Author's Note: Huzzah! It seems like everyone was happy with the last chapter and we had an overwhelming vote in favor of an exclusive couple chapter so that's what's gonna happen. That's the good news, bad-ish news is that I'm going to Comic Con and have a lot to get done including overtime at work so I don't know if I'll be getting another chapter out for the next few weeks.
In other news, big thanks to the reviewer that told me about my small stroke in misspelling Bobbi throughout the entire chapter, I don't know what happened there as I went through the other chapters and never did it in any of those. It is all fixed and thanks for letting me know because you are not the only one that's OCD on names, when I saw that I almost had a heart attack.
Happy Reading: WARNING – High amounts of fluff and…stuff…screw it…people gonna be gettin' nekkid, you don't like it skip this chapter.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. *sigh*
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After grabbing Ward's solitary bag of personal effects from his room, the two made it to Skye's quarters in relative silence. The walk giving her mind time to run through all the things they needed to discuss before tomorrow's meeting.
Ward took her silence as barely restrained lust. Upon closing the door behind them he slung his bag to the nearest corner. Eyes dark, he reached for her the moment his hands were free.
"Ward." She said, taking a small step back, he froze and she could see his mind working before a grin pulled at his mouth.
"Right, I was being yelled at." Reaching forward he pulled her towards him by her captured elbows. Skye gave him a look of warning, which only made his grin turn wolfish in its tilt as he closed the space between them. "I am listening. I am taking everything you say seriously." He preempted with a disclaimer before he released his hold on her arms to move callus covered hands underneath her shirt. Fingers working the smooth skin on her back as his mouth found the even softer flesh along her throat. Lips tickling, breath setting goosebumps rippling down her spine when he continued. "I am just also multitasking."
Her retort stuttered into silence as his lips moved expertly to the space beneath her jaw. Turning her words to a slight hum as his palms pressed her against him. Marshaling her thoughts she ran quick fingers into his hair, clenching down on the short strands to hold him still.
"You're just trying to distract me, which totally counts as trying to get out of the ass ripping we discussed." She accused, pulling his mouth from her neck. The reproachful glare Skye had planned for him lost its edge at the hungry look she received when their eyes met.
Unintentionally she focused on those devilishly talented lips of his. Then suddenly she was kissing him, fingers still fisted in his hair. Her mouth opened to allow her tongue to meet his expectantly. His hands moved quickly, her bra came undone, he broke the kiss long enough to jerk his shirt over his head.
She was losing articles of clothing at an impressive rate, everything a blur of color and texture as she fought to remember what else had been important. Kissing Ward was like having the smelted iron of his body poured from her scorched lips to her suddenly molten core. Everything else burned away to ash floating idly at the back of her mind. The more of her tender flesh he gently worked with battle roughened hands, the more Skye could only think about finding more places for him to touch.
"Stop?" Ward muttered against her half open mouth. Before she could answer one way or another he was pushing her onto the bed. Mouth once again fused to hers. The hard planes of him fit against her softer curves, the weather beaten coarseness of his skin creating a delicious kind of friction.
There were no trust exercises this time, no need for a show of faith. Without hesitation Skye wrapped her legs around his narrow waist, eliciting a strangled gasp when he moved into her. Ward paused for a heartbeat, that look he saved for her raged along with lust and want. All three of them disappearing with the shutting of his eyes as he began to move. Skye had a moment to wonder whether this feeling of completion was solely due to her connection with Ward, or if the presence of her ability would heighten sex with any partner she had.
The moment left quickly with her next breathless cry as Ward quickened his movements, stroking in and out of her with a pace that was turning into uncontrolled recklessness. Every inch of her felt like it was beginning to hum in response to Ward's ministrations, lighting along her nerve endings and accumulating in her already heated core.
Just him…
Her muscles and tendons gradually tensed, from the hands that clung to his back, to those that met him at each thrust, down to the toes that bent in an attempt to keep her body from flying apart at the joints. Her back bowed until she could reach his mouth, kissing him until her vision began to sunburst behind her closed lids.
Skye's body climbed and fell over the edge several times before Grant came to his own release. Shuddering into her, his arms slightly trembling, he stayed in place, as air was wrestled into struggling lungs. All the oxygen in Skye had died with her last orgasm, the attempt to draw breath making her shake.
Eyes closed, she turned into the touch that dragged warm fingertips down the side of her face. Belatedly she realized her nails were dug deep into the muscles of Ward's back. After a few failed attempts she unclenched her hands, but refused to let him roll off her when he tried to. His prolonged contact felt like aftershocks of release to her. Like the effects of their activity was being ricocheted between them.
