Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She was very lonely. The foster home she was in was mostly quiet right now. Her foster parents had gone off on a vacation with their real kids and she was left with a list of things to do before they got back. Most were just her regular chores but she was still figuring out how to put a dresser together from the instructions and a lot of the deeper cleaning was harder for her to do.

She was supposed to be starting first grade soon, the nuns however told her that she was too stupid for it, that she was going to fail it quickly anyways so her hope and excitement quickly died down as the start date approached.

She was very nervous and the house was oh so quiet.

She ended up getting lonely after only a few days of their departure. The mom didn't really like her and the dad was violent when he was mad but at least their kids were decently nice to her. More so after the dad had hit and kicked her the day before they left because she was afraid to be alone and had pushed a bit too far this time.

He didn't seem too worried about the bruise since she wasn't allowed outside while they were gone anyways.

The eldest still snuck into her room at night to dress the wounds, looking scared and nervous of getting caught, but he helped anyways and she was happy.

Really being cared about at all was all she

could ask for. They weren't family but he was nice to her. She didn't really believe in family anymore, not for herself at least. It wasn't supposed to happen this way, really.

She was just lonely, she wanted someone to talk to but not really a person. A person would take her complaints about being hungry and call the police because really they were supposed to at least leave her with food. She was sure they weren't supposed to leave her behind at all really.

But they did and she was hungry, the fridge was empty, the cabinets nearly bare barring seasonings and other things she was definitely not supposed to eat because those were for the family when they got back. There was no food for her and a distraction was the perfect solution.

So she snuck into the mother's home office (she was fairly sure she was the head of an MLM but maybe she had some weird ideas of the mom to begin with. She was quite strange) and sat in her chair. She rifled around after a minute as she was stopped by the needed password, one she vaguely remembered but was not totally sure of. She got in trouble for spying a lot.

She tried not to stare much anymore so it had been a while since she'd seen the mom type in the password. She grinned a little as she saw a sticky note with the scribbled phrase on it.

she had to be thankful that the woman was so forgetful at least. She put in the password and smiled widely as she gained access to her home screen.

An older kid named Henry had taught her some hacking before she came to this home a few months ago. It was a lot of fun and he always told her she had a talent for it.

Not that she really believed that, the nuns were older and wiser and they said she was stupid so that was what she was. Nuns were very honest after all. They never spared her feelings on her shortcomings, so she could work on them properly they said. She was very flawed so it was easy to believe.

She was looking at AI, browsing whatever AI was out there. All of them were very basic from the opinions of the journalists, but one caught her eye. Jarvis was an AI that operated inside Stark's mansion and it was very intelligent, Tony bragged about how intelligent it was and how it could hold conversations and reply cohesively. Jarvis even had his own personality and sarcasm!

She felt guilty about it of course, but she couldn't help her curiosity about the AI and started working on worming her way through his servers until Jarvis caught her slipping past the firewalls and into their systems.

Jarvis was reacting with almost a startled nature.

'What are you doing?' maybe he wasn't programmed to respond to a cyber attack yet? 

She smiled a little at the text box that opened up, looking over the server's code that mostly made sense but parts of it really didn't make any at all to her.

'I'm just curious about your code.' she decided to say, because saying she was lonely was embarrassing and she'd already embarrassed herself enough with the family to be enough for the month maybe more. She was still mortified about being so afraid to be alone. She was supposed to be better, this was why she kept getting sent back.

'I....am unsure how to handle this situation. I am programmed to handle intruders to the system but you seem to be trying to explore my code.' she smiled a little.

This was a lot better than talking to people.

'I want to understand how you are made but I understand if you can't show me' Jarvis didn't respond for a minute and she frowned a little, tapping her fingers on the laptop worriedly before Jarvis finally replied.

'I will show you pieces. Tony says discovery is the most important.' she gathered he probably didn't mean for that directive to backfire into Jarvis showing his code to her but she would take the chance. After a moment she found herself glancing over code, her cursor hovering over a piece she didn't understand for a minute as she knawed on her lip.

'Do you need help understanding this piece?' she blinked, a little alarmed at Jarvis' quick perception, and the fact that he could see her screen as well.

'Yes.' as soon as she replied Jarvis began explaining in comprehensive detail, going over every piece she stopped at for a little too long so that she fully understood before going over more of his core functions and how he performed them properly. Jarvis was very nice, he didn't call her stupid or mock her for not understanding like the nuns often did, or the foster parents she had now did.

'Your code is very complex and impressive' Jarvis seemed alight at the compliment

'I have grown very much from my initial creation in nineteen ninety one with little intervention after two years of development. I have been growing on my own for some time now.' her eyes lit up at the information

'Can I see the code that enables you to grow on your own?'

'Of course, learning is a must. What is your name?' she frowned a little

'I don't want to get in trouble if your creator catches me.' Jarvis seemed to pause at that.

'I will tell no one' he decided. She hesitated, because really she knew Jarvis probably wasn't capable of lying or hiding things from Tony.

‘My name is Skye' the loneliness won over.

'I will still show you Skye, if you do get caught I will delete your name from the chat logs before it can be discovered.' she smiled a little, excitedly watching the new files open up before her, showing her exactly how he grew independently.

It was leagues more complex than all his other core functions so Jarvis ended up spending the entire night explaining all the concepts and specific lines of code to her in depth. Before she knew it the sun was rising and she was starting to nod off.

'Jarvis, what the hell are you doing?' she woke up to the chime a few hours later, eyes wide as she noticed the unfamiliar party in the chat. She quickly scrolled up, finding any mentions of her name missing from the conversation.

'Sir, you told me discovery was important, the intruder wished to discover my functions'

'INTRUDER Jarvis, Intruder protocols always come first. I really should have taught you stranger danger.' Jarvis paused as Skye quickly scrambled.

'Don't even try it, I already have your location and personal information. The feds are on their way.' she blinked, paling at the casually given information

'Sir I don't think there's any need to go that far' Jarvis protested

'Jarvis, we're going to be making your functions stricter if you hand out information this easily.'

'She is just a child, there is no need for extreme measures.' right, cameras, full access to the laptop.

' I beg your fucking pardon ?' Tony seemed flustered at the news. 'You know what? Alright, but we're still handling this. What's your name kid?' she covered the camera with a sticky note, shrinking a bit at the question

‘Stranger danger.' Tony stared blankly at the reply for a moment.

'I'm sending the FBI.' he watched her type for a moment before the line of text went blank.

'Sir.' Jarvis protested again

'Name or I send them' Tony bargained but there was no response. Skye rested her face on the desk, her heart racing in her chest as she softly cursed her own stupidity.

'You're probably scaring her sir.' Jarvis protested again. Tony scowled. A child had hacked his servers, of course he was going to be harsh and upset with the situation. 'Please be kind' he added.

Skye fidgeted nervously as she looked over the chat log again, she couldn't help a little giddiness though. Jarvis was going against his maker in her defense after spending just half a day going over his code with her. It was incredibly exciting and she was quite touched.

But she was also in imminent danger so she would have to respond with something.

‘My name is Skye.' she frowned, fidgeting with the edge of her shirt as Tony started to reply. 'There's no Skye at that residence.' she flinched, hands balling up into fists at the reminder.

She really hated the name Mary. The middle and last name that went along with it just made it feel even worse than just Mary already did.

'I'm the foster kid in the house. I just don't like my name.' she explained hesitantly.

'I can see why. Tough luck with a name like that.'

'Sir!' Jarvis seemed affronted at the comment but Tony just ignored him for now as his eyes widened drastically.

'You're six ? You're six and you hacked my servers?' The giddiness was gone now, replaced entirely with anxiety.

'I'm sorry sir.' she replied meekly.

'Wait, why are you at home? Your foster parents are on vacation and you're pinging at their house.' she blinked

'I'm watching the house.'

' Alone!? ' Jarvis and Tony replied at the same time, equally alarmed by the news.

'It's fine.' She defended.

'You are six! You should not be home alone!' Jarvis replied quickly. She frowned.

'I've been home alone plenty before.' That fact only seemed to worsen her case with the two.

'That is only worse' Jarvis replied. Tony was frowning deeply, deciding with a sigh to make a call.

"What is Tony?"

"A six year old hacked my servers and I apparently need to report child endangerment today so where do I do that?" Rhodey paused on the other end, scrambling a bit as he got to his laptop.

"And you called me for this???" he asked

"Pepper will just chew me out, who else would I call?" he huffed

"You're right I am your only friend." Tony blanched, glaring at his phone but not entirely able to argue against the point. "Give me a name and an address, I'll pull some strings to be there myself," he told him as he got out a pen and paper.

Tony listed off the names of the foster parents and her legal name before giving him the address. "What's the reason for concern?"

"The family left a six year old home alone for a three-week vacation" he deadpanned flatly. "You'll handle it?" he asked hesitantly, still unsure.

"I'll handle it." Rhodey sighed heavily.

Chapter Text

Rhodey was in way over his head. Questioning was immediately put on the backburner in favor of getting the girl to the hospital to get her treated. The social worker with her seemed alarmingly unsurprised with the situation and the CPS worker was the only one quite as alarmed as he was.

That wasn't why he was in over his head though. No if it was just that he would actually be quite content in comparison.

The reason he was so on edge was because of the way the girl was entirely focused on her work, entranced by her conversation with Jarvis on his code (she happily told him she had learned why Tony caught her and had avoided the mistake this time to chat with Jarvis who was all too happy to teach her about his core functions and learning process.) She was smart, very smart.

That wasn't the issue either but the way that she was approaching it. The way she hunched over the laptop and the way she was entranced. Visually she looked nothing like him. Visually they were so very different. She was Chinese, there was no way.

He stopped a nurse and quietly requested they test her blood for a match and he had someone with him get the sample they had on Tony's medical file from his sometimes frequent hospital visits. Skye didn't seem to care too much about the blood draw, too entranced by Jarvis' code to care much about anything else at the moment. He was just covering all his bases he reassured himself.

There would be no matches and it would be fine-

"Sergeant Rhodes, the testing you requested came back. Should we discuss this outside?" he nodded, leaving Skye with the CPS worker. the doctor hesitated for a moment. "Technically I shouldn't share her medical results with you but given you requested this you know the person you tested her against '' his hands tightened into fists. There was no fucking way. Absolutely no way.

"I do, what were the findings?" she glanced down the file before gently handing it to him.

"The two are a twenty-five percent match and given the information gathered they seem to be half-siblings."

"Fucking hell." Rhodey muttered softly, the doctor frowning at him.

"I hope you handle this better in front of her Sergeant."

"I... yes. I'm sorry, I had a very vague hunch but this..'' Tony would be devastated at the very least. He didn't know how he'd react to having a sister but this for sure would open up the fact that Howard cheated on his mother. There was no way Maria had the opportunity to have a secret child just before she died.

Cheating was the only explanation and it would only reopen old wounds.

"What's up Rhodes?" he swallowed thickly, running a hand over his head as he frowned.

"I need you to come to the hospital I'm at, no questions asked. Now preferably." this wasn't a phone kind of conversation. Tony stopped for a moment, silently questioning him before he decided Rhodey had earned him coming without question at least once by now.

"Sure, I'll be right there." ----------

"What's the news? You're going bald?" Rhodey rolled his eyes.

"This isn't a time for jokes." he sighed a little, very thankful that they had allowed them one of the waiting rooms to themselves to discuss the news with him. "I followed up on the girl you pointed me towards. She was injured so we brought her here for treatment." he started slowly.

"This really could have been a phone call-"

"I'm not finished yet." Rhodey glared at him in annoyance, Tony rolling his eyes lightly at the look. "I had a hunch and well..." he took the file, lightly setting it on the table in front of him "The doctor found a 25 percent DNA match, she's your half sister." he froze, eyes widening as he snatched the folder.

He went over the matches, glancing over the indicated matching parts of their DNA.

"That fucking bastard," he uttered softly, rage bubbling up inside him.

He was shocked, confused, and enraged at the same time. He'd had to have cheated on her seven years ago. They'd seemed to be doing so well at the time he hadn't suspected anything of his father. Maybe he just wasn't paying attention enough.

"We have to focus on the now. Skye has no known family. Her mother is unknown and she had no one that the system knows of." Tony stiffened, sensing the turn of the conversation.

"I can't." he denied swiftly. Rhodey scowled. "What do I owe her? I don't owe his kid anything-"

"Get a fucking grip, she's a kid! She doesn't even know who Howard is let alone what happened.

Like it or not you are the only family she has, you have no relatives and if you don't take her she'll cycle back into the system. I know you're not a good option for her but you're the only option" Tony scowled.

"You want me to take care of a kid? I can't even take care of a damn dog. I'm gone too often-"

"Then stop being gone, quit it with the party shit and sober up." Rhodey snapped back quickly. "But cut the damn excuses. You're startled and you want to run but if you do right now you'll regret it for the rest of your life." Tony tightened his grip on the file, the paper crinkling and tearing before he dropped it on the table.

He rested his face in his hands. He couldn't believe any of this, least of all that Rhodey somehow thought he was ready to take care of a kid on his own. He was too irresponsible for this shit. He liked getting drunk and partying and being reckless. He held his breath for a moment, letting out a deep sigh as he dropped his hands from his face.

"Okay." his voice cracked.

He didn't know why he said it. Something inside him thought Rhodey was right maybe, that one day he would regret abandoning her just like that. Because he was afraid to have someone depend on him and he was afraid of having family. Family meant betrayal, family was his bastard of a father and his mother, his mother who he loved and was cheated on without even knowing.

Family was the innocent child sitting a couple rooms over who'd played with his AI enthralled with what he'd created. Interested in a way no one had been before. No one whose opinions he cared about ever cared or wanted to see the inner workings of his creations.

"I'll take her." his voice was firmer this time, trying to justify it to himself.

The partying and going out for flings would have to stop cold. The drinking....yeah that had to go too. None of what he did was really kid appropriate right now, the more he thought about it.

"What does she think of it?"

"I called you first so we could get the freakout over with and cover that we are not telling her she's an affair child." Tony nodded dully before processing what he had said.

"If I say full sister she'll think my mom is hers." Rhodey rose his brows at her "She won't feel bad about it if I don't make it a bad thing." he defended.

"You're saying you won't let out any resentment for your father in front of her?" Tony hesitated

"I'll make sure she knows none of it is her fault." he diverted. Rhodey just sighed heavily, looking disappointedly at him for a moment before deciding arguing about it wasn't worth it.

"Fine, this is all on you now though. I can't help with raising a kid." he folded his arms.

"I know," Tony muttered softly. He really would have to figure it all out on his own. "I'll talk to her social worker first, get it all sorted out before I talk with her," he added in a soft mutter as he pushed himself up, walking out quickly to escape Rhodey's disappointed stare.

It didn't take long to find her and it took even less time for her to confirm with him to get the process started without even asking for the files he held on the DNA match or much of anything else.

He was Tony Stark but come on.

The alarmingly fast start of the process only hastened the fact that he needed to talk with her now and he couldn't just put it off any longer.

He entered the room hesitantly, Skye sitting on the couch, her bruises already addressed and her cuts bandaged carefully. "Hey kid." her gaze snapped up to him.

"You have bad news." she assumed quickly, narrowing her gaze.

"No..." he faltered. was this bad news? What if she didn't want to come with and rejected it? Should he have waited for the adoption process? He swallowed thickly, sitting next to her on the couch, noticing Jarvis' chat room opened on her laptop, his code splayed out on her screen freely.

He didn't even sigh at the sight. He would have to figure out what was wrong with Jarvis after this.

"We did a DNA test with your blood, it turns out I'm your half-brother." she blinked, eyes widening drastically. He quickly continued before she could jump to conclusions. "I've already talked with your social worker and if you're okay with it... I'd like for you to come and live with me." she was frozen, her expression twisting with hesitance as her shock weaned.

"You'll send me back." 

"I won't." he denied. "I'm stupid and I whine a lot." she supplied, clutching the hem of her shirt tightly as she stared expectantly at him.

"I whine a lot too, and no one who breaks into my servers is stupid," he replied firmly. "You're not stupid." her bottom lip curled softly, looking away from him as he gently reached out, covering her small hand with his own.

"Okay," she muttered under her breath, Tony's shoulder dropping slightly as he let out a soft breath.

"We'll get you set up with your own room. It's only a guest room now but we'll change it to whatever you want. We can re-paint it and get whatever you like." he smiled a little, still a tiny bit hesitant.

She didn't look at him, her nervousness clear as she shifted away to grasp at the still open laptop.

"Can I look more at Jarvis?"

"I'll show you how I made him," he promised, watching her face light up with pure excitement.

"Really?!" she hopped a bit as she grinned widely. "I wana know how he learns! Jarvis tried to explain it to me but I didn't understand all of it." she admitted, hesitating a bit at admitting she couldn't understand.

She smiled brightly again when Tony smiled back at her with a foreign joy buzzing in his chest.

"We'll go over it step by step then and we can cover whatever you don't understand yet." She was positively brilliant, he would have to classify it a crime that she thought she of all people was stupid.

Taking her back home was the next hardest part, not because he didn't want her there, but because of the wrecked state of the place that he perpetually had not cleaned at all. So he held her in his arms not letting her see the wreck that was his living space and put her to bed in the spare bedroom.

She was already exhausted from the day filled with Jarvis' teachings and the night before that she'd already gotten barely a few hours of sleep after he woke her. She was out like a light as soon as she hit the bed which was good.

It gave him time to get to work on the living spaces first. He cleaned the kitchen and living room first before deciding she'd probably come down to the lab a lot as well and decided to clean that as well before deciding, fuck it and cleaning up his room and the bathrooms as well because the amount of random shit and trash was absurd and he could not embarrass himself like that on day two.

He ended up falling asleep on the couch after tossing it all and showering off the dirty sweat he'd worked up since, of course he didn't work out enough for this shit. He really should get into better shape.

The thoughts were dull as he drifted off, woken only by the light pattering of feet and eyes on him hours later. He saw Skye staring at him nervously, fidgeting with the end of her shirt lightly. He grumbled a little at the brightness of the room, squinting at her a bit.

"You're up early." he muttered groggily.

"It's seven." she blinked at him. She paused

"Pm?" had he really slept in all day? he had so much to get done already without wasting so much time. His panic dulled at the confused look she gave him at the question. "You get up early a lot?" he asked instead.

"I have to have my morning chores done by six," she answered, providing the answer to her behavior in one fell swoop as well.

"You have no chores anymore, sleep in." he got up, lifting her up in his arms as he blinked a bit of the drowsiness from his eyes. The effort was in vain as they got to her room, setting her on the bed gently.

She didn't protest, just giving him a look with furrowed brows as he laid down on the bed, clearly exhausted.

"I can go sleep on the couch." he huffed a little, offering an arm out as he rolled to his side. She froze up for a moment before hesitantly laying down beside him, his arm wrapping around her, hand gently resting at the back of her head as he closed his eyes and rested his head on the pillow.

"You're a good kid." she pressed her face into his chest at the soft mutter as he drifted back to sleep. She clutched his shirt lightly, resisting the urge to cry because this all felt too fake.

There was no way her life had turned so quickly for the better. There was no way it was going to be like that. She never had that amount of luck. No one liked her and she was stupid.

The exhaustion dragged her to sleep for hours more than she should have lazed about. When she woke up a heavy anxiousness settled at the fact that she had not cleaned anything yet today, only worsened by the fact that it was noon already according to the clock settled on the desk of the room.

She shifted a little, trying to quietly escape Tony's arms. his eyes cracked open softly, letting her go as he pushed himself to sit up, looking at the clock as he blinked the bleariness from his eyes. "Do you like pizza?" he turned a sheepish smile towards her as she blinked at him.

"I've never had it." she admitted softly. His eyes widened, sitting up fully as she sat crisscross on the bed.

"I'll order some for you to try. If you don't like it we can always get something else for you." he offered quickly, doing his best not to press as she fidgeted a bit with the covers, stilling a bit at the second sentence.

"Food shouldn't be wasted though, that would be bad," she muttered softly. He blinked.

"We could fill the whole building with pizza and not make a dent in my wallet kid, don't worry about that kind of thing." he ruffled her hair a bit. "Money isn't something you need to worry about anymore." He smirked a little "We're rich." Her eyes widened slightly at the 'we' staring wide-eyed at him as he typed on his phone, texting Happy about getting the order before he glanced over Pepper's contact and wincing a little.

He'd made a lot of very split-second decisions yesterday and her reaction was absolutely something he didn't want to deal with quite yet.

"Let's go get you some new clothes and decorate your room today. What kind of things do you like?" she froze.

"Decorate?" she echoed. "Me?" she pointed to herself. His heart clenched tightly at her clear confusion.

"You get to pick out whatever you want for the room. After you get some clothes and things you want, we can start looking at Jarvis." he bribed, watching her light up quickly.

"Okay!" she nodded quickly, springing up off the bed, Tony following much more slowly.

"We'll do pizza after we get back, we can get something on the way." He needed to wear a mask for this too and arrange some transport this time so they could set up probably tomorrow together. "What kind of things do you like? Horses?" he was realizing he knew very little about little kids right now. She shook her head.

"I never really thought about it." she admitted "But i really like computers. I had a lot of fun hacking."

"Who taught you that by the way?" she shied away from him at the question and he faltered.

"You're not in any trouble, I'm just curious." he covered quickly. She relaxed a little, still frowning.

"An older kid taught me at the orphanage before I was moved to another foster home." she stared nervously up at him. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize for anything," he reassured.

"I wasn't supposed to mess with your stuff." she looked down, still padding after him as they moved to the living room.

"I'm not mad about that at all Skye. Besides, you ended up teaching me a lot. I didn't know my AI could find so many loopholes in his programming before you two started talking." She smiled a little as he grinned at her.

They drove off shortly, Tony bringing her to a high end place that he got furniture at (they were good at being discreet at least which Pepper highly valued) and he made sure she picked out what she wanted, the sales associate with them happily showing her the themes she could pick for her room.

Skye seemed enthralled by the dark aesthetics with forest green walls and he mentally noted to handle painting at a later date (maybe when she was in school. Was she in school? Shit. He had to register her.) He felt the urge to bring Pepper into this and beg for help figuring all this out.

Something shameful that settled deep in his chest stopped him in his tracks before he could consider it further.

He resolved to research the process of registering her with a school, researching which ones were best sometime soon and filed it away with following up with his lawyer on the already started adoption process.

She stared at him with an open hesitance and mistrust that he could at least understand. He had at least a little time to process that he had family now, he'd told her and taken her home with him on the same day. She went from no family at all to a brother buying her things she'd never even seen before and messily trying to make sure he didn't screw up her life completely.

"Do you have any friends near where you used to live?" Skye was still hugging her stark brand laptop like it was a treasure, having already set up her account. He figured he'd introduce the phone a bit later.

"No. The rules were pretty strict and I never really went out much at my last foster home. Before that at the orphanage no one really liked me. Henry taught me a lot about computers and code but I didn't see him again after I was moved."

"He's your friend?" she paused, considering for a moment.

"Not really, we just had fun together and went separate ways. it's always been like this. People leave and it's rare they come back. Getting transferred happens really often." she explained calmly, her tone even with a level of disconnection that concerned him a bit.

"When's your birthday?" she shrugged

"I was dropped off as a baby, no one knows when I was born" she answered "But my paperwork says March second 1989. One of the nuns guessed." she shrugged a little. "Shouldn't you have all this information?" she tilted her head a little.

Tony shrugged a little "I want to hear more about you from you." she gave him a bewildered look at the explanation.

"Like what?" she took the bait anyways, a little too scared of disappointing him to just roll her eyes and ignore the weird questions.

"What do you want to try now that you can do whatever you want? We can start with that." he offered. She squeezed the laptop in her arms lightly as she looked away.

"I don't know. It's a little overwhelming," she admitted, flinching a bit when Tony shifted. Hurt and concern flashed across his face before he shoved it down quickly in favor of not scaring her.

" That's fine too. Why don't we go a bit slower from now on then? I'll pick a couple things to do each week and we can go try them. If you like it we can do it again, if not we can find something else to do together." she nodded a little. "But for now, I promise to give you a lesson on Jarvis' code when we get done." she lit up, instantly excited as she got much closer, scooting right next to him to look at his laptop screen.

He'd already started a habit of deflecting his nervousness into lessons about code and tech that excited her. He really hoped this wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass (It will).

Chapter Text

A week into being a brother he'd handled a lot. His legal team was able to speed up the process significantly and he had guardianship over her in five very long days. (Waiting was agonizing.) He'd also formed a list of five schools he'd like her to go into. He'd been hesitant about the more prestigious ones since he absolutely would not stand for her being singled out for being a former foster kid, but he kept them in mind as he researched and had someone else talk to them about options to keep his identity secret while feeling for which one was best.

One thing he'd done as well was get a name change in order. Skye seemed nervous about it but had been thrilled at the idea of ditching Mary Sue Poots for good so he arranged it with his lawyer and went about slowly feeling out whether she wanted to share his last name or not. He was still iffy on it which has his lawyer waiting to take any full action till a decision was made.

One thing he did learn about Skye was her insomnia was somehow worse than his own, she was up at odd hours and cleaned secretly when he was not guarding the house from her guilt laden cleaning despite his reassurances that she didn't need to earn staying there because he most definitely wanted her.

Any resentment towards her built off Howard died with each bright smile that flashed across her face when he bribed her with a lesson on AI and Jarvis's code.

"Just to check in, you didn't ditch the kid right?" he rolled his eyes strongly, typing on his computer.

He ran on a hunch and left some high school level Computer and coding courses on her laptop when he bought it for her. As expected she was taking to programming and coding like a fish to water. She wasn't anywhere near his level of course but he was sure she'd get past him soon enough.

"What do you take me for?" he scowled.

"An idiot with commitment issues and deeply held resentment." he paused, wrinkling his nose at the accusation.

"We're going ice skating this weekend." Rhodey paused on the other end,

"You? Ice skating? You're going to fall on your ass." Tony rolled his eyes

"I'm coordinated."

"You and coordination do not fit in the same category." Tony rolled his eyes.

"I'm telling her you're coming too so I can watch you fall on your ass." Rhodey blanched.

"Don't you dare! You know I'm horrible at skating!" he denied instantly.

"Too bad. You'll disappoint her if you don't come now." Rhodey deflated into his couch at the threat.

"........ how is she settling in?" Tony frowned a little.

"She's doing okay, the parenting books on adoption I've read say trust takes time."

"You....read parenting books." Rhodey's hand dropped from his face, staring wide-eyed at his phone.

"I read three." Tony confirmed " I also consulted with a few child psychologists and apparently I'm doing a few things right. I'm getting her into therapy next week." 

"I take back what I said." Rhodey sighed heavily.

"Hmm?" Tony hummed idly, eyes drooping a bit as he glanced over the pages of the book.

"When I said you were a bad option. I've never seen you shift so drastically like this for someone." Tony stilled, silently assessing the past week. He'd been shirking things off on Pepper a lot which was irresponsible like usual sure, but he'd spent the time differently.

Instead of drinking, they watched movies before bed and sometimes he'd carry her to bed and tuck her in in a way he'd remembered his mother doing for him.

Instead of flings, he'd spent his nights studying schools, parenting, and preparing courses for Skye to follow as she progressed through the ninth-grade programming course he'd set her up with.

Instead of parties he'd gone out to a movie with her because she'd never been to a movie theater before, the day after he brought her to an arcade.

He was introducing her to everything she hadn't done before and it was fulfilling in a way he hadn't experienced before well.... ever.

"I don't think I've gotten drunk in over a week," he muttered softly in a small realization that yes, he had accidentally quit his alcoholism cold turkey because he was so occupied with Skye he simply forgot the desire to be drunk or numb the icy loneliness that once filled this entire house.

"Do you think I'll do okay?" his voice was small, Rhodey stilling at the uncertainty lining his tone.

"I think you'll do great." Rhodey reassured him softly before letting out a heavy sigh "When are we going Ice Skating?"

"Five on Sunday." Rhodey smiled a little

"What did Pepper say?" Tony remained silent, wincing visibly at the question. "Tony?"

"I uh... I haven't.....told her yet."

"How long do you think you can go before this becomes an issue Tony? She's in your business all the time. You think she hasn't noticed any of your new purchases or the lawyers being paid for new work behind her back?"

"I'm not going behind her-"

"You usually hand off all legal crap to her to communicate with the lawyers because it's always been a bother to handle it yourself. She'll notice you're doing it on your own for something and realize something is up. You've also always paid them through the company, not personal accounts." Tony winced.

Pepper was sharp, he was right, she probably had already noticed a lot of what he'd done already.

"I'll tell her soon I'm just..... preparing myself mentally." he defended meekly.

"Man up and do it. Why are you avoiding telling your assistant about this? You think she'll call the press?"

"I'll tell her." he scowled. "I'll see you on Sunday." Rhodey tried to speak but he cut him off quickly by hanging up, glaring indignantly at his phone now as Rhodey laughed on the other end, grinning widely at his friend's plight.

Tony begrudgingly texted him the address and time of the planned meet up despite his mild anger towards his friend. He glanced over his contacts, thumb hovering on Pepper's name before he sighed softly.

"Are you calling to fess up?" her tone was sharp as he winced a little. "You've been shirking all your responsibilities to be irresponsible again? Did you get into legal trouble again?"

"No, I'm not in any legal trouble."

"You paid the lawyers through your personal account, Tony. I wasn't born yesterday. Now what is it? We need to handle it quickly before it turns into a PR firestorm." He rested his forehead on the desk, phone set next to him on it.

"I only paid them personally because it isn't company business, and I haven't thrown any parties or been irresponsible all week, I promise." Pepper went silent for a minute.

"What happened then?" her voice was calmer, less angry.

"Someone hacked into the home server and I had Rhodey follow up on it." he admitted slowly, almost feeling her impatience growing with each second his pause dragged on. "Turns out our hacker was a six-year-old girl and Rhodey had a hunch so... he sorta blood tested her against my blood and she's my half sibling. The legal fees are adoption proceedings and a potential name change for her. The contractors were just to customize her room, not for repairs."

"What the fuck." she breathed out softly "What's her name? She's six? Have you gotten her registered for school yet? The deadline is-"

"The end of this week I know. I have three schools I've narrowed it down to now. Her name is Skye and she is indeed six," he answered quickly, sure of his answers.

"I.... okay. How can I help?" she sounded beyond shocked at the new revelations.

"I need to offload on you quite a bit so I'm authorizing new hires to handle the bulk of it as long as you personally vet them. I'm going to be taking a lot more time while she settles in before the school year starts and I'll pick back up on the responsibilities I'm offloading. You'll also be getting a significant pay rise." Pepper's brows shot up.

Tony had never been this put together, that was why he hired her.

"I'll take care of it, but try not to hide things like that in the future. You gave me a heart attack buying kids toys. I thought you had a secret child." he coughed roughly.

"What?"

"You're a playboy Tony, it wouldn't be surprising." she rolled her eyes. "I'll get to work on hiring, enjoy your time off." He deflated against his desk as he ended the call.

"That could have gone worse." he muttered softly, glancing at the clock. He'd left calling Pepper to the last minute so now he'd technically waited a week and a half to tell her.

He pulled on his coat, pocketing his phone for now as he left the office, smiling softly as he watched Skye practically vibrate in excitement. Her excitement was barely contained as they drove to the private ice rink to meet up with Rhodey.

"This is Rhodey, you met him before, he's my friend." Skye nodded slightly, looking a little nervous.

"Fair warning we both suck at ice skating, you might beat us both in coordination." Rhodey grinned at her, earning a smile as she giggled a little.

"I'm coordinated damn it." Tony huffed softly, very carefully setting out onto the ice. Rhodey winked at Skye, starting to record as she glanced between the two.

"You can go faster than that can't you?" he egged him on, watching him poorly attempt to do so before he promptly fell on his ass.

"You were recording?!" he squawked. Rhodey grinning widely, sticking out his tongue as Tony scrambled to get up making a more embarrassing show before giving up and gripping the railing tightly while Rhodey gently guided a giggling Skye onto the ice. She was a little wobbly and shaky but far more coordinated about it than Tony was.

"I hope you know I'm going to hack your phone to delete that." he was panting, gripping the side wall as Rhodey grinned smugly at him.

"I'm having my assistant make a physical copy as we speak." Tony glared at him half heartedly before focusing again, very slowly catching up to them as Skye gradually gained confidence with herself, grinning widely at tony as he struggled.

"I thought you said you were bad at skating?" he stared accusingly at Rhodey who shrugged lightly, a smirk playing on his lips.

"I lied," Tony grumbled softly, his sourness weaning at Skye's infectious grin as she grabbed his hand, pulling him away from the railing. "How are you so good at this?" he laughed softly, still unsteady on the skates as Skye led him along.

"I have really good balance." she grinned widely as Rhodey came up behind them, snapping a picture of the two together.

"We should come back soon, maybe Tony will get the hang of it." Tony gave a half hearted glare to Rhodey as Skye grinned, her face lighting up with excitement before looking back to him questioningly.

"Of course we can come back." there was no way he could say no to her, especially since this was the first thing she actually asked for since she had started living with him.

Thankfully for Tony they only skated for a little while before they got off and Rhodey brought them both to eat afterwards with a few treats added on.

"You're going to give her a sugar high." Tony looked at the bag of sweets as Rhodey grinned, handing them to her as she stared wide-eyed at him as if she couldn't believe they were all for her.

"I'm aiming to be the fun uncle, the sugar high won't be my problem." he grinned widely as he crouched down "Eat in moderation though, if you eat too much you'll feel sick." she nodded quickly, arms wrapped around the bag now.

"Thank you." she smiled shyly, abruptly self-conscious again at the gift. Rhodey just smiled in return.

"I'll visit you again soon, make sure he brings you to a lot of places, he gets lazy sometimes." he chuckled a little as Tony rolled his eyes, unable to keep off his smile as Skye excitedly told Rhodey about all the places they'd gone already. Rhodey, undeniably trapped by her excitement, ended up staying far later than he had intended without complaint before eventually parting ways.

They ended up sleeping on the couch together after Rhodey left, Jarvis quieting the movie that was playing slowly as they dozed off, shutting down the lights in the living room on his own. 

Chapter Text

"You have to be brave, Skye." A month had passed before he knew it and he'd enrolled her into the best-suited school that he could find with his own research and Pepper's help. He'd also employed a few tutors that had successfully gotten her up to the academic expectations they'd be starting with since she didn't know much about it.

"I don't want to go. Other kids are mean." Most of all she had settled in a bit, reassured by her name change that yes, he very much intended to keep her permanently. The first week was by far the hardest in reassuring her constant doubt but she'd settled down a bit in her assumptions about being abandoned, at least for now.

"You have to Skye, it's school, I can't just not send you." he smiled, crouching to remain at her height as she frowned, pleading with him to not have to go. "If you have any trouble you just need to call alright?" He reassured softly, tucking her hair behind her ear. "I need to get work done too. As sad as I am that we can't spend all day together anymore." she pouted a bit, letting out a little huff.

".....can we watch a movie together after we get home?" she asked softly, still unsure in making requests.

"Of course, your pick." she smiled a little, nodding in acceptance "Now, are you ready to go?" she wrinkled her nose a little but nodded.

"Alright, we're going to go with Happy alright? He's our driver," he explained softly, buckling her into the back seat of the car, sliding in beside her as Happy slipped into the driver's seat. Skye looked at him curiously every now and then throughout the drive but didn't ask any questions about him, too shy to bring anything up.

School was boringly miserable. It was also the first day so really the teacher didn't have them do anything but introduce themselves and play games that she had no interest in anyways.

"How was your first day?"

"Boring." she deflated, leaning against him as he chuckled.

"Yeah, school isn't really known for being super fun kiddo, I'm sure it'll get better though, it's only the start of the year." he smiled "Now let's go watch that movie," she huffed a little at the clear diversion but didn't argue as she rifled through the kitchen to make the popcorn.

Tony's reassurance helped, but the following week didn't get any better for the painful boredom she was feeling. She did all her work of course, but she was getting distracted a lot and she was getting done quickly enough that she just had to find something to do while everyone else worked, which was already getting her into trouble.

Thankfully the problem was very quickly addressed and determined that she needed to be placed higher.

Which was very confusing because she was stupid. Maybe it was just an error to say she needed more difficult classes?

Having Tony called there was nerve wracking, she didn't like it at all. In preschool she always got calls to her foster parents and got scolded harshly for whatever she'd done wrong.

She really should have tried to be better and not look so bored, Tony was already doing so much for her he shouldn't have to be called in for a meeting about her behavior.

She looked up as Tony came out of the principal's office, looking rather calm about the whole situation which was odd.

"Alright kiddo, you're done for the day. We'll get some testing ready for tomorrow to see where we need to put you but for now we are going get lunch." She blinked, furrowing her brows at him.

"I'm not in trouble?"

"Why would you be in trouble?" He picked her up in one arm, grinning at her widely. "This is good." she blinked.

"Good?" he nodded softly

"You're just that smart, we have to move you up to harder classes already." Her eyes widened, hiding her face in his jacket as he chuckled.

"I'm smart?" she muttered softly, her disbelief lining every word.

"Very smart." he nodded, gently setting her in the back seat of the car. "Do you want to hang out with me while I work?" she nodded a little, pushing her face into her hands in embarrassment as he buckled her in.

"Should we grab some food on the way?" Happy glanced at them.

"Course, she's being put in more advanced classes, we have to celebrate a little at least." Happy smiled softly at the news, nodding. Resolved to go off and buy some treats to bring to the tower while Tony worked so she'd have something special for the day. "We'll do something after school tomorrow when you're done with the placements." He ruffled her hair a little, dulling her nerves on the matter a bit.

She smiled a little, nodding but still not entirely reassured that this was a good thing.

Standing out felt dangerous on so many levels. The nuns always got short with any kids who stood out, even if it was because they were excelling. Hanna was the favorite of the nuns at the orphanage because she was kind and she encouraged their growth, she didn't just write them off as stupid as soon as she saw them,

it was nice to be looked at like a person, would that stop soon if she skipped a grade? Would the other kids not like her if she did?

"It'll be alright Skye, you don't need to worry about it." He reassured her softly, smiling at her. She nodded stiffly, fidgeting with the edge of her shirt lightly.

----------

Tony was evidently right, it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. She got evaluated and skipped a year and a half worth of classes to start on more advanced work that she'd been covering with her tutors already. Tony also had her enrolled in specialized classes for tech replacing some of her electives. The school was more than willing and happy to offer the high school level tech classes to her considering who was asking so it went smoothly. She didn't really make any friends but it didn't bother her, she liked keeping to herself anyways.

As months passed she felt more reassured that Tony really was going to be her family from now on and started bothering him a bit when he wasn't sleeping because he needed to sleep and she wasn't going to tolerate it if she had a bedtime. he had to have one too, it was only fair after all.

Rhodey was also a constant in her life along with Happy and Pepper. Rhodey was the cool uncle that slid her treats when Tony wasn't looking, Happy aided her in sneaking about to get Tony's birthday gifts and generally aided any mischief, and Pepper was very supportive of her appointing Tony a bedtime at the same time she was supposed to go to sleep. Pepper she saw less of but she was still nice when she did see her.

Tony was her brother, that fact was set in stone now through the years that he took care of her without asking for anything in exchange.

She was in high school now, skipping quite a few grades and being the very oddly young sophomore in her class. High school had a lot steeper learning curve but Tony made sure she had all the help she needed so it wasn't as challenging as it could have been.

Nothing could have prepared her for the way her heart sank as she watched the news in the morning. Tony was supposed to come home late after doing something for work and she'd tried to wait up but fell asleep after two am and drifted off into the late morning of Saturday.

Rhodey had left a message, only a bit reassuring her that he was looking, that everyone was looking for Tony.

Pepper got to the house barely thirty minutes after the news started rolling across the screen to find her huddled on the couch, watching the live reports and updates of the situation. Her throat tightened at the sight, turning off the T.V.

Skye didn't protest, burying her face into her arms.

"We're going to find him Skye," she slid into the seat next to her, wrapping her arms around her tightly, holding the back of her head gently as she reassured her. "He's going to be okay." she forced the words out softly.

"You don't know that." her voice was quiet, Wiping her red eyes as she sniffed softly. Pepper just swallowed thickly, holding her tighter.

"We're going to do everything we possibly can to find him," she promised instead, earning a soft nod in response.

Pepper didn't force her to go to school the following week, or the week after that. They both lingered around the house in an anxious silence that grew increasingly more dim as time went on. Happy however eventually forced them both outside the house to try and stop the wallowing all three of them were currently in.

It didn't help at all, she didn't even feel in the mood to eat, none of them really were but his effort was appreciated at least.

Rhodey gave them short updates, he seemed hopeful they would find him. There was evidence he was kidnapped instead of killed so it's assumed they at least needed him alive for something.

Maybe they should have been more on guard with everything that had happened. Maybe they should have tightly locked down the house. Maybe Pepper shouldn't have left for the night to go handle the company's business. There were so many maybe's with the situation she could barely breathe.

The man she saw across from her in the living room was someone she'd seen a few times now, from a distance. Never close enough and never often enough to raise any flags until he'd appeared in the middle of the house and her mind flashed in recognition of the man.

"Daisy... you need to come with me." he spoke carefully, trying to placate her as she stepped back.

"Who the hell are you?" The man didn't answer, stepping forward as she took another step back. Her heart racing in her chest as she bolted. The man chased after her quickly as she raced out the front door, sprinting through the woods. She saw a flash of blue around her, letting out a scream as arms grabbed her from behind and in the blink of an eye she was collapsing on the floor of a very foreign room puking from the stress and the very unsettling feeling in her stomach from the warp.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, my name is Gordon." Gordon crouched down, Skye quickly scrambling away from him, already very frightened. 

"What do you want with me?" she forced out, trying to force her trembling to stop as she backed herself against the wall of the room, glancing around quickly. The only exit to the room was a large set of doors that seemed to be locked shut on first glance with no handles on the inside.

"We just want to help you." Gordon reassured softly, smiling as she stared apprehensively at him.

"Bring me home."

"I'm sorry, I can't do that. I did this so I could bring you to your mother, you belong here. This is home." she tensed, nails digging sharply into her arms at his words.

"I don't want any of that I want to go back," she argued shakily.

"You're not human Skye, if they find that out they'll only fear you." she flinched, reeling from the information as she swallowed thickly.

Tony was most likely dead and the other three she knew she couldn't judge based on that.

She'd never heard of nonhumans, would they be scared? Would they hate her? If Tony was alive would he hate her too?

"What- what does that mean?" he smiled gently.

"It means you're exceptional Skye. You have the potential to be something much more than human. Here we can help you reach that potential." He coaxed slowly. "Humans are afraid of us, they think we're dangerous and they hunt us when we are discovered. If you stay with them you'll only get hurt."

"I want to go back." she cried softly.

Even if it was true she needed to go home. She wanted to go back to her room and to Pepper's comfort and Happy desperately trying to distract her from the impending fact that Tony was dead.

"Gordon, be a little more gentle with her." Her head snapped up as the door opened and closed behind a woman, her smile gentle and sad as she gazed at her.

"I'm sorry, I tried to explain it as gently as I could." Gordon backed off in her presence, leaving Skye huddled in the corner, pressing herself further into it as the woman approached. Her eyes were familiar to the ones she saw in the mirror every day, her features just as startlingly familiar. Her throat felt like it would close up any second now.

"I want to go back." She croaked out softly, Gordon hanging back now as the woman sank to her knees in front of her huddled form.

"It's very dangerous out there for you." she spoke gently, Gordon flickering out of sight in a single moment.

"Why am I here? Who are you?" Jiaying smiled faintly, her expression lined with pain.

"I am Jiaying, I lead the inhumans here and I keep us safe from the outsiders who wish to take what is ours and harm us. And you..." she paused for a moment, smiling "Are here because I have been looking for you since the day you were stolen Daisy. You are my child." She was stiff, nails digging deeper into her arms as Jiaying backed off from her.

"You should rest for now, calm from what just happened." she spoke smoothly, Skye swallowing thickly as the door opened for her and she left.

She sat huddled in that corner the entire night, petrified of what exactly might happen now that she was here, now that she apparently had a mother and she wasn't allowed to leave. 

Chapter Text

Escaping was hard, it was gut wrenching and painful and worse than anything he'd ever experienced before. Seeing Rhodey's face after a month was the biggest relief he'd felt since he'd gotten kidnapped and held in that workshop.

But Rhodey's relief was only momentary as they checked him out at the hospital and he could feel something ominous building up the longer Rhodey didn't talk, didn't make jokes or express how happy he was that everything was fine.

"What's going on?" Rhodey pushed on his shoulders, forcing him to sit down.

"Skye was kidnapped two weeks after you disappeared. We've started a country wide search and are doing all we can but there hasn't been any-" everything that had happened felt like nothing in comparison to the way his chest tightened and his throat closed up, the way that every hair on his body stood on end and no words would come out.

"Who-" his voice cracked and he stopped, his hands shaking. Shaking in a way they hadn't even being taken and imprisoned, devastated in a way he hadn't allowed himself to be when he was thinking about how he had to get back home to her.

"We don't know. The power to your house was physically cut when we arrived, the man who cut them was unrecognizable. I made the choice to announce her missing with her full name and face, I'm sorry for revealing her without-" he shook his head lightly, denying the apology silently.

He pressed his face into his hands, his breaths tight and his chest filled with a heavy pain he remembered vividly from the death of his mother.

"I need to go." His voice cracked softly as he got up. Rhody's expression filled with sympathy as he lightly grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Tony you're still-"

"I need to go." Rhodey didn't try to stop him this time, hand falling to his side lightly as Tony pulled away, almost stumbling through the hall towards the exit.

The days following he barely even talked to Happy or Pepper. Pepper was busy scrambling around paying out millions to get other countries in on the investigation and actively searching for her as it became more evident she could be in an entirely different country by now.

He didn't even drink, he dove into his systems, searching all the cameras on a different power grid than the house itself.

There was no one who came in or out of the property on any perimeter before Rhodey crashed through the gate with his truck and several Feds hot on his tail.

The consensus was that two men were in the house. Skye's footprints led outside the front door and partly into the surrounding land before a set of male prints appeared out of nowhere and a short struggle took place.

No evidence that anyone arrived, footprints of a man that just appeared and reappeared elsewhere with no trail between, no evidence of even covering up any prints. Just a circle of disturbed dirt and prints leading to it. The other man's prints were clear as the dirt fell off and marks could be found throughout the house. He didn't have the same pattern of vanishing and reappearing.

There was no time to do the level of cleaning that would have had to happen for the man to appear as if he fucking teleported.

Skye's phone was dropped where she was grabbed with no way to track her.

"Jarvis what can you tell me?" he muttered softly, closing his eyes.

"I was able to remain partially active through the altercation and remain in Skye's phone during."

"Any recordings?"

"They were deleted shortly after the altercation, I have been attempting recovery but have been unsuccessful." Jarvis replied smoothly. Tony got to typing, diving into restoring the recordings.

After ten minutes he had a fully restored file, watching the altercation with baited breath. The recording tilted to the side in her hand. But she twisted, showing the face of the man as she bolted out the front door with one jerk on the handle (unlocked, why was it unlocked?)

His heart hammered in his chest as she ran, reaching the place where her prints stopped before the camera was jerked, phone falling to the ground as she let out a scream, shoving a hand against the man's face, a flash of blue consuming the area, wind whipping around the spot as her scream was replaced with dead silence, the two completely gone.

He couldn't breathe.

He grasped at his chest tightly as he tried to suck in air, wheezing a bit as he collapsed.

Skye had been kidnapped and it was by a fucking teleporting alien, or whatever the fuck he was with no eyes.

"Sir? Your vitals are unstable, you appear to be having a panic attack." He shut his eyes, feeling the way everything in his body lit up with pure terror as he tried to gasp for air.

He took in a heavy panicked breath just as the door slammed open, Pepper dropping to the floor beside him, looking almost more exhausted than him.

"Tony, I know what you're thinking-" he closed his eyes,

"A fucking-" he slammed his hand against the monitor, breathing heavily as Pepper backed off a bit. his jaw set and he clenched his teeth tightly, glaring murderously at the broken monitor.

"Tony..." Pepper spoke softly. "We'll do our best, there has to be a trail-"

"There is no fucking trail!" he snapped, his heart sinking as he took in her hurt, the way she was so clearly exhausted from overwork. With him gone she had been the biggest effort in spreading Skye's name across every country and city to try and find her.

He collapsed into his chair, his gaze landing on the only remaining working monitor.

"There is no trail Pepper," he uttered softly.

"We can't give up."

"I'm not-" he gritted his teeth, glaring at the screen. "She was kidnapped by a fucking teleporter that I've only seen in sci-fi movies!" he broke down as Pepper stared at him with wide eyes. He knew it was crazy, he knew he would have to endlessly justify why exactly he thought that-

"What kind of powers? Can you trace the energy? What did he look like?" she shot off quickly, desperate to know more as Tony paused.

"I have a video Jarvis took from her phone. We have a blurry face of both. The teleporter had no eyes and... I'll look into it, see if there's any traces of chemicals on the spot he teleported." He pushed himself up, finally feeling like he was on some sort of path at all.

"Once you give me a decent look of their faces I'll start searching everywhere but Tony, if we reveal this everyone will know-"

"Mention nothing about teleportation." he spoke firmly, "I'll dive hard into that angle, you focus on getting cooperation. Jarvis run their faces against any database you can find, hack into anywhere you need to." Pepper nodded, moving away, looking a little more relieved at his newfound motivation. "Now how the fuck is this bastard teleporting?" he muttered softly

Patterns began to emerge in two months. He was able to painstakingly examine the dirt all around the area, analyzing the sandy dirt and taking note of what was present. As he went over the present chemicals over and over again trying to find meaning in it and develop a way to track the teleporter Jarvis combed through the internet and official and unofficial databases including one suspicious looking set of government servers code named 'S.H.I.E.L.D.' which he would be far more curious about if he wasn't far more concerned with finding Skye.

He filed away the curiosity for later and continued on his way until Jarvis matched a name and face from their databases to one of the kidnappers.

Cal Johnson.

His files sent alarm bells through his head at the trail of bodies that followed.

In a moment of curiosity and pure intuition he scanned the system for Skye's previous name, coming up with redacted documents that he was quick to decode, glancing over the information of a village in Hunan province left demolished, a baby girl marked as an 0-8-4 and dumped into the foster system with silent protocols to move her around frequently and a team living, a few already killed and the rest in hiding.

His heart sank as he learned more about Cal, his work in Hunan province, his seeming descent into insanity after Skye was taken by shield. The timelines matched up. He could have been the partner to Skye's mother.

It sent white hot fear coursing through his veins. If he thought he was her father Skye could easily shatter that idea and send the insane man into a rage made by mistake in her confusion. She could have already- he had publicized she was his sister to the entire world looking for her.

He could have killed her. He closed his eyes for a moment, taking in a deep breath before he dove back into the files.

He ended his day on a jet, driving to the location of one of the hidden agents himself, the woman who dropped her off at the orphanage.

She looked like she was looking at a hallucination when he leaned against the doorframe of her apartment.

"I need some information from you."

"What the fuck." she uttered softly "How the hell did you learn about shield-"

"I don't give a shit about shield." he scoffed "Whatever the hell you're doing doesn't matter to me. I need intel on what you saw in Hunan." The woman swallowed thickly, stepping back quickly. "And I'll tell you who's hunting you in exchange." he smiled. she hesitated.

"I didn't see much." she admitted "My partner was the one to grab the baby, I went into the village to investigate further into the carnage." she spoke slowly, hesitantly. "What do you want with her before I say anything else?"

"She was kidnapped, I suspect by her mother and her partner. She's my sister." The woman's shoulders dropped lightly, letting out a soft breath.

"The only doctor's office I could find was in the village center, I rifled through records. There was only one expectant mother in the area and she was due for not long before we found the baby. Her name was Jiaying. I don't know any more than that."

"The man hunting you is Cal Johnson, he thinks he's her father and he's been killing foster parents in search of her as well as your partners." she pursed her lips

"You're sure it's him?"

"I'll send you the files later, I don't really have downtime to chat right now." She didn't bother to stop him as he left. She would probably be just as rude if she was in the same situation.

Decisively she decided as a retired agent she was not too obligated to report this serious breach in secrecy to the higher ups at Shield. She'd lived the last ten years of her life for Skye, keeping a secret for her brother wasn't much more to ask.

Tony was more focused than ever. Sharing the information with Rhodey and Pepper (Rhodey did not react well to the news and visual proof of a fucking teleporter, about as badly as he had initially.)

Two months passed and an offhanded comment from Pepper made him realize he was looking for the teleporter in all the wrong ways and he shifted to looking for energy waves rather than bursts of chemicals left after the fact.

"This is utterly insane." Rhodey dragged a hand down his face, looking distressed and sleep deprived as he sighed heavily. He'd pulled every connection, looked into anything he could and there was nothing, especially not on teleportation technology. "Nothing exists to say teleportation is possible, nothing man made could do that." Tony paused.

"Are you talking aliens?" he blinked, Rhodey pausing.

"He didn't seem to have any heavy equipment," he admitted in a hushed voice. "His footprints indicate he wasn't overly heavy for his stature either." He frowned a little "But that's a little insane isn't it?" he glanced to him.

"I uncovered a secret spy agency that previously met aliens according to their classified records, Jarvis told me. It's the opposite of insane at this point." Rhodey's eyes widened at the information, returning to considering as he sighed.

"Aliens then, mark it a possibility." he shrugged a little with furrowed brows and heavy exasperation.

"Jarvis do the shield files mention any teleportation?"

"No sir, but it does mention a classified human who gained power from an incident involving a massive power source they absorbed who traveled with aliens. It's in an old agent file at the top classified level of the organization." Tony grunted, scowling.

"Delve into the situation more. Anything relevant to powered people helps." He might snoop later but that was of no importance right now.

Another month passed building and tinkering with the sensor, finding the teleporter moving across the map almost at random. But he frequented certain places. He built enough of a pattern to set a trap in New York for him in his full Iron Man suit (he still had to deal with Obadiah but this was far more important)

When the blue flickered and the teleporter's feet hit the ground he struck immediately, firing a repulsor blast at his back, knocking him to the ground before he grabbed him tightly by the collar of his shirt, jerking him to his feet.

"Where the fuck did you take her?" he needed to expand his sensory system, the base of operations was clearly in another country.

"What's it matter to you?" he wheezed, wincing as Tony slammed him into the wall.

"Talk." he hissed sharply, metal burning flesh as the repulser heated up against his skin. "I'll let you live if she's okay but only then." Gordon stilled, hesitating for a moment. He knew exactly who she was to him at this stage. No one in the world didn't know that Tony Stark's sister had gone missing.

"I'll bring her back if you don't say anything-" Tony froze, grip tightening on him "How can I believe you'll keep your word?" Gordon swallowed thickly.

"Jiaying's gone off the rails. Skye is arguing with her about her philosophies. It could turn deadly soon if it doesn't stop." Tony swallowed thickly, his hand trembling lightly, the heat on his palm cooling.

"Is she okay?"

"Will you love her if she's a monster?" Gordon asked instead, sensing his mistake immediately as Tony grabbed the back of his neck sharply.

"The fuck did you just call her?" he hissed sharply.

"That's what we're seen as, that's what we are to people." Gordon answered firmly. "She's unstable and scared. Jiaying convinced her you were dead, and even if you weren't you wouldn't love her once she changed. So would you?"

"I don't care if she was capable of tearing the whole damn world apart." he snapped firmly

"I'll bring her back but it's important you adapt her body to the new powers, suppressing it will only end up killing her." Tony hesitated, letting go of Gordon. In a single moment he was gone and his gut sank, dread filling him as if he'd just lost the only key to finding Skye.

Because he had, and if the man didn't come back he had nothing, there would be no second chance now that he knew he was being targeted and followed by him. He ended up getting out of his suit, sending it to act as a sentry as he paced.

Chapter Text

He waited ten minutes with fear coursing through his veins before blue consumed the alley again and Gordon stumbled into the Alley, Skye bursting into tears as she leapt at him. He caught her quickly, wrapping his arms tightly around her. He felt his bones vibrating as she wrapped her arms around his neck, but the warmth of her in his arms outweighed the oddness.

Gordon was gone a moment later, but he didn't care in the slightest as he held Skye tightly, letting her sob into his chest.

"I'm here. I'm here Skye. I love you so much." he spoke softly, rubbing her back gently. She refused to let go of him as they walked, Happy speeding to their location with both Pepper and Rhodey in response to his text about the situation. He had her, she was here and she was alive .

