Author's Note: First and most importantly, THANK YOU so much to all of you that reviewed! Really enjoy the feedback and support! Isabel, my apologies that your first review didn't go through but you're amazing for doing another one! Kairianna864, nedda-modena, MissCMorland, and Marvel Matt. Big thanks for taking the time to put in your reactions! To all the Guests, if I had your names I'd thank you personally because you totally deserve it, great community, so glad to be among you MARVELous people. With that Brett Dalton worthy pun I'll get to business.

P.S. This chapter is hella long, like it should have been two, so read at your own risk people.

Happy Reading ^.~

Disclaimer: I own nada.

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Ripping her hands from their confinement she felt the stone jump beneath her. This assisted her in shoving Ward away. She heard a thud, a grunt, and a curse as he weakly pushed himself to the side only to find more stone blocking his way. Using her whole body, Skye yanked him to the left as she crammed herself against the flatness of the intact piece of wall.

Only having the room of the small bunk in which to move was very limiting. She was rather compact, but Ward's rangy bulk ate up space on all sides. She still couldn't see him, and now this dark space was sinister with him lurking in it. The slabs around them groaned as they shook in jarring waves.

"Skye? You ok?" His voice was strained, but he didn't attempt to reach out and check her. She didn't answer at first, closing her eyes against all the distractions. The way his body had been a puzzle piece to hers, the spice of his skin, the delightful way the friction of his beard made all sorts of muscles clench.

Deep breaths and the void had her calming everything down, heartrate, thoughts, seismic activity. By the time she answered, her voice was strong and mission ready.

"I'm fine." She answered, and then because the idea of him getting near her made her heartbeat jump, she added. "Just don't touch me." A gush of air rippled over her, signaling what might have been a silent laugh.

"Happy to comply." He muttered from his position less than a foot away. She opened her mouth, ready to tear into him for his Hydra jibe, when the sounds of shifting stopped her.

"What're you doing?" She demanded, pressing herself even further into the wall behind her.

"Putting my back to you so you can stop freaking out." He replied matter-of-factly as the sounds quieted.

"I am not scared of you Ward." Skye snapped, relaxing a little into her allotted space. She wasn't scared of him, not physically or emotionally. It was just that the idea of him touching her made her edgy. He was the enemy, the worst kind. Like Simmons had said, he was a snake. Skye hadn't realized this until it was too late. He'd slithered close enough and latched on. She'd had to rip him off, fangs and all. Scourge clean the infection the bite had left behind.

"I've got a couple new scars that prove that." He chuckled into the concrete, his voice oddly muffled for being so close. She felt disoriented. This wasn't S.O. Ward that was all stiff upper lip and rare breaks of grudging smiles. This wasn't Hydra Ward, declarations of love behind the barrel of a gun. Not prisoner Ward, who stared at her like he was seeing the sun for the first time.

"A couple? I landed every single one of those four shots." She said scathingly, trying to get a feel for who he was playing at being this week.

"That's right you did." He acknowledged, his voice tinged with pride. "Though I think we both know if you were really trying to cross me off you'd have taken the head shot." At her indignant intake of breath he continued quickly. "Not that I'm complaining. With grouping like that you could've. No problem. Probably just my imagination that I told you I never go on any kind of mission without some kind of body armor…"

Skye clamped her teeth shut on her response. She had remembered that, it ran through her mind before she opened fire. When she'd seen blood she figured she must have slid one or two rounds off his ribs. A part of her knew she hadn't killed him. Minutes later as she'd sobbed into Coulson's hand she'd known.

"I couldn't kill him, I wanted to and I couldn't"

She realized Coulson had thought it was about her father, but it was meant for the man she'd left bleeding in the kitchen. Because Ward was right. If she'd wanted him gone for sure, she easily could have taken the head shot. That's who she was now. She had become a person who viewed leniency, not in painlessness, but survivability. Even after everything he'd done she couldn't do it. Not for Coulson, or Fitz, or herself. And so she hated him for it.

Memories of the last couple years spun through her mind. The dark acted as a movie screen to all the terrible things that had happened. She felt the small broken pieces of rock begin to vibrate against the surface of the bunk.

