As the weeks went on, Ellis became more comfortable and adjusted better. He still asked about his daddy, and one day May had to break down and tell him that his father couldn't see him anymore. She didn't tell him the truth, not yet, he was only 2, but it was important that he understood that he was safe but he wouldn't see his father again. He cried, and she held him. It was hard for a child this age to comprehend but May couldn't keep lying to him and seeing him upset over and over.
He began to come out of his shell. First with Skye, the first person he saw after Hydra attacked. He associated her and May with safety and comfort. For a while, she was the only other person he would go with. Then he let Coulson pick him up. His nerdy dad side was overly happy about being one of the three people the kid would associate with. May gave one of her rare smiles.
Slowly but surely, he became comfortable with those who were around May frequently, those that he could see were close with her. He became a favorite around the base, everyone trying to make him happy after word spread about why he was here.
Coulson couldn't figure out what to do with him. With them, he was safe, but he also wasn't. He was surrounded by some of the best agents in the world, trained to protect to the death if necessary. But they also had a lot of enemies, and Ellis couldn't just stay under ground his entire life.
It was early one night, Ellis would have already gone to bed and May would still be awake in her room. So Coulson made his way there to have a talk with her about what to do.
Her door was slightly open when he arrived. At first he felt a little scared, old memories of betrayal within his own team festering, fear that there was another wolf in the herd. But he knew their base was completely safe. Still, it wasn't like her to leave her door open.
When he walked in he smiled. Ellis was in bed like he thought, but May was asleep next to the boy. This wasn't unusual, they hadn't had time to get him his own bed yet, so May allowed him to sleep with her. She said it had been helping him deal with what happened.
Coulson thought it was beyond adorable. May was on her side and Ellis was facing her, curled into her chest while one of her hands rested on his back.
Knowing she would hate him for it later, he snapped a picture. When they found somewhere for him to go, she would treasure it. He could see how attached she had become to him, even if she wouldn't admit it to anybody. Whenever it was brought up, she gave the person a look that sent them scurrying back to whatever they were doing. But not him, when he mentioned it she looked at him only with vague irritability.
He remembered today, May was sparring with Skye while Ellis watched from Simmons' lap. Eventually he got up and asked to participate.
"I try, May!" He yelled excitedly.
She smiled down at him.
"Okay, watch me first."
May slowed her moves down so he could see, and Skye pretended to go down when she was kicked in slow motion.
"You can do it, Ellis. Come at me." Skye encouraged the boy.
"Ahh!" Ellis ran forward and kicked Skye in the knee.
"I'm down!" Skye toppled over, much to the delight of the toddler.
Everyone cheered him on, and for the rest of the time Ellis would take a turn every so often. Skye told him he would be a great agent one day.
Coming back to the present, Phil took a deep breath and brushed some hair out of May's face.
"May." He said hoarsely, trying not to wake the sleeping boy.
She woke up and turned to look at him, the tips of his fingers still on her forehead.
"What are you doing here?" She mumbled sleepily.
"You left your door open. And we need to talk." Coulson said.
May looked back at Ellis.
"Okay, give me a minute." She carefully extracted herself from the bed. Ellis began to stir and groan.
"It's okay, Ellis. I'm going to talk to Phil, go back to sleep." May tucked him in and rubbed his back for a second. Then she followed Phil out to the hallway, leaving the door cracked in case the little boy got up.
"What's going on? Why can't this wait until morning?" May grumbled.
"Because I didn't want anyone interrupting us." Coulson answered. "It's about Ellis."
"What about him?" He had her attention now.
"He can't stay here forever." Coulson simply said.
May sighed. "He doesn't have anywhere else to go."
"May, it's not safe. What happens when we all need to go on mission?" Coulson asked.
"Then he can stay here with whoever we leave behind. We never leave the base unoccupied."
"And what if the base becomes unsafe? Or we do need everyone to leave?"
"I'll figure it out." May said through clenched teeth.
"Melinda," Coulson stepped into her personal space, "you're not his mother."
Memories came back to May, about Phil and Skye, and her reminding him that he's not her father.
"You're right, he has no mother. He has no one." May pointed out. "We can't just throw him out into the world to fend for himself. He's alone because of us, because Hydra wanted to get to us."
"That's not your fault, or anyone's. But he deserves the chance at a normal life, a safe life."
"You think he's not safe with me?" May challenged him.
"I didn't say that. But this isn't the life for a child to grow up in."
"He's happy, he's safe. I would never let anything happen to him. I don't want to risk sending him out alone. Do you even have anything in mind for him?"
Coulson couldn't answer. The truth was he didn't, he was hoping they could think of a solution together.
