Hey friends! I hope you enjoy the update :)
We are nearing the end sorta ish! :O
However, I want there to be lots of opportunities for Skye fluff with the team now that they're together for the first time. So I'm thinking about taking prompts for their time on the Bus together...
Anyways, please enjoy!
Everything was really heavy.
And dark.
But kinda in a nice way, like being bundled up in a warm cocoon.
Skye thought about burrowing deeper into the cocoon but something was drawing her out. First it was murmurs and then she realized someone was talking. She couldn't make out the words, but the voice was familiar. She liked that voice.
Slowly she began to make out a word here and there and became aware of somebody stroking her hair.
"…and we made up a room just for you, right by ours. We even picked up a Frozen comforter for you…"
Skye opened her eyes and light rushed at her and she quickly closed her eyes.
"Skye?"
Skye tried again, blinking several times until the face above her came into focus.
"Daddy," she smiled, voice raspy and funny sounding. She looked around. She was in a room that looked kinda like a lab, but Phil was sitting in a chair beside her and the blanket was blue, and Elsa was laying beside her.
"Skye." Phil was suddenly kissing her forehead and her cheeks and her nose, making her laugh. She struggled to sit up, wanting to put her arms around him. He came down to her level instead and she burrowed her face in his shoulder.
"Oh good! You're awake Skye! Right on schedule with my estimate." Jemma walked into the room, a huge smile on her face. Skye liked that she wasn't wearing a white lab coat anymore, instead in a nice maroon sweater. One arm was in a sling, but Jemma seemed happy.
"Hi," Skye smiled, snuggling closer to Phil.
"How are you feeling?" Jemma was looking her over, checking some machines.
"Good." Skye grabbed Elsa and brought her to her chest. "What happened?" she examined her arms and noticed they were blotchy with bruises. When had that happened? When she was in the lab? It was so blurry in her head. She mostly just remembered the overwhelming sadness and how scared she was and how things hurt, and Jemma…
The more she thought about it, the more she remembered and she didn't like that.
"Skye!"
Skye looked up to find May running to her.
"Mommy," she sighed happily as May smothered her in kisses, similarly to what Phil had done. Her eyelids were beginning to feel heavy. "Are we going home?"
"We have your things here, love, but we're not going to be able to go back to the house. This plane is going to be our home for a while. Is that okay?"
Skye considered that silently. She liked her bedroom. And the couch and kitchen and May and Phil's big comfy bed and the fuzzy carpet that she could lie on and watch Frozen.
But none of those things really mattered.
Skye had spent all of her life being moved from one place to another, one family to the next. House after house, she had never had a home.
Being with Phil and May, she had realized what really made a place a home.
She smiled and blinked sleepily.
"As long as you're both here then I'm ok."
"She'll probably be weak for a couple days, but she was already awake longer and moving more than I expected." Jemma flipped through a couple pages. "Other than that, she's going to be perfectly fine. We'll just have to encourage her to take it easy as the last of the drugs run through her system. The worst is definitely over."
"Will they have any long term effects on her?" May spoke up, glancing over at the sleeping girl in the other room.
"I don't believe so. Although…" Jemma brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
"What is it?" Coulson asked worriedly, exchanging a glance with May.
"I… I found some inconsistencies in Skye's DNA when I was testing her blood, looking damage by the drugs. I don't believe it is from anything she was given, I don't see how it would be possible. It's strange, her DNA almost looks… Not quite human."
Jemma looked up at them, dark eyes troubled. "I know she was an 0-8-4."
The room was silent. "I can look further into it…" Jemma began to offer.
"No." It was May who spoke up, her eyes locked on Skye's sleeping form. "Leave it and delete all records."
"But…"
"May's right." Coulson agreed. "We want Skye to have a normal childhood from here on out. Destroy all evidence of what you found. Someday perhaps we will have to revisit this, but for now, Skye has been through enough."
Jemma hesitated.
The young scientist's eyes landed on Skye and she gripped the data she had collected.
Part of her was yearning for answers, for data, and research, and science. This girl could be a scientific revolution.
And then Jemma actually looked at Skye. At her bruised arms and the way her eyes fluttered slightly, long dark lashes touching her cheeks, the little face looking finally peaceful. She saw a small child. Not a scientific subject.
She quickly made a vow that she would never follow the path others had taken and lose sight of the humanity in each individual.
