Thank you for the beautiful reviews! As promised, a Monday update :)

I don't have a long author's note because quite frankly, I am exhausted!

Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of Shield

Natasha could clearly remember the day that Skye came to live with them. She had only been living in this house for a few months and nobody had bothered to tell her that anything was happening. She had only figured out that something was up when Becky walked into the living room dressed nicely and told her to clean the living room up. She had obeyed without question, it was easier that way, and waited to see what was going on. In her head, she came up with a lot of different explanations for what could be happening but she had no idea how much her world would change when a tiny girl was ushered into the house. Becky cooed over the little girl in a sickly sweet tone of voice and the social worker had made boring small talk before quickly making a hasty exit. They always made a hasty exit.

Becky loved Skye for all of a three days. Natasha stood by and watched as Becky took Skye shopping, bought her toys, and took pictures with the little girl. Nat knew that she was treating Skye like an object, kind of like showing off a brand new toy, and that made her a little sick. Becky was totally enamored with the small girl but Skye barely talked. She didn't smile. She didn't want Becky to touch her, she just wanted to be left alone.

And then Skye had wet the bed.

At that point, Skye's beautiful dark eyes and adorable little features were not enough for Becky anymore.

Natasha had observed from a distance how Becky had treated Skye. She had been satisfied that the little girl was safe under Becky's favor but when she woke up and found Skye cleaning up her bed after wetting it once again, humiliated and struggling to clean herself up after Becky had shut the door on her, Natasha had reached out.

Silently, she had taken the heavy sheets from Skye down to the laundry room. She came back up and saw that Skye had changed into a shirt and shorts, both were too long for her short limbs, and was curled up on the floor in a corner with a sweatshirt as a blanket. Natasha had looked down at the tiny girl who had fallen asleep on the floor and hesitated. She had learned the hard way not to trust anyone, to only look out for herself, and not to get attached to anything. It was just easier that way and if you trusted only yourself, no one could let you down. But when she looked at Skye, she saw herself; small, lost, and alone in a system that ended up hurting her.

"Hey. Kid." Natasha whispered. Skye turned over and looked at her, dark eyes confused. "You can sleep in my bed. I'll sleep on the floor if you don't want to share."

Confused, tears drying on her cheeks, but a little less lost, Skye followed Natasha to her room. On the way there, Skye had grabbed onto her hand and since then, they hadn't let go.

Skye was tightly gripping her hand now as they made their way to school once again. They were late and walking quickly down the street. Skye's legs were short and Nat had to keep reminding herself to slow down so that she wasn't dragging the little girl but she really didn't want Skye to be late on her second day of school. Teacher's remembered stuff like that and she wanted Skye to have a good year.

"Nattie, you're walking too fast." Skye sounded a little out of breath and Nat forced herself to slow down and give the little girl an apologetic look.

She could see the school up ahead and let out a relieved sigh when she saw that kids were still hopping out of their parents cars. If other kids were still getting here then they must not be as late as she thought. They briskly walked into the school and made their way to Skye's classroom. As they walked down the hallway, Skye pointed towards her teacher, "Look, Mr. Coulson is still waiting outside his door. We aren't late!"

They slowed to a stop a few feet away from Mr. Coulson. Nat rearranged her backpack on her back and motioned Skye forward, "You're a mess Skye, c'mere."

Skye's hair was all over the place, Nat didn't think she had a chance to brush it this morning, "Do you have any hair ties?"

Skye rooted around in her bag and pulled out two, "Braids?"

Natasha took the hair ties from her and quickly put Skye's hair into two braids. She then looked down and saw that one of Skye's shoes were untied and kneeled down to tie it for her.

Skye tried to yank her foot away, "I wanna tie it!"

Letting out a breath, she scooted back and watched as Skye knelt down, grabbed her shoelaces, wrapped them around each other in an unorganized knot, and finally gave up. Skye gave her a helpless look, "Can you do it?"

She quickly tied Skye's shoe and stood back up, "You have everything?"

Skye nodded and opened her arms up for a hug. Natasha finally felt herself relax and leaned in to hug the little girl, "I'm right down the hall if you need me, remember?"

She felt Skye nod against her chest and pressed a quick kiss to the top of the little girl's head before stepping back, "Okay, go have fun."

Grinning at her, Skye waved before running towards her teacher. Mr. Coulson excitedly started talking to her and upon seeing that Skye was where she was supposed to be, she turned and headed to her own classroom. When she looked up, she paused when she saw Mrs. May staring intensely at her. She didn't know how long her teacher had been watching her and tried to think back to if she had been there as she and Skye had walked down the hallway but she couldn't remember. She straightened her back and continued onto her classroom.

