Chapter 33
Skye wasn't one for nightmares usually. It was more of her husband that would get them. Andrew would sometimes wake up shaking in sweat as she would try to get him to calm down. But by the end he would never remember what happened in them. It had always been like that since they had met and started sleeping together.
The hallway at the Playground was dark. It was strangely odd to the hacker. Some of the lights were flicking on and off. It gave off a real spook fest in her opinion. Another reason she knew it had to be a dream, was the flower dress she had on. Skye had never seen it before, it wasn't in her sense of style.
"Drew!" she called out but never received an answer back.
"Coulson!"
Skye kept on yelling but never got a word back. It was like no one was at the base. Everyone had disappeared from it.
It wasn't until she was near the lab that she heard a baby crying that she saw Coulson and Andrew standing around a table.
"Drew! Coulson! Thank goodness I found you two." Skye tells them as she walks into the lab.
"Skye, we have a mission." Andrew told her.
A mission? That didn't make any sense in the hacker's head. And how was her husband all better already. There was no sign of bandages wrapped around his shoulder like before. It was like before he had gone out with Fitz and Coulson. All decked out in his tactical suit.
Skye peered over her husband's shoulder and looked at what he and Coulson had been studying before she came into the lab.
"This is the mission. It opens." Coulson explains just as Andrew tries to touch it. "So weird right?"
Skye lets out a loud no before knocking it out of her husband's reach. She wasn't going to let his curious scientist brain get himself killed.
As she got a hold of the box everything seemed to change in the surroundings near her. Andrew is now replaced with May and she is helping Coulson with a baby.
May is singing to the baby while Coulson explains what is going to happen to the child. Sacrifices had to be made to keep the baby safe.
"We can't keep her, May." Coulson says.
"I know. It would be too hard for us." May answers. "I'm not sure how Agent Parker and her husband can do it."
Skye gabbed at the words. There was no way this was happening. Coulson and May had no clue who Andrew's parents were let alone that he was Maria Hill's nephew.
"Please don't leave her here!" Skye yelled out as a cocoon began to form around her.
She doesn't get a response until hearing that she needs to wake up. The hacker is shaken a bit until she sees that Coulson is there and her surroundings are now the Bus.
"Are you okay?" he asks. "You were yelling Andrew's name."
"I'm fine." Skye closes her eyes and then opens them again "I'm fine."
Coulson seems to take her word for it and doesn't press any further about it.
"We're back on base so if you want to grab yours and Andrew's stuff you can." He tells her before heading towards his old office.
Fitz was one of the first ones off the Bus when they arrived back on base. He was happy to be back on land in a safe location that didn't include getting shot at and seeing his brother take a bullet to keep him from getting hurt. As the engineer walked through the hallway, he could see some of the other agents file to one side of it. He wasn't sure until he heard the faint voice of Mack.
"Watch out, watch out. Coming through, coming through."
That's when Fitz realized that Mack was holding a controller for something that eventually stopped at his feet. A toy model of Lola to be exact. The engineer picks it up and carefully examines it. Everything looked to be just like Lola from the rims of the tires to the license plate that Coulson kept on it. The model even had a small figurine that he supposed was Coulson.
"Hey, hey, be careful with that." Mack says with a chuckle. "I made that for Coulson."
Fitz looks up and smiles at the other agent. He wasn't surprised that it was for the director since it was his car.
"You know, if you're looking for vacation time, bribery will get you nowhere, 'cause I've tried." Fitz tells him before saying in a lower voice. "That just seems to be Parker and Skye."
"No, I'm hoping he will let me work on the real thing."
Fitz shakes his head in agreement. "Brilliant. How did you get it to fly?"
Mack seems to be sidetracked for a moment and Fitz can't seem to figure out why until he hears a laugh.
"What was that?" Mack asks.
"How did you get it to fly?" Fitz repeats.
Mack scrunches his eyes in confusion. "It doesn't?"
Fitz begins to explain that it's an important aspect to Lola's modifications. How they had to use it a few times in times of trouble. By the time the engineer is done finished explaining, he notices that Mack is distracted.
"Something wrong?" he asks.
"There's a storm coming."
"But there isn't a cloud in the sky. I checked."
Mack shakes his head. That wasn't exactly what he was talking about. The mechanic had noticed in one of the rooms that Bobbi and Hunter were talking to each other, laughing at each other's jokes.
"Never mind." He says. "Did you need me for anything?"
Fitz thought about it for a few seconds but couldn't think of much of anything.
"No, good luck with the car."
"Your wound is healing up nicely, Andrew." Jemma says as she cleans up it. "It's almost like it wasn't there."
