Ludy, I want to hug her too :( But unfortunately, my job is to make her suffer...

Chapter Fifteen: (A/N: Selena has turned eleven years old in between chapters ; ).

"Director, are you sure you don't want me there?" Skye asked Coulson over coms. "I can help you and May get around any security measures Soto has in—"

"—No." Coulson cut her off and Fitz and Selena entered the room to listen to the conversation. "Keeping it to two agents allows us to minimize detection in a small space. I hope you don't need me to explain covert operations again."

Selena covered up her giggle with her hand at the reprimand the director had just given her sister.

"No sir."

"Good. The writing was in Garrett's lab, The Obelisk and now a 500 year old piece of art. It's important. Getting that painting could mean answers for us."

"Yes sir. We will—" Skye began to respond until she heard a strange, yet terrifying noise that sounded a lot like laughter in the background of the call. "Wait, what was that?"

"Yeah, that's May." Coulson informed her.

Selena's jaw almost hit the ground and she shared a look with Fitz. May could laugh?

"Is she okay?" Skye worried. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes. She's laughing." Coulson smirked. "I think the worst of it is over now."

"She has a loud laugh." Selena deadpanned.

"She heard that." May's voice crackled.

"Oops."

"My face hurts." The woman grit her teeth.

"Come on, we've got a cover to maintain and some details to go over. Going radio silent. We'll resume contact shortly." Coulson shut his com off and the line went dead.

"Did they just turn off their coms?" Skye asked in disbelief.

"Yup." Selena answered cheekily, pulling a cookie out of her pocket and taking a bite. "Yum."

"Alright, I'm cutting you off." Trip held out his hand.

"What?" Selena pretended as if she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Come on girl, since you got up this morning, you've had a cookie for every hour you've been awake."

Hunter let out a loud laugh, much to Skye's chagrin. She was trying to be serious and responsible, giving Selena a stern look. "You've been up since seven."

"So?"

"It's four 'o clock, Sweetheart." Hunter was still laughing over communications.

"You've had ten cookies?" Mack scrunched his face up in disgust. He didn't know how Selena did it. All she ever seemed to do was eat cookies. He was glad she was getting back to what they had told him was normal, but this was sickening. How much sugar did she consume?

"Twelve." Selena bit into the one in her hand, before Trip took it from her and dug the rest of them out of her pockets. "I gave myself a reward for doing my job right…..Hey!"

"This is for your own good." Was all Trip said.

"Selena, this is ridiculous." Skye was not even a tiny bit amused. She was the one that was going to end up struggling to put this girl to bed later. "You're done. No more cookies."

"For how long?"

"Until I think you can handle it."

"You're mean." Selena pouted a flopped down onto the floor. Since her talk with Coulson, she had been getting to be more and more like herself every passing day. "I don't like you anymore." She crossed her arms and refused to look at her sister.

"Fine with me, Munchie." Skye was less than phased.

"Poor thing." Hunter shook his head. "You're sister not letting you have what you want?"

"No." Selena's pout grew at the thought of losing her beloved treat. "She's mean…..and so's Trip."

Trip just rolled his eyes and took a bite of her leftover snack just to show her that he couldn't care less about her opinions of him. A few hours from now, this would be long forgotten and she'll probably be hanging on his arm to try and sucker him into doing something for her.

Selena sure could hold a grudge, because the next few hours, all she did was pout and refuse to speak to anyone.

But Skye still wouldn't budge. If anything, it was making her confident in her decision, because if Selena was having such a strong reaction, then that meant she was probably addicted to sugar. It was best to wean her off now, rather than later.

"Nice work out there." Hunter entered the command center with Mack. "Do we get to keep the scooter?"

"Nice work, yourself." Skye scoffed. "Though, it didn't look like you were suffering too much."

"And I was babysitting an empty plane." Trip added. "How is this fair?"

"It's weird." Hunter shrugged. "Women just like me. Always have. Never understood it. It must be a magnetism thing, I guess. Who can explain it, eh?"

Selena didn't entirely understand the conversation, but she knew she knew enough to look at him in disgust. "Ew."

