A/N: Hey Guys it feels good to be able to get a second chapter out in a week, I would like to say a huge thanks to all those who have read so the story far, the support has been huge so thank you. To Kajtena, thank you for the review, tell me what you think about this, and whether this is what you thought.
Again as always I still do not own any the characters present aside from Maddi.
Beep… Beep… Beep
That was all that Grant could hear when he started to regain consciousness, immediately he thought this is a weird thing for hell, that is where I am right, I mean I died in that prison, why is it soft and comfortable and what is that beeping, it's going at the same time as my heart… wait that means I'm alive but how? I was poisoned, I died in prison. With that there was a shuffling around in the room and he strained to listen.
"He's waking up, go and get everyone else, they'll all want to be here when he finally does wake up properly."
I know that voice but where from, it was not Maddi, and she's the only person that actually wants to speak to me Grant thought to himself. He was getting more confused with every passing minute, once he heard the door open and close meaning that one of the people had left the room he heard the first speak again,
"You do know that, I know you're awake and can hear me and have been for the last couple of minutes?
Grant opened his eyes and let himself get adjusted to the harsh fluorescent lights above him before he settled his vision upon someone he thought that he would never see again,
"Hello Grant, you know I never believed them when they told me you were Hydra until I watched your confession at the hospital, I never thought that someone would be able to deceive me. I thought we were friends Grant, more than friends for a while, was any of it real?"
"Nat, I'm sorry, I never meant for you to find out like this, actually I had hoped to never have this conversation, but I've seen over the last few months with the help of Maddi, my shrink, that whilst I made bad choices, which I completely accept full responsibility for, that I want to try and make up for those things. So I think the first step that I have to take is to apologize for not being honest with you, we are friends Nat or at least before I screwed everything up we were, but the person I was with you was real, I didn't deceive you I didn't have to act, you made me feel comfortable." Grant was shifting uncomfortably the whole time however he forced himself to look her in the eye the whole time, he owed her that much.
As luck would have it that's when the doors to his room opened up and Grant's jaw just dropped when he saw who was walking through it, it was the rest of the freaking Avengers, first was Steve Rodgers, then Clint Barton, Thor, Bruce Banner, lastly Tony Stark, even Nick Fury walked in but last it was with a sigh of relief that Maddi walked in and shut the door.
Grant was completely at a loss at what to say; he was looking between all of them nervously waiting for someone to say something, after what seemed forever it was Clint that spoke first,
"So how are you feeling kid?"
Grant had to do a double take after that,
"What do you mean?"
"I mean are you alright? Someone did just poison you, you know."
"Well yeah I do and I'm ok I guess, but what I don't understand is why all of you are here, I'm not that dangerous anymore, I'm not going to try and break out of wherever I am and go on a rampage or anything."
At that everyone in the room just smiled, if anything this made Grant even more nervous, next it was Fury that spoke,
"Ward we know damn well that you aren't going on a so called 'rampage' Dr. Hartley has told us everything that you've told her in your time in the hospital and in the prison, what we are here to do is offer you a chance."
"A chance sir? A chance for what exactly?" Grant asked, not really sure what he could have possibly meant, whilst going a deep shade of red when Fury had said that Maddi had told them everything.
"Well to start with I thought a chance to be someone better would be fair, what do you say Barton?" Nick Boomed
"Yeah that sounds about right... to start with anyway." He supplied with a shrug.
"Rodgers what about you, do you thinks that he deserves a chance?" Fury moved on asking Steve,
"Yes sir," he easily responded then turned turned to Grant, "You know Ward whilst I am not completely sure that anyone forgives you yet, we understand that what you did isn't completely you fault ok."
"OK well that makes it 3-Ward gets a chance 0-he goes back to prison. So banner what about you, you good for giving the boy a chance?"
"Well after being on the receiving end of some not so pleasant circumstances myself I reckon that he deserves a chance to be better."
Grant could not believe what he was hearing all of these people, these heroes were up and giving him a chance, a chance to help him get better and to be better. He was so wrapped up in his head in fact that he missed Tony also agreeing that he warranted a chance, in fact he was only brought back to the room when he heard Fury ask Nat if she thought he could have a chance, and without realizing it he drew in a breath, he then realized that out of all of the people in the room this was the opinion that mattered the most to him, Natasha was the one that he had personally hurt, she was the one that he wanted to make it up to the most in the room.
So when he looked over to her and she looked undecided like she wanted to give him a chance but at the same time was wary of giving him the chance in case he hurt her again.
"Well sir, out of all of us I am finding this the most difficult because Grant and I have a history together, and I won't lie it hurt when I found out that he was Hydra but then when I heard what he had gone through I was more angry at myself that I didn't notice what Garrett had done and was still doing to him even when we were together I didn't notice-"
At this stage Grant cut in he was not about to up and let Nat take any of the blame for his mistakes,
"Nat, it is definitely in no way your fault, it was meant to pass under your notice, when he hit me he made sure it was during a mission so that there was an excuse, a way to pass it off."
