Authors Note: You guys are ridiculously sweet you almost had me crying, thank you so much for the reviews they really do mean a lot. So this is likely to be a rather emotional chapter especially for Skye and Ward. I'm also going to introduce a little of Dex's back story and then you'll see why I thought he'd fit in well.

If Ward had thought Skye's previous nightmares had been bad then these were horrific, she would thrash and scream, she'd cry out his name, shake and cry. He'd never felt so helpless all he could do was rock and soothe her until she drifted back into fitful sleep. The broken nights meant that neither of them was getting much sleep and her nightmares were not the only symptoms of her time with Hyde.

The normally bright, smart mouthed, bubbly young agent in training was a nervous wreck she'd jump at every loud noise, flinch if she was startled, she was withdrawn often retreating to the SUV to hide. Her physical injury's had healed well she was still left with the lightening shaped scars and it was unclear if her vocal chords would ever fully heal but her bone fractures had healed nicely. Establishing all this however had been rather difficult Simmons assumed it was Skye's state of shock that had made her so compliant the first day she was back on the bus because once she had had time to relive her hellish experience. She point blank refused to enter the lab under any circumstances and if Jemma tried to approach her with a needle or any kind of sharp implement she did so at her own peril. The young hacker's fear of medical implements was so imbedded into her psyche that the anxiety it caused triggered her abilities which had resulted in the loss of another very expensive piece of tech.

In the end Simmons gave up she was grumbling to Dex who since he had agreed to stay on until Anderson was caught and dealt with spent much of his time "helping" her in the lab. He was a genuinely very efficient assistant and Fitz was now so used to his presence that he hardly complained about it anymore. "Well at least she's healed up now Jem, so you really don't need to risk sticking her anymore" he reasoned.

"Thank Goodness, though Fitz was not pleased, that medical scanner took months of development and now it's no more than a pile of dust. If you add that to the centrifuge she blew up a couple of weeks ago...well this lab has taken a hammering" she shook her head, she knew that Skye hadn't meant to nearly blow her up but it was quite frightening when she went off like that.

"She'll get better at controlling it, she's only been active for a week or so most supes take months if not years to get a handle on their gifts and from what Coulson says she's more gifted than most. Maybe we should all refrain from poking her with sharp objects from now on" he smiled that roguish grin that she and she was sure many other women found irresistible.

"That was rather silly of me, I just wanted to make sure we were thorough that's all. I didn't mean to frighten her I just didn't think, she won't open up not even to agent Ward we have no idea what he did to her other than the broken bones, electrocution and damaged vocal chords" she swallowed hard the fact that there obviously was more was something that Jemma found very hard to deal with and she hadn't even experienced it. It was impossible to imagine what Skye must feel; she wanted to be there for her friend she just didn't know how.

"She will Jem, we just have to give her time and space to work through it that's all. The best thing we can do for her at the moment is to track this Anderson down after what suit did to Hyde we may have our work cut out. If he has any sense he'll have gone off radar" they'd been working hard to track down the leader of Hyde's order as he called it but so far their searches had proved fruitless. Even with outside help from Stark and Jarvis, it had been rather amusing to watch the banter between Dex and Stark though they were like old poker buddies, even Skye had managed a snicker at the pair of them.

"Well it could take weeks before we find him are you sure you can stand to be cooped up in this tin can with a bunch of suits for that long?" she was teasing.

"The bar is in good hands and being cooped up in here does have its benefits" he pulled her into his arms so that she had her back to his firm chest.

"Oh really, like What?"

"Like this" he gently moved her long dark hair aside and his lips found the tender flesh or her neck. His kisses were feather light as he kissed his way from the base up to her earlobe and when he took it into his mouth; she let out a breathy moan. God that felt good, she melted into his embrace a willing prisoner of his will.

"Hmmm yes well..." she was far too distracted by his wandering hands to form a coherent response. They'd started as a warm band around her waist but slowly they'd crept upwards towards the swell of her breasts. She squirmed as his thumbs brushed over her taut nipples through the material of her shirt.

"Oh lord, not in here I mean really? This is a lab for crying out loud I don't want to have to disinfect every surface again!" Fitz was stood in the doorway with his hands on his hips; they'd jumped apart like naughty school kids at the sound of his voice.

"Your timing sucks man" Dex grumbled before kissing Simmons lightly on the lips and departing for the lounge.

