He was 7 years old when Grant first met Skye. Well technically.

It was his own curiosity that drew him in. Living behind an orphanage meant there was no shortage of activity on the other side of the fence. Grant often heard the peal of laughter and screaming of children playing tag in the early afternoon. Often he would have to throw balls back over the fence or ask for his own balls back. Sometimes during the summer, after playing with his brothers for a bit, Grant would sit down and lean against the fence, closing his eyes and soaking in the sun and the sounds.

It was one day in September, during this afternoon tradition that Grant heard something unusual. A sniffle. He opened his eyes and looked around. He was alone in his yard. He listened for the usual laughter from the orphanage, but was met with only the sound of sniffling.

"Hello?" he spoke softly. Immediately the sniffling stopped. He heard the rustling of grass as someone on the other side of the fence moved,

"H-hello?" came a soft, feminine voice, "Is anyone there?"

Grant lifted himself up and walked closer to the voice,

"Are you okay? I heard you sniffling." He stopped where he thought he heard the voice, "Were you crying?"

There was silence on the other side of the fence. Grant spoke again,

"I'm Grant. What's your name?"

"Skye." came the voice. Grant smiled, he liked the name,

"Hello Skye. Why are you sad?" the sniffling resumed for a moment before Skye answered,

"The Miller's brought me back. They said I was bad. They didn't want me anymore." Grant could hear the sadness in the girl's voice. It made his chest hurt. He didn't really know how to respond so he just lowered himself down next to where Skye's voice came from. They sat in silence for a bit, with Skye's sniffling occasionally breaking through. It was Skye that finally spoke again, her sniffling had finally died down,

"How old are you Grant?"

"I'm 7," he responded immediately, "what about you?"

"I'm 5." Grant was taken aback, she spoke so well for a 5 year old. His brother was 3 and still preferred cooing and giggling.

He was about to continue speaking when he heard the door of the orphanage creak open,

"Mary Sue!" a concerned voice exclaimed, "we've been looking for you everywhere. It's time to wash-up and unpack! You don't want the other girls to take the nice clothes the Miller's gave you!" The grass rustled as Skye stood,

"Coming!" she responded before whispering to Grant, "I have to go. It was good meeting you Grant."

"You too Skye." He listened as Skye's footsteps faded away and the door squeaked closed.

After the initial small conversation with the voice named Skye, Grant didn't see or think of the girl. That is until a month later. He was sitting against the fence in his normal place when a ball flew over the top of the fence, landing close to his feet.

"Good going Mary! Look what you did!" a boy grunted, "This is why you can't play with us! Now we have to get Sister Nancy to go over and ask for the ball."

"I'm sorry Liam! I didn't mean to kick it so hard!" Grant perked up, he recognized that tiny little voice, it was Skye.

"Just leave us alone Mary. Nobody wants you here anyways." the boy's voice faded away. Grant was unsure if Skye had followed, so he grabbed the ball and gently tossed it over the fence. He heard the ball bounce once and a gasp of understanding before,

"Grant?" She sounded close to tears,

"Hey Skye!" he responded brightly, hoping his cheery demeanor could help cheer her up.

"Did you hear all that?"

"Yea. Why is he so mean?"

"He's just mad that the Miller's had chosen me over him in the first place." Grant couldn't hold back his snort of laughter.

"Why are you laughing?" came the defensive reply,

"They picked you, brought you back and still didn't pick him. I think that's pretty funny." After a few moments, Skye began to giggle as well. It wasn't long before they were both laughing uncontrollably. Grant was doubled over, fighting to take a breath, and judging by the short bursts between Skye's giggling, he assumed Skye was laughing just as hard. It took them a few minutes to cool down. They stayed in silence for a while. Grant could hear the sounds of play die down as the nuns called for the end of playtime.

"I guess it's time to go." The sadness had returned to the little girls voice.

"I'll talk to tomorrow then!"

"Tomorrow?

"Yea! Playtime tomorrow! This part of the fence. I'll be waiting."

"Okay," Skye didn't sound convinced, "I'll see you tomorrow." Her footsteps faded away from the fence and the door to the house squeaked shut. Grant set off back to his house, determined to see the girl laugh.

The following day he stood by the fence, anxiously waiting for the telltale sign of the kids being released for playtime. He was soon rewarded with the creak of the door opening and the shrieks of kids running to get to the balls first. No sooner had the kids begun to play when he heard a timid voice,

"Grant?"

"Hey Skye! So I was thinking, instead of talking through the fence, we could maybe talk face to face!" The girl scoffed in disbelief,

"That's impossible. The holes in the fence are too small to see through and I'm not tall enough to see over the fence!" Grant was expecting this and answered immediately,

"Is there a chair that you can maybe stand on, one that maybe the nuns wouldn't mind you getting dirty?" There was a moment of silence before the girl answered slowly,

"Mayyybe, hold on, let me go check." The girl dashed off. Grant took the opportunity to go grab his chair. It was an old wooden chair. Just old enough that his parents didn't care for it, but sturdy enough to hold his weight, and the weight of the two phone books he needed to stand on to peek over the edge of the fence. Skye came back breathless.

