AN.1: Hey guys! It's been a while and since this is the first post in 2021, Happy New Year everyone! I'm really sorry it took so long to post this. I've honestly been struggling to write this chapter for a couple of months now. A second AN will be at the end of this about something unrelated to the story. Oh, I almost forgot! Many thanks to MegaDiary123 for helping out and Beta-ing this story and thanks to everyone who keeps supporting this story. I hope y'all doing alright. Stay safe.

All rights go to Marvel

May's POV

Fuck… Fuck… Fuck… Shit… were pretty much the only words that run through my head as I pushed the Bus to fly as fast as it had ever flown before. I hadn't felt like this for many years now. My heart was thumping in my head and I had a deathly grip on the steering wheel, my knuckles turning white from the pressure.

I needed to put things in order and calm myself down. And so I did.

I took a deep breath and started lowering my heart rate. Slowly, I managed to relax my hands and lessen my grip. I had already locked the cockpit door and so I took my phone out, knowing no-one would hear or interrupt me.

I didn't call the Director, for I didn't know if he'd pick up. And calling Natasha or Clint was out of the question as well. I didn't want them rushing here only to find Phil in the waiting room. There was only one person that I thought was proper to call at this moment, and she answered only after a couple of rings.

"I am really busy right now May," she said and her tone let me know that she was working on something else simultaneously, not giving her full attention to the phone.

"Is the room secure?" I asked as a reply and I could almost see her pause what she was doing.

"What?"

"Is the room secure?" I asked again, emphasising my words.

I could hear a door clicking shut and keyboards being hurriedly pressed before she spoke again. "What happened, May? What is going on?" Maria's tone was a lot more worried than before and her attention was completely on me.

I took a breath and let it out, mustering the courage needed for the discussion we were about to have. "Skye's been shot"

We were all in the waiting room. FitzSimmons had taken one sofa, while Coulson was pacing back and forth never stopping. Me? I was standing off to the side, hands folded over my chest and jaw clenched, going over the discussion I had with Maria earlier.

She'd make sure that Skye's treatment would go unregistered and there would be no trace of her ever being in the facility. We'd refrain from letting anyone else know of this, anyone from the Avengers or her family because them rushing here wouldn't have a pleasant result. But still, someone needed to be called, because if Natasha or Clint found out on their own they'd never forgive any of us. So, Maria took it upon her to—

My attention was directed to a new figure joining our group, her doctor from the looks of it. Everyone seemed to come out of their haze as she closed in.

"How is she?" Coulson immediately asked.

"She's alive," the doctor said and I felt like I could breathe again. "It was touch and go for a while, but we managed to stabilise her. The shot penetrated her stomach, but thankfully there wasn't too much damage" she nodded with a smile on her face.

"When will we be able to see her?" It was Simmons this time.

"We had to put her in the ICU to properly monitor the situation. We can allow one person to see her for now, she still needs to rest" she said firmly.

"Jemma," Coulson said and turned around to look at her. "You should go" the soft look in his eyes reminded me of how he used to look at Skye all those years ago.

"I-I can't, sir", she stuttered. Honestly, it was the first time I heard her stutter since the day I met her. " It is my fault this happened. If only I had been more careful—"

"The one to blame is the man who shot her" I cut her off. I knew for a fact that Skye wouldn't blame her, and I also knew that none of us did. We didn't blame Fitz either. "You should go," I said nodding to the direction of the nurse. "Skye would want you there" I put extra emphasis on that sentence.

She swallowed and nodded, her tear-dimmed eyes travelling to those of the doctor, who understood that this was the team's final choice. "You should call her family," she said before leading Simmons away.

As soon as the doctor was gone, Coulson stepped back to one of the armchairs and slumped over it, his elbows resting on the chairs back. I looked over to the side where Fitz was waiting, still standing, awkwardly now that Simmons wasn't close. I took out my wallet and hand him some money. "Go and get something to eat. Make sure to get something for Simmons for when she comes back". While he looked a bit perplexed but my move, he welcomed the distraction, and the excuse to leave the room, with open arms.

