“You’re avoiding.”
“I am not avoiding anything!”
“Yes, you are!” Simmons argued.
“I am not!”
“(Y/N), you have not cleaned your bunk since you arrived on this plane two weeks ago! You are avoiding her.”
“I’m not. I’m just sick of this mess.”
“You’re lying.”
“Am not.”
“Am too.”
“Am not.”
“She’s right, you know.” Fitz cut in.
“I. Am. Not. Avoiding. Her.”
“You’re terrible at lying.”
“Whatever. Even if I was, she’s currently in the cockpit. It’s not like she’ll see me.”
“You’re avoiding having to think about her.”
“Look,” You dropped the article of clothing you were folding, “I haven’t seen my aunt in over five years. She has no idea who I am and I don’t think she even knows that I’m a part of S.H.I.E.L.D.! Of course, I’m nervous to see her.”
“I promise you, everything will be fine.”
“Yes, everything will be fine when I surprise my Aunt Melinda with my being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and my relationship with Daisy!”
“It will be.”
“No, it won’t.”
“Yes, it will.”
“What’s going on here?” Coulson appeared.
“Nothing,” You said before heading towards the stairs. “I’ve got to finish up something in the lab.”
“(Y/N)!” Simmons called but you were already gone.
She was right, you were avoiding. You were avoiding the aunt that had been absent from your life. The fact was, you barely knew what Melinda May was like beyond the few pictures of her you’d seen. You could count the times you’d seen her on your fingers and toes. She had no idea you were a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. and you’d hoped to keep it that way. You didn’t need another family member to judge you. You had enough of that from your parents and siblings.
When you’d come out to your mother, she didn’t take it well, and neither did the rest of your family. So you were content to live without family in your life. You’d closed that door and you didn’t want to open it again.
You had been lucky so far. For the years that you worked at S.H.I.E.L.D., you stayed away from her. But then Coulson assigned you to his team. Even then, you’d stayed lucky when she was stationed at HQ for two weeks. Now, she was here and so were you.
You tried to forget about your impending doom as you finished running diagnostics on a new weapon you were working on. You were somehow both an active field agent and a member of the science division at the same time.
“Hey.” You heard the familiar voice of your girlfriend behind you. “I heard that you’re avoiding something. I hope it isn’t me.”
“It isn’t.” You turned and gave her a quick peck on the lips.
“And I heard you actually cleaned your bunk. Maybe avoiding things is productive.”
“Maybe it is.”
“You know you’re going to have to talk to her, right?”
“I know,” You sighed. “I just don’t want to.”
“I know. Everything’s going to be fine, I promise.” Daisy pulled a chair up to sit next to you.
“But what if it isn’t? What if she hates me just as much as my parents do? I was able to escape them, I can’t exactly escape her here.”
“(Y/N), she’s not going to hate you. She already knows that I have a girlfriend and she doesn’t hate me. She won’t hate you either.”
“I just...I don’t want things to go wrong.”
“I know.” She hugged you.
The two of you stayed intertwined for a few minutes before Coulson called you upstairs for a team meeting. This was it. You were going to have to see her. Daisy held your hand as the two of you walked towards the other end of the plane. You squeezed her hand as the two of you got closer. You were about to turn the corner when you heard your Aunt Melinda talking.
“I don’t understand why you won’t tell me about her! Don’t you think I should know about the members of our team?” She said, her voice low.
“I told you she’s young, a good agent, and that you’ll like her. You’ll just have to meet her.”
You wanted to keep eavesdropping but Daisy pulled you around the corner, still refusing to let go of your hand. You watched as Melinda’s mouth dropped.
“Hey, Aunt Melinda.” You waved softly with your free hand.
“(Y/N), what are you doing here?”
“Meet the newest member of our team.” Coulson smiled.
“I didn’t even know you were a part of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
“I guess I did a pretty good job of being a secret agent then.” You said somewhat sarcastically. Daisy squeezed your hand and Melinda smirked. When Jemma and Fitz stumbled into the room, Coulson began.
“We’ve got a mission.”
