Matter of Importance
Spoilers: Season 2 promo
Disclaimer: I own nothing, Marvel owns it all!
The sound of commotion made Skye turn as the guys spoke to each other over lunch. It was only a matter of time before Koenig got done with Ward's brother, everyone was required to undergo an intense interrogation before they could be permitted to the base. The older Ward had arrived in the early morning and had instantly been put under the scope. Skye had been distracting the younger of the Ward brothers by begging him to spar with her than roping the guys into lunch.
Apparently at even the idea that Ward's brother abused him and the bastard was on the base, the guys had circled the wagons around the ex-specialist. Hunter and Mac, both wary of the man because of past actions, had instantly threatened to strangle the senator if he so much as looked at Ward the wrong way. From what Skye could see, it was a matter of family in that while they could torture Ward till the day he died, anyone else welcomed death if they tried to touch the man.
"I found it degrading Director Coulson, my very identity being picked at like you think I'm a traitor." Christian Ward's voice floated into the room and instantly Ward's head whipped around. Skye put her hand on his arm and squeezed, his eyes only met hers after seconds had passed.
Skye turned to the same direction to see Coulson and May walking in with the senator. He looked pristine in his suit but there was something about him that reminded the hacker of Garrett. She didn't know what it was but she didn't like it in the slightest. The man's eyes roamed the room before settling on the team.
"Senator, let me introduce my best agents." Coulson moved over to the table and no one stood, however Mac, Trip and Hunter straightened in their chair and didn't divert their eyes. "Agents Lance Hunter, Antoine Triplett, Alphonso Mackenzie are all our best specialist, if it needs to be done than they can do it." Coulson motioned to Fitz, "Agent Leo Fitz our engineer who designs and creates all the tech we need."
The man's eyes slid to Skye and he smiled at her, "wonderful. Who is this?"
"Agent Skye," Skye picked up her computer. "I have a diagnostic to run on our security programs so please excuse me."
Skye left and Ward stood up, collecting her plate along with his. Hunter seemed to stand as well and picked up his cup. "You joining me with the tactical packages today mate? I hear the goods are worth a peek at."
"Basic or Advanced?"
"Who cares," Hunter chuckled and leaned in. "When else do we get to play with our gear for fun?"
Ward followed Hunter to the plate deposit and they left soon after debating about the benefits of tactical gear.
May turned to Mac, Trip and Fitz. "I believe you all have duties to attend to."
"Right." Mac stood and looked at Fitz, "we have that thing to build."
"That thing is a multi-spectra body sensing analyzer."
Trip chuckled, "it's all Latin to us."
They were all gone and Coulson turned to the senator. "How about some lunch before the tour. I'm afraid it's partially self-serve but the food is the best thing about this place. I think HYDRA would pay to have our chefs."
"That should be fine. You can tell me more about my brother, it's been at least two decades since I last saw him."
Skye sat cross-legged on a crate with her computer while Hunter and Ward went through the tactical packages they'd salvaged from a HYDRA mission the week before. It had been hours but the boys were having fun so Skye didn't think to bother them, instead choosing to catch up on news and social media.
"I swear that sometimes despite everything I turned out halfway normal." Skye closed her laptop and moved to the floor to sit beside the guys. "I just read the craziest thing known to society."
Ward put aside the pistols he was counting and turned his body slightly to her. "That might be an exaggeration considering everything we've both been though in the past year. Hunter's ex-wife included."
"I told you she was a demonic hell-beast but everyone swore she was perfectly normal. Well I was right, she was actually SHIELD-turned-HYDRA pretending to be SHIELD after pretending to be HYDRA. Her actions caused Simmons to be brainwashed and end up not knowing who the hell she is, well beyond her time at the SHIELD Academy."
Skye rolled her eyes, anytime Hunter started on about his ex-wife they were all reminded that because of Morse, Simmons was lost in the past. She didn't remember anything after graduating the Academy because of the brainwashing. While it could have been worse because they'd gotten there before the real stuff began, the damage was still done.
"Okay, well this ex-foster sister of mine was married to this hot marine." Her eyes turned to Ward, "don't worry, he has nothing on you." Looking back at Hunter, she shrugged. "Anyways, she leaves the marine for a platoon buddy of his about three years ago. Sounds normal till you find out that she went back to the ex-husband because she felt like she couldn't live without them both. They're in a committed relationship, the three of them and she just found out she's pregnant with twins, not knowing who the father is or if it's both."
