Skye sat in the common area with Fitz and Jemma, grinning down at her hand. "Two aces." She said softly, placing two cards facedown on the table.

Fitz gave her that lopsided grin he did when he was trying to figure something out. In the end, both were silent. Skye cursed internally. She hoped that they'd take that bait.

The three of the paused when May walked past, clearly heading to Coulson's office. "Is he doing okay?" Skye asked quietly.

May stopped, looking at them. Despite Phil's distress, she smiled. The kids. They were playing cards for the love of God. They hadn't even figure out the futility of it yet. "He's... coping." She said.

"Okay." Skye said, not pushing for more information.

"Let us know if there's anything we can do." Jemma said softly.

May nodded, continuing to Coulson's office. She wanted to talk to him in person.

"Come in." Coulson said before she knocked.

Melinda entered. He was exactly as he was the night before, pouring over the files he had been granted access to not long after they'd gotten him back from medical. "You have to put that away."

"I can't. You know I can't. You read it. Well, kind of."

She moved in front of him. "I've read it about fifty times. Because you've read it that many times." She put one hand over his, over the documents, forcing his eyes to meet hers. "Let if go, Phil."

He sighed, leaning back in his seat. "I just can't get my head around it. I remember the pain, but- I also remember Tahiti. And-"

"What's in that file," Melinda interrupted, "It's the truth."

"Says who?"

She swallowed. "Director Fury."

Phil gritted his teeth. "That's exactly it. He- he knows about us, he knows that it wouldn't just be me going through that. How could he do that to you guys? How could he risk it?"

"We didn't feel anything." Melinda said smoothly. "Not until the day before he told me you were alive."

"But you still felt it." He could feel Tori and Izzy's memories of that night. "He hurt you."

"Listen to me." She said, gripping his shoulders. "Nothing we went through to get you back could be half as terrible as knowing you were gone. Don't make this about us."

Phil swallowed. "But it is." He murmured. "I- I begged for them to let me die. I wanted them to. I was willing to leave you all, just to make it stop."

"That's okay Phil." Tori arrived. "We forgive that. It hurt like a bitch."

"Yeah." Izzy said, "And you weren't even connected to us all the way."

May smiled a little. "See? We don't blame you. So stop beating yourself up. That's my job."

Phil looked up at her. Melinda. They'd always been close, ever since the early days of their cluster. Something about her just made him feel safe. He stood. "You wanna tell me why we're flying to Mexico?" He felt Tori and Izzy disappear.

May raised an eyebrow, smiling a little. "To get you thinking about something else. I've been keeping an eye on Skye's file, like you said. Did some digging on the agent who dropped her off at the orphanage." She held out her tablet computer.

"She was killed." Coulson said, taking it automatically. "Agent Avery."

"But her partner wasn't." May said, opening the file. "He disappeared. Just resurfaced in Mexico City. But we don't have much time to intercept."

Phil nodded slowly. "Does Skye know about this?"

For the first time, May hesitated. "No." She said. "We don't know what there is to tell her yet. We don't know if it's good news or bad. I don't want to give her false hope."

"It's not false. Not yet."

She sighed. "It could be."

"I know.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Skye glared as she was once again called on an innocuous bluff. "I give up." She said, throwing her cards down. "I don't know how you guys are doing it, but you're cheating. No one can call it that easily."

Fitz and Jemma looked at each other and grinned. "Skye." Jemma said, fighting not to laugh. "I don't know how to tell you this, but..."

Fitz sniggered. "We're literally reading your mind."

Skye stared. "Oh."

Jemma and Fitz dissolved into laughter, and Skye begrudgingly joined them. She couldn't believe that she'd missed something so obvious. "So this isn't going to work." She giggled, gesturing to their little set up.

"Maybe not." Jemma conceded.

Skye shook her head. She couldn't believe they'd gotten her like that. May briefly ducked back in. "We're going to Mexico City." She said. "Coulson and I have a mission. Classified."

Skye grimaced, but didn't argue. "We grounded?"

"No." May said, "Just be careful."

"That's my middle name." Skye joked, getting a glare from all three of them. She sighed. "I promise not to get arrested."

