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Jemma turned the lights on to the med bay that morning to go check on Bobbi, and wasn't surprised to see the full family in there. Skye was asleep on the spare bed in the corner, Melinda holding her close with Coulson sleeping on the chair next to Bobbi's bed. The blonde in question seemed to be sleeping relatively peacefully, though she had woken up a few times during the night. Jemma could see a paci in her mouth, and that she was holding on to Coulson's hand. The only sounds in the room came from the oxygen machine and heart rate monitor Bobbi was hooked up to, and Skye quietly snoring. Jemma approached the bed, checking the monitors but she didn't need to wake Bobbi up just yet. She looked over and saw that Melinda was beginning to stir awake.
Melinda sat up slowly with Skye on her lap, placing a hand on her little girls forehead. She was unusually warm and the girl let out a soft whine of pain. Melinda gently stroked her hair, waking her up so she could check properly. Skye whispered "Mama I feel poorly"
Melinda soothed her before looking over to Jemma.
"Simmons, can you check on Skye? She's saying she doesn't feel well, and her skin is very warm to the touch. I think she has a fever"
Simmons nodded and walked over to the other bed, taking Skye's temperature and feeling her forehead too.
"Skye, do you feel like you're going to be sick?" Simmons asked, remembering to simplify her questions when dealing with Skye in her little state. The girl shook her head, whimpering.
"Where does it hurt? Is breathing hurting a bit?" May asked her after observing for a moment and Skye nodded, May then moved to climb off the bed which made Skye burst into tears and try to cling on.
"It's okay baby, I'm right here. We just need you lying down so Jemma can check you over and hopefully make you less poorly"
Jemma examined her, Melinda keeping tight hold of Skye's hand. Coulson and Bobbi had stirred awake with the commotion, and Bobbi was trying to sit up to see what was happening. Phil eased her back into bed, stroking her hair softly to calm her.
"Need to know what's happening, if she's okay" Bobbi said, still trying to see Skye across the room though Jemma and Melinda were blocking her view. Coulson got up, promising he was going to check, and approached Simmons.
"Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, seeing his little girl writher in pain.
"Skye has a chest infection, it's not contagious I just needed to establish that before Bobbi could see her" Simmons explained, and Coulson nodded. He knew that if Bobbi went down with a chest infection especially in her current weakened state it could prove very dangerous for the blonde.
"She just needs some medicine every few hours and plenty of rest and fluids, I've put her on an IV for now but she should be ok to go back to her own bed tonight, Bobbi too. Just make sure there's always someone with them just in case for the next few days, and Bobbi will need the portable oxygen on again for a little bit"
A few days had passed and they were settled back into the room. At least being sick meant they didn't have to worry about work or finding excuses for acting grumpy if they ventured out to see others. Bobbi was already falling asleep as she lay down on one of the double beds, trying to get the tubes of her oxygen machine out of the way. Her hand reached to untangle them, pulling at it in a fit of frustration before her hand was caught in another one. Melinda had taken it in hers, using her free one to gently untangle the tubing. She motioned Bobbi to lay down and made sure everything settled comfortably.
"There, if it gets tangled again let me know okay?" May said and Bobbi made a slight noise of approval, too tired to nod her head. She simply snuggled up into Melinda's side as her eyes slid shut, feeling a tender kiss planted on the top of her head before she drifted off. Coulson smiled as he walked in with Skye in tow, it had been his turn to change her and get her ready for bed. Despite her chest infection causing her to feel poorly, Skye was still smiley as she waddled over towards the bed. The princess nightshirt was longer enough to cover her down to her knees, though her diaper was visible. She practically shouted at Melinda in excitement but the woman put her finger to her lips to show she needed Skye to be quiet.
"You have to keep your voice down baby, your sister is sleeping" Melinda told her, motioning to Bobbi who was now fast asleep still cuddled up to Melinda's side. Skye nodded and looked guilty when she said "Sorry mommy". The woman simply tucked Skye into the bed beside her and kissed her forehead.
"It's okay baby" she soothed, feeding the girl a bottle. Skye nuzzled it happily, drinking the cool refreshing water she was already dropping off before she'd properly finished, eyes closing. Melinda tried to extract the bottle to let her sleep and she let out a soft noise of contentment, letting her take the bottle and listening to mommy's steady constant heartbeat to lull her to sleep.
