Y/N finally washed up, taking her time. When she was out, they were landing at the SHIELD medical facility in Switzerland. They rushed her in, doctors meeting them. Coulson and Simmons went with the doctors, to explain what had happened, while everyone else went to a waiting room. Y/N tried to sit the furtherest away from everyone, but that plan was spoiled when Ward sat next to her.
"It's not your fault," he told her quietly. "You're not the one that shot her."
"I know," Y/N responded. She leaned forward, resting her hands in her head. "Just can't help feel that way."
Ward set a hand on her back. "Have you called Stark?"
"I did... he helped. But, after we find out what's going on, I'm going home. For the sake of my metal health and my relationship."
"Understandable... Team's not the same when you're gone."
"You saying you'll miss me Ward?" Y/N gave Ward a teasing look.
"I didn't say that, no."
"Good. Cause that means you'd be a people person if you did."
Simmons came back with Coulson, and the team was guided to a more secluded room. Coulson and May stayed standing, Coulson trying to get a hold of Fury while Fitz-Simmons sat together on the couch and Y/N and Ward each had an arm chair on either side of the couch.
"I'm here. That's unacceptable," Coulson said into the phone. "I need to speak to Director Fury immediately, please."
"Why didn't I stop her?" Fitz questioned. "I could have."
"So could I," Y/N agreed.
"As if you could stop Skye doing anything she's set her mind to," Simmons said.
"We shouldn't have let her go after Quinn by herself?" Fitz continued. "What we were thinking?"
"It's not your fault," Ward added, looking at Coulson. "She shouldn't have been there. I'm her SO. It's on me."
"It's on me," Y/N said. "I was the lead agent there. I should have been more firm with her."
"The one to blame is the man who shot her, Ian Quinn," May spoke up. "He's responsible."
"Yes, the message is, I have an agent dying," Coulson spoke, still on the phone. "And there are questions only he can answer."
He hung up the phone and slammed it onto the table. The team watched as Coulson paced a little before quickly leaving the room. No one had the energy or heart to stop him.
~~~
They had been waiting for hours, when the doctor finally arrived with news. They all stood up when she entered.
"How is she?" Coulson asked.
"Not good," she responded. "The shots perforated her stomach and penetrated the large and small intestines. We resected what we could, but... there's been too much damage."
"So what's next?"
"We can keep her comfortable, but you'll need to make a decision on whether or not you want to keep her on life support."
"You're saying there's nothing to be done?"
"I'm saying you need to call her family and get them here as soon as possible."
"We're her family."
"In that case, I'm very sorry."
Y/N put a hand to her mouth before running off, May following. She ran all the way to the bus, getting angrier with each step. Basically on autopilot, Y/N was taken to the interrogation room with May right behind her.
"You can't stop me," Y/N growled, hand on the door nob.
"I'm not here to," May responded.
They nodded at each other before Y/N slammed open the door. Ian Quinn was hand cuffed to the table.
"Finally!" Quinn exclaimed. "I was beginning to think you'd forgotten-"
Y/N quickly slammed his head against the table. May grabbed the chair he was sitting on, pulling it out from under him, and threw it to the side.
"Wait! You can't!" He yelled.
"Why?" May asked, getting on top of him. "Cause you're defenseless, like she was?"
May began repeatedly punching Quinn in the face while Y/N held him down for her.
"May! Rogers!" Coulson called, him and Ward entering the room. "May!" Both women turned to face Coulson. "Outside, now."
May and Y/N shoved him into the floor before standing up. They quickly exited the room and headed into the common area.
"He deserves to die, not her!" May growled.
"Agreed," Coulson said. "But right now, Quinn doesn't matter... only Skye does, and I need May to pilot the plane."
"You heard what the doctor said," Y/N said.
"She said there was nothing more they could do for her, but there are doctors who brought me back from the dead. If they can do that, I'm betting they can save Skye."
~~~
Skye's medical pod was put on the Bus. Coulson got out his level 10 file about his recovery, that Fury and just recently let him have, and showed Fitz-Simmons. He charged them with finding at much information in it as they could, to help Skye. And Y/N decided to ask for her boyfriend to help.
"Sure," Tony answered, after having been asked, "send the files over and I'll get them sent to my best people."
"Thank you so much, Tony."
"You know I'd do anything for you... how are you doing?"
"Struggling still... it's hard not to blame myself."
"You've spent too much time with me."
"And not enough... I promise I'll be home soon. I miss you."
"I miss you too. Do you mind though, before you get home, calling your brother?" Y/N winced. "Capsicle won't leave me alone lately. Apparently, you two haven't talked in weeks."
