A/N: I do not own the characters of AOS. I'm just borrowing them for a while and giving them right back.
It's hard to keep secrets on the bus. Too many nosey people around. Doesn't mean they won't try.
Please tell me what you think.
They're ending another night together in some random hotel and she's obviously slipping, because instead of letting him out and immediately lock the door behind him she lets him hold her in his arms for a little while longer, allows him to move his lips on her neck slowly, and when he holds her tight, dragging her to the door with him when he can't let go she doesn't put her foot down or stops him. At the end of it, instead of saying a quick goodbye like usual, with a peck on her cheek, his hand in her hair for a last stolen touch, they end up standing in the doorway, with Ward tall, strong and still smells of their crazy hook up kissing her for a long long time.
"Bloody hell!"
The Scottish accented cry makes them turn in horror. Ward moves first. When he spots Fitz standing in the hallway, looking at them just as horrified, it takes him a millisecond to understand the calamity that had fallen upon them and to run after the terrified scientist. He catches up with him easily, and drags him unceremoniously into May's room with his hand on the young agent's mouth. She locks the door behind them as Ward pushes the still shell shocked Fitz on the bed and they both stand above him, watching him intently.
"What the hell was that?!" Fitz moves his gaze frantically between the two specialists "you… And you… you two… oh my god! That's absolutely… bloody hell, you're shagging each other!"
"Be quiet, Fitz" Ward hisses "you'll wake up the entire hotel."
"You're shagging each other" he whispers, like he reveals some kind of secret "I know you are".
"Amazing" May rolls her eyes "I guess he really is a genius."
"I'm smart enough to know that you two are in big trouble here" he glares at her with defiance "if Coulson finds out…" he looks at Ward.
"He won't" Ward says decisively, crossing his arms on his chest.
"He won't?" Fitz asks, a bit shakily.
"He won't" May confirms, making a threatening step towards the trembling scientist.
"You can't tell anybody." Ward explains levelly.
"Anybody?" he looks at them miserably "not even Simmons?"
"Especially not Simmons" Ward emphasizes "the girl can't hold an interrogation even if her life depended on it. We all remember her pathetic performance in the Hub."
"But I tell Simmons everything" Fitz mumbles "you really expect me to keep from her that you're having sex with the Cavalry?"
"It's obvious he'll tell. Maybe we should kill him" May is saying, looking at him sharply. Fitz laughs nervously "You're joking…" when she cocks her eyebrow meaningfully he turns towards who he assums is the reasonable party "Ward she's joking, isn't she…?" Ward looks unsure for a moment and it only makes Fitz shake even more.
"Maybe you should leave us alone for a minute" May says quietly. Ward looks at her questioningly while Fitz jumps to his feet.
"No! Ward… don't leave me…" Ward only nods, sends him a look that could easily be considered as a farewell look before he moves towards the door "try not to kill him" he says on his way out "it will take ages to break a new one to replace him."
"Ward!" Fitz is all but screaming "you can't do it. You owe me. I saved your ass in South Ossetia, remember? Ward… Ward…"
()
An hour later they are all back on the plane. They meet at the briefing room and go over the details of their new assignment. He looks at Fitz. The kid looks unbruised, thankfully, but there's also a strange giddiness in his demeanor that makes his suspicion jump through the roof. He looks over at May, casually, she looks unperturbed. Confident. As if the morning's events were all but figments of his imagination.
"What are you all cheerful about?" Simmons asks when they're done with their meeting "usually you're much more cranky in the morning before you have your tea."
"I'm getting a monkey" he smiles triumphantly.
"You're getting what?"
"A monkey. May promised, she's going to talk to Coulson."
Now that's explains it. It's actually brilliant. He always felt extortion was an underutilized tactic. He sends an amused look towards his lover, and sees a faint smile on her face as she moves past him towards the cockpit. She never ceases to amaze him.
