Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the final chapter. This is a little something extra as a thank you to everyone.

Reminder: Always Sit through the Credits

xxxxxx

Trip now stared blankly at the screen in front of him. He turned it off seconds earlier when it became highly likely that Tony Stark and Steve Rogers were about to do something in Lola that may result in their being shot and not with an ICER. The Director was not going to be happy.

Really, he should have never ever agreed to Skye's plan to spy on everyone just because she wanted to see if "mommy" and "daddy" would finally get together. He should know by now that there are some things you can't un-see. In the last 20 minutes, he has seen his Director make out with his new SO in the training room (thankfully they had the good sense to get a room before things went further) and discovered why his grandfather knew that Captain America wasn't that straight.

He shouldn't be surprised by either revelation. Of course grandpa found out via personal experience. It wasn't exactly something people talked about in the 40s and it was in the middle of a war. Stuff happened. Really he should have put the pieces together earlier.

Also, the May and Coulson rumors have been floating around SHIELD for nearly two decades. He heard them at the Academy. Allegedly, there had even been a betting pool at Headquarters before it blew up. With that much hype and history surrounding them, it was inevitable. He just wasn't expecting to see it firsthand.

Learning that Tony Stark may be Fitz's biological father hadn't fazed him. Neither did finding out that the people he'd once worked for had kept that information from father and son. That would be the least of their sins at this point. He could see old SHIELD trying to recruit a Stark kid because he would have to be easier to deal with than the original. (Obviously, Skye has not quite put all the clues together yet otherwise there would be two quasi-catatonic people in the room right now.)

No, the secret that has him nearly unable to function was discovering that his existence was caused by his mom being raped while in Hydra custody. In his mind, he knows it all happened just to install Alexander Pierce as head of SHIELD. Trip felt ill.

Somehow, Trip had always known that the circumstances around his conception had to be bad. Nobody talked about what happened when he was growing up. His mom went out of her way to make sure he knew that she never believed having him was a mistake, but… How could she have had him and not hate him? How could his Grandma Peggy stand to even look at him? How could they love him when he was brought into the world under such abhorrent circumstances? For such nefarious purposes?

"Do you want to break into the Bus's liquor supply?" Skye finally asked breaking through his mental fog. She placed a hand gently on his shoulder.

"My grandmother always said that alcohol doesn't help with something like this." Trip is not sure what would help, but it's not alcohol.

"But it couldn't hurt." Skye shrugged.

"I really don't want to pass by my grandfather's ex-boyfriend making out with my mom's childhood friend." That would just be too weird.

"Good point. That would just compound the reasons for going to the Bus."

"That's not why I'm upset. Growing up no one talked about my father. I just assumed he was some stupid kid that got my mom pregnant and ran away, not…" Trip didn't even know how to finish that sentence. Even his worst-case scenario didn't involve something like this. He just thought that the organization was being opportunistic by taking advantage of a bad situation. He should've known better. The file was level 10 for a reason. Sexual assault was one of those things that always bumped up the security clearance of the incident.

"How you came into the world doesn't matter." Skye wrapped an arm around him. "Who gives a fuck about the other contributor to your DNA? You grew up with a mom, grandmother, and a grandfather who loved you. You even have a very cool stepfather. I was shoveled around from home to home for my own protection. I always thought that there was something wrong with me. That no one loved me." He wanted to say something along the lines of that made you more susceptible to Hydra but he couldn't bring himself to say that. Skye was trying to make him feel better.

"Yes, but I don't see how…"

"They love you. They didn't care about anything else. The other stuff doesn't matter." Skye whispered.

"I'm not sure."

"It doesn't. Since our bosses are busy, do you want to watch movies again? I'll go grab Simmons." They try to include her in bonding activities whenever possible even if she declines more often than she accepts.

"That's a good idea, but just let her be. She's on the Bus." Actually, he's well aware that she's in Fitz's room playing with his sock monkey. He doesn't have the energy to take her away from that right now.

"Letting her be alone all the time is not for the best. I'll leave her a note in our room to come over when she gets back."

After placing a note on Jemma's bed, Skye entered his room with her laptop, movies, and ice cream. For being in hiding, Director Coulson made sure they have really good food. Although Trip suspects that May is responsible for the ice cream or maybe Agent Koenig.

Halfway through the third movie, they are interrupted by Skye's new friend.

"Ms. Skye, Dr. Stephanie Triplett is trying to contact you and Dr. Simmons. Would you like to speak with her now or shall I redirect the phone call to Dr. Simmons?"

"I'll go get Simmons. It could be something big and she will need support. I do not want a repeat of earlier." Trip didn't either.

"Actually, Ms. Skye …" By that point, Skye was already out of the room.

