Chapter 10: Philinda Anyone?
Author Note: I promise I'll try to put more of them into what we're doing. I like them together, but my OTP is Skyeward so they're the focus. I'm still slowly dying inside from what happened last week and probably gonna need therapy. We should start up an AOS support group! haha Thanks for all the support and for reading. I really appreciate it. You guys are amazing.
Disclaimer: Sadly Agents of Shield and the characters are not mine. I tweaked their backgrounds obviously, but essentially they don't belong to me. Skyeward and AOS has just ruined my life and this is my way of coping.
Anytime Grant would move, Phil and Melinda would always make sure there was some sort of garden on the premisis and a gardener hired shortly after. Taking walks at night were a favorite activity of theirs. Melinda could often times be found watering plants or on her yoga mat doing tai chi. Melinda would always make sure roses and lavendar were planted at each home for luck and a section was made into an herb garden for her teas. The garden at the current Ward Mansion was a larger one than normal thus making it possible to have an assortment of trees spread throughout. Magnolias were Mel's favorite so Phil drove 45 minues to the next town over so he could suprise her with a Magnolia tree that he planted himself. Melinda was never one for romantic gestures, but that night when she walked out and saw a grinning Phil standing next to a newly planted magnolia tree with hanging candles in it and a bottle of wine she couldn't help but let her eyes sparkle and lock with his for a little longer than usual. It was times like those when she would be reminded why she fell so in love with the goofy man.
So she wasn't surprised to notice that as they walked arm in arm tonight along the lit flagstone path they arrived at her Magnolia tree where she had a bench placed. They sat down and looked out at the garden in silence for a moment. The path they had walked along had patches of soft grass in between each stone. The outer edge of it was softly illuminated with small lights, basking the flowers in a soft glow. There was a fountain in the center of the entire garden that doubled as a bird bath. There were half a dozen humming bird feeders hanging throughout, making it an oasis for not only the inhabitants of the house, but also the birds that were always out. Fragrant freesias and roses were common, while Ivy and Bouganvillea Vines were starting to grow up the back sides of the mansion and archways.
Melinda broke the silence first with a contented sigh, "I really like it here. I hope Grant decides to stay here. This garden is my favorite."
"I can understand why. You've always loved flowers."
"There's something tranquil and calming about being in the presence of flowers."
They sat for a few more moments in silence. This time it was Phil's turn to say something. He took one of his partner's dainty hands that held so much strength and turned to her. "Mel. You know I can read your eyes. I've spent the majority of my free time for a lot of years looking into those eyes. Somethin is bothering you. Don't let it bother you alone. Please talk to me." He pressed a soft kiss to her fingers.
Melinda looked over at her partner, grateful that he cared so deeply, and placed her free hand on top of the one holding hers. "I saw Skye earlier. She was coming down the stairs from Grant's living quarters while you were talking to him. I don't know if we can trust her. She was told not to go up there."
Phil started laughing. "Oh I knew she would be perfect for Grant! I doubt she did anything terrible. You know Fitz and I have gotten close to her and Jemma. I've grown especially close to Skye. She is just a curious person. She's never had anyone to belong to. She wouldn't do anything to jeopardize that here. I trust her. Hell, she's gotten under my skin. I care about the girl. She just likes to be adventurous. Think about how much she could get our Grant to open up! I know you can tell it too. You wouldn't be helping out on my plan to get the two of them to finally get along if you didn't. And you pranked her just the other day with her spray bottle. You wouldn't have bothered if she wasn't growing on you too."
Melinda thought back to the time she put cooking oil in Skye's window cleaner bottle. She couldn't figure out how the windows weren't getting cleaned and kept streaking. Melinda smiled at the the memory. "You're right. She didn't strike me as a bad person either. You always know what to say."
Phil tucked her into his side. "You know I sit in front of the mirror and practice saying the right thing to you." May giggled and he continued, "How about we go back inside and check on the lovebirds. I'd actually enjoy watching a movie with you tucked right into my side just like this."
May hummed at the thought. "Let's just sit like this for a few more minutes. As tempting as that sounds, this is nice."
"Anything for you dear." and with that he pressed a kiss to the top of her head and closed his eyes, savoring the feel of his soulmate in his arms.
Meanwhile, in the media room Grant and Skye had finished their movie and got so absorbed in talking they hadn't even started another. And if they finished with the popcorn and scooted a little closer to each other, they pretended not to notice. Skye was hysterically laughing at the story Grant was telling her about how Fitz had started a fire in the cooking room in highschool and he had to practically carry the poor Scotsman out of room.
"Man, that Fitz really does like to blow stuff up doesn't he?!"
