine's beautiful eyes or rather you want to stare at Chris Pine's beautiful eyes, I don't think I can watch Winona giving birth as her husband dies." Dammit, he forgot about that opening scene. Definitely not something the ready to pop Isabel should watch right now.

"That also rules out Star Wars, at least the prequel trilogy. Maybe we can go through Skye's ridiculous romantic comedy recommendations. Love, Actually should be safe." He suggested.

"Doesn't that movie have a widower trying to raise his stepson after his wife dies of cancer?" Trip sighed. He really should have screened everything on Skye's list.

"The next on Skye's list is Ms. Congeniality. Is this safe for viewing?"

"We can watch that. That way you can reminisce about some of your worst undercover assignments like that time you had to make out with your cousin in Budapest."

"Let us never speak of Budapest. Okay, now I'm mad Skye added that to the list." Trip said half joking, as he went to pull up the movie. Thanks to Stark and Friday, every TV on base now had access to pretty much every film in creation.

"Where's your girlfriend by the way? Shouldn't she be here to watch us watch her list of romantic comedies?"

"First of all, she's not my girlfriend. Second, she got pulled into a meeting with Widow to discuss some special project but she may join us later." Trip explained.

"OK possibly wife. She's going by Skye Carter, and sharing a room with you."

"She is keeping the last name Carter because that's how she introduced herself to my nephew and why make two sets of IDs. We're sharing a room because we have way too many new agents coming in and we're not moving to Arlington for another two months and they need to sleep somewhere. At least I don't have to worry about Skye freaking out because she's afraid that I'll make a pass at her. I rather bunk with her while we're doubling up." Trip explained.

"Because she would welcome it." Isabel commented as she started to rub her back again. That had to be another one of the early contractions.

"She keeps having lunch with the new doctor so I think you're wrong."

"You sit with her on those lunches. You also took her with you to Arizona last week to meet the family. How did that go?"

"Badly." Is the only reply he's going to give her. The whole thing was a disaster. Eli is the only one who actually knows of the family relationship because it's too sensitive right now to tell anybody. But hey at least they are able to keep an eye on his half-sister and father. He hopes Hydra doesn't go after either of them.

"I need details. How did your new biological dad react to finding out that he is your dad?" Isabel asked.

"We didn't tell him. I don't even think he knows that his wife died three years ago. It's like he's in his own little world. Healthy body but his mind is gone. It's like grandma but worse." Now he understands what uncle Tony is going through. Also, let's not even bring up the fact that his biological dad is older than his grandmother. Fuck Hydra for that.

"Because of the serum?"

"Or because of the torture he endured while in prison. Eli isn't exactly full of details on what happened and neither is the file. And I think I've learned my lesson about looking for the truth in SHIELD's files. I'm done looking for answers because all I get are more questions." And he was just tired right now. It's great knowing that he looks so much like Eli because they were related. However, his relationship with his mom is messy again. Most of their conversations for the last two months have been only about Janice and Skye. That's not good.

"Have you talk to Skye about that? Or anyone else for that matter. You shouldn't keep this all in and I know you're not talking to your mom like you should be." How did Isabel know him so well? It was disturbing. Maybe it was a SHIELD thing.

"A little; I think she almost doesn't want to look for her parents anymore because things went so badly for me." He tells Isabella.

"At least you got a nephew out of it." Isabel stated with half a smile.

"Who's older than me."

"And you have cousins who are young enough to be your children. Your family is weird like that." Isabel groaned a little as she spoke. "Embrace it."

"Are you OK?" Trip asked.

"Early labor. Friday is monitoring my contractions as you pointed out earlier. As soon as they drop below five minutes or my amniotic sac ruptures Dr. Campbell will be notified and you get to do your job as my coach. I rather be here. Right now your job is to distract me so put on the movie or tell me more about what's going on with you and the new agent Carter."

"I'm just going to start Ms. Congeniality right now." Trip said, pressing the button to start the movie.

"Good choice."


Dr. T: So how is life at the playground?