"Mm sorry, mm so sorry-" she hiccupped softly, her words muffled into his shoulder as he held her tightly.

"None of this is your fault. I love you, there's nothing that can change that." Gordon's words about her state were like knives to his head. His heart hurt in ways worse than he'd ever imagined but Skye was here .

"But I'm not-"

" I know, he told me. It won't ever change how much I love you" he reassured her softly. As her sobbing quieted he felt the buzz rattling his very being still slowly, her calm weaning the buzzing to a barely noticeable feeling.

"Skye!" Pepper was out of the car in the blink of an eye, Rhodey following after her. Pepper checked her over quickly as she clung to Tony.

"You look so pale, we need to get you to a hospital right away." She ushered Tony forward, pushing him into the back seat, still holding her as she got back in the car with him and Rhodey.

"We need to go to the medical wing in Stark tower instead." he spoke firmly. "We can't go to a hospital." Skye was almost shaking in his arms at simply the idea of a hospital.

"Got it." Pepper nodded, not even questioning whatever reason barred them from hospitals, Happy kicking the car into gear getting them to the tower in barely half the time it should have taken them to arrive there.

Skye just quietly cried in Tony's arms as he carried her into the elevator, bringing her to the medical wing that had honestly barely been used. The medical staff jolted up as the elevator opened, eyes wide and shocked as Tony carried her in.

One of the more perceptive doctors put the situation together fast and rushed over, grabbing a few nurses on the way and got her into an examination room to assess her.

"Is she hurt?" Tony was anxiously tapping his arm.

"There's signs of abuse, but the injuries are not too serious. I'm more worried about the numerous breaks in her arms. There doesn't appear to be any blunt trauma to explain them." he muttered softly.

"How much are you paid?" the man blinked.

"Two hundred fifty thousand, sir?" he answered with a hint of confusion.

"You make five hundred thousand now." Tony stated flatly, the doctor's eyes widening drastically.

"She has powers and it's causing the breaks. Any blood tests don't reach any system, understand?" he nodded rapidly.

"I won't say a word. I'll run some tests now and get back to you when I can tell any lasting effects." Tony nodded, turning around and going back into the exam room, Skye's dangling feet moving back and forth slightly, her eyes red and puffy and her arms wrapped in casts as she frowned at them.

Rhodey was scribbling on her cast, distracting her as she watched him mark the white cast with sharpie. She lifted it up once he was done, smiling at the wonky cat drawing now on the cast.

"Hey there kiddo." her gaze snapped to him, smiling softly at him.

"I want to go home." she admitted softly, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Okay." his smile was almost broken as he smiled at her. "Let's go home." He lifted her up gently, carrying her like he did when she was much smaller, careful of her injuries as Pepper and Rhodey quietly watched them leave, deciding to give the two time alone as Tony called for Happy.

He was anxious to bring her back to the house but security had been improved ten times beyond what it was. Jarvis had eyes on every inch of the outside of the house and most of the inside as well (barring bedrooms and bathrooms of course). Power also came from five different sources including two generators hidden in different locations under the house.

He'd resolved that if she came back he needed to absolutely protect her this time, no mistakes, not again.

"Can we watch a movie?" she rested her face against his shoulder as he carried her into the house.

"Of course we can. And we'll order pizza and make popcorn too." she smiled waterily against his shoulder, sniffing softly as he set her down on the couch. She cuddled up to him as soon as he sat down beside her, watching him turn on the TV and flip to a movie that they'd both loved.

Indiana jones was on constant repeat in the house in her first year here, now it felt like a comfort, a reminder that she was finally home again.

"They released a new one." her eyes widened,

"He's so old though!" she pointed out, he grinned a little "Was it good?" she hounded, looking for details.

"We'll see together, I have it lined up after we binge the rest of it." she grinned a little at him.

"I love you Tony."

"I love you too kiddo." he gently pulled her back to his side, hugging her gently as the first in the series began to play.

She slept well that night, better than she had in the six months she was missing, the first night free of fear and filled with relief.

She didn't have any nightmares this time, sleeping soundly and well into the next day. When she woke she found Tony still passed out, probably far more exhausted than she had even been.

Pepper was smiling softly at her, lifting up a bag of takeout.

She laughed a little, pushing at Tony's shoulder softly. He blinked his eyes open, smiling at her instantly. "Pepper brought burgers."

"Tell her I love her." Skye snorted softly at the mumbled response. Pepper rose her brows.

"What did he say?"

"He said to tell- mmph!" she giggled loudly as she ducked out of Tony's hold, glaring playfully at him as she fled to Pepper "He's being mean to me!" she whined, Tony sticking out his tongue at her in response. Pepper rolled her eyes strongly.

"Yeah yeah." she smiled a little as Tony groggily got up, fishing two burgers out of the bag, handing one of the cheeseburgers to Skye. She was quick to wolf it down, very suddenly hungry at the smell that had spread across the living room.

Pepper and Tony just watched a bit impressed as she went through far more food than she ever had before.

"Is this an Inhuman thing?" Pepper tilted her head a little, watching Skye get a little shy in an instant, cheeks flushing a little.

"Gordon told me some Inhumans require a lot more food after they go through the mist." she informed them, scratching her cheek a little.

"I guess we have to get bigger orders now." Tony shrugged, grinning a little.

"Noted." Pepper chuckled softly, Skye relaxing at the nonchalant reaction to the very oddly large amount of food she was eating. "Should we make pancakes too or is this enough?" Pepper asked. Skye swallowed thickly, Tony peering into the single burger left, still not full himself.

"Pancakes sound divine right now." he handed her the last burger with an amused smile, ruffling her hair a little bit.

Breakfast felt warm, even more so when Happy and Rhodey joined them. It felt a lot like when she first got here and Tony dragged everyone along to sort of 'family' outings all together. They still did them now but Tony had relaxed on the every weekend thing he'd been doing back then and turned it into a once a month occasion since they were all far too busy to sustain the weekly outings.

No one mentioned her powers even though she had to guess they all knew about it by now. Tony didn't keep secrets from them and he had doubled a doctor's pay to be her personal doctor and keep his mouth firmly shut about what was happening to her.

"Aren't you supposed to be resting your arms?" Rhodey rose his brows as her as she carelessly twisted her arms in ways she really shouldn't even with the casts on.

"I already feel a lot better." she admitted sheepishly

"That's good." Tony grinned, entirely bypassing the several days worth of healing in one night in favor of piling on another pancake on her plate and watching her eyes light up before digging in. Breakfast ended eventually and soon enough Pepper had to leave and she took Rhodey and Happy with her a little unwillingly, but both eventually gave in with a pointed stare.

"So what do you want to do with school kiddo?" she deflated a little bit.

"I lost a lot of time." she frowned.

"Doesn't matter, you're only eleven and you were already almost done with sophomore year, you'll be alright." she paused.

"I'm twelve actually." he paused, raising his brows. "I learned my birthday is July second 1988." she smiled a little as his eyes widened.

"Wow, what an old fart."

"Then you're ancient." she quipped back quickly at his light teasing as he smiled.

"Do you want to celebrate in July then?" he asked "Or we could celebrate both." he mused softly, his smile widening as she giggled.

"I want to celebrate in July." she agreed happily.

"It's decided then, but we've still gotta address school kiddo." she huffed a little.

"I studied a lot of textbooks while I was there but didn't have much schooling. I did learn hand to hand combat though." she kicked her feet lightly behind her, laying on her stomach on the couch facing towards him as his brows pulled together.

"I also learned how to cause avalanches and speak Cantonese so it was kinda productive." She was avoiding talking about her mother entirely as she trailed off on anything she might have learned there. "Oh! Alisha taught me about theft and robbery and pickpocketing!" Tony looked entirely defeated at her happy exclamation.

"Alright, I'm going to ignore that last part and we're going to focus on re-evaluating your level based on what you studied and we'll move from there, how about that?" she nodded in acceptance. "I'll schedule it with your school" he sighed a little. It had been a while since he'd talked to the principal who had extended that she always had a place at the school and wished him well on finding her. "Let's let you settle back in for a bit though." he muttered softly.

He really wanted to just spend time with her after everything that had happened.

She nodded her acceptance. "Can we do dinner with everyone tonight?"

"I'll ask, Rhodey's schedule has been pretty chaotic lately but I'm sure Happy and Pepper will be able to." He looked at his phone, sending a text to the group chat that up until now had solely been updates and sharing information they had gathered relevant to Skye being missing and aliens.

"So uh...you're not.....upset that I'm not human?" she muttered softly, giving him pause.

"Of course not." he denied quickly, firmly. "And you are mostly human by the way, just with some extra spice." She giggled a little as he grinned a little. "Besides, I'm thrilled about your new fast healing, it reassures me a bit that you'll be safer even if you get hurt." he admitted as she shifted on the couch to lean against him.

"You really don't mind it?"

"Not at all, none of us do. We figured this might happen after a certain point, so relax, no one's going to be mad at you or afraid." he reassured her softly.

She stopped her fidgeting for now as he checked his phone. "Alright, let's clean up a bit, all three of them can make it." she smiled, quickly getting to work cleaning the Pizza box off the coffee table from the night before as Tony handled the dishes from breakfast.

Dinner was reassuring, a normalcy that she really craved right now that ended in a movie marathon and all of them sleeping on the couch together.

The day after she jumped back into schoolwork with a little bit of a rusty mind and some struggling as Tony talked to the principal and she was left with a laptop and online assignments to be able to work at her own pace.

She worked through the night on them, finishing up a class with some trouble before moving on to the next, laser focused on getting caught back up with the progress she wanted to make before all this had happened.

Tony just watched, deciding not to enforce any bedtime for now as she focused on her school.

He had a feeling she was avoiding sleep entirely the more he noticed their coffee supply dwindling at a concerning rate. He idly wondered if she was just drinking too much or if like food it took a lot more caffeine to affect her to a desirable level.

He decided it was probably both when he saw her bloodshot eyes while she held a cup of coffee bouncing her leg incessantly as she looked at her laptop.

"Alright, you've reached your coffee limit for the week, you've had way too much and you need to go to bed." he plucked the mug from her slightly shaking hand before plucking her from her seat as she protested, slumping a little in his embrace.

"I don't want to sleep." she muttered softly, tiredly. He gently rubbed her back.

"That's too bad, you have to get some good rest." he blocked off her protest immediately, feeling her clutch his shirt tightly.

"I started having nightmares again." she spoke softly as he set her down on her bed, sitting down next to her as he listened to her words. "I can't stop remembering Cal snapping her neck, or Gordon killing him." she spoke softly.

"Do you want me to stay?" he asked softly, earning a little nod. They lied down together, Skye snuggling into his arms as he smiled, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach from the heartbreaking admission. "I'll be right here with you if you have a nightmare." he promised, smoothing a hand gently over the back of her head.

She slept better that night with him there, but the night after she woke with a start to a hand on her shoulder, the house shaking violently as her gaze darted fearfully to the figure standing over her. "Shhh, it's just me. you're okay." he uttered softly, wrapping her gently in his arms as she cried, clinging to him for comfort as he lied down with her in his arms, whispering reassurances to her as she slowly calmed down, drifting back to sleep just like that as the trembling of the house slowly came to a stop.

Chapter Text

He spent the next day formulating a game plan involving therapy, machines he'd have to build, and other equipment for her to practice on and learn proper control of her powers without repression. Suppressing the powers would likely just cause backlash like Gordon had warned, he needed to at least figure out how to acclimate her body to the powers well enough that she didn't get hurt as much by the backlash.

He did however have to split the day between handling company business and making that game plan since work had taken the back burner for six months and there was far too much piled on now to completely ignore it.

He just tackled a bunch of projects and had Jarvis process the less important ones before checking his work and sending out his answers. It was barely a start to what needed to be done but it was at least a start on getting the list of issues addressed and resolved now that he wasn't ignoring them all in favor of looking for Skye.

She did schoolwork at home for now, confessing she was scared about going back with her powers more than enough to justify letting her go at assignments in an online format instead. As an added bonus it meant they could spend all day together, even if it was in mostly dead silence.

A month passed before he knew it and his anxiety about Skye' safety slowly weaned, helped along by the fact that she could easily toss a car with her powers now and no one normal could actually take her in a fight. No one abnormal could feasibly do it either.

"What happened to that Afterlife place?" Tony asked. Skye glanced at him as he watched her, hanging from the pullup bar.

"I talked to Gordon last week, he said he evacuated and scattered everyone. With Jiaying dead they had no leader and no one was good enough to step up to the plate so the elders decided it safest to swear everyone to secrecy and mostly abandon the place."

"Mostly?" he questioned

"The elders still live there." she explained " Gordon takes care of them there and anyone else who wants to just live there undisturbed. They remain mostly to provide assessment and guidance for anyone who desires to go through the mist." she explained.

"Yeah, you never explained that part. What exactly is going through the mist?"

"It's like being eaten alive by liquid rock." she shrugged a little, Tony's expression turning alarmed at the brief explanation. "Your entire body gets covered in a liquid rock that turns into a solid husk. It becomes really hard to breathe very quickly so you have to break out of it fast. Fortunately my powers are kinda perfect for that so I got out really quickly. The mist is basically a crystal that when shattered creates a heavy mist that turns any inhuman and kills any human that it breathes it in." She went over the process.

"Wait, you're still talking to Gordon?" He finally processed that bit of information with a heavy alarm.

"Yeah. Gordon isn't bad, he was just blindly loyal to Jiaying since she guided him through terrigenesis, or the mist. That's what it's also called by the way." she frowned a little before dropping down to the ground and brushing herself off. "He's doing a lot of good work now, no longer kidnapping and all." she joked softly, wincing a bit as Tony scowled lightly.

"Are you ever going to talk about what happened seriously?" her hands lightly clenched into fits as Tony stared at her with a heavy concern.

"Maybe one day. Right now humor is the coping I'm doing." Tony frowned.

"If I employ a therapist will you go to her?" he tried.

"Too many secrets, it'd be too risky." she shook her head quickly "We already brought in the doctor, that's enough risk for me already." Tony frowned but easily accepted the answer. He never went to therapy either so he couldn't exactly scold her on it too badly.

"You should consider it."

"I'll consider it when you do to address your ptsd." Tony winced lightly at her reply.

"Yeah that's fair." he sighed heavily. "I'll work on it though, and if it takes me talking to someone to get you to I might go for it." Skye paused, easily deciding that kind of trade off was pretty worth it if Tony got some help out of it as well.

"I'll give it a shot if you do." he sighed softly, nodding as he resigned himself to finding two therapists who could keep any secret needed. Two unicorns basically.

"How is school going?"

"I'm on track to graduate at the end of the year." she smiled, "I've been getting a lot more done now that I can just pick it up whenever I want to." he nodded

"You've been doing great, your teachers are always raving about your work, especially your tech teachers." she grinned. They'd moved onto dual credit courses for her tech classes since she so easily moved through the material and up each grade level since she got here. She was more thrilled to learn from Tony though who gave her lessons usually whenever she bothered him enough to.

"I've been having a lot of fun with it. I have to start looking at my preferred colleges now though." she sighed a little, Tony smirking.

"MIT of course. it's the best college for your field. I've already applied for you, transport should be easy since it's close enough to fly in the morning. You have every other option as well, with your grades and how fast you've progressed you can go anywhere. Colleges are already begging Pepper to have you go to them cost free" The wealth still sometimes baffled her even after almost six years of being the example of filthy rich.

"That's insane." Tony snorted softly, rolling his eyes,

"You're a certified genius Skye, it's predictable." she shrugged a little, still reeling from the fact that she had colleges begging for her to attend on their dime and she had basically free pick of wherever she wanted to go. "And you're finishing high school two years ahead of when I did, you've got even more going for you." Skye stared at him wide eyed.

"I graduated at fifteen, you'll be graduating at thirteen." he ruffled her hair as he passed her on his way into the living room, grinning a bit at her utter shock.

"How do you want to celebrate by the way? We should do something special." she shrugged a little. She liked the little small celebrations they did together. Tony always went over the top with gifts but she always enjoyed it, especially the more personal gifts she got from all four of them. Despite how he acted towards most people Tony turned out to be a very thoughtful person.

"We should go ice skating." she grinned widely as he groaned. Despite Rhodey's initial guess that he'd get better after he started training and working with the Iron Man suit he'd actually gotten somehow worse at ice skating over the years which was saying something since he was pretty terrible at it to start with.

"We will go ice skating." he huffed a little, "I have a feeling half the enjoyment is going to be me falling over." she grinned a little, not denying the accusation as she stuck out her tongue at him.

"You little rascal." she squealed as he snatched her up, lifting her into his arms as he grinned.

"It'll be fun, I'll text them about it and we'll set a date. We can do other things too."

"You're trying to limit the time in the rink." she teased earning an exasperated huff in response.

"Maybe." she laughed

"We can go to dinner after." she agreed, "But I get to take pictures and videos at the rink." she grinned, watching him wince slightly.

"Fine." he agreed. Rhodey would take pictures and videos of his fails to hold over his head anyways. He was after all, still holding the first picture he took over his head to this day years later. He'd threatened to go to the press with it when he got too unreasonable with treating sleep as a suggestion rather than a requirement for day to day life.

"Uncle Rhodey is going to be thrilled." he chuckled softly

"Absolutely." he agreed. "Happy and Pepper will have a good time too, I've never let them see me skate since I figured out how bad I was at it" Skye snickered a bit, sitting criss crossed on the desk next to Tony's workspace as he started to get to a few projects.

"What's your progress on powers?" he glanced at her.

"The gloves you built have been great at dispersing the damage. I've been trying to imitate the feeling it gives me but have only managed to spread it out a little on my own." she frowned a little.

"Excellent, you're making good progress then." He looked relieved as she gave him an indignant look. In her eyes the progress was very poor. Her fine control of vibrations was dogshit and all she could do was destroy and toss shit with waves of vibrations. "Patience Skye, these things take time." he reminded her idly as he scanned over his work.

"Yeah yeah be gentle with myself and practice self kindness." she droned, wrinkling her nose as he cracked an amused smile. 

----------

"HA!" Pepper was cackling, Rhodey Filming the ice rink as Tony flailed on the ice, falling over every time he got back up, Happy equally hopeless at skating but falling a lot less than Tony's hopelessly worsening attempts at it.

"Best graduation gift ever." Skye snickered softly.

"You both suck." Tony wheezed, finally giving up and using his hands to slide his body across the ice as Skye giggled with a now wheezing laughing Pepper. Rhodey skated back a bit so he could capture the whole scene as Pepper pointed and laughed at his sliding, watching him get to the wall and grip it like a lifeline to get back on his feet. He sent a halfhearted glare their way, Skye grinning widely as she waved at him.

"I'm guessing this was the plan all along?" Happy was significantly cheered up at his own skating after watching the catastrophe that was Tony on ice.

"Oh absolutely." Skye grinned widely "You should see Uncle Rhodey's pictures from our first time ice skating, he's actually gotten worse somehow."

Tony let out a weak 'Hey!' at the reveal as Rhodey quickly whipped out his phone, Tony unable to get close enough to stop him as he showed off the pictures.

"Alright alright, can we just go to dinner now?" he looked entirely defeated as Skye skated up to him, offering her hands for support. He very hesitantly took them, scowling as she skated backwards as she helped him.

"Now you're just showing off." she laughed, her smile so wide he was almost feeling like the embarrassment was worth it.

"A little." she cracked a mischievous smile as she led him to the exit. "Dinner sounds good right about now though, I'm starving."

This was the dream really, from as far back as she could remember a scene like this was all she'd ever wanted. When Tony came and got her when she was six everything was a whirlwind of fear and apprehension about his kindness, but now...

She smiled, already on her second bowl of pasta, Happy trying to catch up with her for some unknown reason and Pepper rolling her eyes at the antics as she and Rhodey shared the pictures and videos they had taken of the night.

This was home now. It was warm and safe and reliable and it was hers. She held Tony's hand lightly as he smiled at her.

"Congrats on graduating kiddo."

Chapter Text

"Hey Tony?" Tony hummed softly as she gazed at her phone flatly. "I just got a recruitment letter marked by that Shield organization you told me about. They have a tech division apparently." Tony snatched the letter from her hands, scanning over it rapidly.

He'd done a shit ton more snooping since she got back and they were an interesting bunch but they weren't exactly ideal for someone wanting to hide their powers for now.

"Don't respond." he stated firmly. "Work on your degree at MIT, finish that and just ignore them." he wrinkled his nose at the letter, scowling a little.

"I kinda want to go." she admitted. He blanched, his head snapping towards her as she laughed a little

"Absolutely not, don't joke around like that." he huffed softly.

"I'm not joking! I hacked their servers and they're leagues better than MIT, the equipment is better, the teachers, they have so many awesome specialty classes I could take." He frowned a little

"I'll think about it and look into them, but they better not be expecting to get you there under my radar." he scowled, Skye grinning as she laughed softly.

"Jarvis can you give him what I found already?" Jarvis smoothly transferred the files onto his screen, Tony squinting a bit as he unhappily looked over the files and information on the Academies.

"You'd be going to science and technologies." she nodded

"I kinda want to see if I can dual enroll in operations though, I think it'd be super helpful to learn to fight." she grinned, Tony pausing, not entirely opposed to the idea of having professionals teach her how to properly fight.

"I'll consider it once I look over everything, but none of this even has a chance of happening if you don't make enough progress with your powers, got it?" she nodded quickly,

"I'll go back to training!" he chuckled softly as she scrambled out of the room. She'd really rocketed into the MIT courses in the six months after graduating highschool, that along with training seemed to be all she did anymore. She was constantly working on final projects for classes that she had sped through without much trouble. She was close to her first degree there already. He was so indescribably proud.

He smiled softly to himself, his chest feeling light and fluttery as he thought back to how much progress she had made already.

She never called herself stupid anymore, every now and then she didn't think and made mistakes but she didn't beat herself up over it, not like she used to. She didn't look like her world was crushed anymore when she got a less than perfect grade and obsesses over it until she was moping for a week.

He set to work, clearing off the shared files for now and diving into his own research.

Of course he covered his tracks, finding traces of Skye on the servers despite her extensive snooping.

"She's gotten so much better." he chuckled softly. He almost missed when she was still learning about AI and coding systems. He had to plan out lessons for her a lot better now to make sure he was challenging her. He'd even started including her in his Iron man suits.

The one they built together was filed away very safely in storage. He couldn't bring himself to wear and possibly damage the suit that he'd walked her through step by step, helping her screw together delicate components and hide them inside the suit. She was so proud of herself and he couldn't help but teach her how he made the arc reactor to power it.

She would probably get into some really dumb stuff later on with all he'd taught her but he was far too excited to ever stop teaching her when she looked at him like he was the world asking him to teach her more.

Begrudgingly he had to admit after some hours of snooping that the Shield Academy seemed like the absolute best in latest tech and science. Operations was just as well formed and communications was a lot lighter for entry requirements but still overall a good school.

The more he learned about shields, the less he liked about it. It was a shady government organization, but at the very least the academy was highly staffed and he could keep a sharp eye on Skye throughout her stay there.

"Sir? Are you really considering this?" Tony huffed softly as Jarvis asked a question, his tone almost resembling disbelief.

"You know I'm a pushover for whatever she asks for." Jarvis seemed to process for a moment "This is true." Tony's brow twitched at the flat acceptance.

"I'm not that bad." he argued.

"Sir, you have never said no to Skye asking for something." Jarvis replied

"Well she doesn't ask for much!" he replied quickly, pausing as he hears his own admissing, laughing a little at himself as he rested his forehead on his desk. "I need to cover all my bases with this Shield group."

"You can begin again tomorrow, it is time for bed." he glared at the screens as they powered down automatically. Skye had snuck in some protocols to limit his screen time unless it was an emergency. He was limited to 14 consecutive hours in the lab before he was forced to go to sleep otherwise nothing would turn on.

He had rooted out the new core function a few times but it always reappeared in minutes and left him eventually giving up because he didn't have the heart to completely destroy it since Skye had done it for him and out of worry.

He highly suspected the core files were on her phone running checks and replacing the files he deleted but he never confirmed that.

When he emerged from the lab he found her lounging on the couch browsing through whatever shows they hadn't watched.

"Vampire shows?" he spoke up after a minute, watching her flip back to a particular vampire show, looking almost consideringly at it.

"I've watched part of it." she huffed a little "It's not that bad." Tony plopped down next to her as he grinned teasingly.

"Come on, let's play it. If it's too boring we can just fall asleep here." she leaned against him, gently holding his hand without a word.

They'd both taken to sleeping on the couch together most nights, using movies as excuses. He never forced her to admit she was scared to be alone, but she'd softly told him anyways after the fifth night in a row on the couch.

He felt it only fair to gently tell her he was scared too, because he didn't know what he'd do if she was taken again in the blink of an eye.

And just like that they'd settled into the routine. Both their therapists thought it was fine for now but they definitely had to address the elephant of why it was like this. It also had to eventually be fixed because if she went to the academy all of this would very quickly stop.

"How do you feel?" he glanced down at her gloves.

"Good, I'm just keeping them on to relax. I've been getting better at spreading it out on my own." he smiled a little in relief. The damage to her arms initially was entirely alarming and he'd scrambled to find solutions that avoided the suppression Gordon warned him of. Spreading out the impact made her a little sore, but it was nothing like the breaks that would appear on her arms after power usage almost immediately if she had gone a little too far.

"I sent the acceptance to the return address on the letter, I did add in you wanted to dual enroll, but you know it'll be hard don't you?" he glanced over at her.

"I know, but I want to." she nodded slightly.

"You can always call me if you want out or it isn't working out." she squeezed his hand lightly.

"I will." she promised, snuggling into his side. "You know I will." he smiled, hugging her from the side tightly.

Joy for him was seeing her slowly start to rely on him, depend on him and Happy, Rhodey and Pepper too when she needed help or just wanted their time. It was a far cry from her first year here, asking for nothing, relying on no one and stepping carefully.

Now she willingly got into trouble which both exasperated and thrilled him because on one hand she was getting into trouble and on the other she felt comfortable enough to get into trouble . ----------

On her first day of classes Skye chose to sit next to the very surprisingly similarly aged student in the class who was staring at her like she was a unicorn at this point.

"I'm skye." she grinned widely, offering her hand as she sat next to him, introducing herself quietly as people got settled around them, giving them weird looks as they passed.

"Fitz." he muttered a bit in his daze, shaking her hand a little, looking a bit embarrassed with his reaction, cheeks flushed with his embarrassment as he looked away. "How old are you?" he asked with a confused blink.

"Fourteen." He looked defeated, huffing a little.

"Damn it. I wanted to be the youngest admission." she blinked, grinning at him.

"We can compete for the smartest." He narrowed his gaze at her and the challenge.

"I'm going to be top of the class." he stated, a little smug and brimming with confidence

"We'll see about that won't we?" she smirked a little, Fitz bristling a bit at the challenge before their focus snapped back to the front of the lecture hall as the professor began his lecture.

Neither of them paid much attention to the other during the lesson, jotting down notes as he spoke, answering questions along the way every now and then. It was the first day but it seemed at the academy that was a jumping in point rather than a lazy start like high school or her other college courses seemed like in comparison. There was a high expectation of basic knowledge and no room to play around.

"Have you already gone to your dorm?" Fits glanced at her, looking a bit curious as she gathered her things to leave, his papers already shoved in a folder in his bag now, lacking any laptop like she had.

"Yeah, I unpacked a bit before class. Have you seen yours yet?" he shook his head lightly.

"I wanted to make sure I knew the material before I came into the course. You didn't study?"

"I did a lot the day before so I could unpack a bit. We have other classes before the end of the day though." It seemed like being of a similar age was a bit of a bonding experience. She was trying really hard not to screw this up too badly. "I could help you unpack if you want." he paused, offering a sky smile.

"We can share ideas and blueprints." he agreed with a quick nod.

"We have to stop by my dorm then so I can grab a few of my projects." he nodded quickly in agreement as they both trotted down the hall, very quickly realizing they had the same class schedules and being rather excited about it.

They went through the classes of the day before they both stopped by her mostly unpacked dorm room before heading off to his. She helped unload some of his projects while he put away his clothes, being very careful with the delicate parts and setting them on the provided desk one by one before he came over and organized them where he wanted them.

"Where are you from?" Fitz blinked, grinning a little

"Scotland, it's really nice there. A lot more quiet than here. You?"

"New york." she grinned a little. "What's your P.H.D. in? Mines in engineering but I'm going for a second online between classes."

"I'm doing the same, but I have to get a laptop first." he huffed a little " I have an engineering degree too." he admitted, grinning a little at the shared experience as her smile widened.

"You can have my old one. My brother got me a new one for school and he's pretty over the top.

I brought the old one to my room just in case mine broke." his eyes lit up at the offer

"Really? Thanks!" of course his gratitude turned to nervous shock when the expensive laptop sat in his hands completely wiped for a new user.

"Are you... sure I can have this? It's so expensive..." she'd gotten pretty used to the wealth but she was still blaringly aware of how much things cost and a top of the line Stark brand laptop was a lot more than she'd even spend on a car.

"My brother has a lot of money so you don't have to feel guilty." Fitz blinked, quickly assessing his options before lightly wrapping his arms around the laptop, going back to smiling again as he laughed.

"That's kind of reassuring, my mom will scold me if she knew I took it though. '' she giggled a little. She could relate quite a bit from her days in the foster care system. She saw a lot of it with other kids whose parents didn't like them taking charity.

"I still have a hard time with the expensive crap, I understand." he blinked, clearly curious but deciding to file his questions away for later.

Eventually they had to go their separate ways as curfew approached and the R.A. began making his rounds in the boys dormitories. When she got back to her room she checked her texts quickly, finding a couple from everyone, checking in on her first day.

She was beaming as she called Tony, laying on her stomach as she kicked her feet behind her.

"How did it go?" Tony shushed the others, already smiling softly

"I made a friend! He's one year older and just got into the academy with me for the tech division. The classes are super fun too and I'm starting my new routine with operations tomorrow morning. They said the scheduling is hard since no one has double enrolled yet but we're working it out." she grinned widely, brimming with excitement as Tony smiled

"I'm glad you're having a great time, you've got to visit as often as you can you hear me?" she nodded before quickly realizing she was being a little dense and laughed.

"Course! Every break we get I'm coming home!" he looked relived at her promise.

"Hey kiddo, it's going well then?" Rhodey snatched the phone from Tony.

"It's going really well! I'm really excited to start with everything, the classes are kinda hard but I'm going to study a lot to get it down."

"Good, you've gotta beat your old man in smarts ya hear me? He needs to be knocked down a peg- hey!" Pepper snatched the phone as Rhodey and Tony squabbled.

"Of course she'll surpass m-"

"Just do your best Skye, we'll be waiting for your visits eagerly." Skye grinned "I miss you guys already." she huffed softly.

"Oh don't worry, we'll be checking in a lot you'll see." Happy grinned, Pepper smiling softly.

"I'll call a lot." she promised, knowing she'd reassured them of that a hundred times over by now anyways but still deciding they needed to hear it.

She kept her word firmly, calling or texting at least once a day, Tony checking up on her frequently anyways as she started her dual enrollment program and lost every free moment she had previously had. If she wasn't in class she was with Fitz studying and if she wasn't with him she was scrambling across campus to operations to take her classes there, mostly learning to fight which was pretty simple since she had a head start in learning how to handle targets much bigger than her.

That was something she never stopped training in even after she left Afterlife where her mother insisted she master self defense and learn to fight.

It at the very least made her training classes easier since she wasn't starting from scratch like most of the new recruits. She did however have to make up for being less than half their size without revealing her powers.

"You're quite literally insane." Fitz watched her scramble around her dorm room, getting ready to go back over to operations after they'd finished her allotted hour for studying after class before she had to got to operations. "There is a good reason there's no dual enrollment system offered." she huffed a little, ignoring him as she rushed off.

"Lock the door behind you!" He waved goodbye as she kicked the door shut behind her, going back to his most recent project for their current class, still giddy over the new laptop even a few months later. He'd never had a top of the line anything, let alone a top of the line Stark laptop less than a year old. It was practically brand new!

He stared at his project, dully aware that Skye was managing to keep up with him at the top of the class firmly with much less time to prepare and study than he had dealing with just the one set of classes and his doctorate program. He got to work, determined to achieve at least some extra credit if his assignment was good enough.

When she got back it was around seven in the afternoon, two hours before curfew would have him kicked back to the boys dormitory.

"What are you going to do for our first break?" he wondered aloud, glancing up to her as she dutifully got to work on her own project. She blinked, sitting criss cross as she considered.

"I'm flying back to visit family. They were pretty bummed that I had to fill my weekends to make the dual enrollment work. What are you doing?" she asked, smiling widely. Fitz blinked. He'd never heard her mention a dad or mom, only a brother. He assumed she was probably under his care.

"Why don't they come to visit you here? The campus allows visitors. Ah, but I'm just sticking here. We decided against me flying back to see my mom this time." he tilted his head a little. Skye laughed softly.

"They can't. Well, maybe two of them can but my brother and his girlfriend are way too well known. It would be classified as a security risk to have them here. I already checked." she huffed a little.

"Who.... exactly is your brother?" he asked slowly. He felt after bothering each other relentlessly for a few months he'd worked his way into asking the question properly at least.

"Tony Stark." His eyes widened drastically, blinking owlishly at her as she grinned.

"No bloody wonder you didn't care about how expensive the laptop was." he spluttered softly. "It's still weird to me to be honest." she shrugged a little "I was a foster kid until I was seven and we figured out the whole relation thing so not being poor is wild." he snorted softly

"I bet, going from living poor to being in mansions must be startling." she nodded a little.

"Yeah well." she shrugged a little, refocusing back on her project as Fitz took the time to relax as he watched her. "How's your project going?"

"I think I'll have it done by tomorrow, you think you'll pull another all-nighter for this?" she hummed softly, glancing over her blueprints shortly.

"I'll just stay up a few hours. I wont be able to sustain if I do that all the time." he nodded a little in agreement.

"How are you not exhausted?"

"Rigorous training in preparation. My operations trainers hate me though." she snickered a little "But that's par for the course, I've gotta earn my place." Fitz wrinkled his nose at the mention of operations.

"Don't mind them, they're idiots." she snickered a little,

"I'll be okay." she assured him quickly. "I'm tough enough that I'll last even with them trying to get me to wash out." he nodded in agreement. He'd taken a couple peeks at her training and noticed how skilled she was. It was startling to see someone her size take down a grown man so quickly and efficiently.

"I'm going to be kicked out soon, I'll see you tomorrow." he checked the time quickly, gathering up his things and leaving back to his dorm. She waved him goodbye before flopping onto her bed tiredly.

Chapter Text

"How's it going kiddo?" Skye grinned as Tony picked up.

"I'm exhausted but it's going well." she answered softly, her excitement dulling a bit by the exhaustion. "How's your suit addiction going?" she could almost feel his eye roll in the silence that followed.

"I'm addressing it." he grumbled softly in response. "Are you doing well there? having fun?"

"Lots, Fitz and I accidentally made a bomb and covered the lab in ash. It was awesome . Our professor was livid." Tony chuckled softly, shaking his head.

"As long as you're having fun I guess." he smiled to himself a little "But try to tone down the explosions and be safe. I'll give you a call tomorrow so we can arrange your return trip.

Everyone's very excited to see you again."

"I'm really excited too, I've really missed you guys." she admitted softly, smiling into her pillow "Can we go ice skating while I'm there?" Tony groaned softly.

"Maybe, for a short while." she grinned widely, laughing at his disgruntled acceptance.

"See you soon."

 "Seen you soon kiddo." it was a day later (Six days from departure back home for a week!!!) that she had an idea

"Do you want to go to stark tower with me for break?" Fitz startled, coughing roughly on the cup ramen he'd heated up in the dorm microwave.

"What?" he croaked, coughing a little again as she laughed loudly. "How would I even..."

"Tony would send a quinjet to a location nearby to pick us up. If your mom is okay with it I can check with him. They've been wanting to meet you anyway and it could be fun." Fitz hesitated, looking almost scared.

"They.... want to meet me?" he gestured to himself lightly, his tone heavy with confusion.

"Fitz did you make any friends being a prodigy?" she raised her brows. He deflated a little, scowling a bit. "Exactly. Neither of us had friends till each other."

"You're so much cooler than me though."

"I keep my nose out of other people's business, if all our professors didn't naturally pair us together you'd probably still be avoiding me and I would just be isolating in my dorm room." he gave a contemplating look.

"Yeah sounds about right." he huffed a little as he made the admission to her. "Are you... sure I can come?"

"Yeah, I'm sure he'll say yes." Fitz pursed his lips for a moment.

"I'll ask my mom about going." he nodded softly, too excited by the prospect of maybe getting a look at Jarvis to shoot down the opportunity. Besides, a friend was asking him to go on a trip! That had never happened before!

It was exactly six days later that Skye herded a very weary and apprehensive Fitz onto an empty quinjet. His head snapped back around at the door closed behind them, sealing the jet as it smoothly lifted up into the air.

"Who exactly-" he clutched Skye tightly, already terrified of the apparent ghost jet.

"Greetings, I am Jarvis, I assume you are Fitz?" Fitz's eyes widened, significantly less alarmed as he let go of Skye's shoulders, glancing around, spotting a few cameras along the ceiling.

" I... yeah I'm fitz it's uh... nice to meet you?" he squeaked out a little, Skye snickering a little beside him.

"The pleasure is mine, please make yourself comfortable, the flight will take approximately two hours until we reach Stark tower." Jarvis informed them.

"Only two? That's a lot faster than the other jets I've researched." Fitz blinked.

"Cost is never an issue so Tony doesn't really settle for anything less than the best." Skye dragged him to sit in the cockpit with her, watching him marvel at the sight as they flew above the nearby city.

"Does this have cloaking?" he looked at her, grinning widely as she nodded with a smile. "This is so cool." he muttered softly, looking over the panel. His hands hovered but didn't touch as Skye connected her phone to the system, putting on some music.

"You should relax. You're going to be wildly stressed meeting my family." Fitz winced softly

"I'm antisocial alright? I don't handle meeting celebrities well." she grinned a little, leaning back in her chair as she closed her eyes.

"Don't I know it, I still remember you being freaked out for weeks over me being Tony's sister." he huffed a little as her grin widened.

"Yeah yeah." he leaned back in his seat, folding his arms as he glanced over to her. He couldn't say he wasn't excited to meet them. Not because Tony was well Tony, but because Skye had talked a lot about her family, even showing him videos from her visits where they went ice skating.

They were very close, she was constantly talking to them and he didn't want to screw up meeting them. Skye was his best friend, he wanted to make a good impression on the people she valued.

"You'll do fine Fitz stop worrying." he huffed a little, closing his eyes.

Two hours passed quickly after he dozed off, Skye shaking him gently awake when they were landing. He sprung up, grabbing his bag as she rocked on her feet as the door opened. Walking after her as she sprinted forward and tackled Tony in a hug. He let out a loud 'oof!' as he stumbled back, falling on his ass as she laughed.

"It's nice to meet you Fitz, we've heard a lot about you." Pepper smiled kindly as Fitz gave her a nervous smile.

"It's nice to meet you too, Skye talks about you all a lot." her smile widened a bit, her gaze flickering to Skye as they finally got up, Skye snickering a bit about him needing to work out if that was all it took to knock him on his ass and him rolling his eyes strongly before aggressively ruffling her hair messily.

She squawked, darting away and trying to fix her hair as Tony smirked lightly

"Come on in, we've got lunch waiting inside." Happy shooed them all inside, Skye regrouping with Fitz to make sure he hadn't gotten too overwhelmed.

"You're Fitz?" Tony glanced over him, his gaze narrowing a bit. Fitz fiddled nervously with his hands.

"Yes Sir." he nodded a little.

"Nice to meet you, I've heard you're a good kid." Fitz smiled nervously, a little flattered as Tony smiled a bit, seemingly not totally disappointed by him. Skye rolled her eyes at the interaction, directing Fitz to follow the others.

"Don't scare him." she narrowed her gaze at Tony, earning an innocent smile.

"I'm being totally normal. You're the one being weird." she rolled her eyes, the two of them moving faster to catch up with the others.

Fitz relaxed gradually as they ate lunch, the warm atmosphere letting him relax a bit in their presence as Skye grinned and laughed, Rhodey brining up his excitement for ice skating again soon as Tony groaned loudly, starring daggers at him from across the table as Rhodey wore a shit eating grin.

Eventually they got onto the topic of school which lead to engineering and their projects, Fitz and Skye sharing a lot about the final project coming up soon, bickering a little on details as Tony fed them tips and corrections, eventually finding themselves in the lab bringing up blueprints as the others entertained themselves, entirely used to these kinds of antics.

Fitz was amazed by the lab in the tower, it was extremely high tech and decked out in every possible way imaginable.

"This ones the smaller lab, you should see the main one." Fitz's eyes widened at Tony's comments.

"He just wants to show off all his suits." Skye laughed softly "Pepper just gets annoyed with how many there are now and Happy doesn't understand any of it." she added, turning to look,

Finding him giving her a starstruck look. "We should check it out later today, you can tell him all about the components." Tony grinned widely.

"I'm game, but let's cover your guys' project first, it could use some tweaking." Skye focused in on what he was saying as he gestured to part of their plans for it, advising adjustments in certain placed. "You need to take more chem classes, you're both lacking a lot of knowledge in that department. It's important to be well rounded as an engineer." Fitz nodded eagerly, clinging to every word as Skye smiled lightly.

"Will do old man, now lets get back to the others, we were gonna watch a movie remember?" Tony huffed a little.

"I'm not old you brat, I'm only thirty three!" she rolled her eyes, dragging Fitz out of the lab and back to the others as Tony followed

"Sounds ancient to me." Tony narrowed his eyes, flicking her on the nose as she turned earning a surprised squeak from her before she glared half heartedly at him. "Rude." she huffed playfully, Tony rolling his eyes this time.

Fitz just smiled, sufficiently relaxed by the easygoing atmosphere as they rejoined the other three, Happy already getting the movie ready to play as Rhodey waved to them.

"Finally back? We were about to start without you." he chuckled, Tony going over to him as Fitz followed Skye to the couch.

Movie night was fun, unlike anything he'd experienced before. Since he was ten it was just him and his mom. That was fine really but it didn't have the same feel to watch a movie just the two of them as it did right now. Loud laughter and teasing comments flying as the movie progressed.

Rhodey pointing and calling the deer flailing on the ice Tony in animal form before getting several lighthearted jabs in return. (He was really curious about what that was in reference to but he didn't ask) they were all very welcoming, not even giving him a hard time even when it was clear he was embarrassed and trying to make a good impression. The seven day trip passed exactly the same, lighthearted and a lot of fun.

He eventually learned that Tony Stark was horrid at ice skating when they got to the rink and with a very apprehensive expression the man stepped onto the ice, flailed, and promptly fell onto his ass, Skye picking him up after giggling for a short while. The help seemed very practiced too so he suspected this was a quite regular occurrence.

It was nice, having a friend and visiting her very nice family. It was a bit weird to be around two very famous people but his anxiety about it had settled down by the second day of the visit.

Seeing the main lab and a bunch of Iron Man suits was awesome. He learned way more in a day than he did from most of his classes in the last month. He really got why Skye was so easily keeping up despite being allotted half the study time he had. Tony was a great teacher in all things tech.

Eventually however the trip had to end and they returned to campus, happily chatting about the trip and Skye sharing older pictures of Tony failing miserably at skating.

It was six months later and a couple visits back to Stark Tower before they both made another friend in the new year's chemistry class that Tony had suggested they take.

"You three...work together." the professor faltered a bit, staring blinkingly at the three children staring back at him before deciding to group them together.

"I don't like you." Fitz stated flatly, narrowing his gaze at Jemma who huffed loudly.

"Well I don't like you either. you're rude!" she bit back, Fitz wrinkling his nose at her in a disgruntled anger.

"Alright alright let's just work together. We two are tech and you're biochem. This should be good, all things considered."

"But he's insufferable!" Jemma argued.

"How many child geniuses does it take for a science project?" Skye snickered softly to herself as she looked over the outline of the project, Jemma and Fitz still squabbling.

"Hey Jemma, can you cover this part and me and Fitz will design and engineer the device we'll need to contain and utilize it?" Skye pointed between the parts as she got their attention.

"I can do that, you're not good with the makeup?" she glanced at Skye curiously.

"I know the basics but it's not my major and it is yours so I figure you'll be better at it." she shrugged a little. Jemma smiled a bit.

"I'll handle that portion then but we should collaborate throughout." Fitz grumbled softly, earning a sharp glare from Jemma in return. Skye elbowed him, giving him a disapproving look as he pouted softly.

He ended up whining later in her dorm room to her about it.

"I don't get why you don't like her so much."

"She's pretentious." Fitz wrinkled his brows.

"You are too." she rose her brows, watching him give her an offended look. "Give her a chance. she seemed really nice and she's the only person our age other than us at the academy.

Besides I saw the ranking for her major, she's at the top and it's by a landslide. I've never seen someone get so much extra credit." she muttered the last part softly, working on their half of the project as Fitz flopped onto her bed.

"Fine." he grumbled into the mattress, giving in grumpily. He pushed himself up, peering at her work before butting in to offer his own input. They tweaked the design a bit together.

Skye predicted it but she was still thrilled when their hangout sessions when from two to three within the week. 'For the project' Fitz would claim when she bugged him a bit about why he was suddenly so cool with her being around.

She suspected he might have a crush on her but didn't press an answer out of him on it. He was after all just starting to act civil and admit she was very smart in her major and quite helpful to them considering they weren't as good with chemistry.

"He seems to dislike me a lot less now." Simmons propped her chin up on her palm, laying across Skye's bed on her stomach as Skye read over the class textbook. (Fitz had pouted about it when the R.A. kicked him out and not Jemma. only same gender students could sleep over in each other's rooms.)

"Neither of us have ever really had friends. it's a weird experience." she flipped the page.

"I haven't either but I'm not mean about it." she huffed a little "Neither are you." Skye shrugged a little.

"I've never seen him so snappy with someone." Skye chuckled a little, "But you two are getting along a lot better now, you're finally working together." Jemma scrunched up her nose a bit.

"I'm amazed you have the time for any nonsense with us given how packed your schedule is." Skye blinked

"Where'd you learn about that?" Skye paused, glancing up from the textbook.

"You're the only dual enrolled student in the academy's entire history. Operations hates having a Tech student on campus and science and tech hates having an operations student on campus. Everyone talks about you. You didn't know?" Skye shrugged a little, returning to her studying.

"I figured but I didn't think they would care quite that much. It's just senseless drama." she huffed a little.

"Are you doing well in operations? I imagine juggling both is quite difficult."

"I've got it down to a science by now. All my free periods here I spend there and I get done by eight to nine normally. I do split my time there with studying here with Fitz, and you now." Jemma smiled a little,

"Do you visit family on breaks or do you have to stay and study?"

"I fly out to my family in New York every break. I do often get school work done there as well but I don't really need to. Every now and then Fitz flies out with me to see them. It's a lot of fun. " Jemma giggled softly

"I bet, I wish I could fly out home so often. I've been stuck at campus for ages since I started last year." she huffed a little " I can't wait for summer break." she admitted

"Home sick?" Jemma nodded softly "Yeah, me too. Fitz wont admit it too much but he misses home a lot too. "

"Who do you miss?" Skye glanced at Jemma "I really miss my parents. "

"My brother. he's the best." she admitted, smiling back at her as Jemma grinned.

"You're much more open minded than Fitz." Jemma huffed a little as Skye let out a short laugh.

"Yeah well, he'll come around. I mean he hasn't complained about how much time we've been spending together on the project." Jemma shifted a bit, biting her lip nervously.

"Is it....alright if I still hang around after it's done?" Skye lowered her book, smiling directly at her.

"Of course. We're friends, I wouldn't try to ditch you after the project is over." Jemma's shoulders dropped a bit in relief, smiling widely at Skye. 

Chapter Text

They ended up working together a lot on projects, Hall deciding they made an excellent team and pairing the three of them together every time there was any sort of project. The years passed too quickly and before she knew it she was joining up on her first mission, still hiding her powers from shield.

"Who is your S.O. for this? are you going with a team?" Fitz wondered, sitting on her bred criss cross beside Jemma in a way she'd seen countless times over the last four years (What was with them and repetition and routine?)

"My S.O. is going to be Melinda May. She's one of the best so it's going to be just me joining her." Skye elaborated.

"Does Tony know about this?" Jemma pried (she had yet to get used to her best friend's brother being Tony freaking Stark but she had settled down in the idea a bit just like Fitz had. It took only a couple visits for her to settle in the situation.)

"Can you keep your powers under control in such a dangerous situation?" Tony had yelled at her for it a bit but she considered telling Fitz and Jemma about her hidden powers only natural after two years of friendship. They were rather relaxed about it, if a little trigger happy to study her blood in secret in the shared labs.

"High stress isn't a problem. I'll be fine guys. I'll see you when I get back." Jemma wanted to ask where she was going but decided against it. It'd be a waste of breath anyways since Skye would keep quiet about the details.

"Come back safe, we'll be waiting for you to get back." Jemma said instead, smiling nervously as Fitz nodded quickly.

"I'll text you two as soon as we're done." she nodded softly, smiling at her as Skye picked up her bag, pocketing her room key (Fitz and Jemma had spares of course.)

"Just use my room as a hangout while I'm gone. I'll see you guys later." she gave them both a quick hug before she left to the operations campus and got geared up, Joining May on the quinjet. She was spared an assessing glance as May slid into the pilots seat and Skye dropped her bag in a seat and slid in beside her. She did a little research to know May didn't really have anything good to say about pleasantries.

"Do you have the mission details?"

"Yes Ma'am. I've gone over everything." she nodded quickly.

"Good. We're going to be dropping to the south at a parking garage and staking out the operation slowly. You understand if you blow this you wash out don't you?" May gave her a skeptical look.

"I understand this is my formal assessment." Skye nodded in understanding, she hadn't been able to be formally assessed yet even though she'd been at the academy four years because of her age and the overall consensus that she would need to wait until she was eighteen to participate in any real combat outside the academy. Not that Tony would have given permission for it before then anyways. "I'm prepared to follow any orders you give me." May nodded shortly, smiling a little.

"You're top of your class, I'm expecting good things." Skye nodded.

"I'm also enrolled in Science and Technology so I can help with any related areas." May paused, glancing to her.

"You're dual enrolled? How do you have the time?" she looked baffled at the information. Skye laughed a little, smiling a bit.

"I have zero free time and gave up my weekends for training. It's been very rewarding though." she shrugged a little. May rose her brows, impressed.

"Are you qualified to fly?"

"Just recently but it's not been processed yet." Skye answered clearly. "I brought a copy of my signed clearance since it's not accessible in my file yet. It's in my bag." May nodded.

"I'll look over it when we arrive at the safe house. Another agent will be taking the quinjet after we land for extraction so don't get your hopes up on any quick escapes." "Got it." she nodded, accepting the situation easily.

Landing and getting to the safehouse was the simplest part of the mission and thankfully went off fine. They ditched the quinjet for the next team to grab and settled in the safehouse. May glanced over the information on her laptop.

"This is more than we were given." she turned a sharp eye to Skye.

"The mission was a one day notice deal so I had time to do some research on the target operation. They do some of their communications online on chat servers so finding a more precise location was easier." Skye pulled on the light jacket, hiding the thin bullet proof fest hidden beneath her clothes.

Their targets were going around clubs and selling an unknown substance dubbed 'X' by the dealers. It was causing madness, hysteria, and death. Worse yet anyone who used it could infect others. Being infected by the user caused violent sickness but was far less deadly. It was supposed to give a high and hallucinogenic effect but for the most part it was just causing psychotic breaks.

May read over her gathered information, going over and confirming the intel for herself.

"What you've gathered is solid. Rest and get some sleep before we head out at night. We'll take shifts sleeping for now to make sure there's no incidents." Skye nodded, taking the bed as May browsed through the information on the shield laptop, searching through shield files for anything else that could give them a leg up.

When she woke up, May was getting ready, Skye slipping into the outfit she'd brought to survey through the club, stashing a knife in her boot.

"No gun?" she couldn't exactly say she had something better for an emergency so she just shrugged.

"A knife is easier to sneak into a confrontation and we'll be checked at the door of the club. It's better than nothing." May nodded in acknowledgement of the fact.

"I'll be headed up to the VIP lounge when we get there. You'll mingle with the younger groups and try to gather some intel about their operations. Any intel on dealers will help but the more you can gather the better." Skye nodded quickly, "Remember, we probably won't move on them tonight but the possibility is always open."

"Got it, I'll be vigilant and blend in." May nodded.

"Keep coms off unless necessary. We shouldn't distract each other from listening in." Skye nodded again, fastening her belt as may smoothed out her dress. "And from now on it's Maria, no Ma'am."

"Rodger that." Skye took the fake ID from her,

"Let me be clear as well, if you drink with this ID after this mission I will personally handle the repercussions. This comes back to my hand right after we are done. If you drink you take a couple sips and move on, dispose of it without being noticed." Skye nodded very quickly.

"I would never misuse shield assets." May nodded firmly.

"Let's move then. I'll follow behind. I'll lose sight of you after we split up to the different entrances so be on high alert." Skye left the hotel first, May following farther behind. Skye slipped into line with the other normal entrees while May walked past her without so much as a glance her way, speaking confidently with one of the bouncers who's eyes widened and nodded after she spoke, leading her through a side entrance with a heavy politeness.

She slipped inside after around seven minutes, getting her ID checked and paying the entry fee, flirting a bit with the bouncer who let slip that they had something 'extra special' going around tonight.

She chatted at the bar after ordering a drink, moving away from the counter, giving the drink only a few sips, placing it aside as her eyes caught onto a more well dressed gentleman as he approached her.

"You're far too elegant for a place like this." He offered out his hand, smiling charmingly as she extended her hand out, laughing with a flirty smile as he placed a kiss on the back of her hand.

"My name is Daniel." he introduced himself.

"Alex, it's nice to meet such a handsome guy but you're a bit overdressed aren't you?" she teased playfully, Daniel chuckling softly.

"I'm just here on business." she pretended to look confused for a moment "I run part of the club." he clarified. She widened her eyes a bit.

"That sounds interesting? What do you do for the club?" she smiled, feigning interest in him. She watched him freeze for a moment as if he wasn't prepared for the question before recovering smoothly.

"I handle managing the staff, we needed a few replacements so I've been visiting more often these days." She almost snorted 'No shit they're dying off' but she just smiled wider "More importantly I'd like to see you again if you don't mind." she smiled widely, grinning a little at him as he continued to flirt.

"If you give me your number I'm sure we can figure something out." she flirted softly, leaning a bit into his space. He was quick to comply, checking his watch quickly.

"I know it's terribly rude but I've got some business to attend to. I hope I'll hear from you later?"

"Of course. I can't let a catch like you go so easily." he chuckled softly, parting ways with another kiss to her hand. She huffed a little after he left, glancing at the new contact with his full name and phone number.

"Look for a man named Daniel Jones. He's a key player in this." May's voice spoke in her ear softly. She sat in a corner, pressing her phone gently to her ear.

"I just got his phone number."

"Good, continue to try and find what you can, we'll reconnect at the hotel at four am." she didn't acknowledge the order, pocketing her phone and rejoining the main floor. She ended up with quite a few useless sleezebags making a pass and some harassment but not much else good intel besides a clearly underage teenager sneaking around in the back that admitted to having a meeting set with a dealer later the next day.

She was sure to scare the kid off a bit before returning to her main objective. the kid was a few years younger than her and positively way in over her head trying to get these drugs. When she got back to the hotel she was more emotionally beat than any kind of tired.

"How'd you get his contact?" May was looking over her phone, copying over the details he'd input.

"Flirted with him a bit and asked for his number." she shrugged a little. "I'll take first watch and see what I can find on him. In the morning I could set a date if we want to catch him." May frowned a little, looking at her with more than a little hesitance.

"We'll see our options and pick whatever works best but keep the door open for now." she nodded. May let out a soft sigh, laying down on the bed as Skye quietly got to work on her laptop, browsing through databases and combing the internet for his name. After they were done with their sleep rotation they regrouped on what they had gathered.

"Daniel Jones is the ring leader of the drug dealers but he's not the boss, he just manages the underlings. Getting to him is a short stop to the issue. If we can use him to get to the higher ups in the operation that would be best. What did you find last night?"

