SURPRISE! It's a chapter... early!
That last cliffhanger was BRUTAL so we decided to have mercy on you and update early.
Also - Happy Birthday Sanctuaria! This chapter can be another birthday present for you!
This is my favorite chapter of the entire story. Enjoy.
Skye cradled her arm close to her shaking body, listening to the rain pelt against the plastic above her.
Technically, the plastic tube raised above the ground was part of the big kid playground, which Skye wasn't supposed to play on during school, but it wasn't school time so she thought maybe it was okay.
After Garrett and Becky had started screaming at each other, Skye had heard something crash, and when she peeked down the stairs, she saw that Becky was lying on the ground unmoving. And then Skye had gotten really scared because if John had hurt Becky, he was going to kill her.
So Skye had done the only thing she could think of - she ran. When Garrett turned his back, she had snuck to the back door, somehow gotten it open, and ran out into the rain. At first she had just been running, then she had realized that her feet were taking her to school.
Now she was curled up in a plastic tube in a playset, shivering, wondering what she should do next.
She didn't know how long she had been in the plastic tube but her hair wasn't as wet anymore and she thought she had maybe fallen asleep at one point, but it was hard when every time she moved, her arm and body hurt.
Maybe she shouldn't have left.
But she couldn't go back.
What if Garrett found Natasha and hurt her because she had run away?
Tears welled up at the thought of Natasha. She wanted her sister so so badly. She was scared she would never see her again.
Lights flashed in the corner of her eye and Skye's heart started beating wildly in her chest.
John had come to find her.
"Skye!"
She froze.
That wasn't John's voice.
It was a different voice and she hesitated for a moment, deciding what to do.
The voice called out again and Skye had never heard her name said with so much worry.
That made up her mind. She scrambled out of the tube, climbed down the stairs of the playset, ignoring how the movement made everything hurt, and ran towards the light.
Mr. Coulson had found her.
Phil's hand clenched tightly around the heavy flashlight, as if he could force it to reveal that which he most wanted to find.
Skye.
His already churning world had been plunged into more chaos when Tripp had called to say that Garrett was under arrest but Skye was nowhere to be found.
Phil could still see the way that May's face had drained of color and his own sudden feeling that he might faint at the news. They hadn't woken up Natasha - there was no way they could tell the girl that her sister was missing. Not yet. Not until they had more information.
An Amber alert had already been sent, and the police were starting a search.
Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic. Phil tried to stay calm as he stepped out of the car and into the school parking lot.
He couldn't stop the swirling images of the tiny girl hurt, lying somewhere by the road... or worse.
What if Garrett had...
He had to turn those thoughts off or he would go crazy. The man insisted that he hadn't done anything to Skye and that she must have run away.
Making sure that Natasha was safely asleep with May, Phil had made a beeline to the only place he could think of that Skye might go to if she had run away.
He desperately wanted to think that school had been some sort of safe haven for Skye and maybe if that was the case, and if she had run away, and if nothing had happened to her, she would be there.
That was a lot of ifs but he desperately clung to them because otherwise he knew he would fall apart.
"Skye?" Phil called out, sweeping the flashlight across the playground, not even noticing the raindrops pelting down on him. "Skye!"
And then he saw a movement.
"Skye!"
He dropped to his knees as Skye barrelled into him.
"Mr. Coulson!"
"Oh my god, sweetie, you're okay, you're okay," he gasped, a tidal wave of relief flooding over him. "Oh my god." He was checking her over quickly for any serious injuries, blood boiling at the sight of a bruise peeking out from under a sleeve and the sight of dried blood around a cut at her hairline. How could he have let this happen? How could anybody do this to a child? "Skye, you're safe now, you're safe," he repeated over and over again as Skye buried her face in his shoulder.
The little girl was sobbing and he felt wetness on his own cheeks and realized he was crying also.
"J-J-John sent Natasha away!" Skye cried, voice slightly muffled by the way she was pressing her face into his sweater. One of her arms was wrapped around him as he knelt on the ground, her hand clutching the fabric of his sweatshirt like a lifeline. Her other arm was cradled to her chest as she physically trembled in his arms. "I don't know w-w-where Nat is!" Skye wailed. "He said he would kill her if I was bad and I ran away and..."
