Alone No More
Spoilers: Season 2, Episode 6 "A Fractured House"; Season 1 and 2
Disclaimer: I only own Melody, Ella, Devon, Nathan and Robbie
When Grant Ward escaped custody, the deal had already been struck with his brother so the senator couldn't back out in any fashion. It took two years before SHIELD could stand on it's own feet again as a governmental agency, a part of the new government instead of outside of it. In that time they never found Grant Ward nor could figure out why upon escaping he didn't return to HYDRA. Even upon questioning, Raina was surprised that Ward was no longer with them and hadn't return to HYDRA.
Of course, it would be on a mission three years after his escape that they'd find him in the most surprising way. They'd find not a specialist but instead a man who was redeeming his life by helping those who needed help.
Skye walked beside Hunter as they walked down the alleys of Downtown New York. They were trying to find a runaway girl that was potentially an 0-8-4 due to the recent footage of her releasing some type of powers.
"All I'm saying is that if she'd let the little one out of her sight he'd be fine. Letting him have Mummy every time he cries isn't helping him." Hunter shook his head. "I love her, the demonic hell-beast that she is and all but the smothering has to go or he'll grow up a ninny."
"Have you told her this?" Skye shook her head, more often than not the team was a sound board for the problems of the Morse-Hunter re-marriage that had happened two years before mere months after the mercenary had knocked up his ex-wife.
Hunter paused, "told her, you don't tell her anything or you get your arse handed to you in more than one piece."
"Just tell her!" Skye rolled her eyes and kept walking, with Hunter following.
Another thirty minutes they paused when Skye noticed something out of the corner of her eyes. Preparing her ICER, she nodded her head in the direction of another alleyway and Hunter pulled his as well. "Quietly now luv."
They moved down the alley and paused upon finding their girl, all nine to ten years of her. She paused in her movements and looked at them, deer in headlight look crossed her face. Skye put up her hand. "It's okay, we're friends. We aren't going to hurt you." She smiled and put up her ICER, "what's your name?"
The girl stared at her before speaking in a whisper, "Ella."
"Ella, okay Ella we're with SHIELD and what happened to you earlier, we're here to help with that."
Instantly she took off and started running, causing the two to run after her quickly. They followed her down alleyways till she came to a building, running inside. Skye followed after, listening as well as being careful with her weapon that she'd pulled.
"GRANT!" The yell from Ella made Skye pull her second weapon, especially as she reached the second floor of the building, finding it an open space loft.
Ella stood behind a pillar as if waiting and she wasn't alone, five other children between five and ten stood either behind pillars with their heads out or behind furniture looking over the top. Skye put her hand up as Hunter joined her, making him stop to look around.
"Bloody hell, are they all gifted?"
"You shouldn't have come Hunter." The voice was familiar as was the click of the gun, they turned to find Grant Ward. He saw Skye and seemed halfway surprised. "Skye…"
Ella ran over and hugged Ward, he put his hand on her head. "They tried to take me away when I was looking for recycles."
Skye put up her weapons and put her hands up, "Hunter put it up."
"Like hell, he's a bloody traitor…"
"Put it up, that's an order." Skye spoke and the man huffed, putting the weapon in its holster. "She registered on the gifted scale, listed as a possible 0-8-4 so we were sent to find her."
Ward lowered the weapon and put it in the waistband of his pants. "You aren't taking Ella anywhere." He looked down at the girl, "go finish your homework." She nodded and ran off to the others. "All of you finish your homework."
The kids dispersed and Ward walked over to the small kitchen in the corner of the floor, pulling out plates and bread. Skye moved over as did Hunter, "bloody hell, did you kidnap all these kids?"
"They're orphans, abandoned on the streets by their parents or abused in homes. I found them on the street and gave them a home." He looked up at Hunter as he put peanut butter on the counter along with jelly. "I imagine this the last thing you expected me to do after I escaped from SHIELD custody."
