The next morning, when everybody was leaving the dining room in the main house after having breakfast, Grant followed his father, Cal, Lily, Kara and Skye into the study. He had a feeling it was what Skye had told him about the visit that their fathers had made to the Shield base. Glancing around at everybody in the room, Grant waited for what he knew was coming.

"I had a meeting with Coulson yesterday and he showed me the cell where you were kept. For all of the ways they claim to be the good guys, the conditions made some of the most horrible prisons in the federal prison system look humane. The only thing keeping the US Government from putting a price on their heads is because Christian is the only who knows what is going on. He will not be saying a word until you give us your decision on how you want to deal with it," Travis explained.

"Nothing is to happen to them. If I file charges then Skye will be arrested right along with Coulson and May. She knew and did nothing to stop it and I refuse to let that happen to her. I would rather be the bigger person and just move on with my life, raising my son, going to therapy and finishing out the rest of my sentence."

Skye breathed a sigh of relief at his words, she had played a part in what had been done to him and he could have easily had her put in jail along with Coulson and May. She also noticed that he didn't mention what had happened with Fitz. Grant was seemingly still protecting the one person that he had hurt the worst out of everybody despite the damage he had caused.

Lily exchanged a look with Skye and the two women knew exactly why Grant wasn't filing charges and all of it had to do with protecting Fitz, Simmons and Skye. He didn't have any compassion for Coulson or May but would keep them out of jail to keep the other three from being in trouble.

Grant left the study and went out to the barn to help Michael with what needed to be done that day while Skye walked by her father, not saying a word to him. She walked down to the cabin, leaving the golf cart behind.

Skye entered the cabin and walked into the bedroom that was supposed to be hers and grabbed her laptop, opening up a Skype session with Jemma.

"Is everything okay, Skye?"

Jemma sounded concerned after she saw that her friend was in heightened emotional state.

"Ward just told his father not to file any charges against Shield for the conditions he was kept in. He told them that he wanted to keep me from getting into trouble but I know that he is protecting Fitz too for turning off the oxygen in his cell."

"Skye…"

"He could have easily gotten his revenge for our actions against him but he didn't," Skye stated. "I don't know what to do, Jemma."

"Do you trust him not to hurt you again? You know my opinion on you letting yourself get close to him again but Lily Ward is right, this is your decision, nobody else's. I might not like it but I am your friend and I won't turn my back on you if you choose to be with him."

"She's right," Kara said as she walked into the room. She sat down on the bed beside the confused young woman.

"Hello, Dr. Simmons."

"Agent 33," Jemma inquired.

"You can call me Kara. Skye's father helped me get that mask off and get my face back the best he could. You can tell Agent May that she no longer has a look-a-like so she and Coulson can stop with their jokes."

"I will tell her," Jemma said before looking over her shoulder at a very irritated Melinda May. "I am so sorry for the phone call you are about to get, Skye."

Skye watched as Jemma quickly signed off of Skype before she turned to face a sympathetic Kara.

"I have a feeling as soon as she gets through fussing at Jemma; she will be calling you," she said quietly. "I know that you think of her like a mother but you have to live your life for yourself, not anybody else."

"I know that but Grant hurt a lot of people with his betrayal. I have started to let go off the anger and hurt I felt but the other four people that he hurt the most haven't yet."

"That is why he shouldn't have been in Shield's custody because all of you let that pain and anger do your thinking. I am pretty sure that things were done to him that none of you would have ever thought of doing to other prisoners."

Skye felt guilt fill her at Kara's words. She hadn't done anything to Ward personally except harsh words and helping Coulson deceive Ward in regards to Christian but she knew about May's 'interrogations'. Coulson had to have known that letting May interrogate him wasn't right but they all gave into the worst parts of themselves instead. They were all damn lucky that Grant wasn't filing charges of prisoner abuse.

"It's a wonder he doesn't hate me for how I let them treat him and felt so damn self-righteous because he was paying for what he did. Then to make matters worse, I shoot him and call him my enemy when he could have left me bound to that chair and risk Hydra finding me instead of Coulson."

