A/N: I better warn you – it's rather sappy. Also, it heavily builds on my Haylie/Ada/Ellie verse, so if you are not familiar with that, you might not understand some things – but on the other hand, for those who are familiar with it, this story offers some insight to how some things I've not touched in my stories yet went in this universe. (And you know what, I have a quest for you – find all the previous stories referenced in this piece.)
I Dreamed of You Long Before
I.
The first time Grant thinks of marrying Skye, strictly speaking it isn't even thinking. He only dreams of it, right after the Malta mission.
They are in the garden of Quinn's mansion, and there are nicely dressed people all around them, but, unlike the actual guests who were at Quinn's event, they feel familiar and non-threatening to him. He stands on the lawn, the sea behind him, a glass of champagne in his hand. His other arm is around Skye, who stands next to him, barefoot and in a dress similar to what she wore that day, only white. There are white flowers in her hair, and she is laying her head on his shoulder, beaming. People come and go, saying congratulation, and he feels joy.
The next morning he writes it off as nonsense, as some meaningless dream brought upon by exhaustion and adrenalin, and he refuses to think about it.
II.
The second time he thinks of marrying her is downright silly and sentimental and even sappy. It's on The Morning After, after the night he made love to her three times and he fell asleep with her in his arms. She is still there, lying with her back to him, snuggled into his chest, so he can only see her hair and her neck, but…
With the last vestiges of sleep still clouding his mind, he catches himself thinking of beautiful, impossible things.
He thinks of waking her up and asking her to marry him. He thinks of sneaking off and eloping and never turning back. He thinks of closing one chapter of his – their – life and starting a new one, without fearing the past. He thinks about abandoning everything, and devoting his very self to her.
Only he doesn't say a thing, because he only kissed her the first time less then twelve hours ago, and even thought there were some things said, he doesn't want to scare her off. So instead of proposing, he wakes her to make love to her once again before they return to the Bus.
III.
The third time he thinks of marrying her, he thinks of it as a purely tactical and logical step.
After Italy, he feels the pressure from John more and more every day, and with HYDRA looming over the horizon, he knows his days are numbered. So he is looking for a way out – frantically.
At first he believes – wants to believe – that there is a way out for them, a clean break. In his most desperate moments he even thinks of just grabbing Skye, taking her somewhere, somewhere to the end of the world, and keeping her there until the danger passes, until either side – S.H.I.E.L.D. or HYDRA – emerges victoriously, but he knows she'd detest him for it, so he abandons this idea.
Then he only wants to save her, provide for her. And there's a hopeless moment when he wants to marry her to do it – he has some funds, money he's saved in his years with S.H.I.E.L.D., a property here and there, mostly things one would use as a safe house, but still. Things she would be entitled to if she was his wife and he happened to die.
…But then he lets go of this plan as well, because if he was found a traitor, his assets would most likely be seized anyway, and some of it is easily traceable, and with her not really being in the system, their hypothetical marriage wouldn't even be legal.
So, in the end he only gives her a slip of paper with the locations of all of his lock boxes and addresses of his safe houses and numbers of his bank accounts, and makes her promise that if something bad happens, she'll run and hide. He hopes it'll be enough.
IV.
The fourth time he thinks of it, it happens in the heat of a moment.
They are at Providence, Skye and him, and for a second he thinks it's all over, because they are talking, and one thing follows the other, and he is losing his nerve, and then it's out that he's HYDRA (only he is not, not really, not anymore, because he's been silently trying to sabotage Garrett's plans ever since Italy, and when he was being led away at the Hub, and he cocked his head at Grant, ordering action, he stayed behind, he chose her; he chose them).
He is sure he is going to lose her – she is going to hate him – as he is tripping over his story, stuttering and babbling, begging her to listen.
And she… she doesn't hate him. She has some choice words for Garrett, but then she slides her hand into her hair, deep in thought, the wheels in her head turning. And then she tells him to get some papers and a pen.
"You need to write down everything you know," she tells him, making a mess of Koening's desk. "That'll be our bargaining chip. That's how we are going to convince Coulson that you are with us when they get back."
In that moment he's so grateful, so in love with her, he wishes, more than anything, that he could just marry her.
V.
The fifth time he thinks about it he has a ring, yet he says nothing.
They have known each other for a year, been together for barely nine months, but he knows that she is it for him, and yet… it's just not the time.
Because they are fighting from underground, and sometimes he is still on slippery slope (because there is still suspicion, sparked by the smallest thing, even if he does everything to prove his loyalty), and she… she is on the brink of breaking.
When they lose somebody – somebody she just met weeks before, and somebody he just knew by reputation – she almost loses it, and that's when he decides to taker her away for a while.
Twelve hours later they are on a tropical island, standing ankle-deep in the ocean, his arms around her waist.
He could ask her – the ring is in his pocket – but he doesn't, because it's just not the time; because he doesn't want to moment to be tainted.
But it's okay. He can wait.
VI.
The time he actually marries her is kind of out of the blue.
One moment she is fainting, and he is afraid that something is wrong – that her body is rejecting the Change she's been through recently –, the next he has to come to terms with the news that they are having a baby.
(It's amazing, but it's scary.)
A week or two pass, and they get into planning long-term – and somehow it comes up what name their child will bear. "Johnson," he says, not even thinking it through, having Skye's estranged father in mind, but she just looks at him with widened eyes.
"No, of course not," she says with utter conviction. "It's your kid, of course he or she is going to be called Ward."
"But we are not married," it slips out, involuntarily.
"Maybe we should be," comes her reply.
And it's a catalyst; they basically marry three days later in the common area of the base. It's a mock ceremony, of course, since they couldn't really have anything else at the moment, not actually being in the system. It's Mack who marries them – because he's the one who got ordained, and because he's still a better choice than Hunter, the other volunteer –, she has an origami bouquet and he wears the very same suit he wore on that very first day, but in the end he gets to kiss his wife, and he doesn't care.
(And she promises that she is going to put the two of them down as married, certificate and all, once she makes all of them reappear in the system.)
VII.
He doesn't think of marrying her for almost five years after that.
By then S.H.I.E.L.D. is up and running again, they have a house and two kids, and although life is sometimes a little difficult, it couldn't be better.
And one night, after the girls – finally – are in bed, and he and Skye are just about to turn in as well, his gaze wanders to her as he is lifting the covers (she is still as beautiful and breath-taking and fierce and wonderful as on the first day), and it just hits him.
"Marry me," he says, and she looks at him, chuckling.
"I don't know where you've been in the last couple of years," she says as she slips under the covers, "but, spoiler alert, we have been married for a while."
"I know that, but…" he sighs. "I want to marry you. For real."
"For real?" she echoes, laughter still in her voice, but he can feel that she is starting to get it.
"Yes – you in a white dress, me in a tux, all of our friends and family watching us trip over our words as we say our vows. All the stupid traditions and headaches and wonderful memories."
"Are you being serious?"
"Completely." He takes her hand and kisses it. "What do you say? Will you marry me?"
Her whole face lights up with a smile.
"Yes."