Ariel narrating here.

I thought Ward was going to to turn me over to HYDRA when he loaded me into the back of that van.

We drove for a few hours before he stopped.

He got out of the drivers seat and walked around to my side.

He pulled me out. "Tell Coulson how I helped you," he said.

We were in bright sunlight, in the middle of a town.

He helped me walk to a bench at the side of the road and sat me down.

"Once you can walk, go call this number." He pressed a piece of paper into my hand, along with some money for the phone.

"Trying to get in with Skye?" I probably should have felt more thankful than I did. It's rather hard to feel grateful to Ward, though.

"Yes, but that's not why I helped you."

"Then elaborate for me."

"Because I'm a fan of yours. As is Dr. Whitehall."

"Thanks?" I don't think that was the reason, but I would accept that.

He got back into the van and drove away.

A few people passed, but no one really seemed to notice me.

Eventually, I began to regain the ability to stand up and walk around. I made my way to the nearest phone and called the number.

"Hello?" asked a female voice on the other end suspiciously. Skye.

"Hi. This is Ariel Dalton."

"There you are! What happened to you?"

I detailed everything that had happened.

"Don't go anywhere, we'll send someone to get you."

Where would I go exactly?

I did wander out to the bridge near the phone and stand over it, looking into the dark water below.

My parents were dead. Shot.

It echoed in my mind over and over again.

Dead, dead, dead. What would I do now?

My fingers gripped the railing tighter. Overcoming all of my grief was a sense of terror.

I had HYDRA hunting me – I'd just be a target and put everyone near me in danger.

Who knew, they might be looking for me right now. Scratch that. Of course they would be.

What a day of surprises this was turning out to be. I'd expecting an exciting weekend, but this wasn't what I'd been expecting.

I stepped back from the railing and walked down onto the rocky shore of the river.

I picked up a rock and weighed it in my hand for a moment, then threw it into the water.

I sank down on the rocks and stared into the water.

I waited for a while. I almost worried that they weren't coming. Then I spotted Agent Triplett on the opposite bank.

Triplett approached me, walking down the rocky beach. "Ariel Dalton?"

I nodded.

"Agent Triplett With S.H.I.E.L.D."

Ivy here.

I followed them upstairs to the main area of the base.

Hunter greeted us upstairs. "This is the Fortune Seller?"

"Irene Ward," I corrected. "And you must be Lance Hunter. It's nice to meet you in person at last."

"In person?" asked Agent Coulson.

"I heard the rumors and I contacted her to see if they were real. She predicted the whole mess with Creel before I even joined you. Though you missed the bit about my partner dying." He shot me a dirty look.

The director and Skye both shot me a sharp look.

"What? I haven't changed that much. I'm sorry for your loss, Agent Hunter, but I can't predict everything. It doesn't work like that."

"Then how does it work?"

"It's complicated." And he'd probably have a few rather strong words for me if he found out how it worked. "Honestly, I don't quite understand it myself."

I followed Skye up to FitzSimmons's lab.

Agent Simmons tackled me with a hug the second I walked through the door. "Ivy! You're alive! I can't believe it!"

Fitz joined her with another hug.

How I had missed those two.

I returned the hugs as best I could.

"What happened to you?" asked Agent Simmons. "The Doctor saved you? Of course he did."

"Yes. He had something on the TARDIS that apparently can help injuries – I don't know how, I passed out."

Agent Simmons shuddered.

"And what happened then?"

"He set me up on a... planet. Kind of. One far away. Then I had to leave, so he arranged an apartment in London for me, which is where I've been living."

"Isn't London wonderful?"

"Yes. I met Sherlock Holmes and John Watson – the government was investigating me. Again."

Agent Simmons squealed. "Sherlock? Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock?"

I nodded.

She squealed again. "Tell us everything!"

I recounted the whole incident in great detail – it was the least I could do after putting them through everything.

I gave them so much attention I didn't see Skye coming in.

"Glad to see you're okay," she said. "Your friend Ariel is coming in."

"What?" I jumped up, stuttering in confusion. "What do you mean? No, just give me a minute."

I ran down to the room where I had been and retrieved my wig. I pulled it on.

"What are you doing?" asked Skye from behind me.

