Chapter Twenty-Three:

"Fitz!" Selena rushed at the engineer once she caught sight of him.

Knowing that Fitz was on the quinjet made Selena feel safe enough to follow Ward. Not that she didn't trust Hunter, because she did, but he was injured right now.

"Are you alright?" He looked her over. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine, but my leg hurts…..I fell." She admitted.

Usually, getting a little scrape wouldn't have fazed her, but a lot happened over the past seventy-two hours and it was taking its toll on her.

"Sit down, let me take a look." He instructed as everyone else sat down. "You've really did a number on yourself haven't you? I don't have anything to disinfect it right now, so you'll just have to wait until we get back to the base. You'll live."

Fitz wouldn't admit it, but he was very glad to see Selena. He had been worried sick about her, preparing himself for the worst.

"What is that stuff all over your shirt, love?" Hunter asked, with a disgusted look as they took off.

Selena looked down at her shirt and smiled sheepishly, finally noticing the red stains that covered it. "Ice cream."

"Did you manage to get any of it in your mouth?"

"Yes." She stuck out her tongue so he could see how red it was from the iced treat.

"Selena, you're a bloody mess." Fitz shook his head, before sitting back down at his computer monitor.

The five sat in complete silence for a while, lost in their own thoughts. The silence was only broken by Kara and Ward in the cockpit.

Selena watched them curiously. Is that what love looked like? Were they in love? More importantly, was someone in love with Ward?

"How are you feeling?" Fitz asked Hunter, moving away from his computer once again, plopping down beside him.

"Nauseous." Hunter groaned, still holding his wound.

"You want me to get—"

"—Oh, no, not from getting shot." Hunter shook his head. "That's nothing." He nodded his head in the direction of the two clowns in the cockpit. "It's those two. I think they actually…..like each other."

"Just, um…." Fitz was weirded out by it too. "Focus on your wound. It'll be less unsettling. Oh!" He picked something up and held it out to Selena. "Coulson found this."

"Cap!" Selena grabbed her beloved stuffie and held him close. "I thought lost him! Thank you!"

She was so sure she'd never see him again! Skye promised to get her another one, but she refused to accept the offer because it just wouldn't be the same.

"You're welcome."

"Is that what you and Bobbi are like?" Selena asked Hunter, turning her attention back to the Ward and Kara.

She might have been ten, but she certainly wasn't stupid. She knew there was something going on between Bobbi and Hunter.

And it wasn't just because they used to be married.

"And what would you know about me and Bobbi, you little pickle?" Hunter raised an eyebrow.

"I know that you like each other, because you're always arguing..…like Fitz and—"

"—Finish that sentence, and I'll knock you stupid." Fitz narrowed his eyes, successfully shutting her up.

"Fine." Selena huffed. "Since you want to be mean….Liverpool is not as great as you let yourself think and ManU is awful. Everybody knows that Arsenal is better."

"You little—" Hunter was cut off by the rising of a phone. "Yep? Green light! Go!" He shouted to Ward, turning back to Selena. "I'll deal with you later."

Selena decided then and there, that would be the last time she brought up football to win an argument. The look on both Fitz and Hunter's faces were ferocious and she wasn't sure it was worth it.

"Welcome back." May addressed Coulson.

"Good to be back." Ward grinned.

"You'll be accompanied by guards at all times." Gonzalez informed Ward.

"Each of whom will shoot you without hesitation." May warned. "Remember that."

"May's actually pretty friendly…..once you get to know her." Ward smiled at Kara before they both walked away.

Selena didn't get what was so funny and she didn't understand how what he said was even a joke.

Must've some of that weird adult humor.

The kind of stuff that would land her in hot water if she even attempted to participate in it.

"Hi, May!" She focused her attention on the person she had missed for the past few days, limping over to her.

"Hi, yourself." May lifted her up onto her hip. "What's wrong with your leg?"

"I fell."

"We'll get that fixed up in a minute." May turned back to Coulson. "You finally come back, and you bring Grant Ward onto the base. I hope this plan of yours works."

"You and me both." He agreed, watching as the woman carried Selena away.

"What is this all over you, Selena?" May asked the child, as they made their way to the lab.

"Ice cream." Selena played with the woman's dark hair. "It was strawberry and messy."

"I'll say." May smirked, entering the lab. "Simmons, I have a patient for you."

"Bring them in." Jemma waved distractedly, looking at something else.

May sat Selena down on an examination table and shot her pointed look. "Do not give her a hard time."

"As long as she doesn't try to poke me."

"Oh, Selena!" The child's voice got Jemma's attention and she pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. "What seems to be the problem?"

