Work Text:
Everything was muddled after Coulson found Skye, Phil was yelling, Simmons was frantic and crying and trying desperately to stop the bleeding, Fitz was panicking and just doing whatever Simmons said, and May wasn’t sure what to do.
She would be in the way if she tried to help FitzSimmons, and she couldn’t bear to look at Skye when she was in this state, so she did the only thing she could right now, she flew. She took them to the nearest medical facility they could find and stood motionless in the background when the nurse told them that Skye wouldn’t make it, that they should contact her family, that they should say goodbye.
She agreed with Phil when he said that they were her family. They were.
She kept herself composed as they flew to an unknown location where Phil was treated after he died but she couldn’t cope with the solitude of the cockpit that she usually treasured. She had to keep busy, keep moving.
She walked calmly to the interrogation room where Ian Quinn was being held, head up, back straight, face blank, she looked like she knew what she was doing, like she was doing what was meant to be done. There was no one around to see or question it but it made her feel slightly more confident.
She used the screen outside his holding cell to view the med bay cameras and the sight of Skye hooked up to machines that breathed for her, pumped her blood for her, lived for her. She looked so fragile and…like a child. She was just a child. A child who was shot in the stomach twice at close range.
The thought made May’s blood boil as she strode in and let the door swing shut behind her. Ian Quinn. Sitting there. Looking bored. Bored while Skye fought for her life in the med bay.
In two long strides, she was in front of him and before he registered the fury in her eyes his face was knocked back with a sickening crack, blood exploding from his broken nose. She hit him again and again and again and again, each punch being met by a muffled cry as he tried to get away from her anger, but he only succeeded in toppling his chair with him still handcuffed to it.
She straddled him and was about to hit again when he choked out “You… you can’t.”
“Why? Why can’t I? because you’re defenseless? Defenseless like she was?” she pulled him towards her by his collar, squeezing his neck, and raised her other hand to punch him,
“She’s”
Punch
“My”
Punch
“Daughter”
Punch
“You”
Punch
“Fucking”
Punch
“Bastard”
Then she smacked him back into the metal floor, landing blow after blow into his stomach and ribs,
“SHE’S MY DAUGHTER! YOU SHOT MY FUCKING DAUGHTER” I’M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO HER”
At this point, Coulson came running in and yelled for her to stop, and when she didn't respond he grabbed her by the back of her jacket and forcibly removed her. She flailed wildly, trying to get back to Quinn, “I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!!! LET ME GO!!! HE DESERVES TO DIE FOR WHAT HE DID TO HER!!!” but despite her struggles he overpowered her, practically carrying her into his office and locking the door.
“Coulson, let me out, he shot Skye, I need to…” but he didn’t let her out, didn’t even let her finish her sentence, before reaching out and pulling her into a firm hug, her face pressed into his shirt as he swayed gently on the spot. He could feel her relaxing, the tension draining out of her body along with the adrenaline of her fight. He held her and whispered gently into her hair,
“It’s okay Melinda. Skye’s nothing if not a fighter, she will be okay. We have one of the best doctors on board, she’s got those machines that are keeping her stable, we will save her. Believe me, Mel. We will save her.”
And May broke down crying against his chest, “We…we need to…to save her. She has to m…make it. She…she has to.”
He pulled away, kissed her forehead, looked into her eyes and said
“She will. now let me clean you up, you’re a mess.”
She numbly agreed and sat still as he took off her jacket and shirt then cleaned all of Quinn’s blood off her face, neck and hands before lightly bandaging her bruising hand. He gave her one of his shirts to wear and they walked to the medical wing to check on Skye, only to see her in a coma with nothing changed.
***
It was almost two days later when she finally woke up with Phil in the chair beside her bed. Naturally, her first instinct was to ask about the rest of the team, about mike and then Quinn.
“He’s gone. Garret took him to the Hub I think, he will never come close to you again, he will never hurt you again. I promise.”
“Why are you smiling?”
“You should ask May, something funny happened to him before he was taken and she’ll tell it better than I will.”
He left to fetch May and Skye was left poring over the possibilities of what could have happened, and was picturing him flying out of the plane without a parachute when May knocked and sat down in Coulson’s chair.
“What happened with Quinn?”
“Garret took him”
“no, Coulson said something funny happened to him before that, he said I should ask you.”
“Well… I beat the shit out of him” May replied with a really smug smirk, “Broke his nose, maybe fractured his skull, I definitely gave him a concussion, two black eyes, a bust lip and internal bleeding, and I think I also partially crushed his trachea.”
“Holy shit!” Skye was more than shocked by the thought of May losing her temper that epically, “Wait, what day was that?”
“Two days ago, why?”
“one sec,” Skye reached for her laptop and within minutes May could hear the sound of a door closing, a crack, and a yell. Then came the sound of metal hitting metal-the chair falling- and then May’s voice was coming out of the speakers, saying something about being defenseless, and then she was yelling,
“She’s…My…Daughter…You…Fucking…Bastard” Both Skye and May froze, the former in shock, the latter in mortification, but it didn’t stop.
“SHE’S MY DAUGHTER! YOU SHOT MY FUCKING DAUGHTER” I’M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR WHAT YOU DID TO HER”
Then came Phil getting her out, her yelling, the door shutting.
When Skye finally tore her eyes away from her screen she saw May looking at the wall, or through it, with her eyes brimming with tears, “I just couldn’t bear to see you hurt like that, you were dying Skye, I thought you were going to die.” Her voice cracked at the last word and the tears spilled over her eyelashes, running down her face.
“May, come here.” Skye shifted sideways, making room for May on the mattress and after a second of hesitation, May moved to sit next to her, wrapping her arms around the girl and smoothing her hair.
“I wasn’t going to die, I’m a fighter, and I had the best people around me to keep me here.”
“God, you sound exactly like Phil”
They both laughed before Skye began to drift off again, yawning.
“Thanks for kicking his ass”
“it was completely my pleasure”
And when Skye woke up, still hazy from pain meds, and called her “Mom”, May didn’t correct her.