Chapter 37
There's always something eating a grilled cheese that makes you forget everything that is going on. For Skye, that's exactly how it was. She forgot everything that was going on and just submerged herself into the enjoyment of the grilled cheese that Coulson had made for her.
"That had to of been the best grilled cheese I've had in a while." She says finishing it.
"There's a secret ingredient." Coulson replies.
The two of them are sitting in the integration room of the bus avoiding the rest of the team but more importantly trying to keep Skye safe.
"A secret ingredient?" Skye questions. "Do tell."
Coulson chuckles. "That's classified. Clint would probably kill me if he found out I even made it for you."
Skye gasps at the comment and then shakes her head. Of course Clint Barton would be the one to come up with a secret ingredient for a grilled cheese.
"How are you feeling?" Coulson asks.
"I barely feel it."
"We wouldn't be doing this if we didn't feel it was necessary."
"So that means I'm going on the gifted index?"
"Yes, you are."
Skye looks away from Coulson where he was sitting at. The past few hours had been rough on her. Losing her husband and gaining powers was not something she had meant to be going for. Or the fact that both of them were children of monsters.
"I've been doing some monitoring of my own. Check this out." Skye starts as she shows Coulson the watch that Fitz and Mack made her. "My entire life, I've been searching for my parents, and my search ended with answers that are so much worse than I could have imagined. Sad, twitchy, not-all-there dad, a dead mom, alien mist that turned me into a walking natural disaster, my dead husband."
Skye puts her face into her hands as she begins to feel tears in her eyes.
"Hey." Coulson says getting up and sitting next to. "It's not your fault. Andrew went down there to save you. And that's what he did. You're here safe."
"But he's not here."
"It's not your fault." Coulson repeats.
Skye looks up at the director and begins to dry her face. The hacker is trying her best to remain calm so nothing happens.
"I'm steady right now. Nothing is shaking." She says.
"That's good."
"If I keep working at this, I'll be back in the field in no time."
Skye smiles slightly. She knows this is what Drew would have wanted for her. To be able to go on with her life even if he wasn't there. The hacker could do it.
Bobbi peeks out the door of the lab as May goes by. She raises an eyebrow and then looks at Jemma who is doing the same.
"Wonder what she's up to." Bobbi questions.
Jemma shakes her head and brings the tablet with Skye's data over to where the mockingbird is standing. There's another tablet sitting on the lab bench that holds information for Andrew.
"Another question I don't have answers to." The biochemist responds. "Why do you have Andrew's DNA?"
Bobbi looks at the tablet and then over at Jemma.
"It had been mentioned that Drew has I mean had something similar to what Skye has."
Jemma looked at the data briefly.
"The obelisk." the biochemist says. "He should have been worthy of it."
"Yes."
"But he's dead. And Raina is still alive somehow."
Bobbi looks at her friend with a look that she knows more then what is being let on but Jemma doesn't catch on. She's too busy looking at Fitz who just walks in, grabs something and then leaves.
"How long are you going to give him?" Bobbi eventually asks.
Jemma breaks out of the moment she was having and then looks at the agent.
"Who Fitz?"
Bobbi chuckles a bit. "Yes."
"He lied to me."
"We're spies. We lie for a living."
Jemma doesn't say anything but goes back to looking at the tablets trying to compare data.
"I think Fitz's intentions were good. He was trying to protect a friend." Bobbi continues.
"From what? From me!?" Jemma raises her voice slightly. "Possibly corrupting data? Altering it? Fitz and I shared science. It's sacred."
Jemma continues to voice her opinion when Bobbi's cell phone beeps. The biochemist gives a puzzled look as the mockingbird looks at it.
"I gotta take this." Bobbi tells her.
Jemma motions her to go and the mockingbird just smiles before walking out into the hallway.
"Where are you?" Andrew hears on the other end of the phone.
He can hear Bobbi as she speaks to Mack. His hearing level slightly up since his transformation.
"I just" Mack stops partly looking at the other agent. "We just made it to the nearest safe house."
"What do you mean we?"
"Parker and I."
"You and Drew? No. Why is he with you?"
"Just back up, Barbara. Everything is fine. I'm cleaning up this as best as I can."
"This is such a mess."
Andrew continues to shake his head at the comments coming from the phone. He's kind of watch Hunter as he struggles to get loose from the sink he's handcuffed to.
"Who are you?" Lance asks. "Is that Bobbi on the phone?"
