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Chapter Text

“Sir, I found something we might want to look into.” Skye cut right to the chase as she walked into Coulson’s office holding her tablet. “Do you have a minute?”

Phil pushed aside his amusement at her asking if he had time after striding over to his desk, noting her serious expression. “Go ahead.” He put aside the file he had been looking at, full of potential allies in the area of up and coming SHIELD bases. Well, “full” may have been generous, but the prospects were undoubtedly better than they were months before.

“I know the symbols have been on the backburner for a while now, but I’ve been keeping tabs on Rising Tide message boards, and I found...something,” she said, pulling up the aforementioned “something” on her screen. “It looks like someone got his hands on possibly alien tech and is kind of freaking out.”

Coulson looked up at Skye, concerned. “Does he say what it is, or what it does?” The last thing they needed right now was another wild goose chase, given that they were already expending nearly all their resources helping fledgling bases get up and running. But they also didn’t need some civilian causing trouble with an alien object. They didn’t have great history with those.

“No, but even if it’s possible he could be lying, I think we should check it out,” Skye said, placing the tablet on his desk. Coulson wasn’t about to immediately shut her down, but he could tell she was worried and had put a deal of thought into what she was about to say, so he leaned back and waited to hear her reasonings. “These channels are secure, but if Hydra has the resources and sees this? They might track him down. They go crazy for this stuff, and if it’s dangerous…”

She trailed off. He knew the implications. But he also was wary to get involved.

Despite the late Senator Ward’s gracious announcement that SHIELD was a separate entity from Hydra and working in the best interest of the country and the world, who knew where the Rising Tide stood at this point? Given their history and what he had seen (and heard, in Skye’s pre-SHIELD podcasts,) the group wasn’t exactly big on having faith in the government. They pretty much seemed as into that as they were into SHIELD, which is to say, not much.

If this was a genuine plea for help and advice from someone in over his head, who’s to say that he would accept help from SHIELD at all? By approaching the civilian and putting SHIELD back into the Rising Tide’s sight, they could risk regaining the interest of a team of hackers trying to publicize the still-new organization’s private intel.

Then there was the other option: it was a fake. Ward, Garrett and even Raina had been within Hydra, so it was highly likely they knew Skye’s history with the Rising Tide. They probably knew that she would be keeping track of that corner of the world, so if someone within Hydra wanted to get Skye’s attention, that would be the way to do it. And with both Ward and Skye’s father determined to track her down, there was no way Coulson was going to dive into this without some serious planning.

“Hey, are you awake in there?” Skye knocked lightly on Coulson’s temple, pulling him out of his theorizing daze. “Sorry, looked like I lost you in there for a second.” He smiled, ignoring the tingling coming from the spot on his face her knuckle had tapped. “Let me guess, running scenarios?” She had made herself comfortable, he noticed, sitting on his desk and kicking her feet up on the arm of a nearby chair. He swatted them off good naturedly (the leather was old, but in good shape,) earning a sheepish smile in return.

“There are a lot of variables,” he said, leaning against the desk next to her. “I agree, we don’t want something potentially dangerous getting into the wrong hands, but…” he trailed off, and Skye nodded.

“It could be a trap.”

“So this might be a situation where we have to weigh the risks against the rewards,” he finished, happy she understood where he was coming from. Not that I should be surprised, he thought. He and Skye were rarely on completely different pages, especially now that they were working closely again. Skye nodded, picking up her tablet and stepping away from the desk. Coulson pretended he didn’t feel a twinge of loss as she moved from his side.

“I’ll see what other info I can squeeze out of this guy, see if I can get enough to determine whether he’s legit or not,” Skye said, all business with a side of her own breezy voice, which he appreciated among all the ‘Yes Sirs,’ and ‘Copy thats.’ Skye had grown as an agent a tremendous amount, but she was still herself.

“I’ll leave you to it then, let me know what you find.” Skye nodded, accepting that as her dismissal and headed for the door. “Skye,” he called, just as she was about to exit. She turned around, curious, and Phil realized he had no idea what he was going to say. “Good work finding...that. We’ll figure it out,” he said lamely, as Skye smiled and left.

As he sat back down at his desk, wondering where his mind could have possibly gone, Coulson came to the embarrassing conclusion that he simply hadn’t been ready for her to leave yet. He looked around the empty office, at the closed door.

“Dammit.”

***

After vetting the contact for a few days, Skye decided that they had enough information to trust him as a reliable source.

“He knows enough to have definitely seen this object and handled it, but look at the way he writes. This guy is panicking, even if he doesn’t think the object is dangerous, he talks like he knows someone could be coming for it, and he doesn’t know when that will be,” she explained to Coulson, picking out passages from the correspondence. Impressed, Coulson confirmed that along with her combat skills, Skye’s profiling was only getting better. “I don’t think he’s Hydra, he doesn’t seem calculating at all. Plus he hasn’t ask me any questions besides my qualifications, so if it is Hydra they have no way of knowing they’re actually speaking to me.”

“I see what you mean, what have you been telling him to get him to talk to you?” Coulson scanned the messages, while Skye explained that she had spoken as a Rising Tide member in hiding who had been caught stealing information about alien technology. “That’s good, explains why you’re there and why you know so much. He definitely wants to meet though?” Coulson was still uncomfortable with the idea of Skye going in on this without any hard evidence that the other hacker was the real deal.

“He does. He said he doesn’t want to risk bringing the object out of the safe he’s been holding it in, but can bring photos and videos, and all the research he’s been conducting on it that could help determine what it is.” Skye turned to face Coulson directly, looking him in the eyes as if saying ‘You need to back me on this, I know what I’m doing.’

Coulson nodded, moving over to the big screen where Skye had sent the address of the location he wanted to meet. “Sounds like we should meet with him then,” Phil said, “I’ll call Agents Morse and Triplett, see if they’re up for an excursion.” He tried to slip it in casually, but inwardly groaned as he saw Skye narrow her eyes a bit.

“Hold on, Bobbi? Coulson, I’ve been talking to this guy, he’s Rising Tide, I need to go to this.” She crossed her arms defiantly, clearly disappointed in Coulson for taking this route. He hated to be predictable, but was confident in his choice to not send her into what could very well be trap meant for her. He was not going to back down on this, so he set his jaw and braced himself for the inevitable fallout.

