Hey babes! Happy Fourth of July to all my fellow Americans out there. And to those of you who aren't American, happy Wednesday.

This one was pretty fun to write, and I'm excited for you guys to read it.

Enjoy!

"Do you think they're too young for it?"

"Too young for what?" Skye asks her husband as she finishes changing baby Ava's diaper, making faces at the three-month-old to try and keep her happy.

"For the fireworks tonight," Grant explains, bouncing baby Adian in his arms, trying to calm him down from his earlier fit of crying since he wasn't getting attention like his sister was.

She shrugs. "Maybe. But we're watching them together as a family. And honestly, they'll probably fall asleep before the fireworks even really get started."

"Yeah, I guess so. I just don't want them to get scared by how loud they are."

"I'm sure they'll be fine." She lifts Ava off the changing table and holds her against her chest. "Isn't that right, Ava-loo? You're a brave girl, you'll be fine during the fireworks show."

Ava gurgles and waves one of her fists in the air.

Skye smiles. "I'll take that as a yes, my brave little girl. Now it's time to get you dressed in your super special Fourth of July outfit."

"Did we really have to get them matching outfits?" Grant asks as he steps over to the dresser and pulls out the two outfits Skye picked out for their kids.

"They're twins, Grant, I'm gonna dress them in matching outfits for as long as I can. And their outfits aren't exactly matching. They're more complimentary than anything else."

He nods. "Right." He gently lies Adian down on the carpet, kneeling down next to the boy to pull his Fourth of July outfit onto his body. "How are you doing, buddy?" Grant asks his son. "¿Estás listo para ver los fuegos artificiales esta noche?" Adian gurgles, kicking his feet out. Grant smiles and presses a kiss to his forehead before getting him dressed for the day ahead.

"You know they can't understand what you're saying, right?" Skye speaks up, grabbing Ava's outfit as she lays the little girl back down.

"Not yet," he tells her, glancing up at her momentarily with a small smile. "But if I speak to them enough, then they will eventually."

"Don't you think it'll confuse them?" she asks him.

He shakes his head. "Everything I read said that it's actually good to speak in multiple languages to babies, that it helps their development. And I think as long as I stick to just English and Spanish for now, it should be okay. Don't want to overwhelm their little brains." He smiles at his son as he finishes doing up his outfit and then sits back with a sigh. "There we go. All dressed and ready to go."

"So is miss Ava," Skye tells him, lifting the baby off the table again. "Now all that's left is for the two of us to get into our Fourth of July outfits, and we'll be all set to go."

Grant groans as he lifts Adian off the floor. "Please tell me you didn't."

Skye just grins at him and then turns around to make her way out of the room, leaving Grant alone with their son.

Grant sighs as he looks at the baby. "Tu mamá tiene suerte de que la ame."

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"There's my favorite family in the entire world."

Skye smiles over her shoulder at the woman approaching them in the backyard, a wide smile on her face as she makes a beeline for where the twins are lying on a blanket in the grass.

"Em, we all know that you're really here for the twins," Skye speaks up, her eyes looking back down at her tablet for a moment.

"Well how can I not come over here just for them?" she says as she reaches down and lifts Ava into her arms, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Look at how cute they are. Especially in their little Fourth of July outfits. They're too cute for their own good sometimes. Isn't that right my little chunk?"

Skye sighs. "Emily, please do not call my child a chunk."

"Well, she is. Have you seen her fat little thighs?"

Skye rolls her eyes. "They're not that fat."

"Okay, maybe they're not exactly fat, but they're just so squishable." She lightly squeezes the baby's thigh for emphasis.

"I'll agree with you on that, it definitely was not easy delivering her. And hey, aren't you supposed to be going to some party tonight like you do every year?"

Emily waves her off. "Nah. I'd much rather hang out with my two favorite twins on their first Fourth of July." She smiles down at Adian, making a face at him, trying to get the boy to laugh.

"They won't even remember it," Skye tells her friend. "And they'll probably be asleep before the fireworks even start."

"Doesn't mean I can't hang out with them in the meantime." She lowers herself to the ground, sitting cross-legged on the blanket and leaning down to kiss Adian's forehead.

"There's no way I'm getting you to leave, is there?"

Emily smiles up at her and shakes her head. "Absolutely not."

Skye sighs. "Fine. Then you can keep them entertained while I go use the bathroom before they get hungry." She sets her tablet aside and stands from her chair.

