A/N: I still don't own the characters.

A/N1: Another shout out to everyone that followed/favorite/reviewed! I really hope you guys continue to enjoy this story!

If you get a chance I'm adding a couple questions at the end of the chapter. Need some opinions please!

Chapter Five

After the incident underground the team quickly brought in Professor Randolph for questioning. While Coulson dealt with their suspect Simmons quickly checked the bruise blooming on Skye's cheek and Fitz set up the testing equipment that would be needed to assess what had happened to Ward.

Being trapped in the lab, not actively working the case was grating on Ward's nerves. He didn't need to have the science twins fawning over him. He was fine and now Nystrom had two pieces of the Asgardian rage stick. Looking up at Simmons, he ground out, "This is ridiculous."

"It's anything but. Ward, you passed out and struck Skye when she found you." She looked up from her tablet and emphasized, "And now you're acting…Not right."

Ward looked across the lab where Skye was standing near Fitz. Even with the ice pack she was holding to her cheek he could see the still darkening bruise. Knowing that he was the cause of it made Ward's heart clench and anger at the professor boil in his blood.

For the first time since exiting the tunnels Skye spoke directly to him, "Touching the staff caused this, right?"

He looked away and nodded. The longer he looked at her face, the longer he saw the damage he'd done to his rookie… the sicker he felt. He had been trying to teach her to protect herself from potential threats. At the time he hadn't considered that she would need to physically protect herself from him.

Simmons' kind voice brought him back to the present, "Any residual effects? Are you exhibiting any extra strength?"

Casting his eyes at the security feed to the interrogation room, he growled, "Why don't I find out on that guy?"

Everyone seemed to collectively ignore his comment and carry on asking other questions. Fitz's question was next, "What's the last thing you remember before you lost consciousness?"

There was no way Ward was going to discuss what he'd seen. Ever. "This is a waste of time." He looked at Skye hoping she would back him up. "We need to find the staff."

"What exactly did you remember, Ward?" Fitz persisted.

Ward hung his head to avoid looking at anyone. Just because they weren't going to let this go didn't mean he was going to answer. He stood and yanked his arm out the blood pressure cuff. When he faced the screen on the wall and effectively blocked the others from seeing his face he responded quietly, "Just something I hadn't thought about in a long time."

Skye could see the strain on Wards face and realized that maybe pressing this subject in front of everyone wasn't the best course of action. "Guys, why don't we just leave this alone for now?"

"He just pulled his arm out of my-"

"QUIET!" Ward yelled, then forcefully turned up the volume. "I want to hear this."

They all heard Coulson leading the professor, "Two of my people are hurt and the staff is gone."

Randolph had the decency to look slightly ashamed, "I didn't want any of that to happen."

"Well, what did you want?" The agent's voice was angry. "The staff's power for yourself?"

The professor shook his head before vocally answering, "No. Nothing like that. I just wanted to be the first to get a chance to study it. To prove that the berserkers were actually here. I wanted to be apart of that history. Think about that-"

The screen cut out and Ward turned to glare at Simmons. "What are you doing?"

Seeing the expression on the specialist's face scared Simmons and she took a slight step back, "Your heart rate is rising adrenaline is spiking. You need to calm down, not get worked up."

A tense silence took over the room. Skye stepped over and tried to reach out to him. Thinking that maybe talking about all the emotions that were clearly swirling in his eyes would help, "Ward, the memory you saw… Was it about your brother?"

He raised his eyes to Skye's. For one moment he really did want to open up and tell her what he had seen. But this close the bruise he'd put on her face looked so much worse and made him sick to his stomach. Ward had taken enough out on her today, he didn't need to add to it, "Drop it."

Skye nodded but gently covered one of his hands that were fisted on the table top, "Ok but, if you need to get it out…I am here."

