Yo so this is Chapter Five!

So I've made the executive decision to change the plot of AOS slightly, so I'll give you all the run down.

I'm going to skip the events in which Skye is shot and pretty much dies, but is saved by that special serum and get closer to the events of the Diviner, but change it up slightly to suit my plot better.

Hope no one hates it too much!

It took Coulson till around 1100 hours for him to realise that Skye had not shown her face since the events of earlier in the morning. He had assumed she had found some small, quiet area in which she could burrow into, that or she would have been breaking things in the gym, such as the punching bags. He glanced at the monitors of the main areas of the Bus, the labs where FitzSimmons were mingling, the gym which was empty, quickly sighting the others dotted around the large plane.

No Skye.

Wherever she was, there was little of her that wanted to be with her team. Coulson knew that feeling detached would be normal for her at this time, but was wary that a decline in her mental health could become evident if she was separate from her 'family'.

Running his hands over his face, rubbing tired eyes, Coulson paused in his actions, truly not knowing what to do. He had always taken pride in being witty, being one step ahead of the game, but now, he was torn. Weighing up options in his mind he pulled out his phone and called May.

There was a brief pause once the call was answered, "What is it?" The question was more of a statement, May did not spend time making small talk.

"Can you come to my office? We need to talk about Skye." She was his second in charge, but also Coulson's close friend and he needed support from her with any decision he made.

"Fine."

In less than a minute she appeared, closing the door quietly behind her, she took a seat facing Coulson.

There was a definite pause, "Well what is it?"

Coulson cleared his throat, "We need to decide what we are doing about Skye, I mean ignoring the issue will not buy us time when they come back for her."

May, who usually sat bolt upright, rested back slightly against the leather chair, "What are our options then?"

"We either let her go back to Dawson, try our best to keep in touch and when she is old enough we come back for her," Coulson hated that option, thinking back to Skye and the happenings of last night, "Or, we find a way to adopt her into the team, make one of us her legal guardian, something along those lines."

May thought briefly, she was never one to rush into any choices without weighing up the pros and cons of each option, "Phil, this is not like before, we, no one can actually be Skye's parents. She won't like that."

"She won't like leaving the team here, guardianship is merely a practicality, she would be free to do as she pleased," Coulson reasoned.

May nodded her head slightly, "It'll take months for us to get cleared, plus Dawson would have to sign the papers."

"We can make it happen, Skye just needs to know we won't leave her behind."

S.H.I.E.L.D

"Simmons, have you seen Skye?" Coulson had checked all of the top floor of the Bus, and was now checking the labs, he was beginning to get worried.

Looking up from her computer, Jemma glanced around the room, "No I haven't sorry sir, is she missing?"

"I hope not," Coulson looked through the glass wall and down into the landing bay, whose door was lowered and open. Outside there was a small tarmac with a short grassy expanse then a high wire fence, beyond that, forest. Coulson mused that it was strange, thinking he had shut it recently, but was distracted by the realisation that he knew where Skye would be, in her van.

As he got closer to the vehicle he knew his assumption was true, there was a faint bass that could be hear. The van was fairly soundproof so Coulson knew her music would be blaring inside. After knocking a few times, and then banging on the door, the music quickly stopped, and the door slid open.

Skye's hair was slightly messy, her smile wavering slightly upon seeing Coulson, "Oh, uh hey."

Coulson decided to ignore her obvious nerves, "Can I come in?"

Nodding she replied, "Go for it," Before retreating and sitting down on a tattered couch.

Coulson sat down the far end, on a bean bag. Having barely ever been in the van Coulson scanned what he could see. The far side had a small couch, with shelves both above and below it, the front end had computer and general tech stuff, and the back where he was had blankets and a large speaker system. There was a half packed bag to one side, and a few of the drawers were open. He looked back at Skye, who bit her lip slightly . "Look Skye-"

"I'm sorry about last night," She quickly interrupted in a nervous tone, "I had a bad dream and needed to be alone."

Coulson knew it wasn't in Skye's nature to apologise without a genuine cause, "It's ok, that's not what I need to talk about though." There was recognition in the women's eyes, the hushed voice, laced with both kindness and empathy. She had heard it hundreds of times as a child, once again, she was unwanted.

"You're sending me away," She shook her head, looking away, she looked pissed. This surprised Coulson, rather than be generically sad or upset, Skye was angry.

Quick to attempt to soften the blow Coulson offered more information, "But I have a proposition. If someone in the team offered to become your new legal guardian then you could stay with us. Permanently."

Not looking at him Skye replied through gritted teeth, "Dawson, he has to approve," She made eye contact, "Which he won't."

