Holes

SHIELD agents came with a quinjet and took Hannah home. Another Quinjet gave them a temp power boost and they should expect to be grounded for two weeks while repairs were done on the bus. Coulson told them it wasn’t a holiday and Ward was the only one excused from his regular duties, except that Skye relied on Ward for half of her duties. The other half was studying the SHIELD manual most of which read like stereo instructions.

She figured she could kill two birds with one stone. Read while watching over Ward who still hadn’t woke up since he was attacked last night.

He was sleeping, thankfully soundly in his bed. He wasn’t coughing, shivering, or shouting at someone who wasn’t there but she still worried about him. No one seemed to understand what caused the coughing. Simmons had checked him out and found that he had no signs of inflammation from a cold or allergy but he coughed like his lungs were filed with water. He shivered like he was freezing but his body temperature was normal.

He probably wouldn’t like her to be here watching him, but she decided to be stubborn. She wanted him to understand his team was here for him.

They were at an unnamed SHIELD base probably in California. Repair crews had been coming and going all morning and Ward had slept through jackhammering and drills. That worried her because she didn’t see Ward as someone who slept through a pin dropping.

She smiled when he opened his eyes and did not seemed startled to see her but there was something in his face that looked pained.

“Hey,” she said, softly.

He didn’t say anything, He pulled himself up but stayed in the bed. “What happened?”

“It’s a long story but the intruder is gone, Hannah is safe and the bus is being repaired. I’m sure Coulson will send you the entire briefing. He hit you with a wrench and after you started hallucinating.”

“Oh,” he said. “I didn’t hurt anyone?”

Skye shook her head. “But you did scare Fitz and Simmons a little.”

“I didn’t mean too.”

“Ward, I won’t ever rescind my offer. You can talk to me. Your brother was more than just a bully, right?” She pleaded as much as possible, hoping that it would give him an incentive to talk.

“I’m sorry, Skye— I appreciate it but I’m just not ready.”

“Come on, Ward, quit being a macho man. If your brother hurt you, it’s okay to talk about it. I wouldn’t ever think you are weak.”

Ward looked startled. She didn’t know what she said that set that off. Usually he kept a poker face. He rarely smiled, laughed, or got angry.

“How bad was it?”

“Bad,” he admitted. “And I’m not exactly an innocent.”

“No one is. I won’t judge you.” She had done some bad stuff as well growing up. She sometimes shoplifted, sometimes stole from her foster families. “What did he do to you? Simmons said you started coughing violently like your lungs were filled with water. Did he try to drown you?”

He looked startled again. “No, that had nothing to do with my brother—It was a training exercise gone bad.”

Skye looked into Ward’s face. He could lie and she would never know but now she did. He was lying.

“Training exercise. What happened?”

“Not yet. Please. I have to try to figure out what everything means first.”

She meant to press him, but there was something in his face that told her, nothing she said was going to make him talk.

May finished up her workout when she saw Skye walking up to her. May expected some kind of selfish request. Maybe tell Coulson that after all she did on the last mission, she should have the bracelet off.

Skye had a grim face. May had issues with her, still did. Still wasn’t sure she was a good fit at SHIELD. She had no discipline, thought of herself before SHIELD, and was often irresponsible.

“I know you don’t like me.”

“I never said that.”

One thing Skye did have that was perfect for SHIELD was manipulation. May saw how she acted with Fitz and Simmons. They listened to her and she could get them to do things they normally wouldn’t. She would make a good leader eventually if she shaped up.

“But you are the only one I can turn too. Fitz and Simmons can’t deal with it and Coulson is ignoring it.”

“What is it? Skye, we aren’t here to deal with your personal problems and Coulson will take off the bracelet when he is good and ready.”

“It’s not me,” she said, her voice was annoyed. “I think something is really wrong with Ward.”

May was surprised. This was the first time since she met Skye that she put someone else’s needs first.

“I think there is something wrong with him as well,” she admitted. Ever since the staff incident, Ward had not been completely there and seemed lost in his thoughts. She had hoped after a few days he would shake it off, but after what happened last night, she wondered if he needed more help.

“So why don’t you do something?”

“It’s not my place to do something, it’s his.”

“May. I think his brother did something terrible to him and I think he’s reliving those memories. Simmons said he acted like someone one who swallowed a lot of water. He said he relived a bad training exercise but his face. He was lying. I think we should help him. Doesn’t SHIELD owe something to their agents?”

May was surprised to see genuine concern in Skye’s face.

“He’s strong, Skye. All specialists are. We go through rigorous training to make sure we can do what we need to do. He wouldn’t have been accepted into operations if they didn’t think he could handle it.”

“Like with you? Coulson told me that you changed after Bahrain.”

That annoyed her. Why did Coulson spill her story? To Skye of all people.

“I took a break after. The staff wasn’t traumatic, Skye and stirring up bad memories will disturb but not kill him. Listen to what Randolph said. Give Ward time to recuperate.”

“Please—“ she said. “Maybe you can talk to Coulson. I think this is different. He may need more than rest to recover.”

May could see more than concern in the girl’s face, she was frightened too. May didn’t say anything for a moment. Finally she said: “I’ll speak to Coulson, but it’s up to him to speak to Ward. However, you may just need to give need to give Ward time and maybe space too.”

Coulson was in his office overseeing the repair of the beacon when May came inside. She was never a big person about looking after the other agents. She always thought as SHIELD agents, they could deal with everything on their own. So she felt awkward talking to Coulson, but she also remembered how scared Skye looked.

“I’m trying to get them to upgrade to something maybe made in 2005 rather than 1995.”

“Let’s talk for a few minutes,” she motioned her head at the work crew. “Away from this?”

