He was stood in the centre of the training area, waiting for her to come down. The whole team had been informed of why he had gone undercover and why he had done what he had done. The rest of the team had all been to see him and talk to him, all a part from her. Coulson had known all along he was going undercover. It had been his idea and he had been his handler. May, once she had earned Coulson’s trust again had quickly been told of the plan. She had been less surprised, knowing exactly how he thought. She had just told him he had done a good job and then left to fly the plane. Fitzsimmons had been shocked to hear what he had done and what he had to go through to finish the mission. They had come to make sure he was coping after the mission and to say how brave he was. He wasn’t brave not really. It was just a job. He just happened to have the contacts so that was why he was selected. Garrett was his SO, so he was one of the few people that could infiltrate Hydra and finally take them down.
Fitzsimmons had also told him Skye had not dealt well with finding out about his mission. At first she had thought he was a traitor and now she had been told it was all an act. Which was now why she was refusing to talk to him. It was why he was standing here, staring at the punch bag, waiting for the most important person to come and talk to him. Fitzsimmons had told him to give her time. He was more than willing to give her time, as long as he could stay nearer her. Nothing could compare to the torture of being away from her. He had missed her so much.
He heard light footsteps, which could only be one person. He didn’t turn around until he heard her begin to shout.
“Why Ward? I know you have some strange compulsion to protect people. But why? Why did you go undercover with those psychopaths?”
He didn’t reply. He deserved this. He had hurt her. There really was no way he could reply.
“I don’t know what is worse the fact that I thought you were a traitor or the fact that you clearly want to throw your life away!”
She began to hit him with that, pushing him backwards. He did nothing. He deserved this. He didn’t know what she meant about throwing his life away. He knew what he was getting into when he had undertaken the mission. Yes it was dangerous but no more so than others he had done.
“Did you even think about what it would do to the team? Never mind that we all thought you were a traitor. But what would have happened if you had died? They are your family. It would have destroyed them! But no. Your death wish is more important. You don’t care how anyone else feels. You don’t care how I felt. You should never have gone in Ward. Nothing is that important. Nothing is more important than your life.”
“YOU ARE. YOU ARE.” He yelled, breaking his vow not to speak or yell.
“If I hadn’t gone undercover they would have gone after the team. Garrett knew exactly how I felt about you; if I didn’t go with him he was going to kill you. By going with him and pretending to be Hydra I could protect you.”
He couldn’t stop yelling now he had started. He had to tell her everything.
“ I have lost too many people. I can’t loose you too. I nearly lost you before and it almost killed me. I know what it is like to loose someone you love. My little brother died and I did nothing to stop it. He killed himself after my older brother attacked him one time too many. I could have done something to stop it but I didn’t.”
Skye was staring at him now, tears running down her cheeks.
“ When you were shot, I should have stopped it. This time I knew that they were going to go after you. I had to protect you. I can’t live without you. I knew it could cost me my life but it would be ok if you survived. You are more important than me. You always will be.”
Smack! Skye hit him across the face, stopping his shouting.
“Grant Ward you are an absolute idiot!” She screamed before hitting him again.
Before he could reply she threw herself at him, wrapping her legs around his waist, knocking him against the wall. He didn’t have time to recover before she was kissing him. He had wanted to kiss her again since the first kiss. That kiss had been short due to the fact they had to go and take out the mainframe in shield. Now they had all the time in the world.
Pulling back Skye took Ward’s face in her hands and forced him to look directly at her before she spoke,
“Never do that again. Promise me. Promise me you won’t put your life before anybody else’s. Including mine.”
He saw the pain he had caused in her eyes. He never wanted to see pain there ever again. Leaning forward he pressed gentle kisses up her neck. Pausing just above her lips he replied,
“I promise.”
She closed the gap between them kissing him again. After a few seconds she broke away and unhooked her legs from around them. She was walking towards the stairs before he could protest.
“So I believe you still owe me a drink.”
*********************************************