Title: A Different Life

Author: Debra

Rating: Teen

Summary: What if Grant Ward had a family member that actually stood up for him and stopped the chain of events that led to him being influenced by Garrett? What if he was helped at a young age for the abuse in his early childhood?

Author's Notes: This first chapter just gives a basic idea of the storyline with flashbacks throughout the rest of the chapters as an alternate version of season 1 where Ward doesn't become a part of Hydra. He will also meet Skye a lot quicker than he did on the show. He might be a little or very OOC but his life experiences after setting his parents' house on fire were different in this story than they were on the show.

I will write flashbacks to show what happened to them during the events of this chapter and where they meet again at the beginning of the next chapter, which will be a different take on the pilot episode.

I hope everybody likes this because this is my first attempt at Agents of Shield fanfiction and a different style of writing than I am used to.

Disclaimer: The known characters in this story all belong to ABC and Marvel. If they belonged to me, I would definitely have a lot less bills to pay than I do right now.

Prologue

The smell of pipe tobacco invaded the first floor of the Ward family estate as Lillian Ward followed her mother down the hallway to the latter's study where her older brother Travis and his oldest son Christian were waiting. She knew that her mother was ready to rip both of them a new butt for sending her middle nephew Grant to jail, especially given that they carried most of the blame for what he had done.

Lily had been born twenty years after Travis in what they liked to call a 'menopause' pregnancy and was a few years older than Christian and a decade older than Grant. She was very angry at her brother and oldest nephew and wished that she was ten years older so she could have stopped the abuse before it had led to Grant trying to kill Christian.

"What the hell are you thinking?"

Constance Ward was mad as a hornet and ready to strangle her oldest child with her bare hands. It would have been funny to see the normally calm and composed society matron looking that angry but Lily knew that if she laughed her mom would let her have it too. Even her best efforts to help had failed.

"Mom, you need to calm down," Lily stated as she glared at Travis and Christian her manicured nails digging into her palms in an effort to stop herself from slapping the both of them.

"Lillian, let me handle this," Constance snapped at her youngest child as she walked over to her son and grandson.

"You will drop the charges and allow Lily to get my grandson out of that juvenile detention or I swear, Travis James Ward, I will write you out of my will and Lily will inherit everything and control the family fortune all by herself after I pass away."

"Do you even give a damn that he tried to kill me, Gramsy?"

Constance looked over at her oldest grandson and harshly responded to his question.

"Don't you dare act like the hurt party, Christian; all four of us know that you provoked it by beating the hell out of him, Thomas may he rest in peace, and Louise when all of you were growing up. By the way, both of them will be coming to live with me after Louise is out of the hospital and Grant is brought back here."

Constance took the documents that Lily had pulled out of her briefcase and handed them to Travis.

"Sign them, now!"

Travis Ward, in his forty five years on the planet, that his mother meant it when she said that she would disinherit him and leave everything to Lily, his mother was many things but dishonest wasn't one of them.. If she said she was going to do something, she did it. He ran his fingers through his graying dark hair before taking the papers from his mom, placing them on the desk and signing them.

Constance and Lily didn't say a word as he handed them papers back to them. They just turned and walked out of the room, the latter leaving the house to go and get her nephew before anything bad could happen to him.

An hour later, Lily stepped into the visitation room of the facility where Grant had been taken after his arrest and saw him sitting with the last person she had ever expected to find her nephew talking to. It was Shield Agent John Garrett. There was something about this that Lily didn't like and a sense of urgency took over. Everything inside of her was screaming that she needed to stop what was happening before something bad happened.

Lily took a few calming breaths before she walked over to where Grant and Garrett were sitting and placed a gentle hand on her nephew's arm. He looked up at her, relief in his brown eyes at the sight of her before they both looked over at the man that had been talking to Grant.

"What the hell are you doing here, Garrett? Why are you talking to my nephew?"

Garrett didn't say a word because the wrong thing could get him arrested and this woman wasn't some weak little female he could push around. This was Lillian Ward, a woman who could make his life hell at Shield and could find out things that he doesn't want others knowing about.

"I apologize. I will come back and talk to him later, with your permission, of course."

"Grant won't be here later. I have come to take him home with me," she stated firmly before turning to face her nephew, "So go and get your things, Grant and I will wait here while they sign you out," Lily said.

She watched as Grant went with the guard to get his things before turning to face the man standing beside her. Her dark eyes turned fierce and her dark hair swung at her shoulders given how quickly Lily turned to look at Garrett.

"I don't know what angle you are playing at but it is creepy as hell coming here to talk to a teenage boy that you don't know. If I catch you anywhere near my nephew again, I will make you wish that you had never been born."

Lily watched John Garrett walk out of the room before pulling out her phone and calling the one person who might be able to help her find out what John Garrett was up to; someone she trusted.

A week later

For the first time in seven days, Lily had a chance to relax and was sitting in a lounge chair on the deck. She was reading the newspaper with a cup of coffee sitting on the wooden table that was beside the chair. Her hair was pulled up into a ponytail and the sleeves of the navy blue sweater she was wearing pushed up to her elbows over a black pair of jeans.

