A/N:Hey! Sorry to you guys I promised this chapter to and said it would be up yesterday. I didn't leave myself enough time to proof it so here it is today. I hope you enjoy it.

To all of you lovely people who commented, reviewed, tweeted, and inboxed me on tumblr about Shannon Carter in the last chapter, thanks for the fun speculations, but none of you got it right. Haha. Shannon is different to 'Sharon', but hey, I'm giving you all gold stars for effort and permission to do some googling now.

I love you ALL. xxx

Bobbi would be a good mommy, Skye thought, as she watched her big sister potter around the unfamiliar kitchen of the house, making food for her and Hunter. She wasn't Skye's Mommy, and Skye didn't want her to be, she was happy with Bobbi being her big sister, but Bobbi would be a good mommy to someone else.

Skye sat at the kitchen table with a glass of juice she had yet to touch and looked around at the bare walls. At home they had photographs on almost all of the walls, and in the kitchen Mommy and Daddy had put up some of Bobbi's drawings that Skye liked to look at when she ate her breakfast. This house didn't have any pictures.

The house was nice, clean, and it had a bedroom for Skye that overlooked the backyard, just like hers did at home. It wasn't the same, but it was something familiar, at least. Except, the house was so clean and so tidy that it felt like being in someone else's home, which Skye supposed was true. Hunter had said that the house belonged to Tony but it was theirs' to live in for a little while. It made her feel like she shouldn't touch anything. It felt like it always did when Skye was dropped at a new foster home and the only thing she knew about her new home was the names of the people who lived there. It didn't feel right.

"Here you are, beautiful." Bobbi said, putting a plate of food down for Skye and kissing her on the top of her head.

"Thanks." Skye said automatically, but made no move to eat the food. Her tummy was still hurting and as hungry as she had been earlier in the day, now she just didn't feel like eating.

Hunter was on the phone in the other room. Skye couldn't exactly hear what he was saying because the kitchen door was closed, but from the muffled tones that occasionally rose to him almost shouting, Skye could tell he wasn't happy. His face had looked worried when the phone had rang about twenty minutes earlier and he had taken a look at the caller I.D.

"Who is Hunter talking to?" Skye asked Bobbi, resting her cast on the table and pushing back the plate of chicken nuggets.

Bobbi wiped at nothing around the sink and sighed before dumping the cloth in the basin, sitting down next to Skye. She picked up one of the nuggets and held it out to her.

"Come on, sweetie, eat up." Bobbi said. "You must be starving."

Skye shrugged. She really wasn't in the mood for the food but the look on Bobbi's face guilted her into taking it anyway. She nibbled on the breadcrumbs then returned the food to her plate. "Who's on the phone?" She asked again.

This time Bobbi didn't sigh, but she looked like she might cry. Skye didn't like that.

"M'sorry." Skye mumbled, sliding off her chair and climbing up onto Bobbi's lap. She brushed Bobbi's hair out of her face. "You don't have to tell me if it makes you sad."

Bobbi smiled and kissed her. "It doesn't exactly make me sad," she said, and then frowned, "I mean, it does, but…it's hard to explain."

"Okay." Skye said, even though she didn't really understand how explaining who Hunter was talking to could be difficult.

"Lance is talking to his mom." Bobbi said, then cuddled Skye closer. "She's not like our mom, she's not so nice all of the time."

Skye nodded in understanding. "I know what that's like."

Bobbi nodded. "Me, too. Some parents just aren't cut out for it."

"Hunter's mommy is not a good mommy?"

Bobbi breathed heavily through her nose. "She used to be, a long time ago when Hunter was very little, but…" she trailed off and grimaced when the sound of Hunter's voice, particularly loud, carried through into the kitchen. "Did you know Hunter has a little sister?"

Skye cocked her head at the change in topic, but nodded nonetheless. "Yes. He told me once."

"Well," Bobbi said, "Lance's little sister is just a little bit older than you. She lives with their mom, and with Lance's stepdad."

"Okay." Skye said.

"But Hunter wants for her to come and live with us." Bobbi said. She smiled and little hugged Skye tighter.

Skye smiled back. "If she came to live with you then she could be my friend." She was sure that if Lance's little sister was anything like him, then they would be fast friends. Skye really liked Hunter. "She could be in my class at school."

"Maybe." Bobbi said. "But she can't come live with us right now because her mom and dad don't want her to leave them."

"They might miss her." Skye said by way of explanation.

Bobbi looked to the closed door. "Somehow I doubt that." She muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." Bobbi said. "Anyway, Hunter has been trying to convince his mom to let his sister come live with us for a while, but he's really trying hard right now because his stepdad wants to move to a different country and doesn't want to let Hunter see her again."

Skye looked up at Bobbi, scandalised. She couldn't believe that anyone wouldn't want Lance to be in their lives. He was awesome. "Is Hunter's stepdad stupid?"

Bobbi sniggered. "He's really stupid." She said, then rubbed Skye's back. "He's also mean and we don't like that Jemma is still living with him."

"Jemma?" Skye asked.

Bobbi nodded. "That's Lance's sister's name."

"I like that name. Jemma." Skye tried it out on her tongue. "Jemma. I'd be Jemma's friend."

"I know you would be. You'd be a good friend." Bobbi rocked her a little. "You're such a good girl."

Skye closed her eyes and leaned into Bobbi. "Not all of the time." She said quietly. "If I was good, I'd be allowed to see Mommy and Daddy."

Bobbi pulled back from her, but kept her arms firmly wrapped around Skye's middle. Her expression was sad and she was frowning. "Honey, that's not why you can't see Mom and Dad. No. Skye, don't you ever think any of this is your fault."

