Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya. Thanks for being understanding for why I didn't update yesterday. It was such a long few days, but my older sister is now married! Woo! We're all super glad that it was so nice outside all day because her reception was outside and it would have sucked if it started raining or something. But it was a lot of fun. And I'm super happy for her. :)

Guys! This is chapter 22. The last chapter will be 32. We only have ten chapters left of this story. Holy crap.

Tamara: Thank you so much. :)

Guest: Thank you, I'm glad you like the idea. Probably won't be doing any flashbacks within the story, though I do have a small flashback one-shot that I'm working on, but it's far from finished. Do you mean why don't they call her 'Daisy'? I just didn't think it was all that necessary for this story. I didn't really like how they did that on the show without really any explanation at all. I mean, I get that that is who the character is, but I fell in love with her while she was Skye, that's the character I love, so that's who she's always going to be to me. Basically, she confronted him after she saw him again after so long, and they argued, and one thing led to another, and boom. It makes me sad too that she's missing so much time. But not for much longer. :) A lot of people think she should have left a long time ago too. Thank you for your thoughts. Much appreciated. :)

And now, the chapter. Enjoy!

*July*

Hearing a knock at the front door, Skye makes her way through the house from the kitchen, picking up the remote to the television and shutting it off as she goes.

Pulling the door open, she smiles when she sees Hunter, Bobbi, and Mack standing on the other side, "Hey guys. Come on in," she opens the door wider, allowing them to step inside. "How was the ride down?"

"It was alright," Bobbi tells her as she, Hunter, and Mack step inside the house.

"Aunt Bobbi!"

Bobbi turns her head to see Jessica running at full speed towards her through the house, colliding with her legs as she hugs her. Bobbi smiles and bends down to pick the little girl up and hug her back. "Hi Jess," she settles the girl on her hip. "Happy Fourth."

"Happy Fourf," Jessica smiles. "We're havin a fiesta."

"Sí, lo sé," Bobbi smiles. "That's why Uncle Lance and I are here. Are you ready to watch some fireworks tonight?"

"Yeah," Jessica nods. "Gonna be lots of colores."

"Fireworks do have a lot of colors," Bobbi smiles and nods. "And they all look really cool too, huh?"

Jessica nods, "Yeah."

"Hey Jess," Skye speaks up, stepping forward to take Jessica from Bobbi's arms. "There's somebody mommy wants you to meet."

"¿Quien?" Jessica asks, wrapping her arms around Skye's neck.

"His name is Mack," Skye explains. "I work with him." She moves over towards the tall muscular man standing against the door, "Jessica, this is Mack. Mack, this is Jessica."

"Nice to meet you, kiddo," Mack gives her a smile. "You look just like your mom, did you know that?"

Jessica nods, "Daddy says that lots."

"Well he's a very smart man," Mack says.

"I love my daddy," Jessica smiles.

"And daddy loves you too," Skye tells her daughter, pressing a kiss to her temple. She takes a deep breath, "Alright, angel, why don't you take Uncle Lance, Aunt Bobbi, and Mack outside and show them your pool that daddy just bought you."

Jessica smiles, "Kay."

"You can't get in it though because it's not time for swimming," she tells her daughter as she passes her off to Bobbi. She looks at Bobbi, "Please make sure she doesn't try and get in."

Bobbi nods, "Will do."

"Great, thanks. I just have a few things to finish up in here and then I'll come outside and join you guys. The party doesn't start for a few more hours so people probably won't start arriving for a little while."

"Sounds good," Bobbi smiles. "We'll just be outside, then." She turns around and makes her way into the backyard, Hunter and Mack following right behind her.

...

"Mamá," Jessica speaks up as she toddles through the grass towards Skye.

"Hi, angel," Skye smiles down at her daughter, running a hand through the little girls' long hair.

"Mamá, where Auntie Kara?"

"She's not here yet, baby," Skye tells the little girl. "But she should be here very soon. She texted me a little while ago and said that she's on her way."

"Hello?"

"Auntie Kara!" Jessica shouts, running over to the back door to greet Kara.

Kara smiles when she sees Jessica, "Hello my little ladybug." She bends down and picks the girl up, setting her on her hip as she presses a kiss to her cheek. "Oh I've missed you."