Hunter merely looked at Ward, "I've heard crazier."
"I don't have experience with any of it but I'm sure there is crazier."
Skye merely smirked, "like the fact you occasionally work up the guts to make out with a girl who is partially alien if not fully?"
"I'm not touching that." Ward stated before going back to the pistols laid out before him.
She looked over at Hunter, "excuse the next few moments."
Hunter threw up his hands, "I've seen and heard everything, nothing is going to surprise me. Besides, after the whole hell-beast relationship, anything relatively normal is a welcome."
Skye leaned over and looped her arms around Ward's neck, kissing his cheek. "So it doesn't bother you that I'm not human?"
Turning his head to look at her, Ward let himself put the pistols down and snaked an arm around her waist. Leaning his forehead against hers, Ward spoke softly. "You're Skye, that's all that matters to me. What you are doesn't matter because your heart and soul are what make you who you are."
"For someone without any real relationship experience," Hunter shook his head. "You sure know the right thing to say. Mate, I'd swing for your team if you talked to me like that."
Skye turned her head to glare at Hunter, "watch it."
"No one is trying to take your boyfriend Love, no one sane would even try." He threw up his hands and picked up one of the tablets nearby to look at it.
"Ward, Skye!" Coulson's voice echoed in the large hanger, both moved apart at lightning speed before coming to attention facing the man with arms behind their backs. "What do you have to say for what I just witnessed?"
Skye noticed Ward's brother a few feet behind Coulson, looking as if he'd smirk at the idea of the Ward getting a degrading berating. "Sorry AC. I know you said to keep the PDA behind closed doors but resisting Grant when he gets mushy is impossible."
"I second that." Hunter stood and smirked, "makes Shakespeare look like an amateur."
Both turned to look at Hunter, looks of 'what the hell' written all over their face. "Hunter, shut up."
"Just calling like I see it." He smirked at her, "he's handsome, a gentleman and can speak poetic lines like he draws a gun, smoothly." Hunter nudged her as he passed, "I think you should keep him."
"Are you sure you don't swing for the other team?" Skye raised her eyebrow, "I hear Baker in medical is looking for a new boyfriend."
The man nodded, "right, well I'll just get back to sorting all this." He turned back to the tactical packages to start cataloging again.
Ward merely met Coulson's eyes. "It won't happen again sir."
"I'll try to control myself." Skye smirked, "you have to admit, he's hard to resist with the whole bad boy, hot specialist look he has going."
Coulson just stared at her before speaking. "Get to work both of you or you'll be scrubbing toilets for the next week."
Grant Ward turned from where he stood in front of the window of the small set of quarters he'd been given when the door opened. He found Skye in the doorway and she closed the door behind her, moving over to him as he leaned against the wall.
"Are you okay?"
"Trying to remind myself when he's gone tomorrow I'll be moved back down to the cell." He moved to sit on the bed and Skye moved to sit beside him. "As strange as it sounds I actually like my cell."
Skye smiled, "because it's yours?"
"That and there are no outside threats." He looked down at his hands, "he'll make his move when he thinks everyone is asleep. He wouldn't dare do anything when everyone else is around, one of the reasons he hasn't even acknowledged me."
Standing, the hacker pulled her shirt from over her head to reveal a tank top. Throwing the shirt on the ground, she straddled his lap wearing the tank top and yoga pants. Ward's eyes narrowed in confusion as he watched her, wondering what she was doing. Wrapping her arms around his neck she smiled. "He isn't going to touch you because I placed an ICER under your pillow. If that isn't enough, I'll kick his ass if he even attempts anything."
"Skye…"
"Shh," she kissed him softly before allowing her body to sway to the side, gravity pulling her down and her arms pulling him with her. Ward adjusted his legs so he stretched out, Skye burrowing into his chest as he did so. "Sleep, I'm right here."
He reached around her and pulled at the bed sheets, Skye lifted her body as he pulled them down underneath their bodies. Once at a place where he could pull them over their bodies, he did so and made sure that a majority of the sheets and comforter were covering Skye. Gently he used a finger brush the long strands from her face until only her bangs lay against her skin.
"Good night mia bella." Ward kissed her forehead and allowed his hand to run through her silky locks as she rested her cheek against his chest.
"Mia bella," he felt her smile as she spoke in a low whisper. "You think I'm beautiful?"
Ward just held her as he kissed her head gently. "Most beautiful woman in the universe, if my opinion matters at all."
"It does, to me."
