Skye thinks hate is the only feeling left for a certain Grant Ward. After all, she shot him several times in that Hydra base. His unbelievable face almost made her day. Never ever leave your back to your enemy, she said and walked past him. Her heart did not feel happy, but neither did she feel pain. Maybe it is the time she moves past this phrase and gets ready for the new challenges, aka how to be a gifted field agent.
Skye did not want any of this to happen. She does not want to be gifted, and she is willing to sacrifice anything for Trip to return, even her own life. He was the sunshine for the team when everyone was devastated about everything that happened after Ward's betrayal. He was able to make us happy, maybe with a little help from Hunter and Bobbi. He deserved more than dying in that temple when she knew he should not be there. If she could shoot Ward to kill or stop him following her, why could not she stop Trip following her? It was totally her fault that Trip died. She does not know how to face Coulson, because he did try to stop her and everything from happening. She cannot face Simmons, either; because Simmons seemed to have a little thing going on with Trip. How can she face any of the team after she accidentally killed one of her own after gaining power for herself?
Skye decides to ask for a break, at least from field work. She knows it is selfish, especially when Trip was gone, killed, but she could not take any more lives now, not even Ward's if she ever meet him again in the field. Besides, she needs time to learn and control this new power. Coulson is actually quite happy and relieved to grant her request and he even encourages her to take time off and travel around for a while. But she declines. She does not trust herself travelling outside. She does not want to hurt anyone if her power escapes her control. She needs a safe place to experience this new power and learn how to control it; therefore she goes back to the base where she found out Ward was Hydra.
This base was the perfect place for her to practice. No one is around within 100 miles radius, so at least she will not hurt anyone else. The base has everything she needs; food, water, internet, and the memory of mistrust. She remembers every word Ward once said to her or to agent Koenig in that interrogation room. He was not a good liar, according to the lie detector. If agent Koenig asked 'do you plan to kill us 'rather than 'why are you here', Ward would be shot dead and at least the team would remain intact. She would not be brought to meet her father and maybe Trip will still alive now. How could Ward betray them like that? She does not know whether Ward had told her any truth at all and she hates to realize she does not know Grant Ward at all. Everything she knew was a cover. His lies was so good that he actually believed one of them. Skye does not believe Ward loves her, because if he did love her, he would not kidnap her twice and thought he did a favor for her. She hates him for everything he did and she will be happy to shoot him again the next time they meet. She does not love him and does not plan to forgive him just because he happens to help SHIELD now.
After two weeks in the base, Skye or Daisy finally decide to move back to the plane. She also decide her only name will be Skye. Her father may think he loves her, but it is too sick for her to accept. She only have one father and his name is Philp Coulson. When she tell Coulson her decisions, he is almost crying. She takes Coulson as her last name when he offers it. The only best thing in her life is meeting Coulson and the team, except for Grant Ward.
With the help from General Talbot and his connections in the congress, SHIELD is finally removed from the terrorist list and regains its official tie with US Government. With the new funding, they finally are able to start recruiting new people and reopen the SHIELD Academy again. Once again, they are Agent of Shield now. Coulson decide to throw a little party to celebrate for all the good news. Skye is delighted, but she also feel a little hollow. Trip cannot be here and celebrate with us. So is he, Grant Ward. She does not know whether he died that day. Although her shooting was not lethal, he was too weak to defend himself and could be killed by any hydra agent that found him. She is not sure the real purpose of the shooting. She thought she wanted to kill him, but she could aim at his head or his heart, rather than his side with armory protection. After that day, his name never surfaced in this plane. Coulson and May seemed to lost interest in him, due to some unknown reasons. Simmons have been busying helping Fitz and Mack return to themselves, so far they are doing really great, just like the temple and the drowning never happened. Hunter and Bobbi never get to know Grant Ward. And Skye herself was busying on taking multiple missions for the past year, since she is an experienced field agent for this team now. May usually stay in the place as a backup.
Skye thinks she will never see Grant Ward again until this time, but she does not want to see him show up in the battlefield and cover her back. She is a gifted experienced field agent, and the least she need is an ex-lover, traitor trying to save her. She does not want to owe anything to Grant Ward. But she is wrong, very wrong this time. The mistake she made almost cost her life. Almost, because Grant Ward took the bullets for her. He shielded her like a wall. After the initial shock, Skye is able to use vibrations to send all remaining HYDRA Agents to hell. She hates Ward for doing this, but she still worries about his life. Although he may be wearing vests, multiple bullets may still penetrate the vest or hit him in arteries. One look at his pale face, Skye knows he is hurt badly. She removed his shirt and vest to get a clear view of wounds. She finds two wounds on the chest, two on the abs and one on the left leg. The leg wound is bleeding badly, so she tears off his shirt and ties it above the wound, trying to slow down the bleeding. However it does not work and she starts to panic and ask for May and Simmons' help. Her hand is shaking and she does not know who to do now. Her brain is blank and all her emergency trainings are totally forgotten. She just sits there and watches Grant Ward become paler and paler. After a lifelong waiting, May and Simmons finally come and they manages to carry out Ward while Simmons try to stop the bleeding.
Everything after that is a bit blurry for Skye. She remembers getting back to the plane and they fly to the nearest hospital in no time. After the surgery, the doctor tells them something, but she cannot remember any of the conversation. She only remembers Coulson and May have a serious face, so the news must be bad. However, she does not need the doctor to confirm it. His condition cannot be great after losing so much blood. She does not understand Grant Ward. How can he suddenly show up and protect her like that? What does he think he is? Why does he know her location? Is it another mole in their team that leak the information? Why was she so panic back then? She shot him for 4 times and left him to die before. It should be easy for her to watch him die, because this men has caused so much damage to this team and taken so much innocent life. He deserves everything. Is it because he saves her? It must be this reason, otherwise she should not feel anything except hate for this traitor.
