A/N: And here's an update! This where things get crazy, on the short side of things and just the tip of the iceberg. This is a pretty big time jump, but there will be plenty of flashbacks and stories seen from the missing time that is October to mid-march here. It will all work out.

Thank you all again for the follows, the favorites and the reviews! You agents are the best! Now on with the show.

Summary: Agents Melinda May and Phil Coulson are put on a new assignment to look after an object of unknown origin, an 0-8-4. The only catch is this 0-8-4 is a person. A fourteen year old girl who's spent her life in the foster system is now in more danger than ever. A man beast is hunting her and SHIELD has to make sure that it doesn't get close to her. AU, MCU characters will be used.

Chapter Eighteen

Days turned to weeks and weeks turned into months. Skye had settled almost too comfortably into the Mayson household, the longer she said, the more she felt like this could be home. With spring break around the corner, she realized this stay would become her longest stint yet and truth be told she didn't know how to feel about that.

Phil told her he loved her like his own daughter in January, Skye had been too surprised to say anything back. Melinda kept dropping hints about this being her last stay, but Skye couldn't get her hopes up. Not to mention the slip ups she's made since then, calling them mom or dad had happened a few times, each time she wanted to be swallowed up and disappear. They never pointed it out, thank God, but Skye couldn't deny that it felt right to call them by those titles. But she just couldn't do it consistently.

There was still a chance that they would send her back. The Brody's had loved her, said they would never leave her behind, wanted her to be apart of their family, but still sent her back as if she were nothing. Skye moved her laptop away unable to focus on assignment. Since joining the specialist program, she had double the work and had physical activities she needed to accomplish. At first, it was all she complained about, but by February she was set and top of her class.

Her computer classes were easy and she aced everything in her path, the physical training took a bit more work, but thanks to Melinda and Ward, she was top the candidate. Melinda and Phil were proud of her, had said it on a number of occasions and even celebrated everything she did well. She loved it here, for the first time ever she loved her life. She had people looking out for her, she was excelling in school, she had friends, she hadn't had a panic attack in months, she was thriving. It terrified her that there could be a day she would lose it all.

The sound of pebbles hitting her window jerked her from her thoughts. She glanced at the time to see it was 5:03 in the morning, shoot. Every other morning, she was forced to go on a run at this unholy hour. Quickly she changed and raced out of her room, past Melinda who was doing Tai Chi, something she did every morning.

"Hey Melinda, bye Melinda," Skye called as she left the house.

May could only shake her head with a soft smile. Her initial plans to only remain here for a few weeks had quickly changed and soon enough, her residence here would be permanent. Skye had changed the game, had started changing her and Coulson more than anyone else ever had in the past. Even Natasha had been affected by Skye, Clint and Maria were in agreement on that. Thanksgiving and Christmas had never been so lively for May since the incident in Bahrain.

Natasha and Maria came down to celebrate the holidays with them, Clint could only stop by for a bit on Thanksgiving and video call for Christmas. Clint had nearly brought his family over for the festivities, but Maria convinced now wouldn't be a good time, not until after everything had been sorted out. As it turned out, Maria had been one hundred percent on board with May adopting Skye, much to everyone's surprise. May went through the motions of the next pose as she recalled that conversations, it had occurred days after Thanksgiving.

"I wouldn't have expected you to be onboard with the idea," May told her, arms crossed over her chest.

Maria could only chuckle, "It does seem out of character, but I think Skye is good for you and you for her. We anticipated that her stay with you and Coulson would be a long one, but we hadn't prepared for the attachments when we should have."

May snickered, "Coulson for sure."

"We expected it from him, so when he came to me and told me about your plans, I was excited," Maria remarked, she leaned against the wall with a smirk, "Man Fury was not happy about that, but considering he wants to make her an agent, he has no choice, but to allow it."

May frowned at that, "What do you mean?"

Maria winced, she let something slip, "Fury wants Skye to become an agent one day, as does Coulson. If Skye is lost in the system, then we lose time with her. Carter Academy was built to find agents at an earlier age, take you and Coulson for instance. We found you both at eighteen and nineteen and today, you guys are still our top agents. Agent 13 had always been involved since she was in elementary school, look at her now."

"SHIELD isn't meant to be raising agents, it's meant to find them or they come to us," May said, her tone a bit sharp.

Maria nodded, "You aren't wrong there. The point is, we found Skye and she will be a great asset one day. And even if she decides she doesn't want to be an agent of SHIELD, it'd be good for her to have you or Coulson or both. Lord knows what would have happened to either Natasha or myself with you guys."

May shook her head, "I know you both would have been okay without us."

"Okay, sure, but now we're better than okay," Maria said, "By adopting Skye, you give her a real chance at life. Agent or not, with you around, she'll do some great things."

May released a sigh as the memory came to an end. Skye being in the specialist program still bothered her, but it gave Skye more incentive to remain. It was clear that Skye had grown comfortable, but both Coulson and May could see the signs of a child getting ready to run. At first, May had no idea why the signs were there when she seemed so happy with life. It was Coulson who helped her see why Skye would run, because to her things were too happy. When things get to be amazing, the fear of losing it becomes stronger.

"Skye already leave," Coulson asked softly.

May didn't look at him, "Yes. I'm assuming she's off with Ward and Trip."

Coulson nodded, "That's good."

May and Coulson's relationship had shifted into something neither knew how to handle. Having been 'married' for months now, their friendship had taken some difficult and pleasant turns. This was no longer just a mission and they were no longer just partners. A near kiss weeks ago had left them both uncertain of where things were going and how to handle the unfamiliar terrain.

May straightened herself and faced Coulson, "How was the mission?"

"It went well," Coulson told her.

