Ward had no idea who Lorelei talked about. He didn't remember much and things he did remember were misty. He knew for sure he had to find out if she had lied or not. At the end Lorelei wasn't the most trustworthy person. So if he had feeling for some woman – and if not for May -, he would have to think about who she was. Well, there weren't many options because he spent all his time with Coulson's dream team.

There was Simmons but he could rule her out straight away because it was Simmons. She wasn't bad, not at all, but she didn't seem to care about any other man but Fitz. Ward knew Fitz would kill him with one of his superpower guns he made if he looked at Jemma in other way than as a part of the team. Of course Fitz was saying Jemma was just a friend but everybody knew that there was much more between them.

When he rubbed Jemma out of his imaginary list, there was just one person left; person, who had almost died because he wasn't there. Person, he should protect! Skye.

Skye was the light at the end of the tunnel for him. She was his safe harbour. Knowing that she was the one was just too much for him. If it was true it would mean she was practically all the time in a great danger. He couldn't let that happen! He cared about her too much so he decided he would ignore his own feelings.

When Simmons let Skye get up and get back to routine she had before her injury, Ward was lost. He promised her they would train and even though he tried to keep a professional distance it didn't work.

About a week after they got used to training on regular basis, he had a sleepless night. Every time he had closed his eyes, he dreamt about their future together; future they didn't have or better to say couldn't have. So, he needed to release his anger in the morning. For that reason he came to the cargo hold two hours before their training and he started to punch a punch bag. He imagined Ian Quinn's face instead of the bag.

"What has it done to you?" asked a familiar amused voice behind his back.

He hurt you! He wanted to retort but he decided not to. He didn't want to show how much it touched him. He wanted to kill him every time he thought about it, which happened a few times a day. He turned to her and frowned a little bit, "I was just doing my warm-up."

She nodded slowly with her eyebrows raised. She didn't believe him and he must have notice. "It looked like you want to beat a soul out of somebody. It was terrifying," she admitted.

"That's good," he assured her and punched the bag really hard again.

Skye frowned and there was displeasure in her face.

When she didn't say anything he turned to her. He sighed in an answer to her expression and explained: "Because of the people who don't know me."

"Of course," she nodded and went on the other side of the bag, so they could start to train. She knew how her SO reacting to bad timekeeping or delays.

Later that day he saw her sitting in the kitchen alone, she was sipping water from a glass and there was pain in her face. If it was anybody else, he would say get over it but it was Skye, his Skye. So he promised himself they would take it easy tomorrow. He wouldn't let her to train more than half an hour; he would not let her try hard. He was quite sure she would realize that but he would deal with it later. At the end he could say it's because of Simmons, she would kill him if she saw Skye right now.

"Hey, Rookie," he greeted her cheerfully. He didn't let her know he watched he and he sat down next to her.

She looked up at him. "Hi."

He nodded to a laptop on the desk. "Are you working?"

"No," she shook her head. "Just surfing the internet," she added in her typical carefree way.

He meaningfully lifted up his eyebrows but he didn't say a word. He couldn't if he didn't want to let her know. And he really didn't want to, at least for now.

Skye was now an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and he couldn't be prouder. It wasn't a pride of the SO. It even wasn't a pride of the person who taught the other one everything – or at least most of it. It was a pride of the person who cared about the other one; pride mixed with joy which would normally lead to a hug and kiss but it couldn't be like that between them. Even if he stopped denying his feelings, he couldn't do that to her. He couldn't put her in that danger. He had to protect her, even when he wasn't around, so it was the best solution.

He watched everybody congratulated her. Her hugging Simmons and both of them are very happy. Then there was a hug from Fitz, very short hug, but even that made him jealous.

When they were left alone she told him she couldn't do it without him but he knew better. He knew it in the moment he first saw her in that van of hers. He knew that this day would come and he also knew that she would be a great agent.

He couldn't choose less convenient moment to tell her about his feelings – or at least give her a hint. He asked her for a drink in that small closet with dozen of level five agents behind the door. He asked her even though he knew it would never happen. There were just two possible ends and not a single one was good for a relationship with an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. . He knew it and yet he asked her. He couldn't help himself. Maybe he hoped he could change his future in the very last moment. He hoped for it even more when she kissed him.

Unfortunately even her kiss wasn't enough to pull him out of the black hole where he had fallen years ago.