Set between 1x11 "The Magical Place" and 1x12 "Seeds"
By the time Christmas came around, the BUS crew truly became a team that cared for and looked out for one another. They all had just worked together to bring Coulson back from being kidnapped by Raina and others working in the Centipede Project.
One day, the younger members were all together in the common area of their flying base. "It's kinda sad that we can't go home to see our families this year," Fitz explained. "Every Christmas Eve, my mom and I would take walks into town and look at all the Christmas decorations."
"That sounds really nice," Skye said. "What about you, Simmons?"
Simmons put down the cup of tea she was taking a sip from. "When I was little, my dad and I would play out in the snow all the time. As I got older, my parents and I would spend the night watching Christmas movies and just enjoying each other's company." Simmons spotted May, Coulson, and May walk in. "What about you guys?" she asked. "Do you have any favorite Christmas traditions?"
"I mean," Ward began, "Christmas was the one time my parents and older brother weren't exactly terrible. My sister was usually with us as well. My mom and sister would spend all Christmas Eve cooking and baking while my dad, me, and my brothers wrapped presents. They always let us open one present at midnight."
"My parents and I always decorated our house for Christmas," May added. "Our Christmas tree would always be decorated with paper lanterns and red, paper chains. They usually symbolize happiness. I would cut out red pagodas to paste to the windows, and our house would be lit up with paper lanterns."
"Wow, that's really interesting," Fitz replied. "What about you, sir?" he asked Coulson.
"Well, my dad died when I was nine, so he wasn't really there for most of my Christmases, but when I was really little, maybe like four or five, my parents would take me to the mall to take Christmas family photos."
"Oh I have got to see those," Skye exclaimed.
"I assure you that those photos will be classified for as long as I live," Coulson said. "The only people who have seen them are May and Nick Fury himself."
"Didn't Nat find them one year?" May asked.
Coulson shook his head. "Clint found them and later showed Nat." Coulson looked down, remembering when his Avenger friends had confronted him about these embarrassing childhood photos they had found all those years ago.
"What about you, Skye?" Ward asked. "Any favorite Christmas traditions?"
Skye's smile quickly dissipated. She just looked down at her mug, mindlessly stirring her hot chocolate. "Um, no, not really."
"Really?" Simmons asked, taking another sip of her tea.
Skye shook her head. "When you were never in the same place every year for Christmas, you don't really get to be a part of anybody's festivities. The orphanage didn't have that great of funding, so not many kids got presents if any got them at all," she explained. "I remember this one foster home I had when I was, maybe, ten or eleven told me to just stay in my room while the rest of the family celebrated, eating dinner and opening presents together. It was that year that I realized that I will probably never have that. I will probably never have a Christmas that works out."
The room fell silent. Everyone's faces fell, looking to Skye with sorrow. They all knew that she was a foster kid and felt lost pretty much her entire life. However, she hardly ever spoke of her experiences in the system. Once in a while, like today, she would just say something that would catch them all completely off guard.
Skye noticed the pitiful looks they were all giving her. Skye felt trapped like she had to get away before she exploded. She wasn't about to mope and cry in front of them. She wasn't the lonely, unwanted Mary Sue Poots. She wasn't going to allow herself that. She wasn't going to let them pity her. Even though her 'internet nanny' bracelet was removed and the team had completely forgiven her for the incident with Miles, she felt she was still on thin ice.
"I'm gonna go to my bunk," she excused herself. The rest of the team watched as she closed the door of her tiny room behind her.
"Poor, Skye," Simmons said, still looking towards the youngest agent's bunk. "Every Christmas, for me, had been really good memories. I didn't even think that, given Skye's past, she may not have had good ones."
"Yeah," Fitz replied. "I just wish there was a way we could start making Christmases good for Skye. She really deserves to have this."
The team nodded in agreement.
"May?" Coulson asked. "How much longer until we land in L.A.?"
"About another hour or so," May answered. "Why?"
Coulson began walking back to his office as he replied, "We're going to make Skye's first Christmas with us the best one she has ever had."
Skye stayed in her room for the few hours that the rest of the team were out after they had landed in L.A. She probably didn't even realize the team had left her alone. She was just glad no one had to see her at her lowest points right now. This was something she had accepted a long time ago. Why was she still so emotional over it?
Skye was laying in the fetal position on her bed, her body practically hugging the life out of her pillow, trying to give herself some sort of comfort, when there was a soft knock on the door.
Skye didn't really feel like getting up, so she just called out. "It's open."
The door slid open to reveal May, who Skye believed to be the least likely person to check up on her. "You doing alright?" she asked with a soft tone as opposed to her colder, more authoritative, tone.
Skye sat up, putting her pillow back at the head of the bed. She shrugged her shoulders. May then took a seat at the edge of her bed.
"You wanna talk about it?"
