A/N: Based partly on the askfic prompt: may/skye – brontide: the low rumbling of distant thunder, but also from a headcanon from my friend Lilly that I had to lengthen into a fic. Title from Tomorrow by Daughter.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Her first mistake was going in alone. Her second was getting caught.

She's tied to a chair, plastic cuffs digging into the skin of her wrists, glaring at the man pacing in front of her.

"Let me go," she grits out, struggling against the bonds. "If you really are my father, you wouldn't treat me like this."

"Oh, I'm your father, believe me Luna," the man replies with a grin, and she cringes again at the name.

"My name isn't Luna, it's Skye," she repeats again, and the man who claims he's her father waves his hand and her comment away.

"Your name is Luna," he simply says, ignoring her noise of frustration. "Even if your mother would never have approved."

"My mother loved me-"

"I took you because your mother was going to give you up," he interrupts, and for once Skye is glad for the restraints, because she's almost positive she'd have flown at him if she could. "She was a SHIELD agent, and her career was more important to her than you."

"That isn't true!" Skye exclaims, surging forward and wincing when the plastic cut deeper into her wrists.

"Of course you wouldn't want to believe it," her father says, continuing to pace again. "You didn't know her. Not like I did. Not like I do."

"Shut up shut up!" Skye shouted, straining against the cuffs and fighting the urge to cry out when she felt the slippery drops of blood against her wrist.

"Melinda didn't want you, but I did!" her father yells over her, whirling around to look down at her, a wild light in his eyes. Skye stops struggling, all the fight draining out of her.

"Melinda?" she asks, voice barely above a whisper. "Melinda May?"

"The one and only," is the sneered answer she gets, but before he can say anything, there's the sharp sound of gunfire, then a few seconds of silence before she hears Bobbi's voice call out her name.

"I'm here!" Skye shouts as loudly as she can. "We're here!"

Her father looks at her, something like disappointment in his face before he turns and runs, heading for the back door. She keeps yelling until the door bursts open; Bobbi and Trip are followed closely by Lance. She points them to where her father disappeared to while Lance cuts away the ties, gently dabbing away the blood from where the ties dug in.

Bobbi and Trip return a few minutes later, breathless, angry, and empty-handed. May and Jemma arrive a few minutes later, both worried as Jemma checks her over; May chastises her going off alone, but Skye can barely look at her.

Melinda May is my mother is the only thing she can think.

Skye's avoiding her.

In the week following rescuing her from her father, Skye hasn't been within ten feet of her. She hasn't eaten with them, has barely left her room, and May hasn't been able to get her into the gym with her at all. She hasn't forced her because something had obviously shaken her during her encounter with her father, but seven days is long enough.

She simply walks into Skye's room and shuts the door, causing the young woman to flinch, looking up from the computer screen in front of her and quickly shutting the laptop.

"Care to tell me why you've been avoiding me for the last week?" she asks bluntly, folding her arms and squaring her stance. Skye swallows, eyes glued to her fingers as she picks at her nails.

"Not really?" she tries, shrugging her shoulders. May frowns, folding her arms tighter.

"Something happened when your father took you," she says, watching the way Skye's shoulders tense and her knuckles turn white as her fingers gripped each other. "Skye-"

"Did you have a kid?" Skye interrupts, finally lifting her gaze to look at May's face. She freezes, breath caught in her chest.

"I don't see how that would ever be relevant-"

"Who were you married to?" Skye pushes, and May's shoulders stiffen.

"Skye-"

"Why can't you just answer a question?" Skye bursts out, eyes holding a wet shimmer they hadn't before. May takes a breath, clenches her fists, and squares her shoulders.

"I was married to a man named Richard Evans; I married him when I was in my mid-twenties, a few years after I graduated from the Academy," she starts softly, barely noticing when Skye began to type furiously on her laptop. "He was a doctor, and a brilliant man."

"Is this him?" Skye asks, turning the laptop around- an old picture of her ex-husband inhabited the screen, and May nodded, slightly confused. Skye inhaled sharply, but said nothing, merely turning the laptop back towards her.

