Hey babes! Back with a new little one-shot for ya! This one's part of the Max!Verse that my friend and I created on Tumblr and I was really excited about writing this one. I hope you all like it. :)
Enjoy!
"Grant, did you turn the dishwasher on earlier?" Skye calls out from the kitchen. "I can't tell if these are clean or not."
"Um, I think so," Grant calls back from the living room, sitting on the couch reading a new book.
"You think so? Yes, because that's very helpful."
Grant smiles. "I think I was going to turn it on, but Adian was being difficult about going down for his nap and I forgot to start it after I got him down."
Skye sighs. "Great. Now we have no clean dishes."
"So turn it on," Grant tells her.
"Yeah, obviously."
Grant chuckles quietly and turns his attention back to his book just as a knock sounds at the front door.
"Babe, will you get that?" Skye asks him.
"Already on it," Grant replies, standing from the couch and moving toward the door.
Pulling open the door, Grant's face falls and his breath catches in his throat, his heartbeat picking up a moment later as everything he has tried to forget over the last few years comes rushing back to the forefront of his mind. "M-may? What…" He stumbles backward, sucking in a few sharp breathes. "Skye…" he chokes out, moving and turning away from the open door.
Skye hurries into the room, her face turning down when she sees Grant struggling to breath in the living room, her eyes quickly finding May standing on the front porch.
"Grant," she says, focusing solely on her husband and gently placing a hand on his arm. "Grant, honey, I need you to listen to me, okay? Just breathe, okay? Close your eyes and take long, slow deep breaths. Can you do that for me?"
Grant nods his head, leaning on Skye as he closes his eyes tightly and breathes in deeply and shakily.
Carefully, Skye leads Grant back over to the couch, letting him sit down on the cushion. She makes sure he's okay, taking notice of the faraway look in his eyes and his much more even breathing.
Letting out a breath, she stands up straight and faces the door again, her own heart starting to race a little when she's able to really take in the sight of May standing in front of her house.
"May," she says. "Would you uh, would you like to come inside?"
May nods once. "Yes, thank you."
Skye steps back to allow May to enter the room and then closes the door behind her, turning around to face her. "Please, have a seat," Skye says, gesturing to the other couch in the room. "So what are you doing here?" she asks before May has even sat down.
May sighs as she sinks down onto the chair. "I wanted to come and see you."
"How did you even find us?"
"Mack and Fitz," the older woman explains. "I overheard them talking about you and Ward, asked them what was going on. They were hesitant at first, but they eventually told me. I'm not here to arrest Ward, or take you back to SHIELD against your will, if that's what you're thinking. I'm just here to see you and how you're doing now. And I know you're going to ask, but Coulson has no idea that I'm here, or where you are." She's quiet for a moment before her eyes drift over to Grant. "I didn't know he was this bad," she remarks.
"It's not as bad as when we first got here," Skye tells her. "He used to not be able to even go out in public without a near freak out. Now he's able to be around small groups of people without going into a panic. But obviously seeing you brought up some old thoughts and feelings and he couldn't handle it. He hasn't zoned out like that in a long time."
May looks down a moment before looking back up. "I wanted to apologize. For everything that happened back at SHIELD. Mack and Fitz, they helped me realize a few things. Such as the fact that we were wrong in how we treated Ward. It never should have gone down like that. We should have done better."
"Thank you," Skye says. "But I'm not the one you should be apologizing to. And maybe when Grant's back with us, you can try apologizing to him directly."
"How long do you think it'll take?" May asks.
Skye sighs. "I honestly have no idea. Like I said, this hasn't happened in a while so I'm not sure how long it'll take for him to come out of it."
May nods. "Right, of course."
"Mama? Dada?"
Looking over her shoulder, Skye smiles when she sees her son approaching the living room from the hallway, a sleepy look still in his eyes and his short brown hair sticking up in different directions, clutching his favorite stuffed animal in one hand, Max dutifully at his side.
"Hey, baby. Did you have a good nap?"
