A/N: Hello, friends! Welcome to another chapter! I hope you enjoy it!
"What's my surprise?" Grant asked for the fifth time, raising his voice slightly just to make sure that Pepper could hear him from her place in the front of the car. "Please tell me." He added, ducking his head and peering at her through the reflection in the rear view mirror.
"Stop trying to look cute." Pepper smirked, turning to look into the back of the car at the stoplight. "I've told you, you don't get your surprise until later."
He hummed. "Is my surprise a toy?"
"Grant, I'm not telling you."
"Please." He pouted for good measure, but Pepper didn't waver.
"No." She said.
Grant huffed and folded his arms, but he couldn't help but smile. Surprises were exciting, and until he had begun living with Tony and Pepper, he hadn't really had many experiences with them. At least not good ones, anyway.
"Is it a robot?" Grant knew Tony had been attempting to build some sort of humanoid android in his spare time, and one of Grant's favourite things to do was to help out in the lab, passing Tony nuts and bolts while they talked and worked on the bot together. Perhaps he had finished it.
Pepper rolled her eyes and turned back to the road, pulling away when the light turned green. "It's not the robot." She said. "And I know Tony's been letting you use the soldering iron when you two are building that thing."
"Oh." Grant said. Pepper had been clear about what constituted 'safe' for a nine year old in the lab, and using the soldering iron wasn't included in that list. "Tony makes me wear gloves." He said by way of defending his foster father.
"Hm." Pepper hummed.
"And," Grant said with a grin, "I am almost ten, you know."
"Of course." Pepper deadpanned. She glanced in her rear view mirror. "They still following?" She muttered to herself. Then, "Oh, good."
Grant pulled his seatbelt slacker and turned around so that he could see out of the back window. Bobbi and Hunter's car was following them back to their house, having waited in the school parking lot until they had left. Grant smiled. He was super excited for Skye to come over because he had never had a friend come to play, and he wanted to show her his toys and the cool new picture Tony had hung on his wall just a few days before. He couldn't see Skye because she was in the back of the car like him, but Grant waved anyway and Hunter saluted him back, making him laugh.
"Hey." Pepper said in her 'mom' voice. "Sit properly."
Grant sat back down and readjusted his seatbelt. "Sorry."
He looked down at his hands, avoiding Pepper's expression in the mirror. He hated upsetting her and Tony almost more than anything else in the world. They didn't really shout either, just looked disappointed and it sucked.
"What have I told you?" She asked.
"That it's dangerous to sit like that." Grant said. He often got in trouble for moving around in the back of the car. Tony said it was because he had too much energy, but even he reprimanded Grant for not being safe in the car. "I'm sorry." He said again, making a conscious effort to sit still.
"I forgive you." Pepper's voice was back to normal and Grant breathed a sigh of relief. She never stayed mad for very long. Never shouted at him like his mom had done. Neither did Tony. Grant loved them a lot.
"I love you." He said quietly, walking his fingers over the window in the back of the car. He made them skip over the trees on the road's edge and hop over the sun.
Pepper reached back and touched his hand, squeezing it briefly before needing it to steer again. "I love you, too."
They drove quietly for a few more minutes, the houses and buildings giving way to the quiet private road that lead to the Stark Mansion. Grant wanted to turn around, just to check that Skye was still in fact following, but thought better of it, and resigned himself to drive one of the Hot Wheels cars that Pepper kept in the pocket on the back of the seat, up and down one of the books which also resided in there.
"Is it a cake?" Grant asked.
"Sorry?"
"My surprise," He clarified, "is it a cake?"
Pepper snorted. "No, sweetheart. You're birthday's in five days. You get cake then."
"Is my surprise gonna be at the house?"
The car slowed when the private road gave way to a shingly driveway. "Not until later. Skye's sister and her boyfriend are going to bring it in a couple hours."
Grant gasped. "Hours? But that's so long!"
Pepper stopped the car outside of the house, Hunter pulling up beside her. She turned to Grant, smiling. "You can wait a few hours." She said. "And anyway, I'm sure you want to play with Skye for a little while?"
He did. That was certainly what he wanted to do. "Yeah. Can we play in my room?"
"Of course you can, sweetheart." She never ever called him that in school. Grant thought maybe it was because the other kids might tease him or something, but honestly, he wouldn't have cared. Tony had lots of nicknames for Grant, some of them just stupid that he said just to make Grant laugh, but Pepper only had a couple. Most of the time, Grant was her 'sweetheart'. And Pepper was his…well, she was Grant's 'Pepper'. She didn't need anything else, because she was perfect as she was.
Grant unbuckled his seatbelt and leaned forward to give Pepper a hug and kiss. "I love you." He told her again. Sometimes he wondered if Tony and Pepper knew how much he loved them, even if he did try to tell them all of the time, so he liked to show them.
Pepper hugged him back tightly, pressing a kiss into his hair. "I love you."
He pulled back. "I'm glad you're my Pepper." Grant said, picking his school bag up and moving to open the car door. He frowned and paused, thinking back to the 'Happy Families' cards they had at school. He still had his sheet of drawings in his bag. "Everybody should have a Pepper."
Pepper's eyes were shining. "Yeah?"
"Yes." Grant said.
Pepper got out of the car and opened his door for him. She hugged him again when he got out and Grant let himself be comforted by the smell of her cardigan and the feeling of the fabric under his fingertips. He closed his eyes for a second and thought that maybe he would be able to find Pepper in a room full of people even if he were blind. Pepper was important.