"That's better." May said, turning to walk away. "Oh, and video games will still work. Or cards against humanity."

Skye gaped. "When have you played cards against humanity?"

May gave no reply, walking back to the cockpit.

Skye grinned. "So, Mexico! You guys wanna hang out?"

Fitz shrugged. "Sure."

"Sweet. Oh hey, do we speak Spanish?"

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Normally sitting in Lola with Phil was a relaxing experience. He was one of the only people May felt comfortable with letting drive, and he was even being less chatty than usual. Which she might have appreciated and used to enjoy the day, but she could feel the paranoia and resentment coming off him like he hadn't showered in a week.

She drew the digital binoculars up to her face. "So. If you were gonna do what this guy did, leave SHIELD. What would you do?"

Phil said nothing. She could feel his surface thoughts, fleetingly imagining how he would do it. Melinda sighed, lowering her binoculars. "I'd hide in the wheel well of a seven forty-seven flight from Newark to Singapore. Back end of the trip passes over a dozen countries. I could drop anywhere."

She could feel him looking at her, but decided not to stop talking until he stopped her. "You'd probably head to South America. You speak Spanish."

"So do you, doesn't mean you're heading there."

"Lima most likely, with the growing food scene."

Phil sighed. "Why are you doing this? You never talk."

"Only cos you always do."

"And you're suddenly interested in the Skye investigation."

That caused a stab of hurt. "I've been tracking this guy for weeks." She muttered. "He's good at staying off radar."

Phil sighed. "You're right, I'm sorry." He kept his eyes ahead. "I'm just- I don't know what they did to me."

"They brought you back."

"Yeah, and what else? Did they mess with our connection? Did they implant something into my brain so now they can see everything we talk about?"

"You're being paranoid."

"Yes." He said, "I know, but it's possible. They could have changed everything." He bit down on his tongue. "They could have changed you, the others."

"They didn't." May said firmly. "I know you, Phil. And I knew you before. Clusters hold themselves together. If they changed any of us, we'd know."

"Maybe."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Skye's eyes lit up at the sight of all the food stalls. May had supplied them each with some currency for lunch, sarcastically telling them not to spend it all at once. "I am gonna eat everything."

Skye loved the environment. The crowd, the humidity, the smell in the air, the markets. It made her feel alive.

Fitz groaned, "If you even try you'll burn your face off."

"Oh, you would say that. Brits."

Jemma shoved her, "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Skye held up her hands, "I'm just saying, you English people aren't good with spicy food."

"Did you just call me English?"

Skye fought to keep from laughing. "Aren't you?"

Fitz gaped. "I'm Scottish Skye!"

"Well it's basically the same thing, right?"

"No!" He exclaimed, looking genuinely upset, and Skye couldn't stop herself from bursting out laughing.

Jemma rolled her eyes and Fitz glared. "That isn't funny." He grumbled, only making her laugh even harder. "It's borderline racist."

Skye snorted and Jemma huffed, "Oh Fitz."

Skye stopped for breath, "Wait, you're serious?"

He crossed his arms. "Scotland is not England. You're wilfully insulting me based on where I'm from."

Jemma groaned, and Skye fixed him with a long stare. "I'm going to get a burrito." She eventually said, not in the mood for explaining to Fitz why he was wrong.

She could feel the two splitting up, making their own way around the various stalls. It was nice. Skye liked being in a crowd. She didn't feel alone, and it made her feel like she was part of something. Of course, now she really was.

Skye ended up grabbing a few different things from some food stalls. She couldn't really communicate with them very well, so she just paid more than she probably should have and got food that she wasn't entirely sure about, but it was good. It was hot, spicy market food that made her feel alive and may have burned a hole in her tongue. But hey, that was part of the fun.

She was mostly through her kebab sticks when she found Fitz and Jemma again by a nearby bench, each nursing a cold drink. She cocked her head. They didn't seem to have any food. "Did you guys get something?"

"No," Jemma said, "I'm not very hungry."

"Yeah, me neither." Fitz muttered, wiping his nose.

