a flight risk with a fear of falling,

written by wickedsong.

Disclaimer/Note: A THIRD PART TO THIS SERIES? NO WAY. But also yeah because I was thinking of Huntingbird and I was like how would I incorporate them and THIS HAPPENED. So yeah, I hope you guys enjoy, basically, and I really liked going back to this uber-fluffy universe where nothing hurts because let's be honest, canon really really hurts right now.

Title is from Taylor Swift's 'Mine'. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of this song, aren't I?

"You know, I'm beginning to think you made her up, mate."

Grant lowers the box that he and Lance are meant to be carrying into the store and looks over at the other man, hoping that his exasperated expression says 'you really want to do this now?'

And so for a brief second, Grant thinks about letting it go. Besides, he knows Bobbi will kill them if they keep slacking on these kinds of jobs.

But then Lance smirks and Grant glares at him from over the box. "I'll have you know she's very real, isn't she Bud?"

He looks down at his heels where Buddy is yapping happily in response.

"You can't keep having the dog vouch for you, you know?" Lance offers. "It's a little lame." He looks over at Buddy. "Isn't that right, Bud?"

Buddy remains silent at the poor imitation.

Grant has to say he feels more than a little smug at his dog's reaction and the look on Lance's face.

Bobbi emerges from the doorway, holding a clipboard and folding her arms at the pair of them, looking unimpressed.

"You do realise this," she gestures to the boxes that litter the street outside the store, "was all meant to be in the back twenty minutes ago. We open in an hour."

"Yes sweetheart, we heard you the first time," Lance says, looking at his wife first, and then winking over to Grant.

Bobbi obviously catches onto the conspiratorial wink because her gaze turns swiftly to him. He just shrugs haphazardly, before producing a series of noises he hopes constitute some sort of answer.

Bobbi turns back to Lance, now looking at the container he was carrying. "Drop it," he complies with a sigh, "and take stock inside," she thrusts the clipboard into his now empty hands, "sweetheart."

Lance groans but does so anyway, grumbling as he trudges back into the store. Bobbi grins, shaking her head, as she hoists up the container. "You got it, Grant?"

"Yeah," he replies, with a thumbs up in her direction.

He has to admit that putting stock away with Bobbi is much more productive than it is with Lance.

When they're finally finished, Bobbi looks delightfully at her watch and crosses something off on the clipboard. "Ten minutes to spare," she says, sitting down and sighing. Buddy dutifully goes to sit beside her.

He definitely took to her in a way he never did to Lance.

Not that Lance really ever warmed up to Buddy either, which was amusing considering he was one of the owners of a pet store.

"What were you two talking about that was so important anyway?" Bobbi asks, running a hand through Buddy's fur as she looks between the two of them.

Lance claps Grant on the shoulder, and puts his arm around him. "I was just asking young Grant here-"

"Not so young; we're the same age," Grant interrupts but Lance shakes his head as if he hasn't heard him and Bobbi gives a small chuckle.

She nods to her husband. "Go on."

"Like I was saying, I was just wondering when we would meet this new lady friend of his."

Grant looks over at Bobbi, who, as he guessed, shares the same expression he does. Her eyebrows crinkle. "'Lady friend? Really?" She folds her arms, and then turns to Grant, the look on her face softening a little. "But yeah, I've been kind of curious too, you know? When will we meet this mysterious Skye?"

Grant waves Lance's arm off, and Lance decides to go to stand beside his wife. Grant thinks quickly about how best to reply to their questioning stares and instead shrugs his shoulders, as if it's the best way to deflect them.

Bobbi's arms remain folded as she tilts her head slightly. "You're not embarrassed by us, are you Grant?"

Grant shakes his head.

But he is a little.

And by a little he means a lot.

They almost act like they're his parents. And that's ridiculous because they're basically the same age. Besides he hasn't needed anyone to take care of him since he was a child.

It's probably because they're married and they give you that feeling that they're judging you just by simply standing next to each other, which is exactly what they're doing to him now.

