Phil and Melinda had a dining room with a large oak table in the centre of the room, and high-backed chairs surrounding it. It was so clean and tidy, it looked almost unused, which according to Melinda was true. They only ever used the room on particularly special occasions, like Christmas, or when they had lots of people over.
While Phil finished up making dinner, Melinda had taken Skye from room to room in the downstairs of the house, showing off the other rooms she hadn't seen. A poky laundry room on the side of the kitchen, a downstairs bathroom in the hall, the dining room with the big table, and the room Skye was most interested in seeing, the room Melinda introduced as the 'Playroom'.
Technically, Melinda said, the playroom had been intended by the builders of the house to be a second living room, but after having so many children living with them, over the years the room had become the central hub for the kids to hang out in, whether they were three years old or twenty-five. All the kids loved the playroom.
The door to the playroom was closed when Melinda led Skye to it, but she could have easily identified the room as special compared to the others in the house. For one, the wooden door had been covered in various pictures and photographs, some in frames, some looking as though they had been haphazardly tacked to the door. But what gave the room away most, were the glittery letters in the centre of the door, helpfully spelling out 'playroom' in primary colours.
Skye let go of Melinda's hand and stepped forward to inspect the pictures and photographs more closely. Some of them, she was too short to see properly, but the ones at eye level were just as interesting.
A drawing of two figures who looked suspiciously like Melinda and Phil and of a young boy with a soccer ball at the centre of them was labelled in neat childish script: by Trip, age 10.
Another drawing, more artistic than the one by 'Trip' was in a frame and securely attached to the door. This one depicted an impressive ink sketch of two girls' faces, pressed closed together with smirks on their lips. There was tiny writing at the bottom corner, and Skye took her time to spell out the words in her head. It read: Sisters, by Bobbi Morse-Coulson.
Skye dared to trace the two girls' faces over the glass of the frame with her finger. "Your Bobbi drew that?" She asked, getting even closer to the door to see the tiny pen strokes on the picture.
"She did." Melinda said from behind her. "A few years ago. She copied off a photograph."
Skye turned around to look at Melinda. "She's really good at drawing."
"I know. In fact, the photograph she copied off is up there." Melinda nodded to somewhere on the door above Skye's head.
Skye stepped back to look up at the photograph, again in a frame and nailed to the door. Practically the same image from Bobbi's drawing looked back at her, only this time in colour and far more detail. Two girls, one blonde and the other with bright red hair, were smiling at each other rather than at the camera. Skye smiled; she couldn't help it.
"They're very pretty." She said, standing on her tiptoes to see the girls better.
"Here." Melinda said and lifted Skye onto her hip so that she could see the picture better.
The girls' faces took up the entire frame, only a little bit of background visible.
"Who are they?" Skye asked.
Melinda smiled at her. "Can you guess who they might be?" She asked.
Skye could. "Bobbi and Natasha?"
"Spot on, little one." Melinda kissed her nose and turned back to the photograph. "That's Bobbi." She pointed to the blonde girl. "And that's Nat." She pointed to the redhead.
"Sisters." Skye mumbled.
She didn't mean for Melinda to hear her, but the woman said, "Yeah. Sisters."
While Melinda was holding her, Skye took the opportunity to look at the other drawings and photographs on the door near the top. One in particular caught her eye and made her giggle. A pretty accurate drawing of Captain America stood out on stark white paper, but the face of the drawing had been replaced with a small photograph cut-out of Phil's face.
"Who did that one?" Skye laughed, pointing to the 'Captain Phil'.
"Oh," Melinda smirked, "that's courtesy of Hunter." She pointed to the top of the picture where the words: by Lance Hunter, age 24 ¾, was scrawled. "He likes to think he's funny."
"I think he's funny." Skye grinned at the picture.
"I'll let him know." Melinda said and pointed to another photograph, this one tacked to the door by the handle, a little crumpled where the doorknob was, but otherwise clear. "There he is with Bob."
Skye squirmed and Melinda put her back down so she could crouch by the doorknob and look at the photo. Bobbi, older than she looked than in the photograph with Natasha, but no less beautiful, grinned into the camera, getting a piggy-back ride from Hunter. He too was grinning, though his eyes were on Bobbi, head turned to look at her as he held her legs and her arms wrapped around his neck.
