A/N: Thanks for all of the reviews and kind words. They really mean a lot. Also thanks to all of you i've been PMing and emailing. It's lovely to talk.
This would be Skye's fourth school. She had moved more than that, but when returning to St. Agnes', Skye had always gone back to same school, the same as all the other kids at the orphanage because it was only down the street and they could all walk there. That school sucked. Her teacher was mean and the other kids were mean, and they didn't have many soccer balls so Skye never got a turn at kicking.
Skye was in second grade. Technically, she was old enough to be in third grade, but after the summer was over and she returned to her old school and to the orphanage, it had apparently been decided by someone high-up that Skye go back and repeat the second grade. Something to do with her "behavioural issues and learning difficulties". That meant she was 'bad and stupid'. Of course this had meant since the end of August, Skye had been forced to sit in a classroom five days a week with a teacher she hated, and kids who teased her for being held back.
Skye hated school.
"Why do I have to go to school?" She asked.
"Because it's the law." Phil answered. "You have to."
"How comes I can't go into the third grade class?" Skye asked from the back of the car as Phil drove them to the school.
"Well," he smiled at her via the rear-view mirror, "you were in second grade in your other school, so we thought it would be best if you went into second grade in this school."
She hugged Mr. Snow to her chest, and rubbed one of Charlotte's purple feet on her nose until the skin tingled. "I don't wanna go to school."
Mel was sat in the back with her and she kept stroking Mr. Snow's fur because Skye had told her how he sometimes got nervous.
"Why don't you want to go to school?" Mel asked.
Skye shrugged. "'Cos."
"'Cos' is not an answer."
"Teachers are mean." Skye huffed. She knew that wasn't entirely true. Her teacher who had given her the Euro coin had been nice, and the teaching assistant at her last school who came in once a week to help her read was nice, but the idea of a new school with a new teacher and new people was just scary. "I don't wanna go."
Mel stroked Skye's cheek instead of Mr. Snow's fur. It felt nice and Skye closed her eyes for a second. "I promise, your new teacher is not going to be mean, okay?"
"You sure?"
"I'm very sure. Pepper-,"
"Miss Potts." Phil corrected.
Mel rolled her eyes. "Right, Miss Potts is a very good teacher. And she's never mean to those who don't deserve it."
That all sounded pretty good to Skye. And Mel and Phil had never lied to her yet, so there was no reason to think she shouldn't believe them, but time would only tell.
"How comes you know my teacher, again?"
"Miss Potts used to teach at our gym." Phil said.
"Oh yeah." Skye remembered. "Yoga." She sat quietly for a minute, watching the trees out of the window. "What's yoga?"
Phil laughed. "It's kind of like stretching, or like, super slow dancing."
Skye grimaced. That sounded super boring, she would much rather go on the trampolines with Mel and Maria. That was way more fun than stretching would have been.
Skye looked back out of the window as Phil pulled into the school's parking lot. It was almost empty, just a few other cars parked near the entrance to the school, but no other kids around at the early hour. The bubbles Skye felt in her tummy started to get stronger when Phil turned off the engine and Mel unbuckled her seatbelt.
"You're going to have to leave Mr. Snow and Charlotte in the car." Phil said with an apologetic smile. "They'll still be here when we pick you up."
Skye knew that was coming. She wasn't stupid, she knew that she wouldn't be allowed to take them into the school with her, but she had hoped. Mr. Snow didn't like being left all on his own. Even when he was wearing his Captain America costume, he still felt worried. Charlotte was maybe a bit braver because she was Natasha's spider.
"Is Natasha brave?" Skye asked, stroking Charlotte's glittery fur.
Mel looked over at Phil, then back to Skye. She had a little frown on her face but she didn't seem mad, just confused.
"You want to know if Natasha's brave?" Mel said.
"Yes."
Mel smiled. "Natasha, well, she's very brave. Very brave."
That was good, because that meant Charlotte was brave too, and she could take care of Mr. Snow when Skye wasn't there. They'd look after each other.
