Bittersweet Moments

Chapter 1

May's thoughts upon learning about Skye's origin in 1x12 "Seeds".

Melinda May swore that after her experience in Bahrain in 2007, she wouldn't let herself get attached to anyone, or rather, she didn't want others to get attached to her. People were better off without her in their life. Agent May felt that if she distanced herself from others, it would save the people she cared about from getting hurt.

She had been pretty successful for the past six years. She had divorced her ex-husband and worked alone in her cubicle. That was until Phil Coulson, a long-time friend of hers, brought her back into the field. He had promised her that all she had to do was fly the plane. However, that didn't last long as she felt the team was safer if she went out in the field as well.

On their team, there were four other agents. Well, one field agent, a specialist like herself, two scientists who were much smarter than people their age, and a young hacker who wasn't even apart of the agency.

It was the young hacker, Skye, that had somehow found a place in May's heart. Even though she wouldn't admit it, May could see herself in Skye. Skye is very much like how May was before Bahrain: warm, fun-loving, and loyal. Sure, she was still very loyal, but she became very stoic and serious and came off as a little cold. However, there was something more to Skye that May could see that maybe the others couldn't. Skye was lost. It wasn't too long ago that Skye had revealed that she was looking for her parents, and the only link she had to them was a redacted SHIELD document.

May would be lying if she said she didn't feel bad for the string of words she threw at Skye during their mission with Mike Peterson. She and Coulson agreed to hide the truth about Skye. Though they didn't know what had happened exactly, they knew a female agent by the name of Linda Avery had been killed trying to protect her. Skye had been asking her about it since Coulson had told Skye that May was in on it. She still remembered Skye's look of shock when she had told her that if she couldn't set aside her personal matters, she might as well leave. The guilt really set in when she had found out that she had made Skye cry. May had only said those things to keep herself from spilling the truth. 

A liking towards the girl finally set in after Skye had fully proved herself to be loyal to the team. May knew that Skye wouldn't be able to find out where Raina had taken Coulson with all the agents on the plane, looking over her shoulder. When Agent Victoria Hand asked for May's opinion on Skye's presence on the BUS, May had vouched for Skye to be taken off. Though the others, Skye included, were confused and a little betrayed by the decision, they all soon found out May had kicked Skye off the plane, knowing she'd work best on her own without SHIELD Agents watching her every move.

Due to seeing how much Skye had improved in training and proved her loyalty, May threw herself into looking into the young hacker's past. If there was one thing May knew how to do, it was making sure the people she cared about were, not only safe, but were in the right mindset. She would make sure Coulson got his mind off of the false memories SHIELD put in him as well as making sure Skye wasn't as lost as she was.

Together, while Skye, Ward, and Fitzsimmons were investigating a case at the Science and Technology division of the SHIELD Academy, May and Coulson went to Mexico where sources found that the partner of Agent Avery, Agent Lumley, was still alive and was currently hiding out in Mexico. 

They ended up chasing him into an alley. Even with the twenty-three years that he was out of the field, Agent Lumley put up a good fight against Melinda May. He had scaled up a building, trying to escape the two agents chasing him down. Luckily, Coulson's convertible, in which he named Lola, had the ability to fly and hover. 

"I'm Agent Coulson with SHIELD," Coulson had told the former agent.

Lumley had let his guard down a little that moment. "Oh, thank god," he sighed. "It's about the baby girl, isn't it?"