Grant Ward is going to marry Jemma Coulson.
He's known it for years, ever since she came to live with the Coulson family, all the way from England, when they were seven.
They met on the playground one sunny, July afternoon, right before the second grade started. Jemmas big sister Skye had kicked a ball and knocked her over. Grant had been the one to witness the event, and go help her up and take her to the first aid kit, While Skye stood there snickering and yelling a stuttered "Sorry!" in their direction.
Ugh, Skye.
Skye is three years older than Jemma and Grant, and there are not enough words in the universe to express how much Grant hates her.
She picked on him relentlessly everytime he was at their house, locking him in closets, stealing his pillow pal, and laughing everytime he was clumsy and ended up falling down the gigantic flight of stairs straight into the living room where Mrs. Coulson-May rolled her eyes and helped him up.
Grant kept his feelings for Jemma bottled up, not wanting to spill them and potentially ruin their friendship, which was going pretty well so far. He was practically glued to her hip at most times, going to the movies, science museums, or playing stupid games they made up as kids (his favorite was one where they tried to copy each others accent. Jemma always won)
He was trying his best not to let his feelings show. He managed to do pretty well for the past eight years of knowing her, but it did get hard. Especially when Jemma called him at eight o'clock at night telling him to get over to her house and "It's an emergency, Grant!"
So that's how he ended up letting himself into the Coulsons house at eight-thirty on a friday night, armed with a baseball bat just incase they were being murdered or something.
"Whoa there, Grant." Said a sadly familiar voice "You finally trying out for the high school baseball team? I thought the day would never come."
"Skye." Grant sighed, dropping the baseball bat into the empty umbrella holder next to the door.
"Jemma called, she said it was an emergency."
"Well aren't you her knight in shining armor." Skye snickered, stepping out right in front of him.
She was a good two inches taller, it sucked.
"And, nah. Not really an 'emergency' per se, she just really wants to go to the fair."
"The fair? Jemma hates the fair."
"Yeah but she doesn't hate Leo Fitz." Skye smiled, Grant felt like the air got punched out of him.
"L-leo Fitz? The foreign exchange guy in our Chem class?"
"Honestly I have no idea, I graduated last year so I just know the kids name. You'll have to ask her yourself." Skye told him before turning to the stairs and yelling up, "Jemma! Grant's here!"
"Grant!" they heard a high pitched british voice from the top of the stairs.
No matter how long she's been living with this all-american family, she hasn't gotten rid of her british accent. She said it reminded her of where she came from, which he thought was a fair enough reason.
"You came! Did Skye tell you we're going to the fair! She's going to drive us by the way! Mum and dad are busy tonight. Some dance class I think!" Jemma talked a mile a minute, giving Grant a hug then fixing her makeup in the hall mirror.
"Calm yourself, Sis." Skye laughed
"I'm sorry, I'm just excited! Leo Fitz is going to be there, he's so handsome!"
Grant shifted uncomfortably as his heart sank even deeper down into his chest, and he saw Skye flash him a look. Was that...sympathy, or was it something else? No. No she couldn't possibly know. He was too careful.
"Oh! and if things don't work out with Leo, I heard Antoine Triplett was coming with him!" Jemma continued babbling on, Grant continued shifting from foot to foot, and Skye was smiling widely at her sisters enthusiasm.
"And Grant, I heard that Raina, and Bobbi are coming too! Maybe you'll hit it off with one of them!"
"Yeah, Grant. Maybe we'll finally get you laid." Skye piped up, making him blush red.
"I- uh, we'll see." Grant didn't like either of those girls. Raina was weird and from what he's heard, extremely manipulative, and he was pretty sure Bobbi had a boyfriend. All he wanted was Jemma, but it looks like she doesn't like him in that way.
"Okay well, let's go. I don't want to still be out at two a.m" Skye started, as she pushed them out the front door and into the driveway.
"This is going to be such an amazing night!" Jemma squealed hopping into the back of Skyes awful, huge, purple, van.