"I don't think he truly hated you even through the worst of his anger over you shooting him. You made your point and he was ready to let you go. In fact, he had almost succeeded. He will be angry at me for telling you this but before he came here to say goodbye to his grandmother, there was someone he was seeing. She knew all about his past and didn't care. She was falling for the person she knew and not the things he had done, until she found about you and ended things between them the night before he left."

"Why?"

"It seems he called her you that night when they were in bed together and trust me; he didn't confuse her for you because Susan was a tiny, five foot tall, blue eyed blond. She wasn't his usual type at all."

"So he still loved me even when he tried moving on?"

"Yes he did."

"Susan didn't deserve what I put her through," Grant commented quietly from the door. "I loved her but she wasn't you."

Kara wordlessly left the room, giving her friend a comforting touch on his shoulder as she went.

Grant walked over and sat down beside Skye on the bed, reaching up to wipe a tear that was falling unchecked down her with his thumb.

"I only did that to keep you, Fitz and Simmons out of trouble because getting revenge on all of you would only keep the circle going. It needs to stop," he explained gently.

"I agree. Why do you let me sleep beside you at night when I know that you haven't completely forgiven me for shooting you?"

"You are not the only one that has nightmares over everything that has happened. Having you there keeps the demons at bay."

Skye's cellphone rang before she could respond and she groaned in irritation at the sight of Melinda's picture on her screen. She dreaded the coming confrontation and knew that there were going to be harsh words exchanged between her and the woman she loved like a mother.

"I have to take this or she will keep calling."

"I need to go back to helping Michael; one of the fences to the pasture close to the back wall needs repairing so we will be back there most of the day."

"Ok."

He stood up and left the room while Skye answered her still ringing phone and before she could answer May's voice came through the phone.

"Skye, the day you start a relationship with Grant Ward will be over my dead body."

"May, he is the only reason that all of us aren't being arrested right now for the conditions we kept him in for the past six months. He told his father not to do anything to any of us. He wants to just finish his sentence, raise his son and move on. After seeing for myself how his mother treated him, no wonder he was vulnerable to Garrett. The man kidnapped him, May and abandoned him alone in the woods for five years with only a dog for companionship. He fucking isolated him from everybody while messing with his mind in the process. Then the son of a bitch killed the dog when he took him to the Academy."

At May's silence, Skye came to a stunning realization and it made her sick.

"Did you already know all of this?"

"Skye, Coulson and I had heard the rumors but had no way of knowing if it was true or not. Ward had told us so many lies that we weren't sure if it was another one of his games."

Skye hung up the phone with tears in her eyes before leaving the cabin to find Kyle walking up to the cabin. The boy took one look at her, felt the ground slightly tremble around them and gave her a hug. It seemed to make her feel better and the mild shaking stopped.

"Aunt Lily told me that I should ask you if you wanted to go into town to the store with me. She said you needed to get away from here for a few hours," he said, pulling away from Skye to stand beside her. "She said we could take the Lexus."

Skye smiled at the sweetness of the teenage boy in front of her. His Aunt, despite how harshly she had left him, had done something right in raising him.

"Sure. We need to call your dad and let him know where we are going."

Kyle pulled the cellphone that Lily had bought for him out of his pocket and called Grant. He had a brief conversation with his father before hanging up.

"He said that we should be careful and that you needed to take a gun with you just in case Hydra has figured out where he is. He also said for you to remember what you have learned from both him and Agent May about being aware of everything around you."

Skye rolled her eyes because it sounded like something he would say before they walked back up the main house and the garage. They stepped in and walked over to the candy apple red Lexus ES 350 that was sitting there along with three other vehicles that were kept there.

It wasn't long before they had drove out of the garage, out of the main gate and were on Highway 52, taking the fifteen mile drive to the Wal-Mart in Mount Airy. They were walking around the store, looking at the video games in their locked displays.

"Are you thinking about getting some more games to play with your dad?"

"I was just getting an idea of what they had and there are a few good ones coming out this summer," he said.

"Was it your Aunt that taught you to be respectful of other people?"

