"Jemma? Can we talk for a minute?" Jemma was pulled out of a book when her uncle knocked on her bedroom door and stuck his head in. She had finally started reading, but only to calm her nerves about spending the night with Skye. No, it wasn't like that. They were just going to be outside with the cattle. It wasn't supposed to be romantic at all, Jemma kept trying to tell herself. One of them was probably going to be asleep the whole time anyway.

"Sure." Jemma crossed her legs while sitting in the desk chair. Phil walked further inside the room and sat down on the bed. The springs squeaked and moved up and down for a moment before settling. Jemma was beginning to get anxious, she'd never seen such a serious expression on her goofy American uncle before.

"Skye told me you were going to watch the cattle with her tonight." He said seriously.

"That's correct." Jemma said. The pitch of her voice raised slightly. Did he have a problem with it? Jemma knew she shouldn't have taken advantage of the freedom Uncle Phil gave her. Her parents were always so strict, she should have seen it coming.

"I don't know if I'm comfortable with you going." He told her. Jemma knew there was something he wasn't telling her, his arms were crossed against his chest and he looked very, very concerned.

"I know you're hiding something from me and I'm betting it's about the cattle thieves." Jemma told him.

"I appreciate that you're looking out for my cattle and everything, but it's a little too dangerous for you." He told her.

"I'm not just looking out for your cattle, I'm looking out for Skye. Are you not? You didn't see her earlier this morning, she was exhausted. How can you let her do that to herself for you?" Jemma snapped at him. She covered her mouth with her hand, obviously regretting saying something in that tone of voice to an adult. Phil didn't seem to mind as much as her parents would have though. He treated her like a normal human being instead of a puppet.

"Obviously you're not going to listen to me unless I'm straightforward with you. I'm going to be completely, one hundred-percent honest and tell you that I think the thieves are going to make a go at my herd tonight. Sheriff May has been tracking their movements and it appears by the pattern that we're next." He explained. Jemma gasped. It was as bad as she thought, Skye really was going to go out there in the middle of the night to try and stop a group of thieves that have the manpower to steal an entire herd of cows.

"Why are you sending Skye out like that?!" Jemma asked furiously.

"We have the police on our side, but we could use as many people as we can get-"

"Then why are you trying to stop me from going?" Jemma interrupted. Visiting here obviously had a bad influence on her. If her parents could see her now. They would definitely regret sending her here. She didn't care about schoolwork, was back talking and interrupted superiors, and had already decided that she was going to add sneaking out to the list.

"As many people as we can get that can handle themselves in a situation like this." Coulson finished, ignoring her impoliteness. He could see why Jemma was worried. He was worried about Skye too, she was like the kid he never had. He had initially tried to convince Skye not to come, but she volunteered, and he didn't have power over her as he did Jemma, because Skye was emancipated. She made her own decisions.

"You're going to stay here tonight. You can keep one of the radios with you if you want to be informed, but you're not coming anywhere near." Phil ordered, handing Jemma a walkie-talkie. Jemma huffed. She knew there was nothing else she could say at this point to change his mind.

"Dinner's in the fridge. We're leaving in ten minutes." Phil told her. He stood up and left the room without another word.

Jemma moved to her window and stared outside at Skye, who was checking Calypso's saddle. Jemma's eyes landed on the rifle strapped to her back. Jemma was definitely not comfortable just waiting here if the situation called for a gun.

Skye caught sight of Jemma in the window and smiled sadly. Jemma didn't return it, she was too mad. She was a little angry that Skye told on her like that, but she was mostly mad that Skye was putting herself in danger for her uncle.

Skye saw Jemma's angry expression and quickly looked away, busying herself even though she was clearly all prepared.

No more than five minutes after Phil and Skye left on horseback with Sheriff May did Jemma slip on the boots and hat Skye gave her and slipped out of her room. She collected a few items that would be of use, like a flashlight, binoculars, and the walkie-talkie Phil gave her, and jogged to the barn underneath the setting sun that painted the sky a shade of red, almost like blood splattered across the clouds

Jemma had to admit that this was the most thrilling thing she'd ever done, and she knew that Fitz would never in a million years believe this story when she recounted it to him. Hopefully her parents would never find out.

She pulled Sunshine out of her stall and put on the saddle and bridle without supervision for the first time. Jemma saw it as a good sign that tonight was the first time she mounted the horse correctly without the aid of a stool.

Jemma ran a checklist in her head. She made sure her feet were in the stirrups and that the saddle wasn't loose before pressing her legs against Sunshine's sides and asking her to trot. She was still a little bouncy, but Skye had told her she had a naturally good seat and would get the hang of it in no time. Jemma itched to click her tongue and take off running after Skye, but she hadn't loped before without having Skye to cling to.

