Author's Note: I've been really floored by the reactions and reviews to this series. Thank you guys so much for the comments, favorites, and follows!
They always make my day! I'm also working on two other AOS works at the moment, "Afterimages" and "Ducklings". If you like this story, you'll more than likely enjoy both of those as well.
Reviews and feedback are greatly appreciated! c.e.
CHAPTER TWO
Coulson was cozy and warm as he drifted back into consciousness until he realized that the other side of the bed was empty. A jolt tore through him and he sat straight up in bed. Where was May? Panic was like ice water in his veins. Sunlight filtered through the blinds that Melinda had closed creating a strange crisscrossed pattern on the ugly motel carpet.
He found her across the room.
She was calmly doing her morning tai chi; twirling and balancing with complex movements he knew he couldn't imagine being able to complete. It was clear she had been watching him sleep, not that he minded.
He felt his heartrate slow slightly as his eyes tracked her movements.
"What time is it?"
"A little after nine," she replied, not moving from her tai chi. He fell back against the pillows, stunned. He hadn't slept that late in years though he knew the reason for that was standing right in front of him. "Skye has been pacing outside the door for the last hour trying to decide whether you're just sleeping or something's happened and she should break it down with her brute force."
A dopey grin lit up Coulson's face at her sarcasm.
A small smile echoed off her features in response, but it was gone as soon as it came.
Coulson sat up on the comforter and folded his legs underneath him. "So what's the plan? This isn't the greatest place to be launching an attack against HYDRA. We've been here almost a week and being that we're all wanted terrorist I'm not sure staying is the best idea."
The brunette raised an eyebrow at the question, her arms twisting around each other like two snakes before extending in opposite directions.
"You're the boss, I go where you go."
"Cute," he mocked with a glare. She smirked and he missed her smiles, even if it was at his expense. It hit him then, that he hadn't really ever been the boss, if what May had revealed was true, and he knew it was, she had pulled all the strings, made all the hard calls and stood back and let him take the lead, let him be the boss.
They were partners; they had always been a pair, working in sync. In the Academy he had found her fascinating. Everything she did was terrifyingly inhuman. The way she fought with a grace and volatility he never could expect from such a tiny human being. The way nothing seemed to phase her, no twist in the mission, no betrayal.
They two of them were to completely different It was a strange thing for a Specialist, especially one as good as May to not work alone, but their partnership was something rare. He was emotional and she was decisive. He was cool while she was fiery.
He steadied her and she protected him.
Even after Bahrain, when one moment everything was fine and the next every ounce of his Melinda was gone replaced by another one, a foreign one, he marveled at the way she taped the broken shards back together and managed to continue to keep breathing.
May noticed his change in demeanor and she paused momentarily in her tai chi.
"Phil?"
His throat was closed with emotion.
"You've always made better choices than me."
God, he was an idiot. She had just been trying to protect him and he had marked her a traitor, the very thing Melinda couldn't stand. He opened his mouth to express just that when he was cut off.
The sharp knock on the door made May's hand go immediately for the gun sitting on the ratty dresser. It was cocked with the safety clicked off before the sound even stopped. Phil paused soundlessly on the edge of the bed, eyeing the woman pointing the Glock at the closed door.
"Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey, A.C.," Skye's voice called through the door continuing to pound on it with her fist. May's hand dropped her to her side like it was dead weight and Skye continued, "Trip snagged breakfast so hurry up or nothing will be left."
Coulson pinched his eyes shut with a groan. "Yeah okay. I'll be out in a minute," he replied.
It was clear Melinda was just as shaken as he was about the last few weeks. The sting of betrayal and the collapse of everything they had dedicated their lives to was still very fresh on Coulson's mind. He knew it was still racing through May's mind; her jumpiness was proof of that.
He moved out of bed and grabbed the shirt he had thrown on the back of the chair atop Melinda's jacket. Coulson heard Melinda unload the pistol and the cling of the metal as it sat back on the wooden furniture. He took his time with each of the buttons giving her time to collect her mask before he looked back up.
He knew all too well that everything he was feeling, she was feeling tenth fold and it shone in her eyes when he looked up.
"Breakfast?"
She had resumed her tai chi. "I'll come out as soon as I finish."
He noticed the worry in her eyes, but didn't remark on it.
"I'll save you some food," he called over his shoulder. He didn't turn back to see if that inspired a smirk. He shut the door behind him and walked around the end of the hall to where the rest of his rag tag team was assembling around a large glass pool table.
"Good morning, sir," Jemma called to him, flashing him a smile as he walked over. She looked washed out compared to her Bus self. Her hair had less of a bounce to it and her smiles seemed purely for the benefit of Fitz, who seemed to be crushed Ward's betrayal.
