Chapter Text
“Good morning, Sunshine,” Phil mumbled as he was woken up with Skye on his chest for the fourth day in a row. “You’re getting predictable, May,” he said with a smile.
“That’s the point,” she replied, grinning. “Placate you into stability and a healthy lifestyle.”
Phil rolled his eyes and picked Skye up, lifting her above his head and letting her legs dangle in the air.
They had gone baby clothes shopping a few days previous, where a few people immediately assumed that Skye was their biological daughter and that the two agents were married. It was really fun but slightly awkward for both parties involved.
Skye was dressed in her new onesie that Barton had gifted them when he and Romanoff visited the day before. It was a light blue with little SHIELD logos printed all over and Phil loved it.
Every morning, May had been going into the nursery and venting about all her love for Phil to Skye and every night when she went to shower, Phil vented about his love for May, to Skye.
After breakfast that day, Phil got into the driver's seat and let Skye hold the steering wheel as May got into the car.
Skye, who had gripped the steering wheel, stood up with it as the crutch.
Phil cheered at the sight. “Soon enough she’s going to learn how to drive on her own,” he said dryly, brushing away an imaginary tear.
May chuckled. “In Lola?”
“Oh god no.” Phil shuddered at the thought. “Lola is not a learner’s car.”
“Right.” May buckled her seatbelt. “Where are we going?”
“A special place,” he promised, handing Skye over to her. “You’ll see when we get there.”
They drove down the quiet streets for a few minutes before they reached another SHIELD-operated facility.
May grinned as she realized where they were. “Is this—?”
“Mayson’s,” Phil said with a smile. “The place we hung out after our first mission together.”
They walked in and said hi to the bartender. They slid into the booth they sat in the first time they were here, May settling Skye in with her monkey while Phil went to get drinks.
“One latte and one iced americano,” he said, sliding the drinks over. “And a dish of crème fresh from Laura.”
May raised an eyebrow. “Barton?” She pushed the little plate closer to Skye, who was reaching for it. She took a sip of her latte. “Didn’t know she was here.”
“She’s in town while the other one’s back with their kid.” Phil watched Skye stick her whole face into the plate as she giggled. “Sweetheart,” he said, addressing the baby, of course. He didn’t have the nerve to ever call May that without prompting. “Are you purposefully making your whole face dirty so we have to clean it and therefore pay more attention to you?”
Skye made this “Ah!” noise and scrunched up her nose cutely. “Feee.”
May chuckled. “You think she’s learning to say ‘Phil’?”
“I’d be very happy if she was,” he replied, staring delightedly at the girl indulging in her treat. “Though I’d argue ‘May’ is easier to say.”
Skye looked up. “Ma!”
“‘May’,” he said, dragging out the ‘ay’ sound. “Maaaaaay.”
“Maaaaaa!”
Skye reached for May after finishing her treat. “Ma! Ma!”
Phil chuckled. “You think she’s learning to call you ‘May’ or acclimating to ‘Mama’?”
May shrugged and picked up the girl, though she clearly looked pleased. She sat Skye on the table and used a napkin to wipe off her face.
Skye reached onto her plate and got a glob of crème on her finger, wiping it on May’s nose as the agent leaned in.
May laughed and dabbed a little on the baby’s nose and a little on Phil’s.
“Hey!” He chuckled.
“Feeeee!” Skye squealed gleefully.
May wiped all of the crème off everybody’s faces and the two adults sat there in a nice sort of quiet as Skye babbled less coherent things.
Phil raised his mug, offering a toast. “For Skye?” he said.
May touched her cup to his. “Skye.”
-
A few weeks later, the three of them had truly settled into their routine and beds and behaviours.
May no longer woke Phil up by suffocating him with a baby in the morning, but she did gently shake him before going to check on Skye.
Phil didn’t really have that many late-night conversations with Skye anymore. He had them with May, who actually replied, though he never talked about his crush on her with her. It was getting harder to hide it day by day, though, and that irritated him.
“Just tell her,” Barton advised as a man with no stakes in their relationship and had a wife who clearly communicated everything. “She’ll probably be fine.”
