Hey babes! Back with a new one for ya. Thanks so much for all the love I've been getting on this story. Really means a lot. I think this is one of my favorites that I've written. So I'm glad you're all enjoying it.
Guest: Thank you so much. You have to understand that Grant and Skye didn't have the best childhood, so the holidays probably weren't a fun time for them. Thank you, I had a really fun weekend with my family. :)
Guest13: Thank you! Glad you're enjoying. :)
And now for the story. Enjoy!
*December/January*
"Midnight is almost here," Ward tells Skye as he enters the bedroom from the kitchen, carrying a champagne glass full of sparkling cider in each hand. "Here," he sits down next to her on the bed and holds out one glass, "it's sparkling cider."
Skye takes the glass from him and sighs, "I cannot wait for the day when I can finally drink wine or beer again to help myself relax."
Ward chuckles, "Well until then, you'll just have to stick to non-alcoholic beverages."
"I know. It totally sucks, but it's for the best."
He nods his head, "Yes it is. Can you believe we just have three months left until the baby gets here?"
"It's pretty crazy," Skye says, rubbing one hand over her protruding stomach. "But I can't wait for her to finally get here."
"Neither can I," Ward smiles at her.
"Oh, since we're getting down to the last few months, we really need to finish planning the color scheme for the nursery and actually get it all done."
"I thought we agreed on a neutral color," he says with furrowed brows.
"Maybe you did, but I certainly didn't. Our daughter is not going to sleep in a room with neutral colors. Sorry, but no. She's going to have a room that is perfectly designed for her."
"Well we'll figure all of that out later. Right now let's just focus on celebrating the New Year, because I believe the countdown to 2017 has already begun."
Skye turns her attention towards the TV screen to see the large disco-type ball slowly dropping down as the large monitor in Times Square displays the countdown clock.
Once the ball reaches the roof of the tall building and the clock reaches zero, the entire scene on the television screen bursts into celebration.
Turning back to look at Ward, Skye waits until he brings his glass of cider back down and then leans forward to softly press her lips against his.
She pulls back to see him staring at her with a shocked look on his face.
"What was that for?" he asks her.
She gives him a small smile and shrugs, "It could just be my hormones in complete overdrive right now, but I figure, New Year equals new start, right?"
He furrows his brows, "New start?"
She nods, "Yeah, a new start to us. I've tried to deny my feelings for you, but I can't, especially because we're spending so much time together and I'm getting to see this whole new side of you that I didn't know even existed. And I mean, we're already having a kid together, why not try being an actual couple while we're at it. Maybe we'll actually manage to get things right this time around."
He smiles, "I think that sounds like an excellent idea."
"I'm glad you feel that way, Grant," she smiles.
He raises a brow, "Grant? What happened to Ward?"
She shrugs again, "Like I said, new start to us. Is it too weird?"
He shakes his head with a smile, "No, it's not weird. It's actually kind of refreshing."
"Good," she nods once. "Because I wasn't going to stop even if it was weird."
He chuckles, "Of course you wouldn't." He leans back down to gently press his lips against hers, smiling into the kiss.
"Morning," Skye yawns as she pads her way into the kitchen from the bedroom, still dressed in her pajamas; a pair of sweat pants and one of Grant's t-shirts, both of her hands resting on her lower back.
Grant looks up at her and smiles, "Morning. Did you sleep well?"
Skye shrugs as she slowly lowers herself down into one of the chairs at the kitchen table, "I guess so. It's kind of hard to sleep though sometimes when you have a human being growing inside of you. But other than that, I slept just fine."
"Okay then," Grant says and then turns back to the food in front of him.
Skye waits a few beats before opening her mouth again, "Hey, Grant?"
"Yeah?" he replies, not looking up.
"Um, happy birthday."
Grant stills for a moment and then looks up at her, "How-how did you…."
"Know that it's your birthday?" she finishes with a slightly raised eyebrow. He nods his head silently. She lets out a small laugh, "I am a very skilled hacker, Grant. I can find out anything I want. And I read your file back when we were still at SHIELD. I never said anything because you didn't seem like the kind who really wanted to celebrate their birthday."
"And I'm still not," he tells her seriously. "I don't associate my birthday with good memories, or any memories really, for that matter. The few memories I do have of my birthday are all of Gramsy but despite her best efforts, even she wasn't able to make my birthday a happy day most of the time."
Skye shrugs, "That doesn't mean we can't start trying to associate it with good memories now."
Grant sighs, "Skye, please, just drop this subject, okay?"
"I'm just trying to help you," she tells him. "I'm not saying that we have to throw a huge party or anything to celebrate. But it's your birthday; we should at least do something."
