Thanks for everything guys, sorry that I gave you guys heart palpitations as you all seemed to review. That's not good!
As always, thank you for everything!

Sorry this took so long but I had two huge exams and three journals and it all piled up.
Hopefully next week is going to be lighter.

Q&A:
bellapaige88: That was why I had them go to the bathroom, so it could be discussed. I only do legit scene breaks when it's a huge change in time, I don't see the need to do scene breaks when I can just say it in a line when it's only an hour or so later.

Here is chapter 10, don't hate!
It's a bit of an emotional whammy, just an FYI.

Skye got to Grant's apartment a little over five minutes after finding an unlocked car down the street. Stealing a car wasn't exactly SHIELD protocol, but she was breaking all the rules anyways so it was at the bottom of the worry list. Besides, if they didn't want her to use the skill they probably shouldn't have taught it to her—and getting to Grant first took priority.

As soon as she saw the door cracked she knew it was too late. They'd sent men ahead for some dumb reason and Ward would have already taken them down. Skye let out a shaky breath and entered the apartment, closing the door behind her before bending down to check over one of the agents on the floor.

Ward didn't kill them, did he? She searched for a wound, knowing Ward would have gone for the head and heart to kill, but found nothing. An ICER was on the floor a few feet away and the man was breathing. He used their own ICERs on them. She smiled to herself—he didn't kill them that had to count for something, right? The other man on the floor was breathing as well. Good.

"Grant?" she called out tentatively. She didn't have a lot of time to work with, but if she didn't let him know it was her he might just use an ICER on her too, or maybe a real gun. He had to have figured it out by now.

There was no answer.

"Grant!" she exclaimed, moving toward the bedroom they had occupied only hours ago. If SHIELD had sent more than two foot soldiers after him, and they should have, she could be missing something and walk into a bad trap if she wasn't careful. He wouldn't take any chances, so he was either hiding to hit his next mark or gone.

The bedroom looked empty as she walked in, but then she heard a gun cock and knew he was waiting. He knew she'd come. It was getting annoying how he was beginning to know her better than she knew herself.

"I'm the mole, aren't I?" Grant asked from behind.

Skye turned slowly. "Grant, listen-"

"Aren't I?" he demanded to know as he walked toward her and pressed her against the opposite wall, the pistol against her temple.

"Grant, please, let me explain-" she stopped when his free hand wrapped around her throat.

"I should have known with all your questions and worries about me, it was just an act," he growled, his hold tightening around her neck. He looked murderous, his eyes dark, a cut lip, and tousled hair—in another circumstance it would actually be pretty hott.

Having no other choice Skye kneed him in the balls and he dropped his hand so she could get more air to her lungs. First rule of defending yourself, if you can't breathe you can't stay alive (not that he was going to kill her, but still the rule counted). "Grant, listen to me, yes I'm SHIELD, but I do love you, please-"

He was already recovered from her assault, or lack thereof, and pressed the pistol hard to her chest. "Don't give me that bullshit about loving me. It was the perfect way to say 'I love you,' right? During sex so it really doesn't count and you got me to spill my guts."

She shook her head repeatedly. He had to understand, this was happening all wrong. "No, I love you Grant, I love you so much. Do you think I'd be here unarmed if I didn't, with no backup?" she questioned and blinked tears out of her eyes.

He faltered. "You're a spy, I know how this works, I've done it myself," he spat. "It's not real."

Okay, this had to happen quicker and him threatening her was not helping the situation. She grabbed a hold of his forearm and pushed the gun out of his hand, then turned him to press his front against the dresser, hoping with him pinned she could talk. He seemed stunned at her change of pace. "Yeah, it started that way, but it hasn't been like that since we kissed," she promised, but he just elbowed her to the face, causing her to stumble back. Well, the stun didn't last long.

"So the day you finally learn all about John and how I need your precious director and the day this all comes to an end is just a coincidence?" he questioned, grabbing her by the hair.

Alright, he was pissed off, he had every reason to be. "Fine, you wanna do this the hard way," she mumbled before ramming into his stomach so they both went stumbling to the ground. "Yes, it is a coincidence," she grunted, trying to pin him once more. "Bobbi figured out that I wasn't just playing spy, I don't know how but she did."