"You're a good boy." She said. "Such a good boy."
Grant opened his eyes. Bobbi was sitting on the hood of her car, talking on the phone while Hunter helped Skye get out of her car seat. He was doing the funny accent again, and Skye was giggling, dodging his attempts to tickle her. She seemed happy.
"I'm happy." Grant said, then frowned at himself. He hadn't really meant to say that aloud.
Pepper was still hugging him. "That's good." She said.
"I know." Grant smiled and pressed his nose into her cardigan. "It's the best thing ever."
And he couldn't have been happier that his best friend in the entire world was happy, too. She had her family, now, just like Grant did, and surprise or no surprise, he was happier than he had ever been. Ever. He just hoped it was going to last.
…
Even without knowing it was Bobbi Nat was speaking to, Clint would have been able to tell anyone who was on the other end of Nat's phone. There was just something about the way Tasha spoke to her sister, which Clint had learned to distinguish from the other people she spoke to. Something about the little giggles that punctuated sentences, or the gentle smile she had on her face when Bobbi was speaking. It was difficult to really point out how Clint could tell who she was talking to, but he just could.
As it happened, it was made a little easier by the fact that Natasha usually only spoke to either Bobbi or her mother on the phone. Occasionally she would talk to Phil, but that tended to only be when he called her, and even then the conversations were short. Clint avoided phone calls at all costs. Not being able to hear very well did that to a guy, but Nat was very similar in her anxiety surrounding phone calls. At first he had thought it something to do with the language barrier, but over the years, her English had become practically perfect and the anxiety had remained. Now, Clint thought it maybe had something to do with being unable to see the caller's face, unable to read an expression or body language. Melinda and Bobbi it seemed, were exempt to the rule.
"Okay." Nat was saying into the phone, phone trapped in between her shoulder and her ear while she rifled through her dresser. Clint watched her pick through the clothes while he lay stretched out on their bed, Lucky lying across his legs and Lulu crawling up his arm. Lucky lifted his head and tried to sniff the tarantula. Clint gently pushed his muzzle away when he got a little close for comfort. "She's pretty tame, buddy." Clint told the dog. "But all spiders bite and I suspect you'd prefer not to experience it."
Lucky licked his hand. Clint liked to think he was thanking him.
"No problem." He told the dog.
Natasha giggled and Clint looked up. "Yeah, okay. What time?" She paused, pulling out a shirt that Clint knew had once been his a long time ago, and draping it over her shoulder. He had no hope of ever getting it back. "Okay." She smirked. "No. Bobbi, Mom and Dad would kill us." She laughed and the t-shirt fell off her shoulder.
Clint quirked a questioning eyebrow at her and she waved him off. Tell you later. He nodded back.
"Right." Nat said. "I'll bring them." She put a hand on her hip and held the phone with her other. "Are you sure Stark will be cool with us doing that? I know him and Pepper are your friends, but-," Bobbi had apparently cut her off. "Okay, okay. Fine. But if we get in trouble I'm blaming you."
Lulu almost fell off Clint's shoulder when he laughed. Apparently the sisters were planning on some mutiny, and from the look Nat was giving him, Clint was also to be involved in this unknown plan.
"I love you, too." Nat said. "See you in a couple of hours. Okay, bye." She threw the phone at him and Clint caught it mid-air. Tasha plucked something else out of her drawer.
"I take it we're not just dropping Lucky off at Stark's and having nice quiet evening with the family?" Clint smirked.
Natasha grinned, green eyes lighting up. It was a look Clint loved, where she could easily pass for twenty-eight or twelve, depending on the content of the misbehaviour. Clint was convinced that if Nat wanted to, she could rob the crown jewels from the Queen's head and get away with it.
"Stark's got an indoor pool." Nat said. She held a bikini top in front of his face.
"Oh?" Clint smiled. Perhaps tonight they would not be stealing from the Queen, but something altogether more fun. "A pool?" He took the top from her.
"An indoor pool." She clarified, sitting on the edge of the bed. Nat took Lulu from Clint's shoulder and set her on Lucky's back. The dog remained stock-still. "Bobbi wants us to bring her and Hunter's swimming suits."
Clint watched as Lulu slowly made her way her further up the dog's back. "So? We're gonna go swimming?" He nudged Nat with his foot. "Our family owns a giant gym. We can go swimming anytime."
"But," Nat shuffled closer to him, until her head was resting on his shoulder and her breath tickled his neck, "Stark has a diving pool."
That perked Clint up. "A diving pool?"
"He's got a ten metre board."
"Awesome." Clint breathed.
To most, having a diving pool at ones disposal would be something pretty cool. Not many people had indoor pools, let alone indoor diving pools, but to Clint and Nat, this opportunity was particularly inviting. And Bobbi knew this. Ever the adrenaline junkies, Clint and Natasha had found themselves banned from several places over the years, for acting in what apparently constituted an 'irresponsible manner'.
Only a few months before, Natasha had informed Bobbi over the phone of her and Clint's recent barring from their campus pool in D.C., due to some misbehaviour. Quite frankly, Clint couldn't see how they could really call what he and Nat were doing as 'unsafe', but apparently running and doing backflips into the pool from the five metre board when you weren't trained was classed as such. Perhaps it had had something to with the fact that he and Nat had been blindfolded and had their wrists bound to one another that had been the problem.