She intended to just walk right in and head to her desk but apparently Mrs. May had other ideas. As soon as she got close enough, Mrs. May said, "Hello Natasha, how're you today?"

"I'm fine."

Mrs. May nodded like that was the answer that she had been expecting, "And how's Skye?"

Nat's head jerked up and she stared Mrs. May in the eye. Why was she asking about Skye? She made sure that her face was neutral when she said, "Skye's fine."

Her teacher nodded again, "Good. Why don't you go put your stuff away? We've got a lot of learning to do today."

Natasha didn't bother answering, she just made her way inside, dropped her backpack onto her desk, and sat down in her chair. A few seconds later, the bell rang and Mrs. May walked into the classroom and shut the door.

By some small miracle, Natasha figured out and that she and Skye had recess at the same time. Since Skye played on the kindergarten playground and she played on the older kid playground, she hadn't made the realization until today.

She had been walking around the fenceline, ignoring the screaming kids running around her, when she spotted Skye sitting by herself in the sandbox. She didn't know if she was allowed on the little kid's playground, to be honest she didn't really care, but she made sure the teachers weren't watching her when she made her way over to the little girl.

Skye didn't see her coming so when she suddenly plopped down next to her, Nat was rewarded with a bright smile and a tight hug, "Nattie! What're you doing here?" Skye leaned back a little and gave her a worried look, "Did you leave your class?"

Filtering sand through her fingers, Natasha shook her head, "No, I have recess right now."

Skye made a happy sound and went back to building her lopsided sandcastle. Natasha looked around and studied all the other little kids. Most were running around in groups and were laughing and having a good time. Natasha felt bad that Skye was sitting over here by herself when she should be making friends and having fun.

Brushing the sand off of her hands, Nat poked Skye's arm, "Have you made any friends yet?"

Skye leveled her with a look, "Have you made any friends yet?"

Natasha crossed her arms, "Don't worry about me, I was asking you."

Skye suddenly seemed extremely interested in her sand castle. She kept packing the damp sand higher and higher, not caring that her castle looked like it was going to topple over at any second, "I'm not good at making friends."

Natasha knew what she meant. It seemed like every other kid was a natural at making friends. All they had to do was talk about their favorite stupid animal or play on the same baseball team and they were friends for life. It was hard for her to find someone who understood her and she suspected that Skye was having that same problem. It wasn't fair. Skye should be able to run around and make friends just like any other kid.

Natasha brushed some sand off of Skye's upper arm and helped her with her sandcastle, "I know, I'm not good at making friends either."

Skye studied her and after a few moments, Natasha looked up and met her stare. Skye gave her a small smile, "I'm your friend."

Nat laughed, grabbed Skye's hand, and held it tight, "We're better than friends, we're sisters."

Skye smiled, "Yeah, I never thought I'd have a sister."

That was the understatement of the year. Natasha bumped Skye with her shoulder and motioned to the sad pile of sand in front of them. They both concentrated on the sandcastle and enjoyed each other's company in companionable silence.

Natasha didn't see her teacher approaching her until Mrs. May was standing right in front of her, "Natasha, you aren't supposed to be over here."

She and Skye quickly stood up and Natasha felt Skye grab onto her hand and stand in front of her. The little girl held out a hand, like she was warding off Mrs. May, and spoke urgently, "Don't yell at her! She didn't mean to!"

Mrs. May looked surprised for a moment before schooling her features, "I wasn't going to yell Skye, I was just going to bring Natasha back to the big kid playground."

Skye turned her head and gave her a confused look and Natasha felt her heart ache a little bit. Nat knew that not all adults yelled but Skye had trouble understanding that. She couldn't blame her, most foster parents were yellers and it was weird being around grown-ups who weren't like that. She leaned down and whispered into Skye's ear, "It's okay."

The little girl looked slightly embarrassed and her thumb absentmindedly started brushing against her lower lip. Natasha carefully grabbed it and put Skye's hand back down by her side. She looked up at her teacher, "I didn't know I wasn't allowed over here, I just wanted to see Skye."

Mrs. May nodded and motioned for Natasha to follow her, "It's alright, I never told you. This playground is just for the kindergartener's to play on."

"Okay." Natasha took a step towards Mrs. May but stopped when she felt a tug on her shirt. She looked back to see Skye giving her a worried look.

The little girl bit her lip, cast a suspicious look towards Mrs. May, and leaned in to whisper, "Are you sure it's okay?"

Natasha reassuringly patted her on her hand before prying Skye's little fingers off of her shirt, "I'm sure."

Skye reluctantly nodded and gave her a quick hug before sitting back down in the sand.

Natasha said, "I'll see you after school okay?"

Skye waved, "Okay."

