In the comics, Skye is born in 1988, but I totally feel like, for this fic, she was younger, so I'm gonna say she was born in 1992, which makes her 16 in 2008, and 21 when she joins Coulson's team, so at the time this chapter is set in, she's around 23
…...
Steve and Bucky both froze in place when they heard those words leave her mouth, though for two different reasons.
To Steve, it all made so much sense! Why she would never tell him about her history, why she had looked at Tony desperately before he had revealed that she left him at 16.
But Bucky realized that she was just like him. He felt so stupid for not realizing it before. How she was constantly on edge, always watching her back. How she wore long pants to cover the scars on her legs. They were the same things he had gone through, but he had Steve. Skye had no one.
No, he corrected himself, Skye has us now.
To them, that was all they needed to hear, but Skye had to get it all off of her chest.
"They sent a note to me, saying that if I didn't turn myself over, they would kill everyone I loved. My dad, Pepper, Rhodey, Coulson." She took in a gasp of breath before continuing, while Steve and Bucky both unconsciously moved toward her. "I was with them for 5 years and 6 months before I escaped, and that's when SHIELD found me." Bucky reached to grab a tissue out of the box that sat behind Skye, before pulling it out and carefully wiping the tears off of her cheeks.
Steve sat on her other side, running his fingers through his hair to try and grasp what she had told them. "But... but the red room was disbanded decades ago!" Steve reasoned.
"That's what they wanted you all to think. That way you could never find out the truth and come to take away their soldiers." Skye told him, tears silently dripping onto her knees. Steve put his arm around her neck, pulling her into him and holding her small body close to his chest. Bucky scooted closer to his soulmates and added an arm to their pile of limbs.
They stayed like that for a while, each person relishing the close contact and love they showed to each other.
"What do we do now?" Skye murmured after a while.
"We continue on with our lives. We start your power training with Bruce, and we keep this a secret for as long as we can, until it is absolutely necessary that the team knows, or until we find a way to tell them without you getting kicked out of the tower."
Skye let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding when Steve said they would keep her past a secret. She didn't know where she would go if she didn't have Steve or Bucky or her dad.
*Months later because I'm bad at writing fluff*
It had been 6 months since Skye had told Bucky and Steve her secret, and life was good.
She trained with Bruce every day from 11 to 4, went to the gym from 4 to 5, and spent the rest of the night and some hours of the morning with her soulmates. They had all become much closer in 6 months, and though some of it had been caused by their bond, most came from how much they told each other.
She and her dad had also rebuilt their relationship, and there were times in which Skye was sure she was 14 again. They would pull all-nighters with bottles of Coca-Cola and bags of cool ranch Doritos, they would geek out about movies, and sometimes they even played Mariocart together.
Everything seemed perfect.
She should have known it wouldn't last.
The day it all fell to pieces started off normally.
Skye woke up between her two soulmates, snuggled close to their warm bodies. She strained her neck to look over at the clock on Steve's bedside table, before realizing she had three hours before her training session with Bruce. Skye knew that her body wouldn't go back to sleep after being awake already, so she snuck out of bed and into the kitchen, preparing the ingredients for the breakfast in bed she had planned. Two hours later, after the eggs were scrambled, pancakes were cooked, bacon was sizzled, and orange juice was poured, she carefully set each plated portion on a wooden platter, and tiptoed back into their shared bedroom.
She held the tray with one arm and used the other to turn on the light, knowing they both wouldn't wake up. She made her way over to the bed and sat down on the edge, poking both of them with her pointer finger before grinning as they both sat up.
"What?" Bucky groaned, grabbing her hand and covering it with his.
"I made you breakfast..." She held out a plate to him before poking Steve, who had fallen asleep again.
"Come on sleepy head, you have an hour to eat before we have to get working." Steve sat upright again, softly smiling at her as he took the plate and glass of orange juice from her outstretched hand.
They sat there for 45 minutes, talking about their plans for the day, but Skye abruptly cut the conversation off as she once again glanced at the clock.
"AH I have to get dressed for training!" She pulled her hand from Bucky's grasp as she all but sprinted over the dresser, pulling on a strappy grey tank top and black yoga pants.
"Do you have to?" Steve protested, reaching for her.
"Yes, Steve. You know I do." She turned and walked through the door, before turning around and yelling back at them. "Bye! See you tonight! Love you both!"
Steve and Bucky looked at each other and smiled. How did they get so blessed with such a perfect soulmate?
Natasha would be lying if she said she didn't like the Stark girl. She admired her spirit, and she was kind whenever they talked, but she gave off a weird feeling.
She hadn't seen the girl fight but was told she was extremely talented and rivaled even Natasha herself. That level of training was never provided by SHIELD. Agents were good, but they weren't that good. This thought, coupled with her gut instinct, caused suspicion in the fiery-haired assassin. She had always wanted to check out the skill level of the girl, but Natasha was always away on missions and never had time. Today, however, was the exception. Today, Natasha would go watch the girl at the gym and see just how justified her suspicions were.
Yes, she knew Tony would be mad that she was snooping on his daughter, but there was something going on that no one knew about, and she was determined to find out what it was.
So, when 4 o'clock rolled around, Natasha made her way down to the gym and into a hidden corner, just as the Stark girl arrived. She spent twenty minutes on the treadmill, but it was the moves she used on the punching bag that startled Nat.
Not because they were unexpected from a girl of her size, which they were, but because they were familiar. She hadn't seen those moves and combinations in decades.
The last time she saw them was in the Red Room.
That was impossible, though. The Red Room had been destroyed...
But what if it hadn't been. What if they had made it seem like it had to avert attention.
That was it! Natasha realized.
The Red Room hadn't been destroyed, it had started a new line of soldiers.
And that line included Skye.
Only one thing was clear to her now.
She had to tell Tony.