Chapter 4
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About an hour and a half after Skye collected the blanket she has fallen asleep on the chair. When May looked over at her daughter and realised that she was asleep she debated carrying her to her bed or waking her and sending her to bed, but she decided that she didn't want to wake her as she looks very peaceful sleeping like she is.
Once the sun has started to rise Skye turns her head into the chair more and lifts the blanket up higher to block out the sun. All without waking up as unknown to May it is something that she has experience with.
A little while after the sun rises the door opens and Coulson walks in. "How far away are we?" Coulson asks in a normal tone of voice not realising that Skye is asleep in the chair.
"Shhh." Melinda hisses at him not wanting him to wake Skye.
"Skye?" Coulson says surprised in a whisper "What's she doing here?" Coulson asks Melinda quietly.
"She came in the early hours of this morning. We talked and she asked if she could stay up here for a while. She was cold so I told her where the blanket was and eventually she fell asleep." May explains in a very quiet whisper then remember what Skye asked she asks in angry whisper "What were you thinking when you told her that our divorce was her fault?"
"I didn't tell her that, not really." Coulson defends "I just told her that after we lost her we kept trying to make our marriage work but we were broken, losing our girl broke us and staying together would have just hurt us more." Coulson explains.
"That is as good as telling her it was her fault." Melinda whispers angrily "You need to think more before you speak Phil." She whispers as Skye stirs but does not wake.
"What else did you talk about?" Coulson asks.
"Not much." Melinda answers "She asked what her name was so I told her and I also told her how her name was the only thing we couldn't agree on and how it was your idea. She liked it, he name, she said she liked it." Melinda explains with a small smile. "And I told her that we never stopped looking for her, that finding her was the only thing that mattered to us, and that if we had even the slightest idea of where she was we would have gone there in a heartbeat."
"How do you think she's doing?" Coulson asks looking down at her sleeping daughter.
"I don't know, it's hard to say at the moment. Her whole world has just been turned upside down. For the second time in a matter of days. It's got to be odd for her." Melinda explains "We're going to be heading in for landing in about ten minutes. Go and make sure everyone is buckled in. I'll wake Skye." Melinda suggests.
"No need. I'm awake." Skye voice answers pulling the blanket down so it is no longer blocking the sun from her eyes "Wow. Really, really bright." She says trying to adjust to the light, "For the record neither of you whisper as quietly as you think you do." She informs her newly found parents.
"How long have you been awake?" Coulson asks wondering how much she heard.
"Not long. I woke as you asked how May thinks I'm doing." Skye explains.
"I'm sorry but we need to finish this conversation later. Phil go wake up the others and get buckled in. Skye buckle up, we're minutes away from starting our decent." Melinda says before Coulson can responds.
Coulson nods and leaves the cockpit leaving Mother and Daughter alone.
"I don't get it why do we have to be buckled in when we land and take off, but no other times? This isn't exactly a normal plan after all" Skye asks curious as she buckles her seat belt.
"Because it's when things are the most dangerous and most bumpy. It's safer for everyone if everyone is buckled in when that happens." May explains "Coulson, is everyone buckled in?" Melinda asks through the communicators.
"Yeah, we're all in." Coulson tells her.
"Okay starting decent." Melinda says pressing all different buttons.
Skye just watches with Melinda does with interest as the whole time that she has been on the bus she hasn't really thought much about how difficult it must be to fly the plane.
"You can unbuckle now. We're landed" May says through the communicators.
"How long have you been able to fly a plan?" Skye asks curious.
"Years, I got my license my first year out of the Academy." May explains as the door opens and Coulson once more walks in.
"We're stopped for a supply run for a couple of hours but I was thinking that we send the others to get the supplies so that we could have a chance to talk, just the three of us." Coulson suggests.
Melinda nods and turns to Skye "Skye?" She asks.
"I'd like that." Skye says after a minute of hesitating. "There's a few things that I need, but I can write a list and ask Simmons if she could get them for me, talking sounds good to me." Skye says "I'll see you in a little while." Skye says getting up and leaving the cockpit, Coulson and May.