Melinda walked beside Natasha as they headed back to the older kid's playground, feeling fairly unsettled. Since first meeting the two girls, May had noticed several abnormalities in their behavior. She had watched as Natasha fixed Skye up to be ready for school and saw how the two girls continually isolated themselves. That was all strange but what really had her on alert was little Skye physically putting up a hand to ward her away, as if she had felt endangered.

Melinda quickly replayed that scene in her mind, wondering if she was overanalyzing or being paranoid. Skye had seen her, moved her tiny frame in front of Natasha, and stretched out a hand. The action was unusual but what really caught Melinda off guard was the look in Skye's dark eyes.

The five year old had given her a look of pure fear, despite her tough protective stance.

Natasha coughed beside her and Melinda's attention was quickly brought to the present task of gathering her fourth graders to go back inside.

As she glanced around the playground to assess her class's location, her eyes caught sight of Skye's tiny figure sitting alone in the sandbox.

Melinda May, as a rule, never reacted without thinking critically about a situation. However, in that particular moment, she was tempted to run over, pick up Skye, and bring her over to her sister.

Thankfully, she was saved from having to pursue that impulsive thought any longer by Phil, who was making his way over to the little girl. They interacted for a moment and Melinda watched as Phil sat down in the sandbox with Skye. Satisfied that the little girl was in good hands, May turned to finally call in her class, who was understandably thrilled with their extra five minutes of recess.

"Ready to go in?" she asked Natasha lightly.

Natasha shrugged, green eyes not straying from watching her sister.

"You're quieter than usual."

Melinda glanced at her husband. His eyes were faithfully on the road, hidden by the ridiculous sunglasses he insisted on wearing. She was pretty sure he liked them because he thought they made him look like a secret agent or something ridiculous like that.

And yet he was easily able to see exactly when something was bothering her.

"Have you noticed anything strange about Skye and Natasha?" There was no point in beating around the bush with Phil.

Phil was quiet, carefully bringing the car to a smooth stop and waiting for the red light to turn green.

"What makes you ask?" he said finally.

May rolled her eyes. "Don't turn this back on me, Coulson. Answer the question."

"I didn't want to jump to any conclusions, it's only been a few days." Phil rubbed the side of his face. "Skye is an adorable kid and I can tell she's smart and energetic but she seems to always be holding herself back. She isolates herself from the other children during any free times and she's easily distracted and scared. I think she's a bit behind the other kids, it's really too early to tell right now, but I would like to talk to her parents..." Phil trailed off. "We haven't seen them yet have we? The parents, I mean."

"Not yet." Melinda shook her head.

"It's unlike you to be so unsettled," Phil glanced at her quickly before turning back to the road. "What are you thinking?"

Melinda sighed and leaned back in her seat.

"I don't know."

"We'll keep an eye on them." Phil pulled the car up to their small house, putting it in park before leaning over to kiss her.

"Hmm." Melinda pulled away after a moment. "Are you worried about them? Or am I just crazy?" She glanced at him, once again thankful that she could call this man her husband. Melinda wasn't into sharing thoughts. Or feelings. Or vulnerability. In high school, she had been called the Ice Queen behind her back but then Phillip Coulson had entered her life and somehow wriggled his way into her heart and got her talking. And when she didn't talk, he still seemed to understand what was going on in her head.

"We both know I'm the crazy one." Phil told her as they got out of the car.

"You can say that again," May raised her eyebrows.

"You're not wrong, Mel. I've been noticing a couple strange things here and there with those two. I just don't want to approach Skye about anything because I think she'll close off. She's not like the other kindergarteners. They walk in with their parents, who tell them to listen to me, and they trust me implicitly. Not Skye. I think she likes me but she doesn't trust me."

"I don't think I've even gotten a full sentence out of Natasha," Melinda pushed the door to their home open.

"Sounds like the two of you have some similarities," Phil grinned as May smacked him. He became serious again after a moment. "You really think something might be up? Like at their home?"

"I think I'll be keeping a close eye on the two of them," Melinda's jaw clenched at the thought of two of their students being in any sort of unhealthy situation.

"Easy tiger." Phil rubbed her back, blue eyes slightly troubled. "We'll be looking out for them now."

Melinda leaned into his touch for a moment before putting herself back into business mode, "Tripp is coming over for dinner after his shift. We should probably have food."

"Pasta?" Phil suggested, already moving into the kitchen. "I'll start on the sauce."

"Okay, I'll get the pasta and slice some bread."

They wove around each other in the small space. As the smell of simmering tomatoes and basil began to fill the air, Melinda resolved that she would get through Natasha's walls and find out what was going on with the two sisters.

If Natasha was anything like Melinda herself was, she was facing a challenging task.

Let me know what you think!

~silverlining