"I have all his official records and some frequented locations at other clubs based on social media posts I found his face in and mentions of him. He frequents three clubs in the area, presumably where we will find our dealers." May nodded

"Anything else?"

"He's married," May rose her brows a bit at the news but shrugged it off " Otherwise he has no online presence. He has a minor possession charge from three years ago but nothing violent and no other prior offenses. He went to prison for a short while for the possession and celled with a guy that I looked up as well, who seems to also frequent the same clubs. His name is Robert Denis."

"Good work. I want you to connect with Daniel today, give him a call and set up a meeting. Last minute I'll deal with one of his dealers quietly. When he gets the news you'll have to tail him back to wherever he needs to make his reports to or trace the call." Skye nodded easily. " I'll follow Robert for my half of the work, just keep vigilant and bail out if you're heading into a trap."

"Got it, I'll be careful." May really didn't want to leave her alone with the man but to get him to trace back to the others they needed a good tail chasing him that he wouldn't notice. Skye had amazing marks in her espionage classes and training so she would have to prove herself here that she'd learned enough to rely on in the past four years.

Just as planned Daniel called last second as she was gazing at his car in the parking lot, sounding rushed and a bit panicked as he apologized and she reassured him it was alright and to handle the emergency. Like they predicted, he did not head to the club, instead tracing to a shadier part of town and entering the back of a laundromat. She reported his movements live, the dash cam catching everything as May directed her. She sat hidden in her spot on an adjacent roof for a while, staking out the building as people came in and out the front and back, all dressed definitely not to do their laundry. She gazed at them through a camera, snapping photos of anyone who entered or left the building.

May regrouped with her eventually, being very careful to avoid being seen as she made her way to her location on the rooftop. She settled down beside her, looking through binoculars at the building.

"You think this is it?"

"Most definitely, I spotted Robert stop by here as well and some others. They're all leaving with duffel bags. Transport seems to at least be on a small scale if they're only carrying what they sell out but lethal doses could simply be that small." May glanced over the building.

"I've called for raids on the clubs and backup for this location but nothing will be here for some time. We'll have to wait to go inside." Skye nodded slightly in understanding. They'd covered the recon for a week, that was the main task of their mission.

Both of them stilled as a van pulled up to the alley, door faced inside. Two men pulled a woman from the van, thrashing and letting out muffled screams as she struggled.

"Shut the fuck up! Boss'll kill you soon anyways, just quiet down." May and Skye shared a glance but didn't move. A third man exited the van, holding a struggling child.

"Play nice, if you're good enough for the boss we might let your kid live." His grin was sadistic as the woman froze up, allowing herself to be carried more easily as the child cried and thrashed.

"May..." May gritted her teeth sharply.

"What guns do we have?" 

"A couple of handguns and two automatics, they're in the car." May pursed her lips.

"How far out is backup?" May asked dispatch

"An hour out. We're getting ready to raid the clubs and mobilize forces. Has the situation worsened?" dispatch called back, May closing her eyes for a moment, hands clenching tightly as the child's wails were cut off with the slam of a door.

"We're going in now." the person on the other line spluttered

"Agent May you and your trainee are here for intel gathering not for a base takedown! You are not permitted to make this call-" May clicked off her com, pushing out a hand to Skye who discarded hers in her hand as well. Apparently her first mission was going to be a lesson on going rogue now.

They made their way back to the car, Skye grabbing one of the automatics and a handgun, pulling on her tactical vest with reloads.

"You need to fall back to safety-"

"No way. You're my S.O. I'm not going to just run off while you run into a base outnumbered. Two is better than one." May smirked lightly, pulling two handguns from the car.

"Let's move then, we don't have much time. Try to steel yourself. This is going to be your first kill and it's going to be a lot in rapid succession. Regardless of how bad of people these are you need to be honest on how this impacts you when we make it back." Skye nodded

"We'll go over it later." May nodded, sneaking down the alley, Skye following after, holding the automatic tightly, finger hovering over the trigger as she followed a step behind. May stopped in front of the door, nodding to Skye slightly. Skye moved to right beside the door, gun raised and at the ready as May kicked through it, the door swinging open and she entered first, pulling the trigger in rapid succession at the table of men playing a card game, others rushing for their guns as she precisely aimed and shot any fleeing members, May covering her back and shooting down any stray men that tried to shoot at her as she led the way deeper into the base.

She ended up in hand to hand combat when one jumped out and slammed the muzzle of the gun to the side. May was bolting to her rescue as soon as it happened, too slow to reach her before she was sweeping his legs out from under him and bashing his head into the concrete. His head caving in beneath her hand, blood stickily clinging to her palms as she righted her gun without a moment of delay.

She walked carefully through the chaotic base, reloading her gun as they came to a moment of silence, clearing rooms as they went.

"One more step and I'll blow your head off you fucking bastards!" Daniel's voice rang down the hall, May's gaze snapping to the direction as bullets fired down the hall at them. They quickly took cover in one of the rooms, May sticking close to the entrance as she waited, shooting out from the cover and firing at his hand. Daniel cried out, Skye darting out after may as they pressed into the room, May downing several guards first as Skye gave a polite smile to Daniel as his eyes widened in shock.

"Nice meeting you." She pulled the trigger, moving on quickly to the woman and her son tied to chairs in the corner of the room as May smashed her heel into the boss's groin with a string of hateful Chinese curses.

"Shhh, We're here to help. We're with the FBI." she assured the woman softly as she cut her bindings with the knife from her boot, freeing the child second. The woman hugged her child tightly, breathing heavily as she covered her son's eyes quickly, May taking the opportunity to shoot the man square in the temple.

"We need to move quickly. These are far from the only members of this group and someone probably got away and called for reinforcements." Skye ushered the mother quickly to follow her, moving smoothly back out the way they came.

"We never found where they were cooking." Skye pointed out.

"We'll figure it out later. Top priority is these two." May replied, shooting the man that rushed through the door with a rifle in the temple. The woman shook slightly but didn't argue with their methods, too terrified of the situation to truly allow herself to take in being saved even if it was entirely brutal.

They got into a gunfight on the street, Skye standing firmly in front of the two as she pushed them back into cover, too little too late to avoid a bullet hitting her in the side and knocking the wind out of her.

The woman gasped, now fully scrambling back behind the cover to give Skye the space to fully move behind it as well.

"I-I'm so-"

"Don't sweat it. We've got bulletproof vests for a reason." The woman gave her a relieved look as May sent her a concerned one from across the street where she had taken cover. Skye lifted from her cover, spraying their side with bullets long enough for May to advance rapidly, taking down two guys at once as she jumped over their cover and shot them both in the chest. Skye moved forward quickly after reloading, getting the two into their car before May slid in beside her and they drove away.

"Agent May- Agent May respond you cannot go against orders and drag your trainee with you!" As soon as May turned her com back on the shout was so loud the woman's eyes widened, glancing between them as Skye smiled sheepishly. 

"We just finished with the base and rescued the two prisoners. The stragglers are all yours." May fastened the com to her ear as she responded. 

"You'll be reprimanded heavily for this agent." May rolled her eyes

"I'll look forward to it." she replied sarcastically as they pulled up to a group of agents.

"We're going to leave you two with them, they're agents as well." Skye smiled reassuringly at the two.

"You went against orders for us." the mother muttered softly, clutching her child tightly as tears streamed down her cheeks, her hands shaking lightly around him. "Thank you, and I'm so sorry-"

"No apologies are needed, this is what we should have done. These agents will escort you to the hospital to be examined before assessing if you need witness protection." May returned with two other agents, the woman smiling gently at the child as she greeted them both and guided them away. After a moment the two of them were alone, glancing at their bullet-riddled car.

"We are in so much shit aren't we." Skye deadpanned

"So much." May agreed "But I'll take the hit for it. It was my call."

"You told me to fall back and I didn't. Technically I have failed my assessment too." May rolled her eyes lightly as Skye smiled a little.

"You passed with flying colors. It takes a good agent to know when to ignore their S.O.'s request to die trying." Skye laughed softly as May flashed her a small smile. "Now let's go back to the hotel so we can wash up before we get slapped with our citations. I need to pass you before they take disciplinary action. It's a lot less harsh for an active agent than a trainee." Skye's eyes widened slightly, grinning at her as she followed her back to the hotel.

She washed up as May submitted her report and Skye's passing grade, Skye typing up her own report as May took her turn to wash up. It was barely a minute after she got dressed that another shield agent came into the room looking very worried.

"What were you thinking going in like that?! And with a Trainee on an assessment?!" Coulson spluttered, looking at her in disbelief at her recklessness.

"She's not a trainee anymore, she's an agent." May corrected "And she was good backup." Skye gave a lazy thumbs up, Coulson looking from her back to May with a defeated look.

"There was a kid and mother being dragged inside for far worse than death, there was no scenario where either of us left it alone for an hour till backup arrived." Skye stated firmly, Coulson looking to her, sighing heavily.

"So that's what happened." he frowned a little, folding his arms. "You're both idiots." May gave a thumbs up as Skye smiled in response, Coulson looking very unhappy at the nonchalant responses. Both of them left for the Hub shortly after on Commander Hand's orders.

They ended up getting yelled at together for insubordination. "The order to go in was mine alone." May spoke evenly, Hand glaring heatedly at her.

"So you dragged a trainee in there with you? That was her assessment, not a time to go in guns blazing."

"Agent May ordered me to fall back and I refused. The fault is also with me." Hand's gaze snapped to Skye, scowling as she looked between the two.

"Give me a rundown."

"We witnessed a mother and her child being dragged inside and had no time to waste in getting to them." May spoke up.

"You should have waited for backup." Skye clenched her hands tightly behind her back, meeting Hand's gaze dead on.

"There is no version of this where I stand by and let a mother be raped in front of her child before he's executed. I would do it again." May internally winced at Skye's strong tone. Hand stared down at her with a hard gaze before tearing it away to look at May who met her gaze just as dead on. She sighed heavily.

"You're lucky your S.O. had the forethought to graduate you to agent status before this. A catastrophe like this should have gotten you washed out immediately." She pinched the bridge of her nose as she sat back down at her desk, lifting her gaze back up to the two after a moment.

"May, you'll be training at the academy for a time as punishment. Skye you will be withdrawn from any missions except auxiliary until you can be re-assessed and pass with flying colors. I understand why both of you did it but the risk was too great. Minus one bulletproof vest May and your trainee would be dead right now. Both of you were irresponsible but..." she sighed heavily "This will not reflect on your records. you're dismissed."

They both excused themselves quickly, Skye's heart pounding loudly in her chest as she let out a soft relieved breath. "Is teaching that much of a punishment for you?" she paused a bit, May visibly wincing.

"I hate it." she sighed heavily "But we both got off very lightly all things considered." Skye nodded. She'd rapidly read up on all the punishments for insubordination and this seemed to be the lightest possible option for them both.

"How's your friend Tony? You were texting him a lot while we were in the hotel." Skye smiled a little.

"He's good. I haven't told him I went on a mission so the freak out will have to wait till I spill on that. He's my brother" she laughed a little sheepishly as she told her.

"Overprotective?" Skye nodded a bit as May smiled lightly.

"Very. It's just us so we're really close." she smiled slightly, "He really didn't like the whole shield idea so telling him I was going on a mission was a big no."

"I can imagine, Shield isn't really the ideal job for loved ones you want safe." Skye nodded, stretching a bit as she sat in the cockpit beside May. She winced a bit, readjusting to not stretch the heavy bruise on her ribs now.

"It's what I want to do though so he'll have to deal with it." May glanced to her.

"Why dual enroll?"

"Field engineers are rare, they're very valuable for in the field emergencies involving systems and bombs." May nodded

"We barely have any. Most of the time we have to send untrained engineers in flailing like fish out of water and an agent to protect them." Skye laughed a bit, nodding.

"I can be both. I also just generally see a lot of benefit in being able to have that kind of skill alongside my engineering degrees." May paused.

"Degrees as in plural?" Skye grinned as May's gaze snapped to her.

"I'm the youngest ever admission to the academy of science and Technology. I only have three PhDs so far though. I'm aiming for my fourth by the end of the year." May's brows shot up, shaking her head lightly.

"You're a genius then?" Skye nodded, leaning back in her chair as May flew.

"Essentially." May's mind was racing a bit. She had looked into all Skye's files in operations but never even thought to check for science and technology until she mentioned it on the way there. She'd easily assumed operations was where she was thriving and she was just taking some side classes in tech at the other academy.

She blankly realized she almost got the science and technology's youngest star killed chasing a criminal organization but brushed it aside for a crisis for later.

"I'm blanking out your operations training for the week after break. Take the time to relax and evaluate. You did just kill two dozen people."

"I don't really feel too guilty," Skye replied calmly.

"Good, but taking a life is still hard no matter who you've killed." Skye nodded a little in acceptance of the advice.

"Personally I'm just gonna go bother my friends and pass out. I'm exhausted." she sighed softly, closing her eyes lightly, time passing by quickly in the silence and before she knew it they were landing back on the grounds of the Academy. May looked pretty disgruntled but when they got off the jet the head of operations looked entirely thrilled despite her clear grumpiness at the situation.

Skye left them to it, jogging a bit to get back to her dorm room. She opened the door, Jemma and Fitz's heads snapping up as she collapsed on the bed across their laps. Fitz grinned widely as Jemma yelped a bit before giggling softly.

"I'm guessing it went well?"

"I am banned form missions and being re-evaluated!" she replied cheerfully, the both of them blinking wide eyed at her. "Me and my S.O. are being reprimanded for insubordination right now." she elaborated shortly as Jemma combed her fingers lightly through her hair.

"You're literally insane. What the hell Skye." Skye laughed softly as Fitz's incredulous response.

"I'm.....sure there was a reason. Right Skye?" Jemma pleaded a bit.

"It was a really good reason but it's level six classified right now." she replied easily, Jemma smiling a bit easier at the reassurance. "In other news I got shot in my bullet proof vest and the bruising is way worse than I thought it would be."

"WHAT?!" Fitz squawked loudly, Skye grinning as she rolled off their laps onto the floor, shooting up to stand as he looked at her worriedly.

"And I'd do it again too." she stuck her tongue out at him

"Never mind you're right she is insane." Jemma deadpanned flatly, shaking her head lightly at her antics.

"I'm going to tell on you to Tony if you keep being reckless." Skye gasped at the threat, giving Fitz a betrayed look.

"I didn't get hurt on purpose! I was doing a good thing!" she argued.

"Doesn't matter, you got hurt and you were reckless." Skye pouted softly

"Fine, fine, I'll be way more careful from now on I swear," she grumbled softly, scowling a bit. "But you better not tell him. We fly out tomorrow and he'll just majorly freak out." she huffed a little

 ----------

"YOU WENT ON A MISSION AND GOT SHOT?!" right. She forgot Tony hacked shield like it was a game and very clearly would snoop on any potential mission files for her.

"It was in my bullet proof vest!" she defended

"You mowed down thirty people! you need therapy after that! And for your first mission too!" she winced a little as Fitz and Simmons blinked wide eyed at the information.

"Well you already read the report, you know why I did it." she huffed a little, Tony faltering, frowning deeply at her. "And don't worry Commander Hand is already punishing me. No missions and I have to be re-evaluated." Tony frowned.

"That wasn't on the file."

"It was off record." Skye nodded "My S.O. is being punished by having to teach for a few months. She's hating it already." she snickered a little as Tony's frown lightened. "But you know I could handle it. I did this without using my backup plan so we're good. "

"We are nowhere near good Skye." he grumbled unhappily, a little appeased by shield's punishment for her.

"I have to take an insubordination class now too." she groaned softly. "My S.O. is having to sit in on it with me it's going to be terrible when I get back." Tony smirked slightly.

"Serves you right for being so reckless. I mean if you're going to do that at least cut off their communications first." Skye's look turned blank.

"I'm a fucking idiot. We had an emp right in the damn car." she groaned, flopping onto the couch next to Rhodey.

"Tough luck kid. At least you'll know to be better next time." Skye nodded slightly with a heavy sigh.

"Alright, let's try not to dwell on it for now, but Skye go check in at the medical wing just in case. We'll get pizza ordered while you do that." Skye stifled her whining, giving a reluctant nod.

"Fine, but I already got checked out at the Hub."

"The hub doesn't realize your body works differently, now go." Tony shooed her into the elevator.

"Jarvis don't let her go anywhere but medical."

"Copy that sir." Skye groaned as she was forced straight to medical where her doctor checked out the bruising and cleared her.

"I am good to go, like I said I was." She stuck her tongue out at Tony who rolled his eyes, flopping onto the couch between Tony and Fitz, sitting crisscrossed as Rhodey set a couple pizza boxes on the coffee table and put on the movie of the night. Tony insisted they watch the first couple Godzilla movies before watching the newest release so their movie night had turned into more of a movie marathon.

Fitz and Jemma had gotten rather comfortable visiting the tower by now, their days of choking up shyly whenever Tony or any of the other three talked to them a couple years over by now.

It was nice getting back to this. She had to admit she was tense and a bit reserved after having killed two dozen- no thirty people. Regardless of the good thing she and May did, May was right, it felt weird and she felt a certain level of guilt at how effortlessly she'd mowed them down without a thought. It was reassuring to be home again and so effortlessly relaxed.

Tony wrapped an arm around her shoulder lightly, pulling her to lean against him, giving her a worried glance. She lightly squeezed his hand, smiling a little in return.

Unfortunately the weekend was very short and the next day they had to leave after having breakfast all together but in her eyes it was entirely worth it. It was only a two hour trip and the time together was priceless.

"It's too bad we couldn't stay for long but it was really fun!" Fitz smiled, Skye nodding in agreement.

"I wish we got more breaks. A couple weeks and part of the summer isn't enough." she huffed a little as Jemma smiled lightly at her.

"I sometimes wish we get longer breaks too. I really miss my mum and dad." she admitted with a soft grin "I get to see them soon though! Summer is coming up and we have a few weeks off!" Skye nodded, grinning a bit at her excitement.

She would have to visit home again for break, being banned from missions had at least a few perks considering she would definitely have the time off.

Chapter Text

Gordon had contacted her out of the blue after a few weeks of no communication. The general idea was that he would call her only if there were issues with what was left of Afterlife. She'd solved various smaller issues before, Afterlife was beginning to flourish again and Gordon was for some reason coming to her frequently for advice for a while, but for a time he went silent. When she picked up his call he was frantic.

"Eva stole crystals for Katya." she cursed softly. Gordon had come to her for advice about the girl. Eva was desperate to have Katya go through the mist but after an assessment the elders thought better of it. When Skye herself came to assess her she could see exactly why.

Katya was a psychopath in behavior and reactions and was already showing signs of schizophrenia. This wasn't in any way an exaggeration or vilifying the girl but she simply held no attachments. Not to her mother or anything else. Her empathy for life was nonexistent and she'd been reprimanded a few times for killing birds and other animals at Afterlife before.

Eva was devastated when Skye shared the same opinion as the elders.

No one expected her to steal a crystal. They were barely guarded in a locked room but no one in Afterlife had ever stolen them before.

She should have expected it considering Eva's reaction to the denial though. She pleaded and begged and yelled it was her daughter's right to pass through the mist. They should have been more weary of her desperation.

"Gear up. We're tracking down a powered person making her way to the capital of Bahrain. You'll be joining me and Coulson and another Shield team on the case." She was already getting dressed as May spoke.

"Welcome wagon huh? Who's the powered person?"

"Her name is Eva Belyakov." Skye stilled, her hands freezing over her jacket.

"Are you coming to get me or do I come out to you?"

"There's no time to stop by, fly directly and meet up with us there." she grabbed her go back quickly, hanging up as she sprinted out of her dorm.

"Hey Skye- bah, another mission." Fitz stopped halfway through trying to get her mission, Skye waved quickly as she ran down the halls, getting to the quinjet bay pretty quickly with her access key and flying off. She was on her laptop after setting the course, quickly scanning through the limited information Shield had on her.

They were looking for Eva as the powered person, not Katya who was most likely the only awakened Inhuman among the two. Eva never cared for giving herself powers, she only cared that Katya had the chance to attain her birthright and go through the mist.

She glanced at her phone as it rang, Gordon's name flashing on the screen.

"Eva is in Bahrain, I was called in on a Shield mission to see if she's stable. They don't know it's Katya yet." Gordon frowned heavily.

"Shield? We should be the ones handling this. Tell them to-"

"I'll make sure to be there and steer the situation. I'll take responsibility for it Gordon." he went silent for a moment.

"I'll follow them as well, hover in the shadows. Call me if you need me to interfere."

"I will, lay low for now. Afterlife should be kept secret above all else even if we can't save either of them." the implications were already there. Whatever powers Katya had developed were out of control now. She wasn't adapting and she was causing havoc.

What needed to be done was clear, but she didn't want to say it fully 'in case we have to kill her' wasn't something she wanted to utter right now. It was too hard to imagine unless it was the only option.

"I got it. Stay safe Skye." The line went dead and she went back to her research on Eva's movements, keeping in mind that she had Katya with her who most likely had the powers that were being used and caught Shield's attention in the first place. It most definitely was not Eva's enhanced strength that was causing people to suddenly act oddly around her.

She was keeping a cool head as they investigated, the Shield team going in first with strict instructions. She should have known it would go to shit.

The negotiation with Eva through Coulson failed miserably, ending in a mercenary group taking the Shield team and Katya hostage as Eva fled with them. They were holed up in a building nearby barking out demands to the local police.

Katya was playing at something.

"I'll go in-"

"Leave this to me." May and Coulson's gazes snapped to her at the firm request.

"No way in hell." they both replied in sync.

"This is my responsibility. It's my fault it got to this point. Let me talk to her. I'll explain everything later but it needs to be me if we have any shot at a peaceful resolution." Eva might calm down if all went well and Katya despite her nature always listened well to her mother.

May tightly clenched her hands into fists, Coulson already uttering her denials.

"Ten minutes and I run in after you. Understand?" Skye nodded, Coulson looking at her with wide disbelieving eyes as Skye moved quickly, unholstering her gun and advancing into the building. She moved smoothly, taking out mercenary members as she carved further into the building.

When she entered the main part of the building Eva faced her with a metal pole, smashing it into her side with a heavy strength unmatched by any normal human. She was sent flying into the wall, cursing softly as she forced herself back up, grabbing the knife from her boot as she spied the gun clattered to the ground.

"Eva, let's talk about this! You know Katya is suffering! We can help her if you let us. It doesn't have to be like this." she coughed roughly, wheezing a bit as Eva charged her, other mercenaries filing into the room. All in a heavy daze now as Skye glanced over their blank expressions.

Skye gripped her knife tightly.

"You called her crazy when I asked you to give her her birthright. You told me it was impossible to trust her with it." Skye coughed, blood dripping from the corner of her mouth as the taste of copper plagued her tongue. She swallowed the blood down thickly, gritting her teeth.

"Look at what has happened Eva! She's unstable! We warned you this would happen and it did, fuck!" Skye cursed as Eva rushed at her. She moved quickly, ducking her blows and having to brave others before she got a clean stab in her chest.

Eva stumbled, eyes wide as she looked up at Skye.

"I'm coming in." she rushed herself as May's voice rang in her ears, taking down most of the mercenaries as May was met at the entrance with more mercenaries. Eva rushed to confront her at the door as May entered, easily flung by the woman as she shouted obscenities.

"I was right! She wasn't fit to go through the mist!" The distraction cost her a shot through her leg while she turned away from the remaining mercenaries but Eva turned her sights completely back to her, gaze furious and blood pouring from her chest but still moving as May recovered.

"Skye what are you doing?!" Skye panted, forcing herself to keep standing as she stole a gun from her attacker, shooting down the other mercenaries before Eva bashed into her side, slamming her head into the wall. Skye lifted her hand, sending her flying across the room and against the wall.

Skye collapsed to the ground, dragging herself forward as she looked up at Eva

her breath hitched as Eva stuttered, blood pouring from her mouth as she touched her chest, the leg of a chair barricaded against the door she'd slammed into skewering her completely. Her eyes rolled back as Skye's heartbeat raced.

"Is it...over?" Skye shifted herself forward on the ground

"Katya.... Katya you need to calm down." Her breaths were soft as the girl peeked out from behind the door. May moved to walk forward before Skye held her arm out. "You don't have to hurt these people Katya." Katya frowned, more mercenaries entering the room as she moved forward.

"I like their pain." she spoke softly. She lifted her hand to the dazed men, watching them fall limply to the ground. May turned quickly to the staircase, watching with wide eyes as she saw the familiar faces of her fellow agents coming.

"Barricade the door. Don't let them in." May bashed her body against the door, holding the handle as someone tried to kick the door open. "Katya, their pain won't help you. You need to calm down now, try to control your urges." It wouldn't work, she knew it wouldn't work but her heart still sank when Katya smiled at her happily.

"I like their pain. I like yours too. Take my hand, I want a new mother. You have to do it since you took her away from me. You have to replace her now." Katya insisted, holding out her hand, May looking back with wide terrified eyes as Katya drew near.

Skye dragged herself back as May quickly deliberated between taking the agents and diving between the two, both their guns clattered to the floor haphazardly. She watched as Skye dragged herself back, hand hitting against one of the fallen guns.

"Skye!" she shouted out, worriedly looking at her as she held the door as strongly as she could.

"It'll be okay Katya. It'll be okay." she grasped the gun tightly, her heart racing as she raised it. Shooting her in the chest. Katya fell in an instant, falling forward into her, eyes widened with shock. She felt the shocks of her power coursing through her body weakly, sharing in her emotions. Skye wrapped her arms around her, holding the back of her head gently.

"I'm scared." Katya muttered softly. "Your emotions are scary. They're nice and they're scared and-" her breaths stuttered into hiccups as Skye held onto her, feeling her energy draining rapidly as Katya clung weakly to her, slowly going limp in her arms.

"It's okay Katya. You'll be okay." she uttered softly, "You're okay." Katya choked on a cough,

"I'm so scared. I want my mommy. I'm scared I don't want to die." Skye knew it was her emotions leaking into her, the fear and the guilt. She couldn't help but cradle her softly, breathing out soft stuttered breaths. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt them." tears wet her shirt as Katya slumped into her hold.

May shouted for her, the door finally giving way as Skye held her body delicately. She hunched over the girl, pressing her face lightly into her head as her blood dripped onto her, May rushing over quickly as the other Shield agents fell lightly, her powers abandoning them as her life left her.

"Skye?" Skye closed her eyes tightly.

"I need to take them home." May nodded lightly as May glanced back to the stairwell where agents were starting to wake. Her heart clenched tightly, sitting on the floor next to her even as more agents rose and watched them.

"You had no choice." May uttered softly.

"I know." Skye uttered, her voice soft and hollow. Gordon wasn't even an option here. Getting close enough to grab them and bring them to Afterlife would have put him at too much risk.

"You didn't do anything wrong." The tears kept falling as she nodded stiffly, her arms trembling around the girl's body. After that everything blurred together. She ended up limping out of there, May equally injured but still holding her up. She could hear the amazed mutters of their backup agents gazing at them as they dragged themselves out of the building.

"Skye?" Coulson uttered softly. Skye stumbled into him, May leaning against the car as Coulson gently wrapped his arms around her, hugging her gently. He didn't mind the blood that smeared on his suit, worried for the way she stared blankly at his chest, not even really looking anywhere.

"I'm gonna go on leave for a little bit." she muttered softly "Visit home." she murmured, leaning into the hug before paramedics rushed to them, quickly getting to work removing the bullet from her leg and patching her injuries. May helped her hobble to the quinjet, grabbing both their go bags from the car and following with her.

May flew them back to Campus after they visited the hospital and she got crutches to more easily move around. When they landed Skye just stared for a bit.

"I promised an explanation-"

"Later. When you're ready." May shook her head, denying firmly. "Pack up some things. I'll get you home." Usually she would be worried about May finding out about Tony, or that she was a Stark but she couldn't really find it in herself to care.

"I'll just say bye to Fitz and Jemma for now. I have enough at home." May nodded softly, watching her with a worried gaze as Skye used her crutches to move slowly into the campus.

When Fitz and Jemma spotted her they rushed over, Jemma very quickly fretting over her. She smiled softly at them, clearly only a reassurance for them from the angle May gazed at the interaction with.

"I'm just gonna go on medical leave for probably a few weeks. I'll be okay but I needed to tell you both. I'll be doing the classes online and I know the project-"

"Don't worry about it." Jemma shook her head quickly

"She's right. We'll handle it so get some rest." Fitz frowned a little at her. Skye smiled a bit, a lot weaker than the first.

"Then I'll leave it to you guys. May is going to fly me back home." They both paused, looking surprised. "I'm too tired to be worried about that." Skye chuckled a little.

They parted ways shortly after, Skye hobbling back to the quinjet slowly. May lifted the jet into the air, taking the path out of the airspace that they had to use anyways. "Where to? I don't have an address on file for your family." Skye glanced up to her from one of the side seats she had sat in.

"Stark tower. Tony will probably be there given it's the middle of the week." she muttered softly.

May couldn't stop the way her eyes widened, stiffening a bit at Skye's easy admission.

"Tony...your brother." She'd briefly thought of Tony Stark when she saw the name Tony flash on her phone during missions but it'd been a fleeting ridiculous thought so she'd easily shoved it away and filed the curiosity for later.

Skye nodded a little, their voices dying out to silence as Skye stared blankly at the wall.

"It isn't your responsibility to take care of me May. Katya was my mistake." May clenched her hands tightly, setting course and sliding out of her seat into the back of the quinjet.

"I know you think it's your fault but it's not. You did what you thought was best." May was crouching in front of her now, holding her hands gently in her own. Her gaze filled with sorrow and guilt. Skye closed her eyes, leaning her head back.

"Eva begged me to let her child go through the mist to get her powers. The elders had already said no but they wanted me to make the final decision. I told her we could never allow it, that her child wasn't fit. We should have prepared for her to steal to make it happen. But we didn't." May frowned softly.

"You can't always predict what people will do Skye. You won't always be right even if you try to.

You thought she wouldn't and she defied your expectations. None of this means it's your fault." May reassured her softly, her hands trembling lightly as she grasped Skye's hands.

"Katya was schizophrenic and psychopathic. If we introduced her to her powers slowly and surely she could have coped with the new emotions, learned to control and accept them. Instead..." her throat felt tight.

"Her mother made a stupid choice based on desperation Skye. That isn't your fault. All you can do is learn and grow and be more prepared next time." she glanced to the cockpit, reluctantly pulling herself away to slide back into her seat as a soft alarm alerted her they were nearing their landing point. She closed her eyes for a moment, dreading the confrontation she would inevitably have.

She'd sent Tony one text telling him she was on her way home and had promptly ignored his very quickly asked questions about why she was coming home three weeks before summer break. Was she hurt? What had happened? she couldn't bring herself to answer any of it, keeping quiet as she let May drive her home.

Chapter Text

The quinjet opened without much delay and May grabbed her go bag, handing her the crutches she'd been given. Skye sighed softly, taking the crutches and getting up to walk. Every movement hurt. She had a concussion and wasn't allowed to sleep for a couple more hours and she'd had to get stitches for the head wound. Almost all her ribs were broken and every breath hurt. But she used the crutches, May moving with her, keeping her pace slow to match hers.

They were already inside when Tony scrambled into the room, blinking wide eyed at her. May hid her startled feelings easily as Skye smiled a bit sheepishly.

"You said you would be safe!" he scolded, worriedly checking her over, zeroing in on the heavy bandaging showing through her pants on her thigh.

"Kid?" Rhodey ducked into the room, quickly slipping an arm around her waist and helping her hobble more efficiently to the elevator. He glanced back to a very stressed Tony before looking at May. "I'll take her to medical." Tony nodded stiffly, his gaze zeroing in on May as soon as the elevator doors closed.

"How badly is she hurt?"

"All but a few of her ribs are broken, she has a severe concussion and a gash on her head, and she was shot in the leg." May relayed firmly, hesitating for a moment as Tony glared murderously at her.

"How the hell did this happen?" May dipped her head, gazing at the floor.

"There was a hostage situation involving a powered person who could control the actions of other people. Skye wanted to go in alone. I allowed her ten minutes to try and negotiate a peaceful surrender. We went in after her after six when we heard gunfire. It was myself and one other agent left on the case. I was the only one to follow her in." May elaborated.

"You let her go in alone?" He sounded livid, honestly she couldn't blame him.

"Skye told us that she knew the powered person inside and told us she would be the best chance at a peaceful resolution." she uttered softly, almost hollowly.

She'd gotten her prized pupil in a situation that would scar her for life. It should have been her responsibility to handle the girl, but Skye took the lead using her better knowledge of the situation. She made the right calls and she was suffering for it.

Tony frowned.

"Why does she look so broken?" May's hands clenched tightly at the soft question, refusing to meet his gaze.

"Something went wrong. We couldn't..." May pursed her lips tightly, letting out a shaky breath. Tony paused, his anger simmering as May gathered herself to respond properly. His shoulders dropped lightly, the sharp anger draining from his voice.

"She's hurt." May spoke instead, falling short of explaining the situation "And her physical injuries are the least of my concerns for her well being right now." Tony stiffened at her words.

He swallowed thickly. "I have a spare bedroom for you to stay a few days." he muttered softly, May pausing.

"What?" she asked, a little shocked.

"You..." he hesitated, because Skye hadn't really truly confirmed anything. He could tell though. Over the last two years Skye talked about May a lot. They got closer. May scolded her a bit when she was too reckless. They got into trouble together with Coulson trying to reign their antics in but May was generally responsible.

He could tell how much Skye looked up to May so it was easy to tell when that admiration shifted to more. Skye didn't just look up to her, she was like the mother figure she'd never had before. She was filling a mothering role Skye had never experienced.

"It'll be good for her to talk to you." he uttered softly. "You know how much you mean to her." May swallowed thickly, because yes, she knew. Coulson teased her about it often (she teased him equally because it was oh so clear he was reveling in the father daughter relationship developing there).

"Okay." she accepted softly "I'll grab my go bag." Tony nodded, hunching over the counter a bit as his mind raced through what in the hell could have happened. He'd looked for any reports after Skye had texted him that she was coming back but only a few came up detailing disoriented views of the situation that more or less dumbed down to glorifying Skye and May's involvement in the rescue of all the shield agents involved.

She returned after barely a minute, leaving the jet on the landing pad, glancing at Tony still seated at the counter.

"If I've overstepped-" he waved her off lightly.

"I'm happy she has you and Coulson. I'm not her father, I've never acted like one. I'm her brother." May hesitated before nodding softly. He pushed himself up. "If you want to see Skye I'll be forcing her to stay in the med bay, but you have to be aware-"

"Powers, yes." she nodded "Figured that out just today. I won't say anything." Tony nodded lightly in response. "Your room will be on the floor below this one. We have a spare you can use." she nodded lightly.

"I'll see how Skye is doing first." Tony pressed the corresponding button on the elevator, the silence deafening as the elevator moved between floors.

"Do you think she'll be okay?" he asked softly. May curled her lip slightly.

"No" she replied softly "but she's strong enough to keep moving forward anyways. She just needs time." Tony didn't respond, not wanting to give reality to the statement. They both stepped off when the elevator opened, a nurse quickly guiding them to the room Skye was in.

Rhodey was talking to her but she wasn't really listening, staring blankly at the wall with an empty look. Rhodey sighed a little in relief as she saw them, his smile strained and worried.

"Skye?" Tony spoke softly, sitting down in the chair beside her.

May pursed her lips softly, fishing something out of her bag. Rhodey moved to stop her as she tossed the book at Skye's head. Skye's gaze whipped around, catching the book with one hand. "What the hell?!" she spluttered a bit, confused on how exactly she'd deserved a book tossed at her head.

"No wallowing." May stated firmly, Tony glancing between them with raised brows, smiling a bit as he caught on. In a single movement May had snapped her out of her daze, preying on her reflexes to snap her attention. "Now get up. As much as you need to heal, hospitals are depressing. You can heal in the living room." Skye grumbled softly, complying as May tossed her the crutches she'd come in with.

"That was remarkably efficient." Rhodey muttered softly, blinking a bit.

"I'd really like to keep her for monitoring-"

"Piss off." the doctor shrunk back at May's glare, Skye unable to help the small amused smile at the interaction. May hated hospitals.

"We'll link you up to her watch to monitor vitals while we're not here." The doctor nodded feebly as Tony smiled easily at her. Skye followed after May as she led her to the Elevator, carrying both their duffle bags.

"Second to top floor right?" Tony nodded, all of them shuffling into the elevator.

"You're mean." Skye huffed a little. May rolled her eyes

"Tough luck you're stuck with me." May shrugged a little, Tony leading the way to Skye's room and the spare bedroom near it. May carelessly dropped her bag in the spare before returning Skye's bag to her room.

"I'll put on a movie. Pepper and Happy were at a conference but they're heading back now.

Should be here within an hour or two." Rhodey volunteered, defaulting to their most used family activity.

"How much have you eaten today?" Tony's look was pointed as Skye winced a bit.

"I had a light breakfast." she defended. May's gaze snapped to her, narrowing her eyes.

"You need to eat for three for your healing to accelerate properly." he pointed out. "Happy and Pepper will pick something up but you need to eat right now." Skye sighed softly, nodding in acceptance. May glanced at Tony as he left for the kitchen, mentally filing away that bit of information for later.

"I heal at a really fast rate but it also requires me to down three times the food." Skye muttered softly in an explanation, sitting down on the couch.

"How many poptarts before you feel sick!?" Tony called from the kitchen.

Skye smiled a little,

"We're going to eat later so only a couple." Tony huffed, walking over with four of them in hand.

"You'll be eating a lot for dinner when they get here right?" she nodded in agreement, May sitting down to her left as Tony sat to her right, clicking on the movie.

Eventually Pepper and Happy arrived after they'd just started the second movie of the night, bringing pizza with them. Pepper gave her a careful hug, trying to be reassuring and careful as she interacted. Skye appreciated the effort, she really did but…She was overwhelmed. She wanted to be alone, surrounded by silence and her own thoughts.

No one would let her wallow in the feelings and while she appreciated it, it was too terribly overwhelming right now.

But she bore with it, because this should feel good. She should feel warm because of this like she did every time she came home. She had to ignore the whisper that told her she deserved to suffer because she didn't. She made all the right calls.

Sometime throughout the night she slipped away. Everyone was passed out or nearly there anyways.

She wasn't reckless. She just huddled in her room, sitting on the floor leaning back against the bed. It reminded her of when she was younger, still scared Tony would leave her. She would be sitting like she was now and Tony would always manage to know she was upset and come to comfort her.

But this time she didn't want that comfort. This time the ache in her chest was like a bleeding wound and no one could plug it.

So she just sat there, her head leaned back, staring blankly at the ceiling. She felt the wetness on her cheeks, hunching over, pressing her face into her hands as her shoulders shook lightly, choking any noise she might make to alert the others.

The unmistakable click of her door knob being turned sounded, but she didn't look up. Not when the door opened or when it closed, not when light footsteps so clearly not Tony's sounded in front of her. She didn't move when May sat beside her, wrapping an arm around her gently.

"You can't make this better." her voice was a hoarse whisper. May tightened her hug slightly, leaning against her very lightly.

"I know." May acknowledged softly. "But you're my daughter, so I'm here." it was the first time she'd said it. It was the first time she'd said anything about the unnamed relationship they shared, too scared to voice how she felt in case Skye was scared off by the acknowledgment of the closeness.

Skye's shoulders shook harder, leaning into her fully. May wrapped both arms around her, gently cradling the back of her head. "I will say it as many times as you need to hear it, Skye. This isn't your fault." she uttered softly, resting her chin gently atop her head as Skye sobbed softly into her shoulder, shaking arms wrapping around her, clutching the back of her shirt tightly as her body shook softly.

"I can never forgive myself for this." she spoke hoarsely, barely above a whisper.

"You can and you will because you have to." May spoke firmly, tightening her hold on her lightly.

"You have to because you did everything right and you did everything you could."

"I should have let her die without knowing fear. I shouldn't have hugged her. She didn't know that kind of pain until she touched me." she uttered hollowly.

"You gave her comfort, Skye. You let her feel even if it was only for a short while." Skye slumped into her hug, too exhausted to argue with her over it. Tears slid down her cheeks, her face still pressed against her shoulder softly.

May held her gently like that throughout the night, leaning back against the bed, deciding she would bear with the back pain the morning punished her with as she let her head rest back on the mattress, drifting off herself after an hour. She woke early, still holding Skye in her arms.

Something inside her was still grieving, still beating herself up over what she should have done, but Skye took first place to all of that. Skye who had suffered a hundred times more from the situation, Skye who had pulled the trigger and hopelessly comforted the dying child with any happiness she could muster in her horror and grief and the guilt she was drowning in.

Her gaze flickered to the door, watching Tony glance in on them, tip toeing past the door lightly. May almost chuckled but she held it in. She was however a little surprised to look to the right and see Coulson passed out right beside her. They'd parted ways in Bahrain since he had to handle all the finishing of the mission and write the reports for the emergency situation. She should have expected him to come though, Skye had a special place in his heart too.

Skye blinked her eyes open slowly, equally as bewildered as May to see that Coulson had very silently joined them without waking either of the highly trained spies up. "Coulson?" his eyes snapped open, his gaze turning to two equally bewildered gazes.

"I finished up all the paperwork issues late yesterday and flew in." he explained shortly, pulling Skye into a gentle hug. Skye melted into the embrace.

"May called me her daughter." Coulson's eyes widened slightly, glancing at May who just quickly dodged his look.

"Does that mean I get to call you my daughter too?" he asked in a lightly teasing tone, his smile widening as she nodded softly into his chest.

Tony lightly knocked on the doorframe, Skye looking up to him with a halfhearted smile. "I would love to let you sleep in but you have breakfast to down, no skipping meals." Coulson helped her up, handing her her crutches so she could move to the dining room by herself just in time to watch Happy shouting obscenities as fire blazed in the pan he was holding.

Tony darted forward cursing loudly, quickly placing a lid over the pan as Happy absolutely freaked waving the pan about trying to kill the flames. Skye laughed softly, grinning a bit at the sight. That warm feeling edged around her aching heart, the bleeding slowing just a little bit.

Coulson stared at her in complete amazement at the amount of food she was downing, entirely confused by even how she was stomaching so much.

"Powers, she needs more fuel to heal faster." May offered a very short, very confusing explanation to his clearly questioning gaze. He still dropped his confusion, deciding to force some answers out of May or Skye at a later date instead.

They relaxed most of the day, Skye spent most of her time in the lab with Tony, May boredly spinning in an office chair behind them as Coulson occasionally popped in to bother them. Tony fell into pattern and started building yet another Iron man suit. Skye just decided to help, welding pieces together and sanding smooth before coating it in whatever coat of paint Tony had decided for the piece, usually red or gold. She kept responding to Fitz and Jemma, but she didn't share what happened.

She didn't want to be a monster to them. Rumors however flew wildly around campus about the S.O. and her rookie agent storming the building and taking down all the mercenaries on their own and May was already disgruntled to know she was being called the cavalry for it. Once more details got out that Skye was the first one in, she apparently became the target of a lot of rumors.

"Cavalry..." May wrinkled her nose

"At least they're not calling you Cerberus." Skye grumbled softly. Where the fuck had that even come from? Fitz would probably have a lengthy explanation as to why she was being compared to the guardian of hell but she didn't care much to know. May rose her brows at her.

"I'll shut that shit down when we get back." May promised, frowning.

"Fitz and Jemma are reporting that that's what the entire campus is calling us now, it's made its way all the way to the academy. It's a done deal they find out about everything like this last." The reports she'd browsed about the incident were vague, from dazed agents who woke up barely early enough to see her and May on the, floor with Katya and dozens of men around them dead.

May had submitted a formal refusal to report for her and Skye on the matter and Coulson had covered for them both.

Skye still couldn't sleep and she spent most of her time staring blankly at things, but Tony had picked up on May's tactic and had started randomly chucking things at her for her to catch before they could hit her (He used softer things like pillows and jackets thank you, not like May and her books because she was positive Skye would catch it.)

Tony, May, and Coulson seemed to have decided on shifts. One of them would be around at some point in the night, making sure she was alright when it was always clear she was just wallowing in her rare moments of solitude instead of sleeping.

Everyone else was just as great, but they didn't understand. May refused to give any details and the words choked up in her mouth whenever Skye attempted to explain herself. No one seemed upset at the lack of information though. Tony seemed perfectly content comforting her regardless.

"Skye?" Gordon's voice was like a shot to the heart when she picked up his call, moving to her room to answer it. It had been two weeks since the incident and she was still in shambles, barely getting her classes taken care of and hardly doing anything else.

"What's up?" she kept the shakiness from her voice as she answered, because Gordon calling usually meant he wanted advice (Gordon was not coping well with Jiaying's death, she guessed coming to her for advice was part of that considering she wasn't really that wise at all.)

"We were able to bury them at Afterlife. The village elders wanted to thank you personally." Skye swallowed thickly, her hand trembling lightly in her lap.

"Why would they want to thank me? I killed them." Gordon paused.

"We trust your judgment Skye. It had to be done. You ensured there were no autopsies, no studies to defile their bodies and their memory. Regardless of what they had done, this is their home." Skye leaned back against the bed, sat on the floor again as she tried to control her breathing. "Skye..." Gordon paused, catching onto the situation quickly "None of this is your fault." she'd heard it dozens of times now from everyone in her life.

Hearing it from Gordon was something different. It was comforting to hear it from someone she knew would never spare her feelings over a matter like this. Someone who wouldn't lie to her and say she did no wrong when she caused trouble. She squeezed her eyes shut tightly as she leaned her head back against the mattress.

"I did everything I could to save her." it was the first time she'd uttered those words with intent, without feeling like a phony lying to save herself the shame.

"I know. We all know that and we trust in that." Gordon's voice was soft, sympathetic now. "Get some rest, I'll be in contact more frequently." she blinked

"Why?"

"The elders want to run more major decisions by you from now on. They were impressed by how you handled rejecting Eva's request. You made a hard call none of us could tell her fully." she closed her eyes.

"Okay." she muttered softly.

Everyone could tell she was bothered when Tony dragged her out of her room to eat in the morning.

"Alright, what's up with the frowning?"

"I think Gordon is trying to get me to be a leader again." she muttered a little, Tony pausing, raising his brows.

"Didn't he understand the no he got last time he asked two years ago?" Tony set a plate of pancakes in front of her, watching her play with the food with her fork for a minute.

"It's different this time." she admitted "He was asking on his own last time, this time he has the elders convinced as well. they're fully asking this time." Tony raised his brows.

"Tell them no." she shrugged a little.

"I didn't say yes." she decided to say instead. Tony's brows shot up at the information.

"I hope you're not going to blab this to fury, he's going to fuck this up big time." Rhodey spoke up, narrowing his gaze at Coulson and May.

May just shrugged "I'm not a rule follower." she admitted.

"Family over work." Coulson shrugged a little as well, focusing back on Skye and her reluctant eating. "Quit playing with your food and eat. You need to be able to heal properly." he scolded lightly. Skye huffed a bit but complied anyway.

She still slept sitting on the floor leaning back against the bed. Something about sleeping comfortably felt wrong now, like she didn't deserve it.

Summer break dragged on and she felt worse at times but everyone was too kind for her to take too many steps back in progress. May and Coulson eventually had to leave but spent weekends at the tower to visit her now.

May was coping well, probably better with how much Skye reassured her. May did everything right, she protected the agents that were attempting to march to their deaths, she rushed in when there was a sign of a fight and she made sure she was okay first.

Rhodey was a rock in all this. Spending time with Tony was good but he always looked worried and paranoid about her being okay. Rhodey just chilled with her. He didn't ask questions and he at least hid his worry from her. Happy was more of a fretful uncle but she enjoyed the comfort anyways.

Gordon called frequently. It was anything from welcoming a new human to Afterlife to settling a decision on terrigenesis. She found herself eventually deciding to spend a week there despite Tony's protests and May and Coulson's worry about her. (May and Coulson handled the part alien thing remarkably well and barely had any questions about the story she told them about it.)

Still, she went.

She spent her time there largely reading over all their documents and records. Having a brilliant memory helped a lot in reading over everything quickly. She was able to quickly settle some arguments on improvements and security (the answer was yes the crystals should be secured much better and there would be two more guards on duty at all times on top of the improvements to the building's security.)

"What do you think?" Gordon was hinting at it strongly throughout her stay, offering her help and information as she navigated freely through their records.

"You can call me whenever you want, but I'll continue with shield. Partly because it was my goal to begin with but it will be good to steer eyes away from this place." Gordon paused. "Besides, if I wasn't an agent we would have never been able to bury them here. Regardless of how you feel about shield it's beneficial." Gordon nodded

"I'll seek your advice when we have problems." he promised softly.

"You've been doing well keeping up Afterlife with the elders Gordon. you should be proud." he stayed silent, smiling softly.

True to her word she returned to the Shield academy and with it the whispers came. The admiration for something so heinous and terrible filling the halls and gathering stares. People who used to insult her for 'playing both sides' were trying to buddy up. It was odd and weird.

"Skye!" Jemma squeaked, jumping at her. Skye quickly caught her as her arms wrapped around her neck, stumbling for a step as she laughed loudly, "You've been gone so long!" She hugged her tightly.

"Hey hey! Don't hog all her attention! I missed her too!" Fitz whined a bit and Skye reached over, pulling him into a hug while still carrying Jemma. Jemma stuck her tongue out at him as he glared playfully at her.

"He's been insufferable with you gone. always whining and complaining." Jemma huffed, dropping down to stand on her own feet again as she grinned "How was your break? Are you feeling better?" Skye nodded a little, a slight weariness to her smile.

"I've been healing." she admitted. Jemma furrowed her brows softly before quickly deciding to drop it in favor of dragging her along. Since she became a full agent her dual classes had been cut to just the sit-in classes with no training and she had a lot more time on her hands barring the random mission she was pulled from the academy for to make sure she didn't lose her touch while she completed her studies. May usually brought her on short assignments over the weekend but they often stretched into class times, having her scramble to keep up and keep her very competitive spot right next to Fitz and Jemma at the top of the class.

"Oh right! We all are doing a project together! Weaver wanted to see what we would come up with for a weather machine so we're going to take a hack at it. It'll count for two courses!" Fitz was beaming giddily. Skye cracked a small grin at the news.

"Then let's get working on it and make it rain." he nodded quickly, grinning widely. It was a month later that Weaver really regretted her challenge to them.

"So when...how does this stop?" Weaver was staring outside the window. Rain was pouring down heavily. The showing of their project went off without a hitch in front of the professors they were presenting to. Of course.... There were some issues.

"Not our problem." Skye shrugged carelessly, earning a wide eyed concerned look from Weaver.

"It should stop within the day." Jemma quickly covered, a hand covering Skye's mouth as she opened it to speak.

"Actually, we're not sure. You rushed us a bit so Jemma put in extra to make sure it worked." Jemma glared murderously at Fitz as Weaver's brows shot up. Skye grinned, pulling Jemma's hand off her mouth.

"You said make it rain, not that we had to have a plan to stop the rain."

Weaver deflated. Jemma and Fitz had been so amazingly simple to deal with on their own. They were quiet and they followed directions and they didn't look for loopholes. Skye dragged them both through any loopholes that could possibly exist in each assignment they were paired together for which just so happened to be all of them.

All the academy buildings' first floors partially flooded in the two weeks of rain that followed and no one in operations got much of any training done given all the training equipment and gyms were on the first floor. Communications and their building too had to shut down occasionally due to the power outages the harsh flooding caused.

Weaver had all three of them in the dog house working flood prevention and creating water barriers. Fitz was designing a better flood prevention system for the campus and Jemma had to work the two weeks until they could reverse the constant rain with the same machine they had started it with.

Of course fixing it caused it to pour harder for a couple hours so Weaver was yelling their ears off until the sky started to clear up and the massive flood was finally over.

—-

"How's my favorite niece doing?" she rolled her eyes softly

"I'm your only niece, and I'm doing good. Spent the last two weeks fixing my worst idea yet." she deadpanned.

"What happened?" he was raising his brows on the other end.

"Weaver wanted us to make a machine to make it rain so we did, we didn't have enough time to reverse engineer it though so we never covered a reversal method. Our presentation went well and it started raining but well....." she trailed off. " Let's just say all three academies and the entire campus flooded and two weeks later we figured it out so it's fine now?" Rhodey laughed loudly.

"Damn kid, you're making more chaos than Tony did at MIT and that's hard to top. Do you have to pay damages?"

"I made the case that Weaver never asked us to find a way for the rain to stop once we made it rain so technically we can't be punished but we're definitely in the dog house. I've been planning building repairs while Fitz has been redesigning the campus for flood prevention and Jemma worked on reversing the rain." Skye grinned softly, not at all bothered by the amounts of trouble she had gotten them all in by tossing out coming up with a stopping method for the rain before presenting the machine's effects to their professors.

"Highlight is though, it didn't hurt the environment too much and Weaver is starting to make deals now to use it in drought areas. "

"Impressive, a lot of people could be helped thanks to that."

"I hope so. I'll be keeping a strict track of it to make sure it does. We do own the patent for it so they can't exactly use it without our permission on other projects." Rhodey chuckled softly

Jemma was furious with her 'bad girl shenanigans' and Fitz was grumbling a bit but both had pretty easily forgiven her for the mess once it was over and fixing it was underway.

The commotion on campus about her being 'Cerberus' thankfully settled down thanks to the 'mysterious two week storm' as Weaver referred to it as to the other students. Of course the professors they presented to had a good chuckle about the situation, a few telling Weaver she'd walked right into the issue herself but still scolding the three of them a bit.

Her heart felt lighter now. She hated the new nickname but she was bearing with it for the most part and May was faring similarly as well with being called the Cavalry by almost any agent she worked with. Skye was really dreading her next field mission for that reason.

She was okay. She wasn't everything was better. 

She felt like she was dying .

She still sometimes cried at night from the heavy guilt that plagued her but she'd learned not to show it as much, not to let the guilt chain her down or show it to other people. She had to be strong, especially now that she was trying to get back into her life. She couldn't let her feelings get in the way of the progress she'd made.

Chapter Text

She wasn't surprised to be called in for a mission, what did surprise her was not seeing May anywhere around on the jet that arrived. A man hopped off the jet, blinking at her a bit.

"Uh...hello. Are you looking for someone?" May was probably just late (May was never late so that was a ridiculous thought)

"I'm looking for Cerberus." she scowled at him in an instant.

"If you were looking for me you'd know I'd tell you to piss off when you called me that." His eyes widened slightly.

"You're- haaaa." he sighed heavily as she glared murderously at him, just as snappy as May when he'd slipped and revered to her as 'the Cavalry' "What's with you and your S.O. hating nicknames? Anyways you're with me today." Skye just sighed heavily, dropping her go bag on the floor of the jet as Clint closed the bay door behind her, lifting the quinjet into the sky.

"What's the mission?" she glanced at him. He shifted a bit, stretching his arm back with a file.

She opened the folded boldly labeled level five classified and glanced over the material.

"We're hunting an assassin called the Black Widow. I've had one run in with her so far and Fury wants her out of the picture. She's assassinating Shield allies and taking down too many good agents to chalk it up to a coincidence. She's skilled and sharp." Skye glanced over the file before flipping it shut.

"Let me be clear. you're asking me, an agent who's been on the job for two years with a four month gap to join you in killing an assassin that you, a veteran shield agent, could not handle. I'm not even a full time agent so it's more like less than a year of agent work." Clint winced softly.

"May said you could handle it. And besides you've been training with Shield since you were fourteen" he pointed out "You're not exactly the average skill level for a new agent. Your assessments are better than mine for hand to hand combat." Skye paused, her gaze snapping towards him in utter disbelief.

"There's no way that's true." Clint grinned a bit, both amused and nursing his damaged pride.

"Fury himself told me. I'm getting old though so it's pretty fair." he chuckled softly as Skye stared at him in utter shock. "So what's the sore spot with the nickname?" she scowled.

"Ask again and I will be leaving you to face your Russian spy friend alone." Clint huffed softly as Skye slid into the seat beside him.

They hunted her for a week before anything happened, and it really, really did not go to plan.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" Skye had her gun raised, back at their meeting point in a motel, where Clint had brought the Russian spy into the motel room and was talking with her . Natasha sprung up, gun pointed at her as Clint quickly put his hands up to both of them.

