How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You

3| The First Glimpse

They had dinner with Julie and both she and May complimented Phil's pie.

"It's almost as good as the real thing," May had noted, taking another bite. "Maybe it's the effort put into it."

"Too little?" Phil asked worriedly.

Julie shook her head. "Too much." She swallowed her forkful. "It's still wonderful, though, Phil, so thank you, dear."

After they cleaned up, Julie sent the two of them to their room so she could call Calvin back.

May perched on the edge of Phil's bed. "This reminds me of my first Christmas here when we were teenagers," she mused, listening to Julie's muffled conversation. "Your mom talking to relatives, us hanging out talking about nothing..." she tilted her head as a teasing grin spread on her face. "Or about girls."

Phil, who sat next to her by the pillows, smiled lightly. "Please. We talked our fair share about boys too." He leaned back. "When should I meet your shrink, by the way?"

May rolled her eyes. "He's not 'mine', and you'll meet him after we get back from my parents. He's picking me up from the hangar."

"Oooh." For some reason, Phil wanted to protest that, but he kept his tone light-hearted. "Abandoning me again, I see?"

May scoffed, turning to look at the cadet with a semi-offending glare. "Relax. I told him that you're coming with so you can grab my stuff to put back in the dorms. He's kind of under the impression that you're my personal assistant."

"Really?"

"No, not really. He knows that you're my best friend." She kicked his hands away as he moved them towards her. "No tickles tonight, Coulson. Hands to yourself."

He looked at her like he was a kicked puppy.

May rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that. You already get to snuggle up next to this image of perfection." She gestured to herself with a grin. "Don't be greedy."

"How lucky I am," Phil said with a wry smile. "I'm going to change into my pyjamas." He got up and walked into the washroom just as Julie knocked and came in.

"Hey, kids," she said with a tired smile. "Settled in?"

"Phil's just taking his shirt off in the bathroom," May said cheerfully. She put down her book upside-down on her lap. "How was your call?"

"Reminiscent of when I used to be a school secretary," Julie said dryly. "Calvin was and is a boy with poor impulse control. But he's doing well. He's almost done medical school now."

"That's cool," Phil replied, shrugging his sleeping shirt on. "He meet anyone?"

"As a matter of fact," Julie said brightly, "he met this lovely young woman a few months ago. I met her at the town's Labour Day cookout. She's very kind, also training to be a doctor. The two of them are pregnant, actually. That's why he called."

Phil sat down next to May. "Cool."

"They don't want to keep it," his mother added, sounding a little sullen now. "They said that they wouldn't have the time to take care of her since they'd both then graduate and become interns at a hospital. She's going to carry the baby to term, but they're thinking about putting it up for adoption."

May shifted next to her friend. "Oh." She tugged on Phil's shirt slightly as she thought. "I- Hmm... Never mind."

"What?"

She shrugged, letting out a breath. "I was going to suggest the SHIELD program," May said quietly. "Tell you later," she muttered under her breath.

Julie looked between the two of them. "I'm going to let you two go to sleep now," she said, not without warmth. "Goodnight, Phil. Goodnight, Melinda."

The two cadets chorused their 'goodnight's as she closed the door.

Phil looked at May expectantly, and she shifted so she could look at him fully. "The SHIELD program is this thing where they take in exceptional or gifted or enhanced kids and they either get adopted by retired agents or taken in by specialists. I don't know if his baby's going to fit the criteria," May explained. "But it guarantees that they'll never see the system. Because remember when we did that assignment on social work? The system, it's..."

Phil nodded. "I remember. It's not good. But we can't really do anything in regards to the agency, anyhow. We aren't agents yet. Even when we are, we won't be able to request anything until we've been there longer."

May considered for a moment, and her eyes lit up. "Accelerated graduation," she said brightly.

Phil raised his eyebrows. "That's for smart people."

"We're smart enough, don't you think?" The corners of her mouth turned upwards as she grinned. "Be the change we wanna see in the world and all that?"

He offered her a dry smile. "That's so much we have to study for in such a short amount of time, though," Phil protested without much conviction. "And don't we have to apply for that in November?"

"I can pull some strings," May retorted. "And we know most of this stuff anyways. We're only here to study for our master's anyway, and we've been done for a while."

"What if he doesn't want our help?"

"Then we just get more hands-on experience." May looked at him imploringly. "Phil, we've been wanting to graduate forever! And- and we don't need to be field agents right away. Like I said, I have strings we can pull, and most of our first ops won't be super dangerous- so- please?"

Phil broke out into a small smile. "I caved two minutes ago."

May laughed. "We should get our beauty sleep if we're going to wake up early to open presents tomorrow," she said. "You take inside?"

Phil nodded and aligned himself with the wall as May watched. Over the years, they've come to the solution of that if they were in a bed with one long side facing the wall, May would take the outside to better hear and fight any intruders, and it worked very well, especially one time last year when Garrett tried to prank them by taking a picture of them curled up together when May's floor had a flood.

She had punched him in the face.

Phil felt May adjust herself next to him on the single mattress. "Good?" he asked.

"Yep." She turned off the light. "Goodnight."

"Night, Lin."