She had been gone too long.

Coulson started to realise something wasn't right about half an hour after the rest of the team returned to the BUS. He'd brushed his worries away at first, but as time went on he could sense something was wrong.

The team had all been out in the city, spread out in multiple locations watching various targets. Ward had gone with Skye, and Fitzsimmons had gone together. May had gone alone, saying she could handle it. He'd remained behind gathering more intelligence about the targets they were tracking, preparing a file to show them all once they had returned.

It hadn't meant to be a high-risk operation, just surveillance. The people they were following were members of HYDRA, but reportedly low-level; a few soldiers, a scientist, a computer expert. Nobody that warranted the team taking extra caution, so they had gone out with just a handgun each. It was supposed to have been an easy job, if ever there were one, which made him all the more concerned that she hadn't come back.

Ward and Skye had returned first, and Fitzsimmons had followed shortly afterwards. None of them claimed to have seen May since they had left earlier that afternoon.

She was always on time, she kept to schedule, and if things had changed plan, she would have contacted someone. No, something had definitely happened.

He tried calling her phone again, but it went straight through to voicemail without ringing. She wouldn't have turned it off during a mission.

The unease in his stomach was spreading. It had been an hour since she should have returned. He made a decision.

"Skye" he called.

A few moments later the Hacker came into his office, a look of concern clearly displayed on her face. He wasn't the only one to notice this was out of the ordinary.

"Have you heard from her?" she asked him.

"No, nothing." He swallowed. "I…I think something might have happened. It's switched off, but I want you to track her phone."

If Coulson wants to track her phone, Skye thought, he must really be worried.

"Should be simple, assuming it is just switched off" she replied, but then looked at him. "If it's been broken or the battery removed however, it is going to be much harder to locate."

Coulson sighed. "Well, let's hope it's the former."

Skye nodded in reply, and turned to leave the office. Just before she did however she looked back to see him fiddling nervously with his phone, as though he were willing it to ring any moment. "She'll be okay won't she?"

He glanced back up at her.

"I mean, it's May. If anything happens she'll just go all kick-ass and take down whoever it is…she's the Cavalry right?"

Coulson gave a sad smile. "She hates being called that."

Skye noticed he'd not answered the question properly, but she saw the pain and worry in his eyes, so just nodded again, walked out of the office, and headed off to search the system, leaving Coulson in his office alone.

Where are you Melinda? He thought to himself. What's happened to you?

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