As soon as she enters the main part of the room she spots Simmons who seemed to have spotted her at the same time.
"What happened? Where were you this morning?" Simmons asks Sky as they both sit down on the couch that they both managed to almost walk into.
"With May." Skye answers.
"Really? How did that go?" Simmons asks excitedly.
"Good, we talked a little and I found out what my real name is." Skye explains a huge smile on her face as she one of the things she has wanted most since she was a little kid is to know what her real name is "I feel asleep in the cockpit and I woke to May and Coulson whispering, trying to be quite but completely failing at it." She explains "We're going to talk, when you all go and get supplies all three of us are going to sit down and talk, figure everything out I guess." She says both looking forward and concerned about how the talk is going to go "Talking about you all. Where are Fitz and Ward?" She asks not seeing the boys anywhere.
"Fitz is having a shower and Ward is in the cargo bay working out." Simmons explains.
"Oh crap." Skye says worried "With everything that is going on I completely forgot about training. Ward is going to kill me." She says.
"No, he's not." Simmons assures "He told me to tell you that you have the morning off from training, but do not expect it again." She explains.
"That's strangely nice of him." Skye comments surprised.
"He's worried about you." Simmons informs Skye.
"How much does he know?" Skye asks not sure if she is ready for everyone to know something that is so new, something that she is still trying to comprehend.
"Neither he nor Fritz know what's going on." Simmons answers "They asked me but all I told them was that you were going through some personal things and they weren't to question you about it." She explains "But then last night at dinner Ward sort of demanded that Coulson and May tell him what is going on." Simmons explains almost hesitantly.
"Oh god, what happened?" Skye asks concerned.
"They both told him that he doesn't need to know and that if he needs to know he will." Simmons explains.
"Why would they say that?" Skye asks her lifelong fear of not being wanted showing itself once more "Are they ashamed that I'm their daughter? Do they not want anyone to know?" She asks.
"Skye calm down or you're going to give yourself another panic attack. Deep breaths remember." Simmons reminds Skye then watches as she takes those deep breaths before continuing "This is new for all of you and even you are nervous about the others finding out before you have a chance to talk so I'm sure it's the same for them. As new as this is for you it just as new for them."
"Right, your right. I'm getting myself worked up over nothing." Skye says putting on a careless face but not so deep down she is still nervous. "There was something I needed you to do for me." Skye remembers "There are some things I need so I was wondering if I make a list could you get the items for for me?"
"Of course I can." Simmons tells her.
"Good shower's free." Fitz says walking out into the common area of the plane as while there are two showers for the five agents to share, Coulson having his own bathroom, only one of the showers is really good.
"You take it." Skye tells Simmons. "I'll go next." She tells her.
"You sure? That means you have to compete with Ward." Simmons reminds her.
"Ward doesn't care which shower he uses when he's coming from a workout. Go, I don't mind." Skye tells her.
"Thanks." Jemma says standing up and racing over to her bunk to get her stuff.
"Skye up for weird breakfast cereal combination?" Fitz asks from the kitchen.
"Absolutely." Skye says standing up and heading over to the kitchen.
An hour later everyone is dressed, showed, has had breakfast and are standing in the common area waiting for Coulson to start talking to them. May is the last to arrive as she was re fuelling the plan.
"Ward, Fitzsimmons you have two hours to go and collect all the supplies that we need. Ward here is the list that has been up for the last week." Coulson says handing over the piece of paper, once May walked back in the room.
"Sir, what about Agent May, Skye and yourself? What will you be doing?" Ward asks.
"We will be staying here." Coulson explains "See you in two hours." He tells Fitz, Ward and Simmons, clearly giving a dismissal.
As she follows Ward and Fitz out Simmons turns to face Sky and mouths, "Relax", and "Breathe" at her, and Skye mouths "I will" back.
"So, um talk." Skye says hesitantly, not sure how to start the conversation.
