Fitz and Simmons quickly moved to the side. May leaned casually against the wall out of the way. The hospital units of the HUB were always busy. Always people moving in and out. Men, women, children, old, younger, Injured, crying, bleeding, dying. Simmons scrubbed at her face to move the tears. Never had any of them been here for one of their own before. They all felt the doubt. If only. If only.
Coulson ventured back over looking frustrated. He sat down next to Grant in one of the nearly hundred benches and chair for people wait for news. They looked at him expectantly.
He rubbed his forehead. "They can't get her in right now. She is stable in the container for now but they don't have any surgeons available and Skye is low on the priority list."
Grant stood suddenly and walked away without a word. May leaned forward as if to follow then back again in resignation. Coulson just rubbed his head.
"How can she not be a priority?" Simmons hiccupped. "She's dying."
Fitz put a hand on her shoulder.
"So is every other person here." May said coldly with her face drawn.
"There has to be someone." Fitz said with a voice tinted with desperation.
Simmons looked up. "Maybe I could"
"No." Coulson cut off firmly. "There is nothing we can do. Just be patient and" He swallowed and his firmness sunk. "Trust the system." He finished without any conviction.
The two scientists sat down quietly across from them.
Fitz looked around. "Ward isn't taking this well is he sir?"
The man looked up. Grant was nowhere to be seen. "No, he isn't."
"Looks fine to me." May commented.
Everyone looked up as Grant came striding back with a suppressed smile on his face. He had made it go away completely by the time he got to them but he looked a lot more relieved. The young agent sat down next to Fitz and leaned back.
"Skye is in surgery right now." He said simply.
"What?" Coulson sat forward nearly tipping his chair over.
"She's what?" Fitz and Simmons gaped together.
May's eyebrow raised a fraction in curiosity.
Coulson gave Grant a hard look. "Agent Ward, what did you do?"
Grant sat forward seriously and looked a bit flustered. "I. Well Skye was. I couldn't just, yah, know. She's part of our team. I have a friend back there." He waved vaguely back to where the doctors were working relentlessly to save, to mend. "He is using his break to help us. Uh, help her I mean."
"A friend? Just a friend?" Coulson asked. "Ward, you need more than an old war buddy to get things started in here."
Grant frowned. "Trust me, my contact won't let us down. He's a specialist."
"Who?"
"What does he specialize in?" Simmons interrogated.
"He's a. Well, a doctor but"
"Can he fix Skye?" Fitz demanded.
"Hey." Grant said suddenly firm. "Can I have a little trust here?" He glanced at the clock. "One hour. Give him one hour."
"Only an hour?" May said critically.
Grant looked at her then Coulson right in the eyes. "He said one hour. Trust?"
Coulson studied him carefully. "One hour." He said with a sigh.
They sat. They paced. May wandered off. Coulson read a magazine. Fitz and Simmons fidgeted. Grant was the only one at ease, just relaxed in his chair half asleep. Time ticked by. May returned after half an hour looking no less stoic than usual. Coulson just nodded at her return. The waiting room started to clear a bit. The place was closing up, other cases would be taken at the nighttime station on the other side. They had gotten here late as it was. Soon it was just them.
Coulson glanced at the clock. "Ten minutes Ward."
The Agent nodded taking the warning in stride. Grant stood upright suddenly. Everyone turned as he strode over and hugged a lab coat clad doctor who had just walked in.
"Yo Grant!" The new guy greeted patting the agent's back. He had dark blonde hair and stood just an inch shorter than Grant himself.
"Michael." The taller of the two responded. "How'd it go?"
"It looked like it went just fine." Another person came over. Grant gave this one a half hug. He had dark hair and was the same height as Grant was.
"Were you there Dameon?" Grant asked.
The darker haired guy shook his head. "No. Just came down 'cause I heard your team was here."
The strangest thing was, they all looked very similar. Like slightly off clones.
"It did go well." The shorter, Michael answered his question after a while. "Like I said the procedure is still in work but I am one hundred percent confident in it."
Dameon nodded turning to Grant. "I heard that you and those folks ran into the new tech we're having issues with."
"Yeah that time warping stuff?" Grant put his hands in his pockets. "Not fun."
"I would love to get my hands on someone in that state." Michael said thoughtfully. "A state of frozen life. Incredible."
"I promise I'll try to haul myself here if I ever get put that way again." Grant joked.
