Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! We're getting into the home stretch here, this story is so close to being over. I really don't think I'm ready for that.
Something kinda happens in this chapter that I think a lot of you were hoping for. It may not be exactly what you were expecting, but it's definitely something. :)
Guest: I know, it's crazy. I'm excited about the idea too. :) Don't worry, she will be ending it soon.
Guest: Yes, she did. But not an entire year, just parts.
Enjoy!
*April*
"Nice job today," Bobbi says to Skye as the two women walk over to one of the benches in the gym to grab their towels.
"You too," Skye says back. She picks up her water bottle and twists the cap off, lifting it to her lips to take a large swig. "I especially like that one move you did near the end. You're going to have to show me how to do that."
"Just let me know when," Bobbi smiles.
Skye's phone goes off from its spot on the bench, pulling her attention to it. She reaches down for it, unlocking it to find an incoming video call within the shell program. She opens it up, Grant and Jessica's faces quickly filling up the screen.
"¡Mamá!" Jessica shouts through the screen, leaning closer to the phone.
"Hi, angel," Skye smiles. "Look who else is here," she turns her phone so Jessica can see Bobbi.
"Aunt Bobbi!" Jessica smiles.
"Hey kiddo," Bobbi smiles at the young girl. "What are you up to?"
"I wanna show mamá my 'Panish," Jessica replies.
"Even though you've already heard her speaking in Spanish numerous times at the house," Grant says. "She pretty much begged me to call you so she could show you some new phrases we've been working on especially for you."
"Well I'm all ears," Skye smiles. "Show me what you know, baby girl."
"Listo, papá," Jessica glances back at her Grant.
"Alright," Grant nods. "Hello mom, I love you so much and I miss you."
Jessica leans towards the screen and smiles, "Hola mamá. Te amo mucho y te extraño."
"Muy bien," Grant smiles at his daughter. "Now say, 'I have the best mom in the whole entire world."
"Tengo la mejor mamá en el mundo entero."
"My mom and dad gave me the best family in the entire world."
"Mi mamá y papá me dio la mejor familia en todo el mundo."
"My family is sometimes crazy, but I love them."
"Mi familia es a veces loca, pero los amo." Jessica leans forward and smiles, "¡Mamá! What you think?"
"I think you did an excellent job," Skye smiles. "You are getting really good at your Spanish, Jessie. Pretty soon you'll be just as good as your daddy is."
"Gracias," Jessica smiles. "Then I gonna learn 'Talian."
"I told her that once she gets good enough at Spanish I'll start teaching her Italian," Grant tells his wife.
"I think that's a great idea," Skye smiles.
"Me too," Bobbi pipes up. "There can be a lot of benefits to her growing up multilingual. I kind of wish I hadn't waited until I was an adult to start learning so many languages."
"I wish I knew more than just English and CS," Skye says. "I mean, I can kind of understand a few things in Spanish because of those two, but languages aren't really my thing."
"Well then I guess Jessie takes after me in that sense," Grant smiles.
"And I couldn't be more proud," Skye smiles at her daughter. "I love you so much, baby girl."
Jessica smiles, "También te amo."
"Well we're going to go now," Grant says. "Jess just really wanted to show you how well she's doing."
"I'll see you guys next month," Skye smiles. "I love you both."
"Yo también te quiero, mamá," Jessica smiles.
Skye blows a kiss at the screen before ending the call and locking her phone again.
*May*
You're still coming by so you can meet the preschool teachers tomorrow, right?
Yeah, I'm actually on my way out right now. And I'm really looking forward to this meeting.
I think you're going to really like this place, Skye. They don't normally do showings at this time of the year, but I managed to convince them to make a small exception for you.
Did you use your super charm on them?
Something like that.
"Skye."
Looking up from her phone, Skye sees Coulson approaching her in the hallway. "Hey Coulson, what's up?" she hikes her bag higher up on her shoulder, sliding her phone into her back pocket.
"Where are you off to?" he asks her.
"Just to visit my friend," she replies without hesitation.
"The same friend you've been visiting for a few days every few months, right?"
"That's the one," she smiles tightly. "He's been going through a really tough time lately."
"I see. And how long are you going to be gone this time around?"
"Just a couple of days," Skye tells him.
Coulson nods, "Alright. Well I guess I'll see you when you get back then."
"Yep," Skye nods and then turns to continue her way down the hallway towards the garage.
