“Tell me again, why you dragged me into this?”
Simmons asks, even though it was already to late for her to change her mind, seeing as they are already in the car, heading for Stark tower. Skye nods her head however, she has been lost in her own thoughts throughout the drive.
"What I'm trying to figure out is why Pepper wants to meet with me before the party starts."
She points out, this is something that has been bothering her for a while now. About an hour after she had accepted the invitation to the party, Pepper had sent her an email, asking if she could come to the tower a few hours before the party was to start. Feeling that Melinda looks at her through the mirror, Skye shakes her head, already knowing what her mother is thinking about it. And seeing as Simmons is about to learn the truth about almost everything, the girl beside her can't help her figure this out right now.
"Yeah, that is a mystery."
Simmons managed to say and Skye nods her head, all they can do now is wait and see. Turning her head to look out the window, Skye can see that they are getting closer to the tower. With a deep breath, she tries to calm herself, knowing she will be fine. She has Simmons with her and she knows her siblings will be keeping a close eye on her the moment the party starts.
The moment Melinda parks the car outside of the large building, Skye can see all of the fans that are standing outside and she rolls her eyes. Making sure to leave the car through the door closes to the building, Skye is the first to get out and Simmons follows. Moving to the open window, Skye looks in and she can see the older agent look slightly worried.
"I will be back later tonight. Don't do anything stupid, don't make anyone convince you to do anything stupid and stay clear of suspicious people."
Melinda orders and Skye nods her head, she couldn't believe that she was getting this type of a lecture from a mother and she tries to keep the large smile form forming on her face. But it's clear that Melinda can see right through her and with a ghost of a smile, she drives away. As Skye turns towards Simmons, she sees that the biochemist has already talked to the guards, telling them why they are there and the door is being open for them. Entering the large building, another woman is waiting for them, an elevator open.
"This way, Miss Potts is waiting for you."
The woman explains and the two of them nods their heads, entering the elevator and the door closes behind them. It was a silent ride and when the door opens once more, another woman is waiting for them outside.
"This way."
She orders, before she starts to walk down the hallway. Looking towards Simmons, Skye can see how the biochemist lifts one eyebrow in question about what is going on. Not able to answer, Skye shrugs her shoulders before she starts to follow the woman, having a feeling she doesn't wish to get lost in this building, who knows how many floors are really in here. Seeing that the woman has come to a stop outside one of the offices, Skye takes a deep breath as she opens the door.
Carefully entering the office, Skye sees that Pepper is sitting behind her desk, working on something, but hearing that someone is entering her office she looks up. The moment she realises that Skye is standing in front of her, she smiles large and rises from her seat, the woman is faster than Skye would have expected, seeing as she is being pulled into a tight hug a few seconds later.
"Skye! I'm so happy you accepted my invitation of coming over."
Pepper tells her and Skye smiles, a smile that dies down a few seconds later when what Pepper had just said sinks in and she takes a step back to look at Pepper, her eyes narrowed.
"Your invitation? I though Stark sent it?"
"Oh no, he has no idea. He and the others are out at the moment. But your siblings are starting to grow on all of our nerves."
Pepper start to explain, only to stop when her eyes lands on Simmons that was still standing in the door opening. Turning her own head, Skye smiles slightly and she can understand the worry in Pepper, seeing as the other woman knows how complicated her life is.
"Pepper, this is one of the agents I work with. Meet Jemma Simmons, I decided to take her with me, seeing as I thought this was going to be a Stark party."
Skye explains, turning her head to look at Pepper as she mentions the last part and the other woman looks down slightly.
"Simmons, meet Pepper Potts. She knows that Coulson is alive so you don't have to worry about accidently mention his name around Pepper, around the rest of... Who is exactly coming to this party that Stark doesn't know about?"
Skye starts to explain and she can see that Simmons eyes grows large at the information that the woman in front of her knows about Coulson already, Skye turns her attention towards Pepper as she realises that she has no idea of what is really about to go down.
"All three of your siblings, the avengers, your aunt and your best friend."
Pepper informs her and Skye smiles, happy to learn that it's just the people she cares about and that Pepper is making sure not to mention any names just in case. Knowing this will be a long and quite complicated conversation, Skye turns to look at Simmons once more.
"Close the door, I think it's for the best that we all sit down for this."
Skye start to explain, Simmons quickly nods her head and closes the door behind her as Pepper points towards the two chairs in front of her desk as she herself takes her place behind it. The moment everyone is seated, Skye looks between the two of them, trying to figure out where to start all of this off. When she decided to take Simmons with her, she had expected that she would meet her siblings at the party, a party that wasn't just her family hanging out because her siblings needs it. Leave it to Pepper to pull something like this however.
"Alright, this just grow to be so much more complicated than I expected it had to be."
