I don't own Agents of SHIELD nor will I ever. No copyright infringement intended.

Warnings: Mentions of abuse and vomiting.

After Skye badgered Gordon in returning her to the team - against his and Jiaying's better judgment but they allowed it anyway - she joined their efforts to rescue Mike and Lincoln. "All six of us?" she questioned in surprise as she watched Grant try to stay out of everyone's way, looking like he desperately wanted to join them.

"All six of us," Phil confirmed and cringed when Melinda glared at him. He knew no one was happy with the plan - he didn't trust Grant himself, but the man had just saved his life and he wasn't going to forget that.

"I very much object. What the fuck, sir?" Jemma angrily questioned. She resisted the urge to stomp her foot on the ground because she wasn't a child.

"Jemma, watch your tone. We may not like it but Coulson is the director and we have to go along with his plans."

"We're taking down Hydra, Simmons. You don't have to agree with me about Ward but you have to agree that we need to hit them hard. That is why we are coordinating our efforts with Gonzales' team."

"Fine." Jemma glared at Grant, who looked down at the floor, and then stomped away back to the lab.

"This is going to be all kinds of awkward," Skye joked but gave up when no one laughed. She wasn't really surprised considering the tenseness of the situation.

"Are you okay?" Walking up to her was hard for Grant and he asked the question with some hesitation because he didn't know how she was going to react. But he had moved on - truly - and didn't blame Skye for hating him.

"I'm fine." She felt the guilt rise up again at shooting him but pushed it away. He had betrayed them and she felt nothing for him. Honestly.

"Good, I'm glad."

"Grant!" called Kara from another room.

He sighed. "Duty calls. See you when we board the quinjet." Then Grant headed off to see what Kara wanted. "What's wrong?"

"Everything. Nothing," she answered.

"You can tell me anything on your mind. I won't judge you," Grant reminded her.

Kara nodded. "Right. Well, I'm going to be honest with you. We were just kidding ourselves, right? We don't love each other, Grant. You're a good man but we were both just clinging to normalcy any way we could get it and that isn't right. And you're clearly still in love with Skye, no matter how many times you deny it."

"You're breaking up with me," he correctly deduced. It hurt - a lot - but she was right. "I'm sorry, Kara. I tried so hard to be a good man but I'm never going to be."

She wasn't about to stand for his self-loathing and patted him on the shoulder, sighing when he flinched. "It's okay. And you are a good man but we both need help that we can't provide each other." She teared up and wiped the tears away, sick of crying.

"I'm still proud of you, Kara."

"I'm proud of you too, Grant. Now go take down Hydra for good!" That had been their plan all along and she was glad that he had adapted it to work with Phil.

"Will do. We can stay friends, though, right?" Grant questioned worriedly. What if he had driven her away? He was about to go on a long ride with people who hated him.

"Of course."

The two of them hugged and then parted ways. Grant headed to grab the weapons to take onboard when Melinda suddenly appeared and pointed a gun in his face. He raised his hands up. "Don't worry. I don't plan on killing anyone. Just helping out."

"I don't trust you and I will never, Ward. You touch anyone and I will make sure you feel it," Melinda threatened. She didn't like him helping out and she wanted to make sure he knew it.

"Understandable but I'm not planning on double crossing you. Just going to help find Mike and that other guy. That's all there is." True, he had been planning to double cross Phil earlier but he halted those plans in his tracks once he realized the true mission (although Grant still felt like they were hiding something from him and he intended to learn what that was as soon as possible).

"I'm keeping an eye on you. You step out of line and you won't live to regret it." And then she stormed off, leaving him alone with the weapons.

Grant picked them up and then headed to find his seat. He was shocked when Skye sat down next to him. "What are you doing?"

"Don't read into it, I just needed a place to sit," she responded and then turned around so she wasn't facing him. Damn her for still loving this man despite everything he had done.

"Fine with me." He smirked and then winked at Skye. She rolled her eyes at his antics.

Phil, Jemma, and Fitz soon filed in and sat down in their seats. Fitz made sure to avoid looking at Grant and choose to watch Jemma do whatever it was that she was doing.

