"Are you sure you want to do this?" Hunter looked at Coulson, checking for any signs that the man was mad.
If Coulson was coherent he would follow him into just about anything, plan or no plan.
But this seemed crazy even to him.
The man was being hunted and he wanted to turn himself in with the hope that a truce could be made.
Hunter looked around, trying to remember what trees looked like before he was most likely imprisoned for the rest of his life because Coulson trusted that everyone had good intentions deep down.
"I'm not sure at all actually."
Brilliant, Hunter sighed.
"Then why are we doing this?"
"Because there's no other way. And I can't sit around and wait for those people, including one of our own, to be slaughtered by Hydra in the worst way imaginable."
"Alright, that's one reason," Hunter admitted reluctantly "But you really think Gonzales will have the same attitude?"
"I'm betting on it."
Hunter quickly looked to Fitz for confirmation that this was a good idea as after all, he had known him the longest out of the two of them. He nodded.
"Then let's do this."
Coulson made a call, one to local law enforcement as an anonymous do-gooder, that he had witnessed a wanted fugitive at the park they currently sat in knowing that Shield, or at least Gonzales' Shield, would intercept the call.
"Now we wait."
It turned out that they didn't have to wait for very long.
Agents Morse and McKenzie were the first to their location, followed by a group of armed agents.
"Hey Bob," Hunter greeted his ex-wife, to which she sent him a look he interpreted as 'I'll deal with you later'.
"It's over Coulson," Morse said, gun trained on him.
"Actually, I'm hoping it's just beginning," he, along with Fitz and Hunter, put his hands up "Take me to your leader."
————————
"Please?"
"No."
"Seriously?"
"Seriously."
"But why not?"
"Because it's too dangerous."
"It's ice cream."
"In a building with security cameras." He argued his reason for not wanting to go into the all night ice cream parlour in a rest area along the highway they were walking along.
"Every camera has a blind spot," she argued right back "And come on, you know no one will find us here, we're in the middle of nowhere."
He sighed "Skye-"
"In and out, I promise. We'll get the ice cream in take out tubs and go." She pleaded.
He looked between the ice cream parlour, that could very well lead to their arrest or death, and her face looking at him with hope.
He couldn't stop thinking that if he didn't owe her, and it really was last year, his pull as her superior would take over and he would have no issue with pulling her away and feeling not an ounce of guilt.
But he knew that would be a lie. He had given in to her more times than he cared to admit during his time as her S.O.
"Fine," he relented.
"Yes!" She cheered, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!"
"In and out, then we leave. Quickly."
They entered the brightly coloured, sweet smelling little shop and approached the counter.
"Hello?" Skye called out, not seeing anyone in the shop.
"I'll be right out!" A mans voice called from somewhere out of sight.
True to his word he came in to view a few seconds later, blue eyes immediately landing on Skye.
"Hey there," he greeted her, taking her in appreciatively "What can I get for ya?"
"Hey, yeah can I get a two scoop tub with mint choc chip and bubblegum?" She asked after quickly assessing the available flavours behind the glass.
"Of course, anything for the lovely lady. Bubblegum is a personal favourite of mine." He winked.
He's lying, Ward observed, seeing the way the mans breathing changed along with his head positioning.
That and the well known fact that bubblegum wasn't recognised as a real flavour and tasted disgusting, he thought.
"Right?!" Skye said, shocked that she'd stumbled upon someone else who liked it "I've never met anyone else that appreciates it. You're obviously a man of class." She smiled back at him, teeth on full display.
This very obviously encouraged the guy. Ward wondered if Skye knew what kind of effect she had on people or if she genuinely was oblivious.
"Well thank you..." he trailed off, hoping that Skye would tell him her name.
"Lara," She told him, no hesitation.
Ward looked at Skye, half expecting her to tell him her real name. There was no trace of a lie on Skye's face or in her words or posture. It was almost like she truly believed that was her name.
"Wow, pretty name for a pretty girl." He smiled a sickly smile at her again.
Ward was getting bored of this.
"She is pretty isn't she? At least I think so," He sent an equally sickly smile at the guy, only he was fairly certain it looked more like a feral dog baring his teeth, and wrapped an arm around Skye's shoulder, leaning in to plant a kiss on her hair.
His eyes swung to Ward and widened as if he hadn't even seen him standing there and he witnessed the disappointment appear on the mans face.
