Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya. We're really in the home stretch here, people. It's almost done. Three more chapters and then this masterpiece will be complete. I honestly can't believe it. It's crazy.

Guest: Haha, that'd be pretty entertaining. :)

Tamara: Thank you so much. :)

Guest: You'll just have to wait and see. :)

Enjoy the chapter! :)

*June*

"This is a simple recovery mission for a supposed Inhuman," Skye explains to the team gathered in front of her. "Lincoln, YoYo, you two will be watching the entrance while Mack, Joey, and I go inside. Joey, I want you to take the lead on this one."

"Again?" Joey asks, slight panic etched on his face.

Skye nods, "Yes, again. I know last time didn't go as well as you would have liked it to go, so I want to see how you do a second time. Think you can handle it?"

Joey slowly nods his head, "Uh, yeah. I think I can."

Skye gives him a smile and places a hand on his shoulder, "I believe in you, Joey. I know you can do it. I'll be right there with you, but I want you to do most of the talking and everything else, alright?"

Joey nods again, "Yeah, okay. I just have to remain calm and not let them see me freaking out internally."

"Good," Skye nods with a small smile, removing her hand from his shoulder. She looks at the rest of the team as her phone goes off in her pocket, "Alright everybody, let's gear up and move out." She pulls her phone out and unlocks it to see a new message in the shell program. She opens it to find a new message from Grant with a video attached I think we might need to consider putting Jess in some kind of activity in the afternoons after preschool.

She looks up to make sure no one else is in the room before hitting play on the video.

The video opens up to show the backyard, the center of it focused on the jungle gym Grant had built for Jessica the previous summer.

"¿Estás listo, Jessie?" Grant's voice asks from behind the camera.

"Yeah!" Jessica shouts. "¡Mírame, mamá!" she yells towards the camera. She turns towards the jungle gym and begins climbing all over it at a rapid pace, practically flying across the equipment.

When she lands back on the grass she runs over towards the camera, stopping in front of it and smiling. "Did you see me, mamá?"

The camera turns and Grant's face fills the screen, "I seriously think we need to consider putting her in some kind of activity where she can use all of this energy. Maybe a gymnastics or a karate class. But did you see her go across the jungle gym? Pretty good, right? I love you so much, see you next month. Jessie, dile adios a mamá."

The camera shifts so Jessica is in the frame again, smiling, "¡Adios mamá! ¡Te amo!" She blows a kiss at the camera and the video stops.

"Hey tremors, you coming?"

She looks up to see Mack leaning in the doorway. "Yeah," she nods. "I'll be right there."

"Alright," he nods and then turns and walks away from the room.

Skye looks back down at her phone and types a reply Can't believe how fast she went across that jungle gym. And I definitely agree with you. I'm leaving for a mission right now so we'll talk more about it when I get back.

Okay. Stay safe out there and call me as soon as you're back. I love you.

I will. And I love you too.

*July*

"Uncle Lance!" Jessica shouts when Hunter, Bobbi, and Mack walk through the front door of the house, carrying their overnight bags with them.

"Hey squirt," Hunter smiles at her. "Happy Fourth."

Jessica smiles up at him from her spot on the living room floor in front of the television screen, "Happy Fourth."

"How are you?" he asks the young girl.

"Good. Come sit," she tells him, patting the floor next to her. "Mulan is on."

Hunter smiles and moves to sit down next to her, "Well then I guess I'll just have to sit and watch it with you. Has it been on long?"

Jessica shakes her head, "No. Just started."

"Good. Then I haven't missed any of the exciting parts yet."

"Nope," Jessica agrees, moving across the floor and climbing up into Hunter's lap.

Hunter smiles and drops a kiss to the toddlers head, wrapping an arm around her and leaning back against the couch, putting his full attention on the animated movie playing out on the TV screen.

"I'll go take all our bags to the guest room," Mack says, grabbing the other two bags and making his way down the hallway.

"Thanks," Bobbi gives him a friendly smile. "You know," she says to Skye, "I'm not sure if I'll ever get used to a scene like this." Her gaze fixes on the duo sitting on the living room floor, reciting the words from Mulan together with smiles on their faces.

"Does it make you want to have one of your own?" Skye asks her friend.

Bobbi quickly turns her head towards the shorter woman, "What? Why would you even...?" She sighs, "I honestly don't know. I'm not too sure I'd like to raise a family around SHIELD, but SHIELD is all I've known for so many years; I think it'd be hard to walk away from it all."

Skye nods, "I get it. And it was just a question. But if I'm being perfectly honest with you, I definitely think you two should at least talk about it. I think you'd be a really great mom, and I can already tell that Hunter would be a good dad. Just promise me you'll think about it. Motherhood is something I never thought I'd get or even be good at, but I wouldn't trade it for the world."

Bobbi smiles, "I will definitely consider it."

"Good," Skye smiles and nods. "Since Hunter is a bit preoccupied," she glances over at the grown man and little girl singing along at the top of their lungs to the movie playing, "would you like to keep me company while I finish up lunch?"

"I'd love to," Bobbi smiles, following Skye into the kitchen.

...

"Jessie!" Skye calls across the backyard to her daughter. "Come here, baby girl. The fireworks are going to start soon." She sits down in one of the lawn chairs and smiles at the large group of people gathered in the yard.

"¡Mamá!" Jessica yells, running across the yard with Ian right beside her.