"You'll get there, Sweetheart."

"No she won't." Trip, Mack, Fitz and Skye voiced simultaneously.

"Boys are disgusting. They leave the toilet seat up." Selena was still on the floor, playing with a stuffed Captain American doll, Coulson had picked up for her one day. "And they smell funny. Do you kiss girls, Hunter? Cause that's gross."

"Selena, you are absolutely right." Trip told her proudly. "Don't ever change. Boys are disgusting and kissing is gross."

"You're an overprotective bunch, aren't you?" Hunter raised an eyebrow. "Selena, one day, you'll understand. Take my word for it."

"I'd rather have cookies." Selena looked up at her sister in hopes that that earned her some brownie points.

"Nice try." Skye smiled, savvy to every trick in the book. "You're still cut off."

"Hmmph."

"But Hunter, if it makes you feel any better, I don't get it either."

"You hear that?" Hunter pretended to be offended, making Skye laugh. "If I wanted someone to take jabs at me, I'd still be married."

"Hmm, not this story again." Mack made a face. "Can we not?"

"Oh, no." Skye shook her head. "I think we can."

Mack opened up his mouth to protest again, but it was too late. Hunter was already in the mood. "I first met her on a spring night. She was on the pier, facing the outer banks, the moonlight glinting off her face."

Mack groaned, leaned against the table and buried his head in his arms. If he had to hear this story in its entirety one more time, he'd scream!

"Mmhmm." Skye egged Hunter on.

"She resembled a goddess." Hunter continued. "Of course, that was her cruel trick."

Luckily for Mack, he didn't have to hear the end of the story! Coulson and May both turned their comms back on and tried to contact them.

"Guys?"

"Best timing ever." Trip was grateful too.

"I want to hear the end of the story." Selena piped up.

"No!" Everyone, save for Hunter protested. Even May and Coulson joined, and they didn't even know what was going on.

"Oh, decided to come back online, did we?" Skye questioned.

"Talbot's here."

"Talbot? Talbot?"

"What's he doing there?" Hunter questioned.

"No idea. All that matters is our cover's at risk, so I'm calling an audible. We're not going to wait till later to get the painting. We're gonna get it now."

"I'll take point." May nodded, turning to speak to a man close by. "Well, I just think it's so admirable what you're doing for that poor church that burned down."

"I should be thanking you for your generous patronage." The man said. "You know, Santa Maria de Las Flores was my second home. Though, I'm really surprised that you and I have never met before. I would have remembered you."

"Well." May laughed for the second time that day. "Letting people see the miracle painting in person is bringing out all kinds of donors that you haven't met before…..but just remember, I'm here for the cause — well, the cause and the company."

"She just said more words than I've ever heard her say in a year." Skye deadpanned.

It was true. May certainly wasn't known for being a chatterbox.

"I just have to say, philanthropy is my passion."

"Alright, Agent May." Trip smiled, clearly impressed.

"That's very alarming." Fitz muttered quietly, thinking no one heard him.

But Selena did. "Totally."

"I'm all about giving." May smiled before quietly saying something in Spanish, making Selena's ear perk up.

"Ew! May!" She covered her ears, so she wouldn't have to hear whatever the man said in reply.

She hadn't even said anything wrong, Selena just wasn't ready for that kind of mush and love language yet.

"I must get a picture of us together." May turned around and beckoned Coulson over. "Charles, come here. Honey, can you take a picture of me an Mr. Soto? It'd be such a nice momento of the evening." Her voice was so sickly sweet it made all of The Bus kids cringe.

Coulson pulled out his phone and made like he had no idea how to operate it, while turning the camera on so that he could zoom in on Soto's eyes.

"Honestly, this happens every time." May teased as she posed with Soto. "How hard could it be? They sell these phones to children."

Coulson finally finished up what he was doing and smiled. "Okay."

"Excuse me." Soto looked really weirded out and flustered by now. "I should go see about my other guests."

"Oh, no, no, no, please. Uno momento." May stopped him.

"Yes, yes, yes, one moment, and…." Coulson gathered some more intel. "There we go."

"This is weird." Selena stood up and began to climb up on Trip like a koala. "Really weird."

