Hey guys! Sorry for the long delay! I hope everyone had a happy holiday and are enjoying themselves!

Thank you so much for reading and as always, I own nothing (I wish I did) and all mistakes are my own xx

Skye was kneeling down in front of Wanda, who was sitting on the couch, talking to the little baby that was living inside her sister's tummy and ignoring everything else. Her family was talking animatedly and loudly since their parents and Natasha were in the kitchen getting dinner ready while everyone else was in the living room. That didn't stop the conversation from flowing freely and the sounds of everyone's laughter and voices brought a smile to Skye's face. She liked it when her family was all together.

Pietro and Trip were laughing and making fun of each other while Wanda was trying to run interference between them but Skye kept her hands on her oldest sister's belly to keep her from moving around too much.

Leaning in close, she whispered, "I can't wait to see you, little baby. I can teach you a lot of things and we can play together. I'll keep you safe and happy, I promise."

She had loved Wanda's baby ever since her oldest sister had sat her down and told her that she was going to be an aunt. At first she had giggled because she had always thought that aunts were supposed to be all grown up but when Wanda had told her that her little baby would be Skye's niece or nephew, Skye had gone quiet, stared at her sister's flat tummy and tried to imagine a baby in there, and then smiled widely.

She was happy, sometimes whenever she thought about the baby she thought that she was going to explode with happiness, because Wanda was going to be an awesome mom, her parents were going to be grandparents, and she was going to be an aunt. Even though this baby wasn't really hers, she felt a responsibility towards it. She knew that Wanda was going to make sure the baby was happy and healthy and amazing, but Skye was determined to be there for him or her. She wanted to make sure that the baby knew that he or she was loved and important and special and she had already started with that.

Trip had told her that the baby couldn't understand her but Wanda had gently told her that if she wanted to talk to the baby then she should, that the baby might hear her voice and start to recognize it or be soothed by the sounds, so she always talked to the baby. Sometimes she just told the baby about her day, sometimes she read it a story or made up stories of her own, and sometimes she just told the baby how much she loved it, how excited she was to meet him or her, and how lucky it was to be born into this amazing family.

She was about to tell the baby about Raina when Wanda made a move to stand up. Skye gently pushed her back down against the cushions and gave her a questioning look. Her sister grinned at her, "I'm going to get some water, I'll be right back."

Skye immediately stood up and waved her sister off, "I'll get it for you."

Wanda gave her a look, "I can get it, little monkey, it's okay. I'm just pregnant, not broken."

She knew that Wanda could do this for herself but Skye wanted to help her out. She wanted to take care of her and the baby and she was going to do everything she could to make both of them as comfortable as possible, "I know but I'll still get it for you. Be right back!"

After running into the kitchen, she zigzagged around Nattie, her mom, and her dad towards the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, and was about to make her way back into the living room when her mom stopped her, "Skye? Will you go tell Raina that dinner's almost ready?"

She nodded and gave her mom a smile before running back to Wanda. She handed her sister the water and crouched down to tell the baby that she would be right back before making her way upstairs towards Raina's room.

The door was shut so Skye knocked on the door three times and waited for Raina to say, "Come in," before pushing the door open and stepping inside.

Raina was lying on her tummy, reading a book, and looked up as Skye made her way to her. Skye hopped onto the bed and turned to Raina, "Mom says that dinner's almost ready."

The other girl marked her page and sat up, "I'm not that hungry."

Skye studied her carefully, "Are you sure?"

Raina nodded and stared at the cover of her book, "Yeah, I'm actually pretty tired. I think I'll just go to bed."

Skye kind of thought that Raina just didn't want to be surrounded by everyone downstairs and she could sort of understand that. Her family could be overwhelming and they were all so close that it was sometimes difficult for outsiders to feel included around them. It had even taken Wanda's husband a little while to find his footing with all of them.

She scooted closer to Raina, "Wanda and Pietro are really nice, I think you'd like them and I know they'd like you."

Raina stared intensely at her hands, "I dunno, I think I just want to stay up here."

Skye nodded. She didn't want to push Raina too hard, "Okay, I'll tell mom."

She stood up and when she got to the door, she looked back, "There are a lot of books in my room if you want to borrow some."

Raina looked at her and after a few seconds, gave her a tentative smile, "Thanks."

Skye smiled back at her, "No problem." And with that, she rushed back downstairs.

She didn't even realize that Wanda's husband had finally arrived until a deep voice caused her to look up, "There's my favorite twelve year old!"

Squealing excitedly, the sprinted down the rest of the stairs and launched herself into the outstretched arms waiting for her, "Connor!"

He hugged her tight before she stepped back, grinned up at him, and stuck her hand out so that they could do their super secret handshake. They finished their handshake and he ruffled her hair, "What've you been up to?"

She playfully pushed his hand away from her, "Nothing much. Did Anabelle have her babies yet?"

Connor sat down next to Wanda and Skye squeezed her way in between them, "She had them today, that's why I'm a little late."

Skye wiggled around excitedly and looked hopefully up at them, "Can I see them?"