Finally opening her eyes, Skye met Ward's gaze, a big dopey smile curled into existence on her mouth when she found him trying to memorize her face. His thumb ghosting over an eyebrow, cheekbone, curve of her lips, his eyes roving over her features as hungrily as his body had moved inside her.
She felt like her heart was making a valiant effort to migrate into her throat. When he looked at her like that, it was so open and guileless. The hope in him that he tried so hard to hide was burning the blackness from his eyes. They turned their bright whiskey color as she watched. Maybe for the first time Skye accepted that those arduous feelings everyone mocked Ward for having, were beating right along with her own heart.
Don't freak out.
"Take a picture why dontcha?" She quipped lightly, drawing his gaze to hers. His answering smile crinkled the corners of his eyes, and white teeth flashed through the darkness of his beard. Ward gave an appreciative glance down her body and she clenched reflexively around him, earning a rumble of approval. With a slight murmur he moved down her sweat dampened body until he could lay with his face rested on top of her stomach.
Her hands moved almost instinctively to run fingers through his sweat slickened hair. Short nails gliding over Ward's scalp in thoughtless little patterns that made him sigh contentedly. He placed loosely fisted hands along her ribs, thumbs strumming over the sensitive skin as the silence stretched comfortably. The weight and warmth of him anchoring them together, reminding her with each intake of breath he took, the solidity of his existence.
The moment seemed to freeze time. All around them the base was quiet. No one knocked on the door, no voice of impending doom sounded from the PA system to send them skittering for weapons or bugout bags. Skye's universe narrowed to the feeling of stubble against her stomach, to the strands slipping between her fingers with each pass of her hand. The small sounds escaping Ward's throat of contentment, her eyes began to burn and she stared stubbornly at the light above her to keep any tears at bay. This moment of vulnerability they were sharing had taken so much pain to get to.
Now that they'd reached it though, Skye knew she'd never willingly go back. His absence, the emptiness he'd leave this time, it would chip away pieces of her. Being with Ward, this true version of him, kept alive who she'd been before agents and aliens got involved. She could keep him from turning back into unfeeling Kevlar. They could make this work. She just needed all the information. She couldn't purge the malware if she didn't know everything, couldn't build a program on infected files.
"Ok." Ward sighed dejectedly, some minutes later. "Go ahead and yell."
Skye remained silent, trying to figure out which topic rolling around her head was best to bring up. At this point it seemed kind of ungrateful to ream his ass after he'd done such good work. When she didn't answer he turned his face to look at her, chin digging lightly into her, his shoulder muscles bunching behind his head. Her hands fell to wrists that still bore the ridge of scar tissue nearly the length of his forearms.
Grasping a hold of one she turned it to examine the echo of his internal battles. The shine of the marred area was slowly fading, it was already less pronounced than the first time she'd seen it. Skye ran a thoughtful thumb down its uneven surface as she considered what to say. After several moments she realized he hadn't spoken or moved to extricate himself from her hold. Looking down she found his eyes watching her slow progression along the scar's path.
When she halted, Ward's eyes flicked to hers. A look of torment bunched his eyebrows, furrowed his forehead, and his eyes told her he hoped for leniency while not really expecting any. She wanted to give him peace, to be the one that could do that for him, but experience made the need for truth unavoidable.
"Don't you ever do something like this again." She said quietly at last. Gripping tight to the jagged flesh and squeezing for emphasis. He nodded silently, pulling from her hold to intertwine their fingers. "Or that shit with trying to give yourself to that jerk."
"If it meant him leaving you alone-" He defended, rising to prop himself on an elbow.
"Not an option Grant." She interrupted emphatically.
"You sound like Coulson." He accused, irritation bleeding into his tone.
"Good! Of the two of us, my mentor is a better go to, wouldn't ya say?"
"Things aren't that simple, you can't just order people into doing what you want."
"Seemed to work for you before." She bit out, clutching to his arm and hand when he tried to pull away. "I need to know your first instinct is going to be to stay with me." Ward stilled in his movements, only to pin her with a look that threatened to see into every dark crevice she possessed.
"Go ahead." He grated, settling back into place.
"I know bringing up things like Garrett and Kara right now is not what you had in mind for tonight."
"Kara?"
"But I have to know I can depend on you to choose me. Not Garrett, or Kara, or to sacrifice yourself, you come to me and we'll figure it out. Together. That's what this whole freaking boyfriend thing means alright? You can't think that you just know best super spy, you need to work new mission parameters into that thick head."
"And you can't keep throwing what happened in my face every time this relationship stuff freaks you out." He countered seriously, and she could tell he wanted to point out all the flaws in her argument, but had decided to stay focused on what he figured to be the real issue.
"Yeah well, I guess this isn't going to be easy for either of us then huh?" They lay staring at one another, the silence menacing now in its entirety.