"I promise to call him after-"
"SHIELD 616, this is tower Michael Tango," a woman's voice rang over all the speakers on the Bus. "You are in violation of SHIELD directive 1297. Respond immediately."
"Crap," Y/N whispered. "I'm sorry, Tony, I've got to go."
"Can you at least tell me what you violated? Or, may I say, who?"
Y/N chuckled. "I love you."
She quickly hung up and stood up from the couch she was sitting on, heading for the stairs that led up to Coulson office and the quinjet docking.
"Prepare to be boarded and relinquish command," the woman's voice continued.
"Really? All the war and chaos in the world, and SHIELD sends a plane after us?" Coulson questioned, coming towards Y/N with Ward in tow.
"Three planes," Ward clarified. "A small transport to dock and a pair of F-35s to make sure we hand over Quinn."
"Three planes?" Y/N repeated. "We didn't actually do anything wrong! We just didn't give them Quinn right away. They get him... if Skye survives."
The Bus shook as they docked a plane on top of it.
"If they scratched my paint, I'm gonna be pissed," Coulson stated.
"I'll await your orders, sir," Ward said.
"Y/N, you're coming with me."
Y/N nodded, following Coulson up the stairs. They arrived just in time to see another agent coming down from the plane.
"Garrett?" Coulson wondered. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Well, as opposed to the level 8 jackass I'm staring at," Garret replied, "I still follow orders."
"You're the worst at following orders."
"Maybe..." Garrett smirked, looking at Y/N. "But I like this one." He pulled out a paper from inside his jacket. "You are to immediately turn Ian Quinn over for transport to the fridge." A man climbed down from the plane and joined Garrett. "Agent Antoine Tripplet, Agent Philip Coulson. You wouldn't know it to look at him, but Phil's one of our finest."
"Well, this is Agent Y/N Rogers."
"It's an honor, sir, ma'am," Agent Triplett responded. Y/N simply gave a slight nod, keeping stoned faced.
"Trip joined me as my specialist after Ward came to your circus," Garrett continued before turning to Trip. "Go secure the prisoner."
"Yes, sir," Trip responded, going down stairs.
Y/N looked to Coulson for answers, who simply motioned them into his office.
"Phil, come on," Garrett said, following. "Just because Fury gave you this pretty plane, doesn't mean they won't shoot it out of the sky."
"Why are you really here, Agent Garrett?" Y/N asked suddenly. "SHIELD could have sent any security team to collect Quinn. Why you?"
"I'm surprised you even know who I am, Lady America." Y/N's jaw clenched.
"Ooo, I wouldn't call her that," Coulson commented.
"I've done my research on my team members. You are part of Ward's file, so I dug deeper." Y/N studied Garrett's face. "You've been chasing him too."
"Since Malta," Garrett confirmed. "Then yesterday, your little Italian job cost my team weeks of work."
"You can't have him," Coulson said. "Not yet."
"This isn't a request."
"Quinn shot one of my agents. She's on life support in a med pod downstairs. We are taking her to the trauma center in Bethesda."
"Quinn actually pulled the trigger?"
"Skye infiltrated his compound in Malta." Y/N looked away as Coulson began explaining. "When he saw her yesterday, seems he took it personally."
"I never took him for a triggerman. He pays others for that. I've lost three of my own chasing him."
"Then you understand why we can't give him to you until we save Skye," Y/N said.
"Because if she doesn't make it..."
Garrett took in both Coulson's and Y/N's faces, understanding that if Skye didn't make it, neither would Quinn. Agent Garrett immediately got HQ on the phone, convincing them that he could interrogate Quinn on the Bus so that time wouldn't be lost heading to Bethesda. The three of them then headed down to stop Trip from taking Quinn. They found Ward and Trip in the middle of a brawl.
"Agent Ward, stand down," Coulson demanded. "Agent Garrett and I have come to an agreement. He convinced HQ he could interrogate Quinn here on our plane as we continue to Bethesda."
"Well, I'm a bit of a sweet talker when I need to be," Garrett commented. "You wouldn't believe what I could talk this son of a gun into," he said to Trip about Ward. "Good seeing you, son," Garrett shook Ward's hand.
"You, too, sir," Ward said. "And thank you."
"Saving the girl's top priority, and she might know something."
While the guys prepped to interrogate Quinn, Y/N was called down, with May, to see Fitz-Simmons.
"You wanted to see us?" May asked, as the two women entered the lab.
"I just got off the phone with the trauma center in Bethesda," Simmons stated. "Dr. Streiten's gone off the grid."
"So we'll find a different doctor there who operated on Coulson," Y/N responded.
"That's the thing. Actually-" Fitz started.
