I apologise so much for not having updated recently but i have lacked the essential component called wifi.

Any way I hope you all enjoy this latest update and I will try to continue updating as regularly as possible. Please leave comments, suggestions, questions and kudos!

Ward took note of the wind-blasted red that nestled in both rider's cheeks as they returned from outside. May's mouth was turned at the edges in a solid smile that judging by everyone's expressions was just as much a shock to them as it was to him.
But what had really made the team gasp was the sight of Fitz's bashed face which was badly hidden by the deerstalker which he'd replaced atop his head in attempt to hide the purple skin.
Simmons had rushed to him inquiring if he had placed ice on the wounds since he'd used the slab of meat. When Fitz had shaken his head, the biochemist had rushed out to get some from her medical kit. Skye had given him a firm hug with a smile on her lips as Coulson watched from a distance at his team.
"Do you think he's ok?" he couldn't help but ask May whose eyes hadn't wandered from the young Scotsman.
"He'll make it. He's always had to deal with either his father or providing for himself. He'd severed ties with Campbell when he left for university, he just didn't think he had the strength to defy that man again." She couldn't help but smile. "But if Campbell thinks that Fitz will marry that girl and suddenly become the good little soldier of a son he'd always dreamed of then he's going to be sourly disappointed."
Coulson chuckled. "I couldn't have thought of a better ending myself." He sighed. "Now all we have to do is finish this damn case and get out of here. I talked to Siff."
"And?" May's interest was piqued. If they could get anything on the alien residue then the sooner they were to leaving this dreaded house.
"The bridge's residue is from the planet of the 'Healereavsår' which according to Siff is part of the same galaxy as Asgard, supposedly famous for their medicinal understanding. She did warn us that they didn't offer their expertise without a price if they are of a different planet."
"Are they a threat?"
Coulson shook his head. "No, Siff said that they never 'intentionally hurt others'. Yet that doesn't rule out the possibility that in helping someone, they hurt the other, especially since they offer their services. She said the price could be 'as petty as a watch to as important as your childhood memories'."
"Anything else?"
"She mentioned them having a contact of sorts on Earth, yet she didn't know who. She's looking into it now."
"Siff is a valuable ally."
Coulson nodded in agreement. "That she most certainly is, not only for her skills in combat but also just wider knowledge."
"What about HQ? Any new info we need to know of?"
"No. Ward says they have nothing we haven't heard or seen." Coulson paused. "Something is wrong about this case. I think Campbell is keeping something from us. He seems like the kind to dismiss aliens with all his might yet… I don't know. I feel like he knows something, probably to do with his wife and Fitz."
"Something is bothering you though." stated May as she observed her partner.
"I just feel like there is something missing, we've overlooked some detail."
"We'll find it Phil." May placed a hand on her partner's shoulder. And for that moment they were content to see Simmons and Skye mothering Fitz by making sure his swollen face was covered with the ice pack.
In fact they were so engrossed they both missed Ward's face gaze at the young Scotsman, his eyes glinting with a strange light. The light that means he knows something that not even Fitz knows. And boy was it important.

Malcom smiled as he watched Leo sleeping, his slight form curled up beneath the blankets. He was glad to see that the swelling had gone down and that he was in fact looking better. The sooner Leo stopped looking like he'd been pummelled by his father the better… Malcom didn't think he could take seeing the boy like this again.
He'd managed to escape this loveless house, to make his own way and fortune even went as far as becoming prestigious in his field and gaining a second family. It warmed his heart to know that Leo's team was so kind and caring when it came to the young Scotsman's health and happiness. But goodness knows Campbell wanted to tear it all to pieces. The last thing that boy needed was to be roped in to a marriage with that bastard's daughter.
But what could Malcom do? He was essentially powerless against Campbell meaning he was unable to give Leo more help than patching up his wounds and holding him tight. Not that Malcom ignored the importance of doing such things but he shouldn't need to. No one deserves to be mistreated, least of all a bright and generous soul like the boy before him, the boy who had told off the other servants and guests when they had made lewd comments about Alice or sneering remarks about Malcom's intelligence. He still remembered when the boy had burst into the kitchen, his eyes lit with the light of one who had solved a puzzle shouting that he'd found a way to stop the others from being so mean to Malcom. He'd sighed and asked what that solution was only to be met with the joy of Leo proclamation that he would teach him how to read and write himself. The older man had been left speechless, his heart aching as he took in the small boy with an angel's curls atop his head who offered to teach him one of the few things he had always wished to have learnt.
It had been an arduous process, made all the harder by that fact that Malcom was already in his thirties when they began. But Leo had endless patience when it came to teaching Malcom and soon enough, the older Scotsman went into the town and sat his exams.
It made him laugh when he looked back at how much he had cried when he received his certificate. He, Malcom, had passed an exams and now had qualifications and proof that all those mean words were no longer true. He was no dunce and he had a small eight year old boy with a heart bigger than the sun to thank for that.
Oh how he wished he could help that boy, well now young man, just as he had once been helped. What Malcom wouldn't do to repay that debt of having been given a child to love as his own despite him and Alison having been unable to have one.
Now he could only hope and pray that when the time came, Leo would be strong enough. Strong enough to stand up and leave, to hold his head up high before Campbell and finally win. To show that monster of a man that he was wrong to have underestimated his son, that Leo was in fact a strong and capable young man.
But Malcom knew that it was a dream. No matter how hard the bird rattles the cage, the cage won't let the bird escape. The cage may topple off the table, it may become scratched and rough but it will never break open.
And with that final thought, he slipped away leaving Leo to sleep in peace.