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Chapter Text

Skye cautiously entered the room. Coulson stood, back facing her. She wasn't sure it that was easier than looking at the disappointment in his eyes.
'I didn't want anything to-'
'Stop lying. From the moment you stepped foot on this plane, you've been lying. To my face,' he said angrily, 'to all of us.'

'I haven't-' Skye tried to feebly defend herself.

'You're lying now! I stood up to you, to my team down there. And some of us, started to believe in you.'

Skye swallowed back tears as she thought of her team. No, not her team, she thought. They were just a means to an end. Were they though, a voice at the back of her mind argued, they mean so much more now.

'They risked their life's for you.' The disappointment filled Coulsons voice. Skye didn't know what to say.

'Why are you here?' He said, trying to stay professional. 'You've been keeping something from us, this whole time, and it wasn't just a boyfriend. You have a secret, Skye, and one chance to come out with it.
And that's now. Or I'm done with you.'

Skye felt the words crush her. Why was she doing this. She finally had something great. These people, they cared. Maybe she could get that back. She reached into her bra, and pulled out an SD card, and placed it on the table.

'What is this,' Coulsons deadpanned, trying to keep his emotions in check. He was just bluffing, he hoped it wasn't true.

'Its everything I have.' Skye admitted.

'On us?' he said, certain he knew the answer.

'On me.' Sky corrected, tears finally spilling down her cheeks.
'Its why I learned to crack systems. Why I joined the rising tide. To find any details i could about my parents,' she finally admitted.
'There's nothing! No records, no trace of them,' her despair ringing in his ears.

'My life long search has lead to a single document, redacted,' she said incredulously.

'By Shield.' Coulson said what Skye had left unspoken, in resignation.

'No matter what you do, I'll never stop looking.'

'You might not like what you find,' Coulson warned, knowing what was on that document, who her parents were. He had signed it himself.

'It can't be worse than what I've imagined.' Skye answered.

Coulsons heart almost broke. 'Maybe I can help.'

Skye nodded, relieved, at what he implied. She could stay.

Coulson handed Skye her bracelet and left the room, needing to think. How could this be possible?
He needed to talk to her mother...

He pulled out his non-Shield-sanctioned phone, only two people had that number. He hit speed dial 2, and waited for the ring.

He heard the click, followed by a 'Coulson, what's wrong?'

'We need to talk, Natasha..'

Chapter Text

'We need to talk, Natasha... Is Clint within earshot?'

'Yes, give me a sec.'

Phil heard the sound of a door opening, and steps climbing stairs.

'Okay, whats wrong, whats so bad that Clint cant know?' Tasha sounded tense, despite his dramatic flare, Coulson would never call unless it was urgent.

'I... I don't know how to explain. I...,' Coulson sighed, and took the plunge.

'I'm with your daughter.'

'What.' Tasha's voice held no emotion, like a robot.

'We picked up a girl as a consultant, a month back, she's a hacker. We recently discovered she was lying to us, that she only joined because she was searching for her parents. All she has ever found leads back to a document, redacted by shield. She said it was why she joined, but it isn't why she stayed, even if she wont admit it. She likes it here, we are her friends.'

'Does she know about me?'

'No, I only found out about the document half an hour ago. I called you straight away.'

'Oh God, what do I do?' Her voice cracked, breaking the illusion of her emotionless facade, and she began to cry.

'I don't know, but I think its time Clint knew, you need to make this decision together.'

'Clint.'

Clint looked up from his bow, which he had been polishing. Seeing the tear tracks on Natasha's face, he immediately set it down, and went to hug her.

'Nat! Whats wrong, what did Coulson tell you?

Natasha took a shuddered breath. 'Our baby, she's alive.'

Clint looked at her in confusion. 'But.. you miscarried.'

Natasha shook her head, 'No, I didn't.'

The day Natasha gave birth, she cried. It wasn't tears of joy. She cried tears of desperation, as they had to physically restrain her exhausted and battle worn body. As they took her baby away.

She was so angry, she almost killed Nick Fury. She even held the knife to his throat, but that was until he told her about her about his son.

'Have you ever wondered how I lost my eye? I had a wife once. She was a civilian. When she gave birth to my baby boy, I was so happy. But we make our enemies in this line of work, they make sure you are never happy for long. He came in the night. Smothered my wife and child. He got me in the eye before I emptied a mag in his chest. There's a reason I implemented a No Fraternization rule. No one should lose their family like that, we are damaged enough. And i would never condemn a child to a life of fear and death. Not after my boy.'

Tasha sagged in defeat. 'Don't tell Clint,' she sighed. 'Tell him the baby died, that I took one too many beatings on the job, anything. He cant know. He was from an orphanage, he wouldn't let his child be as well.'

'She's with Coulson?'

Natasha nodded. She hadn't said a word since she told Clint what happened. She was afraid she would loose him too.

'Can we see her?'

'Shield doesn't know who she is. There is no one stopping us. Should we though? She thinks her parents are dead, maybe that's better than knowing I gave her up... or that we're assassins.'

'You're wrong. You didn't give her up. You protected her. She has had a life, something we couldn't give her. Imagine if the red room found her, the child of the black widow and the worlds greatest marksman. You saved her life, and she will want to know you, who wouldn't?'

Natasha hugged him, 'I'm sorry, I'm so sorry i didn't tell you.'

'Shhh, its fine, I forgive you. you did what you had to. I love you, that will never change.'

'We want to meet her, and don't tell her about us yet, we want to be the ones.' Clint spoke down the phone, determined he would get what he wanted.

Coulson gave his signature sigh.

'I know, I want you to meet her too, but you're not even supposed to know I'm alive, let alone meet. If I land the plane and you get on, Shield will know, Fury would have a fit, and then they will find out about Skye. You know they will want to recruit her, most likely as an assassin, what, with who her parents are. We are not going to let that happen. If you want to meet, you need to go incognito.'

Clint seemed to mull over the situation. 'Where are you landing next, and what type of plane is it?'

'Louisiana airfield in 24 hours, and a N1540 mobile command unit. What are you thinking?'

'You'll find out, see you in a day.' Clint said mischievously, before hitting end call.

Coulson couldn't help feel elated by being back with Clint and his shenanigans. Now that he thought about it, he could see where Skye got it from.

Chapter Text

When they landed, Skye, Ward and Fitzsimmons got in a van and drove out the airbase. The needed food supplies and they had gotten shopping duty. They all had to go together, because ward would only get rabbit food, and Skye needed her sugar intake fueled, and no one was sure where to find FitzSimmons English food, so they all went. May stayed with the plane, overseeing all the work it needed doing, as everyone had accepted that it was 'Her plane.' Coulson went out in Lola. He said he wanted to go for a drive, but really, he was restocking the bar, knowing at least a few of them would want a drink after what was going to happen, and they didn't have nearly enough vodka.

Everyone arrived back after 2 hours, and they had settled back into the bus, waiting for May to return from her routine check up on the plane. Another half an hour, and they were back in the air.

Everyone had congregated in the communal living room, the 'kids' watching a movie, as Ward was complaining about Skye's running commentary, and Fitzsimmons simultaneously shushed them. May sat at the breakfast bar, reading a book, and Phil, he was at the bar, having retired his tie, nursing a whiskey.

Just as Skye made a crude joke about whatever was happening in the movie, someone cleared their throat from the hallway. In an instant, three guns were raised, as Fitzsimmons stared in panic. Phil only continued stiring his drink, seemingly olivious to the intrusion.

'Tasha? Clint?' May finally exclaimed, shocked at seeing her old friends.

'Hello Mels,' Clint responded with a grin.

Ward gave an incredulous look as may lowered her gun but kept his gun raised.

'Wait, I know you.. OMYGOD, you're Black Widow and Hawkeye! You're avengers!' Skye exclaimed. Finally, Phil turned around. 'Skye,' Coulson warned.

That raised the attention of Clint and Tasha, as they turned to stare at Skye.

'Skye,' Clint whispered, sounding almost in awe. Skye took a step back, worried by the tone.

Clint moved to step forward, but Natasha stopped him, not wanting to scare her.

Picking up a bottle of vodka, Coulson walked over to Natasha and gave it to her.

'Should we do this in private, or..' Coulson asked, quietly.

'Do it now,' Tasha insisted.

Coulson turned to Skye, and gave her a sympathetic look to match her confused one. 'Skye, remember that redacted document you showed me? I know what it says, I wrote it.'

Skye stared at him, in surprise, she had not expected that.

'What are you talki-' Simmons tried to question, but was silenced.

'Skye... They're your parents.'

Time seemed to stop, as everyone tried to comprehend what he had just said.

'What? how cou- Are you sure?' Skye asked Clint and Tasha. They nodded mutely, all confidence gone.

Skye rushed at them, and wrapped her trembling arms around them. Almost just as suddenly, she withdrew, eyes brimming with tears.

'What happened? Where.. Where were you?!' she cried, her voice filled with a mix of anger and sadness.

She rushed out of the room, just wanting to get away.

Coulson started to follow, but Tasha got there first, 'No, let me go, it's my fault' she said, filled with guilt.

Skye was sobbing now, running down the corridor. after her momentary feeling of relief at finally finding her parents, she was filled with anger. They had left her. They gave her away. She had never thought she would have felt like this, she had been consumed with searching for them, but now that they were here, she was filled with this foreign feeling.

She pulled open the door of the van, and crawled into the back seat, and continued to cry, body wracking sobs.

Tasha silently searched the plane, filled with worry. What her daughter been though, everything she had missed, she should have been there.

Finally, she heard faint cries, coming from a black van. She cautiously approached the car, and quietly knocked on the door. She got no response, so she pulled the door open, seeing Skye curled in a ball, tear tracks down her face, and her heart broke.

'Skye,' she called softly.

'What happened?' She said, her voice thick with emotion.

Tasha slid into the seat and pulled the door closed. 'Skye, we never wanted to leave you...'

Chapter Text

'Skye, we never wanted to leave you...'

Skye's eyes filled with renewed tears as she looked down at her hands.

'Then why did you? I was alone, all my life. How could any parent do that?'

'Skye, me and Clint are assassins. There is no way of saying it nicely. We kill, and we destroy, but yours was the one life we would never risk.' Tasha confessed, tears beginning to roll down her face.

'If people found out we had a child, your life would be in danger, and I couldnt promise I would always be there to protect you.' She paused, wanting her words to sink in.

'Clint never knew. He was undercover at the time of your birth, so I told him I miscarried. If he knew you were alive, he would have never stopped looking. I'm sorry, you must hate me, but don't hate Clint, he had no part in this.'

Skye brushed her hands against her eyes, before she looked up at Tasha. Taking a shaky breath, she muttered, 'All this time, you were protecting me. I always felt so alone, that it was me against the world, I guess I wasn't completely on my own. I don't hate you'

Tasha smiled at Skye tentatively , her body sinking in relief. 'I... I understand that this is hard for you, and I don't expect you to welcome us as your parents in your life, but maybe... I just want to know you, maybe we could start with friends.'

Skye grabbed Tasha's hands, giving them a gentle squeeze, 'I'd like that.'

'Is she going to-'Clint started before Coulson interrupted him. 'She'll be fine. She's probably in the van. Skye always bounces back.'

Clint nodded, and settled into a seat by the bar, ignoring all the stares from Coulsons team. He grabbed the closest bottle, before he started swigging at it. He would need it to make it through the evening.

Simmons sat on the edge of the sofa, almost bouncing from her need to sate her curiosity, which was denied by Mays stern glances, silently telling her not to go there.

'So, Clint, hows the avengers?' Coulson finally broke the ice.

Clint looked up from the bar, and grinned. 'You'll never believe what Tony did.'

Their conversation seemed to ease the tension in the room, and continued, till they heard a timid knock at the door.

All eyes turned to the noise, as the door opened to show Skye and Tasha. Clint searched Tasha's face, relaxing in relief, when he read the easiness in his partners eyes.

'Clint. I'd really like it if I got to know you better. Do you recon we could hang out?' Skye asked, quickly answered by Clint's eager nodding.

They had asked for some privacy, so whilst Skye, Tasha and Clint stayed in the living area, the rest of the team headed of to their own respective areas. FitzSimmons to the lab, Ward to the training area, May to the Pilots Cabin and Coulson to his office.

They all settled into the various sofas, in an awkward silence, till Skye spoke up.

'I have imagined this moment for my whole life, but now I'm here, I have no idea what to say.'

Clint chuckled, before Tasha suggested, 'Why don't you just tell us a little about yourself?'

Skye nodded, relieved she had something to talk about.

'So, I am a hacker, a good one, if I say so myself. I work as a consultant for Coulson. I've been with them for about a month. I lived in various orphanages, and got shoved around a bunch of foster homes that never stuck. When I was 16, I ran away, I had saved up some money, so I managed to buy a van, and that was my home for the next few years.' Skye paused, expecting to see pity in their eyes, but only saw understanding. They had, like skye, lived in worse than a van. Skye didnt tell them that.

'So, I worked a couple of times, freelancing for various people and companies, before I joined the rising tide. I-'

'Wait, you were in the rising tide?' Clint interrupted. 'They blew 3 of my covers!'

Skye chuckled, before replying teasingly, 'Sorry about that, I thought shield was a douchey, secret organisation that withheld information and advancements in technology that the world needed. But, hey, it's not that bad.'

Tasha laughed before Skye continued, 'Anyway, I figured, why not see shield from the inside, ya know, the belly of the beast, so I set a trail, which Coulson picked up. He took me in, we saved a bunch of people from an exploding man, and then I joined as a consultant. I've started my training to become a field agent, Ward is my SO, but hes not exactly the patient type, so I have a long way to go. Don't worry, I'm not going to betray shield. I only joined the rising tide because I wanted to find my parents, but now that I'm here, I am actually helping people, I don't want to give that up.'

Clint and Tasha smiled at Skye, before Skye asked them, 'So, you guys live with the Avengers?'

They continued to talk, for what seemed like hours, until they heard Mays voice over the comms, 'We're landing in five. Clint, Tasha, you need to grab your gear and be ready to leave before someone notices you are gone.'

Skye looked at her parents, Wow, it felt weird for Skye to even think that, and smiled, 'I guess this is it.'

Tasha pulled out a phone from her pocket, and gave it to her. 'Here, its an untraceable connection, only Clint and I have the number, call us if you need anything.'

Skye took the phone, 'Thanks, come on, lets grab your stuff.'

Skye followed Clint and Tasha, to where they had left their bags, and then showed them the way to the ramp, to join the rest of the team who were waiting for May to touch ground.

Everyone said their goodbyes to Tasha and Clint, till only Skye was left. Just as the ramp began to lower, Skye turned to Tasha and Clint.

'It was amazing to meet you, finally. Thank you for being so understanding.' Skye grabbed both of them and pulled them into a hug, cherishing what it felt like, as she didn't have the time last time.

'WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!' Skye froze, as she heard a man shout from behind her. She slowly untangled herself from Clint and Natasha, before turning to see a man, in a black, leather trench coat, combat boots and a eyepatch, covering a large scar.

Fury.

Skye paced back and forth, outside of Coulsons office, as she heard Fury's shouts.

'THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. YOU ALL DIRECTLY DISOBEYED MY ORDERS! I SHOULD RELIEVE YOU OF YOUR DUTIES RIGHT NOW!'

There was silence as someone said something to Fury in a much calmer voice.

'I HAVE OVERLOOKED ALL THE MISTAKES, ALL THE DISOBEDIENCE, BUT THIS, THIS IS THE WORST. I LET YOU GET MARRIED, I IGNORED ALL THE MISSED DROP INS, AND ALL THE BREAKING OF PROTOCOL, AND THIS IS HOW YOU REPAY ME?'

Silence, again.

'NO, COULSON. THERE IS MORE TO THIS THAN YOU WERE TELLING ME. IF YOU ALL KNEW FROM THE START, WHY WOULD YOU ONLY MEET NOW, WHAT CHANGED? YOU ARE NOT TELLING ME SOMETHING AND IF I DON'T FIND OUT, I SWEAR, I WILL DISBAND THIS TEAM AND MAKE SURE NONE OF YOU ARE EVER EMPLOYED AGAIN!'