"Fine by me," Emily says, already occupying herself with making faces at Ava, the little girl smiling and reaching out to grab aimlessly at Emily's face.

Skye laughs quietly at the scene before turning and moving inside the house, stepping up into the kitchen.

"Hey," she says to her husband in quick greeting when she passes him in the living room with Max on her way to the bathroom.

He barely glances up from the floor. "Hey." His brows furrow and he puts all his attention on her. "Wait, what are you doing inside? Where are the kids?"

"Em's out there with them."

"Doesn't she usually go to a party on the Fourth?"

"She said she wants to spend the twins' first Fourth with them."

He nods. "Ah. I'm just going to take a little more time in here and then I'll come outside with you guys."

She smiles softly at him. "Take however long you need, babe. There's no rush." She squeezes his shoulder as she steps toward the bathroom.

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Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Skye carefully shifts the two babies in her lap and then opens up her camera app.

She holds the phone out, trying for a minute to get both twins to look at the phone screen.

She manages to capture a decent photo and then attaches it to a text message. She types out a quick message Happy Fourth! and then sends it to her few friends back at SHIELD.

Glancing down after sending the message, she smiles at her daughter letting out a yawn, one of her little fists raising into the air momentarily.

"Is someone getting tired?" She looks over at Adian. "What about you, bud? Are you getting sleepy like your sister?"

"Want me to go take them inside?" Emily asks from her chair next to Skye.

She shakes her head. "No, that's okay. If they fall asleep out here that's fine. Grant and I probably won't stay out here for the whole fireworks show anyways."

"Oh, yeah, Grant has a thing about fireworks, right?"

"Not just fireworks," Skye explains. "But a lot of loud noises. It's gotten better since we've been here, but he's still dealing with some heavy trauma from a few years ago, so sometimes loud noises can make it all flare up again. This year he might be able to stay out a little longer, but probably not by much."

Emily nods. "Right."

"And the twins will probably fall asleep pretty early too." She glances down at her babies, dropping a kiss to the top of their heads. She looks back up at her friend. "You don't have to stay the whole night since it'll probably be really boring here."

Emily shrugs. "I don't mind. You know I love hanging out with you guys."

"And we enjoy your company too, Emily."

Skye smiles over her shoulder at her husband, her eyes closing and her smile growing just a tad when he drops a kiss to the top of her head before sitting down beside her, Max curling up at his feet.

He leans forward and runs a hand across the top of Adian's head. "How are they?"

"They're fine," she tells him. "Since there've only been a few fireworks here and there they haven't really reacted too much. I think their eyes are mostly drawn to the colors. They keep staring."

He nods. "Makes sense." He reaches out and carefully takes Adian from his wife, securing the boy in his arms and leaning back in his chair. He glances up at the sky, jumping slightly when a firework explodes up above.

"Hey, you okay?" Skye speaks softly, reaching out and touching his arm gently.

He nods, closing his eyes briefly. "Yeah, I'm good. It just startled me."

"I know. We can go inside whenever it gets too much, you know that."

"Yeah, I know. I think...I think I'm gonna try to stick it out, though. It's the twins first Fourth of July. Even if they won't remember it, I will. And I want to be able to say that I stayed out here for as long as possible. It's not as bad as last year."

She smiles softly at him before leaning over to give him a quick kiss. "I love you."

He smiles back at her. "I love you too."

A quiet noise from Ava draws Grant and Skye's attention to the little girl in Skye's lap. They both laugh quietly to themselves at the furrow in her tiny brows.

"Looks like someone might not be too keen on seeing us showing affection," Skye says, adjusting her hold on the baby.

"Well she's just going to have to get used to it," he says, leaning forward to kiss her again. "Because I never plan to stop showing you how much I love you."

"You two are disgusting," Emily pipes in.

Skye smiles over at her friend. "You'll be the same way one day."

Emily shrugs. "Eh. We'll see."

"I never thought I'd be so affectionate with someone," Grant admits to the other woman. "But Skye just brings it out in me. I owe her a lot."

"You don't owe me anything," Skye reminds him. "We're a team, we're in this together."

He nods. "Yeah, I know. I'm just...I'm really grateful for everything you've done for me."

She smiles softly. "If I had to do it all over again, I'd do everything the same."

He smiles back. "I'm glad to hear it." Wrapping his arm around her shoulders, he pulls her as close as he can with the arms of the chairs in the way and presses a kiss to her temple.

He leans back in his chair and lets out a content sigh as he focuses his eyes on the space above, watching as the different colors explode in the night.

So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!