So this is my first attempt at a multi-chapter AoS fic.

I was inspired by its-amagicalplace with her 'Subtract the Distance' which is an incredible story by the way and I suggest you check it out.

Anyway. here's chapter one for you, enjoy.

It'd been a long day for Phil Coulson, and the last thing he wanted to do was go out to a bar. Yet here he was, sitting with his work friends in a bar that smelt of peanuts and beer whilst they talk about everything from the weekend's football game to their college students latest antics. Phil sighed under his breath for the seventh time that night as he heard one of them talk about the cheerleaders, before he polished off his beer and stood up "Next round's on me," he announced.

"Thanks, man," one of them, Alphonso 'Mack' MacKensie, replied. He was a big guy, and anyone who looked at him would've thought he was a wrestler or a boxer. But he was smart and taught Engineering at the college.

Nodding in reply, Phil turned around and walked over to the bar, taking a seat as he waited to be served "Scotch on the rocks, thanks," he heard someone say as they sat down a couple stools down from him. He turned to see a woman taking off her leather jacket. She looked like she was in her mid-thirties, Chinese. He saw she was wearing all back, jeans, a v-neck top and wedged ankle boots. Her dark brown hair was down, hanging around her shoulders as she ran a hand through it.

He realized he was staring when the bartender slid the drink over on a napkin before turning to him "What can I get you?" he asked.

Snapping out of his trance, he looked at the man in front of him "Yeah, I'll take 4 beers thanks,"

"No worries," he replied. The more he talked, the more Phil could make out his Australian accent. It was still there, but guessed it'd faded a bit due to living in the States for a while.

Turning his head back to the woman a couple seats down from him, he noticed her roll her eyes at her phone before haphazardly putting it on the bar, shaking her head.

"Long day?" he asked her before he could stop himself. She turned her head to face him before scoffing.

"You could say that," she replied. As he saw her while face, he took the liberty to look at her properly, taking in the sight before him. She was really quite beautiful, and her arms were toned, strong "What about you?" she asked, snapping him out of his gaze.

"What about me?" he asked.

She shrugged before replying "You don't exactly look like you wanna be here,"

Phil smirked at her and tossed a glance to the three others he came here with "I was dragged here,"

"Sounds like fun," she replied sarcastically, making him grin.

"I'm Phil, by the way," he said, holding his hand out for her to take.

"Melinda," she replied, shaking it firmly. Before either of them could say another word, the phone she had previously thrown onto the bar started ringing. Sighing slightly, she looked at him apologetically "I have to take this,"

"Sure, go ahead," he smiled, which she returned slightly before standing up an walking outside. The bartender slid the four beers he ordered in front of him, and Phil paid for them, tipping him in the process "Thanks, man," he nodded to him.

A second later, Melinda came back into the bar, and picked up her jacket from the stool before seeing he was still standing there "I gotta go," she said "But it was really nice meeting you, Phil,"

Smiling in return, he replied "Yeah, you too,"

"I'll see you 'round," she said with a smile before she started to walk out the bar.

Hopefully, he thought to himself before strategically picking up the four beers and carrying them back to the table.

"Yo, Coulson," one of them, Mike Peterson, smirked at him "Who's the girl?"

It was 10 o'clock by the time he got home, and he was exhausted. As he stepped through the front door of his apartment, he saw the living room light on and walked towards it.

Rounding the corner, he found a figure curled up on the couch with a tub of ice cream as they watched a movie.

"Hey, Skye," he greeted and took his suit jacket and tie off, throwing it on the back of a chair as he walked towards the teenager on the couch.

"Hey, Dad," she replied, looking up at him as he plopped down on the couch next to her. She shifted in her position so that she was sitting with her back against the arm rest and her feet were in his lap "How was work?" she asked, taking a spoonful of salted caramel ice cream into her mouth.

"Oh, you know, the usual," he replied with a sigh "Classes, staff meetings and a bar," Skye narrowed her eyes at him and leaned forward slightly "What?"

"You met someone," she blurted out, her eyes still narrowed, trying to read his face.

"Wha-I-no I didn't-" he stuttered and she burst out laughing.

"Oh my god, you did!" she replied, smiling from ear to ear and putting the tub of icecream on the coffee table "What's her name?"