It's time for his annual checkup. Actually it's well overdue for his annual checkup, so when it's already a month and a half since the last time she reminded him Simmons has enough of his excuses and stalling and she just grabs his hand one day in the kitchen and pulls him after her to the lab even before he has the time to have breakfast. She orders him to lie down on the examination bed and tells him to take off his shirt so she could attach a few probes to his chest and neck to measure his vital signs and a long list of cellular and organs function which half of their names he can't even pronounce, and it doesn't help that he argues and promises her that he feels well and healthy and this is all entirely unnecessary because soon enough he realizes she doesn't even listen to him at all.
He lies there quietly as she does her work, seriously. It takes a long time. A time in which he could have work out with Skye, spar with May, harass Fitz about the new weapon he's working on at the moment. "This is ridiculous" he tells her, but she's so occupied, monitoring the graphs and tables on her tablet, she only shushes him. Finally, she turns to examine him in a more traditional way. A way that he is happy to realize actually includes his active participation. She looks in his eyes, makes him open his mouth, palpates his lymph nodes and so on until… "What the hell is that?!"
"What?" she stares, horrified at the left side of his neck, her eyes almost popping out of their sockets. Oh Shit! "Is that a… a hickey?!" shit, shit, double shit with cherry on top.
"Nope" he lies.
"It's either a very strange and dangerous coagulopathy, a systemic disease with severe skin manifestations, a unique solitary allergic reaction or… it's a bloody hickey." She challenges. Hu? Was he supposed to understand any of this?
"I think we're done here" he says quickly, moving to get off the examination bed. Suddenly her eyes light up and she smiles at him broadly, her cheeks rosy pink, as she's crossing her arms on her chest, a mischievous look in her eyes "Simmons…?" he says hesitatingly "it's not what you think…" She's still smiling "Simmons…" he tries to sound casual "it really isn't. I'm going to leave now…"
"Who is it?" she whispers "I mean, it looks like it's been there for a while, at least from a few days ago… oh my god! Is it someone you met in the bar we went to last week? Or… the Hub?... Is it someone we know?!" she looks way too excited for his comfort level.
"Honestly, Jemma…" he says impatiently, standing and starting to look around for his shirt. It's really unfortunate that he is still hooked to those stupid probes at that precise moment because just then May enters the lab, to inform them they're nearing their destination and need to prepare for their mission. He watches May in shock, as she's standing there pretty and strong and… well, and then all hell breaks loose. May is speaking and he just looks at her horrified, and she goes on and on and he notices that Simmons suddenly pays a disturbing amount of attention to the tablet in front of her. She's watching the graphs with her mouth wide open before she moves her attention back to him, then to May and back to him, then back to the tablet… oh fuck!
May leaves and they just stand there in silence. He almost forgets he was just about to leave. He flinches as he moves his attention to the young biochemist who just stands there smiling triumphantly like she just discovered a new basic element to add to the periodic table. It could have been funny if he wasn't completely terrified by the implications "Simmons, noooo…!"
"It's May!" she cries, clapping her hands happily, her eyes shine, a dreamy expression on her face. He looks at her like she just transformed into a flesh eating zombie. He never saw such a girly reaction in his life.
"It's not!" he informs her, pulling the probes off.
"Of course it is" she shrieks. She Shrieks! "when she came in, your blood pressure soared to the sky, your pulse was racing. Your adrenal cortex was overshooting, you had increased sweating in your palms, dry mouth, your pupils were dilated. You had the classic clinical picture of sexual arousal, but…" he looks at her, desperate. She's talking too loud. He looks towards the door, she's definitely talking too loud. "but there was distinct vasodilatation in your facial vasculature" she continues "interesting…"
"I had what?" he shakes his head, he has no idea what she's talking about, and honestly, he would rather not know "Look, Simmons." He tries to stop her insensible talk.
"It's not entirely classic" she explains "I mean in terms of adrenergic reaction with your parasympathetic system working in a…"
"Simmons!" he cries.
"You're in love!"
"What?!" he rushes to close the door quickly.
"Yes!" she smiles.
"No! Simmons..." he warns, moving towards her.
"It's science, Ward. You can't argue with science."
"Simmons…" he sighs, raising his head to the ceiling in total despair.
"This is so sweet!" she smiles, clapping her hands again. OH great! Here she starts again.
