Chapter 7
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: IN RESPONSE TO GUEST REVIEW WHO ASKED ABOUT WARD.
Ward is loyal to his sister above all else (just like he was to Garrett in the show) but because he had such a bigger connection to Hydra than the Ward in the show he is and always has been Hydra. But as you saw from the bit in the last chapter and you'll see in coming ones, he does care about Skye.
It has been three days since everyone arrive back at the tower and in that time Skye has yet to wake up. Coulson and Melinda haven't left their daughters side and everyone else with the exception of Clint have spent at least a few hours sitting with her. Simmons and Bruce who are her doctors have been in the room almost as much as Coulson and Melinda. Clint on the other hand has been avoiding going in the room and Natasha as he knows exactly what she will say to him and has been spending most of his time on the roof, mainly thinking and hoping that Skye will be okay.
Everyone with the exception of Clint, Coulson and Melinda, who are where they have been most if not all of the past three days are sitting in the 'war room'.
"We've got to do something." Pepper tells the others.
"I think we might have some chance of getting Phil and Melinda to leave Skye's side if you and Clint are with her, but I don't know how to get Clint down there." Maria says to Natasha.
"It won't be easy." Natasha comments.
"Let me have a try." Tony offers, standing up.
"What are you thinking?" Natasha asks.
"Just something that might work." Tony responds, "He's been avoiding you, and you've been letting him." Tony points out as it has been clear to everyone that if she really didn't want him to then Clint wouldn't have been able to avoiding Natasha, "I may not know Clint as well as you or Maria or Garrett, but I do know him and I think I know how to get him into that room." Tony tells Natasha.
"You might not have known him as long but you know him just as well." Natasha tells Tony as one thing she has noticed since Garrett and Maria have been spending more time with the group is that Tony has been slightly insecure about the relationships he shares with her, Clint, Melinda and Coulson, because it has become clear just how long the four of them having known Garrett and Maria, "You know where to find him." Natasha says giving her okay, even though everyone knows that Tony doesn't need it, for him to go and talk to Clint.
With a nod to the others Tony leaves the room on his way up to the roof to talk to Clint.
"Do you know why she hasn't woken up yet?" Garrett asks Bruce.
"No, but I have two guesses." Bruce tells him, "The first is that it's because she was without oxygen for three minutes." Bruce explains, "The second is because she used more of the energy than she can handle, that was actually an idea that Clint gave me." Bruce reveals.
"Or it could be a combination." Tripp comments causing everyone to look at him, "Look I know I may be the new guy but I've listened to all of you. From what you have said Skye's brain is different from everyone else's so it would make sense that it is more than one thing that is keeping her from waking when her brain is even more complex than usual." He explains.
"That makes sense." Simmons comments
"Have you been monitoring her energy levels?" Pepper asks as she knows that that is something that they can do.
"No, we've been more concerned with her injuries." Bruce comments.
"We'll do it next time we check on her." Simmons tells the others.
"Good." Fitz says.
After he left the room Tony makes his way to the roof where just like he suspected he finds Clint, but what is unexpected is that he is holding Skye's bow and he seems to be checking to make sure that it is in perfect working order.
"Where did you get that?" Tony asks as he walks over.
"Skye's bag." Clint answers, "She had it, arrows, and not much else in that bag she had with her." Clint explains.
"So what are you doing to it?" Tony asks as he sits down next to him.
"Servicing it, not that It needs it Skye's kept it in perfect condition, I just wanted to make sure that it was good for her for when she wakes." Clint explains.
"You gave her that, didn't you?" Tony asks.
"Yeah, when she was at the academy." Clint confirms, "She didn't want to accept it, said it was too much." Clint explains.
"That's Skye." Tony says with a small, "You know what else is just like Skye, not waiting people to worry or hurt because of her." Tony tells his friend.
"Tony…." Clint says in a tone of voice that sounds exhausted.
"Just listen Clint, don't say anything." Tony requests, "I know you love Skye and she loves you to, you two just have a connection that the rest of us don't have because you get each other, and you've been through a lot of the same things…" Tony begins to say but Clint cuts him off.
"That's only part of the reason." Clint reveals, "Yes, we've been through a lot of the same things but why we're so close is because we've been truly, truly alone… Just listen." Clint requests when Tony opens his mouth, "You're Dad might not have been the greatest but you had your Mom and Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, you were never alone in the truest sense like we were even though I would never deny that you have been alone. Phil and Melinda had each other and Phil had his parents, Melinda had her grandparents and Peggy, Fitz and Simmons have had each other and their families, Tripp, Garrett and Maria had theirs and Garrett and Maria had each other, and Nat, she's been alone too, but didn't deal with it in the same ways Skye and I did, or even you, because she was taught that connections was weakness." Clint explains, "But Skye and I, we've both spend years and years knowing that we were completely alone in the world that nobody cared. We were the kids that the world forgets, we've seen the things that people don't like to think about and we survived it, and found family, this family, something we both didn't even let ourselves dream about. You know how on Christmas Day how we both disappeared?" Clint asks curious and Tony just nods because he doesn't trust himself to speak as he never thought of it like that.
