Jemma and Skye were feeling tired and defeated. The two of them were sitting on the sidewalk, under the rays of the scorching sun, their backpacks abandoned by their sides and their spirits low. The elementary school needed funding to be able to do some construction on the building. All students were asked to help. Pretty much everyone was going to sell cookies and even if the idea was already widely used, the two girls had agreed they'd be following the same fundraising method. But there was a problem: Mom wasn't that much of a cook, and even if she was, she was too pregnant by now to do anything. Dad talked about how Mom could go into labor any day now and that they should not upset her. Luckily Alice, one of Skye's classmates who happened to be a girl scout, had provided them with some cookies.

Then another problem had arisen: people hadn't bought their cookies. A couple people had, but others had dismissed them as kindly as they could. Jemma and Skye had already walked blocks and blocks in hopes of selling their cookies. So far they'd earned only $12 and swollen feet.

"We're never going to get money for the school," Jemma sadly vented, "and I can kiss my dreams of going to Cambridge goodbye."

"Hey, c'mon Jem, we're gonna get the money."

Jemma propped her elbows on her knees and supported her chin on the palm of her hands, "Maybe we should have been smarter about this…"

"Yeah, that's something only you can be."

Whatever Jemma said after, Skye didn't hear. She was observing and listening to what was happening in the house just across the street. A teenager was loading things into the trunk of an old, dented car. He was loading food, a lot of it, and his mother was helping him.

"I think I've got enough for two months," the teen said, looking back at his mother.

The woman smiled, "That is if you and your colleagues don't eat everything before the end of this week."

"Don't overreact, Mom. I know it's hard living at the dorms, but we don't eat like pigs, alright? This food should be enough for two months."

"Alright then," she placed her hand on her son's shoulder, "then come to say goodbye to your father and your sister before you go."

"New York isn't that far. And we can Skype almost every day," he pointed out.

"Come inside, Aaron," his mother insisted, pushing him ahead of her.

Skye's impish grin grew as she stood up in a jump. "Jem, let's go."

"Where?"

"With him."

Skye grabbed Jemma by the wrist and made her run the short distance to the old car. She opened the trunk and told her sister to get in. Even though Jemma was reluctant, the two ended up crumpling up in the trunk amongst the cargo.

Skye and Jemma met Aaron after some two hours of traveling. It was with great surprise and a few screams that they met each other. The poor guy flinched back with the scare as he opened the trunk and saw the two girls curled up in there.

"Hey, oh, wha – what the – what the hell?"

"Sorry for scaring you," Skye said with half a grin, climbing down out of the trunk.

"But thank you for the ride," Jemma added.

"What the hell is this? Wait… aren't you the kids of that couple that has lots of adopted kids?"

"Yeah," the younger one replied. "Anyway we gotta go. We have to sell cookies."

"Wait a freaking second," Aaron said, "What are you going to do here?"

"Skye heard you talk with your mom and noted that college students seem to encounter difficulties when it comes to food so we thought of, well, extorting" Jemma tried to think of a nicer word, but she was always very honest, "some students to gather the money that our school needs to undergo repair works."

Aaron snickered, "Well, good luck with that." He gestured to the dormitory building, affirming, "welcome to NYU Law's student dorms."

"We're doomed, aren't we?" Skye asked, looking at her sister.

"Not at all," Jemma smiled, "I excel at argumentation."

"But you're a terrible liar. We're screwed."

"I can help you two sneak inside," Aaron offered, "after that you are on your own. And one little warning," he turned and walked backwards as he spoke, "don't knock on doors that have a sock hanging on the doorknob."

The two girls walked around the building and experienced the same thing they did back at the neighborhoods near their house: either people would buy their cookies or dismiss them. Only, there at the dorms, they weren't so nice and some students just simply pushed them out the door. Jemma's confidence was slowly failing her as the minutes went by, even with Skye trying her best to cheer her up and pull her through the halls. A short, blond guy opened up the door after they knocked.

"Hello," Skye began, "we're here to sell cookies. All the money will be used to fix our elementary school."

"Uh, yeah, we don't actually need cookies. Try another dorm room."

Jemma's lip pouted – she had reached her breaking point. The girl began walking away and left her younger sister staring between her and the student.

"Jemma," Skye called out in vain, "Jem, wait."

There was no use calling her as she was pretty disappointed and embarrassed. Jemma walked in quick strides to the door and sat on the lawn, waiting for Skye to walk out the door so that they could leave the campus as soon as possible.

"What is going on?" another student showed up, the roommate of the first one that had opened up the door to them.

"Hey!" Skye reprimanded, pointing her finger at the two students, "why did you upset Jemma?"

"We didn't upset her, kid. We told you we didn't want to buy your cookies. She was the one that got upset. Nothing personal against you two, really."

Skye stared the ground for a while, and once she looked up, her eyes were watery, "Listen, Jemma really likes school. And she's super, super smart. I mean, she's being transferred to the 7th graders' class because she's that smart. And she's already saving up money for college. That's why this means a lot to her. If she can't go to school now then how will she be able to go to college later? She says she wants to be a bio…" the girl pondered on the word for a few seconds until she remembered it, "biochemist. You gotta help her be a biochemist."

"You're trying to sell us cookies to raise funds for your school, yet you're only talking on her behalf. You've got no college ambitions for yourself, kid?" the other guy asked, walking to the door and resting his forearm on the door frame.

