Chapter 25
Disclaimer: I do not own anything. Everything belongs to their rightful owners and I am not making any profit from this.
AN: Thank you to all who have added to alerts, read, reviewed or any combination of the three. It means a lot to me.
AN2: This is the first of today's double update. Hope you enjoy. Also remember that I wrote every chapter of this and the previous two stories, except the last chapter of this story, before this week's ep so the fact that I have Melinda's family completely wrong is what I thought before we found out her mother was still alive.
Almost a week after Clint and Natasha left during which Skye has aged to a little younger than thirteen and a half the team are back on the plane doing their best to remain off the grid. After spending over a day in Tony's private lab with Bruce and Tony, Fitz and Simmons discovered that there is nothing in Garrett's blood that indicates how his memories were erased and that fact frustrates the four scientists to no end.
As the team have gotten so used to having two more people among them it is clear that it is odd without Natasha and Clint on the plane. Skye has talked to her Uncle and Aunt twice since they have been gone and while they won't tell her just what they are up to they have assured her that they are safe and unharmed.
As usual everyone is spread around the plane. Skye was reading in her bunk but she has gotten bored with that so she has decided to go see what Fitz and Simmons are doing.
When she heads down to the Cargo Bay she sees Ward training. Skye spends several minutes standing at the top of the stairs watching Ward before finally heading down the stairs.
"Hey." Skye says to him standing on the bottom step of the stairs, "Can I walk past?" Skye asks curious.
"Sure." Ward tells her and Skye walks past and into the lab.
"What you doing?" Skye asks curious as she walks into the lab and sits down on the table.
"Working." Jemma answers.
"On?" Skye asks curious and Fitz and Simmons exchange a look, "Oh, I get it, this is another secret thing that I can't know about." Skye comments a hint of annoyance clear.
"No, you can know." Simmons tells her, "We're trying to figure out how Garrett's memory was erased." She explains.
"I thought you couldn't find out how." Skye comments.
"We couldn't." Simmons answers, "But I'm going to try a few other things and see if they work." She explains.
"Oh." Skye responds and Fitz notices the look she has on her face.
"You're bored aren't you?" Fitz asks her.
"Is it that obvious?" Skye asks.
"A little." Fitz responds, "I'm not helping Jemma so we can do something if you want. What do you want to do?" He asks curious.
"I don't know." Skye answers honestly, "What do you think we should do?" She asks her brother curious.
"Huh." Fitz says as he thinks, trying to come up with what would be the best idea for something to do, "I know, come on." Fitz says leaving the lab Skye right behind him.
"Ward how much longer are you going to be out here?" Fitz asks curious.
"Not long, why?" Ward asks looking at Fitz and Skye suspiciously.
"No reason, come on." Fitz says to Skye and the pair run upstairs, Ward watching them as they go.
"I don't understand, what are we going to do Fitzy?" Skye asks confused.
"I am going to teach you Physics." Fitz tells Skye.
"That doesn't sound like much fun." Skye admits with a small frown.
"How about dropping things from the top of the platform above the cargo bay and seeing how fast they fall?" Fitz asks curious.
"That does sound fun." Skye tells him with a grin.
"Well that's physics, or the physics that I was going to teach you." Fitz tells her.
"Really? Cool." Skye responds with a smile.
"Grab thing of different weights that you want to drop, make sure that it's nothing that can do any damage to the plane or to your Dad's car or that can break." Fitz tells Skye and she nods and heads to her bunk while Fitz heads to his.
Several minutes later both Skye and Fitz meet out in the middle of the plane, both of them holding a bunch of stuff.
"Let's go." Fitz says and he and Skye head back out to the platform.
Once he is finished working out Ward heads into the lab to see if Simmons knows what Skye and Fitz are up to.
"Simmons do you know what Fitz and Skye are going to do?"
"No, Skye said she was bored and Fitz had an idea of something they could do, you need to relax." Simmons says and as she does a Pillow falls from the platform above the cargo bay.
"Did you just see that?" Ward asks Simmons who nods and before either of them can comment a plastic plate falls too, "And you said I should relax." Ward says as he and Simmons make their way to the lab doors.
"I stand corrected." Simmons comments as Ward opens the lab doors.
