What would have happened if Ward came clean to Coulson about working with Garrett? Everything before "Providence" is exactly the same as in the show. Skye still gets shot and the team still gives her the GH325.

Ward POV

"Cross off the team and bring the girl to me." John walks towards me as he's changing. "Once we're done with her we can rid you of your weakness. And by we, I mean you. That won't be a problem will it?" John searches my eyes as he asks and smiles at the answer he sees.

I've had years of experience. Inside I'm stiff with shock. He wants me to kill her? "Of course not." I answer with confidence. I look at John square in the eye and nod, letting him know that I understand.

"Great. You got your story straight?"

"Yeah, we just need to make it believable." I put my drink down and face John, ready for what's to come. The first punch comes and I use it to calm himself. My skin is crawling but I can't think about that now. After about 6 punches I black it out and focus on what I'm about to do.

I don't have trouble finding Providence with Skye's coordinates. I take a deep breath and make my way into the base. Once the door opens, I spot Skye waiting to see me in.

She looks beautiful. I smile for the first time since the last time I saw her and joke with her about the directions she gave me.

She smiles back and starts to joke with me but as soon as she can see me up close, she stops and worries. With a gentle hand she inspects my face. I marvel at her touch. "Are you ok?" She looks worried.

I try to pretend it's nothing. "It's just a scratch." I begin to take my bag off and as I do, I flinch. Goddamn. John, you did a number on my ribs.

"Here, let me help you with that. Come on. Let's get you to Simmons." Skye looks at me and gives me a small, shy smile and adds, "then maybe we can get that drink."

I can't help but smile back. I can't resist her sweet face. "Deal." I follow her as she leads me to Simmons.

The team gathers as Simmons looks over me. I hate being on display. But I have a mission and this will be a part of it.

I try to focus on Simmons as she is going on and on about my cuts and bruises. Fitz is walking around me, making me dizzy. And Skye is talking about me looking like a "badass" if my cuts scar. I contain my smile because Coulson wants a rundown and he doesn't look amused.

So, I give Coulson my practiced version of things. I get to the part of shooting John and I don't hesitate. Coulson seems to believe me and gives everyone instructions.

I try to stay as close to Skye as possible. Who knows how long I'd have with her. I didn't want to think about what the next couple of days would look like. She was going to find out and I wanted to push that out as far as I could but John had given me 24 hours.

Coulson wants to split up the team. I don't think it's a good idea but it may be easier that way. That is, until Eric Koenig shows them the lie detector.

Fuck. Time to move up the timeline.

May goes first, of course. The woman is a machine and anybody who thinks she'd stand with anyone besides SHIELD is crazy. She's a SHIELD agent, through and through. I've always envied that about her. She always knew what it was like to be part of a team.

The only one not doing "orientation" is Coulson. Come on, Grant. Man up. Do what needs to be done. The image of Skye's face when she was shot comes up out of nowhere. You did that to her. Now fix it.

When Skye goes in for her turn I know it's now or never. I take a deep breath and step into the office that Coulson is waiting in.

"Ward. Have you finished?" Coulson looks at me confused as I make my way toward him. "What's wrong?"

Say it. Just say it. "Sir, I lied." I ramble off the rest before Coulson has time to interrupt. "I didn't kill Garrett. I was told to come back and tell you that I did. I work for him. Garrett. I'm part of Hydra. I'm not loyal to them but I am with them. I made myself a part of this team with one mission and one mission only. I was to get all the information I could about you and what they used to bring you back from the dead. I've been stealing intel from you and giving it to Garrett. I helped bring down the Fridge. I killed Victoria Hand. I've killed a lot of people and I've done things you couldn't even imagine." I know I was direct and didn't bullshit because at a time like this I had no time.

I was surprised at how quickly Coulson drew his gun on me. He's quick for his age. He pressed the gun right onto to my temple. I took a breath. I knew Coulson would probably react like this. But Coulson was able to calm himself and get his bearings.

"Why are you telling me? What's your play here? What do you want?" Coulson kept the gun pointed at my head but stepped back to get some room between us. I'd never seen Coulson this pissed.

