HOLY CRAP. I AM SO HAPPY! All of your reviews and follows and favorites made me sooooo happy! Thank you guys so much for your kind comments and follows and favorites! I've even written chapters 3 and 4 as well. I will probably go through the winter finale and then stop, unless everyone likes it enough to be continued. So, If you like it, let me know ;) I am going to start trying to update on Tuesdays and Fridays, but I can't promise that everything will be on time.

Disclaimer: I don't own marvel.

Enjoy!

Skye thought it would be at least a month before she needed to open the next letter. She was wrong. Here Skye was, less than 2 days after finding the letters, needing to open her second one,

It gave her more time to look through them. They hadn't been in any particular order, but they were all meant to be read. Yesterday night Skye came across some free time to type up the first letter. She decided to type every letter and and try to look for a code within it. She just couldn't know with Ward.

Skye opened the letter after he had called her. She was extremely skeptical. It had been a long 2 days and Skye didn't want to give anything away to him, like Lance's current location.

The whole thing was driving Skye crazy on the inside. She had made the transition rather quickly, going from civilian to spy to fugitive. Skye spent her days trying to keep we emotions in check. She wanted so bad to tell Simmons. It had been far too long since they had shared a secret. It was getting easier by the day, but she wasn't May-level yet.

Just today alone, Coulson had hooked himself up to the Theta Brain Wave Memory Machine and found the blueprint to some alien city. Along with that, Ward had captured a HYDRA agent and then proceeded to call her during their debriefing.

Needless to say, it was a surprise. Skye was not expecting contact from him. He hadn't stayed on the phone long enough to trace the call, but everyone knew where he was going next.

She wished she could help. Skye knew he wanted her, and she even offered to be the bait to lure him back to base before he killed his brother, but Coulson veto-ed that automatically. He said they needed her on the search for the city. He was going to say no anyways, but lately he seemed to be babying her more than usual.

Skye thought about maybe telling Coulson about the letters. There was a part of Skye that couldn't bring herself to tell him. Coulson would just go all "papa-bear" on the situation. He'd probably take them away, read each letter, and then ground her for not telling him sooner.

Ward had called her right as they were half-celebrating and half-debriefing. They were celebrating the fact that Coulson had found his city and that he wasn't crazy, while May debriefed the group about Ward. While in Boston they had lost him, but he captured Bakshi for them. The phone started ringing the annoying apple default. At first Skye thought it was her phone, but it wasn't the one ringing. It was Bakshi's phone. The room went silent and Skye picked it up.

"Hail HYDRA," she greeted nervously. Everyone in the room looked at her expectantly.

"Hey Skye," Ward said. Skye caught Coulson's eye and mouthed 'Ward'. He nodded and Skye responded.

"Was that your cue? Where are you?"

He spoke slowly, as if he had all the time in the world. "Just wanted to make sure you got your present. I promised him a face-to-face with Coulson. Probably not exactly what he had in mind," Ward chuckled. His voice was deep and dark. "I'll be sending a few other presents your way now and then."

"Like a cat bringing in dead birds? No thanks." Just imaging it made Skye's stomach flip.

"Just trying to be helpful," he responded. The call ended slowly after, leaving Skye asking more questions. The nerve of him was driving her crazy.

"Who was that?" Mack asked. He sounded like he already knew.

"Ward." Fitz sucked in a breath that everyone could hear. Mack patted his back.

"What did he want?" May crossed her arms in front of her chest.

Skye looked at her. "He wanted to make sure we got Bakshi."

Coulson raised an eyebrow. "He didn't ask you...anything else, right?"

"No. Nothing," Skye paused, "but he did say he was going to send more HYDRA people our way. I suppose that means he'll continue to use his connection to HYDRA to capture or kill officials until someone finds out. That or he's lying to us again while he goes back to HYDRA and rejoins. I hope he retreats into hiding and stays there like the coward he is."

The team stayed quiet.

"Are we done debriefing?" Simmons asked. "I have some samples that are done in about-" she glanced at her watch "-15 seconds."

"Go," he told her. Simmons ran out of the room. "Okay then. Everyone get some rest. We have a long couple of days ahead of us. I want to see your beautiful faces bright and early tomorrow morning." Everyone started heading back to their rooms and probably to the kitchen. It was around 7:30 and no one would go to sleep anytime soon. "Skye, May, my office, ten minutes."

May nodded and followed Coulson out of the room. While everyone dispersed, Simmons flopped down on the couch next to Skye.

"How are you holding up?" Simmons asked. Her hair was pulled back into the tiniest ponytail possible and her blouse was quite wrinkled.

"How did you get back here so fast? What happened to your samples?"

"I took them out. They're currently in the science fridge cooling off."

"Oh okay. I'm fine Jemma, really. Don't worry about me."

"Okay, okay," Simmons shifted her weight. "Ward didn't say anything else, did he?"