"If I could move farther away I would." He murmured. With a huff she turned in a tight circle of her own, till her forehead was pressed against the cool surface of the wall. She couldn't stand this. Did he not have the decency to be the manipulative son of a bitch she'd trained to eviscerate? She wasn't picky! She'd take either excuse making pragmatism, or fanatical devotions to her that were easily evaded.

The more normal he was… The harder it was to forget his weight along her hips. The ridges under her fingers that shifted as he breathed into her neck. His warmth that protected her from this cold that was seeping into her bones making her shake. She clenched her teeth until her jaw ached and her head pounded. A tension built in the space around her, and she didn't know if it was her connection to the Earth, or to Ward, that made the air hum.

She'd been under too long.

Her whole body ached from disuse and hunger pains. There were stinging points along her left arm and hand where the leads to the tubes that had been feeding her sedatives and I.V. fluids had been torn out. Finally giving in a little to the complaints of her body she relaxed her jaw and immediately felt her teeth start to clack together. If she weren't so exhausted she'd be bitterly embarrassed by her inability to control her physique.

It was in the way she curved into herself, hands wedged into armpits, knees and the crown of her head pressing into the stone that leeched her warmth. Jaws clicking together like one of those deranged windup toys. Her frame wracking itself in a desperate attempt to create heat that made the little bits of rubble under her make a constant scratching noise.

"Skye?" Ward finally asked after she hadn't been able to stifle an outward breath that had inexplicably turned into a plaintive sound of pain.

"It's nothing." Her voice came out too loudly in the quiet place and she wondered how he managed to come across so unaffected by this situation. Of all the versions of Ward she'd experienced, impartial wasn't one she recognized. Had her shooting him finally made him get the hint? Or was this just a new game that she didn't know how to play?

She was pretty sure she hadn't misdiagnosed his bout of unconsciousness. It was possible he'd been faking but she dismissed this. There was a specific feeling of weight a truly blacked out person had. When she realized she knew this with certainty she jerked her head back and forth to dislodge the implications. Pushing those thoughts away she remembered the ridging of scars along his wrists and the disjointed feeling of the break. How he'd reflexively tightened his hold or settled, searching for a more comfortable spot.

"Are you hurt?" He questioned and his voice sounded louder, like he'd turned his head over his shoulder so she could hear him better.

"Just cold. I can handle it." She replied, striving to match his tone of neutrality. That was one of the fundamental problems of dealing with Ward. He'd fooled them all for so long that she found herself second guessing everything she thought she knew about him.

Like the way his lips turned into a hard, thin line, when he was angry. That they pursed just a little when he was feeling uncomfortable or unsure. Eyes turned a bright, almost caramel colored hue, when he was happy. Nearly black when angry, varying shades in between for everything else.

She thought they'd turned a melted chocolate color when they'd kissed, not that she'd thought about kissing him often… Or at all…

Hmm…his lips were so warm against my neck…

"You sure?" Not the slightest note of anticipation or eagerness in his voice to set her internal alarms off. She was positive she hadn't hallucinated the intimate way he'd dragged his teeth along her tender skin. Knew it wasn't wishful thinking that had him raising gooseflesh from neck to navel with his little "wolf" impression. But now she was wondering if he hadn't done that because he was suffering from a concussion or other form of head trauma.

On top of the psycho, serial killer part, that is.

He was definitely acting more reserved and sober now. Hadn't he been unstable and disoriented when she pushed him off her? Shaking her head she swallowed the hint of worry that tightened her vocal cords.

"Forget it Ward." She halfheartedly joked, shelving her anger, as it was taking too much energy and not pulling its weight in the heat department. "When a girl shoots you, it means she doesn't want to snuggle."

He didn't answer, and she figured he was glad of the out she'd given him. He probably didn't want to cuddle with the freak that had collapsed a base on their heads. That had also come close to mortally wounding him a few months prior to this stellar experience. That… or he could have succumbed to whatever injuries he had.

When he finally spoke she could tell he'd been considering his words carefully. They came out calm and measured, like the way he used to describe tactics and strategy.

