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Grant appreciated what he had — it always was, regardless of who was next to him. The Wards, John or his team — he appreciated every crumb of what he got from them all, good and bad.
He was grateful to Coulson and appreciated that he gave him a second chance. He appreciated that May had helped him overcome the most difficult moments, in her own style, of course, but no one could have handled it better than her. He was grateful to Simmons for the fact that, despite what had happened, she was able to keep her sanity and helped him with therapy. He appreciated that Fitz had given him a real opportunity to become his big brother again.
He appreciated Skye — Daisy, was grateful that she gave him the opportunity to stay close to her, gave him a chance to open up to her for real. She revealed his present and never allowed him to finally sink into the abyss of the past. Daisy became his mainstay and he loved her for infinity, even at a time when reciprocity seemed like a huge folly.
And, in the end, Daisy became his wife and brought into his life another ray of hope for a happy ending — Elizabeth.
Ward always openly admitted how much he loved Johnson, but he idolized his daughter, Daisy often joked about the fact that someone eclipsed her in Grant's heart. The man just grinned, knowing that his wife was exactly the same in relation to Liz.
For her sake, both he and Daisy could have gone to the edge of the universe and no one would have stopped them.
***
Grant was damn glad to be back home, the last mission to find a inhuman in Italy had exhausted him and the only thing he craved was to be in the arms of his family.
They missed Daisy, who, according to Gemma, was at the base and helped the last arrived inhumans to settle in. But he still had a chance to pick up his daughter from school. They hadn't seen each other for almost three weeks and Liz, for all her independence, didn't feel well about her parents' long missions.
For this reason, it was decided that Ward would pick up the girl from school, and at the same time give Johnson at least a little break from everything that had fallen on her for his absence.
***
By the last call Grant Ward was in the parking lot and was trying to look out for a familiar black top in the crowd of children.
Elizabeth was a little copy of her father and everyone said it until the girl opened her mouth, her character, manner of speech — full credit to Daisy. Mostly, Grant was glad of this, but when excessive stubbornness annoyed him, simply for the reason that both of them woke up at the most inopportune moments.
From Ward's thoughts came a loud cry, like, reminiscent of "dad".
Grant was not sure of this, being under a flurry of his own emotions due to too long separation from the child.
He turned to the ringing voice, putting the phone in his jacket pocket, and froze. Following his daughter, Christian Ward walked with a confident gait, proudly raising his chin. Grant could have sworn that just one look from his brother could have frozen even the strongest fire. At least he's already frozen himself.
It was from his past that Ward tried to protect his daughter mostly, he was afraid of becoming a father — a shitty father, because he never had a good role model. His own father, like his mother, were terrible parents, his older brother left not far from them in relation to him and Tommy.
And Grant was genuinely afraid that he himself, in fact, had not gone far from his past family. He wished that none of them would ever know about the existence of his daughter. But dreams have a funny property of being destroyed.
The strong hands gripping his belt instantly brought him out of his trance and he lowered his head, looking at Elizabeth with a warm smile.
The man squatted down in front of the child and put his hand on her back, pressing her closer to him.
“Hi”. He greedily absorbed everything in Liz that he could reach with his eyes, lately he was getting more and more annoyed with how the children were growing up fast. “How are you, Princess?”
The girl giggled and clung to her father's chest, wrapping her arms around his neck and covering her eyes contentedly.
“I missed you”. Great, now Grant himself was on the verge of tears, he hated hearing these bitter notes in his daughter's voice, they always meant disappointment and the last person he could take it from was Liz. “The senator came to us today, can you imagine?”
The girl's voice sounded as if its bearer had now entrusted him with the most terrible secret in the world. Grant really wondered if he would have to reveal his own secret to his daughter.
"I see" Ward got up and frowned at Christian. "What are you doing here?"
The man pulled the girl closer to him — a protective gesture, not out of the local atmosphere.
“I'm glad to see you too, Grant.” the man waved his hand affably. “I didn't know you had a daughter, does Tommy know?”
The youngest of the Wards tensed, if it wasn't for his daughter by his side, their conversation would have been completely different, probably it could have ended with a hole in the senator's head and Grant wouldn't even feel sorry for him. He would feel safe with his brother for the first time, dead Christian is a good Christian.
“That was the plan, nothing personal”. Grant smiled tightly, completely ignoring the mention of his younger brother, he grew up, he knew what kind of game Christian was playing, but next to him he was still that weak boy whom he had so diligently buried for many years. “Go away, Christian.”
"Do you know the senator?". Ward lowered his head to Liz's quiet voice and nodded, looking with slight fear at his daughter's eyes burning with delight. “Did you meet at work?”
“We are brothers”. Grant growled softly, Christian confused his thoughts again and again with his behavior. “The last time we met before you were born, I didn't even know about my niece, your father is sometimes such a recluse.”
The senator laughed kindly, but Grant could easily hear the notes of hidden aggression in this sound. Christian is still good-looking, but when his child was around, Grant didn't know what to expect from him.
"He didn't say I had another uncle.”
Liz looked hurt as hell and Grant could have sworn he saw tears in her eyes.
He swallowed, feeling panic rising inside him. He felt like a hunted deer, unable to resist a wolf.
Grant let out a strangled groan, he was still going to the fucking therapist, he wanted so much to put an end to the story of his childhood, but now he was not capable of that either. Not next to someone who for him has always been and will always be a monster under the bed.
“I visited the school because of a charity event” Christian's voice rang out again like lightning from a clear sky. “Imagine my surprise when I heard my last name and realized that they were not addressing me, but a little girl.”