Once she reaches an SUV and climbs inside, she pulls her phone back out to send a message to Bobbi through the shell program Coulson just caught me on my way out and asked me if I was going to visit my friend. I think he's starting to get suspicious again.
A few minutes later she gets a reply Yeah. He came to me and Hunter earlier and asked us if there was anything suspicious when he had us tail you two years ago that we forgot to tell him about.
And what did you say?
Exactly what we told him before. That you were just visiting your friend.
Okay. Good.
But I think he might try and follow you himself today when you go out.
What?!
I know, I know. So you might want to take some precautions so he doesn't see Grant or Jessica.
Right, yeah. And thanks for the heads up.
No problem. Tell Jessie we say hey and give her some big kisses from us.
I will.
Tossing her phone into the passenger seat, Skye glances out the rearview mirror and spots Coulson lingering around the garage, trying to make himself look busy. Sighing and shaking her head, she turns over the engine and shifts the car into drive, pulling out of the garage and onto the street.
Once she's driven for a few minutes, she reaches over into the passenger seat and grabs her phone, quickly unlocking it and going into the shell program. She finds Grant's number and hits the call button, tapping the speaker button and setting the device in her lap.
"Hello?" his voice comes through the speakers.
"Hey, babe, so we may have a slight problem."
"You're still coming by, right?"
"Yeah, that's not the problem. I think Coulson might be following me right now because he's suspicious of where I'm going."
"Didn't he have Hunter and Bobbi tail you?"
"That was two years ago, Grant. Now I'm not sure if he actually is following me, but if that's the case, then I can't come straight to the house and you and Jess can't greet me at the door. I don't want him finding out like this."
"What do you want to do then?"
She lets out a breath, "Well, I told him that I'm visiting a friend. So I can either stop by Kendra's place or Kara's place."
"Go by Kara's," he tells her after a quick moment. "I think Ben's there so I'll call Kara and ask her to have him answer the door. Even though it's been a few years, Coulson's seen Kara's face and it's possible he'll recognize her. You can stay there and if Coulson isn't actually tailing you, then you can come by the house."
"And what if he is? I won't be able to get to our place without him seeing me."
"Just sneak across through all the backyards."
"Won't that be a little suspicious to the people who live in the three houses between ours and Kara's?"
"Maybe. But do you have a better idea?"
Skye sighs, "No, I really don't. And what do you suggest we do about the preschool visit? There's no way we could get out without him seeing us."
"We'll worry about that later. It's not until tomorrow, so we still have a little bit of time to figure something out."
"Yeah, okay. I love you."
"I love you too. See you in a bit."
"Yeah, see you." She reaches down and ends the call, focusing all of her attention back on the road in front of her.
...
Pulling into the driveway in front of Kara's house, Skye shifts the car into park and turns off the engine. She glances through the rear view mirror, trying to locate the car Coulson was tailing her in. She spots it about three houses down, parked along the curb on the opposite side of the street.
Letting out a sigh, she grabs her duffel bag out of the passenger seat and climbs out of the car, shutting the door behind her. Hiking the bag up onto her shoulder she makes her way up to the house.
When she reaches the front door, she lifts a fist and knocks on the door then waits for it to open.
She smiles when the door opens and she sees Ben standing on the other side, "Hey, Ben."
"Hey," he smiles back. "Care to tell me why you showed up here instead of at your place? Grant didn't really say much on the phone, and Kara didn't say anything either, just that you'd be coming over."
Skye bites her lip, "I'll explain inside. But first give me one of those hugs that I love so much."
Ben chuckles and steps forward to pull her into a hug. Skye smiles and hugs him back tightly.
When they pull away, Ben takes Skye's duffel from her and steps back to allow her inside the house, closing the door behind her.
Skye smiles gratefully and steps inside the house, immediately being bombarded by a small figure against her legs.
Looking down, Skye smiles when she sees Jessica smiling up at her, her tiny arms wound tightly around her legs.
"Hi angel," Skye bends down to lift the girl into her arms, planting kisses all over her face.
"Missed you, mamá," Jessica wraps her arms around Skye's neck in a hug.
Skye hugs her back, "I missed you too, baby girl."
"What about me? Was I missed too?"
Skye looks over to see Grant approaching her and she smiles, stepping towards him. "Well I think that all depends," she tells him.