"It says 'Lance' on the picture." Skye said. "Hunter is his last name?" She asked.
"Yeah. Most people just call him Hunter."
"Hmm." Skye said, looking back at the photo. "He's Bobbi's boyfriend?"
"He is." Melinda said. "They live in England, that's where Hunter's from."
Skye turned back to Melinda with a frown. Natasha lived in DC with the President, that's what they'd said when they were in the car. Bobbi lived in England. Now, Skye wasn't sure how far away those places were, but England was definitely a different country.
"That's very far away." She said, and Melinda nodded in agreement. "Do you miss her a lot?"
"I do miss her very much, and Natasha, too." Melinda said, and to Skye's horror, she looked sad.
"I made you sad." Skye frowned, guilt settling in the pit of her stomach. "Don't be sad, Mel, I'm sorry."
Melinda opened her mouth to say something, but Skye was scared it was going to be something sad, so she rushed forward before Melinda got the chance and hugged her around the middle, pressing her face in to her stomach.
"Don't be sad." Skye said, although it came out muffled against Mel's shirt.
Skye felt Melinda's hand stroke the back of her head, and her stomach quiver slightly, in what Skye was thrilled to realise, was laughter. She looked up at her, keeping her arms around the woman.
"You're okay, right?" Skye asked. "Even though I made you miss Bobbi and Natasha?"
"I'm fine." Melinda assured her. "Skye, you didn't make me sad, I always miss my babies, but I'm not sad."
"You're not?"
"No." She pushed Skye's hair behind her shoulders. "And you know why?"
"Why?"
"Because, I've got another baby now." She smiled and stroked Skye's cheek.
Skye cocked her head to one side in thought. "Who?" She asked. Skye had been promised she was the only kid in the house, if Phil and Melinda had other kids running around, she wasn't sure if she would be wanted like they'd promised.
Melinda laughed and knelt on the ground. Like that she was just as tall as Skye, and she took Skye's hands and wrapped them around her neck, rubbing little circles on the back of her hand with her thumbs.
"You're my new baby, silly." Mel grinned.
"Oh." Skye said. "I am?"
"Well, only if you want to be."
Skye thought about it. Back at the orphanage, some of the older girls she had shared a room with, made fun of her and called her a baby all the time. They laughed and called her a baby and it made Skye feel horrible inside, but the way Melinda said it, it like being a baby was a nice thing.
"I'm not a baby, though." Skye said, suddenly concerned Phil and Mel wouldn't want her if they realised she was too big. "I'm eight you know."
"Honey," Mel smiled, stroking Skye's hands, "Natasha is nineteen and Bobbi is twenty five and they're still my baby girls. Age eight definitely qualifies you to be my baby girl, if you want to be."
"What do I have to do to be the baby?" Skye asked, now suddenly more inclined to take up this position, now that she knew Phil and Melinda's daughters, too, were the babies.
"You don't have to do anything." Mel assured her. "You just need to be you. Just be Skye."
"I can do that."
"I know you can, you're awesome at it."
Skye grinned at her and accepted Melinda's offered high-five with enthusiasm. She was pretty awesome at being Skye; certainly more awesome than she was at being Mary Sue Poots, but Phil and Mel didn't seem to expect her to be that person.
"Oh," Mel said, grabbing Skye's attention, "there is one thing you have to do in order to be one of my babies."
"What's that?"
Melinda stood up, picking Skye up with her and hugging her tightly. "You have to give me lots and lots of cuddles!"
Skye laughed and squealed as Melinda tickled her sides and pressed kisses all over her face, making exaggerated kissy noises.
"Do you think you can be one of the babies?" Mel asked, continuing to tickle Skye.
"Yes!" Skye laughed.
"You sure?" Melinda blew a raspberry onto Skye's cheek.
"Yes!" Skye squealed.
"Okay then." Melinda placed Skye back onto her feet, grinning down at her. "Then it's settled. Welcome to the family, baby girl."
Skye smiled dizzily, stumbling slightly on her feet after all of the laughing. She glanced back at the decorated door of the playroom, eyes immediately drawn to Bobbi and Natasha's faces, who smiled back at her in various photographs.
"Guys, it's ready." Phil called from the kitchen and Skye looked away from Bobbi and Natasha, back to Melinda.
She held out her hand to Skye. "Come on, let's get some food."