"We never got the chance to try it from the ten metre board." Nat said excitedly. "Bobbi and Hunter just want to get drunk and play Marco Polo, but we could play on the diving boards."
Clint grinned at her enthusiasm. He couldn't help it. "And I take it Stark's not cool with this."
"Pepper would never let us, and don't even get me started on Mom and Dad." Nat groaned. "But Bobbi thinks we could slip away later on. Hunter's already convinced he can get Tony to crack open the liquor."
He chuckled. Hunter would have a plan to end the teetotalism from the gathering. "I'm in, you know, as long as the kids aren't around."
"Obviously." Nat agreed. "We can only be a bad influence on each other, not on them. Skye doesn't need that."
"No, she doesn't."
Natasha kissed him, and retrieved Lulu from her exploration of Lucky's head, gently placing her in her tank. "They want us to bring Lucky over at six, so we have until then to plan this thing out."
He pulled her back over to the bed by her wrist. "Have I ever told you how much I love that you're not boring?"
"All the time." Tasha grinned. She kissed him again, worming her way onto his lap until Lucky jumped off the bed. "We've got until six." She mumbled against his lips.
Clint moved his hand up her back under her shirt. "Maybe I could help you change into your swimsuit."
Nat flicked her eyes to the side of the bed. "Not until the dog's out of the room. I don't want him watching."
"You don't mind your spider watching."
She flicked his ear. "Have you ever thought about how weird we are?" Nat smirked.
"Super weird."
She nodded. "I kinda love it."
"Me, too." Clint said. "Okay, let's lock the dog out of the room so we can have sex."
"God, Clint. You're such a romantic."
…
Phil wanted to tell Melinda to get her feet off the dashboard, particularly because her sneakers were scuffing the dash and leaving little white marks that infuriated Phil to his very core, but he kept his mouth shut. Melinda had seemed fine for most of the day, better than fine, even, because she had managed to put up with Tony Stark for much of it, but then after Clint and Natasha had taken Lucky back to the house, and Tony had returned home to meet Pepper, Mel had seemed to go down hill a little.
Even now, an hour or so later, she still seemed a little pale, eyes closed against the sun.
"Mel?" Phil asked. "You okay, honey?"
She smiled, but her eyes remained closed. "I'm just tired, Phil."
He wasn't so sure. It hadn't gone unnoticed by Phil that she hadn't really eaten much all day, even when she'd seemed fine.
"Are you sure, Mel?" He tries asking again. "I just want to make sure you're alright."
It was then that Melinda opened her eyes. "Phil, quit worrying." She said. "Honestly, I'm okay."
Phil decided to trust her. Well, he didn't decide anything. Phil innately trusted Melinda, but he made the conscious choice to leave her be. They were driving up Tony Stark's driveway, and now was not the time to irritate his wife with his probably unneeded worry.
"Did you tell Tasha what time Tony wanted her to bring the dog over?" Mel said.
Phil didn't mention the fact that she was attempting to change the subject. "Bobbi said she would call her."
"Good." Mel smiled. "Good." She turned to him with a little smirk. "I bet you're glad that mean doggy's not going to be in your house anymore."
Phil huffed as he pulled in beside Melinda's car Hunter had been driving. "It's not that I'm scared of dogs." He argued. "I just don't like them."
Melinda chuckled, some colour coming back into her cheeks. "And what don't you like about them? That they scare you?"
They both got out of the car. "They're dirty." Phil said, glaring at his wife over the car's roof. "And they smell."
She rolled her eyes. "Sure, Phil."
Tony barrelled out of the front door, kitted out in Nerf apparel. "Hey guys!" He greeted cheerily, forgoing one of the many handguns attached to his person, in favour of replacing a magazine on the large gun in his arms. "Come on in. Pep's inside talking with Bobbi."
Phil chuckled, walking over to Tony's side and plucking one of the handguns from its holster. "I take it the kids are keeping you busy?"
Tony shifted from foot to foot, keeping his eyes on the front door. "No, they're playing upstairs in Grant's room. Haven't heard a peep from them."
Mel glanced at Phil and he shrugged. "So, what's with the toys?"
Tony took his eyes off the door to look at Melinda properly. He looked genuinely offended. "They're not toys. They're 'weapon replicas'."
Phil looked at the gun in his hand. "This is bright yellow and has suction cups on the end of the ammunition."
Tony glared at him. "These particular models are designed for adults. They're absolutely not for kids."
"I am going to keel you Meezter Stark!" Lance shouted in a ridiculous accent as he jumped out from the front door, decked in equally as much Nerf merchandise as Stark.
"Not for kids, huh?" Mel muttered to Phil.
Phil sniggered as the two grown men ran off across Stark's land, shooting foam darts at each other.
"That man is married to our daughter." Phil said, just as Hunter fell to the ground and Tony pummelled him with darts at short range.
"He'll be a good dad." Melinda said.
Phil choked on air, his mouth going dry. "Is Bobbi pregnant?"
Mel turned to walk into the house. "God, I hope not." She said. "I just meant hypothetically."
Phil breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. We don't need any more babies around here?"
Melinda stopped in her tracks, standing still in Tony's lavish hallway. "No?"
"Nope." Phil chuckled. "We've got far too many kids already, around here. No more babies."
"Oh." Mel frowned at him.
Phil put a hand on her shoulder. "Mel?"
