Author's Note: Well I haven't lost everyone yet so that's good. Finals are over so that's even better. Hoping to go light on the angst, I think all feelings of that quality should be mostly out so let's have some fun shall we?

Thanks again to all those that reviewed! Easier to write faster when everyone seems to be enjoying the story! This will be a mostly light, filler type chapter to establish a foundation for all the hell that's going to break loose next chapter…

Disclaimer: Nothing owned by me.

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Skye padded quietly towards the gym. It had been a week since Kara's untimely entrance and she was still down in the cell. On one hand this made Skye uncomfortable, on the other hand she felt oddly pleased with the situation. She didn't feel inclined to analyze this reaction. It was just nice to have the core six back together without the other woman's interference… that was it…

Skye and Ward had been working on gathering intel on the Inhuman being kept by Hydra. It was taking them a lot longer than she'd thought it would and she could tell it was driving Ward nuts to leave Kara in confinement.

Which didn't bother her at all, it was good that he was showing emotional investment in someone. No matter who that person was… She was not jealous.

She stubbornly pushed those thoughts away as she entered the gym.

She was a little surprised not to find him in here. It seemed like the two of them never left this room, or in an attempt to avoid each other, always managed to hit here at the same time. It wasn't that being around him made her overly filled with angst, the two of them working together had really helped to find a common ground with just enough distraction to keep them focused on something other than each other.

Chemistry was a bitch though, a mean vindictive bitch, and even though she swore there was no way in hell she was going to lose her mind and kiss him again, watching the man work away on the heavy bag wasn't something her aching body appreciated.

She would be resolutely focused on her own workout, but then little by little her gaze would be pulled to wherever he was like a damn tractor beam. It wasn't long then until she'd find herself wondering how it would feel to scratch her fingers through the stubble along his jaw.

Without fail she would let her eyes fall down from that sharp jawline to the bunched muscles in his back. Saw the strength of him in the way the bag jumped and swung under his assault. Skye had always been attracted to his level of capability. There was just something about him that was predatory, skill, focus, danger, even the way he was broken…

Now that Team Coulson had officially decided to give Ward a second chance the members of said team had fallen into a grudgingly familiar pattern. While Ward would uncharacteristically defer to most everyone's judgement there were times where he just couldn't keep his mouth shut.

Skye smiled a little thinking about the last non-argument between Ward and Coulson. The younger man making sharply irritated gestures and Coulson standing with his arms folded and that amused, not willing to budge, expression on his face.

Just like old times.

Scanning the room around her she ducked her head through the door to check for anyone approaching. Seeing it was all clear she scanned through her phone for a song she and Trip had christened the "Dance This Shit Out" song. It was used to relieve whatever stress the two would be feeling at the time. Usually they'd dance it out together, more than once with spectators standing by to laugh at their antics.

Earbuds firmly in place, she felt a smile split her face as the beat picked up and her body began moving with it. With no one there she hopped and wiggled in whatever way she wanted, every now and then even singing along. Hips and shoulders popping left and right with the beat, her hair flicked into her face from its ponytail.

Going for the full twirl she stopped dead.

Ward was now directly in front of her, body flailing about in a close imitation to her own movements. Fitz was stalled at the gym's entrance, face bright red, eyes bulging, and lips pressed into a tight line in an attempt not to laugh. Her eyes jumped back to Ward who had a goofy grin covering his bearded face, and was still jamming out to the music he couldn't hear. He was shirtless with lighted sensors covering him from neck to navel, turning him into a one man rave.

Seeing her eyes track the movement of the lights, he began gyrating his torso even more and she actually felt a laugh pop out of her mouth. The sight was just so bizarre she couldn't help it.

Shrugging her shoulders she began mimicking the movements he made and watched as Fitz, dropping his clipboard, hands clasped to his knees, began shaking with laughter. Ward's grin grew into a smile that matched her own as they clowned out the rest of their little dance battle. When the song ended she pulled the earbuds from her ears and shook her head at her impromptu dance partner.