Adian nods his head as he climbs up onto her lap, leaning against her and letting out a breath. Max lies down right next Skye's feet, curling up on the floor.
Skye presses a kiss to the top of Adian's head, brushing some of his dark brown hair out of his face.
"Are you in a cuddly mood?" she asks him with a small smile.
Adian simply nods his head again, his eyes closing ever so slightly as he curls in a little further to his mom.
"You have a child?" May speaks up, her eyes lingering on Adian's small form.
Skye smiles and nods. "Yeah." She adjusts Adian in her lap and looks at May. "This is our son, Adian Leo. Adian, this is Melinda May, she's an old friend of mommy and daddy."
"Hi," Adian says in a small voice, giving her a small wave.
"Hello. It's nice to meet you, Adian. You can call May, if that'll be easiest for you to say."
Instead of responding, Adian's eyes drift over to the other side of the couch and light up when he sees his dad sitting there.
"Dada," he says with a wide smile, climbing out of Skye's lap and crawling over to kneel on Grant's legs. "Hi, dada," he says, the smile falling from his face when Grant doesn't respond.
"Dada!" Adian shouts in Grant's face, his tiny hands coming up to rest on Grant's cheeks. "Dada! Ake up!" Adian's tiny face scrunches up in confusion and he looks over at Skye. "Mama."
"Daddy's okay, baby," she tells her son. "He's uh, he's just thinking about something."
Adian turns his attention back to Grant and tilts his little head, moving his face closer to his dad's. "Dada," he whispers. "Dada, ake up. Dada."
Soft padding across the hardwood flooring has Skye looking down to see Max moving over to where Grant and Adian are, the young German Sheppard resting his hand on Grant's leg, letting out a few soft barks in the man's direction.
"Dada," Adian speaks again.
A couple of seconds later, Grant slowly starts coming back to reality, his eyes regaining focus and his arms slowly wrapping around Adian to pull the little boy close.
Adian smiles and wraps his arms around Grant in a hug. "Hi, dada."
"Hey, bud," Grant says softly. "Did you have a good nap?"
Adian nods. "Yeah."
Grant smiles. "That's good." He leans back a little into the couch and then his heart jumps in his chest when he notices May sitting across from them, her eyes focused on him and his family.
"Babe, it's okay," Skye tells him quietly, placing a hand on his leg. "She's not here to hurt us or take us in. She just wanted to come and see us."
"Why?" Grant asks. "Why did you want to see us? I thought you hated me."
"For a long time I thought that I did," she admits. "But I realize now that I was wrong. While I still hate some of the things that you did, Mack and Fitz explained some things to me and I realize that we should have helped you."
Grant pulls his lips in tight and nods silently, not sure of what to say.
"I'm glad you don't hate Grant anymore," Skye speaks up. "I just wish the others could as well."
"Only time will tell," May says. She takes a deep breath. "How have you two been doing since you left?" she asks. "Mack and Fitz wouldn't really say much."
"We've been doing really well," Skye tells her. "We're both working, at jobs that we love, which is a real plus. Grant works at the local animal shelter, which is actually where we got Max not long after we came here and where Grant started volunteering once he was able enough. And my job allows me to work from home most days, which was originally so I could be here for Grant after we first arrived, but now it's good so I can be home with Adian."
"That's good to hear. It's nice that you're able to be home with your son and watch him grow up."
Skye smiles and looks over at Adian. "Yeah, it is."
"Coulson's still upset that you both left," May tells her, gaining the woman's attention again. "He's been trying to find you, but apparently Fitz and Mack have been keeping him off your trail for some time now."
Skye nods. "Yeah, we know. They told us when they first came. We didn't think Coulson would still be so upset, though. It's been almost three years, I think, since we left."
"I'm honestly not very surprised," May tells them. "He still holds you to blame for pretty much everything that happened," she says to Grant specifically. "Even stuff you didn't directly have a hand in, he finds some way to blame you for it."
"Well I, for one, don't care what Coulson thinks anymore," Grant says, adjusting Adian in his lap. "Like Skye said, it's been three years. I try not to think about the past too much anymore, and just focus on the all the good I have going for me right now." He smiles down at his son before looking back up at May. "My family is all that matters to me."
