A/N: Sorry for the long wait guys, had massive writers block but here is a long ass chapter to make up for it! Please go read my new story which helped pull me out my writers block; Two Sides of the Same Coin.
Enjoy!
Operation Shadows
Chapter 10
Most of the team were in their bunks, sleeping soundlessly. May was up in the cockpit, supervising the flight to New York and Bobbi and Skye were curled up in Bobbi's bunk. Bobbi's head was resting on Skye chest as she held her mate tightly in her arms, slowly trailing her fingers up and down her arm. Skye had one arm resting lightly on Bobbi's and was using the other to run her hand softly through Bobbi's hair.
The two of them were lying on the bed, in content, waiting for the conversation to start. Skye had wanted to talk to Bobbi, but due to the recent lack of contact, they ended up just lying, tangled, together. She felt like she never wanted to talk about the issues that they've been having, wanting to just sweep it under the rug but it was impossible, it was constantly irritating her that Bobbi had slept with May and Coulson, the two adults that Skye trusted in her life to look after her, emotionally and/or physically. It had really felt like Bobbi slept with her parents and that was something Skye really did not want to think about, never mind talk about.
Bobbi was resting silently on Skye's chest, content to just listen to the other women's heartbeat. Skye had came to her, wanting to talk but the need to touch her had been overwhelming and the two of them ended up lying together on Bobbi's very small bed. She could hazard a guess as to what Skye wanted to talk about; the distrust that seems to be going on between the pack and Skye or the fact that she slept with May and Coulson when she hadn't even slept with Skye yet. Probably both, now that she thought about it. Skye would probably want to talk about the trust thing with her first, before she even went and talked to Natasha or May about it. If she was even planning on talking to them about it at all. Because if she wasn't going to, Bobbi was. Everyone in the pack was treating Skye like an outsider, and Bobbi knows she messed up when she sought comfort in Melinda instead of her own mate and, whilst her intentions were good, she still hurt Skye. A lot.
The first time that she was really aware of how much Skye was a part of this pack was just after she first joined, the nightmares had gone through the barely developed mental link and hit Bobbi full force and she lay there sharing the nightmares with the girl, it was probably the first hint that the two of them were going to be mates, but when it originally happen she had no idea and had simply vowed to protect the young wolf no matter what, of course that was still the idea but now there was more too it, they were mates.
Bobbi waited, deciding that it was best to let Skye talk first, to let it out of her system and let Bobbi know exactly what was going through her head. She could always check whenever they shifted, but she would rather use this as a show of trust, trust that her mate would confide in her whenever she messed up.
Skye gentle tugged on Bobbi's blonde locks, causing the older women to look up at the young wolf. Skye looked at her, her lips pursed in slight confusion, clearly trying to think of the best way to start the conversation.
"Maybe you should sit up" Skye suggested quietly, moving away from her to sit against the wall. Bobbi nodded and followed her example and sat at the end of the bed, holding a pillow in her lap as she waited for Skye to start.
Skye hesitated before opening her mouth "We need to talk...about...about the fact that you slept with May and Coulson. I feel as though if this was anyone else, I'd be a bit less, a bit...less irritated, I guess? I just, you went to them for comfort, not even just a hug or to talk or whatever, you went and used sex as a form of comfort and confided in them and you, well, it felt like you hated me. It felt like every motion or every time I spoke, it felt like I was just irritating you and that by being near you, I was making it worse. I felt really shit, really low and I, and I haven't felt like that in a long time Bobbi, it was a feeling I thought I had gotten rid of, to never feel like that again, yet...my own mate caused me to feel like that and I'm not sure how I feel about that, I'm at the point where I genuinely don't know if I actually want to be near you or if it's just the bond causing those feelings" Skye admitted quietly, looking down and mirror Bobbi's position and fidgeted with the edges of the pillow in her lap.
She pulled her bottom lip between her teeth anxiously and pulled the pillow up close towards her face, resisting the urge to just bury her face there and not look at Bobbi. She was scared as to how her mate would react to her feelings, to the fact that Skye wasn't sure if they were even a good match anymore.
Bobbi felt her heart break as she watched Skye seemingly fight the urge to hide herself form her, it hurt to think that Skye was unsure if she still wanted to romantically be with Bobbi, but it hurt more seeing her withdraw away from her, as if Bobbi was about to hurt her physically for what she said.
Bobbi had not felt this guilty in her entire life, not after her first kill, not after lying to her family about what she was doing with her life and how she barely had contact with them, not when she nearly kill the other recruit in a brutal hand-to-hand training session. It literally felt like her heart was tearing in two as her mate revealed how she felt and Bobbi had caused of if it. It didn't take much imagination to figure how low exactly Skye felt and Bobbi wanted to hurt herself for causing the girl so much pain. She resisted the urge to reach out and comfort Skye, she know that would probably either make thing worse or just not cause anything to get resolved. Bobbi tried to think of the right words to say, clearly a "sorry" would not instantly fix or sooth the pain that her actions caused. She had to prove to Skye just exactly how much she meant to Bobbi.
"I know what I did was wrong...I should have gone to you, I know that. I was just worried that, the anger I felt... that I would have wanted to use sex as an outlet and I didn't want to hurt you, to have you feel used like that. I thought that by having sex with May that I would be able to let out that anger safely, mutually without hurting you, then of course May brought Coulson in...apparently the staff brought back some memories but she still let me have sex with her then him, right off topic. I'm sorry Skye and I know that no amount of apologising will ever make up for what I did, so let me show you. Let me pamper you, meet your every need, treat you like a princess. Let me show you how much you mean to me and how no one can ever stand in your place. Let me show you that we can be a good match, we can start over, start platonically, whatever you need." Bobbi finished, grabbing Skye's hands at the end, pleading with her with all her might.