Like clockwork, when everyone else had fall asleep and the moon was high in the sky it happened. Ward's eyes snapped open when the sound of his door opening resonated softly through the room. His arm around Skye deepened as his free hand searched for the ICER under the pillow. Sure enough he found it and everything in him flared, his only desire to protect the woman in his arms. She was the only thing that mattered to him in the world as her safety came first above everything else.
It didn't take but seconds to remember that after a trip to the bathroom, Skye had crawled over him to sleep between him and the wall. She'd mumbled about it being 'toastier between him and the wall' before slipping back into her dreams. It meant that his brother wouldn't realize Skye was there until up close because besides him, Skye was tiny. She definitely felt that way in his arms, tiny and vulnerable despite being the capable agent she was.
"Get up you lazy piece of shit." As if on cue the insults started and Ward sat up quickly, the ICER in hand pointed at his brother.
It didn't take a genius for Ward to see his brother was unprepared for Skye, his eyes shifting to the sleeping agent as she lay curled up on her side. A familiar feeling filled the ex-specialist's chest: protectiveness. That's all he wanted, her safe from harm's way and out of danger. If that was so than anyone could kill him and he'd be able to accept his fate.
Christian chuckled darkly, "the computer specialist, the only one you could get your hands on because no one else would want a traitor."
Ward stood and turned the safety off to the weapon in his hand. "Get out."
"What are you going to do? You really think you can shoot me and get away with it? You're a piece of shit and I'm a senator, you'll be dead because you're nothing. They need their precious political ties more than they need your skills, whatever they are."
"I said get out."
Christian moved closer, "I'm not afraid of you but you're afraid of me. Still the scared little boy who let his brother die."
"Grant?" Skye's voice drew part of Ward's attention away but he didn't look away from his brother. She sat up and pushed back her hair before pausing, seeing the stand-off. "Get the hell out!"
The older of the two brothers smirked, "I'm just here to see my brother Sweetheart, brothers trading secrets." He looked at her, "why don't you head back to your room so we can talk."
Skye moved from the bed and to Ward, who put his arm back to grab her own. She paused as she stood behind him realizing he didn't want her exposed. She could handle herself, they both knew it but it was his fight not hers. "Like I'm leaving Grant with his psychopathic brother, I know what you did to him and if this wasn't his fight I'd kick your ass back to your home and put you down the damn well myself."
"I doubt you could do that Sweetheart, a little thing like you who spends all her days with computers. I told Grant the truth you haven't had the heart to tell him, that you're only with him because no one else wants a traitor. I bet you don't either but you just pity him."
Skye touched Ward's back, "you know that isn't true."
"I know."
When he turned to her with softened eyes, the bastard struck and knocked the weapon out of Ward's hold. As the ex-specialist turned to defend himself, Skye moved around him and threw her ankle around Christian's. The man went down to the ground and she flipped him over, arm around his throat as she grabbed the ICER and held it to his head.
"If you every lay a hand on him again or threaten him, you'll know what being stuck in a dark hole feels like."
"You'd defend a traitor…"
Skye turned him and shoved him down, ICER on his forehead. "I'll defend a man who is an important part of my life. I'll defend him from the man who destroyed him, while Garrett did a lot of damage, it was you who started it all. I'm not just a computer specialist, I'm a trained agent who won't blink twice about putting one in your head."
Standing she backed up and he stood up, looking at her. "You don't know who you're messing with missy."
"Neither do you." She smirked, "but I assure you that you'll find out soon enough. Now get out of our room before I shoot you in the ass and throw you in a dark hole."
The door slammed shut behind him and Skye turned to see Ward looking at her, she moved over to him and he took her in his arms. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she looked up at him. "Are you okay?"
He gave a simple nod and pulled her closer, burying his face in her hair. "I will be. The fact you're safe is enough right now." Pulling back he brushed her locks from her face, "thank you for not letting me go down that path."
"I promised I won't allow it." She smiled and leaned up to kiss him. "Besides, I'm the only one allowed to torture you."
"Torture? Mia bella I don't think you could go a day without destroying me in some way."
Skye couldn't help but laugh as she crawled back into bed, Ward followed and pulled her to his chest. Burying herself in his chest she closed her eyes to his steady heartbeat, noticing how for the first time she was at peace despite everything around her.
A/N: Made it super long because I have been away for a while. I am wondering if you guys want me to continue because now it's no longer a possible future but an AU. Let me know.
Next...the outcome of the whole situation.
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