The Strength in Darkness
Spoilers: All Episodes of AoS
Disclaimer: I own nothing unfortunately.
Skye groaned as her back hit the workout mat on the floor of the gym, the heavy weight of her kind-of-but-not-sure boyfriend loomed over her. His hands were against her wrists and his knee dug into her thigh to hold her down. Part of her regretted asking him to teach her how to physically defend herself without a weapon. Out of the two hours they'd been working on her training, she'd been on her back 90% of the time.
"Providence." The safe word he'd asked her to give him happened to be the name of the safe house where everything rose and fell so quickly. Like the twenty times before, he sat back on his legs and let her go. "That one hurt." She sat up rubbing her head and moaning, "I want a hot shower and a nice massage."
Ward watched her for any signs of actual injury, not that the crystal around her neck wouldn't repair any of the damage within a day. They'd already discovered that when she walked into a door after he'd taken his shirt off right outside his quarter, he'd smirked at her until she'd hit the doorframe to her own quarters. A bruise had developed on her forehead a few hours later but within a day it was gone, despite being the size of his fist.
"It's not uncommon for training agents to be put on the mat repeatedly." He pulled her closer to him and turned her around, rubbing her shoulders. She leaned her head forward till her chin rested on her chest. "You should ask May how many times she found herself face down on a mat as rookie agent. I think she'll surprise you with the numbers."
Skye moaned as his hands massaged her shoulders and upper back. "Don't care right now. You can put me on a mat any day of the week if you finish with a massage. I swear I'm two seconds away from telling you how much of a god you are."
"Normally I'd say get a room but I was thinking maybe the standard sexual harassment lecture would be more beneficial." Both heads snapped up and turned to see Coulson a few feet away from them. "Not to intrude but as deputy director, you are expected not to take favorites in your agents." He folded his arms as they both stood up, looking like guilty school children. "Considering what I see right now, I'd say Agent Ward is being shown a lot of favoritism."
Skye put her head in her hands and groaned, "this is so embarrassing."
"Glad you think so," Coulson chuckled, "remember there is a difference between being Skye and being the deputy direction. However, that difference is separated by the doors in your office and private quarters."
She pulled back her head and glared at him, "right, like I didn't catch you and May screwing each other in this very room a few months ago." Skye glared at him and stored off, "ahh, I hate having a father figure! Ruining my life, ruining my job, ruining my dating life." She turned back at the door, "at this rate I'll never have sex ever again."
The door slammed behind her and Ward put up his hands, "I had no intentions of letting it get that far sir."
"I just love riling her up." Coulson chuckled and nodded, "walk with me."
May found herself making coffee in the cafeteria when she looked up to see Skye storming over. Clearly the young deputy director was pissed at someone and she had an inkling of who it was if the girl was coming to her.
"You have to talk some sense into Coulson, like yesterday."
Taking a sip of her coffee, the woman moved to a table and Skye followed. "What's he vetoing this time?"
"Not vetoing, Ward was giving me a shoulder massage after training put me on my back for like the twentieth time." Skye shook her head, "he comes in, lectures me on keeping my private life private as well as not showing favoritism. He's the director and he doesn't do either," Skye threw her head into her hands. "He's killing me, last week he caught us holding hands in the hallway and threatened Ward." She shook her head and looked at May, "we were holding hands, like school kids. What's the worst that could happen there?"
"You really want me to answer that?"
"May please," Skye put her hands out and begged. "Everyone looks the other way when you two go on a semi-date or are caught doing more in the gym. Please, I'm begging you to talk to him."
May smirked behind her coffee, "I'll talk to him." She stood and began to walk away before pausing to look back at Skye. "You are practicing safe sex right?"
Skye let her head fall to the table and groaned, "unbelievable, both of you!"
The hours turned to evening and Skye decided to curl up in her quarters with a movie and a tub of rocky road ice cream. She was upset at both her parental figured, who teased her mercilessly about her relationship. Her not-sure-but-could-be boyfriend hadn't stopped by to see her since the gym early that morning. Simmons had backed out of girl time on the account she was spending the evening with Fitz.
"Damn parents, probably best I didn't have any." She ate a spoonful of ice cream and stared back at the screen where Marley and Me was playing.
A knock on her door made her just look up before deciding to ignore it. A few more knocks later and the door opened to reveal the specialist that had spent time in the gym earlier. He shut the door behind him and leaned against it.
"I can come back."
"No," Skye looked at the screen, "I hate watching this movie alone and Simmons decided to spend time with Fitz tonight instead."
He crossed the room and sat on the bed, untying his boots before sitting back on the bed. Skye seemed to be surrounded by the thick non-standard comforter as she held a tub of ice cream. Reaching for the remote, Skye paused the movie before moving over to him and curled into his lap with her head against his chest. A simple click on the button made the movie start once again.
"What are you watching?" He took the spoon from her hand and took some from the tub for himself.
"Marley and Me, sad story about a dog." She got more comfortable as he bent one of his legs, leaning against it as her head rested against his shoulder.
