Chapter 19: Calm Before The Storm

Notes- This is unbeta-ed any mistakes are my own. Feel free to point them out and I'll fix them ASAP. We are only a chapter or two away from some details about the 0-8-4 and Skye's past being revealed. I'm currently writing a lot further along like chapter 40 something and I want to get more edited and posted for you guys to read because things only get more complicated and I may need to up the ratings later because her past is getting darker than even I thought.

Grant's POV- Whereabouts: "Gramsy house"

He was abruptly awoken when Skye stretched like a kitten on top of him. Her little hand grazed the ticklish spot behind his ear. His eyes flew open and his body tried to jerk away from her touch, which was impossible because she was lying on top of him.

Skye shrieked, holding onto him so she wouldn't fall off the couch. "What's wrong?" She asked frowning, looking around for the cause of the disturbance.

"You tickled my neck, baby." He told her sheepishly, holding her in place on his chest.

Skye got a mischievous glint in her eyes, then suddenly launched forward with her little fingers outstretched towards his right ear.

He brought his shoulder up to his ear for a bit of protection. "Ahh Skye, stop it! That tickles." He begged, trying to protect himself from her ministrants.

"Super-spy is tickly!" She giggled in a sing song voice. She tickled the other side of his neck, which he hadn't noticed was vulnerable.

"Skye! Ah geez, your fingers are so boney." He complained, deciding it was time to level the playing field and get some of his dignity back. He tickled her ribs, putting her on the defence.

Skye squealed loud enough that Tommy and Gramsy came running into the room from the kitchen, thinking there was an intruder.

"Stop! St-top!" Skye squealed, giggling. "I won't tickle super-spy, I promise." She said, squirming to get away from his hands.

"You promise, huh?" He asked her, tickling her neck.

Skye squealed even louder. "I promise! Ahh, I promise!" She curled into a ball in his lap, trying to protect her ticklish spots.

"You were right, Thomas. Your brother is a softie." Gramsy laughed, watching the pair on the couch.

He spun around, almost dislodging Skye from his lap. "I am not a softie." He exclaimed, loudly. "Skye just tickled my ear, that's all. That doesn't make me soft." He insisted firmly, glaring at Tommy who was sniggering in the doorway behind Gramsy.

Tommy walked further into the lounge. "Right, whatever helps a super-spy sleep at night? I wouldn't tell anyone, cross my heart." He mocked, smirking.

"Thomas, everyone is ticklish, even spies. It's not unheard of. I'M NOT SOFT!" Grant shouted at his infuriating little brother.

"RIGHT, BECAUSE THE OLD GRANT LOVED SNUGGLING, STRAWBERRY JAM AND WATCHING THOMAS THE TANK ENGINE." Tommy yelled sarcastically, just as loud.

He was taken aback. Have I really changed that much? Well, obviously I've never watched Thomas the Tank…but come on, I can't have changed that much. He doubted.

"That's enough, boys." Gramsy told them sharply, walking over to where Skye was huddled up on the opposite end of the couch, hands over her ears. "You're scaring Skye." She informed them disapprovingly, picking Skye up and cuddling her close.

He'd been so focused on arguing with Tommy, he hadn't even noticed Skye move away from him. He felt awful for scaring her, it was his job to protect her. Not scare her, he should never scare her. The look on Tommy's face told him he felt equally horrible.

Gramsy rubbed Skye's back comfortingly. "Sort this out, you two. We'll be in the kitchen." She told them, walking out of the lounge leaving no room for further argument.

Skye didn't even look at him when Gramsy took her into the kitchen, just buried her little face into the crook of Gramsy's neck. Great, I'm supposed to be protecting her and now I've frightened her. He ran a hand over his face frustrated.

Thomas' POV

He felt horrible for frightening Skye and disagreeing with Grant. He sat down beside his now very stressed looking big brother. "You know, this is the Grant I remember. You were always so stressed and worried. I'm just not used to this more relaxed and easy going Grant." He confessed.

Grant's POV

"I guess I didn't realise how much I've changed. Well, until you pointed it out so un-tactfully." He mocked, glaring a little at his brother. He wasn't mad at Tommy, not really. He was just worried about the effect their argument had on Skye.

Tommy smiled. "No, I wasn't very tactful. But I like this more relaxed you. I think Skye's good for you. She lightens you up and makes you laugh." He told him, honestly.

"Sometimes… she's the only one that can make me laugh. It's her superpower." He smirked, thinking about all the times he'd tried to avoid showing any emotion at all and Skye had pestered him until his resolve crumbled.

"How about we go fix the damage we caused and make it up to Skye." Tommy suggested standing up, nodding towards the kitchen.