"Mhm…" Grant mumbled, hoping in after her.
The ride there sucked.
Jemma kept going on and on about how handsome Leo Fitz was,
How smart Leo Fitz was
How Leo Fitz probably had a dick five inches bigger than Grants (Thank you, Skye.)
All in all, Grant felt like he was going to cry. Or throw up. Or both. So he just stared out the window at all the passing cars and street lights, or tried to drown himself in the lyrics of Skyes awful pop-punk music.
He was pretty sure the song playing over the cars speakers was some version of "Sugar We're Goin Down", for the third time that car ride.
The car slowly came to a stop in the fairground parking lot, and Skye reached to stop the music.
"Jemma I'm giving you till midnight. Then you gotta meet me back here, okay? Dad'll be pissed if we're out any later than twelve-thirty"
"Yes, Skye." Jemma grumbled opening the door of the van and running out into the crowds of people.
Grant was about to follow her when Skye stopped him.
"Wait," She turned and grabbed his arm through the seats "Can I talk to you for a sec?"
"Sure…" Grant closed the van door and turned to Skye, who was looking worriedly at him.
"I know you're probably upset about Jemma…"
"What?" Grant cut her off, eyes wide.
"It really isn't that big of a secret, you have the biggest crush on her."
How. The hell. Did she know.
"I mean It isn't completely obvious, if that's what you look so worried about. I've just known you for a long time and I'm good at reading people, but anyways," Skye paused and took a deep breath, Grant felt tears spring to his eyes. "I know tonight was probably painful for you, with Leo and all…"
Don't cry Grant, don't you dare cry.
"...and I just wanted to tell you I'm here if you need to talk. I have a lot of experience with crushes not liking you back."
"I was, I um...I-" Grant stumbled over his words, tears starting to come to his eyes threatening to spill over. "I thought I was going to marry her."
Grant cried, choked on sobs while trying to continue. "I...I had it all worked out...how I'd tell her my feelings...I was gonna...I was gonna wait until senior prom...and ask her to the dance...and tell- and tell her everything."
"Grant...I-" Skye sighed, looking down between the seats.
"No. Just, don't. Please." Grant whispered as he fumbled for the door handle
He got out of the car and ran. Ran as fast as his legs could carry him past the crowds of people. He saw Jemma standing next to Leo giggling, along with that Antoine guy, and Raina and Bobbi. He was right, Bobbi had another guy with her.
Jemma saw him and yelled for him to come over, but he ignored her and kept running. She made no effort to come after him.
Great, I've lost her.
He ran until he hit a dead end. Some small section of the fair with four or five tents lining the narrow path. He broke down, kneeling on the hay covered grass sobbing, hoping no one would see him.
He wasn't that lucky.
"Little boy, are you okay?" A strong, russian accented voice came from behind him. "Well, obviously you are not….But I could feel your sadness from a mile away."
"W-what?" Grant managed to stutter out, looking up at the lady hanging over him.
She was obviously a carnival fortune teller of some sort. She had long, straight brown hair, and a pale skin tone. She was wearing a pink bandana and a matching pink dress.
She looked carefully at him before speaking. "Ah. Broken heart? Running away from feelings? I see it all the time." She continued in the accent. "My name is Ezzie, by the way. And you are?"
"I'm Grant."
"No need to be frightened young Grant. How about you come hide in my tent, and I give you a fortune for free, yes?"
"Um…" Grant looked to where she was pointing warily. It looked like a normal fair tent...But hey, if she turned out to be a crazy axe murderer that would be the highlight of his night.
"Okay…" Grant nodded, standing up and taking her offered hand, leading him into a dark tent with a glowing crystal ball in the middle. He raised an eyebrow at her.
Ezzie shrugged "I do not actually use that, theatrics. Makes it more believable for people who simply want a laugh. Sit, sit!"
Grant sat down on the floor across from Ezzie, who held out her hands and nodded for him to take them. Reluctantly he did, and she closed her eyes.