"You are really awful at that." She said still grinning at his close-lipped smile. His eyes were a warm whiskey color and his shrug was easy. She was a little surprised when she realized she didn't mind this version of Ward. He'd always been so reserved, tight lipped, basically a grumpy ass. Though she had always enjoyed being able to get a smile out of him when he was like that.

Who didn't like a challenge?

How he was now, she could definitely get used to it. He cracked jokes a lot while they worked together. Smiled reassuringly when she got frustrated at their lack of progress, but he was still that intense hard working intelligent man that was always twice as hard on himself as he was on those around him.

It was nice to see him smile.

It was nice to be smiling.

"Sometimes a man just needs to flail awkwardly ok?" He said, going to cross his arms until he ran into the steadily flashing sensors. Looking over to Fitz, who was slowly getting himself back together, Ward's lips curled into another grin. "Let's go Doc! Sooner you get this newest battery of tests done the sooner I stop being a giant disco ball."

Not a bad view though.

The light from the gym windows played nicely over the ridges and crevices of his long torso. His sweatpants had slid down revealing his hip bones and the light dusting of hair that led from navel to hem line. Skye's gaze followed his deftly moving fingers as they hooked into the fabric and tugged, moving the pants several inches higher. She rubbed the pads of her own fingers and thumbs together, feeling the bunched cloth and hidden elastic in her hands.

Following the plane of his stomach along the path of the blinking trail, their stuttering jump pulled her eyes to his. Whiskey met chocolate and she felt the air die in her lungs. Suddenly the space between them was miniscule in comparison to the length of his arms, to the stride in her step.

No distance at all really.

"And I thought Ward dancing was uncomfortable." Fitz muttered from his new standing position near one of the heavy bags. The two looked at the little scientist with a mixture of embarrassment and derision.

"Next time," Ward said, leveling a finger in Fitz's direction, "you're dancing too."

"What?" Fitz nearly squeaked at the bigger man's grin. "Oh. No I am not."

"Yep with the little strobe lights and everything." Skye chimed in, crossing her arms over her chest. Fitz's mouth opened and closed several times before his eyes narrowed at her mocking expression.

"And get in the way of you ogling him like you've never seen him shirtless?" He quipped, quickly changing the focus back to Skye. The smirk disappeared from her face and she glanced at Ward who was flicking his eyes between the two of them, unsure of where this conversation would go.

"I- I was not-"

"Or naked for that matter." Fitz continued and Skye felt her eyes try to pop out of her head. "You remember the glasses we made for the Belarus mission, Ward?"

"Of course." Ward answered noncommittally as Skye felt her mouth drop open a little.

Bad Fitz! Very bad Fitz!

She hadn't told anyone about actually using the glasses to see Ward sans clothes! For fraks sake she tried to not even think about it.

"Skye had them in her bunk while you and I played cards-"

"Because you wanted to cheat!" She defended. Her voice was a higher pitch than it should be.

"Yeah, well, it didn't stop you from using them after I folded did it?" He challenged, his lips curling a little at her flabbergasted expression.

Looking from Fitz to Ward she was met with twin looks of amused expectation, eye brows slightly raised, heads canted a little to the side. Without a word she crammed both earbuds in and turning on her heal went to the nearest treadmill. Thinking of ways to exact revenge as she started up the machine, turning the volume up on her music to drown out any laughing that may occur.

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Ward turned his eyes down to the floor for a moment after he watched Skye make her deliberate and silent retreat. It was times like this that made it hard to keep the hope at bay. Everything was becoming so natural, working with the team again, even his occasional head-butting with Coulson. He didn't find Kara's imprisonment any easier to swallow, but he at least knew she was safe, and mostly comfortable.

His back and forth with the Director was just another part of belonging. Coulson had stopped threatening to eject Ward bodily from the base every time the two disagreed, which Ward took as a good sign.

"I actually had no idea if she looked." Fitz confessed, leaning towards him conspiratorially. "Complete shot in the dark there."