“You two are going to end up boning anyway at some point,” was Garrett’s input.
Not very helpful.
But Phil didn’t really have that many friends he could confide in. At last, he turned to Fury, his boss.
“You and May would be a good couple,” he said. “Just make a clear move. Don’t make it ambiguous. Besides, you already have a baby together, so what’s the harm?”
“I’m going to have to raise Skye for the next six years with her!” Phil said in an annoyed whisper. “That’s the harm! It’ll be awkward if she decides we aren’t good together, but I don’t want to pressure her into anything.”
There was a silence on the other end of the line. “You are a motherfucking fool, Coulson.” And then Fury hung up.
So Phil decided to call his mom, as the very very last resort.
“Melinda is a very nice girl,” Julie Coulson replied. “To be honest, when you introduced me to her, I thought she was your girlfriend. But no, it was just mutual crushing that you never resolved, I guess.” She sighed.
Phil processed this. “Wait, what do you mean ‘mutual’?”
“You were in the washroom, and I asked about her intentions, that’s all. And it was quite a few years ago, though all the girls you’ve brought home loved you for a long time. I’ve made a very attractive young man.”
Phil sighed. “Thanks, Mom.”
“What’s your new assignment, anyhow? Nick, that charmer, called and said you had a low-stakes mission for the next six years.” Julie laughed. “All I knew was that your Melinda was on it with you.”
“She’s not mine, Mom,” Phil replied. “And the mission is to raise a little girl.”
“You mean I have a granddaughter? Why didn’t you tell me? And does this mean you and Melinda adopted the girl together? What’s her name? What does she look like? Oh, Phil, can I meet her?” Julie asked. “I want to meet my granddaughter before I die.”
“Mom, you’re not that old yet,” Phil chuckled. “And technically yes, May and I are her legal guardians. Her name is Skye, she’s about 10 months old, and she’s the most adorable thing ever. And I’ll talk with May and we might visit you soon.”
“Oh, I can’t wait! Well, Phil, I’ve got to run. I’m heading out to tea with the girls. And, Phil, darling?” Julie paused. “Do ask that poor Melinda out on a proper date before coming here. No excuses.”
And his mother then hung up on him without so much as an ‘I love you’.
Phil sighed. He had orders now, he guessed. No excuses.
May was out with Maria, who was in town and had brought Romanoff with her. They had gone to a sort of girls' night out while Phil stayed at home with Skye.
“What to do, Sunshine; what to do?” He plopped down on the couch and lifted his daughter up in the air, listening to her delighted giggles. “Do I ask May to a proper date and risk everything? Or do I not ask May to a proper date and risk everything? What do you think, sweetheart?”
Skye stared down at him and he lowered her to eye level. “Ma!” She reached out and grabbed his nose, tugging. “Ma,” she said insistently.
“Yes or no?” Phil bobbed Skye up and down for giggles. “If I should, say ‘May’. If I shouldn’t, say ‘Phil’.”
Skye wobbled as he bounced her. “Maaa,” she said convincingly, though she sort of sounded like a lamb. “Ma.”
“May?”
“Ma.”
“May it is,” Phil said with a smile, standing up. He put a Beatles record on and danced with Skye in his arms. “You know, May loves the Beatles. She wouldn’t let you know it, but she does. I once got her a signed record from John Lennon. It’s actually worth a lot more money now that he’s dead. She won’t let me touch it, but I saw it framed on her wall.”
He flipped the record and it started playing “Here Comes the Sun”.
“This is a classic, Skye,” Phil explained. “May and I once danced to this song when we were younger and much drunker. But you don’t need to know what drunk means just yet.”
He twirled Skye around and they danced the night away until it was mostly Phil swaying an exhausted baby to sleep on his shoulder. He sat on the couch and sighed.
“Tomorrow, I’m going to call Fury and have him send us another record player so we can put it in your room,” Phil promised her. “And we can play the Beatles all day.” He placed her into the crib gently. “Goodnight, sweetheart.”
He had just walked back out to the living room when May came home.
“How was girl’s night?” he asked with a smile. “Want anything to drink?”
