Out Of Time

seventy-seven

Y/N knocked softly on Coulson's office door before opening it. "You asked for me, sir?" She said.

He seemed dazed, out of it. But he had been that way since the team retrieved him a few days ago. And Y/N understood why. It was clear he was remembering things. May and Y/N contacted Fury about it, asking him what they should do. And he said, stick to the plan, make sure he doesn't try digging anymore. Y/N noticed that there was an open file on his desk, his file.

"Yes," Coulson responded, "Come in and shut the door behind you."

Y/N did as she was told. She gently shut the door and then sat down in a chair across from her friend.

"I don't know who I can trust anymore," Coulson quietly spoke up. "Everyone has lied about what happened." He set down the photo he was looking at before looking up at Y/N. "Did you know what they were doing to me?"

"No," Y/N said, shaking her head. "I didn't know you were alive until I was asked to join the team. I swear Coulson."

"Have you seen these?"

He held up his file as his eyes stared deeply into her very soul. This was the moment she knew she had to make a choice. Tell her friend the truth or lie, and hope that when the truth comes out that he'll forgive her.

"No," she lied. "I've never seen that."

"I need your help. I need to find out exactly what happened to me."

"I don't know if that's a good idea, Phil. Fury kept this secret for a reason."

"A stupid reason! I need to know! So will you help me?"

Y/N observed for a moment, her friend falling apart right before her eyes. Then she nodded. "Yes. I'll help you."

~~~

After a long talk with Coulson about his ordeal and about him and May's secret mission to find out about Skye's parents, you walked down to the common area to see Fitz-Simmons, Ward, and Skye sitting around and talking. They were talking about how they heading to the Sci-Teach Academy to help with an investigation. She moved so that they wouldn't noticed she was there.

"Well, I've heard a lot about the Academy," Skye said. "I'm excited to finally see it."

"Me, too," Ward said. "Never been to Sci-Tech before."

"Never? Huh. The different SHIELD academies don't interact?"

Ward scoffed. "Not much. Academy of Communications does, but they're the biggest and focused on data analysis."

"It's the easiest to get into," Simmons said.

"Boring," Fitz said at the same time. "That's where you'd be Skye."

"Thanks," she replied.

"Operations is the most aggressive program," Ward stated. "Most people wash out of operations than the other academies."

"So which one's the hardest to get into?" Skye asked, causing the other three to tense. "I"m picking up on the rivalry between sciences and operations." May walked past the group. "Are you and Coulson past all that," Skye called to May, "or you gonna help Ward steal their mascot?"

"We're not going," May stated. "After we drop you off, Coulson and I have other matters to attend to." Then she was gone as quickly as she came.

"Coulson hasn't come out of his office in awhile. Do you think he's alright?"

"We saw him at a low," Ward said. "It's not easy for anybody."

"He'll be good," Y/N added, coming around the corner. "Just give him time."