The thing about Skye
Sometimes, she gets lost
Since Skye got shot, she hasn't been alone. There is always, at any point, someone watching over her, holding her hand. Mostly out of fear that she'll die in the time from one heartbeat to the next, and no one would be there to revive her.
It's only after she's given GH.325, and she stabilizes, and her mortal wounds start to heal, that Jemma Simmons leaves her alone for the first time. Even then, it's only by happenstance.
She has to take a call up at the command center and everyone else, right then, is doing something, and it'll only be for a minute, and she's stable, and she's going to be fine. So, Jemma steps away.
Of course it's in that one minute of being alone that Skye wakes up.
Anxiety and the trauma of watching her friend die over and over pulls Simmons back down to the containment unit quicker than was probably polite, but Skye tends to get up to nonsense when left to her own devices. It's not always her fault, she's just one of those people who has the misfortune of drawing trouble by merely existing. And having a distinct lack of preservation instincts.
Simmons' heart drops as she rushes into the unit. The hospital bed is empty. The sheets bloody from an improperly detached IV (likely just yanked out).
With a false calm, Simmons quickly crosses the room and slams her hand against the com that is connected directly to the control center of the plane.
"Sir? It appears that Skye woke up."
Static comes from the other end before it comes to life and an enthusiastic voice filters clearly through.
"That's great, Simmons; I'll be right down."
Simmons quickly presses the com again, nerves rising, before the man can come sprinting. "Um, Sir. Her bed is empty, and I'm not sure where she's gone."
This, of course, is a problem. So, that's how everyone on the plane sets about searching for the hacker. She's hardly begun to heal, and they're on a plane, so it's not like she could have gotten far. Still, Simmons gave her an unknown drug- what if she has a latent negative reaction?
Agent Triplett ends up searching in the vicinity of Simmons, and to her irritation, he doesn't seem appropriately worried.
It's not his fault, though. He doesn't know Skye. Not like the rest of them.
"Hey," he calls, drawing Simmons' growing anxious attention. He throws a thumb into an insignificant storage room. "Found her."
Her heart leaps, and then she does, hurrying forward. She pushes into the small closet and immediately kneels in front of her pale friend who has somehow folded herself impossibly between two shelves.
Skye blinks up at them, a worrying flush to her cheeks as she guards her torso with one hand, and cradles her IV arm, still bleeding, to her chest.
"Hey, Skye; what are you doing in here?" Jemma asks, reaching out to check her temperature.
Her concern grows when she flinches away from Simmons' reaching hand. Skye hasn't flinched away from her touch in months.
"Skye?" Jemma calls gently.
Her friend blinks up at her, a confused and lost look in her cloudy eyes.
"m'I going back to the nuns, now?" she asks, swaying even as she's sitting. It's amazing she made it even this far.
"What's wrong with her?" Trip asks from the door, and Simmons levels him with an impatient look.
"She's confused. She's sick and coming off a bunch of sedatives, and woke up alone." Jemma turns back to her friend, heart racing. "No, Skye. You're not going back to the nuns."
Her arms pull tighter into her middle, an undeniably fearful look crossing her face. "But I always go back when I get out of the hospital."
"Skye, do you know where you are?" Jemma tries.
Skye blinks several times, and then looks around the dark room. She looks like she's trying hard to work out where she is. Trying hard to find an answer to Jemma's question. She turns her eyes back to Jemma and blinks a few more times.
"J-Jemma?"
"Yeah, Skye. Now, where are you?"
"Am I… th-the Bus? This is the Bus?"
"That's right," Jemma chirps with far more cheer than she feels. "You were hurt and I really need to get you back into bed. Can I touch you, now, and help you stand up?"
She hesitates another moment, still looking uncertain, before giving a small nod. "Okay."
Jemma immediately reaches out and releases a quiet breath of relief when Skye doesn't flinch away again. She reaches out in return and allows Jemma's not insignificant support. Agent Triplett could probably carry her easier, but that would likely bring about an all new set of problems. Skye has never met Trip.
Her hypothesis is proven right when he instinctively reaches out to help as they pass, hands landing on Skye's arm, and she cringes away, crushing herself into Jemma's side and nearly knocking her over in her attempt to get away.
"Let the rest of the team know we found her?" Jemma requests as he takes a step back with hands lifted in surrender and a new concern creasing his brow.
That. That right there is the proper worry he should have shown in their search.
"You got it, girl." He departs with a weary shake of his head.
Jemma turns her full attention to her disoriented, injured, friend. "Let's get you back to bed, hmm?"
A/N: So I did a double post. In case you didn't see the first one, it's a short Daniel shot that I just wanted to get rid of but not delete. Please let me know what you guys think, this little bit of angst is going to lead to another part with a whole lot more and with the whole team.
But not just yet.
~Silver~