"Oh really? On what?"
"On whether or not you missed me too," she smiles.
Grant smiles back, reaching out to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her close, dipping his head to capture her lips.
Skye smiles when they pull out of the kiss, "I don't think I'll ever get tired of being greeted like that."
"Good," Grant smiles. "Because it's never going to stop."
"Mamá," Jessica speaks up, placing one hand on Skye's cheek to get her attention.
"Yeah, baby girl?"
"Wanna play?"
"In a little bit, Jessie," Grant says to his daughter. "Mamá's still a little tired from her drive over here."
"Okay," Jessica nods and then slides down out of Skye's arms and onto the floor, going back over to where her toys are.
Grant grabs Skye's hand in his, linking their fingers together, and smiles at her, "It's so great having you home again."
"It feels great to be back," she tells him with a smile.
Grant gently tugs on her hand to guide her over to the couch, sitting down on it and pulling her down next to him. Skye smiles and leans into his side, resting her head on his shoulder.
"Alright," Ben speaks up, all of his attention on Skye as he sits down on the couch opposite her, "do you want to explain now why you had to come to Kara's place first instead of your own house? Grant didn't really say much on the phone and Kara hasn't said anything to me either. I really don't like feeling like I'm somehow out of the loop."
Skye looks at Grant and then Kara, both of them giving her a small nod of their heads. She turns back to Ben and takes a deep breath, "I was being followed."
Ben's eyebrows shoot up, "You were being followed?"
Skye nods, "Yeah."
"Well call the cops. Who was it that followed you?"
"My boss."
Ben raises his eyebrows, "Your boss? Are you serious?"
"Very. Ben, have you ever heard of SHIELD?"
Ben thinks for a moment, "Um, the name sounds kind of familiar. I'm pretty sure I've heard it somewhere."
She gives a sharp nod, "Right, well, I work for SHIELD. And Grant and Kara both used to."
Ben looks around at the other three adults in the room. "You all work for SHIELD?"
"Used to," Kara cuts in. "Grant and I don't work for them anymore. We haven't for a few years now."
"Some pretty serious things happened in the past and so Grant and Kara both walked away from that life," Skye explains to Ben. "But almost everyone I work with still has a pretty big grudge against Grant because of what happened. And since we weren't together at the time, and I pretty much hated his guts, I stayed back with SHIELD."
She takes a deep breath, "But then after a while we were pretty much forced to work with Grant on a mission. I hadn't seen him in what felt like a really long time so when I did see him again, all of these feelings I had for him came springing back, no matter how hard I tried to push it all down. When we first started fooling around it was just supposed to be a way to relieve the stress that came with the job, nothing more." She grabs Grant's hand in hers and smiles at him, "But then I got pregnant with Jess and everything changed for the better."
She looks back at Ben, "I decided I didn't want her around anything involving SHIELD. No one at SHIELD knows that Grant and I are together or that we have a daughter. If they did, well, it wouldn't be the best day. Although, when I say no one, I mean no one except for Bobbi, Hunter, and Mack."
"They're SHIELD too?" Ben asks.
Skye nods, "Yeah. They weren't supposed to find out about any of this, but Coulson, our boss, had Bobbi and Hunter tail me because I was always leaving the base and he got concerned. The day he had them tail me just so happened to be Jessica's first birthday party. It wouldn't have done any good to do deny it after that. But we swore them both to secrecy and they've never told anyone.
"And Mack found out because Hunter might actually be the worst at checking his surroundings before talking. Mack was in the room when Hunter mentioned Jess so of course he had questions. And he's my partner at SHIELD, we work together a lot, so I've already felt bad lying to him. He promised to keep Grant and Jess a secret for me too.
"But apparently Coulson is still concerned about me so he decided to tail me himself today. And thank goodness for Bobbi and Hunter, because if they hadn't told me what was going on, I wouldn't have been able to make sure he didn't find our house. It's not that he's a bad guy, really, he just isn't Grant's biggest fan and wouldn't be too happy about this whole situation."
Ben takes a moment to digest everything he's been told. He looks over at Kara, "Were you ever going to tell me about your involvement with SHIELD?"
"Honestly? I don't know. SHIELD is a part of my past; I don't have a connection to them anymore. And I don't want to ever be involved with them again." She reaches out and grabs one of his hands in both of hers, "All I want is to focus on my present and my future, with you," she gives him a small smile.
