Andddddd we're still going!

The lovely Ariel96 wrote this chapter. Enjoy!

The distant sound of a chair scraping across the floor downstairs had Melinda bolting up in bed. Since the girls had started living with them, she had become even more of a light sleeper than before, constantly on alert for any sound of distress from them. Normally, Phil would bolt up beside her, but he was already awake and she heard the sound of the shower running, so she assumed he was getting ready for the day. They had started to perfect their morning routines so that they would be ready to face the day by the time the girls had woken up, which was why she was surprised they were awake before she was.

Throwing her blankets off of her, she shoved her feet into her slippers and glanced at the clock, slightly surprised to see that it was still almost two hours before Natasha and Skye normally woke up. The sound of a cabinet banging shut in the kitchen prompted her into action and she quietly jogged out of her room and down the stairs. When she poked her head into the kitchen, she was a little shocked to find just Skye in there, standing on a chair by the counter, trying to figure out how to work the toaster.

Trying to minimize the chances of her startling the little girl, she backed up a few feet and made her footsteps louder so that Skye would hear her coming. When she stepped into the kitchen, Skye was off the chair and facing her.

Melinda gave her a smile and focused on appearing relaxed and calm. It was strange to see Skye without Natasha and she didn't want the little girl to think she was in any trouble."Good morning, you're awake early. Are you hungry?"

Skye scooted further away from the chair and glanced from her, to the toaster, and back again, "I'm sorry! You said we could eat your food?"

"Of course you can. Did you want toast?"

Gulping, Skye pointed to the toaster and stared at her from the corner of her eye, "It… won't work."

"I can help," Mel said, and held up her hands placatingly before taking a slow step towards the toaster. Skye didn't stop her, the little girl watched her carefully but with intrigue.

Melinda motioned for Skye to hop back onto the chair so she could watch, which Skye haltingly did after a moment's thought. With Skye standing beside her, May pulled the toaster forward, held up the plug, and motioned towards the outlet, "This is super important, okay Skye? You're allowed to use anything in this house that you want and you can eat whatever you want, but if you want to use the toaster, please ask me or Mr. Coulson to plug it in for you so that you don't accidently hurt yourself. Do you understand?"

Skye looked between the plug and the outlet and her forehead wrinkled adorably in confusion, "How could it hurt me?"

"Well you could accidentally electrocute yourself, which means you could get stung and burned really badly, and I don't want that to happen to you."

The little girl examined the outlet again, no doubt wondering how it could electrocute her, before nodding minutely, "Okay."

Melinda gave her a smile, "Good, thank you. Now, once we plug it in, we just put the toast in here, pull down the lever, and wait. Do you want to do it?"

Skye nodded eagerly, took a slice of bread out of the bag, and did as she was instructed. She had a small, satisfied smile on her face, which disappeared as she started to fidget. Melinda had begun to notice the telltale signs of Skye's curiosity. When she had questions that she was too nervous or afraid to ask, she would start to move around restlessly, or wring her hands in front of her, or she would bite her bottom lip, sometimes so hard that Melinda worried that she would hurt herself. Noticing the signs now, she gently asked, "Do you have a question?"

Shifting her weight from one foot to the other, Skye stared adamantly at the countertop and softly asked, "Can I use the red jam instead of the purple one? Nattie likes it the best."

"Of course you can," Melinda responded quickly, before tilting her head to the side and asking, "Are you making this for your sister?"

"Yeah, I wanted to surprise her. She likes it a lot and I wanted to make her happy again," Skye said quietly, motioning towards the toaster and looking away.

Melinda's heart clenched painfully at Skye's demeanor and how confusing all of this must be for the little girl. She couldn't imagine how difficult it would be to adjust to living in a new home with new people, and then having the one person that was always stable in your life acting in ways you weren't accustomed to. This situation wasn't Skye's or Natasha's fault, but they both seemed to be suffering the most from it, and it made her blood boil.

Taking a steadying breath so as not to appear upset in front of Skye, she gave the little girl another smile and said, "Oh sweetie, that is so thoughtful and kind of you. Natasha is going to love it. The thing is, by the time your sister wakes up, the toast might not be as good anymore," Skye looked absolutely crestfallen and Melinda hurriedly said, "Why don't you eat this piece of toast and then when Natasha wakes up, you can make some more for her?"

From the look of concentration on her face, Skye was thinking about her suggestion very hard, but finally, she nodded her head determinedly, "Okay."

While they finished making Skye's breakfast, Phil walked into the kitchen, looking clean and ready to take on the day. If he was surprised to find Skye somewhere that Natasha wasn't, he didn't mention it. Instead, he poured a cup of coffee for himself and made some tea for her and then they all sat at the table. She gave him a meaningful look and motioned towards Skye because she knew that they needed to have a talk with her to try to explain everything that was going on. Now seemed like as good a time as any, especially since they were able to catch Skye alone. Phil nodded in understanding, cleared his throat, and caught Skye's attention, "Hey, could we talk to you real fast about something?"

Skye quietly took a bite out of her toast and sat back in her seat, satisfied that Mrs. May hadn't been mad at her for trying to make breakfast, had shown her how to use the toaster, and thought it was a good idea that she was going to surprise Nattie with breakfast. She had made herself wake up extra early this morning just so that she could work on the surprise because Nattie had been acting weirdly lately and she just wanted her sister to be happy again.

