Skye groaned and dropped her head to her laptop. She had been siting with Ward for the past few hours, until Trip had finally persuaded her to go sit in the lab with Fitz. She had made him promise to tell her if Ward so much as twitched. Trip had managed to do so with a straight face.

"What?" Fitz looked up from his lab table. He was still struggling to work on a cloaking technology for the Bus, a project started long before Ward's betrayal. Had he not been dropped in the ocean, Fitz probably would've been finished by now.

"Ward's records are proving harder to hack than I thought. SHIELD really doesn't go halfway when it comes to encrypting files" Skye replied, wary of Fitz's response.

"W-W-Why are you looking at Ward's records? They're supposed to be…classified" Fitz finished, looking confused.

"I don't know" Skye replied honestly, shrugging. She really had no idea why she was looking at the files. Perhaps it was a trait left over from her Rising Tide days, when she had wanted the truth about any and everything.

Fitz didn't say anything and simply went back to his work. Skye sighed; she missed the old days when Fitz would've been chattering away like a monkey. She also missed Simmons, the young scientist currently on some deep undercover mission.

"I'm gonna go find Trip. You want anything?" Skye asked as she stood up and stretched.

Fitz flapped his hand at her rather irritably, not replying. Skye closed her laptop, tucking it under her arm and walking out of the lab. She closed the door behind her and caught in the window a reflection of Fitz putting his hand on his shoulder, his lips moving as though he was talking to someone, even though no one was there.

"Hey" Trip greeted her over his shoulder as he carefully placed a slice of bread on his sandwich. Skye's breath caught momentarily in her throat as she remembered Ward going through the same motions not so long ago. There was a pot of soup bubbling on the stove and Skye wandered over, sniffing the air appreciatively.

"I didn't know you could cook" she commented, dipping a spoon into the broth and tasting the hot liquid.

"I can't. It's Campbell's chicken noodle soup. I thought Ward might want lunch, if he's awake" Trip's voice was characteristically quiet and his eyes held a somber glint.

"I'll come" Skye offered, snagging a piece of cheese off Trip's sandwich and popping it in her mouth, nimbly avoiding Trip as he swatted at her.

"Are you sure?" he queried, raising his eyebrows.

"Yeah, why not?" she folded her arms and looked at him in a silent challenge.

"Well you didn't exactly seem fond of him," Trip pointed out as gently as he could. Skye merely glared at him and the agent had to smile at the look on her face. Skye literally resembled a miniature, angry Melinda May.

"What are you laughing at?" Skye's glare only intensified and Trip made a mental reminder to tell May to stop rubbing off so much on her protégé.

"Nothing" Trip held his hands up in defense, "put the soup into a bowl and let's go."

Skye and Trip made their way down to Ward's room, Skye precariously balancing the tray with soup and a glass of water. Trip held the door open for her and Skye slowly walked into the dimly lit room.

She quietly placed the tray on the nightstand and settled into the chair next to Ward's bed. He blinked his eyes open and let out a soft groan. Alarmed, Skye looked up at Trip who only shrugged.

"Ward, what's wrong?" she asked gently.

"So tired," he mumbled, his hand fumbling loosely for Skye's hand. She carefully slid her fingers against his, biting her lip as his hand curled around hers.

"I know. You want some soup? Trip made…heated it up," Skye offered. Ward nodded weakly and Trip helped him to sit up. Ward's arms shook as he pushed himself into a sitting position. Skye was immediately at his side, sliding an arm around his back and slipping a pillow behind Ward to help him stay upright.

Trip carefully placed the tray on Ward's lap and stood back, folding his arms across his chest.

"Thanks" Ward murmured. Skye gently rested her hand against Ward's forehead and the specialist leaned into the gentle touch.

"Eat your soup. I'll be right back," she whispered.

"Wait, where are you going?" Ward caught a gentle hold of Skye's wrist as she stood up. His eyes were openly panicked and his fingers quivered lightly against Skye's skin.

"I'll be right back, I promise" she reassured him. Trip followed her out of the room.

"What's up?" he enquired, leaning comfortably against the wall.

"It's just so…so weird seeing Ward like this. I mean normally he's a tough Nazi SO." Skye shrugged her shoulders and heaved a sigh.

"He'll be fine in a few days. Coulson just wants to keep him sedated for the time being" Trip explained to a still unhappy Skye. She followed him back into the room and settled herself next to Ward's side. The specialist had fallen into a light doze, slumped in a comfortable position against the pillows.

"Skye, I need to talk to you" Coulson stuck his head around the door to the room.

"Yeah, okay. I'm all ears" Skye stuck her fingers behind her ears and waggled them. Trip hastily muffled a laugh at her expression.

"Privately" Coulson said pointedly.

"Ward is going to be transported to a maximum security prison in a week" Coulson said as he sat down behind his desk.

"Why?" Skye frowned, "I thought you wanted to keep him here. And besides, what prison what take Ward?"

"I still have a few connections. And it's not practical for us to have him staying here. We're low enough as it is on supplies."

Skye took a deep breath, "I was thinking that maybe, he could stay here for at least another two weeks."

Now it was Coulson's turn to frown.

"Skye, I just explained why we can't keep him here. Are you really suggesting we keep a Hydra operative in our basement?"

"He was only loyal to Garrett, not Hydra." Skye said softly.

"Ward will be leaving for prison in a week and that is final. Is that understood, agent?" Coulson's tone was tight and firm.

"Yes sir" Skye muttered and stalked out of his office.

"Have you noticed anything strange about Coulson?" Skye asked offhandedly as she slammed her fists into a punching bag.

"He has a lot on his mind" May responded.

Skye nodded, but May could see that the younger woman didn't look very convinced.

"Skye, Coulson just needs some time to himself. You need to stop bothering him with so many questions" May's tone was soft, but her eyes had a hard glint to them.

"He shouldn't keep secrets from his own team" Skye snapped, attacking the punching bag as though she had a personal vendetta against it. May placed her hands on top of Skye's, halting the hacker's motions.

"He shouldn't, but he has to. Now you should go shower and then check on Ward."

Skye nodded in affirmation and started unwrapping her hands.

When Skye let herself into Ward's room, the specialist was fast asleep. His face was uncharacteristically unlined, and his hand was curled loosely in the blankets. Skye sat on the edge of the bed and gently took his hand in her own. Trip had warned her that Ward was heavily sedated and would probably not wake anytime soon. That still didn't stop her from slipping in and staying with Ward. Not that she actually cared about him, right?

TBC

Note: I am very sorry about the delay in the uploading of this chapter. The next chapter should be up by the end of the week. Until then! If you have any ideas for how this story should go, please let me know.