Skye had had enough. She wasn't going to hurt her team again. Walking up to the door to Coulson's office, she barged in without knocking. Ignoring the look of worry on everyone's faces, bar Fury, she looked at Coulson.

'Just tell him, its fine, I don't mind.'

'Are you sure?' Coulson asked quietly. Skye nodded.

Silence filled the room, before Coulson finally said, 'Fury, Skye is Tasha and Clint's daughter.'

'Fuck.' Fury seemed to think for a moment, everyone tense at what his verdict would be.

Finally, he said, 'I think it is time Skye took a Sabbatical away from the team.'

'What?!' Skye responded, before Coulson argued, 'You cant do this! Please Sir, reconsider.'

'I damn well can do this, Coulson, and I will, especially considering Skye's recent exploits.' Fury paused, and seemed to grin, only confusing everyone in the room.

'So, Tasha, do you recon Tony's got a spare room?

Chapter Text

Skye looked around her bunk. This room had been her home for the past month. It's size comforted her, reminded her of her van. She didn't know if she would ever see it again, you never knew with Fury. Skye tried to blink away her tears, but a few still managed to escape. What was wrong with her? She had found her parents. She should be happy, but she wasn't. She couldn't shake the feeling that in going with her parents, she was losing her family.

Skye's thoughts were interrupted by a timid knock on the door.

'Come in.' She tried to keep her voice steady, but wasn't very convincing.

Simmons opened the door, and looked at Skye. All it took was one glance at her tear stained face and suddenly Skye was enveloped in a warm hug. Simmons gently ran her hand up and down Skye's back, comforting the crying girl.

'Skye, darling, what's wrong?'

Skye gave a choked, humorless laugh, before asking, 'What isn't wrong? None of this has gone as I planned. When I started my search for my parents, I expected to end up with two gravestones. And, believe me, I'm glad they're alive, but I just don't know how to act. I've barely had 4 conversations with them, and I'm already moving in! It's too fast. I don't- I-'

Simmons gave Skye a squeeze, before letting go.

'Skye, have you spoken to them about how you feel?'

Skye gave Simmons a disbelieving look. 'How can I? They can't do anything about it. Fury's word is final. I just- I don't know what to do around them. I agreed to get to know them, but I thought they would leave after a couple hours, and then I would have a few days to think this through. But this is too fast. I hated and resented them for the majority of my life, and that doesn't go away in a day. I understand why they did what they did, they lost a child as much as I lost my parents. I just don't know what to do with this anger I've carried all these years.'

Simmons brushed away Skye's tears and smiled. 'Skye, it's going to be okay. You always see the best in people. If you ever need to talk, I'm just a phone call away. And besides, you'll have plenty of space. Stark tower is massive, it has to be, to accommodate all the avengers.'

Skye smiled, before suddenly freezing. She let out a moan.

'What? What's wrong, Skye?'

'I completely forgot about the Avengers,' she groaned, before sinking, face first, into her pillow.

Simmons patted her back, and tried not to laugh.

Simmons and Skye climbed down the stairs to the Cargo Bay and found everyone waiting for them. Simmons placed down the cardboard box, full of Skye's stuff, on the floor, and then joined the others.

Skye also placed her duffle bag full of clothes on the floor and stepped towards her team.

'I guess this is it, guys.'

Skye stepped forward and hugged May tight. She was relieved when she felt the woman hug her back. They had their differences, but they still cared.

Skye let go, and turned to Fitz. He surged forward and attached himself to her in a hug.

'Look after Simmons while I'm gone, okay?' She asked, and felt him nod on her shoulder.

Finally he let go, and he stepped back. Simmons was freely crying, by now, and Skye hugged her tight.

'Don't cry. If you cry, I cry, you know that. Remember when we watched the titanic?' Simmons gave a broken laugh, and let Skye go. Simmons quickly wiped her tears away, but it didn't stop the new ones coming.

Lastly, Skye turned to her SO. Things had been awkward ever since the thing with Miles, but Skye could have sworn his eyes were glistening with moisture. She gave him a brief hug, before joking, 'Careful, Robot, you're leaking.' Ward gave a small smile.

'I'm going to miss you guys. Visit when you can.' The team all nodded, before finally turning back to where Coulson, Clint and Tasha were standing.

'You ready to go?' She asked and they all nodded.

Clint looked at the duffle bag and single cardboard box on the floor.
'You got everything?'

Skye nodded, 'Yeah, I've always traveled light.'

Skye loaded her things in the back of the van, as the Clint, Tasha and Coulson climbed in.

Skye said one last goodbye, and they left.

The drive to the Stark tower was quiet. They had landed the plane at an air base in New York, so the drive only took half an hour. When they arrived, Skye rolled her eyes at the sight of reporters and paparazzi, trying to catch a glimpse of the Avengers. Apparently, her parents were celebrities.

'Don't say anything to the reporters.' Tasha warned, before they got out of the van. Camera flashes went of, almost blinding Skye, but she picked up her things, and followed Tasha and Clint inside.

Once inside, it was eerily quiet, having lost the dense clamor from the reporters. Skye look a deep breath. This was home now, at least for a while. Tasha went over to the secretary's desk, and asked her to inform the rest of the avengers that they were here.

They all took a seat in the waiting areas, which, true to Stark's nature, was filled with expensive, leather sofas and other extremities. Skye was nervous, and began to tap, as she saw the sign above the elevator slowly slide down to the point marked 'ground floor'.

Skye took a deep breath. This was it. Meeting the avengers.

Skye stood up, as did Coulson, Clint and Tasha. The elevator doors opened with a ding, and out came Tony Stark, followed by Captain America, Bruce Banner and Pepper Potts. Almost immediately, Pepper strode up to Coulson and gave him a tight hug. Skye was surprised, but everyone else just seemed to smirk.

'We heard you survived, but it's good to see you with our own eyes.' Skye heard Pepper say to Coulson. Skye smiled.

'Its good to see you too,' Coulson replied. Pepper let go, and joined the others, everyone's attention suddenly turning to Skye.

Skye nervously ran her hand through her hair, before saying, 'Err, hey, I guess. I'm Skye.'

Tony suddenly flipped out a tablet from his back pocket, and started typing furiously. Skye wasn't expecting that.

It was Captain America who spoke up next. 'Ignore Tony, I'm Steve Rogers. It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am .'

Skye grinned, slightly star struck and shook his hand. 'The feeling is mutual.'

Pepper next said, 'Skye, I understand you will be living with us for an undisclosed amount of time. We have had floor 15 prepared for you, and I hope you feel comfortable. If you need anything, just ask.'

Skye looked at Pepper in shock.

'I get a whole floor?! I'm used to living in a van!'

Pepper was just about to reply when Tony gave a frustrated sigh.

'Tony. We have a guest.' Pepper warned.

'I'm sorry, but there is nothing! Her file is empty. All it says is Skye, possible alias. Captured by shield for stealing information, and working as a consultant for Shield. Everything else is blank! No known age, date of birth, family. There's nothing?'

No family? Skye thought. Fury was keeping it a secret?

'Here, let me see.' Skye grabbed the tablet from Tony and was just about to look, when suddenly, the Shield Emblem, with the words 'access denied', flared on the tablet, and on every other screen in the room.

Skye groaned, and muttered, 'Stupid bracelet.'

Tony looked around at the screens in horror. 'No! No way. What did you do? What did you do to Jarvis?'

Skye sighed, and turned to Coulson.

'You know I can't stay here with this bracelet on, AC. Everything is electronically linked by Jarvis. It would leave the building useless, not to mention defenseless.'

'I can't just stop monitoring you! Skye, you -'

'I know Coulson,' Skye interrupted. 'But I've read up about Jarvis, he can monitor my activity, even report back to you. But the bracelet's got to go. I don't even know why I need it anymore. You know what I wanted, and I got it. I'm not going to do it again.'

Everyone was looking confused, except Clint and Tasha, at their conversation.

'I know, Skye, but I can't just abandon protocol. I'll take the bracelet, but Jarvis will monitor you. I'll sent the specs to Tony.'

Skye smiled, as she held out her hand to Coulson. Coulson took it and held her wrist up to say, 'Disengage bracelet.' The bracelet flashed, before collapsing in on itself.

Skye looked at Coulson. 'Are you kidding me?'

Coulson grinned. 'I thought you'd like that.'

Skye laughed and rubbed her wrist. She was glad it was gone. That bracelet went with none of her clothes.

'I guess I should be getting back to the bus, you're good here, right.' Coulson asked.

'Do I have a choice?' Skye countered, before reforming, 'Yeah, I'm good. Tell the team I'll miss them, and thanks for everything.'

Coulson nodded, before adding, 'This isn't goodbye, Skye, just a see you later.' Coulson hugged Skye, tight, before he let go, and turned to the Avengers.

'It was nice seeing you all. Thanks for taking in Skye. And tell Thor when you next see him, I say hi.' Coulson turned to the exit and left, and Skye took a deep breath.

Once Tony had seen all his computers come back, he turned to Skye.

'Seriously, who the hell are you.' Skye looked at Tasha and Clint.

'You didn't tell them?' They only shrugged.

'Tell us what?!' Tony exclaimed.

Before Skye could answer, Bruce, who had remained silent for this whole encounter, spoke up.

'Tony, maybe we should let her settle in, before giving her the third degree. I'm sure she's had a long day.'

Skye threw Bruce a grateful look, before she followed Pepper into the elevator.

Pepper hadn't been kidding when she had said the whole floor. It had been made into an open plan apartment of sorts, with a living area, massive bathroom, office, entertainment room, and bedroom. The bedroom alone was massive, with a kings sized bed, and a large walk in closet and en suite. Skye thought to what Simmons had said that morning.

'Besides, you'll have plenty of space. Stark tower is massive...'

Skye grinned, before bringing out her phone. Skye had insisted they all got snap chat on their phones, so they could keep updated on each others lives. Taking a video panorama of the whole apartment, she typed the words, 'Plenty of space, huh?' And quickly sent it to Simmons with a giggle.

Skye didn't know what she was going to do with herself. She was used to her bunk, or the van, not all this open space. Tasha said that the extra rooms were for whenever she wanted some time alone, a little privacy, and that they all spent most of their time in the shared living area, or the gym. The shared area took up the top 5 floors, and contained a floor for the gym, a floor for the labs, and Stark's work room, where he made his suits, and the rest were just living areas, and a shared kitchen. Plenty of space, indeed. Skye didn't know what the other floors below were for, but Tony had told her not to go down there. Skye wanted to respect his privacy, but knew at some point, she would end up exploring.

Sighing, Skye got up from the bed she had been lounging on, and went to unpack her things. Skye's clothes barely filled a third of the walk in closet. She had never had the money to splash out on how she looked, and then on the bus, she never had the opportunity, as she got payed for consulting, but they had been working nonstop since she had joined the team.

She was living in New York now, permanently on the ground, she wondered if Tasha would go shopping with her. That's what women did to bond right?

Now that she thought about it, Skye didn't know what she was going to do with her time. She had been working nonstop for the past month, but now, she was 'unemployed', and probably housebound without a chaperon. What would she do with her time? Maybe the others would have some ideas.

Speaking of the others, Skye looked at her phone for the time. She had been in her apartment for the past hour, and she was pretty sure Tony was bursting with curiosity, and getting nothing from Tasha and Clint. Walking to the elevator, Skye asked Jarvis, 'Hey, Jarvis, what floor is everyone on?'

'Hello, Miss Skye, the avengers and Ms Potts are currently congregated in the lounge on the 21st floor. Would you like me to take you to them?'

Skye smiled at the British AI. She had always thought of technology as her best friend, or at least a companion she would keep with her forever, but now she was actually conversing with technology. It was amazing, she thought.

'Yes, thank you Jarvis.'

'My pleasure.'

The elevator suddenly rose, and after a moment, the doors opened to the 21st floor. It was open plan, like her floor, so her attention was immediately drawn to where the others were, lounging in front of a large television, showing the news. It all seemed strangely domestic, considering she was living with superheroes. Skye cleared her throat as she approached, and sat on the seat between Pepper and Bruce.

'Hey, guys, thanks for giving me some time.' She said, as everyone turned to look at her.

'Please, it was no problem, this can all be a bit... Intense.' Steve said, giving her a warm smile.

'So, I guess you guys have some questions, right?' Skye said, mentally preparing herself.

Of course, Tony was the first one to dive in.

'Who are you, what's your connection to shield?'

'Well, like my file said, I'm Skye, I'm a hacker. I stole some of Shield's secrets as part of the Rising Tide. Coulsons team picked me up. I helped them out on a mission, and the they took me on as a consultant.' Skye shrugged, as if it were nothing.

'So, what was that bracelet you had?' Pepper asked.

Skye looked down, slightly embarrassed. 'Its kind of like a Tag. It monitors your electronic activity, and can stop it if need be. I think it also has a tracker and god knows what else. Shield invented it.'

It was Bruce who finally asked, 'And why was Coulson monitoring you?'

Skye looked at them, before saying in a flat tone, 'I betrayed my team...I slept with the Target.'

The room was suddenly filled with awkward silence, until Tasha said, 'Actually, I was thinking about that. I don't think you betrayed your team. You knew that the Target was jumping ship, but you also knew that the team needed him, and what would make him stay. He loved you. You knew he would have stayed long enough for him to get captured, if you met with him.'

Skye shrugged, 'You caught me.'

Steve looked at her, confused. 'I don't understand, if you were doing it for the team, why'd you let them think you betrayed them?'

'I care about what my team think of me. I would rather think I made a mistake because I was in love, rather than think I was just a slut, using him.' Skye shrugged again.

Clint looked at Skye, with sadness in his eyes. 'And you don't care what we think of you?' He asked.

Skye looked at Clint, knowing what he meant. They were her parents, did she not care what they thought of her, even if they wouldn't care?

'I've read all your files-'

'Those are all level 9!' Tony interrupted.

Skye smirked. 'Hacker,' she pointed out.

'I've read all your files. I know you don't become avengers without making some bad choices along the way. You won't judge me for mine.'

Tony grinned. 'I like this one. Do you recon we could get her to hack into Fury's computer? I always wanted to know what happened to his eye.'

'Tony,' Tasha growled, 'leave Skye out of your mischief.'

Tony laughed. 'Calm down, Spidey, it's not like your her mother.'

Skye visibly flinched, and Tasha clenched her fists. Their reaction was noticed by everyone in the room.

'Wha-? Wait, what?!' Tony exclaimed.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Skye woke with a moan, and instantly regretted the last couple of beers, the night before. She stretched, and threw her duvet of herself. She was shocked when Jarvis's voice rang out,

'Good morning, Miss Skye, its is 9:42 AM, and the sun is shining in New York.'

'Yay,' Skye managed to groan sarcastically before her eyes landed on some aspirin and a glass of water on her side table.

Skye could have cried in relief, before she quickly took a gulp of water, and downed the tablets.

'Thanks J, I owe you,' Skye said, sleepily.

'No need for thanks, Miss Skye, that was Mr Barton.'

Skye smiled, before saying, 'Enough with the Miss and Mr, its way to early. You can just call me by Skye, and what every one else prefers.'

'Of course, Skye, I shall update my system.'

'Thanks.'

Skye got up from her bed, and went for a shower. Once she was done, and no longer stank of beer, she got changed. She picked out a pair of jeans and - oh no way!

Skye laughed when she saw the shirt she had bought as a joke, over a year ago. Shrugging, she put it on. Hopefully, it would get a few laughs.

She put on a pair of Converses, and left the walk in closet.

Downing the rest of her water, she left her apartment with her laptop.

Skye eventually made it down to the communal kitchen. Her first stop was the coffee machine, before she even acknowledged anyone else in the room. Once she was sipping at her piping hot cup of energy, she said, 'Morning.' Bruce, Steve, Tony and Pepper all greeted her the same, before Tony burst out,

'What the hell are you wearing?!'

Skye laughed and pointed to her top. 'What, this? Its my Avengers shirt, available in a store near you.' She finished with a grin.

'Nuh-uh, that is not allowed! It completely messed up the colour of the suit! And what is the Black widow wearing?'

Skye laughed again, before Steve said, 'I like it.' Tony glared at him, and Bruce laughed.

'At least they've got the Hulk in pants,' Bruce joked.

'Ughh not you too.' Tony groaned.