"Shhhh, Skye, we found Natasha. We found her, she's safe at the hospital with Mrs. May. Garrett isn't going to hurt either of you again and you weren't bad, sweetie. None of this was your fault, okay? Now I need you to come to the car with me so we can get you warm and to the hospital to be checked out. Is something wrong with your arm?" His initial overwhelming relief was mixing with the urgent need to get Skye to a doctor.
"You found her?" Skye looked up at him, her dark eyes widening, "You found Natasha? She's okay?"
He nearly started crying again at the pure look of hope that shone from among the bruises and tears stains that streaked across her face.
"We did. She's safe. You're both safe now..."
Phil wasn't able to say anymore or get Skye to tell him where she was hurt because the tiny girl burst into uncontrollable tears. So he picked her up, praying he wasn't aggravating any injuries, and carried her to his car. She was tiny, so so light in his arms and he knew that he wanted to keep her safe forever, no matter what it took or what she needed.
Once they were sheltered from the rain, he turned on the heat full blast, Skye still clinging to his shirt crying, tiny frame shaking uncontrollably. He paused to kiss the top of her head, murmured soft promises to her, then pulled out his phone and called the police.
"Is she here yet?" Natasha tried to get a better look at the hallway through the partially open door but she couldn't see Skye.
Mrs. May gave her a look, "Not yet but when she gets here, you're going to have to be patient alright? The doctors want to look at her first and then you can see her."
Natasha scoffed internally but said, "Okay."
It was obvious that her teacher didn't believe her, "I'm serious. With your ribs, you're not allowed to get out of that hospital bed."
Tasha glared at her teacher and didn't say anything. There was absolutely nothing that was going to stop her from seeing Skye, not her stupid ribs or her teacher, but Mrs. May didn't need to know that.
She anxiously waited for Skye to show up. No one had told her if her sister was hurt or scared or upset, they had just told her that they had found her and were bringing her into the hospital. Natasha had no idea what condition Skye was going to be in and she couldn't help but imagine the worst. Her little sister had been alone with Garrett for a long time, Natasha wasn't going to try and convince herself that Skye was fine.
Finally, there was a commotion in the hallway and Natasha straightened up. She saw a flash of tangled, dark brown hair and, before Mrs. May could stop her, she ungracefully slid out of her bed. She cried out in pain when her feet hit the ground and her ribs were jostled but she took a deep breath and ignored it.
She heard Mrs. May shout after her but she scrambled out of her hospital room and through the door, "Skye!"
There were three official-looking people surrounding the gurney that Skye was currently lying on and they were all fussing over her. Mr. Coulson was quickly walking behind them, looking worried and concerned, but Nat ignored them. Her sister heard her voice and jerked upright. Natasha desperately looked over her, searching for injuries, and noticed that Skye was crying hysterically.
She made eye contact with Skye and her sister started crying even harder, "Nattie?"
Skye's broken voice had her rushing towards her. The medical-people were heading down the hallway towards an examination room and Nat couldn't find a way to get to her sister. She felt her anger and irritation spike and when they stopped in a room and continued to cluster around Skye. Natasha aggressively tried to push one of the nurses to the side, "Move!"
Skye was crying so hard that Natasha was afraid her sister was going to make herself sick and she was making these pitiful whimpering sounds that broke Tasha's heart. No one was listening to her and Tasha couldn't take it anymore. She screamed, "Stop!"
It kind of surprised her when everyone in the room paused, except for Skye who was still crying, but she didn't let it show. She pushed at the nurse again, ignoring the pain in her ribs, and this time, she got out of the way. The bed was too far off the ground for her to easily climb up on, especially with the constant pain in her ribs, but before she could work up with nerve to pull herself up, she felt a pair of hands gently lift her onto Skye's gurney. She didn't bother looking back to see who it was, she assumed it was either Mrs. May or Mr. Coulson, she just focused on her sister.
