Chapter 26: Meeting the Folks
Skye was fiddling with her hands, she was sitting in the middle back seat, between Sharon and Bobbi, Maria was driving, and Peggy was sitting in the passenger seat
The closer they got, the more the lump in Skye's throat grew. Her leg was starting to bounce, and her heart was beating fast in her chest, sounding loudly in her ears.
She jumped when a hand connected with her leg, "What?" She rasped out, looking at Sharon who had startled her.
"We're here," Sharon said with a smile.
Swallowing the lump, "Already?" Skye said following Sharon out of the car and looking around the parking garage, when did they even get down here, Skye through.
She felt a hand on her shoulder guiding her to the elevator, in the elevator Skye leaned on the person the hand belonged to. It was only when the doors to the elevator closed, she looked up to see who the hand belonged to, only to find Bobbi's blue eyes looking down on her.
Realizing their proximity, Skye straightened up, missing the closeness almost immediately and also missing Bobbi's look of disappointment.
The elevator moved. It was a long way up, and when it stopped and opened again, it took Skye a little push to move. From whom she didn't know, but she knew it wasn't Peggy because she was in front of her waiting for them to follow her.
They followed Peggy into a large living room, Skye was looking around and at the part of the space that was sunken into the floor was a half circular sofa in front of a massive TV, but what caught Skye's attention was the two people on the sofa who stood up when they made their way over to them.
Both Tony and Pepper had been running around for day's ever since Peggy had called and told them that Skye, their daughter, wanted to meet them. Tony had disappeared to some of the empty floors in the Tower to work on a project.
When Pepper had asked what he was doing, Tony had given her a sheepish smile and told her that he had four of the empty floors being renovated.
Two of the floors were split into two apartments, one apartment for each wolf pack and an apartment for Peggy. Each apartment had enough bedrooms with baths to fit two people to a room, a living area, and a kitchen. On each floor, you could fit 10 people, or 20 if they shared rooms.
One floor was for the wolves to share. It held a gym with enough room for them to run around in their wolf form, a larger living room, and a larger kitchen to fit all the wolves.
And the last floor was just for Skye, and guests if she wished. When she was ready she could help plan more for the floor than just a living area, master bedroom and master bath, 3 guest rooms with baths, and a kitchen, because that only took up half of the floor.
Pepper just shook her head and smiled. Typical Tony, he had done the same for the other Avengers just only with one floor.
And Pepper for her part had made sure that the Tower was in tip-top shape. She had texted Peggy to hear what Skye's favorite foods were, and Peggy had responded with none and that Skye ate pretty much everything.
That had made it a little more difficult for Pepper to figure out the menu and snacks for when Skye came.
And finally, the day had come, when Peggy walked out of the elevator with 4 other people. They remembered that Maria and Sharon were supposed to join, but there was also another blond woman, who had given the young girl who should be their daughter a little push out of the elevator.
It was painfully obvious that the girl was nervous, so she put a hand on Tony's arm to stop him from running over to Skye.
Pepper had a little smirk at the action the blond had done to get Skye to walk out of the elevator.
Peggy put a hand on her shoulder guiding her over to the space, followed by the others, "Tony, Pepper you already know Maria and Sharon, the one with them is Bobbi Morse," Peggy said and after they had said hello, she cleared her throat.
"And this is Skye, Skye, this is Tony and Pepper," she said.
"Hi," Skye said, hating how nervous she sounded even to herself.
There they were, Tony and Pepper Stark, her parents, or two of them; she would never get to meet the third in her teen years or adult life.
Peggy put a hand on her shoulder guiding her over to the space, followed by the others, "Tony Pepper you already know Maria and Sharon, the one with them is Bobbi Mores" Peggy said and after they had said hello, she cleared her throat.
"And this is Skye, Skye this is Tony and Pepper" she said.
"hi" Skye said hating how nervous she sounded even to herself.
Pepper smiled at her, "Hi and welcome, we have been excited to have you here," Pepper said, Skye smiled back and nodded.
"Why don't we all sit down," Pepper suggested.
"Excellent idea, Pepper," Peggy said.
Pepper and Tony sat where they had been waiting, Peggy sat down beside Pepper, and Skye located herself on Peggy's other side, which only left room for one more person to sit beside Skye. Sharon was fastest, only because she didn't wait her time looking at the others, and when Maria and Bobbi noticed that Sharon had already taken the spot, they glared at her.
