Chapter Text
When the doorbell rings, Lian May turns away from the eggs she is scrambling with a puzzled look. “Who could be stopping by so early?”
Skye looks up from her copy of Jane Eyre, which she is trying to finish before her tutoring session with Jemma. “Beats me. I’ll go see who it is.”
She is expecting to see Jemma or maybe Mack or Trip, but the person at the door is a young woman with red hair that she has never seen before.
She gives Skye a confused look. Before Skye can even ask who she is, she says, “Melinda doesn’t have a little sister.”
“I’m not her sister. I’m a foster kid. Are you friends with Melinda?”
“Yeah. Is she here?”
“She’s in her room.” The woman pushes past her and runs up the stairs, so Skye decides she can rule out a vampire. Melinda is more than capable of protecting herself, but just in case Skye follows the stranger upstairs. “You probably don’t want to go in there. She’s still in bed.”
“So? Melinda and I were like sisters. We slept over at each other’s houses all the time.” She knocks, then opens the door without waiting for a response.
Melinda is still in bed, but she is not asleep. She is straddling a naked Phil, his hands gripping her ass. As soon as the door opens, she rolls off of him, and they both scramble to cover themselves. Melinda looks shocked to see the young woman. “Tasha? What are you doing here?”
Tasha smirks at them. “You two are still joined at the hip, huh? Some things never change.” She turns to Skye, who is staring at them awkwardly. “Come on, let’s go downstairs and wait for them to get dressed.”
When Phil and Melinda come downstairs, Tasha and Skye are sitting at the kitchen table eating eggs. “So Melinda, you finally caught Phil, huh?” Tasha says sweetly. Phil turns red.
“I thought they’ve been together since, like, kindergarten,” Skye says.
“Well yeah, they hung out together all the time, but when I left town they hadn’t even had their first kiss. Melinda used to worry about it all the time.”
Phil gives Melinda a small smile, and she glares at Tasha. “That’s enough.”
Tasha smiles angelically up at her. “Want some eggs? Your mom had to run to work, but there’s more next to the stove. She said if it was cold, it was your fault for sleeping in.” Tasha put the last two words in air quotes.
“Did she use the air quotes too?”
“It was implied in her voice.”
Melinda rolls her eyes and takes a plate of eggs and toast that Phil hands her, as well as a cup of tea, and joins Skye and Tasha at the table. “It’s great to see you, Tasha, but I wish you would’ve called first.”
“I wanted to surprise you. I had some time off this summer, so I thought I’d check out Sunnydale and see what you guys were up to.”
“Are you still dancing?” Melinda asks as she digs into her eggs. “The last time we talked you had just started ballet school up in LA.”
“Not anymore. I got kicked out for fighting with the other dancers.”
Skye looks impressed. “So what are you doing now?”
She shrugs. “Working. Hanging out.” She turns back to Melinda. “Seriously, give me the details. What have you guys been up to?”
“I work as a waitress at the diner. I was going to UC Sunnydale, but I dropped out.”
“So does that mean you live here full-time?”
Melinda nods.
“And what about you?” Tasha asks Phil.
“I go to UC Sunnydale and work in the library. I have an apartment near campus.”
“Mmm. And how long has this been going on?” She raises her eyebrows suggestively.
Melinda and Phil exchange a look. “We started dating in ninth grade, but we broke up about a year ago, and we just got back together last month,” he says.
“And your mom is already letting you spend the night together in her room?”
“Well, before we broke up we were living together,” he says.
Melinda shrugs. “I’m an adult.”
“When we were kids,” Tasha tells Skye, “Phil was so jealous that I could spend the night and he couldn’t. He used to show up on Sunday morning after he got out of church to eat breakfast with us.”
This time it is Phil’s turn to look embarrassed. Melinda rolls her eyes and says, “You don’t need to tell her everything about us.”
“Yes she does,” Skye says. “What other embarrassing Phil and Melinda stories do you have?”
Melinda glares at Tasha, and she smirks and says, “I’ll tell you later. But haven’t you gotten enough of these stories from Melinda’s mom?”
Skye grins. “She doesn’t really talk about the past. I don’t think she likes Phil. She always gives him this death glare when he comes over.”
Melinda rolls her eyes and stands up. “She’s exaggerating. Anyway, sorry to eat and run, but I have to get to work and so does Phil. Do you want to walk with me over to the diner?”
Tasha gets up too and shakes her head. “Nah, I have to be somewhere. I’ll catch you guys later.”
“What about tonight? Want to come over for dinner?” Melinda asks.
“Can’t. I have some people I need to meet up with. Maybe tomorrow afternoon?”
