The thing about Skye
Expansion off She doesn't sleep
May used to like kids. Even wanted one some day.
That changed after Bahrain. She lost her humor, lost her patience. So, you can imagine her irritation when she finds herself having to play hide and go seek with the biggest security risk to ever walk into SHIELD- their newest CI consultant.
Generally, May is the first person to get up out of anyone around her, no matter where she ends up. She gets up so early because she likes the quiet. It gives her a chance to center and calm herself before anyone even starts moving around.
So, she's surprised that first morning on the bus, when she feels eyes on her as she moves through her Tai Chi.
It doesn't take much effort to figure out who it is- the girl is either a terrible spy or isn't interested in hiding her presence. May figures it's a fluke- nerves of trying to sleep in a new habitat. But the young hacker then appears the next morning, and the morning after that, and May is bemused for the first time in years. The girl is barely an adult and seemed, to May, like the type of person her age who sleeps in till noon and is slow to start.
May thinks about trying to get up earlier, so she can have her hour of isolation, but the girl isn't really doing anything. She doesn't try to bother May, or fill up the silence with her normal chatter; she just… watches. So, May leaves her alone even though she doesn't really like the idea of the hacker wandering unsupervised (especially in the early mornings before anyone else gets up).
Which is part of May's annoyance now. They have no idea where she is, and she could be doing who knows what. Skye always disappears when Coulson doesn't actively need them, but May just figured she was locked up in her bunk hacking into some other government security.
But she wasn't, when May went to retrieve her, and she's not in the lab with FitzSimmons, or in the lounge, and no one has seen her for half an hour.
May grits her teeth as she rewinds the security footage, and then fast forwards, tracking the hacker from camera to camera, and fury roars in her veins when she sees the youngest member on the plane sneaking into the server room with something bundled in her arms.
May is off, flying into the belly of the plane toward the server room. The hacker could do a lot with 30 minutes alone in that room.
May slows as she comes to the door, making her already silent tread even more so, and she uses all of her stealth abilities to ease to door open without a sound as she slips in.
She pauses, because she doesn't see Skye, even though the footage didn't show her leaving again. So May turns slowly, taking in the entirety of the room, and spots a foot.
May's anger drains away until she is left empty. Skye is sleeping. She's curled up between two corners of the heavy machinery, blanket pulled tight around her and head pillowed under her arm.
May hasn't made a single noise, she knows she hasn't, but Skye suddenly jolts, and sits up quick, eyes scanning the room. They land on May almost immediately.
May lifts an eyebrow, taking in the nest the hacker has made for herself, and wonders why this is the ideal place for a nap when she has a perfectly fine bunk. After a moment of the two women staring at each other, May decides not to ask and leave her to her habits. May has her own odd ones.
"Coulson needs us," May says finally. "We have a mission."
Skye nods her head and starts gathering her blankets. Normally, after delivering the message, May would turn and leave. But, instead, she finds herself watching the hacker, the way she moves as if fully alert even though she looked utterly passed out a moment before, and the normal bags under her eyes look darker in the shadows of the server room. May wonders if it's her presence that snapped Skye to attention. If it is, the hacker has better instincts than May thought.
…
May snaps awake, the image of a girl's reaching hand lingering in her mind. It's with years of practice that she shoves it away, and quickly calms her heart rate. It's only in sleep that she has no control over it.
It's only just after waking up that the hold on her emotions feel weak.
With a sigh, May rises and glances at the clock. It's nearing 3:00AM. She makes her way out into the belly of the bus, past Coulson's office (which is thankfully dark), and into the kitchen.
She pauses, spotting the blue glow of the computer, legs outstretched along the cushions, and back leaning up against the couch arm. Skye's eyes are already locked on May, and it feels odd realizing she wasn't the first person in the room to be aware of the other.
May hesitates in the doorway, still feeling off from her dream, before moving to the cabinets where she keeps her tea. She feel's the hacker's weary eyes following her the entire time.
May wonders why the girl is up so early, especially when she remembers Simmons mentioning, the other day, that Skye kept her company while she pulled an all-nighter in the lab.
Skye doesn't appear any more tired than usual, though, as she slowly, hesitantly, lowers her eyes back to the screen.
Once the pot is set to boil, May turns her attention to the younger girl.
May has never felt the need to break the silence before. Until now. It's a nagging thought, urging her tongue to move.
"What are you working on?" May asks, and even though her pitch is quiet, it cuts across space like a blaring horn.
Skye looks up, surprise coloring her face like she can't believe May directed the question to her.
May ignores the useless and unhelpful urge to shift like a rookie from foot to foot in discomfort. She knows she comes across as standoffish – it's purposeful- but she didn't think it'd be to the point that the young hacker would be surprised being addressed by her.
"Um," Skye says, blinking slowly. Maybe she's more tired than she first appeared. "I'm tracking Quin. I have alerts set up on all of his bank accounts and I've set up a virus to infiltrate wherever money transfers end up. The virus should take over any computer that accesses the funds that were transferred."
Skye goes into some technical terms that go right over May's head- not that she'd ever admit it. By the end of Skye's spiel, though, she gets the main idea, and is reluctantly impressed with the initiative of the ex-hacktivist she's still not convinced is entirely on their side.
The tea kettle starts squealing, and May is quick to remove it from the heat.
"Would you like anything?" May asks, using the routine of making tea to finally, fully, soothe her nerves.
"No," Skye says quickly, a little too quickly, and it draws May's attention back to the girl. She is an unknown. Entirely unknown- which is unheard of with SHIELD's recourses. Everything May knows about Skye, is what she's observed so far.
Skye doesn't sleep. The only time May is certain that she has, is far out of the way and tucked into a corner. She's never been trained, but she's always aware of anyone in the room. Skye's never mentioned anything about family. They found her living out of a van.
Put all together, it paints a concerning and ambiguous picture.
May points at the stool on the other side of the counter from herself and sternly says, "Sit."
May watches Skye stiffen, before very slowly closing her laptop and standing. She slinks closer like a mistreated animal listening to its abuser for fear of upsetting them- head bracingly low and tail tucked.
May subtly sucks in a sharp breath of air.
She nudges one of the mugs of tea across the counter to the girl once she settles on the edge of the seat.
"Dink," May commands. She knows it's not the most sensitive way to talk to a skittish person, but May doesn't really know how to tiptoe.
But at May's command, some of the stiffness melts from the hacker's shoulders, and she very gently cups her hands around the mug. The corner of her mouth even lifts into a small smile.
"Thanks," Skye murmurs, lifting the lip of the mug to her lips.
May nods, resolving herself to pay more attention to the girl- not out of suspicion, but in growing concern.
A/N: I'm out of ideas, so if any of you have prompts or suggestions, please send them in!
~Silver~