Hey guys!
Okay, so how I write these one shots is going to change. If they are labeled 'AU' in the chapter Title, then they are obviously AU one shots. If then in the chapter itself it's labeled with Teen!Skyeward, then that's the sort of AU it is.
Some one shots will lead on from each other, labeled as part one, two and so on.
My Teen!Skyeward AU's will have the samebackground, explained below.
Also, I got Twitter! Go to my profile for the link, or search mikamisako.
Anyway, enjoy this one!
And please leave a review at the end!
Part 14: Group Therapy - Part One
Teen!Skyeward
(In which Skye is the adoptive daughter of May and Coulson, and Grant Ward is the adoptive son of Maria Hill, after being 'saved' from his family).
Skye May-Coulson was not very happy.
"Come on, Skye, cheer up." Her dad, Phil Coulson, says, glancing at his 16 year old daughter through the rearview mirror. Skye glares at him, her arms crossed as she slumps in the seat.
"I won't." Skye spits back at him, anger flashing in her usually calm, happy chocolate brown eyes. "Unless you turn this car around right now, and forget about this whole fucking idea!"
"Skye, you are going to this group therapy class whether you like it or not." Coulson tells her sharply.
He and her mother, Melinda, decided to send Skye to group therapy after his boss, Nick Fury, stormed into his house in the early hours of the morning to inform Coulson that Skye had, once again, hacked into SHIELD'S supposedly secure databases and sent a message across every computer in SHIELD: a meme of a cat going 'I can have cheezeburger?'.
Needless to say, Fury was not impressed.
Coulson and May had sat down to discuss their adoptive daughter's behaviour. They were both SHIELD agents: he a field agent that worked mainly on preparing missions than executing them after adopting Skye, she an administrative agent, moving carefully back into field work. This unfortunately interfered with the time they had left to sort out Skye's behaviour.
It was clear to her parents that Skye craved attention, and she got it through hacking into various different government databases. Melinda said that it was probably linked to her life before they had adopted her, as she was often overlooked in favour of other children in the orphanage. But Coulson had no idea what to do. Melinda and him couldn't watch her 24/7, so, with the hope of Skye finding what she wanted, he took the advice of his colleague Maria Hill.
He sent Skye to group therapy.
Of course, it wasn't any old group therapy class. It was only for the children of SHIELD operatives, and the therapist was SHIELD approved. Melinda assured him that Skye would be safe there. Maria, who was also sending her kid, praised the group.
So Coulson went with the idea.
Skye was not as enthusiastic.
"I hate you." She tells her father as he parks the shiny red corvette car, his most prised possession.
"Skye, please. Just give it a try." Coulson pleads as he gets out of the car, and Skye moodily follows. She makes a noise deep in her throat which tells Coulson she's not willing to cooperate.
They walk into the building, and a lady on the reception smiles politely at him. Coulson swallows. The therapy class is being held in the basement level, and he needs to sign Skye in. But somehow, this whole building is intimidating, and he even considers turning away and running back to his car, Skye in hand, when a familiar voice calls out to him.
"Phil!" Agent Victoria Hand smiles at him, walking over to him briskly.
"Vicky." He smiles back. "You're here too?"
"Yeah." Hand tosses her hair back, which has red highlights darted throughout. Victoria Hand is a formidable woman, and a brilliant agent. Few would want to cross her, but Coulson wonders what she's doing here, especially since he knows that she has no children.
"I'm escorting two rascals." She nods. "Just put them into the therapy I'm guessing you're headed to."
"Yeah." Coulson nods.
"I can take her down if you want." Hand offers. "So you can get on."
Coulson glances down at Skye, who shoots him a poisonous look. As much as he loves his daughter, he really doesn't think that he can keep his cool with her any longer, so he accepts Hand's offer.
"See you later, Skye." He says to his daughter.
"Yeah, whatever." Skye mutters, not meeting his eyes. With a heavy heart, Coulson walks away from his daughter, hoping that this group therapy will help her.
Skye shoots the woman walking next to her a glare.
How dare her father send her here? Therapy? She doesn't need therapy. God, she hacks into a few high level government databases, and she's sent to this crap? Talk about an over reaction.
Victoria Hand walks silently next to her. Skye knows of the woman, and has met her a few times. But Skye's never liked the woman, finding her too mission oriented, and too cold for her liking.
