Disclaimer: Hi guys, I'm back! I'm sorry it's been awhile! So to make up for not posting; I will be posting one chapter every day this week :) That should bring us to episode 12 meaning I'll only be 2 chapters behind the show... Anyway, as all of you know, I own nothing. All rights go to Joss Whendon and the Marvel Universe. If I owned SHIELD, I would be rich, personally know Brett Dalton, Skye wouldn't have been (spoiler from TRACKS) by Ian Quinn (who's sort of attractive :) and May and Ward would not be fooling around! No worries on the MayWard front, Chloe Bennett assures us SkyeWard are destined to be together :) Anyway this chapter is based on episode 1x06: FZZT. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter Six: Helpless

"Must've taken a hell of a force to create this kind of reaction..." Ward said, inspecting the forest. He bent down, his eyes trained on what appeared to be a car motor. Skye poked the motor with a stick. "If this is a car motor... Where's the-" Ward stood up and looked to the right. 100 yards from them was a red Dodge Ram. Skye followed his eyes. "Holy cow," she cried. "That's-"

"Approximately 100 yards," Ward finished.

"What are we dealing with?" She whispered.

Ward walked away from the woman, examining the trees. There were scorch marks everywhere. It was a miracle the whole forest hadn't burnt to the ground. Skye walked behind him, nudging his arm with her body. He looked down at her.

"What are you doing?" He asked impatiently.

"I'm shadowing my Supervising Officer." Skye answered as if it were the most obvious answer in the world.

"Shadowing, not smothering," he replied, leaving Skye behind him. He forced himself to turn away from her, knowing that what he had said had hurt her.

Ward stared at the screen, watching the horrific scene unfold at the lab. Simmons was infected by some rare, incurable, alien disease. She was going to die. The plane was going to blow up, killing everyone on board. He wanted to punch something, someone. Waves of anger rolled off his body. Skye's small, choked voice broke those violent thoughts. " Why aren't you down there?"

"They don't need an audience..." Ward replied, his eyes never leaving the screen. An uncomfortable silence filled the room. Skye shifted uncomfortably, turning to leave.

"You can stay," he replied, not looking at her. "If you want too," he mumbled. Skye hesitated before joining her SO. They stood next to each other, their shoulders barely touching.

"I hate this," Skye whispered, her heart clenching at the thought if losing Simmons. "I just feel so..." She trailed off, trying to think of the right word to describe how she felt. Ward finished her sentence for her.

"Helpless." That was the exactly how she felt. Helpless... She hated that word. She hated the feeling. She had spent the majority of her life as a helpless, young girl. "Yes," she whispered.

"I wanted it to be a person," Ward said. "Some super-powered psychopath. Someone I could hurt. Someone I could punish... That I could do. What I can't do is protect you guys from something I can't see or understand."

"So... what do we do," Skye asked, wiping a stray tear from her cheek.

"We wait," Ward replied. "And get ready."

"Ready for what?" She asked, looking up at him intently.

"Ready for what we are called upon to do," he answered, looking into her eyes. That was the first time he saw those beautiful, doe-brown eyes since she had betrayed the team... Since she betrayed him.

Ward was about to enter his bunk when a noise made him pause. The noise seemed to be coming from Skye's room. He hesitated, battling with himself. He took a deep breath and knocked on the door. "Skye?" He called.

"Go away," she whispered, her voice choked.

"Skye, open the door." Silence. "Don't make me break down the door," Grant warned. Still no reply. "I'm going to count to three. One, two, three." No reply. Fine, then. She thought he was bluffing. He kicked down her door.

"What the hell?!" Skye yelled. "You can't just go around kicking people's doors off their hinges!" Grant sat next to Skye, who was sitting on her bed, her knees drawn to her chest." He sighed. "I wouldn't have to do that if you would just open the damn door," he said.

"Ward, did you try opening the door?" Skye asked.

"No. Why would I do that?"

"Because the door was unlocked," Skye said.

"Are you kidding me?!" Skye's lips quirked upwards. Despite her smile, Grant noticed her red-rimmed eyes. She had been crying.

He gently cupped her face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. "Where you crying?" He asked.

"Why do you care?" She asked, vehemently.

"Because."

"Because why," she demanded.

"Because I care about you," Grant admitted.

"You care?! You're a liar," she hissed. "Where were you all the other times I've been crying? Did you care then!?" She yelled.

"I didn't know-"

"You shut me out, Grant!" She cried, tears pouring down her face.

"You betrayed me!" He yelled, his anger rising.

"For a second it sounded like you cared," Skye whispered.

"I do-"

"Get. Out."

"Skye." Skye stood up.

"Damn it, Ward! Leave me alone!" Grant stood up.

Skye launched herself at Ward, pounding her tiny fists against his chest. Ward held her, letting her punch him. She sagged against his chest, her energy gone. Only Ward's strong arms around her waist kept her from collapsing to the floor. She began to shake uncontrollably. "Sh," Ward hushed, stroking her hair. They stood like that, Skye wrapped in Ward's embrace until her sobs had quieted.

"Ward," Skye whispered, gazing up at him. "If that had been me who jumped off the plane..." Her voice trailed off. "Would you have caught me?"

Ward gently picked Skye up, laying her on the bed. He pulled the blanket at the foot of the bed over her small body. He walked to the doorway, seeing as their was no door, and looked back. She was already asleep. "Yes," he whispered. "Of course I would have caught you. I'll always catch you when you fall."

A/N: How cute was that last line?! Did you all like this chapter? Please let me know! So I decided to have three parts in this chapter... Part 1: Where Skye is "shadowing" Grant, Part 2: Where SkyeWard feels in the lounge, and Part 3: that I made up... Part 3 deals with the aftermath of Simmons almost dying and I just thought it would be really cute if Skye asked Ward if he would catch her :) expect to see Chapter 7 up sometime tommorow :) Until then!