Skye took Mel's hand and followed her back through the house, into the kitchen, a little mad that she hadn't got the chance to look around the playroom.
"I promise you can hang out in the playroom for a little while later, okay?" Melinda said as if she had literally read Skye's mind.
"Kay." She replied, letting Melinda help her up onto one of the tall chairs surrounding the kitchen island.
Plates had been set out at three sittings on the island, and Melinda went to the fringe and poured a glass of juice to set by Skye's plate.
"What do you say?" Melinda smiled, nodding towards the juice.
Skye paused, unsure what she meant.
"Ttthhh…" Melinda sounded out until the words she was looking for dawned on Skye.
"Oh! Thank you, for my juice." She said, feeling her cheeks get a little hot. Manners, Skye scolded herself, she should have known that. Sister Jane was always telling them how mommies and daddies like children who had good manners. "Thank you, Mel." Skye repeated for good measure.
"You're very welcome, Skye."
Phil spooned some type of stir-fry onto their plates, pausing over Skye's shoulder to give her a quick kiss on the top of her head.
"Thank you, Phil." She smiled.
"You're welcome, Skye." He put the left overs, over by the hob, and came back around to sit at the island beside Skye. "Did you get a good look around the house?" Phil asked, beginning to dig in to his dinner.
Skye watched as Phil ate, then looked over to where Melinda was pouring glasses of water for her and Phil by the fridge. She picked up her fork but didn't touch her food. Melinda put the jug of water back in the fridge and kicked the door shut, bringing the glasses over to the island.
"Skye?" She asked, sitting down on the other side of her.
"Yes?"
"You want to start eating?" Mel smiled, picking up her own fork. "I promise Phil is a good cook."
Skye grinned at Phil and eagerly began shovelling the food into her mouth. "I thought I should wait 'till you said I could." She said, taking another mouthful. "This is good."
"Why thank you." Phil laughed. "I'm glad you approve of my cooking."
"Compliments to the chef." Melinda said, smiling.
"So, Skye. Did you get to see the rest of the house?"
Skye shrugged and began answering with a mouthful of noodles. "Mm hmm, but not the-,"
"Chew and swallow please." Phil said.
Skye hastily swallowed the food, but pulled the plate closer to her as she spoke. "I didn't get to see the inside of the playroom, though." She huffed and sucked up some more noodles messily.
"Oh, you're missing out!" Phil laughed. "The playroom is awesome."
Skye's face fell. "It is?" He nodded, still smiling as she turned to Melinda. "You promised I could see it later. Right?"
Mel smiled, taking a sip of water. "Right."
Skye relaxed. "Cool." She stabbed at some chicken with her fork a few times, the food falling off continuously, until Skye put down her cutlery and used her hands instead. "I saw the door, though." She said with her mouth full.
Phil tapped her shoulder and Skye tipped her head to look over at him, her hair dipping into the food. He rolled his eyes fondly and reached over to pull back her hair and tuck it into her t-shirt's collar.
"Try not to talk with your mouth full, okay?" He said.
She nodded, picking up some noodles with her fingers and shoving them into her mouth, wiping the sauce off her cheeks with her hand.
Melinda pulled Skye's plate further onto the island. "Slow down, baby." She said. "There's no rush. Eat too fast and you'll get a tummy ache."
"I never get tummy aches." Skye boasted, making the effort to swallow her mouthful of food before talking. "Never, ever, ever."
"Despite that," Phil smiled, "why don't you slow down, let Mel and I keep up." He passed her the fork.
Skye nodded, taking the fork, and paused before taking her next bite. She stabbed some chicken on the fork and picked it off her utensil, popping it into her mouth with her fingers, chewing slowly. Eating slowly was hard. Back at St. Agnes', if she didn't eat quickly, someone would finish her food for her.
"So," Phil continued, "you saw our playroom door? Impressive, huh?"
"I liked it." Skye smiled. "It has lots of drawings on it."
"Yeah. Some of those drawings have been there for a very long time."
"I liked Bobbi's drawing best." She murmured, looking to Melinda. "The one of the photograph."
"Sisters." Melinda said, and Phil nodded in acknowledgement. "You like drawing?" She asked.
