Friends and Foes

...While this sort of thing was going on, Skye, (also known as Daisy), was finally able to corner Lincoln in an office, where he was doing paperwork of some sort, or at least - pretending to (lately Skye had helped out May and Coulson enough times to learn the difference between the two).

"So, you want to tell me everything the long way around?" Skye said, as she sat down across from her friend. "I'm not surprised that you're working for yor community here, it's just that, I don't know, why didn't you come to us? We would've worked something out-"

"Stop," Lincoln said with a pained expression on his face. "Daisy, you sure that you aren't related to Raina? Because you two are actually quite similar, in the long run."

"Excuse me?" Skye gave him a hostile glare. "What are you talking about?"

Lincoln hesitated, thinking it over. "After the Iliad," he finally reached a decision, "after I tried to withdraw into normal life and everything, I got a visit from Raina one evening. Hudima was there too. Raina offered me a place back here. I refused. She accepted and wish me luck working for you - S.H.I.E.L.D., i.e."

"Say what now?" Skye blinked.

"Raina can see the future-"

"I know that-"

"-and apparently she saw me as part of your agency. She and I were never particularly close while Jiaying was alive, I wouldn't exactly call her a friend, and it's mutual, but she decided to come over and to give me a counteroffer, for form's sake."

"And you accepted her offer instead?"

Lincoln hesitated, clearly thoughtful. "To be frank," he confessed to Skye, "I didn't really want to work in S.H.I.E.L.D., first of all. They- you- your agency, has a certain reputation among the InHumans and other gifted; it isn't a bad reputation, unlike Hydra or AIM for example, but it is tenacious, and some of your recruitment drives can be kind of nasty-"

"Fair enough," Skye agreed, remembering how she got dragged out of her van once upon a time - a long time ago, "but still, these are secondary details."

"Agreed," Lincoln nodded. "To be honest, all I wanted was to live a normal life and...that's it, really. But this isn't going to happen, not since I went through terragenesis...and then Jiaying did what she had done."

There was a pause, as both InHumans thought about Jiaying's last, fatal decision, to go against S.H.I.E.L.D. ...for no obvious reasons. She wasn't Hydra; Coulson was ready to make some sort of a deal with her; both the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the InHumans of Li Shi could have happily coexisted together - the world was big enough; but instead there was a senseless bloodbath on the Iliad, where both sides lost a large number of their people.

"And so instead you decided to return here," Skye finally broke the silence.

"Yes," Lincoln confessed, "I did. Some people say that everything has a price; my price for living a normal life would probably be my powers, and I'm not ready to give them up."

"You don't have to-"

"-if I work for S.H.I.E.L.D.? Yes. But I think I will rather stay here instead," Lincoln shrugged. "This way works too, you know?"

"Lincoln," Skye said quietly. "What has happened to you? This wasn't who you were, who you are-"

"Daisy, don't start," Lincoln glared. "My world died with Jiaying. Jiaying was crazy, I had to stop her, agreed. But it cost me, I guess. You cannot enter the same river twice, I really am not the man I once was. Maybe I can be, or I could be, a different man from the one I see know, but you know? I don't know where that would take me, and for now...I don't want to be your man either. Jiaying...she had groomed me, perhaps, to be Cal's replacement, with you - well, theoretical you - as her heir. You, your friends and co-workers, they brought something new to us - and paid the price, and I, we, we are all grateful for this."

"But?"

"But nothing," Lincoln shook his head. "Li Shi will cooperate with S.H.I.E.L.D., period. The end. I, for now, have no intention of being your man-"

"Excuse me?" Skye stared.

"Um, in most of Raina's visions the two of us seem to be a couple, and I'm not sure that I want that-"

"I see," Skye said in a tightly controlled tone of voice. "Excuse me." She whirled around and left.

After dropping off the reunited FItzSimmons off at one Li Shi's honeymoon suites ('cause let's be honest, the little scientists have earned it), Grant promptly went to take a bath, especially since on their arrival back to Midgard (this was how the Asgardians called Earth and the rest of the Solar System, perhaps), Kara's spirit went off to be reunited with her body - and he really needed a bath. Unlike most of Li Shi's residents, whose metamorphosis went from the outside in, Grant's took place (a long time ago) from the inside out; it included a shedding of the skin (in pieces, like that of a lizard or a chameleon rather than in a single piece as a snake would do it) and a very nasty and painful process of transformation to go with it.

Unlike Bobbi, Grant isn't in self-denial; he knows that his transformation had merely brought out what was there to begin with - the darkness; there is a reason why he is calling himself Hudima the Kinslayer in certain Hydra- and AIM-affiliated circles...in fact, there are several, and they are all obvious here. But you know what? He doesn't care. He may be evil, but he can do good, and he can fix his own messes - just look at Kara...but right now he needs a bath, a very specific and special bath, if he is to go on living and not, well, die. It's kind of bizarre, that a lack of a bath can kill him, but that's the life of an InHuman for you.

And so Grant - or rather, Hudima, as he is known among the InHuman community - goes to take his special bath and stays in it for a while, and when he does come out, Kara is already there, sitting on the edge of the bathtub and clearly enjoying the view.

"Kara!" Grant sputters, "this is a nice surprise. Let's go to the bedroom first!"

There was a pause as both Kara and Grant went through several colors, especially on their faces, until finally Kara spoke once more.

"Ok, I think I need to try again," she said simply. "Grant, I'm breaking up with you."

There was another pause, which was broken by Grant this time. "The Hell?" he said simply. "Kara, yes, I did shoot you, but it was by accident...and I fixed you."

"I know," Kara said, miserably. "Being in Hellheim...it really widened my perspective, you know?"

"OK, and?"

Kara paused, clearly choosing her words. "I didn't love you - I still don't, not really."

"Kara," It was Grant's turn to pick his words. "I agree. We probably aren't each other's first choices, but it still doesn't mean that we can't make it work."

"Yes, that's the problem. We can. In fact, I spent years with Bobbi making it work," Kara looked away, clearly miserable. "I can make it work with you, but in the long run, it will not be unlike what I had with Bobbi - a very fancy surrogate. Grant, your heart belongs to someone else, we both know it now."

Grant opened his mouth and then closed it. "Kara," he finally said. "I don't know how to fix it...what to say...how to solve it..."

"You can't," Kara shook her hand. "Some things...even aliens cannot fix it. Grant...you need to move on. I...need to move on, to become my own person...not Bobbi's creature or even yours..."

"Can I help?" Grant asked quietly.

"I think I will need to figure this out by myself," Kara finally looked at him once more; unfortunately, her gaze caught a certain part of his anatomy... "Um. I'm going to get a shower now, Grant. I'm sorry about this. But you're not my man, and I'm not your woman, so this is how it goes," and she's gone.

Grant just sat down and tried to figure out what to do next.

TBC