"You used to say that I could be stubborn," at her snort, he continued after a pause, "and I know after what's happened, being on the same planet, let alone the same bunk with me is the last thing you want. I also know, however, that being like me, is to you, a fate worse than death. So I'm sorry. For this, and everything else that I've done that has gotten us to this point. That being said, if you succumb to hypothermia or exposure, because you're too damn stubborn to accept help from me. Well, we'll be a lot more alike than you ever realized."

You bastard.

She couldn't even say he was being manipulative. His argument sounded too damn logical. Though it probably helped his case that she felt like she was shivering herself apart. It was just for survival, she thought, as she felt her arms unclench and her spine straighten.

Inching herself around she stared hard into the inky blackness.

With as many calming breaths as possible she stretched out her arms and felt her fingers run into the back of his tactical vest. Feeling the pressure there he moved like he expected a land mine to go off underneath him. Turning slowly so she'd have ample time to change her mind or stop him. Making it onto his side facing her, he waited. Reaching out again she made contact with his hand and jerked back.

"Sorry," he reiterated, "I'm going to take the vest off, just give me a second." A lot of clicking and cursing occurred as he attempted to remove said vest without colliding into her. After several moments she heard it being stuffed under his head. "Okay, whenever you're ready."

She wanted to scoff at him, tell him that this in no way affected her. Wasn't something she had to prepare for. She was a May trained badass, that didn't need a timeout in order to spoon with him. Easing her way across the scant inches she said nothing, mind focused on the brief respite he represented. Coming into his warmth, she pillowed her head on his bicep and molded her body to his.

He was so much larger than her. Tucking her head under his chin she buried her bloodless face into his chest. She had to clench her hands again to stop them from trying to bunch themselves in his shirt. Or worse, sneaking under the hem of the thermal to the warm muscles underneath. Instead she wrapped her traitorous arms around herself once more and settled in.

Her body was distinctly unsatisfied with this arrangement. She felt disconnected from this freezing shell that housed her disbelieving consciousness.

Her legs went from bumping knees with Ward to nudging in between them. Her frame burrowed into him, warming itself with the friction this caused. She remotely registered the way his jaw clenched, and the bobbing of his Adam's apple against her forehead. She felt keenly the absence of his other arm that he for some reason was still holding along his side.

Figuring she could not possibly embarrass herself more than her previous movements already had, she pulled one of her arms free long enough to reach up and yank his offending limb over the top of her shoulder. His thick muscles insulated her in delicious warmth and she sighed a little, finally feeling her blood begin to circulate normally.

She didn't thank him.

He kept the hand of the arm she'd thrown over her, like a quilt, firmly planted on the bunk below them. After several moments of getting blessedly back to a temperature above frostbite, she realized Ward's body was wound like a spring trap.

Reflexively she nuzzled her face into him. Trying to both communicate her own wellbeing, and inquiring about his. If possible he tensed even more. She became aware of just how completely they were pressed together. Thinking rapidly she searched for something to distract both of them. Now that her teeth weren't jack hammering together and her bones weren't shaking out of her flesh. Distraction was needed.

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Here Skye let me keep you warm…You're a fucking idiot Grant. No possible way this goes horrifically wrong...

He'd been dreaming when he came to. His dream had been rather realistic. Skye was underneath him, running her small hands over him. Muttering things into his ear. In his fantasy they were in some darkened bedroom.

They hadn't made it to the bed.

She writhed beneath him on the floor, fitting against him and cradling him between her thighs. She called him a wolf as he kiss-bit along her sun kissed collarbone, and he'd laughed, howling for her in reply.

He'd then been awakened by being thrown into a cement ceiling.

His head cracking against something jagged. He found himself scrambling for a grasp on reality. He'd tried to escape the feeling that his bones were being vibrated into sawdust. One final bounce off a wall before being deposited on his side. Away from that breath wrenching force that had made him feel like he was dying.

Memories flooded through his aching head. He'd seen her on the bunk after his successful escape, and saying her name to see if she was awake had felt the whole world try to collapse around him.

In a second he'd snapped the small bone in his wrist as he leaped to shield Skye's body with his own. He was fully expecting to die up until one of the chunks of falling base knocked into the back of his skull.

Skye…

The resulting half hour or so had had mixed results.

