Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! This one's got some good stuff in it.

Enjoy!


"Hello?"

"Hi, dad." Jessica smiles into the receiver of her mom's cell phone as she holds it up against her ear, lying back on her bed.

"Hey, sweetheart," Grant says back. "How are you?"

"Good. Thanksgiving Break is almost here. Not until the end of the month, though."

"Are you excited for it?"

"Yeah. Papa and Nana are coming over."

"That's sounds like fun. Do they visit you every year for Thanksgiving?"

"Yeah. Except for last year. They couldn't come last year because Papa was sick."

"Well then it's a good thing they're coming this year, huh?"

Jessica nods. "Uh-huh. What are you doing for Thanksgiving, dad?"

"Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about that. Have you ever seen the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?"

"Only on TV," she tells him. "But I really wanna see it in person. It'd be so cool."

"How would you like to?"

She furrows her brows. "What?"

"If it's okay with your mom, I want you guys to come to New York and watch me perform on a float in the parade this year. If that's okay with your mom, of course."

Jessica grins. "I'm gonna go ask her right now. Stay here."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Okay. I'll be right back." Setting the phone down on her bed, Jessica stands up and runs out of her bedroom and into the living room where Skye and Miles are sitting together on the couch, watching something on TV. "Mom," she says. "Can we go to New York for Thanksgiving?"

Skye looks over at her daughter and furrows her brows. "What? Why do you want to go to New York? We're having Thanksgiving here with your grandparents like we do every year."

"I know. But dad said that he's singing on a float in the Macy's parade and he wants us to go there to watch him. Can we? Please?"

Skye bites her lip between her teeth. "Um, I don't know, baby girl. Let me think about it, okay?"

"Pleeeeaaase?" Jessica pleads, folding her hands together. "I haven't seen dad since July. Please?"

"Jessica Katherine, stop that right now. I said I'll think about it."

Jessica sighs. "Fine." She turns around and sulks back down the hallway to her bedroom.

Going over to her bed, she picks up the cell phone and holds it up to her ear. "Dad?"

"Still here, sweetheart."

"I asked mom about New York," she tells him.

"And what did she say?" he asks.

"That she's gonna think about it."

"Well then you just need to wait for her to give you an answer. If she says no, that's okay. I'll just see you at Christmas."

Jessica sighs. "Okay. Hey dad?"

"Yeah?"

"I know you just released your album a few months ago, but do you have any new songs you're working on?" she asks him, leaning back on her bed.

"I've got a few things. I think some of them are almost done but there are a few I'm still struggling with."

"Can I hear something?" she asks.

"You really want to hear something?"

Jessica nods her head. "Yeah."

Grant lets out a breath. "Alright, let me see what I can find to play for you."


A knock at his front door pulls Grant's attention away from his notebook of lyrics open in front of him. Setting his pencil down in the spine, he closes the notebook and stands from the couch, making his way across the room towards the door.

Pulling the door open, he stills when he sees Lorelei standing on the other side.

"Lorelei, hey, how are you?"

She gives him a slight smile. "I'm doing well. May I come in?"

"Yeah, of course." He steps back and opens the door wider, allowing her to move inside. He closes the door behind her and turns to face the red headed woman. "So, what's up? I wasn't sure when I'd hear from you again. And I thought you'd call."

"I thought about calling, but I figured this would be better done in person."

"You're not breaking up with me, are you?" he asks her.

She shakes her head. "No, I'm not. I thought a lot about it, about the fact that you have a daughter and as much as I wish you would have told me, I understand why you didn't. Or, I'm trying to. And I realize that it wouldn't be fair of me to just leave you because you have a daughter."

"I'm really glad you said that. My daughter is a huge part of my life now, and that isn't going to change anytime soon. Not for anything."

Lorelei nods. "I know. I really like you, Grant," she tells him with a small smile.

He smiles back. "I really like you too." He steps forward and wraps his arms around her waist. "So are we good, then?" he asks her.

She nods. "Yes, I think we are."

"Great." He leans down and gives her a soft kiss, smiling against her lips.

His phone going off in his pocket breaks them from their kiss and Grant pulls away to answer the call when he sees Skye's name and Jess' photo on the screen. He holds the phone up to his ear. "Jess?"

"No, it's Skye."

"Oh. Hey. What's up?"

