A/N: Please, please, please check out an amazing edit made for this fic by the incredible SmudgeQueen. See it on my tumblr or on smudgequeenblr tumblr.
If you'd like to make an edit for this fic, please do! I'd love that. Enjoy the chapter!
Skye awoke to the strange sensation of complete relaxation. Back at St Agnes she was mostly awoken by the screaming of other kids and the knowledge that she had to get up and join them. It tended to stir up a feeling of dread low in her stomach on a morning.
Here though, her new bedroom was quiet, the blinds closed and her star lamp still casting a blue glow over the walls. At some point while asleep, Skye had managed to pull most of a blue fleece blanket up to her face, so that she was snuggling it in both arms. It felt nice to wake up naturally and not to be awoken by the orphanage's buzzer and the shouting of other kids.
Stretching, and cuddling back into the blanket, Skye closed her eyes and smiled, thinking of the night before. It was the best night ever. She had played (very carefully) with Bobbi's Barbies, before Mel and Phil had taken her up to bed, and Phil had finished reading her the end of Captain America's book. To her absolute joy, the superhero beat the Red Skull and saved all of the people from his wrath. The foggy, still sleepy part of Skye's brain dredged up images of a dream she might have had during the night, involving Captain America saving the day, but they were quickly flitting away as consciousness began to get the better of her.
The sound of her bedroom door opening, prompted Skye to open her eyes again, and thoughts of Captain America were replaced by the image of Melinda, already dressed, poking her head around the door.
"Hey, there." Mel said, coming in the room and sitting on the edge of Skye's bed. "Good morning." She brushed a hand through Skye's hair.
"Mornin'" Skye mumbled sleepily and sat up.
"You sleep okay?"
"Yes. What time is it?" There was a clock on the other side of the room, but it was analogue and Skye still struggled with those.
"Good girl. It's just after nine."
Skye raised her brows in surprise. They'd let her sleep pretty late. Back at St. Agnes', the latest they were allowed to sleep was seven-thirty, even on the weekends. Something about 'routine keeping them all in line'.
"You still up for going shopping today?" Mel asked.
Skye nodded. "Matching jammies." She remembered with a smile, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"Yep. Maybe some new school stuff, too."
Melinda was smiling at Skye, sitting on her bed, and the little girl was suddenly struck with the urge to remind Melinda just how grateful she was for her new bedroom, for how kind she and Phil were being. Skye pushed the blankets away from her legs and crawled over to Mel, plonking herself into her lap and wrapping her arms around her foster mother's neck.
"Thank you." She said, feeling Melinda hugging back, returning the embrace. Melinda didn't say anything back, but she kissed Skye's cheek and pressed her nose into her hair. "Thank you for taking care of me."
"It's not something you ever have to thank me, or Phil, for. Looking after you is our pleasure." Mel said. "But you're welcome, nonetheless, little baby."
Skye smiled and hugged Melinda just a little bit harder, just to make sure that the women really knew Skye was grateful.
"You want to get dressed and get some breakfast?" Mel asked, pulling back.
"Yep." Skye grinned, and shuffled out of bed behind Melinda. "Where's Phil?"
"He's cooking breakfast." Mel sat on the ground by the pile of Skye's clothes. "So the quicker you get dressed, the quicker you can eat."
…
As much as Melinda had been looking forward to getting Skye some new clothes, and as much as Phil had wanted to spoil the little girl a bit with some toys, admittedly, Phil had been somewhat dreading taking the eight-year-old shopping. His experience with taking their foster children to the mall in the past had ended in various scenarios, though most were less than relaxing.
Skye, however, was proving to be a little angel during their outing. Phil's natural instincts told him to be suspicious of her perfect behaviour (she could have some sort of plan of action ready to be put in place- he thought back to Nat), but Phil decided to give her the benefit of the doubt once he saw how excited Skye got over buying a few sets of jammies. Her cuteness was killing him.
"I like that one." Skye pointed up a purple t-shirt covered in various images of cats wearing sunglasses.