Andrew sighs as the biochemist wraps the gauze up in shoulder tape to keep it from bleeding out even more if it did.
"Guess I got lucky." He tells her.
"That seems to happen to your wounds a lot." Jemma laughs.
Andrew just smiles. He knows it has to be much more then that now that he found out the real nature of himself. Basically born in a test tube but not really. He hadn't told Jemma about that part yet.
"I would say a week's rest but I don't think that will fly with you." Jemma tells him.
"No, I was lucky Skye's dad was there to get the bullets out." Andrew tells her.
Jemma looks at her ex-boyfriend questionably. She thought that Skye had no contact with her parents but were still looking for them.
"Skye's dad?"
"Coulson told me shortly after I had finally got Skye to take a nap. She didn't want to leave my side."
"I bet that was a fun experience with your father in law." The biochemist said sarcastically.
Andrew rolled his eyes but laughed a bit at the comment. If this was his experience to meeting with wife's father, he didn't want her meeting his. That could turn out drastic based on the information that Coulson found out about.
"There's no way I would want Skye to meet my dad. If it was anything like this."
"Well let's hope she doesn't." Jemma says before knocking on wood just as Skye walks in.
"Hey hon." Andrew said when he notices her.
"Hey yourself. How are you feeling?" she asks walking towards him.
"Much better. Right Jem."
Skye looks over at Simmons curiously.
"His injury looks to be almost healed."
"That's good. Guess I have to be thankful my dad was there."
There was a silence between the three. None of them wanted to talk any further about what had happened while on that mission.
"There's a mission prep in the cargo hold in five." Skye finally says before Jemma walks out.
The biochemist says a thank you over her shoulder leaving the married couple to talk alone for a bit.
"This is all messed up." Skye tells her husband.
"I know."
"My dad, Ward, the Obelisk, the city. And I just can't shake this vibe that something really bad is about to happen."
"I won't let anything happen. I promise you that."
"That's a big promise, Andrew." Skye says quietly using her husband's full name.
"It's a chance I'm willing to take."
Skye carefully reached up and hugged her husband carefully not trying to strain his shoulder. They stayed there standing quietly holding each other until Trip had come to tell them it was time for the mission brief.
Fitz was the one that carefully geared up the scanner for Coulson so he could explain his theory to the rest of the team. Skye and Andrew kind of already had an idea of what was going on.
"HYDRA is on the move as we speak." Coulson starts to say. "The also have the Obelisk and an expert that knows how to use it."
The director flicks through a few things before spinning through another item. Before they know it, the team is looking at the writing that Coulson had been doing since they arrived on base. The same writing that Andrew had saw when his wife had begun to get frustrated upon.
Before all he could see were lines and dots. The agent had looked in books, compared it to different kind of puzzles. He also had searched what seemed to be a million of maps until finding the correct one after Skye brought him a picture of the building set they had found at Thompson Welding.
Coulson flipped the writing around until they were looking at the map of the city that Parker had come to the conclusion of being. It made total sense now looking at it in a three dimensional form.
"It is our job to stop them." Coulson says before Skye cuts in.
"Based on the latest Intel we've received, there may be a powerful weapon inside."
Skye pulls up a quick information item on her tablet and the map shows what an example of it could be.
"Are we talking chemical, biological, some form of energy?" Mack asked from the crowd.
Andrew turned to look at him and then back at Skye.
"It could be anything really. But its alien." He says.
"While Simmons, Parker and I were undercover at HYDRA, Whitehall was looking to create an extinction-level event to kill millions of people. We have to assume that this weapon has the potential to do that." Bobbi told them.
Coulson begins to talk once more and Andrew seems to drown him out for a bit. The grasp of his wife's hand into his eventually kind of helps the process. He's scared for both their sakes. Whatever the Obelisk could do effected both of them. Both their father's had said so. Andrew can only imagine that meeting Skye was supposed to be part of his path. Like they were meant for each other. A reason why he and Jemma would never be able to work again. Why they lost the baby. But the two former sci-ops academy graduates would always be linked back to each other along with Fitz. The three of them accomplished so much.
Where would Andrew Parker be if he hadn't been born into this life of spy's, secret agencies, and evil surrounding his every move?
"Where is this temple?" someone eventually asked.
"San Juan." Coulson responds before getting everyone ready for action.
Coulson announced something had changed with the plan before and now he was splitting up the team when everyone was getting ready to board the Bus. Andrew and Skye would be staying together to assist Hunter, May and Trip while Bobbi and Mack assisted with FitzSimmons and Coulson.
It seemed like an easy task according to Coulson. Andrew and Skye would retrieve Raina while he went with the others to San Juan. Skye just hoped that Coulson was right but then again she found it hard to believe.
