Author's Note: This was originally going to be two chapters but decided to give an extra-long one instead, be grateful.

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Chapter 55 – Ash

Every moment of the flight was agonizing for Coulson, not knowing what was going was killing him. If he thought he'd aged fifteen year off the Asgardian incident Coulson probably lost another ten in the air as they rushed back to the base.

Coulson and Trip were down the ramp the second the Bus touched down, not caring that the engine was still running. They had landed in one of the farm's fields, not wanting to risk the structural integrity of the base. The sun was just starting to set as Trip and Coulson hurried across the field, climbed a fence and dashed to the house, at least what was left of it. The fire trucks were long gone, having contained and extinguished the blaze hours ago.

It took Coulson a couple of seconds to take in the damage and to realize that Simmons hadn't been exaggerating, there had most certainly been an explosion first, which had created the fire. Years of experience told Coulson that if it had been a simple house fire the damage would have been contained to the house but something had thrown parts a good hundred metres away. There had defiantly been an explosion first, which meant Skye would have had no warning, no chance to escape. The sight before him almost broke Coulson's already scarred heart.

FitzSimmons were knee deep in debris and ash. Coulson noticed that for once the scientists worked in silence and worked at opposite ends of what had once been the house. Neither seemed to have heard Trip and Coulson approach or when May caught up with them. The SHIELD director wondered if they'd even heard the Bus land, FitzSimmons were that focused on the task at hand.

Removing his tie and jacket Coulson made his way into the remains of the house, it seemed so much smaller without walls and a roof. He briefly wondered how they'd all fit inside. Simmons was the closest so Coulson made his way over to her, squatting down to the biochemist's level to finally get her attention. The biochemist looked at him but there was a distant look in her eyes, like she wasn't really seeing Coulson, that her mind was miles away from her body. Simmons' face was stained in dirt and ash. Despite looking at Coulson Simmons kept digging, ash and dirt caked beneath her nails. Coulson even noticed burns along her hands and arms, Simmons had obviously started digging long before the ash had cooled. Carefully Coulson grabbed Simmons' burned hands, he finally got her full attention and he ignored the fact that his own hands were now covered in both dirt and ash.

Clarity appeared on Simmons' face, as if she'd just noticed Coulson kneeling in the ash with her. On seeing him fresh tears ran down her face, "I'm so sorry," She sobbed, "We should have been here. We should have done something. We could have…"

Instead of letting the biochemist ramble Coulson pulled her into an awkward hug and let her cry into her shirt.

Fitz chose that moment to notice the others' arrival, he nodded in acknowledgment at Coulson's presence but kept digging, his task too important.

Simmons continued to break down in Coulson's arms as Trip silently made the decision to help Fitz with his search and leave Coulson to talk to the crying biochemist.

Simmons just kept repeating the same words over and over as she cried, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

May had remained standing just outside the remains of the house, as always she had remained silent but at the scene before her the Calvary finally spoke, "She's not here and if she is she's already dead."

Coulson looked up, anger in his eyes, "She's not dead. Don't you dare say that."

"Fine," May snapped, "Then she's not here."

"Where else could she be?" Coulson yelled, letting Simmons go and getting to his feet to face May.

"In the base?" Trip asked, pulling Fitz over to the conversation that was about to start, "That place can survive a nuclear bomb."

Simmons shook her head as she got to her feet, "We locked the base before we went out, there is no way she got down there."

"Out?" Coulson asked, his voice rising again, "You said you were outside, not out. Where were you?"

Simmons couldn't meet Coulson's gaze so he repeated the question, "Where were you?"

"In town," Simmons mumbled, finding the ash at her feet very interesting.

"What?" Coulson cried, "Could you repeat that? I'm not sure I heard you right. Did you just say that you and Fitz went into town and left Skye here? Alone?"

When Simmons just nodded weakly Coulson went to grab the girl by the shoulders, to try and get some straight answers out of the biochemist but was stopped when Fitz stepped between them.

"It was Skye's idea," Fitz argued, "She was sick and tired of being suffocated, we all were. It's like Rome all over again, instead of blaming us maybe you should take a long look at yourself. Skye's been begging for weeks got some time alone, don't blame us for giving it to her." The anger was clear in the engineer's voice.

Coulson went to say something, taking a step forward but was pulled back by May who gave the entire team an icy stare, "We don't have time for this. I personally believe that Skye couldn't have, and didn't, survive this," When Coulson went to interrupt she held up a hand, stopping him, "But I'm open to the idea that she did and arguing amongst ourselves isn't going to help us find her. So the question is, if she's not here then where is she?"

The other remained silent, taking May's words in.

Simmons was the first to speak, it was so quite the others almost missed it, "The river."

Trip raised an eyebrow, doubtful, "Why the river? If she went anywhere it would be the road into town."

Simmons shook her head, confidence seeming to grow, "Fitz and I came in via the road, and if she was making her way into town we would have seen her."

"That still leaves the road out of town, not to mention the neighbouring farms," Coulson replied, "You specifically mentioned the river first, why?"

"Think about it," Simmons answered, "The day you all found out she was pregnant, where did Trip find her? The river. When the Asgardians came, where did Sif say she followed her to? The river. When Skye's angry or scared that's where she seems to run. It stands to reason that if she was afraid for her life today that's where she would have gone."

"It still doesn't the question of why," Coulson wondered aloud.

"It doesn't matter why," Fitz stepped in, "If the river is Skye's comfort zone it doesn't matter why just that it is and that if she survived that she could be there." As he spoke Fitz managed to disentangle himself from the debris around his feet, without tripping and left the remains of the house.

