A/N: Pure, shameless Skyeward fluff featuring a baby bump. Evolved from one of ticklish-super-spy's headcanons.

Just for the Kick of It

There might be something about when people say that you sometimes don't actually know what you really want until you have it.

Grant has never thought he wanted children – that's not quite the perfect way to phrase it. With his own childhood, then the years under Garrett and HYDRA taught him that some people should never have children, and that he was one of them. Because how could he ever live up to the role of a father? So he simply convinced himself that it was the right choice for him not to have children, and that he didn't want any anyway. And he was absolutely okay with it.

Of course, everything changed when Skye got pregnant.

It was a complete surprise – apparently human contraceptives doesn't quite agree with Inhuman biology, and that's how they found themselves with a baby on the way barely four months after her Terrigenesis. And it made his world take a one hundred and eighty degree turn.

From the moment Skye told him they were expecting, it wasn't just that he made peace with the fact that he was going to be a father; no, despite the not so good timing he went practically crazy with happiness, their baby suddenly becoming the most coveted and most important thing in his world.

Skye amazed him with her mere existence, but now that she was expecting, his love and wonder for her just grew every single day. He adored the way her body slowly changed, the slight curve of her belly getting more and more pronounced. He was eager to take part in the pregnancy in any way he could, let it be waiting on Skye hand and foot, or just making plans about their future as a family. He wanted to share her experience as much as he could – and this meant that he couldn't wait to feel their baby move.

Apparently, they had a very active child (Grant kind of dreaded what it would mean for them if it remained the case after the birth). Skye started feeling her move around very early on, when she had just started showing. He remembered the first time it happened – is was early in the morning, and they were trying to settle some bickering debate between Trip and Hunter during breakfast, when Skye suddenly gasped softly, moving her hand to lay it on her belly.

Grant reacted in an instant, jumping up and getting to her side in a blink of an eye. Even Trip and Hunter stopped talking.

"Are you okay?" he asked Skye, crouching down next to her, placing his hand on top of hers. "Are you pain? Is the baby okay?"

She smiled at him in a strange way, like she was about to start crying, a made a strange gesture with her head, somewhere between a shake and a nod.

"Yeah, sure, everything's okay, but I think I just felt the baby move," she told him, which made Trip and Lance move towards them as well, the latter reaching out as if he wanted to lay his hand on her belly as well. Skye's eyes flashed towards him. "Lance Hunter, if you put your filthy hand on me, I swear I'll break it!" she warned. Hunter took a step back and raised his hands in surrender, making Grant chuckle. The Brit knew just well by now not to underestimate Skye.

"Are you sure?" Grant asked, his fingers sneaking under her top, drawing little soothing circles on her skin.

Skye nodded timidly.

"I guess. It wasn't like a kick or anything." She looked around the three of them. "More like a little… flutter? Like butterfly wings."

"Look at that," Trip grinned, clapping Grant on the shoulder. "If she's already making herself known, imagine what a handful she'll be once she's born!"

All that Grant could answer to this was a little, smitten smile.

The flutters became a regular occurrence after that – Grant even witnessed it happen about a week later during ultrasound –, and, according to Skye, they were getting stronger and stronger as time passed, progressing into small nudges and more pronounced kicks as weeks went by. He often caught it happen, seeing Skye react – subconsciously putting her hand on her growing belly, caressing the bump, sometimes even gasping softly, or just smiling in a dreamy way. As she started nearing the end of her second trimester, the baby's movements even started to become a little bothersome sometimes – she would start her little "gymnastics class", as Skye'd dub it, just as they went to bed, making it near impossible for Skye to go to sleep before the baby calmed down.

But despite the baby's activeness – despite the kicks being strong enough to keep Skye up at night –, Grant was still unable to feel it, even though he longed for it. He knew that they would get to that point with time (hell, he even saw videos on YouTube where the baby's kicks were so pronounced, it could have even been seen, so he had an idea what to expect as Skye's due date neared), and that he had to be patient, but… Damn, he wanted to feel his baby already.

And still, when it finally happened, it caught him completely off guard.

They were lying in bed at night, propped up against the pillows; with the start of her third trimester, they felt like it was high time to seriously start discussing names – at least they knew they were having a girl, so they didn't have to go through boy names as well –, but the conversation soon turned into teasing, and listing of horrible names they'd never give their baby.

"Martha," Grant threw in grinning, while playing with Skye's fingers.

"Gosh, no!" she laughed. "Poor baby, she'd sound like a pensioner even before she could walk! But what about…" she thought for it a moment, "Khaleesi?"

"With the approach, she could be Arwen. Eugenia?"

"Another grandma name? And what about Vegas?"

He snorted out a laugh.

"Vegas?"

"Yeah, I honestly read somewhere that somebody– Oh!" she stopped mid-sentence, her lips forming a little O, her hand flying to her belly.

Grant squeezed her hand in concern.

"Everything's alright?"

"Yeah," she gave him an uneasy smile. "It's just she's waking up, and gave me a firm kick to let me know," she chuckled. "Here," she grabbed his wrist and placed his hand on the lower right side of her belly, right over where the baby kicked only moments ago.

He didn't expect to feel anything – he hadn't felt a thing in the past –, but then there it was: a soft, but firm nudge against the palm of his hand.

His mouth fell open in awe.

"Wow," he breathed, placing his other hand on her belly as well. The baby, either sensing that he was there, or just not yet done with her exercises, kicked again. "This is amazing."

"I get that you felt it?" Skye giggle.

Grant nodded eagerly, then pushed her top up, baring her belly, and, ducking his head, pressed a kiss against the taut skin, making Skye giggle.

"Is it always like that?" he asked.

"Not always," Skye shook her head. "Sometimes she kicks; sometimes she just rolls over. And she's been getting stronger."

"Just like she should," he answered then turned back to Skye's bump. It seemed like the baby had calmed down, maybe even fell back asleep, but he still kept talking to her, his lips almost touching Skye's skin. "Hey, baby girl, daddy's here. I just wanted to let you know that mommy and I love you very much, and that we are so happy that you're here."

Skye buried her fingers in his hair, her blunt nails skimming along his scalp.

"You are kind of ridiculous when you do that, you know that, right?" she chuckled. "Hot as hell, but still ridiculous."

He pressed one last kiss to her belly then sat up.

"Can you blame me?" he asked. "You two constantly amaze me."

"Oh, hon…" She put her hand on his jaw, gently pulling him in for a kiss. "But if you are like this now…" she whispered, nuzzling their noses together, "I can't wait to see how you'll act once she's here. She'll have you wrapped around her tiny little finger."

Grant chuckled, and stole another quick kiss.

"I guess we are doomed, then."

"Oh, we most certainly are."

A/N: I actually did some research on horrible baby names for this. Let's just say that Vegas really was on the list, and it wasn't even the most ridiculous.