Chapter 21
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: This is the second chapter I had to re write and it feels as if I'm missing something when I read it so sorry about that.
"Tasha?" Coulson asks completely surprised when he realised who he greeted.
"About time you woke up, we've been here about an hour." Clint Barton comments from the chair.
"Melinda wake up." Coulson says reaching over Skye to wake Melinda but in the process he also wakes Skye, "Holy Crap." Skye comment recognizing both Natasha and Clint, completely shocked to see them in the plane.
"Здравствуйте, старый друг." Melinda says standing up and greeting Natasha.
"你好，你同樣老朋友." Natasha responds as she gives Melinda a hug.
"What are you doing here?" Coulson asks surprised to see two of his oldest friends in his plane, especially considering they think he's dead.
"Stark wanted to know what Ian Quinn had done to piss of S.H.I.E.L.D so he hacked his way in. He found a redacted file on what he did. One of the few things that wasn't redacted was a name May Philippa 'Skye' Coulson as soon as he read that he called Tasha to see what she knew. By the time Tasha got to the tower Stark had managed to get a un redacted version of the file which included your name and the fact that you aren't dead, really glad about that by the way." He informs Coulson, "Anyway, while she tried to get in contact with Melinda, Tasha explained all about who Melinda was and your history to Stark. When Melinda wouldn't answer Tasha's calls Stark lent us his jet and we flew here. We had a lovely little chat with director Fury then came here." Clint explains as May and Tasha talk in two different languages at once "Oh and 24." He adds to Skye's confusion.
"I'd say 36." Coulson comments "I'm sorry I didn't let you know I was alive." He tells his friend.
"It's okay, orders I get it." Clint tells him though he was both angry and upset to learn that his friend was alive and he didn't know about it, but from what he has learnt it is Fury that deserves that anger not Coulson so that's who he is angry with, "Though you should know when we left Stark was about to do two things, the first was find the file about what happened to you and the second was let Pepper and the others know that you are alive and she for one defiantly won't take it well."
"Thanks for the warning." Coulson comments though honestly he is more worried about Tony Stark finding out what really happened to him than Peppers reaction to him not telling her that he was alive "Clint this is my daughter Skye, Skye this is Agent Clint Barton." Coulson introduces.
"Hi, this is so cool, I mean nice to meet you." Skye says quickly rather nervous about the fact that she is meeting not one but two of the Avengers.
"Good to meet you too kid." Clint tells her.
"Tasha I would like you to meet our daughter Skye, Skye this is Natasha Romanoff." Melinda introduces once her and Tasha have finished talking in two languages.
"Hi, nice to meet you." Skye says trying to be calmer than when she was introduced to Clint.
"Hello, nice to meet you. I read what you did to escape Ian Quinn, not a lot of people could do that with a broken arm, good work." Natasha tells Skye with a kind smile.
"Um, thanks." Skye responds not sure how to respond to that especially considering who said it to her.
"Tasha." Coulson greats as he realises, judging by the look that she is currently giving him, that she isn't too happy with him.
"Coulson." Natasha greats. "I'm assuming you have an office here somewhere?" She asks.
"Upstairs." Coulson answers.
"Good, your office now." Natasha informs him and Coulson follows her up the stairs.
"Good to see you Mels." Clint says getting up and walking over to Melinda to give her a hug.
"Don't call me Mels." Melinda tells Clint though she does return the hug.
"Uh, hi, Dad just went upstairs with a clearly angry Natasha Romanoff, shouldn't we worry?" Skye asks concerned.
"Nah, your Dad makes Tasha angry contently but he never makes her angry enough for her to actually do something." Clint assures Skye.
"Moscow." Melinda says simply.
"Okay, in the last ten years he hasn't made her angry enough to actually do something." Clint corrects.
"Venice." Melinda says simply.
"Okay, he does make her angry enough but she won't actually do anything, happy?" Clint asks Melinda.
