A/N: Enjoy! And thanks for all of the reviews from the last chapter. xx

Phil awoke to a silent house, but with a tiny pointy elbow in his face. For a second he was incredibly confused, because the face full of dark hair was usually courtesy of Melinda, but this person was much smaller.

Skye.

Things began piecing themselves back together as sleep gave way to consciousness, and Phil remembered the family's weird little argument that had ended up with Skye sharing their bed. Which was fine. She was like a little thermos lying in between him and a still sleeping Mel, making Phil overheat, but she was so cute cuddled up under their duvet, he hadn't the heart to move her.

Phil had intended to watch his wife and daughter sleep for a little longer before dragging himself out of bed to shower, but a thud followed by a string of curses peaked his curiosity enough to get him up sooner. The thud had come from down the hall. Tasha and Clint's room.

"Sorry." Tash's voice said. "Clint, I'm so sorry."

Phil got out of bed but stayed still by the closed bedroom door and listened.

"God, Nat." That was Clint. "You got me good, baby."

Phil scrunched up his face. He wasn't sure he wanted to hear anymore, but curiosity…well, maybe he hadn't learned from what it did to the cat.

"I'm so sorry, Clint, I didn't…here let me see…oh God, hang on I'll go wake my dad. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Clint."

"Tash, it's fine. I'll be fine."

"No, I'll get Dad. I'm so sorry."

Phil opened the bedroom door and stepped out just as Natasha was racing down the hall in pyjamas, blood on her hands. Not wanting to wake Skye and Mel, Phil closed the door behind him and immediately began walking to Nat's room.

"What's happened?" He asked, eyeing her bloody hands. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, but I hurt Clint." She said. Nat looked devastated. "Dad, I did not mean it. I…Daddy…" She was getting upset, which never bode well for anyone. Her accent was slipping though, getting stronger with each sentence.

"Natasha, calm down." Phil gripped her shoulders and forced her to look at him, stopping their journey to her room. "It's okay. I heard him complaining, so he's probably not dying." He smirked at his little attempt at humour, but the expression died when Nat failed to do anything more than look to her room with panic. "Okay, come on, honey. Let's see the damage."

Natasha jogged the last few steps to her room and barged in, running straight over to Clint, who Phil saw, was sat on the floor, propped up by the dresser, seemingly attempting to stem the bleeding from his nose. Phil crossed the room and kneeled down in front of Clint, taking the young man's chin in his hand.

"What happened?" He asked, inspecting Clint's nose gently.

"S'nothing." Clint said.

"I punched him…I think." Nat held Clint's hand tightly, but from what Phil could see, it was Clint attempting to soothe Nat more than anything else.

"She was having a nightmare." Clint explained, wincing slightly when Phil put a little too much pressure on the bridge. "But it wasn't your fault, Tash."

"How can you say that? I hit you." She gasped.

"In your sleep. You were having a bad dream." Clint lowered his voice and Phil pretended not to hear what he said next, spending longer than necessary inspecting his face. "We both have them, Nat. It's okay. You take care of me and I take care of you, right."

"Right." Nat said quietly. "But I still punched you."

"Actually," Clint looked to Phil, "she gave me a really strong backhand when I tried to wake her up and I fell out the bed."

Clint was hurt and Natasha was devastated that she had caused the injury, and Phil probably should have been more sensitive to the situation, but the mental images of Natasha basically slapping Clint out of bed was too much to handle and he burst out laughing. Clint smiled, too, despite the blood still running into his mouth, and even Nat gave a little twitch of her lips.

"Sorry." Phil apologised. "But you're fine. Not broken, just bleeding."

Nat visibly relaxed and kissed Clint on the cheek, avoiding the blood. "I'm so sorry."

"Stop it, Tash. I'm fine." Clint smiled in what Phil assumed was meant to be a reassuring way, but the blood in his teeth dampened the affect. "Phil's an expert first aider. He knows his stuff."

