The Ward
Authors Note: Hi Guys
Thanks for all the likes, follows and reviews they mean so much and I'm really glad you all like the story so far. This is probably going to be a shorter chapter and a little less action packed but we will be going to deeper and darker places over the coming chapters.
She opened her eyes slowly, her lids like lead. She feels like she's been asleep for years, where is she? The last thing she remembers she was running through the woods, Grant was with her. They were running for their lives and then she thinks really hard trying to dispel the fog around her memory, Oh good I was shot! As if to reinforce the memory her right leg throbs painfully, she pushes herself up to a sitting position slowly and with great difficulty. Examining her injured leg closely she takes in the cast that runs from just below her hip all the way to her toes. Well that's just perfect; her attention turns to the cold and sterile room. She's seen a room like this before when Ward was injured on a mission; she must be in one of S.H.I.E.L.D.S field hospitals.
All of a sudden her thoughts snap to Grant, where is he? Is he OK? Was he hurt too? Just as panic starts to take hold of her a nurse pushes open the door to her room, she's followed by a very tired and stoic looking Ward.
"You have a visitor Miss Skye" her voice is light and friendly as she indicates the 6"4 wall of muscle beside her. It looks like Grant's made quite an impression on her by the way she's blushing. "I'll leave you two alone but if you need anything just buzz" she smiles at them both and then she's gone.
As soon as they are alone she musters her best smile trying to reassure him. He rushes to her side cupping her face before bringing his lips to hers in a breath taking kiss. He kisses her like he'd lost her, it squeezes her heart. She can feel his heartache and fear, a desperate need comes over her to reassure him, she needs to make it better. When they finally break apart her head swims, she'd like to think it was just the affect of Grants toe curling kiss but she can feel the fuzzy haze at the edges of her brain that only comes from morphine.
"Are you OK?" she asks him.
"You got shot and your asking me if I'm OK?" his tone incredulous.
"Well yeah, I guess I blacked out cause I don't remember anything after the bullet hit. I just woke up in here and I didn't know if you were Ok or if you were hurt or..." she didn't finish that thought it was too painful to even think it let alone say it.
"Don't worry about me baby I'm fine, did the doctors not tell you anything?" she knew he was deflecting; it's what he always did when faced with painful emotions. She'd have to drag it out of him as always.
"Well I kinda just woke up, so I guess they didn't get chance" she laughed it was a nervous little sound. Given the look on his face she thought maybe she didn't want to know but Skye was no coward and she never shied away from answers. "Can you tell me?"
"Well the bullet pierced your femoral artery; you lost a lot of blood. So Simmons had to transfuse you on the bus until we could get you here. The docs had to operate to remove the bullet from your femur and repair the artery, they had to give you more blood hear as well" she took in the drip she was attached to they were still transfusing her now, she shuddered. That can't have been good.
"How did I get back to the bus?" she asked to distract herself.
"I carried you back to the road; Coulson and May were waiting at the extraction point. I didn't realise how bad it was till then, not till I saw Couslon's face" his voice shook. She reached out her hand and stroked his cheek.
"It's OK Grant, I told you, you do a damn good job of saving my ass. I'm guessing if it weren't for you and the team I'd be a goner" she joked.
"I thought I was too late, you were so pale and you went into shock. There was too much blood and..."
"Shhhh I'm fine apart from this damn cast, don't even think about blaming yourself or I will hit you invalid or not" she was almost her snarky old self. He couldn't help but chuckle at that.
"You really scared me for a minute; I really thought I was going to lose you this time."
"But you didn't, I knew the risks when I signed on to become an agent. It really sucks that I seem to be a magnet for disaster but you can't blame yourself for every bad thing that happens to me. You can't take that kind of guilt on, with the amount of dumb crap I pull you'll end up with a permanent monkey on your back"
"It's funny Coulson said something similar when we were waiting for you to get out of surgery. He wasn't quite as colourful but yeah..."
"Well you should listen to AC he's pretty cool and wise that way" she laughed.
"Yeah he is, surprisingly cool" he gave her the first real smile she'd seen since a rather steamy shower they'd shared that morning.
"By the way, Coulson knows?"
"About us?" she was nervous now, field agents were not supposed to fraternize let alone date.
"Don't look so worried, you said yourself he's cool" he gave her a reassuring smile before relating his late night conversation with Coulson.
"So he's OK with us?" she couldn't quite believe it.
"He said it happens, so long as we don't let it affect our work he won't turn us in to the review board"
"Oh well that's one good thing" she smiled and this one touched her eyes. It shouldn't have been her biggest worry at that moment with everything that they were facing, but having AC on board was a big relief.
"So what do we do now? Go back into hiding?" she didn't like that idea it hadn't worked out to well last time. It was still bugging her how the psycho had found them but if Grant knew he wasn't saying. It was so like him the eternal protector, he obviously didn't want her to worry but surely he knew she'd get the information she wanted one way or another.
"No, Coulson and I agreed we can't play defence anymore. We have to take him out" Grants tone was deadly.