"Um, I just wanted to call you back about what you said to Jess the other day, about going to watch you at the parade."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I uh, we'll be there, at the parade to watch you. Jess got pretty excited when I told her we'd be going. Even if you hadn't called, and she saw the news of you being in it, she still probably would have begged me to go."

Grant chuckles. "Right."

"And uh, I was wondering, if you were up for it, after the parade, you could come back to Provincetown with us for Thanksgiving dinner. So you can spend some more time with Jess, of course. I'm sure she'd love it."

Grant smiles. "I would love to, yeah." He glances over at Lorelei. "Hey, Skye?"

"Yeah?"

"Would it be alright if I brought someone with me to dinner?"

"I guess. Who did you want to bring?"

"My girlfriend."

"Oh, right, um, yeah. Th-that should be fine. If she's okay with that then yeah, go ahead and bring her. The more the merrier, right?"

"Right." He takes a deep breath. "So I'll see you in a couple of weeks, then."

"A couple of weeks, yeah. Bye, Grant."

"Bye."

He pulls the phone from his ear and ends the call, sliding the device back into his pocket.

"So where exactly will I be going?"

Grant turns towards his girlfriend and gives her a toothy smile. "Provincetown, Massachusetts for Thanksgiving."

"And what is in Provincetown, if you don't mind my asking? Though, I may have pieced it together based on what I heard you say."

"I invited Skye and Jessica to New York to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade since I'm going to be in it, and Skye was just calling me to say that they'll be going and then she invited me to have Thanksgiving dinner with them back in Provincetown. And I said yes and then asked if I could bring you with me. If you think you'll be too uncomfortable you don't have to go, and I realized I should have asked you first, but it was kind of a spur of the moment type of thing. So what do you say?"

Lorelei purses her lips as she stares at Grant. A moment later she lets out a sigh. "I suppose it shouldn't be too bad meeting your daughter. It was bound to happen eventually, right?"

Grant grins. "Lorelei, you're amazing. I promise you this is going to be a good thing. The two special girls in my life are going to meet; this is good, this is really good."


"Dad!" Jessica exclaims when she sees Grant making his way across the airport floor. She darts straight over to him across the carpet and wraps her arms tightly around him in a hug. "I missed you so much."

Grant smiles and hugs her back, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "I missed you too, sweetheart."

"Did you have a good flight?" Jessica asks him.

Grant nods his head. "I did, thanks for asking." He stands up and smiles over at the other brunette. "Hey, Skye."

She gives him a small smile back. "Hey. I'm uh, I'm glad you could be here."

"Me too."

"Grant, darling, aren't you going to make the introductions?" Lorelei speaks as she steps up beside him, looping her arm through his.

He nods. "Right, yes. Lorelei, this is my ex-wife Skye, and my daughter Jessica. Skye, Jess, this is Lorelei, my girlfriend."

"It's nice to meet you," Skye says, giving the woman a strained smile.

"You as well," Lorelei replies, giving an equally as strained smile.

"You're a model, right?" Jessica speaks up.

Lorelei looks down at the young girl and nods. "I am, yes. You know of my work?"

Jessica shrugs. "Kinda. I see it on billboards and stuff. Do you love my dad?" she asks.

"Jessica," Skye reprimands.

"Oh, um, isn't that a bit of a personal question?" Lorelei responds. Jessica just tilts her head. "Well, either way, I think that's a question that should really be discussed between me and your father first, when we don't have an audience."

"So you don't love him?"

"I think we should probably get going now," Skye cuts in, placing her hands on Jessica's shoulders and pulling her daughter back against her. "You two are staying at a hotel while you're here, right?"

Grant nods. "Yes. I think I'm free all day tomorrow and then I have rehearsal the morning after that for the parade and then I'm free in the afternoon and evening. And obviously Thanksgiving Day I have the parade in the morning."

"Great. So then do you just want to come over tomorrow morning?" Skye asks him.

Grant nods and gives a small smile. "Yeah, that should be great. Lorelei, are you cool with that?" he asks his girlfriend.

She smiles softly. "Of course."

He looks back at Skye. "Tomorrow morning it is, then."

Skye nods. "Yes. Tomorrow."


"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Grant asks his girlfriend. "I know that spending time with my ex and my daughter probably isn't your ideal way to spend a day."

"It definitely would not have been my first choice, you're right," she says with a small nod. "However, this seems to be quite important to you, so I'm willing to do this for you."