"Why does he even want to have you?!"

Skye's face immediately went into a deadpanned expression, "Oh gee thanks AC."

Rolling his eyes slightly, "You know I don't mean it like that." His voice trailed off when he glanced at the bag on the couch; toothbrush, hairbrush, clothing, he looked back at Skye, who was wearing a rain jacket, jeans and running shoes. He shot her a look, "Skye, care to explain?"

She stood slowly, "Look Coulson, I am not exaggerating, I cannot go back to Dawson. What you're saying is cool and all but it'll take months to get approved and he won't sign anything. I won't last that long."

Thinking he could remain in control of the situation Coulson pressed a small distress button on his watch, to alert May to come find him and prevent Skye running away. Suddenly a loud beeping noise was emitted from one of the many monitors at the front of the van. Skye had set them up to alert her of different things, this one in particular was of foreign signals being set off, namely for tracking beckons but in this case Coulson's watch had set it off.

Skye looked back at Coulson, wide eyed, hand floating down to grab her bag, "I-I I'm sorry-"

Coulson started to stand, holding out his hands in mock innocence, "Skye you don't have to run," Thinking back to her speed, having gotten a better 100m sprint time than May, "We can sort this out together."

A brief head shake was her only response, as Skye swung her pack over one shoulder, looping it onto the second in one smooth movement, before leaping out of her van. She bolted across the tarmac, reaching the fence well ahead of Coulson, who was yelling into his phone. Clambering over the fence she looked back at the Bus, where May had just appeared at the open landing bay. Skye made eye contact with May, who instead of her usual glare held sorrow in her features, before turning and running into the bush.

S.H.I.E.L.D

Coulson was quick to put the entire area into lockdown, with everyone frantic to locate Skye. He knew he had less than 24 hours before Child Services would be back, demanding they take Skye back with them, and that would be an awkward interaction if she wasn't there. He climbed back into Skye's van, looking for any evidence of where she was headed, he knew Skye, she always had back up plans for back up plans. Picking up a small, worn teddy bear he sighed, again the information of her youth thrust against him.

He pulled open a drawer that lay underneath the couch, pulling out a small notebook, the pages a weathered yellow. Inside was a list, they appeared to be names, last names. Beside each was the date, it ranged from early 2003 to 2010, and ended with a firm horizontal line. Coulson presumed it mean the end of that stage of Skye's life. Beneath the line was 'S.H.I.E.L.D'. Feeling a wave of empathy with the knowledge that Skye thought she had found something permanent, Coulson glanced at the rubbish bin near Skye's desk in the van. It was empty, bar a piece of paper that was scrunched into a small ball, he picked it up, unwrapping it.

It was a note, a short one without an ending, Coulson assuming he had interrupted the writing of.

"Hey guys. So that happened.

I'm sorry that I had to do that, ya know, run away and all that, but I would rather that than be with Dawson. I know I haven't told you anything about why or how I came to hate living with him, but that is not something that deserves to be written anywhere, so I'm not going to put it in here. I just need to wait for a while before coming back, once I'm actually an adult then I'll be free.

Hope this doesn't mess up the team, but from what I've gathered families tend to forget pretty quickly."

Coulson looked at his watch, his spare hand floating, the letter hovering in the air with it. With it nearing the evening he knew that a phone call had to be made. He dialled the number and a tired voice answered.

"Dan Cullen, child services."

"Yeah hi, my name's Phil Coulson and I-"

He was quickly interrupted, "What can I help you with Mr Coulson, I clock of in 5 minutes."

Coulson paused, thinking of how to word with he had to say, "I, uh, Skye ran away, we haven't seen her in about 3 hours."

There was some shuffling of papers, "You would be referring to Mary Sue Poots? 17 year old under the legal guardianship of Scott Dawson?"

Not having time to question the name given Coulson replied, "Yes, I need to report her missing to you."

There was a pause, "I believe you are mistaken, her guardian phoned about an hour ago, stating she was with him. Are you sure you are talking about the right child?"

"What?" Confusion was etched into Coulson's features, "I am certain, are you positive about this?"

"Yes Mr Coulson," Cullen answered in a monotone voice, "Is that all?"

"Uh yes, thank you."

The line went dead and Coulson looked off into space, trying to figure out how Skye was at Dawson's already. He didn't even know where Dawson lived. But he knew that as long as Skye was there she wasn't safe, he ran up the stairs and into his office to run a search on Dawson's whereabouts.

Thank you sososososososo much for the response to the previous chapter! Your reviews are honestly amazing, even a simple 'good work' helps so much when I'm having a writers block!