I don't own Agents of SHIELD and never will. No copyright infringement intended.
Warnings: Mentions of abuse.
Skye chewed on a fingernail and tried to choke back tears as the team waited to hear news about Grant, who had been stabbed trying to protect Fitz and Jemma from a dangerous suspect, who had since been taken in SHIELD custody. "Do you think he's going to be okay?" she questioned Jemma.
Her shoulders shook with sobs, terror still overwhelming her, and it took Jemma a few minutes to pull herself together enough to answer, her voice cracking as she told Skye that it looked likely he would. "He could die protecting us," she sobbed.
Melinda stood up from her own chair and then kneeled down. "Don't blame yourself, Simmons. Ward is a fighter, and he will survive this. And he made this choice to save you so don't get upset about it. You can thank him when he wakes up." Her tight smile calmed the scientist down a little, enough that Skye hugged her as much as she could with the uncomfortable space (because of the chairs) between them.
Fitz patted his best friend's shoulders even as his own clammy hands shook. "He'll think we're stupid for worrying once he does wake up."
"He needs to stop putting his life on the line for us." She didn't think they were worth it if Grant kept getting hurt trying to save them.
"Hey, don't think like that. And listen to May and Fitz." Phil was sure that Grant would recover and this would just end up becoming one of those bad memories they laughed at someday (hopefully).
When a doctor came out an hour and a half later, the whole team stood up and waited impatiently for answers on the specialist. "The surgery was successful and Agent Ward should make a full recovery. He needed a blood transfusion because of what he lost but it could have been much worse. He's very lucky."
Jemma and Skye, who had been holding onto each other in fear and worry, collapsed into their chairs at the same time and didn't let go of one another. "When can we see him?" Skye asked. She needed to check for herself that he was going to be okay.
"You can visit him in the morning. For now, go back to wherever you're staying because he won't wake up for a few more hours."
Phil shook his head. "That's not happening - we're staying right here."
The doctor nodded and then left. Melinda and Phil stayed awake to keep an eye on their three younger teammates until all gradually fell asleep. They were awoken by a nurse around nine in the morning. "Agent Ward is awake - groggy and drugged - so you can see him now."
Jemma jumped out of her chair, eliciting a whine from Skye, but they all filed into Grant''s room. His gaze narrowed in on Phil first and the look on the specialist's face worried him but he thought nothing of it. "How are you feeling, Ward?"
"Tired," he murmured as he struggled to move an inch. The drugs kept him slow and immobilized so he scowled and stayed where he was.
"Well, you've been hurt so of course you are. Get some sleep," Phil encouraged.
"Don't want to," Grant protested but those died away when his eyes fluttered shut again.
Skye went out into the hallway and took some chairs from the waiting room so nobody had to stand - none of them wanted to leave him at all, especially since they were still terrified because of the events that led up to the hospitalization.
Fitz wandered down to the cafeteria (of course) about an hour later and brought back some snacks for the rest of them upon his return. "When do you think he'll wake up again?" he whispered.
Jemma shook her head. "Be quiet or he will wake up," she whispered.
He rolled his eyes. "He's not going to wake up."
"Shut up or I'll separate you," Melinda threatened. She would not put up with them waking Ward when he needed this right now.
Three hours later, Grant's eyes opened again and his unfocused gaze turned towards the ceiling before returning to Coulson, who stood up. "Do you need me to get you a doctor or a nurse?"
"I'm sorry, John," he murmured.
Melinda frowned. "Does he think you're Garrett?"
"He's drugged so I wouldn't be surprised," Phil answered. He turned back towards Ward. "Don't worry, Grant. You have nothing to be sorry for since you did good saving Fitz and Jemma. They want to thank you when you're more aware, okay?"
Grant didn't seem to hear him, lost in his own little (drugged) world. "I'll do better next time, I promise. I don't want another lesson."
The team exchanged confused glances and Skye leaned down. "Ward, what are you talking about?"