Grant threw her over his head so she was on her back, knocking the wind out of her, then climbed on top. "Oh, so sleeping with me wasn't part of the plan?" he questioned, holding her down by the throat.

Skye scratched at his face and poked his eye to make him loosen his grip and then threw a right hook to his jaw, knocking him over. "No, actually, I wasn't allowed to do more than have you kiss me," she informed him as she stood shakily. "But like I said, I do love you and falling for you wasn't part of the plan," she insisted and for fuck's sake delivered a kick to his stomach, but he caught her leg and twisted it, making her screech and send the foot to his face.

Grant scrambled to his feet since her foot didn't have much force in it and she backed up while trying to stay off her leg. He wiped the blood of his lip.

"Come with me back to SHIELD," she pleaded. "You don't have to be loyal to Garrett anymore-"

He interrupted by throwing her over the bed. She tumbled off and tried to get to her feet, but Grant was already there, and tossed her towards his desk. "Is that what this was about?" he asked, holding her from behind around the neck in a surprisingly loose chokehold. "Recruiting me?"

"Not a chance," they both heard the gun cock behind them and he turned, keeping Skye in the hold. "Now let her go or I shoot and this isn't an ICER."

"Bobbi, let me deal with this," Skye insisted, trying to remove his arms from around her. This was not helping the situation either.

"Yeah, Babs, listen to her," Grant grunted, a gun now in his hand too. There was one in the desk; it was why he brought the fight over there. Of course, she should have known that he would have more than one stashed in the apartment. "This is more of a boyfriend and girlfriend fight," he teased, pressing the barrel of the gun to Skye's head. "We don't want to have our friends involved and take sides, that just wouldn't be fair."

"Shut up," Bobbi warned and stared him down.

"Grant, it doesn't have to be like this, you can come back to SHIELD and-"

"That wasn't part of the mission, Skye, don't," Bobbi instructed.

She just glared in return. "He won't shoot me, Bobbi, but he will shoot you, so get out and let me handle him," she grunted as Grant's hold tightened.

"Don't sound so sure, baby," Grant insisted, cocking his gun. "It's not like you really loved me, right?"

Skye pushed out of the hold and he let her. "Do you really think you could do it?" she asked and in his shock lowered the gun a little.

"Skye, don't goad him-"

"Shut up, Bobbi," Skye snapped, bringing Grant's gun to rest on her forehead. "You think you can shoot me, do it," she dared.

He seemed stunned again, the pistol even shook in his hand and she knew that even though he was mad and hurt and incredibly pissed off he would never really hurt her.

"Come with me, Grant, we can be together and-" she stopped when a shot was heard and Bobbi's aim hit Grant in the shoulder. "NO!" she exclaimed and dove down to the ground with him. "No, no, no," she repeated and applied pressure to his wound. "Y-you're gonna be okay, just-" there was another shot, this time an ICER, and it hit him in the leg to knock him out.

Before she could even react she was hoisted to her feet and being practically carried away. "Come on, love, he's got back up on the way," Hunter insisted as she struggled against him.

"H-he might bleed out, we need to help him," she cried and watched the blood ooze from the bullet wound that no longer had any pressure on it.

"Skye, Hydra is on the way, he called for backup," Hunter reminded her again.

"Just shoot her," Bobbi ordered and both Hunter and Skye looked at her in a form of shock. "We don't need an incident and we have to get going before his back up arrives."

"Bobbi, please, we have to help him, you shot him-" she was interrupted when Bobbi took Hunter's gun and shot her in the shoulder, resembling the wound Ward received from the same agent just a minute ago.

-xoxo-

When Skye woke she was in a med pod back at HQ, it was easy to tell from her surroundings even though it was dark.

Home, sweet home, supposedly.

She briefly wondered how long she'd been out because it was a long way from LA to the Canadian wilderness, even with the Bus's capabilities. However, it was protocol to keep unstable 'subjects' under sedation until they were at a more secure area. With the earthquake factor and how she'd behaved in the field it wasn't a stretch to see her as unstable. How there was no earthquake in LA she'd never know, especially once Grant was shot.

Her eyes, which had only just adjusted to the surroundings, slammed closed.

