Hi my people!
I know that I haven't updated CHANGES in a while, but it's hard to write after that season finale. So I decided to write out this idea that I've had on my mind for a while and I hope that you like it just as much as I do. I haven't been seeing a lot of Skyeward fics around and so I decided to put one up.
The idea has some angst, family and romance moments and I like it so far.
Just a few notes before you read: This story is an AU from episode 2x19 on. In my version, Ward left Kara with the team and never came back. Kara and Bobbi figured out their issues in a VERY different way than the show had. But elements of the finale did happen like the fight with the Inhumans and the things that happened with Skye's parents. As for Season 3, I think it'll be easy to tell what made it into the story and what didn't.
Also, as for Skye's name, I fell in love with the character named Skye and the couple of Skyeward, so I will be referring to her as Skye Daisy Johnson in this story. If you have a problem with this, you can stop reading here and leave.
I hope guys like the premiere of "A Piece of Her".
ENJOY!
January 2020
"Move in!" Skye Johnson instructed as she and the team snuck up on an abandoned building in South L.A. She went towards the North side of the building. This was said to be a lair for the newest SHIELD enemy, HAMMER. They have been tracking some of the local operatives and this building is where many of them converged.
Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie looked around the East corner of the building before turning to his girlfriend, Elena "Yo-yo" Rodriguez. "Lena, can you do a quick sweep?"
"On it." Like that, Elena was gone and in a second, back at Mack's side. "Perimeter's clear."
In a van parked not far away sat Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz and Director Phil Coulson. "Heat signatures indicate four individuals in the building." Coulson informed the field team.
"Careful guys." Fitz warned. "I'm seeing some major machinery in there on the drones."
"Duly noted." Lincoln Campbell responded from his and Joey Gutierrez's position on the South side of the building.
"We move in 5…4…" Melinda May counted down from the West side of the building with Kara Palamas. "3..2…1!" May kicked down the door near her and moved in, Kara right behind her.
The other operatives moved in as well, sweeping the area, weapon and powers at the ready.
As Skye moved towards the top of the building, the rest dealt with the adversaries at the bottom. As the villains were greatly outmatched and outgunned, they were quickly defeated.
Skye hacked her way into the main control center of the compound. She made her way to the computer system in the center of the room.
Downstairs, May was roughly interrogating one of the hostiles. "Where's the Head?"
The man smirked at her. "Go to hell."
She gut checked him. "Tell me if you have intentions on living."
"Believe me I don't…"
A look of realization came over the specialist's face. "It's a trap." She turned to the others. "Gather them up and get out. It's a trap."
The five others wasted no time picking up their best sources and high-tailing it out of there.
Still upstairs, Skye was at the mainframe computer, typing away. "What are you up to?" She continued moving through different files, not noticing the countdown clock at the bottom of the screen, which was at 30 seconds.
Down in the alley, May and the others had just finished getting everybody away from the building, meeting the other three team members at the van. "Coulson, they planted something in that building. We need to clear the area."
"Okay," Coulson nodded. "Mack, Joey, make your way…"
"Wait…" Lincoln interrupted. "Where's Skye?" All of them froze in fear as they turned back to the building.
"She's still in there." Coulson panicked as he ran towards the building, Lincoln following. "SKYE! GET OUT OF THERE NOW!" Coulson yelled into the comm.
"What, wh…" Skye didn't get to finish her sentence as an explosion rattled the area. Fire poured out of the building. The team fell as the ground shook beneath them.
"SKYE!" Lincoln screamed as the building before them crumbled in what felt like slow motion.
"NO!" Jemma cried as Leo held her back from running into the building.
"Skye…" Coulson breathed as fire engines and paramedic vehicles made their way into the space. But the team felt no hope that Skye was alive.
"Director..." Coulson looked up to see Kara walking into his office, her eyes red and puffy from crying, the next day. "They found a body."
Coulson looked down as he fiddled with one of the pens on his desk. "Is it?"
"Yes. We confirmed it through blood tests."
"Blood?" Coulson questioned as he looked up. "Couldn't you…"
Kara shook her head. "Her body was severely burnt from the explosion, some of the skin…" Kara swallowed hard before looking away. "Sir, we just know it's her."
Coulson nodded. "You can wrap up her up for burial. I know she wasn't religious but I think deserves a proper send off."
Kara nodded before fast walking out of the room. Coulson rubbed his hands over his face before looking over at his computer. On the screen was Skye's agent profile and below her name was the active/inactive button. Coulson reluctantly reached out and pressed the button, turned the sign from "active" to "inactive". Almost as soon as he did so, a ping came from his computer. He looked to see that he got an e-mail notification. He tapped the screen and it opened to reveal a video message from Skye's email address. Coulson opened it immediately.
