When Skye wakes up God-knows-how-long later, she has about ten peaceful seconds. Peaceful because time and memory take a moment to catch up, and until her palm twinges in pain as she flexes her hand, she's forgotten the last three days and all the pain that has filled them. Peaceful because her cheek is pressed against a heartbeat and there is warmth surrounding her on all sides.

Peaceful because someone didn't let go.

Skye is sprawled beside May, her head pillowed on the woman's chest and arm thrown across her middle. Skye is surprised to see their fingers still tangled together, but perhaps more surprising is that May is actually asleep. Dead to the world, breathing deep and even, face slack, her arm heavy across Skye's shoulders and hair fanned across Skye's pillow. Seeing her like this feels like catching a teacher outside of school-as if she's seeing something inappropriate, or improper...yet Skye can't help but stare as long as the moment lasts.

This close, Skye can now see the cut healing in the corner of the woman's mouth from the staged car accident and the faded shadows beneath her eyes. And as Skye tries to guess at how long it's been since the woman slept, she is ashamed to realize that this is the first time she has considered how hard these past few days have been for anyone else on this team.

Fitz, Simmons, and Morse had to watch their friend turn into a monster and attack them. Coulson went head to head with her father and survived, but now has had to deliver the worst message imaginable to a mother who will never see her son again. All of them are still reeling from the loss of a teammate and having to proceed with ops like the world hasn't been shaken to its foundations. But May- May's been here all along, making sure they all come out on the other side.

However hard these days have been for everyone else, May's had to experience everything magnified and repeated-once in action, the events compounded by concern for the team, and again by proxy as she listened to everyone's debriefs.

He's in charge of SHIELD, but she's in charge of us.

Oh, May.

Skye has a feeling that only a slight movement will awaken a woman who as spent the last two years keeping vigil over everyone around her, and she is right. As she untangles their fingers and shifts beneath May's arm, drawing back a little so she can turn fully to face her, she hears the woman's breath catch, feels the slight tightening within her whole body in the automatic preparation for fight or flight. Skye watches her dark eyes flicker open, the preliminary sweep of the room, the split-second judgment of time, place, and threat level.

Always ready to leap into action. Ready to protect.

May's eyes find and focus on hers. "How are you feeling?" Her voice is soggy with sleep.

But Skye doesn't have the words for it. Somehow, she feels her heart somehow crumbling and swelling at the same time, expanding with love and gratitude but cracking with guilt and unworthiness. She feels her lips pulling into a smile even as her eyes unexpectedly fill with tears, but this doesn't seem to answer May's question.

She raises her head off the pillow, rocking over on one elbow to face Skye.

"Skye? What is it?" A curtain has dropped in front of the tiredness in her voice-she's ready to jump in, ready to help-always ready to put herself between her team and the source of pain or fear.

Whatever it is, let me help you.

Skye simply leans in and kisses her.

There's no thought, just need. Need to thank, assure, and confirm. To let May feel what she deserves to feel: valued. Loved. Treasured. And though May's lips at first remain still against hers, Skye doesn't make herself be cautious- only gentle. There was once a time that May stole (gave?) a similar kiss for a similar reason…a moment they never talked about. Never agreed had been the right or wrong thing to do in that moment. But right now, Skye's not second-guessing herself.

She deserves so much more, but all I've got is this.

Skye pulls back far enough to look the woman in the eye briefly, giving her the chance to cut anything short. But when May only blinks in response, her expression-if nothing else-a little surprised, Skye leans back in to kiss her jaw, her cheek, her brow, kiss by reverent kiss.

Skye feels May's hand come to rest against her cheek, holding her gently, neither pushing nor pulling. Because of course, May wouldn't. Would never take advantage of a situation like this, would only respond as far as was helpful…and Skye realizes in that moment that in May's mind, even her relationship with Ward fell inside those parameters.

Seeking to comfort in whatever way that comfort was best received.

Would she…

"Let me," Skye says softly against May's throat, her hand dragging meaningfully down the woman's side to rest on her hip. "Let me…for you…" She levers herself off her side and back over May, her knees landing on either side of the woman's hips as May lands on her back beneath her. Her heart is racing, but not from fear. If May had wanted her to stop, she would have said so already.

