Chapter 13
“Mel! Mel!”
“What?”
“We need your help.”
“Why?”
“We want to help mum and dad.” Pouted Leo, knowing she wouldn’t be able to resist.
“Dad’s away. Mum said.”
“I know. That’s why we want to help. Jemma thought we could we could wash but we can’t reach to put the soap in. You can climb up though.”
“You need to play with Phil then.”
“He can help too.”
“Cookie!” Cried Phil, nodding.
Leo held out his hand to him and smiled when Phil took it. They both followed Mel to the back of the house where Jemma and the washing machine was. They had wanted to do something to help, as mum was really busy. Dad had been called away this morning, which had upset mum. He had said he wouldn’t be long, but Auntie Maria and Auntie Nat couldn’t come and help so it was just them and mum. Jemma had decided they want to help and all they need to do was put soap in the machine and switch it on. It couldn’t be easier except for the fact that they couldn’t reach it.
“Cookie!” Cried Phil again.
“Next.” Promised Leo as they found Jemma trying to jump high so she could put the soap in the washer.
May quickly jumped for the top of the counter and pulled herself up so she could reach the machine properly. Jemma grinned and passed her the soap.
“Where does it go?”
“That slot thing.”
“How much?”
“Mum just pours some in. Just put some in.”
They watched as Mel poured the soap in and then pressed the button to start the machine. Grinning at the three on the floor she asked,
“Next?”
“COOKIE!”
Jumping down from the counter she headed back into the kitchen to get Phil his cookie. If she didn’t he would keep crying which would upset mum. They were trying to be helpful so giving him one would keep mum happy. She quickly found where Dad had hid them in the cupboard; he could never hide things from her. He didn’t like them eating too many cookies so he tried to hide them but she always knew where he put them.
She gave them all a cookie and sat back on the floor with them to eat it. They had just finished eating them when they heard a noise coming from the washing machine. She went to investigate knowing the others would trail along behind her. The machine was shaking from side to side on the counter, the clothes unable to be seen for bubbles. She turned and glared at Jemma.
“That doesn’t seem right.”
“Really? What do we do?”
“Why are you asking me? You’re the oldest.”
“You know more about it than me.”
“Stop it. Then open it?”
“Fine.”
She quickly clambered back up and stopped the machine. Opening the door was more difficult because she had to lean out to pull it. She knew that opening it would pull her off the counter so adjusted her grip so she could hold onto the door and swing out with it. Once it was open she could just drop to the floor. She was however unprepared for what happened next.
The door opened as she expected, but was followed by a flood of water and bubbles which quickly covered the floor and every stood on it. Poor Phil looked like a living snowman, he was that covered in bubbles. Everyone froze for a moment, taking in the sudden change in events, before everyone began talking at once. Leo and Jemma were trying to decide how to clean it up, Phil was giggling and playing with the bubbles. Mel was just concentrating on not slipping and figuring out how to land on the now soaking and slippery floor.
“Mummy! Bubbles.” Giggled Phil, looking at the woman who had just appeared to find out what was going.
“Mum.” Gasped Leo but she just shook her head and took in the mess before her.
Mel watched as she tilted her head and looked at all of them for a few minutes. She then felt herself being lifted to the floor by her mum. Once back on the floor she went to stand with Leo and Jemma while Mum lifted a still giggling Phil free from his bubble nest.
“We were just trying to help.” Cried Jemma. “Please don’t hurt us!”
Mel watched as her mum’s eyes widened. She didn’t appear to be angry but you never could tell with adults.
“I’m not going to hurt you sweetie.”
“Will dad?”
“No! Of course not.”
“We’re sorry. We just wanted to help.”
“I know sweetie. Now let’s get all this cleaned up and get changed then we can have some ice cream. How does that sound?”
“Ice cream!”
“I’ll take that as a yes then. Come on.”
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Ward was grateful when he got home; it had been a long day, waiting to see Director Fury. He hadn’t wanted to leave Skye alone with the kids but he had been told it was urgent and to get his butt over there. He had spent most of the day just sat waiting before having a five-minute meeting with the Director. Why he couldn’t just have rang them, Ward didn’t understand. He hoped everything had been ok with the kids. It was late now so they should be in bed. He had missed them.
“Skye.” He called quietly as he shut the door.
“In the kitchen.”
He dropped the keys and his jacket on the table before heading in the kitchen to find her. She was opening a bottle of wine and already had two glasses out.
“Everything ok? How are the kids?”
“Not bad. Though your kids did cause some problems today but nothing I could handle.”
“Why are they always my kids when they do something wrong?”
“Because you are the super spy.”
“What happened?”
“We had a little flood incident with the washer. They were trying to help. I’m still not sure what happened exactly but it ended with water and bubbles everywhere.”
“What else?”
“Why do you think there is something else?”
“You’re biting your lip. You’re trying to hide something.”
“They told me not to hurt them. Why would they ask that? What kind of adult would hurt a kid?”
“Hey.”
He quickly removed her wine glass from her hand and pulled her into a hug.
“It’s ok. I wish I could say it doesn’t happen. From what I know about the team, none had the best of childhoods so it is probably something that they have remembered from then.”
“I just wish I could do something about it.”
“You are. We are. We can give them a happy time now.”
“I know. I just hate it.”
“Me too. Me too.”
He held tight until he felt her begin to relax and regain her composure. Eventually she pulled back and wiped her eyes. They both grabbed their abandoned wine and headed into the living room.
“What did the Director want? You were gone longer than I expected.”
“Sorry about that. I didn’t expect to be gone as long. I had to wait around to see him. There are still no leads about what happened to the team. Stark is looking into a new lead and will let us know if he finds anything. If anything comes up they want me to lead the team.”
“Ok. Just make sure you’re careful when that happens.”
“I’m always careful. Anyway the main reason he wanted to see me is that he is sending us away for a bit.”
“Away? Like on holiday?”
“Exactly like that. We leave in two days. I don’t know where. I just know we’re flying somewhere and not on a Shield plane.”
“Flying! With four kids? Oh dear God. How long for?”
“Two weeks. Somewhere warm with a beach is all I got told.”
“Why?”
“At first he said because we need a holiday. When I pushed he finally admitted that Shield thought someone was sniffing around the house and trying to find the kids. He wanted us out of the way so he could take care of the threat.”
“Are we in immediate danger?”
Ward watched as her mothering instinct kicked in. He knew how it felt he had done the exact same thing.
“No we’re fine for now. Fury specifically assured me of that. I don’t think we need worry about him ignoring our safety. The first thing he asked me when I got there was how was his grandson?”
“He likes us. Well Phil. But he really likes us!”
“Yeah, well I wouldn’t let anyone else know that. So we get an all-expense paid holiday.”
“Yeah but we also have to fly with four kids. How do you think we are going to manage that? We loose at least one whenever we go shopping.”
“I was thinking handcuffs!”
“Grant!”
“I’m kidding. Well only slightly. I popped into a store on the way back and bought some reins for them. Phil in a pushchair and these for the others we’ll be fine.”
Skye just looked at him. He knew she was right but if there was anything she had taught him was to look on the bright side of life. The kids would be little angels on the plane and cause no problems. Right.
“Come on. Drink up and let’s go to bed. I think we’re going to have a couple of busy days.”
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