Chapter suggested by annavale23.
(Trip is 21, Lance is 18, Grant is 17, Leo is 15, Jemma is 15), Skye is 13 and Avalyn is 7.
"Skye!" Avalyn shouted, standing right next to her.
The teenager was sitting in her bed, laptop over her legs, doing some petty hacks, ears muffled by the headphones that blasted loud music. Avalyn tapped Skye's shoulder, causing her to shake, startled.
"Dammit, AJ," Skye whined, hanging the headphones around her neck.
"I need to ask you something."
Sighing, Skye paused the music, "What?"
"Where do babies come from?"
"I – uh – don't know," she answered, cheeks reddening. "Ask mom."
"She went to her bedroom. Said she's feeling sick and doesn't want me there. Tell me 'cause I know you know," Avalyn said, pointing her finger at her sister.
"I don't know," Skye lied again.
"Ok, then Skype with Jem. She'll tell me. She's super smart."
Looking at the time on the corner of the screen, Skye affirmed, "It's late in Cambridge right now."
"Skype with Leo then," Avalyn insisted.
The two stared into each other's eyes; Avalyn crossed her arms over her chest, determined in getting an answer, and Skye simply sighed and logged onto Skype. Avalyn let out a quiet 'yes!' in sign of victory.
"Hey Tremors," Leo greeted between a yawn, rubbing his eyes.
"Shut up, Doctor Fitzy," Skye grumbled, "it was one time."
"I believe you. I don't think people will ever trust you with a tray of glasses again."
Skye rolled her eyes, "Ava-Jo wants to ask you something."
"Hey AJ, didn't see you there," Leo excitedly waved his hand when Skye turned the laptop and saw Avalyn standing next to her. "How are ya?"
"Where do babies come from?"
"Straight to the point," the teenager nodded his head. "Well, a stork brings them from Paris."
"I'm not five, Leo. I know you have to kiss a boy to get pregnant but how does the baby get in there?"
"Ok, well, glad you know that already," Leo grinned, slightly relieved with the answer. "So, when two people really like each other, they fall in love, and they hold hands –"
"But you get cooties if you hold hands with a boy!" Avalyn said terrorized.
"Exactly, that's why you can only hold hands with a boy after he has had his cooties shot, which happens when he's about eighteen-years-old. Anyway, going back to the babies' part. The man puts a seed in the girl's stomach and nine months later, they have a baby."
"That's a stupid story," the girl claimed. "Skype with Lance," she said at Skye.
"Ah, no, don't do it," Leo warned. "Skye, for the love of God, don't Skype with Lance."
"Why not?" Avalyn stopped her foot, "Lance always tells me everything."
"Lance is at a faraway place, AJ," Skye explained, "and he can't Skype with us whenever we want."
"Fine," she sighed, "can I call Grant or Trip then?"
"Sure," the other one replied. "You can use my phone."
Skye and Leo talked for a while more while Avalyn talked over the phone with her older brothers. None of them offered a convincing answer, which led Avalyn to get upset. But she knew someone that would tell her the truth. Leaving Skye's bedroom, she skipped down the stairs and sat at the couch, turning on the TV. She'd patiently wait for her father to come home, because dad never lied and he'd tell her the truth about babies. Upon hearing the door opening, Avalyn scrambled off the couch and ran at full speed, meeting her father at the door.
"Daddy? I need to ask you something. I've asked everyone," she dragged the word on purpose, "but no one knows the answer."
"Hi sweetie," Coulson answered, picking her up in his arms after stripping off his jacket. "Tell me, what is your question?"
"Where do babies come from?"
Coulson opened his mouth to speak but was mute. He knew that Avalyn was at that age where she questioned everything, which included the questions that got adults too embarrassed to answer.
"Well?" she crooned, impatient.
"Well," he repeated in a sluggish way, trying to buy himself some more time to think. Coulson walked to the living room and put Avalyn on the couch, "Why do you want to know where do babies come from?"
She leaned over the edge of the couch to get a good look of her father, "'Cause today I was playing with Mom and when I bumped against her belly, she said that I had to be careful 'cause she has a baby in there. How did it get in there?"
"She said that?" his voice came out strangled, his eyes burning because of unshed tears.
"Uh-huh. How did it get in her belly?"
"Why – uh – why don't ask that to Skye? Dad has to talk with Mom right now, ok?"
Avalyn sighed and threw her head back, "I've asked Skye already."
He was long gone, on a search for his wife, and didn't hear his daughter complaining.
"May?" he called, peeking in every room. "Mel, where are you?"
