Disclaimer: You know I don't own anything
Great big thanks to everyone who continues to support me and this story!
I couldn't leave the "I'm everyone's type," line out- it was too precious! I'm glad you guys like it~
Also, s/o to icewitch73 for reviewing almost every single chapter =O
Back in his shirt and sweats, Ward walked down the hallway, gloriously unaccompanied. Although he was glad of it, he couldn't help but feel a little scornful of how easily SHIELD gave second chances. Of course, he still received looks from other occupants of the base, but they never actually did anything other than watch him from a careful distance.
"Sir," Ward greeted Coulson as people filtered out of the room where they had been watching Ward "interrogate" Hayden. Coulson only nodded in greeting before beginning to walk away.
"Uh, actually, sir, for the record, what I said about you guys, you know that I didn't mean it, right? You guys are…" Ward paused, searching for words to describe how he felt about the team but none came.
To his surprise, Coulson clapped him on the back as the Director walked past, "Poop with a little knife sticking out of it."
Ward turned in confusion, "Sir?"
Coulson smiled wryly, "The other comment that came with the one about your excellence in espionage. Your people skills, remember?"
Ward let out a breath of laughter, "Right,"
Coulson studied him for a second, "I know. Someday, you'll be able to get those words out. For now, Skye's waiting for you in there." He gestured at the room he had just vacated then turned to leave.
"…Thanks, sir." Ward replied a little too late, too caught up with what Coulson had said to realize that the Director had already left. Ward paused just outside the door, preparing himself for whatever lay waiting for him on the other side. Concluding that she was most likely angry at him for his snide remarks about the team, he slowly pushed the door open, increasing the amount of time before he had to face a ticking time bomb that he probably couldn't disarm.
She was standing with her back to him, flipping through what looked to be a file. Her stature looked unnaturally stiff and straight and Ward was sure that she was furious.
"Don't kill me, I can explain-," He started, but Skye whipped around at the sound of his voice and before he knew what was happening, she had crossed the room to him and snaked her arms around his body and was pulling him down for a deep kiss. Shocked for only a second, he took her in his arms and kissed her back with just as much passion and need. Her tongue flicked in and out between his lips and he groaned, walking them forward until her back was pressed lightly against the wall.
He knew he should be questioning her actions but this unexpected welcome was too good to pass up. Running his hands through her silky locks, he slid his hands down her back and around to rest on her waist as he placed kisses along her jaw and down onto her precious neck.
Her hands were fisted in his hair, "When you were in there- shit, Ward," She breathed as he licked and nibbled the junction between her neck and shoulder.
"All that in there was just a ruse…" He soothed, his lips brushing her skin as he talked.
Her fingers clenched, pulling lightly at his hair as he pulled away her shirt to trace kisses along her shoulder, "No, not that," She moaned. Skye was clearly trying to keep up the conversation but Ward was sure her hold on it was dissolving quickly as he tasted her luxurious skin.
Then he grinned into her bare shoulder, realization dawning on him, "Are you secretly attracted to dark and evil Hydra agents?"
"No. Just you," She forced his head up so her lips could meet his again in a more carnal kiss than before. He laughed into her mouth but that quickly turned into a hiss that he couldn't contain when she pulled him closer still and her hand brushed against his tender ribcage.
She pulled away, concern and the tiniest bit of disappointment in her face and Ward groaned again. He was more than willing to ignore the pain so he could finally be with her but clearly, she wasn't going to let that happen.
"You should be in bed," She said, her hand hovering over his injury.
Ward smiled roguishly, "Yes, I should," He ducked his head to kiss her but she turned her face away and he sighed, resting his forehead on the side of her face, inhaling the sweet aroma of her shampoo before he pulled away and stepped back.
"Why are there always cameras present whenever we're together?" Skye muttered, staring down the offending piece of technology as she straightened her shirt. Ward just sighed again and ran his hand through his un-gelled hair.
"Let's get out of here." He held out his hand to Skye and she took it, allowing him to lead her out of the room.
"So how are the ribs?" She asked, lacing her fingers through his. Ward smiled inwardly at how perfectly her soft hands fit into his calloused ones. Well, she had the beginnings of callouses from all her weapons training but not the permanent kind that Ward possessed.
"Getting there. Simmons' remedies are working wonders but I'm only huma-," He stopped abruptly but Skye squeezed his hand gently.
