𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐓𝐄𝐀𝐌
I am not a girl, I'm a storm with skin

SKYE jumped up from her seat beside Lincoln's bed; he was startled awake, the lights flashing on and off.

"Good mornin' sleeping beauty." She grinned down at him, her right hand finding his. "Added bonus... you're not naked with needles poking out of your skin."

Lincoln looked away, a smile on his face, and a chuckle escaping him. Suddenly, he jumped up. "Skye, why are we...? No."

"Oh." She sighed as she realized why he was starting to panic. "Uh..." She glanced out the glass wall seperating them from everyone else, and saw Simmons looking at them. Uh, it's okay. You can trust them. They're my friends. They helped save you." She turned back to Lincoln as he pulled his hand away from her's.

"You never should have come for me."

"I had to," Skye told him, frowning as he took out his IV's. "You're my friend."

He shook his head at her. "The only thing that's kept us safe all these years is that we were a secret. Now S.H.I.E.L.D knows we exist. And they won't stop till they find Afterlife."

"I have no idea," Skye admitted to Coulson and May as she pushed herself away from the wall and towards them. "Seriously, I have never heard of anything like that before, and neither has Lincoln."

"And you believe him?"

"Why wouldn't I?" She questioned, crossing her arms in a defensive matter.

"You barely know him."

"I barely know you guys, as well," she retorted. She sighed and added, "I know enough. He and Jiaying helped me. They never tried to hurt me. Th — They taught me to channel my power so I wasn't hurting myself or others." She sighed, a small smile coming to her face, "I am in control now." She looked them in the eyes, "These are good people, Coulson."

"Are they? People, I mean." He sighed. "Look, I know you feel connected to this group, but you won't tell us much about them, you're keeping to yourself—"

"I've been taking care of Lincoln," she reminded him, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Okay, but from our perspective, we don't even know what to call them," Coulson fired at her.

"Inhumans," she blurted out. "Our ancient ancestors called themselves Inhumans, and we just want to be left alone."

"We?" May walked up to her, a concerned look in her eyes. "If they want to be left alone, then why infiltrate a military vessel?"

"You're assuming that this thing is a weapon," Skye told her, throwing out her arms. "Well, it's in SHIELD's possession. Maybe they're just afraid of it... afraid of what Gonzales might do with it."

Coulson stood up from hia position on his desk. "We're not the enemy here."

"This man teleported onboard, Skye. He's clearly very dangerous!" May practically shouted at her.

"Oh, yeah, teleportation is such a fucking danger," she retorted sarcastically, rolling her eyes. "Also, same could be said about you, May. I heard about what happened to that little girl in Bahrain. Jiaying told me the whole story. Did you know that she was inhuman?" May looked down. "They both were. So you, of all people, should understand why they'd want to keep their location a secret... what they're so afraid of."

SKYE followed Coulson, trying to get him to leave Afterlife alone. "No, you cannot go there!" She grabbed his arm, making him look at her. "Listen, secrecy is what they value most."

"We can't ignore their existence. They're not ignoring ours."

"Please!" She stepped in front of him as he tried to walk passed her.

"Look, at the very least, we need to find out how many people we're dealing with, assess their powers, place them on the index. You know how this works." He sighed, looking down before taking something out of his pocket. "If you want it..." he held out a S.H.I.E.L.D'S badge. "It's your's."

"I-I don't know who I am anymore or what I want," she admitted, swallowing thickly. She sighed before looking Coulson in the eyes again. "Okay, just... let Lincoln and I go first. They're probably worried about us. I'll talk to Jiaying, explain why you're coming, that you just want to help. She'll listen."

"How can you be sure?"

She took in a breath. "Because she's my mother."

"YOU finish indexing Lincoln?" Skye turned to face Simmons who nodded.

"Yes." She nodded. "Did Coulson ask you yet?" She furrowed my eyebrows, confused. "About being a S.H.I.E L.D member?"

"Um..." She nodded. "Yes." She took the badge out of her pocket and showed it to her and Fitz.

"Did you say yes?" Fitz asked her, his face reminded her of an excited golden retriever.

"I..." She trailed off. "I need time to think," she admitted which resulted in them frowning.

"Time to go."

Skye turned to see Coulson and Lincoln. She nodded and grabbed her bag before scurrying towards them. "How did it go?" She asked Lincoln as they started to walk.

"The indexing?" He questioned before continuing, "They just asked a lot of questions. But I'm sure you guys already have my blood from when I was out, right?"

"It's protocol." Coulson shrugged.

"HYDRA said the same thing," Lincoln retorted which made Coulson stop and turn to him.

"I know you've been through a lot, but you can trust us. You'll see." Coulson sighed. "So, how does this work? You just click your heels together and whisper, "there's no place like home"?" He raised his eyebrows.

Skye let out a small chuckle. "Sort of, actually. Gordon explained it." She turned to Coulson. "He can sense us. It's this thing called quantum entanglement, and, um..." She trailed of as he looked at her in amusement. "Yeah, he'll... he'll find us. As long as we're nowhere near any of you guys."

