A/N: The fact that I haven't written an update for this in awhile finally got to me, so here's an update. It's short because I'm choosing to be a responsible adult and go to bed early, since my school's summer school session picks up again tomorrow morning and I'm so excited to see my kids again that I need to get some rest!
There will be more soon, since I finally figured out where this is all going... or that you would probably all hunt me down and send me through the TAHITI protocol if I made this all a fever-dream of Skye's...
Thanks to everyone who reads/reviews/follows/favorites - you're amazing. Enjoy!
"We should call Coulson," Skye says after about ten minutes in the dark.
"We don't know where we are," Simmons points out.
"The phone's got a chip," Skye says. "They could find us."
She sounds scared and Simmons can hear her wheezing.
"Put the mask back on," Simmons says.
She can't see very well, but she's pretty sure Skye is pouting at her.
"You're lucky you're cute," Simmons mutters, and hands her the mask.
"At least figure out if there's lights in here," Skye says as she slips the breathing mask over her head.
Simmons does a quick check and finds that, besides the ominous-seeming candles in the corner of the room, there seem to be no other lights. She thinks about bringing one of the candles closer, but then remembers the oxygen compressor in one of the supply boxes and changes her mind.
"Just the candles," she reports to Skye, who's already looking drowsy behind the mask. "And I've got a flashlight in my bag."
"Tell me a story," Skye says.
"What?" Simmons had not been expecting that. She could have handled sixty more questions about lights, or their location, or why Skye should keep the mask on, but she's fairly sure this is the first time anyone has asked her to tell them a story.
"Tell me a story," Skye repeats.
Simmons sighs and performs a round of "doctor" things first – checking Skye's temperature (104), her oxygen saturation (94, but that's with the bipap on and oxygen fed in), her lungs (wheezy and coarse), and the status of the IV meds and fluids (it'll be a few hours before she has to replace them). Then she curls up on the oddly large bed and watches Skye's face.
"Stop… being a doctor," Skye mumbles behind the mask. "Tell me a story."
Simmons senses she's beat. "Fine. Once upon a time there were two princesses, and they were as different as any two people could be. One was a lovely rose, educated at the finest academies in the kingdom, and her head was always filled with theorems and equations and other things most young ladies never thought of. She was honest to a fault, except for a series of weeks where she left her kingdom at the request of the king, her father, to visit a place that turned out to be more evil than anyone could imagine, a place she had to be rescued from by a rogue princess who, for some reason, changed her hair color immediately afterwards."
Skye smiles, her eyes drooping closed.
"The other princess, well, she was like a thistle – yes, it's a flower, but it'll stab your hand and infect you faster than you can blink."
"Jemma," Skye groans, so brokenly that Simmons thinks she's dying. "Why do I have to be the thistle princess?"
Relief floods through Simmons as she realizes Skye is just teasing her. "Who said these princesses are us?"
"Because you're not subtle," Skye replies. "And I'm starting to think you haven't told many stories before."
"Well, not all of us were born to be bards," Simmons says. "Some of us have to be wizards."
Skye smiles and opens her eyes, looks around for a few seconds, and then brings her arm up and takes Simmons' hand in hers.
"Yes. Hmm. Where was I? Ah, yes, the thistle princess. Because of an evil witch's spell she had been taken from her kingdom at a young age and forced to live in a caravan. She had no handmaidens or courtesans and there was definitely no jester to lighten her day, until one day she met a young squire named Lance who turned out to be just the fool she didn't know she wanted. This princess spent the majority of her life looking for her king and queen, and for a very long time was unable to find them. Eventually she was brought to a kingdom ruled by another king and queen, and that was where she met the Rose Princess, who became her best friend.
"Then one day word came from another kingdom that the Thistle Princess' father had been found, but that he was…" Simmons pauses, trying to think of a polite way to phrase her feelings about Skye's father. "A bit untraditional. But the Thistle Princess was determined to meet him, and…"
She looks down at Skye, her friend's eyes closed, breathing slowly and in rhythm with the machine, and falls silent. She squeezes Skye's hand and lays her head down, just for a minute.