"I do." Phil said, standing up. He pulled Clint to his feet, taking another look at the nose that finally seemed to have stopped bleeding. "I know lots of stuff." He looked to Natasha. "Like maybe this was a sign that you two shouldn't be sleeping in the same bed? Huh?" He grinned at them. "How about separate beds on opposite sides of the house? Doesn't that sound awesome?"

Both kids looked at him with disbelieving looks. Nat raised a single eyebrow and smirked at him, now that she knew Clint was okay.

"I don't think that's what the sign was, Dad." She said.

Phil sighed. "Was worth a try." He patted Clint on the shoulder and wrapped an arm around Nat, kissing her cheek. "You okay, honey?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"You need to talk about the dream?"

"No. Dad. I don't want to." Nat said.

"That's fine." Phil pulled away from her. "But you know, both of you, can come to me, or Mel anytime-,"

"To talk about anything." Nat finished for him with a smirk. "We know. But thank you."

"Thanks, Dad." Clint said sincerely. It wasn't often he used the label without teasing, but Phil didn't comment on it, just smiled.

"Right, you guys. We're going to the gym to do various important work-related things, and I was wondering if you'd watch Skye there for a while? Maybe take her to play with the other kids in the youth gym."

Nat's face lit up. "Yes. We can do that."

"Yep. I'm up for hanging with the kids." Clint agreed.

"Great. Thanks." Phil said. "Skye loves you guys, you know. Just remember that. She's never had a lot of people to rely on."

"She's got us, now, Dad." Nat said. "I promise."

"Good. Now go take a shower." He waved in the general direction of the two kids still covered in blood.

"Sure thing." Clint said.

Phil walked out of the bedroom with the intention of taking his own shower when the sound of Nat's giggling reached his ears and he felt the need to clarify something. "Separate showers." He called through the door. "As in 'not together'."

"Yes, Dad." Clint called bad, the teasing having returned in full force.

…

Usually when Skye woke up it was because either Mel or Phil were waking her for school. They turned on her light and opened her curtains, and sometimes when she was very sleepy and didn't want to wake up, Melinda would tickle her so that she had to wake up. But today was different.

Skye remembered being frightened when she was woken up by shouting. And she remembered Melinda bringing her into her and Phil's room to sleep. She hadn't opened her eyes yet, but Skye knew that's where she was, in Mel and Phil's bed. It smelt a bit different then hers but still felt safe and warm.

"You waking up, beautiful?" Mel asked.

Skye opened her eyes and blinked up at her. Mel was smiling, sitting up in bed and stroking Skye's hair. She was still a little too sleepy to talk, so Skye just cuddled back into Melinda and put her thumb into her mouth.

"Ah ah." Mel pulled Skye's hand away from her mouth and she couldn't help but give a little whine of protest. "Nope. No thumb sucking when it's time to wake up. We've things to do, places to be. We can't go back to sleep."

"Mm. Want to though." Skye argued lamely, mostly for the sake of delaying getting up, because she knew she would never win.

"Sorry, baby. Time to get up." Melinda tickled her sides a little, making Skye squirm. "Are you getting up? Is it working?"

"Yes. Yes." Skye laughed, sitting up and brushing off the covers. "See. I'm awake now."

"Good. Come on let's get up." Melinda made to get out of the bed, but Skye stopped her when she noticed something.

"Where's Phil?"

"He's-," Mel began, but was interrupted by the bedroom door opening and Phil walking in. "He's there." She frowned. "And he's apparently been involved in an incident."

Skye gasped at the blood on Phil's hands. "You're hurt." She said, and felt herself getting upset. "Mel, Phil's hurt."

"I'm fine." Phil said, but Skye didn't believe him. He had blood on him. He was hurt.

"No you're not." Skye argued. "There's blood."

"Skye." Phil said and held up his bloody hands. "Listen, sweetie, it's fine. It's not my blood."

Melinda shifted next to Skye on the bed and the little girl felt herself being pulled backwards until her back was against the headboard. Mel climbed of the bed and walked over to Phil.

"Then whose blood is it?" Melinda asked.

Phil glanced in Skye's direction. "Everyone's fine, okay." He said, then looked back to Mel. "Nat had a nightmare." He said it really quietly, like he didn't want Skye to hear, but she heard anyway.