"I don't understand how you can be so mad at me for wanting to protect you." He said finally, into the quiet.
"You want to protect me Ward? Then stay with me." She replied, reaching a hand up to fist once again in his still damp hair. Pulling a little until his look echoed the predatory one he'd given her earlier. "It's almost guaranteed that some entity or circumstance could take us from one another. You can't go throwing yourself at whatever it is every single time. Try to remember you only have one body to give, and I really like it the way it is. All alive, and not missing limbs."
"Scars and all?" He said, still visually uneasy but trying to get back to where they'd been. She pulled the ridged wrist to her mouth and kissed lightly.
With a shift of her legs and a push he rolled to his back, Skye draped along his side. Bending she pressed kisses lightly to his lips and then the slightly healed wound along his cheekbone. Silently she moved down to the puckered round scars along his ribcage. She trailed slow open mouthed kisses there before ending her journey once more at his mouth.
"The only thing that'll come from you sacrificing yourself to a prick like Gonzales is someone getting hurt or killed when I have to track your stubborn ass down to get you back." She finished against his lips.
"You wouldn't do that, cross off anyone to get me back, that's not you Skye." He retorted, kissing her lightly.
"The 'someone' I meant was me Ward." She replied, catching his gaze with hers, two pairs of dark eyes clashing in the near dark of the room. She saw the way her revelation affected him, how the idea of being the cause of her pain stalled his need to prove himself to her. He nodded his acceptance minutely, the fight barely dissipating from his expression.
"We good?" He asked, idly twining his fingers in the hair that was falling over his bicep.
"Almost." Skye said, taking a deep breath.
"Almost?"
"Tell me what happened with you and Kara."
"Damn it Skye."
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Extricating himself as gently as anger would allow, he rolled away from her, gaining his feet in a fluid motion. Fucking idiot that he was he'd actually thought they'd gotten to a place where she at least somewhat trusted him again. Not to be too full of himself, but Ward could have sworn there'd been something different this time. He'd felt a deep throbbing that wasn't secluded to the times she came, nearly shaking herself apart in his arms until he could no longer hold on.
The experience and aftermath was something he'd literally never experienced and had been consequently moved to something bordering awe as he watched her come back to herself. There was a new aspect to how she looked at him when her eyes opened. Like she was at last seeing him the way he wanted her to, like he was done evolving into what she needed.
The moment after she'd given him a hard time, and their eyes met, he'd finally felt worthy.
And now?
He shook his head, striding across the room, and violently snatching his bag from the floor. Dropping it on her small cluttered desk he unzipped it, moodily shifting through the contents. Suddenly in desperate need to be clothed, to have some tangible barrier between him and this being that threatened to carve what was left of his soul to pieces. Couldn't she tell it was already in shreds?
Coming across her "Frak Hydra" shirt he dumped it unceremoniously on the chair next to him. Finding his sweats underneath, he pulled them on with quick efficient movements. Ward was jerking them into place and beginning to look for an acceptable shirt when he felt a hand on his back. Without a conscious command his body ceased to move.
"Why are you so upset?" Skye asked, sounding genuinely confused, which brought him up short with his half formed rebuttal. Taking a deep breath he edged a pair of black jeans out of his way to come up with an equally black tank top. He slid it on, trying to ignore the sudden coolness the loss of her touch created.
"I told you nothing happened with Kara." He said evenly, turning around to lean back against the desk, arms folded defensively across his chest. The look of confusion didn't waiver but she mirrored his crossed arms as she nodded.
"Right. Except the kiss." She replied slowly, dark eyes boring into him intently.
"Except the kiss." He affirmed with a tight nod.
"I was asking about what made you leave her." Skye said, cocking her head to the side, a challenging smirk flavoring her reply. "Not if you'd lied to me, and actually slept with her, or if you thought she kissed better than me or something." Dropping her voice and leaning towards him she whispered conspiratorially. "I already know that's not possible."
She looked so damn smug it made him, irrationally, love her more. It also made him want to scoop up her still naked body and do things to her that would wipe that grin right off her face. Straightening he crowded her a little with his size, keeping his face blank even as her eyes dipped expectantly to his mouth.
Yeah beautiful, I want you too.
"Isn't what I said, and what Kara told the whole team enough?" He questioned, locking down on his control as her arms dropped so she could prop her hands in sudden irritation on her hips. Opening his sight to all the sweetly curving slopes of her body.
"Don't play me Ward, whatever it is, spit it out."
"See? There it is." He ground out, his voice dropping several octaves, while his face remained masklike. "You are never going to be able to trust me. The idea that you and I could be a normal couple was completely stupid."
Skye took in a breath while dropping her head back and closing her eyes. In all appearances praying for patience, rolling his own eyes he snatched her shirt off the chair and held it out to her when she was again looking at him.
