Chapter 41
"Director, what is going on?" Coulson said as soon as Fury picked up the phone. "I thought you were going to get Victoria's funeral cancelled! Do you know that it's airing live online?"
"It's on all of the major news channels too." Natasha said as she came in. "Is that Coulson? Tell him I said hello, and he shouldn't worry that anyone is blaming him for that faking his death thing. Clint and I both know he would never willingly sacrifice those cards of his. We know who's idea the entire mess was, and plan to deal with him accordingly."
"You really did ruin Phil's cards? I always thought Maria was kidding about that." Jasper said as he came in, the bell around his neck ringing for a change. "I'm surprised he hasn't killed you already for that. I just checked the TV in the break room. They've interrupted all of the morning talk shows to air footage of Victoria's funeral. Someone's saying that she might get more viewers than the last inauguration. I'll bet she would like that."
"Could I point out that this is her funeral people are watching, and Victoria isn't DEAD?" Coulson said. "Director, what are you doing to fix this? Victoria's grandparents are at this thing, and they're not young. Director Carter's at this thing."
"Director Carter's there? How did she get there?" Fury said. "Her niece has been going crazy since the nursing home reported her missing."
"Her grandson too." John said as he came in. "Who took her to a funeral for someone who isn't dead?"
"Does it matter?" Coulson said. "I think what we need to focus on is getting these poor people out of the funeral and letting them not that Victoria's alive!"
"My mother's going to try to talk to her family after the funeral." May said. But what if they hustled them off immediately for a burial? Would they actually bury an empty coffin? "Director, please tell me you didn't go ahead and select a cemetery plot too!"
"It's under a tree. It's very nice." Fury said. "And I certainly didn't tell anyone that it needed to be used at the moment!"
"So we might not be able to get to Victoria's family to let them know that she's okay until after they think they've buried her? You do know her grandfather is a hundred, right?" Coulson hadn't known it himself until now but it seemed important to mention.
"And her grandmother turns ninety-nine next month. Vic was planning to arrange for your entire team to be locked away safely somewhere so you wouldn't cause some sort of disaster that might make her miss the party. I think she might have been planning to have me shipped off to prison temporarily. Phil, we've got a big problem. Somehow Vic hit something on her phone, and that funeral was airing. She's freaking."
"What?"
"She saw her own funeral?" May demanded.
"She doesn't have her glasses, so I don't know how much she could see of it, but she saw enough that she knows the funeral was for her. She started screaming." And that scream, a terrified scream, was something that he had never, ever expected to hear from Vic. She was the bravest, strongest person he knew. "Your girls sent me to get you."
"She saw her own funeral. She's going to have a heart attack. Director, I'll call you right back." Coulson said befoe cutting off the call and hurrying out with May and John.
They could hear sobbing as soon as they opened the stairwell door.
"I don't want to be dead." Victoria was crying as they hurried down the hall to her office. "I don't want to be dead like Coulson!" But there it had been, her funeral airing live online. "I don't want to go on a plane! Is that why you're here, to get me and put me on Coulson's plane? I don't want to go on a plane! All of you hate me and you don't have any extra bedrooms on that thing! Please don't put me on a plane! Don't make me be dead like Coulson!"
"Hey, it's okay. It's okay." Skye said, trying to comfort Victoria a bit. "We don't hate you. We think you're very, very scary, but we don't hate you. It's okay. You're fine. There's just been one big, stupid mix-up. You're fine." And even though she wasn't kidding about Victoria being scary, Skye gathered her up into a tight hug. "It's okay, I promise. Jemma and I are right here. We're not going to let anyone hurt you, or put you on any planes you want to go on. And we promise if you ever visit our plane, we'll find a bedroom for you. We'll poke Ward in with Fitz or something. It will be okay. Just try to calm down, alright? Agent Garrett brought you some ice cream. Do you want to try to eat a little of that and go back to sleep? It might make you feel better."
"I don't want to be dead." Victoria whispered. She could feel her head swimming, and she couldn't keep her eyes open, but images of that funeral were dancing in her head, and wouldn't fade. "I like the Hub. I like my office. Don't make me be dead. Please don't let Fury make me dead like Coulson!"
"No one's going to do anything to you, we promise." Skye tried to reassure her. "Come on. Just a few bits of the ice cream, okay?" She looked over at Jemma as she spoke. Was that medicine that was supposed to calm Agent Hand down working at all? She was still sobbing!
"Give it a few more minutes. Ma'am, you just try to eat a little, alright? Skye's right, it will make you feel better."
Was that Victoria sobbing? Not good. This wasn't good. "Jemma?" Coulson called as he knocked on the door.
"Coulson? He's coming to get me and put me on a plane! Don't let him get me!" Victoria murmured. She could feel whatever she had been given taking effect, and she knew she wouldn't be able to defend herself if they tried to carry her off to be dead and living on a plane.
"He's not here to do anything but make sure you're okay. Come on, just a little bite of ice cream. Everything's better after ice cream." Skye said as she coaxed a tiny spoonful into Victoria's mouth. "See? Better, right?"
"Sir?" Jemma cot to her feet and hurried to the door after another worried look at the heart monitor. The medicine was starting to take effect, but she still didn't like those readings. "You need to be very quiet right now. Agent Hand's a bit upset."
"What's wrong with her?" May asked. They had heard some of what Victoria had been saying but it hadn't made a whole lot of sense.
"And more important, can you fix what's wrong?" John demanded. If they had to, they would get Vic to a hospital, no matter what Fury thought.
"I gave her the strongest sedative that I had. I need you to get a few more medicines for me. I'm going to have to put her under completely for the moment. The shock of seeing that, she was on the verge of having a heart attack, and I'm still not sure that she might not develop cardiac issues."
"A heart attack?" Coulson said, shock in his voice.
"I think when the medicines take hold I can stabilize her, and hopefully she'll think this was nothing but a bad dream, but Sir, she can't take any shocks right now. Between the stress caused by the fever and now this, anything else could kill her."