Her touch sent shivers up his arm, he could smell the warm vanilla lotion she used that sometimes made Ward consider if her skin itself would taste like sugar cookies. The fact that she had slipped passed all his defenses suddenly made him burn with anger. He couldn't care about her. He had a job to do and having feelings would get in the way of that. "Yea right, to talk." He snarled at her. "Because that's what you do. Talk and talk. Don't you ever get tired of hearing the sound of your own voice?"

Once he started, the words to push her away just seemed to tumble out of his mouth. Ward kept his eyes on Skye as she looked at him like he had just struck her... again. The look in her eyes silencing him as some part of his mind screamed at him to apologize.

"Oh well, this makes more sense." Simmons stepped in between Ward and Skye as they continued to stare at one another. "What you're experiencing, Ward, this feeling, it's just chemistry."

Skye's eyes still held his, "I hope so."

Simmons extended the reading on her tablet for Skye to look at as evidence, even though they both knew it would still need to be explained. "Yes, see, spikes in his adrenocorticotropic hormone levels. It's like those stories you hear about a mother is able to lift a car to save her baby…"

Ward moved to stand in front of Simmons and point at her findings, "Stop talking. Just fix it."

"I wish I could." Simmons looked at him apologetically. "We can relieve some of the symptoms. Im going to give you 10ccs of benzodiazepine…"

Both Skye and Fitz began nodding, Ward needed to calm down. He saw it another way, "A sedative? That's not gonna happen!"

Instead of Skye being the one to speak it was Fitz, "Be reasonable. Look at how you're behaving."

Ward turned and stalked toward the smaller man, "If Im sedated and we cross paths with those juiced freaks, the ones who flip cars and smash people up… are you going to take them on? Keep us safe? Or am I going to have to save Simmons' ass…again?"

The two men seemed to be locked in a staring contest, seeing who would break first. When the rear lab door slammed closed, Ward broke away and looked around to find that Skye was no longer in the room and Simmons was staring at him shocked at his outburst. Ward shook his head and pulled his shirt off the table before stalking off to see where his rookie went.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

As Skye leaned against the firmly closed door to her bunk, she tried to take deep calming breaths. She kept playing what Ward had said over and over in her mind. On the one hand she understood, well sort of understood, what Simmons meant about it not being Ward. However, a small part of her truly believed that he meant what he said. That maybe the staff was like alcohol and anger. She had a tendency to believe what people told her when they were drunk or pissed off.

She was a bit surprised to feel tears falling from her eyes. She hadn't realized she was crying. Skye slid to the floor, wiped the tears away, and took deep breaths. This was the same thing she would do when she was in orphanage and she was trying to hide how depressed she was. After a minute or so, her heart rate returned to normal and she felt a bit calmer.

As she considered what she should do next to help move the investigation and get it over with, she felt her phone vibrating. Remembering what happened the last time she answered without checking who the caller was she glanced at the screen. When she saw CAP with tiny emoijis of his SHIELD flanking his name, she cracked a small smile. "Heya Captain."

She heard him chuckle a bit before saying, "We talked about this. It's Steve. Captain and sir… make this all sound so impersonal."

"Alright, alright. Steve." She conceded, for now. "We checked out the church Boy Thunder told you about."

"Boy Thunder?!" Steve exclaimed, "I can't wait to hear you call him that! Did you guys find anything?"

Skye gave him a rundown of what happened. Leaving out some of the more personal parts of the argument in the lab. Instead just telling him that Ward seemed to still be effected by what the staff did even though he was no longer holding it.

"You're alright though?" He questioned once she was done.

The concern in his voice was easy to hear and the perfect antidote to how she was feeling after Ward's outburst. "I'm good, promise. Just a little extra color to my cheek for a week or so. I've had worse."

The two talked a bit longer about nothing much in particular. Steve told her a story about one time having caught Tony being sprayed with water by one of his many robotic helpers while screaming that Nat had switched the vocal controls to Russian.

When Skye could finally halt her laughter for more than a few seconds Steve said, "There's that beautiful laugh. My work here is done."