"Where are you going?" Simmons called after the engineer.

"The river," Fitz called back without stopping.

The others hurried to catch up and Coulson spoke up first, "It's getting dark."

"So," Fitz replied, "If Skye is by the river, she's been out there long enough. There is no way we're leaving her there through the night."

No one else made a comment.

Coulson was surprised to see that the path to the river was well worn and had been used recently, very recently. Years of field experience told Coulson that whoever had used the path recently had been in a hurry, not caring if they'd left signs of their movement. Coulson shared a look with May, she saw the signs too. The problem was that whoever had used the path had used it both to go both to and from the river, if it was Skye fleeing the house she wouldn't have been coming back.

It was dark by the time trees began to rise up around the team, making it even harder to see. Thankfully FitzSimmons still carried the torches they had been using to search the rubble, they weren't designed for searches in the dead of night but they were better than nothing.

Stumbling around a forest in the dead of night, calling Skye's name wasn't one of Coulson's better ideas but it was all he had and the others were yet to suggest another plan.

Trip was the first to find something, having followed the same path he had the day he found Skye, "Guys," The specialist called out, "You need to see this."

The entire team hurried over to Trip, Coulson had been the furthest away and was the last to arrive, almost smacking into Fitz's back, the engineer had stopped rather suddenly at the sight before him. Stepping around the engineer Coulson saw what had worried both him and Trip so much. In the clearing was a camp, at least what was left of one.

"Someone was living out here?" Asked Simmons, moving into the clearing.

"Not anymore," May answered, joining the biochemist in the remains of the camp, "But they haven't been gone long, a day at most."

"They could have seen what happened to Skye," Simmons spoke quietly, her confidence from earlier slipping away.

"They could be responsible for what happened," Trip argued.

Coulson shook his head, shining the torch around the camp, "I don't think so. This is a long term camp, my guess is that whoever was here was only a set of eyes, not an assassin. If they wanted to destroy the base they could have done it long ago. After all we had no idea they were even here, they could have been here as long as we have."

May looked at Coulson, "Friend or foe?"

Coulson raised an eyebrow, "I'm thinking friend."

Fitz was surprised when May nodded in agreement, he was so shocked he had to speak out, "What makes you think they're our friend, they obviously didn't want us to know they were here. That doesn't seem very friendly to me."

Coulson shrugged as he continued to look around what was left of the camp, "We already know that Fury had a team on us in London, it wouldn't surprise me if he had one here too. The only thing that surprises me is that they were out here, I would have thought they would have been based in the town."

"Then why are they gone?" Simmons asked, "If they were friendly why would they leave?"

It was Trip that answered, "They saw both the Bus and the car leave. They think we left so they moved on. They could have been long gone by the time the house exploded."

Suddenly Simmons realized something that had been starring them all in the face for months, "Skye knew they were here."

Fitz was confused, "How'd you get that?"

"It's why she ran here when the Asgardians came," Simmons concluded, "She knew there was someone out here that could protect her, someone who probably had an extraction plan of their own. Sif either found her before she reached them or Sif knew they were here as well."

Fitz looked doubtful, "Then why didn't she tell us?"

This time it was May who answered, "What would we have done if we'd known an ally was living out here?"

Trip nodded in understanding, "Invited them up to the base."

"Exactly," Simmons replied, "Having Skye know about them was bad enough. They needed to keep their distance, they probably asked Skye to keep their presence a secret."

"Whoever was here worked better at a distance," Coulson concluded, "But if they were gone before the house exploded it still begs the question, where is Skye?"

The team remained silent, they had been so surprised at finding the camp that they had almost forgotten the reason they had traipsed out to the woods in the middle of the night.

May spoke first, "Well, she's not here."

Coulson nodded in agreement, "If she did head to the river and if she did know someone was here then this camp would have been her destination." He looked around at his team, "I'm open to ideas."

"If she found the camp empty she would have headed back to the base," Trip concluded, "The path had activity both ways after all."

"Then there is she?" Simmons asked, frustrated that they seemed to be getting nowhere with finding the hacker, "There's nothing left of the house. The base is locked. There is nowhere else she could be."

May was the one to voice the words no one wanted to but were all thinking, "Maybe she was in the house. If the fire burned hot enough there may be nothing left find."

"No," Coulson replied sternly, "Until I have evidence to the contrary we're working under the assumption that she made it out. Understood?"

May looked doubtful but nodded, seeing Coulson was in no mood to argue with her.

"So what's our next move?" Trip asked, deciding it was the best way to defuse the tension that was rising between May and Coulson.

"We head back," Coulson replied, "This time we don't take the path. If Skye wondered off it something could have happened and he couldn't get back to the base."

"Sir," Simmons added, "The stress caused by the explosion, not to mention running back and forth to the house could have caused some complications for the baby." She paused briefly before voicing her fear, "If they did survive the fire and we don't find them soon, neither of them are going to last through the night."

"You heard her," Coulson replied, looking around at what was left of his team, "Split up, each taking a different path back to the house. Let's find our hacker."

Coulson was the last one to make it back to the Bus, having searched his route rather thoroughly. May was waiting for him at the bottom of the ramp, arms crossed.

Before he could speak May did, "There's someone here to see you. You'll never guess who."

Coulson was not in the mood for guessing games, not today. He trudged up the ramp, past May but stopped at the sight of the man in the lab with FitzSimmons.

Even with the man's back to him Coulson knew exactly who it was, "Thor?"

Author's Note: Not as bad as a cliff hanger as the past couple of chapters but still…

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