"We were married for a few years when I got pregnant," May says, and she feels herself harden further. "I'd never intended on children- I had a dangerous career and they'd just never been something I'd thought about. Richard was ecstatic but I was more hesitant."

She swallows, closing her eyes briefly before continuing.

"We fought about it a lot. Practically up until I went into labor, really. Not that it mattered," she pauses, voice so soft Skye has to lean closer to hear her. "Twenty hours of labor, and my daughter died less than an hour after she was born."

She hears Skye inhale sharply, but she barely acknowledges it, continuing with the story.

"They told me she had an unknown heart defect that hadn't been detected on any of the ultrasounds. Her heart had just…stopped beating," May whispers, voice thick. "I never even got to hold her."

When she looks up, Skye has tears in her eyes and May has to look away again, because she can't stand the emotion she sees there.

"Richard and I grew distant after- we separated barely a month after I left the hospital. Not long after that, I volunteered to go to Bahrain. When I got back, he was gone with only signed divorce papers in his place, which I signed and sent back immediately," May finishes, relaxing her shoulders slightly. "I haven't heard from him since, and I don't care to."

Skye doesn't say anything, and when May looks up there are tears on the younger woman's cheeks; May starts to reach for her in alarm before she stops, hand stuck in mid-air. "Skye?"

"He was right," Skye whispers, and May's brow furrows. "It can't be possible…"

"Skye what are you talking about?" May asks, unable to explain the sudden pressure in her chest at the way Skye was looking at her.

"Richard Evans is my father- he's the man who took me," Skye starts, voice watery as tears continued to fall. "He told me my mother was a SHIELD agent who was going to give me up because her career was more important- he even said your name but I couldn't believe it. It can't be you. But it is, it's you- you're my mother."

"No," is the only thing May can say, head spinning and chest tight. "My daughter died over twenty years ago."

"But what if she didn't?" Skye asks, swiping at the tears under her eyes. "All this time searching and you've been in front of me the entire time."

"It isn't possible," May repeats, shaking her head. "My daughter is dead."

"May-"

"No, I can't do this," May says, heading for the door, leaving Skye half-off the bed as she grips the doorknob. "I'm sorry I just- I can't hear this right now."

The door shuts with a slam.

May doesn't show up for dinner, and Phil can't find her in any of the communal areas; she's not at the gym or the kitchen, so that leaves only one place. He doesn't even bother knocking, just walks in her room, shuts the door, and tries to hide his shock at what he finds.

May is curled up in her chair by the window, staring out at nothing; she hadn't even reacted to his entering the room, something that had only happened one other time in the entire time he'd known her. The fact that it had been after Bahrain does not sit well with Phil.

"May?" he asks softly, moving closer to her. She didn't react; barely even moved until he gently laid a hand on her arm. At his touch she turned her head to look at him, eyes dull and red-rimmed, cheeks showcasing dried tear tracks.

"My daughter died twenty three years ago," is all she says, and he knows something is very, very wrong.

"May, what happened?" he asks, crouching down and looking up at her, hand wrapped tightly around hers. "Talk to me."

"I lost my baby," May whispers, and she opens her mouth to say something else but instead her face crumbles as she burst into tears. Coulson moves forward instantly, wrapping her in his arms as she starts to cry; with a little maneuvering he managed to sit in the chair with May on his lap.

"Hey, hey," Phil whispers into her hair, hand on her back as she tried to catch her breath. "It's okay, you're okay."

"My daughter- my daughter died twenty three years ago, Phil," Melinda whispers, hiccupping slightly as she gripped the collar of his jacket. "And now- and now she's here."

Phil frowned, brushing a hand through her hair and tilting her chin up; he brushed away the tears gathered under her eyes and cupped her cheek. "What are you talking about, Melinda?"

"Skye," she whispered, lower lip trembling. "She said- she said he took her from me and he hid her and he let me think that she died all those years ago."

"May, who is he?"

"Richard," May whispered, and Phil's fingers tightened against her back as his jaw clenched. "He's her father. He's who took her. Phil, he told her-"

May cuts herself off with a soft sob, and she buries her face in his chest for a moment and tries to collect herself enough to answer. "He told her I was going to give my baby up. That my career was more important than my child."

