Chapter 36
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: Thank you so much for the support you give me. It means more than I can say.
"I'm sorry." Tripp says as soon as he walks in the room where he finds his aunt once more sitting at the desk.
"Don't apologise Tonio, you have no reason to." Melinda says to her nephew as he walks over and sits on the end of the bed.
"She's my mother, I kind of do." Tripp admits, "What did she say to you?" He asks concerned.
"Nothing I haven't heard before." Melinda admits.
"Damn it, I'm sorry Aunt Melinda, I really, really am." Tripp tells his aunt, knowing some of the things Angela has said to Melinda in the past and knowing how bad they are.
"Hey, you listen to me, it's not your fault." Melinda says reaching over and grabbing her nephews' hands.
"But…." Tripp begins to object.
"Antoine Gabriel Triplett, you listen to me young man, what your mother says or do isn't your fault, you don't have to apologise for that." She tells her nephew.
"Why is she like this?" Tripp asks his aunt, "Why doesn't she care?"
"I don't know why she is like this." Melinda admits, knowing that there was a time right after Tripp's father died where she basically disappeared for months and Tripp lived with Mark and no one, not even Peggy, could find out what she did during that time, but because Tripp was so young he doesn't completely remember, and wondering if that is the reason why Angela is like she is "But I think she does care, in her own way."
"It really doesn't seem like it." Tripp comments.
"I know it doesn't." Melinda admits, "And I'm sorry about that." Melinda tells her nephew, "Is there something I can do?'" She asks curious.
"Nah, I'll deal, I always have." Tripp tells his aunt, "Thanks for being here though." He tells his aunt.
"Of course. No need to thank me for that." Melinda tells him.
"I should go, I can feel Phil's worry though the wall." Tripp jokes and Melinda manages a small smile at that.
"I'm here if you want to talk, or not, I'm here." Melinda tells her nephew.
"I know." Tripp says before leaving the room.
A few minutes after Tripp leaves Coulson walks in the room and over to his wife.
"What happened?" Coulson asks concerned.
Melinda doesn't say anything she just stands up and hugs her husband, letting silent tears roll down her face.
"I've got you, I've got you Mel." Coulson tells his wife.
About four am the following morning Skye wakes up and unable to get back to sleep so instead of continuing to try she heads out to the lounge room to watch some TV, on quit and she is surprised to find that Tripp and Sharon beat her to it.
"Hey, we didn't wake you did we?" Sharon asks concerned as Skye sits down on Tripp's left side.
"Nah, you didn't, don't worry." Skye tells her cousin, "What are you guys doing up?" She asks curious.
"Same as you I'm guessing, couldn't sleep." Tripp comments.
"That would be it." Skye admits and the trio drift into silence.
"So what are we watching?" Skye asks curious.
"No idea." Sharon and Tripp respond.
"Sounds good." Skye comments.
For the next hour and a half Tripp, Skye and Sharon continue to watch early morning TV in silence. That is until the door unlocks and Steve, Bucky and Sam walks in.
"What are you doing here?" Sharon asks confused.
"We were coming to see whether Tripp is joining ups for our morning run or whether he is skipping it." Steve explains.
"A run sounds like a really good thing at the moment." Tripp says standing up, "Just give me a few to get changed." He tells them then he realises something, "You two should join us." He says to his Cousins.
"Run, with the four of you?" Sharon asks.
"Sure, why not?" Sam asks and Skye and Sharon exchange a look.
"Yeah, why not, I should have something to run in." Skye comments standing up.
"I thought you didn't run outside." Bucky comments.
"There's a first time for everything." Skye says before heading to her room.
"Sharon?" Tripp asks his cousin as she stands.
"Like Skye said, why not." Sharon says and she heads to her room.
Fifteen minutes later after getting changed and warming up, Skye, Sharon, Tripp, Steve, Sam and Bucky are out on their run.
"See you later." Bucky says before running off.
"Yeah, later." Steve says before also running off to catch up with his brother and beat him.
"They're going to overtake us at least three times." Sam tells Sharon and Skye.
"Good to know." Skye responds and the four run at a slower pace than Sam and Tripp usually do but they don't mind.
Skye, Sharon, Tripp and Sam are have been running for a bit less than ten minutes when they suddenly hear.
"On your left."
And
"On your right." At the same time and then a few seconds later Steve and Bucky run pass, Steve on the left, Bucky on the right.
