Chapter Twenty-One: Tourniquets and Turning Points
The elevator doors had not been shut for even a second before Trip and Hunter were on her.
"What the hell was that?" Hunter wondered with his usual level of restraint.
"What was what?" Skye retorted. "Me trying to make sure all of us get out of this alive?"
"We need to go after Fitz," Trip said.
"If they see us coming, they'll kill him," Skye said with as much patience as she could manage. Her nerves were frayed and their questioning was only adding to it. She could not handle them doubting her when she was doubting herself so much.
"They're going to kill him anyway," Trip replied. "If we surprise them, we may have a chance at saving him and taking them out."
"They'll notice us before we can get anywhere near them," Skye said exasperated. "And they're not going to kill him. Fitz will be fine."
"Why? Because Ward said he would be?" Hunter's tone verging on hysterical.
"Just trust me," Skye insisted. Truthfully, she was not entirely sure that she made the right call. Putting her faith in Grant on this was colossally stupid, and she knew that. If she were wrong, one of her best friends would die. This was not something she should leave up to chance.
Skye wanted to believe Grant when he said Fitz would return unharmed, but she still did not know if he had been working some angle in all their previous encounters. She really did not know him, and this was her friend's life on the line.
And even if Grant wanted to save Fitz, he was not the only Hydra operative there. Agent 33 was the one directly threatening Fitz, and who knew if there were other agents they were meeting up with outside. Maybe Grant would like to spare Fitz but not enough to fight 33 over it. Maybe 33 would move before Grant could do anything anyway.
Skye drew in a shaky breath as she imagined the very real possibility that Fitz was bleeding out at the moment.
"Did you set up the explosives?" Skye asked to distract herself.
Trip frowned grimly. "Yeah, but it's not like it matters much now. Hydra got what they were after."
"Because we let them!" Hunter cut in. His gaze darted between the two of them, "We let them take the research and Fitz and just go!"
The mechanical whir of the elevator echoed loudly disrupting their argument. All three SHIELD agents turned to face the noise expectantly. Hunter and Trip leveled their guns at the doors and Skye belatedly followed suit just in case. Judging by their expressions, they seemed to be expecting an assault from Hydra instead of the triumphant return of Fitz. But already Skye could feel the pressure lightening in her chest.
She was rewarded for her optimism when the doors opened to reveal Fitz. His neck was a little red but otherwise there were no noticeable issues. Hunter gave a comically loud breath of relief while Trip shook his head with a grin.
"I thought you were a goner for sure," Trip said.
"I'm fine," Fitz said dismissively. "But Skye," he turned to face her fully as he approached them. His face was open and cheerful, contradicting the very real danger his life was in not too long ago. He stared at her confidently. "I was right."
The plane was dead silent. Kara sat beside him in the cockpit as he flew back to base. The persistent glances she was throwing his way ensured he would not forget he promised her an explanation.
Playing dumb would make her suspicious, but if Grant were too eager to clear the air, it would also set off alarm bells. So he slouched his posture minutely and relaxed his features. He was certain that he looked the very picture of ease when Kara finally broke the peace.
"You were going to explain what that was about back there." Kara started playing with her hair.
"What do you want to know?" Grant began patiently. He turned fully towards her with an open expression. Not too much, because she knew he was closed off by nature, but enough that Kara could not sense his own anxiety.
He had plenty of cause for concern. If Kara reported back to Whitehall that Grant showed sympathy and hesitation with SHIELD, the Hydra leader may decide that he was not happy enough to comply with Hydra's wishes. Even if he did not resort to brainwashing, Whitehall would probably use the information in his power plays with John.
The last thing Grant wanted was to cause more friction in his relationship with his mentor and that was all but certain if Whitehall told Garrett that he was attached to SHIELD operatives. It would reflect poorly on John, but it would also allow him to figure out just why Grant had been so distracted lately.
Grant really did not want to know what Garrett would do if he were to find out about Skye.
"Why don't you start with why you seemed to know those SHIELD agents so well," Kara stated.
Grant sighed. "Kara, I know a lot of SHIELD agents. I spent a decade working with them."
Kara shifted in her seat. "Did you used to work with those two?"
"Not much," Grant lied without missing a beat. "Their skills kept them out of the field for the most part."
She nodded. "You said the woman was a hacker and the man was a scientist."
