Chapter 19
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For two days Natasha, Melinda and Skye stay at Natasha's place. While they do Natasha and Melinda do their best to make sure that Skye is entertained so that she doesn't get too bored. It's early hours of the third day and both Natasha and Melinda are awake in the kitchen getting ready.
"We're a few hours away from the cabin, we should get there an hour before Clint." Natasha tells her friend.
"Good, we might need to take more breaks so it's better we leave soon." Melinda comments.
"Go wake Skye, I'll finish here." Natasha tells her friend and Melinda nods and heads into the bedroom to wake her daughter.
Walking into the room Melinda wakes Skye up, Skye has aged several more months in the last few days so she is almost nine years old.
"May wake up." Melinda says shaking her daughter awake.
"Mom?" Skye ask.
"Get up, we've got to get going." Melinda explains to her daughter.
"Okay." Skye says, "Are we going to eat first?"
"Your Aunt is almost finished with breakfast." Melinda tells her daughter.
"Good, I've got to go out of the bathroom, then I'll be right out." Skye explains and Melinda nods and heads back out to Natasha.
On the plane Coulson and Clint have called Ward up to Coulson's office so that they can explain to him the plane as they actually need his help for the next part of their plan.
"What's going on Sir's?" Ward asks curious looking between Coulson and Clint.
"You're right about Melinda not helping Maria." Coulson tells Ward, "We didn't tell you because wanted as few people to know as possible, not even Fury knows." He explains.
"Where is she?" Ward asks curious, though she is pretty sure that he knows.
"Hopefully with Natasha and Skye." Clint tells him.
"What do you need me to do?" Ward asks curious as he assumes that the reason why he was called up to Coulson's office is.
"I'm going to sneak of this plane and get a smaller S.H.I.E.L.D transport and fly too where Natasha and Melinda are. When I do that you are going to fly this plane to another location. Coulson's going to make calls to makes sure it's clear that he's on this plane. Once I get Natasha, Melinda and Skye we'll met up with you mid-air and dock." Clint explains.
"What's with all the secrets?" Ward asks curious.
"After Sitwell and Blake we're having trust issues." Coulson explains.
"I get it." Ward realises understanding, "When do you want us to go?" he asks.
"An hour." Coulson answers.
"I'll be ready." Ward says leaving the office.
"You better not scratch my paint." Coulson tells his friend.
"I'll get Mels to dock, and I'll be careful." Clint tells his friend.
"Good." Coulson responds.
After an hour of walking Melinda, Natasha and Skye arrive at the car once again.
"I'm driving." Melinda says taking the keys out of Natasha's hands.
"Of course you are." Natasha comments amused, "Before we go let me check your shoulder, I forgot to check it earlier." Natasha realises.
"No need, it's fine." Melinda comments hoping in the driver's side of the car.
"Your Mom has to look after herself more." Natasha informs Skye.
"Is she okay?" Skye asks worried.
"When we stop I'll make sure." Natasha assures her niece.
"Thanks." Skye comments and she gets in the back of the car and Natasha gets in the front.
An hour after Coulson and Clint called Ward up to Coulson's office Clint has snuck away from the plane and to a car that Tony left for him. As he gets in the mustang Clint is even more thankful than usual that Tony doesn't asks questions though he can't help but wonder what his friend thinks they are up to and he realises that they do owe him an explanation at some point.
He drives Tony's car to the New York S.H.I.E.L.D base where he makes his way to the tarmac without even going inside the building and he gets into one of the smaller aircrafts.
"This is Agent Barton in S.H.I.E.L.D 915 requesting permission for take-off." Clint says to the watch tower as he won't be able to go anywhere until he gets permission, or he will but he will be shot down in seconds and he would rather avoid that.
"Sir there is no record of your flight, who gave you authorisation?" The person on the other end asks.
"Commander Hill." Clint lies.
"I will need to call and confirm that."
"Of course, it's authorisation code Yuma." Clint says using the code that he Maria, Coulson, Melinda, Natasha, Garrett, Blake and Sitwell created a long time ago to mean just agree, I'll explain later, I owe you big time.
"There is no authorisation code Yuma." The person responds.
"I am on a classified operation I understand that you have to call Commander Hill to confirm but I also know that I am to give that authorisation code in any communication with Commander Hill. So please make your call just be sure to give that code." Clint requests completely bullshitting but hoping that it works because otherwise he will be in serious trouble.
