The first time she mentions Ward to someone, their face drops. It's Bobbi, and Kara can't help but put her defenses back up in front of the agent.
"He different," she urges looking up at Bobbi face, contorted in disbelief, from her hospital bed, "He's different than what you've heard."
Bobbi still looks skeptical, but she sits down next to her, smoothing out her features.
"Tell me about him," Bobbi says, "Tell me about the Grant Ward you know."
Kara outlines first their escape from Puerto Rico, tells of their kidnapping of Bakshi. She recounts every nice word, good deed that Ward has performed for her. She doesn't look at Bobbi this whole time. Ashe doesn't want the senior agents' look of disbelief to scare her from telling her side, Ward's side, of the story.
When she finishes with him leaving her there, at the base, she is trying not to cry.
Bobbi places her hand on her shoulder.
"I think," Bobbi says, "I understand a little more."
Kara nods, not looking up.
Bobbi footsteps echo down the hall.
Bobbi is the first.
…
Coulson's team is sitting around her, and she feels a little like a lamb going towards the slaughter.
"I have your old S.H.I.E.L.D. file." Coulson says, "Ward was right. You were a good agent. I think you could be again. It is, however, your choice. Ward felt it would be better if you stayed here with us. I understand if you feel different."
"Do you know where he is?" Her voice is steady, but she does not look up at him.
"No," Coulson answers, "He wanted to be left alone. He didn't think he deserved any of this."
Down the table, one of the young scientists scoffs.
"I'd like to stay," she says, finally looking up. "If it's okay with everyone, I'd like to stay."
"Of course," Coulson says with an easy smile.
…
Her first mission is with their whole team. They're all silent, and she can't help but feel it's unnatural. But it lasts throughout the whole mission. She can't help but feel they are all staring at her.
"He used to tell jokes," she almost whispers, as the quinjet touches down at the base after. All the time. Trying to get me smile."
Someone scoffs again. They all move to stand up.
"Come on!" She says suddenly louder, "I know what he did to you. Okay, he told every single detail. But he is different. I mean, sure, sometimes he acts like he's got a stick up his ass-"
"More like all the time," someone murmurs.
"But he could laugh! When he wanted to, he was nice, and he cared, he did. About all of you. He can laugh and joke. And I know it wasn't all bad. Please, don't act like everything he did to you was bad. Please, just try and see it my way, I-"
"It was real?" The question is so, so quiet, coming from behind her. She turns to find Skye staring at her, eyes wide and hopeful. Kara sighs with relief.
"I promise it was real. Especially with you, Skye. Always when it was you."
She's prepared for the tears that start streaming down Skye's face. She's not prepared for Skye to throw herself into her arms and start crying into her shoulder.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Skye repeats over and over, clutching onto Kara like a life line.
Skye is the second.
…
Later that week, after a round of Scrabble where Simmons beat them all by 200 points, Skye passes a beer to Kara and says.
"Whenever I beat him at battleship he would pout for hours."
The conversation dies down, but Kara only lets out a small laugh. So far, Skye had been the only one to really open up to her, but she was trying. Then,
"The last time we played scrabble, he accused me of using my Brtishness to win." Simmons says, looking at Kara over the top of her beer.
"What word did you use?"
"Aglet," Simmons says.
"Like the plastic thing on shoelaces?" Kara asks.
Simmons leans back throwing her arms out in happiness.
"Thank you!" She exclaims. "See," she says gesturing to Kara, "Someone else knows what it is."
Kara reaches her bottle over, and they clink beers.
…
Kara has grown accustomed to sleeping with noise around her. There was always the air conditioner, of traffic, or people, or even sometimes gunfire.
Here however, she'll wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of typing.
Her room is next to Skye's, no it's no wonder there's always typing going on, but sometimes it worries Kara, when she can't sleep, to hear the steady sound of fingers on a keyboard all through the night. Sometimes the typing stops just in time for her to hear May knocking on Skye's door, telling her it's time for training.
One night, when it's two am and she's already woken up from three nightmares, she's listening to the steady sound of typing when she hears another sound intertwined with the clacking of the keys. She's out of bed in an instant. She almost barges through Skye's door when she stops short, knocking quietly on the wood. The typing and the sniffles stop, and she hears the laptop quietly shut.
"May?" Skye asks.
"No," she says, "It's me. Kara."
She opens the door slightly; to see Skye sitting on her still made bed in her work clothes, laptop beside her, mascara streaks on her cheeks.
Kara sits on the edge of her bed.
"Why did you think I was May?"
Skye looks down.
"She usually wakes me, when I have nightmares."
"You haven't been sleeping," Kara states. "I know. Because I haven't been sleeping well either. What were you crying about?"
"A nightmare," Skye says. "I was Back in Puerto Rico, with Ward, I shot him, he uh, he died. I woke up because you were screaming."
Kara tenses.
"I was going to wake you, but you woke up first," Skye explains. Skye look up at Kara with a glint in her eye.
"Want to know a secret?"