"It's not" he denies quickly "it's really not sweet, or cute, or lovely, or brilliant or… It's secret!" he looks at her meaningfully. She only looks back at him with great disappointment, and he has no other way but to beg "please, Simmons…"
She pauses for a long while, watching him pleading for her silence "okay, if you wish." She grumbles as she sits on a chair, her all demeanor a picture of obvious misery.
"Thank you" he breathes with relief, starting to move towards the door.
"Does she love you too?" she asks from behind him and it makes him stop for a second. "I can find out for you if you want" she offers enticingly, he can hear her smile behind her words "I can take her hormones levels when we talk about you, or better yet, if I'll show her your picture. With women you can usually detect a tiny increase in the ovulation hormones every time the man they love is mentioned or even if they just smell him, or I can even…"
"It won't be necessary" he turns and smiles at her.
"It won't?" she asks, obviously surprised.
"No" he turns back and makes his way out of the lab.
"Is it because you know?" she cries after him when he's already at the door "because you know that she does?" he doesn't answer, only slides the door open and walks out "you see? It is sweet!" she shouts after him "and cute! And bloody brilliant! I'm so happy…"
"May!" Skye bursts into the cockpit and almost falls over, shocked to her core. When she opens the door the first thing she sees is May's head facing her from the pilot's seat. Now that's weird. Piloting the bus with her back towards the window…? She suddenly realizes May is not alone. Ward is sitting in the pilot seat, half dressed, May straddling him, her arms around his neck, and they move together… kissing… "oh shit!" she cries, and immediately starts laughing. When May moves off of Ward swiftly, rearranges her clothes and stands before her, obviously annoyed, it should make her stop, especially because May looks so intimidating, and she should fear for her life, but she can't because Ward gets up too, pulling his pants up, still breathing fast, and sweaty, with his back to her. It only makes her burst out with another spell of uncontrolled laughter.
"You're her SO" May tells him when they both stand in front of her, angry, and she's still laughing her ass off "make her stop."
"So what if I'm her SO?" he frowns "you think I have any control over her? She's the worst supervised agent in the history of S.H.I.E.L.D."
"She still has to listen to you, doesn't she?" May cocks her eyebrow.
"She does" he nods seriously "she also has to wake up every morning in 06:00AM, to train ten hours a day and to stop teaching Fitz's monkey to play with the climate control on the bus. Doesn't mean she does it… Will you stop laughing already?" he barks towards her angrily.
"I'm sorry" she laughs, wiping the tears from her eyes "I can't…"
"I can't see what's so funny." He grumbles.
"That's because you don't have even a shred of sense of humor" she informs him. He resents that.
He looks at May as form of complaint but she only shrugs "well, you don't…" she mumbles apologetically.
"Skye" May says sharply, and it has enough warning in it to make the girl stop her laughter and watch her questioningly "I…" she hesitates, looking at Ward for a second "Ward, can you wait for us outside please?" she asks quietly.
"Why?" he asks, worriedly.
"Please?" she looks straight at Skye. He pauses for a few seconds, moving his eyes from his lover to his over excited subordinate. He has a really bad feeling about this. She sends him a reassuring smile, and nods. He nods back and walks out of the cockpit, closing the door behind him.
They stay in the cockpit alone fourteen minutes and forty seven seconds as he's pacing back and forth in the living room. When Skye finally comes out he runs towards her, but Coulson is coming down from his office at the precise same moment and calls them all to the briefing room to discuss the new assignment they have, and he has no time to ask her anything. They spend the next day working, and he spends most of the time with Fitz and Coulson securing a research facility in the middle of the jungle. When they're back on the bus, it's late and Skye is already in her bunk and May is with Coulson, talking to S.H.I.E.L.D's operations control and he has nothing to do but to retire to his room and try to catch some sleep.
In the morning he meets Skye in the cargo bay for training. He watches her carefully when she steps over, ready for action.
"You okay?" he asks carefully.
"Fine" she nods "let's start." He examines her face for a second, before he decides she looks as she always does and comes to the conclusion she's not going to make it easy for him and just blow over yesterday's events.
