AN: Okay so I'm back with another AoS fic featuring our potato fam. I'm rereading other fics of them bc I don't see a lot of new philindaisy stories. I wrote this just to quench my thirst for potato fam content so *wink* A bit AU since it doesn't follow any timeline just that SHE REMAINS SKYE AFTER AFTERLIFE, TRIPP IS ALIVE, AND THE OTHERS KNOW COULSON IS ALIVE.

ALSO, DID YOU SEE THE SNEAK PEEK! GOD CAN'T WAIT FOR MAY/DAISY REUNION OR DAISY/SARGE INTERACTION (ANGST PROBS).

Disclaimer: a drill is a drill.

Skye woke up with a jolt as she suffered through another nightmare. Who would've thought that even after all that she's been through she would still get nightmares about the orphanage and being left alone? She rolled her eyes at her own thought, ignored the burning feeling in her stomach and fought the urge to let a few tears fall. Ever since joining SHIELD, her nightmares included the people she let herself call family, especially the two most important people in her life who she liked to consider as parents. Some nights it's bad enough to make her not fall asleep the next night or make her quake the place when her powers got in the picture. It's all the same: she was left alone and abandoned once again by the family she has now. Yet the pain did not lessen each time she had those nightmares.

After taking a moment, she glanced at the clock beside her bed and realized that she slept in. She was late for her Tai Chi session with May and god knows what she'll get from this. Last time she was late, May wore her out in sparring, half annoyed and half amazed by the fact that while she was heaving already from exhaustion, her SO looked as if they just started 5 minutes ago.

She scrambled out of her bed and changed into a more appropriate clothing and as soon as she got out of her room, she was greeted by the team with smiles and balloons and a cake. "Happy Birthday Skye!" She grinned widely as she blew the candle and instead of making a wish, she gave a silent thank you to anyone responsible for giving her this family.

To be honest, she didn't realize it was her birthday today, "aww thanks guys, this really makes my day." she searched the group for May and Coulson as slightly deflated not seeing their faces. "But I have to go, I'm late for Tai Chi and I don't want May to kill me."

The silence that she got made her stop short and turned back around to face the others. She narrowed her eyes as Mack and Trip slipped out back as well as Fitz scratching his head and mumbled incoherently before leaving, "Simmons? What's going on?"

Internally, Simmons cursed at the others and smiled sweetly at Skye while trying to figure out a way to break the news to Skye. "Well, last night, around 2 in the morning the Director received a call, he didn't say anything about it just told us that he and May are going somewhere. Several minutes later an aircraft fetched them."

Skye was silent for a moment then furrowed her eyebrows, "wait, they didn't bring the Z1? Who's running the base now? AND WHY DID NO ONE WAKE ME?"

Jemma looked at her wearily, "Agent Hill and Agent Romanoff are here actually, and both May and Coulson specifically asked not to wake you up. They said it's not necessary and besides you need your rest." When she noticed that Skye was about to argue she added sheepishly, "Coulson said it's an order."

Skye rolled her eyes and thank Jemma before walking away, "damn it DC."

When Skye reached the gym, she started with Tai Chi just like how May taught her. It was confusing the first time she did it but when she caught up with her SO she began to feel relaxed. She sensed that someone was inside the room with her after a while, she smiled a bit thinking how proud May would be if she knew. She continued with her task but acknowledged the other person in the room, "you could join me if you want. I don't mind the company."

From her place by the doorway, Natasha raised an eyebrow, impressed by the young agent's instinct. She smirked a bit as she stepped towards Skye, "I gave up learning Tai Chi from Agent May and I'd rather not get into it again."

Skye nodded but remained silent, she knew she was being observed, Melinda May was tasked to train only the best agents SHIELD has after she proved herself and made up the ranks. She learned from the others that when Natasha Romanoff was brought into SHIELD she and May trained together. "Need anything?"

"Actually, yes, Maria is asking for you. She's in Coulson's office."

When she entered Coulson's office and saw Agent Hill leaning against his desk, a weird feeling settled in her stomach, like some stranger was invading Coulson's privacy. Hill looked up at her and smiled briefly, "hello Skye, please have a seat."

She furrowed her eyebrows feeling like this was serious conversation and it might have to do with the call that her da-Coulson got. Please let them be safe. Let them be safe. She cleared her throat, "so, agent Romanoff said you wanted to talk to me? Is this about Coulson and May's mission?"

Hill smiled to herself, it seemed as though Skye had picked up the trait of not beating around the bush from May. "Yes, Coulson called in few hours ago reporting back that they have arrived to their location. So far, we still have no information as to what they are dealing with but SHIELD received an intel years ago that an 084 was in the possession of a syndicate. Any leads regarding that case went cold as the syndicate began to operate further underground. Last night a former agent of SHIELD called in and said they have spotted members of the said syndicate. I relayed the information to Coulson and he agreed to take the case first-hand."

