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Skye can't help but play that moment in the basement with Ward over and over in her mind that night. His admission that he'd been actively trying to kill himself... Normally she could put up a front, to scold and scorn him for that weakness, his allegiances, his treatment of Fitz and the lingering effects. But just for a moment when she'd first seen the scar on his wrist she'd felt her heart lurch and tighten in her chest.
How could Ward, the most stubborn and dedicated man she'd ever met be so weak? So willing to give up?
She sat up from her bed and pulled out her laptop, quickly hacking into the secure feed of Ward's cell and watching as he lay on his bed. His eyes were open and he seemed to be just staring at the ceiling, his face tired and scruffy. God, she wished someone would shave that crap off his face. Ward had never been anything but clean cut to her, seeing him bearded and clothed in simple prison-like clothes had made her realize how long she had gone without seeing him.
The urge to skulk back down into his cell and demand that he go back to being the man she had fallen in love with was overwhelming. She didn't want to see him defeated and hurt, no matter how angry she had been when she'd learned he was Hydra. Even when Mike Peterson held his life in his hands she'd been unable to let him die.
Was this how love always made you feel? Weak and helpless? If so, Skye couldn't understand why people chased after love most of their lives.
"Better to be alone" she muttered to herself, shutting the laptop and falling back in the bed.
....
Ward was waiting. He knew that she would eventually come back, now that she had finally come down to interrogate him he knew she'd be back. After all, the information he had given her had been truthful and no doubt useful. He hoped that May had been training her in combat more diligently than he had.
But then again, he had only gone through the motions in the beginning, knowing that forming attachments was always a bad idea. With Skye though, he hadn't stood a chance. She was so different from what he'd known his whole life. First the brutal anger of his parents and brother, then the uncaring and manipulative loyalty that Garrett had demanded from him. Skye had merely waltzed into his life and asked for nothing, had treated him like a person instead of a machine (except at the beginning), had kissed him first when he admitted his feelings. She wouldn't let him die, but she wouldn't let him prove what he would do for her. She had chosen S.H.I.E.L.D. and their pseudo family over their new-found romance (if he could call it that before she had realized his betrayal).
He knew she would come back, she would eventually ask more questions, crack that tough May-enforced exterior into the girl he knew was hurting underneath. And when he saw that lonely girl again he knew exactly what he'd say.
I'm sorry. It wasn't worth losing you.
So yes. Ward could be patient. For Skye, he would wait for a lifetime.
...
Coulson and May sat in his Command Room, slowly going through the locations that Hydra were hiding in, planning routes and attacks.
"You know we're going to need more intel from Ward?" May commented, checking another continent and graphing points. "That's why I kept him close by. Skye will be able to extract more information this way" he acknowledged.
"She isn't ready to interrogate someone like Ward. He's been trained as a double agent, and they both are compromised by their feelings" May added.
Coulson sighed, "I think Skye will be able to handle Ward in small doses, and we'll have someone watch all their conversations".
"He'll try to twist her, to get her to care more about him" May warned. "She already cares about him. Why do you think she's so hostile? If she didn't love him she wouldn't be that angry" he pointed out.
May nodded, "That's what worried me".
After a moment the shuffling of papers resumed.
"Ward will give up whatever intel we need if Skye is the one asking" Coulson concluded.
May sighed. So that's how Coulson wants to redeem Ward.