A: Hi guys, I have changed my username, as you probably can see.
Victoria had rescheduled their meet up to after her meeting with Fury, she said she was needed to oversee a high class mission, but she gave Skye a drill to run over before she was meant to meet Fury.
When it came to her meeting with Fury, Skye had been positive she could explain how she had tricked the alarm system on Melinda and Natasha's house. However, she couldn't explain more than how she did it, not how she knew it or anything, just the steps, but when another agent had tried it, it had failed.
Skye was confused. She had explained every step and when she did it in front of Fury and the tech agent who had tried, it worked and even after the agent had seen how to do it, he still couldn't do it.
Fury had dismissed the agent and told Skye to follow him. She took her bag and Fury took one of the SHIELD issued tech bags with them. When they were in front of his office, he told Skye to break in.
And that was where she was now, staring at Fury.
"You want me to break into your office?" she asked in disbelief.
"Yes, no one has ever done it before, and I still have my theories about you, so try," he said.
"How long do I have?" Skye asked.
"Until your SO arrives," Fury said, sitting in one of the chairs in the small waiting area, while his secretary, who had just been sitting and listening, had her mouth open in surprise.
She looked through the bag Fury had taken, and then gently opened the small panel by the door and took a look.
"Hmm, I need my computer," Skye mumbled to herself, and luckily, she had it in her bag that she had been carrying, so she plugged it in and started working.
After a half hour, Maria showed up only to see Skye sitting on the floor muttering to herself in front of Fury's key panel with tools around her, her computer by her side, and wires sticking out. Fury in an armchair watching, and his secretary trying to work but was gobsmacked at both Fury and Skye.
"What's going on here?" She asked, Skye didn't show that she heard her, Fury turned to her.
"She's breaking into my office," Fury answered, Maria just stood there sharing a look with the secretary, before giving up on trying to understand why, and sat down beside Fury and handed him some papers and reports.
Skye was tapping away and messing with the wires for another hour and a half, the secretary had left to get her lunch a few minutes ago, when they heard a click, then a hiss, and they then saw Fury's office door opening.
Skye turned around while saying "Done" when she noticed Maria.
"Hey, Maria, when did you get here?" Skye asked.
Maria smiled at how cute Skye looked at the moment, with messy hair and clothes. How it got that way, Maria didn't want to think about. "A while ago, I did say 'Hi'," Maria said.
Skye looked a little sheepishly at that, and stood up, Maria came over to her and started to straighten out her hair and then clothes.
Fury cleared his throat, "Are you two done with that?" He asked, again Skye looked a little sheepish, but Maria stood proud.
"For now," Maria said, smirking down at Skye who looked away, Fury rolled his eyes.
"Can it lock again, or do I need tech to come here and fix it?" Fury asked Skye.
"Um, it should be able to lock again, and open like normal. You only told me to open it. I didn't do damage to anything really, but maybe have your tech look at it later or run a scan on the system tonight just to be safe. It will work fine for the rest of the day, but tomorrow not so much," Skye said.
"What do you mean?" Fury asked.
"Well, like I said, I didn't do any real damage on a short term basis, but the long, aka tomorrow, there will be damage, just a little," Skye said gesturing with her thumb and index finger.
"I'll let them know to come later and look it over," Fury said, then he turned to Maria.
"Hill, your girl just did something only one other person has managed to do, but in only a fraction of the time and with less equipment," Fury said, impressed and very, very glad that she was an ally. He still won't say that Skye was one of them, the girl was still wary about S.H.I.E.L.D. and her soulmates. He could see that Hill and May were good at handling Skye, and never overstepped her boundaries, he could also see that Hill and May were over the moon to have the girl close to them. He hadn't seen Skye around Romanoff and Morse much to say anything about how they affected Skye and the other way around.
Fury went into his office, gesturing for Skye and Maria to follow. He sat down in his chair behind his desk, Skye and Maria sat down in front of him, waiting for him to start.
"I would like to do some tests-" Fury started to say but was interrupted by Maria.
"Absolutely not will I have you do any test on Skye, and neither will the others. I am pretty sure that Romanoff will kill you, if I don't kill you first," Maria said in an angry tone, letting some angry pheromones out, she had also stood up to stand closer to Skye.
Fury raised his hands. He knew that Maria was telling the truth and he took the threat seriously, "Maria not those kinds of tests, I simply meant like just now with my door, those kinds of tests," Fury said calmly.
Maria calmed down a little but did move the chair she had been sitting in closer to Skye, who hadn't said a word. Maria looked at her with concern, did she frighten Skye with her pheromones?
Maria was about to ask Skye if she was okay, but before she could, Skye chose that moment to ask Fury a question.
