Skye hadn't left Clint's side since they'd left his nest, it wasn't so much that she was afraid to leave his side, more so that she simply didn't want to. Which was why they'd spent a good three quarters of an hour in the shower together, not only getting clean but also just re-familiarising themselves with each other.

Sitting on the couch Skye buried her nose into the collar of Clint's bathrobe that she was currently bundled in, the aroma of bacon and eggs wafting from the kitchen had her stomach growling loudly. Pushing off the couch she shuffled on bare feet into the kitchen, her mouth curving into a frown as her gaze drifted around, stepping up behind Clint where he stood at the stove she slipped her arms around his waist while asking "Where's Lucky?"

"Hmm, I think he's still staying with Fitz. Fitz didn't take your disappearance well at all and wouldn't let Lucky out of his sight," Clint replied as he settled one hand over the top of both of Skye's.

"Poor boys," she mumbled against Clint's shoulder blade just as her stomach once again voiced its annoyance over being empty.

"Skye, can you grab the plates off the counter for me?" Clint managed to get out between chuckles as Skye mumbled softly against his shoulder before moving away, he hadn't expected the loud grumble her stomach had made. "So I'm thinking after we've eaten that maybe we should go pay a visit to the bane of my existence?"

Setting the plates down beside the cooktop Skye glared at Clint as she reached up to smack the back of his head lightly, grumbling, "Be nice, your brother was like my guardian angel, Clint. God only knows what Ward would have done to me if Barney wasn't around."

She shuddered involuntarily at the thought, before she could even push the unwanted thought out of her head Skye found herself wrapped in Clint's arms and pulled against his bare chest as he murmured into her hair "Don't do that to yourself, Skye."

"I know, but it just popped in there," Skye blinked as she suddenly felt Clint's chest shuddering moments before his low rumble of laughter sounded.

"He was hardly the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, sweetheart," letting Skye go he turned back to dish up the food, grabbing the plates he turned to find Skye still standing there staring at him strangely, so he clarified "Reference from Ghostbusters."

"Huh?" Skye blinked, still confused by the comment as she took one of the offered plates from him , moving to take a seat at the breakfast counter.

"It's a movie, made in 1984," Clint set his plate down by Skye's before pulling his stool closer to her and sitting down beside her.

"Yeah, you do know that was before I was born? Plus being in the foster system didn't allow me much of an opportunity to watch movies."

Watching as Skye tucked into her breakfast he was reminded oddly of Steve and Bucky and their ravenous appetites, settling one hand on her bared thigh he picked up a piece of his toast and bit into it, waiting until after he'd swallowed to answer, "Right, we need to make a list of movies you need to see. Even Steve and Bucky have seen both Ghostbusters movies."

"Okay, being more behind on films than Steve and Bucky is bad, I'll admit to that, maybe we could make it like a group thing occasionally?" Skye mumbled around a mouthful of eggs.

Shaking his head with a chuckle Clint dug into his own breakfast, he was about half way through when from the corner of his eye he saw Skye snag a piece of his toast. He gave a gentle squeeze to her thigh as he swallowed his mouthful of eggs before grumbling "You know if you'd have asked I would have let you have the toast."

Smacking Clint's hand lightly off her thigh Skye slipped off the stool, stepped in closer to him and draped an arm around his shoulder as she leant in to whisper "It wouldn't have been as daring though."

Placing a quick kiss on Clint's cheek Skye headed off towards the bedroom to get changed, she made quick work of pulling on her leggings beneath the robe before shedding it to pull on a sports bra. She was busy rifling through one of Clint's drawers when his hands settled on her waist as he dropped his chin onto her shoulder. "So, can I borrow one of your shirts?"

Ten minutes later Skye stood in the hallway of the medical floor, her arms crossed over Clint's t-shirt that swam on her small frame, her eyes locked on Clint. He was stalled by the door to Barney's room, hand midway to the door handle as indecision warred on his face.

Stepping between Clint and the door Skye reached up to curl one hand around the back of his neck, pulling gently she urged Clint's head down till their foreheads touched and she was looking directly into his stormy eyes as she whispered "How long has it been since you two last saw each other, or even spoke without trying to kill each other?"

"Twenty years, give or take. Last time we spoke civilly was the day Carly….." Clint trailed off there and Skye really didn't need him to finish the sentence to know what day he was referring to.

"It's okay Clint, we don't need to speak about that. Barney told me what happened back then and how close the three of you were. Losing someone like that…well I've never really been through something like that but I imagine it wasn't easy for either of you."

