Chapter 15

Ward brought Skye to his room, not wanting to make a spectacle when the bell rang and the hallway filled with kids. He wrapped Skye in one of his blankets, and brought her some water, but Skye didn't seem in the mood to drink it. She'd stopped crying but her eyes were somewhat blank.

Ward remembered when he thought Skye wasn't broken, and that she was actually just some stuck up rich kid on the run from something.

Ward had been wrong, he'd been wrong to judge Skye like that. Seeing her now, showed just how much more broken Skye was than himself.

"I'm sorry you had to see that." Skye apologizes. Ward sits on his spinney chair.

"The needle, did it remind you of something?" Ward asks with caution. Skye stays silent, but after a second she nods. "Do you want to talk about it?" Skye puts the water Ward had given her on the bed side table, and hugs her knees.

She squints her eyes close. "I want to let go, I'd been able to hold out for so many years." Skye admits. "But now, now that I'm stuck in one place I can't help but feel vulnerable, feel that they're going to get me." Skye admits.

"They?" Ward questions.

Skye hugs herself, her chest hurting with every beat. "Coulson said I could trust you, can I really?" Skye asks sincerely. "Can I really trust you Ward?"

Ward frowns, but hesitantly he nods his head. "I won't share your secrets rookie, there is no reason to."

Skye nods, biting down on her lip. "Then you should know that I lied to you on that first day. I'm not normal." Skye admits. "I've never been normal."

"I don't understand?"

"You see Ward there's no record of my birth anywhere, no DNA matches to my parents, or any people on this earth. There's no proof that I was born." Skye explains. "And because of that I'm labeled an 0-8-4."

"But that's….wait…impossibl….wait" It was possible, but Ward had never heard of such a case.

"I was put into the foster system at birth, moved around from home to home. Around my 7th birthday though, I felt dizzy and fainted. I was rushed to the hospital." Skye explains, unsure why she was telling Ward this. "They did some tests and somehow some of those tests wound up in some bad people's hands, they recognized my DNA." Skye breathes in. "The doctor made up a lie that I had cancer so they could move me out of my foster home and bring me to a facility."

Skye's body trembles. Ward didn't know if he should let Skye continue. "They weren't sure it was me who was the 0-8-4; there were about four others at the time they were running tests on." Skye squeezes her fist remembering her friend Ciel. "But eventually after six months they were able to verify it was me that they were looking for." Skye bits her lip. "After that they began running tests."

"Test?" Ward repeats, unsure if he wants to hear more. The scars covering Skye's back come to mind.

Skye ungrasps her knees. "There were multiple different ones; I try my best not to remember them." Skye explains to Ward. "But on many occasions I had to be given a shot, or have my blood taken." Skye tries her best not to cry again, but talking about this was hard. "It's funny almost, you'd think after being poked so many times I wouldn't be scared of them anymore."

Ward watches as more tears fall down Skye's cheeks. "I'm sorry; I shouldn't burden you with this." Skye mumbles as she wipes her already red eyes.

"It's not a burden, but are you sure it's okay to share this with me? I mean…"

"I trust you Ward, and since I'm surrounded by people all the time, I need to trust someone near me to know what to do if I have a panic attack like that." Skye bites the edge of her tongue. "I just need someone to count on, now that I'm stuck in one place."

Ward felt overwhelmed by Skye. No one his own age had ever really trusted him like this. Coulson and other teachers and Shield agents had trusted him with secrets, but never someone his own age.

"Do you get these panic attacks often?" Ward asks, hoping for an 'almost never' answer.

Skye looks around Ward's room, avoiding eye contact. "I haven't had one in years." Skye whispers. "In public anyway."

"In public?"

"About once a month I usually have a nightmare about the facility, but usually I can hide those."

A bit of worried anger courses through Ward. Ward looks at the fading scratch marks on Skye's arm.

Skye could get hurt? She was all alone when these happen? How much pain was she hiding?

"But during this past week I've had two dreams already—well more so just one." Skye corrects. "But I wouldn't call it a complete panic attack, just a quick faze…"

Ward takes a deep breath, and walks off the spinney chair towards Skye. He takes a seat next to her and places his hand over hers.

"Whenever you have these dreams, don't be afraid to come to me Skye." Ward says to her, their eyes meeting.

"What?" Skye blinks, unsure if she heard him.

"Skye I'm there for you, no matter what. If ever in pain or scared I'm willing to help you, so Skye don't be afraid, okay." Skye breathes out through her nose, her heart thumping behind her chest.

Why was that happening? Why was her heart beating like this? Why did looking at Grant all of a sudden make her want to blush?

"Okay." Skye says in a high voice, barely audible.

Coulson, and Ward had both been so nice to her. People weren't supposed to be nice, no one in this world was supposed to be this nice. Yet here was Ward, offering to help. He was offering to help her. But she wasn't even human (maybe) or normal. She was an 0-8-4, but Ward was still looking at her the same way.

Skye remembers the look from all the previous shield agents who'd taken her in. Fascination, anger, fear, pity were all in their eyes. But Ward, he still was looking at her as Skye. He still saw her for herself.

So a bit of back story on Skye, also had Ward open up a bit which is nice. Now bending over to romance a bit with SkyeWard, but the main focus of the story is Skye, not the romance. But I'm going to try to squeeze more and more in :D Also going to try giving a point of view for Simmons next chapter, to enter into new characters points of view