Skye didn't understand. Everything bad happened because of her. Everything. "If it wasn't for me, none of this would have happened. It was because I was bad."

"No." Bobbi said firmly. "That's not true. There was a car accident, and that's awful, but it wasn't because of you."

"Then why did it happen?"

Bobbi hugged her close. "Some things just happen, and there are no reasons. They're no one's fault." She looked at Skye and held her chin gently so she couldn't look away. "This was not your fault, Skye."

"Okay." Skye said quietly, unconvinced.

"Say it."

"Huh?"

"Say it, Skye. 'This was not my fault'."

Skye looked dumbly at Bobbi. "I have to say it?"

"Yeah." Bobbi said. "You know, saying is believing."

Skye cocked an eyebrow at her. "I thought 'seeing' was believing."

Something passed over Bobbi's face and she shook her head. "Whatever. Just say it. 'This was not my fault'."

Skye resisted rolling her eyes only because she loved her eldest sister so much, but really she didn't actually believe that saying it would make her feel any better. But Bobbi was waiting for her so Skye sucked it up. "This was not my fault." The words felt weird coming out of her mouth, like she was simply parroting Bobbi and putting in no thought, which, she guessed was exactly what was happening.

"Hey," Bobbi said in a tone that suggested they were changing the subject, "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What?" Skye asked.

Bobbi smirked. "How come I had to find out about Mom being pregnant from Hunter when you apparently knew the whole time?"

Skye shrugged sheepishly. "I found out on accident, like Hunter. Except I wasn't in a tree." She had found that story pretty amusing when Hunter had told her about it in the car on the way over to the house.

Bobbi nodded. "So, how do you feel?"

"About what?"

Her sister rolled her eyes. "The baby. How do you feel about Mom being pregnant?"

Skye really didn't know how she felt. At first she hadn't liked the baby, had been a little jealous of the child in her Mommy's tummy, but now…well, things were different. Skye missed Mommy so much, so much, and all she wanted was to see her and cuddle her and kiss her. But Skye didn't just miss Mommy, she kind of missed the baby, too.

"Sometimes I talk to the baby, you know." Skye told Bobbi. "She listens to me."

Bobbi smirked. "She?"

"Mmhm." Skye nodded. "Or he. Sometimes I think it's a boy. Right now I think she's a girl."

"Oh, I see." Bobbi was grinning. "So you like the baby?"

"I think so." Skye said. "I'm not sure, though. I've never met the baby. It might be horrible."

Bobbi laughed again. "Not with you as a big sister." She ruffled Skye's hair. "You'll teach the baby to be a good person."

Skye nodded. "Yeah, and I'm gonna help give her baths and stuff."

"Sounds good." Bobbi handed Skye another chicken nugget and the kitchen door opened to reveal a rather disgruntled-looking Hunter. Bobbi looked up at him. "Everything okay, Teacup?"

Hunter sat down in Skye's vacated seat at the table and stuffed a nugget into his mouth. "Later." He mumbled and gave Skye a poignant look.

Bobbi nodded. "Later."

"So," Lance said, taking a deep breath and smiling at Skye, "we brought lots of your stuff from home. Do you want to play for a little while?"

Skye didn't feel like playing. She didn't really feel like doing anything if she was being honest, and Hunter apparently seemed to sense this because he changed tactics.

"Or we could read one of your books?" He suggested. "Have a quiet night?"

"Yeah." Skye agreed.

They had brought lots of her stuff from home, more than Skye had really wanted to bring with her, but Bobbi had insisted. Skye wasn't stupid, she knew her big sister's reasoning. Bobbi seemed to think that the more familiar things she surrounded Skye with, the more comfortable she would be. And perhaps there was a little truth in that, Skye did feel a lot better back in her own clothes over the hospital pyjamas, but there was still an aching hollowness inside of her that she couldn't seem to chase away, no matter how many toys or books or blankets from home she had with her.

"Come on, littlun, you can pick the story." Lance stood and held out his hand to Skye. She slid off Bobbi's lap and put the chicken back on the plate, taking his hand and following Hunter into the living room.

Hunter had put most of Skye's stuff in the bedroom upstairs, but he'd left a couple of boxes of books and toys in the living room. They looked out of place in the too-tidy space, sort of like Skye felt. At home the toys all had their place, and even though it wasn't really tidy, nothing looked like it didn't belong.

Skye eyed the Barbies on top of one of the boxes, lying static on top of a board game that Skye sometimes played with Clint. She hadn't really wanted to help with the packing, so had sat on the couch with Bobbi while Hunter threw things into the crates. He had only brought three Barbies, but he had managed to pick out her favourites, and for that Skye was grateful. Seeing them however, made her feel more uneasy than comforted.

The toy waiting for her on the couch, however, well, that toy made everything feel okay. Made everything feel like it should be, even if only for a few moments. Skye let go of Hunter's hand to rush forward and liberate Mr. Snow from the couch pillows. Hunter had packed most of everything, but Skye had made sure to bring her faithful polar bear. She had left him to sit on the couch when Hunter was on the phone to keep him company, but now Skye was glad to have him back.

"I bet he missed you when you in hospital." Hunter said, flopping back onto the couch and propping his feet up on the coffee table.

"He did." Skye said quietly, hugging the bear tightly. "He doesn't like being on his own."

Lance's smile was soft. "Being lonely isn't much fun, is it?" He said. Skye shook her head. "But he's not lonely anymore, right?"