"Grant….Ward?" She drawed out. Okay, he was kind of freaked out. He is 99.9% sure he didn't tell her his last name. "Sixteen years old, correct?"
"Yeah…" Okay, very freaked out.
"Ah, heartbreak. Girl did not love you back, huh?" Ezzie continued
"Mhm…." Grant mumbled back in response, not really wanting to go into details.
"Well, Grant Ward. I've got some good news for you. True love is coming sooner than you believe." Ezzie opened an eye and smiled at him. She had a gold tooth.
"Do you know how soon?" Grant asked excitedly, hoping that it meant he could run outside and Jemma would be standing there.
"I'm afraid I can not tell you that." Ezzie sighed
"What, Why?"
"It is complicated."
"Well can't you try! Please?" Grant begged, he needed to know.
"Well...I said I could not tell you...Never said I could not show you." Ezzie smiled mischievously, leaning over the crystal ball towards Grant
"Wait, what. What are you doing, Ezzie?" He asked as she reached his head, pressed two fingers to his temple, and everything began to spin, before fading to black.
Grant woke up laying down in a bed. The sheets were tangled around him and a pillow covered his head.
He didn't quite remember coming home the night before but then again it wouldn't be the first time Jemma has had to drag him home after he's practically passed out from exhaustion.
Grant turned onto his back, trying to wake up and ignore the morning sun when something caught his attention.
This wasn't his bedroom.
His bedroom had awful blue, plaid walls.
and posters of bands he liked, and dogs everywhere.
This room had soft cream colored walls, and the only thing hanging on them was a painting above the bed.
Grant, confused, swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up, ready to figure out where he was when the second thing off hit him.
He was taller
Way taller.
Also, his muscles were bigger, and with a quick brush of a hand he found the hair on his head was shorter.
"What the hell." Grant mumbled, and then practically jumped into the ceiling.
His voice was deeper. A lot deeper.
Grant started walking to the mirror that was attached to the dresser across the room.
He was right, definitely taller, hair shorter and more styled, more muscles, he looked around thirty years old, which couldn't be right. Right?
Then he saw something he hadn't noticed before, a ring on his left hand.
Oh no.
Slowly he took it off. It was a simple gold band with maybe four diamonds, if he counted correctly. On the inside there was a small inscription.
S+G
He had a good feeling he was "G", but who was "S", and why was he wearing a ring with two initials in it.
This whole thing was weird.
He slid the ring back onto his finger, for what reason he didn't know, and started digging through the drawers.
He found one he assumed was his pretty quick, pulling on a black t-shirt, a blue flannel button down, and jeans before standing back in front of the mirror and taking a deep breath.
"You can do this Grant. Just walk out the door." He mumbled to himself encouragingly before turning on his heels and going towards what he hoped was the door to a hallway.
He was right, it was a door to a hallway. and sooner than he would have liked, he started walking along it, stopping when he reached a staircase leading down into what looked like a living area. He heard a couple noises from down there, like pots being slammed together from a distant kitchen.
Good. If someone was down there that meant he could get answers.
Like, why did he finish puberty virtually overnight?
What did Ezzie do to him?
Who the hell is "S"?
Taking another deep breath he walked down the small bit of stairs into the living room, and saw a small child sitting on the couch.
She was no older than two or three, with dark brown pigtails, and a purple tutu accompanying her white top and leggings. She was completely transfixed on her TV show, and didn't even notice him standing there
"Uh," He coughed, gaining her attention "Hi?"
The little girl smiled widely at him before launching off the couch and into his arms
He nearly dropped her onto the hard floor.
"Daddy!" The little girl squealed with delight as he held onto her.
Daddy? The little girl just called him "Daddy". Oh no.
He stood completely still from shock, holding the child for probably a little longer than necessary.
"Daddy you can put me down now!"