Skye shrugged off the blanket she was wrapped up in and pushed away the hands of one of the nurses so that she could hastily scramble into Natasha's open arms.
"Her arm.."
"She shouldn't be moving…"
"Who's that?"
Natasha ignored the voices around her and when Skye was safely in her arms, she couldn't help it, she started crying. She didn't even feel embarrassed about it like she usually did, she just let the tears fall down her face and reveled in the fact that her sister was here, in her arms and pressed tightly against her aching ribs, rather than with John and Becky. She and Skye were back together and everything wasn't alright yet but it was good enough for Natasha.
They held each other tight, Natasha wasn't really sure where else Skye was hurt beside her arm, but Skye didn't protest, so she didn't say anything about how Skye was kind of hurting her ribs.
After a moment, she leaned back a little and looked her sister over, "Are you alright?"
Skye nodded, and even though Natasha knew she was probably lying, she didn't say anything about it, "Are you?"
Nat nodded and pulled Skye in close again, "I missed you."
She felt Skye grab onto her shirt and clench it tightly between her uninjured hand, "I missed you too."
A giant weight lifted off of Nat's shoulders now that Skye was safely in her arms and she sniffled and hastily wiped the tears out of her eyes.
It was silent for another long moment before they both started talking over one another.
"I thought that-"
"I thought he was gonna hurt you so I told-"
"I was never going to see you again."
"But I couldn't leave you there."
"I was scared."
"I was scared."
They stopped talking when they both said that. Natasha looked into Skye's worried eyes and was hit with how things could have turned out much worse. Skye could have had much more serious injuries or worse. She could have never seen her little sister again.
Tears welled up in her eyes once again and this time, Skye reached up and wiped them away with her good hand, "It's okay Nattie."
Tasha leaned in and pressed gentle kisses to Skye's face, ignoring the pain in her split lip and making sure to avoid all the little cuts and bruises decorating her sister's skin, and whispered, "I won't let anyone separate us ever again."
Skye snuggled close to her, let out a deep breath, stuck her thumb into her mouth, and mumbled around it, "Promise?"
Natasha nodded determinedly, "I promise."
Skye finally felt safe, wrapped up in her big sister's arms. She believed Natasha when she said that she wouldn't let anyone separate them again because Natasha could do anything and she always kept her promises.
She breathed in her sister's comforting scent and felt her heartbeat calm down a little so that it wasn't pounding against her ribs anymore. She sucked on her thumb and since Natasha didn't stop her, she assumed that it was alright. Now that she was calming down, she started to remember how much pain her body was in. Wincing a little when Natasha accident brushed against her bad arm, she looked up at her sister, "I got to ride in an ambulance."
Nattie breathed out a forced laugh when Skye accidently butchered the pronunciation of 'ambulance'. Skye smiled around her thumb and Tasha reached forward to brush some hair out of Skye's eyes, "An ambulance?"
She nodded and Nattie said, "Was it fun?"
She thought about it and finally shook her head, "I would have been more fun if you were there."
Nattie looked guilty and before Skye could worry about if she had said the wrong thing, the adults that had been quietly observing them started talking again. One of them said, "We need to look at that arm. She needs X-rays. Are you her guardians?"
Skye looked over and realized that Mrs. May and Mr. Coulson were in the room and that the nurse was talking to them. Mr. Coulson looked at Mrs. May who said, "Not yet."
Skye wondered what that meant.
"Are you family?"
This time, Mr. Coulson spoke up, "Not exactly."
"Then I'm going to have to ask you to wait outside, I'm sorry."
Skye's heart started to crash against her ribs again and her breathing picked up when she realized that they were talking about Natasha too. Her sister held her tighter and said, "She's my sister, I'm not leaving her."
One of the nurses, the one that Skye had seen Nattie push aside, tried to guide Natasha off of the bed but her sister wouldn't let go of her.
Skye felt herself starting to panic a little and she was having trouble listening to the voices around her. It felt too much like when John had pulled them apart and had ripped them away from each other.
She didn't realize that she had started crying again and when the nurse tried to pull Nattie away from her again, she screamed.