"Fine" he exhales "let's go."
They work out in silence for a couple of hours, before they move to use the punching bag. He secured it for her, and follows her movements, correcting her stance and her rhythm from time to time.
"Skye…" he says after a while "about yesterday…"
"Don't worry about it."
"I'm not" he says quickly "I'm not worried. I just thought…"
"I won't say anything" she says "if that's what you're worried about." It is. He was worried about it for the entire day.
"I wasn't worried. But… thank you" he says, relieved. She flashes him a cocky smile, as she's continuing to punch the beg in a constant pace. He watches her for a while "how come…?" he asks.
"How come what?"
"How come it's so easy?" he looks at her with suspicion "I know you. Letting me get away with this… it's not really… your style…" She only smiles at him "I mean, don't you have anything clever to say? A sophisticated insult? Some dig about my sex life?"
"Nope" she smiles mysteriously. He finds it hard to believe.
"I find it hard to believe."
"I'm serious" she shrugs "my entire estimation of you had changed".
"Really, in what way?"
She grins "you got quite a notch in your belt there, now don't you, Ward?" she can't overlook his mortified expression and it makes her grin even more "how many men can say they are fucking the cavalry on a regular basis?"
"Skye!" he blushes completely, looking around him frantically.
"It shed a whole new light on you and your… capabilities…" oh for the love of god. "if she lets you in her bed, or… her chair, for that matters…" she smile when he closes his eyes with the memory of being caught "then you must be very special."
"So…" he looks at her hesitatingly "your point being, because I did the impossible and was appealing enough to Melinda May, this makes you respect me enough to keep my secret? Friendship, comradeship, loyalty to your SO, that has nothing to do with that?" she can she he's somewhat upset.
"Nope!" she agrees "it doesn't. Only the fact that you are a stud, and you and give the cavalry multiple orgasms on a regular basis. As a woman, I have to support this." His color changes to a specific shade of purple she'd never seen before. "So…" she steps towards him, and leans against the punching bag "now that we established the fact that this is all between us, you can tell me… she's always on top is she? And there's bondage right? I mean, there has to be bondage… a lot of leather, too… does she has toys or, lotions, or…?" the next second he's out of there. Making a graceful retreat to the sound of Skye's explosive laughter. Well, perhaps it's not as graceful as to be desired because he's in such a rush he crashes into Fitz and Simmons who carry boxes with night vision goggles and scopes and all three of them drop to the floor noisily.
"What the hell is the matter with you?" Fitz screams, moving to pick up some of the broken instruments.
"It's my worst nightmare coming true." He mumbles, trying to help Fitz collecting the broken glass but making even a bigger mess, until Fitz pushes him away.
"What is it?" Simmons asks with concern.
"I think May and Skye are becoming friends…"
He lies in her bed, his head propped on his hand, and his other hand painting invisible circles on her chest and stomach.
"Fitz" he kisses her shoulder "then Simmons" he kisses her arm "then Skye" he kisses her stomach near her belly button "they all know…" he looks up, and moves his hand to move a strand of black hair behind her ear "not much of a secret anymore, is it?"
"Coulson doesn't know yet." She shrugs.
"Maybe we should tell him" he sighs, moving his hand back down and positions it on her hip, his thumb brushing the tender skin "save us the trouble of sneaking around. He'll find out eventually."
"We can" she says thoughtfully.
"Or… we don't have to make it official, we can just give him a hint. Let him catch us. It worked with the rest of them."
"We can do it on his desk" she smiles faintly "that should do it."
"Yeah" he laughs "or in Lola." She laughs too, and then they both stop suddenly, watching each other carefully for a few seconds "we're not, are we?" he asks, fearfully.
"Well…" she smiles.
"May, we're not doing it in Lola. Fuck, even this sentence is creeping me out."
"You really should be more adventurous, Ward" she puts her hand on his cheek gently.
"I had more than enough adventures since I've started sleeping with you, thank you very much." He reassures her with a frown.
