May turns the bend into her mother’s backyard, squinting slightly as she takes in the figure on the porch swing. Too early to be Skye. Too tall to be her mother. There’s a loud bark before a small chocolate Lab comes running circles around her feet. She crouches to scratch behind his ears, smiling as he leans his head into her hand.
“You’re looking a bit parched.” Ward says.
“Run 10 miles and tell me how it feels.”
“Can I go with you tomorrow?”
“If you can keep up.”
“Challenge accepted. Skye!” He calls, tapping on the sliding door. “Get May water.”
“Skye’s up – now? It’s not even 8.” May remarks, perching on the ledge. “Did you do the alarm clock thing again? You know that’s only -”
“No, I didn’t. Coulson made pancakes.”
“He’s back?” She didn’t recall seeing Lola in the driveway. And the red Corvette was pretty hard to miss.
“Got here about 20 minutes ago.”
“Morning May!”
“About time. May needs to re-hydrate.”
Skye empties an entire bucket of water on Ward. May barely manages to jump away, some of the ice cold water making contact with her arm and shins.
“WHAT THE F-SKYE!” He sputters, shuddering like a leaf. “You were supposed to get May!”
“Oops.” She grins, “I guess I missed. You know how bad my aim is.”
“I am going to –”
May smirks, “And this is why you don’t mess with –” the end of her sentence is an ear-splitting screech as water drenches her from head to toe. She pushes her hair apart, wiping it away from her eyes to see Skye high-fiving Coulson, “Nice one, Dad!”
“Phillip.” Her eyes narrow on him and he has the audacity to smile. Oh, he was dead.
“Uh oh.” Skye squeaks.
Coulson has his arms out, shielding Skye as she peers from behind him. “Now, now, guys, let’s be good sports. It’s all for fun.”
“Hey Ma,” Ward says, shaking the water from his hair, “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
May follows his eyes to the huge body of water behind them. Excellent. Her lips curl up into the smile again, “I think I am.”
Coulson watches them with slightly panicked eyes, clearly catching the drift. “Oh no, May, don’t. No. Grant, I’ll ground you, I’m serious, I mean it. A week.”
“It’s all for fun.” She mimics in the deathly calm tone.
“Mel, no. Mel, come on. This is a very nice suit.”
“There’s always the dry cleaners.” May says, making brief eye contact with Ward.
She nods and they charge forwards. Ward grabs Skye around the middle, looping an arm around Coulson as May does the same on the other side, sending them barreling into the pool. There’s a loud splash and a scream from Skye as they land in the water.
“Anyone want to tell me what this is about?”
“Happy Birthday!”
“A card would’ve sufficed.”
“But this was way more fun.”
“Yeah, if you had followed the plan.” Ward says, lunging at her.
“Dad, don’t let Ward take me!”
She swims over to the edge, sitting on the step, taking in the scene before her. Coulson looked ridiculous, wading in his suit with Skye clinging to his neck, both being jostled around as he attempted to protect her from Ward.
“5 more minutes and then I want all of you changed for breakfast.”
“Okay, Gram!”
“May!” Coulson yells as both Skye and Ward attempt to dunk him, “Backup – needed!”
She shakes her head as they succeed, swimming over to help. Maybe. He did dump water on her.
“Guys,” She says in that stern tone, “You’re doing it wrong,” watching as Coulson’s eyes widened in shock.
Now they’re even.