Ward woke in the hospital, feeling slightly disorientated. He started cataloguing everything that hurt and decided it would be quicker to decide what didn’t hurt. Toes and an ear. That was all. He was fairly certain he had injuries he couldn’t feel yet. Painkillers were working then. The pain helped clear his mind allowing him to remember what had happened to put him here.
He had been with Hydra when he had found out the next mission was to take out his old team. All of them. He hadn’t wanted that to happen. So he had taken them out, knowing it was a suicide mission. He couldn’t face the responsibility of letting the team get killed. If he was killed preventing it then he had died for a good reason.
Some how he had survived the attack on Hydra, though he had been badly beaten. He still wasn’t sure how he got to the hospital though. Last he remembered there were still two people to be taken out, including Garrett. He was on the floor haven taken a knife to the leg. That was the last he remembered.
A movement made him look around at the rest of the room. Sat in a chair beside the bed was his rookie. Not that he had any right to call her that anymore. Beside her on the table was a jug of water and glass, making him realised how thirsty he was. She clearly noticed as she moved to poor him a glass and spoke,
“So how about that drink?”
As she passed him the water, holding him steady as he sipped the water, he looked directly into her eyes. He could see she was still angry. She had every right to be. He had abandoned the team and her. He had just earned her trust and he had now lost that. He also saw some other emotion something he couldn’t quite put a name to.
As he leant back against the pillows she reached out and grabbed a cloth, gently cleaning his face. She then dragged the chair closer to his bed and slowly started running her fingers through his hair, trying to relax him. Closing his eyes he let the feelings rise to the surface. He had never felt so safe, so loved. She still cared from him, even after everything he had done. Opening his eyes he looked at her and asked the question he had wondered for a while.
“Why?”
She looked at him, and he felt she could see right to his soul. Like she could see every part of him and, even though he had hurt her, she liked what she saw.
“Nobody is perfect Ward. Not you not anybody. You did the right thing by trying to stop Hydra.”
She had now seen every part of him, good and bad, yet she still stayed with him. Nobody had done that before. Everyone had always tried to change him. It was the first time anyone had truly accepted him for who he was, warts and all.
“You are who you are Ward. You aren’t going to change. But I like who you are. Yes you have done some bad things but so has everyone else. You have done so many good things. You forgave me so I think I can give you a second chance.”
Nobody had ever done that before. Yes he still had a lot of work to do but for the first time he felt he could be redeemed. He had everything to live for. If she could forgive him, maybe he could forgive himself.
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