Within the month Ward had managed to keep the feather airborne for half an hour, as well as move it where ever he wanted it to go. He had also started practising being able to move it with breaks in his concentration, so that he could talk to people at the same time.
Ward and Skye were sat in the lounge, Skye was sat at the bar on her laptop, Ward was reading his book on the sofa. May was piloting the plane, Fitz and Simmons were in the Lab and Coulson was in his office keeping an eye on Ward and Skye.
He was still suspicious of them, even though they had stopped locking the workout room door. He was watching their interactions, looks between them to try and figure out what on earth was going on. He was watching Ward read, except he wasn't turning any pages and was smiling. Then Skye stopped typing at her computer, closed her eyes and leaned her head back. It was like she was about to have an intimate moment without anyone touching her. Coulson heard a bang and changed the screen he was looking at. When he looked back at Ward and Skye, she had left and he was reading again.
Ward had long since stopped reading. All he could think about was Skye and how much he wanted to kiss her. He remembered that night in the workout room. He could still taste her skin in his mouth and feel the curve of her neck on his lips. He noticed Skye had the feather tied up in her hair. So he focused all of his attention on the feather. It came out of the loose braid without her knowing. He manoeuvred it to her ear and started tickling it, knowing it would distract her. When she had swatted it away for the fifth time Ward moved the feather slowly and purposely from her ear, down to the base of her neck and across the back of it, where he moved it side to side. Skye had stopped typing and started to react to this assault of her senses. There was a noise from below. It sounded like Fitz-Simmons new project had blown up. This break in concentration was all Skye needed to gather her thoughts, pick up the cushion she was sitting on and launch it at Ward.
"I think it's time we moved onto a pencil or something"
Ward just smiled at her.