Conversation Hearts.
-o-
Incidentals.
-o-
"Hey, AC?"
A sigh preceded the "Yes, Skye?" He probably would never get used to that nickname, no matter how many times she used it.
She spoke around the piece of chocolate she had just popped into her mouth. "Not that I don't love getting my dinner out of vending machines, and not that the clothes that I'm wearing aren't some of my favorites, but-"
"We're all going to need real food and a change of clothes?" he finished for her, his eyes still trained on the few stars he could see above them.
It was starting to worry her, just a little bit. He'd been sitting in that chair, staring at the sky for more than an hour while she worked on the coding for a program she hadn't quite been able to perfect on her laptop. She knew that Fitz and Simmons were still sitting on the edge of the pool; she couldn't tell what they were talking about, but they had been sitting with their feet in the water discussing something in hushed tones for quite a while. Every so often an accented word would carry her way in the night air. Since she hadn't seen him since his second bag of chips, she figured Triplett had probably joined them. Either that, or despite his mentions of being on vacation, he was doing some sort of safety walk around the perimeter of the building to make sure they were all safe. He was like a friendly little guard dog, that one. She thought he was going to fit in with their renegade team pretty nicely.
"Yeah, exactly. I know you said we need to take some time and regroup, but… I think we might need to make a midnight run for some supplies. It's LA, something's bound to be open." Skye shrugged, saving her work, and closing her laptop with a click. She might not have had her toothbrush or a clean pair of underwear, but she had every piece of equipment she'd need for her computer in her bag. It hadn't occurred to her that she would be on the run after leaving Providence with Ward, and now she was regretting that.
Even the others had only managed to grab a few ICERs and random supplies while they were getting out and away from the Army guys that had boxed them in. May was the only one who had actually packed her own bag, and Skye was willing to bet that it was full of nothing but standard issue black SHIELD wear and a gun or two. Maybe a protein bar, but that was probably gone by now.
"Okay." Coulson gave another sigh, and Skye realized he didn't have a working car.
"I'm sorry about Lola."
"I don't want to talk about it right now."
-o-
May pulled her seatbelt into place and glanced in her rearview mirror.
"When you said we were making a supply run, I didn't think we were all going," she told Coulson flatly, but he knew her well enough to see the blink-and-you-miss-it twitch that indicated she was trying not to laugh at the antics going on in the back seat of the car her mother had loaned her.
Fitz was squeezed between Triplett and Simmons, trying and failing, to appear completely at ease as he explained to Trip exactly why he was wrong about some law of physics having to do with sound. Trip had stretched one arm around the younger man's shoulders in an effort to not be squashed flat against the door, and he was sipping from a bottle of water in his other hand, a wide grin on his face, like he was amped for a cross country road trip, more amused than annoyed by Fitz's speech. Simmons, practically on Fitz's lap to give Sky enough room, was chattering animatedly with Skye, recounting their dealing with Colonel Talbot and his men at Providence, and every time she would gesture with her hands, her right would fly back, nearly hitting Fitz in the face, but he was so caught up in his rant at Triplett that he didn't even notice. Skye was the only one not attempting to scrunch herself into a smaller space, eying Simmons with rapt attention, one of her knees draped over the other girl's legs, her arm around her back, wrist colliding with Triplett's every so often over the headrests. They didn't look like highly trained operatives for a clandestine organization that protected the world; they looked like a bunch of college kids gearing up for a Friday night kegger.
May had a feeling she was about to chaperone a highly entertaining, if not somewhat annoying, late night trip for "the incidentals," as Coulson had explained to her.
"It was Skye's idea. She's the only one who doesn't have a single change of clothing. Trip overheard us and said he was tired of using all his cash on the vending machine, so he wanted to grab some food. Simmons said she wanted to make sure we were getting the proper allotment of vitamins. Fitz wasn't about to stay there by himself." Coulson shrugged in a what-are-you-gonna-do fashion, opening his eyes wide in an attempt to apologize without actually saying anything.
May rolled her eyes. "You realize we're probably going to be in there half the night."
"Good thing we're taking a vacation then. You can sleep until six instead of five."
-o-
May pulled into a parking spot in the mostly deserted lot, but before she let anyone out of the car, she activated the child safety locks and turned in her seat to face the kids in the back. Without consulting Coulson, she eyed each of them in turn. "We are not going to be in here for more than one hour. Do you understand?"
They nodded mutely at her.
"Good. We're going to divide and conquer. Simmons and I will tackle groceries and toiletries. Skye, you and Coulson are in charge of clothing and related items." May gave Triplett and Fitz a wary glance before rolling her eyes to the ceiling and adding, "the boys are in charge of any defense and technological supplies we might need."