“Skye, you have done great work on this--”

“Yes, I have, and I’m going to keep doing it. You said we were going to be upfront with each other, Coulson,” Skye said heatedly, “you need to trust me on this, I’m not handing it over because you think I can’t take care of myself.” Coulson walked back toward his desk, knowing Skye was hot on his heels.

“I know that you can handle yourself in the field, Skye--” he began, keeping his back to her. Like a coward.

“Clearly you don’t, otherwise you would let me complete my mission,” she countered. Realizing how loud her voice had become, Skye took an audible calming breath. “Coulson, if you have faith in my abilities as an agent, why won’t you let me see this through?” Her voice was softer but still determined, which was almost worse than her anger. She did not understand why he was pushing back on this, and Coulson knew that even if he pulled rank there was no way she was relenting without solid answers.

He whirled around quickly, bringing the two of them face to face. Skye, clearly not expecting that move from him, stepped backward a bit before holding her ground, stubbornness faltering for just a moment.

“Because if there is even a single chance this is a ploy meant to draw you out, I’m not going to take that risk,” he said, realizing with a jolt he would be unable to stop himself from letting this spill out even if he tried. “You are a capable agent and have excelled at every mission I’ve given you. But there is no way in hell I’m putting you in harm’s way when you are so clearly the focal point of this investigation.” Coulson took a breath, knowing he had to end this. “Not when being wrong results in losing you. So do not ask me to. Understood?”

Skye’s face was indecipherable as she looked up at him, with flashes of anger, understanding, and some other emotions he couldn’t name. Then her agent mask slipped on, and he nearly sighed in relief and disappointment all at once at her quiet “Yes, sir.” He nodded, stepping back a bit (When did we get that close?) and sitting at his desk. This time, Skye paused at the door all on her own.

“Are you making that call as the director?” She asked him from the doorway, a barely detectable pleading tone in her voice.

“I don’t know,” he replied. Because they were still being honest.

***

“Trip and I are in position Sir,” Bobbi called over the comms, “haven’t seen him yet but if he shows we’ll spot him.”

“Thank you Bobbi, keep an eye out.” Coulson and Skye stood in front of the screen in his office, which was split between Skye’s correspondence with the contact and satellite imagery of the meeting point. He had agreed to meet at a coffee shop just a couple states away from the Playground, so Bobbi had chosen a table near the counter while Trip stationed himself by the door while they waited. Skye had agreed to thoroughly go through her correspondence with Bobbi so she would be able to talk to the other hacker as if she were the one he had been in contact with. That would be one immediate way to know if they really were hoping to get Skye, Coulson had thought.

While Skye was still frustrated with Coulson’s decision, she tried to see his side of it. He didn’t want to put her in danger, okay, but the very nature of the job meant she was pretty much always in danger. They all were. And what was she supposed to do now that not one, but two murderous psychopaths were after her? Never leave the base? This mission was based on Rising Tide leads, seemed to be unrelated completely to Hydra, and their very reliable tab (AKA Agent Melinda May in a quinjet) on Ward showed that he was nowhere near the area. If Coulson wasn’t going to let her pursue this mission, what did that mean for her moving forward? Skye would rather be useful than coddled, and no matter how much she cared about Coulson, this couldn’t continue.

That face he made though, she thought, stealing a look at him while he concentrated on the screen. What was the deal with that? Ever since the carving issue had been (tentatively) resolved, Coulson seemed to be on edge in a different way. Whereas before he always seemed frustrated and closed off (Especially with me, Skye thought ruefully,) now he seemed practically raw.

That scene in his office was the epitome of “New Coulson,” opening up to her in a way that seemed almost painful. Where the cold Director Coulson held everything back, now he seemed to be ready to bust out with truth bombs at any second. Be careful what you wish for I guess, Skye mused. Don’t get her wrong, she was happy that he was opening up to her, but the speed with which he was doing it, and they way he seemed to fear what was going to come out of his mouth next was a bit alarming.

He had been so adamant about her not going, about keeping her safe. And she didn’t want to get her hopes up, but his admission that it could have been personal and not as a professional move to protect an agent shook her up. Skye had come to the conclusion that the best way for her to go was to push whatever feelings she had for Coulson to the side. She wouldn’t push him away (yeah, as if I could,) but she wouldn’t pursue. No matter how much she wanted him --she had long admitted that fact to herself, there was no use in denying it-- Skye would continue to do her work as an agent, as his friend, and they would continue their attempts to keep the world from imploding on itself.

It was getting harder though, she thought, now pretty much openly taking in Coulson’s profile. The line of his jaw, the calculated and intense way his eyes stared at the content of the screen, like he was imploring it to divulge its secrets like a suspect in the interview room. Whether it was determined, all-business work Coulson or the compassionate Coulson that stroked her hair and told her it was okay, he was making it harder for Skye to push her feelings for him back and focus on the task at hand.

It was decidedly not helpful that the last person she made out with was a serial killer who was now on the loose and trying to make her his evil girlfriend or whatever, and they had been working out of the playground for months now. What happens when you mix emotionally frustrated Skye with sexually frustrated Skye?

“Is everything okay Skye?” Coulson asked, and Skye’s eyes widened briefly before she got ahold of herself.

“Just peachy, AC,” she said, earning a smile that was just slightly quirked and suspicious.

“Incoming,” Trip’s voice announced quietly over the comms, and they snapped back to attention. “I think we might have our guy. Bobbi, he’s headed your way, see him?” Skye and Coulson both straightened, and she felt him almost imperceptibly lean his shoulder toward hers.

“I got him, twitchy guy with a laptop bag. Definitely nervous, definitely looking for someone,” Bobbi’s voice answered with a soft confidence. “He is unarmed, Sir, am I okay to approach?”

Coulson nodded, “You are, don’t spook him, sounds like he might be a runner if we push him too hard. Just try to see how we can help him.” He looked at Skye with something that could almost be an apology, if this was in fact going to be a simple exchange of information.

“Is this seat taken?” Bobbi’s voice returned, and the difference between that and her previous tone caused Coulson and Skye to share a look of amusement. Trip’s smooth laugh came over the radio.

