A/N: Ok... So I'm not that cruel! Enjoy!

Skye let out the breath that she didn't realise that she had been holding.

She felt his heart beat as strong as ever, but she noticed it was beating really fast.

Then she noticed the cold sweat covering his skin. He was clearly having some sort of nightmare that he couldn't get out of.

Skye tried to position her body so that she could feel his heartbeat against her cheek as well as rub the side of his face, but after only a couple of minutes the pain in her shoulder was unbearable and it seemed to agitate him, as he was starting to thrash around.

She realised to stop the dream she had to wake him up using the only method she knew, so she sat back up and scooted back to her 'side' of the bed, turned to face him with her legs bent in front of her. She took a deep breath and kicked out at Ward. When her feet connected with his side his body slid from the bed to the floor with an almighty thump.

Ward was handcuffed to a chair. What did he know? He was wearing nothing but his underwear and the chair was aluminium, so it had weld points, which meant he could get out of it.

But none of that was relevant at that particular moment in time, as there was an androctonus scorpion climbing up his leg. He needed to stay as still as possible. By the time the scorpion had made it to his bloodied knee he was sweating with the effort of not moving. The slow prickle of the scorpions legs on his skin was turning his blood to ice.

"DO NOT MOVE" was all he could tell himself over and over again.

The scorpion made it past his knee and was now deciding to climb through the leg of his boxers or go over the top. Ward hoped the scorpion would climb over the top. If it decided to go under he was sure to get stung. Dying from a scorpion bite was painful, but quick but that wasn't what was bothering him. His captors had the antidote and this would be the fourth scorpion sting in twelve hours.

Fortunately for him the scorpion decided to climb over the top of his boxers, where it then continued on its path up his body. When he felt its legs on his bare skin again it felt different. It felt a little smoother, more like it was slowly gliding up his body rather than scuttling. Before he knew it the scorpion was stood over his heart. He felt like a huge weight was being applied to him as one sting and he would be dead in minutes as his heart pumped poisoned blood around his body. It would be painful and no amount of antidote would work this time. He started shaking his body to try and dislodge the scorpion, or at the very least frighten it into moving.

His plan worked a little. His sudden violent movements had indeed caused the scorpion to move (it was now at the bottom of his ribs), and the pressure immediately lifted off his chest, however the scorpion reared its stinger and was about to strike when the chair suddenly gave way.

Ward sat bolt upright, twisted in his bed covers on the floor. He took a deep breath, stood up and ran out of the room.

After a minute Skye had managed to get herself out of the bed and follow him. She found him in the bathroom. He had locked the door, but she could hear him being violently ill, so she tapped on the door quietly.

Ward heard the tap on the door and realised he had woken Skye up, so he flushed the toilet and washed his face up and went to open the door to let her in. He owed her some sort of explanation.

He was shocked when he saw her face. Her eyes were bloodshot and her face pale and tear stained. He slumped down next to the bath. Skye locked the door and sat down next to him.

"Are you ok?" She asked him. He could hear the pain in her voice. He had obviously said or done something to her in his sleep.

"I'll be ok. It was just..." He didn't want to admit it was a nightmare, he certainly didn't want to tell her that he was back in Bahrain and was reliving some of the torture they inflicted upon him.

"Bad dream?" She asked him softly, stroking the side of his face. She noted that some of the warmth was coming back into his skin, even though he was still shivering.

"Guess so."

"I didn't cause it talking about having kids did I?" She asked.

"It had nothing to do with having kids. I promise." He told her.

"Oh good. Then what was it?"

"Nothing I want you to worry about."

Skye could tell he not only didn't want to tell her, but he couldn't tell her. They were sat, side by side on the bathroom floor for a couple of minutes in companionable silence before Ward spoke again.

"I didn't hurt you or say anything to you did I?"

"No. I was having a really nice dream about chasing our kids around some hotel on a vacation and then I woke up. When I remembered that I was in your bed and that we didn't have any kids I realised I was cold. Then I realised that I wasn't cold. You were."

"I was cold?" Ward asked.

"Like ice. And your skin was so pale. I freaked out and thought you were dead or something."

"I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. I could reach your waist and you were so cold there as well, so I moved my hands up your body and found your heartbeat. I calmed down when I realised you were still alive. I realised you were in a bad dream and tried to bring you out of it by cuddling up to you and listening to your heart beat but you started thrashing so I kicked you out of bed to wake you up instead."

"That explains a lot."

"What do you mean?"

Ward looked at her and saw the confusion in her face. He had to tell her.

"I was tied to this chair and there was a scorpion crawling up my leg. When it reached my waist it felt like it was gliding rather than walking and then it stopped on my chest over my heart. I felt like it was really heavy and that I was about to die so I started moving to try and dislodge it, which I did to the bottom of my ribs, which lifted the weight and it reared and was about to sting me when the chair broke and I woke up!" He told her, leaving out the parts he thought she wouldn't be able to handle.

Skye looked out of the window and noticed the sun was starting to rise. This meant the house would be starting to wake up and want the bathroom. She stood up and held out her hand.

"Come on. Let's go back to bed. The sun's about to rise and we can't stay on the bathroom floor forever."

Ward took her hand and allowed her to haul him to his feet.

"Let me at least clean my teeth first." He said to her, pulling the toothpaste out of the cabinet.

"Ok. I'll see you back in the room." She said, kissing him on the cheek. He smiled at her and when she reached the door he realised something else.

"Did you say kids? As in plural?" he asked, turning to face her.