Jemma glanced down at her research and back up at Phil and May.
"Do you have an incinerator?" she asked hopefully.
"No, you hold it like this."
Skye was sitting on the floor of the plane, which they now referred to as the Bus. She was dressed in an Elsa dress, completing the outfit with sunglasses and skinny jeans under the dress.
Lance Hunter was sitting across the coffee table, a pink tiara on his head and fairy wings strapped to his back, struggling to hold a tiny teacup.
"There better be some bloody gin in that teapot." Hunter attempted to stick one pinky in the air but only succeeded in dropping the cup.
"Is bloody a swearword?" Skye asked, blinking her dark eyes innocently.
"No." Lance looked guilty.
"Yes." May said, walking by.
"Fu…. Fudge monkey," Hunter grumbled, pulling out his wallet and sticking a dollar in the large glass jar on the counter. It was filled with many coins and bills and had a messily written sign taped to it, spelling out "Bad Word Jar."
Every time someone swore, they had to put money into the jar. The money went to Skye's General Needs Fund. The fund had gained almost fifty dollars when Hunter and Bobbi got into a fight.
"Can you pour some tea for Elsa?" Skye asked, busying herself with eating a cookie.
"Of course." Hunter daintily poured tea into Elsa's cup before adjusting his tiara, which had begun to slip off slightly.
"Wait!" Skye's eyes widened with alarm.
"What?!" Hunter drew his stun gun and scanned the room.
"It's magical tea. You have to sing the song before Elsa can drink it!" Skye said frantically. "Quick, sing before the magic fades!"
Hunter put the gun away and cleared his throat.
"Flower gleam and glow. Let your power shine. Heal what has been hurt. Bring back what once was mine."
"What once was mine," Skye echoed, waving a hand over the teacup.
Hunter lifted the cup to Elsa's plastic lips so she could drink. The doll seemed to smirk at him.
"Having fun?" Phil walked in, sitting beside Skye and kissing her cheek.
"Daddy!" Skye squealed, jumping into his lap.
Phil kissed the top of her head.
It had been a couple days since the rather chaotic rescue mission and Skye was doing much better physically. Emotionally, the girl was snuggly and happy, however she woke up from nightmares at least three or four times each night. She couldn't handle needles, wouldn't sleep under white sheets. They had initially had a wheelchair for Hunter because of his leg, however, after two panic attacks from Skye, they tucked it far away.
It killed Phil to see his little girl so scared all over again, but at least this time she desired their presence.
They thought maybe it would be helpful for the girl to talk about what happened but Skye, in her extremely stubborn five-year-old way refused to acknowledge that her time back in the lab had even happened. The only information they had on what had gone down there was from Jemma and Fitz.
What he had heard from them was enough to make his blood run cold.
And yet Skye acted as if her time there had never even happened. She shut down any and all questions with cuddling and talking about Elsa. She acted happy, and Phil believed she was. But deep down, the tormented look hadn't quite left his little girl's eyes.
"Nice tiara," Phil grinned at Hunter. "Alright, I hate to break this up, but we've got a meeting and Hunter needs to be there."
Skye pouted while Hunter looked fairly relieved.
"I'll send Leo to play with you," Phil promised and Skye's face brightened. "And Hunter?" Coulson turned to the man who had shed his tiara and was making a beeline for the exit. "You might want to take off the fairy wings."
"SHEILD is looking for us. They shut off all of our access to information, so I can't confirm what their plan is." Bobbi ran a hand through her hair.
All the agents were gathered in the control room. Jemma and Fitz were asked to sit out of such meetings, however by now that was more of a formality since the team generally trusted the pair. The plane had been constantly moving since picking up Skye.
Basically they were fugitives.
"I hate to say this, but we need to touch down to refuel soon." Trip spoke up. "We're also running low on supplies."
"Where are we over now?"
"Currently, over the Atlantic."
"Can we really risk a touchdown?" May's dark eyes were worried.
"I don't think we have a choice," Bobbi looked resigned. "We need fuel and supplies."
"Alright. Bobbi and Hunter, work on finding us a secure location. I'll try to look up if I have any independent contacts or people who owe me favors nearby."
"Yes sir."
"I have a bad feeling about this," Hunter muttered.
Coulson wished he could say otherwise for himself.
Thanks!
I always love to hear your thoughts if you have a moment to review!
