"Five people and my mother were there protecting Ellis." May stated, following Coulson into the bus.
"I know. Go." He said.
"What?" May was going to send a team to assess, even though she wanted to go herself.
"Go, see if there are any survirors. This is your mom, Melinda." Coulson was sincere.
"We'll get Ellis back, I promise. Whitehall is going to pay." Coulson promised with determination in his voice.
May opened her mouth to say something else but just nodded her thanks. She was dropped back off at the base with another agent, where they immediately jumped into a quintet to take off to Lian May's home.
Upon landing, she could see the front door was broken. She didn't even finish proper landing procedure before she ran inside.
The sight was unnerving, the five agents left here were scattered throughout the house, three still alive, barely. There were dead Hydra agents as well. She found her mother upstairs in her bedroom. She had been the last line of defense for Ellis. Her gun was still next to her. To May's relief, she was breathing.
"Mom?" She nudged the older woman.
Lian stirred, groaning.
"I've called for help, they should be here soon." May muttered.
"Where is Ellis?" Lian mumbled.
May sighed. "Hydra has him. Phil's on top of it."
"You should be the one going after him."
"You need me here. I trust him, I trust them all to get him out."
"Ellis needs you. It's your job."
"I'm not his mother." May said sadly.
"You're all he has, don't argue with me." Lian said a little more aggressively.
"Even when you've been shot you scold me." May smiled, at least her mother was okay enough to be defiant.
"Go back to your team."
"I'm staying until you get settled into the hospital."
That was when the paramedics arrived and Lian didn't get another chance to argue. May told the agent who arrived with her to wait and she would be back within an hour. She rode in the ambulance with her mother and talked to her doctor, making sure her number was down as the emergency contact. Her mother made one more comment about May's bond with Ellis before she hailed a cab to take her back to her mother's house.
She was just about to take off when she got a call. It was Bobbi. They had Ellis, scared but unharmed, but the temple in the alien city had collapsed with Coulson, Tripp, Mack, Skye, and Raina still underground. May didn't think she'd ever flown so fast.
When she made it to San Juan, she was in a frenzy. Too many people she cared about were endangered and she wanted to see all of them, see with her own eyes that they were now safe. She wanted to hug them all and feel them alive in her arms. She ran to the bus after hastily landing. The first person to find her was Phil, in the cargo hold. She breathed a sigh of relief and rushed the last few steps to hug him. He was bloody, bruised, but alive.
He went over the short version of everything with her. Skye had been abducted by Ward to be taken to her father, who had beaten the crap out of Phil. Phil shot and killed Whitehall, who was about to kill Cal, who then felt like his vengeance had been stolen from him by Phil. Cal had set out years ago to murder Whitehall for tearing Skye away and murdering her mother. Skye ended up in the city trying to find Raina and get the obselisk back, Phil followed her down. Tripp was already down there, trying to disable the explosives so as not to kill Slye and Phil. Mack had been corrupted by the city itself, but whatever it was had gone away.
May found out Tripp had been turned to stone and she was devastated. He was her friend, the center of positivity around the base with his upbeat attitude. But the gas released by the obelisk hadn't turned Skye to stone. Whatever quake had been caused, it had spared her. She would be in quarantine when they got back to the base but she was unharmed. No one had found Raina's body yet.
"Where's Ellis?!" May demanded, gripping Phil's arm.
"He's fine, he's with Bobbi. She and Hunter managed to get him out safely. They're upstairs." He placed his hands at her elbows. "All he wants is you."
He pulled her in for one more hug before she rushed up the steps to the lounge in the plane. She saw him and immediately stopped in her tracks, taking a deep breath. He was sitting on the couch watching something on s tablet. When Bobbi noticed her standing there, she nudged Ellis and pointed.
"May!" He threw the tablet to the side and ran to hug her.
May crouched down and opened her arms to hold him. She kneeled on the floor and held him closely, cupping the back of his head and crying.