"I can't tell Ariel. I have to contain everything here. No one who doesn't already know should be told. I'm Irene. Not Ivy."

"Why can't you tell anyone?"

"The more people know, the more dangerous it is for everyone who knows."

I ran back up the stairs and into the lab. I checked my reflection in a reflective surface. Ariel wouldn't be fooled by a wig. She was the only one of my friends who knew what had happened to me, though she didn't know about Phillip.

"Why not just tell her?" asked Skye.

"Because the fewer people who know, the better." I didn't have makeup to use on my face.

I pulled off my shoes and put them on the wrong feet – it would change my way of walking and make me less recognizable.

"Did you bring my stuff from the hotel?" I asked Skye.

She nodded and took me to where my suitcase had been left.

I removed a white fedora, and pulled it on over the wig.

"How does it look?"

"...Interesting," said Skye.

"That's good enough."The white fedora didn't really look all that good on me, admittedly. Still, it would help me look different, which was the important bit.

I went back up to the hall.

"Why is she coming here today?"

Skye blinked a little. "You didn't know?"

I shook my head and reached up to adjust my hat.

"Her parents were both shot last night."

My hands dropped. "What?"

"Last night." She hesitated – there was more.

"What else, Skye?"

"I can't tell you, only Director Coulson can."

"Skye, there is nothing you can say to me right that that could possibly make this situation worse than it already is."

She said nothing.

"Where's Phillip?" I asked. In my shock, I'd almost forgotten about him. I mentally scolded myself.

"We've had Agent Morse keeping an eye on him."

"He's been an angel, by the way."

I jumped and spun around.

"So you're Ivy Williams," said Bobbi Morse. "I heard a lot about you."

"Yes, well, please call me the Fortune Seller. I don't want people to find out who I am."

"Okay." She handed Phillip over to me. "He's the calmest little kid I've ever met." She eyed me up and down. "Where are you from?"

"London, right now. It's where I operate my business, though I travel a lot too. Before that, the east coast. I kind of missing living here in the States, but it's better for everyone involved if I stay away, at least for a while."

Footsteps shuffled nearby.

Ariel walked down the hall.

She seemed smaller than when I'd last seen her – and she's four foot eleven inches. Eleven and a half. Her waist length brown hair was tangled and bedraggled. Her dress – some kind of formal-ish red one – had seen better days. She looked like she hadn't slept in a month and her face was red, probably from crying.

It took all of my self control not to run and give her a hug.

She stared at Skye. "Hi."

Skye was there in a second, talking to her.

I turned around, as if talking to Agent Morse. I fixed my eyes on Phillip.

"A friend of yours?" asked Agent Morse in a soft voice.

"Yes. I've known her since I was seven. Not all that well until recently, but..." I didn't make eye contact. "But no one can know. Her parents are dead, and it's because of me."

I walked away, back to the lab.

Simmons was doing something... sciency. With test tubes. (I flunked science, okay?) Agent Coulson stood on the other side of the table, talking to her.

"Oh, Ivy, there's something –"

"I already heard. Ariel's here. Please, don't let anyone tell her who I am."

"I won't. Though you will have to, eventually."

"Not now. It's too soon after what happened to her."

"There's something else you need to know, Ivy."

Oh, no. "What?"

"I think you'd better come to my office."

This sounded bad.

We walked to the office, where I noted the carving on the wall.

"You, of course, knew about that?" said Director Coulson.

"I did know you were carving," I confessed. "I didn't know what it was. Never dreamed it was a map, I thought it was writing."

He sat down and motioned for me to do the same. "There's something else that happened last night. There were more shootings. HYDRA came to your house first. Both your parents... are dead."

I nearly dropped Phillip. Even though I was sitting, it felt as if I was falling.

Neither of us moved or said anything.

It took several minutes to find my voice. "What about Ryan?"

"Your brother is in the hospital. He got out of surgery a few hours ago. They said that he'll make it."

I stood up. "I'm going to see him."

Director Coulson frowned.

"I'll only be a little while. I need to see my brother."

"It would be a shock –"

"I'm his only family now. He needs to know. Ryan can keep a secret." Probably. He hated my guts and wanted no association with me, so why would he tell anyone? "I can teleport, with the watch thing," I added.

Director Coulson nodded. "I hope it goes well for you."

Not half as much as I did.