"Being here in this house with you, and eventually our baby, is all I need to have a good life. I don't care about my birthday, honest. It's just one day that marks me as a year older, nothing more. I promise I'm okay without celebrating it."
"Fine," Skye relents after a minute. "But I still think we should at least make you a cake."
*February*
"I'll get it," Grant calls through the house as he makes his way out of the kitchen, shutting off the faucet and drying his hands off on a wash cloth. He makes his way over to the front door and pulls it open, his brows furrowing together when he sees the raven haired woman standing on the porch.
"Kara?"
"Hey Grant," she smiles brightly at him. She steps across the threshold and pulls him down into a hug. "How are you? It's been way too long."
"Yeah, it has," he says. They pull out of the hug and he stares at her, "Um, what exactly are you doing here? Not that I'm not happy to see you, because I am, I'm just curious as to why you're standing here on my front porch right now."
She takes a deep breath, "Well, I got done with my personal excursion and now I'm looking for a place to stay for the foreseeable future. I remembered you saying once that this is where one of your safe houses is. So I thought I'd stop by and say hello, maybe look for an available place while I'm here."
"Oh, well that's great. But uh, maybe you should have ca—"
"Grant? Who's at the door?" Skye asks as she makes her way into the front room from the hallway. She stops when she sees the woman standing with Grant.
"Skye," Grant speaks up, "this is Kara. Kara, this is Skye."
"Kara's the one with the mask who disguised herself as May, right?" Skye asks. Grant nods his head.
"And isn't Skye the one who shot you four times when your back was turned and then left you?" Kara asks with a raised eyebrow.
Grant nods his head again, "Mm-hmm. But she also happens to be my girlfriend and the mother of my unborn child."
Kara's eyes drift back over to Skye, this time taking notice of the other woman's large stomach, one hand resting on her lower back and then other resting underneath her belly.
"Oh, wow," she says. She looks up at Grant, "That's great. Congratulations, Grant."
"Thanks," he smiles.
"When are you due?" she directs at Skye.
"Late March," Skye replies with a small smile. "We're both just counting down the days until she finally gets here."
"You're having a girl?" Kara asks.
"Yeah, we are," Skye smiles, rubbing her hand across her baby bump.
"You both must be really excited," Kara says.
"We are," Grant nods. "It was pretty unexpected when we found out because we definitely weren't planning for all of this to happen, but I don't think either of us would trade it for anything," he smiles down at Skye.
"No we would not," Skye smiles back. She turns to Kara, "Hey, while you're here do you want to see the nursery? It's not quite finished yet, but it should be done really soon."
"Sure, I'd love to," Kara smiles.
"Great," Skye smiles, "it's just down the hallway."
"I'll be in the kitchen finishing up the dishes," Grant says and then drops a kiss to Skye's temple as he makes his way past her and into the kitchen.
Skye watches Grant walk into the kitchen and then turns back to Kara, "Follow me." She makes her way down the hallway towards the nursery, Kara falling into step right behind her. "Grant wanted to do a pretty neutral theme for the nursery, but as soon as we found out we're having a girl, I knew I wanted to do something special for her." They reach the nursery and Skye pushes the door open to reveal the room to Kara.
All the furniture is put together and pushed into the center of the room, plastic sheeting is taped down to cover the carpet, and blue painters tape is lining the edges of the window, outlets, and the doorframe. Each of the four walls and the ceiling is painted in a light purple color, paint cans and brushes sitting in one corner of the room.
"We still have another coat of paint to do," Skye explains, "and I found all these really cute metal butterflies at the store that we're going to hang on the walls once the painting is all finished. Her crib is going to be over there," she points to the far right corner of the room, "and her name is going to be spelled out using some wooden letters that are going to be painted a sky blue color. And I found these really pretty curtains that we're going to hang over the window. We're going to put some shelves on a couple of the walls too. We're still trying to figure out where exactly to put everything else, but I'm still getting excited just thinking about her sleeping and playing in here."
"I can tell," Kara nods. She turns to Skye, "And the nursery looks really great."
"Thanks," Skye smiles.
"So does all of this mean that you've left SHIELD?" Kara asks after a moment.
Skye sighs, "Not exactly. I'm just staying here until about a month after the baby is born. Then I'm returning to SHIELD but I'm going to come back here every few months and stay for a few days. Just until I know for sure that my team of Inhumans can handle themselves without me there and I pick someone to take over for me."
"Inhumans?" Kara furrows her brows. "I think I heard about them in the news while I was away."