She didn't get an answer because he either ignored her or hadn't heard the question. Grant's defenses were down completely - his walls gone - and the fear caused more truths - not they knew it - to spill out. "Please, John. Sorry I fucked up. Know I'm worthless and weak but don't hurt me."
Phil and Melinda looked at each other in horror while Fitz, Jemma, and Skye tried to process what he was saying. "No one's going to hurt you," Phil promised, his hand resting on Grant's.
Grant was pulled under again, leaving the others free to discuss the bomb that had just potentially been dropped on them. "He could be remembering his childhood because his older brother treated him like shit. Or he's drugged and doesn't know what he's saying," Skye tried but she didn't believe it herself.
"No. What do we know about Garrett and Ward's relationship?" Phil asked, trying to process Grant's words. What could this possibly mean?
"Garrett recruited from the Academy and he's been Ward's SO ever since." Melinda suspected there was much more to this story than they knew based on what had just been revealed and she was worried to find out what that was.
"Skye, I want you to get back to the Bus and find anything you can on Ward's missions with and without Garrett. Check his medical records too because I have a feeling they'll tell us what we need to know. I want to get to the bottom of this." Phil was having a hard time trying to reconcile Grant's words with the version of Garrett he knew but everyone kept secrets. They were spies for a reason.
Skye nodded then left and Jemma and Fitz followed her out the door, wanting to help any way they possibly could.
Melinda turned to Phil. "What exactly has he been through?" She knew what his records said, having read them herself, but she had a feeling the truth was a lot worse than recorded.
He shrugged. "I wish I had an answer, May, but we absolutely will get to the bottom of this." And then they sat down to keep an eye on their teammate.
As soon as they got to the Bus, Skye headed straight towards the Holotable and got to work while Jemma and Fitz waited for her to finish. Jemma planned to make sense of any of Ward's medical records if need be.
The first thing Skye researched was Ward's missions but she zoomed past all the successes and instead focused on the so called failures. What she found sent chills down their spines. "You notice anything about what happened after a mission went south?"
Fitz nodded mutely and couldn't find the words to express his horror. Jemma teared up. "After nearly all of them, he was treated for various injuries - mostly broken bones such as ribs. Did no one notice this at all?"
Skye sniffled and wiped the tears off her face with her sleeve, trying to blink back more so she wouldn't fall apart. Ward needed her help right now even if he didn't realize it. "Apparently not."
Jemma waved her hand to stop Skye from moving when the X-ray pictures popped up on the screen. "All these fractures point to a long history of abuse," she murmured as nausea welled up from within her.
Fitz suddenly stood up and fled to his bunk because he couldn't deal with any of this anymore. Neither Jemma nor Skye blamed him because they wanted to bolt too.
Something kept nagging Skye so she swiped the screen repeatedly until she found what she was looking for. "Something seems off about a five year time period. Ward was in juvy, arrested for arson and attempted murder, and then he's back at military school until he went to the Academy. Why doesn't this feel right?"
"Maybe we should look into this military school." Jemma couldn't figure this out either and she knew she wouldn't be able to rest until they knew everything about the situation.
"Good idea. We'll call and question about his records." As soon as she found the number, Skye did exactly that and impersonated May to get the answers she needed. The person in charge stumbled over his words a few times before admitting that Grant Ward had been expelled and never returned and had no clue why she was calling. "So there's a missing five years we need to ask Ward about. And what the fuck did John Garrett do? What's he up to?"
"He seems abusive." Jemma still couldn't figure out why no one in SHIELD had looked deeper before and she was furious about it.
"Not seems, is," corrected Skye. The way Grant flinched every time Fitz slapped him on the back made a lot more sense now and left her feeling sick. What else had they missed that he didn't want them to know about?
"We need to tell Agents Coulson and May." Jemma breathed in deeply to calm herself down so she could appear strong in front of them once they arrived back at the hospital and had to face Grant.
When Grant's eyes flickered open again, he seemed more aware of his surroundings since they lowered the drug dosage. When he saw the looks on Phil and Melinda's faces, he frowned. "What's wrong? I'm not hurt too badly, am I?" He hoped not. He worried that maybe he spilled something about Hydra but wouldn't he have been arrested if that was the case?