"We went into town and found every children's home, ever kid alone on the streets that we could find and we gave them food and these packs that we made the night before which was full of thing things that kids who are alone want most on Christmas, but that people forget to give, what we both wanted when we were those kids, and we gave them to them, because we were those kids and In a lot of ways we still are. That's why our bond is as strong as it is, because we get each other in a way the rest of you can't." Clint reveals, "I told her that I would look after her, that I would protect her and I didn't, I should have known that she was going to leave because if I was her I would have do the same thing, I would do the same thing to protect any of you, and I should have stopped her, but I didn't. This is on me and that's why I can't go in that room." Clint explains not meaning to say as much as he did but once he started talking he found himself unable to stop.
"This wasn't on you." Tony tells his friend, "If you had tried to stop her then then she would have just used her power on you." Tony tells his friend, "And the only one to blame for shooting Skye is the person who shot her, which isn't you." Tony tells him. "I've watched you two the last couple of years, and I've seen how close you are, so I'm going to tell you something that you already know but won't admit to yourself. Skye wouldn't want you to blame yourself and she would be so pissed at you if she woke and you weren't there." Tony tells his friend, "And how would you feel if you weren't their when she did?" Tony asks his friend.
"I would hate myself." Clint mutters to himself, his voice barely above a whisper but Toy hears.
"Exactly." Tony tells him, "Phil and Melinda have been sitting by her side for three days, they haven't left and have only ate when we have basically forced them too. You I both know that the only people apart from Skye who have a chance of getting them to leave are you and Natasha." Tony explains to his friend, telling him nothing that he doesn't already know.
For more than ten minutes Tony and Clint are both silent, Tony is thinking about how it might be time to get Natasha, Maria and Pepper to tag team to get Clint to see Skye when Clint finally speaks.
"I want to spend a few minutes in the room first, then I'll try and get Mels and Phil to leave." Clint tells his friend.
"Good, come on." Tony tells him and Clint hops down from the edge of the roof, "You know I can make a way for you to sit up here that is a little safer." He tells his friend.
"Nah, I like it like this." Clint responds surprised by the words 'a little safer' coming out of Tony Stark's mouth but deciding to ignore it.
"Well if you change your mind, let me know." Tony responds and the pair head inside.
Once they are inside Tony heads back to the others while Clint heads to Skye's room. Once he is outside the door Clint pauses for several minutes before he pushes the door and heads inside. Once he enters the room he sees Coulson and Melinda sitting the same positions that he assumes they have been sitting in for the last few days, both of them are sitting either side of Skye's bed, holding each ones of her hands. When he saw Melinda in that hospital bed all those months ago he thought it was hard to see her like that and sit by her bedside for all those hours, but as he enters that room Clint realises that has nothing on this.
Neither Melinda nor Coulson look up when the door opens because they both know the sounds that every single person that they trust make when they walk and due to that they know right away that it is Clint who has walked into the room.
For several minutes Clint just stands at the end of the bed and watches Skye. He is surprised that due to the fact that the blanket that she has on is covering her tors she just looks like she is sleeping and is only slightly pale, in fact for someone who basically died a few days earlier she looks pretty good, Melinda and Coulson on the other hand look the furthers thing from good.
"Why don't you guys go have a shower, Nat and I will stay with her." Clint offers, knowing that there is basically no chance that they will say yes on the first attempt but trying anyway.
"We're good." Coulson tells him.
"No you're not, but none of us are so I can't hold it against you." Clint comments.
"I didn't think you were going to come in here." Melinda says to her brother as she knows how he feels when someone he love is hurt, and the reason behind it, which she only knows because he got drunker than her, Natasha and Coulson had ever and hasn't since and told them in great detail about what happened to his brother and the next morning he told his sober version of what happened.
"I wasn't going to, but then Tony managed to convince me." Clint explains.
"Good, she would want you here." Coulson tells his friend as he knows the connection that Clint and Skye share and he is thankful for it because there are things that Skye has been through that she just won't talk to him or Melinda about but she will with Clint and he's glad that she is at least talking to someone, instead of keeping it bottled up inside.
"And she would want you two to look after yourself." Clint tells them knowing that they brought that on themselves, that it is an opening that he couldn't resist using, "I'm not asking for you to go sleep for several hours, although that would be a good idea. I asking for you to take ten minutes to have a quick shower and maybe something quick to eat. Nat and I will be with her the entire time, I will not leave." Clint tells his friends.
