Matter of Importance
Spoilers: Season 2 promo
Disclaimer: I own nothing, Marvel owns it all!
Skye winced as Simmons pulled the bandages off her abdomen, closely inspecting the healing of her wound. Looking to the side, she stared at the empty chair before heavily sighing. The biochemist-turned-physician looked at her with concern.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, just Ward was being an ass a week ago and we haven't really spoken since our fight. Coupled with the fact I'm not getting sleep due to Hunter and his girlfriend because the one room I usually escape to is currently occupied by the guy I'm fighting with."
Simmons moved to the side to get what she required to remove the stitches. "Well I certainly don't understand why you are with him. He's a serial killer and betrayed us all for a psychopath."
"It's hard to explain Jemma." Skye looked at the ceiling as Simmons started on the removal of her stitches. "Don't let him know I told you this but with Garrett, taking orders wasn't voluntary. He beat Ward if he screwed up, really badly and after a while Ward just started taking orders to avoid having the crap beat out of him." Biting her lip as she felt her friend's hands pause. "Not to mention there was physical, mental and verbal abuse from his parents and older brother when he was a kid."
"Are you saying that he was abused?"
Skye nodded, "big time, both under his family and Garrett. Then he comes onto our plane, taking a cover because he doesn't know how to be himself while also having to follow Garrett's orders. Close to fifteen years of abuse from that psychopath and told never to have attachments, but then he develops some. He didn't know how to cope and still finds it hard at times." Meeting the woman's eyes, she smiled. "You know he actually stopped my attempts at sex. He says its because he doesn't want any regrets between us but I'm not stupid. He doesn't know to have an intimate relationship. I mean obviously he can perform the task under a cover but without the covers he doesn't know to be with someone."
Silence seemed to permeate the room as Simmons finished removing the stitches and Skye sat up, pulling her shirt down. As she stripped off her gloves, Simmons turned to her friend. "Do you love him or is it just guilt?"
"I love him." Skye stood up and smiled, "after all, I took a bullet for him. He said something to Holmes when trying to explain why he changed sides. He said that when you love someone, they become your first priority even above your own life."
"That's…"
Skye laughed, "yeah really deep coming from Ward."
The sound of the door to his quarters woke Grant Ward, he opened his eyes and scanned the room quietly. His eyes caught the figure beside the bed, the silhouette so familiar he only moved the covers back to let them crawl in beside him. Seconds later soft hair hit his chest as a hand found one of his.
"I missed you." It was a gentle whisper and Ward rolled onto his side, pulling Skye against him fully. "I'm sorry."
"Shh, we'll talk in the morning." He kissed her head, "you need sleep."
His hand found her hair as Skye settled against him, burying her face into his chest. Her whispers filled the room again and Ward resigned to the fact that Skye wasn't going to fall asleep easily. "I shouldn't have said what I said. You're trying to change and I was just so frustrated."
"I know mia bella." He kissed her head and rested his chin on her crown. "You are capable of defending yourself, I'm aware of that but the instinct to protect you is hard to ignore."
She pulled back slightly and opened her eyes to look at him. "Why do you feel the need to protect me? I'm surrounded by armed men and women every day. The team would go to the ends of the Earth to protect any one of us."
"Because I can't lose you." His fingers traced down the fabric of her soft cotton jacket. "You're the only one I have left. If I lost you than I'd be alone and I don't want to be there again Skye. I don't want to be in that dark place where death is more appealing than living."
Soft fingers traced his face and Skye leaned in, meeting him for a kiss. Her body shifted till she lay on top of him, hands on his face as their lips met. After what seemed like forever, she pulled back and let her eyes stare into his in the darkness. "Give me space, know if I need you I'll ask and I promise I'll be here till I can't anymore."
"Okay." He brushed back her bangs with his fingers. "I'll try."
"Fair enough but I think we should talk to Nixon about this." Skye rolled off him and curled up at his side, his arm around her. "About appropriate boundaries and the fact we fight so much."
His hand soothed down her back as he let himself stare at the ceiling. "One of my psychology professors at the Academy once said that the more a couple fights, the healthier their relationship is." He felt rather than heard her snort. "I thought he was insane at the time but it makes sense."
"How's that?" Her fingers drew circles on his chest as they lay silently.
"The more we fight, the more we have to come back together to work out what went wrong. It makes us stronger each time."
Moving her hand to push her hair back, Skye settled once more against his side. "Whether it helps or not I still think we should talk to Nixon about it."
"Get some sleep mia bella." Ward kissed the crown of her head, "you haven't had enough sleep the last week. I may have kept my distance but I'm not blind to how much coffee you've had."
If anything, Sylvia Nixon found herself watching quite the show as her two patients, and the only ones currently undergoing couples therapy, had a verbal fight in front of her. She'd never witnessed a couple like them before. They were so in love with each other, so loyal to each other it was dangerous but there was little doubt that there were multiple elephants living in the room with them daily.
"If you would just stop being so damn stubborn we wouldn't be here."
