Hey babes! Back again with a new one for ya! Everything comes to a head in this chapter. We're getting so close to the end now. I can't wait for you guys to read these last few chapters. :)

Enjoy!

Bursting through the door onto the main deck of the Illiad, Skye pants heavily as she sees her mom leading two men carrying a large black case toward a quinjet waiting at the other end. She'd tried. She'd tried so hard to stop them from getting to this point. She tried everything she could think of. And this is her last chance, her last opportunity. If she can't change her mom's mind now, after everything, then there's nothing else that she can do. She'll have to give up and let what happens happen. But not yet. Not until she tries one more time.

"Mom! Stop! You can't do this!"

"No," Jiaying says to the men with her when they drop the case. "Put them on the jet and get ready for takeoff."

"I can't let you leave with those crystals," she tells her mom, wishing deep in her heart that things hadn't gone this way. She never wanted to have to do this. But she stands her ground.

"You can, and you should. It's the only way to protect our people."

She shakes her head, swallowing. "It's not. There are other ways."

"Whose ways? SHIELD? No, their way is what got us here."

"You started this war," Skye shoots back.

"This war started decades ago when SHIELD was founded to guard the world against people like us. And it will never end." Jiaying steps closer as she speaks. "But you and I together—think of how powerful we could be. We could launch a revolution...side by side."

Skye shakes her head and takes a small step back. "I don't want your revolution, because this isn't about protecting me or your people. This is about hate."

"No, you're wrong."

"It's consumed you. You can't even tell right from wrong. But this doesn't have to be how things are," Skye insists, hoping with everything inside of her that she'll get through. "You don't have to keep doing this, okay? Prove them wrong, choose to be better than the monster that they think you are. SHIELD isn't like what it used to be, not the one that I know."

"SHIELD will always be how it was. Nothing can change that."

"Now you're the one who's wrong. SHIELD became my family when I didn't have one. Despite the circumstances, they gave me the greatest gift that I never thought I would have." She can't help the watery smile she gets at the thought of her son; of his smile, his laugh, his spirit, the way he says 'mama', the way he cuddles with her as he nurses or after a nap. She takes a few steps closer to her mother. "And I wanted you to be a part of it, you and my dad, but not like this. Not if this how you're going to be."

"A part of what?"

She takes a deep breath. "Of my son's life."

That makes her mother pause, something about it obviously having affected her. She just hopes it's for the better end of things. "You...you have a son?"

She nods, her smile growing just a little bit bigger. "Yeah, I do. His name is Adian. He's not even a year old yet."

Jiaying looks her up and down before landing on her eyes. "You don't…"

"I don't look like I had a baby just a few months ago?" She lets out a small laugh. "Yeah, I know. I got pretty lucky." She steps closer to her mom. "Please, don't do this, mom. Think about your grandson, what kind of world you're making for him to grow up in by doing this. You and dad weren't able to be there for me when I was growing up, but you can be there for your grandson. You can have a second chance." She grabs onto her hands and holds tightly, looking directly into her eyes, hoping with everything she has that her message is getting through. "If you don't want to be seen as the bad guy anymore, then start changing how you do things. Stop acting like a bad guy and you won't be treated as one anymore."

"I'm afraid that's not possible."

"Trust me when I say that it is. I know from personal experience."

Jiaying's brows furrow together. "You?"

She shakes her head. "Not really. But someone very close to me. It's possible to change, mom, to start fresh. Just please, don't do this."

For a moment, she fears that all of her pleadings fell on deaf ears, that nothing is going to change and she's going to lose her parents just as fast as she got them. But then something shifts. She's not exactly sure what it is, but something shifts.

"You really believe that things can change?" her mother asks her softly. She hears the door next to them opening, someone's footsteps quickly approaching. But she never takes her eyes off of her mother.

She nods. "I really do." She chances a glance to the side to find her dad standing a few feet away, a curious look on his face as he watches them. She holds one of her hands out to him, an invitation for him to come closer and join them. He does and she holds tightly to his hand while still holding onto one of her mom's hands.

"There doesn't have to be any more hatred or vengeance," Skye tells the both of them. "I want you both to be a part of my life, to be a part of Adian's life. But not if you're going to keep doing what you have been. And I want you both to at least talk to someone about all of this anger and hatred you've had festering for so long."

"I think we can manage that."

"Adian?" her dad speaks up. "Who's Adian?"

She gives her dad a small smile. "Adian is my son, your grandson."

"I'm a...I'm a grandpa?"

She laughs at the pure look of joy and elation on his face at hearing the news. "Yeah, you're a grandpa."

"Can I meet him?"

"Not yet," she tells him. "Grant and I have to go pick him up first. He's been staying with Grant's sister while we've been dealing with all of this. But I promise to bring him to meet you guys. I grew up without any parents or family whatsoever. But my son is growing up with both of his parents raising him, as well as two sets of grandparents to dote on him. It's better than I ever could have hoped for."

After talking with her parents, they all go back inside the Illiad and quickly find the others, Grant and Coulson among them. She gives Grant a small nod when they lock eyes, letting him know that she's okay, that things will be fine.