"Yeah," Skye nods. "We're pretty much everywhere these days. Anyways, long story short; we're a group of humans with an alien gene because of some experiments done on a group of humans by a race of aliens ages and ages ago. The gene is passed down through the generations but it lies dormant until activated by this special mist. My gene became active back in Puerto Rico and I have a team of Inhumans back at SHIELD that I train and work with to find other Inhumans and help save the world."
Kara nods, "Ah. So does your baby have the gene then?"
"She does," Skye nods. "But it'll most likely be dormant when she's born like it was with me until I was exposed to the mist."
"Okay. And does anyone at know about the baby?"
Skye shakes her head, "Nope, I don't plan on telling any of them anytime soon because most of them probably wouldn't take it too well."
"Well I wish you both the best of luck then," Kara smiles politely.
"Thanks," Skye smiles back. "And hey, I hope you don't feel all weird or anything because of what's going on between me and Grant now. He mentioned briefly once before that you and he were sort of together for a little while."
Kara shakes her head and waves her off, "Oh, don't worry about it. Grant and I tried but we just didn't work well as a couple. We ended that relationship but chose to remain friends. He decided to stay here while I went off on my own to figure out who I was without having any ties to SHIELD. I even met up with a therapist and he helped me come to terms with a few things. So I'm doing a lot better than I was before I left, no longer all bitter about life and the hand I was dealt."
"Well I'm glad you're doing better," Skye smiles at her. "And I want you to know that you're more than welcome to come by here any time. If you want to come by, that is. You'll always be welcome here, I'm sure Grant would agree with me on that."
"Thank you," Kara smiles. "And I look forward to meeting your little girl."
Skye jumps slightly when she feels a quick jab to her abdomen. She rubs her hand across her stomach to soothe her daughter. She smiles at Kara, "Baby girl's been kicking up a storm lately. I think she's getting eager to come out and see the world already."
"I'm sure she is," Kara smiles.
"Do you want to feel?" Skye asks her.
"Really?"
Skye nods her head, "Yeah. Give me your hand."
"Um, okay," Kara holds her hand out to Skye.
Skye grabs the other woman's hand and places it on the side of her stomach where she'd felt the baby kick just moments before.
"Whoa," Kara smiles when she feels a thud against her palm. "That's so weird."
"It's even weirder on my end," Skye smiles. "But it's gotten less weird over time. I just can't wait for her to be here so I can finally hold her and kiss her and show her how much I love her."
"Happy Valentine's Day."
Skye lifts her head from her tablet to see Grant standing in front of her, holding a fresh bouquet of daisies out to her.
"Daisies?" she raises an eyebrow.
He shrugs, "Roses are kind of cliché and something tells me you'd rather have something unique. And these just screamed your name when I saw them while I was out," he grins at his own joke.
Skye laughs, "Very nice, Grant. I had a feeling I'd regret telling you my birth name." She reaches out to take the bouquet from him, "But I love the flowers, thank you. I must ask, though, why the bouquet? It's just Valentine's Day."
"Correction," he says, sitting down next to her on the couch, "it's our first Valentine's Day as an official couple. And ever, actually."
Skye smiles and nods once, "That it is. But if you have any plans for us today that involve me standing on my feet for any long period of time then go right ahead and cancel those plans."
He chuckles, "Not a problem. I already took that into consideration," he smiles down at her.
She looks at him with pursed lips, "How long have you been planning today?"
"Since you kissed me on New Year's," he grins.
She just smiles. "Well, are you going to tell me what you've planned for us?"
"I might," he smiles back.
"Please?" she asks him, leaning forward to press a kiss to his cheek.
He sighs, "Fine. We're going to have dinner delivered to us from that little restaurant you like—"
"But they don't deliver," Skye interrupts.
"I may have pulled a few strings," Grant smiles.
"Oh you are the best," she grins.
"Thank you. So, we're going to have a nice romantic dinner tonight which will be followed by a movie of your choice. The movie will then be followed by a bubble bath for you, because I know how much you love those, while I clean up from dinner. After your bath I will give you a foot massage because I also know you love those and really need them as of late. Then we'll just curl up in bed together until we fall asleep. So what do you think?"
Skye leans forward again ghosting her lips over his, "I think," she presses her lips to his, "that those plans sound amazing."
"I'm glad," he smiles, leaning forward to press his lips to hers again.
So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Kara has arrived. :) I totally think she could have been such a great character on the show if they hadn't killed her off the way they did. So of course I had to include her in here. Can't wait for you guys to see what I have in store for her. :)
Also, I make reference to Skye's birth name, because obviously she found out what it was. But she isn't going to start going by it, because in my world, she will always be Skye.
Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!