The Broken Man

A/N This is NOT a continuation of another story. I'm going to try to write some missing scenes from each of the remaining episodes. Just know that this story contains references to what happened on AoS. Also, even though I enjoy the Coulson/Skye pairing, it doesn't mean that I don't thoroughly appreciate all the other ships and the fans who love them. You people are the good guys that keep our show ship afloat!

Coulson felt the sweat dripping down his back under his suit. He remained focused on May even though he literally felt the plane shifting beneath him. His brain raced, trying to make sense of what was going on. Fitz was in the lab, Ward in the interrogation room, and Jemma wasn't even on the bus. Skye and May were right below him, so who the hell was turning the damn plane? An overwhelming sense of dread filled him as he realized that right then, at this moment, the plane moving was just a metaphor for his life. It was all coming out from under him both literally and figuratively. He blinked as his vision began to blur. Taking a step back, he struggled to keep the gun pointed at May. Leaning against the wall kept him upright, but he was losing the battle.

Not now, he thought to himself. Below May and Skye began to realize that he was losing control.

"Coulson, you okay?" He heard Skye's voice, but it seemed so very far away. He stumbled, dropping the gun, and sat heavily on the walkway. May turned to Skye.

"I promise you, Skye. I am not the bad guy here. I don't know who is flying this plane." She looked back up at Coulson who sat trembling and disoriented. "He needs help. Please, Skye."

Skye lowered her gun. At this point it didn't seem to matter what May was doing with the encrypted line. She didn't necessarily trust her, but hard times called for hard measures.

"Just don't try to pick up the gun." She told May. The older agent nodded in agreement.

"You and Fitz see what you can do for him." May said tersely. "I'm letting Ward out so we can try to regain control of the plane. "Ok?"

Asking her for permission was a good strategy. Skye appreciated that the pilot considered her perspective even in this mess. She nodded, and May took the steps two at a time to get to the interrogation room. Putting up her gun, Skye motioned frantically to Fitz who opened the lab door.

"What the hell, Skye!" The Scotsman yelled. "Why did you let her go?"

"Coulson's down," Skye replied, "and someone is messing with this plane. I had to trust someone, Fitz! She's going to get Ward and try to regain control of the bus. I need you to help me."

They bounded up the stairs to where their boss sat. His face was pale and he was sweating.

"What's wrong with him?" Fitz asked, frightened by the image of the one man who was always in control losing it. He reached out to touch Coulson's shoulder, but Skye stopped him.

"He's having a panic attack I think." She said. "It's better you don't touch him. We just need to let him come back to us." Even as she finished her sentence, she could see some sort of reality come into Coulson's eyes. "Hey, you back with us?" She asked gently. However, not like other times she'd seen him come back from a flashback, he didn't seem to know where he was, or what had just happened. Skye reached over him and picked up his gun. She handed it to Fitz, who ran down and placed it in the lab. Then he returned to the couple. Coulson started shaking, his head banging against the wall. Fitz put a hand behind the senior agent's head and took the brunt of the banging on his own knuckles. It finally stopped, and Skye knew they had to get him somewhere safer in case the shaking resumed.

"Fitz, help me get him up." She pulled on one side while Fitz took the other and they got him to his feet. "His office is closest, let's go there if we can." She instructed and they led a meek and seemingly helpless senior S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to his room and laid him on the bed. Skye's concern continued to rocket when he made no sound the whole time. This, she knew, could not be a good sign.

"God, where's Jemma when we need her." Fitz mumbled. He missed the calm, reassuring presence of his colleague. Skye nodded, she missed her friend terribly as well. Suddenly, she and Fitz felt the plane turning quite sharply and they held on to each other.

"I've got to go see what's happening, Fitz, but he shouldn't be alone. Stay here?"

The Scotsman nodded in agreement. "Be careful, Skye." She left the room while Fitz settled in Coulson's desk chair.

On the bed Coulson was stuck in his own nightmare….

"She doesn't mean those things, Phil." His dad looked across the front seat of the car at him. "She's sick. You… you know that what she said isn't true?" Six-year-old Phil looked darkly at his father. Maybe, he thought. But, she says it all the time. He could hear his mother's voice clearly in his head. "You're nothing more than a parasite on the backside of humanity!" She had told him. And whether she meant it or not, in his very being, he felt dirty, unworthy and hopeless. In his young mind, he wanted more than anything to somehow make her love him, to prove his worth to her. His dad sighed and ruffled his son's hair. "You're a good boy, Phil." He said with a sad smile. And those were the last words Phil ever heard his father speak. The semi ran through the red light without slowing. It impacted their car on the driver's side and nearly crushed it in half. Phil was pressed against his door with his father shoved into him. Blood was everywhere. The smell of burning rubber and the sound of his father's gurgled breaths surrounded him. He began to scream. "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!" His father had stopped breathing by the time the firemen had cut them out of the car. Aside from some major bruises and cuts, Phil, the parasite, had survived. His mother met them at the hospital. When she saw that he was alright, she left to go call her family. Phil was left with the ER nurses who wondered about the stoic little boy being alone after such a trauma.

His mother lived off his father's hard won pension after that. She grew even colder toward her son and he struggled to understand why she seemed to hate him so much. He worked tirelessly to do everything right by her. While his friends enjoyed the fun of a normal childhood where their mistakes were forgiven and they were loved unconditionally, Phil grew up fast and struggled to not only take care of himself, but his mother as well. Now, without his father's freely given love, the youngster strived to be perfect in the eyes of his mother. Not ever realizing that what she wanted was twisted and wrong, and that no child should have to live up to those expectations. But, Phil tried. And when she finally passed away, it was without ever acknowledging her son's sweet, kind soul. But, this experience molded him into an agent that gave his all to the cause of right, while still having a compassionate side for those who needed it. It was the best he could do, after all….

Fitz looked up as Skye barged into the office. "May and Ward have the plane back under control!" she told him. Looking toward the bed, she asked "Has he said anything yet?"

Fitz shook his head. "I don't think he's here, Skye. He's in his own head somewhere."

They looked at their boss and mentor with concern. "All we can do is wait." Skye sighed and sat down next to her AC on the bed. "He's strong. He'll be okay." She said firmly as she smoothed some stray hairs on his forehead. "Come back to me, AC."

To be continued.