Skye sat in a slump as she listened to Bobbi. She understood completely and it made her feel worse for feeling the way she did. Bobbi had good intentions, but the outcome was just terrible and it would be hard to forgive her now that the feelings were out in the open. However, starting off as platonic soul mates sounded nice, she knew that many people start off as friends and try to put off the romantic part of their soulmate status for as long as they can and it helps strengthen their relationship, but she also knows that a lot of people just jump right into their relationship with their mate and their relationships turn out just as strong. It was merely down to character.
She felt Bobbi's eyes on her, waiting patiently for an answer that Skye was still deliberating on. On one hand, she has been enjoying intimate relationship that she has been having with Bobbi, and they would both feel the strain of change in their relationship but Skye was sure that they could cope easily with being platonic, although she wasn't sure what exactly would change, it's not like they've had sex yet, actually, Skye was sure the only thing they would stop doing was the fantastic make-out, groping, grinding, whatever you want to call it, sessions. Still, it would help a little if they could just pull back a bit.
"Alright" Skye finally said "We start over, no kissing, okay maybe cheek, no groping or anything like that. Just...friends... for now. Until things are better." Skye decided, glancing at Bobbi to see her reaction.
Bobbi smiled brightly, knowing that her immediate reaction would determine how exactly their new, tender relationship would go. She would have to show that she was excited for it, which she is, she's glad that Skye is not just ending everything and trying to stay away form her.
"Sounds fantastic" Bobbi said, only slightly lying. She resisted the urge to pull Skye into a hug, deciding it would be better to start with small touches and work her way back up. She gave the younger women's knee a squeeze for reassurance. Skye gave a watery smile back as she gently placed her hand over hers and gave a return squeeze and the two of them sat in silence, staring at each other as they began to fully understand the shift in their relationship.
It wasn't long until May woke everyone up in the morning, through the planes com's, telling them to prepare for landing. The team were landing at one of Stark's private airfields where they can leave the bus for the duration of their stay; which was apparently undetermined, according to Coulson. May had muttered in the passing that Coulson just wanted some time off whilst looking like he was doing work and this was the perfect opportunity to swindle at least two weeks of pretending to be hard at work and re-establishing S.H.I.E.L.D's relationship with the entire Avengers. Bobbi had thrown a smirk at the three younger agents as she told them to buckle up for a hell of a ride. Apparently Maria had been sent several times to try and "re-establish the relationship" only for Fury to phone and find her drunk off her ass, although she claimed many times that they did get work done and suspiciously, Fury would find piles of paperwork on the relationship on his desk the next morning.
Once they landed, Jemma became very antsy, unable to just stand still, which was very unusual for her. Fitz had taken it upon himself to try and ease his fellow scientist. Coulson was confused as to her behaviour before May leaned over and explained.
"You forgot that Clint is Jemma's mate, I don't think she's seen him in a few months"
"Oh." he stated and then proceeded to subtly speed the car up and before long they were riding up the lift towards the awaiting avengers.
"Sooo" Skye dragged "Do they know you're alive? Or are we going with the tactic of just appearing with that bottle of wine and going 'surprise! What do you know? I'm not dead!'" she questioned.
Coulson turned and gave her one of his dad smiles "Don't be ridiculous Skye, everyone knows except Thor, Rogers, Banner and Stark" he chuckled
The other agents snickers and May gave a twitch of her lips to show her amusement. Much like Simmons, May was very eager to meet up with Natasha, especially since they have Coulson back. It was going to be bliss. She placed her hand on his lower back, sliding it under his un-tucked shirt (this was him attempting to go casual) and enjoyed the slight hum the ran through her body. Coulson turned to smile at her and pulled her close.
"Coulson" She snapped, trying to pull away, she was still attempting to keep up a professional appearance in front of the other agents (despite them all knowing, but Coulson did not know so they all had to pretend that they did not know, when in actual fact they know quite a lot about what was going on between them.)
"Come on May, no need to be a stick in the mud. We all know what's going on between you two, you aren't exactly subtle. Messy hair, messy clothes and sneaking out of each others rooms like teenagers, sometimes with sex hair...kinda gross now that I think about it" Skye commented, scrunching up her nose at the thought of the two of them having sex.
"Skye" Coulson and May said simultaneously, frowning at her
"What?" She replied, looking innocent "it's true, and it also means that you can milk this not-a-vacation-but-totally-is thing that we are about to do, for all it's worth."
The two senior agents just sighed at the young women, before turning to face the doors of the lift as the quiet voice of JARVIS told them of their arrival at the floor.
"Here we go" Bobbi said, her hands twitching to grab Skye's. She looked at the other agents, Coulson looked positively ill before he schooled his faced as he caught Bobbi's eye "C'mon, it will be a laugh"
"I'm beginning to not like your definition of a laugh, Bobbi, you're starting to seem like someone who would sky dive without a parachute" Fitz commented.
Bobbi let out a hearty laugh as the doors opened, catching the attention of everyone inside. The team stepped out, following Coulson lead and had slightly sheepish expressions.
"Phil!" Pepper Potts sounded, a wide smile on her face as she walked briskly to meet them and quickly embraced the man, holding on tight to him. "It's good to see you alive and well" She joked as she pulled back, automatically taking the bottle of wine off of him.
"Good to see you too, it was a nightmare not being able to go on our monthly dinner dates" he teased back.
Pepper lead them all over to where the Avengers were sitting, most of them looking at them with their jaws slack as they couldn't believe what they are saying.
"Agent is alive. I don't believe it." Stark uttered, for once, speechless.