Lincoln looks at the message on his screen and he isn't surprised at all that he is conscious at 3:23 AM so that he can read this message as soon as it arrives. He hasn't been sleeping as well as he should have since he has started working at the playground. Waking up in the middle of the night seems to be normal for him. He is also not surprised that Stephanie is texting him in the middle of the night. And since he was sure he wasn't going to fall back asleep anytime soon, he decided to reply.

Dr. Lincoln: It's ridiculously busy. I swear the agents get themselves shot on purpose. Thankfully, not your son.

Dr. T: That's good.

Dr. Lincoln: It was worse today because Dr. Hand is ready to pop and I had to pretty much drag her back to her room to rest. She's actually dilating already. I think I'm going to deliver my first baby within next few days, if you're not back by then.

Dr. Lincoln: Outside of a classroom setting anyway without an instructor watching over me. This is not how I thought my medical career would go.

Dr. T: No one pictures working for a secret organization during med school, even someone like me who was aware of said secret organization since before pre-K.

Dr. T: I am a neurologist. Outside of med school, the only baby I have delivered has been Antoine. It's a different experience when you're the one pushing it out of your uterus.

Dr. Lincoln: At least you understand it from the other side. That's more than I can say.

Dr. T: Sorry, I'm going to have to miss it. If Isabel is already dilating, I doubt I will be back in time.

Dr. Lincoln: Why? At this point you should come back. There hasn't been a sighting from the squid gang in weeks.

Dr. T: Because my brother has been taking the fight to them. If we keep storming their castle, eventually they're going to try to storm ours.

Dr. Lincoln: Possible.

Dr. T: And I'm not just hiding upstate, I'm actually up here for a reason.

Dr. Lincoln: A reason you can't tell me about since apparently I have a level one security clearance.

Lincoln has been in this place long enough to know that there are things he isn't being told. He would really like to know why agent Romanoff was carrying drywall up to the director's office earlier this week at three in the morning.

Dr. T: I thought that Coulson got rid of levels. That was something Pierce put in place after they kicked mommy out. Compartmentalizing everything makes it easier to hide the evil deeds apparently.

Dr. Lincoln: Apparently I haven't hit the trust enough that they will tell anything to outside of when they're hurt or sick and even that information is like pulling teeth. I know something's wrong with the director but his file is under six levels of encryption.

Dr. T: And the soon as he gets hurt you will have access.

Dr. Lincoln: I doubt that will happen anytime soon. He is not allowed to run field missions.

Dr. T: I got shot doing your job interviews so nothing is outside the realm of possibilities, especially with Hydra lurking in the shadows. By the way how's your firearms training?

Dr. Lincoln: Better now that your son has taken over from Romanoff again. She terrifies me. She filled in last week when he was running a mission in Arizona. Let's just say I'm glad he's back in preparation for Hand going into labor at any moment.

Dr. T: Visiting the new family probably. The one that didn't lie.

Dr. Lincoln: So you were told about that?

Dr. T: Jarvis put me on the call when everybody found out the truth and Tony filled me in on everything else. Apparently, my son is on speaking terms with his new uncle at least. All my communications with Antoine have gone through Jarvis for the last two months and most of it has been work related. Obviously, he is still not happy about the lying.

Dr. Lincoln: Yet he keeps asking me if I've been in touch with you every time we have been on the gun range together.

Dr. T: And your responses?

Dr. Lincoln: Email your mom.

Dr. T: Thank you for trying but I messed this up on my own which means I'm going to have to fix it.

Friday: I hate interrupt this conversation but Dr. Klein's contractions have decreased in time to just four minutes and 57 seconds. It may be time for you to examine her and move to the medical facilities.

Dr. Lincoln: Hey I have to go.

Dr. T: Yep it looks like your crash course in labor and delivery is going to happen very soon.

Dr. Lincoln: I'm so glad I went over those chapters again last night in my medical textbooks. Especially all those chapters about when things go badly, like the placenta being delivered first.

Dr. T: Don't panic. I knew this was going to happen so I made sure you would have some help. Agent Long is a registered midwife in addition to being a nurse. She can walk you through everything. Actually, she can do everything you're just there in case something goes badly.

Dr. T: Not that I think it will. But always be prepared.

Dr. Lincoln: She also left two days ago for a job in the private sector because apparently a very pregnant and easily annoyed Dr. Cline-Hand is too much to deal with.

