Take This Darkness from My Soul

Disclaimer: I do not own or make money from these stories.

Chapter 7.

"What does it say?" Coulson asked from the chair. The others looked at the screen and then over at him. Before anyone could say anything, May took charge.

"Well, it's obviously not working." She said matter-of-factly. "Fitz, go change places with him."

Koenig was, fortunately, not the brightest bulb in the pack. He just sniffed and went about recalibrating his machine for the new subject. When Fitz changed places with Coulson, May motioned the older agent over to a corner of the room where she began talking to him in a very low voice. He looked upset at first, but then seemed to be agreeing with her. Skye watched as Fitz and Jemma finished their tests. After each finished, May talked quietly with them for a moment out of earshot. The hacker was mildly surprised when they left the room immediately after talking with May. Coulson stood in another area of the room, looking off in his own world again, and Skye was worried about him. She watched as Triplett passed his test. May confidently walked up to sit in the chair. Before Koenig could start the test, she asked him quietly about it.

"Does the chair indicate who is in it, or do you do that?"

"The chair knows just the basics of identification like male or female." Koenig replied. "I have to put in the subject's name. It doesn't record the voices, just analyzes their inflections to register deceit or honesty."

"So there's no record of who gave the test?" May asked.

"Wouldn't be needed here." Koenig replied. "I'm the one who always does it, and I type my name in first."

Concentrating hard, he spelled her name aloud to make sure he had it right. Just as she had answered the last question and gotten approval for her lanyard, Simmons burst in the room. She had ash on her face and smelled like smoke. Looking around in confusion she yelled at Koenig.

"Fitz was working on the fuel lines and started a fire on the plane!" She yelled. May had moved the plane to the hanger the night before. "Where are your fire extinguishers? We can't find them." She grabbed at Koenig and he put the screen he was using down. He looked torn and said to the others.

"We'll get back to this. Skye's the only one left." He rambled before leaving with Jemma and Trip.

May waited until they were all gone, save her, Coulson and Skye. Then she picked up the screen and gave it to Skye as she herself went to sit in the chair. Skye caught on quickly and recalibrated the machine, typing in the names.

"What is your name and rank?" She asked May.

"My name is Skye and I am an Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D." May said.

"Have you ever been affiliated with an agency named Hydra?" Skye inquired.

"No, never." May said succinctly. She waited for Skye to nod and then the three of them went to the machine that was printing out Skye's lanyard. Koenig chose that moment to return and when he saw a lanyard around Skye's neck he looked questioningly at them. Coulson finally spoke up.

"I figured that I would just do the test while we waited. No sense wasting any more time." Koenig actually looked a little suspicious for a moment, but then May was bombarding him with questions about her plane and the moment got lost. She left with him in tow, giving Skye a look while she nodded towards Coulson behind Koenig's back.

"What gives, AC? You didn't think I would pass?" She asked him. He looked at her and she saw his shoulders sag.

"I knew you wouldn't pass, Skye." He replied, but before she could react, he took her hands in his. "Look, there's only one reason that the machine couldn't read me. I know from Jemma's scans that they didn't put anything mechanical in my head or body, so that only leaves the alien blood." He looked into her eyes and said gravely, "If I wouldn't pass, then it stands to reason that you wouldn't either. And Koenig is not a bad guy. I didn't want to have to hurt him if he tried to lock you up."

Skye leaned her head back and closed her eyes and sighed. "I think I'm starting to not like being different so much."

Coulson stepped forward and gently tugged on her lanyard. "Get used to it, babe." He said as he leaned in and gave her a kiss. She opened her eyes and saw the depth of feeling he held for her in his eyes and it was comforting. At least one very special thing had come about because of that damn alien juice…

They found the others in the underground hangar. There was lots of shouting and fuss, but the tiny fire that they had started to lure Koenig from the lie detector chair had only been for show and nothing had really been damaged. The team began to load supplies as fast as they could and only stopped once to grab a quick dinner. They repainted the outside of the plane as best they could, and even though they had no dryer, the special aircraft paint that Koenig had given them, hardened to a high gloss metallic shine. Nothing with S.H.I.E.L.D. logos was left on the plane. They considered themselves still as agents, but knew that they couldn't get anything done from jail cells if they were caught. S.H.I.E.L.D. was now considered a terrorist group and they had to be careful. Plans were made to work out of Providence in complete anonymity, and Koenig assured them that Fury had planned for a long siege and supplies were plentiful. The group labored for two intense days, repairing and supplying the aircraft.