"You were dead" Steve stated quietly "we saw the photos; the cards...there was a hole in your chest"
Coulson gave Steve a tight smile "Mr Rogers, you'll soon come to learn that people at S.H.I.E.L.D don't tend to stay dead – too much paperwork to do to be dead" He joked, trying to lighten the mood between the two.
"Son of Coul!" Thor boomed, a knowing glint in his eye "It is good to see you alive again, my friend" he walked over and gave Phil a good thump on the back, causing his to stumble forward a bit with a tight smile.
The others snickered at Phil as he stumbled, quickly shutting up as he turned to frown at them. He coughed and straightened his jacket as he began to speak "I do believe introduction are in order; the two that are joint by the hip are Fitz and Simmons, then Skye, Bobbi and lastly May" he introduced.
"Fitz and Simmons also answer to FitzSimmons, Science Twins, nerds and a coupe of other geeky names." Skye teasingly added, throwing her hip against Simmons, who rolled her eyes in response.
"Nice to meet you all, I'm afraid to say we no longer ever need to introduce ourselves, it seems like everyone in the world knows us" Steve said, giving a false chuckle, obviously not comfortable with the idea of people knowing him before he knows them.
"Well, maybe you don't Cap', but Barton and myself are assassins, spies, we've managed to keep our true identify away from everyone outside of S.H.I.E.L.D" Natasha drawled, lazily walking over with Clint toward the group.
His eyes were on Simmons as he walked along side Natasha, his fingers twitching to touch his mate. It has been far too long since the two of them have been together, he thinks the last time either of them had any time to themselves was that small moment when Skye will still receiving her wolf injections. That was months ago. He wondered if he could get Jemma and whisk her to his room without anyone noticing, well, anyone that isn't a spy. By now Natasha has probably realised what he wants to do and is no doubt mocking him in her head, he'll get all that later.
He didn't care if Natasha teased him about Jemma, she was the one who got cranky and whiney whenever she was separated from Mel too long, and Phil, but Mel and Natasha were long able to get over the feeling of Phil not being around. Clint saw Natasha pause between the two groups, standing subtly closer to Mel and Phil, she wore he usual "I- know-everything" smirk that she held around their new team, not quite comfortable with them just yet, maybe comfortable enough to show them who her mates were. Maybe.
Deciding that Natasha could deal with everything by herself, Clint continued to walk subtly over to where Simmons had moved from standing next to Fitz, to hiding behind the rest of the pack. She smiled brightly as soon as she saw him and began to briskly walk over to him, her heart thumping in her chest as she shoved herself in his arms, her hands sliding under his shirt, settling on his chest, right above his heart and the other on his lower back and pressed her face into the crook of his neck, letting him hold the two of them together, tightly.
He pressed his face into her hair, breathing in the smell of her usual coconut smelling shampoo. He missed this smell, the weird, yet oddly enticing, smell of coconut mixed with chemicals and burning wood. He wasn't sure how she managed that, all he knew was that it was his most favourite smell in the world. He was vaguely aware of Natasha telling the others to "ignore the hormonal teenagers".
He moved his head back and gently titled her head up to meet his eyes. He smiled kindly at her, his face relaxed as he took in his mate. The constant, irritating hum that was under his skin was now humming in content, almost purring with every touch; it was pure bliss.
"Hey" he murmured, pressing their foreheads together "missed you"
Jemma chuckled lightly as she moved her hands to link together behind his neck "missed you too, eye of the hawk" she teased, threading her fingers into his hair, gently scrapping them at the bottom of his hair line. He let out a groan of appreciation and the two of them stood for several moments, basking in each others presence.
Jemma leaned up slightly and pressed a soft kiss to his lips, lingering only slightly to remind him what was to come later, in a more private setting. She could feel the eyes of the other occupants on her and she wanted to blush and duck her head, but she resisted the urge, instead she turned to face the others, never leaving Clint's grasp, and smiled politely at them, tightly gripping Clint around the waist, a sure sign that she was not going to leave his side for the remainder of their stay here.
"Alright then" Stark said "who knew the bird guy had a girlfriend"
"Wife, actually. She's my wife" He corrected him, grinning, pulling out a chain with a ring on it as Jemma copied his movements, looking a little sheepish. No one knew they got married, but apparently now was a good time to tell people. She really needed to work with him on what to share and what not to sure.
"What" was Skye response, her mouth open in shock "you're married and you never told me? I demand that you have a fake ceremony just so I can be a bridesmaid. I was counting on you to make me your bridesmaid at your wedding, why do you think I've been getting so close to you?" Skye teased, walking over to her friend and hugging her.
Simmons laughed at Skye's reaction and hugged her friend tightly "I'm sorry, we got married right before I joined Coulson's team; Clint was worried, mainly because for once it would be me that would be constantly away and occasionally visiting whilst he stayed at home, instead of the other way around" she joked, smiling lightly at Clint, who had the decency to look sheepish. He flashed her one of his famous grins in apology. She shook her head, smiling fondly, her eyes bright with happiness.
Skye studied her friends behaviour, she had never seen Simmons like this before, it was like a different person standing in front of her, it was amazing. Before Simmons always came across as shy, yet blunt due to her scientific nature, always research before anything else, yet here she was standing in front of her, looking at Clint as though she would give up everything she had, jus to be with him. Simmons held so much love for Clint.
"It must be hard" Skye thought aloud
"hm?" Simmons hummed, looking at Skye curiously, not quite understanding what she was going on about.