Andrew laughs briefly. "Oh boy Hunter, Mack didn't hit you that hard."
Hunter looks at the man in front of him. The hood covering his eyes makes it a little hard to see who it is with the darkness that surrounds him in the bathroom.
"Parker is that you?"
Andrew flips his hood down to reveal his face entirely. There's still a cut on his face that hasn't been cleaned yet.
"How you doing buddy?" he says with a smile.
Hunter growls and begins to try and escape but nothing is happening.
"If that's Bobbi on the phone, tell her I take it back. All of it." Hunter doesn't get to finish before Andrew knocks him out again and shuts the door to the bathroom.
"We have no exit strategy so the longer I am gone, Coulson is going to raise questions." Mack tells the phone.
"Let me speak to Drew."
Mack takes the phone away from his ear and hands it over to the taskmaster who is now sitting across from him at the table.
"Yes." He says into the phone.
"I think we have to bring him in." Bobbi tells him.
"Are you sure about that?"
"Hunter already knows too much. Plus we have you on our side."
"We can't have Gonzales know about my powers though. We already know how he feels about them."
Andrew hears Bobbi sigh on the other end of the phone.
"Right. I'll get an extraction team sent to you and Mack. A change of gear for you as well."
"Sounds perfect."
"Alright put Mack back on."
The taskmaster does what he is told and hands back the older agent the phone. He hears the same stuff being told to him in a different way followed by the ending of make sure Hunter at least gets a beer.
It's just a matter of time till everything is put into place for the three of them.
"You're kidding right? A shrink?" Skye questions May after she comes in and offers the idea.
"It's not personal." May says.
"Hell it's not. I don't need a shrink."
"It's a standard procedure for-"May starts before getting cut off by Skye.
"I am an agent."
"Exactly so you know this must happen." May tells her moving closer to the young agent. "Andrew is good. He's done this before."
Skye looks at her S.O. with a puzzled look. How is it her shrink is going to have the same name as her husband?
"You'll like him."
"How? How are you so sure?"
"You and I both share a common thing. Our husbands were name Andrew."
Skye opened her mouth but nothing came out. No way had she thought that May was ever married before.
"So tell me about the wedding." Skye starts off with after Andrew Garner takes a seat in front of her and gets situated.
"Tell me about your wedding?" he bounces back at her.
"We had it at the beach. Very private." She answers. "Was May actually pretty cool?"
"She was." The therapist tells her. "Andrew Parker, that's who you married. He was another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, right?"
"Yes. Before his death saving me."
"I heard he was a good man. The nephew of the former commander and an avenger. How did you manage to get lucky with that?"
"I met him at a club his step brother brought him to. Miles and I are good friends."
"What kind of club?"
Skye smiles at the comment as she remembers her shy husband when they first met.
"It was an exclusive club."
"Is he why you shot yourself with the ICER?"
Skye ducks her head down. "I'm not trying to kill myself. I wouldn't have done that with an ICER if that was part of the motive."
"But you would have done that if it was a real gun?" Garner questions.
"Yes." Skye answers honestly with tears in her eyes. "I feel lost without him here. I don't know what I'm doing."
"But the ICER, you used that for a reason?"
"To protect everyone else. They're my family,"
Garner just nods. He understands what the hacker is trying to get at.
"Melinda and I ended up eloping. And no it wasn't Vegas even though she does love Vegas." He finally tells Skye with a chuckle at the end.
The hacker dries her tears a bit before speaking again.
"I also shot myself with the ICER because I couldn't stop what I was doing. I couldn't make it stop shaking."
Garner looks at Skye and nods.
"How did that make you feel?"
"I was terrified."
Fitz grabbed his cup from his room and headed towards the dining room where the microwave was located at. He was all set to use it until he saw May and Garner in there and it looked like they were… They were laughing.
Fitz crinkled his nose and left the doorway before heading towards the lab. His cold tea would have to be warmed up in a place he didn't want to be in if Jemma was there as they were still not talking to each other last time he checked.
"Not staying long." Fitz announces when he walks into the lab. "Didn't want to disturb May and her ex."
Jemma who was at the computer doing research turned around and looked puzzled at Fitz.
"Disturb them from what?"
"In the kitchen talking."
Fitz opens the microwave and then closes it after setting his cup in it.
"What are they talking about? Skye's condition?"
Fitz shakes his head no.
"Seems that May is a terrible cook and he was teasing her about it."
"Something that May doesn't excel in? Interesting."
