I really appreciate that you are taking the time to read this, so I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.
Please leave reviews, with either positives or feedback and I will answer any questions here. Any ideas for the next chapter or recommendations for other fics are also welcome :)
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: Camilla Reyes attempted to take over the plane and, in the process, inflicted severe injuries on May. After taking back the plane, May heads to the cage to kill Reyes because of what she did in Lima 1990 but is stopped by Coulson.
She had no idea how long she had been sitting there when Phil opened the door and came in behind her. His arms wrapped comfortingly round her neck, and she relaxed in his arms.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her softly, slipping into the co-pilot's chair but continued to hold her hand.
"No-one would believe me. It took five years for it to stop haunting my dreams, for the first year I didn't know you yet, the next four I didn't trust you enough, and by the time I did, I had learned to live with it and didn't want it to resurface in my life. I hoped she had been killed."
He leaned forward to brush a tear off her cheek, and pulled her into his lap, when he noticed the blood covering her arm.
"Melinda, you need to be careful with your stitches," he said as led her towards the med-bay and held a cloth to her wound to stem the blood.
"I'm fine," she said smiling at him.
"I would believe you if you hadn't said that after receiving a gunshot wound to your gut and almost bleeding out Infront of me."
"Why do you always bring that up?"
"because it is proof that I should never believe you when you say you are fine."
"We are not doing this again," she said, gently removing his hand from her arm and sealing the wound with a large strip of duct tape.
"Tasha is a terrible influence on you."
"Or is it the other way round. I taught her this one, and no matter how much it shocks the doctors, it has never failed either of us."
"I could go and get Simmons," he teased.
"You will do no such thing," she told him, slipping on her jacket.
"Do you want to set down the plane or should I," Ward asked, interrupting them.
"I'll do it," she told him sharply, before walking out, Coulson following.
A few minutes after they had left, Ward noticed May's phone on the table and picked it up to take it to her bunk, because he was headed to his and they weren't that far apart. He was halfway there when it started ringing. Who is Tasha? He wondered, pretty sure that they were only supposed to have SHIELD numbers on their work phones. Quickly, he headed down to the cockpit to hand over the phone.
"I was leaving the lab, when your phone started ringing, says it's from Tasha."
Taking the phone from Ward, she answered it. "Natasha Romanoff, what the hell are you doing calling me when I'm trying to land a plane!" was the only thing he heard, before heading to the lounge/bar area.
"What are you doing Ward?" Skye asked.
"I just came from the cockpit. May left he phone in the lab, so I went to take it to her bunk, but it started ringing, and I thought It was odd that she had a contact labelled Tasha on her work phone, and when she picked it up, she called her Natasha Romanoff. Hell, she just shouted at the Black Widow!"
"Black Widow has a nickname in May's contacts?"
"Okay, I need to find out more about this. I've been on this plane for weeks. How did I not know that she was on friendly terms with an Avenger?"
"Because she's mean, quiet and generally ignores everyone except Coulson?"
"Nah, that's just you. She hates that Fury sent another member without her approval and she hates that you are basically the stereotypical Specialist. Also watch it I heard her ask Coulson if she could just throw you off the Bus."
"I've had plenty of conversations with her, you're just generally antisocial."
"I'm not antisocial," he said incredulously, "It would be easier if May and Bobbi at least attempted to not look like they want to stick a bullet in me, and their boyfriends just agree and completely ignore me."
"Is it just me or is the whole original team completely paired off. Bobbi and Hunter, May and Coulson and Fitz and Simmons. We were never meant to be here. They spent the best part of eight months designing the team, and then we were just shoved on the end."
"Wait. You weren't part of the original team design?"
"Oh. No, I'm just a hacker girl they picked up along the way."
"You're good. I thought you were a trained SHIELD agent."
"May is training me but I never went to the academy or anything."
"This is a pretty elite team."
"Really?"
"Well, we are run by two level eights- who also have to be the best partners in SHIELD history, three of the youngest students to join SHIELD-May, Fitz and Simmons, Two Avengers level specialists- May and Bobbi and a girl who hacked SHIELD from her laptop."
"It does sound pretty good when you put it like that," Skye admitted. "wait. Did you say May was one of the youngest to join SHIELD? When did she join?"
"The most common rumor is that she was twelve, but nobody actually knows because it is classified at level eight."
"Why is it classified?"
"Again, I only know this by rumor but apparently, she redacted it when she became an agent, and moves the classification up as she gets more senior. It was level seven when I joined SHIELD and moved up to level eight when I was a level four agent. She just hates people talking about her."
"Yet by the amount you seem to know about the least talkative member of this team, people still talk about her a lot."
"She's a senior agent, who has a redacted file, was offered a place in the Avengers initiative and is in a relationship with an equally famous senior agent, who recently died and got resurrected. She is a common topic over at the academies-mainly Ops and Comms because Fitzsimons are the gossip of SciTech, but everyone knows who she is."
