Hey guys! This chapter is mainly just a filler chapter but it's still really cute. It's got some more Phil moments in there and I hope you like it!
Sorry for the delay guys! I had to go to a memorial service yesterday and spent the rest of the day with my family. Thank you for being patient!
As always, I own nothing (I wish I did) and all mistakes are my own. xx
Skye had actually enjoyed school. She sat with Fitz and Simmons during reading time and at lunch. Lincoln had helped her find everything in the classroom and had worked with her on her letters. Ms. Hill had worked one-on-one with her to help her with her math and she didn't even make Skye feel stupid. They had played tag during recess and no one had been mean to her. All of her classmates had been really nice. Skye liked it here.
It was the end of the day and Ms. Hill had given them a worksheet to do that focused on the letter S. Skye liked practicing writing her S's because it was easier to write than the R's but more challenging than the Q's. Lincoln had finished his worksheet already, but Skye was making sure to write neatly, so she was still working on hers. He was talking to her and she was trying to ignore him so that she could focus and not mess up.
"Oh! I forgot to ask you! What's your last name?"
Skye looked up at him. She didn't have a last name. She knew that everyone else did, but she didn't know what her real one was. The nuns at the orphanage had given her a really bad one, so she never ever used it. She furrowed her eyebrows and thought about it. She decided to just tell him the truth and hope he didn't think she was too weird.
"I don't have a last name." She went back to filling out her worksheet and hoped that Lincoln would just stop talking about it and change the subject.
"What are you talking about? Everyone has a last name." He waved his hands around energetically so that Skye got the point that everyone in the classroom had a last name.
She felt her cheeks heat up and kept her eyes averted, "Well I don't."
She glanced up real fast and saw that Lincoln looked really confused, "Your last name is the same and your mom and dad's!"
She felt herself growing angry. Why couldn't he just leave her alone? She didn't answer him and focused on her worksheet really hard instead.
"Skye?" Lincoln sounded curious but Skye was still mad at him. She could feel him staring at her even though she wasn't answering him. She got even more annoyed.
She dropped her pencil, turned to him and angrily said, "I don't have parents so I don't have a last name!"
Now Lincoln looked even more confused, "But… I thought everyone had parents?"
She felt her anger slowly fading. Lincoln had parents. His mommy and daddy probably loved him and never yelled at him or hit him. He didn't know that there were some people who didn't have mommy's and daddy's.
"My parent's didn't want me so they left me at an orphanage. A lot of other kids live there with me and they don't have parent's either. Some of them know their last names, but I don't know mine because they left me there when I was a little baby."
Now Lincoln looked sad, "You don't have a mom and dad?"
Skye sighed, "No."
Lincoln looked away for a couple of seconds before looking back at Skye, "But you moved here and started a new school. Why?"
Skye tried to figure out how to explain this, "Well, sometimes other families will look after me and the other kids so that we don't have to live in the orphanage. They're called foster parents. A new family took me away and now I'm living with them, but since they live in a different town, I had to go to a different school."
Lincoln was nodding along, "Oh. I'm sorry you don't have a mom and dad, Skye. But I'm happy that you're here and that we're friends now."
Skye didn't really know what to say to that, but luckily she didn't have to say anything because Ms. Hill told them get their things together and line up by the door. Lincoln took the bus home so he was in a different line, but Jemma's mom picked up her and Fitz, so they were all in the same line.
First they made sure all the other kids got on the right busses, and then Ms. Hill led the rest of them to the front of the school. Skye started to worry that maybe May and Phil had lied to her and wouldn't come and get her. When they walked out the front doors, Fitz and Jemma said goodbye to her and then ran over to Jemma's mom. Skye fidgeted from foot to foot and tried to spot May and Phil. She stood on her tiptoes but couldn't find them. They probably forgot her.
Skye stopped looking and stared at the ground. Of course they forgot her. Skye didn't know why she thought that this family would be different than the other ones. Suddenly she heard her name being called and she jerked her head up. May and Phil were standing by a tree. Phil was waving at her and May was smiling. She ran over to them.
"You remembered me!"
Phil took her backpack and her lunchbox from her, "Of course we remembered you Skye. We were having trouble finding you in the crowd though. Maybe we should all agree to meet here by this tree from now on?"
Skye was smiling. They hadn't forgotten about her. "Okay, Phil."
Skye grabbed May's pinky and started walking towards the car, "How was your first day, baby? Did you make any friends?"