Both of the scientists continue to babble along about May and Garner until they are interrupted by a sudden beep.
Jemma looks at the computer and is quickly ready to get in action.
"It's Skye!" she exclaims. "We need to get May and Doctor Garner right now."
Fitz ends up leaving his tea in the microwave after it dings and both the scientists are heading towards the kitchen to get the other two. The base feels like its shaking and they all have to be careful when they run.
"Damn it, Skye." May says.
Somehow they do eventually make it to the bus where Skye is sleeping. The shaking is worse there.
"Drew." They hear Skye mumble in her sleep over and over again.
Garner is the first one to take action by trying to wake her up.
"Skye you need to wake up." He says.
"She's shaking the room." May explains as she pushes FitzSimmons out of the interrogation room and back to the base.
Garner is the only one in the room when Skye wakes up before May comes back in.
"Skye, you're shaking the room. You need to stop." Her S.O. informs her.
The hacker nods and tries her best to calm down. The bus is no longer shaking.
Just like Bobbi had said, clothes were sent over to the safe house as quickly as possible. Drew was able to change out of his tactical gear and into regular clothes that Gonzales wouldn't really be suspicious of.
"All your gear fits in that one backpack?" Mack asks after Drew comes out of a room.
"Yes. It was an added bonus to when I got it." He answers.
Mack just hums and goes back to the newspaper he was reading. In the bathroom, the two agents can hear Hunter banging around.
"Drink your beer, man." Mack tells him.
"I'm hungry, mate." Hunter replies.
Drew rolls his eyes at the comment before seeing the phone Mack had light up. A message from Bobbi saying that everything was on course. An agent from Gonzales' fraction would meet them soon.
Skye knew what she had to do in order to get everything to stop shaking. She had to get her heart rate down. There was no need for the hacker to overload herself if she wanted a chance to get back into the field anytime soon.
"How are you doing that?" Garner questions.
He can see Skye looking at her watch, counting the seconds that have gone by. When Skye feels calm enough she finally answers him back.
"May taught me while Drew was away with Simmons on a mission. I was scared something could happen to him so when I had a bad dream one night, she found me sleeping in the lounge. I had been shaking when she woke me up. May taught me how to focus on a single point after I told her I was worried and since then I've been doing that." The hacker explains.
"The bad dream explains why everything was shaking then?" Garner questions.
Skye nods her head.
"What was the dream about?"
The hacker takes a deep breath before answering. It was going to take a moment to let herself share. But she can't remember everything entirely.
"I'm not sure." She answers.
"You were saying his name when we found you." Garner tells her. "You kept repeating Drew over and over again."
"Do you know how hard it is to lose someone, Dr. Garner?"
"I do. It's tough."
"I'm never getting him back. I killed my husband in that temple. Drew and I should have never been anywhere close to that place."
There's tears forming in her eyes. The hacker had been close to losing Drew when her father tried to kill him. Then she runs into the temple after Raina thinking she can stop it. Skye should have known that Drew would follow. That's how he was, the agent had to keep her safe.
"That's not what I've been told."
"That is what happened, trust me."
As soon as Skye says that the plane begins to shake. She tries to steady herself on the bed she was previously sleeping on as Garner reached for the chair.
"Skye you need to calm down." He says as he notices Skye's tears are coming down a little bit harder.
"It's not me I swear."
When they both realize what's going on, they figure out that the bus is in motion. It becomes steady enough to where they are able to move and Skye is almost out the door before Garner puts a hand on her shoulder.
"Stay here. I'll figure out what is going on." He says.
"What if it's something?" Skye looks offended.
"I'm sure it's something but not that kind of something."
Before Skye can answer back, Garner is already leaving the interrogation room. The hacker is alone once more.
"Dinner." Mack says after coming back from what looks to be a pizza place. "I got your favorite. Hawaiian. Not sure how you eat that."
He looks at Andrew with a disgusted look on his face. The other agent had been leaning up against the wall watching Hunter while Mack unlocked the handcuffs so he could eat the pizza.
"I thought the prisoner gets to choose his last meal?" Hunter asks disappointed.
"Doesn't work out that way exactly." Drew tells the Englishman.
Hunter looks over at the agent and raises his eyebrow before pointing at him.
"You're supposed to be dead. I heard nothing was left of you except your wedding ring."
The agent chuckles for a brief second before answering.
"So that's where that disappeared. Who has my ring?" he questions.
"Why should I tell you? You're dead."
"It doesn't work that way." Andrew says again. "Mack."
