He realizes, not for the first time, that he's running before he can walk.

Metaphorically speaking.

He'd announced his decision about Skye as his best woman to Lorelei before he had actually confirmed it with her. Or rather, before Skye even knew about the situation. It was a rushed decisions, somewhere between "Hey I heard your back in the country!" and "Yes, we should totally go to lunch!" came the idea of hoping she'd stick around for more than a meal. She was never the type to do the casual lunch date anyway, so he took her acceptance as a movement in the right direction.

Grant is fidgeting, his leg is restless, his fingers drum the glass table of the cafe, his eyes search the streets for tell tale signs of Skye's arrival. He's nervous as hell and it doesn't help that he feels like he's about to sweat through his shirt sitting on the patio dining section of this café. It's all so he can catch that first glimpse of Skye. It'd be stupidly laughable, if it hadn't been so long. Three years was long for anyone, especially for people who had once seen each other every day at almost every hour.

He spots her as she comes out of a car, with a dark messenger bag in tow. It looks heavy with equipment from some job she probably just finished. He feels a little idiotic lounging at the table watching her while she takes one hand and pulls her hair out from the messy bun holding up her hair and turns her back on him to adjust herself in the reflection of a parked sedan. She still has the same half-cocked smile when she crosses the street and the length of the patio to greet him.

"Grant!"

He's forgotten how good it sounds to hear his name on her lips. He's forgotten a lot, but the hug she pulls him into brings certain vivid memories back. It surprises him, perhaps because it's been a while since he's had anything close to a genuine hug, but he doesn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her. The hug, meant to be a something casual between two friends, endures. Her palms slide up his back and she leans her head onto his chest. Can she hear his heartbeat racing?

If she does, she doesn't mention it.

They break apart before he can run his hands through her hair, trailing down her back, memorizing what he's forgotten. Maybe it's for the best since the hug unfurls thoughts that he doesn't intend to keep as a to-be-married man man.

"I can't believe you're getting married," she laughs, it would be condescending if it was anyone else, but he hears the incredulity. She doesn't add it, to Lorelei of all people, but he can sense it in her tone. She'd said the same words to him when he first started dating her. Surprised, and taken aback. She'd left and then started dating Miles not too long after that. He wondered if they both thought that it would be a temporary thing.

"Yeah... it just happened."

"Jesus, you could sound more excited," she said with a chuckle, her brows furrowing just a bit in concern.

"It's just been stressful. She's got some high expectations and a ten-year plan after her five-year plan."

Skye raises her eyebrows in response as if to say, 'that's what you get for marrying a Stepford wife'. "So, are you just playing the dutiful fiancé to her bridezilla?"

"Pretty much. I ran out of duties when I registered part of our wedding registry at Bass Pro Shop." He wished that he was joking when he thought it was a good idea, but the reaction from Lorelei was anything but humorous.

Skye, however, broke out into laughter. He felt a little lightheaded hearing it. "Of course, you did. Did Christian talk you into it?"

"Thomas."

"Even better," she cackled.

At the mention of Christian he saw his in, and went forward, quickly interjecting before she could ask more questions. "Speaking of Christian," she looked in mid-smile, waiting for him to continue. The sudden attention had his palms sweaty. "He kind of... got injured, so now I'm short a best man, andIwaswonderingifyouwouldbemybestman." The last part was jarbled together in hyper speed and he stuffed a cut potato from his plate into his mouth seconds after to fill it with something before he had a chance to say anything else.

Skye's head ticked to the left a little. Her mind caught up with what he was saying as she watched Grant nervously chew the largest piece of potato she'd ever seen. "Wait, Christian got injured?" Better to start from the top, get the facts before she wondered out of all of the people in the world Grant Ward was close to, why he would pick her.

His face fell flat, as if expecting something more from her (well she knew what he was expecting, but she wasn't about to commit to an answer just yet). "Seriously? That's your question?"

"Excuse me for wondering what happened to your brother," she said in a mocking tone, half-heartedly as she considered his proposal seriously. Was this the consolation prize? Always the best man, never the bride?

Not that she wanted to be the bride.

She definitely never imagined what it would be like to walk down the aisle towards Grant Ward.

(That would be insane given she was the one to walk out.)

"Right," he said, slowly. His face was trying to look unaffected, nonchalant, but he couldn't accomplish it even if he tried. He'd be a terrible politician, he sucked at lying. "Well, the story is that he 'threw out his back'." The air quotes has the investigator in her immediately curious as she leans forward in her seat. She doesn't need to ask him for the story because he does the same, suddenly he's a lot closer than he was seconds ago. It doesn't seem to phase him at all, she tries not to notice the stubble growing on his chin despite probably having shaved this morning. It looks good, the touch of dark shadow emphasizing a bone structure that anyone would kill for. "But you know, off the record, he and Anna were celebrating... something," he gesticulated suggesting something salacious.

