AN: Hello people, just a small note from me. Many thanks to MegaDiary123, as always, and to all of you supporting this story. Unfortunately I won't be able to upload next weekend. I won't have computer access and it will be quite a hectic week as well. I will see you all in two weeks time, until then...

All rights go to Marvel

Skye's POV

The rest of the evening went by quickly, we ordered take-out and stayed on the sofas enjoying each other's company. I was the first one to retreat to my room, as I was beat. I hadn't had much sleep the previous night as we were after Mike Peterson and when the other two saw that I couldn't keep my eyes open they insisted I headed to bed. And if you think for a moment that I would disagree with Natasha and Pepper when they are in the 'big sister' and 'mother' modes, respectively, then you are mistaken.

Seeing that I had a very eventful day, sleep was right around the corner and the moment my head touched the pillow I was in dreamland… unfortunately. I had hoped that I would be too tired for any dreams to find me, but luck was never on my side to begin with…

I was walking through familiar corridors. I could hear destruction happening all around me, much of which was caused by myself. The Helicarrier was falling, and fast. I walked into the cell where Loki was located and everything started to play out just like that day. Thor was locked away and screaming just as Phil walked in. And just like that day, I landed quietly behind him and pierced him right through the heart.

He fell to the ground as I pulled the sceptre away. "Skye?", he whispered in shock and unlike what had true happened this seemed to snap something in me.

Suddenly I felt a fog clouding my mind and I blinked a handful of times. I closed my eyes shut and willed it to go away and when I opened them again it was just the two of us in the room. Phil and I. I look down at my hand and just realised that I was still holding the sceptre, which I threw away as if it was on fire.

I fell to my knees and put pressure on the fatal wound. My hands were coated with Phil's blood as life was slowly fading from his eyes. I could see his eyelids close and I all but screamed at him.

"Hey, hey! AC, stay awake. Stay with me!"

That seemed to do its job, only it was for a little while, as his eyes opened slightly and he gazed up to look at me. There was blood that started trailing down at the side of his mouth and I yelled, to no-one in particular. Yelled for help to get there, for him not to die, for anything to change the outcome that we both knew was coming.

I saw him move his lips, as if he wanted to say something and I leaned in, trying to listen to his voice as it barely managed to leave his throat.

"This is your… fault. I… I will never… forgive you… for… this…"

I stood back, stung by his words as he breathed out and his head rolled to the side, completely lifeless. "No, no, no, no…" I kept repeating on and on, still putting pressure on his wound. "You can't be dead" I brokenly whispered with my eyes shut.

"But I am not" I heard Phil say clear as day and my head snapped back to his direction.

He looked at me, but was not really looking at me, as he pried my hands off his chest and he stood up. There was no recognition on his face as he looked at me head to toes. Because this was not AC, or Phil. This was Coulson. "Who are you?" He asked in an authoritative voice. When I did not reply right away he continued and even started walking up to me, as I took step after step backwards. "I asked you a question, agent" he said more forcefully as he cornered me. "Who are you?"

My breaths were becoming shallow and rapid, without any oxygen really reaching my lugs. I blinked, and I was back in my room in the Avengers Tower.

I blinked a handful more times, making sure that I was back. My inhales hadn't stopped coming in short, as my t-shirt and shorts were clinging to my body because of the sweat pouring out of my body. I could feel the bed-frame shaking.

Fuck, I thought. I had to deal with this, and fast, before it got out of hand or proportions.

"Jar" I called the A.I. as I got up and headed to the elevator, grabbing my gauntlets on the way there. "Take me to my gym" I ordered as the doors closed behind me. J.A.R.V.I.S. said nothing as he arranged for the elevator to reach the desired floor. I run out of the metal box as soon as I could and locked the door of the gym as soon as I walked in.

"Activate the walls" I called and there was a clicking noise which verified that my command was seen to.

I was too rattled to do some Tai Chi, that was aside from my somewhat inability to actually practise it because of my injured shoulder. So I would have to take something more hands-on. I walked to the side where the First Aid and Medical Supplies were I had to make sure that my right arm was tightly held against my chest, so that my shoulder would not be as affected from what I was about to do. But before that I wrapped my left hand and put the gauntlets on top of the tape.

