A/N: Hey lovely readers.

First off, apologies for the massive delay, but school got very busy and sports took all my free time. Then this chapter was just hard to write. I'm not entirely sure why, but it felt impossible to get any words down for this one. I'm afraid it's not my best work, but you guys needed an update because a whole month has gone by.

Anyway, quick note by the end of season one in this story, so the next few chapters, the story will turn to more of an AU style and Ward being more conflicted about where he stands. I honestly think they wasted his character and development in season two and I'm behind on season three so I don't know what he's doing anymore. However beside the point, I just wanted to give you all a heads up that things are going to start looking pretty different by the time season two comes around. The premise is the same, but Ward will be a better villain. *No spoilers*

Summary: Melinda Qiaolian May has been an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. for most of her life, but all the training in the world could have never prepared her for the challenge she was facing. She had to let go, but when she looked into those soft nut brown eyes, she knew in that moment she would never let go.

Excuse any misspellings and grammar mistakes.

Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. or any of the characters used.

Chapter Thirty Six

Ward had been able to follow Skye's plan easy enough, it was quite simple and a stroke of genius in his opinion. The two had been sitting in the main room for ten minutes, making sure they covered all their bases and knew exactly what they needed to do once they left Providence. When the team returned, they would find the base empty, Koenig knocked unconscious, the Bus gone and Skye's hidden message.

In order to make sure Garrett believed Ward was still Hydra, he needed to bring Skye in and his team needed to learn of his betrayal. Although Ward wanted to wait and tell them the truth, he knew he didn't have enough time to wait for them to arrive. Garrett knew the location of this base and if Ward didn't bring Skye in time, he would send soldiers or Deathlok to get them.

Neither of which sounded appealing.

"You ready for this," Ward asked, wanting to give Skye the option to back out now.

He really didn't want to bring her to Garrett. He just wanted to stay in this base, hidden from the world where they could be safe and wait or the others to return. In Ward's opinion, it seemed like the best play. Not to mention he would be able to show Coulson and Fitzsimmons that he was on their side. That he was done with Hydra and would do everything in his power to make up for what he had done.

However, Skye had a plan that he knew would work. The only real flaw would be when the whole team was reunited and Ward would have a lot of explaining to do. Skye would have some explaining of her own, but they would worry about that after they finished the first stages of their plan. Skye wouldn't back down from this, she just needed to do something about Garrett and Hydra and everything else. If there was any way for her to end this chaos, she was going to do it now.

"Yeah, I left the message already," Skye told Ward as they walked to hangar, "One of them will find it and I'll start leaving little trails for them to follow. In the meantime, we take down Garrett's operations from the inside out."

"Do we have to let them think I kidnapped you though," Ward questioned for the tenth time.

Skye sighed, "Well that was your original plan and there are clues which lead up to that. If we change too much, then everything will be confusing and wild."

"Aren't things already wild," Ward replied with a quirk of his brow.

Skye rolled her eyes, "Regardless, you need to follow through with your plan and get us out of here before the deadline. After we deal with the hard drive in L.A. I can send a signal. This will be able to follow the trail."

"And once they follow this trail," Ward asked her.

Skye bit her lip before she replied, "Hopefully by the time we get to Garrett, the virus will have done it's thing giving us an edge."

"What about when you finish with the hard drive at the diner," Ward said, prompting Skye to repeat this part of the plan.

Skye answered, "Then we leave on the Bus and you take me to Garrett with the hard drive. Once inside, I will send a message to Coulson and they will be able to find his operations. And like I said before, the virus will have done it's thing."

"It sounds easy," Ward commented, even though he knew it would be anything, but easy.

"Yeah," Skye said distantly, "Yeah it does."

Ward noticed the change in Skye's expression and voice. Although she put up a good front, Ward could tell that she was really struggling with everything that was going on. He knew he was partly to blame for that. After all Ward had told her was a traitor and that he loved her. It was a lot to take in. Without saying a word, Ward slipped his hand into Skye's. At first, she stiffened at the touch of his warm hand, but a moment later her fingers intertwined with his own.