"Yo también," Jessica smiles.

"Jessie, there's somebody I want you to meet." She reaches back and grabs the hand of the tall blonde man standing behind her and gently tugs him forward so he's standing next to her. "Jess, this is my boyfriend Ben. Ben, this is my goddaughter Jessica."

"Hi there," Ben smiles at Jessica.

"Hola," Jessica says.

"Kara, hey," Skye greets her friend with a smile as she approaches her, Grant following right behind her. She pulls Kara into a hug, "So glad you finally made it."

"Me too," Kara smiles at Skye when they break apart from their hug. "Oh, Skye, Grant, I'd like you both to meet my boyfriend Ben. Ben, this is Skye and her husband Grant, Jessica's parents."

"So nice to finally meet you," Skye smiles at Ben.

"You as well," Ben smiles kindly at her with a small nod of his head. "Kara's told me a lot about you guys."

"Only good things, I hope," Skye glares playfully at her friend.

Ben chuckles, "Not a single bad word was uttered about either of you."

"That's nice to know," Grant says.

"Now come on," Skye speaks up, "there's a party going on out here and Kara needs to introduce you to some more of the great people here," she smiles at Ben. She turns towards her daughter and reaches out to take her from Kara, "Come on, angel. Let's go find Ian and see what he's up to right now."

"Ian!" Jessica smiles.

Skye laughs quietly and then turns around, making her way out into the yard, Grant right behind her with a hand resting on her lower back.

"So what do you think of them?" Kara asks Ben once Grant and Skye are out of earshot.

"They're nice people," he says. "And their daughter is adorable."

"Yes she is," Kara smiles and nods. "She's their entire world."

"I can see why," Ben smiles. "And did she say something in Spanish earlier?"

Kara nods, "Yeah, but that was nothing. You should hear her when she really gets going in Spanish, it's pretty amazing. Grant's been talking to her in Spanish before she was even born so she's been learning both English and Spanish as she grows up."

"Wow, impressive," Ben nods.

"I think so too," Kara smiles. "And it's fun getting to talk to her in Spanish. When she's really excited sometimes she'll usually repeat what she said in English in Spanish. And when she's really tired or first wakes up in the morning her default language is Spanish which I think is just beyond adorable. You think it would be English, but nope, it's Spanish."

"That sounds very cute," Ben smiles. "Now come on, I think Skye said something about you having to introduce me to more people."

Kara smiles, "Yes she did." She grabs his hand in hers and starts pulling him across the yard, "Let's go."

...

"It's almost time for the fireworks to start, where's Jess?" Skye asks her husband from their spots sitting in lounge chairs in their backyard, both pairs of eyes scanning the yard for the two year old.

Grant shakes his head with furrowed brows, "I'm not sure. I don't see her."

"Did we seriously lose our child in our own backyard?" Skye questions. "Because that might be considered either very pathetic or just really bad parenting."

"It's not bad parenting," Grant tells her, turning his head to look at her. "It's not like she could have even gotten that far, someone would have stopped her. I'm sure she'll pop up at some point during the night before everyone leaves and then you'll see that—oh, look, there she is," he points to an area of the yard.

Skye turns her head to see Ben walking towards them with Jessica clinging to his back.

"There you are, Jessie," Skye says to her daughter. "Daddy and I were wondering where you ran off to."

"I was wif Ben," Jessica states.

"I can see that," Skye smiles. She looks up at the Ben, "I hope she didn't cause you too much trouble."

Ben waves her off, "She was perfectly fine. I have a few nieces and one of them is about a year older than Jess so it wasn't anything I'm not used to. But I figured you'd probably want her back considering the fireworks are going to start soon."

"You thought correct," Skye smiles and nods. "You ready to watch some fireworks, baby girl?" Skye asks her daughter.

Jessica nods, "¡Sí! Con Auntie Kara y Ben."

"I think you're mom and dad want you to sit with them for the fireworks show," Ben tells the little girl, turning his head to look at her.

Jessica shakes her head and clings tighter to Ben's back, "No. Yo no quiero."