He gives her a small smile and then looks at Grant and Skye, "I get why you did what you did. I won't ask you anymore about what happened, because it must have been pretty bad for you to want to keep your family a secret from the people you work with."
Skye nods, "It was. And thank you for understanding. I know this is probably all a little strange for you to hear, so thank you."
Ben nods, "It is a little strange, but I think I'll be okay. Your past doesn't define you, and you three are some of my closest friends." He looks over at Kara, "And I love you, so I think I can get past all of this."
"I love you too," Kara smiles.
Skye grins, "I still can't get over how cute you two are together."
"Well you and Grant are pretty cute too," Kara tells Skye. "I don't know if I ever told you how happy I am that you and he are finally together."
"I'm happy too," Skye smiles over at her husband. "Happier than I've ever been."
Skye holds tightly to Grant's hand as the two make their way inside the school.
"Is it weird for me to be a little nervous right now?" she asks her husband.
He shakes his head as they turn down the hallway just inside the school, "No, it's not weird. But you don't need to be nervous, Skye. This place is great and the teachers are both really nice. I think you're going to like them."
"I better," Skye says. "And I don't think I can thank Kara enough for distracting Coulson so we could come here."
"I'm pretty sure she gets the idea," Grant smiles. "I guess it's a good thing she was never able to get the mask completely off. But I don't think she'll be using it a whole lot, she was never really too happy about having it on. Thank goodness we were able to find that doctor to fix it so she didn't have that scar on her face for the rest of her life."
Skye nods, "Definitely. I know for a fact that I would not want to have a mask like that on my face for the rest of my life. Though, I'm sure somebody could have a lot of fun with something like that."
"Only you, Skye," he chuckles. "Only you." He guides her towards the open end of the hallway and then to the right side of the co-op space to the classroom.
"This is the room?" Skye asks as they approach the open door.
He nods, "Mm-hm. Jennifer?" he calls out as he and Skye enter the preschool classroom.
The woman in question turns around and smiles at the two of them, "Grant, hello." She walks towards them, "It's so great to see you again. What brings you by?"
"Last time I came by I mentioned I'd be stopping by again to introduce you to my wife so she can see the classroom and meet you and Hannah."
"Right," Jennifer nods. "Sorry, I've had a lot on my mind lately."
"No worries," Grant smiles. "Jennifer, this is my wife Skye. Skye, this is Jennifer, she's one of the teachers. I don't know where Hannah is, but she's the other teacher."
"Hannah's out running a few errands," Jennifer provides. She turns to Skye, holding a hand out, "It's so nice to finally meet you."
Skye takes her hand and smiles, "Likewise." She takes a deep breath, "So how long have you been teaching preschool?"
"About five years now," Jennifer replies. "And Hannah's been teaching it for about seven, I think. We've been teaching together for about four."
"Great," Skye smiles. "So you both know what you're doing, then. You'll be able to take care of Jess while also taking care of all the other kids in your class."
Jennifer laughs quietly and nods, "Yes, I can assure you that we'll be able to take care of her."
"Okay. And I'm really sorry if it seems like I'm doubting your skills and abilities as a teacher."
"It's alright," Jennifer assures her. "Grant mentioned that you might get like this since Jessica is your first."
"Yeah," Skye nods. "She's our little angel. And I'm away for work enough as it is, so I don't get to see her a whole lot. But when I'm away, I know she's either with Grant or our neighbors, so my mind's always at ease. But just the idea of her being away from her family for a few hours at a time five days a week...it's a little nerve wracking."
"I completely understand," Jennifer tells her. "It's completely normal to feel this way, so don't worry. Your little one will be in good hands here, and if I remember correctly from Grant's last visit, she seems to have taken to this place pretty quickly."
"That she did," Grant nods. He looks down at his wife, "I told you that this was a great place. Is your mind a little more at ease now?"
Skye bites her lip in thought and then lets out a sigh, "Yeah, I guess. I don't know why I was so worried."
"Like I said, it's perfectly normal," Jennifer tells her. "You aren't the first parent whose mind I've had to put at ease, and I'm sure you won't be the last. Now, why don't I show you around the classroom and talk to you a little bit about what your daughter will be doing this year."
Skye smiles, "That'd be great, thanks."
So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Still working on a special project for Brett, let me know if you're interested. I'd be happy to give you more details.
Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!