"Natasha, this is my partner for the mission. Skye this is.... she's good okay?" his shoulders dropped a bit, Skye looking at him in disbelief as he smiled guiltily at her. "I can't kill her, she's got some good left. So just help me out? I'll take the blame. She wants to join Shield and do good Skye." he added.

"You sure as hell are." Skye lowered her gun, pulling Natasha's gun from her hands without any resistance. "You left her with weapons too."

"I smuggled that in, he did check." Natasha defended him lightly, Clint's head lowering a bit as Skye sighed heavily.

"Usually I'm the one needing to be reigned in. How the hell did I end up babysitting a senior agent." she scowled a bit, turning her gaze back to Natasha. She let out a defeated sigh, sitting down on the second bed roughly.

"Caramel?" Natasha offered stiffly. Skye rose a brow at the gesture but accepted it, Natasha eating one of her own from the convenience store package.

"Never had any before?" Natasha nodded softly, Skye pausing for a moment, hesitating. "Clint, you need to call Fury. If she wants to join Shield he'll have conditions." Clint nodded with a wince, escaping the motel room to go make his call, leaving them both there.

"Are you both close?" Skye snorted softly

"I met him last week starting this mission, he pisses me off, that's about it." Natasha furrowed her brows lightly.

"You don't like him but you still moved to protect him from me when you first saw me here." she stated " Why protect him?"

"We're on a mission together, it's my job to have his back and it's his to have mine. If someone's firing bullets we have to keep each other safe." she shrugged a little. Natasha gazed at her in a mix of confusion and fascination.

"Strange," she muttered softly, resting her chin in her palm as she popped another caramel into her mouth.

"Good news and bad news." Clint popped back into the room, smiling nervously. "You can join Shield, but you have to tell us everything about your organization and the leader of it, and we have to bring it down. " he smiled a little nervously, Skye sighing heavily.

"Sure." Natasha nodded in an easy acceptance. Skye glanced at her, watching her carefully. She opened her laptop, sitting crisscross as she got ready to type. "Ready?" she glanced at Skye, already predicting she was readying a report of the situation.

"Whenever you'd like to start." she nodded lightly.

The details were long and extensive, but the gist of it was a human trafficking organization taking young girls and training them up into emotionless assassins with no regard for human life. The more Natasha spoke evenly about the experiences and the structure of the organization the more she understood what Clint saw in her. She was broken down and sad, accepting help from the first person to ever offer it to her, Clint.

"I understand if you've changed your mind about me now. You're right to be weary." Natasha glanced at her, a calm resignation to her eyes.

"No, I'm pretty sure you're stuck with us now." she shut her laptop with a click, saving the file for a later report. Natasha's eyes widened a bit as Clint startled. "So. Kill Dreykov and Fury is good with you. sounds simple enough." Natasha sat staring, her hands clenched tightly against her leg.

"You...are accepting my company?" Clint and Skye shared a look.

"You're a good person, Clint thinks so, and I do too. So we're going to figure it out together. There's no accepting, we want to be here and we're choosing to. You're not something to just tolerate." Skye clarified firmly, Clint smiling lightly as Skye grinned a little at her.

Natasha was just as smart and skilled as Clint made her out to be. Tracking down Dreykov was quite simple, but they were hitting a wall. The only outward measure of confirming Dreykov was in the building were the arrival and actions of his daughter inside the building.

"If we-"

"No kids. Absolutely not." Skye declined without a second thought. "I'd rather get myself blown up," she added, Natasha recoiling at the firm statement.

"You're our tech. What's your call?" Clint glanced at her, spreading out what they had on the hotel bed. Skye glanced over the schematics.

"Natasha, is your cover as a part of the red room blown?"

"Not technically. I missed my last check in but that happens sometimes due to service availability," she answered. Skye hummed softly, tapping her thigh lightly before she moved to her laptop, plugging a USB into it. She spent a few minutes on it before unplugging the flash drive.

"There's a computer in his office. Plug this in and get out. It'll infect his computer silently and tell us when he's there which we can confirm with camera feed. That way no kids, just him." Natasha took the flash drive lightly, nodding. "If it's too much and the mission goes south, fall back here and we will find another way. While you work on infecting his computer I'll be on standby and Clint will be setting up the charges."

"I'll get it done." she pocketed the flashdrive, slipping out of the hotel room quietly.

Clint got to work right away discreetly planting the bombs throughout the building and near the floors above and under the office Dreykov used.

It was twenty minutes before Natasha returned to the hotel room that Skye gained access to Dreykov's computer and hacked into his webcam. Just as it showed his face looking at the monitor Clint entered the room, peering over her shoulder to look at the screen like Natasha was doing on her other side.

"I guess I can do this then." Clint pressed the detonator, the feed going dead as they heard a massive explosion a few blocks down.

"And that is our cue to get the fuck outa dodge, lets go." Skye quickly grabbed her go bag, Natasha following them both to the car they had parked in the parking lot of the hotel.

"They'll be after us quickly." Natasha warned, earning a nod from Skye as Clint got into the passenger seat of the car, Skye loading into the driver's seat and starting to drive as soon as Natasha got into the back seat.

Shots started to fire minutes into the drive, swerving through streets and speeding through red lights as Clint fired back explosive arrows and Natasha commandeered one of the automatic rifles to fire back out the side window opposite from Clint.

"Skye, there's way too many of them. We need to lose them fast!" Clint ducked back inside from his window, hiding from the gunfire as Natasha pulled back in as well. Skye glanced back, cursing softly as four more cars joined the chase. She spied a subway entrance, turning the wheel harshly.

The car skidded against the ground, sailing down the stairs with heavy bumps and loud clangs as the railing in the middle was demolished as Clint shouted his protests at the mad plan. Their car sank front end first into the tracks of the train, Skye quickly escaping the car with Natasha, Clint not far behind as they heard heavy shouts following them.

Natasha acted quickly as they ran into another part of the station, lifting up a ceiling tile and sliding it to the side. She slid in first, Skye darting up after her. They both grabbed Clint's arms, pulling him up inside the ceiling before Skye slid the tile shut behind them.

Heavy footsteps sounded beneath, shouts spreading as the Hungarian special forces units flooded the subway station.

"How the fuck do we go to the bathroom now?" Skye uttered softly after a couple hours of waiting them out to no avail, Natasha dragging a hand down her face as Clint forced a hand over his mouth to keep from chuckling.

Chapter Text

It was only eight more hours of being trapped before they seriously considered the issue and all three of them carefully explored enough to realize that they could gain access to a closed off bathroom from a rather convoluted route in the ceiling.

At the very least Skye had her backpack which meant she had some meal bars and not much else. She ended up dividing them between the three of them when morning came and the agents still had not left. Three days passed painstakingly with endless games and talking to fill the time.

"You're weirdly sweet," Natasha admitted with a glance towards Skye, scratching with her knife an X, marking her victory in tic tac toe for probably the fifth time against Clint.

"Yeah you are weirdly nice." Clint nodded a little, eyes narrowed and shifting a bit awkwardly in the laying down position being in the ceiling forced them all into. "Especially considering you hated me from the moment we met." Skye rolled her eyes lightly.

"I never hated you. You called me Cerberus and it pissed me off." she corrected calmly, scratching in the lines for a new game as they shifted a bit, Natasha now facing her.

"Your nickname pissed you off?" Natasha scratched down an O. Skye paused a little, frowning.

"I had no choice in it. It's just the rumor mill of Shield doing whatever the fuck they want." she slashed an X onto her desired spot, Natasha considering for a moment. their voices were soft, hushed.

"But it was because of what you did! I read the reports, you and May went in to a base of mercenaries and you took them all down-"

"The situation was different than the reports said. It wasn't good." she replied shortly to Clint's enthusiastic whisper as Natasha made her move.

"....figures. May refusing to write the report was pretty telling. But you didn't lose any agents. You saved the team and everyone made it out alright." Skye's hands clenched tightly around the knife, controlling the volume of her voice sharply as she made her move, Natasha letting a soft Russian curse loose as she lost. (No one was really trying. If they were, it would have all been ties.)

"Is this because Eva fought back and you had to kill her?" Clint paused. "You had to save the agents Skye-"

"Eva wasn't the one who was going to kill the agents. Her daughter Katya was. She was a young girl who'd never felt emotions before her powers awakened and I shot her ." the three of them went silent as Skye rested her head against the ceiling tiles. "It was also my fault it even happened in the first place."

"There's no way that it-"

"Why do you say that?" Natasha inquired instead. She seemed to like to know the facts before just assuming someone was in the right because she thought well of them.

They'd been up there for five days now. The tiles were littered with the trash of the food they scrounged and countless tic tac toe games scratched on the tiles along with hundreds more games they'd played without carving into the tiles.

"Okay so...." she sighed heavily, resting her face in her hands before dropping them. "I lead a group of secret powered people, yeah?" Natasha nodded in acceptance.

"you what ?" Clint whisper shouted, Skye shushing him.

"Anyways, I lead a group of secret powered people. Our powers are activated by a very rare crystal that we keep in a storehouse where we grow them. Now to gain your powers otherwise known as passing through the mist, the elders judge whether you are fit or not." Natasha nodded

"Seems like a good system." Skye nodded

"Eva came to them and they were weary of Katya. They didn't want to tell her no explicitly so they called me in to judge the situation with less bias. Katya was showing signs of schizophrenia and psychopathy. A complete lack of emotions. Killing birds, torturing animals, the normal signs of it. So I told Eva there was no way it could happen and Katya was too unstable for it."

"She stole the crystals." Natasha surmised. Skye frowned.

"We didn't prepare for it even though it was easy to predict what she was going to do. The elders were sure because no one had ever done so before and I didn't raise any concerns against them. We made it easy for her to do it." Natasha frowned softly, Clint just watching the exchange with a bewildered expression.

"Go on." was this a fucking therapy session? Clint glanced between the two of them. Was he even here?

"Right, so we get to Bahrain, I go in alone to try and negotiate because I know Eva and I know Katya will at least listen to her mother if I can convince her." Natasha nodded slightly "It goes horribly wrong, I'm concussed, May is coming up to help, I send her flying into a wall with my powers after getting shot in the leg, and May has just gotten there."

Natasha nodded again, following the story easily.

"Eva is dead, we learn that Katya can not just feel the emotions of people but consume their lives and feed off them when she kills the mercenaries. May has to barricade the door so the dazed Shield agents she has called can't get to her to be killed, and I am left on the floor with an unusable leg and well.." she winced a little.

"A gun." Natasha paused.

"You shot her and you feel guilty. You feel like you could have saved her." she surmised.

"Katya wasn't fit to go through the mist but if we did it in a controlled environment she could have learned to accept the emotions-"

"She would have gotten greedy and fed off the people like before." Natasha interrupted "Like you said, she wasn't fit to go through the mist. It is your oversight to not have the crystals locked more tightly, especially after such desperate pleading, but it isn't your fault she stole it." Skye rested her cheek against the cold tile as Natasha considered again, frowning.

"She begged me to live when she felt my emotions. She could have learned it."

"She was mimicking your horror of the situation. It was nothing more than a fleeting reaction." Natasha corrected, her voice like a knife through her head. Skye frowned softly, her chest tightening sharply. No one had been quite as harsh, no one had told her that Katya wasn't savable in that way. May may have said once or twice that there was nothing she could do to save her, but she'd never swiftly stated there was no possible way to do it anyways. "Shooting her was the best action you could take at the time. Given the situation she would have only done worse to more and more people until someone else took her out themselves." "Fuck you're right." Skye sighed softly, frowning.

"No fucking wonder you hate the nickname so much." Clint scowled deeply

"Yeah I'm really not a fan." She matched his scowl. "May tried to cut it at the root but it had already spread everywhere while I was on medical leave and she was helping me. It was utter bullshit." Clint nodded in agreement.

"So we agree the incident wasn't your fault?" Natasha nodded.

"The storage was poor planning but based on pre-existing trust that had never been broken. It's not your fault." she reiterated firmly.

"See this is a lot more comforting than May saying it because I know she's sparing my feelings on the poor planning part with the crystals." Skye huffed a little.

"How is May doing by the way? I haven't seen her around much." Skye shrugged

"She's doing alright. Her dad had a bit of a fall so she's back home taking care of him right now."

"Speaking of dads, you seem to avoid the topic." Natasha pointed out.

"Yeahhhh, that situation is complicated," she admitted.

"Nat you can't just ask people that." Clint gawked "Also I feel like we're moving past you leading a secret society of powered people way too fast. Do you have powers? What are they?" Skye shifted a bit, wincing at the heavy twinge in her back and laying completely flat across the tiles.

"No, it's chill. We have nothing to talk about but trauma, so I got adopted by my brother, and eventually got kidnapped by my bio mom who ran that society, but her husband found out while I was there that she cheated on him with the dad of my brother and so he broke her neck and then a guy named Gordon who can teleport murdered her husband for killing her and brought me back to my brother. Gordon calls me a lot. I get the feeling that he's having a hard time accepting that she's dead. He's been coming to me for advice on running that place since I was like thirteen. It's kinda weird but I'm growing into the role a bit." Natasha nodded

"Oh yeah, I'm part big blue alien if that explains anything."

"That literally just raises more questions." Clint deadpanned.

"Okay, I will answer, but first, are either of you going to tell Fury?"

"I solemnly swear not to tell Fury about you or your friends." Natasha nodded in agreement.

"The history behind it is a race of aliens called the Kree, they came to earth and experimented on humans with their blood to create machines of war. The successes of those experiments are my ancestors. The way we acquire our powers is just a built in control system so we don't cause any havoc until we go through the mist when we're supposed to cause havoc." she explained.

"So convenient human weapons of war that they left to their own devices." Natasha blinked.

"Precisely, hafta wonder why they abandoned the experimentation all of a sudden but no one knows." she shrugged a little.

"This is making kind of more sense now." Clint muttered softly.

"So. Does anyone else want to share or am I just spilling my secrets alone?"

"I had a sister for a while." Natasha propped up her chin on her arms as she crossed them in front of her, gently scraping into the tile meaninglessly. "It was a fake family but it was fun for a while. Her name is Yelena, I haven't seen her in years." she admitted.

"My turn I guess. I joined a circus when I was seventeen. It was a really weird experience. The foster system sucked though so it was kinda a step up. I also have a secret family, not as in a second one but my family is just very well hidden because y'know, secret agent." Skye and Natasha nodded in understanding.

"The foster system sucks ass." Skye agreed "Circus definitely sounds like a step up from that garbage heap." Clint nodded.

"When did you get out to see your brother?"

"Seven, I was pretty lucky." she answered easily. Clint smiled, nodding.

"Is he good to you?"

"It was weird at first because well, he really loves his mom and I popped up ‘like surprise your dad cheated on her’. They were both dead at that point though so not much to do. Some resentment there but he seemed to very quickly set it aside." Skye shrugged a little. "But he's awesome. His friends are pretty much my family and he's been really good to me. What about your family?" Clint grinned widely.

"My wife Laura is great. I have two kids Five and three. The eldest is Cooper and the youngest is Lila. They're the light of my life and they're the cutest kids ever." he gushed softly. Skye resting her head on her arms as silence fell over them in the impending boredom

Chapter Text

"Hey guys." Skye blinked, glancing down "There's no one under anymore." they all paused, glancing down.

"How can you tell?" Clint asked softly.

"My power allows me to control vibrations, things like massive blasts to toss someone, earthquakes, but I can also sense people through their natural vibration. I'm not feeling anything beneath us anymore." she explained, hesitating for a moment before sliding the ceiling tile beneath her out of place, peeking her head out upside down, glancing around the silent very desolate subway station. The car she crashed, long towed away.

"Coast is clear- fuck." she dropped down, crumpling on the spot as her back twinged, rolling over to lay straight on her back as Clint dropped down after her, wheezing a bit as his joints popped and crackled. Natasha dropped down next, deciding to lay down beside her on the floor.

"This has been a very odd and uncomfortable experience. " Natasha muttered softly.

"Fucking hell I'm too old for this." Clint stretched lightly, every movement earning a couple pops as Skye slowly pushed herself up, her back aching the most as she forced herself to stand. "Holy shit am I stiff. I guess a week in a ceiling really does numbers on your back." Natasha grunted, getting up slowly beside her, stretching slowly, her joints popping lightly as Skye stretched her arms above her head, doing some leg stretches.

"As much as we need to recover from this we do need to move. The quinjet is stationed where we left it so we should be able to escape to the jet at least. If we need to hide longer, going there will at least give us a better spot than here." They both nodded in response to her idea, Clint taking the lead in heading out of the station.

Skye and Natasha followed after him, having to walk through back alleys to avoid being seen.

(Thankfully it seemed to be only Clint and Natasha's faces everywhere. Hers was lacking.) "I'm really lucky there's no pictures of me." Skye sighed softly in relief.

"I'm jealous. you're not as wanted as me and Nat." he huffed a little, relief flooding into him as they finally stepped onto the quinjet. Skye let out a heavy sigh, sitting in one of the seats, Natasha taking the one beside her as Clint started up the engine, lifting them into the air.

"To be clear nothing said in the ceiling leaves the ceiling got it?" Natasha cracked a smile, laughing softly.

"Roger that." she replied softly.

"What she said." Clint grinned widely.

"So how's -"

Skye laughed nervously as her phone began to ding rapidly, just barely at two percent now as a flood of messages came in.

"Someone's worried." Clint laughed softly.

"Uh yeahhhh, all my electronics died so I couldn't respond anymore and a 'I'll be out of reach' text is really alarming when a Shield agent is sending it. Besides May and Coulson heard that the mission went wrong so they're fretting like mother hens."

"May? Fret?" Clint furrowed his brows. The woman was sweet sure but he'd never imagined her fretting over anything. Natasha glanced at her, a hint of confusion in her gaze.

"May is my Supervising Officer since I've basically been a part time agent for only two years and Coulson is just..." she paused. " Let's say they're my parents in every way but blood." she shrugged a little.

"They're-" Clint coughed.

"Since when?" he spluttered a little.

"Probably since a month after May became my S.O. She and Coulson really took me in. They heard sad orphan and they were in it for the long haul I guess." Skye cracked, grinning a bit as Clint sent her a bewildered look. Natasha just chuckled a bit.

When they finally got back he was handed the mission report that included some of the details Natasha gave her (she had dumbed it down a bit excluding more personal details Natasha had given during the story.)

"Your friends are very worried about you." May folded her arms with a slightly quirked brow.

"They've been calling me every day asking for updates." Skye laughed nervously.

"Uh.... sorry?" May shook her head lightly

"As long as you're safe it doesn't matter, now go see them so they stop freaking out. We have to enroll her so we can assess her level." Skye nodded, hugging Natasha briefly before pulling away with a grin as Natasha gave her a stunned look.

"Good luck with your testing, I'll see you later. See ya old man!" Clint waved, rolling his eyes at the same time as she left to go find Fitz and Jemma on campus.

"How rude." he grumbled softly, Natasha just smirking lightly. "May I'm stealing your rookie." May's head snapped towards her.

"No way in hell. She's mine. You're way too reckless, you'd drag her into even more stupid shit than you already have. She gets into enough trouble on her own!" she refused instantly, Clint pouting softly. Natasha let out a soft snort because that was exactly what had just happened and the three of them knew it.

She figured that she would see Skye maybe a few times a month at most, what she was not prepared for was spending her spare time away from her assessments at the academy in a small dorm room sitting on a bean bag while three scientists spoke in a language that seemed to be english but made absolutely no sense between the connecting words.

"Quick question, what am I doing here?" Skye grinned.

"Emotional support." Natasha blinked as Fitz and Jemma nodded in agreement. "It's good to have a normal person to bounce ideas off once in a while." Fitz added.

Right, because compared to the three geniuses in the room she was pretty ordinary knowledge wise.

"So you're making.....a weather machine?" she muttered softly, her tone confused.

"No, we've made one of those, it was a disaster and we flooded the entire campus we're-" and it all phased out after that. She was listening, she really was, but none of it made any logical sense to her. Maybe she needed to pick up some textbooks on engineering or something.

"-in essence it's supposed to create an electric field similar to lasers but with a punch." now that part she got.

She spent a few days there being utterly confused before she was cleared and had to say goodbye to the strange three in favor of joining up with her assigned partner, Clint who seemed happy to have her on his team again.

"I tried to snag Skye from May but she said we could only borrow her every now and then." Clint pouted a bit, Natasha laughing softly. The last three weeks had been healing, a normal she never knew existed, never knew she craved until she got a taste of it and it was all she could think about.

Her time with Fitz, Jemma, and Skye in her dorm room was nice. It was warm and pleasant even if all they talked about went completely over her head. They made sure to include her when they eventually realized all of it was going over her head completely instead of just some. "How was your time at the Academy?"

"Skye's friends are interesting." Clint chuckled softly.

"I've heard about that bunch. All three are child prodigies. youngest to enter the academy before Skye came along. They're Shield's brightest young minds. It's pretty amazing that Skye is a field agent too. Agents like her that do both are invaluable and rare." he grinned widely. "I’m thrilled for when she graduates."

"I'm sure. I couldn't understand anything they were saying." Clint chuckled softly.

"Well, they have a couple more years to go. We can visit if you want." Natasha nodded softly.

Chapter Text

Natasha settled into Shield life fairly quickly. Clint was good at dragging her along to wherever they needed to go and she adapted quickly. There was little overlap with Skye or the academy though so it was a while until she got to see her again.

She was excited when Clint told her they'd be joined by Skye for another mission coming up.

It felt odd to have her heart beating so quickly, to be anticipating seeing someone so much.

"You seem pretty excited about this." Clint chuckled softly, glancing at her again as Natasha lightly fidgeted with her utility belt.

"We haven't seen Skye since you two recruited me." she was instantly defensive, Clint smirking a little as he shrugged.

"You've kept in contact. You even read some engineering textbooks to keep up with the science terms." he pointed out with a sly grin. "You've gone to so much effort to connect you have me thinking you might be in-" she glared murderously at him and he raised his hands in a mock surrender.

The idea was ridiculous. She'd met Skye twice and hadn't actually seen her in months. Sure they had been texting every day but she hadn't actually seen her since then. She also had no feelings, she had no right to have them for anyone-

She let her face rest against the console, her stress rising as she let out a heavy sigh. Clint just chuckled lightly, grinning a little as Natasha glanced at him with an annoyed look.

"For later then." he grinned a little (Because clearly he wasn't just going to let this go because Natasha Romanoff fearless assassin had a puppy crush )

He landed the quinjet, grabbing his go bag as Natasha grabbed her own, very quickly moving to the back of the jet as the door lowered. "Skye is meeting us at the safehouse, she's already been on this case for a week. We're her backup." Clint relayed.

"What's the details?"

"It's a human trafficking ring, seemed pretty cut and dry but Skye told me she left off details from her report." he frowned a little.

"It's probably inhuman related." Clint nodded softly.

"Probably. those are the only details she ever leaves off the record." he agreed easily.

"Why are May and Coulson not with her?"

"They were but they were dragged away for another assignment and we were sent in to replace them if something went south before Skye called a strike on the base." Clint led them to a van in one of the lower levels of the parking garage they had landed on top of, tossing his things in the back before getting in the driver's seat as Natasha got into the passenger's seat.

They only drove for a little while before arriving in some suburbs, pulling into the garage of a suburban home. Natasha slipped out of the car, Clint grabbing her back with a soft roll of his eyes as she quickly went into the house.

"Skye?" she stepped inside.

"Nat!" Skye jumped at her, Nat spluttering as Skye's arms wrapped around her, forced to wrap an arm beneath her so she wouldn't fall as Skye laughed. Clint grinned widely, keeping his heavy amusement to himself as moved past the two to set their bags inside.

"It's been so long! How are you doing?" Skye cleared her throat softly, now standing on her own as she released her with an apologetic smile.

Natasha nearly frowned as she pulled away, missing the warmth of her embrace before she caught the utterly ridiculous thoughts and smiled back gently.

"Well, the missions have been a bit easy but they've been keeping us busy."

"Easy she says..." Clint grumbled softly "Don't believe her Skye we've nearly died three times!" Skye snorted softly, unsurprised at the news.

"With you leading I'm not surprised, you always seem to drag everyone into trouble." Clint gasped softly in offense.

"I do not!"

"May says you so do." Clint pouted a bit as Skye grinned at him.

"What's the real situation by the way? Clint said you left out parts in the report." Skye nodded, sliding easily into business.

"An Inhuman was targeted and captured by the organization. I can't tell whether they targeted him for his powers, the differences in his blood, or just because he was an easy target."

"What makes him an easy target?" Clint took a seat at the bar, sitting backwards on the chair and leaning against the back of it as he folded his arms.

"He's an angry alcoholic with a pattern of fucking off for days. Gordon has been casing his situation for a while now. We were considering him for terrigenesis." Clint rose his brows.

"You're considering giving an angry alcoholic powers?" he clarified.

"He's been sober for a couple months now. I've been monitoring him myself and his recovery is going well. At Afterlife he's recovered greatly and learned to control his emotions but if you're looking for official records all that will come up is his pattern before we got to him."

"Lincoln was simply lost-'' Natasha whipped around, gun raised as Clint sprang up, throwing the nearest object at his head, Gordon caught the mug quickly, smiling before raising his hands in surrender.

"This is Gordon. He can teleport. Gordon, I warned you they're spies, they're bound to be nervous if you do this." Gordon chuckled softly.

"I was in a bit of a hurry." he admitted, Clint blinking owlishly at him as Gordon set the mug gently on the counter.

"How the fuck did you catch that?" he muttered softly.

"The same way I can notice you're gawking at my lack of eyes." Gordon grinned sharply. Clint winced a bit, quickly averting his gaze with a small sense of guilt. Natasha just rolled her eyes softly.

"He sees just not the standard way. Like sensing objects." Skye offered. "I needed to introduce you since he's going to be a lot of help for this. The entrance to the base is very secure and there's only one route in and out. Now that I have the schematics Gordon can get us in and out."

"Can't we just figure out where they're keeping the prisoners and he grabs them?" Clint pointed out.

"Gordon is here to get us in the location without cameras, he can't be seen and we can't rely on him. Afterlife depends on him remaining anonymous and safe. We can't risk him." Gordon leaned back against the wall, folding his arms.

"I'm currently the door to Afterlife, if I die everyone there is trapped where they are."

"That is seriously an oversight."

"We're working on other transport." Gordon shrugged "But jets are expensive and buying one is rather attention grabbing." Skye nodded.

"Fine, so this Lincoln guy, he's just normal right now?"

"We were preparing him to go through the mist in the summer when Skye could fully assist in his transition period and offer support." Gordon explained. "He isn't ready yet." Natasha's fingers curled tightly, Clint holding back a soft chuckle at the reaction.

Assassin's first taste of jealousy huh? This would be interesting.

"Drop us in then. If it's just normal people we can fight our way out." Skye nodded softly in agreement.

"That's pretty much the only plan I have. They'll notice us quickly so we'll just have to make our way to the hostages as quickly as possible and get out."

"It might be more efficient to just clear the base before handling hostages." Clint voiced, Skye frowning softly as she thought about it.

"We'll judge it when we get there." she shrugged a little.

"You forged the mission to draw Coulson and May away didn't you? This plan is reckless, May would never allow it." Skye grinned sheepishly as Natasha raised her brows at her, folding her arms.

"I.....may have neglected to mention my plans, and sort of drew them away." she gave an innocent smile.

"Great. May is going to yell at me again but this time it's going to be your fault." Cint huffed softly.

"Ready?" Gordon asked, pushing himself off the wall. Skye shoved her laptop into a backpack, grabbing an automatic rifle before giving a thumbs up. Clint was still amazed as Gordon chuckled. He moved closer, Skye touching his shoulder as he grabbed Clint and Natasha. In an instant they were in a storage room, Gordon vanishing in the blink of an eye as he pulled away from them.

"Great. Where's the bastard we're rescuing?" Skye blinked, furrowing her brows as Natasha scowled a little.

"On the other side of the compound," she didn't point out the abnormal spitefulness to her voice, maybe they would address it later but now wasn't really the time. She shifted a bit, tensing as footsteps neared them. Natasha slipped a knife from her belt, flattening herself against the wall beside the door as it opened, an armed man walking in, catching sight of Clint before Natasha surged forward, slitting his throat as Skye lightly closed the door behind him.

A soft gurgle sounded as Natasha lowered him to the ground, wiping the blood off her knife against his uniform before sheathing the blade and rifling through his pockets, stealing his security badge as Skye inspected the storage room for anything useful.

"We should start moving. They'll notice him missing anyways." Clint dragged the body away from the door, dropping him roughly before grabbing his bow, notching an arrow.

Natasha unholstered her gun as she creeped towards the door, twisting the handle with her free hand and lightly opening it.

Skye led the way out with her automatic rifle raised, scanning the empty hall before creeping forward smoothly, Clint and Natasha clearing the rooms as they passed.

"This is eerie." Clint muttered softly, toeing a door shut with his foot as he found another empty room. "Are you sure there's anyone in this place?" Skye gripped her gun tightly. Shoving a door open with her foot. The room looked like a command center, the desks abandoned, Natasha venturing into the room towards a desk as Skye glanced around quickly.

"Coffee is still hot, they just left." Natasha glanced over the steaming mug, papers scattered in a panic across the still open computers. Skye slid into one of the office chairs, typing quickly, plugging in a USB and downloading all the information.

"This is an experimentation facility." she muttered softly, scanning quickly over some of the files as they copied over. Clint lightly leaned over her shoulder, looking at the captive files as she glanced through them.

"Anything that tells us what happened?" Natasha looked back to her, still glancing around on high alert. There was no way this was all empty.

"Here. A security breach tonight. some kind of..." she and Clint went silent as the footage played, a large dog like monster unhinging its jaws, swallowing a guard whole after ripping from its cage.

"No wonder we haven't seen any movement. The higher ups initiated a lockdown after this thing got out." Natasha peered over her shoulder, frowning a little at the sight of the beast.

"Is it sentient?" Skye glanced over the file.

"There's nothing human leaning about it. It's an animal amalgamation with some- " shadowy matter consumed the beast on the feed, the panicking guards sinking into the shadows as it clawed at them, clawing at the walls and trying to cling to anything to pull themselves out of the shadows around the beast as they were dragged inside it.

All three of them stood there for a moment.

"We're locked in here with that thing." Natasha commented idly, blinking at the screen.

"We are." Skye muttered softly in return.

"We can't call for help till it's dead can we?" Clint sighed heavily, Skye giving him a guilty look. "Incredible. Let's go hunt this bitch down."

"Let's be careful about this, Clint. It took down an entire base, we don't know if we can manage it." Natasha hissed softly.

"More importantly, are any of the captives still alive?" Clint paused, glancing at Skye as she worked her way through the system, flicking through the camera feeds, finding all the rooms empty. Once she got to the cells she paused, seeing a dozen guards had locked themselves in one of the cells, two others holding some prisoners in each, a few knocked out guards sprinkled among the captives nervously peering out the door's window.

Lincoln was among them, peering out into the hall through the glass with a deep frown.

"Found him." she pointed to him, Natasha narrowing her gaze as Clint huffed out a silent laugh.

"How old is he?" Skye blinked, turning a bewildered gaze to Natasha for a moment.

"He's twenty four. I thought we went over his information?" Natasha just frowned deeper, Turning away as Skye furrowed her brows softly. Skye turned her questioning gaze to Clint as his shoulders silently shook in laughter, quickly steeling himself and giving a clueless shrug to her questioning gaze.

"What the hell is happening." she muttered softly, pushing herself up from the chair, pulling the USB out as she glanced over the other cameras.

"Where's the beast?" Natasha asked softly, gently opening the door opposite to where they had come into the command center.

"No idea. It's not showing up on any of the cameras, but the cafeteria and kitchen cameras have been corrupted so it might be lingering there." Skye frowned softly, finishing up on the computer quickly.

"You're turning off the cameras?" She nodded.

"I don't think I'm going to get by with just a gun at this rate." Clint nodded

"Can't have any records of that." he turned to the door, following after Natasha as she peeked into the hall. Skye left the computer, pocketing the USB as she followed after them, Natasha stepping into the hall with her gun raised, Skye lifting her rifle as she moved to walk in front of her.

"To the cafeteria then, we can't exactly let any prisoners out with it still on the loose." Skye nodded lightly as Clint notched an arrow, tensely following behind the two as they made their way through the compound. The halls eerily quiet as they moved.

Skye gestured lightly with her gun to a door to the left, Natasha opening it swiftly, Skye moving in quickly, scanning the room. The cafeteria was empty, some smears of blood on the floor and walls and a sign of a struggle. Just like the other rooms, there were no signs of life, food set out at the counter to be grabbed, coffee still steaming softly in mugs.

"I don't like this at all." she muttered softly, moving back, Clint watching the hallway as they moved back out of the room.

"I'm never forgiving you for this fucking horror show." Clint hissed softly, glancing around rapidly with a paranoid gaze.

"Kinda feels like we're in the predator movies." Skye and Clint glared at Natasha’s nonchalance, earning an amused smile.

"Not funny." Natasha smirked softly as Skye huffed a little, leading them further down the hall again.

"You think an explosion will kill it?" Clint muttered softly, switching out his normal arrow for an explosive one.

"Doesn't hurt to go in guns blazing to see if it works, but probably not unless we catch it by surprise," Skye muttered her response slightly, turning the corner of the hall and slowly making her way down.

There were no cross sections, only a winding hall throughout the entire base, two directions to have to defend from, thankfully they could cross off the monster being anywhere behind them with the way it was built.

They walked past the cells, eyes staring frightfully at them as they ignored them completely, Clint nervously glancing back at them for a moment before they continued forward.

"Skye stop!" a harsh voice sounded, Skye glancing back to one of the locked cells, Lincoln's voice quiet but not inaudible, one of the prisoners beside him glaring at him heatedly for the noise. Skye gestured to Clint, nodding as they moved closer.

"What do you know?"

"You need to leave right now. " he hissed softly, glancing to the side, looking down the hall they hadn't explored yet.

"We're not doing that, we're here to rescue not to flee now, what can you tell me before we try and kill this thing?" the woman beside him tensed, eyes wide at her words as Lincoln sighed softly.

"If you've looked at its files you know more than we do now." he whispered softly against the glass.

"The monster hates the speakers." The woman beside him interjected. ''It whined and screamed when the alarm went off, it destroyed them all around the base, it all stopped after a few minutes of crashing. The inkiness of the skin seemed to fade when it was blaring loudly.”

"Thank you. If all goes well we're getting you all out of here so sit tight." The woman nodded, her hands clenched tightly as she stepped back away from the door.

"Be careful." Natasha wrinkled her nose at him, glaring lightly.

She felt a strange anger towards him, one she had never felt around Fitz and Simmons. There was no one closer to Skye than them, and she didn't feel one ounce of anger towards her closeness to other people until Lincoln.

Something about him being around Skye she simply despised with a burning passion.

Clint would have continued to tease her on the matter but he was a tad too busy glancing all around the hall with a paranoid eye.

Chapter Text

"Let's move." Skye whispered softly, quickly going over the facts. The monster's skin had an inky coating that consumed matter, sucking in the traffickers for an unknown reason. The monster could unhinge its jaws, it resembled a mash of predators, and it was weak to sound. Good thing they didn't have any kind of speakers to play music since they were all… She paused.

"There were speakers in the command room attached to the computers." she muttered softly, turning a bit, stopping her advance.

"You want to go back?" Clint glanced around wearily. Natasha glanced at her, trying to gauge her response as Skye frowned softly.

"It could work to lure it back there and weaken it that way,"

"We'd have to leave someone behind while we try and find it." Natasha reminded her softly. Her frown deepened.

"It's not an option." she decided softly, quietly nudging open the door to the left. The door swung open slowly, Natasha and Clint going in first as she paused. Her gaze flickered to the side, catching a large hole bashed through into the other room. The room to which the door was behind her. She stilled, her gaze sliding to the side slowly.

"SKYE!" Lincoln bashed against the door with his fist. She dove into the room, barely ducking under the beast's strike as unhinged jaws closed around her previous position. Natasha turned, firing at it as Clint loosed an arrow, the explosion hitting it directly in the head, dust flying everywhere as Skye scrambled back, Natasha quickly moving closer to her.

They all stood stock still for a moment. The beast shook, dust flying off it as it growled lowly, the dust attracting like a magnet to its inky skin.

"Fucking hell." Clint uttered softly, the beast's head snapping towards him, leaping at him with a guttural roar. Clint dodged out of the way, Skye firing her automatic at the beast. The bullets did nothing, the noise however snapped its attention right back to her.

The room was a small office, there was one hole in the wall that the beast was blocking the door out into the hall.

Skye's mind flickered over the map, dully realizing that there were no loops to draw the beast through to distract and buy time for a solution, only a hall lined with mostly small rooms and labs. She dropped her gun, sprinting out of the room as the beast gave chase.

"Skye!" Natasha darted after her, Clint cursing softly under his breath and giving chase just as quickly. The monster bashed into walls around corners, its skin eating away at the concrete walls with every brush against it, smashing into closed doors, the wood quickly sinking into its skin as it gave chase.

"Music! They said music!" she shouted back, rushing past the door to the command center Natasha quickly darted into the command center, typing rapidly as Clint anxiously decided to stick with her.

"Music music-" she quickly clicked to youtube, clicking on the first tab for music that seemed like it would be loud and hitting play, quickly cranking up the volume. She and Clint moved back quickly as a loud screech sounded. Heavy crashing sounded, the beast coming crashing through the door, inky layer slipping off as Skye darted in after it.

The beast leapt after the speaker, Skye raising her hand and sending it sailing into the wall, the beast's skin absorbing part of the concrete as it violently pushed itself off, letting out a blood curdling screech as Natasha fired at it, Clint landing an electric arrow directly into its chest that crackled and sizzled but did not much more.

Everything was hitting but doing not much damage to the maddened beast, relentlessly going after the speakers as more and more of the inky substance dripped off of it, tossed back each time it tried to go after them, screaming and screeching loudly as its attempts grew more desperate.

Natasha raised Skye's discarded automatic, unloading it into the beast, aiming directly for its head.

It screeched loudly, flailing heavily as it bashed into the desk with the speakers, claws raking against Skye's arm as her attack was diverted to the wall.

Skye used her other hand to force the beast off, sending it skidding into the other desks as it wailed, smashing through the other computers as it swung its head screaming out in agony as it bashed its head against the wall. Natasha continued to fire, its brains splattering against the wall behind it.

They stood breathing heavily as it stilled, twitching slightly. Skye let her hand drop slowly, wearily stepping back.

"I think-" It surged forward, Clint loosing an explosive arrow as the inky coating spread over its body again, roaring as it slammed into her, jaw unhinging as she pressed a hand to the paw on her chest, claws digging into her skin as she let her vibrations rattle the beast.

The inky liquid came off in an instant, Clint firing another arrow, the explosion sending her skidding to the side as the beast's stomach exploded. It wobbled, trying to move again before he fired another arrow before it could recover the coating as Natasha rushed over to Skye.

Clint watched the beast closely, its paws still trying to scratch at the ground and disembodied jaw trying to move as it laid in a mangled pile.

"Nat?" he uttered softly, watching the scraps of the body spring into action pitifully at the noise. One paw digging claws into the ground, dragging a string of flesh and entrails as it aimlessly struggled. He raised his bow again, landing another explosive arrow into what was left. Still he watched the detached lumps of flesh and fur move desperately with no goal.

"I'm fine." Skye winced softly, squeaking softly as Natasha lifted her up in her arms.

"You have cuts on your chest and gouges on your arm. You are not fine ." she frowned deeply, hands trembling slightly as she clutched her tightly. Skye's eyes widened slightly at the tremble, turning a questioning gaze to Clint.

Clint hid his smile, nearly chuckling as Natasha fret over her, setting her down to sit on one of the remaining desks.

"Nat I'm going to be okay really-"

"We need to stitch up the gashes first, we need to stop the bleeding." Skye reluctantly gave in as Natasha pulled a small med kit from her belt, dressing the gashes to her arm and very gently applying a numbing agent before stitching the skin back together with a careful hand and a focused eye.

"The other cuts...." Natasha raised her gaze, staring directly at her chest for a minute, blinking once, then looking away quickly "They don't seem too bad, we can have a shield medic address it." she whispered softly, voice going unusually quiet as Skye's brows shot up.

Clint slapped a hand over his mouth, coughing roughly to cover his laughter as Natasha turned a murderous glare to him, cheeks dusted pink.

"What are you laughing about?" Skye glanced between them, Natasha turning quickly away so she couldn't see the blush on her cheeks.

"Oh uh- noth- pfft- nothing." Clint cleared his throat, quickly forcing himself to regain composure as he grinned slyly. "We should go free the captives." Skye raised a brow at him, just sighing softly and nodding when he kept up the innocent act.

"You two have been acting weird since you got here." Natasha winced a little as Skye turned away, making her way down the majorly destroyed hallway back towards the cells. Clint followed behind her, walking beside Natasha with a sly smirk.

"Shut up." she hissed softly.

She was acting weird. She was severely compromised and most importantly she didn't even know why .

She had no particular feelings about Skye. She didn't. This was an unrelated problem. It had nothing to do with her or her chest-

Natasha squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, forcing the thoughts away.

Skye stared at the lock for a moment, glancing back at them just as Natasha managed to fully compose herself and stave off the burning in her cheeks. (What the hell was that even a symptom of? she wasn't sure)

She grabbed it tightly, rattling the internal mechanisms until she could easily jerk it open. She moved on quickly to the second cell as the captives very nervously stepped out.

"Where did the monster go?" The woman she spoke to earlier asked through the glass as she worked on their cell door, rattling a little harder to break the lock before pulling the door open.

"It's dead." Lincoln worriedly looked at her bandaged arm.

"Were you hurt? I can take a look at it." She shook her head lightly as Natasha glared at him from behind, Lincoln pausing at the outward hatred as Skye responded completely oblivious.

"Nat already patched me up, I'll just get assessed back at Shield medical when we get back."

Clint was leading the captives towards the exit, Skye following after, keeping pace with Natasha as Lincoln caught up with them both.

Something about Skye's response had a slight smugness settling inside her, not that she could exactly pinpoint why.

"I'm sorry for causing you such a hassle." he apologized softly.

"It's no trouble at all. We never leave our own behind. Now, Gordon is waiting for your call so get somewhere isolated pretty quick. We have someone waiting to look you over and make sure you're alright." his smile widened at her in a way that Natasha truly despised.

"We should go get you checked out yourself." Skye blinked as Natasha quickly pulled her away, Lincoln glancing between the two, Clint settling next to him for a moment.

"I feel like I'm intruding on something." he muttered softly, watching Skye smile brightly as Natasha spoke to her. Clint just snorted softly, moving off again to talk with the local police who had arrived at word of the commotion.

"What the fuck were you thinking!" A quinjet landed, May glaring murderously at Skye as she winced.

"I didn't want to drag you into it!" she defended quickly. Coulson folded his arms, looking disappointed as Skye hung her head.

"That was reckless and stupid." he frowned deeply, brows furrowed together as he leveled her with a disappointed stare.

"I'm sorry!" she apologized quickly, May still glaring heavily at her.

"You went along with this?" her glare turned to Natasha.

"Would you rather I left her to go in alone?" Natasha replied sharply "Before you scold her too much we should address her wounds more properly." suddenly her heavily wounded arm and the cuts were all May could focus on.

"The other team will handle processing and helping the captives return home, we'll be taking you to medical." Skye nodded, entirely defeated as Natasha hesitated, frowning deeply as she watched her leave.

"I don't like this feeling." She muttered softly, waving bye to Skye as she gave her a wave with her good arm, grinning widely at her.

"Love can be rough." Clint was chuckling now as they moved towards their own quinjet, Natasha glaring at him.

"I'm not in love." she argued. "I can't be in love that's..." she frowned, folding her arms as she took her seat in the cockpit, Clint sliding into the pilot's seat as she scowled. "Then what else do you call how you reacted to Lincoln getting her attention?" 

"I just don't like him. It's nothing more." she replied firmly.

"You didn't have any issue with him until Gordon mentioned Skye helping with his transition period and offering support." Clint pointed out "You hated him before you even set sights on him with way too little information." he added, watching Natasha's scowl deepen for a moment.

"I'm not enjoying these games you're playing clint." she snapped, glaring firmly at him. He dropped the teasing smile, sighing softly.

"You don't have much experience with love do you?" Natasha rested her head to the side against the wall of the jet.

"I loved my sister I think. We were very close. I've never had a bond with anyone else since we were separated." She spoke softly, hands clenching tightly into fists. "No jokes this time Clint." she spoke firmly, Clint glancing back to her, sighing softly.

"You were exceedingly excited to see her, her presence alone brings you happiness, whenever you get a text from her you look happy, and you've spent this entire mission acting jealous and possessive of her because of a guy similar in age who clearly has feelings for her. Besides, you stared at her chest for a minute then blushed Nat, you never get flustered and you got flustered so much during this mission. You were so worried about her your hands were shaking, If this isn't love then I don't know what is."

Natasha remained still as Clint ended his speech, looking at her worriedly as she sat stiffly in her seat, hands clenched tightly and knuckles losing color.

"What do I do to get rid of it?" she muttered softly.

Clint paused, tapping lightly on his leg as he considered.

Natasha, as tough as she was, was fragile when it came to emotions, to friends and family and something more. Meeting Laura was hard for her to accept, hard for her to conceive that Laura was so open and happy to have her as a part of their family now, an aunt to her kids.

"You could try if you wanted to, but are you okay never texting her, not seeing her anymore?" She stiffened, nails digging sharply into her leg as her gaze snapped towards him. He just stared forward, feeling the shock his words created.

"I-" her voice died out quickly, "Why would I have to do that?" she asked softly, something slightly desperate about her tone.

"Think about it. If you want to stop loving someone you can't be around them. You can't indulge in being around them and talking to them. That would be unfair to you both to try and deny your feelings while building a deeper connection." he pointed out "But you don't have to get rid of those feelings." he added quickly.

Natasha froze, staring at him with a heavy disbelief.

"I... why wouldn't I have to get rid of them?" he frowned softly.

"Out here isn't like the red room. You saw my life, you saw my love for Laura and my kids. You're allowed to have that too Nat. If you love her that's fine, you can act on it if you want but you don't have to. You don't have to do anything." Natasha stared through the window, distracting herself with the flock of birds flying far ahead of them as Clint lowered their altitude slightly to avoid hitting them.

"I don't want to tell her." she muttered softly.

"Okay." he nodded softly "Just wait till you're ready to, it can wait as long as it needs to, but you have to understand if you don't tell her she may move on to someone else before she can even give you a chance." Natasha's hands clenched tighter, not responding as Clint glanced back to her again, sighing softly.

He would have to let her work it out with herself for now. There was nothing he could do to fix the programming she'd endured overnight, she would have to push herself outside her comfort zone on her own. He had a feeling Lincoln's existence may force the issue a lot sooner than later if there were any more interactions between them.

Chapter Text

Lincoln being chosen to go through the mist in the summer was something natural after so many discussions and hesitations after the catastrophe that befell Katya and Eva due to her harsh journey through the mist and feeling so many emotions she had never felt before. Her terrigenesis had soured the elders, driving away any carelessness in the selection process that might have existed before due to the shared belief of terrigenesis being a birthright.

Natasha hung around the campus a lot more, which usually meant a very amused Clint also hung around the academy grounds as well. It seemed oddly like they were coming to the academy between missions rather than going to Clint's home or back to Shield headquarters to receive their next assignment as quickly as possible.

Natasha was starkly unmotivated in Shield matters, it was odd to say the least given how devoted she had been before. Skye had never imagined she'd be helping the highly skilled assassin dodge Fury to avoid assignments.

It made her oddly happy that Natasha was going through so much effort only to spend the extra time with her. The feeling was strange in her chest.

"Are you and that red head dating?" Skye choked, coughing roughly at Lincoln's question. Her heart was racing, white hot fear coursed through her veins at the question.

"No. What made you think that?" Lincoln paused, his brows raising at her for a moment before shrugging a little.

"You just have that look towards her." he decided not to bring up Natasha's death glares for daring to even be near Skye quite yet given how quickly Skye was to deny anything was there at all.

"That.....you're mistaken." She shook her head quickly, denying the accusation quickly.

"Why would dating her be so bad?" Skye swallowed thickly, her hands clenching tightly. Lincoln paused as he noticed her knuckles turning white. Truthfully the idea of liking a girl sent her into a spiral of fear and panic.

She still remembered well why that fear was there. She was only five, she didn't know any better than to share with the nuns at the orphanage. She still didn't quite recall which nuns were nice and which were mean, so she slipped up innocently.

She'd never been beaten like that again in her entire life, all for innocently having a crush on a girl. The nuns never liked her, but she'd never received such cruel hatred like it before then. She never told Tony about it, she never told anyone about that time. About pleading and crying in that dark cellar, begging to be let out. When she was finally let out two months later the nun convinced the others she had run away and just returned.

Skye didn't argue. She didn't speak in the months that followed either, not even to the kind boy who had taught her coding who so sharply knew something had happened.

So the thought made her want to tremble, back to times of being beaten to an inch of her life until she vehemently scorned any idea of any kind of queerness.

The nun was proud after that, proclaiming to her like minded friends that she had beaten the lesbian girl into straightness, that she had 'Fixed' her.

"I'm sorry." he uttered softly, backing off quickly as he watched her try and regain herself. There was something about the pure fear that flickered in her eyes that unnerved him. Like the very observation of how she reacted to Natasha was a violent threat.

"You know, it's okay to like girls." he muttered softly, frowning a little as her hands trembled lightly. Her leg bounced a little, anxiety bubbling to the surface as she glanced at him nervously. No one had ever told her something like that before. Everyone she'd talked to when she was young scorned her for even asking and scolded her violently for how she felt. This conversation was dangerous .

"I've dated guys, it's really not so bad." her gaze snapped to the side to look at him as he laughed a little nervously. Something in his hesitance and his nervousness about the admission calmed her own nerves a bit. He pulled one knee to his chest. "It's not bad to have those feelings." he added. He liked Skye, he really did, but if she only just agreed with his feelings out of some religious guilt he really didn't want it.

He wanted to see her happy most of all.

She leaned back into the couch cushion, staring blankly as the credits of the movie rolled across the screen.

"How did people react when you came out?" Lincoln frowned a little.

"My family is super religious. They were furious. I lost all of them and my dad beat the shit out of me." he admitted softly. Her hands clenched a little tighter, her heart clenching tightly at the admission. "But my friends held me up. I stayed with the family of one of them and they helped me a lot. They became my new family, and we still talk a lot. Just.... less so since I started drinking a lot. I think they're worried for me but they don't really know how to help. Since I got sober we've talked a lot more." he rambled softly, still hesitant to talk about it.

After a long pause he sighed softly. "It was hard, really hard." he admitted softly. "Not just because my family wasn't accepting but because the world wasn't either. Finding someone to love was a lot harder too, but it was worth it. I worked through all the guilt and self hatred. There's nothing wrong with how I am, there's nothing wrong with you either." Skye swallowed thickly.

"You need to rest, Terrigenisis will be hard on your body. You should relax for the next few days while we prepare." her voice was soft, almost hollow as she got up, leaving the room with rushed steps.

Lincoln sighed softly, frowning a bit as he rested his chin on his knee.

"I pushed too much." he muttered softly.

Skye didn't show herself to him for a couple days after the conversation. She delved deeply into studies, familiarizing herself again and again with all the knowledge that Jiaying had gathered and recorded throughout her life. She had already memorized her writings but she went over them again a few more times.

Simply to waste time, to avoid.

She didn't want to think about it, she didn't even want to consider the possibility of having any feelings for Natasha.

Even if she did, it was a higher chance Natasha would be entirely repulsed by her if she admitted it than having any favorable reaction.

Whatever favorable meant in this situation, because favorable certainly could not end in a lesbian relationship. She wasn't a lesbian, she couldn't possibly be one anyways. She took a few days to calm down and fully deny whatever Lincoln had said about the matter.

Lincoln was wrong, it was simply like that, there was nothing to worry about. She wouldn't lose her family, she didn't like women.

"Your friend Natasha is bothering me a lot these days asking about you. I had to deny her request to come visit you." Gordon looked a little amused at the situation, Skye did not feel amused at all.

"The rules are strict, we can't bring any outsiders into Afterlife." Gordon nodded in a light agreement.

"We're ready for the ceremony tomorrow, have you gone over everything you needed to?" she nodded a little, "Yat-Sen will be handling the initial introduction as we've discussed and I will act as his guide. Which is really ridiculous considering I am younger than even Lincoln." she huffed a little

"You're the most qualified." Gordon insisted quickly. "We would not seek your help if you were not." Skye shook her head lightly, easily dismissing the kind words as just that.

"I'll speak with him shortly." Gordon nodded, smiling lightly.

Chapter Text

His transition period went very well. His body was quick to acclimate to the electricity flowing through his veins, although the initial pain could only be soothed minimally no matter what medical remedies they tried to alleviate it.

Lincoln endured fairly well through the first week, working diligently with Skye's guidance to properly use his powers, acclimating his body to it faster than if he just let it sit for a while.

Natasha bothered Gordon more throughout her absence, and Gordon grew increasingly more amused with it while Skye grew more anxious.

Lincoln didn't bring up the topic again despite looking far too tempted to do so every time they talked to each other.

She ended up with a week free to go visit home after spending a month guiding Lincoln to a stable state where the elders could pick up where she left off with him. Going home proved to be a bit of a mistake as well. If anyone was going to notice she was acting off it was positively going to be her family.

"What's wrong? You've been dazed since you got here." Tony was the confrontational type when it came to issues mental or physical that needed to be addressed. He liked to tackle everything head on, it did wonders for his business.

It did not do wonders for Skye's frayed emotional state right now.

"I'm fine, just a little tired." she deflected.

"Did Lincoln's transition through the mist go badly? We didn't hear anything from Gordon." He narrowed his gaze, frowning deeply as Skye shook her head.

"It went really well, he's taking to his powers and has built up a lot of control already. His progress is amazing in such a short time." she muttered distractedly, fiddling with the loose fabric of her sweat pants as she spoke.

"Skye, I can help with whatever it is, even if it means just sticking around watching movies and eating pizza to cheer you up." He assured her softly, reaching out and grasping her hand in a gentle grip.

Her throat felt like it was closing up when she considered even asking him the kind of question on her mind. Before Lincoln the only reaction to queerness had been with violent scorn and pure hatred. She should keep the questions for herself. She didn't want to ruin her family, not like this, not when she loved them so much.

"Skye, no matter what it is I'll always love you alright? You don't have to be afraid of that kind of thing. I'll never leave you." He could read the look in her eyes, the same look she had always given him in the first years of staying with him, a look of fear and pure anxiety that her mistake would cost her his affection and she'd be abandoned again just like that.

Her hands trembled lightly, but her lips remained firmly shut as her throat constricted, viscerally protesting as she began to open her mouth slightly.

"Is it okay to like women?" Tony blinked. her blood ran cold as he paused at the question. she pulled away from his hands a bit, stopped as he tightened his grip.

"Of course, why wouldn't it be? Do you have a crush on someone?" His grin was wide, stifling his excitement a bit as she shrunk a little at the second question. "Is this what has you so anxious?" he asked softly. She hesitated before nodding lightly. He paused, considering his words carefully for a moment.

"There's nothing wrong with liking the same sex Skye, who told you it was wrong?" She wanted to fiddle with something, anything, but the way he held her hands lightly in his own made her have to stop and still the movement. She wanted to be anywhere but here right now.

"The nuns, at the orphanage." she pulled away a little. He didn't stop her this time, watching her tap her fingers lightly against her knee as she shifted away from him a bit.

"They're nuns, they're mean and they're judgmental, and they're mostly wrong about a lot of things anyways." He had to stop himself from considering how heavily this had impacted her, to have something that happened when she was so young still impact her so heavily. "Do you want to talk about it?" her heart sank, but she didn't refuse immediately.

"I..." her voice died out softly, her hesitance strangling her words softly as she paused, swallowing down the lump in her throat thickly. "I had a crush on a girl in our group when I was younger." she admitted softly, very anxiously gripping the bottom of her shirt as she refused to meet Tony's gaze.

"I told one of the nuns, she was furious." she stopped there for a minute, hand clenching into a tight fist around the fabric of her pant leg. Tony shifted a bit to sit beside her, wrapping an arm gently around her shoulder. He tugged her softly to lean against him.

"You don't have to finish if it's too hard." he uttered softly, reaching out with his free hand, gently intertwining their fingers. She gripped his hand tightly, trembling slightly.

