Chapter 50
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Everything belongs to their rightful owners.
AN1: Just letting you know that even though it seems like in this chapter and the next that things are more SHIELD focused that changes after Winter Soldier where there is more of a balance. It cuts between Post CAWS Avengers and SHIELD, then it all comes together and things go very off cannon from after 1x22
AN2: Thank you for the support. PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D 1x04
Ever since Phil told her about their newest case, this time in Sweden, Melinda knew there was something Phil wasn't telling her, something which she become even more sure about the more time they spent at the crime scene with Skye, who had a really good suggestion about how they could find out what happened and seems to have limitless enthusiasm for what they do, just like Melinda remembers having herself once.
After Skye comes up with the idea to use Instagram to track the people wearing masks the three of them head back to the plane but as she walks past Melinda hears one of the local officer saying,
"Do all American agencies let parents be on the same agency as their child." To the other.
As she hears that Melinda freezes, being completely shocked by what she heard, as even though she knows that Phil has been seeing aspects of the person that both of them hoped Daisy would be in Skye Melinda has been refusing to let herself, as she knows that once she starts to let herself she won't be able to stop, let alone function in a way that would help the team.
"May?" A voice asks, causing Melinda to snap out of her own head.
"Yes?" Melinda asks, looking at Skye who is standing in front of her while Phil is a little way down the platform.
"You okay?" Skye asks concerned.
"Yes. Let's go." Melinda tells the confused young woman, before she continues to walk fast, catching up to Phil, who is giving her a concerned look before too long.
It has been a few hours since the train station and since then Melinda has found out exactly why Phil wanted her on this mission, and Fitz, Simmons and Skye were all in the van while it was knocked down.
Having remembered Amador Melinda feels sympathy for what she went through, but after what happened to Fitz, Simmons and Skye Melinda feels some of that sympathy disappear, or it might just be guilt, guilt that she wasn't in the field protecting the three young agents who needed her to be.
After fighting with Phil about Amador Melinda realised that the only way for her to make sure that the team, the agents under her protection aren't hurt again, is to bring Amador in herself so as soon as there is some kind of lead about where she is that's what Melinda intends to do.
While Melinda is watching Amador's eye feed, trying to get an idea about where she is, Phil is up in his office. Him and Melinda fighting about tactical decisions isn't odd, it used to happen a lot, but usually it was Clint, Natasha, Maria or Sharon watching, and on a couple of occasions, eating popcorn, that he never had any idea where they got it from, not a team who don't know them, and no matter how many times it happens it doesn't make it any easier, especially considering the fact that he and Melinda have known each other so long, and so well, that know just the buttons to push. Phil has been sitting in his office, thinking about the fight he just had with his best friend for a little while when he hears footsteps and he looks up and sees Skye standing in the doorway.
"I just wanted to give you a quick update." Skye informs Phil, "She's still at the hotel, so... and that's the update." Skye comments, "It's a pretty weird day, huh? It's like we were trapped in a van-shaped pinata."
"That should never have happened." Phil says, knowing Melinda well enough to know that that is part of the reason why she's so upset, because she hates it when people under her protection gets hurt, or when they are in a situation where they could be.
"It's okay. It wasn't nearly as terrible as watching mom and dad fight downstairs." Skye comments causing Phil to freeze as he wasn't expecting that, 'Mom and Dad' two simple names that Phil and Melinda should always been called by a girl about Skye's age, but never were.
"Coulson?" Skye asks concerned about a minute later.
"Sorry, what?" Phil asks.
"You just did the same freezing thing May did at the station. What's going on?" Skye asks concerned and completely confused.
"It's nothing." Phil lies, "And May and I fighting in front of you all shouldn't have happened, either. You regret coming along?" Phil asks.
"It was pretty impulsive, even for me." Skye admits, still feeling concern for May and Coulson, "I still don't know much about you... Except for you value really old stuff. And you value me. You're the person to do that in a long time." Skye says, making Phil feel sorry for Skye as everyone should have someone who values them, "So, I happen to believe you're an excellent judge of character. If you think this woman deserves a second chance, we should give it to her." Skye tells Phil, "Even though she tried to kill me and I kind of hate her guts." Skye says before leaving, giving Phil a lot to think about.
