Skye headed back to her room, trying to ignore the weight of the metal bracelet on her right hand. It was more of a walk of shame really. As soon as she stepped into the living room the voices of Ward, May and Fitzsimmons immediately hushed.

'Wow, I wonder who they were talking about? 'She thought sarcastically

Skye looked up to find each of them trying desperately not to make eye contact with her, all with a look of betrayal upon their face. Skye quickly crossed the living room, her eyes on the floor, guilt weighing down on her heavier with each step. Finally she reached her room and slammed the door.

Defeated, she sunk to the floor, her head in her hands.

'you idiot Skye! You've ruined everything.'

She bit back the urge to break something. She wanted to run into a wall, punch something, feel glass cut her skin. Anything to distract her from that voice that kept telling her 'it's all your fault. This is what you do. You get close to people and then you betray them, run away, smash everything that was good up until its irreparable, splintered into a hundred pieces… and now you have nothing." But instead she just sat there, staring into the blackness of her room, feeling the hot tears run down her face.

It seemed like it must have been hours later, but when she was finally finished crying about how pathetic she was, she grabbed her iPod, and blasted some loud music through her headphones. Desperately hoping to evade her frustrated emotions, she drifted off to the sound of Kasabian lulling her into a fitful sleep.

Her alarm went off at 5:00, waking Skye suddenly from a nightmare, she yelled out as she sat up to quickly and banged her head on the roof

'Owwww'. She winced as she rubbed her head, trying to remember what she had dreamed about. All that remained from the dream was her pounding chest, and sweaty palms.

Probably just the usual she thought; being chased down a corridor by someone she couldn't see, but she could hear his pounding steps, and the sound of him calling her name. She always got the feeling that she was being cornered, that a wall was going to come down in front of her and she would finally be captured. But she never was. She never saw the man's face. He never caught up to her. All she ever got was an increasing feeling of claustrophobia as she felt like she was running around in circles, with dark walls pressing down on her. Eventually, the anxiety would be too much for her and she would wake up suddenly, shaking violently and gasping for breath.

She rolled out of bed, with a groan. As she reached out to turn off her alarm, she saw the metal bracelet dangling from her wrist, and then she slumped back into bed.

Ward wouldn't schedule training for this morning right? He hates me. He can't even look at me. I wouldn't be surprise if he asked to stop being my SO.

Battling with herself, Skye decided to succumb to sleep once again. I doubt he'll even notice, consoling herself before burying her face in her pillow once again.

About twenty minutes later, Skye was just beginning to drift off again when someone banged open her door, and yanked her headphones from her head.

"Get. Up"

Skye sat up too quickly, and banged her head again. Hard.

"What?" she asked, confused as she clutched her throbbing head.

Ward stared down at his rookie, his arms crossed. "I don't know if you noticed Skye but I don't like having my time wasted. Now get up, get dressed, and get your ass down to the gym now".

"I didn't know -"

Ward cut her off with a glare, and a dangerously low voice, "this is your last chance. You can either commit yourself to becoming a shield agent or you're not going to be on the team much longer. Either way, make a decision because I don't have much patience left".

Skye's cheeks tinged red, as she failed to shake the feeling that she was a five year being scolded by a teacher.

"I'm sorry Ward. I-"

He cut her off.

"I don't want your apologies Skye. Until you can prove yourself to me, your apologies mean nothing."

Skye disentangled herself from her sheets and got out of her bed, mostly because she couldn't stand Ward speaking down to her as if she was a disobedient child.

Trying to ignore the fact that her pyjamas only consisted of an oversized Captain America sweatshirt, she faced him.

He still stood a whole head taller than her, so she took advantage of this. She stared determinedly at his chest so she didn't have to look into his eyes and see the anger she knew was there.

"Okay?" she said uncertainty. "so how can I prove myself?"

"By not stabbing us in the back again". There were the bitter words she had been waiting for. His voice cut like knives, and she was waiting for the full on rant now. She knew it had to be coming, but then he sighed.

"Just meet me downstairs in ten minutes" he started to move towards the door.

"don't be late" he said right before slamming the door again.