Skye squealed with glee as she walked with Agent May down to meet the incoming jet carrying Coulson, Romanoff, and Barton. "You're telling me – with one hundred percent honesty – that Simmons – not you – did that number on his face?"

"Don't forget my ribs, too," Ward said, coming up behind the two women.

As he moved to walk at her side, Skye rolled her eyes at him – his very presence ticking her off – and asked bitingly, "Don't you have traffic to go play in somewhere?"

"Garret isn't alive to order me to do it," he shot back.

She bit her cheek and stalked ahead of him, May following at her heels.

"You know," the Asian muttered under her breath. "I hate to say something positive about him, but he just let Simmons lose it on him. He never even tried to defend himself."

"Good for them," Skye said dryly. "Maybe he can get his tongue in her mouth too."

Turning when she heard them approaching the flight pad, Simmons innocently asked Skye, "Did you say something?"

"Just wondering how much longer until the jet's going to get here," May lied for Skye, the last part of her sentence drowned out as the plane made its grand entrance.

After Coulson made the round of introductions between the two Avengers and his team, Skye trailed behind the three as the new director showed the assassins the range of bedrooms that were still available to them.

"This fifth floor is where Fitzsimmons, Trip, and Skye live," he said when they got to the appropriate level.

Skye chimed in helpfully, "The four of us call it 'the kids' level,' since Coulson is kind of… well, like the dad of our crazy, dysfunctional… family?"

Agent Barton nodded at her, mercifully ignoring the fact that she felt like stuffing her foot in her mouth as he replied, "I like it."

"There's still three unclaimed bedrooms, if you want."

"Well, I'd like the two of us to take one of them over. Is that okay, Tasha?" he asked his partner.

Agent Romanoff agreed easily. "Sure."

Skye paused, asking with slow care, "Wait… you two are… together? Like that?"

"That's what the marriage certificate tells us, anyway," Agent Romanoff said.

"The wedding certificate that you didn't tell me about," Coulson added, a hint of irritation in his voice as he looked down at Skye.

"I didn't look below the surface of what was offered with their covers, so I didn't know," Skye winced. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Coulson said, instantly shrugging it off. "It's not like I'm really surprised about it anyway… although I do believe I failed to congratulate the two of you. So 'congratulations.'"

"Thanks," Agent Romanoff smirked.

"Okay then," Coulson said. "Skye and I will leave you to it. I've got a call to make, and if all goes well, we'll be having a team meeting in my office in a couple of hours."

"Are you going to go call Steve and Barnes?" Agent Romanoff queried.

Skye rolled her eyes at the suppressed smile that twitched at the edges of Coulson's mouth as he answered, "Yeah, as soon as Skye gets me his number."

Skye heard Agent Romanoff mutter "have fun, fan boy" as she walked out of their bedroom behind Coulson, and she couldn't help but smile. Her boss was going to have a swooning fit if Captain America agreed to move into this base and help them rebuild SHIELD.


"Steve agreed to come, didn't he?" Agent Romanoff asked the second she laid eyes on a very happy Coulson when she stepped with Agent Barton into Coulson's office.

"Yes, indeed he did." Coulson turned to survey every member of his growing team in turn as he added, "And he's bringing Lieutenant Barnes with him to join us as well." When Agent Barton leaned against a wall and nodded his approval, Coulson turned to Agent Romanoff and asked, "Do you mind going with me on the jet to New York City tomorrow to pick them up?"

"No problem," Agent Romanoff agreed easily.

"Great."

"What do we do next?" Trip asked.

Coulson considered this in silence for a minute before he sighed, deciding, "Our next best step is getting Hill on board, but the idea of even possibly having Stark here makes me nervous."

"Ask Pepper to come too," Agent Romanoff suggested.

"What?" Coulson scoffed.

"Get Pepper to tag along," Romanoff repeated. "Trust me, Coulson; I've seen the way she handles him. Having his girlfriend accompany him for babysitting duty is going to be the best decision you'll ever make if he ends up here."

Coulson turned to May, ordering, "Tomorrow, give Hill a call while Romanoff and I are off picking up Rogers and Barnes. See if she thinks she could relocate here without raising Mr. Stark's suspicions."

May nodded.

Coulson turned back to Agents Romanoff and Barton then, asking in a rather pointed tone, "Now, before we dismiss this little meeting, is there anything that you'd like to tell these guys about yourselves? Besides the fact that they shouldn't be alarmed if they suddenly start hearing an overabundance of noise coming from the air vents?"

Barton shrugged casually and Romanoff shook her head very innocently. Skye didn't miss the way they were both holding their hands so that their ring fingers were out of sight, though.

"Let me put it this way:" Coulson tried again, his tone sharpening a little more. "Is there anything you want to tell them before you, Natasha, get back in a SHIELD uniform and it becomes visible to the whole world?"

"Nothing's going to be visible," Romanoff said, eyes throwing sudden daggers at her superior as she flushed while the eyebrows rose on all three of the other women in the room.

"No way!" May groaned as Jemma squealed with glee. Skye didn't quite know what to do when she realized what Coulson was implying, so she just sat there, feeling a little stunned. Thus she was the first to realize that what they were discussing was going straight over the heads of Ward, Fitz, and Trip.

"What is it?" Trip asked.

"You're pregnant, aren't you?" Jemma asked Agent Romanoff happily.

A nearly embarrassed smile played across the redhead's expression as she admitted, "Yeah."

Congratulations! From Fitz.

Then the perfect words of acceptance from Jemma: "Now we'll get to add a baby to our family too!"

Out of the corner of her eye, Skye noticed Coulson just sit back in his chair and watch them all with a smile on his face. She got the feeling that he was beginning to feel a touch of hopefulness for his little "family." Well, good; at least now Skye knew she wasn't the only one who felt that way.