"Coulson was never treated there," Simmons finished.
"What?" Y/N exclaimed.
"You're not making sense," May said.
"None of this makes sense," Simmons said. "The doctors listed, the operating room number- none of them exist. None of them re part of SHIELD."
Y/N and May's heads snapped towards each other. They thought they had been kept in the loop about Coulson's recovery, at least that's what Fury wanted them to believe. But it was becoming clear that something bigger was being hidden.
~~~
Y/N called Coulson into his own office for a talk, with May and Simmons.
"The Clairvoyant wants us to find out what happened to me," Coulson started. "That's why he told Quinn to shoot Skye."
"Quinn shot Skye for nothing," May stated. "The place we were going, the doctors who treated you- they don't exist."
"Or maybe they exist somewhere else. This is SHIELD. There are always secrets."
"That's my fear, sir," Simmons said. "Your file is filled with secrets. Experimental drugs, unknown surgical procedures we've never even heard of. Frankly, Fitz and I only understand about 70% of what's in here."
"Even if we do find where they treated you and we were able to replicate the procedure, there's the other obvious question," May said.
"Which is?" Coulson probed.
"Whether we should," Y/N answered.
"What you experienced, sir," Simmons continued, "if this file is even partially accurate-"
"No one's suggesting that we submit Skye to everything that I went through," Coulson argued. "But if there's something in here... a drug, a treatment that can save her, we need to find it. Figure it out."
"Yes, sir," Simmons replied before taking her leave.
"You two disagree."
"No," May said. "I think we need to do everything humanly possible to save Skye."
"But we need to acknowledge that doing so might give the Clairvoyant exactly what he wants," Y/N said.
"It's a risk we have to take," Coulson said.
~~~
Y/N eventually found her way to Skye's bedside. She sat on a stool next to the bed, holding onto her hand.
"I've been thinking about it," Y/N started, quietly, "and I think I should talk about my life more- my family more. Maybe even, after this is all over, you can come and stay with Tony and I at the Tower. Meet everyone." Y/N laughed to herself. "Tony would love you... I have him working on finding a solution too, ya know? I thought that it wouldn't hurt to have him on our side too..." Y/N stayed quiet for a moment, just focused on holding Skye's hand. "I'm sorry... It's my fault that you're in this bed."
"It's not your fault," an unfamiliar voice rang from behind Y/N. She quickly turned around to see Trip leaning in the door way. "I may not know you two or what actually went down, but I can't believe it was your fault."
"Yeah, well, you're wrong..."
"Didn't think you were the sit around and wallow type, Agent Rogers."
"And what made you think that?"
"The stories my grandfather told me."
"Your grandfather?"
"Gabe Jones, a Howling-"
"Commando," Y/N gave a small smile. "I remember him."
"He told me once that you shot out a whole shooting range, after finding out about Sargent Barnes."
"Well, he was right.. Gosh... that makes me feel old."
"I didn't mean to-"
"No, no... you're fine... is that why you joined SHIELD? Because of Gabe?"
"Yes. But, I don't go around just telling everyone that."
"You're secret's safe with me... And, it's Y/N. No Agent Rogers, or Lady America."
"Understood. Trip."
"Nice to meet you, Trip."
"Nice to meet you, Y/N."
~~~
It wasn't long before Fitz-Simmons found the Guest House, where Coulson was actually treated, and the Bus was landing there. May and Y/N tried every channel to make some sort of contact with the inside, but there was nothing. Garrett, Ward, Coulson, and Fitz were pulled to go in and check it out. Everyone else was to remain on the Bus, for back up and to watch Skye. Y/N was necessarily happy about being stuck on the plane, but she would obey orders. For now. Y/N was struggling to stand there and wait for information, so she went down and to watch over Skye with Trip and Simmons.
"Tough when it's your team," Trip commented. "You guys go back a ways?"
"Not really," Simmons answered. "A few months. We have nothing in common... couldn't be more different."
"But you can't imagine your life without her."
"Yes. You've experienced that, Agent Triplett?"
"I have. Sometimes, a person takes you by surprise."
"Yeah."
"She's very lucky to have you, the both of you. I know anything bad ever happens to me, hope you guys are in my corner too."
"Comms are down," May stated as she approached. "If I don't hear anything within the hour, I'm going after them."
"Me too," Y/N added.
Suddenly, rapid beeping started coming from the machines Skye was hooked up to.
"Skye's coding," Simmons exclaimed. "All of you, now."
The four of them rushed into the room as Skye flatlined.
"How can we help?" May asked.
"I need a unit of Epi!" Simmons ordered as she started compressions.
"Got it," Trip said, already preparing a syringe.
