Chapter 4
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A few days later, according to Simmons's best guess Skye has aged approximately another two months.
Unknown to the three younger agents on the plane Coulson's birthday is in a few days. Natasha, Melinda and Clint are in the kitchen talking about that very fact while Coulson is up in his office with Skye, Ward is downstairs training and Fitz and Simmons are in the lab.
"We have to do something for his birthday." Clint comments.
"Do you remember the last time we did something for Phil's birthday?" Melinda asks him.
"Yeah, it was before New York. The three of us, Phil, Maria, and Garrett went out and had a few drinks." Clint comments.
"And what happened after those few drinks?" Natasha asks, sure he hasn't forgotten.
"Phil, Garret and I, oh yeah. That's when that happened." He remembers, "I don't see what the problem is, we've just got to make sure not to do that again." He comments.
"We hadn't slept in almost forty eight hours so you three decide to spend twenty minutes sculling red ball and beer at the same time. You caused a bar fight and were so hyperactive that you tried to steal a fire hydrant, and were determine to try and jump fifty feet form one building to another, before Maria Taserd you. Why would you want to do that in the first place?" Melinda asks.
"You're one to talk. Why do you two do half the things you've done?" Clint asks his sister.
"Okay, Children enough. The point is we have to do someone for Phil for his birthday, especially considering we've missed the last few." Natasha tells them.
"What year was it that Blake and Sitwell streaked through…. Whatever city it was that we were in?" Clint asks interested.
"That was your birthday, two years before that." Natasha tells him.
"You sure it was my birthday?" Clint asks surprised.
"Positive. You were too drunk to remember and I believe Maria somehow, I have no idea how, did something so that Fury didn't find out." Melinda tells him.
"Was that the year Garrett knocked himself out with a pool cue?" Natasha asks.
"Nope, that was my birthday, eight years ago. Which brings me to my point." She tells the other two, "Whatever we do we've got to take into consideration the fact that we've got a baby, so we definitely can't repeat Tony's birthday or any of the birthday celebrations we've done in the past." Melinda comments.
"Tony's birthday, that gives me an idea." Clint says pulling out his phone.
"What idea?" Melinda asks slightly worried.
"Melinda, come up here quick." Coulson's voice says from upstairs.
Exchanging a look with Natasha and Clint as she does Melinda gets up and runs upstairs. Clint and Natasha right behind her.
"What's wrong?" Melinda asks worried as her Natasha and Clint barge into Coulson's office.
"Watch." Coulson says grabbing the toy that Skye is playing with out of her hands and putting it on the other side of the office.
"Taking a toy from a baby, your own daughter, not nice Phil." Clint tells his friend.
"Just shut up and watch." Coulson tells him.
"Oh touchy." Clint jokes and then to everyone's surprise Skye gets up on her hands and knees and crawls over to the toy that Coulson took from her.
"She's crawling." Melinda says shocked.
"Yep, I noticed just before I called you up her, a toy rolled out of her reach so she crawled to it." Coulson explains.
Knowing that they now have nothing to worry about Clint and Natasha quietly back out of the room to give the family time to enjoy their moment.
"What are you doing?" Natasha asks as Clint has once more pulled out his phone.
"You'll see." Clint responds, "Tony, its Clint. I need your help with something." Clint tells his friend.
Once Natasha and Clint leave the office, after checking to make sure there are no dangerous objects around that Skye can get to both Melinda and Coulson sit down and watch Skye.
"She's growing up so fast." Coulson comments.
"We knew that she was going to." Melinda tells him.
"I know, but doesn't it seem odd to you?" Coulson asks.
"Of course." Melinda answers, "But I'm just trying to enjoy the time we do have." Melinda tells him.
"So am I." Coulson agrees, "It's just odd watching her grow up this fast." He tells her.
"Less odd than watching her become this size in minutes?" Melinda asks.
"Good point." Coulson comments as Skye crawls towards them so Melinda picks her up, "Part of me wants her to stay this size for a long time, but part of me also wants her to grow up so we see what she becomes this time but I also miss grown up Skye so much, I don't know what I should be feeling." Coulson admits.
"Neither do I." Melinda admits, "I don't know if there is something in particular that we should be." Melinda tells him giving Skye a cuddle as she does.
Two days later Melinda gets up earlier than both Skye and Phil so that she can go do to a restaurant near where they are currently parked in France to get Coulson breakfast for his birthday, caring about him too much to subject him to her cooking,
As Melinda sneaks downstairs she is surprised to find Clint and Natasha up but even more surprised to find they aren't alone. Tony, Pepper, Steve and Bruce are with them.
"When did you get here?" Melinda asks the four.
