Hey peeps! Sorry this is so freaking late! Life in college= crazy

But here's a nice long chapter for you all :)
And we are 4 followers away from the oneshot raffle! yay! :)

I would love any thoughts! Please leave a review! It only has to be a smiley face or just a "sup" to make me happy. Because I love hearing from you all!

Disclaimer: Still don't own stuff

Enjoy!

"No," Skye whimpered, clinging to Phil's leg. "No no no!" she sobbed, holding tight.

Coulson stared down at the tiny girl, watched the tears stream down her face.

Today was their eighth day together, and she'd made so much progress already. She was starting to smile all the time, and last night she had only had two nightmares instead of the usual three or four.

"Wow, she's attached," Garret commented, shifting his weight uneasily. "Don't worry, Phil. Kids love me. She'll be okay. But wow, you all seem to have bonded fast."

May was studying Garret carefully but Coulson was focused on Skye and Skye only.

A little while ago, she didn't know him, wouldn't even talk to him.

Now she was holding on to his leg crying because he was leaving for a night.

How did all this happen so fast?

Was it even possible?

Why did this five year old even want him there? She barely knew him.

But he cared.

And she knew he cared.

He might be the first one in a very long time to actually care about the little girl now clinging to his leg.

So maybe it did make sense she was sobbing.

Skye had been through so much. This probably felt like her world was being yanked out from underneath her once again.

Unsure what to do, Phil was a bit surprised when it was May who made the first move.

"Skye, listen to me."

One of May's usually battle ready hands was rubbing the little girl's back gently.

"May, don't leave!" Skye cried, transferring to May's arms.

"Skye. Listen to me." May's voice was stern and she stared Skye intensely in the eyes, dark brown burning into chocolate brown. "We are coming back. I promise. I need you to be strong for Phil and I when we're gone. Can you do that for me?"

"I don't want you to go," Skye cried, lip quivering.

"And we don't want to go. But sometimes we have to do things we don't want to. So I need you to be strong and good. Garret will take care of you."

May swiftly kissed Skye on the top of the head, grabbed her suitcase and walked stiffly out of the house.

Phil gave Skye a tight hug then carefully set her down, steeled himself, and followed May out the door, trying to ignore the quiet sounds of crying.

Skye eventually stopped crying, her sobs turning to pitiful hiccups.

She hugged her Elsa doll close and sat silently at the table, watching the man Phil and May had told her would take care of her.

She wanted Phil and May.

But May wanted her to be strong and good.

Skye would do that for May.

She was done crying. Because she knew that crying didn't do anything.

She remembered crying in that one horrible place. She had cried so much. But nobody had cared until there was the sound of loud bangs and a lady suddenly came running in and took her away from that terrible place and brought her to Phil and May.

Phil hugged her when she cried and May rubbed her back and whispered soothing words she didn't think Skye could actually hear.

But they weren't here.

Garret was.

Skye hugged Elsa even closer.

"Who's your friend, Skye?" Garret asked kindly, gesturing to Elsa.

Skye was silent, her huge eyes staring at him.

"Hmm. Maybe if I guess her name… is it Polly?"
Skye almost corrected him but stopped herself. Instead she stared down at the ground, examining his shoes. They were worn leather cowboy boots.

Something triggered in Skye's mind, but she didn't know what, it was buried in a haze. But it filled her with incredible unease and solidified her resolve not to engage the man at all. She wasn't going to talk to this man. She didn't know why, but she did not like him.

"How about I get us something to eat, huh? That'll get your mouth moving at least," Garret smiled but Skye's blank expression did not change.

Garret sighed and went into the kitchen.

Skye watched him go with little interest.

A sudden fear entered her mind.

What if May and Phil never came back?

Before being taken to the horrible place, Skye had lived with four families that she remembered.

Foster homes weren't permanent.

Tears filled Skye's eyes.

And then Garret came back and set a white plate with three apple slices lined up on it in front of her.

The images flashed back. She was back in the white room, curled up on the bed, trying to hide from everything.

"It isn't eating," someone said. "It refuses everything we give it. We could keep it hooked on an IV but that's a pain and we're still doing physical tests."

"Don't worry about the IV. I'll make it eat."

The door creaked open.

"Mary, come eat." The woman's voice was stern.

Skye curled up tighter on the bed.

"Listen to me!"

Skye found herself being yanked out of the bed. The woman in the white coat was carrying a white plate with three apple slices lined up on it. She pushed Skye onto a chair and placed the apples in front of her.

Skye shook her head violently, turning to hide her face.
She didn't want to eat, she just wanted to be away from this place. She didn't know what was happening, and she was so scared, and nobody cared that she was terrified and alone…

A sudden jolt of pain coursed through her system. After a moment it faded and Skye, tears leaking from her eyes, looked up to see the lady pointing a small metal tube at her.

"Didn't like that, did you?" she sneered. "Well unless you want another shock, eat the food we give you."

Skye was stubborn. She didn't like listening to directions.

So she slowly shook her head.

The next jolt of pain was longer.

"Eat." The lady ordered once Skye's eyes blinked back into focus.
This time, hand shaking so much she could barely pick up the apple slice, she did as she was told.

She was alone, all alone…

She slowly became aware of someone repeating her name over and over.

Garret.

He felt her touch her back and she sprung away as though she had been bitten, heart pounding frantically.

She was scared.

She was alone.

Garret tried to walk towards her but she backed away further. Elsa was laying on the floor next to her chair and she ran and got the doll. Then she went back for Anna for good measure.

She needed them both right now.

"Skye, please, calm down, I need you to take deep breaths, it's going to be okay. You're okay…" Garret was still trying to approach her, but she turned and ran, scared of him, clutching Anna and Elsa close, avoiding looking at him or those awful mysteriously familiar shoes.