"It wasn't about being happy it was about the truth." Melinda tells him "Coffee?" she asks curious.
"Please." Clint tells her.
"Are you sure I shouldn't worry?" Skye asks her mother.
"Positive." Melinda answers as she helps Skye over to the kitchen.
"What were you thinking when you did that?" Natasha asks Coulson as soon as they enter his office.
"What specifically?" Coulson asks curious as there are several things that Natasha could be talking about.
"Don't get cute Coulson." Natasha tells him,
"I'm not trying to be." Coulson tells her "It's just there are a lot of things you could be talking about, I'm going to need you to narrow it down a bit." He explains.
"Melinda." Natasha says simply "What were you thinking when you forced her into the field again?" Natasha asks knowing that Coulson is the only person who could get Melinda back in the field, not even Director Fury could have done that, "Did you even give her a choice?" She asks, and Coulson avoiding her eyes is the only answer that she needs. "Why would you do that? Especially after what it did to her? She shouldn't be in the field. She was doing well in Admin Coulson. Why would you drag her back into the field?"
"Because I love her Tasha." Coulson informs her "I love her. I know you think love is for children but it's not, and I'm not going to have that fight with you again." Coulson comments as one of the things that he and Natasha fight about the most is their very different views on love "She wasn't happy in Admin, she was miserable, you know that." Coulson tells her. "I thought that if she was back in the field but not in combat, just driving the bus, but a part of a team again it would do her some good, maybe help her be like how she used to be again." Coulson explains
"I never said she was happy, I said she was doing well there is a difference." Natasha corrects. "How many missions until she volunteered for combat just so she could watch your back?" Natasha asks as one of the things she learnt from what Stark found is that Melinda is doing combat missions again.
"Three mission." Coulson answers.
"You weren't there to pick up the pieces of Melinda last time, I was. If things go south you better be prepared to be there this time." Natasha says the threat clear.
"I am." Coulson responds.
"Good." Natasha says "Now, how are you doing?" she asks concerned. "And why the hell didn't you even think to tell us that you were alive?"
"They're not easy questions to answer Tasha." He tells her, fighting a smile at how fast Natasha can go from being mad at him for dragging Melinda back into the field to being concerned for him and mad again about him not telling her that he was alive.
"Well try." Natasha tells Coulson and that's what just Coulson does, starts to explain to his old friend what has been going on with him since his resurrection.
While Coulson and Natasha are catching up upstairs, Melinda and Clint, with Skye are downstairs doing the same.
"So your Mom placed the bucket and we run." Clint tells Skye.
"You pranked Director Fury." Skye says looking at her mother impressed.
"More than once." Clint adds.
"Only a couple of times." Melinda tells Skye "And only when we thought he deserved it." She explains.
"Did he know it was you?" Skye asks interested.
"He couldn't prove it." Clint answers "But we did find ourselves going on some pretty bad missions for a while." He admits.
"That we did." Melinda admits.
"What other stories do you have?" Skye asks curious wanting to hear more
"Let me think." Clint comments "I know, do you want to know why I really hope your Dad got rid of all the Vodka on this plane when Mels avoided Tasha's first call?" Clint asks curious.
"Don't call me Mels, and don't you dare." Melinda tells Clint.
"Come on Mom, let him tell me." Skye comments but before either her, Melinda or Clint can say anymore the door to Ward's bunk opens and he walks out.
"Hey Ward, look who's here." Skye comments.
"Who?" Ward asks confused as he wipes his eyes before looking up and seeing who is sitting at the breakfast bar "Agent Barton Sir, it's an honour." Ward comments once he realises who it is.
"Nice too meet you Agent Ward, from what I understand you're going to go far." Clint says getting up and walking over to shake Ward's hand.
"Thank you Sir." Ward says not sure how to respond "What are you doing here, Sir?" he asks curious.
"We heard that Coulson wasn't actually dead so we thought we would come pay a visit." Clint explains.