Hand takes her into the lift, and Skye presses the button to go down. Hand remains quiet throughout the journey, leaving Skye to hear the creaking noises as the old elevator drops down a floor. Skye grabs the barrier, feeling her stomach drop in that funny feeling you always get in elevators. The doors ping open and Hand escorts her through them.
Hand leads her down a corridor, the walls painted an ugly yellow, and opens the door at the end of the hall. A tall dark skinned man glances up and smiles, and Skye sees a group of kids all leaning in plastic chairs, set in a circle.
"Hello there." The man smiles. "I'm Doctor Andrew Garner. Pleased to meet you."
"This is Coulson's kid." Hand tells him. "I'll be going now." And then the woman leaves, and Skye is alone in a room full to the brim with strangers.
"What's your name?" Dr Garner asks her as he leads her over into the circle.
"Skye May-Coulson." She answers him reluctantly.
"Take a seat, Skye." He smiles. Skye glances around and sees only two seats open: one in between two kids, one a tall blonde girl and the other a shorter guy, both with their arms crossed and identical annoyed looks on their faces. And the other...
Skye finds herself walking towards the seat before she even knows what she's doing, and people on either side of it glance at her. One is nondescript, a kid she's never seen before, but the other, although he is also unknown, is also damn hot. He has angled cheekbones, dark hair and even darker eyes. He lounges in the chair with an expression of non interest on his face, and Skye feels herself smiling.
Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought... She thinks to herself.
"Okay, now that we're all here," Dr Garner starts, taking his seat. "Let's start. My name is Dr Andrew Garner, and you guys are all here for my group therapy. Now, it's okay if you don't want to participate, but maybe, over time, you'll want to."
Dr Garner asks them all to introduce themselves to the group. Skye tunes most of it out, but when the boy and girl she could have sat down stand up to introduce themselves (because apparently they came together), her ears perk up.
"I'm Bobbi Morse." The girl smiles. "And this here is Lan-"
"I can introduce myself, Bobbi!" The boy scowls. "I'm Lance Hunter."
"Why are you two here?" Dr Garner asks.
"Because she's a she devil!" The boy, Lance, turns his back on the girl, Bobbi.
"Well, you're a child!" Bobbi retorts. "Dr Garner, I'm dating this idiot, and our parents made us come so we could sort out our issues with each other." She explains.
"Okay." Dr Garner nods. "You may sit down."
Skye finds out that the guy on her other side (not Cheekbones, as she's nicknamed him) is called Mack, and is there dealing with grief after his mother's death. And then it's her turn.
She stands up, and folds her arms over her chest.
"I'm Skye May-Coulson." She says in a disinterested voice. "And I'm here because my parents threw a fit after I hacked into Level 10 of SHIELD and sent a meme of a lol cat over the whole network."
Bobbi barely suppresses a laugh at Skye's words, Lance smiles and even Mack gives a little snort. The only ones who doesn't react to her words are Dr Garner and Cheekbones.
"Interesting, Skye." Dr Garner tells her. "You may sit back down."
Skye sits down with a thump, and then Cheekbones gets to his feet. Skye sees that he's tall, and she likes the views she's getting.
"I'm Grant Ward." Cheekbones says in a voice Skye thinks shouldn't be legal outside a bedroom. "And I'm here because..." He trails off briefly, and then continues. "My guardian thought it would be good for me to 'get my feelings out in the open'." It's clear that Cheekbones - Grant (she likes his name a lot) - has no respect for the idea as sarcasm literally drips off his words.
"Okay, Grant." Dr Garner says.
Over the course of the session, Dr Garner has them separate off into pairs to discuss their problems. Skye glances around, and the turns to Grant next to her.
"Want to be partners?" She smiles her best 'come hither' smile.
"Okay." Grant looks slightly nervous, and uncertain of his response. Skye and Grant drag their chairs off into the corner, and then Dr Garner tells them to talk.
And to her surprise, Skye finds herself obeying.
Her entire life spills out off her tongue, in rivers that can't be stopped. They keep flowing until Skye has told this boy every little detail about her childhood. About the orphanage, about how she was always ignored for other kids, and how she gave up on the hope of ever getting adopted. And even now, she still thinks that Coulson and May might send her back.
Grant listens quietly, patiently, and lets herself talk herself to exhaustion. And when she's finally done, he speaks.
"I don't think your parent will send you away." He says quietly. "I think they really love you, but maybe they're just worried for you?"
"Maybe." Skye admits. "But I... I can't believe I actually just told you, a total stranger, all of that."