"It must be hard – not being able to be with Clint all the time, going months without seeing him, it must be difficult" she commented, not sure how she would feel if Bobbi to leave, despite the fact that they were just simply friends at the moment, they still felt the pull of the bond, the hum under their skins that begged to them to touch each, that screamed in anger whenever they were separated too long. She wondered how Simmons, and Clint, dealt with that.
Clint and Jemma smiled at Skye, both seeing her as the younger sister, much like the rest of the pack, and sadly knew that she would soon experience the long separation periods between Bobbi and herself. No one in the pack wanted anyone to actually experience it, but because of who they worked for, it was inevitable.
"It is difficult" Simmons admitted "especially at first. The first time I was separated from Clint, I was an utter wreck, I couldn't even do my work. I just stayed in bed for as long as Fitz and May let me" she finished with a chuckle.
"It does get easier, by the 3rd or 4th time I had to go on a long haul mission, it was a breeze. Well, now that that is answered, I'll leave you to re-kindle your relationship with the Avengers, Coulson. I'm away to re-kindle my relationship with Jemma. See you all tomorrow" he finished with a wink and a mischievous smirk. He quickly picked Jemma up bridal style and swopped in the elevator.
"Congrats on the sex!" Skye called after them, grinning as she hear Simmons yell her name in embarrassment.
"Skye" May reprimanded, a small smile on her lips causing it to loose its effect.
"I have no words" Steve muttered as he walked over to the bar, to pour himself a useless drink. Despite being unable to get drunk, he continues to do it anyway, just for the familiar burning feeling in the back of his throat, the familiar feelings that soothed many of his sorrows.
"Well Legolas is correct, we do have to sort things out, mainly the fact that you are alive and that everyone bar Rogers, Banner and myself, knew that" Stark bit out, joining Steve at the bar.
"To be fair, Pepper only found out about a week ago, right Pep?" Coulson said, looking over at his CEO friend.
"You still haven't earned the right to call me Pep, that's another three dinner dates away" she chastised him, walking over to embrace him in a friendly hug again, not quite believing that he was alive.
"Oh. My bad. I'll be sure to schedule them right away" he teased, going along with the joke.
"It's good to see you, nevertheless, and your cellist." She added, turning to May with a smile.
Skye glanced at May "you play the cello?" she questioned.
"Occasionally" May replied, facing Pepper and introducing herself with a small smile.
Skye blinked and turned away from the situation, she had no need to re-kindle a relationship with the Avengers, that was all Phil's thing, she was just along for the ride. Now, to make this experience so much more fun, she had to figure out a way of getting this damn nanny bracelet off. She could trick Stark into getting it off, or she could charm Bobbi into getting it off. Either way, this damn thing was coming off before the end of the week, no way was she going to waste one precious week of potential hacking and snooping in the Avengers tower.
But for now, she was going to just settle for snooping. She could always go interrupt Jemma and Clint, that would be a laugh. She was pretty sure she could hear them the now, just faintly, though if she were to put in actual effort into using her enhanced hearing, she was positive she would hear everything. Whilst that would be hot (and slightly weird, they were fast on their way to becoming her honoury siblings) ...it would also leave her very flustered with no way of treating it, at least not in a strangers home.
Letting out a small groan of annoyance, she walked away from the group slowly, looking around the room and getting ideas of where she should go exploring first.
"And where do you think you're going off to, young one?" came a soft, seductive voice, right at her ear, making her shudder.
"Natasha. It's very rude to use that voice, you know how it gets to us" Skye replied, turning to look at her smirking alpha. "besides, shouldn't you be keeping up the illusion of needing to re-kindle your relationship with Coulson?" she questioned.
"Well" Natasha drawled, grabbing Skye's arm and began leading her away "if you were paying attention, you would have known that we are going with the idea that Barton and myself already knew. So I'll be avoiding the men of the group for a while, so that they can blow of steam about not knowing about Coulson, to the man himself"
"Where are we going?" Skye asked, resisting the urge to pull away from Natasha.
"To talk" she replied simply "preferably somewhere where we can't hear Barton and Simmons going at it like a pair of rabbits"
"Good idea, as much as I find Clint and Jemma hot, hearing them have sex is something I want to avoid right now...I think I can faintly hear them the now. Gross" Skye shuddered, she was pretty sure she could hear the wet sounds, not that sex repulsed her, sometimes the sounds made her either burst out laughing or cringe.
Natasha casted her a weird look "you can hear them?" she questioned the younger girl.
Sky continued to follow Natasha, not thinking of anything of it "yeah, can't you?"
Natasha looked weirdly at Skye before shaking her head and lead her into her own study at the Avengers study. She guided the young women into one of the couch chairs.
"So what do you want to talk about?" Skye asked cautiously, everyone had been giving her sympathetic looks or looks of sorrow and she couldn't understand what was going on. She was positive that she hasn't done anything wrong, or at least, she hasn't done anything wrong to her knowledge, and she would have known if she had done something wrong.
She had a freakishly good memory, it wasn't something she shared because many people got freaked out at how easily Skye could recall something, it was useful when she was learning to code. Miles once said she could use her good memory to learn new languages; but she never saw the point. She thought she was never going to travel outside a prominently English speaking country. However, that all changed since she going S.H.I.E.L.D, maybe she should give it a go. Her memory was one of her many hidden talents. She wasn't exactly one for sharing anything with the team, despite the serum making her want to share everything with them, once she realised they were keeping things from her, she found it much easier to keep these secrets from them.
This freakishly good memory is why she is positive she hasn't done anything that could be considered wrong, but who knows, maybe she broke some unofficial rule that no one told her about. It wouldn't be the first time that that has happened.
