Skye lay asleep in her bunk. She was knocked out. Completely still. Hair across her face, drool sliding down both corners of her mouth, arms flailed in opposite directions, legs in and out of the blankets, she was a mess. She had a right to be. The day before was one hell of a training day. May showed no mercy while teaching the art of holding up under torture.

She had no idea the surprise her fellow agent family had waiting for her when she woke up- if she woke up.

"It's 12:30.", Trip whispered, "Is she gonna wake up?"

"She usually wakes up at 11 on her days off.", Coulson added. "What did you do to her?", he asked May.

"Nothing… we went over how to hold up under torture."

"Ahh, geez. She's not waking up anytime soon, is she?", Trip sighed.

"No, she's not.", said Coulson. He walked over to the side of her bed and squatted so he was at eye level with his seemingly unconscious daughter. "Skye.", he said shaking her shoulder gently. "Skye wake up." Not effective. "Skye get up.", he said shaking her harder. All she did was turn to the other side. "Are you kidding me?"

"Oh! I know.", Fitz said, "Hey!", he said exaggerating his voice, "Trip. I found where Skye keeps the candy!"

And just like that she shot up straight on her bed.

"You'll never find it!", her hair was all over her face and her eyes weren't completely open, "Stay out of my sock drawer."

"I told you it was in the sock drawer.",Trip whispered to Fitz.

Skye squinted at the bright light and saw that everyone was there in her room. They were surrounded by balloons and streamers. She then realized that Trip was holding a cake.

"Wh- what's going on here?"

"Happy Birthday!", everyone said simultaneously.

While everyone had big smiles on their face, Skye remained confused.

"Birthday? It's my birthday?"

Coulson and May looked at each other.

"You didn't tell her when her birthday was?", Coulson asked May.

"No I thought you did. That's why it was on her new SHIELD contract- the one she filled out."

"Oh actually, I filled that out. She didn't feel like it and she gave me those damn puppy eyes."

May rolled her eyes.

"What day is it anyway?", Skye asked rubbing her eyes.

"July 2nd."

"July 2nd.", she repeated. "Sounds good. What do you say you let me get ready and we can celebrate my 25th outside."

"26th.", Coulson corrected. "You're 26."

"Wh- I missed being 25?"

"I guess so."

"Dammit. So when I thought I was 20. I was actually 21. And I didn't have to pretend my scotch was apple juice."

"Yup.", May said totally ignoring the way Coulson reacted to the underage drinking comment. "Let's go. We got a few things planned."

The day was amazing. Skye never celebrated a birthday like that before. Back at the orphanage she was assigned a random date to celebrate. The nuns would bring out a single cupcake with a candle on it and all the other children would sing to her. For a while it made her feel special. But after seeing all the other kids receive the exact same thing she realized that none of the celebration was real. It was just something everyone felt like they had to do.

But this birthday was different. Her team had the entire day planned out to her liking. Everything she wanted and more. A trip to the mall to buy a new secret agent friendly wardrobe, a few hours at Dave and Busters, and a couple round of drinks at the bar above the base.

"Well this was fun, but I think I'd better take Fitz back to the base. I think he's had one too many drinks.", Trip said getting up from his seat. "Come on, man.", he slapped the back of Fitz who was laughing uncontrollably at the picture of a beer glass with eyes on the wall.

"You two gonna be alright?", Coulson asked.

"Why would you ask such a thing?"

"Because A: You're sitting in the wrong boothe and B: You were just clicking your heels together while saying 'there's no place like home.'"

Trip and Fitz looked at eachother confused. They figured it out and got into the right boothe. Coulson walked over and pushed the button to lower them into the base.

"Thanks Coulson! You're the best! Best! Best! Best!", Fitz said as they descended attempting to make it seem like it was an echo.

"Yeesh. I think they're gonna need another day off tomorrow, Director.", May said when he returned to their table.

"I know. But it was good to see Fitz enjoying himself again. He hasn't been like that since Simmons left."

"Six shots of tequila can do that to a man.", Skye added.

"True."

"Thanks for today, you guys. It means a lot."

"It was no problem, really."

"Yeah. We never gave you any birthday party's or anything like that when you were growing up."

"I know but that wasn't your fault."

"Still."

"It's nice to have this though. A day made just for me, not for anyone else. Very different from my 'birthdays' at St. Agnes."

May and Coulson looked at each other feeling awful.

"They chose a random day for me, April 18th. Said I looked like an April baby. Whatever that means."

"You were on the bus with us in April. Why didn't you say anything?"

"After I escaped the foster system I figured there wasn't really a point it celebrating it. I knew the odds of it being my actual birthday were very slim. And there was no one I really wanted to celebrate it with- so I just kinda accepted that birthdays aren't something for me."

Coulson clutched his heart and slouched into his seat. He wasn't trying to be sarcastic, though. It was just something he needed to do because what she just said actually pained him.

The parents looked at her daughter like she was some lost puppy that had given up on life. Neither had any idea what to say.

"You guys don't have to look at me like that. I'm fine! See! I turned out mostly ok. Forget about it."

"Uggh. I can't believe you just asked us to forget about the fact that we weren't there to raise you and now you're an adult with a horrible past.", Coulson said after gulping down the last of his scotch.

"What? Horri-"

"We're not gonna forget about it Skye.", May added.

"Yeah. We're gonna make up for it until we die. My birthdays next week. You can have it."

"You're giving me your birthday."

"Absolutely."

"Are you drunk?"

He took a shot he found among the used glasses.

"Absolutely."

Skye facepalmed while Coulson sat there watching with a giant smile on his face.

"Well mom what about yo- and she's asleep. Ok maybe we should head down. Rest up for tomorrow."

"You're right.", Coulson said. "Come on, Melinda.", he said as he picked her up and set her down in the boothe.

By the time they finished the descent into the secret room in the base, Coulson and May were knocked out on eachother. Coulson's face was drooling into May's lap while her head lay flat on the table in front of her.

Skye got out of the booth and pulled out her phone to take a picture.

"My parents… Happy birthday to me."

Questions, comments and suggestions are encouraged! Thanks for reading:)