Author's note

Some lines are taken from episode 14 'T.A.H.I.T.I.'

Chapter 36

The team were escorted to a waiting room in the SHIELD trauma facility in Zurich. Coulson was on his phone immediately, trying to get hold of Fury to get some answers about how he was saved, while May stood by alternating between watching him and the other three members of the team. Simmons and Fitz had dragged a clearly distraught Ward onto a two seater couch and then squashed in on either side of him, both leaning in to try and offer him comfort.

"Why didn't I stop her? I could have," Fitz said quietly.

"As if you could stop Skye doing anything she set her mind to," Simmons replied.

"I shouldn't have let her go after Quinn by herself. What was I thinking?"

"Hey it's not your fault," Ward said softly. "She shouldn't have been there. I should have protected her better. It's on me."

Simmons leaned further into him then, wrapping an arm around his waist. She went to speak but May beat her too it.

"The one to blame is the man who shot her, Ian Quinn. He's responsible," she said firmly.

They all turned to Coulson when he slammed his phone down on a nearby table.

"Phil," May started, but Coulson just shook his head.

He sat down in the single seater chair near Fitz. "We'll save her," he said firmly, locking eyes with Ward.

"Whatever it takes," Ward agreed before the whole team fell into silence.

A few hours, that felt more like days to the team, later found them all in pretty much the same position. Simmons' head rested on Ward's shoulder while she did something on a tablet, while Fitz rested his head back against the couch, still pressed into Ward's side. Ward and Coulson both sipped on coffees a kind nurse had brought them quietly, while May sat in the single seater by Simmons keeping an eye on both the door and the team.

The doctor walked in the door then, gaining everyone's attention and making them all rise from their seats.

"How is she?" Coulson asked as he stood in front of the doctor.

"Not good," the doctor replied. "The shots perforated her stomach and penetrated both her large and small intestines. We resected what we could but," she paused and took a breath before continuing. "There was too much damage."

"So what's next?" Coulson asked.

"We can keep her comfortable, but you'll need to make a decision on whether or not you want to keep her on life support."

"No," Ward said softly. He didn't know how to deal with what he was hearing. SHIELD was meant to have the best people in the world, how could they not be able to save her. "That's not acceptable," he said loudly, startling everyone. The doctor, who had been in the process of telling Coulson that he should call Skye's family, stopped speaking as they all turned to look at him. "We're her family," he said firmly. "And we are not just going to let her die. If you can't help her then we will find someone who can," he continued, looking at Coulson.

Coulson nodded at him. "And I know where we'll start looking." He turned back to the doctor. "Can you please get Skye prepared for transport?"

The doctor hesitated before agreeing. "She's stable enough to transport, but she will need to be monitored constantly."

"I can do it," Simmons said easily. The doctor nodded and then excused herself.

"Where are we taking her?" Fitz asked.

"I'll explain once we're back on the bus," Coulson answered, turning to speak to May who was no longer there. "Where did May go?" he asked the team.

They all looked at each other before Ward answered. "If I had to take a guess I would say the interrogation room on the bus." FitzSimmons and Coulson all looked at him questioningly so he expanded on the statement. "It's where I want to be right now, but I don't currently have enough control to stop myself from killing him."

It only took a few seconds for Coulson to realise what he was saying. "I don't think she does either," he said and hurried out of the room.

Ward turned to FitzSimmons. "Get back to the bus and ready to go," he said, before hurrying after Coulson. He would for her to kill Quinn but they needed her with them right now, not in trouble and detained by SHIELD.

"HQ radioed in," Ward said approaching Coulson where he stood outside the med pod Skye was in. "They've ordered us to hand over Quinn for interrogation and transport to the Fridge." Coulson looked at him. "There's no chance he's getting off this plane," Ward continued.

"Agreed," Coulson said. "He stays in our custody until I say otherwise."

"So we're heading to Bethesda?" Ward asked.

"It's where my file says I was treated after New York," Coulson said.

"Okay," Ward agreed easily. Coulson had already told him the truth about what happened to him and if there was a chance this would help Skye he would take it.

"I need to give my file to FitzSimmons, I'm sure they will understand a lot more of it than I do." He went to walk away then turned back to the younger agent. "Can you check on May for me please? I know she's strong but-"

"Of course," Ward interrupted. "She cares too."

Ward headed to the cockpit and joined May.

"It hurt much?" he asked indicating the hand she had used to beat Quinn.

"I'm fine."

He looked at her carefully before nodding. "I just saw Skye in the med pod. Machines filtering her blood, breathing for her."

"Would you make this play?" May asked curiously. She wasn't sure she would, but she knew Coulson was different. "I know why Coulson is. If there's a chance in a million to save her, save any of us, he'll take it. But would you?"

"Yes," he answered, no hesitation.

"For anyone? Or just for her?" she asked.