On one hand he was now positive that Skye's ability had something to do with seismic disturbance that could radiate from the woman herself. She hadn't found it necessary to smash him like a bug so things were looking up. She may have even cracked a joke at one point.

That was the downside. He was pretty sure the multiple impacts had given him a pretty serious concussion if not worse. The back of his head and neck prickled where the cold air landed on the blood oozing from the multitude of small cuts.

Now everything had a dream like quality and the pitch setting of their impromptu cave had him doubting rather he was awake or not. Shuddering breaths and suppressed utterances of pain had drawn him from his struggle to stay conscious. It was after a brief vocal sparring, where he was 79% sure he'd made a compelling argument, that he'd felt the pressure of her hands on his back.

Rationally he knew Skye found him revolting. He had gone through two or three responses in his head before he replied to anything she had said. He had taken an extra few seconds to answer, to control his impulse to take care of her. Skye was strong, always had been, and she wouldn't take anything more than an offer of survival from him.

This is what he repeated as a mantra as she pressed herself to him.

Her nose was a prickling of snow through his shirt. Her arms thankfully acted as barrier for a moment. This was before the decision to make him stroke out. She began eliminating any kind of safe distance between them.

Her knees wedged their way insistently between his own, moving in until their hip bones nearly touched. He felt his jaws creak and his throat constrict painfully as she shimmied closer against him.

His anchoring point was his free arm, hand clenched in the material of his pants. Grinding the bones in his hands together, the pain keeping him focused away from what his concussed train of thought might lead him to do. The next thing he knew she was clamping her hand onto said lifeline and hauling it around her.

Now all he could feel and breathe was her.

Pains shot through his head, better than a gunshot wound, worse than being head-butted. He fought the conflicting urges to pass out or let his body become any more aroused. As it was he was filling his mind with every training exercise he'd ever been taught to stay focused while being tortured. It would work better if it didn't feel like his brain was swimming in razor wire.

Fist planted against a few serrated pieces of rubble on the bunk behind Skye, he used the slight tearing of his skin as a tool to reach his goal. He'd said he'd get her out. Telling her would do nothing. She couldn't quake his scalp back together.

She might not care anyway, better to keep quiet and wonder, than speak and remove all doubt…wasn't that half a phrase about stupidity? Skye would know, she's always ahead of me with stuff like that.

As if hearing his thoughts she nuzzled closer and he felt his whole body flex around her. He took slow controlled breaths through his mouth trying to escape the heady scent of citrus coming from her chestnut locks.

"How did you know?" Her voice came haltingly muffled from below his chin.

"Hmm?" He questioned back, using the excuse of speaking to clear his strangely clogged throat.

"About my, inhuman abilities." Now her voice was even quieter and he ducked his face into her hair a little to be able to hear her. "You must still have contacts somewhere in S.H.I.E.L.D. I know Coulson or the team wouldn't have told you."

"You're right they didn't. I knew you had…powers. Coulson said they were crazy for keeping you here when he saw the underground facility. I'd be willing to blame the first quake on my bad luck maybe, but I felt it when you touched me, like it was trying to shake me into all my separate components. You seem to have a pretty good handle on it though." He finished supportively and felt a warm puff of air against his shirt as she huffed out a laugh.

"You're crazy." The resulting quiet had his mind wandering off into the pin pricks of light that were sparkling in his vision. Pulling himself back was more difficult and he ground his fist harder into the rocky shrapnel.

"Give yourself some credit Skye, you're not the first to get her world rocked at the sound of my voice." He joked, dropping his voice Barry White low.

"My God." She said, drawing back a little and looking up like she'd actually be able to see him in the darkness. "Was that a joke? I think it was. Not a good one maybe, but yes I believe it was, an actual joke." He smiled, happy his tactical vest was so comfortable underneath his still aching head.

"Oh yeah, crazy free agent me is much more laid back than sneaky undercover me."

"Is that right?" She deadpanned sounding unconvinced.

"Absolutely. Do you have any idea how hard it is to act like you have a stick permanently shoved up your ass?"

"You made it seem like it came so naturally."

"Well," he allowed with a nod, "I was much more locked down before I got on the team. Being with you guys…around you…" He trailed off, knowing that way laid badness that he couldn't navigate in his current state. Skye seemed alright with dropping it.

