AN: Have a great weekend everyone! Many thanks to my Beta MegaDiary123. And a warm welcome to all the new readers. And to both old and new, thank you guys so much for helping us reaching 200 followers and 150 favourites. You are all amazing and this story wouldn't be possible without you. Here's the next chapter, I hope you enjoy.

All rights go to Marvel

Skye's POV

I could tell that Jemma was looking for me and that she knew that I was avoiding her. She would ask questions or even talk to me about what she discussed with the Pirate and it was definitely something that I didn't want to deal with at the moment. I was sitting in a really nice and dark corridor somewhere in the Bus. My phone's flashlight being the only source of light as I went through the file that Fury gave me hours ago. Going over it for the fourth time that was. I was sure that by then I had memorised every single name, location and equipment used in bringing Coulson back.

I would make my own research on this whole situation. I had to make sure that the intel that I got from him was indeed the real deal and that he wasn't messing around again. And no matter how I wished that this was the truth and nothing but the truth, I couldn't trust him anymore.

My flashlight turned off and on really quickly, singling that I got a new message. I turned the device's screen so that it faced me and saw another one of Jemma's texts.

- Come on Skye, it's been hours. I'm worried, I can't find you anywhere. At least let me know if you are okay

I sighed. Of course she was worried. It was Jemma we were talking about after all.

- I am fine, just need some time to think about what I discussed with the Pirate

- I talked with him as well, and we need to talk. Please, came her quick reply in a try to start conversation or even make me guilty enough to face her.

- Tomorrow, I typed back and then turned off the notifications from her messages.

I knew that if I had kept them on they would still buzz every ten minutes or so, since I didn't believe in the slightest that she would stop bothering me until I either made an appearance or actually talked with her.

My hands made their way to my eyes and rubbed them, as they started to hurt. It could have been because of the amount of time that I spend going through the files in my hands, or the fact that I was in a really dark corridor and I had to strain my eyes to actually make out the letters because of the limited lighting. But either way, fatigue was starting to catch up. Especially given that the previous night I didn't have much sleep because of the mission. The only time I actually rested was when I was knocked unconscious.

I focused on my vibrations and checked that all the workers had left the plane. The repairs were all finished before the sun even set. It was one of the privileges of working for a huge organisation such as this one.

I contemplated sleeping where I was, in my own solitude, but there were some thoughts holding me back from executing this idea. First, I had to check in with Coulson, or at least have him see me upstairs so that I wouldn't raise any suspicions. And also, sleeping in the metal floor didn't sound so appealing comparing to the bed that I had in my bunk.

So I packed everything, and with that I mean I closed the file and my flashlight, letting the mind-map that I had of the Bus be my guide to where I would soon sleep. Of course, using the mind-map helped me avoid unwanted interactions as I would take another root in order to not bump into any of the other members of the team. And it worked out, at least until I reached my bunk outside of which stood the one and only biochemist who seemed more tired than I was. She was not used to this lack of sleep after all, being mostly in the lab had its advantages.

"Do you have any idea how long I've been standing here waiting for you?" She asked as she unfolded her hands from her chest.

I took a deep breath and stared at her. I loved that girl, I really did, but she had no idea what personal space is. She used to know, back at the beginning of the Academy, but ever since our friendship grew she seemed to have completely forgotten about this specific concept. "I told you not to wait for me" I said as I moved closer to unlock the door.

She moved aside, allowing me access to do what I wanted to and with a smooth sound the door was open. "I would have waited for you until you came back, I knew that. But if you could at least have your door unlocked I could have been sitting on your bed waiting instead of this" she pointed at herself standing up.

I rolled my eyes and went into the bunk, the T.A.H.I.T.I. folder safely put on the side as I laid down on my bed. "I keep the door locked for a reason, Jemma" exacerbation started leaking into my voice.

There was a stretch of a few seconds in which she said nothing, just remained still. "Fine" she exclaimed out of the blue and made a move towards the door.

Not that she had to move a lot, the space was so tiny that she was there in only a step. And just as I hoped that she would leave me alone, nope. Why would she do that? Instead she closed the door and then with another step and a half she came and sat at the legs of my bed, pushing my own legs to make space for her. I lifted my eyes to look at her, silently asking her "Seriously?", and the look that she shot me was her saying, "Yes, seriously" and all I could do was let out a heavy breath that I didn't know I was holding. My night just became so much longer than I anticipated.

