Just a Day at the Office

I thought I would severely enjoy watching Ward squirm as Skye battered him with all sorts of fun and uncomfortable questions before getting serious. But as Skye purposefully removed her jacket and Ward mentioned his Gramzy, I honestly felt like I needed to get out of there. No matter how much I didn't care for him as a person, I didn't like to see him giving up information he clearly didn't want to. Don't get me wrong- I was glad I had done it to him rather than Skye, but I guess I just didn't want to be around to see it. So I politely, Ward still glared at me though, excused myself to the hallway where Coulson was waiting, half-listening to the intercom on a very low volume. I waited for him to chew me out about what I had done, but he gave me a glance of… pride? Was that possible? Because here I thought I had royally screwed up.

"Sir?" I probed after a moment of silence. "You don't seem too upset about the fact that I just went against your orders and betrayed a fellow team member by literally stabbing him. Just saying," I added as he didn't look my way. "It's kind of weirding me out."

"I thought you were too good to be true," he said finally. I instantly felt myself start sweating and internally cursing myself for screwing up already somehow. I had to be the worst undercover spy in existence. "On paper you seemed… flawless. And with how suddenly Agent Hill brought you up I couldn't help but think she planted you for Fury." Imagine that. I sure couldn't- or at least that's what I tried to convey with my face. I was so lucky it wasn't the type you wanted to punch, otherwise I might be doomed.

He finally looked at me, and I did my best to look worried and clueless. "But you did exactly what was needed to gain her trust, exactly what I would have done. You stepped up and proved your ability at reading people. So I owe you an apology for testing you like that. A leader shouldn't do that to his team."

"A leader also needs to make sure he can trust his team," I countered without even thinking to make him feel better. I then made the choice and closed the distance between us, extending my hand with a genuine smile. "No hard feelings, sir." And there weren't- mainly because he was absolutely right. But as he shook my hand I knew I wasn't just playing him for my cover. I genuinely respected this man and wanted him to think the best of me. He just inspired that kind of reaction. And maybe if I worked hard enough I could be the Ashleigh Crawford he thought I was.

"I appreciate that. I know I can trust you as a member of my team, Crawford." I nearly burst with pride and I'm sure my smile reflected that judging from the smirk he gave me before putting both hands up. "And I promise no more secret tests from here on out."

"It's a deal, Agent Coulson."

We stood in comfortable silence for a few minutes. He seemed to have received some sort of news and was looking things over on his phone- it almost sounded like a video. I heard practically nothing as my mind was all about this secret test I had been put through. I was just cheering with relief on the inside honestly that I was maybe not the worst spy ever. More time passed then I must have thought because soon a voice cut through as Skye shouted "Hey! He's asleep now! I've really got nothing to do anymore!"

"Let's see if your gambit paid off." Coulson opened the door politely and guided Skye like a guest to a room filled with screens and technology off the living area. I hesitated entering, worried everything would blow sky high as soon as it was aware of my presence, but I settled for standing away from everything towards the back of the room. The machines seemed to accept this and didn't rebel luckily. Skye was right behind me and seemed much more comfortable, giving a smug smile to me as one of the cameras showed the sleeping Ward in the interrogation room. Coulson especially seemed impressed with the quick turn-around in her cooperation as well. I was in… on both accounts. Mental high five. Big sigh of relief.

"Did Agent Ward give you anything?" Coulson inquired as we all watched him passed out on the desk. I forced myself to be professional and keep from giggling, which was very difficult.

"He told me he's been to Paris, but he's never really seen it. That she punched him in the face earlier today, but he barely felt it because she's clearly not built for combat." Needed to work on my swing clearly. He'd feel it next time. "And that he wishes you stayed in Tahiti." That word gave me chills every time despite myself and I had no idea why.

"It's a magical place."

"Ward doesn't like you style… either of you," she finished, glancing at us on either side of her. "But I kind of think I do… especially her."