Trip was so used to her antics by now, that he didn't even flinch. He just planted his feet steadily on the ground and subtly helped her up so she wouldn't fall.

"I'll say." Hunter concurred.

And as if the day couldn't get any more strange, May laughed! Again! This was a new record. "It was just—"

"—Wasn't it just?" Coulson moved to shake Soto's hand. "Mr. Soto, thank you so much. Lovely party. Goodbye." He spoke abruptly, having seen Talbot lurking behind them as he grabbed May's arm to pull her away. "Come on dear. We're blown."

"Why?"

"No idea, I think Talbot's still upset cause we kidnapped him that time."

"We need to do this now."

"Oh, yeah." Coulson led her down a flight of stairs, finding a man punching a code into a keypad. "Yo."

The poor man turned around and got a fist to the fast that he clearly hadn't been expecting, knocking him out cold.

"I could've handled him." May rolled her eyes.

"I did." Coulson whipped out his cellphone, pulling up a holographic image of Soto's eyes to activate the keypad's retinal scan, allowing them access into an elevator.

"They're going to be onto us soon."

"I know." Coulson acknowledged, stepping into the elevator with her. "Almost there. I really like that dress."

That managed to get a small, tender smile from the agent as the elevator doors closed with them inside.

"Sub-level storage room straight ahead, painting's in there." Skye informed them on comms.

Selena had managed to haul herself up onto Trip's shoulder's holding herself steady by hanging onto his chin.

"How did you get up there by yourself?" Hunter furrowed his eyebrows. He hadn't even noticed when she started to climb.

"I told you, she's a monkey." Fitz winked at Selena who gave him a thumbs up in return.

"She'll climb just about everything." Trip added, holding onto the eleven year old's legs to keep her steady.

"Great." Coulson snapped them out of their side conversation. "This isn't the op we anticipated. Everything's gonna be a little more fast and dirty than we planned."

"Only makes it more interesting." Skye shrugged.

"See, the exuberance of youth."

"Guys, wait." Skye looked at the footage. "You're about to hit—"

"—Laser grids." Coulson looked at May's phone that showed them all the obstacles in the room. "Why is it always laser grids?'

"Guy's not kidding around." May continued to scan the room. The entire floor was covered with lasers.

"Cool." Selena though aloud, catching looks of exasperation from everyone else.

"We really need to work on your definition of cool." Trip shook his head.

"Alright." Coulson took May's phone from her. "I got this." He was preparing to dodge every single laser, but May rolled her eyes and walked right into the room.

"They already know we're here." Was what she said.

"Oh…..yeah."

Trip set Selena down as his shoulders began to hurt from having her up there for so long, and the child found a new target.

Fitz.

"Hi, Fitz." She smiled up at him and held her Captain America out to him.

"I'm not — I'm not going to play with you." He told her right off the bat. "You're an absolute menace to society."

"But Fitz, I love you." She smiled sweetly.

"I love you too, but I'm not doing it." Fitz crossed his arms and smiled just as sweet.

Selena narrowed her eyes at him before pouting and hugging her plushie close to chest, keeping as far away from him as possible. "I don't really wanna play with you anyway."

"Don't look at me." Skye smirked. "I'm working. Don't you have some work to do?"

Anyone who thought that Selena's pout couldn't get any bigger, was mistaken. Since her little incident with Ward, Coulson had signed her up for school online so she didn't physically have to go. That was the 'assignment' he had been referring to.

Selena didn't mind the reading comprehension part, but she hated the math. She wasn't any good at it. Those numbers just went in and out of her head in a matter of seconds.

"Don't you?"

"Hmmph." Selena huffed, before clamping her mouth shut.

"There's no painting here." Coulson spoke after looking around with May, and finding nothing.

"Could be a mistake. Another room, maybe?"

"No." Skye shook her head. "It's not a mistake. A record of appropriation just popped up on the church's books."

"Don't tell me, the US government."

"Talbot took possession of the painting from the church this morning. 'Related to an ongoing investigation'. It says."

"Why is he even on this? How does he know about that painting? We need to—"

"—We need to go." May broke into a run leaving Coulson to follow her.

