Chapter 39
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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: Sorry for the late update but I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to update today or not but then I got the chapter written.
A few minutes after they got in the elevator Skye and Bucky walk into the suit that is shared by Phil, Melinda, Clint, Natasha and John. When they enter they find all the members of New SHIELD, Pepper and Rhodey sitting around, most of clearly having the starts of bruises on various places on their body.
"A few bruises?" Skye asks Bucky, wanting to make sure that she heard right because it looks like more than a few to her.
"That's what Tony said." Bucky responds.
"What happened?" Skye asks the others wanting a more detailed version of the story than the one that Tony told.
"Hydra crashed with a gun." Clint explains, "We took the guy down but another one, who we suspect was also Hydra, said something's that she he shouldn't have which caused a bar fight." Clint explains, "Both guys got away in the confusion." He explains.
"What I want to know is was that other guy Hydra." John comments, "It's going to bug me until I know." He admits then realises something, "Could you use your powers?" He asks Skye curious, "Find out for us."
"Sure." Skye answers, "Stand back." She says to Bucky who let go of her hand when they entered the room but is still standing close to her.
Not needing to be told twice because he trusts that Skye has a good reason Bucky takes a couple of steps back though he still watches closely.
To the confusion of everyone but Natasha and Clint Skye pushes a bit of her power out of the fingertips of her left hands and makes the energy circle around her fingers.
"What are you doing that for?" Fitz asks curious.
"I'll explain once I'm done." Skye tells her brother before closing her eyes, "Huh, guess he does have a bit of self-preservation." Skye comments a about a minute later.
"Are you talking about Ward?" John asks, assuming that she is.
"Yeah." Skye answers, "Grace was determine to attack the funeral but Ward convinced her not to." Skye reveals opening her eyes.
"What was his reason for that?" John asks, wanting to know if in anyway Ward is still the person he believed him to be.
"To protect himself and Grace." Skye tells her Uncle, "He knew that if they attacked the funeral we wouldn't care what happened to us but we wouldn't stop until they were dead." Skye reveals, "And he didn't want that to happen, and Grace listened to him." Skye explains.
"But she still sent men." Natasha points out.
"Not exactly, it's complicated." Skye tells her Aunt.
"How's it complicated?" Rhodey asks, "She either sent the men or not."
"Grace is smart, like really smart, genius level smart." Skye comments, "She didn't send the men, but she made sure that they would be here." Skye explains.
"Explain that one Kid." Clint requests.
"Grace made sure that two agents who have fallen out of her good graces overheard her talking about the funeral, how big of an opportunity it was and how dangerous it was." Skye explains, "She knew that after overhearing that they would risk everything and attack just to try and get back in her good graces while she could honestly tell Ward that she send them." Skye explains, as she does others notices that the energy in Skye's hand has gotten more intense.
"Skye." Bucky says concerned taking a step closer to her.
"What?" She asks confused until looks down at her hand and realises, "Sorry." Skye says before pulling the energy back inside of her.
"Don't apologise." Phil comments, "But why did you push energy out in the first place?" he asks curious and concerned.
"It's a way I've learnt to control the flow of information I get." Skye explains as she recites how to do fighting moves that Natasha taught her in her head, "By dividing my focus it allows me to control how much information I get at once." She explains as she walks over and sits next to her parents and Bucky sits down on the empty seat next to Sam.
"What's going to happen to the men?" Steve asks, speaking up for the first time.
"Nothing good." Skye answers.
Unknown to everyone except for Maria who noticed John got up and left the room once Skye explained why Ward did what he did. Knowing that her best friend needs her Maria let's go of Tripp's hand and heads to John's room to talk to him.
When Maria enters the room she finds John sitting on the floor at the end of the bed so she walks over and sits down next to him.
"You okay?" Maria asks.
"I should be the least of your worries today." John tells her.
"Look I may not have gotten along with Ward, truthfully most of the time I wanted to punch him but I know how much he meant to you." Maria tells her best friend, "And I know that to hear that the only reason why he didn't let his sister attack a funeral was because he was worried about them getting hurt must have hurt, so I'm here for you. Whatever you need." She tells her best friend.
"When I first met him I knew he was a bit messed up but I honestly thought I helped him." Garrett reveals, "I saw that man as a son and I can't believe that none of that was true, that he didn't care at all." John says a hint of sadness clear in his voice.
