GLADES Chapter 2: I'll Be There For You, a Glades + Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Crossover fanfic

G.L.A.D.E.S.

Disclaimer:
You know the drill. I own nothing except for Agent Shaelynn Longworth and Agent Jordan Wall...

Rating:
T

Genre:
Romance/Hurt/Comfort

Pairing:
Coulsye
(with a touch of Shawkeye...lol)

Lyrics Used:
Boyce Avenue "I'll Be There For You" (Friends theme)

I'll Be There For You

Arriving back at Avengers tower, Shaelynn Longworth headed straight for the room she shared with her significant other-and, subordinate-Agent Clint Barton. "Whoa..." The archer joked. "Not so fast...How'd everything go in Zurich?" He asked, his voice taking on a more concerned tone as he pulled the senior agent into his arms. "Is everyone okay?"

"Uh...Yeah, no...No, not...not really..." Shaelynn replied, squirming out of the archer's arms. Normally, after the day she'd had, she'd want nothing more than for her strong, loving, archer to sweep her up in his arms and make her feel like everything would be okay. But, right now, the only way to feel that way was to take Ian Quinn down. But, how do I tell him that without telling him about Phil? She briefly wondered.

"What's goin' on?" Clint asked, eyebrows furrowed, worriedly. "Shae, talk to me." He added, lightly gripping the agent's arm to spin her around to face him. "What's goin' on, here?"

"I just..." Shaelynn paused, searching for the best way to phrase her response. "I gotta get outta here. I need to head down to Palm Glade for a bit. I gotta go see my dad."

"Shaelynn." Clint spoke, firmly, commanding his girlfriend's attention. "Just, talk to me. You know you can tell me anything. Is everything okay?"

Sighing, Shaelynn set down the clothes she held in her hand and looked back up to Clint. "I've taken on a new case that...sort of involves my dad..." She relinquished, finally.

"A new case. That's impossible." Clint argued, confused. "Thor said Loki's dead. Earth's fine. And, what would that have to do with your dad, anyway?"

"It's not about Loki." Shaelynn replied, raising more questions than she answered. "One of our own has been shot-and, is currently on life support-and the ballistics report revealed that the same man that shot her apparently shot my father two years ago, on what should have been his wedding day."

Clint remembered that day all too well. From the moment that Shae had arrived at the wedding-white dress, adorned with gold sequins, covered in blood-that something had been horribly wrong. But, at the moment, he was more concerned about one of their own being injured. And, from the 'her', he immediately knew who it had to be. "What?! Nat's on life-support?!"

Okay, clearly I'm not getting outta this without reading him in...Shaelynn realized. She knew it was above his clearance level. "Listen, Clint..." She began in her most intimidating I'm-your-boss-and-if-you-don't-do-what-I-say-I-will-not-hesitate-to-kill-you voice. "What I am about to tell you does. not. leave. this. room." She insisted. "Do you understand me?"

Clint knew when Shaelynn was absolutely dead serious about something. And, he knew this was definitely one of those times. "You have my word, Shae." He replied, earnestly. "You know that. Whatever you tell me is safe with me."

Sighing heavily, Shaelynn crossed the room to lock the door to ensure their privacy. "I'm not talking about Nat..." She conceded, finally.

"But...You said 'the man that shot her'..." Clint argued, clearly confused. "And, you said it was one of our own..."

"By 'one of our own' I mean a S.H.I.E.L.D. operative." Shaelynn clarified, retrieving her StarkPad from her bag. "Her name is Skye. She was a hacker for The Rising Tide up until the time Agents Ward and Coulson abducted her from her van-" She began, running through the intel on Skye before she watched Clint's eyes bulge out of his head.

"Okay...sweetie...I think you're going just a little too fast..." The archer replied, patronizingly while his girlfriend simply rolled her eyes at him. "Honey, you do understand that Agent Coulson is dead. Right?" He asked, in the same patronizing tone. "Loki killed him right before the battle of New York, remember? Then, you took over his job as our handler?"