"Grant I still should have seen it!" She yelled at him, "We lived together for like two whole years, and not once did I question the bruises or the cuts or any of the wounds you got, what sort of person am I to let this happen."
"Nat I know exactly what sort of person you are, you are pretty much one of the best people I know, you took me under your wing when i first left the academy, a lot of the skills I have are because of you, so you have to forgive yourself because I have never, not once blamed anyone else for any of the thing that I CHOSE to do, this was always my mess, but I want so badly to make it right, if you give me the chance I know I can be better." Grant responded, there was so much emotion running through him, he never got like this he had been taught to compartmentalize his feelings, that feelings were a major weakness, Garrett had spent weeks beating it out of him, at this one or two of his ribs started to tingle a bit, as if they were responding to the memory.
"Well Fury, I know what it is like to have red in my ledger and have the burning desire to try and make up for it, so yes I think that he needs this chance." Natasha continued, she was never not going to give him a chance, yes he had hurt her but she wanted so much to believe that he was good when he was with her.
"Good so everyone is in agreement then you are to be given the chance to right your wrongs, however just so you know, firstly your old team won't know about this, at least until a few things have been sorted anyway. Also you are to recover from your poisoning, and I will know, the doctors will update me daily about your condition. Then spend a few weeks training again, getting back into shape and then afterwards you will mainly be on Romanov, Barton and Rogers team taking down Hydra cells for a start but you will also help all of us out at different times for different things alright." Fury explained, his one good eye focused on Grant the whole time, letting him know that at the moment he was the most important part of this conversation.
"Yes sir I understand, I have a question though?"
"Yes Ward"
"Where the bloody hell am I sir?" At this everyone one in the room began to chuckle, finding it humorous the direct, straight to the point nature of the question.
"Well, you're in my tower in New York of course." Tony stated as if it were obvious, still laughing as he said so.
Grant then began to yawn, the full effect of waking up from sedation and being involved in such a heavy conversation hitting him, he then fully realized that he would need to rest and get some real sleep as he was coming out of the sedation from the poisoning. He then spoke up looking at everyone in turn,
"Um I would like to thank you all for being so nice and agreeing to give me a chance even if I don't think that I fully deserve it, but this has been draining, so um I'm going to try and get some rest."
With that everyone left this room all saying goodbye, telling him that he did actually deserve a second chance. He was also given a handshake as well from all of the guys, Nat who gave him a hug and Maddi who also gave him a hug but also a squeeze to the hand. Once the room was empty Grant began counting the beeps of his heart monitor and began to drift off into the best sleep he had had in years.
The next few days passed in a blur for Grant he spent them in the bed in Stark Tower, he was visited everyday by all of the Avengers and by Maddi, he was still overwhelmed by the support that they were giving him, he was convinced that this must be part of some dream and that he would wake at any moment and realise that he was back in prison dying.
It wasn't until a week later that when he was talking to Maddi, he had been allowed out of bed by now so was sitting on the couch watching a movie with her when he asked a question that he had been toying with since he woke up,
"So Maddi," he began,
"Hmm," she replied,
"Why did you call fury or whoever it is that you called to bring me here?"
"Grant this was always the plan, for you to be brought here and be given the chance to redeem yourself, the attack on you just brought forward our timeline a bit.' She said smiling back at him,
"Always part of the plan, so how long have you been working for Fury then?" Grant asked her, not really sure if he was following what she meant.
"Pretty much my whole career, used to be one of the SHIELD shrinks before the fall, however, when Fury asked me to work with you and see if there was something worth saving I jumped at the chance." Maddi explained patiently understanding that Grant was slow to trust and he would continually need to be reassured.
"Why though? What did you see in me that made you believe that I could be salvaged or redeemed?" Grant asked tentatively not really understanding what he had done to warrant such belief.
"Grant I won't say that everyone always deserves a second chance because they don't, but you, you deserve this chance, you have been abused your while life, and when you thought that John took you away from that hell you believed that you owed the man everything, you were psychologically tortured then by having all human contact bar him removed. So Grant that is what I saw in you, that is what made me give you a chance." Maddi replied a lot of different emotion passed over her face and Grant noticed this, he always noticed when her expression would change.
"Thank you Maddi for being honest with me, I don't agree with everything you've said, but know that I want to, and that I will try." Grant replied a tear starting to form in his eyes.
Just then Clint and Steve walked in and came up to Grant,
"Hey kid, you ready to start training again, with me and Steve of course?" Clint grinned as he spoke knowing that Grant had been itching to do something physical for the last week.
"Yeah that would be great just give me a minute to go change and grab my stuff, I'll meet you guys here in like five minutes." Grant instantly replied grinning himself at the fact that finally he could do something ton burn all of this nervous energy that had been building up over the week. He had been super bored so he was going to give this workout his all.
A/N: So that's it for another chapter, this perhaps took a turn in a direction not expected? So as always thanks for reading and please send through your review, I love hearing the feedback for what I have written.