Dr. T: OK, I will activate Plan B.

Dr. Lincoln: Thank you. I think.

Dr. T: I'll talk to you in a few days. Have a safe delivery.

Lincoln put down his phone and took a deep breath before reminding himself that it was way too late to call Gordon to get him the hell out of here. He's been there two months and that was his choice. He actually liked being a doctor here when not dealing with lots of gunshot victims. Unfortunately delivering a baby was on his list of things to do but he can do this.


Red Malibu: So how is my big sister doing?

Trista: Tony, do you know what time it is in this country?

Red Malibu: Late enough for you to be getting ready for work since you do a lot of early-morning egg retrievals now.

Trista: That's beside the point.

Trista: However, your sister is good. So is her son. Neither have been contacted by the evil soon to be ex-husband/abandoning daddy. Which is good because Alex kind of hates him with a fiery passion.

Red Malibu: Not surprising. What about the bastard adopted father.

Trista: Also no contact.

Red Malibu: Are you sure?

Trista: Your Friday has been monitoring every bit of communication going in and out of that building and her personal residence and nothing. No dead drops or anything else either.

Red Malibu: She really doesn't remember anything that happened in Appalachia?

Trista: Nothing before Tahiti. Although she does refer to it as a magical place a lot. I think there might be some more recent gaps too. But I can't prove it.

Red Malibu: Which obviously means that they took those memories from her instead of killing her out right. Yes, SHIELD has that technology. It was called project Tahiti by the way.

Trista: This Should Not Surprise Me. Although I am surprised she was wiped instead of just killing her. It's Hydra. They did kill Trip's former fiancé a couple of months ago, even though he was a dick.

Red Malibu: I've always believed that even evil people love their children. Some evil people anyway.

Red Malibu: Or they had other plans for her that require her to still be alive.

Trista: That seems more likely. I've been invited to a small pre-Halloween party dinner party before the large Halloween party. Sharon will be back by then probably because the last hit was extremely unproductive. Maybe I'll find something in her house.

Red Malibu: Maybe. So obviously, Kraków was a bust?

Trista: Of course it was. He doesn't want us to find him yet. Do you really want her to find him? He murdered your parents. I know you didn't want to watch the video file but I did.

Red Malibu: I would rather have him in a facility where Steve can visit from time to time than out on the streets were Hydra can get to him again. Okay, I want him in a secure facility so Hydra can't re-activate him to murder more family members. What happened really wasn't his fault.

Trista: You almost sound forgiving, sort of.

Red Malibu: Because Sergeant Barnes was kidnapped and brainwashed by Hydra to do bad things instead of the asshole who screwed my son literally before dropping him into the Gulf of Mexico. Now him I want to strangle with my bare hands. But director agent won't let me.

Trista: Obviously, you really hate Ward.

Red Malibu: He fucked with my kid. Of course I'm going to hate him. How is my kid doing? I text him all the time but even though he's in his late 20s, he is doing a good impression of a closed off teenager. He never really tells me anything

Trista: He's fine. Actually, he's ecstatic at being back at work, at least part-time. He's angry at everybody for not using the lab system that he and Simmons created. Most are now scared of him.

Red Malibu: Of course. I've already been yelled at twice after using the wrong bags to collect evidence.

Trista: Of course. He misses you though. And I can't see him as much as I like because of the job. I'm sure it will be better once Arlington is done.

Red Malibu: It will be done soon. Right now just a lot of furniture needs to be added. Although the Playground is still going to be the main base because there's an airplane hangar. Arlington is more of a public front, but the labs are going to be better.

Red Malibu: You know I want my kid to have the best labs. Also it's a lot easier for me to get to DC than the Playground.

Trista: Hey I have to go I just got a text from Stephanie on my other phone. Dr. C is in labor and Campbell is kind of freaked out after the nurse that was supposed to help resigned.

Red Malibu: So apparently, you now have to drive to the Playground at way too early in the morning? Have you actually delivered a baby before?

Trista: Yes. A few times in the field. It was part of the mission that made me decide that I was done being a field agent. Instead, the big boss made me your mom's security detail.

Red Malibu: Okay Friday will create an excuse for your boss.

Trista: Thank you.

To Be Continued