Chapter 16
“You want to do what?”
She never expected to end up the tough parent, but apparently Agent Grant Ward who could kill people at a thousand paces was a great big softie when it came to kids. Yes it was cute but at time like this it was extremely annoying.
“Go on a trip.” He replied his tone reasonable. “It will be good for the kids.”
“You just want to go and visit the volcano.” She snapped exasperated. He was such a big kid right now.
“Skye. It will be good for the kids. Plus I thought you’d like it. You’re always saying how much you want to visit the world and see new things. Isn’t this a great opportunity for that?”
Sighing she knew she was going to give in. The fact he’d taken time to listen to her was enough to sway her even if his argument hadn’t been a good one. Plus it would be a good opportunity to get away from the beach and pool. As much as she loved them several days doing nothing else was beginning to get boring. Plus if she was beginning to get bored so would the kids. They had no idea how long they were going to be here for, Fury still hadn’t told them, so they might as well take the opportunity while they had it. Plus a volcano sounded pretty interesting.
“No coaches! I’m not taking the kids on a coach.” She sighed.
“Of course not.” He sounded offended she’d even thought that. “ I’ve hired a car for us.”
“So you’ve gone ahead and arranged everything. Why are we even having this conversation then?”
“Because we didn’t have to go. Plus there is a large supermarket and I thought we could do with picking up a few supplies.”
He could say that again. In the time they had been here they’d gone through nearly all of the baby wipes and snacks they’d brought with them. They definitely needed a shopping trip.
“Alright. But you get to explain to Fury if one of them sets off the volcano.”
“The volcano is dormant Skye, its unlikely to erupt.”
“Sure but you’re forgetting who we have with us. If anyone can cause a dormant volcano to become active its one of those four.”
“Good point.”
Rolling her eyes at him she headed to find the children and get them ready for the trip. She knew they would be excited, they liked doing new things.
“So guys who wants to go on a trip?” She asked standing in front of the TV to get their attention.
“Trip!” Phil cried bouncing up and down nearly falling off the sofa. It was only Mel’s quick invention that prevented him falling onto the tiled floor. Having righted Phil Mel asked:
“Where?”
“It’s a surprise.”
“I like surprises.” Announced Jemma.
“Right. Do you guys want to get ready then? Go and clean your teeth.”
Jemma grabbed Leo’s hand and they raced off towards the bathroom, clearly excited for the day. Mel seemed less happy.
“What’s up Mel?”
“I wanted to continue swimming. I can… I nearly can…”
Understanding why she was upset Skye pulled her into a hug. She’d seen how much the swimming lessons had meant to Mel.
“You won’t forget anything if you don’t swim for a couple of days.” She assured the young girl in her arms. “Besides we’ll probably end up swimming when we get back anyway to cool off.”
The answering grin she got made everything seem all right. Dancing off towards the bathroom Skye watched as she began chattering with the duo. The smile still caught her off guard. May never smiled as an adult but as a child although she was serious she frequently grinned. It just brought home how much the elder agent must have suffered to turn her from this smiling angel to someone who tried to hide all emotions. There were times when Skye really hated Shield.
Skye watched as Ward walked into the room, worry etched all over his face. He was another one that Shield had almost screwed up. Though to be fair it wasn’t just them, his family and Garrett had a lot to answer for. She was glad she’d seen him with the children though, it brought out a caring side she was certain he didn’t know he had. It was a beautiful thing to watch.
“You ok?” Concern lacing her voice.
Picking up Phil, as it was his turn to change him he nodded before moving beside her. Bending slightly so he could whisper to her:
“The kids are planning something. We’re going to have to watch them like a hawk.”
Great! That’s all she needed. Mischievous kids and a volcano. She knew they’d been too good for too long.
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The car journey wasn’t as bad as Skye expected. The kids were well behaved even though they were clearly excited. They kept pointing out things that they found interesting, camels were one of their favourites. She’d taken control of the music so she wasn’t bored by whatever Ward had deemed appropriate driving music.
Just over an hour later they were nearly there having entered the Parque National de Timanfaya denoted by a strange statue. It was almost like the devil she guessed.
“It’s a Manrique art.” Ward commented, noticing her staring.
“Huh?”
“Manrique is a famous artist from the Island. It’s his art. After the volcanic eruption the people believed it was the work of a demon or the devil. The devil became the emblem of the island and it is used to show the boundaries of the park.”
“Is it all volcanic?”
“No. It’s just the lava field. The park is just the area that’s protected. I think it’s named after the volcano which is also called Timanfaya.”
Apparently Ward was into this thing, which she hadn’t known. But then you learn something new everyday. She had to admit it was interesting. She couldn’t help but cringe on the route up to the top of the volcano. She trusted his driving but she still hated twisty turny roads.
Parking and releasing the kids from the car Skye watched as their faces lit up as they looked around and took everything in. As a group they decided to go on the bus tour first before looking at the rest of the volcano.