"You really want to meet Skye don't you?"

Lance goes to say something but Bobbi jumps in. "Of course we do. She seems important to you." Buddy barks beside her. She looks down at him and laughs. "To the both of you." She smirks. "Plus, because she's real," she nods to Lance, "he owes me ten bucks."

Lance gives a wry chuckle; Bobbi smirks in his direction and Grant simply stands there, knowing that he's probably screwed.

Bobbi insists that Grant bring Skye over for dinner the next week and Skye jumps at the chance when he brings it up.

"One question though," she says, with a curious look on her face.

"Shoot."

She almost looks like she doesn't know how to phrase it. "I thought you didn't...have anyone else in the city."

He realises then that he probably should have said something about them but it had never really come up before, and somewhere in the back of mind he knew that if it had, she would have wanted to meet them as much as they wanted to meet her.

All things considered, she didn't run and hide when she knew his best friend was a dog; and she didn't when she witnessed his lonely existence in the woods first hand. But he was still wary of completely letting her in.

He tries as best as he can to explain it to her but he's relieved when he sees her expression soften.

She nods, saying she understands, before she gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and that small part of him that's been so scared, knows there's nothing to be afraid of; not really.

So Grant finds himself telling her all about them when they walk the short distance from her van to their apartment a week later. Skye's got Buddy's leash firmly in hand, and he's holding her other hand as they weave their way through the throngs of people on the busy LA street.

"They got married when they were pretty young and decided to start a business," he explains. "One day, years ago now," and he's surprised that he can't really remember how long it's been. All he really recalls is how hungry he and Buddy were, "I went in, hoping to take some food for Buddy and-"

"They caught you," Skye finishes, with a small knowing smile. "Damn, I didn't know I was dating an amateur thief."

He smiles despite himself. He does that a lot when she's around. "They gave me two options: they'd call the cops or I could help around there and get the stuff that way."

"So they blackmailed you into working for them," Skye deadpans, with raised eyebrows.

Grant shakes his head, fully realising how it sounds when he says it aloud. "It isn't like that." He sighs. "I can fend for myself mostly out there but they care. It's nice to have something like that, you know?" When he looks up, Skye is smiling, like she understands.

He knows she understands on some level. There's still some things he doesn't know about her; things from her past she'd rather not share – and he knows the feeling – but he if knows anything it's that she gets it.

"They're like Phil and Melinda," she determines, with a small shrug.

"Well, yeah," Grant reasons, "if Phil and Melinda were ever married.

Skye shakes her head and he knows exactly what's coming now.

"If I have anything to say about it, one day they will be."

Grant just laughs – he's heard a lot about how sure Skye is that the pair are actually in love and just not acting on it - and holds onto her hand tighter, feeling almost lighter than he ever has.

Despite his continuous denial of the fact that he somehow needs Lance and Bobbi to accept Skye, he knows that some small part of him is kind of craving their approval.

So he's pleasantly surprised when he finds that they actually get on with her really well.

"He was this scrawny little thing," Lance explains to Skye, recounting their first meeting with Grant with an astounding clarity.

"And you asked if we could adopt him," Bobbi interrupts, before taking a sip of her beer.

Lance tilts his head, turning his attention quickly to his wife and giving a small noise of protest. "I'm not sure those were my exact words, Bob."

"Really?" Grant asks, stifling a laugh. "Because I was there and-"

Lance turns back to Skye, holding a hand up to the others. "You see I'm glad you're here now. It's always these two against me. Horrible, horrible people, they are, I'm telling you."

Skye laughs, and then looks to Grant, with the sort of look that probably knocks the air of your lungs, in that totally kind of cliché way. "Not completely horrible."

She finds his hand under the table and gives it a quick squeeze, which he returns.

"Hey Bob, do you think we should give these two lovebirds our room or-"

"Get your head out of the gutter, Hunter."

