Truth

Fiddling with the shiny new silver bangle around her wrist, Skye tentatively made her way back down to the main living area, where it seemed that the events of the day had already been forgotten. Maybe Coulson had ordered them to drop it.

FitzSimmons greeted her with a friendly "hey" and a wave from the kitchen, where they were getting things ready for dinner. They'd had a few dinners from Fitzsimmons now and they were definitely… interesting. Yeah, interesting was the best word to describe them. "Edible" was another, although sometimes that was debateable. May had retreated to the briefing room, and was talking to a person on the screen. She was more animated than Skye had ever seen her, gesturing her hands and laughing at what the person said in return. Coulson had wandered over to the bar and had poured himself a glass of… something, and simply scanned her wrist to see if she'd put the bangle on or not before nodding at her and going over to see what FitzSimmons were actually planning on making them, and whether or not he needed to veto any ideas that might result in them having food poisoning… or glowing… or floating.

She didn't see Ward, but she didn't have to. She could hear the pounding of fists against the heavy bag and figured that, by process of elimination, it had to be him. That, or Miles had persuaded Coulson to allow him to hitch a ride back to American soil. Highly unlikely, as she'd heard Ward advise him to go to the American Embassy before locking up the cargo bay.

She got the feeling that Ward wasn't too impressed by her choice of boyfriends. He certainly hadn't seemed too impressed by Miles' decision to sell information, especially considering the way he'd told her about the cheques. If she didn't know any better, she'd almost say that she saw a little relief in his expression after she'd torn Miles a new one.

Slowly, she made her way through the Bus, picking up a bottle of "SHIELD" water on the way to wet her suddenly dry mouth. It was kind of funny, the way SHIELD emblazoned their emblem onto everything, and yet still managed to keep an admirably low profile. Most normal people didn't know of their existence. She wound her way down the spiral staircase and was confronted by the sight of a shirtless Ward working out with the heavy bag. A very nice sight indeed.

'Hey,' she said, but it came out as a squeak. She couldn't forget his dismissal of her earlier.

He glanced over at her, but chose to not say anything, returning his focus onto the bag.

'Projecting anyone's face onto that?' she asked softly, sinking down to sit on the bottom step of the stairs. 'Mine, maybe?'

He was quiet for a moment, reaching out to steady the bag, before saying quietly, 'Now why would I do that?' The sarcasm was so thick, it cut the air.

'Because… I wasn't brought up to trust. If you wanna be technical about it, I wasn't brought up at all,' she whispered.

He sighed, still facing the bag. 'You could've trusted us.'

'I didn't know that yet,' she murmured.

'How about now?' he asked, finally looking at her.

Hair slightly damp, rivulets of sweat making their way down a very chiselled body, (much nicer than Miles', if she's very honest), and a wounded look in those soulful, chocolate-y eyes.

The man should've come with his own warning, and he was being very distracting when she was trying to make amends.

He should've just kept looking away.

She held up her wrist, where the shiny silver bangle dangled. 'I haven't got much of a choice now, do I?'

'Coulson's put you on a leash,' he muttered, unwrapping his hands.

'Yup,' she said glumly. She sighed and drank some more water. 'He called me into his office to confront me about… not being entirely honest. He knew that I'd been hiding something.'

Ward actually cracks a grin at that, the nerve of him. 'Skye, we all knew that you were hiding something. You're on a plane with the Cavalry, for God's sake. We just chose not to touch it because Coulson trusted you. You've got to put your trust in your leader or else…'

'You end up like Amador,' Skye said quietly.

His eyes locked with hers for a moment, and she knew that he understood.

'Ward, what I've been-'

Ward cut her off, sitting down next to her on the stairs and stealing her water bottle. 'Hey, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. Coulson knows, and he hasn't kicked you off, and that's good enough for me.'

'You're my SO, though. At least, I assume you still are,' she muttered.

'I'm not gonna let you get your ass kicked out there, Rookie,' he said quietly.

'No, that's your job,' she replied dryly. 'But… I need to tell someone. And I guess that it's probably best that you know, being my supervising officer and all.'

'Okay,' he said before taking a drink.

'I told you before that I was in an orphanage, St. Agnes',' Skye said slowly.

'Yeah,' he said lightly.