I walked towards the enhanced bag and let my frustrations and thoughts manifest in the form of punches. Each punch was powered not only by strength but by vibrations as well. I could tell that the whole room would be shaking had it not been for Tony's improvements to the personalised room.

I didn't know how much time had passed since I started assaulting the bag, but despite my best efforts to minimise the tremors reaching my bruises, I couldn't restrain all of them. So the pain in my right side increased progressively, until I couldn't ignore it any longer.

I fell to the floor next to the bag, lying on my back as I let the exhaustion and pain take over. Maybe dreams wouldn't follow me this time.

Natasha's POV

I had just finished a mission that I was sent to with Rogers when Pepper called. The moment she said that Skye would be coming over for the night I knew that I was going to going as well. "What about Tony and Bruce?" I had asked her and she informed me that she already had taken care of it.

Rogers was kind enough to finish up for me as well when I filled him in the situation. So, soon I was in my car and on the way to the Avengers Tower. I only packed a small bag, given that the plan was for me to stay a couple of nights. I had also a handful of clothes in my own floor at the Avengers Tower, as I stayed there a few nights after the Battle, mainly to be close to Skye.

After four and a half hours, I reached the Tower and the sun was just about to set. I had a smile on my face at the thought of seeing my sister again. But that smile was erased from my face as soon as I saw her tear-filled expression when I stepped into the room. The bag fell from my grip as I rushed to her. When she explained the reason it all made sense. The last time that I had seen her so upset was at Phil's one-year death anniversary.

With Pepper's help, we managed to ease her a bit and not long after she headed to bed.

"You think she is going to be alright?" Pepper asked when she was sure that Skye wouldn't hear us.

"She will be. I will make sure of it" I said with confidence and turned to look at her. "I never thanked you for calling me"

She just brushed it off. "Please. We all know that Skye has a soft spot for you and you for her". I raised an eyebrow at that. "What? Was that supposed to be a big secret or something? You are practically radiating when I as much as mention her, let alone for the two of you being in the same room together" she explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "But if it makes you feel any better, your secret is safe with me" she nodded at me. "I would do anything for Skye"

"I know you would" the words left my mouth before I had time to filter them. I would usually be more up tight with someone I didn't know so well. True, we did know each other for about three years now, but in that spam we hadn't talked all that much. Our main connection was Skye, but that seemed to be enough. "You know that she loves you, right?" I asked seriously. Every evidence of laughter was erased from my face.

When she took in my serious demeanour, she mimicked my expression. "I do. I love her as well, she is like a daughter to me" she didn't hesitate to reply.

"Good" I said back when I didn't get any signs of lying from her part. "You better not do anything to hurt her, she has lost enough people that she cares about" I continued and after that I let out a sigh, as I stood. "I will call it a night if that's okay with you". I was stopped short by Pepper calling my name and she didn't even have to continue for me to know what she wanted to say. "I will make sure she is fine" and with that I left towards my floor.

"J.A.R.V.I.S." I called as soon as I walked in. "Let me know if Skye quakes anything or if she wakes up at night"

I laid on the bed, with sleep escaping through my fingers as my thoughts went to my sister. Just as I was about to nod off, I was awaken by the A.I.'s voice.

"Ms. Romanoff, I am terribly sorry to interrupt your rest, but Skye's room registers increasing vibrations" I had just managed to get up before he spoke again. "She just instructed me to take her to her training hall, shall I resume with her request?"

I contemplated about it for a couple of seconds before replying. "Yes. Do as she asks. Also, send the video feeds to my computer".

I walked over to my desk and opened my laptop. Two different live-time feeds appeared on my screen and I watched as Skye went on to assault the punching bag.

I was expecting for something like this to happen, for a nightmare to resurface. And I knew better than interrupting her in this moment, I had only made that mistake once and my back still hurts at the memory of being sent flying to the other side of the room.