“Yeah, he’s an okay looking dude. She’s having fun with this one.” Coulson smiled tightly, and encouraged both agents to remember they were on a mission. Skye rolled her eyes.

“Huh? Uh, no. Not yet I mean,” they heard a male voice respond, and both Skye and Coulson leaned in to listen closer.

“Are you waiting for someone too?” Bobbi asked.

“Are you? Waiting for someone?” He sounded confused, and Skye found herself wandering closer to the screen, feeling Coulson’s eyes on the back of her head.

“Yeah, a little birdy told me he had his hands on some alien tech and was looking for some help,” Bobbi said, hitting just the right mix of ‘I’m on your side’ and ‘But I’m not messing around.’

“Who are you?” the contact demanded, and Skye saw Coulson step forward, back in her eyeline. His brow furrowed in concentration.

No way, Skye thought. No freaking way.

“And where’s Skye?”

***

“His name is Miles Lydon, one of the leaders of the Rising Tide,” Bobbi heard Director Coulson say over the comms. “He and Skye used to...work together.” She had to admit, Bobbi had been thrown more curveballs lately then she was used to, though this one could have been worse. As the Director worried, it did seem to be a plan to get Skye’s attention, but him being a friendly sort of threw in a few new elements to work with. Looking up toward the door, Bobbi caught Trip’s eye. He was standing now, and the two nodded at each other discreetly.

“My name is Bobbi, Miles,” she said, not missing his incredulous face followed by an eye roll at her use of his name. “Now, you’re going to want to listen to these next few words very carefully.” She leaned forward, adopting a friendly smile and touching his forearm, so an onlooker would assume this was nothing more than maybe an awkward date, since he seemed determined not to play along. “I work with SHIELD, and if you want to be walking out of here alive, with us in the next two minutes instead of walking to your death with the two Hydra agents who just showed up outside, you’re going to want to do exactly as I say.”

Chapter Text

Once Bobbi and Trip arrive back at the base with Miles, Skye couldn’t say she was particularly eager to run down there. Feeling Coulson’s eyes on her from across the office, where they had been since they found out Miles was the contact, Skye turned to face him.

“I...have no idea what is going on here,” she told him, shrugging her shoulders. “I haven’t talked to Miles since you dropped him off at that private SHIELD airport in China.” That caused a number of emotions to cross Coulson’s face, the most interesting of which being what she could only describe as ‘sheepish amused guilt.’ “Coulson.”

He answered with a shrug of his own, wincing. “I may not have been completely honest with the way we handled Miles’ departure back in China,” he said, and Skye nodded in annoyance.

“Yeah, I picked up on that. Should I be impressed he’s alive?”

Coulson put his hands in his pockets. “He’s a resourceful guy. Now, why is he trying to track you down?” Before Skye could interject, Coulson elaborated. “That’s not an accusation, I just want to know if we should be concerned about him knowing where you are. Is he angry about what happened?”

Skye sighed, flopping onto a chair. “I- who knows, really? I seem to be bringing that out in people lately.” She rested her forehead against her palm. I just need to think.

She felt Coulson take a seat next to her, his hand resting on her back. “I know it probably seems like everyone is out to get you lately, and that might be true, but it’s not because of anything you did,” he said earnestly.

And again with the openness, Director. She lifted her head and shook it, as if pushing away the negative thoughts. “No, yeah, I know,” she said, fiddling with her hands, finally bracing herself to look into his eyes. “It’s just a lot, you know? I want to be able to do my job without worrying that some creep is trying to acquire me.” Coulson maintained eye contact, but she saw a flicker of something there that made her look toward the screen. “And I don’t even know what the deal with Miles is, he could be trying to look out for me or trying to get SHIELD intel.” She stood, noticing that, for a split second, Coulson’s hand hovered over the spot where he had been resting it on her back. He drew it back to his side quickly. Interesting.

“Well,” he said, standing up himself. “I think there’s only one way to get the answer to that, isn’t there?”

***

“You,” Miles said, standing up from his seat in the interview room. It wasn’t as intensely modern as the one on the bus, but Coulson liked it. It had a two-way mirror to a private room, as well as security cameras, but he liked the old charm the mirror had. “I know you, you dumped me in China without any way of getting back home!”

“Mr. Lydon, it’s a pleasure to see you again,” Coulson said, slipping into his role of Benevolent Yet Somewhat Dickish Cop (that’s right, he knew what people said,) easily leaning against the wall to wait out any anger Miles decided to unleash.

“What the hell is this place? Are you running SHIELD out of here?” With a hint of annoyance, Coulson noted that Miles seemed less pissed and more curious. And curious hackers were almost more dangerous than angry ones.

“You were brought here because we had reason to believe that you had alien technology and needed some assistance. Was there any truth to that, or were you talking completely out of your ass?” He asked calmly, and Miles seemed to start panicking.

“I don’t have anything, I just thought that would be the most effective way to get to-” he paused, looking up at Coulson’s unyielding face. “I lied, but my intentions were good, I swear. Is someone after me now? Those agents said Hydra was outside and we had to make a run for it. Are they going to find me?” Looking at the mirror and swallowing his amusement, Coulson realized he had slipped up in his poker face. Oops.

“There were no Hydra agents, were there?” Miles asked, catching on. “Shit.”

“I’m afraid we lied about Hydra this time, but our intentions were good.” Miles stared at him, and somehow he suspected he had earned an irritated face from behind the mirror as well. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist. I told my agents that if it seemed you were going to bolt or make a scene, they were to bring you in. They happened to have a very effective way of doing that.”

Miles shook his head, “Man, you haven’t changed a bit. Still pretty cocky for someone whose entire organization was revealed to be full of corrupt nazis, aren’t you?” Looking to be completely unfazed, Coulson sat across from Miles.

“Do you want to tell me why you were trying to get our attention, then?” He dropped printouts of the conversations in front of Miles. “Alien tech, fear of sinister forces, wanting to hand it off to someone more capable of handling it? That’s kind of our sweet spot.”

“I wasn’t trying to catch your attention, I was trying to catch Skye’s,” Miles said defiantly. “I need to know if she’s still out there, and if she is, then I needed to say something that she would look into.” His voice seemed to take on more of a desperate tone as he talked about finding Skye, something Coulson reluctantly found himself relating to.