"I want to talk about how you are being treated." Natasha said, taking a deep breath before continuing "It has...come to my attention, that we are not treating you like we should be, most of us often treating you like an outside, not properly telling you everything and letting you stumble and fall as you try to figure out what we have done to you and it is not fair on you. You're just a kid with too much on their plate without adding a shitty pack to it. So, I wanted to apologise, for how I, and the pack, have been treating you." she finished, meeting Skye's eyes.
Skye froze. Out of everything she was expecting, she was not expecting an apology for the distrust that was displayed towards her, the quick judgement of her character. She thought that it would be like pulling teeth to get an apology from them, but here Natasha was, giving an apology, seemingly without being prompted. It filled her with happiness that the pack was recognising that they had been treating her like shit.
"Maria and Sharon haven't been treating me like shit." Skye pointed out, making sure that Natasha knew she failed as an alpha. They've hurt her, now she's hurting Natasha by pointing out her shortcomings and that her beta was able to step up and do her job.
Natasha winced at Skye's accusation "Yeah I have no idea how you got so close to them, out of everyone who despises additions to the pack, it's generally Maria."
"Why?" Skye asked curiously
"Look, most of the time, we get to approve of who joins the wolf programme, especially Maria since she was the one who was last put in charge; she still is technically in charge of the programme, she just has someone verifying her decisions as well now: the head alpha. However, no one got a choice in whether or not you join the wolf programme, and certainty not what pack you joined. It's made several of us a little distrusting, it shouldn't have, but it did. We were curious as to why it was never run pasted us, we thought it might have been someone higher up, it wouldn't be the first time someone in the chain of command attempted to put their own man in the programme to find out exactly what it is. It's no excuse, of course. So we will try our best to make it up to you." Natasha finished, leaning forward and grabbing Skye's hands.
Skye sighed and pulled her hands back and placed them in her laps, she could feel the small pull at the back of her mind, the little voice (that sounded suspiciously like Natasha) pushing for her to outright forgive the leader of the pack. She shook her head, she wasn't going to let herself be a pushover like that. She has had enough people in her time walk all over her, hurt her and apologise to her, expecting her to forgive them only for them to do it all over again. Skye wasn't about to let it happen this time.
"Alright. You can start by telling me everything. Who the head alpha was, why I was actually introduced into this pack, what all the physical and mental effects of being in a pack are. Everything." Skye demanded, making sure to look Natasha in the eyes, a sign that she was serious about her request.
"Of course" Natasha replied smoothly "some of the information is best told somewhere more private, but I suppose I can tell you the bare minimum for the now... I just don't want to get started and then have to stop because of something, is that okay?"
Skye just nodded in response.
"Okay, the head alpha is Peggy Carter, the founder of S.H.I.E.L.D. Now, the Avengers do not know about our furry little problems, so therefore Steve Rogers certainty does not know that Peggy Carter is still alive. SHIELD has sent him running in circles when it comes to her, currently he think she is in some care home in New Jersey. We are under strict orders to never tell him the truth, unless Peggy says otherwise. Now, the head alpha is the reining alpha of all the packs, there is about 4 packs now, I think. I don't really interact with any other pack, minus Hand's pack, but thats only because our pack intertwine a lot. If Peggy gives you a command, and it conflicts/goes against a command I've given, you follow Peggy's command. If it were to ever come down to it, and you had to choice between Peggy and myself, always go for Peggy, kid. She'll be in the right and no doubt I'll be being a dick, as Maria so eloquently puts it.
As for why you were specifically asked to join, without any of us knowing previously, I honestly have no idea. You'll have to ask Peggy when you meet her, and no, I don't know when that is. Peggy tends to take a backburner when it comes to us. She believes that we can look after our packs ourselves, but does occasionally school us when we are wrong...like with you...she met me recently and basically kicked my ass and told me I was wrong in how I was dealing with you and told me to sort it out." Natasha explained
"Knew it" Skye mumbled.
"Sorry?"
"I said, I knew it. I knew it was weird that you all of a sudden decided to apologise to me...I suppose I should be happy that someone recognised what you were doing and made you stop...I thought Maria would, but she never did. Skye replied
"No, Maria did, but she's my Beta, I basically told her to shut up, that I knew what I was doing. Then she complained to Peggy. Peggy is very protective of Maria, ever since she joined SHIELD, even more so when it was discovered that Maria was Sharon's, Peggy grand daughter, soul mate. Peggy listens to her without question when it comes to me, probably because I fuck up more than the others when it comes to running a pack. So don't think the worst of Maria, it was my fault." Natasha explained carefully.
There was many things she was and there was many horrible acts she was willing to do, even to her own pack mates, but break a bond that had been created between two of them when the other was viewed as an outcast? No, that would be the worst thing Natasha could do for Skye, strengthening that bond between them would be the best thing. Maybe she should send Maria a text and tell her to come over whilst Coulson and his team were visiting.
"Oh. Okay...surprisingly that makes me feel better...than Maria really was watching out for me." Skye said softly, looking down as a small smile made its way onto her face. It warmed her heart to know that Maria was looking out for her and had her best interests at heart.
Natasha watched Skye's reaction with a heavy heart, it should be Natasha that was getting that reaction out Skye, not Maria. Natasha would have been happy if it was Mel that Skye was attaching herself to as most of the pack seemed to attach themselves to either Mel or herself, but never to Maria. It was a first...and it was a true sign that Natasha had failed Skye.
"Come sit over here, Skye" Natasha asked faintly, not really expecting the girl to come to her, but it was worth a shot asking. She watched with morbid interest as Skye seemed to tense up and move to her stiffly and sat down next to Natasha.
