Skye didn't know how long she stared at the photo of Ward. She was brought out of her revere by the others returning from their 0-8-4 hunt.
"How'd it go?" Ward asked. "
It was a complete waste of time" Fitz retorted, clearly annoyed and disappointed.
"Why?"
"There was no 0-8-4" Coulson explained.
"Oh. Ok then"
A few days later Coulson partially removed the restriction on Ward's night-night band. It now allowed him to work out but he still couldn't leave the plane. Skye had been bugging him to restart training now that Simmons had cleared her to so he was teaching her hand to hand combat.
"It's all very well and good learning to punch a bag, but a bag doesn't punch back" he reasoned with her.
So they started sparring. Ward was holding right back, knowing he could seriously hurt her. But he felt Skye was too so he stepped it up a gear. He taught her to parry punches and use her elbows to great effect. Skye physically struggled with the elbow to elbow work so Ward placed his hands on her hips and manoeuvred her to stand in front of the punch bag. "
Shadow my movements he told her" taking up a position right behind her.
She could feel his hot breath on the back of her neck. It was making her head spin in a really pleasant way. He took her wrists in his hands and started, slowly and smoothly elbow punching the bag. Every breath was making Skye feel weaker and weaker against him. Suddenly the photograph of the redheaded woman flashed in her mind and she pushed Ward off her.
"I think I got it." She told him. "Well let's see shall we? We are going back to hand to hand. I expect you to do better."
Skye took her position and Ward took his. Before Skye knew it she was on her back with Ward sitting on top of her pinning her hips to the floor and restricting her hands above her head. All she could do was stare into his beautiful brown eyes and try not to react. Suddenly Ward got up.
"We are done for today."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Go shower up and I'll be up soon."
Skye left feeling very, very confused. Ward had felt the spark. The familiar rise in his emotion level and in order to suppress it he had sent Skye away. She didn't need to witness what was going to happen next. One fist hit the bag, then the other. Before he knew it he was in a full workout fist frenzy. He had no concept of time, no concept of space. He also had no concept of the spanner floating 3 foot to his left. Hours passed and Skye, wondering where he had got to went searching for him. She found him in the workout room. "
"Ward?" He spun quickly as a spanner went flying at Skye and hit her on the cheek.
As she looked at him she thought she saw the faintest flash of blue in his eyes. When she looked again as he placed a cloth to her bleeding wound, his eyes were as brown as they always were. "
No." She reasoned to herself "A person cannot change their eye colour just like that. I must have that photo on my mind."
"Come on. Let's get that seen to. It looks deep"
"I'm going to start calling the Lab table the ER soon. How many of us have been on this table?"
Ward just chuckled. He brushed Skye's hair out of her face and bathed her cut with cotton wool. It stung so she reached for Ward's hand to pull it off her. He leaned in close and looked her straight in the eyes. There was a mutual recognition of trust flicker between them and she dropped her hand and let Ward carry on tending to her face.
"Ward?" she said questioningly. "Why...?"
"Not now Skye" he said. Trying to convey a tone that said "We will talk about it but not here and not now. You don't know who is listening"
He could see that she was upset as she stalked off out of the Lab. He left it a minute and then followed to go shower up. From the balcony, May came out of the hiding space she was occupying when she heard Ward and Skye enter the Lab. She had heard enough to know that Skye had feelings for Ward. She did wonder if he felt the same for her, and if Skye was the woman he desired."
We've found it!" Fitz and Simmons burst upstairs.
"Where's Coulson?" Simmons asked.
"Found what?" Ward asked her
"The 0-8-4!"
"What about it?" Coulson asked entering the room.
"We tracked its energy signature, a bit like they did in New York, except this time it worked and we haven't been taken to pieces by madmen!" Fitz rambled.
"Ok. Everyone downstairs" Coulson ordered. "Ward, a minute?"
"Everything alright?"
"Everything's fine. But you know I can't let you go."
"I'm fine. Fit as a fiddle"
"Really?" Coulson asked him, while at the same time injecting him using a 'gun' type mechanism.
"Ow. Jesus. What was that?"
"It will help. Trust me."