“Why are you looking for Skye?” He asked, and received possibly the most dumbfounded look he had ever seen.

“Are you kidding me? I’m trying to find out if she’s okay. She runs off with you and your little shadow organization, which then is revealed to be a huge cover up for neo nazis, and she completely disappears. I need to know that she’s alright.” Miles stood up, shaking his head. “Stop wasting my time.” As he walked toward the door, it opened, revealing Skye with an unreadable look on her face.

Coulson considered himself to be a confident, mature man most of the time. But with a twist in his gut he realized he really did not want to be in the room for this.

***

Skye stared at Miles, who had frozen in his tracks. “Whoa.”

“Hey,” she replied, “we need to talk.” She looked over to Coulson, who was beginning to look a little green. “AC, can we have a minute?” She asked softly, and he nodded, not looking her in the eye.

“Take all the time you need.”

What was that about? She thought, bewildered. A hand on her arm brought her back to the moment, and she faced Miles, who was looking at her like she had been brought back from the dead. Leaning away just enough to end the contact, Skye crossed her arms and threw her shoulders back. “What are you playing at, Miles?”

His eyes widened. “Playing at? I was trying to find you!”

“By using alien technology to draw me out? Are you an idiot?” Skye was confusing herself; she wasn’t sure when she became so angry at Miles, mostly she had just been shocked he was trying to find out where she was. But the guy had been basically baiting her, and had risked gaining Hydra’s attention as well.

“It wasn’t- I was worried, Skye. SHIELD was suddenly Hydra, then your Terminator buddy ends up being outed as a serial killer, what was I supposed to think? You were completely off the grid, I thought you had erased yourself again. The last time you did that was right before we met, and you were-”

“Enough,” Skye interrupted. “I erased myself, all of us, because we had to go dark rather than risk being arrested for terrorism or crossed off by Hydra.” Skye risked a glance at the two-way mirror, wondering if Coulson was standing behind it. In all likelihood he was, hoping that Miles would be more willing to open up with just her in the room. In that case, the last thing Skye wanted was to go into detail about her past. “And he’s not my buddy.”

“It wasn’t completely a lie, though,” Miles said quietly, gaining her full attention. “I didn’t have any alien artifacts, but there were reports from members who received these emails from anonymous sources. They talked about these objects they found, said they were freaked out and maybe being followed, then they were never heard from again.”

“That’s how you got the descriptions,” Skye guessed, and Miles nodded. “How do you know something bad happened, what if it was a hoax?”

Miles shook his head. “The last one wasn’t anonymous, it was my friend Acer’s cousin. She found something camping out in the rockies, told us about it and completely disappeared.”

Skye felt her stomach drop. “Were the items all found in the same area?”

“We weren’t able to get locations for a couple, but the ones we did get were all over,” Miles replied. “We tried but we couldn’t figure out any sort of pattern or link.”

“Then we should look into it,” Skye concluded. “Send me everything you have on you about them.” Miles shook his head disbelievingly.

“What are you, some kind of super secret agent now?” He laughed, “You look like one of the Spy Kids.” Skye rolled her eyes.

“Shut up, I’m going to talk to Director Coulson and see if he can be persuaded to let you stay here until you can help us find a lead.” She smiled slightly, appreciating the return to old habits. With Miles it was always easy. Not to say there wasn’t much under the surface there, but you never had to work hard to find it.

“Director? So wait, now the suit is director of SHIELD?” Miles shook his head again. “How the hell did you wind up here, Skye?”

She smiled. “I guess I just have friends in high places these days.”

***

“What is this now, the Love Boat for divorcees and ruined relationships?” Hunter asked, intercepting Coulson as he headed to his office. “I had a few rebounds after Bobbi and I split, should I invite them as well? See if they’d like to join in on the awkward?”

“Enough, Agent Hunter,” Coulson practically groaned. He had barely been out in the open for two seconds before being accosted by the Brit, and he would have preferred a moment alone to think. The decision should be simple, we let Miles stay until we have enough information to pursue.

But it wasn’t simple. Leaving Skye with Miles felt wrong, like he was making some sort of mistake letting the two of them reunite. It was stupid and maybe a bit selfish, but he couldn’t help but have a bad feeling in his stomach about the two of them together. It makes sense, he tried to tell himself. The last time we saw Miles, SHIELD lost a good agent because his carelessness. Of course I’m not happy to have him in our base.

It was more than that. Along with the Chan Ho Yin catastrophe, that was the moment he thought he was finished with Skye. That she had betrayed him and the team. He didn’t feel good about handing her that bracelet, especially after the reasons for all of her lies came to light. And look where we are now. Skye went from being on her own against the world trying to simply find information about her parents, to being a driving force within SHIELD, knowing the father she spent her life searching for was not only still alive, but a murderer. And possibly an alien. Who knew, right?

Yes, they also discovered Skye had a boyfriend, and it was Phil’s introduction to a whole new set of uncomfortable feelings he had about Skye. Before, he could convince himself he was just fond of her. She was young and clever and had this noble desire to do good, even if she didn’t exactly know how to go about it. Maybe she was his protege, like she had suggested, then taken back self-consciously.

But no, finding out about her relationship with Miles, and being unable to face her after knowing what had happened, there was no mistaking that. With shame he realized that he wasn’t just upset about her betrayal to the team, but that she had someone else. He felt like an old man and a fool, and she had done nothing wrong (though he wished she had been honest with him about her research, he understood her reasons for secrecy,) to deserve it. She was an adult, and entitled to see whoever she wanted, but Phil had to own up to the fact that his feelings around Skye were less of a gray area than he originally thought.

So yeah, Miles Lydon sitting in his base? He wasn’t a huge fan.

“You know, he seems a bit old for her, don’t you think?” Hunter’s voice broke through Coulson’s reverie, and he met him with a withering look. “I’m just saying, how long ago did the two of them start dating? He’s what, in his 30s? Probably seemed like a cool guy to a girl in her formative years.”

“Is there a point to what you’re saying or do you just keep talking until the people listening finally give up?” Coulson asked, irritated.

“He just seems like a bit of a doofus, that’s all. Hard to see what someone like Skye would see in him. Though to be fair even she admitted she doesn’t have a great history knowing how to pick ‘em.” Hunter continued. Was he trying to be helpful at this point?