"Found one! Now what?"

"Stand on it and see if you can look over." There was a moment of grunting and huffing as Skye pulled herself up onto the chair. She whined in dissapointment,

"I still can't see!"

"How far are you from the top?"

"Still kinda far."

"Okay. Do you know if the nuns keep around any old crates or boxes that they wont miss?"

"Ummmm. Let me go check." There was a dull thump as the girl jumped down from the chair and took off running again. She took a little longer this time, but when she did return, she proudly excalimed that not only had she hit the mother lode of old, big books, but she also found a taller chair. It took a few minutes of manuevering and grunting but Grant could finally see the girls face peeking over the fence. Quickly, he climbed up on his own chair and looked into the little girls face.

She was small for her age, but she had a fire in her light brown eyes. Her hair, which had been pulled back into a ponytail (probably by one of the nuns), had come loose while she tried to create her tower. When his face popped up from the other end of the fence, her face had broken into a big grin.

Returning the smile, Grant stuck out his hand,

"Hello, I'm Grant! Nice to finally meet you." The girl grasped her hand firmly, shaking it once before replying seriously,

"I'm Skye. Nice to meet you too."

"So this is what the other side looks like," Grant remarked, looking past the girl and to the yard behind her. It was bigger than his yard, but not by much. There was a little patio where some girls were jumping rope and playing hopscotch. There was a little soccer goal set up against one of the fences, where kids were taking turns shooting at the poor kid assigned to goalie. A little closer to where they stood, there was a group of boys playing with the kickball. The leader of this group was a mean looking kid who Grant assumed was Liam. Skye looked over at the other kids with an expression Grant didn't quite understand. It looked to be a mix between disgust and sadness.

"Yea. It's not much. At least the older kids are in school." She looked back toward Grant's yard. It looked so manicured and empty. "It must be fun to have that whole yard to yourself." Grant shook his head,

"Nah, I have to share with my brothers. It probably not as crowded though." Skye raised an eyebrow,

"Brothers? You have brothers?"

"Yup! Two! Christian and Thomas. Christian is 11 and hes in school right now. Thomas is 3 and is taking his nap."

"That's cool. So why aren't you in school?" Grant shrugged,

"My parent's decided to home school me."

"Why?"

"Dunno. It may have to do with the fact that I punched the teacher in the face after she told me I couldn't punch the other kids in the face." Skye giggled.

"MARY SUE! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" Skye whirled around. A plump woman dressed in a nuns habit came rushing outside. Her face red. She approached Skye and grabbed her from under the arms and brought her back down on the ground, "Mary! What are you doing! You could've fallen and hurt yourself! Who would want to adopt a broken child!" Skye cast her eyes down in shame,

"I was talking to my friend Grant." The nun turned to face Grant, who was still standing on his own makeshift tower. Her eyes narrowed,

"Mr. Grant, I suggest you get down before you hurt yourself. We wouldn't want to involve your parents!"

"No ma'am." He quickly climbed down his own stack. He heard the nun continue to scold Skye,

"Mary, you cannot continue to misbehave. Parents want proper children like your friend Grant, not rule breakers like you. Let's get you inside and cleaned up."

Grant listened to the nun call all the children back inside. It wasn't lost on him the grumbles from Liam who blamed Skye for their shortened playtime. Once he heard the creak of the door shut, he made his way back to his own house.

The next day, Skye found him waiting at their spot again. She immediately began to apologize for getting him in trouble. Grant would have none of it.

"It's okay Skye! I can deal with a big scary nun." Skye remained quiet. Grant spoke again, "Yesterday I saw a little spot behind one of the trees. Do you think that the chair could maybe fit behind there?"

"I can try it. But Grant, do you really want to risk getting in trouble again?" Skye asked,

"I've got nothing better to do!"Grant replied enthusiastically.

It only took Skye a minute to confirm that the chair did indeed fit behind the tree, so they moved their whole operation behind the tree and out of sight. After reassembling their respective towers both eagerly climbed up to see the other.

"Hi!"

"Hello!"

"So about that teacher you punched...tell me more!"

Playtime flew by, with Grant recounting his public school escapades, and Skye telling him about her foster home adventures. They were both sad when they heard the nun, Sister Agatha, call for dinner. Skye turned to Grant,

"I'll see you tomorrow then?" Grant grinned,

"You can count on it." Skye hopped down and ran towards the door. As per usual, Grant waited for the creaking of the door to shut before heading back to his house, thinking of their next meeting.


So I had been thinking of this fic for a while, you know mapping out the scenes and stuff but what stuck was the whole over the fence concept, and then I read this fic that was absolutely brilliant and the most recent update tore out my heart and I figured what better way to recover than to write a cute fic. ANYWAYS...

The plan is to have Skye and Grant basically grow up together without actually growing up, together. It may turn into a SkyeWard thing, but I'm not entirely certain. I will incorporate other characters as I go along. Feel free to add any comments or ideas. Also, if you find any mistakes, let me know so I may correct them, I don't have a beta so all mistakes are my own.

LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

Your reviews are very important to me and I enjoy reading them. Until next time!

-Alex