Hey guys! Here's the new chapter! I hope you like it :)
Also, I know that not everyone likes Raina's character on the show but please remember that this is an AU! My characters are all similar to the ones on the show but they're also pretty different so please keep that in mind for Raina! I really like my lil Raina and I hope you will too :) If not, I hope you like all my other characters enough to keep reading :)
Thank you so much for reading and as always, I own nothing (I wish I did) and all mistakes are my own xx
Skye gave Raina a smile, "I'm Skye and this is Natasha."
The girl raised an eyebrow at her, "Your name is Skye?"
Trying not to get offended at Raina's tone, Skye nodded. She didn't like it when people made fun of her name, it was a touchy subject, so she resisted the urge to snap at the other girl. What was so wrong with the name 'Skye'? This girl's name was Raina. Both of their names sounded earthy and nature-like. She thought that both of their names were pretty.
Raina pointed between her and her sister, "You two live here?"
Natasha said, "Skye does, I'm in college right now so I'm only here when I visit home."
Raina studied them and Skye tried not to fidget under her intense gaze.
Clearing her throat, she opened the fridge and pulled out the plate she had set aside earlier, "Are you hungry? We already ate but I saved you some."
Raina nodded and took the plate from her before ripping the tin foil off of it and digging in. She didn't even bother heating it up. She must've been pretty hungry.
Skye wasn't sure what to do and she didn't think Natasha did either. They weren't getting friendly vibes from this girl and Skye knew how unsettling it could be to wake up in an unfamiliar home so she decided to give Raina some space and went back to washing the dishes.
It was awkwardly quiet for a few moments until Natasha bumped her with her hip and grinned, "How mad do you think Trip will be when he finds out we didn't save him any bacon?"
She smirked, "You snooze, you loose."
"Why don't you tell him that? I like watching how riled up he gets when he finds out he slept through breakfast."
Setting down the last dish, Skye smiled at her sister, "I don't know why he still gets angry. He always sleeps through breakfast."
Natasha laughed and they both turned around when they heard footsteps heading towards them. Their mom's hair was still damp from her shower and she had a smile on her face, "Good morning Raina. How'd you sleep?"
Raina had a mouthful of pancake so she just shrugged in response.
"Phil cleared out our guest room for you so you won't have to sleep on the couch again tonight."
This time, Raina didn't have any food in her mouth but she shrugged again anyways.
Her mom glanced at her as if she would know why Raina was being so distant but Skye just shrugged. Raina was new here, she didn't know them and they didn't know her, and her only family was in a coma at the hospital. Skye thought that that was reason enough for Raina to act like this.
Her mom continued on, "Victoria said you didn't have a lot of time to grab your clothes and stuff so I was thinking that maybe we could stop by your home so that you could get everything you needed. We want you to feel comfortable here."
Rather than shrugging again, Raina nodded.
Her mom gave Raina a small smile, "Okay, we'll leave after you finish eating. Victoria said you had a key, right?"
Raina nodded again and then went back to focusing on her food.
Skye thought that the other girl probably wanted to be left alone so she smiled at her mom, "We finished the dishes."
Her mom walked over to her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "Thank you baby. I guess I should thank Nat for that, huh? You only do them when she's home."
Her mom gave her a pointed look before giving Natasha a small smile. Skye shrugged sheepishly and said, "That's 'cause when she's not here, I have to do them by myself. And that's super boring."
Rolling her eyes, her mom said, "Believe me, I know how boring it is. Why don't you two go get dressed?"
She and Natasha nodded and made their way up the staircase and into their respective rooms. Grabbing some clothes from her closet, she changed out of her pajamas and into a blue plaid shirt, a pair of jeans, and some combat boots. She got a new pair every year for her birthday because her family knew how much she loved them.
Skye was detangling her hair when Raina walked through her doorway. She didn't knock and when she saw the other girl's reflection in her mirror, Skye gasped and spun around.
Clutching at her chest, she caught her breath and laughed a little, "You scared me!"
Raina raised an eyebrow in response and looked around Skye's room.
Her room hadn't changed much throughout the years. She still had the same blue and white polka dotted sheets on her bed, her favorite pink lamp still sat on her desk, and she still had her dollhouse sitting on the floor in the corner of her room. Now there were pictures of her and her family everywhere. They were taped around her mirror and hung up on the wall. She and Natasha had painted and decorated the cork board that was hanging on the wall above her desk and there were pictures of her and her friends all over her. Skye loved her room. It was cozy and held mementos of her past and was totally and completely hers.
She watched Raina study it and was a little disappointed when she didn't say anything about it, she just said, "Melinda said that you wouldn't mind sharing some of your clothes with me."
Hastily, Skye made her way over to her closet, "No problem! You can borrow whatever you want. Most of my stuff is in here but there are t-shirts and shorts in my dresser."
Raina nodded and stared at her. The other girl didn't move and Skye was starting to wonder what was going on before she realized that Raina probably wanted some privacy, "Sorry, I'll leave you to it."
