Living with the Avengers

A Few Random Moments

Skye was feeling weird. Her arm had a dull ache and felt trapped as if something was enclosing it. It hurt to open her eyes, so she opted for keeping them close. She tried to remember where she was and how she got there. She faintly remembers, Nat, saying she would get hot chocolate, and then hugging Clint? There is a smell in the air, disinfectant, and something she can't quite place. Is she in a hospital? She starts shifting, trying to see if anything hurts, but nothing, just the ache in her arm. She decides to try and open her eyes, investigate and figure out where she is.

As the group of heroes enters the infirmary, they see Skye shifting around in the bed, then frowning as she slowly opens and closes her eyes a few times, before finally keeping them open. They come to a stop in a circle around the bed, not too close as to not overwhelm her. She goes to rub at her eyes with her hands, only to stop and look at the sky blue cast, (Clint's idea). She yawns and looks up at them, not even giving the cast a second glance. "Hey, how are you feeling?" Bruce asks, as he slowly steps forward to remove the ivy, projecting his movements for her to see. She stretches, then watches him remove the IV before answering, "I'm okay" Bruce gives her a disbelieving look but continues his tasks. She looks around her confused for a moment and then looks at Clint, brows furrowed, as he is the last one she remembers interacting with. He looks back at her just as confused, not sure what is going on in her head. She clears her throat, then asked with a small rough voice, "what happened?" Bruce hands her a small cup of water and straw with a small smile. She smiles back at him, reaching for the cup, and tells him thank you, before turning back to Clint.

He sighs, but starts to explain, "You broke your arm..." she nods, running downstairs. She figured it was either cracked or broken. Clint continues, a little surprised that she did not react to hearing she has a broken arm, "You went missing for a little while, we found you in the rain on a balcony, which we will still talk about, but not now, and at dinner, I gave you a hug, but it hurt your arm so you passed out." Suddenly realizing he was the reason she passed out from the pain, he starts feeling guilty and ads an apology to his explanation of the events, "I'm so sorry for hurting you Skye, I didn't mean to, but..." he cuts himself off, knowing no amount of apologies is going to make her believe him.

As he explains, she nods her head, and when he mentions talking about the balcony, she flinches a bit and looks down at her hands, the heart monitor next to her raising a few beats. She remembers the dinner and Clint saying he missed Coulsen too. When he starts apologizing for hurting her, she snaps her head up to look at him confused. Adults don't apologize for the hurting, they only hurt you more. Besides it wasn't his fault, she fell down the stairs, he didn't push her. He looks back at her brows furrowed, as she stares at him confused. She then shakes her head, and looks him in the eye, "it's not your fault", she tells him and now it's his turn to be confused. "But I hurt your arm when I hugged you" he then tells her and she gives him a soft small smile, "My arm was hurt way before you hugged me, so not your fault, unless you turn into ghosts and push people downstairs" she gives him another smile as everyone chuckles at her.

They all sit there and talk with her a little while, about the basic of things, when Nat brings up Clint's days in the circus. Skye's eyes are drooping more and more, but she doesn't want to go to sleep, afraid of what will haunt her this time, when she closes her eyes. The team of courses notice this, so Bruce stands up, "I think it's time for Skye to get some rest, I think we all need it." Skye perks up immediately, asking whether or not she needs to stay in the infirmary. Bruce gives her a sad smile, "Unfortunately yes, but only for tonight" Skye slumps her shoulders, heart rate picking up once more, the machine announcing it to everyone in the room. "How about if we let her sleep in the guest room across the hall, that way she is near the medical facility, but also not in it?" suggests Tony, and Skye is looking at Bruce pleadingly. Bruce sighs but agrees, and Skye can't help but smile.