Coulson and May still hadn't come back from their little mission, and they haven't been heard from since Skye told them that Talbot was the one who had the painting.

Skye was staring at a monitor, trying her best to figure out what exactly was going on, Selena was on the floor with her school work spread out around her and plush sitting up 'watching' her work. Mack was sitting around, reading a book. Fitz was standing in the doorway, looking on at them, not wanting to intrude, and Hunter was messing around with a football.

"Skye?" Are you good at math?" Selena asked her sister, having given up on the equation she had been staring at for a while.

"Come here, let me see." Skye beckoned her over, taking her work book from her. She scanned the equation and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, not knowing what she was looking at. "I can't help you with this, Munchie. Sorry. This is past my level. I'm no good at math either."

"It's okay." Selena told her and was about to walk away, but Trip walked in. "Trip, can you help me?"

"Let's see what you've got here." He took the book and looked at the question. "You're not getting the answer right, because you're not plugging the y value in. You're looking for x." He handed the book back to her.

"Thank you!" She grinned and got back to work. It was so simple when he explained it like that.

"Don't remember Coulson asking you to do extra research on this thing."

"I'm being industrious." Skye grinned mischievously.

"Or, are you digging into a top secret mission to find out about the parts they're not telling us?"

"I'm a good, helpful soldier." Skye gave him a mock hurt look.

"Well I happen to appreciate your instinct to be thorough." Hunter added his two cents. "I myself prefer a pint and a good nap, but, then I'm the lazy type."

"Lazy is not the first word that comes to mind."

"Dangerous?" Hunter tried while Trip laughed, but Skye shook her head. "I understand. But truly, it should be 'lazy'. I just hide it well."

"Think that's what drove away the ex-wife?"

"See, now you're bringing it back up." Mack groaned.

"Ha, ha, and no." Hunter laughed sarcastically. "It didn't work out because interspecies relationships are hard. I was a human, whereas she was a demonic hell beast."

"He doesn't like her."

Hunter threw his football at Mack, but the man caught it with ease.

"You don't say." Trip rolled his eyes.

"She's pure evil."

"Hey, at least you got away from your ex." Skye pointed out. "The guy I had a crush on is now the psycho living in our basement."

"Yeah." Selena agreed. "And that was after you kissed him."

"Selena, do you want your cookie privileges back?" Skye threatened as everyone laughed at the little girl's comment.

"I'm just saying." Selena muttered, fighting a smile. She loved antagonizing her sister. "And he still—"

"—Selena!"

Selena just shrugged and went back to working on her math. She said what she wanted to say and got the reaction she had been hoping for. There was no reason to keep poking the bear.

"You know, I wish I could relate, but all my exes are awesome." Mack smiled at Hunter.

"Is that right?" Hunter questioned. "I seem to remember an entire year where you had to pretend you liked quinoa."

"Yeah, that was a dark time." Mack threw the ball back to Hunter.

"What's quinoa?" Selena asked.

"A rice substitute that tastes like water. It's bloody awful." Hunter explained. He in turn, tossed the ball to Selena without warning, not thinking she was going to catch it, but was surprised when she did. "Nice reflexes, love."

"Yeah." Skye gave her sister a look. "If only she could be that quick with her work."

Selena stuck her tongue out at the older girl and went back to her work, keeping Hunter's ball nearby just to ruin his fun.

"Do you really think running away is the answer?" Fake-Simmons asked Fitz after he retreated to the lab, not bothering to join the team as they bonded.

"I'm not running away." He muttered, looking around for something. "I wanted to be alone."

"Nonsense. You hate being alone."

"As evidence by you."

"You're avoiding something."

"Talking." Fitz shook his head. "They're just talking, and I'm having trouble with that lately."

"You're doing fine talking to me."

"Yes, but I think you're ignoring a rather significant elephant in the room."

"You're not afraid to talk." Fake-Simmons cut to the chase. "You're afraid you'll have nothing to say. Just tell them what you're thinking, how you're feeling."

