Interest

AN: So I got a few messages that last Chapter was a little rough- Believe me, writing it was way harder than reading it. But that being said, I do believe in Happy Endings, speaking of Happy Endings... Someone not from America come save me, like right now If you kidnap me I will NOT press charges, just Save me!.. Oh, sorry about that... Annyyyyway as always enjoy the Chapter, grab yourself a snack and... Well, enjoy!

"Skye, come play on the swings with me!" Natasha beckoned the young girl over from the back door. Skye had looked up to May who was standing next to her. "Go ahead Skye, I'll be right in the Kitchen." Skye looked at Natasha and back to May. "If I go you'll still be here?" Skye questioned. May couldn't help but wonder what she had meant but she kept her calm "Of course I'll still be here, I'm not going anywhere." Skye nodded happily as she made her way to Natasha cautiously. "We have Swings and Monkey Bars, they don't really get used that much anymore so it's nice to have someone to play with." Skye wasn't really good with either, especially Monkey Bars. "I.. I don't know how to swing." The little girl sadly admitted, she thought a 7 Year Old should know how to swing by now, but she knew she wasn't smart enough to figure out something that should be so simple. "I'll teach you!"

May smiled that Skye seemed to be opening up and figured she'd take the little Daylight they had left to read what Miss Shannon left them, there were a lot of notes to go through and May needed to know just what this poor girl had gone through, taking the first document and carefully opened it her Jaw dropped.

'Five Year Old Mary-Sue-Poots was taken into protective custody, previous foster parents the Bennet's were brutally murdered in a Home Invasion, the Child was the only survivor, Mary-Sue-Poots since then has shown signs of Anger and lashing out at others as well as Emotional Distress'

May couldn't believe this, the girl seemed a little emotional and that seemed highly justified being sent from abusive home to abusive home. What May read next didn't make her feel any better.

'Mary-Sue-Poots has shown signs of learning disabilities due to Emotional Distress, Can't Read,Write.' Whoever wrote this seems to be with some kind of disability, there was no details... Just stating things to be fact. May wondered if this was even worth reading at this point, but she couldn't stop once she heard small laughter from outside.. May had to do anything and everything in her power to get to the bottom of being able to help this girl.

' Speech Problems/Childish acts' This didn't surprise May except the frown face attached to it. Skye was only 7! Her having Childish actions was normal. May noticed from earlier the Thumb-Sucking and the Blanket and her talking got worse when she was upset but to be honest those were just coping mechanisms she'd adapted to feel safe. Honestly May hardly saw any issue with any of these. "Mel? What are you doing?" Phil asked as he took a seat next to his beautiful wife. "Reading everything Miss Shannon left us while Natasha keeps Skye occupied." May sighed as she ran an annoyed hand through her hair. "Phil look at these." She moved the notes a bit so Phil could see them too. He skimmed through a few pages before he closed them. "This seems silly, she hasn't shown any of those signs." May agreed with her Husband, granted it wasn't time for Bed yet so they didn't know how she'd react to 'Night Terrors' but the previous Social Worker seemed like she couldn't care less about Skye.

"Pump your feet Skye!" Natasha cheered, "You got it malyutka! I told you you could do it!" Skye beamed, she was swinging... On her own! She couldn't believe she managed to actually learn something. Maybe everything people told her wasn't true, maybe she was smart? It only took about 45 minutes for Skye to figure out how to Pump her feet with the help of Natasha giving her a push to start. Once she got it down though she was kicking off all on her own. "I did it!" She proudly exclaimed as she hopped off the swing. "Natasha, what does that word mean? maluka?" Natasha chuckled, "malyutka" It means little one in Russian. If you don't like it..." Skye quickly cut her off, "I like it, it sounds so cool!"