"What about his?" Coulson asked before I could get anything out, throwing some news footage up on one of the screens- the one he must have been watching earlier. "…remains in critical condition. Employees could not identify the attacker, but security footage confirms that this man assaulted the factory foreman before damaging thousands of dollars' worth of company property." The footage depicted what the reporter was describing, but my focus was on Skye as she instantly shook her head with disagreement.

"This is wrong," she appealed to the two of us. "This is not... the guy I met. He was… he just needs a break."

"Then give him one," Coulson shot straight with her. "What have you got?" She looked back and forth between the two of us for what seemed like forever. When she seemed to settle on me I made sure to give her an encouraging nod, knowing how much Coulson needed this. That seemed to make up her mind as she turned back to him.

"Mike Peterson," she said in a tone that made it clear she was desperately hoping to not regret this. "His name is Mike Peterson."

Coulson went to the computer laid out on the table before us, typing away. "Thank you. May is on her way back with the others, so we should be able to find him easily just as they get back." A bar was loading in front of us now, anything with the name Mike Peterson popping up rapidly. Coulson cleared some of the clutter while looking over some documents such as divorce papers and the birth certificate for his son- getting a read on the guy without even having met him. It was impressive and I could have just kept watching him, but Skye spoke up.

"Can I go now? I gave you what you wanted?"

"Or you could stick around for a bit and get the answers yourself," I offered. "In the meantime how about we get some lunch? I'm starving." I started away from the computers, careful not to touch anything, and was happy to see Skye follow behind me pretty quickly. Her curiosity was clearly winning out over her desire to get out of Dodge. But that was clearly what Coulson wanted so I was going to run with it. "Peanut butter and jelly okay?"

"Sounds good."

"Can I make you one, Agent Coulson?" I stuck my head back in the room.

"Can you cook?" he glanced up with a raised eyebrow.

I had no idea. "It's peanut butter and jelly spread on two pieces of bread," I played off with a roll of my eyes. "I'll make you one and you'll see. It's not that hard. I think I can manage… as soon as I locate the kitchen."

It turns out you can ruin peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Apparently that bread had been in the fridge for a while before we moved in and I should have checked that. Though I'm sure it would give Coulson and Skye something to laugh about when they thought back on it later. Much later. Or at least after the potential for food poisoning later.

My bad.

XXX

The three of us had just managed to purge the taste from our mouths with a sip of close to every beverage in the fridge (milk worked the best so that one we took down the gallon) when we notified that a car was pulling into the Bus. Coulson banned me from making him any meals from here on out, and part of me thought he was joking while the other wasn't so sure honestly. But in a lot of ways it was a moment- my first real moment with the team I basically had committed my entire being to. There was no way not to be happy about that, to wish I had a camera so I could have a real photo on my wall. The two of them kept looking at me in a way that sent me into giggles and they were not very amused, so I was designated to go meet up with them and bring the others back.

Fitz was the first up the stairs, tablet under his arm. Simmons was right behind and May brought up the rear. "What'd you find?" I asked.

"We should be able to put together surveillance footage despite it being deep-fried and we got some very interesting reading on what caused the explosion. We'll share it once we get in there," Simmons summed up for me. "You?"

"Well… we caught Rising Tide hacker girl- Skye. She's with Coulson. We got the name of our mysterious hero." We started walking back, but I decided to add something else. "Also I stabbed Ward with QNB-T16 and nearly poisoned Coulson with a peanut butter sandwich." I heard Fitz come to a stop, but I just kept walking a few steps further. I finally turned around to see his jaw dangling from his shocked face and scoffed. "It was an accident, Fitz. I swear I didn't intentionally try to poison our supervising agent."

"Never let her make me a sandwich," I heard Fitz whisper to Simmons behind me as I kept going. "Never let her make me anything." Well, I guess I wasn't a chef in my past life either. That was one possible occupation ruled out at least.