Pepper closed her newspaper and glared, playfully, at Tony. 'Stop being such a child.'

Something on the cover of Peppers newspaper caught Skye's eye. 'Hey, Pepper, can I see that?'

Pepper looked like a deer caught in head lights. 'What? No! I mean.. There's nothing good today, you don't want to read it.'

Skye raised a suspicious eyebrow at Pepper. She really wasn't a good liar.

'Let me see it.'

'No, you really don't want to see it, trust me.' Pepper argued, holding the newspaper away from Skye.

'Pepper, seriously! Whats on it?' Skye cried, in frustration.

'Peps, she's gunna see it sooner or later. Might as well be sooner.' Tony spoke, for once, the voice of reason.

Pepper sighed, before relenting and sliding the paper towards Skye. There on the front cover was a large picture of Skye, with the headline, 'The Avenger's new room mate. Who is she?'

Skye groaned, before continuing to the article.

'An unknown woman was seen yesterday, entering the Avengers Tower, with a large duffel and box of things, and has yet to leave. The woman was unavailable for comment, but was joined with Hawkeye and the Black Widow.

We have yet to discover who the woman is, and what relations she has with the Avengers. Could she be a fellow super hero? Or another of Tony Starks play toys?'

Skye groaned again and couldn't keep reading. 'What is this rubbish?'

'Well, it seems you caught the reporters from yesterday's attention.' Steve started, before Skye huffed.

'Well, then I'm gunna give them something to pay attention too,' Skye growled, before moving towards the elevator.

'Umm, Skye, I really don't thi-' Pepper started before she was interrupted.

'I don't care!' Skye fumed, before getting in the elevator.

'Jarvis, take me to the Lobby, please.'

'Certainly, Skye,' the AI responded.

Once the elevator doors opened, Skye stormed out into the Lobby, and past the confused receptionist. She walked straight to the doors, and opened it, to see 20 or so camera men and reporters.

She waited till they were all looking at her, before she shouted,

'Hey, Douche bags! Who I am is none of your damn business, and I'm sure as hell not some play toy! Piss off, and report on some real news!'

As soon as she was finished, she didn't hesitate to shut the door in their faces, and turned back into the Lobby. She threw a grin at the now laughing receptionist, before heading back up to the others.

'Hey, I forgot to ask earlier, where are Clint and Tasha?' Skye questioned, once they had all got back to their breakfast.

'They had to go on a mission for a couple of days,' Steve explained, apologetically. 'They asked us to tell you that they were sorry, but it was unavoidable.'

Skye nodded. 'Its okay. We've all got jobs to do... Actually, I don't know what my job is.' Skye frowned.

'Skye, I think I know the answer to that,' Tony spoke up. Skye looked up at him in surprise.

'Fury messaged me earlier. He wants me and Steve up on the Helicarrier, to go over some details from an op we did a couple of weeks ago. He asked if you would come along too, something about getting you an office.'

Skye squeaked in shock. 'I'm going to work on the Helicarrier? Oh my god, I have to change my shirt!' Her voice rang in disbelief, before she ran to change.

'We leave in ten!' Steve shouted after her, with a chuckle.

Skye quickly changed into something that was a little more super-badass-secret-government-organisation appropriate, which equated to combat boots, jeans, a black tank top, and a leather jacket.

Grabbing her phone, wallet and laptop, she made her way back to where she had left the avengers. Once the elevators had opened, Skye was about to take a step out, before Steve said, waiting on the other side of the doors, 'Stay in, we're going up.'

Skye did as she was asked, and was joined by Tony and Steve. They stood, a little awkwardly, for the ride up to the top floor, before the doors opened again. Skye followed them down several hallways, till they reached a door. They went in, and were met with a large room, and in the centre, stood a helicopter.

'You ever ridden in one of these before?' Tony asked.

Skye shook her head, 'Nope, only ever the Bus.'

Steve looked at her in confusion. 'I didn't know buses could fly.

Skye laughed, 'Oh, no, the Bus is what we call the plane my team live on. I don't really know why though.'

Steve laughed. 'Okay, better buckle up.'

Skye sat down in the back, next to Steve, who helped her strap in, and connect her headphones and mics so they could talk over the noise. In the front, Tony was warming up the engine.

'Uh Tony, you have flown one of these before, right?' Skye shouted, over the engine

Tony laughed. 'Sure, my friend Rhodey taught me. Don't look so worried, I barely ever crash,' Tony shouted back, with a grin. Skye paled slightly, and gripped her belt.

At the push of a button, the ceiling above them opened, revealing the sky. Tony moved the thrusters, and the propellers above them started moving, till they were spinning at a dizzying speed. Through the headphones, Steve and Skye heard Tony ask, 'You ready to get this show on the road?' as he looked back at them.

Skye gave a nervous nod, and Steve gave him a thumbs up. At the push of a thruster, they were off, flying through the sky.

New York from that vantage point was breath taking, and Skye managed to find the courage to look out a window. Something about the helicopter was just different from the Bus. Maybe it was the size, or probably the driver, but after seeing the view, she began to relax. It was jut like being in the cockpit with May.

They rose and rose, climbing to higher altitudes, till they rose above the clouds, and there before them, in all its glory, was the Helicarrier. It made their Helicopter seem like an ant next to a boot.

Tony radioed in to the command centre, and before long, the roof to where they stored most of their airships split down the middle, allowing them entrance.

Tony expertly landed, and Skye let out a sigh of relief she didn't know she was holding. Once the roof was closed again, they were allowed to leave the helicopter, and join the main building of the Helicarrier. It was huge, but Skye didn't have enough time to look, as they were taken straight to Fury's office.

Once there, they waited for five minutes, where they could hear a lot of shouting, till the door opened. Out came a rather scared and sheepish looking agent, who quickly ran off. Poor guy.

'Tony, Steve, Skye, come in and shut the door behind you.'

They did as they told, and entered the room. It seemed nice enough, a little bare compared to Coulson's memorabilia filled office. On the desk were stacks of paper, so high Skye thought the might topple.

'Thank you for coming. Skye, lets start with you.'

Skye nodded, nervously.

'First off, sorry for sending Clint and Tasha away so quickly after meeting you.'

Skye nodded again. 'Don't worry, its part of the job, right?'

Fury laughed, 'It's a shame Tasha and Clint didn't feel the same way, I thought she was going to take my other eye out. Caused quite a scene.'

Skye smiled, and Tony laughed.

'Anyway, considering you are still a consultant of Shield, even if you aren't with your team, I have set up for you to join the tech team. You have an office stall prepared, and assignments will be given. Most of them can be handled from the Tower, but understandably, there will be times that you might need to come in.'

Skye nodded, happy she could be doing something productive.

'The tech team are waiting for you on the 4th floor, I'm sure you can find your way.'

Skye nodded, with a grin.

'Oh, and Skye, whilst you're here, you will be monitored. Its just a precaution.' Skye's grin faded when Fury brought out a bracelet that she was all too familiar with.

With a sigh, she stuck out her wrist and allowed it to be attached. 'It will be removed when you leave the Carrier, and put on again once you return.' Fury explained, almost apologetically.

Skye sighed again, before grabbing her bag with her laptop from the floor, and went to the door to leave.

'Hey, we'll find you once were done, so we can head back to the tower. Should only take a couple of hours.'

Skye nodded, and left.

Skye made it to the 4th floor, and found a group of people, typing furiously, as a young woman overlooked what they were doing.

Skye cleared her throat, and the woman turned to look at her, whilst the others remained concentrated.

'Hey, I'm Agent Morgan,' She introduced. 'They told me you were coming. You must be-'

'Skye.'

'The consultant,' she finished.

Skye smiled, 'Yep, that's me.'

The woman nodded, before asking, 'Do you have much experience with Shield?'

Skye nodded, before replying, 'Yeah, before this, I worked with a small mobile command unit, and before that, I uhh, I was one of the bad guys,' using air quotes.

The woman showed a brief sign of surprise, before masking it.

'Don't worry,' Skye said, holding up the bracelet on her wrist, 'I'm being monitored.'

The woman visibly relaxed, and smiled.

'What are you working on?' Skye asked, gesturing to the people typing at their computers.

'Someone has been releasing some of our files onto the internet, have you heard of the Rising tide?'

Skye tried not to choke on the words before nodding.

'We've been trying to stop them, but we haven't seen hacking like this before, we cant get past their systems.'

Skye frowned, before asking, 'Have you tried using a Trojan? If most of you attack head on, they will think you are working a direct attack, and one of you should be able to slip in a back route, hopefully find a location and shut down their systems.'

The woman nodded, 'Good idea. Jacobs?'

'On it,' said one of the agents, before they changed their method.

A few tense minutes passed, and then Jacobs said, 'They fell for it! I've got co-ordinates. I'm sending it to the Control room now. Should I shut it down?'

'No. Let them think we haven't got anything. If we hold them off long enough, they wont see our field team coming, we can bag them all at once.'

They all nodded, and continued their defences, whilst Agent Morgan got on the comms to a team to brief them.

They waited ten minutes, before Morgan got a response.

'The team is in position. They're going in.'

Almost as soon as she said it, the attack on their systems ceased, and the group stopped typing.

'They've got them, they've got most of the main workers, we should be able to shut down the rest of the Rising Tide over the next few days.'

A collective sigh of relief ran through the group, and Agent Morgan clapped Skye on the back.

'That was impressive, how'd you know that would work?'

Skye grinned. Gesturing to herself, she said, 'Former bad guy,' and then to the computers, 'The bad guys.'

Agent Morgan laughed. 'You were part of the Rising Tide?'

'Yeah...I was the one who showed them how to get into Shields systems,' Skye replied, a little ashamed. 'It's the least I could do, stopping them.'

Morgan shrugged, 'Its all in the past. We all come from shady background.'

Skye laughed.

'So, where do you want me to set up?'

Chapter Text

Skye typed at her laptop, editing the code like she had tunnel vision. She was in such a zone, that she almost jumped out of her chair when she heard her phone ring out, with a message tone. Skye laughed at herself before checking her phone.

Miss USA ;): We should be done in an hour. We'll meet you after.

Skye smiled before quickly shooting back an Okay.

'Hey, is that a Stark phone? How'd you get your hands on one of those?'

Skye looked at the Agent who had just spoken.

'I know a guy,' Skye replied, mentally laughing; Stark had given the phone himself. 'It's Agent Daniels, right?'

The guy nodded, before saying, 'Yeah. You're pretty new around here, aren't you?'

'Yep. First day on the Carrier.' Skye smiled at the Agent.

'You know, I could help you out, show you the ropes.'

Skye smirked slightly, sensing the innuendo behind the tone.

'I think I've got it covered,' Skye answered dryly.

'Nah, it helps knowing a few high ranking faces around here,' the agent persisted. Skye knew he was only a level 2 agent; she had done a quick background check on everyone in the tech team. He only wanted to appear more consequential than he actually was.

'I think I'll be okay. I'm fine, really, I have a couple of friends.' Skye insisted, before returning back to work. Skye felt his gaze linger on her, as she worked. She guessed there would always be manipulative perverts, no matter how just the organisation. She had put up with it in the Rising Tide, before they knew how good a hacker she was, and she would have to put up with it here.

Skye had been working for 45 minutes, before she stopped, and got up. She needed caffeine. She looked around, and didn't see a coffee machine, so she went over to Agent Morgan.

'Hey, I finished the firewall. If any of the Rising Tide try and get in, we'll know.' Skye smiled, and it was returned by one from Morgan.

'Good work. That's it for the day, if you wanna take off.'

Skye nodded. 'I've meeting a couple of friends in 15 minutes. You got a coffee machine around here, while I wait?'

Agent Morgan nodded. 'Sure, there's one in the break room. It's the door on the left.' Morgan pointed towards a hallway, and Skye nodded.

'Thanks.'

Skye made her way over to the break room and punched in her order on the machine. The machine sparked to life, and started to drip out the much needed coffee. Skye tapped on her leg, as she waited for the last dregs of coffee to pour intoher cup. Her drink had just finished, when she heard someone join her in the room.

'The coffee here is shit,' Agent Daniels, the guy from before, warned.

Skye sipped at her drink and laughed. 'No kidding. You'd think this place would have a Starbucks or something.'

Daniels grinned, before offering, 'Me and a couple of others are going out for drinks. If you're done for the day, you'd be welcome to tag along.' Skye inwardly rolled her eyes. This guy just wouldn't quit.

'Maybe another time. I'm actually meeting with some friends.' Skye felt her phone vibrate, and saw a message from Steve. 'Actually, they're here right now.'

Agent Daniels looked slightly dejected, but was also curious as to who Skye could possibly know in Shield. Following her out the room, he looked into the main area to catch a glimpse of Skye's friends. There was no one.

He sighed, and returned to his desk, keeping an eye out, as Skye packed away her laptop. Just as she was putting the strap of her laptop bag over her shoulder, she heard the elevator doors open with a ding. Out came, much to the other agents surprise, Tony and Steve followed by Fury and a brunette woman whom she did not recognise. Upon seeing Skye, Tony grinned, and Steve gave a little wave, and Skye smiled in response. Agent Daniels looked at Skye in shock. These were her friends? Skye threw a smirk in his direction, and went to greet them, followed by Agent Morgan.

'Good afternoon, Director Fury,' Agent Morgan greeted. 'To what do we owe the pleasure of your visit?' Skye could tell from her tone, that this didn't happen often.

'I came to congratulate you all on your success with the Rising Tide, and to see how Skye was doing on her first day.'

Morgan kept her surprise at Fury actively taking an interest in a new recruit at bay, and smiled. 'Thank you, sir. It wouldn't have happened without Skye's help. She's a great addition to the team.'

Skye smiled, and was about to protest in modesty, before the brunette spoke up.

'Wait a minute, this is the Skye you were telling me about, Fury?' The woman saw Fury nod, and turned to Skye.

'I've heard a lot about you. I'm Maria Hill, it's good to finally meet you,' she said, sticking out her hand.

Skye took it, shaking her hand.

'Its an honour, Assistant Director Hill,' Skye said, with a smile, recognising the name.

Hill laughed, before replying, incredulously, 'Really? I'm not that important.'

Skye scoffed, 'Please! I know who really runs this place.' Skye winked and Maria grinned. Looking over to Fury, she stage whispered, jokingly, 'I like her.'

Tony and Steve laughed, and Agent Morgan left back to her work. Fury turned to Skye and said, 'I wanted to tell you myself, Clint and Natasha's mission is ending a day early, they should be back by tomorrow night.'

Skye smiled, 'Thanks, they're okay, right?'

Fury gave her a little smile. 'They're good. They can handle themselves.'

Skye laughed, remembering who they were talking about. 'Right. Of course they can.'

Steve placed a hand on Skye's shoulder. 'You ready to go? I thought we could stop and get something to eat. The others at the tower already had takeout.'

Skye nodded. 'Sure. You fancy pizza?'

Tony pricked up at that. 'Pizza? Definitely! I know just the place.'

Maria laughed, and the others smiled.

'It was nice meeting you, Commander Hill. Fury, always a pleasure.' Skye said with a grin.

Maria and Fury nodded in agreement, before Skye, Steve and Tony left.

'So, where is this pizza place? I hope they have a parking spot for the 'copter,' Skye joked, as they headed back to where they had parked.

Skye couldn't contain her blissful moan as she took her first bite. With a blush, she mumbled through her mouthful, 'God, Tony, you were right. This pizza is amazing.'

Tony laughed, and took a bite in his own slice. Steve, showing a little more finesse, coughed to mask his laughter. They were seated in a dark corner of a family owned pizza parlour, mainly hidden from the view of the other occupants. It was nice and private, Tony had obviously called ahead to get the seats.

'So, we figured we could get to know you a little better, Skye,' Steve suggested. 'I know you're really staying to get to know Clint and Tasha, but seeing as you'll be living with us, we should get to know each other. If its okay with you, of course.'

Skye laughed, 'Are you kidding me? I want to know all about the real Captain America, and what the papers don't know about the man behind the Iron Man suit.'

Steve grinned. 'Okay, we can take it in turns. Where did you grow up?'

...