Skye raised an eyebrow. Melinda May? Wants to TALK? "Not really," she replied. "It's not really a big deal anyway. Christmas just never works out for me. It never has. I just... accepted that that's just the way it's going to be for me."
May's heart practically broke at the tone a voice Skye was using when saying she just had to accept this. After the holidays were over, May made a mental note to really dig deeper into Skye's files. She wasn't going to let this girl continue to think she is unwanted and doesn't deserve good things. Though she would never admit it, May truly did care for the girl in a way she never thought she could.
May gave Skye a soft smile. "Are you sure about that?" Skye gave her a confused look. May stood up and motioned with her head to come follow her. "Come on. I want you to see something."
Skye gave her, probably, her twentieth confused look before getting up and following the older agent.
May lead Skye back to the common area of the BUS. Skye stopped in her tracks when Fitz, Simmons, Ward, and Coulson all jumped out yelling "Surprise!" followed by "Merry Christmas!"
Lights were hung up all around the perimeter of the common area, Christmas music was playing from a small speaker, the smell of sweets being baked filled the room, and there was a miniature Christmas tree placed on the coffee table.
Skye stood there speechless. She looked around at all the decorations and the smiles of her teammates. It was all very overwhelming to take in all at once. "Is... Is this all... for me?"
They all nodded. "We just hated the way that you talked about your past Christmas experiences that we just wanted to give you a Christmas you will never forget," Simmons explained.
Great. They were pitying her. She didn't ask for that. Why did they want to do this for her? This time, her tears and emotions couldn't be lock away. Tears began to fall from her eyes as her teammates' smiles fell as well.
"Oh, Skye." Simmons went to her side. "It's alright."
"Just... why?" Skye asked desperately. "Why me? Why would you all go through so much trouble for me when I'm-"
"Because you're apart of this team, Skye," Coulson interrupted her. "This team had grown to be much more than a team. We're a family, and families care for one another."
"And we care about you, Skye," Fitz added.
Skye was getting really choked up at the thought that she was actually part of a family. "But I didn't ask-"
"Na-uh." May was this one to interrupt her this time. "You don't get to decide who cares about you and who doesn't. We all care about you," May said. "Even me," May whispered more so just for her to hear it.
Skye sniffed as she gave her a small smile.
"Maybe this will make it better," Ward set, bringing over a couple of packages that were wrapped. One was definitely bigger than the other, which looked small enough for Skye to hold in one hand.
They all sat together on the couch as Skye opened her presents. The larger one was a brand new laptop. Skye let out a crying laugh as she took in the gift they had gotten. "I don't know what to say," she said. "Thank you."
"It's got ten times the processing power than your old one," Fitz said. "It's just as powerful as some of the computers the highest agents of SHIELD use."
"Wow, I can't wait to use it!"
"And if you're going to use it, you'll need this," Coulson said, handing her the smaller package.
Skye laughed again when she unwrapped it. "A new hard drive?"
"A SHIELD hard drive," Coulson said, pointing at the SHIELD logo on top of the hard drive. "You can store so much data there. With you wanting to become a field agent, you'll need all the storage space you can get.
Skye smiled. "Thanks, A.C."
Coulson nodded before clapping his hands. "So, who's ready for dinner?"
Coulson had cooked dinner for the entire team as well as dessert. The six of them spent the night laughing, sharing stories, and just enjoying each other's company. As it got later, they all sat on the couches and watched Christmas movies. They watched a few movies like Elf, The Polar Express, and The Grinch.
Coulson didn't realize he had fallen asleep until the last movie they were watching when he closed his eyes for a second was The Polar Express, and now they were on Home Alone. Fitz and Simmons were sleeping next to each other on the couch, Ward had drifted off on the floor, and even May was asleep on the armchair. He looked around, realizing Skye was nowhere to be found.
Coulson checked her bunk, where she was nowhere to be found either, before realizing a place where she would most likely be.
He made his way to the cargo hold where the lab and cars were. He softly knocked on the window of one of the cars before the window began to roll down. Skye sat in the back seat, curled up while working on her brand new computer.
"Mind if I join you?" Skye motioned with her head for him to come in. Coulson climbed in. "What are you doing alone on Christmas?"
"I was getting just a little overwhelmed," Skye explained. "Plus, it got to a certain part of The Polar Express that just hit a little close to home, so I came to my safe space."
Coulson nodded, knowing there is a song the little boy, Billy, sings where he talks about how Christmas never really worked out for him in the past, and that's why he had difficulty believing in Santa.
"But thankfully, I now know that Christmases aren't completely hopeless for me anymore," Skye added.
Coulson gave her a warm smile. "I'm glad to hear that."
"Thank you, A.C.," Skye said. "For everything. Really."
Coulson smiled once more. "Come here." Coulson opened his arm so that Skye could lean into his embrace. "You'll never be alone on Christmas again. I'll make sure of it."
Skye smiled. Christmas is finally working out.