Curious to know how come I joined Sitwell, Ward and Thor on a single chapter? Give it a read and you'll find out! ^_^ I know you'll especially love protective-kid-Grant.

(If makes people a little happier, I already have a written chapter in which the characters that pop up are a engineer-to-be and a biochemist-to-be)


Skye is 6-years-old


Help others

Coulson and Skye were on the way to a diner to meet with Jasper Sitwell. As the meeting place was relatively near the apartment, Coulson chose to walk there. Not to mention that the snowfall had been intense during the previous hours that obliged some roads to be closed down. As a result, there were many kids playing out in the street for as long as the weather allowed them to. Coulson had to pull Skye by the hand as she'd keep getting her feet stuck in the snow.

"Starting to regret your decision?" Coulson asked with a mocking tone.

"No," Skye huffed, freeing her feet from under the thick layer of snow.

"You could have stayed with the Lancasters, in the warmth of the house. I said this wouldn't take long, and I know you don't really like Jasper."

"Don't care," she mumbled, holding tightly to his hand.

Sitwell had an important favor to ask Coulson, and he could already tell that it would involve doing all the heavy lifting while Sitwell sat idly by, avoiding responsibility and work. Skye didn't like Sitwell at all, but she couldn't really elaborate much further on the whys. She never liked the way he looked, and the way talked and acted bothered her. But, if he was a friend of dad's, then he must have some good in him. Even though Coulson had offered her the chance to stay with the Lancaster couple, Skye didn't take it. She was tenacious and could endure Sitwell if it meant another opportunity to beg for a dog on their way to the diner.

"Tell me why I can't have a puppy!" Skye demanded as she walked hand in hand with Coulson.

"You just started first grade, Skye. You spend more time at school now, and I don't have time to properly take care of a dog. Besides, we live in an apartment; I don't know if we can even have a dog in our building."

"Mr. Tim lives in the apartment in front of us and he has a dog!"

"Alright, true that," Coulson had to give that to her, but he wasn't done. "But Mr. Tim is unemployed and has plenty of time to take care of his dog. Can you imagine us leaving the poor thing all alone in the apartment when we're not home?"

Skye shrugged and said, "I still want a puppy."

Coulson sighed. All he could think about was tracking down Natasha and Clint, killing them, choping them up into tiny little pieces and throwing them in the deep high seas. It was because of the two of them that Skye had been stubbornly asking for a dog. Planting that thought in her head was 'a little Christmas gift for the best SO ever', they later explained. A couple of days ago the two of them went over to Coulson's apartment to collect some important information for their mission that would be during the New Year. Before leaving, Clint, in a sweet and loving way, asked Skye if she had chosen a Christmas gift. As the girl replied that she hadn't made up her mind yet, Natasha slyly smirked and suggested that she ask Coulson for a puppy. It was Coulson's downfall ever since that day. Four days had gone by since the Strike Team Delta visited and Skye had already asked for a dog thirty-three times (he kept count).

"Ok, you want a puppy? I'll give you money to buy one." Coulson stopped and let go of Skye's hand. "How much money do you want?" The man knew he was doing foul play because Skye didn't know the real value of money.

"I want 20 dollars." Skye said grinning as if 20 dollars would suffice to buy a pet.

"Here," Coulson opened his wallet and gave her the money, "20 dollars for you to buy a dog. After we meet with Jasper I'll take you to a pet shop and you can buy a puppy."

Skye squeaked and put the money in the pocket of her coat. She held Coulson's hand again and didn't say anything else during the walk to the diner. Coulson bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. When they entered, the two walked to the table where Sitwell was sitting at.

"Hello there," Sitwell said with a smile, gently pinching one of Skye's cheeks. "How are you?"

Skye snorted and looked at her father, who was already taking a seat on the other side of the table. "Can I play outside?"

Coulson took a quick glance outside the window and saw a few children playing. He nodded his head, but warned, "Keep close by, Skye."

The girl nodded and walked out the door. The children that had been playing out in the street had left, running back to their house, which was something she found odd. Still, she shrugged, stuffed her hands into the pockets of her long coat, and started walking around leisurely. Dark clouds overshadowed the sky and loud thunder was heard. Coulson looked outside upon hearing the awful sound that seemed to rip the sky in two. Skye was alright, quite frightened by the sudden thunder, but she didn't display any uncontrollable panic that would seem enough to make him get up and bring her inside.

In Skye's case, curiosity was bigger than fear, so she started following the gigantic footprints she found in the snow. Suddenly she realized that she had walked rather far from the diner. She stopped once she found no more footprints. Louder thunder was heard, this time it seemed closer to her than before. She shook with the startle and felt the need to run back to her father. But she didn't. Skye saw this older boy, about ten or eleven-years-old, sitting on the snowy ground, back leaning against the bricked wall of an apartment building. At first Skye believed that the boy was feeling cold as he was wearing jeans, sneakers and a grey hoodie. She then realized he was shaking in fear as a loud roar was heard.

An enormous, feral grey monster with sharp teeth and claws and a giant spiked tail made the whole ground shake as it ran with long jumps. Skye was feeling scared and fascinated at the same time. When she looked at the snow, she noticed those were the same footprints she saw earlier.

"How dare thou to defy the son of Odin?"

A tall, burly, blond man swiftly passed Skye, running. She barely caught a glimpse of him, but he was odd, to speak mildly, wearing heavyset armor and a red cape, a hammer in his hand.

"Heimdall, now!" the blond man yelled as he ran back toward Skye.