"I don't like nightmares." Skye said.

"No," Phil smiled, "neither does Natasha, and she got pretty scared and accidentally hit Clint in the face. Gave him a bloody nose." Skye didn't think it was very funny, but Phil was laughing and that was making Melinda smile. "He's fine. They're both fine, but she came and got me when it happened."

"Is Clint's nose okay?" Skye asked. She's had a bloody nose more than once because someone had hit her. It wasn't a very nice feeling.

"He's fine, Skye." Phil assured her.

"He's tough." Melinda said. "He'll be okay."

Phil went into the ensuite and Mel followed. They were talking, but Skye's couldn't hear over the sound of running water. Skye had once given someone a bloody nose. By accident, like Natasha. The girls in her room at the orphanage had been pinning her to the ground and spitting on her, and Skye had kicked out her leg and hit one of them in the face. Even though they had been being mean to her, Skye had still felt really bad.

She jumped off the bed and went into the bathroom. Melinda was stilling on the closed toilet seat while Phil washed his hands.

"Is Natasha okay?" Skye asked.

Phil dried his clean hands off on a towel and crouched down in front of Skye. "Is Nat okay?" He repeated her question.

"Yeah. You said Clint's nose was okay. But is Natasha okay?" Both adults looked as though they didn't quite understand what Skye was getting at, so she attempted to clarify. "Because she might feel bad that she hurt him. I don't want her to feel bad. 'Specially if it wasn't her fault."

"She was a little upset." Phil said. "But once she knew Clint was okay, she felt okay, too."

Skye nodded. "So she's good, though?"

"Yes." Phil smiled. "You're really worried about her, huh?"

Skye was. She nodded.

"Don't worry, okay." Phil said. "Nat's fine. Clint's fine. Okay?"

"Kay." Skye said. She trusted that Phil was telling her the truth, but she would make sure herself later, just to be absolutely positive.

…

Nat's mom and dad had driven them all to the gym, but both had made themselves scarce up in the offices, presumably doing paperwork or other things Nat really couldn't care less about. It had left Nat, Clint and Skye to entertain themselves.

"You wanna go play in the youth gym?" Clint asked Skye. He swung their hands where Skye's little one was wrapped up in his.

Natasha had noticed how when they had left the car the little girl had automatically glued herself to at least one of them. Since both her mom and dad had gone upstairs, Skye had held a strong grip on Nat and Clint. It occurred to Natasha that this was probably the first time since moving in that Skye had been left without the company of her parents, apart from when she was at school. Natasha stroked a thumb over the back of Skye's hand.

"What's youth gym?" Skye asked looking up at Clint. He was beginning to get a little bruising under one of his eyes, all purple and blue, for which Natasha felt endlessly guilty, despite him insisting he was fine.

Clint's eyes lit up. "Oh, Skye, it's awesome." He grinned. "They've got the best toys. Right, Nat?"

Skye looked over to her, and Tasha nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty cool. Mom and Dad set it up so kids can play there while their parents are in the actual gym."

"It's so cool." Clint smiled. "Let's go check out what they're doing." He pulled them in the direction of the youth gym, chattering on to Skye about the various pieces of equipment they had.

Natasha liked the youth gym just fine. Not as much as Clint, but he was a kid at heart and loved nothing more than joining in with all of the activities they had going on. The past few summers had seen her parents giving Clint and Nat summer jobs in the gym, and Clint did all he could to wing his way into a job with the youth gym.

Technically she was too old to attend, as was Clint. Youth gym was not really a gym at all, just a massive extension to the main building that acted more like a short-term camp, with various clubs and activities for kids of all ages up to sixteen, but being the daughter of the gym owners had it's benefits and she and Clint had often found themselves playing 'round robin' with groups of kids while at the gym. As they arrived at the main sports hall, Nat could see it wasn't a 'round robin' kind of day. Most of the kids seemed to be kicking soccer balls around, shooting at mini-goals and dribbling them through cones.

"Awesome, soccer." Clint grinned. "You like soccer Skye?" He asked.