Coulson orders Skye to take a shower and get changed because she is covered in blood. She looks at herself and all her clothes or boots have his blood, but it could be hers if he did not show up and save her like a hero. No, he cannot be hero. He is never a hero. She should not forgive his past just because he saves her. He saved Simmons once but he still followed the order to kill her at the end.
"Skye, Skye, are you with me?"
"Yes, I am good, Dad"
"No, you are not. We understand the situation is not easy for you. Why don't you go back to the bus and have a little rest? It has been a long day for you."
"I am fine, really. I had a crush on him before, but I already ended it when I shot him. He is not going to affect me anymore."
"Skye, you do not need to lie to me or yourself. You still care him very much. You do not even realize you are crying, right? He was a bastard, but it does not mean you can't love him. After all, he never intends to hurt you."
"Was? Is he dead now or you are hiding something from me, Coulson?"
"He is not dead and yes, we are hiding a little thing about him. We are monitoring his actions for the past year and all he did was destroying HYDRA with agent 33, so I decide to keep him like that."
"And you think this will compromise me? No, it won't. No matter what he did, he could not undo his past actions and save all these innocent lives. I may love the cover grant ward, but I sure as hell do not love this grant ward."
"Skye, just remember we will not judge you for anything because we love you. You really need to at least get changed. I do not like to see you walking around with all the blood."
Skye decides to go back to the bus with May. However, she cannot sleep. Every time she close eyes, a bloody Grant Ward shows up. His weak grim and pale face makes Skye sick. She never know Grant Ward can smile so innocently or he can actually smile. He was always closed and loaded with secrets. Since sleep is pretty impossible by now, she wants to check on him. She is not sure whether she want to hear that he is doing well or he is doing terrible and may suffer from this event. She want him to suffer like Fitz, but she also want him to recover. She is so conflicted now.
But she never expects the results to like this. Yes, she wants him to suffer, because she will enjoy seeing him having difficulties doing normal things and she get to laugh at him harshly for all the failures. How can she laugh at someone who will never response to outside world at all? He is the robot, the tin man, the unbreakable specialist, so he can't be in vegetative state. Doctors must be wrong. She does not realize she almost chokes the doctor to death until Coulson hit her with icer.
"You know it, right? You know he will never regain consciousness, right?"
"Yes, we know."
"We, who are we?"
"The whole team, except you. I am afraid of your response and want to let you know later when you calm down."
"I am very calmed."
"Skye, listen to yourself. Your hands are shaking and you almost kill the doctor. You are losing control. I know how hard is it to lose someone you love."
"No, I do not love him at all!"
"Skye, it does you no good deny your own feeling. You are still deeply in love with him. It is all right to love him. No need to feel you betray us by loving him. No one can control love and hatred is not a good feeling to keep. We, the team, all start to forgive him because of what he did for the last year. Our lives as agents are already complicated and dark, so we do not need more hatred than necessary to condemn our soul. For once, stay true to your own feeling."
Skye starts to cry, loudly. She loves him, but she feel ashamed about it and use every tactic to hide it. After trying so hard, she indeed believes she no longer loves him or even wish him dead instead. When he actually lied in front of her and dying, her whole world crashed but she still denied the strong feeling until it was too late. Now she know how much she loves him, but he will never ever know. She wants to see him now and feels him alive so she runs back to his room and surprisingly finds Simmons standing next to his bed, with a sad face.
"Skye, we cannot lose hope. He may still have a chance. Doctors says the next three months are crucial for his recovery. There are numerous patients waking up from this vegetative state before, and Ward is a survivor, so he can do it too."
"Thanks, Simmons."
"We, as a team, will support you for this long journey. You deserves an answer, so is he."
Skye never considers her SO as weak or pale. He was always strong and powerful, but now he is lying here, barely breathing with the help of machine to support his life. He is so fragile that he can be gone in any second. She looks at his face and notices how skinny he becomes. He has been in this room for only two days, yet he already lose so many pounds. Nurse comes and want to clean him, but Skye stops her and tell her she wants to learn how to do it. For the next half hour, she learns everything from how to clean his body to how to help him practice his muscle. She never thinks she will do these for any one, but she is willing to do anything for him now. Anything, if it brings him back.
Three months fly by, but Grant's situation is not much better. He did open his eyes and have some reflective movements, but doctors said all these were normal and did not indicate he had regain any consciousness. Doctor also told her that Grant's situation was stable and cleared to leave the hospital. Coulson wants her to move back to the bus with Grant, but she hesitates. She does not know whether everyone is ready to face Grant. They may already forgive him, but seeing him like this still creates pressure. She cannot remember how many times she cries outside his room and she does not want the team to experience any of this, besides they do not know how to take a patient in Grant's situation. However, Coulson manages to convince her and they finally come back to the plane.
"Skye, do not worry. Simmons already teach us how to take care Grant. She even force us to practice on each other. We are a family and we take care of each other no matter what happened."
"Thank you, Bobbi. And thanks for the training, Simmons. I am really grateful for all your help." Skye cannot stop crying.
"No worries. Grant is a part of us, too. He cared about all of us in a weird way and we never forget how he used to be so protective. Cover or not, he protected us so many times."
Skye is grateful for the team's help. It greatly reduces her pressure and also helps Grant to hear more people talking to him. Maybe one day he will finally recover and become the hero he wants to be.