Skye shrugged. She used to like colouring, a long time ago when she lived with Miss Macy. She had bought Skye lots of colouring things, and paints, and glitter glue. Skye had even made her a special card once that had taken her a very long time because she had had to wait for all of the glitter glue to dry before she could write on it, and Miss Macy had even put it up on the fridge, but then…well, sometimes she got made when Skye was bad.
And one day Skye was very bad and Miss Macy had shouted at her and Skye had shouted back and it was hard to remember exactly what had happened, but Miss Macy had ripped up the card. Skye had got in a lot of trouble and Abby had even come to Miss Macy's house because she had been so bad. Hitting was always bad, Abby had said to Skye. After that, Miss Macy didn't want Skye anymore. Abby had taken her back to St. Agnes' with her, and Skye had had to leave all of her new things at the house.
Skye didn't really like colouring anymore.
"You could maybe make a picture to go on the playroom door?" Phil suggested.
"I'm not good like Bobbi." Skye mumbled. There was no food left on her plate, but she used the fork to draw patterns in the sauce.
"Oh, honey, it doesn't matter how good you are." Phil said gently.
Skye frowned and looked up at Phil. "What's it about then?"
"Well, what about how much effort you put in?" He said.
She thought back to the card she had made for Miss Macy. Skye couldn't imagine Phil and Melinda ripping down her drawings and putting them in the trash, but then, when she had first moved in with Miss Macy, she hadn't imaged her being like that either.
"I guess." Skye shrugged, and looked back to her empty plate. She didn't want to talk about drawing anymore, it made her belly feel all tight and made her want to suck her thumb. "I saw Natasha and Bobbi's photo." She said to change the subject.
"You did?" Phil asked.
"And Hunter." Melinda said with a smirk, standing and collecting all three of their plates. "Tell Phil what else you saw on the door." She dumped the plates in the sink and turned on the taps.
"What else did you see?"
"She saw Hunter's artwork."
Phil's face fell as Skye's grin widened.
"Captain Phil-merica!" Skye shouted, laughing.
"You suck, Mel." Phil groaned. "We need to take that down."
"No!" Skye shook her head. "It's so cool. You're a superhero, Phil. You can save the world."
"See," Mel said, putting the rinsed dishes into the dishwasher, "Skye loved super-Phil."
Phil shook his head. "I suppose if Skye likes it, it'll have to stay up there."
"Yay! Captain Phil!" Skye jumped down from her seat to run around the kitchen singing an improvised theme song for Phil. Just as she was reaching a crescendo featuring the lyrics 'He can fly because he's the guy!', Skye was captured by Melinda. "Hey!" Skye protested, wiggling half-heartedly in her grasp.
"Sorry, super-girl, but you've got more food on your face and hands than you have in your tummy." Melinda wiped her hands with a damp cloth and Skye stopped struggling to obediently let her clean her up.
"You've also got plenty of dinner in your hair." Phil commented, walking over to them and picking at the tendrils of crusty hair that has escaped from her collar. "Super-girl needs a bath before bedtime."
"Yes," Mel agreed, "I think a bath is a good idea."
"But you promised I could go in the playroom." Skye whined, stamping her foot. "You promised." She said angrily, throwing herself onto the floor in protest. "You can't make me take a bath."
Melinda passed Phil the cloth and he took it, leaving Skye's line of sight to presumably return it to the sink. Somewhere else in the house, the phone rang but Melinda didn't acknowledge it and it stopped after a couple of rings. Mel got down on the floor in front of Skye.
"M'not going in the bath, so there." Skye grumbled. She wanted to go in the playroom, not the bath. Going in the bath always meant going to bed. Skye didn't want to go to bed. "I wanna go play!" Skye kicked her legs at nothing.
The uncontrollable anger began bubbling over inside Skye and she slapped her hands down on the tiled floor, making them sting. She doubled over, pressing her forehead into the ground and shouted loudly. "No going! No!"
Skye sat up to see Melinda sat across from her and watching quietly. Skye made a few more angry noises and a long drawn out, frustrated squeal. "No bath! I'm not going in the bath. No!" An angry tear escaped Skye's eye and Melinda reached out to wipe it away. The little girl whimpered and scrubbed at her eyes.
"Shh." Melinda said gently. "You all finished with your tantrum?"
Skye huffed and crossed her arms over her chest grumpily. She didn't feel like being angry anymore. She was too tired now. "Yes." She squeaked, looking away.
"Okay, then." Melinda said. "Look at me."