Skye admits after a few minutes of silence and she can see how the other two ladies looks at her. Deciding that explaining her complicated family tree to Simmons would be the best way of starting this off, it would after all give Pepper a few of her own questions an answer. So turning her attention towards Simmons, Skye swallows down her worry, she can handle that one later on.
"When I was 12 when I meet my siblings for the first time, we are not siblings by blood, but they are the closes thing I could ever wish for in siblings and they have been taking care of me for years. You know the story's I tell, about me growing up in the foster system?"
Skye decides this is probably the best point to start her explanation and when Simmons keep silent and nod her head, Skye is grateful.
"Most of it is true, I did spend a few years in the system, I did however move in with them after a bad home. I was scared and called Natasha and she made the decision that it was their turn to take over. Clint and Maria all agree so it wasn't a hard fight for Natasha to battle there, and I was just happy to live with them, it gave me time to heal and grow. As time passed on, my life was starting to look so bright, I had finally a stable home for more than a couple of months at the time, and the last two times that happened was when I spent time with my mother figure and father figured."
She continues, holding up her hand when se can see an interest in Simmons eyes at this information.
"No, you will not meet them here today. They have all but nothing to do with my siblings or S.H.I.E.L.D."
Skye explains and she can fell how Pepper is looking at her now, deciding to ignore it for now, she can handle that conversation later, when no one else can hear them, Skye continues.
"I managed to make a friends that was in my own age group, according to Maria, meeting Gwen was the best thing that could have happened to me. But even if life seemed to be good, I was always worried, seeing as two of my siblings are now counted as Avengers and my other one is deputy director of S.H.I.E.L.D, I never knew if the moment they went on a mission was the last time I would see them."
This information made Simmons look at her with large eyes, her mouth open and closing a few times and Skye smiles. It was quite fun to see the look, so all the worry she had been feeling wasn't needed now.
"Yes, my siblings are Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton and Maria Hill."
Skye says, just to clarify that Simmons had be hearing her correctly and the biochemist closes her mouth. It was clear that she still didn't believe her and Skye stayed silent, waiting for her to think everything through.
"Well, it would explain the fact that you used to dance ballet, and the fact that you were calm around agents May and Coulson when you were first brought to the BUS, I guess you've heard stories about them from your siblings and new you can trust them."
Simmons starts to say a few minutes later, it being clear that she was stuck in her own mind. Seeing that Simmons isn't giving her any attention at the moment, Skye turns her head to look at Pepper, who is looking back at her with a raised eyebrow, the silent question clear but Skye shakes her head.
"So if Romanoff, Barton and Hill are your siblings, I guess Gwen is your best friend, I'm almost worried to ask, who is your aunt?"
Simmons finally asks, her attention turned towards Skye once more. Hearing that Simmons is worried about that question, Skye smiles.
"Victoria Hand."
She answers, plain and simple and she can see how Simmons eyes grows larger than before.
"Agent Hand?"
Her voice taking on a pitch higher than normal when she asks the question and Skye nods her head, her smile growing larger at the complete surprise in Simmons voice.
“But, we were just out on a mission with her, we were at the HUB.... I shot agent Sitwell and you told me to get agent May and not your aunt... you hacked the system instead of just talking to her about our worries?”
And now Simmons is in full on panic, which makes Skye laugh. The fact that Skye sees Victoria as her aunt isn’t what freaks the other girl out, what freaks her out is the things she had to be put through. It will be quite a fun experience to see her reaction when she finally learns who her mother is. Feeling sorry for Simmons, Skye reaches out a hand and placed it on the biochemist shoulder.
“Okay, I need you to take a deep breath, and calm down, alright? We have a deal, we don’t talk S.H.I.E.L.D with one another, or the fact that we have a bond. For her work and my safety. Same goes for my siblings, I mostly use their middle names or a short version when I’m around others that don’t know the truth. So you understand what this means right?”
Skye tells her, keeping her voice calm and collected, even if she isn’t feeling that way. But seeing that Simmons is taking in a few deep breaths, mostly to calm herself down, she nods her head.
“Yeah, I understand. I presume agent May knows some of this?”
Simmons managed to get out and Skye nods her head.
“Yes, agent May knows, she learned most of my story a while back, at the same time that she actually started to train me.”
Skye answer and Simmons nods her head, before keeping it held high.
“Well, I’m happy you are feeling you can trust me with this information about yourself, and I won’t tell any of the boys.”
Simmons tells her which makes Skye smile, finally happy that she made the decision in telling Simmons some of her past. She knows there will be more questions throughout the night, especially when the young agent gets a chance to meet her crazy family, but at least the biggest parts are gone. All she can hope for now is catch everyone by themselves and inform them that she has more idea of Melinda and Coulson.