The group of us all gathered around the tabletop computer after entering the room, Fitz and Simmons both giving Skye a curious glance while May all but ignored her. She was clearly more intimidated now that more of us were here and stuck to the back of the room, so I made sure to stick by her side for some comfort. And also maybe because I was intimidated by this group Coulson considered the best of the best as well. Not that I'd ever admit it though. Agent Crawford wasn't scared of anything.

"Michael Peterson," Coulson began as he threw a driver's license on the screen on the wall. I took a good look at the guy and not surprisingly found him to be completely normal looking. He didn't have a third eye or anything like that at least. "Factory worker. Married. One kid. Gets injured. Gets laid off. Wife jumps ship." I took a few steps forward towards the tabletop to glance at all the gathered data and felt Skye shift as well, moving with more confidence to the other side of Coulson that I did. "Good guy, bad breaks."

"You can say that again," I couldn't help muttering as I looked it over. "Poor guy must have been desperate."

"Exactly. Best guess is, somebody tells him they can make him strong again- can make him super."

"Who has the tech to do that?" May cut in, clearly the only one with the rank and comfort to challenge Coulson even a little bit. "And why would they want to do that?"

"Fitz, what do we have from the security footage before the blast?" I watched from next to him as Fitz brought an image up on the monitor- a very blurry one of two figures that looked to be in some sort of lab.

"What are we seeing?" May asked what everyone was clearly thinking. She was very efficient when it came to her words I was quickly learning.

"Well, the man is angry at the other man," Fitz gestured. I merely put my head in my hands as his sheer power in stating the obvious, and it was pretty clear his news wasn't being heralded by anyone from how defensively Simmons spoke next.

"The data is very corrupt."

"Yeah, like Cold War Russia corrupt," Fitz added, at least earning a snort out of me at his desperate humor.

"Yeah," Simmons agreed with him, showing how clearly these two had each other's backs. It would have been precious if it hadn't left us with absolutely nothing to go off of. Fitz seemed to sense that and grew more nervous about being the center of attention in this room.

"I-I can't sync the timecode without-"

"What if you had the audio?" Skye offered from behind all of us. "I was running surveillance on the lab. I had my shotgun mic pointed at the window before the blast. There's too much background noise for me, but you could probably-"

"You can clear that up, can't you?" Simmons smiled at her partner, obviously trying to give him a confidence boost. I kind of felt bad about my reaction earlier and again decided to contribute to the conversation.

"Of course he can," I cheered him on as well. I could tell Simmons words didn't seem to have too large an impact, probably because it was something she did frequently, but at mine he looked up at me with just the barest hint of a smile. "He got us this after all, which despite our less than stellar reaction I know I couldn't have done."

There was a short beat of Fitz and Simmons whispering back and forth faster than I could catch on before he turned back to Skye, still clearly unsure of her. "Um, that audio would be great."

It was at the exact same moment Simmons added with a much friendlier tone, "Thank you very, very much. We will take that audio please."

"Your van's here, but you were right. We couldn't decrypt the files," Coulson told our hacker. He didn't say it but I could tell he was slightly impressed.

"The encryption's coupled to the GPS." Clever girl. I was really starting to warm up to her. "Get my van back to that alley, and then I'm in business." She started for the door immediately, Coulson giving May a nod.

"Agent May will escort you," he told Skye as May tagged behind her. "And on your way out, wake up Ward," he added to the senior Agent. I desperately tried to keep from laughing at her puzzled reaction, managing to hold it together pretty well. At least no one seemed to notice my hidden delight that Agent Ward was taking a nap right now. Though I was pretty sure I was going to pay for it when he woke up now that I thought about it. I had better watch my back and make sure he doesn't try to get me with that stuff. Not that I would have much to tell him though. Wow. That brought my mood down.

