Santa Clause

"What are you doing, baby girl?" Skye asked, just a slight accusation in her voice as she stood in the doorway.

Haylie froze right away, then slowly, very slowly pulled her hand out of the drawer and closed it. She knew very well that she was doing something she was not supposed to – not going into mommy's office (that was a slight exaggeration; she had a small room for her home server and a couple of filling cabinets on the first floor of their home) without supervision, that was the rule, because even though she and Grant were careful not to keep any weapons there, they still had some S.H.I.E.L.D. issued equipment in the room.

"I was just looking for the nighty glasses, mommy," the five-year-old answered, slowly turning around to face her.

"The nighty…" Oh. She meant the night vision goggles. "And why do you need those?" Skye asked, stepping into the room and kneeling in front of her daughter, pushing a stray curl behind the little girl's ear.

"For tomorrow night – I wanna see Santa Clause!" Haylie answered enthusiastically, her eyes going so comically big that it almost made Skye chuckle.

"But you know that Santa won't come if you stay awake," she told Haylie in her most reasonable voice. Her baby shook her head.

"But he won't know I'm up!" Haylie protested. "That's why I need the nighty glasses! I'll hide and put them on and wait for him to come. He won't even know I'm here! Please, mommy, can I have the nighty glasses? Please?"

It really was a fight not to laugh.

"I'll talk with daddy about it when he gets home, okay?" she told Haylie, then stood up and picked up the little girl. "But then you have to behave, and that includes staying out of mommy's office, okay?"

"Okay," Haylie agreed, resting her little head on Skye's shoulder. "But mommy? Do you think we should put out some carrots too? For the reindeers?"


Once Haylie was up in her room, nicely playing with Ada, Skye sent a quick text to Grant.

Situation at home: your daughter is planning a steak out on Santa Clause.

She got the answer barely a minute later.

Good girl. Hunter owes me one, I'll tell him to get a costume.

There was a reason she loved this man.