Feeling oddly like she had just been kicked out of her own room, Skye made her way into the bathroom. She brushed her teeth for way longer than she normally did just to make sure that Raina had enough time to get changed before making her way back into her room.
When she walked through her doorway, she did a doubletake at what she saw.
Raina was standing by her dresser wearing one of the dresses Skye hardly ever wore. It was pretty black dress with red polka dots and it went down to Skye's knees but since Raina was taller than her, it was a little shorter. Skye didn't have a problem with Raina borrowing her dress, what she had a problem with was Raina going through her jewelry box.
Raina was putting on her necklace, the one that Wanda and Pietro had gotten her when she had been six. She had started taking it off while she slept, she had broken multiple chains in her sleep by accident, and she usually put it on once she was done brushing her teeth and combing her hair.
Rushing towards Raina, Skye held out a hand and said sharply, "What're you doing?"
Raina looked up at her, then glanced down at the necklace that she was about to put around her neck, and then looked back at her again, "You said I could borrow whatever I wanted."
Well, she had said that… but she hadn't known that Raina would be borrowing jewelry too so she hadn't thought to mention it.
It felt wrong to see someone else wearing her necklace and before Raina could finish putting it on, Skye reached for it and took it out of her hands, "Yeah, you can borrow whatever you want but not this. This is really important to me."
Raina studied her before putting a hand on her hip, "Your mom said she wanted me to feel comfortable here. I would feel more comfortable if I was wearing that necklace."
Skye stared at the other girl in disbelief and pulled her necklace protectively toward her.
Skye knew what it was like to be a foster kid. She knew that some kids liked to use that to their advantage, to use it to get what they wanted. Who could say no to a kid without a family? But Skye had never done that and she couldn't believe that Raina was trying to do that to her now.
Even though she felt bad for Raina's situation, she wasn't going to let her manipulate her, "Sorry, you can wear anything but this."
Raina studied her in that unnerving way of hers and shook her head, "No, I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm acting this way. I shouldn't have taken your necklace."
Skye suspiciously regarded Raina. It seemed like she was telling the truth. The other girl had a guilty look on her face and was shuffling her feet.
Skye felt bad for Raina and thought that she was probably just upset about her grandma and about living with strangers so she was lashing out. That's what Jiaying said Natasha used to do when she first moved in.
Feeling a little guilty for snapping at Raina and for not considering her feelings, she shook her head and searched through her jewelry box. Pulling out a pretty flower necklace that her dad had given her for her tenth birthday and a charm bracelet that Jemma had given to her, she offered them to Raina and smiled, "Here, you can wear these. They'll look nice with the dress."
Raina carefully took the jewelry from her and put them on, "Thanks."
From downstairs, Skye heard her mom yell, "Girls! Are you ready to go?"
Turning towards the door, Skye yelled back, "One second mom!"
She turned back to Raina, "There are extra toothbrushes in the bathroom cabinet."
The other girl nodded before disappearing out of Skye's room.
Letting out a breath, Skye clasped her necklace around her neck before shutting the door to her room and heading downstairs. Her mom was sitting on the couch and smiled when she saw Skye, "Did Raina find some clothes to wear?"
Nodding, Skye plopped down onto the couch next to her mom and said, "Yeah, one of my dresses."
Her mom started to run her fingers through her hair and Skye leaned into the familiar touch, "I'm sorry I didn't ask if it was alright if Raina borrowed your clothes first, I didn't-"
Skye cut her off, "It's okay, I have way too many clothes anyway. I don't mind sharing."
Her mom smiled at her, "How're you feeling? About all this? I know it's sudden, we weren't expecting to do this."
Skye thought about it. She and Raina had kind of gotten off to a rocky start but Skye knew how scary it could be to have to navigate around an unfamiliar family so she knew that Raina probably wasn't acting like herself. Either way, Raina seemed like she was alright. Maybe in the next few days, she would start to feel more comfortable here and they could become friends.
"I'm okay. She needs a place to stay and we have room."
Her mom studied her and Skye could tell that she was trying to see if she was telling the truth. Her mom must have believed her because she leaned in and pressed a kiss to Skye's forehead, "Good, hopefully Raina's grandmother will wake up soon. I was thinking that we could take Raina to see her in the hospital tomorrow."
"Good idea."
They both turned towards the staircase when they heard footsteps heading their way. Raina made her way over to them and Skye and her mom both stood up.
"Ready to go?"
In response, Raina held up a small key chain and wiggled it around in front of her, "Yeah, I've got my house key."
Her mom ushered them to the door, "Good, let's go."
The car ride to Raina's house took a little longer than Skye expected. It made sense that Raina lived far away from them, otherwise Skye probably would have seen Raina at her school, but when they finally pulled up to Raina's house, Skye studied it.
It was a cute house.
It was small but obviously loved. There were flowers all around the porch and when they drove up, Skye spotted a pretty garden in the backyard. The house was painted a pale yellow color and had a white trim. The mailbox had purple flowers painted onto it. Skye liked it.