Skye paused, looking down into Mr. Snow's warm dark eyes. She could see a warped tiny reflection of herself in them. "He's not lonely." She said. "He's got me, and you, and Bobbi, and Natasha, and Clint…"she trailed off. "He misses Mommy and Daddy, though."

Hunter nodded. "It's hard, isn't it?"

"Yeah." Skye pressed her nose into Mr. Snow's soft fur. He smelled like Mommy's bed, which made no sense because Skye had left him in her own bed, so maybe she was just imagining it, but he was comforting. Although he made her miss Mommy and Daddy even more.

Lance tapped her shoulder. "Go and pick out a book, yeah? We'll see if I'm any good at doing the voices."

"You're good at voices when we play spies." Skye kneeled down to sift through the small pile of books they had brought, but ended up picking the one on the top anyway. She climbed up onto the soft next to Hunter and gave him the book.

He inspected the cover for a second and raised an eyebrow at her. "No Captain Patriotism today?"

"Captain America." She corrected. "And only Daddy's allowed to read me Captain America."

"I see." Lance smiled. He wrapped an arm around Skye's waist to reach around and put the book between them.

Skye rearranged Mr. Snow on her lap so that he could see the pictures, too.

"Are you sitting comfortable?" Hunter said in a posh voice. Skye couldn't help but smile a little when she nodded. He turned to the first page. "Then I'll begin."

…

Melinda knew Natasha and Clint were worried about her and Phil. The kids were trying to be subtle in their efforts to aid everything she and Phil were doing, but they were failing miserably, and their concern was beginning to grate on her nerves. That in itself made Melinda feel infinitely guilty, because when Nat was opening doors for her and when Clint refused to let her carry anything, she knew they were only trying to help. It was just, well, it was getting irritating.

Not only that, but in the time she had spent with Nat and Clint since they had returned to the hospital and drove them back home, they had been avoiding mentioning Skye at all, only having said she was 'with Bobbi and Hunter at one of Tony's houses' and that she was 'fine'. Mel had tried to ask more but the kids had deferred to other subjects and had begun doing housework and chores. It was the most obvious ploy to stop talking Mel had ever seen.

"Would you like some tea, Mom?" Nat asked for the third time since they arrived home.

Mel shook her head and tried to feign a relaxed pose on the living room couch. Her eyes caught where some of Skye's DVDs had been taken off the shelf by the TV and she had to swallow past the lump in her throat.

"Can I get you anything?" Nat asked. She stood at one end of the room, chewing on her bottom lip and scratching her fingernails over the pockets of her jeans.

"No, thank you." Phil said. He smiled at Natasha. "Why don't you go up to bed, honey. You didn't sleep much last night."

Mel eyed the dark circles under Natasha's eyes. For a long time, Nat had been terrible for sleeping, putting up a fight when it came to every bedtime and being awake and wandering the house hours before the crack of dawn. That had been a long time ago, before Mel was 'Mom' and before even Clint had been a part of the family. Natasha had changed a lot over the years. Melinda no longer had to worry about her not sleeping, the kid could quite happily go to bed at ten pm and not wake up until after lunch the next day, so when she went back to not sleeping, it was a real concern.

Nat sighed heavily, then frowned and tried to cover it with a cough. "I'm not tired."

"Don't lie." Mel said and Nat looked at her feet and chewed her lip. "And please don't bite your mouth. Are you tired, Natasha?"

"No." The teenager murmured. "I'm going to see Clint." She went back into the kitchen and Melinda leaned her head on the back of the couch and closed her eyes.

"She's going to run herself down." Phil said beside her. "I'll see if I can get Clint to convince her to take a nap."

"Yeah." Mel agreed, rubbing at her closed eyes. They felt gritty and sore. "I worry about her."

"I know." Phil took one of her hands. "But we can only do so much. She's an adult now." He sighed. "They all are, well, except…" He trailed off and Mel opened her eyes.

"Skye." She supplied and he nodded. "It's okay to say her name, you know." Mel snapped. "She's not taboo." Her tone was cutting, and she knew she was being unnecessarily mean, but it just felt as though everyone was walking on egg shells around her when it came to Skye. Nat and Clint wouldn't talk about her and now Phil. Mel wanted nothing more than to gush over her baby girl because even though it hurt, and it really did hurt to talk about Skye, she missed her. Melinda missed her so much and she needed to talk about her.

"I'm sorry." Phil said quietly. He squeezed her hand. "I just didn't want to upset you."

"It's okay." Mel said. "Skye's not here. I'm in a permanent state of being 'upset', but us not talking about her is just wrong, Phil. She's our little girl."

He nodded. "She's our life."

"She is."

Mel looked again at the gap in the row of DVDs where someone, presumably Bobbi or Hunter, had taken out some of Skye's favourites. She tried to imagine her little Skye in a different house, curled up on a different sofa watching her movies on an unfamiliar TV. It made her want to burst into tears with the only solace coming from the knowledge that she was now safe with Bobbi and Hunter, rather than back in the orphanage. Mel trusted Bobbi to care for her baby, but God, did she miss her.

"I need some time." Melinda said. She pulled her hand away and stood up. "Just a little while."

Phil nodded and stood after her. He kissed her cheek let his forehead rest against her temple for a few seconds. "I'm going to do some work in the garage."

Phil doing work in the garage generally meant he was going to read in the one room in the house the kids weren't allowed unsupervised when they were younger, essentially the only place he was almost guaranteed to not be disturbed. Melinda watched him off into the garage and took her own trip upstairs.