Over the next day Amador is brought onto the bus after a fight with Melinda and she has haven the prosthetic eye that was sending her commands removed before being taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. While that happened Skye and Ward went to the location that Amador was given orders to go to and completed her mission, and Melinda and Phil tracked down the Amador's handler who it turns out was just as trapped as she was.
After sitting with Skye in the back of the SUV for a little while Phil heads upstairs and honestly he isn't at all surprised to find Melinda sitting on his couch drinking a glass of scotch.
"No phone calls with your siblings today?" Phil asks as he closes the door.
"Tasha's on a mission with Clint and Steve. Ria's working, and its date night for Tone." Melinda explains as Phil walks over and sits with her.
"I can't believe they're working with Captain Rogers." Phil says amazed, "Does he know about who Tasha is?"
"Nope and apparently Tasha is having a lot of fun with that." Melinda comments as Phil sits down next to her.
"Of course she is." Phil says, not even being surprised about that, "What is she doing?" he asks as Melinda pours him a glass too.
"Whenever Steve asks why she knows something personal, but completely random, like his favourite pizza, she says it's in the history books." Melinda explains, causing Phil to be amused.
"Of course she is." Phil answers as he takes the glass and has a sip while the two of them drift into silence, "What happened at the station, May?" Phil asks curious.
"The locals thought that Skye was our daughter, they wondered if all American agencies let parents be on the same team as their child." Melinda explains, taking a drink.
"Oh." Phil says, knowing that must have been hard for Melinda to hear, "Skye called us Mom and Dad." Phil says and Melinda turns to look in shock, "She said 'it wasn't as bad as watching Mom and Dad fight downstairs.'" Phil explains, "I froze when I heard that too."
"It was a rather bad fight." Melinda comments, not sure how she feels about Skye calling her and Phil Mom and Dad, "She would have been twenty-five last week." Melinda reminds Phil.
"I know." Phil says and the two of them drift into pained silence.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D 1x05
As she hears that Phil is up while she is doing Tai-Chi Melinda feels concern for her best friend grow, but she doesn't have a long time to dwell on it as while she and Phil are watching Skye and Ward playing board games they are called on a mission.
Ever since Skye traced the Rising Tide hack that lead to a man being kidnapped both Phil and Melinda knew there was something that Skye wasn't saying so Melinda followed her, to an apartment where Skye meet the target and ends up having sex with him.
With her siblings being who they are Melinda has walked in on, or walked in right after, people having sex, before but doing so when it is was Skye makes things very uncomfortable, for both Melinda and Skye, who feels like she is pretty sure that the mortification she is feels is something she never thought she would feel, it was a feeling of being caught by someone like a parent.
About a day after Melinda caught Skye with her boyfriend the case is over. The man who had been kidnapped, a man with superpowers, self-destructed, which gave the S.H.I.E.L.D team no choice.
After having a drink with Ward Melinda headed back to the cockpit while Skye went up to talk to Coulson about everything that has happened as while Miles was left in Hong Kong Skye, at least for now, was taken with them.
Melinda has been in the cockpit for a little while when the door opens and Phil walks in.
"Is she staying?" Melinda asks as Phil walks over and sits in the co-pilot seat.
"Yes." Phil confirms, "She's trying to find her parents." Phil says and Melinda turns to look at him. "She was left at an orphanage, the only clue she has about who she is, or where she comes from is a single S.H.I.E.L.D page document, redacted." Phil reveals, "Everything she has done has been to try and find out where she comes from, who her parents are." Phil tells Melinda, "I told her that I would look into it for her." Phil informs Melinda.
"Let me know if there is anything I can do." Melinda informs Phil.
"I will." Phil comments, "I better go tell the others." Phil says before getting up and leaving.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D 1x06
Being in the lab with Skye is something that Fitz quiet likes as even with everything that happened with Miles Fitz still sees Skye as a friend, he still feels close, but when Skye says that she and Simmons are so close that they are psychically linked Fitz finds himself needing to ramble to try and distract Skye as he knows exactly why that is, but isn't sure that it would be good for the others on the plane to know.
