Patience

I absolutely love May and I'm obsessed with her and Coulson. They obviously have history together and I believe it is a romantic history. Nothing as dramatic as they were in love with each other and one of them broke the others heart, but more a deep understand and respect towards each other that came from working together. In saying that, the shipper in me says they loved each other (and still do to some degree), but after what happened to May she changed, maybe pulled away from anything that made her feel human or reminded her of a time she wanted to forget. I tried to capture that type of relationship here and show what May could have been like around Coulson before Bahrain.

I wrote this story after being inspired by TheMse09 - Coulson/May youtube video called 'Won't give up on us.' If you haven't already watched it I suggest you go check it out, it's simply amazing.

Enjoy

Coulson ran has hand down Mays' bareback, stopping for a second on the mole above her right hip. She was fast asleep, sprawled out on her stomach. He pushed the hair off her shoulder and lowered his lips, carefully tracing kisses across her shoulder blades and down the curve of her back.

"Mmm what time is it?" Mays voice was heavy with sleep as she propped herself up on her elbows.

"3.20." Coulson said, cupping her face and bringing his lips to hers. He kissed her slowly and softly, allowing her to fully wake up.

"We should get up Phil, we have a plane to catch."

"Not for another 10 minutes."

May chuckled, cocking her eyebrow "You going to give me the 'we can be quick speech'?"

Coulson shook his head, running his hand down her back again. Noticing the goose bumps he pulled the blankets up to cover them.

"What are you going to do when we go home?"

May shrugged, if the question surprised her she didn't show it. "Go and see my family perhaps. My sister would have had her baby by now. He probably won't even be a baby when I meet him" May sighed. They lay there in silence for a few minutes, Coulson continuing to trace patterns on Mays shoulders.

"What will you do?"

"Shower under hot water for an hour, eat an obnoxious amount of proper food, and sleep for a week on an actually bed, none of this concrete slab bullshit. It'll be bliss." He winked at her, receiving a small smile.

He frowned. "What's wrong Mel?"

May shook her head, wrapping the blanket around her as she rolled onto her back. Coulson stared at her, urging her to talk to him.

"I miss America." It was all she said before she quickly stood and walked to the bathroom.

Coulson waited until her heard the sound of the shower before starting to get dressed. He threw all his clothes into a duffel bag, doing the same with Mays', only leaving out clothes for her to wear that day. He sat on the bed and looked around the tiny room they had called home for the past 5 months. There was a full moon casting a faint blue tinge to the dirty brown walls. The wooden closet to the right of the bed was faded and probably older than he was. There was mould in the corner above their tiny window, which looked down on the street, and finally the dusty old fireplace in the corner of the room. It sat there sealed and unused.

Coulson smiled. On a particularly cold night during their first month here, they had drank a little too much vodka and decided it would be a great idea to try and unseal the fireplace to get some warmth into their freezing bodies. Coulson had sliced his hand open within the first 5 minutes of trying to pry it open. May had fussed over him for an hour, worried it might get infected and they would have to explain to HQ why the mission failed.

"Sorry guys, we couldn't complete the mission, May and I got cold and while carrying out a drunken idea I've busted my hand up." That wouldn't have gone down too well.

Coulson heard May getting changed behind him. He remained seated, looking at the fireplace, until she sat down beside him.

"It would be nice if they sent us to Thailand for a mission."

May gave him a small smile, "After what happened in Saint Petersburg last week I'd say that's were we are headed."

"I miss home too." Coulson said as he reached over and tangled his fingers with hers. May rest her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

"It's better with you." She whispered, so softly he almost missed it. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a small box and holding it out to her.

"Open it." He said as she frowned at him. She obeyed. Taking the box, she carefully pulled the top off revealing a small black stone engraved with one Chinese character.

"It's beautiful" May said, as she ran her thumb over the face of the stone. "Patience?"

Coulson just nodded, his eyes never leaving hers. "Merry Christmas Melinda." He kissed her temple as he felt her slip an arm around his waist, pulling him close. They stayed like that until they heard gunfire off in the distance.

"We have to go" May said as she stood, throwing her duffel bag over her shoulder.

Coulson stood beside her in the doorway. "Can't believe this is one of the nicer places we've stayed."

"Thailand would be nicer."

Coulson smirked at her, "Have patience, maybe one day we will get to choose our own missions."

"We can dream." May laughed at him as she pulled the door shut behind them.