{ h u r r i c a n e. }

much of this chapter was a lot of things happening before OTHER things could happen. (which sounds super vague.) but allow me to digress...

skye + trip: the conversation about grant, how he became the playboy grant douglas ward that we meet in the beginning of the college au, and the reasons behind that behavior finally solidify into something a lot more real. i like to think of it as the past meeting the present -- even though trip is by no means the oldest friend that grant has, he is the one who has seen the growth along the way. so he can confidently say that skye is the one who’s got grant’s jackass side reined in -- because SHE DOES. this conversation was something that needed to happen; think of it as the final clearing of things between skye and trip after the fallout of him having to pick up the pieces of the mess she and grant made. trip’s perspective is valuable on multiple levels, and he cares about them both so much -- skye respects his opinion and viewpoint on many levels. there was no way she would consider moving on without making sure that, at least, was a greenlight from trip.

skye + grant. i think this chapter was a lot of them finding their way back to each other in various ways. skye, feeling comfortable enough to text grant sily stuff they way they used to, about classes being boring -- she didn’t do this bc she had any idea that he was going to send food. she did it bc she’s used to complaining to her best friend.

the migraine/rescue scene; you see her communication slip here -- even the way she sends a TEXT message is enough to spark about six hundred thousand red flags for grant, prompting him to drop everything and BE THERE FOR HER. the way he used to. the way he had intended to continue to do before he effed it up. you see him being the strong, mature one who takes charge while skye shifts into that opposite mode of needing help/assistance in a way that she can no longer power on her abilities. skye has always been terrifying capable -- maybe not the same as raina, but her own level of ability that is head and shoulders above most of her peers simply because she doesn’t have her PARENTS ANYMORE. she’s used to being the strong one, the one who keeps it all together. even when she’s running from problems, it’s her way of dealing things on HER TERMS. but this was just a simple act of her body in rebellion -- and she can’t hold it together anymore. she LITERALLY NEEDS GRANT TO STEP IN AND TAKE CHARGE HERE. and god BLESS, but the boy delivers.

grant + raina. sweet JESUS i have wanted this moment between them FOR SO FRICKING LONG. grant!!!! and!!!! raina!!!!! once again united in their common goal of love for one person I AM WEEPING I CANNOT.

while skye is by no means the same to raina as christian was to her, that utter devotion and desire to keep the person they love SAFE at ALL COSTS -- is. and i really loved this moment between grant and raina in skye’s dorm because all of the armor came down. grant took the first step and basically surrendered all the horrible doubts and things ripping through him that tell him he’s not good enough, that he was never going to be good enough; and we know from skye’s earlier conversation with trip -- that this ‘in for a good time’ grant ward persona was who he became to deal with the spotlight thrust upon their family. so what do you think it does to a person when he starts BELIEVING the lies he’s been spinning for everyone else FOR SO FREAKING LONG until he finally MEETS HIS GOD FRICKING MATCH in a LITERAL HURRICANE who REFUSES TO LET HIM GET AWAY WITH ANY LONGER????

I! JUST!! HAVE!! SO!! MANY!! FEELINGS!! ABOUT!! THIS!!

for grant, it’s skye who strips away the noise and demands that he be real with her. she refuses anything less than his best -- because she KNOWS he has the potential. likewise, for raina -- she’s the only one who can call christian on his overbearing, highly manipulative ways (and vis versa). while it’s true that raina elected to run to spare christian from having to give up his dream -- she was that sounding board for him when no one else would do. so grant and raina have this unique perspective about so desperately needing the other person to call them out -- and be called out in return -- because no one else can do it even REMOTELY well.

and once grant pulls down that veil so he and raina can meet in the middle with that understanding they’ve always had, the real healing and understanding begins. i think there’s something truly incredible about how he flat out asks her how did you know and she immediately understands that he’s asking how did you know you when you loved my brother and not about anything else they were discussing.

and raina continues holding that space of vulnerability and trust with him, is completely honest in return. she even does what she can to bolster his confidence and trust. she gives him what he needs -- that insider data to understand skye (which is really just information he already knows, deep down, but needs it solidified before he feels comfortable moving forward) and gives him her unspoken blessing.

it’s worth noting that raina has done little things before to kind of nudge skye and grant along -- but this is as open a gesture as grant will ever get from her to pursue skye. and as a result of that understanding and open conversation between them, grant finally takes the last step to removing the ward sibling opposition by telling thomas and rose that he’s calling it off when it comes to raina. he’s the last obstacle by way of the ward family -- i’ve said before that christian is the head of the the siblings but grant is the heart -- and there was no way things would have moved forward smoothly without his blessing.

phil/john. so these two aren’t always mains in every chapter but you get the sense from this -- and other interactions -- that they’re always working behind the scenes. and while more of what phil is working on will surface in the next chapter -- i thought there were several nods to just how close they all are (phil with elle and jack, john knowing what was going on in a college campus where his nephew continually raises hell and generally makes everyone’s life in the intelligence world more difficult, haha) because this was something that skye didn’t see when she first met the family. remember, phil was laid up in a military hospital when she met john, jack and elle. phil wanted her genuine opinions of how she fared with them when she had returned -- and he wasn’t going to be stupid enough to let his own bias color those opinions -- but don’t think for a second that they weren’t filling him in. you can sort of see the writing on the wall, how far in advance these people (in the shadowy branches of the government) operate and try to foresee things before they happen. it doesn’t always come to fruition and it doesn’t always lead for the healthiest kind of lifestyle (see also; christian ward and his obsessive need to control everything and raina’s necessary influence to keep him from going full on evil overload ahaha) but it does make them really DAMN good at what they do (and have been doing for many years). i hope that makes sense. 