Bobbi on the other hand was prepared as she always was. She knew she wasn't going to be able to keep an eye out on Parker but he was going to be okay. He was a grown up, it wasn't like before when they first met. He was shy kid just out of the academy. She was just a few years older than him but she scared him. Parker had eventually admitted that shortly after she had found him in his hotel room, trashed among imaginable. She couldn't blame him though, he had thought he had lost Skye. Although at the time, Bobbi didn't know she was his wife, just a girl he was friends with until he told her.
When the agent walks onto the Bus, she finds Jemma grabbing a bunch of the gear that they needed. Surprisingly Fitz wasn't there to help her.
"Why isn't Fitz helping?" Bobbi asks.
"Oh, he's assisting Mack real quick but I wanted to make sure we got the DWARF case." Jemma responds facing the counter.
Bobbi stays silent for a few seconds and ponders her next move.
"So you and Fitz."
"We're not together if you're trying to imply that, Agent Morse."
Bobbi kind of regrets the comment she just mentioned. It's different now, she knows about what Andrew had told her. The two of them although never really had a chance to talk alone.
"And Drew?"
"You have to move on eventually. There's nothing I can do now that he's married to Skye."
"But you love him still?"
Jemma turns around from the counter and looks up at the agent standing near her. The biochemist is unsure what to say. She's almost speechless in a way.
"I never stopped loving Andrew. Even after everything." She finally says. "It was hard after we broke up but Fitz was there. No wonder he had fallen in love with me."
"Are you in love with him?"
"I don't- I want to." Jemma says hesitantly. "It's hard. I want Fitz better first."
"But he is getting better. I've seen it. Drew has seen it." Bobbi tells her.
Jemma sighs and then grabs the DWARF case clutching it close to her side. She doesn't really want to have this conversation before a mission. She loves Fitz, she knows that but she wants to take her time.
"Why do you call him that?" the biochemist asks the other agent.
"Call who what?" its Bobbi's turn to look confused.
"Ever since we came back you've called Andrew by Drew. I mean it's been a few times you call him just Andrew."
"It's his name, Jemma."
"He used to hate that nickname." she tells Bobbi before walking out of the Bus and towards the Quinjet they were taking to San Juan.
They had said their good byes to the other half of the team before leaving for Vancouver. Parker had watched Bobbi and Hunter give their emotional hug and felt all disgusted. He knew Bobbi wasn't his actual sister but he had that feeling like when they would come home from a date.
"Are we like that?" Parker asks his wife when she comes up to wrap herself around him.
Skye rolls her eyes. "I would say not that extreme."
"I feel like I want to beat up Hunter." He laughs making the hacker laugh as well.
"I think everyone does, sweetie."
Andrew smiles and notices that Bobbi gives him a quick salute before heading towards the Quinjet. He does the same just as Skye pulls him onto the Bus so they could leave.
When they get to Vancouver, Hunter helps Sam out with one of the Hydra goons that were following Raina. Skye and Andrew had the task of going to the safe house to retrieve Raina while May and Trip were getting a vehicle.
Andrew had made sure that both their ICERs were fully stocked just in case they ran into anyone that didn't need to be there. He let his wife lead the way towards the safe house.
When they got closer to the door of the safe house, Andrew kept a close eye of their location.
"Is there a knock you have to do?" he asked his wife.
Skye only shrugged. "Why would I do that?"
"Some safe houses have that. I know the one that Bobbi and I were staying at for our mission had one."
"I don't think it matters?" Skye questioned. "Coulson and May didn't mention one."
Andrew doesn't say anything so Skye just goes ahead and knocks on the door when they get there. They hear movement around in the apartment.
"Lanyard please." They hear from inside.
Skye groans but gets out her lanyard as Andrew does the same.
"Agent Skye Parker, Agent Andrew Parker." The voice says as it scans their cards.
The door opens to revel one of the Koenig siblings.
"Come on Sam, you couldn't just look through the peep hole?" Skye asks.
"Skye that isn't Sam." Andrew says.
"Thank you Agent Parker. I'm Billy. Sam is the shorter one."
They see Raina just standing there quietly not sure what to say, unsure what to do.
"Okay let's go." Skye says just as they hear gunshots ring out.
Andrew pulls his ICER out and looks down the hallway preparing to take a shot if he needs to. There's no sign of anyone but he hears another shot.
"Go to the staircase!" he yells towards Skye who is pulling Raina and Billy along with her. "I'll do a quick search."
He leaves his wife to protect the asset and makes his way through the many different hallways in the building.
