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"Do I really have to go to this thing tonight, Jem?" Skye asks her best friend as they finish getting ready in her apartment.
"Yes, you do," Jemma tells her. "This is a big achievement for him and as his friends we're going there to show our support."
Skye gives her a look, "Fitz is going to be there, isn't he?"
"What? Oh, I uh, I don't know."
Skye rolls her eyes, "Yeah, yeah. Whatever. But fine, I'll go to the party, say hello to him, have some food, maybe a drink or two, and then I'm leaving."
Jemma sighs, "Skye, seriously? It's been eighteen years."
"Do you honestly think I don't know that, Jem? We made that decision together, and even though it was a hard choice to make, it was the best one. There's no way we were ready for that kind of responsibility."
"Yes, I know. I just wish everything had worked out differently. You two were always so great together, even when you were still just friends."
"Trust me, I know. I wish things could have gone differently too, I really loved him. But after that decision, something just changed between us."
"Do you ever wish you could go back and change your decision?" Jemma asks her.
Skye nods, "Sometimes I do. But other times I'm glad we made the decision that we did."
"Alright, well, it's almost time for the party. Shall we go?"
Skye takes a deep breath and nods once, "Yes we shall."
"Jemma's coming to the party tonight," Grant tells his best friend from where they're lounging back in his living room. And apparently she's bringing a plus one. Think she has a boyfriend?"
Fitz shakes his head, "She doesn't have a boyfriend. And I already know who her plus one is."
"Who is it?"
"Are you being serious right now? Who do you think is coming with her?"
"Right," Grant nods. "She's Jemma's best friend, of course she's going to be here. I know the layout of this place pretty well, I can probably maneuver around well enough that we don't run into each other too much."
"Are you serious, Grant? You're really going to try and avoid her all night?"
"Well, maybe not all night, but most of it, yeah."
"Don't you think you two are acting a bit childish about this whole thing?"
"No, I don't think that we are. Things didn't work out between us and it's been eighteen years since we had a real conversation. Sometimes I wish things didn't happen the way that they did, but I can't go back and change any of it. We both have had to live with the choice that we made."
"Yeah, I know. But I still think you two should be together. You two were good together."
Grant sighs, "Instead of focusing on my relationship, or lack thereof, I think you should focus on your own relationship with Jemma. When was the last time you fumbled over your words around her?"
"You know what, this isn't about me. This is about you and your party tonight. So go finish getting ready."
"Alright, alright. I'll see you later."
"Yeah, see ya."
"Congratulations, Grant."
"Thank you," Grant smiles politely at the other man, shaking his hand. "I'm glad you could make it."
"Wouldn't miss it for the world," the man says with a smile before walking away.
"I, of course, would have missed this if given the chance."
"Skye, I didn't realize you'd be here," he lies.
"Liar," Skye calls him out. "Jemma's here because of Fitz and I'm her best friend. I know not even you are dumb enough not to realize that."
Grant nods, "You're right. Fitz told me earlier that you'd be here. But I honestly didn't believe him. Told myself I wouldn't believe him until I saw you standing here in front of me."
"Well here I am," she says, giving him a tight smile.
"Here you are," he nods.
"So, um, congratulations, I guess," she says awkwardly. "This is a pretty big accomplishment."
"Thanks," he says back. "It was a lot of hard work and many late nights, but it's done now."
"Yes it is," she nods.
Grant shifts on his feet, "So, uh, how are you?"
Skye shrugs, "Okay. You? Wait, that was a stupid question. Obviously you're doing alright for yourself, considering this entire party is for you."
Grant nods, "Yeah, in my professional life I'm doing pretty well. Personal life, not so much."
"Well I'm sure that'll all turn around eventually."
"I honestly don't know about that. I mean, all I really want to—"
"Excuse me?"
Grant turns around to see a young girl with long dark brown, almost black, hair and dark brown eyes standing in front of him.
"Hello," he says slowly.
"Wow," the girl breathes out. "It's really you, you're Grant Ward."
Grant nods, "That's me. Are you a fan of my work?"
"In a way," the girl replies. Then her eyes catch sight of Skye standing behind Grant. Her eyes go wide, "Skye Coulson? You're here too?"
Skye raises an eyebrow, "You know me? How do you know me? Nobody knows me."
"Well I do."
"Okay, how?"
The girl looks back and forth between them before taking a deep breath. "I'm your daughter."
Both Grant and Skye freeze where they stand and just stare at the young girl in front of them.
Skye is the first to speak. "No," she says. She shakes her head, "No, you're wrong. I don't have a daughter." She turns and begins walking away.
"Wait!" The young girl calls after Skye as she starts to go after her. Grant sighs and follows right behind them. "Wait, please," the girl says when she follows Skye out the back of the building. "Please, stop."