The lava fields entranced the kids with Jemma and Leo oohing at every turn. Mel sat with Phil pointing out different patterns in the lava, leaning up in amazement as they passed underneath an archway made of lava. Skye sat next to Ward keeping a close eye on the kids and listened to the audio commentary.
“This lava field was created in 1730 to 1736 when the volcano erupted. The volcano was created from a hotspot beneath the surface, which is still active today. This can be seen back at the top of the volcano where it is possible for cooking to be done over the top of the volcano. No eruption has occurred since then leading to the volcano being designated as dormant. However, as the heat shows it is possible that one-day the volcano may erupt again, though it is believed the magma chamber is empty.”
Wow. Ok. Ward was right it was worth visiting here. Not that she was going to tell him. This place was fascinating and the kids clearly loved it.
Having finished the bus tour Jemma dragged them all over to one side where the demonstrations were on going. Since she’d heard about the steam demonstration on the lava field tour she’d been insisting on watching it. Positioning Leo and Jemma within grabbing reach in front of her she moved slightly so she could also watch the demonstration. Ward lifted Mel whose view was blocked onto his shoulders so she could see better while Skye kept a hold of a struggling Phil. He wanted to get down and walk but there were too many people here to safely let him walk around. She didn’t want to loose any of the kids here; they’d never find them again.
They watched as a tour guide poured something on the ground beside them to show that the bottle he held was simply water. He then poured most of it down a hole beside him before stepping back quickly. There was a whoosh as a jet of stream burst upwards from the hole.
“Oooh Cool.” Phil squeaked waving his arms about.
Skye laughed and kissed him on the cheek. For the next demonstration the guide moved over to a different hole. Warning them not to attempt this themselves he put a bunch of straw over the hole. She wasn’t sure what was supposed to happen when it suddenly caught fire.
“Ok that’s cool.” Murmured Skye.
After the demonstration Ward turned to her.
“So? A good idea?”
“Ok Tin man. You got this one right. Its amazing.”
“Thought you’d like it.” He replied slightly smugly. “Anyway I haven’t finished yet. I thought we’d take a camel ride.”
“Camel!” Cried Phil, listening to them.
“I think that means yes.” Laughed Skye.
“Where are Leo and Jemma? I thought they’d be dragging us to go see the camels as soon as they’d heard.”
Looking around Skye saw they weren’t standing next to her where she’d seen them just a minute before.
“Damn.”
Just as she was about to panic she could hear the guide from earlier clearly telling someone off. From what she could tell they’d nearly set something on fire. Glancing at Ward, they both knew that sounded exactly like some people they knew, she handed Phil to him before striding off in the direction of the voice.
Standing there as she’d expected were Leo and Jemma trying to reason with a very angry guide. Apologising quickly to the guide she grabbed Leo and Jemma one under each arm and headed towards the car. Ward had anticipated her actions and already had Mel and Phil strapped in.
“We’re sorry mum. But we wanted to test a theory.”
“Jemma had an idea but we didn’t know if it would work unless we tried it.”
Skye looked at them helplessly before shutting the door to the car. Turning and finding Ward stood in front of her she moved and pressed her head against his chest.
“These kids are going to be the death of me. Seriously! I love them but god help us.”
Chuckling slightly he placed his arms around her and she was certain she felt him kiss the top of her head.
“You’ll miss them when they are adults again.” He predicted.
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The camel rides went down with the kids as well as he’d expected. Skye had already decided there was no point in punishing Leo and Jemma, something he agreed with. He’d meant what he’d said to her about missing the kids when they were back to adults. He loved the team but as children they were adorable. It was nice to be able to do something simple for once, even if looking after the kids hadn’t been as simple as he’d first thought. It had shown him a side he didn’t think he had. Maybe there was more to him than simply being a weapon.
Pulling up at the camel ride place the kids piled out of the car before he’d even got his belt off.
“I think they’re excited.” Skye commented dryly as she hurried after them.
After a quick discussion on how to get everyone a ride they got onto the camels. They were riding in bucket like seats with one either side of the camel’s back. Leo and Mel were in front with Skye and Jemma behind him. He had Phil strapped to his chest and he rode with a guy from another group. Phil kept throwing his arms around and hitting him in the face he was so excited. It was cute but he could do without the continual smacks. If Phil kept going he was going to end up with a broken nose.
Half an hour later they had finished the ride and the kids were swapping stories as they got back into the car.
“They are good but monkeys are still better.” Leo announced. “Mum can I have a monkey?”
“What? No.”
“But muuuuuuummmmmmmm.”
“Leo if your mum says no she means it. Plus they don’t make good pets.” He interjected trying to cut of the moaning.
“But they can do all sorts of amazing things…”
Ward blanked out the following rambling about monkeys. He heard it all before from the adult Fitz.
“Somethings never change.” He muttered catching Skye’s eye and grinning as Leo continued in the background.
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