An Unexpected Inheritance

Skye/Rumlow/Rollins

CrossRollin'Quake

Theme song:

Jason Mraz – I'm Yours

OK, I am TOTALLY blaming Oricke for this one. She started talking to me about Skye and Alexander Pierce, which I feel utterly unable to write because of the age difference squicking me out. But I started thinking about something Lady Winterlight and I had discussed for For Want Of A Nail. What if Skye had family she didn't know about? Specifically, Cal's family? Where did he come from? Did he have brothers and sisters? Who were his parents?

So the premise for this story goes… what if he was Alexander Pierce's son? Pierce had rather flexible notions of morality, so let's say maybe Cal was his son by a secret mistress. Pierce paid his son's way through medical school, perhaps wanted Cal to join HYDRA's science division, and Cal said no. Took off to join Doctors Without Borders. This also explains rather neatly where Cal got the money to buy that building in Milwaukee, doesn't it?

Pierce kept track of his son, of course. Rolled his eyes when Cal married some woman from a little village in China. Throwing himself away on a nobody. But when the child came along... well, that was another generation. Pierce's only grandchild, perhaps. He sent HYDRA out. Kill the woman. Take the child. Cal will come running...only everything went wrong, Cal lost his mind, real SHIELD agents got in the way, and the child disappeared.

Until twenty-six years later. After the battle on the aircraft carrier and before Cal undergoes TAHITI, Phil gives Skye some time to spend with her father, to ask him about anything she wants to know. It's her only chance.

Cal doesn't want to tell Skye. Doesn't want her to know that her grandfather gave the order to hand her mother over to HYDRA scientists (of course he found out) and gave the order to kill 20 million people. He tells her his parents are both dead, that he had a sister (Pierce's daughter who is referenced in TWS) but she's dead too. Pierce did leave him a heap of money from secret Swiss bank accounts however, plus stuff that was already in Cal's own name, so he arranges to transfer ownership of everything to her. Cal never touched Pierce's money - considered it dirty, once he knew what Pierce was - but he figures that Skye will use it for the right reasons, as long as she never finds out where it came from.

Skye is surprised, but not inclined to refuse her father's final gifts, especially not since SHIELD are still basically unfunded and they need money to set up this new unit Phil wants to build. She helps Cal complete the paperwork etc.

When the name Daisy Johnson is registered as the new signatory owner of those accounts, certain triggers are set off. Somewhere in a bank in the Cayman Islands, an envelope is opened by a bank official. A phone call is made. Another envelope is opened by a lawyer in Washington DC. An email is sent.

Six weeks later

The building in Milwaukee was perfect, Skye decided, looking around. A few coats of paint, a few perfectly legitimate tenants on the lower floors, and it would be an ideal cover building for SHIELD's activities, a place to bring those who they didn't want to take to the Playground. She already had a small firm of accountants who wanted to hire a small front office on the ground floor and the whole second floor. And since she was the legal owner of the building, she wanted to check her potential tenants out in person.

"It's fine, Mack," she rolled her eyes as Mack stuck close to her shoulder. Phil had wanted to send Hunter with her, but he was reluctant to leave Bobbi until she was actually back on her feet, and Skye was quite happy with Mack. Usually. Though not when he loomed over her like this. "Seriously, we're meeting two accountants! Do you really think I can't take care of myself? You're going to spook them with the looming!"

Mack smiled reluctantly. "All right. What do you want me to do?"

"The fourth floor is still a mess from when we fought HYDRA there. Would you go start picking up some of the larger debris? I know Lincoln tipped a bookcase over in Dad's office."

"You're the boss," Mack shot her an amused grin, but he headed for the stairs.

Skye wandered around in the disused office, poking at a couple of pieces of abandoned office furniture, until there was a knocking on the outer door. Going over to open it, she smiled charmingly at the two unexpectedly large, broad-shouldered men standing there. They were admittedly wearing very nice suits – probably too nice for the small accounting firm whose books she'd already hacked online… her internal threat radar pinged and she instinctively stepped back, away from them, her hand going to the gun holstered under her jacket at the small of her back.

They moved fast. Too fast. The door closed as the taller man kicked it shut and the shorter one – who still had a good six inches on Skye – was on her in an instant, his hand clamping down on her elbow and pushing up, trapping her hand away from the gun. She glared up at him, into whisky-gold eyes in an annoyingly handsome, darkly stubbled face, far too close to hers as he almost embraced her, his other arm sliding around her waist and deftly plucking her gun from its holster.

"Get your hands off me." Her voice was ice-cold.

The whisky eyes widened. "Now don't be hasty, angel," he rumbled quietly.

It took a couple of seconds for that to sink in. "What?" Skye said numbly.

Handsome smiled, flashing white teeth. "Well. I really must say a prayer for the old man's soul. Seems your inheritance is a bit more than any of us expected."

That made no sense whatsoever. Skye blinked, utterly bemused, but no longer actively trying to pull away.

"You're beautiful, Daisy," Handsome said quietly, letting go of her elbow and bringing his hand up to touch her cheek lightly.

"Brock," the taller man said softly, "is this for real?"

"Dunno, Jack," Brock replied, never taking his eyes from Skye's. "Why don't you ask her?"

His name was Jack. Which meant…

"I'm Jack," the other man said, and Skye wrenched her eyes from Brock's to look at him. He had a nasty scar running from his lip to his chin and one of his green eyes didn't seem to be tracking quite perfectly, but he was a big, attractive man despite that.

Skye's lips parted, but she couldn't get a word out. They were both staring at her ravenously, as though she was all of their best dreams come to life. "What's going on?" she finally managed to say, her tone plaintive. "I don't understand."

Jack smiled, slow and sure, stepping closer, a huge hand coming up to caress her other cheek briefly before he dropped it. "Your grandfather left us to you. Good thing too or it might have taken us a whole lot longer to find you."

