Do you Know your Enemy

Chapter 4

Melinda was lying silently on the bed, thinking about the events that just happened a few hours ago. Natasha had ran into the bathroom to check on Skye after the realised that the room was just steaming up and hearing no noise form the shower. The shout that Natasha had gave made Melinda heart speed up, and not in a good way. She had leapt from the bed and followed Nat into the bathroom, only to be greeted by the sight of Nat pulling Skye from the shower, the girl lying limp in her arms. Not necessarily unconscious, just not aware of what was going on. Skye eyes were blank as she allowed Natasha to set her against the wall, covering Skye's body with a towel to try and keep some modesty for the girl incase she acknowledge what was going and then Nat began to assess Skye's body.

The shower was still steaming the room up, filling up the silence as they took in Skye's body. It was completely red, blistering in some area's from the intense heat, a heat that Melinda did not know showers could get up to. In a building with an A.I, you would think Stark had designed it to have certain safety measures installed, like controlling the temperature of the showers.

After taking in Skye's body and checking her old wounds, Natasha and May had applied some burn cream to help soothe the blistering skin and they would have Simmons or Banner check her out tomorrow morning, just to be safe.

Melinda looked down at the girl that was currently curled up into her side. She was aware that Skye received the brunt of the attack. The image of Skye hanging in mid-air, her body slowly rotating, showing off all of her wounds before completely wrecking havoc on the girls body, was not something she would soon forget. It had been terrifying. The entire mission. They had lost a chunk of their agents, their top specialists were now residing in the Avengers tower, nursing their wounds and Coulson was off galavanting somewhere with Mack.

That was only the tip of the problem.

Simmons was building up to an emotional breakdown, that she was sure of. The poor women never really had much time to process the betrayal of Ward, the near death experience of being at the bottom of the ocean with Fitz, going undercover at Hydra when she was barely even prepared and then trying to help Fitz once she came back, only to be completely rejected. It was difficult to witness your best friend seemingly turn into another person, one that couldn't stand to be in the same room as you, never mind start a conversation with and vent out her feelings. It had gotten better recently, the two of them could be near each other but they still were not talking. It was a lot to deal with and not enough time to deal with it. Then, on top of all that, you have the mission they were just on and honestly Melinda thought that this would be the last straw for Simmons before having a meltdown.

The women was strong, Melinda would never dare say anything else and if anyone tried to say something else, the would be hearing from Melinda in seconds. However, everyone has their breaking points. Where they experience something so traumatic, so terrifying that they just can't handle it and everything just seems to fall apart and it feels like the weight of the world has been dropped onto your bruised and unstable shoulders. An impossible weight to carry alone.

She almost sighed thinking about Simmons. If Melinda was right, she would need someone and she wasn't exactly the most open and caring person around. She showed her affection for people by either beating them up, or someone that has hurt them up. Majority of the time both. Unless it was Natasha.

The way she showed affection worked for Skye. The pushing to achieve more, the silent approval (occasionally backed up with the verbal approval) and occasional physical contact. It worked. Well, rather, it had been working. Recently Skye's been clinging to her a lot more and it was getting harder and harder to deny the girl what she wants. Especially now. It was also harder to deny to Coulson that no, she has not adopted another fully grown adult women.

But Simmons wasn't Skye, she thrives more on authority figures telling her she's done well, that she did the right thing, plus physical touch. At least, that is what she can gather. When Simmons had came back from Hydra, Melinda had asked Morse to look out for her, make sure she's okay. That she was sleeping and eating. It was identified early on when Simmons returned from the mission, that one of the problems she experienced in adjusting back to her normal life was that she would barely eat. Coulson and May would watch the girl eat little bits that Morse offered her at meal times. Morse had assured them that outside of meal times she was managing to get Simmons to eat a bit more. It eased their worried knowing that Bobbi was looking out for her.

It was strange to think that Simmons only came back two month ago. So much has changed in such a short space of time. They thought they were doing well, they thought they were progressing. Skye was doing well with her training. She was fast tracking herself to become another S.H.I.E.L.D specialist. Simmons had brought forward brilliant information on Hydra and was back working in the labs. Morse, Hunter and Mack had joined their team, more field agents and they had the other wayward agents join as Fitz was improving. Everything seemed to be going good.

