Chapter Seven (I Can Make It Right)

"Hydra?" Fitz asked. "As in the bloody fool that just tried to kill us? You're one of them?! Then why the hell are you still here?!" A disgusted looked formed on the young engineer's face.

Ward gulped, "Fitz, please, let me explain." he said in a soft voice.

"Why should we let you explain?!" Fitz exclaimed. "You're one of those murderous traitors. Again, why the hell are you still here?"

"Fitz, let him say something." Simmons said. "If Coulson still has him here, then there's a pretty good reason to why."

"Fine." Fitz stated coldly, glaring at Ward.

Coulson nodded, "Ward, can you please explain this?" he asked.

Ward nodded slowly, "Like I said, I was Hydra, but not now." he began. "I realized the position that I was in would lead me down a dark path that I couldn't return from. And what Garrett did to me, did no help for me.

And what I'm about to say isn't going to make any sense to you, except Skye." he continued. "But it's why I changed my mind and stayed here."

"What?" Triplett asked.

"When I was comatose for a month, I had a dream. The reason why I was so confused when I woke up was because that dream lasted over an year to me. And it was showing me the future, what would occur if I chose Garrett over you guys. And it was nothing good."

"The future?" Simmons asked, not believing it. "Doesn't seem likely."

"What happened in this 'future'?" May questioned.

"Believe it or not, Coulson was the new Director of SHIELD. In the new base he had, I was locked up in the basement like an animal, hardly ever getting any interaction. Only from Skye, and that was just because it was for information. But it did make sense to be payment for what I did." Ward explained.

"What did you do?" Coulson asked, narrowing his eyes.

"I killed Hand. I kidnapped Skye. I ejected Fitzsimmons out of the damn plane. And Fitz was knocked into a coma for several weeks, leaving him with brain damage. You have no idea the guilt I felt from that."

Both Fitz and Simmons' faces fell, realizing that there was no way that Ward was making any of this up.

"While locked up, I tried to kill myself three times and it got me nowhere. Eventually, Coulson sold me out to my senator brother and sent me to my death. I escaped though. But I eventually came back for Skye, to take her to her father. To fulfill a promise I made. She ended up shooting me three times in the side and left me for dead. I survived though." Ward trailed off and didn't say anything else to them.

"Anything else?" May asked, still trying to take the story in.

Ward looked down and shook his head, "No, not much. But soon after I woke up, I knew that the dream was real. I knew that, for some reason, I was being given a second chance at everything.

I wouldn't tried to stop the Hydra Uprising, but by the time I had everything figured out it was too late to say anything. I thought denying Garrett would change everything. I thought that making my true loyalties lie with the this team would change everything."

"So was everything you had with us a lie?" Triplett asked. "Why were you here?"

"Originally, yes." Ward replied. "Everything was a lie. I was only here to figure out how the hell Coulson survived, so a way for Garrett to keep living could be found. But I didn't expect friendships to form." He looked to Fitz as he said that. "And I did think that, I didn't think that…." he trailed off.

Skye frowned, "You didn't think that what?" she asked.

Ward looked Skye firmly in her eyes, "I didn't think that I would fall in love." he said softly.

Skye's face fell softly and a small smile formed, "And I'd never thought that you would say that word." she said in disbelief.

"It's true." Ward said. He looked back to the rest of the team, "But whatever the hell that was that I saw, It's made me change everything. I'm not Garrett's lap dog, I'm not Hydra. I'm none of that. I don't intend to hurt anyone on this team, I won't let myself go down that path again.

Coulson, If you want to know where my loyalties lie, they're right here." he continued. "I'm not going to stab any of you in the back. I'm staying right here, only if you let me though. I was given that second chance and I took it, I just hope that it worked in the end."

Coulson took a breath and looked to the rest of the team. He already knew that Skye wanted him to stay, but the others were another story. Honestly, Coulson did believe that Ward's loyalties were now with the team and what was left of SHIELD. But what were the others to say?

"I'm fine with it." Coulson finally said. "But Ward, we'll watch you for a while just to make sure. And you can't go anywhere in your condition anyways."

May nodded, "I'm with Coulson."

Triplett sighed, "As long as you don't hurt anyone, dude. I'm fine with it. And besides, I don't think that you will."
"We're fine." Fitzsimmons said at the same time.

Coulson nodded and looked back to Ward, "Well, Grant, I guess you're fine. Like I said, we'll watch you for a while. But what the hell is there to do now?" he asked. "SHIELD's most likely gone. There's nowhere to turn. Hell, we'll probably be branded as traitors and criminals. We don't have anywhere to go." He turned around and started to walk off, "This is the beginning of a long road to hell."

May looked at them, "I'll go with him." she said, following after the distraught agent.

Fitzsimmons soon left with Triplett and went to the lab, since they were uncomfortable with being around Ward right now. But in time that discomfort would change.

Skye looked to Ward and smiled, "Looks like you got that second chance that you wanted." she said. "You're still here and not locked up in some kind of jail cell. Whatever darkness you fell to in that future, hopefully its gone and it won't come back."

Ward gave her a half-hearted smile, "God, I hope so." he said. "Skye, you don't know how much this means to me. The whole time in that dream, one of my main thoughts was trying to get back with the team, even though it wouldn't ever happen then. And not this team."

"What do you mean 'not this team'?" Skye asked frowning.

"There were two other agents with you guys. And Triplett, he, he was gone." Ward replied.

"What do you mean?"

"He died. I don't remember how though. But he did. Hopefully what I did will keep him alive." Ward explained. "I just want things to stay like this. I don't want them to ever change."

Skye smiled and scooted closer to Ward and rested her head on his shoulder, "Grant, I don't know about that." she said. "We're probably fugitives by now and there's no SHIELD left to go back to. But if you just mean this team, then it'll probably stay the same no matter what now." she said.

Ward smiled, "Hopefully you're right."

"Now, something I've been meaning to ask you." Skye stated. "

"What?"

"My father. You said that in that future you took me to my father. He's alive?"

Ward nodded, "You wouldn't like him though, he's pretty much a psychopath." he replied.

"But he's alive?"

"Yes."

"Please, tell me about him, Grant."

The two continued to talk, thinking that how everything was now was what was meant to be. But there were darker things to come to not just them, but the entire team.

Sometimes you can change things, but you are destined for a certain fate that you can't avoid.

Somethings are just mean to be.

End of Part One

Author's Note: I don't own AoS, Marvel does. So it seems that Ward's second chance has worked and he's staying with the team. But this is only the end of part one and there are darker things to come. Part two will be a several month jump and will pick up around the time Cal comes in. This is where everything starts going to hell. Ward tries to change more things, but only finds that somethings can't be changed and even worse things happen when you try. Keep reading and PLEASE favorite, follow, and/or review! (Can we make it to 44/45?) ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.