Ever since Christmas, Coulson would be shipped out to missions and fieldwork while May remained with Skye, who believed Coulson had conferences. They couldn't very well tell her what he was actually doing, however the first time he left it brought some uncomfortable ideas to May. Fieldwork was always dangerous, Coulson knew those risks. Yet May recalled watching him leave and wondered if he would come back.

Though the mission was recon, even those simple missions could go south quickly and lives easily lost. If Coulson didn't come home, May didn't want to imagine how she would tell Skye that the man who was meant to be her father was killed on a business trip? It didn't sit well with May and she realized for the first time in years why you couldn't always be an agent and have a family waiting at home anxiously for your return.

"Has there been any news on the man beast," May asked next as she walked to the kitchen.

Coulson followed her, "Nothing new. It's been quiet for weeks and I have to admit, that doesn't seem right."

May agreed, "Something is definitely wrong with that picture. Do they have any leads as to why this manbeast wants our- wants Skye?"

Coulson didn't comment on her near slip, "No leads. Best guess is that whatever her gift is must be incredibly valuable."

"We still don't even know if she has a gift," May argued with a frown.

Coulson sighed, "We know she isn't entirely human which is gift enough to be careful and means to that thing out there, she holds a lot of value."

May shook her head, "There has to be something else we can do."

Coulson took her hand in his own, the action not foreign to either, but still made the air grow warm, "We are protecting her here. That's what we can do until Maria can find this thing. In the meantime, we need to talk about those papers."

May didn't react, "Which papers?"

"The adoption ones you've had ready since Christmas, the ones we both signed and everything New Years day," Coulson informed her with a smirk, "With both our names down, it changes everything for us and Skye."

May took a breath, "I know. We'd have to tell her the truth, about all of this."

Coulson nodded, "DO you think she'll be angry with us?"

"At first yes, but hopefully she'll cool off and not run away," May replied softly.

May and Coulson agreed to adopt Skye, she would legally and officially be theirs. Though Coulson didn't plan on leaving the field permanently like May, he would still remain with them away from SHIELD for a while before inevitably returning. Skye had stopped being a mission in October, she had become their daughter by January and this would make it for the world to know in a sense. The only problem now was whether or not Skye would want to be with them like that.

Both May and Coulson decided that if Skye didn't want to be adopted, then they wouldn't adopt her and they would foster her until college. Though if she decided she didn't want to live with them, then they would watch her from a distance and check on her as often as they could. Tonight was the night that they would tell her everything, against the wishes of Fury and Hill. Natasha was onboard and would actually be there tonight as a possible buffer.

Skye looked up to Natasha the most, even was caught trying to copy her and act just like her much to Natasha's surprise. Having Natasha there should help, but it could also make things worse. May never showed her true feelings to anyone, but as time passed in this house, she began to express it more in little ways. Her hand was still in Coulson's and she gave it a soft squeeze before pulling away from him. The message was clear to Coulson, she was anxious and glad he was here to help.

The two continued on with their morning routine in relative silence and waited for Skye's return. Usually she would be back by 6 in the morning to shower and get ready for the day, but when the clock read six, she was nowhere to be found. It wasn't uncommon for her to be a few minutes late, but when six thirty came with a text from her, worry began to grow inside Coulson and May. Especially since May called her twice, only to be sent to voicemail.

The tracker placed in her phone still said she was on the jogging course and they both knew it good cell reception. Something had to be wrong. They were about to leave and go after her themselves when the door slammed open, followed by two cries. One belonged to Trip, the other to their daughter.

"Mr and Mrs Mayson, help," called Trip as he half carried, half dragged a hysterical Skye into the house.

"What is going on," Coulson demanded, "Are you hurt?"

May took Skye from Trip as he answered out of breath, "We were just out doing our… our regular training when these guys came and jumped us…. They were, they were dressed in all black clothing... with some type of red insignia on their arms… They grabbed Skye and took her, but she got out. Ward and Lincoln held them off, they, they took Lincoln."

Skye cried out, "Nooo!"

A scream was ripped from her throat as her grip around May tightened. It was then May noticed something on her foster daughter's hands.

"And I don't know what they did to her in there, but she's been like this since," Trip explained, his worry and fear easy to see.

Moments later, Ward appeared in the doorway with an unconscious Lincoln over his shoulders, however it wasn't Ward's beaten appearance that had everyone horrified. It was the fact that Lincoln's hands and feet were covered in some type of brown coating, that was spreading to the rest of him.

"Ward, put him down," Coulson said sternly.

Ward did so and laid Lincoln onto the wooden floor in the living room. Not a moment too soon, Lincoln was covered from head to toe in the brown covering. The same thing was happening to Skye, she couldn't hold to May anymore and called out to her and Coulson with the unfamiliar titles before she was cut off by the brown coating that hardened around them. May could only stare down at the girl in horror wondering what on earth could have possibly done this.

"Both of you, recruits Ward and Trip tell me everything you know, now," Coulson said, his voice hard as ice.

"Mr Mayson," Trip started, but was interrupted.

"My name is Agent Coulson, this is officially SHIELD business. Now tell me everything you know while Agent May gets in contact with out fellow agents," Coulson told them sternly.

May already had Maria on the line, explaining the situation and demanding they send backup as soon as possible. The agent on the phone told them they would be there as soon as possible, but it did little to ease May's terror as she stared down at this statue of Skye. Ward and Trip told them exactly what happened, by the time they finished SHIELD's recovery team arrived and ready to take action.

However before the agents could remove Skye and Lincoln from the premises, the power began to surge in the surrounding area and the ground began to shake as if an earthquake were starting. The lights flickered overhead until they burst and the ground shook until everyone was on the floor.

The brown coatings cracked.