Skye gets Raina and Billy down the stairs but she is suddenly attacked by someone when she isn't looking. The hacker wasn't sure who until she gets turned around and finds out that its Agent 33 wearing May's face still.
They begin to fight and Skye kind of wishes that Drew was still there with her but she knows that she can defend herself.
"Stand down Agent 33, we can help you."
"No one can help me." Comes the reply.
They fight for a bit and eventually it gets to a point to where Agent 33 just stops fighting. Skye is confused for a brief second until she sees the other girl fall forward and Drew is standing right behind still holding the ICER Fitz gave him.
"Are you okay?" he asks running over to her.
Skye only nods because now they know they have to go find Raina and Billy.
The Quinjet was quiet. Coulson and Bobbi had already left to scout out the location while Mack was left to watch FitzSimmons. Except Mack couldn't stand that there was so much silence. Normally the biochemist and engineer would be talking up a storm but now they weren't doing it as much. The mechanic could clearly tell that there was something on Simmons' mind but couldn't put anything together. The exchanges between her and Bobbi kind of make Mack suspect that something happened.
"Okay I'm going to check on some landing gear." He says and then walks down the ramp despite both Fitz and Simmons' protests.
The two scientists stand there for a few moments looking at each other not saying anything. Jemma had trouble looking Fitz in the eye.
"I feel like something is bothering you, Jemma." He says.
"Nothing is bothering me, Fitz."
"There's always something. I know stuff went down with HYDRA and such but you don't have to treat me like I'm fragile."
Jemma set down the case she had opened before Mack left and looked over at Fitz.
"Yes, a lot happened. Andrew and I had an interesting experience."
"You know he's not telling me anything. I'm finding it all out from Skye. Both of you are pushing me away lately."
Fitz closes another case and then sits down on one of them. He knows he shouldn't but the case is somewhat stable enough to hold him.
"I want to leave the lab." He finishes.
Jemma looks over at him confused. She thought they were working well again together.
"What? Why?" she asks.
"Just to give you space. You're not ready."
"Fitz, we can work this out." Jemma tells him coming over to sit by him.
They both sit in silence for a bit listening to the sounds of outside. Eventually Fitz wraps his arm around the biochemist as she leans her head on his shoulder.
"Did you have anything with Andrew while you were at HYDRA?" Fitz suddenly questions.
Jemma shakes her head no looking up at Fitz. "We were fake married and that's about it. He had a lot of trouble himself."
"Bobbi told me about that. She said it started after you and him broke up."
Jemma didn't know that Andrew's drinking problem started after that or that Bobbi knew about it. She had known they met back on his first mission but that was that. The biochemist could only imagine what he was trying to do.
"Do you still love him?"
That comment made Jemma freeze. She wasn't expecting Fitz to ask the hard question that she sometimes pondered herself. They would never equally love each other again. He was so in love with Skye right now and she herself was still wondering if she could ever love Fitz like he loved her.
"I don't know Fitz."
"What about- what about me?" Fitz questions.
Jemma took a deep breath before answering. "I need more time."
Fitz unwrapped his arm from around Jemma and stood back up. He looked at her for a brief second before speaking again.
"Let me know when then."
Andrew and Skye managed to make it out of the building before finding Raina and Billy Koenig outside. Billy had tried his hardest to keep Raina safe so they didn't lose her.
"We have two HYDRA goons in the corner not looking so undercover." Billy informs them.
Andrew looks over at where Billy was referring to and then looks over at his wife.
"I'll take care of it. Just get to May." He says.
When Billy and Andrew are out of sight, Skye takes a chance to talk to Raina.
"I thought Whitehall wanted to kill you? Not kidnap you."
"Maybe something changed?
Skye rolls her eyes. Of course something changed and odds are it's because Whitehall knows that his son is working with S.H.I.E.L.D. still.
"I can help you know." Raina explains. "Teach you and your husband how to hold the diviner."
The hacker looks at the girl in the flower dress confused for a brief moment. There was no way both of them were going to be able to hold it. But then again Skye forgets about the information that her husband had told her before.
"Both your father's think you are worthy of it."
"That sounds a little Harry Potter to me."
When Andrew comes back, Raina is quiet again like she is trying to make up her mind for her next move or something. She starts to run but that doesn't last as she is hit by a van that turns out May is driving with Trip, Billy, and Hunter in the back.
"Get in!" Trip shouts from the van."
They arrived safely back on the Bus, careful to make sure no one was following them before May got them back up in the air. It was only a matter of time until they would arrive in San Juan.
While Andrew was trying to make sure everything was intact for Coulson when he and May briefed him, Skye was in charge of watching Raina.