Fitz turned to his best friend "Really Jemma, can you two try and keep your hands to yourselves" he moaned.

"Oh lighten up Fitz" she giggled.


Sleep was an impossible task these days her dreams were plagued by awful memories of her time at Johnson International. She still expected to wake up on the cold, hard floor of that cell with his face looming over her, she'd come to dread the night time hours. She sat up in bed and looked down at a sleeping Grant; he looked much younger when he slept. There was no trace of worry or concern on his face, an expression he seemed to wear a lot just lately she traced a finger along his brow he didn't even stir. She knew her night terrors had been taking there toll on him too, she would have offered to sleep in her own bunk if she could bear the thought of being away from him. She spent much of her time avoiding the others especially Simmons she knew they meant well but she was just so volatile that she was afraid of hurting one of them.

She'd nearly incinerated Jemma the other day; in her defence the young scientist had been trying to stick her with a very sharp needle. Her mind had a nasty habit of playing tricks on her she'd seen his face instead of her friends and panicked, she'd felt awful afterwards and only Grant was able to soothe her. He was the only person she trusted herself to be around, she loved him far too much to hurt him and it was almost like her body knew this. When she was around him she felt safe, protected her body would visibly relax like it sensed his presence but even he couldn't chase away the memories of that place.

She felt like she'd left herself in that cell because this person that she was now wasn't who she had been, she was a shadow of her former self. She was afraid all the time, every loud noise, every sudden movement was a threat it was like she was on constant alert watching and waiting for Hyde to return. She knew he was dead Grant had killed him and he wasn't coming back but her mind could not yet register that fact. It was Anderson she should be worried about now not Hyde.

She kissed her slumbering protector on the forehead and got up from the bed, he deserved a few hours of rest. Just because she couldn't sleep didn't mean he shouldn't, when she thought about all the things he had done for her it chocked her up inside. He loved her so much he had killed for her, had sacrificed a part of his soul to get her back. After all those years of rejection she'd finally found someone who accepted her for the person she was or at least the person she had been. She hoped someday in the future when all of this was over that she could get back to the girl he'd kidnapped from her van. A small smile graced her lips when she thought about how far they'd come from that first meeting.

As quietly as she could manage she left his bunk and padded softly through the silent plane in search of the only person apart from Grant that she felt comfortable around. She found him in the lounge area a laptop propped on his lap, he was so engrossed in what he was doing that she thought she'd managed to sneak up on him.

"What's up baby girl?" he looked up from the screen, damn she should have known. It was impossible to sneak up on Dex the guy had ears like a dog.

"Can I come sit with you for a while?" she asked, she knew he'd be up he'd always been a night owl, of course the night was always the best time for clandestine activity.

"Course hon, I was just checking in with Sam"

"How is the bar?" she knew he must miss it, in all the time she'd lived in Austen she didn't remember him leaving it for more than a day not even to go on vacation.

"Well the kids not burnt it to the ground yet so I guess it's OK" he smiled "How about you baby girl what's got you wandering the tin can at this time of night?" he had his suspicions but he knew that she had to open up in her own time. Katherine had been the same, he shook himself mentally he shouldn't go there, shouldn't relive such painful memories.

"Couldn't sleep, I didn't want to wake him. He's barely slept since we got back I wanted to let him get some proper rest" she sat beside the closest person she had to a brother and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"It'll get better you know you just have to give yourself time and talk to him when you can, let him help you. He wants to, I gotta say I was shocked when I realised your boyfriend was a suit but he really loves you" he gave her shoulders a squeeze.

"I'm trying I really am I want to get better for him, after everything he did for me he deserves to have his girlfriend back but what if she's gone forever? What if this scared little girl is who I am now?"

"Your still you Skye, Hyde didn't take that from you no-one can she's still there she's just lost at the moment. You'll find your way back to her, your one of the most persistent people I Know. You couldn't give up even if you wanted to" she smiled up at him he always knew the right thing to say he always had. She chanced the next question, in normal circumstances she never would have brought it up. She was one of the few people besides Dex's best friend back in Austen that knew about Katherine and why he had left the military.

"Did she ever get back to herself?" she rested her head on his shoulder, she felt him tense at her question. He didn't like talking about Katherine if he could help it; it had been almost 5 years since she'd passed.

