Unwanted Goodbye

July 2, 1998

If someone - anyone really - would have told Melinda May a year ago that she would be in an off-white, porcelain bathtub, with Maria Hill holding her hand and Victoria Hand in between her legs as she prepared to give birth all the while bullets were flying in every which direction, she would have given them a look that said get away from me or I will kill you. And yet, here she was. Being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent has put Melinda in some sticky situations before - it was in the job description, believe it or not - but nothing like this.

This was not how things were supposed to be - obviously. First, and most importantly, Melinda never wanted kids. Sure, she and her ex-husband had briefly discussed having them, but then she went on the mission that would forever change her life - and inadvertently - lead to the end of her marriage. She loved Andrew, but what happened in Bahrain changed her. She lost a part of herself during that mission, and to this day, she had never fully recovered. Clearly, she didn't get pregnant on purpose. Second, she was supposed to be on an undercover mission with her longtime friend, Phil Coulson. Phil was there, in Bahrain, when everything went down. He didn't know all the details - only Melinda did - but he knew it was bad and he tried to be there as much as possible afterwards - as much as Melinda would allow him to be, anyway.

After Bahrain, she left Andrew and transferred to administrations. She never wanted to be in the field again, but a year after Bahrain happened, Phil approached her dark cubicle and asked her to be his partner on a "short" intel gathering mission.

"It's an undercover mission and there will be no action. I promise," he tried to persuade her. She gave in - clearly - but seeing as there was a firefight going on, the "no action" part of his promise was broken.

The mission should have been simple - they were to keep an eye on a group of people two houses down who were supposedly selling black-market alien goods, but what no one anticipated was how good these people were at covering their tracks. The short mission turned into a yearlong thing. It was supposed to be a month or two, but when it was clear that they would not be returning from the mission for quite some time, Melinda broke out the liquor with an annoyance and set out to forget everything - if only for a night. Phil eventually joined in with a sigh and a "ah, what the hell."

The night was a blur - that was Melinda's intention after all - but waking up naked and sore next to Phil was not part of her plan. She slipped out of the bed and went into the shared bathroom, washing away their night of passion, and then did what she did best: she pretended nothing happened and Phil - respecting her wishes - also pretended like nothing happen. It worked out well...for about six weeks, and then that stupid pink line appeared on the pregnancy test and that was the end of pretending it never happened.

"Look at the bright side," Phil said the day they found out she was pregnant. "It helps our cover." Melinda was not amused.

Pregnancy or not, their cover was blown - hence the firefight - and to put the icing on the cake, her water broke. She was six weeks early and her child was proving to be impatient. She was ten centimeters dilated and ready to push in an unbelievably short amount of time. So now, she was giving birth in a bathtub, while Phil and the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. held off the attackers.

"I can see the head!" Victoria declared loudly. "May, I need you to push with everything you've got." As if she wasn't already.

"You've got this Mel," Maria reassured. Melinda gave her an appreciative smile, but she didn't believe her for one second. She did not have this. She was bringing a child into the world, amid a firefight. She was already failing as a mother. Yes, it was true that she didn't plan for this child and, as much as it shamed her to admit it, during the beginning of the pregnancy, she didn't want this child, but in the months that followed - as her child grew big and strong inside of her, she fell in love, hard. She didn't think it was possible to love something this much when it wasn't even in the world yet, but she did. She began to dream of a brighter future with a mini version of herself or Phil - they never discovered the sex. Now, it felt like she was at risk of losing everything. As she prepared to give one final push, she couldn't help but think my God, what have I done?

"On the count of three!" Victoria shifted in preparation to grab the child. "One...two...three!" Melinda pushed. With every ounce of strength, she had, Melinda pushed. A loud cry of pain escaped her mouth as she lurched forward. She clutched Maria's hand so hard that she was positive she broke it. Sweat trickled down her face, mixing with the tears falling from her eyes. Melinda was terrified, her heart was racing, and she felt sick. As she pushed, time seemed to stand still. She was so consumed with pushing that she hadn't even noticed the bullets had ceased.

Time stood still as she let out a huff of exhaustion and leaned back against the tub. For a moment, everything was silent - save for Melinda's heavy breathing. And then, the most beautiful sound filled the air, a loud wail that seemed to bounce off the tile walls of the bathroom. Melinda let out a breath she didn't know she was holding as tears of what she can only describe as pure joy filled her eyes.