"We? Is Agent Romanoff here as well?" he asks assuming that is who he is referring to.
"She's upstairs with Coulson." Melinda explains.
"They've been up there for a while, and Agent Romanoff did look really angry, are you sure we shouldn't worry?" Skye asks concerned
"No need to worry ребенок, you father's fine." Natasha says as she walks down the stairs, Coulson right behind her.
"Natasha Romanoff, meet Agent Grant Ward." Coulson introduces
"It's an honour Ma'am." Ward says as he shakes Natasha's hand.
"Dad can we keep him? He's got the best stories about you guys." Skye says as Coulson walks over.
"Sorry Skye I don't think that will be possible." Coulson comments knowing that it would be very unlikely that Director Fury would allow Melinda, Natasha, Clint and him together for long periods of time "What stories? What have you been telling?" Coulson asks concerned knowing that Clint has more than a few stories that Skye really shouldn't hear.
"Don't worry I've been keeping him in line." Melinda assures Coulson.
"Since when?" Coulson asks surprised as normally Clint and Melinda bring out the worst in each other.
"How long are you going to be around for anyway?" Melinda asks curious, purposely ignoring Coulson's comment as Skye and Ward exchange a look both wanting to know the story or stories behind that comment.
"That's the good news, Fury's assigned us to this plane for the next week." Clint reveals.
"Seriously?" Skye asks excited.
"You're assigned here for a week? Those were his exact words?" Melinda asks surprised knowing that for a while Fury has done his best to make sure that they aren't together for long periods of time.
"Yep." Natasha answers "Well his exact words were that we were assigned here for a week or until one of the four of us are pushed out of the airlock, arrested or causes an international incident, whichever happened first." Natasha explains.
"How did you pull that off?" Coulson asks Natasha curious positive that she is the one who did it.
"I have my ways." Natasha comments vaguely "And you should know that." She tells Coulson.
"There are four of you and the Director thinks you can cause an international incident in less than a week?" Ward asks surprised
"Wouldn't be the first time." Melinda comments.
"You've got to be kidding me." Skye comments shocked.
"No. I still think that if any of us wanted or needed to travel to Brunei we would find that rather difficult." Coulson comments remembering the incident well from the group's first year as a team.
"I thought Fury said he was going to sort it out." Clint comments.
"He said he would but he never said anything about it again, so I have no idea if he actually did or not." Coulson explains
"Okay, I've got to know. What did you do?" Skye asks curious.
"That's Classified." Coulson answers.
"Oh come on. You can't just tell me that you caused an international incident in less than a week and not tell me the story, that's not fair." Skye objects
"Sorry Honey." Coulson tells her.
"Cheer up Kid, I've got plenty more stories that I can tell you." Clint informs Skye as Coulson and Ward get started on breakfast.
While Coulson and Ward make breakfast Skye spends time getting to know Clint and Natasha better and in a way getting to know her parents because they are more than happy to tell her stories that she is sure that her parents would never tell.
During breakfast both Fitz and Simmons wake to the shocking surprise of Hawkeye and Black Widow eating breakfast on their plane and once they get over the shock they are more than happy to listen to the stories that are being told.
During the breakfast the group continues to be entertained by stories that show a whole difference side to both Melinda and Coulson. All through breakfast the stories that are being told all seem to be the kind of stories that a younger sibling would tell for the soul purpose of embarrassing their older siblings, stories that Clint seems to have an unlimited supply of and is more than happy to share
After breakfast Melinda and Coulson clean up the dishes while the others head over to the lounges to spend more time with Natasha and Clint.
"Think they will have any respect for us one this week is done?" Coulson asks Melinda curious they start to do the dishes.
"Probably not." Melinda answers "Though I'm more worried about what they will see. You didn't get rid of the vodka." She points out.
"You know you could just not drink it." Coulson informs Melinda.
"That's not an option, you know that." Melinda tells him.