… just for a minute.
May sets the quinjet down in a secluded valley and looks over at her "copilot" – she's using the term extremely loosely – Hunter. "You ready?" she asks.
"You plucked me from the grasp of about twelve angry men dressed as Captain Hook," Hunter replies. "I will go anywhere with you."
"Yeah, we'll see about that," May mutters. "What were you doing at Disney World, anyway?"
"Escape pods don't really care where they send you," Hunter says. "And how was I supposed to know that area was for workers only?"
"Cast members."
"What?"
"They're called cast members at Disney World, and… never mind," May says. "We've got about five miles of hiking to do before we get to wherever it is they've taken Skye and Jemma."
Hunter turns towards her. "Run this by me again. These people just… appeared in Coulson's office and asked for Skye and you gave her to them?"
"It was the lesser of two evils," May says, shutting down the plane. "Or would you have preferred to storm the 'real SHIELD' and their ship again?"
Hunter shakes his head. "Never mind."
They don't speak much more until they're loaded up and exiting the jet. Then May says, "Remember, these people have powers we can't even begin to understand. Our goal is to get Simmons and Skye out, not to engage in some random firefight with people who could… I don't know, turn you into a ferret or something."
"A ferret?" Hunter shoulders his pack. "You think I look like a ferret?"
May rolls her eyes and walks off into the darkness.
"Or what's even worse, you think someone's power is turning someone into ferrets," Hunter mutters. "God, what a shit power to have. Ferrets everywhere."
The doors open again and Skye's the awake one this time. She woke up to find Simmons completely zonked out beside her, their hands still twined together, and it was the first time in a long time Skye's felt peaceful, or even strong enough to take off the breathing mask. She hasn't, mostly for fear that Simmons will wake up and be all doctor-y again, and also because – and she'd never admit this to Simmons – it's easier to breathe with it on.
"I brought you some dinner." It's Jiaying, the woman from Skye's fever dream, the one who had claimed to be her mother.
The one who had locked them in there.
She approaches the bed. Skye sits up and winces, shifting her position slightly to accommodate the ribs she's broken with coughing. She pulls the mask off and reaches over to hit the button that will sound an alarm.
Whatever the food is, it smells delicious, and Skye is pretty sure the last meal she had was macaroni and cheese at the cabin.
Jiaying brings a chair over and sits down, looking at Skye, still holding the containers of food. The older woman carefully holds one of them out in Skye's direction.
"There's enough for your friend, too," she says as she sees Skye hesitate.
"Thank you," Skye mumbles, and she takes the lid off the container. It's too dark in the room to see what the food is, but whatever it is tastes amazing and she has to force herself to go slowly.
"And there's more," Jiaying says with a small smile.
Skye looks up. "I just… I've been sick," she says. "And I'm pretty sure they've been keeping me alive with IV nutrition. This tastes much better. Actually, the fact that it tastes like anything is the best part."
She finds something that looks like a cookie and pops it into her mouth. It has flavors of nuts and raspberry and chocolate, and it's just like heaven.
When the container is empty she looks up at Jiaying. "I'm ready to see the doctor now."
"We'll talk about that," Jiaying says.
"I thought that's why you brought us here."
"It's one reason."
"What are the other reasons?"
"How did you end up with SHIELD?"
"I hacked in," Skye says. "Are you going to answer my questions?"
"And why did you stay?"
"I'll take that as a no. How about this, woman I barely know – you answer my questions and I'll answer yours."
She raises her chin and looks Jiaying straight in the eyes.
Jiaying doesn't bend from the challenge. Instead she stands up, putting the second box of food on the chair, and moves towards the door.
"Is it because you're my mother?" Skye asks.
Jiaying freezes and for a moment Skye curses herself inwardly. What a stupid question. There's no way -
"I'll be back in the morning," Jiaying says coldly. "Perhaps your fever and your wild speculations will be gone."
She leaves, closing the doors and locking them, and Skye sinks back down next to Simmons.
She hadn't said yes.
But she hadn't said no, either.