Another one-shot for you all! This was suggested to me in the reviews by Flame2133 and it really intrigued me. It also sort of ties into the last one-shot, so it was perfect ;)

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ONE-SHOT #7: Training with Agent Melinda May

SUMMARY: After season 1 and before season 2 when Skye is being trained by her SO, May. What happens when Skye has a mishap during her first mission? Will she have to tough it up and deal with it all on her own, or will Mama May swoop in to the rescue?

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It all started off as a normal day. Skye woke up at five in the morning, did her morning workout of the treadmill, punching bag, and weights, and took a hot shower. Once she was done, she went to the common room for her morning coffee and power bar before meeting May back in the training room.

Except May wasn't in the training room today like she usually was. Skye narrowed her eyes, confused when she saw the May-less room. She checked her smart watch to make sure no notifications had come up on her phone, but her efforts were fruitless.

Choosing not to panic (after all, May could handle herself), Skye decided to look around a bit and maybe get some of her hacking work done. She had a few computer things to do so maybe this was a blessing in disguise.

On her way to her bunk to grab her laptop, Skye ran into Fitz.

"'Morning, Fitz," the brunette said to the engineer, a smile on her face. She was always trying hard (maybe too hard) to help him cheer up. Her face fell a bit when she took in her friend's appearance. She knew how difficult his recovery was for him after being on the bottom of the ocean. But today he had a painfully obvious five o'clock shadow and his button-down was buttoned in all the wrong places. He never wore his signature ties or sweaters anymore and that broke her heart. No wonder Simmons left. Normally, Skye was able to compartmentalize and take her mind off of it when she was busy with May, but of course, today May wasn't available. She contemplated asking the man if he knew of her SO's whereabouts, but she was hesitant. Skye usually tried to avoid Fitz for fear of offending him or herself.

Fitz mustered up a small return smile after a sip of the coffee mug in his hands. "Good morning."

Skye crossed her arms over her chest. "Whatcha doing?" she asked, trying to sound as natural as possible.

"I'm uh, heading to the, uh..." He tapped his head, squinting as he thought about what he was trying to say. He clenched and unclenched his fist, thinking. He huffed. "...the lab to work on some things."

Skye smiled even wider and nodded. "Great." She patted his shoulder. "You have a good morning."

Fitz nodded at her, staring at the lukewarm mug in his hands.

Skye was about to leave him before turning back around. "Fitz?" she asked.

The young man raised his eyebrows, surprised that Skye would willingly ask him a question. People usually avoided him these days unless it was absolutely necessary.

The girl scratched her head, clearly a tad uncomfortable in his presence. "Have you seen May anywhere? She wasn't waiting for me in the training room like usual."

Fitz scowled, confused. "Have you checked your, uh..." He snapped his fingers, thinking of the right word. He gently punched the wall, frustrated.

"Yeah, I checked my messages," Skye finished for him. "Nothing."

Fitz nodded, only a bit annoyed that she talked for him. "Keep look, um, keep looking," he told her. "I'm sure she's, uh, fine."

Skye smiled warmly. "Thanks, Fitz. Go work!" she bantered, smirking at him as she passed by.

Fitz sighed and got back to what he was doing, anxious to see his subconscious Simmons again.

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After a good twenty minutes searching for her, Skye found May in the hangar of the base, a tablet in her hand as she inventoried a new shipment of packages.

"May!" Skye nearly shouted, running up to her SO.

May turned around nonchalantly and it took a second for her to take her eyes off the tablet. She raised her eyebrows. "Skye?"

Skye narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at the boxes. "Why didn't you tell me we weren't training today?"

May seemed a tad confused. "Oh, right." She went back to working on the tablet.

Skye scoffed, rolling her eyes. "You act like you training me isn't one of your priorities."

May narrowed her eyes at the girl. "I've had enough attitude from you, Skye. I'm sorry I forgot to tell you but there's no need for sparring today. You're going to get to fight for real today."

Skye's eyes widened with both fear and excitement. "What?"

May smirked, nodding in confirmation as she patted the boxes, setting the tablet down on the stack. "And this new shipment of ICERs came just in time for your first mission as a field agent."

The girl's eyes were wider than the moon as she excitedly ran her hands over the boxes, opening one up and taking out one of the blue guns. She aimed it at nothing in particular and closed one eye, pretending like she was preparing to shoot. Satisfied, she got out of the shooting stance and tossed the weapon around in her hands a bit, admiring it. "I like these."

"Me, too," May admitted. "You've been doing great with your marksmanship training lately and I think you're ready for this op."

