AN: sorry this took a while, but not to fear, this chapter is longer than the first two put together!

"This is Agent Romanoff. Are Agents May or Coulson with you?"

Skye and Ward stared wide-eyed at the transmitter.

"Uh, no," Skye answered. "Coulson is with the rest of the team, and May and Coulson had a falling out so she left.

"Who's your team?"

"Currently, Couson, Agents Fitzsimmons and Triplet and Ward. And then me," Skye answered.

"Alright. Let Phil know that Barton and I have a safe house in Alaska, and when he's got a plan for HYDRA, we're ready."

"I'll pass on the message. You wouldn't mind telling us where it is, would you? Fury's secret base was compromised so we don't have a place to stay," Skye said. Ward looked at her like she was crazy.

"You'll understand if I only tell Coulson."

"Sure. I'll get him to contact you," Skye replied.

As soon as the transmission was cut off, Ward turned to Skye.

"Is there a reason for this?" he asked as he adjusted his course to Alaska.

"It's not that I don't trust you or anything, but there's no way you'll go back to HYDRA with Agent Romanoff and Barton around," Skye said with a smile.

She then contacted Coulson and told him about Romanoff. Twenty minutes later he called them back and gave them coordinates.

"Ward's plane isn't going to get us there, so we're heading after May. Once we pick her up, we'll find a way to you," Coulson told her. "Anything you want to get off your chest before then?"

"Nope," Skye said. "Phone calls are so impersonal."

"Be safe."

"You too."

They didn't have enough fuel to get them all the way there either, but it would be pretty close. Ward flicked the auto pilot on.

"Let's go spar," he suddenly said.

"What?"

"You're still mad at me. I can see that. So, you punch me around for a bit. We've got two hours to kill anyway," Ward said.

Skye looked at him for a moment before nodding. He was right. A part of her, a fairly large part actually, was still mad at him for stabbing the team in the back. The fact that he seemed to have turned around was helping that part go away, but there would probably always be a part of her that never fully forgave him for betraying them. Skye was upset with herself though, because she had forgiven his kills. She had forgiven the cold blooded murders, and she wasn't completely sure why. She had been feeling off since she had been shot, like her mind and body were changing slightly.

She was still wrapped in thought when they reached the cargo bay. She wasn't sure how she had managed to stop Ward's fist flying towards her face.

"Hey!"

"Just making sure you were there. Nice block."

Skye shoved his arm away.

"Yeah, well, most people would wave a hand in front of the other's face," she said.

Ward just shrugged and stated the lay the mats out. When he was done, he took a defensive stance.

"Alright. Go ahead."

Skye let him have it. He wasn't fighting back, and with every hit, she just kept getting angrier and angrier. He blocked most of her shots, but she managed to get a few good hits in. As her anger reached its peak, she let out a cry of rage and aimed a shot at is head, after feinting to the right.

It had been her left hand that made contact. She hadn't expected to do that much damage even if she hit, but Ward's head snapped back and he crashed into the wall behind him. He collapsed to the ground.

"Ward?" she asked after a moment.

He hadn't gotten up.

"Ward?"

She crouched in front of him and slapped his cheek a bit.

"Ward!"

Shit. She wasn't angry enough to kill him. She didn't think she'd ever be angry enough to kill anyone.

"Come on, Ward. You don't get out of this that easily," she said as she checked his breathing and pulse. Both were steady. "You've still got a lot of stuff to make up for."

He was out cold. Skye let out a huff as she decided what to do. She couldn't just leave him there. So she grabbed him under his armpits and attempted to drag him over to the stairs.

"Whoa," Skye vocalized her surprise as she stood up easily. "Either he's lighter than he looks or I'm stronger than I thought."

She deposited him on the couch and went to the kitchen to grab some food. It was about thirty minutes before Ward woke up.

"Skye?" he looked around confused.

"Hey, sleepy head," she said. "Sorry about that. I didn't think I was that angry at you."

"Why were you angry at me?"

"Seriously, Ward? After Garrett and HYDRA you're asking me that? How hard did you hit your head?"

"What does Garrett have to do with HYDRA?" Ward asked, genuine confusion on his face.

"He's in HYRDA. He's the Clairvoyant. You were his lapdog until I convinced you that being a Nazi was stupid," Skye explained. How could he not remember? Even if he lost the past few days, he should at least be attacking here to try and find out how she got her information.

Realization dawned on Ward's face.

"That's what he meant when he said there was a small team that I would want to be a part of. The small team was HYDRA. Garrett is HYDRA. Garrett wanted me to join HYDRA. And he just let me say no?"

