A/N: Hey guys! This chapter focuses on the team discussing Skye and Ward (a little bit), then with May being all motherly to Skye :3 Hope you like it!

A thank you to my Beta, LisaMichelle25, and to everyone who reviewed! All your thoughts are appreciated :)

DISCLAIMER: I only own this storyline.

"I-I'm not sure that I'm the best person to explain." Coulson struggled desperately to get out of trouble with the women and man standing around him, so that he could sort out the tornado of thoughts in his head. Unfortunately for him, the others were not going to be so relenting. "I'm still confused myself–"

"You want us to ask Skye?" May's question was spoken through a forced calm. "And upset her again?"

"No! No, of course not! It's just…"

"Just what?" Bobbi interjected.

Coulson let out a sigh that seemed to come straight from his bones, and made his way over to the seat next to the bed on the right side of Skye. He dropped down into it and looked sorrowfully at the hacker. "She was sitting on the roof of the building opposite." He began. Hunter sat down on a bed across the room but the women remained standing, silent as statues. Coulson had never felt so small in his life.

He continued. "She had her back to me, so I don't know if she heard me the first time I tried to get her attention or if she just wanted to keep to herself like the past two months. I tried again, and she seemed to be losing control. I tried to sound cheery, but I don't think I quite succeeded, though she turned around." He shook his head. "She was so terrified of herself and perhaps of me. It took her several moments before she looked me in the eye."

"Why would she be afraid of you? I mean, what would you do to her?" Hunter asked.

Coulson shrugged and shook his head sadly. "She probably feared being sent away or locked up if I found out."

"That, or maybe she was terrified that as soon as she got put on the Index, Hydra would be after her. She told me what happened to her mother." May's stance didn't move, but her voice was softer than before. "The woman was cut up, Phil. Cut up while she was alive so that Whitehall could find out what it was that 'made her so special'. Her gift? She didn't age."

"That explains why Dr. Whitehall looked no different after 25 years. He took her DNA." Simmons said, fascinated at the science behind it all, yet disgusted at the late Hydra leader's lack of respect for life.

"Anyway…" Bobbi spoke up. "Coulson, what happened when she looked up?"

"I asked her how she was feeling, and she said that she felt empty of everything except guilt." He looked up at May, tears glistening in his eyes. "She blames herself for Trip's death. That because she went down there, because she changed, that it's all her fault."

May's usually stony expression was now replaced with concern and worry over her rookie. Coulson looked away again, needing calm to finish.

"I told her it wasn't, that Trip lived and died a hero. I told her that we would all have done the same thing in his position. But…" he took a shaky breath and continued. "But it didn't work. She keeps destroying herself because she believes that she keeps hurting people."

"So…what part of this is stand-out not-what-you-expected?" Hunter asked.

"I'm getting to that." Coulson snapped. "Sorry. Um…" he sighed. "Skye said she missed who she used to be before everything went to shit. Such as S.H.I.E.L.D. falling and Hydra rising–"

"Yeah yeah, we know about all of that."

"–and what surprised me was that she said that Ward broke her heart." Coulson continued as though Hunter hadn't spoken.

The room was quiet for a moment.

"Well, what's so surprising about that? It's kind of obvious she fell for the guy."

Everyone looked at Hunter.

"Obvious?" Bobbi tried to clarify.

"Yeah." Hunter looked at each agent in turn. "Oh, come on. Don't tell me you haven't seen it."

The agents in question all shared looks.

"Seen what?" Simmons asked.

"Skye. Loves. Ward. What part of that don't you guys get?"

"Ward betrayed all of us for a madman."

"He saw that in the end though, didn't he? You all saw and heard. He's glad the bastard's dead."

"Are you taking Ward's side?" Coulson demanded.

Hunter raised his hands in surrender. "Not particularly. I'm just saying, what you put him through and what he'd done before the last time any one of us saw him, all point to the possibility that he's not the same guy you stuck in Vault D all those months ago."

"Okay, whatever." Bobbi waved her hand in dismissal of the subject. "But we were talking about Skye. What makes you think she still loves Ward?"

"There was a simmering anger under that May mask she was wearing whenever she went down to talk to him. She just couldn't do or say anything to hint at other feelings because you were all watching and hated him more than his actions."

"Skye said she loved him but felt like she had to bury her feelings or we wouldn't trust or respect her." Coulson added sullenly. "Perhaps shooting him in San Juan right after finding out that he loves her is what made her think that she was selfish to do so."

"Skye shot Ward?" the scientist asked, shocked. "Did she kill him?" she couldn't quite keep the hope out of her voice.

"I don't know."

"Why did she think she was selfish? To us or to Ward?" Bobbi questioned.

"Ward. She believes that everyone he's ever supposed to have cared about turned on him and never treated him right." The director spread his hands to the sides. "And maybe that's right. Garrett always told him that feelings were weaknesses, and we haven't exactly tried to disprove that."