Skye's brain processed the information and nodded, "so if Coulson's in the field then that means they have to negotiate with the syndicate. They didn't bring the Z1, so there must be another team tagging along?"

Maria was impressed with Skye's train of thought and nodded, "Barton piloted the plane and two other agents were also sent with them in case an extraction team is needed."

Skye's eyes widened, "so it's just Coulson and May going in there? With three backups? Against a syndicate that may have a dangerous 084," she scoffed, "you've got to be kidding me."

The senior agent sighed and tried to explain, "it's a simple grab-and-go mission Skye, and Coulson and May is one of the best partnership that SHIELD ever has, plus they were very certain that it's highly unlikely things will go south. They only requested for three backups."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Coulson said you would've asked for information."

The hacker clenched her jaw, feeling helpless, annoyed, worried, and scared, "if something bad happens to them," she did not finish her sentence and walked out of the office.

After lunch, Skye retreated back to her bunk and sighed, she couldn't concentrate on anything other than what's going on with Coulson and May. She wanted to get an update from Hill but also afraid to hear any news that might upset her. She tossed and turned around her bed until she decided to wore herself out a bit.

Skye focused on every punch as each thought went to her head. Each jab on the punching bag getting more and more stronger with her powers also threatening to burst out. She didn't know why she's so affected by this. May and Coulson had been in hundreds of missions together before. But then again, she had time to mentally prepare herself for those missions. But this, she didn't have a background on the syndicate or what the 084 was. She had no idea where they are, how long it's gonna take, or how many men her parents were gonna take out. And they didn't even say goodbye. "HAPPY. FUCKING. BIRTHDAY."

When her powers became too much to bear, she directed them towards the punching bag which immediately flew across the room. A searing pain shot through her arm and she cursed, "shit!" She inspected her arm and saw that it was bruised all over. Great, just what I need. She went to the med bay and was glad that Simmons was already there, "uh Simmons? are you busy?"

Simmons turned, "not really, you need help with something?"

Skye had the decency to looked guilty when Simmons noticed the bruises in her arm, "Skye, what have you done! Are you trying to get yourself killed?"

She rolled her eyes at the exaggeration, "oh please, it's just a bruise! I just want to get it check."

"Yeah, right, have you forgotten the last time the vibrations caused you these bruises, May taught you how to control them Skye, not suppress them."

"I was not suppressing it, just delayed them," she mumbled.

"I guess you just have to rest it out," seeing that Skye was about to smile, "but you're staying here in the med bay."

"What? Why?"

"Because I have to make sure that you're not gonna do anything utterly stupid and try to pass it off as resting."

Skye groaned but did not make any further protest, she let Simmons inspect her arm and placed an ice pack over her arm. "Now keep this here for 20 minutes and I'll take another look at it in case we need to put a cast." Simmons pitied her patient who banged her head against the table and muttered complaints.

After the the ice pack was removed Skye lied down on the bed in the med bay, the fatigue caused by overthinking and exhaustion caught up to her. Simmons quietly slipped on the cast on her arm and smiled at her as she drifted off to sleep.

As she reached the common area, Simmons nodded to both senior agents, "she okay?"

"Uh yeah, she just needs a little rest," she sighed, "and maybe a conversation with May and Coulson."

The two newcomers looked at her, confused, "Skye tends to divert her ability towards herself when emotions are too much to bear. She has learned to control it with the help of agent May but when she's really overwhelmed... well that happens," she pointed her head back towards the med bay. She sat down with the agents, "it will keep on manifesting that way unless Skye talks it out and that usually happens when either May or Coulson is around."

As if by fate, Coulson called and said they were on their way back.

It was half past midnight when Coulson and May arrived back at the Playground. Both of them were tired and worn out from the mission, plus some minor cuts and bruises they acquired when the negotiation part went awry. Maria and Natasha greeted them by the hangar and exchange pleasantries as they stepped back in.

"Any of my agents gave you any trouble?"

"There's nothing really for them to do so they kinda went on their own."

Coulson and May shared a look before narrowing their eyes and stopped the two women behind them. Natasha raised an eyebrow, "what?"

"Something you want to tell us?"

Maria sighed, "why don't we go in first so you could settle back in."

Back in the common area, the others saw them come in and gave a nod, "sir, agent May, glad your back from the field." Bobbi greeted.

When the four senior agents were left alone the they looked at each other then spoke at the same time.

"Where's Skye?"

"Is Skye alright?"

