If I Had A Dollar…

Skye/Angel

SkyAngel?

Theme song:

Foo Fighters – Learn To Fly

Just a note: Angel's real name is Warren Worthington III and he's heir, and later owner, of a Fortune 500 company. In this version, he's concealing what he really is from pretty much everybody.

I got begged for a sequel before the original Short for this pairing had even been published, by the lovely phoenix_173 who beta-reads my X-Men stories for me to check I've got them in character. (I think she was actually panting at the thought of Warren's wings being an erogenous zone…)

So without further ado – here it comes. We won't be getting to the smut quite yet as I have a bit of setup to create first, but never fear, it's not far away…

Chapter One – If I Had A Dollar

"How do you know it's not a trap?"

"I don't. That's why I brought you."

"Phiiiil," Skye whined. "Come on, you gotta tell me something."

"You know plenty about Warren Worthington III. I saw you and Jemma sighing over that magazine where he took over Tony Stark's title for Most Eligible Bachelor, now Stark's off the market."

Skye blushed slightly. "Yeah, yeah, billionaire playboy philanthropist and all that. What I don't get is why you're interested in him."

"His name was on a list Fury left me in the Toybox. As a possible source of 'black' funding for the new S.H.I.E.L.D., and no I don't know why that might be. I do know he agreed to meet and he said it had to be here and that I could bring one person only with me. As much as I was tempted to bring May because she doesn't talk so much," Phil gave Skye a meaningful look, "realistically you're the most dangerous person on the team these days."

"Just seems like a really weird-ass place for a successful businessman to want to meet," Skye grumbled quietly as they walked down into the small valley. It was a pretty place, she had to admit, a shallow grassy bowl with a small stream burbling through the middle of it. The tall, blond man standing by the stream looked thoroughly out of place in his expensive business suit.

"Mr Coulson." Worthington stepped forward, held out a manicured hand. Hard blue eyes raked once over Skye and clearly dismissed her as unimportant.

"Mr Worthington. Thank you for agreeing to meet with me." Phil heard Skye's teeth grind and hoped she wouldn't lose her temper.

What an asshole. He might be gorgeous, and more broad-shouldered than I expected, and wow he could cut glass with those cheekbones… Skye shook herself, irritated. He's an asshole, no matter how pretty he is.

He sure is pretty, though – oh what the hell, there's no law against looking.

Phil hoped he was concealing his irritation a lot better than Skye was. She was practically glaring a hole through Worthington. The guy was being arrogant, though, and very evasive in his answers. Only the mention of Fury's name got a reaction out of him, broad shoulders shifting uncomfortably under his suit jacket.

"Fury and I had an agreement," Warren said coldly, feeling a sudden panic rising in him. Shit, who else did Fury tell? Did this innocuous-looking man know about him? Was this some sort of attempt at extortion? He glanced at the girl, who hadn't stopped staring at him. She was pretty enough that at any other time he might have felt flattered. Looked back at Coulson.

"I'm not privy to whatever agreement you had with Fury," Phil said, wearying of Worthington's evasiveness. "I'm the new Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., but we're now a black operation and we don't have funding. Your name was top of the list Fury left me of people who might be willing to help. That's the reason I called. That's the only reason I called."

The two men stared at each other for a long moment. Warren could still feel that cold shiver down his back, feel his wings trying to tremble, escape from their confinement. He didn't dare turn his back on them for fear that the two agents would see the odd movements under his clothes.

"I'm sorry you've had a wasted trip," he said finally. I can't risk anyone else learning my secret…

Skye lost her tenuous grip on her temper. The ground shook beneath their feet, Coulson stumbled and would have fallen if she hadn't grabbed his arm, and Worthington…

Worthington rose off the ground, propelled by enormous white wings that had literally torn free from his clothes, shredding his expensive shirt and suit coat.

The ground stopped shaking. Warren settled back to his feet with a sigh, taking in the open-mouthed, astonished expressions of Coulson and his companion.

"Well, fuck, you didn't know after all," he said to Coulson.

"Are you an angel?" Skye asked a bit dumbly, utterly stunned by those wings. They had to be nearly twenty feet across.

"If I had a dollar for every time I've heard that…" well, I wouldn't be all that much richer than I am now. And I still wouldn't have my soulmate.

"Those are my soulmark words!" Skye said in surprise.

"They what?" he blinked. He was just about to demand Show me, but realised she probably already thought he was an arrogant ass. He turned instead, flicking his wings up so he didn't whack her with them, showing her the cliché written between his shoulder blades. Are you an angel? "Is this your writing?"

Gentle fingers brushed his skin – and the delicate feathers that grew around the words. Warren shuddered with sudden shock. Oh my God that's an erogenous zone. No one ever touched me there before…

"It's my writing," Skye said quietly. She looked at Phil.

"I'll be in the car."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean… did that hurt?" she couldn't help but touch the downy feathers again as Phil walked hurriedly away. They were unbelievably soft.

"N-no," he stuttered. "Not hurt. Ahhh!" he had to turn around, even though she might look down and see how aroused he was, because if she touched him there again he was going to do something very embarrassing like stain his pants. He was already going to have to find another shirt from somewhere. Pants might be trickier.

His wings folded around Skye as he turned and reached to take her hands in his. They were incredibly soft.

"We got off to a bad start. Won't you tell me your name?" Warren asked quietly.

"Skye," she smiled up at him wonderingly.

He smiled crookedly. "How appropriate. The sky's my favourite place to be."

She couldn't help but laugh as his wings gathered her closer, his head tilting down towards hers. "I think I'm going to like flying when it's with you."

So obviously this is just a repeat of the original Short. Click on to Chapter 2 to find out what happens next…