Skye got out of her car seat and arranged Mr. Snow and Charlotte on it so that they were hugging each other, the seatbelt fastened over them to keep them safe. She kissed each of them in turn and told them to make good choices, just in case they forgot, like she sometimes did. Sometimes Skye only remembered to be good after doing something bad, so she knew it was important to remind them.
"Let's go." Skye said, and picked up her new backpack Phil and Mel had bought her yesterday, put in on her shoulder and walked up to the school bravely. Skye could be brave.
She turned to see Mel and Phil watching her from the car. "You guys coming? I gotta meet my teacher, you know."
…
Something about learning that Nat was brave, had apparently given little Skye an enormous amount of courage, and she had abandoned Phil and Mel to march up the school on her own. She shouted after them when they both failed to immediately follow.
"We're coming, we're coming." Phil called back, then turned to Mel. "What just happened?"
She laced her fingers with his and they followed Skye to the entrance. "I have no idea." She answered. "We haven't had a little one in a while and my child-logic appears to be a little rusty."
"I don't think much logic may apply to Skye." Phil smirked as they caught up her. "You're unique, huh?" He patted Skye's hair.
"What's that mean?"
Mel reached her other hand out and Skye took it, leaning into her side as the doors were opened for them. "It means your special."
Skye allowed herself to be led into the school, eyes immediately tracking the walls and all of the student's work displayed to them. "Am I special?" She asked.
"Baby," Mel squeezed her hand, "you're very special. And don't you ever forget that, okay?"
"'Kay." Skye said quietly, although Mel suspected she was only half listening. Skye's grip on her fingers had tightened as they approached Pepper's classroom. "Is that my teacher?"
Pepper Potts stood smiling at the entrance to her classroom, looking about as threatening as a teddy bear in footie pyjamas, but Skye still pressed herself so far into Mel's side that she was almost hidden behind her. The previous gusto she had gained seemingly out of nowhere had apparently dissipated, and at the frightened look on her little girl's face, all Mel really wanted to do was to pick her up and take her home. But that wouldn't do well for anyone. Skye needed to go to school, even if her little face was breaking Melinda's heart.
"Hi, there." Pepper smiled at Skye, crouching down beside her. "My name is Miss Potts, I'm your knew teacher."
"Yeah, I know." Skye mumbled into Mel's side.
Pepper's smile never wavered, and the most shocking thing Melinda found about Pepper, something she had noticed from the very first day she had met the young woman almost seven years ago, was that each and every Pepper Potts smile was genuine. The woman had the patience of a saint (though being in a relationship with the worlds most infuriating man probably required that), which is why she was the perfect teacher for Skye. Maybe the perfect teacher for most other kids, too. It was the same reason Melinda had eagerly written a letter of recommendation for Pepper and Tony to foster when they had asked.
"It's so lovely to see you guys." Pepper grinned at Phil and Mel. She waved her hand towards the classroom. "Come on in, we've got a half hour before the rest of the kids start getting here."
There were three chairs set out in front of Pepper's desk. Phil sat in one, and Melinda intended to sit in the one furthest away from him to allow Skye the middle chair, but the little girl was still glued to her side, so Mel sat in the middle seat and pulled Skye onto her lap instead. Skye held both of Mel's hands around her waist.
"How about we get the boring stuff out of the way?" Pepper asked, the question directed at Skye, although the little girl failed to answer.
"Sure thing, Pep." Phil said.
"Okay, I got a letter of record from Skye's previous teacher." She gave Mel a wary look. "It's not particularly…pleasant." She settled on.
"She didn't like me." Skye mumbled.
Either Pepper didn't hear her or simply chose not to acknowledge the comment. "I'd prefer not to discuss the specifics." She frowned at the paper in front of her. "I'll give you a copy when you leave, but generally, there's a couple of things I'd like to discuss."
"Go ahead." Phil said.
"Now, Skye's behaviour at school," Pepper began and Melinda couldn't miss the way Skye tensed on her lap. "It seems to have reached a point where it has become a concern. You've a little red flag on your report here, Skye."
"I was bad at school." Skye said.
"I see. Do you think we can maybe work on that? You can try and be good in the classroom, here?"
Skye nodded.
