Hey babes! Happy Fourth of July to all my fellow Americans out there. I'm back again with a new chapter for ya! Figured I wouldn't make you wait too long or suffer through multiple chapters of not knowing how Grant's latest mission went. So here you go. Also, a new face joins the group too. :)

Enjoy!

Thankfully, the mission he goes on is a success. It's just a simple recon mission like Coulson said, and nothing goes wrong. He's able to go and trail the guy for a few days, making note of all the important things he does, people he sees, and places he goes, being sure to store it away carefully on his person. He finds a motel to stay at that's close by the man's house, so that he won't have to travel too far to find him in the morning, and won't risk missing too much because of distance.

He's on his way back to the rendezvous point when a small whimpering from the dark alley next to him draws his attention. Since he's a new father, his mind immediately goes to the worst-case scenario, that someone left their baby unattended, either by accident or on purpose. He quickly pushes that thought out, not wanting to go there when his mind keeps flashing to Adian being left alone in the alley.

Following the noise that he's starting to realize doesn't actually sound like a baby, he steps carefully, not wanting to startle whatever or whoever may be hiding in the alley. "Hello?" he speaks up quietly, hoping for a response of some kind.

When he doesn't get one, he continues following the whimper, peering behind boxes and old pieces of metal, even looking behind the dumpster.

He pauses when he reaches the dumpster, his lips pulling into a frown when he recognizes the black and brown mass curled up in the corner as a puppy. It takes a moment for the breed to click in his head, but he's fairly certain it's a German Shepherd.

He kneels down beside the dumpster, holding one hand out to the puppy. "Hey there, little guy. What are you doing out here?"

The puppy jolts back and then hesitantly reaches out with its nose, sniffing at Grant's hand before nuzzling it. He smiles. He carefully reaches out with his other hand to wrap it around the puppy's behind, pulling him closer and scooping him into his arms.

The puppy squirms for a moment, startled at being picked up off the ground but quickly calms down when Grant starts stroking his fur and holding him close. He's always known about his slightly higher than normal body heat, and apparently, the puppy picks up on it too.

"How long have you been out here?" he asks, despite knowing the puppy won't be able to answer him. "We should probably get you checked over, even though you don't look to be too injured. One can never be too careful."

Cradling the puppy carefully in his arms, in case there are any injuries he didn't see, he heads back out to the sidewalk and begins his search for a veterinary clinic.

After asking a few people in passing for directions, he makes his way inside the nearest vet clinic, signing in at the front desk under a false name, hoping that no one recognizes him. He's still technically a wanted fugitive by the US Government, despite Coulson letting him out of Vault D to be with his son.

"Connor Douglas?"

He looks up from his seat in the waiting area to find a vet standing in the doorway leading to the examination room in the back of the clinic, a white coat draped on his body and a clipboard in his hands.

He stands from his seat, sharing a quick, polite smile with the doctor, and follows him into the room, immediately crossing to the other side.

"I'm Doctor Evans," the man tells him. "What brings you by today?"

"Um, I found this puppy in an alley nearby," he explains, gesturing to the dog in his arms. "He looks okay, but I wanted to bring him in just to be sure."

"Well, that was very smart of you," the vet says. "If you want to set him on the table I can do a quick examination to determine if any further action needs to be taken in regards to his health."

He nods silently, stepping forward to set the slightly squirming puppy onto the center of the examination table.

A few seconds later, Doctor Evans steps forward and begins his physical examination of the dog, asking him a few questions about the conditions the dog was found in. He can't help but be nervous for the dog, hoping that nothing is wrong with him and he'll be able to live a good life. His mind wanders to his son, how similar thoughts always run through his head when his son has to have a checkup, though it hasn't happened for a little while.

"Well, I'd say this puppy is a very healthy puppy, despite being left in an alley," Doctor Evans announces and he lets out a relieved breath of air.

"That's great, really great. Do you know how old he is? I know he's a puppy, but are you able to determine an exact age?"

Doctor Evans breathes in deeply. "I can determine an approximate age for you which would be about three months."

He lets out a small laugh. "That's about how old my son is."

"First one?" he asks.

Grant nods. "Yeah. His mom and I are pretty happy."

"You're not married, though?" he asks, gesturing to the ringless finger of Grant's left hand.

He glances down at it, images of Skye in a white dress walking toward him flashing through his head. He smiles a little. "Maybe one day. We've had a complicated past, though, so it's not in the cards right now."

"All you can really do is hope," Doctor Evans tells him. "It took me and my wife years to finally admit our feelings for each other though we'd both wanted to be together for a while. Now we have three beautiful children with a fourth on the way."

"Well, I'm glad things worked out for you."

"Me too. And I'm sure things will work out for you too." He takes a deep breath and focuses on the puppy. "As for this little guy, he is given a complete bill of health. I just want to keep him a few more hours to get some extra fluids in him and then he'll be good to go. I haven't found any tags or tracking chips, and I haven't seen or heard anything about a missing dog recently, so we can probably set him up in one of our kennels here until we can get him over to the local shelter."