Coulson looked her over. “Am I in trouble?”

She shook her head. Coulson followed her out. They stood outside his office. The hallway was quiet.

“You have to talk to Ward.”

“Randolph said to wait a little while before chewing him out.”

“I’m not talking about disciplining what he did, I’m talking about the visions he got from the staff. Skye is worried sick and Fitz and Simmons were terrified about what happened in that closet. Ward’s not himself, Phil and he might be in trouble.”

“He’ll be fine, May. Just give him a few days. He’s recovering and he probably doesn’t need Skye coddling him.”

“She’s not coddling, she’s terrified. And I think there is something wrong with him too.”

“What can I do?”

“You can try talking to him.”

“He’s not exactly open to it.

“Is it just a man thing or something? That guys can’t talk about their feelings.”

Coulson looked annoyed but May didn’t care. Coulson had a team now and he had to look after them.

“It isn’t that.”

“Phil, don’t treat this as some alpha man stuff. Ward is on your team and you’re responsible for him. You need to find out what’s going on. That hallucination he had in the closet. Simmons thought he was drowning. He told Skye it was training accident gone badly. I looked in his records. He was never involved in a training accident let alone one that involved water. In fact he got high marks for swimming.”

“What if he doesn’t want to talk?”

“You’re the leader. Make him.”

Skye was happy to see Ward sitting on the couch, a sandwich next to him looking over a tablet.

Simmons sat close by. She was also reading a tablet, but every once in a while she’d glance over at Ward. For a moment Skye thought she had a thing for him, but it wasn’t that. Simmons was looking him over with concern. She was worried about him. Worried he might have another attack.

“Study time?” Skye asked. She had her printed SHIELD manual since she couldn’t use a tablet.

Simmons smiled and made room for her.

“Ward, that better be a recreational book.”

“It’s the notes from the last mission.”

Skye moved over to him and swung the hand with the bracelet over his tablet until the SHIELD warning came up.

“Great,” he said, putting the tablet aside.

“All of us have to work but you,” she said. “Go enjoy yourself while I study the SHIELD manual. I’m pretty sure I’ll know how to build a stereo when I’m done.” She opened a page at random. “Undersecretary Alexander Pierce says SHIELD is here to keep the world safe from those inside or outside the planet and to make sure the people always feel secure.”

“Feeling secure is a big thing.”

“I like freedom,” Skye said.

“It’s possible to do both.”

Skye snorted. “Keeping dreaming that.”

“Ward?” Ward looked up to see Coulson. Coulson wasn’t wearing his poker face and he didn’t look angry. He looked almost tender. Not like someone about to give Ward a stern lecture.

“Yes, sir?”

“Are you up to having a little chat?”

Ward looked around, first to Skye who smiled, then to Simmons who did the same.

“Yes, sir.” He stood up. Skye watched them head to the cage. She didn’t envy Ward but she knew he would hold up okay.

She looked over to Simmons.

“I hope he isn’t too hard on him.”

Skye didn’t know what to say. She hoped that Coulson would be compassionate to Ward. Skye knew he made a mistake with the staff but sometimes you don’t need to lecture someone about it if they already knew they messed up.

Skye stay at the couch reading the SHIELD manual while Simmons went to do some work in the lab. She realized that Ward and Coulson had been talking for almost an hour when she heard the door of the cage open. Coulson walked straight to her and Ward was nowhere to be found.

“Ward?” she asked.

Coulson looked a little startled. He know longer had the tender face on.“He’s fine. He got very tried during our chat and he fell asleep. I left him there.”

“Ward fell asleep during an interview?” Skye questioned. That was the weirdest thing she had ever heard.

“Don’t worry about it. I need you to come to my office. I have a mission for you.”

Skye was confused. Not just about Ward falling asleep during a debrief but of Coulson’s sudden mission. She wondered if they were connected.

She didn’t say anything as she followed Coulson to his office. Luckily the workmen were already gone and the office was empty.

Coulson walked over to his desk and pulled something out of his drawer.

“Give me your hand with the bracelet,” he said. Skye put her hand out. Coulson waved something over the bracelet. There was a tone and it opened.

“I’m free?”

“Yes and Skye there are no third chances.”

“Not that I mind getting if off but why now?”

“You did a great job with Hannah and that you have started to learn to put people before yourself, especially with your concern for Ward. You felt strong enough to approach May. Besides I need your hacking expertise. You up to it?”

“Can’t wait,” she said. She still felt this was fishy. He had a meeting with Ward and now she’s free and being used for her abilities. Maybe Ward convinced Coulson to do this.

“What do you need?”

“First I need to you promise you won’t tell anyone about this assignment until I give you the okay. Not Fitz, Simmons, or Ward.”

“Ward is my SO. I don’t feel comfortable going behind his back.”

“You aren’t really— Just right now it will be our secret. I promise I’ll let the rest of the team know, but if my intel pans out wrong, I don’t want a lot of people to know.”

“And May? You didn’t mention her.”

“She’s going to help you incase your research takes you off base.”

She still felt uncomfortable. “But we’ll still eventually tell Fitz, Simmons, and Ward, right?”

“Yes. We will. Also Ward is completely off duty for two weeks. He can stay on the bus but he’s to stick to his quarters, the kitchen, and the lounge.”

“I know it’s all confidential, but was it bad. What Ward saw?”

“And please lay off of him about it. We talked. He’s not ready to talk about it to anyone else. Give him time as much as he needs.”

Coulson usually kept a poker face but it cracked a little when Skye looked at him. She knew what Ward told him was bad.

But she decided he was right. Ward didn’t need people to push him now. She could wait.