As it turns out, the trio couldn't have had more different childhoods. Steve was born in post-WWW Brooklyn. Raised by his widowed mother, he was a very frail and sickly child. This, however, did not deter him from protecting those important to him, and standing for what was right and wrong. He spoke of his brother, in all but blood, Bucky, and what the early 20th century was like in America. It was filled with hardship, but also a sense of freedom that children lack these days.

On the other end of the spectrum, Tony had been raised in a life of mansions and private schools. He was supplied with any material thing he could possible want, and money could buy. Despite this, Tony's early life was often dominated by the absence of his father, and a mother who didn't know how to care for a child. Tony was deeply loved by his long term nanny, and by his butler, Edwin Jarvis, however, they could not fulfil the same effect, as the care of ones own parents. Tony filled his early life with science, and the pursuit of knowledge, but it had lead to an irrevocably lonely childhood. Tony hadn't said this in so many words, but it was the underlying message along with the overwhelming tone of self pity.

'You know, I used to hate you, as a child,' Tony said, much to Steve's surprise. 'My father, whenever he was around, would constantly barrage me with stories of the great Captain America. It seemed that he had more interest in your legacy than his own sons life.'

Steve frowned. 'I'm sorry, Howard seemed a good man, when I knew him. I guess the war changed him. I'm sorry, I'm a constant reminder to his neglect.'

Tony brushed of the apology, with a laugh and a sarcastic, 'Don't get your star spangled panties in a twist, Cap. Bygones and all that jazz.'

Skye let out a laugh, but she and Steve could tell how Tony was grateful for Steve's apology, behind his joking deflection.

'So, Skye, please tell me you had a more enjoyable childhood. God, we're a bunch of downers,' Tony joked, with a gently prod at Skye's side. Skye took a final bite of her pizza and grinned.

'Sorry, I'm not exactly the poster child of happy families,' Skye joked. Tony and Steve were surprised how unaffected she seemed. Skye was so used to posing an indifference to how she was raised, it was hard to turn it off.

'I was left on the orphanage doorstep as a baby, must have been about 2 weeks old. There was quite the bit of controversy about my origins amongst the other kids. There was this bet running, about my parents suddenly turning up one day, and who they were. What orphan kid doesn't dream that their parents are royalty or a celerity.'

Skye shrugged, before she paused suddenly, deep in thought. After a brief moment, she started laughing. 'Now that I think about it, I owe one of the kids $20, they figured my parents would be secret spies. Guess they were right.'

Tony laughed, and Steve gave her a grin. It was easier this way, making light of a sad story.

'I didn't know at the time, but Shield moved me around every 6 months or so. Made my way around 24 different foster homes, I think it was a record, before I ran away from the home. I was 16, bought a van, started to hack, and just moved around. A new town every month or so, guess I couldn't shake that tradition of moving after a couple of weeks.'

Skye shrugged, as if it was a perfectly ordinary childhood.

Noticing they had all finished their food, and that it was getting late, Skye asked, 'Wanna head back?'

'Sure, let me just pay,' Tony agreed, as they stood up. Tony went over to the counter, and spoke to the cashier.

'Hey Tony,' Skye called after him. Tony looked up, with a raised eyebrow, and Skye grinned. 'Don't forget to tip well, they did let us park the helicopter on the roof, after all.'

Steve laughed, and Tony just smiled, as he added an extra $100 bill to the 50 he had already paid. The look of gratitude and happiness, from the man at the till warmed Skye's heart. She remembered how crappy it was, living of a lousy waitressing salary and tips. She hadn't even to pay rent back then and she found it hard, but then again, gas wasn't cheap.

'Alright, lets go.' Steve said, with a hand on Skye's shoulder. They made their way to the front door, but once again they were stopped. This time, it was by a young girl, who was clutching a napkin and pen, along with her phone.

'Ummm, hi...'

Skye gave her a reassuring smile, even if the girl had spoken to Steve.

'Hey, how can I help you, ma'am?' Steve asked in a gentle voice. The girl blushed, at the 'ma'am', Skye was pretty sure Steve does it on purpose.

'I... I'm a huge fan, Captain America, and of you, Mr Stark.' The girl blushed again, and Skye tried to stifle a giggle. 'I was wondering if I could get your autograph... And maybe a photo?'

Steve gave her a big smile, and replied, 'Of course, who should I say its for?' whilst reaching for the pen and napkin.

'Jenny.'

Steve scribbled something onto the napkin, before passing it over to Tony. He wrote something too, and held it out for Jenny to take. Skye gave a slight shove to Tony's side, and whispered in his ear, 'Say something nice, she looks terrified.'

'Here, sweetheart. Do you want a photo with both of us, or separate?'

The girl asked for one of both of them together, and so Skye said, 'Here, let me take it.' Jenny gave Skye her phone, before standing herself between Tony and Steve. Skye let out a, 'Smile!' before she pressed the button on the camera. After a few shots, she handed the phone back to Jenny.

The girl thanked them and returned to her table, and started babbling to who Skye presumed was her mother. As she looked, she saw several of the other customers had their phones out, and were taking pictures and videos.

Skye grinned at Steve and Tony. 'I forgot I was living with Celebrities.' Steve laughed, before teasingly replying, 'Shut up, Skye. Lets go home.'

Miles sighed, as he stared longingly at his laptop. He was irritated, he'd had enough with this damn bracelet on his wrist. Holed up in a cheap motel room, he lounged on the bed, as a young brunette, about 19, sat at the desk on a laptop.

'Please tell me you are close to getting this thing off me.' Miles snapped at the young girl typing in a rush at a computer.

'Umm, well, I've found a way to block the signal, so it no longer stops your computer access...' the girl mumbled, as she looked nervously at Miles.

'But?' Miles all but growled at her.

'I cant take it off...' Before Miles could shout at her, she quickly rambled, 'But you wouldn't want to, anyway. If you take it off, Shield will know. It still tracks your location, and monitors your heartbeat. Taking off the bracelets will only attract Shields attention, and the Rising Tide is already angry with us.'

Miles instantly calmed, switching in the blink of an eye, much to the relief of the young girl. 'Well done, you did great, babe.' His voice filled with false praise

The young girl beamed at the small morsel of attention Miles had thrown her. She seemed so eager to impress Miles, and couldn't see the manipulation in his eyes.

'Do it, block the signal,' Miles commanded, and watched as the girl typed away at her laptop. After a few minutes, she looked up to meet his gaze.

'It's done. You should be able to use your computer now.' She smiled at him, and mistook his happiness for gratitude.

'Thank you. That's all, I don't need you any more.' Miles spoke with complete indifference. The girl froze, and looked at him in confusion.

'Miles?'

'Leave. You didn't really think I cared about a pathetic girl like you? I don't even remember you name! Alice? April? I don't care. All your good for is a hack and a good fuck.'

He sneered at her. 'You have performed on both fronts, I have no need for you any more.'

He watched as tears filled her eyes, and she rushed to gather her laptop and clothes laying around the room. With a sob, she ran out the room. Miles smiled to himself. Finally. He reached for his computer, and turned it on. He held his breath as he waited. After a few moments, nothing happened. No Shield logo came up. Miles' smile grew to a grin, as he booted up his system.

'Okay, Shield, what have you been up to?' he muttered to himself as he started the program he had designed himself, to filter through news feeds, social network, everything, and find pieces of information relating to a few key words. Mainly, these were Shield, Avengers, the names of each avenger and the few agents he knew, and of course, Skye.

Not that much had come up. There was mention of Coulsons team in the Caribbean Islands, no substantial information; yet another article critiquing Pepper Potts' new status as CEO of SI; a few dozen pages of fan fiction (that, if anyone was asked, Miles hadn't even touched) and of course, the tweets. Pictures of the avengers, run ins, the lot. Miles quickly flicked through, stopping every now and then, to look closer at a picture or a video.

One video, showed Tony Stark and Captain America, with a young brunette, talking to a fan. The video was bad enough quality, that he couldn't see much in the low lighting of where the video was filmed. The fan was taking a picture, and then he heard the joking tone of the brunette, saying something about living with celebrities. It wasn't of much interest, till he heard Captain America's response.

'Shut up, Skye.'

Miles froze. It couldn't be! Miles replayed the video again, straining to see the girl, but no dice. Scrolling down, he read the comments.

'-Who's this Skye girl?

-Does she live with the avengers?

-I wish I was her.

-Do you people not read the news? 10664257/avengers-mystery-roommate

-WHO IS SHE!?'

Clicking on the link in 4th comment, it took him to a news website, more prone to gossip than the truth. Reading down, he saw the headline, 'The Avenger's new room mate. Who is she?'

Continuing, he read,

'An unknown woman (pictured below) was seen yesterday, entering the Avengers Tower, with a large duffel and box of things, and has yet to leave. The woman was unavailable for comment, but was joined with Hawkeye and the Black Widow. We have yet to discover who the woman is, and what relations she has with the Avengers. Could she be a fellow super hero? Or another of Tony Starks play toys?'

Miles scrolled down, so he could find the picture, and there, sure enough, was-

'Skye,' Miles growled, in anger.

Chapter Text

Skye stretched her aching fingers, that had begun to cramp from all the typing, and placed them over her keyboard. She had been working all day, on a new program that would help enhance the tracking systems of the Comms earpieces. Finally satisfied with what she had done, she ran a simulation of the program. She watched with a satisfied smile as it went of without a hitch. Skye quickly attached the program to a protected email, and sent it to the techies on the Carrier. Happy that she had fulfilled her work quota for the day, Skye stretched again, before getting up to leave her 'office'.

Skye called it an office, as it was where she had set up to work, but it was more of a den. Having felt slightly out of place with the great expanse of space the apartment afforded her, she had converted the office room to suit her liking. With a sofa and a desk in there already, she had set up her laptop and the flashy SI desktop Stark had given her. Next, she had taken drapes, and hung them over half to room, creating a van sized tent of sorts. Next went the fairy lights she had found at the bottom of one of her boxes of things. On the sofa, she piled blankets and pillows. Overall, it had a very home-y feel to it. Skye giggled when she realised it was extremely 'Tumblr' of her. It reminded her of her van before she had joined shield. After all the change, she was feeling a little nostalgic, and took comfort in the familiarity.

Heading down to the shared living area, Skye heard chatter from the towers other occupants. Following the noise, she found Tony, Steve and Pepper, discussing something excitedly on the sofas. Skye cleared her throat to alert them of her presence.

'Skye! You've emerged from your cave!' Tony exclaimed, with a cheeky grin. Skye laughed sarcastically, whilst Steve snorted at Tony.

'You can talk, Stark! You spent a week in the garage making Mark 86. I thought you died!'

Tony pouted, as Pepper chuckled in the background at their theatrics.

'Pepper,' Tony whined playfully. 'You're supposed to back me up!'

Skye tried to refrain from laughing as Pepper ignored Tony and rolled her eyes dramatically so only Skye could see, not that she was very successful.

'Skye, did you get the food I sent down for lunch?' Pepper asked.

Skye smiled. 'Yeah, thanks. You really didn't have to go to all the trouble, though.' Skye still wasn't used to people looking after her, with no expectation in return.

Pepper laughed, 'Oh please! It's no trouble. I know your type, having handled Tony for so long. Once you start a project, you wont stop for anything till its done. Its the least I can do, making sure you don't collapse at your desk.'

Skye grinned, knowing Pepper was completely right. It had actually happened once or twice when she lived in her van. Skye settled into the sofa next to Steve, finally relaxing after sitting stiff at a desk all day.

'So, what's got you all so excited?' Skye asked, referring to the fervent conversation she had interrupted.

Tony and Steve began speaking all at once, like children on a sugar rush, before Pepper silenced them with a stern, yet warm look.

'We just got a call from Jane Foster,' Pepper began. 'She's Thor's girlfriend; they're both in England at the moment, along with their friend Darcy. Jane has some science conference in New York next month so Thor, Darcy and her will be staying in the tower for a few weeks, next month.'

Once Tony was sure Pepper had finished, he exclaimed, 'Its the first time we will all be staying at the Tower. I even coerced Fury to give Tasha and Clint some down time... Actually, I might need your help designing a new security system for Shield... I may have bribed him with a promise of better security...'

Skye laughed and nodded. 'Speaking of the whole team, where's Bruce?'

Pepper nodded towards the kitchen. 'It's his turn to cook. I think he mentioned trying a recipe he picked up in South America. I hope you like spicy food.'

Skye smiled, and replied, 'Yeah, that's good. I'm gonna go see if he wants any help.'

Skye got up from the sofa, and headed towards the kitchen, wanting to get to know Bruce a little better. It wasn't surprising that he kept to himself, and he was the one avenger she hadn't really gotten to know yet. She wanted him to know she wasn't afraid of 'the other guy,' as she heard him call the hulk.

Skye found Bruce, humming by the stove as he stirred a sauce, and he nodded at her when he saw her.

'Hey, you need any help? I'm not much of a cook, but I can dice some veg. After all this Spy training, I sure know my way around a knife,' Skye joked.

Bruce let out a small laugh and nodded. 'Sure, why don't you start with the peppers, they take the longest, with the seeds.'

Skye got to work, and they found a peaceful silence, Bruce humming every now and then. Skye knew Bruce was quite reserved, so she waited for him to start a conversation.

It wasn't long before Bruce quietly asked, 'So, how do you like the tower?'

Skye smiled, looking up from the vegetables she had just finished chopping. 'Its nice. Extravagant, although that's to be expected with Tony, everyone is very welcoming. Its a bit spacious though, kinda... I don't know, its unsettling.'

Bruce nodded, understanding. 'Ahh, yes, I suffer from Agoraphobia, it can be quite uncomfortable. Especially for the other guy.'

Skye raised a brow at how freely he spoke about the hulk. She always assumed it was a sore subject. If Bruce noticed her reaction, he didn't comment on it. Instead he just continued, 'I'm a little surprised you don't like it. I imagine staying of a plane for weeks on end can get a little over crowded.'

Skye grinned, 'Nah, it wasn't so bad. Sure, being so close to everyone was a little awkward at first, but it was actually a step up. I lived in a van before Shield picked me up.' Skye shrugged. 'I guess I like small spaces.'

Bruce hummed in acknowledgement, before turning back to the dish, and scooping the peppers in and stirring.

'So, Tony told me you have a lab, working on anything interesting?' Skye asked, after a moment of comfortable silence.

Bruce began explaining a device he was working on, and with the right nudges, he was off in a whirl of technical babble and science. Skye giggled, instantly reminded of FitzSimmons.

Catching Skye's laugh, Bruce paused and blushed. 'Oh, sorry, sometimes I get a bit carried away.'

Skye shook her head. 'No, don't be sorry. It just reminded me of FitzSimmmons, from my team. They are the scientists, and the do the exact same thing. Its nice, reminds me of home.' Skye smiled brightly.

'FitzSimmons... The names sound familiar. You wouldnt happen to be talking about Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, would you?'

Skye laughed and nodded.

'I've read some of their papers, its quite remarkable,' Bruce admitted.

Skye grinned, 'Oh my god, Simmons is gonna freak out. She kept going on about how I was going to be sharing a roof with the legendary Bruce Banner. I think she might be in love with you and your brain,' Skye teased.

Bruce chuckled, before saying, 'Well, its nice to be recognised for my brain and not, well, you know. You'll have to introduce me when they visit you, I'd love to discuss some of her theoretical ideas.'

Skye was right. Simmons did freak out down the phone when she told her a couple of hours later. She was pretty sure the squeal could have permanently damaged her hearing.

Skye had spent an hour or so, working out in the private gym on her floor, before dragging herself back to the communal living area. The others were watching some old Dracula movie, and it wasn't long before she was drifting asleep.

What felt like moments later, Skye was woken by something. The room was dark, and she felt a warm blanket thrown over. With a groan, Skye rubbed her eyes and sat up. A quick look at her phone told her that it was nearing 2 AM. Looking around once her eyes adjusted to the dark, Skye realised she had fallen asleep on the sofa, where someone had removed her shoes and given her a pillow. Skye smiled at this small act of kindness before she was alerted to what had woken her up.

Skye heard a metallic churning coming from the elevator. Seeing the dial above the doors slide its way up from 1, Skye realised some one was coming from the lobby.

'Jarvis,' Skye asked groggily, 'Who's in the elevator?'

