KATHARINE HAD TO BELIEVE THAT WHAT PHIL COULSON WAS DOING WAS RIGHT. Why? Because the second May left for a quick perimeter check and Fitz became engrossed with the computer in front of him, Coulson deviated from the plan.

Did Katharine know he was going to deviate from the plan? Absolutely. Was May going to be happy about this? Absolutely not.

God, she felt like a child sneaking behind their mother's back.

Katharine glanced at her watch again. Ten minutes and twenty-three seconds. It was barely enough time for them to get what they came here for and get out of the facility.

She tapped her gun against her thigh once before turning back to check on Coulson.

"How are we doing on time?" the man asked. He wasn't stupid, he had definitely seen Katharine checking her watch every other second. It was a habit she had gotten into during missions and half the time it was the reason everything happened when it needed to happen. She kept the pace and made sure everyone got out before her.

Katharine looked at her watch yet again. "Nine minutes, forty-three seconds."

"Okay, missile defenses are almost down," Fitz announced from the other room. Katharine heard May reenter the room. Four minutes for a quick sweep perimeter check, a new record for the agent.

"Good. Where's Coulson and Katharine?" May asked. Katharine bit the inside of her cheek. She was not going to be happy when she found them.

Which she did roughly ten seconds later.

"Hey," she greeted. "We need to move."

Coulson spared her a glance. "Just one minute," he pleaded.

May gave Katharine a look between exasperated and deadly. "Come on, Phil, this wasn't the plan."

Coulson said nothing while Kathrine looked away. She tapped her watch subtly, letting Coulson know that he was almost out of time.

"Or was it?" May asked, catching onto Katharine's lack of nervous ticks. No lip-biting or leg-tapping seemed to give her away, which the older agent had deemed as odd and out of character for the girl. Of course, it could have been chalked up to the fact that she'd been undercover for the past four months but no person changed as much as Katharine Morgan had.

Coulson looked back down at the computer. A door opens on the other end and May is quick to draw up her weapon, shooting them both before anyone could do anything. If Katharine said she didn't laugh when Fitz's gun got caught on the underside of the table, she'd be lying.

"Either come with me now, or you're next," May threatened.

Katharine's hand tightened around her gun. If May shot Coulson, which she doubted she would do, then Katharine would have been forced to shoot May. But Katharine really wasn't looking to make a habit out of shooting teammates.

Coulson took the flash drive out of the side of the computer and straightened himself out. He walked away from the computer, raising an arm out in front of him, palm up. "Okay, after you."

May glared at him before turning and walking out the door, Coulson behind her and Katharine behind him.

"Fitz," Katharine called. Seven minutes and fifty-three seconds left. "Let's get a move on."

The tech genius was quick to nod and wrap up his things, reholstering his gun and slinging his bag over his head. He stood from the desk and followed May and Coulson out the door, leaving Katharine to follow.

"THIS IS SHIELD 2-1-8," May reported back to Gonzalez. "We have the prisoners and are leaving HYDRA airspace."

Thankfully, the Quinjet was still in the same place they had left it. When they met up with the other team, Katharine had been the one to take note of Ward and Bakshi's absence. She also managed to clock the guilty look that played over Simmons's face and decided not to push the issue. If Coulson had an issue with the missing people, he'd definitely bring it up to his team later on.

It wasn't long after getting Peterson and Lincoln onto the Quinjet and then taking to the sky that they arrived back at The Playground. As always, SHIELD technology made life a little bit easier, as well as made flights go by just a little bit faster.

Katharine, as always, was the last to exit the aircraft. She accompanied Coulson, who more walked than ran like the rest of his teammates.

When his phone rang, he stopped walking, beckoning Katharine closer so she could hear the conversation. He answered the call.

"Hello?"

"Sounds like you made it out okay," Ward's voice came through on the other side.

"I'm surprised you didn't join us."

"I thought it might be in my best interest to find an exit that wouldn't, oh, land me in a cell afterward. Or, you know, my brain erased."

"Well I'm glad you made it out all right," Coulson said. Katharine frowned at the man. Even without her abilities, she'd be able to pick up that lie from miles away.

And it seemed Ward also picked up on that fact. "Yeah, we both know that's not true, Coulson."

"You want to tell me what this call is really about?"

"I always knew the team wasn't gonna forgive me. Some people just don't deserve forgiveness. But Kara? She does." Katharine looked up at Coulson. This was really out of character for the man. "That's why I returned her to SHIELD."

"Ward, there's--"

"She was a good agent," Ward defended his friend. "A good person. Then HYDRA ambushed her safe house and took that from her, took everything."

They had made their way to a large window that overlooked the medical wing. Kara was standing in the middle of it all, looking as confused as ever.

"Whitehall broke her, and I've tried to fix her, but..." Ward trailed off for a moment. "I'm just not the right man for it. There's just not enough good left inside me. She deserves better."

Katharine watched as Kara moved out of the way of the doctors, still looking down at Mike Peterson's body. "I'll see what I can do," Coulson promised.