"Look you know me, you know I wouldn't lie about this. After seeing how he was when you were shot I honestly think he does care about you." Maria reveals.
"I wish that changed something." John admits, "But he's Hydra. If you're right then he told me the truth about how he felt then great, but he still lied about everything else." John says.
"Let's say hypothetically he came to you and told you that he wanted to change, leave Hydra, what would you say?" Maria asks curious.
"That he's got to prove it." John says without hesitation, "If he came to me and told me that he wanted to switch teams then I would be happy, he wouldn't be the first person in this suit to do that, but he would have to prove it." John says, "He's made his choices and if he wants to change then he's got to make the choice to, like Melinda says you can't force someone to change." John comments before pausing and sighing, "But none of that matters, what I would do doesn't matter because Skye said that his loyalty is to his sister above all else, I don't see that changing anytime soon." John admits.
"Honestly neither do I." Maria admits and the two best friends drift into silence.
Fifteen minutes after Skye used her powers to find out if the men who crashed the wake were Hydra, a few minutes after Maria and John retuned to the room the door opens and Tony walks back in.
"Bribing the hotel staff officially done, we can stay." Tony reveals.
"Tony you're the deputy director of new SHIELD, you shouldn't talk about bribing." Steve tells his boyfriend.
"He's right, we call it persuasion." Natasha informs him.
"I'll remember that." Tony tells her amused.
"I'm sorry Tony." Melinda says speaking her first words in a while, "I'll find a way to pay you back." She tells him.
"Don't worry about it." Tony assures Melinda, not wanting her to worry, "I have a whole account of….persuasion money, besides it wasn't your fault." He tells her.
"I did throw the first punch." Melinda reminds him.
"The guy was Hydra I'm guessing he was asking for it." Clint comments.
"He really was." Skye answers knowing what was said, "Besides something would have happened whether or not you threw the first punch, it was planned." Skye tells her mother.
"She's right Mel, don't blame yourself." Coulson says reaching over his daughter to grab his wife's hand.
"So what's the plan for the rest of the night?" Tony asks curious as he sits down between Bruce and Pepper.
"I don't think there is one." Natasha comments.
"No, there's not." Melinda says.
"There should be." Tripp says, "Grams would be so pissed at if she knew we were just sitting around, drinking and being sad because of her." Tripp tells everyone.
"Yeah, she would." Steve says with a small smile, "What's your idea?" he asks curious.
"Haven't thought that far ahead." Tripp admits.
"How about Pizza and talking, not being sad." Clint suggests and looking around the room everyone nods.
"I'll order." Pepper says walking over to the phone.
"Do you know a number?" Sam asks curious.
"Yep." Pepper answers.
"I have an idea." John say and everyone turns to look at him, "How about we go around the room and all of us say one thing that nobody, not counting Skye because she knows everything, knows." John suggests and Skye rolls her eyes even though she knows he's right.
"What Garret, are we in high school now?" Tony asks curious.
"We play truth or dare on a regular bases." John points out.
"And act like teenagers half the time." Clint adds.
"Good point." Tony admits.
"Pizza should be here in about half an hour." Pepper informs the others as she walks over and sits bac down, "What are we talking about?"
"John suggested that we all go around the room and each of us tell a secret." Bruce explains, "Something that is kind of dangerous considering who we are." He says.
"I meant a personal secret." John comments, "Nothing major, just something personal that we don't know, like for example, before I joined SHIELD I wanted be a country music singer." He reveals and laughs are heard throughout the room, which is exactly what he was hoping for.
"Seriously?" Phil asks shocked and John nods, "Wow."
"How do I not know that?" Maria asks curious, "I am your best friend."
"If I told you you would have never let me forget it, so I didn't mention it." John explains.
"Yeah there is no way we're going to forget this buddy." Tony tells him.
"Now I've stepped up is everyone else going to?" John asks curious.
"I borrowed Ma's car when I was fifteen, I scraped up the side and managed to convince her that she did it." Tripp reveals.
"I remember that." Melinda comments, "She spent weeks trying to figure out when she did it." She remembers.
"Yeah, it was me." Tripp answers, "Sharon?" He asks his cousin.
"Really?" She asks and Tripp nods, "Fine." Sharon says, giving in, and tries to think of something, "When I was about six I cut my foot open playing but I didn't want anyone to worry so I put a band aide over it." She reveals, "I still have a scar."