"You like cats?" Mel asked, sifting through to find Skye's size.
"Mmhm." She nodded, swinging the hand that she held of Phil's. "I like all animals. All of them. Cats and dogs and ponies and bunnies and sharks if they're on TV and not in real life and snakes and-,"
"Wow. You do like animals." Phil laughed. He smirked at Melinda as she dropped the cat shirt into the cart. "Nat likes animals too, right Mel."
She glared at him. "Right."
"She does?" Skye beamed, tugging on his hand. "Does Natasha have any pets? I always wanted a pet."
"Actually, Nat does have a pet." Phil said, tugging Skye along to where the leggings were, and giving Melinda another sly smirk.
Natasha had a beloved pet that she loved to death, Clint liked a fine amount, Phil tolerated, and Melinda hated. One of Phil's favourite past times was reminding Melinda of the animal's existence. She scowled at him.
"Yeah, and it likes to escape in the house." Mel grumbled.
"What is it?" Skye was practically humming with excitement, ignoring Melinda's attempts to get her to choose some leggings. "A puppy? A hamster? A lizard?"
"You're closer with lizard than puppy." Phil smirked.
"Huh?" Skye cocked her head.
"It's a spider." Phil said and Mel made a face.
Skye's mouth fell open comically. "She has a pet spider?"
"Well, a tarantula."
"Cool."
"It's not cool." Mel said, tapping Skye on the head. "It's awful." She said it with a little smile though, so Phil liked to think she had some semblance of fondness for the tarantula she claimed to hate so much.
"You'll meet Nat's little, although not little enough, friend soon." Mel said, changing the subject. "Now come on, pick some leggings. Look, they've even got ones with cats on."
Skye squealed and dropped Phil's hand, taking Mel's instead and pouring over the various patterns of clothes. She was certainly easier to shop with than their other kids had been.
During their few years as emergency carers, Phil and Mel had never really had to take kids shopping for new clothes, because they only stayed with them for a few days at a time. The first child they'd cared for, for longer than a week, had been Trip, and he'd had all of the necessary items with him, having brought them from home.
Trip's stays with the Coulsons had been for four or five weeks every few months when his grandmother had been ill and in hospital. He'd been one of the few kids they'd cared for who hadn't been abused or neglected; only needing care when his grandmother's illness flared up. The incredible woman had died a couple of years ago, comfortably in her own home with Trip by her side, safe in the knowledge he had a family in the Coulsons to look after him, despite his adulthood. Phil smiled to himself as he thought to the young man working back at their gym as a trainer and volunteering for all of the kids' club activities. Trip was a kind soul. His grandmother would be proud. Phil certainly was.
"Hey, Phil?" Skye interrupted his musings.
"Hm?"
She held up a shirt in front of his face with the hand that wasn't holding Mel's. "I like this shirt 'cause it has a dragon off a movie on it, but it's in the boy section." Her face scrunched up. "Mel says I can still get it, is that right?"
"Sure." Phil shrugged. "It doesn't matter what the store says. Girls can wear boys clothes."
Skye nodded to herself and placed the t-shirt gently into their cart. "And boys can wear girls clothes, too, right?"
"Um…I guess." He smiled, eyeing Melinda and noting her proud smirk.
"Good." Skye declared, and conversation apparently over, went back to looking at the 'boys' clothes with a newfound vigour.
Oh, Bobbi was going to love this little one; a love for animals and a complete disregard for gender stereotypes? Phil smiled. Skye was going to make Bobbi a very happy big sister.
It was just after Trip had returned to living with his grandmother after one of her stints in hospital that Bobbi had first arrived. She'd been twelve, skinny, looking more like nine or ten, and owned only clothes that either no longer fitted or had been passed down from her older brother. Not too far off Skye's current state. Also like Skye, she had arrived in the middle of a school semester, meaning Phil and Mel had needed to take her to buy school clothes and shoes.
