I would like to start this chapter by thanking all of you for continuing to support this story- those of you that have been following this story since I started it, and those of you that have enjoyed it enough to read all the way to my third entry. Sorry this entry is a bit late-I'm still getting used to writing regularly :)
For the purposes of this fic, Coulson knows about his death and May is level 8(so there are no secrets between them). I will also not be completely following the show-I might skip episodes and characters.
Disclaimer -I do not own Agents of Shield but I love it very much and have watched it multiple times.
Recap: The team received a well-earned day off, After a rocky start in travelling from the small beach that May parked the plane on, to the mainland, this chapter will follow them in team and smaller group bonding. Phillinda, Fitzsimmons, Huntingbird and Phillindaisy.
After about an hour of messing around in the water, the team were finally dry and heading back to the bus, because they had decided to spend the rest of the day doing some shopping and messing around different activities. After struggling to conceal the Bus, they hid it in plain sight and parked it directly on top of a very tall building, in such a manner that it looked decorative. They then proceeded to climb down what felt like 100 flights of stairs. This reminded Coulson of Mays old 18th floor apartment.
"I thought I was done with all the stairs," he complained.
Everyone else stared at him oddly, and May rolled her eyes. Rule 101 of not being noticed. Do not make awkward references that nobody understands she thought, while smiling exasperatedly at him and shaking her head. He always made such a fuss about stairs.
For their whole team activity, before lunch, they decided to go to paintball.
"What better way for field agents to spend their day off, than pretending to be field agents, with fake guns" May had stated sarcastically but they were all enjoying it. After a long debate over teams, they decided that May and Bobbi could not be on the same team because they would have such a big advantage, both being trained specialists. The group was split into 3 and 4, May, Coulson, and Daisy on one team, and Bobbi, Hunter, and the science twins in the other.
After an hour of playing, everyone was out except for May and Bobbi. Skye had eliminated the science twins, but was at mediately shot by Hunter, who was brought down by Coulson. After 10 minutes, Coulson was caught by Bobbi, as he was climbing a tree, but May and Coulson had decided that they had a better chance of winning if they split up, so Bobbi had no clue where May was. After 40 minutes, May finally appeared, shooting Bobbi in the back of the helmet, while they were both High up in the trees. Bobbi scowled at May, who smirked back before efficiently climbing down the tree.
Once all the agents were back in the lobby of the paintball Centre, they joked and laughed about the games. Well, all agents except for Bobbi. Bobbi was salty, claiming that she would get revenge. If she had known anything about any of the prank wars that May had started when she had been at the academy, Bobbi would not have made this mistake. Coulson looked at the two agents, before cringing at the memory of a large bucket of pink slime dripping down his shirt, the last time that he had made the mistake of not siding with May during a prank war.
"You have no idea what you just signed up for," Coulson warned Bobbi.
Bobbi sent an inquisitive look towards May, who just looked back at her, with a slightly mischievous look in her eyes. Coulson had not seen May openly enjoying herself in front of others so much in years. He made a mental note to do this kind of thing more often. Only in their free time of course.
After they had met back on the plane and agreed a plan for the rest of the day, they were heading off again. Skye, After feeling a little lost about what to do after all the other agents had paired off for the afternoon, decided to split her time 3 ways- she would spend the first division with May and Coulson, the next with Fitzsimmons and the last with Bobbi and Hunter.
For the first part of the afternoon, the three of them would have the bus to themselves. After a long discussion about what to do with their afternoon, Coulson had elected to teach Skye how to make chocolate chip cookies-mainly because they kept having to touch down and stock up on endless packets of cookies that kept disappearing, but also because May was hilariously bad at cooking. May herself failed to see how funny it was when agents other than Coulson found out that the badass ice-Queen agent May was so hopeless in the kitchen, but everyone else shared his humor on this rare event. Coulson wanted Skye to experience this phenomenon for herself, because no one would believe it without witnessing the event.
It was going fine until it was time to crack the egg. Skye, who turned out to be just as hopeless as May, teamed up with her, and that was how the food fight started. Coulson groaned as he received a raw egg in the face. Why had he started this? How was he going to explain to Fitzsimmons that their immaculately clean kitchen was covered in a mixture of egg and flour because their pilot and consultant got into a food fight. No-one would believe him when he blamed May, so he would end up cleaning it up. He wondered if that was why she had let Sky and herself be so merciless towards the kitchen, sparing no inch of counter.
After the last egg was thrown and the last packet of flour emptied, the agents, looked at him, before bursting into laughter as the cookie mix dripped down his forehead.
"So much for cookies," sighed Coulson.
