Chapter 29

"You know, when I imagined checking u into the presidential suite of a five star hotel, there weren't two other guys and a kid."

Ward resisted the urge to glare at the electric inhuman, as he let them in the side door, where they could avoid the cameras. The boy was only joking around, he wasn't chasing Daisy anymore. Though the very idea that they had once been together was enough to spark jealousy inside him. He and Daisy had never gotten the chance to be intimate.

The quake inhuman laughed, leading the way inside the spacious suite. "I'm sorry, next time I'll have you get us three separate rooms."

The human placed her bag down beside his, near the counter, giving Lincoln a weary look. "How many nights did you reserve?" He didn't know how long it would take for him and Daisy to set up a plan for their future, but he knew they would need at least a little time.

He met his gaze straight on, understanding flashing across his face. "Six. Figured everyone would need at least a few nights to reach out to old contacts and figure out where they would be laying low."

"Good, that'll give me enough time to scrub all your identities." Daisy had already pulled her laptop out and settled herself on the counter, typing a mile a minute.

'Now I'm scrubbing our Ids.'

Ward wanted to ask that she not name him Tom Brady, but hesitated. Would she remember that? And did he really want her to? That was back when Hydra was just coming out and the team had no idea he was a mole.

"Tom Brady?" Damn, he'd forgotten about the telepath in the room. "Why would you want to be him?"

'Date super models, you are so predictable.'

He opened his mouth to reprimand him for invading his mind once again, but was interrupted by a terribly stifled laugh. Daisy had a smirk on her lips, but otherwise looked like she was pretending not to have noticed the teen's inquiry.

"Inside joke." He finally settled on, moving to sit at the bar, near where the ex-hacktivist was shredding their identities.

He wondered briefly how far away from the scaly inhuman he would have to be, to be outside his mind range. Cause he really didn't want the little kid picking through his brain.

"I don't pick through your thoughts, I only hear those in the front of your mind. I would really have to want in your head to read everything."

The scowl that settled on Ward's lips made Joey break into fits of laughter. He knew he shouldn't be annoyed, the teen was still very new to the inhuman world. There was no way he could control it yet. Lincoln suppressed his own chuckle as the telepathic boy opened his mouth, to say something more.

"If you don't want me to hear what you're thinking, try to block me." Challenge glinted in his golden gaze, daring the human male to give it a try.

"Are you saying it's possible?" Ward looked over at the female inhuman, wondering if it would be a lost cause to even attempt such a thing. She would know better than anyone, she was his transitioner or whatever Lincoln had called her.

Daisy wasn't looking at him, much to his dismay, her gaze focused on her little inhuman brother, eyebrows arched in curiosity. As though she, herself, was thinking of the possibility.

"Come on." Caleb beckoned him to sit on the couch across from him. "Think of something and try to stop me from seeing it."

'I feel like he could still be out there, right now, in our heads.'

The ex-hydra spy wasn't sure he wanted to try this. There were a lot of things he could think of that he didn't want this kid to know about. Like, nearly everything in his head., how was he supposed to block him from reading his mind anyway?

"Put up a mental wall or something like they do in movies." He wanted to remind the kid that most things in movies were fake, but thought what's the point. He would hear what he was thinking anyway. "Then learn to shut me out."

Ward sighed, dropping down into the seat. There was no way he was going to like any of this, but if he could find a way to block this inhuman's telepathic abilities then he would count it as a win. That was a skill he could use.

"It's a skill you're not going to have if you don't try to block me."

She laughed then, hiding her face behind her computer screen so he wouldn't see the up turn of her lips. It brought his attention right to her, gosh he wanted to hold her. He would even settle for sitting next to her where their shoulders would brush.

He caught the smirk Caleb gave him, grimacing when he realized the kid must have heard what he was thinking. "Better start putting up a wall, before I start saying what you're thinking."

Damn, he knew that was coming, he should have been more prepared. "Alright, alright." He set his face in a scowl, trying to think of something that wouldn't put him in the dog house if the kid said something.

