Epilogue~

MONTHS LATER:

"How many, Skye?" Coulson asked.

"Hmm. I see… give me a sec here. Thirty… seven. So everyone in there."

"Bloody hell!" screeched Hunter. "Where are they stashing these people?"

"That's what we're here to find out," said Coulson. "Morse, you in position?"

"Yeah, but could definitely use some back up with those numbers."

"What do you call me?" Hunter asked from next to her. She shrugged.

"Partner?"

"Ah… ok. That's accurate."

"Is it?" asked Bobbi cheekily.

"Accurate enough."

"Oh my god…" Skye moaned. "Will you two stop flirting?"

"Like you and Ward are any better!" Hunter protested.

"We're not flirting on a mission," Skye pointed out.

"But that's probably just because you're not on the ground with him," Simmons pointed out. Skye threw her a glare. "What? You two fraternize all the time on operations."

"Ok, well that actually brings up my next point," said Skye. "Sir, permission to head to ground?"

"Negative," came Coulson's voice through the com. "You can see the hostiles through the building with those goggles, no need for you to go in."

Skye groaned. "While these are a real nifty invention Fitz cooked up-"

"-thank you very much-" he commented.

"-the point's moot when everyone in there is a Skrull. And I'm a field agent now. I don't need kid gloves."

"We could use the backup sir," Ward said into everyone's ear, on the opposite entrance of Hunter and Bobbi.

Coulson stayed quiet for a moment.

"May would say yes if she weren't on that preliminary with Wolfe and Triplett," Skye commented. "Sir."

Another pause.

"Head down to the South side entrance with Ward."

Skye tried to hide the smile. "Yes sir," she said, whipping off the goggles and hopping out of the back of the van.

"Hey, be careful with those!" Fitz shouted after her as she stealthily started forwards.

"Hush Fitz!" said Simmons.

"Well they're very complicated spectral analyzers-"

"I know-"

"And she could have well broken them Jemma-!"

"I know-"

"Which would be catastrophic, because the science of the bispectrum glass is near impossible to imitate-"

Simmons silenced him with a peck to the lips.

"I know."

Coulson sighed, even sitting alone at their new base he could tell what was going on. "I'm really going to have to update the SHIELD's handbook on dating in the workplace."

"Hey," Skye mouthed as she approached Ward. "Got your six."

He smiled. "Ready to move in?"

"Ready when you are, super spy."

Coulson pressed fingers to his head. "Skye, don't' make me regret this decision."

"Sorry AC. We've just got this down, pretty habit by now."

"Don't get cocky," Coulson said.

"Yeah," said Hunter. "And remember-"

"Don't die out there," said everyone else.

Bobbi couldn't hold back the smirk. Hunter folded back a bit.

"What?" he said. "You know it's good advice!"

Bobbi just rolled her eyes. "Permission to move in?" she asked.

"Granted. Keep eyes out for any alien tech."

"Roger that," she said, kicking in the door with Hunter close behind.

Ward looked down at the padlock over his entrance. He raised his gun to it.

"Wait," said Skye, holding out a hand. He lowered the weapon as she inspected it. Suddenly her leg flung upwards just before barreling down the heel of her boot on the large lock, dismantling it immediately.

Skye smirked as it rattled to the ground. "Rust."

"You're becoming impressive," Ward admired.

"Well, it helps when you have a kick-ass SO."

"I still wish I could have fulfilled that role."

"Against protocol," she reminded him. "Plus, I'm your monitor."

"Ex-monitor. I don't need you around all the time anymore."

"'Don't need me around', huh? Wanna be ex-something else?"

"Not what I meant…"

"Ehem," Simmons cleared her throat loudly. "Proving my point from earlier?" she mumbled.

Skye flushed a bit as it was definitely mission time and she wanted to be taken seriously, but she couldn't help but steal a kiss from her boyfriend knowing that no one could see. And really, they had this. It was almost second nature to them by now; they took out a Skrull nest every few days.

"Moving in," said Skye, gun raised and going forward into the building of aliens.

With the intel and technology given to the team by the Inhumans they made short work of the aliens inside the building, rounding them up like cows by sheepdogs.

It was always a case by case basis what they decided to do with them really, but most of the time the aliens had loads of people captured in cells somewhere while they'd go impersonate them. Which was one count of identity theft but another on kidnapping, and that got them bagged and tagged until the Inhumans came by to pick them up and use their justice system on the beings. Maybe take them to the Skrull's system even… it was a little unclear, but the Inhumans weren't willing to share the information just yet.

It was a strange little operation they'd begun running but it was a meaningful one, and the skills of such they'd gotten down pact within the first few weeks of it. It wasn't just Skrulls either, any alien life forms were their charge.

Their team was successful and simple, which was a fairly different tune than the rest of SHIELD was singing while they tried to pick themselves up from Hydra's incurrence.

Skye had to be called away sometimes to help them, actually. Well they all did when aid was required in other SHIELD factions while their team's operations ran so smoothly. But Hydra couldn't get the jump on them with deception anymore, not when Skye was able to tell if they were being sincere or not. And with her being such a powerful ally, SHIELD didn't worry so much about her status as a Gifted.

She'd always get to come back to her team, though. Her home and family.

It had become a tradition to have a "team movie night" whenever they came back from these extra escapades, ever since Skye had returned from a Hydra interrogation and Fitz had waited for her to watch Paranormal Activity.

It had quickly become one of their more favorite things to do, and the whole crew had even gone into a routine as to which member would get to pick the movie on each night. They sometimes had karaoke as well but Coulson usually hogged the mic, which irked Hunter to no end. Skye thought it was cute. (And she vowed to get Ward up there one day).

It was things like that which made them less of a team and more of a family.

What they had was simple, something no one thought an agent's life could be. They didn't know how long the smooth sailing would last either. But for now, it was theirs.

And they were going to live each and every moment of it to the fullest.

THE END.

A/n:

Well... that only took ten months of my life.

And we wave goodbye with fluffy family team time and ships sailing. Yeehaw.

Thank you thank you thank you for all the reviews and everything else! I appreciated ever piece of feedback I got, those emails always made me so excited. Whatever you guys enjoyed most always made me want to write more of that particular part.

BIG THANKS to Shadow375 for being my beta on many chapters and my all around support system to bounce ideas off of. Jango27, Marvel-Tolkien Fangirl, annavale23, FavoredFire, chocolatebackground, AOSshipper, EmmaJMcGhee, beverlie4055 and anyone I may have missed, thank you for the multiple reviews as well as some really awesome detailed ones!

Sorry, I know I sound like I'm giving an Oscar thank you speech but I can't imagine not writing this anymore! Right now I only have one of current story going on, which is a Daredevil/SHIELD crossover you can find on my profile, but I'll probably be back with more. Maybe. We'll see...

Peace out humans :)