"They are. Sometimes I would be put on missions where I would need to protect non-field agents when they needed to be on site to utilize their abilities." Grant leaned back slightly as he pretended to consider his own words. "I suppose she's started some field training. SHIELD must be scrambling for any agents given how outnumbered they are."
"All the more reason we should have crossed them off back there," Kara insisted.
Grant breathed deeply past the rage still bubbling inside him. He did not want to think about Skye or Fitz dead while he was so irrationally emotional. But this was the part where he really had to sell it.
Kara wanted to believe him, he could tell. She liked him and felt some level of loyalty to him. She was looking for a reason to not get him in trouble. It was one of the greatest gifts in manipulation, playing off of what people want to hear. What Kara wanted to hear was that she had no reason to report him to Whitehall. Her brainwashing dictated that she had to make sure he was not going against Whitehall's wishes, but otherwise she was willing to cut him some slack.
All he had to do was spin a story that was believable enough to convince her he was not working against Whitehall.
"They aren't threats, they're not even on our radar." Grant gave her a smirk. "And it was well worth it to get out of there without a fight."
"We could have taken them," Kara insisted.
"Maybe, but it was still a risk."
"A small risk."
"A small risk is still a risk. My survival, our survival, and the intel are more important than some weak SHIELD agents."
Kara contemplated that while fussing with her hair. The fact that she was still nervous meant that he had failed to convince her. "But why did you spare the engineer? We were already free."
"It wasn't worth it," Grant said. "SHIELD takes these things so personally and the scientist doesn't pose a threat to Hydra. The death of one non-combatant isn't worth having SHIELD on my ass for the next couple months."
Kara nodded slowly as she weighed his words. His logic was sound, he knew that, but he also knew that if she examined his reasoning too closely she would see the inconsistencies.
"You attacked me when I went to shoot the female agent," Kara accused.
"I reacted overemotionally due to outside factors," Grant said after a moment hoping that would both appease and distract her.
That was the truth at least, and Kara witnessed that much herself. She tugged on her hair in concern. "Why is Garrett punishing you?" She asked softly. "I mean, Ward, I'm worried. You were acting like a completely different person."
Grant tightened his grip on the controls of the plane at the reminder of his crazed fury. Even now, it was simmering beneath the surface of his skin waiting to break free. Fitz was right though, every second he spent without touching the staff helped.
"Garrett thinks I'm distracted," Grant told her honestly. "He's wrong. I had a couple of bad missions, and he's reading into it too much. He doesn't believe that and thinks this must be some sort of rebellion." Grant huffed in frustration. "I've been running all those recent missions to try to make up for the failures."
Kara drummed her fingertips on her thighs as the silence enveloped the two of them. "You should talk to Dr. Whitehall," she suggested suddenly.
"What?" Grant did not like the sound of that.
"You should tell Dr. Whitehall about your problems with Garrett. He could help," Kara said obliviously. "If you're distracted, he can help with that, too. He helped me find my focus."
Grant went cold, squeezing the metal punishingly to keep from releasing the rage that he had bottled up, "Whitehall didn't help you find your focus, Kara," he said stiffly. "You didn't need changing."
He sensed her stare but did not meet it. It probably sounded stupid to her as he did not even know what she was like before Whitehall got ahold of her, but it was true. Kara had not needed someone messing around with her head.
"I don't understand," Kara said.
Grant gritted his teeth. That answered his question of how she would take any insinuation regarding her brainwashing. "Forget it. I don't know what I'm saying, alien staff fucking with my mind and all." After taking a calming breath, Grant continued, "I've been out of it this whole mission thanks to that thing."
He shot a look to his silent partner who appeared concerned again. Grant felt a stab of guilt for manipulating her like this. He was purposely playing on her worry to get her to keep his secrets from Whitehall. If she thought that the staff was the reason he protected Skye and Fitz, then she would see no need to report it.
"You should never have gone out in the field," Kara said as she rubbed her wrist. It drew Grant's gaze to the bruises he left when he grabbed her earlier.
Not for the first time, Ward reflected that he was truly a terrible person.
Pushing all that aside, he gave Kara a tight smile. "I'm feeling better already." He was, but he supposed that had more to do with the trust Skye placed in him putting him in a strangely hopeful mood than anything else. "I just want to forget this day ever happened."
"At least we got the intel," Kara said.
