Summary
What's happening to Skye?
Comments are greatly appreciated: please, let me know what you think!
Chapter
The following morning was terse and clean, full of sun, fresh air and birds' songs.
Skye felt like she was reborn!
She never slept so peacefully, so well like that night: her whole body and soul felt like regenerated as new.
She didn't know if that was because the bed was so soft and cozy, the wooden house so intimate and hospitable, the surroundings so wild and natural and quiet, or because Ward was here with her.
That man, now, had again the effect to make her feel safe, like the old good times on the Bus.
It hadn't been always so: when he kidnapped her, twice, or when he was pointing a gun at her at Cybertech with those menacing words… she had been scared, undoubtedly. And she had been afraid of him also when she had to go down in Vault D, and she kept the mask on all the time to defend herself…
But now so many things had changed!
It was like the darkness in him disappeared and he had become a new man… the man he would have probably been if he had not been ruined by childhood abuse and fifteen years of conditioning and brainwashing.
But, at the same time, if he hadn't gone through all those adversities, he wouldn't have become the extraordinarily strong man he was now! It was like he had been tempered by the pain, and at the same time purified by it, and the feeling he transmitted her now was of the peace and safeness that comes from power and control.
Furthermore, she never thought that she would come back to feel for him… admiration!
God did a real miracle with him!
That morning she found herself nestled against him, with her head on his heart, her left arm all across his belly and his left arm around her shoulders keeping her warm, their legs entangled. His heartbeat was in her ears and it was so soothing, across the fine tissue of his t-shirt, so calm, regular, and slow… Her own heart had synchronized with his: probably that was the reason she felt so relaxed.
He kept her warm all night, too, and that was a plus.
When she slowly, cautiously, raised her head and watched down, their noses only one inch apart, she found him still asleep.
She almost couldn't believe her eyes: Grant Ward was here near her… breathing quietly, so attractive, so beautiful, with his magnificently designed lips almost smiling, looking peaceful and incredibly young… And she became also aware of what his astounding beauty barely illuminated by the sun's rays peeping from the door window, his toned body underneath hers, and his warmth were doing to her…
Without thinking, but letting only her instinct guide her, she approached him slowly and kissed lightly his lips with a feather light delicateness…
Oh, that was amazing!
She lost herself in that sensation…
But when she moved away, she found two half opened honey-brown eyes adoringly looking up at her, and a smile.
"I'd wake up every morning like this!" he said softly, still in the thickness of sleep.
At those words, she was snapped out of her sleepy dizziness and suddenly knew where she was, in what compromising position, and of how little amount of tissue and space there was between them!
That wasn't a dream!
She felt blushing, her heartbeat spiking immediately.
She had to flee!
"I need to go to the bathroom!
I mean…
I need to go in the woods!
I need to pee!"
And, while running barefoot downstairs, two footholds at a time, she heard him laughing…
She never heard him laughing as frequently as now, never, even on the Bus!
And he was laughing with that damn wonderful deep voice of him that messed up with her stomach!
Butterflies!
She actually felt butterflies in it!
What the hell was happening to her?
She never felt so damn agitated, excited, and scared all at once!
Thank goodness, the surroundings were an oasis of peace, with the first leaves falling from the trees forming a wonderful multicolored carpet, and all that silence disturbed only by the quiet lapping of the lake's waters and the birds' songs… so she could let herself be permeated by that peace and calm down.
That place was really beautiful, like it came out straight from a storybook…
She wouldn't be surprised to see Little Red Riding Hood walking on the trail with her basket for Grandma …
But her peace wouldn't last for long…
When she returned inside, she found him already dressed in black trousers and a henley, which stretched deliciously on his pectorals, and biceps, and abs, and slim hips, and muscular back… in short on all those goodies of him, while the buttons where all undone, so letting her see the tanned skin of his neck, and a glimpse of his pulsing point…
She wondered how it would feel like to kiss it, how his pulsing vein would feel under her lips… or her tongue… what the flavor of his skin could be, if the sole smell of it made her go in raptures!
And she felt blushing.
Again!
Oh, she had to chase away those thoughts from her head!
He, in the meantime, was rummaging around to prepare some breakfast, apparently unaware of the storm that was inside of her:
"We will have to be content with a bit of toasted bread, some tea and the remaining cheese since last night.
This morning I'm going to the store down in town and I'll do a little stock up on groceries and other basic supplies."
"Can I come with you?" she asked hopingly.
"I'm afraid not.
They know your face and we don't know where a camera could be…
Moreover, if there are infected people, the cameras would be the least of our problems.
Plus, they must not associate you with me, otherwise I could put you in danger and vice versa."
He huffed, his face concerned, stopping dead and looking down:
"I don't even know what Coulson reported to Mace about what happened between Hive and me, but there's the elevated risk he spilled everything, because he has faith in Shield as an institution.
Unfortunately, the new Director of Shield knows perfectly well who I am, from my birth, to my life, to my problems, to my skills.
If, thanks to Coulson, he also came to know what powers I possess now, we would have lost a big vantage point!
He will quickly understand that I am under the Hellfire iron mask and that I saved you from capturing, twice.
Woe to us if he comes to know that you are my bigger weakness!
He could try to capture you to get to me!"
"How do you know Mace?" Skye asked, anxiously.
He sighed:
"Do you remember that, during our dream on the deserted island, I told you that, after May defeated me at Cybertech, they put me in the terrorists' wing of one of the most dreadful prisons in the world, and that there they tortured me almost every day for three months straight?"
"Unfortunately yes…"
"Well… Mace commanded the team in charge of 'questioning' me.
It was him who decided to what procedures I should undergo: he was also present, some times, and he was grinning, sadistically, while I was tortured, giving suggestions on how to inflict me more pain!
They used also drugs to sharpen my senses, and to prevent me from fainting.
He was their drugs expert.
He kept updated on all my eventual 'progresses' and decided whether and how to change 'methodics'…
Since then, he bore a grudge against me, for the fact that he could not, in all that time and with all that freedom of action, extort a word from me.
He is worse than my brother Christian, but, like him, he gets joy from one thing: hurting people.
He's an incredibly cruel person and feels pleasure seeing others suffer…
Having him as a Director of Shield is a very bad sign, I assure you.
And thinking of him capturing you… well… I cannot even think about it."
Skye was pale like a sheet, now, and with unsteady voice said:
"You convinced me.
You're right.
I'll stay put."