All in All it took about 2 hours for read everything, and that was 2 long hours Skye seemed to bond with Natasha, May was proud at that, she knew the girl was taking steps and crossing personal boundaries she had created herself to remain safe, it was obvious the child wanted to bond with people, she was just scared. Phil had been kind enough to cook dinner, the obvious choice was Spaghetti, it was quick, simple.. And pretty universal too. May closed the book she'd been fixated on and put it in the top shelf and called the kids in. "May! I learned to swing!" Skye giggled, she was very proud of herself. "I see that, did you have fun with Natasha?" May wondered. Skye nodded, "She's the best!" Everyone grinned at that... They made the right choice with this little one. "It's time for dinner and than bed for you." Skye thought it was still early, the Sun was still sort of up... May noticed the confused look on the girls face, "Can you tell me the time?" May wondered again. Skye didn't say anything or make any movement so Natasha took the Que and grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil along with an analog clock. "The little hand tells you the hour, and the big hand is the minutes. The red one is for seconds, and the little lines between the numbers tell the minutes so each big number is 5 minutes apart. Can you try and figure it out little one?" Natasha asked and looked over to her parents that gave her a reaffirming nod, this was the same way they taught her about time. Simplistic to the very end. Skye nodded and carefully picked the pencil up with her right hand, she was holding it in a very awkward position. "Skye? How come you're holding the pencil like that?" Phil asked as he began to put the pasta on plates. "Sister Maggy told me to, s-she say everyone need t'use their right hands." Skye could feel the frustration of tears starting to build up. "Do you normally use your left hand?" Skye silently nodded as she fought the urge to cry. "You can use whichever hand you want Skye, you're you. And you're never going back to that place, okay?" Skye tearfully looked up at May, Natasha and Phil. Neither one of them looked upset, it was the opposite in fact. " 'Kay. " She switched hands and looked at the clock... She learned to swing today, surely she could figure out the time... The Small Hand was in between the number 5 and 6 and the big hand was on the 6. "Is it... 5 1/2?" That sounded wrong and stupid. "You're close, very close. It is 5 and it's sort of half but that's not how we say it. If there's 60 minutes in an hour, do you know what half of 60 is?" Natasha took a seat next to Skye and the girl shook her head, embarrassed. "Let's count from 12 to 1 is 5 minutes, so count from 5's with me. 5-10-15..." Natasha paused to let Skye try and finish the rest. "20?" She questioned as she pointed to the 4 and Natasha nodded, "25?" she pointed at the 5, another nod. "5:30?" Everyone smiled again, "You just told time Skye!"

She did just tell time! She needed help but she figured it out. " I did it? " May nodded, "You sure did baby." Skye learned 2 things today? Today just kept getting better and better.

By the time Skye had.. Well, figured out time Phil had already had Dinner all set, she wasn't feeling so nervous now, Here she was in a short-sleeve shirt and no one said anything about her arms. "Hunter, dinner let's go!" May yelled down from the stairs, Skye took a seat next to Natasha, she really liked Natasha and she was trying very hard to not be bad so Natasha liked her too! Hunter ran down the stairs as Phil handed Skye a small plastic cup with what seemed like Apple Juice. She didn't have to Beg here, she was safe here. She was so safe, she could cry. But she'd already done so much of that today. "Thank You Phil." Skye kindly stated as everyone else took their seats, "No problem Kiddo, dig in." Skye was rather confused, they hadn't eaten yet. "May noticed the strange look, "You don't like Spaghetti?" She asked. "I'm supposed to wait." Had someone told her she wasn't allowed to eat her food until everyone else finished? May was a little annoyed. "Baby that's not a rule in this House. In this House we all eat together, as a Family." Why were they so kind? What had she done to deserve these people? Lunch was different because that was literally the first meal she had all day, but dinner was different... It was always different, she was conditioned for the most part for her meal to always be cold because she was forced to wait.. The stupid Dog had gotten a warm meal before she would get one, and that bothered her. "Oh, okay." was all she managed to say, her attention taken by the smell of a warm meal.

Just like Lunch, Skye had listened to Natasha and Hunter's arguing, but it wasn't in a mean way, it was entirely playful. She kept quiet while she tried to be as neat as possible with Spaghetti, but she was making a mess, not as messy as she would have been with her right hand, which was nice she was given permission to use the hand she was most comfortable with but a mess no less. "No, absolutely not, I'm spending my afternoon taking you and your boyfriend to the movies. Not happening Tasha, see if they can take you." Hunter pointed to May and Phil. "They're working." She stated as fact, but annoyed. Natasha rolled her eyes, "Whatever, Clint and I will just take an Uber or something." Skye wasn't sure what an Uber was but it sounded funny. "No, I'm off for a few days while Skye gets settled. I can drop you and Clint off at the mall and maybe we can get Skye some clothes?" May asked as she looked over to the little girl who was a mess. Skye was starting to feel a little tired and rubbed her eyes a little before shaking her head. "You don't need to get me things." It wasn't a lie either, her clothes didn't fit her but she didn't want people spending Money on her, especially when she might not be here long. "It's okay Skye, we want to buy you things." Hunter interjected in the conversation, "You should say yes, Mum and Dad never buy me things." Hunter winked, "That's because you're always causing trouble." Natasha finished with a devilish grin. Hunter rolled his eyes and focused back on his food. "Okay." Skye figured she wasn't going to win this, the reality was she knew she needed things but she didn't want them.. She wasn't sure that made sense in her head actually. "If you're all finished, Skye you need a bath and some sleep." May's voice was gentle and Skye really had no room to protest. As far as first days went this was by far the best one. Skye made a conscious decision to enjoy it while it lasted. Skye nodded tiredly and may stood up from her chair, "Come on then."