Skye stepped out of her bedroom, headphones hanging around her neck, "Mom has been in the bedroom for a long time now. She doesn't seem okay. I've tried to speak with her but she told me to go away and keep an eye on Ava-Jo until you'd arrive."
"You know, it's late," he quickly checked the hours in his wristwatch. "Why don't you order pizza for yourself and AJ? My wallet is in my coat."
"Is everything alright?"
"Yes, everything's ok, angel eyes. Now do what I've told you, please."
The teenager nodded, feeling almost compelled to believe and accept what she had been told. She knew things weren't alright, but she also knew that no one would tell her what was going on. Skye walked downstairs and picked up the phone to order pizzas as she was told, and kept Avalyn entertained so that she wouldn't go upstairs.
Coulson knocked on the door of their bedroom, waiting for an answer. He called his wife's name, but as he didn't get a response, he walked in slowly. May was lying down in bed, back turned to the door.
"Skye, I've told you I'm alright," May spoke with a husky voice. "Keep an eye on Avalyn, please."
"It's me," he simply told her.
May pushed herself up, sitting in bed, "You're home already."
He took a seat next to her, "Avalyn wants to know where babies come from. Said that you told her that you've got –"
"I'm forty-seven," she looked at her lap and breathed in thoroughly. "What are we going to do about it, Phil?"
May looked him in the eye, to gauge what he wanted to do about it. He looked inscrutable; he certainly looked surprised, but he didn't look appalled.
"Do you want this baby?"
"Babies," she corrected. "Went to the doctor today. He said they're twins, fraternal."
"Alright," Coulson muttered, trying to sound calm as surprise washed over his body again.
"He also said that this is a very risky pregnancy. But it's a viable pregnancy, as long as I follow all of his recommendations."
"Then what's the problem?"
She shrugged, holding back her tears and avoiding looking at him again, "In a way, I sort of wish that these babies hadn't happened, but I know my legs won't take me to a place where I can get rid of them. But, this wasn't planned and I'm too old to be pregnant."
"I want a straight answers from you, okay?" Coulson grabbed her hands on his, "Do you feel that you can go through with the pregnancy, be strong and well and deliver two healthy babies?"
"Phil –"
"Yes or no?"
"I think I can."
"Do you want these babies? Just tell me what you really want, because your decision will be, indisputably, my decision too."
"You've got a saying as well. I can't, and won't, decide for the two of us."
"Yes you will. Because it'd never cross my mind to force you to do something you don't want to. This is a difficult pregnancy, there are a lot of risks involved, and it'll be you carrying these babies. My only role in all of this will be taking care of you, and believe me, I'll do the best I can. You are the one person I love and care and respect the most in the world and if you -"
Her jaw tensed. May looked up and said, resolute on her answer, "I want these babies. I know I can do this. And I know I want them as much as you want them. They may have not been planned, but that doesn't mean that I - that we - don't love them already. Avalyn wasn't planned either, but if I could go back in time, I wouldn't change a thing."
"Then let's get ready for the arrival of the twins." He put a kiss on her forehead, leaving a warning, "But you've got to promise me that you'll do everything the doctor says. The three of you need to be in perfect shape every day. This will be a difficult pregnancy but you're the strongest person I've ever met and we'll all be here to help you the best way we can."
Overwhelmed by pregnancy hormones and an undying love for her husband, May couldn't stop the tears that dropped down her face, "I – Just when I think I can't love you more, you – I love you more than anything in this world, you know that, don't you?"
"I love you too," he confessed, pecking her lips.
May reached for the ultrasound that was over the bedside table and showed it to him. The twins were nothing more than two blurry jelly beans in the scan, but the couple already love them. They hadn't been planned, but they were not unwanted. It was extraordinary how two eggs and two sperm cells that were nearly half a century old turned into human beings – a baby boy and a baby girl, they'd find out in ten weeks.
After getting a notification on her phone, Skye left Avalyn eating in the living room, going back to her bedroom to check on her computer. Lance was online and had started chatting with her, telling her he had some time to Skype with the family. Skye started setting a group call with her siblings, hoping that Jemma was still awake despite the late hours (it turned out she was still awake and participated in the chat too). While it was ringing, waiting for everyone to answer, Skye walked to her parents' bedroom.
Knocking lightly on the door, she poked her head inside, "Just to let you guys know that Lance is on Skype. He says he has some twenty minutes to chat with us. I'm trying to get everyone in a group call. I'll be downstairs –"
"Lance!" Avalyn's happy screech echoed throughout the whole house.
She had followed her older sister upstairs…
"Oh God!" Skye said, darting to her bedroom.
"I guess we can tell everyone the news now," Coulson suggested, holding May's hands and helping her stand up.
"I guess we can."