She blinked, and as quick as her odd little episode had happened, it was over and she was smiling at him. "Come on, let's find the girls."
Melinda walked away, navigating her way through Tony and Pepper's house with an ease that only came with having spent way too many nights there collecting a drunk Bobbi and Hunter from the floor of one of Tony's many bathrooms. Phil followed her just as easily. It was a testament to how much Melinda and Phil loved their eldest daughter, that they had both at some point or another cleaned up her husband's puke after a night at Stark's. Frankly, it was incredible that Bobbi and Pepper were both so successful when one looked at them in their younger, wilder days. Tony and Lance, however…Phil caught sight of the two of them still chasing each other around on the grass outside…they were perhaps more believable.
"Dad? Dad?" Bobbi was clicking her fingers in front of his face.
"Huh?" Phil said dumbly, and Bobbi rolled her eyes. He looked around the kitchen at Pepper and Melinda, both smirking at him. "Sorry, I spaced out there."
Bobbi shook her head. "What were you even thinking about?"
"Honestly?" Phil said, sitting down at the counter by Melinda. "That time I had to clean Hunter's puke off Pepper's good towels upstairs."
"Ew." Bobbi said with a grimace, as Pepper snorted.
"Please don't bring that story up," Pepper paused, "or any of the stories in similar taste, when your talking to parents at the school." She sipped her drink. "I was not capable of teaching children then."
Bobbi elbowed her. "That was only two years ago."
"I've grown up a lot since then." Pepper defended. "And anyway, that was a bad night for you and Lance…and Tony, I was the responsible one holding your hair."
Bobbi hugged Pepper tightly. "And I'll never forget it."
"So, the kids upstairs?" Mel asked.
Pepper glanced to the window. "No. They're playing outside." As the words left her mouth, Lance pushed Tony's face against the window, smushing his nose and cheeks. "The children are upstairs."
Tony's nose was flat against the glass.
Bobbi looked to Pepper. "That's your boyfriend."
Lance laughed manically. "You will never eezcape from zee eevil Count Von Bad-Guy!"
Pepper smirked at Bobbi. "That's your husband."
"I know." Bobbi said. "I swear he's a wonderful man…"
"Die! Die! Meezter Stark!"
"…you know…sometimes."
Phil sighed heavily. "That's my son-in-law."
Melinda patted him on the back. "Don't worry. He's my son-in-law, too. We'll get through it together."
He wrapped an arm around her, kissing her cheek. "See, way too many kids already."
"Mm." Melinda hummed, and left it at that, excusing herself to the bathroom a moment later.
…
Grant Ward led Skye through so many corridors and sets of stairs, that she was sure she would never be able to find her way out of his house ever again. Grant said they were taking the long way to his bedroom, so that he could show Skye all of the cool things in his house. And it was cool.
So far Grant had shown Skye the miniature bowling alley, the gym, the gigantic indoor swimming pool that Skye could tell was huge even thought they didn't have the key to get inside, and even a room Grant called the 'media room', which was really just a room full of video games. Clint would like that, she thought.
"It was just really plain when I first moved in." He said, leading her down another hallway. "Tony said he didn't want to decorate it a colour I didn't like, but he painted himself real quick after I told him I liked orange."
Skye had to do a couple of little skips to keep up with Grant's longer legs. "Orange? That's bright. My room's blue."
"Like the sky." He grinned.
"Yeah. And yours is orange like a...orange!"
"Well," Grant smiled, "it's not all orange." He stopped outside of a bright orange door covered in various stickers.
Skye eyed the vivid wood beneath some stickers of soccer players and dragons. "Not all orange?"
He shrugged. "Fine. The door's orange, but…" Grant opened his bedroom door and ushered Skye inside. "See, it's not all orange."
She looked around the room, mouth falling open at the sheer size of it. "Wow." And Grant was right, it wasn't all orange. In fact, most of the bedroom was white, with black stripes and orange stars around on the walls. There were even stars on the ceiling. "Tony did this?"
"Yeah. All by himself. He didn't pay anyone or anything." Grant said proudly, crossing the room the size of Skye's whole living room, to sit on his bed. "He even put up all of the shelves and built my wardrobe. Oh, and look at this." Grant jumped up excitedly and grabbed Skye's hand, dragging her over to the wall furthest away from the door. "He just put this up the other day."
Skye looked at the picture on the wall that Grant was pointing it. It was essentially a large frame, probably as tall as Skye was if were to be set on the ground, that had lots and lots of photographs inside, all arranged on an orange backdrop. She stepped forward to get a better look.
"Is that Miss Potts?" Skye asked, pointing to a little photograph of a young woman who looked like Miss Potts, but seemed lankier, more…childish.
"Yeah." Grant said. "That was when she was still in school. And there," He pointed to a photograph higher in the frame, "is Tony when he was a teenager."
"Is that Tony, too?" Skye asked of a photograph of a baby wrapped in a blue blanket.
Grant laughed loudly, and the hand that still held Skye's squeezed hers. "No!" He grinned. "It's me. Me when I was a baby."
"I can't imagine you being so small." Skye inspected the photo, taking her hand from Grant to steady herself on the wall and go up onto her tiptoes. "You were so tiny."
"We all were, I think." Grant said.
Skye looked at the woman in the photo who held baby Grant. "Who's that?"