Natasha frowned slightly, that wasn't normal. She didn't give a command to Skye, she was merely asking; yet the girl acted like it was a command. She really hoped this wasn't a side effect of the packs attitude, being cast out of pack generally had negative effects on the poor wolf but never has there been a wolf who was never properly accepted into a pack without being cast out. It could very well be a side effect, but to be more submissive? Potentially it could very well be a survival instinct within the wolf, the more submissive she were to the alpha, the less likely that she will be casted out the pack. She will have to have a chat with Peggy and the other alpha's about this, because if this really was a side effect, then they all needed to learn from Natasha's mistake.
"Sorry Skye, that wasn't supposed to be a command...guess it just slips sometimes" Natasha said, forcing out an awkward laugh.
Skye just gave her a small smile and shrugged her shoulders in response, causing Natasha to sigh. She wrapped one arm around Skye and pulled her close to her, so that she could hold Skye against her.
"Is this okay?"she murmured to the younger girl.
"Very much so" Skye whispered back, shifting around until she was lying comfortably against Natasha, it was a great feeling. "I guess the feeling of elation is a mental side effect of the wolf serum then, huh?" Skye asked, gripping Natasha tightly.
Their conversation had taken on a hushed tone as they began to ask and answer questions "yeah, it's part of the mental link, you will generally feel happy, content and safe when around the alpha or beta or even the alpha's mate. It's been seen that the emotions that you feel when with the alpha, or beta I suppose, is a replication of the ones you feel with you are with your soulmate, once you complete the bond of course." Natasha explained, slowly running her hand through Skye's hair.
"Well this definitely feels like I'm with Bobbi, something just slightly different about this though, I'm not sure what." Skye mumbled, nuzzling further against Natasha.
"You alright there?" Nat questioned
"I can still hear Jemma and Clint during this heart to heart. They are currently doing some kinky stuff." Skye explained, pressing one side of her head against Natasha's shoulder.
Natasha gently ran her finger along the shell of Skye's ear, causing a shudder, thoughtfully. "Great pair of ears you got there. Did you always have good hearing?" Natasha asked
"Mhm, kind of, maybe just slightly above average hearing before? But now it feels like I can hear everything in a building. It sucks when I go outside, I have to just try and focus on someone so that I don't get too over-whelmed." Skye mumbled, revelling in the feeling of being in Natasha's arms.
"Hmm, well another side effect of the serum is that it enhances a physical aspect of us. For Clint, his eyes were freakishly good beforehand but now? You should see the distance between him and a target sometimes. It's fantastic. Mel and myself have found ourselves more flexible, agile. It's easier for us to transform between our wolf and our human bodies. Fitz and Simmons found that their brain's processing speed had sped up, and after that, we struggle to get them out the lab some days. It seems that one of your physical enhancement is that your hearing has increased. That's interesting. I wonder if anything else will change about you physically." Natasha mused. "So how are things between you and Bobbi?" she enquired, noticing the distance between the two soul mates.
"We're on a break" Skye said
"Care to elaborate?" Natasha inquired
"Well- no...no...no, not really." Skye stuttered out, seemingly fighting something. Her wolf must have registered that as a command. She really needs to speak to Peggy soon, and be careful with how she phrases things around Skye until they get this sorted.
"Okay, you want to stay here for a bit? Or do you want to go downstairs and get to know the avengers more, maybe challenge Stark to a hack off or something?" Natasha said, teasing Skye lightly.
Skye held up her arm "I can't" she replied miserably.
Natasha gently took Skye's arm and looked carefully at the bracelet, eyeing it with suspicion, before her eyes lit up "oh I know how to deal with this, 'disengage bracelet; command level 8; widow" Natasha said, speaking clearly into the bracelet.
Skye sat up and watched as the bracelet open easily. "You've got to be kidding me?! 'Disengage bracelet?' that's all I had to say?"
"Well no, that's all Coulson had to say. I had to put in my clearance level and part of my password to get it off you. We will put a fake one on for the now and I'll keep Coulson busy whilst you have your fun with Stark, how does that sound?" Natasha asked, sitting up properly, still holding Skye against her as the women contemplated her suggestion.
Skye stood and held out a hand to Natasha "Sounds like a plan."
"Excellent" Natasha grinned as she led the way downstairs, grabbing the fake bracelet out from a drawer.
"This doesn't mean I've forgiven you, by the way, but it is a step closer" Skye informed her. Natasha simply nodded.
"I didn't expect you to forgive me, or the pack, right away." Natasha replied as she led them out to meet the others, firing a quick text to Maria to tell her to come over. "Don't forget, our talk is not over. We still have a lot of things to discuss but right now, I'd rather have you socialising with everyone."
Skye snorted "You're acting like I'm a recluse"
"You lived in a van." Natasha deadpanned.
"Willingly! I willingly lived in a van, besides, I had a boyfriend and I socialised" Skye protested as they walked into the elevator
"You socialised with other weird social recluses" Natasha retorted, smiling as they made their way downstairs.
"pft, whatever, my group of hacker recluses were lame anyways, I'm about to hangout with superheroes! That include the worlds second best hacker!" Skye exclaimed, grinning at Natasha
"Oh? And who is the worlds best hacker then?" Natasha teased, knowing fine well what Skye's answer was going to be.
"Me, of course!" Skye said, walking out of the lift, laughing.
"You, of course, what?" came Stark's voice.
Skye turned to him, a predators grin on her face, her teeth gleaming against the light "I was just telling Natasha how you were the worlds second best hacker and that I am clearly the best hacker." she replied, teasing him lightly.
Stark raised an eyebrow and Steve seemed to choke on his coffee and Bruce outright laughed.
"Is that a challenge, young agent?" Stark challenge, smirking at the girl as he reached for his laptop.
"It is, old man" Skye taunted "well... it would be if I knew where my laptop was." she said, turning to look at Coulson.