"Distracted?" She joked, making no move to take the shirt from his outstretched hand.
"You're funny." He deadpanned, with a mild glare.
"What I am is right. You went from dropping bodies with that chick like you two were planning on being the next Bonnie and Clyde. To showing up on the doorstep of the girl that shot you and left you to die, as Kara put it, to help the team get me back. Like you've told me again and again Ward, you're a survivor, something had to have happened."
"Put the shirt on and I'll tell you." He bargained, becoming resigned to the realization that she maybe knew him just a little too well. She considered the shirt, jutting her chin out a little as she did so, finally shaking her head.
"You wear it."
"I'm already wearing one." He reasoned through slightly gritted teeth.
"Yeah, I caught that, specifically not the one that you stole from me. Right?" With muttered curses he tossed the shirt at her face, whipping off his tank top, he snatched the shirt from her flailing hands. Jamming it over his head after chucking the tank top in similar fashion towards her still startled expression. After she'd huffed a little and pulled the oversized tank on, he took a brief moment to appreciate the way it barely stayed on her shoulders and skimmed the tops of her thighs. After they were both straightened out, Ward collected his thoughts and did a little praying of his own.
"I realized I was grooming her." He stated flatly, watching as her eyes widened.
"You mean like…"
"Like Garrett did to me, yeah, but we were also taking a run at being together. It made what I was doing, somehow worse." He continued matter-of-factly, talking through the closing vice in his chest. He watched Skye absorb this information and continued after a few moments. "When it occurred to me what was happening…I couldn't…" He trailed off, taking a breath and closing his eyes so he wouldn't see her reaction. "She was vulnerable and easily manipulated, and I couldn't trust myself not to take advantage of that. I was trying to help her, but I needed help."
"You had to get yourself away from her." She agreed, and he opened his eyes, nodding after a moment. Unable to add that rebounding from Skye had inclined his darker nature to do things he knew she and the Team would hate him for. Doing whatever was brutally necessary to keep the woman that indulged his deception.
"One way or another."
After the mission to free Skye, Coulson would either imprison him again or he could disappear. Kara wouldn't have believed he would do anything to hurt her, but then the mission was over and things had started happening so quickly.
"And then Fitz wanted to run tests."
"And all of a sudden the possibility of being back on the Team wasn't so crazy. Freaking Fitz." He said shaking his head, at a loss for all the emotions the little engineer inspired.
"Well, you got him a monkey, what did you expect?"
"I really just didn't want him to shoot me." Ward defended, smiling a little at her disbelieving look. "Being manipulative is basically hard wired into me, I have to think three or four times through everything I think or say and even then a part of me rationalizes why what I'm doing isn't really being manipulative."
"Thereby manipulating yourself."
"Exactly."
Skye watched him for a few moments in silence before nodding her head.
"I believe you." Ward knew he looked surprised by the way she smiled at him. Even he wasn't sure he understood his motives or reasoning, but regardless it seemed like Skye was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Which made everything else, a little less twisty inside him.
"Good." Was all he could fumble out, arms dropping uncertainly to his sides.
She considered him for a moment before going to grab her phone off the small bedside table. Returning to him, Skye hit a couple buttons before turning to lean her back against him, stretching her arm up until their faces appeared on the screen.
"Smile." She commanded, and without thought he grinned like an idiot at his small reflection on the phone. She hit another button and their image froze before a slight clicking sound happened and the images on the screen began moving again. "Good, ok now you take it, your arms are longer."
"What are we uh doing?" Ward asked, taking her phone, breathing in citrus as she showed him what button to hit.
"We are taking selfies." She informed him, making a face at the screen.
"Why?" He asked, clicking the button, his face looked back at him in confusion while Skye's expression was immortalized with crossed eyes and protruding tongue.
"Because." She stated, turning slightly.
"Of?" He asked, changing the angle as she pressed along his side, snapping another picture with them smiling cheerfully.
"This, my super spy, is what normal couples do." She finished, going up on tiptoes to plant a kiss soundly on his cheek. He hit the button, and the screen showed him with a lopsided smile as Skye enthusiastically kissed him from jawline to lips.
The clicking sounds were going steadily as he turned and kissed her back.
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Man I don't know if I know how to write just fluff, or maybe that is my version of fluff. Anyway I feel bad about the amount of angst that happened there, I plan on tacking a continuation of this scene onto my next chapter to offset the obnoxious amount of Gonzales and exposition that's going to happen. Sorry for any mistakes or confusion, its four a.m. and I have to be at work soon.
As always let me know if we're still headed in the right direction because at this point I'm too sleep deprived to know the difference. ^.~
See you awesome people in a few weeks!