"She got offered a place in the Avengers?"
"It's only a rumor and nobody knows why she turned it down."
"Who the hell turns down a place in the Avengers!"
"I didn't turn it down," said May from the door, who had been listening to them gossip about her for about ten minutes. "And I'm sure that was classified."
"You're dodging the question," Skye told her, with an amused expression."
"I took the offer, working with Tasha and Clint alongside Coulson on the Heli-carrier until Coulson's death, where I got sent on a different mission."
"What mission?"
"That's classified level ten."
"And your still on a first name basis with two Avengers that you only worked with for a few days?"
"I've done a lot of undercover and field work with Clint and Tasha and I was Maria's So.
"Maria Hill?"
"Who's Maria Hill?" Skye asked, confused as to why Ward was more interested in her that the two Avengers.
"Deputy-director of SHIELD."
While the two agents were talking about agent Hill, Melinda slipped out of the room, in favor of her pilot's chair. She enjoyed the quietness, because the rest of the plane was filled with chatter from the team. Despite having landed at the Sandbox to hand over the prisoners and the 084, so she no longer had a view of the empty sky and soft clouds, It was still more peaceful that the rest of the plane.
She was rarely surprised by anything because of how aware of her surrounding she normally was but today was an exception, she was very surprised to find her Russian friend sitting in the co-pilots chair.
"What are you doing here Tasha?"
"You're dodging my calls, Mel."
"No, I'm not, I was just in the middle of landing the plane."
"A) what about the other seven times I've called you in the last week, B) please remember that your best friend is a spy who can tell when you're lying. C) You once answered a call from me in the middle of a mission, so spill it. What aren't you telling me?"
"I'll tell you later."
"Melinda May, stop avoiding my question. You know I will find out anyway, so just tell me."
"What makes you think you can find out so easily?" she said curiously.
"I sent Clint to interrogate Phil."
"And it really requires two Avengers to interrogate us?"
"Yes, it does take two Avengers to get you to speak when you don't want to."
"What are you going to do about it?"
"You are going to tell me, Mel, you always tell me eventually."
"We should take this somewhere else- Skye and Ward are probably standing outside the door listening."
The two agents got up and walked out the door, finding Skye and Ward standing outside, as she had predicted.
"If you're going to eavesdrop, you should at least do it properly. Ward, you're a trained agent, you should know better than to get caught. Anyway, Skye, Ward, this is Natasha Romanoff, quit staring, she will be around a for few weeks, or until the four of us cause a world level disaster."
"May, why is she here, SHIELD already sent me as an extra specialist."
"Oh, I'm not here on official business, Mel's been avoiding my calls, so I came to annoy her until I find out why."
"And Fury just let you come over here?"
"Nick likes us, he promised me I could visit my bestie whenever I wanted, when he sent Phil and Mel to assemble this team, so I plan on visiting as often as possible."
"It would have been a lot easier if you had just faked some professional reason for being here. Now Ward is going to tell Garret, who is going to be jealous, complain to Nick and get himself assigned here, and to be honest we don't really need three level eights and five level 7s on an already quite full plane."
"What would be the fun in that? All we need is to get Maria over and then we can have a full out reunion- remind me when we were last together?"
"Tash, do I need to remind you that this is a functional team!" she said, amused.
"That's never stopped us before."
"Natasha Romanoff, there is no way in hell that I am ever going to a Meeting with Nick with a hangover again!"
"You did what?" Skye said, mouth hanging open.
"And now look what you've done," she added exasperatedly.
"I may have forgotten they were there," Natasha replied, guiltily.
"Linda, did you know Clint was here?" Coulson shouted up the stairs.
"Yeah, his other half is up here."
"Nat is here as well?" he called back.
"Stop shouting and get up here."
"Hi Nat. Is there any particular reason they are here?"
"They were eavesdropping," May replied.
"So, you think you can interrogate Linda with just the two of you?"
"Finally, someone that actually realizes what a nightmare it is to get her to talk."
"I'm surprised you didn't bring Maria as well."
"Phil, this is a functioning mobile unit, not a party."
"Nick likes us."
"Why does everyone keep saying that?" Ward asked.
"Its true. We can get away with anything- Maria, Tasha, Phil, Mel and I."
"Skye, Ward, this is Clint Barton."
"Wait. Are you the same Clint and Melinda that teachers at Ops always mention when somebody pulls a prank?"
Coulson laughed at that. "So, their reputation stands."
"Apparently you pulled all the good pranks, and everyone knew it was you, but no one could prove it. Every time someone pulls a prank, they're always saying that its not as good as yours, or at least you two have left, depending on the teacher."
Hope you enjoyed! Thankyou for reading and please tell me what you think in the review box below:)