"You can't leave people," Skye said blankly.

"You can if you specify that they get paid a five million dollar bonus each on finding the heir and a million dollars every year you faithfully guard her after that," Brock replied blithely.

"What?" blinking, Skye looked from one to the other of them. "Who the fuck was my grandfather?"

Both men blinked. Brock let go of her and stepped back – though he kept her gun, Skye couldn't help but notice, slipping it inside his suit coat. "You really don't know. Then how did you…"

"Are you really Daisy Johnson?" Jack asked bluntly. "Daughter of Calvin Johnson, also known as Cal Zabo, and Jiaying Johnson?"

"Yes, yes I am. Cal's my dad. He's… dead."

"We figured, when we saw the legal transfers of all his property to you. That alerted us that you had reunited with him. When you put the building up for rent and agreed to meet us," Brock shrugged, "seemed like the only chance we might get to find you. We're yours now, Daisy. In more ways than we ever expected, but I'm sure as hell not complainin'."

"Me neither!" Jack agreed enthusiastically.

Skye was certainly not complaining. They were both attractive men, but the thought of both of them being her soulmates was – breathtaking. She thought about where her marks were located, where theirs were likely located, and felt a bit light-headed. "You still didn't tell me about my grandfather," she said, aware that her voice was coming out high and breathy. Brock's eyes darkened as he stared at her, he licked his lips, and Skye had to look away from the intensity of his gaze, looking at Jack again.

"Daisy, your grandfather was Alexander Pierce," Jack said steadily. "Your father was his illegitimate son and his only living heir, besides you, at the time of his death. Pierce left instructions for us to find you. To never stop looking until we found you, to keep you safe once we did."

Skye's knees buckled. Brock caught her, steadied her, lifted her off her feet easily and carried her over to one of the old desks, setting her down on it and leaving his arm around her.

"Alexander Pierce," Skye whispered, shocked and horrified. "The former Secretary of Defence – the former head of HYDRA?"

Brock and Jack exchanged tense glances. "You know about HYDRA?"

"I'm SHIELD!"

"This is going to go ever so well," Jack said sarcastically after a moment of stunned silence.

"Put your hands up and get the fuck away from her," a deep voice growled from the door leading to the stairwell, and Skye was reminded of just how incredibly quietly Mack could move when he wanted to. He had his gun out, rock-steady, aimed at Brock's head.

"Don't, Mack!" she gasped out instinctively, jumping to her feet.

"Skye, do you know who they are? That's Brock Rumlow, the STRIKE Alpha commander who launched the Insight Helicarriers. And Jack Rollins, his loyal second-in-command," Mack spat the accusatory words, finger tightening on the trigger. "I thought you bastards were both dead."

"I have no idea who this dude is, do you?" Brock muttered out of the side of his mouth to Jack.

"Nup. Sounds like he doesn't care for us much." Jack glanced at Skye. "Friend of yours, angel?"

"Don't, Mack," Skye said desperately. "Just – please don't. They're my soulmates."

Mack's jaw dropped with shock, but his finger eased back from the trigger. "No. Way. Have you seen the words? Wouldn't put it past these bastards to try and fake you out…"

Brock jerked his shirt up. So did Jack. "This your writing, angel? 'Cause I know they're the right words," Brock turned towards her.

It was undeniably her writing. On a very deliciously defined set of abs. Skye licked her lips unconsciously.

"They're HYDRA, Skye!" Mack hadn't lowered the gun.

"Were," Jack corrected calmly. "HYDRA's gone. Nothin' left but remnants some young ass named Ward is trying to gather together. Brock and I, far as we're concerned, we belong to Daisy – Skye?" he looked a question at her.

"Um. Either – wait. Did you say Ward?"

"Yeah, Grant Ward. He was a protégée of John Garrett, apparently, though we never ran across him before Insight. You know him?" Brock looked at her curiously.

Skye couldn't suppress her shudder of revulsion, and both Brock and Jack tensed, suddenly on alert. It was only then that she realised they had been completely unworried about Mack and the gun he still had pointed at them.

"You want him dead, angel? Be a pleasure. Cocky little shithead," Brock purred, showing his teeth in an anticipatory grin. "Seemed to think we should be grateful to take his orders. Jack wanted to feed Ward his teeth. I was votin' for his balls. We were just about to play rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock to work out which one we'd feed him first when we got the message that you'd popped up on the radar. Figured Ward could wait for later."

Skye looked from one to the other of them, utterly unable to process.

Mack started to laugh. "Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock?" he choked out finally.

Skye looked at Mack, who'd finally lowered his gun and was leaning against the doorframe shaking with laughter. "Only you, Tremors," he said at last. "Only you would manage to inherit two murderous ex-HYDRA mercenaries who like The Big Bang Theory."

"Doesn't everyone like The Big Bang Theory?" Jack asked rhetorically.

She looked back at them. At two big, powerful (she suspected enhanced) men with extremely suspect pasts who were going to complicate her future beyond belief, she just knew it.

They were both gazing at her with hungry, almost worshipful expressions. Dedication, she thought. Utter and total dedication to her. They might have sought her out because of the money, but now… tentatively she held out a hand to each of them.

They took her hands without hesitation, large, strong callused fingers folding tenderly around hers.

"We're yours, angel." It was Brock who spoke for both of them. "Whatever you want us to do, you just say the word and it's done."

"I really should have stuck with my plan of quitting SHIELD," Mack muttered.

Poor, poor Mack. And Phil. And everyone else. But lucky Skye, hmm?

YES, god damn it, I will put it on the Sexytimes list when the next chapter is published – sometime over the weekend, probably. Got a lot of stuff going on this week with visitors etc!