Little Secret

"I have a secret," Haylie said, all but climbing on the counter, looking at him with a mischievous glint in her big, brown eyes; the way she nibbled on her lower lip told Trip that she was dying to tell him that secret.

"And what's that?" he asked as he cut off the crusts from the sandwiches he'd just made for the girls. Both Skye and Grant was held up at the HQ, so they had asked him to babysit the girls that evening, and he, being The Best Uncle Ever (a title he'd been in constant competition for with Fitz over the last five years – a competition he was definitely winning), readily agreed.

Haylie made a face at him, sitting back in her chair.

"I can't tell you – it's a secret," she shook her head.

"And you're not 'possed tell secrets, Uncle Trip," Ada, sitting next to her sister, agreed promptly, then nodded solemnly.

Chuckling, Trip raised his hands in a surrendering gesture.

"I'm sorry, girls," he told them, pushing the plates towards them. "I promise I won't pry, then." Still chuckling, he turned around the get some juice for the girls from the fridge.

"But," he heard Haylie say as he turned back, "if we didn't tell you, but you just found it out, that would be right, isn't it?" She looked at her little sister; Ada stopped mid-chewing, considered it for a moment, then nodded.

"What don't you say," Trip said slowly as he poured some juice for them, then leaned on the countertop. "And how am I supposed to find this secret out?" he asked, deciding to take part in this little game. After all, what harm could it do? Haylie's big secret was most likely about something that happened in school.

"Well," Haylie started, making an exaggerated thinking face. "I could give you hints."

"Hm… what kind of hints?"

"Weeeell…" she continued, drawing out the word, and looking once again at Ada, looking for encouragement. The three-year-old nodded eagerly, a grin on her face, and a drop of mayonnaise on her chin. Trip reached out and wiped that off with a napkin.

"Well?" he prompted.

"This secret is about a small thing," Haylie continued, sitting up straighter. "Something you can't see yet."

"Hm, interesting… Is it in the room?"

"No!" the girls giggled, as if what he had just said was extremely funny.

"Okay, so where it is?" he asked, moving quickly to avert Ada knocking over her glass.

"You can't ask that!" exclaimed Haylie just as Ada said, "With Momma!"

Trip furrowed his brows. This big secret was with Skye?

"Really?" he asked, leaning forward. "And why does your momma have it?"

The girls looked at each other, and did their silent communication thing that always equally amazed and creeped him out. Then Haylie turned back towards him and spoke for both of them.

"If anybody else had it, it would be reeeeaaally weird."

Trip gave her a little nod.

"You don't say."

"But I do."

(This point Trip just couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips; these girls were precious.)

"Okay, okay," he said, leaning back a bit. "So this secret of yours is about something small that I can't see, and that is with your momma."

Haylie nodded again, then took a bite from her sandwich, and tried to answer him with her mouth still full, so he had to remind her to swallow first.

"Yes," she said when the bite was down. "But it's not my secret."

"Then whose?"

"Mommy and daddy's."

"Hm…" Trip said again, rubbing his jaw. So the secret might have been something of importance after all. "And is it a good secret?"

Both girls grinned, Haylie showing her missing tooth.

"A veeeery good one," the older girl said. "Mommy and daddy are very happy about it."

"That's good…" he said absent-mindedly, thinking about what the girls had told him so far – truth to be told, now he was really interested in what this secret was –, then something Haylie had said suddenly registered in his mind. "Wait – did you say that I can't see it yet?"

"Yep," Haylie answered, pulling her knees under herself and grinning at him, sensing that they were close to solve this little mystery. "Because it's small now."

Trip grinned.

"But it's gonna grow big?"

"Reeeally big," quipped in Ada, drawing the contours of a big belly in the air in front of herself.

Now Trip couldn't even wipe the grin off his face if he wanted.

"That's very interesting."

"Uncle Trip, Uncle Trip!" Haylie leaned over the counter, patting his forearm impatiently. "Do you know what this secret is now?"

"I guess I do, chipmunk" he answered, just as he heard Skye and Grant's car roll onto the driveway and park in front of the house. "Wait here for a moment, will you?" he asked the girls, momentarily preventing them to run to their parents; he wanted to have a few words with them first. When the girls nodded, once again immersed in their dinner, he stood up and left the kitchen.

He got to the hall just as the front door opened and Skye stepped in, with Grant right behind her. Trip barely gave Skye enough time to register that he was there and open her mouth to greet him, when he swooped her up into a bone-crushing hug.

"Hey," Skye laughed when Trip put her down. "I'm happy to see you too. Were the girls this terrible that you are this glad we are home?"

Trip simply ignored her question, and, grinning down at her, asked, "When were you guys going to tell that you have another bun in the oven?"

Skye stopped in mid-movement as she was shrugging her coat off, freezing for a moment, then her posture relaxed and her shoulders dropped. She let out a little sigh, and with a small smile on her face, she turned towards her husband.

"I told you they can't keep it a secret."

Grant, his coat still in his hand, looked down at her almost sheepishly, then, with a grin that was not a bit guilty, he shrugged, making all three of them laugh.

(Yeah, Trip didn't mind it either that the cat was out of the bag – and honestly, another Ward baby? He couldn't wait.)