Maria gave a small huff and sat down beside her blond mate with Bobbi on her other side. And again, Skye didn't notice, neither did Tony, but Peggy and Pepper did. Peggy just rubbed her forehead in an 'ahh, not again' kind of way, while it confused Pepper and she made a note to ask about that.
She knew that her daughter had two marks, and she knew about Maria and Sharon having a third who had died. Neither Maria nor Sharon had mentioned any new ones, so if her daughter and Bobbi were soulmates, why not let Bobbi sit beside her? Or were they just being protective over Skye?
Yeah, she definitely has to ask.
"So, where did you grow up, Peg didn't tell us much," Tony asked, only smirking at Peggy's huff of the name.
"Um pretty much all over, but I spent a lot of time at an orphanage close to Hell's Kitchen," Skye said
"How many places did you live, wait, Hell's Kitchen? That is pretty much just down the street," Pepper said, shocked at how close her daughter had really been all these years, and by the look on Tony's face he was thinking the same.
"I am not really sure, and yeah it's pretty close, I lived there in between homes," Skye answered.
"Did they treat you well?" Tony asked.
"It was okay," Skye said.
Maria and Sharon shared a look when Skye had said that. They haven't talked a lot about how she had been living before SHIELD found her, she was always vague.
"How did you come into SHIELD? Peggy has been very quiet about it," Pepper asked. She had seen the look Maria and Sharon had shared and also got the feeling that Skye didn't like to talk about her childhood.
"Uh, I um," Skye started looking first at Peggy and then Maria, asking for permission, when both of them nodded she continued. "I was involved with the Rising Tide. A team caught me after I posted about the Hooded Hero, and then the team leader offered me a consultant position, and I took it, then I got pulled into the Wolf Project," Skye said
"You are a hacker then?" Tony asked. At Skye's nod, Tony had a glimmer in his eyes and a grin on his face.
"Would SHIELD recruit people that young? I forgot to ask when you told us that you had found Skye and she was a part of the program," Pepper asked looking at Maria and Peggy.
"Normally no, but we didn't know that Skye was 17 at the time, and if we had I am sure that the team leader wouldn't have recruited Skye," Maria said.
"Yeah, I remember Peg telling us that you could find nothing on her, how is that possible?" Tony asked, a little amused.
"I deleted myself, digital at least, I forgot about the paper files," Skye said still rather proudly.
"That takes some skills, you must be good," Tony said.
"She is, she hacked SHIELD from an old crappy laptop in a van using crappy Wi-Fi from a diner," Maria said.
"Hey, I like my laptop! I won that thing you know, and don't dis my van, it was a home to me," Skye complaint.
"Why were you living in a van, and how long?" Pepper asked, alarmed.
At the same time Tony laughed and exclaimed, "You hacked SHIELD with that? I had to get physical access and have the help from JARVIS,"
"JARVIS?" Skye asked.
"Hello," a voice came out of nowhere making both Skye and Bobbi jump, well mostly Skye, but Bobbi was still startled, and Skye would forever be grateful for that.
"My AI, he runs the whole tower," Tony said.
"Cool, can I have a look at the code?" Skye asked, totally forgetting how she had almost pissed her pants a few moments ago.
"Sure," Tony said.
Sharon and Bobbi chuckled at Skye's interest, but Maria and Peggy were less pleased with it, they were both thinking of the mess, both Skye and Tony could get into and/or make.
"Can we come back to living in a van part?" Pepper asked, shaking her head at her husband.
"I ran away from the system when I was 15, lived on the streets for a little while, and after I won my laptop in a bet, I did some odd jobs, got enough money and bought my van," Skye said casually.
"What?" she asked when everyone just looked at her.
"You never told us you had been living on the streets that long, and yes living in a van that is not meant to be lived out of is still living on the streets," Sharon said.
"I haven't?" Skye asked.
"NO!" Maria and Sharon almost yelled, while Bobbi looked concerned.
"Sorry, I didn't think it was important," Skye said, Sharon just pulled her in for a hug.
"You silly little wolf," Sharon mumbled.
Peggy looked at the scene beside her for a moment before she focused on her old friends and family, both Pepper and Tony were watching the scene. Tony looked like he didn't know what to do or if he even should look at them, Pepper had tears in her eyes but quickly removed them when Sharon let go of Skye.