"Ouch." Skye comments sympathetically.
"Yeah, it hurt like hell, but I didn't want to go to the doctors so I dealt, what about you?" Sharon asks curious, "What's something about you we don't know?"
"A lot." Skye thinks to herself but she doesn't say it out loud, instead she tries to come up with something that won't hurt people, her parents specifically, to hear, "I'm really good at basketball." Skye reveals, "I would play with the other kids at the orphanage." She reveals, "I wanted to be a part of a team but the nuns wouldn't let me so I joined the school netball team instead, which I got kicked off of because I was too rough." Skye explains.
"How old were you?" Melinda asks curious.
"About eight." She reveals, "I was annoyed but it gave me more time to play basketball with the others so I was fine with it." Skye admits and the room drifts into silence.
"I once hid a family off birds underneath my bed for a month until my Mom found them when she was cleaning my room." Pepper says to everyone's surprised, ending the silence.
"Why?" Tony asks curious.
"I knocked down their nest when I was climbing a tree, I felt bad." Pepper explains.
"Why were you climbing trees?" Tripp asks curious.
"Because I was bored." Pepper answers like it's the obvious answer.
"I caught part of my kitchen on fire when I was five because I wanted to make mother's day breakfast for my Mum." Fitz reveals.
"Really?" Skye asks him surprised as she didn't know that.
"Really." Fitz confirms, "She really wasn't happy with me for that." He admits.
"Why didn't you get your Dad to help?" Sam asks curious not sure how much of a sensitive question it is.
"He left a few months before that." Fitz explains, "It was the first Mother's day without him so I wanted to make it special." He explains.
"I'm sorry." Sam tells him and Fitz nods and he realises that he's should try and lighten the mood but thankfully he has the perfect story for that, "During basic I put on a wig, heels and a dress for a dare." He reveals, "I went out with some buddy's and I this guy was giving some girls a hard time so I tried to stop him and he thought I was a girl so he started to pull the same thing on me, I restrained him and he stopped bothering people." He reveals.
"Good." Several voices around the room say.
"You in a dress, please say you have pictures." Tony requests.
"I'm not answering that." Sam says.
"That means he does." Bucky realises.
"Oh yeah it does." Tony comments, "Do you want to hand the photo's over or do we have to do this the hard way?" He asks his friend.
"Hard way." Sam answers, "I don't actually have photos but I know they exist." He explains, "I know you will find them in seconds, so please do." Sam requests.
"I will." Tony tells him.
"Good, thanks." Sam says happily, "What about you, what's you big secret that none of us know?" Sam asks curious.
"I cried myself to sleep every night for a week when I was first sent away to boarding school." To reveals, hints of sadness clear.
"I'm sorry." Sam says as Pepper and Bruce reach over and grab his hands, "Happier story." He hesitantly suggests.
"Our first Easter at the circus my brother hid chocolate bunnies all over the place, he said any that I managed to shot down I could eat, I made myself sick." Clint reveals.
"How many did you end up eating?" Steve asks curious.
"About twenty five." Clint answers.
"No wonder you were sick." Coulson comments.
"What about you Phil? What is something we don't know?" Clint asks his friend.
"Big fish scare me." Coulson reveals knowing that it is one of very few things that Melinda doesn't know.
"What?" Melinda asks completely shocked, "Big fish scare you?" she asks confused.
"Yes." Coulson answers, "My Dad used to take me fishing and he would chase me with big fish, they now scare me." He explains, "If anyone uses that to pull a prank I will not be responsible for my actions." He tells them as Melinda reaches over and grabs his hand because she knows how rare it is for Coulson to talk about his father.
"We won't." Clint assures, "Not even us are that mean." He explains as the phone rings so Natasha gets up and answers it.
"Pizza's on its way up." She explains.
"Good, I'm really hungry." Tony comments, "So who's going to spill while we wait?" He asks curious.
"When I was five I took a cup home from a restaurant by accident and I thought I was going to be arrested." Rhodey reveals, "It took my Dad twenty minutes to calm me down enough to tell me it would be okay." He reveals and Tony laughs as a knock on the door is heard.
"That is so cute." Tony comments as Rhodey throws a pillow at his best friend and Pepper, Steve and Bucky head to the door to collect the pizza.