"He's staying with me. If it comes down to it he can stay with my mother, he'll be just as safe there as he would anywhere else."
Coulson simply nodded and May went back into her room and closed the door. He went back to his office and she took a deep breath, staring around. A few toys were scattered from when he was playing earlier. Her laundry bag was full of her clothes and his, needing to be washed. This wasn't what she had in mind when she decided years ago she wanted to be a mother, a hasty living situation on a top secret base with a child who was now orphaned and attached himself to her.
She wasn't his mother, but he had no one left in the world and she would be damned if she let him go out on his own when she was capable of taking care of him. Skye was living proof of how having no family and no real home can effect you.
She carefully climbed into her bed and wasn't even settled in yet when Ellis moved over to her. This always happened. She would settle him down on one side of the bed, then when she decided it was time for her to sleep he would move over to her. Tonight she hadn't expected to fall asleep early, she had worked hard today and he was exceptionally fussy, so she laid with him to get him to fall asleep and she had accidentally done the same.
By the time he had been there for a few months, everyone accepted the situation. In the foreseeable future, Ellis was in May's care. She called her mother to explain and ask that he be taken care of if the situation called for it. Her mother was surprised, she hadn't expected her daughter to take on or have any children, but she agreed to keep him safe if the situation arose.
Sooner than expected, it happened. A lot had happened over the last few months, Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D. were racing to be the first to find what the alien writing meant. Coulson's theory was it was a city, Skye thought it was a map. The biggest curveball was Skye's father coming into the picture, although she hadn't met him herself. She didn't want to, she found the bodies he left behind, and when he almost killed Tripp that was where she drew the line indefinitely. He was a murderer, and it devastated her.
But now they found a match to the three dimensional model of the writing built by one of the T.A.H.I.T.I. patients, in Puerto Rico. It was now a race to see who got there first, and May had to leave the base. Almost everyone did, and they still had reason to believe Ellis could be in danger so he was safely hidden away at her mother's house and the agents who weren't going to San Juan would be there for protection.
"May!" Ellis screamed from her mother's arms.
May swallowed a lump and turned around. This was the first time she was leaving him since she met him.
"I'll be back to get you as soon as I can. This is my mommy, you'll like her." May turned around and spoke to Ellis.
"Don't go." He pouted.
"I have to. It's my job, but I promise I'll come back." May hugged the boy one more time.
"Promise?" He plead.
She could see the look in his eyes, he was terrified she wouldn't come back like his father didn't.
"Yes. Promise you'll be good?" May smiled.
Ellis nodded. She set him down and he walked over to dig in his bag she brought for him.
"He seems to have taken well to you." Lian May commented.
"Don't even say it, mom." The younger May warned. "I'll contact you when I'm headed back. Thank you again."
"A pleasure to take care of my grandchild." Lian said to her daughter's retreating back.
May stopped for a second, rolled her eyes, and kept walking. She nodded at the agents staying before getting in the car to return to the plane.
"He'll be okay." Skye said from the passenger seat.
"I know, he's just scared I won't come back for him." May said.
"Understandable." Skye knew where he was coming from, until now she had no family to speak of but she had been terrified many times that someone she was close to wouldn't come back alive.
May and Skye had no intention of being near any part of the mission. Skye's father made it clear he wanted her to go into the city, so Coulson and May kept her away. That's when things took a turn for the worst.
Whitehall invaded their communications, he had managed to use the tracker Coulson placed on Raina and would be sending someone aboard to retrieve her. May argued back, and that's when Whitehall played his hand.
"See I thought you might be resistant. That's why I took an insurance policy out. Your agents put up a good fight, and your little friend wasn't too eager to see me."
May's heart plummeted. She was completely stunned into silence. Skye grabbed her arm to steady her.
"I'll be sending my representative shortly." Whitehall finished before cutting out.
Everything was a blur to May, until Ward made it clear he was taking Skye too.
"The hell she is!" She raised a gun and stood in front of Skye. She wasn't about to have another person she cared about in the crosshairs.
"May, I can handle myself." Skye assured the woman.
"Skye, you cant trust him." May didn't take her eyes off the traitor in front of her.
"Yes you can." Ward smugly said.
"Don't talk to her!" May grumbled.
In the end, Skye went, along with Raina. May was pissed off, and she made it clear. After avoiding being shot out of the Skye, she stomped around the plane barking orders. The Koenigs were too scared to resist, Tripp tried to reason with her, Hunter just avoided eye contact.
When they landed, May told Coulson what happened and he promised her they would get both Skye and Ellis back and Hydra would pay.