'I didn't want to think about you, I wanted to stay focused.'

"I'm ready."

'Then I saw you... After you were shot... fighting to survive'

Joey gave him a disbelieving look, as did Lincoln, who looked like he might enjoy this. But Ward didn't dare focus on that. There was no way Caleb wouldn't be able to read his mind at least the first two-hundred times. And that was the last thing he'd want, for Caleb to tell everyone he was surveying their thoughts on this. Well actually, that was probably the best thing he could be thinking. It was better than a lot of other things he could be wondering about.

'Skye, in your arms...'

Shit! He'd lost focus again! Push it away! Push it away! Think of something else. Don't show him that, anything but that. A kid like him shouldn't see his role model like that, so weak and powerless.

'Bleeding... Dying...'

He grimaced, old pains flashing through his head, as the images of Quinn's mansion returned, and the basement. Then the horrible time they had spent in the waiting room, only to be told she wasn't going to make it. That they could only make her comfortable.

'I'm very sorry.'

Followed by Coulson's seemingly wind goose chase to find a place and drug that technically didn't exist, to save her. All the while watching Simmons bring Skye back every time her body started to reject the machines keeping her alive.

"I didn't know you were shot..." Caleb had turned to look at the female inhuman. When? Ward wasn't entirely sure. He just knew he wanted to be anywhere but here at that moment.

She was looking at him with those eyes again. Not the ones that expressed her affection for him, but the ones that she had made in San Juan, and on their mission to the arctic circle Hydra base. Annoyed, if not slightly hateful, mixed with a pinch of anxiety. That was showing up more than he was sure she would ever admit to.

"Yeah... Twice to the stomach..." She didn't take her eyes off of him, though now he was kind of wishing she would. He'd never liked that look, not as long as he had known her. "So.. That's what you choose to think about, when confronted by a mind reader?"

He winced, trying to stop himself from reaching out to take her hands. She would be more focused on them than she would his explanation, and that would get them nowhere. "No, I was trying to think of something I wouldn't mind him seeing and took a wrong turn down memory lane."

Her gaze narrowed a little bit, before relaxing, her gaze finally moving off of him and to the telepathic inhuman sitting across from him. His relief from her glare was short lived, when she opened her mouth to speak.

"Caleb, what am I thinking right now?"

His face, like the teen's portrayed confusion, the adult remaining in a state of uncertainty, as the child must have read whatever the quake inhuman was thinking.

"What are you doing?" His throat felt dry, as he watched the two inhuman's faces closely. Hoping for some kind of sign as to what was being said to the younger.

"It's called revenge." She didn't even look at him, not even a glance. This made him fear what she could possibly be showing him.

'Get away from me!'

'Skye! Don't run!'

'Never turn your back on the enemy'

His hand slowly went to rub his side, as though the memories made the old scars still pain him physically. What were her thoughts on that event? He had no idea, but that would be the one. She would use that. It was the most like his accidental thoughts.

"You're ticklish behind your ear?"

'Oh my god. Super Spy is ticklish.'

She did not.

"She did."

Ward felt his heart rate pick up as the inhumans laughed around him. Joey even daring to test if it was still a weak point in his armor. He didn't get too close, as the human removed himself from the couch, turning toward the girl perched on the counter. How could she?

"That was supposed to be our secret."

Daisy just smiled at him, mischief covering the ever present fear in her gaze, before turning it back on her computer screen.

-0-0-0-0-0-

I am so so sorry, I meant to post a week ago, before I went to visit my sister. But kind of got sidetracked. Had a lot of packing to do, and I've been helping around her house.

Anyway! There's the random inhuman drabbles! Maybe we'll have more later? After the Skyeward drama that's sure to come.

Also, Important question. I've got an idea for a possible sequel, and I was wondering if any of you would be interested? And, if Ward was inhuman, what would his power be? Let me know, please!

I don't own Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D. Just Caleb and this fic. Everything else is Marvel's

So until next time?

Tootles!