"Please hold." The operator says and she places a call to Maria, "Hello Ma'am my name is Agent Green at the New York base I have Agent Barton wanting to take out a small transport apparently on your orders and he said that he was on a classified mission and to give you Authorisation code Yuma when I called, does he have authorisation to take the plane or not?" Agent Green asks curious.
"Yes, he does." Maria responds, "Let him go." Maria tells agent Green wondering what the hell he is up to but knowing that no matter what he is doing he owes her big time.
"Agent Barton you a free to take off. Safe flying." Agent Green tells him.
"Thank you." Clint responds and he starts take of procedure, as he does he wonders just what he's going to have to do to make it up to Maria.
A few hours after they started driving Natasha, Melinda and Skye are in a fast food restaurants parking lot eating.
"I'd say we've got another two hours of driving before we arrive at the cabin, what do you think?" Melinda asks her friend curious.
"That sounds about right." Natasha comments.
"What's the cabin?" Skye asks curious and Natasha looks at Melinda worried.
"It's a place that your Dad, Uncle Clint, тетя Наташа, and I used to go sometimes." Melinda explains, "But we haven't been there in a while."
"Why not?" Skye asks.
"Because the last time we were there we didn't exactly have a good time." Melinda explains as the last time they went to the cabin was when Clint, Natasha and Phil took her there after Bahrain to try and help her and it didn't go too well and after that she said that she would never go back there again.
"What happened?" Skye asks curious not realising how much of a sensitive topic it is.
"We had a bad time." Natasha says saving her friend from having to explain, "All of us would rather forget that time happened." She explains.
"Oh okay." Skye says understanding now that she shouldn't say anything more.
"Do you mind?" Melinda asks her friend who is pulling her arm out of her sleeve so that she can have a look at the wound on her arm.
"Not at all." Natasha comments, "Don't you know that by now?" she asks curious.
"I really should." Melinda admits and Skye laughs from the backseat.
"It looks good, no sign of infection, healing perfectly." Natasha tells her friend several minutes later.
"I could have told you that." Melinda tells her.
"Yeah you could have but I wouldn't have believed you." Natasha tells her as she re wraps Melinda's arm.
"Why not?" Skye asks curious.
"Because your Mom doesn't have the best track record when it comes to admitting how hurt she really is." Natasha explains to her niece turning around to look at her.
"Neither do you." Melinda points out.
"True, but we aren't talking about me at the moment." Natasha tells her.
"Now we are." Melinda says, "But you've got to admit both of us are better than Clint." She points out.
"Oh yeah." Natasha admits.
"What do you mean?" Skye asks.
"You Mom and I, and your Dad as well don't admit when we're hurt and really hate hospitals and doctors." Natasha explains, "Uncle Clint on the other hand is worse than all of us, he once left a stab wound un treated for several days because he didn't want to go to the doctors." Natasha explains.
"That's not good." Skye comments worried.
"No, it's not." Melinda tells her, "That's why we always watch your Uncle closely after a mission to make sure he's not hurt." She explains.
Skye frowns not likely the idea of her Uncle being hurt.
"We should get going, is your seat belt on?" Melinda asks Skye.
"Yep." Skye responds.
"Let me double check." Natasha says and that's what she does, "Yep it's on. Let's go." Natasha tells her friend and Melinda drives them out of the parking lot.
Having shut himself in his fathers lab the night before Quinn is completely unaware of what is going on in the outside world, all he knows is that he needs to figure out a way to get the energy into an adult brain without killing the person and soon.
He is so focused on what he is doing that he doesn't even notice his sister walk in and put a coffee cup next to him and then walk out again. Normally Victoria would make a comment about how awful her brother looks but because she knows what he is working on and how important it is she decides not to she just leaves him to his work. Though she does return twenty minutes later to leave him breakfast knowing that at some point he will eat it even if it is cold when he does because he won't mind.
Most of the time it may seem like Victoria doesn't care about Ian and vice versa but the truth is the opposite, they do truly care about each other, but they aren't good at showing it as their father always taught them that while their family was their strength showing affection was weakness, so neither of the siblings are good at showing how they are feeling. Instead they do it in subtle ways like both of the just being with each other after they found out Rania was killed because she was a close friend of both of them, Ian looking after her when she got hurt on a mission, and her looking after him when he devotes himself fully to work, so much so that he doesn't look after himself.