"You have your bracelet on, I'm not taking it off just because you got gutsy and challenge Stark" he replied, eyebrow raised.
"Aww, c'mon Coulson, wouldn't you just love to see him knocked down a few pegs?" Skye whinned
"No."
"May!" Skye complained, turning to the other women, who simply raised and eyebrow and shook her head.
"But-"
"Leave it Skye." May said, cutting her off. The older women's eyes shifted quickly to Natasha and back and Skye got the message. She walked over to one of the many couches and lazily sat down.
"Just you wait Stark, a week or however Coulson decides to keep this, and I'll be kicking your ass!" Skye threatened, leaning back and burst out laughing.
Bobbi, who Skye conveniently sat next to, rolled her eyes at the childish behaviour that Skye was showing. She went to grab Skye and hold her tight, but quickly pulled her hand back into her lap, reminding herself that that just wasn't their relationship anymore.
'You know it's totally your own fault' Bobbi hears Natasha
'Yes, yes, I know, I'm working on it. Just like your working on your relationship with Skye, that you've totally fucked' Bobbi snarked. Mental links sucked 'Also, stay out of my head' she demanded, not liking it when Natasha did the whole mental link when they were in their human forms.
'Don't snap at me because you failed in your own relationship' Natasha growled at her, a small growl actually escaping her lips.
Steve turned to give Natasha a weird look, but she wasn't even looking at him, she was staring intently at one of the new agents,the blonde one...Bobbi, who was glaring at Natasha and then the most absurd thing happened, well if anyone were to ask him, Bobbi let out the most animalistic snarl he ever heard from a human...he wasn't even sure if humans could make that sound. He frown as he saw Natasha outright glare at the women, her lips moving as he
heard a soft;
"Do that again, Barbra Morse and I'll rip each strand of your hair out of your head before twisting your neck. Understand?"
The blonde women seemed to deflate after that, sitting back in the couch, her eyes adverted from everyone in the room. The room suddenly seemed to be filled with tension, the brunet, Skye, sitting next to Bobbi placed her had on the women's arm, squeezing it tightly in what seemed like comfort. Coulson friend, May, had her lips pursed as her eyes flicked between Natasha and Bobbi.
Everyone else seemed to be unaware of the tension as they continued talking and laughing. Steve just frowned. Something wasn't right and he was going to find out what and how he could only barely hear the conversation with his enhanced hearing, yet, these people seemed to hear what Natasha said with ease. It was curious to say at the least.
"Hey, where's Fitz?" Skye questioned and Steve tuned back into the conversation, saving this information for later as he plastered a smile on his face to listen to the others in the room.
Bobbi let out a snort "Where do you think? He's down exploring Stark's labs. Without supervision, which is such a bad idea."
"If it's such a bad idea, why don't you go get him Morse?" Natasha stated cooly, leaning forward in her seat to stare down Bobbi.
"Now, now Natasha, there is no need to be so rude. We all know what Fitz and Simmons are like when they get in labs and from the butt dialling I got off of Clint, I'd say Simmons is extremely busy at the moment." Maria said, entering the room with a smile and Sharon trailing behind her, looking hesitant. Maria turned to Sharon "You want to go find Fitz?" She offered, sensing the discomfort from her mate.
"Just go in the lift and ask JARVIS for Fitz and he'll take you there" Stark instructed, his eyes on Maria "then you can come back and introduce yourself."
Sharon rolled her eyes but did as she was instructed, gently letting her hand run smoothly over Maria's fingers as she left.
"Bobbi you have a mission, report to the NYC base in an hour. Agent Hand will brief you. We need your special skills set" Maria said, authority leaking into her voice as Bobbi nodded and stood to go grab her stuff.
"Special skill set?" Steve inquired
"That's classified" Maria replied
"How can a special skill set be classified?" Steve retorted
"Well it wouldn't be special if it wasn't classified, or if everyone knew about it Captain. People might try to replicate it" Maria informed him, going over and sitting next to Skye, who was staring at her with hurt eyes "what?" she asked, looking at Skye's heartbroken face.
"You're taking Bobbi away from me?" She questioned quietly
Maria frowned "I was under the impression that you and her were on a break"
"Well yeah, but...but, she was still going to be around... we haven't been separated before... I-" Skye rushed out,
looking panicked.
"Relax Skye, you'll be fine" Maria assured her, gently gripping her hand.
"We'll look after you, Maria, Mel and myself will be around. Don't worry. Go say your goodbye to Bobbi in private" Natasha muttered quickly enough for only the pack, and Steve, to hear.
"I'm going to go talk to Bobbi" Skye mumbled, getting up to go find Bobbi.
The others in the room watched in confusion as Skye left.
"What's up with her?" Tony asked, leaning back in his chair.
"Oh, Bobbi is her mate and they haven't spent time away from each other yet, so this is going to be difficult for them, she'll be okay though." Coulson explained, shifting his eyes quickly to Melinda, trusting her on what she previously said about Skye.
"Must be tough. Is their bond new?" Bruce asked gently, looking interested. He has previously dabbled in work concerning the soul mate bond.
Coulson looked to May for that one, she knew more about Skye and her bond with Bobbi than he did.
"They've started the bonding process but not quite finished it" May explained, pulling a wince from everyone in the room. All of them having heard rumours of the pain felt by separated soul mates who haven't finalised the bond. "She'll be fine, she's got enough support to get her through Bobbi's mission, I can't imagine Bobbi will be gone more than 2 days, Maria?" May questioned, turning it towards the other women.
"Since it's requiring her special skill set, I imagine she will have to be careful and take things a bit slower, but I don't believe she will be away for more then 2 nights, especially with Hand running the operation" Maria explained.