Skye leaned against the stack of boxes. "What op is it?"

May blinked at her protégé. "It's relatively simple. We need to steal a package before it's able to be transferred to the buyer. It could be loosely affiliated with Hydra so Coulson decided it was best we got involved."

Skye looked at the weapons. "Do you think we'll have any hostiles?" Sure, she'd gotten a lot better at defending herself, but the thought still frightened her a bit.

May shook her head. "I doubt it. The package isn't worth much money-wise but it could be valuable to SHIELD. And if so, there's going to be nothing our ICERs can't handle."

Skye felt a bit relieved. "Alright. I'll go suit up."

May nodded. "I'll prepare the weapons."

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Sitting in the front of the SUV while May drove, Skye was getting extremely excited for her first mission. Well, her first mission as a trained field agent. She was ready for some action, finally, after months of training and sparring and endless lectures by May.

She was so excited.

The op was relatively close to the Playground so Skye didn't have nearly enough time to process everything before May parked the car in a nearby alley. The transaction was to be made in the back rooms of a bank in a small-ish town near HQ.

From the alley, May and Skye were able to see a pair—one a big, surly man and the other a tall and slender woman—exit a fancy, new Suburban and enter the bank. The woman was carrying a metal case that was cuffed to her wrist for safe keeping.

It must've been important, Skye noted.

"What now?" the girl asked her SO once the people had vanished.

May didn't take her eyes off the Suburban. "We wait until they leave the building with their purchase. They'll most likely take the back exit which..." She pointed behind her and Skye turned around, seeing an alley door through the back windshield. "...they don't know we're blocking."

Skye swallowed. "Are we going to need to fight them?"

"Most likely, no. They aren't that highly trained and the woman seems to only have one bodyguard. They should give it up if we just aim our ICERs at them."

"But if they're affiliated with Hydra..."

"Loosely," May clarified. "We just think the purchase might be tied to Hydra, not the people."

"Okay..."

Finally, May turned to her protégé and put a solid hand on her shoulder. The younger girl looked into May's eyes with a twinge of fear. "Hey, we've got this. I've trained you well and you're a great student," May assured Skye.

The girl nodded, swallowing as she mentally prepared herself for what was to come.

Soon enough, the alley door started to open from the inside. May nodded at Skye and both women grabbed their weapons (Skye an ICER, May a real gun just in case), heading out of the car and getting ready for their adversaries.

The surly bodyguard came out first, a look of dread washing over his face when he saw May and Skye. He tried to stop the woman from leaving the building but he was too late. She walked out, a larger case than before in her hands.

"Hand over the package and we leave you alone," May instructed, deciding against revealing her weapon until absolutely necessary.

The bodyguard shook his head when he eyed his client. "Why should we listen to you?" He smirked. "Why would I be scared of a couple of tiny little women?"

That made both agents' nostrils flare. Skye had to use all her might not to pull out her ICER and shoot them right then and there. But she felt May's silent warning not to do so.

"Trust me, it is in your best interests to hand it over," May said, addressing both the man and the woman now.

"Why should we trust you?" the woman asked, a look of disgust on her face.

Skye looked to May for permission and the latter nodded. Skye took the cue to take her ICER out and aim it at them. "Hand it over," the young agent demanded.

The woman chuckled, sending chills down Skye's spine. She smirked and the bodyguard took out his own sidearm. "Now you, you should not have threatened us," she said.

Alarmed, May and Skye eyed each other for a split second before ducking behind their SUV when they heard gunshots. The shots came from somewhere right outside the alley.

"Apparently they brought backup!" May shouted over the loud gunshots as she readied her own weapon. She wasn't able to notice Skye, who was curled up into the fetal position.

The first second Skye heard a gunshot her mind immediately flashed back to that basement with Quinn. He'd shot her and nearly killed her. Yeah, she'd heard gunshots since then but this felt so...similar to that day. It was so unexpected...just like that day.

Her heart started pounding and she could barely think. All she could manage to do was follow May. She followed her behind their car to take cover but as soon as she got the chance she curled up into the smallest ball she could be, hugging her knees to herself and hoping and praying no bullets would wedge themselves into her flesh. She rocked back and forth, terrified that she would soon feel an all-too-familiar piercing pain in her body.

The gunshots kept coming, pinging against the metal of the car. May was able to determine that there were three men shooting at them, not including the bodyguard. She had noticed Skye was panicking but didn't have the time to do anything about it, as she was now down a person and needed to fend them off all on her own.

Eventually she shot down one of the men and realized she really needed Skye's help if she wanted both of them to make it out in one piece.