She leans up to kiss him and he kisses her back, holding her close and moving his arm behind her back, pushing his pelvis into her, making her gasp with need when his body reacts to her so quickly.
"I'll tell him." She whispers when he runs his tongue on her neck, starting a trail of hot kisses towards her breasts "leave it to me."
He lays her on the bed again, and moves to cover her with his body, his kisses becoming hotter and hotter, and more urgent as he trails his lips down on her body "I have a feeling this is all going to come back and bite me in the ass" he murmurs against her burning skin.
"Oh definitely" she groans loudly, sitting bolt upright in the bed when he reaches his destination and his tongue works magic within her, her nails scratching his back with her attempt to control herself "I'll bite you wherever you want, Ward …"
"I should kick you out." Coulson shouts.
They stand in Coulson's office. Well, Ward stands in full attention; Coulson is pacing frantically in front of him, sending him murderous glares form time to time.
"I realize it's not exactly protocol, but let me assure you sir, that…"
"Shut up, Ward."
"Yes sir."
They stand in front of each other, Coulson is furious. He'd never seen him that angry before. He is livid. He wonders what he's missing.
"She said it's been going on for months now."
"Six" he says quickly "six months."
"And you managed to keep it discreet for so long? I guess you're better agents than I thought you were."
"Well…" he bites his lower lip, making Coulson look at him questioningly.
"Oh for heaven's sakes, who knows?"
"Not a lot" he spits quickly "only… Fitz."
"Fitz?"
" Yes. Well, and Simmons."
"Makes sense. These two tell each other everything."
"And Skye."
"Skye?"
"And now you…"
"So practically, everybody knows."
"Pretty much" he agrees.
"Not much of 'secret agents', are we?" Coulson snorts.
"I like to look at it as 'we have very good agents around us 24/7'."
"I don't like to look at it at all!" Coulson shouts, slamming his hand on the desk "I should kick you out of this team for breaking protocol and endangering the integrity of our operations."
"I have never endangered any operation" he shouts back "we're both professionals, we would never cross…"
"You should end this." He informs him "I would not have this kind of behavior on my bus."
"No" he says decisively.
"No?!" Coulson looks at him like he just grown another head.
"No. We did not cause any damage. Our heads were always in the game. We can do our jobs with no personal predicaments. No offence sir, but even you didn't notice anything."
"It's either her or your job." He clarifies again.
"It's a mistake, sir."
"Choose, Ward."
"I'd rather lose my job, sir." He says without batting an eye. He looks straight at his commanding officer "you don't have to do this, Sir. I think we've proven ourselves."
"You made yourself clear, Ward." Coulson cuts him off "I need to think about it."
"Yes, sir. I understand."
"Get out."
He nods, and leaves the room with a heavy feeling in his heart. When he closes the door behind him he sees all four of them waiting in the hall looking at him expectedly.
"Well, how did it go?" Skye asks first.
"Better than expected." He sighs.
"That's bad?" Fitz asks.
"Yup!"
"May!" Coulson's voice is heard from inside the room "my office, now."
She rolls her eyes with annoyance before she makes her way to the office. He stops her with his hand on her wrist when she moves past him, but she only sends him a warning glare, making him drop her hand immediately. Then she gets in and closes the door behind her.
"You were right." Coulson tells her when she enters and closes the door behind her. She smiles. "He would rather lose his job and the team than let you go." She is not surprised. "will you keep it discreet?" he asks, she nods "I won't open a door and see him drooling all over you, or… you know, worse…" she shakes her head "and you'll keep your head in the game at all times?" she nods "the first time I feel an operation is compromised or that you can't put your feelings aside, it's over." She agrees. "He'll be the one paying the price, May. I'll send him to Alaska or… worse… his career will be over."
"He can handle it." She reassures him.
"Okay then" he sighs "we'll give it a chance and see."
"Thanks, Phil."
"It's not like you gave me any choice" he shakes his head.
"No, we didn't" she smiles, making her way towards the door.
"Is it true love then, Melinda?" he asks when she's half way outside the room. She only raises her eyes towards him, thoughtfully. Then she smiles, and winks at him. Then she leaves the room.