Disclaimer: I own nothing but the OC Ray. M.A.O.S is not mine, but thanks for not suing me for playing with the characters! I'm making no money from this, I do it for fun!

Chapter 8

Ray woke with a start, having forgotten where she was. The movement in the bed next to her made her open her eyes and when the arm snaked around her waist and there was a gentle kiss against her neck, her memory returned. The body next to her pulled her against him, sensing that she was now awake and she giggled, stretching her arms above her head and arching her back allowing him to continue to kiss her neck and shoulder.

"I think the bus is already on the ground." Phil finally said, leaning up on an elbow, looking down at her. "This day should prove to be interesting."

"Why do you say that?" Ray touched his face, tracing the stubble that had begun to grow on his cheek. "Today is just another day, right; the hard part is behind us?"

"Not really." He said, grabbing her hand in his. "I have a lot of explaining to do to the director. I may actually be facing some disciplinary action because I brought my entire team in on a level 8 situation. And then there is the way I demanded Loki be brought back to Earth and then I have to explain what I know about you."

Ray tensed up next to him, not attempting to hide her discomfort with the thought of him telling Fury what he knew of her. "I don't like the sound of that." She managed to say trying to control her breathing. "Do you think they will take me away from you all?

"Are you afraid of being taken away from the team?" Phil asked the disappointment clear in his voice.

"Not the team… I mean, I do enjoy them all, but I don't want to be a part of any of this if I can't be here… you know… with you." Ray leaned up on her elbow to face him before smiling and pushing him back on the bed, pinning him to the mattress by straddling his hips. "But I think you already knew that." She said grinning down at him.

The soft knock on the door stopped Ray from leaning down and kissing him, and instead she let out an audible groan of disappointment. Phil laughed as she rolled off from him, and made a gagging sound as she pretended to choke herself. "This team has got to be given an award for knowing the precise moment to kill a mood!"

"They are talented," Phil agreed, getting up from the bed and throwing a tee shirt on before answering the door.

Agent May stood outside the door and Ray saw her peek into the room as he opened it, She knew that May had seen her still laying on the bed, but if Phil didn't care if the team knew about them, then Ray didn't feel the need to worry about it.

"Just wanted to inform you, we've landed at HQ," May said. It looked to Ray as if she were trying desperately to hide the small smile on her lips as she spoke. "Director Fury would like to meet with you as soon as possible."

"Thank you May," Coulson replied, giving her a smile and he was shocked when she winked at him.

"I told him you haven't been sleeping well, so I wanted to make sure you slept in while you could." May smiled again, bigger this time and not bothering to hide it. "Figured I'd cover for you as long as I could."

"Thanks again." The shock was evident on his face. Of all of his team he had expected May to take his relationship with Ray the worst, but here she was covering for him, and smiling about it as if she approved. "How long have we been on the ground?"

"About 45 minutes. The rest of the team has already been out and about." She glanced over his shoulder at Ray who was still lying on the bed, but propped up now listening to their conversation. "No one will say anything about her until Fury has talked to you. So the briefings have been pushed back until you're fully rested, sir." May threw the last words in there to make her covering for him sound as official as possible.

"Got it," Coulson said, still unable to suppress his smile. "I'll be ready in an hour; can you please inform the director?"

"Sure." May replied, turning away from the door. "Take your time sir."

Coulson shut the door and turned back to Ray, chuckling at May's last statement. "I never expected that from her." He made his way back across the room and sat next to Ray on the bed. I figured she would be the one to give me the hardest time about all of this.

"She understands." Ray said simply, watching Coulson's reaction. He quickly looked at her face as she had been expecting him to do. "In your line of work, you have to find happiness whenever and where ever you can. So she understands that right now, I make you happy. That's good enough for her, because your happiness means a lot to her, especially after everything that you've been through."

Coulson leaned into her and kissed her deeply, not needing words at that moment. "Care to shower with me?" He asked, sounding more than a little hopeful.

Ray smiled, tempted to take him up on his offer. But while she could keep her own body covered even during showering, he was not able to do the things she could and she knew that seeing him naked would have broken her resolve to take things slow. She had very few strands of that resolve left as it was. Showering together was definitely going to have to wait.

"That's not a good idea right now." Ray finally said, smiling up at him. "I'm already struggling with the take it slow thing and I think showering with you would undo me completely."

"Think of it as a time saving thing… or a saving the world thing," Coulson replied, pulling her up from the bed as he stood. "You know, conserve water… shower with a friend?" He heard her giggle as he continued to pull her toward the bathroom. "I'm thinking of our planet here, and I promise to keep my Captain America boxers on, just so you don't lose control in the presence of my awesome nakedness."