"We both know that isn't true, Melinda," Phil whispers, tucking her hair behind her ear as he leans his head in closer. "You loved that baby more than anything and you were so excited when you called me to tell me you had decided to keep her. He didn't know you at all, we both know that."

"But how?" May asked, wiping at her eyes, sudden energy in her movements. "How can Skye be my daughter? Shouldn't- shouldn't a mother know her daughter the moment she sees her?"

"Your daughter was taken from you before you could even hold her, Melinda," Phil answered gently, watching as May swallowed. "You've spent over twenty years thinking your child was dead. You didn't expect her to fall into your lap like this. Maybe…maybe you just have to accept this as the gift that it is."

"But what if I'm not good enough?" May asks, voice a soft whisper that breaks his heart. "I'm not- I'm not who I was before Bahrain. I'm not who I was when I was ready to be a mother."

"Do you love her?" Coulson asks quietly, and she swallows, looking up at him with tears threatening to fall before she nods almost frantically.

"Of course I love her," she whispers, voice thick. "She's strong, capable, smart- she's grown up so much and I can't imagine not having her around. And she's…she's mine, in a way I can barely wrap my mind around. Phil she's my daughter."

"And you're her mom," Phil replied, offering her a hint of a smile. "Nothing's going to change overnight. It can't. But you can work through this change together. You both love each other enough to make whatever needs to happen work."

"I love you," she says after a moment, looking up at him and touching his jaw, fingers tracing along it.

"I know," he merely answers, lips curling upwards at the smile she gives him. She leans forward, kissing him lightly, before slipping off of his lap and stretching her limbs.

"I'm going to talk to her," she says, straightening out her shirt and running a hand through her hair. "My door will be unlocked tonight, if you…"

"I'll be here," is all he says, and she offers him a half-smile, fingers brushing his lightly as she walks away, the door shutting with a soft click behind her.

Skye looks up from her laptop at the knock, calling out to whoever it is to come in; she stiffens a little at the sight of May.

"Mind if I come in?" she asks quietly, and Skye considers it for a minute before she nods. May shuts the door quietly behind her, coming to sit at the foot of Skye's bed. Skye shuts her laptop and shifts, drawing her knees up to her chest and linking her hands near her ankles. "I'm sorry."

Skye's head shoots up, eyes wide with surprise at the soft words. May's lips quirk upwards slightly, the barest hint of a smile.

"I put my daughter's death behind me a long time ago," she continued, looking down at her hands laced together in her lap. "The possibility- the idea that my daughter has been alive for the past twenty three years was a lot to take in all at once. I shouldn't have been so abrupt, but I've spent a lot of time sealing it away inside of me that having it wrenched open- it hurt."

May looks up at her, and Skye is shocked by the wetness on her cheeks. She reaches out, fingers resting gently on her wrist, and May's other hand reaches out to grip her hand tightly, anchoring herself.

"I didn't even give my daughter a name," May whispers, keeping Skye's fingers in an iron grip. "It hurt too much to think about."

She reaches up, fingers touching Skye's wet cheek lightly and offers her the barest ghost of a smile. "Skye seems like a good choice though."

Skye lets out a watery laugh, ducking her head slightly as she wipes at her cheeks again. May looks at her for a moment, contemplating, before she tilts Skye's chin up slightly.

"You know- you do kind of have my nose," she says thoughtfully, and Skye laughs fully this time, shifting so she's sitting a little closer to May, head level with hers.

"I'm not going to- suddenly start calling you Mom, or anything," she starts hesitantly, tucking her hair behind her ear. "But I would like to get to know you better."

"I'd like that too," May replied, reaching over to take Skye's hand. "And…I would like to be your mom. However long it takes, we can do this together. I'm not going anywhere. I…I want this to be a good fit."

"Me too," Skye whispers, eyes wet but lips curled into a smile that May returned, her own eyes a little damp. She leaned forward, wrapping Skye in a hug that she burrowed into, nose pressed to her neck and arms around her waist. "We're gonna be okay."

"Yeah," May whispered into her hair, holding her tighter. "We're going to be just fine."