She stood for a moment, frozen in the upstairs hallway, looking between all of the doors. Melinda had intended to go to her own room, to try and take a nap, or to simply lie and reflect of the past couple of days, give herself some time to sulk, but instead she was drawn to another room.

The new little painted sign on Skye's bedroom door welcomed her into 'Skye's Bedroom' with a beautiful background of blue sky and a bright sunshine with a hot air balloon on one corner. Bobbi had done a good job, Mel thought, tracing the little balloon with her fingers and smiling when she realised there was a little white bear painted inside the basket.

The room wasn't the same without Skye. It seemed darker, bigger somehow, like a void rather than a safe place for her little girl to sleep. But then Melinda breathed in a shuddering breath and the smell was exactly like it should have been. It made her attempts at stopping the tears fall obsolete.

Melinda closed Skye's door behind her and climbed into Skye's bed, tucking herself under the duvet and pressing her nose into her baby's pillow. The tears dampened the cotton underneath her cheek, but the overwhelming hollowness she felt at Skye's absence meant she couldn't bring herself to care. The fluffy blue blanket she had bought for Skye before she had first arrived was gone, along with Mr. Snow. The bed felt empty.

"We miss your big sister a lot." Mel whispered with a hand on her stomach. It was still too early to feel anything but Melinda imagined the baby was listening. "I'm trying to stay calm for you, little one." She said. "I don't want to hurt you, little one."

Staying calm in such a horrific situation was more difficult than Doctor Banner gave the impression of. Saying 'don't allow yourself to get stressed' was significantly easier than being the person who had to put it into practice.

Her crying had slowed enough that Melinda could speak a little easier, and turning her back to the door and scooping up some of Skye's worn pyjamas off the bottom of the bed to hug close, she began rubbing her belly.

"I'll tell you about you big sister, Skye, should I?" She whispered to the baby. Melinda reached into her back pocket and pulled one of the sonogram images out. She put in down on Skye's pillow and spoke in a low voice.

"Skye. She's a very special person, you know. You're going to be in good hands with a big sister like her." Mel smiled a little, talking a deep breath of Skye's pyjama top. "She's brave, and funny, and clever. And we love her very much. We love Skye more than the world, don't we? Yes. And when she comes home, little one, we're going to make sure she never leaves us again."

Mel nodded to herself, feeling the damp fabric of the pillowcase against her ear. "When Skye comes home, we're going to make sure she's home forever."

…

By the time Tony had left Bobbi and Hunter's house (ahem, his house he was loaning them), Pepper and Grant had both left for school. He had spoken to Pepper during the night, gave her the run down of events and had then called again in the early hours for an update and to tell Grant he loved and missed him and that he'd be home soon.

Tony had never been particularly good at expressing his emotions in any other way than sulking and tantrums, even as a child, and as ay young adult the trend had only worsened. For Grant, though, he tried his best.

His mother had been loving, but absent, placing work as a higher priority than her son, and his father, well, at one point Tony might have accused the man of being neglectful and abusive, but after becoming friends with Melinda and Phil, and by extension, Bobbi and Hunter, he had had to re-evaluate his father's parenting.

Thousands of dollars worth of therapy had done nothing more than make Tony bitter and resentful of his father, but one drunken night early in his friendship with Bobbi, she had spoken only briefly about the abuse she had suffered at the hands of her uncle and Tony's whole mirage of an abusive father came crashing down.

Howard Stark hadn't been a great father, hadn't by any stretch of the imagination been even a satisfactory parent, but on hearing Bobbi's stories and eventually some of Hunter's, Tony understood that what Howard had done hadn't been neglect or abuse, not really. He had spoken to Pepper about this realisation on more than one occasion, and each time she tried to convince him that abuse and suffering couldn't be quantified, that it was the effect it had on the person that mattered. Tony got that, he did, but what he wanted her to understand was that, he felt better.

Tony could sleep easier at night knowing that he hadn't been hated by his father, that Howard hadn't really been so bad, that there were people worse off. It was an awful thought that Tony felt better that other had been hurt worse than he had been as a child, but for some reason, it helped. He didn't like that it helped, but it did.

Tony Stark would never be an abuse father, it just wasn't in him, the thought of hurting a child made him feel physically sick, but for so many nights Tony had lay awake worrying that if he did even become responsible for a little human, that he would become distant and essentially, his father. He had Grant now, he had his little boy, and Tony had vowed to him that he would be the father he'd wanted as a child, not the father he'd had.

Grant had made Tony want to be better. He was making him better.

Tony was hovering in the kitchen, trying to decide whether it would be more beneficial to go and take a nap rather than to have yet another cup of coffee, when the distinctive sound of the front door opening drew him into the hall.

Before anyone else, Lucky the dog scampered in and jumped up at Tony, putting his paws on his chest.

"Hey, you." Tony said to the dog, ruffling his fur and coaxing him back onto all four paws. "I forgot about you. I'm sorry." He pressed a guilty kiss to the dog's muzzle. "It's been a busy couple of days." He tried to explain to Lucky, but the dog trotted into the kitchen, more interested in the water bowl by the door.

"Tony, you're home." Grant said, rushing into the house and dropping his backpack in the middle of the hall.

Tony bent down slightly to catch the little boy in a hug when he threw himself at him, and stood up straight with Grant still clinging on. The kid was really a bit too tall for Tony to carry him, but he allowed Grant a few seconds of mid-air hugs before he gently put him back down and tucked him into his side with one arm.

"I missed you." Tony told Grant, kissing his head. He saw Pepper come in and close the door in his periphery. "I love you."

Grant smiled up at him. "I love you, too."