She was deep in her own thoughts when Mr. Coulson caught her attention and asked, "Hey, could we talk to you real fast about something?"

Trying real hard not to shrink back in her chair, Skye still couldn't stop her heart from beating extra fast because she was nervous about what they wanted to talk about.

She told herself that she shouldn't be afraid because she had noticed that since living with Mr. Coulson and Mrs. May, they wanted to talk to her and Natasha a lot. Lots more than any other foster parent had wanted to talk to her. They asked her how she was feeling, they constantly checked in on how she and Nattie were doing, and they always explained things to her so that she understood what was going on. She liked it because it made her feel better and calmer, but it was still really weird.

Even though she knew all of this, she nervously wrung her hands in front of her and asked, "Did I do something bad?"

Mr. Coulson was quick to reassure her, "No, you've done nothing wrong. We just wanted to talk to you about everything that's been going on lately. I know Mrs. May talked to Natasha yesterday because she's been feeling… a little off. We wanted to talk to you to make sure you understood what's been going on."

The way her sister had been acting has been confusing for her and she couldn't understand why Nattie was feeling so sad and angry. She just wanted her sister to be happy again.

"Why isn't Nattie happy anymore? Did I make her sad?" She asked. Part of her needed to know but another part of her was scared to find out if she had done something to make her sister feel upset.

"Oh Skye no, you've done nothing to upset Natasha, please don't think that," Mrs. May said softly. Skye watched as Mrs. May reached out to her and she was confused when she felt the desire to run over to her for reassurance. She didn't know where that feeling had come from, but rather than do that, she reached out to hold Mrs. May's hand instead. It felt warm and comforting and helped to calm her nerves.

"Natasha's just trying to adjust to all of us being together now. Just like I know you're adjusting, and I'm adjusting, and Mrs. May's adjusting. It's just a little bit harder for Natasha, which is okay and completely normal," Mr. Coulson explained.

Skye nodded slowly because it made sense to her that Nattie was a having a hard time getting used to living with their teachers and how new everything was. She was having a hard time too.

"But you know what we can do to help Natasha feel a little better?" Mr. Coulson asked her, and she shook her head. "We can help her feel special and tell her how much we love her. Because when we're around people who love us, we feel better, don't we?"

Skye knew that she always felt the best when she was with her sister, because she knew Nattie would always be there for her and love her and keep her safe. Mr. Coulson had to be right, and if telling Nattie that she loved her every minute of the day would help make her feel better, Skye would happily do it.

She nodded and Mr. Coulson smiled at her, "And I want you to know that if you ever feel confused or you need to be reminded how loved you are, you can come talk to me or Mrs. May. We're here for you and Natasha, okay?"

For some reason her body was acting weird today, because hearing those words made her eyes start to tear up, and before she could stop herself, she was crying. She wasn't sure why exactly she was crying right now, but she did know that she was not used to hearing grown-ups tell her that they loved her, that they were there for her, and then show her how much they cared about her every single day. It was different and overwhelming and she didn't know how to handle it, so she continued to cry and started sucking on her thumb in an effort to calm down.

Right about now, Natasha would give her a hug, press a kiss to the top of her head, and wipe the tears off of her cheeks, but her sister was still sleeping upstairs. So she was surprised when a warm but hesitant hand squeezed hers reassuringly. Looking up through her tears, she saw Mrs. May and Mr. Coulson studying her worriedly. It was obvious that they wanted to do something but weren't sure what.

Deciding that she wanted a hug and if Nattie wasn't there to give her one, she would have to be brave enough to get one from somewhere else. So, she slid out of her chair and ran over to Mrs. May and Mr. Coulson. She didn't think Mrs. May was expecting her to practically slam into her because she let out a startled breath, but then strong arms wrapped around her in a gentle hug. She felt warm and calmer, so she was able to take a steadying breath and return the hug. When her cries died down to just small sniffles, she started to become aware of the soft, reassuring murmurs coming from Mr. Coulson and reached out a hand to him. He folded her hand between his two, much larger hands and squeezed it comfortingly.

Then, she realized what she was doing. She breathed in the light perfume that Mrs. May always wore and let Mr. Coulson squeeze her hand one last time before taking a step away from them. She immediately felt the loss but she felt more in control than before, so she slipped her thumb out of her mouth and sat back in her seat. Hastily, she rubbed her fists over her eyes and cleared her throat. Her cheeks heated up and she started to feel embarrassed, so she mumbled, "I'm sorry."

"You've got nothing to be sorry for," Mr. Coulson told her softly.

Despite his words, she kept her eyes on her plate but she perked up when she heard footsteps above her, signaling that her sister was awake. She hopped out of her seat, eager to surprise her sister, and went to run back towards the kitchen before remembering what Mrs. May had told her, "Can you plug the toaster in for me? I don't wanna get hurt."

"Absolutely," Mrs. May said, getting up from her seat. Skye followed after her eagerly and didn't mind when Mrs. May reached down and fondly brushed her hair away from her eyes. In fact, she might have even leaned into the touch.

Awwwwwwwwww *hearts*

Until next time!

~silverlining