Color bloomed on Skye's face and she thanked him for making her feel better. He extracted another promise to check in from her before they both hung up. Skye stayed sitting on her floor for a few more moments considering how she would get him to laugh just has hard the next time they spoke.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

It took Ward a few minutes to find where Skye had run off to. Her bunk was the last place he expected to find her. Generally, when she was upset she would either hide in the SUV, take up residence in the guest chair of Coulson's office, or take over the holotable in the command center.

As he stood in the hallway considering any other places she may be hiding, he heard it. Skye was in her bunk giggling. Ward moved to knock and drag her away from whatever funny video she'd found and try and make up for how he'd attacked her in the lab. He froze when he heard her obviously talking about the bruise he's left on her cheek.

When there was a lengthy pause it became clear that he was hearing her end of a phone conversation. Ward began considering who she could be speaking to. Skye didn't have family and he'd rarely seen her use her phone as more than a portable computer. She had explained that most of her contacts preferred the ease of text messaging over actual calls.

He jumped slightly when Skye was no longer silent and laughing hysterically. For a few moment he could hear her trying to speak only to dissolve into more laughter. After more than a minute of this she seemed to calm down enough Ward heard her speak, sweetly, "Thank you for that. I really needed that mental image!"

There was another slight pause before she continued, "Of course, Steve. Stop worrying so much. I promise I'll be fine and I'll check in soon."

He couldn't figure out why but Ward felt the anger in his chest rising again at the thought of Skye turning to someone else for comfort. She's his rookie, she should come to him first. He realized that talking to her now that he was worked up again would only make him more upset and he would probably say something else to hurt her. So he shook his head and stalked off the cargo bay. He'd try and work some of the anger off on the punching bag instead of his teammates.

After almost forty-five minutes, Ward was still going after the punching bag. His blood was still boiling with rage. Images of his little brother desperately trying to keep his head about water and crying for help still assaulted his mind. Added to that his mind kept bringing up the image of Skye looking at him with fear in her eyes, her cheek bruised. He was so lost in the mages that he didn't hear May's voice calling out to him.

When Ward felt a hand on his shoulder and reacting instinctually again by swinging. Luckily May was faster and evaded the punch. "You should be more careful." He spat at her.

"Im fine. You?"

He threw another set of aggressive punches at the bag. "I'm working it out."

May shook her head as she assessed the other specialist, "No, you're punching things. The last thing you need is to punch things."

"You have a better idea?"

She reached out again and touched his shoulder, "Let me help you."

Ward shook off May's oddly gentle touch, "The only help I need is to stop those guys before they hurt somebody else."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

After Skye finished her call with Steve she felt a lot better so she went back down to the lab to check on Fitz and Simmons. Ward had been just as hurtful to them as he had been with her and she wanted to make sure that they were okay.

She entered as they were discussing the other possible locations that the third piece could be and what the best way to help calm Ward down. "Hey guys."

Simmons looked up to her and immediately asked, "Are you alright? Ward was a bit… well he was an ass earlier and you left so suddenly…"

"I'm fine. I was just coming down to ask you guys the same question." Skye laughed.

Fitz answered for both of them, "We're good. He didn't mean all of that. It's just the effects of that bloody staff."

Skye shrugged, not totally believing it, "I hope so. But enough about that. What are you guys up to?"

For several minutes they filled Skye in only looking for minor sounds of agreement. The conversation flowed easily, even as Skye kept a watchful eye on Ward's figure on the other side of the glass door viciously attacking the punching bag. Before today she may have approached him asking him what the bag had done to deserve such treatment but now, she figured the last thing he wanted was to listen to her.

She snapped out of her train of thought when she realized that Fitz was trying to get her attention. "oh um sorry… what?"

"Simmons told me you met the Captain America while you were at the Hub. What happened there?" Fitz repeated his question.

At the mention of Steve, Skye's smiled again. "I met him after Simmons and I broke into the level 8 server to figure out where you and Ward were. Then he helped us by distracting people in the hangar so we could go save you guys."

