No Happy Endings.
Ward had been in prison for two months now and he had refused to talk and the only thing that kept bugging Skye was, when did he start falling down the rabbit whole he was now stuck in. Since Grant Ward didn't exist anymore it took Skye a little bit long to find his family. Looking into his family she found out that his father and younger brother were dead. His big brother was in prison. His mother was in rehab again. Sadly the one lead Skye hoped would give her the answers, his Gramsy, had recently passed away. That left his sister, Julia, who lived in Las Vegas and work as a kindergarten teacher.
It took her a while to convince Coulson to let her go and talk to his sister but she told him she might be able to get something from the sister that would help to get Ward talking. Reluctantly Coulson let her go but he sent May with her.
May pulled up outside an apartment block where Julia Ward lived. Skye hadn't say a word to May doing the journey to Julia's apartment or as she got out of the car. She was still pissed at Coulson for not being able to trust her to do this by herself, she didn't need May to babysit her.
Double checking the apartment number she had written down, Skye knocked on the door. As she waited for someone to open the door she could hear moment from within the apartment.
"Just a minute." A female's voice shouted. "Hi." Julia said opening the door.
"Hi." Skye smiled at Julia, "I'm Skye I was wondering if I could ask you some questions about your brother Grant?"
Julia looked questionably at Skye before standing a side to let her come in. "You worked with Grant?" Skye raised her eyebrow at her use of the word 'worked'. "I've see the news and read the papers, I know Grant is in prison." Julia stated.
"You don't sound surprised." Skye replied.
"I'm not." Julia walked past Skye entering her livingroom. Skye followed closely behind her. "Take a seat, would you like a drink or something to eat?" Julia offered.
"No thanks." Skye took a seat in the chair across from Julia. As she sat down she noticed some old photos on top of the fireplace. Julia noticed what her visitor was looking at and stood up to collect them from the fireplace and gave them to Skye so she could get a better look at them.
The first photo was of a six year old Grant holding his new born baby sister. He was sitting on a large hospital chair looking down at her, holding her protectively in his arms. The next photo had a ten year old Grant, eight year old Thomas and four year old Julia all sleeping on a blanket in their Gramsy's garden during a warm summer afternoon. The final photo was of twelve year old Grant and a six year old Julia both smiling brightly at the camera. Even though Grant had a horrible looking black eye he truly looked happy giving his little sister a kiddyback ride.
"There are some good memories. Most of them are with Gramsy when Jake wasn't around." Julia informed Skye.
"Did you grandmother ever try to get custody of you, Grant and your other bother?" Skye asked.
"Yes but our father was a police officer and both of my parents were well liked in the community. They always told the doctors that we like to play a little rough and they bought it. It took Grant….." Julia trailed off.
"What did Grant do?" Skye could tell that Julia was starting to get uncomfortable talking about her childhood. Julia paced up and down her livingroom, "You don't have to tell me. I'm just trying to understand what made Grant do what he did and maybe I can find a way to help him."
"Ok." Julia said but it was more like she was trying to convince herself that everything would be fine if she talked. Taking a seat again, she took a couple of deep breaths before she started talking. "Grand tried to commit suicide when he was fifteen. I found him unconscious on his bed and called for an ambulance. The paramedics were the ones who noticed the empty pill bottle on the bed side table. They also found a suicide note in his pocket. He wrote everything down that had happened throughout the years. The doctor were fuming that they believe my parents. My father's station didn't believe the note because they 'knew' him, he was such a great man and loving husband and father. Once Ward woke up, father threatened Grant to tell everyone what he had wrote was a lie.
"And that's was Grant did and that was the start of everything going downhill for him. When he was discharged from hospital our parents sent in off to military school. A year later, Thomas died protecting me from Jake and when our parents didn't call Grant to tell what happened to Thomas, I called him. A day later I'm woken in the middle of the night by Grant telling me to get dressed. I watched Grant pour petrol all over the house then set it on fire. I told him Jake was inside but he just stared at the house being engulfed by flames. Jake just had some lung damage from inhaling too much smoke and Grant was asserted for arson and attempted murder, Jake and our parents wanted him to be tried to be as an adult. However someone broke him out of juvie before he could be charged with anything. Then by the time the police solved Thomas's murder case, Grant was long gone so didn't see Jake having to finally deal with the consequences of his actions.
