A/N: This is the last chapter, guys.

A New Protocol

As usual, Melinda was the first one up that morning. Instead of, as before, simply being able to stand from the bed and put her clothes on, she found herself wrapped in Grant's muscular arms. She didn't mind, not at all. Things were quickly changing between them, and that was just one of many. She felt a smile forming on her lips as she gently traced circles on his chest. She finally admitted that she loved him, and felt like it was the most obvious decision she had ever made.

He shifted slightly as he began to bestir from her soft tracing. She smiled again and watched his eyes flutter open. "Good morning," she greeted quietly.

"Mornin', beautiful," he muttered in reply.

Everything that had happened last night was still fresh in her mind. It was nice to finally have those memories not be accompanied by terrible memories of missions gone wrong. Her hand touched his chest, right above where his heart was. It was still beating strong. She had gotten a scare when she almost lost him, but, as Coulson liked to say, every tragedy carried with it a silver lining. "Sleep well?" Today, the question didn't care a layer of bitterness with it.

"Fantastically," he replied. "You?"

"Same."

If not for Rappaccini, if Coulson had have saved them in time, then she wouldn't have been forced to deal with her feelings, and this wouldn't have happened. Of course a lot of other stuff wouldn't have happened, it came down to it, she decided that she would take the bad that didn't stack up to the good.

"Good. Did you enjoy last night?"

She saw the knowing smirk on his lips and smirked herself. "The food was pretty good. You're a fair dancer, too."

"That's it?"

She pretended to think, and then nodded. "Yes. That's it."

"Those are the only things that stuck out to you?"

She shrugged. "Suppose so. Why? Did we do something else?" She was playing dumb, of course. Last night was absolutely amazing, and she knew that he knew that she knew it. So much tension had been building up inside her and last night was what she needed to work it out. But, it was a lot more than just stress relief. For the first time, there was actual love in their sex. It wasn't just two people fucking, but two people who loved each other consummating that love.

His eyes glazed over with an animalistic air. "Alright. I'll just have to jog your memory." With that and without any actual warning, her pinned her on her back and started sucking on her neck.

She laughed and clawed at his neck. She hadn't intended on having morning sex, but she was still up for it. "Wait. I think it's starting to come back to me."

He grunted out a laugh and kissed her tenderly. "You wanted morning sex, should have just asked. Now you've gone and hurt my manly ego." He slid between her legs and reached down to massage her sex.

She cooed softly and licked her lips. "And? What are you gonna do to redeem yourself?"

He grinned pruriently and stabbed himself inside her without warning. She cried out as her walls were forced to accommodate his manhood on short notice. "You won't be able to walk when I'm done with you," he whispered softly. His pace was steady, but not fast by any stretch. Good. She wanted to feel him in her as long as possible.

"You talk big shit," she breathed out, "can your dick back it up?"

"Ask your pussy when I'm done with it," he grunted back. She grinned and pulled him down into another kiss. Their tongues wrestled for dominance, and he was nice enough to swallow the moans that were trickling from her mouth into his.

"Mmm, Grant! Harder!" she commanded huskily. He lovingly obliged and thrust his hips into her as hard as he could. Her moans turned into cries of passion and she wrapped her arms around his back to hold him close. Pressure was building up inside her like a bomb, pulsating and heating rapidly with each loving caress. "Oh God! Grant!" Her orgasm felt like a tidal wave had exploded in her stomach. Electric jolts surged throughout her body and knocked any sense she had out the door.

"That fast, huh?" he gloated. She managed to roll her eyes.

Like the considerate lover he was, he slowed his pace down to give her a chance to collect her senses. He pressed his forehead against hers. She stared into his chocolate brown eyes, looking right into the palpable passion and lust that they carried for her. Hers widened a little when he picked his pace up again. She grunted every time their bodies collided, creating an erotic melody of passion that was only enhanced by the rhythmical creaking of the bedsprings.

Her mouth babbled soundless dirty talk, commanding him to do anything and everything that her deviated mind thought of. This was where Grant Ward brought her. Long gone were the days of just having quick sex and moving on. Now, she wanted it to last all day, until she couldn't feel her legs anymore. She already knew that she was going to miss his presence when he finished, but she pushed that out of her mind and locked eyes with him again. They were cloudy and starting to glaze over.

