"Skye… Skye listen to me. If we don't do this now, your mind is going to deteriorate. Do you understand?" His hands were on her shoulders as he looked deep in her wandering eyes.

Skye stopped looking around after one glance back. "If we do this, I forget about you, I forget about the rest of the team, I forget about him, and I forget about… my family…"

Coulson tightened his grip on her shoulders and his throat grew tight as he searched desperately for words. "I-"

"Let's do this." She looked him straight in the eye. "But promise me one thing."

"Of course, yes, anything. What is it?" A whisper into his ear and he nodded. "Alright." He gently stroked her hair and pulled her into a tight hug. "We'll miss you."

"I know."

He watched her from the shadows. It was an average night in Los Angeles. The sky was dark, but the streets were littered with flashing neon signs and dimming street lights; cars drove by quickly, blinding you for moments through the traffic and then disappearing into the far darkness farther up ahead. Friday nights always had all different kinds of people flooding the sidewalks. Homeless people, hauling their bags of bottles or pushing their carts, night clubbers laughing and drinking cocktail in their fancy outfits, your average family going out for a stroll, couples deeply in love strutting about hand in hand. One or two shouts were heard in the calm night as thieves and robbers claimed their loot and ran away. A police siren chased after them.

But he, he who could have been any of that, stood alone, hidden in the dim shadows on the alleyway he had ducked behind. Of any sights he could have laid his eyes on, it was here. It was them. It was her. His vantage point didn't give him a clear view of her, not past other groups of people walking past her and obscuring his view. Then it was as clear as day when they walked past his alley and he pressed himself as far back into the wall behind him as he could and just kept his gaze right on her.

She was holding another man's hand. Not his. She was laughing at another man's words, not him. She was smiling at another man, not him. She and the other man were hand in hand and oh did he despise that man. But it never showed on his face. Nothing ever real did show on his robotic face and maybe that was of his own fault. No, not maybe. It was. He admitted it was. This was the life Skye deserved. There was no knowledge that any second could be your last and no threat at gunpoint every other day or so. No, now Skye had a real family she could belong with.

But Grant Ward hated that and he hated himself for selfishly thinking that he could take Skye and just make things better. She was right. Wasn't she always?

He watched Skye and the other man disappear behind a swarm of women in high heels laughing at a fancy man telling them a story. Ward closed his eyes and when he opened them again, he could barely see Skye's fingers laced together with the other man's fingers. In his mind, that was his hand. In his mind, it was him and Skye walking through the calm and bustling streets of Los Angeles. Her smile was meant for him. Her laugh was a laugh at him and he'd smile back. He smiled at her once, he could do it again and again and again and forever. If Ward had his way, he and Skye would-

"You need to let her go, Ward. She's gone."

Ward clenched his fists and looked at the man leaning against the wall across from him. He was wearing a tux, hah, of course. When did he ever not? Those S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, always dressed so formally and sticking out so profusely.

"I know," Ward replied. "Don't you think I know that already? I know, Coulson."

"Then why are you still here?" He said it more as a statement if anything.

Ward looked right into his eyes. "Ever since she found out, it's been messed up. There's no hope for us. She's the light and I'm the darkness who could never possibly reach her. I can only protect her and that's what I intended to do. If you try to stop me-"

"Shut up, Ward. I won't try to stop you if that's your intention. She means a lot to all of us too." Coulson crossed his arms. "I was just going to check up on her, but since you're here, I'll go." He stood upright and turned his heel, his back toward Ward as he began to walk away. Before he disappeared, he hesitated and turned his head back to look at him. He opened his mouth to say something, thought differently, shook his head, and then disappeared completely.

About two hours later, Skye and the other man walked past his alley again. They stopped walking in front of his alley. Their hands were still twined together and they looked into each other's eyes. Their lips met. His free hand was in her hair and hers on his back; their other hand, still together. If Ward had his way… Well, he had had that way. Once, such a long time ago, that man kissing her had been him. Such a long time ago in a messed up fairy tale, it was him kissing Skye and it was he who held her hand. Now it meant nothing. Now she didn't remember, couldn't remember.

By the time Skye and the man pulled away from each other, Ward was gone. Skye's eyes darted to the dim alley and then looked back at the man. Hand in hand, they walked back home, smiling and laughing at each other. The man, in place of Ward, would start a nice and warm fire, despite how cheesy that was. Skye would make the two of them hot chocolate. They would sit together by the fire, wrapped in a blanket, and talk about their families. He had one, she had none.

"I've never really had a family that I felt like I could belong in," Skye told him and he pressed himself closer to her, telling her that he was her family now. She nodded.

He talked about his family and how different everyone was, yet they worked together functionally. His twin siblings, a boy and girl, were always inseparable. As they grew older, the boy refused to leave the girl's side, but the girl was trying to move on to new things. A father who wasn't good at much, but was cool-minded and calm. And there was a woman, who he never really knew his relation to. But she was quiet, intelligent, and had a knack of knowing what was right. Skye listened and she felt something stir within her.

"Promise me that all of you will never leave me."

xxx

whoo so i just wrote that on a whim based on an ask on tumblr and idk if this link will actually work on here but if it does, well, here: post/84555266135/but-but-i-have-a-really-bad-feeling-about-the-whole

ps i havent written a fanfiction since like 3 years ago when i was in middle school and idk i feel like ive definitely gotten better at writing