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Suspicious for a while about Grant's loyalties, Skye and Coulson came up with a plan while the others were distracted. "I don't want to believe it, but he's been acting off for days now," she whispered to her boss.
Coulson closed his eyes and sighed. "I don't want to believe it either, but the oddities are adding up. We have to be careful, Skye. And we can't let the others know – they'll tip Ward off."
Skye blinked back some tears. How she had fallen in love with a traitor? He had fooled them all, and she was pissed beyond belief at him. But she still had hope that Grant was still a part of SHIELD, that he wasn't a traitor. She wasn't about to give up on him now. "Good plan. Fuck." She choked back sobs and tried to calm herself down. Skye had to be strong and play her part right. She couldn't let him know that she suspected who he possibly could be.
He patted her shoulder. "It's all going to work out," he assured her, not even sure if he really believed it at this point. Their lives were in shambles.
And when Grant wanted to make love to her, Skye didn't want to say no. She was aware on some level of what he was trying to do, but she got caught up in the moment. And when he asked her about the information she encrypted, that's when Skye for sure. She made up an escape about needing to go the bathroom and broke down as soon as she locked the door. "Damn it." Skye wanted to punch the mirror, but she wasn't really up for it. And she couldn't alert Grant that something was wrong either.
"You okay in there?" a worried Grant called through the door.
She struggled to pull herself together and plastered a fake smile on her face. "Fine!" Skye lied. She wiped her eyes off and hoped he wouldn't notice how red her face was.
Grant shrugged and went to go sit down on a chair. He was having doubts about Garrett's plan. Giving Skye up and killing the team? He didn't want to do it. He had killed plenty of innocent people, but going after the team seemed liked a stupid risk. "You done yet?"
Skye made sure her gun was secure and unlocked the door. "Yeah."
And when he looked up, she was pointing a gun at him with shaking hands. Grant swore. "You know?" he guessed.
She laughed. "Stand up. Do it now!"
Grant assessed the situation. He could take her down but he suspected at least one of the others knew. And he didn't want to hurt her. He put his hands up and stood up. "You happy now? Put the gun down, Skye."
Skye shook her head in refusal. "Did you think we wouldn't find out, Ward? Did you think we wouldn't find it suspicious that we haven't heard from Victoria Hand at all? That you took the long way to the Fridge? That it fucking fell and you came back relatively unharmed?" She didn't want to kill him, but she would if she had to.
He closed his eyes. "I hoped I had a little more time before I blew my cover. He wants me to bring you in and kill the team, but I won't do it. Skye, I won't. I promise you that it's not happening. Please believe me!" Her trust was the most important to him. Somewhere along the way, he had fallen in love with the unknown variable and Grant couldn't lose her. He'd fall apart even more if that happened.
"How can I trust you? You're a fucking traitor! A murderer!"
Grant nodded. "It's true. All of it. But I love you."
She nearly fell apart again at his words but never wavered on her aim. "If you truly loved me, you wouldn't have joined up with Garrett. You fucked me so you could get information you apparently desperately need!" Why had she been so stupid and trusting? HYDRA was everywhere and nowhere was safe.
"It may have started out that, but I won't give him anything. You didn't give me anything." Grant would face consequences for this (if he didn't get killed in the next five minutes), but that was fine with him. He could deal with Garrett's anger.
"I should kill you where you stand." She wasn't a murderer, though. And Skye didn't know if she could kill the man she loved.
He put his hands down. "I'll surrender. You can arrest me right here, right now." Grant was willing to give up all his ideals for her. He had never been in love before and it – she – scared the fuck out of him.
Skye laughed. "You're really going to let me arrest you?"
Grant nodded, his heart pounding. "I'd let you do anything to me. Wait, that came out wrong."
Before Skye could stop it, she giggled. "Nice one. But I don't have anything to arrest you with so you're shit out of luck. I could just shoot you and make sure it hurts."
He shook his head. "Not a huge fan of this plan."
"Yeah, you don't have a say in this plan. Shut the fuck up before I really do get so annoyed that I shoot you." Skye's head was starting to pound and she wanted a rewind. She wanted to go back to a few days ago when none of them (except Ward, obviously) knew of HYDRA's existence.
"You know I could escape right now and you couldn't stop me?"
"And I'll just shoot you in the back." She didn't want to do it, but she would. Skye's patience had been tested, and she was up for pretty much anything at this point.
"You won't." He was sure of that. Skye loved him (he didn't deserve it, but he knew it was the truth) and wouldn't be able to do it.
"Don't test me."
Grant rolled his eyes. "You haven't shot me yet, Skye."
And that's when she shot him in the knee. "I told you not to test me."
"Fuck! Sorry for testing you." His knee was killing him now. He was proud of her for standing up for herself, however, even though he was in agony.
"Now you're going to get that knee looked at and tell us everything you know. Or we will kill you." Skye smiled at him, thrilled she had actually been able to shoot him.
"I believe you." And when he tried to stand, Grant found it wasn't exactly easy. He let out a groan. "Can you at least help me? I can't believe you actually shot me."
Skye walked up to him and grabbed his arm as she helped him. "Let's go."
Grant leaned on her for support and followed her out of the room. He wondered if the whole team knew the truth now. If he went back to Garrett, the older man would know he failed and would kill him immediately. The team had showed him he didn't have to live the way he had been, but he had committed too many terrible acts at this point to be forgiven. And he believed in HYDRA's ideologies. Or at least that's when Garrett told him when he beat the shit out of him to get him to comply. "I'd like to see you walk faster when you've been shot in the knee," he snapped at Skye when she urged him to go faster.
Coulson did a double take when he noticed Grant's inury. "You didn't kill him?"
Skye shook her head. "I think he'll talk now." She helped him hop up on the table so Jemma could examine him.
"You're a traitor? Why are we helping him?" Jemma was in shock but looked at all three of them in confusion.
"Because he's in love with me and is willing to do anything to keep me safe." Skye sat down in a chair and huffed out a breath.
"Skye didn't do too much damage, so it seems like you'll be fine once we get the bullet out. You'll most likely be in pain for a long time," Jemma warned him.
"Duly noted." He was used to pain, though, and this would be nothing compared to his catalogue of injuries he had acquired over the years.
"How can we ever trust you again? You lied to us!" Skye cried.
Grant looked up at her. "I told you that I am going to tell you everything I know. Skye, I'm not going to let anything to happen."
Coulson groaned. "You really are in love with her, aren't you? Damn it." He hoped something like this wouldn't happen, but it was too late now.
He laughed and immediately wished he could take it back. "I turned into a cliché, didn't I? Undercover agent falls in love with someone he's supposed to get close to. But I'm not a good man, Skye. You deserve better than me."
"Stow the self-pity." She wasn't interested in it.
After Jemma got the bullet out and stopped the bleeding, Grant slid into unconsciousness. But true to his word, he spilled every HYDRA secret he knew when he woke up. "I know you'll never trust me again or want to be with me, but I had to keep you safe. Won't let them kill you."
"I'm not going to die, Ward. And your trust might be earned back eventually, but don't count on it."
Grant would do everything in his power to make sure Skye – and the team he had come to realize was his family – was safe. "Okay."
"I love you too," Skye whispered once she was sure he was asleep.
Grant Ward wouldn't be forgiven for a while, but the team would eventually regroup and fight back against HYDRA. They were stronger together – their individual strengths helped them in a group.
And SHIELD would rise again.