Disclaimer: Nothing's changed. Still don't own it.

Author's Note: Poor Skye. With all the mom-and-dad drama of the last few weeks, the Coulson drama, the Inhuman drama, the conflicted loyalties, the Jemma drama, a health crisis that just might go world-wide soon, and now Tripp's death coming up again, the pressure just got too much and she had a perfectly human reaction. That's not to say it isn't embarrassing to have a breakdown in front of everyone you work with. Emotions never seem to have good timing, do they? Will they be understanding, or consider her an unfit agent? You'll have to read on and find out! (Let me know what you think? I'd really appreciate any input, good or bad.)

Clearing the Air, part 2

Andrew had cleared the room after Skye's breakdown, but nothing seemed to be able to calm her. He quietly asked Agent Weaver for a mild sedative, and then with Hunter's help, got her down to the med bay to get some rest.

Coulson followed them down. "Andrew..." he started, after they'd placed Skye on the bed in the unit next to Bobbi and Hunter left them.

"Usually I believe people should experience their emotions, good and bad. It's healthy. And after the events of the last few weeks, I'm not surprised something like this happened. Crying is cathartic. But when the crying devolved into a full-scale panic attack and she began scratching at her arms, I judged that perhaps feeling all of this at once was too overwhelming for Skye, so I made the call I did. She's sleeping now, the sedative wasn't strong enough to knock her out, so I'm guessing her body needed the sleep. I'll talk to her when she wakes up."

"Andrew..."

"Anything else, including the contents of that conversation, fall under doctor-patient confidentiality. I'm only telling you this now as a courtesy, and I'll give a report when I'm done if I feel Skye's ability to be in the field is in any way under question."

"Andrew..."

"I will also say that the fact that nothing shook is a very good sign."

"Andrew..."

"Goodbye, Phil. I'll talk to you later. I need to check on Fitz now, and I want to be available when Skye wakes up." The director finally took the hint and left, a little peeved at being ordered around by a consultant who wouldn't even allow him to finish asking his questions.

Hours later, Skye woke up a little confused. She sat up, took in her surroundings, and recognized where she was, but couldn't remember how she got there. She could feel the puffiness in her eyes and the stuffiness of her nose that came from crying, as well as a certain tightness in her chest. Her arms stung, and she looked down on them to see long red welts. She couldn't remember where they came from. She also felt curiously well rested for the first time in weeks, having slept uninterrupted by nightmares. And then the memories started pouring in, about hearing the truth about Tripp's meaningless death and breaking down in front of nearly all of her co-workers, including the people she looked up to the most, and she began to flush a deep red.

"Oh my god, Skye," she said to herself, getting out of bed and pacing. "I can't believe you just did that. How stupid are you? I'll tell you - stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid..."

"Hey, none of that," a voice interrupted. Skye froze. She hadn't realized she wasn't alone. She turned around, but she couldn't see anyone. "I'd come to you, but I can't get out of bed. If you're pacing, you can, so come here," the voice ordered. She recognized that voice; it was Bobbi, and from the sound of it, she was close by.

"Ummm..."

"Please, Skye?"

Time to face the music. She found Bobbi in the room to her right. "I'm sorry if I woke you, that was inconsiderate of me. I should have been more quiet. I didn't realize you were right next door..."

"You didn't wake me, I was up already, so stop apologizing," Bobbi ordered. "You slept a long time."

"I, uhh, haven't been sleeping well, I guess," she admitted, a little shamefully.

"After everything we've been through recently, I'd be surprised if anyone is."

"Oh." Skye said. She paused. "How much..." she trailed off.

"I was awake when they brought you down. I made Hunter tell me." Skye flushed. "Don't be embarrassed for showing a little vulnerability, Skye," Bobbi admonished her gently. "Your friends – your family – isn't going to ostracize you for it."

"Family?" she whispered. Skye knew she felt that way, but she hadn't wanted to say. Between the foster families that never worked out and the recent disaster with her birth family, Skye and families...well, they didn't seem to work out.

"Yes, family. S.H.I.E.L.D's a family for all of us. I mean, it's not like we have lives outside it. I might touch base with my birth family once or twice a year, but it's not like I can talk to them about what I do, you know? Hunter's an orphan, so's Coulson. It's not like May talks to her mother much, Mack talks to his dad once in a blue moon but I don't know the last time he went home for a visit. Nope, it's just S.H.I.E.L.D for all of us. And you're one of us, too."

"I..." she didn't know how to answer that, so she deflected it. "May told me about what you said about me. To Gonzales. After the...incident in the woods. I wanted to say thank you." She paused. Might as well go all in. "But that doesn't seem like enough, does it? Honestly, before she told me, I thought you'd be mad at me."

"Why?"

"I...attacked you."

"You were defending yourself. He never should have fired on you. You had tossed your gun by the time he fired that bullet. And then you did the only thing you could." She paused. The girl across from her didn't look that convinced. "It's like this. I have these batons that deliver a little extra...oomph during a fight. Should I restrict myself to plain old wooden batons because other people don't have the same technology? Or should I use what I have to defend myself in the best way I can?"

"That's different," Skye protested.

"Is it? You used the tools you had at your disposal. Maybe your training wasn't quite up to par, you set off a little more C4 than you needed, so to speak, but I hear good things now. They tell me you've got everything under control. That's impressive, in this short of time."

Hearing Bobbi praise her was making her flush as much as when she first walked in here. "I..."

Bobbi took pity on her. "You wanna help me with something? Tell me what's been going on. I've been kept pretty out of the loop – "Focus on recovery", they say – but keeping me out of it isn't helping any. I'm up to date about Jemma – all hands on deck there – but fill me in on everything else."

Skye paused. "The way Hunter's been talking, I kinda thought you guys would be leaving after you recovered enough."

"I need a vacation. S.H.I.E.L.D's my family, same as you, but people need a break from their families some time. There was a time I thought, maybe, I was done, I've given enough to this organization, but I think I care too much to let go. So bring me up to speed. Let me help, as much as I can between the bedrest and the physical therapy and the acupuncture and all that. My body may be down, but my mind's still sharp as ever. And I'm bored," she said, a little plaintively.

"Alright," Skye agreed with a smile. And she began to fill Bobbi in with the events of the last couple of weeks.

Unbeknownst to them, Andrew was standing in the hallway, out of the site of the room. He had planned on talking to Skye once she woke up, but it seemed like Bobbi had done it for him, and that she told Skye things the younger woman desperately needed to hear from someone in her unconventional "family". As an outsider, he could have told her the same things, but they wouldn't have carried as much weight. That's not to say that he didn't need to talk to her. But it could wait, he thought, as he walked away, leaving the two women to their talk that was as much gossip as intel dump and strategy session. The most help he could be for them, at the moment, was distract Hunter for a little while. And he never did get around to checking on Fitz. Maybe he could talk Hunter into going with him. That would give the girls enough time to talk.