Ward had spent the morning sat with the other men, trying to decide on when to have the tournament. He had to hand it to Skye when she had burnt down the challenge area; she had delayed the tournament for a long time. He wasn't going to have to compete for a while. Unless they were stuck here for a long time then he wasn't going to have to fight. He hoped they weren't going to be here for much longer. It was becoming more obvious that him and Skye didn't fit in. They didn't know the etiquette of the society, which was becoming clearer. Just last night they had found out how women weren't supposed to lift their dresses above their ankles. Which would be fine if it wasn't so hot. He felt for Skye. She couldn't lift up her dress or push up her sleeves. He was hot enough in what he was wearing. He couldn't imagine what it would be like in the dress she had to wear. It was so elaborate that it had to be uncomfortable normally, never mind in this heat.

His meeting had broken up and so now he was heading to find Skye. He wanted to make sure she was all right, both from last night and in this heat. One woman had passed out last night due to heat stroke. He didn't want the same thing to happen to Skye. He knew she was stronger than the woman who had passed out last night but that didn't stop him worrying. He was the only one here to look after her, which was something he took seriously. Yesterday she had shown how vulnerable she could be here. He knew she was still putting on a brave face so he wanted to keep an eye on her for a little while. He wanted things to be easy for her while she recovered. If there was anything he could do to make her happy then he would do it.

Turning a corner he saw Isabel and the other ladies of the court. He knew Skye had been spending time with them; they kept her mind away from their situation. But looking around them he couldn't she her. Maybe they would know where she had gone.

"Ladies, I'm sorry to bother you but have you seen … my wife?" He was going to ask about Skye but then remembered everyone thought she was his wife. It was better to ask that way then by her name. He didn't mean to stumble over the words though.

"Ah Sir Ward. We have just been talking about you with your lovely wife. She has just left. We wanted to talk to you actually. Please have a seat." Isabel spoke and he knew he had no choice but to take that seat.

He had no idea what this was about but he had a feeling it wasn't going to be good.

"We know you have just got married but we feel you are doing her a disservice." Started Isabel who appeared to be the leader of the group due to her status. Ward really didn't like this. He didn't think he had done anything wrong. Had he done something wrong?

"We all know that men have important things to do but you are failing in one of your important duties. How have you not got your lovely wife pregnant yet? We all know men want a son to carry on their line. Well it can't happen unless you get her pregnant."

All Ward could do was sit and stare at the women. Skye? Pregnant? WHAT?

"All you need to do is seduce her. It's not hard. She is a beautiful woman. A little planning and you will be sorted." Isabel continued.

Seduce? Skye? Pregnant? WHAT?

"It will be very easy to organise. You should start by removing your top. We've seen the way she looks at you. We know she is interested."

They were trying to tell him how to seduce Skye? How could he get out of this conversation? HELP!


After a long, embarrassing conversation with the ladies he had finally escaped and found out where Skye was going. He still couldn't believe he had just had that conversation. It was definitely not going to tell Skye about that. God those women were scary.

He was now heading towards the lake. Skye had been seen wandering in that direction when she had left the women earlier. The lake was beautiful, bright blue. The water looked so inviting. He wished he could swim in the water. There was nobody around so it was possible. But first he had to find Skye.

He eventually spotted her sitting on the side of the lake. Hair blowing slightly in the breeze. God she was beautiful. She was relaxing on a blanket. He couldn't help but smile when he saw that she had removed her shoes. She wasn't supposed to according to society rules here, but then his rookie had never been one for following the rules. It was one of the things he had begun to see in a different light due to her. She had taught him that in certain circumstances it was ok to break the rules, in fact it was encouraged. She was an amazing woman.

When he was close enough for her to hear him he spoke, not wanting to startle her.

"Hey. I was looking for you. Isabel told me you might be here when I bumped into her."

He couldn't help but blush at the mention of Isabel. All he could think about was that conversation and seducing Skye. It wouldn't be as bad if he didn't want to do it. His dreams had become full of Skye. Little things that she did, her laugh, her smile. In some of them yes he did seduce her. But they were just dreams. DO NOT THINK ABOUT THAT GRANT!