Skye eventually stops, leaning one hand against the brick wall across from the building they'd just emerged from.
"Why did you say you don't have a daughter?" The girl asks when she and Grant get outside.
"Because I don't," Skye replies, her head down. "At least, not in any way that counts."
"Hang on," Grant says, turning his attention on the girl. "Why are you here claiming that we're your parents? Don't you have parents back home?"
"They aren't my real parents," the girl says. "I was adopted when I was a baby. They're a great family, I love them so much, I even have a couple of younger siblings. But they never hid from me the fact that I was adopted. It's kind of obvious when you see all of us together too. And ever since they told me, I've been dying to know who my birth parents are."
"How do you even know if we're your birth parents?" Grant asks.
The girl shrugs, "I'm good with computers." That makes Grant chuckle and shake his head. "I've been searching for you guys online for over a year. My adoption records were sealed so I had to do some...not so legal stuff to find your names. I actually couldn't even believe it when I saw that Grant Ward is my biological father. I never dreamed of it. I honestly didn't believe it at first; I had to double check because I wanted to be extra sure. But sure enough, you are. You're my biological dad. And Skye's my mom. That one was a little bit harder to dig up, but I managed to do it. Oh! My name's Jessica, by the way. Jessica Katherine."
"We know," Skye cuts in, her head still down.
Grant and Jessica turn towards her; Jessica with a look of confusion and Grant with a look of sympathy.
"What do you mean you know?" Jessica asks.
Skye looks up at her, visible tear tracks on her cheeks. "We know what your name is because we named you."
"You did?" Jessica asks. "My parents, my other parents, said this was the name I had when they adopted me and they think it's beautiful. I've always been under the impression that the hospital gave me my name."
Skye shakes her head, "No, it was me and Grant. We had the name picked out about a week after we found out you were a girl."
"Really? You guys named me?" she looks back and forth between them.
"We did," Grant nods. "Skye chose your first name and I chose your middle name."
"Can I ask how you came up with it?"
"I've always loved the name Jessica," Skye says. "Ever since I was little. I'm not really sure why I've always loved the name, but I decided to give it to you."
"And Katherine is after my great aunt," Grant says. "She was an amazing woman and I wanted you to have a piece of that. We named you because we wanted you to have an actual name before we put you up for adoption. We didn't want you to just be called baby number four, or however they would have done it."
"Why did you guys put me up for adoption?" Jessica asks. "Did you not want me or something?"
"Of course we wanted you," Skye says, turning more towards Jessica. "When we found out about you we were both so excited. But you have to understand that we were also still kids ourselves. We were just starting our junior year of high school when you were born. But we both knew that we wouldn't be able to give you the childhood you deserved if we kept you. We could barely take care of ourselves, let alone a baby. We gave you up to give you the best chance. We wanted you to have a better life than we could have given you."
"I've had a great life," Jessica says. "I love my family and they all love me. But I want...I wanted to find you guys. To just see you in person and see what you're like."
"And?" Grant prods. "What do you think?"
"Honestly? I don't know. I'm eighteen years old and I've found my biological parents. I wasn't sure if this day would ever happen. And to top it off, I find out that they did want me, but gave me up because they loved me and wanted me to have a better life. This is all kind of crazy."
"It's a little crazy for us, too," Grant says. "We never thought we'd see you again."
"But here I am now," Jessica smiles. "You guys know who I am now and you can be a part of my life."
"You already have parents," Skye says. "We gave you up when you were a baby; we don't deserve to be a part of your life."
"Don't say that," Jessica shakes her head. "I understand why you guys gave me up. I'm not going to hold it against you; you did it because you love me. Don't get me wrong, I love my family at home and I'm glad I'm with them, but you two are also a part of me. I want you guys to be able to get to know me, and vice versa."
"And how are your other parents, the ones who actually raised you, going to feel about two people who are practically strangers showing up in their daughters' life?" Skye asks.
"They actually encouraged me to find you guys," Jessica says. "Of course, they did warn me to be careful, not to get my hopes up too high or anything. But they're both more than willing to let you be a part of my life."
"Well they were right to tell you not to get your hopes up," Skye says. "I think you should leave now."
Jessica's face falls, "What?"
"That's not your decision to make, Skye," Grant says. "My building, my decision."
"You want me to leave?" Jessica asks.
Skye stays quiet, not making eye contact.
Jessica stands straight and nods once, "Fine, okay. I'll go. But I'm going to leave two tickets to my high school graduation at the front counter. If you guys come to it, then I know you want to be in my life. If not, then I think the message will be pretty clear. I just want to get to know you guys, that's all." She turns and makes her way back inside the building, leaving Grant and Skye still outside.
