Chapter 17 – The Broken Man

When Skye heard her window being forced open she reached for the gun in her night stand. When a figure climbed in and then collapsed on her floor Skye's first instinct was to run and get May or Coulson but even face down she recognized the man on her floor and she knew that May and Coulson weren't an option. Placing her gun back in the night stand Skye walked over to the figure on the floor, carefully she rolled him onto his back. Ward looked up at her for a second, almost peacefully, before his eyes closed. For a second Skye worried he was dead, her panic only faded when she found his pulse.

A million questions ran through her head but Skye knew that Ward was in no condition to answer any of them. Quickly coming up with a plan Skye made sure her door was locked and pushed her desk in front of it for good measure. She didn't want a repeat of Natasha's lock picking incident, especially with the amount of blood Ward had traipsed into her room, his presence alone would be difficult to explain, the blood would be impossible.

Grabbing a towel Skye lay it out on her bathroom floor. Skye swore when she used all of her strength to force Ward to his feet and drag him into the bathroom, she winced when she all but dropped the specialist onto the towel. Skye's first step was to remove all of Ward's bloody clothes, including a tactical vest and combat boots, she dumped everything in the sink to be dealt with later, leaving Ward in only his underwear, if he wasn't unconscious and possibly dying Skye would have blushed. Using a damp towel Skye cleaned the blood from Ward, using the first aid kit hidden under her sink the hacker bandaged every cut and laceration she could find and Skye found a lot. However from the amount of bruising Skye figured most of Ward's damage was internal, something she didn't know how to deal with. Skye could tell the man had a few fractured, if not broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder and what she hoped was only a sprained ankle, how he managed to climb up to her second story was beyond her. The amount of bruising across his stomach also worried Skye, Ward had taken a beating and lost.

Without getting a doctor involved there was no way that Skye could tell the extent of Ward's injuries and Skye wasn't sure she could even trust Simmons to keep Ward's presence a secret. No, if Skye needed to know where Ward was hurt she could have to wait for him to wake up and tell her himself. Looking at the bruises that covered Ward's face Skye wondered IF he would wake up.

Grabbing the blanket from her bed Skye covered Ward, leaving him on the bathroom floor. Then she set about cleaning the blood off her carpet, it was a long job. Between cleaning and checking on Ward, including resetting his shoulder, the sun was starting to rise before Skye gave up. Soon she heard other members of the team getting ready for the day, the banging in the hall suggested that once again Fitz was trying, and failing, to sneak out of Simmons' room. If it wasn't for the blood beneath her nails Skye would have found the team's morning retinue funny.

Giving up on the blood on her floor Skye covered it was a towel, hoping that if someone came in they would just think the hacker was messy, not hiding a blood stain.

Leaving Ward alone in her room for an extended period of time wasn't an option, so Skye skipped breakfast with the team, instead sneaking down to the kitchen while the rest of the team was in the dining room. She knew that the team would notice both her absence at breakfast and the missing food but it was unlikely that they would jump to the conclusion that Skye was hiding an Ex-HYDRA agent in her room.

Dumping her stolen food on the bed Skye went to check on Ward. She'd spent most of the night making sure the man didn't chock to death on his own blood, the same blood she'd spent the rest of the night cleaning off her carpet.

Sighing Skye sat next to Ward on the bathroom floor, "Planning on waking up anytime soon?"

There was no response.

"What did you do, Ward?"

Again there was no response.

Standing Skye looked down at Ward, "If you won't give me answers I'll have to get them somewhere else."

Author's Note: I am thinking of adding another Avenger (as a brief cameo, not a main character), so if you have a preference please tell me in a review.

Please review and tell me what you all think of this chapter, obviously there is some SkyeWard moments coming soon.