Hey, guys! This is my Christmas special, and the idea (although I turned it slightly Christmassy) came from GrandMoffAmbrius. Hope you like it!

If you have any ideas, send them me as usual, in a PM or review, and I'll write them up after Christmas.

And to the guest who wants an extension on chapter eight, I'll aim to have the written for the new year!

Enjoy, and happy holidays!

In which May notices everything, and wants to know what Ward is doing, so she follows him. What she discovers, surprises her.

Part 10: Labradors On Christmas

Melinda May was an observant woman, and she saw everything that went on in the Playground. She noticed when Hunter slipped into Bobbi's room at night, she noticed when Fitz and Simmons held hands under the table in the lab, she noticed when Skye and Coulson started to plan a secret Christmas party, and she noticed when Ward disappeared for around 3 hours everyday.

Ward may have redeemed himself, but May was still suspicious of him. Why was he wandering off for hours everyday? Was it to contact HYDRA? May couldn't trust him without knowing exactly what Ward was doing. So one day, May decided to follow him. She couldn't let the festivities blind her. Just because it was Christmas did not mean that Ward couldn't be a traitor. No, May had to find out exactly what he was doing.

Ward walks calmly out of the base, a rucksack on his back. May frowns, wondering what is in it. She pads softly after him, her footsteps soundless on the ground. He glances over his shoulder and May ducks behind a tree. He keeps walking on, until he ducks into an old shed. May frowns. That shed had been there since they moved into the Playground, and to her knowledge it doesn't have anything of worth in it. Let alone a good satellite connection. So what is Ward doing in there?

May waits a few minutes and then walks over to the shed and kicks open the door. She breathes quietly in the dark, her breath forming mist in the cold air, and creeps up behind Ward. He's sitting in the floor, crossed legged, looking ta the floor in front of him. May frowns again and creeps over and looks at the thing he's looking at.

It's a chocolate Labrador. It is injured and Ward is tending to it.

"How do you know how to look after that lab?" May asks suddenly. Ward jumps and turns around, smiling sheepishly.

"Oh, hey May. I was wondering when you'd start following me here." He says, stroking the lab soothingly. It whimpers slightly. May gracefully sits down next to him, her legs folding neatly underneath her. She watches silently as Ward gently grabs the lab's paw.

"He got caught in a trap." Ward explains as he unwraps the bandage on it and changes it for a fresh one. "So I brought him back here."

"Him?" May asks. "You haven't named him?"

"No, and I don't intend to." Ward scratches the dog's neck. "I had a dog called Buddy before, you know. He was a lab like this."

"Really? When did you have a dog, Ward?" May asks, intrigued. She smiles at the dog as it yawns and buries it's nose into Ward's hand. There's something about the innocence of an animal's eyes that warms her heart. Animals are like that: they love unconditionally, and they never hold back. Watching Ward with the dog, it occurred to May that maybe the animal was a good thing for him.

"You know that I met Garrett in juvie when I was 15?" Ward starts. May nods, remembering what Coulson had told her about Ward. How Garrett had recruited him straight out of juvie, and then had left him alone in the woods for 5 years.

"Well, he took me to the Wyoming woods, where he owned a patch of land so he knew no one would stumble upon me, and he left me with a dog." Ward says, feeding the lab in front of him some dog treats. The dog licks them all up, his tongue lolling out of his jaw. "The dog was called Buddy, and he was my solitary companion for those years."

"What happened to the dog?" May almost dreads hearing the answer as she knows that either it was left to fend for itself or...it was eliminated. And knowing Garrett, she's leaning towards the second option. But surely Garrett was not that cruel, to make Ward love something and then order it dead?

It turns out he was.

"On the day Garrett took me back to civilisation, he ordered me to get ride of the dog. And I could refuse, because that would be a weakness." Ward scratches the dog's ears, his eyes glued to the dog as he finishes his tale.

"He didn't?" May half whispers, in horror. No man could be that cruel?

"I tried to kill Buddy, I did. But I couldn't, so I shot a billet in the air, and he ran off, like he always did when ever I shot a bullet." May breathes a sigh of relief. But Ward's not done yet. "But then I heard a shot in the distance, and then I saw Garrett putting away his shotgun." Ward shrugs. "So I figure he took care of Buddy for me."

"Oh my-" May shakes her head, and then looks at the injured dog in front of them. In that instance, she makes up her mind.

"Come on, Ward." She says determinedly, getting to her feet. "Bring the dog back with us."

"Really?" Ward frowns. "Won't he get under everyone's feet?"

"I don't care." May is firm on her decision. "We are not letting a dog freed to death out here, okay?"

"Okay." Ward nods, scooping the dog up in his arms. He looks at May almost shyly. "Thanks May."

"No problem." May's lips twitch into an approximation of a smile. "It's Christmas, after all."

Needless to say, the dog is a huge hit. All the team fuss over it, cooing at the dog who, frightened by all the attention, sticks to Ward's side like glue. Skye is especially fascinated by the creature. The dog glances at the tree they have decorated suspiciously, sniffing it doubtfully. Simmons squeals in delight, and starts to take lots of pictures of the animal on her phone.

"What's his name?" She asks Ward, stroking the dog's muzzle.

"A dog?" Coulson asks her, his eyebrow raised.

May shrugs, smiling a secretive smile.

"Oh, man!" Hunter yelps suddenly, scrambling to his feet. "The damn dog just peed on me!"

The room explodes into laughter. Bobbi falls off her seat in hysterics.

"Bobbi!" He complains. "Why aren't you on my side?"

Skye clutches her sides as she laughs, and even May cracks a small smile.

"So what is he called anyway?" Fitz asks, intrigued.

"His name is..." Ward looks up at her and gives her a quick smile. "Calvary."