Playtime
An Agents of SHIELD fanfic by Aisling Yinyr Ngaio

He watched surreptitiously from his bunk as she played with the little boy, smiling fondly as she caught him and swung him around, their childish laughter echoing throughout the lounge. Thank goodness the child's father was still alive - due to the Extremis in his system, no doubt - albeit heavily injured, necessating his immediate removal from the scene of the explosion to the nearest medical facility, while the rest of the team had no choice but to take charge of his young son in the interim, in case of further kidnap attempts.

Laid up and ordered to on-call bed rest in the aftermath of that horrific incident (under threat of sedation), he dozed fitfully, thankful that he was only shot in the chest instead of in the head, because the worst of the impact was absorbed by the bulletproof vest he wore, resulting only in new bruises without any entry wounds. Added to that his still healing injuries from the fight at the Oakland factory, and he was even glad to have some downtime while awaiting their next orders or communications from HQ.

His enforced resting also allowed him to learn, completely unintentionally, the real reason Skye joined the Rising Tide, when he chanced to hear her yell at May, in the midst of an argument during the one time they were together in the lounge, that she'd "be damned if I let Ace be left alone and afraid without his parents, the way SHIELD did to me when they redacted me as a baby!"

For the first time since the hotel bar in Ireland, he truly saw her again, the real person she hid behind her usual cheery disposition, and remembered all too painfully that it was because "hulking out" all the time didn't help her any, she'd said. She chose to embrace the light, to find the good things in life, and somehow he couldn't help being reminded of how much he had enjoyed her company in the early days of the Bus, before those memories were tainted by her divided loyalties and secret boyfriend.

And before his life was swallowed up with his new secret liaison.

He'd peeked out of his bunk after the playtime noises resumed in the aftermath of the loud angry exchange, in time to see her spinning around with the boy in her arms who shrieked delightedly, before the pair ran off and disappeared from view. He hesitated, considered the potential wrath of Simmons, then shrugged and snuck out of his bunk, attracted by their lively energy. He headed towards the duo's last location to find Skye with Ace Peterson in the Cage, doing a noisy re-enactment of the Battle of New York with his slew of Avengers action figures. The young woman did not even mind pretending being a Chitauri soldier and getting attacked from all angles by toy guns or shields or a large green Hulk. She did look up distractedly at his entrance, and he registered the concerned look on her face before she went down, "defeated" by Iron Man's repulsor beams.

Calling a breathless ceasefire-slash-surrender, she coaxed the boy to play by himself for a while, thinking that there had been developments with HQ about Coulson's case, and gave him her full, serious attention, the way she always did even when she cracked the occasional joke during mission briefings. He felt a sudden stab of guilt at his neglect of her in favour of his… other activities these past couple of weeks. She hadn't actually changed much since then, remaining just as annoying, brash, invasive… charming, optimistic, warm, and committed to causes she believed in. And loving. It was part of her, a natural aura that drew people to her, that drove her to help others in the little ways she could, so that the other person wouldn't feel as lonely as she had been, even if it was only for that little while in time. He finally understood the reason Coulson adamantly recruited her for the Bus. Her hacking skills were a good bonus to the team, but it was her personality he really wanted.

She cared deeply, naturally, and so completely. And unlike him, she wasn't afraid to show it, even after being hurt so many times. It was she who connected back with Mike Peterson the quickest despite the fact that she'd been the one in his captivity back at Union Station. She who befriended FitzSimmons before he ever took note of them. She who braved May's enforced solitude in the cockpit without May complaining once. She who… poked and prodded and teased him into being part of the team when he'd been so irritated at being recruited onto the Bus in the first place. Despite her naivete in trusting so quickly in the good of others, he couldn't help but respect that, admire that, and… miss that.

Without her, he could've taken longer to fully trust in his new team, and it could've easily cost them dearly.

So he waved them back to the pseudo-battle, observing amusedly as they roughed and tumbled around with the action figures in their hands, and didn't even object when he was conscripted by Ace into playing, to Skye's infinite surprise, so long as he wasn't required to move around too much on account of his injuries. And he had never felt happier in these past months, despite the dark cloud of Coulson's kidnap still hovering over them. For the moment, at least until SHIELD HQ managed to track down Centipede's helicopter, they had this moment to entertain a young boy caught between them and the dangerous organisation which might spell the end of their leader.

Later, he promised himself as he raised Barton's action figure to poke Ace's tummy with the pointed end of the arrow while taking a hit from Skye's Mjolnir, surrounded by victorious whoops and laughter from the pair. He'd ask her the questions about her past once they'd gotten Coulson back and their team was whole once again.

- Finis -