Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! We're very close to the end of our story here, so I hope you all enjoy these last couple of chapters.

Enjoy!

Hours later, Skye slowly begins to come back into consciousness, immediately registering the heavy weight on her side. Turning her head just enough to see, the edges of her lips twitch at Grant curled up right behind her, his arm draped across her with their hands still linked together in front of her.

Slowly pulling herself from his hold, trying her best not to wake him, she makes her way to the en-suite bathroom, closing the door behind her.

She does what she needs to do to help herself wake up more fully and then takes a moment to stand in front of the mirror and look at herself. Is she really going to do this? Is she really going to leave SHIELD behind because of Grant Ward? If you'd asked her six months ago she would have laughed in your face. Even just a few weeks ago she probably would have scoffed and called you crazy. But now...now it doesn't seem like that crazy of a thing for her to do. She's definitely feeling things for him that she didn't think she'd be feeling again. Very, very strong things that she didn't want to feel again but can't help herself when it comes to him.

Splashing some water in her face to wake herself up a little bit more, she grabs one of the hand towels to dry her face off before exiting the bathroom, shutting the light off as she goes.

Stepping back into the room, she finds Grant stirring from his slumber, his hand blindly reaching out against the part of the bed she'd been lying in just moments before.

Approaching the bed, she sits on the edge and reaches out to rest her hand on top of his again, smiling softly at him when he threads their fingers together and then opens his eyes.

"Hi," she says quietly.

"Hi."

"You feeling any better?"

"A little."

"Good. Are you feeling up to getting out here? The final decision is yours."

He nods. "I want to go."

"Okay. Let me run to my bunk real quick and pack some things, then I'll come back here to get you and we can go. Will you be okay on your own for a few minutes?"

He nods again. "I think so. Do I need to pack stuff too?"

"I already took care of that. Hope you didn't mind a girl going through your underwear drawer."

"It was a pretty girl, so I think I'll be okay."

She brushes some hair back behind her ear, glancing down quickly before looking back up at him. "Okay. I'll be right back." She lightly squeezes his hand before standing up and making her way over to the door.

She casts one final glance back at him and then slides the door open, stepping through and being sure to close it after her. She quickly makes her way down to her own bunk, inputting the code to unlock the door and stepping inside.

She pulls a duffel bag from the closet and drops it onto her bed, followed by one of the black backpacks she sometimes uses on missions. She opens all of her drawers and shoves as many clothes into the duffel bag as she thinks she'll need. She combs over every inch of the bunk, making sure she grabs everything that she wants to take with her and putting them into either the duffel bag with her clothes or the backpack.

Smiling just a little when she reaches her old hula doll buried down inside a box of random items, she sets it carefully inside the duffel bag before grabbing a few more smaller items and setting them in the bag as well.

Zipping up both bags, she hoists them onto her shoulder and then walks to the door, stopping just inside the doorway to take one more look around the room.

She sighs at the thought of never returning to this room again. They never specified a time frame, but she has a feeling Grant will never want to come back to this base, or to SHIELD in general. And she doesn't blame him in the slightest. If she was in his position, she wouldn't want to come back either.

Shutting off the light, she steps into the hallway and walks back in the direction of Grant's bunk.

"Skye?"

She looks over her shoulder and then turns fully when she sees Fitz slowly approaching her, a small smile growing on her face. "Fitz, hey. What's up?"

"Not much. Um, what are you doing with a duffel bag and a backpack? Are you going somewhere?"

"Grant and I are getting away from SHIELD," he tells him honestly. "It's not healthy for him to be here, never was. He can't recover properly with everyone treating him like they do, and I honestly don't think he's stable enough to be out there on his own right now. So I'm going with him."

"How long will you be gone?" he asks.

She sighs. "Honestly? I'm not sure. Possibly for good. You know I love working for SHIELD, Fitz, and I appreciate it because it gave me a family when I didn't have one, but Grant's sanity is the most important thing to me right now."

Fitz nods. "Right, um, yeah, I get that. When are you leaving?"

"As soon as Grant's ready," she tells him. "I've already packed both of our bags, so as soon as he's feeling up to leaving, we're getting out."

"Will you keep in touch?" he asks her hesitantly.

She gives him a soft smile. "As best as we can. I'm not exactly sure where we're going to go, but I just know that it won't be anywhere near here."

"As long as you two want this."

"We do, Fitz." She reaches out and gives his upper arm a small squeeze. "You'll always be one of my best friends," she assures him. "You were there for me when I got my abilities and didn't make me feel like I was a freak; I'll always be grateful for that."

"Neither of you are freaks," he tells her. "You're just a little different, and there's nothing wrong with that."

She smiles at the familiar words. "Thanks, Fitz." She turns around to continue down the hall when she remembers something and turns back to face him. "Hey, do you think you could find Abby and have her disengage Grant's tracker? That way no one can track us and he doesn't feel trapped or anything anymore."

Fitz nods. "Yeah, I'll go find her right now."

"You're the best, Fitz." She gives him one last appreciative smile and a quick squeeze of his arm before turning around and walking the rest of the way down the hall.

.

.

.

"Hey, are you ready to go?" Skye asks Grant as soon as she steps inside his bunk, rubbing her hands together eagerly.

His brows furrow. "Where's your bag?"