"I didn't know her before it all happened" he said sadly "So I never knew who she had been but she was the love of my life, it didn't matter to me if she had been a different person before. I loved her"

"If you knew what would happen, what you'd have to give up would you still have saved her that day?" he knew why she wanted to know, he hadn't failed to notice the similarities between hers and the suits situation and his and Katherine's.

"Yes I'd still do it; I could never have left her there not knowing what they were doing to her. What she was wasn't her fault just like what you are isn't yours" he said simply.

She nodded sadly "What if she left one day to try and save you all the pain that you went through?"

"I would have followed her to the ends of the earth, when you love someone like I loved her and he loves you. Letting go's not an option, when she died a part of me did too if I hadn't had you and Sam and all the other kids to look out for I'm not sure I could have survived it" his voice had grown gruff with emotion. Skye had never known Katherine but she wished she had if only because she was so important to Dex but also because if it hadn't been for her he wouldn't be who he was now. There was no doubt in her mind that if he hadn't stumbled upon her in that lab that day that he would still be a military man and she would never have met him. She would never have learnt all she had about computer science on her own and she would never have found family with the Rising Tide, she sure as hell would never have hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.S servers and found the redacted file on her parents. Although she'd come to regret some of her past actions if she'd never breached the S.H.I.E.L.D servers she never would have met Grant. All in all she owed Katherine Miller a lot and if the love of Dex's life had managed to piece herself back together after her ordeal then she knew that she would too.

Patience was never something she had been very good at Skye was all about instant gratification but for her own sake and for Grant's she would give herself time to heal. "I know you don't like talking about her...So thanks" she looked up at him; she wanted him to see that she meant it. She knew how much it cost him to relive those memories and the de javu he must have felt when he helped rescue her from that building.

"It's OK and if it helps then...she would have wanted that"

They sat in silence for a while it wasn't awkward just reflective. "So...you and Simmons?" she gave him a playful dig in the ribs "What's going on there?"

"To be honest I don't really know, she's a lot younger than me and it's been a long time since I've really thought about a relationship but she's so happy and just full of light. I like being near her even if I'm probably no good for her we've kissed a few times but...I really don't know what's going on there"

"OK for one of course you're good for her you are one of the most amazing guys I know and I don't know many so that's saying something and secondly maybe it's OK to just see where it leads. Maybe you don't need to know where it's going right now" she smiled at him the first real smile she'd produced since before she left the bus.

"There's my girl, you always were good at this...understanding people I mean. Looks like you still are"

"I don't know about that"

"You were always way too hard on yourself as well, looks like your still you after all" he smiled knowingly and pulled her in for a bear hug.

As they broke apart she felt his presence behind them, she wasn't sure how long he'd been there or how much he'd heard but he was smiling and she wasn't sure but he almost looked relived.

"Suit" Dex nodded at Grant.

"Hacker" Skye rolled her eyes at the exchange, seriously would it kill them to call each other by name.

Grant turned his attention to Skye "Hey" he said simply.

"Hey" she replied softly.

"I was worried when I woke up and you weren't there, I thought you were hiding in the SUV again"

"No, no hiding I couldn't sleep. I didn't want to wake you so I thought I'd come and annoy Dex" she smiled and his heart swelled at the site. If he were a petty man he might have been jealous that it was the hacker she'd opened up to but he in that moment he was just to overjoyed at seeing Skye his Skye again even if it was just for a moment that he didn't care.

"Oh well did you want to come back to bed or?" she got up from the couch and walked up to him. Wrapping her arms around his waist she burrowed her head into his bare chest and inhaled his scent she always felt at ease around Dex but around Grant she felt like she was home. She couldn't deny that she had thought about leaving him, to spare him he'd already sacrificed so much for her and she knew he'd have to sacrifice more but if she did that she'd always be lost she'd never find herself and he would never let her go. As selfish as the feeling made her she couldn't help the warmth that seeped into her soul at that she knew he would never give up on her. Dex was right she was still herself Hyde had not taken that from her and in that moment standing in the lounge with two of the people she cared about most she knew she would be OK.

"Let's go to bed" she whispered.

They bade Dex goodnight and walked back to his bunk, his arm wrapped around her waist fixing her to his side exactly where she belonged.

So a much shorter chapter this time but I didn't want to just skip over Skye's recovery or how she was affected and still will be affected by what has happened to her. We'll be back into the thick of it in the next chapter as the team work to track down Anderson.