"My Mom." He said casually. "Tony put all these photos in the frame so that I would have one place where everyone in my family is." He pointed to each photograph in turn. "My Mom," he indicated another picture, "that's her and my brothers and me, and this one is me and Pepper and Tony, and this one here," he smiled brightly, "is me and Tony in the lab. Sometimes I help him in there."
Skye smiled and nodded, acknowledging each of the photographs Grant showed her, but her eyes remained fixed on the one of Grant, maybe age six or seven, with his Mom and his two brothers. One of the boys was older, maybe fifteen or so, but there was the baby, asleep in little Grant's arms. Thomas, Skye remembered. He was in heaven now, Grant had said. The baby in the photograph was dead.
Grant had moved on, talking about some of his toys, something about a deck of monster cards and an action figure that was off some show on the TV. Skye was struggling to concentrate on anything other than baby Thomas.
"Can I ask you something?" She said eventually when they were sitting together on Grant's floor, throwing him off his explanation of the game you were meant to play with the monster cards.
He nodded. "Sure."
"It might make you sad." Skye said. "I don't want to upset you."
Grant smiled kindly and shuffled over to Skye on the carpet. "It's okay. If I feel sad, I'll tell you and then we can stop."
"Okay."
"Ask me, then." Grant said.
Skye looked over the photo with Thomas in. "How did Thomas die?"
"Oh." Grant said, and Skye took that to mean she'd upset him.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
"S'okay, Skye. I'm not sad."
"You're not?" Skye looked at his face. He didn't seem to be lying. "But, he died. Why aren't you sad?"
"I am sad." Grant said. "I'm just not sad. I'm sad he died and he didn't get to grow up and that's sad, but I don't feel like I want to cry."
"It is sad, though."
He nodded. "Thomas drowned."
Skye was taken aback. Suddenly she pictured the little baby from the photograph screaming, being pulled under a dark ocean by crashing waves. The water was going into his mouth and Skye so desperately wanted to stop it, to reach out and grab baby Thomas from the water. But she couldn't because it wasn't real…except it was, wasn't it? Because he was dead.
Grant shuffled through the cards in his hands. "Christian was gone, he left not long after that photograph. I don't know where he went. My Mom was sick and she had to take lots of medicine and some of the medicine was bad."
"I didn't know there were bad medicines."
"There are. Ones you're not supposed to take, but she thought they made her feel better. But they made her sicker, and she used to sleep for a long time and get mad about things all the time." Grant closed his eyes. "One day I went to school, and she shouted at me for waking her up. We didn't have any food in the house, and I was hungry. That's what I remember."
Skye moved until her arm pressed against his. "Then what happened?"
Grant Ward opened his eyes. He looked sad now, like he might cry, and Skye really didn't want to see happy Grant Ward cry, but he began speaking before she could tell him to stop.
"The police came to my school and took me away. They said Mom couldn't look after me anymore. She had to go to a special hospital." He sighed. "They said she put Thomas in the bath and then she took some medicine and fell asleep and he drowned. It was an accident, but it was her fault he died." Grant looked at Skye. "That's why I can't see her anymore."
Grant may not have been crying, but Skye was. She turned away from Grant, scared her tears would upset him further, but he put a hand on her shoulder. She focused on one of the orange stars on the wall, desperately attempting not to visualise the baby in the tub.
"I don't think he was hurting." He said quietly. "I think it might have just felt like falling asleep. I'm not sad now, because he's happy now, in heaven."
Skye couldn't help it when she asked, "Do you really believe that?"
"Yes." Grant paused. "Don't you?"
"I don't know." Skye said. Living with nuns for so long, she was well versed in the Christian religion, but frankly, when she had prayed so much for things that never happened, Skye had become disillusioned. "I don't think I do."
"Then what do you think happens to you when you die?"
Skye turned to her best friend in the entire world, and she wanted to lie to him, to tell him that he was probably right and that his baby brother was in heaven, flying around with the angels, with Jessica's Mom and Peter's parents, but she wouldn't lie to Grant. He didn't seem so sad anymore, and he was just watching Skye curiously.
She thought for a second. "I think that when a person dies, it's sad for the people who loved them. It's really sad because they're gone forever, except in your head." She looked at the photograph. "You can remember Thomas in your head, and then he's still alive in there, even for a little while."
"Maybe." Grant said. "But maybe he's in heaven."
Skye sighed. "Maybe."
He nudged her with his shoulder. "I'm not sad, Skye. I promise."
She kept her eyes on baby Thomas' photo. He was so small in the picture, and Mommy's baby was even smaller, tiny, because it still fitted in her tummy. It couldn't fight, or shout, or even cry yet, and Skye could do all of those things. She was really good at shouting. She could chase away the baddies. Agent Skye would make sure the baddies stayed away and that no bad medicine would get to Mommy and that the baby would never be left on its own. Skye wouldn't let anyone hurt her baby. Even if she didn't like the stupid baby, no one was ever going to be allowed to hurt Mommy, or Skye's baby.
"Hey," Grant said, "you wanna go play outside? We can play spies and climb trees?"
She grinned. Even when Skye was scared and anxious, Agent Skye was brave and strong. Agent Skye could do anything.
"Let's go, Agent Ward." She said, standing up. He followed, mirroring her grin. "We've got baddies to catch."
Grant fished a couple of brightly coloured Nerf guns out of a box by his bed and threw one to Skye. "Here's your night-night gun, Agent Skye." He said, running out of the bedroom door.