"Aren't you going to ask me what the plan is?"

"Team's coming." He murmured as she dropped her forward back to his chest. His hand had a spasm so he raised his fist only to realize he was going to have to leave the jagged bits lodged in his knuckles. He didn't want Skye knowing, so he curved his wrist against the ground and listened to her next question.

"How do you know?"

"We always come for each other." He said brow furrowed in confusion at her needing to ask. That's what they did. "We're…a…we're." He stopped, forgetting what he'd been trying to say. "It'll be fine, get some rest Skye." There was a long pause like she wanted to say something but he was already dropping off.

"Okay." She whispered into his chest.

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Skye lay for a long time thinking over what Ward had said. There had been a couple times she'd felt about ready to rip his head off. It didn't seem right for him to have a sense of humor, at least right now. She'd always liked how his funny moments seemed to sneak out when he thought people weren't paying attention. She could remember times when they all had to work just to get a smile out of him.

I haven't played battleship since…

Part of her really wondered if he wasn't actually crazy. Then a thought niggled at the back of her mind. What was it? He was acting so…strange. Almost like he didn't remember he wasn't a part of the team anymore. She thought he'd been about to say that they were a family. Which used to be true, but they were so fractured now. Which he knew, he'd been the one that caused the first break.

Head trauma…

"Ward?" No response. "Are you ok?" Nothing but the steady rise and fall of his chest below her forehead. "Ward." She said a little louder, moving her head back again, pushing down the uneasiness that tickled the base of her spine. "Hey Ward. Wake up, are you ok? Ward…" Refusing to panic, she untwined her arms and placed them against his chest, bumping him slightly. "Ward wake up…Ward!" There was no change. She moved her hands up to the top of his shoulders on each side of his neck. Gripping hard she shook him sharply. She felt his head knock the vest back and forth with her movement but nothing else.

Breathing as calmly as she could she placed her hands on his scruffy cheeks, passing her thumbs along his sharp cheekbones. Digging her fingernails along his sideburns, she shook again with no change.

"Damn it Ward." She hissed and carefully releasing his face moved her fingers back through his hair until she reached the apex of his skull. Her hand stilling at the matted and blood slicked carnage she found there. "Ward!" She yelled, hearing her voice echo hauntingly through the cracks of stone around them.

She followed the blood flow by touch all the way down his neck, but lost it in the weave of the thermal on his back. Going back to the top she tried carefully to get an idea of the extent of the damage. Her prodding made him make a discouraging noise deep in his throat but that was it. He didn't respond to the repeated calling of his name.

Gritting her teeth she tried to stop the ever increasing rate of her heart. This was an illogical response to be having over the welfare of someone she'd tried to kill not long ago. Ward was strong, always had been, he wouldn't let anything as ridiculous as a little skull fracture kill him. He'd lose his Super Spy status.

It began with the shivering of the air. Then it was the small clicking sounds of the smaller bits of stone being disturbed. This was followed by the greater groaning of the massive slabs of concrete and stone. Wrapping her arms around his prone form, she focused on pushing her power away from them. Remembering how he'd said the last time she'd touched him it felt like it would shake him apart.

Like the gun…

She remembered the sight of the firearm basically disintegrating in her hand. What if she did that to him? What if she literally tore him to pieces with her bare hands? Crying out she redoubled her efforts in directing the force outside of them. She had completely lost control, and the more she realized this, the more the world bucked beneath her.

"Skye?!" Coulson's voice had her sucking in a giant lungful of air. "Skye! Talk to me! What's going on? Is it Ward? Did he wake up? Skye the whole damn countryside is moving! Tell me if you're alright!" The desperation in his voice choked off her panicked gasps.

"Ward. Ward. He…he." She stuttered out, feeling her power trying to get away from her. She bit down on her lip and again pushed it away from herself and the man she held.

"What?!" Coulson sounded about a second away from clawing his way in here barehanded.

"Skye, breathe, find your center." That was May, commanding but in control. That's what she needed, but the air wouldn't stay in her lungs and finding her center meant letting her power get past her defenses around Ward.