May gives him a small hint of a smile. "That's good to hear."
"May," Adian speaks up, drawing all three adults' attention to him.
"Yes?" May responds.
Climbing down off of his dad's lap, leaving his stuffed animal on the couch, Adian toddles over to where May is sitting, looking at her with a tilted head. "Pay?" he speaks in his small voice.
May's brows furrow. "What?"
"Pay," he repeats.
"He's asking you to play with him," Skye informs the older woman.
"Oh." May looks back at Adian and gives him a slight nod of her head. "Sure, I'll uh, I'll play with you."
Adian smiles wide, showing off the few teeth that he has, and then waddles over to his basket of toys in the corner, digging through it.
"Adian," Grant speaks up. "Bud, you know you can't just toss all your toys onto the floor."
Adian lets out a small huff of air before bending down to place the toys he's tossed onto the floor back into the basket.
"Thank you."
Pulling two action figures out of the basket, Adian carries them, one in each hand, over to where May is. He looks between the figures before handing one over to May. "Oki," he says.
May glances down at the doll to see it wearing an outfit consisting mostly of green, a gold antler helmet covering its black hair. One hand of the doll is holding a scepter that's mainly gold with a small ball of blue on the end.
"Is this Loki?" she asks in realization.
Adian nods. "Oki."
"And who's that you have there?" she asks him, pointing to the doll Adian is holding.
Adian grins. "Cap!"
Sure enough, the toy is decked out in the Star Spangled Man's outfit, bright red, white, and blue. A shield is attached to one hand.
Plopping himself down onto the hardwood floor, Adian begins making his Captain America action figure walk across the floor. After a moment, he looks up at May and makes a small grunting noise, hitting the floor with one of his chubby little hands.
May glances up at Skye, who gives her a small nod, and then she slowly lowers herself onto the floor directly in front of Adian.
Adian begins babbling, May unable to understand him, and waves his Captain America figure in the air. He looks at May and makes a few sounds that she interprets as battle sounds.
Although a bit awkward at first, May does her best to join Adian in on playing with the action figures, making them fight each other, the young boy much more enthusiastic than she is.
"Mama," Adian says after a moment, taking a break in the play fighting to turn around and look at Skye.
"Yeah, baby?"
"Nack."
"You want a snack?" she asks for clarification.
He nods. "Yeah. Nack."
Skye smiles. "Alright. Come on. Mama will get you a snack."
She stands from the couch and walks over to the boy, leaning down to lift him into her arms, his toys long forgotten.
"Skye," Grant says softly.
She smiles down at him. "You'll be fine, babe. Just relax." She leans down to give him a quick kiss, Adian insisting on giving his dad a kiss too, and then they're in the kitchen, Max trailing right behind them.
"So, how are you doing?" May asks, breaking the silence in the room.
Grant shrugs. "As well as I can be. It's easier now, than it was before." He scratches the back of his neck nervously. "I uh, I still have a few issues sometimes, but it's not as much as it was when we first got here."
"That's very good," she tells him. "You have a very beautiful son, by the way."
Grant's eyes light up as he smiles. "Yeah, he's a pretty handsome little guy. Skye and I argue sometimes about who he looks more like."
"Well, either way, he definitely is going to be a very handsome young man when he's older."
Grant gives her a tight smile and nods his head, the two of them falling back into an odd silence.
"I just wanted to let you know that I won't tell Coulson where you are," she speaks up. "He doesn't need to come in and disrupt the life you have now."
"Thank you, we really appreciate that."
Skye lets out a deep sigh, interrupting the small conversation, as she walks back into the room and falls down onto the couch next to Grant, leaning into his side.
"What'd you give him?" Grant asks his wife.
"Peanut butter sandwich."
Grant nods. "Okay."
It's quiet for another moment before Grant speaks up again.
"I'm uh, I'm going to go check on Adian," he says, standing from the couch and moving into the living room.
