Hi, sorry I am so late with an update again, I had writers block and couldn't figure out how to connect the first bit of the chapter to the last (thanks to my real life best-friend, NightStarlightWolf for helping me get from a to b)and I was also really busy, real life's annoying.
I am now also one of the staff on the community 'Grant Ward Redemption Stories', and haven't read much fan fiction recently and I doubt I'm going to have time to, so if anyone knows of any good ones PM me (please go check the community out too!)
Wolfe: Thanks for the review! I seriously considered this for ages as it is such a cool idea! Nightmares nightmares/illness will probably be incorporated later into the story as I spent a long time internally debating about it and I decided that it wouldn't work in this chapter :( But, on the plus side, Buddy is about to return! Also, if you have any other ideas for this story please give them, chances are they might happen next time!
Guest: Yeah, Ward was hurt, and that's going to become a problem in a later chapter, however for the moment he is doing well at ignoring the pain/pretending he's not in pain. Thanks for reviewing!
That's not a weakness, is it?
"Is he going to wake up anytime soon?" Ward whispered loudly to Skye. They were standing outside the car, peering in through the windows at Fitz, who still appeared to be sleeping. Skye had convinced Ward that the sun was barely up so they had loads of time to get moving and that Fitz deserved a couple more minutes. Ward was currently hoping to 'accidentally' wake Fitz up as he was doing his best to get along with Skye and Fitz, it could only work in their favour if Hydra recaptured them and they didn't completely hate each other.
"I've been awake for the last few minutes, it was just hilarious listening to you two bickering," Fitz grinned at Skye and opened his eyes. Skye raised her eyebrows but Ward sighed.
"Fitz we really need to get moving,"
"I don't know if that's the safest idea," Fitz countered. "I've heard all the stories where people get lost in forests and end up waking in circles because all the trees look the same, what if we ended up walking back to the Hydra base?"
"I can navigate a forest fine," Ward gritted his teeth. "Look, there's the sun, it's approximately seven am and that way's north,"
"Good," Fitz agreed, opening the door and getting out of the car. "But do you know which state we're in?"
"That's not relevant," Ward argued. "Our first priority should be getting as far away from Hydra as possible, when we find a town we can worry about where we are,"
"We're in Wyoming," Skye informed them both, then grabbed Fitz and hauled him towards the trees, not noticing how Ward paled at her statement. "Just wanna discuss with Fitz whether he can get the car's Satnav system to work as a mobile unit, it'll be easier to find a town if we know exactly where we are,"
"Do you trust him," Skye asked, looking at him with concern when they were far enough away. "Because you don't seem to be as worried as you should that we have a Nazi with us,"
"I'm not worried, I honestly don't think he's evil Skye," Fitz explained. "I mean, I only trust him about 26% at the moment, but he won't kill us Skye; besides, you're the one who's been acting like you trust him, five minutes ago, you were fighting like you were still on the bus and trying to convince him that it was early and lie-ins were way better that training,"
"I was not," Skye shot back. "He might be temporarily helping us now, but he still threatened to rape me or something back at Cybertech,"
"That's ridiculous,"
"Well it sounded like it!"
Suddenly there came a yell of surprise and they ran back to the clearing to see Ward backing away from a medium size dog with half an ear missing.
Skye smirked. Ward, the T-9000, scared of dogs, since when? "Ward, it's not gonna hurt you," she grinned. "It's wagging its tail, see…" the dog turned around and let off a warning growl to Skye and Fitz. "But it doesn't like me for some reason, seriously, it likes you, the robot, when there are people like me and Fitz around,"
Ward looked a cross between, petrified, confused, upset and resigned. "Go to Skye and Leo," Ward told the dog. "Go on,"
The dog put its paw on Ward's knee and whined. Skye, having temporarily forgotten that Ward was a Hydra agent, was cursing herself for not having a phone on her, this was such a great moment and she was quite upset that she couldn't share it with the rest of the team. Well, it would have been an adorable moment, if Ward hadn't looked like he was in hell.
"We should probably take it with us," Fitz pointed out. "It would be cruel to leave the poor thing all on its…his own out here,"
"What about his owners?" Skye asked.
"Have you seen his ear," Fitz said disdainfully. "They probably shot the dog or something,"
Ward, who had almost resigned himself to the fact that he was going to have to stroke the canine, froze.
"Ward, what's wrong?" Skye questioned.
He shook his head. "Nothing," he lied.
"Well come on then," Skye said impatiently. "Like you said, we have to keep moving before Hydra gets here and seeing as he's got such a close attachment to you, you get dog-sitting duty,"
Ward nodded and stood up, the dog pattered along close beside him and Skye had to admit that it was a nice scene.
"Oh Buddy you have fleas," Ward moaned suddenly after about two minutes of walking and then looked nervous as if it were something he shouldn't have said, Buddy perked up though, glad to hear his name finally spoken aloud.
"Well, first stop's the vets then," Fitz shrugged. "Hey, Buddy's a good name, we should call him Buddy,"
"I didn't mean it like that…" Ward started to mumble whilst Skye exclaimed.
