Chapter Text
Coulson looked at his girls with a smile as he entered the room. Skye was sat on the bed next to Bobbi, reading the older girl one of her favourite books to try cheer her up. He could see the tear tracks down Bobbi's face and the way her thumb was stuffed in her mouth properly rather than hesitantly. He walked up to them and got a big smile from Skye, yet a small watery one from Bobbi. He didn't have much time to think as his youngest launched herself at him for a hug, carefully picking her up a moment before placing her back on the bed as he sat down.
"Sissy had a boo boo" Skye nodded as Phil's eyes looked over Bobbi. The blonde seemed to turn shy at this and looked down, she was scared that the director could tell her no more field missions ever or even ask her to leave altogether. He gently nudged her, getting her to look up at him.
"Baby, remember what we said. What happens here is between Daddy and his little girls, it doesn't affect the Director and his Agents"
Tears dropped down Bobbi's cheeks and he moved to tenderly wipe them from her face.
The girl had taken a moment to try calm down when Melinda walked in and she was back to hiding. Coulson gave a gentle sigh, his eyes meeting Melinda's as he took to gently stroking her blonde hair, whispering soothing phrases.
"I oversaw Bobbi's physical therapy today, she pushed herself too hard and left in a panic" Melinda explained, sitting down she let Skye nuzzle up to her and put her arms around her though her focus was still on Bobbi. The blonde let out a strangled cry and was breathing heavily, Phil gently encouraged her to calm down until she could breathe properly again.
"I just don't want to be a disappointment" She said quietly, it was slightly muffled around her thumb which was firmly back in her mouth now with getting upset.
"You're not, okay? You never could be that baby, but you have to learn sometimes there's limitations and your recovery will take time" Melinda told her, looking down to the girls injured knee tightly cast in bandages for permission before very gently rubbing her hand over it, hoping to soothe the pain a bit.
"I think my girls could do with some time out, a treat" Coulson announced, smiling at the way Skye perked up though Bobbi still seemed wary like she didn't deserve anything.
"I think Bobbi could do with some nice new things, her own plates and cups and some new clothes"
He was trying to make her smile, though they were actually going to get that stuff. Eventually he turned to Melinda "How about I'll get Skye ready to go and you can help Bobbi in whatever way she needs?" He figured whilst this was still fairly new and they were gaining her trust it was best to have Melinda with Bobbi. After all, she also knew what had happened today so was more likely to be able to calm her.
He scooped up Skye and carried her into the bathroom to get her changed and into some clean clothes. Bobbi was still curled up on the bed, thumb in her mouth. Melinda moved over and gently tapped her thumb to move it out.
"We'll get you a couple of pacis" She told the girl, stroking her hair out of her face "He told you about the rules, and to say if anything is uncomfortable didn't he?"
Bobbi nodded, she really did appreciate that they were both so kind and patient with her.
"Good. You can change yourself, yeah?" She asked and again Bobbi nodded. She made her way to sit on the edge of the bed, slipping off her sweaty training top before putting on one of her favourite tshirts that May had gotten out for her. She did so fairly quickly, it still felt a little weird to have the woman see her in just a bra. Her brief gaze to see if the blonde needed any help seemed to rest on the scar on her back, the entry wound for the bullet. Melinda sighed slightly, her poor little girl had been through so much and she knew that Bobbi was anxious to get back into the field and "prove her worth" but she wanted the girl to know she was loved every way, even if she never fully recovered or was always left with slight difficulty. She snapped back to reality with a series of loud grunts as Bobbi was attempting to put a pair of socks on. She had managed a two step hobble to the closet to get some but actually putting them on proved to be a challenge. She got up and motioned for the girl to sit down on the bed again, holding out her arms to help her as she wobbled.
"Want me to help?" She asked, normally she'd jump straight in to do it if one of her girls was struggling but they were still working on trust with Bobbi and she wanted the girl to feel in control. At Bobbi's nod, she knelt down and took the socks, gently slipping them onto the girls feet with a small warm smile. Tears began to run down Bobbi's face again so Melinda moved to sit next to her, gently pulling her into a hug. She let the blonde sob on her shoulder for as long as she needed, only gently moving her away once Coulson and Skye had returned and the girls breathing had become uneven. She coached her through it again until she was calm, gently rubbing her arm.
"Do you feel up to going out?" Melinda asked her, softly as her voice would allow, it was a tone reserved only for her little ones.
"We can buy you a Star Wars toy!" Skye added from across the room. That made Bobbi smile weakly and she nodded. Coulson passed her the crutches and Bobbi carefully pulled herself up. Melinda just watched carefully, the girl managed a few steps towards where Skye was stood but it was clear that she was in agony, both with her knee and her lungs. She was completely exhausted by the time she was near the door, breathing heavily she looked near to passing out. Melinda noticed this and quickly grabbed the emergency wheelchair, carefully helping Bobbi to sit down in it.
"Okay, I think you're best off travelling in this. I'm gonna take you down to Simmons before we go too, she'll check your breathing and see if you need the extra oxygen on again"
They headed off down to the lab, whilst Coulson and Skye went to wait in the car. Melinda wheeled her in and Bobbi shyly covered her face with her hand. "Simmons" Melinda greeted, the woman looked up and walked over to them. "Need you to check Bobbi's lungs, see what's happening. She can barely walk even with her crutches without getting out of breath"
They moved into the med bay, if Jemma was curious about Melinda's sudden deep concern over Bobbi she didn't show it and simply checked the girls lungs. Bobbi herself was desperately clinging on to being big, though right now it was hard as she was tired and in pain and just wanted snuggles with daddy and mommy and her sister.