"Hey, angel," Skye smiles at her daughter. "Hi Ian," she smiles at the little boy.

"Hi," Ian smiles back.

"Are you two ready for the fireworks?" Skye asks them.

"Yeah!" Jessica nods and smiles.

"Me too!" Ian exclaims.

Skye smiles, "Good. Ian, why don't you go find your mom and dad so you can sit with them for the show, okay?"

"Okay. Bye Jessie," he smiles at his friend and then turns around to make his way through the yard, searching for his parents.

"And you, my little angel," Skye reaches out and pulls her daughter up into her lap, "are going to sit here and snuggle with me for the fireworks. How does that sound?"

Jessica smiles, "Te amo, mamá."

"I love you too, angel," Skye smiles, dropping a kiss to the top of her daughters' head. She grabs the blanket off the back of the chair and drapes it across their laps, wrapping her arms around Jessica to hold her close.

"There's my two favorite girls."

Skye and Jessica turn their heads to see Grant making his way towards them, a smile on his face.

"Hi daddy," Jessica smiles. "We gonna watch fireworks."

"I know," Grant smiles and nods, taking the seat next to Skye. "Can you say 'fuegos artificiales'?"

Jessica furrows her brows for a moment, "Fuegos artificiales."

"Muy bien," Grant smiles.

"Gracias," Jessica smiles back.

"De nada."

"As much as I love watching you two bonding over speaking another language," Skye speaks up, "you better not use it against me in the years to come."

"Don't worry," Grant tells his wife. "We won't use it against you, will we Jessie?"

Jessica smiles and shakes her head, "No."

"Good," Skye nods.

A loud pop from the dark sky above them pulls their attention to it. Another pop sounds followed by another, the bright colors of the fireworks lighting up the sky.

"Wow," Jessica smiles as she stares wide-eyed up above her, leaning back against Skye.

Skye just smiles down at her daughter, drops a kiss to the top of her head and leans back in her chair, resting her head on Grant's shoulder as she watches the fireworks.

*August*

"Hey, are you feeling okay?"

Skye looks up to see Hunter standing in front of her, his brows knit together and a beer in his hand.

She gives him half a smile, "Yeah, I'm fine."

Hunter moves across the room and sits down next to her, "Now why don't I believe you?"

Skye sighs, "It's nothing, really. Just that Jess is starting preschool next month so Grant took her out today to get her what she'll need before everything is gone."

Hunter nods, "Ah, I think I understand what's going on here. You wish you were there with them right now, yeah?"

Skye shrugs, "I don't know. I guess it's just really starting to hit me that my baby girl is growing up. I don't even know where all the time went. I feel like I've missed so much by being here all the time."

"I'm sorry about that. Really, I am."

"Thanks," she smiles at him. "But it was my choice to stay here, I could have left for good when I found out I was pregnant and I chose not to. It's completely my fault why I wasn't there for her more. But before the year is out I'm going to pick one of the members of my team to take over for me permanently."

"You're really going to leave?" Hunter asks her.

She nods, "I am. I haven't decided when exactly I'm going to leave, but I promised Grant that I'd make everything final before the year is out."

"This is a pretty big decision to make."

"I know," Skye nods. "And I can tell you right now that it's one decision I am definitely not going to regret making for even a second."

"I'm glad," Hunter smiles.

The sound of her phone going off pulls Skye's attention to it. She unlocks it and goes into the shell program to find a new text from Grant with a photo attached Someone is really excited about all the stuff we got today for her first day of preschool next month. The photo shows Jessica sitting in the middle of the couch, a brand new Paw Patrol backpack in her lap and school supplies surrounding her, a wide grin on her face.

She smiles and types back a reply She looks so happy. I can't believe she's already going to be in preschool.

Neither can I. We even bought her a special first day of preschool outfit. She insisted on getting a flannel shirt so that she can look like you.

Skye beams That's awesome.

"Hey Hunter, look at this," Skye turns her phone so he can see the photo.

Hunter smiles, "Looks like someone is pretty eager to go to school."

"Yes she is," Skye smiles sadly at the photo.

"Oi, don't be like that," Hunter tells her, lightly nudging her knee.

"Sorry," Skye says. "I can't help it. My baby is growing up and pretty soon she's going to go off on her own to face the world."

"Whoa," Hunter holds his hand up, "slow down there for a minute." He lowers his hand and looks Skye directly in the eyes, "She's three, Skye, so I think you've got plenty of time yet before you have to actually start worrying about her going off on her own."

"Yeah, I know."

"Besides," Hunter continues, "if you're so emotional about her growing up, you and Grant can always have another kid. Ever thought about that?"

Skye tightens her lips and looks at Hunter.

"What? What is it?" he asks.

"We uh…"

"Don't tell me you're pregnant again," he whispers, leaning forward slightly.

She shakes her head, "No, I'm not. But we've been trying pretty much every time I go home. No luck yet, but I'm hoping it'll happen soon."

"Wow. How long ago did you two decide to have another?"

"We've been trying since March," she tells him.

Hunter sits back, "Well good luck with that, then."

"Thanks," she smiles.

"I have to go and do some things now, but I don't want to leave you if you're still upset."

Skye gives him a kind smile, "I'm better, I promise. I think I just needed to talk to someone."

Hunter smiles, "Good, I'm glad. I'll see you later then, yeah?"

Skye nods, "Yeah." She gives him another smile as he stands from the couch and makes his way out of the room.

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

Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!