'I was there almost all my life, except for the few times that I was put in foster homes. After I got out, I wanted to know who my parents were… are… I don't even know if they're still alive or not.'

'You haven't found anything?' Ward asked.

She bit her bottom lip to ward against the onslaught of tears that threatened. She didn't want to show him weakness. 'Only a single document. A highly redacted, SHIELD document.'

Ward's exhale of breath told her that he definitely hadn't been expecting that.

'It's why I joined the Rising Tide, why I targeted SHIELD. Sure, I was trying to expose secrets, try and expose the truth, but I also had a second agenda that only a few people knew about.'

'Miles?'

'He was one of them.'

Ward shook his head. 'The identity of your parents is redacted by SHIELD.'

'Yeah,' Skye whispered.

'Is Coulson gonna help?' Ward asked.

'He said he'd try,' Skye replied quietly.

Ward looked over at her. 'Then he will. I doubt he'll give up that easily, Skye. The man refused to die, he's not gonna give up on anything lesser.'

Skye laughed softly.

'Did you try requesting the file?' Ward asked quietly, as the balcony above them creaked, signalling the presence of another person.

'Yeah. First thing, after I got out of the orphanage,' Skye said. 'That's where I got the redacted file from.'

'And you've been hacking for the un-redacted file,' Ward filled in. 'Okay. Well, at least you had a start.'

'Yeah,' she whispered. 'I've found a few other documents relating to my parents, but nothing with names. I don't even know my own last name.'

'Oh,' he sighed, realising. 'That's why you've never said…'

'What my last name is,' Skye finished. 'Because I don't know.'

'That sucks,' Ward said sympathetically. 'Some people in my family might be jerks, but at least I know who they are.'

'I don't even know if I have… anybody,' Skye said, hands waving helplessly.

'Hey,' Ward said gently, hesitantly and awkwardly placing a warm hand on her knee. She could tell that it was a gesture he didn't make often. 'You've got us.'

Just as hesitantly, she placed a hand on his. 'Thanks.'

The balcony creaked again, and Ward snatched his hand away, glancing up.

'Dinner's almost ready,' Coulson said, coming halfway down the stairs. 'You might wanna clean up, Ward.'

'Yup,' Ward said, finishing the last of the water before picking up the dark grey hooded sweatshirt that he'd been wearing before his workout and slinging it over his shoulder.

'Hey, Ward?' Skye asked, looking up at him as he helped her up, giving her his hand and pulling her up, arm muscles rippling admirably.

'Yeah?' he asked.

'Can we play Monopoly tomorrow?' she asked, climbing up the stairs.

'In what way does Monopoly relate to your training?' he asked, walking beside her.

She thought about it for a moment. 'Strategic thinking?'

'If I wanted to work on your strategic thinking…'

'You'd play Battleships? Because we know how that worked for you.'

'No,' he said, giving her a look that was mildly annoyed, but only very mildly. 'Chess.'

'Chess? People still play that?' she asked.

'Don't you know how?' he asked.

'I've tried playing against the computer,' she said slowly. 'Got bored really quickly.

He chuckled, a low, seductive noise. If his looks didn't draw in women like moths to a flame, that laugh would. And if he used it, his personality mightn't be quite so… repellent. 'It's a lot different playing person to person.'

'Well, do you want to teach me to play?' Skye asked.

He looked down at her and smiled. Again, ridiculously attractive. He probably had half of the women of SHIELD lusting after him – the half that hadn't spoken to him.

No, that was unfair. He wasn't so abrasive once you got to know him a little.

'Sure,' he said. 'Just prepare to have your ass kicked, Rookie.'

'Not a chance,' she replied. 'Not a chance.'

From his supervision of FitzSimmons' cooking, Coulson internally smiled. Maybe, despite everything, there was a chance for Skye to find what she was looking for.

::

A bit shorter than my usual stories, but I couldn't leave "Girl With The Flower Dress" with the ending between Skye and Ward that it left us with. I can see Ward forgiving Skye when she told him about why she'd lied and her motives for hacking for the Rising Tide. He'd still hate the Rising Tide, obviously, but he'd forgive her, or at least soften a little.

Please review. You can tell me whether you agree with my opinions or not, and whether you would've done something differently.

XD PurpleHipposRock