Grant shifts on his feet. "Actually, I was hoping that I could take him with me. My son...I think he'd really benefit from having a dog. Our living arrangements right now aren't ideal and there probably won't be any other kids around for a while, so I think having a friend like this would do him some good as he gets older."

Doctor Evans smiles. "I think that sounds like a great idea. Let me get him set up with his IVs in the backroom and then I can help you get the paperwork started to adopt him."

"That would be great, thank you."

He waits as Doctor Evans leaves the room with the puppy before letting out a breath and leaning back against the wall behind him. He really hopes Skye doesn't kill him over this.

.

.

.

Skye laughs quietly as Adian squeals happily as she gently bounces him on her legs, his tiny fists curled up and stuffed in his mouth just like always.

"You are such a happy boy and I love it. I bet your daddy misses seeing you so happy. You'll just have to smile a lot for him when he gets back from wherever Coulson sent him. Too bad Coulson won't tell me how long it's going to be until your dad gets back. It's probably going to be a long time."

"Not as long as you'd think."

Adian squeals excitedly, bouncing eagerly as he waves his arms up and down. There's no doubt in her mind that he recognized the voice of his dad.

She looks past her son, smiling when she sees Grant stepping through the doorway of the lounge, dropping his duffel bag just inside the doorway.

"You made it back."

"Told you that I would," he says with a small smile. He strides across the room and scoops Adian into his arms, spinning him around before tossing him into the air and bringing him back down to kiss his face. "Oh, I missed you so much, bud. Did you miss daddy too?"

"Oh, he definitely did not," Skye teases him, a small smile on her own face. They share a laugh and then she leans back into the couch, watching as Grant and Adian reunite. She loves watching the two of them together. "So how did the mission go?" she asks him.

"Perfect. Not a single thing went wrong and I got what I needed for Coulson."

"Thank goodness for that," she says.

"Yeah, definitely." He shifts Adian to his hip, the little boy grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling it into his mouth. "Something interesting happened, though."

Her breath catches involuntarily. "What happened?"

"Take Adian and I'll show you." He hands Adian back over to her and then makes his way just outside into the hallway.

"What is your daddy doing, huh?" she says to Adian, settling him on her knee. "What's he got?"

"So, I found something while I was out, and I...please don't hate me for bringing him."

She quirks a brow. "Him?"

He steps back into the room and her eyes go wide at the sight of the small ball of black and brown cradled securely in his arms.

"Grant? Is that what I think it is?"

He smiles and nods. "Yeah. He's pretty cute, right?"

"I guess so. But why did you bring him with you?" she asks curiously.

He shrugs. "I thought we could keep him."

"Keep him? Grant, do you know how much responsibility dogs are? And we still have a baby to take care of too. Maybe if Adian were a little bit older I'd consider it, but I don't think we can do that."

"Why not?" Grant asks her, his lips turning down. "I can take care of him."

She sighs at his insistence. "Grant…"

Before she can say anything else, Adian squeals, leaning forward out of Skye's arms. He's not quite reaching out, but he's nearly falling out of her arms and she has to readjust her hold on him to keep him from landing face-first on the carpet.

She narrows her eyes at Grant as he moves forward with the puppy, kneeling down and holding him within Adian's reach.

"I heard people whispering."

They both look up to see Fitz entering the room, joining their little group by the couch. He sits down next to her and gives Grant a small smile. "Welcome back."

"Thanks. It's good to be back. I missed my boy," he says, leaning forward to kiss Adian's temple. "Oh, be careful, bud," he says, gently pulling Adian's hand away from the puppy's fur. "You need to be gentle with the puppy."

"You guys got a puppy?" Fitz asks and she groans internally at the way his eyes light up.

"No, Fitz, we didn't get a puppy," Skye tells him. "Grant found him on his mission and brought him back here without any kind of warning to me at all."

Grant shrugs. "I wasn't sure what you'd say. I couldn't just leave him there. I found him in an alley all alone. They were going to put him in a shelter but there's no guarantee that he would have been adopted by anyone."

"I think you should keep him," Fitz says. "Adian seems to really like him. Though, he doesn't know what a dog is. Yet. Probably. He could use a friend."

Skye sighs as she watches her son repeatedly patting the puppy's fur while babbling incoherently. "I guess...I guess if there really isn't another choice."

Grant grins at her. "You really mean it?"

She nods. "Yeah. But you need to talk to Coulson first because obviously, his word is final since he runs this whole place."

Grant stands up immediately, the puppy still in his arms, and she tries to reign Adian in as he starts fussing. "Don't worry. I will. I'll go do that right now. I have to debrief with him about the mission, anyway." He turns around and makes his way toward the doorway.

"And you need to come up with a name too!" she calls out after him. She sighs and relaxes in her spot, handing Adian over to Fitz when he begins squirming. He quiets down not long after he's in Fitz's arms, immediately fascinated by Fitz's scraggly beard.

"Now we're going to have a puppy to worry about too," she mumbles, leaning back against the couch. She tilts her head and smiles at Fitz playing with Adian, mumbling quietly to the boy. She reaches out and runs a hand over the back of Adian's head. "But I guess it's worth it to see this little guy so happy."

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

Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!