"What the hell was that?" Grant asks Skye after a few minutes of silence.
"I don't know what you're talking about," she replies.
He shakes his head, "No. Don't do that. You know exactly what I'm talking about. You can't deny that that girl just came up to us because she's our daughter. I didn't want to believe it at first, but she looks so much like us, Skye. She has the same name we picked out for our daughter and she's even a spitting image of the both of us."
"Exactly!" Skye shouts. "She's a damn spitting image of the parents who gave her up when she was a baby because they didn't think they could handle being teenaged parents!"
"We did what we thought was best for her," Grant says.
"That's what we say. But did we really do it because we were just two scared kids who had no idea what they were doing?"
"Skye..."
"I can't, Grant. Every time I look at her I'm just going to be reminded of how we gave her up and never got the chance to see her grow up."
"You heard her; she doesn't blame us for that. She understands."
"It doesn't matter. I just...I can't, okay? If you want to go to her graduation then that's fine, I don't care. Just don't ask me to do it too. I'm sorry, I have to go." She moves past him and walks back inside the building, leaving Grant alone in the darkness outside.
"I don't think they came," Jessica says with a defeated expression as she stands outside the school building with her family. "I should have listened to you guys; I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up that they'd actually want to be a part of my life."
"Hey now," Jessica's dad, Josh, speaks up, "don't be like that. Nobody blames you for hoping that they'd show up."
"Yeah, I know, I just feel kind of stupid about the whole thing. They gave me up when I was a baby and now I appear back in their life out of the blue, asking them to be a part of mine. I'm pretty sure it was all too much for them."
"It was definitely not too much."
Jessica turns around to see Grant approaching her, a small smile on his face.
"You came," she breathes out, letting a smile grow on her own face.
"Of course I did," he nods once. "I missed eighteen years of your life already; I wasn't about to miss out on any more."
"What about..."
Grant shakes his head, "I don't know. I gave the ticket to her friend to give to her, but I don't know if she used it."
"Oh, okay."
"Jessica, you have to understand that seeing you again wasn't easy for either one of us. We really thought we'd never see you again. Or if we did, we wouldn't know."
"Yeah, no, I get it. Really, I do."
"Good, I'm glad. And to be honest, I wasn't even sure if I was going to come tonight. But then I remembered how excited you were to meet us the other day. So here I am."
"Here you are," Jessica smiles. "Could I—can I...hug you?"
Grant smiles, "Of course you can."
Jessica grins and then steps forward, wrapping her arms tightly around Grant. Grant feels his eyes start to tear up and wraps his own arms around Jessica, hugging her back.
"I'm so glad you're here," she tells him.
"Me too," he says back.
"Is it too late to get in on this hug?"
Grant and Jessica pull apart and turn their heads to see Skye slowly approaching them, a nervous smile on her face.
"Definitely not," Jessica smiles. She opens one arm to Skye, allowing the older woman to join in on the hug. "I'm really glad you came," Jessica tells Skye after they pull back from the hug. "I wasn't sure if you were going to."
"I wasn't," Skye says honestly. "I tried to tell myself that it'd be a really bad idea. But my best friend convinced me to come here. And I'm really glad that I did. Seeing you up there tonight getting your diploma, it was amazing. I just, I wish Grant and I could have been a part of the journey that got you there. Can you ever forgive me for giving you away?" Skye asks as she chokes on a sob threatening to break past her lips.
"I already have," Jessica says.
Skye lets the sob break free as she and Jessica embrace once more.
After a few moments, Skye and Jessica pull away and Skye looks up to see Grant smiling at them with tears in his eyes.
"What's your deal?" she asks him as she wipes at her eyes.
"Nothing," he shakes his head.
"Grant, I know you. Spit it out."
"I'm just really happy, that's all. I never thought that this would ever happen."
"Stop being such a sap," she says.
"Well if I'm not mistaken, me being a sap is one of the reasons you fell for me," he smiles.
"It was a lapse in judgment," she replies.
"A very long lapse," he says. "I mean, we were together for three years, you know."
"Yeah, I know. You don't have to remind me. I was there too."
"Yeah, well." Grant turns his head to see Jessica and her family watching them. "Sorry about that," he says.
"Don't apologize," Jessica smiles. It's quiet for a moment before Jessica speaks again, "Do you guys want to meet my family?"
"Sure," Grant says.
"Great. Um, these are my parents, Josh and Karen. And my two little sisters, Meghan and Olivia."
"Hi," Skye gives them all a small wave. "I'm Skye, and this is Grant."
"Sissy, who are they?" Olivia speaks up.
Jessica leans down so she's at eye level with the five year old, "Grant and Skye are my biological parents. They're the ones who made me when I was a baby."
