98. 99. 100.

Ward fell to the side, panting heavily while he wiped his sweat-stained face with his discarded shirt. He had grown accustomed to pushing his body to new limits every day.

After all, what else could he do in this decrepit pit but the same daily routine of waking, blinking, staring at the wall, begrudgingly yet humbly shoveling the sludge they call food, doing 100 push-ups more than the previous amount, counting the cracks in the ceiling above his bed which he thinks ranges between 2,569 and 2,570, thinking of Skye, running his hands through his hair restlessly, pacing around the room while stroking his newly grown beard, thinking of the others, doing 100 more push-ups, thinking of Skye, eating once more, then thinking of Skye, then sleeping once more.

Oh yeah, his feelings for Skye had not diminished in the least bit, no matter how often she attempted to do just that.

He knew somewhere, deep down, that she reciprocated his perpetually growing feelings for her. But he also knew that he screwed up badly and that she might never trust him as she once did.

He shook his head at his listlessness, seating himself onto his bed in a thoughtful position.

That said, his thoughts couldn't help but to stray to her every time as if by instinct, especially now since she just refused to believe him about her father.

Why couldn't Skye realize that he would never lie to her about her true biological parents? He knew how distraught she was over the fact that she had never known them but now…

He brought his head into his hands.

Now he wasn't so sure it was a good idea that she should know exactly who her father was.

Clang!

Ward's head suddenly shot upward, instinctively taking on a defensive stance although he was almost certain he knew who it was clambering down the stairs.

And oh how she never failed to disappoint, causing his face to light up in a genuine smile as she descended down the stairs staring at her boot-clad feet.

"Ward, I need information. Now." She said still doggedly staring down at the ground.

"Already down to business, huh?" He asked teasingly, smirking trying to crack any kind of a smile from her, as her smiles were enough to keep him going in here for as long as they would keep him.

She lifted her head and all of his lighthearted spirit left him as well as the huge grin on his face.

She had tears forming in her eyes and her lip quivered just slightly.

"Ward, I won't ask again."

Ward stepped forward holding his hand shakily as if to touch her face, dangerously straddling the barrier between him and Skye, "Skye…what happened?"

She turned around furiously, stomping away to the foot of the stairs and hovering one foot up threateningly, "If you're gonna get personal, I'm leaving."

Ward almost shouted, thrusting his arm forward, "No!"

As she whipped her head around, eyebrows raised, he held his hands up in surrender with a sigh, "OK I'll help with whatever you need me for."

As she walked back with that same dejected expression on her face, he couldn't help but blurt out, "But at least tell me what caused you to look like this."

Skye snorted derisively, sniffling the tears she was desperately trying to hide, "Gee thanks Ward, always so good with the compliments. Keep 'em coming."

Ward couldn't help but smile hugely as he remembered the first time she had said something along those lines back on the Bus when she had just recovered and Ward came to visit her.

He really missed the twisted simplicity that ignorance had brought them.

His eyes softened considerably as he urged her once more, "You know what I meant, Skye. Please."

Skye stared him down resolutely for a while trying to read his intent and he let her see all of it in its most raw and honest vulnerability.

She must have liked what she saw enough to continue, whispering to the point where Ward had to strain to hear it, "My dad. He's a douchebag."

She laughed ruefully once more, tilting her head up towards the ceiling, "That's the biggest understatement of the century, UGH!"

She looked back at him with a solemn expression and Ward could see she was trying so hard to stick to May's training but she was Skye and he could always read her like an open book, seeing so much pain and anguish in those brown eyes, "I can't believe you were right."

Now it was her turn to step forward, maintaining her stony gaze with him, "I thought maybe if I denied that Raina was telling you anything resembling the truth enough, that it'd be true. I didn't want you to be right."

She continued, no longer hiding her pain from him purposefully, "When I found out you were telling the truth, I just…couldn't help myself."

