"Oh come on, it was totally you."
Melinda said nothing, keeping her eyes on the horizon. The cream was well hidden in her bunk. She would get rid of it the next time they landed.
"It couldn't have been anyone else!" Skye prodded, "If it was me or Jemma he would have known! And it couldn't be Coulson."
"Why not?"
"Cos- it just- it was you!"
The smile was getting harder and harder to suppress. "Baseless accusations won't get you anywhere in life Skye."
Skye crossed her arms. "I could just find out you know."
"But you won't try."
Skye rolled her eyes. "Well no. I'm not that much of an asshole." But there was still a layer of uncertainty. She knew that May was secretive to a fault. Skye just wished that she trusted her.
May sighed softly. "It's not personal."
"I know."
They sat in silence for a little while, enjoying the quiet, the calm. Everyone was safe.
"Hey," Skye said softly, "I just wanna say, thanks for training me. I-I know it's not what you really wanted to do, but... well it means a lot to me, so... thank you."
May paused, looking out over the blackness before them. "Why would you think I didn't want to train you?"
Skye stared, surprised. "I just- I'm not really SHIELD cadet material," She muttered, "I don't pick things up as fast as I should."
May raised an eyebrow. "How do you know?" She gave a small smile. "Let Tori rant at you about my trainees if you want. She says I only ever take the good ones, then take credit for them when it wasn't hard to train them anyway."
Skye was silent, but Melinda could hear her surface emotions. Inadequacy. Guilt. "You're not a charity case Skye." She said firmly. "You're good. Take the damn compliment."
Skye still said nothing. After another moment, Melinda said, "If you try to hug me I'll land you on your ass."
Skye grinned, instead opting to cross her arms to resist the urge. "Thanks." She murmured.
"You're welcome." May liked sitting with Skye. She brought a certain calm that Melinda rarely felt. She hadn't expected Skye to pick up tai chi so easily, but she had. Maybe she needed that peace too. Maybe Skye wasn't the only one adding to it a little.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Skye sat awake on her bunk, scanning through the agent index of those who were active around the time she was born. Not many names came up. Most of them unfamiliar, except a few.
Victoria Hand, Isabelle Hartley, she knew them. Agent Shang, no. John Garrett, Coulson had mentioned him before. Nick Fury. Phillip Coulson. Melinda May.
Skye bit her lip. "Izzy?" She asked softly.
Izzy appeared in an instant. "Hey kid." She said gently. "You're looking a lot better than the last time I saw you."
"Yeah." Skye said quietly. "I- sorry about that."
"It's okay. When Mel picked it up I almost fell over. Good thing I was alone. Tori shouted at an aide, had to send a gift basket to apologise." Skye smiled weakly, but it was clear that something was on her mind. "What's up?"
Skye bit her lip, closing her laptop as Izzy made to sit down next to her. "I- can I ask you a weird question, a-and you promise you won't tell... anyone?"
Izzy raised an eyebrow. "As long as no one's endangered by it." She said carefully. "And the others might find out eventually. I'm not that great at holding things in from them."
Skye said nothing, looking down. Izzy put a hand over hers. "Hey. I'll do anything in my power to keep your secrets Skye, I just want you to know that sometimes I can't."
"Did May ever have kids?" Skye blurted it out before she could stop herself or second guess it.
Izzy froze. She knew how Melinda had felt about having children. She also knew how abrupt a turnaround there had been after Bahrain. She swallowed. "Why do you ask?"
Skye looked away. "I- just curious, I guess."
Her defensiveness made Izzy frown, then remember what Coulson had told her about Skye's childhood. Why she was hacking SHIELD in the first place. "Oh." She said softly. "I- Skye... no. I'm sorry."
Skye chewed on the inside of her lip. "It's okay." She mumbled. "I just- I was looking through the files, and I thought... it's stupid."
"It's not stupid." Izzy said, pulling her into a one armed hug. "It's normal. Honestly if I were you I'd think that too." She hesitated. "You should talk to her."
Skye shook her head. "No, no way."
Izzy sighed. "She cares about you Skye, she'd want you to tell her. Trust me. I know she doesn't show it, but Mel's got a big heart."
"She already knows about... everything."
"Sure," Izzy said, drawing away, "But I think she'd want to hear it from you." Skye gnawed on her lip and Izzy took a breath, "Look, she's gonna kill me for telling you, but Mel did want kids once. But after... well. Phil told you about Bahrain. Anyway, you're as close to her as anyone. Letting her know that you care about her, admire her, maybe would be totally happy with the idea of her being your mom," That had Skye clamming up, "That might help her."
Skye huffed. "Maybe."
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
It took Skye three days to take up Izzy's advice. She trained as normal and everything went along as normal. Coulson told her that May was helping look into her family, however, and Skye thought that maybe it was time.
They were doing tai chi together, and had stopped for a water break when Skye spoke up. "I've been looking for my family." She said abruptly, "But I guess you know that."
May quirked an eyebrow. Skye was on edge. She had been all morning. It seemed like she had finally popped.
Skye wrung her hands. "I- Coulson said you're helping, so- thank you, for that."
May's eyes narrowed. That wasn't it. That was stalling for time if anything. "No problem."
Skye's breath caught in her throat. Melinda could feel the apprehension coming off her in waves. "I- look, for the record, telling you was Izzy's idea, so... it's all her fault."
"Izzy's ideas tend to blow up in her face." May said sardonically. She was going for a joke, but judging from Skye's face, it didn't land.
"Oh, okay, don't worry about it then."
May rolled her eyes. "Skye."
Skye turned away, kicking her feet. "Look, it's just- it's stupid, and embarrassing, and can you please let it go?"
May sighed. "No." She said, "Because it's clearly eating you up, and it's going to keep doing that until you just come out with it."
"I-" As ridiculous as it was, she felt like she might cry. "I- I was looking through old files of agents who were active around the time I was born." Skye's arms were crossed around her stomach, her eyes fixed on Lola. "Factoring for- you know, age, all that. A-and I..." She pursed her lips, "You guys were all active then, and I started to kind of wonder..." She trailed off. She couldn't say it.
Damnit. She should have seen it coming. Melinda took a hesitant step forwards. "I never had children."
"I know." Skye said stuffily. "Izzy said."
"Sorry to disappoint." May said softly, sarcastically.
"It's okay." Skye mumbled. "I just- I don't know. It felt... right. It's stupid."
"It's not stupid." Melinda said, "I can't imagine what it would be like to go through what you did growing up, but... I'm proud that you made it, as the person you are."
Skye snorted. "A- hacking, desperate mess who lies to the only friends she has."
"Someone who's strong. You fight for what you believe in. You stand up for people."
Skye sniffed. "You're pretty great too." She mumbled.
May felt a laugh bubbling up inside, but kept it in. "Okay, that's my quota of nice things for today. Get back on the mats."
Skye smiled gratefully. "Yessir."