I decided to write this while we patiently wait for the new season, and to overcome what that finale was (so intense... God).

This is an AU-ish story, as I mention on the summary. Some Agents of SHIELD's characters will pop up on this fanfiction, such as Skye's teddy bear will have a peculiar name, Hill will appear as a teen in a further chapter, and so will May, twice actually (the second time May shows up there are some Philinda feels).

Review will always be very important.

Skye is 1-year-old

Appreciate life and its little things

Phil Coulson sat at his office, only the light of a small lamp illuminating the room. His jacket rested on the back of his chair, his shirt's sleeves were rolled up, and his tie was loosened. His left leg was trotting in a continuous pace that he knew Skye loved.

Between trying to get her to sleep, Coulson worked hard to pay attention to the report he had been given. Even though it was supposed the baby that had to sleep, Skye was far more awake than Coulson was. Instead of sucking it, Skye was biting her pacifier and alternating between pulling Coulson's cheek and tugging on his ear.

"Ow!" Coulson wailed, gently loosening the grip of Skye's little hand of his cheek, which she pulled as if it were elastic, "No, Skye. That hurts."

It wasn't any worth telling her that. Skye entertained herself playing with the buttons of his shirt and tangling her hands in his tie. With one larger move, Skye unintentionally shook the pacifier out of her mouth. It fell over Coulson's lap, but as he was trotting his legs, it consequently fell on the floor. Skye began to tug his tie harder to get his attention, but all she got was a cuddle that kept her close to Coulson's chest.

"Dadda," she grumbled, hitting on his chest with her fist. "Dadda!"

Coulson was immersed in a particularly puzzling page of the report, trying to grasp all the information he could; he didn't even hear her calling him. He only let his eyes drift away from his work when she tried to climb down of his lap to grab the pacifier herself.

"What is it?" he asked, laying his eyes on her. "Oh, the binky," Coulson realized and looked at the floor, seeing the pacifier at his feet. He bent down and picked it up, mumbling about needing to "get this thing washed."

Coulson got up and adjusted Skye in his arms, crossing the short hall that connected the office room to the small living room, which led to the kitchen.

On his way, he commented, "I don't know why it's taking you so long to fall asleep today."

The agent flipped the switch and walked into the division, immediately marching to the sink. He grimaced, seeing the sink full of unwashed dishes. Coulson washed Skye's pacifier under the running water of the tap, but didn't quite get to put it in her mouth because she started leaning on the counter.

"Bo bo," she expressed, meaning the baby bottle.

"Want some milk, that it?" Skye answered Coulson the exact same way, still trying to grab the bottle. "Ok, go to the floor for a little while I prepare you a bottle."

Coulson washed the baby bottle, put a spoon of formula in it and added the water, before heating it in the microwave. Skye grabbed the baby bottle in one hand and held Coulson's hand with the other. As Coulson was walking back to the office room, Skye protested, trying to let go off him. She wanted to go to bed; actually, she wanted both of them to go to bed. She knew if Coulson would walk in there, he'd take her with him and he'd go to the report again and not pay attention to her.

"It's okay," he told her as he pointed the lamp, "let's just turn off the lights and go to bed."

Even though Coulson spoke the truth about turning off the lamp, his hand flew to the report and he took it with him to the bedroom. Skye led the way while drinking the milk. Once they got there, Coulson picked her up in his arms, put her inside of the crib at the foot of his bed, and sat there waiting for her to finish having her late-night meal.

Once Skye finished the bottle, she stood up in the crib, handing the empty baby bottle to Coulson. As soon as he took it from her hand, Skye wanted to climb out of the crib. "No. Skye sleeps in her bed, dadda sleeps in his bed."

"Dadda…" the baby girl whimpered, pouting.

It was a magical feeling hearing her finally calling him 'dadda'. How could he resist her brown eyes, glistening with tears, wanting to sleep in his bed? He sighed and put both the empty bottle and the report over on the bedside table and then walked to her, picking her up.

"Alright, c'mere." Coulson put the pacifier in her mouth and pulled back the bed sheets, laying her on his bed. "Night-night now, Skye?"

Skye only nodded her head, curling up in a ball, ready to sleep. Coulson walked to the closet and removed his shirt and pants, staying in the sleeveless shirt he had on underneath and a pair of sweatpants. He was amazed to find that in less than the two minutes that it took him to change clothes and look back, Skye was already sleeping deeply.

Gently, Coulson lay in bed as well. The report could wait another day. He loved being a part of something big that protected people from the raising evilness of the world. But with Skye, he learnt to appreciate life's little things, and in that moment, he appreciated Skye's new name for him more than anything. 'Dadda'. He grinned.

Coulson was too tired and it didn't take him long to fall asleep as well. Skye was a ball of liveliness that drained all his energy. The last thing that crossed his mind before drifting to sleep was the memory of when he first met her. She was a tiny baby that was put on his arms, didn't appear to be able to cause harm. There was nothing that linked her to anyone or anything other than a small golden bracelet on her left wrist with 'Skye' on it. Coulson didn't know if it was her first name or her surname. It just simply fit her, somehow.

Skye was found by two agents, Lumley and his partner Avery. After the sudden death of his partner while protecting the two-month-old, the man ended up leaving Skye in an alley. At least Lumley dispatched the coordinates of Skye's location and warned that she was a 0-8-4. He claimed to be too stressed and ended up resigning from the agency and completely vanishing. A team of SHIELD's finest showed up at the scene; a 0-8-4 was a rare discovery, a human 0-8-4 was an even rarer one.

Coulson was at SHIELD's HQ when he was ordered to go to a laboratory facility of the agency. He found a team of scientists and doctors around the baby. She was human, but not entirely. Everyone was sure that she was something else, but something they hadn't been able to decipher just yet.

That was the mission that Director Fury gave him: he was supposed to look after Skye until SHIELD could find out what she was. He didn't know why he was given that mission, but he was so by the book that it never occurred to him to question the Director's decision. If Fury had chosen him, then he must be the right man for the job. He'd have a team of doctors available for him at any time; if anything out of the ordinary happened, he could easily call them and have them at his place in a matter of minutes. Fury gave him a new apartment to live in, right in the heart of DC. Coulson and Skye would need to be in a populous area to avoid attention and to easily evade an attack.

Coulson had never really handled a baby before, but he found no reason to panic. She was a 0-8-4; everything he needed was at his disposal thanks to SHIELD. No matter how silly it seemed, a team would show up to do any menial task for him at the push of a button. It turned out that Coulson didn't have to call as many times as he first imagined he'd call.

He had never handled a baby it was true, but mainly because of his life choices. He was told at the beginning of his training for SHIELD that he wouldn't be able to be like normal people, with dinners and holydays or a child's play to attend to. Skye allowed him to experience that in a certain way.

SHIELD's Director assured Coulson that he'd still work on missions and that the situation was only temporary. So far, ten months had gone by and he had only done three missions, all short-term and close to home. But he didn't mind. He found himself wanting to return home and be with Skye. He knew he was getting attached, but there wasn't anything he could really do about it. He even referred to himself as her father. Skye was only one year old, and if he had to hand her over, she was far too young to remember him anyway.

This was supposed to be a short-term mission, right?

Next chapters will be more 'fluid'; this one had to be like this to give you a bit of a back story.