"Skye is"

"So about Skye"

Before they even clarified things, May and Coulson rushed to Skye's bunk and was surprised when they found it empty. They turned back around and both have questioning looks on their faces. The door next to Skye's opened and revealed a half-asleep Simmons, "oh sir, agent May, I'm so glad you're back."

"Simmons where's Skye?" May asked.

Instead of answering, Simmons yawned and motioned for them to follow her. "Skye had an accident this afternoon. I did a standard procedure on her arm and put a cast on it just in case, then I guess she was so tired and worn out that she passed out in the med bay. I didn't wanna wake her so she's still here."

From behind them, Maria and Natasha looked amused, "and here I thought they'd be tired from fieldwork."

Simmons let a small smile grace her features before answering softly as they reached the med bay, "if it concerns Skye, agent May and Coulson will never get tired. The team, we're a family here and we'd do anything for each other, especially the three of them."

Coulson and May stood on either side of the bed and looked down at their kid. He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and whispered, "we missed her birthday."

May sighed and nodded, "and she's been keeping to herself again, how did we miss this Phil? Are we not paying enough attention to her?"

Coulson put a hand over May's and shook his head, "we're doing everything we can to help her but SHIELD is still in shambles and we might have overlooked the signs."

Skye stirred on the bed and slowly opened her eyes, when she was greeted by the two people she loved most, she sat up straight and was about to pull them into a hug when she cried out, "damn it!" she withdrew her arm and cradled it against her chest as she laid back against the bed. "I swear to god if you pull another stunt like that on me, I will break." She held back her tears as May gently wrapped an arm around her and Coulson did the same.

May placed a gentle kiss on her temple, "happy birthday sweetheart."

Coulson greeted her as well and added, "we promise we'll make it up to you as soon as you're healed," Skye nodded.

"It's okay, you're probably tired, why don't you-" the look her mom gave her was enough to shut her up, "okay family time it is, then." Though on the inside she was bursting with happiness. Even though they missed her birthday, it was enough for her that they chose to see her here than resting after a mission.

"Speaking of which, Jemma, how long do you think before she heals?"

"Uh probably a week sir, give or take a few."

Natasha smirked, "she spent the whole afternoon at the gym and the vibrations caught my attention, I'd say your impressive kid but you gotta let yourself breathe."

Skye's eyes widened and she hung her head low when her pseudo-parents looked at her with raised eyebrows. "I'm sorry."

"Give us a moment will you?" Coulson asked.

The other three in the room nodded and left them quietly.

"I told you already I was not suppressing it!" Skye whined again as she was met with unconvinced eyes.

"Tell us what happened from the beginning."

She looked at them both and sighed, she hated this. Hated how needy she seemed. How childish she was. She started from the beginning and paused when she reached the part where she was at the gym. "I went down to the gym because I was feeling restless. I know you guys have been on countless missions before but this is the first time I don't have any background on who you're dealing with or how dangerous it can be. I feel like if something happened to both of you it's my fault for not knowing something."

Coulson smiled sadly, "you could've asked Hill about it," he whispered.

"I know that AC but at the same time, I'm scared that it'll make my thoughts worse, so I chickened out. AND I still think you should've woken me up before you go."

May scoffed at her, "and if we did then you wouldn't let us go unless we bring you along."

"And that's wrong because?"

"As you said before Skye, we didn't know what we're dealing with. We want to keep you out of danger as much as possible," he explained.

"But I can take care of myself!" She argued.

"We won't be able to forgive ourselves if something bad happened to you!" May argued back. She was glad when Skye seemed to consider it, they had one hell of a kid.

"Guess, we're so much alike in that aspect huh?" Skye smiled as her parents nodded. "You guys should rest, it may look like simple cuts and bruises but you still need your rest or you'll regret it tomorrow." She hopped off the bed and they made their way to the quarters together.

They stood outside Skye's door before Coulson wrapped his arms around both his girls. Skye sighed in contentment, she's in a place where she belonged and she's happy to absorb the warm feeling. "I love you both."

"We love you too, good night honey," May placed one last kiss on her forehead.

"Rest well, sweetheart, I'll see you first thing in the morning for breakfast after training with your mom." Coulson winked.

Skye giggled, "oh why don't you join us for Tai Chi dad I'm sure mom won't mind."

May rolled her eyes but played along, "your dad's hopeless when it comes to Tai Chi." She pulled Coulson by his arm and led him towards their room, and called out to Skye one last time, "don't you dare bother check the surveillance feeds Skye, you need rest."

Skye rolled her eyes playfully, smiling each time she remembered Coulson commenting how similar she was to May when she does it, "yes mom! Don't tire dad out!" She didn't wait for a response but knew for a fact that May sent a death glare to her direction.

HAPPY. FUCKING. BIRTHDAY. INDEED.

AN: leave me a review and let me know your thoughts!

~kingdomfictionalia