Jarvis responded immediately in his ridiculously British voice, 'Natasha and Clint have just arrived. They are headed for this floor.' Skye felt a shiver of nerves and excitement, at spending more time with them and quickly stood up. As if on cue, a small ding sounded, before the elevator doors slid open.

Skye had never fully appreciated the jobs her parents had, the fact that they were assassins, before she saw them come in from their mission. Covered in blood, and tears in the tactical gear, they leant haggardly against each other, a picture of pure exhaustion. Skye watched in shock as they half dragged themselves out of the elevator. Seeing Clint wince as he walked, Skye was shaken out of her reverie, as she rushed over to them. Seeing Clint clutching his side with the hand that wasn't thrown over Tasha's shoulder, Skye let out an expletive.

'Oh my God! Clint, is that your blood?' Skye exclaimed.

Skye pried Clint's hand away from his side and it came away bloody, revealing a gaping bullet hole.

'Christ, Clint! You've been shot!' Skye quickly pushed his hand back on the wound and applied pressure, choosing to ignore the groan he let out in pain. Now wasn't the time to be faint hearted. Skye gave him a quick once over and saw no other serious wounds, then did the same for Tasha. She was relieved to see there was nothing past a couple of shallow lacerations and got Tasha to help her take Clint to the couch.

'Sit,' Skye ordered, trying to keep her voice steady. He did as she asked and Tasha followed suit, sinking into the cushion as if it was the first piece of comfort she had felt in days. Now that Skye thought about it, it probably was. Tasha leaned back and her eyes fluttered shut, only moving to trace random patterns of reassurance on the top of Clint's hand.

'Tasha, where is the closest first aid kit?' Skye asked, and Tasha slowly opened one eye to look at Skye.

'Kitchen. Cupboard under the sink. Black bag.' Tasha's voice was heavy with weariness.

Skye quickly ran to the kitchen and moments later, returned with a hefty bag. She wasn't surprised, Skye figured their medical needs were comprehensive, and often required. Skye reached Clint and helped him take of his shirt, to reach the bullet hole.

Skye winced at the sight, but tried to compartmentalise. 'It's a through and through. Shouldn't be to hard to clean up, but you need to stay still,' Skye warned, before taking a clean rag and stated to clean the area around the hole. Working away, Skye glanced at Tasha.

'How are you so calm right now? There's literally a hole in him,' Skye asked, worried.

Tasha looked at her with a smile. Behind it, Skye could still see the worry filter through her expression, but Tasha hid it well. 'Its a clean shot. Barely a scrape.'

'Feels like more than a damn scrape,' Clint interrupted, groaning to punctuate his point. 'We cant all have your pain tolerance.' Skye laughed, relieved to see Clint in good enough shape to be joking around.

Tasha smiled again, before saying, 'I'm not worried. I trust you to look after him.' Skye smiled, and went back to working.

'Do we have anything to steralise the wound?' Skye asked, rummaging in the first aid bag.

'Vodka,' Tasha said, and Skye found a bottle at the bottom of the bag.

'Good idea,' Skye said, before taking a swig, clearing the burn from her throat after.

'Hey, I need you to be able see straight if you're coming anywhere near me with a needle,' Clint grumbled, as Skye rolled her eyes.

Without warning, Skye poured some of the alcohol on Clint's side, and then over the needle she had retrieved, along with thread.

'Okay, this might sting, ' Skye warned, before starting to stitch Clint up.

Clint held in a hiss, and remained quiet, as Skye worked. They sat in near silence as she threaded the hole closed, until she finally asked, 'So, what happened to you guys? I thought the mission was a success, with you coming back early.'

Natasha shrugged. 'Our informant double crossed us. We didn't have time to go in quietly before the guns started blazing. We were going to scope the place out for a day before attacking. Still got the mission objective though. One less trafficking ring in the world.' Tasha smiled in satisfaction, as Skye finished stitching up Clint, wiping away the last traces of blood. Tasha peered over at her work, and was surprised.

'How are you so good at that?' she asked curiously.

Skye shrugged and began wrapping Clint's side with a bandage. 'The nuns at the orphanage were big on the practice of needle point. I guess I picked up a few things. Simmons taught me a bit too, even if I could understand half of what she was saying.'

Tasha nodded, slightly saddened at the mention of the orphanage, but didn't say anything.

'Right, let me just wrap up these cuts, Tasha, and then you guys need to sleep. And I'll know if you don't. Jarvis will be watching.'

Clint let out a little laugh, and mumbles something that sounded a little like, 'I thought we were supposed to be the parents.'

Skye smiled sadly, and set to work on Tasha. Before long, they were both settled in bed, and Skye was in the living area, clearing up the mess she had made.

Now that she had recovered from the shock at seeing Clint and Tasha injured and she knew neither of them were in peril, Skye deflated. All the worries had returned. How was this all going to work? Clint was right, they were supposed to be the parents, but she was an adult. Being friends for now, seemed like a good idea. She just hoped her awkward worry wasn't too palpable.

With a sigh, Skye headed to the elevator. Something told her tomorrow was going to be a long day. She needed all the sleep she could get.

Skye stumbled into the kitchen, to be greeted by several people. Skye just let out a groan and made a beeline for the coffee machine, causing everyone to laugh.

After several gulps of scalding coffee, Skye began to properly notice those around her. Clint sat on the counter, looking much better, whilst Bruce was checking his side. Natasha was hovering near by, desperately trying for nonchalance. Tony and Pepper were sat at the table, Pepper reading the paper, and Tony pestering her for attention, and Steve was doodling in a leather bound notebook. Skye looked at Bruce and asked, 'How is he?'

Bruce smiled, before replying, 'Quite well. You did a good job stitching him up. Couldn't have done it better myself. He'll be on R&R for a couple of weeks, but everything is normal.' Skye nodded, and saw Tasha in the corner of her eye relax a little. Skye grabbed a bowl from a draw, and rummaged in a cupboard, till she pulled out a box of cereal with a triumphant grin.

'Ahhh, Lucky Charms! The breakfast of gays and Superheroes,' Skye exclaimed happily.

Everyone laughed, except Steve, who furrowed his brow in confusion.

'I don't get it. Why homosexuals?'

Skye snorted, 'Oh, Steve. Its the rainbows on the box. Rainbows are sort of the universal colours of gay people.'

Steve looked surprised, and let out an awkward chuckle. 'Oh... And that's.. That's okay now?'

Skye grinned, ' Yeah, its been legal for years, and you can even get same sex marriage in some states now. Some people are still jerks about it, but overall its accepted.'

Steve smiled, 'Well, that's good.'

Skye nodded happily from her food, and continued shovelling it into her mouth, causing a couple of laughs around the room.

Once Skye had stopped to breath, she said to everyone, ' So, I was thinking that I could maybe continue my training, or at least stay active to stay in shape.'

Everyone nodded, except Tasha, who shot her a confused look.

'From what your SO told me, you weren't that into the whole training thing, what changed?'

Skye laughed, 'Oh, sure, the training was hard, and I may have slacked at times, but the only issue I had was Ward waking my up at the ass crack of dawn every morning. I'm not a morning person, but if I'm down in the gym by 8, I'll be fine. I'll have a couple of hours till I will have to start work.'

Tasha nodded, before Pepper asked, 'Who is going to train with you?'

Skye shrugged, 'Well, for the overall fitness stuff, I won't need constant supervision, but otherwise, I don't know. Tony doesn't strike me as a good work out buddy-' 'Hey!' 'and Bruce likes to stay in the labs. Clint is out of action for the next few weeks, so that leaves Tasha and Steve.'

Skye looked at the two in question and raised a brow at them.

'I don't mind, could always use a running partner,' Steve answered with a smile.

Tasha nodded in agreement. 'Same, it could be fun.'

Skye looked between the two of them, before saying, 'Well, one of you could kill me with nothing but a nail file, and the other has super strength and could probably throw me as far as I could throw a football. Either way, I'm gunna get my ass kicked.'

Tony chuckled in agreement, before Skye continued, 'But, I think I would stand more of a chance with Tasha, she's closer to my physique and knows how to use my size to my advantage.'

Steve nodded and Tasha said, 'Okay, I'm going to get my gear, then I'll head down to the Gym on the 18th floor. Meet you in 10?'

Skye exited the elevator onto the 18th floor, was surprised by the size of the gym in front her. Thinking about it, she didn't know why she was surprised, Stark always followed the 'bigger is better' route when it came to interior design.

The room was about the same size as her apartment, but with no walls to separate rooms, it was huge. There was a running track that circled the room, a boxing ring in one corner, a work out station fitted with all sorts of exercise machines and weights in another and in the centre, a matted area that was, Skye assumed, for sparring. It was a far stretch to what she was used too, the little makeshift work out station on the bus paling in comparison. Skye made a mental note to send a photo to Ward, already picturing the look of jealousy on his face. Skye smirked at that thought, before Tasha's voice called her to attention, teasingly.

'You gunna sit there staring all day? Lets warm up.'

Skye walked over to where Tasha was, at the starting point of the running track.

'I thought we would start with a couple of laps, get are hearts pumping before we get down to the hard stuff.' Skye nodded, and they both took off jogging.

Skye set herself up to a pace she knew she could handle for about 15 minutes or so and Tasha settled her pace beside her. They didn't talk as they ran, mostly concentrating on keeping their breathing steady. After about ten minutes, Tasha slowed to a walk, Skye quick to do the same.

As they stopped to stretch, Tasha broke the silence.

'From what I know from Wards technique, he likes to work with his fists.'

Skye nodded. 'Yeah, he would get me to work on a punching bag a lot.'

Tasha laughed. 'Of course he did. No offence to your SO, but he doesn't really understand how our bodies work. We have smaller frames, more flexibility and parts of our body that can be better utilised than our fists. That's not to say that a good punch can solve a bad situation, I just prefer a little more subtlety.'

Skye nodded again. It made sense, Ward's method never really seemed to take when she was learning.

'So, what did you have in mind?'

Skye let out a breath of frustration as, for the 100th time in the past hour, Tasha tweaked her stance. Her limbs ached, not used to the full body work out they were being pushed through. It would have helped if Tasha gave her any sign of her improving, but no. Only the constant changing of her stance, how wide her feet were, how relaxed her knees went. It was annoying her to no end.

'Please tell me I have it right,' Skye grumbled, as Tasha showed her the correct form again.

Tasha just tilted her head to the side, squinting her eyes slightly. 'Mmm, not quite.'

Skye let out another huff in annoyance, and dropped her hands to the side.

'This is hopeless! I cant do this, especially with you silently judging every move I make! At least when Ward taught me, he told me where I was going wrong!'

Tasha looked at her, with an unreadable face. 'And I'm sure when he did, it annoyed you to no end as well. Look, you need to relax. You're so stiff and tense. I told you, its all about flexibility, moving fluidly between movements.'

Skye scowled. 'Well, I wasn't exactly signed up for any gym classes when I was a kid, so I'm not exactly gunna jump into the splits!'

Tasha frowned slightly. 'I'm making you uncomfortable, I get it. You need to put away any emotions you may have towards me, and concentrate on your body.'

'That's kind of hard seeing as I've spent my whole life hating you.' Skye bit out, immediately regretting her words.

Tasha's face flickered with sadness before melding into an unreadable mask.

'Look, I'm sorr-' Skye tried to apologise, before Tasha interrupted her.

'Punch me.'

Skye looked at her like she was crazy. 'What? You want me to hit you?'

'Punch me,' Tasha repeated, her tone flat.

'Tasha, I'm not gonna punch you!'

Tasha sighed. 'This is the only chance you're going to get, so any frustrations need to get out now. Punch. Me.'

Skye looked at her in disbelief.

'Punch m-'

Thwack! Tasha's face barely moved to the side as a fist collided with her cheek. Skye however, felt a sharp pain across her knuckles. Despite that, it did nothing to hinder the slight satisfaction the punch gave Skye.

'Again.'

Skye raised her fists, and sent one into Tasha's stomach. Hard muscles coiled beneath her fist as she barely winded Tasha.

'Again,' Tasha demanded.

Skye threw another one at Tasha's face, leaving a split lip in her wake, and then another to her side.

The flashing pain in her hand was becoming hard to handle, and she slowly lowered her hands.

'Okay.. I think that's enough, Tasha.' Skye took a deep breath, as Tasha nodded.

'Feel better?' Tasha asked, curiosity in her voice.

'Yeah, I think so...' Skye trailed off. 'I thought you preferred subtlety to fists,' Skye joked, relaxing slightly.

Tasha grinned. 'Like I said, sometimes they can handle a bad situation, and subtlety isn't going to let out your anger. Sometimes you just need to hit something.'

Skye laughed, and Tasha let out a small chuckle.

'So, if you relax a little, I'll be a little more vocal in my teaching. Deal?'

'Deal.'

Chapter Text

Skye almost cried in relief when Tasha said they would take a break. They had been going on for 3 hours and Skye was exhausted. She was pretty sure she could feel bruises on her bruises, in places she definitely didn't want to feel them at all. She had all but collapsed on one of the benches and chugged a bottle of water before opening another one, starting to take small sips.

Tasha chucked at Skye before taking a bottle of water for herself. She drank about half, before stopping.

'I'd say we've got another hour till you need to start work,' Tasha mentioned, before Skye groaned.

'I don't think I could throw a single punch right now. I'd probably let an attacker knock me out just so I could sleep.'

Tasha laughed, before tugging off her tank top, so she was just in a sports bra. Grabbing a towel, she wiped her face before doing the same with her arms and stomach, getting rid of any excess sweat.

Skye looked at her, confused.

'Hey, your cuts from yesterday are practically healed over. How is that even possible?' Tasha looked at Skye in surprise.

'Oh, you don't know? Back when I was in the Red Room, they injected us with this stuff like the super soldier serum. It doesn't affect my strength, but is slows the ageing and means I heal quicker.'

Skye looked at her in shock. Tasha had spoken with such nonchalance, as if it was completely normal to be injected with experimental superpower drugs. 'Jesus Tasha, that's... I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse.'

Tasha frowned. 'With what they made me do, I always thought it was a curse, but now, I'm not so sure. With it, I can help people.'

Skye felt the heavy tension in the room and tried to alleviate it before things got too deep.

'Well, I guess it explains why you look more like a sister, you look barely 10 years older than me.' Tasha laughed. '

Yes, well, Clint has taken to calling me his Milf.'

'Oh, ew!' Skye exclaimed before laughing.

Tasha grinned and shrugged her tank top back on, before flicking her towel at Skye.

'Come on, break times over.'

Just as Skye was about to groan again, Jarvis's voice rang out.

'Miss Skye, your presence has been requested on the Helicarrier, Deputy Directer Maria Hill is here to accompany you.' Skye grinned at Tasha.

'Saved by the bell. Jarvis, what did I tell you about calling me Miss?'

'Not to do it. My apologies, Skye. I shall ask Mr Stark to change my settings.'

'Thank you, Jarvis. Could you tell Maria that I'll be up in twenty minutes, I need to shower and change.'

'Certainly, Ma'am.'

'Jarvis,' Skye said, pointedly.

'My apologies, Skye.'

Skye turned back to Tasha, who was staring at her incredulously.

'What? Is there something on my face?' Skye joked.

Tasha just shook her head in belief. 'No, I've just never seen anyone besides Stark try and befriend a computer.'

Skye laughed before shrugging. 'I gotta go, thanks for the session, even if you did almost work me to death.'

'Haha,' Tasha deadpanned. 'But seriously, it was no problem. Again tomorrow?'

Skye nodded with a grin. 'Sure. Well, work awaits. See ya.'

Skye picked up her water bottle and phone, before heading to the elevator. Pressing the button to her floor, she drank whilst she waited for the doors to open. Once she had returned to her apartment, she went to the bathroom.

Quickly taking her clothes off, she stepped into the shower and washed away the sweat and grime from her work out. Once she was feeling fresher, she wrapped herself in a towel, before looking around the bathroom.

'Hey, Jarvis, is there a laundry basket somewhere so I can wash my clothes later?'

'If you look towards your left, there is a laundry chute that will drop your clothes of at the laundry room. Your things will be washed and returned to your room by the time you finish at the Helicarrier.'

'Thanks, Jarvis.' Skye swept up her clothes and dropped them down the laundry chute that Jarvis had indicated before exiting the bathroom, a towel wrapped around her wet hair.