May doesn't say anything as Skye hovers over her, their eyes meeting again before Skye dips her head to kiss her lips once more. This time, May's mouth opens beneath hers, her fingers threading into Skye's hair and her other hand coming up to support Skye's weight with a palm against her ribs. The kiss she holds her in makes Skye's head spin, compounded as May plants one foot against the mattress and lifts her thigh until it meets the place where Skye's legs join.

Skye nearly shudders against May's lips. She definitely moans.

But this isn't supposed to be about her, and Skye attempts to take the lead back by plunging her hands into May's hair and holding her down by the shoulders as Skye rearranges their legs until her knee rubs the right place on May. She knows its right because the woman's breath catches and she immediately presses into the contact.

"Skye..." May exhales shakily as Skye tugs back the neck of May's shirt and drags her teeth gently down the woman's neck and across the skin of her collarbone. She is just about to do something about this shirt when suddenly-

"Skye, stop."

May's voice is barely louder, but the difference in tone makes Skye freeze, raising up to look May in the eye. The woman's eyes are blown black, her flushed lips parted, her hands fisted tightly in the fabric of Skye's shirt…

And that is the moment Skye realizes that the bed is quivering.

Fear and horror fill her immediately, displacing everything else in a single instant like a wave crashing into a house. Her breath freezes in her lungs, and though she doesn't know what is happening or what to do, she feels she has to get back, get away from May before she hurts her…

But May is unrelenting. She brings herself up with Skye's momentum, grabbing at Skye's wrists even as Skye tries to scramble away.

"Skye," she repeats calmly, as she catches one wrist and then the other in a precise grip. "Skye. Look at me."

And even though Skye is terrified of what she's going to see, she obeys, pursing her lips, trying to figure out how to make this shaking stop…

May's eyes are unafraid, her expression showing nothing but concern as she holds Skye's gaze. "Just breathe. Focus on what you're feeling. Whatever it is that feels new or unfamiliar. You feel it? Now hold it. Get to know it. It's yours to control."

Her hands trustingly release Skye's, falling instead to rest on her knees. "Whatever it is, it's in you, meaning you make the rules. You tell it what to do. Where to go. I know you can do this. Breathe."

And Skye is breathing. Is feeling it. Feeling the buzzing within her, compounded by the previous moment, feeling its borders and finding its limits. She breathes and marks it off. She breathes and tramps it down. She breathes, pulls it all in, and shuts a lid.

When she opens her eyes, not even realizing she had closed them, the shaking has stopped.

May's lips turn into the suppressed smile that Skye hasn't seen in a long time-the expression reserved for when Skye impresses her. Skye doesn't deserve that. She drops her gaze.

What do you even say after something like that?

That's inhuman? Horrific?

"I'm not...I'm not the same."

May's hand covers hers lightly. "No. And neither is anyone else who just went through a trauma. You just have an added measure of change. That doesn't mean you're not yourself. This is just something new. Something new about you that you have to figure out now."

Spoken like one who would know.

"Skye." May's tone is still gentle, but decisive. She feels May's other hand brush up her arm to cradle one side of her face. Skye looks up at her, eyes brimming with overwhelmed tears. "Skye. I'm not going anywhere. Whatever happens, I'm with you. So when you feel ready to talk about it…when you're ready to look at it head-on…don't be afraid to tell me. We'll figure this out. Together."

Maybe May doesn't know how much those words mean. Maybe she doesn't know that, to a girl who's used to dealbreakers meaning goodbyes and "too much" and "hard to handle" and "difficult" being labels that spell out unwelcome, May's words mean more than Skye can say. More than Skye could say even if she were able to speak, so instead she just leans in and presses a final kiss to the woman's lips. May lets this one go on, on and on, until Skye feels full instead of empty and the hurt doesn't have any space to echo inside her. When she breaks the kiss, May simply pulls her into a silent embrace, sealing in the promise, holding her until Skye truly believes that she isn't letting go.

Author's notes:

I never bought the 'only Fitz knows' storyline, even if it only lasted a single episode. The way May reacted when Skye's powers were exposed in front of everyone gave me the impression that she'd known the whole time.

When I started writing Doors and was re-watching the episodes with an eye on Skye and May, one thing that was always so apparent was that Skye is crazy about May in a non-romantic way. The other was that May is a shield to everyone, always trying to bear the bulk of the pain or responsibility, though she usually doesn't get away with that with Coulson. Her relationship with Ward never really sat right with me, but seeing the way it probably fell out of an attempt to comfort him was also perfectly in character. I could see it easily going the same way with Skye.

How'd I do?