A Stormy Night
They were heading for Argentina on a standard mission. Bobbi, Hunter and Coulson were doing a small mission in Buenos Aires. Coulson asked Skye to check the weather.
As Skye looked at the weather forecast on her phone, her heart sank. There were going to be storms.
She tried to put the thought out of her mind, for the whole day, by hacking into Facebook and changing everybody's profile picture to Ron Weasley. But whenever the thought came back to her, she felt a bit sick. Nothing that she did could stop the build-up of fear in her stomach.
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There was a knock on her bunk door. It was Simmons.
"May says that we're in Argentina now." she said, then frowned. "Skye, are you alright?"
Skye turned on the well practised smile that hid her sadness, and said "Yeah, of course! Just thinking."
Simmons must have been satisfied with this answer, as she left to talk to Fitz.
Sure enough, five minutes later, there was rain steadily pounding the window, and a small clap of thunder sounded. Skye tensed.
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May entered Skye's room, to find the younger girl curled up on her bed.
"Skye…" she asked tentatively.
Skye rolled over immediately and gave a weak smile.
"Coulson asked me to tell you that dinner was ready."
"Thanks May, but I'm not very hungry." Skye replied. She rolled back over and heard the door shut.
As she heard the door close, she went back to her position, before May had entered the room. Hands over her ears, curled into a tight ball. Unknown to her, May had not left, but was standing watching.
A loud thunderclap sounded, and Skye tensed up, giving a small whimper, and clutching her hands tighter to her ears.
May walked slowly, and silently, over to the small girl, and placed a hand carefully on her shoulder. Skye jumped, as was to be expected, and sat up quickly, pulling her gun from under her pillow.
The corners of May's mouth twitched, but she thought that it was too much of a serious moment to be smiling. She had trained Skye well.
On seeing who it was, Skye lowered her gun, and put it on her bedside table.
"Oh, May." she said, trying, and failing, to sound nonchalant.
"Skye, I watched you." said May, sitting on the bed next to Skye, and giving her a squeeze.
"Oh…" said Skye, looking crestfallen. "I didn't want anybody to know."
"You're scared of thunder aren't you?" said May. Skye nodded, and looked down at her feet.
"I didn't want to tell anyone. With everything we've all gone through, with Ward and stuff, I thought it was a stupid fear to have."
"You can't have stupid fears," said May, "only irrational ones."
"Do you have one?" asked Skye, feeling curious, in spite of herself.
May hesitated, and Skye immediately felt bad, thinking she had pushed. She had just come to the conclusion that May wasn't going to answer, when she whispered, " Clowns."
Skye didn't laugh, but it was close. Her solemn features twisted into a grin, and she clutched May tight.
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May and Skye spent the rest of the night in Skye's bunk, under a duvet, with the TV on loudly, while a Disney film played. Soon they were throwing popcorn at each other, and the movie continued playing, forgotten, as the two play-fought on the bed.
Skye's screams of mirth were heard all around the bus, as May tickled her, and May's yells of triumph as she managed to throw popcorn into Skye's open mouth, made passers-by grin.
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Soon, it was morning, and Skye and May were huddled together on a popcorn-strewn bed, the storm not on either of their minds, as they dreamt cheerful thoughts.