"Do you think my ability, if we can call it that, with computers and systems, can have something to do with what happened in Hunan? That I may be or have had contact with an 084?" She asked, pretty much ignoring Maria.
"Yes, especially when you can't exactly explain how you are doing what you are doing, or why, beside the step by step, which does not work when other agents try doing it, or how you know it," Fury said, Skye nodded.
"If I agree, what kind of tests would they be more precisely? Would you be the one conducting them?" Skye asked.
Fury looked thoughtful for a moment, "I would be involved, of course, but I was thinking your SO and maybe your mates should do it. As for what tests they would be, I don't know yet, I would have to discuss it with your mates and Hand, if we do this of course," Fury said, again Skye nodded.
"I'll think about it and talk it over with the others," Skye said, this time it was Fury's turn to nod, while Maria was just staring between them not liking where this was going or that Skye was avoiding her.
"Sir, agent Hand is here for Miss Sutter," Fury's secretary said through the office telephone.
"Thank you, she will be out in a minute," Fury answered, he then turned to Skye and Maria, the latter didn't look very happy and kept glancing over at Skye who was still ignoring her.
"We can discuss this, all of us, next week, I'll have a meeting set up," Fury said.
"Okay," Skye said, and Maria just nodded. She wanted out of here and to get Skye alone, so they could talk. Fury dismissed Skye, and Maria made to follow when Fury called her back, reminding her that they still had other things to go over. Maria cursed to herself and sat down again, watching Skye walk out and close the door.
Skye and Victoria decided to join Melinda for lunch, well Victoria did it because it looked like Skye needed to be close to a mate who wasn't Maria. Victoria noticed the way Maria looked at Skye and the way Skye was avoiding Maria's gaze, and the way Skye's shoulders sagged when Fury called Maria back. So yes, maybe some supervised time with Melinda would do Skye some good, even if Skye tried to hide she was upset about something. She was positive it had something to do with Maria, but what? Could it have something to do with the hint of Maria's pheromones she could smell?
Victoria texted Melinda telling her not to ask, that she bring lunch for her, herself, and Skye and for her to come to her office to eat.
When Melinda arrived, she was about to ask Victoria what was happening, but stopped dead in her tracks when she noticed Skye tapping on her computer, which wasn't weird, she was on that thing more than not, but it was the way she was both tapping it slowly and the way she looked and composed herself.
Melinda had never seen Skye so guarded, not even when her and Natasha caught her in their house and the days following, she turned towards Victoria with anger in her eyes.
"Hey, I have just picked her up from speaking with Fury and Hill," Victoria defended herself.
"Then why is Maria not here?" Melinda asked.
"I think it was her that upset Skye," Victoria said quietly and calmly.
Melinda was taken aback by that. She looked like she wanted to hunt down Maria and demand to know what happened, but didn't, she could do that later. Right now, Skye looked to be needing her more, she walked over to where Skye was sitting.
"Hey," Melinda said, sitting down beside her on the couch, Skye looked up and gave her a small smile.
"Hey," she said back.
"I brought lunch," Melinda told Skye. Skye looked up to see the food on Victoria's desk, she closed her laptop, and walked with Melinda the short distance over to the desk and sat down.
They ate in mostly silence with Melinda glancing over at Skye multiple times. Once they were done eating, Victoria excused herself and left the room, so Melinda could talk with Skye.
"What happened?" Melinda asked.
"Nothing," Skye answered.
"Skye, I know something happened and so does Victoria, that's why she texted me to come," Melinda told Skye.
Skye looked at Melinda, "She did?" Skye asked, Melinda nodded.
"We were in Fury's office, him, me, and Maria. I had just broken into his office," Skye started. Melinda really wanted to know why she broke into Fury's office but didn't interrupt Skye.
"He told me to, by the way, but we sat down, he started to say he wanted to do some tests and Maria almost blew up on him. She was angry, and she used pheromones, a lot," Skye said.
Now Melinda understood, Maria was strong, extremely strong, even for a Beta, no wonder Skye was a mess.
"Come here," Melinda said, standing up and opening her arms. Skye was hesitant but slowly she stood up and walked into Melinda's patiently waiting arms.
Melinda was sad that it took so long for Skye to stand up to let her hug her, Skye usually almost always jumped at the chance for a hug. Damn you Maria, Melinda thought to herself.
Skye untangled herself from the hug a moment later, and dragged her feet over to the couch again, pulling her computer on her lap. She looked up at Melinda and then glanced at the space beside her and up at Melinda again.
Melinda understood, so she sat down beside Skye, and now she could see what Skye was doing, she was running drills that Victoria had given her.
Victoria came back ten minutes later, Skye had moved to lean on Melinda, and Melinda had an arm slung over Skye's shoulder.