After a time-check, the three agents headed to shower and change, before making their great escape. They would drop Skye off with Fitzsimmons, at the science museum, before heading off to a restaurant together, hopefully avoiding cleaning duty. For now…
May and Coulson had both thrown a change of clothes into their bags and the three of them caught a bus towards the science museum. Fitzsimmons were surprised to see them, as they were supposed to be meeting them at the plane, but Skye headed off happily with the science twins, who said they were headed to collect her anyway.
After leaving Skye with Fitzsimmons, Melinda and Phil headed out towards the coast. It was quite a long journey to get to their destination, but Phil had insisted. After arriving in a quiet, rural seaside village, the two agents changed into the evening attire they had brought with them. Melinda wore a simple but elegant Black dress and Phil wore a slightly smarter version of his normal suit. They were happy to have the evening off because it had been months since they had last gone out together. It used to be every week but now their days off were getting Fewer and fewer and this was the first they had had in months.
The restaurant was enchanting. Ivy grew round the arches and large Bay windows gave a beautiful view of the ocean. It was light by candlelight, which cast a golden glow over the room. The tables were laid with pristine White tablecloths and red roses were placed in vases around the room. Once again, Melinda found herself wondering how he found these places. No matter where their day off placed them, Phil always found some amazing restaurant for them to go out. This one made a particularly outstanding impression though.
Pulled from her thoughts, Phil led her to a table that the waiter had reserved for them. It was situated next to one of the windows, and slightly further away from the rest of the guests. For once she allowed herself to forget the stress of Shield and enjoy the evening. The distance from the rest of the guests combined with the gentle splashing of the waves against the rocks allowed them to not have to worry about being overheard. Completely at ease in each other's company, they talked all evening and finally departed the restaurant after an amazing dessert of lemon sorbet.
"Daisy would be jealous" Phil said, After walking past a waiter carrying a large platter of ice cream on the way out.
They both laughed as they pictured Daisy pouting, after finding out there was ice cream that she had missed out on.
A golden glow was cast upon the water, from the sunset and Pink clouds were combed through the Sky. The two agents stood, hands laced together, as they watched the Sun disappear beyond the horizon.
"sunsets are proof that whatever happens, a day can always end beautifully" Phil murmured. Several moments of silence passed and all that could be heard was the gentle slosh of water against the rocks.
"Beautiful sunsets need cloudy skies. Do not ever forget that, Melinda. Whatever happens, know that I will always love you. Know that I will not go down without a fight. I know that our line of work can be dangerous. We made a pledge to be the shield, to protect the world when nothing else could but know this: whatever happens I will be there fore you, love you and die for you…"
Tears streaming down Melinda's face, and she kissed him. From her position, standing on the railing to reach his height, she wrapped her arms round his neck and continued kissing him. After she released him, her silent tears continuing to stream down her face, he looked back at her and continued.
"and I don't want to spend another day without you. You are my world Melinda and I love you so much that I feel like my heart is about to burst into 1 million pieces. I will love you till my last sunset, so Melinda May, will you marry me?
Melinda's tears thickened as he knelt on one knee and proposed to her. "yes! She sobbed through her tears, before kissing him again, as the last traces of sunset disappeared, and the stars were left watching them.
It was a long time until they released each other because neither wanted to face the truth-that they had to head back to the bus, but eventually they started to head back. Although it was only half 9, It was a three-hour trip to get back to the plane, and the rest of the team would probably worry if they got back later that 1, especially as they had a half 5 start in the morning. Although they both wished that they had the whole week off, they knew the chances of getting even another day was unlikely.
Daisy, Bobbi, and Hunter arrived back at the plane, only to realise that it was half 11, and they were probably going to be in so much trouble. They snuck aboard the bus, only to find Fitzsimmons waiting for them. Although May and Coulson did not appear to be waiting for them, Fitzsimmons started telling them off for the mess she made in the kitchen, that they had had to tidy up. "Uh oh", Skye groaned. She had forgotten about the mess and now felt slightly guilty watching Bobbi and Hunter get the backlash. Where were May and Coulson anyway? Skye, Bobbi, and Hunter had sneaked aboard the plane, thinking they would get in trouble with the 2 level 8s, only to get ambushed by the science twins and find that May and Coulson had not even got back yet.
The 5 agents had decided to go to bed-they were not going to wait up for the other agents, only to have to Brave a five-thirty start on an hour's sleep. They went to their bunks and all agents except Skye fell asleep immediately. Skye lay awake, completely unable to sleep and started to worry when she still had not heard the other agents come in when her phone read 5am.