XXX

Bummed out and deciding I needed to hide away from Ward with witnesses, I chose to follow Fitz and Simmons down to their lab. Simmons threw on her coat and got to work with her microscopes and samples while Fitz was running around syncing things to his computer. I was clearly the third wheel as they babbled back and forth to one another too quickly and with too many words I didn't stand a chance at understanding. So I took to perching myself atop the table next to Fitz's computer, staring off into space with my thoughts a bit as I waited. It was a "him" I had to "save", so I guess I had to be prepared for it to happen anytime and move towards him when given a choice. Maybe his computer was going to explode and I would have to shield him from the blast. Though that would certainly be anticlimactic for this whole thing. He just seemed to work around me, only speaking to me when he needed me to shift for some reason. It was clear the two of them didn't intentionally mean to alienate me- that this was just their natural setting when they were together. They honed in on one another and their work. I was barely in the background.

Coulson made his way down to check in with Jemma after about a half hour, just as Fitz managed to connect with Skye through the comm system. Luckily Ward was nowhere to be seen, though I was ready to jump and hide under this desk the moment that he did. I had to be concerned for who I was meant to save, but I also had to keep myself from dying first in order to save them. It was a very circular give and take you see. And I was really scared of what he was going to do to me.

"Uh, yeah." Fitz grabbed my attention back as he made his way over to the computer as beeping sounded. "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm getting it."

"Little excessive, don't you think?" I quipped, but he didn't even seem to hear me.

"So, uh, when… when you get back, I'll show you my thing." I nearly fell off the desk laughing right then and there. Sure, I knew what he meant. But come on. Now he seemed to notice me, wincing at both my reaction and the words that had just come out of his mouth. "A thing," he corrected, clearly willing me to stop. "It's not… I-it's my hardware." I covered my mouth as another spasm of laughter came through, and he was officially completely thrown off- cringing. "My equipment." I'm pretty sure I let out a howl at this point, it was just too good. "Let's hang up." He pulled out his headset and glared at me.

I managed to settle down enough to smile at him. "So do you offer to show every girl your hardware? Or is Skye special in that regard? Is it just a think Scots do to be polite?" He looked humiliated and angry, but I just had to keep going. I couldn't let this one be. I didn't know where to draw the line. "Should I be offended I did not receive such an invitation? Is it customary to offer you to see my hardware as well? Because-"

The headset sailed past my ear before I had time to react, hitting the metal table behind me and clanging loudly. We both stared at each other in slight shock about what had just happened. I glanced over my shoulder to see Coulson was busy talking with Simmons, meaning he hadn't seen me get into a third altercation with a second member of the team in my first day. I turned back to give this punk a piece of my mind, anger rising, when I saw just how guilty he looked, scratching the back of his neck and almost squirming in his skin.

"I'm-I'm so, so, so, so sorry," he apologized, reaching out but then re-charting his course back to the computer rather than myself. I felt my frustration melt away at just how mad at himself he looked for his outburst. I mean it had partially been my fault. For reading people I wasn't very good at keeping things from going too far. "It didn't look like- I hope that didn't hit you. That was absolutely childish. I'm sorry. I'm-"

We were interrupted by Ward barging in, now merely in a t-shirt rather than his suit. I may not like him, but even I had to admit he looked pretty good. "So what did Crawford's stunt get us?" he demanded harshly, purposely looking at Coulson rather than me. That wasn't a good sign at all. I shrunk back a bit, almost hiding behind the computer as Fitz left it to cross Ward's path, trying to get himself back in the zone of his work.

"Skye's sending us the rest of her decrypted files on Centipede," he caught our sleepy team member up, not noticing the look of annoyance as he cut right in front of him to grab something. "But we have her audio. I've loaded it up."

"Nice work," Coulson offered Ward as Fitz came back to type frantically at the computer. Ward now leveled his best dirty look at me and I offered him the smallest of waves with a large smile. He didn't seem won over. I was going to die. I tried ducking behind Fitz, but once again he moved out of the lab to prevent me from cowering behind him.

"Now… using motion estimation, Bayesian interference, a beam splitter, and a little diffraction theory," the cargo hold outside the lab was suddenly filled with a three-dimensional image of what we had seen on the screen before, "our mystery man appears."

