Coulson studied Skye with awe. "All this time...I thought he was just coming after me..."

Skye gasped as everyone else in the room frowned with concern and confusion. "You don't think..."

That thought was cut off as Coulson turned to one of the Guardians. "Agent Esposito, could I get your help with something?" asked Coulson.

"What do you need?" asked Esposito.

Coulson turned to Skye to explain. "Agent Esposito's gift is that he can download a copy of your memories and recall any of them as we need them. Even stuff you might not remember that you remember."

Skye gasped a second time as she realized what that meant. "Like what happened to me when I was a kid."

Coulson and Esposito both nodded. "When Dr. Esposito suggested that you might have had this ability as a kid, I had an idea. But in order to see if what I'm thinking might be true, I need to know what happened that day..."

Skye sat up straighter in her chair. "I want to know, too," she agreed eagerly before turning to Esposito. "What do you need me to do?"

"Just relax," Esposito told her. "This will only take a second." Esposito gently laid his hand on top of Skye's and closed his eyes to help his ability to focus quickly. His eyes opened a moment later. "That was weird," he mused.

"What did you see, babe?" asked Lanie.

Knowing everything that he knew about Skye's past, Esposito turned to her first. "I saw your mom," he told. "She was the daughter of an American missionary in China. You look a lot like her."

Tears started to well up in Skye's eyes. "Can you...can you show her to me?"

Esposito nodded before looking to his partner. "Ryan?"

"Of course," he agreed. He connected to Esposito's mind first, then gently connected to Skye's mind, bringing up the intensity as slowly as he could to avoid more feedback.

The tears fell freely from Skye's eyes as one of her earliest memories replayed in her mind. "That's her?" Skye whispered. Esposito nodded. "God, she's beautiful..." Inspired, Skye decided to push her luck. "What about my father?"

"He was out of the picture before you were born," Esposito replied. "I'm sorry."

Coulson broke up the moment, knowing that there were bigger issues at stake. "There was a raid of Skye's village, maybe when she was four or five..."

Esposito's expression instantly darkened. "She was four," he declared decisively. "And you were right, Coulson, she did have her gifts as a kid."

"How can you tell?" asked May.

"Her thoughts at the time were small, but they were intensely focused," replied Esposito. "Help me, save me, that kind of thing. When anyone came near her, saving her became their *only* priority."

"That's what I suspected," Coulson agreed.

Simmons also agreed with a nod. "It makes sense, in a way. A child in that type of situation would look solely for safety, security and comfort. And with your gift..."

The guilt in Skye's voice was obvious. "I convinced all those people to die for me..." she declared, her words trailing off.

Ryan grabbed Skye's hand and poured as much peace into her soul as he dared. "You were *four* years old, Skye," he insisted with firm conviction. "And in a situation that had everyone running for their lives. You had no idea what you were doing."

Coulson had his own single-minded agenda. "Did she see any of the people who were attacking them?"

Esposito nodded. "They were led by some guy named Quinn..."

Ward's eyes went wide. "*Ian* Quinn?"

"No," replied Esposito, shaking his head. "I think his name was Simon Quinn."

"That's Ian Quinn's father," Simmons exclaimed.

Esposito turned back to his wife. "But that's when it got...weird. Even for me."

"How so?" asked Lanie.

"Quinn looked at me," Esposito replied.

Skye frowned, confused. "Quinn looked at me?" she asked.

Esposito shook his head before returning his attention to his wife. "Usually, I can tell when someone's looking at the person who's memories I'm replaying. If someone's looking at me, I can tell that they're looking at them, not me. But this time, I caught Quinn looking at *me*. I knew that Skye remembered the event as Quinn walking by the hole where she was hiding. But Quinn didn't do that. He stopped and looked directly at *me*."

Coulson sat back in amazement as his theory was confirmed. "That makes so much sense..."

"*That* made sense to you?" asked Esposito. "How?"

"We've been tracking an international terrorist known as the Clairvoyant," Coulson replied. "He's been one step ahead of us the whole time."

Fitz rolled his eyes. "There's no such thing as a real..." The entire room fixed scornful stares in Fitz' direction, and his argument dissolved on his lips. "Sorry. Force of habit."

"Anyway," Coulson continued, deliberately ignoring Fitz' outburst, "I've noticed two things every time we've had a run-in with the Clairvoyant's men: first, they always say that *I'm* their target, but second, the Clairvoyant seems hell-bent on controlling his soldiers' every move...most of the time against their will."

Ward caught on to Coulson's train of thought right away. "If the Clairvoyant found out about a child with Skye's abilities, I can see how he would have stopped at nothing to find her."

"And why people went to the lengths they did to protect her," agreed May.

"You think Simon Quinn might be this Clairvoyant you've been looking for?" asked Esposito. Coulson nodded. "And he was looking for you..."

"Because of my death and...resurrection," Coulson replied.

A voice came over the intercom, interrupting their conversation. "SHIELD 616, this is Tower Michael Tango. You are in violation of SHIELD directive 1297."

Coulson rolled his eyes as the Guardians looked to him for answers. "Disobeying a direct order," he explained. "Quinn's son is in my holding cell. SHIELD wanted me to turn him over for interrogation."

Castle's eyes widened at the news. "We could use him to help find the Clairvoyant."

Coulson nodded in agreement. "But in order to let us do that at this point, we'd have to tell SHIELD about both your involvement and the re-emergence not only of Skye's abilities, but her memories of the Clairvoyant's attack. Anyone here interested in doing that?" The room fell silent as every head shook a negative response.

"Prepare to be boarded and relinquish command," the voice continued.

"We should get out of here," Beckett suggested.

Ryan shook his head. "No way. Not without Skye." Skye's head turned toward Ryan when he mentioned her name. "You need training. A lot of training, and practice, or an ability like yours can be *extremely* dangerous. I can help you if you're willing to let me."

The ceiling above their heads shook as something landed above their heads with a large *thud*. "That would be the transport," Ward announced.

"I'm open to suggestions," Coulson insisted.

"I have a suggestion," Skye offered, raising her hand from her place at the conference table. "Agent Ryan said I need to practice. How about I start now?"

As Coulson went upstairs to meet the transport, Castle started by casting a soundproofing spell around the conference room. "Anyone outside this room won't be able to hear us now."

"Really?" Skye exclaimed. "Cool!"

"You sure you're ready for this?" Ryan asked Skye.

"No," Skye replied nervously. "But you can coach me through it? Right?"

Ryan turned to Ward. "When you were flirting with Agent Fitz earlier, how did it feel?"

Ward blushed. "Considering the fact that I'm *straight*," he replied, slightly over-emphasizing his sexual orientation, "surprisingly natural. Like I was flirting with a girl."

"Then you should be fine, Skye," agreed Ryan. I'm going to be reading the thoughts of anyone you work on, though, he warned in Skye's mind. So make sure you listen if you hear me like this, okay?

Skye's eyes went wide. "That was you? In my head just now?" Ryan nodded. "Cool!" Skye exclaimed. "Okay, I'll do whatever you say, teach."

Ryan smiled, remembering the last student who had called him 'teach'. "Good luck, then, 'grasshopper'," he teased.

"We're all counting on you," May warned.

Skye shifted uncomfortably in her chair as she waited for her 'practice' to begin. "Gee," she muttered, "that's comforting..."