Bobbi shot him! Bobbi shot him, then had her pulled away so she couldn't tend to the wound, then had him hit with an ICER too. What if he was dea- she shook her head. No, it was just a shoulder shot, he'd survived worse and they did say back up was coming. He had to be okay. It all had to be okay so she could make things right, there had to be a way to make things right.

In a rash decision Skye sat up and pulled the needles in her arm out. Simmons would have taken every precaution, ran every test, done everything to make sure she was alright. A machine started beeping, but it went ignored as she got out of bed and left the pod.

Everything felt like it was closing in—Bobbi ruined everything just as Ward told her major intel. It was a coincidence, right? Or did Bobbi know long before then that she and Grant were involved and was waiting for a moment to present itself like so? Bobbi was one of the best undercover agents, it wouldn't be surprising.

But there had to be a way to make things right somehow and to make matters worse they dragged her back to HQ where she would have to sit through a debrief with Coulson and May grilling her, telling her how she failed, how much she'd messed everything up when she had the best training imaginable. They'd never trust her again—probably never really let her out of their sight either.

And Grant. She had to see him, had to tell him how Bobbi messed everything up, how it was a coincidence (to her at least) that the day he'd told her everything was the day Bobbi got an extraction. She had to tell him she loved him more than almost anything and assure him that he was good enough to join SHIELD, that underneath it all he was so much better than the hand he'd been dealt.

Ward was the mole and Garrett had to know by now. Garrett was probably already with him by now too. What would they do to him? They would punish him, they punished him for being distracted, they definitely were going to do worse for being the mole even if it was accidentally. And they would do worse than the staff this time.

They were going to hurt him because of her. The thought made her body physically ache.

Suddenly her insides felt like they were being torn out and it made her stumble, but she managed to stay on her feet. She didn't even know where she was going until she saw it. Her van, her home when things were much simpler, even if they were less than ideal. She climbed into it, hospital gown and all, and tried to let the familiarity calm her.

Freaking out wasn't an option, she'd done so well. But the truth was she hadn't done so well, she'd done horribly actually. She let SHIELD down, the agency that had been protecting her for most of her life. She failed at the mission and let A.C. and M&M down, they were going to hate her. They never should have let her go, if they hadn't then maybe she never would have met Grant and fallen for him and ruined everything.

Skye curled into a ball and held her head in her hands as she teeter-tottered back and forth and tears fell from her face.

She missed Grant. Everything hurt and she needed him, he always seemed to make the pain go away. The loneliness she'd felt since she was a little girl tended to fade when he was around. But the hole that always seemed to reside in her heart turned into a black hole that sucked everything good in.

A.C. and the team, she loved them, she really did, but no matter what that hole in her heart would always be there because she grew up never really feeling loved or loving in return. And the team loved her, she knew they did, but not in the way Grant did. With him it wasn't some familial obligation—it wasn't really with the team either, but it was different. They chose each other, he loved her—loved. What if he didn't love her anymore?

"No, no," she began to chant as the pit opened in her stomach and the feeling of having no control took over. "No," she wailed as the ground began to rumble.

She was triggering an earthquake.

Instantly lights turned on and alarms began to go off, a modification made to the new HQ when her ability made itself known so people could get to safe zones. People needed safe zones around her.

The tears only came faster and the ground continued to shake uncontrollably. She was ruining everything so completely it was a feat in itself really, but knew what needed to be done right then.

Skye exited the van and tumbled to the ground as it moved beneath her. Someone shouted, she couldn't tell who, but she also didn't care. She just needed the pain to stop, the twisting of her intestines, the tearing in her heart, the black hole that had taken up residence in her very being. It all needed to stop, it was too much.

"Skye, you're okay, you're at HQ," it was Simmons, she knew even though her eyes were closed and the room was loud and she was curled into a ball on the cold, shaking floor. Simmons was supposed to be at Hydra HQ, why was she back?

"Make it go away," she pleaded and opened her eyes to find the team around her, but she shied away from the caring arms that were outstretched. "All the pain, it hurts too much, make it go away," she insisted, grabbing onto Jemma's arm in a desperate manner.

She hated taking medication to make the quakes stop, they all knew it. She wanted to learn to control it on her own, the starting and the stopping (mostly the starting), but she didn't have the will to attempt right then.

"Jemma, please, I can't feel this anymore," she cried weakly.