"She's gonna complain so much" Tony stated, getting up to pour himself a drink "She's going to need like 20 of these an hour" he finished, holding up his glass of whisky.
"She's going to be training whilst Bobbi is gone, she wont have time to miss Bobbi, never mind drink her sorrows away" May said, causing the other field agents in the room to chuckled, their own memories of training coming to mind.
"They don't act like soul mates, in fact up until now, it seemed like they were avoiding each other" Steve observed
"Things become complicated between them" May replied "So they decided to take a break"
"That's unusual" Steve commented, sitting back in his chair.
"Just wait till you get to know Skye, unusual will become a word you use to describe her" Coulson joked.
The room fell silent as Bobbi and Skye came back down with Clint and Jemma trailing behind them. The latter of the two couples still had sex hair and crocked clothes, but the sleazy grins on both their faces tells everyone that they got their fill.
"I can literally smell the sex off of the two of you" Bobbi complained, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
"Shut up Morse, you're just jealous that I'm getting laid and you aren't" Clint shot back, wrapping his arms protectively around Jemma.
"Mmm, I'd rather be having no sex than have sex with you ever again Barton, that was an experience and a half." Bobbi retorted, smirking as Clint scowled at her.
"Sex with Clint is brilliant Bobbi, maybe you were thinking about your own performance that time" Jemma added sweetly from where she was resting against Clint's side.
A roar of laughter swept the room, Coulson and Skye attempted to keep the grins of their faces but they were failing terribly. Jemma smiled smugly at Bobbi and held up both of her hands and made a fist with one and held up one finger on the other with a wink. Bobbi rolled her eyes and childishly stuck out her tongue.
"Whatever Jemma, pretty sure I spelt some weed earlier, maybe that's why you are under the delusion that Clint is good at sex" Bobbi fired back.
"Enough you two, you have somewhere to be Bobbi and by the looks of things, Skye isn't too early to let you go" Maria said, breaking up the verbal sparing match.
Skye scoffed at Maria's words "I'll be perfectly fine whilst Bobbi is gone. She'll be the one who will be a crying mess, missing me. Meanwhile, I'll be back here living it up." She joked, determined to show that she wasn't going to be affected by, or that she would be the only one effected.
Everyone seemed to assume that Skye would be the one to take it the hardest, but the bond worked both ways, if Skye was missing Bobbi so much that it hurt, then Bobbi was missing Skye so much that it hurt. Two way connection, yet everyone was acting like it wold be just her that was miserable.
"Sure, the difference is Bobbi's mind will be pre-occupied with the mission, she is too trained to allow something like emotional pain to take her focus away from the mission. You, however, haven't gotten that far in your training, but I am sure that May will be starting that tonight." Maria replied, looking over at Skye as if she knew exactly what the younger women was thinking.
Skye shrugged her shoulders, causing a small delayed silence where she pulled her bottom lip between her teeth as she deliberated as to whether or not to hug Bobbi or kiss her or both. She just stated to her, earlier that day or rather last night, that she wanted to go back to the basics. Friends do not have a make out session every time one of them went on a mission. So a hug it will be. A brief flare of disappointment appeared in the back of her mind. Probably Bobbi. Skye's now determined to get Natasha to fully explain how the mind link works between the pack, because sometimes it was there and other times it wasn't. It was extremely confusing.
Skye surged forward and pulled Bobbi into a hug, holding the slightly taller women tightly against her. Bobbi blinked in surprise but dropped her bag and wrapped her arms around Skye, resting her head on Skye's shoulder. Skye responded by gently getting Bobbi to tucked her head under Skye's chin. It was a slightly awkward position but Bobbi loved it, normally she was the one in Skye's position but it was nice to be the theoretical standing up spoon. Bobbi buried her head against Skye's neck, breathing in the scent of the women. Unknown to the others, the girls had swapped several articles of clothing; "to help the separation', was the excuse. It wasn't like Bobbi got grumpy when she couldn't smell Skye (the amount of times Clint and Natasha teased her about that was unbelievable), but really, if Bobbi got grumpy without Skye around then really swapping clothes was in the best interest of everyone in the mission. A grumpy Bobbi means an unhappy team and an unhappy team leads to mistakes. Totally practical.
The two of them pulled apart slowly, trying not to let anyone see how much they were breaking up inside over the separation.
Bobbi stood up straight and flashed a grin at Skye; "Well, see you later kid." she said, picking up her back and walking into the lift with a wave at everyone else "Save me some of the good alcohol and don't let them drink you dry, Stark" she teased.
Skye scowled at Bobbi "I'm not a kid!" she called out as the door's closed, the last thing she saw was Bobbi winking at her. Stupid Bobbi. Her shoulders deflated a little, but she wasn't about to let this stupid separation get in the way of her enjoying the Avengers Tower. It was gonna be great.
Or at least, she hoped. What exactly could go wrong in the Avengers Tower?
'Now you've done it, you've went and jinxed it' Natasha broadcasted dramatically over the pack's link.
Skye resisted the urge to scowl as a wave of laughter came from the others 'You have no boundaries'
'Bite me' Natasha teased, but stiffened in shock as Skye came over and literally bit Natasha's arm with a smirk.
'You have fun explaining this to everyone.' Skye thought, grinning at the way the unintentional command back fired.
Everyone was now staring at the two as Skye put on an overly dramatic voice "Oh Natasha! You haven't explained the game to them? Ha, you guys will love it" Skye said, flinging Natasha a wink as she nestled in next to the women who was staring at the others, desperately trying to think of a reason as to why Skye bite her.
It was going to be a long two weeks.