Chapter 28: Excitement Is Dangerous
Notes- This is unbeta-ed any mistakes are my own. Feel free to point them out and I'll fix them ASAP.
I know it's been ages. I've had a lot of stuff going on the last few months and while I haven't had a chance to publish another chapter of this particular story. I have written some smaller pieces about various fan fiction pairings that have grabbed my attention. I think I needed those to distract myself because I'm having some trouble figuring out the ending to this particular story. I want Skye to somehow complete the story with facing her fears but I haven't worked out how or her reaction to it so I've been kind of stuck with this story. Sorry this chapters kind of a betweener but the next they arrive at the beach house and I love the next chapter.
Fitz's POV- Status: The Bus. Whereabouts: "On Route to The Beach House."
He sat on the couch listening to Skye babble about the wonders of the ocean and how much she loved The Beach House. "I made you a wocket so you'd come eat my left over jam pancakes." Skye informed him, proudly. "Do you think it'll still be there?" She asked hopefully.
He'd seen a picture of Skye's rocket on Ward's phone. He knew it wasn't very likely it would still be there, he didn't know what to say. How could he tell her that it was most likely washed away? He didn't want to upset her. Fitz noticed Ward leaning against the door frame listening to Skye so he quickly changed the subject to avoid answering Skye's question. "Did you really throw Skye up in the air so the waves wouldn't get her?" He teased, raising an eye brow in disbelief.
"Why is it so hard for everyone to believe I know how to have fun? And yes, I did." Ward told him, walking over to them and placed Skye in his lap.
Grant's POV
Fitz laughed. "Maybe because we haven't witness this 'fun' Ward for ourselves." He suggested lightly. "I guess you'll just have to prove it to us." He challenged.
"I see what you did there. I'm a trained specialist. I can't be manipulated that easily, Fitz." He told the engineer, who scoffed.
"Can't be manipulated?" Fitz snickered in disbelievingly. "Skye manipulates you all the time." He informed him offhandedly. "She only has to pout or get all teary eyed and you give her whatever she wants." He told him, matter of factly.
Fitz made it sound like he spoiled Skye and she was some kind of brat or something because of it. He hated seeing Skye upset so he did give her whatever she wanted to make her happy but he didn't do it to spoil her. "It's not manipulation." He told Fitz.
"Oh really?" Fitz argued.
"Yeah, really. I just can't stand seeing Skye not get what she wants because she deserves it and so much more." He explained standing up, heading to their bunk to make sure they were all packed. He didn't want to talk about this anymore.
Fitz called after him. "You're right, Ward. It's not manipulation. Wanna know what it is?"
He just turned around so he was standing in the door way of his bunk facing the engineer.
"It's love Ward. You want Skye to have everything she wants because you love her. She deserves it but you're forgetting she already has all she ever wanted." Fitz told him, also getting up and heading towards the lab.
"What's that?" He asked Fitz, confused.
"A place where she belongs and someone who loves her unconditionally." Fitz told him, disappearing down the stairs.
Once he'd gotten over the shock of Fitz's words, he headed into his bunk. Skye was watching him gather everything and put it into their bags. She was restless now she knew where they were going. She wanted to play and not be cooped up anymore. Skye kept bouncing up and down excitedly on his bed. "Skye don't bounce on the bed. I don't want you falling off." He told her, gathering up another of her little purple singlets and put it in her bag.
He had barely finished telling Skye not to bounce on the bed when he heard a thud and Skye started crying. He spun around to find Skye a mess of tangled limbs on the floor. "Baby, I told you not to bounce on the bed." He scolded her, sounding harsher than he meant in his concern to see if she was hurt.
Skye flinched, moving away as he tried to help her up. She was holding a hand to her head. "I'm sorry, baby. I didn't mean to yell." He apologised, trying to get a good look at her head. "Can I have a look at your head, please?" He asked her gently, kneeling in front of her.
Skye hid her face as she pulled up knees. "I-I didn't m-mean to." She spluttered out shakily. "I fall'd off." She choked out.
He didn't mean to upset her more. "I know you didn't mean to fall off, baby." He assured her, trying to calm her down. "Can I look at your head please?" He asked her, gently. He reached out, smoothing her hair down. She flinched again so he pulled his hand back- it had blood smeared on it. "SKYE! Lift your head now." He demanded, panicked seeing her blood on his hand. Skye jumped at his loud voice but lift her head. "Sorry baby." He apologised again for startling her. "I need to see where you're bleeding from." He explained to her. He watched her eyes widen in shock, she put her hand up to her head and drew back bloody little fingers.
Skye looked up at him through wet eye lashes. "Hurts. Bang it on d'at." She told him, pointing towards the bedside table.
When Skye had turned her head to glare accusingly at the offending piece of furniture, he could see a small cut on her hairline. "Can you look at me and hold still." He instructed her, examining her cut. She looked up at him frighten, recognising his serious voice. "You're ok, bub. I just need to stop you're head bleeding. You must have hit it on the corner." He guessed, looking around for something to stop the bleeding.
There's not even a t-shirt on the floor. He thought annoyed at himself for being such a neat freak.
