Back From the Dead Chapter 5: I'm Coming Home, an agents of s.h.i.e.l.d. fanfic

Back From the Dead

Disclaimer:
I own nothing.

Rating:
T

Genre:
Romance/Hurt/Comfort

Pairing:
Coulsye

Lyrics Used:
Boyce Avenue (feat DeStorm Power) "Coming Home"

I'm Coming Home

"So, you hear anything, at HQ, about Skye's replacement?" Ward asked, curiously, as Melinda joined him in the gym. Watching the exchange, Leo and Jemma exited the lab to join them. Taking in their scandalized expressions, the specialist added, defensively "What? We all knew the day would come when S.H.I.E.L.D. would send us someone to take Skye's place." He reasoned. "And, I heard some chatter that they were supposed to be boarding The Bus when we landed at HQ for Coulson's debriefing. So, I don't know about the rest of you, but, I'm a little curious."

"I hate to admit it..." Leo replied, reluctantly. "But, Ward's right. Our team is a man down and we all knew S.H.I.E.L.D. would want to rectify that situation. Personally, I'd like to see who they think will be able to take Skye's place." He added. "I mean, she left some pretty damn big shoes to fill." The rest of the team all knew the scientist had a point. Whoever S.H.I.E.L.D. sent to fill Skye's place on the team was coming in at a severe disadvantage. None of them saw themselves welcoming anyone on to the team, any way soon.

"You've been suspiciously quiet during this conversation..." May pointed out, quirking an eyebrow at Jemma.. "Jemma..." She prompted, gently. "Do you know something?"

Squirming under the intense stares of her teammates, Jemma knew she had a horrible track record with lying. But, she also knew that Skye had a point. If she tried to tell the rest of the group that the young hacker was still alive-without her there, as evidence-they'd all think she'd officially lost her mind. So, she quickly devised a compromise to avoid outright lying while protecting Skye's secret. "Okay, fine..." She relinquished. "I...might have walked in on her while she was unpacking in Skye's bunk..." She conceded.

"'She'?" Ward repeated, turning the new intel over in his mind. "So, it's a woman..." He deduced. "What else can you tell us about her?"

"Did you get to talk to her?" Leo added, anxiously.

"Did she introduce herself?" May added.

All the questions being thrown at her, rapid-fire, were bombarding the bio-chemist. Finally holding her hands up to silence the barrage of questions, Jemma snapped "Enough!" Startled by the sudden outburst from the bio-chemist, the rest of the team immediately silenced their questions while Jemma took a breath to compose herself. "Yes, I did get to speak with her." She conceded, sensing another barrage of questions, she raised her hands once again to head them off at the pass. "However..." She added, indicating she was not finished speaking. "She has asked me not to say anything and to simply allow her to introduce herself to everyone." She finished, proudly. "I'm sure she will answer all of your questions, herself, when she's ready. But, for now, the least we could do is to afford her the opportunity to get settled, first."

Once again, the team knew Jemma was right. It wouldn't be right for them to bombard her all at once before she even got her things settled. Before any of them could say anything more on the matter, they all turned to glance at the stairs as they all watched their friend and mentor, Agent Phil Coulson, descending the staircase into the gym. "Oh, good." He declared, his voice holding a lighter, warmer tone than any of them had heard come from the senior agent since Skye's death. "You're all here."

"So, how do you wanna play this?" Phil asked, cheekily, as they arrived at the top of the staircase leading down to the gym.

"Hmm…" Skye hummed, thoughtfully, as she pondered all the options. "I think it might be fun to surprise them." She decided, grinning wickedly.

"Sounds like a plan, to me." Phil agreed before edging closer to the staircase. "I can actually hear them talking, now…" He added. "They're talking about Ward hearing some chatter about your replacement joining us, while I was at HQ, today…" Phil continued, in a slightly hushed tone as he relayed the gossip from downstairs to Skye.

"Really?" Skye asked, quietly, as she moved to stand next to Phil for a better listen. "What are they saying?"

"Jemma just told them that she met your replacement, earlier, and that 'she' wanted to be the one to introduce herself to everybody." Phil replied, keeping his voice low as he listened in on the rest of the team's conversation. No, eavesdropping on one's own team may not be completely ethical. But, damn, it sure could be fun. "I think I'll go down there, first, and prep them for you." He decided, mirroring Skye's previous wicked grin.

Skye nodded, excitedly, as she watched Phil descend the staircase ahead of her. She couldn't wait to see the looks on her teammates' faces when they found out she'd returned. Deep down, she knew their reactions may be rather emotional, but, she was reasonably certain they'd all be happy to have her back.

"Okay, everybody, settle down." Phil ordered, gently, as he reached the gym, stepping into the middle of the small huddle of people.

"Sir, do you know anything about Skye's replacement?" Ward, asked, anxiously. He was eager to meet the person S.H.I.E.L.D. deemed fit to replace his trainee.

"Now that you mention it, Agent Ward…" Phil began, steadfastly keeping his voice at a professionally disinterested tone. "I actually just met with her."

"Well?!" Leo demanded, nearly ready to burst with anxiety. "Who is she?! What's she like?!"

"Calm down, Leo." Phil replied, trying to quiet the scientist's anxiety. "Why don't I just have her come down, here, and answer all of your questions, herself?" He added.

Well, that's my cue...Skye told herself, as she took a steadying breath before beginning her descent down the staircase. Now, or never! She told herself as she made her way down the stairs.

"Oh." Leo stated, dumbly, as he watched the hacker he'd previously believed dead descending the staircase into the gym.

"My." Grant added, staring just as dumbly.