"Oh. Does that mean you're not my sister anymore?"
"Of course not," Jessica smiles. "I'm still your big sister. And you're still my baby sister."
"Good," Olivia nods once.
Jessica laughs quietly and then stands back up. She looks over at Grant and Skye, "So, um, I was planning on going to the senior party that they do every year, but since you guys are here, maybe you want to hang out instead?"
"You should go to your party," Grant tells her.
"Really?" she asks, her face dropping slightly.
Skye nods, "Yeah. The three of us can hang out another time. Maybe your family can join us too. I mean, I don't know if I speak for Grant, but I think I'd really like to get to know the family that took you in and loved you as part of their own family."
"You really mean it?" Jessica asks.
"We really mean it," Grant tells her. "We aren't going anywhere."
"That's really great to hear," Jessica smiles with tears in her eyes.
"Jess! You coming or what?"
"Be there in a sec!" Jessica turns and calls out to her friends. She looks back at Grant and Skye, "Um, I guess I'll see you guys later."
"Yeah," Grant nods. "Have fun at your party."
"I will, thanks," she smiles. She looks over at her family, "You guys have all my stuff, right? I can't take any of it with me to the party."
"Yes, we have all of your things," her mom nods. "You guys will be back tomorrow morning, right?"
Jessica nods, "Yeah. The bus should bring us back around eight."
"Alright, your dad will be here at eight to get you, then."
"Great. I'll see you guys tomorrow, then. Bye."
"Bye Jessie."
Jessica smiles down at her two younger sisters, "Bye." She bends down to give them both a hug, "I'll see you girls tomorrow." She presses a kiss to the top of both of their heads before turning around and making her way towards the front of the school to meet her friends.
"Sorry if this is weird for you guys," Skye says to Josh and Karen. "It's a little weird for us too."
"It is a bit strange," Karen says. "When we adopted Jessica we were under the impression that her biological parents, you two, wouldn't ever be a part of her life."
"We were under that impression too," Skye says. "I never in my wildest dreams thought that she'd come looking for us."
"Guess she's more like you than I originally thought," Grant smiles down at her.
She sighs, "So not the time right now."
"Sorry," Grant says. He looks at Josh and Karen, "We just want you to know that we have no intention of taking her from you. You are the only parents she's known, we have no right to take that away from you."
"You're right," Karen nods.
"Karen..." Josh warns his wife.
"No, Josh." She looks pointedly at Grant and Skye, "I'm fine with you two being in her life, I have no problem with that. She wants to get to know you and she's practically an adult now, she makes her own choices. But let me make something very clear, if either one of you breaks her heart, I don't care if you're her biological parents, I will make sure neither of you come into contact with her again. Am I understood?"
"Very," Grant nods.
"Good. Girls, let's go," Karen says and turns around to make her way through the parking lot.
"Coming, mommy," Meghan and Olivia say in unison, quickly following behind their mother.
"I'm really sorry about that," Josh says to Grant and Skye. "She's very protective."
"It's fine," Skye tells him. "I'm sure I would have done the same thing in her position."
"It's completely understandable," Grant tells Josh. "No need to apologize. You should probably get to your family, but I guess we'll see you soon."
"Yeah," Josh nods. "Bye."
"Bye," Grant gives him a small wave as the man turns and walks away to join his family.
"Well that was definitely interesting," Skye breathes out.
"Yes it was," Grant replies. "You know," he speaks up after a quiet moment, "sometimes I think about what it would have been like if we had stayed together and at least tried to raise Jessica."
Skye lets out a breath, "I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about that too. But I try not to think about it that often, it hurts too much."
"I know what you mean," he nods. "But I was thinking, maybe we could give it another shot."
Skye whips her head to look at him with wide eyes, "What?"
"Us," he clarifies, turning fully to face her. "Not a baby. I wanted to see if, maybe, we could give us another try. I never really got over you and I miss you, Skye. I miss seeing you every day. Just one date," he tells her. "Let me take you on one date. If the spark is still there then we'll take things slowly, see where it goes. If there's no spark, fine, we'll go our separate ways while still staying a part of our daughters' life. Just please let me take you on one date."
Skye purses her lips in thought. "Where are you going to take me?"
Grant lets out a breath, "Well, I was thinking maybe we could go out to dinner. Or a movie. Or dinner and a movie."
"Dinner sounds great," Skye gives him a small smile.
"Great," he smiles back. "How does Friday night at 8 sound?"
"Perfect."
"Awesome. So I'll uh, I'll pick you up then?"
Skye smiles and nods before turning to walk away. She turns back at the last second and looks him directly in the eyes, "Don't be late."
"Wouldn't dream of it."