Skye nodded and started telling them about Ms. Hill and what she did at recess and about how she traded her goldfish for an apple at lunch. She told May about Lincoln, Fitz, and Simmons as the older woman buckled her into her booster seat. May got into the passenger seat and Disney music was already playing in the background. She had just finished telling them about her S-worksheet. She was smiling and talking with her hands.
"Fitz and Simmons are our neighbors Skye. The Fitz's live to the right of us and the Simmons' live to the left of us. They can come over and play whenever you want sweetie."
"Really?" Her new friends lived really close to her and they could play all the time. This was so awesome.
"Of course baby. Nat and Trip's friends come over all the time. Yours can too." May was turned around in her seat and smiling at her.
"It sounds like you had a pretty good first day. How about we celebrate by stopping and getting some ice cream?" Phil glanced at her in the rearview mirror.
Skye loved ice cream. She didn't get to eat it as much as she wanted and there was no way she was ever going to turn some down. She nodded enthusiastically and began singing along to the Lion King song that was currently playing.
Phil turned the car into a little ice cream shop and parked. He unbuckled Skye and she skipped enthusiastically after him. The shop was kind of cold and Skye was instantly drawn to the containers that held a bunch of different ice cream flavors. She wasn't tall enough to see the ice cream, so she started jumping up. It wasn't really helping. She was mid-jump when she felt someone grab her around the waist and stopped her from hitting the ground.
She hastily looked back and saw Phil's smiling face. He lifted her up and placed her on his hip. She remained stiff at first but then she reminded herself of what she had decided earlier that morning. She relaxed and wrapped an arm around Phil's neck. He leaned over so that Skye could peer into the containers and look at the different ice cream flavors.
"There's so many different flavors! I don't know what I want to get." Skye was looking at the names of the different ice cream, but she couldn't read them.
"You can get whatever you want sweetie." Phil was smiling at her and she saw May talking to an employee.
May called over, "Phil, you want a chocolate milkshake right?"
Phil nodded and muttered to Skye, "She knows me better than I know myself."
Skye grinned at that. She went back to looking at the ice cream flavors. There was one that was light blue and had pink and yellow sprinkles in it. It looked cool. "Phil, what is that one?" She pointed at it and Phil read the name to her, "Birthday cake. Is that the one you want?" Skye had never had birthday cake flavored ice cream before so she nodded.
Phil walked over to May and the employee. May was already eating her ice cream and she was holding Phil's milkshake, "Skye knows what she wants."
The employee looked at her expectantly and Skye froze a little bit. The worker looked bored and she didn't want to talk to him. She looked away and turned her face so that it was pushed against Phil's shoulder. She felt his had rub comforting circles against her back and he whispered to her, "Do you want a cup or a cone?"
"Cup please," she whispered back and pushed her face harder against his shoulder. Phil had uncomfortable shoulders.
"Skye wants birthday cake in a cup. I guess we should get something for Nat and Trip too, huh?" He jostled Skye a little so she knew that he was talking to her. She nodded. Natasha and Trip deserved ice cream too. "Can we also get cookie dough and chocolate peanut buttercup in cups to-go please?" The employee nodded and went to go complete the order.
He came back and handed Skye her cup of ice cream but he let go of it before she had a good grip on it and it fell to the floor. Skye saw it hit the ground and watched as ice cream exploded out of it. She felt her eyes start to well up with tears. May and Phil had been really nice to her and had gotten her ice cream and she had ruined it. She unintentionally gripped Phil's shirt really hard and forced herself not to cry. They hadn't yelled so far and maybe they wouldn't yell this time.
She fearfully looked up, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to fall!"
May was shaking her head, "Skye, it's fine. It was an accident, okay? We'll just get you a new one sweetie." She looked to the employee and he nodded and told another employee to clean up the mess while he went to get more ice cream.
Skye knew that May and Phil weren't mad at her, but her eyes were still filled with unshed tears. She turned her head and saw Phil looking at her, "It's okay Skye. We know it was an accident. We aren't mad."
They really weren't mad. Skye was so used to adults just automatically being angry at her when anything went wrong. She wasn't used to people like May and Phil. They didn't blame her when accidents happened. They didn't yell or hit or push or scare her. She wasn't used to dealing with adults like this and she didn't know if this would last, but she hoped it did. She liked them and she felt safe with them. She liked that they didn't yell at her or make her do things that were scary or that she didn't want to do. Sure, they had made her go to school, but Skye knew that she had to go to school and May and Phil had made sure that she felt safe before leaving. Skye liked May and Phil and Natasha and Trip and she wanted to stay with them for as long as she could.
The employee handed Skye her new ice cream and she made sure to grab it carefully so that she didn't drop it again. They paid for their treats and carried them back to the car. Phil buckled her in and Skye carefully ate on the way home. She didn't want to get any ice cream on the seats.