"So you were trying to cheat?" Ward countered, trying to avoid the thrill that shot through his nervous system at the idea of Skye seeing him without his clothes. That only led to the desire to see her in a likewise state. Not to mention what just happened, the way her eyes had tracked all along his body. The way her lip caught between her teeth had made his breath hitch. He tried to temper the heating of his skin with a few even breaths.

His body, traitorous to its last breath, took that in stride and countered with the phantom feeling of Skye's lips on his. Her tongue sliding against his as he pulled her closer.

What was Fitz talking about?

The engineer was stuttering out some kind of explanation as he moved to the other side of the heavy bag and leafed unnecessarily through his notes. Watching Fitz mutter about stones and glass houses, Ward tore his thoughts one memory at a time back to what was taking place before him.

"Now then." Fitz continued, looking up with his serious business face. "Let's get started shall we?"

"Isn't this more Simmons' thing?" Ward asked, landing a quick series of combinations into the bag.

"Yeah, she agreed to go over the results, but she wasn't too keen on…" He made a vague gesture between Ward and himself. Grant nodded in understanding, he didn't much mind the extra time with Fitz, anytime he found himself around Simmons he was constantly on alert.

He liked his odds on stopping anything overt and at least for now it seemed as though Coulson had been keeping tabs on his treatment. Most of all though, he hoped that perhaps she was no longer wishing for his swift and sudden demise.

Highly unlikely.

He zeroed in on the target before him and focused his energy there. One at a time he would either win them over or be cast out, there was no use on mulling it to death.

After a while his body picked up the routine and he found his gaze wandering over to Skye. She was running steadily, chestnut hair swinging erratically back and forth from her ponytail. He was glad to see her own imprisonment hadn't had any long lasting effects. Physically speaking she seemed well and strong, he wondered idly how it would be for the two of them to spar. He wondered too how she was handling her powers. The fight they'd had last week had worried him. Skye calling herself a monster had shaken him. She was so far from being remotely like him, but would she believe him if he told her that?

"She checks you know." Came Fitz's quiet voice next to him, causing Ward's next swing to skid off the bag. He hesitated a moment before continuing his next combination of hits. When he didn't answer right away the engineer continued unhurriedly. "Checks on you. She pulls up the security feed, or I'll see her passing by the infirmary randomly, glancing through the doors every time."

This was dangerous ground. Ward didn't really know how to respond. Too many variables involved here, and shockingly enough he found himself to be the biggest of all.

"You haven't really said much," he began uncertainly, "about what you're finding with all these tests." He cut his eyes to see Fitz nod a little. "But you are finding, something, besides my tendency to snap when expertly annoyed?"

"Doubting the validity of my tests Ward?" Fitz asked, sounding confused at Ward's change of topic.

"Wondering about their scope actually." Ward answered, pausing momentarily, watching the scientist carefully he continued. "Would you be able to tell me when things like that are most likely to happen?"

"You want to know your triggers?"

"If possible, could there be a certain phrase? Or only certain events? Am I getting better or is it more deeply ingrained in me than it is in Kara? I've been out of Hydra and away from Garrett for a while now, shouldn't whatever he did be gone, or deteriorate or something?" He couldn't help his gaze from landing on Skye. "How will I know when I'm dangerous?"

"Uh, besides you just being conscious?" Fitz snorted derisively, stilling under Ward's glare. "Right, sorry. While we have found irregularities in your scans we wouldn't be able to discern if you had a specific phrase like Hydra's patented 'comply' nonsense. With Garrett gone, the chances of someone triggering you that way is very low, as he would have no doubt picked something people wouldn't be prone to saying in everyday conversation. Realizing this, I did do an excellent job 'expertly annoying' you, in order to force a reaction."

"Which happened."

"Which did happen yes, so if I were to hazard a guess I'd say when you are emotionally distressed or otherwise emotionally compromised the residual effects of what Garrett did could make themselves known."