"Okay." Coulson nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow." He laid his hand on her shoulder in a fatherly way.

She smiled and nodded. "Okay." She turned to Lincoln and held out her hand, "Come with me if you wanna live," she spoke in a low Robocop voice. He chuckled before grabbing her hand, entwining their fingers together. Her heart warmed up at the smile on his face.

She turned to Coulson one last time and smiled. "See you later, alligator."

SKYE walked towards her mother as Gordon teleported them back to Afterlife. She smiled and pulled her into a hug. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Skye nodded and pulled back from her.

"What happened?" She asked Lincoln, looking him up and down, seeing the bruises and cuts across his face and hands.

"A lot. But I'm okay." Lincoln nodded.

"A doctor at SHIELD patched him up," Skye informed her with a nod.

"SHIELD?"

"We need to talk," she told her firmly.

She nodded and turned to Lincoln. "Go to the recovery room. Have one of ours take a look at you."

Skye grabbed Lincoln before he got too far and squeezed his hand. He smiled lightly at her before walking away.

Once he was gone, Skye turned to her mother and told her everything.

"And you were just beginning to like it here."Jiaying shook her head sadly.

"We don't have to leave. SHIELD doesn't want that, either. Nothing has to change," Skye told her, shaking her head, wanting so badly to have everything for once. She knew it sounded selfish, but she wanted Aferlife, she wanted to SHIELD, and she wanted her pack. But, deep down, she knew she wasn't going to be able to have it all.

Jiaying smiled. "Sometimes, I forget how young you are."

Skye pursed her lips and said, "Please just sit down with him. Coulson, he's a good man. He's... He's like a father to me," she admitted. "And even though it would hurt Melissa for me to say this, but SHIELD feels more like a home to me than her house does." She ran a hand through her hair. "Please... Mom."

JIAYING, a woman who's name Skye don't know, and herself walked into Raina's cabin.

"Some would call your transformation a curse," Jiaying greeted Raina. "But at Afterlife, we choose to call it a gift. Why? Because we don't want the way that others see us to define who we are. But you have used your powers to manipulate those around you, and you've taken advantage of my good faith."

"No," Raina spoke sternly, "You have to listen to me."

"Don't," Skye hissed, "It's the same with you every time."

"No, it's not!" She shouted, "I'm trying to save us!"

"There's not a single soul that knows you who trusts you, Raina." Jiaying turned to the red head, and said. "Keep her here until SHIELD is gone." She turned to Raina again, "Then we'll decide your fate."

"You have to believe me." They started to leave her cabin, one by one. "Something terrible is going to happen unless you do what I say!"

"Oh, shut up!" Skye shouted over her shoulder. "Nobody wants to hear your whiny-ass voice."

JIAYING, Cal, and Skye stood by one another as Gordon opened up the door, allowing Gonzales to walk in.

Skye stood up straighter, worried. "Where's Coulson?"

"At headquarters. And I represent SHIELD with his same intentions." He looked towards Cal, "I might ask why he's here, though."

"You returned Lincoln and Skye to us. We'd like to return someone of interest to you. He's killed agents of yours, hasn't he?" Jiaying questioned, sitting down in her seat.

"Uh, no," Cal spoke up, "No, not SHIELD agents. I don't think. No, just people... who had it coming."

"We pride ourselves on doing the right thing. And as much as this pains me." Jiaying glanced up at Cal. "I do understand the larger goal."

"I'll call one of my people to take him."

"Skye can." The girl in questioned turned to her mother. "Would you take your father to the agents outside? I'm sure mister...?"

"Gonzales, Robert."

"Robert and I have much to discuss." She turned to Skye who nodded, grabbed her fathers hand, and walked him outside.

"You know, I was always excited to meet you." She turned to him and smiled a little. "Even when you were a little bit of nothing in your mother's belly. Oh, I had all these ideas in my head as to what kind of woman you'd turn out to be, and..." he trailed off as they stopped, "You really are magnificent." Tears came to her eyes as she realized this was going to be the last time she saw her biological father. "I'm very grateful I got a chance to know you."

"I'm glad I got to know you, too." She might've done a lot of terrible things, but she understood why he did, and he has changed, and has made so much effort to be different. She appreciated it.

Skye looked to May as she walked up to them, two agents beside her. They grabbed her father and hand cuffed him.

"What happened to Coulson?" Skye asked her in worry, "Did they do something to him?"

"We all felt that it was best to have someone more objective to meet with your mother." Skye scoffed and shook her head at the worse that had came out of May's mouth. "He's a much better man than you think."

Skye crossed her arms. "What about you? Why can't you be in there right now?"

She sighed and looked off, away from Skye. "I told you, we needed someone objective." May then look to her. "I hope your mother is everything you wanted her to be."

"MOM?" Skye frantically asked as she heard a gunshot go off. "Mom!" Jiaying came stumbling out of her office, a hand to her shoulder, blood gushing out of the wound. Skye ran towards her and caught her as she fell.

"He tried to kill me. SHIELD tried to kill me," She breathed out, "This is war."