Melinda nods. “Call me.”
“Cool. Maybe we can swing by the old ballet studio and then go to the mall like the old days.”
Melinda smiles. “It’s a date.”
*****
After breakfast, Melinda and Phil go to work, and Skye heads to Sunnydale High to meet Jemma. Between starting the school year late and her frequent absences for slaying and slaying-related injuries, she had finished the year with incompletes in many of her classes. The principal had threatened to fail her, but Ms. May had talked her teachers into letting her make up the assignments and exams over the summer. Studying with Jemma is not Skye’s idea of a fun summer, but it beats having to repeat her freshman year.
When she gets to the library, Jemma is already there, laying out the material that she has planned to cover for the day.
“Hello Skye!” she says brightly. “I thought we could start by discussing Jane Eyre and outlining your essay, and then after lunch we can focus on chemistry.”
“Okay.” Skye notices that Jemma’s bright smile never quite reaches her eyes, which look tired and worried. “How’s Fitz? Have you seen him lately?”
Jemma’s smile wavers. “I went by his house this morning, but his mother said that he was still resting. His physical therapy tires him out.”
“That’s good though, right? It means he’s getting stronger.”
“I suppose. I haven’t seen him in a while. I think he’s avoiding me,” she admits.
“I’m sure he’s not avoiding you. He’s just busy.”
Jemma shakes her head sadly. “His mom asked Mack to help him get to physical therapy. I tried to help him the first time, and it was awful. Fitz nearly fell out of the car when I was helping him into his wheelchair, and he could barely say two words to me. He was just so frustrated and angry.”
“He’s not angry at you, Jemma. What he’s going through is tough, but he’ll get better. That’s what the therapy is for, right?”
Jemma presses her lips together. “His mom thinks that being around me makes him worse.”
“She did not say that,” Skye insists.
“Well it was implied,” Jemma says sharply. She takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry Skye, but I really don’t want to talk about this anymore. There’s nothing I can do for Fitz. We’re here to make sure that you don’t have to repeat freshman year.”
“Okay. And I really appreciate what you’re doing for me, but is there any way we can put off chemistry until tomorrow? Phil wanted me to come by and practice with some swords that he just got.”
“But this is important, Skye. We have only a few more weeks to prepare for the final exam.”
“I know, but Phil says I need to work on my weapons training. He’s been really worried ever since we defeated Garrett and Ward. He doesn’t want something like that to happen again.”
“Nothing’s happened all summer. He’s worrying about things that aren’t even real. Whereas your upcoming exams are a very real and immediate threat.”
Skye sighs. She can see that Jemma is not going to lighten up. “Okay. Chemistry first, swords second.”
“Besides, sword-fighting and martial arts aren’t the only ways to fight evil. If you master inorganic chemistry, you could create quite a number of explosives that I’m sure would be quite effective against demons and vampires.”
“And by chemistry do you mean the magics?” Skye wiggles her fingers, and Jemma blushes.
“I haven’t been doing much magic -- yet. I’ve just been reading about it. It’s really quite fascinating, and I know that if I can understand it better, I can get these spells right for a change.”
“Hey,” Skye says placing her hand reassuringly on Jemma’s arm. “What happened to Fitz isn’t your fault.”
Jemma looks down. “But if the glamour had worked --”
“Then you still would have been in a Hydra lair without any way of defending yourself. You shouldn’t blame yourself. Melinda or I should have been there with you guys.”
Jemma sounds determined. “I don’t want to have to always be protected. I’ve read about powerful spells that I could use to help you fight.”
Skye shakes her head. “Magic is dangerous. Look at what happened when Melinda tried to protect Phil with magic.”
“Yeah, she saved his life,” Jemma muttered.
Skye sighs. She is tired of having the same arguments over and over again. “Let’s just talk about Jane Eyre.”
“So you've finished it?”
“Well no,” Skye admits, “but Melinda told me about it while we were patrolling.” Jemma gives her a disapproving look, and Skye says, “I meant to finish it this morning, but an old friend of Melinda’s came over, Tasha Romanoff. She moved to LA when they were thirteen, but before that they were best friends.”
“How cute. I can’t imagine a thirteen-year-old Melinda.” She giggles. “Were she and Phil already dating back then? Did they hold hands and stare at each other all the time?”
“Apparently there was a lot of staring but no hand holding. Anyway, she said she’s going to be in town for a while. Maybe we could all go out sometime.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“Sounds like something normal. Which would be a nice change of pace around here.”
“We have normal fun sometimes. Like that time we had a movie marathon at my house, and the time we went to the school dance --” Her voice trails off as she remembers that the highlight of the dance had been Ward’s unexpected appearance.