“So it’s the latter, then?” Coulson asked. “In that case,” he walked Hunter out of his office door and shut it behind him. “You’re dismissed, Agent Hunter,” he called from inside the room.

“You got it, Sir. Try not to worry too much-”

On the other side of the door, Hunter heard obscenely loud jazz music blasting from the record player, drowning out his voice.

Chapter Text

Skye and Miles sat in front of her laptop in the lab, after Miles sent over all of his information about the alien tech and missing people. They didn’t have much to go on, but finding patterns was always Skye’s “thing,” so she didn’t see it as a complete dead end.

“So, you went from being in the belly of the beast to what, the brains of the operation?” Miles asked jokingly. “The eyes? Nervous system?” Skye snorted.

“Are you going to keep going or did you run out of body parts that don’t sound gross or insulting?” She shot back, and Miles grinned. Easy… the annoying little voice in Skye’s head whispered.

“What about hair? This is interesting,” he added, flicking her bangs before Skye swatted his hand away.

“Careful, I’ve been training a lot, I could break those fingers in like, six different ways,” she warned, putting on her best intimidating face.

“Oh yeah?” Miles challenged, “are there six ways to break a finger? I feel like it’s a pretty simple --Shit!” as he waved his hands around Skye grabbed one and made one of the moves May taught her with her own hands. Obviously she didn’t actually break anything, but simply exerted enough pressure on his pointer and middle fingers to make a point.

“That’s just one,” she said in a sing song voice, a sharp contrast to the hold she had on Miles’ hand. He let out a quick startled laugh.

“I get it, I get it, you’re a ninja now. I’ll need to stay in line from now on,” he said, and Skye released him, with a puzzled look on her face.

“‘From now on?’ How-” She stopped herself, trying to make it sound like anything but ‘how long were you planning on staying?’ It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy his company, after a long talk about his mistake with Raina, they were civil once again, and it was nice to be able to fall into an old routine. One where she didn’t think ‘Hey, I wonder if this guy will try to murder me or my team later,’ or ‘am I going to say the wrong thing and get shut out again?’

Or, since her mind seemed to be going the Coulson-route anyway, ‘Where do I stand with you?’ Skye loved her working relationship with Coulson, especially now that it was back on track. But she also, well, loved Coulson. Of course she could admit that now; you don’t become an expert on patterns and reading people without analyzing yourself. So, she loved her boss. And because she loved working with him and their already close relationship, she was unwilling to be so bold as to make a move and put all of that at risk. So they were at a stalemate.

Sure, he had been acting strange once they found out it was Miles, but that was to be expected, wasn’t it? Last time she saw Miles--

When she jumped him in the doorway.

When he carried her to the bed.

Her hands running up and down his back.

Coulson silencing her with one finger.

Coulson’s disappointment and feeling of betrayal cutting through her like a wire.

...A lot had happened that day. It probably just reminded him of her secrecy, maybe made him feel guilty for shutting her out, after he had made such a big deal about her lies. Or maybe it brought him back to the old days, when Skye’s parents were just a redacted file and not alien beings. She’d call them the ‘good old days,’ but that wasn’t exactly accurate.

“What’s going on in there?” Mile’s voiced asked quietly, and Skye leaned back in her chair.

“Just thinking,” she said. About things you’ll never understand. That I can never tell you. She tried imaging how Miles would react if she told him she might be an alien. He’d probably laugh, tell her that was crazy and to stop messing around. If he ever did believe her (it’s not like she could prove it either, true to her word she had not sprouted a pointy tail yet,) what would he do? Skye had loved Miles back then, in her own way, but there was no way he would ever be able to deal with that. He could hardly wrap his head around her being a legitimate SHIELD agent, let alone something from another planet.

“Hm,” Miles murmured, looking over her face for any kind of hint. She tried not to give him one. “Want to give me a tour of the secret base? I promise not to touch anything.” He joked, and she let out a shallow laugh.

“I’ll show you where the bunks are, in case you do end up staying here for a bit. After your stunt, Coulson might want to make sure you’re not actually being pursued by Hydra before we let you back into the wild.” She stood up and he followed, and she caught a glimpse of something she hadn’t seen in a long time: naked desire. I didn’t mean that as an invitation, she thought, but started in the direction of the bunks anyway. What the hell?

She needed a break.

***

Making out with Miles again was weird, but also kind of great. Possibly for a few reasons. First of all, with all of the danger and destruction of late, Skye was beginning to be seriously concerned the last guy she ever kissed was going to be a nazi spy. That was a powerful motivator alone for her many times to try to get off base and find a safe and willing stranger, but she resisted the urge since they sort of had more important things to worry about.

Second, it was comfortable. She knew Miles, knew his body, and knew that there was no way this could be dangerous or harmful. No concerns about hurt feelings, no awkwardly trying to figure out what the other person liked. She hadn’t seen him in a while so she wasn’t about to go the unprotected route, but who knew at this point if it was even going to get to that? She straddled him on her bed and removed his shirt, running her hands up and down his arms. She remembered this.

Plus, it had just been so long. The last time she had sex with another person was the last time she had seen Miles, which was forever ago. She wasn’t exactly sex-crazed, but she was human and the nature of this job had her in high stress, jacked up adrenaline situations pretty much constantly, often surrounded by really good looking people. And if the rest of the team could deal with a little sexual frustration (unless they were all secretly doing it behind her back, which, not fair,) she could too. Rolling them over, Miles laughed against Skye’s shoulder as he struggled to remove her pants. She grinned. Easy, the voice said again, and Skye frowned slightly.

This isn’t me taking the easy route, she thought, as she started to pull out of the moment. I’m allowed to have fun for once.

“Skye, you with me?” Miles asked, taking a break from whatever he had been doing by her collar bone. Skye nodded and pulled his head back down, tracing his spine with her other hand.

Closing her eyes, Skye tried to get back in the moment, becoming frustrated when she couldn’t. Miles must have heard her annoyed sigh because he stopped again. “Everything okay?” he asked into the side of her jaw, pressing his lips there.

“Yeah, fine,” Skye replied, trying to keep the momentum going.

“Are you sure?”

“Ugh, yes, I’m fine, Coul-” Skye froze. “-Come on, Miles,” she tried to recover from the slip.