"You've done really well for yourself, Skye," May tells her once Grant is in the kitchen with Adian and Max.
Skye smiles. "Thanks, May. That really means a lot coming from you. I know it must not have been very easy for you to come out here and—"
"You're wrong."
Skye blinks. "What?"
"You said it wasn't easy for me. But it was actually fairly easy. I know how I feel about the whole situation and even though I may not have admitted it beforehand, I was wrong in how I treated Ward. And there's a part of me that misses having you around."
Skye lets a slow smile crawl across her lips. "Aww, May. Who knew you were so sentimental."
The corner of May's lip twitches. "Well, once a person gets used to having you around, it's easy to notice when you're not there."
Skye takes a deep breath. "Well it might take a little convincing on Grant's part, but I'd really like it if you could come around more often. Adian seems to really like you, which might actually be enough to sell Grant on the idea. He'll do anything to keep Adian happy."
"Seeing your little boy again is something I think I can definitely get behind."
Skye grins. "Awesome. Since you obviously know where we live you can come by on your own, or you can come with Mack, Fitz, and Elena the next time they come over. Though, if you come by yourself, please let me know beforehand. Grant's not too big on surprises, as you probably noticed when you showed up on our doorstep."
May nods. "Of course. I can tell that he's a lot different from the man he was pretending to be back on the Bus."
"It wasn't all an act," Skye says with a small smile. "At least, the way he was around me wasn't. I could tell that he cared, and then that caring and protectiveness seemed to have amplified once we got together officially. And then it grew into genuine love which resulted in a beautiful little boy."
"So you're really happy, then?" May asks. "Being here and away from SHIELD?"
Skye nods. "Absolutely. This is the perfect life for us, May. We're doing well and we're happy and we're never coming back to SHIELD."
May nods. "I understand, and I wouldn't ask you to. Not after seeing all of this. You've got a very good life here."
Skye smiles. "Yeah, we do. It's better than I ever could have imagined it would be."
"It definitely seems like it. And I'll do my best to not stay away for too long."
"May!"
Both women turn their heads to see Adian toddling into the room again, Grant not far behind him. The little boy makes his way straight over to May and stands in front of her, his tiny hands resting on her knees as he starts babbling excitedly to her.
May just smiles and nods along, not quite sure exactly what the boy is saying.
After a few minutes of his babbling, Skye stands from the couch and picks Adian up, holding him securely in her arms. "Mama," he says simply with tiny furrowed brows. "Down. May."
"I know you want to talk to May, baby. But May has to go home now."
"No!" Adian shouts, immediately wriggling in Skye's arms and trying to get down. "May!" he exclaims, reaching out for the older woman.
May just shifts in her spot, unsure of what to do, never having witnessed a tantrum from a toddler before.
"Adian, stop," Skye says firmly to her son, doing her best to keep him from falling on the floor.
"Let me," Grant says, stepping forward. He carefully takes Adian into his arms and holds the boy securely against his chest, preventing him from moving too much.
Adian protests louder at his movements being restricted.
"Adian," Grant says softly, lowering his head to the young boy's ear and speaking quietly.
Skye and May both watch as Adian gradually begins to calm down, no longer thrashing around in his father's arms.
Grant adjusts his hold on the boy so he's sitting on his hip, one of Adian's arms hooked around his dad's neck.
"Sah-ee, mama," Adian says with a sad look on his face.
Skye gives him a small smile. "Thank you, baby. Now can you say goodbye to May like a big boy? She'll be back in a little while, but I'm sure she'd love to have a big hug from you to tide her over until she comes back. Can you do that?"
Adian nods his head, a small smile on his face.
"Good." She takes him from Grant and holds him securely, walking back over to May.
Adian immediately throws himself toward May, Skye's arms tightly around him the only thing keeping him from falling onto the floor.
May carefully takes Adian from Skye's arms and holds him in her own arms, a bit awkwardly at first but quickly figuring out how best to hold him.
"It was very nice to meet you, Adian," she says to the young boy.
