(your little brother never told you, but he loves you so)(your said your mother only smiled in her TV shows)

Blood was spilling from her mouth.

Two bulletholes punctured her lungs, and Skye could literally feel the life draining from her body.

She hissed in pain as she dragged her body across the floor, blood pooling the floor until she made it to the door. Skye was heaving as she propped her back against the wall, and managed to twist the doorknob and creak the door open.

Skye clenched her eyes shut. There was no use. She had no more energy. This was the end of the line for her.

"Help." Her voice was raspy and weak.

There was no one listening to her.

"Help." Blood was gushing from her wounds, her vision was fading in and out.

She didn't have the energy to keep her eyes open.

"Help." His name was at the tip of her tongue.

Ward.

- - -

Agent Ward kicked the door in to Quinn's mansion, two icers in his hand as she shot the first two guards down, readjusted his guns to shoot down another two, before icing the final one.

The main room was clear, and Grant's eyes were dark.

Coulson pointed his gun to Quinn's temple. "Where is Skye?!" His voice was laced with anger that Grant had never heard from the man before. Quinn clicked his tongue.

"You know, Agent Coulson.. It's dangerous to keep sending her in, all alone." Quinn met Coulson's gaze with a slight twitch of his lips. "She means so much to you."

Ward didn't miss how Quinn's eyes flickered to meet his own, as if the two shared some hidden secret. He clenched his hands into a fist, teeth gnawing against eachother as he resisted the urge to wring his his hands around the mans neck.

Skye wasn't supposed to-- she was never meant to get--

Coulson backhanded Quinn with his gun, and Grant shut his eyes, because if Coulson hadn't knocked him out then he sure as hell would of, and there was no way he wouldn't be able to convince himself that wasn't showing a weakness.

*

Grant found her bloodied body in Coulson's arms. It took all he hadnot to collapse to his knee's and cradle Skye's head against his chest. Instead, Grant placed a cold palm against his forehead as Simmon's knealt next to the dying girl, applying pressure to the wounds.

He closed his eyes, heart sinking to his stomach, listening to Coulson repeatedly begging Skye, "No.. No.. Skye.."

Ward felt as if the wind had been knocked from him. He slowly backed up until he was propped against the wall, greatful that no one was paying attention to him. One look at his face, and everyone would know.

He'd been comprimised. He's fallen in love.

He had a weakness.

(And suddenly, Grant was truly able to understand why Garrett tried so hard to keep a weakness from him.)

*

Grants didn't visit Skye while she was recovering. At least, not while she was awake. And definitely not while anyone was around.

But it was all fair game when his teammates were sleeping. Ward slipped into Skye's room while she was recovering twice. The first time, he stood over her, watching the feint, very feint, raise and fall of her chest. The monotonous beeping of the monitor.

He covered his mouth with his hand, rubbing his chin as he silently tried to coach himself back into his cover.

'She shouldn't of been there. She was reckless. It was her fault.' Ward clenched his eyes shut. He could try and sell it to himself over and over, but he wasn't buying it. He couldn't force himself to hate her, and under any other circumstance he would of been able to do it. But not now. Not with Skye.

The second time he visited her, Grant went straight for the chair. His elbows rested on his knees, hands folded in his lap, foot bouncing on the floor impatiently. There was no denying it, no fighting it. No forcing it away.

He loved Skye, and when he saw her bloodied and lifeless in Ian's office, it'd nearly broke it.

He was comprimised.

And now he had no other choice but to work with it.

*

Grant knocked against the wall to announce his arrival. Simmons glanced at him, and Skye adjusted herself in her bed once she realized her Supervisor had came to visit her. The scientist and his charge were talking about something, and the two girls looked at him with curiousity once he'd made his appearance.

"This a, uh.. bad time?" Ward said lightly, the humor in his voice forced.

Skye's lip tilted in a playful smirk. She looked exhausted, yet still so full of life, and it made Grant feel all the lighter. "It is if you're here to bust me out." She shot a playful look at Simmons before mocking her accent, "The warden has extended house arrest."

Jemma scoffed good naturedly, clutching her clip board against her chest. "Terribble accent," She called over her shoulder as she left the room so the two could be alone.

For as much as Skye and Simmons knew, this was his first time visiting her since the incident. If he hadn't trained himself to remain calm in such situations, Ward swore he could feel his heart begin to pound a beat or two quicker.

Skye covered her face in her hands let out a groan. "Ugh. I must look terrible." She's only been awake for a few hours. Skye fidgeted with her fingers nervously, "Simmons won't even bring me a mirror."

Grant thought that she was beautiful. He folded his arms and leaned against the doorway, replying calmly, "I've seen worst."

The injured patient seemed to perk up at that, eyebrows raising in mock shock as she tilted her head sarcastically. "Thanks for that."

He cleared his throat, wondering why the first words that came out of his mouth were always so cold. He'd been working on maintaining his cover after acknowledging his weakness, but that was no reason for him to be rude.

Not when he'd almost lost her.

"No, I uh, you look better than when you were dying." He almost cringed when he finished that sentence, because that was the best he could come up with?

Fortunately, Skye took it like a champ. She scoffed, shaking her head while chuckling. "Swinging, and a-missing, Ward."

He couldn't help breathy laugh that slipped out on it's own accord, and Grant shook his head, a familiar fond feeling swelling in his chest. "It's great to see you.." Alive. Awake. Smiling. "..better."

Skye was staring at her hands timidly when Agent Ward stepped into her room, but she snapped her eyes up to meet his gaze at his soft words. She'd been expecting a lecture, she deserved a lecture. But if Ward was being easy on her, then she really must of screwed up.

"..It was so stupid of me to go in there alone." Skye whispered in a gentle voice, shaking her head at her stupidity. Just thinking about it made her heart clench in fear, the sound of the gun when it fired, the feeling of each bullet--

"No. Lets not do that right now." Ward pulled up the chair next to Skye's bed, and gave her a stern look. "You were brave, Skye. Thanks to you, every S.H.I.E.L.D agent in the country knows Mike Peterson is alive."

"You told them about his magic leg?"

"I wouldn't call it that, but.. yes. Agent Garrett's running point on Mike. He think's he's part of some project called.. DEATHLOK."

"He looked like Death." Skye shifted her gaze to the other side of the room as she remembered Quinn talking to Mike as if he were some kind of robot. "He wouldn't even loook at me. They did something to him. He needs help."

"He's passed help." Ward spit angrily, and Skye caught his gaze once again. Grant was looking at her now, anger in his eyes as he gripped his knee tightly to refrain from raising his voice. "He was there with you Skye. He could of protected you. He let this happen to you. ..And I'll never forgive that."

The brunette

"There will come a moment when you have to commit to this, or bail. Every field agent has a defining moment, ask Coulson. You'll have to make a hard call, to either dedicate yourself to this... or to curl up in a ball and run."

"How can you run.. if you're curled up in a ball?"

"It's my job as your SO to make sure you don't die before then."

"So what was yours, Agent Ward?"

"Ten minutes."

"Your defining moment?"

"Come on, tell me! I want to know.

"She's an asset."

"She is such an a--... asset?"