Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! Was gonna post it way earlier this morning at like, 1 am, after I got home from work cause I couldn't fall asleep yet, but the wifi was being stupid so I had to wait. But I'm gonna post it now.

Enjoy!

A sudden bout of turbulence jerks Grant awake from his somewhat deep slumber. He's never been able to get too deep into sleep. Not in a very long time.

Standing on shaky legs, the floor beneath him still trembling, he crosses the short distance to the door. He slides it open and steps out into the main area of the Bus, seeing different items on shelves starting to fall to the floor.

"What's going on?" he asks when he sees Fitz emerging from his bunk.

"I don't know. I just woke up because of all the bloody shaking."

"Is it always like this?" Skye asks as she steps out of her bunk next to Fitz's. "Because I swear, if something happens and I die, the holidays are really going to suck."

Before he can answer her, there's another sharp jolt of the Bus, all of them losing their balance.

He stumbles on his feet and falls to his hands and knees, quickly recovering and sitting down on the ground, looking over at Fitz and Skye.

"You two okay?" he asks them.

They both nod and give him their reassurances.

"Good. Now slowly move back into your bunks and stay there. I'm going to go to the cockpit and see if May knows what's—"

He's cut off as something heavy from a shelf above him falls and lands on his head. His eyes close immediately as he falls forward, completely knocked out on the carpeted floor of the Bus.

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Slowly gaining consciousness, Grant's entire body tenses up at the unfamiliar feeling beneath his body. He's in a bed, just not any bed he's familiar with. It's certainly not his bed on the Bus. But it's really soft and comfortable. Probably the most comfortable bed he's ever slept on.

Cracking his eyes open, he turns onto his back and silently observes the room around him. It's a bedroom, obviously. The walls are a muted blue color, with various picture frames and shelves hanging up around the room.

There's a large dresser directly across from the bed with a mirror attached to it. There's a nightstand on either side of the bed, different items set out upon them.

A laundry hamper is set in the corner of the room, with various other baskets and boxes around the walls of the room. Different toys and children's clothing are scattered across the carpet.

Where the hell is he?

"You're still sleeping?"

His head whips toward the doorway to see Skye stepping through and immediately making her way to the dresser. Her long brown hair is down and slightly waved.

"Look, I know you've really been embracing the whole 'stay-at-home-dad' thing, but it doesn't mean you get to sleep in all the time."

He blinks a few times as he stares at her. "What?"

She turns to look at him with furrowed brows. "Babe, are you okay?"

He stiffens a little at the term of endearment. "Y-yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"Good. Jess needs to be picked up from Josie's in an hour and then taken to karate. Please do not forget the cookies for the party, okay? They're on the counter. I'm taking Andy with me because my meeting shouldn't be very long and we both know he'll just scream until he's red in the face if I don't take him with me."

Grant listens with an open mouth and wide eyes to all the new information being dumped on him.

"Grant, are you even listening to me right now?"

"What? Yeah. Sorry." He shakes his head. "Pick Jess up from Josie's and take her to karate. Cookies on the counter."

"Yes. I have a few errands to run after I'm done at work but I'll try and be back before it gets too late."

He nods. "Okay. Is Andy already awake?"

"He's down in his play pen in the living room. I have to leave now but I'll see you when I get home, okay?"

He nods again. "Yeah, okay." His eyes go wide again when she leans down to give him a quick kiss, one of her hands cupping his chin.

"And don't shave," she tells him, running her hand over his light stubble. "Beard burn sucks but I'll endure it because I love this look on you." She gives him another quick peck, smiling against his lips. "Love you."

"L-love you, too." He swallows thickly and does his best to give her a smile as she turns around and walks out the bedroom door.

Letting out a heavy breath, he falls back against the pillow and runs a hand through his hair and then down over his face. His fingers linger on his lips, the feeling of Skye's lips still present at the forefront of his mind.

It's then that he sees the glint of something metal and lifts his hand to see a thick silver band wrapped around the fourth finger of his left hand. He's almost positive that if he looked at Skye's left hand he'd find an identical one.

Glancing over to the nightstand next to the side of the bed he's in, he finally takes notice of the picture that's sitting on top of it. It's of him and Skye together. He's standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her waist, clasped together with her hands resting on top of his. She's leaning back against him, their faces next to each other and wide smiles on their faces. He's wearing a simple black suit and she's donning a beautiful white, strapless dress. It's a wedding photo. His and Skye's wedding photo.

