Skye enters the bank at exactly 9:23am. And she almost groans, when she sees how crowded it is. "Ugh, I should have slept in." She mutters to herself.

She hears a scoff from the guy, who stands in front of her in the queue.

Skye clicks her tongue. It's early for her and she hasn't had any coffee yet. "You got anything to say to me?"

He doesn't react and Skye thinks, it's probably best that she doesn't get in a fight with a guy, who's at least a head taller than she is. Still, he's pissed her off and looking at his back, she thinks of all the ways she could insult him. Or at the very least make him uncomfortable. He looks like those humorless pain-in-the-ass office guys, so it shouldn't be too hard.

The queue moves so slowly, that after ten minutes Skye has only made one step forwards. Sighing, she takes out her phone and calls Jemma.

Her best friend answers on the third ring.

"Why are you up this early?" Is the first thing Jemma asks.

"I'm at the bank. Someone needs to pay the bills." She replies. "You at work?"

"On my way actually." Jemma says and she does sound a little out of breath. "So, how was your date on Friday? I want to know everything."

They had met over the weekend but Fitz had been with them, naturally he had prevented any form of girl talk.

"Great." Skye says enthusiastically. "We had dinner at a really fancy restaurant and then we fucked in his car."

The tall guy coughs loudly and it sounds like he's choking on something.

"Skye!" Jemma says indignantly. "It was your second date."

"Yeah, I know." Skye replies flippantly, and okay, maybe she's just doing this because she wants to see tall guy's reaction. "I should have brought him home last week. Jemma, the things he does with his tongue, I can't even describe it."

"That good, huh?" Jemma asks and she sounds intrigued. Meanwhile, tall guy looks like he's about to suffocate. She catches his eyes, when he turns his head over his shoulder to look at her.

She flashes him a wolfish grin and maintaining eye contact with him, says to Jemma. "I want him to go down on me for hours."

He looks scandalized and turns away from her again.

"I thought you said you were at the bank." She hears Jemma say.

"Yep, I am."

"People can hear you then?"

"Yep."

"Bloody hell, Skye." But she laughs and Skye laughs, too.

That's when the doors of the bank get kicked down and all hell breaks loose.

Three masked men, with guns in their hands, storm the bank. One of them yells, "Down, everyone down!"

Skye yelps, and feels a pair of hands curl around her arms and pulling her down. It's tall guy.

Her knees are in an awkward position under her, so she's crouching more than sitting and her phone is still in her hands.

"Nobody moves, or we'll shoot." Announces the first masked guy and walks towards them.

His eyes are trailing the crowd and a shudder goes through Skye, when they zero in on her.

"You!" He bellows and Skye actually whimpers. She's not proud of that, but she's scared out of her mind.

And then realizes why he's looking furiously at her. "Give me that damn phone."

"Skye? What is going on? Skye, answer me." She can hear Jemma's panicked voice.

"Who is she calling, Sid?" Says the second guy, coming closer, too.

Skye looks at her hand and back at the guy called Sid. "It's just my friend, I swear."

He leans down, yanking the phone from her hand and smashing it with his boot.

Tall guy still has his hands wrapped around her and he pulls her further down, when Sid walks away from her. "You okay?" He whispers and Skye nods, shakily. "Yeah."

Skye isn't sure how much time passes, and she can't see much from where she's lying on the ground. Tall guy is next to her, covering her protectively. She doesn't know why he does it, but she's kind of grateful.

Her heart is pounding in her chest and her breathing comes fast and ragged.

"Hey, it's okay." Tall guy says quietly. His head is so close that nobody but her hears him. She looks up at him. And she knows it's so not the time, but he looks good. With his light brown eyes and his cheekbones and his light stubble. She thinks, that next to him she must look like a mess.

His lips quirk up and Skye thinks he's trying to be reassuring.

When they hear police sirens, Skye heart leaps. She can hear the three masked men argue. They must be close.

"We need hostages to get out." Says Sid.

"There's gotta be a back door. It's easier to go from there." Another adds and then she hears steps again.

"You two, get up." Skye feels a boot nudging her and she swears her heart stops.

Tall guy stands up and says, "You don't really need the two of us. I'll be enough."

Is he suicidal? She hears a scoff and looks up just in time to see a hand come down to pull her up. She stumbles to her feet and Sid pulls her towards the door on the other side of the room.

There are about thirty people in the bank and she has the luck to be used as a bargaining chip. Great. And all that before she's had any coffee.

Skye wants to fight out of Sids grip, but there's a gun in his free hand. She doesn't even want to think about what he would do to her with that.

"Left or right?" The one holding tall guy asks. They are at the end of the hallway.

"We go left, you go right." Says the other one, who's right behind them.

Skye and Sid are further down the hallway, because he made sure to close all the doors behind them. The three of then turn left and Skye understands that she and Sid are meant to go right.

She hears sounds of struggle and Sid holds his gun up. "Guys?" He calls but all they hear are grunts and the sound of a fist connecting with someone's bones.

Sid still pulls her towards the intersection and just as they reach it, tall guy rounds the corner and in a move so fast, Skye can't really follow it, he disarms Sid. He knocks the back of the gun against Sid's forehead and the hand around her upper arm goes limp.

"Holy fuck." Skye breathes, looking up at tall guy. "How did you do that?"

He just shrugs and seeing that she's shaking, he sneaks an arm around her and leads her back to the main room.

The police meet them at the door and Skye sees that the bank is already empty. Now that the imminent danger is over, she remembers something else. "Crap, they broke my phone."

Tall guy rolls his eyes and Skye glares at him. But even as she's glaring, she realizes that if it hadn't been for him, she'd be in real trouble right now.

"I hadn't had coffee yet." She says, softening her looks and he frowns. "I've got no cash." She adds, to clear things up.

"Are you asking me to get coffee with you?" He asks. "And pay for it?"

"Yeah." Skye grins.

"Don't you have a boyfriend, who can do incredible things with his tongue." He asks, but Skye just raises her eyebrows waiting for his reply.

He huffs, but nods. "Alright, let's get coffee."

"Great. My name's Skye, by the way." She offers him her hand.

„So I've heard. I'm Grant." He says and takes it.

"Thanks for saving my life, Grant."

"Oh, it was a pleasure." He says it teasingly and this time Skye's the one rolling her eyes.


A/N: cross-posted on ao3 under the same pen name. Come find me on tumblr.

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