"I can't. I can't."

"Why? Tell me why Skye." May's voice was tight but steady.

"He's hurt and he was awake but he isn't now and he won't wake up and there's blood and I can't. I can't."

"Okay, so he isn't hurting you?" May asked, giving her something to latch onto.

"No. No, he, he saved me. That's why he was unconscious." Tears burned her eyes but she clenched her eyes shut. She focused on keeping their tomb from falling onto them. "He shielded me with his body when the cave in happened. His head's bleeding. There's, a lot of blood."

"Ok that's not good but we can fix that. FitzSimmons had their little worker bees find an uncompromised route to where you are ok?" Now that he knew she wasn't being attacked, Coulson has his dad tone. Her breathing came easier, but the shaking didn't stop.

"If I take time to calm down," she explained, voice steadier, "my ability might kill him." Silence was heavy over the comms.

"So?" Simmons voice asked sounding genuinely confused.

"Simmons, not now." Coulson bit out.

"Why sir? Skye is risking bringing several tons of rock down, possibly crushing her. We have no idea about the limitations of her power. She's already done considerable damage to the integrity of the-" The earth made a great liquid waving motion around Skye, actually picking her and Ward off the bunk before slamming them back down.

"Jemma." Fitz's voice was freakishly calm in Skye's head.

"Fitz I'm simply trying to-" Simmons' voice was abruptly cut off as if someone had ripped the comm link from her ear.

"Fitz," Skye's voice came out haggard and desperate, "I'm sorry Fitz. I'm so sorry. I shouldn't care." Finally the tears slid down her face. "I should let him die, I know I should."

"Skye, you have nothing to apologize for. Do you hear me?" His voice was steady and she took another shuddering breath, pushing her head into Ward's chest. "You do what you have to alright? We are all just doing what we have to. Including Ward."

"He almost killed you! And Simmons! He lied to all of us! He made me- He acted like he cared about us."

"We have no idea what it was like for him ok?" Her breathing was shuddering in and out of her body like a bellows, but the air was no longer hitching on the way in.

"I asked him if he was brainwashed, he wasn't, he just made the wrong choice Fitz."

"Yeah I've been thinking about that. Here's the thing, how the hell would he know? Isn't that the point?" He asked, starting to sound a little excited, like he did every time he came up with a new theory.

"Fitz-"

"I'm serious Skye. This is not just about Judas. So, ok, maybe I did start up my old research about different forms of mind alteration after I got him. But that's not, you know, strictly the only reason."

"Judas?"

"The monkey. Pygmy Marmoset to be exact. Brilliant little guy. I've already taught him how to ride on my head."

"It's true." Coulson's voice came through sounding positively joyful.

"Hey Skye." Fitz said, a smile in his voice.

"What?"

"Notice anything? Like anything not moving?" Taking a deep breath she raised her head from where she could still hear Ward's heart steadily beating. She could feel a fine coating of dirt on her exposed skin, but everything else seemed stable.

"Have I told you lately that I love you?" She sighed out, turning to lie on her back, eyes sightlessly staring upwards.

"Eh, no." Fitz said sounding embarrassingly pleased, "which you should, because I'm adorable, the monkey only reinforces this."

"I love you and your monkey."

"Alright stop it, you two are making me blush." Coulson said good naturedly.

"Coulson?"

"Yeah Skye."

"Where'd Simmons and May go?"

"Oh, well…May's just having a quick conversation on the proper procedures of teamwork in a crisis situation." Skye made a face, but said nothing, no way was she getting between May and anyone she felt the need to dress down. "We're on our way. Everything's going to work out."

She nodded as the comms again went offline.

She spent the next twenty to thirty minutes with her ear pressed to Ward's chest. Every now and then she would find herself checking the pulse point at his neck just to be sure. She heard a series of echoing knocks that sounded like they were coming from the other side of the slab behind Ward.

"Skye let us know if you can hear us." Coulson came on just as she'd reached up to switch on the earbud.

"I can hear you now. I can't tell but it seems like you're pretty close."

"Damn it, the ceiling collapsed into the hallway here. Is there any way around it on your end?"

"I can't tell, there's no light. I can't see anything at all, but wherever I reach I feel stone."