grant. i really had STRONG feelings about when he goes toe to toe with raina and tells her: “In exactly what universe is Skye hurt and I’m not there to protect her until she can make her own decisions again?”  like,,,,,, S W O O N. and maybe there was some shade here thrown at the skye prequel because he’s not there to protect and she’s making all the decisions on her own and YES I KNOW I HAVE ONE LAST PART TO PUT OUT ON THAT ONE but anyway. c’mon. if THIS AIN’T THE MOST GRANT DOUGLAS WARD THING EVER, then i don’t!!!! know!!!! what is!!!!

he’s also still VERY MUCH respecting her need for space while she sorts out what and how she’s feeling. this was never going to be the kind of situation where grant apologised and they lived happily ever after. not because skye wanted/needed him to grovel, but because she needs to know what she’s going after; she needs to be sure that when it comes to getting involved with the guy who makes her feel SAFE -- can she balance everything else that comes along with it. can they create newer, better ways of communicating, and holding space and RESPECTING each other for things to work -- and what does that look like for both of them. (only time will tell.)

skye. oh child. she is getting a FULL GLIMPSE of what things will be like if she decides to move forward with how she feels about grant. her uncle is telling her, the fricking MEDIA is telling her, JOHN GARRETT is telling her. if she wants a relationship with grant ward, the odds of her making it out with little media coverage is basically ZILCH. (more to come on this in the next chapter but i had to split it.) so she needs to be REALLY DAMN SURE that this is what she wants.

and you see how seamlessly she’s adapted to the family; how easy it is to talk to elle -- having that maternal figure that she lost when her own mother died -- but not feeling like she can’t be her true self with her. she is putting down ROOTS in this family and this is VERY IMPORTANT. (more to come on this in the next part.)

i also love that elle speaks very openly about the struggles she and jack had when they first began. so many of the parallels running through the relationships within this story are important -- because while jack + elle made it, came through the first in the end and SURVIVED -- they also were doing that in a completely different world. there was no social media back then. there was no need to be ON all time, or worry about someone taking a picture of you buying groceries. they had the TIME to figure out what they wanted and could go at their own pace.

skye and grant don’t have this same timeline or situation -- but they have the benefit of being able to learn from the mistakes of the relationships before them. they aren’t christian + raina -- and they’re not jack + elle, either. but it’s worth highlighting the similarities and being able to avoid the same pitfalls. doesn’t mean they won’t have OTHER pitfalls. just means that there are some lessons they maybe don’t have to learn QUITE as hard as the ones who came before them.

the more things change, the more they stay the same; i love that christian is STILL CHRISTIAN. he’s planning to strong arm raina, if necessary -- to prove to her that he knows she’s the WORST about taking breaks -- AND THEY NEED THIS BREAK AND THIS MOMENT AND THIS PROPOSAL SO BADLY, DAMMIT -- that he’s STILL thinking of hijacking a plane again, and using handcuffs to get her to sit up and pay attention.

sidebar: i feel like i need to throw a super serious disclaimer here that anything christian + raina do is with full consent and there is absolutely NO ILLUSIONS that if raina didn’t want to be in a situation -- she’d damn well GET HERSELF OUT of said situation. think of it more like christian pulling RANK; giving raina’s brain a forcible reason to let him be the frontman and think of the logistics and let her have a break. the woman is practically a superhero. trust that she can handle her shiz and that of everyone else around her ON THE REGULAR -- which is why it’s so interesting to see that cool competence close to breaking when the people she loves are involved (the first time she and christian interacted on the way back from france; the worry she has for skye being further exposed in the media, etc.)

ANYWAY THAT WAS A LOT.

She fixes him with a cut the bullshit look. “Not that I’m not always happy to see you, but as a reminder: the last time you showed up flying solo, you were picking up the pieces of the mess Grant and I made. So I’d really like to hope that this isn’t about him going off the deep end.”

It’s probably a good thing that she can reference this so openly, right? A sign of healing or something equally big like that.

“Nah.” Trip flashes her an easy smile. “Figured you could use a breather after we took over last week and I’ve been meaning to check on you for a while now. Thought you might want to talk.”

Skye thinks about Grant’s confession from their last real conversation.

‘Trip will tell you I didn’t handle it well.’

Caring about Grant has never been the issue.

She’s always cared about Grant -- often to her own detriment.

But if there’s anything she’s learned from the past few weeks, it is that they no longer have the luxury of keeping their -- potential? -- relationship on the sidelines.

Now everyone knows that she’s a runner when things get bad. (There’s a voice in her head insisting that they probably knew this before, but she’s very stubbornly ignoring that voice.)

Grant was the one who stayed, and the fallout was not... ideal. Which means that before she leaps into anything further with him, she needs to know what she’s getting herself into -- if for no other reason than how to figure out how to protect them both going forward.

(”You don’t have to protect him anymore.”

“I don’t know how not to.”)

She’ll never be able to be halfway anything with Grant and not rein in that instinct to operate in a way that has them both gearing up for impact. So it only stands to reason... the easiest way to do that is to know exactly what to expect.

Skye takes a deep breath, visibly bracing herself. “I need you to tell me what he was like. While I was... away.”

Trip raises his brows as if to confirm that she really wants to do this. When she nods, he squeezes her shoulder gently and closes the door behind him. “Raina around?”

“She ran out to take care of a few things before my classes start.”

He nods, moving into the kitchen to begin assembling breakfast. Trip is halfway through cooking what appears to be a mouthwatering omelette before he speaks again.

“The thing you need to understand about Grant is that he likes the illusion of only being in it for a ‘good time.’ But that’s part of the armor he puts on to keep from getting hurt. You saw through it almost right away and demanded he was real with you.” He plates the food and hands her a fork and bottle of hot sauce. “I don’t know anyone else who can do that so effortlessly other than Elle -- and she’s the one who raised him.”

