When Ward came around, he was confused to find himself flat out on his back, with his head propped up on something warm. He opened his eyes and found himself staring directly up into Skye's elfin face, hovering upside down over him. She looked relieved.
"Oh, thank goodness," she gasped breathily. "You had me worried, there. Are you okay? You passed out."
Ridiculous, he thought to himself. He blinked several times, realizing with horror that his head was in her lap. Grant bolted upright, narrowing missing a collision with her forehead.
"Whoa, there, Turbo!" exclaimed Skye. "Please don't concuss me on our very first day."
He instantly regretted his sudden motion and clutched his skull. "Ugh, I'm light-headed", he groaned. "I wish you'd stop doing that to me!"
"Doing what?" she demanded, looking affronted. "You zoned out and keeled over! I didn't do anything to you!"
"You know what I mean," he snapped. "You said it yourself, this goes beyond drift compatibility. Every time I look at you, I can't breathe!"
"And that's my fault?!" she replied, incredulous. "You sure have a lot of nerve, Prince Charming. Do you always blame others for your problems, or I am a special case?"
"Well it sure as hell isn't the sudden onset of asthma, I know that much!" Grant yelled back at her. "You seem to be just fine, Angel, and whatever this this connection is, I don't appreciate it very much!"
He stabbed a finger at Skye's chest to mimic her earlier gesture, and they both jumped slightly when an irate meow emanated from her midsection. Grant spluttered for several moments before he could speak. "And you still have a cat shoved down your flight suit!? Why does this even surprise me? You are the most unprofessional so-called Ranger I have ever met in my life! Do you run missions with assorted livestock in the conn-pod as well? Has the marshall declared Antares Redoubt to be an off-leash area?"
Skye's jaw dropped. "Oh my God, I should have trusted my first instinct. You really are a pretentious ass!" She unzipped her red flight suit and pulled out a fuzzy black kitten. She dumped the little cat into Ward's lap and stood up.
"Here. He was a present for you," Skye spat out. "It's tradition here for everyone to adopt one of the bay cats, it means you're part of our family. I've been calling this one Buddy. Try not to kill him with your genial personality, yeah?" She stood up to leave. "Oh, and when you're finished passing out or inspecting the concrete with your face or whatever the hell you were doing, Marshall Coulson wants you in the Mess Hall to meet the other Rangers. I'm sure you'll find lots of things to look down on with them, too!"
She stomped angrily from the garden, leaving Grant on his ass with a cat in his lap, blinking curiously at him with huge yellow eyes. Skye's absence felt like a sudden chill in his bones, making him irrationally sulky.
"Buddy, eh?" he muttered at the kitten, who responded by clawing enthusiastically at the inseam of his pants. Grant winced and plucked the scrappy ball of black fur from his leg. He held it out disapprovingly. "Rule #1, Buddy," he pronounced gravely, "you are not joy-riding around in my clothes. You have a job here, and that is to catch rats. I expect you to get to work immediately. If I see a single rat, I'm holding you responsible. Do you understand?"
Buddy flopped onto his side in Grant's hand, and began gnawing on his thumb with great abandon.
Grant sighed, and picked himself up off the floor. "Do you know where the Mess Hall is?" he murmured at the cat, who unsurprisingly ignored him. "Great. Well, let's go find it. If we're lucky, we'll stumble across the elevator and we can get out of this Craziest Show on Earth."
Simmons was no longer in the Jaeger bay when Skye returned. She didn't have to ask where her best friend had gone, however. She knew without thinking. Minutes later, Skye was softly knocking beside the open door of Leopold Fitz' med bay room.
Jemma looked up from her husband's side and smiled. "Hey, Skye. Did you find Ranger Ward?"
"Yeah," Skye nodded, "it didn't exactly go well." She stepped over to the bed. "How's Fitz?"
Simmons was slowly running a hand through her husband's short dark blond curls. "He looks good today. Peaceful. I can pretend he's just sleeping," she murmured. She looked up at Skye, tears shining in her eyes. "I wish he would wake up, though," she added, her voice breaking.
In two steps, Skye was at Simmons' side and had her arms wrapped around her co-pilot. "Oh, Jems," Skye whispered. There was nothing more she could say. She held her friend tightly as she cried for several minutes, fighting off her own tears. They did this most days, and she would continue for as long as required.
Eventually, Jemma broke away with a loud sniff. "You said it didn't go well with Ward. What happened?"
"He's insufferable," complained Skye. "It's got to be a mistake. If we're actually drift compatible, I've got some serious personality flaws I need to work on."
"You know that's not how it works," Jemma tutted at her. "Honestly, Skye. I know you didn't go to Jaeger Academy, but sometimes your dramatics make it sound like you have no idea what you're doing. Did you talk to the marshall? Is he going to send him back to Panama?"
Skye frowned. "Coulson was evasive. He wants the other rangers to meet him first. And he wants an Antares test run. I'm sorry, Jems. I tried to talk him out of it…. again… but he's under so much pressure to get us back out there. He said we've got to give Ward a try."
Jemma made a face and turned her attention back to her husband. "I don't know how much longer I can do this, Skye," she murmured, threading her fingers into Fitz's hair once more.
"I'm reminding myself why we're doing this," her best friend replied. "The West Coast needs Antares, and he needs us. I don't think Ward is going to work out, but Coulson wants to see it with his own eyes. Let's just get it over with and move on."
Simmons smiled faintly. "Listen to you… suddenly the practical one, following the rules. Who are you, and what have you done with Skye?"
"Yeah, I know, it's crazy. All this being responsible is making me hungry, want to hit the mess hall? We can watch Barton and the Koenig brothers decimate Ranger Ward and that stick up his ass."
Jemma chuckled. "No, you go ahead. I'm going to read to Fitz for a while, a new microfluidics journal just arrived and I'm sure he'll be keen on it. Bring me something, though, would you kindly?"
Skye kissed Jemma lightly on the top of her head. "Of course. Love you, Jem."
"Love you too, Skye."
