Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! There are only two chapters left after this, so I hope you're ready! I promise that all your patience will pay off in the end. :)

Enjoy!

Breathing in deeply, Skye stretches her arms above her head as her body starts to wake up from the long nap she just took. It's rare these days for her to be able to actually find time to nap, always either taking care of Adian or working on something for Coulson. She's found that she can usually nap when Adian does, even if it's just for a few minutes before she has to do something for SHIELD. But this time, she's pretty sure that she slept longer than she'd intended to. She's definitely feeling well-rested, though, so maybe it's not such a bad thing.

Swinging her legs around so she's sitting up on the couch, her eyes go wide when she looks at the floor and doesn't see her son there. His blanket is still there from where he'd fallen asleep earlier, some of his toys lying around the edge of it, including his favorite monkey toy from his Uncle Fitz. But his actual little body is absolutely nowhere in sight.

Her mind starts racing a mile a minute at the possibilities of what could have happened to him, but she tries her hardest to push those thoughts away. That is the last thing that she should be thinking about right now.

Jumping up from the couch, she begins her search through the base, searching in every room and every storage closet she comes across. They haven't gotten all the baby gates up yet, so her son very well could have ended up just about anywhere, and she has no idea where that could be. And it's really starting to freak her out.

"Skye?"

Spinning on her heel, she lets out a half-relieved sigh when she sees Grant approaching her with Max at his side. He must have just gotten done with his latest session with Lisa. "Grant, hi."

"Hey, you okay? You look kind of frazzled."

She bites her lip between her teeth and looks up at him. "I can't find Adian."

His eyes go wide. "You lost him?"

She narrows her eyes at him. "No, I didn't lose him. We were both taking a nap and when I woke up, he was gone."

"Have you found him yet?"

"If I'd found him already don't you think I'd be holding him and not saying how I can't find him?"

"Right, sorry. Uh, do you have any idea where he might be?"

She shakes her head. "Not at all."

"Okay. Well, he couldn't have gotten too far, right? The agents around here know who he is and to either come looking for us when they see him or just hang onto him if they find him."

"But do they really?" she questions. "Because I'm pretty sure this is the first time our son has just disappeared so I don't think any of them are too used to a baby being loose around the base."

"Maybe not, but I'm sure none of them would do anything to hurt him."

"I can think of one who might," she says, her fists clenching ever so slightly and the hallway shaking for the briefest moment.

Grant frowns. "She may not like the idea of me being around or Adian existing, but I don't think she's heartless enough to harm a baby who's done absolutely nothing to her."

She sighs heavily, running a hand over her face. "Can we just try to find him, please? I'm going out of mind not knowing where he is."

"Yeah, of course. Should we split up, or...?"

She nods. "Yeah, that might work best, cover more ground. Text me if you find him and I'll do the same."

"Sounds good."

They search in opposite directions, moving quickly through the base, but taking the time to really search anywhere that their son could have disappeared into. She's not sure about Grant, but she isn't having any luck in finding her son. She's very nearly close to tears and she's checked just about every room that she's come across. But no luck.

Her mind starts to fear the worst when she sees movement out of the corner of her eyes, a flash of white that she immediately recognizes as a diaper moving across her peripheral.

"Oh, thank goodness." She lets out a relieved sigh when she spots her son rounding a corner a few feet ahead of her. She quickly catches up to him, snatching him up off the floor and holding him close. She peppers his face with kisses, the little boy squirming. "You scared me, baby. You can't just disappear like that or mommy and daddy might have a heart attack. And none of us want that because then you'd have to have Uncle Fitz and Uncle Trip taking care of you."

"Hey!"

She hadn't even realized she'd been anywhere near the lab, but she spins on her heels to find Fitz standing inside the lab, a frown on his face as he watches her. She smiles sheepishly as she moves inside the room. "Sorry, Fitz. Just joking. I didn't even realize where I was. I was just too focused on finding Adian."

His brows furrow. "You lost him?"

She huffs. "No, I didn't lose him. He just somehow managed to inherit Grant's super-spy skills and is also apparently a really fast crawler."

"Ah. Glad you found him."