Skye followed behind, holding up her gun for any attackers. "That's a stupid name." She called. "How about we call them 'Icers'?"
…
We've got enough kids, he'd said. No more babies, he'd said. Well, it had been to that effect, Melinda couldn't really focus on what had been Phil's exact wording. Her mind was too focused on the sentiment. Phil didn't want a baby.
Frankly, Melinda didn't either, and didn't that just make her feel infinitely guilty. She placed a hand on her belly in silent apology to her unborn child. She hadn't wanted this, had never ever been one for doting over pregnant woman and touching their stomachs, and Melinda had certainly never wanted it for herself. She was perfectly happy with her family already. Her children were her children no matter who had carried them before they were born. Bobbi, Nat, Skye, they were Melinda's children.
And now she had another one. A child Phil did not want.
Phil was out with Tony and Hunter, playing pretend with Skye and Grant. Bobbi and Pepper were out there, too, shooting each other with foam darts. Kids, Mel smiled, the lot of them. She could see them all in the distance from her position on Tony's patio. Hunter was hanging out of a tree with Skye under one arm while Phil held her legs. She squealed in delight.
Skye hadn't wanted to play at first when she saw Mel. It had taken a good five minutes of coaxing from Phil to leave Melinda sitting on the patio, and go and play with the rest of them. Melinda had passed up the opportunity to play spies, claiming she was just as happy to watch, but Skye had seen right through her. Of course she had. She was still worried about her.
Skye. She really needed to talk to Skye. Her baby.
Now there was another baby.
Skye screamed again, ducking away from Hunter and running straight into Phil's arms, holding onto him like a little monkey. He swung her around and allowed her to shoot at Bobbi and Hunter while he chased them. They were all too far away to hear what they were saying, but every so often a round of laughter reached her ears and made her smile.
She had to tell him. Whether her husband wanted it or not, Melinda was pregnant, and they really needed to have a discussion about this. For all of the children they had, they'd never had to talk about something like this. This had never been the plan.
Eighteen years old and eloping with two random strangers as their witnesses, Phil and Melinda had never really had a plan. Spontaneity had been their thing. Getting married three hours after getting engaged…Mel smirked to herself; they had no right to be pissed with Bobbi and Hunter.
As far as plans went, Melinda and Phil had only ever had one: be happy. It had been working out so far. But from day one Melinda had been clear, she didn't want to get pregnant. For an eighteen year old it was perfectly understandable and Phil had been totally on board, and then they had never looked back to having a baby, because they had Bobbi, and then Nat, and now Skye. It had simply never been something Melinda and Phil had ever felt they needed to be happy. It wasn't part of the plan for Melinda to get pregnant. She didn't want to be pregnant.
But she loved her baby. She wanted her baby.
"Mom?" Bobbi asked her, jogging over. She was fiddling with her phone.
Melinda took a deep breath and smiled her daughter. "Yes?"
"Nat and Clint are bringing the dog now." Bobbi smiled. She had at some point since arriving pulled her hair into a ponytail with one of Skye's purple hair ties, presumably to keep the masses of blonde away from her face during the spy game.
"You want me to go meet them out the front?"
"Yeah. Pepper says to take him in the kitchen." Bobbi smiled brightly. "I was going to ask Dad, but, you know…"
Melinda chuckled. "He's terrified of the dog?"
"Yeah. And will you tell Tasha that I've got everything worked out."
"Worked out for what?" Mel asked, standing up.
Bobbi shrugged far too casually. "Nothing. Don't worry about it, Mom."
"Alright, I'll go meet them." Melinda considered Bobbi for a moment. Something about the gleam in her eyes and her forced nonchalance had Melinda's 'Mommy alarm bells' ringing. "What are you up to?"
"Nothing." Bobbi insisted. "Mom, I'm twenty-five, do you really think I would be planning some kind of secret rendezvous in Tony Stark's house that I wouldn't tell you about?"
"Yes." Mel said. "Yes, I do."
Bobbi kissed her cheek. "Bye, Mommy. I love you." She ran back to re-join the Nerf battle.
Melinda shook her head. Oh, they were definitely up to something, but she had more pressing things on her mind tonight. She would trust her eldest children not to get into too much trouble. Talking to her youngest was her current priority.
…
Clint didn't want to give away Lucky. They had formed a bond over the short time they had spent together, and he knew Natasha felt the same way. More than anything, Clint wanted to be able to stay in Chicago with his family, and he and Nat had spoken at length about maybe making the move back permanently, but both of them had a couple more years of college and transferring was such a pain, it almost wasn't worth it.
D.C. had always felt a long way from home, because it was. He and Natasha were luckier than most, in that they had moved away from home together, and had an apartment away from campus so they didn't have to experience the evils of living in student dorms. They had visited as often as they could, and knowing that Bobbi and Hunter were all away across the Atlantic, had somehow made them feel closer to home, closer to Nat's parents. Now that everyone was back in one place, and they were hanging out with their friends and family, well, Clint was feeling significantly more bummed about having to go back to D.C.
If they were staying in Chicago, maybe he and Nat could have kept the dog. It was unlikely, and Clint had to be honest with himself in thinking that in all actuality, as long as they were still in school, caring for such a demanding pet would be near impossible. Lucky was better off Stark and his kid.