Slowly, Skye's vitals steadied. Allowing those into the room to breath a small sigh of relief. Y/N leaned back against the door, like just watching that was exhausting.
"Weak, erratic heart rate," Simmons said, her, May, and Trip watching the monitors. "Each time we save her, I ask myself, 'is this what Skye would want?'"
"We didn't come this far to quit," May stated.
"Get o-" Fitz's voice broke through the static of the comms. "Get off- the ground immediately."
"They're alive," Simmons exclaimed. "Maybe we can-"
But Simmons didn't get to finish her sentence, because Skye flatlined again. Trip and Simmons rushed to help Skye as May and Y/N went into the hall way.
"Fitz, come in," Y/N called. "What's your status?"
"I'm on my way. The mountain's going to blow!" He responded.
"I'll get us off the ground," May said, hurrying to the cockpit.
Fitz ran up to the med pod. "We found it," he said.
"What is it?" Simmons asked, giving compressions. "And how much, injected where?"
"May, get us off the ground," Ward ordered, coming up behind Fitz. "Or it'll fall out from under us."
The sound of engines quickly followed Ward's order as Simmons took the drug from Fitz. Everyone watched with bated breath as Simmons prepped it and began injecting.
"No!" Coulson shouted, running up with Garrett. "Don't give it to her!"
"I was losing her, anyway," Simmons stated. "What harm can it do?"
Every watched the monitors and listened to the sounds of them. Y/N's hand cupped her mouth as Ward's hand found a place on her shoulder.
"Come on, girl," Trip said as May ran up.
They all continued watching when suddenly, the stats started stabilizing.
"It's working," Garrett said.
Y/N let out a strangled sob of joy as she turned and buried herself into Ward. But before too much joy could be had, she started spiking.
"She's spiking!" Simmons exclaimed.
"Stop it!" Ward ordered, still holding onto Y/N, who was now facing Skye. "How can we stop it? Skye!"
"What's happening?" Coulson asked Simmons.
"I don't know," Simmons softly cried.
"Skye!"
"Do something!" Fitz shouted. "We have to do something!"
"Please, Skye..." Y/N whispered. "Don't do this to us..."
Skye was arching upward, gasping for air and grunting. It was terrifying to those who were watching. When she collapsed back onto the bed, the rapid beeping began to slow.
"Her heartbeat..." Simmons said. "She's stabilizing."
"Simmons?" Coulson looked to the scientist for good news. She sighed, with a small smile and a little nod.
"Could someone tell me what we just saw?" Ward asked.
"The girl's a fighter," Trip stated. "What was that stuff you just gave her?"
Simmons looked to Coulson for answers before responding with, "I don't know. All I know is that it worked."
"You're a real miracle worker."
"You did it," May said to Coulson.
Coulson said nothing, only giving a wide-eyed, worried look to May and Y/N. He silently took his leave after that.
"Did something happen down there?" Y/N asked Garrett.
"I'm not sure," he replied. "One minute, he was fine. The next, it was like he had seen a ghost."
Y/N pulled herself from Ward's arms to follow Coulson. She didn't get to catch up with him before Ward had pulled her into a side closet.
"What are you doing?" Y/N asked.
"Are you okay?" Ward ignored her question.
"Yeah. I'm fine... as long as Skye's going to be okay. I'll be fine."
"Good."
Then Ward grabbed Y/N's waist and pulled her in for a kiss. She was too shocked by the action to immediately do anything. But once she realized what was happening, she shoved Ward off of her and kicked him in the crotch. He fell onto his knees, holding himself.
"Why did you do that?" Y/N angrily asked.
"I'm sorry..." He grunted. "I was just caught in the moment..."
"Don't ever do that again! I'm in a committed, loving relationship and you are sleeping around with May. You do not get to pull moves on me! Understood?"
"Y/N, I'm sorry-"
"It's Agent Rogers to you."
She marched out of the closet, slamming the door behind her. She quickly made it into Phil's office, shutting the door before she leaned back against it. Closing her eyes and panting.
"Are you okay?" Coulson asked from where he was sitting at his desk.
"No..." she replied. "Are you?"
"I'm scared for her... I'm worried that she'll suffer the same way I did..."
"We'll monitor her heavily. I can almost guarantee that Fitz-Simmons won't let her out of their sight."
"You're right."
Coulson fell silent, same with Y/N. They both stayed in their spots, quietly, for a while.
"I know that Skye's probably not out of the woods yet," Y/N started. "But I need to make a trip home... I need to patch some things up with Tony."
"Understood. We'll drop you off at the nearest airport."
"Thank you, Phil. Please, call me, if something happens."