Until it wasn't. Trip died. Hartley died. Skye got powers and met her parents, who were still on the loose and hunting down Skye. Bobbi was kidnapped by Ward, tortured to the brink of death. Coulson seemed to be losing control of everything and Hunter was out for revenge. Plus their S.H.I.E.L.D psychologist went missing, Andrew Gardner. It was a man Melinda had went on a few dates that went nowhere. He was still a friend, he still helped Skye when she came back with her powers. He helped Simmons when she came back from her stint in Hydra. Then he was helping Coulson by looking through the journals of Jiaying, Skye's mother, and seeing what he could make of them.

When Skye got her powers, she had been instantly whisked away by a blur of blue light. She had appeared three weeks later with the ability to control the vibrations of anything around and cause earthquakes...as well as covered in bruises. Skye had attempted at hiding everything that happened to her at first, afraid of the reactions of the team. Understandably, they were shocked when Skye had told them that she found her parents, that her mother had a gene called the "inhuman gene", basically it meant they were half human, half alien. Kree, to be precise. Which cause wary looks to go round the team. It had been unsettling at first, but most of the team quickly reassured Skye that they would not treat her any differently.

Mack had hesitated to accept Skye, he still was. Everyone had tried to talk to him about before Skye told them to leave him alone, that she understood where he was coming from. He had also went down into that tunnel, only to be mind controlled by some ancient form that wanted a tour guide for inhumans to go through the transitioning in the ancient city. That he had ever right to be wary of her.

After that everyone left him alone and thinks slowly seemed to be getting back to normal. Skye started using her powers on the mission, they had some instances, nothing that they thought was too traumatic for the girl, but they were wrong. Simmons and Fitz were slowly able to be in one room at the same time, things were getting back to normal. Then Ward happened. The things were slowly getting back to normal, no one knew if Bobbi was going to be okay again after finding out the extent of her knee injury, but things were getting back to where they were. If Melinda and Coulson found the team sleeping in a giant pile in the common area, they didn't say anything. If that's what help, that is what helped. Who were they to say otherwise?

Then Coulson thought the team could use an easy going case of trying to recruit a enhanced human. Only, it wasn't as easy as they thought and everything went to shit again. Now the New York and surrounding S.H.I.E.L.D team has been reduced to eight people. Eight.

Melinda wasn't going to kid herself into thinking that they could bounce right back from this, had has been brewing for months, the damage was too extensive this time. They needed help, they needed people who were more used to fighting enhanced. The Avengers seemed like a great option and Melinda was glad that Coulson had got Fitz to call them in or no doubt they would all be dead right now.

It wasn't easy, that was for sure. The recovery wont be easy, but hopefully, now that they are residing in a secure building with the world first response team to mankind disasters protecting them, they might be able to recovery properly. Rather than sweeping everything under a rug and pretending it's okay.

Melinda sighed softly and gently rolled herself onto her side, stilling herself when Skye let out a small mumble before pushing herself closer to Melinda, gripping her top in her sleep. Melinda almost smiled at Skye clinging to her in her sleep, it made her feel useful when she knows that the girl is prone to nightmares. Looking over the top of Skye's body, she found her wife curled up on the other side of Skye, from the looks of things, she did have one arm wrapped protectively around the girl's waist. Until Skye moved closer to May. Now her finger tips were barely brushing Skye's back.

Her face was currently scrunched up as she sleepily began to move her hand, searching for the body it was just residing on. Natasha lifted her head, looking confused.

"I was literally just holding her." She mumbled sleepily, shifting closer to Skye and falling back into her previous position. "Was keepin' me warm" she continued in the same sleepy tone. Totally adorable.

"Mmm, I shifted onto my side, so she followed." Melinda explained, carefully stretching herself over Skye, trying not to move her and place a soft kiss on Natasha's lips.

"Mmm, now, if only Skye wasn't in the bed with us, that could have lead to many fun things." Natasha said, opening her eyes and propping herself up on her elbow so she could look at Melinda more clearly. "What are you doing up anyways, Mel?" Natasha asked, the sleep in her voice gone. Super spy ability.

Melinda mirrored Natasha's position, making sure Skye was still sleeping against her before replying "I couldn't sleep after what happened. Been thinking."

"About?"

"Everything." Melinda replied nonchalantly.

"That's vague." Natasha said cautiously, eyeing Melinda warily. She was not a fan when her wife wouldn't explain what she was thinking or feeling. Melinda was very good at hiding her feelings.

