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Between Coulson, Simmons and Skye, Ward hardly ever spent time alone anymore. With Coulson, he was constantly planning and answering questions that could help them with he mission. Whatever Skye had said to vouch for him, it seemed to have worked. Coulson actually seemed to trust Ward now. He didn't, however, seem to like any more than when Ward had first betrayed him, but Ward could live with Coulson's trust.
Simmons was perpetually running tests on him, measuring his physical endurance and shape, making sure he was ready to go back into the field and protect Skye if need be. When he requested to start training again with equipment, there had been a big debate but he was eventually allowed two hours a day in the training room, supervised by either Triplett or May. It then became clearer than ever that the team was really beginning to trust him. He no longer had to be drugged or blindfolded to be escorted places, that's how he found out that they weren't, in fact, at Providence but a similar base. They trusted him so much that they gave him his first secret to keep: Billy must never know that Ward was the one who killed his brother. The team bestowed their tentative trust in him, and Ward was determined not to let them down.
Skye came down to his cell almost every night now. Sometimes she would stay for only a little while, other times she slept next to him the whole night. Sometimes they would talk, other times they would lie next to each other on the small cot, sides brushing. They rarely initiated contact, a silent agreement made between the two of them. When they did touch, it was light. They hadn't kissed since the night the mission was assigned.
"Does the team know how often you come down here?" Ward asked. They were sitting next to each other, an inch apart. He had one knee drawn up, the other leg hanging off the long edge of the mattress. Skye's legs were sprawled out in front of her, her boots dangling just barely on her feet, threatening to fall off at any second.
"They know I come down here, but I don't think they know how often."
"I don't deserve you," He said abruptly after a long pause.
"I know," She said simply, and his heart sank until she took his hand delicately in hers, "But I think you will someday." She rested her head on his shoulder and whispered, "Just don't keep me waiting too long."
Slowly, carefully, he lowered his head down to rest on hers. "I won't,"
She snuggled into his side, "Are you scared? For the mission?"
He squeezed her hand lightly before wrapping that arm around her securely, "Yeah," He admitted.
She lifted her head slightly, and he moved his own to look down at her, "Really? Special Agent Grant Ward, scared for a scouting trip?" she teased before bringing her head back down onto his shoulder, "I'm not scared. You'll be there, waiting to show off your amazing skills, trying to prove to me that you deserve me."
"Skye…when we get in there, you're going to have to be head-over-heels…And I'm going to have to be… the Grant Ward that they know. Besides, I'm no Special Agent anymore." He finished bitterly but God, did he love the way it sounded coming out of her mouth.
"Shh, I know." She whispered and he knew that she did. They sat in silence for a long time. Ward was looking forward to spending time with Skye outside of his cell, even if it was under heavy surveillance and while ona mission. It would be just like the old times. But the part he was dreading was if the facility was Hydra, he would have to revert back to evil Grant Ward and he was scared that he would lose Skye in the process.
He really shouldn't have her to begin with. Coulson as good as told him that he should let her go to give her a better chance but Ward was just too selfish for that, as much as he knew it was true.
"Skye, there's something-."
"No. Shhh, I'm sleeping now." She mumbled, her words barely coherent. Ward sighed and gently helped her lay down on her back before stripping off his shirt and taking his place next to her, putting as much distance between them as possible. He knew she was avoiding talking about things again but he was really too tired to initiate another fight. It would have to wait for another day.
She was long gone by the time he woke up.
"Rise and shine, Ward. Breakfast's upstairs- We're going over the plan with the team in twenty." Triplett announced as soon as the door was buzzed open.
Ward threw on his shirt before crossing to the shelf to retrieve his toothbrush and small tube of toothpaste that he had been given. It sat in the corner of the shelf, next to a plastic cup, disposable comb and a hand towel. Quickly brushing his teeth, Ward rinsed and turned so that Triplett could cuff him.
"When do we leave?" Ward asked.
"Day after tomorrow," Triplett answered, securing the metal bands around the prisoner's wrists. Another plus of the mission was that Ward now had a good sense of time.
"Are we ready?" He asked the agent, only half rhetorically. Triplett didn't answer, just led Ward out of the cell and into the hallway.
He could hear Fitzsimmons already arguing as he and Triplett approached the briefing room.
"It can work, Simmons! The ventilation shafts can muffle the sounds. If anything, it'll just sound like a small animal or some debris got caught in there."
