Inspiration from "Tahiti" from Bat For Lashes. Enjoy!

"He did what?" May's voice erupted from the farthest corner of the internet café.

Ward and Skye looked up from the monitor they were gazing at.

"That doesn't sound good," Ward murmured.

Skye didn't answer. Something in her gut told her that it had to do with Coulson. Ever since he'd snapped at her the night before, she hadn't been able to keep her mind off him. Something was wrong. He hadn't wanted to talk about what had happened to him in the desert and he had been vehemently defensive last night over his "nightmare". Of everyone on the team, Coulson was the one she trusted the most. Couldn't he see that she was just as dedicated to him and his well-being as the rest of the team?

Her skin crawled. What had he done to illicit such an explosive response from May, someone who was usually so well kept? She wasn't sure she wanted to know.

"I'll be there soon," May promised the person on the other end. "Don't let him—"

The rest of it was cut off by a sudden boil of laughter from some high school kids by the door. Don't let him do what?

May flipped the phone closed and stalked toward the front doors. "I have to go," she announced as she passed them.

"What happened?" Sky asked.

"You both stay here. I'll take care of it," she said on her way out the door.

"Is it Coulson?" Skye called after her.

May didn't turn around.

A couple of people lifted their heads from their online chats, their games, and their studying but within a minute soon regressed back into it.

"We should keep trying to hack his file," Ward said, turning back to the computer.

She shook her head. "We should be there with him, helping him through whatever's going on."

Ward's dark eyes connected with hers. "May will deal with whatever is going on. We need to find out where they were treating Coulson for his protection. Maybe then we can gather some ideas about what happened to him."

Skye sighed. Please don't do anything you'll regret, AC.

"This would go a lot faster if I could do it myself," she commented, watching Ward hunt and peck for each key.

"You can't do anything until that bracelet is off. The minute you try to hack anything, S.H.I.E.L.D. will lock it down."

She pointed to a file in the upper left hand corner. "Go there."

Ward clicked the cursor. Immediately, a box opened on the screen flashing bright red letters. LEVEL 9 CLEARANCE ONLY.

Ward swore and glanced over his shoulder at Skye. "What now?"

She stared blankly at the screen. "That was my back door into the file. I thought that would get us in. S.H.I.E.L.D. really covered their asses here."

"I'm not even sure what we're trying to hunt down. Not one of the S.H.I.E.L.D. medical offices even has Coulson registered during the time he supposedly was recuperating…not even Tahiti."

"Then it wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D. that did it. It must have been an independent organization. That's why I had you click on the link for S.H.I.E.L.D. affiliated medical groups."

Ward shook his head. "Without that list, we can't get any further. We need someone with a level 9 clearance."

It snapped into Skye's head faster than she'd have liked. The idea was unthinkable. She knew it was against the rules entirely. None of them were supposed to know that Coulson was even still alive. His death had been the catalyst for the Avengers regrouping to defend New York. He had been their reason. Or at least his reason.

"I know who we need," she announced, turning and starting out of the facility.

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute," Ward shouted, chasing her outside to the bustling city streets. "You want to bring someone else in on this?"

"Did you ever read the official report on what happened in New York?"

He nodded. "It was required reading before I joined Coulson's team. When did you read it?"

"After I found out about Coulson being brought back to life, I asked him to show me the file and he leant it to me."

"You didn't have clearance," Ward said, furrowing his brows.

"Coulson didn't care," she scoffed, turning the corner at the end of the block.

"What did you find?"

"In the report, it states that one of the Avengers was able to hack the system while they were on board Fury's Helicarrier, which revealed S.H.I.E.L.D.'s intentions for the Tesseract. He hacked all clearance levels within hours of boarding the Helicarrier."

Ward stopped. "No."

Skye glanced back at him. "He's our only chance if we want to find out what happened to Coulson."

"He doesn't even know Coulson's still alive. How do you think he's going to react?"

Skye glanced up at the tall skyscraper several blocks away, the lights at the top displaying 'STARK', the name of the person they needed burning boldly and brightly against the afternoon sky. "I'd hope he'd be relieved."

Ward exhaled and joined her. "Alright. Let's go ask the man in the iron suit."

He felt a breath of warm air on his face and nearly smiled. The sun fell over him like an orange blanket, heating his skin, rejuvenating him. He imagined the grainy warmth of the sand, the palm trees swishing in the breeze, the sound of the ocean rushing in his ears. Was this Tahiti? Had he actually gone?

But when he opened his eyes, it was a very different scene. The air event across the hospital room was blowing hot stale air into his room and the overhead lights practically penetrated him with their brightness. He took a husky breath and looked in the doorway of the room.

Fury stood there, regarding him with a toxic mixture of disappointment and pity.

He took a couple steps into the room and stood at the end of Coulson's bed. He regarded the untouched food tray sitting nearby and the horrible red gouge that traveled up his arm.

Coulson regarded him with watering eyes, and begged, "Please…just let me die."

Fury rounded the bed, his hand taking Coulson's undamaged one and squeezing it hard. He leaned into the agent's trembling form and said in a clear voice, "No."

The sudden contact suddenly jarred him from his sleep and he opened his eyes in a panic. It wasn't Fury's arrogant resolution that he saw standing over him. May was watching him, the last flicker of sadness quickly being replaced with something he dreaded even more; anger.

Before he could say anything, the pain returned to him in full, his skin on fire in the place where he'd unconsciously drug the knife through it. He closed his eyes and moaned.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" she asked.

He cracked his eyes open again.

"I told you I was going to fix this," she said under her breath to him. "Don't I always fix things?"

"I wasn't even aware of what I was doing until…it was too late," he said, his breath raspy.

"You're slipping," she said.

Her observation made him shiver.

She continued. "The Coulson I knew would never have allowed this to happen. He was a good man. He knew the world kept spinning, he knew his place in it. He didn't question the way that things happened. He kept marching."

He frowned at her. "I'm so tired of marching to the beat of the same drums."

May took a deep breath and removed her hand from his. "It wasn't just S.H.I.E.L.D.'s drums you marched to. You had your own."

He cracked a humorless smile. "I don't hear them now. In fact, I'm not so sure it's as much of a drum as it is a…" his words faded as he recognized the irony of what he was about to say.

"Is a what?"

"A solo stroke of a cello."

She took a step away from the table. "You need to trust me, trust that I can do this for you."

"I never had any doubts…"

"You know Director Fury is going to find out about this."

"And when he does, he'll have to make a decision about whether he'll turn me back into the capable agent I once was, or if he's just going to give up…and let me rot in some room for the rest of my life."

"You know what he'll choose," May said sternly. "He didn't bring you back from the dead just to see you stumble and fall."

He took a sharp breath and said, "I know," his voice cracking slightly.

May patted his shoulder and started to step away. "Get some sleep."

He placed his good hand on hers, clutching at her fingers. "Thanks. Mel."

She let her fingers run through his hair for a moment and then turned back to the hall. Once she was around the corner, she fought the tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. You can do this. You will not fail him. You won't.

No.

Chapter 7 coming soon...