Skye looked wearily at the many children running around the hall and Natasha didn't miss the way her grip on her hand tightened.

"Um, I'm not sure. I think so, maybe." A stray ball rolled over towards Skye, but she stepped away from it.

Clint kicked it back to the little girl from whom the ball had escaped. "You wanna go play?" He was itching to join in, eyeing the group of kids attempting keepy-ups at the far side of the hall.

"No. I just…" Skye looked up at Natasha. "I don't wanna go play."

"That's okay." Natasha said. "Why don't we just watch for a little while? While Clint goes and plays."

Skye nodded.

Clint looked at her in question. "You sure. I don't mind sitting with you guys if-,"

"Go. Go on." Nat said. "You show those kids how it's done. We'll watch."

"Okay. But you come over and join in anytime, okay, Skye?"

"Kay."

He ran off to join the group of kids in the far end, immediately finding his place as a leader amongst the kids. Not for the first time Natasha thought Clint would make a good teacher. The kids were shouting after him, all vying for his attention. As much as Clint preferred his own company to large crowds generally, it seemed to be different when it came to interacting with kids.

Natasha suspected he didn't quite understand how terrifying this all must seem to Skye. Nat got it. She had been thrust into school having known no one and knowing very little English and it had been frightening. Although this was not the same by any stretch of the imagination, this unfamiliar territory with unfamiliar people would be frightening to Skye.

She led her little sister over to the benches and the two sat down side-by-side. Skye leaned into her a little and Natasha put her arm around her shoulders.

They watched Clint attempting and failing to do soccer tricks for a few minutes, much to the amusement of Skye, who giggled every time Clint failed a trick and overdramatically threw himself to the ground to make the kids laugh.

"I'm sorry you had a bad dream, Tasha." Skye said suddenly, her eyes still following Clint.

"Oh, um, thanks." Nat said. She had assumed someone had told Skye something to explain Clint's growing black eye, but she hadn't been aware of either her mother or father telling her about her nightmare.

"Bad dreams are scary." Skye said.

"Yeah, they are."

"And that's why you hit Clint on accident. 'Cos you got scared."

"Yeah." Nat swallowed. "Yes."

"But," Skye turned to her and smiled, "s'okay 'cos it was an accident."

Nat nodded. "But I still feel guilty."

Skye looked at her in a way that Natasha had only seen a few times before, mostly from Clint and her mother, and occasionally Bobbi- just like she completely understood everything she was feeling.

Skye reached up to pet Natasha's hair, a little awkwardly with how much shorter she was than her, but the gesture was so sweet that Tasha found herself straining not to well up. "Don't feel bad, Tasha." Skye continued her head pets. To an outsider it probably looked comical. "It was an accident and Clint still loves you. Don't feel bad."

"I'll try my best." She promised.

"Good." Skye smiled and stood up. "I think I might want to play now."

Nat blinked at the quick change in pace and took Skye's offered hand. "Okay. What would you like to do?"

Skye took a good look around the room, then began pulling Natasha over to where Clint was, waiting at the back of the line to kick a ball into a soccer goal. "I wanna do this."

Clint saw them coming and grinned. "Hey! You coming to join in?"

"Yeah." Skye plucked the last ball out of a large bin by Clint. "Tasha, you can share with me."

"Thanks, Skye." She smiled. "But I think I'm just going to watch."

Skye shrugged, and turned back to face the front of the line, still holding onto her hand.

Clint moved to let Skye go in front of him in the line and came to stand behind Natasha. "She okay?" He whispered in her ear, kissing her cheek as he said it.

"Yeah. My dad must have told her about this morning, though. She was worried." Nat whispered.

"About me?" Clint asked.

"About me." Nat said. "She doesn't want me to feel guilty."

Clint smiled and wrapped his arms around Natasha's waist, resting his head on her shoulder. "Skye and I seem to have the same opinion. You know I'd still love you even if you punched me in the face every morning."

"I shouldn't be hitting you in my sleep though. It's not fair on you."

"Come off it, Nat." He shuffled them forward as Skye got closer to the front of the line. "I've totally kicked you in my sleep because of a nightmare. We're just as bad as each other."

