He couldn't sleep. Again.

Insomnia seemed to be becoming a frequent occurrence since Skye's abduction, and it was beginning to take its toll.

Grant Ward had never been one to have nightmares; growing up, he seemed to live in one, sleeping was his solace – at least it was, until now. Every night he would go through the motions, and yet, every time when he was finally about to doze off he would hear her screaming, or her terrified face would flash into this mind. And that would be it. He would have to get up, go to her bunk and check on her. Tonight was no exception.

He unfolded himself from his small bed, and silently pushed open the door. He did a visual inspection of his surroundings, making sure no one was around to see what he was about to do. He wasn't ashamed of checking on her, far from it in fact. But he knew that whoever found out about his new nightly routine would have questions – questions that he wasn't sure how to answer yet.

Once he had established that there was no one around he made his way to her bunk, his bare feet padding silently along the cold floor of the plane. He got to her door in seconds, and instantly went on high alert. Her door was ajar. He peered into the small room, and had his fears confirmed: the bunk was empty. No Skye.

Being an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. had trained him for every kind of high-risk situation imaginable. Just not this one. He did a second sweep of her bunk just to make sure she wasn't in there, hiding or something. That did sound like something she would do, right? Nope. Still not there. Ward didn't even realise that he had forgotten to breathe - not that anyone would have noticed with heart beating so goddamn loudly. What was with that?

He knew he was being ridiculous, and if Skye was here she would have laughed at him. And that was enough. He was back. She seemed to have a knack for that – bringing him back. He closed his eyes, and let out a slow breathe. She was here, he knew it. They'd been in flight for hours, and she was sure as hell on the plane when they took off.

With his heart beat now returning to its normal rhythm he finally heard what he was looking for. Every now and then he could hear a dull, irregular beating sound, and he knew it had to be her. She was in the training area. And in a few seconds he would be too.

He stopped when he saw her. There she was, hair hanging loose around her shoulders, wearing a t-shirt so big it seemed to swallow her small form. She was standing in front of the punching bag with her back to him, throwing punches. He felt a smile tugging at the edges of his mouth, that is, until he heard her sniffles. She was crying.

Within seconds he had descended the stairs, with Skye still unaware of his presence. He wanted to reach out to her, but more than that, he didn't want to startle her. So instead he let out a gentle whisper, "Skye?"

Despite his best efforts, she still jumped at the sound and spun around to face him. Her cheeks glistened with tears, and her eyes threatened to spill more.

She looked at him with an emotion he couldn't read. "What are you doing here?" She spoke so quietly that he wouldn't have known she had said anything if he hadn't seen her lips move.

"I could ask you the same thing" He smiled at her slightly, meeting her gaze.

"Can't sleep" She stated matter-of-factly, turning away from him to go back to the bag. "What about you?"

"Same deal" he answered, watching her as she threw another punch. A frown began to form on his brow; if she kept hitting like that she was going to hurt herself, and she'd been hurt enough in the past few weeks.

She let out a snort at his answer.

Now he was becoming confused. "What?"

She turned back to him, and he noticed that she was on the verge of losing her composure. "You... you don't have a reason for not being able to sleep. You're fine! You don't do stupid things!" She turned back to the bag and continued, her voice rising slightly, "You don't betray people you care about..." she'd started her punching again, "...and you don't leave the van when you're not supposed to..." He could see she was hurting her knuckles, "...and most of all, you don't get caught by the enemy and get tortu..."

That was it. He couldn't take it anymore. He reached out and stopped her wrist before she could make another contact with the bag, and pulled her to him. She was sobbing now, she had opened the flood gates. He only held her tighter.

They had gotten so much closer since her ordeal, but this was still something new for them. She had never let go in front of him like this before, and he had never held her so close. This was new territory for both of them, and as Grant Ward bent his head to place a small kiss on her forehead, he felt a new fear growing in the pit of his stomach.

Holding her like this – it was dangerous. He may end up not wanting to let go.

A/N: Hi everyone, thanks again for the reviews. I have to say I wasn't sure whether I should continue with this story or not - but I am hooked on this ship and need something to fill this two week waiting period we've been given. :-[