Hope for the Lost

Spoilers: All of Season 1 but especially the season finale!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except maybe Huang.

Skye stared down at her former SO and could only allow a smile to grace her face because he looked adorable. It was nearly 0500 and she'd shown up to his room to collect him for training, May would meet them after she'd finished tai chi and it wasn't like Coulson wasn't walking down the halls so the two women agreed to do it their way in the mornings.

"Ward, wake up!" Skye spoke and she honestly wondered how she could slip into his room without him waking but his brain was set for automatic 'wake up' at the sound of her voice. He opened his eyes and looked at her, instantly sitting up on alert. "You and I have training so get up and get dressed ten minutes ago."

The man honestly looked at her confused, "training?"

"I asked Coulson to allow you gym time and he agreed, I figured we'd get my training in so we kill two birds with one stone. It's either you or Romanoff and I'm kind of partial to you but don't tell her that." She turned and walked out the open door to sit on the camp bed.

Walking to the gym Skye watched as Ward took in everything, most likely determining if there were any threats around. Reaching the gym they found May stretching on the mats and Skye looked at Ward as he took in everything. He immediately started towards the punching bags but paused as if looking for something. "Where are…"

"I'll get you a new pair of wraps." Skye moved to the lockers at the far wall and pulled a bin from the shelf unit beside it. She opened her locker via thumb print and removed her own wraps to wear. "Here." She threw his pair at him and started putting on her own. "You can shove yours in my locker till we can get one for you."

Once his hands were wrapped, Ward turned back to see Skye already beating the crap out of one of the punching bags and not just with her fists. He crossed his arms and watched her, his mind finally at ease for the first time in what seemed like forever. His focus aimed solely at the girl in front of him, his lifeline in the chaos of life and the air he needed to breathe. Almost every day of sitting in a cell and Garrett's betrayal seemed to fly out the window. It was just him and Skye training like they had before she got shot. That thought made him want to find Quinn and shove two in him, Garrett's orders not to touch Quinn the only reason he hadn't made the man die a very slow and agonizing death.

"She needs defense training." He turned to see May beside him, "she is already has the physical conditioning and can easily capture a gun from the enemy but she depends on us to defend her if a threat is present."

"What has Romanoff taught her?"

"Physical evasion, she may work them long but she doesn't move very quickly." May moved off to a treadmill and started on it as Ward backed up to the mats.

Once he was on the mats he unwrapped his hands before looking over at Skye. "Skye," she paused and looked at him, "unwrap and come here."

She did as asked and stood before him, "I thought we were hitting the bags?"

"I'll try to ignore the pun." He moved over to the table nearby that held an array of plastic weapons. Grabbing a gun he walked over to Skye and handed it to her. "Take it and listen closely. We're going to start your defense training and it's going to feel stupid but the more we go the more realistic the scenarios get. Point the gun at me and tell me what you'd do."

She pointed the gun and shook her head, "I shoot."

"The gun's jammed, what do you do now?"

Thinking about what to do, Skye finally smirked before moving closer and flipped the gun around, spinning so her back it turned to him and jabbed the butt of the gun into his side. Ward grabbed her arms and held her a foot away. "I use it as a physical weapon."

"No you discard the gun and fight physically." He took the weapon and threw it away, walking around to face her. "We'll go in steps till you get it."

Coulson walked into the cafeteria to see May and Skye flanking Ward at a table. Fitzsimmons and Trip were with them and they all seemed to be doing something in relation to the table.

"No, hummer is the name of a vehicle." Fitz remarked and Skye put her hand up.

"Checking right now." She started working on her tablet, "hummer is a noun that means: someone that hums. That means it is a word Fitz."

Fitz shook his head and Ward took a sip of coffee, "how are you feeling?"

"Fitz!" Simmons scowled before looking at Ward, "I apologize, he's got no manners really as of lately."

"I'm feeling fine actually." Ward put his cup down and looked at Skye. "Better than I have in a few weeks. Still hate the shrink…"

Trip snorted, "way I hear it, everyone hates the shrink and your girl there, well she told her off massively."

Skye played with her tiles and rolled her eyes, "she wanted personal so I got up front and personal."

Half the table laughed and May shook her head, "Simmons hurry up and finish this game so we can all get to work."

"Actually, I am finishing this game with museum." Skye laid out her tiles and smiled at them all. "I'm not sorry."

Everyone dispersed and Skye moved to escort Ward back to his cell while May made her way over to Coulson. He shook his arms as he folded his head, "it's like a switch was flipped, totally different."

"Training Skye helped him, it put him in a state of mind that made him feel comfortable. Then Skye suggested he eat breakfast with the team and before we knew it a game was started." She smiled at Coulson, "the interaction is helping him, he can't feel abandoned if he's surrounded by people who care about him. I think breakfast after training will be a regular occurrence after training."

A/N: Next we see Ward earn a HUGE result of all his work as well as hear some secrets between Ward and Skye.

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