"No, Ward. You did join HYRDA."

"What? No, I would never-"

"Remember, Grant! Remember what you did!"

Ward closed his eyes and it all came rushing back to him. Shooting Agent Hand and the others. Breaking into the Fridge. Killing Agent Koenig.

"Skye, I- I didn't want- I didn't- I'm sorry."

Skye didn't know what to say. If, if this wasn't an act, and Ward was telling the truth, he might have been the Ward she knew all along. Skye decided to hold onto that chance.

"It's going to be okay," she tells him as she sits down and puts her arm around her shoulder. "We'll figure out what happened."

"I'm sorry," he mumbled again.

"It will be okay," Skye assured him. "You remember where we're going, right?"

Ward nodded.

"I should probably go back to flying the plane," Ward said listlessly.

"Alright," Skye said as he got up. "Don't beat yourself up too much."

He didn't give any indication that he had heard her.

Skye sighed and went to her laptop. They wouldn't get a chance to be back in the air anytime soon after they landed, so she started decrypting the hard drive. As luck would have it, they were at just the right altitude and the decryption started as soon as she typed the command in.

Ward just sat in the cockpit trying to think of any relevant information he had on HYDRA. Garrett was trying to recreate the formula that kept Skye and Coulson alive. But he wasn't going to get anywhere without the hard drive that Skye had made. At least he hadn't accomplished his mission. What would make him turn his back on SHIELD like that? To turn his back on Coulson? The team? Skye? Why had he done it? Ward shook his head. Focus on the task at hand. Don't think about the past or future – only the present.

Ward was about ready to fall asleep when they finally reached a landing zone in the thick forest. But they still had almost fourteen miles to go to the safe house, so he just put on a jacket and grabbed his backpack. Skye, on the other hand, was bouncing around like a kid on a sugar high.

"How do you still have so much energy?" Ward asked.

"I actually don't feel that tired. Also, we're meeting two of the greatest agents SHIELD has ever known! So keep up," she said, grabbing his arm and pulling him along.

"How can you be so cheerful?"

"Hey, I just found out that the guy I like didn't actually betray the people he worked with. How could that not brighten up anyone's day? Also, the hard drive with all our stuff is safe from HYDRA so two wins in one day," she replied.

Ward just nodded.

"Don't be so glum, robot," Skye said. "I told you we'd figure it out." She grabbed his hand instead of his arm and kept walking.

Three hours later they stopped to set up camp because it was getting dark. Ward set up the tent and was adding some camouflage when he noticed Skye had her laptop out.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to made sense out of Jemma's research on that stuff Coulson and I took. I've been feeling weird lately and wanted to see if it's a side effect or just the whole HYDRA thing."

"Weird? Weird how?" Ward asked, crossing over to her in full on protective mode.

"Well, when I gave you a concussion, or something like that, earlier, I was able to pick you up and bring you up the stairs to the couch. I mean, you're what? 180 pounds of muscle? And I'm 130 pound of girl so forgive me if I find lifting you easily as weird."

"Lots of women with your training could do that, if you have the right hold," Ward said.

"I don't think picking you up like you could lean on me and walk yourself up the stairs is the right hold."

Ward looked down thoughtfully. Suddenly he realized something.

"Wasn't Simmons' research on the hard drive?"

"Yeah, I undid the encryption while we were in the air."

"I thought it was GPS based."

"It is."

They were silent for a moment as Skye scrolled though the rather scarce notes.

"Come on, Skye. You need rest," Ward told her twenty minutes later.

Skye rolled her eyes but shut the laptop and headed into the tent. Ward went in a little after her and found her already lying down and snuggled under a sleeping bag. She had unzipped the two of them and lay one down for the bottom and one on top for a blanket. He paused.

"Come on, Ward," Skye said without opening her eyes. "Everyone knows you're a cuddler. No point in trying to hide it."

Ward got in next to her and was surprised when she turned her head into his chest.

"Night, Grant."

"Goodnight, Skye."

AN: after this weeks episode I realized the only way I can redeem Ward was to go back to my old hope that he was a sleeper agent and didn't know what he was doing was wrong. So I guess Lorelei all over again... Anyway, due to most everyone saying Natasha should show up, she'll be in the next chapter, please tell me I didn't horribly mischaracterize her in her talk with Skye, cuz that's what I feel happened. Also this appears to be turning into a Skye origin story as well. Hope everyone's cool with that.

please leave a review :)