Raina led them to the front door and fumbled around with her keys for a moment before she unlocked it. Raina confidently walked into the house but Skye and her mom hung back a little. She didn't want to barge into Raina's private space without being invited.
Skye watched as Raina walked into a room and then peeked her head back out and looked at them, "You can come in."
She and her mom slowly walked into the house and looked around. There were worn out books filling the bookshelf in the living room. Skye spotted little angel figurines decorating the rest of the living room. There was a pale blue couch, a coffee table, and a television also sitting in the room as well as a bunch of paintings of nature adorning the wall.
Skye walked past the living room and peered into the room Raina had disappeared into.
It was obviously Raina's room and it was very, very neat. It looked more like a grown-ups room than a twelve year old's room but for some reason, Skye couldn't really imaging Raina living in a messy, preteen-like room. She seemed more sophisticated than that and apparently Skye had been right because Raina's room was very sophisticated.
The walls were a very pale shade of pink and her dresser, bedside table, desk, and bed frame were all white. Her sheets were the same shade of pink as her walls and she had twinkly fairy lights wrapped around her headboard. Her room was so neat that Skye couldn't really see anything personal lying around, everything was put away and hidden besides a stack of school books and a computer sitting on the desk. Other than that, there was a picture in a pretty wooden frame sitting on Raina's bedside table and on the windowsill, there were colorful pieces of paper folded into what looked like flowers.
Raina was neatly folding some clothes and setting them into a small suitcase and Skye was a little surprised when she looked into her closet. There were a lot of dresses hanging in there.
Shaking her head, Skye moved over to the windowsill to get a closer look at the colorful paper flowers. They were made out of brightly, multicolored, magazine paper and they were beautiful. She reached forward to touch one but thought better of it. She had snapped at Raina earlier for touching her things without asking and she didn't want to be a hypocrite.
Looking back towards Raina, she saw that the girl was still packing her clothes so she cleared her throat to get her attention, "Did you make these?"
Raina glanced up to see what she was talking about and nodded, "Yeah."
Skye was impressed. She had tried doing origami with Jemma once and that had not gone well. It had ended with Jemma holding a perfectly created paper bird and Skye surrounded by shredded paper.
Skye turned back to the pretty flowers and admired them, "Wow, they're really beautiful."
Raina got up and stood next to her. Reaching forward, Raina picked up one of the flowers and held it close to her chest, "Thank you."
Skye thought about all the flowers outside and the flower-print dresses she saw hanging in Raina's closet, "You really like flowers, huh?"
"Who doesn't like flowers? They're pretty." Raina gently set the paper flower back onto her windowsill and Skye could tell that flowers meant a little more to Raina than them just being pretty but she decided not to ask her about it just yet.
Motioning towards Raina's bag full of clothes, Skye said, "Do you need any help?"
"No, I'm almost done."
Skye watched as Raina finished packing all of her things and zipped up her bag. She grabbed a backpack from inside her closet and stuffed one of the paper flowers into it and then grabbed the picture from off of her bedside table and carefully set it in there, along with her laptop and a book.
She followed Raina out of her room and watched her grab her things from the bathroom before heading towards the living room where May was waiting for them. As they passed through the hallway, Skye looked at one of the pictures hanging on the wall. Instead of the nature paintings that had been hanging all over the place in here, it was an actual picture.
Skye took a step closer and looked at the picture of a little girl smiling brightly next to an older woman. It was safe to assume the little girl was Raina, she had a flower tucked behind her ear and was smiling up at the older lady. The people in the picture were happy, practically glowing, and Skye had a hard time believing that the girl who was now living in her house was the same one as the girl in that picture.
Raina realized that she wasn't following her anymore and turned back to look at her. Skye pointed to the picture, "Is that your grandma?"
It seemed like Raina was having a hard time looking at the photograph, "Yeah."
Raina was looking at the frame, at the wall, at her hands, anywhere but at the picture.
Skye instantly felt guilty. She shouldn't have brought of Raina's grandmother.
She was about to apologize but Raina didn't give her a chance, "Come on, let's go."
Skye felt like she needed to say something, to let Raina know that she hadn't meant to be insensitive and that she really wanted everything to turn out alright for the other girl, "Raina?"
Raina had taken a few steps towards the living room but stopped. She didn't turn around when she said, "What?"
Grabbing onto her moon necklace, she rubbed it between her fingers and hesitantly said, "I really hope your grandma gets better."
Turning slightly, only so that Skye could see the side of her face, Raina said, "Why? So you won't have to deal with me?"
For a few moments, Skye didn't know what to say. Raina had to know that she was welcome with her family for as long as she needed them, right?
Skye shook her head and earnestly said, "No, because you obviously love her a lot and I don't want anything to happen to her."
She really hoped that Raina believed her.
Skye waited for Raina to say something but the other girl just cleared her throat and motioned for Skye to come with her into the living room.
Sighing softly, Skye followed after her.
Please let me know what you thought and leave a review! They make me super happy :)
Thank you so much for reading. I really appreciate it :) xx -Ariel