Immortal

Immortal

Eternity

He never thought the word would apply to him, but today after inhuman years of existing, he might come close. They were all naïve to think that the GH-325 would only heal them (or resurrect in his case). It did far more than that. It gave both of them much more. For Skye, after San Juan, she earned the abilities of creating "quakes" as she calls them and some had slowly started calling her Quake, until it caught on. For both of them, it became a literal fountain of youth. They actually don't know when they will cease to exist. Unlike Nick Fury's Infinity Formula, they did not need to reapply it to survive. Most likely, both would not "re-apply" GH-325, not that they could anyway, Garret had been the last one to be injected with it. He also took great pains to find and destroy the reconstituted GH-325 that Garret had commissioned.

The changes in their physiology were not instantaneous. It began with the increase in their healing rate. Jemma noticed how he managed to completely heal a few hours after a bullet grazed his leg. A year later, Skye started to develop the same ability. Small cuts and later even bigger cuts would heal almost instantaneously. Then, their stamina increased. Being both their attending physician, Jemma had been the first to notice. Despite not having a parentage differing from most people, Coulson's physiology started changing. He got stronger, he got quicker and his stamina became as it was when he was at the peak of his physique. Then, they stopped getting old.

It was a given that they would be compelled to "stick together" as Skye calls it. As in the development of their "talents", it was not expected but inevitable. It began with understanding, something that existed before she was even injected with the drug. It deepened with a shared understanding that somehow, they became not quite human. He was actually a bit angry because it did not even faze her. Then, it was comfort, of seeking mutual solace in each other as they knew nobody could quite understand them as the other does. It would eventually deepen into affection and then love. It wasn't earth shattering or as passionate as one would read from the fan fictions that Skye seem to be so absorbed in (something that hasn't changed even when said fan fictions would even be enacted in a holocomm, which became quite common place). It was a steady increase of affection, understanding and comfort. It was an evolution of affection from one that is of a father to a daughter, to one of deep old friendship and into partners and lovers. After years of cohabitation, they would get married with an unchanging Nick Fury, an aged Leo Fitz and a wheel-chaired Melinda May in attendance, Jemma Simmons-Fitz, Lance Hunter and Bobbi Morse had already passed away.

They were lovers even before he figured out that he didn't just love her, he was deeply, irrevocably and passionately in love with her.

Before he realized that he was jealous of the looks she would still inspire from men of all ages. After all, she still looked as she did when she was 24 or 25 (she isn't quite sure of her age, it was just an estimate) and he still looked like a middle age bureaucrat. She was already in love with him for some time before he realized how he felt. When she told him of this, she explicitly told him that he does not need to mimic the words if he does not feel it. They were often mistaken as father and daughter. It doesn't bother him anymore; he was quite used to it after all this time. But the first time it happened, he was quite worried, not really irritated as she thought (she offered to tell the man who said that he had a beautiful daughter "the difference" between a daddy and a sugar daddy).

Eternity still spelled some worries for him, although Skye, ever reliable and ever faithful is quick to reassure him. He worries that Skye might have problems with the permanence (read maybe until the end of time or existence) of their relationship. Or that she'd grow tired of his looks (he's not that young looking anymore, while he remains unchanged, she still possesses the body of a 20-ish woman). They still have issues with birth control and even a pregnancy scare once (they both agreed that children might not be a good idea, although check-ups confirmed that they both have the physiological capabilities of producing an offspring, they just don't know what creature they'll bring forth if they do reproduce). But they live a life of comfort (brought by selling junk, which are, after several decades of holding them called antiques) and all in all they were quite content. He was teaching history in the Academy and sometimes helped in an occasional specialized mission. He followed in the footsteps of his favorite hero and she continued helping others, as her superhero persona, Quake. The only time Skye had ever been jealous of him and another person was when his protege, Danvers followed after his marvelous footsteps.

They have different ways of passing time. Skye remained up to date with the technology (she's still one of the best after all these time) and continues to be a field agent who took specialized missions. While he just cleaned up after S.H.I.E.L.D. before retiring and kept up with collecting objects that most people would call antiques. He had always been a sentimentalist. They still dated and enjoyed each other's company.

The cost feels too great.

Even though, the drug gave them these things it also took a lot of them. The high price, it seems, of power and longevity. Friends, families and lovers were taken from them as they died, one by one, not just from enemy bullets (as a friend of his did) but from sickness and even old age. Skye held him in her arms when he found out that Audrey died of old age, sure, she already had a husband, children and even grandchildren, but he really did love her. He didn't love her as he loves Skye but he did love her. Maybe, it was because she was his last chance at normalcy and he felt compelled even at a distance to protect her. He thought Skye would get jealous or angry even, but she didn't. Like in many other things, she understood exactly how he felt.

Then, there was the heartache that was brought upon by the death of their adopted daughter, Carrie. She was a misunderstood girl whose abilities of telekinesis isolated her from the rest of her peers and caused her to kill her mother in self-defence. Coulson, who always had a soft spot for outsiders volunteered to house her temporarily while S.H.I.E.L.D. looked for a more permanent situation for her. She bonded with Skye and Skye refused to give her up. Both of them would help Carrie by bringing her to S.H.I.E.L.D. testing facilities to study her abilities but would still insist on picking her up and bringing her home at night. They would help her with her education and guide her in finding her way in the world by helping others like her, those who are isolated from the world because of their skills. She would become a successful professor at the Academy. She naturally fell in love and was loved by another gifted individual, although their children would not share their gifts, both felt that it was better for these children. Their daughter would die of old age, with her parents watching from the mirrors outside the ICU as she took her last breath. He felt as if his own heart stopped as he watched Carrie's stop.

He thought she would give up, she almost did, he could see it in her eyes. Sometime after their daughter was buried, he asked her how she managed to continue on. She turned to him and looked him in the eye and said the words that he would never forget. "My heart was broken and I know that it would be broken again, when another one of those who slipped by my defences die, but as long as I have you, I know that my heart would remain whole and it would heal as fast as the rest of my body does."

He doesn't know how much longer they'll exist or if they will just die or disintegrate with time and worn with use, but she was after all right, as long as they have each other, everything else doesn't really matter.