Standing from the bed, he shuffles across the carpet and really starts to take notice of the other photos framed and hanging on the walls. They're mainly of him and Skye but there a few with two kids he's assuming are Jess and Andy; a little girl that looks just like Skye and a little boy that looks just like him.

Moving out of the bedroom, he goes down the hallway and then descends the stairs to the main level of the house.

Feeling a sudden grumbling in his stomach as he reaches the last step, he moves straight into the kitchen, looking around trying to figure out what to eat. He doesn't know where anything is or even what there might be to eat. He just prays that there's something he can eat in the house.

As he enters the kitchen, his eyes catch sight of a plastic box of cookies on the counter. The cookies for the party.

Sighing, he figures that the refrigerator is most likely a safe bet, there's probably at least one thing in there that he'll eat.

Standing in front of the refrigerator, he takes a moment and lets his eyes roam over the dry-erase calendar attached to one of the black, metallic doors.

In bright red lettering, two days from what he assumes is the current date, it reads 'OBGYN - 11:30am.'

Skye's pregnant. Again. With their third child. But she didn't look pregnant earlier. So it must still be early on in the pregnancy.

Instantly it feels like his head is spinning. Is this really happening? He could have sworn he was just on the Bus with a very not-pregnant Skye and all the others. How in the hell did this happen to him?

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"Daddy?"

"Yeah…pumpkin?" he speaks up, glancing through the rear view mirror of the SUV, unsure of whether or not he has any nicknames for his…daughter.

Jessica giggles in the backseat, clutching her favorite stuffed elephant a little closer to her body. "Not pumpkin, daddy. Angel. I'm your angel."

Grant nods his head. "Right, of course. So, angel, what's your question?"

"What's Hydra?"

Grant's breath catches in his throat at the question. "What?"

"Josie's big sister learneded about it at school and she told me and Josie 'bout it and she said that Hydra was a whole bunch of bad guys who tried to hurt the good guys. But then the good guys stopped them and now they aren't here anymore."

"Oh, um, I'll explain it to you later."

"Okay."

That was certainly easier than he thought it'd be. But then again, he doesn't have much experience with kids and didn't really know what to expect.

This kid is definitely Skye's though; he knows that for a fact. If the look she gave him when he was a little late picking her up from her friend's house was anything to go by. She had a hand on her hip and everything, like a little mini version Skye. It was kind of eerie. But also nice, at the same time.

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, angel?"

"What did you and mommy get me for Christmas?"

"Um, I can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"You want it to be a surprise, right?"

"Not really."

"Well it's better if it stays as a surprise," he assures her, hoping the answer will appease the small child. He really doesn't know what he's doing here. He's kind of just winging it with all of this.

"So, are you excited for your party today?" he asks the young girl, hoping to get her on some kind of long explanation.

"Yeah! Sensei said we're gonna do lots of super fun stuff and everything's gonna look like Christmas inside and I'm so excited, daddy!"

He laughs quietly at her enthusiasm. "I can tell. And do I need to stay with you for this party?"

She laughs quietly. "No, daddy. You hafta go back home and do daddy stuff and then come back and pick me up to take me home cause it's Christmas Eve. You know this, daddy. It's already programmed into you."

He gapes at her. "Because I'm a robot?"

"Yeah. But a really cool robot that acts like a person cause you got lots and lots of upgrades."

Man, this is most definitely, one hundred percent Skye's child.

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"Alright, kiddo, time for bed."

"Mommy, no," Jessica protests from her spot sprawled out on the living room floor. She looks back over her shoulder at Skye. "We hafta stay up and wait for Santa."

"Sorry, angel," Skye says. "Santa won't show up if you're still awake."

"Yes he will."

"Hate to break it to you, baby girl, but he won't. I'm a very close, personal, friend of Santa's and I know for a fact that he won't show up if you don't go to sleep."

"But I'm not sleepy."

"And I don't care. Daddy and I want to go to sleep and we can't do that if you're not sleeping."

"Can I wake up super duper early?"

"Within reason," Skye counters. "No go get to your room, daddy and I will be there in a minute."

Jessica huffs. "Fine." She stands up from the floor, grabbing the corner of her favorite blanket and dragging it along behind her to room.

Skye lets out a sigh when the little girl is out of ear shot. "My goodness, she's so dramatic. And don't you dare say she got it from me." She gives a pointed look to her husband and Grant simply holds his hands up in defense.

Skye laughs quietly. "Think if we wait it out a little she'll fall asleep and we won't have to go in there?"