“Reading him the way I do,” Skye drinks her coffee, trying to figure out how to articulate the process. “It just kind of happens. He does the same thing to me.”

“I know,” Trip slides into the chair next to her. “I’m just saying without you running that interference from his douchebag side... he’s a bit of a jackass.”

When they’d first met, Grant had come into her life, guns blazing, coupled with enough arrogance to power a small city. It was as if he’d lacked all motivation to succeed at anything other than finding the next hot girl to kill time with and coasting through his classes.

Now he’s committing to classes, putting in actual effort and finally has something to show for his progress. Skye doesn’t necessarily think she’s a miracle worker -- but there’s definitely a correlation between her entrance in his life and the dramatic growth in his behavior.

Skye quietly thinks it over. “It just makes me wonder if something happened when he was younger. To sour him on the whole friendship/relationship thing.”

“I think when you’ve grown up in the public eye the way their family has...” Trip is careful as he chooses his response. “You probably learn the hard way to be super aware about the image you’re putting out there.”

Of course.

Grant, pushing her away so that the media wouldn’t tear her apart without her consent. Making the decision because he didn’t know how she really felt so he wasn’t sure that what they had was worth fighting for on that level. Thinking it would be easier to cut her out of the picture until they could agree on what to do, not knowing how badly it would backfire.

“So it’s a defense mechanism,” Skye pushes back from the table to gesture wildly. “You give them just enough to get them to back off. Then you keep the rest for the people who matter.”

After all... she would know a little something about that.

“Exactly,” Trip confirms. “And make no mistake, girl. You matter to him. Maybe more than anyone ever has.”

“I’m starting to get that.” Skye trails off, leveling him with an intense look. It seems to be internally directed more than anything else, because she then clears her plate, kissing Trip on the cheek. “That was delicious, thank you. I’ll clean up.”

Trip sits back, content to let her flurry around the kitchen in an open attempt to diffuse the heavy vibe from their conversation. He waits until it’s time to leave to pull her aside and says, “I don’t know what’s going to happen with you guys -- and quite frankly, it’s none of my business. But I do know that you need to be really damn sure of what you want before you make any moves.”

Skye’s face softens as she moves into his arms for a freakishly strong hug. “I agree. Thank you for being such an incredible friend.”

“I love you both, and I want to see you guys happy.” Trip reaches down to tip her gaze up. “However that’s achieved.”

A feminine clearing of a throat interrupts the moment.

“Should I come back later?” Raina inquires, her expression unreadable from where she stands near the door.

Freaking spy and her soundless ability to enter a room.

Trip chuckles, kissing the top of Skye’s head. “I’m out of here. Think about what I said.”

“I will.”

“Ma’am.” He respectfully salutes Raina, playfully sketching a bow. “Keep an eye on this one. She’s sneaky.”

“Oh, I know.” Raina’s lips curve into a deep smile. “Get to class Antoine, or I’ll call your mother and tell her you’re being impertinent.”

“You wound me!” He shouts, fleeing the hallway with that million dollar smile.

Raina shakes her head.

*

The rest of the morning had passed rather uneventfully after that.

Raina sorted through some of her work outstanding and she’d worked through the last of her independent study as the hours ticked by.

After getting dropped off for her science class without so much as a by your leave from Raina, Skye comes to one conclusion. She’s starving.

One kickass breakfast clearly wasn’t enough to tide her over through the rest of the day.

At a loss for anything else to do, and desperately needing a distraction, she pulls out her phone to text Grant.

[ i am starving. when i die from hunger, please have them say nice things about  my funeral. ]

[ ur so dramatic!!! ]

[ no long island. i’m STARVING. can’t be held accountable for what i say/do when my blood sugar drops to dangerous levels like this. ]

The regular professor has been out all week so they’re stuck with this dud of an Advisor who clearly is better suited to research than teaching. The next twenty minutes crawl by like years.

In fact, Skye is all but certain she’s about to pass out from both hunger and boredom when the door opens and the surprise visitor holds up an insulated bag in question.

“Uhhh,” he scratches his head, clearly uncomfortable with so many eyes on him, “I’ve got a delivery.”

The TA seems almost relieved by the sudden disruption. “Yes, of course. Please proceed.”

The delivery kid scans the aisles until his gaze lands on a somewhat incredulous-looking Skye. “Miss Coulson?”

Oh no. Where the hell was Raina?!

Her brows skyrocket. “Yes?”

Please don’t let this be a prank or some kind of twisted game.

He hefts the container high enough that everyone can see. “These are for you.” After setting it down on her desk, he fishes out a prepackaged fork and several ketchup packs. “Enjoy.”

Skye stares at the hot and slightly steaming container before looking up to meet the gaze of everyone else in the room. “Can’t a girl have low blood sugar without it being a criminal offense?” She snaps in irritation, glaring at them with the kind of outrage promising retribution.

The class reluctantly shuffles back into a facsimile of paying attention as the TA drones on once again.

Once certain everyone is preoccupied, Skye lifts the lid to reveal a golden mound of cheese fries and loses the fight completely, breaking out into laughter. She digs in with the fork, giving approximately no effs to anyone who dares to look her way.

[ guess i’ll live to see another day after all, long island. ]

[ u shld b grateful u have me in ur life to make this stuff happen. ]

She grins. [ i am counting my lucky stars as we speak. ]

[ yeah right!! now pay attention, ninja - u need this class 2 graduate. ]

She doesn’t even dignify that with a response.

Since when was Grant the responsible one?

And why wasn’t this freaking her out as much as it was... making her weirdly warm and fuzzy inside?

Clearly -- not that she would ever tell him this -- he was onto something with the reminder. But it was still a bit unsettling. Not necessarily bad unsettling. Just... different, unsettling.

