"You, are the biggest hypocrite!" she yelled at him.
"What?!" he rasped.
"Yes! Yes! You are," she stabbed a finger at him.
Through the other side of the Lab wall, Triplett and May watched the animated motions of Coulson and Skye yelling at one another in silence. It was clearly not going well.
"Any idea what that's about?" Trip asked.
"A few," May said answering and shutting it down at the same time.
"Yeah, how about we go have some of that nice scotch. I've had my eye on that," he smiled, walking past May down the hallway.
"Sounds great," she answered and took one last look at Coulson before turning on her heel and following after Trip. Don't blow this.
"Just because Fury showed up, now you're 'Director'?" she yelled, volume on high. "Did you ask him about all the crap he did to you?"
Coulson's face was hot. He swallowed. "I told him what I thought about it." But, it sounded weak, and he knew it. It had been kind of weak, if he were honest with himself.
"Good little Company Man," she said with disdain.
That was about enough.
"You stood there and told Ward that he was just blindly following Garrett's orders, that he was never his own man," she went on. This was going to hurt, but it was now or never. "How is that any *any* different from what you're doing now?"
"This is done," Coulson said. He just had no words. Furious. Hurt. Mostly furious at the moment.
"Well, once we reach this base, I'm out. I'll say goodbye to Simmons and Fitz, and then..."
He spun around on her. "Okay. Okay, *Skye*. You're going to run again, because the game got changed up. Without," he held up a finger when she began to interject, "Without even giving me a chance to explain myself. Go right ahead."
They just stood there in silence staring at each other. Wondering through their own thoughts, digging a little deeper internally before having another go at it.
"So, tell me. How it's different."
"The world still needs protection, Skye. I thought you understood that."
"Yes, it does," she nodded. "But what I don't understand, is why you need to be Director to accomplish that. What is wrong with what we're doing now?"
Oh. So that was it.
"He dumped all of that responsibility on you," she continued, "And walked away to go do whatever *he* does, probably going around handing out Directorships all over the planet so he can sit on beach somewhere," her mouth was turned upside down, her disappointment evident. "Why isn't it his responsibility to clean this mess up?"
He crossed his arms and stared over at her.
"Finished?" he finally asked.
"You're right, this is done," she said, trying to push past him before she got too emotional.
He stopped her with an arm, pushed her against the wall. She looked pretty shocked. He quickly took his hand off of her shoulder, but stood very close to her.
"This is not a prison. It's not a trap. It's a chance to do things right," he said, trying to reign in the intensity, recover some of this.
"Then why does it feel exactly like it did when we ran to Providence? All because Fury dropped a few breadcrumbs."
He put his hand against the wall at one side of her head. She raised her eyebrows a bit, the expression on her face partly unreadable. It felt like a dare, though.
"There is more going on with me," he said, "Than I realized."
She rolled her eyes, nodded. Waiting. Great. Another Philbomb.
"I need you. I need you to keep me straight," he said.
Her eyes shot up to his.
"Fury told me some things, things that I'd forgotten."
"You mean the things he erased from your mind," she corrected with heavy sarcasm.
"The GH-325. Skye, it didn't just save me. It was me."
She looked at his eyes until she couldn't anymore, looked around the room. Suddenly felt that trapped feeling again. But not for herself.
"The things that I remember, the things *we've* built, I need reminding," he said. "The other memories will start to come back," he said turning his head to meet her eyes again. "They already are."
There was a sad look in her eyes. A dawning.
Her hand went up and touched his face. "I'm afraid," she said, tracing the lines around his eye with her thumb, "Of losing you. Back into the big bureaucratic disaster you came out of."
"So, help me," he asked. "Help me to remember the things that matter. To see things differently."
His expression became very soft, "If that's what you want."
She reached her hand around the back of his neck. His eyebrow raised, then his breath caught as her fingers ran across the nape of his neck. His lips parted to say her name. It was just on the tip of his tongue.
"I want," she said.
"This is in an, unofficial capacity, of course," he said smiling slyly, letting his finger trace the line of her hip. "I'll need to, hammer out the details when we get to the base."
"I'm a *very firm negotiator," she replied, walking away from him towards the door. "As you might imagine."
"Oh," he said with a smirk. "I've imagined."