Once Skye had fallen asleep, Melinda turned her attention to Coulson. He was sat on the edge of the bed, which was two doubles they had pushed together once they started this adventure. It was a good way to accommodate their little ones, and nobody seemed to question it especially since hardly anybody came into Coulson's room anyway. Melinda could tell he had something he wanted to say, his face as he looked over their two sleeping girls showed it wasn't something he had wanted to talk about with them listening in. She was just about to tell him to spit it out as he faltered, eyes going between the two girls before he finally spoke.
"The kids have to get shots tomorrow. Well, all of us do. It's a new shield procedure" Coulson said. Melinda then realised why he hadn't wanted to say this earlier, and particularly not in front of their little girls. Sure Skye would probably cry and whine and need some candy afterwards to cheer up, but they'd seen how Bobbi had reacted the time Jemma needed to give her a shot recently - she was completely petrified. They shared a knowing, worried look and Melinda moved ever so slightly since Skye was still clinging to her to stroke Bobbi's hair lightly. It was just instinct, she wanted to protect her little girl especially knowing how scared she would be though it had to be done.
"Is there no way to delay it?" May asked, looking up at Phil after watching Bobbi for a moment.
"No, it's urgent. Even when in here, if just one person gets it from going outside or during a mission then it could spread so easily to the rest of the team. We can't take the chance of the majority of our team being put out of action for days by this" Phil explained "I managed to get the best doctor in Shield though, at least in my opinion. She's good, patient and caring. Plus she knows about and can handle littles so they don't even have to be big and we can organise a treat for afterwards maybe"
Melinda just nodded but silently still worried for how Bobbi would cope. Again, thanks to her past trauma, she also held a lot of distrust for anyone new. A few new lab workers had started recently to give FitzSimmons a hand and Bobbi flinched any time she saw them, she felt like such an idiot but all she could think was that they were Kara wearing her mask and that she would transform back then try to kill Bobbi or worse, hurt her family. An incident when she'd been fully convinced one of them was indeed Kara and had scratched their face hoping to "deactivate the mask" had her taken off field duty a couple of weeks so she had time to cope and work through her feelings.
"We'll think of something" May nodded and they eventually fell asleep. The next morning came and Skye was awake first. In a way, this was the best plan as it gave them more time before they had to tell Bobbi and could try work out a plan. Melinda got Skye washed and dressed ready while Phil made some breakfast to them bring back to them. Melinda and Skye sat on the bed while the older woman brushed her girl's hair through for her, explaining what had to happen.
"Sissy is gonna be scared" Skye said with a worried looked, she seemed to be more concerned about how Bobbi would cope than getting the shot herself.
"I know, but we'll help her through it. I'm glad you care about her, she'll appreciate your help too"
They had their breakfast when Phil got back, he gently woke Bobbi up and allowed her to eat before she got ready. They both seemed to keep putting off telling her, when they went to get changed Skye decided to try and help in her own way.
"Sissy" she said, crawling up closer to Bobbi and taking her hand, fingers rubbing unconsciously along the small rough scarring that was left over.
"We gotta see a doctor today, and she gotta poke us. But it's okay, mommy and daddy will be there. They'll never let anyone hurt us" Skye told her. Then Bobbi did something she had never seen before from her older sister, she burst into tears. Skye started panicking, she hadn't wanted to upset Bobbi she was just trying to help and thought explaining in her own way would be easier. When Melinda and Phil came back, both girls were sobbing.
"Oh my poor girls, what's wrong?" Melinda asked, scooping up Skye to cuddle her close while Phil sat next to Bobbi and let her rest on his chest, stroking her hair gently.
"Mama I'm sorry" Skye's reply came a few moments later when the crying had reduced to just some tears falling down her face "I was trying to help, I promise, but sissy is really really scared"
"I know baby, it's okay" Melinda soothed her, looking over to Phil for advice he then turned to Bobbi who had calmed down somewhat being held in his arms.
"Bobbi, sweetheart, I know it's scary and I'm sorry we didn't tell you any sooner, but it really is super important. The doctor is a nice lady, she'll take it as steady as you need and you can watch all of us first so you know what's coming and that it'll be okay" Phil reassured her. They sat for a few more minutes before they had to go, Melinda used the time to change Skye before they headed out and towards the med bay.