"I don't mind it. Before, he used to be OBSESSED with trying to get a monkey. He used to drag me to the zoo every other day just so he could stand at the monkey exhibit. I couldn't tell you how many times I saw him drawing out plans to kidnap one and take it home. Trust me. The blowing stuff up in the kitchen is nothing to deal with compared to that. Besides, it seems to have caused a good excuse for Fitz and Simmons to spend time together."
"Yea I can't complain with that logic. Although, I'm not gonna lie. A monkey would be adorable around here. But you're right. Simmons deserves to be happy. She spends too much of her time taking care of me and trying to keep me in line. She hardly does anything for herself."
"Yea Fitz is the same way. He never does anything besides experimenting in the kitchen or spending time with me. I'm glad he's going to be able to start spending time with someone new. What are you going to do without Simmons?"
"Oh I got along on my own for a long time before she moved to the orphanage. I have my laptop to entertain me and there's still so much to see here. The library is gorgeous. I'll probably spend most of my time there."
Alright Grant. This is it. Ask her to hang out sometime. It's the perfect chance. You got this. You're Grant freaking Ward. Chicks loved you in highschool. What's the difference now? Sure she's quite possibly the most stunning person you will ever see in your entire life, but no pressure though or anything. He took a deep breath and looked at Skye, "Ya know... if you wanted to... sometime..."
And that was when Fitz and Simmons came walking through the door holding hands and giggling like teenagers. "I'm telling you Jemma. A monkey is the perfect pet!"
Grant groaned from being interrupted, "Wow Fitz. You're timing is unbelievable."
Fitz looked up from Jemma and saw Grant sitting with Skye on the couch. "Oh bugger. I'm sorry Grant. Did I interrupt something?"
At that point Skye jumped up from the couch and headed towards Jemma to give her a hug. "You are so telling me everything when we get back to our room."
"Holy crap were you talking to Grant?"
Grant sat on the couch looking like a kicked puppy from the loss and watched her walk across the room to Jemma. He was already feeling her absense from the couch. He was imagining what it would be like to be on the recieving end of one of those hugs when Phil and Melinda walked in.
"Looks like the gang is all here! Let's watch a movie!"
Everyone headed towards the sitting area when Grant stood up. "I'll just leave you guys to it then."
"Grant, sit your butt back down right now." Phil was not about to let him get out of this one.
Grant looked from Phil to Skye and saw her looking at him with hope. "Come on, Grant. Stay and watch the movie with us. I'll be the odd man out and that'll just be awkward."
With a smile Grant sat back down. "Well we can't have that can we."
Skye beamed at him and went to sit back down and scooted a little closer to him. She didn't even notice the rest of the occupants of the room get a mischeiveous glint in their eyes.
The media room had couches instead of chairs that faced the projector. Phil and Melinda were lying length-wise in each other's arms along one couch cuddled up with a blanket. Movie time was one of the few times that everyone else ever got to see the softer side of the Chinese woman. She just couldn't help snuggling up to Phil whenever a movie was playing. It was one of her guilty pleasures.
Jemma sat down on the couch next to Skye as Fitz got popcorn and candy for them. He sat down next to Jemma with their sides almost touching and the bucket of popcorn resting on one of each of their legs. Sure they had a lovely dinner, but he was just as shy as she was and wanted to take things slow between them. They started the movie and Skye leaned her head onto Jemma's shoulder. It was something they had been doing since Jemma started working at the orphanage. Skye always liked having physical contact with someone and Jemma never minded. She thought of Skye as a surrogate little sister and knew of her growing up in an orphanage and never quite feeling like she belonged with anyone. Jemma and Fitz kept brushing fingers and blushing and every once in a while Jemma would hold up some popcorn to feed to Skye as the movie played.
Grant amusedly kept glancing over at the girls and smiled. He thought of them as one unit and it was pretty clear that they thought of each other as family. He wondered what it would be like to have Skye rest her pretty little head on his shoulder while he fed her popcorn when he heard someone clearing their throat. He looked up to see Fitz on the other side of Jemma pointedly looking from him to Skye and then back to him to let him know that he was staring and if he wasn't careful he was going to freak poor Skye out. Grant faintly blushed and focused his attention back on the movie.
Skye noticed all of it though. She could feel Grant's eyes on her every so often and noticed out of the corner of her eye when he began to stare. She fought the urge to smile when Fitz cleared his throat to get Grant's attention and almost blushed at the thought that someone else had noticed him staring. She had noticed earlier when it was just her and Grant that he had a softer look in his eyes and eventually he looked pretty relaxed after talking for a few moments and she was thinking maybe he even enjoyed spending time with her. He definitely made her laugh.
Phil and Melinda remained oblivious to the children in the room, enjoying their time with each other and the movie. When it was finished playing she decided to head up for the night and suggested the others did too. It was getting late. Jemma and Skye soon followed and Fitz insisted on walking the girls to their room. Grant relocated to the library to read for a bit. It was still too early for him to get any rest and his mind was still too full of Skye to even be able to relax.