"Yes. She was more like my mother than my own even when she was still alive. As much as I want to be mad at her for leaving me without saying goodbye, a part of me knows that she did it for me. She thinks that my father's family and their money can help me more than she can right now. What she doesn't understand is that I don't care about the money; I was happy living with her and would have loved living with her in London."

"I can understand that. I was sent from one foster home to another and I felt like nobody wanted me. Now I have a man that has been a father figure to me that I love and a biological father that I know loves me but he scares the hell out of me."

"Dr. Cal really does love you and besides you can have them both in your life. Just as you can have Aunt Lily, who I can see you have to come care about like another mother, and agent May. You don't have to choose. It is your life, not theirs."

"I think you are exactly what your dad needed right now."

The two of them left the video game section a few minutes later and that is when Skye noticed that they were being followed by two men. She figured out right away that they were Hydra.

"Kyle, text your dad and Aunt Lily to let them know that we are being followed," she whispered to the boy.

Skye and Kyle made it outside and to the car when all hell broke loose. The two men that were in the store and four others started to surround them.

She pulled out the gun that Ward had told her to bring and shot one of them in the chest when he tried to grab Kyle. She had just about gotten the six of them out of their way when she saw red dot appear on Kyle's chest.

Without any hesitation, Skye turned and grabbed Kyle to push him out of the way when a searing pain took over her body. She knew from experience after what Ian Quinn had done to her in Malta that she had been shot once again. The earth started to shake and tremble as the pain washed over her and the Hydra agents, along with the other innocent people shopping started to run in terror.

Kyle picked her up and put her in the passenger seat of the car after she had passed out and the shaking had stopped. He took the car keys and drove out of the parking lot and back towards the farm. He had only driven a few times with his Aunt after he turned sixteen and on the golf carts with Elena this past week so he was nervous. He also didn't have a license so there was very strong fear that he would be stopped by law enforcement.

As soon as he saw the main gate, it opened and the car rushed up the driveway as Grant, Lily and other members of the family waited outside. When Kyle opened the door, he screamed for his dad.

"Dad, Skye took two bullets to the back protecting me, she needs help!"

Grant rushed over and pulled Skye out of the car, not paying attention to her blood covering his clothes. He followed a frantic Cal into the house and put her on the kitchen table. Adele shoved Grant out of the room and went back to help Cal and Tommy, who was a surgeon. The latter was on his cell phone, talking frantically to 911 getting a helicopter sent to the farm to transport Skye to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, the hospital where he worked as a surgical resident.

"I won't lose you the way I did your mother!"

"I've got this, Cal. You are too emotionally involved. I promise you that I will take care of her," Tommy gently but firmly stated to the other man.

Tommy watched as he left the room before continuing to everything he could to keep Skye alive. He turned to face Adele, who was putting pressure on the wounds.

"If she dies, Cal and Grant will both lose it."

"I know, Mr. Tommy. All we can do is pray and hope that the helicopter gets here and to the hospital in time to save her."

Grant was in the barn, punching the bag as hard and fast as he could. The last he was like this was when he touched the berserker staff. All he could see was Skye covered in blood both of the times that she had been shot.

"Dad, are you mad at me for Skye being shot instead of me?"

Kyle had tears in his eyes as he stood in the doorway of the barn. His son looked like the weight of the world was on his shoulders and blaming himself for what had happened.

"No," Grant said, walking away from the punching bag and over to his son, hugging the boy to him. "This is was Hydra and when we find out where they are, they are going to pay for this."

Grant held a now sobbing Kyle and tried to comfort his son while fighting an internal battle of fear and fierce anger at the organization that had done nothing but ruin his life. If it weren't for the fact he would be breaking his house arrest, he would leave the farm and hunt Hydra down personally.

AN: Thank you to Serenity Shadowstar for the inspiration for this chapter. I love the ideas you have for this story and appreciate all of the help you have given me.

I wanted to focus on not only Grant's reaction to Skye being shot but also Cal's as well. Coulson and Shield will find out the next chapter and all hell will break loose.

A lot of the places mentioned in this story once they got to the farm are real life places in and around Cana, Virginia and over the state line in Mount Airy and Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It is home to me because I live to the south of Winston-Salem.