Chapter Six
When Ward returned to the Bus a short time later, he was met with a sea of sympathetic yet concerned faces. His admission had been heard through the comms. system not only by his girlfriend, but by a group of colleagues who were only just beginning to trust him again. With the news that their latest potential villain was his very own sister, Ward knew that their minds would now be focused on his own apparent betrayal a year before.
Walking through the plane's cargo hold toward the lab, he met the eyes of each SHIELD agent with a steely gaze, and it was only when he finally caught sight of Skye that he felt a brief sense of calm wash over him.
Fitz and Simmons stood side by side, leaning against the lab doors as they eyed him with a level of suspicion that was ill-concealed by the reassuring smiles they hid behind.
"This is why I'm glad I'm an only child," Hunter declared, wincing as he received a swift elbow to the ribs from Bobbi. Both she and May managed to uphold spectacularly neutral expressions that left their true feelings on the subject hidden.
"Tough break, dude," Tripp stated, shaking his head as he pondered his friend's predicament and clapped Ward on the back as he passed.
Skye beckoned Grant toward her and held out her hand, sliding her palm into his as she peered up at him. She smiled briefly as she squeezed his hand, and began to lead him upstairs, where Coulson was awaiting a debrief in his office.
"Coulson asked me to bring you up," Skye informed him, appearing to trip over her words as she added, "if... if you want, I can stay? I mean, I don't have to, and it's totally okay if you don't want me there but... if you want me to stay, I will. "
Ward managed a small smile of acknowledgement and he clutched her hand a little tighter, his expression darkening as he thought over the fresh details of his childhood that Skye would be privy to.
He paused, sighing resolutely before he replied, "I don't want there to be any more secrets between us."
Skye returned Ward's smile gently, her voice reassuring as she added, "I was kind of hoping you'd say that."
Ward raised a brow in surprise; having known that there was more than enough darkness and pain in Skye's own childhood, he had genuinely believed that she would be less than keen to learn the truth about his. The memories were such that even Grant himself shied away from reliving them, preferring to repress what he could and to compartmentalise what he couldn't.
Skye raised her knuckles and rapped lightly on the door of Coulson's office, not bothering to await an invitation before she entered with Ward trailing in her wake. Her hand fit snugly inside his, providing the comfort he so desperately needed as he entered the room and felt Coulson's probing gaze upon him. He almost staggered under the weight of it, but reminded himself that the judgement and suspicion he saw rooted in his boss' eyes was of his own imagination.
"I'm staying," Skye said firmly, punctuating her statement with a rebellious toss of her head and a pointed look. Coulson nodded in response before gesturing to the two chairs set out in front of his desk. Clearly he had anticipated as much.
"Sir, I..." Ward began, his tone betraying his despair and desperation in equal measures, "if I had known, I swear I would have said something before. You have to believe me, I..."
"Calm down, Ward," Coulson murmured, perching on the edge of his desk instead of seating himself behind it as Ward had expected. He peered down at the younger agent, folding his hands in his lap and affixing Grant with a patient smile.
"Take a deep breath," Coulson coaxed, "and when you're ready to talk, I'm listening."
Ward did as he was told and sucked in a steadying breath. A thousand long-repressed memories flooded his mind, and he felt an unfamiliar sting at the back of his throat as he struggled to make sense of where he should begin.
"Jacqueline is my older sister," he began, his gaze settled on a random spot on Coulson's desk, "I haven't seen her in sixteen years..."
Coulson nodded, shrugging slightly as he queried, "Are you sure it's her?"
"Yes sir, it's her," Ward replied darkly, his eyes so haunted that Coulson felt a rush of sympathy. He recalled all too well the content of Ward's personnel file, and the details of the young agent's childhood that had been both tragic and disturbing.
"Okay," Coulson murmured, turning to pick up a bottle of water from his desk before offering it to Ward with a smile of reassurance.
Ward shook his head and closed his eyes momentarily, preparing himself to continue, as he felt Skye's thumb brush soothing circles across the back of his hand.
"Last time I saw her, I was sixteen, right before... before Garret showed up," he explained, avoiding Coulson's gaze to the best of his ability. However, when he glanced up he found nothing but concern etched on his boss' features.
"Go on," Coulson encouraged, leaning back against his desk and doing his best to maintain a calming air.
"Jacqueline and Christian are... were... twins," Grant murmured, seeming almost lost in his own thoughts as he fixated on a spot on the carpet just beyond the leg of Coulson's desk. "She was never violent, like Christian or our mother. She was... the only person she ever respected was our father; I guess because they were so alike. Jacqueline could always manipulate people into doing whatever she wanted... I was no exception."
