A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first fic, so please be gentle. It starts up right in the middle of The Magical Place. SkyeWard is my OTP, and so when I got this idea it had to be done! This is a multi-chapter fic, and about 80% is already written, so expect regular updates. Without any further ado, enjoy! J

"You shouldn't be here."

The menacing voice snapped Skye out of her momentary daze. Forgetting the creepy mannequins, she whirled around with a sharp intake of air. A Centipede soldier with a intimidating glare and a malicious glint in his eye stood behind her.

She took off, sprinting as fast as she could. Her boots kicked up little clouds of dust as he shouted, "There's nowhere to run!"

She glanced back, finding that he was gaining on her. There truly was nowhere to run – he'd catch her soon. Blood pounding in her ears, she picked up her speed and focused forward again. She heard the distant purr of an engine and the solid thunk of a body hitting something with some weight just as she could feel his breath on the back of her neck.

Her feet tripping over themselves in an effort to keep moving, she stumbled over a board lying on the ground. With a sharp gasp, she extended her arms to catch herself and landed with most of her weight on her left wrist.

Hard.

Despite the shooting pain traveling up her arm, she knew she had to keep moving.

Or did she? Shouldn't he have yanked her up and started abusing her by now?

She pushed herself up with her good wrist and turned around. A black vehicle emblazoned with the SHIELD logo had dealt the brute a blow he wouldn't soon recover from. She immediately relaxed, feeling her fear dissipate as her team flooded out of the car and ran over to her.

"You okay?" Simmons asked, seeing the way Skye was guarding her wrist.

"Better than okay, actually. Thanks for stepping in there. If you guys hadn't gotten here when you had, well…I'd prefer not to think about what he would have done," Skye said.

The team generally nodded and murmured their assent. They formed a line, ingrained in them by force of habit, and scanned the area.

"Coulson's gotta be here somewhere. We need to split up."

"Back in that room…did they learn anything?"

"No."

"Did you?" She fixed him with a serious look. "I heard what you were saying."

He shook his head. "It wasn't real." He paused. "They were just messing with my head. But I appreciate your concern." He sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

She just nodded and returned the small smile he gave her. She glanced down at her left wrist. Holy shit, it was swollen. I'll have to do something about that.

She watched as he walked over to the nondescript SHIELD van and hopped inside. "Let May and the others know…there's something I have to take care of. A lead I got on...my history…" he trailed off, not sure how to continue.

Skye rescued him. "No problem, AC. Sure you don't wanna take Lola for a spin?" she asked jestingly, trying to take her mind off the pain now radiating from her wrist. Damn, she thought, adrenaline really does numb the pain.

He grimaced. "I need something a little less flashy for this job. I'll be back briefly – don't wait up," he joked. The corners of his mouth pulled into something that resembled a smile, but his eyes didn't reflect it. She waved with her bracelet-free right hand – yes! – as he pulled out. Watching the car speed off into the night, she sighed. I think some sleep is in order.

She trekked up the stairs and found that everyone had returned to their rooms. Come to think of it, even FitzSimmons hadn't gone back to their lab – they'd crept upstairs with everyone else. They must all be of her thoughts exactly – sleep was in good order. She'd been up for what, 48 hours straight? Regardless, she was about to pass out.

Glancing at the clock reading 10:07 PM, she pulled the door shut as she entered her bunk. She was surprised to find her laptop and phone lying on the bed as if they'd never left. Ward, she thought. Nice of him to take care of kicking me off the plane – I get to keep my stuff! She felt a surge of affection for him – he'd said he believed in her and her abilities, and managed to hold on to her stuff. If he wasn't careful, she might have to give him a new nickname.

She reached out to grab her phone in one hand and laptop in the other, momentarily forgetting her current predicament. Her left wrist cried out in agony as soon as she moved it, and she clutched it to her chest, tears springing to her eyes. Is it broken? Feels like every other time this has happened, so it must be. Her lengthy stay in the foster care system had given her a ticket to see almost every kind of parent there was. Including the abusive ones.