She spun around once more, as if her eyes were overwhelmed by his ability to see through her, "I went to find him and I found him alright."

Her head sank down in sorrow, "He's a monster, Ward. We saw the dead bodies he just carelessly left behind."

She turned around quickly once more like her defense mechanism had activated again, like she was trying to compensate for the fact that she had exposed too much, let him get too close once more, "Well, maybe he taught you a few things since you claimed to know him."

Ward, having been silently staring at her throughout the whole exchange while listening to her intently, twisted his mouth contritely, "Actually no, I knew of him, but never got to know him. But Skye…"

Skye scoffed, rolling her eyes as she cut him off, "Whatever, you are just as bad so it doesn't really matter."

Ward breathed out, trying to ignoring the painful jabs she was making towards him, "Skye, listen—"

Skye brushed back her bangs, looking everywhere but him, once more abruptly speaking over him, "Now that you're fully aware of my shitty family tree, I did come here for a reason. I need to know everything you know about my father so we can try to apprehend him for the asshole that he is."

Ward turned his head to the side, frantically trying to garner all his patience at her so nonchalantly bypassing his attempts to respond to her confessions, "Of course Skye I'll be more than glad to tell you everything about him, but—"

Skye turned to walk towards the chair, her head turned downward towards the tablet tossing aside his remarks casually, "OK great, so start by telling me what he used to do in the past."

Ward's head snapped upwards towards hers so suddenly that she swore she almost heard a crack, as his nostrils flared with the utmost frustration and helplessness. "Anything but that, Skye. I won't torture you like that."

Skye chuckled mirthlessly, slowly working her way towards him, "I thought I told you I will leave your ass standing here unless you answer my questions."

Ward shook his head defiantly, "I told you, I would never do that to you."

Skye growled menacingly, eyes flaring, "So typical of you, not wanting to tell me the truth."

She stamped all the way back to the stairs, trudging upward angrily, "Fine, tell me when you're done being a jackass."

Ward spoke in the softest tone she's heard from him yet and that's saying something since he always has that special lilting tone reserved just for her, "Skye, I know you think he left you because you're an alien."

She stopped hastily in her tracks, almost dropping the tablet.

She swiftly swiveled to face him once more.

Ward stood in his place, staring at her hopefully.

She stormed down the stairs with a brute force he had never anticipated and he thought that the first thing that she would want to know if how he know about her lineage but surprisingly, she didn't even bother since she most likely knew he already knew everything there was to know about her, "How dare you, Ward! How dare you!?"

She came over to him seething so closely by him that he couldn't help but feel those familiar stirrings in his chest even if she was seconds from murdering his body ruthlessly, "How dare you assume that?"

Ward dared to test her patience just a bit more, feeling a thrill at her staying even just a couple seconds more even though she felt like impaling his head on a stake, "I don't assume. I know. And you're wrong in thinking like that."

Ward trudged onward bravely despite seeing her hands start to shake in rage, "Skye, he's just an asshole, like you said. He never deserved you to begin with and you should never blame the way he is upon yourself."

He continued, noticing her starting to tear up again, "He's affiliated with Hydra, for God's sake, Skye! Only horrible people like me and him are a part of that."

He so longed to place his hands upon her shoulders to console her, as he gently spoke, "Skye…you know you're an amazing woman. You being an alien shouldn't impede upon that; if anything, it should heighten it."

He stared down at the ground dismally in sudden realization, "I guess your father and I are alike in more ways than I thought."

He was expecting her to say something along the lines of "Yeah, you think?" but she remained silent and his worry grew tenfold.

Ward tilted his head, a frown marring his face as his forehead crinkled, lowering his head to try to see past her now blank expression, "Skye? I didn't mean to upset you, but I just wanted you to know—"

Her face came alive once more as she stared at him with an entirely new expression of uncertainty mixed with a bit of indignant confidence, interrupting him again, "Did you mean it?"