"No, you're going to heal nicely," Melinda assured him.
Phil didn't want to beat around the bush so he got straight to the point. "When you were a little out of it to the drugs you were on, you said some things, Grant."
His heart dropped. "What?" Fuck, what had he told them?
Phil hesitated for a few seconds so Melinda stepped in. "You said something about how you didn't want Garrett to hurt you. What has he done to you, Ward? Be honest."
Grant's eyes widened and his heart started to pound in his chest but he tried to laugh the situation off. "I don't know what you're talking about, May. People say weird shit when they're high. Why would you take me seriously?" He nervously laughed again but neither bought it up.
Phil was suddenly glad they had forced Skye, Jemma, and Fitz to wait outside because Grant was clearly on the defensive and would have felt like they were ganging up on him if all of them were in the room. He didn't let the denials deter him and instead pressed on. "What happened in the missing five years? We know you didn't return to military school after you were placed in juvy."
Grant willed himself to sleep again but nothing seemed to be working and he cursed himself for his weakness. Garrett would be teaching him a lesson once he learned about this fuck up and he wasn't looking forward to it even though he knew he deserved it. The fact that he supposedly went back to military school shocked him but Garrett had to explain somehow about where he had been for five years before attending the Academy. Then he realized he hadn't spoken in a while and the two of them were looking at him expectantly. "I don't know what you're talking about. I went to military school," he lied.
Neither of them bought it and he could tell. Phil stepped up to Grant and started staring him down. "Grant, you don't have to be afraid of Garrett or anybody else. You can tell us the truth."
Grant glared at his team leader. "I am telling you the truth, Coulson."
"You're safe here now. We will protect you," Melinda assured him. She needed to know what they were protecting the other specialist from, however, and she couldn't do that if he wasn't honest with her.
He nearly broke down then and told them about Garrett's lessons but he was the best since Natasha Romanoff for a reason. "I'm not going to tell you anything because there's nothing going on."
Phil sighed. "Skye hacked into your medical records and found a disturbing trend. Interesting how you end up needing medical treatment ninety nine percent of the time after a mission goes badly. You want to tell me why that is?" He waited expectantly and tapped his foot on the floor, willing Grant to be honest with them.
Grant scoffed even as he started to fall apart at the seams. No one would believe him - Garrett had drilled that into his head often enough and that was the truth. "We're spies. Of course I get injured so many times." Did they buy that? He wasn't exactly sure when he could barely think straight (maybe that was the drugs still coursing through his system? He wasn't sure).
Melinda went to touch his shoulder to calm Grant down but she backed away when he flinched and looked at her with fear in his eyes. "Go get Skye," she whispered to Phil.
He stared at her in confusion but did exactly that and returned within a minute. "Uh, why am I here?" Skye questioned even as she sat down in the chair next to Grant's bed.
"Ward, we are your team, your family," Phil prodded.
Skye saw where he was going for this and chimed in. "Nobody's going to be mad at you," she added.
Grant's head spun and he looked back and forth between the three of them before finally shattering. "Please, it's going to be his word against me. No one's going to believe me."
Phil's heart broke for the young broken man in front of him and he vowed to support him every step of the way. "We believe you. But you need to tell us the truth."
He turned his gaze towards the ceiling because otherwise he wouldn't be able to get through this. They'd think he was weak and hate him. Grant wavered on whether to tell them the truth about Hydra but what did he have to lose anyway? They'd probably lock him up and throw away the key because he was so worthless, just like Garrett said. "John freed me from juvy and then dumped me into the woods to teach me to become a man."
Melinda gaped at him in horror. "He abandoned you in the woods? You were by yourself for five years?"
Grant shook his head. "He left Buddy, a dog - my best friend. But he was a weakness and when I was accepted to the Academy, John told me to get rid of him. I couldn't do it so he took care of him for me."