"You could say that, sweetheart, we both dealt with our grief differently and it wound up with Barney trying to rip my head off. I'm not sure I can ever forgive him for what he did back then, nor for his part in taking you."

Blowing out an annoyed breath Skye smacked Clint lightly in the back of the head, shaking her head she stepped away from Barney's door and whirled to face Clint, pointing one finger at him. "That wasn't his fault Clint, Ward lied to him. You didn't see his reaction when he found out I was your soulmate, he was gutted."

Dropping her hand Skye closed her eyes and took several deep breaths, she didn't want to fight with Clint, especially not about something that happened when she wasn't around. Opening her eyes she moved back to Clint, wrapping her arms around his waist she hugged him tightly. "I'm sorry, it's just, he's your only family, Clint. All I ever wanted growing up was a proper family and it never happened so it hurts me to see you two like this."

"You've got plenty of family now sweetheart, you've got your team, and mine has all but adopted you as their baby sister, but most importantly you've got me." Clint rumbled while nuzzling into Skye's soft, silky hair.

"And by extension a brother recovering from a near death experience in the next room. So put on your big boy pants Barton, and get your sexy ass through that door," Skye added in while poking a finger into Clint's ribs before extricating herself from his hold to turn towards the door, curling her hand around the door handle she wrenched it open and glided into the room with a bright smile.

As the door creaked open Barney glanced up from the paper he was reading, Jemma had brought it when she'd stopped by earlier to check on him, he blinked slowly as Skye waltzed into the room with a bright smile and spring to her step while his brother stood awkwardly in the hallway as though debating whether or not to flee.

"Hey Princess, you're looking cheery today. Knucklehead out there been looking after you?" Barney grumbled huskily, he'd kill for something more to drink than water to ease the dryness and terrible taste in his mouth.

"Charlie, you're lucky I think of you as a brother otherwise I'd be shaking your ass for that damn nickname," Skye groused as she flung herself onto his chest carefully to hug him, Barney noted that she'd done her best to avoid putting pressure on his injuries.

Wrapping an arm around her shoulders to hug her back Barney did his best not to laugh at the mock look of disgust she'd worn as he used the nickname, as it was he failed miserably and wound up chuckling against Skye's temple even as his eyes flicked over the top of her head to meet Clint's as he quipped, "Were you born in a barn Clinton Francis, get your ass in here and close the damn door."

"Clinton Francis?" Skye twisted in Barney's hold as she shuffled her butt onto the bed beside Barney, her wide brown eyes glinting curiously at Clint.

"Barney," Clint growled warningly even as his brother smirked and opened his mouth.

"You didn't know his full name Princess?" Barney grunted as Skye jabbed her elbow lightly into his ribs.

"God you two are both such trolls," Skye mock sighed as she flung one arm over her eyes, her actions receiving dual chuckles.

"How is it you haven't made her part of the family officially yet Clint?" Barney asked incredulously as his eyes dropped meaningfully to Skye's left hand before flicking back to meet his brother's.

"Hadn't had a chance to get round to even contemplate asking before she was abducted," Clint retorted as he looked pointedly at his brother.

Skye blinked dazedly up at Barney before glancing to Clint; surely she'd misheard that. Blinking slowly she knew she should probably say something and opened her mouth, yet all that came out was a low "Uhm."

"Now look what you did Barney, you shocked her senseless," Clint groused with a half hearted glare at his brother.

"Clint, you're a grown ass man and know just as well as I do how short life can be. Do you really want to risk losing her like I lost Carly?" Barney said quietly even as his arm tightened around Skye who was mumbling incoherently to herself.

Skye wasn't sure when she'd fallen asleep or even for how long, or had she passed out? The last thing she vaguely recalled was visiting Barney with Clint, pulling on May's training she tried to take in her surroundings without opening her eyes. Keeping her breathing steady she focused on her senses, the faint sterile smell told her she was still on the medical floor.

She was aware of the low murmur of male voices from above her head, though she couldn't tell what was being said as she was pretty sure they were speaking in Italian. Skye was wedged between two muscular forms; the one behind her she knew without a doubt was Clint, his calloused hand a now familiar sensation resting beneath his shirt on her stomach.

Which meant the muscular form in front of her was Barney, she wasn't sure how exactly they were all fitting on the single bed but it probably had something to do with them being sandwiched as they were. Skye was doing her best to ignore the warm breath on the back of her neck; she was doing remarkably well in her opinion right up until Clint murmured right against her ear "We know you're awake."

