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"What happened down there?"
"I'm not sure," Skye said, holding her arms around herself, wiping at her face, then glancing over towards the door Coulson had just walked through.
They were standing around the holotable on the Bus, conferring about what had just happened when Coulson had left to check in with Simmons.
"That whole place was rigged to explode," May said. "If Trip hadn't deactivated the charges in time..."
"Wait, what ?!" Skye asked, shaking her head in confusion.
"I sent Trip back," May said, pressing her lips together, the mask of her stern expression slipping. "In the hopes that..."
Skye's eyes went wide. "It's okay," she said calmly, putting her hand out to touch May's arm. "It's not your fault, May. He died because of me, not because of you."
"I had to," May said, rolling her eyes, to fight off tears. "Coulson went in after you. I knew I couldn't stop him."
Her eyes refocused on May.
"He shouldn't have gone down there," she said decisively. "There was nothing he could have done. It doesn't make any sense."
"Doesn't it?" May asked, shaking her head at Skye.
Skye took a breath and then blinked, staring back at her for a moment before looking away.
"I'll talk to him," she said, brusquely, turning and heading out the door.
May stared after her, unsure if she'd just made a mistake or even where Skye's head was at.
***
"What were you thinking?! "
She appeared in the mirror, standing behind him as he leaned against the sink, rinsing the blood off his face.
"What are you doing in here?" he asked, stiffening at her angry expression, turning his head to the side.
He'd decided to just take care of things himself, seeing Simmons distraught when he'd told her about Trip had overwhelmed him.
"Looking for you, obviously," she said, crossing her arms.
He turned off the water and swiveled towards her, his eye already swelling and his shirt half unbuttoned.
"Why?! "
"What, Skye?" he said back to her, tense. "Why what?"
"You knew Trip might not reach those charges in time. That I was the only one who could stop Raina. You couldn't touch the Obelisk, you had no reason..."
"I had my reasons," he said, walking past her into his room.
"You're the Director of SHIELD," she said. "That was the dumbest thing..."
"Leave, please," he said, walking towards his closet. It sounded polite, but just barely.
"You can't do things like this!" she said, raising her voice. "You could've died the same way Trip did," she said, choking up. "It's not safe."
"I didn't take this job to be safe, Skye," he said, hiding his face from her, shoulder leaning against the door to the closet.
"I'm not safe," she said.
"What do you mean by that?" he answered, peering back at her.
"Something happened to me, Coulson. Inside that chamber. I'm different," she said, closing her fists as he walked toward her.
"Explain," he said, tilting his head.
She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.
"I think...I caused that earthquake," she finally said, starting to tremble.
"What?" he said, walking towards her in disbelief. "Skye, no."
"Yes," she said, nodding. "It released some kind of gas and it covered my whole body, and then, I couldn't breath and I was dying, but I broke out and..."
"Calm down," he said, touching her shoulder as she flinched away from him.
"That's not a good idea," she said, pulling back, hand raised.
"You need to rest," he said gently. "You're in shock."
"I'm afraid to shut my eyes."
***
"Where's Skye?" May asked, as Coulson came down the stairs from his office in a suit.
"Resting," he answered, hesitating for a moment before navigating the last step.
"She blames herself for what happened to Trip," May said.
"I know," he said, walking towards the situation room.
"That earthquake could've done a lot more damage, if it had gone on longer," she said, as they looked up at GS imaging of San Juan.
"Thankfully, it didn't," Coulson said, staring at the picture on the screen. "I don't know what happened to her, May."
"You look like hell," she said, eyeing the cut above his eye and his bruised face. "Any more answers from Simmons?"
"No," he said, updating the stats on the screen with a touch of his fingers. "Whatever took over Mack, it sounds very similar to the GH-325."
May watched his aggravated movements in silence.
"You shouldn't have gone down there, Phil," she started.
"I know," he said. "It's just..."
"You're the Director of SHIELD," she continued.
"I know, May! " he said, raising his voice. "I've already heard it from her, I don't need to hear it from you, too."
May smirked slightly. "Skye gave you a piece of her mind?"