"Yes?" Kara asks, not exactly sure, but Skye is already sliding off her bed. Skye walk over to the wall, where she opens a part of it and pulls out a tub of ice cream and two spoons.
"My secret stash," she explains. "I hope you like Rocky Road."
"Of course," Kara says smiling, "Thank you."
'It's so good, "Skye says, sighing, "I usually only break it out for emergencies, or you know, girl talk."
Kara smiles through mouthful of ice cream.
"When your next treatment with Simmons?" Skye asks, noting the new skin growing over the scars f Kara's face. Simmons and Fitz had been able to remove the mask entirely, and had also come up with a formula that would grow and shape skin cells onto the scars of Kara's face until the skin was back to normal.
"Tomorrow," Kara says, scooping out more ice cream, "She says I might only need two more treatments."
"That's awesome," Skye says.
"How's training?" Kara asks.
"Great. May still thinks shaking the mat to knock her off her feet is cheating. You should spar with us sometimes. You know, like real girly stuff."
Kara laughs.
"I don't think either of us would know real girly stuff it hit us in the face," Kara scoffs.
"Hey," Skye pouts, "I happen to own seven different colors of nail polish." As if to prove her point, she disappears into the bathroom, returning with the small bottle and dumping them on her bed.
'I mean, none of them are pink, but it's still nail polish."
Kara picks up a bottle of navy polish.
"Paint my nails?"
Skye takes the bottle as Kara props her feet on the bed.
"I don't know," Skye jokes, "This is quite a girly color."
"Oh, shut up."
…
May walks up and sits next to her at the bar where she's already downed three out of five shots of vodka, and pours herself a glass of scotch.
"Rough session?" She asks.
Kara downs the fourth, "Is there any other kind?"
"I just came to tell you that I'm sorry," May says, "For your face."
"Thank you," Kara says, sipping from the fifth shot glass. "If it's any consolation, I was trying to kill you, at the time."
"You were brainwashed. It wasn't your fault."
"He was brainwashed too," Kara says in a quiet voice.
"I know," May answers. "I know that now."
It had been two days ago when Skye had ordered them all into the conference room and, with tears streaming down her face, outlined the horrible circumstances of Ward's life. She had hospitals records leading up to twenty six years prior, all sealed by senators and police. Juvie records, all detailing the abuse Ward had suffered. His little brother had died in a car accident. His little sister was being hospitalized for depression.
"I called his grandmother," Skye had said, "And asked if she had heard from his him. She told me he was dead and hung up on me. I called her back. She told me that his parents told her he died in fight at military school. She said there was a gravestone on the outskirts of her property with his name on it. When I told her he was alive, she cried tears of joy."
Skye had dissolved into tears then, started gasping for air. She and May had both wrapped their arms around her, led her down to medical with Simmons.
She had slept for fifty six hours after that. Kara thinks it was the most Skye had slept since she got here.
"To the truth," Kara says, raising the last of her shot.
May raises her glass of scotch, "Amen."
…
Her favorite person to spar with is Bobbi. May is always silent when she fights, and Skye will get frustrated and use her powers, but Bobbi is fun. They can talk, and laugh, and Bobbi always jokes about how to better herself.
They're sitting side by side on the mat after their sparring match.
"Hey," Bobbi says, "I just wanted to say, I'm sorry I didn't believe you, about Ward. I didn't want to see it, I guess."
Kara only shrugs. "I think I was the first person he was real around, besides Skye maybe. I think he never had that luxury before."
They sit in silence for a few minutes.
Then, "I bet I can kick your ass at Mario Kart."
Mario Kart consist of Kara, Bobbi and Simmons all crashing into walls while screaming that they're better than each other. May watches while sipping beer, and Skye watches while trying to get them to let her play. They don't though, because of the one time she twisted her arm too quickly and accidently tossed a table through the window of the room.
…
She and Skye eat ice cream in the middle of the night.
May trains with her and shares old secrets over drinks at the bar.
Bobbi spars with her and tells her bad jokes.
She and Simmons beat everyone at Scrabble.
Sometimes when none of them can sleep, they crowd around the small living room and drink beers and gossip about the old days.
…
One day, Ward comes back.
A long time ago, she would have run to him and pulled him away and never looked back.
Instead, she sits sandwiched between Skye and Fitz on the couch when he walks in with Coulson. Skye yelps and jumps into Ward's arms. Kara puts her tongue between her teeth and whistles. The others laugh. When they pull apart, she meets his eyes. She gives him a two finger salute. He salutes her back.
Skye sits back down next to her.
"Girl talk tonight?" Kara says under her breath.
"Totally," is Skye's quiet reply, while the other murmur affirmations.
"What?' says Ward from next to Skye.
"Nothing," they reply at the same time.
Ward pouts.
Kara sticks her tongue out.
"Skye," Ward almost whines.
"Sorry," Skye says, "But they're my girls."
Ward huffs, slinging his arms around Skye's shoulders.
"Damn straight," Kara says, clinking her beer against Skye's.