The sound of Grant's words always made Tony feel special. It had been a conscious decision when Grant had first moved in over a year ago to tell the child that he was loved and to let him know that on the occasions Tony was away on business, that he missed Grant. These days he didn't really have to think about it much, the admissions came naturally, and Grant's seemed that way, too.

Tony held out his other arm for Pepper. She dropped her bags next to Grant's, being uncharacteristically messy, and accepted Tony's offer of a hug. She wrapped an arm around Grant, too and the three of them stood in a group hug in silence for a few moments.

"Skye wasn't in school today." Grant said suddenly. He still had his face pressed into Tony's shirt and his eyes closed when he spoke.

Tony glanced at Pepper. She had mentioned over the phone that she had explained the situation to Grant best she could, but the little boy obviously wasn't entirely certain of what was going on. How could he be? Tony wasn't even entirely certain.

"She's okay." Tony went with, and Grant opened his eyes to look up at him. "Skye's fine, she's just going to be staying with Bobbi and Hunter for a little while."

Grant frowned. "Pepper said she got hurt in a car crash."

"She did. But not badly." Tony stroked his hair. "She broke her wrist, but they fixed her all up at the hospital and now she's fine."

"What about her Mom and Dad? Why isn't she with them?" Everything about Grant's questions exuded worry, and Tony wanted nothing more than to assure him that everything was going to be alright and that everything was going to be back to normal very soon, but he didn't know that.

Tony kissed Pepper's cheek and unwrapped his arm from around her so he could give Grant his whole attention. He bent down to his level and put a hand on each of his shoulders. "Skye's Mom and Dad got hurt in the crash, too, and before Skye can go back to live with them, we just have to make sure that they can take care of her."

Grant frowned. "But they can."

It was so difficult to explain the happenings to a child. Tony nodded. "We know that Skye's Mom and Dad are great, right?"

Grant nodded enthusiastically.

"Right." Tony continued. "But there are some people who don't know Mel and Phil and they need to see what good parents they are, so they can make sure Skye is safe."

"Social workers." Grant said.

"Yeah."

Grant looked from Tony to Pepper. "The social workers took Skye away from her Mom and Dad?"

Tony said, "Yes" at the same time as Pepper said "Not exactly" and Grant looked between them with an expression of horror.

The little boy's lip quivered and he grabbed onto Tony's hands on his shoulders. "Will the social workers come and take me away from you guys?"

"No. No, honey." Tony said quickly, picking up Grant and holding him in his arms. Too big or not, Tony was going to hold his little boy until he believed he was never going to be taken away.

Pepper kissed Grant's cheeks and held his face in her hands, wiping away the tears that had started with her thumbs. "Oh, sweetheart." She cooed. "Sweet boy, don't cry, don't worry. You're never leaving us."

Grant sniffled. "M'not?"

"No." Tony said with finality. "Just because it happened to Skye, doesn't mean it will happen with you." He held the back of Grant's head and stroked his thumb over the short hair there.

"I wanna stay with you forever." Grant said as the tears stopped. "I wanna be with you forever."

Pepper smiled. "You will be." She said. "I promise."

"I promise, too." Tony agreed. He tightened his grip on Grant, ignoring the strain in his arms. "I love you."

Grant laid his head on Tony's shoulder, a gesture that made Tony want to cry. He bit the inside of his cheek and kissed the top of his son's head.

"I love you." Pepper said, and rubbed Grant's back.

He lifted his head to give her a kiss. "I love you." Grant turned and kissed Tony. "I love you, too, Tony."

"Good." Tony coughed a little to dispel the lump in his throat. "And don't you ever forget, this home, with me and Pep, this is your forever home."

"Forever and ever." Grant smiled, then looked towards the kitchen at the sound of lapping water. "And Lucky's forever home.

"Yes." Tony grinned. "His, too. Even if I did forget he lived here until like five minutes ago."

Grant laughed and Tony let him down. The little boy gave Tony and quick but tight hug, and gave Pepper the same, before running off in search of his new canine friend. Tony smiled and watched as Grant played with Lucky until a thought occurred to him and he turned to Pepper.

"Did you take the dog to school?" He asked.

She tucked herself back into his side and shrugged. "I couldn't leave him here all alone. He's barely been here a day."

"Yeah, but, can you take a dog to school?"

Pepper smirked. "Principal Weaver wasn't too happy when I turned up with him this morning, but he's a one-eyed rescue dog called 'Lucky'. She could hardly turn him away."

Tony smiled. "So what? He's like the school mascot now or something?"

"God, no." Pepper laughed. "I said Weaver couldn't turn him away, not that she liked him. I told her it was a one-time thing. Not sure she'd be too pleased if I tried it again."

"Well, good thing I'm here." Tony kissed Pepper's temple and she hummed. "Lucky can keep me company when you guys are at school."

The dog in question sped from the kitchen at that moment, chasing after a small rubber ball that bounced its way down the hall. Grant appeared in the doorway and smiled guiltily.

"I'm not supposed to throw balls in the house." He said. "Sorry."

Pepper smiled. "As long as you don't do it again. We don't want to get anything broken."

Lucky returned with the ball proudly and dropped it at Tony's feet, who immediately picked it up and threw it back down the hall at top speed. Pepper opened her mouth to chastise him when there was the distinctive sound of something shattering.

Tony grimaced. "Whoops?"

Pepper glared at him. "I swear if that was the antique Wedgewood vase…" She never finished the threat, instead taking off the direction of the smash.

Grant followed her, shooting a little grin over his shoulder at Tony.