Good, he thought.
Though a part of him felt sorry for the guy, having been on the receiving end of losing any chance with Skye himself.
"I'll have a two scoop tub as well, but chocolate and peanut butter. I know how much you love peanut butter," he addressed Skye "We can share them babe." He emphasised the point he was trying to make by kissing Skye's temple this time.
"Oh," he tried to regain his composure "Yeah, I mean, uh, yeah. I'll just get those for you both."
"Thanks," Skye leaned forward to get a look at his name tag "Kyle." He smiled again, but it quickly fell when Ward Smiled too.
"Thanks Kyle." He said, unable to help the touch of sarcasm that crept into his voice.
"No problem." Kyle said, decidedly less enthusiastic than before.
After Kyle did his thing and handed them both their tubs, they left the parlour just as Skye had promised, not without Ward grabbing extra napkins from the counter and throwing a "Sharing can get messy." Over his shoulder to Kyle.
"He gave you extra sprinkles," Ward noticed when they were back outside "He didn't give me any."
"Grant Douglas Ward!" She slapped his chest with the hand that wasn't holding the ice cream.
"What?" He turned to her, feigning confusion.
"What the hell was that?"
"What was what?" He asked, trying to ignore what she was talking about.
"That whole rom-com reenactment!" She gestured back to the parlour.
"I don't know what you're talking about." He said in what was probably the most unconvincing lie of his career, maybe even his life, one that would make anyone doubt that he had made a living out of lying.
"Oh really? Then what was 'I think she's pretty' and 'We can share them babe'" she mimicked him, lowering her voice.
"I don't sound like that."
"In what world was that the point? Seriously what was that about?" She asked him, losing a bit of her anger and just looking concerned.
Having no good answer for that question, he played for time by shoving the little plastic spoon in his mouth that was loaded with his ice cream.
When she raised an eyebrow he pointed to his mouth, telling her he couldn't talk.
After taking far too long to swallow ice cream he finally came up with "He was taking too long with the ice cream and would have kept us there, in full view of the cameras, if I hadn't deterred him."
Yeah. That was a good reason, he complimented his quick thinking.
"He was just bored, it's after midnight and the place was empty, we would have left soon enough. Besides the guy was cute." She shrugged like it hadn't bothered her.
And it bothered him that it hadn't bothered her.
"He didn't really like bubblegum ice cream." Ward told her, feeling petty after the compliment she had paid the random guy.
She gasped "You take that back!"
"Can't. It's true." He shrugged.
"No, he wouldn't lie about that."
"Because you know him so well?"
"Because, no one lies about their favourite ice cream flavours Ward."
"They do if they think they have a chance of getting into a beautiful girls pants."
"He did not-" she stopped when she realised what he had said "You called me beautiful again."
"No, I," he struggled to deny it. It was true.
He sighed and looked directly in her eyes, trying to convey and hide his feelings at the same time "Yeah I did. You are."
She felt her cheeks get a little warm and briefly wondered what the hell was wrong with her. Guys had called her things like that before. Granted, it was to get something out of her. But something about Ward saying it made her think that he said it purely because he believed it. Like it was just a fact.
"There's no truth serum this time." She pointed out, almost cocky.
"There wasn't one last time either Rookie," he smirked a little "I already told you."
"So you only called me beautiful to manipulate me?" She fake gasped "I'm shocked and disgusted agent Ward."
He chuckled "It worked didn't it?"
"You know what? Just for that you have to try the bubblegum."
"No. That punishment doesn't fit the crime. At all." He shook his head.
"What? Come on, it's amazing."
"It's absolutely not amazing. It's blue."
"So?"
"So it's not natural."
"I'm not natural either," she looked down "I'm an 084." She told him, looking deflated at his words.
He tensed.
Shit, he reprimanded himself for getting too comfortable and causing the look on her face. He had never thought getting too comfortable was a good idea and this was why. You end up not thinking about everything you say, so something unwanted always slips out.
"No, Skye," he tried to take back what he'd said "I didn't mean-" As his mouth was open, ready to apologise, she used the opportunity to shove a spoonful of bubblegum ice cream in his mouth.
"Ha!" She blurted in victory, all traces of sadness wiped from her features.
"That was an underhanded tactic." He pouted after swallowing the rather large amount of bubblegum ice cream put in his mouth.
