A/N: We did it! We made it, lovely readers. We have finally finished this story and - get this - in less than a year. You heard me. Less. Are you happy? I'm happy.

I'm sorry I didn't get this up sooner; I've had a cough for a couple of weeks which turned into what we think was a sort of bug... I just got a lot of headaches - whenever I read or looked at a screen. Not fun.

Anyway, more to the point, this is going to be confusing. For future reference, present day means where we were at the end of the last chapter. Three weeks ago is when Skye died.

See you at the end of the chapter!

Three weeks ago

"Skye? Skye, look at me. Can you look at me? Good girl. Oh, my God, she's awake. She's waking up. I need more morphine. Or any anaesthetic. Someone get me something!"

There was a mad scuffle as a lesser agent tried to find something. Since Skye was already unconscious, they hadn't wanted to affect her already slowing heart rate any further, and in her state they doubted that she was feeling much at all anyway.

"C- " said Skye.

"Don't try to talk, Skye. It's fine. It's going to be fine," Simmons soothed. She'd already asked Coulson to come in. He was right there, holding her hand. She thought he'd want to be there if things ... went south.

"She's been brainwashed," confirmed Agent Morton, coming over.

Simmons shot him a panicky look, gesturing towards the patient on the table in front of them. Morton's eyes widened and he swore under his breath. "Did she hear?" he mouthed.

From the looks of Skye's stricken face, she had. Her mouth opened but all that came out was blood. "Shit!" someone yelled. "The scalpel punctured a lung. Shit!"

"Csy," Skye choked out. Coulson leaned closer.

"What's she trying to say?"

"Ct-sy," Skye said. Her eyes began to flutter closed.

"Oh my God, courtesy? You want to perform Operation Courtesy?"

Skye groaned and shut her eyes.

"Morphine," Simmons said, grabbing it from a pair of shaking hands.

"She wants to - "

"Coulson, there is someone inside her chest trying to stitch up her lungs. There is a bullet in there with that, she's bleeding internally, and she can't breathe. With all due respects, back off. Now."

Present day

Bobbi walked slowly, carefully. It hurt like hell, but she was walking. Screw the doctors. She was doing well. Walking without crutches was a massive step up.

She stumbled the last few steps and feel into Hunter's arms. He lifted her up and sat her back in her wheelchair. "Hey," she said. "I use crutches now, remember?"

"Not after that, you don't," he said, somewhat grimly. "That was bloody amazing, Bob, but now you need a rest. OK? Bobbi?"

She was blinking mist out of her vision. Her knee was hurting pretty badly now. Fighting back a groan, she nodded and smiled at Hunter. "Fine," she said.

"You just stared into space for about ten seconds. You weren't ready for that, were you? Did Simmons even - "

"No," she cut in, "she didn't."

Hunter swore. "For goodness' sake, Bobbi, you have to be careful here! This injury is bloody serious and you know it. How can you have thought that putting your entire body's weight on it was going to help it? One wrong move here and you're screwed for life, OK?"

"I just," she said. "I just feel like I'm being pathetic. Compared to Skye."

He stared.

"I know what you're going to say," she continued quickly. "But Skye got killed. She was shot in the chest, just like me, and here I am taking one step at a time, and look at her. She's dead, Hunter. She's dead and I keep thinking - "

She stopped, choking. Tears were welling up in her eyes. "I keep thinking that maybe it's - it's my fault."

Hunter crouched down beside her. "Bobbi, that's ridiculous."

"Maybe if I hadn't been so stupid as to get caught in the first place, maybe if I could have held on long enough for you to come and get me ... maybe I wouldn't have been shot. Maybe Kara wouldn't be dead and Ward wouldn't be out looking for Skye, and maybe if I could have been there, with you all, maybe that one extra man would have been enough to - to - save her, or s - something." She was crying. Why was she crying? "And why did it have to be her to die? I mean, it could have been me, and then - "

"Bobbi, I - "

"You don't understand, Hunter! You don't understand what it's like, to be the survivor! I can't even stand up and honour her memory!"

"Bobbi, it's not your fault. None of this is your fault, OK? You listen to me. Skye wouldn't want this. Skye died for all of us - "

"How did she die for all of us? She got shot because May's bullet missed."

Hunter cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. "She was trying to step in front of Ward so that he wouldn't shoot anything else. She just picked the wrong moment."

"Hunter - "

"Shh," he murmured.

She pointed to the screen on the wall. "Hunter, Ward's not in his cell."

Three weeks ago

"She's stable."

Jemma stumbled back into Coulson and, not having the heart to move, collapsed against his chest. He only just caught her in time. Never had two words brought so much relief.