Phil and Skye both nearly threw up but Melinda kept it together - she'd fall apart later. "He killed your dog, the only companion you had?" she pressed.
He lifted his hand up to his eyes to cover them when tears started forming. Fuck, he couldn't cry. That was another weakness, a habit that he stopped years ago because it didn't help. "Yes."
Skye jumped in then. "Did he beat you for that?"
"It was another lesson. I deserved it."
The revulsion rose up within her and Melinda clung to it. "You didn't deserve any of it, Ward."
He debated with himself for about two minutes before diving in and telling them Hydra was still around. They were all shocked but grateful he told them the truth, but Grant felt like Garrett would escape and take him with him. Did he feel happy about that? He wasn't sure and he was scared shitless.
"We're proud of you for your honestly, Grant." Phil was still reeling because of the reveal about Hydra but he hoped they could stop them in time. "Is there anything else we should know?"
Grant hesitated but he decided to go for it because what did he have to lose now? "John has cameras in his apartment," he reluctantly admitted.
Skye stood up. "I'm on it," she told him and then left. When she saw Jemma, she fell apart in her best friend's arms.
The clips she found once she hacked into Garrett's cameras sickened her and she had to leave every so often to pull herself together but it was evidence of the abuse.
When Grant was discharged the next morning, the mounting evidence against Garrett was enough to get the high-ranking agent arrested.
Phil called Garrett to the hospital (Grant was already on the Bus - which was already flying and far enough away that he wouldn't panic) under the guise of Grant suffering complications and taking a turn for the worst. Fortunately for them, Garrett bought it and showed up. When he opened the door, the bed was empty and Phil and Melinda were waiting for him. His face fell. "Is he gone?" Garrett tried to pretend to be sad about him dying but he honestly didn't give a shit about Grant.
Both of them saw right through it. "No, he's fine - recovering nicely, actually. We're here about you."
Garrett frowned. "What for?"
"While he was drugged to the gills, Ward said some very interesting things about you - very inflammatory. We investigated, of course." Melinda smirked at him even though her rage only increased by the second.
Garrett didn't think they had anything on him and scoffed. "And I'm sure you didn't believe him. You know what people are like when they're high."
Phil stood up and glared at him, hatred coursing through him. "You were my friend, John, but the truth is that you're an abusive psychopath. You would have gotten away with it too if Grant hadn't been injured. Do you know how terrified he is of your wrath, of how much he still looks up to you? Oh, you hooked him so well that we're going to have a hard time breaking the brainwashing. But he will get the help he needs, no thanks to you."
"I don't have to stand here and listen to this bullshit. You don't have anything on me or you would have arrested me already, Phil," he spat. Garrett turned around and went to stomp out of the room but Victoria Hand met him at the door.
"We have evidence, Garrett. You're never going to see the light of day again," Melinda informed him.
He tried to put up a fight but Hand got him with the night-night gun and Garrett passed out quickly. He was soon escorted to the Fridge.
Phil and Melinda returned to the team - their family - and they all crowded around Grant. He was floundering and couldn't understand why they still trusted him, why they weren't furious. "You should hate me." That was his experience all his life.
"Sure, we're angry that you were put on this team to betray us, but you were honest when it counted, even if you didn't mean to me. That means something, and we're going to help because that's what true families do." Phil smiled when Grant's gaze landed on him.
"You're stuck with us," Skye informed him.
"We're not going anywhere. You care about us, Ward, and we care about you." Fitz was determined to help.
"You saved me and now it's my turn to do the same for you." Jemma grinned at her teammate.
"As long as we're around, we're never going to let anything like this happen to you again," Melinda vowed. She wanted to show him that Garrett had been wrong.
Surrounded by his family - even if Grant wasn't ready to admit it yet - he felt safe (and loved?) for the first time in his life. "Thanks," he murmured.
And with the help of people SHIELD trusted, Hydra was taken down before they could do any damage. SHIELD never fell. And with Skye, Jemma, Fitz, Melinda, and Phil by his side, Grant Ward started to heal (therapy also helped with that) and become the person he was meant to be.