"We're coming out, do not throw anything else." Ward says as a shoe lands in front of him and after exchanging a look with Simmons they both hesitantly take several steps out into the cargo bay.
"What do you think you are doing?" Ward asks angrily.
"Fitzy is teaching me physics." Skye reveals.
"You want to explain that." Ward says looking at Fitz.
"We're dropping things and timing how long they take to fall and writing that down and them I'm going to show Skye the formulas on how to predict how fast things will fall." Fitz explains.
"What exactly are you dropping?" Ward asks.
"Don't worry, I've made sure that there isn't anything that can break or cause damage." Fitz assures him.
"I'm more worried about the damage that will happen to us when Coulson and May find out." Ward comments.
"Mom and Dad won't mind, it's for science." Skye tells Ward.
"She's got a point there." Simmons tells Ward.
"Fine, just don't break anything." Ward says and he and Simmons head back into the lab while Fitz and Skye continue to drop things from the platform.
As they were worried about Hill possibly doing a search of the local area after Garrett's shooting Quinn has moved safe house, meaning that he isn't as close to his sister as he was, something that might be an advantage because he thinks he is close to coming up with an idea on how to get the energy into the adult brain.
"Yes, yes, yes." Quinn says as he types in the last few bits of a formula and starts to run a simulation, sure that he has in fact come up with the way he needed, "Dam it." He says several minutes later when the simulation fails.
"What if I decrease the energy amount?" Quinn says and runs the new simulations, "Close but not quite." Quinn comments and tries the formula again, this time decreasing the energy amount even more, "YES." Quinn says revealed when it finally works, "It works." He says shocked and glad, until he realises the problem, "That's not enough energy." He realises, "What if I do multiple injections?" He asks himself and runs the simulations for that idea, "Will end in death, of course it will." He comments, "Solve one problem and two more takes it place." Quinn says knowing that he can't celebrate the fact that he's solved what he has been working on for months because it's not complete like he and Victoria needs it to be. After standing up and stretching Quinn sits back down and begins working on his next problem.
About few days after Skye spent over an hour with Fitz dropping things of the top of the stairs she has aged to over thirteen and a half and has decided to spend some time with her mother so she heads to the cockpit after watching Ward work out for a little while.
When she gets to the cockpit Skye just sits in her usual seat without a word, "What made you want to learn to fly in the first place?" Skye asks curious.
"Most specialists learn once they are out in the field as part of their training." Melinda reveals, "I liked the idea of the solitude and the freedom, but the control as well." Melinda tells her daughter.
"Were you scared the first time you flew?"
"Petrified." Melinda admits, "But since then the cockpit has become my safe place, my sanctuary." Melinda explains.
"That's why you only let another person fly the bus if you have no other choice." Skye comments.
"Exactly." Melinda tells her with a small smile and which Skye returns,
"It is the most awesome view in the entire plane." Skye comments and Melinda nods and the pair drift into silence. "You know I don't think you've told me why you joined S.H.I.E.L.D in the first place." Skye realises.
"No, I haven't." Melinda tells her daughter as she realises that even with grown up Skye that question hasn't come up, something that is quite surprising, "When I was fourteen for a school assignment we had to write a letter to someone we admired, I wrote to Peggy Carter." Melinda reveals.
"Wait, as in Uncle Steve's old girlfriend Peggy?" Skye asks surprised.
"One in the same." Melinda answers with a small smile, as a couple of months ago, after seeing how Tony took the fact that her and Coulson knew his father and didn't tell him, Melinda told Steve how she knows Peggy and just what the older woman did for her, something that she thinks helped them both, "Most of what Peggy achieved was classified but the little I could find I admired and was amazing by so I chose her to write too." Melinda explains, "I was more than a little shocked when she responded to my letter and even more so when she asked me to keep writing back, which I did." Melinda admits remembering how proud she felt when she got that fist letter, "For over two years we wrote back and forth, and I even met her a few times." Melinda admits remembering when she met Peggy for the first time when she was almost fifteen and how amazing it was and that the first thing Peggy told her face to face was that it was Peggy, not Agent Carter or ma'am, "When my grandmother got sick I continued to write but after she died I stopped." Melinda reveals and Skye wants to comment but as she knows her mother well enough to be able to tell that she is getting upset she doesn't, "I was angry at everyone, the world, everything and I made some bad choices." Melinda admits, not very proud of some of the things she did as a teenager which is why Coulson, Natasha, Clint, Peggy, and Fury are the only ones who know exactly what she did and why it's rare that she talks about when she was a teenager, "I hit my rock bottom and I was arrested. I was in a cell and a police officer came and got me and told me I had been bailed out, but it wasn't Grandpa waiting for me, it was Peggy, and the second I saw her I was terrified. Seeing her scared me more than being in Jail." Melinda admits.
