Chapter Fourteen (Learn to Love Again)

(A Week Later)

Coulson watched as Skye talked with Ward inside of his infirmary room, which the still kept him in in case of any incidents. He shook his head and turned to look at Simmons, who stood beside him at the glass. "I don't believe it." he began. "I just don't believe it. He's dealing better, be he's still refusing to accept the real reality."

Simmons shrugged, "There's no telling to when he'll come to terms with them. I know that he still thinks he's Mr. Perfect SHIELD Agent when he's really not so. And he's still trying to block out the real memories because they cause too much pain.

But I'm surprised that his mental state is improving. He's not in as much psychosis as he was. Yes, he still deals with violent hallucinations and nightmares on a day-to-day basis, but he's not as wild as he was." she continued. "But he's still shutting us out, everyone except Skye."

Coulson sighed, "That's kind of expected though, isn't it?" he questioned. "It's almost like the Vault again, only willing to talk to Skye. But this time, it's much, much friendlier. And Skye enjoys it, well at least I think she does."

"Sir, what are you going to do with him when he's better or as close to better as that man can get?" Simmons asked, watching as Skye told Ward something that made him smile.

Coulson held his breath, "I think it's in the best intentions of keeping him here, Simmons." he replied. "Letting him go out on his own is not a good thing for a long time to come. There's no telling if and when he'll relapse, and we don't need a psychotic Ward running around hallucinating everything. That will get a lot of people killed.

Jemma, I know that you don't like the idea of him staying here from now on, but it's with the best intentions. And it's for the best of everyone." Coulson continued. "He'll be staying with us if mostly everyone gives the greenlight. I know that Skye will, I don't know about the others though."

"Sir, if it's for the best for everyone, then I'm okay with it." Simmons replied. "Bobbi is the one that you need to worry about. We don't need her trying to kill him out of spite. When Ward fully remembers what happened and is fully sane, maybe he can apologize or something. But he isn't capable of understanding what he's apologizing for." Simmons went on to explain. "His mental functioning is that great right now. That's what happens when someone loses themselves to severe psychosis like that.

He was really bad off, it's only a miracle that Skye's spending time with him is slowly helping him recover. I don't know when he'll be back to normal Ward before the 'incident', it could be a while."

Coulson nodded and sighed, looking back to Ward, "I'm just glad he's talking normally again. Just last week, he wasn't making any damn sense."

"Have you heard someone suffering from psychosis or insanity? They hardly make any sense. They ramble on and on about utter nonsense."

Coulson shrugged, "Well, at least that's over." he repeated. "Maybe things will start to get back to normal. Well, I at least hope."

(Elsewhere)

Ward smiled slightly as Skye continued to talk about what had happened to her over the past few months. Anything Ward had known about the team from that time period, mainly SHIELD's fall to now, had been erased in the first incident.

"So, you have… Powers?" Ward asked, his head slightly tilting.

Skye nodded, "Yes, I do." Her eyes settled on the bottle of water beside her. She held out her hand and sent a small shockwave out towards it, causing the bottle to be knocked over. Looking back to Ward, she laughed at his awe, "And I can do way more than that, it's just too dangerous to do so in here."

"I really lost a lot, haven't I?" Ward questioned, looking down.

"Yes, you did." Skye replied. "But it's coming all back, just very slowly."

"You think I'm crazy, right? That I'm insane?"

Skye blinked, "I," she began, but Ward decided to cut her off midsentence.

"Just admit it, Skye. I'm insane."

"Simmons did say that you did go through a bought of psychosis because of the conflicting memories. They were fighting for dominance and that's what caused you to go insane." Skye finally explained. "But you're getting better."

"But there's still no way that I was a traitor pretty much working for Hydra." Ward said, his mind still set on that thought.

"Believe it or not, Grant, that's the cold, hard truth. There's no avoiding it."

Ward's face paled and he lowered his gaze to the floor. He remained silent, fighting back heckling laughs in his head. Mostly Garrett's.

Skye frowned at Ward's fallen emotion, afraid that something would spawn out of it. Like another episode perhaps. She took his hand, causing him to look up to her smile, "Look, Grant, I'll help you get through this." she said. "You just got to learn to accept some things that aren't, well, pretty."

Ward shook his head, "What if I don't want to?" he asked quietly. "I… I want it to stay the way I remember."

"Grant, there are some hard truths that all of us wish that weren't real, but we have to learn to deal with it and put us behind us, right? Look, you're doing better now. You're not wanting to kill us, you're not kidnapping someone, and you're not locked up. I think Coulson's giving you another chance, and you need to take it." Skye said, still holding his hand.

Ward looked down again and decided to remain quiet.

Skye knew that she shouldn't push him anymore, in fear of causing something. Instead, she reached underneath the chair she was sitting in and pulled out two small gray rectangular boxes. Something inside of them shook as she moved them, causing Ward to divert his attention to them.

A slight smile formed on his face as he realized what they were, "Battleship?" he asked.

Skye nodded, "I knew that you didn't forget that." she said, smiling back. "You could never forget that."

"But at a time like this?"

"No, I think now is a perfect time. Call it a mental exercise or something, help get your thinking back to close as normal as it can get." Skye replied, setting out the game in front of them on a small table. "And besides, we haven't done this in forever."

Ward smiled, "I guess we haven't." he said, opening his part of the game.

"Best two out of three?"

"Uh, sure."

Author's Note: I don't own AoS, Marvel does. So short chapter, but it wasn't that serious (Especially when it ends on Battleship.) But it shows that Ward's slowly getting better and Skye's the only one he's letting help him. So I guess that's good? Maybe? I don't know. Keep reading and PLEASE favorite, follow, and/or review! ~AwakeAndAliveSpartan.