Skye had a really hard time managing Phil's death. And with good reason after all. But, given that no-one other than Clint, Fury, Maria and I knew about what really happened in the Helicarrier, the others couldn't understand why it was so hard on her. They would mainly think that it was because of the mind control that she was under and what she was ordered to do in that state, which was partially true.

It had taken us a while to get her to open up and talk about what she was feeling. And it was mostly towards Clint, myself and Pepper that she felt the most free to talk about stuff like that. The rest of the group was really understanding, and I think that that helped her a lot. We knew that we had a long road ahead for her to truly recover from the mental strain of what happened before New York, but we knew that we would get there. And get there we did. She had learned how to better deal with her emotions when she woke up at nights, usually having some alone time with Tai Chi to clear her thoughts. In some of her worst cases she would go down to the gym and beat up the bag. At the beginning she would be so rattled that she would forget to wrap her hands and she would end up having bleeding knuckled the next day.

So we knew that we got there. And despite this small relapse, she was dealing with everything so much better. First off, it wasn't her whole room shaking, as was the case the first few nights. It was so bad at some point that Tony had to enhance the walls and make them vibration-proof. The same happened with the gym. Vibration-proof walls could be activated when J.A.R.V.I.S. was ordered and all the equipment inside, especially the bags, were enhanced to withstand and absorb a part of her quakes so that they wouldn't break apart after the first couple of punches.

The punching sound and grunting that had filled the room suddenly stopped and I turned my attention back to the screen when I found Skye basically passed out on the floor.

I deeply sighed and headed there. J.A.R.V.I.S. unlocked the gym's door and de-activated the walls for me as I walked towards my sister. She had worked herself to sleep. Again. This was her first coping mechanism, as she has figured that in this way she might get some uninterrupted sleep, with her brain too tired to master any more terrors. And the last time that it had gotten so bad that she retreated to that was about a year ago.

I lifted her in my arms, always careful not to wake her. I didn't want all her work to go to vain.

I took her back to her room, pried off the gauntlet and the wraps from her hand, tucked her in bed and with a small towel I took some of the sweat from her forehead off. When I made sure that Skye was as comfortable as she could get, I exited her room and walked towards the living room of her floor. As each of us had a floor of our own, we had our individual living rooms and kitchens as well. I knew that Stark didn't know what to do with his money and at first I couldn't find the use for such luxuries, but the more nights I spend in Skye's sofas to make sure she was actually sleeping, the more I appreciated Stark's money.

And this was how I spend the following two nights as well. Skye managed to stay in for a solid three nights, before she was called in the fourth morning for a mission.

While she was in the Tower, we talked about everything and nothing with Pepper, always within reason. Tony and Bruce wanted to come by at some point to see Skye as well, but after Pepper talked with them they backed off. I didn't know exactly what she told them, but I was grateful either way. I knew that Skye wouldn't want an even bigger audience.

By the time she left again, she managed to get half a night's sleep before getting up for some easy Tai Chi. She still couldn't do much with her shoulder after all. But this was enough to let me know that she could work it out on her own from now on. We also had her promise both of us to keep in touch and contact us if she needed anything, no matter the time. Before saying a proper goodbye to me, she walked to the side with Pepper for a bit, exchanging some words and a brief but fierce hug.

When my turn came I wrapped her in my arms and whispered to her ear. "You know that I am always here for you and you can tell me anything, right?"

"Of course" she whispered back and I could tell that she was smiling just from the sound of her voice. "Tell Rogers I said hi and let me know if he needs any more help with re-adjusting to modern technology" she pulled away with a smirk on her face.

"I will" I smirked back. "Though Clint will be hurt that you didn't ask me to tell him anything"

"Oh, please. We both know that you have kept him updated during my whole stay here" she directed an eye-roll at me and I just nonchalantly lifted my shoulders. "Fine, tell him I love him and I miss him. Satisfied?"

"Sure as hell he will be" I pulled her towards me and kissed her on the forehead. "Take care little one. And don't go looking for trouble"

She giggled at that. "I don't go looking for trouble. Trouble finds me no matter what. It's our love-hate relationship"