"Really?" Skye asks amused.
"Really." Melinda admits as it was seeing Peggy and not being in the jail cell that allowed her to comprehend just how much trouble she was really in, "Apparently after I stopped writing Grandfather kept in contact with her, told her how much trouble I was getting in, though I'm pretty sure she knew without him telling her." Melinda admits.
"She founded S.H.I.E.L.D right? With Uncle Tony's Dad?" Skye asks.
"Yeah." Melinda answers.
"Then she defiantly knew." Skye comments.
"I always thought so." Melinda admits, "Peggy took me out for something to eat and I thought I was done for, but I wasn't. She gave me a long talk about our choices and what I was capable of and then she gave me a choice. I could continue the rode I was going down with no interference from her or Grandfather and see where that took me, or spend my final school year with her abiding by every single one of her rules and deal with the consequence if I broke them." Melinda explains, "She didn't have to offer me that, she didn't owe me anything. I was a messed up, angry kid who she could have walked away from, but she didn't, and that meant everything to me." Melinda reveals, "So I took the second option and I quickly realised that this was different to before and I became different." Melinda admits, "That moment when Peggy offered me the choice was the moment my life changed, my defining moment some might say. As the end of the school year approached Peggy and I talked about what I had planned for my future and she told me all about, in more detail than she had before, S.H.I.E.L.D, and asked me if that was something I would be interested in, I said yes. After graduation Peggy took me in for a meeting with a few of the high ranking people in S.H.I.E.L.D at the time, Fury and Howard Stark being two of them, and I started at the academy that September where I met your father. Everything I have done, everything I have achieved is because Peggy Carter gave an angry Kid a chance." Melinda admits a tear coming to her eye as after the Battle of New York, after Fury told her that Phil was still alive but that she couldn't see him, she visited Peggy and the fact that she didn't recognize her hurt almost as much as when she accepted that Phil was dead.
"Peggy might have gave you a chance, but you achieved everything on your own Mom." Skye tells her mother.
"I wouldn't have, if it wasn't for her." Melinda admits, "After I met your father Peggy insisted on meeting him once I told her about him, and truthfully I'm not sure who was more excited, her or your father." Melinda admits with a smile and Skye laughs, "Peggy was the only one who knew when your father and I planned to marry and she was the first person I told when I was pregnant with you." Melinda admits, remembering how scared she was when she found out and how it was Peggy who got her to tell Phil. If Skye had her memories or even believed that she was a child before this is where she would tell Skye that the bear she loved so much as a child was given to her by Peggy, and that picture she has over looked a hundred times of an older women holding her is Peggy and the fact that once her and Phil moved out of the house she once more stayed with Peggy but because Skye doesn't remember Melinda doesn't reveal that though it doesn't stop her from remembering and promising herself that she will one day.
"Mom?" Skye asks concerned, "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm okay, I'm just remembering." Melinda admits.
"Good things?" Skye asks curious.
"Some things, yeah." Melinda tells her and the mother and Daughter drift into silence.
"Can you put the plane on Autopilot for a bit?" Skye asks her Mother curious a little while later.
"Sure, why?" Melinda asks curious.
"I was thinking that maybe we could do something that you and Peggy used to do together, I know it's not the same and you clearly miss her, so I thought that this might help." Skye offers.
"She taught me how to play poker." Melinda admits, leaving the details of the fact that that has led to her annoying almost every senior S.H.I.E.L.D agent including Coulson, Clint, Fury, and Natasha because she can beat them.
"Can you teach me?" Skye asks curious.
"Yeah I think I can." Melinda admits not sure how Coulson's going to take it but wanting to teach her daughter, "I'll go get the deck of cards." Skye says leaving the cockpit, Melinda not far behind her daughter.
Melinda has been teaching Skye how to play poker for almost an hour when Coulson comes down from his office.