Skye gave her a pointed look. "Nothing, I swear."

Simmons began to stand up. "Well, if you need anything, I am always available for a good chat."

"Thanks."

"Yep. You know where to find me." With that, Jemma left the room, leaving Skye on the couch with Fitz and Mack in the corner behind her. They were busy playing some kind of video game, so they wouldn't notice what she was about to do next.

Skye brought up the next letter she needed to read. The title was 'when you hear from me'. Being in the lounge made this scarier. She had no clue if anyone was about to walk in and see what she was reading. Skye glanced up, and then down again.

Skye,

So I guess this means I'm alive, and out of this damn vault. I'm not sure how that will come about, but I suppose it will eventually. If you've heard from me, its because I miss you. I probably called a number I figured you would answer. I could've called anyone Skye, I could've called Coulson. But I didn't. I called you.

I probably didn't mention the letters. I won't even know if you've found them.

"Skye?" a voice called. Skye flinched in response and quickly shut off the tablet's screen. It was May.

"Yes, the meeting. I'm coming."

May nodded, straight faced. Skye turned her tablet back on and cleared the screen. She then shut it off and stood up to join her SO in Director Coulson's office.

"So what's this meeting about?" Skye asked as she settled into the chair. She and May were sitting in the two chairs in front of Coulson's desk. It was like 7th grade all over again, and Skye felt like she was in the principal's office.

"May and I are worried about you," Coulson started.

Skye straightened in her chair. "Why?" she asked.

"Ward escaped, and he contacted you. You were also the last person besides Coulson to talk to him. The only person he ever responded to was you." May had joined the conversation. Skye was surprised, as she didn't expect May to join in until later on.

"Really, I'm okay. I can control my emotions quite well with the training you gave me. I'll be fine, don't worry."

Coulson nodded. "We know. You've done really well in your training. You made the transfer really well but-"

May cut him off, "But we need to know that Ward being alive and out there doesn't affect you. If anything happened in the field that gave you the chance to take him out, we want to make sure you could."

Skye held back the impulse to roll her eyes. "I'll be fine, I promise. We have more important things to worry about."

Coulson and May exchanged glances. No doubt they were communicating telepathically. Coulson, however, spoke first. "Okay," he said, "we'll let you off easy this time." Skye cracked a smile. "But at the first change in your behavior or if something Ward-related happens, we'll be talking again. We need you in prime working condition. These next few weeks are going to be rough."

Skye nodded. "Thanks Coulson. I won't let you down." She stood up, leaving May and Coulson sitting at the desk. She stretched. "Remind me to sit in those chairs more often. They're more comfortable than they look."

"Go on standby for orders," Coulson told her.

Tablet in hand, Skye made her way down to the lab. She crashed on the couch in the very back and nodding at Simmons. Simmons was back with her samples, probably running more tests. Skye released a deep breath and reopened the letter.

If you've heard from me, it's because I miss you, yada, yada, yada, Skye settled on a sentence. I probably didn't mention the letters. I don't even know if you've found them.

Come to think of it, Ward didn't mention the letters. He did mention himself 'leaving presents'. Although he had been referring to Bakshi, It could have been a reference to the letters. Was he still writing them? What was he trying to tell her?

Skye continued reading. What I do know, is that if you are reading this, then I have a chance to prove myself useful and possibly redeemed.

If I am outside this vault and you've heard from me, then chances are I'm trying to help. Unless of course, the circumstances have drastically changed. But if that comes about, you'll know.

So he was trying to help?

What I do to help may seem dramatic or disgusting, but I am trying. From a distance my skill set doesn't allow me to help in a conventional way. I will try to do all I can. Just trust me. Please. I will keep my promise.

Skye changed screens and threw her tablet to the other end of the couch. She couldn't believe Ward. The nerve of him. To assume she still loved him was one thing(they had left that on an awkward note), but to ask her to trust him, after everything he did, was absolutely crazy.

Maybe her feelings were a little unresolved, but she had lost all respect for him once he had revealed himself as a traitor. You can't love someone you don't respect.

After staring at the tablet with a look of disgust for a good minute, Skye decided she had better things to do, and so she grabbed her tablet and walked back to her dorm to grab her laptop.

From there Skye set up shop in the lab, where she ran the newfound blueprint through a system that matched the pattern to different road maps on Earth.

While the system was running, Skye typed up Grant's latest letter and ran it through the algorithm. Nothing happened.

"Skye?" Coulson called. Simmons looked up from her work.

"Yeah?" Skye responded.

"Grab your gear. You, Tripp, Fitz, and I are going on a mission."

She folded her laptop closed and grabbed her tablet, along with a number of notebooks filled with code and other notes. Skye half hugged Simmons on her way out. "Stay safe," she murmured.

"You too," Skye told her, heading for her dorm.

Thank you for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, and like the story so far. Please remember to leave a review, or follow or favorite this story! Have a nice week!