"Hey DC." Skye greeted him. Coulson surveyed the video background and it seemed she was in an apartment, one's he never seen before. "If you're watching this, that probably means one of two things. One, I've finally decided to leave SHIELD. Or I'm dead. And I really hope it's not the latter." She joked, which made Coulson tear up. "But, I digress. There's something I need to tell you and I know I would never be able to tell you to your face so I'm going to have this video automatically sent to you, when my agent status changes." Skye ran her hand through her hair. "So… I don't when this will be sent to you but it's April of 2016 so I've keeping something from you and the team since last June."
As the video played, Coulson went on an emotional rollercoaster. He went from sadness to joy to anger to understanding. All he knew when the screen went to black, he is that there was someone he needed to find.
"Higher daddy! Higher!" The child giggled as her father pushed on the swings of a local playground in San Diego.
The man chuckled as he pushed her harder. "How high do you want to go, princess?"
"To the moon!" The girl laughed, her jet-black hair moving back and forth with her.
The father laughed again. "I don't know if I can get you to the moon, but I'll get you close." The father pushed hard once more, before his daughter went high enough to be perpendicular with the swing set. As she swung back, he picked up and swung her around in the air, which made her laugh. "Was that high enough?"
"Yah!" She giggled as he put her down. "Daddy, can I go play on the slides?"
"Sure, princess. I'll be over with our stuff, watching you."
"Okay daddy!" The little girl ran over to one of the play structures as her father walked over to one of the benches nearby. He noticed a few flirty glances from single moms around, but he ignored them as he sat down. He packed up the "My Little Pony" bag that they had brought with them with a few of his daughter's toys that she hadn't put back. It was getting late and it was almost time to head home.
He was so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn't notice someone sitting down next to him until he asked, "Which one is she?"
The man whipped around at the familiar voice instantly and grew scared. "Coulson? What are you doing here?" It was then that he noticed that Coulson wasn't looking at him. He was looking out to the playground, searching for someone in particular.
"Which one is she, Ward?"
Grant Ward rubbed his hand over his face before pointing to the top of a play structure. "She's the one with the tiara and black converse."
Coulson looked in the direction he pointed and the sight brought tears to his eyes. The child he was looking at was a truly a miniature Skye. Her hairstyle reminded him so much of Skye's, despite the color. Her skin tone was olive, like Skye's and it seemed as if she had the same eyes as well.
The child looked over to Grant. "Daddy, watch me!"
"I'm watching sweetheart!" Grant called out.
The child proceeded to stuff herself into the tube slide and eventually came out the bottom of the slide, smiling and giggling. "Yay! Daddy, did you see?"
Grant chuckled. "Yes, daddy saw. One more time and then we have to go, okay?"
"Kay!" The girl smiled as she ran around to the back of the structure.
Grant looked over to Coulson. "How did you find us?"
"Skye's video message."
A look of sadness came over Grant's face as he turned back to the playground. "So, it's true?"
Coulson looked over. "You knew?"
Grant took a deep breath, obviously holding back tears. "Skye and I have a routine. She calls me before and after a mission. I got the call before and I knew it was nothing too dangerous, so when she didn't call me again yesterday…" Grant sucked in another breath. "I knew something went horribly wrong."
Coulson nodded. "So, she's really…"
Grant nodded. "Yah."
"How old is she?"
Grant sniffled. "3 and 3/4." He turned to his old boss. "The 3/4 is very important. Skye and I were planning a "My Little Pony" birthday party for her. Why are you here, Coulson?"
"Have you told her?"
Grant shook his head. "No, I wanted to be sure and honestly I don't know how I'm going to tell her. Does the team know about her?"
Coulson shook his head. "No, she only left the message to me and I don't know how the team would…"
"React to Skye and I having a daughter together." Grant scoffed as he looked back. "I'm pretty sure May, Fitz and Simmons would take another shot at killing me. I'm honestly surprised that you haven't."
"That little girl has already lost one parent, she doesn't need to lose another. But how did this happen anyway?"
Grant shrugged. "I honestly don't know it did. We just never got over each other and then we found out she was pregnant and everything took its place."
Coulson nodded. "We're having a memorial service for her on Saturday. She deserves a proper goodbye. Your daughter deserves a chance to say goodbye to her mother."
"I just don't want her to have deal with everything the team may throw at her."
"I'll make sure that won't happen, if you come."
"Daddy!" The men looked to see the child in question running over.
Grant immediately stood up and caught her mid-jump and spun her around again. "You ready to go home munchkin." He asked as he placed her on his hip.
"Yes, daddy." She looked over at Coulson and smiled. "Hi!"
Coulson laughed as he stood up. "Hi there."
"My name is Jenny, I'm 3 and 3/4." She cheekily smiled.
"So I've heard." Coulson chuckled and he shook her tiny hand. "I'm Phil Coulson."
"It is very nice to meet you, Phil." Jenny smiled.