And as much as it pained him to hand over the leash, the absolute joy on the little boy's face when he realised what was happening, was enough to convince Clint that this was the right decision. Natasha squeezed his hand and smiled. She thought so, too.
"You got me a dog?" Grant said to Tony, dropping to his knees and allowing Lucky to lick his face. Skye giggled from beside Melinda as she watched. The little girl had been like her mother's shadow for practically the whole evening.
"Well," Tony said, wrapping an arm around Pepper, "it was a last minute sort of thing. Clint and Nat saved him, and they can't take care of him, so I thought maybe we could."
Grant nodded enthusiastically. "We can. We can. I'm gonna be the best dog owner ever." He turned to Clint. "I promise I'll look after him."
Clint smiled. "I'm sure you will."
"His name is Lucky." Natasha said.
"I love him." Grant kissed Lucky and the dog licked his cheek.
"Aww." Skye smiled. "He loves you, too."
"He certainly does." Clint said. "I'm glad you love him, Grant."
"I do. And you guys can come visit him." He turned to Tony. "Can't they?"
Tony nodded. "Sure. Call first."
Clint rolled his eyes and Tony winked at him. "I don't think we could have found a better home for him."
Tony whistled and the dog looked up. "Not you." He said. "I was beckoning the Russian and her mate."
"I have a name."
"So do I." Nat muttered.
"Whatever." Tony said. "Dog party in the kitchen, but I need to talk to you two and you two." He nodded at Bobbi and half dragged Hunter out of the kitchen.
Clint followed with Nat, smiling when Skye and Grant began playing tug of war with Lucky. Phil stood by the window, eyeing the dog with contempt.
Tony closed the door behind them. "Bobbi tells me you want to go in my pool."
"You told him?" Nat thumped her sister on the arm.
"I had to." Bobbi argued. "I felt bad. My moral compass was wavering."
Clint snorted. "Why?"
"I didn't want to steal his booze to get my underage siblings drunk so that they could do drunken diving. Tony's a friend…I wanted to inform him we were doing all that."
Hunter looked to his wife. "Everything about that plan sounds amazing."
"Listen," Tony said, "I have no problem with you getting drunk. It's not illegal. Private property laws and all that."
"Huh." Clint said. "Good to know."
"But," Tony continued, "I have conditions."
Nat nodded. "Of course."
"One, you stay away from the kids. You guys get to have your own fun, but it's separate from theirs."
"Sure." Clint agreed.
"Two, be sensible. I'm not carting anyone off to the emergency room." He slapped Lance on the back. "Including you. I've already had to do that one too many times."
Hunter nodded. "Understood. We'll be adequately buzzed, but remain safe around the water at all times."
"I swear to God, if one of you dies in my pool, I'm gonna be so pissed."
"We'll be good." Nat promised. "Thank you."
"Yeah. Well, I am a nice person." He smiled. "Be good. All of you. I'm only doing this because I have some level of nostalgia that takes over me whenever Hunter and Bobbi come here. Good times."
"Remember when you vomited in my face after you drank too much Kahlua?" Lance said.
Tony smiled. "Good times."
Bobbi smirked. "I can't believe that happened more than once."
Lance grimaced. "I know."
"Here." Tony dropped a key into Bobbi's hand. "Lock up after yourselves." And went back into the kitchen.
She grinned at them. "Let's go play." Bobbi said, jumping on the spot. She grabbed Nat's hand and pulled her towards Tony's pool.
"You're twenty-five and married." Natasha laughed.
"Yeah, and sometimes it's fun to act like I'm fifteen!"
Hunter chased after them. "Wait for me! I want to relive my teenage years, too!"
Clint's family was crazy. Somehow over the past few years Clint had worked his way into this loving and outlandish family. Some people liked to go out with their friends, clubbing, dancing, other terrible things like that. But Clint, well, he was perfectly happy to spend his Monday evening drinking beers and doing backflips into a billionaire's pool. His family was awesome.
"Tasha!" He called. "I bet we could jump off the ten metre board with you on my shoulders!"
…
It wasn't difficult to get Skye away from the others. Phil was preoccupied with being terrified of Lucky, and Pepper, Tony and Grant were too involved in playingwith their new companion, to notice Skye and Melinda's absence. The rest of the kids were off doing God only knew what.
"Where are we going?" Skye asked her, holding her hand tightly in hers.
Melinda opened the French doors of one of Tony's conservatories and led Skye into the grounds. "I thought we could take a walk."
"Okay." Skye seemed content with that answer.
"We need to have a little talk." Melinda said. They walked further away from the house, towards Tony's smattering of large trees.
Skye looked up at her. "Yes. We do."
They walked all the way to the trees, and Skye let go of Melinda's hand to walk through the trunks, running her fingers over the bark. She inspected the ground next to one of them, then sat down and patted the space next to her.
"Mommy, you sit here." Skye instructed, and Melinda took a seat in the grass, back leaning against the tree. The leaves above rustled and Mel glanced up. A shadow crossed her vision. "Let's talk." Skye said, and Mel's gaze returned to her daughter, ignoring the strange shadow.
"I know that you know." Mel said. She took Skye's hand. "I don't know how you know, but I know that you know."
"I know."
Mel narrowed her eyes. "What do you know?"
Skye smirked. "I know that you know that I know, but you don't know how I know."
"You're a brat." Melinda said lovingly. She tickled Skye's side. "But I love you."
"I love you, too." Skye scooted closer, until she was practically in Melinda's lap. "I found the tests in your bathroom." She said quietly.