Coulson waited, maintaining perfect silence as Grant collected himself and Skye casually squeezed his hand a little tighter. He could see the effort required for Ward to simply speak the words as he watched the warring emotions flicker across Ward's features.
"When I was a kid, it was just little things... stupid, really..." Ward continued, his voice adopting a faraway tone, "she'd get me to steal money from Mom's purse for her and then she'd set it up so I was caught in the act. She let down the tyres of Christian's brand new car and somehow the knife found its way into my sock drawer when the maid was putting away the laundry. She... liked to make people suffer. Took real joy in it, I guess."
"She sounds like a bitch and a half," Skye grumbled, absently chewing on the fingernails of her free hand as she listened to Ward speak.
"The older we got, the more dangerous she became," Ward all but whispered, his leg beginning to bounce up and down without him even seeming to notice. "The night I went to juvie... the night of the fire... she... she was the one who called me. She told me that Christian had pushed Thomas... he'd fallen down some stairs and that... that they weren't sure if the damage would be permanent. She told me Christian was home, alone, and our parents were at the hospital. She told me I had to end it, that I knew what to do, that the gas can would be waiting in the garage behind Christian's bike... She sounded so sincere."
"Grant..." Skye whispered, feeling a chill creep up her spine as he continued, his tone almost robotic as he recounted the details of a past he had long ago tried to disassociate himself from.
"I hot wired a car, drove home, and... she was right. The gas can was exactly where she said it would be... Along with a lighter," he stated, his grip on Skye's hand tightening until it became almost unbearable. "I thought... I thought he'd killed my brother so I... Thing was, it was all a lie. Thomas was fine... Out to dinner with Mom and Dad as a reward for making the honour roll. I only found that out as I was being hauled away in a cop car."
Ward cast a tentative glance at Skye, desperately afraid that she would turn away from him , repulsed by the intimate details of his life that he had carefully catalogued away.
Skye caught the fearful expression on his face and her heart ached. Needing to allay his concerns, she inclined her body toward his and gathered their joined hands onto her lap.
"Any idea how she wound up at Medcore?" Coulson asked, diplomatically averting his gaze as Skye reached up and pressed her free hand to his jaw. He leaned in to her touch and Coulson noted the heavy breath he released, and the relief that quickly clouded his eyes.
"No," Ward responded, shaking his head, "she was pre-Med at Stamford, but after Garret and SHIELD, I lost track of my family. Christian was easier to follow because he was in the public eye, but Jack? She wasn't looking for me and I sure as hell wasn't gonna go looking for her."
"Understandable," Coulson nodded, "you weren't exactly living up on Walton's Mountain."
Ward's expression remained impassive, and Coulson cleared his throat at his own poorly timed joke. He flashed a reassuring if not slightly guilty smile at Skye, who was wearing a patented 'what the hell' expression that he had come to know well in the last few years.
"So, moving forward..." Coulson began, finding himself silenced by Ward as the younger agent raised his head.
"Sir, I respectfully request to be removed from the mission. I don't want to put you or the rest of the team in danger, and I think it would be better if I stayed out of the field on this one."
Coulson appeared to mull the request over, and his eyes ticked between the two junior agents before he pulled his lips into a frown and folded his arms across his chest.
"Request denied," he replied in an even tone, not so much as flinching as both Ward and Skye glared at him. "You have intimate knowledge of the key player, you made a new friend today who we can certainly tap for information, and your particular skill set as a Specialist makes you invaluable to this op. We need you on the team, Agent Ward."
"But, sir..." Ward spluttered, leaning forwards in his seat, clearly agitated as he stared at Coulson.
"My mind is made up, Ward," Coulson stated, cutting off the protest. A small smile blossomed on his lips as he added, "Help us out, Grant, and let us help you."
Ward fell silent, contemplating the order and obviously wondering if it was worth attempting to resist further. However, before he could formulate a valid argument, Skye had tugged him to his feet and was leading him toward the office door.
"Skye," Coulson called out, settling himself behind his desk and leaning back in his chair with his hands clasped across his stomach, "I want you to find out what Miss. Ward has been up to for the last fifteen years. If she has secrets, I want to know them; I'd like every last detail of her life on my desk by tomorrow morning- extended family, friends, properties... I want to know where she gets her nails done. And if her manicurist has secrets, I want to know those too."
"Consider it done," Skye answered, a defiant glint in her eye as she considered the task she was about to undertake, and how much she would relish helping to bring down the woman who had been a key player in destroying Grant's life, before it had even truly begun.
x-x-x
Hours later, Skye sat hunched over her laptop, the tip of her tongue poking out from between her lips as she focused her attention on the computer screen.