"I already dropped it in the SUV we're going to take. But we need to get moving quickly so we can try to avoid running into anyone on our way out."

"Um, my tracking bracelet came off," he tells her, holding up the object.

"Yeah, I know. I had Fitz ask Abby to disengage it."

"Oh. Okay." He drops the bracelet and slowly stands from the bed, shuffling his feet against the carpet for a moment. "Do you really want to do this?" he asks her.

She steps toward him and reaches up to frame his face with her hands. "I want whatever is best for you, Grant. And that's getting away from SHIELD." She gives him a small smile before reaching down to grab his duffel bag. She stands up straight and takes a deep breath. "So let's get out of here."

He gives her a small smile back and nods his head. "Okay. Let's go."

She smiles at him once more before wrapping an arm around him to help support his weight as they exit the room and start making their way down the hall toward the garage. He's still a bit weak from everything that went down earlier and has some trouble staying upright on both of his feet.

"What's going on here?"

Skye pauses, adjusting her hold around Grant's waist ever so slightly, and then glances over her shoulder to see Coulson approaching them from an adjoining hallway.

"We're leaving."

"Like hell you are."

"You have no control over what I do with my life, Coulson, so don't act like you do. Grant and I are getting out of here."

"I don't like the idea of you going off alone with him."

"I don't care. We're leaving." She fixes him with a hard glare before moving forward again, nudging Grant along with her.

"You're not leaving."

They're stopped in their tracks by Coulson rushing to stand in their path, blocking them from moving any further down the hall.

"You don't get to decide that," she tells him. "I may work for you, but I don't belong to you. In fact, consider my leaving as my resignation. I'm done being an agent, Grant and I are leaving."

"I don't accept," Coulson says. "Ward is free to go if he wants to risk being captured and killed by someone else who wants him dead, I couldn't care less what happens to him. But you're one of my best agents, Skye, you can't leave."

"Do not test me right now, Coulson." She tightens her hold on Grant. He's scared, that much she knows just based on how badly he's shaking. A quick glance at him shows her that his eyes are closed and his head is down. The next second, his face is buried in her neck and his arm is wrapped tightly around her.

A small crowd gathers around them, she notices them slowly trickling in out of the corner of her eyes, most of the agents standing near Coulson and shooting wary glances between here and Grant, but mostly at Grant.

"What's going on?" one of the agents speaks up.

"What's that freak doing hanging onto her like that?" another agent interjects. "What's he done to her?"

She feels Grant's body tense at the harsh words thrown out.

She adjusts her hold on him and then raises her other hand into the air after setting his bag on the ground. "If you don't think I won't push every one of you out of the way right now then you clearly don't know me well enough. We're leaving."

Words of protest rise up from the agents, Coulson staring her down silently. She locks eyes with the man who she used to admire and look up to, wishing that he could have been her father all along. But she doesn't recognize him anymore, hasn't for a long time. For a while she didn't even recognize herself either. And she doesn't like that.

She drowns out the voices around her, flexing her fingers as a final warning that she'll do whatever she needs to do to get out of there with Grant, the ground trembling beneath all of them.

"Just leave him alone!"

The shouting stops and everyone in the hallway looks to the side to see Fitz standing with his hands balled into fists down at his sides and his brows furrowed together, his breathing heavy.

"Can't you all see he's been through enough already? He can barely stand on his own right now. If he wants to leave, he should, and Skye should be able to go with him without any ridicule from the lot of you. You all act like you're saints, but you're not. None of us are. So stop setting yourselves up on self-built pedestals just to make yourselves feel better."

It's quiet for a moment among the small crowd before everyone begins muttering to themselves and shuffling on their feet, their eyes becoming glued to the floor, the walls, or the ceiling.

Skye looks at Fitz with a teary smile. "Thank you," she whispers.

He smiles back with a small nod. "Just let me know when you're safe, if you can."

She nods back. "Absolutely. Did you tell Abby we're leaving?" She leans down to pick up the duffel bag off the floor.

He nods. "Of course."

"Great, thanks." She gives him another smile before turning and pushing past Coulson without giving him another glance, tugging Grant along beside her as they make their way toward the garage.

Stepping into the large room, Skye immediately moves over to one of the black SUV's.

She walks with Grant over to the car, unlocking it with the keys she grabbed earlier and pulling open the back door. Before she can say or do anything, Grant crawls inside the car and lies down on the backseat, curling his legs up just enough so he'll fit on the seat.

Skye slides his duffel bag onto the floor next to hers, in front of the seat Grant is on, before watching him for a moment as he stares up at the roof of the car.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asks him softly.

He shrugs without looking at her or saying a word.

She sighs, closing the door and then turning to open the driver's door. She climbs up inside the vehicle, quickly buckling herself in and starting the engine.

She adjusts whatever settings she needs to, including disabling the GPS tracker that every SHIELD vehicle is equipped with, and then uses the remote attached to the visor above her to open the doors before tossing it out the window onto the cement.

Taking a deep breath, she doesn't even hesitate in shifting the gear down into drive and pulling out of the garage and out onto the road, away from SHIELD and everyone that's in it. This is the only real option for the both of them, to get away from SHIELD, most likely forever, and never look back.

So? What did you think? Let me know in a review down below. I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Who loved Fitz in that hallway scene at the end? Because I did. It was fun to write. :)

Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!