Grant hummed in agreement thinking on the research he managed to steal when Kara was occupied. It seemed promising to him, but he would have to let Raina decide if it was worth that mess of a mission. Garrett would likely be pleased though.
Unbidden, a surprising flash of fury shot through him at the thought of John. He was the one who gave him that staff that screwed with his head. It was stupid to blame John though, Grant chose to hold it. Besides, if he had not been distracted and foolish, Garrett would never have asked him to grasp it in the first place. He had needed the reminder of his past to truly appreciate what John had done for him.
The memory of the powerlessness that used to consume Grant came back full force. It was only thanks to John that he had any control over his life, that he was able to make something of himself. People feared and respected him now. No one looked at him and saw the weak kid at the well. John had done that, John had found him when no one cared. Grant would owe him forever for that.
Even as he thought that, the rage boiled in his blood at just the thought of John.
They arrived at base and reported back to Whitehall without issue. Grant had his secondary mission's intel tucked away securely and walked out of the briefing room confident that Whitehall was none the wiser.
Still, Grant felt a twinge of uncertainty as he left Kara and Whitehall alone. Part of it was the slight worry that Kara would reveal something to Whitehall. But he reasoned if anything, she would mention his recent clashes with Garrett, and that would work in their favor. Whitehall had been testing his loyalty for some time now. If he thought that he and John had a falling out, it might make him more overt in his attempts to sway him. That could benefit John and him considerably.
But Grant also did not want to leave Kara alone with Whitehall regardless. It was getting harder and harder to do nothing about her mistreatment.
It was not his problem, and he could not afford to make her his responsibility. What could he possibly do for her anyway, how he could help her? It was pointless to concern himself with her situation. So Grant went and did not look back.
He found John at their nearby safehouse to deliver the research. "Got something," he told him with a smirk.
John looked up sporting an answering grin. "You never let me down, son." He turned over the papers with interest before folding them up. "We need to get this to Flowers."
Grant nodded, he had expected that. "If we leave now, we can be in Havana by nightfall."
"We moved base," John said irritably. "SHIELD was poking around the area, and I didn't want to risk it."
Grant grimaced. "They seem to be everywhere recently." At John's raised eyebrows, Grant continued, "They showed up at the Side Door before Kara and I could leave. I think we might have a leak."
Garrett scoffed, "That idiot Whitehall probably talked to the wrong person. It's not on my end. It took them ages to discover Havana."
Ward nodded. If they did have a breach of security, it was low enough that it did not matter. It hardly concerned their true mission. "So where are we headed?"
"Mexico City," John declared cheerfully. "Love that place. I went on a mission there once where I ended up crashing through a fruit stand with two dozen angry locales on my tail…" Garrett launched into a story that Grant had heard several times before.
They touched down in Mexico a couple hours later. The fury was almost gone, but Grant still could not put the experience out of his mind. The memories, the hate, and the look Skye gave him as he disappeared into the elevator, it refused to be shoved away and compartmentalized.
Things were tense when the team returned to headquarters. Fitz's safe return had not lessened the unspoken accusations or the prevailing confusion emanating from Trip and Hunter. Skye could not even begin to consider Fitz's renewed confidence in Grant because she was too busy dreading the impending confrontation.
Hunter and Trip had watched her place her trust in Grant Ward and were not likely to forget it anytime soon.
Sure enough, the second the team entered Coulson's office, Hunter was already demanding explanations with his standard measure of calm. Coulson, May, and Bobbi had been in the middle of a meeting it seemed because all three of them gave equally unimpressed looks in response to the interruption- none of which swayed Hunter in the slightest.
To Coulson's everlasting credit, he listened to the frenzied line of questions with a straight face. May and Bobbi exchanged a glance but otherwise seemed unmoved by Hunter's blustering. It was only when Trip started backing Hunter up that the two women's curiosity was piqued.
Coulson raised his hands in a halting gesture. "Time out, what's the problem?" When Hunter opened his mouth to begin his incoherent ranting anew, Coulson shook his head. "Trip, what happened?"
"Hydra beat us to the facility." Coulson's frown deepened at that, but Trip pressed on, "Agent 33 and Grant Ward were there when we arrived."
Comprehension washed over Coulson, but he did not look at Skye, which she appreciated a lot. "I take it that's not all that happened."