Skye raised an eyebrow. "Okay." She shrugged. When she took another bite, Jemma made a soft noise in the back of her throat. Skye swallowed. "Okay seriously, what's up with you guys?"

"'s nothing." Fitz mumbled.

"Are you seriously upset about the whole England thing?"

"What, no!" Now he looked up, and Skye cocked her head. His eyes were red, and he was wiping his nose.

"Are you crying?"

"No!" Fitz yelped defensively, wiping his eyes. "It's not my bloody fault!"

Skye snorted, "Fitz, seriously, just calm down."

"I'm not crying!"

"Then why are you-" Skye stopped just before she took another bite of her food. "Oh."

Both of them looked away, and now Skyewas scared she might cry. "Guys, come on." She mumbled, "You could have said."

Fitz shrugged and Jemma looked up. Her eyes was just as red-rimmed. "You're enjoying yourself though, and you've been through so much lately, we... well we were glad to see you so happy."

After a moment of not really debating it at all, Skye flung her arms around both of them. "Thanks." She mumbled.

Fitz paused. "Are you crying?"

"No."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

"How have you been doing anyway?"

"Don't change the subject."

Phil gave her a look. "You haven't said anything in five minutes. We weren't on a subject." She said nothing. "Come on. I know you don't want to let me in, but we're friends. Things have changed a lot lately with Skye and Fitzsimmons. I just- want to know that you're okay."

Okay. Phil knew that he had died, and now might lose his mind. They were hunting down one of the only people with answers to Skye's past, and something told her he wasn't going to give them good answers. She opened her mouth to answer, then caught sight of something down the street. "Got him."

Melinda hurried down a side street to catch Lumley, "He looks like he's heading down the alley."

She followed as surreptitiously as she could, but it looked like he had caught sight of her and assumed correctly. Too bad. She thought. You can't run now.

When she arrived at the back street that he had been heading to, May found that Lumley was nowhere to be seen. She looked around and received a heavy kick to the ribs for it as he swung down from a balcony. May grunted, quickly regaining her feet.

It didn't take Lumley long to realise he was outmatched and pull a blue pill from his watch. May's eyes widened and she kicked it out of his hand before he could take it. Skye needed answers, and she wasn't going to let this man take them to his grave.

Unfortunately her distraction gave him the opportunity to seize a wooden palette, slamming it painfully into Melinda's back. She screamed and fell to the ground. As May pushed herself back up, she felt Phil following Lumley in Lola. Hopefully the whole flying car thing made him stop.

"I'm Agent Coulson." He said, "With SHIELD."

"Oh thank God." Lumley sighed. "This is about the baby girl isn't it?"

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Skye grinned, solving her dozenth rubiks cube, entertaining some nearby children who liked to mess them up and give them to her. This was fun. She knew it was Fitz's thing, but that didn't matter. She was just kind of borrowing it.

She could feel Jemma looking at some books at a store not far away, and Fitz on the other side of the market looking at those wooden block puzzles. Apparently rubiks cubes weren't hard enough for him any more.

Skye's back straightened as she felt someone slip Fitz's wallet out of his pocket. Without thinking, she snatched it back. "No thanks." She said, glaring through Fitz's eyes.

The guy scarpered away, and she felt Fitz grin. "Thanks."

Skye returned to her rubiks cube and the troupe of kids. "You gonna do it?" One asked.

Skye grinned. "Well you know I've got a friend who's even better at these than me. Maybe I'll go find him." That feeling was back. Like something was wrong. She swallowed. "I'll tell you what, I'll go find him, okay?"

Skye wasn't sure how long she walked when she found herself in a park. It was empty, the grass slightly dry from the sun and humidity. She sat by a tree, trying to breathe like May had been teaching her to. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Maybe it was one of the others having a bad day, and she was just picking up the side-effects. She did suddenly have a sore back.

Skye closed her eyes, taking slow, deep breaths. Her thoughts started to slow, her heartbeat coming under control. She felt calm. Almost sleepy.

When she let her thoughts drift almost into a dream, Skye opened her eyes and found herself somewhere else. Wait, no. She hadn't opened her eyes. She tried to blink but couldn't. She tried to talk but no sound came. She looked around as best she could. A gym. SHIELD, she could tell by the symbols everywhere. At least they were good for something.