"Me too. Honestly, I don't even want to think about what I would have done if I—"

"Fitz? Do you think that maybe you could—oh, hello."

Skye's breath catches and her hold on her son tightens. "Hi, Simmons. I'll see you later, Fitz. Say bye to Uncle Fitz, baby."

Adian babbles incoherently as she turns around and carries him back down toward the lounge.

"You found him. Where was he?"

Skye smiles up at Grant when she sees him, passing Adian up to him as she falls down onto the couch. "Just in the hallway by the lab. He's very fast."

She leans back on the couch, watching as Grant bounces Adian up and down as he talks softly to him. Her heart swells every time she sees it, or something very similar. She's been beginning to wonder recently why she ever thought that not telling Grant about Adian would have been a good idea. It's hard to imagine how things would have turned out had Grant actually not been around and still stuck down in Vault D, unable to see his son grow up. They're both definitely better off with him in their lives than out of them.

.

.

.

"Grant! He's walking!"

His head snaps up at the excited shout, looking over to the lounge from his place in the kitchenette, finding Skye hunched forward on the couch, watching their son attentively. "What?"

"He's walking!" she shouts at him again, her eyes never leaving Adian.

"He is?" He quickly stops what he's doing and moves to join her on the couch.

"Yeah. Or, at least, he's trying to."

He follows her line of sight to see Adian standing next to the coffee table, one hand clutching tightly to the edge as he sways a little on his feet.

Skye lets out a breath. "Wow. I didn't think he'd start walking this early."

"He's a smart kid, Skye. He started crawling earlier than we thought he would too. He has to have figured out by now that walking will get him around a lot easier and quicker than crawling will."

"I know. But it means that he's growing up and I don't think I want that."

He quirks a brow at her. "You don't want him growing up?"

"No, I don't want him to stop wanting to cuddle with me all the time. Eventually, he'll grow out of that and not want to be around us all the time."

"Hey, that's still quite a few years off. Let's just focus on right now, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good." He moves off the couch and grabs his Polaroid off the counter, making sure that it's loaded with a film sheet before kneeling down near where Adian is standing. "See if you can get him to go to you," he tells Skye as he looks through the viewfinder, focusing on Adian as best he can.

"Come on, baby," Skye says, sliding down off the edge of the couch to sit on the carpet, pulling her legs up underneath her. "Come on, Adian. Walk to mommy, I know you can do it."

Grant listens and watches through his viewfinder as Adian lifts one of his tiny feet up and down a few times, glancing between the carpet below him and his mom across from him. He takes a few shaky steps forward, still holding tightly to the edge of the table next to him.

Grant sucks in a sharp breath when Adian reaches the end of the table, his tiny hand letting go of the edge. He knows Skye's probably feeling what he is right now too. So many different emotions coursing through him, but mainly pride.

"Come on, baby," Skye urges again and that's what does it. Adian moves as quickly as he can on his still unsteady feet, stumbling across the carpet before falling into Skye's awaiting arms.

He manages to capture the moment right before Adian falls, his arms up high in the air, a wide smile on his lips. Skye's own arms are extended out toward their son, a beaming grin on her face as she watches him.

Pulling the camera down, he takes the sheet of paper that prints out and sets both items aside so he can join his family. He instantly scoops Adian into his arms, spinning the boy around before settling him on his hip and planting kisses to his face.

"You did it, bud. Daddy's so proud of you."

"Mommy's proud of you too," Skye says, joining him and resting one hand on Adian's back.

He smiles down at Skye before focusing back on Adian when he screeches and squirms, reaching down to the carpet.

"Oh, alright," Grant says, lowering Adian to the carpet, hanging onto his hands momentarily to allow the boy to find his balance. "Mr. Independent," he mutters when Adian starts toddling toward the edge of the couch, gripping tightly to it once he gets there.

He's only a little shocked when Skye leans into his side, one of her arms wrapping around his torso. He hesitates for a brief moment before wrapping his own arm around her.

"He's growing up."

"I know," he whispers, watching with a content smile on his face as his son babbles to himself as he tries to walk away, promptly falling to the carpet again.

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!