It was too late, the damage was done. She winced.

“Please tell me that did not just happen,” Miles said, pulling himself up off of the bed.

Shit.

“Miles, it’s nothing, I just, I’m around the same like, eight people every day. It’s not that weird to-”

“-To call someone else by their names in intimate situations? No, yeah, Skye, that seems perfectly normal!” He started to pace back and forth, and Skye shoved her face into her hands, embarrassed.

“Yeah, that was a terrible explanation,” she admitted, as he scoffed.

“You think?” Miles sighed, and sat down on her desk. “Man, Skye, what the hell?” Skye cringed, his voice was getting too loud for the small space. Taking a breath, Miles continued, quieter. “I thought-” copying her pose, he covered his face from Skye’s view. She sat up straighter at that.

“You thought what?” She asked, and he looked up at her. “You thought I was going to come with you.” Miles looked away, feeling caught. “Miles, I can’t leave here. This is my home, I have work to do. There is so much going on that I can’t even begin to explain to you,” she said honestly.

“You mean that you won’t try to explain to me?” He shot back. “Who knows you better than I do, Skye? Who? What makes you think that I can’t understand whatever it is you’re keeping from me?” He stood, getting riled up again much to her dismay. “I love you Skye, anything you throw at me, I can deal with because I love you.”

Somehow I doubt that, Skye thought. She wasn’t sure that alien blood and homicidal fathers and everything else she ‘dealt with’ on a daily basis was what he had in mind. “You don’t even know who I am, anymore Miles. I’m sorry, but there is so much that I can’t tell you-”

“That you can tell him?” Miles interrupted. Skye set her jaw; she had been hoping that her embarrassing gaffe would be sidelined in the wake of her secrets and his feelings. Those she had been unprepared to deal with. Skye had thought, perhaps naively, that Miles had been looking for the same thing she had been looking for. Nothing serious, something quick and fun they could walk away from pleasantly and get back to their own lives. Now she had screwed up royally, and potentially dragged Coulson into it.

“This isn’t about him,” Skye began, bracing herself for the enthusiastic objection she could see Miles gearing up for. She needed to end this conversation before it got any worse. Or any louder.

***

“Trouble in paradise?”

Coulson made a decision. If he ever had to hear Lance Hunter’s voice again he was sending him to build up a SHIELD base in Siberia. That seemed fair. He was possibly less in the mood for his nonsense than ever before, for a number of reasons. Chief among them being the glimpse he caught of Skye and Miles walking toward the bunks, so now he had to not only deal with that image in his head, but acknowledge the fear he felt at the thought of losing her. Not just losing her on the job on any number of dangerous reasons, but to another person.

Of course, logical, reasonable Phil knew that Skye running off with Miles or whomever she chose was a far better situation than her getting harmed in any way. If she was happy, that should be good enough for him. But as nice as it would be for her to be happy, the selfish, petty part of him has trouble seeing the big picture and getting past the fact that he not only missed his opportunity, but didn’t even try as hard as he could have.

Not trying to win Skye’s love? That’s yet another sin he could never forgive himself for.

Grabbing a couple of beers from the fridge with the full intention of carrying them back to his office and not leaving for a few days or so, Coulson tries to just pass by Hunter. But the bastard’s face just won’t let him.

“Agent Hunter. In the future, you are to refrain from making any comments on my personal life, to me or others. If you have pressing gossip you just have to share, you’re welcome to write them down in a notebook and keep them to yourself. Or just keep them to yourself, period, like an adult. Have I made myself clear?” Coulson asked, letting himself be pleased by the nervous and audible gulp Hunter makes. “Excellent.”

As he walked away, Hunter’s voice cut through Phil’s self-satisfaction mixed with self-loathing. “Er, right, sorry. I wasn’t talking about you, Sir. Actually I was talking about Skye and Whatshisname.” While he had the decency to sound sheepish, Hunter was clearly still trying to make a point.

God dammit, Coulson grit his teeth as he turned around to face Hunter. “I already regret asking this, but what are you talking about?”

Pointing in the vague direction of the bunks, Hunter spoke in a stage whisper. “I heard some arguing coming from Skye’s room, it sounded like it was getting pretty heated.” Coulson nodded, placing the beers on the counter and walking away. Thankfully, Hunter chose this moment to know when her should call it quits and let Coulson be.

Against his better judgment, Coulson headed toward Skye’s room. What was he planning on doing? He had no idea, but he had just been berating himself about not trying, so why not start now? In this totally not awkward moment. Sure enough, as he approached Coulson picked up on some raised voices. It was muffled through the door, but he could hear enough to grow concerned about what might be going on.

“--got to be kidding me!”

“Miles, please-”

“--this, you’re something else--”

“--stop-”

Having heard enough (while still thinking Just what the hell are you doing, Phil?) Coulson pulled the door open quickly, surprising both occupants considerably. Taking in the scene in front of him--Miles standing, shirtless, Skye sitting on the bed, both of them looking upset-- Phil stepped into the room. “What’s the problem here?” He asked coolly, directing most of his attention at Miles because if he was going to be a cliche he might as well own it.

“Coulson,” Skye looked up at him and he turned to face her, but not before seeing something flash across Miles’ face at his name. Was it amusement?

“It’s fine, Coulson,” Skye implored, and this time Lydon let out a rueful laugh, causing Skye’s face to burn.

What the hell is going on here?

“No she’s right, it’s fine,” Miles said reaching onto the floor to grab his shirt. After pulling it over his head, he walked by Coulson. “She’s all yours man, I’m done here.”

A lot happened over the next few seconds, Coulson briefly registered Skye muttering something that sounded like “You idiot,” and all of the amusement drained out of Lydon’s face as the back of his head hit the adjacent wall.

“Shit, COULSON, stop!” Skye was up now, and Phil registered that she didn’t seem to be wearing pants. This did nothing to loosen the hold he had on Miles’ neck, which was not enough to choke, but enough to keep him flat against that wall until he figured out what he was supposed to do from here.

“He didn’t mean it like that, he’s just being a dumbass,” Skye spoke quickly, both of her hands gripping his elbow. “Miles just meant he’s leaving the base, he’s going back to meet up with the Rising Tide. And I’m staying here, with you and the team.” Her voice was softer now. “He didn’t mean that, okay? Coulson?”