Everyone stopped and Skye tucked herself against her sister's side. She didn't want to be separated again.
Natasha gently ran her hands over Skye's hair and pressed a reassuring kiss to the top of her head. She was still panicking but she felt her breathing start to steady out again.
She heard Mr. Coulson mumble, "It would just be easier if you let them stay together."
Not bothering to look up, she guessed that the nurses agreed because the next thing she knew, she heard the door shut and one of the nurses, one with a gentle voice, was saying, "Can you sit back a little so that we can look you over, sweet pea?"
Skye looked up at her sister because she wasn't sure what to do, and when Nattie nodded at her, she scooted back so that she was resting against the top of the bed. Natasha didn't let go of her hand and sat by her side on the bed. She felt hands flutter against her and winced whenever the nurse brushed up against a bruise but she focused on her sister instead of the unfamiliar hands that were traveling all over her body.
She winced a little when her cuts got disinfected but Natasha gave her an encouraging little smile and Skye told herself that she could be tough.
In an attempt to ignore the commotion around her, she asked, "Where'd you go after you got taken away?"
Nattie scooted closer, "I was put into a group home but then Mrs. May and Mr. Coulson came and got me."
Skye's eyes widened, "They did?"
Natasha nodded, "Yeah. They've been really… helpful."
She wondered what all of this meant, "So are you gonna live with them now?"
Skye watched as her sister's facial expression shifted to confusion. It was clear that Nattie hadn't thought about this before, "I don't know, I think they're my legal guardians right now."
She really wanted to suck her thumb right now but Nattie was holding onto her hand tightly so she couldn't. Instead, she bit her lip and tilted her head, "Will they be my guardians too?"
For some reason, Skye really, really wanted Mrs. May and Mr. Coulson to be her guardians. They were nice.
"I don't know, maybe. If they won't let us stay together, I'll figure something out, I promise."
Skye didn't doubt her sister, she knew that Nattie would keep them together, "I know."
An adult's voice interrupted them and when Skye looked up, she realized that it was the kind nurse from before, "Sweet pea? Your arm's broken and we need to go get an X-ray so we can see what we're dealing with, okay?"
Skye looked at her arm, noting the angry looking bruises that decorated it, before glancing up at her sister, who nodded at her. She nodded back at the nurse and the lady smiled at her, "Okay, good. We're going to move the bed now and take you into another room."
She felt the bed start to move and uncertainly said, "Can Nattie stay with me?"
The nurse looked between them, focused on their intertwined hands, and nodded, "Yes, but you'll both need to wear some protection."
Skye wasn't sure what that meant until they entered a different room and someone draped a heavy vest thingy over her and Natasha. The nice nurse stepped back and someone else stepped forward and started to explain what they were going to do.
Rather than focus on the scary looking equipment in the room or the voice talking to her, Skye shut her eyes and concentrated on how Nattie was rubbing soothing circles onto her thigh. Before she knew it, the X-rays were completed and they were being taken back into a different room with a bed already in it. They stopped and put Skye's bed right next to the other one, and the nice nurse turned to them, "You need to lie back down Natasha, it's not good for your ribs to be moving around like this."
Natasha gave the empty bed in the room a disdainful look, glared at the nurse, and scooted back so that she was lying down next to Skye.
The nurse sighed, "The X-rays should be ready soon and the doctor will come by. I'll send in your social worker, Skye, and your guardians, Natasha."
Skye ignored her and turned her head slightly so that she could look at her sister, "Are your ribs okay?"
Nattie shrugged, "Some of them are broken but I'm fine."
The past events were catching up to her and Skye couldn't really remember the last time she had slept. Her eyes felt heavy and without her permission, they started to close. She stuck her thumb in her mouth and mumbled, "Liar," to her sister, before tucking her face against Nattie's chest and falling asleep.
"I'm sorry but we can't release any information on Skye to you."
"Of course you can't." Melinda's jaw clenched slightly and Phil's grip on her hand tightened. They were both exhausted but Melinda knew that Phil was on the verge of falling apart. He had found Skye on the playground, held her, comforted her, saved her, only to be torn away from the little girl at the hospital. She could feel his distress because it was also her own.