She heard the back door close and looked over to see Grant walking over to where his Aunt was sitting. He had the unreadable expression on his face that had been present since being brought back home. Letting out a calming breath, Lily sat down the paper and placed it on the table, waiting for him to sit down in the other lounge chair that was beside hers. She had a feeling it was going to be a repeat of the same conversation that had been happening off and on all week.

"Why did you and Gramsy get me out, Aunt Lil? I deserved to be there."

"No, you didn't. Your sorry excuse of a father and mother are to blame for what happened, not you. I wasn't old enough to help Christian or Thomas may he rest in peace, but I can help you and Louise have a normal life from here on out."

"I gave up the chance to be normal when I set fire to my parents' house."

"This isn't your fault and it is time for you to have some peace in your life and I plan on making sure that happens."

Before Grant could respond, a tall man in a butler's uniform stepped into the doorway and started to speak.

"Miss Ward, a Philip Coulson is here to see you."

"I have a meeting so why don't you go down to the barn and find the stable manager. He has a surprise for you from me and Gramsy."

Grant watched as his Aunt went into the house before getting up and walking down the deck steps that led into the backyard. As soon as he stepped into the stable and saw the chocolate lab puppy that the stable manager had been watching, he smiled for the first time in a long time.

He played with his new puppy for a few hours out in the backyard at least until his Aunt's voice carried down to him. Grant glanced up towards the deck and saw his Aunt standing with a man wearing a dark suit and they were both watching him and Buddy with beaming smiles.

A year later, Grant stood in a quiet corner and watched as his aunt talked with the nuns at St. Agnes, an orphanage that Lily had decided to visit. She had recently decided that she wanted to adopt a child and had come here to meet the children and start the process by being a foster mother.

At sixteen, he was now attending a local private school close enough to where his aunt and grandmother lived where he could stay with them. He had also started to date a fellow classmate named Abby McCallister, the granddaughter of one of his Gramsy's friends. He liked her and being with her made him feel like a normal teenager but the scars of his parents and brother's abuse still haunted him.

Grant felt like he was being watched and looked over to see a little girl watching him. She had long dark hair and chocolate brown eyes that pulled a person in. She gave him a tiny wave and he returned it with a small smile.

"Mary, mother superior needs you," one of the nuns said as she walked over to the little girl and brought her over to where Lily was standing with the other nuns.

Grant watched them for a few minutes before Lily walked over holding Mary's hand in hers.

"Mary, this is my nephew Grant. He lives with me and I was hoping that you could come and stay with us."

Mary's eyes lit up before she hugged Lily and left with the nuns to get her things. As they left, Grant saw a serious look come into his Aunt's eyes and had a feeling that it wasn't just because Mary needed a home that she was coming home with them.

"This is about Shield, isn't it?"

"Grant, you aren't at the Academy yet, so I can't tell you that. All I will tell you is that we will have a lot of security measures in place and my own unique skills will be used to protect her."

Grant smirked at his aunt's mention of her 'unique skills' and memories of his brother finding out just how they worked two weeks after Grant had come to live with his aunt and Gramsy. It was a moment that he would never forget or ever stop taking an insane amount of pleasure remembering

Flashback

Grant had been in the yard with Buddy when the sight of his older brother walking towards him filled the teenage boy with fear but a determined resolve to stand up to his tormentor.

"You better be scared of me, you little shithead! Aunt Lily isn't here to protect you, is she? So now I am going to make you pay for trying to kill me."

Grant got into a defensive stance and waited to protect himself from the punch that Christian was going to throw when all of a sudden his older brother flew up into the air and was hanging upside down. The insane part was that there wasn't visible rope holding him there.

"Christian Michael Ward, you have just gotten a taste of what I am capable of. Your father found out when he tried to bully me the same way you do Grant and Louise and used to do to Brian," Lily had said as she walked off the deck steps and over to where her nephews were standing. "I have placed a spell on them that will cause trouble for anybody that tries to hurt them. I love you but until you can act like you have some damn sense, you are not allowed on this property. That goes for your parents too. Don't test me because you will lose."

Christian hit the ground hard and ran away without even looking back at his younger brother and Aunt.

That night, his Aunt had explained about the magic that went through the female line of the Ward family and that if he ever had a daughter, she would have that same gift. She had also told him that she used that gift to assist her friend Philip and Shield, the organization that both he and John Garrett worked for.

A few hours later, Grant was sitting in the parlor playing a board game with his Gramsy, Lily, his younger sister Louise and Mary, all of them laughing and having fun. He could feel the little girl's presence bringing happiness to the house that had been missing. Lily and Gramsy had another little girl to spoil and she and Louise had quickly become friends, playing with dolls and other games little girls their age did.

On a bright and sunny day, not long after Mary had come to live with the Ward's, she and Louise were playing outside with Buddy chasing them while Grant sat on the deck steps watching them. He then saw his Aunt's friend Philip walking over to sit down beside him.

"How are you doing, Grant?"

"I'm fine, Mr. Coulson."

"I see you got volunteered into babysitting."

"I don't mind, sir. Skye and Louise are still little and shouldn't be out here by themselves, even with all of the security Aunt Lily has hired."