Jemma just nodded and said something medical to Fitz who all of a sudden had a syringe to hand her. Before it was even ready Skye held her arm out, surprising the bio-chemist who said nothing as the needle penetrated her broken friend's skin.

Skye felt relief as the warmth spread and her eyes felt heavy. Coulson was already lifting her into his arms to bring her back to medical.

"I'm sorry," she murmured softly, so softly she wasn't sure if she even said it.

"It's okay, Skye," A.C. assured her, but she knew it wasn't okay, he just wanted to make her feel better because he loved her like a daughter. "You're going to be okay."

"But I'm not sorry I love him," she whispered and that was the last thing she remembered before losing herself to unconsciousness again.

-xoxo-

Headquarters sustained minimal damage, or at least that's what Coulson said when she woke up. Then again, she didn't wake up for over a day after the incident so if anything was wrong Coulson would have had it cleaned up ASAP.

Debrief was pushed back a few days so she could 'recover' from the extraction and earthquake she caused. She thought that with how she handled the mission they would be mad at her, yell, demote her maybe, but instead they were coddling, and somehow that was worse. Instead of treating her like an agent and giving her consequences they were acting as if they were scared of what would happen if they did hand out consequences. Yes, that was so much worse.

She'd been under Jemma's watchful eye for another day before she was allowed to go back to her room, but it didn't feel like her room anymore.

Everything looked different, or maybe it was that everyone looked at her differently. Even after they first moved HQ to Providence because of her earthquake ability everyone went out of their way to make sure she wasn't excluded, now it was like... like how people looked at Grant back at the club with a mix of fear, respect, and maybe a little bit of disgust.

But the waiting and stewing was over, the day for debrief finally arrived. It felt like it took forever instead of just three days, it was still three days spent locked alone in her room looking over stupid texts and pictures that had to do with Grant. She wasn't ready to talk to everyone else even if they wanted to talk to her.

The door to Coulson's office was open. May, Bobbi, and Hunter were all in there with him. May and Coulson she would deal with. Bobbi was another story.

"Sir?" she knocked at the doorjam respectfully. In this situation he wasn't A.C. or even Coulson, he was her boss, the director of SHIELD.

"Skye, come in, we were expecting you," Coulson said politely waving her in as he did. "Close the door behind you."

She stepped in, but made no move to close the door. "With all due respect Sir, I was hoping we could do this just the three of us," she said stoically. There was no use in asking May to leave, she didn't want her to leave in the first place, but her S.O. wouldn't leave even if she asked.

Bobbi looked shocked. "Are you serious?" she questioned her, standing from the chair. "You're mad at me after what happened?"

Skye ignored her and stared at Coulson, resembling May just a bit.

It took a moment, but Coulson nodded. "Agent Morse, we're heard your side of things with no interruptions. I think it's only fair we do the same with Skye," he spoke up. Bobbi went for the door with a huff, Hunter trailing, and closed the door behind them. "Take a seat, Skye."

She sat in the chair Bobbi had just occupied. "Am I still an agent?" she asked, making Coulson's eyebrows raise from behind his desk. "You said Agent Morse, but you've only called me Skye."

"Yes, Skye, you're still an agent," he answered. "But you have to realize just how many rules and protocol you broke by getting emotionally invested-"

"Did I?" she cut him off. "I know I got too close, I knew a long time ago, but I also knew I was getting the intel out and I didn't hold back one piece no matter how I felt," she insisted. "And if you're going to start in on the physicality of it, yes I did that too, but how many missions have been given with just that in mind to get a job done?"

Coulson was quiet for a moment again. "But that wasn't your mission," he countered. "And part of being a specialist is knowing when you're in over your head and getting out because of that. How many times did May or myself tell you there is no shame in that, it is part of being a good specialist," he reminded her.

"I wasn't in over my head—I was getting the intel and I planned," she stopped.

"To bring him with you?" May finally spoke. "Bobbi told us you said that when he confronted you."

She shook her head. "He didn't confront me, that wasn't how it happened. I saw the extraction team outside of our apartment and I went to Grant knowing they would check there. I had to get to him first. Yes, he threatened me with a gun, but I started the physical altercation. He wasn't going to hurt me."

