Chapter 19
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: THREE HUNDREAD AND FIFTY REVIEWS. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
After her de-briefing the next morning Skye is allowed to leave the medical bay and head back to the bus though she is under strict orders from Dr Streiten to rest, not to do any physical activity including moving out of bed or off a couch for at least a few days and for those few days the team is going to remain at Hill's base just in case.
May and Skye are sitting on one of the couches in the main level of the bus while. FitzSimmons and Coulson are setting something up and Ward is getting snacks.
"Whose genius idea was this?" Skye asks her mother curious.
"Your fathers." May answers.
"Of course it was." Skye comments "A video game competition with some of the most competitive people there is, how does he think this is going end well?" Skye asks her mother curious.
"It's only Mario Carts." Melinda tells her daughter not seeing the problem.
"That's the worse game that we could play." Skye tells her "Anyway we can only play with four people at a time so are we going to take turns or what?" Skye asks curious.
"That would be what Fitz is currently doing, making some changes so that more people can play at once." Simmons says walking over and sitting down.
"How is he? You know what I don't want to know." Skye comments, wincing as she tries to get a bit more comfortable.
"Are you okay?" May asks concerned noticing the winch.
"I'm okay." Skye assures her mother having to fight not to smile at the concern that one day she is sure she will find annoying but at the moment likes.
"Done." Fitz says walking over and handing everyone a controller. "Six people can now play." He says as he sits on the chair next to Simmons and Coulson sits down on the couch with Melinda and Skye.
"Ward, hurry up." Coulson tells the specialist.
"On my way Sir." Ward tells him walking back over and placing a lot of different snack foods on the table before sitting down on one of the empty chairs.
"So how about we make this a bit more interesting." Skye comments knowing that everyone is going to be overly competitive anyway so they might as well make it worth it.
"What do you have in mind?" Coulson asks.
"Winner gets to choose two movies and we all have to watch them both, no complaints." Skye comments looking directly at Ward as she comments.
"Why are you looking at me?" Ward asks confused.
"Because whenever we watch a move together you spend the first hour complaining about it." Skye reminds him.
"I do not." Ward says.
"Yes, you do." Skye and FitzSimmons, knowing from experience that that is what Ward does, say.
"Well even if I do, it's better than you three quoting the moving as you watch." Ward tells Skye and FitzSimmons.
"We don't always do that." Skye tells him "You on the other hand always complains about what you are watching."
Before Ward has a chance to once again dispute the accusations they are distracted by the ringing of Melinda's phone.
"New mission?" Skye asks her mother.
"No, it's nothing." Melinda says looking and her phone and switching it to silent instead of answering it or pressing ignore something that Coulson finds odd because the only persons calls that he has known Melinda to ignore or avoid are his, and he's not the one calling her, "If it was a mission Coulson would be getting the call not me." Melinda explains to her daughter "Why don't we start." She suggests because without even looking at him she can feel the look that Coulson is giving her.
"Sounds good." Ward comments.
"So does winner picking the movies." Fitz adds.
"Shouldn't we make sure that everyone knows how to play first?" Skye suggests.
"We've all played together before." Fitz comments as he knows for a fact that while on the plane they have.
"Mom and Dad haven't." Skye points out.
"Skye it's a driving game, I think we figure it out." Coulson tells his daughter.
"If you're sure." Skye comments and both Coulson and May nod.
"Then everyone pick your characters." Fitz comments "We'll do a tournament. Overall winner can pick the movies." He says and the others nod.
For half an hour the team play each other, as they do more than once they hear the vibrations from incoming calls from Melinda's phone. When it starts ringing she doesn't even look up from her controller though ever time it rings Coulson wonders more and more who calls she could be avoiding.
Once they finally finish the competition it ends with surprisingly Simmons in the first place, Coulson in second, May and Ward drawn for third, Skye in forth and Fitz in fifth.
"Don't go mad with the power Jemma, pick something good." Skye tells her friend.
"Does the no complaining rule still apply if she picks a chick flick?" Ward asks curious.
"The Thor comment yesterday and now this, you really don't know when to keep your mouth shut do you?" Fitz asks Ward curious as Simmons, Skye and Melinda don't look too impressed with Ward's comment.
"Thor comment?" Coulson ask interested.
"Yep, Ward here said that Thor's not the great. Can you believe it?" Skye explains to her father "Jemma, I've got an idea." Skye says whispering something to Jemma.
"Hey, no helping." Ward tells her "Its Simmons's choice, you suggesting something is against the rules." He argues.
"No it's not." Skye tells him.
"Do you have it?" Simmons asks Skye curious.
"Yep, my bunk second cupboard." Skye tells her friend.