They were also burning fires of passion boring straight into her. The intensity brought with it a soft blush to her cheeks and a tingle in her nether regions. He erratically thrusted again before loosing an animalistic growl as he released inside her. She gasped softly and grunted as the pressure of his release pushed her over the edge. Her walls clamped down on him, milking him dry and leaving him a wobbily, exhausted heap that barely managed to fall beside her. As quickly as he entered, he was gone and, as predicted, she missed it.

She breathed heavily and gave him a congratulatory pat on the stomach. "I think… I think I can get used to this."

"You mean you're not already?" She glanced at him and spotted a soft grin. She couldn't help but grin back.

"Not used to being sober. But I think I, and my liver, can cope."

After a shower and a light breakfast, Melinda flopped down on the sofa. It didn't take long for her lost puppy named Grant to follow her. She watched him sit down next to her and decided to get right to business. "As much as I love what's happened in the last twelve hours or so, this changes nothing. It can't. As soon as we step foot on the Bus, it's back to the way things were."

Though her tone was professional and serious, she truly hated every word of that. As good as it would have been to start acting like her normal self and not her old normal self from a decade ago, she had come to enjoy acting like a lovesick teenager all over again. Still, if she kept it up, the others were sure to catch on. "You understand?"

He nodded sharply. "We should amend our rules."

"Right. So, still no sex on the Bus. Flirting is confined to the cockpit –"

"Broad flirting." She raised an eyebrow. "I plan on subtly flirting with you in front of the others."

"No," she stated in a bid to nip in it the bud. He pouted, making her laugh. "We can't underestimate them. Especially Skye. Do you want her to tease you more than she already does? I don't."

He sighed defeatedly. "Oh, alright. No flirting except in the cockpit."

She patted his knee. "No PDAs on the Bus, or anywhere where the team might be. Can't risk it." He nodded. "When we're on assignment, we focus on that and only that. I think that now that we're on the same page, fantasizing shouldn't be an issue." He nodded again. "And absolutely no one can know about this. No matter how much you want to brag about 'banging Melinda May', no." He grinned, but nodded.

"Besides, I'd hate to see what Coulson would do to me if he found out we're together." She raised an eyebrow to mask her guilt. He misread it and chuckled. "See, me, Skye and FitzSimmons all agree that you and Coulson were married back in the day, but divorced for whatever reason. Nothing serious, you know, just the kids goofing around."

She could have smacked herself. His speculation was very nearly dead on. "He's okay with it," she mumbled.

"I'm sorry? Didn't catch that." His tone said he did and couldn't believe what she said. Still, she repeated herself.

"He's okay with it."

He looked absolutely floored. "Wait, you told him?" She nodded. "You told him?!"

"Yes, Grant, I told him." His eyes grew to saucers and all the color began to drain from his face. Her eyes rolled at his dramatics. "It isn't that big a deal."

"Not a big deal? This is our supervising officer, and he knows I'm sleeping with his ex-wife."

"Fiancée."

"It's the same –" His eyes, somehow, grew even wider than before. "You… you were engaged? To Coulson?"

"Please don't tell me you're jealous. It was years ago."

His socks were completely knocked off. "I… I'm… not. I just… wow."

Her eyes rolled a second time. "Yeah, so he knows and is okay with it. He'd better be, considering he's fucking some woman in Portland, probably as we speak."

"Wait, what?"

"That's a story for another time, but it involves Tony Stark and a cellist. Anyway, that's all the rules that I can think of."

"Yeah… yeah, that all sounds good." He looked like his mind had been completely blown away. She smirked and crawled into his lap.

"Relax. That's long over now. I can barely tolerate you, but both of you?" She scoffed lightly while flashing him a coy smirk.

He smirked back. "Oh, it's down to tolerate, is it?" He wrapped his arms around her waist and pecked her cheek. "Because last night, you said something completely different."

"I was drunk. Obviously." She smiled slyly and kissed him. "My toleration is on par with a normal woman's love," she explained as if it were a proven fact.

His eyebrows raised, as if surprised. "Is that so? Well, I can't wait to see what love is for Melinda May."

"You won't." She touched their foreheads together and smiled sweetly. "I don't do love, remember?"

He smiled back. She could definitely get used to this.

A/N:Now I bring the story to a close. I'd like to thank each and every one of you guys for all the support that you've shown. I can definitely say that I couldn't have done it without you all. :)