"Emotionally compromised."

"Right."

"Could?"

"Exactly."

"So basically, I'm a short circuiting bomb."

"Precisely!" Fitz answered happily. Watching Ward's face go carefully blank he waved his hands dismissively. "But, BUT, as you mentioned time is a factor and conditioning. Not to mention that whatever Garrett did was much different and perhaps went much deeper than whatever Whitehall was up to. He was with you a lot longer and took more time in what he did than is usually seen in other mind alteration cases regarding Hydra. At least from what you've told us."

Ward nodded his agreement but his eyes were trained on the way his left hand was massaging the bones of his right. He shouldn't have brought it up. Should've waited till there was better news.

If that was actually a possibility…

"Just pay attention alright?" Fitz interrupted his pessimistic thought process. "Remember what you told me it felt like when you lost it before. If it feels like that's happening again, get a handle on yourself." Ward looked up when he felt Fitz move closer, he hadn't seen a look of such earnestness in the other man's eyes in a long time, at least one that wasn't accompanied by anger or hurt. "We're all different now Ward. Every single one of us."

The two nodded to one another before the spark of a new idea lit in Fitz's eyes.

Nothing good there…

"What?" Ward questioned suspiciously.

"Give me a second." Fitz said quickly, shoving his beloved clipboard into Ward's chest to hold. Grant grabbed it quickly by reflex and watched as Fitz made his way hastily across the room over towards Skye. There was a short back and forth which ended with Fitz placing his hands on his hips and talking in a grumpy tone. Whatever he said made Skye throw her hands up in agitation. As she shut down the machine Fitz came hurrying back to snatch his clipboard from Ward.

"You planning on telling me any of that?" Ward asked.

"No. Now listen, you two are going to spar."

"What? No."

"Yes. Now- No shut up and listen. Now don't think about your issues, think of hers."

"Ok?"

"Dumb it out Ward, you used to be a double agent for Christ's sake, get it together." Fitz commanded, pointing to a waiting Skye who stood in the middle of the fighting mats expectantly.

"Yes sir." Ward grumbled, and with a deep breath headed to the middle of the room.

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Skye reminded herself to keep her breathing even as she squared off with her opponent. While Fitz had said he needed her to do this in order to track Ward's vitals while being attacked, it brought up a lot of old feelings and questions.

Was she strong enough now to beat him? Would he hold back or would he hurt her to make a point? If she started to lose would her powers malfunction, possibly causing her to seriously injure or kill him?

From the mask he wore Skye hazarded the guess that Ward's thoughts paralleled her own. A tension built as they started to circle one another until her ears popped. Something had to give here. Neither opponent seemed eager to attack. Smiling at their hesitation she saw his eyes narrow in reply.

"What? No trash talk Ward?"

"Nope." He responded, a corner of his mouth lifting slightly in that almost permanent grin he'd worn for the last week.

"Good," she quipped with raised brows and a little smile of her own, "cuz you're gonna get your ass kicked."

"Absolutely." The word rolled out slowly, hitting every part of his mouth until its meaning changed into something teasing and flirtatious.

"Points will be removed for excessive posturing or innuendos that make me nauseous." Fitz's voice sounded near the wall farthest from them.

"Points? We're being graded now?" Skye complained looking at him.

"Well, honestly Skye is it any fun if there's nothing at stake?" He answered in his 'don't be silly I'm smarter than you' voice.

"Right, because fake points with no value are desirable." Ward added as he and Skye exchanged a look.

"Yeah what does the winner get?" Skye demanded crossing her arms and looking at Fitz expectantly. Ward mimicked her, hissing slightly as one of the sensors pulled at his skin.

"Eh- Playtime with Judas?"

"Hmm not bad." Ward said, the smile spreading a little at the situation.

"I don't know…" Skye hedged looking at him. "I mean, I'm winning regardless, but I think I want a better prize."

"How dare you." Ward said, laughing as Fitz piped in with a "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Winner gets a dinner cooked by me." Coulson's voice came echoingly from the PA system.