Thankfully, after speaking with Coulson, he agrees to let the past remain in the past, to move forward and start forging a better relationship with the Inhumans and other powered individuals. He even offers to have a small group of agents help with the cleanup and rebuilding of Afterlife.

"When could you get this group of agents together?" Jiaying asks as she stands with a good amount of space between her and Coulson. It is going to take a lot more than one conversation for things to get to a good place, after all.

"I can have them ready as soon as possible," he replies, a polite smile on his face.

"While I'm happy with how things are going," she speaks up, taking a small step forward. "Grant and I would really like to go see our son now. Mom, do you think Gordon could—"

"Absolutely. You go see that baby of yours, tell him that his grandmother can't wait to meet him."

They share a quick smile and then Gordon's wrapping his arms around hers and Grant's shoulder, transporting them in a flash. He doesn't take them to Rose's house, since he doesn't know where it is, but he takes them to a place where they'll be able to get transportation.

There's not a single ounce of hesitation in her body as she makes her way up the front porch of Rose's house once they arrive, her knuckles making contact with the door as soon as she reaches it. She can feel Grant beside her, reaches out to take his hand for comfort and support. She doesn't know why she's so nervous, she's just coming to see her son again.

But maybe it's the fact that her son is still so young, that there's a possibility he might not recognize them when he sees them in person. Even though everything in her mind is telling her that they're all going to be just fine.

"You're back."

"Hey, Rosie."

Skye's pulled out of her head and smiles at the other woman. "Rose, hey. Where's Adian?"

"He's taking a nap right now. He should be waking up soon, though. Come on in."

They step inside the house, immediately being greeted by Rose's husband and son, and then they're waiting.

She wants so badly to just go wake her son up so she can be with him, but she knows it's better if she lets him sleep. But of course, it doesn't stop her from asking Rose everything that she can about her boy, needing to know for sure that he was okay while she was away.

"Skye, I promise you that he was perfectly fine the entire time," Rose tells her as they stand in the kitchen together drinking tea. She'd much rather have coffee, but she doesn't need her nerves amped up any more than they already are. "He missed you and Grant and it came through in some of his behavior, but he's still young. He won't remember that you two were gone once he's older."

She sighs. "I know. I just...Grant and I both went through a lot in the last couple of weeks, so it's been tough being away from Adian."

Rose gives her a sympathetic smile. "I know it has. And I don't envy your position at all. I'm sorry you both had to be away from him. Why exactly were you away, if you don't mind my asking?"

Skye breathes in deeply and lets out a heavy sigh. "It's...a lot. You already know how Grant and I aren't fully human so we both have these supernatural abilities that we're still trying to get the hang of. We found that there's a place for people like us to be without fear of the rest of the world. That's where we've been, learning about our abilities. But, of course, as with everything, it started falling apart. I was worried for a minute that we wouldn't make it out, but thankfully, I was able to talk some sense into my mom."

"Wait, your mom? You found your mom?"

She nods. "And my dad. It was pretty crazy, believe me. They've both made their fair share of mistakes, but they want to be better. For Adian, mainly. You should have seen the look on my dad's face when I told him that he's a grandpa. It was priceless. I think he's really excited about having a second chance since he missed out on my entire life."

"Well, I'm glad that you've found them. It seems like everything is working out for you."

Skye smiles. "Yeah. There's a small part of me that's waiting for the other shoe to drop, but I'm doing my best to just live in the moment and appreciate what I have right now."

"Speaking of what you have," Rose remarks as the baby monitor next to her comes to life with quiet babbling, "I think that your son is awake now."

Skye perks up at that, standing a little taller and her eyes instantly watering. "Which room is he in?"

"The same one you and Grant stayed in while you were here."

"Thanks."

She doesn't waste any more time, moving quickly through the house on her way to see her son. It feels like it's been forever, when it really hasn't, and she's only slightly worried that he won't recognize her, that he'll think she's some stranger.

She pushes open the door to the bedroom, her breath catching in her throat when she sees her son at the other end of the room, standing up in the playpen with one of his little hands gripping tightly to the railing while the other holds onto his stuffed monkey doll.

She steps into the room, wasting no time in moving to stand in front of her son. He bounces on his legs as she gets closer, continuing to babble nonsense as he watches her.

"Mama."

Hearing that word coming from him, in person, makes her emotional. She hasn't seen her baby in a while and he just called her 'mama', so she cries. Tears of happiness, of course.

She reaches inside and lifts him into her arms, cradling the back of his head as she holds him close. "Hi, baby," she says, the tears falling down her cheeks in streams, a smile on her face as he curls up against her, his monkey doll pressed tightly between their bodies. "Mama missed you so much, Adian. I promise I'm never going to leave you like that again, okay?"

"Rose told me you were in here."

She spins around and smiles at Grant through her tears. She laughs quietly when Adian perks up a little, mutters a quiet 'dada', and then drops his head back to her shoulder.

"Guess that's the best you're going to get for right now."

Grant shakes his head. "It's fine. I like seeing you two together, makes me think I actually did something right with my life."

Skye smiles at him and gently rubs at Adian's back. "This little guy is living proof that you did."

He steps closer to them and runs his hand over Adian's head, dropping a kiss to it with a smile. "Yeah, he is pretty great."

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

Our favorite little family is reunited. Yay. :)

Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!