Phil rolled his eyes and shook his head "You're insane,"

"No, no, usually you make some lame comment about it being a lame bar that your friends dragged you out to for a lame night," she explained "But not this time, which means it wasn't as bad a night as it usually is,"

"Why does that mean I met someone?" he asked.

Skye shrugged "Because I know your 'it was a fun night' face and this is not it," she replied "Which means the night itself wasn't fun but something happened, so tell me, what's her name?"

Phil sighed before shooting a look at his daughter "Melinda,"

"Melinda...?"

"That's all I know," he said before she could say anything else.

"Okay," she replied before grabbing the ice cream again and smirking "So is she hot?"

Phil looked at her incredulously before chuckling and shaking his head at her "Yes, she is very attractive," he replied "And no, I didn't get her number," he said when he saw her open her mouth.

"What?!" she sat up straight and punched him in the arm, eliciting a yelp from her father "You didn't get her number?! What were you thinking?!"

Rubbing his arm, he shrugged "She was in a hurry,"

Rolling her eyes, Skye passed over the icecream with the spoon sticking out of it "Here. You need this," she grumbled.

He took the tub from her and saw her fold her arms "What's wrong?" he asked "Why's this bothering you so much?"

"Dad, when was the last time you got laid?" she asked, making him choke on the ice cream in his mouth "Because you haven't dated anyone since Audrey and that was a while ago,"

"It wasn't that lon-"

"It was two years ago," she deadpanned him "I'm serious, you need to get out more, you need to be happy,"

"I am happy," he replied, taking another spoonful of ice cream into his mouth "You're all I need,"

"That's sweet, really. But you need someone else in your life," she said "You need someone who you can vent to when I've done something, and you need someone other than me, because you bitching to me about me isn't really gonna work, is it?"

"Skye, you don't have to worry about me," he said, grabbing her hand "I'm fine,"

Sighing, she rolled her eyes at him "Just promise me you'll try to get out there?"

"I promise," he replied, pulling her closer and placing a kiss in the top of her head.

"Good."

The next day, when he walked onto the Columbia University campus, all hell had broke loose. Students were crying and there were people running around everywhere, trying to keep the students in order. As he walked up to Mack, who was standing with Mike and Billy Koenig in confusion, he asked "What the hell's going on?"

"You haven't heard?" asked Billy, frowning.

Phil shook his head as Mack lowered his voice "A student was found dead in his dorm last night,"

"Oh, God," Phil replied, his eyes widening "Who?"

"I never met the kid, but apparently he was one of the smartest kids here," Mike said "Donnie Gill, did you know him?"

Phil nodded and sighed "Yeah, he was in my Crim101 class, he was friends with my daughter, too,"

"Damn," Mack said and patted him lightly on the back "Sorry, man,"

Phil nodded and gave him a weak smile "I'm gonna go check on my class, I'll catch up with you guys later,"

He walked through the corridors of crying students, and made his way to his class, where he knew some of his students would be. As he entered the classroom, he saw 90% of his class in there, they were all quiet and red-eyed. They were all sitting on their own, some in small groups of comfort. He saw extra faces among the students and there was no doubt that his students told them that his classroom was a safe place to go. He'd always prided himself on that.

"Hey," he said softly as he set his laptop bag on the desk and rounded it to lean on it "I just heard the news," They were all silent, with the occasional sniffles and whimpers, but they listened to him, they always did. "I am so sorry," he said, trying not to let him emotions lace through his voice, but failing miserably as it cracked. "And I don't know what I can say or do to make this better, to make you all feel better,"

He scanned the faces of the room and made eye contact with each and every one of them before saying "You're all safe here. And you can stay as long as you need," he nodded to them "I'll be here if you need to talk,"

One of his students ran up to him and crashed into him in a hug, sobbing. He didn't hesitate in wrapping his arms around the girl. She was one of Donnie's closest friends. He didn't have many, but he didn't need them when he had the few he did, including his daughter "You're okay, Jemma," he soothed "It's okay," he rubbed circles on her back as the majority of the students let it go too.

They didn't normally hug each other, but this was something they needed, him included. He managed to hold back the tears that had started to burn his eyes, he needed to be strong for his students, and breaking down on them wouldn't help any of them.