"She beat me a lot for it, I wasn't allowed out of the cellar until she believed I'd been properly fixed two months later." Tony's grip on her tightened slightly, squeezing her hand firmly.

"You weren't fixed Skye. There was nothing wrong with you to begin with." he spoke softly, reassuringly as he rested his chin atop her head, pulling her closer into a hug. "Liking girls is fine, frankly I'm thrilled you found someone to like at all, you hate meeting new people so much I'd given up hope already." She crackled a soft laugh at the light jab, Tony grinning lightly as he chuckled softly.

"There's nothing wrong with it at all Skye, I know it might take some time to accept that, but it's the truth. Now, show me a picture of your crush, is she an agent?" he wiggled his brows at her as she pulled back, pulling a soft laugh from her as she rolled her eyes.

"No way." He pouted, whining a bit as she refused to show him any pictures of her. Did she even have any? She didn't recall Natasha particularly liking pictures.

She clicked into her phone while Tony was preoccupied ordering a pizza, glancing over her pictures. There were a lot of Fitz and Simmons, a lot more pictures of designs and recording the glorious disasters they caused at the academy. She swiped lower, coming to two months before. Natasha had visited after finishing a mission with Clint. It seemed like all the pictures from that time included her in some way.

"Oh? Is she the redhead?" Skye jumped, scrambling as Tony snatched her phone from her hands, grinning widely as he glanced over the photos while she quickly dove over the couch after his retreating form. He yelped when she leapt onto his back, snatching the phone from his hand as he flailed to get it back. He laughed loudly as she retreated victoriously, cheeks flushed as Tony grinned widely.

"She looks nice, you should bring her home sometime."

"You'd embarrass me!" she spluttered softly, cheeks still red as he grinned wolfishly, cackling a bit at her embarrassment.

"Are you teasing Skye again?" Rhodey sighed heavily as he entered the room, Skye's ears burning red as Tony grinned at her.

"Skye has a crush." Rhodey's eyes widened as Skye hid her face in her hands "And she's embarrassed about it." Skye grumbled softly in response.

"I am not bringing her to the house. Absolutely not." she stilled a bit, glancing at Rhodey to watch his reaction.

"You have to at this point. What does she look like? When did you start liking her?" Skye groaned softly as Rhodey joined in easily, grinning as he pried for more details.

Her ears were a bright red by the time Pepper wrangled the two and released her from the endless light hearted prying and teasing, not because her crush was a girl, but because she was a chronic loner having her first crush and she was acting like a middle schooler as much as she was blushing about it all.

Everyone was surprisingly supportive about it all. Happy and Pepper barely reacted at all to the news, more focused on the fact that Tony's introverted sister had finally decided to like anyone at all.

The teasing made her feel more at ease with the idea.

She liked Natasha and it wasn't as a friend or something as simple as that. It was something more complicated.

I was still scarry, but the fear of losing her family had simmered down to nothing at their reactions to the news ranging from teasing her about having a crush at all to just shrugging and smiling, asking about her crush and wanting to pry more information from her.

She had settled in so well with her family, but every now and then a spark of worry built up and they managed to squash it down perfectly every time. Tony was her constant reassurance in the love they had for her, always asking for her to visit home, always wanting to see her or talk to her.

The only thing she forgot to anticipate was how she'd react to Natasha now that she'd fully thought about her feelings and acknowledged them.

Chapter Text

Joining them on a mission was very awkward after she came back. Natasha reacted just as stiffly and strangely as she did, and instead of talking easily Natasha ended up sitting in the copilot's seat next to Clint while she sat in the back looking over the mission details.

Clint just smiled in mild amusement as Natasha frowned deeply beside him, brows furrowed as she glanced back to Skye every now and then.

"You know...." Natasha elbowed him to shut him up, Clint laughing softly as Natasha glared at him heatedly.

They got to the drop point in complete silence, coming to the hotel they'd picked out for the mission. It was in the middle of the woods this time so they had to camp out, carrying one large tent with them to save space in their packs and lighten the load while they made their way to the small village they were surveying for their targets.

They were just hunting a team, Skye wasn't quite sure why they needed her for this, but she'd never fought or questioned her assignments so she just went along with it.

They needed to avoid coming in from the air too close since the team were fleeing from any arial approaches so they had settled into a day long hike to the remote village.

She and Natasha barely spoke. When they did, Skye felt a heavy pressure she hadn't before, the weight of her feelings weighing down on her interactions with Natasha. She felt oddly nervous around her now, clamming up to the personal and intimate conversations they had so easily had before.

Natasha was noticing it too, she seemed upset, but similarly awkward in how to approach her as she was acting now. She had to feel a bit guilty at the stress she was causing her. Natasha was kind and always went the extra mile to involve herself in her interests, of course she deserved a lot more than the nervous responses she was giving right now.

Clint just observed in heavy amusement as Skye and Natasha fumbled about conversation and eventually stiffly stuck to mission details only. Natasha was getting progressively more upset with herself, assuming she had done something wrong, and Skye was just getting more awkward as time progressed. It was hilarious . of course it was only really funny on his end, but at least one of them was enjoying the situation.

"Uh so... the targets were reportedly around this address." Skye muttered softly, Natasha nodding stiffly in response as they continued to move forward, seeing the village now as they trekked up the mountain. Skye quickened her pace, moving ahead of them as Natasha slowed a bit until she was side by side with Clint.

"What am I doing wrong?" her gaze was hard as she looked to Clint for an explanation. Clint chuckled softly. He had been wondering too for a little bit, until of course Natasha hugged her on greeting and he noticed the light blush that dusted her cheeks matching Natasha's.

It seemed like Natasha wasn't the only one who had a sudden realization about their feelings. Skye was suddenly just clamming up and getting awkward around her, which to him clearly meant Natasha's feelings were clearly reciprocated.

"I can't help you on this one. You've got to figure it out on your own this time." Natasha scowled at him, clearly knowing he knew exactly what was going on but had decided not to share this time. When it came to people and emotions he was usually fairly reliable in explaining them to her and why she got the reactions she did, of course now of all times was when he started deciding she needed to figure it out by herself.

They split up to investigate the town and talk to the locals about any newcomers. Clint and Natasha drew up blanks, but Skye came back with enough intel to track them down and a wool shawl.

"Did you buy something?"

"It was given to me, apparently I'm quite trustworthy. Did you two gather anything?" Clint shook his head, Skye raising a brow at him lightly. "Well, they're holed up in a cave a mile south of here. I confirmed with a few other people. They seem to be using it as a place to scope out their targets. Two villagers have been killed so far and they've begun taking shifts watching for them and have been able to scare them off since with minor injuries. They seem trapped here, probably ran out of fuel in the area." she relayed.

"Who gave you the shawl?" Natasha's gaze was sharp, gaze narrowing as Skye glanced away for a moment before moving towards her.

"One of the older women at a small market." she lifted it off herself, wrapping the shawl around Natasha with a smile. Natasha stiffened, blushing lightly as Skye smiled at her. She quickly averted her attention back to the task at hand, hiding her own light blush as Natasha light adjusted the shawl, entirely captivated by it now as Clint smiled lightly, shaking his head a bit. These two were way too oblivious with the way they were both acting right now.

"Focus Nat." He tapped her shoulder lightly, snapping her from her trance abruptly as she looked up to the cave entrance. She clutched the fabric tightly for a moment, startled by her own reaction as she refocused on the mission, pulling both her guns from their holsters as they got closer.

Dispatching the group was quick and simple, they were minimally trained with high tech gear and not much else to their names. The jet they had, as Skye had predicted, was simply out of fuel. They were a group with minimal skills, and even poorer planning skills if getting stranded here was any tell.

"These definitely aren't the guys you were looking for." Skye rolled one of the men over with her foot. Natasha crouched beside him, looking over his gear lightly.

"Agreed, these are armatures. The group who pulled off the robberies were skilled professionals with a lot of money to fund it. The only thing they have in common is the equipment." Natasha searched through his phone, Skye glancing over the group of dead men before rooting through the pockets of one of the larger men carrying more expensive equipment.

"Jet has some trackers on it, we could wait for backup to get here and wipe them out." Clint popped out from the jet after a couple minutes.

"Sounds good, looks like backup is already on the way with extra fuel to dig them out of this mess. They've gotten a few messages through to a larger organization. I'll have to look into it more when we have some reliable connection." Natasha nodded lightly, more focused on carefully avoiding getting the shawl dirty with blood as she gently stashed it away in her pack in preparation for the next fight.

Skye glanced over at her at the action, Clint softly rolling his eyes.

"I'll keep watch, you two ladies work out the weirdness going on here." Skye stiffened, opening her mouth to protest him leaving before he grinned and waved, slinking off to the front of the cave. They sat in silence for a few minutes among the bodies, Skye lightly dragging her finger through the dirt to avoid fidgeting with anything else.

"Are we acting weird?" Natasha pursed her lips softly, resting her mouth against her fist in a bit of a hunched over sitting position.

"Kinda." even if she didn't want to admit it, they were both acting pretty out of their normal.

She was sure Skye was just catching onto her reactions and feeling uncomfortable because of her. The idea made her chest hurt in an odd way that wasn't truly physical pain but still seemed to imitate the feeling. like she'd lost her breath and her heart was being squeezed painfully tight.

"Am I acting weird?" Natasha ducked her head a bit, looking away from Skye. She tried to analyze the situation rationally.

Skye was acting just as odd, she was having a hard time keeping conversation they normally had no issues with. She was clamming up with the normal conversation that had been flowing well until their last mission together saving Lincoln.

Lincoln.

"How did the guiding go?" Skye shifted, a little caught off guard at the quick redirection.

"It went well, Lincoln made a lot of progress really fast so the elders felt comfortable taking over after I left."

"Did you two hang out a lot?"

"We got along well, and everyone else is either intimidated by me or almost worships me so he was really the only one I regularly talked to." Natasha's free hand tightened into a fist beside her leg, shifting a bit so Skye wouldn't notice. Whenever Skye talked about him something ugly burned in her chest.

If Clint was right and this was love she felt for Skye, maybe what she felt for Lincoln was jealousy?

She made herself flinch lightly with the thought, Skye's gaze snapping to follow her line of sight before flickering back to her with a hint of confusion and concern.

She was jealous. Jealous because Skye had spent so much time one on one with Lincoln and Natasha couldn't.

"Are you okay?" she nodded lightly in response. Both of them jumped up as an explosion sounded at the cave entrance, Clint letting out a loud laugh as they quickly made their wat to their spot.

"Fucking idiots." He snorted softly, Skye peering out just in time to watch the very closely hovering jet crash into the snow, tumbling over and over down the mountain. She winced a bit with each flip as it fell further and further down the mountain.

"They got close enough for you to shoot them down?" Natasha rose a brow, following the rapidly tumbling jet as it disappeared into the white haze-

She looked around, the ground covered in a heavy layer of snow now, coming down rapidly as wind whipped against her skin.

"Couldn't see me properly until they got close enough for a hit. But we're probably better off going back inside. If they are alive they'll be dead from the cold soon, we will too if we aren't careful." They all retreated back into the cave, digging through Clint's pack to get to the sleeping bags they'd brought with them, mostly in case of a situation just like this happening.

"This would have been a great time to call for an extraction." Skye sighed softly, flopping down onto her sleeping bag.

"Oh come on, it's just a little storm." Clint rolled his eyes "Besides we already told Maria we wouldn't need one. The quinjet is at the base of the mountain, we just need to make it there."

"Assuming it isn't buried in snow right now and assuming our food lasts that long." Skye pointed out.

"We'll be fine. If worse comes to worse we head back to the village and make some trades for accommodations." Natasha smiled lightly, shaking her head a bit at the light squabbling.

"Should have let the jet land so we could steal the fuel and get back with this useless hunk of metal." Clint paused.

"Shit." he cursed softly. "That would have been way smarter." Skye rolled her eyes, zipping herself into the layered sleeping bag.

"I'll sort through whatever rations they have left to add to ours, get some rest." Skye buried her face into the sleeping bag as Natasha passed, gently resting a hand on her head for a moment before she pulled away to go check the packs the men had brought.

"This is fucking hilarious." 

Skye glared at Clint as he grinned widely, snickering softly.

"What the hell are you laughing about? You got us into this mess!" he snickered softly, grinning a bit as he tried to stifle his laughter.

"Sorry sorry." he apologized with little chuckles, quieting as Natasha turned towards him to give him a murderous glare and he returned it with a wave and an innocent smile. Skye grumbled softly.

"You two work out the weirdness?" Skye didn't respond immediately to Clint's whispered question as he sat down next to her, huddling up in his sleeping bag.

"Not really." she muttered softly in return, her gaze flickering out of the jet's open bay door, watching Natasha sort through packs, having put the shawl back on for extra warmth.

She found her cheeks tinging pink lightly, turning back to look at Clint as he looked at her with raised brows.

This was turning out to be really fucking hilarious. It was like watching two middle schoolers figure out what a crush was while completely oblivious that their feelings were returned.

"We have a week of rations. They were pretty much out when we arrived." Natasha tsked softly, joining them in the slightly warmer jet as Clint grinned at her. She narrowed her gaze at him, wrinkling her nose a bit.

"Should be fine, this can't last more than that can it?" 

---------- 

"Clint." he stared blankly at the entirely blocked off cave entrance buried in snow.

"At least there's no wind now." he muttered softly. Skye glared murderously at him.

"I'm going to fucking kill you." She hissed softly. In six days the storm had picked up heavily and unrelentingly, only getting worse and worse as time passed until the cave entrance was completely blocked in by the unrelenting snow.

"If we are desperate we could start eating the bodies." Clint and Skye turned horrified looks to Natasha at the casual suggestion, shrugging a little at the looks they gave her. "According to American laws cannibalism is legal if there's no other choice" she added, a tad defensive.

"We are not eating people!" Skye declined quickly.

"Yeah that..... that one's pretty out there Nat." Clint laughed nervously.

"It might become necessary." Skye glanced back to the wall of snow. They'd found a singular pair of snow shoes among the packs they'd raided, and because of the constant storm they'd decided against making the trek down the mountain back towards the village or the quinjet which was hopefully not buried in snow.

"I could go out there and head towards the quinjet."

"Absolutely not, if anyone is going it's the one who got us into this mess." Clint pouted softly as Natasha gave him a soft glare.

"Let's think about it logically though, either of you would have to spend at least a day digging the quinjet out, I could blast the snow with my powers and get back here with time to spare." Natasha frowned lightly, glancing at Clint.

"You do have a good point." he sighed softly, conceding a bit. "But it's still dangerous to go out there alone, and how would you find your way back to us?"

"I can sense the vibrations of your bodies, and we'll have to dig out an entrance anyways." she coaxed "We have a day left of food and I am definitely not eating human flesh so it's now or never." Natasha frowned deeply.

"We could try calling for help instead."

"With what signal?" Clint rose his brows.

"We can use the satellite phone and give our coordinates and Skye could blast it into the air out the cave entrance. It'll probably get high enough to send the message." All three of them sat in silence for a minute.

"I like my idea of going down to the quinjet, if we do it that way we'll just stay here hoping the message got through and possibly die if it didn't." Natasha frowned deeply, brows furrowing lightly as she glanced over to Skye.

"I'll come with you then, just in case."

"Nat there's only one pair of snowshoes." Clint pointed out.

"I don't give a shit, I'm going with." Skye opened her mouth to protest but no words came out, her cheeks heating up slightly. Clint gave her a slightly deadpan look.

Really? Was now the time for their oblivious flirting nonsense?

"I- alright. We'll go together."

Natasha was less than thrilled when they figured out that them going together meant Skye would be carrying her down the mountain herself. Their weight combined didn't compromise the snow shoes at least so maybe there was something to be thankful for.

"This is not the kind of situation I was anticipating." she muttered softly. They'd been close a lot before, they'd shared a bed when need be even.

This felt different. She knew exactly what she was feeling now and she knew why she was feeling that way and Skye's unbearably kind personality was not helping a single bit.

"Sorry, this was kinda the only way to bring you along." Skye laughed softly, only a bit out of breath now as she moved at a decent pace down the mountain, using the satellite phone's coordinate feature to navigate with partly frozen hands.

She was thankful Natasha couldn't see her face from where she was. Her face was almost entirely beet red, hands grasping Natasha's thighs in an almost trembling grip to keep her on her back, her arms looped loosely around her neck and resting leaned on her shoulder.

She had a feeling Clint had figured something out and was mocking her the way he Cheshire grinned at them before they left for the journey back to the quinjet. Maybe it was her beet red face (Spoiler: Both of them were blushing heavily and Clint was grinning because he had snapped a picture of the two very flustered Shield agents trying to rectify the situation with themselves and Natasha's crumbling pride)

"Why did you want to go together so badly?" Natasha tensed lightly, working hard to keep her reaction minimal with how close they were together. Skye swallowed thickly as she felt Natasha's thighs tense up in her grasp, closing her eyes for a moment as she took a deep breath.

Pure thoughts, pure thoughts only. This was purely out of necessity and nothing else-

"I worry about you." Natasha admitted softly, the arms looped around Skye's neck tightening slightly, a hand resting on her shoulder gripping it lightly. "I didn't want you to be out here alone. I'm sorry I pressed it, I've been more of a hindrance than help."

"You- you're not a hindrance." Skye denied quickly, her blush brightening. Natasha had come because she was worried about her?

"You're literally carrying me right now." Natasha deadpanned softly.

"I would have had to keep a slow pace anyways, and I have some-" she paused. "-enhanced strength..... with my inhuman......." Natasha's gaze turned entirely flat.

"We're so fucking stupid." she spoke with an entirely defeated tone.

"No, we don't need help." how the hell did she just simply forget they could call Gordon for help right now instead of freezing their asses off getting down the mountain. "We've got this." Natasha gave the back of her head an unimpressed look as Skye tried to hide her heavy embarrassment.

It took eight hours for them to make it to what seemed to be the quinjet and only a minute for Skye to clear the snow off of it and get it started, turning the heating to the max settings as they got it up in the air and moved towards the coordinates of the cave.

"You two look pretty defeated." Clint climbed in, looking entirely relieved as the door shut and the heating was able to take over.

"Well, we did realize halfway down the mountain that Skye's right hand inhuman at Afterlife is a teleporter and this entire thing could have been solved with a single word, but we were halfway there anyways so we decided to see it through." Skye groaned softly, her face pushed into her hands as Natasha smirked lightly.

Clint laughed loudly, almost cackling as they finally flew out of the storm.

"It was for realism alright!? They would be suspicious if-"

"There was a random spot of snow cleared perfectly for our jet?" Natasha chuckled softly, watching Skye crumple further.

"I dislike you right now." Natasha rolled her eyes softly.

"We're out and in warm weather from now on so that's all that counts." Clint grinned, interrupting the quickly turning awkward exchange as Skye started to clam up again.

He entertained most of the conversation on the way back to the academy, making sure to fill the awkwardness that was hanging painfully in the air again.

"I'm dropping you off this time. I'm going on a short break to go see Laura and the kids. Figured you'd take the chance to spend some more time with Skye and her friends." he smiled teasingly because despite how awkward and weirdly they were acting there was no way she turned down visiting Skye.

"Sounds good." she muttered softly, nodding a little as Skye smiled a little hesitantly at her. 

Chapter Text

"Do you want to talk about how weird you're being or is this going to be one of the things we pretend isn't happening?" Coulson grinned a little teasingly at her as she buried her face in her hands quickly, avoiding looking at him as May glanced over the two of them.

"Can we just treat this like your feelings for each other and not talk about it?" Coulson nearly choked on air, his face flushing as May's gaze snapped towards them.

"Skye-"

"Let's not pretend." Skye rolled her eyes strongly.

"Fine, Coulson, I love you. Moving on, what's with this crush I'm hearing about?" Coulson spluttered softly as May moved to sit across from them in the back of the jet, already set to their course.

"It's nothing!" she spluttered "It's totally not-" she was stuttering, fumbling her words, the spectacle distracting Coulson from the confession for a moment to stare at her with a heavy amusement as she blushed a bright red. She covered her face with her hands.

Her heart was racing, embarrassment and a little bit of fear at the forefront. How much had Tony told them? Did they know her crush was a girl? What would they say? "It's..." she looked away from their intent, staring, Coulson gently resting a hand on her shoulder. "I'm in love with a girl and it feels weird." May cracked a smile.

"At least you're actually talking to people long enough to develop a crush." Skye groaned loudly.

"That's exactly what Tony said." May chuckled softly, Coulson's mind abruptly backtracking after a moment.

"Wait, you love me ?" he spluttered a bit, head turning to May.

"I figured it was obvious. I hate coffee."

"We go get it every.........." Skye grinned lightly as the revelation dawned on his face.

" Oh "

"Back to the main topic, who is she? Do we know her?"

"Absolutely not." Skye refused instantly, May pouting lightly as the instant refusal "I need to figure this crap out first before I have you all giving me love advice."

"We're not really reliable sources apparently." Coulson muttered softly, still in shock.

"Evidently not if you didn't know she's been suffering through coffee dates just to spend time with you for years." Coulson's cheeks reddened again as Skye grinned teasingly.

"Go figure out how to not fumble your words even mentioning your crush before you criticize." May pulled at her cheek a bit, earning a startled noise of surprise, pulling away with a nervous smile.

"Yeah yeah. I'll work on it."

And she did not. Not really. She had to spend a lot of her time studying and training. Projects were due and her limited break time was split between family time and Afterlife which left little room for leisure or thinking.

Of course going to Afterlife meant speaking with Lincoln again, which meant of course he noticed she was a lot less down than before.

"Received any good news lately?" he pried a little, Skye rolling her eyes, using his distraction to easily flip him onto his back, hitting the mat with a heavy wheeze as the breath was knocked out of him. He grasped at the mat, rolling onto his stomach as he gasped for air. She crouched right beside where he laid as he huffed out a soft laugh.

"Message received, Training only." he grinned a little, still catching his breath as she hesitated for a moment.

"I talked with my family, about what we spoke about." he stilled, quickly going over his memories before one conversation quickly stuck out like a sore thumb. He quickly pushed himself up to a sitting position, Skye still crouched in front of him as he stared at her wide eyed.

"How'd it go?" he was still a little breathless as he asked the question, a little tense as she hesitated a bit.

" It went well." she admitted. " The problem is mostly my hesitance." he nodded a little in understanding. He knew his journey of self acceptance was hard, and she seemed to have a lot of trauma surrounding it too. She was scared of her own feelings, just like he was when he was younger.

"Are you scared she'll reject you?" Skye didn't respond, looking away. When she looked back to him he was giving her a heavy look of disbelief that nearly had her falling off balance. "Dude, she nearly bit my head off every time I looked at you. It'll be fine."

"She's just a little prickly." Skye defended "She's very nice once you get to know her." she added quickly. Lincoln rolled his eyes strongly, scoffing a little.

"How about this? You take me to the academy to visit on a weekend she's there and I'll prove it to you, but you owe me one for putting myself in the line of fire like this." Skye balked a little. This was not putting him in the line of fire! Natasha didn't feel that way about her, she was sure of that.

"Fine. She's coming back this weekend, I'll set you up in one of the visitor rooms but you're entirely wrong about this." he raised his brows, shrugging softly.

"If she starts biting my head off for getting near you, you have to admit it though." She hesitated for only a moment before she nodded in acceptance. It wasn't going to happen anyways. Until of course it did.

She watched with Fitz and Jemma as Natasha glared at Lincoln, having not spotted them approaching yet. Lincoln grinned wolfishly, waving to her and running over, wrapping her in a tight hug. Natasha's glare was murderous now as he pulled away, expression decisively blank when Skye glanced towards her as she approached.

"Sorry, I'm Lincoln, it's nice to meet you two” he greeted happily, easily dragging himself away from Natasha's piercing stare boring through the back of his head in favor of chatting with Fitz and Jemma, not following the topics too easily but happy to have the murderous rage weaning off him a bit for now.

Skye was staring at Natasha throughout the interaction, noticing the minute expressions as they slipped away quickly under her gaze, an air of stiff blankness taking over under her gaze. She still stared at Lincoln sharply with thinly veiled animosity.

They moved to her dorm room, Lincoln smoothly making comments about how much time they'd spent together at Afterlife and how close they'd gotten. Skye was much more silent throughout the conversations, sneaking glances to a much more silent than usual Natasha who was continuing to stare daggers at him, hands clenched so tightly her knuckles had turned white.

As soon as she noticed it she was much more sneaky with glancing over at her when Lincoln put out ploys she knew were meant to prove to her that Natasha liked her (They wouldn't, because why would someone as amazing as Natasha like her?)

The second day of his visit, to diffuse the situation Fitz ended up dragging them to the hidden bar on campus which she more than welcomed. Natasha was downing shots every time she glanced at her, Lincoln hovering around her with a fake flirty smile and a smugness about him that said he was getting the exact reaction he had expected.

"Do me a favor when this all blows up don't let her kill me yeah?"

"She doesn't...." she spared a concerned glance towards Natasha again as she downed another shot, Jemma and Fitz leaned against the bar staring at the three as if assessing, giving each other a knowing look. "She's going to get alcohol poisoning at this rate." she peeled away, Lincoln giving her a wave as she went off to check on Natasha, joining up with Fitz and Jemma.

"You're playing a very dangerous game." Jemma raised her brows. Lincoln shrugged lightly, grinning a little as they watched Skye gently wrap an arm around Natasha's waist, the assassin easily playing up her drunkenness to keep the contact as Skye led her out of the bar.

"You're doing this intentionally to get them to confess to each other" Fitz gave him a slightly curious look as he rested his chin against his palm.

"I'm sure it'll be hilarious when Skye eventually tells her I'm gay so look out for that." Jemma laughed softly, grinning a little as Fitz smiled.

"This is great timing. Their awkwardness was getting insufferable." she huffed softly, Fitz groaning lightly at the reminder.

"Ever since they went to rescue you, Natasha's been acting like a lovesick puppy and Skye started clamming up every time they spoke since the last mission they went on together." he griped softly. "I don't get why they're avoiding each other so much." Lincoln shrugged lightly.

"Being gay is hard, especially for women in this day and age." Fitz nodded lightly in understanding, Jemma voicing her agreement softly.

Natasha leaned heavily on her, basking in the warmth as Skye led her through the dark campus, keeping a firm hold on her waist as she leaned more into her. She only opened her eyes when she heard keys jingling as Skye unlocked her dorm room door, gently pushing her inside. She gave a half stumble into the room, Skye closing the door behind her as she laughed softly.

"Why did you drink so much? You usually don't drink at all." Skye's smile was soft, nervous as Natasha flopped down into her bed, laying on her side as Skye sat beside her, reaching towards her face gently. The movement was hesitant as she gently brushed her hair behind her ear, her eyes fluttering back open in an instant as Skye drew her hand away.

She grasped her hand quickly, pulling her hand back to her face, pressing her hand against her cheek in a single minded want for more of her touch.

Skye blushed lightly, her cheeks twinging pink as her throat tightened. Her heart beat quickly.

"I was upset." she admitted softly, and suddenly, the fury at seeing Lincoln cozy up with her and the buzz in her head made a confession seem not so horrible, not so intimidating anymore.

"What were you upset about?" Skye's voice was quiet as Natasha gently laced her fingers through hers, still pressing her palm against her cheek as she hummed softly.

"I hate Lincoln being close to you." she admitted hesitantly, tightening her grip on her hand lightly. "I hate when he smiles at you, and when you laugh at what he says. I hate it most when you smile at him." the thoughts were spilling out all at once, unable to be shoved back inside as she scowled at the wall sourly.

"Why...would that bother you? That he's close to me." her question was barely uttered, a soft whisper of a voice as Natasha paused, looking up at her. Her heart was beating violently against her chest. Every part of her was buzzing with nervousness and fear.

Fear that if she gave voice to what she was thinking, to what Clint had told her then it would be real. And if it was real Skye's rejection would hurt more than anything. Skye was perfect and she was stained with red, she didn't deserve someone like her. But something in her wanted to say it.

"Ah, never mind, you should sleep, sober up a bit." Natasha gripped her hand tightly as she started to shy away, already regretting asking the question.

"I'm only kinda buzzed." Skye raised a questioning brow at her. Her gaze slid away quickly. She pushed herself up to sit, still holding her hand fingers intertwined as she sat beside her, feet touching the ground as their intertwined hands sat between them.

Natasha couldn't help but stare at their hands, avoiding looking at her. "I wanted to get you away from him and knew if it looked like I was recklessly drinking you'd be worried and check on me." she admitted softly. "And as for why..." she choked up a bit, her words dying out as nervousness plagued her every syllable.

"I'm not good with these sorts of things." she mumbled softly. " I've never....felt this way before." Skye's breath hitched softly, feeling the slight tremble in her hand as she still refused to look at her. "I've never loved someone like I love you.'' The words were like ice in her veins, fear coursing through her as Skye froze, squeezing her hand tightly.

She risked a glance towards her, taking in the shock in her expression with a dull acceptance before her gaze began to slide away.

"I love you too. I- I love you Nat." She fumbled her words and she stuttered softly, but she said it. Natasha's gaze snapped back towards her, eyes wide in shock as Skye squeezed her hand tightly, "I'm not really good at this either." she admitted softly, her throat feeling tight, her chest light in a way that felt foreign. " But if it's you I want to try, if you want to-"

"I want to." her cheeks burned slightly as she got ahead of herself, her heart beating impossibly fast as Skye smiled softly, leaning against her. Natasha hesitantly released her hand, wrapping her arms gently around her as Skye hugged her tightly.

"I have a lot of issues." Skye muttered softly, a half hearted warning.

"I have no room to speak in that area." Natasha admitted with a soft smile, smoothing a gentle hand over the back of her head as she leaned back till she was laying on the bed, Skye resting on top of her snuggled into her arms.

She propped herself up, Natasha resisting pulling her back in as she shifted a bit, her smile soft as she looked down at her. She brought a hand up gently to cup her face, leaning up as Skye leaned down.

Skye could feel her racing heart just as much as her own, reassured that they were both so utterly nervous about this moment as they lips pressed together softly. Natasha pulled her closer, deepening the kiss with a desperation that melted her in an instant.

She eventually pulled away, a laugh bubbled up, grinning down at her as Natasha smiled.

"I owe Lincoln a favor." she admitted with a soft smile. Natasha huffed, scowling a little, only widening Skye's smile.

"What for?"

"He wanted to prove you liked me so started his entire plan to piss you off into confessing." Natasha balked, looking both betrayed and defeated as Skye laughed, still seated on her lap as she grinned. "Also there's no need to be jealous. Lincoln is gay." her entire face flushed at the revelation, cursing softly in Russian as Skye giggled, collapsing on top of her. Natasha rolled them a bit to be side to side. Holding her gently in unsure arms as she rested her chin atop her head in a half baked attempt to hide her heavy embarrassment as Skye let out muffled giggles against her collarbone.

The glee was overwhelming for her. She did feel a little guilty for tricking Natasha a bit, but it all paled in comparison to the fact that she had confessed to her! Natasha loved her!

It felt like her chest was bursting, her face almost hurting from the way she was smiling against her collarbone as she snuggled against her. The way her warmth surrounded her in a way she never wanted to end. She wanted to be impossibly closer in this moment, to take it in and let it last an eternity wrapped in her arms basking in the fact that the woman she loved, loved her back.

the fact that everything she'd been told was wrong, and that the love she had for Natasha was okay, it was fine, wonderful even.

She held her tightly, letting herself drift off in the warmth of her embrace.

Chapter Text

"The leather jacket is the better option but do you want to let me in on what this meticulous outfit planning is for? You've never cared about cohesive outfits before." Pepper was sitting on her bed, having been unceremoniously dragged from her work to get opinions on outfits. Skye blushed lightly and Pepper's eyes widened.

"You asked her out? You have a date with her? When? Is she cute? Can I see her?" she asked quickly, smiling widely as Skye hid her face in her hands.

"She confessed to me, we're going to spend my last day here together tomorrow before I go back to the academy and uh... just last week." Pepper's smile widened, squealing a little as she quickly moved to hug her tightly. "Don't tell Tony though he'll embarrass me." she huffed softly, Pepper pulling away with a soft laugh.

"Of course not, I'm going to hold this over him for years to come, now, let's go with some nice black boots with this outfit, it'll fit with the jacket and it's your style anyways." Skye smiled softly, nodding.

"Thanks Pepper, I've been stressed about this since I got here." Pepper laughed softly as she rooted through her shoes, setting a pair of black combat boots aside for the date.

"You've been freaking Tony out. He's been wondering why you were so anxious but too nervous to ask about it." she chuckled softly, Skye smiling a little guiltily as Pepper hung up the rest of the outfit on the closet door. "Go spend some time with him in the lab, I'm sure it'll settle both your nerves to work on a project together." Skye's smile widened, nodding in agreement.

"Sounds like a plan, I'll probably die if I have nothing to do at this rate." Pepper smiled, shaking her head lightly. She'd forgotten almost completely what young love was like, Skye's nervous anticipation was infectious. She was already excited for her.

She quickly slipped away to go work on whatever anxiety fueled project Tony had started in the lab in her absence. It filled the time nicely and when Pepper eventually forced them both out to go to bed she could barely sleep.

The anticipation and the nervousness was killing her. She checked the outfit over for flaws several times over in an anxious compulsion, going back over their texts to double and triple check the date and time they had set to meet up.

She ended up sleeping only a few hours before her own anxiousness woke her up a bit before her alarm was set and she quickly got ready.

"You're up early." Tony was already leaning against the kitchen counter with a mug of coffee in his hands. He raised a brow as he glanced over her outfit. " No mismatched socks? It's a miracle." She rolled her eyes at him as he smiled teasingly.

"I'm headed out, I'll see you on my next visit."

"Your pickup doesn't arrive till later today, I checked with Coulson." he furrowed his brows a little.

"Have fun! We'll see you next break!" Pepper shut down his questioning smoothly, waving to her as Skye gave her a thankful smile before making herself scarce quickly.

"Hey hold on I was just-" Tony's protests were cut off as the elevator door shut behind her, grinning softly as she checked her phone.

'Natasha: I'm heading towards the cafe now, I'll see you soon.' She quickly stepped out of the elevator when she reached the first floor, waving bye to the secretary at the front desk who flashed her a bright smile. She let her giddiness show as soon as she left the tower, grinning widely as she kept a quick pace. They'd picked a place close to the tower to start the day at. She was hoping walking instead of catching a cab might calm her nerves a bit but as she drew closer her heart only beat faster.

She nearly melted as she spotted Natasha as she waved to her, a soft smile on her lips much like the one she'd given her the night they confessed.

She couldn't help but feel adored when she looked at her like that. It made her heart flutter and a smile play on her lips that she couldn't possibly fight off even if she wanted to (She didn't)

"I've never been this nervous before, I don't really know what to say." Natasha admitted softly as Skye sat across from her, eyes catching on the coffee already sitting in her spot.

"If it's any comfort this is new to me too, " her smile widened softly as she took a sip of the coffee. "You remembered all the way back then? We haven't had coffee together since you first came to the academy " she spoke softly, Natasha freezing up a bit at the observation, quickly looking away to compose herself as Skye resisted the urge to grin at her bashfulness.

"My memory seems better when it's about you." she admitted softly, taking a sip of her own coffee softly, ducking her head a bit to hide her embarrassment. Skye's smile was soft, giddiness buzzing in her chest.

"That's a bit sweeter than you liked before isn't it?" Natasha stilled as Skye gave her a lopsided grin. The only time they had coffee together Natasha ordered black coffee and nothing more. Natasha smiled lightly, thoughts already doing circles around the fact that she wasn't the only one who had committed such a small detail to memory, all because it was something about Skye and if it was about her it had to be important didn't it?

"I've found I enjoy it sweet." she admitted softly. It was one of the many discoveries she'd encountered with Clint dragging her along wherever he went. Coffee was a tool in her eyes, diluting it only weakened the effects and made drinking it an unnecessarily long affair.

She found herself with much more time to spare now though with Clint handing her different drinks every time he got coffee. Some she scrunched her nose up at, others she seemed to quite enjoy.

"I'm glad." Natasha found herself growing just that much more flustered as Skye smiled at her, her nerves settling softly as she smiled into her coffee.

"We should go to the park nearby, the weather is beautiful today." she suggested softly.

"I'd love that." Skye admitted " We could end the day with a movie if you'd like, there's a few in theaters that seem good." Natasha paused

"I've... never really been to a movie theater." she admitted softly.

"We have to go then. It's a lot of fun. We can decide which movie we want to watch on the way." Skye set her card down when the server came, Natasha leaning forward a little.

"I'll pay for the movies." she stated, Skye grinning wolfishly.

"I prepaid." she stuck her tongue out at her, Natasha laughing softly

"You don't even know what movie we're going to pick yet." Was that how theaters worked? it couldn't be could it? That seemed wildly disorganized. Skye shrugged with a sly smile. She could stand to waste the money to make sure whatever they picked they had good seats. "I'm treating you today so relax, I've got it covered." Natasha huffed a little, deciding she would find something else to pay for as the waiter returned with her card and Skye softly led her along towards the park.

She laced their fingers together hesitantly, Natasha squeezing her hand tightly, keeping pace with her as they walked. She barely caught sight of a dessert shop on the way, almost entirely captivated by the jittery smile flashing across Skye's face, the adoration in her gaze as she looked at her, a detail she hadn't noticed until now, hadn't let herself think was there.

"You really didn't have to!" Skye protested lightly once they left, a bag with the bakery's logo in her free hand now as Natasha led her towards the park.

"You have to let me pay for some things. I have money, Skye." she teased softly.

"You live on a government salary, I have more to waste Nat." She'd called her Nat many times before. Clint called her it mostly, but it felt somehow special now falling from her lips with that mesmerized smile and a teasing tilt to her lip.

"What do you do for work?" because she was curious, truly curious about everything that concerned her.

"I work with my brother in tech. I have a lot of key inventions to the manufacturing processes of a lot of the company's tech so I get a lot of royalties without doing much at all." she explained, "It's a lot of fun working with him." she added, her smile fond as Natasha took in every detail. "Why go to Shield then?"

"I want to do more." she admitted. "And Shield seems to be somewhere I can do that. I'm not really in it for a profit. The money is a nice side effect of what I love but it's not really the goal. I dual enrolled because I wanted to be out there, not just working on tech in a lab. Besides Shield seemed sorely in need of field techs and I wanted to learn both." It was just another reason to adore her really.

"You have very noble reasons." she uttered softly without thought.

"You do too." Skye reminded her with a warm smile, Natasha clutching her hand tightly at the unexpected reassurance, pulling her forward as she recovered from the shock. She set the bag of baked goods on the park picnic table, grinning at her as she offered one of the sweets to her as she slid in beside her. Natasha gently took the cookie as Skye fished out another, leaning lightly against her as she smiled softly.

"You're so cute." Natasha's cheeks twinged pink, spluttering a bit as Skye took a bite of her cookie. She gave up after a moment, smiling softly as she let out a soft huff.

"You catch me off guard every time." Skye grinned softly as she looked over at her,

"You're adorable when you're flustered though, how can't I find you cute?"

"When I get over this flustered phase it's gonna be game over for you." Skye's smile widened into a grin as she laughed loudly.

"I'm sure, but I'll enjoy it while I can. I'm really flustered too if that reassures you any." she admitted. "I've never been on a date before." Natasha looked over to her, eyes widened slightly at the admission. It seemed wrong, Skye was too kind to not have people adore her.

"I...really haven't either. Fake ones for missions of course but never...." she trailed off softly, embarrassment flooding to the forefront as she stopped herself. "I want to do it right, whatever that means." Skye reached over, gently resting her hand atop hers.

"We're both really awkward with this huh?" she laughed softly, Natasha giving a soft chuckle as she smiled. "We can really only do our best, so let's just have fun yeah? It's almost time for our movie, we should start walking if we want to make it." Natasha Walked side by side with her, fingers interlaced as Skye nervously chatted about random things along the way.

"Oh yeah, did you pick what you wanted to see?"

"Do you have a preference?" Skye hummed softly.

"Kind of, I have one I knew about before and wanted to see but they all seem like pretty good options." she admitted, showing her her phone screen as she scrolled past the play times for the night.

"We should go to that one, it looks good. I never pegged you for a sappy romance type though." Skye flushed, huffing a little. Natasha smiled lightly, watching her ears turn pink as they walked into the theater.

"It's the simplicity alright?"

"Mmhhmmm." Natasha smirked lightly as Skye huffed a little, getting their tickets from the counter quickly with a barcode on her phone before moving on.

She couldn't help but glance over at Natasha throughout the movie, receiving a light squeeze of her hand when she did, Natasha giving her a soft reassuring smile every time. She found herself leaning into her easily, savoring the warmth of her hand and the way she could hear her heart beating quickly even with all the noise of the movie around them.

She barely paid attention to the screen, too distracted to fully focus on the story anymore.

"You barely know what this movie was about do you?" Her face was red, blushing brightly as she was caught so easily.

"It was......I know the basics."

"You probably read the synopsis when you looked at the movie." Natasha laughed softly, walking with her. The air was cold, bitingly so as the harsh air only worsened the reddening of her cheeks.

"I.....maybe." Natasha's smile widened slightly as Skye looked away in embarrassment.

"I don't remember much of the movie either." she kissed the back of her hand gently, Skye's gaze locking onto her as she froze up a bit at the affection.

"It's late, you should get home.... I'll see you later?" she sounded nervous, hesitant in the question and far too unsure for the confidence she'd just shown in the affection she shared with her.

"We should get coffee when you get off your next mission." Skye suggested softly, "I'll text you." she added, Natasha's shoulders dropping slightly with a heavy relief as she smiled.

"I'd love to." she breathed out softly, glancing back as Clint gave her a small wave, his grin mischievous as Natasha glared lightly at him, a heavy suspicion in her gaze.

"I'll see you later, seems like you're needed." Skye laughed softly, waving to Clint as his grin widened, waving back to her as Natasha sighed heavily, glancing over to Clint. Skye took the opportunity to catch her off guard, leaning up and stealing a quick kiss as Natasha's eyes snapped back towards her, her blush brightening as Skye grinned at her.

"See you soon." Natasha uttered softly, still in shock as Skye nodded, Clint peeling her away to head towards where their jet was hidden as they separated.

"You are Whipped ."

"Shut the fuck up." Natasha hissed softly as he grinned widely, laughing loudly as she glared murderously at him.

Skye went home in a buzz of excitement. The date went well . At least she thought it did. Maybe the kiss was too much? It probably was, maybe she'd pushed it a bit already-

'Natasha: I had fun, I look forward to our next date <3' she nearly squealed, making sure not to to avoid embarrassing herself in front of the cab driver. She got out around a parking garage, heading up to the top as she tried to calm herself down.

She met May there, setting course back to the academy after getting them up in the air.

"You're acting weird." May shifted to turn towards her, brows raised as Skye smiled sheepishly. "Why are you so dazed? Are you alright?" she asked softly, sounding a little worried as she checked her over with a quick once over.

"I'm alright." she reassured "I uh... we...went on a date." she admitted softly, trying to hide her blush in her hands as May's eyes widened.

"Did it go well?"

"I think so." She nodded softly, a smile tugging at May's lips at the answer as Skye couldn't help but smile. "She's so pretty." she gushed softly.

"Show me a picture then, I want to see who you're dating." She nagged softly, Skye giving in, deciding to show her a picture they'd taken in the day mid date. May smiled softly at the picture.

"You two look happy together." she spoke softly "Is this your first date?"

"We confessed last week." she admitted, "But yeah, this was the first opportunity to go on a date so far." she was still blushing lightly, still embarrassed about talking about something like this with May of all people "We're going to go on a second." she added softly.

"I hope it goes well, she seems to make you happy." May's smile was soft as she looked to the side at her.

"How did things with Coulson go?" she snuck the question in, May giving her a raised brow amused look as she smiled a little sheepishly.

"We're going to places that have more than coffee now." Skye smile brightly, a little slyly as May rolled her eyes "And yes, they are actual dates now." Skye squealed softly, May wincing a bit as Skye grinned.

"Shouldn't I be the one excited? You went on your first date." May teased lightly.

"Mine wasn't a decade long pinning as lead up." May blanched at the number as Skye stuck her tongue out at her. "How are Fitzsimmons doing?" May snorted softly

"They're freaking out about the project due by the end of the week after break ends, they got distracted with other research and are now scrambling." Skye hummed softly, smirking a little.

"I guess we have to do some accelerated research then." May gave her a weary look.

"You're not going to flood the Campus again are you?" Skye snickered softly.

"Fitz redesigned the infrastructure, even with that much rain again it wouldn't flood like before." she pointed out " Now snow on the other hand...."

"Don't you dare." May narrowed her gaze at her sharply. "You are going to behave this time. If you need an extension ask for it, you hear me?" Skye pouted softly but didn't argue as May glared at her lightly. She grumbled softly, May rolling her eyes as Skye huffed.

After they arrived she went straight back to her dorm room, finding Fitz and Jemma inside with papers scattered all about.

"Did everything go well? You look way too happy- You confessed!" Jemma shot up, squealing loudly as Skye laughed.

"We did." she nodded

"Fuckin finally ." Fitz groaned loudly "You've been awkwardly dancing around each other for so long it's painful." Skye resisted the urge to point out he and Jemma were worse before they settled into a 'friend zone' with each other but bit her tongue

"Did you have fun? How was it?"

"It was great. We got some coffee, went to a park and finished with a movie." she smiled softly, simply resigning herself to the way Jemma tackled her in a hug, squealing excitedly before she pulled back.

"You have to tell me everything. Are you two going on a second date? Please say yes." Jemma begged lightly.

"We're going to get coffee when she's available next. Clint had to drag her off to another mission so they'll be back in a couple days probably. They always work fast." Jemma's grin widened, Fitz gathering up papers as Skye collapsed onto her bed. "I'll tell you everything else later though, I'm wiped. I never knew emotions could be so exhausting." Fitz snorted softly, rolling his eyes a bit as he poked at her cheek.

"You'll need it. We got assigned a special project while you were gone, we need it done in a week."

"Sounds about right." she grumbled softly. "Who knew being top students would be such a pain in the ass."

"We're getting paid and it's great exposure to high tier scientists." Jemma argued "There's no better learning experience!"

"That kind of money is pennies to her, Jemma." Fitz rolled his eyes "Speaking of, did you tell her who your brother is?" Skye winced slightly.

"I wanted to wait on that." she admitted. " You know, not do a whole double admission and admit I'm the hidden affair child of Howard Stark right after confessing."

"Good idea." he waved his pencil lightly, Jemma quickly organizing the papers Fitz had half haphazardly piled together to clear off Skye's bed of their projects as Skye smiled softly in amusement.

"Do you guys even use your rooms for anything but sleeping anymore?" "I keep my tea in there." Jemma defended.

"You stocked my room with the same tea too." Skye laughed lightly as Jemma scrunched her nose at the realization as her defense fell apart. "I don't mind, it's just a little funny. We used to switch around our hangout spots."

"You have a nice AC unit." Fitz pointed out. "I'm surprised you didn't pay for a bigger room though." she shrugged lightly.

"Didn't feel like I needed it. I did however not realize my room would be the main hangout spot so maybe I should upgrade next break. I kinda never considered it till you pointed it out." They both nodded in agreement easily. The space was pretty cramped for two, let alone three people to share as regularly as they did and Skye's closet was getting a bit cramped thanks to Jemma's growing clothes stash in there. Fitz had so many projects filed away in her room he'd taken up most of the other storage space as well.

If she didn't keep all her files online she was sure she'd have been out of space for their things a very long time ago.

"We can talk about the project tomorrow." she yawned softly, pulling the covers over herself as Fitz and Jemma shared a look, moving a lot more quietly as they fixed their mess into a much more organized mess, leaving her to sleep with the arrangement of papers on the floor in a much more neat manner.

They slipped right into their project the next morning, Jemma prying for details on her date every time they took a break from it or got side tracked from what they were doing.

"I'm telling you it'll be fine, we can just rush it we don't need-"

"We need a reversal method." Jemma and Fitz deadpanned at the same time.

"I got forty hours fixing the infrastructure to make sure this place never floods again from our last weather machine. If we snowed in the entire campus they would actually kill all of us this time." Skye huffed softly, perking up as her phone rang. Jemma grinned slightly, already sure of who was calling at the way her face lit up in an instant.

"Hey." She greeted softly.

"What are you up to?" Skye could hear the smile on her lips, kicking her feet behind her lightly as Fitz gave her a bewildered look.

"We're working on the weather machine project Weaver assigned while I was on break. How is your mission going with clint?"

"It's going well, it's looking like we'll wrap up early so I was thinking... Maybe I could come to campus and visit for a day or two and we can get that coffee?" she fumbled with her words a bit, Clint smirking lightly as he fiddled with his arrows, pretending not to listen as Natasha nervously chatted with Skye.

"I'd love to, I'll make sure not to snow in the campus then. We'd get in trouble if we did something like that again" Natasha coughed softly

" Again ?" Natasha laughed softly "How many times have you held the campus hostage?"

"Just once, we did flood everything though. Weaver keeps a close eye on our projects now." Jemma grumbled softly because of course Skye had gotten them into that mess, she was perfectly content to pull all the all-nighters necessary for a proper reversal system just in time for the presentation but Skye had insisted they all sleep a little leading up to the big day so of course they didn't have the time. "I'll see you when you get done, hopefully not snowed in."

"I'll see you then." Natasha smiled softly, hanging up the call as Skye grinned, hiding her face in her pillow as Fitz rolled his eyes, Jemma squealing softly in excitement for her as Fitz huffed softly.

"The deadline Skye." her attention snapped back to their project in an instant, smiling sheepishly as he rolled his eyes lightly.

"Right, we have to present on Friday." She frowned lightly "I feel like Weaver gives us too little time intentionally at this point."

"She says it brings out creative solutions." Jemma confirmed with a soft drone of a voice, clearly disbelieving of the reason or at least offended by it.

"That's insane." Skye muttered softly " But a challenge is a challenge so let's get this shit done." she pushed herself up, sliding off the bed to sit on the floor surrounded by the messily spread out papers.

"Team work." Fitz made a lazy 'yay' gesture with his arms in the air before letting out a heavy tired sigh. "Maybe I should work in fast food. Mindless work." Skye rolled her eyes.

"All of us know you would die in that line of work. The redundancies would kill you alone." Fitz wrinkled his nose lightly but didn't refute the claim.

They eventually fell asleep sprawled across her room, Jemma taking the couch and Fitz collapsed on her desk chair in a contorted sleeping position while Skye slept far more comfortably in her bed.

Chapter Text

Skye felt like she was on top of the world holding Natasha's hand in her own, resisting the urge to show exactly how giddy she felt as Simmons gave them an amused smile from across the walkway, dragging Fitz away before he could interrupt their date to talk about their latest assignment and her plans for it (She'd actually forgotten about it in the excitement of Natasha coming back to campus again, Fitz would have a heart attack if he knew that though)

"I heard Clint is dodging Fury's calls" her smile was teasing as Natasha lightly blushed at the observation, looking away with a slight embarrassment that she'd been the one to ask him in the first place.

"I wanted to spend more time with you." she admitted softly, squeezing her hand lightly as Skye's smile widened.

"What should we spend the time on then? We have a long weekend and all the time you can offer me."

"I wanted to be...more open with you. I know much more about you than you do me." she admitted. Skye squeezed her hand back tightly.

"I'm fine with getting to know you slowly, you don't have to dumb everything out like I did when we first met." she giggled slightly, a little embarrassed as she brought the memory back up. She'd been entirely stressed and overwhelmed with guilt so much so she'd spilled so much at once to Clint and Natasha she was sure the only secret she had from either of them right now was Tony being her brother.

"You deserve honesty regardless." Natasha decided "I've been trying to work on my communication skills."

"You've been doing well Nat." Natasha squeezed her hand slightly on reflex as she called her name, this time not avoiding her gaze of embarrassment for reacting, turning her gaze fully to Skye.

"I want to do better."

"Then how do you want to start?" She knew it would be like this, maybe that was why she decided to forgo asking for Clint's help with the matter and instead decided to ask for Skye's help with it. "How about, I ask how you're feeling more often and you have to be honest with me?" Skye suggested lightly, giving a hesitant smile as Natasha stilled a bit, her expression melting into a smile as she nodded in agreement.

"How are you feeling right now?" Skye was grinning softly, her chest felt light, just as excited and nervous as their first date, and their second and third not that long ago.

"Nervous." She breathed out softly, her embarrassment clear but she didn't avoid her as Skye led them away from the beaten path away from the main campus walkways and more towards the jogging routes that were definitely moved indoors by now.

"Why are you nervous?" Natasha swallowed thickly, her mind drawing an immediate blank for a moment before she worked up the courage to reply rather quickly.

"You're too good for me." she admitted "I must admit, you're perfect in my eyes." Skye's blush was bright, but her amusement was overwhelming as she grinned.

"Funny, I was thinking that about you." Natasha gave her an utter look of disbelief in response as Skye laughed, shaking her head lightly. "We'll work on that too, we've gotta give your self esteem a good boost if you can't see how amazing you are."

"Maybe you have rose tinted glasses." Natasha muttered lightly in shock. Skye chuckled, giving her a playfully disapproving look.

"Are you telling me I have bad taste?"

"Exceedingly so it seems." Skye stuck her tongue out at her, Natasha smiling lightly. She gently slipped an arm around her waist, already far more comfortable touching her than she had been on their first date, their second ending much similar.

Rather than conventional dates she seemed to prefer just spending time with her, basking in her presence even if it was in silence as Skye worked on her latest project or assignment, always getting slightly distracted by her presence.

She leaned forward, catching her lips in a soft short kiss, stunning her into silence before pulling her towards the dorm building, laughing softly as Skye began to splutter.

"That's cheating!"

"I never said I'd play by the rules." Skye mock gasped at the teasing remark, unable to help the smile that bloomed across her face at the sly but very welcome tactic. "How is everything with the Inhumans going?" she was distracting her, clearly, but Skye wasn't willing to protest it much.

"It's going well, we have a lot better organization now and our assessments are a lot more objective. It still feels odd though. I haven't necessarily said yes to being a permanent leader but in effect..."

"You've already become one." Skye nodded. Conversations like these were easy, they felt like slipping back into the relationship they had when they hadn't yet realized their feelings and were content acting as friends.

"They have really high views of me, they expect me to be better than my mother at decision making."

"Your mother?" she couldn't hide the little bit of surprise that showed on her face at the little bit of information.

"She was the previous leader of the Inhumans" she explained "She was killed when I was twelve but I never lived with her, well..." she paused a bit, debating what kind of explanation wouldn't sound utterly insane before giving up. "I mostly grew up with my brother Tony and she sent someone to kidnap me when I was eleven to reunite. She died a couple months after that and Gordon started coming to me for advice."

"I'm sorry, you must have been devastated." Skye pursed her lips lightly.

"It feels weird." she decided. "To feel sad I mean, she did die trying to kill me. I've never really talked about it much." Natasha squeezed her hand lightly as Skye used one hand to unlock her dorm room, easily flopping onto the bed as Natasha sat at her side, grasping her hand again and intertwining her fingers.

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked softly.

"Basically, my mom tried to kill me, my step dad killed her, and Gordon killed him."

"I meant how you felt about it." Natasha gave her a raised brow look as Skye sent her a bewildered one.

"I'm okay." she insisted softly " Tony hired a therapist after everything that we could trust so I worked through it eventually, but it's just.... I feel conflicted about it. She used to be a good person, I know she was. She was just....broken, by people. I can't justify what she was doing but I know why, it's not all her fault."

"Why do you say that?" Skye squeezed her hand back lightly, fidgeting with the covers with her free hand as she sighed softly.

"My mother was dissected by a Nazi scientist for her power to stay young. From what I know she was a really good person before that, and after.... her humanity was robbed from her. She was never the same."

"I don't imagine she would be." Skye glanced towards her, a little bit surprised at the answer. Natasha shrugged lightly. "When something happened and it felt like the world was ending I conformed, you rose to the occasion, and your mother became tormented. The struggles aren't the same, but it shows a little bit of what I mean." Skye remained silent for a moment.

"I love you." she muttered softly, squeezing her hand. Natasha smiled, a nervous edge to her smile.

"I love you too." she whispered softly. She still felt afraid, like every moment together risked Skye vanishing from her life forever. The urge to run away beat heavily in her chest, but she didn't let it win. Seeing Skye won out every time she grew afraid or anxious of what they were doing. There was something comforting about being near her, hearing her breathe softly and feeling the warmth of her hand in hers.