I was in pure shock at what he had just pulled off, and judging by how Ward moved toward it he was too. "It's like magic," Fitz smiled at the two of us proudly. "But it's… it's science."

"Explosives in the case?" Ward thought aloud, nodding towards the case one of the men had.

"Makes sense," I agreed with him, hoping it would dull down some of the tension. It really didn't. The image started moving with the case being slammed on the table and the other man having his arms extended towards the angry guy.

"…please calm down. Just let me check your vitals."

Angry Guy didn't like that. "I feel fine. I want to feel more." Something was clearly off in how he was acting, almost like an addict of some kind. "Where's the doctor? Where is she?"

"I-if you don't settle down, I-I'll have you sedated," Doctor Man tried as he cowered. This seemed to upset Doctor Guy, who threw a chair violently to the ground effortlessly.

"Where is she?!" The image froze.

"Wait," Fitz said as he began to rewind the footage. "Did you… did you see that on his arm?" The image went back to when his arm was up with the chair, Ward and I stepping closer to get a look at the machine that seemed attached. Realizing what it looked like, I instantly put it together and turned towards Coulson.

"It's a centipede."

"It's an intravenous filter for his blood," Simmons added, joining the conversation as she stepped away from her desk and microscope. "This goo, sir… very similar to the serum Dr. Erskine developed in the '40's for the-"

"Super soldiers," Coulson finished.

"I'm reading alien metal, gamma radiation, the serum. Every known source of superpower thrown in a blender." Some of those words seemed to hit things that had been covered in my briefing, but nothing stood out to me as it seemed to for Coulson. I really needed to do more research on all this stuff if I was going to keep up. But I had figured out this was all bad. I was on top of that.

"We need to see the origin of the blast. Run it back from the last point recorded," Coulson requested. Fitz nodded and the footage moved rapidly to the point where the entire room seemed to be consumed by explosive flames. It made me jump a bit. The footage then went backward, the explosion condensing to the point its source was revealed. It was Angry Guy.

"Extremis," Coulson wrapped up as he stared at the Angry Guy, sounding almost sad a bit. I knew I had heard that one too. "It's new. Completely unstable."

"Poor man didn't bring an explosive," Simmons echoed his sadness to a greater degree. I was inclined to agree as I stared at him on the verge of literally blowing himself up. He certainly hadn't asked for this when he signed up. "And Mike has the same stuff in his system."

"And judging by his strength level, a lot more," Ward added.

Fitz's mind seemed to go exactly where mine did as he beat me to the punch. "So any minute now, Mike is gonna-"

"He'll take out anyone within a two-block radius." Oh boy. Well, my first day was certainly exciting to say the least.

Coulson started back for the lab, glancing at Ward as he went. "Well… you wanted a bomb." Ward followed him out, the two of them clearly about to get ready for something big. I started to follow, but paused as I saw Fitz come down the stairs right in front of me.

"For the record," I started, "I'm sorry too. I was clearly pushing too hard and wasn't… I was being a jerk really." It was true. I was just as much to blame and really needed to fix this before it became a problem. I put a hand on his arm, feeling him flinch which made me instantly pull away. "Let's just… let's agree that I won't talk about your hardware again." This time I managed to get a bit of a smile out of him as he rolled his eyes. "And you won't talk about mine."

"I kind of hate you," he shouted over his shoulder as I started past him. I flashed him a raised eyebrow as a challenge before continuing to find the other two. I passed Simmons along the way which made me shrug.

"We're becoming fast friends, what can I say?"

XXX

Ward was putting a gun together. That's the sight I had found when I arrived back in what I thought of as the Bus's computer room. Ward was putting a gun together and Coulson wasn't telling him not to. He was merely examining the screens on the wall. Ward was putting a gun together and I felt sick to my stomach. I may be a spy at this point, but I certainly wasn't cut out for being an assassin. This was a man who just needed a break, not a bullet. No one needed a bullet, except maybe Ward. And even then I really had to think about it.