"Fitz, can you blow it?"

"Uh absolutely if you're lifelong goal is to be buried like one of the pharaohs of old."

"Alright, no need to get snarky." Coulson muttered as more taps and knocks sounded.

"What is that?" Skye asked.

"Coulson's lost his mind, again." Fitz confided.

"Well we've all been there, right Fitz?" Coulson replied, his voice coming out as a heave.

"He's brought a sledgehammer. You'll be out by Easter, Midsummer tops."

A sledgehammer? That'll take too long.

If she just needed to get through a few meters of concrete, could she control her abilities enough to get them out?

"Guys, I want you to get clear, I'm going to try something."

"Oh that sounds terrible. Let's go." Fitz said solemnly making her break out into a shaky smile.

"You sure about this?" Coulson asked, gasping with exertion, "I totally got this, Fitz was exaggerating, and anyway…" He broke off taking in another lung full of air, "Easter isn't that far away."

"Yeah I meant next Easter, come on, she says she can handle it and there is no way I'm leaving Judas an orphan."

"Fitz! Enough with the monkey!"

"First of all: Never. Secondly: If you think I'm taking a turn with that thing after you pass out, you're crazier than Ward."

"Ok, we're going." Coulson deadpanned into the link. After a minute he came back on. "Ok, we're clear."

"You're out?"

"We're clear. Go."

Stretching over Ward's side she placed her splayed fingers against the stone. Finding her center she focused on affecting the slab she touched alone. It vibrated furiously under her palm. After a few moments it began to crumble then disintegrate farther into fine sand. Extricating herself from Ward's embrace she staggered to her feet, ducking from under the safety of the overhang.

Carefully she went down the ruined hallway, turning the massive sections to rubble and sand. Now and then it would cause more rocks to give way, she tried to keep her path through as narrow as possible. She was shaking again, her stomach twisting viciously in hunger. Crumbling another piece of ceiling she stumbled only to be caught up in a slightly sweaty pair of arms.

Eyes rolling slightly she regained her balance and looked accusingly at Coulson's smiling face. Fitz was standing behind and to the side, glaring and looking decidedly unhappy.

"Liar." She muttered into Coulson's shoulder as he wrapped her in a hug.

"So if I'm D.C. now," he said ignoring her, arms refusing to let her go, "does that mean I'm less cool now than when I was A.C.?"

"Yes," Fitz answered as Skye was finally able to return Coulson's hug, leaning heavily into him, "and twice as duplicitous." Edging past the pair he began picking his way through the wreckage, First Aid kit in hand. "Come on then, I'm still not overly fond of enclosed spaces. Pod trauma."

"Duplicitous huh?" Skye asked as they held each other up while following Fitz's bobbing flashlight.

"I threatened the monkey."

"Coulson! Not Judas!" She giggled, light headedly and saw him grin in the beams of his own flashlight.

"Told him I'd put Judas in Lola and drop them both out of the Bus at 35,000 feet if he said anything. Wanted him to know I was serious." They stopped a few feet from Fitz's huddled form working on Ward's sprawling one. Her smile dissipated looking up into Coulson's fatigued expression of calm, looking steadily back at her.

"Love you too Papa Coulson."

"Hey," he said with a squeeze, "that's Papa Director Coulson, let's keep it professional."

"Yes sir!"

"Och, you two make me sick." Fitz grumbled from his position on the ground. From Coulson's flashlight she saw an unfocused set of dark eyes blink open before landing on the little engineer.

"You and me both brother."

AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS. AoS.

Oh man, I don't know what happened, that chapter just exploded. If ya'll can let me know if this chapter is too much that'd be great, I'm gonna be honest here, it's 6:30 in the morning and I haven't been to bed yet. So this could be way overkill. Is there too much exposition? I don't want it to lag but this freaking relationship is so messy. Goal for next time. Less of the thinking, more of the kiss kiss bang bang. Probably without the kissing though because for real this relationship is nuts.

However, the reason it's so long is because classes are starting back up and it'll be a while before I can post again. Hope everyone was in character and that I didn't mess up Skye's powers. Maybe I should put a warning about the length up top… lol.

*Passes out on top of keyboard*