She ran to Coulson's room and climbed into his large bed.

The tears streamed from her eyes as she curled up in the bed.

She wanted Phil and May.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"They knew we were coming." May lowered her gun and looked at the empty lab.

The makeshift laboratory housed in the large warehouse was empty. All that remained were the white walls and a couple machines and holding cells. Agents were already scanning the place down, but it was doubtful they would find anything of interest.

Centipede had known they were coming.

"Damn it." Coulson holstered his gun. "How could they have known?"

"Maybe hacked our systems?" Agent Graham reluctantly holstered her gun as well. She tossed her blonde ponytail over her shoulder. "Or…"

She didn't say it but they were all thinking it.

SHIELD had a leak.

"Was this a similar place to where you found Skye?" Coulson asked.

He and May had not uttered a word about the girl. To be honest, he was trying not to think about her.

Because being away from her, back out on the field; it felt like a different world. And he wasn't sure how to reconcile those worlds with each other.

But he couldn't keep it in any longer.

"Skye?" Agent Graham's eyebrows rose. They walked through the lab, looking into the empty rooms.

"She changed her name." May finally holstered her gun.

"Did she?" Graham seemed slightly amused. "And yes, we did. She was in a room similar to this one. Unharmed except mild laceration wounds around the wrists."

Coulson felt an unexpected stab in his chest at those words. He pushed away images that followed, but could not stop himself from thinking about the drawing Skye had made, of a girl on a table, held down by bands…

May's jaw clenched slightly, the only sign of emotion Coulson could detect from her.

"Say, I don't suppose you've noticed anything strange about her? Do you think she's human? We heard she was an 0-8-4…"

Something about the way the conversation was turning made Coulson strangely uneasy and even angry.

He just turned and left the room, pausing only to tell her

"That information is classified."

May was right on his heels.

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"Should we talk about this?" May stared at the road in front of them.

"About what?" Coulson glanced at her. "The fact that there may very well be a mole in SHIELD? Or about the lab? Or…"
"Skye." May stated.

"Oh."

They were silent for a moment.

"What about her?"
"We can keep on pretending this is just some mission or we can both admit that perhaps this has become something more," May's voice was even.

"So we care about her. What does it matter?" Coulson said stubbornly.

"It matters because we eventually be reassigned and will have to leave her. We have to do what's best for Skye. Maybe preparing her for us leaving…"

"Is that really what's going to be best for her?" Coulson's voice rose. "The girl has had no stability in her life whatsoever! I checked her record. She's been in seven foster homes! God damn it, the girl is only five years old!"

"This is what I'm talking about. You're getting emotionally attached; looking up facts from her past, trying to help her…"

"Don't give me any of that shit, about me getting attached, May. I've seen the way you look at her. I've seen you calm her down, whispering in her ear when she's crying. I know you destroyed the treadmill after we found out Skye had been tested on one. It's too late. We're both emotionally attached."

May was silent.

"What do we do?" she finally said, voice uncharacteristically uncertain.

Coulson shook his head.
"I don't know. Keep doing what we're doing and tackle the future when it comes?"
May didn't look pleased with the plan.

But neither could think of anything else.

There was the unspoken knowledge of what they should do, what they were trained and expected to do; emotionally remove themselves from the situation.

But neither voiced the option. Because to be honest, they no longer really considered that a possibility.

"I don't get what happened, Phil, I swear, kids usually love me. The little bastards are usually crawling all over me."

Phil almost laughed at the flustered face of Garret when he told her Skye had not said a word the entire time.

"You should have seen our first couple days with her." He paused to pick up a couple toys.

Really he just wanted Garret to get on with it so he could go see Skye. But someone had to debrief the man on the day and Garret was his friend. So May had gone upstairs to find Skye.

"Aw man, she totally melted down when I got her a snack. She was sobbing and shaking…"

"What did you give her?" Phil's head shot up and he stared at Garret.

"Just some apple slices…"
"Shit, Garret, didn't I write down not to give her those?!" Coulson was suddenly angry.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were joking, I mean, apple slices? Really?"

"What happened?" Coulson couldn't help the clipped nature of his voice. Garret seemed confused with his sudden anger.

"She shut down, I tried to calm her down, but she freaked out when I touched her. She grabbed her dolls and put herself into your room. I kept an eye on her but she obviously doesn't want anything to do with me. Other than that, things have been quiet. You have this place well rigged. It's secure as any safe house out there."

"She's here for a reason," Coulson tried to calm his irrational irritation with his friend. But suddenly all he wanted to do was find Skye and tell her she was okay and not to be scared…

"So, what went down at the lab?"

Coulson quickly relayed what had happened.

"Well shit." Garret looked just as troubled as Coulson felt. "Alright then, I'll leave you two to your job. Let me know if you can take a look at those encryptions I sent you the other day."

"Of course."

Garret left with one last easy smile. Coulson closed the door behind him with a relief that made him feel guilty.

"Is she okay?" he called up the stairs.

"We'll be down in a minute!" May called back.

Coulson sat down on the couch, absentmindedly looking through Skye's crayon drawings again.

He found a drawing of a woman with black hair dressed in black and apparently chopping a board in half. He grinned at the messy scrawl at the bottom of the page that spelled out MAY.

And then another drawing caught his eye.

He almost missed it, the paper peeking out from under another drawing.

His heart started pounding furiously as he slowly picked the paper up.

There in bold blood red crayon, was a drawing of a skull with tentacles.

The symbol of Hydra.

Dun dun dunnnnnnnnn

So Skye is safe... for now... *evil laugh*

Let me know what ya'll think! :)