I'm sorry this chapter is short and probably not very good, but I've just gotten better and caught up on schoolwork. Hopefully I can begin to update chapters regularly. Just hang in there, I'm almost over this writer's block.

"Morning, Jemma!" Skye greeted her when she came into the kitchen a few mornings later. Jemma noticed that the bruises on Skye's face were fading, so the rest of them probably were too. She was able to get up on her own now, with the help of a crutch, although she couldn't get very far before she would have to sit down.

It was lucky, if you could call it that, that it was her left foot and opposite right arm that were injured, so that she could use her left arm to support herself with the crutch.

"Good morning Jemma. I think Skye's getting better. At least her appetite is." Phil joked, handing Skye her second round of pancakes.

"Good morning." She heard May say from behind a newspaper and cup of tea.

"Everyone is very cheery today." Jemma noticed.

"How far did you get with Freedom?" Skye asked. She looked up at Jemma with curiosity.

"I can ride him." Jemma told her. "But he's still a little jittery when you put pressure on his sides with your legs."

"That's great! And I'm sure he'll get used to it." She replied.

"Do you think you can get out to the barn to see Calypso? You haven't seen him at all since he... you know." Phil suggested to get Skye out and about. Skye didn't need to be asked twice; she let Jemma walk her out to the barn.

Watching Skye struggle to walk was painful for Jemma. It was clearly visible that she had to put a lot of effort into each step.

"Hey buddy!" Skye called to Calypso. The huge smile on Skye's face almost made everything bad disappear. Skye leaned against his stall door and pressed kisses to Calypso's nose, laughing when he sniffed around in her hair and nudged her gently.

"Somebody's happy to see you." Ward showed up behind them.

"Ward!" Skye exclaimed, wrapping her arm around him. Ward hugged her and smiled over her shoulder at Jemma. It was nice seeing Skye all excited and happy like this. Ward and Hunter had been in the barn feeding the horses when they came out. Even Bobbie was there. Her talents weren't needed in the house, so she had mostly been teasing Hunter.

After greeting everyone, Skye went back to babying her horse, talking nonsense to him. It impressed Jemma that Skye wasn't even the least bit afraid of him after what happened, she even wanted to get back on. Jemma knew that look.

"No." Jemma laughed.

"Come on, if you ride with me I'll be fine." Jemma tried her best to resist the puppy dog eyes Skye had, but it wasn't working. Jemma glanced at Ward, Hunter, and Bobbi.

"I won't tell if you don't." Bobbie shrugged and Skye smiled.

"Fine. You're a little brat, you know." Jemma told Skye. She fetched Calypso's bridle and pulled him out of his stall for Skye. Jemma mounted him bareback and held her hand down for Skye, but quickly realized there was no way she could jump up.

Ward, Hunter, and Bobbi all rushed over and helped push Skye up. It almost took a village, but they got Skye on the back of the horse.

It felt weird for Jemma to be the one sitting in the front, usually she was the second rider.

"Just a trail ride, nothing too exciting." Jemma told Skye. Skye slid her arm up and clutched the material of Jemma's shirt at her stomach.

"Anything's exciting with you." It was almost too quiet for Jemma understand, but she heard Skye's whisper behind her.

"Thank you." Skye told her, pressing her lips against the skin just behind Jemma's ear. Jemma blushed and asked Calypso to walk, mostly to get away from their snickering friends.

"Are you sure you're alright back there?" Jemma asked once they reached the grove of trees. She felt Skye's nod against her back and sighed. She was sure Skye missed riding and was more than thrilled to be here with her right now.

"'m fine." Skye told her, but to Jemma that obviously meant Skye was in some kind of pain. Skye never said she was fine, she was always "great!" or "awesome!", but she was never "fine". Jemma stopped Calypso where he was and waited for Skye to tell her what was wrong.

"Skye?" She finally asked. When she still didn't get a reply and Skye's head was still on her shoulder, Jemma twisted her body around in an attempt to look at her. The movement threw Skye off balance and Jemma was horrified to find that Skye was unconscious and now slipping off of the horse.

Jemma turned her body at her waist and wrapped her arms around Skye just before her limp body fell off the horse.

"Shit..." Jemma muttered as she tried to pull Skye back up. Now she wished she had done more of the heavy lifting jobs with Skye last summer so she was more capable of pulling her back up. Eventually, with a lot of pushing forward and scooting backwards, Jemma got into a position where she could cradle Skye in front of her. Calypso noticed Jemma's distress and looked back at them.

"Skye?" Jemma asked, tapping her girlfriend's cheek. She didn't know why Skye would suddenly fall unconscious, she had been doing so well today. The only thing she could think of that would cause this was her concussion, so Jemma pushed Skye's hair off of her injury. She gasped. Skye's head was swollen and the area around her stitches was a dark color. How had she not noticed Skye's infection earlier?

She had to get Skye to a doctor, and soon. She wasn't sure if she could do it, but she pressed her legs into Calypso's side and asked him to move faster, causing them to end up loping back to the house with Jemma clutching Skye's body and trying to stay on.

"Ward! Hunter! Bobby!" Jemma yelled when she neared the barn, hoping one of them was still outside. Ward walked out of the barn with a horse on a lead, but rushed him back into a stall when he saw Skye.

"I'll take her." He held his arms out for Skye and Jemma finally let her go, but only long enough to dismount Calypso. She gave him to Hunter and explained to Ward what happened in a rush.

Ward left Hunter to explain to Phil and took Jemma and Bobby with him and Skye to the hospital. Bobby and Ward sat in the front seats of his truck and Jemma sat with Skye in her arms in the back seat.

"Hey Jemma." Skye finally muttered ten minutes into the silent drive. The nearest hospital was over half an hour away and Ward was trying not to speed on the way.

"Why didn't you say anything sooner?" Jemma scolded her. Ward glared at Jemma through the rear-view mirror as if telling her not to yell at Skye right now.

"My head just hurt, I didn't think..."

"I know, I'm sorry." Jemma apologized, stroking Skye's hair.

After about an hour at the hospital, Skye's head wound was cleaned up and she had antibiotics to take home to clear the infection from her head. The doctor said it wasn't too serious, but to keep a close eye on her.

Unfortunately, any time Skye left the house, reporters were all over her. They wouldn't be getting out of the hospital without having to get Skye through a crowd, and that's why Ward was glad Bobby had tagged along.

She went out and distracted the press for long enough to sneak Skye out the back like Bobby had instructed. Skye's story was being spread like wildfire and every news channel and newspaper wanted to be the first one to get an exclusive from either Jemma or Skye.

"This is going to get annoying." Skye complained when they finally got to Ward's truck without running into any reporters.

"We'll deal with it." Jemma assured her.