Coulson nodded his approval. "We'll meet at the front of the store in 45?" Another muted nod came from the back seat before they all began babbling over one another.
"Sir, I don't think you and Skye know my sizes," Fitz began, cheeks coloring.
"I'd really like to have input on the kinds of food I put in my body," Trip told them.
"Shouldn't I be the one worried about the tech since my laptop's all we have?" Skye wondered aloud.
"Does anyone have any allergies?" Simmons asked politely.
"I feel like we should have seen that coming," Coulson remarked to May while the four of them continued to voice their concerns over one another. May smirked at him, 'I told you so' written all over her face. He reached into the glove compartment and pulled out the owner's manual, ripping out the last four pages and handing it to the young agents in the back seat. "Anybody got a pen? A marker?" At the confused expressions he was getting, he added, "Eyeliner?" Skye produced an eyeliner pencil from her back pocket after some awkward wriggling. Simmons had a pen from the hotel in her hair that she unwound. Triplett patted down his jacket pockets until he found a red marker that he must have picked up on one of his last missions. Fitz shook his head, and Simmons rolled her eyes, handing him her pen. "Make a list of what you want. You've got five minutes, then we're getting out of the car."
-o-
"You've got everyone's sizes, correct?" Coulson asked as Skye threw a package of men's black athletic socks into the shopping cart between them.
"Yep." She eyed the next section of shelving with something akin to glee. "Do you think I should go with a regular plaid print for Fitz, or do you think he'd want something with monkeys on it?" She didn't stop to consider that maybe she shouldn't be having quite so much fun picking out underwear for the team. If this whole SHIELD thing didn't work out in the long run, maybe she'd be a personal shopper.
Coulson gave a quiet chuckle and tossed a package of undershirts in Triplett's size into the cart as well, then added another pack for himself.
"Monkeys it is," Skye answered her own question, grabbing another package off the shelf and adding it to the growing pile. She surveyed the contents of the cart with a satisfied nod. "On to women's wear?"
"Lead the way, Agent Skye."
-o-
Simmons eyed the list of ingredients in the body wash she was holding in her hands. She shook her head in disgust and put it back on the shelf. At May's raised eyebrow, she explained, "it's little more than perfume; there's no cleaning going on there. We're better off sticking with the sample sized bottles the motel has provided us with. Or dish detergent."
May reached around her, picked up the cleanser off the shelf and set it in the body of the cart. "We can't live off sample bottles forever, Simmons."
"Yes, but that's-" She stopped at the look on May's face. "Right. Okay." Jemma moved down the aisle, pulling a package of razors from the shelf without looking at it, then dropping it in the cart. They wandered down the rest of the aisles in relative silence, picking up two tubes of toothpaste, a pack of toothbrushes, various bottles of shampoo, and an industrial sized package of protein bars.
Simmons made a face at the pack of protein bars, but May told her, "you never know when we might be locked down somewhere without a way to get to real food. Everybody keeps a couple of these on them, they don't starve to death while hiding out in a cave somewhere."
"You think we could wind up hiding out in a cave somewhere?" Simmons asked incredulously as a girl who couldn't be more than sixteen skirted their presence. She lowered her voice and leaned closer to May, "that seems a little extreme."
"It's my job to consider the extremes," May explained, leading her to the next aisle.
Simmons and May exchanged a look as they came face to face with a wall of condoms.
"I don't think we'll be needing any of these," Simmons informed her primly, speed walking down the aisle. She flinched and spun on her heel when something landed in the cart, but when she glanced inside, she realized May had tossed a box of tampons in.
"If my math's right, you and Skye will be needing those in a couple of days," May deadpanned.
"Oh." The flush on her skin deepened.
"It's nothing to be embarrassed about, Simmons. You're a grown woman." May gave her a half smile as they made their way to the groceries.
"It's not that I'm embarrassed," Simmons told her quietly. "It hadn't even occurred to me. I don't even know what day it is."
"Tuesday."
"Right." Simmons rolled her eyes before she could stop herself. Of course May knew exactly what day it was. Her internal clock was probably never off by even a millisecond.
"It's alright. We've had a lot to deal with these last few days," May reminded her, one hand on the other girl's arm as they turned down another aisle.
-o-
"Do you have any idea why they would sell hunting gear at a store in the middle of Los Angeles?" Fitz asked Triplett. They had planted themselves in front of a glass case full of hunting rifles and bullets. He suspected the glass itself could be broken easily, kind of a flaw in their storage, really. "What are they hunting?"