She couldn't disagree with him there. He may have never bloodied her nose in his sleep, but Tasha had received her fair share of shin bruising from his disturbed dreams. And she supposed she'd never once wanted him to even feel a morsel of guilt.

"We deserve each other." She smirked and turned her head to kiss him. "I love you."

"I love you, too, sleep-ninja."

Skye tugged on Nat's hand until she looked at her. She was at the front of the line, chewing on her lip nervously.

"What's up?" Nat asked.

"If I take my turn, you'll still be here, right?" Skye asked. "You won't leave me?"

"No, of course not." Natasha's grip on Skye's hand got tighter, the exact opposite of what Skye actually required at this moment in time, but she needed her little sister to know that she was never going to disappear on her. She let go of Skye's hand. "Go on. Take your turn and we'll wait right here. I promise."

Skye gently placed her soccer ball down on the mark and took her shot at the goal. The little boy playing goalie caught it, but she didn't seem to care, running over to get the ball off him and grinning from ear to ear.

"Did you guys see how hard I kicked it?" She asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet as they made their way back to the back of the line.

"I did." Clint laughed. "You're a real Messi."

Skye looked at him blankly and Nat didn't blame her. She had no idea what he was talking about.

"No?" Clint said. "Nothing? Okay then." He looked back down at Skye. "I just meant you were good."

"Cool." Skye said.

"Cool." Clint agreed.

Natasha and Clint watched at Skye took four, five, six more tries at kicking the ball into the goal. Gradually they moved further away, less of a conscious decision and more to allow the other kids to join onto the line without being in the way. Although Skye watched them closely, she seemed content with knowing they were sat over by the benches, and Nat felt a little pride swell in her heart when she saw Skye chatting to some of the other kids amicably.

"Hey, look, our little sis is making friends." Clint said.

"She is." Nat smiled.

"She's more sociable than you are." He smirked, and Nat felt his body brace for the punch she gave to his arm.

"Shut up." She smirked.

"Yes, ma'am." Clint blew a raspberry into her neck, making Nat squirm. He stopped abruptly. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Nat asked, and followed his gaze to Skye.

"That kid just took her ball." He said.

Natasha watched as a young boy, bigger than Skye but still just a kid, held Skye's ball over her head, laughing as he taunted her. She stood up and began to storm over, with the full intention to teach the little bully a lesson, but Clint held her back.

"Nat, you can't hit him. The kid's like ten." Clint warned.

Tasha bristled at his touch. "He's being mean to Skye." She'd promised look after Skye and now some punk was bullying her.

Skye was asking for the ball back. Nat could hear her, asking over and over again "Please, give me it back." Skye getting more and more frustrated each time she asked.

The boy held the ball out to Skye and she reached for it, but at the last second the kid rammed it into Skye's chest, causing her to fall backwards. Both Nat and Clint rushed forwards at that, but Skye was up quickly, charging towards the boy.

"Go get him, Skye." Nat called.

Skye turned to look at her and nodded, determination set on her little face.

"Hit him!" As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Nat knew she'd said a bad thing. Clint's grip on her shoulder tightened and he shouted after Skye.

"Do not hit him, Skye!"

Whether Skye took Clint's advice to heart or not was difficult to tell because although she didn't hit the boy, she did kick him hard in the shin, twice, until he fell himself, and dropped the ball at her feet.

"She kicked me!" The boy shouted, and many of the kids stopped their playing to look over at the incident. Nat felt guilt bubbling up in her chest. This was her fault.

"Yeah." Skye said, less confident and more surprised. She stood over the boy a moment, looked over to Nat and Clint with a worried expression, then back at the boy. "Don't take my stuff. Kay."

For all of the effort she had gone through to get the ball back, Skye dropped it as she ran over to Clint and Natasha. The little girl ploughed into Nat, wrapping her arms around her waist and burying her face into her stomach.

"I did a bad thing." Skye mumbled, and Natasha could only bite her lip and hug her back, because, yeah, she had done something bad and it had been all Nat's fault.

