Retrograde

Chapter two: Calculated candy risk

They arrived at their destination, Coulson having no idea how he was going to explain to Skye that their living arrangements had changed.

He didn't want to lie. Hated it even.

But he wasn't sure what else he could do. Skye didn't have a handle on these new powers and the slightest wave of emotion could bring the building down around them.

He made the decision to talk to Simmons about the amnesia that Skye was displaying.

If she thought it would be safe to tell Skye that she was missing more time than she thought then he would be the first to tell her everything.

Mainly because he didn't like the restrained happiness on Ward face when he realised that Skye couldn't remember everything he had done.

He didn't like it one bit.

Though he could admit at least to himself that if Ward was literally any other person on the planet then the situation would pull on his heart strings.

To have the person you had lost through your own actions, who hated you, suddenly not remember any of it? To have them back, thinking you were the same person they once trusted? Only to have the threat over your head of their memories returning along with their hatred.

It was brutal.

Another thing he could admit was how nice it was to have the skye he met back. The carefree, happy skye who still held trust in her eyes.

He sighed as they left the jet.

This was going to be tough to navigate.

"Uh, Coulson? Why are we at," Skye squinted through the trees in the clearing they had landed in to see the name of a less than classy establishment flashing in neon lights "Pine view Motel? Where's May and Simmons. Where's the bus?" Skye asked the questions rapid fire as she stepped off the ramp onto the grass.

"A temporary base," he decided to give her more half truths "You're missing quite a bit of time but I'll save you the long story. There's a new director of shield," he hesitated again trying to sort through the timeline of events after the fall of shield and tried to amend it for her benefit.

He started walking to the motel "Gonzales. He doesn't like me much. In fact there's a warrant out for my arrest, so places with cctv are out of the question for a while. And he took the Bus." he explained about the plane that she, without her memories, still thought was her home.

"Wait," she shook her head, confused, and ran to catch up to Coulson "Why the hell does he want to arrest you? Where's Director Fury?"

"Fury is taking a leave of absence. This new guy wants me brought in because I have something of Fury's that he wants. But I don't want him to have it, hence the whole on the run in cheap motels thing." He gestured to the place in front of them.

"And May and Simmons are working with Gonzales, keeping me informed of his movements."

"Wow. Remind me not to get Amnesia in the future, you miss out on a lot," she joked, Coulson not finding the humour in it considering she didn't know how much she had actually missed.

"You said back at that office building," she started to ask "That we were there tracking someone with powers. Why? What did they do?"

"They didn't do anything bad if that's what you're thinking. We were there to protect them. Or try to. There's another new guy on the scene, two actually. List and Strucker. Remember Hydra you saw earlier?"

She nodded.

"Well they're back, lead by these guys. They're looking for gifted individuals, obsessed with them. They're trying to get power, world domination, the usual." He said flippantly.