"Birdbrain."
She greets her brother, smiling big. The shared look of surprise and confusion in his and Natasha's eyes, makes her smile grow larger. She takes a few steps forwards, reading herself to be pulled into a tight hug by the archer. When the red-haired assassin is the one pulling that stunt, Skye doesn't know what to do. But when she feels another set of arms around her, she knows some things are at least right.
"Alright, that is cute and all, still weird to see Romanoff showing this type of affection towards anyone. But, what is going on here?"
She hears Stark ask, rolling her eyes, Skye moves her head so she can look over Natasha's shoulder.
"Well, you should ask Pepper, she's the one that put all of this together."
She informs him, knowing fully well she is throwing Pepper under the bus, but seeing as Natasha and Clint have decided not to let her go, it's easier for the woman who is behind all of this to inform everyone else.
"I thought a small family get-together was something we all needs, or at least Romanoff and Barton does from the looks of it."
It's the only thing Pepper says, which makes Skye roll her eyes and from the look in Stark's eyes, he isn't all too happy about the lack of an answer and points in one direction. Skye isn't able to see what he is pointing toward but something tells her that the owner of the building is pointing toward Jemma. Forcing her two siblings off of her, Skye takes a step to the side.
"I got a Stark party invitation, after hearing stories about the ones you have thrown over the years, I knew I would need to take someone with me that I trust will have my back if something were to happen. Which is why I decided to take Jemma with me. And from the looks of Gwen, Ria, and Vic, they thought this was going to be a Stark party too when they arrived so."
Skye explains, realizing she should probably have done the explanation thing herself. Seeing the look in Stark's eyes, however, makes her narrows and she takes a step forwards, being joined by Pepper.
"Tony, this doesn't mean you can start inviting people... What did you do?"
Pepper starts to tell him, only to grow suspicious about the way Stark turns his head slightly to the side.
"I might have invited Rhodes when we were waiting to get in here."
Stark explains, a silence falls over the room at this information, everyone knowing how well Skye deals with new people, especially if they are males. The difference now is that she trusts these people and she trusts in their judgment of characters. And then there is the fact that she has been looking into this man, mostly because she was curious about the War Machine.
"Do you trust this man?"
She decides to ask, making everyone turn their attention towards her, she makes sure to keep her eyes on Stark and she can see the change in his eyes when he realizes what she is asking. She thought she had seen his serious side during their mission together, but it was nothing compared to what she is seeing right now. Which is an answer by itself.
"With my life."
Stark decides to answer her and Skye nods her head.
"Then I don't see a problem with him joining us, I would however recommend that you meet him downstairs to tell him what is going on."
Skye tells him and Stark nods his head in answer, quickly turning towards the elevators and is gone within seconds. Feeling that all eyes are still on her, Skye turns to look at each and every one. She can see both worry and other emotions in their eyes and she can also see that once this whole party thing is over, Natasha and Clint will force her to sit down with them and have a long conversation about what is going on. This is something she doesn't look forwards to and hopes she can avoid.
Seeing a sudden change in Clint's eyes, however, makes Skye's worry grow into something else, and seeing that he turns his full attention toward Jemma, she should have known this would happen. Turning her attention toward the biochemist, she is surprised to see that she has placed herself close to Gwen and she can't help but wonder when this happened.
"You shoot agent Sitwell?"
Clint asks, what Skye had told them all finally sinking in. Jemma is too frightened to answer him or try to figure out how she should answer him.
"Oh, yes she did. It was the most glorious thing that happened that day. I got to say, Skye's bad girl shenanigans keep rubbing off on the agents."
Victoria decides to step in, something that doesn't really help as both Natasha and Clint turns their attention toward her. Knowing fully well how this will end, Skye turns towards Pepper.
"How about we start setting up the food, it should be here soon right?"
She asks, hoping that if she mentions food, it will break up the fight that would otherwise start. Pepper nods her head and she can hear Clint making a comment about the food. Pepper takes this opportunity to put the rest of the Avengers to work and as Skye moves towards Gwen and Jemma, she hears Pepper giving Maria and Victoria orders too. They aren't happy about it but they do as they are being told either way.
"That went..."
