A/N: This takes place after 1.20 'Nothing Personal', and is your typical Grant Ward redemption story. Obviously there are spoilers for this episode as well as any episodes prior to it. I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of SHIELD. It is the property of its writers, both the writers of the comic books and the writers of the television show. I own only the plot of this story.
SHIELD Specialist Operative Agent Grant Ward was used to being abused, both verbally and physically. He had been trained to take it without comment, to hold in his groans of pain and his strings of curse words, because most people who would torture him were looking for information. His ability to do so, to not allow one word against his organization to slip from his mouth, was the reason he had managed to obtain the highest clearance level available within SHIELD, a level that he respected with all that was in him. He was serving his country in the best way that he knew how, keeping others from being hurt as he once was, and it was as noble of a cause as he was ever going to legitimately support.
It was two weeks after he had obtained his clearance when he received a phone call while on a mission in Paris from Director Fury himself, informing him that HYDRA had been hidden within SHIELD since the organization's foundation and that Ward's own supervising officer was one of its leading members. Ward had been appalled and then infuriated at the gall of his supervising officer, a man he had once considered to be committed to the cause. It was this anger that led Director Fury to give his next orders: Ward was to become a triple agent, to infiltrate HYDRA while remaining loyal to SHIELD. He would be given a new clearance, one known publicly, one much lower than his previous, and would be paired with a team that would help him to be able to act loyal to SHIELD and HYDRA while remaining loyal only to SHIELD.
It was a brilliant idea, one that Grant wouldn't have minded at all had it not been for the reaction of his team members to his suspected betrayal. The death of Director Fury infuriated him despite the fact that he was aware that it was morally wrong to be angry at a man who was believed to be dead by numerous sources due to the fact that he longed to tell his team the truth but was unable to do so. He had thought he could handle it, though, until the moment he saw the betrayal on Skye's face.
He had sworn to himself that he would keep his team safe no matter the consequences, but if the consequences were the only woman he ever felt something akin to love for hating him, he wouldn't be able to do so. He would be required to betray Fury's orders, because he couldn't handle her despising his existence. It was something much too painful.
He listened to the orders Garrett gave him. He acted as though they were orders he would follow, but in reality he was simply waiting for communication from Director Hill, his commanding officer and the only person who was aware of his assignment other than Director Fury and Agent Ward. He listened for orders in the device in his ear, the one infiltrated by SHIELD after its first use as a HYDRA communication device, and finally sighed in relief when he heard them. Skye glared at him, her cheeks stained with tears, and he longed to wipe them away, to erase her pain, but Hill had yet to speak, and he had to wait for his orders.
"Agent Ward, this is Director Maria Hill. Do you read me? Can you give me your coordinates?" the voice of his deputy director asked.
"Yes, ma'am, loud and clear. We are on the bus." Skye looked up at him in confusion due to his usage of 'ma'am' instead of 'sir'. "Do you have any new orders for me?"
"Keep our junior agent safe, Ward, because Coulson sees her as a daughter. How is she? I suspect there was a bit of violence when she found out that you were a double agent?"
"Technically, ma'am, I'm not," he said.
"I know, Ward, but she believes that you are for the moment." Hill paused for a moment. "Your job is done, Agent. The escaped criminals have all been captured and we are working to rebuild SHIELD with the help of other organizations. We have found Garrett and you will be boarded shortly to allow us to collect Deathlok."
"It's a beautiful day outside, isn't it?" Ward asked, one of many questions he was taught to use to ensure that the person he was speaking to truly was one of his commanding officers.
"Yes, but I always carry an umbrella," Hill shot back, a smile obvious in her voice. "It's me, Ward. We're boarding now."
"Yes, ma'am, standing down," he said, removing the handcuff from Skye's hand.
"Tell Agent Skye to come say hello, Agent Ward. She may be more accepting of hearing that everything you told her in the last hour was to protect her and the rest of SHIELD if she hears it from me."
"Not everything, ma'am."
"Ward, please tell me that you didn't tell a girl that you loved her while you were pretending to have betrayed her?" Hill said, her tone exasperated. Despite her despising the younger agent at one point, he had become like a younger brother to her when they were forced to work together.
"I didn't word it like that, ma'am."
Hill chuckled. "Have it your way, Grant, but you should remember that Agent Carter once aimed a gun and shot at Captain Rogers for kissing another woman before they were even together." There was static in the background before she spoke again. "We are retrieving Deathlok. He will be transported to a facility in Europe for his safety. Is Agent Skye all right?"
"Yes, ma'am, she is. Thank you."
"Tell her to stand down, okay? I don't want to get shot the moment that I walk onto the plane."
"Skye, Hill says to stand down."
Skye glared at him fiercely before stopping her struggling.
"Thank you," he said in relief, his eyes flying in the direction of the stairs.
"Agent Ward," Hill said with a smile, walking down the stairs carefully but quickly, her heels clicking as she went. "I'm glad to see you made it out of your mission alive."
"Is anyone in this organization still loyal to SHIELD?" Skye groaned.
"Yes, we all are. Aside from those removed during our HYDRA raids, the organization, including Agent Ward, is loyal. Agent Ward here was on a mission given by Direction Fury to infiltrate HYDRA and learn their secrets. He was a triple agent." She smiled at the two of them. "Now you're starting to feel horribly about the nosebleed it's obvious you have him, aren't you?"
"No," Skye said, shaking her head. "He lied to me."
"Well, he was trying to save your life. I'm landing this plane at the Playground. Coulson and May will likely be waiting for answers. Will you be able to provide them?"
"Can't you, ma'am?" Ward asked, terrified at the notion of facing his senior agents.
"I can," Hill said. "Wow, Ward, you can infiltrate HYDRA and yet you're terrified to tell people about it." She shook her head. "I'm going to get behind the controls of this beauty. We'll touch down in five hours, give or take."
"Yes, ma'am," Ward said as he walked towards his own bunk and laid on the bed, staring at the ceiling. Instead of heading to her own bunk, however, Skye laid next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.
"I love you," she said. "I'm sorry about your nose. Here, let me see," she said, turning onto her side and holding his face in her hands before kissing his nose. "Is it all better?" she questioned with a smile.
"Mm, no," he said with a chuckle, wrapping his arms more tightly around her. "I love you, too."
And that moment got him through telling Coulson and May, having to dodge the fist aimed at him by the latter and the glare by the prior, and apologizing to his team. It got him through everything. For once in his life, he knew love more than he knew hate, and it was an amazing thing.