"It worked didn't it?" She smirked, so proud of herself.
He couldn't help it. He laughed.
When he'd stopped he found her staring at him, a look similar to the one he'd seen on her face the day before when she'd spoken of how good she believed he was.
"What?" He asked her, loving the fond expression on her face but needing to know what put it there.
"Nothing," she shrugged "You should laugh more."
"This lifestyle doesn't exactly call for it very often." He admitted, unable to withdraw his stare from her face.
"I don't know about that. Fitz had a full blown argument with his new laptop last week. If you'd been there to witness it I can guarantee you would have laughed. He even named it Karen after the computer from spongebob." She relayed the memory to him.
"And he called me bad with technology."
At least he did when he still spoke to me.
"You're taking away from the main point here though Ward."
"Which is?"
"How was the ice cream?" She asked him, staring up at him with excitement like she'd just introduced him to the most amazing thing on the planet.
"It was ok." He lied, knowing damn well he thought it was delicious. Not because of the flavour but because she loved it.
"Liar."
"No seriously," he made a face "Very artificial tasting. Probably full of chemicals." He kept going to prove his point.
"Mhm," she sent him a look that let him know she didn't believe him "We sharing these or not, babe?" She asked, mocking him.
He nearly choked on his plastic spoon at the sudden intake of air he had to take when she called him by the term of endearment.
He could get used to that. Very quickly.
"Of course." He handed her his tub and she stuck her spoon in.
"You know you're right, I do love peanut butter."
"I figured, with all the Reece's you've been eating."
"They're a staple part of my diet. Didn't think you'd like it though."
"Oh yeah? What did you think I'd like?"
"Vanilla."
He laughed again "Why?"
"Because you're," she gestured vaguely to him "You. All American good guy. Who occasionally takes down bad guys."
He had to remind himself this was Skye with last years memories and to tamp down his excitement that she had called him good again.
If she had her memories back she probably would have pegged him as more of a devils food cake kind of guy. Or maybe she wouldn't have even given it a thought. Bad guys didn't deserve ice cream.
"So vanilla with a few drops of strawberry sauce." He amended her guess of his favourite ice cream to suit her description of him.
"Mmm," she spoke around her spoon "A delicious alternative for bad guy blood."
"Exactly."
As he went to get some more mint from Skye's tub she lifted it slightly and he saw the bottom of the container.
"That mother-" he muttered under his breath.
"What? What's wrong?" Skye asked, not hearing what he said.
He took the tub from her and lifted it directly above her head, careful not to spill the ice cream "Look up," she stared at the bottom to see a phone number written in hastily scrawled penmanship with a smiley face and a 'K' beside it.
"Oh."
"Just bored huh?"
"Please," she tutted "You're just mad that your little act didn't scare him off."
"I knew I was too nice." He berated himself "I'll work on it."
"What? You think this exact scenario will happen
again?" She asked him with a look of doubt and cynicism.
He took in the warm night air, the ice cream in his hands that he hadn't allowed himself to have in years and the girl beside him, laughing and teasing him under moonlight.
He didn't know if this would ever happen again. It was in all likelihood that it never could.
But, with everything he had, he wished it would.
————————
He looked around the interrogation room, familiar with every aspect of it. Except the being trapped in there part. He was usually the one doing the trapping.
He looked up when the door opened, Agent Gonzales coming through.
"It's good to see you haven't pimped my ride." He smirked at him, standing from the chair.
Ignoring his comment, Gonzales asked "After all that time spent on the run, why are you turning yourself in now, Coulson?"
"Strucker and List," he got straight to the point "They've been experimenting on gifted and enhanced individuals."
"And how am I supposed to believe what you're telling me Coulson? I'm not a new recruit, I've been around the block a few times by this point." He sat in the chair opposite the one Coulson vacated as if to prove his age.
"I know that Robert, and I'm not for one second insinuating that. But this is important. Something that I need your trust on."
"How do I know I can trust you, Phil?"
He sighed. Is this what Ward having a conversation with him was like? He decided he didn't want the answer to that.
"You don't," he took a seat again "But if you don't decide to trust me people are going to die. And some other people are going to live, be made into weapons and then some more people are going to die. This isn't just about the individuals taken by hydra. This is about how much power hydra will have if they succeed."
Gonzales was quiet for a moment.