The path looked different when it was darker, but Jemma managed to find her way back to the top of the hill. She had expected to find Skye sitting in the grass there, but she was greeted by a family of crickets chirping.

Skye lied to her, Jemma realized. She was pissed, but also glad Skye cared enough to do something like that.

"They're closing in. How do I proceed?" Jemma heard Skye's voice crackle to life when she turned on the radio device.

"You don't. That's our job." Jemma dismounted Sunshine as she listened to Sheriff May's voice. "Just let me know if anything changes on the east." She answered. The east. Jemma brought the binoculars up to her face and looked to the side of the field that the sun was setting on, and sure enough, there was Skye, tucked away in the bushes.

She looked into the main part of the field, where something was obviously going on. A huge, semi-sized trailer was parked in the middle and many men were trying to round up the herd. Fire burned in Jemma's veins and she wondered if there was anything she was going to be able to do besides being a spectator from a height and warn them if she saw something they didn't.

"Hey, kid." She heard a gruff man's voice behind her and quickly shut off her radio to silence it. A man, presumably one of the thieves, was holding Sunshine's reins. Jemma was about to call for help, but a second man jumped Jemma from behind and clamped a hand over her mouth. She screamed and kicked, but it was no use. Jemma just hoped to god that they didn't turn on her walkie-talkie, or they would be hearing the plans to arrest them and they'd probably find Skye, Phil, May, and everyone else.

What the hell did she get herself into? Why couldn't she just listen to people?

Skye was waiting patiently, or as patiently as possible, for May to order action. She didn't like seeing those awful men herding Phil's cattle. Skye looked behind her to make sure Calypso was still safely tied to a tree and hidden out of sight from the main part of the field, and only looked back at the field when Phil spoke through the walkie-talkie.

"Is that Sunshine?" He asked. Skye's head whipped around. Skye was closer than everyone else and confirmed quietly over the radio that, yes, the horse one man was riding and herding cattle with was indeed Sunshine.

Jemma. Skye thought. When she saw a man dragging Jemma over to another man, who appeared to be the boss, by her forearm, Skye lost it. She didn't wait for May's orders and ran for Calypso.

Skye's next action caused chaos that would wake neighbors for miles around.

She charged onto the field on Calypso, yelling like a maniac and firing warning shots into the air. May's men jumped out from behind bushes and trees and started capturing as many of the theives as possible. It wasn't too difficult, they had the field surrounded anyway.

Skye could see one of the men escaping, but decided she needed to rescue Jemma more than she needed to catch the one guy.

Skye charged at the man holding Jemma captive and Calypso reared on Skye's command, thrashing his front hooves threateningly enough that the man released Jemma and made a run for it. Jemma lay on her back where the man had thrown her, staring up in awe at Skye.

Sunshine began to try and throw off her rider when she got spooked by the gunshot, and Skye had Calypso run over so she could grab her reins when the rider was finally flung to the ground, where handcuffs locked his wrists together courtesy of Sheriff May.

Skye pointed to Sunshine and Jemma mounted in a hurry, holding onto the horn of the saddle tightly when Sunshine took off running, following Skye like it was second nature, as Skye led Jemma away from the action.

Skye dismounted Calypso before they were even completely stopped at the top of the hill and her hat toppled off her head into the grass.

Jemma silently dismounted Sunshine and forced herself to look Skye in the eye.

"What the hell, Jemma?!" Skye yelled at her with so much force it felt like Skye had physically pushed her.

"I just-"

"What is wrong with you?! You could have been killed just there!" Skye continued to scream. Her face was turning red and she was pacing back and forth in front of Jemma, running her hand through her hair.

"I was trying to-"

"That was stupid! Stupid and irresponsible and dangerous and-"

"SKYE!" Jemma finally interrupted, grabbing her arm. Skye gave Jemma such a glare Jemma let go of her and took a step back. She could see how furious Skye was, but when Skye stopped yelling it was even worse. Tears were escaping Skye's eyes and Jemma had no idea what to do other than stand there like the idiot Skye was telling her she was.

Skye said nothing more. Jemma sort of knew the reason Skye was acting this way. She assumed it was the same feeling, but much more intense, Jemma had felt when Skye refused to go to sleep that morning and ended up getting kicked. Jemma knew Skye had been terrified Jemma was going to get hurt, and she was mad that Jemma put herself in such a situation.

When Skye was finally willing to try and make eye contact with Jemma, it only lasted a second before Skye had to look away. She couldn't even deal with the thought of what could have happened to Jemma and she was too pissed to even look at her.

Skye picked her hat out of the grass and leapt onto Calypso, riding off without waiting to see if Jemma was following. When Jemma finally stopped shaking, she slowly rode Sunshine back to the ranch, mentally preparing herself for what was going to happen next. She was in deep horse shit.