"Then you only have yourself to blame. You should know by now that you and Tasha plus Vodka only equals more stories that Clint and I can use to blackmail you with." Coulson reminds her.
"Talking about Clint I was thinking, if he's willing, we should ask if he would talk to Skye." Melinda suggests "Their Childhoods were similar and it could help her to talk to someone who could understand what she has gone through in a way we never could." She explains.
"I'll ask him." Coulson responds agreeing that it could be a good idea.
"So a few weeks ago Mom and Dad didn't say a word to each other for like a week then one day it was like everything was fine again. I asked Mom about it and she said that they have had the fight before, have they? Do you know what they fought about?" Skye asks curious
"Yes." Natasha answers realising that Melinda must have or had a new boyfriend as that is the only thing that causes a fight like that.
"So what was it? What did they fight about?" Skye asks interested.
"Ask your Dad." Clint tells her.
"Ask Dad? That's all I get." Skye says surprised as before now Clint has been more than happy to share stories.
"On this, yes." Natasha answers knowing that her and Clint aren't the ones who should explain to Skye that whenever Melinda gets a new boyfriend Coulson does something like threaten, run a background check or even once arrested the man which causes them to stop speaking until one of them presents the other with a bottle of Glendronach scotch which they drink together, and results in them going back to how they were.
"So what kind of missions have you been doing?" Clint asks curious.
"All different kinds Sir." Ward answers "We, or Coulson specifically, picks the ops so we undertake all different kinds. Though a lot of our missions have been connected to the Centipede group and the mysterious Clairvoyant especially after Coulson's abduction and now what happened to Skye." Ward explains
"Coulson's what?" Natasha asks surprised, Coulson having left that out when he told her what he had been doing since he died.
"His abduction. You didn't know about that?" Skye asks.
"No. We knew he was alive but we don't know what he's been doing. What happened?" Clint asks concerned.
"About two months ago." Skye begins to explain surprised that it really wasn't that long ago and yet so many things have changed "He was taken and held captive by a woman named Rania who was working for the Clairvoyant. He was held for over thirty six hours before we found him." Skye says trying not to think about the state he was in when they found him.
At Skye's words Natasha can't help but wonder what else Coulson left out from his explanation of what has been happening to him since he died, and Clint can't help but wonder just what he is missing.
As Ward continues to explain some of the other thing that they have been up to since they became a team again Coulson and May walk over having finished doing the dishes.
"Downstairs?" Natasha asks Melinda curious as she walks over.
"It's the best place. Fury is still mad about the damage we did to this plane on a mission six days in." Melinda comments as Tasha stands up.
"Don't go near Lola." Coulson tells them as they head downstairs. "Here." Coulson says to Clint as he hands him over a twenty dollar bill.
"You should have known better. Since when do they ever wait more than twenty four hours?" Clint comments as he gladly accepts the money.
"Come on you won't want to miss this." Coulson tells Skye as he helps her up.
"Miss what?" Skye asks confused.
"Something not a lot of people get to see." Coulson informs the younger agents.
"Which is what exactly?" Simmons asks confused.
"S.H.I.E.L.D's two best fighters fighting each other." Clint explains as the group walk to the door that leads downstairs.
"I thought you and Agent Romanoff are S.H.E.L.D's best fighters." Ward comments.
"That's debatable." Clint comments "The three best are definitely Mels, Tasha and I but when it comes to who is actually the best when it comes to hand to hand combat it's hard to tell." Clint explains "If your Mom wasn't retired from combat she would have defiantly been on the ground with us in New York." Clint tells Skye.
"Seriously?" Skye asks surprised.
"Definitely." Clint answers as the group walk out onto the platform above the Cargo bay. "50?" he asks Coulson.
"Yep." Coulson responds.
"Wait, are you betting on who will win?" Skye asks curious.
"Of course not." Coulson and Clint say rather quickly "We're betting on who will call time first." Clint explains "If Tasha does then Phil wins, if Mels does then I do." He explains.