A little while after dinner is finished and cleared up, Grant leaves Lance and Buddy to stare each other down in the living room while he goes to find Bobbi and Skye. He ends up following their voices to the kitchen – which also doubles as the dining room - where they're sitting at the table, chatting intently with mugs of coffee in front of them.

He lightly taps on the door frame and they both turn to face him. "Am I interrupting?"

"And he's a terrible dresser, I mean just look at him," Bobbi says extra loudly, before turning back to him. She has that sweet smile on her face that she reserves for when she's planning to get one over on Lance. "No, I think I got everything out there."

Skye smiles at him, folds her arms and then shakes her head.

"I think I'll leave you two to it." Bobbi says, grasping her mug as she stands from her seat. "Have you left your dog with my husband by any chance?" she asks, when she notices Buddy is nowhere to be found.

Grant just nods and she leaves with a sly smile on her face.

When they're alone, Skye stands and walks over to him, standing on her tiptoes and giving him a kiss, which he gladly returns.

"You know I've wanted to do that all night?"

"Oh yeah?" Grant replies, arms around her waist.

"Mm, yeah," she affirms, with a nod.

"So what stuff was Bobbi saying about me?" he asks her, as they sway contently in the middle of the kitchen.

Skye rolls her eyes and sighs dramatically. "Just letting me know what I was getting myself into. You know, horrible dress sense," he nods because he heard that one, "terrible to animals, really bad kisser – but I don't know how she knows that, the usual."

Grant pulls her in closer. "Oh she told you all of that did she?"

Skye nods and so he kisses her, and almost immediately she responds by deepening it.

They're only brought back to Earth when there's a loud coughing sound and Lance and Bobbi are standing there, Lance with his arms folded and Bobbi looking like she could burst into laughter at any moment.

"We eat here, for Christ's sake," is all he says, before turning to his wife. "Bobbi, tell them we eat here."

Bobbi breaks into laughter at the look on Lance's face, and that's all it takes for Skye and Grant to break too.

When Skye and Grant leave hours later, with Lance telling them to 'go get a room' and Bobbi playfully nudging him with her elbow, they turn to each other with almost identical looks on their faces.

"I bet you ten bucks they're going to get married!"

"Ten bucks say they get married!"

Lance curses internally. "Damn it, Bob! I wanted to say it first!" He pauses. "It doesn't count, does it? If we both said it, I mean."

His wife simply walks back into the living room, with that infuriating look on her face that he not-so-secretly loves about her. "I'm looking forward to another ten bucks off you at their wedding," she calls.

He groans, knowing that this woman will be the life and the death of him.

"So you liked them?" Grant asks, when they finally end up back at her van.

He still kind of hates the shady alleyway vibe that standing out here in the open gives him but slowly and surely he's gotten used to it.

"They're good people," Skye assures him, locking her arms around his neck. "And I'm glad you have them in your life. That you had them when you were on your own." She gives a small smile. "It's good to have something like that."

"Yeah," he muses quietly, before drawing her closer to him. He bends down a little and touches his forehead to hers. "It's good to have something like this too, I think." he tells her quietly.

She arches an eyebrow, which causes him to draw back just a little. "You think?" she says, her mocking tone giving her away.

"No, I don't think," he corrects, shaking his head. He looks straight at her."I know."

"That's exactly what a girl wants to hear."

"I love you, you know." It's the first time he's said it aloud but he's felt it welling up in him all this time, and the words just sort of spill out.

He wonders if this'll be it, by the way her face sort of changes so that he doesn't really know what she's thinking. He wonders if this'll be the thing that scares her off, and all those fears come rushing back up to the surface and he's starting to wonder if just blurting it out was such a good-

She chases that dull dread away with a kiss; pulling away and grinning; looking up at him.

"I love you too, you idiot."

"That's exactly what a guy wants to hear."

She laughs; loud and clear, like she wants the entire world to hear it and she doesn't care that they might.

He swears that it's the most wonderful sound in the world.