"Good. So next port of call is Skye's grades." Pepper smiled. "I don't want to discuss too much today, just that I think getting Skye some extra help in the classroom might be a good idea."
"Whatever you think is best." Mel said. She trusted Pepper's judgement. Bobbi and Natasha had both needed a little help at school (okay, a lot of help in Nat's case) but they had both been much older than Skye. Even in her and Phil's avid experience with fostering kids, Skye was one of the youngest, and Mel still felt a little in over her head sometimes.
"Fantastic. So, Skye, how are you feeling?" Pepper asked.
"'M'okay, I guess." She said.
"Yeah? Because I know starting a new school can be scary. Are you feeling a bit scared?"
Skye leaped off Melinda's lap and stood in front of Pepper's desk with folded arms. The gusto was back.
"Miss Potts," Skye addressed, "I'm not scared of anything."
Pepper looked as shocked as Melinda felt at Skye's sudden change of pace, but didn't let it affect her. "Wow, that's impressive. I thought everyone was scared of something."
"Not me. I'm not scared." Skye dumped herself into the empty seat.
"Are you maybe a tiny bit nervous about starting a new school, making new friends?" Pepper smiled again. "Because that would be okay."
"No." Skye's expression changed to one of anger. "No!"
"Hey, it's alright." Mel said, putting a hand on Skye's shoulder. Skye dropped her head onto her hand, trapping it there. "You want to tell Miss Potts about who's coming to visit soon?" Skye's expression softened, the anger ebbing away with the distraction of Mel's question.
"Natasha's comin' home." Skye said. She freed Mel's hand but held it in her lap instead.
"She is?" Pepper grinned at Phil and Mel. "When? Oh, I'd love to see her."
"Friday." Phil answered. "She's coming down with Clint for a week."
"Are you excited, Skye?" Pepper asked.
Skye frowned and cocked her head. "I think so. Maybe." She looked to Melinda. "I don't wanna go to school. Please, I wanna go home." She sniffed. "Can we go home, please?"
God, if she could only wrap this baby girl up in cotton wool and keep her safe and happy in their home, she would do it. She knew Phil would, too, in a heartbeat, but that wasn't how kids healed. That wasn't how you helped put these kids back together. It had broken Mel's heart when Bobbi had gone to school for weeks with speaking a word to anyone there, but it had worked out in the end, she had made friends and gone off to college and been happy. And it had broken her heart when she'd had to pick Natasha up from school every time she got into a fight, and had begged Mel not to make her go back, but then she had met Clint and look at Nat now. Both of her older girls had been in Skye's position but they were beautiful, smart, caring young women now, and Melinda couldn't be prouder of them.
Skye's bottom lip was wobbling and her eyes were wet, and it took all of the inner strength Melinda could muster to kneel in front of her and break her heart.
"I'm so sorry, baby, but you need to stay at school." Mel said. "I know it's scary-,"
"M'not scared."
"-and I know you didn't used to like school, but Miss Potts is going to take care of you. And Phil and I will come pick you up this afternoon and take you home, okay?"
Skye wasn't quite crying, but Mel could tell she was only just holding it together, perhaps because Pepper was there in the room. She couldn't just take her home and hide Skye from the world, but there was still fifteen minutes until school started, and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to look after her little girl until then.
"Come here, baby." Mel held her arms out and Skye fell into them, allowing herself to be picked up, wrapping her legs around Mel's waist. Melinda couldn't see it, but she could hear the sound of Skye's thumb moving in her mouth, covered by a curtain of her dark hair so Phil and Pepper would be non the wiser.
A boy peeked his head around the door and smiled at Pepper. "Can I come in yet?" He asked, eyeing Mel and Phil.
"Go play in the gym for a little longer, okay?" Pepper said and he nodded and ran off. "How about we have a little tour?" Pepper asked. "So Skye knows where everything is."
…
Mel and Phil left her in the classroom with Miss Potts when the school bell rang. Skye didn't want them to leave her. She didn't want to be left all on her own at school, but Melinda promised they would come back and get her this afternoon, and she had given Skye a really, really good hug that kind of made Skye want to cry. But she didn't, because Skye could be brave, just like Natasha and Charlotte.
