They laid together a tangled mess of sweaty limbs in his bunk, her head rested on his muscular chest as they tried to calm their breathing. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her but he never seemed to be able to get it out. Grant Ward was not a man ruled by his emotions he’d locked that side of himself away a long time ago. When they’d started this it had just been about sex, two people working out their frustrations but as time went on the more time they spent like this the closer they had become. When it had become obvious that sex was not enough for his beautiful rookie he’d promised her he’d try for more. Before her he’d never done meaningful relationships, they didn’t really go with the job. One week he was in New York the next he could be in Outer Mongolia, he didn’t know many women that would be cool with having dinner plans cancelled constantly. In truth it really didn’t bother him because he’d never met a woman he cared enough about to put before his job until now.
The thought of being without her made him feel sick, he couldn’t bare it so why when he could jump out of plane or battle insurgents was he scared of saying three little words. As if she’d read his mind she looked up at him with those big doe eyes, the ones that had gotten him in over his head in the first place.
“Grant?”
“Hmmm”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure”
“Why do you never tell me you love me?”
“I do” OK he knew this was a lie.
“No you don’t, I say I love you and you say me too” she’d raised herself up onto her elbow to look at him properly. “You never say it first” she clarified.
“Skye...you know I do it’s just hard for me to say, this is all new to me. Other than some of my family I’ve never said it to anyone” he was a little embarrassed by this all of a sudden. He didn’t know why he never had been before.
She raised an eyebrow “So you’re telling me that in 29 years you’ve never said those three little words to anyone romantically? Seriously?”
“That’s what I’m saying” she studied his face closely as if she could catch him out.
“Not even in High School?”
“Nope”
“Wow that is just wow, not sure what to do with that robot” she smiled at him “Well I guess I don’t feel so bad now” she pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “I know you’re not good with all this emotional stuff Grant, I just wondered if there was another reason you know. You were happy with the way things were before it was me that pushed for more. So...so...” she was rambling. He silenced her with a deep, lush kiss and then looked her dead in the eyes.
“I know what you’re thinking Skye you didn’t force me into this, I want this as much as you do it’s not that OK?” he was deadly serious that was the last thing he wanted her thinking. He wished she’d see herself like he did; all those years of rejection and loser boyfriends had really done a number on her self esteem. He chuckled at the look of concentration on her face she was deep in thought; she always wrinkled her nose in that cute way and bit down on that full bottom lip.
“Oh I’ve got it” she exclaimed whatever she’d thought of she was really pleased with herself. “So it’s just the I love you you’re not comfortable with right?”
“Right” he really had no idea where she was going with this.
“So what if instead of saying that you had a code phrase that meant that?”
“I guess that could work, what would be?”
“Well it has to be something personal to us but not overly touchy feely” she thought for a moment, man he really loved her concentration face and he was about to distract her and tell her so when all of sudden she shrieked “I’ve got it!”
He rubbed his ear Jesus that was loud “I think you may have woken the whole plane their baby”
“Really I’m not that loud Grant” she giggled blushing slightly.
“Oh yes you are” he growled in her ear. She blushed an even deeper shade of red at that. “So what will it be then?”
She grinned proudly “You sunk my battleship”
Instantly transported back to their first real bonding exercise on the bus, he smiled at her. The smile he reserved for when they were alone, the one that revealed those dimples. Her smile matched his, he rolled on top of her and began to show her how much he loved her. “That’s perfect” that was the last thing he said to her for a while that night.
***
The next day he had great fun testing out his new code phrase on his rookie the first time he used it was in the kitchen. He came up behind her as she was making toast and whispered it into her ear, Fitz who had been eating cereal at the breakfast bar and eavesdropping. Snorted milk out through his nose before dissolving into a full blown coughing fit. Grant left a hysterical Skye, patted Fitz on the back “Careful their Fitz” and walked out of the kitchen. Once the embarrassed engineer had recovered himself he turned to a still laughing Skye “What was that about?”
“Did your mother never tell you not to eavesdrop Fitz?” with that and a piece of toast in her mouth she skipped off out of the kitchen to join Grant in the training area.
The second time Skye was in the lab digging through some files Coulson had given her, Simmons was working away in the background. He leaned right down by her ear “you sank my battleship” all of a sudden there was a crash behind them as the sound of shattered glass filled the lab. Jemma was staring open mouthed at the pair; the beaker she had been holding now lay in pieces at her feet.
“You Ok there Simmons?” he asked her mock concerned.
“Oh yes, yes sorry butterfingers” she spluttered, bending down to clear up the mess.
“Well I’ll be off then” he shot a knowing smile at Skye, he would have felt bad but then his team shouldn’t be listening in.
Jemma raced over to Skye as soon as Ward left the room “What in heaven’s name was that all about?”
“I’m really not sure what you mean Jemma”
“Come on Skye I know innuendo when I hear it, poor Fitz nearly chocked this morning. It’s like a bloody carry on film around here”
“Like I said to Fitz this morning what did your mother tell you about eavesdropping?” Skye winked at her friend she felt a little mean not letting Jemma in on the secret but she liked that it was just between her and Grant.
The final time he used his phrase was just before bed that night he and Skye along with FitzSimmons were in the lounge area watching a movie. Skye was curled into his side, Simmons was lounged across the other couch and Fitz was crossed legged on the floor with a bowl of popcorn. They’d not announced their relationship to the team as of yet, he’d not wanted to push it until he was confident it was going somewhere. When the movie finished “An Officer and a Gentleman” Simmons choice, he pulled Skye to her feet looked her dead in the eyes “You sunk my battleship” and carried her bridal style to his bunk.
Fitz chocked for the second time that day “Did you see that?!” he exclaimed.
“Yes”
“Oh good so I haven’t gone mad then”
They looked at each other huge grins plastered on their faces and burst into fits of giggles “Who knew Agent Ward had it in him” Fitz joked.
“It would certainly explain all the night time noise around here” Simmons giggled.
“What do you think it means?”
“Lord only knows Fitz, I guess we shall have to do some more eavesdropping tomorrow” she smiled.