"I've got to collect something from upstairs first, so I'll see you both at the couches in a couple of minutes." Coulson says before climbing up the stairs.
"What does he need to get?" Skye asks May feeling like she would know.
"Knowing him, it could be anything." May answers truthfully.
"Really?" Skye asks amused as they reach the couches Skye sitting down on one of the single chairs why May sits on the couch.
"Really. You've seen his collection of things in his office?" May asks and Skye nods "He has a lot more. But my guess is that he wants to show you pictures from those three months we had with you." May explains.
"He was telling me about that yesterday." Skye remembers "Told me that you both got a lot of copies made of the picture you had."
"Yeah, we did." May confirms.
"So with you guys once being married and all I've got to know; have you ever gotten to drive Lola?" Skye asks curious.
"No. No one besides Phil gets to drive that thing." Melinda tells her.
"How many times do I have to tell you that Lola isn't a thing?" Coulson says walking down the stairs, carrying a small box.
"How many times do I have to tell you that it's just a car?" Melinda shots back.
"Melinda's never liked Lola much." Coulson explains to Skye as he places the box he brought down on the table and sits down next to Melinda.
"How can you not like Lola? She's awesome." Skye says surprised and Coulson has a huge grin on his face.
"Don't gloat." Melinda tells Coulson knowing exactly what he is thinking, more specifically what he is remembering, "I will admit that the special features that the car has can be useful but I do not understand your obsession with it."
"I'm not obsessed." Coulson objects.
"Yes, you are." Melinda responds as Skye just watches her newly found parents with a smile on her face liking that she gets to see the sides of them both that they don't show when they are around other people.
"You must have questions." Coulson says to Skye knowing form experience that the conversation about whether or not he is obsessed with Lola can go on for a long time and wanting to end it before it gets to that point.
"Yeah, I do. I have a lot of them." Skye admits.
"What do you want to know?" May asks.
Skye thinks for a minute trying to decide which of the many questions she should ask "Did you ever find the people who took me?" She asks curious.
"We found out the people who were behind it but not the exact people who took you." Coulson answers "We broke down the entire operation, but there was no sign on you. As far as we could tell you were once kept in Malaysia, but how you got from there to a village in China, I don't know. After Malaysia we had no idea where you were taken or what happened to you." Coulson explains.
Skye nods and tries to decide what her next question should be "Did you ever think about giving up? Just not looking for me anymore?" She asks not looking at either of them.
"I never gave up, I never even considered it." Melinda says and at her voice Skye looks up at her "There were times when I wondered if I was ever going to find you but I never gave up. No matter how many years past I still kept attempting to come up with different ways to try and find you." May explains.
"It was the same for me." Coulson adds.
"Really?' Skye as a tear coming to her eye as she thinks of how much they must have done to try and find her.
"Really." Coulson and May confirm.
"How about we look at the pictures?" Coulson suggests after a few minutes of silence.
"Yeah, that sounds good." Skye says, wiping her tears away "But hang on a second." Skye says getting up and going into her bunk to collect her own small box. "It's not much but it's just a few things I've held onto over the years. Some School reports, a few pictures and some other things. I thought maybe you would like to have a look." She says when she walks back out and places her box onto the table.
"Can I?" Skye asks referring to the picture box.
"Of course." May tells her. "And thank you. We would love to."
Skye sits cross legged on the chair as she starts to go through the pictures. "Is this what was my room?" Sky asks showing Melinda and Coulson the picture she is looking at.
"Yes, we had just finished decorating it." Melinda tells her "There should be a picture in there somewhere of Coulson covered in paint from when he fell into the paint toft and then had a can of paint fall over him. If there's not I have several copies, and I'll show you one." Melinda tells her.
"You fell in a paint toft?" Skye asks clearly amused "I've got to see this."
"Thank you for that." Coulson tells May "A suspension form?" He says confused pulling out the piece of paper "Why would you keep that?"
"I was ten and this bully was picking on the only person who was nice to me so I punched him. It was a bit of a proud moment for me." Skye explains.