"Yeah, cause that's worked out so well for me in the past." He gave her a look she had to turn away from. "Besides…..do we even have anything in common with that lot? Not anymore. Not even a…..part of…"

"The team?"

"Mmhmm."

"Of course you are." Fake-Simmons rested a hand on his shoulder. "Or you could be if you'd just engage with them instead of hiding out here in the garage."

"Yeah, well, it's not supposed to be a garage. It's supposed to be our lab, our place. But they changed it…didn't even ask me, just did it."

"The new lab is beautiful. It's bigger. It's got more—"

"—Yes, but it's not ours…..and they didn't ask me because they don't care what I have to say."

"Fitz…."

"Even Ward's more valuable than me." Fitz spoke bitterly, moving away from her. "And he's perfectly able to speak in complete sentences. Should have heard the excuses he had for what he did to us."

"Listen, you may be stumbling and stuttering on the outside, but you have to let them see who you really are underneath all that…..See? Look! Selena knows it too." Fake- Simmons motioned to the child, who had come into the lab with her plush under one arm and a book in the other.

"Hi, Fitz." Selena smiled at him. "You left. Is it 'cause they got too loud? That's why I left."

"Talk to her. She doesn't care how much you stammer. She cares about you." Fake-Simmons nudged him towards the girl. "Children are great that way."

"Hi, Selena." Fitz greeted, taking what his friend said into consideration. "Yeah, I did — I did leave because it was loud."

"They talk a lot." Selena giggled, getting a smile from him. "I don't talk that much."

"Sometimes you do." Fitz retorted before he could stop himself. "But only — only when you're excited about something." He remedied quickly, not wanting her to feel self-conscious. "What're you reading?"

"Oh this?" Selena held up the book she had been holding to her side. "It's science. I have to read it for school..…and I kinda like it."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm." The brunette nodded. "I really like the chemistry part of it…..like the elements." She put the book on the table and opened to the periodic table. "I wonder if I could create my own compound."

"You could." Fitz looked on with her. "If you..…If you'd like, I could show you a few things." He was going to give talking to someone a try. It seemed to be working thus far.

"That would be cool! I like to watch you work! You're so cool! Can we make a volcano? I've never done that and it sounds like fun, but then again—" Selena cut herself off and buried her face into her plush. "—I did it again."

"Did what?"

"Talked too much. Sorry."

"No, I didn't mean it was a bad thing. It's just…..it's just nice how you get excited about things. Very childlike."

"I am a child."

But that wasn't what Fitz meant. He, like Coulson and Hunter, had seen the way Selena sometimes acted older than she was. It was refreshing to see.

"Where's Coulson?" May marched into the room abruptly, interrupting their conversation.

"Upstairs." Fitz straightened up, both him and Selena watching as she walked passed them without so much as a hello.

Weird.

"Go." Fake-Simmons prodded Fitz. "Join them."

Everyone was still in the Command Center, including Selena, who had gone in to bother Trip. He was holding her upside down, pretending like he couldn't hear her uncontrollable laughter and protests of wanting to be put down. Skye was still looking for information on the mission, staring intently at her tablet. Mack was looking over her shoulder and Hunter, was being Hunter, egging Selena and Trip on.

"Fitz….you won't even talk to me now."

"Because it's embarrassing."

"Oh, Fitz." Fake-Simmons sighed.

But before Fitz could reply, the lights began to flicker, making a strange noise.

"Well, that's an odd sound." Fake-Simmons commented.

The power cut out completely for a few seconds before the emergency power system cut in.

Trip put Selena down as he left the room to figure out what was going on. She wasted no time in running straight to her sister, wrapping her arms around her neck. Skye didn't mind, she wanted her close by anyway.

"The Bus is shutting down. You know what that means."

"We're in trouble." Fitz deadpanned.

The monitor sounded an alarm that made Selena shriek in surprise, displaying the cargo bay door was shut.

"Cargo hold ramp just went up." Mack commented as Fitz made his way in. "The emergency exits are locking all over the plane. It's the equalization stabilizers, they're fried. The Bus thinks we made a water landing. We're sealed in. There's no way out."

