Summary
Finally a secret and safe refuge for the both of them!
Chapter
"By the way, where are we headed?" asked Skye after a while.
"Do you remember that I told you about the five years I spent in the woods?"
"Yes"
"Well… there I built a cabin."
"Are we going there?"
"Yes.
There's no safer place in the world!
In those five years nobody found me there.
So I expect we will be safe there until we figure out how to face this whole situation."
At those words Skye felt a mixture of fear and excitement.
She, alone in the woods, in a cabin… with him… for an undetermined amount of time…
It was both dreadful and thrilling!
Ward shook her from her daze:
"I spoke with Coulson, too."
At those words she was snapped out her reveries:
"What?
Why did you do that?
I don't want him back into my life!"
At that he chuckled:
"Really the world spins!
Almost a year ago you would have said the same thing about me…"
But she didn't allow him to change the topic:
"Why did you talk to him?"
"Because I wanted to know if he knew something about the men that attacked you."
"And?"
"He didn't know squat."
"This is an absurdity. The Director cannot…"
"He's no more the Director.
Jeffrey Mace is."
"What?
This is crap!
I know Coulson did a lot of mistakes… like killing you… but"
"He was not so wrong about that…"
"Don't say that."
"I did a lot of wrong things."
"You received also a lot of wrong things!" she argued.
Then, more calmly:
"You know… I pined on you."
"Did you?"
"Yes. But… can't you read my mind?
Why don't you get inside it and see for yourself?"
"I try to avoid it.
I don't like violating someone else's privacy.
I feel embarrassed, like spying through the keyhole while someone is stripping.
And I think even your naked body is less private and intimate than your thoughts and feelings!
Moreover, I would like to hear everything from your very lips."
"This is a long story…"
"I know.
But now it will have to wait.
We are leaving the good street to go into the woods, and I have to keep concentrated, because the terrain will become slippery and the passages tight…"
And Ward abandoned the highway for a smaller road that led to an even smaller dirty road that could be rode only by a four-wheel drive car, so they were ok about that.
The SUV was slightly large to trespass among the trees, and the autumn leaves made the ground slippery, but Ward was a good cross-country driver and was able to lead them in the deep of the forest till a small cabin near a lake.
The place reminded Skye of the site Coulson put her in when she had to grasp control on her powers.
Only this cabin was smaller.
"Will we live here?"
"Yes, for a while."
"It's not the first time I am alone in the woods in a cabin, by the way."
"Isn't it?"
"When I received my powers, it wasn't easy.
I was dangerous.
Nobody understood me at the time.
Everybody feared me.
And I felt like a monster.
So Coulson brought me in a Shield cabin in the woods they used once also to accommodate the Hulk!"
"The Hulk?
They must have feared you a lot!" he exclaimed, sniggering.
And then he added, lowering his voice:
"I'm sorry I wasn't there for you.
I wouldn't have left you alone…"
"Don't mind about that.
I would not have received my powers, had it not been for you.
In the beginning I hated them, but now I feel them like a birthright."
"But now you are in danger because of your powers!"
"I'm in danger because I did bad things in my life; because I spilled a lot of blood; because I let others mold me."
"You and I are not so different, after all.
But, if I could forgive myself, be sure you will, too!"
And with that they descended from the SUV and entered the cabin.
They needed to light up the place with some candle, because there wasn't electricity.
The place was really nice, with a bigger room that could serve as a dining room and a kitchen, with a large wooden table, four chairs, a large sofa, some dressers, a little fridge, a sink, a stove and a fireplace.
In another little room there was a tube and a large basin.
Ward explained:
"You know: I didn't need a toilet, because for it I had the woods.
But a warm bath when it was too cold to wash up in the lake, after a full day of hard work… well… I allowed myself this small luxury."
"Washing yourself without getting a cold is not a luxury, rude man!" Skye commented, producing another nick name.
"How do you give energy to the fridge?"
"I have a diesel generator.
But I normally used it only for the fridge, and not for the bulbs and sockets that I managed to put in all the rooms, because I normally followed the nature rhythm: went to bed when it was dark, woke up with the sun, worked all day."
"You did a very good job, here."
"I enhanced it during the years, also after I graduated at Shield Academy, and in between missions.
I was fond of this place."
Then, gesturing above his head, he asked:
"Can I show you the upper floor?"
"Of course."
It was smaller, because a terrace occupied half of it, while a large bedroom, with a large double bed, a small wardrobe and two bedside tables, constituted the other half.
"Uhm… In all the house there's only one bedroom…"
"Don't worry: the sofa is big and comfy.
I will sleep there."
"… Ok…" Skye agreed, not so convinced.
"I think we should eat something, now.
It is late and we should go to sleep as soon as possible" continued Ward.
"But we don't have anything to eat!"
"I have something here."
Ward was sincere: he had some bread, cheese and tomatoes, together with salt, oil and vinegar, in the dresser.
Evidently he came here more than occasionally.
The two started washing, cutting, arranging and dressing the table in companionable silence, then sat down to eat together.
That was one of the better dinners of her life, in its simplicity and humility, and in the warm light coming from the candlesticks…
She didn't know why, but that evening she was happy!
Never was for so long… and it was a good change, for once!
There was such a silence, and a peace… the atmosphere was so homey and Ward's company was so pleasurable!
He seemed so different in this ambiance, so at ease, so free and careless… so happy…
It was a pleasure to look at him smiling and to spend time with him when he was in such a good mood!
All of a sudden it seemed that the outside world did not exist anymore and that the two of them were left alone on Earth, a man and a woman, in a kind of timeless bubble…
She would have wanted that evening to never end!
But it was time to go to sleep, and Skye, after washing briefly herself near the lake, looked pitifully at Ward who was trying to settle down for the night on the sofa.
It was not so large, after all… not enough for him, at least: his huge shoulders protruded from it, his legs came out from the bottom of it… and he didn't appear to be comfortable at all. If he stayed there all night, surely he would not be able to get a well-deserved sleep, and this wasn't fair, after all he did for her.
She could not allow that!
"Ward, please, come in bed with me.
You cannot sleep there!
You are too long and too large!"
"But…"
"No buts! That's an order."
And she smiled at him to sweeten her speech.
He of course couldn't resist obeying an order… and, frankly, the idea of spending a whole night in peace in the same bed with her… well… the sole thought made his heartbeat spike!
But he wouldn't have forced anything: he knew she had an internal war to fight about her feelings.
They picked up two candlesticks, extinguishing the other candles scattered around the room, and went up the stairs.
The bed was long, large and soft, so where the cushions, and the light coming from the candlesticks was gentle and natural, coloring everything in yellow and red.
Skye went under the blankets and settled herself for the night, in only her underwear and a t-shirt.
Ward joined her immediately after, dressed more or less the same.
He took the right side, near the door, she the left side, away from the door.
She remained strictly on her half of the bed and he did the same, not wanting to upset her, aware that they were both surfing in dangerous waters.
In front of the bed there was a big door-window, now closed, with sight on the lake.
Skye had to admit that: Ward for sure knew how to surround himself with beauties!
They blew off the candles and were caught by sleep immediately after, since the day had been really exhausting, even if their hearts continued hammering in their chests for a while…