"Oh, uh, yeah, right, sorry, I…" Grant panicked for a second, before putting the child on the floor. He stood wide eyed at the little girl looking up at him with big brown eyes. He can't be a father! He's sixteen!
Or at least he was this morning.
"Where- Where's your mother?" Grant stuttered out and she pointed over to a doorway
The same doorway he heard the pots and pans being banged around in.
"Kitchen?" He asked, and the little girl nodded her head before heading back to the couch to watch her show.
Slowly but surely Grant made his way to the kitchen, stopping just before he came in to take yet another deep breath.
When he did open the door, he was not at all expecting the person he saw on the other side.
It was Skye.
"S" was Skye.
The woman in front of him didn't really look like Skye, but it was her. She had grown a bit too, had more defined facial features, wider hips, and uh, bigger boobs.
"Oh, hey!" Skye smiled as she looked up from what he assumed was a cook book. "I was about to come wake you up babe."
Babe. Skye called him babe.
"I have to leave for work in five so I'm just putting some things in the slow cooker so you don't have to cook dinner tonight!" Skye smiled again, turning around and dropping an ingredient into the crockpot, continuing to talk to him with her back turned. "I have to stay later today for parent teacher conferences. Not really sure why I have to do them as a computer science teacher, they suck."
Grant stayed silent, still getting over the shock that in whatever universe this is, he's married to Skye.
"Babe you okay?" She turned back around after putting the lid on the pot. Smile gone and replaced with a worried expression. "You haven't said one word since you walked in here."
"Y-Yeah, I'm fine, I- uh, what're you, what're you cooking?" Grant stuttered out, eyes wide, yet again.
"Pork chops! Your gramsys recipe so don't worry, it shouldn't taste like crap." Skye smiled as she started cleaning off her workspace.
"Oh, okay, thank, um, thank you." Skye never called his grandmother Gramsy, actually, she made fun of him for calling her that.
"Okay so Millie has been fed breakfast, and you know what to give her for lunch…" Millie? Must be the child out there watching TV. And, uh, he had no idea what she ate for lunch. "I should be back in time for dinner! If not you can go ahead and eat." Skye finished talking and came around the counter to give him a kiss.
Skye kissed him.
Of all the people in the world, his first kiss was with Skye Coulson.
and surprisingly, he wasn't completely disgusted.
"Love you!" She called leaving the kitchen, as he stood frozen on the spot.
He heard what sounded like a front door opening and closing, and a car engine starting up.
At least it didn't sound like the van.
He stood there for another minute or two, before deciding that he should probably go out and check on the small child that he was apparently the father of.
As he entered the living room he started to wonder what other rooms were in this house, he was currently the only adult there, so it wasn't like anyone could stop him. Going up to the child, Millie, he reminded himself, he made a split second decision.
"Hey, Millie?" Grant asked her in a soft voice
"Yeah dada?" She bounced up, startling him just a little bit.
"Want to go exploring?" He asked, and got a couple really fast nods of the head in return.
So, he carefully picked her up, thankfully not almost dropping her this time, and started for the stairs.
Once they got upstairs, he started opening doors and peering inside of them. A bathroom with two sinks and a massive tub, a closet filled to the top with board games, a bed room with a crib, obviously Millie's, and the last room he came across was an office, that looked like it was his.
If the sticker that said "Property of Grant Ward" on the side of all the books was any indication, he was probably right.
There was a little blanket with toys set up in the corner of the room, and Millie struggled in his arms reaching for it.
He must spend a lot of time in here with her if she has her own play space.
Setting her down on the floor and letting her walk over to the toys, he sighed. If he's going to find anything on why he's here, or why he's married to Skye, it would probably begin in here.
He began flipping through papers and calendars, anything that he could get an answer from.
He came across a recently used calendar and saw the date read "October 30th 2020"
Okay, so he was fifteen years in the future.
Honestly not the weirdest part of his day.
He kept flipping through the papers on top of the desk and didn't come across anything of importance, so he started on the drawers.
He got to the bottom of the first drawer, when he noticed something, it was a photo album.
