It was three days before Ward was deemed fit enough to return to the team. It didn't stop them fussing over him though, which he hated.
"What can I do to get you guys to leave me alone?" He asked as Coulson attached a breath analyser to his face and ordered him onto the treadmill.
"You can stop nearly dying for a start!" Coulson replied, pressing buttons on the treadmill and getting it up to speed.
The noises coming from Ward in response sounded like a duck quacking, but Coulson understood it to mean 'I didn't nearly die, so stop worrying.'
Coulson suddenly noticed a bra hanging off the punch bag. By now they were all aware that Simons' underwear had been misplaced and it was turning up in random locations around the bus. The previous day May had found a pair of knickers in the cockpit. He punched the button for the intercom.
"Simmons, please come to the workout room." He said down it, while Ward tried to turn his head to look in the direction of the punch bag. He failed miserably due to the number of tubes he was attached to.
Simmons came into the room and noticed that Coulson was testing Ward, again. She immediately went over to the machines and checked everything was alright.
"Coulson, he seems fine."
"Quack, quack quack." Ward agreed.
"I know, but that isn't why I called you."
Coulson took hold of Simmons shoulders and spun her in the direction of the punch bag. She spotted her bra and, red around the face, she went to go unhook it and take it back to her bunk.
Coulson increased the speed on the treadmill so that Ward was almost sprinting. He kept Ward at this speed for the next ten minutes, before reducing the speed and checking the monitors. They results showed a healthy man who was working out. Coulson slowed the treadmill to a walk, and started taking some of the wires off Ward.
"You seem fine." He told him.
"I've been telling you that for days!"
"Your definition of fine is completely different than mine. If you were fine then why did you stay in bed without complaining for as long as you did?"
"Skye."
It was clear Coulson wasn't going to get any more information than that, but he filed it away for future reference.
"You are fit to rejoin us in the field." Coulson informed him, stopping the treadmill and allowing Ward off it before removing the rest of the machinery.
"I've been telling you..." Ward started to say, but stopped when he saw the look Coulson was giving him. He decided not to finish the sentence and went to shower.
When he got to the shower room there was someone already in one of them.
"Marco?" He called.
"Polo!" Came the reply. It sounded like May.
Ward climbed into one of the free showers and turned it on.
"Ward?" He heard May's voice call to him above the noise of the shower.
"Yeah?" He replied, sticking his head around the curtain.
"What the hell did you say to Coulson?" She asked, sticking her head around her shower curtain.
"Nothing, why?" He lied.
"Because he's not as freaked out as I thought he would be. He seems calm and can actually look me in the eye."
"What else did you expect when you shouted at him that you have feelings for him? That he would kiss you like Nat did to Hawkeye?"
"No. But I kind of expected it to be a little more awkward around him."
"Go with the flow May. You never know what will happen!"
"Did they give you a personality transplant when they fixed you?"
"After everything that's happened I'm finally learning to be myself."
"I don't like it. Go back to being a psychotic killer. Please! Him I could handle." May begged him.
"Fine, whatever." Ward said to her, the tone of his voice changing to what Skye referred to as his 'dangerous voice'. He pulled his head back into the shower and cleaned his hair.
"That's better." May shouted, also returning her hair to the torrent of water.
A/N: I know this is a short and odd chapter, but I am trying to figure out a couple of things within the story (and I apologise for the lack of update yesterday, but I had my niece all day so it was a little difficult to write...).
And I don't know if anyone has ever used a breath analyser before but they do make a duck sound as you breathe through them. I was in stitches when we put my friend on one!