Selena's heart rate began to pick up when she heard that. The last time she was trapped somewhere, she was at the bottom of the ocean.

But this wasn't the same thing. It wasn't. They were going to be okay.

"Well, who's doing this?" Hunter asked.

"We're the only ones on The Bus." Skye had no answers. "This is all happening automatically."

"How?"

"Uh, I think I know." Fitz found a device that had been planted in the room and pointed at it. "S—Somebody…..we — we've been—"

"—Sabotaged." Mack helped out.

"….That."

"The plane will explode?" Skye asked him.

"Soon."

'See?" Fitz pointed to the monitor, explaining what was going on. "So it's like a — a small disease."

"Virus."

"A virus, yes, and it's going through—"

"—Through the plane's electrical systems." Hunter caught on.

"Yeah." Fitz nodded. "Blowing things up."

No sooner did the words leave his mouth, did sparks behind to fly.

"The stabilizers, monitors—" Mack observed.

"—Yes, and the next one would be the—"

"—The nav system just blew." Trip returned.

"There you go."

"We can't take off."

Selena wasn't quite sure what any of this meant, but she knew it wasn't good. A plane wasn't supposed to shut down while it was in the air.

"Wait. Wait." Mack held up a hand. "The stabilizers, monitors, nav system, comms are next, and then next comes—"

"The wings. The wings."

"Where the fuel is. So then we'll..…" Mack trailed at the same time Fitz mimed an explosion with his hands as sparks flared behind him. "Can you fix it?" The large man asked hopefully.

"I can but I need….I need help — an extra pair of hands...Okay, Hunter…..and someone with small hands." Fitz motioned for Selena to come along.

The three rushed through The Bus, turning a corner when pressurized air smacked into them, with small explosions going off nearby.

"I thought you said you could do this?!"

"Yes, I can — or I mean, I know how. It's not — um, it's not just words. It's the…..hands, controlling them. So I can't use these, I have to use yours and Selena's." He pulled them both into a control room.

"But why does it have to be me?" The Englishman groaned. "Wouldn't one of the other people—"

"—Yeah, because they're repairing the systems that have already gone boom, to — to delay the virus, and you two are the only ones without, um….."

"Any technical skill whatsoever?" Hunter raised an eyebrow.

"Yes."

"Super." Hunter fought not to roll his eyes. "Just tell me what to do."

"Okay." Fitz held up a small item. "This chip needs to go in this empty space. The…"

"Alright." Hunter took it from him and pointed to the space. "This one?"

"Yes."

The Englishman plugged the chip in as instructed and looked for more direction. "Okay."

"Uh…"

"Is that it? Is the plane fixed now?"

"No." Fitz ignored another explosion. "The wires, you have to do the wires. Selena, this is where you come in, your fingers are small."

"Okay, what do I do?" Selena asked. "Am I cutting them?"

"No! No." Fitz gave her an odd look. "Nothing like that, unplug those red wires."

Selena was a little disappointed that she wouldn't be cutting wires like she had seen them do in Mission Impossible, but did as she was told. "What about this one here?"

"No! No!" Fitz panicked, making her drop her arms. "Dear God, no! The one beside it. The one beside it!"

"Bloody—" Hunter cut himself off, remembering that Selena was just a child. "Try not to blow us all to pieces, love."

"Sorry." The curly-headed child reached for the wire, but had her hand slapped away by Hunter.

"What? Are you hard of hearing? It's the other one!"

"Which one?! They all look the same to me!"

"We're doomed." Fitz muttered to himself as the two argued.

"Let me do this, because you seem to want to have the entire plane blow up in our faces." Hunter moved her out of the way before turning back to Fitz. "Uh, to the left?"

"Yeah, I thought you knew what you were doing."

"Hush up."

"To the right. To the right."

Fitz held his breath as Hunter plugged the wire in, causing a huge burst of electricity, darkening the area.

"I think that's a good thing." Fitz breathed. Not even a second later, all the lights came back on as the system rebooted. "And now the plane is fixed."

Selena grinned and hugged him, no longer upset with Hunter, at the same time the man hi-fived him.

Crisis averted.

A/N: Some little Selena/Hunter banter.