A/N: This story is dedicated to Kat (aka Vortexgirl) as part of the RLt Spring Gift Exchange. As officially sanctioned by E, this story was posted after Wendy's official story was posted as an extra special treat because her first assigned exchange partner was unable to meet the deadline. Enjoy Kat, you are super special and deserve great things. Thanks to my beta reader, Book (aka bkwrmnlvnit) for helping me out on such a tight schedule.
Simmons hasn't celebrated her birthday on the actual day in thirteen years. It's become an annual tradition – one that Fitz came up with when they attended the S.H.I.E.L.D. training academy – and it was something she feels very comfortable with.
When Simmons' birthday approaches, Fitz makes plans. In his spare time, he repurposes Happy to deliver her present, tickets to a Doctor Who convention for the two of them, and he's very proud of himself. Happy will present the present – he groans thinking about how awful that sounds – on the 12th at 4:22 a.m., one day late, but at the precise time listed as Simmons' time of birth. Simmons wishes that he wasn't so…punctual about the celebration, but she will forgive him anything. She always has, and she always will.
Skye doesn't know about the tradition, doesn't know that Simmons has deep feelings about the anniversary of her birth date - feelings that go beyond the normal dislike of birthdays. Skye simply hacks the database and finds out the birthday of each member of her team and puts a reminder on her cell phone, so that even in the havoc of life on the Bus, she will not forget.
Skye spends all morning of the 11th in the Bus's galley. She's a hacker, not a baker, but she has fond memories of making cupcakes with one of her foster mothers. Even under threat of torture she wouldn't be able to remember that one's name, as they spent less than a week together before Skye was sent away, but baking with the nameless woman is one of the few pleasant memories she has from that chaotic time of bouncing from one family to another – and she tries to recreate that feeling by sharing it with a woman she's come to consider a sister.
May wanders in around 11:15 am. The cupcakes are cooling under the exhaust fan while Skye reads her favorite blogs and waits for the cupcakes to be ready for icing. The staff meeting begins at noon, so she's giving them every second she can before applying the white frosting.
"Don't take this wrong…" the brusque Asian woman begins, prefacing her statement. Lately she's been trying to practice compassionate communication; it is the one thing that repeatedly comes up on her annual performance exams as a deficiency, and she is aiming to clear that black mark from her record.
"Nothing good ever comes after those words, you know," Skye says, but there is a smile on her face. She closes her laptop to give May her complete attention.
"Alright then, I'll try again…," May says. She pauses, squares her shoulders, and composes her thoughts in her head before saying them out loud.
"Cupcakes?" she asks, in a fake semi-surprised tone. "What's the occasion?"
Skye's tries not to laugh, but her mouth purses into a smile and her cheeks balloon; there is a sparkle in her eyes. May tentatively returns the smile.
"No occasion," she smirks and winks.
May's head tilts to one side, but Skye ignores the inquiry. Instead, she lifts the knife and begins to spread white frosting on the still warm cupcakes. She's running out of time, so it is now or never.
"Will there be sprinkles?" May asks.
"I got rainbow and chocolate. Which do you like best?" Skye points to two little bottles on the counter, shocked that the ever-observant May didn't notice them already.
"Either one; they both taste the same."
"That's silly," Skye says, shaking her head. "One clearly says its chocolate flavored."
"May I have a cupcake?"
"Sure, but you have to wait until the staff meeting. Which sprinkles do you want on your cupcake?"
"If I have to choose, then I'd say chocolate, given the nature of the day and all, it seems wrong to have colorful sprinkles."
"Rainbow sprinkles always make me happy," Skye says as her eyebrows scrunch down in confusion. Why shouldn't we have color on Simmons' birthday?
"Well, I guess everyone deals with grief a little differently," May says, giving the cupcake in Skye's hand one last long look, and then leaves.
Skye has half the cupcakes frosted, when a voice speaks directly into her.
"Oh, cupcakes, awesome!" Ward's voice is excited and childlike. He reaches over her shoulder and snags one off the tray. She tries to elbow him, punishing him for the surprise and for the theft, but he dances away so quickly that she connects only with air. She swivels the chair to face him, but by the time she has, he's gone, out the way he came.
Skye is so proud of her little cupcakes, even though she made them from a box mix instead of from scratch. The frosting slides down the sides because the cupcakes really were too hot, but the sprinkles, a mix of chocolate and rainbow, hide most of the mess.
She carries them up from the galley to the main deck, just as Coulson is coming down the stairs from his office.
"Cupcakes?" he asks.
"Yes," she laughs, "as I've told everyone else today, these are indeed cupcakes."
"Cool, can I have one?" he smiles. He eyes the cupcake closest to him, but restrains his hand.
"Not until the staff meeting. If you take one now, they'll all be uneven."
"Wait, these aren't for Simmons' birthday, are they?"
"Of course they are," she replies. "Finally someone else remembered."
"Oh, no one told you," he says, the smile falling from his face. "I know you're just trying to be helpful Skye, but Simmons doesn't celebrate her birthday on her birthday. She always celebrates in on the 12th."
"That's stupid, the 12th isn't her birthday."
"No, but she does it out of respect. The 11th is just such a hallowed day, a day to remember, and be sad. Simmons doesn't want people to be sad, not on her birthday, so we'll celebrate it tomorrow."
"Oh," she says, her shoulders sagging as she realizes it is the 11th of September.
Skye feels immediately stupid. Time means so little on the Bus; dates meld together as night and day fluctuate and merge. Only her phone reminds her of the correct date and local time, and that big number 11 and the reminder about Simmons' birthday are all she thought about when she woke up this morning.
"Go ahead and take them back to the refrigerator. I won't start the meeting without you," Coulson says.
She nods and heads back down to the galley. She empties out the small wine fridge – after hacking the nine-digit passcode – and put the cupcakes safely in there. If she leaves them in the communal fridge they won't last til morning. She changes the passcode and locks her birthday gift inside.
When the meeting starts, May is disappointed. There are no cupcakes.