Living on the bus came with its own set of unique problems as the team found out. Depending on where they were going and when they were next planning on landing, plans hand to be altered and stockpiles had to be generated. Fresh food became almost non-existent at some points, and finding meals that everyone enjoyed and made use of some of the more obscure ingredients S.H.I.E.L.D that had thought to supply them was a challenge to say the least. Also, being the only people on the bus, it was up to them to cook.
While May favoured the healthiest of the pre-packaged ready to eat meals, Coulson seemed to be able to make a limited number of edible dishes. Fitzsimmons' attempts varied greatly from spectacular culinary success to disasters that had the team fighting over the limited number of bathrooms on the plane. Needless to say, Coulson had restricted their use of untried chemicals in their meals, but the team still looked forward to Fitzsimmons' cooking evenings with great apprehension.
Ward was banned from the kitchen. They had managed to find the weak point in his armour when they asked him to cook one week. Despite popular belief, it apparently was possible to fuse pasta to the bottom of the saucepan and make pasta sauce explode everywhere. It had taken Fitzsimmons' chemicals to chip the pasta off again and many hours of Ward scrubbing the walls and floors to get rid of the lingering sauce. Relentless teasing from the rest of his team followed, and for the next couple of days he had avoided most of the team as best he could in the confined space of the bus. It probably didn't help that someone *cough*Skye*cough* had taken pictures of him in the middle of the kitchen surveying the disaster that was his meal, covered in tomato sauce, and then of him trying to clean the mess up, still covered in tomato sauce.
Skye had watched as every member of the team had attempted cooking, with varying degrees of success and waited patiently for her evening. She had seen the huge store cupboards of food and had already planned what she was going to make.
Her evening came after a big case, which found everyone nursing their injuries in the common area that overlooked the kitchen. They watched with interest as Skye flitted and danced around the kitchen, humming to herself, as she carefully measured and prepared the ingredients. When questioned earlier, she had told them that it was a surprise, and she was not going to tell them no matter what they tried. Their curiosity was peaked further by the way Skye looked in the kitchen. She seemed relaxed and at home, almost as if she was happy to be cooking.
When they were called later, they went to pick up their dish as they usually would but were swatted away from the kitchen and towards a fully laid table with an alarming amount of cutlery on it.
Skye wanted to impress them. She wasn't a top agent or scientist like they all were but if there was one thing other than hacking that she excelled at, it was cooking. It came like second nature to her thanks to one foster home with two professional chefs. They had taught her to cook, horrified that their foster daughter couldn't even cook a meal for herself. It had been one of the best until they realised they didn't have enough time for her and sent her back to the orphanage. She never cooked like that again, but she did help the nuns out in the kitchen, preparing basic meals. It had been so long since she had last cooked like this, but it had all come flooding back to her the moment she started chopping and weighing the ingredients. What the rest of the team classed as obscure ingredients that were to be avoided at all costs, she saw as opportunities to make something exciting and different.
Everyone stared at her in shock as Skye placed a dish filled with salad and chicken in front of them and sat down to join them. She had spent the entire evening in the kitchen and this is all she had managed to make. Ignoring the varying looks of shock and disappointment Skye picked up her outermost cutlery and took a mouthful. After she finished chewing, she looked back up to see the entire team still looking puzzled and sighed.
"It's grilled chicken salad with avocado and mango," she announced, "And it is only the starter. Don't worry."
"What do you mean it's only the starter?" Ward asked.
Rolling her eyes Skye replied, "I mean you still have the main course and dessert to go."
She received varying looks of shock at that statement and rolled her eyes again. "You'd think none of you had ever had a three course meal before." At the blank looks she received she said, "Oh my God! You haven't. What have you been doing all your life? Actually don't answer that, it's probably classified! Well I guess there's a first time for everything."
She continued to eat her meal and finally the team caught on and started cautiously to try the food. They were always wary of new foods, thanks to Fitzsimmons, but they found this delicious. Soon enough all the plates were empty, and Skye was taking them back to the kitchen.
It wasn't long before her next meal came out, and once again the team was frankly shocked as they were presented with another meal that they had absolutely no clue what it was.
Pre-empting the confusion, Skye said, "This one is lemon and aubergine risotto."
They all dug in once again, with a little less trepidation this time, and eyes widened as they tasted the meal.
"Wow," Fitz exclaimed. "This is delicious!"
"Thanks," Skye replied sarcastically. "I'm glad to see you all have such faith in me."