Knowing that eventually Ian will go to his computer Victoria leaves a note on it telling her brother to eat and shower and to let her know if he finds anything before leaving.
When Natasha, Melinda and Skye arrive at the cabin, which is literally a large wooden cabin the middle of nowhere Skye notices that neither her Mother nor her Aunt show any sign of wanting to move and get out the car. Melinda is staring at the cabin while Natasha is staring at Melinda, unknown to Skye both of them are remembering the last time they were there.
"Um, are we going inside?" Skye asks hesitant from the back seat more than ten minutes after they arrived.
"Yeah let's go." Melinda says opening the door and getting out.
"тетя Наташа, is Mom okay?" Skye asks her Aunt worried.
"Not really, I'm just glad we won't have to be here long." Natasha tells her niece, "I need you to do something for me." Natasha says to her as she turns around and looks at her.
"What?" Skye asks.
"We shouldn't be here long but why we are I need you to do your best to distract your Mom, try and forget where she is, what happened." Natasha requests.
"What did happen here тетя Наташа?" Skye asks curious and worried.
"I'll tell you when you're older." Natasha responds.
"Just so you know I really hate that answer, but I'll distract her." Skye says getting out of the car.
"Thank you." Natasha says quietly though she knows that her niece wouldn't be able to hear her.
"Finally, taking your time there Tasha." Melinda tells her friend.
"It's a good thing we never locked this place." Natasha comments rolling her eyes at her friends' comments.
"Why wouldn't you lock it?" Skye asks confused as Melinda and Natasha get things form the trunk.
"Because we really didn't see the point." Melinda explains and the three people head into the cabin.
"Back way right?" Natasha asks.
"That's the plan." Melinda tells her, "We've got about two hours before we have to disappear again if Clint doesn't show up." She tells Natasha.
"Let's hope he's on time." Natasha responds
As he is flying the plane to the location that Natasha, Melinda and Skye should hopefully be at Clint realises that he really should have left more time as he's not making quite as good speed as he was expecting to make which means he may not reach where he has to go in time.
"Great, great, great." Clint says sarcastically as he once more increases acceleration as he knows that if he doesn't get there in time he will be letting everyone down and it will become that much harder to find Melinda, Natasha and Skye.
As he pushes the plane to go faster the knowledge that everyone is counting on him comes back to the focus of Clint's thoughts because he knows that if he doesn't get there in time he will be letting down the people that he cares about the most and he will not do that.
At the cabin Skye and Natasha are both trying to distract Melinda from where she is thought neither are succeeding as while Skye is sting on the couch and Natasha is sitting next to the window by the front door Melinda is pacing the room and she has been since they arrived.
"If he's not here in half an hour we've got to go." Melinda tells Natasha.
"I know." Natasha says though she believes in her partner and knows that he will be here before then.
"Mom, stop pacing." Skye says getting up and walking over to her mother, blocking her path, "Please, sit down." Skye requests.
"I'm alright May." Melinda tells her daughter.
"Clearly." Skye comments and despite everything both Melinda and Natasha have to fight a smile at that because she sounds so much like her grown up self when she says that though in much more of a childlike voice.
"I'll sit down when your Uncle's here and we're on our way home." Melinda tells her daughter.
Skye rolls her eyes and moves out of her mother's way and walks over to her Aunt.
"Is there something you can do?" Skye asks her
"No." Natasha responds.
"What about Fitzy's gun? The one that makes you sleep, can't you use that?" Skye asks, "I think some rest could help Mom." Skye tells her Aunt.
"You're right about rest helping her, but I don't have one of those guns and if I did I wouldn't use it, not on her, not now." Natasha tells her, "We've just got to wait for Uncle Clint to arrive." Natasha explains.
"I really wish he would hurry up." Skye comments.
"So do I." Natasha agrees, "She'll be okay Ребенок, once we are away from here, she'll be okay." Natasha tells her niece, putting her arm around her niece, as she watches Skye watch her mother, as she does she wonders why this place was chosen for the met place, especially considering there are many places that would be just as suitable that wouldn't have the same effect that this place is having on Melinda.
Natasha, Skye and Melinda have been quite for several minutes, both Natasha and Skye watching Melinda when they hear the sound of a plane.
"Is that?" Natasha asks.