"About twenty minutes ago." Tony answers, "Clint told us that it's Phil's birthday, we couldn't let that go without doing something." He explains.
"He'll be glad your here." Melinda tells them, "I was actually hoping to ask you to do something for me if you don't mind." Melinda says looking at Steve
"What do you need?" Steve asks.
"I've been working on trying to get Phil another set of vintage Captain America trading cards. Thankfully I had to listen to him over and over talk about where he had to go to get the last set so it wasn't as difficult as I was expecting, especially considering Skye helped me track some down. There is a collection store near here the has the last two I need and they have agreed to sell them to me, once I get them do you think you could sign them for me?" Melinda asks Steve.
"Of course." Steve answers.
"Thanks." Melinda responds.
"You do realises that now none of us have any chance of getting him a better gift right?" Clint asks.
"Is everything a competition to you?" Melinda asks him.
"Of course, haven't you figured out that by now?" Clint asks his sister.
"I'm going to go get breakfast." Melinda says leaving the six after rolling her eyes.
"I'll join you." Natasha says following her.
"So apart from having them show up, what else is a part of the surprise?" Melinda asks Natasha curious.
"I'm not exactly sure." Natasha admits, "Clint planned it."
When Natasha and Melinda return back to the plane with breakfast Clint, Tony, Steve and Pepper have been joined by Fitz, Simmons and Ward.
"Enjoy." Melinda says putting all the breakfast down on the bench because they made sure to get more than enough for everyone.
"What's going on, why is everyone here?" Coulson asks walking down the stairs with Skye in his arm.
"They're here for your birthday." Melinda says walking over to him, "Happy Birthday Phil." Melinda tells her husband giving him a kiss.
"It's you're birthday?" Simmons asks surprised, "Why didn't you tell us?" She asks.
"I would have thought you would know." Tony comments, "Haven't you looked at his file before?" he asks.
"Of course, but I didn't take notice of his birthday, I'm sorry Sir." Simmons tells Coulson feeling bad that she didn't get him anything.
"It's quite alright." Coulson assures her.
"Happy Birthday Sir." Ward and Fitz both say.
"Thank you." Coulson responds and he puts Skye down in the highchair because she now eats solid food.
"I'll feed her, you enjoy your breakfast that Melinda got you." Natasha says taking the bowl of baby food that Coulson has prepared out of his hand.
"What did you get?" Coulson asks Melinda interested.
"You're favourites." Melinda says handing Coulson the take away container.
"Thank you." Coulson responds, "You did actually go picked this up right? You're not trying to fool me into thinking you did are you?" Coulson asks inspecting the food.
"Of course I did." Melinda tells him, "I think giving you food poisoning on one of your birthdays is enough for a lifetime, don't you?" she asks and everyone, including Natasha and Clint, are surprised by that.
"You gave him food poisoning?" Clint asks shocked.
"You've seen her try to cook and you're surprised by that?" Coulson asks his friend.
"It was only once and it was an accident." Melinda reminds him.
"I would hope so, otherwise I would be seriously worried." Tony comments.
"Food poisoning is actually a good way to assassinate someone if you do it correctly." Natasha comments.
"Remind me to never eat something that you've cooked again." Tony comments.
"Please, when have you ever?" Natasha asks, "Come on Skye, open your mouth." Natasha asks her niece.
"Mama." Skye says.
"Did she just?" Ward asks turning to face the little girl.
"Mama." Skye repeats.
"I think she's asking for someone else to feed her." Natasha says walking over to a shocked Melinda and handing her the bowl and spoon.
"Yeah, guess she is." Melinda says with a smile as she walks over and takes Natasha's now empty seat in front of Skye's highchair.
"Mama." Skye repeats, this time with a happy smile clearly seeing who is in front of her.
"I'm guessing that was her first word." Pepper comments noticing the shocked looks on everyone's who lives on the plane's faces.
"Yeah, it is" Coulson tells her.
"How old do you think she is now?" Bruce asks Simmons interested.
"Eight, maybe nine months." Simmons answers.
"Have you been able to predict her aging yet?" he asks.
"No, it's completely random." Simmons answers, "Fitz and I have been doing our best but we can't come up with a prediction." She explains.
"Can I have a look at what you've got, see if I can figure it out?" He asks curious.
"Sure." Simmons answers.
"I'll join Bruce in looking at that later but first we've got a birthday to celebrate." Tony comments.
"What have you got planned?" Coulson asks curious and slightly concerned.
"Nothing for you to worry about." Steve assures his friend not blaming him for being worried if it is something that Tony has come up with but as it is not there is no reason to worry.
"He's right." Tony assures him, "We got you the day off with Fury, all of you, so we are going to stay around here, watch Movies, play some video games and have some fun." Tony explains.