He didn't want to leave Skye sitting here by herself scared and bleeding. "T-shirt." He exclaimed, pulling his over his head. "Bub, this might hurt a little but I need you to stay still." He warned her. "Can you do that for me?" He asked her, balling up his t-shirt. Skye nodded, only whimpering a little when he pressed it to her head. "I'm gunna take you to Simmons so she can check you out." He told her, scooping her up.
Thomas' POV
Panic filled his chest as he looked up and saw Grant holding a bloody t-shirt to Skye's head as he carried her into the lab. "What happened?" He demanded, alarmed.
Grant and Skye both flinched at his shout. He felt a little guilty for making them feel worse but he wanted an explanation for the bloody t-shirt. His sweet pea had been hurt. Skye looked like she was holding back tears and Grant's face had lost its colour. "What happened?" He repeated insistently, coming up beside them and rubbing Skye's arm to comfort her.
Grant's POV
He cringed as Tommy shouted, instantly feeling guilty. He was meant to be protecting Skye and she got hurt on his watch. He felt Skye flinched, probably because she shouldn't have been bouncing on the bed and she knew it. He set Skye down on the lab table giving his brother a glare before explaining. "Skye might have been bouncing on the bed after I'd told her not to and fell off. She must have hit her head on the way down. She's got a little cut on her hair line." He explained mostly to Simmons, who nodded. Tommy relaxed accepting his explanation and Fitz didn't look surprised and continued working on his experiment while stealing glanced there way.
"I-I didn't mean too." Skye stuttered, lower lip trembling.
"I know bubby. You were just excited." He wiped her tears away while Simmons cleaned up her cut. "But I've told you about jumping on the bed before." He reminded her, not letting her off the hook.
Skye nodded guiltily, bitting her lower lip to keep from crying out as Simmons poked and prodded her cut.
Simmons had cleaned up Skye's head with no problems. Thankfully it wasn't that deep and only needed to be covered with a small bandage strip. "Is she going to be alright, Simmons?" He asked her, worriedly.
"Skye will be fine, she doesn't have a concussion." Simmons informed him. "You better make sure she takes it easy for the rest of the day." She instructed him.
"Lock it or lose it. We're landing in 10 minutes." May's voice informed them over the loud speaker.
He noticed that Skye had lost her enthusiasm and was still looking upset. "Ready for some fun at our castle, baby?" He asked her, heading for his bunk to grab a new t-shirt that was blood free before buckling in, Skye only nodded.
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Skye stayed quiet all though the landing. "Think you can carry this for me, bub?" He asked her, holding up her Thomas The Tank bag. He didn't need her to; he just wanted her to engage with him in some way other than this silence.
Skye shrugged.
He frowned. "Baby, what's wrong?" He asked her. Skye shrugged again, taking the backpack and putting in on. "You're being very quiet."
He didn't like Skye being this quiet. It was weird. Something was obviously on her mind. Her silence finally got to him. He picked her up and stood her on the bed facing him so she was at his eye level. "Baby, talk to me. What's the matter?" He asked her, lifting her chin so she couldn't hide.
"I didn't mean to do a bad thing." She mumbled, her eyes getting teary again.
"Falling off the bed was an accident. You didn't do it on purpose." He told her.
"I bad, I not listen." She insisted, shaking her head distressed.
"Baby, you're not a bad girl. Every little kid doesn't listen sometimes." He told her, wiping her tears away with his thumb. "You're only little, baby. You were excited and that's ok. You're allowed to be excited; we're going home." He told her with a smile, trying to cheer her up.
Skye smiled when he mentioned home and it warmed him. "You ready to go home?" He asked her.
"I weady." She told him, excitement back in her eyes as she held her arms out to him.
He scooping her up, grabbing the rest of their bags and headed for the cargo bay where everyone else was waiting.
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Tommy was seating in the passenger seat of the SUV. "About time you two showed up." He called from the open window.
He ignored his brother. "Think you can go hop in your car seat while I put these in the boot." He asked Skye, setting her on her feet and watching her run off to her door. He chucked their bags in the back with everyone else's.
"Ward." Coulson called, getting his attention.
He shut the boot and walked around to the driver's side of Lola. "Sir?" He inquired.
"May needs your keys." Coulson reminded him, nodding over to where May sat already on his motorcycle.
"Right, of course." He said, digging into his pocket and chucking the keys over to her. "Anything else sir?" He inquired.
"That's all Ward, let's get going." Coulson said, putting the key in the ignition and starting Lola up.
"Drive carefully, darling." Gramsy call after him from the passenger seat as he headed towards the SUV.
"Always do Gramsy." He called back, giving her a wave.
He opened Skye's door. "All buckled and ready to go?" He asked her, checking her buckles were done up correctly.
"I'm a big girl. I done up myself." She informed him, pointing to her buckles with a proud smile on her face.
"Good job, baby." He told her, smoothing down her curls. He closed Skye's door and hopped in starting up the SUV. "All ready to go?" He asked the occupants of the car. Getting a chorus of yes' he reversed down the ramp, heading for the only place he could ever really imagine calling home now that Gramsy's house was gone.