The mechanic shakes his head before pushing his way out the door and moving the other agent away as well but makes sure Hunter stays in the bathroom.
"Boys I don't really want to get between this." He tells the two. "But last time I checked your wife has it."
"Mack!" Hunter yells.
"Sorry Hunter. Gotta help my partner right now."
"I thought we were friends. Mack, what is going on?"
Before Mack answers, the phone the two agents were using rings. The mechanic reaches for the door to the bathroom.
"You'll find out soon enough." He says just as Andrew is telling him it's Bobbi on the phone. "Take it."
Andrew does what he is told and flips opens the phone.
"Parker."
"Drew, we have a slight problem." He hears the mockingbird on the other end.
"What kind of problem?"
"A problem where Coulson and May want to use Skye to lure her father into capture."
"What!?"
"We're in Wisconsin. I'm not sure how fast you can make it. May in Skye are in route now. But I have a quinjet sent for you that should be arriving in a few minutes."
"I'll get my gear and I'll be there as fast as I can."
"Thanks Andrew." He hears before the line goes dead.
The taskmaster is getting a look from Mack as he goes to grab his gear back and pulls in on over his shoulders.
"What's going on?"
"Stay here with Hunter. I have business to attend." He says.
"Drew, this isn't how it's supposed to work."
Mack stops in his way of the safe house's door.
"Mack, I need to go."
"Where?"
"Bobbi needs help. It involves Skye. You know my wife is my first priority if she's in trouble."
The mechanic shakes his head right as they feel a rumble from above.
"Sounds like my ride is here." Drew says before escaping past Mack and out the door.
He had to save his wife. Drew couldn't lose her like Skye had lost him.
Shortly before the Bus had landed, Skye heard May and Garner argue it out on why there were traveling. For Garner, he thought it was unsafe for the hacker to travel. Worried that there was a chance Skye could have another episode. But after finding out the motive of why they were on the move, the hacker agrees with May that they should.
Skye's father was out there trying to fight against Coulson. The hacker wasn't about to lose a father like figure to her monster of a real father. She already lost Drew because of him, she wasn't going to lose anyone else.
During the flight, the three of them discuss what will happen. What the plan would be. It all feels like a distant memory for Skye because eventually she's being hauled off the Bus by May with an ICER held to her neck, walking towards a football field.
On the field, the hacker expects him to be there. Her father is talking to Coulson about how he wants S.H.I.E.L.D. to pay for all its crimes. So they could stop before they do it to her.
"Are you talking about her?" May asks still pointing the ICER towards Skye.
Cal turns around looking surprised that they are even there. He didn't plan for his daughter to see what he had plan. All the innocent people that are laying around because of him and his new friends. Coulson can't believe May actually decided to go the route that they are currently in.
"Daisy." Cal says.
"She's on the index now." May tells him.
That only makes things a little bit worse when Cal starts to look like he has a panic attack. Skye is nervous as it continues to go on.
"Daisy, they can't take you like this. You don't deserve this."
Skye knows not to speak but she can't help but watch Coulson try to get into position but can only do so much with Cal's helpers. Bobbi is around somewhere but not too sure exactly.
"I was thinking I could help you control your powers. What do you think?" Cal continues.
May shakes her head and pushes the ICER a little bit more into Skye.
"Talk to me, not her."
"The diviner chose you, Daisy. But you know what, they brainwashed you. Agent May, you won't kill my Daisy."
Cal hands Angar the microphone he had in his hand. "Lately you haven't listened to what I have been saying but maybe my friend here can give some insight."
Angar doesn't seem to get anything in as a flash of blue light comes onto the field. It wraps around Cal but knocks the inhuman and Coulson out of the way.
The grip that May had on Skye loosens slightly as the blue light disappears with Cal and another man with no eyes. Everything starts to slow down but soon picks up again after the yell of a lady from the bleachers.
"End this now!" Karla screams across to the guys on the field.
When Parker makes it to the field, a battle has just begun. The quinjet that Bobbi had sent for him drops the taskmaster out near the parking lot so he has to run in. But thankfully for him being able to go invisible, he's able to sneak behind a few people and knock them over.
In the mist of it all, he sees May let go of his wife's body and she runs into the arms of another man. Someone he's never seen before. It's when Coulson and May start to have trouble is when he reveals himself.
Parker's shield goes flying past May and over towards Coulson.
"Coulson, catch!" he yells.