A knock at the door caught all their attention and Jemma pulled away, wiping the tears furiously from her eyes. He didn't let go of her arms, but turned towards the door "Phil," the headmaster, Nick Fury, said "The police are here, they wanna ask you some questions," he said solemnly. Fury had known Donnie Gill, too, and this was a trying time for them all.

Phil nodded at him before turning back to Jemma "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm alright now, thank you," she replied, her English accent thick "I'm sorry for breaking down on you like that,"

"Hey, it's no problem," he smiled at her "We both needed that, I think," Jemma was one of his brightest students, one of the youngest too, 17. She and along with Leo Fitz. They had been slow friends when they came to Columbia. They were always fighting, competing with each other, until they worked together. Now they were practically inseparable, so much so that everyone just referred to them as FitzSimmons - like they were a single body.

Skye came to the university so often that she had a lot of firneds here. But the closest friends she had were FitzSimmons, and then later Donnie, when he came along.

As he left Jemma and walked outside his classroom, to see a woman exchange a few words with Fury before he walked off and he approached her "Phil Coulson," he introduced himself.

"Special Agent Maria Hill, FBI," she replied, shaking his hand "I'm sorry for your loss," she said and he could see the sincerity in her eyes.

"Thank you, Agent Hill," he nodded "Donnie was a good kid and a brilliant student," he explained to her "He'll definitely be missed around here,"

Nodding in empathy, Hill gestured to the seat against the wall, causing them both to sit down "Was Donnie having any trouble lately? Friends? Family?"

"Not that I know of," Phil replied, shaking his head "He was always quiet, and he had trouble communicating with people," he explained "But he was always kind and always looked out for others,"

"Can you think of anyone who would wanna hurt him?"

"Oh, God, no," he replied "He didn't have many friends, but he didn't have any enemies either. If there's one thing you learn about college students is that the more friends you have, the more enemies you have. Donnie didn't need many friends, because he had good friends, real friends,"

She nodded again "Can you give me some names?"

"Of friends?" he asked, earning a nod in return "Yeah, uh, Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz, and...well...my daughter Skye," he said as she wrote it all down on a notepad.

"Your daughter's a student here?" Hill asked.

Phil shook his head "No, she's a senior at Blakeview High," he explained "But she visits as often as she can, and apparently made friends,"

"That's teenagers for you," Hill replied, smirking slightly, before turning back to him "Have you noticed any strange behavior lately?"

"Strange behavior?"

"Was he acting paranoid? Jumpy?"

"No, if he did, I didn't notice," he replied, frowning "Do you think someone on campus did this?"

"It's highly possible," she replied and stood up, Phil following suit "Thank you for your time, Professor,"

"Anytime," he replied, nodding "Just..." he trailed off before speaking again "Catch the guy?"

Hill nodded "We'll do everything we can,"

As she bid goodbye, she walked around the corner and he walked back towards his classroom.

"Phil?"

The voice stopped him in his tracks and he spun around to see the woman from the bar, dressed in the same type of clothes but different. This time she had a gun on her hip and a badge on the other. She had another leather jacket on but her jeans were a dark navy denim and she had black aviators tucked in the 'V' of her shirt.

"Melinda," he replied, giving her a smile.

"You're Professor Coulson?" she asked, frowning in amusement.

"Yeah," he replied "You're with Agent Hill," he said, coming to the realization, earning a nod in return.

"I heard Donnie was one of your best students," she said "I'm sorry,"

"Thank you," he replied, gratefully "Today's gonna be rough,"

"It's never easy," she said and seeing his quizzical expression, she elaborated "Losing someone," he didn't say anything in return, not trusting his voice, so he just nodded "Anyway, if you think of anything that might help..." she said reaching into her pocket and pulling out a business card and handing it to him "Give me a call," she said and started to walk away.

"And if I don't think of anything?" he called after her, making her turn around to look at him questioningly "Can I still call you?"

Smirking slightly, she nodded "Yeah," she replied "You can still call me,"

And with that, she was out of sight, leaving him to look like an idiot, grinning in the hallway.

And that's chapter one.

I know it's not much but it kind of just introduces the characters a bit.

I think this is gonna be a Skimmons story, but let me know what you think.

xoxo. Love, Me. oxox