She squeezed his hand hard, as if he would slip away if she didn't hold on tight enough. Skye had so many doubts about this plan, about Ward/ What if this was all a play? What if he told her about being Hydra so she would still trust him? The real reason Skye wanted to leave the Hydra message was as a fail safe for herself. In case he was actually Hydra, the team would be prepared.

"We'll be alright," Ward told her confidently.

Skye took a deep breath before she whispered, "I hope so."

Skye wanted to believe the plan would work, that everything would work out and they would be okay. With their hands connected, the two of them boarded the Bus and left to Los Angeles.

When Coulson arrived to see the Bus was gone, he knew something was not right. Trip and Fitzsimmons briefly looked around the base to find it deserted, no one was inside. To possibly learn what happened, the four of them went to main computer room where Koenig had the monitors for the base. Most of the camera feed had been erased, except for May leaving the Bus and some time later, Ward and Skye going onto the Bus hand in hand. Soon after they got on the Bus, the plane took off.

"Play it again," Coulson said, he knew there must have been something he missed.

Fitz sighed, "It's the same every time sir."

"Fitz," Coulson said sternly.

The young man sighed and played the footage back. All they knew were the camera's feed was erased, May had left to go off somewhere while Skye and Ward took the Bus and we're no longer in Providence.

"Where are they going," Coulson asked, "And Koenig?"

"Koenig must have gotten onto the plane somehow," Simmons suggested even though she didn't think that were true.

No one had seen the agent since they arrived. It was as if he had never been here.

Coulson shook his head, "There's no other way in or out of the hangar."

"The blast door and the hangar door are the only two exits," Trip stated.

Coulson folded his arms over his chest, something was definitely not right, but he was having a hard time putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

"And both are undamaged," Coulson said looking at the screen, "Nobody attacked the place and they weren't running away. So why?"

"Maybe Koenig got orders," Trip suggested to him.

Fitz didn't agree and replied, "From who? Not Fury. Is there anyone else to even give orders? Aren't we just improvising at this point?"

"That still doesn't explain why the communication lines were cut," Simmons replied, "Or why they left their phones or why May just… left."

"May walked away because I told her to," Coulson admitted absently, "I was angry, cruel. However, I don't think she'll stay away."

"That's true, after all Skye is still with us," Fitz said, but he frowned.

With so many different things happening, was Skye with them? Was Ward? Were any of them? He didn't know, but he trusted them and believed in them.

There was minute of silence before Fitz and Simmons left the room to get some food. Fitz needed a break from all of the changes, he just wanted things to go back to the way they were before. When they were a whole team, when they were a family not on the run from the world. Simmons had similar feelings, but she just wanted all of this to end. While Simmons went to the kitchen, Fitz decided to go take a short walk to clear his head.

When he passed a closet door, he noticed one of Koenig's pictures was still showing the night image while the one in hall showed a day image. Curious, Fitz walked over to the frame with a scrutinizing gaze. In the right corner, there was an a screw driver jabbed into the frame which was most likely keeping it from changing. After moving it a bit, Fitz was able to get it out and the image changed from night to day.

However scratched onto the day image was 'Ward is Hydra.'

As if on cue, Fitz could hear Simmons scream of surprise and horror.

Skye was typing away on her keyboard while Ward was spray painting the cars in the hangar. They were going to need a ride once this plan landed and with SHIELD being a terrorist organization now, they couldn't have an association with the logo. Skye always thought that was a dumb idea. For SHIELD to put their logo out there when they were supposed to be a super secret agency that people were not supposed to know about.

Then again, after the Battle of New York, a lot of things came to light. Skye thought about Ward's confession to her earlier, not only about Hydra, but what he said about her. She wasn't sure if she could trust Ward. After all, he had been lying to her and everyone else this entire time. He was a traitor, he betrayed them, yet… Skye felt conflicted about the whole situation. She had been burned before and was not ready to let herself get hurt again, even if her heart was already breaking.

For all she knew, Ward really was a traitor.

Ward noticed Skye's change in mood and wondered what had caused it. They had been working in silence most of the time they were on the plane, but he didn't think it was a bad silence. With everything that was going on, they both needed to settle within themselves for a little while.