The twelve year old had refused point blank to speak to either Phil or Mel for the first five days she had stayed with them, meaning the trip to mall had consisted of both of the adults just guessing at what a twelve year old would want to wear and Bobbi refusing to try anything on. That had been a long day for Phil, who had little patience for shopping on a good day. Although Bobbi's trip couldn't hold a candle to taking Natasha to the mall for the first time. Now, that had been a day.
For all that Phil had been secretly dreading this Sunday shopping trip with little Skye, the kid was proving significantly easier to deal with out and about and Nat and Bobbi had been, even if she had refused to pick out any toys, thus far. Although, Phil suspected as the day went one, a lot of Skye's obedience in public may have had something to do with her fear of other people, and that broke Phil's heart.
At all times in the two hours since leaving the car, Skye had consistently remained tied to either Phil or Mel, holding their hands like a lifeline. She smiled at the shop attendants who rang up their purchases in each shop, and confidently told the guy in the shoe shop that she 'did not want the pink sneakers that the other little girls all wanted', but when strangers walked too close to her, or the lines in the stores began to get crowded, Skye gripped Phil's hand and sank behind him like a startled puppy.
For this reason, Phil had whispered a quick excuse in Mel's ear, kissed her cheek, and left her to pay for their things, taking Skye out into the less crowded part of the mall, outside of the store.
A particularly rowdy group of teenagers passed them by while Melinda was paying for hundreds of dollars worth of clothes in a crowded children's store, the teens shouting and laughing, chasing each other through the mall. A few other shoppers were giving them disapproving looks, but Skye seemed positively terrified. She whimpered and hid behind Phil, gripping is arm with both hands.
"Hey, hey, hey." Phil said, turning around and kneeling in front of Skye. "What's up, honey?"
Skye snivelled and Phil noted the sudden shine in her dark eyes, tears threatening to spill over at any provocation. "They were scary." She mumbled, glancing worriedly in the direction of the unruly teens that were now hovering by a pretzel stand.
"It's okay." Phil stroked her cheek. "They're just silly boys. They think they're funny making lots of racket." This didn't seem to reassure Skye, especially as a round of laughter from the teenage boys started her, making the first tears fall. Phil wiped them away with his thumbs. "You know when you're with Mel or I, we'll never let anything happen to you?"
"Never?" Skye said.
"Never. Skye, I promise I'll keep you safe."
Since meeting Skye, Phil had had very little time alone with her. She tended to stick close to Melinda, and although he felt no animosity from the little girl, it was obvious that Skye felt more confortable with a female presence. Whatever had sparked that, and Phil could guess from having read Skye's file, made him all the more determined to bond with her.
The boys rushed passed them for the second time, scaring Skye, and before she could get upset again, Phil lifted the little girl off her feet and into his arms.
"Ssh, little one, I've got you." He said.
For a second, Phil though he may have done more damage to the situation by picking up Skye as she went stiff in his arms, but then just as quickly, she relaxed and hid her face in Phil's neck, wrapping her arms around him.
"It's okay. I've got you, Skye."
He found a bench just outside of the clothing shop Melinda was still queuing in, and sat down with Skye on his lap. The little girl was trembling in his arms. He stroked her back in what he hoped was a soothing manner.
When she didn't seem to be calming down after a few minutes, Phil tried another tried and tested tactic. Distraction.
"Hey, Skye." She looked up at Phil. "If you could have any animal as a pet, any animal in the whole entire world, what would you have?"
"Any animal and it wouldn't kill me if I kept it in the house?"
"Sure." Phil laughed.
"Polar bear." Skye said without pause.
Phil cocked an eyebrow in question. "A life size one, or like, a mini polar bear?"
"A life size one!" Skye grinned, shifting on Phil's lap, seemingly having forgotten about the scary teens. "Did you know, Phil," she brushed her hair out of her face excitedly, "that, um that, polar bears've got black skin? Their fur isn't white either!"
"It's not?"