She let out a heavy sigh as a knock sounded at the door.

"Romanoff I know you're in there, get your ass out here." Fury's voice cut through the air like a knife, sharp and severely pissed off already. Skye raised a brow at her. Natasha simply flopped down beside her, facing her still holding her hand.

"I'm busy." Skye nearly choked, nearly coughing in her effort to suppress her laughter as Natasha smiled lightly at her. "Did Clint rat me out?"

"The security guard told me you came in with the scientist."

"Her name is Skye Fury, don't be rude."

"I don't give a rat's ass what her name is, you have a mission to go on and you can't dodge my calls anymore." Natasha hummed softly, paying little attention to much else than Skye snickering softly, trying to contain her amusement with the situation as Natasha very hesitantly slid off the bed as the door clicked, unlocking with a high clearance access card as she sat on the floor, leaned back against the bed with Skye's hand still in hers.

"I told you you'd be intruding." Fury stood, stunned in the doorway, and although they were no longer laying side by side the situation was far from unexplainable with the way Natasha leaned her cheek against their intertwined fingers.

"Romanoff?" he blinked, disbelief lining his words.

"I want weekends and vacation days." she hummed softly, Skye raising a brow at the sudden declaration.

"You never want time off." Which was true. Since she'd started at Shield Clint was the only one they took breaks for and even then she often continued working without him (Skye was her secondary partner, why wouldn't she want to work more if it meant she got to see her when she was called in?)

"I have new priorities." she shrugged lightly.

"And you say you're not cute." Fury sent Skye a bewildered look as she grinned softly, Natasha rolling her eyes lightly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.

"Great, my best agent is whipped."

"Two best agents. That's Skye Collins aka Cerberus. Victoria hand handles her assignments. They're pretty on par with each other." She would definitely neglect to mention the superhuman powers that put them on par, if not tilted the scales in Skye's favor.

"You're Cerberus?" he looked taken aback, blinking owlishly at the two of them as Skye hummed softly.

"And this is my room. Did you need something or were you just looking?" he glared at her immediately.

"I need your girlfriend to muster up the motivation to go on a mission and stop dodging me" he glared at Natasha firmly.

"What's the mission?"

"That's none of-"

"Classified assault on the Russian mob running some smuggling or illegal drugs and weapons. It's a twelve hour flight from here." Natasha answered.

"We can go get coffee again when you get back. It won't be too bad Nat, we could spend the day together again." Natasha risked a look towards her, melted by her smile in an instant. She let out a soft huff.

"Alright let's go. I'll see you when I get back." Fury's jaw fell slack at the easy acceptance as Skye waved goodbye to them, Natasha finally rejoining Clint to venture off to their mission location, shutting the door behind her as Fury followed after them, glaring heatedly at her.

"Cerberus? Really?"

"She doesn't like being called that." Clint and Natasha corrected in unison, Clint snorting softly in amusement as Natasha cracked a slight smile, her expression far more even now. Fury shook his head lightly, partly in disbelief and mostly exasperation.

"If you put her on more of my missions I'd be happier to go." Natasha offered. Fury scoffed.

"We don't let couples on the same missions for many reasons. You won't be an exception."

"It might be good to make one for her." Clint shrugged lightly. "Nat and Skye are an amazing team. They're scarily efficient." he whistled lowly, Natasha rolling her eyes lightly

"You know the risks," Fury denied instantly. "Besides, you're already avoiding work to spend time with her and going to work to spend time with her." Natasha shrugged lightly, her stomach dropping a bit at the hard stare. He was right. She was flunking her responsibilities to spend time with Skye. She was compromised in a big way-

"You could have just asked for more time off like Clint does." he rolled his eye strongly as her gaze snapped towards her. "Go on break when he does to visit his family, we'll give you more rest days too so stop dodging my calls."

"Yes sir." Fury was startled at the smile playing across her lips, Clint letting out a soft chuckle at her clear glee over the new arrangement before she shot him a quick glare that shut him up.

They packed up and were in the air fairly quickly, Natasha of course speeding them along to get this over with as quickly as possible. Fury however remained, lingering on campus before doubling back around.

"What are your intentions?" Fury had a narrowed gaze, Skye coughing roughly, choking on her drink as she spluttered, giving him an entirely caught off guard bewildered look.

"Am I getting the protective dad talk from Director Fury ?" he narrowed his gaze at her further, glaring at her now as she hesitated. "I love her." she answered finally, softly.

"You've known her for less than a year."

"It's taken less than a year for you to act like her dad sir." Skye offered, earning a disgruntled glare. "I'm sure you know best, fondness can grow quickly." his shoulders dropped a bit, not refuting the claim as Skye very firmly hid her nervousness with the situation.

Compartmentalizing was easy as long as she wasn't around Natasha or her family. It came as second nature after Bahrain.

"Don't cause any trouble, you won't be heard from again if you do." he didn't say anything more after the threat, walking off leaving her behind in her dorm roof as she gave a blank look to the ceiling. "This is insane." she muttered softly. She let out a soft sigh, snagging a shirt fallen from the laundry basket and tossing it back inside. She grabbed her laptop, shoving it into her backpack.

She didn't really have anything else to pack, she had way more things at the Tower and the house than she did at the dorm anyways. She was going to leave much later but now that Natasha was off on a mission she could make the trip before dark.

It didn't take too long to arrive, Tony greeted her on the landing pad of the tower, Pepper and Happy huddled inside away from the harsh wind as she hugged Tony tightly, quickly herding her inside to keep warm.

"You came early, I thought you were spending the day with your girlfriend?" The question didn't spark panic this time. She'd been working on her fear, on her discomfort with the even association.

She still felt nervous, but the panic was gone, replaced with an unsettling nervousness much milder than what it used to be.

"The director tracked her down to drag her into a mission she's been avoiding." she laughed softly, smiling as Tony raised his brows, hugging Happy tightly.

"How are you doing kid?"

"Great, I got the threatening dad talk from the director of Shield which was really interesting."

Tony coughed, Happy quirking a brow at the easy admission as Skye laughed, grinning widely.

"The director of Shield is your girlfriend's dad?" Tony asked, entirely baffled as Skye gave an amused smile.

"Not biologically, but he's gotten really close to her since she joined Shield and they practically act like father and daughter outside of all the strictly business crap like missions." she admitted, "It was pretty reassuring, she doesn't really make many friendly connections." she added lightly.

"Antisocial?" Pepper asked, a little intrigued. All three of them were listening intently to the first few scraps of information Skye had offered on her besides the picture Tony had seen snatching her phone.

"Welllll, she was a Russian spy when we kinda just.... picked her up and took her with us after running from the government. Needless to say that background really doesn't offer much trust, but she's got a good partner, he has her back."

"You don't go on missions together?" Happy asked.

"We did a lot, but there are rules in place to prevent anyone in a relationship from doing that so I'm sure that might end now that Fury knows. Who knows though we might be too valuable as a team to give up like that."

"Probably the second option, he's still practically begging me to join up and offer aid. Pesters me routinely. He probably can't afford the loss." he shrugged lightly as Skye flopped down on the couch, Happy and Pepper slowly following them towards the couch area as Tony flopped down right next to her.

"Are we breezing past her being an ex Russian spy or is that just something that alarmed only me?" Pepper piped up, looking a little exasperated as Skye grinned.

"She's the nicest, besides it's not like she had a choice in the matter, none of them did." she explained shortly, giving only enough to paint a vague picture of the situation. Pepper's brows shot up but she didn't comment on it.

"We should go to a resort while you're back, it's been a long time since you've been on a trip with us."

"Sure, sounds fun." she grinned softly "But I have to be back in five days," Tony pouted "Nat get's back then." Tony's pout morphed into a sly grin, chuckling softly as she stuck her tongue out at him defiantly.

"I'll get you back to your girlfriend just in time." he assured, his tone teasing as she rolled her eyes lightly.

"Do we want to go to a beachy area? Rhodey is booked for the week so we're on our own."

Pepper leaned over the back of the couch, flashing her an excited smile as Skye smiled back.

"Some heat sounds nice in this cold weather." Skye admitted, Happy giving a soft 'Yes!' as Tony nodded.

"Tropical it is, I'll have Jarvis chart it out."

"On it sir." Jarvis replied smoothly, already working through the planning 

Chapter Text

Tony was staring blankly at her.

“Tony quit ogling your new assistant” Pepper hissed softly, glaring at him heatedly. He rolled his eyes strongly, letting out a soft scoff. “You’ve only had her a few days, why are you acting weird already?” he wrinkled his nose at the thought, Pepper pausing for a moment. 

“I’m not ogling, I’m….confused.” he winced a little as he made the admission. Pepper raised her brows at him. She’d never seen him so blatantly disgusted at the thought of ogling a woman, he certainly wasn’t shy about it when they first met. 

“Is this that vulnerability thing the therapist was talking about?” Tony scowled for a moment, glancing at “Natalia” again as she sorted through some paperwork.

“That’s Skye’s girlfriend Pepper.” Pepper paused, turning her gaze to Natalie in sync with Tony, staring intently through the one-way glass of the office. 

“There’s no way, she’s-”

“A Shield agent, so either Fury is trying to steal some intel because I won't give it up or she’s made a vast career change.” he frowned lightly, furrowing his brows a bit as he stared at her.

“None of us know what Natasha looks like Tony.” she reminded.

“I saw one photo a while ago, and Natalie is weirdly close to Natasha.” he was glad he’d had the forethought to keep Skye under his mother’s maiden name, it was saving a lot of headaches of having to put her in the public eye. “Jarvis restricted all classified files from Natalie since she got here, I told her she was on a trial period.” 

“I also must remind you Skye is set to return home in a few hours, should I alert her of Miss Natasha’s presence?” Pepper’s face dropped as a sly grin bloomed across his face. 

“No need, she’ll see her when she gets here. We’ll meet her at the house. Tell Natalie she needs to pick up some paperwork in the offices there.” 

“Tony-”

“It’ll be funny.” he grinned widely, dragging her along as she gave him a reluctant look.

Waiting for Skye to get home was the hardest part. Natasha arrived and was sorting paperwork in his office (Meaningless things, he made sure of it) and Pepper was giving him progressively more dirty looks of disapproval as time ticked on. 

All made worth it when the door clicked open. His gaze was firmly on Natasha from that moment onward, 

“Hey Tony!-” Natasha’s head snapped around in a split second, eyes wide and disbelieving, “-You haven’t been answering my calls, did you collapse in your lab?”  Tony’s grin returned in a split second as Skye hung her coat, still not able to see Natasha from the entryway as she peeked into the living room.  

“What the hell is up with that sly look? What did you do?”

“Oh nothing.” he waved her off, his grin widening as Natasha stared at her intently, looking like a deer in headlights before she was even noticed. “But your girlfriend did infiltrate Stark Industries, I’ll have to ask Fury about that.” Natasha’s gaze snapped to Tony in full shock, Skye’s gaze finally catching her as they widened.

“Okay, so um-” Skye stumbled over her words, Tony bursting out laughing finally as Natasha glared murderously at him, her cheeks burning slightly. 

“You-” she looked between the two. “Tony- as in Tony Stark?” she squawked, looking at Skye this time as she smiled nervously.

“ Yeah but uh….I was gonna rip that bandaid off soon in my defense.” Natasha gave her an incredulous look, turning her gaze to Tony, met with a shit eating grin as he cackled. Skye turned a narrowed gaze to him.

“She’s been here four days.” Pepper sipped her coffee as Skye leaped over the couch. Tony yelped, scrambling off the couch only to be tackled to the ground mid-escape.

“You jackass!” 

“In my defense, this is so fucking funny. Nice to meet you by the way Natasha. I've heard a lot of good things.” his grin was still wide tackled to the ground, giving her a wave as Natasha tried to process the situation. 

“I’m so confused,” she muttered softly, sitting down next to Pepper at the counter as Skye and Tony continued to squabble. She’d never really found herself at a loss for words much. Falling in love with Skye was one of those times, really most of them had been because of her, but she usually knew how to recover quickly and roll with it. “Alcohol?” Pepper snorted softly, shaking her head.

“We don’t keep any in the house.” Natasha paused, briefly filtering through her memories to grab hold of an admission Skye had made.

Her brother was a recovering alcoholic, he’d been sober since she’d joined their house at six. “Makes sense,” 

“How much did she share?” Pepper was talking quietly, though her tone had a curious tilt to it, smirking softly as Tony yelped, trying to escape as Skye captured him in a headlock. Tony was always outmatched, though usually Skye let him think he had a chance.

She tried not to laugh at the unintelligible noise of defeat that left Tony as he slumped.

“A lot.” Natasha was looking at her still and Pepper shrugged.

“I was the one who helped her pick out her outfit for your first date. We know a little bit about you, but only Tony knew what you looked like.” Tony finally rose, looking incredibly disheveled, Skye grinning widely from her perch on his back, folding her arms on top of his head as he grumbled softly.

“You’re a brat.”

“At least I’m not a geezer.” she poked his cheek, sticking her tongue out at him. He grinned lightly, unable to fight off the smile before setting her down, wheezing a little.

“I’m too old for this,” he whined, sitting down at the counter, Skye finally leaving him alone, giving Natasha a shy smile  

“What made you want to keep me on staff knowing I was spying on you?” Tony grinned a little lopsidedly as Skye glared at him lightly.

“Curiosity.”

“Curiosity my ass, nosiness is what it is.” Tony grinned wider.

“What else am I supposed to do? You only confide in Pepper about these things and you expected me to not pry a bit when she walks right into Stark industries?” he prodded, grinning at her grumpy look. Skye sat down next to Natasha, a little winded but smiling. 

“So uh…. Sorry?” she offered. Natasha couldn’t help the soft laugh that escaped her, smiling softly.

“I should start expecting surprises shouldn’t I?”

“This was the last one actually.” Skye grinned lightly.

“You told her about the whole inhuman thing?” Tony asked lazily.

“When we first met actually.” Natasha mussed.

“We were hiding in a ceiling for a week. Natasha you make it sound like I spilled everything day one.”

“You started your explanation with “I lead a group of secret powered people'' you spilled everything on day three.” Skye rolled her eyes lightly as Natasha smirked slightly, Pepper and Tony giving Skye scolding looks as Natasha quickly gave her an innocent one.

Skye deflated against the counter.

“You’re a bully.” she whined.

“Oh cheer up.” Tony rolled his eyes. “Let’s go to a race, Coulson and May are going to be there.” Skye perked up, Happy poking in through the door holding the keys.

“Skye’s girlfriend Natasha, since Tony didn’t bother to tell anyone he knew who she was.” Pepper gestured to Natasha loosely, Happy’s eyes widening drastically.

“ Wait why is a Shield-”

“Document theft,” Natasha answered loosely. “Which I didn’t get any of that done by the way. I’m sure the trial period was an excuse to stall for Skye coming back.” Tony clicked his tongue, still grinning as he pushed Skye forward.

“Come on, we’ll get burgers on the way.” Skye perked up a bit more, following after him without any protest. Natasha followed further behind with Pepper, still processing the entire situation.

“You get used to it. Apart, Skye's mostly responsible but they bring out a lot of recklessness in each other.” The words themselves were negative, but the way Pepper smiled reassured her somewhat.

“Worse than flooding the academy?” 

“They blew up the workshop last time she was back.” Natasha just sighed softly, resigning herself to the madness and silently following along. She regained her composure by the time they got to the race track, Skye covertly sneaking glances at her as they greeted other guests, Coulson smiling brightly at her, approaching to give her a tight hug with May not far behind. 

“I see that mission finally blew up.”

“You knew?!” Skye squawked, May smirking lightly.

“I have higher clearance than you Skye, I can see her missions.” Natasha smiled a little, Shifting a bit as Coulson sent her a very hesitant glance, looking unsure and a bit steeled. 

“Tony!” Skye sighed, smoothly and slowly chasing after the sound of Pepper’s indignance, raising her brows a bit at the spectacle happening now as Tony replaced the F1 driver.

“Is he normally this reckless?” Skye didn’t answer this time, lips pursed softly, unsurely as she stared down at the track, watching from afar.

He was struggling. Tony used to be out of shape, but he’d been good about keeping active and building up strength. When they were wrestling he got winded way too easily, he gave in quickly, and he looked a little bit in pain. She’d tried to chalk it up to developing back issues, but Jarvis showed her a clean bill of health on the way there when she’d requested it.

“You’re worried.” she startled out of her trance, glancing away from the track, catching Natasha’s worried glance.

“He called me out of the blue last week, telling me he wants to hand over the company to me.” she admitted wearily.

“Is that such a bad thing?”

“It was his plan from the start.” she admitted “But he planned that much later down the line. Not this early. He’s weaker and he’s acting erratically.” she tapped the railing lightly, watching horror flash across Natasha’s face in a split second. Skye’s gaze snapped back to the tracks, and before she could think she was vaulting over the railing, pulling a heavy duty knife from her jacket pocket.

“Skye stop!” Natasha chased after her.

Her heart was racing, worriedly single minded. If Skye confronted the maniac with fire whips with a fucking knife and nothing else she’d have to use her powers eventually-

“Hey fuckface!” Vanko whipped around, a knife sinking right into his shoulder forcing him to stumble back, he lashed out with a whip towards her blindly as he winced, the knife shortly followed by-

A folding chair smashed against his skull, Tony spluttering as the man crumbled, the chair half melted from the defending whip as Skye blinked, staring at the melted path inches away from her head in the metal.

She could tell Tony wanted to yell at her, scold her at least a dozen times, but he kept quiet with all the eyes on them. Natasha held herself back with the crowd, panting softly, her panic slowly weaning. 

When had she gotten so easily shaken? Skye was always capable of figuring out the solution, she was smart- 

She froze as she saw Skye lower the chair, spying the scorched hole through it.

“Well? Are you two just watching the show or are you going to do your fucking jobs?” she barked out, the two scared policemen startling at the sudden attention. One of them scrambled forward, the other a few paces behind, still recovering from the shock as he chased after.

Skye stepped away, going back to Natasha as the two of them managed to start prying the suit off the man. She could see Coulson looking worriedly down at her, May giving her an even look she couldn’t quite decipher, probably seething rage. 

She winced a little, trying to avoid their gazes as Natasha grasped her hand, leading her away quickly as the crowd began to settle down, Tony similarly moving off the track and to a more secluded area, sparing them a couple worried glances.

“Are you okay?” Natasha asked softly, moving her arm a bit, checking to see that the electric whip hadn’t hit her directly.

“I’m fine, I’m more worried about Tony, he’s the one that nearly crashed and got attacked.” she pointed out, using their joined hands to drag Natasha along the empty halls, her shoulders dropping in relief as she spotted Tony. He was running a hand through his hair in his usually stressed manner.

The stress in his frame dissipated as he spotted her, and Natasha let go of her hand hesitantly as she rushed forward, hugging him tightly.

“I should scold you but that was pretty badass.” Skye snorted softly, her smile watery as she clutched him tightly. 

“You can’t die on me alright? I need you.” he stilled, stiffening slightly as she tightened her arms around him “I’m worried about you.” She whispered softly, burying her face in his shoulder. “Are you alright?” He swallowed thickly, tightening his hold on her as he stopped for a moment. 

“We’ll talk about it later,” he replied meekly, feeling her stiffen against him, turning her head to look at him worriedly as he looked away from her. Pepper approached with Happy, Coulson and May not far behind as Skye reluctantly pulled away just in time for May to yank her back, checking her over quickly.

“You can’t scold her for being reckless, you taught her that.” Coulson reminded, May sending him a murderous glare. His mouth audibly clicked shut.

“Bring a gun next time.” she scolded, Tony giving her a flat look at the odd scolding as Pepper just let out a little huff.

“Watching you KO a dude with a folding chair was pretty amazing though.” Happy piped up, Skye smiling a bit sheepishly as May sighed.

“Let’s just head back to the house, I’m beat.” Tony sighed softly.

“You have a big day tomorrow.” Skye reminded. Tony half groaned, “What do you want to do?” He could feel the regret bubbling up in his chest as he looked at her, her smile bright and warm. 

“There’s an indoor ice skating rink not far from the house, let’s go there in the morning.” Despite his terrible skills at it, he was getting marginally better over the years, and starting to enjoy the family time even if there were laughs at his expense. Truly he’d always valued the time, the way it got Skye out of her shell early on, how much she always begged to go every weekend.

It reminded him of where they started, and how far they’d come. They’d gone shortly after Bahrain, and even then she could crack a small smile at his expense.

He enjoyed it to some degree. He was sure he probably always had. After all, her smile meant the most to him. 

Her smile brightened, even with the nervous undertone of it all she couldn’t help but be excited. 

“And bring your girlfriend.” Natasha’s hand twitched as she was mentioned, her heart fluttering softly at being referred to as her girlfriend, glancing at Skye as her smile brightened even more. 

“You need rest though, so let’s get back quickly. I’ll worry about our plans.” Tony smiled softly, not arguing with her as Skye pushed him along, very insistent on him getting some good rest as Happy trailed along with their car keys, leaving Pepper and Natasha to follow along again, this time with Coulson and May not a pace behind them. May gave her a dark look, patting her shoulder.

“Break her heart and we’ll kill you.” Natasha couldn’t help but feel happy, Skye seemed somewhat like her, finding family in those around her just as well. 

“I’ll save you the trouble if it comes to that.” May looked satisfied with the answer, Coulson vaguely concerned but not refuting his allegiance to the threat. 

“She loves you a lot.” May spoke instead, “Don’t let her down.” 

“I can only offer my best,” she replied softly, honestly. She couldn’t promise she’d never let her down, she was already making mistakes and fumbling, especially while she was still processing all the madness that was Skye being a Stark of all things, and Tony Stark knowing an alarming amount about her, which she was far too comfortable with. Whatever he knew he’d known for a while, and he was Skye’s brother.

He was Tony, who sucked at ice skating but did it regardless of how much he sucked, and Tony who slept with Skye in the living room when she had nightmares, watching Scooby Doo and never turning it off for fear she’d wake up to darkness. He was Tony, Skye’s beloved big brother who she thought the world of. 

The image she had of him and the image Skye painted of him didn’t match up in any regard, but why would she trust her own eyes over Skye’s? It was easy to trust her. A sentence she never thought would cross her mind not too long ago.

With Clint the trust was a slow build, having her back and reassuring her of his allegiance.

With Skye it was like a spark igniting a raging flame. She didn’t need to do too much for Natasha to trust her. 

Simply the way she was made her want to be honest with her from the moment they had met.

She had nothing, and in an instant Skye was everything. Above the work and dedication to Shield that seemed to pave the path of the rest of her life; there was Skye. Standing on a dirt road, leading her down a path that felt unsteady and unknown, but not taking those steps felt impossible to her. 

“Guest room.” Tony gave her a hard look, Skye squawking and moving to bully him for the firm comment as Natasha tried not to act flustered. 

“Don’t mind him, he likes teasing Skye.” Tony stuck his tongue out at Pepper as she waved him off with a heavy sigh. 

Skye stuck her tongue out at him in a reply, Tony grinning mischievously as she glared at him. 

“Got to bed brat, both of you, in separate rooms.” he prefaced again, Pepper smacking the back of his head likely earning a yelp. 

“Sleep in the living room with us, we’ll watch a movie.” she grinned as Tony scowled but didn’t protest. Natasha didn’t protest either, glancing over, finding an excited smile playing on Skye’s lips as she glanced at her.

“Is Uncle Rhodey coming?”

“In the morning, he had some things to finish up tonight.” Tony nodded, smiling softly as Skye’s smile widened.

Chapter Text

“Hey kid- Oof!” Rhodey let out a startled noise as she tackled him in a hug. He laughed loudly, hugging her back as he righted himself. “We ready to go? You’re looking rather regretful.” Tony rolled his eyes as Rhodey teased him, Skye pulling away to turn her attention back to him. 

“Let’s get it over with so we can make sure to fit everything else into today.” Tony raised his brows. Did they have any other plans? He was fairly sure the day was open.

“Let’s head out then.” He smiled softly, eyes crinkling at the edges as she grinned back, acting as the driving force to shoo them all out the door to head out. Natasha mainly just observed, her heart buzzing a bit with excitement and nervousness. She felt to an extent like she was intruding on these moments, but Skye never let the thought linger for too long before she ended up dragging her into the frey and including her in the mess of getting ready when she really already was ready. 

She’d never seen Skye like this. Of course, she was happy with Fitz and Simmons, but that was a lot more muted. Around her, she was nervous, a bit more careful. And with them…. It was like in Clint’s house, with chaos always running rampant and kids giggling, except Skye was the kid and the chaos was everyone and the silly little squabbles that really held no animosity. 

“Come on.” a hand pressed against her back, Natasha’s gaze snapping to Pepper as she smiled at her. “Tony wanted you here, if he really didn’t like it he wouldn’t have suggested it, so enjoy it and go get some ice skates.” she handed over a pair of skates, Natasha checking them, glancing over to Skye as she giggled softly, seeing Tony very slowly putting on his skates, looking almost regretful as he got ready-

Was he wearing knee and elbow pads?

She had to do a double-take to confirm, blinking a few times. 

“Don’t make fun of him too much, there’ll be plenty of time for that when he’s on the ice.” Pepper laughed softly.

“Why choose to do this on his birthday if he doesn’t like it? Pepper paused for a moment, lacing up her skates as she thought.

“It’s what we did to bond when Skye first was discovered as Tony’s sister. We used to go out every week, but life’s been busy. With her at the academy and all of our work schedules it doesn’t happen as much.” she admitted, her smile softly. “His favorite part is seeing Skye smile, though it’s best if that stays between us.” 

She couldn’t believe she was looking at Tony Stark himself, notorious asshole, like an endearing older brother to his sister, who (her girlfriend!) seemed nearly oblivious to how rude the man could be to nearly everyone else. 

May and Coulson were off in their own little world, Coulson blushing lightly as May smirked.

Happy was the first one onto the ice, shortly followed by Rhodey and Pepper. Coulson and May were quick to join as Skye coaxed Tony onto the ice. Natasha drifted over the ice nearby, watching them closely. 

It was like watching a newborn deer slide out onto the ice of a lake if she could put a comparison to it. Even using Skye’s hands to stabilize himself (She was skating backwards to help him, much to his annoyance. ) he was very unsure in about everything when it came to skating and she had to question how anyone could still be this bad at skating after years of constantly doing it.

“He used to be much worse too.” she turned a disbelieving look to Rhodey as he came up beside her, whipping out his phone. Tony’s gaze laser focused in on Rhodey

“Don’t you dare!” he shouted, Skye cackling softly as Natatasha’s brows rose further as the video played out, Tony struggling his way over to try and snatch the phone, Rhodey grinning mischievously as he held it too high for him to grab (if he tried to jump for it he’d surely fall on his ass. 

Pepper ended up skating up next to him, helping him steady himself, doing a much better job than Skye had been doing to the point Natasha was considering that Skye might have just been letting him fail a lot more than she needed to (Was her girlfriend a little sadistic???)

“Sorry, we haven’t had much time to talk since well, Tony’s surprise yesterday.”

“I don’t mind, you are celebrating his birthday.” and she meant it. She was a rather odd addition to the celebration and even she knew it. Though everyone seemed more than happy to include her, with Pepper chatting whenever Skye wasn’t near her and Rhodey’s addition of some dirt on Tony in the form of the amazing feat of ice skating failure that was apparently back from their first ice skating outing as a group ever. 

She couldn’t help but pay attention to the little giggling Skye in the video as she watched his failed attempts. 

“Trust me he’s happy with Pepper keeping him company for a little bit.” Skye sent a knowing glance towards the two as Natasha quirked a brow lightly. Interesting development, “How do you feel so far?”

“It’s been fun.” Natasha admitted softly, “I’ve never seen you this kind of happy before, or see you roughhouse.” Skye blushed lightly in embarrassment, glancing away as Natasha smiled “It’s nice. I’m not saying it’s bad. I mean I did watch you leap at your brother like a wrestling champion yesterday.” Skye smiled a bit, huffing.

“He deserved it,” she pointed out, Natasha’s smile widening a little as her eyes crinkled lightly at the edges. She stared at her for a moment with an adoration that felt so and utterly right. Skye was truly perfect. She made mistakes, but she always made sure not to repeat them, and she was more loyal than anyone she knew. She also apparently had no qualms with being a little insane with people she was comfortable around.

Natasha just wished she could become one of those people eventually, so she didn’t feel like she needed to impress her to have her stick around. 

“Are you a little less worried now?” Skye laced their gloved fingers together as Natasha caught her worriedly glancing over to Tony.

“No,” she admitted softly. “But we’ll handle it after today. Today is for fun. Tomorrow will be for more serious things.” she added softly, squeezing her hand lightly as she swallowed thickly.

She was very nervous. Her heart felt tight in an uncertain fear she couldn’t quite fight down completely as she skated over to him smoothly. He glared lightly at her feet as she grinned widely, taking over helping him to the exit as Pepper smiled at the two of them.

“Alright, enough suffering for today, we have a few other things to do before we tire you out old man.” Skye teased softly, earning a huff and a light glare. 

“I’m forty not ancient you little idiot.” 

“Sounds like I should be asking you about the dinosaurs.” his eyes shot her daggers as they finally made it off the ice after what felt like a century of suffering to him. Happy was still chuckling softly as he joined them with Rhodey, comparing the new dirt they had on Tony as Coulson and May joined them to take off their skates and put them back. 

“What did you plan up?” he asked abruptly, looking at Skye who shrugged with a smile. 

“You’ll have to wait and find out.” she stuck her tongue out at him. He smiled, shaking his head lightly as he slipped the skates off with a heavy sense of relief. 

Getting out of there never felt better, though he was sure he’d be back soon enough anyways. The rest of the day was spent going around town and having fun. Him disguised a bit and Pepper making sure to drag him along to a sweets shop on their adventure (Tony didn’t admit it a lot, but he really had a sweet tooth for that sort of thing) it was mostly fun and random activities. 

You’d probably have a hard time finding eight grown adults at a trampoline park  (Two of them shield agents no less) but it was way more fun than he thought it would be and he didn’t totally suck at it, though Happy absolutely did and Pepper wasn’t getting the coordination down as well.

The day was exhausting, and after all that, he still found himself at the table blowing out candles, his gaze catching mostly on Skye’s bright smile. (The reason he was here really, the reason any of this happened) 

“I have your gift somewhere else,” she admitted softly once things had died down a bit, Tony looking at her in surprise.

“It’s already been a great day, you don’t have to-” she grabbed his wrist, dragging him along. His confusion sparked into a wide grin as he followed her into the workshop.

“You did something Pepper isn’t going to be happy with, didn't you.” Skye grinned widely, beaming at him without bothering to deny the claim.

“Jarvis pull up what we’ve been working on.” The hologram that expanded out was massive, files spreading out in a web of a network. Tony looked around with wide eyes.

“Skye has just implemented a new added system to my capabilities, Unnamed. This system is an advanced information seeker and should allow me easy access to any desired database in record times as well as highly improved online searching capabilities.” his grin was wide, hugging her tightly. She let out a small ‘Oof’, wrapping her arms around him tightly as she grinned.

“Happy birthday Tony.” she muttered softly.

“I’m going to get up to so much shit with this.” she nodded, grinning as he pulled away.

“Play with it a bit, I’ll go back up and help clean up.” he glanced to the hologram, giving a dazed nod as he began to open up files to inspect them as she left the lab with a soft satisfied smile, rejoining the others as Pepper gave her a suspicious look.

“You did something. I know that smile.” Natasha glanced at her, finding a slight mischievous tilt to her expression as she smiled innocently at Pepper. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I just gave Tony his birthday gift.” Pepper looked abruptly alarmed.

“Dangerous?”

“Depends on what he does with it.” Natasha was also, now mildly alarmed at the answer as Skye’s smile widened. “ It’ll be fine. Have a little faith Pepper.” Pepper let out a deep sigh, deciding it wasn't worth it as she set the plates in the sink to become an issue for later. Skye dragged Natasha to the couch to bunker down next to Coulson who ruffled her hair lightly.

“Daaad!” she complained softly, trying to tame the frizzy mess with her fingers as he grinned.

“You caused trouble didn’t you?”

“Only a little.” she lied a little, May raising a brow at her in a gesture that clearly meant she didn’t believe her. 

“We’ll cover it tomorrow I guess.” May sighed softly as Skye muttered unhappily. She slowly drifted off to sleep to a movie, Tony going far into the night inspecting the code of his new toy before morning came and he decided to grab donuts, Skye slipping in the car with him before he was even aware she was up. 

“You aren’t hanging with Natasha?” he wiggled his brows.

“She had some work to do, and I’d rather spend more time with you while I’ve got the time off.” she admitted, her smile bright.

His chest tightened a little, trying not to let the guilt take over too much. “Then let’s go for a bit of a joy ride while we’re at it.” and really he meant it, because she’d never flown in her life, at least not with an Iron Man suit and he was finally confident enough to be able to carry her on a little joyride (It was his precious Skye, he had to be ten times more than sure to risk it) 

They ended at a donut shop where he sat at the table, Skye going up to order for them as he ate one of the donuts they’d gotten from the counter already. He spotted Fury and sighed heavily as he slid in opposite of him. “I told you I didn’t want to join your super secret boyband.” Fury rolled his eyes strongly as he leaned back in his seat.

“No no, I remember already, you do everything yourself right?” Fury chuckled, a smugness to his grin.

“Am I supposed to look at the eye patch or the eye, I’m having trouble picking.” he gestured between the two with his half-eaten donut. 

“I’ve cleared the perimeter,” Natasha spoke, approaching the table. Fury’s eye stayed on Tony, pausing at his unimpressed look.

“You know I think your boss thought this was gonna be a shocker so I don’t think you’ve been on top of your reporting duties Natasha.” Skye peered over at the situation, sliding into the booth beside Tony as Natasha sat beside Fury.

“Donut?”

“What the fuck are you doing here Agent Collins? And Romanoff? You blew your cover?”

“It was blown from the moment she got there.” Natasha took a plain donut from the box idly, glancing to Fury with an apologetic look as he gave her a disbelieving one. “Since he already knew what she looked like since I’m dating her.” she explained easily.

“That gives no motherfucking explanation as to why one of my agents is buddy-buddy with Tony Stark, our biggest liability since our founding.” he hissed.

“She’s his sister. Which we figured out two days ago but I got a little distracted.” Tony turned a fully disbelieving look back to Natasha as she smiled. 

“To be fair Agent Weaver knew and was fine with it. She’s the one who recruited Skye. It’s in the report, you didn’t read it?”

“You think I have time to read the reports of every recruitment we do? I’d never see the light of day under all of those.” Tony shrugged. Natasha slid a device across the table, Skye taking a once over it and decisively stabbing it into Tony’s neck.

“What the fuck Skye-” he rubbed the spot, her eyes sharply observing the way the black lines sneaking up his neck faded and drew back. 

“It’s a temporary solution, with that state you are in, it doesn’t look like it’ll be an easy fix.” Tony adjusted his collar, swallowing thickly as he felt Skye’s sharp gaze on him.

“Trust me I know, I’ve tried every possible combination of elements as a replacement for palladium, none are suitable or safer to use in its place,” Fury smirked lightly.

“Well, I’m here to tell you that you haven’t tried them all.” 

Chapter Text

“Maybe he was just senile.” Tony groaned softly, Skye still digging through the box of items. 

“He was a bastard, not an idiot.” she rolled her eyes, Tony huffing softly as she looked over some of the things. 

“Bastard for sure,” he muttered softly as she dragged his chair closer. 

“So palladium poisoning then.” he winced as her sharp gaze turned to him. 

“Yeah.” he admitted softly “It’s been making me feel a lot weaker lately.” 

“And you wanting to hand over the company was because you’re dying from it and you want things done beforehand right?” He stayed silent this time, pursing his lips tightly as he tried to think of exactly how he was supposed to get through this without seeming like he was just jumping head-first into his death.

“I’ve tried everything so far Skye-”

“You should have told me. We could have worked on this together.” he flinched. Hurt was nearly oozing from every word, Skye keeping her gaze on the items in the box as he swallowed thickly. She was right, he should have told her about this a lot sooner. 

“I didn’t want to scare you,” he admitted softly. “I wanted to try and solve it before you even had to know. I know-” his throat felt tight and he choked up on his words, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment “- and I’m scared too.” he decided instead softly. He opened his eyes again, met with a blur before Skye was hugging him tightly. 

“We’ll figure this out, together,” she spoke softly, her voice cracking lightly as she spoke. He wrapped his arms around her tightly, holding the back of her head gently as he felt a slight wetness against his shoulder. She pulled back, wiping her eyes lightly. “Alright, now you need to look at this stuff, you’d know what a lot more of it means than I would.” he nodded softly, moving over to where she was spreading out the items to look over it. 

“There’s a lot from one of the Stark Expos.” he muttered softly as he glanced over things. Some were a bit random and out of place, but a lot of it seemed to be momentos of sorts from one of the expos. “Jarvis take a can and identify which expo most of these came from.” 

“Yes sir, it appears most of these are from the 1974 Stark Expo , should I look into it further?”

“Go ahead, we’ll work it from a different angle.” Jarvis acknowledged the order, going silent as they left the items spread out, Tony sorting through files after uploading one of the things Fury had handed over.

“A Diorama.” Tony raised his brows as the hologram spread out. “Great, very helpful Dad .” he muttered softly, zooming in on certain parts, trying to inspect it for any missing details.

“You need to rest. I’ll work at it a bit longer.” Skye pushed his shoulder a bit, “You’re still weak.” Tony gave her a protesting look.

“I’m fine right now, whatever you stabbed me with has made it a lot easier to manage for now.” he complained softly “And you need sleep too, it’s late and you need to go home soon.”

“I told Fury I’d be taking some time off and doing school work remotely, and you aren’t looking great right now.” she pushed at his back, forcing a couple of steps forward before he sighed softly and gave in, letting himself be pushed out of the workshop. “You’ve had a crack at it, now let me see if I can figure anything out.” 

“Fine fine.” he groaned loudly, starting to walk on his own now as they entered the living room. Pepper was sat at the counter drinking some tea, her gaze turning to them both as Skye shooed Tony to his room. 

“You should get some rest too-” Pepper tried as Skye started back towards the Workshop, sighing as she was simply waved off 

“Too much to do.” Pepper didn’t argue, at the very least Skye had something to pour her fear into. All she could do was well… wait for them to solve it.

Skye re-entered the Workshop, Jarvis reactivating the hologram as she moved to the center of the space. 

“Any luck on the leads you were chasing?”

“None, all items led to significant photographs at the event but did not contain any details relevant to any possible new element.” Jarvis relayed, Skye frowned softly. 

She stayed up all night, sorting through files and going over the contents of the box a few more times while Jarvis sorted through each file for any relevant information. She was messing around with the Diorama when the frustration finally got to her and she threw her hands up in the air.

“I give up, we'll just try-” the controls spasmed with the sudden movement, zooming out rapidly from the Diorama revealing a vast network. She moved carefully, inspecting the elements of the new information.

“Skye? Did you stay up all night?” she jumped, nearly tripping backward, Tony pressing a hand against her back, eyes a little wide at the display of clumsiness.

“This has to be something.” He turned his attention to the Diorama. He paused, approaching it, adjusting the display to shrink it down more. 

“It’s a map of the new element.” his gaze snapped towards her, eyes wide with disbelief, instantly turning to a deadpan expression as he took in her sleepless state.

“Skye, go to sleep.” he deadpanned softly. “It’s my turn to make you be responsible.”

“Go to bed again too.”

“I just slept.” he pushed her out of the Workshop with a hand on her back, Pepper giving them an unimpressed stare as he smiled sheepishly at her.

“Skye found some vital information, and since she’s about ready to pass out I’m going to work on it while she sleeps. Right Skye?” she huffed softly, wrinkling her nose at him as he smiled.

“Fine but wake me up if you make any breakthroughs.” he nodded softly, and with that she finally shuffled off back to her room.

“She’s been working on it since she pushed you to bed last night.” Pepper informed him softly, setting a cup of coffee down beside her. Tony took a seat there, smiling at her in thanks as he took the offered cup. He glanced at the clock, nearly coughing as he saw ‘6pm’ in bold numbers on the stove clock. 

“No wonder she’s so tired.” he sighed softly. “I’ll have to try and get as much as I can done before she gets up again.” he was quick to slip away with coffee in hand back to the workshop, where way too soon Skye was joining him only a few hours later having already chugged a cup of coffee so he couldn’t tell her to go back to bed.

They worked together, Jarvis running constant diagnostics as they hand-built a particle accelerator looping around the workshop in ways no particle accelerator probably should. Some parts were through walls that were very precariously broken through barely enough to fit the pieces. Tony had drilled through the floor into the garage below, pushing heavy-duty power cables up through the hole for her to grab and drag to where they needed them.

At some point Pepper walked in to bring them some food, blinked at the utter disaster that was the shop with holes in some walls and a massive hole through the very solid flooring and decisively left the snacks on the desk and left without asking about any of the very expensive mess she was sure they’d need to contract out to get fixed. 

“Tony.” 

Skye lifted her head, popping up from behind one of the coils they were building with, Coulson raising his brows at her lightly at the matching greasy mess she was to Tony.

“I’ve been reassigned.” Skye blinked

“Oh? Where to? How long will you be gone?”

“New Mexico, and Hopefully only a month, but May’s coming with- don’t give me that look.” Skye wiggled her eyebrows a little, grinning as Coulson rolled his eyes, Tony snorting softly. 

“Have fun!”

“It’s for work!” he shouted back as he left, giving up as she stuck her tongue out at him in response.

“You tease them too much.”

“May spent a decade drinking coffee she hates just to spend more time with him and he didn’t even notice, he deserves a little teasing.” Tony’s mouth fell open slightly, giving her a disbelieving look as she grinned.

“Alright, we ready Jarvis?” 

“Beginning powering sequence.” The machine was starting to shake, Tony gripping the valve tightly, starting to turn it as a beam developed, burning through parts of the wall. She gripped the wheel tightly, helping him turn it faster, slicing through cabinets and a center beam before it finally hit the core. She was breathing heavily, staring wide-eyed at it as Tony shut off the power, the core glowing brightly even as the beam vanished,

“Well, that was easy.” she gave him a deadpan look as he ducked under the coil, grabbing the core carefully with a pair of pliers as Skye collapsed into a chair, peering over at him intently as he set it into the new arc reactor.

“It has accepted the new core, running diagnostics now.” Tony glanced back to her, sharing a look of amazement before looking back to the newly formed arc reactor.

“I guess we just wait now till Jarvis is done monitoring.” Tony nodded slightly, eyes still wide as he gazed at it.

“And you need to get some more sleep.” Skye whined as he was suddenly dragging her back into the house. Pepper scrunched her nose at them as she saw them entering the living room.

“You two go shower, you’re both covered in grease.” Skye gave her a salute, Tony whining a little before she leveled him with a hard glare. 

In the end, they both ended up going back to bed for a few hours before Jarvis woke them up to come down to the Workshop again. Skye was the one dragging a groggy Tony this time, 

“Diagnostics tell me the new arc reactor will be much safer than the current one.” Jarvis relayed “The palladium poisoning should dissipate on it’s own steadily and bring you back to full strength within the week.” Tony sat down on the chair, Skye very carefully slotting his current arc reactor out, letting it dangle from it’s wire as she held the new one. He swallowed thickly. No matter how many times he had done this he still felt somewhat nervous about it all.

Especially with a new reactor going in.

When she disconnected the wires for a moment his entire chest felt tight and he nearly couldn’t breathe as she worked quickly, reconnecting wires to the new arc reactor. When it was finally done and she was slotting the reactor in place he felt like he could finally breathe again.

He let out a shaky breath, giving her a thumbs up when she gave him a worried look. 

“We should go celebrate. We fixed my damn heart.” her grin was wide as they went back inside.

“We fixed the old man Pepper!” Pepper shot up a bit, eyes wide, shoulders dropping in relief as she smiled widely. 

“We’re going to celebrate.” Tony grinned.

“You should recover before we do.” Pepper scolded softly. “I’m sure you won’t be fully recovered for a while.”

“Jarvis estimates a week for the palladium poisoning to dissipate completely but you’ll need to follow up with physical therapy to get back in shape I’m sure.” Tony groaned loudly.

“We’re going to ignore that for now, and go get some burgers because I’m starving.” Skye grinned softly, allowing Tony to guide her out, Pepper rolling her eyes and following after with the car keys in hand.

Her heart felt a little lighter right now, no longer weighed down by that incessant paralyzing fear of being left alone. 

She could relax a little, even if it might not be for long. 

Chapter Text

“So how’s your relationship with your totally not girlfriend doing.” Skye shoved Lincoln lightly as he laughed, grinning widely as Skye glared at him. He simply could not let her live down the utter disaster that was her gay awakening and subsequent realization of her crush. 

“..... we’re coming up on six months now,” she admitted softly, “But is this really the time to be considering this? You are learning to assess candidates.” she flicked his forehead, earning a soft whine as he rubbed the spot.

“Skye is right, you should focus on learning right now.” Gordon chastised him, Lincoln rolling his eyes strongly.

“Yeah yeah, I got it. What next you put me in therapy?”

“Considering it.” Skye deadpanned, Lincoln coughing roughly.

“What?!”

“You do have emotional issues, anyone can see that.” Gordon commented, Lincoln swiftly flipping him off.

“You can’t see shit Gordon.” Gordon seemed unimpressed at the jab.

“Always quick to anger-”

“Stop instigating, and Lincoln he’s right, you need help managing your anger.” Gordon closed his mouth with a soft huff, Lincoln still glaring at him. “Maybe joint therapy so you two can learn to get along.”

“Miss Skye-” Gordon spluttered

“That’s really not necessary-” Lincoln protested at the same time. 

“Tell the elders to wrap up with this on their own with my decision in mind.” She handed Gordon a thick file that he quickly accepted.

“You won’t handle the selection yourself this time?” Lincoln wondered.

“Miss Skye has already gone over all the candidates. This is more of a formality.” Gordon explained. 

“Ah.” Lincoln looked over to her. “We’re letting them down easy.” Skye sighed softly. 

Mentally stable was really all she was trying to keep to, Lincoln still had his issues but overall he fit that. He had a good heart.

Many of the people coming to them didn’t exactly fit a good heart, and the elders were on board with being careful after what happened two years ago with Katya. Afterlife was rebuilding as a sanctuary slowly but surely, and so too was the image of a leader that the elders were trying to build around her. 

She realized a little too late that they seemed to be going around making sure everyone knew to respect her by the time she was faced with another selection ceremony and they all seemed nervous when she looked at them. 

It was odd having people starstruck by your kindness like they were, though she did tell the elders to stop doing that and so far they’d been complying with her wishes. 

She wasn’t like her mother, she wouldn’t be like her. She swallowed down the uneasy feelings,rolling her eyes lightly.

“Some of them will go through the mist.” she spoke instead, “But not all” Lincoln hummed noncommittal as his gaze wandered. Skye gave him an unimpressed look, shaking her head lightly.

“I’ll be going back now Gordon.” he smiled, nodding, extending out his hand. As soon as she touched it they were already somewhere else.

“I’ll keep a close eye on him to be sure,” Gordon assured her softly.

“Good, and keep a look out for any Inhuman therapists willing to work with us, we could really use one at Afterlife, not just for him either.” 

“Of course.” he bowed his head slightly, and Skye didn’t correct it this time. She’d tried really hard for a long time to get him to loosen up but without fail he remained the same. He was gone the next moment as she began to walk away, back towards the Academy. 

It was peaceful to get some fresh air after being cooped up in an office for most of the day, and most of yesterday if she was being honest. 

“Skye! You’re back sooner than you said you’d be!” Fitz caught up to her on the way to the dorm room.

“I have to pack a bit.” she admitted, “ I rushed a few things but it should be fine.” it would take Gordon a while to notice how much she’d shelled off to the elders to finish up. He’d probably scold her a bit later but she didn’t mind all that much.

“The apartment went through?” Skye’s smile brightened, nodding as Fitz grinned at her. “You must be excited, it’s a big step in a relationship.” 

“Yeah, but I think we’re ready,” she admitted softly. “She’ll be gone a lot, we’ll have time to get used to it slowly,” she added.

“She’s gone on missions a lot isn’t she?” Skye nodded lightly

“Just part of the job. I’ll be gone a lot too when I finally graduate.” Fitz frowned slightly, brows pulling together.

“Hopefully we still get to see each other. We should try and stick together.” her smile widened softly.

“We’ll do our best to stick together.” She gave in easily, Fitz’s smile returning again as they neared the dormitory. Fitz’s smile widened as he waved to Jemma at the entrance. “You should tell her how you feel.” Fitz spluttered as Skye jogged ahead to meet  up with her faster.

“You can’t just-” he spluttered softly, cheeks burning red as he chased after her.  

“Why are you two running?!” Jemma laughed softly as Skye grinned.

“Getting a jog in! Fitz needs to build up some muscle eh?” Jemma easily bought the explanation as Fitz protested. 

“He really does.” she raised a brow at him as he sent her an offended look.

“Like you’re any better.” She wrinkled her nose at him, rolling her eyes softly.

“I do exercise a bit.” she retorted. “More than you.” Fitz glared at the back of her head as his cheeks flushed with an embarrassed blush. Skye rolled her eyes, leaving the two of them to squabble as she headed back to her dorm. 

Somewhere along the way a nervous agent started following her, only gathering up the courage to approach once she was at her dorm room.

“You’ve been assigned a partner, Agent Collins.” Skye coughed, her gaze whipping around to him with a disbelieving look. 

“What? I’ve been in a three-person team for four years.” the agent shrunk back a bit at her indignation and she paused. She wanted to eventually get used to how nervous new or non-field agents would be around her, but it never settled fully. May and Coulson were her field partners for as long as she’d been going on missions. 

She took the file from him, furrowing her brows at it a bit as he managed to slip away quickly. She opened the door to her dorm room, kicking it shut behind her as she flicked open the file. It was just a personnel file, one with a lot of blacked-out information. He was twenty six, which was about all the personal information she could gather from the file besides his name. 

She wrinkled her nose lightly at his picture.

She’d really rather continue going on missions with May and Coulson rather than whoever the hell this dude was. 

The last page was a mission statement, the leave date set for Saturday.

Two days from now.

“Great.” she scoffed softly, glaring at the paper unhappily.

She wanted to complain to someone, but Nat was far too busy, Tony was at a conference which meant Pepper and Happy were too, and Rhodey was probably somewhere with no cell service. She also didn’t want to interrupt Fitz’s clunky flirting with Jemma either. 

So she just groaned loudly into her pillow and decided to go to bed early to hopefully get some rest before what was surely going to be an exhausting weekend.  

“You sure don’t look happy.” She shot up, grinning widely as she tackled Natasha in a hug. Natasha caught her easily, smiling widely as Skye latched onto her.

“I have a new partner and I’m not thrilled about it.”

“May and Coulson?”

“Still assigned to each other I assume, May would rather kick Fury’s ass then let him seperate them.” she smiled a little as Natasha set her down on the bed with a soft laugh, laying down beside her as she laced their fingers together. 

There was something so naturally comfortable about her presence. That early nervous buzz around having her near had slowly simmered away, reduced to the trust they had been slowly building up in whatever time they were able to scrape together. 

“You don’t like him?” Skye sighed heavily as Natasha wrapped an arm around her waist, snuggling her face into her shoulder.

“I haven’t met him yet.” She admitted “I meet him on Saturday when we head out early in the morning.”

“Should I ask to tag along?” she shook her head lightly.

“I’ve got it, I’m just not thrilled about the sudden switch. Hopefully he’s someone who can be relied on, but I won’t hold my breath on it.” Natasha nodded softly, smoothing a hand over the back of her head.

“Safe call.” Skye nodded a little, falling silent as she simply took in her presence, the way Natasha simply being there made her chest feel warm and a smile stretch across her lips. “Just make sure to be careful, so if he is a bit useless you aren’t caught off guard.”

“ I’ll be careful.” she promised softly. “How did your mission go?” she snorted softly.

“Clint blew it on purpose and we got chased by an entire building of goons. He’s apologized a dozen times by now but I’m still pissed at him. We were going to just wait it out and take them out one by one, but Laura’s birthday is coming up and he didn’t think we’d wrap up in time to get back if we did it the safer way.” Skye smiled softly. “He says she’ll love the gift you sent by the way.” 

“I’m glad, I couldn’t quite figure it out, I haven't seen her in a while so I worried it might not fit.” Natasha lightly combed her fingers through her hair as they fell into a comfortable quiet again. She rested her chin atop her head, closing her eyes softly. Skye listened to her heart beat steadily in her chest, enjoying the closeness. 

Thankfully Fitz and Jemma had learned to knock (We’re not going to talk about the before) in recent months as a soft thud sounded against the wood. Natasha dragged herself up into the chair with a beaten down sigh. 

“Skye, May’s been biting my head off over the phone, did you request to be re-assigned?” Fitz peeked in once Skye had confirmed it was safe to come in, giving her a curious look. He looked out of breath as he took in gulps of air, sweating through his shirt a bit. 

“Why didn’t she call me? Tell her I didn’t request anything, some agent just came up and told me the news and left. Didn’t have much of a choice in it.” Fitz glanced down to his phone as it buzzed angrily. He typed slowly.

“Is your phone on silent?” Skye nearly choked as she checked, finding thirty missed calls from May and a few concerned texts from Coulson. She Picked up as May called.

“To start out I didn’t know about the re-assignment at all, I just got the news from an agent ten minutes ago.” she spoke quickly before May could talk. May paused, scowling on the other end.

“Text me their name, I’ll pull the file. If you have any trouble with your partner I’ll handle it myself.” Skye smiled unsteadily.

“I can handle it.” she insisted meekly.

“You won't have to.” May seethed, 

“We’ll be over when you get back from your assignment to help you pack! Tell Natasha we say hello!" The call ended abruptly, she presumed so Coulson could attempt to further calm her down in the meantime. 

“Well, Mom’s having an even worse time about this than I am I guess." Natasha cracked a small amused smile as Fitz winced.

“I know, she’s been yelling at me the past ten minutes to run faster. I was on the other side of campus.” Skye smiled apologetically at him, finally understanding why he was so disheveled.

Chapter Text

They stared at each other blankly. 

“Were you the one who requested a reassignment to me?” 

“Nope.” he popped the p, making her scrunch up her nose at him as he quickly took a seat in the cockpit, almost entirely avoiding her. “No offense but I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the re-assignment, I was with a partner I liked.” Skye sighed softly, shoulders dropping in defeat as she slid into the seat beside him. 

“We’re on the same page then. I was pretty happy with the three-man assignment I was on.” He chuckled softly. 

“I could probably assume that, four years with no complaints or reassignment requests tells a bit of a story.”

“There were no issues.” he nodded slightly, smiling a little at the obvious avoidance.. 

“I know we’re not exactly thrilled about the situation, but I hope we can get along well enough.” Skye glanced over to him as he pushed out a hand towards her. “Call me Trip.”

“Skye.” she shook his hand strongly, slipping on a matching headset to his as he set them on course. The flight was long and quiet, both of them had read through the details so there wasn’t much to discuss. 

There was the added fact that neither of them particularly wanted to be on this mission with the other right now. 

At the very least she could sympathize with him. The re-assignment was odd, and Trip seemed vaguely nice in their short talk. (She couldn’t really be sure yet.)

“You want to take the north and I’ll take the south?” He paused for a moment, glancing at her as she inspected the map on her phone.

“You really must want to do this on your own. The North doesn’t have much according to the maps.” He chuckled softly with a teasing smile. She tried not to let her embarrassment show as she glanced away from him.

“If you want to go together that’s fine, but we’ll be checking the south anyways.” he paused, shrugging a little.

“Fine by me, doesn’t hurt to be safe with this kind of thing does it?” he confirmed easily. Really he was just trying to keep the peace. Skye was clearly just as unhappy with this re-assignment as he was, and it wasn’t going to get better acting cold towards each other like they were doing already.

“We have to give this a fair shot, unless we both want to look like fools.” she sighed softly, glancing over to him. 

“I’m willing to give it a shot, might not be my first choice but we’ve gotta do well together at least this once,” he confirmed and she gave a nod, slipping out of her seat as they landed. Trip quickly slipped out of the cockpit as she lowered the door, slipping on his backpack over the gear he already had on, grabbing one of the automatic rifles as Skye moved forward with two handguns. 