"I simply refuse to believe that the D.W.A.R.F.s are strong enough to resist the air coming through the shafts! They could easily get swept away and discovered and God knows what you'll do if you lose Sleepy again!" Simmons argued back, moving around the screen table agitatedly swiping around on it. Skye was immersed in her laptop fingers flying across the keyboard while May looked on, half hidden in the shadows. The senior agent cast Ward an ambiguous look, but didn't say or do anything. He had a strong inkling that she would give anything to have another go at him. Ward turned to watch Fitz who was in the corner, messing around on one of his numerous tablets. Coulson and Billy were not yet there.
"There's food in the back." Triplett said, uncuffing Ward.
"Thanks, man." Helping himself to a granola bar, Ward turned back to watch Fitzsimmons' argument.
"There are other ways of surveillance, Fitz," said Simmons exasperatedly, still moving around the table.
Fitz sighed and ran his fingers through his curly hair, walking unsteadily over to the table, "Simmons-,"
"Hold on, did you just stumble?" The biochemist narrowed her eyes at the engineer.
"It's nothing," Fitz said dismissively, as he began to swipe around on the table screen as well.
Simmons however, rounded on him, "Fitz! I told Doctor Cavaco that you needed to rest more-,"
Fitz moved away from her to a different part of the table. Fitzsimmons were always moving around and multitasking when they argued, "I didn't stumble, Jemma!" He said loudly, not meeting her eyes.
"Did too! You saw him stumble, didn't you Skye?" Simmons turned demandingly to the hacktivist.
"I'm busy, Simmons," Skye murmured, not taking her eyes off the screen of her beloved laptop.
"Agent Triplett!" Simmons snapped, glaring at Skye.
Garrett's unveil protégé winced before dutifully giving his verdict, "You should sit, Fitz,"
Ward had often wondered why Garrett had never recruited Triplett but never questioned it out loud.
Fitz threw Triplett a dirty look, "Easy for you to say, you haven't been bed-ridden for months-."
"Fitz, man, just do it. You need to be 100% when the mission begins," Ward said guiltily. Fitz looked up at Ward, his expression hard, but complied, pulling up a stool to the table.
Triplett and Simmons looked incredulously at Ward.
"How did you do it?" Simmons asked in hushed tones, but Ward had no idea himself.
"I got it." Skye announced, leaning back so May could look at the screen of the laptop, "Where's Coulson?"
"I'm here, sorry, got tied up with a contact in Vienna. You can begin, Agent May." Coulson entered, followed closely by Billy.
May moved forward out of the shadows as Skye began pulling up pictures of the facility onto the monitors on the wall.
"The location is classified, but the satellite images show that on the exterior, the facility has medium security- cameras, sensors, the like. A few guards patrolling the perimeter at all times and two stationed at the front gate."
"The gate is made of cast- iron, nothing really special to it. I suspect there may be motion and touch sensors at the top and bottom of the gate, as it is with most SHIELD and government buildings." Simmons added in.
"There is no indication of anything potentially harmful under or around the gate," Fitz chipped in, "Sensors are in place in the ground and there are no signs of anything dangerous in the grass- other than sprinkles. Just your normal garden ones."
Coulson nodded, "Good. Skye?"
"The interior security appears to be much more complex. I have records indicating that many of their alarms systems link directly to other SHIELD facilities and a few governmental agencies. Cameras and sensors are triple the amount that they have outside and it looks like purchase records say they have the standard package- keypad locks, facial recognition, but inside and outside the building. Just last month they bought a bunch of fingerprint and retinal scanners. You got to wonder how long it takes to get from one room to the next because of all the security in there. Anyway, the whole place is built defensively but it's no fort. I zoomed in on the satellite pictures and the windows are mostly reflective but you can see the shadows of guards, just barely. There's enough G.I. Joes in there to stock a whole toy store. But I'll know more once I can get in the vicinity and hack their actual systems."
"Really, most of our helpful information is going to come from actual scouting, but Agent May has a tentative plan in place," Simmons explained, picking up yet another tablet.
"Skye and Ward will enter the front gates…" May started but Ward was only half listening. He was watching Skye, who had just glanced down at her laptop and widened her eyes at whatever was on the screen. Then in an instant, her fingers were back on the keyboard, furiously typing away, her expression panicked. He wanted to go to her and find out what was wrong- it was clearly personal judging from the deeply disturbed look on her face- but he knew that would be inappropriate at this time. She looked directly at him for a few minutes, then seemed to calm down a little, shaking her head as if to say not now.
Ward reluctantly turned his attention back to May. The least he could do now was figure out what exactly he was supposed to do to render his first shot at redemption a success.
Kind of a filler chapter but I hope you liked it anyway! As always, thanks to everyone who continues to support this story! Review please =)