“No shit, Sherlock.” You muttered under your breath, only loud enough for Daisy to hear. She snickered. The rest of the team looked over at you two.
“And if you two can shut up long enough, I’ll tell you about it.” Coulson said, directing the words at you.
He explained the details of the mission quickly. An agent had found some possible evidence of Hydra and you were simply supposed to follow up on it and take them down if necessary. Simple enough. You would arrive at the location in about an hour.
After he set the team free to prepare for the mission, you headed back towards your bunk. In the midst of everything earlier, you’d forgotten your phone. You grabbed it from the small shelf above your pillow and when you turned around, you were face to face with your Aunt Melinda.
“Woah, no need to sneak up on me.” You said a bit defensively.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were a part of S.H.I.E.L.D.?”
“It wasn’t necessary.” You said. “And I haven’t even seen you since before I joined.”
“I visited last Christmas. You weren’t there.” She said, her face cold.
“I was on assignment.”
“The pictures of you were gone too. Your mother wouldn’t tell me why you weren’t there. She said you were busy.”
“I was.”
“But that’s not why you weren’t there.”
“It’s not.”
“Why weren’t you?”
“I was...somewhere else.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“Look, Aunt Melinda, I get that you’re a spy and you feel the need to know everything, but this isn’t something I want to talk about. I’m not welcome there anymore and that’s it.”
“What could you have possibly done to make your mother kick you out?” A little bit of confusion seeped through her emotionless expression.
“It doesn’t matter.” You said. “She’s not my family anymore, I’ve accepted it. Please just accept it and move on.”
“Fine. But don’t think I’ll stop asking. I could always call her and-”
“Don’t!” You interrupted her. “That’ll only make things worse. And she doesn’t know I’m a part of S.H.I.E.L.D.”
“What does she think you do?”
“I don’t know. Just drop it.” You pleaded. This wasn’t going well so far. You didn’t want to talk about this and Melinda was pushing. Thankfully, Daisy came to your rescue.
“Hey, (Y/N), I can’t find the new Icer you gave me yesterday.”
“That’s because I took it back, dumbass. It’s in the lab.”
“Will you get it for me? I know how you get when people move stuff around in your lab?”
“Of course.” You turned to Melinda, “We’ll continue this later.”
You followed Daisy and when you caught up to her, she grabbed your hand.
“Did I do a good job saving you?”
“Yes, you did. Thanks.”
“You’re so very welcome.”
The first part of the mission was easy. You found the agent, reviewed his evidence, and made a game plan for how you were going to attack what appeared to be Hydra safehouse. There didn’t appear to be that many people in the safehouse either. Now, you were sitting outside of it, waiting for Coulson to give you the go-ahead. Daisy was to your left and May to your right. You were doing your best to ignore the one on the right. You could feel May staring at you as you tried to focus on the safehouse.
“You’re good to go.” You head Coulson say over the comms.
The three of you approached quietly, May leading the group. She kicked the door down and stepped through the threshold, motioning for the two of you to search the rooms on either side of the entrance. Both rooms were empty.
You caught up with May again, just in time to join the fight as two guys jumped out from behind furniture, large guns in hand. You took cover around the corner, in the hallway, getting a few shots off before they were down. You weren’t sure if it was you, May, or Daisy that took them out but you didn’t care. You took the stairs to search the upstairs room, not realizing that the other two didn’t follow you. You checked a few rooms before you encountered some trouble. Someone was waiting just inside the door and they shot you in the leg before knocking you over the head with something hard. Your vision tunneled and you lost consciousness.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
When you came to, you were tied to a chair. Your head was spinning and you tried take in as much as you could. The room was dark and your eyes were still adjusting. A door opened and a man walked in.
“How did you know about the safe house?” He began. You stayed silent. “This isn’t going to go well for you if you don’t answer my questions.” You still didn’t move.
“I’m only going to ask you one more time.”
You still didn’t move. He pulled a small knife from his back pocket.
“I see that we’re going to be doing this the hard way.”
“Was there ever an easy way?” You finally spoke.
“No. Now, tell me your name.”
“No. How about you tell me yours?”
“Grant Ward. I’m sure you’ve heard of me.”