Skye was a little surprised when May had walked over to her chair and actually picked her up, the thought was nice but she knew she had made a mess, but May had raised 3 kids... She knew all kids seemed to make a mess with anything related to Pasta or Sauce, so she wasn't even bothered by it.

Hunter had waited for the bathroom door to close upstairs before he began talking, "I can't help but notice that she really doesn't seem to like me."

Natasha scoffed a 'Who does' comment before her Dad starting talking. "Listen kids, especially you Lance." Hunter knew when he was called by his first name his dad was usually pretty serious. Natasha had focused her attention too. "Skye has been through a lot, you saw her arms. She's not very attached to Men it seems, she's been abused the lady here earlier was her Social Worker. She brought some files over for us about Skye. I'm not going to lie to you kids, she seems pretty attached to your Mother and Tasha already. It's important not to treat her differently though, because she's not, she's a member of this Family now and we're all a Team." Phil finished as he watched both his kids intensively, Natasha probably understood better than Hunter did. "She's very tiny." Natasha commented, and it was true. While Skye was 7 she looked like she was perhaps on the verge of a 6 year old with the tendencies that probably came with it if today was any indication. "You're right, we know she's been neglected, She's very skittish and has some trouble with things. Everyone has their coping tendencies, Bobbi watched cartoons when she was upset, Hunter you liked to write about Soccer-" Hunter quickly cut him off "Football." Phil sighed, "Right, right.. Natasha you liked to draw... You still do- My point is she copes with her pain differently. She seems to like things Younger kids would enjoy more, and that's fine it's perfectly acceptable, just don't treat her any differently." Hunter and Natasha nodded, their Dad was right after all... Dads sort of had that feature, they always seemed right..

"You like bubbles right?" May asked, Skye wasn't entirely sure. She had never had bubbles in a bath before. "I dunno" Skye never really took baths, she was always the last one to get to use the Shower usually so it was always cold, so she never took baths... She took really quick showers. "I don't really take baths." May couldn't help but wonder why, but she was sure she knew the answer. "Do you prefer Showers? You can choose." Skye wasn't really sure, she didn't really care as long as it wasn't cold, and she always had trouble and got shampoo in her eyes all the time, that was never fun... "Will the Bath be cold?" Skye scrunched her face, " 'Cos I hated cold showers." May wasn't really sure what to take from that other than to be strong.. She could have her little meltdown later, she kept her expression full of love and concern, a strange feature that May seemed perfect at. " Of course not, we'd never make you take a bath or shower in cold water." That much was truth, how someone could condition a child to expect these things baffled her, she had seen her fair share of bad things with Phil when they were with SHIELD, but there was never something so bad as an abused child. That life was behind them now, even though Hunter kept talking about joining the Academy with Bobbi.. "Okay a bath sounds good. I always get Shampoo in my eyes." She admitted, Skye was never this trusting in a new home but she was laying down her cards one by one, slowly testing the waters and they have done nothing but care for the girl. May added in some Bubble Mix, not questioning where it had come from(She would've just used Shampoo) and let the Tub fill up, "Let's unwrap those bandages." May patiently waited for Skye to extend her arms out, and after a minute of contemplation she did, and May carefully unwrapped her arms. May went into the Cabinet and took out a blue ointment. "What's that for?" Skye asked curiously, it sort of looked like hair gel, she thought. "It will help with the Pain and Heal Faster, it's also Waterproof, so it won't burn in the Bath." May gently applied the cool gel on the few long scratch marks and the bite mark she had too. It felt funny Skye had to admit. May finished putting the Ointment on and turned the Water off, "I'll turn around so you can get in." May wanted to make sure Skye understood the concept of privacy, and that no matter what in this house, everyone deserved their privacy. May turned around once she heard the girl hop in.

