Hey babes! Back again with a new chapter for ya! I'm so glad you guys are enjoying this story so far, but it's only just getting started. :)

Enjoy!

The sound of the door opening and closing, followed by feet on the stairs, draws his attention away from the photograph in his hands. He hasn't stopped staring at it since she gave it to him. It's still a little hard for him to believe sometimes that he's going to be a dad.

Looking toward the barrier of his cell, he finds Coulson standing on the other side again, watching him carefully with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Coulson," he says with a small nod.

The man returns the nod. "Ward. A decision has been made as to your...situation."

He sits up a little straighter but doesn't respond.

"After much deliberation, I have decided to let you out of Vault D."

His chest swells and he stands from his bed, stepping a little closer to the barrier. "You have?"

"Yes."

He lets out a relieved sigh, the tiniest hint of a smile appearing on his lips. "Thank you, Coulson. I give you my word that I will do anything you ask of me, I just want to be there for Skye and our child."

"I understand. And I appreciate your willingness to cooperate. However, what you need to understand is that this will not be a guaranteed permanent situation. You will be heavily monitored while you're out, and if you so much as put one of your toes out of line, you'll be back down here for good. Is that clear?"

He nods, swallowing. "Yes, sir."

"Good. You also have a guardian angel watching over you, because they've convinced me to have someone be brought in to speak with you. Apparently, they feel that it's necessary for you to have a professional to speak with about whatever issues you may have regarding your past and more recent events."

His jaw tightens and his hands curl into fists. "I'm not crazy."

Coulson shakes his head. "I never said that you were."

"Actually, I'm pretty sure you have. But I don't need a shrink."

"Well, then you'll have to remain down here because that's one of the stipulations of your release from Vault D."

He breathes in and out a few times, thinking it over. He doesn't really want to see a shrink, but if it's one of the stipulations of him getting to be with his son, then there's really no other choice here. He sighs. "Fine. I'll do it."

"Good. As for your living situation, I've arranged for you to have a bunk upstairs, as far from everyone else as I could get you, and you'll wear a tracking anklet so I know where you are at all times."

"That's fine, Coulson, I don't care about being monitored. Just as long as I can be there for my kid. I don't want to be an absent father. Even if I don't know how to be one, I want to be there."

"No one knows how to be a father the first time around, Ward, so I think you'll be fine. It's all a matter of trial and error, of seeing what works and what doesn't. You'll figure it out. You just need to be patient."

"Right, of course." He nods his head and looks down at the photo in his hands. Worry slips into his head, worry that he'll fall into the cycle of being a horrible father like his own was, worry that his child will only respect him out of fear like it was with Garrett.

"Ward."

He's pulled from his own thoughts and looks up. "Yes?"

"If you're ready, I'm going to take the barrier down and take you upstairs."

He folds the photo and slides it into the waistband of his pants, nodding. "I'm ready."

"Good. Step back a moment."

He takes a small step away from the barrier and waits as Coulson pushes buttons on the tablet in his hand, the barrier glowing and then disappearing a second later.

He breathes in slowly and deeply, preparing himself for this moment. He's actually being let out. He's free. In a way.

Moving forward, he takes a slow step across the barrier, stopping when he's right in front of Coulson. "I'm out."

"Yes, you are. Now follow me up to the lab and we can get your tracking anklet put on."

"Lead the way."

He waits for Coulson to move toward the stairs before he follows after him, keeping himself at a slight distance to make the man feel a little more comfortable.

They walk in silence through the hallways of the base, a couple of armed agents walking with them, probably for everyone else's safety versus his own. These people don't really care about him, from what he remembers.

Eventually, they reach the lab, and he hesitates at the door before following Coulson through to the far end of the room. He ignores the stares and whispers coming from the few other agents in the room. He doesn't need that right now.

"Ward, this is Abigail Porter, one of resident medical experts."

"Oh, I wouldn't call myself an expert," the gray-haired woman responds. "There's still a lot we don't know about the human body." She looks up at him with a kind smile. "It's nice to meet you, dear. You can just call me Abby if you like."

"Um, okay."

"Are you two going to be alright here while I check on the progress of a few projects down here?" Coulson asks.

"We'll be fine," Abby assures him. "You go and do your Director stuff." She shoos him away, the man giving him a warning look before leaving. Abby breathes in deeply and turns back to him. "Now then, let's get this tracking anklet put on you. If you could have a seat up on the bench, please."

He follows her instructions and pulls himself onto the bench, waiting for her to continue.

"So," she says as she goes about her business of checking him over, especially his hand, and getting his anklet fitted, "you must be the man who's the father of Agent Skye's baby."

He swallows thickly and nods. "I am."

"Well, it's nice to see you out and about."

"I want to be there for my baby," he tells her. "I had a father growing up, but it never felt like I did. I don't want my child growing up thinking they didn't have a father who loved them."

Abby smiles sweetly at him. "Well, that's very nice to hear. And I'm glad to see your hand is doing better. I think if we just give it a little more time in the splint you should be perfectly fine."