"You're going to have to speak up faster than that JARVIS. She's already on her way to find Simmons. Let me talk to my mom." Trip wants to talk to his mom and at the same time he doesn't. He's worried about Fitz. A change in his condition would be the only reason why his mom was trying to contact Simmons at 12:02 in the morning, especially since she just talked to the young scientist that morning. At the same time, he knows this is going to be an uncomfortable conversation. He wants to ask her why she kept everything from him. Trip may never be able to look at her the same way.

"How's my Little Chipmunk?" His mom said the moment she was connected. The way she said it put his mind at ease. If even at 27 he is still her 'Little Chipmunk', maybe what's Skye said was true. Maybe, it doesn't matter that his entire existence was manufactured by Hydra. Maybe it just gives him another reason to take them down.

"I'm okay mom." He's not but he doesn't want to go into that right now.

"So your friends with JARVIS now?" She asked half joking.

"Your old childhood friend visited us today or rather yesterday and dropped off some toys." He amended after remembering it was just after midnight.

"Tony knows where you are and he didn't bring me?" Okay, apparently Mom was now on a first name basis with Tony Stark. She was also not happy.

"Not the point Mom."

"I just want to know that my baby boy is okay." Normally he hates when his mom calls him 'baby boy', but it felt good this morning. His mom called him her baby boy because she loves him despite everything. His mom loves him.

"I think I may be able to come see you soon. We can meet up somewhere, maybe visit grandma." He said as a way to pacify her.

"Now, I know you're not alright. This morning you were saying the exact opposite. That it would be too dangerous. What's going on?" This is what happens when your mom is raised by spies. It is impossible to really hide anything from her. She figured out he wasn't heterosexual before he did.

"I found out…" There was going to be more to that sentence. He was going to tell her about the efforts being made to clear their names with branches of the government not embedded by family members, but he suddenly decided that it was better to get this conversation out of the way now. This way if this goes badly, he can always end the transmission, he justified to himself.

"Why didn't you tell me I was a product of you getting kidnapped and raped by Hydra agents?"

"I was never raped, at least not in the traditional - I don't think we should be having this conversation right now. How encrypted is this line?" Again, this is what happens when you are raised by spies. Just as he was going to make a snide comment to that effect, Skye ran back into his room with an envelope in her hand, but no Simmons.

"She's gone."

"What do you mean?" He asked worriedly.

"Simmons is gone and so are all of her things. She left this on her bed." Skye passes the envelope to him just as JARVIS interrupted.

"I tried to inform you before you left the room that Dr. Simmons is no longer at the Playground."

"Where is she?" Trip and Skye asked the AI simultaneously.

Xxxx

"I can't believe Director Agent kicked me out." Dr. Stark said being quite dramatic as he entered the access codes for his large house in the DC suburbs. That wasn't exactly what happened. The Director and doctor discussed her relocation to Stark Industries before he was 'asked' to leave the property. "We had to wait for an hour and a half at a McDonald's for my driver to come get us." That was her fault. Dr. Stark and Captain Roger's original travel plan would not work for three people plus luggage, even though she wasn't bringing a lot. To make matters worse, the only car rental had nothing available, even for a billionaire.

"In Director Coulson's defense, you did try to have sex in Lola." The scientist followed behind him. She had the misfortune of interrupting the couple while they were making use of Lola. "I'm surprised he allowed May to drive us to the McDonald's for pickup."

"It wouldn't be the first… I'm not explaining this to you. You're my new assistant. And as my new assistant you don't have to call him Director Coulson anymore. You get to call him Director Agent like the rest of us. And you can get me coffee. I need coffee. I have to call Pepper. Actually, I need something harder than coffee, but I need to be sober for that conversation." She wondered why he was so nervous; hiring her couldn't be that big of a problem.

"I'm not getting you coffee Dr. Stark. You'll never fall asleep otherwise. Also, I think it would be best if you wait until morning to contact Ms. Potts." She suggested.

"Pepper already sent me seven text messages because Maria Hill has a big mouth when it suits her. Also I traded three engineers, two biologists, a chemist, a therapist, and an arc reactor engine upgrade for the Bus for you. At the very least, you can stop calling me Dr. Stark. Only condescending assholes have to call me Dr. Stark, you don't qualify."

"It's ridiculous for me to call you Mr. Stark. You earned those doctorates." She replied.

"Do you want me to call you Dr. Simmons all the time?" She shook her head no. "Then you can call me Tony and then you can get coffee."

"I will get you your coffee after we call Pepper." Captain Rogers said walking into the house. "Where do you want Ms. Simmons' bags?"

"This is why I love you." Dr. Stark or rather Tony said before kissing his boyfriend squarely on the mouth. They were quite adorable together, but it made her heart ache just a little. "Because you refuse to actually stay with me in my bedroom, making it our bedroom, I guess for now we can put her in Rhodey's room. Bruce may be down in a couple of days and he will need the guest room. This just gives me another reason to get the remodeling work done on the bunker sooner."