When Phil asks her to Interrogate the young counsellor Melinda wishes, not for the first time, that Natasha was on the plane as interrogation is her kind of thing, and so Melinda thinks to herself, what would Natasha do, and she does just that.
While the three younger agents stay on the bus Melinda, Phil and Ward go to trace the electro static shocks which leads the three of them to go to the firehouse that all the victims have been from.
While at the firehouse Melinda discovers the Chitauri Helmet and as soon as she does Melinda realises that thing might be so much worse than what they were expecting; something which was confirmed when Phil ordered the firehouse to be evacuated why he stayed inside.
As she listens to Phil talk to the fireman Melinda feels pain for her friend and she is very glad that no one can see her face, as she is pretty sure that, even with her experience at hiding things, that she would give away what Phil means to her.
As soon as she learns that Simmons has been infected by the Alien virus Melinda hurries, though she makes it look like she's not doing that, to the cockpit. Once she is in there Melinda locks the door and pulls out her phone, calling her brother, but to her disappointment she receives his voice mail.
"Tone, it's Mel. Call me the second you get this. It's an emergency." Melinda requests and then hangs up and dials Pepper's number and once again she receives Pepper's voice mail, and this time instead of leaving a message Melinda just hangs up, "Seriously, both of you?" Melinda asks annoyed then she takes notice of the date and realises that it is the monthly day where Tony has to attend a day of meeting at Stark Industries and Pepper always makes sure that Tony doesn't have any of his phones. After making the connection about why neither Tony or Pepper aren't answering Melinda puts her phone back into it's hiding spot and heads to Phil's office to check on him.
After leaving the Cockpit Melinda heads straight up to Phil's office and she gets there just in time to hear Phil says,
"I'm sorry ... bad connection. Didn't get that last part." Before ending the call, "Don't even think about it." Phil tells Melinda when he sees the look she is giving him.
"I don't have to. That's your job." Melinda tells Phil.
"Did he know anything?" Phil asks Melinda as the second she headed to the cockpit Phil knew exactly what Melinda was going to do.
"He didn't answer. Today's the day where he is dragged to Industry meetings, he doesn't have his phone. Won't for a few hours." Melinda explains.
"Damn it." Phil says angrily.
While Phil and Melinda are upstairs Simmons is down in the lab trying to figure things out while Fitz is watching through the lab. While Simmons is working Fitz is thinking about how he can't bear to lose her.
"It's all right. Everything's gonna be fine." Fitz says, it being the only thing he can think to say as he is trying to be reassuring.
"Please stop saying that. I see you looking at your watch." Simmons informs him.
"Are you sure you don't need my help just to ..." Fitz start to say, having no idea what he can offer to help, but knowing that he has to offer something.
"Are you sure this thing even works?" Simmons asks, completely understanding why Fitz is so worried but at the same time it makes it so much harder for her to do what she has to do.
"Yeah, well, you know it does. My device isn't the issue... it's the vaccine." Fitz tells Jemma, causing the two of them to start to argue about how they needed up in the field, blaming each other and doing so as it hurts less than facing the fact that there might not be a cure, the fact that Simmons could die soon and there is nothing Fitz can do, something which would destroy Fitz because if Simmons were to die he would lose a piece of himself.
After a little bit the argument turns into a discussion of a way to save Simmons, causing Fitz to run upstairs as fast as he can.
"No, uh... you can't be in here!" Simmons says when Fitz runs into the lab a few minutes after he ran upstairs carrying the box with the helmet in it. She is already infected, there is no reason for Fitz to be too, she doesn't want that.
"Too late. It's done." Fitz says, knowing that he won't leave the lab until Simmons is saved. "Just try and do your best to keep your hands off me, yeah?" Fitz says, trying to make a joke.
"Leo, I don't know what you think you're doing, but ..." Simmons starts to say.
"I'm doing what we always do. What we've always done." Leo tells Simmons, "We're gonna fix this ... together." Fitz says and the two of get to work, side by side.