Hunter looked to his side to find Skye gone, she was bent down beside one of the kids. She smiled when one of the girls handed her a colored picture, speaking to her and touching her face. Skye touched the girl's nose and looked at the picture, talking about her drawling. "Her name is Melody, she was abandoned by her parents because she became too expensive. She's the youngest, just turned five last month." Ward moved over and immediately Melody moved to him, jumping at him and he caught her.
"I like Skye, she's pretty." Melody smiled as Skye stood, putting the picture on the table.
Ward nodded and kissed the girl's head, "I agree." Putting her down he looked at her brown eyes, "go play and let the adults talk."
"Okay Daddy!" She smiled and waved at Skye, "bye Skye, Mr. Stranger." She ran over over to the table where the kids were, beginning to draw again.
"Daddy?" Skye looked at him skeptically and he put his hands up.
"It began a week ago without encouragement." Ward sighed, "if you're here about Ella's powers, you can turn around because you aren't taking her.
Hunter folded his arms, "not your call mate. In fact, as a fugitive without legal resources you have no say to the matters of their lives, much less be around them. I've already contacted SHIELD, they'll be here in a matter of minutes and you'll be take back to your cell."
"Skye…" Ward looked at her and she just stared at him.
"Like Hunter said, not your call and it's not mine either."
Ward moved quickly to the oldest, a boy that seemed to be ten or eleven. He spoke to him and the boy nodded before going back to his workbook. Placing a hand on Melody's head, Ward bent down and spoke to the girl. She shook her head and threw her arms around his neck, holding onto him.
"NO! You can't go!"
He pulled her back, "I don't want to but I have to. They're going to find you a good home, with that puppy you wanted."
"I don't want a puppy! I want you! You're my new Daddy, you love me." She started crying and hugged him again. "I don't want you to go."
Skye turned her head away as the doors busted open downstairs and soon SHIELD agents were swarming the place. Coulson was behind them with May, he put his eyes on Ward before they landed on the children.
Ward looked over at Skye and she seemed to understand, moving over to him and took Melody from him. The girl clung to Skye as she sobbed the same word over and over. "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy." Her arm reached out as agents cuffed Ward, taking him away.
"It's going to be okay. Skye will find you a good home." He let his eyes connect with Melody's as he walked. "I love you Melody, you need to be strong okay?"
"Daddy!" She tried to reach for him but Skye kept her hand on her.
Once he was out of sight, Hunter walked over to them with a hand on Ella's shoulder. "This is the girl."
"Three more children." One of the agents spoke, pulling three boys over of various ages.
Coulson bent down in front of them. "My name is Phil Coulson, what are your names?"
"I'm Devon," the oldest spoke and pointed to the others. "This is Nathan and Robbie. Where are you taking Grant?"
"Whatever he's done to you, he can't hurt you anymore."
"He didn't hurt us, he rescued us." Devon shook his head. "Our parents abandoned us or bad things happened in the group homes. He found us on the street and took us in, gave us a home and made sure we went to school. He's like a dad to us, a real dad. When Robbie was sick, he took him to the 24 hour clinic and stayed up with him all night. No one has ever done that for any of us before. When Ella couldn't understand her math, he spent days helping her understand it and now she gets A's in math. Nathan needed help with a bully, Grant taught him how to stand up for himself without hurting anyone, now he doesn't get bullied anymore." Devon folded his arms, "he's our dad and you're taking him away, why?"
May moved over, "let's get them out of here and we'll search the place."
The kids were ushered out of building, Skye finally got Melody put down after the girl passed out from sobbing. Devon promised to watch over his foster sister while Skye joined May and Coulson in searching the building. It was a three story office building that had obviously been gutted to make offices into one big floor. The first floor was a warehouse of sorts, car storage and big enough that the kids could ride their bikes there without having issues. The second floor was made up of a family room/living area, play area and kitchen. It had one half-bath available for use. The third floor was divided into three rooms, each with their own bathroom. One room had bunk beds for the boys and a bathroom for them to share. The second room had bunk beds for the girls and an additional bathroom. The final room was clearly Ward's, it had a bathroom off to the side and a desk beside the dresser.