"Not a clue." The salesperson stationed in this area of the store kept sending them suspicious looks. "We'd have to wait on a permit to get anything out of here," Tripp mused, turning his head to Fitz. "You got any ideas on other defensive measures?"
"Oh, you're asking my opinion?" Fitz feigned surprise. "You don't have an answer?"
Trip gave him a lazy smile, hands in his pockets. "You're the genius."
"Yes." Fitz smiled back at him. "Yes, I am."
Maybe this Triplett character wasn't so bad after all.
They wound up with a box of toy guns Fitz insisted he could modify to use the night-night rounds Triplett had managed to load one of their bags with on the way out of Providence and several knives just small enough that they didn't need permits to carry them. Triplett eyed a crossbow wistfully, but Fitz quickly steered him out of the sporting goods and into the electronics area to pick up additional flashdrives and a new external hard drive for Skye. Spotting a display of kids' walkie-talkies, he tossed three boxes of those in as well. He would be able to modify those to get them all on the same frequency over longer distances.
"What next?" Triplett wondered as he idly thumbed through a selection of DVDs.
"Arts and crafts," Fitz answered brusquely, taking charge of their shopping cart and wheeling them in another direction.
"Seriously?" Triplett trailed behind him.
"For an at home soldering kit, obviously." Fitz shook his head at the other man's tone. "Did you expect me to modify the toys with magic?"
"To be honest, you used parts from a jet engine to rig up spotlights of pure energy. I wouldn't be surprised if you could make a bomb out of silly string and a lamp."
"Well, that would just be ridiculous," Fitz muttered under his breath, but Triplett was rewarded with a big smile for his comment.
-o-
"Put it back," Coulson instructed solemnly.
"What? Why? We're at a motel with a pool. You can't expect us to not use the pool. It'll help us stay in shape." Sky dangled the garment in front of his face enthusiastically, and Coulson responded by looking at his watch. "Come on, AC!"
"This one's better." He picked up a modest one piece that looked like it was probably made for a teen girl training for the Olympics.
"This one's more fun," Skye shot back, the two piece on the hanger getting a swift shake for good measure. "Besides, how much would you pay to see Fitz's face if Simmons came out to the pool wearing this?"
"I think I'd pay more to see her face when you tried to get her to wear it," Coulson said with a smile. Simmons kept herself firmly layered and buttoned up. He was fairly certain that she would turn a very deep shade of red if Skye attempted to force a bright pink string bikini on her, and then likely stutter about research into Hydra being more important than a quick swim. Fitz wouldn't get to see her in it, and it would be a waste.
"Point taken," Skye sighed in defeat and put it back on the rack. She flicked through the jeans and tee shirts, pajamas and sweaters, undergarments and even gloves, that they had accumulated. "Sorry they don't sell suits, AC."
"I'll be alright." He loosened the tie he was wearing just a bit. "Ready to go meet the others up front?"
"Yep. I think we've got everything." Skye shuffled the torn pieces of paper in her hands. "I mean, Simmons and Fitz both wanted safety goggles, and Trip needs a new bulletproof vest, but I don't think we can pick those up here."
"Maria's promised to loan me a few things," Coulson reminded Skye. "I'm sure she'll send us a few vests. I don't know what those two think they're going to need safety goggles for."
"Can she get Talbot to send us the rest of our clothes?" she grumbled.
"I don't think Talbot's talking to her right now."
-o-
Simmons gently set a bunch of bananas into the cart, followed by a bag of apples and several bags of trail mix. May came back to her with a loaf of bread, a box of crackers, a box of plastic cutlery, and a jar of peanut butter. Simmons nodded and gestured for them to be added to the pile.
"We can't get anything that needs to be cooked or refrigerated, so I guess we'll just be ordering a lot of takeout?" Simmons mused as the other woman grabbed a case of bottled water from a display and slid it onto the bottom rack of their shopping cart.
"Fruit and nuts," May murmured. "I'm sure Triplett and Fitz will be thrilled with this."
"Fitz has a serious junk food habit, and I am not encouraging it," Simmons said hotly. "Did you know he actually keeps candy hidden in his bunk? What am I saying? Of course you do. You know everything that goes on."
May bit down on her tongue to keep from laughing. "This situation we're in, Simmons, a little junk food isn't going to hurt us." Having said that, she led her teammate to an aisle full of nothing but snacks and dropped bags of popcorn, M&Ms, and cheese curls into the cart.
"Do you have any idea how many chemicals are in these?" Simmons questioned, pulling the cheese curls from the cart. "I wouldn't even use these in the lab, much less encourage someone to ingest them." She placed them back on the shelf and grabbed a bag of regular old potato chips instead. "Better. Slightly." Simmons glanced down at her wrist, intent on checking the time before she remembered that she wasn't wearing a watch.