"Done!" Skye said, excitingly returning to her fighting stance.

"I thought there wasn't audio?" Ward complained, looking accusingly at the nearest camera… that he could see.

"I upgraded." Coulson's disembodied voice gloated.

"Quit stalling." Skye said.

She smiled again when he looked at her incredulously. With a shrug he took up his stance nodding to her before lashing out an arm towards her head. Ducking this she spun and drove a leg for his abdomen that he was forced to jump back from. She pursued with another spinning kick that he ducked, coming up with a right swing that she blocked.

Grabbing onto the blocking arm he used his longer reach to spin her against his chest, trapping her wrist in a hand and banding his other arm across her abdomen. His face was pressed alongside her own so she couldn't hit him with the back of her head and that damn stubble sent shivers down her back.

"Just so you know my ass feels pretty unkicked so far." He murmured, dropping his face a little so that his breath tickled along her collarbone. She could feel the muscles of his stomach against the bared skin on her back. The not so nearly pleasurable feeling of the digging pressure coming from the metal sensors accompanied the warming of her body.

Hmm I could fight fair or…

She rolled her hips back and felt him tense in response, his next breath hitching hard on the intake.

"Strange, so does mine." The huskiness in her voice was all for show, she told herself, as she reached back quickly with her free arm and lifting her legs off the ground used the momentum of her decent to sling him over a bent shoulder.

He hit and rolled neatly, almost instantly regaining his stance. She huffed a little in irritation. She'd been sparring with May for too long without fighting anyone of Ward's size. She wondered whether he'd helped her with the throw, but either way she wasn't going to be able to complete many more of those.

Bastard is heavy.

She came in quickly before he could get totally centered and swung, he dodged back and she came up with a high knee. Next thing she knew he had one arm hooked under the raised leg, the hand of the other arm cradling her neck, and she was being picked up and driven to the ground with him on top of her.

She cried out as her back hit the mat.

He was a solid weight of sinewy warmth along the length of her from chest to hip. The calluses of his fingers caught on the small hairs at the nape of her neck sending waves of gooseflesh over her skin. He always smelt of spice, now sweat with that heady smell was all she could breathe in.

Her senses and heartrate were rocketing past normal operating levels. There was a heat collecting in her limbs and within her core that wasn't strictly due to the combat.

She briefly considered the implications of her body's reaction to having Ward on top of her before May's training kicked in and she used the immobility of his arms against him. Hooking one arm behind his head she pushed off with the other and rolled them.

Using her momentum against her this time he threw her off him and after a quick roll they were both on their feet again. Skye hated to admit it but she was having a pretty good time, it was nice to last any length of time against someone as well trained as Ward.

And she wanted that home cooked meal from Coulson.

"So," Ward started, taking a quick swipe towards her that she danced back from, "your power, is it just with the ground?"

"Huh?" She asked trying to keep totally focused on the moves of his body.

"Do you only shake the ground or do you shake everything?" He asked with a cocked eyebrow and grin.

"Point!" Fitz called.

"It's not just that I shake things, it's like…I don't know I can manipulate things." She explained, going for a leg sweep that he leapt over. She'd told Coulson about the water from the faucet and he'd immediately had May and Simmons begin their own run of tests. She knew that was something else she and Ward had begun to reconstruct their relationship with. They were both lab rats grumbling about their respective mazes to one another.

While Simmons constantly cautioned her about the destructive nature of her powers, May had collected an array of different items and asked her to use her power on each in turn. It had been terrifying at first, but now she was becoming able to focus her energy more and more.

"Manipulate?" Ward asked peppering out a quick succession of blows that she blocked with gritted teeth.

"I don't know, I can hear things and make them move." He stilled and considered her for a moment.

"Can you hear me?"

"What?"

"Me, can you hear me with your power? Or is it just inanimate objects?"

"Not much of a difference right now." Fitz complained and Ward leveled him with a look.