Somewhere toward the end of the second day, Coulson did a rather strange thing. Without thinking, he had bent down and picked up a large container with handles and flung it up to the waiting Triplett and Fitz aboard the plane. He didn't think anything of it until it landed at their feet and thumped heavily on the floor. Trip bent to get a handle and pulled. All three men were somewhat surprised when the box didn't move. Fitz had to take the other handle and together they slid the heavy box into its place without picking it up.

"How did he do that?" Trip asked Fitz when they were done. "I mean we couldn't pick it up between the two of us, and he just tossed it up here like it was nothing." Fitz just shrugged. Right now he was exhausted and felt relieved that they had finally finished the task. He looked forward to a hot bath and maybe a swim in the base's pool later.

Finally, they were done. Everyone enjoyed another great meal from the amazing Chef Koenig. Afterwards, they all agreed to meet at the pool for drinks and swimming, or really just floating because they all were sporting sore muscles.

"Look at you girl!" Jemma exclaimed as Skye walked into the pool area wearing a pink bikini that showed off her tanned skin perfectly. Skye walked over to them where they sat around a small table. Jemma hadn't gotten into the water yet, but Fitz was teasing her to get wet. He looked so cute in his red, white and blue trunks. He was by no means skinny, but he hadn't developed the muscle of say, Trip, who was seamlessly swimming laps in the oversize inground pool. May joined them wearing a two-piece suit that was flowered and had a swath of material bowed on her hip. It was so very feminine that it sort of shocked Skye at first.

"What?" May asked when she saw her expression. Skye smiled warmly at the woman.

"I guess I thought you'd have an official S.H.I.E.L.D. suit or something." Skye smiled.

"No, that'll be Coulson." She replied with a smirk.

"What'll be me?" They heard Coulson ask as he approached wearing simple navy trunks and a white tee shirt.

"Afraid you'll get too burned, Agent Coulson" Jemma reached over and tugged at the bottom of his shirt playfully, but he stepped back and looked upset.

"No, I…. well I don't want you to lose that lovely dinner you all just ate." He was trying way too hard to make a joke and no one laughed.

"Phil, if you want to keep that damn tee shirt on it's fine. But, don't do it to try to save our sensibilities. Those scars are a part of you, and as your friends, we accept them as we do you." May told him seriously. Phil stood stock still and seemed confused as to what to do or say about that. Skye walked over to him and whispered in his ear. He looked at her and the others could see the trust in his eyes. Skye reached down, grabbed the hem of his shirt and lifted it off in one swift move. Phil stood embarrassed and fought the desire to cross his arms over his chest.

"Wow. Where have you been hiding those arms, sir?" Jemma looked at him appreciatively.

"Oh, man, I'm still the scrawniest male here." Fitz added.

"Seriously? You've been working out all this time?" May commented. No one even mentioned the scar as his friends helped him feel at ease. Jemma even got up and ran her hand down his upper arm.

"I had to feel that for myself." She giggled. Skye gave her the evil eye.

"And, I think that's enough touching she said as she pulled her AC away from the group. They walked away toward the far, darker end of the pool. Coulson perched on the edge with Skye in the water between his knees.

"You know what this would be a great position for?" Skye said wickedly. Coulson looked up in surprise before he nudged her back and joined her in the water. It wasn't too deep and they could both stand with their heads above water. He pulled her in for a kiss and she reveled at how their skin felt it the soft, smooth water. Then, in one swift motion, he picked her up and tossed her, laughing delightedly as she came up sputtering and yelling at him.

"Oh now you gone and done it, boy. It's on!" She cried at him in mock anger.

"Gotta catch me first." He teased in that understated way with his eyes shining like she loved. He lowered into the water and started making powerful strokes away from her. Before she started to follow, Skye smiled to herself. It had taken the world to practically end, but she had finally found what she'd been looking for all along. Someone to love and protect her, and be at her side. Someone who treated her as an equal, and truly needed and loved her as much as she did him.

The end.