It's been a long time, I know!! But I've been sooo busy!! An excuse or a whiny attempt to explain that I've been a little off my game lately, I don't know. But it's up! So enjoy!!

~Skye's POV~

I woke up groggy, as if I hadn't gotten much sleep.

Oh wait! I was having illegal sex with my brother's best friend for half the night!

I rolled over with a groan, surprised to find Tony leaning up against the wall.

"Morning, sleeping beauty…"

I stuck my tongue out at him, grabbing the cup of coffee out of his hand.

"Hey!" he protested, but I had already started drinking it; it was hot and felt good in my throat.

Tony sighed,"I hope you like that; you owe me $4.98."

"You pay five dollars for coffee? There are free ones in the kitchen."

"I know, I like the good stuff."

"I'm sure you do."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What's what supposed to mean?"

"Don't play dumb, Skye."

"I'm not dumb."

"I never said you were."

"It was implied."

"Nothing was implied."

"Alright, cut it out, you two are giving me a headache!" Ziva said, walking through the door, "Mr. Ellis wants to see you in half an hour, Skye."

"Alright," I finished Tony's coffee and with a smirk, throwing the empty cup back to him.

.~.

I sat down in the familiar chair across from Ellis, in his familiar office. Everything was familiar, except for the fact that there were four NCIS agents standing by the door…

"You need to do a demonstration," he said, handing me a cup of coffee.

"What?! But they're here…"

"They might as well see what you can do."

I sighed, deciding it wasn't worth the fight, "With who?"

Please not Jace, please not Jace, please not Jace—

"With Jace, of course."

Fuck.

.~.

I suited up, wrapping my knuckles and putting on the traditional black fight uniform. I looked at the mirror in the locker room, pulling my hair into a pony tail. I sighed as one of my instructors popped his head into the door.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Ready as I'll ever be…"

.~.

A "demonstration" is where you fight another person on a stage in front of other people; not to say it isn't real, because it's pretty fucking real. Weapons aren't permitted, and you have to fight until one person is unconscious or one of the instructors stops you.

I thought about this as I advanced to the stage facing Jace, dressed in similar clothing.

I backed up slowly…

"Go."

He ran at me and I threw my fist, connecting painfully with his shoulder.

He staggered back," I guess that means you're still mad at me?" grinning boyishly, as he rubbed his shoulder.

I swung my leg at him and he caught my foot, twisting me in midair. I landed lightly on my other foot, throwing all my weight into the leg he was holding onto; he slid back into the wall, gasping for breath.

"You could say that," I answered.

.~.

Time passed quickly, fighting with Jace. We were both sweating and tired as hell, but neither of us would give up. I had gotten some pretty good punches in, and his face showed it, but I wasn't looking much better.

"Alright, that's enough. Go get cleaned up," one of our instructors said, and just like that we stopped everything, and left the stage.

"Can we talk?" Jace asked me.

I sent him a look that would've made any normal person take off running, but he just smirked and followed after me.

.~.

"You're hurting my feelings," Jace complained as I held a bandage to my lip, trying to stop the bleeding. I raised an eyebrow.

"You not talking to me."

"Hi! There, I talked to you."

"You don't have to be sarcastic with everything, you know."

"Oh really? That used to be something you just absolutely loved about me."

"Skye, can we just stop?"

I sighed, "Alright."

"Truce?"

"Truce."

I kissed his forehead.

~Tony's POV~

Sure, we had seen her fight from the video on her computer, but seeing her fight in the flesh was totally different. She and the boy she was fighting were incredible; I was even questioning my own chance against her…

"So we're leaving tomorrow?" Skye asked, sitting down on her bed.

I nodded, "Yeah, the director wants us back."

She looked like she was recalling memories of Director Shepard before we had left.

"So, what did Ellis tell you?" she questioned.

The tall, brown-haired man slapped the thick vanilla folder down in front of Gibbs.

'A copy of Skye's records' Mr. Ellis told us.

'Why give them to us?' Ziva asked.

'Because,' he looked like she had just insulted him, 'I want to be sure my best agent is safe.'

Was that all he thought of my baby sister? An… agent of some kind? I wasn't sure if Gibbs still wanted to go through with his plan of trying to get Skye to become close to one of us and then spilling; he didn't think interrogation was the best idea…

'And her personality?' Gibbs asked.

Mr. Ellis sat back down in his chair, 'She is bad tempered, absolutely fearless, unpredictable, strong, as loyal as it gets, though she does have trust issues. But if you do gain her trust, she'll be with you to the end.'

"Hello??" Skye waved a hand in front of my face, and I snapped back from the flashback.

"Oh, he just told us about you."

"Did he give you the folder?"

"Uhh—"

She chuckled, almost darkly, "You'll have fun with that…"

~Skye's POV~

I hugged my best friend tightly, looking back at the plane I was about to board that would take me back to D.C., away from him.

"I miss you already," I whispered.

"It won't be so bad," Jace told me as he looked deep into my eyes, trying as hard as he could to hide the pain in his voice.

I ran my fingers through his black hair, "I'm going to be gone a long time."

And just like that, he shut down.

"Take care of Harrison," he said, nodding toward the hamster cage McGee was carrying on the plane. Leave it up to Jace to remind me of one of my most painful memories, that just so happened to be deeply connected to that little hamster.

"You should get going."

I looked to see Gibbs waiting impatiently for me.

Jace held me for a moment longer, and then turned and walked away.

~McGee's POV~

"Go talk to her," Tony pushed me toward Skye.

"Tony, she's your sister!" I protested, but found myself making my way across the plane to where Skye was staring intently at her phone, tapping away. But if Gibbs' plan of one of us getting close to her was ever going to work, it might as well be me; I mean, sex is pretty close if you ask me…

I closed the door and she snapped her phone shut, looking questioningly at me.

This was the first time we'd talked since we'd had sex, and I didn't know if anything had changed.

"You do know I can find out what you were doing on there right now," I said sitting down next to her, but leaving space between us, still unsure of what I was doing.

She slid close to me, and I automatically put my arm around her.

"You'll have to get it first," she said, slipping her phone in her pocket, raising an eyebrow at me; a challenge.

"Maybe another time," I said, trying to be smooth.

She laughed, I didn't know if that meant it'd worked, or she thought the attempt was funny, but I didn't have much time to dwell on it, because at that moment she put her head on my shoulder, mumbling something into my shirt.

"What?" I asked, feeling stupid.

"Can I tell you a secret?" she mumbled miserably.

"Of course… Skye, what's wrong?"

She waited long enough to make me nervous, and I had just begun to doubt whether she was going to say anymore, when she answered, "Tim… I'm worried about…" she waited another long moment.

"Skye…?"

"Tony, because all I want is for him to be safe. Gibbs, because I know he wants to help me and I'm not giving him much to work with. And all of the rest of the team… Ziva, Abby, Ducky, Palmer… you… because I don't want to drag any of you into something you shouldn't be involved in."

Just then, I ached for answers, but I knew in my heart that this wasn't the time to force questions down her throat; it was a time to give comfort. And that was exactly what I did.

"I'll be here for you always."

"I know," she pulled her knees onto my lap, snuggling deeper into me, and I held her even tighter.

It was only when she fell asleep did I realize she had never said anything about being worried about herself.

I LOVE NCIS!!! Andd someone else, tho I can't work up the guts to tell him… is it too early??? Thank you all, for staying with me!!