Matter of Importance

Spoilers: Season 2 promo

Disclaimer: I own nothing, Marvel owns it all!

Skye stormed into Coulson's office with May behind her, she stopped in front of Coulson as he stood on the other side of the desk. He looked up to see Skye furious and nodded to May, the woman shut the door before standing in front of it.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Ward's suicide attempts would have only distracted your training."

The hacker shook her head, "no, not that. Why didn't you tell me about my parents or the fact my father is a monster! You could have told me at any point between now and then but you didn't. You scrubbed the video of my father's kidnapping attempt, I thought there was no video but there was and you got rid of it. The only reason you would do that is to hide it and now, knowing that Ward told you about him and his connection to the village it makes sense. My father isn't human, he's a monster who doesn't care who is in his way."

"That's why I didn't tell you, because he doesn't care Skye."

"So you use me as a bargaining chip?"

May took a few steps forward, "we did what had to be done. Ward had information and we used his fixation on you to get him to agree. It isn't the smartest thing we've done but…"

"No," Skye turned to her supervising officer, "it's the most desperate. I want my access back."

"I'm sorry but that's not an option." Coulson looked down at his desk. "You crossed the line between being interrogator and being friendly. That puts you at risk for deception and him gaining your trust, makes us vulnerable."

Skye shook her head, "you don't understand…"

"I do understand." Coulson looked up at her. "You're compromised, your feelings for whoever he was and whatever he's telling you now are clouding your view."

"Well right now our prisoner is telling me the truth more than my own team." She shook her head as she left, "I thought despite everything we had trust but everything is just lies."

She stormed off and May stared at Coulson, "you could have handled that better."

"She needs to learn…"

"Learn what Phil?" May leaned down and put her hands on the desk. "I have refrained from showing you this but I think it's time." She moved to the cabinet that held video feed and selected a disk before placing it in the laptop on his desk. "Watch."

Video played of Ward in his cell, Skye sitting on the steps in pajamas. "You said you felt bad after you killed someone. Was your level one overshare lies or…"

Ward sat back down on the edge of the bed. "Who did you kill?"

"Donnie Gill, the kid from the Academy who created the super storm. He could freeze people on contact but he'd been brainwashed." Skye shook her head and looked down. "It's been three months but all I see is the blood on my hands when I'm not distracted. Does it ever go away?"

"I wish I could lie and tell you it does but it never does. I'm haunted too by all the people I've killed." Ward looked down at his hands, "I just learned to compartmentalize it, ignore the faces and move on." He looked up at her, "I guess that just took some of my humanity with it."

Skye nodded and stood up, "thanks. Goodnight."

"Try to get some sleep." He gently spoke and she stopped midway up the stairs.

"I don't think I'm meant to kill, I can't tell Coulson or May because they'll see me as weak but when I shot him I felt a part of me die inside. I guess that was my humanity too."

Without further words she took the few steps to the top and grabbed the door handle to open the door. "No it's not." Her eyes looked down at him as he stood by the barrier, "you are everything that embodies humanity. You'll never lose that because it's what makes you who you are. Get some sleep mia bella and forget about it all when you wake up."

May pressed stop and looked straight at Coulson. "We're destroying her and the only one who has taken the time to understand is the last person she should have to turn to. She's headed towards emotional overload and we've seen it before, some agents never recover."

Skye laid curled up on her bed when the door to her room slid open, she ignored the presence she knew was May. The woman sat down on the floor beside her bed, starring at her as if waiting for her to talk. "Go away."

"You could have told us, we wouldn't have thought you were weak."

She clutched her hand tighter to her chest and shook her head. "Go away."

May sighed, "Skye you need to talk to us when things happen not wait till it all overloads."

Skye sat up, still clutching her hand. "I don't want to talk to you or Coulson or Trip. None of you understand and no amount of placating will make you understand. Just go away and leave me alone."

"What do you have in your hand?" May watched as Skye clutched it further to her chest. "Skye give it to me."

"It's not a weapon."

May reached out to take Skye's hand but the young agent fought her. "Skye…"

"No, you don't understand." She clutched what she held tighter, tears falling down her face as May got ahold of her hand. "No, stop please."

Peeling back Skye's fingers she pulled the piece of plastic away and found what she least expected. Skye rolled back onto her side and started bawling as May stared at the small battleship game piece.

"Why do you have this?" She shook Skye's arm, "Skye why do you have this?"

"It's all I have left." The girl still cried as she spoke, "all I have left are memories now."

May sat beside the bed and touched Skye's back. "Skye…"

She pushed May's hand away and sat up, "no you don't get to comfort me. You don't understand, you never will so don't try to say you do."

"You think Ward understands but he is only trying to…"

"To what?" Skye stood and walked across the room, holding her arms around herself. "To make me believe him till I help him escape. He didn't leave when he could have, he's not going to try now. You don't understand because you look at him and see nothing but a line of information but you don't understand. I didn't and I never wanted to but I finally do. He's alone, always has been alone and when the loneliness wasn't enough he was abused by his family then by a man who chose him because of his skills. When the loneliness and abuse aren't enough to hurt him, everyone he's killed to survive under Garrett haunts him."

May stood up and looked at her, "you need to get control of yourself."

Skye shook her head, "I just realized I'm just like he is, except I follow you instead of Garrett. Why don't you lock me up too before I do something unforgivable. The problem is I already did, I killed an innocent boy who didn't know what he was doing."

"Skye you need to listen to me." May took a few steps forward. "Your emotions are overloaded, you need to take a breath and calm down." Getting in reach of the agent, she watched Skye stared her down. "You need to breathe, we'll figure this out before everything spirals out of control."

Before Skye could say anything or move, May grabbed her and had her to the floor despite her struggles. "Let me go!"

"May to Trip," May grabbed the radio at her waist as Skye fought her. "I need you to bring me a sedative immediately, Skye's quarters." Throwing the radio a few feet, May restrained the young agent. "Calm down."

"Let me go."

"I can't, you'll understand later but I'm helping you before it gets worse." May looked up and closed her eyes briefly despite having to keep a steady hold on Skye.

Coulson stood listening to Ward as the ex-agent spoke when May moved down the stairs. She moved to the director and spoke into his ear. He nodded and looked at their prisoner.

"May will take over for now, I have something that has to be taken care of." Coulson stood from the chair and handed May the tablet.

Once he was gone, Ward stood and moved to the barrier. "How is she?"

"She was overloaded, we didn't see it but you did. That's why you didn't tell Coulson about the nightly visits because you knew she wouldn't talk to us." May walked over to him. "But she was talking to you."

"You were destroying her." He put up his hands, "not on purpose I assume but she had so much put on her by you that she thought telling you would be a weakness, that you'd see her as weak."

May nodded, "she's been permanently locked out, she's never stepping foot in here again."

Ward backed up and sat down, nodding as he did. "If it keeps her safe so be it."

With tablet in hand, May manipulated it slightly and stepped towards the barrier till the grid showed. Deactivating a lower section, she placed something inside before reactivating the barrier grid. Ward stood and moved to pick up the small object, finding a small battleship game piece.

"Don't use it to kill yourself." May sarcastically stated before leaving up the stairs.

He sat down with the piece and looked at it, fingering the plastic battleship. It was worn as if having been handled frequently but all the same he remembered happy memories of Skye over the game he never won.

A/N: I know that was painful to read but emotional overload can range from simply being upset to having a mental breakdown. I apologize but it does get better in the next chapter, we're going to see a little bit of a time jump (a few months). May's actions at the end, anyone want to guess why she did what she did?

Next...Already gave you a clue

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