Someone once said the world would be dramatically different if you change the angle. The apartment felt much smaller when you needed space to turn the wheelchair around. To be honest, Grant still found it hard to adjust to this life. With a previous similar experience, he quickly learned how to take care of himself physically. Psychologically, he was still in denial mode. Last time he knew the disability would be temporary and he had still felt unease when the recovery was longer than expected. This time, there would be no recovery and he needed to acknowledge the fact that walking was not possible any more. He had been thinking about walking too much that he dreamt about it and could not distinguish the dream with the current world long after waking up.

Grant spent the first two days doing absolutely nothing, not even eating. He wanted to figure out what he should do now. Apparently, he could not run solo missions as before. Most of his resources were connected to SHIELD or HYDRA one way or another and he did not want to deal with any agency right now, especially when both wished him dead. His lower back started to kill him at the third day and he needed to eat something before taking the meds, so he ordered a delivery. When he opened the door for the delivery, the girl pushed the door too fast towards his direction and it hit his wheelchair to the ground. The girl seemed scared and did not know how to response.

"Don't worry. It is not as bad as it may seem." Grant tried to unbuckle the safety belt/restraint belt so he could be released from the chair, but he had tied it so tightly for the back pain that it took long time to unbuckle it.

"How …can I help you?"

"Well, you can help me unbuckle the belt or help me straight up, whatever is easier for you."

To Grant's surprise, this girl actually had the strength to straight up the chair when he was tied to it.

"I used to compete in weightlifting, so …"

"Danny Smith. What is your name?"

"Melisa Robert. Sorry about what just happened. This lunch is on the house."

"No worries, and thank you."

The meds did not help to relieve the back pain, but made his very sleepy instead. In the dream, Skye was playing happily with buddy. He was sitting on the grass, taking food container from his super huge bags. John was also in the dream. He sat close to the tree and smiled to Grant.

"Son, I am so proud of your achievements. You are the best I can ever asked for my life. Remember, I always love you and I can do anything for you."

Grant enjoyed everything in the dream and preferred to stay here forever if possible; however his back pain constantly reminded him this was not real. Finally the pain became so severe that he could not even straight up to sit position. When he tried to reach the wheelchair, his trembling hand actually put it farther and he fell on the ground, landing on the back. The cold surface of the tile helped to numb his back thus reduced the pain. He knew eventually he would catch a cold or even fever, but he still hesitated to move and stayed lying on the ground.

Grant was certain his self-control became much weaker since the incident. His body had been wounded and tortured so many times. None of them had much profound effect on him, but this bullet wound had altered his significantly. Who did he want to be for the rest of his life? He did not have much ambition left. When he ran away from the soldiers, he listed three goals to accomplish. The first one was to take care of his abusive brother. He struggled and felt scared, but at the end he was the winner. Christian was still alive and suffering. Grant did not feel joyful and relieved; instead he felt more disgusted. Doing things in the right way was the second goal. In the past, he was made to believe the result was the only thing that mattered, but he had seen too many harm were caused by using wrong ways to get the good results. This was why he decided to take down the gangs to give a greater protection for everyone in the cities. Those memories were the only highlights of his life and he did feel live like a human being for once. The final goal was to earn Skye back. He was so close to achieving this goal but he gave up and escaped like a coward. He persuaded himself it was for Skye's benefit. She did not need to spend time taking care of him and she deserved a better man. No, this was not true. It was not for Skye's benefit. It was for his own benefit. He hated to show anyone he was helpless. He was afraid to let Skye help him or protect him if anything happened. He could not get used to be the weak one in this relationship. He had to escape before Skye offered the assistance. If he had to be weak, at least no one could see now.

Grant started to feel lightheaded and he really should get back to lie on sofa or bed if he could get to the wheelchair. However, his body liked the cold surface and he did not feel like to move. He heard someone knocking on the door, but he hated to get up now and just wanted to get rid of the annoying noise. Then, his door was busted open and a few people came inside. One of them looked extremely familiar. Dame it. It was Skye. How could they find him so quickly? Everything was so blurred and he could not see Skye's face. He was so sleepy now and his eyes finally closed.

The next time Grant woke up, he was lying on the hospital bed; the same bed before he escaped. Skye was staring at him and Coulson was sitting near his bedside with an anxious and furious face.

"I am glad we got you a tracker. Otherwise, you could be a dead body now."

"I was doing fine until all of you showed up."

"Doing fine? You called lying on a freezing cold tile floor with a more than 100F fever 'doing fine'? You barely recognized us and you had severe infections. Why can't you just stay here and stop making troubles for us? Because of you, hunter and I had to give up all our work and tried to locate the signal of your tracker. I was so worried that I barely slept for the last 4 days. I do not know how I can still stand here and scold at you."

"Skye, calm down. Why don't you just go back your room and take a little rest? Grant will be watched. No need to worry again."

"Thanks, Coulson, but I can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see him covered by blood and I cannot feel his pulse. I was so desperately trying to save him, but nothing worked and I witness him died in front of me. Do you know how scared and helpless I was, Grant? Don't you ever dare to do that again to me!"

"I just tried to save you some trouble in case you regret the decision later."

"You do not know me that well to make the decision for me, Grant!"

"You are right. I do not know you very well, but I knew your actions and feeling were fueled purely by guilty. I do not need your pity and your nasty words when you regain your sense later. Do not call me Grant. It is too personal and there is nothing personal between us."

"There is nothing personal? Wow, that is so like the old traitor you. Last time you tried to kidnap me and gained access to the hard drive. What do you try to accomplish this time? Regain my trust and break it into pieces again?"

"Skye, go back to your room, Now. It is an order!"

"Grant, you need to calm down. Your heart rate is spiking now. Skye did not mean what she said. She barely slept when you were missing. She stayed here all night to look after you when the surgery was finished. She loved you deeply."

"No, she did not. Every time she came down to see me in Vault D, she always made sure I knew she had wished me dead."

"Hey, Grant, you really need to calm down now. Breathe, relax. Keep Breathing. Skye did not mean that. She was just upset about your betrayal and decided to lash out all her anger to you. Do not ever doubt she loves you."

Author's note: The next chapter is the final one. It will contain a lot of angst and fight.