a/n: this is my first ever aos fic and it just came to mind and i ran with it. please r&r!

I

"Why can't the kid just go stay with someone while her mom is being interrogated?" Skye asks Coulson, the intensity of her frown causing her eyebrows to crease.

"Because they have no other family, Skye." The way Coulson says this makes it seem like there's no room for argument, which is something Skye doesn't personally agree with.

Nevertheless, she sighs and moves to pick up the little girl. Coulson stops her, putting out a hand.

"No, give her to Melinda," Phil orders her.

Skye gapes at him. "What?" she hisses incredulously. "You're going to give her to The Cav—I mean, Agent May?"

He narrows his eyes at her. "She'll be fine. Besides… May's good with children."

Which turns out to be a total lie, Skye figures out after about twenty minutes of watching Melinda interact with the little girl. It wasn't out of dislike of the child either, it was out of utter lack of experience.

And Skye would find it funny, hell, Fitzsimmons thinks it's hilarious. But there's something in her mind that's pulling her mood down and she can't find the humour in the little girl following Melinda around.

"She seems to like you," Simmons notes as the little girl situates herself in Melinda's lap. The look on Melinda's face seems to make Simmons giggle, but she covers her mouth. Fitz… was not so polite, as he outright laughs at the grimace on the older agents face.

Melinda looks down at the blonde child and Skye swears she almost sees a smile but she reckons that's just her mind playing tricks on her.

"Her name is Alexandra," Phil tells them as he watches Melinda with a brief smile on his face.

Alexandra.

Skye grits her teeth as she watches Alexandra touch strands of Melinda's hair, and she has to look away when she sees Melinda hold the little girl closer. She's getting more comfortable with her.

"Is the interrogation over?" Melinda asks Phil, her eyes not leaving Alexandra's as she herself runs her own fingers through the little girl's hair. It's an idle movement, so she probably doesn't even realize she's doing this.

"Yes. She's sitting tight until we land." Phil checks his watch. "Which should be in about two hours. She'll be able to go home after filling some stuff out."

Skye breathes a sigh of relief and she knows Coulson heard her. If not by the look on his face, then by him asking to speak with her privately in his office.

He locks the door firmly behind him.

"What's up, A.C?" she asks coyly, leaning on the edge of his desk.

"I was worrying the same thing about you, Skye," he says quietly. "What's wrong?"

Skye gives him a look. "I don't know what you're talking about – I don't like children. That's all."

"You were great with Ace, so that tells me that you're lying," he tells her. "Try again."

Skye fidgets and links her fingers in front of herself. "It's stupid."

"Try me."

Skye sighs and slumps forward a little bit. "I don't know. I didn't like seeing Melinda warming up to Alexandra because I kind of view her as my mom." The words are quiet and she feels dumb for even saying them aloud, much less to Coulson. "I know she likes me, I know she does. But she's never… I don't know. She doesn't show me often. And she's the closest thing I've had to a mother figure and she's someone I look up to. And she smiled at the kid. She only ever really smirks at me." She peeks up at him through her eyelashes and he's giving her this look.

"Skye, I know that Melinda sometimes isn't good with showing emotion." Understatement of the century. Skye purses her lips and waits for him to continue. "But she does like you. She likes you, and she likes Fitzsimmons, and she trusts you all. She just has a bit of trouble showing it."

"She doesn't have trouble showing she likes you, or that kid," Skye mumbles.

"That's because I've known her since before you were born, and the chances of her seeing Alexandra again are slim to none," Phil tells her patiently.

Skye looks up at him fully now. "You don't think what I thought was dumb?"

"Not at all. Melinda is very complicated but she cares very much for you. She beat the hell out of Quinn for you and she hardly loses control like that."

Skye blinks. "She did what?"

"Nothing." Phil waves it off. "Point is, she cares about you and it's not abnormal for you to feel this way. We're a family. You view her as a mother-figure. Perfectly normal. Okay?"

Skye gives him a little smile.

"Did she really beat up Quinn?"

He doesn't answer her, instead he walks to the door and holds it open. "Come on, we'll be landing soon."

~.~.~.~

"You were great with Alexandra," Coulson tells Melinda once they're back in the air after their stop.

Melinda gives him a look full of venom, but from where Skye was standing, she can detect amusement. "It wasn't so bad," she reasons. "She wasn't as noisy as most children at that age are."

Skye walks forward and she wraps her arms around the older woman, who stiffens the slightest bit before awkwardly putting her hands on Skye's back.

"Why are we hugging?" Melinda asks in monotone, breaking through the couple of seconds of silence.

Skye doesn't respond, she just hugs tighter for a couple of seconds before letting go and smiling a sincere smile at Melinda. "I just wanted to say thank you."

Melinda does that cool one-eyebrow-raise thing. "For what?"

"Just for being here." Skye shrugs and walks off, and she wishes she could've seen the look she knows Melinda probably shot Phil, but she walks toward her bunk because she feels tears and a smile rising to her face and she doesn't want to embarrass herself.

She's finally got a family.

Although it's not the two parent household with a dog named Spot or a picket fence outside in their front yard, it's a family nonetheless.

And she's damn proud she has it.