Grant smiles at her and leans down to press a quick kiss to her lips. "Thank you."

His phone goes off in his pocket as he's pulling away from Lorelei. He pulls the device out and smiles when he sees his sister's name and a photo of his two nephews on the screen.

Hitting the green answer button he holds the device up to his ear. "Hello?"

"Hey, little brother. How are you?"

"Doing alright. I'm in Massachusetts right now so I can spend Thanksgiving with my daughter."

"Well that's certainly exciting."

"It really is. Tomorrow I have to rehearse for the parade, but today I get to spend all day with Jess, so that's going to be fun. I'm actually walking up to the front door of her apartment right now as we speak."

"Oh, do you want me to hang up then?"

"Actually," Grant says as he reaches out and knocks on the door, "I was thinking that maybe you'd like to talk to her. I know it won't be the same as meeting her in person, but I think she'd really like it."

"That sounds like a really great idea," she tells him.

"I'm glad you think so. As soon as I get inside I'll let you talk to her."

"Awesome."

"Hi, dad!" Jessica shouts excitedly as the door swings open. She rushes across the threshold and wraps her arms around him in a hug.

Grant smiles and hugs her back. "Hey, sweetheart. How are you?"

She pulls back and looks up at him. "Good. You?"

"Much better now that I'm here with you."

Jessica smiles and then looks over at Lorelei. "Hi," she says simply, a smaller smile on her face.

Lorelei gives her a small wave. "Hello."

There's a quiet beat before Jessica steps back into the apartment, Grant and Lorelei right behind her.

"Hey, Jess, guess who I'm on the phone with right now?" Grant says to his daughter after he closes the door and removes his shoes and jacket.

"Who?" Jessica asks, jumping up to sit on the couch.

"My sister, your aunt," he tells her, moving to sit next to her.

Jessica grins. "Can I talk to her?"

"Of course you can."

"Wait, Grant, switch it over to FaceTime," Amanda instructs him through the phone speaker. "I want to see her too."

"You got it," he replies, pulling the phone down from his ear. He taps on the screen and switches the audio call to a video call through FaceTime. Once it connects, he smiles at his sisters' smiling face. "Hey there, beautiful."

"Hey, Dougie. Good to see you. Now where's that cute little niece of mine?"

"She's right here, hang on." Grant turns the phone around so Jessica and Amanda can see each other and hands the device over to his daughter. "Amanda, meet Jessica. Jessica, meet your Aunt Amanda."

"Wow," Amanda says, letting out a breath. "She really is your spitting image, Grant."

"That's what Skye always says," Grant replies, leaning closer to Jessica so he's in the screen as well.

"She's definitely right on that front," Amanda tells him. "It's almost like I'm looking at you as a kid if you had long hair. Oh wait, you did have long hair for a little while, didn't you?"

Grant groans. "Mandy, you said you'd never bring that up."

She shakes her head. "No, I said I'd be sure not to mention it in front of any of your fans or reporters. Never said I wouldn't bring it up in general."

"You had long hair?" Jessica asks, looking at her dad.

"Once, and it was a very long time ago."

"Oh, I remember that haircut," Skye pipes in as she enters the living room. "You looked like an idiot for months, yet you thought you actually looked cool."

"I did at first," he insists.

Skye laughs and shakes her head. "No you didn't."

"Skye? Is that you?"

Skye stops and moves towards the couch, leaning against the back of it to look at the phone. "Amanda, hi. It's been a long time."

"That it has," Amanda says with a nod. "How are you?"

Skye lets out a breath, relaxing a bit. "As well as I can be. I forgot how much of a hassle wedding planning can be, though," she says. "Not quite as stressful now as it was at seventeen, but still stressful nonetheless."

Amanda raises an eyebrow. "You're getting married? Again?"

Skye nods. "I am. His name is Miles, and he's really great. Right, Jess?" She looks down at her daughter.

Jessica smiles and nods. "Yeah. He's awesome."

"Well as long as you're both happy."

"We are," Skye confirms.

"Aunt Amanda?" Jessica speaks up.

"You can call me Aunt Mandy, sweetheart," Amanda tells her. "Pretty much everyone just uses Mandy. The only one who still calls me Amanda is Gramsy."

"How is Gramsy?" Skye asks. "She made the best chocolate chip cookies known to man."

"She's doing okay," Amanda tells her. "The boys and I go see her every Sunday."