"It looks like you've been overdoing it, Bobbi" Simmons told her and the girl just looked down, annoyed through mostly with herself.
"I think so long as she sticks to the wheelchair for a couple days she'll be fine, no need for the extra oxygen on" Jemma told May and Bobbi seemed relieved, the cannula was so itchy and just brought back bad memories of waking up between her surgeries and the overwhelming pain.
"However, I would recommend five minutes with the oxygen mask on before she leaves, just to lift some strain from her lungs"
Bobbi sighed at this but Melinda gave her a pointed look, taking the mask from Simmons and thanking her as she then went to leave before placing it over Bobbi's face. The blonde had been scowling about it but soon let herself relax more at the gentle feeling of Melinda stroking her hair. The woman took a minute to text Phil and let him know their ETA.
Eventually, Melinda was pushing Bobbi in her chair back out towards the car. The girl was slightly glad Hunter was out on a mission right now, she loved him truly but just needed to be fully little right now and also didn't want to worry him being fragile and sick like this.
They reached their first destination, Walmart. Skye hopped out the car soon as the door was opened, excitedly running round in circles. She was still nervous of being little outside of her safe zones like daddy's room but in a way it was easier in public because if she didn't know the people then even if they judged her she wouldn't see them again anyway so wouldn't be embarrassed. Coulson had to catch her arm and get her to stay still a moment whilst he and May helped Bobbi out and into her chair. Then the family of four went into the large shop. They decided to stick together, Skye wanted to stay by Bobbi's side anyway and was using her best jokes to cheer her sister up, happily punching the air when she finally made the girl laugh. Both Phil and Melinda smiled, it was good to hear their older girls laughter again.
"Daddy, can I have this?" Skye gave him an angelic smile, she had learnt it was useless to appeal to May since she was generally the slightly stricter parent of the two and had already said no to several things but then again the girl had picked something from every aisle so far that she wanted.
"Put it back baby, good girl" Phil spoke, knowing that was the best way of going about it.
"But daddy!" Skye whined, they were on the last couple of aisles and Skye really wanted that new sippy cup
"Skye, you have plenty of those back at the base already"
"But Bobbi gets some!" She pointed to the small array of cups and plates already in their trolley
"Yes but Bobbi didn't have any, and I don't see her whining about wanting things. You won't get a toy from the toy shop if you carry on" Melinda's voice came from behind them and Skye slumped her shoulders, sulking off to go put the cup back. Melinda saw that Bobbi was tentatively looking at pacifiers, nervously looking up every now and then to see if people were watching her and made an attempt to move away once she locked eyes with May, still struggling with feeling unworthy of anything. She remembered her earlier promise plus the girls thumb sucking habit and walked up to her, resting her hand over the girls. "Hey, you can pick out a few that you like" she said. Bobbi nodded shyly and showed that there was a couple on her lap already. Melinda heard Skye behind them and rolled her eyes when she saw the girl was holding something else, about to tell her off before she realised what was happening when Skye spoke.
"Bobbi wanted a paci, and she likes Star Wars so I found these ones" She handed over the pack of pacifiers with a Star Wars design printed over them and Melinda smiled, as did Bobbi when she looked up at them.
"Thank you baby, that's very helpful and a good choice for your sister" May said, affectionately ruffling her hair which made her younger girl giggle. Bobbi made a grabby hands motion for the packet and May handed them over, the blonde looking over them happily and letting her know she had enough now so the woman could wheel her back over to Coulson. The new pacifiers went into the trolley, Bobbi not wanting to let go of the Star Wars ones at first she showed them proudly to her dad before they went into the trolley too, a little of her earlier confidence issues now forgotten in the presence of something exciting
Skye was squirming, desperate for the toilet as they finished the last aisle she tapped Melinda on the shoulder to get her attention
"Mommy....." she said, picking at her trousers Melinda managed to pick it up from that and the way she was hopping about trying to control it. It was still hard to actually say the words out loud. "Well done for telling me baby" Melinda said, taking Skye's hand she led her off to the toilet whilst the others went to pay. Bobbi helped much as she could to load their shopping onto the checkout and pack it afterwards. She liked to feel helpful, and Coulson knew it was important to let her do little things like that to keep her morale up. The last thing he wanted for his little girl was for her to feel like she was worthless. She sat at the other end of the checkout waiting as he packed the shopping bags, noticing something come through he turned to hand it to her.
"A little treat" he said, passing over the small bag of Star Wars themed chocolate lollipops. She gave a smile and a quiet "Thank you" before peeling off the wrapper to eat one. She passed one over to Skye once they returned, having picked one for her since she wanted to keep the Chewbacca one for herself for later. The younger girl didn't seem to mind though and happily ate the chocolate once May had helped her peel all the foil off. Coulson and Skye pushed the trolley out to the car and loaded it up in the trunk whilst May pushed Bobbi and helped her get comfortable back in the car. She spotted the small soft toy she knew was Bobbi's on the floor and reached down, picking it up before placing it in the girls arms. She smiled happily and pretended to share her last chocolate lollipop with him though she didn't unwrap it.
"Maybe we can get Chewbacca a friend at the toy store" Melinda suggested and Bobbi smiled, nodding.
"We gotta get Skye a new friend too" she said and Melinda couldn't help but smile at how naturally her girls had become sisters, even if they had the occasional bicker they were always looking out for each other.