_/_

Coulson sat in the large office, across from the overly large desk in one of the plush leather chairs. He looked around the room at the large windows and thought to himself once again that this office did not seem to reflect the man on the other side of the desk at all. Whenever he thought of Fury, he couldn't imagine him in an office at all. He was definitely more of a field type agent… nothing about the man screamed office or paperwork.

"So," Fury began, still watching Coulson from across the desk. "Tell me about the 084."

"Her name is Rayvenne, sir." Coulson was unable to help his cold demeanor toward his superior.

"Tell me what you know about her." Fury pressed, seemingly undeterred by the cold tone of Coulson's voice. "Stark tells me she's…" He consulted the report on his desk. "Creepy."

"You've already briefed Stark about her?" Coulson asked, his voice was full of disdain. Although he knew SHIELD protocol, he couldn't understand why this shocked him. He should have figured both Stark and Banner would have been briefed as soon as they had left the tower. "What else did Stark tell you?"

"Aside from her being creepy… he tells me you seem to be more than a little protective of her." Fury paused obviously waiting for a reaction from the other agent.

"I had to put her in a dangerous situation in order to help her; of course I was a little protective of her. I wouldn't have forgiven myself if things had gone wrong. I feel the same way about every single member of my team."

"But she isn't a member of your team." Fury reminded him.

"You asked me to take her and look out for her while we try to discover what she is and what exactly happened to her!" Coulson stood now, he knew he was over reacting to the questions and he also knew how this was making him look; he needed to get a grip on his emotions and quick. "Look, I did what you asked," His voice was a little calmer now after having taken a few deep breaths. "I did whatever it took to gain her trust and I sincerely wanted to help her."

"So what is she?" Fury asked, still watching the other man closely as he paced back and forth in the room.

"You didn't get all that from Stark and Banner already?" Coulson returned the question with one of his own, once again sounding slightly bitter.

"The only thing I got from Banner was she is amazing, and Stark thinks she's creepy. They told me to ask you about the rest." He paused, clearing his throat. "So, I'm asking."

Phil sighed, suddenly thankful to the two men who could have given Fury everything, but decided not to. "Before I tell you what she is, you should know that she doesn't want to be a part of SHIELD unless she can be a part of my team."

Fury raised his eyebrow in inquiry. "She's already making demands? She goes from being unable to speak to making these kinds of demands… that's rich."

"It's not really a demand. She doesn't owe us anything, Director. She is willing to help us, but only as a member or an asset of MY team." His voice had lowered and he was choosing his words very carefully, not wanting the director to know about his true feelings for the Fallen. "She is in a position to help us a great deal, if we want her too, and you should really consider this.

"What is she?" Fury repeated again, this time his voice sounding harsher than it had a minute ago.

"She… well she was once an angel. Now she's is what is known as The Fallen." Coulson told the director everything about Ray, what she is, what she had been and why she was taken by the titan Thanos. The only thing he left out was his own reaction to her.

"So she can read souls?" Fury repeated, obviously attempting to come to terms with what he had learned.

"Yeah, she can touch someone and know what their intentions are."

"And Loki, you needed him to free her from magical rings that banded her wings?" He paused looking across the desk again. "And you say she could tell he wasn't going to hurt her?"

"With one touch," Coulson said softly.

"You're right, she could prove to be very useful to us," Fury said finally, letting out a long slow breath after he spoke. "Can I see her, to officially welcome her to SHIELD and discuss her terms of service?

Coulson looked at the senior agent briefly before speaking. "I want to remain with her when you speak to her. She's still very intimidated and frightened by a lot of this, so she would feel better having me in the room. She has to remain with my team, so for the time being where you need her to go, I will also be going, as well as the rest of my team. My team does know about her, so if you have any issues with the level 8 stuff, let's get it out in the open now sir. I won't have that following us around."

"Is there something I need to know about your relationship with this 084?"

"She is no longer a 084 sir, like I said her name is Rayvenne or Ray," Coulson replied, getting to his feet and straightening his suit. "The relationship I have with her is on a need to know basis, and all you need to know right now is that I was able to get the information you asked me too, I want to continue to help keep her safe and with my team, and at no time will I let my personal feelings affect my judgment."

"It seems to me that you may have already done that." Fury said a small grin on his lips as he watched the other agent.

"No, the things I have done so far where she is concerned I have done because it was the right thing to do and because I want to be able to look at myself in the mirror every day and not think of myself as an ass hat because I chose to NOT do the right thing.

"Ass hat?" Fury repeated, still smiling. "I may just have to use that one the next time I have Stark on the phone."

"Don't bother," Phil replied, heading for the door. "I got it from him."