"Sounds like a plan, little brother." Grant sighed, hauling himself to his feet. "I just hope we didn't scare her too much, we were pretty loud." He admitted, worriedly.

"Skye love's you, you'll be fine." Tommy reasoned casually, like just because Skye loved him that meant everything would be fine.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, praying for strength. "There you go again with that bluntness. No tact, none at all. You have been in Australia too long. Skye loves us Tommy, don't forget that. Skye might not have known you or Gramsy very long but she wanted to drag your asses back home, where she knew you'd be safe. She's fiercely protective of those she loves. Skye protects her family." He explained.

Grant left Tommy standing stunned in the middle of the lounge room processing being the little girl's family. He realised his brother had never had anyone other than Gramsy and himself care about him. They'd certainly never had someone just decide they were worth being part of their family and just adopt them into it. Skye was special like that, she'd just decided that they were her family and that was that. Who was he to argue with her? Tommy certainly wouldn't, he already loved Skye nearly as much as he did.

Skye was sitting on top of the table with her feet dangling over the edge when he walked into the kitchen. She was munching on a choc chip cookie Gramsy must have given her to cheer her up.

"Looks like Gramsy has been spoiling you, Skye." He said, pretending not to notice Skye flinch at the sound of his voice.

Ok, he deserved that but it still hurt.

"Sorry about before, baby. Sometimes Tommy and I argue, we didn't mean to scare you." He apologised, sitting down in front of her so he was at her eye level.

Skye was avoiding eye contact with him, focusing instead on picking apart her cookie. "I won't tell nobody we tickle, or snuggle, or you like jam sammies. I promise." She choked out upset, little tears leaking from the corners of her eyes.

It never accrued to him that this was what Skye was upset about. He thought it was the argument and the shouting. She thought he mustn't like doing these things with her, that because they made him soft that they were a bad thing.

There's that word again. Soft. He thought, scathingly.

Skye's breathing was becoming erratic, the more upset she got. "Baby, I love doing all those things with you. I promise." He told her earnestly, trying to calm her down before she started to hyperventilate.

Skye lifted her tear stained face up to meet his eyes. "B-but you don't wike Tommy saying you soft! B-but snuggles hab to be soft! Th-they just hab to be!" She spluttered, hysterically.

He reached for her, wanting desperately to reassure her. Skye scrambled back on the table away from him. "T-tommy said you soft and you no wike it. So you no wike snuggles, or tickles, or jam sammies." She insisted, clearly hurt by this.

He looked at Gramsy for help, not sure how to fix this. Before Gramsy could offer him any kind of advice, Skye scrambled off the other side of the table and ran past Tommy who was standing motionless in the doorway.

He jumped up to follow her so quickly he nearly knocked his chair over. "Grant, let her calm down first. Work out how you're going to fix this, before you go after her or you'll make it worse." Gramsy advised him.

"I can't just let her run off! She's upset!" He snapped, losing his cool.

"Skye only crawled upstairs, Grant." Tommy told him calmly, eyes on the stairs from his position in the doorway.

Gramsy ignored her grandson's petulance. "Honey, just let Skye calm down. She's over tired and emotional. She's just too little to understand conflict like we do." Gramsy told him.

He just paced the kitchen restlessly in response. "Why don't I stick my head in upstairs and see if she's calmed enough to talk to yet?" Gramsy suggested, leaving them in the kitchen.

Thomas' POV

He made no move into the room, not because he was scared his brother would lash out at him. Grant wasn't Christian. Grant would never do that, he stayed where he was because he wanted to give his brother his space to sort himself out.

The tension in the kitchen could be cut with a butter knife. "Grant, I think I'm the one that needs to fix this. Then you can reassure Skye that you do like snuggles and stuff." He suggested quietly, glancing at his brother. He lifted his head up towards the stairs; he could hear Gramsy coming back down.

He got no verbal response, Grant just kept pacing. Thomas knew he was listening. Grant was just focused on sorting out what he would say to Skye but his body language told him he was listening and understood what he was saying even if he didn't acknowledge it verbally.

"It's my fault Skye thinks you don't like doing those things with her so I need to fix this." Grant still didn't say anything; he only stopped pacing when Gramsy came back into the room.

Grant's POV

He met Gramsy's eyes, worriedly. "Is she ok?" He asked her, desperate for any indication of how badly he'd screwed this up.

"Skye's calmer. I think she's worn herself out." Gramsy told him. She sighed, moving to get items out of the fridge. "I'm going to get started on dinner." She told them.

"I'll fix this Grant. I'll send Skye down to you when I have." Tommy said, disappearing upstairs without waiting for a response.

He didn't even have the energy to argue with Tommy, he just slumped down in the closest chair to wait for Skye's return.

