After cleaning up and taking a nice, long shower, Ward wandered up to Coulson's office, several questions looming in his mind. Finding the door shut, he knocked, heard shuffling inside, and then Coulson pulled the door open.

"Ward," Coulson said, moving aside to let him in, "What can I do for you?"

He walked in, noticing May hastily putting papers away into a file at Coulson's desk. He eyed her curiously and then turned to Coulson.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute."

Coulson nodded, looking at May, who picked up the papers and turned to Coulson. "I'll be in my bunk if you need me. We can finish this later." Her dark eyes seemed to convey deeper meaning as she moved past him, closing the door behind her.

Coulson looked at Ward, giving him a tight smile. "What's up?"

Ward folded his arms, suddenly feeling a little awkward. "Well sir, I just wanted to thank you again for coming to get us. I know I already said it, but it seemed worth saying again. There's no way we would have made it out of there without you."

Coulson nodded curtly. "It was my pleasure Ward. We don't leave our own in the field without backup."

Frowning, Ward asked, "Yes sir. What happened to the extraction team anyway?"

Looking at him for a long moment, Coulson crossed his arms over his chest. "There was no extraction team."

Frowning deeper, Ward asked, "no extraction sir?"

His lips pressing together, Coulson nodded. "That's right Ward, no extraction. And I would have never known about it if a certain hacker hadn't found her way into a level eight secure server."

Wards face fell into disbelief. "She did what?"

Seeing the anger on his face, Coulson gave him a look. "Oh come on Ward, she did it to save your life."

"Yes sir, but she hacked into the SHIELD mainframe. That doesn't concern you?" His face was incredulous.

Coulson nodded. "It would, if she hadn't been doing it for all the right reasons. And if she hadn't ended up being right about the mission." He raised his eyebrows, waiting for his response.

Ward sighed and uncrossed his arms. "You're right. She probably saved our lives."

"She definitely did Ward," Coulson said quickly. "If Skye hadn't hacked in, and Simmons hadn't shot Agent Sitwell-

"I'm sorry, shot?" Ward asked with a disbelieving expression.

Coulson gave him a patient expression. "Yes, shot. He's fine Ward, don't worry. But if they hadn't done that, against my orders, you would both be dead."

Ward contemplated that for a long moment, looking down. He finally nodded, and looked back at Coulson.

"How did you get involved sir?" Ward asked.

Coulson actually laughed. "Well, the women of our fine team decided to take matters into their own hands. I had no choice but to go along with it." His eyes were dancing. "Besides, I know better than to cross the Cavalry."

Ward cracked a smile at that. "Yes sir. So, I guess I should thank everyone else then? Since you had very little to do with it?"

Coulson raised his eyebrows in agreement. "That's a fair assessment Agent Ward."

OOOOO

Not too much time later, Ward knocked on Skye's doorframe, her door wide open. She looked up from where she was sitting on her bunk, her eyes looking a little swollen and Ward wondered if she'd been crying.

"Is this a bad time?" He asked, looking at her questioningly.

She seemed to rouse herself and then shook her head. "No, what's up?"

Ward sighed and walked into the room. "Can I sit?"

Skye nodded and moved over a little so Ward could sit on her bunk with her. He looked at her searchingly for a moment and then asked,

"You okay?" His eyes were sincere.

Skye plastered an obviously fake smile on her face and nodded. "I'm fine. Why?"

He looked at her for a moment more and then shook his head, leaning forward and put his elbows on his knees. "So, Coulson tells me you hacked SHIELD today."

She looked at him sharply, wondering if he was going to get mad at her. "Ward I-" she began but he cut her off.

"Hey," he sighed, sitting up and looking at her. "I can't say I'm proud of what you did exactly but…" he shrugged. "You saved my and Fitz's lives. That's worth a lot."

Skye let out a relieved breath. "I did it to save you guys, we both did. I mean, you have no idea how crazy we were going, not knowing what was going on with you. And, I mean, I knew I was going to be in super big trouble when Coulson found out but, I didn't care. I was just worried about you." She looked at him and he could see the sincerity in her words.

Taking a deep breath, he nodded. "We would have been dead if you and Simmons and May hadn't taken a risk so… I'm glad you did."

They looked at each other for a long moment and then, suddenly realizing he'd been looking at her far too long, Ward cleared his throat and got up.

"Hey," Skye said, reaching out to grab his wrist and standing. He turned to her, glancing at his wrist and then looking at her curiously. She released him quickly and crossed her arms. "What I said about finding another S.O.?" She shook her head. "I don't want to have to do that, okay? Ever."

Looking at her, Ward couldn't help but let out a small smile. "Well, if you keep watching my back, you won't have too."

He looked at her for a moment and she couldn't help letting out a small smile of her own.