Warning: fluff and cheese ahead. I swear, it's like I gathered all the clichés and all the cheese in the world and bottled it up in a 1,500 words.

2 more chapters to go!

Chapter 10: Winter Wonderland

In the meadow we can build a snowman
Then pretend that he is Parson Brown
He'll say are you married?
We'll say no man
But you can do the job
When you're in town

It was one of those rare days when an assignment had been completed early and the Team was given a reprieve. This time, they were in New York City where Coulson had to attend a meeting with the Avengers (they never heard the end of his squeals of delight when he was face to face with Steve Rogers) and the meeting had ended earlier than expected. Coulson had been both excited that they would finally get time off but was upset given it meant he was allowed less time with his hero. May had just told him that he would get over it before she gave him one of those rare smiles of hers.

"Would you like to go out with us, Skye?" Simmons asked, "Fitz and I are planning on doing a little sight-seeing in the city. It's not every day we get to spend Christmas in New York!"

Skye was about to agree to the scientist's plans when Grant beat her to it. "Actually, we were planning on doing something on our own." He said while giving a pointed look to Simmons.

"We are?" Skye didn't know about this beforehand.

"Oh then why don't we join you guys," said Fitz, "I reckon it'll be a nice outing—ouch!" he rubbed his arm ruefully where Simmons had elbowed him rather hard. After giving him one of those looks in which they seemed to have an almost telepathic conversation, Fitz's eyes widened in understanding. "Never-mind, I'm sure you and Grant would prefer to spend the afternoon together. It's been a while since you two last had a proper date hasn't it."

"Well, um, Fitz and I have to get back to the lab, right Fitz?" And before he can respond she is flashing Skye a too bright smile and pushing him out of the room.

Not wanting to know what that was about, Skye turned around to face her partner (in more ways than none). "I didn't know we had plans."

"Can't we be spontaneous?" He asks her with a smile as he brings his hands up to cup her cheeks.

Skye laughs. "I thought I was supposed to be the spontaneous one."

"Well, you've got to admit I do have my moments." He whispers into her ear.

An hour later, Skye and Grant are all bundled up and walking their way down the paths of Central Park. On the way there, they had walked down Fifth Avenue, visited Grand Central Terminal, and Skye had even managed to drag Grant to Rockefeller Center to ice skate.

The whole time, Skye gazed in wonderment at the city and how grand it seemed when the Battle of New York had only been a two years ago.

Stopping on one of the bridges, the couple takes a minute to gaze at the view of the city. The river running under the bridge had frozen over and they could see a faint outline of their reflections through the ice. The buildings overhead had been covered in a blanket of snow and the small flurries that were falling from the sky made the scene ideal for a Christmas card.

Grant takes a deep breath, his pocket suddenly feeling ten times heavier. "Skye I need to ask you something."

"What is it?"

Grant fidgets with his hands nervously before he takes her hands into his own.

"We've only known each other for two years and I know that's not a long time and we've been together for less than that but I need you to know that I love you. You know that, right?"

"And I love you, too. But Grant, where is this coming from?"

"I know that in our line of work, nothing is certain. We could die tomorrow or we can live only to die the day after that. I have gone through the pain of almost losing you and I can tell you that it was the worst feeling I have ever felt in my whole life. And it's unfair to you to keep continuing us when the risk of one of dying is so high—"

"Hold on a minute! Is this your way of breaking up with me? Because, Grant, if you don't want to be with me you could have at least come up with a more original reason." Through the anger in her voice, he can hear the sadness behind it of the fear that he was leaving her.

And Skye was by no means a clingy person. But years of abandonment had made her wary of pretty much everyone. To have him and the team in her life and for them to stay there for the past two years was a big step for her, she had never had a constant person, let alone people, in her life.

Grant kicked himself for not going about this in a better way. Of course when he was about to propose to her she misconstrued it into thinking he was breaking up with her.

"No! That's not what I meant at all!"

"Than what was all that about it being unfair to me for us being together? On the grounds of one of us dying? Grant, we could die any second of any day no matter what we do. For all we know, another alien invasion could happen right now where we're standing but it wouldn't change the fact that I want to spend my life with you, no matter how short or long it may be." Small, crystalline tears are making their way to the fronts of her eyes and are about to begin their descent to earth.

"I think you just said it better than I ever could." Grant says, slightly embarrassed.

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, if you had let me finish," Grant says while reaching into his pocket, "You would have heard me say that I'm a selfish man who doesn't care if we live or die." He takes out the small box and bends down on one knee. "As long as I get to spend the rest of my life with the woman I love, I will die a happy man and it all would have been worth it. So Skye, will you do me the greatest honor; will you marry me?" He opens the box to reveal a stunning ring inside. It had a simple silver band with filigree surrounding the round diamond in the center.

If she wasn't crying before she definitely was crying now. But this time they were tears of joy and not tears of sadness. Unable to speak, she nods her head enthusiastically and gives him her left hand to place the ring on. With shaking hands, he slides the ring onto her finger where it rests perfectly against her skin. Even with the tears clouding his vision and the tears in Skye's eyes, he can't help but think about how beautiful she was

Snow had gathered in the curls of her hair like Mother Nature was crowning her the queen that she was and the smile that lit up her face was like the sun that his world revolved around. The sparkling ring on her finger only added to how perfect she looked.

He rises from his spot on the snowy ground and sweeps her up in a kiss. When they break away, he whispered against her lips, "I love you."

"And I love you, too. So so much."

When they break apart, Skye raises her hand to get a better look at the ring. "Grant, it's beautiful" She murmurs. "Where on earth did you get it?"

"It was my Gramsy's. She left it for me when she died, I remember Christian had a fit about it."

Gazing up at him, she presses another kiss to his lips. Suddenly, a thought came to her that left her smiling even more. "Did Fitzsimmons know?" When Grant nods she laughs. "That's why they were acting so weird this morning."

"Actually, the whole team knew. Coulson got us time off so we could stop in New York for a few days."

"But I thought he had a meeting with the Avengers."

"Oh he did. But May told them all that the team had important business to attend to so the meeting ended early."

"I can't believe you all did that for me."

Grant pulls her in closer. "But we did because we all love you. And I can't wait to do even more for you for the rest of our lives."

After a couple more minutes of basking in the happiness of their engagement they continue their walk through the park. And as they walked through the winter wonderland that had taken the place of Central Park, the ring on Skye's finger shone almost as brightly as the smiles on their faces.