Five Years Earlier

Cidney ran into the apartment and threw her bag on the couch. She was done. No more studying and no more tests.

"Grant!" She called through the apartment, "You were right like always. The exams were way easier than I thought they'd be. The kings to you, darling!" She grabbed water from the fridge and noticed an unwashed bowl of oatmeal in the sink. She frowned at it since she was always the one leaving messes. "Grant?" she made her way to the bedroom and saw the bed was made and everything in order. Grant had even laid out one of her dresses. Beside it was a present wrapped in newspaper. Smiling she picked up the note beside it, 'I can't wait to see you dolled up. Love Grant P.S don't you dare open your present early. And yes I know…I couldn't remember where you put the wrapping paper. And I know you did great on your exams. Queens to you'. She made her way back to the kitchen laughing and figured he must have gotten distracted that morning. After washing the bowl she made her way to the shower.

After slipping into her robe she began her post shower routine. Blow drying her hair she contemplated how she want to arrange her long hair. After completing a dutch braid across the crown of her head to keep her hair out of her face she moved onto makeup. Opening the medicine cabinet she noticed Grant's razor wasn't on its shelf. As she stepped away from the counter she glanced around and didn't see it anywhere. She checked the trash to make sure it hadn't fallen in. Frowning she checked under the sink and grew more confused when she saw his shaving bag was gone.

Entering the bedroom Cidney scanned more carefully to see if anything else was missing. His watch wasn't on the dresser but that was normal for this time of day. Opening the top drawer she saw his undergarments were gone. Confusion washed over her as she continued quickly opening drawers and slamming them shut when they each yielded the result of missing clothes. Her breaths grew deeper as she tried to calm herself and her eyes misted and moving to the closet her tears began to fall. Her clothes hung opposite to an empty side and the military grade duffle bag Ward always kept in the back of the closet was missing like everything else. Twisting her ring she started blinking rapidly to stay the tears. In the living room and kitchen there was no evidence of a note being left for her, even the answering machine and her phone gave her no comfort for what she was seeing. Confusion and hurt and anger radiated from her when she dialed his number and received a recording stating the number was disconnected. She tried to rationalize everything she was seeing but only one thought screamed louder than any of the others. Grant had left.

Present Day

"You didn't even leave a note…." stated Skye, her own eyes misted.

"I had my orders. Pack your gear and move onto the next location. Effective immediately."

"You couldn't even take a second to write her something? Leave her a message on the phone?" Skye was practically screaming at him.

"I wanted to….my SO ordered me not to…it was my job to disappear. I wasn't supposed to ever have contact with her again."

Part of Skye wanted to just yell at him for hours. But she saw in his eyes he was already tearing himself apart, "Did she know? That you were an agent?"

He shook his head "She had no idea…I was gathering info where I was planted…I needed a cover. A life, a place,... a girl…at first that's all she was…just a cover…oh but then...it didn't take long for me to fall in love with her. I was selfish Skye…and that got her hurt. That's why I went deeper being a specialist. I didn't want to risk that again."

Skye squeezed his arm, "She seems like the forgiving type."

"I don't deserve it. And I have no right to ask her for it."