She didn't mention that he had seemed a bit flirtatious while doing those things or the fact that they had stayed in contact after. She thought they Q&A session was over until Simmons fake coughed and added, "You forgot to mention him holding your hand the entire time!"

"WHAT?!" Fitz yelled turning to face Skye. "Captain freaking America was flirting with you and you didn't think to mention that?"

Skye's face turn beet red. She didn't think Simmons would remember seeing that in the hangar because she had been so concerned about rescuing her partner. "Steve was just lending me some support after-"

Before she could get even a sentence out both sets of eyes were staring at her, "STEVE?!" they shouted in unison. Fitz carried on, "You call him Steve?"

"Well, that's his name isn't it?" Skye tried to down play using it. Even though the man in question seemed to be insistent that use it.

Fitz and Simmons stared at her like she had lost her mind before demanding, "Tell us, everything."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

After taking a quick shower Ward realized that he needed to talk to Coulson. He didn't think that he should continue on this mission. He was too wired from the staff and his focus just wasn't there. The first place he decided to check was the Lab. Often times in between rounds of questioning Coulson would check in with the team and since no one was in the command center the next logical place for them to be was the Lab.

Before he rounded the corner he heard both scientists shout, "STEVE?" Ward clenched his teeth. That name seemed to keep popping up everywhere today. As he moved to step into the room he caught sight of Skye. She was laughing and seemed fine even after all that had happened today.

While seeing that she was okay made him feel slightly better, it still rankled him that he hadn't been the one to make her smile that, Ward thought to himself before deciding to move on to looking for Coulson in his office.

After knocking on the open door to get his attention Ward asked, "A moment, sir?"

"Come on in." Coulson answered without taking his eyes of the screen displaying their suspect.

Ward took a deep breath before sharing his concerns, "Sir, I'm concerned that my exposure to that weapon has compromised my ability to do my job."

That got the older man's attention, "Go on."

"You're familiar with my family history. So for obvious reasons I don't think back to my childhood. Ever. There are things I put away a long time ago. On lockdown. Because to do my job I have to be focused, tactical. I can't afford to be distracted. Especially by things that happened a lifetime ago." He explained as clinically as he could.

Coulson took a moment to consider what he had just been told. "You're saying touching the staff unlocked certain memories?"

Uncomfortable with discussing the particulars tried to explain without actually sharing what he saw. "My worst memory. The first time I ever felt… hate. And now it won't go away. I don't trust myself." Ward thought back to how he treated everyone in the lab, what he said to Skye. "The way I went off on FitzSimmons in the lab. And how I hurt Skye…"

"Grant," Coulson said softly, "you telling me this makes me feel that I can trust you."

It was the use of his first name that struck Ward. Coulson rarely referred to anyone other than Skye using their first names. Before he could say anything Coulson continued, "Him on the other hand," he indicated the professor, "I can't get him to talk. You've got some rage built up. Maybe, its time to let it out."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

FitzSimmons and Skye stood staring at the video from the interrogation room in shock. The myth wasn't a myth, the professor was the Asgardian, and this all started because he was horny centuries ago. Once her brain processed all this new information Skye burst out laughing. She couldn't stop herself from grabbing her phone. She knew she had to share this with Steve.

She quickly typed out a quirky message to get his attention before she gave him the full story, 'The professor is the Asgardian warrior from the story! He spilled the beans on himself in the 1500's trying to talk a woman into bed with him! Even the mightiest fall victim to pretty girls, huh? '

Skye didn't have to wait long for a response. 'You don't say? Mind if I use this to tease Thor a bit when he starts his speech on Asgardians being impossible to make talk?'

His response made Skye bark out a small laugh. Which brought the Fitz and Simmons attention back on her. Simmons gave her a look that clearly asked what was so funny. She briefly considered trying not to answer the question but, she and these two had grown a lot closer since the incident with Miles and Skye wanted to make sure they knew she wasn't hiding anything. Before she answered she cast a glance around to make sure they were alone and whispered, "I told Steve that this all started because this guy got… well horny-"

"You're texting him?" Simmons whispered at the same time Fitz almost shouted, "You have his personal phone number?!"