"Why do you call her Skye?"

"When she told Aunt Lily the name the nuns gave her, they decided on a new first name to go with our last name. She is starting the adoption process already."

"Do you have a problem with her adopting Skye?"

"No. She needs a good home like Louise and I did before Aunt Lily took us in."

The sound of Skye crying drew both Grant's and Philip's attention and they looked up to see a five foot two blond teenage girl standing with them. Louise was glaring at her and the girl looked smug at least until Louise came running over to her big brother.

"Abby called Skye a charity case brat that needed to go back to where she comes from."

Grant walked over to his girlfriend and led her away from the little girls while Philip Coulson had started to keep an eye on them. He looked ready to strangle her but had to fight the urge to do it.

"Why are you acting like this? She is an innocent little girl."

"One that can't take her eyes off of you, it's disgusting."

"Abby, go home."

Grant walked away from her and back over to where Philip had been convinced by Skye and Louise into playing Ring Around the Rosie. Skye's dark hair and his sister light brown blew in the wind as both girls giggled and the big tough Government agent turned to putty in their tiny hands.

Six years later, Grant was at his college graduation from Harvard and was watching as Lily and Skye, Louise and his Gramsy come walking towards him. Philip Coulson, who had been Grant's mentor during high school and college, was with them and the pride in all of their eyes made him feel good about himself. Although that was the moment, Christian and his parents had also come into view and his ex-girlfriend Abby McCallister holding onto Christian's arm.

He had gotten back together with her not long after her harsh words to Skye but everybody else in his family didn't like her anymore. Lily and Louise hated her with a passion while his Gramsy had maintained her friendship with Abby's grandmother but didn't trust her around Skye. That had changed the day she had betrayed Grant with the one person that she knew would hurt him the most.

She cheated on him with his brother at Grant's graduation party four years earlier and Skye had been the one to see them having sex in the barn. The little girl, who had been Grant's shadow from the moment she had come to live with the Ward's had told him and despite Abby's attempts to call Skye a liar, Grant and Lily had believed Skye.

At sixteen, Skye had become a beautiful young woman and his feelings for her had changed and started to scare him. She had been his light in the darkness he had always lived in but at her age, it wasn't the right time to even think about her the way he was.

"It's a good thing that you are going to the Academy, son," Philip Coulson said quietly. "Four years will give her time to grow up but now isn't the time."

"I know, sir and maybe by then she will have found somebody else."

Philip Coulson had to fight not to call Grant out on his crap because he had seen how Skye had looked at Grant with adoring eyes since she was a little girl and was in love with her adopted cousin as much as he loved her. That had been the reason that Grant's high school sweetheart had cheated on him with his brother, she knew that he would never love her the way he did Skye.

Night had fallen on the Ward family estate as the party died down and Grant made his way to his bedroom to get a shower and go to the party that one of his former classmates was throwing that night.

The second he turned on the light, Grant had to fight not to give into the urge to run at the sight of his future sister-in-law lying in his bed with no clothes on. He quickly shut the door before his Aunt saw this and went off.

"What the hell are you doing, Abby?"

The five foot two slender blond got out of the bed and walked towards him, a seductive look on her face. Her hair reached her waist and even though his body had a physical response to her beauty, Grant knew that he was messing with fire if he touched her.

"I wanted to help you celebrate your graduation like I did four years ago when we graduated high school."

"Abby, you fucked Christian right after you and I had sex that night," he stated. "Any feelings I had for you ended after that and given the fact that our grandmothers are planning yours and Christian's wedding, I wouldn't touch you even if I did."

Her classically pretty face turned ugly as she started to respond to his words.

"Don't even act like the bigger person, Grant. You were too busy thinking about a twelve year old girl instead of me that night. I wasn't stupid. I knew that you were starting to have inappropriate feelings for a little girl and you still do even now."

"Get your clothes on and get out of my room."

"You will pay for this, Grant. I will make sure of it."

Abby grabbed her clothes and stormed into the bathroom while Grant left the room, coming face to face with his sister, who had overheard the entire conversation.

"I texted Aunt Lily about what happened here and she is going to handle this to keep Abby from lying to Christian and starting trouble."

The siblings walked away while Skye stepped out of her bedroom and into Grant's. She saw Abby coming out of the bathroom, straightening her clothes and a look of jealousy came over her face.

"I guess he wanted a real woman and not a little girl. Why don't you take your pathetic ass and go back to where you came from because you aren't fit to be a Ward, through either adoption or marriage."

"You're a bitch, Abby and have always been one. You might be marrying a Ward but the members of this family that matter to Grant can't stand you. I might not be the one that Grant's marries but given what you have done in the past four years, it sure as hell won't be you."

Skye turned and ran out of the room and into hers, grabbing a suitcase and packing it. She threw it out of the window and climbed down the trellis towards the van that Lily had bought for her. It was time to find out who she was without Grant and the family that had taken her in and gave her more than she deserved.

It wasn't long after that Grant walked into the room to figure out where Skye was and came across the empty room and the letter she had written for Lily. He read it and sat down on her bed, feeling like his light was gone and how he was going to tell his Aunt Lily her little girl had disappeared.