Chapter 2
Flashback
A million thoughts run through Ward’s head as he sits alone at the hotel bar. Most of them are about the staff and its onslaught of pure rage and adrenaline, others are off the dredged up memories of the well, and the rest, he isn’t surprised to find, are about her.
He knows that he doesn’t want to forget the way Skye shouted his name, the way she supported him with his arm wrapped around her shoulder, or how she came up to him just moments ago offering him (once again) her shoulder. If you want to talk, my shoulder’s free, her voice echoes through his mind. But what he does want to forget is the way the staff felt in his hands, the rage and adrenalin coursing through his veins and clouding his mind, and the cursed memories sending panic through his body.
He vaguely sees himself motion to the bartender that he is finished with his drink and start slumping away back to his room. Thank God Coulson booked us a hotel even if it’s for one night, he thinks. After countless weeks of sleeping in his small bunk he is glad that he is able to finally get a chance to sleep on a better bed, one that was not 30,000 feet up in the air.
Through the haze of alcohol in his system he can see May with a bottle of, what he guesses is tequila, in her hand beckoning him to come into her room. He sees (not very clearly) her getting closer and closer until he realizes that it’s his own feet moving. Its only seconds before he realizes that he’s in her room. So maybe it’s the alcohol, the Asgardian rage, or just his desperate wish to forget that causes him to make the first move and pull May into a stiff and rigid kiss. And the strange thing is that she kisses back. Maybe he’s not the only one trying to escape.
They reach the bed with a forced kind of grace that can only come from specialists and they fall upon it with a small thump. May shifts so she is sitting in Ward’s lap and starts attacking his neck with, not very gentle, kisses.
When she kisses a particular spot on the juncture between his shoulder and neck, Ward quietly calls out a name. Too bad for May that he happens to call out the wrong one.
“Skye,” Ward had called out.
It’s that single name that pulls May and Ward off of each other and on opposite sides of the bed.
“I’m sorry,” Ward begins, “I didn’t mean—“
“Don’t,” May’s voice as robotic as ever, “Don’t apologize. I’m the one that made you come in here in the first place. It was a mistake.”
“May,”
“It’s alright, Ward. The staff triggered things in both of us. You’re not the only one trying to get a handle on it. This method was obviously not the right one.” In a gentler voice she continues, “Get some sleep, Ward. We won’t be getting it for a while.”
Ward nods and makes his way to the door. Just as he’s about to walk out he turns his head around.
“How are you not a mess right now?” May arches an eyebrow.
“I mean—how are you controlling the rage?”
“I’m saving it,” She says simply. “Why waste it on a tantrum when I can use it to save someone’s life?”
End of flashback
Ward and Skye slowly pull away from the kiss and look deeply in each other’s eyes. Skye only has time to give Ward a small smile before Fitzsimmons are bounding towards them and bombarding them with questions.
“So how long has this been going on for?”
“Wait a minute, is this the first time you’ve kissed each other?”
“Of course it is, Simmons, we would have known if it wasn’t!”
“I mean we’ve sensed your, quite obvious in my opinion, attraction towards one another since our first day! It was really only a matter of time!”
“How could you tell?” Cuts in Skye.
“Well, between the untapped tension between you two and the chemistry all around the both of you.” Simmons makes a strange waving motion toward Ward and Skye.
“You don’t think we were that obvious do you?” Skye worriedly asks Ward.
“No,” He says reassuringly, “We can’t have been.”
She would have believed him if it wasn’t for Coulson’s voice ringing from the intercom saying, “Skye, Ward, see me in my office right now. Now!”
Xx Line Break xX
“I hope you know just how many protocols you both are breaking!” Coulson shouts.
He is sitting in his chair behind his desk while Skye and Ward stand before him. Skye has her head down while Ward stares stoically ahead.
“Sir, we—“Ward tries to say.
“Do not interrupt me Agent Ward!” They both notice how Coulson refers to Ward as agent which is not a good sign. Coulson takes a deep breath in order to calm himself.
“How long has this been going on?”
Maybe its best if we don’t tell him about last night, thinks Skye, especially given his current reaction. And this is only him finding out we kissed, imagine what he would do if he discovered we shared a bed.
“Officially, sir,” Ward says in a voice thick with professionalism, “It has only started this morning.” He seems to have the same thought as Skye on the matter.
Coulson gives a sigh. “You know, I promised Fury that a relationship between partners would only happen once in a lifetime. It seems I was wrong.”
Skye sucks in a breath preparing for the worst. She or Ward could be transferred to another team or she could be kicked out of SHIELD.