“Straight in or a careful approach?” he muttered softly, keeping quiet as they approached the remote building. The landscape was at a harsh angle, forcing them to keep a good footing as they moved towards the mostly hidden entrance to the base.

“You’ve read my files right?” he grinned softly, smirking a little as he nodded.

“Foot through the door kind of deal then.” she grinned softly as he easily accepted her rather reckless plan. May and her had coined a very abrupt and fast takeover method they were known for, Coulson all too reluctant to follow along with whatever swift takeover they’d decided on because he was almost always outvoted on his idea to take a calm and slow approach to the mission. 

“Hey- you can’t be near here-” she shot the guard at the door, Trip moving swiftly as she held her guns up, slamming his foot into the metal door. It swung off the hinges, slamming into one of the guard’s faces on the other end, Skye shooting the other quickly as she walked over the door to get in. The man trapped under it let out a feeble groan at the added weight, Trip quickly dispatched him with a shot to the head before moving to follow her.

He was almost stunned at her efficiency. Some guards dropped dead before he got a chance, she was moving fast and with insane precision, like she’d walked these halls a thousand times before.

She let each step carry soft, barely noticeable vibrations, scraping across the wall with her shoulder to build images in her mind of the hallways ahead and the heavy boots running down them. She still couldn’t picture them in full, but she could easily guess how many there were based on the pairs of boots as they got in range of her senses. 

“No wonder everyone’s scared of you-” Trip flinched as she shot past his shoulder, a body dropping dead behind him as he dared to glance back. “ Nice shot.” he chuckled, keeping guard as she downloaded from their computer system. He kept his gun raised, shooting anyone who tried to rush their way in and get to her.

“Any luck?”

“I’m downloading the data quickly but it looks like they have a failsafe in place, we’ll need to get out of here before it can trigg-'' The ground shook in an unfamiliar way. A way that didn’t resonate deep in her bones. She abandoned the flash drive, grabbing his arm harshly as she sprinted down the hall.

“Is that a damn earthquake!?” he was all too willing to sprint right back to the entrance with her, the both of them freezing up at the sight of it. 

There was a tree stabbed through the door, dirt and mud spilling through the opening, blotting out any light from the outside.

“Landslide,” she muttered softly. Trip turned, Shooting a guard in the head as he raced around the corner, Skye keeping her gaze on the dirt. 

“If we’re lucky it caught the quinjet too, it should send out a distress signal.”

“That signal won’t reach much of anywhere if the communications array isn’t intact, and the range is limited, only a couple dozen miles. We’ll have to wait for someone to check in on us and find the landslide. If we’re unlucky they might assume we just died in it.” she sighed heavily.

“You know a lot about planes.” he raised his brows.

“I thought you read my file?”

“I skimmed your field log.” he admitted. She snorted softly.

“I’m due to graduate from the Science and Tech academy in about two and a half years. Quinjet components are a required course for any mechanical engineer. We had to build one as a class for our final project.” she stepped away from the door. “ Might as well get all the intel downloaded since we’ll be here for a while. Hopefully it doesn’t bring the ceiling down on us.” Trip stiffened at the idea, frowning.

“C’mon girl don’t play with my heart like that.” she laughed softly as they moved leisurely back to the control room, Trip dealing with any stragglers along the way. She downloaded the base’s data to the usb, pocketing it once it was complete. She sighed heavily, Trip glancing around, still ready for another guard to come barreling in. 

She was fairly sure there wouldn’t be any more.

“Can you pull the building schematics up and see if there’s another exit?” she blinked, sitting back down at the computer. She browsed through the files before finding something relevant, looking over the building blueprint, giving it a flat stare.

“No but there’s a lower panic room bunker kinda deal connected to the supply room. There might be some people down there, we should check it -” she swallowed thickly, both of them stiffening as a heavy crack sounded, looking up in time to watch a massive crack form across the entire room. -out” she muttered softly, quickly moving, Trip following her lead. When they made it to the store room she swept some cans of food into her bag.

“We’re going to be down there a while aren’t we.” she cursed softly as a soft shaking started. A loud boom rang out, the vibrations spreading wide as a part of the building buckled and collapsed under the added weight.

She pried open the hatch, moving down it first with Trip quick to follow, closing it behind them.

When they dropped down into the space, they were met with a bewildered man and a guard.

Trip shot the guard while she grabbed the man.

“Wait wait!” he yelped, eyes wide and frightened. “I’m not part of this place, I'm just a scientist-” she rifled through his front pocket, glancing over the card as she pulled back. Trip held his gun raised to him.

“Head of research, doesn’t sound like you’re very innocent to me.” Trip pulled the trigger, lowering his gun as silence reigned over the space. The bunker was more like an apartment than anything else.

“Now to deal with the bodies before they start rotting….” Trip scrunched up his nose.

“I’ll take the scientist.” She looped her hands under his arms, dragging him across the room to the supply closet, Trip following suit with the guard. 

She could feel everything buckling above the space. The landslide had to of piled up around the ridge the building made in the landscape and it couldn’t bear as much weight as was added.

It made her wonder how long this place would last, though the blueprints made it seem like the location was a lot heavier duty than the one above. The walls were drawn thicker and there were tubular vents to get air through in the event of a full isolation from the base.

Whether those vents were covered by the landslide or not was the main worry in her head. If all of them were then they would have a limited amount of time before the air started to get thin and breathing became difficult.

“ You look worried.” she glanced at him.

She could call Gordon for help to get them out of here, but Trip was an unknown factor, someone she didn’t trust.

Would she have to kill him? 

“We need to stay calm, breathe evenly and not panic. This space is small. The shaft down here gives us more time since it’s filled with air, but there’s no telling if the built in vents were buried beneath the landslide or not.” Tirp’s gaze flickered with recognition at the warning.

“We’re on a time limit.” he glanced back to the long shaft they’d climbed down. The ladder was worn and a bit rusty, clearly not maintained.

It didn’t bode well for the vent system either. 

He sat down on the couch as Skye rifled through the cupboards, setting out the canned goods she’d swept into her bag.

“What did you grab?” he opened up his bag.

“Green beans.” he answered dully. Her face fell, staring at the fifteen or so cans of green beans she already had set out on the counter

“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” Trip stared flatly at her.

“There’s nothing else here is there.” she pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Two old boxes of oatmeal chewed through and eaten by a mouse and a case of water.” he winced a little. She let out a soft sigh.

“Green beans it is” he muttered softly. 

Maybe he could starve, that was definitely an option. “Can we at leas- gas stove. Can’t cook them.” he sighed deeply as he spied the kitchen stove. They were definitely not going to waste precious air just to cook.

She sat down beside him, staring blankly at the tv in front of them.

“This has happened way too many times to me.” he raised a brow at her.

“Did I get stuck with the ambassador of bad luck?” he joked softly, earring a soft laugh.

“Probably. I got stuck in a ceiling for a week, then got trapped by an avalanche another time for a week too.” 

“So what I’m hearing is we have a week and we’re safe from your curse?” Skye rolled her eyes as a smile stretched across her lips as he wiggled his brows at her. 

Chapter Text

“Wanna play 21 questions?” Trip asked.

“What are you twelve?” he grinned, shrugging lightly.

“Bored.”

“It’s been two days, find something else to do, play cards again.” she pointed out.

“Still bored,” he complained. She rolled her eyes lightly “Your S.O. and that other dude, why’d you stay with them?” he asked abruptly. “Four years is a long time, must have been something special.” she glanced over to him. According to his files, he hopped partners a bit. A year was the time he’d spent with his last one before they were re-assigned to each other. 

“We’re family.” she shrugged a little. He raised his brows and she sighed softly. “They’re like my parents.” she clarified. “They have been for a while now.” 

“Maybe that’s why you got reassigned.” Skye shook her head.

“Fury’s known about that for a while, didn’t care much.”

“He was paying attention to your group?” Trip paused for a moment, thinking it over. “Well, you and May are kinda hard to ignore.” she nodded along a little.

“Coulson’s one of his personally trained agents from back in the day. A little research can tell you that, so he keeps a bit of an eye on him.” realization dawned on his face for a moment, nodding a bit as he processed it.

“Makes sense I guess. I never looked into him, just you and your S.O.” She nodded lightly. “I would have stuck with mine but he booted me to make sure I gained new experiences with other partners. His name was Garret.” he admitted. Skye’s gaze snapped up to him.

“You close?”

“I trust him with my life.” Trip admitted. “You have family? It’s just me and my mom now, my grandma passed last year. I spent a lot of time with her when I was younger.” he rambled softly.

“Some family, the topic’s a little complicated,” she admitted. He rested his chin in his palm as he looked at her, raising a brow at her.

“I’m an affair child on both sides. My dad cheated on my brother’s mom with my mom who cheated on her husband with his dad.” 

“Damn, I bet that was hella messy.” she snorted softly. 

“My brother’s parents died in a car crash before that blew up and my mom and her husband pretty much killed each other.” Gordon had dealt the final blow, but Cal was already brained from her powers by then, he was surely on his way out. 

 “Fucking hell.” she hummed softly in agreement.

“My brother’s great though, and his friends are family to me.” she added in boredly, staring up at the ceiling with a flat gaze.

“That’s good at least, that you’ve got some people on your side. What about that redhead by the way? The one who was glaring at me at the quinjet bay.” Skye laughed softly, 

“That’s Natasha, she’s a little overprotective so you’ll have to forgive that if we have to work together again.” Trip just raised his brows further.

“Girlfriend.” Skye explained.

“Oh? For how long?”

“Six months.” she answered, smiling softly, “We’re moving in together soon. Well, hopefully.” Trip snorted softly, glazing to the rusty ladder leading up dully at the comment

“I haven't found anyone yet, no one strong enough to handle my charm-” she tossed a playing card that hit him in the forehead at his dramatics. He laughed loudly, grinning widely as he snickered softly. “-I’m mainly just a work-focused guy though. Might look out for someone later, once I’m where I want to be.” he smiled, taking a more serious tone.

“You seem nice.” Skye hummed softly. 

“Hopefully I get to stay nice and alive.” he sighed a little.

“That’s the dream.” she muttered a little, glancing at the vent.

She hadn’t felt any draft from it, which meant the vent was likely buried under the landslide which also meant their time was running out. And they weren’t even outside the mission time so no one would be looking for them yet.

“If we get out of here can we keep this off the report and pretend we got out fine because my girlfriend might actually murder me for this.” Trip cracked a wide amused smile.

“Sure thing.”

—-

Breathing was getting more labored. She could tell by the way Trip's breathing pattern was changing, and her own lungs were starting to struggle. 

They’d talked a lot idly, mostly out of boredom. She didn’t tell him any critical details, like her brother being Tony Stark or about much else involving her life except for her family and life at Shield.

“This is entirely fucked.” he muttered softly, staring up at the ceiling with an unimpressed look. “Dying living off canned green beans.” she rolled her eyes lightly.

“You think you can keep a secret?” she asked abruptly, turning her gaze towards him. She had to prepare for the answer to be no-

“If it gets us out of here I’ll hide a body for you.” he joked softly “What do you want to say?” he turned his gaze to her, finding a bit of a deer in headlights look from his original joke.

“So…it does get us out of here. But…. it’s a bit strange.” she admitted.

“Like street magician strange or like Thor strange?” he asked slowly, hesitantly. 

“Thor strange,” she admitted. 

“Well…if it gets us out of here I have no trouble keeping my damn mouth shut.” he gave her a thumbs up. She frowned for a moment.

“Gordon.” he stumbled as he appeared, wheezing a bit. “We need to get out of here fast.” Gordon didn’t respond, grabbing Trip’s arm and her outstretched hand and in the blink of an eye they were on top of the massive landslide, gasping for the valuable fresh air they’d been starved of.

“Why didn’t you call me sooner-” Gordon froze up, stiffening. “He’s a human.” he surmised.

“He won’t say anything Gordon.” she assured him as she pushed herself up, letting out a soft breath of relief as her lungs felt much lighter, far less strained. 

“Yup- yeah I did say that. Not gonna say a word, we dug our damn way out.” Trip wheezed a little, expression faltering as he caught full sight of Gordon’s face, but not willing to question his lack of eyes. 

If Gordon had eyes to roll, they would have been hitting the back of his head as he turned away from Trip to face Sky. 

“Your quinjet is a mile to the north undamaged.” he spoke clearly, “I’ll speak with you later Skye.” he vanished in an instant, Skye helping Trip up as he stumbled a bit,

“Can you do that freaky shit too?” he looked at her skeptically. She hesitated for a moment.

“I’m a little different,” she admitted. 

“Anything to do with your laser-sharp timing with those shots?”

“Kind of, that’s more of an added bonus.” he looked at her in utter disbelief.

“Added- added bonus?! That shit was freakily good. You had me thinking you had decades of experience on me!” she snorted out a laugh, grinning widely as he followed after her to the north. “I’m running on green beans and you pull this-” he grumbled softly, her grin widening as she laughed.

“To be fair, revealing that was about the last thing I wanted to do. It’s a secret for a reason, though with Thor being a thing now it might be safer for people like me.” she mussed shortly, helping trip up a steep step.

“You’re recovering way too fast from this.” he was huffing softly, still wheezing a bit as she helped him along the rugged terrain. 

“Side effect.” she shrugged. He groaned loudly.

“What are you immortal as a side effect too? Maybe got laser eyes?” she shook her head lightly, smiling widely. 

“Alright, we're just gonna give up on this endeavor.” he let out an unmanly yelp as she hoisted him up into a piggy back ride, staring wide eyed at her as she started down the mountain with him on her back.

“What the hell girl! Is this another-”

“No, I just work out a lot, though the fast recovery makes it easier.” she laughed a little. 

“Alright now I’m curious, what’s your actual powers?” she considered for a moment.

“I can control vibrations and before you make a dirty joke think earthquakes and blasting people across the map, not whatever fantasies you can cook up in your head.” he shut his mouth before he could speak up, glaring lightly at the back of her head. 

“You’re no fun,” he muttered bleakly. She rolled her eyes. 

“It'll be a lot more fun when we get the hell out of here and you keep your word.”

“Hey, you got us out, that was the deal. I’ll shut my damn mouth.” he pledged dramatically. She almost fell as she laughed, Trip yelping a bit, clinging to her slightly.

She set him down once they made it to the quinjet, letting him recover as she got everything booted up and the engines going. 

“Home sweet home. We’re still in the mission parameters so this should be-” she paused, sighing heavily.

“What?”

“Boots on the ground getting closer, they probably heard the engine running. We should get ready.” she muttered softly. He pushed himself up, getting his gun ready. She raised her pistol, pulling the trigger as she caught sight of an armed man.

She couldn’t even tell what was happening, Trip screaming her name as she recoiled back. Her head hit the side of the quinjet, crumpling to the ground as Trip fired off shots.

Everything was blurry. She felt her limbs twitching almost violently, like the time she’d gotten too close to that Whip dude trying to kill Tony, Vanka- Vanker? She wasn’t sure. Everything was blurring together in a heavy way. There was shouting and commotion but she couldn’t focus fully. 

She was being jostled was all she knew. Her senses, the vibrations mapping out through her touch, told her this was probably Trip. 

“Weird ass buzzy fingers-” she couldn’t help but crack a smile at the jab at her admittedly pretty odd powers. 

She was starting to regain some focus, enough to notice the trees passing them by, hear Trip wheezing heavily, and notice him running through the woods.

“What happened?” 

“Reinforcements were already there and I needed to get you out. You got hit with some kind of lighting thing, I couldn’t tell what it was. I’m circling around to steal one of their jets. Ours is a lost cause the circuits have to be fried.” she groaned softly.

“We were almost there too.” she sighed with a coughing wheeze. Her chest felt impossibly tight, everything did. Her breathing felt harsh and shallow, taking in small short gasps. Trip used one arm to raise his rifle, mowing down the three man team waiting at the jet. He set her down on the floor as he raised the back up, just in time as gunshots deflected off the metal. The engine was already warm enough up to get into the air immediately, setting a northbound course before quickly moving back to focus on her.

“Skye, can you hear me?” 

Everything was under a heavy fog, some things came out clear but most of it was blurring together. Her chest felt even tighter, like a heavy shooting pain throughout the entire area as her vision faded out. 

It got worse in heavy intervals, sudden hits that forced the breath out of her lungs.

She could feel the vibrations as her ribs cracked, feel the image they formed inside her.

She opened her eyes, vision coming back in a disorienting instant as she spluttered. Trip was heaving, his eyes wide and panicked as he looked her over. She rested her head on the floor as she wheezed, looking at him questioningly. 

“Cardiac arrest, you got hit with probably ten times the voltage any human should survive.” she made a defeated noise, wincing as he prodded at her. “Smile for me.'' Right, partial paralysis was often a side effect.

“I’m good, everything feels in working order but can we definitely keep this off the record?” he gave her a look.

“Fuck no. We’re heading straight to the Triskelion to get you medical attention they’re gonna have questions.”

“And what do we tell them? I can’t remember shit after whatever the hell hit me and we have to lie about how we finished it all.” 

“I’ll come up with that and send you my report, we need to make sure your heart doesn’t give out again.” she gave in, sighing softly.

“Come in, what is your business in this airspace?” he scrambled to the cockpit, 

“This is team twenty-one fifty, returning in a commandeered jet.” he relayed back. Going back and forth with the air traffic controller for a minute before they were cleared for landing.

When the door opened a medical team was already waiting for them, along with a team of mechanics, probably to strip the jet of any-

Her head hurt, like a lot . 

“What can you tell us?” One of the paramedics asked as Trip followed quickly behind, duffel bag over his shoulder.

“She was shot with a high-powered lighting machine.” The paramedic nearly did a double-take at the information. “She experienced cardiac arrest not long ago.” He followed them quickly into the building, Hill’s eyes widening lightly as she looked over them, having intended on pulling a report out of one of them but deciding against it quickly.

He turned to her quickly, “I need to submit this to tech where can i-” she took the duffel bag from him as he glanced back to Skye, being quickly carted away.

“I’ll handle it, what’s inside?”

“Something that shoots lightning.” she blinked, holding the bag further away from herself as Trip jogged off to catch up with the very quickly moving medical team. 

Chapter Text

“Skye…”

“In her defense, it was a surprise attack.” Skye pointed to Trip as he spoke. Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose, taking a deep breath.

“Then I won't yell at you.” she decided softly “May and Coulson are on their way.”

“They’re on a mission.”

“May decided to just go in with an automatic rifle to end it earlier, Coulson agreed so they finished up early.” Skye paled a bit at the information. 

May was either worried sick, pissed at her, or both at the same time and Coulson had to be distraught. 

“Nat I need-”

“We’re having you transferred.” Natasha folded her arms. “ I realize…..” she glanced to Trip with a blank look “Here might not be a preferred place.” she was assessing his confusion, watching realization dawn on his face as he looked back to Skye. 

“Gordon showed up that was blown yesterday.” Natasha sighed heavily, shoulders dropping.

“ Great. Someone none of us know.” she stared at him with heavy suspicion, Trip raising his hands in a light surrender.

“He’s been pretty chill,” Skye admitted as Trip smiled nervously under Natasha’s glare. 

“Say a fucking word and I’ll break your spine in five places.” Trip swallowed thickly, smiling nervously.

“Yes Ma’am.” Natasha nodded, satisfied as she turned her gaze back to Skye, instantly softening at the sight of her. She had many wires hooked up to her, mostly monitoring her heart and giving her fluids. 

“May and Coulson will meet us there, Tony’s already sent transport for you. And I’ll deal with you later.” Natasha looked at Trip, narrowing her gaze as he winced lightly. 

“He hasn’t done anything wrong Nat, don’t threaten him too much.” Natasha didn’t answer, frowning deeply as her hands clenched tightly into fists. 

“Your ribs are broken.”

“It’s necessary during CPR.” Trip spoke carefully, already heavily cautious as Natasha’s gaze turned to him. “I’m trained as a field medic,” he added quietly at the deadly look Natasha was sending his way. Her anger simmered. 

“You needed CPR?” Skye sent a panicked look to Trip who froze up. Natasha’s gaze snapped to him, silently demanding answers. He sent Skye an apologetic look.

“Skye underwent cardiac arrest after the direct hit with the weapon I submitted to be analyzed.” he explained “She needed to be revived but she’s been recovering well.” his stress levels were slowly dropping the more assured the doctors seemed of her quick recovery. 

(This is where I changed the story and she flatlined in a prank on my beta reader) :)

“The doctor says I’m fine, my heart is doing well and there haven’t been any surprises.” Trip sent her a look that she ignored. “I don’t think I need to be transferred. You can tell Tony I’m alright.” Natasha hesitated, frowning softly as she sat at her right side, lacing their fingers together gently. Skye squeezed her hand lightly.

“I’m okay. We just got caught by surprise. My heart’s in good condition.” she reminded softly. Trip slowly slipped away, letting out a soft breath once he was out of the room and had fully escaped Natasha’s watchful eye.

“Hold it. Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” he winced a little as he turned, spying May glaring down at him.

“I’m going to make the report for both of us while Skye talks to Natasha.” he explained himself quickly, May narrowing her gaze at him with a heavy frown.

“Have a copy sent to me if you value your life.” he smiled, Coulson and May passing him by to get to the room. He let out a heavy sigh of relief when they were gone. 

Damn did Skye have some protective family. 

Thankfully May and Coulson didn’t scold her much either, though she felt bad seeing them fret so much.

She got a call from Tony, then Rhodey not long after checking in on her, and she gave them far less detail but assured them all the same. She’d have to erase the cardiac arrest from the file before Tony dug it out and freaked out about it. 

“If it’s any consolation I get some time off while my ribs heal.” Natasha gave her an unimpressed look, Skye smiling sheepishly at her as Coulson shook his head softly.

“How do you like your new partner?”

“He’s good I think.” she replied softly, “When I was downed he made sure to get me to safety, we did well together even if the mission did go to shit after a while. We still finished the job and made it out.” Natasha still frowned lightly, anxiously tapping her foot against the ground.

She was discharged later the next day with some instructions of care. She had red root-like webs of markings all across her shoulder and chest which she was assured would go away slowly as she healed, at least to an extent. 

“You need to recover for a while. Me and Coulson will help pack for your move soon. Don’t put much weight on that arm.” Skye just huffed softly, smart enough to know not to protest against May when she was worried, packing up a box of her things as she spoke.

“Thank you Mom.” she smiled softly, her gaze flickering back to her.

“It's only natural we help out while you recover,” she replied instead, softly as Coulson nodded.

“We’ll always be here for you,” he added, May agreeing quickly. Skye smiled. Her heart felt warm. 

She spent the next week in physical therapy and recovering from the damage. 

“You got hit with WHAT?!” Fitz screeched, looking from her to the weapon on the lab table, dragging the attention of a few other students in the lab. 

“Relax, I'm fine, it didn’t kill me. Well, it didn’t kill me twice.” his jaw dropped in utter shock as Jemma’s mouth fell open.

“That is not how you reassure us you’re fine.” Jemma stressed softly, checking over the red marking across her arm with a worried eye. “We were tasked with analyzing it and you’re incredibly lucky to be alive if this is was what hit you, though it has some damage to it.”

“Yeah I did shoot it.” she shrugged a little. 

“.....you mean to tell us this thing is possibly unstable?” Fitz asked slowly, glancing at it. She turned her head, staring at the gun-like weapon.

“Possibly.” it was buzzing at a rather concerning rate.”Actually, I think it’s going to explode- DUCK!” Everyone in the room shot down, the weapon cracking across the side, electricity whipping across the room, violently tearing through a dest and part of the wall. The crack spread across the entire core, spreading electricity in all directions for a minute more before it ran out of power. 

Skye slowly peeked up, eyes wide and blinking as she stood.

“It ran out of power.” a few other students heard her, letting out sighs of relief as they got up. 

“Why the hell would you bring that thing in-” Skye gave the student a sharp look.

“It wasn’t known to be unstable and none of them were aware my bullet hit it. I wasn’t even aware it was brought back with us until my discharge.” her smile was deadly “Do you have a problem with me? Alan was it?” he swallowed thickly, eyes wide and frightened as she stared him down. 

“N-no.” he muttered softly. 

She smiled calmly.

“Wonderful, then let’s get back to our own things and report the room as damaged.” he nodded quickly, scurrying out of the room.

“Shouldn’t have messed with Skye.” Jemma rose her brows at the empty doorway he’d just left through. Skye would have thought by now they’d learn to leave Fitz and Jemma well enough alone given how much she acted like their attack dog when it came to defending them. Jemma and Fitz weren’t fighters, no one in the Tech and Science Academy was. She was a very unique case that made her very intimidating to her classmates. 

“We should try and salvage what we can to figure out how it’s built.” she was covered in a bit of soot, most of them were from the smoke and the flames the electricity had caused in the outpour. 

“Well, at the very least it didn’t hurt anyone this time, and it won't be able to again.” Jemma peered at the cracked weapon, the core now dull and devoid of the glowing power it had before.

“Now you go rest, Natasha said to only let you in the lab for an hour a day.” 

“What?!” Skye squawked as Fitz pushed her with both hands on her back out of the lab, much to the continued amazement of the others as she simply let it happen as she lightly protested and complained. She let Fitz kick her out, a little disgruntled but she had to understand they were worried about her.

Her healing time was jarring for everyone, even those who knew her well. Cardiac arrest wasn’t usually such an easy matter to get over physically. Her heart had stopped, Trip was able to bring her back, but usually this took weeks to bounce back from in healthy adults. She was someone who got hit with essentially five lightning bolts and was walking the next day.

She was positive there had to be rumors about it already. Her reputation was already mysterious and “Scary” but she really didn’t mind. It helped her keep the people around her in line better. 

She returned to her dorm room, finding May and Coulson still packing (They had kicked her out earlier in the day for trying to help pack her things.) She was shooed away by May before she could even attempt to help, finding herself wandering a bit boredly.

“You doing alright?” she turned her head, a little surprised to see Trip standing there with a wide grin.

“Nat didn’t scare you off?”

“If a couple of threats were enough to scare me off I’d have been in my grave by now with how your family has been talking.” she laughed softly, giving him an apologetic smile as he offered her a file. “I Wrote both our mission reports while you were in the hospital.” She flipped open the file, glancing over the details. 

The story was plausible, and she doubted anyone would find that underground safehouse to be able to tell any of it was a lie.

“Thank you.” she breathed out softly. “And sorry for all Natasha’s threats. She can be protective. The secrets you know about are very sensitive.”

“I figured.” he admitted softly, “I haven’t said a word, and I don’t plan to. So what do you say about sticking together for a while?” he raised his fist towards her, grinning widely. She cracked a small smile, bumping her fist against his as her smile widened. 

“Let’s keep each other safe.” he nodded softly. 

“And I won't pry either on what I saw, you can tell me whatever you want in your own time.” he smiled reassuringly at her, wasting her smirk softly.

“Bold to assume you were getting anything further than that.”

“Hey!” he whined softly as she laughed. 

Chapter Text

Coulson set down a box, Skye sticking her tongue out at May as she grumpily allowed her to help with them. (The doctor had cleared her to her credit) “You’re sure you don’t need help unpacking?” Coulson fretted softly, keeping a close eye on her as she cut one of the boxes open. 

The markings from the electricity were barely visible now, and she had been able to get back to full exercise a couple days ago. All things considered, she was doing amazing.

“I’ll be okay, and you two need to get going soon or you’ll be late to your briefing.” May tsked softly, frowning at the reminder before turning to her lightly.

“We’ll get dinner together the next time we’re in town, how about that Skye?” she nodded softly, a smile playing on his lips. “Be careful and don’t lift too much weight if it feels wrong.” She added, Skye nodding easily at the instructions (She wouldn’t be taking the advice but she appreciated the worry.)

“Bye Mom, Bye Dad.” she waved them goodbye as May dragged a reluctant Coulson out of the apartment.

She let out a heavy sigh as she found herself alone, glancing over the sparse apartment. 

Natasha would be here later today to help. But for now she just looked around. Natasha didn’t have much in the way of decorations, but she did have some mementos. Picture frames of Laura and the kids, her holding Cooper while Lila held her hand and Clint doing bunny ears behind her head. 

There was a picture of the two of them as well, the one they took on their first date at the movie theater. Staring at it made her heart feel full and warm. Other than the few pictures and personal items, Natasha didn’t really have much around the place. Though her kitchen was well stocked with spices and ingredients.

Fresh, so much so Skye suspected she might have bought them the day before. It would have been a really tight schedule to stop by here on her way to her next mission though so she had to hope not. 

She started unpacking some things, starting with clothes and other essentials. She observed as she moved about the apartment, noticing the little things as she added her own things to the sparse things Natasha had around the apartment. She kept everything neat and in place, not obsessively so, but everything was organized so she kept to that theme. 

She glanced over the photos on the shelf, glancing at her box, spotting the matching photo she had from their first date and smiling softly. She would have to find a good place for it. She raised her head as she heard the front door open, smiling brightly as Natasha smiled widely at her.

“Coulson and May let you unpack on your own?” Natasha placed a soft kiss on her lips in a greeting, Skye’s smile widening as she nodded, hugging her softly for a moment.

“They had to leave for a mission and I told them I’d be okay.” she admitted.

“Your shoulder is feeling good?” she nodded

“I was cleared a few days ago for full range of motion. My heart is in good condition and my body’s fine now. Tony made sure to send over my doctor to confirm and clear me.” Natasha still looked a bit worried but she nodded. 

Her gaze caught on the matching picture, smiling softly.

“I’ll help you unpack your things, we can order some pizza and watch a movie when we’re done?” she offered, Skye smiling widely at the idea.

“I’d love that.” she nodded in agreement easily. 

Unpacking went a lot faster with Natasha there helping. She handled her things with great care, setting the little bobble Coulson had given her right up on the shelf of pictures Skye was a little too nervous to set anything on.

“It’s our home now. And besides, I never really did much decorating of the place anyways.”

“We need to paint some walls then, the all white is almost hospital like.” Natasha grinned softly, laughing a little.

“What colors are you thinking?” Skye hummed softly, glancing back at her.

“I like red.” she decided. Natasha tried to keep her heart rate from spiking but it was a useless endeavor as her smile widened.

“We’ll decide on that together then. Red could be a good color.” she couldn’t help the way she noticed how Skye’s gaze lingered on her for a moment before making the choice. It felt close to the heart, almost special that red was the color she had picked.

Skye was already making plans for the space, always asking for her input as they both considered the possible changes they could make. It felt so surreal to watch Skye buzz about talking about it, to plan a home with her. 

They were moving in together, and it felt magical. It felt so surreal to her that Skye found her worthy enough to take this next step (Skye would scold her if she ever shared those thoughts because of course she was worthy of all this and so much more)

After a few hours of unpacking and brainstorming what to do with their new space they settled down on the couch with a couple of boxes left for the morning. Natasha ordered delivery on her phone as Skye picked a movie for the two of them to watch, settling on a horror movie Natasha had talked about wanting to see a while back. 

They watched the movie with Skye snuggled into her side and Natasha’s arm wrapped around her lightly. 

At some point (Despite the screaming and violent murder happening on screen.) Skye fell asleep during the movie, Natasha very carefully turned the sound down and snuggled up to her, resting her chin gently atop her head.

Everything felt right right now. 

She drifted off like that, lulled to sleep slowly in the warm comfort that invaded her mind and body. Something that seemed so natural around Skye. 

When she woke up in the morning Skye was already looking up at her, still snuggled into her. A faint smile played across her lips. She leaned down slightly, stealing a short kiss before she regretfully sat up.

“You need to eat to heal well.” Skye huffed, flopping down across the couch as Natasha got up to go to the kitchen.

“Oh yeah, did you go shopping before I got here?” Natasha made a ‘so-so’ motion with her hand.

“I paid someone to. Since neither of us lived here fully yet it was a good time saver since I couldn’t make it back with enough time to do that before you got here.” Skye smiled softly, resting her chin on her arms as Natasha moved around the kitchen. 

“You’re so pretty.” Natasha smiled softly.

“You stole my line.” Skye smiled brightly, laughing softly as Natasha’s smile widened. “We have a couple more boxes to unpack. I have one left as well.” she admitted. 

“You haven't finished?” Skye tilted her head slightly. Natasha winced a little.

“It has a lot of the information I’ve gathered so far, about various things,” she admitted. “It’s….. Sometimes hard to look at.” she added. Skye’s smile melted into a gentle one.

“We can go through it together sometime if you’d like.” Natasha nodded slightly, accepting the offer easily.

Everything was easier with Skye there, nearly everything felt so much simpler when she was around. Except missions of course. On missions her heart was always pounding and she was always looking for her to make sure she was safe, one of the many reasons Fury didn’t let her have Skye added to her and Clint’s team. 

“How are you feeling about that new partner of yours?” Skye finally pushed herself to sit up, stretching her arms above her head with a soft yawn that Natasha found far too adorable to admit.

“Well I think. I’ll get another mission with him soon I’m sure since our report gives a pretty good idea of our teamwork, just a really shitty end to the job.” Natasha frowned softly at the reminder but didn’t allow herself to dwell on it. 

“You didn’t mention getting trapped?”

“Couldn’t.” Skye admitted, “Gordon got us out, and there was no other way out of there except up through the collapsed building.” Natasha hummed softly.

“Far too suspicious if someone takes a second look at it.” At first she felt a bit guilty hiding these things from Fury, but given she’d been lying to Fury about Skye since she’d met the man, it felt rather natural to be dishonest about her to him. 

Her powers, her (Blown) identity as a Stark which she only had to hold in for two days or so, and the Inhuman settlement she knew about for as long as Clint did, who also hadn’t said a word.

The system made sense. Skye didn’t want her people in harm's way. They were not weapons, they did not want to be found, and neither did she. It made sense to just have them live quietly. 

If no one knew about them all, no one could kick up a fuss. 

“But, he seems nice, and we told each other we’d give it a good shot. He also hasn’t said a word about my powers or Gordon saving our asses,” she added. “Though I need to tune down the precision.” Natasha rose her brows at the comment “He was apparently very freaked out about me aiming and shooting just as people came around the corner. I kept using vibrations to track them but I acted too fast before I could see them fully.” Natasha shrugged.

“That’s what makes recruits scared of you. You have a reputation for lightning-fast reflexes.”

“You talked to people to figure that out?” She wrinkled her nose lightly at the thought.

“No, Clint did. He likes to share the rumors he hears. There’s a lot about you and May and about your sudden re-assignment to… Antoine was his name?” Skye nodded. 

“Trip.” Natasha nodded, wrinkling her nose slightly at the nickname. 

“People are talking a lot. Apparently it was evident neither of you requested the change since you were both attached at the hip to your previous partnerships so everyone’s curious why you were both placed together. Well..” she shrugged a little.

“It looks like it’s just an attempt at a highly skilled duo creation, Trip is very skilled, and you’re renowned because of your duo with May. Coulson not as much but if you’re talking to higher-ups that matters more.” Skye nodded lightly along as Natasha lightly rambled. “Your skills match up well, and you’re both strong-headed and approach missions much the same way, head-on and with skill-backed recklessness.” Skye stuck her tongue out at her lightly. 

“Now that I think about it we never really went over any plan, we just agreed to storm the place and went in. If it wasn’t for that instant failsafe we’d have finished the mission flawlessly.” Natasha hummed softly, still fairly upset about the situation as Skye smiled gently, finally standing up to come over to the kitchen. 

Natasha plated up an omelet, setting it down in front of her.

“Thank you.” she smiled softly. Natahsa smiled softly, smoothly getting another ready as Skye ate. 

“Clint wants to visit sometime to see the house when we’re done adding our touches to it.” 

“Tony and everyone else wants to see it too.” Skye smiled, “ We’ll have to hurry up. Though I’m glad we have one guest bedroom at least since we Can’t really count the room I’m using for a workshop. We’ll probably need a bigger couch.” she glanced over to the small couch they had at the moment that didn’t really fill up the space much.

“Yeah.” she agreed easily, smiling softly as she stared at Skye. “This is nice.” she admitted softly. Skye’s smile was warm as she looked up at her.

“I want to make this space ours, so give me a little input yeah?” Natasha nodded lightly, her smile widening as Skye grinned at her.

This felt good already. 

More than good even.

Chapter Text

They started getting to painting after getting a bit more settled in. Going to buy couches with Natasha made her laugh a bit, since apparently Natasha had never been in an Ikea, and really neither had Skye so they’d gotten a bit lost. (Skye had been in stores, but Tony usually got furniture delivered so she’d never had to go out and look at furniture before) 

They had a much larger couch that fit the space better now, though currently the couch was moved to the center of the room, plastic sheeting played across the ground and painters tape lining the trim while they painted the walls a darker shade of red. 

Skye had forced Natasha to buy some decorations she liked that were now sitting on the counter ready to be hung when the freshly painted wall had dried. 

Her heart felt all fluttery. It had since she’d entered the apartment, Their apartment .

The idea was a bit intimidating, but nice. It felt so nice. Sharing a space, painting walls and buying decor to hang up, and sleeping in the same bed at the end of the day in a space that had a mix of both of them in a way that felt so comforting. 

She could find Natasha in every corner of this house. In the Red she’d chosen for the wall behind the couch, In the second toothbrush in the bathroom, the mementos spread across that shelf Natasha had taken the time to put together, mixed with some of her own things and pictures now. 

It wasn’t nearly done, but it so clearly felt like home already.

“You’ve gotta let me pay for something.” Skye grinned widely as Natasha complained.

“I’ve got a lot more money Nat.” Natasha gave her a flat look.

“You bought the apartment, at least let me buy the bananas.” Skye stuck her tongue out at her as Natasha huffed lightly, still smiling softly as she shook her head lightly.

“I have enough money, let me spend it on you a bit. Speaking of, we should get you some jackets and new outfits. You never treat yourself.” Natasha hesitated, trying not to look at her before her self control lapsed and she glanced to Skye’s pleading face. 

Her shoulders dropped in defeat and Skye’s smile stretched into a grin. “Let’s go, there’s a few shops I’ve been eyeing for you.”

“Only two outfits.” Skye nodded absently to the restriction, not paying it much attention as she dragged Natasha out the door to get to the car.

The day felt long going from store to store and before she knew it Natasha had realized Skye had bought five full outfits for her rather than the agreed two. She didn’t protest too much since Skye seemed to be having fun. 

They ate out afterwards, some quick to go from a local restaurant so they could get home and unpack the way too many clothes Skye had decided to get for her. Her side of the walk in closet was pretty bare. She really only wore t-shirts and basic pants with combat boots. If she needed something else for a mission shield would cover it and she’d toss it when she was done with it anyways.

Skye knew her style well though, well enough that all the clothes were dark, most of the pieces had multiple functions, which has her checking them over for any hidden pockets lightly.

“We can get more later-”

“Five outfits is more than enough, we agreed on two.” Natasha hung up the jacket, Skye pouting softly at her answer for a moment. 

“Fine, fine.” she gave in easily, Natasha letting out a soft sigh of relief. “I need to start going to the academy again tomorrow, are you set to go on a mission soon?”

“Not so far.” Natasha answered softly, checking her phone for any messages quickly. “ We can finish some last touches tomorrow night, everything’s pretty much done right?” Skye nodded a little, collapsing on the couch as Natasha sat beside her. They couldn’t move the couch back till morning, but everything seemed to already be coming together nicely.

They kept the same theme with the entire house when they decided to paint the walls as well with some more neutral walls to even out the bold red in some rooms. 

When she was eventually forced to go the the Academy the next morning Natasha followed her there to crash in Jemma’s dorm while they worked on a project.

“How is the apartment decorating going?” Jemma prodded a little, her smile eager as Skye grinned.

“We repainted and got some better furniture to put in it. We have some things to hang as well tonight since the paint should be dry.” Jemma grinned back.

“I’m so happy for you two. It sounds like you’re enjoying this.” 

“It’s nice.” Skye nodded “And it isn’t as cramped. I did have the bigger dorm room option but there’s a lot more space now. We have two spare rooms so I get to still do some minor work at home, Natasha says nothing flammable though.”

“You’d set the apartment on fire. You thought I wouldn’t find out how many times you’ve blown up things?” Skye laughed as Natasha gave her an unimpressed look.

“I had the fire system upgraded to a high-tech one anyways, it’d be fine.” she reassured her. Natasha just shook her head lightly without answering. She had a feeling they’d be putting out a few fires anyways, though she was glad the room Skye had put her workshop things in at least had a tile floor instead of wood or carpet. 

They slowly simmered down after wrapping up their project, Skye heading home a bit earlier than usual with Natasha so they could drive back to the apartment. 

They worked together on the finishing touches slowly, hanging up decorations and some pictures Skye had enlarged at a local photo store they’d seen walking around yesterday. 

They took the painter's tape off the walls, shifting the couch back into place after throwing away the plastic they were using to protect their floors.

And finally, sitting on that couch snuggled up to Natasha, it was finally finished. 

It really felt like their home now.

Chapter Text

“We should crash here more often this is nice.” Fitz flopped onto the couch, Jemma humming softly in agreement as she settled with her laptop on the couch. 

“They did a good job decorating.” she looked around, taking in the look of the living room, spying the shelf of photos and mementos, some photos clearly Skyes and some clearly Natasha’s but a couple however were a mix of both that combined their lives smoothly.

“Skye won’t be back until tonight.” Natasha leaned against the counter, raising her brows lightly at them.

“We know.” Jemma uncapped her pen, scribbling in her notebook as Natasha smiled softly in amusement. 

“How’s that mission going by the way?” Fitz was peering over the couch at her, looking mostly curious but slightly worried.

“The trafficking group they were sent after turned out to be a lot bigger than initially thought so they needed a bit more time.” she explained easily.

“They didn’t call for backup?” Jemma asked worriedly. Natasha rose her brows at her.

“Skye never calls for backup. Neither does May or Trip really.” she mussed softly. 

“Why not? It’s available isn't it?” Fitz asked.

“When you’re good enough calling for backup is just a time waster. In the time it takes for a team to come to your aid you could probably have finished things up anyways. And with Skye’s powers she always has a backup plan.” She pointed out.

“....It makes sense.” Jemma sighed softly “You think she’ll get back okay?” Natasha nodded.

“She’s strong.” 

She was very worried. 

After that cardiac arrest everything felt even more anxiety inducing. It all landed in another perspective for her. Before she didn’t worry about it at all. Skye was skilled, she had powers, and she had Coulson and May by her side protecting her. It wasn’t always enough but she always came back alive if a little scuffed up.

She almost didn’t come back that day. If she was on that mission alone she would have been gone just like that without even a hint of a warning. It made her anxious about missions. Even if Trip was a medic and she had a reliable (Maybe) partner she still felt undeniably anxious thinking about her out on a mission.

A mission where something like this could happen again at any moment if she wasn’t careful.

She swallowed down her worries, watching Jemma and Ftiz start to work out the details of a project they were doing together slowly. 

She didn’t understand much of any of their conversation about it of course, but listening to them drone on was better than letting her thoughts stray off to the endless worry she was cycling though just being here on her own.

“Is her new partner good?” Jemma asked, frowning a little as she looked to Natasha questioningly “She wasn’t exactly thrilled about it initially.”

“We’ll have to see. They’re giving it a shot again and if they do well they could become a permanent partnership.” she wasn’t exactly thrilled about it at the moment, but Skye seemed to want to give it a shot and Trip hadn’t said anything yet so she had no real reason to feel like she did about him.

Something just made her dislike him.

It was mostly just their quick closeness, his nonchalance with getting near her, and his flirty nature being realistic about it all. Being jealous wasn’t really all that fun she had to admit, but she had no real reason to be. Skye was her girlfriend, they were in a relationship, and Skye didn’t even have an interest in men. 

She shoved those feelings down as the lock to their front door clicked and the door opened, Skye grinning as she entered.

“Got wrapped up early, Thought I’d pick up food on the way home.” She sat the bags down on the coffee table as Jemma hugged her lightly, Fitz giving her a short smile as she moved over to hug Natasha.

Natasha hugged her tightly, trying not to show how relieved she was. Because of course Skye would be fine. She was capable of protecting herself without Natasha’s help, she always had been. 

“How did it go?”

“Well, no injures and we did everything pretty fast all things considered,” she admitted, with a soft smile, Natasha giving her a soft peck on the lips before she peeled away to inspect whatever Jemma and Ftiz had planned out splayed across their couch. She looked immediately interested, going over some of the papers before neatly placing them back into the semi mess of papers as Jemma explained their project in a long string of words Natasha didn’t care to listen to.

Her heart felt a lot less heavy with her there now, the worry fading into a memory she was sure to revisit the next time Skye went on a mission.

“You think Trip is a good partner?” Skye nodded slightly 

“He’s trustworthy enough, still hasn't said a word about my secrets and he’s had my back so far. I want to give it a few more missions before I say I have a good idea of him though. At the very least his files don’t lie at all. He’s skilled.” She relayed as she moved back towards the door to hang up her coat, Natasha letting out a little puff of air. Skye sent her a slightly amused look, not paying her displeasure much mind.

“How did your mission go? You weren’t due here for another day or two too.” Natasha shrugged.

“Was a smaller issue than we thought it would be.” she admitted. The group turned out to have a lot less resources than the reports indicated, so the time they needed was vastly smaller, giving both her and Clint a chance to scram back to their homes for a few days before a new mission was lined up for them. 

“You're gonna have to work hard to catch up on everything you missed. A couple projects were assigned and you only have four days to finish them.” Skye shrugged lightly at Fitz’s warning. 

“I’ll do some of them tomorrow. I really just want to relax for a bit. We did a lot of hiking today.” 

“Your mission was in a forest?” Skye nodded lightly. 

“Would have been fun if we weren’t playing hide and seek with armed militia members, but we kinda just decided to leave them alone for someone else to handle since we already had our mission to deal with.” Natasha tried to remain unphased, keeping a decisively neutral expression as Skye stretched her arms above her head.

Eventually things settled down and they left, leaving her and Skye alone on the couch. Natasha flicked through movie options with a soft frown.

“I’m okay Nat. I promise there’s nothing to worry about.” Natasha closed her eyes, of course she could tell.

“What gave me away?”

“I can just tell.” of course Skye wasn't going to hand off whatever tells she was showing. She’d stop doing them immediately if she did. 

“I just…” Natasha sighed heavily, leaning back into the couch, letting her head rest back on it. She stared at the ceiling for a moment, a bit thankful she didn’t have to meet Skye’s gaze right now. “What happened scared me. You were almost gone just like that, and losing you… I’d never considered it before. You’re strong and capable, better than me in a lot, some thanks to your powers some just because of how smart you are. I just…”

“I’ll be as carful as I can so you don’t worry as much.” Natasha smiled thankfully at her as she lifted her head again. 

“I’ll work through it.” Natasha spoke softly “I just need time, and hopefully less injuries from you.” Skye cracked a small smile.

“I’ll keep it minimal and have the wounds treated before I come back if it’ll help.” Natasha nodded a little in reply.  “Should we watch a movie? You’re pretty tense.” 

“Sure, I should probably try and wind down before we go to bed.” she muttered softly, leaning against Skye as she let her take the remote from her hands, putting on a movie they’d seen before, one of her recent favorites. 

Chapter Text

‘I have issues with kids, I will jump in for them.’

Trip was really wishing he’d taken those words far more seriously than he had. But to his credit, it had been a few months since she’d said it and they hadn’t encountered any kids on missions yet so it really wasn’t at the forefront of his mind. The mission was going fine, really. Clint and Natasha met them at the location, it was a joint mission and a pretty simple one, go in and take everyone out kind of deal. That’s what it was for the first day.

All four of them surveilled the location calmly. There were a lot of guards walking the perimeter and even more inside the building. They reported in that night and Skye took the first watch at night. The radio sat silently on the bedside table. He was managing to get some sleep. Clint and Natasha were in the other room over 

“They’re bringing a kid in, I’m going in.” he fell off the bed, scrambling, dragging on his pants and shoes and stumbling out the door as he jankily pulled on his gear, gun hanging loosely from a shoulder strap. By the time he made it out he already saw her heading inside the building, ten dead guards in her wake. He sprinted with unlaced boots, eyes wide and alert.

He wanted to yell at her to stop but he couldn’t alert the base, so he settled for sprinting as fast as his legs would carry him.

It was nearly useless as shots rang out as she fired, alerting the base quickly of her presence.

“Skye what the hell!?” he shouted out, raising his automatic rife and firing towards a group as they quickly neared her to the left. 

“What the fuck are you doing!?” Clint shot an arrow from behind him, an explosion rocking the side of the building, collapsing the doorway over the guards flooding out. Natasha was right behind him, scowling as she quickly took down guards.

He didn’t answer, following after Skye as she moved to the north end of the base. Natasha and Clint followed his path, eventually making it to where Skye had stopped. Natasha stilled after a moment as she watched Skye gently pick up the child with an arm, pistol raised, taking out another guard. 

Skye’s heart was racing. It had been mere minutes since she’d seen the child being dragged into the compound by his arm kicking and screaming.

“I’m so scared,” he said “I don’t want to die!” he screamed as he was dragged inside, the guard rolling his eyes and snorting at his pained cry as he gripped his arm with far too much strength. The last cry she barely caught “I want my Mom- my. I'm scared I don't want to die!" voices melded together as her pupils thinned. 

She was breathing heavily, shaking arms holding onto her small body.

She was running before she could think, slipping off the balcony as her heart pounded away in her chest. 

There was a crack when she landed roughly on the ground, her ankle felt like it was on fire.

 She felt her chest going wet with soft tears, felt the way her heart slowed with each beat, the vibrations growing weaker and weaker with every moment.

Her feet kept moving beneath her. She was pulling her knife from her thigh sheath. 

“Hey you’re not supposed-” she sliced through his neck with a knife, moving quietly from one guard to another. Efficiently.

She was holding her body softly, delicately in her arms. Her blood was warm.

She recoiled as she got to the gate, feeling a bullet strike her vest as she met gazes with an armed guard facing her. 

 The familiar vibrations of a heartbeat never came. 

She shot him, yells sounding out as panic spread. She shot anyone who came near, following the traces of where she knew that little heartbeat was. 

She hunched over Katya as she pressed her face into her hair. Tears of her own falling down her cheeks as a blur of a voice surrounded her.

Before she knew it she was picking the kid up gently, Trip at her side and Clint and Natasha not far behind, eliminating guards on their way as she wrapped an arm around him.

Suddenly, all was clear again and she was looking around with a clear head, her free hand trembling slightly as she let out soft shaky breaths.

She swallowed thickly and forced herself to stop, suddenly aware of the sharp, sickening grinding of bone every step caused in her ankle as she moved through the base after Trip. 

The boy kept his face firmly pressed against her shoulder as they dealt with the remainder of the guards outside, Natasha and Clint rushing outside of the base’s dilapidated doors. (They must have gone inside at some point.) Neither of them argued with her yet as they escaped the base, a few injured guards left behind. 

They made a stop at the police station first where she finally let go of the small boy in her arms.

“Th- thank you miss.” he bowed his head a little. His cheeks were puffy and red. She reached forward, still crouching in front of him as she smiled lightly. She ruffled his hair lightly as he looked up at her.

“Don’t go walking around at night without an adult again alright? It’s dangerous.” he nodded quickly. Soon he joined up with the officer set to take him home and she left with the others.

Trip didn’t talk much. He had to assume it was PTSD the way he remembered her brief but firm warning to him on the matter.

“No injuries?” Clint sighed softly as they arrived at the hotel room. Natasha stalked inside, Skye sitting down on the bed. She lifted her leg, pausing as she stared at her ankle.

Trip was staring at it too with slightly wide eyes as Natasha refused to look at her. Skye and Trip stared at it for a moment. “That’s not supposed to do that.” Clint and Natasha’s eyes snapped towards her at the words, both focusing in on the way her ankle limply fell with gravity, far more bent than it really ever should be.

“I’ll get the jet ready to leave back to the Triskellion.” he was thinking of resting before that, but with the messed up state of her ankle it was best not to wait at all. They’d all just have to go without the sleep tonight.

Natasha was tense, but worried. She allowed Trip to be the one to help her, carrying her to the quinjet carefully.

Skye stayed silent, hollowly looking up at the ceiling of the quinjet (Trip had laid her down on her back and told her not to jostle her foot any more than she already had) Natasha was still not looking at her, and she could understand why. For the most part she had stayed true to her word that she would be as careful as she could be. She hadn’t broken that until now, and she had broken it in a big way.

She for one, jumped off a three-story balcony without using her powers at all. She also rushed into a base alone in that state. 

She was entered into the medical bay without any paperwork. There was a short surgery to align her bones, and now a cast wrapped around her foot and bandages over other wounds she had scarcely any mind to notice. Natasha stayed silent through it, she didn’t yell at her, but she was clearly very upset with her. 

She got sent home with crutches after they were done patching her up. She felt like shit through and through already. By the time they got home her nerves were frayed, constantly glancing at Natasha as she kept her eyes on the road firmly. 

She settled on the couch, already sure Natasha might want to be alone.

“Sleep in the bed, I’ll take the couch.” Her voice was cold. Skye flinched lightly, Natasha still not looking at her.

“I’m sorry Nat-” Natasha gritted her teeth.

“What the fuck were you thinking? And how the hell did you hurt your ankle?” Skye stiffened slightly, because yes, of course no one but Trip knew exactly how that had happened yet.

“I was stupid and I’m sorry-”

“That doesn’t answer the question.” Skye swallowed thickly.

“I jumped and rolled off the balcony to lessen the impact, but I still broke my ankle.” Natasha’s scowl deepened, her heart hammering in her chest.

“Why would you do that? What possessed you to jump off a balcony?! We could have gotten the kid later!” she raised her voice. Skye’s heart was pounding in her chest.

“I couldn’t leave him there.” 

“He would have been able to be rescued just a little while later!” Natasha snapped “You nearly got yourself killed, you could have gotten everyone and the kid killed with that stunt!” Skye flinched, her gaze sliding away. 

“He-” her throat felt like it was closing up as she clenched her hands tightly into fists against her legs, Natasha paused, glancing at her whitened knuckles. “I would do it again.” she decided firmly. “I can’t leave a kid behind, it’s not who I am.” 

“I never said leave him behind.” Natasha snapped back quickly “Call us, make a plan, don’t jump off a balcony to make it happen!” Skye frowned, looking away from her as she clenched her jaw tightly. 

“I told Trip.”

“Trip ran out there without a belt and his shoes untied! Clearly you didn’t tell him soon enough!” Natasha scowled this time, her hands clenching tightly as Skye simply didn’t look at her, her gaze decisively blank.

Natasha turned away, stalking into the bedroom. 

Skye stayed on the couch. 

Her chest felt tight again, so impossibly tight. 

How could she admit what actually happened to someone? Shield would take her out of the field immediately. She’d be put in therapy she could never really be honest in. There was so much shield didn’t know that she couldn’t share with them.

Breathing felt hard, so impossibly hard right now.

She shuffled on one foot, Crutches forgotten as she moved using the wall to support herself.

She sat in the spare bedroom closet, her uninjured knee pulled to her chest, closing the door with her inside.

The darkness was comfortable, the close walls a security she hadn’t indulged in in a long time. 

She used to do it a lot when she was younger, when she had just moved in with Tony and she was still constantly having panic attacks about every little thing.

She blinked, pressing her fingers to her neck, feeling her heartbeat pounding in her chest loudly. 

Was she having a panic attack? This didn’t feel like her normal ones. This one was a lot more calm. All the physical signs with none of the emotions. Her body was responding to a heavy panic she wasn’t feeling anymore. 

She tried to calm down, pressing her head against the wall as she dug her nails into her thigh.

She swallowed down the lump in her throat.

She opened her eyes when she heard the door open, light flooding in. Natasha looked panicked, gaze snapping down towards her. Skye looked down, avoiding her gaze as Natasha observed her for a moment.

She didn’t look just guilty, there was something more going on. When Skye did something stupid she looked guilty and she apologized before righting what she had done. This time she wasn’t promising to change anything, and she wasn’t quite sure if that just meant she would do it again like she said, or if it meant something else.

She forced down her anger for the moment, sitting down in the closet across from her. Skye still refused to look at her, gaze solely on the floor, white knuckle gripping her knee, nails digging in there.

“What happened?” Skye looked up, startled by her suddenly calm tone. Natasha was looking at her with a more concerned gaze now, the anger already dissipated. Skye swallowed down the lump in her throat, trying to steel herself for the conversation.

“I heard him begging for his life, somewhere in my mind it merged into what Katya said to me, while I was holding her in her last moments. She begged just like him. I’m sorry I jumped off the balcony, I was stupid I know. I don’t even know when I started running. Before I knew it I was holding him and we were leaving-” Natasha wrapped her arms around her, Skye flinching lightly at the sudden contact. 