Connor ran an animal sanctuary, called Morning Star Sanctuary, and helped all sorts of animals. There were mostly cats and dogs, some horses and bunnies, two goats, and even an iguana. He kept the animals safe and happy until they could find them a nice home and if the animals were deemed "undesirable" by prospective Forever Families, Morning Star Sanctuary kept them and loved them for the rest of their lives. That was Skye's favorite part about the sanctuary. It made her happy to know that every animal, even if they were sick or ugly or didn't fit in, would have a forever home there.

Anabelle was the basset hound that had been brought in a couple weeks ago. She had been found tied to a fence, underfed and malnourished. Connor had nursed her back to health and Skye had helped. She was excited to meet Anabelle's puppies.

Wanda wrapped an arm around her shoulders and Skye leaned into her but kept her eyes on Connor. He leaned towards her, "Well, why don't we give it a couple days and then you can come see her and her puppies."

Skye deflated a little but nodded, "Okay."

Connor pulled his phone out of his pocket and said, "I took a picture of them for you. Wanna see?"

"Yes!"

Connor showed her his phone screen and she cooed at the picture of six tiny, tiny, wrinkly puppies, "They're so tiny and ugly! I love them!"

Wanda laughed and Connor handed her his phone so that she could get a closer look, "They're eyes are closed."

"Yeah, their eyes won't open for about a week or two."

Skye handed him his phone back, "But Anabelle will take care of them, right?" It would be scary to not be able to see anything. She hoped that Anabelle would make sure that they were safe.

"Of course Anabelle will take care of them! She's a great mom and she loves her puppies a lot."

Skye smiled brightly and reached over to rest a hand on Wanda's tummy.

Her dad called them in from the kitchen, "Dinner's ready!"

She hopped up and gently led Wanda into the dining room. She pulled the chair out for her oldest sister, made sure she was settled, and then walked into the kitchen where her mom was cutting up some garlic bread, "Hey mom?"

"Yeah?"

She quickly grabbed a slice of the bread and shoved it into her mouth before her mom could stop her. May gave her an exasperated look but smiled and Skye talked around the food, "Raina said that she wasn't hungry."

Her mom stopped cutting the bread and looked towards the staircase, "Maybe I should go check on her. I hope she's not getting sick…"

Skye tugged on her mom's sleeve and leaned in close so no one would accidentally overhear her, "She's not sick, I just think she's a little overwhelmed. Our family is a little nuts."

"While that's true, I'm still worried. I think I'll go check on her." Her mom set down the bread knife and stepped away from the counter.

Skye stopped her, "She's fine mom. I'll bring her a plate just in case she's hungry."

For some reason, Skye didn't think that Raina would appreciate May fussing over her so she hoped that the other girl didn't mind that she was going back up there rather than her mom. She also didn't really want Raina to feel alone.

She started to get a plate ready for Raina when she looked back over to her mom, "Can I eat with her? You know, so she won't be alone?"

May considered it for a minute before handing her another plate, "Make sure to bring your dishes downstairs when you're done, okay?"

Skye grinned, piled some food onto the two plates, and pressed a kiss to her mom's cheek before carefully making her way towards Raina's room. When she saw that the door was partially open, she let out a relieved breath and kicked the door open a little more so that she could slip through without spilling anything on the floor.

Raina had moved from the bed to the floor and was currently sprawled out. She was reading the same book as before but Skye noted that there was a stack of books sitting next to her that Skye knew came from her bookshelf.

Raina gave her a questioning look but Skye didn't say anything until she set the two plates down onto the ground and sat down across from the other girl, "I brought food."

Raina glanced at the plate sitting in front of her and then looked back to her, "I said I wasn't hungry."

Skye shrugged and stabbed a piece of lasagna before shoving it into her mouth, "That was twenty whole minutes ago. I didn't know if you were hungry now so I brought some food just in case."

Raina stuck up her nose and went back to her book, "Well, I'm not."

Shrugging again, Skye bit off a piece of garlic bread before reaching over to grab one of the books from Raina's pile.

It was quiet while Raina read and Skye ate and flipped through one of her old Nancy Drew books. Skye kept periodically glancing up at Raina to make sure that she was alright but the other girl seemed to be wholeheartedly focusing on her book.

About fifteen minutes passed before Skye glanced up again and saw that Raina was nibbling on her piece of garlic bread. She looked away before Raina noticed her and hid her smile behind her book.

Maybe Raina wasn't sure if she wanted to be friends but Skye didn't think that the other girl was too bad, she actually really liked her despite her tough exterior, so she wasn't going to give Raina much of a choice. She was going to be her friend whether she liked it or not.

So, I thought about making Vision Wanda's husband but I know next to nothing about him and I haven't seen enough of him to have any sort of attachment to his character (hopefully that'll change in Civil War!) so Connor is just a character that I came up with. I'll describe him a little more in the next chapter just so you get to know him a little better but also, how cute is Skye with pregnant Wanda? I love how protective she is over the baby :)

Thank you so much for reading and sorry about the super long update delay! I hope everyone had a nice holiday! xx -Ariel