Ward let himself relax and he held Skye with one arm around her, his free hand was spent sharing a spoon. Just as the dog died, he looked down to see Skye crying and he used a knuckle to wipe her tears away. "You're too beautiful to cry."
"Yeah well it's a beautiful movie." She took a huge spoonful of ice cream and ate it.
Skye's phone rang and she leaned back over his leg, reaching for the phone. Ward grabbed it and handed it to her, "you only have to ask."
A slide of her finger and she put it against her ear. "Skye, what's up?" She nodded as she listened and he noticed her shift from Skye to Deputy Director Skye. "What do you mean Lorenzo caught four Rising Tide hackers on site and decided it was best to recruit them?" She looked up at him and handed the tub of ice cream off to him before crawling across the bed to reach across to her desk where she grabbed her laptop. "Yeah well tell him he'd better get his ass to my office tomorrow at 1000 or I'll personally see he is scrubbing toilets for the rest of his SHIELD career. I never would have approved of recruitment, you forget I know these people."
Ward sat up and moved to the small mini-fridge Skye kept, pulling the ice cream up and headed towards the door till she snapped her fingers. He turned to look at her, "I should leave, I'm still Level 2…"
She shook her head and nodded to the seat beside her as she sat back on the bed. He made his way back over and sat beside her, leaning his head against the wall. "What are the names of the hackers?" She seemed to check them off with her fingers before pausing, "oh no, you tell Lorenzo he better get to my office at 0500 because I'm going to grill his ass so hard he'll be dreaming of my boot up his ass for years. I'm going to say this once and only once, Miles Lydon is not SHIELD material." She let her mouth drop, "oh no, just because he's my ex doesn't mean I'm giving him the boot. If I wanted him gone, I'd throw him at Ward and let them duke it out." She turned look at him, "you know who'd win that's for sure." She turned back to the screen, "well unapproved it. Right, well remind me to remind you that you do that again and I don't care who the hell you were or are, I'll kick you right back to Stark. Yeah good night to you too." Skye hung up and threw her phone on the bed. "Unbelievable."
"Hill approved them all?" He ran a hand down her back and Skye nodded.
"Yeah, she claims we could use all the tech support we can get since we have none other than me." Skye began typing away at her computer, "good, he still has that tracking bracelet so I'll just activate it for Level 3 restriction."
Ward leaned over and shut her computer, kissing her neck as he did so. "Don't get vindictive because Hill pissed you off."
Skye raised her hand till it rested on his head and sighed, allowing herself to feel as he rested his chin on her shoulder. "I'm not being vindictive, if I wasn't to be vindictive I'd shove him out a quinjet." Leaning back against him till her head rested in his lap, Skye shook her head. "I'm just so tired of my past haunting me. I want the future Grant, not the past and nothing I do lets me escape it. Once I let go of one thing, another pops up and its annoying."
Looking down at the beauty in his lap, Ward caught her hand in his. "Let me take care of Lydon, the deputy director has more important things to do than worry about some rookie computer specialists."
"I should add amazing to that list of descriptions you hold."
A knock on the door made them both look towards it as it opened. Coulson stood in the doorway and he had a scowl on his face. "I thought we talked about staying out of Skye's bed Agent Ward?"
Skye picked up her pillow and threw it at Coulson, "ahh! Get out!"
He ducked when a second pillow was thrown, "I just came to tell you that Hill stopped me, asked me to tell you she's already reamed Lorenzo. She said you'd know what she was talking about."
"Get out, my door was closed!" She threw a third pillow, "I can't even get a moment alone with my boyfriend without you or May going all parental dearest. I'm twenty-five not sixteen!"
He nodded, "I'll be going now." He turned back to see Ward, "I meant what I said Agent Ward."
"GET OUT!" Skye grabbed one of her shoes by the bed and threw it at Coulson, it hit the door as he closed it. "Unbelievable!"
In the hallway, Coulson found May leaning against a wall with a smile on her face. "I think we pissed her off."
"They're kids, they'll realize soon enough we won't hurt them." She shrugged, "much at least."
Coulson chuckled and started walking as she joined him, "she didn't ask who it was so technically I had a right to enter."
"Ward's the last one we should worry about." She looked at the man beside her, "he'll treat her like fine porcelain till she's screaming at him to stop treating her like she's break. His main concern is making sure she's safe, it'll screw him over in the end."
"You going to tell him?"
May shook her head, "no, he needs to figure it out himself. He's proved himself in his devotion to Skye but now he needs to learn how to live with Skye."
"She called him her boyfriend."
"Finally!" May smirked, "I'd been hearing variations of sort-of-but-not-really for weeks now. Were we ever that complicated?"
"Only when we were married." He looked at her, "I had the right idea divorcing you, things got less complicated." The woman rolled her eyes and turned the corner with him beside her.
A/N: Coulson and May being parental nightmares, the ex-boyfriend now part of SHIELD and the inability to be with her current boyfriend...Skye has a lot on her plate.
Next...Not telling!
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