"I know you'll do the right thing," Ward replies. A few beats of silence before Ward's breathing picks up just the slightest bit. "And while you're at it, let Katharine know that I regret what I did to her. I'm a terrible person, but I still feel empathy."

"You can tell her yourself," Coulson chose his words, looking at the brunette that stood by his side. "But that's an apology you'll have to make in the future."

A moment of silence and then the hang-up tone. Katharine looked sideways at Coulson.

"Why did you want me here for that?"

"To let you know that phone calls don't always need to have a happy ending," Coulson didn't meet Katharine's eye. "I heard you on the Bus earlier. You should give your cousin a call, at least let him know you're okay."

Katharine pursed her lips, deciding on whether to punch Coulson across the face or thank him for whatever wisdom he was trying to impart onto her.

She decided on the latter, thanking the older man. She pulled her SHIELD-issued gun off her hip as well as her badge, handing both items over to the man in front of her.

"As promised," she said, relinquishing the items over to him. "One last adventure."

"We'll keep in touch," Coulson promised, looking at the items she had handed him. He flipped open the leather wallet that held her credentials. A twenty-one-year-old Katharine Morgan smiled back up at him, from the day she graduated from the academy.

He looked up, expecting to see the girl still standing in front of him, but she was gone.

IT WAS NEARLY MIDNIGHT WHEN KATHARINE ROLLED UP IN FRONT OF AN APARTMENT BUILDING. It wasn't her apartment building. She was just lucky that her lease had run out just in time for her to leave without question.

Her finger hovered over her cousin's contact before clicking it, pressing the device to her ear as she had done so many times before.

"Hello?" Derek answered. "If this is another wrong number call, I'm hanging up."

"Derek," Katharine managed. "It's Katharine."

Silence and then shuffling. "Katharine? I-We thought you died! There was news of SHIELD collapsing and then you didn't call and... Where are you now? Stay there, I'll come and get you. Just let me--"

"Derek," Katharine stopped him before he could make any rash decisions like leave his home in an attempt to find her. "I'm fine. I'm staying with a friend in Quantico right now. I just thought I'd let you know that I'm okay."

"In Quantico?"

"Yeah," Katharine exhaled. "But I won't be staying for long. I'll call again soon, alright?"

When Katharine received no response, she assumed that he was mad at her which was completely understandable. She got out of the car, making her way to her trunk and unloading her single suitcase filled with most of her clothes and other things. She also had her go-bag but she left that in her car.

The familiar hang-up tone played in her ear as she closed the trunk of her car, giving her the answer to her unspoken question. Derek was definitely upset with her and she couldn't blame him. She took the phone away from her ear, throwing it on the floor and crushing it with her heel.

She had a door to knock on.

SPENCER REID WAS SETTLING IN FOR BED WHEN A HEAVY KNOCK SOUNDED AT HIS DOOR. Confused, he threw on a robe and wondered who could possibly be knocking on his door at this hour.

He opened the door, surprised to find his colleague and friend standing at his door looking more disheveled than he had when they left the BAU offices earlier that day.

"Uh..." Spencer looked at his friend, concerned for his current state of being but otherwise generally shocked to see the man at his door. "Hi? Not that I don't enjoy it when people knock on my door at random hours of the night but, uh, what are you doing here?"

Morgan blinked once before raising his head to look over Spencer's shoulder and into the apartment behind him. Spencer turned around to see nothing but his empty apartment, not that he needed the reminder that he was alone on a Friday night.

Finally, Morgan spoke, apologizing for coming to Spencer's apartment without warning.

"It's no problem," Spencer was still confused. "But you didn't explain to me why you're here exactly...?"

Morgan shook his head, "Yeah, sorry... I just got a weird phone call from my cousin..."

"Katharine?" Spencer furrowed his eyebrows. "Is she okay?"

It had been four months since Spencer or anyone had heard from the woman. She had, no doubt, stayed on Spencer's mind since the day she left him with a promise of a call and a kiss on his cheek.

Normally, Spencer would have been opposed to any sort of physical contact but after years of spouting the, It's safer to kiss than shake hands line, it was nice to see that he didn't even have to recite the fact to her for it to earn himself a kiss from the woman.

"Yeah," Morgan answered his question. "She called and said she was okay, that she was staying with a friend in Quantico and I thought..."

"You thought that maybe she would have come here," Spencer finished Morgan's sentence. He bit his lip and pushed his hair away from his face. "She hasn't, but I'll be sure to let you know if I do end up seeing her around."

Morgan nodded, accepting Spencer's answer. "Again, sorry for coming down here, Pretty Boy, but I couldn't be too sure."

"I understand," Spencer nodded along with him. He pursed his lips, unsure of how to end this conversation. "I guess I'll see you on Monday then?"

"Yeah, I'll see you on Monday," Morgan muttered before retreating back down the hall.

It was safe to say that any prior feelings Spencer had for Katharine Morgan had now resurfaced and just the thought of her being so close had the genius feeling giddy through the rest of the night.