Grant looks up and meets her eyes. Skye notices that his brown eyes look haunted and sad, and she realises that she has never seen eyes so old in a face so young.
"Sometimes telling a stranger is the best way." He says quietly. "But sometimes it can also be the worst."
Skye can't understand what he really means until several weeks later, when he finally tells her his story.
Weeks pass. Coulson sees a difference in his daughter. She's happier, and hangs out with Mack, Bobbi and Lance from her therapy class. He notices that she seems close with one of the kids, but he doesn't know who he is.
But he doesn't worry. It's been weeks since her last catastrophic hack, and May and he can finally relax.
They have their daughter back.
"Grant." Skye says one day, when Dr Garner has sent them outside to talk, so Grant and her chose a wall underneath the shade of a huge oak tree.
"Yeah, Skye?" He says, glancing at her. Skye can't believe that she met this boy, who has become such a close friend, even if she wants more. But she can't make that move.
Not until she knows his truth. His story.
"Why?" The single word conveys all she wants to know. Why are you here? What happened to you? Why don't you trust people? What are those scars I see on you when your clothes shift? Why don't you live with your real parents? (Because she knows that they're not dead, and he's not adopted). Just why?
Grant closes his eyes briefly, his legs swinging off the side of the wall. Skye sits some distance away from him. She doesn't move closer.
"I was born Grant Douglas Ward, the second son of the Ward family." He starts, his voice low and quiet, so quiet Skye has to strain her ears to hear what he's saying. His eyes remain closed. "Christian Ward was my older brother, Thomas my younger brother. My mother was Valerie, my father Christian senior.
My mother favoured Thomas out of all us brothers. He was her favourite, the boy that could do no wrong. Christian hated that, so much than his anger exploded from him, and he conducted it towards Thomas and I.
He hit me, and hit Thomas. Our mother was no better, with her alcohol addiction, and her pills. She had no time for Christian and I, and hated us for ever being born. So she'd foray into the abuse, being deliberately cruel to us as my father watched, never interfering."
Skye listens in silence, biting down hard on her lip.
"One day, when I was twelve, Christian shoved Thomas down the well at the bottom of our grandparent's garden. I wanted to get him out." Grant's voice, which has been in monotone so far, threatens to break. He takes a second to breath, composing himself. Skye itches to reach out to him, to hug him, but she knows that he has to finish on his own, or he'll never speak the words that need to be said. So she resists, and he continues.
"Christian told me he'd chuck me down there too. I ignored him. Thomas couldn't swim. He'd die. So Christian hit me in the head, and when I was on the ground he kicked me relentlessly until I went out cold.
"Thomas nearly died in that well. But by the time I'd awoken, and rescued him, Thomas had seen that one of us would die if things kept going on like this. He tried to persuade our mother, who told him to stop lying.
So he did the only thing he could. He called the police." Grant takes another breath. "On that night, I was fourteen, and I had had enough. I grabbed a wine bottle, and I had hit Christian over the head with it. Christian had grabbed it back off Mr and proceeded to attempt to kill me with the shards. By the time the police arrived, I had lost a lot of blood, Thomas was hysterical, and Christian had moved onto our mother."
Did he kill her? Skye wants to ask him, but she keeps quiet. I have to let him finish.
"I spent around 6 months in hospital recovering. SHIELD got to me in the hospital, and offered Thomas and I a way out. I accepted it, although it meant having to be separated from Thomas. He went to live with some retired agents in Detroit, and I went to live with Maria Hill." He stops suddenly, like a train crash.
"Grant-" Skye lunges forward and crashes into him, hugging him close. Grant remains still in her embrace.
"While Christian was distracted with our mother, I grabbed our father's shotgun from the cabinet. And then I shot Christian." His voice is muffled in her shoulder, and Sky goes still. "I didn't kill him, but I might of. I paralysed him instead."
"Grant." Skye murmurs, still holding him. "Oh, Grant."
"I tried to kill him, Skye." He mutters, his voice full of self loathing. "I tried to kill my own brother."
"He tried to kill you." She reminds him.
And that's when Skye sees it. She's technically a stranger to Grant. And he told her his story, so the real question is how she'll react now. Stay with him until it gets to hard and leave him, breaking Grant, or just staying.
But Skye knows her answer. In a way, she's always known it.
"I'm staying." She whispers, resting her chin on Grant's head as he rests his head against her shoulder, his face buried in the crook of her neck.
And they stay like that for a long time, until they have to leave.
But Skye never really ever leaves Grant Ward, or his many demons, alone.