"So what's everyone's plans for the day?" Sue asked them all over breakfast.
"I'm going to look for a venue." Amber said. She had googled all of the churches and hotels in the area and had found a few that she had thought Ward and Skye might like.
"I am going to catch up on some paper work. One of our custodial prisoners reported a small cut to the inside of his mouth while he was in our care, so I need to write a report about it." Coulson said, glancing at Ward.
"I'm going to reset that ring. The prongs have all gone so the stone may just fall out. I'm thinking of melting it down and reworking it. Is that ok Ward?"
"Hmm. What? Yeah. That's ok." Ward said, having just been brought out of a dose.
"Tilly is going to take me to her university and introduce me to that professor that helped us with the last case." Simmons said.
"Man, I wish I could go!" Fitz said, disappointed.
"Fitz. Go. There's no rush on that ring." Skye told him.
"I was hoping Agent May would be free for some training." Kain asked.
"I was just going to..." Coulson shot a look at May "Fine. But only for the morning and the first time you complain I'm going to dump your ass and you won't like it." May said.
"What about you Grant? What are your plans for the day?" Rob asked.
"I'm going to take a book down to the pool and spend a little while reading."
"You guys have a pool?" Kain asked.
"Yeah. It's a pretty nice pool too in this weather."
"Why don't we go train there." May suggested, if Kain complained she would be able to throw him in it.
"I get the impression Grant needs some alone time."
"Nah. I just didn't sleep too well. And Skye ended up kicking me out of the bed this morning."
"Fair enough. What are your plans Skye?"
"I hadn't really thought much about it." Skye admitted. She did know one thing. She wanted to be near to Ward for the day. She suspected there was more to that nightmare than he was telling her.
"We could make a list of everything that needs doing for the wedding?" Sue suggested.
"Sounds like a plan, but can we do it by the pool?"
"Sure thing."
"Skye. What's your surname? I need to know to make enquiries about venues." Amber asked.
"Oh, erm. I don't actually have one." Skye admitted. Normally, admitting that she had no name and had selected the name Skye for herself didn't embarrass her, but in front of Rob and Sue she felt a little ashamed.
When they had finished their breakfast, they all set off in their separate directions. Coulson got a computer out of his bag and set it up on the kitchen counter. He noticed Skye had hung back from the group heading towards the pool.
"What's the matter Skye?"
"I have a couple of things to ask you."
"Don't worry. I will have Director Fury set you up with a full name and all of the relevant documentation you will need to get married."
"It's not that."
"Then what is it?"
"I was wondering, I mean I would like it if you..."
"Skye?"
"Screw it. Will you be the one to give me away?"
Coulson sat on the bar stool shocked. He knew Skye had no parents and that she saw him as a bit of a father figure, but he never expected her to ask him to do something so important.
"Please say something?" She pleaded.
"I would be honoured." He finally managed to choke out. He walked up to her and gave her the biggest hug he could find in himself.
"That's not all you wanted to ask me though is it?"
"No. Why would Ward be having nightmares about scorpions crawling up his body?"
"Is that why he didn't sleep well?" Coulson asked.
"Yeah. It's why I kicked him out of the bed. He was so cold and pale at first I thought he was dead. He was starting to scare me."
"What did he do when you woke him up?"
"Ran to the bathroom and puked."
"How much has he told you about Bahrain?" Coulson asked her.
"Only that the mission in Bahrain was the reason for his knee."
"I don't know the details Skye because I haven't read the file. It's on the most secure of S.H.I.E.L.D's databases. What I do know is that he was tortured in the most inhumane ways, and that every now and then he has vivid flashbacks and nightmares back there."
"He won't talk to me about it." Skye said, tears reforming in her eyes.
"I don't think it has anything to do with him not wanting you to know, but everything to do with the fact that talking about it can trigger the memories."
"Will you try and talk to him?"
"Of course. But maybe not today."
Skye got to the pool just as May spectacularly dumped Kain into the water. He got to the surface coughing and spluttering.
"What the hell was that for?" He yelled at May.
"I told you that your lower guard was weak. I just proved my point."
Skye saw that Ward was settled onto a sun lounger. He was wearing his sunglasses and had removed his shirt so that all of his tattoos we on display. He was just wearing a pair of shorts.
There was only one time she had seen him look sexier. In the picture she now proudly had as her desktop background.
Sue was also sat in a sun lounger, but she had left one between them. Skye immediately knew it was for her so she walked over. When she got close she realised Sue had a pad of paper and a range of coloured pens. Skye leaned in and kissed Ward on his temple, he looked up from his book and smiled to her as she took her place on her sun lounger.
"What's with all the pens?" Skye asked.
"Sue is a lister. She has lists for everything, she even has lists of her lists." Ward said, returning his gaze to his book.
"Skye please slap him?" Sue responded.
"I would but it involves me getting up and being in a lot of pain when he catches me and tosses me into the pool in a more spectacular fashion than May is about to do to Kain for the second time."
"Third." May said from her spot by the pool.
They spent hours by the pool, May teaching Kain and ending up throwing him in the pool every five minutes, Skye and Sue making lists of what needed to be done before the wedding and Ward, who was pretending to read, but had grown tired of reading quickly and had started analysing Kain's movements.
"Right! That's it! I've had enough of this." Ward almost shouted, making Skye and Sue jump. They thought he had dosed off.
"Had enough of what?" Skye asked him as he got up, snapped his book shut and walked over to May and Kain.
"Kain. Has everything I have taught you in the last few months gone in one ear and out the other?" Ward asked the startled intern.
"No. I just." Kain started trying to defend himself.
"I don't want to hear it. Move." Ward interrupted, shooing the intern off to the side.
Ward then began to explain to him why he kept getting dumped into the pool. May slowly used the moves on Ward so that he could demonstrate to Kain where he was going wrong and how to correct it.
"Like that would actually work?" Kain jested.
"Well then let me show you." Ward replied, nodding to May to hold nothing back.
Kain sat on the end of Ward's sun lounger and watched in fascination. Even Sue and Skye stopped what they were doing to watch as Ward and May sparred.
They saw blow after blow being deflected, kicks dodged and occasionally a small tap connecting every now and then.
Coulson arrived at the pool with everyone bar Amber. They had all returned from their various excursions, Amber was still hunting for the perfect venue.
"I thought May was supposed to be teaching Kain, not sparring with Ward?"
"She was, but Kain kept getting his ass dumped in the pool." Skye told them.
"That explains why he's so wet."
"Yup."
They turned to face the pool when they heard a scream. Ward had caught May and had thrown her, head first into the pool. There was no way she could avoid it. She was going to land with a very big splash.