"Hold up, Phil. Are you saying we should give Ward another chance?" May said, dumbfounded. What's gotten into him?

"I'm saying we should at least consider it. Hunter was right when he said that we focused our anger on Ward because of what he did rather than actually hating the actions themselves."

"Actions speak louder than words, Coulson." May was obviously barely keeping her anger restrained, so Coulson wisely avoided responding to that.

"It was when Skye said that she buried her feelings that the earthquake happened." The weary man moved on with the conversation. "She didn't even seem to be affected by it. I don't even think she noticed what she was doing til the wall she was sitting on gave way."

"Hold on." Bobbi stepped forward a little. "Are you saying that Skye fell two storeys without even a scratch?" she shared a look with Hunter. "Did she land on top of the bricks?"

"No, she was completely covered."

"And did you think about going down to see if she was even alive?" May asked. "Or did you just stand there like a moron with a math problem?"

Coulson gave her a look of annoyance. "I figured that she was the one causing the quake when she wasn't affected. Everything was still shaking when she fell under the rubble, so I guessed that she was still alive."

"So she pulled herself out? Wasn't she able to stop the quake once she noticed?" Bobbi asked.

"I think she was too upset to regain control. And seeing the devastation she caused wouldn't have helped."

"Too upset to use the techniques I've taught her to keep herself calm?" May demanded.

Coulson merely gave her a confirming look before he nodded.

"And how did she end up unconscious?"

"I ICED her. It stopped the earthquake."

"The sedation would have brought down the tumultuous levels of stress and despair, calming her system." Simmons said. "It seems as though her new power is, at a basic level, controlled by her emotions. Or at least, the chemical combinations created within our bodies when we feel certain ways. I just hope the sudden infusion of dendrotoxin didn't cause any lasting effects. I don't yet know how the Obelisk changed Skye on a molecular level."

"So we need to find out how to help her develop her new abilities." Bobbi stated. "Until then, she can't go in the field. It'd be too dangerous for everyone involved."

"Agreed." Said Coulson as Mack walked in through the door. "How is everyone?"

"No one died." Mack replied, echoed by sighs of relief throughout the room. "A few injuries, but nothing more major than broken bones. Shame the same can't be said for people outside."

"Skye's going to be devastated." May said sorrowfully.

"If she isn't already." Simmons said in the same soft tone.

"She tried to run when she saw the damage she accidentally caused." Coulson interjected, his voice hollow. "Where she'd run to I don't know. If Hydra got even a whiff of her being on her own…" he trailed off, but the rest didn't need saying. Ward had warned them about Hydra's stance towards people with gifts or talents.

"How big was the quake?" Mack asked after the silence between them stretched to an uncomfortable length. "Does anyone have an idea about the extent of the damage? We need to know if this is the strongest Skye is capable of or if this was…small."

The others looked at each other, understanding and fear swirling in each of their eyes. Coulson, seeing the uncertainty in the team's expressions, stiffened his spine.

"Hunter, keep an eye on the news. Anything they release to the public needs to be matched to the data we have." Hunter nodded and headed towards the door. "Bobbi–"

"Wait!" Simmons called out, cutting Coulson off and causing Hunter to stop a few steps away from where he was sitting. "Sorry sir, but we need to make sure of something before we disperse."

Coulson looked increasingly worried. "Is Skye alright?"

"Well, maybe. It's not specifically what I'm trying to say. It's just that…we need to be careful of the way we treat her."

"I would've thought that was a given. Have you seen the stuff she can do?" Hunter drawled.

"But that's just the point! We're all going to, subconsciously at any rate, tiptoe around Skye. And that's not going to help her mental well-being. She's going to think that we all think that she's some sort of monster that we're afraid to even touch."

"We'd try–" Coulson started, but Simmons cut him off again.

"No, no, you're not understanding!" she exasperated, and sighed. "We need to treat her as though she's the same Skye that she was before San Juan. We won't ignore what's happened, but we won't treat her as though it were all her fault. She's likely to beat herself up enough about it as it is."

"You're saying San Juan was her Bahrain." May said.

"I was going to ask your perspective on the subject before putting it forward as a theory, but, yes. That's what I was thinking."

"Well we can't just let her shut herself away, it's not going to help her with what she's got." Bobbi said.

"I know. So I'm suggesting that the only change in our behaviour towards Skye will be how much we listen, support and attempt to understand her and what she's going through. May, I hope that anything you say will help her come to terms with what happened down in the alien city, and perhaps she's start to tell us what the actual events were."

"So, show no fear, be all cuddly and caring and hopefully she'll be back to her right old self in no time." Hunter said.

"More or less. But she won't be the same person she was."