Skye sighs and looks at Ben, "Do you mind letting her sit with you guys? I don't think she's going to let up on this anytime soon and I'd really rather her not throw a tantrum right now with everyone here."

Ben chuckles quietly, "I get it. And it's fine. We've already been having a lot of fun, haven't we?" he directs towards Jessica.

Jessica smiles, "Yeah."

"Well then I guess you two better continue your fun during the fireworks show," Skye smiles.

"Fair warning, though," Grant speaks up, "she may fall asleep before the show is over. If she does, I apologize ahead of time. And she can get very clingy when she's tired or on her way to falling asleep."

"Thanks," Ben smiles. "We should probably get back to Auntie Kara before the show starts."

"Auntie Kara," Jessica smiles. "Let's go, Ben," she kicks her legs against him. "¡Vamonos!"

"Alright, alright," Ben smiles. "We're going." He turns around and makes his way through the yard and over towards Kara.

Grant and Skye watch as Ben turns his back towards Kara, bending down slightly to deposit Jessica into her lap before taking up the seat next to her and draping an arm around her shoulders, letting her lean into him.

"They're pretty cute together," Skye muses as she watches the couple interact with her daughter, making the little girl laugh. "How long do you think it'll be before they have one of their own?"

"Skye…" Grant warns his wife.

She turns towards him, "What? It was an honest question, Grant."

"Maybe so," he nods. "But Ben and Kara haven't even been dating for a year. I don't think marriage is a conversation they're having quite yet, let alone thinking about kids."

"You and I weren't even dating when we found out about Jess. We'd never even talked about the possibility of something like that happening."

"Do you have some kind of point?" Grant asks. "Because our situation is nowhere close to Ben and Kara's. Or anyone else's, for that matter."

Skye sighs, "My point is, Ben is great with kids and they seem to really care about each other. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if they ended up engaged within the next year or so."

"Well I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happens."

"Yes we will," Skye nods once, leaning back in her chair and resting her head on Grant's shoulder as the first of the fireworks explodes in the night sky above them.

...

"Well I'd say that was a very successful Fourth of July party," Skye tells Grant as she carries a passed out Jessica inside the house.

"Yes it was," he nods. "Even though Jess fell asleep before the fireworks were even over, just like we thought she would. She was really looking forward to seeing the fireworks, so I'm glad she got to see some of it before she got tired. Want me to put her to bed?" he asks.

Skye shakes her head, "No, I got her. I'll put her to bed and then meet you in our room."

"Okay," he nods, dropping a kiss to her temple before making his way into their bedroom.

Skye goes into the room across from theirs and walks over to the changing table that they have yet to remove and lies Jessica down on top of it.

Jessica stirs for a moment and Skye quietly shushes her and then steps over to the dresser to grab a pair of pajamas for the child.

As carefully as she can, Skye removes her daughters' clothes and tosses them into the laundry hamper.

Then she grabs the pajamas and skillfully slides them onto the sleeping child, causing her to stir only a little.

When she's fully dressed, Skye lifts her daughter off of the changing table and carries her over to her bed, lying her down and tucking her blankets around her small body and making sure she has her ladybug doll.

"Mamá," Jessica mumbles as she shifts in her bed.

"Shh, baby girl," Skye kneels down next to the bed and moves some of Jessica's hair out of her face. "Go back to sleep."

She drops a kiss to Jessica's forehead and then stands up, shutting off the lights and closing the door as she makes her way out of the room.

"Baby girl is out cold," Skye tells her husband as she enters their bedroom. He's already lying in their bed, a book open in his lap. Skye moves towards the closet and changes out of her clothes into pajamas; a pair of shorts and a tank top.

She lets out a breath as she falls down onto the bed, "I don't want to go back to base tomorrow."

Grant turns his head to look at her, "We don't want you to go back either." He closes his book and sets it on the nightstand next to the bed, "But how about we make the time we have left tonight count for something." He smiles and leans down to press his lips against hers.

Skye smiles against his lips, "I think we can definitely do that."

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

*party
*Yes, I know
*colors
*Who?
*Me too
*With Auntie Kara and Ben

Also, still working on a special project for Brett, if you're interested, let me know. :)

Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!