"So this is where you're going to sit, Skye." Miss Potts said.
The seat was pretty close to Miss Potts' desk but wasn't on the front row of chairs. It was on the end of a row of desks, and she could see her cubby and hook on the other side of the classroom, so that her coat and backpack were in sight. That was good. Even though she had left all of her special things at home, because Phil said the house was much safer for them than school, Skye still wanted to be able to see her stuff.
"Why don't you put your name on the front of this workbook?" Miss Potts gave her a book and Skye was maybe a little excited to get to use her new pens in her new pencil case.
She wanted to make her name neat on the front of the book, so that it would look nice when Miss Potts saw it, so Skye spent extra time joining up the 'y' and the 'e' even though that was sometimes what she found the hardest.
"You gotta put your last name on, too."
Skye jumped. She hadn't felt anyone approach her, but a boy had sat down in the seat next to her, leaning over to see what she was writing on her book. He pointed at her name.
"Skye?" He said. "Is that your name?"
"Um," Skye hesitated. The boy was pretty big, much bigger than her, and the room was getting noisy as more kids arrived and sat down. A couple of them were staring at her. "Yes. I'm Skye."
The boy smiled at her. "Hello, Skye. I'm Grant Ward. I saw you this morning with your parents, and you need to put your last name on your book, too."
"Oh." Skye looked down at her book and felt her cheeks heating up. "I, um, I don't have one. Just Skye."
Grant Ward looked at her strangely and sat back in his seat. "How come?"
Skye wasn't sure how to explain it. This would be her first new school where she was entering as Skye and not Mary Sue Poots. It was hard to explain. "I don't know."
"What's your Mom and Dad's last name?" He asked.
She really didn't want the kids to know she was an orphan, and a few more had turned around in their seats to listen in on her and Grant's conversation. "Um," Skye panicked, "It's 'Coulson'." She said without thinking.
"So you're name is 'Skye Coulson'. You should put that on your book." Grant said.
He was watching her expectantly, so Skye leaned over her book and added 'Coulson' to her name. Part of her felt a little guilty for not even asking Phil or Mel to borrow their last name, the other part of Skye felt really good about it. Skye Coulson had a nice ring to it.
"Okay, class." Miss Potts called, getting their attention.
Skye put down her pen to listen to Miss Potts properly.
"Now it's a new week, and a new start. So what will we make sure to do all week?"
"Do our best." The rest of the class said in chorus. Skye assumed that this was a regular thing.
"Right." Miss Potts smiled. "And this week is a very special week because we have a new student joining us."
Skye really felt her cheeks getting hot. Grant Ward turned to look at her, smiling in a friendly way, but it meant that all of the other students turned in their seats to look at her, too. She had had a lot of 'first days', but this awkward introduction was something Skye had never managed to get used to.
"This is Skye. She's joining our school because she recently moved house, so can we all be kind and welcoming to her?"
Really, Skye was just glad Miss Potts hadn't mentioned anything about her being fostered; that was usually the first line out of teacher's mouths. Maybe it was because she was friends with Mel and Phil.
"Right, now." Miss Potts moved over to the board. "This week our special topic is going to be 'the World'. Who can tell me the name of a different country? Hands up."
The class put their hands up and shouted out names of countries, which Miss Potts labelled on the big map she had on her wall. Skye had been preparing herself for the 'tell the class a bit about you' part of the day, but it never came.
Miss Potts didn't pick on her to speak when she didn't want to, and she didn't make her read from the board like her old teacher had. They learned some words from different languages, and Miss Potts asked for volunteers to say them out loud to the rest of the class, and Skye almost put her hand up to say "Bonjour" because she already knew that word from one of her old schools, but then she got a little worried and just stayed quiet. Skye even got to use her new coloured pens to colour in some flags on a worksheet Miss Potts gave them.
"How come you know the French flag without the help sheet?" Grant Ward asked her. He was colouring in his flags meticulously, keeping in the lines and taking much longer than Skye's half-hearted scribbles.
"I learned about France in one of my old schools." Skye said.
"Oh. I though you might be French." Grant said.
"I'm not French."