"Oh." Mel stroked her hair, Skye kept her eyes on her lap. "I'm sorry you had to find out like that, Skye."
"S'okay." Skye shrugged.
"It's not. I wanted to be able to tell you. Baby, I wanted to explain everything properly to you."
Skye wrapped her arms around Melinda. "Will you love me even when the baby's here?"
Melinda hugged Skye too tightly. She pulled her into her lap whether the little girl wanted it or not, and pressed her nose into her hair. "I'll love you no matter what." She managed to say without crying. The tears were trying to come, but Melinda breathed through them for Skye's sake. "I love you so much."
"But what about the baby?" Skye looked up at her with glassy eyes.
"I could have a thousand babies, and I would never stop loving you."
"You sure?"
"I've never been more sure of anything else in my entire life."
Skye tightened her arms around her. "I don't like the baby." She muttered into Mel's chest.
"No?"
"I don't want it." Skye huffed.
Melinda sighed. After hearing what Phil had to say, apparently Skye wasn't the only one. She rubbed Skye's back. "I know it's hard, honey. I know. It's hard for me, too."
"Do you love the baby?" Skye asked.
"I do."
Skye frowned. "But how?"
Melinda touched her cheek. "I just do."
"But," Skye rubbed at one of her eyes, "you don't even know the baby yet. How can you love it?"
"I love all of my babies no matter what. You, Bobbi, Nat." Mel took one of Skye's hands and pressed it to her belly. "This baby is no different."
Skye looked at where her hand rested on Mel's abdomen. "Do you think it's a boy or a girl?" She asked quietly.
"I don't know. Maybe we can find out soon."
"I don't want it to get hurt, Mommy." Skye rubbed her tummy. "I don't like it, but I don't want the baby to die."
Melinda put a hand on top of Skye's. "Why do think that would happen?"
"Grant had a baby brother." Skye said. "He drowned in the tub all alone."
Melinda hadn't known that. Tony had told her about Grant's family. An absent father, a mother on so many drugs she could barely function, brothers, one older who was in prison and would be for a very long time, and one younger who had died as a baby. She had never asked how the baby died, and Tony hadn't offered the information up.
Skye cuddled into her. "We can protect it, right?"
"We can." Mel said. She kissed Skye's hair. "You're such a good girl. You know that?"
"I am?" Skye looked up at her.
"You are. You're so special, and loving and caring and-," She had to stop, to gather herself or risk getting teary. "Skye, I promise you, baby or no baby, I will love you until the end of time."
"And we'll protect our baby?" Skye asked. "Even if it's a sucky baby and no one likes it?"
Mel smirked. "Sure." She kissed Skye's temple. "I think you're going to be an amazing big sister."
"I am." Skye said with confidence. "Because I'm going to take care of our baby even though I don't like it." She scooted down Melinda's body until her face was level with her stomach. "Hey, baby. You suck."
"Skye." Mel attempted to warn, although her struggle was now withholding laughter. "Be nice to your unborn brother or sister."
"Hey, baby. I'm gonna take care of you even though you suck."
Mel rolled her eyes. "I guess that's a little better."
Skye sat back on her heels. "Is it still a secret?"
"Only you and me, kid. We're the only ones who know." Melinda beckoned Skye back over, and the little girl retook her place on her lap. "That makes you very special."
"I promise I'll keep it a secret, Mommy. And I'll take care of you when you're not feeling good."
Mel rocked Skye, patting her back. "Me feeling sick is normal, you know." She told Skye. "The baby just makes me feel a little sick sometimes."
"Miss Potts said that."
"You asked her?"
"I didn't tell her." Skye said quickly. "I just asked about it." She rested her head on Melinda's chest and put her thumb in her mouth. "I'm glad you're okay."
Mel didn't have the heart to tell Skye to stop sucking her thumb, so she just left her to it. "I'm going to get so fat." She mumbled to herself.
"I don't care." Skye slurred around her thumb. "I'll love you anyway."
Mel grinned. "You will?"
"Mmhm." Her eyes were closed and her fingers rubbed the hem of Mel's shirt.
Mel poked her side. "Don't fall asleep on me, Skye."
Her little eyes fluttered open, but the thumb remained in her mouth. "Phil is the baby's Daddy?"
Melinda frowned. "Of course."
Skye took her thumb out of her mouth. "He's my Daddy, too?"
"He is." Melinda said. She stroked Skye's hair, still a little sweaty from running around. "If you want him to be."
"I do." Skye closed her eyes again. "I've got a Mommy and a Daddy."
"You do." Mel kissed her.
"And I've got big sisters, and a Clint and a Hunter."
Melinda sniggered. "Not many people have a Clint and a Hunter. They're very unique."
Skye nodded. "And I've got a stupid baby." Despite her words, her tone was fond.
"Yep." Mel said with a smirk. "You've got that, too."
Skye's thumb worked its way back into her mouth, and the little girl hooked her fingers over her nose. "I love you, Mommy." She mumbled. "Baby, I don't hate you."
Melinda smiled and shook her head. Well, she thought, it was better than nothing.
The trees above rustled again, and Melinda swore she heard someone yelp. It went quiet quickly, and Mel put it out of her mind, content to cuddle will her baby girl for just a little longer.
A/N:Reviews make me happy, so does cake, but I'd prefer reviews than cake coming through my letterbox. :) xx