He knew she had noticed the blush on his face. Thankfully she didn't question him about it.

"Yeah I was hoping to have a swim but there were too many people around before. But now its clear and I can swim. Come and swim with me Ward."

"What? No. We have nothing to swim in."

There was no way he could swim with Skye. It would mean skinny-dipping. The water was so clear that you could see straight through it to the bottom. No. There was no way he could do that. He would look and then hate himself for doing so. She deserved her privacy.

"So? Have you never skinny dipped before Ward? You have to be hot. Come and cool down."

Yes he had skinny dipped before but there was no one around to see it. Before he could reply, she stood up and started to remove her clothes. He couldn't force himself to turn as he watched her untie her corset. It was like the other night when she had gone for the bath. His mind was going places that he just couldn't stop. He came to his senses when he saw the dress drop to her waist. He couldn't invade her privacy by watching, not matter how much he wanted to.

He heard splashing noises as she entered the lake. He wanted to turn and watch. To see if she was as graceful in the water as he imagined. He couldn't join her. Coulson would kill him if he ever found out. May would do worse than kill him. She might not say much about it, but he knew how fond she was of his rookie. He was so torn. He could do with a swim now. Sighing he turned slowly, noticing she was far enough away for him to watch while still giving her privacy.

"Come on Ward! You only live once. Life a little." She called.

That made up his mind. She clearly wasn't bothered and he really needed to cool down. He would just have to make sure that the team never found out about this. He reached for the tunic discarding it on the ground beside her clothes. Just removing that felt so much better. Once he removed the leggings there was no going back. He had already made his decision so stripped himself of his final barrier and strode into the lake.

The water was fantastically cool. He felt better as soon as he entered the water.

"All right. You win. I'll swim." He called to her.

"So I see. I always win.

Yes she always did. She had now turned to face him and had begun to swim towards him.

"Skye." He said with a warning.

She ignored it. Of course she ignored him. Stopping just in front of him she spoke,

"Take a change Grant. What have you got to loose?"

What had he got to loose? He could loose her. He could do something he had wanted to do for a while but it could cost him her. But he was beginning to loose this battle with himself.

"Everything. I could loose everything." He spoke, looking directly into her eyes.

"What if I said you wouldn't?" She replied.

He couldn't think of a reply to that. So he simply lent towards her, moving slowly so she could move away if she wanted to. When she didn't he gently pressed his lips to hers. He felt her arms move around his neck, pulling him down towards her. His arms circled her waist holding her close.

"Took you long enough." She muttered against his lips, before pulling him deeper into the lake.


Simmons had spent the day trying to understand the machine that contained her friends. Together with Leo she had finally figured out what the machine was and how to get their friends out without hurting them.

She was now stood with Leo explaining the machine to May and Coulson.

"Basically the machine sends the mind into another place. Whoever built this theorised that the mind could be sent back in the past and could take control over somebody else's body. I don't think the technology has developed enough for that so I believe that Skye and Ward are just in created reality. Here everything would appear as normal, they could move around as in real life just they are not doing it in their own body. I believe this reality is based on history, specifically the medieval time period as shown in this book." She explained holding up the book she mentioned.

Leo had found it when looking around at the machine. The notes inside suggested that the reality the machine was using had been based on medieval times. At least Skye and Ward hadn't been sent anywhere too dangerous. If they were killed in the machine then they would die here. Anything else that happened wouldn't actually happen to their bodies, as they were controlling either someone else's, when the technology had developed that far, or the bodies created for that reality.

"Can you get them out safely?" asked May.

"Yes. We are going to start now. We have to take it slowly as otherwise we could do damage to them. But thankfully whoever built this machine left very clear instructions."

"Well then lets get them back."


*There you go. I'm aware some of this was repeated from the earlier chapter but I wanted to write the lake scene from Ward's point of view. Hope you liked it. So I watched the most recent episode and OMG. I won't say anything in case people haven't seen it yet but I squealed and then cried. I'm totally in denial and still won't hear a bad word against them. Anyway next time, Skye and Ward come out of the machine but find out some surprising news.*