If the dryness of the lecture didn’t do her in, the grease from the cheese fries probably wouldn’t, either. Skye decides to finish them off, and with a final burst of determination, get something out of today’s lesson. 

(Later that night, a random classmate sends Grant a candid snap of her head thrown back, mid laughter and the caption, ‘Dude! U R ruining it for the rest of us. we get it!! ur girl is happy.’)

*

When there is no real backlash after the cheese fries incident (as Raina has taken to calling it), Skye feels like things are finally starting to go back to normal. The next three days pass quietly enough that she actually gets her work done and can pretty much forget that she was part of a celebrity scandal not that long ago.

In fact maybe it is because the week has been going otherwise okay that should have had her on her toes. 

It’s either the sudden change in pressure as the weather shifts or just the Universe’s way of reminding her that things are not always what they seem, that has Skye waking up with the kind of dull throbbing around her temples promising to bloom into a full blown migraine if she’s not careful.

She doesn’t get them too frequently, but that’s largely irrelevant at the moment because when she does -- they are wicked. This one probably shouldn’t come as a total surprise, especially given the stress of the past couple weeks. She has been going going going non-stop. While she’ll drop everything to help a friend, her track record of looking after herself is pretty abysmal; and it usually takes the extreme form of a migraine to literally slow her down.

Skye muscles through her first two classes and tries to drink water while actively not thinking about the headache blooming inside her skull, but by the time lunch comes and goes, she’s toast. 

With fingers that shake and the kind of thumping similar to a marching band parading through her head, she fires off a message to Grant. If her uncharacteristic lack of grammar doesn’t alert him that something is up, nothing else will.

[ cant find raina. need 2 leave class ASAP. pls get christian 2 work his magic,,, send her. b4 u get mad @ me,, consider: we both know he can. ]

With no response from Grant a painful four and a half minutes later -- she would know, as she’s been watching the clock in agony -- Skye pushes away from her desk and begins the arduous task of trying to walk. It probably helps her case that this is the sort of class where the occasional hangover and abrupt departure isn’t out of the ordinary, because no one tries to stop her as she leaves.

Skye haltingly makes her way out of the room with blurred vision at the edges, only to stagger into something annoyingly solid. “Ooof.” Turning her neck to inspect whatever it is seems impossible.

Warm arms come around her and she instantly recognises the familiar woodsy scent of Grant’s cologne. Oddly enough, it’s the only smell not actively making her want to vomit at the moment. “You’re here,” she mumbles, tucking her head closer into his chest in an attempt to block out the harsh overhead florescent lights.

Somehow the throbbing in her head slows down enough to distantly loosen the iron chokehold she has on her awareness, trading a slight degree of relief.

“Of course I’m here.” Grant carefully brings his arm up, seeming to understand her need for darkness and minimal movement. He shuffles them over to a doorway and gently slides down to the floor, guiding her with him. “Just close your eyes for a little bit, okay?”

“I really don’t want to throw up,” She mumbles, dragging her hair over her face to curtain it off from any remaining light still breaking free and stabbing into her consciousness like knives.

“I don’t want you to throw up either,” he chuckles softly. “But Raina’s on her way and I promise to get you home before that happens, okay?”

“‘Kay,” Skye’s speech is beginning to slur from the pain and exhaustion she’s clearly feeling. “ ‘trust you.”

And that is the last thing she remembers before it all goes blessedly black.

*

Grant isn’t alone for more than half a minute before Raina appears, flanked by three agents.

“What the hell did you do?”

He tamps down the lick of irritation curling through his veins and tries to remember how much Christian loves this disturbingly capable woman standing in front of him. He tries to reframe the situation into something less like his fear for Skye and more into facts and figures that Raina can do something with. “It’s a migraine. Thankfully not something that happens too often, but when it does --  she’s lights out until the worst of it passes.”

The silence between them is fraught as Raina cycles through the options at their disposal. Classes will break for in the next ten minutes and the girl who ordinarily has no trouble expressing her feelings is currently immobile. It is almost uncomfortably quiet without Skye’s outrageous commentary to fill the void.

“We’ve got to get her out of here.” Raina finally says, pointedly staring at Skye  all but curled up in his arms. “Since she can’t walk on her own, you’re going to have to carry her.”

They both know that the agents re-stationed at the end of the hall can only do so much against prying eyes. Once they leave the hallway, it’ll be open season for photographs and whatever outlandish news story they want to write. There’s probably some kind of universal irony about it too, considering how things had just started to feel like they were getting back under control.

“Not like this,” Grant says, almost pleading with Raina. “She’ll hate it if they catch her at a weak moment.”

“Perhaps you should have considered that before White Knighting it to her rescue.” She isn’t flat out reprimanding him, but seeing Raina visibly stressed  proves she’s not exactly thrilled right now.

He gets it.

It was impulsive not to wait for her to reach Skye and handle all this more discreetly, without his involvement. And maybe if he were a better man, he’d let that slight bite in her tone slide -- but he’s not. Because right now, the only person capable of reining in that instinctive reaction is currently passed out in his arms -- so Grant has exactly zero qualms about answering Raina in kind.

“In exactly what universe is Skye hurt and I’m not there to protect her until she can make her own decisions again?”

Is it technically unwise to provoke the secret agent who can probably kill him six ways to Sunday? Yes. Would he do it again? Also yes.

Raina’s eyes flash with dangerous warning but he is saved from her no doubt scathing reply by the shrill ringing of a phone.

She frowns darkly, taking the call. “Yes?”

Whoever is on the other line seems to deliver quite a lot of news, taking Grant momentarily out of the line of fire and he is eternally grateful for the breather.