_/_

Ray, Jemma, Skye and May were in the training room, music on and there were now four poles in the room instead of just the one that Ray had conjured the previous day. Jemma and Skye were still working on just the basics of the pole dance, holding on with both arms and legs while spinning around the golden surface. May on the other hand had already progressed to letting go with her hands and simply using the strength in her legs to wind around the pole while keeping her balance and grace intact. Ray was surprised and pleased.

Jemma was using her knees as she went around the pole and whimpering that her arms were starting to shake. Ray went to her side as she finally let go of the pole and came to rest once again on her feet, shaking her arms out as if they were on fire.

"Next time," Ray said giving the younger woman's shorts a good yank upward. "Wear something a little tighter and shorter so the material doesn't get in the way. Have you ever watched a professional pole dancer? Why do you think they wear those skimpy outfits while they're on the pole?" Ray smiled at Jemma. "It's not just for the sex factor. Clothes make these damn poles slippery; there is no way you can hold on like that."

"I feel like I'm going to fall off," Skye said, not able to let go even thought she had her legs placed perfectly to allow herself to at least let go with one hand.

"Confidence on the pole takes time." Ray began giving one of Skye's legs a tug to start her slow spin again. "You'll know when you're ready to attempt to let go."

"But look at May," Skye said, looking over her shoulder at the older agent who was carefully spinning on her own pole having wrapped her leg around the pole above her head, her hands were free and she was completely upside down.

"May doesn't have the fear that you two do. I'm sure she has done work out that would make me want to cry after the first two minutes," Ray said, watching May with appreciation. She had the perfect body for pole dancing, light and thin and she had the confidence. It was clear she didn't care if she fell off the pole right now, she would simply get up and get back on to try again.

"New work out techniques?" Fury asked as he entered the training room with Phil not far behind.

"Show him the tie trick." Skye said, sliding off the pole and coming to stand close by Ray as the director entered the room. Before Ray could even react to his presence, she realized Jemma and May were also standing close to her.

"What's the tie trick?" the director asked stopping just a few feet from Ray.

Ray watched Coulson's face as he remembered all too well what Ray had been able to do with just his tie, but he shook his head at her as she caught his eye.

"Ray took Ward down in a matter of seconds with just a tie and the strength she learned from pole dancing." Skye explained, motioning to the poles behind them. "So the rest of us ladies wanted to learn how to pole dance too. It's apparently great for core strength."

"Agent Ward?" Fury sounded impressed as he looked at Ray. "And you didn't use any of your other talents?"

"That would have been cheating," Ray said softly. It was clear to everyone there that she didn't trust the director.

"I've had a talk with Coulson." He said, addressing just Ray now. "It seems you could be of use to SHIELD and we would like to extend the invitation for you to join us."

"I…" Ray stopped, looking away from Fury to Coulson. "Only if I get to stay with them," she paused, thinking that he was probably expecting that part of the arrangement. "I will not use any of my abilities unless I see fit that there is no other possible resolution to any given problem." She added finally, seeing a hint of a smile on Coulson's lips.

"Understood," Fury replied, sounding as if this were not an unreasonable stipulation. "In return, we will do everything in our power to keep you safe from Thanos. I understand he was the one that had done those awful things to you when you were first found. I'll speak to Thor and see if we can get any more information about Thanos from Loki. It may be helpful for us to know how he would be able to detect you and what we may be able to do to protect you from him."

Ray stepped forward toward the director and held out her hand to him. "Shake on it?" She asked, watching his face carefully. She knew that he must have known about her ability to read his soul after having the conversation with Coulson.

Fury hesitated for only a second before stepping forward and placing his hand in hers. She saw into his soul and knew that he was telling her the truth about wanting to help the team protect her. In addition he added a little something. Be gentle with Coulson, he's been through hell and really needs someone to trust, he said with his mind, knowing she would hear him. I royally screwed him up… so just be gentle with him.

She let go of his hand and smiled up at the man before her. "No problem sir, I can do that," she said her voice low.

Fury stepped back and looked at the remaining members of the team. "You security clearance has not been changed, so what you know about this level 8 situation is to be kept completely silent. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir," the three remaining women in the room responded quietly, clearly surprised that the punishment had not been stiffer for the information breech that had taken place.

"Now, where's Agent Ward?" Fury asked still smiling at the group. "I'd like to talk to him about getting his ass kicked by a 110 pound girl."

_/_

A/N: I promise the next few chapters should be a little more exciting. I needed to do a little team building with this chapter… and maybe the next one too because I did promise them some fun before things start to get crazy again! And things will be getting nuts again soon! Hell, I may be bringing Loki back to help out… so that should be fun and crazy :o) Tell me what you think of this chapter… use the little box to the right there that looks all empty and stuff to let me know how you feel about this chapter!

Thanks for reading!

J~