"God." Melinda finished, numbly, before every one of her defenses shattered as she lunged across the room, throwing her arms around the young hacker in a highly uncharacteristic display of emotion.

"Oh." Skye declared, caught off-guard by the pilot's unusual display as she nearly knocked her over with the force of her hug. "O-kay." She added, as the pilot clung to her for dear life. "Hi, May." She offered, awkwardly, as the pilot silently cried into her shoulder. Feeling the growing damp spot on her shirt, Skye finally realized just how deeply her 'death' had affected the entire team. All along, she'd thought the pilot hated her. Or, if not 'hated', strongly disliked. But, here she was, silently crying her eyes out on the young hacker's shoulder. Moved by the sudden revelation, she wrapped her own arms around the older woman as she softened her voice. "I missed you, too, May."

Watching the sentimental display, Phil was relieved to finally see the stoic pilot finally letting her guard down and allowing herself to actually feel for once. The display between the two women brought a small, warm, smile to his face as the pilot finally composed herself enough to let go of the hacker as she stepped back into her previous spot.

Leo was next, though, his movements were slower and didn't threaten to knock Skye off her feet. Wrapping his arms around her, he spoke, gently. "You've no idea how great it is to see you, again."

Wrapping her own arms around the scientist, Skye smiled as she replied "Oh, I think I have a pretty good idea." Stepping back, Leo decided to allow Skye the chance to explain her sudden resurrection.

"Hey, guys..." Skye drawled, awkwardly, not really sure where to begin.

"What the hell's goin' on, here?!" Grant demanded, shifting his glance almost frantically between Phil and Skye. "Just what the hell are you tryin' to pull?!" He asked, closing in on Phil.

Stepping in between Phil and Grant, Skye knew she had to protect the senior agent from the specialist's wrath. "Grant, just take a pill, okay?!" She interjected, halting the specialist's movements. "Coulson had nothing to do with this." Skye insisted. "Okay?! He didn't even know, himself, until like...five minutes ago!"

"But, what is going on, here?" Leo asked, helplessly, as he desperately tried to wrap his mind around the hacker's revelation.

"Look, I know they told you all that I died..." Skye began, deciding just to start at the beginning. "Which, technically, I did." She conceded. "But, what they didn't tell you was that they revived me-according to the official record, anyway-eight seconds, later. But, I was there...Trust me, it was more like forty." She injected, casually, before shaking her head, lightly, as she got back on track. "But, anyway...They decided it would be safer for me to just stay dead, so, they let you all think that to protect me-"

"Protect you from what?" Grant demanded, crossing his arms over his chest. Something was amiss about Skye's voice. It had suddenly changed to an almost robotic monotone as she described her return.

"From Ian Quinn." Skye replied, in the same, haunting, monotone. "S.H.I.E.L.D. didn't want word getting back to him that I was alive-afraid he might come back to try and finish the job." She explained. "So, after I recovered, they sent me into hiding in Hawaii." The small smirk that graced her face wasn't quite natural as she added "It's a magical place. Definitely not the worst place to hide out."

The moment he heard the words 'It's a magical place', Phil would have sworn his heart actually stopped. I knew it...He thought to himself. The thought to say something occurred to him, but, he just didn't have the heart to spoil this moment with the truth. Instead, all he could do was to hope and pray that S.H.I.E.L.D. had perfected their techniques so that she would never have to know the truth.

"Still doesn't make it okay for them to lie to our faces about it." Grant huffed, gruffly, clearly unhappy with the agency's decision.

"Ward's right." May interjected, finally having dried the last of her tears. "At the end of the day, we're still a team." She reasoned. "We should have been read in."

"For once, I actually agree with you, May." Skye replied, some of her natural snark returning to her voice, eliciting the smallest ghost of a smile from the pilot's countenance. "But, the decision wasn't mine to make." She sighed, lightly. "I didn't even know they'd lied to you until Fury told me about Ian Quinn's death, this morning. I knew you all had your hands in it, the moment Fury showed me the pictures." She finished with a knowing smirk.

Deciding it would be best to just let go of his anger, Ward unfolded his arms as he asked, "What gave it away?" He asked, with an ever-so-slight smirk.

Returning the smirk, Skye explained "Well, the words carved into Quinn's chest had your handwriting all over them..." She paused to indicate the specialist. "And, I know May had her hands all over the broken fingers." She paused to smirk at the pilot who returned the smirk with a wicked grin. "And, last but most definitely not least, the poetic justice of the two gunshot wounds to Quinn's chest had Coulson's name written all over them..." The rest of the team turned to see Coulson smiling impishly.

"So, does this mean you're here to stay?" Leo asked, hopefully.

Smiling excitedly, Skye replied "But, of course. You guys didn't really think you could get rid of me that easily, did you?" She asked, mirroring her prior reaction to the same question from Phil.

"It's good to have you back Skye." May replied, her voice uncharacteristically soft and warm.

"Seconded." Ward agreed, smiling warmly.

"Third...ed..." Leo offered, awkwardly. "I...eh...You know what I mean." He amended, lamely.

The rest of the group couldn't resist the small chuckle at the young scientist's awkward response. Finally unable to take it any longer, Grant crossed the room to wrap the young hacker in his arms. "For what it's worth..." He began, smiling softly. "It's damn good to know all the work I put into you didn't go to waste."

"Like I said, before..." Skye began, smiling against her supervising officer's chest. "You're not getting rid of me, that easy..."

Author's Note:
I hope y'all enjoyed this little offering. Next chapter, we start delving a little deeper into what really happened to Skye after she died. :D

~Skye Coulson