Since the night of the house fire, I've only seen Grant once, and then it was only a glimpse of him, at Thomas's grave on the tenth anniversary of his death. I know Grant blames himself for not being able to save Thomas. But that night sixteen years ago something changed in him. He was just a shell of the person he used to be." Julia wiped away her tears when she had stopped talking.
Skye didn't know what to say. She had known that Grant had a rough childhood but know that she knew what happened, it all made sense. Grant was already broken by the time Garrett had gotten to him. Grant never stood a chance of a happy ending the second he left with Garrett.
"Thank you." Skye gave her a small smile. "Would it be ok with you if I took picture of these?" Skye pointed to the framed photos Julia had shown her.
Julia nodded, "I know this might strange with everything that he's done but can you really get him he help he should have gotten years ago?"
"Do you think he would consider talking to a physiologist?" Skye asked.
"Yes, I was resistant at first which I'm sure Grant will be but I think one would help him deal with things he's locked away."
"I'll see what I can do." Skye stared down at the photos of Grant as she spoke.
"You care about him don't you?" Julia watched Skye.
"Yes." Skye admitted not only to Julia but to herself.
***A.O.S***
Skye sat the bar on the bus alone. They were currently on their way to Leavenworth Federal Prison to interrogate Ward. Once she and May had gotten back to the place she told the team everything she had learnt from Julia. They had all been horrified by what Skye had told them. Skye asked Coulson if she couldn't be the one to interrogate Ward but he told her that May would be the one doing the interrogation.
"I'm not punishing you by letting May do the interrogation." Coulson said from behind her.
"It sure seems like that." Skye replied.
"You're too emotionally involved that's why I won't let you interrogate him."
"Do you want to know what I think?" Skye turned around in her chair so she was now facing him.
"Yes."
"I think that May will be able to break him but he probably will kill himself this time. I know that you and everyone else on this plane won't care if he kills himself. It will just be one less Hydra agent for you not to worry about. Sure you'll have May tell him that we will get him help but he won't believe her. All he will think is that we are making relive his past to break him and then let him rot for the rest of his life in a small cell. He'll find no reason to live!" Skye shouted causing everyone to out what was going on.
Skye stormed off but Coulson quickly grabbed her arm, "You're wrong!"
"Then prove it. Let me talk to him." Skye yanked her armed out of his hold and heard for her bunk, slamming the door closed.
Trip, Simmons and Fitz quickly made themselves scarce leaving May to talk to Coulson.
"She's right you know." May closed the gap between them.
"I know." Coulson replied sounding defeated.
"The only question you need to ask yourself is, does he deserve a second chance?" May left him thinking about an answer to that question.
***A.O.S**
The guard came into Ward's cell to take him to interrogation. Ward was sure it happened at the same time ever day but he couldn't know since he never knew the time or what day of the week it was. Every day he would be interrogated but he never said a word. At first it was Coulson then May but now it was just prison guards. Walking into usual interrogation room the guard cuffed him the table then stood in the corner of the room. That meant he wasn't going to be interrogating him that day. Ward guessed that it would be either Coulson or May again. He was defiantly surprised to see Skye enter the room. Sitting across from him, Skye studied him as he kept his head down staring at the floor.
"Can you uncuff him and leave the room." Skye said to the guard.
"I'll leave the room but it's not wise to uncuff him, Miss." The guard replied.
"You're not going to attack me are you Ward?" Ward shock his head but still didn't look up. "See, now uncuff him." Skye ordered. The guard uncuffed Ward and whispered a threat, which Skye could hear, before leaving them alone.
"You know why I'm here, yes?" Skye asked, Ward only nodded his head. "Are you going to talk or just shake and nod your head?" Ward made no indication of an answer. "Is Garrett really worth all of this? Look at where you are. You're back where you started and this time Garrett isn't coming to free you. You need help so why don't we make deal. You tell us what we want to know and I'll get you the help you desperately need." Ward didn't answer.
For a long time there was only silence between them until Skye finally spoke again. This time she took a different approach. One she was now reluctant to take. "I spoke to your sister yesterday." Skye paused wanting to see if he would react in any way. It was small but Ward was shaking his head not believing her. "I want to show a couple of things." Skye opened the folder she brought in with her and placed the print outs of the three pictures from Julia in front of him.