Grant frowned, catching a look full of admiration from his daughter to his brother. Of course, it's not every day you find out that your uncle is a senator. To be honest, he wouldn't want Liz to know about his past, she would have found out anyway, after all, Daisy's genes were in her.
“She is your exact copy”. Christian grinned. “Outwardly, the character clearly did not get from you.”
Grant, even with all his desire, could not argue with this. And he was glad that Liz had picked up more from her mother than from him. It would be much better for her, too.
“You're afraid.”
The senator grinned, looking defiantly at his brother, he, damn it, got a terrible pleasure watching Grant's helplessness. It looked like they were children, Grant was trying to somehow protect Tommy and himself from Christian, but there was no escape from him, even as a child, his brother understood this. And when he tried, the next few nights were filled only with nightmares — nightmares in reality, Christian was in that, he knew how to destroy not only Grant's body, but also his mind. It was nice to see that his younger brother's reaction at the sight of him remained the same.
“Daddy is not afraid of anything”. Grant shuddered and looked down in surprise at Elizabeth, who squeezed his palm tighter. “He is the bravest man in whole world.”
“Yes, of course”. Christian snorted. “Grant, I didn't think that your daughter would be so funny, do you think laughter would be her savior if she went through the same thing that you and I did?
***
Fitz groaned in annoyance as his hand trembled over the wires due to an unexpected call.
He looked up from the device and picked up the phone.
“Leopold Fitz, Chicago police”. The man rolled his eyes in surprise, damn it, with such a beginning, nothing good could be expected from this conversation. “Grant Douglas Ward was arrested an hour ago for an attempt on the life of a senator.”
Leo frowned, he knew of only one senator whom Grant could harm openly and such news didn’t bode well.
“Are visitors allowed?” The engineer happily exhaled after hearing a positive answer. “Thank you, sir.”
***
“I'm sorry.”
Grant grimaced, looking wearily at Fitz on the other side of his cell. He didn't care much about his own situation at the moment, he was proud of himself and knew that Garner would also be proud when he found out, even if he hid it behind a lecture that violence is bad.
“You're not sorry for a damn thing! “ Leo exploded and stared angrily at Ward. "You hit him in the school parking lot in front of your daughter, are you lucky Daisy doesn't know what you were thinking yet?"
“Yes, it's not a pity” The man lowered his head down, the floor of the camera suddenly seemed the most interesting object in the whole wide world. “I didn't want to do this, Fitz, I was scared and for the first time I saw an opportunity to protect myself from him, I'm sorry that Liz saw it do me a favor, take her home, please.”
Fitz exhaled and looked at his friend with a slight sadness.
“I'm proud of you, Grant.” He awkwardly turned his head to the side. “But violence is a really piece of shit, we both know it, you know it better than many.”
The man paused briefly, trying to catch Grant's eye. Still a useless exercise.
“Stop digging into yourself, Ward” Leo sighed. “You will take Liz home yourself, the senator refused to press charges.”
It definitely worked, because Grant immediately looked up at him in surprise.
“I chose the right contact for such a case.” Ward rises from the bench and smiles gratefully. “thanks, Leo, I appreciate it”
“Just call me when you're home and drop by Andrew's on the weekend, that'll be enough.”
Grant just nods.
***
“Grant Douglas Ward, what the hell?” Daisy angrily throws her bag on the sofa and angrily looks between him and Elizabeth. "Let me talk to your father alone, please.”
Neither Grant nor Liz even thinks of saying anything against it, it's too risky when Johnson is so angry.
"Why am I hearing about this on the news, Ward?" Daisy sits down next to her husband on the sofa as soon as Elizabeth disappears into the living room doorway. “You hit him in front of Elizabeth, Grant, this is unacceptable.
The man sighs, he knows that this was unacceptable and knows that he will hear it at least once more, then he will open up.
“I was scared, and then he said something about Liz, I don't even remember what exactly, I just felt rage and anger, I'm sorry”. Grant let out a strangled sob, allowing himself to finally let go of all the assumed indifference. “Sorry, I didn't want her to see me like this.
“Look at me, Grant”. The man does not argue and silently raises his head, I don't care that tears are flowing down his cheeks. “You’re so strong, Grant, I'm not proud that you allowed emotions to take over you in this way, but I'm proud of what you gave rebuff, you protected our daughter, you protected yourself, Grant.”
The woman's voice is quiet, soothing and confident that everything said is true. Daisy gently puts her hand on her husband's cheek and moves forward, leaving a light kiss on his lips.
“You're doing great, Grant.” She wraps her trembling body in her arms, luring him into her arms. “We'll explain everything to Liz, together, you and I, she will never be disappointed in you, Grant.”
Johnson hears the growing sobs and smiles, squeezing the man tighter in his arms.
She wouldn't say it out loud, but she wished she had seen that punch, Daisy was damn jealous of her daughter, if she had been there, she would have added and wouldn't have regretted it.
She was proud of Grant, quietly, but so that he would always remember it. She knew what domestic violence was like, but she wasn't the one who faced it all her childhood from those with whom she was connected by blood.
Daisy was proud that Ward's outburst was motivated by a desire to protect his new family —his real family, not revenge.
She couldn't have asked for more.
“I love you, Grant.” She lowers her head and bumps into her husband's happy eyes. “Every time, like the first, right, robot?”
Ward laughs softly and nods in agreement.
"I love you, Daisy." He gently touches her lips with his, trying to put through this gesture all the tenderness he feels for her.
After all, she was the one who inspired him with a sense of protection, complete trust.
She was the one who helped him get through his darkest memories.
It doesn't matter who she is —Skye or Daisy Johnson, she has always been and will always be his home.