"Nope! It's clear, but it just looks white because, there's, um, there's so much of it."
Phil smiled. "You're an expert. How do you know all of that?"
"I saw it on TV and we had a book at school once." Skye looked over at the store Melinda was inside. "I like polar bears." She said wistfully, the scrunched up her nose. "'Cept that they eat seals. I don't like thinking 'bout that."
"Right." Phil shook his head with a smirk.
Skye twitched on his lap, but didn't jump off. "Mel!" She called, waving her over.
Melinda smiled at Skye, a bulging bag of clothes in each hand as she walked over to them. Mel dropped the bags by Phil's feet and put a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it lightly through his t-shirt. He turned his neck to kiss her thumb.
"Getting hugs?" She asked, looking between Phil and Skye.
The little girl nodded and wrapped an arm around Phil's shoulder. "Yeah. There was scary boys."
"Oh no, there was?" Mel crouched down.
"But Phil protected me. So it's okay."
"Well, that's good." Mel kissed Skye's head, then stood and kissed Phil on the mouth. "We're all done?"
"I've got enough new clothes to last me until I'm thirty! Or a hundred!" Skye laughed. "Thank you, guys." She said quietly, cheeks red, still smiling.
"You're welcome, baby." Mel smiled. "Why don't we take these to the car?"
"Actually," Phil interjected, standing up and putting Skye on her feet, "I think me and Skye have one more stop to make."
"We do?" Skye frowned.
"We do." Phil assured her.
Melinda nodded and picked up the bags. "Okay then. I'll go and take these to the car, meet you there in…?"
"Twenty minutes?"
"Sure. See you in a bit."
Phil took Skye's hand, and began leading her over to a store he had never entered in his life, but that he had stared in the window of, more times than he would care to admit.
…
It had been the greatest day.
Skye had really had a fantastic day.
Melinda had let her pick out any clothes she had wanted, even the brightly coloured t-shirts and leggings that Sister Margaret would never have allowed her to wear. She had picked out more sets of pyjamas than there was days in the week, some purple slippers to wear with them, and more underwear than Skye thought that she would ever be able to get through. Skye had even been allowed to pick out several pairs of shoes and boots and the shoe store; she was particularly excited to show off her knew blue sneakers that lit up when she walked, especially since the man had let her wear them out of the store.
Phil, although hadn't been too enthralled by clothes shopping, had shown Skye to the toy section of one of the department stores, introducing her to the many Captain America toys and merchandise. Both he and Melinda had encouraged her to pick out some toys, but she had turned them down. There were plenty of toys back in the playroom, and anyway, they had already spent far too much on Skye just buying her clothes, she didn't need any toys, no matter how much she may have wanted them.
"Where are we going, Phil?" Skye asked, craning her neck to watch Melinda's retreating figure taking the bags to the car.
"Well," Phil said, "I can't buy you a real-life polar bear. I don't think our yard's big enough to house a bear and PETA might get a little mad, but, what I can do, is get you the next best thing."
"What do you mean?"
Phil stopped walking when they reached a large store filled with other children, many older andyounger than Skye. She shrank back a little, intimidated by the sheer number of people in the store. People were scary. Lots of people Skye didn't know, well, she didn't like thinking about the bad things people did.
Once, when she lived with her last foster family she had got lost in the grocery store and her foster father and brothers had left her there and gone home. They'd done it on purpose, though no one believed her. Abby still insisted it had been an 'honest mistake', despite the other things the man had done while Skye was living there. Waiting in the security office until her foster mother had picked her up was scary. Skye didn't want to get lost again.
"Phil…" She trailed off, focusing on the people in the store.
"You know when you're with me, nothing can hurt you. I'll protect you." He assured, and really, that did make Skye feel a lot better, but…
"What if I get lost in there?" She mumbled. "That's a big store." She clung onto Phil's sleeve and let her eyes roam over the store's entrance, ignoring the enticing toys that watched her from the windows.