Both girls turned on Fitz and said, "SHHH!"

Skye whispered, "Yes, he gave me his phone number. Don't shout it out though okay? I'm not exactly looking forward to mom and dad finding out just yet ok?"

Simmons understood exactly what Skye meant. She wasn't ready to make a huge deal out of something that could just as easily turn out to be nothing. While Skye sent Fitz a look pleading him to keep this to himself for a bit, Simmons sent him a glare letting him know that he would pay dearly if didn't.

"Alright, alright." He hastily agreed. "But don't think this subject is just getting dropped, missy!" Before he could add anymore May joined them.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Once they had pressured Randolph into cooperating the team made quick work of getting to Ireland where the final portion of the staff had been hidden in a monastery. While Ward still believed the professor should be locked in their interrogation room Coulson disagreed. As the group was getting ready to set out Ward approached the Asagardian to return the property they had confiscated when they brought him in.

Ward decided to take this relatively private moment to ask the one thing he desperately wanted to know, "The effects of the staff… Are they permanent?"

Randolph took a moment to consider. "Well the extra strength wears off. You will feel exhausted afterwards and need to sleep."

"And the other effects?"

He had hoped to avoid this question. Randolph knew his answer wouldn't be well received. "You mean that dark nasty ache in the pit of your stomach? The rage in your chest that makes you feel as if your heart is about to explode?"

Ward nodded grimly.

"It's worse on humans. But, give it a few decades and that will wear off too."

After watching the Asgardian calmly saunter away, Ward slammed the box he had been holding, muttering to himself. "Great."

It was the loud slamming of the box that caused Skye to jump. She was trying to act normally around her S.O. but since he was still shaking with anger she couldn't help being slightly wary of him. She glanced over as the man in question stormed over to the SUV and slammed the door.

She sent off her text to Steve letting him know where they were headed then looked to Coulson and asked, "Are you sure Ward's okay to go in the field? He's not exactly acting like himself."

"But he knows it." Coulson told her quietly. "He'll be fine."

After he walked away to join those already in the SUV, Skye looked to May trying to gauge her opinion. The female specialist stared her down before saying, "I'm with Coulson. But I'll keep an eye on Ward as well."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

It was a huge relief once the mob of people trying to get the staff was finally down for good. Most of the team was keeping a watchful eye on the cleanup crew SHIELD had dispatched to minimize civilian involvement in the final stages of this mission. Just Ward and May hung back in corner sitting quietly.

After a few moments, Ward felt compelled to ask, "When you held it, did you see anything?"

He felt more than saw her nod. It was a small relief that it he wasn't alone in being affected by the staff. Maybe he wasn't as broken as he thought he was. But he had watched May complete the staff and still function while holding all three sections. Just holding two had made him think that the anguish he felt was going to kill him. "Then how? How did you manage to hold all three?"

May still didn't meet his eyes and for a moment he thought she wasn't going to answer. Her quiet words shocked him to his core, "Because I see it every day."

There was a sudden clap of thunder and May left to investigate, leaving him to his own thoughts. He turned his gaze momentarily to Skye, watching as she glanced at her phone before turning back to the listen to whatever Simmons was saying to her. He realized that he really needed to apologize to her. Even after everything he had done to her today, she had still wasted no time in rushing to his side to check on him. That girl was always putting everyone's needs above her own.

Outside the church Coulson and May stood face to face with yet another Asgardian. Thor wasted no time in pulling his friend into a tight embrace. "Son of Coul! I was relieved to hear of your recovery. I wish to assure you my brother was duly punished before his death at the hands of the dark elves."

It took a moment for Coulson to get his breath back. "It's good to have you back on Earth. I assume you're here to take the staff off out hands."