"Clint, shut up." Shaelynn snapped. She didn't have time to do this gently. "Look. The reason I told you that what I'm about to say stays strictly between us is because it involves some highly classified intel." She warned, firmly. "And, that intel is that Phil's actually alive." Watching the have-you-lost-your-mind expression taking over the archer's face, Shaelynn cut him off at the pass. "Don't get me wrong. He did die at Loki's hands just before New York." She conceded. "He was dead for several days after the battle ended." She added. "But, Fury was bound and determined not to lose one of his best agents that easily. The man moved Heaven and Earth. Put together a team of doctors...utilized highly experimental drugs and treatments...surgical procedures nobody's ever even heard of-and, that no decent doctor would ever even consider attempting...Dragged Phil through seven different operations...And, they brought him back."

"Shaelynn, do you have any idea just how crazy you sound, right now?" Clint asked, his voice almost panicked. There was no way Shaelynn was right. What she was talking about...It just wasn't possible.

"Believe me..." Shae admitted. "I know how crazy this sounds. I wouldn't have believed it either. But, just two hours ago, I was standing in a hospital waiting room talking to Phil. He was just as alive as you and I...an emotional wreck..." She conceded, recalling her old friend's emotional state after receiving the heart-breaking news about his beloved hacker's condition. Sure, she'd never seen them, together. But, she saw the look in his eyes. He was in love with her. Even more so than he had been with Eileen, the cellist he'd had to leave behind after he'd died. "...But, he was very much alive..."

"Okay..." Clint drawled, still trying to wrap his mind around everything Shaelynn was telling him. "Okay, for argument's sake...Let's say I accept all that you're telling me as fact..." He began, trying to remain rational about the whole situation. "Why would the same guy that shot this...Skye girl...go after your dad? I mean, how are the two even related?"

"I don't know, Clint!" Shaelynn snapped. She honestly hadn't meant to. She just knew that she desperately needed to get to her father and tell him that she knew who'd shot him. "Look, I don't have time argue with you about this. I have to go tell my dad that I've found his mystery shooter."

Clint Barton was not a stupid man. He knew when to back off and just support the woman he loved. "Then, I'm coming with you." He replied, definitively.

Staring into the eyes of the man that she loved, Shaelynn realized that there was no way in hell she was going to talk him out of going with her. She was better off bringing him along. I'll deal with Phil, later...She told herself. Right now, she had bigger fish to fry. "Be ready in ten."

Upon hearing the knock on his door, Detective Jim Longworth was excited to see his daughter and her boyfriend on his doorstep. "Shae!" He greeted her, stepping forward to wrap his arms around her. "It's so great to see you! It's been far too long!" He added, holding his daughter close a moment longer before turning to the archer with her. "Agent Barton." He greeted, crisply, with a warm smile belying his true feelings about the archer. "Good to see you, too. Why don't you two come on in?" He added, gesturing for the two spies to follow him inside the home.

"As wonderful as it is to see you, dad..." Shaelynn began, carefully, as her dad lead her and Clint into the living room. "I'm afraid we're here on business."

"Business?" Jim asked curiously, stepping into the kitchen as he called out over his shoulder. "What kind of business could S.H.I.E.L.D. have with me?" He asked, as he returned with three beers in hand. "Beer?" He offered, warmly.

"No thanks." Shaelynn replied, dismissively. "Like I said, we're on the job." She explained as her father set the excess beers on the coffee table as he occupied the chair opposite the loveseat she and Clint occupied.

"I still don't understand how any S.H.I.E.L.D. business could have anything to do with me..." Jim mused, wondering just where his daughter was going with all this.

"Clint and I are here, today, because..." Drawing a steadying breath, she finished her thought. "Because, I've found the man that shot you two years ago..."

"Why would S.H.I.E.L.D. be investigating that?" Jim asked, subconsciously slipping into detective mode.

"We weren't." Shae replied, simply. Taking her father's blank stare as a cue to elaborate, she pressed onward, warning him. "You do realize what I'm about to tell you is highly classified? And, that I could potentially be risking my job, right now?" Judging by her father's 'so?' expression, she knew he didn't give a damn about the repercussions. Frankly, she wasn't so sure if she even really cared. He has a right to know who shot him...She told herself. "We were investigating the shooting of one of our own. Coulson and his team were undercover, on a train through the Italian countryside following a rather large purchase recently made by Ian Quinn-"

"How large?" Jim asked. He was right. Once a detective, always a detective.

"Ten million." Shae replied, bluntly, as her father released a clearly impressed cat-call.