Melinda smiled weakly at her wife, she understood the wariness that Natasha was giving her "Don't worry 'Tasha. To be precise, I was thinking about everything that has led to this moment. The team. The missions. The ups and downs. Everything."

"So what's you assessment then?" Natasha asked calmly, knowing that her wife was thinking everything through, to see if there was anything she could have done to prevent this, or at least ease the pain of her team.

"That, given the circumstances, there wasn't anything we could have done really to prevent this. That this has been brewing for months. That I'm scared that the agents I have under my wing, Jemma; Leo; Skye and Bobbi, are not going to be okay. The four of them have been through so much recently that I'm not sure how to help them. Normally I had Bobbi and Mack look after Fitz and Simmons because she was able to understand them on a scholar level that no one else could and then Bobbi, Mack and Hunter would look after each other and I kept my eye on Skye and Coulson and it worked. It worked for a long time, but I never anticipated all of them going down at the same time. I'm just worried." May ranted quietly, worry all over her face as she let out her emotions to her wife.

Natasha smiled sadly at her wife and decided to climb over Skye. "Move up" she mumbled as she moved.

Melinda shuffled herself and Skye to allow room for Natasha on the other side. She flopped down with grace and tugged her wife to face her;

"Skye can cuddle your back for a bit" she teased lightly, wrapping her arms tightly around Melinda's waist and began placing small kisses all over Melinda's exposed skin.

Melinda just lay still, allowing Natasha to do this. It was a comforting action, Natasha repeating over and over with each tiny kiss just how much they meant to each other, how much they cared about each other and loved each other. Natasha finished her trail of small pecks by kissing Melinda soundly on the lips, pressing their foreheads together and squeezed her arms that were around her waist.

"Now, listen to me, my beautiful Melinda May," Natasha started in a small murmur. "You, in no way could have predicted this, not this, not this mission. Not any of the missions. All the things you have had to deal with since S.H.I.E.L.D's collapse has been horrible, traumatic and just plan terrifying really. You, personally, have been through so much shit and I get that you want to look out of the baby agents, but who looks after you? Huh? Coulson? From what I've heard he's been unable to tell the difference between his head and his arse.

I'm not going to pretend that I understand what you are going through because I can't say I've been through what you are going through and I've been through many shit situations. What I do know, is that you are cared for deeply by everyone in this tower and that you need a break at some point during the day. I would say nights, because it means that I can hold my beautiful, selfless wife in my arms. Run my hands through your insanely soft hair and take care of any need that you may have. Any. At all. Okay? You need a break too." Natasha finished, kissing May softly again, trying to convey her feelings on the situation.

"You're too good for me." Melinda mumbled, trying to hold back tears. It warmed her heart that Natasha was trying her best to understand the situation and understand how Melinda needed to cope with it. Most people would tell her to just focus on herself and getting herself better before worrying about anyone else, but Natasha understood that she couldn't do that and so decided to tell her that she at least need a few hours, each day where someone can look after her. That was something that Melinda could handle more, could appreciate more.

"Nah, I think it's the other way around." Natasha teased back, sweeping Melinda's hair out from her face.

The two of them were smiling softly at each other, happy to be in each others arm. Sure, to most people it would be weird having Skye holding her tightly from behind, her face buried against the back of her neck, but it just made this feel more right. Skye was her daughter and Natasha was her wife. Her tiny, perfect, family, curled up beside her. Well, Maria wasn't, but Melinda would deal with her other wayward daughter tomorrow, as well as the rest of the time, but right now she was going to enjoy this moment.

She felt her eyes getting heavy and decided, some sleep wouldn't be so bad after all. She shuffled forward and buried her head in the crock of Natasha's neck, softly kissing her neck in thanks. She could feel Natasha's chest vibrate with her quite chuckled.

"Now I see where Skye gets it." She teased, threading her fingers through Melinda's hair. "Get some sleep babe, you're going to need it for tomorrow and experience what a true day is like in the Avengers tower."

"I'm sure it will be fun." Melinda replied, letting herself slowly fall asleep "plus, Skye and I aren't even biologically related so that makes no sense."

"Yes it does, now sleep my beautiful wicked witch of the west." Natasha said, a smirk on her face.

"You're going to make me hate...that..." Melinda trailed off, falling asleep. Clearly more exhausted than she let on.

Natasha gave her wife one final sad smile before nestling down in the covers, double checking to make sure Skye was okay before going back to sleep herself. After all, it was only 2 am.