He was about to sit down again, when a terrified scream echoed through the halls.
Coulson sprinted through the halls, heading towards Ward's cell. Melinda was in there and Coulson knew that although she could overpower Ward, it would not be without some injuries to both Ward and May.
"May!" he yelled, skidding to a halt outside the cell. He swiftly typed in the passcode, heart hammering in his chest.
"What the-" Coulson stopped mid-sentence as he saw Melinda May crouched in front of an obviously shaken Grant Ward. She was trying to calm him down, but Ward was vehemently shaking his head. Ward startled and May turned as Coulson came in.
"Need anything?" he asked softly, directing his question mainly at Ward. The ex-SHIELD agent shook his head.
"Get him some water" May murmured. Both noticed Ward's flinch at the word "water" and when Coulson tried to put a hand on his shoulder.
When Coulson came back, Melinda was busy trying to coax Ward into slowing his breathing. She took exaggerated breaths, trying to make Ward copy her.
"Ward, you're alright. You need to calm down" she spoke firmly, still not touching him. Ward's brown eyes still held panic as Coulson placed the glass of water on the floor in front of Ward and nudged it towards him. The agent slowly stretched out trembling fingers and grasped the glass, shakily bringing it to his lips and taking a few small sips.
"That's it" Coulson said quietly. He waited until Ward set the nearly empty glass down.
"You wanna talk?" he asked, crouching next to Melinda. Ward looked between Melinda and Phil. Coulson suddenly had the impression that Ward was a cornered animal, desperate and scared.
"I-I-I'm fine…" Ward said softly. But his eyes betrayed his words. They were sad and filled with pain.
"Okay. Why don't you try to get some sleep?" Coulson suggested. Ward nodded and slowly made his way over to the mattress, curling up on it, the blanket wrapped firmly around his torso. Coulson motioned for Melinda to follow him out of the cell.
"Get some rest," he ordered. Melinda stubbornly shook her head.
"He needs someone to stay with him" she insisted.
"I'll stay" Coulson immediately offered, "he won't be much trouble, anyways."
Both agents glanced over to see that Ward was sprawled limp on the mattress and had fallen into a deep sleep.
"You drugged him," Melinda said, sounding rather accusing.
"He needed it" Phil shrugged, "go get some sleep."
"You sure?"
"Go" Phil flapped his hand at her.
He quietly reentered the cell, taking the same position as Melinda; only he was closer to Ward's head. Coulson glanced over at Ward, pleased to see that he was completely relaxed and his breathing was even.
"He needs to talk" Melinda stated flatly. Phil had called a meeting of everybody. Skye was sitting next to Melinda, and FitzSimmons were sitting next to each other across the table.
"To who? Who wants to listen to him?" Skye asked.
May raised her eyebrows at Skye.
"You two seemed pretty close" she commented coldly.
"You-"
"Hey!" Coulson separated both women before the passive aggressive argument became a full on confrontation.
"I'll talk to him."
"What do you want us to do?" Jemma spoke up.
"Just…stay here. I'll be right back," Coulson promised.
"And you two" he pointed to Skye and Melinda, "no arguing. At least not until I come back."
Coulson quietly opened the door to the cell, not sure what to expect. Ward seemed to still be sleeping, but Coulson knelt and gently shook his shoulder.
"Ward, wake up" he ordered quietly.
Ward groaned, his eyelids slowly opening. It took him a few minutes to keep his eyes open longer than a few seconds. However, when he tried to stand, his legs immediately buckled under him. Coulson moved to steady him, putting an arm around Ward's back and easing him back onto the mattress.
"Probably just the effects of the sedative. It'll wear off in an hour or so."
Ward nodded numbly, and Coulson wondered if he had even processed what he had just said.
"You wanna talk to anyone? Melinda, me, Skye…" Coulson asked.
It took Ward a few minutes to answer.
"You" he mumbled softly.
"Okay. What do you want to talk about?"
"I-I-I don't know…I mean, I don't really know who I am. I guess you were right" Ward acknowledged softly.
"I was right about what?" Coulson asked. He knew full well what Grant was talking about. He just wanted Grant to admit it.
"What you said. About now that Garrett's gone. How I don't know who I am."
Coulson nodded.
"Well, you have plenty of time to think about that" Coulson said, patting Ward's knee, and noticing with pleasure, that the agent didn't flinch as much as he previously had.
"Wait" Ward caught hold of Coulson's arm.
"The others…FitzSimmons…S-S-Skye…did they ask…" Ward trailed off.
Coulson shook his head, hating to see the unshed tears glistening in Grant's eyes. Ward let go of Phil's wrist and sank down tiredly.
"I'm sorry" Phil acknowledged softly.
"It's okay" Ward lied. There was a sour taste in his mouth and a sudden burning sensation in his eyes.
Coulson sat down next to Ward, awkwardly putting an arm around his shoulders, gently tightening his grip. He said nothing, as Ward put his head on his shoulder. Coulson still said nothing, even as he started to feel a wet patch on his shoulders. It was only when he heard a ragged sob tear its way from Ward's throat that he started to murmur soothing things.
"Shhh…" he soothed. Ward continued to sob into Phil's shoulder, his entire body heaving, despite the increasing pain in his throat as the sobs hurt his still healing larynx.
Ward finally cried himself to the point of exhaustion, as Coulson gently laid him down on the mattress. He would have to speak to someone about getting a cot in the cell. Ward couldn't keep sleeping on a mattress.
"Stay…please" Ward mumbled sleepily, his eyes heavy with sleep. His hand fumbled loosely on the cot. Coulson sighed and before he knew what he was doing, ruffled Grant's hair.
"I'm not going anywhere."
~Author's Note~ Hope you liked this chapter. For people concerned about this, there will be NO more torture in future chapters. Please review if you feel so inclined and have a nice day!