Looking from Lydon’s terrified eyes to Skye’s focused but unafraid ones, Coulson let go. Lydon immediately drew back rubbing his throat where Coulson had gripped it. The three of them stood in silence, for what felt like decades. Clearing his throat, Miles looked out the door. “I think I’m going to head out now, is there…” he trailed off, looking to Coulson.

Nodding and fiddling with his cuffs, Coulson replied, “Yes, Agent Triplett can take you home, he should be in the lab.” Miles nodded at Coulson and began to walk out, pausing when Skye called his name. Sighing at the somewhat guilty and worried expression on her face, Miles smiled softly.

“I’m okay if you’re okay?”

Skye swallowed, looking relieved. “I’m okay.”

With that Miles walked out, leaving Skye and Coulson in the suffocating silence.

If Phil didn’t know what he was supposed to do when he practically had Miles in a chokehold, he had no clue what he should do now. His options, walk out without saying a word (Not going to happen, he thought,) and explain himself were not appealing in the least. Not daring to meet her eyes, Coulson picked out a spot on the opposite wall that felt safe to look at. He swallowed. “I’m sorry, that wasn’t-” he shook his head, “I didn’t mean to-” rubbing a hand across his tired face, he sighed. “Are you okay?”

Skye nodded, “Yeah. I’m the one who hurt him this time.” Not knowing what to do with that, Phil nodded.

“It was wrong for me to bust in here. I just thought I heard something...bad,” he finished halfheartedly. He had no interest in excusing himself.

“No, it’s fine, I’m sorry too,” Skye said, and he realized with a pang that she at least was brave enough to look at him. Then he finally looked up at her, perturbed.

“What? You have no reason to apologize to me,” he told her.

“No?” she asked him, still staring him down.

“No, of course not,” he said quickly, scoffing. “I’m not going to scold you for having sex Skye, I’m not your-” Phil stopped, breaking eye contact immediately. I’m not your father. I have zero interest in being your father.

But what if that’s what she had been looking for? Had he been mistaken this whole time, convincing himself any affection she showed him was romantic when it was really-- And did she think his fondness, and occasional protectiveness (Oh god, I came running in on her and her boyfriend, he thought, feeling nauseous) was paternal?

“You’re not…?” Skye asked, closing in on him. Her eyes were curious now, and he remembered suddenly that she was very much not wearing pants. She did not seem to mind, stepping closer.

Phil felt conflicted. He himself had his share of dad issues in the past; if someone he looked at as a father figure (there had been a few, he recalled ruefully,) rejected him, he would have been devastated. Or at least betrayed. If Skye thought of him that way, and found out he wanted her? His traitorous eyes quickly scanned the expanse of her legs. He couldn’t do that. To her or to himself.

“Everything alright in here?”

I never thought I would be grateful to hear Lance Hunter.

“Don’t you knock?” Skye asked, irritated, throwing a nearby notebook at Hunter.

“Jesus, sorry!” He yelled, dramatically covering his eyes. “I caught our buddy Miles on his way out so I thought I would check on you, just being thoughtful,” Hunter protested. “Everything okay between you two?”

“We’re leaving,” Coulson said, taking the opportunity to get out. Fleeing, is more like it. Grabbing Hunter by the shoulder he led them out, taking cover under the guise of giving Skye privacy. He didn’t meet her eyes on the way out.

Chapter Text

The following day, when walking past the lab, Coulson heard Bobbi and Hunter arguing--What else is new?-- quietly. Huh. That’s sort of new. It was only when he heard Miles’ name that he paused to listen from the door. If someone is talking about Skye behind her back it would be unprofessional of me to ignore it, Phil reasoned. Yes, because walking into her room on her and her half naked boyfriend fighting was so professional.

Reasonable Phil and Curious Phil duked it out for a bit, but Curious Phil won out.

“I’m just saying, I feel sort of bad for the guy,” Hunter said, to which Bobbi muttered ‘Of course you would.’

“After that business he might never recover,” he argued.

“You’re kidding me, right? Please stop trying to argue in defense of the poor, delicate male ego. You’ve certainly been able to hold onto yours,” Bobbi shot back.

“No argument there, I somehow managed to fight through your years of degrading and humiliating me,” he said, earning an eye roll from not only Bobbi, but the eavesdropping Coulson. “But your girl saying another man’s name in bed? You can’t come back from that. She might as well have ripped his heart out, Indiana Jones style.”

“Indiana Jones never ripped out anyone’s heart.”

“Oh shut up, you got the reference, it was the other guy- the--I’m not explaining this to you.”

Huh.

***

Skye sat in Coulson’s office, weirdly nervous. He had acted strange yesterday, and they needed to hash this out. He looked so upset --Disturbed, really, by the Miles situation, but she didn’t know what to make of it. One second he’s saying she doesn’t need to apologize and the next he can’t stand to look at her and runs out of there behind Hunter.

The Miles Situation was a big fat mess, no doubt about it, but considering that he left amicably and no one seemed to know about her little slip up, things could turn out okay. (She had casually stopped by to speak to Trip after he returned, not giving anything away but probing enough to see if Miles had said anything. The man was good though, if he did know anything he was either too embarrassed to say something or maybe didn’t want to embarrass Skye. Either way she couldn’t get a read on him. But if he did know, it was fairly obvious Trip wasn’t telling anyone. I always knew I liked him.)

If Trip wasn’t going to do anything, and Miles wasn’t going to do anything, that just left Skye. What was she going to do about it? She could do nothing and let this slip away, or she could take it as a hefty life suggestion to take action before something else happened. The dam hasn’t burst, it just sprang a leak. This was a warning.

Take action? Who am I, James Bond? If so, that made Coulson a Bond girl, which really wasn’t an image she needed in her mind.

Coulson in a hot tub, or some other ridiculously unlikely but hot scenario. Walking out of the ocean, onto the beach wearing a tight swimsuit. Skye on a mission for information, interrogating him fiercely until they fall into bed togethe-

“OKAY, Skye,” she muttered, curling in on herself until her face pressed against her knees. “Not helping.” She stood up. If she was going to wait here for Coulson--Where the hell was he?-- she couldn’t do it alone with her thoughts. Walking over to the record player, Skye hesitated. She only could find the one album (apart from that crazy loud big band one that wasn’t exactly a soothing mood-setter,) and she didn’t want to sit here waiting for him listening to getting busy music if she was just going to get shut down.