"Now out," he said, surprising her. "All of you, out."

Frowning and muttering, the doctors and surgeons left. "Why?" she asked, turning around.

"Operation Courtesy," he said. "We were discussing it before Ward took her."

"What is it?"

"It's an old protocol, hardly ever used. She was reading about it. Basically, when an agent goes through an ordeal, SHIELD's rules state that Courtesy may be initiated. The agent, if they have the chance to give permission, may be saved on the operating table but the doctors operating on them tell the entire world that they are dead. The survived agent is then free to go and live a full life outside of SHIELD, with a new name and identity."

"That's horrible!" Simmons exclaimed. "Why would you want to do that to her?"

"She wants it herself. She was brainwashed. She needs time."

"Coulson, there was blood in her mouth. She could have been saying anything."

"I'm doing this, Simmons. And as director of SHIELD, I'm ordering you to go out there and tell them that she's dead."

"You're delusional! That idea is delusional! I don't know why - "

"That is an order."

"No!"

"Simmons," he said harshly. "It's what she wants. Respect her wishes."

Four months from now

"It's time to admit that we need help," Coulson said. "We are no closer to finding Ward, we have an alien planet, Hydra's doing something weird and we ... need something extra. Something to help us."

"So," Hunter prompted.

"Simmons?"

"We ... we weren't exactly honest with you," she said quietly.

"When?" May asked.

"On the day that Skye was shot," Coulson said.

"What was there to lie about?" Fitz asked them angrily. "What's going on now?"

"Skye ... " said Bobbi. "When Ward escaped, I started searching through the data logs. Searching for which lanyards opened which doors, et cetera. Skye's ID card was used."

"That's impossible," Hunter cut in angrily. "We buried it with her."

"But that's the thing," Simmons said. "We didn't bury her."

Present day

"Are you ready? Do you have everything?"

"You sound like you're my mother," Skye grinned. "Yes, I have my toothbrush."

Simmons handed her a passport.

Bobbi and Coulson stood at the side. Bobbi was back in her crutches. It was a few days after she'd found Skye's ID card in the system - she'd gone straight to Coulson, who was with Simmons, who accidentally came clean anyway.

"Well, good luck, I guess," Bobbi said.

"We'll call," Simmons promised. "And I want to meet up with you when you're settled in to your new apartment."

"Maybe that's not a good - " Coulson tried, but Simmons tutted loudly, interrupting him.

"Sure," said Skye.

"Look after yourself, OK?" Bobbi smiled.

Skye nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, here goes," said Simmons, taking a deep, slightly tearful breath. "See you soon, Skye."

Skye gave her a watery smile. "It's Daisy, now."

Four days ago

It hadn't been Skye's fault that she'd helped Ward escape. Simmons hadn't cleared her medically to sort out the brainwashing yet and, slightly disorientated thanks to all her pain mess, Skye had wondered down to the camera management room, put the camera for Vault D on a loop, and somehow managed to get him out of the base without anyone noticing.

Coulson couldn't get any more information out of her because she was still confined to her bed for three days and every time he brought it up she pretended to go to sleep.

They were lucky that it was only Bobbi who found out.

Four months from now

"What the hell," said May, ominously.

"What the hell," Hunter agreed.

"Look," said Coulson. "We never told you the whole story."

"You're right, you didn't," Fitz burst out. Simmons rubbed his arm soothingly, but he shoved her away. "Get off me."

"Ward brainwashed her. That's why she stepped in front of him and took the bullet." May and Hunter looked at each other. "He also had her drugged. We don't know exactly what happened, but we know that it was bad enough for her to want to give up on everything when she found out. She woke up on the table, and told us what she wanted."

"Which was ... ?"

"To start over. To leave SHIELD, to have a real life. Maybe not forever, but for long enough that she could find herself again."

"And did she?" Hunter didn't appear to be able to stop himself.

"Yes."

They all turned around to see whose voice it was.

She was standing in the doorway.

"Skye?" Fitz breathed.

She gave a smile so wide it threatened to split her face in half. Then she said, correcting him, "Daisy."

Fin.

A/N: It's done! Finished! Finally!

Major thank yous are owed to all of the people who have supported this fic by reviewing, in particular those who have left more than one or two - thank you to Brenda, Foxy redhead, bhut and annavale23, who have left the most. Also, thank you to all the guests, several of whom I'm pretty sure reviewed every chapter, or near enough.

If you've followed or favourited this story, you have my eternal gratitude.

This basically leaves off exactly where Season 3 starts, minus the fact that Simmons is there. Other than that, it was basically a between-seasons fic.

Thank you all again for your constant support,

LadyMorganaPendragon