"See you later," Melinda said, carefully nuzzling her nose on top of Skye's head, she felt Skye nod her head. Skye sat up, so Melinda could stand up, another look just to make sure Skye would be okay, Melinda gave Victoria a nod, and left to go back to work, even if she rather wanted to take Skye home.
But on the way back to her office, she made up her mind to go find Maria. On her way, she bumped into Natasha. Melinda filled her in on what she knew, and Natasha followed Melinda, they agreed to check Maria's office first, but on the way, Fury walked by, he didn't even look at them, just said, "Upper gym."
When they arrived in the upper gym, Maria was the only one there. She was beating the hell out of a punching bag, without having wrapped her hands.
Natasha and Melinda shared a look at that, Maria knew how to wrap her hands and that she should have.
"Maria!" Melinda called out, Maria stopped but didn't turn around.
"What happened?" Natasha asked, trying very hard not to rip into Maria, as she was the one who was the closest to Skye and now Maria could have ruined it for them all in the long run.
"I'm not in the mood for a lecture, I already feel like shit," Maria said, still not facing them.
"You should, so now tell us what happened," Melinda said in a hard tone.
Maria sighed, "We were in Fury's office and he said he wanted to do some tests. I saw red, lost control, and jumped to the conclusion that he wanted to experiment on Skye. I didn't even let him finish what he was saying. If I had, none of this would have happened," Maria said, still not facing them.
"That isn't like you Maria, you are always level headed, even in extreme situations, that's why you are the deputy director. You need to put on your big girl pants and make it up to Skye," Natasha said, stepping closer to Maria and turning her around, she was tired of talking to her back.
When Maria was turned around, both her and Melinda could see how the whole situation had affected Maria. Maria had been crying, there were still tears in her eyes and down her cheek.
"I don't know how," Maria admitted.
"You need to figure it out, and preferably today or tomorrow," Natasha said.
Maria let out a frustrated huff, "And how should I do that, she practically ran away from me," Maria snapped at Natasha.
"Arguing won't help here, and Skye will need time for herself to gather her thoughts. I would like this to be resolved just as quickly as you two, but Maria you can't rush this, take it slow, show her you are remorseful for what happened, and want to make it up to her. Don't say you don't know how," Melinda interrupted them.
Maria nodded her understanding and went to take a shower, Natasha turned to Melinda when Maria was gone.
"What was that?" Natasha asked.
"Nat, you know if we start fighting we will make it worse. Skye's number one fear is of us fighting. Bobbi will properly give Maria an earful when we get home, we just need to distract Skye when she does," Melinda said.
"Fine," Natasha grumbled.
They had decided that Maria would drive home alone, or Maria had suggested it and Melinda and Natasha agreed to it.
Melinda and Natasha came to Victoria's office to pick up Skye.
"Hey, are you ready to go home?" Melinda asked, Skye looked nervous and kept looking over at Victoria.
Natasha observed Skye and Victoria, and listened to Skye stammer, "You're not coming home tonight," Natasha said sadly, Skye looked down.
Melinda picked up what Natasha meant, and the way Victoria was ready for anything, if she read her body language right.
She looked at Skye and she smiled sadly, "It's okay, we understand, am I guessing right that you will spend the night at Victoria's?" Melinda said, Skye nodded carefully.
"Okay, but remember we are only a call or text away if you need anything," Melinda told Skye. Again, Skye nodded and hugged Melinda and then Natasha, which both Natasha and Melinda took as a good sign.
"Take care of her," Natasha both told and asked Victoria at the same time, Victoria nodded. Natasha, satisfied with that, looked back at Skye, who looked relieved, smiling at Skye, who gave a small smile back, and Natasha left the office.
Melinda followed soon after, having done almost the same as Natasha, just to be sure that Skye would be okay at Victoria's for the night.
When they got home, Maria and Bobbi were talking in the kitchen, and Bobbi didn't look very happy, they looked up when they entered the kitchen.
"Where's Skye?" Bobbi asked.
"With Victoria, she's not coming home tonight," Melinda answered, Maria tried to make herself smaller.
"I'm sorry," Maria told them, Natasha and Melinda nodded that they knew, Bobbi on the other hand glared at Maria.
"Let's not fight, yes Maria fucked up and needs to fix it," Natasha told Bobbi, just like Melinda had with her earlier that day. Bobbi huffed and sat down, still sending small glares at Maria.
When they went to bed, Melinda and Natasha could hear Maria and Bobbi alternating from arguing to planning how Maria should apologize to Skye and make it up to her, to arguing again, to having sex, Bobbi clearly in charge.
It was a mess that they had gotten in. Hopefully they could get Skye to come back tomorrow, if they couldn't, they just had to suck it up and be patient.
AN: A thanks to Fun_size_Tasha for betaing.