Fitz sat beside her, playing with a stack of pancakes, looking tired and wrinkled. He gave a wave as he chewed. Agent Tripplett echoed Jemma's formal hello. The Specialist was the only one of the group that didn't look like could fall apart at any moment. Phil could clearly see his training kicking into high gear, allowing him to adapt with a flexibility the others weren't programmed with.
"Decide to finally get up A.C.?" Skye called over from her chair. She looked calm and bored, but not as out of place as FitzSimmons. "We've got breakfast burritos, pancakes, bacon, and coffee." She waved her fork in the air a little as she pointed to each item on the morning's menu.
"Yum." He nodded and sat down on one of the long pool chairs next to the hacktivist, leaving plenty of room for Melinda when she chose to make her arrival known.
"So I was thinking, sir," Tripplett began hesitantly, "that we may need to change locations soon. I know I have absolutely no authority here and I respect that…and you," he added quickly, "it's just that we've been here almost a week. It might be time to come up with a plan."
Phil smiled gently at the younger agent's way of telling him to get it together. He heard the open and close of the motel room door behind him. "Actually, speaking of plans, one happened to appear last night and decided to stay a while."
Confusion echoed on everyone features, until Tripplett suddenly stood from the table. Phil didn't have to turn to know May had rounded the corner. The other looked confused from Coulson to Tripp, until they glanced in the direction the spy was facing.
"May!"
Skye's fork clattered to the table with a half bitten piece of pancake dribbling syrup onto the glass. Next to her, Fitz's eyes grew wide as his mouth dropped.
Simmons' face lit up immediately and she jumped to her feet happily. Her exuberance seemed to make May surprised and the young biochemist blushed. "Errr, I mean, Agent May, how lovely to see you again."
That seemed to make Melinda amused. "Hello Jemma." The smile seemed to ease the girl's awkwardness and Simmons grinned happily.
"Welcome home, we missed you."
Fitz echoed after his other half, though it was clear that the incident with the ICER was still in the forefront of his mind.
Skye leapt out of her seat without out a sound other than a loud metal on concrete scrape from her chair. She crashed into the smaller Chinese woman, almost knocking May over with the force of her hug.
Phil shot up from his chair warily and May's large brown eyes flashed dangerously. Across the table, he felt Tripp's eyes on him. Damn it, Skye, he swore in his mind as he watched May struggle. If she struck out at the younger Agent, she wouldn't forgive herself for it.
The hug had come out of nowhere and would have looked almost identical to an attack to the spy. Even before Bahrain sent her into a hyper-vigilant spiral which Phil was sure she never truly came out of, May never was one for physical contact. The younger woman sobbed around May's neck, completely oblivious to the struggle of the senior agent.
"Skye," May's voice was quiet, but her distress was clear.
"Skye, you're going to suffocate, May." Jemma's tone was gentle, but that only seemed to make the hacktivist hold tighten her arms around May's neck and waist.
The girl mumbled something into May's shoulder before another round of tears make her shake. The only one who seemed to make any sense of this was Jemma. "She wasn't with us," Simmons said, her eyes widening with realization, "She didn't see the footage from the Bus."
Coulson's blue eyes jumped from Jemma back to May and Skye. May was stock still and he wasn't quite sure she was breathing, her fingers shook with a barely noticeable tremor; all the trademarks of her feeling trapped, one of the most dangerous spots a Specialist could be stuck in.
Finally May swallowed and moved; her arms which had been floating helplessness near her waist tentatively patted the girl's back. It seemed to calm the girl enough to try and speak.
"I th-thought y-y-youweredead," Skye managed in between sobs. "Hh-he said you l-left and I-I t-thought—"
More sure this time, May's arms wrapped around Skye. The words shared between the two didn't reach Coulson's eyes, despite his closeness, but as they sunk it, Skye's sobs got quieter and quieter and her hold on May looser and looser. May's body seemed to relax just a fraction.
Coulson tentatively lowered himself back into the chair.
"Oh my god," Skye said jumping back slightly and scrubbing at her tearstained with her palms, "I am so sorry. Just ignore me, god I'm such a mess. As you were. Burritos anyone?" she gave a nervous laugh and moved back to her seat, cheeks flushed.
Simmons chattered away, and Skye and the rest of the table joined in like nothing had happened and the last week had been another day at the office. Coulson smiled slightly at their resilience.
Perhaps they would be okay.
His hand found May's wrist under the table as she sat down next to him. He gently squeezed, not looking towards the Chinese warrior, but holding on long enough to clearly convey his message.
I'm proud of you.
And as his hand let go, her smaller one moved, lacing her fingers in his for a brief moment before slipping it away.