"Are they always so annoying when they run?" Skye asks curious.
"Oh yeah." Sam and Tripp answer together.
Eight minutes later they once more hear,
"On your left." But this time it isn't followed by "On your right."
"How you doing?" Bucky asks Skye curious, slowing down so that he is right beside her.
"Wondering why I agreed to this in the first place." Skye admits.
"You're doing great." Bucky tells her, "You're got a nice pace, and you're making pretty good time." Bucky tells Skye.
"That's only because I'm trying to keep up with them." Skye reveals.
"Have you ever done runs like this?" Bucky asks curious.
"I run on the treadmill." Skye says.
"It's not the same thing." Bucky responds, "We've got under a mile to go and you haven't stopped and you managed to keep up with the non-super soldier who run daily, that's pretty damn good." Bucky tells her.
"Don't congratulate me yet, like you said I've still got to keep going." She tells Bucky.
"I think you're going to keep going, and I'm going to be right here with you when you do." Bucky tells Skye, talking about more than just what is going on now.
"Thank you." Skye says looking over at Bucky knowing what he isn't saying, "How long we got left?" Skye asks curious.
"About six hundred feet." Bucky responds.
Not entirely sure what she is thinking Skye just gets a smile on her face, "Race you." She says and starts pushing herself to run faster.
"Oh you're so on." Bucky tells her and they run pass the other three who wonder what the hell Skye is thinking.
Unsurprisingly Bucky wins though Skye isn't overly far behind him, though she is very far behind.
"You didn't run as fast as you can did you?" Skye asks him once she finishes, attempting to catch her breath.
"Didn't see the point." Bucky tells her.
"Thanks for not letting me win." Skye says as she lays down on the grass.
"Never." Bucky responds because he knows how angry she would be if he did.
"I'm gonna lay here now." Skye tells Bucky.
"You do that." Bucky responds amused.
"Why the hell would you attempt to race a super solider?" Sharon's voice asks curious several minutes later.
"I have no idea." Skye answers, truly having no idea what she was thinking.
"You alright down there?" Tripp asks kneeling down next to his cousin.
"No." Skye answers.
"What's happened, Skye are you okay?" Steve ask worried.
"I raced James." Skye explains.
"Ah right." Steve responds in understanding, "We should get back to the hotel." He tells the others.
"Someone help me up." Skye requests putting her arms up in the air. Bucky grabs her hands and with compete ease pulls her up, and into a hug.
"You're gross, and sweaty, but thanks." Skye says to Bucky once the break apart.
"I'm not sweating." Bucky tells Skye.
"You're right, you're not." Skye realises, "That's so not fair, but I'm am so you don't want to hug me." Skye tells Bucky realising that the sweat she felt when they hugged was hers not his.
"Of course I do." Bucky tells her and he puts an arm around Skye as they walk.
Once they get back to the hotel the group goes back to their respective suits to get cleaned up, though none of them get ready for the funeral quite yet as it isn't until mid-day.
Once Skye has a shower she dresses in sweat pants and a tank top and heads back out into the living area where she finds Sharon who is wearing basically the same thing, but she is also wearing a hoddie, walking into the room with four coffee cups.
"Coffee run?" Skye asks her cousin.
"Coffee run." Sharon confirms, "I thought we could use it." She tells Skye as she walks over and places the coffee on the table.
"Thanks." Skye responds.
"You're welcome." Sharon says as she walks over to the door to Tripp and Maria's room, "Coffee's out here when you want it." Sharon says loudly before walking back over and sitting across from Skye at the table.
"Sore?" Sharon asks curious.
"Oh yeah." Skye responds.
"What could possibility make you think that racing Bucky was a good idea?" Sharon asks curious.
"I have no idea." Skye admits, "But If I think about doing that again, stop me, please." Skye requests.
"I can try but I'm pretty sure I won't succeed." Sharon tells Skye.
"Probably true." Skye admits and for a few minutes the cousin sit with each other drinking their coffee and sitting with one another.
They are both torn from their thoughts by the sound of a key card entering the door and Tony walking in.
"Hey Uncle Tony." Skye says.
"Hi Skye." Tony responds, "I organized for a private buffet breakfast for all of us, I figured we could use it for today, it's downstairs in dining room C, come down soon." Tony tells them.
"We will." Sharon assures, and Tony nods and leaves.