"How you doing," Ward asked her when he finished spray painting the car.

Skye looked up from her computer. Ward walked away from the vehicle and into the lab where Skye was working. The question had caught Skye off guard, but she did supply an answer.

"Just thinking is all," Skye told him, "And working on this."

"How come you chose L.A.," Ward asked her.

Skye had geo-locked the drive so it could only be opened in this area. Out of all the places in the world, she chose the diner where she had met Mike and where this whole SHIELD experience had started.

"It's where this all started," Skye replied, looking down at her keyboard.

She wasn't in much of a talking mood anymore. Her old walls slowly rising into the sky once again. There were so many things that could wrong. Skye had so many doubts, so many horrible scenarios of what could happen played through her mind. Skye was starting to slip back into her thoughts again, but Ward spoke.

"Hey," he said, "Are you sure you are alright?"

Skye didn't answer, she couldn't answer.

Within the hour, they arrived to their location. A small diner in Los Angeles. It wouldn't take Skye long to decrypt that hard drive, but what would take awhile was sending her message without being caught. The hard drive's information she hoped to move and then give Garrett an infected drive which would shut down all his technology, software and hardware the moment he tried to open it.

Ward wasn't sure how much time they had left considering the time limit Garrett set was nearly approaching. Skye knew that, but if she forced through the process all the information could leak out. That was the very last thing they needed right now. The two sat in a booth by the window, Skye went to work while Ward ordered both of them something to eat.

The pair mostly sat in silence, but instead of a comfortable silence it was tense and heavy. Ward knew there was definitely something bothering Skye, but he couldn't put his finger on exactly what was bothering her. Too many things had happened in the past few hours that it couldn't have just been one thing. He wanted to know what was going on through her head. If she really was okay.

"Penny for your thoughts," Ward said, breaking the tense silence.

Skye stopped typing for a moment, but her eyes never left the computer screen. The moment passed and Skye was back to typing again, her fingers flying across the keyboard faster than they had been a minute ago. Her heart was pounding in her chest, but she kept a straight face.

"Unless you are interested in hearing me rant about all the different codes and firewalls, you can keep the penny," Skye told him flatly.

Ward frowned at that, "Skye. What's going on?"

This made the hacker look at him, her brown eyes glazed over. All the emotions Skye had held back threatened to break through the surface, but she refused to let them. With everything going on, she could really use her mother right now. She wondered where May was and if she was doing okay out there. When she returned, Skye knew she was going to have a lot explaining to do. The thought almost brought a smile to her face.

Almost.

"What isn't going on Ward," Skye said bitterly, "I'm not in the mood to talk. So, just let me just work alright."

Ward decided he wouldn't push any further. Whatever was on her mind, she would sort through and talk when she wanted to. The next few minutes went by the same, the two of them sitting in silence and taking small bites of their meals. Skye had been sucked into her computer, her brown eyes focused intently on the screen until Ward. He had gotten out of his seat and made it over to her so fast, it was as if he were faster than lightning.

Without warning, he pulled Skye out of the booth and onto the ground under the table. Glass from the broken window landed on the table and the floor all around them. An explosion, no. It was something worse. The people in the diner were close to hysterics and near the verge of chaos. What happened?

"What the-" Skye gasped in surprise.

"We got to move," Ward said not letting Skye finish.

Ward pulled her onto her feet, his hand gripping her wrist tightly and pulled her out of the diner. Skye hand in his, Ward pulled her away from the diner and across the street past the people and cars. They needed to get out of there and back to the Bus. Deathlok was here. Garrett must have sent him because Ward was taking too long to get Skye back to him.

"Ward," Skye said his name the way a child would say when they were desperate and afraid.

Ward didn't reply. His instinct took control and he was going to get Skye as far away as he possibly could from this area before Deathlok spotted them. Skye and Ward stared at him from across the sidewalk. His eyes held determination, his face was hard as stone. There was one thing on his mind and that was to follow his orders.

Only it was too late.

I'm behind on writing the next chapter, so there is no teaser. :(. BUT next chapter will be posted sooner than this one, guaranteed.