"My very own lanyard. Never had one before." Raina tells the hacker.
Skye only nods her head. "Guess Coulson is the forgiving type."
"You're father has told me so much about you." Raina begins only to see Skye look at her with her eyebrow raised.
"I've never met him. So kind of hard for him to know me."
"Of course you've met him. He delivered you when you were born."
Skye rolled her eyes. "That's sweet. He also killed people. He almost killed my husband."
"Agent Parker, yes I know. But he saved him." Raina pauses. "Where did you two meet?"
The hacker looks at the girl in the flower dress curiously. Was this going to be one of those things where they asked questions back and forth? If so Skye would make it like that.
"His step-brother introduced us." She says.
"Miles."
"Yes, where did you meet my father?"
"Thailand. I was a con artist, scammer at the time. He was the one that found me, cleaned me up and took care of me."
Raina pauses to look at Skye's reaction. There's not much to her facial expression. She doesn't want to know anymore.
"Now Agent Parker's father, he wants to take me. He wants to learn the secrets of the diviner. He wants me to help."
"How do you know who Drew's father is?" the hacker asks concerned.
Raina just smiles. "It's not hard to see the resemblance between them. Although he has a lot of his mother in him."
"His father is dead. That man, Whitehall that's not his father. Not anymore. Hasn't been in a long time."
"We will see Agent Skye."
The team hears a scream from the bottom of the hole that Mack and Fitz had cut before. The mechanic was down there but it didn't sound too well.
"Lower Mack up!" Bobbi yells towards Coulson and Fitz.
They do what they are instructed to do but it gets hard when Mack begins swinging back and forth. The mechanic is still screaming and when Bobbi and Jemma try to calm him down something changes in his eyes. He pushes the agent off him and the biochemist starts to back away before he can touch her.
"That's not Mack!" Jemma screams and it starts an all of sudden battle to stop him.
Fitz unsure what to do, tries to talk his friend out of it and doesn't seem to get through to him. He kind of wishes that they brought Parker with them so he and Jemma weren't so defenseless.
Coulson on the other hand grabs an ICER just as Bobbi is grabbing her batons so they can stop him. The director aims it towards his mechanic and shoots but it's no good. Mack just falls towards the hole taking Jemma along with him.
"Jemma!" Fitz screams as he tries to get a hold on her just as Coulson comes in to pull her up as well.
The biochemist is in the safety of Fitz's arms trying to control her breathing. Bobbi looks down the hole with a sad expression.
"That wasn't Mack." She said. "That was something or someone else."
Andrew had begun taking a nap shortly after he and May briefed Coulson. He had only been asleep for an hour and a half when something woke him. A sound above the Bus had him running out towards where Skye was with the rest of the team.
"I thought we were cloaked!?" he questioned May.
"We were. Someone got it disabled." She replies back.
The agent sees Raina stand and look up near the stairs that lead to Coulson's old office along with the door where people came in if they were docking on the top of the Bus.
"Whitehall is here for me." She says.
Skye looks towards her husband with a concerned look only to get one back. Parker is pulling out an ICER along with May, Trip and Hunter.
"I'm not letting him do that. My father is not going to win this." He says.
They hear the door open and suddenly they are all pointing ICERs at their recent company. They're not surprised when they see the former S.H.I.E.L.D. agent make his presents.
"Ward." May sneers.
"Hey former team." He says happily.
"How did you find us?" Parker asks
"Raina's tracker, Skye's fake husband." Ward tells him as Raina inches closer to him.
"There's nothing fake about me."
"Sure whatever."
Skye tries to hold onto Drew as much as she can as Ward starts to talk explaining that if anyone shoots at him, the plane will go down. They don't want that to happen.
"Also I need Skye." Ward finally says.
"No you don't." May tells him just as Parker tells him never.
"I made Skye a promise and I'm keeping it."
The hacker looks over at her husband and her S.O. who are still prepared to shoot. She lets go of Drew eventually walking towards Ward.
"Drew I have to." Skye says. "I need to make sure you're protected too."
"Skye, you can't." he tells her.
She gives him a sad look and eventually follows Ward towards the staircase.
"I knew you would see my way."
The three of them walk up the stairs and Andrew is feeling defeated. His wife is gone but he needs to go after her. He needs to protect her from his father. The agent eventually tries to start walking up the staircase to follow but May holds him back as he tries to fight off his tears.
He's supposed to protect her from his father, not the other way around.
Happy New Year's everyone. Here I am kicking it off with a new chapter for all of you. I feel it's not the best but I wanted to get it out there so hope you all enjoy it.
Also you can follow me on tumblr at clintbartonishawkeye where you can chat and ask questions.