"Look" I started, hoping to maybe keep this as short as possible. "I am tired and I am in no mood whatsoever to talk about a certain someone or what he might have told you, okay? All I ask is that we talk about this after I've gotten some sleep". I blamed the one-eyed man for my lack of patience at the moment.

I took a deep, even almost staggering breath, and brought my hand to cover my eyes. It had not been the most emotionally stable day for me and it was becoming harder and harder to keep this conversation in the down-low.

I felt Jemma's hand on my free hand. "Skye" she said softly, with a tenderness that I was not expecting. But I still didn't remove my palm from my eyes. "I am not here to talk about what the Director and I talked about. Though it is something we will have to get around to, it is not as important. My priority is to make sure you are okay" she put more pressure in her grip and I found myself mimicking her movement, my fingers wrapping around hers. "I am genuinely worried. It was like you were a different person when he appeared and then you disappeared and no matter how hard I looked for you, you were nowhere to be found" I could hear the concern leaking from her voice and spreading across the room.

My left hand still obscured my vision but my right's grip to the girl, who I knew for so many years, was like an anchor keeping me from having my thoughts spiralling. "I'm sorry" I whispered. "I'm sorry I worried you"

"Hey" she spoke and I could hear a laughing undertone, trying to lighten up the mood. "I'm always worried about you, you know that. It's not something I can turn off" she even let a slight giggle escape her lips in this try. Which worked and had the corners of my lips turning slightly upwards. "Ah, there we go" she continued as she clearly saw my small smile. "Are you feeling any better?" She tried.

I scoffed at that, giggling at the same time. "No, not really" I confessed.

"Would you like to talk about it?", she asked without missing a beat.

I thought about it but knew that I wasn't going to. Even if I could, where would I start? It would take us at least a day to explain everything. "Can't" I ended up saying. "Classified"

As my whisper dispersed across the room and silence once again took its place I could tell that Jemma was trying to find a solution. "Is there something I can do to help?", she clearly came up short and decided to ask again.

"Could you–?" I started asking before I even managed to process what I was saying and then stopped myself before forming any other words. I grunted at me being so reckless. "Forget it" I concluded and made a move to take my hand off her grip only for it to grow stronger.

"Hey, stop it. None of that, you hear me?" She scolded me and I could feel her move in her seat so as to face me. "Now, what were you going to say?" She asked kindly and only then did I uncover my eyes to look at her.

I took a deep breath and figured that she would understand if I was lying to her, so what was the point? "Could you stay here tonight?"

She furrowed her eyebrows, trying to understand what I was saying. "You mean sleep here?"

"Yes" I let out and waited for her reply. When the seconds ticked by and she had yet to speak, while her brows were still tightly knitted, I hurried to explain. "You don't have to!" I spoke as loudly as I could so that even if people passed by the bunk they wouldn't be able to hear us. "I just get nightmares from time to time, because of a mission from a while back. And the Pirate was involved there and seeing him again today… and I think that it will be one of those nights. And I think that if you stayed here, knowing that you are here, might help. And this is so stupid, of course you don't want to, just forget I said anything. Yeah, yeah, let's just forget this. I will be fine". I hadn't realised that I had moved my gaze and that I was staring at the ceiling as I rambled nor that I had moved my hand from Jemma's grip and my fingers were playing with the edge of my t-shirt.

"Skye" Jemma's voice broke through my haze but I still didn't move my eyes to her direction. "Look at me" she gently said and I complied. I felt like drowning at those hazelnut-coloured eyes. "I would love to" her smile was as genuine as it could get which made a small one appear on my face. "Now" she continued, "scoot over because this bed is too small for the both of us to be on our backs"

I did as I was told and turned so that I was facing the wall as she laid on her side on my back. "Thank you Jemma" I said and I could already feel myself staring to relax at her presence.

Her arm wrapped around my waist protectively. "Sweet dreams" she whispered in my ear. My muscles were still pretty tense from my emotions going wild that day and she noticed. Of course she did. "You're okay, Skye. Don't worry, I've got you. I'll keep the nightmares from reaching you. You're safe".

Needless to say, exhaustion caught up with me and I relaxed further in her embrace as I drifted off.