The day Skye died was the day S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Grant Ward realized he was in love with her. It's the most deplorable singular day in his existence, watching as Chinese hired guns shot her at point-blank range in some small, forgotten alleyway in the center of Beijing. Ward was fighting with everything he had to save her, Fitz, Simmons and himself while Agent May was chasing down the warlord who had ordered them dead. Ward knows, knows, that he did everything right and nothing would have changed what happened there. But when he zones out, he can't help wondering, wishing, wanting…

Finally, eventually, Agent Coulson brings in a new hacker extraordinaire – some girl named Toby Nance from a super-secret Canadian military project that S.H.I.E.L.D. already knows all about. (And isn't that just a great ball of fun.) When Nance takes an immediate shine to Ward, the entire team – May included –warned her away. 'He's grieving' they said, 'Give him time' and 'Let him be.' Over and over it was all that Nance was hearing, and she didn't understand. Proving that she could do the job she was hired for, Nance hacked into the servers and downloaded all of the case files from before her time. And read them. And then she finally understood. Agent Ward was grieving. For his partner, his friend, for the woman he cared so much about. And that he was grieving the worst kind of love.

Agent Grant Ward was grieving for what could have been.