"Congratulations," Victoria breathed with a smile. "It's a girl." She handed Melinda her little bundle wrapped in a bloody blanket. The infant squirmed for a moment before settling down and opening her eyes to look at her mother.

"Hello little one," she whispered to her daughter. "I'm your mother." Her daughter blinked up at her several times before snuggling into her chest and closing her eyes in content. She was so entranced by her daughter that she didn't even notice Victoria finish up and get out of the bathtub, nor did she notice Maria stand up and step away to give the mother and daughter some space.

"Mel," she heard Phil whispered. She reluctantly looked away from her daughter to see Phil standing at the doorway with a look of shock and awe dawned on his face. She could see Fury looming behind Phil, but she paid him no mind.

"Come meet our daughter, Phil." Needing no more encouragement, Phil made his way to the tub where he kneeled to look at their daughter.

"She's so beautiful," he whispered thickly. She didn't need to look at him to know that he had tears streaming down his face. Slowly, he lifted his right index finger to stroke their daughter's cheek. "Hello angel eyes. I'm your daddy." The baby opened her eyes to look at Phil. The baby gurgled happily before reaching out to grab Phil's finger. "Oh Mel! She's so strong!"

"She is," Melinda agreed. "She's our strong, little miracle."

Melinda knew things would not always be this perfect. She was positive that once they returned to S.H.I.E.L.D., Fury would lay into them. They were irresponsible. They had a child on a mission. Yeah, Fury was going to be pissed, but she didn't care. She only cared about the small bundle in her arms and the man crying silently next to her. This was just the beginning of the life that she never knew she wanted.

Unfortunately, this life was on a timer. She just didn't know it yet.

April 12, 2018

Grant Ward leaned back into the cold, metal chair with an aggravated sigh. He had been here for over an hour and he had no idea why. The only people he had seen were the two agents who brought him to the interrogation room and Maria Hill who asked him what S.H.I.E.L.D. stood for and told him he had to ask Coulson why he was pulled out of Paris.

Grant knew he was being tested. He was level six. He knew Coulson was killed before the Battle of New York. So, he was back at square one, stuck in this god forsaken room, being watched by agents on the opposite side of the one-way mirror, and growing increasingly agitated.

By the time the door opened, he was ready to lay into the idiot who had brought him here and kept him waiting. He opened his mouth to spout his frustration, only to immediately snap his mouth shut, and stare in confusion as a ghost entered the room.

"Agent Ward," Phil Coulson greeted as he shut the door and took the seat across from him. "Sorry to keep you waiting. I had some last-minute things to take care of." Ward just nodded silently.

"I thought you were dead," Ward said gruffly.

"I know," Coulson smiled. "Everyone below level seven thinks that."

"I'm level six, sir."

"Welcome to level seven." Coulson set the file he brought into the room with him onto the table. "I'm sure you're wondering why you're here."

"You could say that," Ward agreed.

"We have a security breach with a private contractor doing work for DARPA," Coulson drilled through the file. "They were designing formulas and weapon schematics based on gamma radiation concepts provided by Dr. Banner before he went off the grid. A group of no-name terrorists managed to infiltrate the building, secure the data, and leave at night without anyone seeing them."

"No name? Hardly sounds like terrorists," Ward interjected.

"Well 'lunatics with guns' takes the threat out of it," Coulson shot back.

"Moving on," Hill rolled her eyes. Ward didn't even notice her slip into the room.

"Right, so we need to scout the place out. Try to find where they broke in, where their possible exfiltration point was, and then find the encampment. The analysts have narrowed it down to a five-block radius and we have a cloaked drone scanning the area." Coulson finished.

"We have a drone circling the area and it hasn't found them yet?" Ward asked in disbelief.

"What can I say, they're good at hiding?" Coulson answered.

"The point is, you and Phil are going in, scouting the place out, and finding them. Once you find them, radio back for instructions." Hill barged in.

"Ma'am, with all due respect, I am a specialist. I go in alone, I get it done. Having a partner isn't really my speed." Ward said.

"And with all due respect to you, Agent Ward, this is not a partnership. You're joining a team. Get over it, and get the job done, specialist." Hill left no room for debate as she took her clipboard and exited the room.

Ward looked at Coulson in disbelief. Before he could open his mouth to try and argue his way out of this, Coulson stood up.

"Welcome to the team, Agent Ward. Pack your things, we leave at 1100 hours." With that, Coulson stood and took his leave.