Over the next few weeks the five of them spent their time working and talking about the move into the big house, and how to set up security. Natasha suggested that herself, Maria, and Skye should be in charge of it, since Natasha was called the best spy alive, Maria was the deputy and could get her hands on what they may need, and Skye could work on it, make it better, and watch for weaknesses.
So, before they moved furniture and stuff in, they set up the security cameras around the house.
That was what they were doing now, Skye was sitting on the floor, in what would become the living room, with the computer that would be running their security, Natasha and Bobbi were on the roof setting up cameras, and Melinda and Maria were doing the same in the back garden, they had already set them up in the front yard.
Bobbi came down the stairs and walked over to the kitchen to grab some water.
"Hey, Skye, how is it going?" Bobbi asked, taking a sip of the water.
"It is going fine, can you toss me that screwdriver," Skye asked pointing at the screwdriver on the kitchen island.
"That's good to hear, and sure, here," Bobbi said and tossed over the screwdriver, not even bothering to ask why she would need one.
Skye tried to catch it, but it didn't really go like she had hoped, she joggled the screwdriver a couple of times before dropping it completely on the floor, Bobbi was chuckling from the kitchen area.
"That's not funny," Skye said playfully glaring at Bobbi.
"It was a little. So how far is it coming?" Bobbi asked.
"Didn't you just ask that?" Skye smirked at Bobbi.
"No, I asked how it was going, not how far," Bobbi said smirking back at Skye, who just huffed.
"Well then it is almost done, just waiting for the last of the cameras to be fastened and connected," Skye said, not looking at Bobbi.
Bobbi was about to say something then Maria put her head in the door to the back yard.
"Bobbi, you might want to go back up to Natasha, she is getting impatient waiting for you," Maria said.
"Uh better go up there then," Bobbi said hurrying up the stairs, Skye shook her head.
"Skye are you getting hungry? Melinda and I were talking about getting something," Maria asked.
"Yeah, a little, what were you thinking about getting?" Skye asked.
"We don't know yet, do you want something specific?" Maria asked.
"No, not really," Skye said, Maria just smiled and nodded, and went upstairs, probably to ask Natasha and Bobbi what they wanted.
Melinda, Bobbi, and Skye were painting one of the guest rooms one Saturday and started normal enough, but Bobbi was starting to act weird. She kept looking at Skye with a small smirk. Skye was about to turn so she could look at Bobbi and ask what Bobbi was thinking but before she could she was hit with paint on her shoulder.
"Bobbi!" Skye yelped.
Bobbi laughed, Melinda had turned to see why Skye had yelped, only to see a big paint spot on Skye's shoulder and Bobbi laughing. She was quick to realize what had happened, she decided to avenge Skye, so she dipped her paintbrush in the paint before coming up beside Bobbi and smearing the brush in Bobbi's face.
This time it was Bobbi's turn to yelp and Skye to laugh. Maria and Natasha came in the door just as Melinda was taking the paintbrush away from Bobbi's face, they had heard the commotion from the other room that they were working on.
It took them two months to set everything up and move their furniture and stuff into the house. They would have been done earlier but they wanted a room to set up the computer for their security, so they had a room in the basement built.
They were hosting a housewarming party, there weren't many people there, only themselves, Clint, Victoria, Sharon, Kara, Izzy, and Fury.
"Damn, it is a nice house you have found, and awesome gym," Sharon said, she was in the kitchen with Melinda, Maria, and Izzy.
"Thanks. The neighborhood is a good one too, we were lucky," Maria said.
"Plenty of room for all of you and a few more even," Izzy said with a smirk.
"Yeah, yeah, I know what you are thinking, but I don't think we are ready to even talk about that," Melinda said giving Izzy a small glare, Maria and Sharon chuckled at them.
"Do you feel the same Maria?" Sharon asked.
"Yeah, I do," Maria said, they then heard Skye squealing from the living room when they looked over they saw Kara and Skye tangled up on the floor laughing.
Melinda and Maria were smiling at the sight, while Sharon just laughed, and Izzy shook her head.
A few weeks later Fury asked Skye, Maria, Natasha, Melinda, and Bobbi to come to his office.
He looked apologetic but didn't say anything until they were all sitting down.
"Out with it Nick, what is it?" Natasha said.
"We have gotten reports that the Rising Tide are getting ready for something big and are looking for new members," Fury said.
"That's not how it works with them; they don't actively look for members," Skye said, everyone knew that Skye was still technically a member, but hadn't been active for some time, and she had given SHIELD some of their names.