He's probably trying to calm himself down. Where do I start? "I—I've been John Garrett's guy since before SHIELD. He found me in juvenile hall. I'd set my parent's house on fire with my brother Christian inside. He got me out and took care of me. He saved my life. He gave me purpose. He—"

I suddenly stopped as the door opened. Both Coulson and I turned to see who had come in. Please don't let it be Skye. Agent Koenig took less than a second to see what was happening before drawing his gun out as well.

"Sir, what's going on? I came looking for Agent Ward. It's his turn. Everyone passed." Koenig drew closer to Coulson but kept his gun pointed at my head.

"Agent Ward here is telling me how he's been with Hydra this whole time. Gather the rest of the team. Bring them in." Coulson was not to be messed him. Coulson barely looked away from me to tell Koenig.

"NO!" I reacted by stepping toward them because of what that could mean for me if Skye found out. But I stopped myself and drew my hands up, knowing I might get shot. "Sir, please. Hear me out. Don't bring them in yet. I'm here to help you. I don't have anything up my sleeve. I promise. I'll tell you everything." I was panicking. Skye can't know. She can't know. Dammit, I'm not ready. I slowly took the gun I had on me with two fingers and showed them that I meant to drop it. Once I saw they weren't going to shoot, I took out all my weapons and dropped them in a pile on the floor. Then, I stepped away from them and sat on a chair.

Both Coulson and Koenig looked at each other and turned back to me.

"Ok. Let's say I believe you. Let's say I buy that you're here to help. Why? You just said John Garrett saved your life and that he's who you're loyal to. So why are you here? Why turn your back on him?" Coulson took another step back from me but his gun stayed aimed at my head.

Be honest. He won't believe any of your bullshit.

"Sir, I suggest we do this in the Orientation Room and get everything we can from him." Koenig suggested before he could talk.

I sighed. As much as I didn't want to get in that thing it was the only way Coulson would believe me. "I'll go. I'll answer anything. Can we please make sure nobody sees us as we go?" I waited watching Coulson as he considered my request. I breathed easier as Coulson nodded. "Thank you, Sir."

"Don't thank me yet. I just want to know what the hell you're up to." Coulson grabbed me by the collar as Koenig secured that nobody was in the hall. I let myself get yanked around by Coulson and kept as calm as I could in such circumstances.

I sat on the chair immediately and took a deep breath. Here goes nothing.

Koenig hooked me up and still Coulson has his gun aimed at my head.

"Sir, can you lower the weapon? I'm not attacking either of you and I'm unarmed." I looked at Coulson and held his look until he dropped the gun.

"Koenig?" Coulson threw over his shoulder.

"Ready to go, Sir." Koenig confirmed and looked up to me.

"What is your name?" Koenig asked.

"Grant Douglas Ward."

"When did you first meet John Garrett?" Coulson was taking over now. He apparently didn't believe my previous answer.

"I first met John when he came to introduce himself. I was in juvenile hall because I'd set fire to my parent's house with my brother in it. Garrett got me out. He taught me how to be a man. He taught me how to take care of myself and not let myself be a victim. The first thing he did was leave me in the woods for 6 months with nothing but a bag of clothes and his dog Buddy. It was tough at first but I learned to be out there. He taught me not to have any weaknesses." Don't think about Buddy. "I learned how to lie from him and how to be a spy. He told me what to do to get your attention for the team. I jumped out of a plane for Jemma to prove myself to all of you." Be honest. "That's what I told myself but I couldn't let Fitz jump after Simmons. It was too dangerous. I felt responsible for the safety of the team."

"Why are you back here?" Coulson looked upset and uncomfortable but confused.

"John sent me back." This is where it was going to get hard.

"Why?" Coulson's voice betrayed him. He was pissed.

"He wants me to take Skye back with me." My voice shook with anger. The thought of having Skye near Garrett was making me angry. My jaw locked. "Skye locked the disk and John couldn't crack it. He wants Skye to give him the information on it."

My reaction was enough for Coulson to look confused again, no matter how pissed he was at me. "Why did you come to me? Why tell me all this? Is this a trap?"

You think you're pissed now, Coulson? I knew how Coulson looked at Skye. She was easy to love. She was like a daughter to him. "I was going to take her. I was waiting for the order to come and get her. I thought that Garrett would tell me to come pick her up and I'd be able to keep her safe. But he asked me to bring her to give him what he needed. He wasn't going to let her leave. He wanted me to—" My voice was now trembling. I had to reign in my anger. I unlocked my jaw once more. "He wanted me to "take care of my weakness". He wants her dead. He wants me to do it. He—"

"Why is she a weakness?" Coulson interrupted and drawing his gun again.