Trip explained the mission from his perspective. His tone was carefully neutral the whole time, and Skye realized that this must be more disconcerting for him than she first thought. He used to have that weird rivalry with Grant, and anything involving Garrett was personal to him.
When he finished, silence engulfed the room. Skye noticed that May did not appear as surprised at the implication that Fitz and Skye had connections to Grant Ward. She wondered if Coulson had told May anything. Probably, but not everything as Skye was sure her S.O. would have given her some indication if she knew Skye had sex with a Hydra operative.
Fitz hesitated momentarily before passionately asserting, "Coulson, I was right." The older man's brow furrowed in response.
"You said that before, but right about what?" Trip asked.
Fitz stared earnestly at Coulson oblivious to Trip and the rest's confusion. His gaze darted to Skye more than once but was otherwise steadily focused on the director.
"Agent Morse," Coulson said turning to the blonde, "Could you get Simmons for this conversation?" Bobbi nodded and left. Once she was gone, Coulson sighed before addressing the room. "There has been some unusual activity reported from Grant Ward recently. We're trying to get to the bottom of this. The prevailing theory is that he has been trying to gain intel or some other advantage through certain SHIELD agents."
That was an extremely vague and misleading explanation. Skye wondered how often she was favored similarly tailored answers from Coulson.
"That's not what's happening," Fitz said.
He looked to Skye for support, but she was too unsure of her own thoughts to debate. Nothing about that run in made sense. Skye was inclined to agree that Fitz was right about one thing though: something was up with Grant Ward.
Hunter redirected the conversation. "That doesn't explain why Skye just let him go with Fitz!"
"I wanted to avoid a confrontation with Agent 33 and Grant," Skye reasoned. "It didn't look like one we'd all make it out of. Grant was…" She fumbled at bit there before ending unsurely, "Out of his mind."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Coulson asked before Hunter could pursue his line of questioning.
Skye did not want to tell a room full of people who could not care about Grant that he had supposedly been locked in a room with the Berserker Staff for days for some weird form of punishment. It was so messed up and personal. She knew instinctively that Grant would not want anyone to know all that she overheard and learned.
As Skye deliberated, Bobbi silently slipped into the room with Simmons on her heels. Skye made eye contact with the biochemist before the other woman turned her attention elsewhere. The reminder of what keeping secrets about Grant had gotten her compelled Skye to speak honestly albeit hesitantly.
"Grant had recently been in contact with the Berseker Staff. He was acting irrationally and violently," Skye said.
"That's an understatement," Fitz muttered.
The creases on Coulson's forehead only deepened. "Is Hydra experimenting with the enhanced strength of the staff?"
"Doesn't seem like it," Skye said haltingly. "I was able to listen in on 33 and Grant's conversation for a while before they noticed. 33 said that Garrett was punishing him for something."
"What do you mean?" Coulson asked bewildered.
Skye shifted uncomfortably as she tried to find the right words. "It was hard to follow, but it seemed like Garrett made Grant hold the staff for days because Grant had done something to piss him off." Knowing how that sounded, Skye threw up her hands in frustration. "I don't know exactly. All I know was that 33 was worried, said he shouldn't have even been sent out on a mission and Garrett made him hold the staff for punishment. But then Grant also said he deserved it because he forgot himself or his purpose or I don't know. All I know for sure is that Garrett definitely made him hold the staff." Skye looked up at a loss.
Coulson seemed a bit thrown. His usual unflappable expression colored with confusion. He shook his head a bit before pressing on, "What else did you overhear?"
Skye wracked her brain trying to remember what exactly was said. "Agent 33 said that Grant had been acting strange for weeks, something about messing up easy missions- which may have been the ones I was involved in come to think of it- but then recently became obsessive in taking more assignments." Skye's tone grew more unsure as she spoke because repeating it aloud just highlighted how much she did not understand. "And Grant also said something about knowing Garrett since he was a teenager, before he even went to the academy."
"Hydra had plants in the academy," May spoke sharply. She and Coulson exchanged a look. Even though it hardly mattered now that Hydra was revealed, the depths of the corruption in the old SHIELD must be disturbing for them Skye thought.
Quickly her brain turned back to Grant because she was starting to make sense of all his cryptic little statements. He had said so many things that did not really register with her back before she knew who he was, but it was obvious now to her. "Which makes sense because he once told me that he had held the same loyalties for over fifteen years and that the reason he was Hydra was because there was someone he owed everything to and needed to help. He must have been talking about Garrett."
