It felt like a true miracle when her Skye finally opened her eyes. Her movements were slow and painful after the tube had been extubated, and she could only weakly rub at her throat.
"You going to fill me in on what happened or am I going to have to guess?"
"Small sips." Jemma advised her as she handed her a cup of water, to which Skye took into hand. "You were critically injured after being shot. On a scale from one to ten, how's your pain?"
"I see we're getting right down to business." Skye picked at the covers around her. "Five. All I know this getting hurt thing sucks big time."
"The good thing is you're alive." Jemma reassured her. "Let's just focus on that for a little while." Skye nodded, settling back against the pillow. Despite the wheels spinning in her head, she closed her eyes and stilled under the weight of her tiredness. When she woke, Jemma was gone. She was disoriented on just how much time had passed. Not that being inside a cube inside a plane gave her much to look at anyway.
The longer she laid there, the more curious Skye became as she stared up at the ceiling, the more questions she had, like how long would she be stuck here? What all happened when she was shot? Everything was kind of fuzzy right now.
"I have to get out of here."
She had barely thrown the covers back over legs, When Ward walked into the cube. "Thinking about escaping?" He read her thoughts with a tight smile as he sat down on the chair beside her bed, efficiently blocking her from getting off the bed.
"If memory serves right, you got shot and were trying to hide it." Skye's words were strained as she laid back down in bed.
"So you're telling me you would have tried to hide this if you could?" Ward pointed to her bandaged stomach as she slipped back under the covers.
"Not really my style." Skye wrinkled her nose as she picked at the covers again. "Okay, it is kind of my style, but I wouldn't try to hide this. Not really sure I could pull that off. You have secrets, don't you?"
"Of course. We all have our secrets."
"Some not by choice."
"Something like that." Ward slapped his knee as he stood up from his chair. "I should probably be getting back."
"Hey, Ward? Any chance you'll bring my computer back with you the next time you come visit?"
"Dying of boredom already? You just woke up."
"If only you knew."
"I know that it sucks when you're not able to go out there and do what you love, or in this instance, have the things that you want. You know what I learned?"
"I have a feeling you're going to tell me."
"Rest now. If you don't recover fully, that means the higher up won't clear you."
"Coulson?"
"Coulson may be in charge, but Simmons has to clear you first."
"Great." Skye exhaled deeply. "That higher up-got it. What time is it anyway? I can't seem to find a clock in this place." To prove her point, she held up her bare arm, then put it back down by her side.
"It's almost six in the evening."
"Six in the evening? How long have I been sleeping?"
"There will be plenty of time for questions later, trust me. Right now you need to rest."
"Well that's easier said than done." She watched with longing as he walked to the door, then sunk down into her pillow with a sigh. When he was gone, she stared up at the ceiling until she felt her eyelids grow heavy. When she awoke again, Jemma was standing beside her bed, two fingers pressing against her wrist.
"Good, you're awake." Jemma gently smiled at her as she let go of her wrist and scribbled something down on her chart.
"What I wouldn't give to be standing right about now."
"You will soon enough." Jemma reassured her, then went back to assessing her vitals as she laid there in bed.
"Can I at least use the restroom?"
"You have a catheter that we put in after you were shot. I want it to stay in until you're able to stand on your own and can walk to the bathroom yourself."
"I assure you I am fully capable of walking on my own-"
"On a scale from one to ten, how is your pain?"
"Still a five." Skye shrugged, looking a little bored of how this conversation was going. "Not any better, but not an worse either since I just woke up from being shot."
"Somehow, I don't believe that." Jenna looked unconvinced as she rifled through the medical drawer next to her, pulling out a needle and syringe and prepped Skye's arm for taking blood.
"It's all blurry."
"What's blurry?" Jemma inquired with slight alarm in the tone of her voice as she pulled out the needle from Skye's vein.
"Forget it." Skye muttered, shutting her eyes as Jemma quickly injected more medicine into her IV. "I'm just talking to myself again."
"How is she?" Coulson prompted just as Jemma walked down the hall with the vial of blood in hand.
"Her vitals are stable, but she's lying about how much pain she's in."
"Sounds like Skye. I was actually just on my way to see her." Coulson pointed back to the direction she had just come from.
"I just gave her some pain medication, so she'll probably be out for awhile. In the meantime, Fitz and I are working on analyzing any way this drug may affect her in the future."
"That's probably for the best. I'll go visit her later. Get something to eat and get some rest. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."