Chapter 10
The quiet was unnerving. The entire house was quiet, which Skye loved, but she was now used to the noise the children made. They were all down for naps at the moment, so Skye was busy tidying the house. She loved the kids but they were hard work. Both her and Ward took the opportunity when the kids were asleep to tidy and do the chores around the house. He was currently out shopping while she cleaned; they hadn’t taken the kids shopping since the incident the last time. They were running out of food so shopping was necessary. For small beings the kids ate a hell of a lot of food. Plus Ward was beginning to get annoyed by all the takeaways they kept eating. The Robot was a health nut and the takeaways were beginning to cause his workings to break down. Skye couldn’t really complain, she was getting fed up of takeaway as well. Plus Ward had volunteered to cook which he was fantastic at, and he had promised to cook Skye’s favourite dish, so it was win-win for her.
It was just going to be them for tea. Fury had banned Maria and Bruce from visiting; at least until some of the cases that had been piling up had been solved. When they were leaving Bruce had promised to send more help. Apparently some of the other Avengers had heard about what had happened to the team and wanted to come and visit. Hence why Skye was cleaning. Although this wasn’t actually her house she didn’t want people seeing it a mess. Plus it wasn’t every day you have Avengers visiting the house. She knew that if Phil found out the house was a mess when he returned to his adult self, he would be so disappointed. Plus if she left the toys spread all over the house somebody was going to trip over one. It would probably be her; the Robot had good reflexes.
As she was tidying she heard a wheezing noise. Looking around concerned Skye couldn’t find anything. She moved further into the dinning room where the noise appeared to be coming from. Bending down to look under the table Skye got a shock. Lying on her side hyperventilating was Jemma. She was curled into a ball and appeared to be crying.
“Jemma, baby.” Skye crawled under the table slowly so as not to spook the young girl.
It looked like she was having a panic attack and Skye didn’t want to make it worse, not knowing what had caused it. She had a few panic attacks before and knew that the simplest thing could make it worse.
“Mummy.” Jemma cried, breaking Skye’s heart. She sounded so scared.
“I’m here, baby. You’re ok.”
She pulled her into her arms, brushing Jemma’s hair from her face. Jemma clung to Skye but her breathing began to slow down. Skye rocked her until she had calmed enough.
“Baby, look at me. Can you tell me what caused this?”
“I was dreaming. I was with Leo but we were in this capsule underwater. We were trapped and couldn’t escape. Water was pouring into it and we couldn’t escape. Leo went under first and then…”
“Oh, baby.”
“It seemed so real. Then I couldn’t breathe.”
“It’s ok. You’re safe; so is Leo.”
“Why do I feel like this? I don’t like it.”
“It’s your body reacting to the fear. It’s normal, sweetie.”
“I don’t like it.”
“I know, it’s horrible. But you’ll be ok.”
“Can we see Leo?”
“Of course, baby.”
Skye crawled out from beneath the table and picked up Jemma. She quickly headed upstairs and crept into Leo’s room. He was still asleep and was clutching a monkey toy. Jemma wriggled in Skye’s arms to be put down and then climbed into bed with him. She curled around him and closed her eyes. Skye smiled down at her and pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead. She stayed and watched the two sleep. She was worried that Jemma would have another attack. She knew that the older Jemma was scared of drowning and had dreams about it. She hadn’t known it was as bad enough to give her panic attacks though. She had never felt so helpless as when she had seen her beneath the table.
Once she was sure Jemma was sleeping peacefully again she headed back downstairs. She was to caught up in her thoughts to continue tidying. She wasn’t sure how long she had sat on the sofa before she heard Ward return.
“Hey I’m back. I got the cereal you like… what happened? What’s the matter?”
Ward dropped the shopping and ran to her. Dropping to his knees before her, he grasped her arms and made her look at him.
“Are the kids alright? Are you alright?” She could hear the panic in his voice.
She reached out and touched his face to calm him.
“We’re all fine.”
“What happened?”
“It was Jemma, she had a panic attack. I just… I felt so helpless.”
He didn’t reply but just gently pulled her into his arms.
“I’m sure that you helped her.”
“But what if that wasn’t enough?”
“Did you stay with her while she had it?”
“Yes but...”
“Was she calmer once you left her?”
“Yes.”
“Did she understand what had happened to her?”
“Yes.”
“Then how could you do anymore?”
“I just… I don’t know.”
“You did fantastically, I’m sure. You’ll have given comfort when she needed it and explained what happened. What more could you have done?”
“Nothing, I guess.”
Skye leant into his embrace, enjoying the comfort only he could give. He placed a kiss on her forehead before speaking again.
“Jemma will be fine, Skye. She has you looking out for her. How can she not be fine?”
“I think your wiring has come loose again Robot.” Skye joked to prevent herself crying.
“Only with you. Only with you.”
********************************************