A man came through the door. Older, grizzled, stubborn looking. Before he opened his mouth to speak, Skye found herself back in the park.

Was there someone else in their cluster after all?

For some reason that didn't excite her as much as she expected. Just someone else to lose herself to.

"Skye?" Jemma. "Are you alright?"

Skye stretched. "Sure." She said, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Fitz sat down beside her. "You just felt... odd. We were worried."

She sighed. "I'm fine guys, I just... I don't know, I'm having a bit of a weird day."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Skye shook her head silently, pulling up some grass. "I... am I still me? Now? I- I'm full of you guys. All the stuff you're good at, your feelings... everything. Are we just gonna stop being ourselves and be... us? Just the same person over and over?"

The two looked down. "I don't know." Fitz said. "It's an odd thought."

"Well yes," Jemma acknowledged, "But just because something is made up of the same ingredients doesn't necessarily mean that they're all the same. Ratios change everything. Ethanol is deadly, but in a small enough concentration is drunk for recreational purposes."

Skye scowled. If they picked up on her annoyance, neither said anything.

"Yeah," Fitz agreed, "Or like that joke about the chemists walking into a bar and asking for H2O and H2O2." He sniggered and Skye snapped.

"Can you guys seriously shut up about the science for like two seconds?" She said sharply, "Not everything is about science!"

They looked affronted, but Skye didn't care. Jemma cleared her throat. "Well, technically-"

Before she could say anything else Skye stood, walking away. She didn't need this right now.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Skye found herself back at the Bus quickly, without much thought about how she got there. She didn't care. She was angry and annoyed and didn't want to talk to anyone.

"Skye."

Damnit. "Hey." She greeted tiredly. At the end of the day she wasn't mad at May, and it wouldn't be fair to take any of it out on her. "You guys finish your mission?"

May nodded, eyes averted. She was keeping something from her about it, but Skye couldn't find the energy to care. "Cool." She muttered. "I was just gonna- go take a nap or something."

"What's wrong?"

Skye sighed, leaning against the wall. "I dunno. Relationship troubles with the science twins I guess."

Despite the heavy knowledge that had just been dumped on her and the heavier bruising along her back, Melinda smiled a little. "You okay?"

She shook her head. "Yeah, I'm good, just... weird."

"You think you're losing yourself."

Skye looked up, surprised. She smiled. "That obvious huh?"

May shrugged. "It's normal. You're not, you know."

Skye sighed. "I guess this whole thing's just freaking me out a bit today. Jemma and Fitz are so tight, and I'm just kind of... there. And I know I'm good at stuff, but- I've always had to hang onto anything that was mine, you know?" She swallowed. "Sharing doesn't really come naturally. It feels like I'm giving away everything that makes me who I am."

"Think of it more like copying a file. You've still got the original."

Skye shot her an aggravated look.

"Or." May murmured. "You're just growing roots here." Skye looked so confused. It hurt. She had never stayed in one place long enough to bond with people before. "You're connecting with your cluster. You're connecting with us too. Coulson, Izzy, Tori. It's not just the three of you."

Skye looked down. "You really think that's it? I'm not losing myself, I'm just... bonding?"

Melinda shrugged. "It happens. You can pick up on people's mannerisms just by being around them. Not to say you're not picking up on extra with those two."

"I'm picking up stuff from you too." Skye said quietly, "I never used to drink tea."

"Unenlightened."

Skye smiled. "Maybe." She sighed. "I should apologise to them. I kind of snapped for no reason."

"Not no reason. You were upset. They didn't notice."

"Still." Skye said. "I need to talk to them."

Skye could see the apprehension in May's eyes, see her throat working. Something was up. "Is everything okay? You look like you have something to say."

May shook herself. "Coulson and I need to talk to you." She admitted. "But it can wait. You go talk to Fitzsimmons. Get a good night's rest."

Skye smiled nervously, "You make it sound like I'm gonna die."

May rolled her eyes. "Don't worry," She said, "You won't."