"Well, I know that now." Grant grinned at her. "See, we're learning about each other. Making friends."
Skye frowned at him. That was not the feeling she had been getting from the conversation. "We're friends?"
"Sure."
"Okay."
And that was how Skye made her first friend at her new school. Simple as that. Well, Skye had to admit, she didn't really have much going on in the process, Grant mostly did the work, but it was nice to have someone to talk to when recess rolled around.
"How is it going, Skye?" Miss Potts asked her as they filed out into the playground.
"Good."
Grant Ward stood next to her. Standing up he was even bigger than Skye had first thought. He was easily the tallest in the class, almost up to Miss Potts' shoulders.
"I see you made a friend." She smiled at Grant and he grinned back. "Are you going to make sure Skye's okay, Grant?"
"Yep. And I'm gonna make sure everyone's nice to her."
"That's very kind of you." She turned to Skye. "Grant knows how it is to come to a new class, don't you?"
Grant looked a little sad for a second, and Skye felt mad that Miss Potts had done that, but he smiled again really quickly. "Come on, Skye, let's go outside. Bye, Pep- Miss Potts."
They playground at Skye's new school was way better than the one at her old one. Grant led her over to the jungle gym, where lots of the kids in her class were playing.
"I like climbing stuff." He said. "At home, I climb the trees in the back yard, and I've only fell out of 'em like, four or five times."
"Cool." Skye said. "I like climbing, too. And I like jumping out of things." She thought back to her pretend parachuting off the top of the bunk beds at St. Agnes's. "I like to pretend I'm jumping out of a plane."
"That's awesome." Grant jumped and grabbed onto the monkey bars. "You're like a spy. Agent Skye."
Skye grinned. "Yeah. And you can be Agent Ward."
"We can be a team of spies who jump out of planes and save the world." Grant dropped down onto the chipped bark. "Will you be my best friend, Skye?"
Skye had never had a best friend before, but Agent Ward seemed to be a good friend to make, and if they were going to be partners on their spy team, they should be best friends.
"Okay. I'll be your best friend."
"Great! Now, let's play tag. Tag!" Ward tapped her shoulder, a lot more gently than Skye had braced for, and ran away.
She raced after her new best friend.
…
"I'm going to have an aneurism." Mel said, entering Phil's office without knocking. She waved the letter from Skye's old teacher in hand. "And I'm also going to kill this bitch for bad-mouthing my child."
He had also read the letter. It had been less than complimentary.
Phil looked over to her from his computer with an amused smirk. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I am kind of loving that for once you're the one freaking out, and I'm the calm one."
She glared at him and came fully into the room, closing the door behind her so the other employees wouldn't simply walk in. "I'm not freaking out." She crumpled the letter and threw it behind the office couch.
"You so are." Phil said, spinning his chair around to face her. "C'mere." He held his arms out and Mel walked over to him and dropped down onto her husband's lap. He nuzzled her cheek as her arms went around him. "You're freaking out, and I totally get why, and I think that it is the most precious thing."
"You're making me sound like I'm going soft."
"Oh, please. You went soft the day the first kid came to stay and there was no going back once Bobbi came into the picture." Phil smiled as he thought back to those days so long ago when they hadn't even considered looking after kids for any longer than a few weeks at a time. Then Bobbi came along and stole their hearts and that was that.
"God, I miss her." Mel mumbled.
"Skye?"
She snorted. "Well yeah, but I was talking about Bobbi." Mel cuddled more into his side. "I swear next time she comes home I'm never letting her leave the country again."
"That means Hunter will have to stay, too." Phil shook his head. "I'm not entirely sure how long I can put up with my daughter's boyfriend for."
"You managed to live with Clint for over a year."
Phil pulled away to frown at his wife. "To be fair, I had no idea that he and Nat were anything more then best friends for like six months of that."
"That's your problem." She smirked. "Sometimes you're not very observant."
"You didn't say anything and you knew they were…" Phil trailed off and used a vague hand gesture to illustrate his point.
"Having sex." Mel supplied.
"Oh dear god, Melinda! Stop!" Phil shuddered. No. He still stood by the notion that both Nat and Bobbi were completely celibate. "No. No."