"Skye," she said sternly, touching the girl's back. Skye continued rocking back and forth, too terrified to care. "SKYE!" May shouted.

Something must've snapped in her, because Skye suddenly found herself able to sit up and grab her ICER.

May nodded in the direction of the door. "If you can, shoot the woman with your ICER and get the package. I'll cover you."

Understanding, Skye nodded and stood in a crouching position, waiting for May to distract the gunmen as she rushed to the alley door. The woman and bodyguard had clearly already gone back inside, so, taking a deep breath, Skye opened the door and made her own way inside. She was nervous as hell but she knew she had a mission to complete and she wasn't about to fail her first one as a field agent.

Skye roamed the now-empty and dark bank, slowly creeping around to try and find this infamous package. Skye wondered what could be so important about whatever was in that case, but she knew that if it had to do with Hydra that it was no good.

"HANDS IN THE AIR OR I SHOOT!" came a male voice. Her heart pounding, Skye raised her arms in surrender—still gripping her ICER—and slowly turned around to see the bodyguard aiming his gun at her, the woman with the package behind him. "DROP YOUR WEAPON!" he demanded.

Skye swallowed. She didn't want to get shot again but she also didn't want to lose her only opportunity to obtain the purchase. She weighed her options: either act fast and ICE both of them and risk getting shot, or drop your weapon and let them run off with the package or worse, capture you.

She decided upon the former.

Skye was able to act fast enough to shoot the bodyguard, but the woman was able to start running before Skye had a chance to shoot her. The woman made it all the way outside of the bank and ran out into the street just as her Suburban pulled up, its brakes screeching. Skye could tell that May had injured some of their men and they were retreating. She ran to try and shoot the woman with the package but before she could she noticed the car coming toward her at full speed. Quickly she shot the woman with her ICER and saw the package roll onto the pavement (this new one hadn't been handcuffed to her wrist) as the woman went limp. She saw some arms drag the woman but not the package into the car. She heard the screeching of tires and from then on, everything moved too fast for her to remember much of what happened.

She felt a sharp pain in her right side and felt herself falling backward onto the pavement. She was in too much pain to see clearly but the car drove off so fast she could barely comprehend it. She turned her head to the side and was relieved to see May (she thought it was May, at least) picking up the package.

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When May heard the ICER shot she rushed toward it, knowing Skye wouldn't be prepared to deal with all the gunmen who were now driving toward her in the Suburban. To her horror, she watched as Skye shot the woman with the package and the car swerved toward Skye, running into the girl's torso before flooring the brakes and rushing away. Skye collapsed backward onto the sidewalk, her legs now limp from the pain.

May rushed to her student, making sure to secure the package around her wrist on the way. She crouched down next to Skye and was relieved to see the girl's eyes open. She was still aware and okay. "Skye, Skye," May said, a bit panicky. She awkwardly held her hands up, unsure of what to do as her eyes ran up and down Skye's body, searching her for injuries. She knew she shouldn't touch her for fear of injuring her more, but May wanted nothing more than to scoop her up into a hug. She was usually able to be calm whenever a teammate was injured, but Skye was more than a teammate. So much more.

Skye was clutching her right side, guarding it like it was an injured puppy in need of protection.

"What hurts?" May finally managed to ask.

Skye was surprised. May was usually so stoic and held up in situations like these. "My, uh, my side," she said with a groan as she tried to sit up, still guarding her side. She turned to May, who was now looking down at the package. "What is it?" she asked.

May looked up at Skye. "Not sure. We'll deal with it when we get back to the base. Can you walk?"

Skye bit her lip. "Might need some help standing up."

May nodded, understanding as she wrapped an arm around her shoulder gently, being mindful of her sore side. Once Skye was on her feet, May picked up the package.

"I ICEd the bodyguard. Should we bring him in?" Skye asked, a little whimper escaping her throat.

"I doubt he would know much. It would have been more useful to get the girl. Probably more trouble than it's worth," May told her, putting her arm around her waist again to lead her to the car.

For the first few minutes of the drive, there was silence other than the occasional groan from Skye. May could tell the girl was in a lot of pain but didn't want to worry her. She wasn't sure what state she was in emotionally, especially after watching that panic attack in the alleyway.

Finally, May spoke, her hands tightening around the wheel: "Skye, what happened back there?"

Skye bit her lip. "You mean how I got hit by that car?"

"Well, no."

"Then what?!" Skye was easily irritable when she was in pain.

May sighed. "You were...panicking. I thought I taught you how to calm your nerves in situations like these."