Her fingers moved rapidly over the keys as she searched Jacqueline Ward's bank records, DMV file, and medical records; none of which had so far provided anything of interest. Her driving record was clear, there was nothing notable in her medical file, and the bank account Skye had unearthed had not see any activity for the last five years.
Releasing a weary sigh, Skye stretched her arms above her head and yawned, before suddenly glancing toward the doorway as two soft knocks caught her attention.
Hopping down from the bed, Skye padded over to the door and slid it open, her smile instantaneous as she found Ward standing before her, complete with a plate of sandwiches in his hand.
"A handsome man bringing me food," Skye purred with a nod of approval, ushering him inside and closing the door behind him.
Ward smiled as he reached into his pocket with his free hand and retrieved a large chocolate bar, which he held up toward her, "Think of it as an apology for the pizza."
"You brought me chocolate? Agent Ward, are you trying to seduce me?" she teased, sitting back on the bed and patting the mattress beside her in eager anticipation of food.
"Any other time, sure. Tonight? Not so much," Ward replied, shooting Skye a wry smile as he handed her the plate. She settled back onto the bed and crossed her legs, setting the sandwiches down between her legs and raising one to her mouth.
"You've been holed up in here for hours. You missed dinner... Simmons made tacos. I figured you were working so hard you'd forget that you needed to do all those pesky human things, like eat and drink," Grant teased, although he was unable to hide his unease behind his forced composure.
Skye chewed silently and thoughtfully on a mouthful of cheese sandwich for several seconds, her eyes focused upon Grant, who perched on the edge of the bed they shared most nights, whenever missions did not dictate otherwise.
"How are you holding up?" she inquired in a low tone, after swallowing and licking a smear of mayonnaise from the corner of her lip. Ward seemed momentarily taken aback by the question, but he recovered admirably and shrugged.
"I'm fine," he answered, resisting the sudden urge to rake his hand through his hair, which would be a definite tell that he was being anything but truthful.
"Uh-huh," Skye said dubiously, shooting him a thoroughly unconvinced expression before she picked up the plate of sandwiches and placed it on the window ledge beside her bed. She drew up her legs and patted the space between them on the mattress, opening out her arms for Ward, who hesitated for only a moment before moving to lay back against her.
"Skye, I'm fine... really," he insisted, although when her fingers began to comb through his hair, the deep sigh he released told her otherwise.
"If this is gonna work out, Grant, you have to trust me," she said quietly, watching as he seized her free hand in his and drew her arm across his chest.
Though there was probably nobody who needed protecting less than Grant Ward - SHIELD Specialists were not, after all, known for their vulnerability - Skye wanted him to know that he was finally safe; despite her words to him all those months ago, somebody did love him.
In the throes of despair, when thinking he had been abandoned by the team who believed he was a traitor, with no sign of Fury to corroborate his actions, Ward had been driven to desperate measures. The pain he had caused those he cared for had been too much, and the thought of always being considered a monster without the chance for redemption had been too great a burden for him to live with. The scar on his arm remained as a terrifying tribute to his own desperation and remorse. Skye shuddered as she considered Ward's actions, and her heart ached with regret when she recalled her words, which had doubtlessly contributed to his fragile mental state.
Her arms fastened tighter around Grant, and it was a curious change in dynamic that seemed to provide each of them with the comfort they needed.
"I would never hurt you," Skye promised, pausing awkwardly as she felt a rumble of laughter against her chest, "ok, so yes, technically I shot you. But in my defense, I didn't know you weren't a treacherous sociopath."
"You know, if this SHIELD thing doesn't work out, you should work for Hallmark," he quipped, glancing back up at her and laughing as she swatted at his shoulder.
"Am I ever going to be done apologising for shooting you?" Skye demanded, although she wore a smirk that rather conveyed that she was largely over the majority of her guilt on the matter; it was her words that still haunted her.
"Not this side of ten years," Ward replied with a shake of his head. The couple fell into a comfortable silence, Grant leaning his head back against Skye's stomach and she brushing her fingertips across the curve of his cheekbone. However, when Skye heaved a sigh of her own, it was Ward's turn to cast a querying glance at her.
"I just..." Skye paused, her lips twitching into a frown as she continued, "I thought... I mean... What if your sister is deliberately trying to get at you because of your parents? I'm guessing all her info will have come from the news coverage. She doesn't know the truth about what really happened; it would be kind of a given that she'd assume you... Well... You know what I mean."
"That I killed them and set light to the family home?" Grant checked, his voice and expression both impressively neutral. Skye's cheeks flushed and she avoided his gaze, chewing on her bottom lip.
"Yeah," she replied somewhat awkwardly, finding herself suddenly unable to meet his gaze.
"Is that what you think happened?" he asked, leaning back to look up at her as she pointedly rolled her eyes and slid her hands down his chest so her lips could ghost the shell of his ear.