"They're growing up, Phil. You can't keep your head in the sand forever."
"Yes I can. So far it's going really great."
Mel laughed but kissed him gently. "You're their daddy, I guess it's okay for you to pretend they're still just kids."
Phil kissed her again. "It's frightening how quickly our kids have grown up."
"I know. We're so old. Skye has to stay a baby forever." Mel sniggered to herself, but then her expression turned serious. "She'll be okay, right?"
"At school? I'm sure she will. Pepper would let us know if things weren't going well." Phil assured her.
There was a knock at Phil's door and Antoine Triplett walked in with a file and a frown on his face.
"Hey, Phil, can you sign-oh God." He covered his eyes with the file and stumbled back against the door frame. "Ew, you guys shouldn't be doing that at work."
Phil couldn't help himself. He laughed into Mel's shoulder, and could feel the way she laughed with him, still sitting on his lap.
"Calm down, Trip. We're only hugging." He smiled.
Trip still held the file over his face. "Promise that if I move this file, you're not going to be canoodling?"
Melinda slid off Phil's lap and moved over to the couch. "Promise. Now what's up?"
Trip slowly lowered the file, the expression on his face relaxing when he saw the two of them were no longer 'canoodling'.
"I just came to see if you could sign this." Trip said. "Either of you, really."
Phil held his hand out for the file and Trip passed it over to him. "I'll do it." He signed the top document and turned back to see Trip sitting down by Melinda, giving her a hug.
"Hi, Mel." Trip greeted. "Where's the new little one? Maria told me all about her. Apparently she's pretty cute."
"She is." Mel turned to Trip and patted his cheek. "Skye even gives little you a run for your money. And you were pretty damn cute."
"I'm twenty seven, Mel, don't baby me." Trip pouted. "And I think I'm still pretty cute." He beamed.
"And so modest, too." Phil laughed.
Trip shot him an air gun. "You got it, Phil. I'm practically perfect in every way." He laughed and stood up, hand out for the folder.
Phil handed it back to him, but pulled it away at the last second. "In all seriousness-,"
"Oh dear." Trip said with a look to Mel. "Is he getting sentimental again?"
Mel smiled. "It's about time, really. I've spent the past few days being the soft one apparently. He's probably been saving it all up to gush over you."
"Shut up and let me tell my boy how proud I am of him." Phil huffed and stood before Trip. "I just want you to know that Mel and I are so proud of all you've done."
"Don't make me cry, Phil." Trip said.
"We love you so much, Trip and I know I tell you this often, but I just want you to know that I didn't employ you because of who you are to us-,"
"Phil-,"
"-I want you working for me because you're the best at what you do. Whether it's up here in administration or down in the gym. Trip, you're one of the best workers we've ever had."
Trip looked down. "Thank you. I'm…I just…thanks." He looked to Mel. "Both of you."
Mel stood and pulled Trip into a hug. "Thank you. Before you stayed with us, Phil and I were just kids who wanted to help kids. You really showed us how to be parents."
"For what's it's worth," Trip smiled at both of them, "you're awesome parents."
"Oh, you're too kind." Phil pulled him into a hug and kissed him on the cheek, more because he knew Trip hated it. The young man wiped off his cheek, but he was grinning.
"So, when am I gonna get to meet Skye?"
"Soon." Mel said. "Nat's coming home on Friday."
Trip smiled and nodded. "Maria said. You want Skye to meet Nat first?" He guessed.
It had been something he and Mel had discussed when Skye was in bed. How best to introduce her to their miss-match family, and it seemed logical with Skye's interest in Nat after buying her Charlotte the spider, that they got her comfortable with her older sister, before introducing her to Trip and the others.
"I'm not going to stop you from meeting her, Trip." Mel said. "I just think if she gets to know Tasha first, the rest might go smoother?" It came out as a question and Phil found himself shrugging in response, without an answer. It was Trip who gave the best assurance.
Trip gave Mel a one armed hug and took the file from Phil with the other. He walked over to the door. "Maria said she was little shy, but you two are the best. I'm positive she'll be fine." He grinned. "Better than fine. Great. Awesome. Cool." Trip continued listing positive adjectives as he left the room and made his way down the hall.