"You won't." Phil said with confidence. "C'mere." He lifted Skye off her feet and onto his hip and walked them into the store before Skye even had a chance to register her fear.
It was very busy in the store, but as she looked around from her high vantage point in Phil's arms, Skye suddenly realised why that was. The whole store, wall to wall, was filled with stuffed animals. It was amazing.
"Where are we?" She asked, gawking at all of the toys.
"Well, you wanted a polar bear, right?" Phil asked, and Skye nodded, eyes falling on a stuffed orange pony behind his head. "You can choose anything you like here, any toy you want, but if you'd still like a polar bear, I'm sure they have one here."
She spotted a bright green teddy bear being hugged by a little boy by the counter. "They have polar bears?"
"We can ask." Phil walked over to one of the brightly dressed employees, and Skye continued looking around at all of the various stuffed animals on the shelves.
"Hey look, Phil." Skye said, tapping his shoulder. "They have spiders!" She gawked at the plush spider, (that didn't really look anything like a real spider with its black glittery fur, purple feet, friendly smile and eyelashes) and craned her neck to get a better look. Maybe Natasha would like a cuddly spider, since as far as Skye knew, you couldn't really hug a tarantula.
Phil glanced over in the direction Skye was pointing. "Oh, yeah. That's cool."
"Like Natasha's spider." She said.
Phil laughed. "Thankfully, Nat's spider is significantly smaller, although Mel might like it a bit more if it had a smile…or shoes."
Skye was still focused on the spider plushie when Phil began speaking to an employee.
"How can I help you, today?" The young woman asked Skye, barely looking at Phil.
Skye began feeling a little shy, and tightened her arms around Phil. She didn't really want to speak, but that was okay because Phil spoke for her. Skye hugged him a bit tighter to say thanks.
"We were looking to get Skye here a new toy. Maybe a polar bear?"
Skye nodded in agreement.
"Okay!" The employee grinned. "I think we have a polar bear who is looking for a new home. Maybe you would like to take him home?"
If there was a polar bear looking for a new home, well, Skye knew how that felt.
"Yes." She said. "I'd like to take him home."
"Great! Let's get you all set up!" The employee grinned and ushered them over to a bin filled with what Skye could only identify as deflated polar bears.
"Why are they all flat?" She asked.
"Thing is, these bears need some love to fill them all up with cuddles. So what you need to do is pick your polar bear, and we'll get him all fluffed up."
Next to her, Phil was smirking and seemed to be attempting to hold in a laugh, but Skye ignored him and wiggled in his arms until he put her down. She bent over the bin and stared at all of the faces of polar bears looking up at her.
"You gonna pick one, Skye?" Phil asked.
She stared into the bin, but all of the polar bears looked back at Skye with their sparkly blue eyes, and it was just so hard to pick, so Skye did the only logical thing she could think of, and closed her eyes and thrust her hand into the box. She'd let fate decide which polar bear to bring home.
…
Twenty minutes in the Build-A-Bear store had turned into thirty, once Skye had spotted the clothing for the bears and had been assured that she could pick out an outfit for the polar bear. A large part of Phil was thrilled that she had chosen the Captain America outfit for the arctic bear; he texted Melinda exactly this as he was letting her know of their delayed arrival to the car.
"So," Phil asked, hovering over Skye as she sat at the tiny computer desk in the store, "what are you going to call him...or her?"
It had taken the little girl a good ten minutes to fill in the rest of the information of the bear's birth certificate, needing a little help from Phil for some of the larger words, but now she was looking from the bear to the computer screen with a little frown on her face.
"He's a boy. And m'not sure." She cocked her head at the white teddy bear, dressed to the nines in its Cap costume. "What's your name, little polar bear?"
The bear failed to reply, or at least Phil didn't hear him reply, but Skye leaned close to the teddy, nodded and began slowly typing a name into the computer. She paused, finger hovering over the keys, and turned to Phil.
"How do you spell 'snow'?" She asked. "I put that, but it doesn't look right."
