There are days when Skye wakes up and thinks that it might be a normal day. Then she remembers that Coulson's gone and May hates her because she discovered the people she thought were her birth parents were actually her adopted parents. Part of her says "Thank God I don't have crazy and psycho killer genes!" The other part of her wants to know where she came from more than ever. The little girl who'd been left scared at the orphanage cried and ripped up the papers after May had left. The young woman who had been taught by the great Bryce Larkin was more ready to look for answers than ever. May's opinions be damned.

The bracelet mocks her from it's spot around her wrist, flashing every so often to remind her it's still on and working. Skye half wonders what would happen if she hacked SHIELD for real with this little toy on and deactivated it. Would they even notice? Would they even care? She could get Bryce to do it. He knew how to destroy whole computer networks in a matter of minutes.

She's been ducking seeing her S.O. because she doesn't think she could handle seeing him in his bunk with new scars, not right now at least. She had flashed on him earlier, something that hadn't happened since that first time she saw him. This time she saw him going into May's hotel room in Ireland and she felt cold. She's made a complete fool out of herself, offering herself to him, acting like he might want her the way she wants him. She should have known.

Sometimes she forgets that SHIELD is also a spy agency and that their jobs are dangerous. There are days she knows Bryce was right; she should have just gone and become some computer nerd for some IT company instead of trying to hack government organizations to find out why they have a file on you and why the woman you thought was a Marshall really turned out to be a SHIELD agent. But she's always loved a good mystery and she's going to have to see Grant sooner or later.

There are days when Bryce has been tempted to stop being Neal Caffrey. He doesn't want to. He's built a life there. He likes being Neal; Neal is good. Neal is everything Bryce isn't. Neal is caring and loving and good. He is loyal and has a weakness for beautiful women named Sara(h). He will admit that Bryce does share those qualities too, but Neal has one thing Bryce doesn't: friends who trust him, care about him.

Or maybe not.

A criminal. That's all Peter would ever see him as. He thinks that he preferred it when Casey was shooting him or when Chuck hated him, because at least then he deserved it. Danny Brooks had been a petty criminal and an artist. Bryce Larkin had been a computer nerd and a super spy. Neal Caffrey had been an art thief who was just trying to protect Peter. He doesn't know who Neal Bennett was; he has no experience being him. Sometimes he thinks that things might have been better if he had just been Neal Bennett, simpler, normal even.

Things were going to change. That much Peter had right. It was time things did change.