Ward gaped, unused to this Skye. He could take hard, cold, unwavering Skye.

But this Skye? He had to tread carefully.

He stuttered, "M-meant what, Skye?"

Skye's eyes softened but remained hard, as if he was slowly chipping away at her tightly built defenses, "Meant what you said earlier about me."

Ward remembered with perfect clarity after a moment because he could praise Skye's remarkable characteristics for days on end and he nodded hesitantly, "I meant every word."

He smiled fondly, "I told you, I will never lie to y—"

A whirring noise shut off and Ward was astonished, practically ready to fall down to his knees in shock, when he realized that she had turned the barrier off between her and him for good before tossing it on to the chair by the staircase, slowly working her way towards him like a lion stalking its prey.

Ward stepped back cautiously, "Skye?"

Skye pulled him close by his shirt, eyelashes fluttering as she kept moving forward toward him, "Don't think I didn't notice you doing those push-ups before without your shirt on before I made noise coming down."

WHAT!?

It's like she had done a complete 180! She wasn't making any sense at all! Had she forgotten what they were talking about just a moment earlier? Had she forgotten her questions, her anger? Now she was talking about him without his shirt on?

Ward stammered and blushed, attempting to rid himself of Skye's grip, "I-I?"

"Skye, you need to move back from me, you're not making any sense and this isn't gonna help," Ward said, not sure who he was trying to convince.

Skye laughed huskily and it went straight to his throbbing cock, "No Ward, quite the opposite. You're the only thing that's making sense for me right now."

She advanced forward once more while he was mesmerized by her sweet lips, "Don't you see? You're the only one who truly knows and accepts me for who I am right now."

It was as if Skye had stopped fighting all the denials she had kept making before and that she couldn't continue acting repulsed by him and accusing him as if her very life were depending upon it.

Ward mumbled, torn between staring at her lips and her eyes, "Skye, stop me, please. You don't know what you need right now. "

Skye chuckled humorlessly, as she placed her hands on his chest, "I don't know about you, but I know I what I need to forget everything. But don't think I've forgotten about what you've done."

Ward darted his eyes downward guiltily, moving back away from her like she burned him, "Don't think I'll ever forget or forgive myself for that."

He expected her to leave now that she finely tormented him like he deserved. And he wouldn't blame her one bit if she did.

Ward's eyes were almost blown out of his skull in pleasure when she grinded her body against his, deliciously torturing him again, "As long as you realize that and I realize that, I'm sure we can come to some sort of standstill."

Skye whipped her body around, biting on his earlobe as she caressed his ear with her last words, beseeching him, "Please, Ward, I know you want me too. Take me."

Who was he ever to deny her anything?

All of his self-control was thrown out the proverbial window as he crushed her body towards hers with a growl, passionately kissing those insolent lips of hers, effectively shutting her up.

She moaned loudly as he brazenly cupped her breasts through her outfit, still grinding up against her.

She panted, breaking away from his lips, eyes hooded, "I need you, Ward."

Ward nodded erratically, as she pushed him onto his single, cramped cot, tossing her black top over her head and shoving her jeans down as well as kicking her boots off to crash down upon him, "Now."

Ward groaned loudly, grinding his teeth together and balling up his fists as she circled her hips above his crotch tantalizingly, "I want to hear you scream for you. Beg me for forgiveness."

Ward's eyes shook with steady love for her as he moaned again, caressing her brown locks as she rocked above him, scratching her nails into his chest, "Skkkye, I l-love you so much. You know I never expect you to forgive me, but I really hope you will let me love you for as long as I live. That's all that matters."

Her eyes watered again, caught between his admission and her bitter hatred for him.

She decided to rock even harder and simultaneously, rid him of all his clothes as he cried out, "Skye!"

She fumbled with his bottoms and he couldn't help but smile affectionately before lifting his hips to help her.