"Bunker?" She questioned.

"Well, I guess you really can't call it that. It's larger than that term implies. I mean, there are living quarters for about 40 people and three labs, not to mention all the office space. According to Maria, it was the original SHIELD DC offices. Apparently, I lived on top of a SHIELD cube farm for most of my adolescence and had no idea. I just bought into the lie my dad had lots of friends who dropped by frequently."

"SHIELD office space?" She was still confused.

"Underneath the house there are about seven floors of infrastructure as well as a tunnel that leads all the way to 4 Mile Run and Reagan National."

"Sir, Dr. Triplett is trying to call you and Ms. Simmons."

"Put her through Jarvis." He rubbed his temple.

"Hi Tony, imagine my surprise when your AI tells me that Jemma is now living with you." The physician started.

"You know I always get the best talent. Stephanie, it's great that you're actually returning one of my calls. Even better, it took you under 27 years this time." The scientist quipped.

"I've apologized for that. I was in a bad place and I did try to call prior to that." Dr. Triplett said in her defense.

"I know after Afghanistan and I was a dick. I'm a dick a lot." Tony turns around to look at his boyfriend and tilts his head to the stairs.

"They will be on the phone for a while. Let me show you to your room." Captain Rogers says and grabs her bags again. She follows him to the second floor of the rather large house. The room which he escorts her to is not just a simple guest room, but rather a suite complete with a small kitchenette, walk-in closets, and sitting area. It was more like an upscale flat than a bedroom.

"I don't need to stay here. I can get a hotel room until I can find an apartment." Part of her reluctance was she didn't want to walk in on the couple again. The other part was she did not want to take advantage. She still had a few prepaid debit cards on her with enough cash to get by on until her first paycheck. In her line of work or she should say former work now, it always paid to be prepared. She was in the private sector now, mostly. She did agree to consult when the need arose.

"I don't think Tony completely explained everything to you during the drive back here." The Captain said setting her bags down. "You're a still wanted fugitive. The lawyers are trying to resolve things, but it may be a while yet."

"That's not good."

"It's better than it could be. Because of what happened with Colonel Talbot in Canada, Admiral Jolnes has just been named as the head of the counterespionage task force. Your team help save his life during the Cybertek incident." She doesn't mention that she was at the bottom of the ocean during the raid on Cybertek. She would prefer not to talk about that again today.

"In the meantime, you need to stay with us. That's part of the reason why you're going to be working for Tony, personally."

"I'm not actually going to be his secretary?" She asked remembering the coffee request from earlier. However, if it meant working with Tony Stark directly she probably would do it. Maybe they would be able to figure out the secrets of GH 325.

"No, you're going to be his assistant, his lab assistant. Although, you're probably going to have to do some scheduling or any other function that JARVIS cannot do." Captain Rogers explained.

"Like forcing him to leave on time for a meeting with Congress?" She asked.

"Exactly," he agreed with a wry smile.

"I can do that." She had to do those things with Fitz. Sometimes he wouldn't even eat without her. Of course, she hasn't been doing very well on that score herself lately.

"Steph, I had no idea that they were using Lola to listen in." Dr. Stark- Tony was saying as he walked into the room with phone in hand. JARVIS had evidently transferred the call from Dr. Triplett to the cordless from the speaker system. "I told Steve that stuff in confidence." Tony came to a complete standstill. "No, I did not use the word rape. You're the one who decided to…" Tony walks over and kisses his boyfriend while listening to Fitz's doctor. "I'm sorry. I was panicking about … Yes, please still do the DNA test. I want to make this up to you, I could bring you… you're right. You don't want to put him in danger unnecessarily. It's fine. We'll talk in 20, if we can find parking. My driver quit 15 minutes ago after being forced to drive to middle of nowhere West Virginia on a Friday night." He quickly ended the call.

"Why is Stephanie mad at you?" Capt. Rogers asked giving his boyfriend another quick peck.

"I put a camera inside of Lola and I think JARVIS likes Skye better than me."

"That doesn't answer my question Tony." The soldier looked annoyed.

Tony pointedly ignores Steve and turns to Jemma. "We need to get to GMUC. Your friend Leo just woke up."

To be continued in Hydra Lullaby

Summary: Did you really think Hydra gets all their best agents from dysfunctional homes of socialites or the SHIELD unemployment lines? The perfect Hydra soldier is not recruited or brainwashed, he or she is born. That's why Project Nursery was created and it is more than a relic of the 80s. If said child can be used to solidify Hydra's power or as a means to manipulate certain people into doing their bidding, all the better.

This is my spin on the 'Hydra created a child from Tony and/or Steve's DNA story. Although, with Hydra it's never that simple.