She shrugged, "I'm just really good with computers. I don't think that there's a school for that."

"You could be a programmer."

"What do they do?"

The two teenagers looked at each other but the blond ended up answering, "They write computer software."

"Ah," the girl acknowledged, "I'm more into hacking. Hacking to do good things, alright?" Skye rushed to explain. "I -"

"Wait a second," one of them stopped her, waving his arms, "you can hack?"

"Yeah," she said as it was the most natural thing in the world.

The two students exchanged a look and then pulled Skye into their dorm room.

"I'm Tyler," the blond introduced himself; "this is my friend and roommate Jack. We'd like to offer you a deal."

Skye frowned, grabbing at the straps of her backpack, "What deal?"

"You see, we're about to fail Law 344. If you can change our grades we'll help you and your sister sell those cookies and make a small fortune. What do you say?"

"Got a computer?" Skye asked, dropping her backpack on the floor by the door.

"Oh, of course we do," Jack grinned, putting his laptop on their small desk and gesturing Skye to walk over to it. "Take a seat."

Skye was done with her hacking in minutes, and the two students were clear from danger once she was done: their grades had successfully been changed to B-'s. While Skye and Jack went to fetch Jemma to bring her inside, Tyler started gathering up his fellow friends and acquaintances. The two lawyers-to-be began making deals on Skye and Jemma's behalf, selling their cookies for two or three times more the price they had set. The girls grinned widely as they watched the cookies' packages disappearing and the money piling up on in their pockets. After the sales were finished, Jemma realized how late it was as she gazed through a window and saw the sun sinking low in the west.

Dad! It was the only way to go back home. They asked for a phone and upon dialing the number they hoped that he wouldn't be too angry at them. After all, they did do what he had asked them: not upset mom. Coulson ranged from worried to mad in seconds flat once he learned that his two little girls, both under the age of ten, were at a college dorm. Needless to say that, even though he was already half away home, he turned the car around and drove to New York as fast as he could.

There was some sort of silent agreement between the three to not tell May anything. Coulson came up with a petty lie and all that Jemma and Skye had to do was nod their heads and agree. Coulson told his wife that the girls had called him and that they were a few blocks away from home but too tired so they just waited for him. May didn't really believe any of what she was told but she didn't exactly have any proof of what had actually happened so she let it slip.

"My feet hurt," Skye whined, walking upstairs.

Jemma followed her little sister to their bedroom, moaning with every footstep, "ow, ow, ow."

"Go to bed. I'll be right there," May told the girls and made the way to the bathroom to grab some cream.

May encountered her husband and Coulson really wished that there was a hole where he could hide because she stared him right in the eye, and she wasn't that happy, "I don't think that they could have gotten blisters in their feet from walking for a few blocks, but I'll just pretend I believed what you told me for the sake of this baby inside me."

Coulson flashed a small smile – he was terrified! – and said, "I didn't –"

"Don't," she warned. "If you want to live, don't try to fool me again."

"Just so you know, nothing bad happened. They were just far from home and no one meant to bother you."

Despite of what had already happened that day, Jemma and Skye's mischief wasn't done.

Jemma couldn't stop thinking of the money they'd made. Their teacher had made it clear that no matter how little money they could earn, every little bit would help. She had estimated the profit to be about $25. Thanks to Tyler and Jack and their persuasive skills they'd made much more than her initial prediction. She knew that stealing was bad but technically she wasn't stealing. She and Skye had earned that money and Jemma was certain that her sister wouldn't mind if she kept $25 for herself.

Jemma believed she was on the verge of producing a synthesized version of dendrotoxin. For that she needed more chemicals… and money. For a ten-year-old she reasoned extraordinarily well, and that meant that, for such a young child, she could firmly affirm that she was atheist. So, she kept the money and while other kids would later be asking Jesus for forgiveness, she'd be thanking Darwin for ever existing because she'd make a breakthrough.

Skye tiptoed along the hallway to the home office. She poked her head in first, making sure Coulson wasn't working there. The girl was almost certain that he wasn't working late because now that Mom was about to have the baby, he always tried to spend as much time as he could with her, and that meant that they'd go to bed early. They'd both be worn out after the sunset and Coulson would spend nights without sleep if that meant that he could help May find a comfortable position to sleep. It always ended up with him feeling pain everywhere and her sleeping peacefully, using him as backrest and pillow.

As she had expected, he wasn't in the room so she walked in and closed the door behind her. After powering on the laptop she took a seat on the office chair and adjusted her position. Skye swung her legs while dexterously tapping her fingers on the keys, accessing an obscure part of the internet, a part not everyone could access: the hacker's world. Once she logged on to the 'We Are Everyone' forum – group of which she was a part of – she saw that the chat room was bubbling with activity. She was sent greeted by the most highly rated hacktivist in the world of white and gray hat hackers.

PePpErAvIaToR: about damn time. we were waiting for more helping hands.

alienskipper_084: sorry i'm late. what's there to do?

So far neither Coulson nor May – not even the doctor that had diagnosed her – understood that Skye's narcolepsy was nothing but the fact that she was a night owl. While everyone else was sleeping she was doing hacks that helped free harmful information that needed to be spilled.

Baby Philinda arrives next chapter :)