"Sir?" the hurried voice of Simmons cut in my awkwardly standing in the doorway. I moved aside so Coulson could follow her out with Fitz at her side, listening intently. "He didn't explode because he was angry. The two are connected. It… it's kind of a chemical surge. But calming him down will buy him a minute at most. He will detonate within the next few hours." Ward started to move faster out of the corner of my eye as my heart dropped. I wasn't quite ready to do the whole saving thing yet.

"Solution?" Coulson didn't ask but demanded from the two.

"Isolate him," Simmons offered in a very clinical manner. "Get him away from people."

"Or?" Coulson wrote her off, which I was glad for.

"Put a bullet though his brain," Fitz offered an even worse option. It made me just as sick as Ward putting that gun together right in front of me. "If he's dead, his irradiated metabolic process will stop."

"That's not even an option," I joined the conversation, stepping out with crossed arms. I had to say my piece. "And quite frankly neither is the other one. We need to find one that doesn't involve Mike's son losing his father."

"Crawford's right," Coulson agreed. "Come up with a third option."

"We have a couple hours at most," Simmons fretted. "There's no way we could possibly-"

"Don't ever tell me there's no way!" Coulson said with more anger than I'd ever heard from him. He stared the two of them down and filled the whole room with tension. "It's on you. Get it done." I couldn't help but feel bad for the two as they scrambled off, but he was right. This needed to happen. I wasn't about to let anyone die if I could do anything about it. Something told me Michael Peterson wasn't the "him" specifically, but I was just going to make it an overarching goal. Save as many people as I could. That's who Agent Crawford was.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by May's voice coming over the computer. "He took Skye." Oh, Mike.

"You all right?" Coulson asked, instantly concerned.

"We'll deal with it later… at length. Right now, we need to figure out where they went."

"Agreed. Head back for now." He stopped the conversation just as Ward finished loading up his stuff. He almost seemed worried about her like I was, but I must have been mistaken. Robots weren't capable of feelings after all. "Skye's smart. If she was taken-"

"She would be trying to tell us where to find her," I finished. The three of us started the way of the cargo hold, and I was surprised at how easily I was going along with this now. This time I was going to make sure I was in this car. "I can help you talk to him. We need to distract him while Fitz-Simmons finish."

"That's what I planned on," Coulson reassured me, this time filling me with pride rather than fear. "Just promise you'll be careful and listen to any order I give, even if it is to get out of there."

"Always," I vowed.

"I'm going to hold you to that."

"Feel free… because I mean it."

XXX

The second the Jeep pulled to a stop in front of Union Station after a wordless drive, I was scrambling out to join the guys. Fitz had sent the location to our GPS and we could spot Skye's blue van just in front of us. Coulson strode over with purpose, megaphone in hand, and I fell into step next to him.

Ward didn't quite do the same, looking every which way. "Look at this place. You're gonna' risk thousands of lives over some nobody."

"I will not hesitate punch you in the face again," I warned, fist honestly twitching a bit at his words. He had a point, but just the way he said it. "Remember what we discussed about manners, Agent Ward?" He gave me the briefest of glares, but his attention was clearly on Coulson rather than me.

"Nobody's nobody, Ward," Coulson lectured him, making me come down on his side even more and burying any doubts I had. "Fitz-Simmons will come through." His faith in us was once again inspiring. He raised the megaphone to the van as Ward and I flanked either side of him. "Mr. Peterson, good morning," he said casually. "We're not a threat. We're here to help. But you're in danger and we need to take you in."

That wasn't the way to go about it. After a few moments of no one emerging I knew we hadn't won him over in the slightest. I turned to Coulson as the police began to arrive and flank the van as well. "You maybe should have neglected that last sentence. He doesn't want to hear the scray government guys want to bring him in. I think that's where we lost him."