"That sounds like a good idea." Coulson admits.
"Get started without me, I've got to get this one cleaned up." Melinda says picking up Skye who is covered in food.
"I'll start the bath for you." Simmons offers.
"Thanks Simmons." Melinda responds and Simmons heads into the bathroom, Melinda and Skye not far behind her.
An few hours later, Skye is playing with toys with Fitz, Simmons and Steve on the ground while the others are watching some superhero movie which everyone is criticising for one thing or another.
"Who thought showing them a superhero movie was a good idea?" Pepper asks walking over and sitting next to Steve.
"Who knows?" Simmons answers, "But it definitely going on the list of movies we aren't allowed to watch on this plane." She comments.
"You have a list like that?" Steve asks surprised.
"Skye started it." Simmons reveals, "She realised that there are some movies that we just shouldn't watch." She explains.
"Do you think they would notice if I disappeared for a little while?" Pepper asks the other three curious.
"Probably not." Fitz answers, "Why?"
"No one got a birthday cake for Phil, someone should." Pepper explains.
"Ohh, good idea, I'll come with you." Simmons says as several yells from the direction of where the others are watching the movie can be heard.
"Let's go now, while they're distracted." Pepper says and she and Simmons get up and leave the plane.
About twenty minutes after Pepper and Simmons leave Melinda does as well obviously going to go and get the trading cards that she is getting Coulson.
"I think she's starting to get tied." Fitz comments when it seems like Skye has no interest in her toys and has instead crawled over to Steve, "It makes sense she usually has a nap about now." He notes when he sees the clock behind Steve.
"She sleeps upstairs right?" Steve asks.
"Yeah." Fitz responds.
"I'll go put her down." Steve says standing up with Skye in his arm.
"Tell her a story, something about a mission you've done are usually the best ways to calm her." Fitz explains and Steve nods.
"Does she need anything else? A Bottle or anything?" He asks curious.
"No, not right now." Fitz responds, "She usually sleeps for an hour then has a bottle and is changed then sleeps for a while longer." He explains.
"Okay." Steve responds and he heads upstairs with Skye.
"Okay so a story." Steve says to Skye when they are upstairs, "Let me think, I know. Let me tell you about a man who wanted nothing more than to join the army during war time, not because he wanted to fight or kill but because he didn't like bullies." Steve begins and he tells Skye his story.
When Steve returns downstairs fifteen minutes after he went up he finds Tony, Ward, Clint and Natasha in the middle of what seems like a very bad argument, it also seems like no one has noticed that Pepper, Simmons and Melinda aren't there.
"What are they fighting about?" Steve asks Bruce.
"Whether super powers are cheating and how much of what is in the movie could actually be possible." He explains.
"I really hope they don't wake Skye." Steve comments with a frown.
"Don't worry, upstairs is pretty well soundproofed, it will take a lot to wake her." Coulson reveals.
"Good to know." Steve answers, "Happy Birthday Sir." Steve tells Coulson realising that he hasn't said it yet.
"Thank you Captain." Coulson responds.
"Ah guys." Fitz suddenly says, "It looks like one of them are about to start throwing punches." He reveals and the other three turn towards the others and see that Fitz is right.
"Okay, enough." Coulson says walking over and standing in the middle of the four, "It's a movie, there is no reason for you to resort to violence." He tells them.
"Coulson's right." Steve says, walking over so that he is standing next to Coulson, "We're here to celebrate Coulson's birthday, not fight among ourselves." He tells them.
"They're right." Clint says, "Truce." He says to the other three.
"Truce." They all respond.
"Where's Pepper?" Tony asks noticing that she isn't around.
"She left over half an hour ago with Simmons, they went to get something." Fitz explains.
"Ah right, did they say how long they are going to be?" Natasha asks.
"No." Steve answers.
"Where's Mels?" Clint asks.
"She went to do what he told us about earlier." Steve tells him.
"Oh right." Clint comments.
"Where did she go?" Coulson asks as all Melinda told him is that she had to handle something.
"You'll find out." Natasha tells him with a coy smile.
"You know out of the hundred times I have seen that smile I can count the time that it has meant something good for me on one hand." Coulson tells Natasha and a snort can be heard from Tony.
"That's more than I can." Clint comments and both Coulson and Clint receive un impressed looks from Natasha.
"Do you want to continue to dig yourselves into a hole or stop now?" Natasha asks curious.
Clint and Coulson look at each other both seriously debating whether they want to continue mucking around with Natasha or not.
"Two against one." Clint comments.
"When has that even ended well for us?" Coulson asks.
"I can count the number on a hand." Natasha comments.
"Yeah but when has it ever stoped us?" Clint asks
"And when have we ever thought it was a good idea after?" Coulson asks and before anyone can say anymore a phone rings.