Well, if he was going to get help from anything, pictures would probably be the best option.
Opening it, the first pictures he saw were of him and Jemma, sixteen years old. The age he's supposed to be right now, and with the person he thought he was supposed to be with.
He kept flipping past pictures of him and Jemma and pictures of Skye and her friends, until they gradually started changing.
All the sudden the pictures showed an older version of him, and in a majority of them, he was with Skye.
He was hugging her in front of a lake, or wrapping his arm behind her at a movie, kissing her under mistletoe at what looked to be a department store.
The last picture on the page is one that takes his breath away.
It's him and Skye on a pier somewhere, and he's on one knee with a ring in his hand, and she has the biggest smile on her face. The smile in the picture makes Grants heart swell, and as he looks at it a little longer, he realizes he's begun to smile too.
Quickly, he flips the page and is bombarded with more pictures of the two of them. This time they each have rings on their fingers.
Then he flips one more page, and he sees white, and flowers, and tuxedos, and it takes him a second to realize its a wedding. His wedding.
Skye looks beautiful. She's wearing a beautiful white dress with lace covering most parts of it, and he's wearing a tuxedo, smiling wider than he's ever seen himself smile, as skye walks down the aisle with her dad on her arm.
He sees the picture of them kissing, then what he assumes is their first dance at the reception.
Then the pictures of guests start rolling in. He sees his mom, dad, two brothers, and sister. Skye's mom and dad, then Jemma. Jemma is there with Leo Fitz, and it hurts a lot less than he thought it would. Actually, it barely hurts at all.
He flips past the last page of wedding photos to see their honeymoon. He thinks that they're in France, but he isn't so sure.
The next page is another one that takes his breath away, it's him and Skye in a hospital room, and Skye is holding a little pink bundle in her arms. They're both smiling really wide, and there are balloons around them with the generic "It's a girl!" on them.
Carefully, Grant slides the photo out of it's place in the album, and looks at the back.
"Amelia Grace Ward. Born December 14th, 2017"
Grant looked up from the picture and smiled at the little girl, playing silently in the corner of the room, "Hi, Amelia."
She put down the toy and smiled back. "Hi Daddy!"
Grant smiled to himself once again, before putting the picture back in its place.
He looked through the last ten or so pages of the photo album. Mostly full of pictures from Amelia's first and second birthdays, trips to the zoo, and a couple to an aquarium.
Things Grant had no memory of, yet they were all here in a photo album of his life.
Grant put the album down, and took a deep breath. Sadly, it was only 11:25 in the morning.
Today was going to be a long day.
Lunch time came and went, along with the rest of the afternoon. He tried to find more photo albums, but had no luck. That left him the option of playing with his daughter, (whoa, did that sound weird), or getting on the computer. Which admittedly, looked a lot different than the ones he was used to from 2005.
He decided not to go on the computer, no matter how cool it looked. He really didn't want to read of another 9/11 or something, and then be sent back to his own time and having to live knowing that event would happen.
So, yeah. He avoided the internet and practically all other news sources.
That left him playing with Amelia for the rest of the afternoon.
It turns out her favorite show is "My Little Pony", and she has about every toy you could possibly find on the topic.
That's how he gets stuck on the floor of the living room, doing, in Amelia's opinion, a really bad job at voicing Twilight Sparkle,
Right as Skye walks through the door.
"You know," She says, sitting her bag down on the table, "I really need to record you doing that voice one of these days."
"Please don't." Grant groans in reply.
Skye laughs at that, and Grant thinks she has a really pretty laugh. Which is a thought that he shoos away almost immediately.
The rest of the night is uneventful. They eat Skye's pork chops, (which taste just like his gramsys), watch a movie on the couch until Amelia falls asleep, and then they finally retire to bed themselves.
It takes Grant until he's halfway up the stairs to realize that means he'll have to actually sleep next to Skye.
He's not sure if he's ready for that yet.