Skye let out a deep sigh, wincing a bit as she clutched her sore side. She just wanted to get back to the base. "It was so unexpected," she explained. "The gunshots brought me back to my worst memory and I panicked. I know I said I wanted to be stronger so I wouldn't be in that vulnerable position ever again, but this is bringing me back to my worst days."

It took May a second to conjure up a good response. "It will always be hard out in the field, Skye," she told the young woman as she turned into a lane. "Yeah, you're going to have a lot of trauma, but you get so accustomed to it at some point that it doesn't hurt you anymore. You'll go through worse things and better, and one day you might not make it through the mission. But that's all part of what you signed up for; you mean something more now. You're a part of something bigger and that isn't nothing."

It was unusual for May to talk so much, but Skye let her words really soak in. She told herself she'd sort through them more when she got rid of the extreme pain in her side.

The women finally made it back to the base. May helped Skye out of the car but they were greeted by an overly-cheerful Director at the entrance.

"How did your first mission go?" he asked enthusiastically, his face falling when he saw Skye in pain.

"It was a success," Skye replied, nodding at the package in May's hands.

Phil put his hands on his hips. "Clearly not completely a success. What happened to you?"

"Car meets side," Skye explained with a groan as May continued leading her inside.

May handed Phil the package as he opened the big yellow sliding door for them. "I'll take her to medical," she whispered. "You deal with this."

"I can go with her if you want," Coulson offered.

May shook her head. "She needs me."

Coulson nodded, understanding as he watched the two women he cared about the most enter the base.

May brought Skye to the lab, grabbing a med tech before bringing her to a medical room. The med tech, Agent Krimson, starting gathering some supplies as he asked questions.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Suburban plus my body equals no good," Skye quipped, a few tiny sweat beads forming on her forehead.

Krimson grabbed some latex gloves and slid them on, arranging a few items on the table. "What part of your body hurts?"

Skye grimaced as she tried to shift her weight on the bed, earning a glare from May. "My right side, higher up, closer to my chest than my abdomen."

Krimson nodded. "If you could just..."

Skye understood immediately and starting trying to remove her shirt with no avail. May gently helped her out of the garment, knowing she was in too much pain to do it herself. That left Skye in her black sports bra, and both agents could see the purple bruise that was already forming in Skye's upper right abdomen.

"This might hurt a bit," he told Skye as he started to gently examine the bruised area. Skye winced as he pressed down, screwing her eyes closed from the pain.

"Squeeze my hand," May told her, taking Skye's hand in hers. The girl seemed to understand, as May began to feel her squeezing the life out of her hand.

Krimson was already removing his gloves. "I'd like to do a CT and see if you've lacerated your liver. The bruising and tenderness is right in that area," he told Skye and May, grabbing something from a cabinet.

Skye's eyes widened. "Is that serious?"

He shook his head, setting something cloth-like on the edge of her bed. "Not that bad. There are five grades to liver lacerations and none of them usually require any surgery."

Skye nodded in relief.

Krimson nodded to the cloth object he'd set on the edge of her bed just a few seconds before. "Put that on and I'll be back with a radiologist to get your scans done."

"Okay," Skye said as he opened the door, leaving the little medical room.

"Thank you," May told the tech as she reached for the hospital gown on the edge of Skye's bed. She smirked at the girl. "How excited are you to wear this?"

"So hyped," Skye said sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she ripped the gown from May's hands, not looking forward to wearing the scratchy thing.

Once the scans were done, Krimson determined that she had a grade-three liver laceration and would need a few days of bedrest and a week of no active duty. Skye wasn't happy, obviously, but she was glad it hadn't been any worse. Krimson had said she'd gotten lucky.

"How does it feel knowing you got hurt your first ever mission as a field agent?" May asked her with a smirk once Skye had gotten settled in her own private medical room.

Skye rolled her eyes. "Not very good, but not so bad either. 'Cause it means I actually did something on the mission."

May chuckled, patting Skye's hand. "That, you did."

The women talked and laughed for the rest of the evening, and May even stayed for dinner. She visited Skye the next morning and helped her to her bunk that afternoon. May was there at every meal to deliver her food tray and would always be willing to talk over whatever Skye wanted to or entertain her.

You know, Skye was really glad to have such a good SO. She might be all tough-nut and strong-willed on the outside, but on the inside, she was really just a softie. A compassionate lady. A mother figure.

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Yes I had to make use of Agent Krimson again :P

Anyways I hope you all enjoyed! I'm a bit stuck on You Can't Hide It Forever as of now so I may be updating here more often from now on, who knows? Please suggest whatever you'd like to see next in this story!