Skye folded her arms, "yeah well you're being a bit of an asshole right now."
"Why, because I stated that you couldn't dare to let someone take care of you?" Ward held out his hands as if trying to explain with them what was going on.
"Your term of taking care of someone is either breaking them in two or smothering them." Skye threw up her hands, "I don't know if you're aware but I'd don't like either of those."
Ward groaned and moved a few feet away before turning to face her. "What do you want Skye? What can I do to make this better? Do you want me to back off, fine it's done. I won't ask if you need anything anymore. I won't track you or keep an eye on you. You can just come and go as you please."
"I don't want you to just give me what I want, that's all you ever do." Skye shook her head, "I need you to understand that this," she motioned between them, "is about the both of us not just me. You think if you give me whatever I want it will make me happy but I don't want that. I want you to be happy, I want you to have what you want too. We need common ground not you putting me on a damn pedestal like you always do."
A clearing of the throat made them both turn to see Nixon sitting patiently. "Perhaps you'd like to sit down and we can talk through some of this." Both sat down on the couch and the shrink looked between the two of them. "I think I know what some of your problems are and while they seem huge they really aren't."
"If you can get him to stop making this all about me that would be great." Skye folded her arms and Nixon turned towards Skye. "I mean, I understand he loves me and that he feels like I'm the only person left in his life but constantly neglecting himself isn't helping."
"How is he neglecting himself?"
"I'm not neglecting myself…" Ward stopped talking when Nixon put up her hand.
Skye looked at Ward before looking down at her hands, fingers twisting together. "His day is basically based off of mine. When I train, when I eat and when I sleep." Skye leaned her head back before turning it to the side to look at Ward. "You need to be independent of me, have friends and do things that might sometimes upset or irritate me but still you should do them."
"What are you saying?" He looked genuinely confused.
"Hunter invited you to play poker with him, Mack and some of the guys. You're good at poker and you enjoy games but you have decline him every time." She sat up and turned towards him slightly. "And last night when I got into bed, despite wanting to read more you turned out the light so I'd be able to sleep instead of reading your book. You'd been reading for close to an hour, you were enthralled and enjoying something for yourself but the minute I came into focus everything ceased to matter. Next time don't turn out the light, finish your chapter or the whole book and while the light may bother me I won't die from it."
Nixon smiled as the ex-specialist looked at Skye in confusion, "I think Skye has a point Grant. You need to stop centering yourself on her and center your life around yourself, with a bit of her thrown in." She moved forward in her chair. "While I haven't exactly been a couples therapist before, I have dealt with partnerships that are similar. If you center yourself around Skye, there's nothing of you left after a while and the relationship will break down."
"I just thought…"
"I know babe but you have to realize that I want you." Skye grasped his hand. "You and you alone, whoever that is and if you're not sure we'll figure it out. I don't want to be pampered and protected like I'm porcelain or treated as if I'm perfect because we both know I'm far from it." That gained a soft chuckle from the specialist and a smile from Skye. "I know this is hard for you, really hard because you haven't had a chance to discover who you are by yourself but we'll get there." She let her silly and playful smile cover her features, "I'm not going anywhere Mr. T-1000, not even a war can stop me from sticking to you."
He raised his eyebrow, "was that a Terminator reference?"
"So the robot is up on his pop culture," she put a hand to her chest. "I think I may pass out from shock."
Without warning he attacked her with his hands, laughter erupting from the young agent as he tickled her. It was only a clearing of Nixon's throat that made them stop, Skye let her head fall back as Ward straightened himself up. The shrink looked between them, "I want to say that watching you both interact after your arguments is quite different than what I'm used to. Several partnerships I've assisted with have caused damage to property or persons but unlike those you find a place not many go to." She folded her arms, "you resort to laughter and playfulness, resolving the matters before they become lost in the recesses of the mind. I wonder, why do you think that is?"
Skye just shrugged, "just a habit, he's always been the serious one and despite my recent training, when we're together I'm just as playful as I was before I had to take things seriously." She smiled as she looked over at Ward, "I know with him I can be myself and after fights, I just want to go back to those early days when he'd roll his eyes at my playfulness. I think that's also when the Grant Ward I know, the real one, leaks out from the covers he carries."
"Well you're still that girl who said 'bang-bang' when she pulled the trigger and released the magazine when trying to release the safety." He smirked as she turned to him, astonishment on her face. "Although your weapon skills have improved greatly since that time you lost the magazine while trying to defend the van."
"That was one time!" Skye groaned and sat back, arms folded. "You are so sleeping alone tonight."
Ward chuckled, "you won't get any sleep than."
"Who said anything about me not getting sleep?" She turned her head with a look of confidence. "You can deal with Hunter because I'm not going back to that room and you're not staying with me." He gave her a look of confusion, "yeah suck on that for a while."
A/N: Okay so I know I told you old character but I got on this fight and couples therapy start and then after that I couldn't stop. Next chapter I swear!
Next...old character, absolutely this time and it ruffles a lot of feather and guilt.
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