Skye is almost lifeless in his arms. He is loathe to move her without a clear destination in mind, and especially one that keeps them out of any prying eyes.

“That was Felix.” Raina heaves a sigh.

The ruffling of her figurative feathers clue him into the fact that her emotions are running very close to the surface. If he were in less of a generally panicked state about the person he loved being in pain, he’d take a second to observe the anomaly that is Raina looking stressed.

She continues, “In less than a minute, there is going to be a mandatory fire drill. You need to make sure her ears are protected from the noise and then you’ll be able to slip out the back in the melee.”

He knew that Raina cared about Skye, but this seemed extreme.

Grant stares at her in disbelief. “You’re staging a fire drill to keep her out of sight?”

“I’m not,” Raina smirks, some of the confidence bleeding back into her expression as she stands taller in preparation. “It seems you have Christian to thank. He called in a favor to the Dean.” When Grant can only gape, she pointedly tilts her head at Skye. “Less than fifteen seconds now, Prince Charming. Better look after your girl.”

He swears under his breath, tucking Skye even closer to him. It takes precious time to slip the noise-canceling headphones from his bag onto her ears and it seems like only seconds later when the alarm blares into existence. Raina and the nearby agents shift in front of him, effectively forming a barricade as students pour out from the classrooms and lecture halls.

True to Raina’s prediction, no one pays any attention as Grant stands carefully, keeping his back to the crowd with Skye. As students stream past them, grumbling loudly about the ridiculousness of fire drills, they are eventually able to sneak out of the building in the mass confusion.

From where she rests securely in his arms, Skye has not even budged.

“Hang on,” Grant says, gently kissing her temple. “We’re almost there.”

*

The next time Skye wakes up, she slowly becomes aware of several things.

It’s blessedly dark.

She’s home, in her own bed. Her head -- while not totally better -- is much improved, and she can finally move her neck without wanting to throw up.

The worst of the migraine has passed.

It takes a few moments for her to summon the energy to sit up. She turns her head experimentally, relieved when the contents of her stomach don’t threaten to revolt. Skye gingerly slides out of bed and slowly walks to open the bedroom door.

“Hey, you’re up.” Grant seems satisfied with her appearance, coming to stand up from where he’s been seated on the floor.

She frowns, looking at the books and papers spread out at their feet. “What...”

“I didn’t want to go too far in case you needed anything,” he sheepishly explains, scratching the back of his neck. “Although in hindsight, I probably should have let Raina take the nearby post in case you needed her for... girl stuff.”

Skye starts to laugh and then immediately regrets it when her temples pulse in time, a vivid reminder from earlier. “Don’t make me laugh, jerk.”

Grant seems to weigh his next move with enough fidgeting that Skye finally takes pity on him. “Spit it out, Long Island.”

“My mom called.”

It was official. This day could get worse. Was it Thursday?

Skye feels her stomach drop to the ground. “Oh god.”

“She’s worried about you.”

“About me? She should be worried about you! You’re her son and I’m the one you’re making all these sweeping --” Skye actually claps a hand over her mouth, staring up at him.

Damn it. She really needed to remember that there was basically no filter, post-migraine recovery.

“Declarations?” Grant finishes with a slow smile, telegraphing his movements as he reaches to pull her into his arms. Skye offers no resistance, letting him blanket her in his warmth. “Just call her. She’s not going to bite.” 

Feeling decidedly comfortable from where she is, Skye moves only far enough to gingerly tilt her head back and meet his eyes. “Promise?”

He reaches down, interlocking their pinkies together. “Promise.”

There’s a moment where Skye swears he’s about to lean down and kiss her but then Raina is slamming her hand down on the kitchen table, shrieking in frustration.

When she catches them staring, Raina rolls her eyes. “I have zero patience for incompetent people.”

“I think she’s spending too much time with Christian,” Grant stage whispers to Skye, dropping one of his arms to tug her into the room. She clears her throat, trying to stave off the unexpected warmth creeping into her cheeks. With her head ducked, she misses Grant’s quick smile of satisfaction before he asks Raina, “Anything we can do to help?”

At his genuine offer, Raina immediately freezes as if sensing danger. “You mean it?”

This time correctly anticipating Grant’s asinine response, Skye elbows him sharply in warning and answers for them both. “We’d love to.”

“Never tell your brother I let you read this,” Raina cryptically warns, passing out files on the table.

“What are we looking for?” Skye is still moving slowly while the effects of her migraine linger. When she notices both Raina and Grant watching her with some concern, she glares at them. “Guys, I’m fine. Just set me up with a task and I’ll be better off having something to focus on.”

“Sure,” Grant agrees smoothly, before the spy can interject. “Go get set up on the couch and I’ll bring this over in a second.”

She squints at him for a second, as if trying to x-ray his brain and decipher what his endgame is. “No going easy on me, Long Island.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” He promises, a laugh barely tamped down in his voice.

Raina takes her sweet time methodically going over the paperwork in low, melodic tones as Skye settles deeply into the cushions, tugging a blanket haphazardly over her feet.

Less than five minutes pass and she’s out cold.

*

“I knew it,” Grant chuckles quietly, ducking to glance at Raina conspiratorally. He gets up to tuck the blanket around Skye more securely, smoothing the hair away from her face.

“You really do love her.” Raina murmurs, gaze softening as she watches Skye sleeping peacefully.

The statement slips out like an olive branch after too long at war; not unlike a golden key unlocking a long-sought after treasure chest.

Grant consciously forces the tension in his body to dissolve and tries to examine things from Raina’s point of view.

“I wouldn’t put my family at risk for anyone else,” Grant finally confesses, sitting on the arm of the couch, aware enough to keep his body language as non-confrontational as he can. He fusses with the blanket edge while struggling to find the right words. “She blew into my life like a hurricane. Thank god.”