Extending her arm, she examined it cautiously. The whole area was bright red and obviously inflamed. It was warm to the touch and severely swollen – comparing her wrists in size was laughable. I can tough it out…it'll be fine in the morning. Not like I haven't done it before. She rummaged around in one of her bags for Advil, popped two, and curled up in bed. Grabbing a decorative pillow and placing it under her left hand, she slipped off to dreamland.

Skye awoke to sunlight peeking through the blinds covering her tiny window. She squinted and blinked a little, trying to get accustomed to the sudden change in brightness. She yawned and stretched, only to be distracted by a shooting pain in her left arm.

She glanced over and startled with a quiet gasp. Her arm was now black and blue, still very swollen, and now actively painful. She noticed for the first time that it didn't seem to be hanging quite right, like a bone wasn't in the right place. Aw, crap. I really screwed this up. Maybe I'll talk to the nerds if they're up.

Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was only 6 AM. She was surprised she hadn't slept more, considering how tired she was, but she was always up with the sun. She crept silently out of her bunk and into the kitchen, grabbing a blueberry muffin and some milk, and ate alone at the bar. Phone in hand, she polished off the last crumbs and set about making good use of her new-earned Internet freedom.

FitzSimmons stumbled out of their bunks at precisely 9:46 AM, incredibly late for them. Aw, look. They're so in sync that they woke up at the same time. They're so cute!

"Good morning!" she said cheerily.

"Good morning!" Jemma responded.

Fitz only grunted. It appeared that the engineer did not operate until given tea. He fumbled around with the tea bags until he managed to find the one he wanted, and watched in grumpy silence as the water heated up.

Skye watched them silently, wondering whether or not to bring up her miserably swollen and abused appendage. Fitz sipped his beverage slowly, trying to wake up, when Skye decided to broach the subject. She opened her mouth to speak when Simmons' head snapped up.

"Fitz, I've just had the most wonderful idea! What if we used a different neurotoxin with the Night-Night rounds? Perhaps we could have it affect different areas…maybe add some more long term effects!" Simmons said.

Fitz seemed to look a little more awake. "Yes, perhaps that will work. Let's have a look, shall we?" He slid off the stool and started making his way to the lab, Simmons hot on his heels.

She was glad she hadn't said anything. What was more important – her wrist or stopping Centipede soldiers? Besides, trying to pierce the thick barrier of scientific chatter was more than she felt up to at the moment. She sighed. Back to hacking with one hand.

She was just about to throw her computer at the wall in frustration. There was absolutely no way to get anything done quickly with only one good hand. She slammed the computer shut and shoved it aside. Who cared, anyways? There was nothing interesting going on at the moment.

She heard a knock on the door. She pulled it open. "Yes?"

She was met with Ward's dark eyes. "Training in five."

"Seriously? C'mon, I thought I did good yesterday. Can't I take a break?" she whined, trying to wriggle out of it. If I go downstairs he'll definitely see my hand…I don't want to interrupt the twins but I suppose I'll have to…

"No. Get downstairs," Ward replied shortly.

"Fine, robot. Get outta here so I can change. I can't work out in pajamas." She shut the door in his face and went about putting clothes on as quickly as one can with only one hand.

She traipsed down the stairs and approached Ward, hand outstretched. "Wrap my hands for me?"

He steadied the punching bag and stepped towards her. He speedily wrapped her right wrist and hand, grabbed the next wrapping, and pulled her left wrist close. She felt a sharp jolt of pain as he pulled and couldn't restrain her gasp.

He looked at her in confusion, his thoughts having been elsewhere, and looked down at her wrist. He was met with an ugly array of black and blue bruises over a severely swollen wrist.

He immediately looked back up. "Skye! What did you do?" he asked exasperatedly, showing less concern than he felt.