Somewhat slowly he follows Skye into the bedroom he woke up in this morning, finding what he wore when he woke up, and putting it back on while Skye was in the bathroom, hoping they were actually pajamas.
When Skye came back he went to go lay down on what he assumed was his side of the bed, while she practically jumped onto her side.
Within two minutes of laying down, and fixing the blankets and pillows, Skye reached to turn off the light. Leaving them in almost complete darkness, with the exception of the moonlight shining in through the window.
Grant stared at the ceiling, trying to will himself to go to sleep, while Skye tossed and turned next to him. After a couple frustrated groans, and two or three cuss words, Skye finally turns over and practically lays across him.
"Skye? What're you doing?" Grant asks, voice barely above a whisper.
"Mhm? Cuddling." Is her muffled response.
"Oh. Right." Grant sighs, and tries to go back to sleep, but it doesn't work. So, in a stupid half second decision he opens his mouth again.
"Skye?"
"Yeah?" She responds, from his chest, sounding somewhat sleepy.
"Why did you fall in love with me?" Grant stutters out, probably a bit too loud for the silence around them.
"What?" Skye raises her head to look at him.
"Just, why do you love me? Or when did you start loving me, I just…tell me our story?"
"You know our story, Grant. You lived it. Why do you want me to tell you all that?"
"Just, please?" Grant smiles down at her as she rolls her eyes.
"Fine." Skye sighs, setting her head back down on Grants chest. "I think the first time I realized I had a crush on you was when you were fourteen and I was seventeen."
"Fourteen?!" Grant yelps, Skye has had a crush on him for two years, and he had no idea.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm a freaking pervert." Skye laughed a little at herself before continuing, "I think I've always kinda liked you though, just never really knew it until then."
"But you were awful to me." Grant counters
"Yeah I know, I'm horrible, you can rub it in later."
"What changed?"
"You honestly need me to tell you that?"
"Please?" Grant smiled again and she rolled her eyes, again.
"Well, I was nineteen, you were sixteen, and we kissed. Everything went downhill from there."
Wait. He's technically sixteen still. Sometime in the next eight months, if this is all real, and if he gets back to his own time, he's going to kiss Skye. Whoa.
"I was honestly afraid you'd end up marrying Jem. You always had the biggest crush on her. So glad that didn't happen." Skye laughs again and looks up at him.
Grant's heart skips a beat before he answers.
"Yeah…" he smiles down at her "Me too."
Skye leans up and gives him a quick kiss, which gladly doesn't freak him out as much as the others did. Then she mumbles a quick goodnight and settles back down onto his chest.
Grant whispers a goodnight back to her, and falls asleep with a smile on his face.
Grant wakes up back at the fair, in Ezzies tent.
"What the hell?" Grants voice is back to it's cracky teen boy stage. He's guessing he doesn't look the same as he did either.
"Was that real?" He asks Ezzie with wide eyes. The past "day" feeling like a distant dream in his memory.
"Very." Ezzie responds, nodding her head with a small smile on her face. "Now go. You know what to do."
Grant slowly stands up, making sure his legs aren't wobbly, and he runs.
He runs out of the tent, and across the fairgrounds, passing booth by booth and ride by ride.
He passes Jemma and Leo in the line for a ferris wheel, and waves at her with a smile after she calls his name.
He runs as fast as he can all the way to the parking lot, getting some strange looks from strangers, but at this point he couldn't really care less.
He runs until he sees Skye's purple van, and then he just runs faster.
He gets to the passenger side door and stops.
This is it, the moment where their lives spiral downward….just like Skye said.
He pushes open the purple door and scoots into the passenger seat.
"Oh, hey Grant, you-" Skye turns towards Grant and starts speaking, but doesn't get to finish her sentence before Grant leans forward and kisses her, stopping the rest of the words from leaving her mouth.
Once they part, Skye looks stunned, but Grant smiles.
Grant Ward is going to marry Skye Coulson.
and this time, he's absolutely certain it will happen.