"Agent Coulson speaking." Coulson answers, "Hello Maria." Coulson responds.
Forty minutes after Maria's call Pepper, Melinda and Simmons all arrive back.
"Where did you go?" Tony asks interested.
"We went to get Phil a birthday cake." Pepper answers.
"You didn't have to do that." Coulson tells them.
"It's your birthday Sir, you need cake." Simmons tells him, "How many candles do I put on?" she asks.
"More than there is room for on that cake, so don't worry about it." Coulson tells them as Melinda pulls Steve aside so that he can sign the cards.
"What kind of cake did you get?" Ward asks curious.
"White chocolate." Simmons tells him, "When we were planning the wedding Skye mentioned that you really liked white chocolate." She reveals looking at Coulson as when they were planning the wedding Skye, Simmons and Pepper were in change of the cake.
"I do, thank you." Coulson answers, "How did you get this done so quickly?" Coulson asks curious as the cake has 'Happy Birthday Phil' written on it in red while and blue letters.
"I put a phone call in at a local bakery when we first got here and mentioning the name Tony Stark tends to open doors to you." Pepper reveals.
"Thank you." Coulson says thankful, though he can't help but miss grown up Skye more than usually even though baby her is right upstairs.
"The candles are in place, seeing as how you won't say how old you actually are I put one in each corner and one in the middle." Simmons informs him.
"He's…." Clint begins to say but he finds Coulson's hand over his mouth, "Don't even think about it." He tells his friend. "Five candles will do fine Jemma." Coulson tells him.
"I'll get the lights." Natasha says as Simmons lights the candles.
"Okay, go." Simmons says to Natasha.
Once the lights are off everyone begins to sing happy birthday to Coulson, Clint singing it as slow and drawn out as possible and once they are, in Clint's case finally, done Coulson blows out the candles.
"I have something for you." Melinda says pulling out a small folder and handing it to Coulson, "To replace the ones that Fury destroyed." She tells him.
"How?" Coulson asks shocked as her looks through the folder and sees a vintage set of Captain America trading cards, all signed by Captain America himself.
"I had to listen to you talked about where you got the first set, I remembered what you said, and before she changed Skye helped me track some down." Melinda reveals.
"Thank you so much." Coulson says and he kisses Melinda.
"Well seeing as how it's present time this is from Pepper, Steve, Bruce and I." Tony reveals pulling out a very expensive bottle of scotch from behind the counter.
"Didn't we agree that you wouldn't get me a birthday present?" Coulson asks.
"I lied." Tony responds, "Happy Birthday Agent." He says handing Coulson the bottle.
"Oh, if you don't want it I'll have it." Melinda tells her husband when she notices the bottle.
"No, I'll keep it but you'll probably end up drinking most of it anyway." Coulson tells her.
"Nah, it will be about half or a quarter if Tasha and Clint are drinking with us." She tells him.
"Thank you, all of you not just for this, but for coming." Coulson tells the four.
"Anytime." Bruce tells him.
"This is from Nat and I." Clint says handing Coulson an envelope and leaving the others feeling bad for not getting him anything, "It's a voucher for the parts place you get everything you need for Lola from, figured you could get what you need." He tells him.
"Thanks." He tells his friend.
"This is from Fitz, Ward and I." Simmons says to both Fitz and Ward's surprise, "I picked it up when I was out with Pepper." She explains and she hands Coulson a box, "I know It's not much, but I hope you like it." She tells Coulson.
Coulson accepts the box and opens it where inside he finds what looks like a hand crafted Photo Frame, "Jemma it's beautiful." He tells her.
"I know you've been looking for a while for a frame for the picture that was taken at the wedding of all of us so I thought that would be okay, do you like it?" Jemma asks nervously and Coulson surprises her by giving her a hug.
"I love it, thank you." Coulson responds putting the frame back into the box.
"Let's get started on the cake." Fitz comments and that's just what they do.
Later that night when everyone on the plane is in bed and Tony, Bruce, Steve and Pepper have gone Melinda and Coulson are lying in each other's arms in their bed.
"Skye really helped you track down the cards?" Coulson asks.
"Yeah, I wouldn't have found them if it wasn't for her." Melinda tells him.
"Thank you Melinda." Coulson tells him.
"You're welcome, I know how much your cards meant to you. Happy Fiftieth birthday Phil." Melinda says giving him a kiss.
"Don't remind me of that, it makes me feel old." He tells her.
"We you're not as old as me, so relax." Melinda tells him.
"I'm only a few months younger." Coulson tells her.
"Who would have thought, Phillip Coulson having issues with his age." Melinda comments amused and the pair drift into silence and eventually they drift to sleep
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