"Mom's going to kill me." She mumbled.

Clint rubbed her back. "Oh, yeah."

…

Melinda wanted to be spending her Saturday with her two youngest daughters, but apparently the world had other ideas and she was holed up in her office discussing serious business matters with Tony Stark. For a man who appeared at first glance to be a four-year-old in a forty-year-old's body, the man could actually turn business pretty quickly. But that's how he was a billionaire, she supposed.

"I'm talking all the treadmills, replaced across the centre, and twenty five new ones for the new gym, all for fifty grand." Tony sat on the other side of Mel's desk, hands clasped over some paperwork.

"No. No way, Stark." Mel said. She knew that it was a good deal. Stark's equipment was in another league and each piece of tech was probably worth over five thousand dollars retail, and he was offering her a good price, but she knew the drill. Haggle for all it's worth. "Thirty."

"No way, Mel. I'd be losing out." Tony shook his head. "Forty-five. Final offer. And I get to keep the old treadmills to resell."

She'd been betting on that. They didn't have room to house the old ones and the new ones. "Forty. You keep the old ones and throw in some of that new software for the computers."

He groaned and ran a hand over his face. Mel just watched.

"Come on, Stark. Our kids are friends." She grinned. "They're spies together, or haven't you heard?"

"Yeah," He smiled. "I've been hearing all about little miss 'Agent Skye'. Fine." Stark nodded. "Forty thou, new software, and I get the old mills for resale." He held out his hand and they shook on it.

"Nice doing business with you, Mr. Stark." Melinda said. "I'll be sure to put in a good word with your girlfriend when I take Skye to school on Monday."

"Thanks." He laughed. "I'm actually in the dog house as we speak because I let Grant play with a car battery. Apparently that's not classified as a," he held up air quotes, "'child-friendly toy'."

Mel shook her head at him. "No, no it's not."

"I don't see the problem. I was creating my own lithium batteries to power my friends' dirt bikes when I was ten. Anyway, Grant loved it and he was fine."

She rolled her eyes. "Listen to Pepper, Tony. You've got a lot to learn about parenting."

Tony smirked. "Oh, as if you're an expert." He teased.

"Actually, I kind of am." She bantered back.

Melinda's office door opened and the apologetic face of Maria Hill appeared in her doorway. "Sorry to interrupt-,"

"What's happened?" Mel interrupted, already standing from her desk. That expression on Maria always meant something had happened.

Maria sighed. "There's been a complaint from a parent of a 'violent child' in the youth gym."

"Uh-oh." Tony said. "Sounds like we need Melly to hand out some expert parenting advice."

"Don't call me that." Mel flicked the billionaire's ear. "Any kid we know?" She asked Maria.

"Uh…it's Skye." Maria said with a grimace.

"Melly, maybe you need a little more practice, huh?" Tony said, spinning around in his chair.

Melinda just sighed and took a moment to compose herself, following Maria out of the office and towards where she expected to find her children. Words were going to be had.

…

Skye hadn't meant to hurt the boy.

Actually, that was lie.

In the moment, Skye's full intention had been to hurt him. He'd taken her ball and he'd been teasing her, and then Natasha had said to hit him and Clint had said not to, and then Skye had been so mad with the boy that she had just kicked him. She'd kicked him really hard.

As soon as she had done it, Skye knew she had been bad. The boy was properly hurt. His leg was bleeding, like Clint's nose had been that morning, except this hadn't been an accident. He was crying. Really crying, not fake crying and Skye had lived in the orphanage for eight years so she was an expert on spotting fake tears. His were real. She felt sick. Skye had hurt him.

The boy's mommy had been really mad and she had shouted at Skye. Called Skye 'violent' and 'vicious'. Skye didn't want to be any of those things and she got upset and no matter how hard she tried not to cry, she couldn't help it because even Natasha looked upset.

Skye didn't want Natasha to be sad.

They stood in one of the back rooms of the gym. Someone Skye didn't know was putting a band-aid on the boy's leg. The man kept looking over at Skye while he cleaned the blood of the boy's leg. She thought maybe Natasha and Clint knew him, because he kept catching both of their eyes.