As soon as he was far enough, I moved so I was standing across from Coulson. "Sit", I told him and my tone left no room for discussion.

For just a second he looked like he might argue, but then thought better of it. He rounded the armchair and sat heavily on it, his head immediately falling in his hands. "How could I let this happen?" I heard him muttering to himself. "And now, I don't know anything about her. Who even is her family? I remember she had some friends up in New York but… there is still no file of her" he kept on whispering things and while my initial plan was to let him ramble about until he got it out of his system, this was going on for way too long.

"Phil," I said and the first-name use seemed to get his attention. "You might be the team's leader, but you're not all-knowing. There is no way you could have known this would happen. Quinn's people took us by surprise". Imagine how he'd act if he actually knew what Skye used to mean to him. "As for her family, I called Maria up and she let them know. I need to go and update her on what the doctor said. Now, can I leave you alone or are you gonna continue this self-blame thing you have going on?"

He looked up and met my eyes. Before my eyes I saw him gather himself up, straightening his back and clearing his throat. "I'll be okay," he said with conviction and I nodded. I made a move to go to the Bus' privacy to make the call when he said my name. I lingered. "How are you even so calm about this? Other than Simmons, you're the second closest person to her on the Bus"

I clenched my jaw at his mild accusation. My eyes narrowed and if he was standing up I'm sure he'd take a step back. "I'm furious this happened Phil," I said and let some of that emotion leak into my voice. "I'm worried and I am on the verge of going out there, tracking down Quinn myself and beating him so hard he'd wish he was dead. But what good would that make for Skye right now? None. So I save my energy and use it for what matters, instead of blaming myself and feeling self-pity. And what I need to do now is call Hill" and with that, I moved away and headed to the cockpit.

The silence of the Bus helped me calm down after the conversation with Coulson. I still had to take a few moments before I called the same number as I had done before.

"How is she?" I could practically feel the worry dripping from Maria's voice.

"She's okay" a sigh of relief was heard from the other end. "Well, okay might be an exaggeration, but she's alive. They took the bullets out, stabilised her and put her in the ICU. Did you manage to contact anyone?"

"Natasha's on a mission with Rodgers so I called Clint. He's driving to New York as we speak"

I felt my eyebrows furrowing in confusion. "Why would he—?"

"Because right after that I had to call Potts. You know how close they are and Skye had made it clear that if anything were to happen she needs to know" Hill interrupted me. "She was with Stark and the guy took off before we even managed to hang up. He took his plane, Banner and I heard him mention Helen Cho. I don't know, Melinda. He's coming your way and from what I understand he plans to take Skye back with him" I could hear how tired she was with trying to sort out this whole situation.

If I were being honest, I wasn't too dissimilar myself. "This complicates things" I muttered. "I'm guessing there's no way to prevent this?"

"I tried to, trust me. As soon as Stark gets an idea in his big, fat brain there's no changing it"

I believed her. From the short amount of time I had spent with the guy, I knew that if he wanted to do something, the only person who could actually stop him was Potts and there was no way she was stopping him this time. I closed my eyes and pinched the base of my nose. "Have you managed to talk with the Director about this?"

"Not yet. He's stuck in a meeting with the World Security Council. But I think I might have a solution" I could hear the hesitation in her voice. Despite being Deputy Director for a while, I could always tell when she wasn't entirely sure of her decision. She was my Rookie after all.

"Fire away"

Jemma's POV

I've been sitting in the room with Skye for a while now. The tear trails have dried on my cheeks, as my hand's grip on Skye's limp one. I looked at the doctor's notes much time over, memorising every bit of detail that I could. While the rest of the team, except for agent May, didn't know that I was Skye's designated doctor when she got hurt, I couldn't act on that part when she was sent off to surgery.