Grant's guilt blossomed in the presence of the team he had hurt so badly and he tried to compartmentalize it, hoping the feeling would go away. But now that he was with all of them, he couldn't. He missed all of them so much and desperately wanted their forgiveness, even though he knew he'd never get it. Why did he even bother hoping for anything? It had never once worked out for him and he had to accept it sooner rather than later. "This is fun. Just like old times," he joked but backed down when literally everyone glared at him. He covered it up with yet another joke (and wondered if it was a defense mechanism but now was not the time to go deep into his psyche). "Tough crowd."

Skye snorted even though she didn't mean to. "Stop it, Ward," she ordered.

He grinned and put a hand over his mouth so no one saw. "Will do."

Once they were in the air, none of them liked being strapped down so they all unbuckled. Grant headed to another section of the plane, feeling daggers in the back of his head all the way. He was definitely caught off guard when Fitz confronted him less than five minutes after he left. "We were a team! You betrayed us," he accused.

Grant ducked his head. "I'm sorry, Fitz." How could he explain everything now, when they were on a mission? And it's not like they would care anyway - he had still betrayed them in the end. It was time to completely give up hope that Phil would let him back on the team after this mission. Why he had been so stupid to even think it?

"Sorry isn't good enough and it never will be." Fitz scoffed. "There is no reason good enough for what you did and I'm never going to forgive you."

Fuck, he was going to cry and that was the last thing he wanted to do. "I know." Grant watched him walk away and then slid to the floor, cowardly hoping no one else would come over to confront him. He pulled himself together, stood up with a big sigh, and then headed back with the others.

Skye eyed both Fitz and Grant in concern but decided to see what they'd do. She wasn't going to interfere with this no matter how much she wanted to. "So do we know the full plan yet?"

Coulson shook his head. "Ward and I have gone over what could go wrong several times - he wouldn't shut up about it - but we're flying by the seat of our pants."

Jemma bit her lip and then pulled something out of her pocket. "What is that?" Fitz asked her.

"He knows." Her eyes flashed dangerously at Grant.

"It's what Mike used to stop my heart on the Bus," he quietly admitted. He didn't even try to convince her to stop because what was the point?

"Jemma, what are you planning?" Fitz stared at her in shock.

"I told you last time I saw that you that if I ever saw you again, I'd kill you. I'm just following up on my plane."

"Jemma, I don't like the guy myself but that's murder. You don't want to do this," Skye tried.

"I did not see this mission turning out this way," Phil mournfully lamented. "Agent Simmons, stand down!" he ordered.

"No." She was standing her ground and she was going to make sure Grant paid for what he did to Fitz - to them. Sure, she felt terrified and guilty (already) but she'd felt better for it afterwards.

"Do I have to come back there and disarm you?" May called. She didn't want to leave the cockpit but she'd do it for a few seconds if she had to.

Jemma started sobbing and pressed the button. Grant turned red and started gasping for air the instant it hit him. "Jemma, stop!" cried a frantic Skye as she bolted a few feet to his side. "You're killing him! This isn't you!"

"Jemma, do you see him right now? Stop! This is … is revenge! You're not this person. I know you," Fitz tried.

Jemma's hand shook with fear as the sobs rattled her body but she let go. "I'm sorry," she apologized to Grant as Skye helped him off the floor.

And that's when Grant finally lost it himself and he started crying. "No, I know I'm - it's - never going to be good enough but it's all my fault. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"I'm sorry too." She dropped to her seat and handed the device over to Fitz.

"I never meant to hurt you and I can't apologize enough for giving you brain damage, Fitz. But if I hadn't ejected that pod, Garrett would have hurt you like he hurt me and Buddy, and I couldn't let that happen! Maybe I should let Coulson use the Tahiti protocol on me like he promised."

Stunned silence at his outburst but Skye and Phil were the first to recover. "Wait, you promised to do what to Ward?"

"Garrett hurt you?" Phil questioned at the same time.

Still red in the face because of the device that stopped his heart and nearly killed him again, Grant could only nod. "I didn't want to kill them and I would have been punished too if I had let them go on the plane. All three of us probably would have died. I'm sorry, Fitz and Simmons. I'm so fucking sorry you have no idea. I'll never be able to make up for this."

"I think we're even now. I … apologize for cutting off your oxygen in your cell," Fitz mumbled.

"And I was driven by revenge, pure and simple. I can't forgive you - yet, if ever - but I never should have tried to kill you, Ward. I apologize too."

Skye rubbed his shoulders back and forth to ease Grant's shaking. "Anyone want to explain Coulson using the Tahiti protocol on Ward or nah?"

