During Training with May and Ward:

It hurt to look at his daughter. He loved her, but she looked so much like her mother that it's downright painful. Everything about her just screamed out "Rina", from her smile to her laugh, right down to the way she moved. When Skye landed the plane for the first time, he cried on the phone with Tessa for nearly an hour.

She's beautiful. He wished he had known before he saw her in that van. Why had Rina never told him? Was she trying to protect their daughter and if she was, from who?

He walked in on her training with Ward once. She was focused and it was the exact same look her mother used to get when he used to train her. Her S.O. corrected her hand position on the bag and he could see the look in the man's eyes, staring at his daughter in the same way he used to stare at Rina. He locked himself in his office for the rest of the evening with a bottle of scotch because he remembered how that relationship progressed.

"She's definitely Katharina's daughter." May sat down on the other side of his desk, looking at him. "She needs to be told the truth. She'll find out eventually. It's better to do it on your terms than for her to find out by mistake." Words of wisdom from May, of course, the voice of wisdom personified. It was the same tune she'd been singing for the past few weeks when she'd realized the truth.

"I need to wait for the right time."

The Calvary sighed loudly and stood up. "Just know that she can do a lot worse than Agent Ward. He adores her, whether he realizes it or not."

With that, she left the room, leaving him with his glass of scotch and a feeling of dread.


May found Skye in the copilot's seat, not an unusual place for the girl to be these days. She looked up at the older woman as she came in and Melinda almost wondered if she knew what her and Coulson had been talking about in his office. If she did, Skye didn't say anything, though Melinda found the girl didn't say much when she sat up in the cockpit. A familiar wave of peace flooded over her as she sat down and she allowed herself to smile at the girl. It was only when Skye left a few hours later that the feeling disappeared.


Coulson found Skye on a tablet in the common room, curled up in one of the oversized armchairs. "How's your training going with May? She's said you're improving."

She glanced up and smiled at him. "It's good, AC. She and Ward are going to show me how to do like a bunch of different self defense moves tomorrow. And she says some day, I might be able to land the plan solo."

"Good. So you still want to be an agent?"

Skye nodded, looking up at him. "Yeah. It feels right." She didn't add in that it only began to feel that way after she'd found the redacted file, after she came up with the idea that maybe her parents were also SHIELD agents and maybe she'd find them. Maybe they'd want her. She changed the subject. "I applied before, but apparently you have to have a last name for that kind of thing."

He sat in the one across from her. "I'm surprised you didn't just give yourself one."

She shrugged, setting the tablet down on the table. "It wouldn't have been real. Besides, when everyone has the last name of Smith or Doe, you don't really want to take that with you." The dark-haired girl smiled at him. "Is something on your mind, AC? You seem distracted."

Coulson shook his head and stood. "No, just some paperwork I have to fill out."

He walked off, not noticing Skye staring at him confused, trying to figure out why he'd tell her such a blatant lie.


"Alright, May's going to attack you and you're going to fight her off," Grant told Skye as he positioned her hands by her side. "If you need to stop at any time-"

"Just say 'pickles.' I've got it." She eyed him and muttered under her breath, "It feels more like some kinky sex game than a fight."

May snickered from behind them, her face expressionless. "Be serious, Skye," Grant chastised her.

"Well, really, 'pickles?'"

He ignored her comment, walking behind her to the bench to remove his shoes and join the two women on the mat. "Close your eyes."

"Then how am I supposed to see?" Skye demanded.

"You've got to feel. You're not always going to be in condition where you can see. Your enemies might use any technique that they can to disorient you, including take away your sight." He leaned in close to her ear from behind, whispering in her ear, "You're lucky. My S.O. blindfolded me and made me wear earplugs." Skye shuttered at the thought of being both blind and deaf to have to learn how to fight. With a reluctant sigh, she shut her eyes.

It was disorienting; Ward was right. She couldn't see anything and May didn't have loud footsteps normally, but unlike any normal mat, which would sink under your weight, it didn't shift at all to let her know where May was. She breathed in, letting the woman's emotional signature tell her where she were. May's hand came on her shoulder, the other hand twisting her arm behind her back and she fought to keep her eyes shut. Skye knocked her head back, clipping the older woman's chin and taking satisfaction as she heard May breath in hard. She jerked her elbow back, letting it connect with the soft part of the Calvary's torso, right under the ribs. May let out a grunt of pain but still didn't release her.

Okay, Skye thought, new strategy.

She kicked, catching one of May's legs behind the knee, and pulled it forward until the woman buckled. Once down, she thrusted her elbow back again and May dropped Skye's arm to defend her face, allowing her to get away for a second, but it wasn't over. The older woman grabbed Skye's ankle, pulling her to the ground face down. She turned to her side before May could attack her, bringing her legs in close to defend herself. She could sense the woman move closer, waiting until she was close enough to kick her in the shins. May landed on top of her and Skye flattened herself before pushing her hips up, twisting, and sending May to the floor below her.

She opened her eyes as she felt her S.O. come closer and saw him offering her his hand. Skye took it and allowed him to pull her up. "That was much better than last week." His hand slid to the small of her back, guiding her over to the water bottles and didn't drop until it became obvious that he wasn't touching her to guide her.

She pretended to clean her ears. "I'm sorry, was that a compliment?"

"It was a comment. An observation."

"It was a kind comment." Ward smiled and shook his head, having learned that it was better not to argue this point with her.

"Whatever you say, Skye. Whatever you say." She laughed as May stood up, feeling lighter than she had since she'd found out that her S.O. and the pilot had slept together.

Unbeknownst to them, Coulson was watching from the safety of his office. His eyes narrowed as he watched Ward's hand stay on Skye's back for far too long. As if sensing his eyes, May turned to the camera and glared at him, as if to say 'stop watching and tell her or I'll tell her myself.' He shut off the video feed after that.


R&R

If anyone has any ideas they'd like to see of times Coulson almost tells her, feel free to tell me.