"You're okay." She said.
"I miss you." He said into her hair.
"I missed you too. I'm sorry." She replied. He pulled away and looked at her.
"Your mommy hurt." He said sadly.
"She's okay. Did they hurt you, Ellis?" She began checking him for any injuries. Whitehall was dead, there was nothing else she could do to him but those under his command would pay dearly.
Ellis shook his head.
"Good. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have left you." She hugged him again.
"You got to stop bad guys." Ellis grinned. He was resilient.
"But I also need to keep you safe. I promised."
"I love you, May." He smiled and played with her hair.
May couldn't help but smile back and felt a few more tears roll down.
"I love you, too." She wiped some dirt off his cheek.
Back at the base, she bathed the little boy and tucked him in for the night. He had been through too much, he needed a good night of sleep. Bobbi sat with him so she could go visit Skye in quarantine.
"How are you?" May asked the girl. She looked devastated, ill even.
"I've been better." Skye answered.
May frowned. If it weren't for the glass between them, she would hug Skye. The longer they trained together, the more May felt like Skye was a daughter to her. The poor girl didn't have a mother, or anyone really. Everyone she loved was here in this base, and she had only found them a couple of years ago. Before that, she was completely on her own.
"It'll be okay. You'll be out of here sooner than you think. I'll stop by a few times a day, just let me know if you want me to bring anything." May put a hand up to the glass. Skye lifted her hand weakly and placed it on the other side for a few seconds.
"How is Ellis? This is a lot for a two year old to cope with, after losing his father that way." Skye was worried about the boy.
"He's okay. He's sleeping, Bobbi is watching him." May answered.
"I'm sorry, all this happened because of Ward and my insane father." Skye turned away.
"Hey," May stood closer to the glass, Skye turned and looked right at her, "you didn't ask for any of this, it's not your fault."
Skye looked at the ground and that was when Hunter ran in.
"May! Ellis is awake, I think he's having night terrors, he won't have anything to do with Bobbi." He spat out.
"Go!" Skye said when May hesitated.
May immediately took off. The closer she got to her room, she louder the familiar crying became.
"It's okay, Hunter went to find May." Bobbi was trying to soothe him.
May burst in the door and Ellis immediately ran to her.
"Mommy." He gripped her pant leg and buried his face in the side of her thigh. May was stunned into silence and reached down to pick him up. Bobbi and Hunter took mercy on her and silently excused themselves.
May sat on the bed and rubbed Ellis' back trying to soothe him.
"Mommy, scary dream." Ellis now had her shirt in his fist.
"Ellis, I'm n-" May started but he began sobbing again and she didn't have the heart to correct him. He had lost everything, never even known his real mother. She would never let him forget his real family, but she couldn't bring herself to ask him not to call her mommy.
Then and there she made a decision. She would take care of him, as long as he needed it, and no matter what happened. Until Hydra was eliminated, he would stay on the base. It was clear they wanted him, though she didn't know why. His father was dead, and he was a two year old boy with no intel.
The next morning she told Coulson her decision. Ellis was eating breakfast with Simmons. He was back to having trouble when May wasn't around so she stayed within his sight.
"I can't say I'm surprised." Coulson watched the boy. He was surprisingly talkative and a good conversationalist for his age. "And I wouldn't dare stop you."
"You're okay with this?" May raised her eyebrows.
"He needs you. And I can't think of anyone in the world who would be better for this than you." He leaned into her personal space.
May smiled up at him, aware of how close he was standing. Before they could say another word to each other, she leaned in and rested her head on his chest, watching the boy. Coulson reached hand up and ran it up and down her back.
"He keeps calling me mommy, and I can't bring myself to stop him." May admitted.
"Don't you hate when your mother's right?" She could practically hear his smirk.
She closed her eyes and enjoyed the closeness of him, hearing his heart beating beneath her ear, telling her he was alive and safe. Everything she held dear was close and safe.