The boy's mommy was saying mean things to them. "It's a disgrace." She said to Natasha. "Letting a little brat in a place like this. I pay good money to come here and to have my son attend and look what I get for it! She should be locked up!"

Clint scoffed at the woman. "Exaggerate much?"

"She's a little delinquent." The women spat.

"Hey, your son is not exactly all sunshine and rainbows either." Natasha was shouting too. She was saying her words funny, with a different accent. "He hurts my sister, she hurt him. Simple. Is over now."

"Nat." Clint said it really quietly, but Natasha stopped shouting anyway.

The boy's mom stepped towards Skye. She was scary and for a second Skye thought she might hit her for hurting her son, but then Clint lifted her off her feet and held Skye in his arms so no one could hut her. Even if she did probably deserve it.

The door opened and Skye's heart sank. Melinda walked into the room. Her friend Maria was stood behind her.

"I'm sorry." Skye said automatically, but Melinda gave no indication that she had heard her.

"Trip, please escort Mrs Buldger and her son to Phil's office. Maria will go with you." Mel turned to the boy's mom. "Mrs Buldger I am so sorry for your terrible experience today, but if you'll follow Mr Triplett and Miss Hill, you will be able to air anything you wish in an open discussion with Mr Coulson."

The woman huffed and glared at Skye, still in Clint's arms, but took her son's hand and followed Trip and Maria out of the room. The door closed and room fell silent. Skye watched quietly as Melinda sat down in the only chair in the room, folded her arms and blinked at them.

"Go." She said.

"It wasn't Skye's fault." Both Clint and Natasha said at the same time.

They looked at each other, then back to Melinda, and Skye could only frown in confutation.

"It was not her fault." Natasha said. "Mama, it was not her fault."

Skye shook her head. "Yes it was. I kicked him." The tears pricked at her eyes again. "I- I kicked him. I'm sorry." They began rolling down her cheeks. "I was bad. I'm sorry."

"I told her to." Natasha said. "Mom, the boy was being mean to her and I told her to hit him."

Skye didn't know what to say. It wasn't Natasha's fault. No one had forced her to hurt the boy, Skye had done it all on her own. Natasha didn't want Skye to get into trouble, but Skye felt the same way about her big sister.

"Listen." Melinda said. "I know this probably all started being the fault of that boy, but bad decisions were made here." She wasn't shouting, like Skye had expected, but Melinda had her 'serious voice' on. "I'm not mad, I'm just disappointed in you." She looked between Natasha and Skye. "Both of you."

"That's way worse than you being mad." Natasha said.

"Then make better choices next time, Natasha." Mel stood up. "You're a big sister now. You're an adult. You need to be a good example."

Natasha looked down. "I know." She said quietly. "I'm sorry."

Melinda hugged Natasha, which Skye thought was kind of weird. She'd expected Mel to, well, Skye wasn't really sure, but hugging had been her last guess when Mel said she was disappointed.

"Remember." Mel said to Natasha. "When you feel yourself getting angry you just need to stop and think. Especially now, Tasha." She kissed her head and stepped away. Melinda looked at Clint. "Give me Skye. You two can go help in the offices for the rest of the day. There's some files in your Dad's office that need alphabetised. Stay there until someone comes and gets you."

"Yes, Mom." Nat said.

"Yes, Mel." Clint said, and put Skye down on her feet. Both he and Nat gave her little smiles before they left the room, and that made Skye feel much better.

Melinda got down onto her knees. "I know you're sorry."

"I am." Skye said.

"I know. But we need to talk about what happened. Skye, you understand that you cannot hurt someone because you don't like what they are doing."

Skye frowned. "But he was being mean to me."

"And that was wrong of him." Mel agreed, putting a hand on her shoulder. "But that does not make it right for you to hurt him, even if Natasha got upset and said it was."

"I'm in trouble." Skye concluded. "Big trouble."

Melinda sighed. "You're not in big trouble. But I think we might need to start having more conversations about what is right and wrong."

"I know what's right and wrong." Skye said. "I just…forget sometimes."