"I'll go get it." Simmons says heading to Skye's bunk.
"Tasha?" Coulson asks finally getting a look at Melinda's caller ID when her phone starts to ring again "Since when do you ignore calls from Tasha?" He asks surprised.
"Drop it." Melinda tells Coulson.
"You once answered a call from Tasha when you were fighting three enemy assassins at once, and now you're ignoring her calls. What's up?" Coulson asks concerned as Melinda avoiding Tasha's calls is very unusual.
"Not now Phil." Melinda tells him and Coulson actually drops it but he can't help but wonder why Melinda would be avoiding calls from her best friend, or the closest thing to a best friend, with the exception of their respective partners, either of them is capable of having.
"Who's Tasha?" Skye asks her mother confused.
"I'll tell you later." Melinda responds.
"Got it." Simmons says coming back out from Skye's bunk and showing of the DVD.
"The Parent Trap, are you serious?" Ward asks shocked and dread also present in his voice.
"No complaints." Skye tells him "And for your information The Parent Trap is an awesome movie. It was the first ever movie I saw at the cinema. I've loved it ever since." Skye explains as the Brody's took her to see it her second week with them.
"She's right it's a really good move." Simmons comments. "And if I remember correctly it is my choice." She says before putting the movie on.
"I'll go make the popcorn." Fitz says standing up.
"I'll help." Ward says also standing up and the pair walk over to kitchen.
The viewing of the parent trap goes well until Ward makes one too many comments and Skye throws popcorn at him which he retaliates and within a couple of minutes an all our popcorn war has broken out, which only stops when Skye falls of the couch trying to avoid being hit by both popcorn and a pillow thrown by Fitz.
"Are you okay?" Coulson asks concerned as he and Melinda rush to Skye's side.
"I'm so sorry Skye." Fitz tells her.
"I'm okay." Skye assures as her parents help her back onto the couch. "And it's fine Fitz." She assures "I'd be more worried about the plane." Skye comments as she looks and realises just how much of a mess has been made. "This is going to be hell to clean."
"It's your fault, you're the one who started it." Ward informs Skye.
"Actually I think a case could be made that you were in fact the one who started it." Skye argues.
"Me? How did I start it?" Ward asks.
"You broke the rules." Simmons tells him "You complained."
"So what because I complained, this whole thing is my fault?" Ward asks surprised.
"Yep." Skye and FitzSimmons reply.
"Forget about whose fault it is, let's just clean this place up." Coulson orders.
"Don't even think about it." Simmons tells Skye when she realises that her friend intends to help clean up.
"Why not?" Skye asks.
"Rest remember, Doctors orders." Coulson tells his daughter.
"You're one to talk, you didn't listen to your doctors' orders." Skye reminds him "I seem to remember you sparring with Mom when you were still meant to be healing."
"True, but if you remember when I was told that I was on bed rest I listened." Coulson points out.
"Good point." Skye mutters to herself knowing that her father is right.
"Are you alright?" May asks concerned a few minutes later when she notices that Skye is leaning against the couch with her eyes closed.
"Yeah, I'm okay, just a little bit of pain, and I'm kind of tired." Skye admits.
"Then how about you get some sleep." May suggests and Skye nods.
"Come on." May says helping Skye up and to her bunk.
"So who's Tasha?" Skye asks her mother once she has helped her into her bed.
"A friend." Melinda says sitting down on the edge of Skye's bed "A really good one."
"Then I don't get it why are you avoiding her calls? And why does Dad look so surprised that you are?" Skye asks confused.
"I have a few reasons why I'm avoiding her calls but the main reason is because I don't want to lie to her." Melinda explains.
"What do you mean?" Skye asks becoming more confused the more her mother says.
"Tasha's full name is Natasha Romanoff." Melinda explains as she gets up and shuts the door to Skye's bunk before sitting back down again.
"As in Black Widow, Avenger Natasha Romanoff?" Skye asks surprised.
"Yeah." May answers.
"Wow, I mean I knew that Dad knew the Avengers but I didn't realise that you did as well." Skye comments surprised.
"I don't, not all of them." Melinda explains "I know Tasha, and Clint." She says "Clint Barton, Hawkeye." She adds.
"Wow." Skye comments surprised then realises something "She doesn't know that Dad's alive."
"No she doesn't." Melinda confirms "And I don't want to have to pretend that he isn't when talking to her."
"She's a good friend then." Skye realises as she knows her mother well enough to know that she keeps a lot of secrets and is okay with keeping most of them so if she doesn't want to lie to Natasha Romanoff then they must be close.
"A very good friend." Melinda confirms.
"How did you guys meet?" Skye asks always interested to hear more stories about her parent's pasts.