"Damn." Jim replied to his daughter's response. "Any ideas what the purchase was?"

"We're still working on that." Shaelynn replied, blowing her father's mind with clincial, detached agent voice. "But, something went sideways. The team ended up being split up when their cover was blown. Ward and Coulson were the first-jumping ship when Ward first realized they'd been made-"

"Hold up." Jim interjected, holding up a hand for his daughter to hit the metaphorical pause button. "'Coulson'?" He added, confused. "As in your partner, Agent Phil Coulson? The man that died just before the battle of New York?"

"Technically, yes." Shaelynn conceded. "But, the 'how and why' of his return is highly classified. Strictly need-to-know."

"And, lemme guess..." Jim sighed, leaning back in his chair. "I don't..."

"Sorry, dad." Shaelynn replied, apologetically. It was one thing for her to break protocol for Clint. He'd worked with Phil even longer than she had. Hell, the man fought to avenge Coulson's death. He had a right to know that the man he'd fought so hard to avenge was actually alive. Her father? Not so much. "My hands are tied." She added before returning to Agent Longworth. "Like I said...According to my case file, Ward and Coulson jumped ship, first. Followed by Agent May. Agents Fitz and Simmons along with their final team member, Skye, were all hidden away in the luggage car where they were attacked by the Cybertek guys guarding the package. After Agent Simmons took a grenade to the abdomen-which rendered her unconscious-Skye and Agent Fitz watched as the Cybertek men took the package off the train and loaded it into a getaway car. Hoping that they would lead them to Quinn, Skye and Fitz followed them."

"Did they lead them to Quinn?" Jim asked, curiously.

"They led them straight to Quinn's home." Jim could tell by ice in his daughter's voice that this story was becoming more personal. A fact which was also evidenced by the arm Clint draped over her shoulders. "Once there, Agent Fitz activated his GPS tracking device to alert Coulson and the rest of the team to their location. Next, Skye told him to stay outside and disable any and all vehicles Quinn and his men could potentially use as getaway cars while she went off in search of Quinn. Before she left, Fitz armed her with one of his and Simmons' 'Night-Night Pistols'-"

"'Night-Night Pistols'?" Jim scoffed.

"Believe me..." Shaelynn smirked, ever so slightly. "I didn't name 'em." As her mirth died away, Shaelynn returned to being Agent Longworth. "Once inside the house...Skye found Quinn all right...And, he greeted her with two bullets in her abdomen, at point-blank range." Shaelynn paused as she watched her father visibly pale at the revelation. "I talked to Coulson at the S.H.I.E.L.D. trauma center in Zurich. He said that...the doctors told him there's nothing they can do for her. The bullets perforated her stomach and pierced the small and large intestines. They did what they could, but, there was just too much damage. The surgeon informed Phil that...ultimately, he and the team will have to make the call as to whether or not to continue the life-support."

"'Life-support'?" Callie Longworth repeated, stepping into the living room and taking one of the beers from the coffee table. Popping it open, she settled herself down in her husband's lap as she asked "Who's on life-support?"

"One of ours." Shaelynn replied, before pausing to greet her step-mother. "Hey, Cal..."

"Hey, Shae...Clint." Callie greeted before returning to the matter at hand. "So, what's this about a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent being on life-support?"

"Well, as I was just telling my dad..." Shae began, gesturing to her father. "S.H.I.E.L.D. was able to determine who shot him on what should have been your wedding day."

"Why was S.H.I.E.L.D. investigating that?" Callie asked, wrinkling her nose in confusion.

"We weren't." Shaelynn replied, curtly. "We were investigating the shooting of one our own. The shell casings from that shooting matched the ones from my dad's shooting. So, the man that shot Skye and the man that shot my dad are one in the same." Shaelynn explained, clinically with just a hint of malice.

"Well?" Callie prompted, waving for Shaelynn to finish the story.

"Yeah, Shae..." Jim added, anxiously. "Don't just keep us hangin'..."

"The man that shot you both..." Shaelynn began, pausing to draw a steadying breath. "Is Ian Quinn."

Author's Note:
Wow. 2 chapters back-to-back. That's gotta be a new record, for me. Anyway, hope y'all enjoy!

~Skye Coulson