"Was it a good punch?" Melinda asks curious, though she doesn't like the sound of "Only person who was nice to me."
"Melinda." Coulson says though not exactly surprised by his ex-wife's reaction.
"Yep, I broke his nose." Skye answers with a proud smile. "Most of the pictures are of just us." Skye observes "Don't either of you have any other family?" Skye asks curious as she flips through the photos.
"Not anymore." Coulson answers "My father died when I was seven, my mother the year I entered the Academy." Coulson explains.
"I'm sorry." Skye tells Coulson not sure what else to say.
"I was raised by my grandparents. My parents died in a car accident when I very young, and my grandmother died when I was in high school. There should be a picture of my grandfather holding you though, he lost his battle with cancer eleven days after you were born." May explains.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring up painful memories for you." Skye tells them both.
"It's okay." Coulson assures her "We want you to ask questions, we want you to get to know us better, and we want to get to know you." He tells her.
"I want that too." Skye admits. "Oh, is this the picture you were talking about before?" She asks pulling out a picture of Coulson covered in paint.
"That would be the one." Melinda tells her.
"How did you even manage that?" Skye asks Coulson, clearly amused by the picture.
"I was painting your room and Melinda was downstairs." Coulson explains "I heard Melinda yell something but I wasn't sure exactly what she yelled so I panicked. I lost my footing and fell into the paint toft, as I did I knocked the ladder over which knocked the can of paint everywhere and all over me. I rushed downstairs only to find that Melinda's yell was asking if I ate the bag of salt and vinegar chips. She pulled out the camera and took that photo as soon as she saw me" Coulson explains and Skye laughs at the story.
"You kept the paper work from when you first got your van?" May asks once Skye finishes laughing, as she finds that paper work in Skye's box.
Skye nods in response "One thing you learn when you grow up in an Orphanage is that as soon as you're eighteen you're on your own, and if you were smart you made sure you were long before that." Skye explains "By the time I was thirteen I could hack almost anything, I could have easily just faked everything I needed to get myself a vehicle but I didn't want to, because whatever I brought was going to be my home and I wanted my home to actually be mine. I knew since I was fourteen that I wanted a van, I figured that that way I could travel the country and I wouldn't need anything so when I was sixteen I dropped out of high school and got a job. For two years I saved everything I got and I was finally able to afford to get a pretty good second hand van and have a bit of money to live okay for a while. Because no one knew what my birthday was they used the date I was left at the Orphanage as my birthday so a couple of months before that date, once I was sure I had enough money, I packed up the little that I had and I left. I stayed at a few places along the way but mostly I stayed in my van" Skye explains
"Skye.." Coulson begins to say but Skye cuts him off.
"It's okay, you don't have to say anything." Skye tells him before he has a chance "Is this your grandfather you were telling me about?" Skye asks May finding a picture of an elderly, clearly sick, man holding newborn her.
"Yeah that's him." Melinda answers, her like Coulson hating that their daughter had things so hard growing up. "And it's December the first." May reveals.
"What is?" Skye asks confused.
"Your birthday." Coulson answers "You were born, December the first 1988 at two fifty five in the afternoon."
"December the first." Skye says to herself quietly for the first time in her life knowing what her birthday is. As she doesn't want either Coulson or May to see the tear she has in her eye Skye looks down at the pictures and fights to keep it from falling.
For almost an hour Skye, Coulson and May look through their respective boxes. Skye questioning Melinda and Coulson about the different photo's, Melinda and Coulson asking Skye about the different items and stories behind them, Skye gives them stories but at the same time it is very clear that she isn't opening up completely.
"That's a video call coming in from Headquarters." Coulson says when all three of them hear the distinct sound of ringing throughout the plan "I'll get it. You both stay here." Coulson says getting up and heading into the command centre to answer the call.
"I grabbed this before Phil could see." May says handing Skye a picture "I wasn't sure if you were ready to talk to us about it, or if you even wanted either of us to see it."
