Friday morning dawned bright and clear. Tilly and Simmons had no idea how they made it to then without telling Skye what their plans were but they did. It helped that Coulson found them things to do that kept them away from Skye.
They were all sat in the garden enjoying the sunshine. Amber went inside to get a drink and Tilly and Simmons took the opportunity to rig the door. True to his word Ward had laid off pranking Amber, but he wasn't going to stop anyone else doing it.
Amber came back outside after five minutes with a glass of homemade lemonade Tilly had made the previous day. As soon as she stepped out of the door and pushed it a large bucketful of iced water was dumped over her head. Amber let out a loud scream, which caught the attention of Coulson and May who were playing chess and Fitz who was pouring over some research papers. She glared at Ward who held his hands out to the side.
"It wasn't me!" He protested.
Tilly sat on the end of his sunlounger.
"Please?" she asked puckering her lips and batting her eyelashes at him.
"Alright. We'll go to the gorge." Ward conceded. Tilly had been asking him since he could move his back without wincing.
"YAY! Guys, you coming?" Tilly asked everyone else.
"Where?" Coulson asked.
"Training session wild style." She answered.
"Let me change." Amber said grumpily.
"I wouldn't you're just going to get wet again." Ward warned her as grabbed a pile of towels off the counter inside the door, locked it and led everyone out of a hidden gate at the back of the garden.
Twenty minutes later they arrived at a gorge. There was no bridge to cross it, so Coulson assumed that they were going to have to find some way to cross it. Then he noticed the tree trunk that had, at some point, fallen across.
"Ok. So this is going to be a group training session. Only Skye is excused as she has a broken shoulder." Ward said.
"What do we have to do?" Kain asked nervously.
"Stand on the tree trunk and try knock the other person off. It's all about balance. You lose it and you lose." Ward told them.
"So we go two at a time?" Amber asked.
"First two on, winner stays on." Tilly said.
"What's the order?" May asked.
"Interns, Coulson, May, Tilly and then me." Ward said.
"Any advice?" Amber asked.
"Take your shoes off. They take ages to dry!"
Amber and Kain took their shoes off and made their way along the trunk of the tree to the middle. Amber risked a look down and saw that the gorge wasn't as deep as it looked from the side. It also had water at the bottom of it. Ward threw them both a pick-up stick.
"Remember, the key to staying on the trunk is balance. Engage on the count of three. One, Two, Three."
On three Amber and Kain tentitavley started sparring on the tree trunk using the pick-up sticks. As their confidence increased so did their speed. They dealt blow for blow until Kain ducked one of Amber's high hits and took her legs out with the stick. Amber screamed as she fell of the trunk of the tree and landed head first into the water.
May laughed as Coulson took off his jacket and delicately hung it on a stumped branch of a nearby tree. Amber had climbed out of the gorge and, dripping wet through, passed the pick-up stick to Coulson. Kain had moved along the trunk and turned so that he was facing the group. Coulson removed his shoes and made his way along the trunk. Ward had chosen the order very carefully. If he was right then every single one of them would squelch home.
"On three. One, Two, Three." May said from the end of the trunk.
Kain had never sparred with Coulson so he did not know what to expect. As far as he knew Coulson was more of the order giving type than fighting until the end type. So when Coulson quickly hit him with the stick on three, it knocked him off balance. The next blow had him leaning over the trunk towards the water. The third blow sent him flying.
Kain hit the water and surfaced seconds later coughing and spluttering. He swam to the edge of the gorge and climbed out. He passed the pick-up stick to May, who had already taken her shoes off. Knowing she was going to face Tilly next she removed her shirt to reveal a bikini top underneath before heading onto the tree trunk.
"One, Two, Three." Amber yelled, getting into the spirit of things. She had cheered up now she was no longer the only one that was wet through.
May was using the pick-up stick ferociously so that it was just a blur. Coulson was defending himself but was starting to slow down. Ward looked at Skye and saw her annoyance at not being able to take part in this bit of fun. Skye looked at him and crossed her eyes before looking back at May.
Ward got the point and focussed his attention on May's right foot.
She suddenly felt her foot slip backwards off the side of the trunk and as she fought to regain her balance Coulson got the upper hand and forced May onto the defensive. May used her natural suppleness to somersault over Coulson's head so that she was now facing the group. She had suspected that her foot slipping was the result of cheating and wanted to face Ward to make sure he couldn't do it again.
So far their spar had lasted the longest, but May suddenly caught Coulson's feet and sent him down to the water with the largest splash so far.
"That felt good" May thought to herself as Coulson hit the water.
When he was out Tilly made her way onto the tree trunk. Having had one session learning to fight using pick-up sticks she was confident she could unbalance May. May had seen this training session and was debating whether to just jump in now and save her some embarrassment or not.
Tilly moved with precision and timed each and every blow to perfection. Not only that she could almost predict May's moves before she made them and dodged every one of them. Ward tried using his talents to disadvantage Tilly, but she seemed to be expecting it and regained her balance so quickly he wondered if he had made an impact on her at all.
May had finally got the better of Tilly. Her balance was off so May dealt a blow that should have sent her into the water. What she didn't realise was that Tilly was faking it and as soon as May had made her move, she hit May in the chest and then took her legs out from under her. May tried to stay on the tree trunk by wrapping her arms around it but it was too large and her arms too short. She hit the water feet first.
Ward made his way onto the tree trunk.
Skye counted to three and on 'three' Tilly jumped on the trunk to make it vibrate and shake, causing Ward to immediately lose his balance. Coulson smiled to himself. This girl was going to make a fine agent someday. Their sticks were a blur as they tried to hit each other with them. It took ten minutes for someone to make a breakthrough. Ward managed to take Tilly's legs out. As she went down she wrapped her legs around the tree trunk and spun her body around so that she was back on the top of it. As she reached the apex of the trunk she took Ward's legs out with her pick-up stick and he found himself falling. Before Tilly was out of reach he hooked his arm around her and they both hit the water together.
Ward and Tilly had thrown the pick-up sticks over the edge of the gorge and were taking their time climbing out so Coulson and Skye risked a peek over the side. They looked at each other and burst into laughter. This caused everyone else to look.
Ward and Tilly were still in the water and were now engaged in a fast and furious water fight. May looked at Coulson before jumping back into the water and joining in. Amber and Kain followed her with a little push from Skye.
A/N: I do apologise if anyone found the last chapter disturbing. I never intended it to be, but I don't intend to write about that again. I do hope that this one more than makes up for it!
And for the curious guest who asked if the place was real or not... It's not!