"Wow, Grant Ward being social?" A voice said quietly behind the four other agents. "Did I die or what?"
"Skye." Coulson said in relief.
Simmons wrapped her arms around the female in the wheelchair. "Thank God you're okay."
She put a finger to her lips. "Shh. I want to hear this. This is a new dynamic for Mr. Secret Agent Man."
The trio was still talking when the group glanced back to them.
The nurse pushing the wheelchair looked confused. "Mr. Secret Agent Man? Which one would that be?"
"Agent Ward." Simmons specified.
She suddenly laughed. "That narrows it down to two I think unless you call the Doctor that too."
"What?" Everyone looked at her.
She looked surprised. "You don't know." She smiled and leaned down. "Those are the three Ward brothers."
"All three of them?" Skye said in shock.
"All three of us."
The three brothers were turned toward them. The oldest looked darkly amused. Micahel walked over and offered his hand to Skye.
"Hello Miss." She shook it. "How are you feeling?"
She nodded and smirked looking toward Grant. "Pretty great considering I got shot in the chest."
Michael smiled easily. "That's fantastic. I'll have you out of here in no time at all."
Skye nodded. "Hey Grant, your brother is a much better conversationalist."
Michael laughed and stood back at his oldest brother's side. The guy smirked and Grant blinked.
May crossed her arms. "I thought you and your older sibling didn't get along." She said blandly.
Dameon's smirk dropped and all three males took a similar hunched looked posture. They all looked exactly the same that way. Shoulders high and eyes skimming in different directions to avoid any contact with another. Michael shuffled his feet.
"That was a long time ago." Grant finally said looking up.
Michael looked up and smile came back. "We were, what, like ten? Twelve maybe?"
"When Grant left to come here." Dameon put his hands in his pockets, looking up. "It kind of made it through our thick skulls that there was a very strong possibility we could lose each other. Things come and go but we will always be brothers." He finished just as seriously as he had started.
Grant nodded.
"By the way, it is a pleasure to meet the famous Phil Coulson." Dameon nodded to the leader.
Coulson frowned. "You know?"
Grant's older brother nodded. "I have the same clearance level as him."
The older agent moved his gaze questioningly to Michael.
"I have a level nine clearance." He responded. "Doctors kind of have to. People say things under anesthesia." He smiled. Then his smile turned into a yawn.
"Tired?" Grant said with amusement.
Michael rubbed his face. "Well you kind of called me at the end of my shift."
"How the hell long has it been since you slept?" Dameon put a hand on his youngest brother's shoulder.
The shortest shrugged.
"I can tell you he's had about two half hour naps in the past two days." A tall blonde man strode up to the trio with an air of familiarity. "Grant. Dameon." He greeted shaking their hands sequentially.
"Hello Calvin." Both brothers greeted.
The tall blonde man also wore a lab coat. He was dressed up like Michael and had rather tired look to him. The same look was also prevalent on Grant's younger brother. Sheer exhaustion from way too many hours of work. The blonde put his arm over Michael's shoulder and leaned close to his face.
"Hey Gorgeous. We have a day off and you really need to sleep." He said softly.
Michael closed his eyes and tipped his head toward the blonde. "Mmhmm. Yeah."
Grant rolled his eyes. "The married couple needs to go get a room."
The two laughed and Calvin grabbed the youngest Ward brother's hand.
"Take care Grant, Dameon." Michael waved tiredly, allowing himself to be led away.
"I'm glad he still has someone to take care of him." Dameon shook his head with a sigh. "I'd best be off too." He gave Grant a pat on the back and spun neatly toward the door. "Keep in touch." The oldest called back.
"Will do." Grant nodded.
The door closed and Grant quirked a smile.
"Okay, okay. Hang on." Skye waved a hand excitedly. "Information overload. Those were all three of your siblings?"
Grant nodded. "Michael's the younger one and Dameon is the oldest."
"And Michael has a …" Skye trail the sentence off into a question.
"A husband. Yeah." The agent acknowledged.
Skye grinned. "He was really cute." She looked at Simmons who nodded.
Coulson rubbed his face. "Let's get back to the BUS. I'm already tired of SHIELD."
The nurse handed them some papers and they walked back. Simmons and Skye kept bubbling over what they had seen. Grant just walked beside May silently. Coulson lead the way and Fitz stood by Simmons listening to their conversation. They finally got back to the normalcy of the chaotic BUS.