"I can't believe it, we get to watch The Cavalry and Black Widow fight, how many people can say that they've seen that?" Fitz asks.
"Don't call her that." Coulson, Skye and Clint all say all having heard what Fitz referred to Melinda by.
"Sorry." He mutters.
"Are you sure we can't keep them?" Skye asks, "It's nice seeing this side of you guys. Ever since they got here you and Mom have been acting, well like the rest of us. It's nice to see you guys like this for a change." Skye tells her father.
"You've got Tasha and Clint to thank for that." Coulson tells his daughter "Whenever they are around it's like we go back to being how we were when we first met" He explains "When we met them your mother and I were nearly thirty, just divorced still trying to figure out how to be just friends, the only things we cared about was the job and trying to find you. Tasha and Clint saved us." Coulson explains.
"How did they do that?" Skye asks curious.
"We pulled the sticks out of their arses." Clint, who has been listening to the whole conversation explains, causing Skye to laugh "Uh Phil, they're getting pretty close to your precious car." Clint comments.
"Don't go near Lola." Coulson yells down causing both Melinda and Natasha to roll their eyes but move away from Lola anyway because neither of them want to have to deal with what Coulson would do if they do something to his precious Car.
As those above watch the sparring they are amazed. None of them, except for Coulson and Clint who have seen this fight before, have ever seen anything like it. As he watches Ward realises that when he and Melinda have been sparring she has defiantly been holding back to a degree because her skill level when she is going all out is incredible. Like the Coulson and May match weeks earlier it is impossible to tell who is winning but unlike the Coulson and May match going down isn't a clear sign of a winner because pretending to go down is clearly a tactic that both woman use.
For over an hour Melinda and Natasha spar. As they do neither woman shows any sign of tiering and those watching continue to be amazed at what they two woman are doing because the skill that they are demonstrating is incredible.
"Um Dad, Director Fury is here." Skye comments noticing that Director Fury is standing on the Cargo ramp with Agent Hill.
"I know, he's been there for about five minutes." Coulson informs Skye.
"Shouldn't we stop them fighting?" Ward asks assuming that whatever it is that the director is here for must be important.
"The first, last, and only time I have ever tried to stop a fight between Melinda and Tasha I got thrown into a wall, I'm never doing that again." Coulson reveals.
"Ouch." Skye says sympathetically.
"It was amusing to watch." Clint comments "Do you have balloons?" He asks Coulson curious.
"You do remember what happened last time, don't you?" Coulson asks him curious.
"Of course." Clint answers without hesitation "Do you have any?"
"Kitchen, second draw to the left of the fridge." Coulson tells Clint who disappears from the platform, "You going to want to take a couple of steps back." Coulson advices as he takes several steps back from the railing of the platform.
"Why?" Ward asks curious though he does what Coulson suggested.
"Because Clint is about to do the stupidest thing a person can do, make Natasha Romanoff and Melinda May angry with you. Take it from someone who has been on the receiving end of their anger multiple times, it's not a place you want to be." Coulson explains as Clint returns with two large filled balloons.
"Water?" Coulson asks curious.
"And food colouring." Clint answers "You game?" He asks curious.
"After last time? No way. You're on your own." Coulson tells his friend.
"Your loss" Clint comments and he throws the two water balloons down from the platform and even though both Melinda and Natasha are moving around as they spar he hits them both with perfect accuracy.
"Before you kill me look behind you." Clint says as Natasha and Melinda look up at him with identical angry glares.
"Director, Agent Hill." Melinda and Natasha both great once they do as Clint suggested and look behind them.
"Natasha, Melinda." Fury greats.
"What's going on?" Coulson asks Director Fury curious.
"We need to talk." Fury says "It's about Quinn." He adds.
"Come right up." Coulson says having a feeling due to the look that Director Fury currently has on his face that whatever he needs to talk to them about isn't good.
PLEASE REVIEW
PLEASE REVIEW
PLEASE REVIEW