"And we can work on that." Mel smiled. "But for now, I think you have some apologising to do. Do you agree?"

Skye looked at her shoes. "Yes. Are you disappointed with me?" She asked. Natasha thought that was worse than being mad.

"I am." Melinda said. She looked kind of sad when she said it, and Skye suddenly understood why Tasha would rather she was angry.

Melinda being disappointed made Skye want to start crying again.

"M'sorry." Skye said, snivelling.

"I'm disappointed with your decisions, but baby," Mel said, stroking her cheek, "I still love you. That doesn't change."

Skye's eyes widened. "You love me?"

Mel swallowed. "I do."

"Are you sure?" Skye felt the need to clarify. She had just been really bad. Why on earth would Melinda want to love her now?

Melinda smiled. "Very sure, Skye. I love you. I'll love you no matter what you do. Just like I'll always love Nat or Bobbi no matter what decisions they make. I just want you to be happy, and I know making a bad choice today isn't making you happy."

She was right. Skye didn't feel happy about hurting the boy, even if it had got her ball back.

"Hey," Mel said. She pulled Skye close for a hug, and Skye hugged her back tightly. "I love you." She said.

Skye held onto Melinda's shirt. "I love you, too."

Mel kissed her nose and smiled. She swallowed again, hard enough that Skye could really see her throat move.

"Come on, then." Melinda stood up and took Skye's hand. "You can go and say sorry to Mrs Buldger and her son."

As they walked towards the offices, Skye began feeling a lot better. She still felt really guilty about hurting the boy, even if he wasn't a very nice boy, but Melinda hadn't shouted at her. That's what she'd been most scared of.

Melinda loved her. And Skye loved Mel. It felt nice.

…

It had been a long day of paperwork, Tony Stark, and then being screamed at by Mrs Buldger until he offered her three months free membership in apology for Skye hurting her son. Phil wasn't supposed to take sides, but the whole time Mrs Buldger had been in his office, her irritating son had kicked his desk leg and been slyly shooting him the middle finger, apparently having got over his ordeal. Phil had begun to see why the kid had riled up his daughters so much.

Really, after that day, he was just happy to get home. Nat had been particularly quiet the rest of the day and in the car ride home. And Skye had just been exceptionally clingy to Melinda, enough that she had been forced to sit in the back with Nat and Skye while Clint rode up front.

"You guys want takeout?" Phil asked, putting the key in the front door. "Unless anyone wants to cook?" A round of groans met his question and Phil took that as a yes to takeout. "Alright then." He said, stepping back to allow the family to enter the house before him.

He pulled the front door shut behind him, and followed the rest of his family into the living room, inspecting the mail as he went. Frowning at one piece of mail in particular, Phil asked, "When did we sign up for 'Lego magazine'?"

"Oh, that's mine." Clint said, plucking it out of his hands. The two of them walked together, both looking at the Lego spaceship on the cover. "It's the sci-fi issue."

Phil, too preoccupied with Clint's Lego obsession, collided with Melinda who had stopped walking abruptly.

"Mel? What's up?"

Phil need not have asked, as half a second later Natasha squealed and ran across the living room towards the stairs. Phil stepped around Melinda and Skye, and watched as Nat flung herself at her big sister.

Bobbi stood at the far end of the room, hugging her younger sister and grinning madly. "Miss me?" She laughed.

Phil blinked, just in case the stress of the day was causing him to hallucinate, but there she was, his eldest daughter. She rushed forward to hug her mother next, and Skye attached herself to Phil's leg. He was torn between seeing his eldest daughter, whom he hadn't seen in person for months and comforting his youngest.

"You know who this is?" Phil asked, lifting Skye into his arms. He kissed her cheek. She wrapped her arms around his neck but didn't hide like he'd expected, instead watching Bobbi and Melinda's interaction with curiosity.

"That's Bobbi." Skye said. She looked at him with a tiny frown. "I thought she was in England."

Phil shrugged and smiled brightly when Bobbi caught his eye. "Me, too."

A/N: So Bobbi's back home! Yay!