"That I am. Midgard is no place for something of that magnitude. It has driven many Asgardian insane. I do not wish to see this world affected so." May's movement brought his attention to her and Thor respectfully looked her over and nodded respectfully, "It is easy to see you are a fine warrior. I offer my most sincere apologies for the trouble this relic may have caused."

It was a rare sight to see Melinda May blush but one compliment from Thor and her cheeks flamed. Coulson took a mental picture of this moment already planning on teasing her later for it. Almost as though she could hear his thoughts May shot Coulson a death glare that warned him against that idea.

Changing the subject Coulson filled Thor in on the other Asgardian and how the staff came to be here. When he felt he had imparted all of the relevant information, he felt compelled to ask, "I hope you'll allow Randolph to remain here. He seems happy here and he is harmless for the most part. He had no way of knowing this would happen."

Thor laughed at the anxiousness he heard in Coulson's voice, "Oh, I am not one to fault a fellow Asgardian for choosing to remain on Midgard! I would be forced to punish myself just as severely, Son of Coul. I will not trouble the good professor beyond requesting his company from time to time when I am feeling nostalgic for home."

Two standard issue agents carried out the silver box that now contained the staff and stopped short when they recognized the Avenger standing calmly talking with the two senior agents. May motioned for them to bring to box over and she took it upon herself to pass it to Thor. When they remained standing there staring she coldly said, "You're dismissed." And sent them scurrying back into the church.

Once they were alone again, Thor turned to Coulson. "I wished to make introductions with the Lady Skye before I take my leave."

"Skye?" Coulson and May asked at the same time.

"Yes, the Captain spoke of her commitment and compassion. I wish to commend her and offer my thanks for her aide in bringing him a bit of happiness." Thor stated plainly, not noticing the confusion on their faces.

Coulson stood staring piecing together what Thor meant. He should have assumed Skye left a lasting impression on Rogers, the same had happened when he first encountered the hacker. May was the one to activate her comm and calmly say, "Skye. We need you outside for a moment."

Moments later, Skye jogged out of the building and froze when she recognized their guest. Thor saw her approaching and moved to greet her. "Ah, the Lady Skye!" He reached to grasp her hand and bring it to his lips. He was fully committed to his Jane but could acknowledge that Skye was indeed beautiful.

Still frozen, Skye just stared up at Thor with wide eyes until he continued, "My good friend, Rogers, told me of your bravery while searching for answers regarding your comrades. I had to take this opportunity to meet the lady that would face SHIELD from within as well as manage to cause the always stoic Captain to laugh."

It was Skye's turn to the shade of a tomato before trying to stutter out a response, "Uh, Thank you, Sir. I was just, um, just trying to look after my friends."

"You should not address me as Sir, Lady Skye. It's my hope that we will become great friends."

The similarity to what Steve had said when she first called him sir broke through the shock of meeting Thor and made Skye giggle. "Oh wow, Steve said almost the same thing to me at the Hub."

Thor joined in on her laughter, imagining how Steve would have reacted to hearing Skye call him sir. "I must go now. But I hope to see you again soon Lady Skye." He turned to the other two, "Son of Coul. Lady May." And then he twirled hammer and was gone.

Turning to his hacker Coulson said, "You have a lot of explaining to do." When she looked up at him, with the same wide eyes she'd given Thor, he couldn't help but smile and add, "Tomorrow."

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

Instead of returning to the bus the team opted to check into a nicer hotel for the night. After the past few days everyone could use a decent night sleep. Ward had sat in his room for all of twenty minutes before decided that he needed a stiff drink and made his way to the quiet bar he'd seen downstairs.

On his third glass, Skye made her way quietly to sit next to him. At first she didn't say anything just stared down into the drink shed brought over with her. Her silence was started to worry Ward and just as he was about dive into the apology he knew he should offer her, she finally spoke. "I could get used to turn down service with the cute little mints on my pillow."

"Don't get used to it, rookie. Overnights aren't standard." Ward heard himself saying when he should have been begging for her forgiveness, asking if she was okay, offering to let her punch him to make things even between them.