"Tried to," he said, turning towards her.
"What are you going to do about it, Coulson?" She watched the muscles in his jaw tense. "This habit you've developed."
"I can tell you what I'm not going to do: have this discussion right now."
"You're putting it all on her shoulders," she said, as he turned to walk away.
The accusation stuck with him. He stopped then shot back. "Maybe because she can handle it."
"And what if she can't?"
"We need to get in touch with Talbot," he said. "Reassure him that what happened here wasn't instigated by SHIELD." He resumed his walk. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to check in with Mack."
She nodded and her eyes followed as he headed towards the med bay.
***
"Hey," he said, touching her shoulder gently as she stirred awake. "We're going to land in about half an hour."
She turned towards him and could see him sitting on the bed next to her in the low light, a neat suture above the spot on his eyebrow.
"This is a lot nicer than my bunk. What does a girl have to do to get digs like this?"
He smirked, glad to hear her joking again. "Make Director."
"I can't stop thinking about Trip," she said, sitting up in the bed, pressing the heels of her hands to her eyes. "A trail of death, wherever she goes..."
"I'm still here," he said, attempting to be comforting.
"I know," she said, touching his wrist. " I want it to stay that way. I don't want everything to change."
"There's still so much we don't understand," he said, putting his hand over hers, as she leaned in closer to him.
"Skye," he paused. "What are you doing?"
"I don't know," she whispered, feeling his fingers stiffen, when her mouth brushed against his.
"We can't do that," he said, taking his hand away, then standing off the bed.
"Can't or shouldn't?" she asked quickly.
"We can talk about this later, now is not a good time," he said.
"You came after me. Knowing you might never make it out," she said, following him.
"Yes," he answered, his back to her, shoulders slumping slightly.
"Then tell me," she said, sliding her hands over his shoulders, laying her head against his back. "Tell me that you don't..."
"I can't," he interrupted her, tilting his head up to the ceiling, his jaw tensing as he squeezed his eyes shut.
She sighed and let her hands fall from his shoulders.
"I don't understand why this is happening," she said, sitting back down on the bed. "What's wrong with me?"
"There's nothing wrong with you," he said, putting his hand on her arm. "I should never have gone after that temple. I was so consumed with finding it before HYDRA."
"That was important, Coulson," she said, looking up at him. "You don't want them having that. The ways they would use it, it had to be done."
"What was it, Skye?" he asked, sitting beside her, putting some space between them.
"It was some kind of metamorphic chamber," she said. "The Obelisk, Raina and I both touched it and it lit up, like it recognized us."
"You touched it?" Coulson said.
"Yes, it didn't hurt me. My father, he made it sound like there were more of us. He said it was an 'ancient race of people'."
"But not alien?" he asked.
"He said my mother was Chinese," she shrugged. "That she had a gift."
"And you think your gift is..."
"I felt that earthquake inside of me, Coulson," she said, pointing at her chest. "It was like what I was feeling was happening."
"And the Obelisk somehow unlocked this inside of you," he said, trying to understand.
"What if I can't control it?" she said, shaking her head. "What if I'm a monster?"
"Don't say that."
"I just want something good to happen to me," she said, staring at her hands on her lap. "For one thing in my life to go right. To go the way I want it to."
He turned towards her as her eyes flickered up to meet his.
"This...is what you want to happen?"
She nodded at him, her eyes growing wider.
"I'm flattered," he said, smiling, looking down at his shoes, the questions already beginning to form in his mind. "Skye, I'm old enough to be your..."
A touch on his face interrupted him, and before he could say it, she had pressed a soft kiss to his lips.
"Shouldn't," he said, opening his eyes when their lips parted. "We shouldn't do this."
"You shouldn't have come after me, then."
He ran his hand along her neck, tilting her face slightly, his thumb brushing against her jaw and parting her lips as he kissed her mouth.
With a heavy sigh, she leaned into him, slipping her arms around his neck.
The memory when she had held him like this before, before he left for San Juan.
It made sense now.
She was just as afraid of losing him.
But there were too many questions.
He hugged her back, burying his face against her.
"We're going to be okay."