The four of them entered the room that had been set up for this. Phil greeted the doctor, going to sit down at the side with Bobbi next to him. He passed her a few comfort items to help, watching as she clung to her teddy with one arm and to him with the other. He just hoped that could be calm enough eventually for this to run fairly smoothly. Melinda stood talking to the doctor, holding onto Skye's hand.
"Right sweetheart, can you be a big brave girl and come sit up on the table for me?" The doctor said. Skye whimpered and hid her face in Mays shoulder.
"It's okay, mommy can hold your other hand see? She can sit right here" The doctor pulled up a chair next to the table
May sat down and eventually Skye got onto the table after a glance over to Bobbi, who was fiddling nervously with a twirly plastic toy Coulson had given her to relax and distract herself. Skye felt like she needed to be strong and brave for her sissy, it helped to focus on that. Gloved hands carefully wiped antiseptic over the spot on her upper arm before the needle rested there, being injected in and back out before Skye had time to properly cry. She was glad that she hadn't fussed too much, wanting to reassure Bobbi it would be all okay. The doctor praised her and talked to her assistant about getting the next ready. Skye decided to wander over and watched curiously, wondering if it was two parts as she hadn't heard them talking after her first one since it used a lot of energy willing herself not to be upset.
"Is that for me?" Skye asked shyly
"No sweetheart, this one is for mommy. Everyone is due for a shot today to protect them against a nasty disease which is happening"
"Am I protected now?" Skye asked and the assistant nodded, touching the fairy band aid on Skye's arm with a small smile
"Yes, this little fairy is protecting you now" she smiled, and handed the prepared syringe to the doctor. Melinda didn't seem phased by hers, and neither did Phil when it was his turn though Bobbi was displeased that he had moved since she'd been leaning against him. Then it came to Bobbi's turn, and they had a bit of plan to try make this run smoothly as it possibly could when your daughter was traumatised and had been tortured with needles.
The doctor walked over to where Bobbi was sitting to say hello first and explain what was happening. Bobbi was trying her best to hold it together, though she was glad the doctor was willing to adapt somewhat to hopefully ease her fears a little. Coulson took her hand and gently helped her up, she carried her oxygen over and they got it settled down, making sure she was comfortable and okay, adding her breathing exercises too to get rid of the nerves and try make sure she didn't make herself ill again from worrying or getting upset so badly and making her lungs hurt.
"It's okay sissy. It only hurts a little bit, and you're super brave" Skye nodded and Bobbi smiled a small bit. She clung to Phil, basically sat on his lap on the chair next to the bed as she refused to sit on there but they kept reassuring her that she was doing so well. The doctor pulled up her own chair as made it easier since Bobbi was adamant she wouldn't move onto the bed, though that wasn't strictly necessary so they could compromise. She did the antiseptic wipe on Bobbi's arm first, the girl flinched at the cold touch but Phil and Melinda kept reminding her she was doing well. Bobbi tried to hide when she caught sight of the needle, whimpering into Phil's chest.
"Hey, we're gonna do something really fun after this. What would you like to do huh?" Phil told Bobbi, trying to distract her "We could go shopping or to the movies or maybe a play area"
"Movie sounds good" Bobbi's voice was practically a whisper, but she was answering and that was a positive for Phil.
"That sounds great, we could go see a fun film and we can even get some popcorn. I like sweet, and I think Skye does too, but I know mommy likes salted" Phil told her, smiling a little as she started talking about seeing a good review of a new film online he gave a signal to the doctor and she did the injection into Bobbi's arms. The girl yelped a little when she felt the needle hit her arm, tears threatening to fall from her eyes but the doctor was putting a fairy band aid over the tiny hole and Coulson hugged her close, reassuring her that it was all over now and that she was okay.
"There, all done. Now we can watch a film. I checked and the one Bobbi mentioned has a showing in half an hour not far from here. Skye seems keen to see that too" Melinda said, giving Bobbi a small smile as she and Phil stood up.
"Sounds good, lets go then girls" Phil said and they walked out of the room together, the two girls happily talking about the movie.