"Wait no, we shouldn't name him, we should wait for the new owners to do that!"
"Why couldn't we keep him on the bus?" Fitz grinned. "Coulson might say no to a monkey, but he can't say no to a dog can he?"
Ward looked hopeful but said nothing, the bus might be a dangerous place, but he knew that Buddy would be taken care of well there, like such a loyal dog deserved.
"Come here, Buddy, come here," Fitz said, whistling. Buddy picked up his ears and bounded over, licking Fitz's face. "That's definitely going to be his name," Fitz laughed.
"Yeah, it should be," Grant put forward.
They continued on their journey, Buddy having gone back to bounding alongside Ward, looked incredibly happy and kept sending adoring glances up at his former owner. Ward, who had managed to convince himself that Buddy was lost and confused and that he owed it to the poor dog to comfort him, was attempting to play fetch as they walked, aided by Fitz, however the dog wouldn't leave Ward's side, except to lick Fitz from time to time (the scientist was now hoping that Jemma would let the dog help them in the labs).
"Okay, that it is," Skye exploded at Ward. "What the hell is going on here? 'Buddy' loves you and will barely leave your side, he responded to the name you 'accidentally' gave him and when you saw him, you looked like you'd seen a ghost, so either you know the dog, or you remind him of the awful owner that shot him and the dog has some kind of messed up loyalty!"
"Just shut up!" Ward yelled at Skye, the rage of the Berserker Staff gnawing away at the back of his mind, he was breathing heavily, trying to get his emotions back under control. "I have never, ever, hurt Buddy!"
Skye and Fitz looked questioningly at Ward, who was now in much better control of what came out of his mouth, and regretted his choice of words.
"Lack of sleep, sometimes I get confused with my tenses when I'm tired – sorry," he amended.
"So, you did know him?" Fitz asked.
"No, Ward's not kind enough to keep a pet," Skye accused, trying to goad Ward into giving her a reaction, seeing as apparently he wasn't as careful with what he said when he was angry, and apparently, the super-spy was kind to dogs. "You know, I bet you shot him, I bet that was what you and your Hydra buddies did for a laugh-"
"I didn't. I didn't want to shoot him!" Ward protested venomously, the comment clearly striking a nerve, whist looking like he was trying not to have a mental breakdown.
"You, shot, the dog?" Fitz breathed, staring at Ward in confusion and horror.
"You psycho!" Skye screamed at him and Buddy growled at her, coming to stand in front of Ward protectively.
"Hey Buddy, don't worry, it's okay," the specialist said soothingly, patting the dog's head. "Garrett told me to," Ward explained. "But," he paused and ran a hand through his hair. "I didn't, I couldn't," he told them, both relief and self-loathing in his words.
"Why?" Skye whispered.
"Because, he was my only friend, you can rely on dogs, they won't let you down," Skye nearly commented on the irony of that statement, about him betraying them. "Garrett said…that he was a weakness…I couldn't have any weaknesses in my life as a specialist…that once I'd gotten rid of him we could leave…he said, 'that's not a weakness, is it?'" Ward's voice was barely a whisper now. "But I couldn't do it, I just couldn't, I tried, but he was Buddy,"
"So how come he doesn't have his right ear?" Fitz sounded distraught.
"Garrett killed him, to punish me for not doing it myself, or at least that's what he said anyway, I guess he shot him in the ear to make sure he bled out slowly, or maybe he just missed and…"
"Ward, he wanted Buddy to have a painful death," Skye interjected, not seeing the point of doctoring the truth where Garret was involved.
"Well, I guess, that would be just like him, I think he said something along those lines, it got a little hazy after that," Ward sighed. "Buddy didn't deserve that; it was my fault, not his, I could see his point, but…"
"Ward, what is it with your crazy messed up father-son relationship with Garrett anyway?" Skye demanded. "Why didn't you just refuse to shoot Buddy?"
"Because Garrett cared about me, he was the only one to ever believe in me,"
"Garret didn't care about you Ward," Skye sounded frustrated. "If he had cared, he wouldn't have made you do that. We cared about you,"
"Yes he did, but I know that you all did now," Ward agreed. "I just convinced myself that that wasn't the real me and you wouldn't like the real me – which you don't – so there was no point trying, Garrett was the only one who knows who I truly am,"
"Buddy does," Fitz protested. "And so do we, that version Garrett knew, that wasn't the real you, it was one that he had created, the one that we were getting to know on the bus, I think that one was closer to who you really are,"
"And Ward," Skye added. "You couldn't kill Buddy, I guess in some ways that means that you can be a good person, Buddy trusts you, you should trust yourself with him. When we get back to SHIELD, I'll make sure that no one ever tries to take him away from you again,"
Suddenly Buddy started growling and let off a few warning barks.
"Shh," Ward told him and pulled out his gun.
"What is it?" Skye asked, already knowing the answer.
"Hydra," Ward replied grimly.
Hope you enjoyed, please review, no matter what they say, they make my day (except if they are outright hate) I am going to try to write a new chapter Thursday or Friday as I have an inset and a half-day so I hope I'm gonna have time, the more reviews I get though, the quicker I'll update!