“Ah yes, I’ve heard. The man who betrayed the members of my team.”
“So you’re on Coulson’s team?”
“I’d say that I’m your replacement.” You said. You knew your angle with this guy now that you knew who he was. You knew exactly how to manipulate Grant Ward and you were going to hit him where it hurt.
“I sincerely doubt that.”
“No, you’re right, I’m better than you. I’m not evil, and…” You paused, “I got the girl.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Yep, I got the girl. You failed at that, among a boatload of other things.”
“Are you talking about Skye?”
“You mean Daisy? Yeah, I am.”
“There’s no way that she-” You saw the confusion on his face, the doubt. That was the moment you needed. You’d kept him talking long enough to undo the ties on your hands and now you could escape. You jumped up out of the chair, and kneed him in the groin and hit him over the head with a chair. You stole his gun, extra rounds, and knife before you escaped the room. You shot your way out of the hallway and towards the exit, but soon, you were surrounded. Your leg was bleeding pretty badly from a bullet wound and you were out of bullets.
“I knew there wasn’t an easy way.” You muttered before you attacked. You took out as many soldiers as you could, but it was hard; they were armed and all you had was a knife. You sustained multiple hits to the head before you could escape. You bolted out of the building and ran as fast as you could. You were about fifty feet away when you realized that there was a small knife sticking out of your shoulder. That was a problem to deal with later. You kept running, hoping to find a payphone or something you could use to get in contact with the team when you ran right into your very own Aunt Melinda.
“Oh, shit.” You said, backing up to see who you had run into.
“(Y/N), you’re hurt.”
“Yep.” You sighed in relief as you saw her familiar face.
“Come on, let’s get you back to the Bus.” She said, throwing your arm over her shoulder so you could help her walk.
When you arrived back at the plane, before you could even gather yourself, Simmons was trying to pull the knife from your shoulder. You tried to fight her at first, you wanted to see Daisy first, make sure that she knew you were alright, but you had to give in. You were too tired and in too much pain. When she’d stitched up your wounds, informed you of your mild concussion, Simmons gave you some pain meds. You were about to fall asleep when you saw Daisy out of the corner of your eye.
“(Y/N)! What happened?!” She called, rushing over.
You tried to respond but whatever Simmons had given you was kicking in and you felt quite woozy.
“She fought her way out of a Hydra base.” May went on to list your injuries as she sat down in a chair next the bed Simmons had set you in. You were out almost as soon as your head hit the pillow.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
When you awoke, your head was pounding. You tried to sit up, immediately realized your mistake and laid back down again. May was still in the chair she’d been in when you fell asleep.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” She asked softly.
“Like I fought my way out of a Hydra base.”
“Coulson wants your report.”
“I know. I’ll give it to him if he’ll come down here.”
“And I want you to tell me what happened with your mother.”
“Aunt Melinda.”
“(Y/N).”
“Aunt Melinda, I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I threatened to call your mother and I will.”
“I dare you.” You said. You were pretty sure that she wouldn’t do go through with it. She pulled her phone from her pocket and dialed the number. You crossed your arms across your chest. And then she hit “Call”. You panicked.
“Fine, fine, I’ll tell you.” You said quickly and she hung up. “I went home to visit for a few days about a year and a half ago, somehow, I got some time off, and when my mother asked if there was anyone special in my life, I made the big mistake of telling my mother and father about my girlfriend.”
“Your...girlfriend?”
“My girlfriend.” You nodded. “Haven’t been home since.”
Somehow, you’d said something that left the great Melinda May speechless. Thankfully, the awkward silence didn’t last long because Daisy entered the room and rushed to your side.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m good.” You said as she grabbed your hand.
“Are you sure?”
“Well, no, but I will be.”
“Daisy’s the girlfriend, isn’t she?” Melinda asked.
“Yeah, she is.” You smiled and squeezed her hand.
“Scoot, I need to make sure that (Y/N) is okay.” Simmons told Daisy as she entered the room.
“I’m okay.” You looked from your girlfriend to the only remaining member of your family that you wished to have a relationship with. “I’m okay.”