Skye flinches. What at the time had seemed romantic is now tainted by everything that came after. Jemma looks at her like she expects Skye to say something about Ward, but he is the last thing she wants to talk about or even think about right now. An awkward silence settles between them. Finally Skye says, “I’ll talk to Melinda and Tasha the next time I see them about hanging out sometime. We could all use a night out.”
*****
But three days pass with no sign of Tasha. She does not come by the house or the diner, and every call to her cell phone goes straight to voicemail.
“Is she normally this hard to get ahold of?” Skye asks Melinda.
Melinda frowns. “Yeah. I actually hadn’t heard from her in years before she showed up the other day. I wish I knew where she was staying so I could make sure she’s okay.”
“We can look for her tonight when we’re patrolling.”
That night they sweep through the entire town, from the graveyard all the way to the motel on the edge of town, but there is no unusual activity.
“Looks pretty quiet,” Skye says. ”Maybe we should just head home.”
“It’s been too quiet all summer,” Melinda says. Since Raina’s warning about the end of the slayer line, she and Phil have been on high alert, but they still do not have the faintest idea what she was talking about.
She shrugs. “There’s nothing here.”
“Lets make one more sweep of the cemetery and then head home.”
“Okay. I still have some chemistry homework to do before tomorrow. If I show up without my homework, Jemma’s going to give me her angry-disappointed look again.”
“How is studying with Jemma?”
“It’s okay. She’s tough, but I think I’m going to pass everything thanks to her.”
“Phil mentioned that she hasn’t come by to help him research in a while.”
Skye hesitates, as if she is weighing what to say next. “I, uh, think she’s doing some stuff on her own.”
“Research stuff or magic stuff?” Melinda asks. Skye does not say anything, and Melinda frowns. “She shouldn’t do magic on her own. It’s too dangerous.”
“I don’t think she’s doing anything big,” she adds quickly. “Just reading about it. Honestly, I think the main reason she hasn’t been by the library lately is that she’s spending most of her time worrying about Fitz.”
“How is he?”
“Getting better, but slowly. You know Jemma said something the other day --”
Melinda gestures for her to be quiet. They have reached the cemetery, and there are some fresh demon tracks leading towards a crypt. Skye pulls a short axe from her belt and falls into step behind Melinda. Silently, they approach the crypt, but before they can enter it, a huge demon covered with scales bursts out the door. It thrashes around tugging at something wrapped around its neck. It takes a second for Melinda and Skye to realize that it is a person, and another second to realize that it is Tasha. Her arms are wrapped around its neck, and she is chopping away at its scaly flesh with a large dagger.
“Get out of here!” Tasha shouts from her perch on top of the demon. Her knife is not able to penetrate the demon’s scales, and she lets it fall to the ground while she tightens her grip to choke the life out of it. However, the demon is thrashing around enough that she loses her grip and is tossed into a bush.
Skye runs towards the demon, aiming her axe at a sensitive spot devoid of scales just behind the demon’s knee, and it stumbles and falls to the ground. Melinda delivers several swift kicks to its head to disorient it before grabbing it by the chin to expose a bare ring of flesh around its neck that Skye drives the axe into.
Melinda tosses the demon’s head onto the ground and whirls around to face Tasha, who is picking herself up out of the bushes. For a moment they just stare at each other in stunned silence.
Finally Tasha breaks it. “What the hell? Are you the slayer?”
Melinda’s eyes narrow. “How do you know about that? And what are you doing here?”
“Fighting demons, same as you apparently. I’m a potential slayer.” She nods towards Skye. “Is she a potential too? Is that why she’s staying with you?”
“Actually I am a slayer,” Skye says.
Tasha gives both of them a quizzical look.
“I died,” Melinda says, “for a few minutes. But then I came back. Now there are two of us.”
“Well, that’s convenient. I always thought being the Chosen One seemed like a lot for one person.” The smirk fades away. “So how long have you known?” she asks quietly.
“I was chosen when I was fifteen,” Melinda says. “I started training with a watcher when I was twelve.”
Tasha shakes her head sadly. “That’s why you quit ballet. I knew there was something going on with you, but you wouldn’t tell me.”
“I couldn’t. I couldn’t tell anyone.”
Tasha raises her eyebrows at Melinda. “Does Phil know?”
Melinda looks down briefly. “He does. He followed me one night when I was on patrol. He started training with my watcher, and now he’s acting as our watcher.”
Tasha rolls her eyes. “Why am I not surprised? Well, we better find him. I’m not in town just to reminisce about old times. My watcher sent me here to warn you about something evil that’s coming after the slayer line.”