Taking action, remember, Skye? About to set the needle Skye heard the door to the office open quickly and whipped around, startled. “Hey,” she said, to what appeared to be an equally surprised Coulson.

“Hey,” he responded. He paused for just a moment before stepping fully into the office.

“I’m glad you’re here,” Skye started, noticing him quirk his lips at that. Yes, glad you’re here, glad you’ve serendipitously decided to come to your own office. “I figured we should talk about you…” looking for the right words, Skye thought for a moment. “Storming the castle.” Phil nodded absently, clearly still coming to terms with the fact that she was in his office and they were doing this now.

Then something changed. He looked at her, and that confidence he seemed to be missing recently was back, under the surface. He had no problems meeting her gaze now. What happened here?

“I shouldn’t have attacked Miles,” Coulson said, and Skye raised her eyebrows, surprised. Not surprised he was apologizing, because of course Coulson would feel bad about overreacting a bit, but because he opened with that.

“No, you shouldn’t have,” she agreed. “But you thought he was saying something bad about me and, no offense, I’ve heard you’re not so good with that.” It was a bold move, pointing out directly that Coulson took personal interest in her and what others said about her. Your move, AC.

“You’re right, I’m not.” He said, still standing by that damn door.

“So, we’re in agreement, then.”

“It would seem so.”

Skye rolled her eyes at the cheekiness they were both exhibiting --Because we’re adults-- and turned back to the record player. It had been spinning silently the whole time without the needle having a chance to drop, and she quietly hoped he wouldn’t be annoyed she just let it run. As she placed the arm gently onto the record, “Ain’t No Sunshine” started playing, and Skye nodded in approval. She liked this one a lot. Bobbing her head slightly, she turned back around. Holy shit.

Mr. Lingering By the Door was, well, no longer lingering by the door. Rather, he had somehow managed to step right behind her in her distracted state. Those eyes were right in front of hers now, and she could see everything.

“Skye,” he breathed, before grabbing her face (gently, but with like, whoa intensity) and attacking her mouth with his own. She responded almost immediately, her hands darting from his arms, to his face, to his chest, not knowing where they wanted to go the most. His own hands, strong and rough, had moved to her waist, pulling Skye even closer to him. This wasn’t just fun, Skye thought, this was passion. This was...holy cow.

She loved professional Coulson. She loved sweet Coulson. Hell, she even loved grumpy Coulson. She loved all the varieties too, like professional but slightly unbuttoned Coulson, and well-intentioned but hopeless feeling Coulson. But whichever Coulson was lifting her onto the desk now? He might be her favorite. If I knew it was going to be like this I would have jumped him ages ago, Skye thought, using the leverage her new location provided to pull Coulson by the tie until he was standing between her legs.

He pulled back a bit, his eyes still closed, like his reflexes were a little behind. Skye didn’t mind, she got to drink in the sight of him without him knowing. He leaned back in, taking a few deep breaths against Skye’s neck, so she looped her arms around his neck and held him there. “Skye,” he murmured and she practically moaned. The puffs of his breath against her neck were coming shorter and faster now, and she realized he was laughing, the smug bastard.

Skye wrapped her legs around his back until his hips were flush against hers and she grinned, rolling them. Who’s laughing now? She thought, while he groaned. Feeling his erection pressed against her inner thigh, she pulled his head up to kiss him again, and he met her greedily. His hands moved up to her breasts, kneading them as he pressed impossibly closer. His lips moved to her neck once again and he bit down.

“Shit, Coulson,” Skye gasped. “Keep doing that.” She heard (well, felt) him laugh again, which caused her to join in. Soon she was giggling uncontrollably, and they reached a silent agreement to take a minute. Wrapping her arms around his waist, Skye rested her head against his chest, right where the tie had been loosened. Somewhere in the moment a couple of buttons had come undone, for which she was grateful. She felt one of his hands, one of those hands that was doing amazing things five seconds ago, things she never let herself wish for, rest on her back, while the other stroked her hair.

“This is nice too,” she murmured, and he agreed. “Not to say I’m not looking forward to much more of that other stuff just now,” she clarified, looking up at his face. She stopped, reveling in the moment. Just the fact that she was able to look at him from this angle, past the hint of chest hair, up his throat, to his chin where she could see the slightest speck of stubble that would no doubt be clean shaven in the morning. After everything they had been through, being able to admire Phil Coulson’s smile from here? Incredible.

Perhaps sensing she was enjoying herself too much (selfish,) Coulson pulled back slightly, resting his warm hands on her shoulders. He smiled softly, and the look charmed her so completely, Skye forgave him for moving. “You keep looking at me like that,” Skye said, smirking.

His hand stroked her cheek now, and she placed her own over it. “Like what?” The look stayed, and she could feel herself blushing. Oh, now you’re shy?

“I don’t know, all...warm and happy and whatever else is going on in that head of yours.” Her other hand moved to gently draw the lines of his face, and if possible he smiled more.

“I’ve always looked at you like this,” he said, talking like he was in a daydream. “Honestly, I’m shocked it took you this long to notice.” The lazy smirk was back, and Skye found herself appreciating that just as much.

“Yeah, well, we’ve had some important business to take care of, haven’t we?” He nodded, and they stayed like that for a while longer.

Coulson got this thoughtful look on his face, and opened his mouth a couple times without succeeding in saying anything. “What?”

“It was...my name, you said. Right?”

“Oh my god,” Skye buried her face in his chest and groaned.

“Well, I wouldn’t go as far as calling me ‘God,’” he laughed and she almost hated him a little bit. A very little teeny tiny bit.

“I think we’re done here,” Skye said breezily, moving to hop off the desk. As soon as her feet hit the floor his hands were on her waist again and she found herself being plopped back onto the desktop. Pretending to be scandalized, Skye gasped.

“Like hell we are, you still haven’t called me ‘Phil’ yet,” he muttered, his lips returning to her neck as she sighed. “I plan on hearing that --and those other noises you’ve been making--” he pulled back to look at her with an eyebrow raised, “many more times this evening.”

I can live with that.