"How could you know?" May asked. "With his skillset and teachings-"

"Are mine all that different?" she cut her S.O. off. "You did call me your secret weapon, didn't you? You trained me in secret just like Garrett did with him, you wanted me to have a skillset not many others have and kept it to yourself." They were all quiet for a moment. "And I know he wasn't going to hurt me because he loves me."

"How do you know he wasn't playing you Skye?" Coulson asked.

"I'm sure Bobbi didn't tell you this but," she began and tried not to get emotional. "During our altercation, I got free from his grip and dared him to shoot me," she admitted. "I put his gun to my head and told him to shoot me if I didn't mean anything and then told him to come back to SHIELD with me. He was lowering his gun when Bobbi shot him in the shoulder. Then, as I was tending to the wound she had Hunter shoot him with an ICER and take me away."

Coulson and May looked at one another.

"That was why I didn't have myself pulled out. I fell in love with him and he loves me too. I planned to bring him back with me. His Hydra knowledge would have helped us immensely. He has a level 7 rank with them. Garrett was his S.O. and Garrett has a high rank with them now too," she went on before they could speak. "And the day Bobbi had me extracted I learned everything we were wondering about John Garrett."

"What's that, Skye?" Coulson questioned.

"He's dying," she answered. "After the events of the Bosnian war he became the first subject in Project Deathlok, but it wasn't successful. The centipede serum is all that is keeping him alive right now and Grant said that even that is sketchy, it could stop working at any time. They're looking for whatever brought you back to life, Sir," she told him. "It's why they send Grant on odd missions that don't quite make sense to us. They're having him follow leads on T.A.H.I.T.I. and Garrett is the one who had your tortured by Raina's hand."

"He just told you this?" May wondered.

Skye nodded. "Yes. He's not evil, he's not like them, Garrett made him into the Lethal Weapon, he never asked for it."

"That I believe," May muttered.

Skye stood with her hands clasped behind her. "I know I let you both down and I'm truly sorry about that. I'll take any consequence you think is fit for my actions," she stated.

"You're on desk duty as of now with no indication of when you're allowed to leave this building, let alone enter the field," Coulson told her. "We still need you to sift through what we got off that computer and see what you can do. There is also the matter of the earring you left in Ward's office."

Skye looked to and from May, then back. They had the earring?

"Bobbi managed to acquire it when you were extracted. We need it, but I'm sure there are, um, personal moments," Coulson said awkwardly. "That you don't want shared and that I honestly don't want to know about it."

She nodded. "About the earthquake, I-"

"Skye, we knew when we moved here earthquakes were going to happen. We sustained minimal damage and Fitz has the government thinking their equipment is faulty to detect earthquakes. I think he's been having fun with that," Coulson cut her off.

"With all due respect, Sir, I was wondering if there was a way I could get in contact with Grant. I know he would come if he had the option, he-"

"No," May interrupted. Skye looked pleadingly at Coulson.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry, Skye, no. That was never your mission and we can't trust him even if you think you can," he agreed.

"But you don't understand what they will do to him," she pleaded, stepping towards his desk. "They have the Berserker Staff and made him hold it because Garrett thought he was distracted, because of me. Now that they know he was the mole they might," she stopped. "A.C. please," she whispered.

"No," Coulson denied.

Skye looked to May. "M&M, you know what the staff does; they're going to do worse to him this time. Please, you can come; I just need to reach out to him-"

"You heard our director, Skye," May told her. "I'm sorry," she said stiffly.

She blinked back tears. "Fine, am I free to go?"

"Yes, you can go," Coulson told her.

Skye went for the door and just about slammed it behind her, letting tears fall down her cheeks. As quickly as they came she made them stop, tapping into her inner Melinda May as everyone used to say. She couldn't get too emotional, that could trigger another earthquake.

But no matter what they said she was going to find a way to speak to Grant, even if it meant leaving the building without their permission or knowledge.

Okay whew. Here it is.
I hope you like? I do.
I had some trouble writing Skye post-earthquake because we haven't seen that in the show yet.

So about the Skye/Ward fight...that was planned from the beginning. Remember I said this was Mr&MrsSmith-like.
Besides, if everything was easy how fun of a story would that be?

What will Skye do not that her 'parents' have forbid her from seeing Grant?
Tell me your theories!

Sorry for the wait again, hopefully the next one won't take so long.

-Kay