Surprisingly Phil listens and grabs the shield taking down Wendell Levi. What the taskmaster doesn't expect is the football field to start shaking. Instantly he looks around and finds Skye.
"Andrew!?" she yells out questioning if it is her dead husband or not.
She knows his voice anywhere so the taskmaster is not surprised when she says it. Drew flips down his hood and pulls down the part covering his mouth.
"Skye!" he yells back before he sees her fall and he's running towards her.
He tries his best to wake her but nothing is happening. The agent checks for a pulse and a sense of relief comes to him knowing that his wife is alive still.
Coulson is the one that gets to them first helping Drew pick up his wife so they could carry her to the Bus. The director doesn't ask any questions and Drew isn't too sure if he knows how to answer any if there is any.
Bobbi and May come next with the man Drew hasn't met yet and soon they are heading towards the Bus to head back to base.
The taskmaster is questioned much later during their travel back to base by Coulson and May while Skye is still unconscious. Honestly Drew should have knew that was going to happen.
"Where have you been?"
"We thought you were dead."
"Skye has been devastated."
Somehow he manages to answer every question. He also leaves out what is happening with Bobbi and Mack. How they all are part of the real S.H.I.E.L.D. and that Gonzales is the director of it. Or that he knows that Hunter is missing and locked up in a bathroom hanging out with Mack.
"You know, we have to put you on the index." Coulson tells him.
"I know. It's the right thing to do right now if Skye went on there as well." Drew responds.
Coulson only nods and eventually leaves with May. It's a long ride back home to base but thankfully he has Bobbi to keep him company.
Drew eventually learns of Andrew Garner, the therapist with the same first name as him and how he is May's ex-husband. Garner had come to sit with them for a bit, interested in what made Parker so special.
The team eventually arrives back on base and it seems quiet until the base doors open and come running is FitzSimmons with Trip walking behind them. They're excited to have their friend back along with everyone else safely back.
FitzSimmons is talking so fast and even Parker who can normally keep up, can't this time but he knows they're asking how he is alive and if they can run tests on him. Trip only smiles and laughs, telling him that he's glad Drew is back. The taskmaster tries to tell them to slow down but he doesn't get to say it in time because Coulson is calling for him and Simmons to go see Skye.
The hacker is awake when Parker and Simmons come into the interrogation room. Garner is already there talking to her while she lays on the bed. They try to keep the conversation going but it's hard when you have two new visitors.
"Drew." Skye says when she sees her husband as Simmons came in first and begins to put something on her hands.
The hacker quickly sits up as he walks towards her to sit on the bed.
"Hey Skye." He says carefully as he watches what Simmons does.
When Simmons is done, it looks like gauntlets are covering her hands.
"What are these?" Skye asks.
"Casts I made so you can keep yourself from do anymore damage to yourself." Jemma tells her.
"I don't understand."
"You were directing your powers inward, Skye." Garner says. "We can't have you potentially hurting yourself even further."
Skye blinked and crinkled her forehead.
"What does that mean?"
"I made the casts from compression microfibers to help contain the shaking, minimize the damage." Jemma responds.
Drew shakes his head. "No Jemma. I don't think that's what Skye meant."
Jemma looks at Drew and tilts her head confused.
"I think it means we'll figure this out. We both have powers now. You and I can learn from each other and figure it out."
Skye for the first time in a while truly smiles at her husband. He was back and he was right in front of her.
The husband and wife both smiled back at each other and eventually don't even notice that they were alone by themselves now.
"You're alive?" Skye asked.
"I am." Drew tells her.
"Don't leave me again."
"I won't"
Now if only Drew could keep that promise. He only hoped that everything going on with the real S.H.I.E.L.D. wasn't going to affect his marriage. How long could he keep it up for? Would she ever forgive him if she actually knew what he was up to?
Hi everyone! Back with a new chapter. I know this is a long time coming and I hope you all are ready to read this again. It's actually taken me a few months to write this chapter and even though I don't feel like it's the best chapter (partly because of it being a mostly Cal episode) I had to get something out for everyone who has been reading. Anyway please enjoy and let me know what you think. Also please give me some of your ideas and theories you have been thinking. Would love to hear from you and it would help with getting some more chapters out for you to read.
Any way you can follow me on tumblr at clintbartonishawkeye
Also be sure to check out Our Line of Business Never Prepares Us for This. It gives a quick explanation of what Andrew had happen to him after the diviner and a chapter where Bobbi and Fitz make a trip to San Diego.