"You've got two boys?" Skye asks. She looks at her daughter. "Jess, you have cousins."

Jessica smiles. "Yeah. I remember reading about them one time in an interview dad did. And he posts pictures of them sometimes."

"Hey, Dougie, is it weird to have a daughter who knows pretty much everything about you, yet you're still getting to know her?"

"A little," Grant admits. "But there are still some things she doesn't know. I don't spill all my secrets when I do interviews."

"You don't?" Jessica asks.

Grant shakes his head. "Nope. If I did, then you probably already would have pieced together that I'm your dad if I had mentioned being married to your mom."

"Oh, yeah."

"But that doesn't mean you won't get to know more about me the more time we spend together. Because I plan on making sure that we know just about everything we can about each other."

Jessica smiles up at him. "Awesome."


"Why do you seem so nervous right now?" Skye asks Grant as they make their way down the street towards the park. "You're just going to see Fitz and Jemma."

Grant nods. "Yes, I know. They're two of the people who probably hated my guts for as long as humanly possible because of what went down between us."

"Hey, you're not the only one at fault there," she tells him. "We both said and did things that we regret."

"Maybe so, but they definitely didn't seem to have any qualms about showing where their allegiance lied."

Skye rolls her eyes. "Knock it off, Grant. They came with me because I needed the support, and out of all of our friends, I was closest with them."

"What about Kebo?" Grant asks.

Skye scrunches up her nose. "Kebo was more like the stray puppy that followed you around everywhere and always begged for food but you never got the heart to toss him out into the cold or a pound. And he was always more your friend than mine."

"True, but he still really liked you."

"And I tolerated him," Skye says with a teasing smile, causing Grant to laugh. "Oh, hang on," Skye says when she hears her phone going off in her bag. She reaches inside and pulls the device out, seeing Miles' name and photo displayed on the screen. "I've got to take this real quick," she tells Grant. "You can just wait right over there," she says, pointing to a nearby bench. "Fitz and Jemma should be here soon."

He nods as she steps away to answer the call and then makes his way over to the indicated bench, sitting down on it and letting out a breath as he looks around.

"I'll be damned, it really is Grant Ward."

Grant looks up to see Fitz and Jemma approaching him, Jemma narrowing her eyes at her Fitz as she smacks him on the arm and then gestures to the young boy in her arms. "We talked about monitoring our language around Noah."

"Right, sorry." He looks back at Grant, stopping once he and Jemma reach the bench. "I still can't believe you're actually here. It's been ages."

Grant stands up from the bench and breathes in deeply. "That it has. And who's this little guy?" he asks, gesturing to the small boy Jemma's holding.

"This is our son, Noah FitzSimmons," Jemma tells him.

Grant smiles. "Hey there, Noah. You're like the perfect mix between your mom and dad. How old is he?"

"Almost two," Jemma tells him. "His birthday is next month on the fifth."

"Wow, that must be exciting for you."

Jemma nods. "It is. Being a parent is a wonderful experience."

"Yeah, I'm starting to figure that out myself. I mean, I missed all the firsts when she was younger, but there are still a few more firsts I get to be there for and I'm doing my best to make up for lost time."

"Hey, Grant?" Fitz speaks up, gaining the other man's attention again.

"Yeah?"

"We're sorry."

Grant furrows his brows. "About what?"

"Never telling you about Jessica," Fitz says. "You have to believe that we would have told you if we were able to. But after Skye tried contacting you she seemed pretty upset over the whole ordeal and we didn't think it would be right for us to tell you against her wishes, even if we had been able to get in contact with you."

"It's fine," Grant assures them. "I understand. You have nothing to be sorry about, you were just being there for your friend and supporting her."

"But you were our friend too," Jemma tells him, shifting Noah up higher on her hip.

"Like I said, it's fine. What matters now is that I'm a part of Jessica's life, and I get to be there for her whenever she needs me. The past is the past; I don't blame you guys for not telling me, it was never your job to tell me. And I don't blame Skye either, she tried. All I want to focus on is the present, and getting to be there for my daughter as much as I possibly can."

Jemma smiles up at him. "That's great, the perfect thing to focus on."

Grant smiles. "Yeah, it is."


So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Now Lorelei has met Skye and Jessica, and Grant has made up with Fitz and Jemma and met little Noah. But the vacation isn't over yet, folks. :)

Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!