Tony huffed. "It was ugly, anyway." He called after them. "And why do we even have antique vases when we have a nine year old? I mean come on, that's just stupid. They're bound to get broken!"

Grant poked his head back around the corner. "I'm not the one who broke it." He argued. "I've never ever broken an antique vase. How many have you broken?"

Tony huffed. "Only three."

"Four!" Pepper corrected. He couldn't see her, but he could feel the radiating anger.

Grant smirked. "You're in trouble." He sang.

"I am." Tony groaned. "Want to come down to the lab with me until Pep doesn't want to kill me anymore?" He dropped his volume a little. "I'll let you do some soldering."

"Agreed."

Tony ushered Grant towards his lab. "I'm such a good parent."

…

It was nice to just sit quietly in the lab, Grant thought. Tony had offered to let him do some of the dangerous things that Pepper would never approve of in a million years, stuff that involved high temperatures and acids, stuff that was usually fun, but today Grant had declined. Today he was quite happy to sit on the ground by Tony's desk and make spaceships with his Lego set.

Grant had his own desk in the lab he could sit at, just across the room from Tony's, but he'd felt a little shaken up all day since Pepper had explained what had happened with Skye, and Grant really just wanted the reassurance of being beside Tony. He had been particularly clingy to Pepper at school, to the point where Pepper had just let him work at her desk all day and stay inside at recess. Now it was Tony's turn.

"So," Tony said, putting a hand on the top of Grant's head, "have you thought about your birthday any more?"

Grant looked up at him. "What about my birthday?"

"It's on Saturday." Tony smiled. "Do you know what you want, yet?"

He'd be lying if Grant said he hadn't thought about it. His last birthday had been the first one he'd spent with Pepper and Tony and it had been great. He'd got a party and everything, and in the run up to this year's, the excitement had been even greater. But now, he couldn't really focus on what toys he'd like to get or where he would like to go to celebrate, when thoughts of his friend, Skye, had settled themselves in his mind.

"I don't know." Grant shrugged. He set about stacking some Lego into a tower, abandoning the instructions to make a spaceship.

Tony ruffled his hair. "Maybe we could go and play laser tag on Saturday? Or paintballing?"

Agent Ward thought that paintballing sounded really cool, but Grant remembered that Skye was hurt.

"Skye has a broken wrist." He said sadly. The Lego tower fell over and broke into a few lumps of plastic. "She can't go paintballing."

"We can do something else. Anything you want."

Grant flicked a stray Lego block and it skittered across the ground. Lucky had joined them in the lab and the dog chased the piece of plastic, sniffed it, then went back to chewing on his ball.

Tony got out of his desk chair and sat himself down by Grant's side on the floor. "Are you worried about Skye?" He asked quietly. Grant looked at his hands. "Hey," Tony nudged his shoulder, "it's okay to be worried. It's okay to miss her."

It was okay. Tony and Pepper told him things like that often. It was okay to cry, and it was okay to tell someone you loved them, and it was okay to ask for hugs when you needed them, and after one of the kids at school had made fun of Grant for hugging Pepper, Tony had taken to telling him an awful lot that is was okay to show someone you loved them with hugs and kisses and kind words. It especially didn't matter if you were a boy or a girl. Boys were allowed to love and cry and miss people, too.

"Is she sad?" Grant asked eventually. He had lots of concerns for his best friend, but whether she was happy was top of the list.

Tony smiled sadly. "I expect she's a bit upset because she'll be missing her Mom and Dad, but she's not alone, she's with Bobbi and Hunter."

"I hope she's not sad."

"Me, too." Tony hugged him and Grant cuddled into his side.

"I missed you today." Grant murmured.

Tony rubbed his back. "Yeah? I missed you, too."

Grant had felt a little off all day and he suspected some of it had more to do with Tony's absence than Skye's. On normal school days it was Grant's job to go in and wake Tony before they left for school, and he would get to spend ten minutes cuddling with his foster father and talking about anything he wanted until Pepper came in and told him it was time to go.

Tony hadn't been there this morning.

"Are you going to be gone tomorrow morning?" He asked.

"No. It was an anomaly. I'll be here tomorrow."

"Good." Grant hugged him a little tighter. "And I definitely get to stay with you and Pepper?"

Tony sighed. "Forever. I promise, you're staying with us forever." He kissed his head. "I'm never going to let anyone take you from me, okay?"

Grant nodded. Tony sounded so certain that he couldn't help but believe him. "Okay." He cocked his head to one side. "What if someone tried to take me away?"

Tony grinned. "Oh, well, I'd totally beat them up."

"You would?" Grant shifted onto his knees and smiled up at Tony.

"Sure." Tony puffed out his chest. "I'm pretty badass like that."

Grant giggled. Tony always swore when he thought Pepper couldn't hear him. "You could build a robot to beat up the bad guys." Grant said. "A robot with lasers in his hands. And it can fly."

Tony twisted his face. "Nah. Using an android's to impersonal." He scratched at his goatee. "Maybe I could build some kind of robotic suit, though…"

"No one is building a robotic suit." Pepper said, walking into the lab. She had her hands on her hips but she was smiling a little. "No robots."

"Aww." Both Grant and Tony moaned simultaneously.

She waved them off and instead leaned down to pet Lucky. "I've cleared away the very expensive broken vase, in case you were wondering." She gave Tony a poignant look. "That was a gift from someone to you father, you know."

He smiled apologetically. "I know, and I'm sorry I broke it, Pep." He sighed. "But, come on, it was ugly. So ugly."