"Understood, Simmons." Coulson said, thankful she wasn't cutting across him again. "Hunter, you know what you have to do. Bobbi and Mack, I need you two to round up everyone who's injured and get them here. Simmons, when they've done that, you're to take a full inventory of injuries and your team of scientists will start with medical care. But until then, make sure Skye's comfortable and won't wake up anytime soon. Everyone needs the best medical care we can give, but Skye can't see the damage she's caused." Hunter, Bobbi, Mack and Simmons nodded and immediately headed off to carry out orders. "May–"

"I'll make sure that those that aren't injured are carrying out post-disaster procedures." The specialist said calmly. Coulson nodded and sadly looked back at Skye as May left, thoughts racing through his head.

Sighing, he stood up and walked back to his office, methodically tidying up his desk as he prepared for the onslaught of damage reports that were about to stack up.

"Hey." Came a blurry voice, clouded and echoing.

Blinking, Skye moved her head to face the source of the concern. Bright lights jabbed into her vision and she squeezed her eyes, trying to clear the bright specks blocking her sight. Opening her eyes again, she slowly regained clarity of her surroundings. She was in the infirmary.

"Skye." The voice sounded again, but had a more solid feel to it. Less transcendent and easily recognisable.

Skye snapped her head to look at the right side of the hospital bed. May sat there, smiling easily. "May?" she croaked.

"Hey, Skye. How are you feeling right now?"

"Achy. Drained. Fuzzy." Skye partially slurred her words as she tried to think about answering May's question.

May just nodded.

"How…" Skye's voice cracked and she trailed off to swallow. "How long was I out?" she asked, her voice a little clearer.

"Several hours. Simmons gave you a heavy sedation on top of the dendrotoxin in your system." May was hoping that Skye would be too out of it to remember that she'd been ICED.

"Dendro…wait, I was ICED!" Skye realised, and started panicking. The base started to shake again.

Dammit. May thought. "Skye! Skye, listen to me! You need to relax. Close your eyes." She commanded. Skye was starting to hyperventilate but did as May said. "Good. Now take a deep breath." May waited until Skye had done so before she continued. "Let it out…good. Now again." They did this several times until Skye was completely relaxed on the bed and the shaking had stopped minutes before.

"May?" the young agent asked timidly.

"Yes, Skye?" her S.O. answered, feeling almost helpless at the vulnerability in her student's voice.

"How many people did I kill?"

May hesitated.

"Be honest with me, May." Skye's voice was sterner. "Lies won't help."

"No one on the base died, Skye." The Deputy Director said gently. "Everyone here is alive."

"What about the city?" Skye sounded like she was about to burst out crying, but nothing around them was even trembling. Yet.

"We don't know the extent of the damage. Hunter's onto it right now. But Skye." She added firmly, as the young agent had turned away, an expression of absolute dismay on her face. "This city is prone to earthquakes. The buildings are reinforced and the people here are trained in survival in such situations. Even the children are drilled on what to do."

"But I saw the damage I caused! There was rubble everywhere!"

"That was likely just the side of the building you were sitting on. Point of origin of the quake and all. Bobbi and Hunter said that there was a large amount of dust in the air when they checked outside, and there would have been time for a lot of it to settle before they got there. So just relax." May's voice was steady and soothing, and her eyes left no room for anything else as they bore intensely into Skye's.

Slowly and methodically, Skye relaxed her muscles, limb by limb. Her breathing slowed to a deep and easy pace and her mind felt more at peace than it had for weeks.

May nodded satisfactorily. "Good. Now, I'll have Simmons clear you and then you can return to your bunk, okay? I want you to be fully rested. S.O.'s orders." Her lips held a hint of a smile as she added the last sentence on.

Skye snorted, completely herself for now. "What is it with my S.O.s and making out-of-characteristic comments?"

May just smiled, pleased that she had prevented a mental deterioration from happening to her rookie. She doesn't need to end up like me. As she stood up to leave, Skye brought her attention back to her.

"May?" the specialist turned around, and easy smile gracing her lips. "When I'm more rested, could…could we find Trip's mom?"

May blinked in surprise. This was not what she had expected to hear.

"It's just that, if she's going to hear about her son's death, she should hear it from the person he was with and trying to save. And it might help with some closure." Skye finished in a small voice.

May felt a surge of pride. "Of course. That's a brilliant idea. I'd actually thought about discussing it with Coulson, but you weren't in any state to do so." Her smile was full blown now, from ear to ear, and she let her pride show through. "I'm so happy you're feeling better."

Skye almost let the tears welling up in her eyes to fall. May is proud of me? She doesn't think I'm a monster? "Me too." She didn't smile so much, but her S.O. picked up on the emotions within her and nodded.

She understood.

A/N: What are your thoughts? I'd like to know!

Thanks for reading! Reviews, please :)