Blushing, Fitz replied, "No, no, it's not that. It's just after the last time someone new cooked …" he said with a glance towards Ward, who glared back, making Fitz turn away and fall silent.
"What Fitz means," Jemma picked up, heading Fitz off before he could dig himself into a deeper hole. "Is that we just didn't know you could cook. This is brilliant, by the way."
There were many nods and murmurs of agreement, and Skye smiled brightly at the appreciation, blushing slightly. The rest of the main course was finished in relative yet comfortable silence, and Skye excused herself to finish the dessert. As she hadn't made it in a long time, it was going to take her full concentration to do.
Soufflé was notoriously hard to make, but Skye was determined to impress them and was going all out tonight. Now, unsurprisingly, for a group of secret agents who liked to be awake and alert all the time, they all drank copious amounts of coffee, although Simmons tended to prefer her tea. Skye figured that if she combined that borderline addiction with dessert, she would be on to a winner, so she was making cappuccino soufflés for dessert.
The team waited rather impatiently at the table. Skye's cooking had been some of the best they had ever tasted, and they really wanted to see what she was making for dessert. After several minutes of foot tapping, finger drumming, and a close call for Fitz, who nearly ended up with several broken fingers when both May and Ward got fed up with his tapping and drumming, Skye reappeared. In her hands were the best-risen soufflés they had ever seen, or that Coulson, May and Simmons had ever seen, as Ward and Fitz hadn't seen any before.
"These are Cappuccino soufflés," Skye announced as she put the last ones down and sat herself back down again. "I figured with the amount of coffee we get through that they might be appropriate."
The team dug into their desert with gusto and seemed to be enjoying them if the appreciative noises from the men were any indication. The females on the team ate a little more delicately but still complimented Skye on the dish and finished every last scrap in near silence.
"This is the best soufflé I have ever eaten!" Fitz exclaimed, attempting to make up for his earlier blunders as well as having truly loved the dish.
"And just how many soufflés have you eaten Fitz?" Skye asked, amused as she knew he had never eaten one before.
"Well I … that's just not the point is it," Fitz replied blushing as he realised his mistake.
The team laughed at Fitz and his attempts at complimenting Skye. He honestly was awful, for he just didn't think before he said things. With that, the silence was broken, and the team started chatting amongst themselves until Coulson turned to Skye.
"Where did you learn to cook like that Skye?" he asked. "It was amazing. You could be a professional chef."
Skye flinched a little at the thought of being like the people who got her hopes up then left her again. The team noticed and looked a little worried that they were invading her privacy. Skye saw the looks and realised that now would be a good time to start opening up to the team a bit more. Maybe it would help incorporate her into the team better, and she wouldn't be left behind again like she had in the past.
Looking directly at Coulson, Skye replied, "It was at one of my foster homes. The foster parents were professional chefs and they felt that I should be able cook, and then they kept on teaching me more and more."
Hoping he wasn't overstepping a boundary, Ward asked gently, "What happened?"
"They said they were too busy to look after me properly, and they realised they didn't want a child. I heard they then went on to have a baby of their own though, so I guess it was just me they didn't want."
Simmons looked sadly at her friend as she heard this, and towards the end of Skye's reply she stood up and walked to Skye. Pulling her up from her seat, Simmons hugged her and whispered in her ear, "Then that was their loss then."
"It used to bother me," Skye admitted loud enough for everyone to hear, "But then I realised that if they had never sent me back to the orphanage then I would never have ended up here."
Realising what she had just said she looked away, embarrassed, but was surprised when she was pulled into another hug. This time by Fitz and then Coulson and then, surprisingly, May and then Ward finally. They all wanted to comfort their hacker; she had become part of the family that none of them admitted they had formed. Ward released her but kept an arm around her shoulder as they all walked to the couches to sit down and relax before they went to sleep.
Deciding on a movie, they all squeezed in, and just before the movie started Fitz could be heard saying to Coulson, "Can you make Skye cook again soon? She's so much better than you."
Laughter filled the room as Fitz rubbed the back of his head where he had been hit for his comment, and they all smiled. Who knew that a little bit of cooking could bring the team even closer.
I started this ages ago when we didn't know that Ward was a traitor so it's all a bit out of character now but I hope it is all ok and you still like it. If you like it please review and a big thanks to my great beta reader for this dandelion518. They won't be able to do any more for me now but I have been very grateful for their work and putting up with my awful spelling and grammar mistakes.