"And stopping them," he questioned "This will take down Hydra?"
"A large part of it yes. Two important figures in hydra and a project that will be lethal if allowed to be carried out."
Coulson watched Gonzales, the calculations practically on view on his face.
Finally, he asked "And where are these experiments being performed? If we don't know that we have nothing."
Coulson was liking the sound of that 'We.'
"The Arctic."
"The Arctic?" He asked, sounding doubtful.
"I know how it sounds, but this is hydra we're talking about here. They're eccentric psychopaths with a flare for the dramatic. And too much money and influence to be right."
"If this location is the Arctic then how do you plan on infiltrating it?"
Coulson smiled.
"That's the fun part."
——————
They arrived back at the motel, ice creams eaten, and came to a stop at the door of their room.
Skye paused, pressing her ear up against the door of the room next to theirs.
"What are you doing?" Ward questioned, trying to hide his amusement "People don't usually like it when you do that."
"Funny," she sent him a glare "I'm checking to see if Morris and what sounded like his satisfied customer have finished their transaction."
"I don't hear anything."
"That's what they want you to think," she shook her head and whispered under her breath "Exhibitionists."
"Skye, I think they're finished. It's nearly two in the morning." He said, putting his hands in his pockets.
She came away from the door "Fine. But if I hear one more exclamation of how good Morris is in bed, I'm going over there to stop it."
"Don't worry, I'll be right behind you." He scoffed, opening the door.
"Wait," Skye muttered, realisation dawning on her. She grabbed Wards wrist and looked at his watch "Shit."
"What is it?" Ward asked, frowning.
"We missed the check in time with Coulson. He said every hour and that was ten minutes ago."
"Shit." He echoed, pulling out the phone "Here, send a text to him quickly, let him know we got sidetracked."
"By Morris?" She smirked, taking the phone and starting the encryption.
"That was disturbing. On second thought maybe leave that part out."
"I just realised something. If we missed the check in time wouldn't Coulson have sent a message?"
Ward heard the worry in her words and tried to reassure her "He would," he nodded "But like you said it's only been ten minutes. I doubt he thinks we've ran away to Mexico."
"So you think they're ok?"
"Yeah, I do. He's probably en route to Gonzales. It is after two in the morning."
"Yeah you're right. They're probably fine." She tried to tell herself, finishing the text "Ok, done. I've let him know we're fine and that a ten-fifteen minute window for the hourly check in times would be appreciated. If, you know, we have another Morris type situation."
He nodded "Then let's get some sleep."
"Yeah. I'm gonna showe-" she stopped "Shit. I have no clothes with me. Or anything actually."
Ward walked to the chair next to the door and lifted a bag from behind it "From the jet. I don't actually know what's in it but Coulson said there should be toiletries and a spare change of clothes for us both."
"God I love how prepared S.H.I.E.L.D is. I'm never gonna complain about the stuffy organisational rules ever again." She took the bag from him and started to look through it.
Pulling out a black shirt she held it against herself "I'm guessing this one's yours big guy." She handed him the large shirt and kept digging through the bag.
She found two toothbrushes but only one toothpaste "There's only one body wash and shampoo so we're gonna have to share," she read the label "Winter pine, apparently." She took the lid off and sniffed "It doesn't smell bad I guess?"
"That's reassuring," he set his clothes to one side "Take your icer in the bathroom with you, just in case."
"Ok. But honestly if anyone got past you I don't think I'd wanna even attempt to take them out."
He smirked as she disappeared into the bathroom, loving the casual compliment about his fighting skills. But even more than that, loving the trust he heard in her words that he would keep her safe.
An: Hey hey!! First of all I wanna thank the guest reviewer who left me such a lovely review. That was so kind of you and it was my first review! So thank you for making it such a nice one :) I'm sorry it's taken this long to say thank you but I've been away for a few days without access to a computer and I don't actually know how to reply directly to messages yet anyway cause I'm inept with technology but it's ok I'll figure it out soon :) And thank you to the people who have followed or favourited this story as well. It really means a lot to me. So I was also thinking that a lot of this seems very out of character for some of the characters especially Ward, but that's probably mainly because we never actually got to see him really happy *cries* So if you have any ideas about how to improve how they're coming across please tell me :) Also I'm not 100% happy with this chapter but I'm not sure why, there's just something off so I might change it at some point.