"Are you the one who fixed that?" he asks her. "I never noticed anyone working on it."

"You seemed pretty out of it when I came down to work on it. Good thing, though, there was no resistance on your part. Made my job much easier." She laughs quietly.

"Oh, well, thanks. Guess I really didn't think things through when I hit that wall."

"Love has a tendency to make people do irrational things."

He opens and closes his mouth a few times, his cheeks flushing as he ducks his head. He avoids eye contact with the woman the rest of the time they're in the lab as she finishes up with his tracking anklet.

"Everything all set in here?"

"Uh, yeah," he says, looking up at Coulson as he approaches their small area. "I think we're done." He looks at Abby for confirmation and she nods at him. He looks back to Coulson. "Yeah, we're done."

"Great. I can show you around the base then, let you see where everything is so you can get familiar with its layout." The man doesn't wait for any response, just turns and begins walking toward the door of the lab.

Ward flashes Abby a grateful smile before sliding off the bench and following behind Coulson. He walks at a close enough distance that he won't accidentally get lost, but not too close that the other man feels uncomfortable. Again.

As they walk, Ward listens attentively as Coulson points out the different rooms and facilities around the base, being sure to make mental notes of all the places he's not allowed in, which is pretty much all of them. Except for the common areas, and his own room, he's not really allowed anywhere else. Not that he blames the older man. If he was in his position, he wouldn't let someone like himself near the armory either.

Thankfully for him, most people are in their bunks or off doing other things, so there aren't too many people out while he's being shown around the place. He knows pretty much everyone hates him, so he doesn't want to know what any of them would do if they saw him out and walking around like a free man. But he's not free. He's still a prisoner. He's just on a leash. Like an animal.

Is that how she sees him? Is that how Skye sees him now? Is that why she's nowhere to be found? Does she even know that he's out? Does she care? Or does she see him as some kind of animal and won't actually let him near their child?

"Don't hover."

He's pulled out of his head to find Coulson standing next to him. "What?"

"I said don't hover," Coulson repeats. "And don't try to force your way into her life or that of your child's. If you want things to go well, and you want to be involved, then let her set the terms. If you screw up, you're back in the Vault."

He swallows thickly, the worry that he'll mess up now sitting right at the front of his mind. "Yeah, okay."

"Good." Coulson breathes in deeply. "I think we're done here, now. You know the lay of the land and where you're not allowed. I'll leave you to settle in."

"Uh, yeah, thanks."

Once Coulson leaves, Ward remains standing in the doorway to his room. There isn't much in his room for him to keep himself occupied, no surprise there. Other than a few changes of clothes, there isn't much there, not even a razor to keep himself cleaned up. He doesn't blame the man, though, for not giving him anything like that.

After a few minutes debating what to do with his time, he makes the brave decision to find Skye. He just wants a couple of minutes to talk to her, if she'll even give him that much.

Searching the entire base, even glancing in some of the rooms he's not allowed in, he finds her sitting alone in the common room, her laptop propped up in her lap.

As he enters the room, he's sure to make some kind of noise so he doesn't startle her, and when she looks up at him, his heart clenches at the fear evident in her eyes. He's expecting her to run away, get as far from him as possible, but she just sits there watching him.

Everything that he came up with in his head to say to her completely goes away. He's at a loss.

"Uh, you look good," he ends up saying after a long silence. "I'm glad you're doing okay. How's the baby?"

"The baby's fine," she says sharply.

He pulls his lips in tight and nods. "Good, good. Um, I'm here, you know, for whatever you need. I'm not expecting you to...but if you ever need anything, then I want you to know that I'm he—"

"I have Trip and Fitz if I need anything," she cuts him off and his heart sinks.

Everything inside starts hurting at hearing that she doesn't need or want him for anything. This is the mother of his child, he should be the one helping her, but instead, she has two other men to rely on. Men who aren't the father of her baby.

He fights to keep the emotion off his face, he doesn't want her to know how he's hurting inside, or to make things worse by fighting her decision. "Right, yeah, uh, that's good. I uh, I guess I'll see you around, then. But uh, I just want you to know that I'm sorry. For all the lies I ever told you, I never wanted to lie to you. I promise it won't happen again, you'll only get the truth from me now on. You don't deserve to be lied to."

He doesn't wait for any kind of response, he's pretty sure he won't get one, and turns on his heel to leave the room.

Letting his feet carry him, he gets lost in his own head. If his reunion with Skye went how it did, he doesn't want to think about how it's going to go when he eventually sees Fitz again. Or even Simmons. He wants to talk to the young man he used to call a friend, but he doesn't want to make the situation even worse by saying the wrong thing to him.

Finding himself at the gym, he steps inside, grateful that there seems to be no one else there, and heads for the first piece of equipment he finds. This is much better than just using the walls, floor, and bed of his cell to workout on.

As he works out, carefully because of his hand, he thinks. Everything is fractured, it's broken, and it's all his fault. He just wants to be able to fix everything, to put the pieces all back together. But he doesn't know how. Doesn't know if he ever will.

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Until next time,
Jellybean96 out!