This story takes place shortly after the events of 1x17 Turn, Turn, Turn. The team is in hiding in a secret location cold enough for snow but south enough for trees. Agents of Shield belongs to it's wonderful creators and ABC and Marvel.

"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."
 -Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore

Jemma Simmons adjusted the camera so that it was hidden behind the thick, prickly needles of the branch it was tied onto.
"Is that alright?" she asked Fitz who sat a few feet away, holding the monitor.
Her friend, however, was not paying attention. He was looking anxiously up at Skye who had climbed to the topmost branches of what, in Jemma's mind, was a dangerously tall tree.
"Skye!" he called worriedly, "Don't you think you're climbing a bit high?"
"We need to be able to see what's coming," she responded, calmly, "don't worry, this is as high as I'll go. Besides, if I fall there's like four feet of snow to catch me."
"Be careful!" Jemma warned.
"I will worrywarts." she promised, a note of amusement in her voice.
"She'll be fine," Jemma told Fitz, however both of them kept their gaze on the girl in the tree.

Jemma closed the distance between Fitz and herself in a few steps, which was about as far as she'd let herself be from either of her team mates these past few days. She felt safer when they were close by. Not only because they were stronger as a team but because she hadn't forgotten the horror of not knowing whether her friends were alive or dead...or worse. It was a feeling that crept into her dreams at night and only dissipated when she awoke, shaking and heard their soft breathing around her.
She was determined that whatever they faced next, they would face it together.
"Ya, she knows what she's doing," Fitz agreed quietly.
Jemma forced herself to look away from Skye and repeated her question, "Is my camera alright?"
He looked at the screen of his monitor. Looking over his shoulder she read the name of her camera, Amber 31422, in the upper right corner.
"It's perfect," he told her. Leaning over to look around her he added, "you hid it really well, I can't even see it from here, and I know it's there."

There was a soft thud that told them Skye had reached the ground safely. Fitz was about to switch his input so he could see Skye's camera, Amber 6955, when he heard Jemma squeak in surprise. He stood up quickly, leaving the monitor on the soft snow, ready to come to her aid.
A splotch of snow stuck to front of Jemma's jacket and her she was laughing. It was a wonderful, contagious noise that he realized felt good to hear again. He laughed with her, not really sure what was funny. In the back of his mind he wondered if they were both going crazy.
Then he felt a light impact on his back followed by a tiny explosion of snow. Skye giggled behind him and he kneeled while turning to face her. Suddenly aware of what was happening he first tucked the monitor safely into his backpack and then gathered up a small bundle of snow. Before he could aim, though, he felt another snow explosion on his back and spun around to see Jemma, an enormous grin spread across her face and crumbs of snow clinging to the glove of her outstretched hand.
"Two against one, very fair guys." he said smiling.
"You're right Fitz," Jemma agreed, tossing a snowball over his head so that it burst apart on Skye's shoulder.
Skye mocked offence and launched one back. Standing, Fitz tried to toss snow at both of them at the same time but ended up only hitting Jemma.
Within a few moments the air was filled with flying balls of snow and it was impossible to tell who had thrown what. Fitz was hit from all sides by the cold, wet projectiles but they were light and soft and he let himself become lost in the small snowstorm they were creating. Unable to see he collided with Skye and they fell beside each other into the snow giggling. Jemma let herself fall beside them, her face red and glowing with delight. He felt strange but happy, like some pain he hadn't know he was feeling had ebbed a little.

Skye lay alongside her friends, a bit cold but content.
"For secret agents, you guys really suck at aiming," she teased lightly.
"We would get in a lot of trouble if May or Coulson caught us," Jemma said but she didn't seem worried.
"We were done anyway," Fitz pointed out.
Skye stared up at the white clouds through grey and green branches of the evergreen trees that surrounded them.
"It's beautiful here," she said.
"Yes," "It sure is," Fitz and Jemma answered at the same time.
She turned her head to take in the faces of the friends who had become her family. She was afraid for them and for herself but she knew that she could be brave because she had something worth fighting for. It wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D., it had never been S.H.I.E.L.D. It was always them. Simmons and Fitz as well as Ward, May and Coulson. Her team and every other agent who had had the courage to say no to Hydra. They were the ones who she would struggle to her last breath to keep safe. They had protected her for so long; now it was her turn to protect them.

May watched as her team mates played together in the snow. From where she stood, several meters away, they could have been carefree children enjoying the winter day. Their laughter floated up to her, a light, joyful sound that made the corners of her mouth tug up in a small smile.
She should reprimand them for not working, for fooling around when there were things to be done. But nothing left to do was so urgent anyway and she couldn't bring herself to interrupt their brief moment of happiness. Watching them, she felt as if a small weight had been lifted inside her. Her world was falling apart but she knew that she could rebuild the pieces of it so long as she still had her team. A realization came to her that it wasn't just their lives she despaired could be ripped away in the coming months. It was that beautiful unseen thing that some called a soul which she feared more than anything she would fail to keep safe within these people who had become like family. It hurt to think that so many she'd once trusted seemed to have lost theirs recently, or perhaps they had lost them long ago and she just hadn't noticed.

Footsteps crunched behind her and she spun around to face Coulson, a finger to her lips. He looked past her and a warm grin stretched across his face. Their eyes met and for a few heartbeats their quarrels were forgotten and they were friends again. However, the moment quickly ended. Coulson's expression turned serious once more and he motioned for her to continue with him. As they stepped silently side-by-side through the woods, May let the sound of her friends laughter fill her up inside and she felt stronger. Their small moment of joy gave her hope that maybe, if they were very, very lucky, they could all make it through this together.

Fun Background

Thank you for everyone who read and or reviewed my other stories! It is really appreciated and I hope you enjoyed them! Always feel free to leave helpful hints if there is something I got wrong or you don't think is working. I value your opinion :).

I forgot to mention last time that the yellow M&Ms in Expectations were a reference to Olivia Dunham from Fringe (1x15 Inner Child). I put a Fringe reference in this story too. I may try to "hide" one in each of my stories now. It is kinda fun ;).

I got the idea for this story because of the wintery place they seem to be going to in the promo for the next episodes and how they are so cute all bundled up.

Alternate Ending
Ward is the only member of the team I left out of this story (though Skye does mention him). Here is an alternate ending with him that I decided to leave out because I wanted the story to end on a hopeful note.

Ward heard the laughter through the trees but, if it affected him, he wasn't showing it.
Garret, on the other hand, chuckled.
"Little squirts don't know what they're in for do they?" he mused.
"No," Ward agreed flatly, "They have no idea."