Phil crouched down by the screen. So far, Skye had typed 'Mr. Sno' in the name box.
"You almost got it, Skye. You just need a 'w' on the end."
"Cool. So, this is Mr. Snow, the polar bear. Y'know, because he lives in the snow." She said seriously. Phil smirked at her. As cute as Skye was, he had to admit, her ability to name stuffed animals was mediocre at best. Perhaps Tasha could suggest a first name for Mr. Snow when she came home.
Phil printed off the 'birth certificate' for Mr. Snow and checked the time on his phone. "Okay, c'mon, Skye. We better go find Mel at the car."
But Skye didn't seem to have heard him. All of her attention remained on the black glittery spider, high up on a shelf. Phil followed her gaze.
"Does Mr. Snow need a friend?" He asked.
"Huh?"
"The spider. We could get it, so that Mr. Snow could have a friend."
"I don't want it for me, though." Skye said quietly, standing to collect the print out of the 'birth certificate' and tucking Mr. Snow under the other arm. "I think that Natasha would like to have a spider. One she could hug. For a present, when she comes home."
Phil felt his heart melting. Like, he was actually concerned that it could be a serious medical condition caused by the absolute adorableness of his little girl. "You'd like to get Nat a present?"
Skye looked at the ground. "If…yeah…unless, unless you think she wouldn't like it, then it doesn't matter." Skye said quickly, blushing. "She probably would think it was stupid. She's a big girl. It doesn't matter."
"Skye, I think Natasha would love it if you got her the spider." Phil smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder.
"But we have to go and find Mel."
"Let me worry about that." He smiled, already constructing a text to Melinda with his free hand, and steering Skye over to the bin of spiders with his other.
…
While texting Phil back, letting him know that she was fine waiting for him and Skye in the car, and laughing to herself at the glee she could just imagine on her husband's face when Skye chose the Cap outfit for her bear, Mel's phone began to ring.
"Hey, Maria." Mel said, propping her feet up on the dash as she answered. What Phil didn't know wouldn't hurt him. "Calling me on a Sunday from the gym? I assume it's not just to say 'Hi'."
"Yeah." Maria dragged out the word. "I'm sorry. I know you wanted some time away from work to be with the kid, but we've got a couple of issues with some orders that need to go through early tomorrow…" The woman trailed off apologetically and Mel shook her head in amusement.
"Let me guess, you need Phil or I to sign off on them?"
"I'm so sorry, Mel." Maria apologised again. "I know you both wanted to work from home until the kid got settled in, but I promise this will take five minutes, tops." Maria prattled guiltily, making Mel laugh.
"Calm down. It's fine. We're at the mall, we'll come by afterwards."
"You sure? How's it going, anyway?" Her friend asked.
"Maria," Mel smiled to herself, "she's incredible."
"The kid? What's her name?"
"Skye. And I'm telling you, Maria, she's just amazing."
Mel heard her laugh on the other end of the phone. "Sounds like you're smitten with that kid, Mel. I can't wait to meet the munchkin."
"You'll love her, too." Mel smiled. Maria would. Maria generally wasn't a 'kid' person. She taught kickboxing classes at the gym along with a handful of other classes, but avoided teaching kids at all costs. Despite this, Mel knew Maria would appreciate Skye's sass and wicked sense of humour. Plus, no matter what Maria claimed, they all knew she was a sucker for the cute kids, and if Skye was one thing, she was damn cute.
"Aw crap." Maria mumbled. "Mel I gotta, go. Stark's just walked in and I'm already seconds from punching him."
"Hey!" Mel heard Tony shout in the background, and laughed. The billionaire often frequented the gym, Mel suspected, only to irritate her staff.
"Okay, Maria. I'll see you later." Mel laughed, shaking her head.
As she ended the call, the back door of the car opened and Mel turned just in time to see Skye launch herself into her car seat, grinning madly.
"Hi!" She smiled brightly, and Mel smirked at the toys under each of Skye's arms.