"It's nice to meet you too, Jenny." Phil turned to Grant as he took out a card. "If you change your mind, here's where and when it's happening."
Grant nodded as he placed the card in the bag and put it on his shoulder. "I'll think about it." He placed a peck on his daughter's cheek. "Let's go Jenny Benny." And with that, he carried his daughter away from Coulson.
"Bye Phil!" Jenny frantically waved at him as they left the park.
Coulson waved as he turned to walk back to his car. When he finally got into the driver's seat, he burst out into tears, as the emotions he was feeling were too overwhelming to keep in anymore.
That Saturday, members of SHIELD, human and Inhuman, came together at a local cemetery in San Diego, mourning the death of their fallen comrade. There was a table set up near the coffin with pictures of Skye and her friends. Coulson had even snuck a few pictures of her and Ward on the table. Her main teammates stood at the front of next to the coffin as some of the their colleagues who didn't know Skye as well gave them their condolences. Bobbi and Lance had even come back to say goodbye to Skye. It was a bright, sunny day, which didn't match the dreary look of everyone in black.
"It's almost time to start the service." The minster told Coulson.
Coulson nodded as he turned to the team. "It's time to sit down."
The team slowly made their way to the front row of chairs placed down, as they were the closest things that Skye had to a family.
As Lincoln tried to sit in the seat closest to the edge, which was usually saved for the closest family member, Coulson stopped him. "Lincoln, why don't you go sit over by Kara? I'm trying to save that seat for someone."
Lincoln was confused. "Who would…"
"Lincoln, just go."
Lincoln reluctantly walked down a few chairs and sat between Kara and Jemma. May looked over at Phil as he sat down. "Who are you saving a seat for?"
"You'll see." Coulson responded as he looked over at the cars.
"Okay."
As people were starting to take their seats, Coulson grew worried. What if Ward had decided not to come? I mean, he could understand his reasoning behind it but he still thought that he might try to come.
Just as he thought about forgetting it, a black Escalade pulled out onto the lawn with the other cars.
"Who is that?" Lance asked as they all turned to where the truck was.
On the other side of the vehicle, someone got out and walked around to the passenger's side. It was then that the team knew it was.
"Ward." Jemma sneered.
Grant stood by the car, in his black trench coat covering his suit, watching all of their reactions, rubbing his gloved hands together. The team hadn't seen him since that Arctic mission and it definitely seem like their opinion of him didn't changed. The only ones who seemed remotely glad to see him were Coulson and Kara.
May went to pull her gun, when Coulson stopped her. "No."
"But Phil, it's Ward."
"I know exactly who it is." Coulson retorted as he stood up and walked over to the former traitor. "Hi."
"Hey."
"You came."
"You were right. Jenny deserves to say a proper goodbye to her mother."
Coulson glanced towards the tinted black window and he could make out the silhouette of a car seat and a little girl, looking down at her hands. "She does and so do you. You've been a huge part of her life for the past few years, whether we knew it or not."
Grant scoffed. "I think the team would disagree with you."
"Regardless, you made it just in time, we were just about to start."
Grant nodded as he opened up the door for the seat behind the passenger's seat. "Jenny, are you ready?" Jenny nodded as her father unbuckled her and placed her on the ground. "You remember Mr. Coulson, right?"
Phil crouched down to her level. "Hi Jenny. You look very pretty today." Grant had managed to put her into a similar looking trench coat and underneath Coulson could see a black dress peaking out and white tights wrapped around her legs and her feet adorned with black Mary Janes. Her hair was twisted back into a curly ponytail.
"Tank you." Jenny pouted as she reached for her father's hand, obviously wanting his comfort.
"Let's go, Jenny." Grant interrupted as the three walked over to the seating.
As they did so, Jenny noticed the sour and confused looks on everybody's faces. She didn't know they were directed towards her father, so she grew very scared at the situation. She pulled back on her father's hand. "Daddy."
Grant looked down at the scared look on her face. He immediately crouched down. "Oh, baby it's okay. Everything's gonna be fine."
"They're all mad at me."
Coulson glanced over at the team and gave them a fierce look as if he was saying, "back off".
Grant immediately picked her up and held her close. "They're not mad at you sweetie, okay?"
Jenny didn't look up. She just held her father's coat and buried her face in his chest as they kept going over to the seats. Coulson took his seat next to May and Grant sat down next to him.
He tried to adjust Jenny but she wouldn't budge. "Hey princess. You can sit with me but you have to sit properly okay?"
Jenny immediately let go of her father's coat and let him turn her around so her back was facing his chest. She sat on his lap, her tiny hands hidden underneath his. Afraid of the looks, Jenny didn't dare look towards the team.
The service started as the minister spoke a few words before he called Coulson up to the podium. As Coulson went, Grant couldn't help but notice the murderous glance that May sent his way. He ignored her, instead focusing on his little girl who was far from her usual bright self at the moment.
