Disclaimer: I do not nor will I ever own this show or these characters.

AN: For the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D Christmas fic exchange. I was given three prompts from ARisingSkye for the exchange: first kiss, a date, deep talk/him finally forgiving her. The prompt I chose was: A Date. I hope you enjoy this my dear

AN 2: This is set roughly two years after the start of the show.

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She could feel the wet clothes clinging to her body as she walked up to the cabin ahead. Stupid river. Stupid balance problems. Stupid Ward for dropping her in the middle of the goddamn woods for survival training. She understood why he'd done it, knew it was part of her training but right now all she wanted to do was ring his stupid neck. After she took a hot bath, and buried herself under ten different blankets, and yelled at him.

"It won't be that cold he said, You'll find the location just fine he promised," She grumbled as she stomped up to the door and knocked. It took all of five minutes for Grant to open the door with a smile on his face.

"Well you're only fifteen minutes later than I thought you would-what the hell happened?"

The smile dropped off his face as he took in her appearance and she shrugged.

"I got into a fight with a lake. The lake won."

"Get in here," he ordered and she didn't need to be told twice as she brushed past him and into a heated interior.

"Oh god heat," she groaned as he closed the door and walked around to survey her before he reached out and took her hands in his. "And you're warm."

"You're frozen," he countered.

"No really? I hadn't noticed with the wet clothes and the dropping temperature outside," she responded. "Also fifteen minutes late? Weren't you worried about me?"

"No," he shook his head as his hands left hers and went to the straps of the pack on her shoulders. "The pack had a GPS locator in it so I knew you were on your way here. If you had been more than an hour in getting here then I would have come and found you."

"GPS?" she asked as he pushed the straps off of her shoulders, she let it slide down her arms and to the floor and smiled when she was free of the weight before she frowned as a thought came to her. "Does that mean that you knew that I'd fallen into a lake?"

"No I didn't know," he promised. "The picture I get from your GPS was just a very basic shot of the route that I mapped out a few days ago. So I knew you were by the lake. Did I know that you'd fallen into it? No. Now would you like to keep asking questions or get warm?"

"Warm," she responded. "Warm wins."

"I thought so," he threaded his hand with hers and led her through what had to be the living room, a bedroom, before they finally stopped in the bathroom. She whistled at the size of it, bigger than any bathroom she'd ever been in, and that included the one they had on the bus.

"Nice place," she remarked as she took in the bright tiles and the silver accents.

"Glad you think so because it's ours for the night," he responded.

"Ours for the night?" she questioned.

"I thought that you'd like a chance to rest before we headed back to the bus," he replied.

"Rest?" she grinned as she leaned against the sink. Grant smiled down at her and nodded.

"There might also be dinner and wine and a fire," he responded.

"Why Agent Ward is this a date?" Skye asked and chanced wrapping her arms around his neck. It had taken two years of smiles, flirting, tension, and a lot of growing up on both of their parts before they'd finally decided to take the next step in their relationship. Two years of dancing around each other before Skye had finally decided to kiss him at a party that Tony Stark had thrown a few months ago. They'd been figuring out their new status ever since and had been doing their best to keep it quiet around their teammates. It also meant that they had adopted some super creative methods for dates and a limit on how much PDA they engaged in. Not that either she or Ward were big on PDA to begin with but she enjoyed little moments like this, where she could put her hands on him for longer than thirty seconds without worrying about an inquisition from their teammates.

"Why yes, I think it might be," Grant replied as his hands settled on her hips.

"And does this date involve a bed that neither of us has to leave at some god awful hour of the morning to avoid being caught?"

"Absolutely," Ward promised as he pressed his lips to her forehead. "But first why don't you get out of those wet clothes and into a warm shower? I'll make sure dinner is ready by the time you're done."

"Orrrrr you could get in the shower with me and we can get dinner ready together?" she suggested. "And by together I mean I will sit on the counter and watch you work while I drink wine."

"Well if you insist," Ward grinned and pressed his lips to hers. Skye was happy to respond to him and even happier when he used all of those muscles of his to lift her up and carry her to the shower.

XXXXXXXXX

Hours Later

"Are you warm now?"

She smiled when Ward's lips brushed against her neck and nodded as she sunk further into his embrace. It was late but she had no desire to break the little spell they'd created in the living room when they'd come over to drink the rest of the wine in front of the fire after dinner. Given their jobs and their living situation, quiet moments like these were rare and she had come to appreciate them even more now that they were together.

"Very much so," she responded. "Excellent job on that front Agent Ward."

"Well I aim to please," he responded before he pointed to the fire. "Want me to add another log?"

She shook her head as he threaded his fingers through hers.

"Want to let it go out and then we can go to bed?"

She nodded and felt his lips curve into a smile against the skin of her neck.

"When do we have to leave tomorrow?"

"Barring world ending emergencies and I told May I wanted actual proof that the world was ending-"

"You realize that given our jobs that there is a distinct possibility of that happening and you told May?"

"Hush I want to believe that we'll get one date, just one that isn't interrupted by doom," Ward told her. "And I just told her you deserved to rest after your training. She knows how it is."

"Uh huh. You realize she probably already has her suspicions and this is just going to confirm them?"

Grant was silent for a few moments and she turned her head and found him frowning.

"Hey, you know she'll be discreet right?" Skye asked and Ward nodded.

"Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if the others knew," he commented, Skye squinted and he laughed. "I'm serious. I know we were keeping it quiet until we had figured it all out but I think we're settled now. Right?"

"Yes, definitely yes," she responded.

"And you can't tell me you haven't thought about it," he remarked.

"I'd be lying if I said I hadn't," she replied. "It'd be nice to hold your hand without worrying about being caught."

"Or to actually stay in the same bed with you for a whole night on the Bus," Ward finished.

"It wouldn't be a whole night, you get up before the sun rises," she smiled.

"Well maybe I would stay in bed a little longer if there was a reason to keep me there," he replied.

"Liar, you'd still be up with the sun," she responded as she let his hands go and turned in his arms and pressed him back against the base of the couch so she could crawl into his lap. His hands settled on her hips as she wrapped hers around his neck. "But I could deal."

"Maybe even get up with me?" he suggested.

"Blasphemy," she said. "Besides it would not be a day until I scramble downstairs for training at the very last minute."

"I would miss those moments," he laughed, and she felt herself melt a little. He'd loosened up over the past two years but it gave her a thrill to know that she was one of the few people that could get a laugh out of him. "So what do you say? Do we tell them or not? We're a team here."

"Let's tell them," she replied. "But tomorrow."

"Late tomorrow," Grant corrected. "No one on the Bus is not setting foot near this cabin until three p.m. tomorrow. So we can rest."

"Rest huh? That what we're calling it?" she asked as she dropped her head down, let her lips hover over his. "Because my plans do not involve rest of any kind."

"And what plans have you made?"

"You plans," she shrugged. "Indefinitely."

"Yeah?" he asked, she nodded. "Keep it that way."

He pressed his lips against hers and she could only think that this had turned into the best date ever. Despite the lake.