"It is." Melinda confirms, "Let's go." She says.
"Stay behind us Skye, just in case." Natasha tells her niece as the exit the cabin.
"I don't understand, isn't it Uncle Clint?" Skye ask confused as walk outside and around to the back of the cabin where there is an open field and an S.H.I.E.L.D transport landing.
"We think it is, but we have to be sure." Melinda says as they approach the plane cautiously.
"It's me." Clint yells when the cargo hold opens.
"Prove it." Natasha requests.
Even though he expected that Clint can't help but roll his eyes, "You two once were so pissed at Phil that after drinking you snuck into his apartment and stole all his ties and he blamed Blake and Sitwell and assigned them to look after the new graduates for a month." Clint says knowing that it is a risky move telling a story involving Blake and Sitwell but also knowing that the three of them are the only ones who know the truth to that story as Blake and Sitwell thought it was Garrett who did it and Garrett and Maria thought it was him.
"It's him." Melinda says and Natasha nods and they help Skye into the plane.
"Uncle Clint." Skye says happily running up to him and giving him a hug as he is standing up in the cockpit.
"I've missed you kid." Clint says picking Skye up as he hugs her.
"I've missed you too." Skye responds, "You have to tell someone if you're hurt." Skye tells her Uncle.
"Okay." Clint says confused and he makes a note to get an explanation from Natasha and Melinda later.
"You guys okay?" Clint asks his sister and partner as he hugs his niece.
"Fine." Melinda responds as she makes her way to the cockpit.
"I shot Melinda." Natasha tells her partner as she sits down and buckles herself into one of the seats.
"What?" Clint asks confused.
"It was an accident, and it's only a flesh wound." Melinda says as she sits in the pilot's seat.
"Okay, I'm going to want the story of that later." Clint says looking between his sister and partner, "Skye go sit next to тетя Наташа." Clint requests putting Skye down on the ground.
"Okay." Skye responds and she walks over and sits next to Natasha who makes sure that she is buckled in correctly.
"So I guess you're flying now." Clint comments walking back to the front of the plane and siting in the co-pilots seat.
"Of course." Melinda responds.
"I'm glad, Phil said he would be pissed if his paint is scratched so if it is you're dealing with him, because you'll be the one to blame." Clint tells his sister.
"Please, like I would." Melinda tells him, "Tasha is Skye buckled in?" Melinda asks.
"Yep." Natasha responds.
"Good, then off we go." Melinda responds starting take off procedure.
Two hours after Clint met up with Natasha, Melinda and Skye Ward is flying the plane to the mid-air meet up point when Coulson walks into the cockpit.
"How far away are we?" Coulson asks.
"We're within the hundred mile area that you agreed on." Ward tells Coulson, "We could receive a communication from them at any time." Ward informs him.
"Good." Coulson responds.
"Is there a plane B sir?" Ward asks curious.
"There is." Coulson confirms.
"And it is?" Ward asks.
"Meeting up at a pre-arranged destination." Coulson explains.
"S.H.I.E.L.D 616 this is S.H.I.E.L.D 915 requesting permission for docking." Melinda's voice asks.
"Ask for the authorisation." Coulson tells Ward who nods.
"S.H.I.E.L.D 915 this is S.H.I.E.L.D 616 requesting authorisation." Ward requests.
"Of course, authorisation is Foxtrot Alpha Mike India Lima Yankee." Melinda responds and Coulson nods.
"Permission granted." Ward responds and Coulson gets upstairs.
Once Coulson is near the hatch that heads upstairs he waits several minutes then Clint, Skye, Melinda and Natasha climb down.
"DADDY!" Skye says running to her father and he hugs her holding her tightly as he does.
"I've missed you so much." Skye says to her father.
"I missed you too." Coulson responds and Melinda walks over and Coulson pulls her into the hug too.
"Please say you've got food ready." Clint says to his friend several minutes later.
"It's ready in the kitchen, it's covered to stay warm." Coulson says to his friend.
"Awesome." Clint responds and he and Natasha head downstairs, Natasha finally removing the brown wig for the first time since she put it on days ago as she does.
"I'm glad you're home." Coulson tells his wife and daughter.
"So are we." Melinda responds.
"I'm hungry." Skye tells her parents.
"Then let's go eat." Coulson says and the three head downstairs, Coulson more happy than he could put into words about his daughter and wife being home.
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