Skye's face twisted in disgust. The sentiment had seemed much nicer back when she thought he was referring to someone actually worth following. Grant's words from that day came back to her suddenly. You don't forget the person who valued you when no one else even saw you. Skye wondered what the full story was and why Grant thought he owed everything to John Garrett of all people.
When she returned her attention to the group, Skye observed the reactions with dull surprise. No one really cared. Coulson, May, Bobbi, Trip, everyone was focusing on the implications of Hydra plants in the academy or what Grant's mission track record meant in terms of Garrett's plans. Grant's motivations and reasons meant nothing to them.
"I told you something more was going on," Fitz spoke up beside her. Skye turned towards him and felt less alone knowing someone else was curious at least.
"Sir," Simmons called towards Coulson stiffly. "I'd like to request that I speak with you, Skye, and Fitz alone on this matter." Her face was set in a determined mask but otherwise hard to read.
Coulson and May's hushed conversation stopped as Coulson turned towards the other woman. He agreed though and ordered everyone else out. Bobbi threw a look over her shoulder and Hunter continued grumbling about the lack of answers he got, but the room cleared out. Soon enough only May was left.
Coulson turned towards her. "Any chance you would…?" He left that suggestion hanging as he waved a hand towards the door. May just raised an eyebrow and said nothing. Coulson sighed. "Yeah, didn't think so."
Simmons seemed a bit uncomfortable at the inclusion of someone not fully in the know, which worried Skye. Because if Simmons was planning on talking about the fact that Skye had carnal knowledge of John Garrett's protégé, she did not really want May around to hear it.
"I've been considering the information," Simmons began hesitantly, "And I think we may be looking at this the wrong way."
"Looking at what?" May demanded.
"We're trying to determine why Garrett would want Ward ingratiating himself to us and why Garrett would be sending him out on so many missions suddenly," Simmons explained briefly.
"What do you think the right way to look at it is then?" Coulson asked.
"We're analyzing this by looking at Ward only as a Hydra operative instead of Ward the person," Simmons said.
"And that means…?" Coulson prompted.
Simmons cast a glance at Skye. It was not pained or accusatory and that gave Skye hope that her friend had been distracted from their fight by recent developments. It was, however, a look of uncertainty and made Skye dread what she was about to hear.
"When exactly did the irregularity regarding the missions begin?" Simmons questioned.
"Almost four weeks ago," Coulson answered. "Why?"
Simmons nodded to herself as if his response confirmed her theory. "It's just that…" Simmons faltered a little and looked again to both Skye and May before focusing on Coulson once more. "Skye's um encounter with Ward was almost four weeks ago."
May's eyes narrowed at the inferred meaning of the word "encounter", but Skye was focused on the rest of the implications. She stepped back a little unsure as everyone stared at her.
Finally Coulson spoke again in a blunt, emotionless tone, "You think that Ward is busying himself with missions to deal with Skye rejecting him."
"Essentially, yes," Simmons said awkwardly. "I mean when I've had painful breakups in the past, distractions were key. I threw myself into my work and new experiments to take my mind off it," she rambled.
"Breakups?" May cut in. "What kind of relationship did Skye have with him?"
"It's not just this timing that makes sense," Simmons rushed to say, effectively speaking over May. It was strange to see Simmons asserting herself over the older woman. "It's also Skye said that Agent 33 believed Ward was being punished by Garrett and that it began several days ago. That coincides with when we told you about Ward's actions at Futurepharm and you began looking into them."
"You think Garrett punished Grant because of us?" Skye blurted out before she could remember she was trying to keep the attention off of her.
"Well, yes. Isn't that why we hid his involvement in the first place?" Simmons said. "You said yourself Skye that he implied his S.O. was going to punish him for getting caught and that if it got out what he did for us, Hydra would likely penalize him."
Skye stood there wordlessly as the others continued to discuss the possibilities. She felt disconnected from the entire room. Her ears were ringing and she could no longer make out the words flowing around her. All she could think about was Grant's instability and pain and how it was all because he saved her and Fitzsimmons. That her relationship with Grant was not some ploy for Garrett. That he spent weeks trying to distract himself from her. That his despairing looks as she rejected him and threw insults in his face that morning at the hotel may have been entirely genuine.