Phil looked back to Melinda. She was smiling in the direction of Trip's exit.
"I love him." She said. "If I didn't already have a son, I'd want Trip to be my son."
Phil cocked an eyebrow at her. "You don't already have a son."
She looked at him like he was an idiot. "Clint."
"You know Clint isn't our son, right?" Phil smirked. This was discussion they had often. One of those little bickers they only had in order to irritate and amuse each other.
"Clint is practically my son." Mel said, crossing her legs and leaning back on the couch. "And anyway," she picked hat her fingernails with a smirk, "he'll be our son-in-law one day, I guarantee it."
Phil groaned. "Stop, Mel."
"You better get used to the idea sooner rather than later."
"She's nineteen, Mel, she's not getting married."
"Look at us."
"Nat's not us."
"Maybe not." Melinda smiled. "But your eldest daughter is twenty-five and-,"
Phil rubbed his face. "I refuse to believe that any of my children will be getting married any time soon. This is the end of the conversation."
Melinda huffed a little laugher. "Okay. I'll stop teasing you." She stood and walked back over to him now that Trip was gone, settling on his lap. Mel kissed him. "I love you."
"I love you, too." Phil kissed her nose. "Thank you for marrying me."
She smirked. "I was a naïve eighteen year old when I married you. I didn't know what I was getting myself into."
"Hmm. You act like I tricked you into marrying me."
Melinda smiled. "My mother still thinks you did."
"It's been twenty-five years." Phil huffed. "You'd think she would like me by now."
"She likes you plenty." Mel assured him. "She's just not very good at showing it."
"You can say that again."
"Hey." Mel warned. "That's my mother. Be nice, Philip."
He laughed and tickled her sides.
…
Skye supposed school wasn't so bad. Before home time, Miss Potts told them to get all of their stuff, put on their coats and come and sit on the story carpet, and she would read from their new book for the last ten minutes of the day. Grant had explained that when they started a new topic, Miss Potts would choose a new book and she would read it before they left each day. That was cool. Skye's old teacher made all the other kids read out in front of the class, and she always made Skye feel bad because some of the words were hard. Miss Potts didn't do that.
She had done some reading after lunch with Miss Potts while the rest of the class had some free time, but it was okay because she didn't have to do it in front of anyone except Miss Potts, and she wasn't the only one who had to do some one-on-one reading. Grant Ward's turn was after her and he didn't seem embarrassed about needing help to read, so Skye wasn't either.
Ward patted the rug next to him, and Skye sat down in the space.
"Do you like stories?" He asked while Miss Potts helped some of the others with their jackets.
"Yeah. I like them, but I'm not very good at reading." It seemed okay to tell Ward that because he was her best friend.
He nodded. "Yeah. Reading's hard. I'm good at math." He grinned. "Super good at math, but I've got dyslexia."
Skye cocked her head. "What's that?" It sounded like a disease. Grant didn't seem sick, though.
"It just means sometimes words are hard. Y'know like reading and spelling and stuff." He shrugged. "That's kind of why I got held back."
Skye's eyes widened. "You got held back?"
"Yeah. This is my second time in Pep-Miss Potts' class. At my old school they weren't very good." He explained and Skye nodded in understanding. "Miss Potts said that I got 'swept under the rug', whatever that means."
Skye shrugged. She didn't know either.
"But then I came to this school and I had Miss Potts to help me and I'm glad I got kept back because she's the greatest teacher ever." He looked over to Miss Potts with a smile. "She's the best."
"I'm supposed to be in the third grade. But I'm too stupid." Skye said.
Grant frowned. "Don't say that. You're not stupid." He smiled brightly at her and flung an arm over her shoulders. "And anyway, I'm almost ten. I'm meant to be in fourth grade. Does that make me stupid?"
"No, no, I didn't mean that." Skye panicked. She was going to lose her only best friend ever.
Ward smiled again. "It's okay. I know you didn't mean it. But it just proves you're not stupid, Skye Coulson." He held out his fist to her and Skye grinned as she fist-bumped her best friend.