It should probably be weird to confess this; prior to today, he and Raina had been at extreme odds. Somehow they’d bridged that gap and instead, become united in their common goal of protecting Skye. Yet, standing with one of the most terrifying women he’s ever met at his back, Grant can’t help but feel calm.

Raina had done him a solid today, helping keep Skye out of harm’s way... so he probably owes her one. And maybe he’s a little tired of keeping the woman at arms’ length, given the writing on the wall and how much she means to Christian. Raina is definitely not his enemy any more -- he’s beginning to doubt that she ever really was in the first place. If he can pull this off without putting his foot into his mouth, she might just wind up being his ally -- and lord knows he could use another one of those right now. 

Raina watches him with the kind of gentleness he’s only before ever seen  directed at Christian. The ever-present tension is absent from her gaze and emboldens him to continue. “I don’t like to think about the person I was becoming prior to her influence.”

There is something irrationally soothing about the fact that she doesn’t immediately brush away his concerns. He holds her steadily knowing gaze as long as he can until she hums softly in understanding.

“Grant.” Raina drags the nearby chair over until she can straddle it casually. It’s probably the most relaxed he has ever seen her only juxtaposed by the quiet intensity all but bleeding from her. “You care deeply about the people you love. It’s one of your best qualities. It’s why I knew Christian would survive when I left. The Ward family bond is the strongest thing I’ve ever come up against.”

“For the record, I wish you’d discovered that without leaving him --”

She cuts him off ruthlessly, infusing her voice with just enough steel to have him back down. “-- Growing up the way your family did doesn’t exactly lend itself to trusting every person you meet, and that’s okay. You close ranks to keep the people you love, safe. No one will fault you for that.”

“And if I don’t like who I became along the way?” It is no coincidence that his less than stellar behavior the past couple years closely resembles the way he’d treated Raina as she reentered their lives.

“I think we can both agree that you’ve already done quite a bit of work changing that.” She favors him with a quick smile. “You’re a good man.”

It’s as if she comprehends the full effect of what having Skye in his life has truly meant; how directly and fully the significance of having someone on his team means to him, by giving him that platform to grow and transform for the better.

All of the fight seems to sag out of him at once. Every thought flies out of his head in a mad scramble and he stares at her, utterly disarmed. “How did you know?”

The non sequitur would probably not make sense to anyone else -- but Grant used to be Raina’s biggest fan -- so that shared history, mutual understanding and respect they formerly had for each other goes the distance once again.

Raina opens her hands, staring at a scar on the outside of her palm. Eventually she looks back up at Grant, and the sheer vulnerability in her eyes is staggering. “When I realised I would give up everything I loved to spend the rest of my life with him. And in the very next breath, knew that he’d never let me sacrifice my career that way.”

“So you left.”

“So I left.”

Grant nods slowly, taking it in. “You were trying to protect him.”

“Aren’t we always?” Raina smiles lopsidedly, getting up to pat him on the shoulder as she gathers her things. “Don’t repeat our mistakes. For god’s sake, talk to her. Keep listening to what she says, and pay attention to what she doesn’t. Skye’s guarded... but she drops that guard for you. Don’t make her regret it.”

There is a lump in his throat the size of a small cottage. He can’t seem to swallow it down. “I’m working on it, I swear.”

“Keep up the good work. And Grant?”

He looks up. “Yeah?”

“The people in our lives who force us to grow are invaluable.” Raina shrugs a shoulder. “Keep fighting for her. She hasn’t had a lot of people who actually stick around when they say they will.” With that parting statement, she leaves, pulling the door closed and locking it from the other side.

Grant stares at the door long after she has departed, thinking over the valueble insight. “But you haven’t either.”

Long after he gets Skye resettled in her bed and resumes his camp on the couch, he pulls out his phone, opening the group chat with Thomas and Rose.

[ i m calling a ceasefire on raina ]

Rose is the first to respond. [ thank GOD!!!!! we are going to get a mani/pedi on the weekend + i REALLY didn’t want to dodge your Texts of Disapproval. ]

Thomas is a little more skeptical. [ you sure? ]

[ positive. we r cool. ]

Rose sends a bunch of confetti emojis while Thomas elects to send a thumbs up.

With that settled, Grant decides he can finally go to sleep. Before he does, a single message comes in from Christian.

[ Thank you. ]

[ back atcha for that fire drill ]

[ Get some rest, Grant. I’ll just be busy continuing to change world history on this end. ]

He laughs. Christian is nothing if not an annoying older brother to the bitter end. A strange sense of peace fills his chest and he drifts off to sleep for the first time in over a month without any issues.

*

When Skye wakes up the next morning, Grant is gone.

There’s a note on her pillow.

(Her yelp of delight is both disturbing and embarrassing.)

dear sleeping beauty:

sorry i left. had to get to class... after all, one of us has to be a grown up these days. :)

raina’s getting your work for today + tomorrow, so don’t worry about missing classes. sorry NOT sorry, we made an executive decision.  there’s yogurt in the fridge if you feel up to it. talk to you later. -g.

ps: mom’s sending a car for you at 11. she definitely won’t care, but you’ll probably want to change out of your pajamas ;)

Skye screams, dropping the note as if it’s on fire and scrambling for her phone.

10:37 AM.

“I’m going to kill him,” she grimly promises, stripping off her pajamas as she heads into the bathroom. “I’ll call Phil and we will find a way to hide the body.”

She takes the fastest shower known to mankind and sets a new personal record for applying mascara while simultaneously trying to jump into jeans and a tee shirt. 

At 11 on the dot, there is a knock on the door.

“I’m coming!” Skye scrambles for her messenger bag, hoping wildly that everything she needs is actually inside where it belongs for once. She’s so busy verifying the contents that she doesn’t actually check to see who is on the other side when she opens the door.