Skye's smile soon falls as she still, doesn't want to go to sleep, even after the entire group helped settle her in the guest room, and as everyone tells her goodnight and leaves to go to bed as well, she can't help but reach out and grab Clint's hand, the last to leave. Nat glances over her shoulder when she notices her partner, isn't following her anymore, only to have him give her a small smile and nod, indicating she should go on without him. He turns back to Skye who is staring at her lap now, not entirely sure what is about to happen, as grabbing the hand of a grown-up was a rookie mistake. But instead of yelling or hitting, he just asks her in a very gentle voice what is wrong. She doesn't want to answer, because well, who is scared of sleeping? She looks at him with a small bit of hope in her eyes, hope that he will say yes, rather than call her a baby, when she asks, "Can you maybe tell me a story. I don't want to sleep..." she sighs, and changes her mind. She could deal with this, she has before, and "It's okay, night Clint."

Clint is not sure what to think when she asks for a story, but then she changes her mind so fast, that he can't help but sigh. He slowly sits in front of her on the bed, waiting for her to look at him and when she does; his voice is soft and gentle when he asks if she's afraid of having a nightmare. She only nods and looks back down. He decides, that he will stay awake with her, tell her as many stories as he possibly could, about anything she wanted, because tonight he is going to make sure, she gets at least one hour where she feels safe, and not afraid of what haunts her. He smiles at her, then tells her to scoot over as he sits with his back against the head of the bed, then pats the space beside him, indicating she should sit next to him. At first, she is hesitant, but then smiles and with caution, snuggles up next to him, the entire time, making sure he is in her sight. He asks her, what stories she would like to hear, and for a moment she just sits there and thinks, before asking him to tell her about all the animals at the circus. He is hesitant at first, as the circus, does hold some memories that haunt him, but he decides, the little girl snuggling into his side, her joy, is worth it. So he tells her all types of stories about the different animals, and everything that they could do.

About an hour and a half later, she is fast asleep next to him, so he kisses her forehead, pulls her blanket around her, tucking her in before whispering goodnight; she stirs long enough to mumble Goodnight Clingy, before drifting off again. He stares for a moment not sure he heard right, then smiles and leaves to sleep on the couch, in the waiting room, so he can be near in case she needs him.

That morning around 4 am, Tony is sitting in his living room, working on his tablet, annoyed that a nightmare woke him up once again. He can't help but wonder how it is that every time he sleeps, he is woken by a nightmare, except the previous morning on the couch in his workshop. He had slept well, and late, quite late, without a hint of a dream. He woke up rested. He is concentrated on his work when a small voice speaks to him, "Aren't you going to sleep Tony?" he startles a little, and looks up to find Skye, standing a few feet from him, wide awake and looking at him. He gives her a small smile, "I could ask you the same thing?" She nods her head, but then notices the bags under his eyes, the way he looks, and she recognizes it from the mirror. "Nightmare?" she simply asks, and he has to smile again, before nodding his head to her. She sighs, and takes a small step closer, "You don't have to talk about it, but if you want to I'm here, it might help" she repeats what he had told her the first night when she showed up in his workshop.

He puts his tablet down on the coffee table and gestures for her to come and sit next to him. She smiles a little, and walks over, sitting on the couch right next to him. She looks at him, as he stares in front of him, the nightmare fresh in his mind, when she speaks again, a whisper, "I get Nightmares too. They are usually different, but sometimes the same one." Tony looks down at her, as she stares at him, and he swears, she is looking at his soul. He gives her a weak smile, as he tells her it was the same one he always gets, the one he had told her about that first night. She looks at him, thinking, before she stands up and walks down the hall, returning a minute later with the blanket and pillow from the workshop. She gives the pillow to Tony who looks at her confused, so she rolls her eyes, and places it on the arm of the couch, telling him to lie down. He smiles but does as she says, interested to know where this is going. She climbs back on the couch, snuggles into his side, and with difficulty, due to the cast, pulls the blanket over them both, so they lie just like they did that first night. "Having someone with you can help take nightmares away" she tells him, and he can't help but smile at this sweet and adorable kid. "Try to sleep Uncle Tony, I'll stay with you to make the nightmares go away" she snuggles into his side, as his eyes open in surprise at what Skye had called him. He doesn't say anything, just closes his eyes as she starts humming the same song from when she just arrived. The one his mother used to sing to him, and like that he drifts off to sleep, Skye not even an hour later, joins him.