"You look like you got some new friends there." Mel smiled.
Skye blushed. "They're not both mine, though."
"But you know it would be okay if they were, right?" Phil said, buckling Skye's belt. "I wanted to buy you the toys, you don't need to feel guilty."
"Kay."
"So, are you going to introduce me to your new friends?" Mel asked, nodding at the bear and the spider. She smiled. "Is that bear wearing a Captain America outfit?"
Skye nodded enthusiastically. "He's a polar bear."
"Mr. Snow." Phil said, getting in the drivers side. He frowned at Mel. "What, were you raised in a barn? Feet off the dash." Mel rolled her eyes, but put her feet down. "Honestly, Mel. You're worse than the kids. Isn't she, Skye?"
Skye shrugged and went back to doting on Mr. Snow, stroking the fur of his paw.
"Who's the spider, then, baby?" Mel asked.
"She's a present for, Natasha." Skye smiled. "Her name is Charlotte. Like in the story book."
Melinda looked to Phil, but continued speaking to Skye. "You got Nat a gift?"
"Yeah. It's a coming home present, so she'll like me."
"Oh, baby." Mel's heart broke. "Nat's gonna love you no mater what. You don't need to get her a gift for her to love you."
"But, do you think she'll like her?" Skye fiddled with a purple foot. "Because she's got a pet spider."
"I think that she will be very grateful that you got her a gift, and I know she'll love Charlotte the spider." Mel said. "Right, Phil?"
"Right." He said, pulling out of the parking lot. "You're very generous, Skye."
Skye made a face. "But you paid for it."
"Not the point." He smirked. "It's the thought that counts."
Skye nuzzled her face into the fur of Charlotte the spider. "Yeah." She murmured into the toy. "And I'll take care of Charlotte until Natasha gets here."
Mel turned back to the front window and tapped Phil on the shoulder. "Gym." She said. "There's a shipping issue. Needs one of our Hancocks on it. Maria called."
"I swear to God, if neither one of us are there for any longer than a day, the place starts falling apart." He said, though he was smiling.
"Mm. Maria was ready to kill Stark by the sounds of things. But she's excited to meet, Skye." Mel turned in her seat. "We're going to the gym, Skye."
Skye smiled. "What you own?" Mel nodded. "Can I see the trampolines?"
"Sure thing, baby." Melinda laughed. She loved children's priorities. "You can bounce while Phil and I do boss stuff."
"'Cos you're the bosses, like it says on your bedroom door." Skye smiled but then a little crinkle appeared on her forehead. "Are you good bosses, or mean bosses?"
"Oh," Phil laughed, "we are the best bosses. We even give our employees dental."
"I don't know what that is…"
Mel smirked. "Just know that in adult world, it's pretty awesome."
"Kay." Skye leaned her head to one side, watching out the window of the car. Her fingers ran through the fur of Mr. Snow as her thumb crept up to her mouth. "I'm glad you're nice."
…
Skye had never been to a gym before, or at least as far as she could remember, but even with nothing to compare it to, the Coulson's gym was massive. They pulled up outside of the building, parking right outside the front door. Skye craned her head to look out of the front window at the stream of people coming and going from the building.
Melinda opened the car door for Skye and helped her out of the vehicle. She thought she or Phil might make her leave Mr. Snow and Charlotte in the car, but neither said anything about the toys. "We're going to see a few of our friends, okay?"
"Kay." Skye hugged Mr. Snow and Charlotte closer to her chest, just to make sure they wouldn't get scared when she took them inside.
"And then maybe you can have some time on the trampoline?" Phil smiled.
That sounded pretty awesome to Skye. Trampolines, in her experience, were always fun, but the idea that Mel and Phil were going to leave her on her own whilst they did 'boss stuff' was a little scary. Mr. Snow and Charlotte didn't want Mel and Phil to leave them alone.
"I wanna stay with you." Skye said. It was difficult to manoeuvre both toys into one arm, but she managed it, just so she could cling onto Melinda's hand. "I'll stay with you."