“Nice to see you too, Skye.” Phil deadpans from where he stands just over the threshold.

She drops her bag in shock, just narrowly missing her toes. “Uncle Phil?” Then she shakes her head, clearing out the mental cobwebs. “Oh my god, you’re really here!”

Phil grunts as she throws her arms around him, squeezing tightly. “Careful... the ribs...”

“Oh god.” Skye releases him with a start, guilt all over her face. “I forgot.”

“It’s okay.” He looks much better today, bright eyed and smiling. “You ready to go?”

It takes a moment for the beat to drop.

“You’re my ride to see Elle Ward?”

Phil looks deeply wounded. “I’ll have you know that Elle and I are good friends.”

“Weirdly enough, I don’t doubt that.” Skye holds her hands up in surrender just before locking the door and following him down the stairs. “It’s just that Grant said my ride would be here and --”

“-- Oh, Grant said?” He emphasizes, ushering her to the car.

The courtyard is blessedly free of witnesses with everyone currently in class and it’s like a weight has been lifted off her shoulders. She’d forgotten what it was like not to have to automatically brace for people watching her every move.

“Well, I mean --”

Phil meets her fumbled explanation with raised brows. “Please, do explain.”

Because he is the best uncle of all time, there’s a still-warm cinnamon raisin bagel on the dash and iced coffee waiting in the cup holder.

“How about we discuss the part where you work for some kind of top-secret spy agency instead, hmm?”

“Oh look, I’m getting a work call,” he wryly deflects. “Hey, John.”

The Bluetooth connection crackles to life. “Hello, Skye. Sorry my nephew didn’t give you much warning about the change in plans.”

Skye laughs despite the questioning stare emanating from Phil. “He’s got a lot on his plate these days, I think we can let it slide.”

“I’ve gotta say... you’re doing me a solid by keeping him on the straight and narrow.”

“It helps that you’ve got a decidedly fierce secret agent on my personal security detail these days... really frees up my time. Speaking of which,” she kicks off her shoes, tucking her feet up onto the seat, “Not that I don’t love having Raina around, but when exactly are you going to recall her from this particular assignment?”

“Well, probably sometime after you and Grant stop making national headlines.”

With annoyingly perfect timing, Phil tosses a newspaper onto her lap.

‘WILL TRUE LOVE’S KISS UNLOCK THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THEM?’ DETAILS INSIDE!

From the cover image, it looks like something out of a movie; Grant’s leaning down to kiss her forehead as she’s cradled tenderly in his arms with no one else around.

The picture is indeed quite damning, and combined with his earlier note playfully addressed to “Sleeping Beauty,” has a fierce blush coloring her face. “Are you kidding me?! I had a migraine, for god’s sake!”

Phil remains distinctly silent.

“This is ridiculous.” Skye groans, leaning her head back against the seat. “I wasn’t even conscious for this, but I would have totally been walking out on my own if I could have AT THE TIME.”

(Now is probably not the time to voice her personal feelings on how disgustingly strong Grant looks carrying her or that they somehow managed to get a halfway flattering shot of her side profile... but even so. It might be worth addressing later, maybe on a tequila-aided call to Kara.)

“Good chat, kiddo. Just so you know, for now -- Raina stays.” John ends the call without further comment, leaving Skye to face Phil on her own.

Skye waits a while until she knows Phil isn’t going to try and dump her somewhere instead of taking her to the Hamptons. “So I’m guessing Elle didn’t really send you to pick me up, did she?”

“I volunteered after I got an advance copy of this on my desk,” Phil dryly responds.

“This cannot keep happening.”

“You’re going to need to face the facts that for as long as you’re linked to Grant Ward, this is going to keep happening.” Phil has his sunglasses on and she can’t read his expression at the moment, but she kind of appreciates the fact that he isn’t sugarcoating it for her.

“Ugh.”

“Skye.”

She has her own sunglasses on but does him the courtesy of tipping them down at his inquiry. “Yeah?”

Phil waits a beat, choosing his words carefully. “Is he worth it?”

Skye exhales heavily, pushing the shades back up.

Was he worth it?

Like a slow motion video montage, she thinks about how her life has changed now that Grant has irrevocably woven himself into it.

The entire time he’d been with her at hospital. The way his entire family had instantly adopted her. The stupid club out in the Hamptons and his ridiculous fond smile that edged a few times into something smokier. The lengths (misguided though they were) he had gone to protect her. The space he was giving her while still fighting to pull her back in.

...How she felt safest when she was in his arms.

That there is apparently, no part of her life that isn’t better with him in it.

“Yeah.” It’s all she can manage past the vise currently squeezing her heart. “He is.”

It would figure that the person she fell for happened to live in the public eye after she’d spent more than her fair share of time trying to escape it.

“Okay.” Phil reaches down to grip her hand tightly in comfort. “We’ll figure it out.”

*

It is definitely weird to be pulling into the Ward compound without an actual Ward in the driver’s seat this time around -- but Phil seems to have no problem with it, even going so far as to park in what must be his usual spot by the trees.

Elle stands to greet them on the front steps. “Phil,” she gives him a quick kiss on the cheek and looks knowingly at the stairs inside the house. “Jack’s waiting in the office.”

“Thanks,” He leaves the car keys on the end table, much to Skye’s dropped jaw of shock at the overly familiar routine feeling of things. “Hopefully we can wrap this up before dinner tonight.”

“I’m counting on it.” Elle then turns her attention to Skye, smiling widely. “So I hear you’ve had quite a busy couple of weeks since we saw you last.”

With no apparent warning at all -- Skye bursts into tears.

