A/N: Sorry I haven't updated in awhile! School has been torture, but that's no excuse. I was also working on my Avengers story; Operation: Team Bonding for those that are interested. I will try to update at least once a week from now on! Enjoy! Warning: spoilers from the episode two weeks ago. Read with caution.
Not even an hour after getting back and Thomas had left, assuring the group he'd be fine returning to HYDRA for his mission, certain that no one would know about what had happened, and Lili was finally able to move and was so traumatized that she had started crying and FitzSimmons didn't know what to do.
"I want my mommy and daddy! I want my Auntie 'Ria!" She screamed, crying uncontrollably , her face red from crying so hard.
"What do we do, Fitz? I don't have Agent Romanoff or Agent Barton's number, let alone Agent Hill's! And they will be furious when they find out about what happened to Lili, especially Romanoff, being pregnant and all, and if we call, we could blow their cover." Jemma ranted, picking up the child and holding her close in an attempt to calm her.
"Go get Coulson, then!" Fitz snapped, taking Lili from Simmons and shooing her out of the lab while he tried to amuse the five-year-old.
Meanwhile, Coulson found Skye in her bunk with Grant, her eyes red, a clear indicator she had been crying.
"Agent Ward, can you go check on Marco, make sure he hasn't tried anything? I need to speak with Skye privately."
Grant reluctantly nodded, giving Skye a quick kiss on the lips before getting up and leaving the bunk, closing the door behind him as Coulson turned to Skye.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, voice barely audible as Coulson sat beside her.
"I was waiting for the right time."
Skye scoffed, "So, the minute I was in a headlock with a gun pointed at my head was the right time? Why not when we first told you I was pregnant?" She asked, looking at him with her big brown eyes.
"That wasn't the right time, and I told you when you were in trouble because if you had...if you had been hurt, I figured you should have known," Coulson started, taking a tissue from the dresser and wiping the tears from her face as he continued, "And if you had gotten hurt, especially pregnant with my grandchild, I would have never forgiven myself. I still haven't forgiven myself for that time that Quinn shot you...no one has."
Skye rested her head on his shoulder, arm looped around his as she said, "It wasn't anyone's fault, though. It would have happened eventually if I was going to become an Agent so don't beat yourselves up about it."
Coulson sighed, "I know, but it scared me. It scared all of us because we thought for sure you were going to die. Believe it or not, Skye, you're the best thing that has happened to this team...to Ward, and i'm glad that I finally get to know my daughter...if only your mother could have seen what a beautiful young woman you turned into."
Skye blushed, "Thanks...what happened to her?"
"I got the call over the summer after you had first joined the team. Your mother had been killed, but we aren't sure who or what killed her. The doctors and police all say it was a car accident, but I know it was something else."
Skye looked down at her lap, "I'm sorry."
"It wasn't your fault, but now it's my turn to ask a question. Back at the compound, Marco mentioned anorexia...what happened?"
Skye sighed, "His abuse started out as emotional, which you know, and escalated to physical abuse. When he abused me, not only was I being hit, punched, kicked, pushed down the stairs, I was also called a whore, slut, fat was the most common insult used, worthless, told me to go kill myself...all while telling me he still loved me. After awhile I just got fed up and stopped eating, only eating a small bag of cereal to get me through the day. He never noticed until I ended up in the hospital and broke up with me because he didn't want to answer questions and had a reputation to protect. I never heard from him again until recently." She said, shrugging as she continued, "Maybe it was my fault the abuse happened. Maybe I did deserve everything that happened." She added, pulling her legs up onto the bed and hugging them.
"None of that was your fault, it was his. A real man, like Grant, doesn't hit a woman. Abuse is never a person's fault no matter what people say. Just ask Agent Hill." Coulson said, wrapping his arms around her.
"It is my fault though. You just have to say it's not my fault because you're my dad."
Coulson was about to say something else when Jemma came in, seemingly out of breath.
"Am I interrupting something?" She asked, trying to catch her breath.
"No, what is it, Jem?" Skye asked, pulling away from Coulson's embrace.
"It's Lili. The paralysis has worn off but she's crying and wants her parents and Agent Hill. Fitz and I have no idea what to do. We'd call them but we don't have their phone numbers."
Coulson nodded and got up, Skye following closely behind until they reached the lab to find Fitz holding Lilith, who was still crying.
"What's wrong, Lili-Pad? You know I don't like to see you cry." Coulson said, taking the five-year-old into his arms.
"I want mommy and daddy, Uncle Phil! I want Aunt 'Ria!" She cried, holding him in a death grip.
"Lili, we can't call them because they're on a mission, but I will try and get ahold of them, but they might not pick up because it's late over in Romania." Phil answered, earning a nod from the child, who had briefly managed to stop crying as he put her back on the examination table for FitzSimmons to continue to make sure she was perfectly healthy after such an event, as Coulson went up to the sitting room with Skye to watch the interview between Grant and Marco, on the big screen, Agent May already there.