"I forgot that was in there." Skye says surprised when she grabs the picture and puts it in her pocket "Thank you. You're right. I didn't want either of you to see it."
"What happened?" May asks clearly concerned.
"Bad guy, teenage stupid ideals about love." Skye explains feeling that after seeing that picture May deserves an explanation.
"Your boyfriend did that to you?" Melinda asks angry about what happened to her daughter and even angrier that she wasn't there to protect her, but after years of hiding her emotions she doesn't let Skye see that as she doesn't want Skye to think that she is angry at her.
"First love actually." Skye corrects "I was sixteen, he was nineteen. I knew he wasn't a good guy when we started to see eachother but I never thought he would hurt me." Skye explains "I was stupid. I should have known by then that people that you let in are what hurt you the most. That's why I put that picture in that box, to remind me of that. I didn't mean for you to see it." Skye explains.
"Skye..." May begins to say but like she did with Coulson earlier Skye cuts her off.
"You don't need to say anything, it's okay." Skye tells her repeating the words that she said to Coulson earlier.
"No its not." May tells her "The day you were born I promised you that I would always be there to protect you, that you would never be hurt and I wasn't there to keep it and I'm so sorry for that, more sorry than I can put into words. I'm your mother and I am so sorry that I failed you by letting you get taken from us, I'm sorry that you grew up the way you did, I'm sorry for all the bad things that have happened to you, and I'm sorry I've been so hard on you since you've been on the bus, but being hard on them is how I've learnt to protect people. As soon as I found out I was pregnant with you I knew that all I wanted was for you to be happy, healthy, safe and protected but you weren't, you never were, and that kills me. I'm guessing saying I'm sorry doesn't mean much to you and as much as I want to, I can't change what has happened, but I need you to know that if I could I would, and I will do my best to keep that promise now." May tells her daughter the mask she usually has in place being completely gone, the words not easy for her to say as opening up never is, but her need for Skye to know how she's feeling taking over everything else.
"I…" Skye begins to say a tear forming in her eye as even though she learnt a long time ago that words aren't always the truth she is positive that May's are, which scares her, but which also mean more than she could possibly say, so she doesn't say anything. She stands up and walks over to May and hugs her, a hug which May returns.
After ending his call with Headquarters Coulson walks back out into the couched area to see Melinda and Skye hugging. Melinda holding their daughter for the first time in almost twenty five years. He stands and watches the pair for a minute, not wanting to interrupt the moment when it is clear that neither of them want to let go. As he watches Coulson has a sad smile on his face, more happy that he can say about having his little girl back and all three of them being together again, but hating like he has every day since it happened that their girl was taken from them in the first place.
"Phil, what is it?" Melinda asks noticing him watching them "What did Headquarters want?" Melinda asks snapping Coulson out of his thoughts.
"There's a 0-8-4 they want us to investigate. An object was found in a dig and they want us to find out what it is." Coulson explains.
"Where?" Skye asks turning around to face her father, ending the hug with her mother.
"Israel." Coulson answers "I've sent the exact coordinates through to you." Coulson informs May.
"I'll call the others back." Skye says walking over her bunk to grab her phone but stopping at the chair she was sitting on where the box of photos are sitting "I didn't really get too look at all the photos, do you mind if I keep them for a little while?" She asks Coulson a nervousness clear in her voice "I promise I won't wreck them." She adds.
"They're yours to keep Skye." Coulson tells her "I went through all my pictures last night and put a copy of each one in that box, I thought that maybe you would like that." Coulson tells her.
"Thank you." Skye says walking quickly over to Coulson and giving him a hug which unlike the one she gave him a few weeks ago he actually returns.
"You're welcome." Coulson says as he returns the hug, this time it being Melinda's turn to watch with a sad smile thinking the exact same thing as Coulson was thinking only minutes earlier.
When Coulson and Skye break the hug a few minutes later Skye picks up her box of the table and heads into her bunk to call the others back to the bus while May and Coulson head into the Command Centre.
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