Disclaimer; i do not own Agents of shield
An; happy birthday Skye. Ensia III.
The Best Day Ever
July 2nd
Though she had been up all night, the day started with a 4:30 a.m. malfunctioning fire alarm. It happens, but Skye wanted to deck whoever was responsible. Even if it was just the fire alarm. By the time they finally were cleared to return to their bunks, it was past five and the time that Skye would have usually started training. Now, one would think that Skye could just go back to her bunk and leave training until later and eve at first Skye thought without May she would never get up that early, but it was not meant to be. May had given her the affliction of "train every morning whenever possible"-itis that most field agents had and that even May's absence would alleviate the symptoms. Skye loved that woman, but man, Skye hated that woman. Thought it wasn't like Skye had any intention of sleeping that day.
Skye smiled regardless, she knew what day it was.
Without May, training was boring to the point of frustration. Tai Chi was awkward without her partner beside her and she didn't have anybody to share witty banter with. It wasn't a huge thing, but on mornings like this, it made her miss her SO. Or else, Skye hoped May was still her SO, they never really spoke on the topic before May left or during one of her weekly check ins. It was hard to tell and it didn't feel like a conversation they should have over video phone. Especially, when her signal came from a tower in China when Skye knew the older woman was in California. She hoped they could have that talk soon.
Skye smiled despite her worries; she knew what day it was.
Training ended with aching knuckles and pains from broken bones long healed. It had stopped bothering her too badly, that and the constant buzzing under her skin. A fact that she wasn't sure how she felt about. After all, it wasn't like there was anything that could be done about it anyway. It was just a change that she would have to get used to and deal with. Though considering what else she had seen terragenesis cause, she should probably think herself lucky.
Sky smiled; she knew what day it was.
Coulson had wanted to speak to her as soon as possible after she returned from her mission, but it didn't make her want to come. For that matter, she justified herself that the information or lack there of would be no more helpful at 1 in the morning than it would be at 6:30. Plus, when she got back, Coulson was asleep (or at least that was the story the night shift told her) and she knew that he hadn't been doing so well in that department as of late. Skye couldn't blame him. There was a ton of pressure on him from the board and he was still reeling from the loss of his right hand man and his left hand altogether. It made him just a bit too hypervigilant and while she understood to a point, she wasn't ready to deal with him right away. After all, there had been something else she had wanted to do.
Skye smiled; she knew what day it was.
She finally made it to Coulson's office after grabbing an apple from the mess hall. He met her with a groggy smile that told her he hadn't gotten the kind of sleep she had hoped for. Still, he welcomed her back kindly, but with the heavy professional air that he had taken on lately. At best it felt awkward. At worst, it felt like they were back to square one. She hoped the professional distance was because of the board watching him like a hawk and would go away after the inquisition stopped. Skye didn't talk to him about it though, yes it was weird, but Skye couldn't help but feel childish and petty for having it bother her. Though, she wouldn't have minded a hug.
Skye just smiled; she knew what day it was.
Coulson looked reasonably upset that her mission had turned up nothing, but what could she have done? Without Gordon, she had to find gifteds the old fashioned way, or at least the manual way. Slugging through countless files and reports both governmental and public record until she stumbled on something that could be a gifted wasn't as easy as it sounded. She even set up a program to automatically flag files for super, hero, masked, property damage, etc. but it still lead to a ton of unrelated or unhelpful articles that she had to wade through just to find a small hint of a gifted and then once she isolated the potential she had to run double and triple checks on them and then she had to find them and meet with them. To which most of the potentials she came across were unidentified. It was a terrible horrible mess and for the moment, Skye was the only one who was trying to tidy it up. Skye was used to long hours slugging through useless information to try and find something useful but this was becoming abrasive. She just hoped she found someone before she completely lost it.
Skye smiled at the thought; she knew what day it was.
Coulson dismissed her and she knew that there was no dawdling. That didn't stop her from wanting to just a little. But like a good little lacky, she left him to whatever work he felt needed to be done at 7:30in the morning. Though as the days went on, she could see how there would be 8:30 work from time to time. She made her way to an abandoned alcove on the other side of the base, one of the few. Day by day new agents and scientists came out of shadows and rejoined S.H.I.E.L.D. While they could certainly use as many hands as they could and Skye loved the people at the Playground, but as more and more people came streaming in, Skye found herself a little homesick for the quiet seclusion of her van. And while Skye would definitely prefer curling up in the backseat of one of the SUVs, everyone on the base knew that if they couldn't find her that's where she'd be. It became less of her personal place and more of an open office where anyone could bring her any problem at any time. Not that she minded helping, but it made it feel less and less sacred. Well, that, and the fact that agents tended not to knock when they intended on using the backseat.
Skye kept smiling; she knew what day it was.
Skye sat in her quiet alcove. She pulled out her laptop and turned it on. She would make an appearance in the science labs later in the day, only really because she wanted to check on Fitz, but first, there was something she needed to do. She pulled up the desired program on her screen. Now, one could claim that what she was doing was beyond wrong. They could very well be right, but the simple fact of the mater was that there wasn't a soul on earth who knew Skye at all that would have been surprised. Despite some major holes in her argument, Skye excelled at subtlety. She preferred physical affection to anything else, but she didn't need it. She would have never have made it as long as she did if she did need it. What she did need however, was just the knowledge that the people she loved were safe and sound. And with most of her list scattered all over the place and prime hunting material for anyone who wanted to strike a blow against S.H.I.E.L.D., well, it wasn't paranoia when people were really out to get them.
Skye kept smiling anyway; she knew what day it was.