"I'll go get a jacket." Skye says to her cousin knowing what she is going to say.
"I'll get Tonio and Maria." Sharon says as Skye heads to her room.
When Skye, Sharon, Maria and Tripp arrive downstairs a few minutes later Tony, Clint, Natasha, Steve, Melinda, Coulson, John, Pepper and Bruce are already present.
"Morning." Sharon greats as they walk in.
"Morning." The others responds.
"How sore are you?" Steve asks Skye curious as he hands Skye a plate.
"Shut up." Skye tells him.
"Oh gossip, what are the rest of us missing?" Tony asks curious.
"Skye and I joined Sam, Bucky, Steve and Tonio on their run this morning." Sharon explains, "And for some insane reason she thought racing a super solider was a smart idea." Sharon explains.
"I never thought it was a smart idea." Skye reveals as she puts bacon and sausage on her plate, "I honestly had no idea what I was thinking." She admits.
"You wanted to see if you could do the impossible." Clint tells his niece.
"That sounds about right." Skye says as she sits down.
"Hey." Bucky says as he sits down next to her having just walked in the room.
"Hey." Skye responds, "Are you planning to eat?" She asks curious.
"I was planning on eating yours." Bucky jokes as he grabs a piece of her bacon as she has a large pile of food on her plate.
"No way mister, get your own." Skye tells him hitting away his hand with her fork.
"Of course." Bucky responds and he gets up and heads to the buffet, he knew he had no chance of Skye sharing her food but he wanted to try to see if her could get her to smile by trying.
"Thanks for doing this Tony." Melinda say to Tony who she's walked over too after collecting what she wanted to eat.
"No need, it is the least I could do." Tony tells her, "How you doing?" Tony asks concerned.
"I honestly have no idea." Melinda admits, "I'm just going to get through the next few hours." Melinda admits.
"Best policy you could have." Tony tells her, "If you need anything I'm here." He tells her.
"Thanks Tony." Melinda admits, "Right now I'm just going to try not to have another fight with my sister." She says as Angela walks in with Fitz and Simmons.
"Another?" Tony asks.
"She's leaving the country right after the burial, we had a fight, and things were said." Melinda explains.
"That's what usually happens in a fight." Tony tells her.
"Horrible things were said." Melinda explains.
"By who?" Tony asks.
"Both of us." Melinda admits.
"Look I don't know anything about fighting with siblings but what I do know is that today is going to be one of the most difficult days of your life, and you're going to need you sister, more than that you're going to want her, so go talk to her, make up." Tony suggests, "Because a fight is the last thing you need today." He says to her.
"You've really got to stop getting so good at this advice thing, it's odd." Melinda tells Tony.
"I'll try." Tony tells her amused because he can tell that she is joking, something he wouldn't have been able to do a year ago, "I'll take this, you go." He says taking Melinda's plate off her.
"Thanks Tony." She tells him.
"Go." Tony responds and Melinda walks over to her sister, rolling her eyes at Tony as she goes.
"Can we talk?" She asks Angela.
"Sure." Angela responds, "In the hall?" She asks.
"Sure." Melinda responds and the sisters leave the room, neither realising that Tripp is watching their every move, though Skye does notices that.
"Tonio, what is it?" Skye asks her cousin.
"My Ma, and your Mom had a massive fight yesterday and now they're both just left this room together." Tripp explains.
"Eavesdrop?" Skye asks.
"Eavesdrop." Tripp confirms.
"Be right back." Skye says Bucky and Tripp says to Maria as they get up and head to the door to listen in to the conversation that is going on between their mothers.
Out in the hall Melinda and Angela stand for several minutes, neither sure what to say then all a sudden at the same time they say, "I'm sorry."
"Let me go first." Angela says to her sister, "I'm sorry, really sorry for what I said, it was mean and hurtful and I'm so so sorry Melinda." Angela says to her little sister, "And you have a right be mad and you were right to bring up the fact that I haven't been around for Tonio." Angela tells her sister.
"I'm sorry too Angie." Melinda tells her sister, "I don't want to fight with you, not today." She tells her sister.
"Me either." Angela responds and the sisters hug.
"Tonio, May, come out here now." Melinda says when she and Angela break apart.
Inside the dining room Skye and Tripp exchange looks wondering if they should and whether they could get back to the table quick enough.
"I'm not asking again, get out here." Melinda's voice says.