"It wasn't easy to move around that much and most of the homes were not great, so I ran, thought it would be easier on my own, I still got around, but it was on my terms not some suits in an office, that only think about money," Skye said.
"I am sorry you grow up like that," Pepper said, and the tears were back.
"It is not your fault," Skye said to her, also giving her a smile.
"You will never need anything ever again," Tony said firmly.
When Skye was about to open her mouth to argue, Maria leaned over Sharon and put her hand over her mouth, "You're right, Tony, she won't," Maria said, just smirking at Skye who was glaring at her.
"I need to ask what is your relationship? I get the feeling that it is more than just the wolf bond, and no offense, Bobbi was it, but you are under Natasha or Victoria, right?" Pepper asked.
"Natasha," Bobbi said in a tight voice, but Pepper quickly realized that it may have been a bad idea to ask, considering the rest had tensed. Peggy just looked sad.
Peggy was the one to speak after what Pepper would assume was a conversation via the mind link, because Skye just nodded.
Peggy told them about Skye and Bobbi being Soulmates with Emerged Marks, Skye's stay at the Davison's, and that Skye was Maria and Sharon's supposed dead third.
When Peggy was done Pepper looked even more sad and had more tears running down her face. Tony had moved closer while Peggy spoke and had put an arm around her, he too had a sad look on his face and tears in his eyes.
"Hey, what about a tour? I have a surprise for all of you," Tony asked when he couldn't take the silence anymore.
"What have you done now Tony?" Peggy asked standing up nonetheless.
"Come and see, you will like it, I am sure," he just said.
He first took them to one of the private area floors for the wolves and told them that the floor below was the same as the one they were on, and it was divided in two, a side for each pack and an area for Peggy.
Then they went one floor up to the shared wolf floor with the gym, larger living area, and bigger kitchen. "Wow" had been their response to the two floors they had seen.
In the elevator Tony said they had one more stop and went two floors up, when they stepped out Tony finally said that this was Skye's private floor.
"This is all for me?" Skye asked.
"Yes, it only has the standard things right now. I thought you should have a say in the rest, maybe a computer lab," Tony said.
Skye broke out in a grin at the thought of her own computer lab.
"I would love that," she said excitedly.
"Maybe a music room too?" she asked. When she got a look from Maria, Sharon, Bobbi, and Peggy, she explained, "Some of the homes I was in, the families put me in music lessons. I mostly liked piano, guitar, and singing; it has been a while since I last played."
"Done," Tony said.
On their way to the elevator Bobbi and Maria fell into step with Skye, "I think if you ask pretty much anything, he would give it to you," Bobbi said amused.
"Yeah, that is going to take some getting used to," Skye said, Maria chuckled beside her.
"Well a least you suggested something, I didn't know you liked to play music," Maria said.
Skye had sat down with Tony and Pepper when they got to the living area again. They talked, answering any of Skye's questions, while the others had gone somewhere else to sit to give them some privacy.
"and then your mother, Jiaying I mean, started cleaning the closet, woke Pepper up, and when Pepper asked what she was doing at 3 in the morning, she just said my water broke and I felt like cleaning the closet," Tony said laughing.
Pepper and Skye joined not long after, until Skye went quiet, both Tony and Pepper worried that the story had upset Skye.
The commotion had drawn the others closer, especially when Skye had gone quiet so suddenly, and then by the looks on Pepper and Tony's faces.
"When is my birthday?" Skye asked carefully.
"What?" Pepper asked confused.
"Um, I have never known when I was born. At the orphanage they just gave me a day, a few months from the day I was found on their doorstep, right now I know it as July 2nd," Skye said.
"Uh, the 2nd of December 1996," Pepper said.
"2nd of December huh," Skye said with a smile.
Maria, Sharon and even Peggy shared a look of why didn't, we think of that.
"Wait, you were with the team on July 2nd, why didn't you say anything?" Bobbi asked.
"I had just joined and I have never really celebrated my birthday. At Saint Agnes they did a six month thing where the kids who had birthday in the first six months and the last six months of the year, they picked a day where they got Pizza and a cake or ice cream, and most foster parents forget, most of the ones I was with did anyways," Skye shrugged.
A few hours later they were about to sit down to eat dinner when the elevator dinged. When the doors opened, the person who walked out of it froze as did everyone in the room.
"Peggy?" a tall buff blond man asked.
AN:
A thanks to Fun_size_Tasha for beating.