Gwen starts to say and Skye shakes her head, not even finishing off what Gwen was saying. It wasn't needed, but feeling how Jemma is looking between the two of them, Skye turns her head, lifting one eyebrow at the process.
"What?"
She asks, and seeing the smile, Skye worries what might be going on in the biochemist's mind.
"Oh nothing, just the fact that you can't complain over how me and Fitz are talking from now on."
She points out, which makes Skye roll her eyes. Hearing how Gwen lets out a laugh beside her, Skye ends up looking between the two of them and crosses her arms.
"I hate both of you."
She says, not meaning it of course.
"Yeah, tell me something I didn't already know."
"No, you don't"
Gwen and Jemma answer at the same time, making the two of them look at one another and Skye smiles. She can see a friendship blooming, which makes her calm, but there is also a worry that grows in her at this newfound discovery.
"Alright, food is ready!"
Pepper calls out before Skye has a chance to try and figure out how badly this will end for her, turning her attention from Jemma and Gwen, she sees that Stark has returned with Rhodes and both of them had been put to work the moment they hade stepped out of the elevators. Once the food was starting to get consumed, all of the problems seemed to have been forgotten and the evening turned into a fun night.
Feeling her phone vibrating a few hours later, Skye makes sure that no one is keeping a close eye on her and she managed to sneak out to the balcony. Leaning against the balcony, she makes sure to keep her eyes on the doors as she answers the call.
"How is everything going?"
Hearing Melinda's voice, she smiles. She should have known that it would be her calling, seeing as Melinda was the one offering to pick them up, and time had been flying by since the dinner.
"Everything is going smooth, well now at least. It was a bit stale at the beginning. But following aunt Vic's suggestion. By mentioning that Jemma shoot Jasper the others didn't see any problems with having her there... and then there was the fact that I told them that I trust her with my life so..."
She starts to explain and she can imagine how Melinda is rolling her eyes at this news.
"So how are we going to do this?"
"I think she will be able to handle the fact that you are my mother quite well. She did take the news about Ria, Clint, and Tasha being my siblings very well, and the same for learning about Aunt Vic so."
"Alright then, we won't be driving home tonight. There are a few things I need to talk to your siblings about. I presume we can blame Potts for refusing to let us drive home this late."
Skye starts to smile big at that, knowing fully well that Pepper would be putting a stop to it either way and so would the rest of the Avengers, Ria and Aunt Vic.
"I will be there in ten minutes."
Melinda quickly adds before the call ends. Rolling her own eyes at this, Skye puts her phone away and joins the party once more. Scanning the room, her eyes land on Pepper. Deciding it would probably be a good idea to warn the woman what is about to happen, she moves over to her and pulls her to the side, something that wasn't that hard.
"I just got a call from mom, she will be here in ten minutes. I hope it's okay if we all stay the night. She wants to have a few words with my siblings."
Seeing the look in Pepper's eyes as she says this, Skye smiles, happy that she had managed to figure out that she was right about one thing at least.
"You wouldn't have let us leave, either way, I know."
Skye adds before Pepper has a chance to say it and she nods her head. Shaking her own, Skye turns towards the crazy people in the room, only now realizing she forgot to inform Melinda that this isn't a Stark party, but something that Pepper had pulled together. Well, it was too late now and there was nothing she can do to change it. Seeing how Gwen and Jemma see her standing over to the side, they start waving her over. With a last smile towards Pepper, she moves towards her friends, joining them once more. She can see that Jemma wants to ask where she went, but she stays silent since Gwen is talking about something completely different.
The tone of the room is a carefree and fun one, something that changes quickly when the elevator doors suddenly open and Melinda steps into the room, eyes scanning it and narrowing.
"When I agree to send you to a Stark party, this isn't what I thought would be it."
She comments, crossing her arms and Skye rolls her eyes. She can feel how Jemma shrinks slightly behind her and looking toward Natasha and Clint, she can see a hint of confusion in their eyes. Deciding this would be one of the most golden opportunities, she takes a step forwards.
"Hi, mom! You made it, and yeah no. Pepper played us all."
She greats, moving towards Melinda to hug her, a hug that is being responded back.
"WAIT!"
"WHAT!"
"I KNEW IT!"
Three voices call out at once, making Skye turn around, eyes growing big when she heard who said what.