Still she smiled at him. It was nice to hear his usual tone instead of the angry one of the past couple days. "I know. But we deserve a nice night. You especially." She looked at him pointedly. She wasn't going to directly bring up what the staff had done but she wanted him to see that she saw just how much handling it had hurt him. Skye couldn't stop herself from asking, "How are you feeling?"

Ward shifted his gaze from the scotch in his glass to Skye. She was looking at him with such warmth and understanding that it almost floored him. "Im really sorry about that." He said gruffly indicating the purple stain on her cheek. "Well that and for what I said in the lab."

Skye nodded, she had hoped she would get an apology out of him. "No harm, no foul."

He looked down in glass feeling guilt was over him. He considered the mark on her face certainly a harm, even if she didn't. "Does everything just roll off your back?"

"No, of course not." She didn't want him to think that nothing mattered to her. "Sometimes staying angry does more harm than good. I save that for more important things. One small bruise isn't something to hold a grudge over."

Her words soothed the guilt he was feeling a little, even if he wondered if he deserved to feel any better about how he'd treated her. He briefly considered opening up a bit and telling her about what the staff made him see but when he saw the trusting look on her face he chickened out. As selfish as it was, Ward wanted her to keep looking at him like that. So to squash the urge to tell her everything he was thinking he drained his glass and said, "I need to sleep the rest of this off. Don't stay up too late, rookie, we're still training in the morning."

She nodded before watching as he walked away. For a moment there Skye had thought that he would actually talk to her. Maybe one day she would stop getting her hopes up that she meant more to Ward than just his annoying rookie.

Taking a deep breath, Skye briefly considered ordering another drink but thought better of it when she realized that five o'clock came quickly and she did not want to do any more pull ups than she had to. So she took her supervising officer's advice and made her way back to her room.

The elevator quickly stopped on her floor, as she made her way to the room she'd been assigned she reached into her bag to find they key. She glanced up as she heard the door from the stairwell on the opposite end on the long hall swing closed and saw May opening her door then pausing to glance over her shoulder before walking inside. When the agent's door didn't close Skye froze, May wasn't the type to randomly leave her door open.

While Skye tried to think of a reason why May was acting so strangely, she watched as Ward quietly walked through the open door like it was completely natural for him to be sharing a room with the other specialist.

At least now she knew why it was impossible for to get through to Ward. He already had someone he could talk to, someone he could turn to for comfort. Skye wouldn't lie to herself and pretend that it didn't hurt to see Ward going to spend the night with May. After all, she had been harboring a crush on him since he yanked the bag off of her head the very first time she stepped foot on the bus. But at least now she knew for sure that's all it would have ever been. A silly crush.

A ringing from her bag brought her out of her thoughts and making her smile. She knew exactly who it was and knew she had to tease him about meeting his fellow Avenger, "Well if it isn't Thor's good friend the Captain! I was wondering if I would get to talk to you tonight."

Steve was beginning to wonder if Skye ever answered her phone with a simple hello or if she really enjoyed teasing him. Not that he would complain. "No need to wonder, Lady Skye," he said trying to imitate how Thor spoke, "I had to make sure that Thor didn't scare you off."

Skye laughed and opened the door to her room saying, "Nope. No one's scared over here. Just a bit curious what you've told your friend about me before he came to pick up the rage stick?"

When she heard him falter a bit, Skye laughed and stepped into her room.

Now for a little informal poll, I suppose.

For the moment and likely throughout season 1 of AoS, The Winter Soldier, and season 2 of AoS there will be a lot of Skye/Cap. But I'm not just going to ignore Ward's growing attachment because I think that is an important part to his story and makes for a much more complex character.

My question is this…. Who should she end up with? Cap? Ward? Alone? I can write this whichever way seems best but a little direction would be helpful.

Would anyone object in a bump in the rating to M? Follow up, do you guys want steamy or no?

Any other pairings you would like to see more of?