When a 911 call was made that met the criteria for suspected Hydra involvement, they moved in. A man said men in black with assault rifles were breaking into his home. They were organized, he thought maybe they were S.H.I.E.L.D., since the world thought of them as a terrorist organization now.

It was Hydra, they broke into this man's home. The reason was unknown, but still the team arrived on scene before first responders could. Hydra fled the scene, apparently having got what they wanted.

It was never easy to find a body left behind, an innocent bystander in all of this. What was worse is he was recognized. Coulson knew him, he was an agent, and part of the T.A.H.I.T.I. program. He was the only one spared when another former agent went on a killing spree in an attempt to decipher the alien writing they all had encoded in their DNA.

"Hydra must have wanted him for questioning. But why did they kill him?" Skye said.

"Maybe he refused to crack." May answered her. She carefully observed the scene. The man had two bullets, shot point blank in the chest.

Suddenly, a small cry broke the silence, making everyone perk up. May signaled for everyone to follow her as she made her way up the stairs toward the sound.

If they hadn't heard the sound again they might have missed where he was hiding.

The home was older, with large vents throughout it, including one in the hallway. May held a hand up to make sure everyone stayed where they were. Skye stepped forward and bent down to see inside the vent.

What was inside broke her heart. A small boy, maybe two years old, was crouched inside, shaking and crying, but trying to keep quiet.

"It's okay, all clear." Skye said, still in shock and not taking her eyes off the child.

"Hey," She said to him, "it's okay, no one's going to hurt you now." She slowly began to take off the vent cover.

"Want daddy." The boy whimpered and refused to come out.

Skye swallowed a lump in her throat. He must have heard everything, the yelling, the gunshots.

"It's going to be okay, we want to take you somewhere nice and safe." Skye held a hand out.

"Want daddy!" He cried again and became even more upset.

"Go cover the body, he doesn't need to see that." May turned and told two of the agents standing by her. They nodded sadly and went downstairs to find something to cover the man with.

"I'm sorry, your- " Skye began but May cut her off with a hand on her shoulder and a shake of her head.

"Hey, what's your name?" May bent down to talk to the boy.

"Ellis." He sniffed. His eyes were now locked on May.

"Ellis, why don't you come out? We'll go to your room, we can pack you a bag and you can come see my house. How does that sound?" May smiled.

Skye had never seen her S.O. this kind and comforting. But she wasn't sure they had time for that.

"May, the cops will be here any second." She nudged.

"Then help me." May mumbled back. "Ellis, this is Skye. She she can help you."

The boy looked between the two women and hesitated for another minute before crawling out. Skye checked a nearby hall closet and found a bag suitable before they ran down the hall to find his room.

The boy asked them to bring his blanket and several of his toys, Skye stuffed his clothes into the bag as well and they cleared the scene. She carried the bag while May clutched Ellis to her chest, protecting him from possibly seeing his father dead or anything else that might scare him.

He was now in their custody, sirens could be heard just around the block while they ran back to the quinjet so the authorities could asses the scene and properly process the dead man.

Back at the base, everyone was surprised by their new guest. Coulson said they were looking for any living relatives but they believed Hydra went after the man because he was a former agent and because they had intel on the T.A.H.I.T.I. program somehow. Apparently they didn't know about the boy or they didn't care. Either way, he was safe with them.

In the meantime, May tried to hand him off to Simmons. She was by no means maternal, and she was off on missions frequently while Simmons was here all the time. But the boy wouldn't have it. He cried for her when he was lead away and she couldn't stand it. Simmons let go of his hand and he ran back to May, wrapping his arms around her legs.

May sighed, and decided to indulge him until they found his family. A few days couldn't hurt.

But it turned out the boy was very attached to her, which was very surprising considering her demeanor. Still, she accepted it, even if she wondered why he would want to be around her. She wasn't comforting or soothing.

The days turned into a couple of weeks, and Ellis went everywhere with her. Striding down the hallway at her side, holding two of her fingers in his tiny hand, sitting in her lap while she gathered intel and briefed others on missions, watching while she sparred. She removed herself from field work temporarily, nothing too pressing was happening and he cried when he was away from her. She felt awful for him, his father had just been murdered in front of him.

Everyone her knew her reputation, but no one dared question her. She sent glares at anyone who stared at the two of them. Almost everyone here was too intimidated by her to ask at all about her fondness of the boy, but those who were closest to her understood without the need to ask. She wanted to be a mother, a long time ago, before Bahrain destroyed her. But it didn't take away her nurturing side. She didn't show it often, but this was a two year old child with no one else.

Coulson in particular knew this side of her. He didn't ask questions, didn't stare, he accepted her new companion without blinking an eye.

Two and a half weeks after they brought Ellis in, their search for living family was over. Coulson steadied himself to break the news to May and set off to find her.

She was walking down the hall to her room, Ellis was asleep and slumped over her chest. She was carrying him to her bed so he could nap properly instead of in her lap while she worked.

"May." Coulson said in greeting.

"Coulson." She acknowledged without stopping.

"I have some news on the search for his family. Can we go to my office?" Coulson tried to keep up with her.

Still walking, she looked at him with a raised eyebrow. They could talk in her room.

"Right." He nodded and continued to walk with her.

Upon arriving, he punched in the code to her room and opened the door for her. Then, he walked to her bed and pulled the blanket back.

"Thank you." She said before carefully laying the baby boy down and covering him up. He turned over once and sighed in his sleep before stilling again.

"So what did you find?" May braced herself. As sweet as Ellis was, she knew the best thing for him was to live with a living relative under the careful watch of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Nothing." Coulson said bluntly.

"Excuse me?" May crossed her arms.

"Agent Barker had no living relatives of his own, even before we had to wipe his memory and change his identity. The mother is dead, died when Ellis was born, and she was a product of the foster system. I even had Skye try to hack into every lead we thought we had, but there's no one."

May covered her mouth. This little boy was alone in the world now, he had no family, his parents were dead.

"We can't hand him over to an orphanage, this organization doesn't exist right now. And-"

"We are not dropping him on a random doorstep!" May stepped toward him.

He put his hands up. "I wasn't going to suggest that, but you and Skye had the same reaction."

May backed down and sat on a couch. Coulson sat next to her.

"I was going to say that we're his best option. He isn't safe on his own, Hydra could be after him too. Maybe we just chased them away."

"We'll keep him safe." May stared at the toddler sleeping in her bed.