Pepper shook her head and tucked some hair behind her ears. "Yeah," she resigned, "it was pretty ugly."

Tony grinned at Grant and the little boy smiled back.

"Listen, I'm going to start dinner so I'll call you up when it's ready." Pepper said. She paused in the doorway and looked between Tony and Grant sitting on the ground. "Everything okay?" She was looking at Grant when she asked it.

Grant took a moment to consider. No. Everything wasn't okay. Skye wasn't with her Mom and Dad and she had been hurt and she hadn't been at school today. But she was safe, and Grant was sure he was safe and that he was always going to be safe with Tony and Pepper.

"I'm okay." He said as a compromise and leaned into Tony's side. And he was okay, Grant was more than okay, he was really happy.

"Good." Pepper smiled and when she left the lab, Lucky dutifully followed her out, ball in his mouth.

Tony squeezed Grant's shoulder. "What about presents?" He asked, adding a few more Lego bricks to complete Grant's spaceship. "Are you sure you can't think of anything you'd like for your birthday? It's a big birthday."

"It is?" Grant frowned.

"Sure." Tony grinned. "You're gonna be ten. Double digits! The big one-oh. Being ten is awesome." He handed Grant the completed spaceship.

The rocket didn't look like the picture on the box, but he didn't care. Tony had made it way cooler. Grant smiled up at him. "What were you like when you were ten?"

Tony raised an eyebrow. "You want to know about ten year old me?" Grant nodded. "Well," Tony said, "I wasn't nearly as awesome as I am now."

"I bet you were cool." Grant said.

"I was an idiot." Tony said seriously. "Way smart, but still an idiot. Not like you." He plucked the spaceship out of his hand and flew it into the side of Grant's head, making him chuckle. "I did stupid stuff, got in trouble a lot."

"Did your Dad get mad at you?" Grant frowned at the flicker of something unfamiliar across Tony's face. He had never spoken to Grant much about his parents, other than that they were both dead, but occasionally he would mention getting in trouble with his father.

Tony nodded. "He would shout at me sometimes." He said, stroking some of Grant's longer hair at the front out of his face. "I won't ever shout at you like that."

"But what if I'm bad?" Grant asked. "I wouldn't mind if you shouted at me." He said honestly. "I would be sad, but I would deserve it."

"No one deserves to be shouted out when they do something wrong." Tony said seriously. "People make mistakes, and maybe they need to be punished but there are better ways than just shouting."

Usually, Grant trusted everything Tony and Pepper said, but that just didn't seem to make sense. "But, I thought that's what dads were for? I thought dads shouted at you when you were bad and told you to go to your room and stuff like that." He frowned a little. "I dunno. I can't remember having a dad when I was with my Mom."

"Neither of us had had much experience with good dads, huh?" Tony said.

Grant shrugged. "Maybe not, but I think you're doing a pretty good job. 'Specially if dads aren't meant to shout." He put his head on Tony's shoulder. "You never shout at me."

Tony wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "I'm doing a good job?"

"Yeah." Grant smiled. "I think you are. You're a good dad."

Tony swallowed hard and cleared his throat. "Am, am I your dad?"

Grant paused and looked at the spaceship still in one of Tony's hands. "I think so." He said. "You do all of the good 'dad' things." It was then that Grant considered how Tony felt about their relationship. "Are you my dad? Do you wanna be?"

Tony wrapped Grant up in his arms and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Yeah." He said, but it came out a little choked. He coughed again. "Yeah. I'm your dad, Grant. I love you, I'll be your dad…"

"Forever?" Grant asked, looking up at Tony.

"Yeah. Forever." Tony smiled down at him.

Grant grinned so much that his cheeks started to ache. He chuckled and took the Lego spaceship out of Tony's hand. He smirked. "Are you crying, Tony?"

Tony gave him a fake glare. "We were having a moment. Forgive me for feeling."

Grant laughed.

"Hey." Tony poked him in the side. "Real men cry."

"I know." Grant said. He flew the ship into Tony's head and made it flip a few times through the air until he landed it on the floor. He shuffled forward on his knees and reached out to Tony with both arms, hugging him tightly around the neck.

"I love you." Tony told him, hugging him back. "You're my son, my little boy and I love you."

"I love you, too." Grant said, then pulled back slightly to look him in the eye. "And I think I'd like some Batman Legos for my birthday."

Tony scoffed. "Batman? What a crappy superhero. He's just an orphan billionaire who buys all his gadgets." He huffed. "I'd be a way better superhero. At least I'd build all my stuff."

Grant grinned. "Sure, Dad."

…

It was after seven when Melinda and Phil met up again in the living room. Phil had made them food at some point when Mel was snoozing in Skye's bed, and they moved to sit together at the kitchen counter eating pasta in silence. Really, Mel didn't have much of an appetite, but she wasn't stupid, she knew what was best for her and the baby.

"I got Clint to get Nat to go to bed." Phil said after fifteen minutes of solid silence. "I bet they'll both be out until the morning."

Mel nodded and ran her fork through the remaining sauce on her plate. "Mm. They both looked pretty wiped."

It was quiet again for a moment, not awkwardly so, she and Phil had been together for far too long for a silence to be truly awkward anymore, and they both went back to their own thoughts. Melinda put down her fork and instead slid her hand into her back pocket, pulling out the little black and white image of her unborn baby.

"We should put it on the fridge, maybe?" Phil said, looking at the picture in her hands.

Mel smiled as she traced the edges of the tiny body. It was unbelievable to think that little thing, that actual person was living and growing inside of her. "Yeah." She said.