Going to her closet, she chucked on a pair of black, skinny jeans, a navy tank top and a leather bomber jacket along side her favourite converse trainers. Returning to the bathroom, she took of the towel from her head and tied her hair in a loose ponytail. Not bothering with any makeup, Skye looked at her appearance. Happy that she looked okay, Skye picked up her laptop bag and phone before leaving her apartment into the elevator.

'Jarvis, can you take me to where Maria is?'

'Of course, Skye.'

Checking her phone whilst she waited in the elevator, Skye laughed at a picture from Simmons, showing Ward frowning at a computer with the error page up. It was captioned, 'How will we survive without you?'

Skye took a cheesy selfie in response, saying, 'Try turning it off and on again ;).'

Chuckling to herself, the doors opened and Skye stepped out into what she had dubbed the 'command centre.' It was where all business related to the avengers took place and was similar to the one on the bus, only larger.

Around the holotable stood Tony, Steve and Maria. They all looked up when Skye stepped into the room and nodded hello.

'I see Tasha didn't go to hard on you,' Tony grinned, much to Skye's indignation.

'Not hard?! I can barely lift my arms!'

Everyone laughed and Skye looked at what the Holotable with interest.

'Anything I can help with?' Skye asked, not really understanding what she could see.

'Nah,' Steve replied with a shrug. 'Its all just debriefing from a mission we did last week.'

Skye nodded, and Maria turned to her. 'You ready to go?' She asked with a cocked brow.

'Yeah,' Skye answered and they both said goodbye before heading to the helicopter pad.

They were mostly silent on the elevator ride up, but when Maria went to the pilots door, Skye exclaimed, 'Wait, you can fly this thing?'

Maria nodded with a grin.

'Woah, that's awesome.'

'Maybe you'll learn one day,' Maria said, watching as the smile grew on Skye's face.

'Oh my god, can you imagine the look on my teams face if May got injured on a mission and we couldn't fly the bus and I'm all like, "It's okay, guys, I got this. Wheels up in 10.'

Maria laughed, before Skye concluded, 'That would be badass.'

'Definitely. Now get in, you got shotgun.'

Skye nodded and climbed into the helicopter, followed by Maria.

'Hey, in shield, does shotgun mean the same thing it does for normal people, because I feel like you actually could spend a lot of time around real shotguns.'

Maria just laughed and shook her head in disbelief.

'I see you got Barton's snark. I don't know how Shield is going to handle two of you.'

Skye grinned, but remained silent as Maria took off, remembering how May liked quiet when she flew...although that might have just been May in general.

Never the less, the sat in comfortable silence as the helicopter rose through the sky. In fact, it was only once the Helicarrier came into view and Maria had radioed in their decent that Skye spoke.

'So, to what do I owe the honour of being escorted to the carrier by the great Commander Hill?'

There was a slight hint of teasing in her tone and Maria returned it.

'Oh you know, I was in the neighbourhood.'

Skye laughed and shook her head. 'Seriously, I don't want you to waste your time, you have much more important things to be doing, being Deputy Directer and all.'

'Hey, it's no problem. I'm the Avengers handler. I have to stop by every now and then so it's no problem giving you a ride. Speaking of, I'm also technically your handler too now.'

Skye looked at her in disbelief.

'Seriously? What, am I like a sub-clause in the contract?'

Maria smiled wryly. 'Something like that. I'm one of the only people who know who you actually are, it made sense to volunteer.'

Skye just shook her head.

'That is insane. Two months ago, I was living in a van, stealing Starbucks wifi.'

'Yeah, Shield does that to you.'

Skye could only make a noise in agreement. They began their decent into the helipad and Skye watched as Maria expertly landed. Once they were safely landed, they waited for the roof to close in before unbuckling.

'Thanks for the ride,' Skye spoke, as they climbed out of the helicopter.

'No problem. I'll pick you up at 7?'

Skye smiled. 'Sure.'

They made their way through the hallways towards the elevator and Skye watched as Maria arranged herself, slipping into the mask of Commander Hill. It was a shock to see the woman, who had only moments earlier been teasing and joking around, suddenly become hard and commanding. Agents steered clear as she strode down the path and Skye couldn't help but follow in awe at her dominating presence.

Once they had parted ways, Skye shook her head in disbelief. Pushing the thoughts aside, Skye made her way to the Tech floor where she was greeted by her new team and got to work. 

Skye placed her food on her tray and payed for it. It had been an uneventful few hours as Skye had run through multiple projects, tweaking coding and updating security systems. Now, she was stopping for lunch in the cafeteria. Looking around the tables, she saw a few agents from the tech team that Skye remembered being nice. With a shrug to herself, she strode over to them, and took a seat.

'Hey,' Skye greeted with a smile.

Everyone nodded their hello's and included her in their conversation.

'So I went down to the admin department today and guess what, Agent May doesn't work there anymore.'

Skye perked up from her food at the mention of May.

'What? Did she quit?' another agent asked.

'No, here's the kicker, the Calvary's gone back into the field!' the first agent exclaimed.

Before Skye could stop herself, she blurted out, 'Don't call her that.'

Everyone looked at her in surprise and Skye blushed. 'I mean.. May doesn't like people calling her the Calvary...'

They all shot her a confused look, before someone asked, 'You know Agent May?'

Skye nodded. 'Yeah, she was the pilot of the team I consulted for.'

'No way! She's a legend! What kinda stuff were you working on?'

Skye grinned, 'Sorry, that's classified.' Everyone rolled their eyes and Skye chuckled to herself. 'I've always wanted to say that.

The group around the table laughed, before someone huffed, 'Come on, you have to tell us something! You were in the field, on actual missions!'

Skye smiled, 'Yeah, its great and all, but I was terrified half the time. On my first mission, we blew a hole in the side of the plane at 30,000 feet! I thought I was gunna die in the first 24 hours of working with Shield.'

Everyone was giving her awed looks and Skye rambled on, 'I mean, it was still great. There were loads of routine missions, but some of them had some pretty close calls. We were dealing with 0-8-4's and gifted people half the time. I was with them for about a month and a half till...circumstances changed and I was transferred here.'

The awed looks didnt shift, so Skye cleared her throat and nudged the person next to her. 'So, how'd you all end up in Shield? I hear the academy is tough to get into.'

Skye felt her phone vibrate in her pocket just as she was finishing up her work.

Tasha: hey, we're having a movie night when you get back.

Skye laughed to herself. Who knew the avengers were so domestic? Skye quickly replied before packing up her things.

Skye: sounds good. What are we watching?

Tasha: don't know yet, we're picking from Steve's list. He has a lot to catch up on.

Skye grinned to herself before locking her phone. Looking back to her laptop, she weighed her options. With a shrug, Skye hacked her way into shields mainframe. After a minute or two she found Maria Hills schedule. Looking down at the large number of meetings, she winced. Skye pitied Maria's work day, she was a saint for getting through it without maiming someone. Finding the last meeting, she saw that it ended in 15 minutes.

Logging off her computer, she was careful to erase any traces of her snooping, before getting up to grab a coffee from the break room. 15 minutes later, she received a text form Maria herself.

Maria: I'm done for the day, if you want a lift back to the tower.

Skye: Sure, I'm finished too.

Maria: great, meet me on the 5th floor, room 2.

Skye acknowledged the text and grabbed her things, heading for the elevator. 5 minutes later, she was knocking on the door of room 2.

'Come in, it's open,' Marias voice called and Skye opened the door, stepping into the room.

Looking around, she realised that she must be in Maria's living quarters. The main room was like a living room, with a couch and Tv, in the corner of the room was a kitchenette and there was a door to the left. Maria, however, was nowhere to be seen.

'Nice diggs,' Skye called out teasingly, and Maria's voice responded from past the door on the left.

'Yeah, perks of being the Deputy Director. The other rooms are a lot more military style. Give me one sec, I'm just getting changed.'

'Sure,' Skye agreed before settling herself down on the sofa.

Looking around more, she noticed there weren't many photos or personal items. In fact, aside from the furniture, it was pretty bare. Maybe this was just Maria's temporary home, for when she stayed on the helicarrier, Skye mused to herself, although she didn't jump to any conclusions. After all, Skye's belonging all fit in one bag and a cardboard box. Although Skye had a feeling that by the end of her stay, Stark would have changed that, she had noticed he liked to express his feelings with shiny new things.

Just as Skye had chuckled at the thought, remembering the expensive necklace Tony had bought Pepper for whatever reason he had pissed her off, Maria came into the room.

Skye was surprised to see her in jeans and a hoodie.

'Woah, who knew the Commander did Casual,' Skye grinned, causing Maria to roll her eyes.

'Shut up, not everyone can turn up to work in skinny jeans and a leather jacket,' Maria looked pointedly at what Skye was wearing, before continuing. 'Some of us are striving for professionalism.'

Skye laughed, 'Okay, you got me there,' skye brought her hands up in mock surrender. Once again, Maria rolled her eyes at Skye's antics.

'You really did inherited Clints humour, did t you?'

'I'm going to take that as a compliment.' Skye grinned. 'Wanna go?'

Maria and Skye idly chatted as they flew back to the tower. Maria asked how Skye was settling into the tech team, and how their days went, until they were suddenly at the tower.

As Maria touched down on the helipad, Skye asked, 'Hey, we're having a movie night, wanna join?'

Maria frowned, 'I don't know, I should probably get back to the tower.'

Skye rolled her eyes, 'Come on, the carrier isn't going to fall into ruins without you for a few hours! When was the last time you took a night off!'

Maria looked tempted, so Skye went on, 'Please, t's just a few beers and a movie! You need it after the day you've had. What's the worst that could happen?!'

Finally, Maria relented. 'Oh fine! I'll stay. But one thing I've learnt in this business, never ask whats the worst that could happen, especially when beer is involved.'

Skye chuckled and unclipped her seatbelt, before climbing out of the helicopter, Maria following suit. What's the worst that could happen? Skye was going to regret saying those words by the end of the evening.

Chapter Text

Skye and Maria idly chatted as the elevator took them towards the communal living floor. Maria had just made a joke about the annoying junior agents when the doors slid open.

Walking out, Skye looked around for the others, who were nowhere in sight. Skye frowned, before asking curiously, 'Jarvis, where are the others? You said they were on this floor.'

Before Jarvis could answer, there was a loud shout as the Avengers jumped up from behind various pieces of furniture.

'SURPRISE!'

Skye let out a small shriek in surprise, whilst Maria laughed from behind her.

'Wha- what the hell is this?' Skye shouted, amusement colouring her voice.

'It's a surprise party!' Tony exclaimed giddily. From next to Tony, Pepper quickly explained, 'Tony thought we should properly welcome you to the tower. Admittedly, it is one of his better ideas.'

Skye laughed, as Tony let out a 'hey!' in indignation, before looking at Maria with a raised eyebrow. 'You were totally in on this, weren't you.'

Maria gave her a rueful smile, 'Someone had to make sure you didn't get here early.'

Skye shook her head in disbelief, before laughing. 'Okay, let's get this party started!'

The avengers gave a cheer, whilst Pepper and Maria smiled.

'Jarvis, hit the music,' Tony yelled before pulling out an 8 pack of beer from God knows where.

Skye grinned to herself, still in slight shock that this was her life now as she accepted the beer from Tony. 'This is going to be fun.'

Skye laughed as she watched Clint and Tasha throwing bottle caps at each other with deadly accuracy, despite the copious amounts of alcohol they had consumed. Pepper and Maria lounged on one of the couches drinking wine, laughing and discussing work and the ridiculous men who worked under them. Tony and Bruce sat on the other side of the room, loudly discussing what sounded like the science behind teleportation, Tony exclaiming loudly whilst Bruce huffed in amusement. Steve, like Skye was watching everyone, a smile splayed across his face as he watched his team. Skye sidled up to him and grinned.

'Who'd have guessed this is what New York's neighbourhood heroes get up to on their weekends,' Skye joked. Steve chuckled, watching as Cling and Tasha started wrestling and Tony gesturing wildly.

'Yeah, I guess it's a good thing one of us can't get drunk.' Skye snorted, raising her bottle of coke in agreement.

'Not drinking?' Steve asked, curious.

Skye shrugged. 'Nah, been around enough alcoholics in my life to know that two is plenty for me.'

Steve smiled sadly. 'Sorry.'

Skye brushed it of with a smile. 'Ah, don't worry. Things are starting to look up,' she said before her eyes widened.

'Oh god, I can't believe those two are actually adults, let alone parents,' she joked, as she watched Tasha and Clint. They had somehow obtained nerf guns from who knows where and were currently pelting Bruce and Tony with foam bullets. Steve laughed, before nudging Skye gently. She looked at him and grinned as she saw him pulling out another two of his own nerf guns from behind a set of draws. She raised a brow as she accepted the larger gun.

Steve just shrugged, 'This actually happens more than you think. Wanna team up and get them?' He held out a hand, and Skye quickly shook it.

'Okay, you go round and take cover behind the couch, I'll draw their fire.'

'Aye, aye, Captain,' Skye joked with a mock solute before taking cover.

Before they knew it, things had turned into a full blown Nerf War. Tony managed to rope Pepper into it under the guise of 'equal teams', with Clint and Tasha; Skye and Steve; Tony and Bruce; Pepper and Maria as the teams. Jarvis kept score as nerf bullets flew everywhere. Shouts of victory and moans of loss filled the air, along with the chorus of laughter as everyone fought.

At one point, Pepper hit Tony square in the chest, resulting in Tony's dramatic 'death'. It was soon interrupted by a further 3 bullets hitting him from different directions.

After 10 minutes, it was clear Tasha and Clint were sure to win and so they switched it up, with Girls Vs. Boys. Much to Tony's dismay, the girls thrashed them.

It wasn't until Tasha managed to get Clint up the nose (how, no one knew) that Pepper called it all to an end.

'And the final results are, the girls with 107 kills, against the boys 94,' Jarvis announced. Clint and Tony groaned as Bruce and Steve applauded, not surprised by the powerful women in their lives. They all collapsed in a heap on various couches, and Maria sighed, 'God, that sure worked me up an appetite.'

There was a chorus of agreement, and Pepper suggested ordering Pizza.

'And ice cream!' Tasha and Clint simultaneously shouted, much to everyone's amusement.

'There's 8 of us, so... 10 pizzas should be enough. The usual?' Pepper asked, bringing up the order on her phone.

After everyone agreed, Pepper said, 'Well, someone has to go pick them up, they can stop of at the shop to get ice cream too.'

'Not it!' came shouts from everyone in the room, except Skye.

'Huh, guess it's me,' Skye grinned, getting up.

Clint tossed her his wallet as she headed for the elevator.

'Here, Stark hasn't set you up a card,' he shrugged, before lying down on the couch, his head in Tasha's lap.

Skye nodded in thanks, before heading down to the garage.

Skye smiled as she saw the wide selection of cars available. Heading towards a hooks of keys, she picked one at random before clicking the unlock button. 3 cars down, a flashy red convertible's lights blinked twice, whilst the car let out a beep.

'Sweet,' Skye muttered to herself as she saw the Lamborghini logo on the back, before climbing into the front seat. She shifted slightly in the leather, before turning the ignition. The engine roared to life, sending a thrill down Skye's spine.

'If only my van could see me now,' Skye muttered wryly to herself, before hitting the gas.

Skye fist pumped the air as she managed to find a parking spot only a block away from the pizza place. Skye briefly paused at the thought of leaving Stark's car in the middle of New York, but shrugged it off. Knowing Tony, there was bound to be all sorts of defences on the thing; she would hate to see the person who tried to steal from Iron Man. Grabbing the wallet Clint had given her, she left the car, locking the car behind her.

It was a quick walk to the pizza place, and she only had to wait another 5 minutes for their order to be served. The cashier called out into the half empty room, 'Um, order for Mr Stark?' Skye shot up from her seat in one of the booths, and jogged to the counter.

'Right, that's me.'

The cashier, who was really just a teen working part time, looked at her unsurely. 'Can I see your credit card, to validate the order.

Skye nodded and flicked through Clint's wallet, noting his Shield badge and a cute picture of Clint, Tasha, and a woman and two kids she didn't know before she found Clint's Stark card.

She handed it to the cashier, who looked at it quickly before his eyes widened in shock.