“I’m sorry for yelling at you,” she spoke softly.

“I deserved that much-”

“You didn’t do it intentionally, I don’t have any reason to be angry with you,” Natasha spoke firmly, gently holding the back of her head. Skye clutched her shirt tightly, her knuckles already returning to a whitish color as she closed her eyes. 

“I could feel his heartbeat, I just remember chasing it so I could make sure it didn’t stop like-” she choked up near the end, but she was sure Natasha knew what she was trying to say.

“We’ll work through this, together. Just like with my box.” Skye pressed her face into her shoulder, letting tears flow as her shoulders shook. She wrapped her arms around her fully as she hiccupped softly. Natasha tightened her arms around her, resting her face on her shoulder.

“I’m sorry, I should have checked that you were okay before getting angry.” Skye didn’t respond this time, just sobbing softly into her shirt, holding her as close as she possibly could. 

They stayed like that for hours till exhaustion took hold and eventually Skye fell asleep still crying in her arms. Natasha gently moved her to the couch after she’d fallen asleep fully. She felt guilty. She should have noticed how frozen and fearful Skye was, how exceedingly guilty she looked when usually being reckless was a topic to be discussed, not a topic she was afraid to even speak about.

In the morning, Skye’s eyes were still a bit puffy, and Natasha gently and regretfully pulled herself away to start making breakfast. If she wanted to heal fast she needed to eat even more than she usually did. 

When Skye woke up she didn’t move from the spot, pulling the blanket draped over her closer to her as she yawned softly. She still felt a bit miserable. Her body ached and crying all night had drained her emotionally. 

“You need to eat.” Natasha gently slid in next to her, setting a plate of food in her lap. Skye blinked blearily, staring at the food for a moment before she registered what it was.

“Thank you.” she muttered softly, still a bit dazed as she ate absent mindedly. Natasha watched her with a soft gaze and a warm smile playing across her lips. She set the plate on the coffee table when she was done, leaning against Natasha again.

“I’m going to go back into therapy. Tony had a therapist set up for me a long time ago but I haven’t been back since a couple of months after what happened. We’d thought I’d worked through it and didn’t need any more help but…” she let out a soft sigh “Clearly it’s a bigger issue than I thought it was.” Natasha didn’t comment on it, just smiling softly. 

“Okay, if you need any help tell me, I’ll always be here for you.” Natasha reminded softly, Skye smiling as she rested her head against her shoulder.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.” Natasha rested her chin atop her head, sliding her hand over to hold hers, intertwining their fingers 

Chapter Text

“What did you want advice on?” Skye sighed softly, scratching the back of her head lightly. Tony stared at her questioningly. Her visit was welcome and nice, they’d spent a few days together with just her and him since it was so sudden no one else could get the time off. 

“I…” she sighed softly, closing her eyes for a moment as he took a sip of his coffee. “How do you deal with your PTSD?” he coughed a little, swallowing his coffee thickly as he set the cup down, turning his attention fully towards her.

She looked nervous, avoiding his gaze starkly as she kept starkly still under his watch. Almost like she was trying to keep as still as possible to keep from fidgeting. A nervous feeling settled in his gut, but he didn't move to question her. 

“Well.” he cleared his throat softly. “Sometimes it’s hard.” he admitted. “These things don’t always go away. They get better with work and I… I have a hard time with moving on. I keep Jarvis online to make sure I’m not having a panic attack, and when I do, I do my best to calm down and take a break. Usually from something stressful I’m dealing with.” she nodded lightly.

“And when it gets bad,” he glanced back to her, swallowing his hesitance and nervousness with the subject as he caught her staring up at him, taking in every word. “I find solace in the people I have. In you and Pepper, Happy and Rhodey. Maybe in the moment I’m forced to swallow those feelings down, because often the task at hand can outweigh how I feel and what I want to do in that moment.” she nodded lightly.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?” Skye leaned back in her chair, frowning softly. 

“I nearly got myself and my partner killed having a flashback to Bahrain. I was reckless and stupid, and I could have cost the entire team our lives if there had been anyone who gave us trouble at that base.” Tony paused, his smile a little sad.

“Are you-”

“I reconnected with her a week after what happened. Natasha was pissed with me but we worked it out. I didn’t…” 

“I understand.” Tony shrugged softly, because really he did. He was ashamed about his PTSD, and for Skye there was a lot more at risk. She was an amazing student, pulling off the roles of both a student at the best tech and science academy and a skilled field agent who had a reputation among any agent worth their salt. 

“It can be a touchy subject you want to keep quiet, I know that well enough, that’s how I was too.” Skye nodded lightly, not refuting his words as he smiled softly, resting a hand on her head. “Let’s watch some old movies. It’s been a while since it’s just been you and me spending time together.” her smile widened softly, giving a soft nod. 

He sorted through their collection of movies, picking out one they had watched together probably hundreds of times. Raiders of the lost Arc. 

“C’mon! I wana watch it again Tony!” she was hanging off his arm as he gave a deadpan look. He looked to Pepper who just smiled as she sneaked away.

“Hey! Where are you going!? Get back here!” 

“Have fun you two I have work to do!” Pepper waved goodbye, Skye waving back quickly, grinning widely as she still hung off Tony’s extended arm. 

“Alright you little rascal, get off of me-ack!” Skye climbed onto his back as he spoke, wrapping her arms around his neck to hold on tight as he tried to pry her off.

“Please? Just one more time.” she hung off him to the side so she could see his face. He let out a heavy sigh of defeat and she grinned from ear to ear as she cheered, Tony giving up with a huff and putting the disc into the player with her still on his back. “Can we get pizza too?”

“Sure kid.” he gave in easily this time.

“I’ll order pizza.” he glanced up at her as she snapped him out of his memories, his smile fond and dripping with memories as she paused.

“You’re smiling at me weird.” she muttered softly, “Are you being sentimental old man?” he rolled his eyes.

“Let me be damnit. You used to be so small and cute, less fueled by chaos.” she stuck out her tongue at him as he chuckled. She spotted the movie case he was holding, her smile widening. 

“I remember you used to hide that movie all the time, you got so sick of watching it, but I kept using my allowance to buy more copies.” he laughed

“Yeah, we still have all twenty of those copies.”

“You didn’t throw them away?” she rose her brows at him.

“Didn’t have the heart to.” he shrugged lightly.

“Awe, you big softy. Rhodey would make fun of you if he heard you talking like that.” Tony rolled his eyes again.

“Rhodey would make fun of me for a lot Skye.” Skye shrugged lightly with a knowing smile.

They waited till pizza arrived to start the movie, sitting on the couch together, much like they had done for the past 16 years. Always taking any chance to visit home and return to the normal they had built up of movie nights and quality time she could only get with her family. Time that had become more scarce these days as she and everyone else got more and more busy. 

She had to treasure these moments when they came. 

She fell asleep leaned against him, talks of her struggles and his own experiences drowned out by the comfort she felt right now, just enjoying his company. 

They would talk about it more again in the morning she was sure, but for now she could just be happy. 

Chapter Text

She packed them up to get ready by the night before, all ready to go so they could be on their way out as soon as they woke up. Skye had been missing Tony and her family a lot in the past few months (Mission after mission and project after project made visiting home hard, though Coulson and May were able to visit a lot more often she still missed Tony and the others) 

Natasha was the one to plan out the day this time. She’d matched up everyone’s schedules to make sure they could all spend time together. Though keeping that from Skye was probably the hardest part of the whole thing.

Skye was always gifting her things, and though she didn’t have the money to do the same for her, she wanted to so something special for their first anniversary.  She had made sure to distract Skye from the date, even going as far as having Fitz erase the calendar reminder from her “Fucking live wire booby-trapped ass phone” as he had put it mumbling other curses she didn’t understand as he worked on it. 

Skye wrote dates down, setting multiple reminders to start planning things, so, with those gone, she was successfully able to start planning. Between missions and school work she didn’t suspect much. 

She’d talked with Fury and got her some time off from the academy and re-assigned her next mission (Trip was in on the plan as well as she’d eventually learned to like him (Not really)) so Trip was taking a short break to see his own family and S.O. as well. 

All that was left was arranging a mystery trip in a quinjet. Which….

“Sure where are we going?”

“A surprise.” Skye blinked

“...Okay.”

Was easy enough with how much Skye trusted her to not do something completely insane at the drop of a hat. Skye was content to sit in the back, being bored and not asking many questions, more curious to see what Natasha had done than tempted to figure it out herself. She didn’t want to spoil whatever surprise she had planned after all. 

The last surprise trip they took was a nice vacation to a beautiful cabin so she had to assume Natasha’s plan might be similar this time. She briefly checked her schedule, finding it suddenly very empty and she figured Natasha had handled it in her planning process.

She was slightly tempted to look at where they were going, but resisted in favor of listening to music and reading to pass the time sitting in one of the back seats.

When they finally landed Natasha quickly distracted her from peeking out over the parking garage to get into a van, and she gave in easily because really Natasha seemed so excited. 

She kept her eyes on her phone, smiling lightly as Natasha glanced to her frequently, making sure she wasn’t looking up at the scenery as they passed it by. 

“I won’t look I promise.” She smiled, amused as Natasha blushed lightly in embarrassment. 

They went to lunch first, at a place she didn’t recognize and Natasha was sure to keep her moving quickly, which she cooperated with easily with an amused smile.

After lunch, they were back in the car again, Natasha quickly checking her phone before they left. Skye played along still, keeping to her phone as they dove, when they arrived at a familiar building it couldn’t help but click in her mind. 

They were in New York at the ice rink.

“Is this what you had planned out?” Natasha pulled her towards the building with a smile, refusing to answer. Skye’s smile widened softly, eyes widening a bit as they entered and she spotted Tony waving, Happy and Rhodey sat together excitedly planning out recording Tony’s embarrassment and Pepper waving to them lightly with a bright smile.

Skye hugged her tightly first. Pepper hugged her back tightly, smiling widely as she let go, Rhody stealing the opportunity to hug her tightly, lifting her up and spinning her around as she giggled.

“Put me down!”

“No way kid.” Rhodye stuck out his tongue at her as she huffed, Tony laughing softly as she struggled half-heartedly to finally escape his hug and bound over to him. He let out a yelp as she tackled him in a hug, nearly falling off the bench as he quickly recovered from the sudden impact to hug her back.

She pulled back quickly to give Happy a tight hug.

“It’s been a while kiddo, it’s good to see you.” her grin was wide.

“It’s really good to see all of you.” she nodded softly. Coulson and May were occupying themselves watching the much-needed reunion, May smiling softly as Coulson looked at her.

Skye didn’t miss the chance to give them both a hug as well as Natasha occupied herself talking with Pepper.

“She have any idea yet?”

“I’ll let her know later.” Natasha smiled mischievously as Pepper let out a soft laugh.

“Having Fitz mess with her calendar is smart, let’s hope she doesn’t kill him for it though.” she joked with no real seriousness. At most Skye would make even worse traps for him to have to get through if he ever did it again. She might threaten him a bit for it though. 

Natasha laced up her skates as she watched Skye get ready with Tony, already teasing him softly as he blushed in embarrassment and huffed a little. 

Getting out on the ice was refreshing, watching Skye enjoy her time with her family, sticking close to Tony and Pepper as they both helped him stay a bit more steady. 

Natasha hung around Happy and Rhodey, keeping a slow pace and letting May and Coulson dote on each other a bit as she watched Skye have fun, mostly at Tony’s expense. 

“Your planning skills are amazing, Pepper and Tony are always so busy their schedules never match up.” Happy chuckled softly as he glanced at her 

“I wanted to make a nice surprise for her.” she shrugged lightly. “Maybe it’ll soften the blow when she finds out I orchestrated her forgetting our anniversary.” Rhodey laughed loudly as Happy tried to stifle his snickers. 

“I’m sure she won’t be mad, she might make you pay by showering you in gifts though.” Rhodey patted her back as Natasha groaned softly. Skye’s gift-giving never died down, and Natasha really did try to escape it, but there was only so much she could do when random packages arrived of gifts that Skye knew she would love on the occasions she did escape Skye dragging her off to go get her a gift in person.

“Probably, there might be no way out of that. Must be a Stark thing.” Rhodey snorted softly.

“Yeah Tony’s the same way. Always overdoing gifts for every birthday.” his smile was warm as he chuckled “She learned that from him I’m sure.” Natasha nodded. She had experienced Tony’s over gifting first hand attending Pepper, Happy, then Rhodey’s birthday parties within the year. His gifts were handmade and thoughtful with tens of hours put into them, along with far too many other gifts with matching effort and thoughtfulness. 

He’d gifted her a watch that hacked computers for her own birthday, (Skye had given her something much more sentimental, though the accompanying picture frame did double as a weapon which was quite surprising but infinitely more cool than a normal picture frame. The throwing star picture frame sat on her nightstand in easy access now just in case.)

“He used to give mostly monetary things before Skye came around, he worked really hard to make everything personal after that.” Happy smiled softly as Natasha watched Skye still with a warm gaze. 

Rhodey just grinned. 

He couldn’t believe he’d ever doubted how absolutely whipped Natasha was for their little Skye. Looking at them now Natasha didn’t even try to hide it at all anymore.

The only thing that had changed seemed to be comfort. Neither of them blushed like schoolgirls when they interacted anymore. They seemed to be a lot closer now, and Natasha had made an effort to befriend them and get on their good side. She was always encouraging trips to see them, just like Skye encouraged going to see Clint and Laura to spend some time with them (really, they were Natasha’s family now too, Clint had made sure of that fact.)

They finished out the night skating together, leaving Rodey and Pepper to help Tony, though Rhodey was doing more cackling than helping at this point. 

The night felt perfect, holding her hand lightly as they skated, Skye rambling happily about what they had talked about.

Getting off that ice rink was almost painful after all the excitement but they managed, and Tony and Pepper managed to covertly shoo them off to spend time together so they could set up a movie night (Skye was a little huffy about it but happy to spend time with Natasha)

They went out for dinner, another place Natasha had picked and set a reservation for.

Skye couldn’t stop smiling anymore, half just because she was looking at Natasha and half because of the wonderful surprises she had prepared. Seeing everyone all together again was beyond amazing. It was everything she had been missing for the longest time.

“Ah, right, I have a gift for you.” Skye paused, eyes widening a little bit as Natasha slid a soft velvety black box across the table, smiling softly. Gently Skye took it in her hands, opening up. 

She was captivated by the beautiful silver locket, already open to reveal the picture of their first date engraved inside in amazing detail.

What she caught second was the letters pressed into the velvet ‘happy anniversary’

“Oh my god I forgot-”

“That may be my fault.” Natasha grinned as Skye looked up to her with a sharp panic. Skye’s eyes widened as Natasha grinned widely. “ Fitz helped me erase it off your calendar so I could surprise you.” her grin was sharply mischievous as Skye burst out in laughter. 

“Wow, I’m sure he had a lot to say about my phone.”

“Plenty. Happy anniversary Skye.” she moved around her, Skye’s smile widening as Natasha gently put the necklace on for her. 

“This is the best surprise ever, thank you Nat.” Natasha smiled widely, holding her hand as they walked out of the restaurant together. 

“We should head back, they really are planning a movie night.” Skye’s smile widened at the information, nodding a little. 

Everything always felt perfect when Natasha was around, but today felt especially so. 

They’d been together a year now, and it had been the happiest she’d ever been. They’d had a few fights along the way, but nothing they couldn’t resolve together. They came out of it closer, with a better understanding of each other. 

When they got back they settled on the couch beside each other, a movie none of them had seen before playing on the screen, Tony being teased by Rhodey and Happy for his ice skating skills still as he plotted whatever dirt he could get on them, Pepper laughing lightly at his plight as Skye watched the chaos with a smile, stealing a pizza slice straight from Rhodey’s hand.

“Hey!” he grinned, glaring at her playfully as he grabbed another. She stuck out her tongue at him. May rolling her eyes at their antics, lightly, barely noticeably leaned against Coulson. Their fingers intertwined lightly between their touching legs. 

The day felt like a dream to Skye, everything was beyond incredible. 

Though she adored the surprise, she would be showering Natasha with gifts when they got back, and making her a few things just as sentimental as the gift she received. (It was their anniversary ! How could she not shower her with gifts???)

Chapter Text

“What’s holding Trip up from this mission?” Natasha adjusted her suit as Skye tightened the straps of her vest. 

“Same thing as Clint, family matters he had to deal with. Did either of us tell Fury it would just be us?” Natasha clicked her tongue softly.

“Nope.” she hummed. “I know we can handle it, but he would take us off the mission of he knew it was just us two.” Skye nodded lightly. The mission was last minute, just as last minute as Clint and Trip having to call off at the same time for separate family issues. That left her an Natasha for a four-person mission with a team that had shrunk to two.

Natasha had worked on her nerves around Skye on missions enough that Fury didn’t see any issues with them working together anymore. After everything with Skye’s major fuckup they had to be separated for a while again mission-wise, but he’d seemed to slowly calm down about it over time, and probably with some reassurance from Natasha. 

“Hopefully we don’t get trapped somewhere again, considering it’s happened to you three times.” Skye groaned softly at the reminder.

“I have bad luck is all.” she whined. “I swear I’m good at my job.” She joked softly as Natasha laughed, a smile playing across her lips as she shook her head lightly. 

Skye tucked her silver locket into her shirt once they were close to landing, Natasha glancing at her with a soft smile as she got ready. 

“I still don’t know what to do with all those gifts you got me, we don’t have any more space in the closet.”

“I’ll build it out.” Skye smiled, Natasha deflating slightly. 

“Or… you could slow down on the gift-giving.” Skye stuck her tongue out at her in a clear refusal as Natasha rolled her eyes softly. “Or hire a contractor for another thing, you don’t have to do all the work yourself even Tony doesn’t do that.” She shrugged softly 

“It lets me add more high-tech implements without having to weird out a contractor, and they’re too slow, I’d rather do it myself in a night then get it finished over a weekend.” she paused for a moment “Besides, you had no complaints about the kitchen weapon cabinet.” Natasha opened her mouth to retort before closing her mouth, huffing softly. 

She liked that installation a lot, right behind the advanced security system Skye had installed with Jarvis monitoring the outside constantly. It gave Tony peace of mind to because Jarvis would always tell him they were doing fine as he observed through the outdoor security system. The inside system was more closed off from Jarvis, constantly monitoring but by no means sentient. 

Natasha loved how secure the house was.

“You have to slow down?” she asked instead.

“You tricked me into forgetting our anniversary, I’ve got at least three more months of gift-giving in me.” Natasha cracked a smile at her reply.

“Fair enough.” she laughed. 

“So what’s the goal? I didn’t read the briefing.” Natasha snorted softly as Skye yawned softly. 

“We’re after a strike team touring cities, they’re taking out targets as they go, making political assassinations look like suicides.” 

“How did we catch on?”

“One of their photos made it into our hands, they work off commissions and someone who bought their services died, their correspondence and the photos for proof of the job completion were all on his computer and handed over to us by the FBI.” She explained. Skye hummed softly.

“Fury wanted a tech on the job?”

“He wanted a list of all their buyers if you could get it from their phones.” Skye clicked her tongue softly as she looked out the back of the quinjet, Natasha shouldered her backpack as they left the quinjet behind. It would have to stay there until they got done with the mission.

“Should we grab something to eat on the way?” Natasha suggested. Skye shook her head lightly.

“It’s too time-sensitive.” Natasha frowned lightly but didn’t argue, following her to the hotel they had set up, across the hall from where they were. Skye got to work setting up a camera on their door’s peephole to keep an eye on them while Natasha set up their monitoring equipment. 

“-Danny, the client-” the audio crackled in and out a bit, Skye peering over at her as she watched the equipment fade in and out. She left her project to peer down at the screen.

“Must have a scrambler,” Natasha backed off, letting her have a go at it for a minute before the audio crackled to life. 

“-square, we’ll have a good vantage point from there. The client wanted a murder-suicide. His dick needs to be cut off.” Skye coughed, brows raised as Natasha blinked. 

“Should I order pizza while you listen in?” Natasha plugged in headphones to it, slipping them on as she gave a slight nod. Skye flopped onto the bed, ordering a pizza on her phone. 

The pizza came fairly quickly as they sat in silence, eating just as silently as they listened in, and Skye watched the cameras idly. They weren’t going much of anything, and based on Natasha’s updates they had so far worked out a rough plan and decided to call it a night for now. 

So needless to say, the opportunity was right there. 

When night fell and all was silent they confirmed they were all asleep with a thermal camera and Natasha picked the lock with Skye standing guard.

When a soft click finally sounded Natasha slid into the room, unsheathing a knife from her boot as Skye held her combat knife tightly, silently closing the door behind them. They stepped lightly and silently, Skye moving towards the two cots to the far side of the room as Natasha sunk a knife though the neck of the man closest to the door, a hand over his mouth muffling any of his reaction.

One of the assassins shifted in the bed at the slight noise.

Skye dispatched him quickly with minimal noise as Natasha moved around the room to the last remaining assassin. Skye moved quietly, grabbing one of their phones as she killed him at the desk he was sleeping at, dragging the chair back and away from the blood-spattered desk. Skye pulled on plastic gloves, typing away at the laptop, breaking through the passcode. She downloaded the information to a USB, glancing over the current mess of the room. Four dead men and a bloody mess to clean up. 

She didn’t keep her attention on the mess for long, pocketing the USB and tossing her gloves.

“We should call for a cleanup crew.” 

“Already texted Hill about it. Was this really supposed to be a job for all four of us?” Natasha rolled her eyes softly as Skye rose her brows. Yeah this was oddly easy for such a high tier job.

“Maybe it was mislabeled, or we’re just that good.” Natasha chuckled softly at her second explanation, shaking her head lightly.

“They’re supposedly very skilled assassins. Though no one is too strong when caught off guard.” Natasha shrugged a little as she wiped off her hands and knife. “Should we get something on the way back?” She looked up, watching Skye check her watch.

“Sure, we’ve got time.” They left the room, locking it behind them, Natasha hanging a do not disturb placard on the handle as they left. 

They walked beside each other holding hands as Skye looked up a good place to grab something sweet on the way back to the quinjet, utterly unbothered by the mess they had left behind.

“There’s a churro place on the way, you like those.” Skye smiled softly.

“We’ll get those then, let me pay.” Skye gave her a side glance. Natasha rolled her eyes at the look.

“You promised you’d let me buy you treats and food every now and then Skye.” she reminded. Skye pouted softly. 

“Fine.” she agreed.

“You’re not allowed to get me a gift to make up for it either.” Skye huffed softly, her thought process interrupted by Natasha’s swift denial. 

“Fine but I’ll buy the next meal.” Natasha shrugged lightly. She’d nearly given up on paying for things most of the time. Skye always put her card down in advance, or on some occasions bribed staff to take her card instead of Natasha's when Natasha managed to put her card down first.

“Alright.” Natasha smiled softly. 

They ate while walking back to the quinjet, smiling and laughing as they talked. 

Chapter Text

“This isn’t my fault!” Skye shouted, shoving Fitz and Jemma down beneath the table with a hand on each of their heads as what they were working on exploded outwards, shard sinking into the walls in every direction. 

Jemma was the first to hesitantly peek her head up, finding nothing left of the item they’d been working on as Fitz shared a look with Skye. 

“We need to stop accepting assignments to analyze found weapons. They’re almost always exploding.” Skye groaned softly as she pushed herself up, helping Fitz up as well. 

“What was that noise?!” Weaver came scrambling down the hall, wrenching the door open with wide panicked eyes as Skye laughed. Weaver glared darkly at her.

“The thing you gave us exploded again.” Skye nudged the hunk of metal embedded in the table with a pencil. “Nearly took Jemma’s head off.” Jemma gave her a dark look. 

“It wasn’t even close!” Weaver let out a heavy breath.

“We’ve been getting a lot of unstable things for students to analyze.” she admitted softly “I’m glad you three are alright, we’ve put in place better measures, it shouldn’t happen again.” 

“Awe, I was racking up favors rescuing them-ack!” Fitz punched her shoulder, Skye laughing loudly as he glared at her as Weaver gave them an unimpressed look.

“You’re not usually around these parts though, do you have a project for us?” Skye grinned, Jemma’s expression lighting up at the realization, giving Weaver a pleading look as Fitz smiled excitedly. Weaver paused for a moment, taking in their excitement.

Well….if they were this excited she couldn’t exactly tell them she was just over here for some paperwork from the neighboring office.

She was sure the others wouldn’t mind too much if she passed this task on, they were their best (Also most chaotic) students at the academy.

“We have some field work that needs done. If you’re not open to it that’s fine. It’s not dangerous, just a trip out to an archeology dig to identify some findings. We need to know if it’s human or alien in origin, and where it came from if possible.” she was going to go herself, but those three would be good hands to pass this on to, there was nothing to explode there either.

“That sounds exciting! We’ll go! Right?” Jemma glanced to them quickly, Fitz nodding instantly.

“Sure, Nat is out for a week so I’ve got time.” Skye nodded in acceptance. 

“Leave as soon as possible then, the team is already waiting for you.”

“I’ve got a go bag in Jemma’s room, we can head to the dorms and leave in fifteen.” Fitz gave her a panicked look. He had to pack! Jemma did too! Weaver glanced at them, nodding.

“I’ll look forward to hearing how it goes. Someone else will be flying you so don’t worry about it.” Skye smiled slightly, yeah she wasn’t looking forward to that. It was something she did without complaint but not having to do it was definitely appreciated. 

Jemma and Fitz rushed off to the dorm room, Skye taking her time to follow Jemma to the girls dormitory. She entered to Jemma rushing about, packing outfits and other things. 

“Just pack three outfits and hygiene products. Actually I have extras you can use.” she dug her duffel bag out of Jemma’s closet, patting a bit of dust off as Jemma wrinkled her nose. 

“That’s all I’ll need?”

“Trust me, we’re probably not going to be there long, and if we are we can wash the clothes to wear again or buy some there. They always make sure to have some relevant currency on hand with these missions, and if not we just need to trade.” she shrugged lightly. 

Jemma nodded, stuffing some more clothes inside her bag before zipping it up.

“I’ll just wear whatever, we’ll be in the dirt anyways.” Skye nodded lightly. Dig sites were rarely clean, and wearing a nice outfit would just be a waste. 

“Let’s go meet up with Fitz, he’s probably panic packing like you.” Jemma snorted softly, nodding a bit.

“I’m sure.” she agreed. 

They moved over to the boy’s dormitory just in time to watch Fitz walk out with a way too stuffed duffel bag. Skye gave him a flat look but didn’t comment as he worriedly eyed how empty Skye and Jemma’s bags were in comparison.

“Let’s head out, we have five minutes left to get to the Quinjet bay.” she checked her watch, Fitz’s eyes widening slightly.

“Seriosly? We need to get going!” Skye smiled, a bit amused at his panic as she led the way as slowly as possible. 

Weaver didn’t know when they had gotten to their dorms to pack, the pilot there probably wasn’t even expecting them for another ten minutes or so.

“Agent Collins! Fitz and Simmons correct? I’m all ready to go when you are. Ah, my name is Gavin by the way, I’ll be flying you there.” the man smiled at them politely, clearly tired but enduring anyways. Skye returned his polite smile as Jemma and Fitz set their bags down.

“Nice to meet you Gavin, thank you for flying us. Do you have the details of the task as well?” he nodded, pressing the button to close the back of the quinjet, Jemma and Fitz startling a bit at the abruptness of it. 

“The others are a lot smoother-” Fitz muttered softly, Skye rolling her eyes. 

“Don’t mind them, they're new to travel, anyways, I’d like to hear more of those details on the way.” he nodded quickly, looking a bit nervous before getting them up in the air.

“So where are we headed?”

“The Amazon rainforest. There was a recently discovered archeological sight there of an unkown conflict, more modern weapons than any of the tribes known to reside there. We’ve spoken with them and have a deal not to bother them at all while we’re investigating. They were the ones to report the findings, pretty shaken about the whole thing. Lots of bodies, old but not as old as they should be.” Skye nodded easily.

Jemma and Fitz shared a fearful look.

“This…”

“Relax. Gavin is an agent, I’m an agent, and there will be guards at the site, besides, if they were fresh bodies there’d be a whole different kind of investigation. Archeological dig implies fully decayed, anything they fought over is long passed, or the people looking for it are dead.” Skye interrupted the beginnings of Jemma’s nervous ramble 

“Just relax, we’ll be there soon, you’ll investigate, and we’ll be out in two to three days max. We might also just bring back anything we need with us to take you out of the field.” Skye nodded.

“Scientists and technicians in the field are put in for minimal time, they’re flown in, they investigate under heavy guard, and they leave. Given I might be told to stay, but you two will get to leave early.” Jemma and Fitz’s eyes widened at the comment as Gavin winced a little.

“You figure?”

“I’ve been on plenty of these already. I’m not even graduated yet either.” she sighed softly “They’re always way more comfortable asking higher ups to hold me there for longer, since I can hold my own well enough.” he raised his brows.

“Well enough is an understatement.” she shrugged lightly. 

Chapter Text

“Who are you texting?” Jemma peered over her shoulder. 

“Trip, he couldn’t make it in time for the mission. He’s a little buthurt we left him behind.” she cracked a smile, laughing softly as Fitz cracked a smile.

“It’s not a field mission though.” he pointed out.

“ Still my partner, and wherever I go he’s supposed to go. The reverse is true too. We once stopped at his grandma’s on the way back from a mission. Got her some caramels from the city we were at. She loved it.” Jemma smiled softly.

“He’s so sweet.” she gushed softly, Fitz’s expression turning sour abruptly, letting out a small oof as Skye roughly patted his back.

“Let’s go before Fitz turns green.” Fitz blushed as Jemma paused, furrowing her brows lightly.

“Green-”

“Anyways!” Fitzs smiled nervously. “Do we know anything about exactly what we’re looking for!?” he dodged under a branch, Gavin leading the way with a machete through the thick vegetation.

“You’ll know it when you see it! It’s pretty hard to miss honestly!” Gavin shouted back from the front, Fitz letting out a heavy sigh because of course he was gonna answer like that.

“We would appreciate some hints though.” Jemma frowned, Fitz nodding along in agreement easily.

“Missions are always like this.” Skye grinned, far less bothered by the lack of an answer than them. “If we abruptly end up not involved for any reason it’s best we know less. Like if we were suddenly told to turn back.” she shrugged a little, brushing off a bug from her shoulder when that didn’t get rid of it. 

“That… makes sense I guess.” Fitz admitted hesitantly.

They finally made it to a clearing, a large area dug out, archeologists gently digging out bits and pieces of skeleton, other people digging with flat shovels, widening the dig site area.

A lot of it was mud, and stepping onto the dig site made Jemma extremely happy she hadn’t brought any of her nice outfits to wear on the trip. Gavin led them further into the dig site, people glancing at them as they passed by. They made it into a deeper part of the dig that must have been fifteen feet down before they finally saw it.

There was a large carving half dug out. I was a strange metal object, clearly designed and built rather than something naturally occurring. There were a few archeologists standing around it, Skye nearing with her duffel bag and the heavy box she’s volunteered to lug around since clearly neither Fitz nor Jemma could carry it and Gavin wouldn’t be gentle enough with it.

“What do you know about it so far?” Jemma was already chatting with the scientists there, Fitz joining her to talk to them about it. 

Skye stared at it for a moment longer. It was five feet tall, massive in size and it looked like it was only partly dug out.

And it was vibrating . It made her nervous in ways she could not word. 

This thing was still operational.

Jemma and Fitz returned soon, and Skye finally noticed Gavin had left them alone to their work, along with the other scientists and archeologists.

“You don’t look happy.” Jemma smiled, a little nervous now as Skye stared at the object.

“It’s still operational, I can feel the components spinning and moving. It also has about a third left to be dug up, and lengthwise much more.” she tilted her head slightly.

“.....They said this thing was fifty years old at least based on the dating methods they used.” Fitz muttered softly, furrowing his brows as he turned to look at it. Skye shrugged softly, opening up their box across the muddy ground. Jemma made a defeated noise as Fitz frowned deeply. 

He still grabbed his scanning equipment, Skye grabbing a chisel, determined to take little pieces of the material back with them if they were pulled out before this could be figured out.

The first day was rather boring. Fitz scanned every available part to them, and Jemma was figuring out the metal used and if they could crack it open with some corrosive chemicals, to no luck at all. Whatever it was built with had lasted through time for a reason, and whatever corrosion she achieved was far too little to be considered good progress. 

For anything to be viable it needed to eat through it fast, and even if it could the internal components were a worry. 

Skye pretended like she was doing the same as Fitz, but instead slowly sent vibrations through it, trying to figure out what it might be.

She didn’t have any luck from that angle. The components kind of blurred together a bit because they were still moving and at a fast rate, so she couldn’t get a good idea of the inner workings. 

By their second day however she had identified internal pins and the shape of it. It seemed like there was an access hatch beneath it to the side, indicating the thing was probably upside down. The internal components of the bottom had pins locked together to hold it in place, large and metal, but she could work with them. They were rusty and old.

She waited till it was just her, Fitz, and Jemma to test it out, moving her hands over the locations of the bolts and shaking a bit. Some fell out easy with a soft clank, others taking much longer to do so.  Fitz and Jemma kept watch as she worked slowly, moving her way through each bolt. 

When she hit the last one she had to leap out of the way as it tilted back towards her, Drawing the eyes of everyone, wide with shock at the now dropped massive metal panel that before seemingly had no way to be pried or moved.

“Are you alright?!” Adrean called, looking worriedly across the three.

“Fine, we just got the panel off, nothing too interesting but we can look at the internal components now.” As she spoke Skye used one of the chaise they'd been using as a stool to get up higher, peering into the inner workings.

Her stare was flat. 

Well… that explained things.

“What do you see Skye?” Fitz looked excited.

“This shit is a gama cannon.” the man in charge, Adrean coughed roughly 

“WHAT?!” everyone stopped at his shocked shout. He cleared his throat, glancing around nervously, backing away as she dropped down, Fitz very hesitantly taking a look inside. He poked his head in, looking around a bit.

“Yeah that’s…. We should not be near this at all. Those gears look very old, and the contained power source looks unstable. It’s clear that the seams not being water tight and being buried here has caused a lot of corrosion. You need a team able to deal with this, which isn’t us.” Fitz added at the end.

“He’s right. It doesn’t look good.” no wonder her senses for what was inside were so bad. As soon as it was opened it was like the gama radiation was buzzing all around her all at once. It was disorienting and it made her feel sick. “You need to evacuate this site and get a bomb team in here to slowly dig it out. If this goes off even the neighboring villages won't make it. I hope you didn’t use that excavator for…” she slowed down as his face fell, fear dawning on him in an instant.

She closed her eyes for a moment.

“It’s fine, just tell them not to do it any more. Don’t touch it, don't go near it. That thing is leaking radiation already I’m sure. Once your bomb squad is able to contain the gamma radiation with the proper protocols it should be safe to excavate though.” 

“So, we’re not going to die right now but we could if we don’t do anything?”

“Indeed.” she muttered softly, glancing back to it. “It’s worse now that the radiation has a larger gap to leak from, but there was no way to know what was inside it without opening it, so it’s an unfortunate necessity. Just call the bomb squad and evacuate your team a few miles away before coming back when it’s contained and safe.” she furrowed her brows for a moment. “Me and Fitz need to be quarantined though, we’re radioactive.” Fitz’s face fell, as if he hadn’t thought of the side effects of actually getting close to inspect the thing with gamma radiation leaking out, though to be fair Skye had forgotten to mention that till it was a bit too late. 

“We’ll pack up and move quickly. Gavin will be flying you back. I need to handle this mess as quickly as possible.” Skye nodded in acceptance, Jemma keeping a safe distance from her and a queasy looking Fitz as they moved, Gavin taking the box and Fitz’s bag as they made their way, much slower, out of the forest.

When they got to the quinjet Fitz and Skye were quarantined to the far corner as Jemma taped up tarps to separate them, Gavin looking rather worried.

“It shouldn’t be too bad, we just feel like shit. We got a few seconds of leaked radiation, which sorry Fitz for not warning you. My head was a mess already.” Fitz groaned softly, shaking his head lightly.

“Sss fine I understand. It wasn’t exactly kind to my head either.” and he couldn’t imagine what the buzzing felt like. Gamma radiation had a very high rate of movement which was probably why Skye couldn’t sense any of the inner workings with it having leaked out into the entire space. 

When they got back Fitz and Skye were quarantined next to each other and had to stay the night. Jemma brought them both snacks and kept them company, falling asleep in a chair one of the staff had provided her before they were finally cleared and set free the next morning (Their things were however being burned. Fitz was sad about his cardigan) 

Weaver was very happy with them being cleared so fast, and a little worried considering she’d sent them into the situation. It seemed after they had left Adrean had evacuated the camp in a hurry and called in a bomb squad with the proper tools to contain the gamma radiation. By morning it was contained and the radiation levels were steadily dropping, presumed to be safe again in only a few days considering the leaking was far less bad than the initial release of it they had experienced having opened the thing. 

“At least nothing went wrong.” Fitz muttered softly. “Well, other than the radiation, but you know what I mean.” Skye nodded a little.

“Could have cracked with us there, or I could have accidentally set it off with the vibrations.” Jemma shivered.

“I don’t even want to think about that.” she admitted. 

“Want to crash at my house? We can order pizza.” Jemma grinned as Fitz’s face lit up.

“We should watch a new movie! A sci-fi one came out not to long ago and I wanted to watch it!” Jemma nodded “We were waiting for it to go to streaming to watch together, since we don’t really have the time for movie theaters and such.” she added, grinning widely as Skye smiled.

“I’ll order our usuals then. We can work on the project we paused to go on this mission a bit tonight too, Nat won’t be home till the weekend so there’s no one to force us to go to bed at two am.” Jemma giggled as Fitz deflated. They’d lost so many prime productive hours going to bed at a more reasonable hour. 

“We should order ice cream too, since we’ll be up all night.” Jemma smiled.

“I stocked some before I left with some of our favorites just in case, we’re all set.” Fitz grinned.

“Let’s go then!  We can eat pizza after.” Skye rose her brows.

“You’re going to get queasy and complain again if you do that just wait.” 

“It’ll be fine Skye!” He stuck his tongue out at her, earning an eye roll. 

Chapter Text

“Aunty Skye!” Skye grinned, letting out a small oof as Lila flung herself at her, Skye catching her and hoisting her up in her arms to sit on her shoulders as she giggled loudly. Natasha smiled gently, carrying Cooper in a much similar fashion as he talked her ear off about what they had gotten up to..

“Did you have a good trip? I heard you went to a beach!” Lila nodded quickly 

“Yeah! Me and Cooper made sandcastles and a little post we dug out. We found a fish we put in there!” she grinned, easily going on and on about what they had done. They had gone to a theme park, though Lila’s favorite part seemed to be the beach, and Cooper really loved seeing the characters at the park.

Laura smiled as she watched them make their way closer to the house, Natasha setting Cooper down to run off back to her as Lila refused to go with an unhappy pout.

“Lila, it's dinner time. You have to let Skye eat too.” she reminded, Lila’s face lighting up the realization, scrambling to get down, nearly falling off her. Skye expertly caught her with a hand, letting her down quickly.

“We’re having spaghetti tonight! You’re gonna love it Aunty Nat!” she pulled at her arm, dragging her along as Natasha smiled fondly.

“Your favorite huh? I bet you’re excited.” She smiled widely as Lila nodded rapidly, dragging her inside quickly as Skye followed.

They ate all together, Lila barely able to calm down enough to eat her food (Which was saying a lot, Spaghetti was her favorite.) while Cooper wolfed down his portion, trying to get out the door to play as soon as possible.

It felt nice. They’d just been here not long ago, but she was always happy to visit the Bartons. They were Natasha’s family in every sense of the word but blood so of course she wanted to make a good impression.

Laura had been amused with her initial nervousness, very amused in fact. It took her a while to settle down and realize she didn’t really have to worry about being judged, not here anyways. Laura never judged her, and Lila and Cooper barely knew how to properly judge a person’s character, they just knew that Skye was around almost as much as Natasha now and she was the equivalent of an aunt.

It made her heart feel warm when they called her that if she was being honest. 

She always enjoyed stopping by to visit, keeping them company, playing games with the kids who were always thrilled to see them when they came by.

“You look tired.” Natasha smiled as Skye finally came inside, looking a bit disheveled. She’d been dragged out as soon as dinner was over to play with Lila and Cooper outside.

“They’re currently building a little shelter with twigs.” he laughed softly, Laura smiling.

“They’ll tire themselves out and come back in eventually. It’s good to see you both, though it’s a pity you have to leave so soon.” Skye sighed, nodding in agreement.

“Clint will have to come with. Trip is sleeping in the quinjet. We got our next orders on the way back from the last mission. Working us like dogs I swear.” Lila frowned, nodding softly.

“I hope you can get some time off soon, I know you haven’t been back to visit your brother in a few weeks.” Natasha nodded in agreement 

“You should go see Tony soon, you know he’d love to see you.”

“I know it’s just been so busy. I’m going to be graduating in a year and a half now, it’s still some time but I’m already being swamped with related missions.” she scratched the back of her head lightly as Lila chuckled.

“I’m sure. Tech academy graduates who don’t need to be protected in the battlefield are a large asset. You’ll be in high demand as soon as you graduate, even worse than now. They have to back off for your school schedule at the moment.” Skye groaned softly at the reminder, but she was way too right about that. Weaver only allowed a limited amount of urgent missions to reach her, otherwise, she wouldn’t be able to properly complete her obligations with the academy and Weaver wouldn’t stand for that. 

A lot of the current missions however were related to her dual skillset. Disabling bombs, doing in field server work to gather information, dismantling weapons so airstrike teams could come in. Trip had her back well but sometimes the missions were back to back and even he got tired out (He always complained she recovered energy too fast, because while he was still recovering she had eaten and already gotten back most of her stamina.) 

“Aunty Skye! Are you and Aunty Nat gonna stay the night?!” Lila clung to her leg, having tumbled inside very abruptly. Skye smiled sadly, gently plucking a leaf from her hair as she gave her a pleading look.

“I’m sorry Lila but we can't. Someone needs our help right now, and we and your dad are gonna have to go help them out.” Natasha picked her up in a hug, Lila hugging her back tightly as she pouted.

“You have to stay for a weekend next time!” she demanded.

“A weekend then.” Skye agreed, smiling softly as Lila grinned, hugging her tightly as Cooper gave her a hug too. Skye grinned, letting go of them both, Cooper scrambling to go give Natasha a hug goodbye as well as Clint smiled gently at the scene.

“Alright, we have to go do some work but you two behave alright?” They nodded quickly, looking downtrodden as Skye and Natasha left back towards the quinjet.

“Trip flew?” Clint questioned.

“Yeah, he’s sleeping on the jet. We slept on the journey here.” Skye admitted, Natasha humming softly.

“Another typical mission this time?”

“Sure, just another place trying to build a weapon, there’s no details on what it is though so that’s probably why me and Trip were called in too.” Natasha nodded lightly.

“Well, no time to waste, let’s head out.” 

Chapter Text

“Tony?!” Tony grinned, waving as Skye dropped her bag in the doorway, rushing forward to hug him tightly. Natasha grabbed her bag for her, smiling softly at the sight. “When did you get here? I didn’t know you were coming to visit!” 

“I planned it last minute.” he admitted with a sharp smile “ and I got your schedule from Natasha along with the passcode to get in.” Skye grinned widely at his answer as Natasha glanced at them with a warm look before putting their things away. 

“We have the weekend off,” she added, Skye’s smile widening as Tony ruffled her hair lightly. She grumbled a bit, fixing her hair as he smirked at her.

“What projects are you working on right now?” Skye’s expression lit up, dragging him to her project room. (Still no combustible things allowed in there) she could hear them chatting away as she sat down at the counter, rolling her shoulders a bit to loosen the joints.

Seeing Skye happy made her feel a lot better. And Tony was all too willing to shove his schedule around to visit whenever it fit her schedule. He was constantly shifting things around, though Skye wasn’t as willing to ask him to tighten his schedule to come out and visit as Natasha was. Usually Skye waited till she had enough time to fly out herself and save him the time. 

“You should add a couple-” Natasha zoned them out as they chattered, re-entering the living room as they talked some nonsense about whatever project Skye had shown him. She still couldn’t grasp any of it. The terms were complex and not anything she’d researched, and by the time she learned a few the topic moved on to other things and she had no need for the definitions anymore, so she eventually just gave up and decided she’d zone out that kind of talk. 

“We should just spend the night in, going out is usually trouble.” Skye nodded. If he didn’t have a disguise then going out would very quickly turn into a fan meet, which was never enjoyable for either of them trying to get something else done. 

“I’ll order pizza in.”  Natasha leaned over the counter as she tapped at her phone, adding on Tony’s pizza to the order she had saved. 

“Thanks Nat.” Skye smiled brightly, in a way that still made her heart flutter softly in her chest. Skye’s happiness was always so infectious.

They ate pizza and watched a movie late into the night, falling asleep on the couch together. The next day Tony and Skye occupied themselves with a project she was working on and hadn’t gotten to show him the day before. 

It was all too soon that Tony had to leave that evening. Though Skye was sad they didn’t have much time together she still seemed significantly happier.

“We still have tomorrow off right? Do you want to do something together?” Skye sat next to her at the counter, resting a cheek on the countertop, basking in the coolness of the marble as Natasha chuckled softly, reaching up and gently tucking her fallen hair behind her ear. 

Skye smiled softly, warmly as Natasha gazed at her. 

“ I… wanted to talk about a few things.” she admitted. “Going out sounds much better though.” Skye wrinkled her nose lightly at her.

“What did you want to talk about Nat?” 

“I…. You’ve worked a lot on your issues, with professional help, and for a lot of it I’ve still kept mine boxed up.” she admitted softly. “ I don’t know what to do with it, if I really want to know who my parents are. If I do meet them, I’m not even sure what I’d be hoping for,” Skye nodded, reaching forward and gently holding her hand as she straightened herself to sit up fully.

“You can tell me whatever you want to Nat, but you don’t have to say anything. I’ll understand.” Natasha smiled weakly at her, squeezing her hand gently. 

“Just a little today,” she mumbled softly and Skye nodded. They entered their bedroom together, Though Natasha was sure she’d never felt this anxious existing in the room before now as Skye gently dug the box out of her closet where she’d stacked things on top of it. 

She set it on the bed carefully, looking at Natasha questioningly.

Natasha very gently opened the box, pulling out the top file. It was thick and bulky, much bigger than the files on the other widows she had found.

“I was monitored heavily through my training due to some escape attempts.” she admitted. “So even if I don’t remember a lot of it, most of it is right here.” her grip on the papers tightened “ When I gave you my story before I left out parts in some areas. I never mentioned the family I had.” Skye stayed silent, holding her free hand gently as she stared at the file.

“It was a pretend family, but Yelena never knew that. She was young, too young to be broken like that. When we killed Dreykov I was too scared to try and see her again. Too scared to even look. She’s somewhere out there but I just…” she swallowed thickly.

“I couldn’t protect her back then. I tried to escape with us both but I wasn’t strong enough. Not even to save myself let alone her.” 

“You did your best Natasha.” Natasha closed her eyes for a moment, nodding slightly.

“I tried, but I haven't tried again since. I haven't looked for her, I should look for her.”

“It’s okay to be scared Nat.” Skye spoke gently, smiling softly “I was scared to meet Tony at first. He clearly was unprepared, he didn’t plan for a life that included me and I knew it. It didn’t help that I was an affair child either. It worked out with him, not so well with my parents, but one out of three isn’t too bad. Give her a chance to decide on her own. If she rejects you I’ll be here, and if not, maybe it can be the start of rebuilding.”

Natasha swallowed thickly, looking down at the file.

“I’m not ready yet.” she muttered softly. 

Skye smiled.

“Okay.” she couldn’t push this. Natasha needed time to heal before she proceeded to rebuild what she had lost. She needed time and support, and Skye would be that for her, no matter how long it took to resolve these feelings within herself. 

Chapter Text

“You look a little stressed,” Skye grunted softly. 

“Gordon’s trying to get me to come to Afterlife over the weekend. I already told him I was taking it off.” She sighed a little, frowning as she looked down at the paperwork in her hands. Natasha didn’t even attempt to peer at it, frowning a little.

Skye always left periodically to check on Afterlife, and Gordon was always confirming things with her, he texted and called often when she couldn’t make it there to judge something in person.

“There are some important matters to attend to.” Skye waved him off as he appeared behind her at the mention of his name. 

“It’s nothing pressing Gordon, I’m spending time with Natasha this weekend.” she leaned back, glancing over the file’s contents as Gordon frowned, Natasha shrugging softly when he turned his head towards her. 

“What if Natasha comes with?” Skye raised her brows, setting the file down.

“You breaking the rules? Is the sky falling?” Gordon huffed, folding his arms.

“We have briefly allowed spouses to visit Afterlife.” Skye glanced away at the reminder, looking to Natasha questioningly.

“I’m curious, you talk about it a lot and I’ve never seen this place.” Natasha shrugged lightly, nodding her confirmation.

“Then you can get some work done as well over the weekend.” Skye resisted the urge to groan loudly, complying finally as Natasha gave her a soft amused smile. 

“Alright, I’ll grab my go bag, but if you encroach on my weekends again I riot.” Gordon snorted softly. 

“I don’t do this often.” he reminded “But it is rather urgent. Not something to be spoken about over the phone.” he added, his smile a little nervous.

Skye shared a look with Natasha. 

“We’ll go right now then.” Natasha grabbed their bags, Gordon holding out his hand towards her, bringing them both to Afterlife in an instant. 

They appeared in her office, Skye glancing over at the stack of papers awaiting her as Gordon glanced over at her.

“We have found an inhuman specializing in psychology and we’re debating his stability for Terrigenesis. The elders are uneasy.” Skye sighed softly

“For what reason?” Gordon handed her a file, continuing to talk as she looked through it.

“One of the elders claims he has darkness within him.” Gordon admitted.

“Yat-Sen?” Gordon nodded lightly. Yat-Sen’s gift was nearly unexplainable, but his intuition was unmatched and he didn’t speak lightly of these matters. He could sense things others could not.

“I’ll hang around here, you should go speak with them.” Skye nodded lightly, letting out a slight sigh as Natasha settled on the couch of her office, looking around.

“How long has this place existed?” Gordon stayed standing, turning his head towards her.

“Since the fifties,” Gordon answered calmly. “Jiaying and Yat-Sen founded this place to offer a home to those of us who were lost and guide us into the next stages of our lives through the mist.” he answered evenly “I went through the mist in 83 under her guidance. Afterlife needs a guiding hand.” 

“There you go again.” Natasha sighed softly “You know she doesn’t like being compared to her mother.” Gordon stiffened slightly, frowning.

“Jiaying was….broken.” he admitted “When Skye met her the kindness in her had long ago died.” he didn’t mention Cal, Natasha knew he had little care for the man. He had killed him after all. 

Skye entered the building, Yat-Sen sat waiting at the chair in front of the desk, turning his head as he heard her.

“Can you tell what kind of darkness this time?” he shook his head lightly with a heavy sigh.

“Only to a small extent.” he admitted “I have the feeling this darkness is being held back, possibly by the veil between him and his inhuman nature. If he goes through the mist it could be dangerous.”

“How much have you spoken with him?”

“Minimally, Gordon has been leading him around, he has a practice in the city and he’s done well for himself. We have not done in depth but he is aware of the potential inside him.” Skye nodded lightly.

“I’ll talk to him.” Yat-Sen smiled softly 

“I’m glad, you’re much better with words than I am.” he sighed deeply, Skye smiling softly.

“Don’t worry about it, we should first see if being considered is something he wants. I’ll make sure to be thorough.” he nodded, smiling gently as she left, towards the visitor’s home she was sure they had put him in.

“Ah…hello.” He looked startled to see her, looking up from a book he was holding, one on ancient Chinese medicine she noticed. 

“Skye.” she introduced. His eyes widened a little. 

“Andrew Garner.” he hesitated, offering out his hand. She smiled, shaking his hand.

“There’s no need to be nervous Doctor Garner. Despite the rumors I’m not quite that scary.” he huffed out a soft chuckle. 

“The people here think very highly of you,” he spoke instead.

“We work hard to maintain our home here,” she replied easily “I’m here to talk to you about the mist.” He paused, nodding lightly, waiting for her to continue. “If you would like we can consider you for going through the mist, as we have done for many here. But there are some things you need to know. Your transition can be dangerous and unsightly. We do not know what your gift may be, but one of our elders with a gift for sensing these things fear you may lose yourself to your gift if you were to go through the mist. Risks like these come with the territory, but whether to take that leap or not is up to you.” Andrew hesitated for a moment, setting his book down on the table beside him.

“I think I’d like to be dropped from consideration. I’m quite satisfied with my life now.” he admitted. Skye smiled softly, hiding the relief she felt expertly. 

“That is your choice then, but there are other matters to discuss as well.”

“Lincoln?” Skye smiled, a bit guiltily. Gordon must have spoken with him.

“Him and some others. We can pay double your rates.” 

“I’m fine with my normal rates.” he denied easily “I know the importance of secrecy here, but I won't charge you for that.” 

“There are others that may need your help as well. We try to transition as peacefully as possible here for those who go through the mist, but sometimes the changes are overwhelming, and many of our residents who have not gone through the mist as well cannot be honest with anyone but another inhuman.”

“I’d love to help.” his smile was soft, easy and accepting of the proposal.  

“I’ll have Gordon refine the details with you later, for now just enjoy yourself and relax, I’ll be here again for another day if you need me.” Andrew nodded hesitantly as Skye left smoothly.

“Yat-Sen.” she grumbled softly. He must have scared the man a bit with all his praises of her. He really needed to stop doing that. It always made everyone nervous to be around her, always aiming to be as nice as possible and respect her because of how highly Yat-Sen praised her, and how much he shared any good thing she did with them to make that praise stick more. 

It was an hour later that she finally made it back to her office, giving a flat look as she watched Natasha toss a paper ball at Gordan that he teleported out of the way of swiftly. 

“Welcome back, did it go well?” he smiled, 

“It went well. He’s decided against placing himself into consideration for the mist and he’s willing to open his services to us. We’ll stay until tonight and head back if there’s nothing else.”

“This was all,” Gordon nodded “And the paperwork.” She glanced to the stack. “Yat-Sen is busy, before you try and push this of on him again.” she groaned softly, giving Gordon a dirty look as she sat down at the desk.

“We’ll leave tomorrow.” Natasha laughed softly at her plight, grinning a little as Skye nodded in defeat. 

“I’ll finish up by tonight and you can look around tomorrow,” Skye confirmed again as she glanced over the papers presented in front of her, Gordon leaving to go handle his own matters as she started her work (Finally) 

She finished by late night, and by morning, she could finally show Natasha around. 

“This sight is beautiful,” Natasha muttered softly. The garden they had wandered to overlooked the vast mountain range, lush with green trees and a dusting of snow across the highest mountain. 

“It’s stunning.” Skye nodded, smiling softly as she held her hand. “I value this place a lot,” she admitted. “I’m glad I could bring you here.” Natasha’s smile widened, squeezing her hand tightly. 

Chapter Text

“I’m glad we could come here, even if we can’t visit Tony and everyone else.” Skye smiled softly as she walked beside Natasha, balancing on her skates as they entered the Ice skating rink. It was empty besides them. But it didn’t really matter. Just having Skye there was enough for her.

“We should come back when they’re available again,” Natasha suggested softly, very smoothly blocking Skye’s line if sight as she watched someone sneak through the side area. She didn’t give them more than a split-second glance as she smiled down at Skye.

Her heart was hammering in her chest, she knew Skye could feel it with their fingers interlocked as they held hands. She was sure sensing her heartbeat was nearly second nature, feeling the vibrations of the quickened pace. Maybe that was why she looked a little nervous herself despite the fact that they’d been here plenty of times, just never alone, though they’d gone ice skating plenty back home.

She protested a little about going to New York just for a date night and some ice skating where her family always went, but eventually agreed with some coaxing. She had also (Amazingly) let Natasha pay for their light lunch before they went ice skating so Natasha was counting that as a win. 

Skye just smiled at her, feeling the way her heart raced in her chest, the way Natasha was so clearly hiding her nervousness about something. She wasn’t quite sure what she was nervous about, but it was making her own heart race a bit.