"Yeah, it's time for us to meet the others," May agreed. She waited a beat while they were walking before telling her, "You don't have to worry about him so much, you know. He's a good agent."
"I know he is," Simmons responded softly, "but none of us are really agents anymore, are we?" She didn't look at May as she added, "I can't help it. Worrying."
"I know."
-o-
Fitz and Triplett were the last ones to make it to the front of the store, where the others were currently going through their shopping carts and debating the usefulness of the items inside.
"You think it's a waste of money to get us all pajamas?" Skye was questioning May. "What d'you want us all to sleep in? I am not sleeping in my underwear if I'm sharing a room with-" She looked around at the assembled group, her eyes straying to the guys in particular. "Well, I don't know who I'm sharing a room with, so the pajamas stay."
"Why exactly do we need all of this?" Coulson's head was bent into Simmons and May's cart, and he emerged with an armful of makeup.
"Ooh, I like that color," Skye cut in, trying to snatch a container of blush from Coulson's hand, but he deftly moved it out of reach.
"Sir," Simmons began, "those are a necessity. May and I agreed."
"If we have to go undercover, it helps to get in character," May added.
"That's probably the only thing they're all going to agree on, isn't it?" Trip joked as Fitz chuckled. They were met with annoyed glares from all three women, so Fitz quickly busied himself with poking around in the cart with the food.
"Popcorn," he mumbled. "Excellent." He could feel Simmons glaring at him, but he pretended he didn't as he looked up and smiled at the group.
Coulson shook his head and made his way over to Triplett to flick through the items there. He nodded his head in approval at the walkie-talkies, but the confusion on his face was evident at the box of toy guns.
"Fitz said he can modify them to take the ICER rounds so we have a little bit more firepower," Triplett explained. "I don't really know how, but if anybody can do it, he can."
"Okay, looks good."
"It looks good? What do we need duct tape for?" Skye exclaimed, fishing out the extra large pack with three rolls of the silver sticky stuff.
"Don't knock the duct tape," Triplett said with a serious shake of his head.
"It's actually quite a useful tool in many situations," Simmons spoke at the same time.
"There are a lot of field applications," Coulson joined it.
Skye looked to May for support on this one, but the other woman surprised her when she agreed. "You never know when you might have to duct tape someone to the floor and torture them for information."
A woman pushing her baby in a stroller shot them an alarmed look and scurried away.
"Wow. That got dark really fast," Skye said. "We should probably get out of here before she reports us to security."
"Yep."
"Agreed."
"Let's go."
"That lane's open," Fitz gestured to the right.
-o-
Their cashier raised her eyebrows when she was told all three carts were going to be paid for by the man in the suit in front of her. He was accompanied by the strangest group of people she had ever seen. Well, at least the strangest group she'd seen on this shift.
"We work together. In town this week for a meeting," Coulson explained as Triplett and Fitz engaged in some sort of juvenile horseplay behind him with the action figures of Iron Man and The Hulk that were on display.
She nodded her head and smiled, but just kept scanning the merchandise without a word.
"Airline lost our luggage," May added, shooting a stern look at the boys who sheepishly returned the toys to their display.
Skye thumbed through a gossip magazine while Simmons read over her shoulder.
"Oh," Fitz snapped his fingers. "I forgot to ask, do you sell fireworks?"
"Not this time of year. Sorry." The girl shrugged, raising her eyebrows again as she scanned the assortment of knives and the toy guns.
"There's a themed presentation," May offered stoically while she bagged the items.
"What're you thinking, Fitz? Taking them apart to create handheld explosives?" Simmons asked, her eyes not leaving the pages of the magazine, forgetting that they were in line at a big box store where anyone could hear their conversation.
"Well-"
"They're just kidding," Coulson said loudly and sternly, effectively cutting off all talking. "Kids these days, you know?"
-o-
Triplett and Fitz pushed the carts out of the store ahead of them, Simmons and Skye following at a more leisurely pace, sharing the weight of a cart between the two of them.
"We're not taking them all out at one time like this ever again, are we?" Coulson asked.
"I will duct tape them to the beds in the motel rooms first," May deadpanned.
-o-
A/N: I don't think anyone can say they didn't think about the fact that the team couldn't have much of anything with them when they wound up laying low at that motel. I wrote bits and pieces of the team arguing about what they would need a couple weeks back, and it turned into this mess of a midnight supply run that was really fun to write. I needed some fun. Next chapter? Almost complete and not quite as light hearted. Hope you guys enjoyed this!