A few hours later Simmons has managed to be cured, though it took her knocking Fitz out, jumping out of the plane without a parachute, and being rescued by Ward for that to happen.
After getting a lecture from Coulson Melinda has returned downstairs and after hugging Skye Simmons headed straight to Fitz's bunk so that they could talk.
"I was going to do it. I know you were. I had the antiserum, the chute ... everything." Fitz informs Simmons as she sits down next to him, "I just couldn't get the straps on." Fitz explains, hating that he almost failed her.
"Leo, don't." Simmons says, not wanting him to blame himself.
"And, you know, maybe I couldn't have done the whole James Bond in mid-air type of thing…." Fitz starts to say before Simmons cuts him off.
"Leo, shut up." Simmons tells him, "Please, Just… Ward did an amazing thing, yes, but it wasn't Ward by my side in the lab, searching for a cure. It wasn't Ward giving me hope when I had none. It was you, it's always you, my brother, always by my side." Simmons says with a smile, as when they were at the Academy she and Fitz compared their DNA together just for fun and they learnt that they are full siblings, twins they suspect, but they have no idea who their biological parents are, they just know that it's not the parents who raised either of them. Both of them consider the parents who raised them to be their real parents but at the same time they can't help but be curious about their biological ones, though Fitz is more curious than Simmons, "You're the hero, my hero." Simmons informs her brother before placing a kiss on his cheek.
While Fitz and Simmons are downstairs Melinda, who still hasn't heard from her brother, is heading up to Phil's office.
"How was Simmons?" Melinda asks.
"Amazingly resilient. You'd never know she almost died." Phil tells Melinda.
"Experience like that ... it takes a while to sink in." Melinda says, "That her medical report?" Melinda asks, wanting some answers about what is going on with Phil.
"Mine, actually. Blood work finally came back. I'm perfectly normal. Little heavy on the iron. But don't worry, you don't have to start calling me Iron Man." Phil tells Melinda, trying to make a joke about what is going on.
"I don't call my brother that. So, there is no way I'd call you it." Melinda informs Coulson who smirks, amused.
"My doctors never requested any tests. I ordered them for myself, but you knew that." Phil says and Melinda nods in agreement. "This piece... of paper is telling me that everything's fine, but... I don't feel fine. I feel different." Phil admits
"Take off your shirt." Melinda says, stepping forward
"Excuse me?" Phil asks shocked, not believing that he just heard what he thinks he just heard, as he hasn't heard Melinda say something like that to him for over twenty years.
"Your shirt... unbutton it." Melinda explains and Phil tarts to unbutton his shirt, moving his tie to do so.
"Whether it was eight seconds or forty, you died." Melinda says, trying to keep the pain out of her voice as she knows that there is too much pain in her voice she'll give the truth away, "There's no way you can go through a trauma like that and not come out of it changed. You know how long it's taken me to ..." Melinda stars to say.
"I know." Phil answers, knowing exactly what Melinda is talking about.
"The point of these things is to remind us that there is no going back. There's only moving forward. You feel different because you are different." Melinda says, not planning on reporting this to Fury as Phil acting like this is completely normal after all he has been through.
Once Melinda finishes speaking the two of them just stand in silence, staring at each other, Melinda's hands on Phil's chest, neither wanting to move away or risk the other running by moving forward, neither are sure how long they been standing, frozen, when they are interrupted by Melinda's phone ringing.
"It's Tony." Melinda answers after she pulls her family phone out.
"I thought you didn't keep your family phone on you." Phil comments.
"I don't, but I've been waiting to hear from Tony about the virus." Melinda answers, "I got to get it. Hey. Can you hold for a second." Melinda asks Tony before putting the phone on hold, "Are you…." Melinda starts to say.
"Yeah, I'm okay. Go talk to your brother." Phil tells her and Melinda nods and heads to the cockpit.
"Hey, you there?" Melinda ask about a minute later when she walks into the cockpit and locks the door.
"Yep. What's going on? What's the emergency?" Tony asks concerned.
"Have you got anything Chitauri?" Melinda asks her brother.
"Um, maybe, yeah, why?" Tony asks.
"Because you need to be very careful." Melinda tells him.