A few minutes later everyone has grabbed themselves some food and are back to sitting where they were.
"I though you two would have eaten when you were out." Clint comments, seeing that Skye has a couple of pieces of Pizza on her plate and Bucky has more than a few.
"We did." Skye answers, "But I always have room for Pizza, you should know that." She tells her Uncle.
"You're right, I should." Clint responds, "So who's left?" he asks curious.
"Mom, тетя Наташа, Aunt Maria, James, Uncle Steve, Jem, Uncle Bruce." Skye reveals.
"Guess I'll go." Bruce says when it seems like no one is going to comment, "I know how to sail." He reveals.
"Seriously?" Steve asks.
"Seriously." Bruce confirms, "I took lessons when I was in high school to get out of PE." He reveals.
"Wow." Steve says shocked.
"What about you Steve?" Bruce asks, "What don't we know?" he asks curious.
"When Howard found out that I could draw he asked me to help him with weapon sketches, I sketched the designs of a lot of the weapons we used back in the day." Steve reveals, as while all the specs and tec was Howard he did a lot of the design work.
"That's what you and Howard were doing in all those meetings?" Bucky asks stressing the 'that'.
"Yeah, what did you think we were doing?" Steve asks then notices the look on his friends face and realises, "Seriously?" he asks surprised.
"You two were having a lot of one on one meetings at all hours what else was I supposed to think?" Bucky asks.
"That we were working." Steve tells his friend, "I get why you would have thought that, but there was nothing going on, Howard was just my friend." He tells Bucky.
"Good to know." Bucky tells him.
"Can we please talk about anything other than the fact that people thought my boyfriend and my father were having sex." Tony requests looking disturbed, "Please I'm begging here."
"I've known how to ice skate since I was three." Maria says, taking pity on Tony.
"Thank you." Tony tells her.
"You're welcome but that's not everything." She tells him, "When I was eight I was showing off and broke both the bones in my arm." Maria reveals, "I haven't ice skated since." She informs the others, "I'll ski and snowboard but I won't skate."
"You know I'm thinking this is where the expression, get back on the horse is fitting." John tells his best friend.
"Maybe someday." Maria admits, "But not today." She assures him, "Melinda?" she asks curious.
"When I was in elementary school I would always pretend to be sick for the days where we would be making mothers and father's day presents." Melinda reveals, "Once Grandpa found out what I was doing he would take me out those days and we would spend them just the two of us." Melinda reveals and just like she did when he was talking about something difficult Coulson reaches over and grabs his wife's hand.
"Jem?" Skye asks her sister wanting to draw attention off her mother.
"I used to preform surgy on my soft toys to practice suturing." Simmons reveals.
"That's a bit creepy." Tripp tells her.
"Not really. I would always sow them up again." Jemma tells him.
"Still a little odd Jem." Skye tells her sister, "James?" she asks.
"I didn't know how to tie my shoelaces until I was eleven." Bucky reveals.
"That's why you never un did them." Steve realises and Bucky nods.
"I was embarrassed, so I didn't tell you." He explains knowing that Steve was about to ask that.
"You have no reason to, we all lean things at different speeds." Steve tells his brother.
"Who's left?" Sam asks curious.
"Natasha." Pepper answers.
"For a long time after the fire that killed my parents, even through my training in the Red Room I was scared off fine." Natasha reveals, not looking at a single person as she says what she is saying, "I made myself not be afraid because I had no choice." She admit.
Even though he knows that Natasha isn't big on public displays Clint moves closer to his partner and puts an arm around her as if to say he is here for her.
"Who thinks I can eat half of this pizza in five minutes?" Steve asks once the room has been in awkward silence for several minutes, wanting to do something to help Natasha, distract her from what she just revealed.
"I bet you can't do it quicker than me." Bucky says realising what Steve is doing.
"Do I have to remind you two of what happened the last time you had a food eating competition because I can if you want. I have the picture." Skye tells them.
"I've got to agree with Skye here, no eating contests." Pepper says.
"Fine." Steve and Bucky say after exchanging a look, both glad that they managed to draw attention of Natasha.
"Good." Pepper tells them and the group goes back to eating and a conversation starts, the awkwardness of a few minutes earlier having gone.
That's how the next few hours go, the group talk to each other and drink until they all head to their rooms, no one bringing up what secrets were revealed.
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