Adian instantly wraps his arms tightly around May's neck and hugs her, before leaning back to give her a sloppy kiss to her cheek. "Bye-bye May."
May gives the young boy a small smile. "Bye, Adian. I'll see you again soon, okay?"
Adian nods his head. "Okay."
Skye smiles at the sight in front of her before letting out a small laugh when Adian wiggles in May's arms, indicating he wants to be put back on the floor.
It takes May a quick moment to realize what the boy wants, and then she leans over to carefully set his feet on the hardwood floor, watching as he toddles over to Grant and lifts his arms into the air.
"Dada, up."
Grant chuckles and lifts Adian up into his arms, eliciting a small squeal from the boy, and carries him back over to where his toys are, leaving May and Skye alone to say goodbye to one another.
"Have a safe trip back," Skye says to the older woman, fighting back the lump she can feel forming in her throat. "And tell Fitz, Mack, and Elena that we say hi."
May nods her head. "I will." There's a brief pause. "You know, when I decided to come here and see you, I didn't think that it would be so hard for me to leave."
"Believe me, it's just about as hard for me too. I'm really glad that you came by, though. It's been nice."
May gives her a soft smile. "Yes it has. You've made a really good life for yourself away from SHIELD, Skye. And I'm very proud of you for that."
"Thanks, mom."
Skye freezes when she realizes what word just came out of her mouth. Before she can say anything to try and backtrack, May smiles at her again.
"You're welcome." She takes a deep breath. "Well, I should probably get going, but I'll be back."
Skye nods. "Yes. Hopefully for Adian's second birthday in a few months?" she suggests.
"That sounds like a perfect time to come back and visit, if not sooner."
"Then let's hope it's sooner," Skye says. She hesitates for a small moment before stepping forward and pulling May into a hug. "I've really missed you."
May hugs Skye back. "I've missed you too."
They remain in the hug for a few seconds more before they pull away and breathe in deeply. Neither woman says anything as May gives Skye a small smile and nod of her head as she turns around and makes her way out of the house.
"Mama."
Skye turns toward the living room, smiling when she sees Grant and Adian sitting on the floor playing with Adian's action figures. "Hi, baby. What do you say we all go outside for a little while? It's still pretty nice outside."
"What do you think, bud?" Grant asks his son. "Wanna go outside with mama to play?"
"Ouside!" Adian exclaims, throwing his hands into the air.
Grant and Skye both laugh at Adian's excitement.
"Well if you wanna go outside to play, then you need to get your shoes and socks on first," Skye tells the young boy.
Adian simply nods his head and then pushes himself up into a standing position, toddling over to where the shoe cubby is. He squats down in front of it and pulls out his light up Avengers sneakers, setting them on the floor.
"Here, bud," Grant says to his son, holding a pair of black socks out to him that he grabbed from Adian's room after the little boy went to find his shoes.
"Tanks, dada." Adian takes the socks from him and thinks for a moment before sitting down on the floor to pull them onto his tiny feet, followed by his shoes. He stands up and smiles proudly at his parents, pointing to his shoes and stomping his feet against the hardwood floor, making the shoes light up.
Skye smiles at him. "Alright, baby, you ready to go outside and play for a little bit?"
Adian nods his head and then runs over to the front door, pushing on it to try and open it.
"Hang on, Adian," Grant speaks up with a small, amused laugh. "You need to wait for me and mommy to get our shoes on. Then we'll go outside."
Adian lets out a huff and leans back against the door, waiting for his parents.
"Okay, bud," Grant says once he and Skye have their own shoes on their feet. "Now we can go outside." He moves toward the front door and twists the handle to push it open, Adian immediately darting through and into the front yard, Max right at his side.
Grant and Skye follow after their son, letting the door fall closed behind them as Grant drapes an arm across Skye's shoulders and presses a kiss to the top of her head. Skye leans into his side and they both stand on the porch for a moment, watching as Adian and Max chase each other around the yard, deep, happy laughs coming from the little boy, before they eventually join in on the fun, wide smiles on both of their faces.
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! :)