Landing the BUS, Melinda could feel how much energy that had been drained from her. Having a run in with HYDRA was never fun, especially when it's part of a trap. They are short on agents, and she had to spend one of them away, but she rather has Skye with the Avengers in the state she's in than having a Skye, keeping her pain and dying to herself.
Walking down from the cockpit, her mind stayed on Skye and Leo. She had hoped that Leo would have contacted her on what had been going on, the sudden silence was making her worried. Knowing she should probably stay and help Phil with everything that had gone down, Melinda also knew she had to check up on the two kids.
Walking past the team, hearing Bobbi call out her name, Melinda keeps her focus on keep walking. Leaving the BUS behind, she heads for the garage to take her car. She already had a bag packed with things she needed in it; she had already decided on leaving once they had returned.
Before speeding out of the base, she makes the phone call.
"Hill!"
"It's me! I'm leaving the Playground now and are on my way."
She tells Maria and she is quite sure she can hear the former agent let out a sigh of relief, that wasn't a good sign.
"Good!"
"How bad is things?"
"They are good at the moment..."
"But."
"I'll meet you down in the garage. It's easier to explain face to face."
This just made Melinda even more worried than before. Hanging up the call, it didn't take long before her phone started to ring once more. Having a feeling who it might be, Melinda rolls her eyes and answers the call.
"Yes?"
"Where did you go?"
Phil, just like she had expected.
"On my way to make sure Fitz and Skye is doing alright and haven't created more problems for themselves."
There was silence over the line for a few minutes at that, he had forgotten that Skye and Fitz had not been with them on the mission. Sure, Fitz were meant to stay at the base anyway, so there was no surprise there. But Skye haven't been to the base for a little over a month now, she guesses she could let him forget this slide, for this moment at least. He is quite stressed out now anyway.
"Are they?"
"Last I heard, everything is fine. That's all I can say, and besides, you are the one that told us that we could tell you once everyone is back so."
She tells him, hopping this would make him ask any questions for the time being. She would need to have a word with Skye about how she wanted to do things once she's ready to come back to the Playground. If she even wants to return. That thought made her tense up, not knowing where it had even come from.
"Just tell them I said hi."
Hearing Phil's voice, Melinda managed to pull herself back to reality once more. She could try and figure out the answer to that question later.
"Will do."
She tells him, before ending the call as quickly as possible. It seemed as if she has a lot of things she needs to go through, now however, the only thing that's important is to make sure Skye is alright. Seeing the tower growing closer, Melinda speeds up more, driving past down to the parking space underneath the building. Her eyes lands on an already waiting Maria. Seeing her long-time friend's blanked face, Melinda takes a deep breath before leaving the car.
"Maria."
"Melinda."
They looked at one another for about a minute before Melinda lifts one eyebrow, asking the silent question about what had been going on.
"She had a full-on panic attack when we told her she needed to go back to the hospital for a check-up. It wasn't a fun sight, she run away and ended up hiding in her wardrobe, that's when Natasha decided to call you. Fitz managed to get calm her down, according to him, she had been in a very bad state."
Maria starts to explain, confirming Melinda's fears on how bad it had really been.
"Fitz however made me call Dr Strange when we were driving back form the Playground, to change the time and place for the meeting."
She adds and Melinda smiles, she should have known he would try and pull something like this. He had grown very protective during these times.
"And how did that meeting go?"
She asks, deciding that it would be better to just focus on the good things until she could talk to Skye and Fitz alone.
"Oh, he had to cancel. Which is probably a good thing, the new meeting is tomorrow."
Maria tells her and Melinda rolls her eyes, she started to wonder if it were Dr Strange that had to change the time a second time or it had been Maria in hope that she would be around to deal with Skye.
"Where is she and Fitz at the moment?"
"When I left them, they were winning over Stark in Mario Kart."
Maria was smiling big at this; it was clear that there was something else behind it all and Melinda couldn't help but to wonder if she wants to know what had been happening during Skye and Fitz free time alone with the Avengers. Having a feeling they had been doing as much crazy things as possible to keep Skye in a good place. Turning towards the elevator, she and Maria enters. The ride up was a silent one and the moment the door opens, the first thing she hears is Skye's victory laugher and Melinda smiles.
"And it sounds like Clint owes me another 20 bucks."
Maria comments and Melinda shakes her head, so the archer still haven't learned to make any bets with the ladies of S.H.I.E.L.D. With a sigh, Melinda steps out of the elevator and heads towards the room where she hears the sounds. Skye and Fitz are leaning towards one another, laughing hard, Tony sitting beside them, not looking all to happy. Clint was trying very hard not to laugh as hard as the two kids are, Natasha didn't even try to hide her grin.
"Are you making trouble again?"
Melinda asks as she steps through the doors, arms crossed and one eyebrow lift.
"MAY!"
Skye calls out, she was of the couch within seconds and before Melinda has a chance to react, Skye had thrown herself around her neck in a tight hug. Freezing up for a few seconds, Melinda tries to understand what had just happened, she does find herself hugging Skye back a second later. Looking over Skye's shoulder, she could see the look Clint is sending Natasha and she could almost hear the comment's that would be coming her way later.
"I got them for you."
Melinda tells Skye, keeping her voice low. This made the girl take a step back, eyes large in surprise.
"You're joking?"
Lifting one eyebrow at this, Melinda let that be the answer and she could hear Clint and Natasha laughing lightly. Skye is smiling big and is out of the room within seconds. Looking after her, Melinda shakes her head before turning her attention towards Fitz. The young engineer looks at her and she nods her head with a small smile.
"You did good."
She tells him, making Fitz smile too. Nothing else could be heard as the sound of running feet are coming toward them once more, Skye entering the room once more, out of breath but smiling big.
"What are you up to?"
Natasha asks, and it almost looked like she was worried about what is about to happen.
"Oh nothing!"
Skye waves her hand, which only made it all worse.
"JARVIS!"
"Miss Skye."
"One of these days... Anyway, could you ask Steve to get up here, as fast as possible!"
"Right away Miss Skye."
Melinda could see how the young girl in front of her rolls her eyes at the comment from JARVIS and Melinda was surprised she still haven't fixed it yet. Seeing that Skye has turned her attention towards herself once more, Melinda pulls out a small package from her jacket, being careful. Handing over it to Skye, she looks at it with a big smile.
"You wanted to see me, Skye?"
Hearing Steve speak up behind her, Melinda turns around, nodding her head as a greeting to the former soldier. Steve nods his head back.
"Steve, perfect! Could you do me a big favor?"
"I guess?"
"Could you sign these for me?"
A silent fell over the room as Skye holds out what looked to be a deck of cards.