"Do you mean we as in the team or do you mean we as in you?" he didn't answer her.
"Grant No!" she shrieked. "You can't he nearly killed us both the last time we went after him and that was the whole team you can't go alone" her voice was thick with tears.
"You know I have to Skye, not just because he hurt you but because he won't stop. He's not going to stop till he gets hold of you again. He was never going to kill you that knife trick was just a game to him. The bullet was meant for me not you, he's obsessed with you. I don't know why neither does Coulson, you're not his usual type. If I don't take him out then he'll find you again" he was imploring her to understand. He never intended to tell her that but she had to understand. This wasn't about revenge for what they'd done this was about a sociopaths obsession and she was his target.
His words seeped into her like poison, all this time she'd thought it was both of them he wanted. Never had she imagined that she would find herself in such a dark place. The walls seem to close in around her. Sensing her fear Grant cupped her face "It's going to be OK Skye, Coulson and I we are going to put a plan together tomorrow. I'm going to fix this he won't get to you again"
Her thoughts flicked to that locked box in her mind, the one that held the horrific details of that mission. She'd told Grant that in her nightmares she relived her near miss with the psycho but that was only partly true. She saw the torture chamber, the evil looking medical equipment, the terrified women in cages cowering. Her imagination went wild she saw their faces twisted in pain, heard their screams and cry's, heard them beg for death. Finally she saw their lifeless eyes, when their bodies could take no more of his experiments. In the day when she was wrapped up in Grant she could lock it all away, pretend it never happened but at night and now here in this room she was at the mercy of her subconscious. The images flashed before her eyes on repeat like a film that just keeps running only this time it wasn't some nameless faceless woman at his mercy it was Skye.
Silent tears streamed down her face as she locked eyes with Grant "Why Me?" it was barely a whisper.
"I don't know, Coulson thought that he was taking this too far for it just to be revenge. They are digging but so far nothing has come up. Skye there's something else..."
"What? How could this be any worse?" her voice was thick with tears and panic.
Ward's face looked down right murderous, god it had to be bad "It looks like he has an Implant inside S.H.I.E.L.D, we had no tech or GPS for them to hack and S.H.I.E. servers were not breached the only way he could have learned of our location is from one of the agents that was entrusted with it. Coulson and I will be interrogating them all tomorrow"
Skye gasped "Why would anyone do that? They all know what he is, what he does"
"If I had to guess either he has something on them or money" he spat, she could tell he was taking this just as hard as she was.
"When can I get out of here?" she felt like a sitting duck here if he'd managed to bribe one of the top agents at S.H.I.E.L.D HQ she was sure it would be a piece of cake to scare one of the medical staff. As if he'd read her thoughts Grant said "As soon as the doctor clears you, we'll get back to the Bus. Simmons should be able to keep an eye on you and I'll feel better if May and Coulson are around to back me up"
"Grant I still don't want you to go, it's too dangerous I don't want you risking your life for me" she was pleading now.
"If not for you, who for?" he smiled at her, her favourite smile the one that exposed his perfect dimples. It was brief but she knew, he knew she couldn't resist that damn smile "It has to be me, he has to die. I should have killed him that first night, to hell with Fury's orders as soon as I saw what he truly was I should have taken him down. If I had we wouldn't be here now"
"Grant..."
"I know it's not my fault, but I still have to put it right." that tone meant end of discussion, there was no reasoning with him now. All she could do was pray that he came back to her, she was terrified of that room, those cages but she knew she would take every torture he could visit on her so long as Grant was safe. "I love you" she whispered.
"I love you too" he said pressing a gentle kiss to her temple and then to her lips. "I know it's the last thing you want to do, but you need to rest up. Tomorrow's going to be a hard day, you'll need your strength" he was right it was the last thing she wanted but she could feel her body betraying her it was greedily pulling her back into sleep. Her lids were heavy again and she couldn't stifle her yawn "Will you stay with me?"
"I didn't plan on leaving" he pulled the chair he was sat in closer to the bed and began to stroke her silky hair. She hummed at the intimate gesture she loved when he played with her hair it was one of the many ways he made her feel safe. She couldn't deny she was terrified of what the future held for them, their path was full of shadow and danger but one thing she did know. Whatever the psycho threw at them they would get through together, so long as Grant was with her she knew she was safe.
Slowly her breaths began to slow and her eyelids fluttered shut, he rested his head next to hers on the pillow still stroking her hair. There was no doubting their situation right now was hell, his worst nightmares come to pass but he would make it right. He would keep her safe and what's more even though he shouldn't he knew he'd take great pleasure in it. He wasn't going to think about what that said about him right now that was a debate for another day.
Authors Note: So I hope you enjoyed this one, not as much action as the last chapter but there will be some serious ass kicking in the next chapter. I'll do my best to have it up by the weekend. Thank you to everyone for your kind words and continued support it really does mean a lot and if you want to keep up to date with me and all my work please follow my Tumblr Skye's Scrapbook.