"Hello." Coulson greeted as he addressed the congregation. "We are here to remember the life of a wondrous person, Skye Daisy Johnson. Skye was a lot of things. She was beautiful, stubborn, intelligent and just full of life. She could brighten up your day with just the smile on her face. Skye also filled many roles, both in and out of SHIELD. She was a leader to others, our resident hacker, but also an incredible field agent. But outside of SHIELD, she was also a friend, a daughter, a sister and something else I just recently learned about, a mother."
The team immediately turned their attention to the little girl that sat in Ward's lap. It was now that they could see that the resemblance was undeniable. It was exactly like looking a kid Skye.
"3 and 3/4 years ago…" Coulson chuckled. "Skye gave birth to a beautiful little girl named Jennifer. Skye believed that this little girl was the best thing to ever happen to her and she said that she has Grant Ward to thank for that. Jenny is a perfect reflection of her mother and I believe it is guaranteed that Grant will raise her to be a lovely young woman like her mother was. Jenny…" Grant whispered into his daughter's ear and she looked up at Coulson. "I just want you to know that your mother was an amazing woman and that with you here, we still have a piece of her here with us."
Jenny didn't say anything; she just turned in her father's arms and pressed her face back into her chest. As Grant felt his daughter shake from crying, he rubbed her back and kissed her head in an attempt to comfort her. But also it was an attempt to comfort him self as well. The team couldn't help but sneer at him as everything sank in. Skye had a child with Ward of all people. How could she? But for the child's sake, they continued to sit quietly.
Coulson came back down after that and the service went on. When it ended, many people began dispersing from the space and but a few lingered around. A lot of them wanting to meet little Jenny, but Grant was very protective saying that meeting too many people would be too much for her today. They understood and went on with their days.
"Daddy." Jenny mumbled. "Can I go to mommy's coffin and say bye?"
"Okay, munchkin." He agreed as he put her down. "Just remember the coffin is closed. I don't want you touching the locks."
"I won't touch them daddy." Jenny promised as she walked herself over.
Grant sighed as he tried to keep in his tears.
"Nice to see you here." Grant turned to see Kara standing behind him. "It's been a while."
Grant nodded. "It has."
"So you and Skye were…"
"We never actually put a label on the relationship we had. We knew we wanted to be together, not just for Jenny's sake but we never said that this would be a forever thing."
Kara nodded. "So did you love her?"
"Yes and I know she loved me too."
Just then, they heard a scoff behind them. "Yah right."
Grant looked to see Lincoln standing behind him. "I don't think anyone asked you."
"Well, I'm just saying that she didn't say anything about you and she tells me everything." Lincoln retorted.
Grant smirked as he walked over to her. "Well, did she tell you who she was calling late at night?"
Lincoln's face dropped "No."
"When she left SHIELD for weeks at a time, did she tell you where she was going?"
"No."
"That's because she was with me and our daughter. Something you can't compete with Sparky."
"Well, if she was in love with you then why didn't she tell anyone? Seems like she was ashamed of being with you."
The only thing that kept Grant back was Kara pulling his arm back. "Is there something going on here?" Mack asked as he, Elena, May and Jemma walked over.
Lincoln smirked. "Nothing, just the traitor thinking that he and Skye were meant for each other."
Jemma laughed at the thought. "Please, you're more messed up than you were four years ago."
Grant glared at them. "Look. I didn't come here to be beleaguered by all of you. I came here so that MY daughter could say goodbye to her mother."
"AAAHHH!" A shriek rang throughout the cemetery. One that Grant instantly recognized.
"JENNY!" Grant pushed past the team and ran to the coffin. The rest of them followed closely behind him. Grant came up behind her and immediately saw what had her so frightened. "Jenny, come here." He picked her and held her close, while backing away.
Jemma looked into the now open casket and immediately backed up. "Oh my god!" She gasped.
Coulson finally got up to the casket and looked in and what he saw horrified him. In Skye's place was a green humanoid creature. It had elf-ish pointy ears, a ridged square jaw and long black hair. It still had all of the injuries that Skye possessed with the burnt and peeling flesh. The fact that its mouth was wide open in a screaming position didn't help at all.
"Coulson…" Phil looked over and saw the terrified look on Grant's face as he caressed his daughter's back as she shook in fear. "Where is Skye?"
So… what'd ya think? I like the idea and I'm interested in going forward with it. Tell me if you want me to in a review. Let's see if we can get this story to 5 reviews by the next chapter!
If you're new to my story, I always recommend something for my readers to check out and for this chapter, I recommend checking out "Be Alright" by Ariana Grande. It's one of the songs from her newest album and something about just screams catwalk to me. If you're going to think about taking my recommendation, leave the word "ALRIGHT" in a review!
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Thanks for reading!
~JuicyJams