Skye let out a laugh, clapping her hands together, feeling like more like an applauding seal than an evolved human. She might feel foolish if the goofy grin on Grant's face isn't spreading from ear to ear. "Why does that not surprise me, at all?" They both feel the mood lightened, but the silence that falls between them makes it obvious he's waiting for some kind of answer. He shifts in his seat, looking more and more uncomfortable, as if he's the one who has to watch another one of the good ones get away. Not that she cared about marriage or her biological clock or the typical American dream bullshit. Skye was content running around the world, half-vigilante half-corporate menace. No, she and Grant Ward were now traveling in different circles.

"Grant, I don't think I'm the best fit. I'm not even a man!" she humored, but the grin on his face seemed to instantly disappear. "Why don't you ask Trip or Thomas? Isn't Fitz coming back from his research contract for the wedding?"

She tried to ignore the look on his face that likened a kicked puppy. He had a tendency to emulate the most emotionally manipulative expressions of a dog, those damn brown puppy dog eyes were the worst. He shrugged, looking twelve-years-old as he avoided her eyes, "I don't want them to be the best man. Fitz would barely have enough time, Thomas is still in college, Trip spends half his time working with SHIELD. They've all got their own lives," he says, following it up quickly with, "Not that you don't have a life. I just, figured you just got back. And we were really good friends before you left."

It's such an odd request, her mind has been puzzling it together since he'd asked her. Not to mention the fact that they had left things in the most awkward of places. Even the hug she had pulled him into was bordering on awkward considering their history. Thomas was a capable person, not some bone-head frat boy. Trip could take time off of SHIELD, not like they had any shortage of employees. Fitz would be back in a few weeks, surely he'd take up the mantle easily. "I don't know, I don't think Lorelei would be too cool with some vigilante journalist as her fiancé's best man." Lorelei was rarely cool about anything when it came to Skye, but that was besides the point.

"No, that's the best part, she doesn't have a problem with it!"

Did he already tell Lorelei? "Wait, does Lorelei already think I said yes?"

"Maybe."

"Really, Grant?" she threw her hands up, irritated that she didn't even have an apparent choice in the matter. Irritated that she had to play second fiddle to Lorelei. She didn't want to literally stand there, inches away, and watch Grant marry away his whole life. "Thanks for asking for my input."

Grant puts up his hand in surrender before touching her arm lightly in an attempt to calm her down. She'll admit she gestured a little over dramatically, but if it earns her a touch on the arm, she pathetically realizes she'd probably do it again. Maybe it's just because they haven't seen each other in so long. "No, Skye. You can say no, if you want to," he promises firmly. "I just want it to be you. Yes, there are other people who could be my best man, but I want you."

The pang in her chest reminds her that he wants her as the best man, not as anything else.

"I missed you. This is our opportunity to catch up, to be together."

It's meant to persuade her to say yes, but all it does is remind her of the very reason she hadn't wanted to come home at all. The news of his engagement arrived with the realization that she was never really okay with Grant dating Lorelei. She had tried to supplicate those feelings with Miles, taking him around with her as her photographer and working out her issues about Grant with him. (She only moaned Grant's name once, maybe twice, during sex.)

Miles, for his part, seemed aware of her feelings, if not understanding. But when you date someone for a long enough time, and they're carrying a torch for someone else, it gets tiring.

To her friends, her family, everyone, she broke up with Miles a couple weeks ago before she came back to America. The reality is that she broke it off the day Grant got engaged four months ago. This request is just another sharp kick in the stomach, to remind her that she missed the window.

Her silence makes him looked worried, and he scoots forward in his chair, taking her hands in his. The touch, skin on skin, sends ripples of pleasurable memories. "I know we left things off badly in the past. I know what we had kind of fizzled out. But we've always been good friends. I need someone who knows me." And just like that the good memories bleed in with the bad ones.

She is reminded of a night, in his bed, nearly half a decade ago. She's reminded of her own rash decision to run out on him after they both confessed exactly how they felt about one another. She's reminded of her running fast and hard from her emotions and tasting bitter regret almost instantly. It's not like he hadn't waited. He'd waited, and waited, and eventually Lorelei came along and it was made clear to him that Skye wasn't interested anymore. He'd been so upset when she had scoffed and sneered immaturely at the idea of him dating Lorelei. He'd told her that she had no ground to stand on, that Lorelei was a nice girl, and that if this was meant to be jealousy, she had lost the right.

Right. This is their opportunity to catch up. To be together, in the only way they seemed to be able to at this point.

She smiles, lifting her hands from his touch and covering them in a tight squeeze. She'll limit their physical touches from here on out, but she'll allow herself this. A test to prove how mature she can be. To prove that she's definitely moved on, even if she hasn't at all. "Okay. I'll do it," she says, and his face lights up in the most heart warming smile. "Only because you begged so nicely, and because Lorelei is ok with it," she teases.

"You won't regret it," he winks. It's definitely not supposed to be flirtatious.

She already regrets it.