"Don't make Skye come over there." He huffed, the light caught on the sweat lying over his skin and he breathed in deep as the two combatants caught their breath.

"I don't know if I can hear people too I haven't tried it." She hedged, hands on her hips as she regained a normal rate of breathing.

"Why not?" Ward questioned with a furrowed brow.

"Dangerous." Skye said with wide eyes.

Was he nuts? Oh wait…

"I'm not saying to shake the person. Just listen."

"I- I don't know…"

"Come on." He said gesturing to himself. When she hesitated he walked over with hands raised peacefully. "Truce for a moment. Just try."

Their eyes held and Skye found herself nodding before she closed her eyes. Everything in the room made a different sound in her mind. Trying to narrow her focus onto the area before her, she shook her head. Everything was making noise to her at the same time.

Then a warm pair of hands slid up along the sides of her forearms. Instinctually she brought her own hands up to rest on the inside of his own forearms. She tilted her head a bit as those callused fingers drug themselves down until they lay splayed on the sensitive skin around her wrists. Her own thumbs ran little trips back and forth on the track the ridged scars spanning his flesh created. His fingers only twitched a little each time she did so.

She could hear him now.

Just him.

He was a deeper thrumming than the competing sounds around him. His bones sang out a deep tenor, rivaled only by the subterranean bass below them. After listening to him she knew she could meet that pitch and make him shake to pieces. She also knew she'd be able to recognize his pitch apart from any others.

Opening her eyes Skye found Ward standing only as closely he needed to be touching her. His gaze was steady, forehead slightly wrinkled as he watched her. She fought the urge to reach up and smooth away the expression. Instead she released her grasp slowly and nodded to him.

"I can hear you."

"Would you be able to just affect me in a fight?"

"Yeah, I think so."

He smiled and she tried to ignore the happy feeling that coiled around the heat to see the pride that flashed in his eyes.

"Great. Let's go again. This time if you get a chance use your power without bringing the room down. Ok?"

"Eh- as one of the people in the room, do I get a vote?" Fitz asked, eyeing his route to the door worriedly.

"No." Ward answered without looking at him. "Skye's got this." He said more quietly nodding at her confidently.

"You sure you're not gonna say it's cheating to use my ability?" She goaded as they reentered their fighting postures.

"An agent uses whatever advantages they can get." He answered seriously and she felt her mouth jerk into a grin at the S.O. tone he'd naturally adopted.

"Remember that." Skye replied with a smirk and raised eyebrow.

Ward launched himself at her and she brought up a hand, focusing on his pitch alone, sending out a matching one she hit him in mid step. This sent him backwards, ass over teakettle, slamming him into the mats as a whoosh of air identified the evacuation of air from his lungs.

"Ow…" Ward's voice was muffled from his face being pressed into the ground.

"And the winner and reigning champ is Skye!" Coulson crowed happily over the speakers.

"Ow." Ward reiterated as he rolled slowly to his back.

"Excellent." Fitz piped up coming to stand next to Skye. "Did you break him? He barely got healed up."

"I don't think so…" Skye responded, nudging Ward in the hip with a toe. "Hey, anything broken?"

She grunted when her ass hit the ground, Ward released her ankle with another groan.

"No." He grumbled, cracking an eye he turned his attention to Fitz. "I still get playtime with Judas."

"Fair enough." Fitz agreed leaning down to check the status of the steadily flashing sensors. "I suppose you've earned it. Simmons will be thrilled to see the effect Skye's power had on your vitals when she hit you with her ability."

"Hey, if Simmons is happy, I'm happy." Ward sighed, crossing his arms behind his head and closing his eyes again. Fitz made a slightly derisive noise.

"Not to mention still living."

"That too Fitz, that too."

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So there we go! Apologies if anything seemed crack worthy or out of character, well not really, it was fun to write. Drop me a review let me know. Finals being over means we'll hopefully be going back to only a few days or week between updates. Going to take this time to remind people of the M rating for the next chapter. No Reason.