"Then maybe you both should have stopped talking in another language sooner," Skye muttered quietly before forcing her eyes open to look up at Barney's grinning face. "Why do you look like the cat that ate the canary?"

"I find it just a little funny that Clint and I fell out over the death of a curvaceous brunette and it took a stubborn slip of a brunette to bring us back together."

"Actually it took you abducting said stubborn slip of a brunette," Clint started to say before Skye shut him up with a growled,

"Clinton Francis, drop it."

Barney's eyes darted to Clint and the scowl forming on his face had him hastily saying, "Chill little brother, I'm not looking to share your soulmate. She just reminds me of Carly a little and I'd like to be her friend, if she'll have me?" Watching Clint blink slowly at the words as the scowl fell from his face Barney dropped his gaze back down to Skye.

"Well, you kinda don't have a choice in the matter Charlie, whether I like you or not you're family and family has to stick together. Also can someone please enlighten me as to why I'm the meat in a Barton sandwich?"

"You're our comfort buffer, sweetheart." Clint said simply by her ear as though that made everything clear, all it did was have Skye frowning at Barney in confusion.

"We both felt more comfortable talking to each other with you between us, conscious or not," Barney clarified hoping his comment made sense to Skye.

"It's still a little awkward, cause I really could have done without being semi-intimately aware of my," Skye stalled here, she really had no idea how to refer to Clint. Simply calling him her soulmate was starting to feel just a little impersonal and she didn't know what Clint thought about being referred to as her boyfriend or lover, in the end she continued with "of Clint's brother. Oh we so need to find you a girlfriend Barney."

"How about Sif? She could keep him in line." Clint chirped, a little too enthusiastically.

"So could May." Skye shot back rapidly as she tried to turn her head to look at Clint.

"Whoa, hold up you two. How about you leave trying to set me up until I'm out of the damned hospital bed and instead focus on your own partnership, relationship, love affair, whatever the damn hell it is you two are currently doing," Barney snapped irritably.

"He has a point, Clint. What are we doing? I mean don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, I'm just curious. Are we dating, lovers, friends with benefits or other?" Skye asked so quietly she barely heard her own voice.

"All of the above?" Clint hedged, until he found himself looking into the angry slate eyes of his brother at the same moment Skye sighed quietly and started trying to slip free from her confinement. "Honestly sweetheart, I suck with this whole relationship/dating thing and would you even want to make an honest man out of me?"

Skye was in the process of scrambling over Clint when he'd asked that, and seriously what kind of question was that? Was it a proposal, was she supposed to take it as Clint asking her if she'd ever want to marry him? Unable to move with her weight braced precariously on her right hand and knee on the edge of the mattress Skye stared into Clint's mesmerising, beautiful blue-grey eyes. Licking at her suddenly dry lips she whispered "Yes? I mean I would if that's what you wanted and was that even a question I was meant to answer? Hell Clint, we haven't even bonded yet and I so don't even know what to feel about that. Especially with Jemma telling me last night she could feel Bucky through their bond over the past three days."

"Um," Barney said, "much though I'm actually peculiarly emotionally invested in seeing you two not fuck this up, this really might be a conversation the two of you want to have without an audience?"

Two heads snapped around to gaze at him, and he grinned, realising they'd both forgotten he was there. "Alternatively, please allow me to referee. And translate."

"Translate?" Skye said, puzzled.

"Translate dumbass-Barton-speak for you, Skye. What Clint is trying to say, I believe, is that he's fucking crazy about you but he's so damned insecure he's convinced you wouldn't want him long-term. Hence his leaving you the escape route of not bonding with you."

Skye blinked. Looked back at Clint, lying underneath her. "Is that true?"

He tried to look anywhere but at her. "Um. Maybe?"

"And Clint," Barney butted in again while Skye was still trying to think of what to say to that, "I've talked to Skye enough over the last few days to get a pretty decent read on her, I'd like to think. And I'm guessing that you have absolutely no idea that she has such major abandonment issues that she thinks you haven't asked to bond with her yet because you're leaving yourself an escape route."

"What? No!" Clint exclaimed, looking at Skye. "Is that true?"

Still poised awkwardly above him, she tried to scramble off, but his strong hands on her waist stopped her. "Yeah," Skye admitted awkwardly after a moment.

Barney rolled his eyes. "What a pair. Clearly I'd better stick around to make sure you two don't fuck this up completely."