Grant Ward was starting to wake up, still in pain and still in shock.
He had just been shot by Skye. After everything he had done for her, how could she be so ungrateful? He had reunited her with her father gave her a head start for an escape from Whitehall. He could understand this treatment by other people on Coulson's team but not Skye. He thought she was different, but again his feelings for her had caused a moment of weakness.
At this point, his eyes were still closed, but he could feel the painkillers coursing through his veins. Due to the effects and the rate of pain reduction, he guessed he was being given Morphine. When he opened his eyes he saw that there was a young woman with a lab coat, monitoring him and the amount of pain medication being given. She saw that he was awake and walked over to him with a clipboard in hand.
"Good Morning Agent", said the woman who was flipping through the pages in his chart. "You're recovery has been going fairly well, considering your collapsed lung and blood loss."
"How long have I been here? And where am I?" said Ward as he was getting used to hearing his own voice again.
"About a week and a half. You were taken off a ventilator a couple days ago once you could breathe your own. You were in pretty rough shape when Agent 33 brought you in here." said the young doctor as Ward noticed the Hydra symbol on the back of the chart.
Ward started to sit up in the bed, wincing from a sharp pain in side. Once he got a good look at the young doctor, he notice that she seemed oddly familiar.
"Have I seen you before?" asked the Agent.
"It's possible. I've been working for HYDRA since they split from SHIELD. I'm sure you saw me wandering the halls at some point." responded the doctor as she was reading Ward's chart. He noticed that she was avoiding eye contact.
"No, before that", interrogated Ward, "You were an Agent of SHIELD weren't you? Let me guess, you're undercover, trying to get more secrets, like Simmons was."
Ward could tell she was caught off guard at the mention of SHIELD, but she was not worried. She walked over to the machine that was dispensing the morphine. As she held the device in her hand, she began to lower the dosage of the painkiller slightly, all while maintaining eye contact with Ward. He could feel the pain start rushing back. The injured agent let out a groan of pain, but luckily for the young doctor the reintroduction of pain left him incapacitated. He looked around and noticed that they were the only two left in the room.
"I was a cadet at the Academy of Sciences when SHIELD fell. I was there when Coulson's team was investigating Donnie Gill. You probably saw me in the boiler room." said the doctor as she started to increase the morphine, which was starting to take effect. "You stuck out like a sore thumb down there. Could have easily written 'Operations' on your forehead."
Ward, now starting to relax due to continuation of morphine being added to his system, started examining the young doctor before him, deducing her to be no older than about 20.
"Did you know Gill at all? He was gunned down by SHIELD agents in Morocco." asked Ward, who was trying to get a glimpse of the doctor's emotions.
"Donnie Gill was an introverted genius but I was smarter than he was. I wouldn't have ran away like that coward." said the doctor, with a strong indication of bitterness.
"So not very close then?" Ward asked with a smirk.
"No," said the doctor with a blank look on her face, "If I was accepted into the academy two months before him I would have been the youngest person to be accepted, not him. My fifth grade science fair project was better than anything he came up with after two years at the academy."
"So when HYDRA took over the Academy you just let them take you?" Ward asked.
"I had to prove my loyalty first. I have to admit I'm a fan of their work. The cybernetics on the Winter Soldier was a piece of art for the tech at the time. I was excited to see what they're capable of now." said the doctor as she was walking over to her desk. She then pulled out a newspaper and made her way back to the hospital bed.
"Speaking of work, I've been fairly impressed with yours", added the doctor as she handed the paper to Ward. The front page article was on the fire that killed his parents and his brother. "Sort of a soap opera villain move, but definitely effective. Your time undercover in Coulson's team was also impressive."
"It was something I had been looking forward to," said Ward as he skimmed the article about the death of his parents and brother, "And as for my work on SHIELD, that was all Garrett's idea. He taught me about the importance of maintaining a cover."
"Garrett had told me about you," said the doctor with a hint of sadness, "You were his favorite trainee."
Ward examined the doctor some more, noticing grief at the mention of his former S.O.
"You knew Garrett?" asked Ward.
"Of course I did. He was the one that assigned the HYDRA agents that escorted me out of the academy." said the doctor.
Before Ward was able to ask why Garrett had taken an interest in the young scientist, she extended her hand towards Ward.
"I can't believe I haven't introduced myself yet," said the doctor with as she laughed to herself, "Amelia Garrett, most people just call me Mia."