So, there I was. Sitting silently by Skye's bed as she had several wires link her body to the machines around us. Every time I closed my eyes I could see the same scene unfold in front of me, over and over again.

"Please wake up," I said, my voice wavering, I would say unexpectedly but that would be a lie.

I tightly shut my eyes as a new wave of tears was trying to make its way to the surface. I bent down, my forehead resting on our linked hands, squeezing even more, as if that would generate a reaction from the unconscious girl.

I didn't know for how long I was sitting there, trying to savour my time until someone came to tell me that I needed to go, that Skye needed her rest. I also knew it was selfish of me to just stay there, not to get up and go to the waiting room so that someone else, someone like May that Skye was very close to, could take my place. I just couldn't find it in myself to lift off the chair that I was currently occupying.

I heard voices outside the room, and I lifted my head to see what was happening. The idea of actually getting up and leaving my place to see what the commotion was even crossing my mind.

My curiosity was rewarded only a few moments later with May burst in the room, the lead doctor following close by, a frown clear on her face, while some nurses followed behind her. Said people started moving things away and preparing the bed to be moved. I reluctantly let go of Skye's hand. "What is going on, agent May?"

"We are moving Skye to a Medical Pod," she said as if that explained everything.

She nodded to the nurses who, by that time, had prepared the bed and the appropriate machines and took Skye away. I didn't know what possessed me to do so, but when agent May made a move to follow my hand found its way to her elbow, stopping her from exiting the room. "What is going on? Why does she need transportation?" Medical Pods were used to transport injured agents. I just couldn't understand why Skye needed to be moved at that moment. "Do we have a new mission? She needs to stay here, we cannot take her with us" I emphasised. If there was an emergency the best place for Skye to be right now was the hospital.

May's eyes travelled to my hand, which I immediately retracted as if burned. She then looked me in the eyes with more emotion than I had ever seen before from the woman. She looked outside the room to make sure no-one was there before locking the door. "Tony Stark is on his way," she said quietly. "He wants to take Skye back to New York where her family waits for her".

I wanted to ask questions at that. Why did we need to move her? Why could we not just say no to Stark? Was it all just because no-one knew of Skye's identity as an Avenger or was there something else at play?

But those questions didn't matter right now. What mattered was Skye. "I am going with". My voice was steady and full of conviction.

"No, you're not. How am I supposed to explain that to Coulson? It's bad enough that Skye has to suddenly disappear, how am I supposed to explain you going as well?"

"Agent May" I started when she had finished. "I am the person with the most knowledge in regards to Skye's physiology. I have been her doctor ever since she came into S.H.I.E.L.D. after she gained her powers and I knew her even before then when we were together at the Academy. I know you know of who she is and I know you have been in contact with the Director. However", I emphasised, "you can take this up with him if you want to, but I am not leaving her side. Should anything go wrong during her transportation to New York I am the most capable person to deal with this, no matter who Tony Stark has brought with him. You can take this up to the Director himself, but I am very positive he will side with me regarding this matter. And even if he sided with you, neither he, nor you, nor anyone else can stop me from going with her wherever she's being taken. I do not know what you'll have to use as an excuse for agent Coulson, but there is no way that Skye is leaving this hospital and I do not leave with her".

I tried my best to look at her steadily, even though my heart was beating so hard on my chest. I could hear the pulse so loudly in my ears that, in the deathly quiet of the room, I could have sworn that May could hear it as well.

The emotion that I saw before in her eyes changed and I could have sworn I saw the edges of her lips lifted upwards ever so slightly. "You take care of our girl. I'll deal with everything else" she said and left the room.

AN.2: Hey again. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I wanted to let you guys know that I made a Tumblr for this account. I'll be sharing there lots of posts that I like, but also updates for this story and any story I might make. I'm trying to post the link here but it won't let me. Sorry about that. You can probably search my account at either alpha-zulu-2-0 or Alpha Zulu 2.0. I don't know Tumblr that well, so I am not sure which one you need to look for :)