'Wait, this is the Tony Stark's order?!' He murmured in shock.

Skye grinned, and answered, 'Yep,' popping the p as she did. 'They said you did the best pizza in the state.'

Inconceivably, the kid's eyes widened even further, before he shook himself. 'Right, well here's your order.' He hefted a stack of ten pizza boxes so tall he disappeared behind them, onto the counter. Skye laughed, before picking them up.

'Thanks,' she called before heading out the shop, also thanking the kind stranger who held open the door for her.

She quickly made her way back to the car, peering over the precarious stack of boxes as she went. She noticed a few people admiring the car as she approached, but they quickly left as she walked up to the car. Wedging the boxes between herself and the car, she fished out the keys from her pocket, and unlocked the door. She quickly deposited the boxes on the passenger seat, before shutting the door and locking it. She looked around and immediately saw the shop Pepper had recommended to get the ice cream.

It was a pretty nondescript place, just the average grocers that had cropped up on every street corner of America. The bell above the door tingled as she entered and after a cursory glance around the shop, Skye headed towards the back of the shop where the refrigerators were. She nodded politely at a small family who passed her and surveyed the options of ice cream.

She knew that they would need a wide selection, everyone favouring different types. For Steve, it was vanilla, along with Pepper. Maria had requested mint, and there were other requests for cookie dough, rocky road and pop rocks. After finally picking out 7 different flavours, all large tub-fulls, she juggled them in her arms and went to the cashier. There was thankfully no queue, and soon enough, their ice cream was bagged and ready to go. Looking towards the door, she saw her way blocked by a group of women, so she went back to go around the aisle.

As she reached the back, she heard the tingle of the doors opening, and suddenly a shout. 'Everyone, get down! This is a robbery!' Skye froze, there was a muffled scream, and a child started to cry.

'Everyone, get to the checkout and on the floor!'

Skye jolted out of her hesitation and crouched, hidden behind a large display of candy. She heard the sound of people shuffling, and soon saw people sit down in the aisle she had just come from.

She saw the terror in their eyes, as the robber demanded the cashier to open the till. She tried to give a reassuring smile to the woman closest to her, who was shaking slightly, but otherwise seemed okay. It came out more like a grimace but she didn't seem to mind.

Putting her finger silently to her lips, Skye quickly looked around the shop. Behind the check out counter, she saw a door, leading to a back room and probably a back exit. Soon, a plan formulated in her mind and she caught the woman's attention.

Her voice a barely audible whisper, she said, 'hey, everything's going to be okay. I'm going to go distract him. When he turns away, I want you to get everyone out, one at a time through that door behind the counter. Can you do that?'

The woman's eyes widened, but she slowly nodded. 'What about you? He has a gun!' she quietly queried.

Skye gave her a smile, with false bravado. 'Don't worry about me, I have... Military training. You need to make sure everyone is absolutely silent.'

The woman nodded again Skye skulked around the aisle to the side that would end up behind the robber. She could hear him ordering people to empty their purses into a bag, and remove their jewellery. She reached the end of the aisle, and peaked around. The man's back was to her and he was waving his gun. Tucking back behind the aisle, she shouted, 'Hey, Asshole!'

Skye heard him spin round, and was glad he didn't shoot a round off in the direction her voice came from. Getting shot sure would put a dampener on her evening.

'Who's there?! I told you to go to the counter!'

Skye slowly walked out with her hands in the air, a wry smirk on her face. He waved the gun in her direction, and it took everything in her to not flinch. Seeing him properly for the first time, Skye realised he was barely a man, most likely 17 or 18. He had a kind face, but it was marred by the anger and desperation that was clearly displayed. Movement behind him briefly caught her attention as the shop customers slowly crept away from them.

'Hey! Get down on the ground, now!' He shouted.

Skye looked at him for a moment, before she stated, her voice unwavering, 'No.'

The simple word seemed to spark fear in his eyes. Her confidence unsettled him. There she was, a seemingly harmless woman, standing unwaveringly as a gun was pointed at her face.

It didn't come as a surprise when his next words, with wild eyes, were, 'Get down. Or I'll sh- shoot you.'

'Hmmm,' Skye pretended to consider the order. 'Nope. I don't think you will.'

He let out a huff of frustration. He was about to reply when there was a noise as a child accidentally knocked something down.

He was starting to turn, when Skye blurted, 'Man, I gotta ask, why are you doing this?' The man stopped turning, and looked at her. 'Wait, let me guess. Ain't no rest for the wicked?'

He looked at her scathingly. 'You think this is a joke?! You don't know anything about me. You wouldn't understand.' There was a flicker of sadness behind his scornful look.

Her voice softened. 'Try me.'

'My- My mothers dying. We either pay the medical bills or we put food on the table. I can't do that to my little sister! I need this money.'

'Be that as it may, this isn't the right way to do it.'

Behind him, Skye saw the woman poke her head around the door to the back room. She shot Skye a thumbs up, and Skye sagged in relief.

'Just... Just give me your money,' the man pleaded, his voice coloured with desperation.

He brought the gun closer to her and Skye struck, no longer having to worry about anyone else getting hurt in collateral. Grabbing his wrist, she ducked under his arm, so her back was against him and twisted his hand so he lost his grip. She plucked the gun from his hand and twisted round again so that she held the gun pointed at him.

His eyes were wide with shock and fear. With a flick of her thumb, she pressed the magazine release, letting the clip drop. It hit the floor with a bang, and they both stood there, breathing heavily.

Neither one moved, Skye waiting for what he would do and him, cautiously watching her every move. Suddenly, off in the distance, a siren wailed, and they both jumped. He made a move to grab her, and Skye pushed him away. Grabbing his arm, she twisted it behind his back, and shoved him face first on the checkout counter.

He struggled in a futile attempt to break loose, and Skye growled, 'Stop struggling. There's no where to go. You're looking at some jail time, but you didn't discharge your gun, so it will round down to a year or two. Now, I can help your family, but you need to co-operate.'

He whimpered slightly, before crying out, 'Why? Why would you help me?'

'Your little sister just lost her brother. I'm not going to let her loose her mother too.'

He sagged against the counter, finally relenting. 'Fine. I'll stop.'

Skye sighed in relief, just as two policemen burst into the shop.

'Freeze!'

Skye quickly stepped away, bringing her hands in the air.

'Officers.' Skye nodded at the men.

'Ma'am, please step away from the suspect.' Skye quickly did as she was told, and they promptly cuffed him, and took him out of the shop to their police cars.

Skye went back to where she dropped the bag of ice cream and grabbed it, before following them outside.

She was just about to sneak away when one of the officers called, 'Ma'am, we need to ask you a few questions.'

Skye quickly brought out Clint's wallet and flashed his Shield badge at them. They didn't know what Shield did, but they knew the badge meant Don't interfere.

'Sorry, boys, but I have to run. I think you'll find all you need on the security footage.'

They grudgingly nodded, and Skye went to leave.

'Look! There she is!'

Skye saw the woman from the shop pointing at her, standing next to a reporter. Skye sighed, and smiled thinly at them.

'She saved us! Put herself in danger to get everyone out.'

Skye shrugged, 'It was nothing, really.'

The reporter looked at her and his eyes widened.

'Wait, I know you! You're that Skye girl! The one who's staying with the Avengers!'

Skye sighed, and muttered 'And that's my queue to leave,' before quickly walking away.

The reporter shouted after her, but she ignored him as she made her way back to the car. She hastily deposited the ice cream in the back seat and started the ignition, before shooting of back to the tower.

'I come bearing Italian delicacies and dairy products!'

'Skye!' Tony shouted with a grin as she entered the room.

Skye laughed, noticing a lot more empty bottles lying around than before she had left, and dumped the food on the table.

'What took you so long?' Tasha asked happily.

Skye shrugged. 'Long queue, I guess.'

Tasha's enquiry was put behind them as there was a mad dash for the pizza, everyone grabbing slices from different pizzas.

A nigh-on collective groan erupted from the room as the first bites were had, and Skye grinned, before taking her own slice.

Before long, everyone was strewn about lazily, munching on pizza as they watched a show on the massive TV that, of course, Tony had. The episode had just ended, and Maria yawned.

'Well. I should probably get back to base. Who knows what latest catastrophe Shield has stuck it's nose in,' she muttered ruefully

There were a few moans and laughs from everyone, and Tony exclaimed, 'Come on, Hill, the party's only getting started!'

Maria raised a brow, and looked pointedly at Bruce, why was huddled in the corner on an armchair, fast asleep.

'Okay, okay. Point taken.'

Maria chucked, and got up, stretching.

'Well, it's been a pleasure,' she grinned, and headed for the elevator.

'Wait, Maria!' Skye called. 'I'm coming with. I think I left my jacket in the helicopter.' Skye quickly jumped up after her and joined Maria in the elevator.

The doors closed, with a round of goodbyes from the others, and they settled into comfortable silence as they rode up to the top floor.

After a moment, Maria joked, 'Well, that wasn't entirely the disaster I thought it would be.'

Skye laughed, as the elevator doors opened and they both stepped out. 'Yeah? What were you expecting?'

Maria chuckled before replying, 'oh, I don't know. Stark getting pissed and stripping? Bruce hulking out? I definitely expected something.'

Skye nodded. 'Yeah, it wasn't so bad. It was sweet of everyone to go to all the effort.'

Maria nudged Skye's shoulder playfully. 'Come on, they really care about you. I know it's only been a week but I really think this could work out.'

'Really?'

Before Maria could reply, a blaring alarm rang through Jarvis' speakers.

Skye looked at Maria with wide eyes.

'What's going on?' Skye asked, scared.

'I have no clue,' Maria answered, before grabbing Skye's hand, and running back to the elevators.

'Jarvis, as fast as you can,' Maria asked impatiently, as they zoomed back to the common room.

The doors sprung open, and they both ran out.

'What's going on?!' Skye shouted above the din of the blaring alarms.

'I don't know!' Tony shouted back as everyone scrambled for weapons, and Tony ran to the closest computer.

'Jarvis, cut the alarms.' Pepper demanded before striding over to look over Tony's shoulder.

'Some ones hacking us,' Tony exclaimed, and Skye ran over.

'Move,' she gently pushed him out the way and started to furiously type, scowling at the screen. After a few moments, Skye exhaled an angry breath.

'Oh, I am going to kill that asshole!'

Skye quickly performed a hack that would temporarily kick everyone and everything out of their server, before tracing the IP address of the person hacking their systems. After a moment, a map came up on the screen, and she quickly memorised the location before storming towards the elevator.

'Skye, what's happening?' Tasha shouted after her.

The question went ignored, as Skye growled, 'Jarvis, take me to the garage.'

'Skye! Who's hacking us?!' Tony exclaimed as she strode into the elevator.

'Miles!' Skye shouted before the doors slid closed.

Everyone looked at each other with trepidation and worry.

'Oh, this is so not good,' Maria finally said, before everyone ran to follow Skye.

Skye pressed down harder on the gas pedal, her anger translating into speed. At the back of her mind, she knew the others were following her, but she was too angry to slow down. She figured Steve was the one driving, considering his alcohol tolerance and the straight laced, by-the-law driving, but it didn't matter. She was too angry.

She saw the run down motel the GPS had lead her to, coming closer and she clenched her fists on the leather wheel. She raced into the car park, squealing to a stop across two parking one of the rooms still has a light on at this time of night and so she heads straight over to that room, not even bothering to lock Stark's car.

She strided over, and she was just about to kick the door down, when it swung open. Miles looked at her in surprise, bag strapped over his shoulder.

'Going somewhere?' Skye snarls, before she pushes him back into the room.

He stumbled back and tripped, falling onto the bed. After a moment, he gained his composure, and smirked.

'Skye.' His voice was so smug that Skye had to repress the urge to punch him. Although, anything he had done right then would have made her want to punch him.

'You couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?' Skye's voice was cold, barely restraining her anger.

'What, you didn't miss me?' he snarked, and Skye had to clench her fists.

She didnt even bother to respond. 'Why did you hack Stark.'

'Because of you. You're the reason I have this damn bracelet on me! I trusted you and you stabbed me in the back!' Miles exclaimed.

'Pot, Kettle, much? How did you even get the bracelet off?'

Before he could reply, there was a crash, as Tasha, Clint, Steve and Tony all tried to burst through the door at once.

It was quite a sight to see the worlds mightiest Heroes in sweats and hoodies. The look, however, was diminished by the several guns they were wielding, a Shield, and the glow of two repulser rays that seemed to be made from a pair of wristwatches, each wrapped around one of his hands. (Huh, Skye thought. That's why Stark wears two watches. She just thought it was him being an eccentric billionaire.)

Miles seemed to agree, as he paled at the sight of them.

Skye smiled sweetly, brimming with insincerity as she turned back to Miles.

'Now, weren't you just telling me how you hacked Stark, and what information you got? I thought so.'

Miles swallowed, before muttering, 'Shield's system is shit. I got some rookie hacker to block the signal.'

'And...' Skye prompted. Miles didn't say anything and Skye sighed.

'Miles, this could go one way or the other. One, you tell us, get taken into Shield custody and we negotiate your release; and two, we see how hard it is to hack with little stumps for fingers. Did you know Natasha's specialty is knives? I've seen her hit a bullseye from 50 feet with her eyes closed.' Tasha grinned behind Skye, pulling out a knife from nowhere and began to twirl it around her fingers.

Mile's eyes widened in horror, 'One! Definitely One.'

'Good choice,' Tony snarked from behind Skye.

Skye gestured for Miles to start talking, impatiently.

'I didn't have much time till you kicked me of the system. All I was able to download was about 5 minutes of security footage.'

Skye grabbed his laptop, and shoved it at him.

'Delete it.'

Instead of opening the laptop, he gave her a scared look. 'It's too late. I already sent it to all the news stations I could find.'

Skye scowled at him, 'Miles. What was in that footage?'

He tapped nervously on the top of the laptop for a moment, before he opened it and after a moment, turned it towards Skye and the others. He hit play, and the familiar view of the Avengers common room appeared on the screen.

Maria raised a brow, before her eyes flicked to where Bruce lay, asleep on an armchair.

'Okay, okay. Point taken.'

Maria chuckled and got up, stretching.

'Well, it's been a pleasure,' she grinned, and headed for the elevator.

'Wait, Maria!' Skye called. 'I'm coming with. I think I left my jacket in the helicopter.'

Skye quickly jumped up after her and joined Maria in the elevator.

The doors closed, with a round of good byes from the others.

'Well, i think this party has been a huge success,' Tony exclaimed, pretending to pat himself on the back.

Everyone laughed, before Clint said, seriously, 'hey, thanks for this. It means a lot to me that you are all making Skye welcome.'

'Are you kidding me? Skye's your kid! Of course she's welcome, you know that.'

'Yeah, we do,' Tasha agreed, 'but Skye needed to know it too.'

'How's she handling everything?' Pepper asked, before continuing. 'She's just found out that her parents, who haven't been in her life for over 20 years, are Hawkeye and The Black Widow, world renowned assassins and superheroes. That's got to be a lot to process.'

Clint snorted, 'Yeah, it's sure is a lot. I think she's still trying to figure out how to act around us, but mostly she's adjusting well. It helps that she has training and work.'

'So you thinks She'll-'

The video cut out then, and the room was filled with silence until...

'Fuck.'

'The press are going to have a field day.'

There was a grim murmur of agreement, before Miles exclaimed, 'Wait, so it's true!?'

Before anyone could say anything, Skye spun around, punching him square in the eye. He sunk down on the mattress, a dead weight after being knocked unconscious.

'God, I really wanted to do that.' Skye admitted. 'Come on, let's get him in the car and we can give him to Shield tomorrow.'

'What's the worst that could happen?' Skye grumbled to herself as she drove back to the Avengers tower at a much slower speed that which she left it.

'God, what a stupid thing to say.'

Chapter Text

Skye woke with a splitting headache, not understanding why till the events of the night before came rushing back to her.

'Ohh, no. Oh, God no,' Skye groaned to herself, before rolling back over to bury her face in her pillow. She reckoned a few more minutes were allowed, given the circumstances.

'Today's gonna be a shitstorm,' she mumbled, her words muffled by the pillow, before drifting back to sleep.