"Why?"
"Because my team just came into contact with an alien virus that was on a Chitauri helmet and passes from one person to another by electrostatic shock." Melinda explains to Tony.
"That's incredible." Tony comments amazed then what Melinda says, completely registers with him, "Wait, are you all okay?"
"Yeah. One of my team were infected, our biochemist Jemma Simmons, but she managed to create an antiserum and our engineer, Leo Fitz, managed to create a delivery method." Melinda explains.
"Good, that's good, and really impressive." Tony says, sounding glad about that, and as he does he realises something, "Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz. I tried to hire them. I have been trying for years." Tony comments, "Of course they would be on your team." Tony says, sounding annoyed, "The whole thing sounds fascinating. Think you could get me the file?" Tony asks curious.
"I'll talk to Phil." Melinda tells him, "Just be careful with anything Chitauri, Tony." Melinda request.
"I will." Tony responds before hanging up. Once Tony hangs up with Melinda he uses his phone to call Natasha and Maria at the same time.
"Hello." Maria's voice asks.
"Please Hold." Natasha requests as she slips into the bathroom at the restaurant where she is having dinner with Steve and Clint, "Okay. What?" Natasha asks once she has cleared the room and made sure that there aren't any bugs.
"What kind of cases are Mel and Phil being assigned?" Tony asks his sisters.
"Why do you ask?" Maria asks, keeping her voice neutral.
"Because twice Mel has called asking for help with pretty serious things." Tony asks, "Is Fury assigning them more than they can handle?" He asks, worried as even though he knows that Melinda and Phil can handle a lot, and he knows enough about Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz to know that they are more than capable scientists, he knows that there are things that even they can't handle without help.
"Mel and Phil can handle quiet a lot." Maria tells her siblings.
"That's not an answer." Tony tells his sister.
"It's really not." Natasha says with a frown.
"Look, I've got to go into a meeting." Maria tells her siblings, "We can talk about this later." She says before hanging up.
"Tash?" Tony asks.
"I'll be in the city later this week, we can talk then. I'll see what I can find out." Natasha tells her brother.
"Thanks Tash." Tony says before hanging up.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D 1x07
Ever since learning that her brother is going on a mission in hostile territory, with no back up, Simmons has been panicking as she can't help but feeling that this is a bad idea and that someone is going to happen to him. That fear is exactly why Simmons is more than willing to go along with Skye's plans.
After finding out from Skye, who hacked the system to find out, the details of Ward and Fitz's missions that he wasn't told about Phil heads straight to the operations centre to have a few words with Victoria Hand.
"Tranquilizing an agent does not qualify as a misunderstanding." Victoria Hand informs Phil after talking about what happened with Agent Sitwell
"You're right. But being told there's an extraction team in place when, in fact, there isn't, that does. I'm level eight. I'm entitled to information regarding the welfare of my team. You should have told me." Phil informs Agent Hard, being angry about this being kept from him.
"Seemed I didn't have to. And what would that have changed, Agent Coulson? You yourself have designed dozens of operations like this. You know how this works." Hand says.
"Usually with an extraction plan." Phil argues.
"Barton, Romanoff, Carter, May, they never have an extraction plan, and neither did you once upon a time." Hand reminds Phil and once she does Phil comes to a decision.
After speaking with Hard Phil heads back to the bus where he waits for May, Simmons and Skye to come back, as they do the three of them are talking about the extraction plan, something which doesn't surprise Phil as Melinda would never let two people stay out in the field alone as she was taught, since she was a kid, that you never leave a member of your team alone.
While their sister, Phil, Skye and Simmons are conducting an unauthorised extraction Natasha is arriving at Stark Tower in New York.
"Tasha. Tony didn't say you were coming." Pepper says to her friend when she sees her step out of the elevator.
"He didn't know exactly when I was." Natasha explains as she greats Pepper with a hug, "Where is my dear brother?"
"Lab." Pepper answers.
"Of course. Thanks." Natasha responds before heading to the lab.
A couple of minutes later Natasha walks into the lab and unsurprisingly she finds her brother working on something.
"Did you find something?" Tony asks when he sees Natasha.