"It's a possibility. But it's also Christmas Eve and she's probably going to try and stay up as late as she can."

Skye nods. "You're right."

He smiles at her before taking a deep breath and shifting on the couch. "Hey, can I talk to you about something?"

"You know you always can. What's up?"

He shifts in his seat again. "Jess asked me about…Hydra today."

"What did you tell her?" she asks.

"I didn't know what to tell her," he responds.

"Babe, I know it's still a sore subject for you, but she's not going to love you any less, okay? Yes you may have been a part of that group, but you thought you were doing it for the right reasons. How could you have known that Garrett was going to go crazy?"

He lets out a shaky breath and nods his head, still not quite believing that this is real. "Yeah, you're right."

She gives him a small smile. "Of course I am. I wish I had found out sooner than I did, and differently too, but the absolutely best decision I ever made was hearing you out and listening to everything you had to say after everything went down."

"Really?"

She nods her head. "Absolutely. And I'd do it over and over again because I am in so in love with you and you are the best father to our children and I can't wait for this baby to get here because it's another little human being that's part you and part me and I couldn't imagine it any other way." She takes a few slow deep breaths to get her breathing back under control.

He looks down and finally notices the small hint of a bump underneath her shirt, his breath catching in his throat at the sight. He hesitantly reaches a hand out to gently caress her belly, a smile pulling at his lips.

"I hope he or she looks like you," she tells him. "I know Andy already looks a lot like you, but I hope this one does too."

He shakes his head and looks up at her. "No. I hope they look like you. You're beyond beautiful and I want our kids to have that too."

"Well you're not so bad yourself. So I'd say our children got pretty damn lucky in the looks department."

"Yes they did."

"Mommy! Daddy!"

Skye sighs heavily. "Well we better get in there before she keeps shouting and wakes up Andy."

He nods. "Right, yes, we should probably do that."

He waits for her to stand from the couch before following closely behind her to the stairs to go up to the second level of the house.

One moment he's walking behind her, listening to her as she tells him a few more things about her day, and the next he's lying awkwardly on the stairs, an uncomfortable throbbing at the back of his head.

"Grant?" he hears Skye calling out his name, panic and concern lacing her voice. "Grant. Wake up. Babe, come on. Grant. Grant! Grant Ward!"

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"Ward! Ward? Ward."

His eyes slowly fluttering open, Grant lets out a quiet groan when he feels a sudden, massive throbbing at the top of his head.

"What the hell?" he rasps out.

"You got hit in the head by something when the plane was experiencing turbulence earlier. It caused a temporary coma but you were very much alive the whole time."

"Oh thank goodness. You're awake. I thought I was gonna have to go and find a new SO, which really would have sucked, by the way."

He turns his head toward the door of the Bus' med bay to see Skye stepping into the doorway, leaning sideways against the frame with her arms crossed casually over her chest.

"Skye." His eyes flit down to her stomach. "You're not pregnant."

Skye's eyes go wide and she stands up straight. "Um, no, I'm not. Last I checked you need to have sex with a guy to get pregnant which I haven't done since I've been aboard this plane the last few months. Are you feeling okay?"

He shakes his head to clear away the clear images of Skye with his children. "Yeah, I'm fine. Sorry. I'm uh, I guess I'm still a bit out of it."

She waves him off. "It's fine. I've been known to say weirder things when I'm hungover." She takes a deep breath. "But anyways. Are you really feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I promise I'm fine."

"Good. That's good."

"Hey, Simmons," he speaks up, glancing over to the bio-chemist.

"Yes?"

"Could I have a moment alone with Skye please? I need to speak to her about something."

Simmons immediately nods her head. "Of course. I'll be right outside if you need anything." She gives him a comforting smile before stepping just outside the room.

"You actually want to talk?" Skye speaks up as takes a few steps inside. "It's a Christmas miracle."

He laughs quietly. "Yeah."

"So what's up?" she asks him.

He breathes in deeply and shifts a little in his seat. "I have something I need to tell you. I'm not sure how you're going to react, but promise me you'll wait until the end to tell me how you're feeling, okay?"

She nods her head. "I think I can do that."

He lets out a breath. "Good. Thank you."

"Yeah, of course. You know you can always tell me anything."

Grant nods silently before taking a deep breath and then opens his mouth to speak, telling Skye every deep, dark secret of his past and present, wanting her to know the full truth, nothing held back. If he plays his cards right, maybe he can have what he saw. Maybe he really can find love and have a life.

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!