Gramsy's POV

She had watched Grant look constantly at the doorway for a good ten minute before she spoke up. "Grant, Thomas will fix this." She insisted. "He knows he shouldn't have said those things in front of Skye. He's just worried that he's missing being a part of your life with all the changes he sees in you." She explained, peeling some potatoes.

Her boys had always been close, as children you couldn't find them apart. If you wanted to find one, he'd be with the other. Being apart from each other seems to have made her youngest Grandson doubt their bond and worry he's losing his big brother.

She remembered the few times she had panicked finding Thomas' bed abandoned, only to discover him curled up in the protective embrace of his big brother after a nightmare. Thomas would only have to be on the verge of distress and Grant would appear out of thin air at his side like he had a sixth sense.

Thomas needs to have some faith. She knew for certain no time apart could fray eithers brotherly bond, they were too protective of each other for that to happen. They only needed to be reminded of this, she had a feeling little Skye was going to bring her boys back together.

Grant's POV

He took his eyes off the doorway to look over at Gramsy. "I miss him too. I didn't realise that I was changing this much." He admitted, returning his gaze back to the doorway.

"All the things Thomas talked about are good things. He's just adjusting to them, he sees what a big change having Skye in your life is and he wants to be a part of it with you." Gramsy told him, placing some veggies in a pot.

"I want Tommy to be a part of my life too. I just don't know how to make that work with S.H.I.E.L.D." He confessed, sighing heavily.

Truth was he didn't want his little brother to get caught up in his line of work, he feared he'd get hurt or worse. The distance he'd maintained over the years was necessary to protect the people he cared about. It just seemed that distance was doing more harm than good. Tommy was scared of losing him. He didn't know how to reassure his little brother he wasn't, without putting him in harm's way.

"I don't know what I'm gunna do with the two of you." Gramsy sighed.

He was out of his chair in a flash, scooping Skye up as soon as she appeared in the doorway. "I'm so sorry, baby." He apologised, holding her as close as he could. "I really do love snuggles, and jam sandwiches, and pancakes, and watching Thomas the Tank with you. Not so much the tickling." He admitted rambling, in case she pulled away from him again.

"Don't ever think I don't like doing these things with you because you're the only one I like being soft with. I love you." He admitted, anxiously. He refused to let her go in case she ran again.

"Grant, she can't breathe." Tommy said, leaning casually against the doorframe smirking.

"Oh, right, sorry baby." He let her go just enough for her to lean back and look up at him.

Skye smiled, and then leant towards his ear. "Tommy told me your secret." She whispered, eyes flicking towards Tommy who nodded encouraging her to continue.

"What secret might that be, baby?" He asked curiously, eyes also flicking to Tommy before returning back to Skye.

"That you have a superpower, just like mine." She told him matter-of-factly. "Your superpower is to be soft…but only wif me because you love me." She grinned. "I had to promise Tommy not to tell anyone about you being ticklish in case the bad guys use it against you." She explained, seriously.

He chuckled, he couldn't help himself just the thought of being tickled by HYDRA was hysterical. "We can't have bad guys tickling me, now can we?" He smirked at her innocence. "That's right, baby. My superpower is only to be soft with you because I love you." He acknowledged, feeling a weight lift off his chest.

It's easy to say now I've admitted it to myself. He thought, hugging Skye a little closer to him.

He pulled back a little but didn't let her go. "What else did Thomas tell you?" He asked suspiciously, eyes flicking to his brother.

Tommy pushed himself off the doorframe calmly and walked past them to the table taking a seat. "If we told you that, we'd have to kill you. Skye kinda loves you. So it'll have to be our secret, wont it Skye." He said, putting his finger to his lips.

"Yep cause we'd hab to kill you, if we told you and I don't wanna cause I love you." Skye told him, nodded vigorously in agreement while putting her own finger to her lips.

"Well then, I'm glad you love me. I can't have you killing me." He joked standing up, lifting Skye up into his arms.

He walked around the table, placing Skye down in the seat opposite Tommy. He sat down at the head of the table. He waited till Skye was distracted watching Gramsy dish up their dinner before he spoke. "I want to know what else you told her later." He insisted in a low voice.

"How do you know I told her anything else?" Tommy whispered back.

"I'm not just a specialist, trained to detect lies. I'm also your big brother, who knows you better than anyone else. I can tell when you're not saying something." Grant told him seriously, leaning back in his chair as Gramsy placed their dinner down on the table.

Tommy gave a curt nod and started eating his dinner in silence.

His little brother was keeping something from him, he could tell. His big brother alarm was going off. He just had to figure out if it was a good something or a bad something. His brother had a habit of getting himself into trouble.