“Water,” she replied. “It was fun. We did a bar crawl and discussed our relationships.”
“You three have relationships?” Phil handed her a glass of water.
“Romanoff’s crushing on Banner,” May said with a wave of her hand. “Hill’s dating some poor guy from IT. I think his name is Randolph or Robert or something.”
“And you?”
May sighed. “I have a baby. She asleep?” she asked, nodding towards the nursery.
He smiled. “Yep. Got her down after an evening jamming to the Beatles.”
“You listened to the Beatles without me?” May scoffed. “How dare you.”
Phil held his hands up in a surrender position. “Hey, I’ll do it with you right now. Will you dance with me?” He extended a hand to her.
May begrudgingly took his hand as he turned on the record and let the melody pour out.
“Dusty record,” May noted.
“I’ll fix that.”
“The last time we did this…” she chuckled. “I remember a headache the next morning. Vividly.”
“Me too.” Phil wiped down the record. “It was a fun night.”
“We had a lot of drinks.”
“It wasn’t the drinks that made it fun.” He smiled innocently. “Oops. Did I say that out loud?”
May laughed. “Yeah, you did. You idiot.”
Phil wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her into the air and spun around. He put her down quickly. “That was so much easier last time,” he managed. “I’m getting so old.”
“Relax, geezer, you’re not even thirty,” May replied dryly. “Now, where are we on that dance?”
The phone rang and they looked towards it before they remembered that they had a baby who would be woken up by it.
May answered. “Hello? Director. Good evening.” She paced around on the phone quietly responding to Fury’s calls while Phil watched her from the couch. “It’s not even been a month. You said two.”
Phil regained focus once she handed the receiver to him. “Sir?”
Fury was on the line. “I need May on a mission. I know it’s short notice, but she’s the best fighter we’ve got. I’m sending Romanoff, Barton, Hill; it’s a priority mission. I know I promised two months and a lot of time away but I need her on this. She’s one of five agents who could survive it. You’re another, and the rest of the team makes them. You have a baby. So… I need May to come in by tomorrow morning. She might not survive. I suggest you have your personal comms with you and if you’re up for the travel time, you can stay at the Triskelion and monitor the situation.”
Phil was at a loss for words. He felt like he'd been punched in the gut. “What?”
“I’m sorry, Coulson. But I have to make the call. Please have a good evening, and I’ll see you. Tell her how you really feel before it’s too late. Good night.”
And then he just hung up.
Phil dropped the phone and stared at May. He blew out a breath and wrapped her into a hug. “I’ve known you since forever and I don’t want you to die,” he said, muffled. “You’re my best friend.”
May hugged him back fiercely. “I’m not going to die. I’m going to fight until I can’t and then I’ll kick death’s ass and come back. I promise.”
“Do you have to leave right now?” Phil asked in a small voice.
“I have to get there by morning.”
They stood there hugging for a few more minutes before they heard Skye crying. They went into her room and May held the baby in her arms.
“Maa,” Skye whimpered. “Feee.”
May kissed her forehead. “Can you say ‘May’, honey?”
“Mehh,” Skye tried. “Ma-ehh.”
“Close enough,” May chuckled. She sniffed lightly. “Do me a favour and don’t remember me, okay?”
Skye tilted her head, confused.
“Oh my god,” May sighed, holding her tighter.
Phil brushed a strand of hair off of Skye’s face. “I’ll prep the jet,” he said. “You… you know.”
A few minutes later, May came to the hangar and met Phil at the Quinjet.
“Say hi to the team for us,” he said quietly, trying to raise their spirits. “And you know, you still owe me a dance.”
“Yeah.” May kissed Skye again on the forehead and handed her daughter to Phil. “Take good care of her, Phil.”
“I will.”
“Keep your comms channel open. I’ll talk to you when I can.”
Phil nodded.
“I’ll be back, I promise!” May waved before closing the Quinjet door.
Phil looked to the girl on his arm. “You think we’ll see her again?” he sighed.
Skye babbled.
“Yeah.” Phil walked back inside before the jet took off. “I hope so too.”