"What are you your intentions?" Grant asked, glaring at Marco, who smirked.
"Why should I tell you?"
"You almost killed my girlfriend, so you better tell me." He said, his voice deadly calm.
"All I will tell you is that my dad wants her. She has a remarkable skill set that would be useful, but my dad didn't tell me exactly what he wanted her for, but i'm assuming her hacking abilities." He answered, blue eyes boring into Ward's hazel ones before continuing, "We will get her eventually."
Grant slammed his fist down on the table, "The hell you will! You almost killed her and you think you will still get her? You don't love her as much as you say if you abused her and forced her to go anorexic, a real man doesn't hit a woman or force her into an eating disorder. Let me tell you this, she won't be out of our sight for more than a minute." Grant asked, raising his voice, which nearly made Marco cringe.
"Doesn't matter if you let her out of your sight for more than a minute. One way or another, we will get her. As long as she's here, on this plane, and pregnant. She won't be safe."
Coulson turned away from the monitor as his phone rang, surprised that it was Agent Hill seeing as it was midnight in Romania.
"Agent Hill, this is a surprise. I wasn't expecting a call from you." Coulson said into the phone as Lili walked in from the lab, her blue eyes growing wide at seeing her uncle on the phone, talking to her as he had promised.
"Well, i'm just full of surprises. I'm calling for Natasha and Clint, they want to see how Lili is."
"Is that Auntie Maria? I wanna talk to her!" Lilith cried, holding her hand out for the phone.
"Well, we had a little problem." He told Maria before handing the phone to his niece who screamed in excitement.
"Auntie 'Ria!" Lili cried, earning a chuckle from the woman.
"How are you, Lili?"
"I wanna go home! I'm scared! I want you, mommy, and daddy!"
"Well, you're on speaker right now."
"Mommy? Daddy?"
"Hello, Lilith." Clint and Natasha said simultaneously.
"Mommy and daddy, when will you be home? I'm scared and I want you!"
"What's wrong?" Clint asked, concerned at how distraught the little girl was.
"Uncle Phil let me go and leave the plane with them..I had to go to a concentration camp alone and find HY...HY..." She struggled to come up with a name.
"HYDRA?" Maria asked through clenched teeth, hoping that was not what her niece was about to say.
"Yeah that! They saw who I was and the man asked me questions, I guess he didn't like my answers because they stuck me with a needle and I couldn't feel anything and I got tired."
Silence on the other line.
"Lili, can you hand the phone back to Uncle Phil?" Natasha asked, her voice calm, but everyone could tell she was trying to stay calm and not freak out until the girl handed the phone back to Coulson.
"Yes?" Phil asked tentatively, not liking the amount of silence on the other end.
"You let our five-year-old daughter into the enemies base!?" Natasha yelled, not in the least bit happy.
"Nat_"
"We trusted you to keep her safe! Now she's crying that HYDRA paralyzed her! What the fuck, Phil!?"
Coulson cringed at the use of his first name, knowing that he was in trouble because Natasha never called him Phil.
"I know, it was stupid, and believe me, nothing scared me more than holding Lili in my arms with her unable to move and seeing my pregnant daughter in a choke hold with a gun pointed at her head." Coulson said, leaving the room and heading into his office so no one could hear.
"I swear Coulson_"
Coulson cut her off, "It's not going to happen the next time Lili is in my care. I promise, Tasha, no one will be hurt under my watch."
"Good. We're trusting you, Coulson, especially when the baby is born. We don't want either of them hurt, not even your own grandchild." Clint said, speaking for Natasha.
"And i'm glad to have that trust. Can you hand the phone back to Maria so I can talk to her privately?"
Clint didn't answer him, only the sound of shuffling and the phone being passed to Maria filled the room as the phone was taken off of speaker.
"What is it, Phil?" She asked softly, not very happy with the older Agent.
"My daughter's ex boyfriend is the son of HYDRA's leader and he was physically and emotionally abusive to her."
Maria sighed, "No offense, Phil because I like Skye, she's a sweet girl although infuriating at times, but what do you want me to do about it?"
"Tell her your story and let her know the abuse wasn't her fault. Let her know that she can do anything and her past doesn't define her."
"You know I don't like talking about most of my childhood and teen years, but since it's you, a dad concerned about his daughter, i'll see what I can do."
"When will you get back?"
"At the rate this mission is going? A week at most." She answered, sighing.
Coulson nodded, forgetting that she couldn't see him.
"See you soon then. Good bye, Mar."
Maria gave a quick good bye before she hung up and Coulson sighed.
This is going to be a long week.
A/N: Let me know what y'all think! Please review :)