Miss Potts began telling the story of four children who sailed around the world. It was silly and wasn't a real story, but it reminded Skye of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and she liked that.
"Okay, kids, that's all we have time for today." There was a collective groan when Miss Potts had to stop reading part-way through. "We'll read some more tomorrow if we have time. Okay?" The class agreed. "See you all tomorrow, guys." She dismissed them, and the class raced out of the classroom door and into the playground.
A few of the kids shouted 'bye' to Skye as they passed. Skye didn't know all of the kids' names yet, so just called 'bye' back and followed Ward to the door. There were lots of people outside; kids, parents, teachers. The tightness in Skye's tummy returned after it had dissipated for most of the day, and she stood shyly on the steps.
"Can you see your mom and dad?" He asked, looking around.
Skye couldn't. Mel and Phil had promised to be there to pick her up when school ended, but she couldn't see their faces in the mass of other parents and students.
Someone tapped on Skye's shoulder, and she looked up to see Miss Potts smiling brightly at her. "Over there, honey." She pointed towards the edge of the playground, and Skye grinned when she caught sight of Melinda and Phil walking over.
"You look happy." Melinda said as she approached, and Skye skipped off the top step so that she could hug her. "Good day?" Mel kissed her head.
"Yeah. It was fun." Skye pulled back and hugged Phil.
"Great." He said. "I'm so glad."
Skye took Mel's hand.
"Skye did very well today." Miss Potts said. "She was great, if a little quiet, but I think her new friend might remedy that if their recess games are anything to go by."
"We played spies." Grant stated proudly. Her looked to Skye. "Is this your mom and dad?"
Skye looked up at Mel and Phil. Phil was smiling and Mel was brushing back Skye's hair as it blew into her face. She looked back at Ward. "Yeah. This is my mom and dad."
Mel's hand stilled on her head and the other gently squeezed her fingers.
"Hi, Skye's mom and dad. I'm Skye's best friend." Grant grinned.
"Best friend?" Phil asked.
"Yeah, we decided that today because we're gonna be spies, right Skye?"
"Yeah. Agent Skye and Agent Ward."
"You're Ward, then, I presume?" Mel asked.
Miss Potts put her hand on Grant's shoulder. "This is Grant Ward." She introduced with a grin. "I don't do favourites-,"
"But if you did, I'd be it? Right?" He beamed.
Miss Potts rolled her eyes. "Something like that. Grant here has been spending too much time with Tony, and his cockiness is rubbing off on him, I think."
Skye didn't know who Tony was, but when she looked back up and Mel and Phil, they both had strange looks on their faces. Mel was smiling with one eyebrow up and Phil looked like he had just solved a really hard math problem.
"So you're the Grant I've been hearing so much about." Phil smiled. "Tony's told me all about you. I'm glad we can finally meet."
Grant looked shocked. Skye was just confused. "You know Tony?"
"Are you kidding?" Phil laughed. "Stark Industries sponsors our gym. We get all our equipment from S.I."
Grant looked to Miss Potts. "They own SHIELD gym?" He asked and she nodded.
"Who's Tony?" Skye finally asked, when it became apparent that no one was going to tell her off the bat.
"Tony's Pepper's boyfriend. I mean, Miss Potts' boyfriend." Grant smiled up at her and she put and arm around his shoulders. "I live with them."
Skye felt her mouth drop open. "No wonder she's your favourite teacher."
Ward shrugged and hugged Miss Potts. She kissed the side of his head and Skye leaned closer to Mel. "Pepper and Tony take care of me because my mom can't anymore. But I like it here better anyway."
Ward was her best friend, but when he said that, Skye knew that they would be best friends forever. "I like it here better, too." She said. And maybe it would be okay to tell Ward about her life before Mel and Phil. It seemed like he might understand.
"Good." Grant said, smiling. "I'm glad you like it here Agent Skye Coulson."
"Thank you, Agent Grant Ward."
Yeah. Skye liked it here.
A/N: Thank you to Stacy and Tayelor for letting me read your headcanons. I love them so much and I can't wait to read more! Also- Get well soon Tayelor! xxxx
Review please! xxx