"That is true, but they are now, so it must be really big," he said.
"So why are we here?" Maria asked, already having an idea for what he wanted.
"I would like for Skye to go undercover with them," Fury answered knowing he should just get it out.
"What if they know it was Skye that gave us some of them, what would they do to her?" Melinda asked.
"We have no reason to believe they know it was Skye, we can come up with a cover that she has been hiding because there was someone following her," Fury said.
"I don't like it," Bobbi said.
"None of us like it, but it will be up to Skye. If she says yes, I will respect that, but if she says no, you can't make her," Natasha said, at the last part she looked at Fury, he nodded that he understood.
Everyone then looked at Skye waiting for what she would say.
"Can I think about it?" Skye asked, she knew she wanted to talk to her soulmates.
"Of course, but I can only give you two days. Here are some of the intel we have gathered," Fury said handing over a folder.
"Before we leave, if I say yes, do I have to leave?" Skye asked.
"Yes, they know you lived in a van and were in hiding, so it would be suspicious if you suddenly lived in a big house with four other people that could easily be tied to SHIELD," Fury said.
"It would also be practical if you did live in your van," Fury then added.
Skye nodded, and looked down at the folder, Fury told them they could go home for the day and talk.
When they did get home, they sat down on the couch, no one said anything at first.
"Okay, we need to talk about this," Bobbi said, getting both annoyed and anxious by the silence.
"What do you think Skye?" Melinda asked.
"I don't know, I mean I know that they wouldn't stop trying to reach their goal, whatever it is, but I don't know if I want to leave," Skye said.
"How fast do you think you can get the intel," Natasha asked, having a feeling that Skye would likely take on the mission.
"I don't know, first I need to gain their trust again since I have been gone so long, but after that, not long. I was one of their best after all, and I think I can regain their trust pretty fast," Skye said.
"How long?" Melinda asked, coming to the same conclusion as Natasha had.
"Maybe six months, a year max, it all depends on them believing I just went dark for these past months," Skye said.
Maria shuffled closer to Skye and took her hand.
"Do you want to go?" Maria asked.
"I mean, yes, it doesn't sit well with me that they are looking for members," Skye said.
"Okay," Maria said.
"If you do this we are upping your training and setting emergency beacons, and trackers in your van, and probably some other stuff too, and weapons," Natasha said.
"Is that necessary?" Skye asked.
"Yes," came the reply from Natasha, Maria, and Bobbi.
"But I have a question, won't they know your code has been incorporated into SHIELD?" Bobbi asked.
"No, they won't. The codes I used when I was in the Rising Tide were different from the ones I used for SHIELD, even here, it is different. I don't like to use the same code for different things," Skye said.
"So, you have at least three different signatures when it comes to hacking and cybersecurity?" Natasha asked, it hadn't even come up before, Natasha actually liked learning new things about Skye.
"No, I have a lot more, but the Rising Tide only knows of two of them," Skye said.
"Will you tell us how many you have?" Bobbi asked.
"Hmm, nope," Skye answered, Bobbi pouted at the answer, causing Skye, Natasha, and Maria to laugh.
"Melinda? Are you okay?" Skye asked, Melinda had been silent for a while.
"Yes, I just don't like not having you near us for however long," Melinda said. Skye could see Melinda was upset and tense, so she got up and moved over to Melinda and snuggled into her side. It didn't take long until Melinda was calm again and was enjoying herself, with Skye nested beside her.
The next day Skye informed Fury that she would take the mission, but only if Victoria was her contact, since none of her mates could do it, so he accepted the term.
They agreed to talk as often as they could, and Skye said she would come by when she could get away. Natasha and Bobbi were thinking they could sneak into her van if they were in the same area and also had the time for it.
Skye's van was also getting a lot more security, as Natasha had demanded. As Natasha had also demanded, Skye's training also got an upgrade, Skye hated it but did it anyway.
It was the night before Skye was leaving, to make contact with other members to make her presence known again.
They had spent the whole day together, they made food and they all slept in the living room on the floor on cushions, like they had in Natasha's and Melinda's old house when they watched Harry Potter.
It was a tearful goodbye the next morning, where they asked Skye if she was sure that she wanted to do this, but Skye said yes and she was the best option to figure out what they were up to, it could be nothing, but it could also be very damaging.
Skye got into her van, after giving each of her mates a hug and a kiss and set the course to Los Angeles.
AN: So, this is the last chapter for book one.
Also, thanks to Fun_size_Tasha for betaing.