Skye ran her hand along the edge of the desk, looking at the shelf above it that held photos. One was of all the kids together, the second had his sister and younger brother while a third had a picture of her, clearly taken at a distance. It'd obviously been taken not long after his escape because her hair had grown since that time, back to how it'd been when he'd found her in the back of her van.
"What do we have?" Coulson walked in and looked at both women, one searching through the desk while the other was going through the dressers and the footlocker at the end of the bed.
"If he has any weapons or materials related to HYDRA it's not stored here." May put back the clothes she'd been going through. "Nothing reported in any of the rooms or living areas. The open floor space makes hidden storage impossible."
Skye paused at the calendar hanging on the wall, it had dates and events for the kids only. A different color for each child, mostly school and activities that were everything from Robbie's play at school to Melody's ballet class at the YMCA. "He centered everything he does around the kids. I think they'll be the answer to anything we need to know."
"We need a timeline."
"Jackpot." Skye spoke as she opened the drawer to the small desk that held a printer. In it she pulled out stacks of envelopes held together by rubber bands. Removing the rubber band from one stank she found her own name on every envelope. "They're all addressed to me."
May moved over and took one stack, "there has to be at least one for everyday he's been out."
Skye searched through them all and found one at the bottom of the last stack. She opened it and found a letter dated the day after he'd escaped from custody.
Skye,
I won't apologize for what I've done. Going back to my brother's hand, the torture both physically and mentally is nothing compared to what any of you could do to me. I would rather die of suffocation after having the air sucked from my cell then go back there. There is no way you could understand, not that you want to.
I had hope for you but that hope wasn't enough. You've turned into a cross between May and Agent Romanoff. The Skye I knew is gone, the Skye I had hope for is lost and I realize now she'll never return. Perhaps even dreams can disappoint because never did I imagine you being lost to those who should have protected you.
If you ever read this, know I hope you did find your father. I hope you know the truth of who you are because you at least deserve that in a world of lies. Know I never lied to you from the moment you visited me in that cell, I never would have even after what you did to help Coulson in my transfer of custody.
You were everything to me and the only one I've ever loved but it's time to let you go. I'll never forget you, I never could but this is goodbye.
Grant Ward
Tears filled the agent's eyes as she handed the letter over to May. The woman read it before folding it and gently placed it back in the envelope. May placed a hand on Skye's back before moving away.
"It's clean, we should transport." She handed the envelope to Skye as the agent placed all the letters in her bag.
After a quick collection of items for the kids, Skye climbed into the SUV in front them. She handed bags to each of the kids. Devon looked at her as she handed his bag to him.
"Are you Grant's Skye?"
Skye narrowed her eyes in confusion, "what do you mean?"
"He talked about a woman named Skye when we asked if he was married." Nathan piped up with a smile. "Grant said she was the woman he loved a lot but he hurt her feelings so he had to leave her so she could be happy. Are you her?"
Hunter chuckled from the driver's seat, "oh it's her alright."
"Are you happy?" Nathan leaned forward in his seat. "Grant says if you're happy, than he's happy. You are happy right?"
Skye nodded to him and he smiled, leaning back in his seat as Robbie grinned. "You're pretty, prettier than he said and he said you were the most prettiest girl in the universe." Robbie shrugged, "after Ella and Melody."
"Well what do you know, suitors already lining up at the door luv."
A/N: Sorry I just got this idea that Ward was living a safe house, found homeless kids and took them in. I also find it hard for him not to have mentioned Skye and knowing kids like I do, it's possible for young children to become attached to a steady responsible caretaker after just a short amount of time. They've been with him ranging from a year to two years, that is a huge time to bond.
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