This time there was a slight hesitation. "For anyone on this team, I would do as much as was humanly possible," he paused and took a breath. "But for her? For her I would do much, much more. I'd do whatever it took, no matter the cost."

She looked at him for a moment then nodded. "This is the only play we have anyway. And it makes a lot more sense than the alternative."

"You mean giving up?" he asked.

"Or killing the man responsible."

"You showed more restraint than I would have. But I did enjoy seeing you beat him. You don't open the blinds like that very often."

"She matters to me too," May said simply. She went to continue but was interrupted by the radio.

"SHIELD 616, this is tower Michael Tango. You are in violation of SHIELD directive 1297. Respond immediately."

"Disobeying a direct order," Ward said. "We didn't hand Quinn over for interrogation."

"Great," May said sarcastically. They both noticed the F-35s flying up to flank them. May flipping her headset on for the radio. "This is SHIELD 616. How do we proceed?"

"Prepare to be boarded and relinquish command," came from the radio.

"I'll let Coulson know," Ward said getting up and leaving the cockpit.

"I'll await your orders sir," Ward said to Coulson as he headed up to meet whoever was docking.

"No one-" Coulson started but was interrupted.

"Gets near Quinn. Or Skye."

"Exactly," Coulson said as he went up the stairs.

Ward waited near the bar, where no one could get down the stairs without him noticing. It didn't take long before he saw a familiar face approaching. Damn, if Trip was here that meant Garrett was too. That meant he was going to have to stay away from Skye to hide his feelings and make sure he kept his cover in tact.

"Agent Grant Ward," Trip said, putting out his hand as he approached.

"Trip," Ward said with a friendly smile. He had no problems with Trip, he knew the other man was clean. "Is Garrett upstairs?" he asked, hoping the answer was no but knowing that was unlikely.

"Yeah," Trip said easily. "You know he still talks about that thousand yard shot you took in Bandung?"

"It was two thousand," Ward replied with a smirk. "So what're you doing here?" he asked crossing his arms.

"Man this is like the playboy jet," Trip said looking around. "I mean, a guy could get soft bunking in a place like this." He shot Ward a smirk, which he returned. "How did Coulson swing such a sweet ride?"

"He died," Ward said blandly.

"That's tight," Trip said getting serious. "You wanna point me to the box you keeping Quinn? HQ ordered Garrett to haul his ass to the Fridge for questioning." He looked around a bit more. "Is that a floor bar?" he asked admiringly.

"You're welcome to it," Ward replied easily. "But, uh, Quinn stays put until Coulson says otherwise."

"Come on man," Trip said. "Garrett was your SO too, so you know how this works."

"Why don't you remind me?"

"Garrett wants Quinn. It's my job to make sure Garrett gets what he wants. Now where is he?"

"Can't help you with that," Ward said with a smirk.

"No worries. I'll find Quinn myself. I'm sure he's tucked between the Jacuzzi and the squash court." With that Trip went to move past Ward but he reached out and grabbed his arm.

Trip turned around and swung at Ward, but he managed to deflect it and easily get the upper hand, landing a few hits on the other specialist. He was about to hit him again when Coulson called out.

"Agent Ward, stand down!"

Ward stepped back from Trip as Coulson and Garrett approached. As Coulson explained the deal with HQ Ward made sure he had himself under control to face Garrett and respond in exactly the way that was expected of him.

"You wouldn't believe what I could talk this son of a gun into," Garrett said while smiling at him. "Good seeing you son."

"You too sir," Ward replied, reaching out to shake his hand, with a grin on his face. "And thank you."

"Saving the girl is top priority," Garret responded. "And she might know something."

Garrett and Coulson headed towards the interrogation room and Ward turned back to Trip. "Sorry about that," he said with a shrug.

"No worries," Trip replied easily. "You're protecting your team. The stories about you are not exaggerated."

"And I was pulling my punches," Ward smirked and walked away, heading down to check on Skye while Garrett was busy and wouldn't notice.

"So he says he did it because this clairvoyant told him to," Garrett said.

He and Coulson were telling Ward and Trip what they had found out in the interrogation with Quinn. Ward's head snapped up at that sentence. It was the first time Garrett had said 'clairvoyant' and the reason the term had sounded so familiar finally clicked into place for him. Luckily no one noticed his sudden movement and he was able clear any expression from his face before anyone looked at him. He needed to talk to Coulson; he needed to tell him what he had just realised. How could he not have figured it out sooner? It was so obvious now. The one thing the Clairvoyant seemed to want above all else was the answer to what saved Coulson and that was the reason Garrett wanted him on this team. If only he had figured it out sooner, maybe he could have prevented Skye from being shot. Because the Clairvoyant they were chasing was standing on their bus right now offering to help and they were accepting, giving him exactly what he wanted.