Skye realized that a part of her had wanted it to all be a ruse. That way she could tell herself that their relationship had never existed and was all this fabrication designed to trap her. After all, she could not miss what never existed.
That way she could reassure herself that she did not need to feel guilty over her reaction to his identity.
That way Skye could make a clean break and never want something that she could not have. It would even put the blame on him for misleading her.
If it were all real, then Skye was going to start having to ask herself the questions she had been avoiding.
Was she morally obligated to use this to stop Grant and Garrett from whatever terrible things they were planning? Was it her job as a SHIELD agent to turn this on him for intel? What did it mean that Grant was capable of forming such an attachment to her? Did that make him less of a monster? Or did that just mean she was one? What did it say about her to care so much and still want him so badly even knowing who he was?
What was she going to do?
She tuned in just in time to hear Fitz saying that Simmons was right.
"Why do you say that?" Coulson asked tiredly. Skye could see the strain of the conversation written on his face. She wondered what he was making of all this.
"Because when we got outside, Agent 33 immediately tried to kill me," Fitz said. "Ward stopped her. He waited with me while she started the quinjet, too, and then…" Fitz's face scrunched up as he trailed off.
"Then what?" Skye demanded.
"Well, I told him I knew he wouldn't hurt me because we were friends," Fitz said.
"Oh, Fitz," Simmons said. She seemed concerned over his reckless trust in a known Hydra killer.
"Grant doesn't have friends," Skye said immediately remembering their conversation on the AIM plane forever ago.
"Yeah, he said that," Fitz said. "But it was why that surprised me. He said that he wasn't the type of friend I would want anyway and that he hurts the people he loves."
Grant leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. He watched the scientists and Hydra soldiers milling about dispassionately. John was somewhere getting his cybernetics checked out before they could leave.
Grant had dropped off the intel with Raina hours ago and had yet to hear any news. It was irritating him more than he wanted to admit, and he wondered whether that was the staff still fucking with him or not.
He spotted Raina strutting into the room in a red and black flower dress. Her eyes darted around before landing on him. She danced across the room and away from the rest of the people to Grant's corner.
He pushed himself off the wall and gave her his attention. Her eyes peered at him shrewdly, unnerving him as they always did.
"Well?" Grant demanded when she did not immediately speak.
"I don't have the knowledge to solve the complications with Phase 3," she told him with a little pout.
"What about the intel I just brought you?" Grant growled. After all of that, it was all pointless.
"It helped smooth over some potential kinks," she responded silkily without reacting to his rage. "But we're still missing the main ingredient in the formula."
"What are you talking about?" Grant said. "Can't you fix him?"
"The formula relies on a component that isn't in any of the research we have," Raina said. "I can't replicate it without that knowledge. If you can't bring me the ingredient, I need someone who has the formula injected in them to analyze."
Grant froze because he knew two people with the formula in them. There was no way he could capture Phil Coulson. He had no chance of finding this ingredient, they had exhausted all their leads and were almost out of time.
But could he really do it? Could he really abduct Skye and subject her to the miserable experimentations she would undergo as Raina's lab rat? They would pick her apart and then when they were done, she would be killed and thrown away like trash.
Grant clenched his fists so hard that the knuckles turned white. He should not even be asking could he do it, he had to do it. Really, he should be asking himself why he had not done so already. Grant could only imagine John's reaction if he knew that Grant had been hiding this from him.
Even as he rationalized the need to take Skye, Grant realized with horror that it did not matter knowing he had to do it. He could not imagine doing that to her. Someone else, anyone else, but even the thought of doing that to Skye made Grant want to throw up.
"Otherwise," Raina continued obliviously. "There's nothing we can do. Garrett will be dead soon, even with my centipede serum."
My longest chapter yet, hope you guys like it! This took a bit because I was on vacation for the past week with some complications (just yesterday I was in a plane when the captain announced an engine had failed!) So what does everyone think? Even though Skye and Ward aren't together in this chapter, a lot happened for the plot. Skye's starting to ask questions about Ward and their relationship. Ward's rapidly reaching a crossroads with Skye vs. Garrett and also with Kara/Whitehall. Also, what do people think on how I'm doing balancing so many characters?
Next chapter is one I'm super excited to write and think you guys will love :) Thanks to everyone who reviewed! You guys make me so inspired and happy!