She watched as his body began to tremble with emotion. She didn't care that she had promised Coulson she would stay on the other side of the table from Ward when she moved her chair around the table to sit next to him. She hoped sitting next to him would help him to open up. "I should have been there for him. I let him down." Ward mumbled over and over again as he stared at the only picture that had his little brother in it.
"You didn't let him down." Skye reassured him. "You were hundreds of miles away."
"I was weak and a coward. I left him to die. He died because of me. It should have been me not Thomas." That had been the first time in sixteen years since he had said his little brother's name.
"No, your parents sent you away. Your parents and Jake are the ones to blame for his death." Sye told him. "You need to stop punishing yourself."
"I shouldn't have lied. I should have told them the truth after I…" Ward cut himself off.
"Tried to commit suicide." For the first time Ward looked at her. He never wanted her to know he had done that. He buried that along with everything else that happened during his childhood a long time ago. His Pandora's Box was now fighting to burst open.
All of a sudden his past was flashing before his eyes, every punch, every broken bone, swallowing the last pill in the bottle, watching the house he grew up burn with Jake inside, the look on Julia's face when he was arrested. It was t much for him. Bolting from his chair and ran straight into the furthest corner of the room and curled up into a ball rocking back and forth. Skye straight away was at his side. She wrapped her arms around him to comfort him and he clung to her like a child as he cried.
It took a while for Ward to stop having flash backs of his past and then a little while longer to stop cry. Throughout it all, Skye sat holding him, comforting him as she tried to think about the fact she had managed to break him.
"Grant." She said once she had notice his breathing had evened out. "There are a lot bad people out in the world and some have weapons that can do a lot of damage. We need your help to keep them safe, can you do that?" Skye felt him nod his head. He had no more stretch to fight. Standing up she waited for him to stand as well then led him back over to the table. Skye place a pad of paper in front of him and gave him a pen. "Thank you." Skye whispered as he took the pen and began writing.
It took almost an hour for Ward to write everything down. He could feel her squeeze his shoulders as a thank you. He could help but feel think this was now the end for him. He had giving them everything they won't, they had no need for him anymore. Once Skye left the room the guard was going to be coming back for him and take him back to cell where he would be spending the rest of his life alone with only his hunting memorise to keep him company.
He took one more look at the photos in front of him before he glanced back down at the floor. He didn't want to watch Skye leave because if he was to be honest, he didn't want her to leave. He had missed her so much but he reminded himself that he had hurt her and that he was better far away from him.
"Coulson has agreed for a physiologist to come and help to you. Dr Cho is going to come every day to see you for an hour session" Skye informed him.
Ward had resorted back to sitting in silence. He knew no physiologist would be able to help him. The damage was done and there was no way to fix or even attempt to repair anything that had happened. They just should take me back to my cell and forget about me, he thought. What was the point of helping he, wasn't going to be placed in the general population of the prison or even see the outside world without a chain linked fence in the way.
Skye could tell by the way he sat, he no intension of letting the physiologist help him. "You're not going to do anything stupid are you?" Skye was scared to know the answer and she now understood why Coulson had wanted May to do the interrogation.
He just shook his head again. He knew what she was asking and no, he wasn't going to kill himself. He deserved to rot in his new hell to only make up for a fraction of the things he had done in his pervious to two hells he lived in. To him kill himself would be he trying to take the cowards' way out again. Plus he knew there was a surveillance camera in his room watching his every move.
"Good luck, Ward." Skye said as she left the room. The second she left the room she let the tear fall. Skye understood what Julia had said about Ward being a shell of the person he used to be because that was all he was now. Her S.O, her Ward was gone and he wasn't coming back.
Ward sat in the interrogation room a couple of minutes before the guard came back for him. Standing up he held his hands out waiting to be cuffed and escorted back to his cell. The guard held out the print out of the old family photos to Ward which he took. Once back alone in this cell, he took a proper look around it. A toilet, a sink, a bed made up his home for the rest of his life. Walking over to the bed he sat the photo at the bottom end before curling up into a ball at the top end. Closing his eye, he welcomed his nightmares.
The End.
Thank you for reading and please review.