It was nice, the warm water that is Skye still wasn't sure what to think, she was really tired now and May was very understanding. "Ready to wash your hair?" May asked and Skye sleepily nodded, "Put this over your face and tilt you head back." Skye wasn't sure why May wanted her to make a hand-towel on her face but she did as she was told, May had been good so far. Skye could feel May carefully rubbing the Shampoo in her hair, she was being very gentle and it was very soothing, she was also pleasantly surprised when she felt May rinse the shampoo out and the Towel had kept it out of her eyes. "Do you have any Pajama's with you?" Skye nodded, "They're too big and gots holes." May just smiled, adding some more things on the list for tomorrow. "It's okay, you play for a few minutes and I'll grab your PJ's." Skye nodded again, "Kay"

Skye's small bag of things really just that... Small, there was hardly any clothes here, there was a toothbrush and one set of Pajamas.. Was it time for her meltdown yet? No, not yet she still had a little girl in the Bath half awake.. Almost, she promised herself.

"Ready little one?" May began draining the water from the Bath and held out a big fluffy towel. Skye took the next step and climbed out of the Bath and into the Towel. May began drying her off, Skye was taken by the gesture. She felt... Wanted.. Loved? She wasn't sure what being loved felt like or even if you could love someone after a day but May was treating her like her own. "May?" Skye quietly called out while May helped her into her clothes and sat her back down to brush her hair. "Yes Skye?" May gently ran the brush through her hair, and she was so gentle and didn't tug at any of the knots. "Can I stay here for a while? I like it here." May stopped mid brush for a second before continuing. "Baby, you're staying here forever, okay?" Skye really wanted to believe her, really badly but somewhere in her mind was a part still yelling you can't trust them. " Kay " May finished brushing her hair and held Skye, "Let's go say good night to everyone." May led them back downstairs, Skye still held in her arms. Light... That's what May thought, Skye was very light. Phil, Hunter and Natasha seemed mid conversation and Skye felt a little nervous suddenly. "This one is off to bed and thought you would like to say goodnight to her." They all smiled, "Goodnight Kiddo, Sweet Dreams." Phil stayed in his seat, hoping at least Hunter understood the gesture to stay still. "Goodnight Skye, pleasant dreams yeah?" Hunter mock saluted. Natasha glared at the two noticing they didn't get up, "Goodnight malyutka have very sweet dreams." Skye again nodded very sleepily, uttering 'g'night' before her Thumb found its way to her mouth and she gently laid her head on May's Shoulder... She was absolutely exhausted, and big day like this would do that to a normal person. May took that Cue and headed back up the stairs into the room that was now labeled as Skye's. May laid the girl in the bed and handed her the blanket she held with her nearly all the time. "Thanks." Skye mumbled around her Thumb. "Are you comfortable? Do you need anything?" May wondered, "Can you keep the light on?" Skye knew that was a babyish thing to ask but she hated the dark.. Almost as much as she hated Dogs. "May flicked a switch that illuminated the ceiling with the Night Sky, Stars and Moons that glowed different colors that casted a gentle light. "How's that?" Skye's eyes lit up briefly, "It's so cool." She said as she put her head on the pillow and tugged on her blanket. Her eyes got heavier and heavier by the second, she didn't even have time to ask May to read her a Story... Thought she was nervous she'd say no anyway, But May stayed for a while.. At least until Skye fell asleep, the deep and slowed breathing hat ensued was the indication May knew so well. Blanket in one hand, Thumb in her mouth with the other.. This kid was going to be some work, but that's okay that is how May wants it, she wouldn't trade it for anything. "Sweet dreams baby." May whispered as she closed the door, leaving it cracked just a bit and made her way down stairs..

AN: Pay attention to the Titles of the Chapters, they'll form something... Soon, that being said I really hope the Characters are starting to form some personality.. I'm trying to slowly get them there without pushing everything all at once, and for those wondering about Skye's second guessing herself constantly, keep in mind she's 7 in this Story who has been abused and conditioned to think things that have happened to her are Normal or Deserved, and it's very hard for people to break habits especially those that cause high stress or anxiety. Like I said before, I do believe in Happy Endings and we will get there... Together.