"I'll keep that in mind for-"

I didn't get to hear the rest of that sentence as there was suddenly pain and then I was sent skidding across the pavement onto my side. I heard the metallic thud and registered the door of the van a solid distance from where it should be. Coulson and Ward had both hit the ground in time, but my lack of ninja reflexes meant it had managed to bowl me over before I even registered it. I guessed by the ringing it had managed to get me in the head, and when I went to touch my head I also guessed it had really clipped my right arm judging by the blood staining my sweater and the serious rip.

There appeared to be some sort of commotion going on following the launched door, but everything sounded muffled and far away. Part of me just wanted to pass out, but I fought with everything I had to at least sit up despite the rush of dizziness I felt. I got sick right there in the street, completely embarrassed but in agony, just as I felt a pair of hands on my shoulder.

"Crawford, you okay?" I managed to make out. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. It was a lot of effort just to meet Coulson's eyes. "Crawford? Crawford?!"

I nodded as the world slowly started to stop spinning, forcing more bile down my throat. "Go get him," I managed to croak.

"Stay here," he ordered gently. "She has a concussion! I need someone to escort her to an ambulance!" he shouted to the gathered cops as he walked off into the station where screams were coming from. I could hear them coming sharply into focus as things started to become clearer. I needed to get in there, concussion be damned.

I was helped slowly to my feet, gripping the officer as I nearly fell over from the vertigo- my stomach threatening to rebel once again. Once he was positive I was stable, he started to lead me towards blue and red lights on the street. But that wasn't the way I wanted to go at all, especially with the commotion that was occurring behind me-shouting, gunshots, smashing glass. I needed to go that way. I tried to break free and take off, but only managed to fall on my hands and knees.

They pulled me up again and I kept fighting to get to my team, though it was clear I wasn't getting anywhere at this point. I was only managing to make these police officers somewhat annoyed. "I have a clear shot. Do you copy?" Ward's voice came through my earpiece. My heart dropped.

"No Ward!" I shouted, knowing all I could do was verbally contribute as I was sat in the back of an ambulance. "Ward, you can't!"

"Coulson, do you copy?" he repeated, making it clear my opinion had no weight to him. I nearly started hyperventilating as I waited, pushing away any paramedic who tried to look me over. I was in agony, but we could worry about me later. It seemed to drag on for hours before another gunshot echoed through the air and I stopped breathing.

"Subject is in stable condition. All clear at Union Station," Coulson's voice cut through the silence. I grabbed my chest and let out the deepest breath I wasn't aware I had been holding. Fitz-Simmons had done it. Mike Peterson was alive and everyone was okay. I hadn't failed too badly. I mean I had completely screwed up getting taken out of the action by a freaking door, but at least it hadn't cost anyone anything. I could build on this. Always keep an eye out for flying doors. Lesson so learned.

A few minutes later, the sun became blocked and I looked up to see Coulson standing over me in concern. I managed a smile. "You have no idea how much I wanted to be in there, sir."

"But you listened. Unexpected… but appreciated." He took a seat next to me.

"I'm sorry, sir. I let myself get taken out by a van door and couldn't help you. I really wanted to help you-do my job." I was almost tearing up, but I blamed it solely on the adrenaline wearing off and the full brunt of pain I was experiencing hitting me. "I'm sorry I let you down."

"You did no such thing, Crawford," he assured me. "We know you're not explicitly trained for combat like Ward and myself are. I thought we could counter it by keeping the situation from being hostile, but it's clear we both have to adjust our expectations of what a normal day is going to be like." He gently patted my knee in a way that made me believe what he was saying- that I wasn't a complete and utter train wreck of an Agent. "I'm glad you're okay. That's what's important here, okay?" I managed a nod, biting my lip. "You should let them look you over then."

He started to rise, but in a moment of desperation I grabbed his arm. I was suddenly completely exhausted and drained from this whole thing. From trying so desperately to fit in, from trying to be Agent Ashleigh Crawford for the first time, from getting hit by a flying door. "Can I please just go back to the Bus and get looked at there, sir?" I hated sounding weak and needy, but I just couldn't handle a hospital visit. I really couldn't. It had been a very long day. "Please?"