Melinda stroked the back of Skye's hand with her thumb. "Maybe you and I could go bouncing, and leave Phil to do the boring things. That sound a little better?"
It did. Much better. And Skye nodded enthusiastically in reply.
They entered the gym, and immediately Skye felt herself feeling a little anxious. Mr. Snow and Charlotte felt scared, too, so Skye cuddled closer to Melinda, just to make sure they felt better. There were lots of people around. Some kids, too, but mostly adults, really big adults.
Phil jogged over to a blonde man who Skye thought was pretty scary looking. He was huge. His arms were bigger than her head and even though he was laughing with Phil, the man was still intimidating.
"You okay, baby?" Mel asked, squeezing her hand.
"Mr. Snow and Charlotte are scared." Skye said, because maybe Mel would know how to make them feel better.
"Oh no. What are they frightened of?"
"Just…" She eyed the big man talking with Phil. "Some of the people are scary."
Mel crouched down. "Hmm. How could we make them feel better?"
Skye considered this. Mr. Snow was brave because he was Captain America, and Charlotte was a brave spider because she belonged to Natasha, but it was still scary. "Maybe they need cuddles?"
"I think we can do cuddles." Melinda smiled and picked up Skye.
It took a little shifting to get Skye and both toys comfortably on Melinda's hip, but once they were situated, Skye certainly felt better. And so did Mr. Snow and Charlotte.
"Are they feeling a little better?" Mel asked, and kissed Skye's cheek.
"Yes. But Charlotte and Mr. Snow need kisses, too."
"Kisses for Mr. Snow." Mel said, and kissed the polar bear. "Kisses for Charlotte." And kissed the Spider. "And kisses for Skye." Mel kissed Skye again.
"They feel better now." Skye said. Melinda was smiling at her as she walked them over to the front desk, but Skye didn't want her to feel left out. "But you gotta have kisses, too."
"And who will give me kisses?" Mel said.
"Me."
"Oh, well that's lovely." Mel grinned in a way that made Skye feel happy. She decided, right there, that she would work hard everyday to make sure she made Melinda smile like that.
Starting with, giving her kisses.
"Cheek kisses." Skye said, and kissed each of Melinda's cheeks. "And nose kiss." She pecked Mel's nose, giggling softly when the woman scrunched it up.
"Mel!" Someone called from behind them.
Skye turned as Mel did, to see a dark-haired woman, dressed in sporting clothes, jogging over to them.
"Skye, this is my best friend, Maria." Mel introduced as the woman approached. "She works here at the gym."
Mr. Snow and Charlotte were feeling a little shy, so Skye cuddled into Melinda a bit more, but smiled at Maria. Maria smiled back and gave her a little wave.
"Hey there, Skye. I've heard a lot about you." Maria said.
Skye frowned. "You have?" She asked in a very small voice, because Mr. Snow was still being shy.
Maria paused, half way through tying up her hair. "Well," she dragged out the word, "actually no. That's a lie. Mel told me like three sentences about you on the phone, but there were awesome sentences."
Skye laughed. She liked Maria. Maria was funny.
"Anyway," She continued, "I know I promised I wouldn't keep you long so I gave Phil all the shipping stuff to sign. He's taking it to the offices with Steve. I told them to get a move on but Stark is hovering up there for unknown reasons so they could be up there for hours." Maria rolled her eyes.
"Actually, he can take his time." Mel said. "Skye and I are going to do some trampolining. Aren't we?" She bounced Skye on her hip.
"Uh-huh." Skye said. "You could come, too, Maria." She added. Skye didn't want Maria to be lonely. She was Melinda's best friend, after all.
Maria grinned. "Oh, I'd love to!" She turned to Mel as they began walking away from the front desk. "You were right, Mel. I do like this kid."
Melinda pecked Skye's forehead. "Told you."
A/N: SmudgeQueen, you rock. Thanks again for the edit. I'm in love with it. :D
Review please! xxx