"Grant, before you ask me if I think you're a cold-blooded murderer, whose bed have you been sleeping in for the last three months? I know I have an admittedly sketchy moral code, but pillow talk with serial killers is kind of a 'no-no' for me."
She pressed a kiss to his forehead and smiled against his skin as he slid his fingers through hers, grasping both of her hands. "You told me what happened, and I believe you. But that doesn't mean she does. What if she's baiting SHIELD to get to you?"
Ward was silent for a few moments, thinking back over his sister's previous and undoubtedly mentally disturbed behaviour. Skye and Coulson were the only people who knew what had really transpired that night at the Ward home, having listened to not only Christian's tape recorded confession but also to Grant's version of events. It was true that he had snapped, that his treatment of Christian had been less than exemplary, but he had not killed his family; there was enough red in his ledger for one lifetime without adding his own parents and brother to the body count. After delivering Christian to their parents, and playing the recording for them in the drawing room whilst sipping a glass of his father's whiskey for Dutch courage, Grant had turned on his heel and simply walked out of the house; he had left with a slight spring to his step, never thinking for a second that leaving them to deal with the aftermath of perfect Christian's revelation would end in his brother turning a gun on their parents and then himself. Evidently Christian had set the fire minutes before he had shot himself, but given Grant's apparent affiliations with Hydra, he could understand why people had been quick to jump to the assumption that he had murdered his family. Indirectly, he supposed that he probably was responsible for their deaths; however, it was a fact that he could not fully bring himself to feel sorry about. Despite this, he highly doubted that his sister would hatch such an elaborate plan to avenge a family she had always appeared to loathe.
"Honestly? Long as she got her inheritance, I doubt she's too cut up about our parents. It's not how she works. Emotions are not really Jacqueline's thing."
"That a Ward family trait?" Skye quipped, arching a dark eyebrow. When she had first joined SHIELD, her SO had possessed an almost robotic manner, and she recalled how desperately he had tried to fight any form of attachment or emotion. It was hardly surprising, she now realised. Growing up without ever having felt loved or protected was something Skye understood all too well.
"It was," he allowed, turning his head and reaching up to slide his hand around the back of her neck to gently pull her down to him so his lips could find hers.
Skye leaned down over him, rewarding her boyfriend with an impressive up close and personal view of her cleavage that held him momentarily transfixed.
"Well, I think I'm a little closer to forgiving you for shooting me," he joked, running his fingertips affectionately up and down her arm as she giggled and then repeated the gesture - earning a second, somewhat muffled groan of approval from Ward.
Leaning down, Skye pressed her lips against Grant's, exploring his mouth with the tip of her tongue. He let out a low moan beneath her, but Skye drew away after only a few seconds.
"As much as I'd like to continue this, I have to..." Skye gestured to her computer, a frown already twisting her lips downwards. Ward nodded, willing his accelerated heartbeat to slow as he pushed himself up on his elbows.
"Do you need any help?" he inquired, shooting a glance at the computer screen, where Skye had several alternate pages pulled up. Not one of them had led to any ground breaking discoveries about Jacqueline Ward, leaving Skye to deduce that either the woman had gone entirely clean since breaking away from her family, or she was just excellent at covering her own tracks; Skye largely concluded it to be the latter, however, she had very few of her usual tricks left to pull out of the box and absolutely nothing to show for almost a whole day of work.
Almost reluctantly, Skye bobbed her head, torn between needing to accept actual assistance and worrying that the task would dredge up far too many painful memories for Grant.
"I'm fine, really. I need to do this, Skye," Ward reiterated, reaching out to cup her cheek. His thumb brushed against her skin, and Skye couldn't help the smile that blossomed on her lips as Grant stared at her so intently that she felt her stomach dip.
"Okay," she agreed, leaning into his touch. She inclined her head to press her lips against his, but as her hand slid around the back of his neck her stomach released a loud grumble of protest.
Ward laughed and drew away, indicating the plate of sandwiches that had been abandoned on the window ledge.
"You should eat something," he directed, edging to the side of the bed before swinging his legs over the side and standing up.
"I'll go and grab us a couple of sodas," Ward stated, watching approvingly as Skye snatched up a sandwich and then grabbed her laptop, dragging it across the mattress and onto her knees. She took a decisive bite of her dinner before replacing it onto the plate, then her fingertips began to dance across the keys again, her brow furrowing in concentration.
Ward lingered in the doorway for a moment, pausing to watch Skye at work, as he had done so many times before. After a few seconds had passed, Grant smiled to himself, and a strange and wholly unfamiliar feeling overcame him. Ward was no expert in the matter, but he thought that perhaps it felt a lot like hope.