"Um, when that soldier was chasing me I fell pretty hard. My wrist took a lot of the weight, but it's no big deal. Just bruised and sore," she said, trying to avoid making a scene.

"Not so much, Skye. This is almost definitely broken. Why didn't you see FitzSimmons? This needs to be looked at," he said. Why on earth would she avoid medical treatment?

"It didn't look nearly this bad last night, and Simmons had some idea about Centipede soldiers this morning that was too important to interrupt." Skye pulled her arm out of his grasp and into her chest.

"Skye, your immediate health is more important than finding yet another method of incapacitating Centipede. We're going to the lab right now." He put an arm around her waist and dragged her to the lab. She fixed him with a death glare, but didn't bother struggling, seeing as a) it was pointless and b) her arm really hurt.

They marched into the lab to find Fitz and Simmons milling around, appearing to be looking for something. As Fitz entered the back room, Simmons caught sight of an exasperated looking Ward and disgruntled looking Skye and turned around.

"Is there something you two need at this very moment? We've had a small breakthrough and we'd really like to follow it up," Simmons said politely. Her demeanor exuded a desire for them to say no.

"See, I told you Ward! They're busy. This isn't as important as—"

"Shut up, Skye. Actually, yes Simmons, we need your help at this exact moment. This stubborn rookie seems to have failed to report her injuries," he said, pushing Skye towards her friend. This earned him a glare and a stuck-out tongue. Mature, he thought.

Simmons walked towards Skye and gently pulled up her wrist. "Oh, dear. Skye, why didn't you tell us earlier? This is definitely broken, and judging from its appearance, very painful."

She shrugged. "It wasn't bad last night, and you guys were busy this morning, so…"

Jemma sighed. "Skye, this is more important than that. You need to trust us more," she murmured, gesturing for Skye to sit on an exam table.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think it was that bad," Skye said quietly. "Can we just move on? To be honest, this really hurts."

Simmons stayed quiet. She had never heard Skye admit to being in pain; she'd never heard the slight tremor in her voice before. For Skye to own up to the fact that she was in pain meant that they really needed to move this along.

"Alright then. Lay down on this table and lay your arm out, carefully, please. Fitz!" she shouted.

He popped his head out and sighed. "What on earth do you need? I'm still looking for the tetraethylammonium, you know."

"Forget about that for now, okay? Can you grab the x-ray machine since you're already back there?" Jemma asked.

"Sure, but what do you need—" "Will you just shut up and get it please?" "Fine."

Ward watched somewhat disinterestedly from the corner. He could see that Skye was very uncomfortable, but didn't understand why. It was just a broken wrist – easy fix, no big deal. Why was she being evasive?

Fitz eventually came out of the room to see Skye lying on the table. "Are you alright?" he asked, no longer focused on the neurotoxins.

"Yeah, I'm good. Your twin here thinks I've got a broken wrist, so there's that, but otherwise I'm all good," Skye said, trying to smile.

"Ah. I see. Doesn't it hurt? Why didn't you tell us?"

Skye sighed. "I didn't think it was that bad. No need for me to bother anyone."

That grabbed Ward's attention quickly. The way she said "no need to bother" bothered him. She wasn't a bother; she was a member of their team. I'll talk to her about that later.

Simmons was carefully guiding the handheld x-ray machine, one of her own inventions, over Skye's arm. "Pull up the x-rays on to the holo screen, please."

Fitz scurried over to the computer and pressed a few keys. Suddenly an x-ray appeared in midair, flickering lazily.

Simmons looked carefully, reached in, and magnified an area. "Oh, dear."

Skye began to feel slightly panicked. "What's wrong?"

"It appears that you have a rather bad break. This is an intra-articular displaced fracture, one of the most difficult to treat. I fear that the bone is too displaced to heal, so we're going to have to realign the parts of the bone," Simmons sighed.

"What does that mean?" Skye said, still panicked.

"I'm going to have to perform surgery on your wrist."