"Do you think we should do it?" Skye asked Ward as they drove to the local pizza place. May had come back from her ramble at the same time Fitz's stomach let out a loud grumble. As a group they had agreed that Ward and Skye had a lot to talk about so they would go.
"Do what?"
"The whole engagement and real wedding thing?"
"I've been thinking about it for the last couple of hours and I think we should."
"I hope that there is more to you agreeing to this than you trying to placate your neighbour."
Ward fished the letter out of his pocket and handed it to Skye. When she read it she had a tear in her eye. He passed her the battered ring box, which she opened. Her eyes grew wide with amazement. In the dying sunlight the ring looked as though it were on fire.
"Gramz had taste." She quipped.
"Check to see if it fits."
Skye slipped the ring onto her finger. It was too big for her.
"I'll see if Fitz can sort that out in the morning. It kind of fits the whole 'I gave it to Tilly' story."
Skye reached over the central console of the car and took his hand. He looked at her out of the corner of his eye.
"The main reason I'm agreeing to this Skye is that I love you and you deserve a white wedding, the second, I think we kind of owe it to the people we care about to let them share how we feel. Thirdly, even though we are already married, if anything happened to me, legally, in this world you are just my girlfriend."
"So if anything happened to you I would be left high and dry."
"I'm sure Coulson and the team would help out, but yes. I want you to be able to have a life if I..." Ward trailed off.
"Died." Skye finished for him.
"Nat may call me a cat because I have nine lives, but I'm already on my fourth!"
"So let's do it. Question is when, and where?"
"We have our annual furlough in about eight weeks. Your shoulder should have healed by then."
"Who do we invite?"
"There is the team, Tilly, Sue and her husband, Rob, the interns, Nat and Clint. We could try inviting the Director and Maria."
"I heard that on average people have fifty guests at a wedding."
"Great. We have 13. Only 37 more to go!"
Skye playfully punched him in the arm.
"How do you think it's going to go?"
"I think" he paused, thinking about it before continuing "that May will look as she always does, but inside she will be thinking of her own wedding and how badly that ended. Coulson and Simmons will be in tears. Sue will be dabbing her eyes, being comforted by Rob, Fitz will lose the rings, Tilly will be looking around the venue to see what mayhem she can cause, Director Fury will be skulking around the back scowling, as Maria will have forced him into a suit. Whether he wears the patch or sunglasses is anyone's guess. Oh, and Nat will slap Clint."
"You really see all of that happening?"
"Yep!"
"Why will Sue be so emotional?"
"Nat, Tilly and me, we are the closest things she and Rob have to children of their own. She went through a few miscarriages before they gave up trying. It's why she lectures me the way she does. It's also the reason why I let her." Ward explained.
"That makes sense now."
The pulled up outside the pizza place and went in to collect their order. Ward carried the pizza's back to the car and put them on Skye's knee.
The following morning Skye woke up and felt different. She was excited about the wedding, even though she would never admit it to Ward. The wedding in Asgard was probably as perfect as they come, but there was something about planning it all.
She realised that Ward was still asleep. His arm was pinned to her waist, propping her arm to the height where her injured shoulder would be under less pressure and therefore it was less painful. He had previously told her that he always slept longer in his own bed, because it was the comfiest bed he had ever had, as Gramz had always taught him that you should always have a comfy bed and a comfy, decent pair of shoes, because when you're not in one you're usually in the other. Skye had to agree with him. As much as she wanted to get up and go find Simmons to ask her to be her chief bridesmaid, she was too comfortable and didn't want to wake Ward.
Feeling him stir a few moments later she made an attempt to roll over to face him, but as soon as she moved her arm there was a shooting pain in her shoulder and she let out a gasp of pain.
"Well, that was a stupid move wasn't it?" Ward asked sleepily.
All he got was a grunt in response, as Skye was trying not throw up due to the pain.
Ward carefully extracted his arm from Skye's waist and replaced it with a pillow, before getting out of bed and walking over to the dresser to put some clothes on. Keeping her arm clamped onto the pillow Skye slowly rolled onto her back. As she saw him pull a t-shirt over his head she noticed the bruising. His entire lower back was bright purple.
"Oh my God, Ward!"
"What?" he asked, spinning to face her.
"Your back. It's purple! I think you should get Simmons to have a look!"
"It's fine." Ward told her.
Skye raised her eyebrows at him.
"Honestly." He continued, climbing back onto the bed and planting a kiss on her lips. "I'll go get you some water for your medication." He finished.
Skye smiled at him.
When Ward made it out to the hallway he noticed that everyone was waiting outside the bathroom with towels.
"What's going on?" He asked.
"Amber's in the shower." May said, a slight bitter edge to her voice.
"She's been in there about an hour. I want to use the loo!" Fitz whined.
Kain and Simmons also launched into complaints about how long Amber was taking in the bathroom. Ward looked to Coulson who voice his irritation with his eyes and the look he gave Ward.
Ward set off downstairs to get Skye's glass of water. He set it down on the dresser in the hall and opened a hidden panel that was under the stairs. He turned the stop valve located there and within seconds he heard a scream from the bathroom. Smiling to himself he heard the bathroom door click open and he turned the valve the other way, back to its original position, before heading back to his room to help Skye get up and dressed.