"Because I love her. Because I've been in love with her for a while. The only reason I didn't turn on John before was because we got the GH325 in time to save her. I didn't know he was the clairvoyant. I was hoping he wasn't. I convinced myself that he wasn't. If she had died," Don't think about it Ward! "then I would have turned him and myself in a long time ago. I made excuses for him. I owe him my life. I don't know who I would be or where I would be if he hadn't come for me and given me purpose." I'm sorry, John but I need them to trust me. "He's dying. He was injured a long time ago and was left behind by SHIELD. It was then that he turned his back on SHIELD. He was the first person to go through the Deathlock program. He needed the GH formula to cure himself. Raina is with him now trying to re create it."

Coulson was quiet for a long while. Long enough to make me uncomfortable. "Garrett had Skye shot because he knew I'd do anything to save her. And you still followed him blindly?" Coulson looked disgusted.

"Yes." My weakest moment, the moment I'd so regret for the rest of my life.

"So why tell me all this? What do you think is going to happen here?" Coulson has dropped his gun again and was not about 5 feet away.

"I can't kill Skye. Skye needs to stay safe. I need to do whatever possible to keep her safe. I need you to help me with that. I know how you feel about Skye. It's easy to love her. I know she won't ever see me the same again. She'll hate me. But I'd rather have her living and hating me than not having her live at all. I had to come clean. I have to do everything possible to make up for what I've done. I want to do as much as I can—for her. I'm doing this for her. I know that's the wrong reason to do this. The rest of them will hate me too. I don't know what you want to do with this information. That's up to you. I'll do what you need. I'm following your orders. I know John dying is a possibility but our actions have led to this."

There. That was everything. All there was left to do was wait for Coulson. I don't have the patience but I know that Coulson is done listening to me. What are you gonna do to me? Will you help? Do you believe me?

"Koenig? How did he do?" Coulson didn't move his glare away from me as he asked his question and started unhooking me.

"I don't see anything here, Sir. Everything he said was honest. Although I don't know how I should feel about that." Koenig turned the screen he was looking at off and came around to stand by Coulson. "What do you think, Sir?"

"I didn't lie. I want to protect Skye. I thought everything we were doing had a point. I thought John and I had similar goals. The goal was getting him better. Sometime between when I met him to now-" I stopped talking as I realized something. Was this always his goal? We were trying to get him to full strength? I was trying to get him to full strength. Did he play me? Was Hydra his goal all along? Did he really believe in their thinking? "He changed what we were doing. I was too busy being loyal that I didn't think about what I was doing. I let him make all the decisions." I needed to make sure Coulson believed me. "I need you to believe me. I need you to trust me because if you don't trust me, then I'll never stand a chance with her."

I didn't care about what I was doing. Not until Skye. Believe me, Coulson.

"I don't know how much I trust what you've said. I know you care about Skye. Yes, she will hate you. I wish I could shoot you right now but I don't think that would be best in the long run. Stay here where we can keep an eye on you. I can use you to bring down Garrett. I may not trust you but I do trust Skye with you. Play along with Garrett's plan. Help me. Help SHIELD bring down Hydra. If you help us bring them down then you'll be closer to earning her forgiveness when all this ends. She might hate you for a long time but I do believe she'll know your regret. And Ward, if you somehow lied and passed this test, I will find you and make you sorry. Do not give Garrett any real information. If you help make this right then I promise you that you'll receive a fair trial within SHIELD."

Play Garrett? Can I do that? I've given them everything else. I've betrayed John but after what he is planning to do to Skye, that doesn't matter. "What do you want me to do?"

"Stay here. Some of those enhanced people you and Garrett let loose from the Fridge are going after innocent people. I'm taking Trip and Fitzsimmons to capture one of them. Stay here with Skye and Koenig. I'll leave May behind to oversee things. I won't tell her about this but she'll keep an eye. Try to hold Garrett off for another day."

"Sir," I chimed in, "my orders were to bring you all down and take her within 24 hours if it didn't go our way."