"Can we at least see our foster daughter?" Melinda exhaustedly tried to reign in some of her anger and frustration. Policy was policy, and even though they knew they weren't a threat, it was there to keep children safe. The doctor was only doing his job.
The doctor hesitated and Melinda's eyes flashed. They both knew that Natasha and Skye were in the same room and if they went to see Natasha, they would also see Skye. However, regardless, Natasha was now their foster daughter.
"She is legally our child, you cannot keep us from seeing her," she reminded the doctor.
"Actually, she is a ward of the state..."
"Mr. and Mrs. Coulson."
Phil and Melinda turned to see a tired looking woman walking quickly towards them.
"Hi, I'm Dana, Skye's social worker. I spoke to Natasha's social worker and she informed me of the situation and your desire to take in Skye as well as Natasha."
The doctor looked relieved at the interruption but May only wanted to know what the social worker's verdict would be and if this whole nightmare would finally be over.
"Since you've already been approved as foster parents, I just need you sign this paperwork and you can take Skye." Dana pulled out a folder of papers and a pen.
Melinda's blood boiled at the speed which the social worker was shoving the paperwork at them, as if she wanted to get rid of a problem, but because this was what they wanted, she kept her mouth shut and took the offered pen.
They quickly signed on all the lines, and it wasn't until the social worker disappeared suspiciously quickly, did the weight of what had happened crashed down on Melinda.
They were now the legal guardians of two children.
Two independent human beings, two little persons with needs, desires, hopes, and fears.
Two individuals with broken bones and broken pasts.
Two beautiful people who deserved to be loved and cared for.
Maybe she and Phil were in way over their heads. They had never even been parents before, let alone parents of children with trauma. But they had never had a worthier cause to tackle a challenge.
"Skye's arm was broken in two places but we were able to set it without any complications. There's a lot of swelling so the arm is in a soft splint for the time being. We're going to have to wait for the swelling to go down before we get her arm in a more permanent cast. One of the breaks was clean, the other had some fracturing, so we're going to have to keep a close eye on that and how it heals. Luckily, it isn't severe enough for surgery. Other than the arm, she's sustaining some minor lacerations, and some heavy bruises. We think..."
Phil's head swam with words like swelling and surgery and lacerations and heavy bruises. He grasped at Melinda's hand, his lifeline, as he tried not to throw up. Images of Skye came to his mind, her large brown eyes and the way her bottom lip stuck out slightly when she concentrated, her strong dedication to honesty and kindness... and she was tiny, so so tiny..
"Can we see her now? Both of them?"
Melinda's words dragged him out of his thoughts.
"They might be asleep, but you are welcome to stay in their room."
They followed the doctor through the white halls to a dimly lit colorful room. In the hospital bed, Skye and Natasha were sound asleep, Natasha's arm protectively resting over Skye.
As they sat down in the chairs near the bed, Skye stirred slightly and her large eyes blinked open slowly.
"Mr. Coulson?" she whispered, moving as if she was going to sit up.
"Shhh," Phil quickly moved to kneel by the side of the bed. "You need to rest."
"You're here," Skye whispered, sleepy eyes examining him. "Am I going to go home with you and Nattie?"
"Yes, you are. But first you need to get better," Phil said quietly, gently reaching and brushing a strand of hair out of Skye's face. The little girl leaned into the contact slightly.
"Are you feeling okay? Does your arm or body hurt?" Phil checked, suddenly worried she woke up because she was in pain. However Skye shook her head. "Try to go to sleep, okay sweetheart?" Phil leaned back slightly but was surprised when Skye suddenly grabbed his hand with her good hand.
"Can you stay?" she whispered.
"I'll stay as long as you want me to," Phil promised, kissing her forehead.
Skye seemed satisfied with his answer and cuddled up once more against Natasha, slowly drifting back off to sleep.
Until Monday! I hope you enjoyed the extra chapter.
As always, take a moment and let me know what you thought!
~silverlining