Early Morning Assault

He is awake the moment the lock of the bedroom door clicks, but he stays completely still, only letting the corner of his mouth twitch into a smile as he listens to the tiny footfalls echo softly in the room.

Haylie is about as subtle as her mother.

He can barely keep himself from chuckling when the mattress dips next to his hip as Haylie climbs into the bed. There's some shifting around, and then the next moment there's a tiny, soft, warm hand on his cheek, stroking him gently.

"Daddy," Haylie whispers, and when he doesn't react, she leans a little closer. "Daddy. Daddy," she repeats a little louder each time.

One, he counts silently, two, three…

"Arrgh!" he roars suddenly, rising from the bed and catching Haylie by the waist. He throws the squealing child to the mattress and starts tickling her. "I got you, and I'll never let you go!" he says triumphantly, then blows a raspberry on Haylie's stomach, eliciting another round laughter from the five year old.

"You two are terrible," he hears from the other side of the bed; turning towards it, his eyes meet Skye's gaze, as his wife lies on her side, propped up on one elbow, slowly shaking her head. He gives her a rueful little smile – meanwhile still tickling Haylie. Of course he woke her – he didn't exactly mean to, but at the same time he doesn't really feel guilty, because instead of looking annoyed and pulling the covers over her head in protest, Skye's reaching for her phone so she can snap a few pictures of them.

But Skye's not the only one who's been woken by their playful sparring match.

"Daddy?" Ada says uncertainly, peering into the bedroom, while clutching her stuffed monkey to her chest. When she finally sees him, her eyes go wide. "Daddy!" she shrieks, then runs to the bed, launching herself into his arms.

He lets go of Haylie to catch his younger daughter, who throws her arms around his neck immediately, nuzzling her face against his neck.

"Hi there, chipmunk," he says, stroking her dark hair and inhaling the baby-scent in.

"I miss't you," she says with an adorable lisp, holding him even tighter.

He lets out a sigh; he was away on a mission for almost a week, and only got back the previous night, well after midnight, when the girls had already been asleep for hours, so all he got was a fleeting glance at them as they slept. (Skye told him that they wanted to stay up to wait for him – Ada fell out of the competition early on, falling asleep not long after eight, but Haylie threw a tantrum when she was first told she couldn't stay up until he got home. After some crying they struck a deal that if Haylie behaved, she could stay up half an hour more. She was out like the light in ten minutes and had to be carried to bed.)

Heavens, he missed them like crazy, and finally having them in his arms, seeing their little, mischievous smiles and feeling their soft baby-smell was the best feeling in the word. Moments like this, he never wanted to leave again.

A couple of minutes of cuddling later – during which Skye, too, ended up with her arms around his waist and her chin on his shoulder –, he basically shakes the girls off, and moves to stand up.

"What do you angels say about some breakfast? Pancakes are okay?"

"Yay! Pa'cakes!" Ada laughs, clapping her tiny hands together until Skye catches her under the arms and pulls her close, pressing a kiss against the top her head. Grant's heart melts a little at the sight.

"You can stay," Skye tells him, throwing the covers back. "Rest, you must still be tired. I'll handle it."

"No, I'll do it. I want to," he reassured her, then turns towards his daughters. "Who wants to help daddy?" Four hands fly up. "Okay, race to the kitchen! Who gets there first?" Haylie and Ada jump out of the bed in an instant, running for the door laughing. He watches them leave with a smitten smile on his face, then with them gone, he turns back toward Skye for a moment before he'd follow them. He crawls across the mattress to her and gives her a lingering kiss. "Really, stay just here. I missed them, I need some daddy-time," he tells her and kisses her again, before adding with a grin, "I want more."

Skye's so blissed out, it takes her a couple of seconds to get what he's saying.

"Very funny," she says, giving him an amused smile.

"I'm not joking," He pecks her lips, once, twice. "I seriously want another baby."

She lets out a half-amused, half-annoyed sigh, then playfully knocks on the top of his head.

"I'm honestly starting to worry that you were knocked around a little too much during this last op."

He laughs and is just about to answer when an impatient "Daddy, are you coming?" is heard from the door behind him. He hangs his head and chuckles to himself.

"A moment, princess." He looks into Skye's eyes, trying to convey how serious he is about the topic he's just brought up in one single glance. She just shakes her head, laughing.

"No," she tells him, maybe with a little less conviction than she meant to.

But he just grins and winks at her.

"It's okay," he tells her, before giving her one last, quick kiss. "I'll wear you down yet." Then he gets out of the bed, picks up Haylie at the door, and playfully leaning towards her shoulder, as if he wanted to bite her, he carries the laughing child out of the room.

Skye sighs, then falls back to her pillow with a huff. He will might as well actually wear her down if he keeps doing this.

Whom is she kidding? It's just the matter of time before he gets her to agree. And she'll be happy to do it – damn him.