"My knee hurts." Selena pouted, knowing that Jemma would be putty in her hands. "I fell. Fix it?"

May looked at the two and rolled her eyes. She knew exactly what that child was doing and so did Jemma.

The difference between them is that Jemma let her get away with it.

"Awww. Of course I will, darling." Jemma pulled out a disinfecting wipe and held so that Selena could see it. "This may sting a little, but I need to clean you wound before I bandage it. I'll be gentle."

"Okay." Selena nodded, flinching a little when the wipe made contact.

And honestly, it hurt.

"You really skinned it, huh?" Jemma shook her head, bandaging her up. "You poor thing. Here. I keep these stashed and hidden from Fitz." She handed her a lollipop.

"Thank you!"

"Now go change out of those filthy clothes and get some clean ones."

"Okay!"

"Her sugar high is your responsibility." May glared.

"She'll be fine." Jemma shrugged. "What harm will one lollipop do?"

"She had ice cream earlier."

"Oh dear."

"Selena, please stop running. You're making me dizzy." Jemma spoke to the younger girl from inside the lab.

"I can't!" She giggled, only pausing to start hopping instead.

"I told you that lollipop wasn't a good idea." Fitz murmured.

"I had no clue she already had loads of ice cream beforehand."

"Well, look at her now."

"Selena, you're being very naughty." Jemma crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm not very happy about it. You know better than to run amuck in here."

And just like that, Selena froze, looking at Jemma with innocent eyes.

"Sit down and stay still. You're driving everyone mad." Fitz was less gentle with his wording, but he got the same result.

"Fitz, be nice."

"Fine." Fitz plastered a fake smile onto his face. "Selena, poppet, be a darling and sit still, please."

Selena's face morphed to one of disgust and confusion. That sounded like something Jemma would say, not Fitz. In all the time they had spent together, Fitz has never been soft spoken with her. In fact, he was more harsh when he spoke to her than he was with anyone else.

To an outsider, it would seem like he didn't care for her, but that was just their relationship. Fitz loved Selena and that was his way of showing her.

That was normal for her.

This wasn't.

"See? She doesn't respond when I'm kind." Fitz felt just as weirded out as she did. "Selena, sit still or I'll lock you in your bunk and throw away the bloody key."

And those were the magic words, because no sooner did they leave his mouth did Selena plop down in a stool.

Jemma didn't even argue her point, she just looked at the two and shook her head.

"But you have to let me go!" Selena speed-walked in order to keep up with Coulson's long strides. "Why can't I go? Jemma's going."

When she found out that Coulson and the rest of the team were looking for Skye, Selena immediately wanted to tag-along. Unfortunately, for her, Coulson was a smart and responsible man and there was no way he was going to bring onboard such an operation.

After everything that just happened, he would be a fool to put her in danger.

"Selena, we've been over this." Coulson sighed and stopped in the middle of the hallway to have this discussion for the millionth time. "You are eleven years old. I'm not bringing you on a covert op. Jemma's an adult who has been trained for this."

"No fair." She pouted.

Under normal circumstances, she would've corrected him about her age, but she didn't think that the fact that she was ten and not eleven would help her case.

"Sometimes, I'm going to make decisions that you will find unfair, but it won't change my mind. Your safety is one of my top priorities. Stay with Mack, Hunter, and Bobbi."

"But—"

"—I mean it, Selena." Coulson grew very serious, very quickly.

The child narrowed her eyes at him, but she didn't say anything more. It seemed like everyone was trying to keep her out of the loop even though she was very much in it. She didn't care what she had to do, or what rules she had to break, but she wasn't going to let them do it anymore. She wasn't a baby.

Turning on her heel, she felt a stitch in her side that made her stop in her tracks. It wasn't the type of pain she would get if she had been running around all day.

This was different.

It was a pain that cam on strongly, and topped as soon as it started. But it came and went constantly.

Her hands flew to the area inflicted and she leaned up against a wall, taking deep breaths.

The ten year old stumbled into med-bay, knocking a few things over as she tried to make her way through the room. Luckily, there was no one there to stop her as she walked over to the medicine cabinet.

She thought she must've eaten something that didn't agree with her and she just needed Tums, so she sloppily opened a bottle and popped a couple in her mouth, chewing them as quickly as possible as if that would make them work faster.

After a few minutes, she found they weren't actually doing anything to help, so she unscrewed the cap of some Tylenol and swallowed one without any help from a liquid.

She paid no mind to the dosage amount, just wanting to get rid of the pain.

She found that the Tylenol did work to relieve some of it.

Enough to walk back to her bunk and lie down.

Maybe if she fell asleep, the pain would be gone when she woke up.

A/N: Well...that's not good...