Both Coulson and Melinda are quite and Clint is almost positive that they are going to say no but to his uprise they both nod and, clearly reluctantly, they let go of Skye's hands and stand up,
"Don't leave her." Melinda tells him,
"I won't." Clint promises.
"Get us if she starts to wake." Coulson asks.
"I will." Clint responds and both Coulson and Melinda leave the room and Clint walks over and takes Coulson's now empty seat, "Hey Kid, guess it's just you and me now." Clint says picking up her hand, "I don't know if you can hear me, but I need you too, just like I need you to wake up, we all do." Clint tells his niece, "You brought us together, before you found your way back to your parents we were the closes thing we could be to a family but you made us a real one. You brought us together, made us what we are now, and without you we'll fall apart. You saved us, in more way than you know. You know me Kid, I don't beg coz in my experience, it doesn't lead anywhere good, but I'm begging you to wake up, please Kid, just open your eyes." Clint tells his niece, Clint stares at his niece and for a split second he allows himself to hope that she will wake, but she doesn't, instead he feels a hand on his shoulder that causes him to jump and he turns to see Natasha standing behind him, "I didn't hear you come in." Clint says surprised.
"I know." Natasha responds and after giving her partner's shoulder a squeeze she walks over and takes up Melinda's vacant seat, "She'll wake when she is ready to." Natasha tells her partner.
"What if she's never ready to?" Clint asks
"I don't know." Natasha responds honestly.
Exactly eight minutes after they left Coulson and Melinda return to the room, both of them still have wet hair and they are now wearing changers of clothes as well as each of them having a sandwiches their hands.
As soon as they see the parents return to the room Clint and Natasha stand up to allow them to have their seats back.
"I thought you might need these." Garrett says carrying in two extra chairs a minute after Coulson and Melinda entered the room.
"Thanks John." Natasha responds and her and lint place the chairs at the end of the bed and sit down both of them feeling that they should give Coulson and Melinda a bit of space.
"You're welcome." John responds before leaving the room.
Once Garrett leaves the room it becomes silent once more and the eyes on the four people present are only on Skye.
After Garrett leaves Skye's room he returns to the others who are all sitting around a table.
"You know what I just realised?" Garrett asks as he walks into the room.
"What?" Tripp asks.
"That now we've made it so that their aren't just two people who won't leave Skye's room but four." He tells the others.
"I didn't think of that." Pepper admits.
"Clint and Natasha will leave." Maria tells the others, "It won't be often, or for long, but they'll leave." She tells them.
"Are you sure?" Fitz asks as from what he has seen in the last couple of years he doubts that.
"I'm sure." Maria assures.
"Good." Simmons says
For the twelve hours that follow Maria saying that they will leave Maria is proven to be correct as like Coulson and Melinda Clint and Natasha leave when they have to go bathroom but unlike Melinda and Coulson they leave to go get food.
During that time Simmons runs a test to see what Skye's energy levels are where she discovers that they are low and using her best guest and a formula that her, Fitz, Tony and Bruce came up with using the information that they know they think that when she was first hurt Skye's energy levels were dangerously low, which could explain why she hasn't woken up yet.
While the seats that are either side of Skye's bed's have become Coulson's and Melinda's the ones at the end have become Clint and Natasha, which is where each of them are sitting when the door opens and Bruce, Tony, Pepper, Fitz, Simmons, Maria, John and Tripp walk in each of them holding a chair which they put around the room, making sure that there is enough room for people to move, and they sit down.
"What are you doing?" Coulson asks.
"We're joining you, isn't it obvious?" Tony asks and no one answers him because it was really obvious what they were doing.
In has been an hour since everyone else joined Clint, Natasha, Coulson and May and in that time the room has been mostly since. Those who don't have medical training are just watching Skye while those who do are switching between watching Skye and watching the machines.
As everyone is watching Skye so intensively they all realises the second that one of her little fingers start to twitch.
"Is she starting to wake?" Clint asks ask Coulson and Melinda stand up and move closer to the bed and Simmons and Bruce stand up and go and look closely at the machines.
"It's possible." Bruce answers.
"May, can you hear me?" Melinda asks her daughter.
"Open your eyes Baby Girl." Coulson says.
Everyone is watching Skye carefully and they all see that her eyelids flutter but they don't open.
"Come on Skye, come back to us." Coulson says and slowly, just like she is doing what her father tells her Skye's eyes open.
"Hey." Coulson and Melinda say to Skye as she opens her eyes and looks up at them, "Welcome back." Coulson says to his daughter.
"AC, what's going on?" Skye asks confused and as soon as she says those words it causes everyone in the room heart's to drop.
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