"What are you guys doing?" Coulson asks curious walking over to them.
"Mom's teaching me to play poker, like Peggy taught her." Skye reveals.
"Oh, she is is she?" Coulson asks looking at Melinda.
"Yes, I am." Melinda tells him, "Do you want to join?" Melinda asks him.
"I've got paperwork to do, but you two enjoy." Coulson says and he goes to the kitchen to collect Coffee before heading back upstairs.
Later that night Coulson and Melinda are lying in bed together, Coulson holding Melinda in his arms.
"You told Skye about Agent Carter?" Coulson asks curious.
"Yeah." Melinda answers, "And she has told you a hundred times to call her Peggy." Melinda reminds her husband.
"I know, but I can't." Coulson admits and Melinda rolls her eyes, "How much did you tell her?"
"Almost everything." Melinda reveals, "I didn't tell her a few things that wouldn't make sense considering what she doesn't believe, but I told her everything else." Melinda tells him.
"You know we could go to DC at some point, you could see her again." Coulson reminds her.
"No." Melinda says, "She didn't recognize me last time and I doubt she would again. I want to remember her as the Peggy I knew, and I think that's what she would want." Melinda tells him.
"Okay." Coulson says knowing that there is no point pushing her, "But if you change your mind let me know." Coulson request.
"I will." Melinda tells him, "But can you remind me that there is something I need to give Steve next time I see him." She requests.
"Of course." Coulson responds, not questing what as he knows that she will tell him if she wants him to know.
"Night Phil." Melinda says several minutes later.
"Night Mel." Coulson responds and slowly the pair drift off to sleep.
Three days later Skye has aged another few months and is down in the Cargo Bay practicing the dance that her Aunt has been teaching her when she realises that her father is sitting on the stairs.
"Dad." She says surprised, "How long have you been there?" She asks interested.
"A little while." Coulson admits, "You know you're really good." He tells his daughter.
"I like to think so." Skye admits, "I'm really glad that тетя Наташа started to teach me." She admits.
"I think your Aunt is glad that she taught you too." Coulson tells her, "Your Mom has to land the plane for a refuelling stop and we need supplies but I was wondering if why the others do that you would like to go for a drive in Lola, maybe get some ice-cream or something." Coulson suggest.
"Sure, where are we landing?" Skye asks curious.
"California." Coulson answers.
"Awesome, can we go drive near the beach?" Skye asks curious.
"I think we can do that." Coulson tells his daughter.
"Awesome, do I have time to shower?" Skye asks curious.
"Yep, your Mom said we're not going to land for another hour." Coulson reveals and Skye nods and heads upstairs.
An hour later the plane has landed in California and Fitz, Simmons and Ward have left to go get supplies and Coulson is down in the cargo bay with Melinda waiting on Skye
"You going to be okay here?" Coulson asks.
"I'll be fine Phil, the quite will allow me to run a few checks on the plane." Melinda tells him.
"Has something been acting up?" Coulson asks concerned.
"No, but I'd like to be sure." Melinda tells him.
"Good." Coulson responds and he and Melinda kiss.
"Oh god, warn me when you're doing that please." Skye says walking down the stairs wearing three quarter jeans and a tank top.
"Have you got a jacket?" Coulson asks Skye.
"Yes Dad." Skye says with an eye roll identical to the one Melinda has given him a hundred times.
"Good, and watch the attitude." Coulson responds, "See you in a couple of hours." He tells Melinda and he and Skye get into Lola.
"I'm choosing the music." Skye informs her father as Coulson reverses out of the plane.
Skye and Coulson have been driving for almost an hour when Coulson looks over and sees that Skye once again has her feet on the dash board.
"Feet down." Coulson repeats.
"Sorry." Skye says drawing it out.
"That is the second time I've had to tell you, please keep your feet of the dash." Coulson repeats.
"I said I was sorry." Skye tells him, "I'll try and remember." She tells him and Coulson sighs because he swears that his teenage daughter is going to cause him more stress than any mission.
"Please do." Coulson tells her, "Do you want to stop for a bit, get Ice Cream, maybe go for a walk?" Coulson asks curious.
"Yeah, that would be good." Skye respond and Coulson nods.
Ten minutes later Coulson has pulled into a parking lot of the beach.