"I said stall him dammit. I'm gonna get that sonavabitch. But right now, I need to go get a man named Daniels." Coulson started walking out of the room. "Koenig, get Ward a lanyard."

I smiled at Koenig who looked like he couldn't believe it.

A few moments later, I exited the room with my lanyard. This is going to work. Coulson's right. I have to do everything possible to help him. Skye will never be able to look at me if I'm part of why this group falls apart. She loves them all. I can't take that away from her. Coulson will have to learn to trust me. I can do this.

"Ward." Fitz was coming down the corridor. He looked flustered. It was obvious in the way he started going on about Trip that he was jealous.

Fitzsimmons always looked like a unit. They belonged together even if they didn't want to acknowledge what they had. I looked at Fitz and tried to defend Trip. I could have been like Trip. He worked with John for years and never wavered. I never learned to say no to John. "You sure this is about him? Not about Simmons?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Fitz wasn't having part of this conversation.

I tried again. "Everything is falling apart around us. We don't know how it'll end. If there's something you want to tell her, don't wait." I should have been honest with Skye. If I was, I wouldn't be in this mess.

Fitz frowned. "Maybe Simmons should check you again for a head injury cause that's not the Ward that I know."

I shook my head with frustration. Fine. Be stubborn. Why the hell do I even care? But I did care. "You know what? Do what you want. I don't care." I started walking away, irritated at Fitz's stupidity.

"Good to have you back." Fitz remark made me turn to face him.

Is he used to me being an ass? Probably.

When I finally found Skye, she was trying to convince Koenig of something.

Skye noticed me come in and turned to ask, "Can you help me convince Steve Rodgers here to suit up, grab his shield, head into battle?" She went back to direct the last bit at Koenig.

I was confused and a little amused. "Ok. Who's he supposed to battle?"

As she explains, Koenig gives me a look.

If I don't agree with her she'll know something's up. Back her up. "Well, she's right. It's worth trying."

As she convinces Koenig, I can't help but admire her once more. Damn, she's smart. And she's going to figure me out.

She gets the go ahead and says it'll take her about an hour.

"I can see why you love her." Koenig pulls my attention because I was watching her leave. "She's got spunk. But you get that her doing this moves your timeline up. She'll get those images up and she'll know who you really are."

I nod. "Yes, but it wouldn't have helped if I went against her. I usually back her up in these situations. So, if I would have said no, she'd know something was up. Skye isn't stupid."

"What are we going to do?"

"Get Coulson on the line. I'm going to have to take Skye to Garrett." Saying it put me back in panic mode.

"If you take her, he'll kill her."

I shook my head. Damn, this is going to hurt but it's the only way. "No. He won't kill her. Skye will realize who I am. I can't tell her but she'll figure it out. Once she does, she's smart. She'll buy herself time. She's resourceful. I'm hoping she figures a way to get out. If not, I'll empty my gun on John myself. Now, get Coulson on the line."

Coulson couldn't talk. Things on his end were more serious than expected and for some reason he sounded even more pissed at me. He told us to figure it out and hung up the phone. Damn, what did that guy Daniels do?

"Ok. I have a plan but you're not gonna like it." I warned Koenig.

"Let me have it." Koenig looked game.

"How do you feel about me killing you?" I smiled with humor.

"Excuse me?" Koenig took a couple of steps back and he laughed out of nervousness.

"I'm gonna have to kill you." This other part of the plan will not be fun. "At least, it will look like I killed you. I need Skye to be scared of me. I need her to be angry with me. We can't tell her. I love her but she's not a spy. She can't sell a story. If she believes that I killed you then she'll escape. I know Skye enough to know that she can handle herself. She's a fast learner. I just need to go knock out May." That's going to be the hard part. May is tough. She's going to fight back. I'm going to have to take her by surprise. I can't tell her the truth because she'll never believe me not with Coulson gone. And I can't just take Skye, May would not let me that either. Ok, Melinda. Hopefully I can get the drop on you.

Again, Koenig laughed but this time it was genuine. "Good luck. What do you want me to do?"

"Let me take care of May first. I'll get back to you." I walked out trying to think of how I was going to do this.

Authors Note: Hi everyone. This is my first AOS story. I love Skye/Ward and would really appreciate it if I got some feedback. Thanks :)