Skye turned her head even further away, almost craning her neck enough to look at the cabinets behind her.
"Make a good decision, Skye. Look at me, please."
Skye had been bad. She could make good decisions. She could. Skye looked at Melinda warily, but the woman didn't look mad, just neutral. In fact, Melinda was so calm, that Skye was beginning to wonder if she was even really paying attention to her.
"Are you finished with your tantrum?" She asked again.
Skye nodded sheepishly.
"Tell me." Melinda said. "Tell me that you're all finished."
"I'm all finished." Skye said.
"Okay then. I'm going to talk, and you're going to listen to me." Melinda said. "You're not in charge, Skye, and if either Phil or I tell you to do something, you do it."
She paused and Skye nodded, assuming Melinda was waiting for some type of confirmation that Skye understood.
"Now," Mel continued, "I made you a promise that you could have some time in the playroom tonight, and I intended to keep that promise, however, after you chose to get angry and have a tantrum, I'm not sure that's a good idea."
Skye looked down at her hands. "Sometimes I can't help it."
"Can't help what?"
"Getting mad." Skye mumbled.
Melinda rubbed Skye's knee. She looked up at the woman and Melinda gestured for her to move closer. When Skye was within reach, Melinda pulled her onto her lap and tucked Skye's head under her chin.
"I know it's hard, baby. Sometimes it's easier to get angry than it is to do anything else, but you've got to try, okay?" She rocked Skye gently and stroked her back. "You've got to try and stay calm, because that temper is going to get you into trouble."
It already had. Skye had gotten herself into hot water more times than she count because her anger had gotten out of hand. She cuddled in closer to Melinda and rubbed her thumb back and fourth over her lips.
"How about we make a deal?" Melinda asked.
"What kind of a deal?" Skye retorted.
"If you're good, and you take a bath and get ready for bed, all without making any bad decisions and throwing tantrums, then you can play in the playroom for half an hour before bed. How does that sound?"
That all sounded pretty good to Skye. After throwing a fit like that, she had expected Melinda and Phil to march her off to bed immediately, and to ban her from the playroom altogether.
"I can be good." She said, pulling back to look Mel in the eye properly. "I'm not lying," Skye clarified, "I can be good."
"I believe you." Melinda smiled. "You're a good girl, Skye. You are."
"M'sorry I got mad." Skye said. And she really was. She didn't like getting angry anymore than anyone else liked dealing with an angry Skye.
"You're forgiven, baby." Melinda kissed Skye on the head and gave her a long squeeze. Skye hugged her back, feeling much better now that she knew Melinda wasn't mad. "Come on then, bath time."
Melinda and Skye left the kitchen and walked through the living room, hand in hand, towards the stairs. Phil was lounging on the recliner armchair as they passed, talking on the phone. He gave them a little smile and a wave as they passed.
"Okay, honey, I'll tell her." He said, making a subtle gesture with one hand, causing Melinda to halt her and Skye's progress to the stairs. "I'll get her to call you back later tonight…yeah...okay" he smiled, "…okay, bubba I love you. Give Clint a hug from me…yeah…yes…okay. I love you, honey. Bye…bye." Phil put the phone on the arm of the chair and turned to Melinda and Skye. "All okay?" He asked, looking between the two.
Mel looked down at Skye and squeezed her hand. "Yeah, we're all good." She looked back to Phil. "Nat?"
"Yeah. Good news." Phil grinned.
"Oh?"
"Her classes got cancelled for next week, something about the scheduled protests at the White House." He shrugged. "Anyway, Clint managed to get the time off of work, and so they're flying out here Friday, gonna stay for the whole week and fly back on the Sunday."
"That's great!" Melinda grinned. "Oh, I've missed my bubba." She said.
"Natasha is coming here?" Skye asked Phil.
"And Clint. For over a week! And she's very excited to meet you, Skye."
"She is? Why?" In her ample experience, Skye generally thought existing children of foster parents were less than thrilled when a new child turned up.
Phil laughed. "Nat's been asking for a baby sister for a very long time."
"She's going to love you, little one." Melinda said.
Skye smiled at Melinda's smiling face. "She'll like me?"
"Nat will adore you, baby." Melinda said, swinging their joined hands. "Now, bath time."
A/N: Review Please! Thanks for all the kind words from the last chapter! xxx