Phil stood up and held out his hand for the picture, but Melinda shook her head. "Not this one." She stood, too, and pulled another three identical images from another pocket. "This one's Skye's."

He nodded, and didn't question her logic, instead accepting another of the sonograms and pinning it to the front of the fridge with a mini magnetic photo frame containing only Hunter's face. He seemed to second-guess his choice and instead used a plain blue one.

Phil stuck Hunter's magnet back on the fridge and shook his head. "Why is this a thing that even exists?" He muttered.

Melinda smiled. The sonogram seemed to blend in amongst the rest of the colourful magnets and various papers they had stuck to the fridge. She was almost positive some of the papers were from when Nat had still been in school. They really should clear up their fridge front.

Phil had his back to her, still admiring the picture of their baby, when he spoke. "The police called me."

"What?" Mel stared at his back.

"While you were upstairs." He clarified, and rolled his shoulders. Even though Mel couldn't see his face, she could sense his discomfort at the movement.

She bit her lip then silently chastised herself for something she wouldn't allow Nat to get away with. "What did they say?"

He turned with a little more caution than he usually would, but Phil's slightly stiff stance told Mel that had more to do with his broken ribs than with the actual content of the conversation. Phil reached out to touch her arm.

"They just let me know they were going to start interviewing people tomorrow. So," he sighed and frowned, "I guess we're getting closer to getting her back home."

Melinda closed her eyes and covered his hand with her own. "It's almost her bedtime." She said in a small voice that didn't really sound like her own. "Skye likes to cuddle before she goes to sleep."

Phil didn't say anything, but he wrapped her up in a tight hug that she was sure must be hurting his ribs. He didn't complain, though.

"Mel?" He asked.

"Mm?" She hummed against his shoulder.

"I think that when we get Skye back home, we should start the procedure." He pulled back from her slightly. "I think we should adopt Skye."

As if she would have any other reaction to that other than, "I've never agreed with you more about anything in my life."

He kissed her. "I know we waited longer with Bob and Nat, but-,"

"Skye's different." Mel finished for him. "Skye's been our little girl from day one, we just need to make it official."

Phil smiled. "It already says 'Skye Coulson' on her school books, we can have it say the same on her passport."

Mel rolled her eyes. "She doesn't have a passport."

"Then we'll get her a passport and it will say 'Skye Coulson'" He smiled and brushed some of Melinda's hair away from her eyes. "She's coming home, Mel. We'll get our Skye back with us."

"I know." Melinda said, and she really did feel more certain about it now more than ever. The concept of making Skye their own, legally, so nothing like this could ever happen again, made her feel more confident in get bringing Skye home. "But I still miss her so much." Mel sighed. "She likes to cuddle before bed."

…

Bobbi was being extra nice, and although Skye appreciated it, it wasn't making being away from home much easier. After Hunter had told her several stories, and the three of them had watched a movie, Bobbi had helped Skye to take a bath and get ready for bed. She had even let Skye have some ice cream in bed, and although she wasn't much in the mood for ice cream, the novelty of being allowed it in bed meant she ate most of the bowl.

"Do you want me to read you another story?" Bobbi asked. She was sat in a chair by the bed, and had already read a short book to Skye while she was eating her ice cream. At home, bedtime sometimes involved a story, or sometimes just talking, but always involved Mommy getting into bed with her and cuddling.

Skye closed her eyes and tried not to cry. "I want Mommy." She said.

Bobbi touched her hair. "I know." She didn't bother tell Skye why she couldn't see her, and Skye was glad. She knew she couldn't see Mommy and Daddy right now, she didn't need someone to tell her that, but that didn't mean she was going to express her want to see them any less.

"I'm tired." Skye said, then. She didn't bother to open her eyes when Bobbi kissed her head and wished her sweet dreams. The bedroom door clicked shut and that was when Skye began to cry.

She pressed her face into the pillow and angrily sat up and glared at it in the dark when it didn't smell like home. Skye picked it up and threw it down on the floor along with the duvet. She huddled back down on the bed and even though it was too cold to only use her blue fluffy blanket from home, Skye cocooned herself in the fleece with Mr. Snow hugged against her chest and lay on a mattress with no pillow.

"I miss you." Skye told Mr. Snow.

Sometimes her polar bear was magic and he could tell people things even when they weren't there, she decided, so she began speaking to Mr. Snow, telling him things that he could parrot back to Mommy and Daddy while she was asleep.

"I miss you, Mommy and Daddy." She said to her bear, and shivered a little under her blanket. "I love you and I want to come home. I don't like it here." She looked around at the bare walls of the bedroom. "It's not like home. It's different. I don't like it."

Skye closed her eyes again and smelled Mr. Snow's fur because it smelt like home. "Bobbi gave me ice cream in bed, Mommy. That was cool." She smiled a little. "I'm glad I'm with Bobbi and Hunter. That's a good thing."

"I love you." Skye kissed Mr. Snow twice. "Don't forget to send Mommy and Daddy the kisses." She told the bear.

Skye paused and cracked open her eyes. Mr. Snow looked back at her with his little smile and warm eyes. "Okay, one more." She kissed him again. "That one is for the baby so don't forget her, either."

Skye settled back down to go to sleep, pulling the blanket up over her head. It felt a little weird to be lying in bed with no pillow, but she didn't want to get up and get it from the floor. She tried to imagine cuddling with Mommy and reading Captain America with Daddy, and eventually, Skye immersed herself in her little imagination world enough to fall asleep and not have bad dreams.

A/N:So, what did we all think? Your comments give me the warm fuzzies. xxx