"That's stern voice, we should listen." Skye tells her cousin who nods and they open the door and walk out to the corridor.
"Hey Ma."
"Hey Mom."
"Fancy seeing you here." Skye says.
"Do you two want to explain why you were eavesdropping?" Melinda asks
"Eavesdropping…" Skye begins to say but her mother cuts her off.
"May Skye Philippa, don't even think about lying." Melinda tells her daughter, giving both her and her nephew a stern look which makes both of them feel like they are naughty children getting in trouble.
"After your fight yesterday we were worried so we eavesdropped to interfere if you started to fight again." Skye explains.
"We're not fighting." Melinda tells her daughter, "We're apologising for fighting." She explains.
"And I owe you one to, I'm sorry that I'm leaving again Tonio." Angela tells her son.
"Doesn't matter." Tripp says, walking over and hugging his mother, making it sound like, it's not a big deal when truthfully he's heard her apologise so many time for not being there that they mean nothing to him now.
"How about we go back to breakfast." Melinda says good walking over and putting an arm around Skye.
"Sounds good, I'm really hungry." Skye comments.
"That's what you get for attempting to beat a super solider at a race." Tripp tells her.
"I'm never going to hear the end of that, am I?" Skye asks curious.
"No." Tripp responds and the four head back to breakfast.
Once everyone finishes breakfast they all head back upstairs for the impossibility hard task of getting ready for the funeral.
Up in the suit shared by Skye, Tripp, Sharon and Maria; Skye hasn't started to get ready yet because she realises that she needs some space. So once she is sure that the other three are in their rooms she leaves the suit and goes out to the hallway where she starts pacing up and down.
"I thought I heard someone out here." Clint's voice says after Skye has been pacing for a few minutes and he walks out of his suit half dressed, "Are you alright?" he asks standing in front of her to stop her pacing.
"Not really." Skye admits, "I'm reading two poems today with Sharon and I don't know if I can do it. Plus I want to help Mom, but what if I can't?" Skye asks her Uncle.
"Skye you help your Mom by just being there you always have." Clint tells his niece, "And when you're reading the poems look out at your Mom, or Dad, or me and Nat, imagine that we are the only ones there that you're just reading to us, it'll help." He tells Skye who walks the couple of steps towards her Uncle and hugs him.
"Thanks Uncle Clint." Skye tells him.
"No need Kid." Clint responds as they break apart, "You think you can get ready now?" he asks curious.
"Yeah, I think I might be able to manage that." Skye say tells her best friend, "I'll see you later." She tells him.
"Yeah, see you later." Clint responds and they both head to their respective suits. When Clint gets back to his he finds Natasha standing at the door.
"She okay?" Natasha asks.
"No, but I think she's going to be." Clint admits as they both head back to their room to get ready.
Because they have to be at church early everyone is ready by ten thirty. Steve, Sam and Bucky are all wearing their military uniforms. For Bucky this is the first time he has worn his uniform since the forties and he is doing so out of respect. Melinda, Natasha and Maria are wearing black skirt suits with black long sleeve shirts underneath and Skye and Sharon are both wearing Black pants with black short sleave tops and button up cotton cardigans over top and Simmons, Angela and Pepper are wearing black dresses and Tony, Coulson, Fitz, John, Clint, Bruce, and Tripp are all wearing black suits, shirts, and ties.
"The cars will be here in a few minutes." Tony tells everyone as once they were already they headed to the suit that Coulson, Melinda, Clint, Natasha and John are sharing.
"Cars?" Angela asks.
"Yeah, I ordered them to take us to the church and commentary." Tony explains, "Didn't think any of us should be driving." He explains.
"Thank you." Angela tells him.
"No need." Tony tells her and the whole room once more drifts into a uncomfortable silence, which is only broken a few minutes later by the ringing of Tony's cell phone.
"Hello, we'll be right down." Tony says into the phone, "The cars are here." He says and slowly everyone leaves the room until it's only, Coulson, Melinda, Tripp, Sharon, Skye, Steve, Bucky, Maria and Angela left.
"We've got to go." Angela says, "Mom would be pissed if we were late for her funeral." She says several minutes later and despite how bad everyone is feeling, despite how much they all feel like smiling isn't possible they each manage a small one at Angela's comment as they slowly leave the room. All doing their best to prepare for the day that is impossible to prepare for.
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AN2: So I didn't intend for the funeral to be a different chapter but I think it works better that it is.