“It seems it has happened twice.” Coulson brings a hand to his temple as if the topic is causing him a genuine headache, “But given that Skye isn’t technically an agent or your partner, I suppose I can turn a blind eye.”
“You mean it, AC?” Skye squeals, “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She rushes up to hug the man she has come to know in a short time as a father-figure.
“You two must both be discreet about this. If Fury or one of the higher ups get wind of this, the whole team could be disbanded. But the second this relationship you both have going on starts to affect your work, I will not hesitate to separate you both.”
“I promise, AC, you won’t regret it.”
“I know,” Coulson gives a smile. “Skye, you can go. Ward, I have to discuss our next mission with you.”
When Skye opens the door, Fitzsimmons come tumbling into the office. The two were undoubtedly trying to listen in on the conversation.
“Oh, um,” Stammers Simmons, “I was just, uh, looking for my earring! Yes it seems like I lost them and Fitz was just helping me look for it.”
“Simmons, you don’t even wear earrings.” Coulson says while hiding a grin.
“Oh!” Simmons grabs her ears, “Oh, well, um, than I guess there’s no need to look for it anymore! Right Fitz?” She quickly grabs Fitz’s arm and runs the other way towards the lab.
With a chuckle Skye heads out the door to follow them.
As the door shuts, Ward looks on at Coulson.
“This isn’t about a mission is it?” Ward asks warily.
“No, it’s not.”
“Then you asked for me to stay, sir, because…” Ward hopes that the added in “sir” makes his question a bit more respectful.
“You are in my office, Ward,” Coulson says in a deadly calm voice, “So I can warn you that if this relationship between you and Skye ends badly and if I see her shed even a single tear and I find that you are the cause behind it, you will be shipped off to the Artic base before you can even pack your belongings. Do I make myself clear, Agent Ward? That girl has been through enough. She doesn’t need you being another burden in her life.”
“Yes, sir.” Responds Ward immediately. “I just want you to know that I would never intentionally hurt Skye.”
“I know. I’ve just always wanted to give that speech to my daughter’s boyfriend. And since Skye is the closest thing I have to a daughter, it’s only fitting I give that speech to you.”
Xx Line Break xX
Weeks go by in which Skye and Ward’s relationship blossom. During that time Skye finds out the truth about her parents, the massacre of the village, and the SHIELD agents that saved her life, Ward is the one that comforts her. Coulson decides that it’s best to keep Skye’s origins a secret from SHIELD, knowing that if they caught wind of an 0-8-4 amongst them they would surely do something drastic. Ward and Skye still continue to be cautious about their relationship when at SHIELD bases so they don’t gain any unwanted attention to themselves and their team. She tells him about her life at the orphanage, how she ran away from her foster parents at sixteen, and the Rising Tide (she does not mention Miles) and Ward tells her more about his brothers, his parents, and his own past. They discover that they both have skeletons.
When Coulson is taken by the Clairvoyant, May pretends, much to Ward’s objection, to dislike Skye so much as far as to kick her off the plane. May reveals to Ward once out of earshot of Hand and her team that it was always her plan to get Skye off the plane to heighten their chances of finding Coulson. Once he is found, Ward holds Skye close that night and increases the amount of training the very next morning.
“Grant,” She whines, “Why are we doing more training? I handled myself just fine out there, if anything I should have less training!”
“Be that as it may, I wasn’t there with you and I may not be to be there with you if, God forbid, if it ever happens again. I need to know that you are capable of defending yourself for my sake.” He responds.
“Always.” Skye whispers an inch from his lips. Needless to say, they don’t get much training done that day.
As a result of that particular incident, however, Skye’s and May’s relationship makes an improvement and they find themselves to be at ease when in another’s company. The same could be said of her and Coulson’s relationship as well, if it was even possible. The two confide in each other more and more and as a result, their father-daughter relationship becomes even more solidified.
It’s not until one afternoon when Skye and Ward are curled up on the couch watching Disney movies (they had originally been watching war movies but Ward had eventually caved and agreed to watch Disney instead) when they hear another plane docking on top of the BUS.
“I don’t remember Coulson saying that someone was coming aboard the BUS today.” Skye says with her brow furrowed.
That’s when Coulson comes running out his office towards the two breathlessly saying, “It’s Fury. He knows.”
That’s strange. If Fury knew about her relationship with Grant he wouldn’t come to separate them himself, surely we’re not that important, Skye thinks. And that’s when it dawns on her. Fury isn’t coming here because he knows about me and Grant, it’s because he knows I’m an 0-8-4.