He seemed to debate for a moment before helping me onto my feet slowly and allowing me to lean on him as we made our way back towards the van. We passed May who merely nodded at the two of us, sporting a split lip herself. Then was Skye who looked completely out of place with everything going on around her. But I liked her and I could tell from her concern she liked me. I got the feeling Coulson was going to find some way to keep her around. I could just tell. This was followed by Fitz-Simmons. She hovered over me briefly before Coulson shooed her away, while he just offered me a wave I just managed to return. Ward was waiting at the Jeep, and after giving me an once-over decided to show some manners and not pick a fight with the girl who had a concussion. In fact, he held the passenger door open so Coulson could help me in before taking the backseat himself. I would almost call him chivalrous, but the concussion had clearly messed with the wiring of my brain because that couldn't be true. Fitz-Simmons followed and we started off back to the Bus with quick efficiency for my sake.

I felt myself start to drift off when I was harshly poked in my left arm. I pivoted to see Fitz was the culprit. "You can't fall asleep, remember?"

"That's a myth, dummy," I answered with a yawn. "You're supposed to be smart."

"It's a myth if you have no symptoms," he corrected. "You have symptoms, so I'm not letting you fall asleep for you sake."

"How kind of you."

Simmons leaned in front of him so she was now in my field of view. "I can stitch that up once we get back," she offered with a nod to my right arm. I started to nod, but my brain suddenly remembered that was an awful idea.

"Thank you, really, but I think I'd like May to do it. No offense but she does have the most experience." I couldn't help but pat myself on the back for that cover, only to feel bad when Simmons's face fell as if I had hurt her feelings.

"That's okay. I understand," she said in a way that was desperate to sound genuine. I reached out and squeezed her hand, clearly becoming slightly delirious from exhaustion.

"You did great today, Simmons." She started to blush as I shifted my view to the person she was blocking. "You too, Fitz." My eyes then locked with the third member or the backseat who was regarding me coldly. "I don't think I have anything to offer you," I couldn't help but snap at him.

Simmons's other hand gently covered mine. "Jemma," she told me with a large smile. "Call me Jemma."

"And I'm Leo… if you like that better. I really answer to either equally," Fitz sputtered.

"Ashleigh."

This was my team. This was a normal day at work. And I was starting to face that future with excitement rather than fear. It was still there though for sure just to be clear though. Lots of it.

XXX

There was fire everywhere. I had my shirt pulled up over my mouth, but even then I was still coughing from all the smoke. A window. I just had to make my way to a window. I could do this.

Then the entire floor started to tip sideways, sliding me directly in the path of the flames.

XXX

I shot up from my cot, knocking my head on the ceiling as I took a gasping breath. Bad dream. Really bad dream- like too many details for it to just be a bad dream really. But I swallowed all that as I rocked back and forth rubbing my arms, desperate to get a grip before someone saw me like this. My hand glided over the stitches May had expertly done without a word before tossing me another sweater. She hadn't even really looked at the tattoo, which was surprising. But I had shrugged it off and made my way over to the cots, ready to get some shut-eye even though night hadn't quite fallen yet.

I managed to pull myself together quickly by pushing everything I had seen as far to the back of my mind as possible. My memories could wait, especially if they were going to be like that. If that even was a memory actually. Maybe the concussion was making me see things.

Still, I had trouble falling back to sleep as I stared at the ceiling of my cot, headache a dull roar after some pills. I decided to blame it on having the top bunk coupled with a clear fear of heights and climbed down, choosing a new one on the ground floor right next to Fitz. I collapsed in the bed, decided this was better even if I knew deep down it wasn't, and forced myself to drift off once again with my fingers crossed there wouldn't be any more surprises.

I think I'd had just about all I could handle in a day really. Hopefully things would slow down for a bit tomorrow.

Yeah, something told me that wasn't going to happen.

XXX