"I couldn't sleep." Skye told him, rolling over to face him.
"So you come in here?"
"I figured that it was because I'd got used to you being there."
"OK. Even bigger question. Why are you in your underwear?" Ward asked her as he adjusted his body position and brushed his leg against hers in the process.
"It's the sunburn. It hurts to wear clothes." She told him.
Realising his resolve would crack if he stayed in his current position Ward shuffled closer to the edge of the bed and rolled so his back was to her.
"Goodnight Skye."
"Night Ward."
The following morning Ward woke first. At first he didn't realise where he was, then he remembered that he and Skye had made it to the safe house.
Skye.
He looked down to find Skye had migrated closer to him in the middle of the night and was now using his injured arm as a pillow, her hot breath tickling his arm. He could feel the heat still coming off her sunburnt skin.
Groaning, he attempted to extract his eye from under her head without waking her, but failed. Just as he made it to his wrist she began to stir.
"Morning." He said to her.
"Morning. What do you have in your pillows? Rocks?" she asked him, turning onto her back to look up at him.
"Well if you give me my arm back you can find out." Ward told her, nodding at the fact that she was laid on it.
"So that's why it's so firm."
"Probably."
Skye lifted her head allowing Ward to remove his arm. He walked across the room and pulled a shirt out of a drawer. She watched his muscles ripple as he pulled it over his head.
She suddenly felt far too naked in his company and was looking around the bed to find something to cover her body.
"You get dressed while I go and cook breakfast." Ward told her, not looking at her and heading out of the door.
Thankful Ward had left Skye pulled back the covers, got out of the bed and crept to the door. She opened it a crack and checked the corridor to make sure Ward had left. Seeing he had she bolted from his door to hers and flew through it. She flopped down onto the bed and laid there.
"What the hell was I thinking?" she chastised herself.
"You took your time." Ward told Skye as she entered the kitchen.
"I needed a shower. Did you put the aftersun back in the fridge?"
"I did. Top shelf but the eggs are now done." He told her as he stirred the pan of eggs.
"I'll do it after breakfast." Skye told him, taking a seat at the breakfast bar and allowing Ward to serve her a generous portion of eggs and toast.
"I've checked the computer. There's no sign of a reply yet."
"How long do we wait?"
"As long you want. Personally I'd give him a couple of weeks."
"So what do we do in the meantime?" Skye asked. Two weeks was a long time to wait and do nothing.
"We could train?" Ward suggested.
"I don't think I could. It hurts to walk, move and generally wear clothes."
"We can hold off until you can, but until then we can read, talk, I can try teach you a language."
"Which one?"
"French."
"Why French?"
"It's easier than Russian."
"French it is."
After breakfast Skye helped Ward clean up and he helped put suncream on her back before heading towards the study.
"Where do we start?"
"How much do you know?"
"Uno, Dos, Treis, Quattro, Cinquo."
"That's not quite French. To count to five try un, deux, trios, quatre, cinq."
Skye repeated the numbers.
They spent the entire morning with Ward teaching Skye basic French. By lunch she could not only count to 20, but say 'hello, my name is Skye' and drop your gun or I'll shoot.
"I have a headache." Skye moaned as Ward handed her a bottle of water.
"We've covered a lot."
"Can't we eat?"
"Sandwich?"
"A sandwich?"
"You clearly forgot that I make a mean sandwich." Ward teased her.
"Clearly. You'll have to remind me."
Ward closed the book they were using for a reference text and led Skye back to the kitchen.
"Can we eat it outside like a picnic?" She asked him.
"Sure, just make sure you get everything you want."
Skye went around the kitchen getting everything she wanted for lunch and placing it in a box while Ward made a sandwich for each of them, wrapping them and also placing it in the box.
He picked it up and Skye returned to the kitchen with a bottle of suncream.
"Thought it might be a good idea." She said, adding it to the box.
Ward led her down the corridor to the book case and pushed at it with his foot. It opened smoothly and soon he was out in the stiflingly hot air.
Skye followed him before overtaking him in the hut and leading him outside to the lounger she had fallen asleep in the previous day. Ward put the box down in the middle of it.
Skye rummaged around in the box and pulled what looked like a bed sheet out of it and shook it out onto the floor. Slowly she unpacked the box and made herself comfy. Ward joined her on the sheet and took a bite out of his sandwich.
"Ward! WARD!" Skye yelled from the computer room. Ward rushed in from the kitchen to see what the problem was.
"What?" He asked after realising she was fine.
"We have a response to the message. Next Thursday, midday. Location of our choosing."
"Send a message back and agree on Providence. We need to get there Wednesday and plan escape routes and exit strategies."
"Why?"
"You will realise doing this job that Justin is your best friend." Ward told her
"Justin?"
"Just-in Case. If you always have a backup plan just in case then you will always get out alive."
"Oh I see."
Ward spent the next week teaching Skye French and reading. Skye was still insisting on sharing his bed, claiming it was comfier than her, but she had started sleeping with more clothing on. Ward was doing all the cooking while Skye did all the cleaning. The one time she had offered to cook she had given them both food poisoning.
Skye made Ward stick to his word and they spent two hours every morning before breakfast working out. He had even shown her how good he was with the throwing stars. She would shout targets out to him and he would throw them at the targets, hitting each one with precision.
It was now Wednesday and Ward was flying them to the former Providence safe house.
"You nervous?" he asked Skye, realising she was being very, very quiet.
"Yes. I don't know this man. All I know is he is a homicidal monster and death and destruction follow him wherever he goes."
"He's not going to hurt you."
"It's not me I'm worried about. I'm worried what he's going to do to the others to force me to do things for him."
"He won't touch them."
"How can you be so sure?"
"A gut feeling." Ward reassured her.
He landed the jet in the hangar of the base, electing to keep it in stealth mode.
"If we keep the door open we can see where it is." He told her.
"Why do we need to keep it in stealth mode anyway?" Skye asked.
"If things go south we have an escape route." Ward told her, nodding at the invisible plane.
"So all we do now is wait?" Skye asked him.
"And make plans."
"Like?"
"Like what happens if Hydra attack, or SHIELD, or even if your father thinks I'm a threat to a relationship with you."
"Well if SHIELD attack its easy. Tie me up, stick something over my head and you get the hell out of here." Skye told him.
"But..."
"There are no buts. I owe you for this ride. I won't tell Coulson anything."
"If Hydra attack get to the plane and hide. I will distract them and meet you there, but you'll have to fire up the engines to make a quick getaway."
"I can do that. And if my father attacks?"
"If he attacks me then you can either let him kill me or shoot him and we follow the plan for Hydra. If he attacks you I will shoot him and we get the hell out of here."
"What happens after we get out of here?"
"I take you back to Coulson."
"Straight away?" Skye asked.
"Depends on what state we're in getting out of here. Not to mention the time. We need to find a room that's far enough away from the door to be safe from attack, but close enough to the hangar to run." Ward told her.
"I know just the room." She said, taking him by the hand and leading him to the room where they had shared a passionate kiss.
"Perfect." Ward said, smiling as he remembered the last time he had been in the room.
"What will you be doing while I meet my father?" Skye asked. She wanted him nearby, but thought that it would be more awkward if he was in the room.
"I will be next door monitoring the cameras, trying to spot any pending attacks."
"Can I contact Coulson?"
"Sure, just don't tell him where you are."