"No, but that's what's interesting." Natasha admits as she sits down on one of the tables, "So, there are basically no records about what Mel's and Phil's team is doing, which isn't in itself strange, Scorpion had basically no records." Natasha explains, "What's strange is that are no S.H.I.E.L.D rumours which there usually is about everything." Natasha explains, "It's like information about this team is being purposely kept quiet."
"Odd." Tony says with a frown, "This is more than normal S.H.I.E.L.D secret stuff, right?"
"I definitely think so." Natasha admits.
"Do you think Ria knows the truth?" Tony asks curious.
"Oh yeah." Natasha confirms, "There has been something she hasn't been saying for months, and I think Mel knows something we don't too, but whether she knows as much as Ria is the question." Natasha admits.
"It would explain why Mel's gone back in the field." Tony comments.
"It would." Natasha confirms, being annoyed as she can't help out, or protect, her sister and Phil without knowing all the details, and the two of them drift into silence. A few minutes later Tony throws a packet of twizzles at Natasha and once she catches them the two of them sit in silence Natasha while she eats her twizzles and Tony while he works, both of them wondering what they don't know.
While Melinda and Phil are sitting in Phil's office reading the file on what happened to Skye as a child Maria is sitting in her office doing the exact same thing, thinking that it might be a very good thing for Skye to be on Melinda and Phil's team.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D 1x08
From the minute they find out that they are dealing with Asgardian items Melinda becomes worried as she knows enough from her siblings' experiences, Phil's and her own, to know that this is going to be a difficult case, though she has to admit that Skye was right about her wanting to fly an alien ship, not that she would ever admit that.
As soon as Ward touches the Berserker Staff everyone on the bus becomes worried about his actions but when he starts to yell at Skye, Simmons and Fitz, Fitz finds himself instinctively stepping forward to shield Simmons and Skye while Skye's instincts, her history, tell her to get back, to get away from Ward.
Once Ward leaves the lab Skye and Simmons both try to pretend that they aren't affected by what Ward said or did but Fitz knows that Simmons was, because he knows when she tries to hide things, and he suspects that Skye was too, even though they both said differently.
Even though Melinda knows exactly what she is going to see it doesn't stop her from picking up the staff, from using all three pieces of it when the time comes. She does this because she knows that it's what she has to do to stop the other people using the staff. It's what she has to do protect her team and so she willingly subjects herself to images of Bahrain and the night Daisy was killed so that Ward doesn't have to see whatever it is that he sees.
After the case was done Melinda stares at her family phone, while sitting in her hotel room, but she can't bring herself to call her family, instead she goes downstairs and grabs a bottle of scotch, and when she returns to her room she sees Ward in the corridor and not really thinking about it Melinda leaves her door open, feeling that a little distraction could be just what she needs.
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D 1x09
After a very long case that brings back a lot of painful memories for Melinda, and even Phil to a lesser degree, Melinda is very much looking forward to being along in the cockpit, but as the door opens and Skye walks in Melinda realises that she wouldn't really mind the company.
As she sits with Melinda in the cockpit Skye finds herself rather enjoying the experience and she realises that she definitely enjoys the view and understands why Melinda spends so much time in there.
Looking over at Melinda a while after she sat down Skye sees something that she hasn't noticed before.
"You have a tattoo." Skye says amazed, "I've never noticed it." Skye says, only noting because the plane headset has pushed Melinda's hair back, "A daisy, nice." She comments, with a grin being amazed that someone as tough as May has a tattoo of something so delicate though she can't help but wonder if Melinda got it before or after she, in Coulson's words, 'lost herself' "But what does the MD mean?"
Hearing Skye's question Melinda purposely avoids answering, thinking that the young woman will realise that it isn't something that she wants to talk about.
"I guess you don't want to talk about it." Skye realises, "But for the record I really like it." She comments, "Maybe I should go." Skye says, moving to stand up.
"You don't have to go." Melinda informs her as even though she doesn't want to talk about her tattoo she doesn't really mind the company.
"Cool." Skye says before sitting down and making herself comfortable, and together the two of them sit in silence enjoying each other's company.