*

Whether it is the years of practice raising multiple children -- or simply the fact that she is, quite frankly, Superwoman -- Elle takes the outburst in stride.

She bundles Skye up in a thick blanket and maneuvers her out to the pool area, where the ocean can be seen crashing tirelessly in the background. Something about the relentless and powerful waves settles Skye down more than words ever could, and she has her composure back quicker than she had thought possible.

“Sorry about that.”

“About what?” Elle slides a mimosa flute over on the glass tabletop with a sly wink. “From what I observed, that was a perfectly normal reaction to someone whose privacy had been grossly invaded for the past couple weeks and finally let it go. I’m just glad it was here.”

“And not in a hallway where a bunch of people could tape us for their own benefit,” Skye darkly mutters, wanting nothing more than to knock the mimosa back in one go. The bubbles tickle her nose even as the bright citrus does wonders to school her wildly chaotic thoughts in its familiarity.

“And not where a bunch of people can hurt both people I love,” Elle firmly corrects, raising her brows to make her point clear. “I love Grant, but lord is he stubborn just like his father.”

Skye refuses to meet her eyes, not knowing if articulating what had hurt the deepest to the woman she admires most (and is mother to said person) is the biggest conflict of interest out there.

Elle reaches out, squeezing her hand in support. “He’s far from perfect, Skye. I’m not going to be offended if you elect to share your feelings.”

Something about her reassuring gaze and warm smile gives Skye the courage to continue. “He just... cut me out. He didn’t even ask what I wanted. After all this time with us teaming up against the world and then -- nothing.” 

Comfortingly, Elle doesn’t try to refute or rationalize her son’s wrong behavior, instead reaching to top off their mimosas, and letting the statement breathe.

When she finally does speak, Skye has to fight to keep her jaw from dropping.

“It’s almost alarming how much you and Grant remind me of Jack and myself when we first got together.”

“You’re kidding.” Skye doesn’t have the energy to refute the hint at her whatever with Grant because she’s too busy trying to reconcile the bomb that Elle has just laid at her feet.

“Jack behaved similarly right before we got serious.” A quick smile darts across the older woman’s features as she gazes at Skye fondly. “Our friendship began when I insulted him over something he’d gotten hideously incorrect. That opened the floodgates and he started to rely on me calling him out when he was being an ass.”

“Sounds about right,” Skye mutters, unsure if her head was spinning from the champagne or the startling parallels being revealed. “Do I want to ask what happened?”

Elle slants her a knowing look. “I knew how I felt about him early on, so I’d had more time to settle with it. But for Jack... he’d never had a serious girlfriend before, and in his estimation, things moved too quickly. He freaked out. Then he went on a date with a mutual friend of ours.”

Skye’s jaw drops. “He didn’t.”

“Oh, he did.” The smirk that crosses her features is not unlike the look that Grant sometimes gets when he’s about to pull one over on someone especially deserving. It’s a little alarming to see it mirrored so perfectly on her.

“What happened?”

“The date ended, obviously.” Elle sips delicately at her drink. “And somehow his clothes were burning in the driveway when he arrived home that night.”

Skye laughs harder than she has in a really long time, feeling a delightful lightness that isn’t just due to the champagne (but that probably doesn’t hurt either).

“He was being a jackass,” Elle says, completely unapologetic as she lifts a shoulder in clear lack of repentance. “Someone needed to get that ego under control before he got a real complex.”

“You’ve really done the rest of us a favor,” Skye lifts her glass, in open agreement, barely coherent through her delight.

“I’d certainly say so.”

At this Skye loses the fight, openly flopping back on the chaise lounge in hysterical laughter. “My stomach hurts from laughing.”

Elle sits back in satisfaction, a smile curling up her lips. “Sometimes you just have to set things on fire.”

“Please, not the clothes burning story again,” Christian calls out as he swings through the patio, kissing Elle’s cheek in passing. “Hi Mom.”

It is testament to how comfortable she feels around the entire family that has Skye peering at him as she refuses to sit up properly. “Christian.”

Pretending this is the first time he’s seen her, Christian feigns surprise. “Oh hey, Skye... just who I wanted to see. Can you make sure Raina clears her schedule this weekend? I’m taking her away from the madness for a couple days.”

Twin feelings of loss and delight ripple under her skin. She’ll miss her friend dearly, but she’s also happy that Raina seems to be getting her life back on track.

Still, Skye is nothing if not committed to giving all of the Ward men a hard time. She finally levers up, boosting herself to lean against the chaise firmly and look him in the eye. “Why can’t you just ask her yourself?”

“Because,” Christian’s lips curve up in that frustratingly charming Ward smile, “She won’t listen to me. But if you commit to laying low all weekend, she’ll be fine with assigning a secondary detail when I remove the handcuffs somewhere over the Caribbean.”

There is dead silence for a solid fifteen seconds.

“Sweetheart, really.” Elle tilts her head in disapproval, setting her glass down with a distinct click. “Haven’t you learned your lesson with the kidnapping?”

Had she really been worried about a couple headlines in the paper? What were a few headlines compared to kidnapping with intent?

Skye stares, wild-eyed at them both. “Are we not going to address the slightly more concerning “handcuffs” portion of this conversation?!”

Their gazes swing to her in unison, placid calm expressions in haunting alignment.

“So you’ll do it,” Christian looks back to Skye in askance, starting to walk back to the house.

“I...” She’s at a loss for words. How is this her life? “Yeah, okay, fine.”

“Yes!” He crows triumphantly, pumping a fist in victory. “You’re the best!”

A full minute passes before Skye can look at Elle for confirmation. “Did that really just happen?”

She shrugs as if the idea of her congressman son kidnapping his girlfriend is an everyday occurrence. “If it’s any consolation, he’s going to propose.”

And Skye chokes on the last of her mimosa.