"It's okay. I'm still in my human form too, remember?" She teased delicately.
Ward looked down at her and began uncertainly, "You know, we never really talked much about the whole, you know."
"You can say it Ward. You've said it before." Skye said lightly but her words packed a harder punch than her tone. Ward winced.
"Yeah, that's something else we haven't talked much about."
Skye stopped suddenly but Ward continued to walk a few steps forward until his felt his hand being tugged back to where she had stopped.
"I don't want to talk about those things now." She said decisively, then smiled cheekily up at him, "Besides, I rather like it when we're not fighting."
"Hey, no one ever said we would fight about it-," But she cover his mouth with her free hand.
"I want to get that drink again. Properly, this time, not just like the time when you went all dark and I-want-to-get-in-your-pants-for-and-because-of-the-hard-drive. If you know what I mean." Skye wiggled her eyebrows and Ward just shook his head at the horrible innuendo, "And it has to be nice get-to-know you topics like we're normal people."
"Firstofall," He mumbled around her hand and she took it off his face, "That was a terrible innuendo. Second, we aren't normal people, Skye." We're monsters.
"That drink's going to have to wait." A brusque voice called out. The couple turned to see May standing at the end of the hallway, her hands folded neatly in front of her, "You better bring him," May added, giving Skye a meaningful look before turning on her heel.
Skye tugged at Ward's hand, leading him down the way that May came.
"What was all that about? You guys haven't perfected at way to speak to each other's minds have you?" Ward asked, puzzled.
Skye rolled her eyes before her expression turned grim, "You'll see. And it's called telepathy, Ward, and according to you guys, it's not real."
You guys. As in SHIELD.
"Yeah, this is what I saw in Belarus. You said Coulson was drawing this earlier this morning?" Ward traced the circles with a light finger. They were on the Bus in the lab and Simmons had brought out the detached lab door and wall that had been adorned with the strange linkage of circles and lines and May had filled him in about their activities in the morning.
May nodded, looking deeply uneasy. She ran her eyes over the circles and lines again as if the more she looked at them, the more likely they would solve themselves.
"You're sure Skye never left during the night?" Simmons said in undertone, looking around to make sure Skye and Fitz hadn't returned yet from getting lunch for the five of them.
Ward examined the detached lab door, "I would've known, Simmons. I'm trained to be a light sleep and to wake up at the slightest disturbance." He said a little impatiently. Simmons withdrew a little, looking a little put off.
"But inbetween her coming to you-,"
"Yeah, this is what Garrett drew after he recovered from his episode," Ward interrupted loudly as he heard Skye and Fitz's approaching footsteps. He shot a warning glance at Simmons as she opened her mouth again, not picking up right away on his clue that they had company. Then he tilted his head in their direction and her eyes widened a little upon seeing the engineer and hacktivist bearing down on them, arms laden with food.
"Tell me again," Simmons asked, turning back to Ward, "What did Garrett saw when he was drawing this?"
Ward ran his fingers through his hair. He really needed to get his hands on some gel, "He said he was just jotting down some ideas."
"And you're sure you've never seen this before?"
Ward gritted his teeth but tried to keep his expression as smooth as possible as he turned his head to the biochemist, "Simmons," He warned.
The English woman looked down, clamping her mouth shut.
"Okay, so who wants a sandwich and who wants a burrito?" Skye asked loudly, attempting to gloss over the tense moment.
Ward silently accepted the food Skye handed him and she shot him a look as if to say, calm down, she's only trying to help. He tore his eyes from her gaze. The truth was, he knew that Simmons only had good intentions but he didn't want to converse on this subject however crucial it was. It brought back a jumble of conflicting emotions.
The first time he had seen the markings was after Skye had first touched him. Sure, they had brushed skin before, during training and just casually like when they were passing objects to each other…but that time was different. It was unexpected and strangely intimate. Yes, he was ticklish but when her slender fingers brushed the back of his neck, it sent a jolt through him that had nothing to do with sensitive nerves. He had pushed it down into the recesses of his mind, along with topics that he couldn't and wouldn't ever let himself think about. They had a job to do and he desperately needed to control the sudden tightness in his pants. Somehow, the feeling of her fingers on his neck didn't want to stay in the deep dark corners of his mind and with Skye's voice in his ear, he was constantly reminded of how much he wanted her. Maybe that's what made him careless and look directly into the mirror but it was definitely why he brought up those two Ukrainian girls and a crazy night as a way to "bond" with the guard. Little did he know at that time that he was just beginning to fall for her.