Four screens appeared in black and white. In the top right corner, May was ordering breakfast at a cafe. She looked happy, well, happier than Skye had ever seen her. Skye knew it would hurt long before she even started making the program, but it never really made the pain go away when she saw her family and friends leading a happier life without her. In the bottom right corner, Bobbi and Hunter hadn't left their bedroom yet (the camera was set up outside of their room and would follow them from there, not even she was that creepy). She honestly found that a bit strange, as it was past noon where they were, even they didn't stay up that late and Bobbi really shouldn't be "exercising" with her leg. Then again those two never did follow rules very well. Just in case, Skye set up an alert on her laptop to let her know if they left and if it didn't do anything by that night, Skye would set their phones to ring to see if either picked up. She would see where to go from there. Mac in the bottom left corner, had apparently been driving through the night to parts unknown. All Skye could tell from the scarce traffic cams on his route, he was headed east. Trying to figure some things out was his excuse when he left. Though at the very least he had fallen from the "We need protection from Skye" way of thinking and fell into a rhythm of mutual respect and protectiveness between them.
Skye smiled; she knew what day it was.
The top left corner showed her father, smiling and setting up his clinic for a Fourth of July adoption thing. She smiled at his over the top antics that so much reflected the man he was before the T.A.H.I.T.I. protocol. It also made her eyes burn, but Skye knew that lamenting what could have been was pointless. It didn't stop it from hurting though. Skye had entertained the idea of taking off for the week and under the guise of Daisy, volunteer to help with adoption thing. It wouldn't have been much but she could have spent the day near him. But she couldn't go without risking triggering something for him, and even so he didn't know what this day meant to her or to him. She couldn't tell him no matter how much she wanted. It probably would have hurt worse than not going at all.
But Skye smiled because she knew what day it was.
She spent some time watching the screen and assuring that what she was seeing was really them. Then she went to work doing something that would probably be more approved of by all parties. Ward was not in custody, or showing up in any of Skye's searches. It was like he disappeared from the face of the earth, which Skye wouldn't mind happening but still left an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Even after she had wiped all evidence of her own existence from the internet and those of her teammates later on, they still showed up on security cameras from time to time. They only time they effectively seemed to disappear was when they were out at the Playground. Which could mean any number of things in the case of Ward, and as much as she hated the man, she wasn't about to place any money on him being dead. She checked her program that was set up much the same as her family's three times. Nothing. It was frustrating and irksome. She closed her laptop.
Skye smiled despite herself; she knew what day it was.
She grabbed two sandwiches and two bottles of water from the mess hall on her way to the science labs. No shock, Fitz was in one of the more empty ones running one experiment or another. Honestly, Skye couldn't see how it was helping, but Fitz had been insisting for quiet some time that he was making progress. All Skye really could make sense of was that she lost one friend and was losing another day by day and there wasn't anything she could do about it. His stutter, which was almost non existent before Jemma disappeared, was back in full stream and his hands were shaking and unsteady. It was tearing him apart and she couldn't help or even get him to stop. Maybe it was because she wanted to believe the young man was actually making progress in bringing back their girl. She wanted to believe it so badly. Did she believe Jemma was dead? She wasn't sure; they had seen a lot of weird things and Skye wasn't willing to let her friend go until there was actually some evidence that the biochemist had perished. Even then, she would have trouble believing even then. When Leo had told her that Jemma had disappeared, Skye used all of her resources in a vain attempt to prove that what they saw on the security footage was wrong and Jemma had just taken off again. It was the only thing she could think to do at the time.
Through the hurt Skye smiled; she knew what day it was.
She set the extra sandwich and water on the bench by him and hopped on the counter with her own lunch and laptop. She started doing her own research from where she had last left off. Unfortunately, sans some curse folklore surrounding why S.H.I.E.L.D. had picked up the stone in the first place, there really wasn't anything about the stone, especially not on getting people back from within its depths. The only people who could have helped them were Jaiying, Gordon, or Raina, and all three were not viable options. She had asked Lincoln to do some digging, but he hadn't tried to contact her from med school in a couple of weeks. A part of her wished he would call her today, but who knows? She might call him later anyway. (And yes, she did have a program set up for him, she just didn't check his every day, just every other day.)
Skye smiled; she knew what day it was.
Slowly and surely, Leo picked at his food. Skye was happy for it at the very least. Now if she could only get him to sleep. He looked like he hadn't since she left. A part of her wondered if he had eaten when she was gone, but she was certain one of the other scientists would have brought him something. She just stayed with him for hours, sometimes working on her laptop, sometimes watching him work. If it weren't for the context, she might have actually been completely okay with spending her day like this. Unfortunately the context filled her stomach with worry for her two friends before tying it in knots. She managed to get him to take a break with her for dinner, granted that they eat in the lab. He was dead on his feet anyway. Fitz made it about half way through dinner before dropping his head and falling asleep.
Skye smiled; she knew what day it was.
She didn't even try to wake him up, but she did clean up what she knew she could touch in the lab so he wouldn't have to when he woke up. Maybe next time she could get him to sleep in his bunk. It would definitely be better for his neck. In the meantime, he looked peaceful at least. She shut off the lights to the lab and walked back to her bunk. She never told anyone what this day was to her. It seemed that whenever she found something about herself, everyone was offered the information. Maybe it was wrong to keep this kind of secret from her friends and family, but she didn't care. This day was hers and hers alone and maybe it was stupid or childish or selfish, but she wanted to keep it that way. The one piece of information in the world that only she knew.
So as the clock struck 12:00 a.m. on July 3rd, Skye smiled, because for the first time she had known that it was her birthday, and she loved every minute of it.
Fin