send me an au for five headcanons about it
Meldrew AU where they have the Maylet(s)
Right off the bat: Bahrain happens. It goes bad, just not canon bad. Melinda doesn’t have to let the girl go, or her mother. They can be saved. And she comes home bruised and damaged and still with that blasted moniker. But she comes home. And heals. Slowly.
She still switches to a desk job any way. She needs to heal and Melinda May is not the type of woman that will endanger any possible team-mate by being in the field while she’s not 100%. There are more ways to heal and be a team than just an action field agent.
They have two girls: Ju and Tamika. Nick and Peggy are Ju’s godparents. Phil and Maria are Tamika’s. Playdates with the Bartonlets are a thing. Of course they are. Supervised by favourite uncle ever Nick Fury.
(FYI: Maria Hill is not allowed to babysit the kids alone. Ever. There’s still that pasta sauce stain on the ceiling to prove why this is a bad idea. And after the stuffed lions incident, neither is Phil Coulson.)
Considering the different outcome of Bahrain its obvious the Inhumans come to SHIELD’s notice much sooner, and maybe Skye just crashlands into their lives a little earlier and secret Inhumans Co-operation Initiative (directly under Nick Fury), meet Liason Melinda May. (Because after Bahrain, Melinda earned a reputation amongst Inhumans.)
Mel and Andrew become the point of contact between the Inhumans and SHIELD. And a safe haven for the Inhumans, which eventually leads to a lot of kids playing in the house and a lot of teens coming to Andrew for counselling advice, and Jiaying hearing a lot of kids wanting to grow up to be Melinda May. (Her own daughter included. Not that she minds.) And Ju and Tamika are never bored because they have so so many cool friends.
Tamika really takes to ballet and Natasha offers to teach her, and then gets roped into teaching Ju self defence because Ju wants Auntie Nat time too (and also marry Auntie Nat when she grows up). And Mel and Andrew laugh and laugh and laugh at Natasha’s wide eyed pleads for help because when did she become Auntie Nat?
Andrew accidentally ends up befriending Steve when he thaws, and how that leads to Steve crashing in their attic and comic book story time with the girls is not something anyone thinks they’ll ever figure out, but it is a thing. A glorious thing. Also Tamika gains an adorable crush on him.
Melinda is 120% done with her family and Steve.
Avengers Initiative. Also Meet Melinda May. Sorry Loki and the Chituari, New York may have happened in another reality, but not this one. In this one you’re sent back before you can even finish saying “kneel”. (Let’s just say Inhumans are very protective about their Liason.)