The second time he saw the pattern was after Garrett had been injected with Raina's hybrid of the GH-325. Garrett had always possessed some radical notions but it was jarring to see his mentor so intent on things that Ward could barely even comprehend. The very last influential person in his life, the man that had taught Ward everything, who had been on the edge of death, teetering over, was bursting with renewed life but he had also been far gone by then.
"Skye, no! Don't put that there. Jemma does her biology stuff there!" Fitz cried out, bringing Ward back into the present. He looked over to see Skye hastily removing an unopened bag of chips from a gleaming countertop. Simmons began to bemoan her partner's inability to cope with one of her professions and suddenly, looking around the lab area and cargo hold, Ward's throat became constricted and he began to sweat.
"Ward. You still with us?" May asked, scrutinizing him over her sandwich.
"Huh? Yeah, I just- I need…air." He finished lamely, dropping his sandwich back onto its foil wrapping and striding out through the cargo hold and into the hanger. Just a tiny figure next to an immense, aircraft, he was easily overlooked by the agents in the hanger. Walking a few paces away, Ward stopped near the wing of the plan and pinched his nose, resting his other hand on his hip. It never used to be this hard to bury his personal feelings and thoughts.
Then again, he never used to have Skye in his life.
"Ward," A hand rested briefly on his shoulder. The specialist looked down to see the curly haired Scotsman at his side.
"Skye said she's going to eat the rest of your food if you don't come back in soon."
Ward let out a breath that he had been holding in, looking out to the wide expanse of the hanger, "Let her. I'm not hungry anymore."
Fitz was quiet for a short while, joining Ward in looking out around at the other aircrafts. Then he said conversationally, "It's amazing how improved our technology is and yet, humans still have to do so much of the maintenance." Ward knew Fitz was allowing him a way out of explaining why he was out there but he knew that he couldn't run from it forever.
"I can't-," Ward's voice broke, but he forced himself to continue on dully, "I feel trapped in there, Fitz. It's nothing but memories in that place. I mean, I lost the only two people in my life that really ever matter to me in there. First Skye, then John-,"
Fitz interrupted, confused, "But Garrett-,"
Ward replied bitterly, "He was long gone before Coulson blew him to bits."
The men stood in silence for a little while longer and Fitz was the first one to speak again.
"Jemma reckons that it's human nature to let our memories and past experiences bog us down. She thinks that as humans, we're scared of change and moving forward into uncharted territories."
Ward gave him a sideways glance, knowing that Simmons' words applied to the engineer himself, "And you? What do you think?"
Fitz looked straight up at Ward, "I think it's human nature to flee from a fight but you always manage to get yourself right in the middle of combat anyway." He said seriously but Ward cracked a small smile.
"Only you run away from combat Fitz." Ward turned to walk back to the Bus and Fitz scrambled after him, calling out.
"Wait, wait what do you mean? There was that time in South Ossetia with the Overkill Device and at the Hub- at the Hub I shot a guy-!"
Later that night, after Ward had snuck into Skye's room, she rambled on about their conclusion that the strange markings were indeed a symptom of the miracle drug and the reason why Skye hadn't experience it was because she had some alien blood already running through her. The team had yet to find out the true source of the drug but Skye had told Ward what Coulson found at the bunker. Skye pondered aloud about the connection between Hydra, Cybertek, the Tahiti project and Fury whom they agreed not to tell about the development in Coulson's condition until they were sure how to receive some answers themselves from the former Director. Skye mused about whether the patterns were a code or language or equation or some kind of battle plan and Ward listened the whole time with only half a mind while he absentmindedly traced circles on her ankles.
When Skye had finally tired herself out after drifting briefly onto the topic of Madge Hayden, he held her to him as she fell asleep. But however close he pulled her to him, there still seemed to be a large yawning gap between them that he couldn't close by physical proximity.
Okay, so I tentatively plan to wrap up this story before season two starts (Sept 23). I'm not sure if I'll end right before the 2.01 or if I'll just wrap it up earlier… Let me know what you guys think/want!
Review please~