"Just after Clint brought her into S.H.I.E.L.D, the two of them, your father and I became a team." Melinda explains "Fury thought that having two sets of highly skilled and effective partners working together would be good for handling difficult and dangerous situations, we became great at it." Melinda explains "We handled the missions that other agents couldn't or wouldn't, in some cases shouldn't, and we became friends, good friends." Melinda explains.
"How long were you guys a team for?" Skye asks curious.
"Four years." Melinda answers "But we didn't always do all of our mission together, more than few times we split into our partners." She explains.
"Did you and Natasha ever do missions just the two of you?" Skye asks curious.
"A couple of times." Melinda answers with a small smile "But Fury didn't send us in just the two of us unless he absolutely had to, not because he didn't think we could handle ourselves because he knew we could, but because I don't think he liked having to deal with Phil and Clint without us." Melinda explains.
"Why did you guys stop being a team?" Skye asks curious "What changed?"
"I did." Melinda answers quietly.
"Bahrain?" Skye asks hesitantly not sure if she should bring it up or not as her mother has never mentioned it.
"What has your father told you about what happened in Bahrain?" Melinda asks curious as she is positive that Coulson has told her something.
"He told me that you guys went to see a girl who had powers and things went south. That you took it upon yourself to get your people out and you did, but you wouldn't tell him how. He said that when you came out you weren't the same person that you were when you went it." Skye explains.
"After Bahrain, after some time away, I went back to field work for a while, probably longer than I should have." Melinda comments "But Clint, Tasha, Your Father and I weren't often assigned as a team because Fury began to feel that we could do more good with our respective partnerships. The few missions that we did work together were big and even bigger and more dangerous than what we used to do together." May explains, "It was during one of the few missions that Tasha and I worked together that I realised I couldn't do it anymore, I couldn't be in the field." Melinda explains.
"What happened?" Skye asks and the second she sees her mother's reaction she realises she shouldn't have asked "I'm sorry, you don't have to tell me."
"Never be sorry for asking me something." Melinda tells her daughter "But you need to know that I may not always be able to answer you." Melinda explains knowing that there are things like Bahrain and what happened during that last mission with Tasha that she will never talk about, not even with Skye.
"That's cool, I get it." Skye assures Melinda.
"Thank you." Melinda says "After I left the field on a couple of occasions I helped your father when he was Tasha's and Clint's handlers for missions, I even was a handler for all three of them when they were desperate a couple of times, though not even the director is aware of that." Melinda explains.
"Really?" Skye asks surprised.
"Really." Melinda assures. "Your father, Clint and Tasha covered for me. They knew that if Fury knew I was handler for them then there is no reason why I couldn't be handler for others, but that's not what I wanted. The only reason I was their handler when they needed it was because they were my team, even if I wasn't in the field anymore they're still my team, just like the people on this bus are and always will be." Melinda explains.
"It's not fair that Fury won't tell them." Skye comments. "They should be told about Dad especially with how close you guys were." Skye comments.
"Yeah, they should. They took his death hard." Melinda reveals.
"So you've talked to them since Dad died?" Skye asks.
"Yeah." Melinda answers "Do you remember when Phil was hurt and you asked me whether I was told that he died?" Melinda asks curious.
"Yeah, you said that Director Fury came and saw you a few days after and he told you that Dad was alive." Skye remembers.
"After the battle Tasha and Clint came to see me to tell me that Phil died, remember how I told you that I heard rumours around S.H.I.E.L.D about an Agent who died before the battle, an Agent who knew the Avengers and whose death brought them together, that I knew it was Phil, but at the same time I refused to believe it?" Melinda asks.
"Yeah." Skye tells her mother confused about what she is saying.
"I did hear the rumours the day he died, the day of the battle, and I did refuse to believe them. When I finally went home I waited for a call from him to tell me that the rumours were wrong that he was alive, but it didn't come, Tasha and Clint did instead. They told me what happened and I didn't believe them either." Melinda admits "Not until Tasha finally managed to get through to me, and I didn't take it well." Melinda comments, remembering what happened and what most likely would have happened if it wasn't for Tasha and Clint.
"What do you mean?" Skye asks worried.
"Doesn't matter." Melinda answers, not wanting to share that specific detail with Skye.
"Mom?" Skye asks concerned.
"I promise Skye, it doesn't matter." Melinda assures her daughter "Clint and Tasha stayed with me for a few days, until they got their latest mission. It was hours after they left that Director Fury came to see me and he told me that Phil was alive. I don't know why he didn't come see me until then, I don't know if he was waiting for Tasha and Clint to leave or whether he was waiting until Phil was okay, but it was days I thought that he was dead." Melinda explains
"Why didn't you tell me all this when we talked when Dad was hurt?' Skye asks curious and a little hurt that her mother didn't tell her everything.
