Post future fic, the FitzSimmons family gathers for a picnic. 1434 words for someone to figure out that Deke is named after himself.

Prompt:

Young Deke Shaw's childhood, pre or post future fix.
(from Promptastic)

Written for my Summer Prompt Challenge 2019 on Ao3.

Family Reunion

"Nana!" A blur of blue and brown ran head first towards the greying ponytail he knew belonged to his grandmother

Jemma turned immediately to catch her grandson mid-jump before he could tackle her back and send her flying. She spun him around, "Hello, darling!"

Deke's toothy grin and giggles had Jemma smiling as she pulled him close to her body. She rocked slightly as she hugged him. Deke's small hands hooked around her neck, "Nana, mama says my little brother will be here soon!"

"I know!" Jemma looked over at her eldest daughter, waddling up the hill with the aid of her younger sisters. Both girls had gotten the brunt of Jemma's features, but both Deke and his mother had Leo's eyes.

"Owen skipped out for explosions." Melinda said by way of greeting. Her statement earned her an elbow from her sister and a laugh from her father.

Jemma gave them both a side hug, the other half of her body still full of Deke. "How are you doing, Lettie?" She raised an eyebrow and then rested her hand on Colette's swollen belly when the younger woman nodded.

"Quite exhausted," Colette sighed. She smiled over her mother's shoulder and Jemma knew Leo was right coming over from the picnic table. "Owen's team had an incident in the lab, so he had to go in. He'll try to drop by later."

Jemma nodded, lips pressed together as Leo snorted. Melinda laughed as both her mother and sister ignored the noise.

Deke did not. His head snapped up from Jemma's shoulder, "Bobo!" He wiggled down from his grandmother as he might descending a tree.

Jemma puckered her lips to the side in annoyance as the boy ran off to tackle his grandfather. Fitz did not stop the small child from ramming into his knees.

"How's my favorite person in the whole world?" Fitz raised Deke above his head, a little breathless as he lay on the ground. "Been working on your surprise attacks obviously."

"I'm awesome!" Deke squealed, twisting and turning in his grandfather's grip until Fitz put him down. Deke skipped in a circle around the man as Fitz sat up. He rambled on about kindergarten and his latest scientific study into the world of ladybugs. "Our yard grows 1.3% faster than our neighbor's, even though we have the same kind of grass."

Fitz listened intently, nodding and gasping in all the appropriate places. Jemma led her daughters past them to sit at the picnic table. Colette settled onto the stool with a huff, "One more month. Then freedom!"

Melinda trailed off towards the grill that her father had abandoned. She turned a few veggie kabobs.

"Freedom?" Jemma's brows lowered, "I don't believe I was ever so excited for six months of sleepless nights." Colette chuckled. "Speaking of which, your brother has also bowed out for work. Something about an emergency surgery."

Colette rolled her eyes, "And yet it's Owen dad is upset with?"

"Skylar is not your father's little girl." Jemma patted her daughter's shoulder. "Or more accurately, he's not the space cowboy who stole her away."

"Eventually, Melinda has to bring her boyfriend around so dad can be mean to him instead of my Owen." Colette rested her face on her hand. "And 'space cowboy' really? He's an engineer, not an astronaut."

"Has he or has he not lived in space?" Jemma's lips quirked up, nearly to her ears. Colette rolled her eyes again, then glanced over at where her father was playing with her son.

"Plus, he keeps wearing a cowboy hat," Melinda said around a mouthful of sausage link. Jemma focused a disapproving look on her youngest that the woman blatantly ignored. "Oh! Oranges?" Melinda tilted her head at the fruit on the table, "Is Uncle D coming?"

Jemma's smile grew, "He is." She glanced back at Fitz, who was now on his hands and knees inspecting blades of grass with his grandson. "I twisted his arm a bit, laid on the guilt."

"He was very excited to hear you were pregnant." Melinda grinned at her sister, "Just about flipped when I told him it was going to be another boy."