The ground was shaking again and that enormous grey beast was coming in their direction. The boy that Skye had seen got up in a jump to get himself in front of her, but as he ran with such hurry, he knocked Skye to the ground, shielding her body with his. A golden ray came down from the sky and the burly man was gone along with the beast. Before their eyes they had just witnessed the son of Odin, Thor, chasing after a Frost Beast, and then the Bifrost opening and taking the two of them back to Jötunheim.

"What was that?" the boy puffed as he sat up, gazing at the quietness of DC as it was before those two visitors.

"That was …" Skye began, pausing as she sat up, "so cool!"

"You're kidding, right? Whatever that was could have killed us."

"I think it was Thor," the girl replied with a huge grin. "I've seen him in a Norse book that daddy has. Have you heard of him?"

"Uh, no." The boy frowned, getting up quickly. "This is city is nuts!" Skye laughed at his comment and that gave the boy enough time to look around the deserted street. "Are-are you here alone?"

"No, my dad is at the diner." She pointed in the general direction of the colorful building. "But he's talking with Jasper, and I don't like him." The boy nodded and shuffled his feet awkwardly. "And you? Are you alone?"

"Kind of. My parents sent me to spend the holydays with my grandparents, but the bus ride was long and I'm really hungry but I have no money! And I think I'm a little lost…"

Skye searched on her pocket and showed him the 20 dollars Coulson had given her earlier. "I can give you this. I was going to buy a puppy with it, but if you're hungry, you can take it."

"Thanks." The boy took the money with a chuckle and the two started making their way to the diner. "By the way, you were never going to buy a puppy with 20 dollars."

Once Skye and the boy entered the diner – Sitwell and Coulson now being its only occupants – Skye walked over to the counter and said, "Give us everything we can buy with 20 dollars."

The waitress looked over at Coulson, who gave her a small nod, allowing her to serve food and drinks to the two kids. The older one immediately moved to a booth, waiting on a meal. The kid wasn't hungry, he was starving.

"Look at that," Coulson commented to Skye, "you've made a friend."

"This is Grant. He was on his way to his grandparents' house but got hungry, so I gave him the money you gave me to buy the puppy so he could eat. And I think we saw Thor outside!"

"That's lovely, Skye." Coulson smiled; Skye had a wonderful imagination.

"See?" Sitwell said, resuming the conversation with Coulson. "Follow her example and help others in need."

"You're not in need, Jasper. You're asking me to do a two-day mission in Vegas in your place."

"I need to go somewhere else, Phil. This is hard on me too, asking you this, don't think otherwise."

"It's during Christmas, Jasper. I'm fine doing it, but Skye… She won't like the idea, and I can't blame her." The two men stared each other down. "Alright," Coulson hesitantly answered, giving in to Sitwell's pressure. "I'll ask her, but if she says no, I'm not doing your mission."

"Deal."

Coulson called Skye to come over to their table. She got on her knees on the cushioned seat and Coulson put his arm around her waist to help her sustain her balance. "Jasper asked dad to do a two-day mission in Vegas, but it's during Christmas. Are you okay with that?"

Skye frowned as she looked at Sitwell and frankly said, "He's a jerk, but…"

"But you don't mind if I have to go?"

"If you have to."

Coulson planted a kiss on her cheek and smiled, "I promise I will make it up to you once I come back."

"You'll get me a puppy?"

"I think your friend is feeling quite lonely over there." Coulson avoided the question by putting Skye on the floor and she walked over to sit next to Grant.

"I'll give you everything you need for the mission by tomorrow," Sitwell said with a despising victory smile on his face.

A couple of minutes later Coulson got up and walked over to Skye and Grant. "Come on son, we'll walk you over to your grandparents'."

"Thank you Sir, but I can go alone now," Grant politely answered.

Coulson patted his shoulder and said, "It wasn't a question, kid. Come on."

Grant got up and both Coulson and Skye walked the way to his grandparents' house and safely left him with the elderly couple. Coulson and Skye then rushed their pace to get home as snowflakes were starting to fall. Once they were at home, Coulson turned on the heating system while Skye climbed up his book shelf and brought down a Norse mythology book to prove to her father that she and Grant had seen Thor.

Coulson then pondered that he had to find someone to stay with Skye while he was out on the mission. He could call SHIELD and they'd get someone over rapidly, but he didn't want to do that. He didn't want to get Sitwell in trouble. And besides, he wanted two specific people to look after Skye.

"Romanoff," Coulson said as soon as the redheaded answered his call. "I was assigned a last minute mission and I want you to come over and look after Skye the 24th and 25th of this month."

"Uh, Sir," Natasha stuttered, "I can't… you know I can't… take care of children. We don't… mingle well."

"I want Barton to come too. You call him." And then he hung up.

Director Fury was pissed, demanding an explanation as to why Sitwell had taken a trip to Havana when he was supposed to work a mission in Vegas. But, if that whole situation went badly for Sitwell, Coulson couldn't complain. As he filled in his position for the mission and successfully completed it, Coulson was one step closer to a promotion to be level 7, while Sitwell's imminent career progression was put on hold. That obviously pleased and benefited Coulson.

Skye was also happy, waking up on the morning of the 26th to an excitable Labrador puppy jumping up onto her bed and her father grinning down at her. The little dog was all chocolate colored and so Skye named him Chip because he looked like a chocolate chip cookie and that was something she loved. Coulson was aware of the troubles that the dog would bring, but he had Skye clinging to his neck, completely ecstatic, thanking him for the dog endlessly, so he didn't really mind it.


So, yeah, leave me a review and enjoy this chapter really much. Next one will be a sad one and the story will change completely. Don't give up on me and my story after the next chapter. I'll surprise you with tenth chapter.