Next came his shirt and as she stroked his chest and biceps, she murmured distractedly, "So this is what you've been up to cooped up in here."

His eyes bulged out as he growled in pleasure when she bent her head to lick one of his nipples, "And did you somehow plan today in the hopes that I would see your…progress?"

Ward moaned when she trailed her hands lower and lower while still sucking on his nipple, "Sk-yeeeee."

Skye smirked devilishly, as her hands reached his aching cock, "I'll take that as a yes."

She ran her hands over his member confidently and he yelped, hands and hips twitching upwards for relief, "Skye! PLEASE!"

Skye growled at him, "You're my prisoner, Grant Ward."

She slowly started licking him, humming as he cried aloud, groaning, "Sweetheart, Skye, please."

She hummed some more around him, pumping as she took him in farther and he panted, desperately grabbing her, "If you keep that up, I'm a goner."

He turned them around with her protesting, not even giving her a warning before inserting his fingers into her lovingly as he growled into her ear and she yelped in surprise, "I know I don't deserve you but I can't help but to think about this every day and night."

He kept pumping in and out of her, as she cried aloud raking her fingernails across his strong shoulders as he continued gruffly with a grunt, "Skye, you mean the world to me and I want to redeem myself in your eyes. I need you as much as you need me."

She groaned, head thrashing as her hips undulated and bucked for more friction, ignoring the twinge that his words brought her, "Ward, stop talking and fuck me already."

Ward smiled dotingly, slipping his fingers out of her to lick them sensuously as she watched fixedly, eyes lidding once more.

She growled impatiently, rolling on top of him again and lowering herself onto him, "Tease me, will you?"

Ward and Skye never broke the heady connection between their eyes as they thrust into one another, moaning and panting all the while.

Ward reached for Skye's hair, as his eyes rolled back into his head, "Skye, you're beautiful."

Another thrust, "So smart."

Skye's teeth rattled on a particular hard plunge, "So witty and quirky."

Skye pulled him in for a kiss, biting down on his lip to stop him from festering the feeling of relief and gratitude she was getting from his acclaims. She lied, he really was too good at complimenting.

He moaned, flipping them around as he drove into her hard, playing with her clit as well, "Anyone would be a fool to leave you. As long as I live, I never will."

Skye panted with heaving breaths, hands fisting in his hair as she closed her eyes, "Faster, Ward!"

He thrust into her hard and fast, groaning as he tweaked her breasts, "Anything for you, sweetheart."

Skye could not keep her eyes closed after hearing this soft tone of voice from him, despite the way that their bodies were moving, "Say it again."

Ward grunted, ramming himself into her mercilessly as she thrust back mirroring his noise, "Sweetheart, I'll do anything for you. Anything. You want those answers? I'll give 'em to you as long as you let me love you."

Skye came with an intense shout, attempting to muffle it by biting down hard on his neck, "Grant!"

Ward groaned, coming undone as well as he sighed, "Skye, I love you so much."

They both huffed and wheezed, gasping for air.

After a moment, Ward anticipated Skye turning from him immediately to pick up her clothes and put them on, but wished she wouldn't anyways.

As she was turned away from him, he put his hands behind his head, "I meant what I said, Skye."

Skye was almost finished putting her last boot on before he swiftly moved forward to place a hand on her shoulder, "Skye."

She shook her shoulder away from him, ignoring him and walking until she picked up the tablet from where she placed it on the chair and turned it back on (funny he had never even remotely thought about escaping what with her here) coldly muttering, "This never happened. I don't know what got into me."

Ward felt an agonizing tug on his heart, as he tentatively called out once more, "Skye?"

She turned to face him one last time, greeting him with that Skye once more, "I'll come back for answers but don't expect anything else."

Skye ascended the stairs with a steely determination and Ward slumped back down on his sheets before shooting back up and realizing with a hopeful smile.

She would be coming back.

And she would be talking to him.

Hopefully, he could get her to see she needed him too.