The thing about Skye

She flinches

After they take down the Clairvoyant, take down Garret and Ward, May can't stop staring at Skye. Her eyes are always scanning the room for her. She feels frazzled. Frayed. She doesn't like it. And it's entirely Skye's fault.

May is so compromised.

More than she ever was in concerns to Coulson.

May has been concerned about the hacker for a long while now. It started shortly after her arrival on the bus, but really picked up after she was shot by Quinn. And then Ward happened.

That video keeps playing in her dreams, replacing the ones she normally gets of another girl- a younger one.

Just the thought of the man makes May's blood boil like stomach acid. And he's just downstairs. In a cell. She wants to kill him. She's never wanted to kill anyone as much as that man. She should have killed him. Should have known what kind of man he was.

She was so concerned about Skye being the danger to them, when all along it was Ward. Ward who hurt that same girl the most.

So, when they take up at the Playground, May watches Skye and she's… fine.

Mostly.

But she's different- no, more like how she was when they first plucked her out of her van. Reserved. Angry. Still passionate, but colder.

When Coulson distances himself, Skye doesn't try to close it, like she once would have. If Ward hadn't happened.

May takes over Skye's training immediately. There are no complaints or whining like when Ward first became the girl's SO, even though May's training is far more intense. He hadn't done much in the way of hand-to-hand- focusing on techniques, combinations on a bag, and strength rather than against a moving, interacting, opponent. Still, Skye is quiet and attentive and earnest.

Skye flinches.

It's such a minute thing, barely there. A twitch in her expression, a slight cringe of her head as she tucks her chin. It's so small, May might not even notice it- if she wasn't watching Skye so closely (and an expert in this art). It's a good protective preparation, if Skye didn't also close one eye as she did it, and while she herself is throwing a punch.

It's such an ingrained, bracing, reactionary thing that says Skye knows the touch of retaliation well. It'll be a hard thing to train out of her, with how internalized and enforced it must be to the young woman.

May automatically corrects her, stern as ever, and Skye's shoulders tighten like they always do when May snaps.

There is some frothing, dead, instinct that wants May to do something. But she doesn't know what. She's not good at… comfort. And May is Skye's SO. It's not her job to mother the girl. Not her right.

So, May pushes. She teaches. And Skye soaks it in like a sponge. It's telling that the easiest part for Skye is anticipating moves and dodging them. But if Skye wants to be a field agent, she needs more.

May satisfies her more… unhelpfully protective urges by stressing Tai Chi more in their training. It's what they start off with, and what they end with. May teaches her to control her emotions, calm her heartbeat, and the longer sessions have a more positive effect on May as well.

This girl might give her a heart attack otherwise.


A/N: Please review!

~Silver~