As it turned out, a few more minutes were not allowed, as not 30 seconds later, Jarvis' voice rang around the room.

'Skye, everyone is requesting your presence at breakfast.' If Skye didn't know better, she would have thought she sensed a slight tone of pity in his voice... Actually, knowing Tony, he probably programmed Jarvis to do that.

Skye rolled back over, throwing an arm over her face. 'Just a few minutes longer.'

'I must insist, Skye. Mrs Romanov tells me that it is important...and that if you do not come, they will all be coming to you.'

Skye groaned again, before slowly sitting up. 'Okay, I'm coming. Tell them I'll be down in ten minutes.'

'Certainly.'

Skye sighed and rubbed her eyes before pulling herself out of bed. She trudged her way to the bathroom, went to the toilet, then stared in the mirror at herself. She saw Skye, an anonymous hacker that lived in a van, but she wasn't her any more. No, she was Skye, daughter of Hawkeye and the Black Widow, living in Stark Tower and now- Now, a face plastered all over the media. Oh, how the times had changed.

Deciding not to put it off any longer, Skye went back to the room and out of her apartment, not bothering to change out of her pyjamas. She made her way to the elevator and let Jarvis take her to the communal Kitchen/dining area. The doors dinged and slid open. Skye walked in, not looking anyone in the eye as she headed towards the kitchen. In her avoidance, she didn't notice everyone pause what they were doing to watch her.

'Skye-' Clint began before Skye cut him off with a shake of her head.

'Coffee first.'

Clint shut his mouth and let Skye grab a mug before filling it to the brim with coffee. Usually, she took it with sugar and creamer, but it was one of those days where only black would do the trick. She took a sip, grimacing at the heat, before moving to join everyone at the table. Skye quickly busied herself with blowing on her drink and taking sips, refusing to look up at everyone.

They all watched her for a moment, before Tony cleared his throat and resumed eating his eggs. Everyone seemed to busy themselves then, Bruce to his book and tea, Steve to doodling in a notebook and taking a bite every once in a while, Pepper was reading her newspaper with interest. Clint and Tasha were muttering rapidly to each other, shooting furtive glances at Skye. They remained like this for a few minutes, as Skye slowly drank her coffee and began to fully wake up. Finally, Skye drained the last few dregs and placed the cup down on the table with an audible thump. Everyone immediately set their eyes on Skye, who in response let out a sigh.

'Alright, lets get this over with. How bad is it?'

'Well, everyone now knows. It hit the internet early in the night, and the papers had a front cover spread on pretty much every newspaper in the city. It also was shown on many news outlets nationally, and some internationally,' Pepper explained, with sympathy. Almost as an afterthought, she added, 'You're also trending on twitter.'

Skye sucked in a breath, and motioned to the paper that Pepper was holding. 'What are they saying exactly?'

Pepper handed the paper to her and began reading. About half way through, she tensed.

Sensing her discomfort, Tasha spoke. 'It seems that Miles didn't just send the footage to the media, he also divulged a lot of...personal information about your childhood and growing up in the system.'

Skye clenched her hands around the edges of the paper. 'I- I told him that in confidence. He had no right!'

'Skye.. Why didn't you tell us it was that bad?' Clint asked, his voice soft with sadness.

'It's in the past, I got over it, I made it out.' Skye spoke through gritted teeth. 'You were already blaming yourself over leaving me, what good would it do to tell you I was abused and raped by my foster families?' Her voice cracked at the end as she sounded out the harsh truth, much to Skye's annoyance at showing a weakness. She saw everyone throwing her pitying looks and was flattered by Bruce clenching his fists, jaw tense in anger at what had happened to her. Quickly changing the subject, she asked, 'What's going to happen to Miles?'

Clint sighed at Skye's attempt to brush off the nightmare she went through, and gestured to Tony to explain.

'I dropped him off at the police station last night. He's being charged with multiple counts of credit card fraud, along with the charges he'll face for hacking into government organisations and releasing confidential information. He's looking at 20 years time minimum. It could be more depending on the damage the released files caused. We know at least 2 Shield agents have died from their covers being blown and that's just Shield.' Tony couldn't help sounding a little smug at listing his punishment.

Skye mirrored the sentiment. 'Good. Let the asshole rot.'

Steve gave her a little frown at her words, but didn't voice his discomfort at her words, instead, he added, 'Fury called us all in for a debrief. He sounded... Well, furious.' He gave her a small, apologetic smile, and Skye only nodded.

'Okay, it's not so bad. Everything will be fine.' She couldn't help but worry that Fury would move her again. It was too soon. She hadn't had enough time to build a relationship with her parents. Maybe it was her fault for being too distant, but it was still too soon. 'I'll go get changed and then we can go to the Helicarrier.'

Skye went to stand up, but was stopped by Tasha's voice.

'Wait, Skye. That's not everything.' Her voice was flat, the same one she heard from Coulson when she did something stupid. Tasha slid a tablet over to her and Skye saw an online media page. She quickly read the headline and froze.

'Oh... I was going to tell you... I just forgot after everything with Miles,' Skye awkwardly tried to excuse herself. The article in question was describing the events at the grocery shop yesterday.

'Skye, what were you thinking?! Taking on a random man with a gun! You could have gotten hurt,' Tasha began to reprimand.

'But I didn't! Look, I couldn't just do nothing. What's the point of training to fight and defend myself if I don't use it to help people. There were children in that store. I wasn't going to just let innocent people get hurt,' Skye defended herself.

'Skye, we're just worried about you. That was incredibly dangerous,' Clint tried to reason.

'And I had it handled! No one got hurt and everything was resolved, I don't see what the problem is!'

'The problem is you could have died!' Tasha all but shouted with frustration. 'We're teaching you to defend yourself for your protection, not to run head first into danger! If you think I'm going to let you just-'

Skye's eyes narrowed at her words. 'Excuse me, you're not going to let me?' Skye's words her cold and hard. 'I don't need you to let me do anything. I survived more than you know, without you, for twenty three years. Just because you're in my life now does not mean you get to tell me how to live it. I'm not a child who needs her mommy to look after her.'

Everyone shifted awkwardly where they sat as Skye and Tasha stared each other down with dark eyes. No one spoke as they waited for someone to do something. Finally, Skye scraped back her chair and stormed out of the room, throwing back, 'I'll be ready to leave in an hour,' over her shoulder as she left.

Eyes turned to Tasha, who said nothing as clenched her fists in anger. After a moment, she sighed, 'Well, what are you doing just sitting there? We have a meeting with Fury to get to.' She swept out of the room in much the same fashion as her daughter had done moments ago, leaving everyone sitting there confused and wondering what the hell had just happened.

Skye fiddled with the bracelet around her wrist nervously as she strode down the Helicarrier's halls amongst the Avengers.

'Is it me or are people definitely staring?' Skye muttered, to herself more than to anyone else. Steve chuckled next to her.

'You get used to it after a while. For a spy organisation, they're really not used to surprises like you,' Steve quietly replied.

'Well they better get used to it. I can feel their eyes on my skin. It's creepy.' Steve's only reply was to chuckle again.

They made their way swiftly to Fury's office, where the receptionist quickly let them in.

Fury sat behind his desk, watching them with an passive look.

Once everyone was in, he stood.

'Five days. Five god damn days! You didn't even last a week before everyone found out! What the hell happened?'

Skye winced at Fury's tone and wasn't the only one who shifted uncomfortably where they sat.

'Well, it wasn't really our fault,' Clint tried to reason, but was silenced with a glare.

'What happened?' Fury repeated.

Tasha quickly explained the situation. As much as Skye was annoyed with her, she had to grudgingly admit that it was impressive when Tasha didn't cower under Fury's gaze.

'This is a real fuck up,' Fury sighed before sinking in his chair and rubbing his face in annoyance. 'What are you planning on doing?'

Clint and Tasha shared a look, before Clint spoke up. 'well, I think we all know that the danger on Skye has increased now its known who she is. Me and Tasha think it would be best if we spent the next few months focusing on Skye's training, so she can defend herself.'

Fury nodded, ' I agree. That is now a priority. However, without Shields protection, I fear it wont be enough. I propose that after 6 months, Skye undergoes Agent Evaluations and becomes an agent. Then she will be under our jurisdiction and will have legal protection.'

Tasha made a noise in agreement. 'That's good. But it's not happening unless you promise you wont turn her into an assassin like us. We never wanted that for her.'

Skye let out a frustrated huff.

'Something to add, Skye?' Fury asked, with mirth.

'Are we going to keep talking about me like I'm not here? I can speak for myself.'

Fury gestured with his hand. 'Please, by all means...'

'Oh! Well, umm... I agree, I need to be able to protect myself, and I'm happy to become an agent and not an assassin... But I don't want to just ride a desk. I want to be a field agent. Like Coulson.'

'This is...doable. But it will increase the risk.' Fury answered diplomatically, sensing Tasha's discomfort at the idea.

'Life's not worth living if you don't take risks. I can do it. I want to help people.'

Fury sighed. 'Fine.' Tasha moved to protest, but was stopped by a raised hand from Fury.

'Tony, what's the situation with the towers security?'

'I've upgraded the firewalls and the encryptions on everything. It should be secure, but I think I'll have Skye look over it too,' Tony shot a questioning look to Skye and she nodded in acceptance.

'Good. You'll be expected to give a press release, contain the rumours. Standard protocol in regards to Shields involvement but otherwise you are free to give as much information as you wish.' This last statement was directed at Skye and she was grateful. Underneath all Fury's leather and domineering persona, there was a man who cared about his people, and for that Skye was glad. He was the kind of man who should be in charge, she could see where Coulson got it from.

'I expect reports on Skye's progress, and after six months we will decide whether to proceed to the Agent Evaluations.' Fury nodded, making it clear that he was finished.

'Well, get the hell out of my office.'

Skye sat in the corner of helicopter making its way back to the Avenger Tower, thinking, evaluating her time at the tower so far and what was to come. She now had a more clear time frame of how long to expect to be staying, six months of rigorous training from Tasha and Clint, and most likely Steve when he had the chance. To say she was dreading it was an understatement. She thought the past few days' training was hard but it was only going to get harder. Despite this, Skye also was excited to get started. She was going to become an Agent. Something that she had imagined, if only fancifully, for the past month since joining the bus.

It would also mean spending a lot more time with her parents. Clint's weaponry skills were parallel to none, part of her hoping he might teach her archery, and Tasha was downright scary at hand-to-hand combat. The thought of spending time with her parents sent a flutter of conflicting feelings to her gut. On one hand, she wanted to know them better, but on the other hand, Tasha had already displayed how overprotective she was, and she wasn't ready to live with that constant shadow over her shoulder. She didn't know how to do this. How was she supposed to know how to deal with this side of family when she had never had one to begin with. It was sure to be a learning experience for everyone. It was nice to know Tasha cared but did she have to do it in such an obstinate way? It just made her madly frustrated.

Skye was interrupted from her tangled thoughts by the approach of Clint, who hovered by her side.

'Hey, Kiddo. Can I sit?'

'Sure,' Skye acquiesced, gesturing to the seat beside her. Clint settled in the seat and gave her a smile.

'How you doing?' he asked, 'with everything that's going on?'

Skye shrugged. 'I don't know really. I'm feeling a lot of different things. Mostly dreading the pain the next few months are going to be. I have a feeling no one is going to go easy on me.'

Clint snorted, 'Yeah, don't count on it. Really, you'll thank us when its over. It could save your life one day.'

Skye hummed in agreement. 'You know, when I was a kid, pretty much everyone dreamed of growing up and becoming a spy. Now its actually happening and I don't know how to feel. It definitely wont be like I imagined back then. It was always about... I don't know, being important. Saving lives, being a hero, making an impact on the world. But now I know that its all secrets and confidential paper work. Kinda looses the whole glamour of the job. Still something I have to do, though. It just feels...right. Like its in my blood, a legacy. I suppose it is, what with you two being who you are. But its more than that. In a way, I think I've wanted this since I stepped onto that plane with a black bag over my head. Shields always felt like home, like I have family here. '

Clint let the words sink in, thinking about what she said. After a moment, he spoke.

'I think you'll make a great agent one day. And not because we're your parents, or because you'll become a great fighter. It's because of who you are. You care so deeply about helping people, its not about the glory. You are what every agent should aspire to be. I saw it in Coulson, and I see it in you.

Skye smiled, and remained silent, glad you just spend the moment with Clint. It was like he was the opposite to Tasha. With her, they were constantly on edge, tension between them whilst there might not be anger, but with Clint, she just felt... at home.

Just as they began their decent to the tower, Skye piped up, 'Hey, I've been meaning to ask you. Who's the woman and the two kids in the picture in your wallet with you and Tasha?'

Clint smiled, pulling out his wallet and opening it to show the picture. 'That's Laura. The kids are Cooper and Lila. Laura's my sister in law. She married my brother, Barney.'

Skye's eyes widened, 'I... I have an aunt and uncle? And cousins?'

Clint smiled, 'Yep. Laura's the best, put up with my deadbeat brother. He's...not in the picture now. He lost his job a few years back, started drinking. I found out last year that he-' Clint clenched his fists at the memory. 'He was hitting her. Laura, bless her, Laura stayed strong for the kids, but when I found out-God, I nearly killed him. I did scare him off though, moved them and helped them start a new life. Barney may be blood but Laura and the kids are my family.'

Skye squeezed his hand, 'She sounds great. I'd like to meet them sometime.'

Clint smiled, 'I'm sure we can arrange that. Come on, we're landing. Let go.'

Skye watched from the door as Tasha wailed on the punching bag, it swaying from the force of the flurry of blows she was sending in. Skye almost thought she would send it flying. After a moment, Skye cleared her throat. Tasha stilled, wresting her fists against the bag, head against her fists as she caught her breath.

'Skye,' Tasha acknowledged.

'Mind if I join you?' Skye asked tentatively.

Tasha picked her head up and nodded. Upon that cue, Skye went and wrapped her hands like Ward taught her and reached the bag next to Tasha's. She soon found herself a rhythm, and Tasha resumed her attack on her bag, although at a slightly less intense rate. They worked for a few minutes, the only noises being the sound of their fists hitting the bags and the occasional grunt. The silence, however, was broken by Skye.

'Clint told me about Laura. And Barney. About being blood but Laura being his real family.'

Tasha seemed to tense at her words, and Skye cringed at what it seemed like she was implying.

'And I get that, family is what you make it... But I don't want to end up like Barney and Clint. You're my mother; you're something I've dreamed about having my whole life. I just... I just don't know how to be around you.' Skye admitted, before contemplating, 'Maybe it would be easier if I was younger, but it is what it is.'

Tasha had stopped punching now and turned towards Skye.

'I want to have a relationship with you, Tasha. I know it seems like I keep pushing you away, but I just don't know how to act around you. I'm not used to people caring about what I do, so when you became over protective of me... I lashed out. I'm sorry. Every time someone in my life cared about me, it went wrong, or they didn't really care or... Its just taking some time to adjust, but I do want this.'

Tasha watched at Skye as she finished her speech, before silently pulling her into a crushing hug. Skye tensed, before relaxing into the embrace. They stood like that, holding each other until finally Tasha pulled away and Skye saw silent tears roll down her face.

'I... I don't know how to do this, either. I thought I was protecting you when I gave you away, but it just fucked up, and that's on me. You've already gone through so much and I just want to protect you. I want you to be happy. I barely know you but I care about you so much and I don't know what to do with it.'

Tasha paused to think over her words, weighing each one before giving it. 'When I was younger, the Red Room taught me that Love is for children. That it is a weakness. Clint taught me that it was a lie. Love makes you strong. It's why I want to protect you so much... It's my way of saying I love you because I don't know any other way how.'

Skye looked at Tasha in surprise at her words, eyes brimming with tears. 'I... I don't think I can say it yet, but I care about you and Clint too. I think I can handle you wanting to protect me, but you need to trust that I can also take care of myself and make my own decisions. When I need help, I will go to you.'

Tasha nodded vehemently. 'I think I can handle that too.'

Skye sighed in relief and hugged Tasha again. 'I found out that I have cousins today; there's so much I don't know about you two. Can we have dinner, just you, Clint and me, and talk, maybe?'

'Absolutely. Nothing sounds better.'