"I offered him a deal and he took it. But Grant, why didn't you tell that Garrett was abusive sooner?"

Grant's face drained again at the word 'abusive' as he struggled to comprehend that fact. "I didn't know?" It was the honest truth.

"I think he's having an epiphany," Fitz offered.

"We'll all sit down and have a long talk about this later," Phil decided and he ignored Skye glowering at him.

She helped him back into his seat and then returned to hers. "You bet your ass we will." His seatbelt rattled and Grant turned to stare at her in shock.

"Are you doing this?"

Skye scoffed nervously. "Uh, yeah, you've missed a lot. I can feel vibrations now and cause earthquakes and shit."

"Oh." That was a lot of information to take in and he was still dealing with everything else that had just happened to even process that bombshell.

A few hours later, they had nearly arrived at their destination - and Hydra took notice. The quinjet began to shake as they were on the attack.

"I'm starting to think this wasn't a very good plan," Phil complained to them as they started to take on fire.

"Ya think?" Melinda shot back as she started maneuvering to avoid everything.

"You look a little green!" a worried Fitz shot at Grant.

He didn't feel all that great either and couldn't chalk most of it up to Jemma trying to kill him earlier. Grant also felt pretty shitty because of the meltdown. "I'm okay," he lied before leaning over and vomiting on the floor.

Everyone grimaced. "Gross. You're having a shitty day today, aren't you? That's gotta suck."

"Anyone have anything to clean it up with? I think Fitz is going to be next." Jemma stood up and rushed to find rags. Grant got up to clean it up but nobody would let him.

They arrived at the Hydra compound relatively intact. Grant staggered off the quinjet but Skye and Phil backed him the entire way. "Are you sure you're up to this, Grant?" Phil didn't want this day to get even worse for the former specialist.

He nodded. "I'm great now." Grant wasn't fully up to par but he was well enough to take down some Hydra agents.

Gunfire erupted almost instantly and Skye put up her hand to level the ground around them, taking down several Hydra agents. Grant stared at her in awe. "Wow."

"Yeah, wow. Let's go!"

"You really should let me give you a quick check-up," Jemma fussed.

"I'm fine, Simmons. Let your guilt talk later," he joked.

She smirked. "Well, at least your sense of humor is still intact. Let's go kick some arse!"

They took down every last Hydra member they could find and it was relief to discover Mike and Lincoln. "Where have you been? We're bored," Mike complained.

"It was nice to make a new friend but I"m ready to get out of this place," Lincoln chimed in.

"We're still blowing it?" Grant confirmed with Phil. He couldn't wait to get out of here and nap for days. But would he do it at one of the safe houses or at the Playground? He was utterly terrified to ask.

Phil nodded. "Go ahead."

"Are either of you hurt?" Jemma demanded as she eyed Grant in concern. He still looked pale and ready to collapse any minute.

"We need to get out of here first," Mike answered.

The place exploded within minutes as they all made their escape, courtesy of some bombs that Grant set.

Once they arrived back at the Playground, Grant nearly face planted as soon as they stepped off the plane but Melinda caught him. "You need to relax." She still didn't trust the former specialist but he didn't look healthy.

"Plan on it," he mumbled.

"What the hell happened to you?" Lance asked as he arrived to greet them.

"Jemma tried to kill Ward and then Hydra tried to kill all of us and he threw up," Skye answered.

Lance blinked. "Oh … kay."

"Let's get you to the medical lab so I can make sure you aren't suffering any ill effects from what I did." Jemma was glad the others had talked her out of it but she didn't like that Grant hadn't even tried to stop her. What was that about? But she could question him later when it didn't look like he was about to keel over.

"Grant?"

He looked up at Phil. "Yeah, boss?"

"Get some rest because we have a lot to talk about when you're on your feet again." Namely, Phil wanted to talk redemption and getting Grant some professional help.

Grant staggered to the medical lab with Jemma and Skye's help and collapsed on the bed with a sigh of relief. He felt safe with them all, even though Jemma had just tried to kill him and Skye shot him a few months earlier. Was he home? He wasn't sure. But he wanted redemption, which wasn't going to be easy (it wasn't supposed to be), and knew he could do it with their support. He wanted to be a better man so badly even if he still didn't think it could happen.

The team could never be what they were but today had been the first step on their way to reconciling. They were a family and families stick with each other through the good and the bad.