Colette frowned. She hadn't seen her Uncle Deke since her own little Deke was born. "I don't think he's even met little Deke yet?" Colette watched her mother out of the corner of her eyes. She saw the straightening of her spine and the sudden dusting of her clean cardigan, "Aha!"

"What?" Jemma jumped, eyes wide as she glanced around.

Colette frowned, "You didn't tell him we'd be here did you?" Jemma sighed. "Why? Does he not want to see me? Meet little Deke?"

"That's ridiculous!" Melinda threw her hands up, "He's the little guy's namesake, the kid is basically a miniature of…. Mom?" Jemma's face was stark white.

"Nothing!" Jemma shook her head frantically.

Melinda and Colette looked at each other, paused, and then immediately pinned their mother with an identical look they'd learned from Aunt Daisy.

"It's just a bit…awkward for him." Jemma smiled tersely and then stood up to check the grill. Or flee towards it, depending on the perspective.

Deke scampered up the bench beside his mother. "Aunty Mel look!" The boy held up his hand, where a pair of ladybugs were crawling over his palm.

"Wow!" Melind ruffled his hair, "Go put them back now though, we don't want to disrupt the eco-system by removing an important herbivore like a ladybird."

"Daddy calls them ladybugs." Deke said with a squint.

Melinda shrugged, "That's cause Americans talk funny." Deke laughed and then he jumped from the bench to run back towards his grandfather.

"Really Mel?" Deke drawled, making both sisters jump, "Do I talk funny?" Colette giggled as Melinda blushed.

Mel look ashamed for all of three seconds before narrowing her eyes, "Actually, yeah!" Colette snorted then and Deke made a face - lips pursed, eyes big and wide.

"I feel attacked," Deke plopped onto the bench on the other side of the table. "I'm only talking to Lettie now," he dutifully faced the woman in question and smiled, "How's the littlest Shaw progressing? Watermelon sized yet?"

"Just about…" Melinda tilted her head to the side as she looked at Deke's face. He raised a brow. She tilted the other way. "I haven't seen you much since I got married..." She leaned forward, pregnant belly now resting on the table as she arched over the food.

Deke leaned back, chuckled humorlessly, "Scheduling conflicts, ya know, real…uh… what are you doing?"

Colette now had Deke's chin in hand and was forcibly turning his head left. "I'm a geneticist, Uncle Deke, remember?"

"Yeah…"

"Studying recessive genes and their physical expressions on the body." Colette turned his head right.

Deke looked pleadingly at Melinda, who merely shrugged.

"So…" Colette let him go and settled back onto her bench. "Why do you have the same cheekbones and jawline as my Deke and Owen?"

Melinda's eyes went wide as she plopped down beside her sister, but not nearly so wide as Deke's. He stuttered out a few sounds that might have been the beginning of words.

"Oh my…" Melinda jumped back up, "Back to the Future!" Melinda pointed at Deke, finger nearly touching Deke as she gestured wildly, "He IS your Deke!"

Colette blinked a few times. She knew her parents had been to the future back in their SHIELD days. Her father had even grudgingly admitted he'd already accepted she would be marrying Owen even before he'd met the man. It had been his explanation for why he didn't actually need to spend time with the 'space cowboy.' There had been many air quotes.

And they'd left out a lot of details in their adventures to the future, more so than any others. Colette had always assumed it was because they didn't want to influence their decisions either way.

"Shit." Deke's forehead hit the table. Colette reached forward slowly, patted his head.

Melinda huffed, "I always knew Lettie was your favorite."

"Well," Deke sighed, head popping up, "She's kinda my mom, Mel." Colette snorted. He raised a brow, "That funny to you?"

"I named you after yourself."

The three sat there a moment and then the sisters burst out laughing. They paused twice, both times bursting into giggles once they looked at Deke again.

"I'm just going to go hang with some way cooler people now." Deke grabbed the bag of baby oranges and then stalked off towards fit.

"Oh! Oranges! My favorite!" Little Deke's exclamation brought a whole new round of laughter that drew Jemma back from the grill.

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