"Because you were worried enough about him, I didn't want you to worry about me as well." Melinda explains "Your Dad doesn't know that Tasha and Clint were the ones who told me he died, I told him that Fury told me he was alive a few days after the battle, I skipped over the days between the battle and Fury coming to talk to me." Melinda explains.
"I get why you didn't tell me everything I do but next time you tell me a story, if you can, tell me the whole thing, don't skip over the parts that you think will make me worry." Skye requests.
"I'll try." May tells her daughter knowing that she can't make a promise about this
"Good." Skye responds knowing that is the closest thing to a definite answer she is going to get.
"Apart from you avoiding her calls now have you talked to Natasha since then? Or Clint?" Skye asks curious.
"I talked to them a few times in the time between Fury telling me that Phil was alive and joining the team, but it was easier then because I hadn't actually seen Phil again. I don't want to lie to them, I don't want to have to." Melinda explains.
"Some of these rules are really stupid." Skye says followed by a loud yawn.
"They can be." Melinda admits "I'll let you get some sleep." Melinda tells her daughter.
"Mom." Skye says before she can exit.
"Yeah?"
"I like hearing your stories. I know they must be hard for you to tell them, so thanks." Skye tells her mother grateful to understand more about her parents and their past.
"You're right it is hard to tell them, but I like sharing them with you." Melinda says before turning the light off to Skye's bunk and leaving.
"How much did you hear?" Melinda asks Coulson curious as he is standing on the other side of the door when she exits.
"Enough." Coulson answers "Melinda, I.." Coulson begins to say but Melinda cuts him off "Upstairs, now." She says angrily, knowing that outside their daughters room isn't the place for this conversation.
"Think she's going to punch him again?" Fitz asks curious from where he, Ward and Simmons are still cleaning up the popcorn and pretending not to be watching what is going on which they have been doing ever since Coulson started to listen in on what Melinda and Skye were saying.
"I doubt it." Ward answers "But let's hope they don't have a loud fight, that's the last thing that Skye needs to wake up to.
As soon as Melinda and Coulson get upstairs they close the door behind them because they want to restrict how much those downstairs hear.
"I told you I would tell you why I was avoiding Tasha's calls later." Melinda tells Coulson angrily.
"No you told Skye you would tell her later, all you told me was, not now." Coulson explains, "I'm sorry for eavesdropping I know I shouldn't have, but I was worried. You never avoid Tasha's calls, never, and now all day you have been. I was worried." Coulson explains as a way of an explanation.
"It's no okay." Melinda tells him "But I understand if you had been doing some just as unusual as me avoiding Tasha's calls I probably would have done the same." She admits.
"She doesn't know your back in the field does she?" Coulson asks because it would make sense if she didn't.
"No." Melinda admits. "I came back to the field because of you and she doesn't know that you're alive."
"Does 'not taking it well' mean what I think it means?" Coulson asks concerned a couple of minutes later.
"Phil..." Melinda begins to say but Coulson cuts her off.
"Please, does it mean what I think it means?" He asks needing to know.
"Yes." Melinda admits quietly.
"Oh god, Melinda." Coulson says "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." Coulson tells her.
"It okay." Melinda says walking over to Coulson and grabbing his hand "I'm okay, Tasha and Clint were with me, and you know what that means." She tells him.
"Yeah I do." Coulson says as he uses the hand that Melinda is holding to pull her into his arms.
For several minutes Coulson and May just stand there in each other's arms "I suppose now would be a good time to talk about the kiss." Coulson comments.
"It's as good of a time as any." Melinda comments as a small smile appears on her face. "I don't know what it meant, but I want to figure it out." Melinda tells Coulson.
"Really?" Coulson asks wanting to make sure that she is sure because that's what he wants too.
"If you're willing." May tells Coulson.
"Yes." Coulson tells her before kissing Melinda.
"We can't tell Skye, not until we've figured things out." Coulson comments once they break apart.
"Agreed." Melinda tells him. "We should go help with the cleaning, we did make some of the mess." Melinda comments.
"You're right. We should." Coulson comments.
"See you down there." Melinda says moving out of Coulson's arms and walking across to the door.
"Melinda you do realise that if you keep avoiding her calls before too long Tasha is going to come and find you." Coulson comments.
"That's what I'm counting on." Melinda says before unlocking the door and leaving the office.
"Of course it is." Coulson says following her downstairs with a smile on his face.
PLEASE REVIEW
PLEASE REVIEW
PLEASE REVIEW