"I'll get the ice cream, do you want your usual?" Coulson asks curious.
"Yep." Skye responds as she looks around.
"Good, don't…." Coulson starts to say but Skye cuts him off.
"Wonder off, I know." Skye tells him rolling her eyes once more at the fact that her Dad still treats her like a little kid even though she's not.
While her Dad goes and gets their ice cream Skye just looks around, why she does a boy who look to be around fifteen walks over to her.
"Hey." He says.
"Hey." Skye says in responds finding the boy quite cute.
"I'm Jake."
"Skye."
"Do you live around here, or are you just visiting?" Jake asks curious.
"Visiting, you?" Skye asks curious.
"I live just over there." He says pointing across the road, "This is like my backyard." He comments.
"That's cool." Skye responds with a smile and the pair continue to talk.
While Skye is having a nice conversation with a boy she just met Coulson is over by the ice cream stand waiting on his change for the ice cream.
"Here we are." The casher says to Coulson.
"Thanks." Coulson responds and he picks up the ice cream and he starts to walk back over to Skye, when he does he notices Skye talking and laughing with a boy that she has clearly just met.
"Skye, who's your friend?" Coulson asks suspiciously as he hands Skye her ice cream.
"Hey Dad, this is Jake." Skye responds, "He was just telling me about the tricks he can do on his skateboard.
"Cool." Coulson says sarcastically as he moves his jacket slightly so that the boy, Jake, can clearly see the ICER in his waist, though Coulson knows that it will just look like a regular gun, "I think it's time that Jake goes, don't you?" Coulson asks.
"Yes, of course, Sir." Jake responds and he hurries off, as he does Skye turns to her father and sees what he has done.
"What the hell Dad?" Skye asks angrily.
"Watch your language." Coulson tells her.
"No, I won't. I was just talking to someone, it wasn't a big deal." She tells her father.
"Yes it is." Coulson tells him, "That boy was much older than you." Coulson tells her.
"According to you and Mom I'm much older than him." Skye points out as while she doesn't believe what her parents tell her she will use it in an argument.
"Which is the true, technically, but at the moment you aren't even fourteen." Coulson tells her.
"We were talking, that's it." Skye says angrily, "I can't believe you would do that, scare someone off just because I was talking to him, what's next, huh? You becoming even more paranoid than usual?"
"Skye." Coulson begins to say but Skye cuts him off.
"I want to go home."
"Skye." Coulson tries once more but Skye cuts him off.
"I want to go home, now." Skye repeats.
"Okay, let's go." Coulson says and they both head back to the car Skye still clearly angry and not saying a word to her father.
For the entire drive back to the plane Skye is silent, she ignores her father whenever he tries to talk to her and she doesn't even complain about the choice in music.
When they arrive back at the plane everyone is standing in the Cargo Bay discussing something as they clearly sort out what supplies go where.
The second Coulson puts Lola in park, before he has even turned off the engine Skye gets out and slams the door.
"Skye." Coulson says in a stern voice which Skye ignores and she continues to go upstairs, "May Skye Philippa Coulson, you will come get back here this second and talk to me young lady." Coulson says and everyone else, even Melinda, are shocked as they have never head Coulson talk to Skye like that.
"What?" Skye asks turning back around and walking over to him, standing in front of him with her arms crossed.
"So that's it, you're just going to ignore me now?" Coulson asks.
"Well yeah." Skye answers, "You scared off a boy just because I was talking to him, what the hell Dad?" Skye asks angrily.
"Skye I was doing it for your own good." Coulson tells her.
"How, how was it for my own good?" Skye asks shocked, "I was just talking."
"You don't know anything about him, and we're leaving soon anyway." Coulson tells her.
"That doesn't mean I can't talk to someone, or make friends." Skye says angrily, "When you want to apologise for what you've done, I'll be in my room." Skye says once more walking up the stairs.
"Skye." Coulson says after her but she ignores him and continues to walk upstairs.
As Coulson watches Skye go, her ignoring his calls as he does, Fitz, Simmons and Ward go into the lab and Melinda walks over to Coulson.
"Looks like we're officially parenting a teenager." Melinda says to Coulson.
"Looks like we are." Coulson responds hating that his baby girl is so angry at him at the moment.
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