They got home and Phil carried Skye's backpack and lunchbox while she carried Natasha and Trip's ice cream. May unlocked the door and they walked inside.
"Well, if it isn't the Fantastic Four. Aren't you done with that presentation yet?"
"Actually mom, we literally just finished."
Skye peered around May and saw Natasha and her friends sitting on the floor in the living room. There was bowls filled with snacks sitting around them and they all had drinks nearby. She ran over to Natasha, "Nattie, we got you ice cream!"
Natasha grinned and raised an eyebrow, "did you now?"
Skye smiled, "Yeah, and Trip too."
Natasha grinned and then shouted, "Trip! There's ice cream down here with your name on it!"
They waited a couple of seconds and then they heard feet running down the upstairs hallway. She saw Trip fly down the stairs and skid to a stop by May and Phil, "Did someone say ice cream?"
Phil nodded and pointed to Skye, "It's with the little delivery girl."
Skye handed Trip the bag and he walked into the kitchen with it. He came back and handed Natasha her ice cream and a spoon. She thanked him and Trip ruffled Skye's hair before returning upstairs.
"We've got some work to catch up on so we'll be in the dining room. You guys are going to stay for dinner, right?" May watched as the group all looked at each other and Clint nodded at her.
"Great. Skye, you can play for a little while, but they you need to get started on your homework alright? Phil and I can help you with it." May smiled at her and then disappeared into the dining room with Phil.
Skye grabbed Alice. She was laying on the couch watching t.v., just where Skye had left her this morning. She sat down by Natasha and looked around. Clint, Steve and Bucky were all staring at her. Skye's cheeks flushed when she realized that the last time they had been here, Skye had totally freaked out in front of them. She lifted a hand and waved shyly at them.
"No ice cream for us, Skye?" She couldn't tell if Clint was kidding or not but she felt really guilty for not having any for him.
She looked down at her cup of ice cream. It still had some left, "I didn't know you were going to come over. You can have the rest of mine Clint." She held the cup up for him.
He laughed, "I was just joking Skye. You don't have to give me your ice cream, but it was really nice of you to offer." Skye pulled her cup back to her and nodded.
She heard Bucky talk, "Nat told us it was your first day at a new school today. How'd it go?"
She looked up and saw that Bucky staring at her. He was wearing a short sleeve shirt, so Skye could see his fake arm and she remembered how it had made a gentle whirring sound when it moved. Skye liked his arm. She thought it he was really awesome to have lost his real arm but still be happy with a fake one. He looked like he was genuinely interested in what she had so say, so she answered him, "It was okay. I made some friends today and traded my goldfish for an apple at lunch."
They all smiled at her and then Steve said, "Tell us all about it Skye."
He also looked like he really wanted to know. She looked up to Natasha and the older girl gave her an encouraging smile, so she told them. She told them about Lincoln, Fitz, and Simmons and about what she did at recess and she told them how she really liked Ms. Hill. They smiled as they listened to her, and Skye was encouraged by their open expressions.
When she was done talking, Natasha said, "It sounds like you had a good day, маленькая звезда"
Skye nodded and it got quiet for a minute or two.
Clint looked around, "I don't know about you guys, but I've been dying to get my hands on some crayons to color. Skye, do you maybe want to color with us until you have to start your homework?"
Skye nodded enthusiastically, "I'll go get my crayons and some paper!"
She hopped up and ran to her room. She grabbed her box full of crayons and colored pencil and a bunch of construction paper. She ran back downstairs and was about to sit down next to Natasha when she decided that she wanted to sit by Bucky. He was sitting a little farther away from everyone else and she didn't want him to feel lonely.
She sat down cross-legged and put the supplies in the center of the circle.
Clint grabbed a green piece of paper and some crayons, "Thank you Skye. I'm gonna draw you a picture. Do you like dogs? I love dogs. I'm going to draw you a dog."
She smiled at him and then grabbed a piece of paper of her own and dragged some colored pencils over to her. She saw Steve and Natasha grab some supplies and she grabbed a handful of crayons and a pink sheet of paper and handed them to Bucky. He smiled at her and thanked her before he started to draw on his paper.
She smiled back at him and then glanced down to her piece of paper. She was going to draw Bucky a picture so that if he ever thought about his car accident and felt sad, he would have something to look at and he could feel happy again.
What'd you guys think? I just really love Bucky and Skye. I think he'd be a cute older bro for her :) Lemme know what you guys think!
Thank you so much for reading! I love you guys xx -Ariel