Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Grant sipped his beer as he sat at one of the back tables of McGillevrey’s watching a football game with Natasha, Antoine Triplett, Bobbi Morse, Ricky Mathis, and Ali Morales. They were all specialists, so all of them being in town at the same time didn’t often happen. He had to admit it was nice to see them outside their usual mission parameters.

“Your home team is losing, Ward,” Tripp observed.

“Yeah, well, not a Patriots fan,” Grant replied, grabbing a handful of peanuts from the bowl on the table.

“How do you hail from Massachusetts and not be a Patriots fan?” Ricky asked curiously. “Isn’t that some kind of sacrilege?”

Grant shrugged, having no intention of going into the reasons for his team affiliations. His brother Christian, now a state senator, had always been a Patriots fan just as their father was. Considering what a pompous asshole he’d been since childhood, Grant started rooting for opposing teams in high school just to get a rise out of both his father and older brother. Choosing West Point over Harvard had been the final blow, and he’d remained largely out of touch with his family over the years despite the fact that Christian was often in D.C.

“Another round?” Ali asked. “I can’t remember the last time we all had downtime together.” She’d recently returned from an operation in South America and had been reassigned to the Triskelion for a couple of months.

“I’m out,” Bobbi said, standing up and pulling on her black leather jacket. “I’m headed back out tomorrow. Not all of us can be slackers.”

“Where to this time?” Tripp asked.

“Panama. Probably a short trip, but we’ll see.” With a wave she headed for the entrance.

Ali raised a brow at Grant. “Your turn to pay, but I’ll help you carry them.”

Grant stood and looked at Ricky, Tripp and Natasha. “Anybody hungry?”

“Nachos, man,” Ricky answered, crossing his arms as they all watched Brady getting sacked onscreen. “Ouch. That had to hurt.”

“Your call sign should be Nacho,” Tripp told Ricky, shaking his head in amusement. “Or Taco.”

“I’ll answer to that,” Ricky replied, blue eyes never leaving the screen.

“Probably beats Honeypot,” Natasha said, amused. “How many honeytrap missions have they sent you on lately?”

Grant couldn’t help grinning at that. With his classic Adonis features, blue eyes and curly, dark hair, Ricky was always a draw for the ladies, and he’d been asked to use that on missions so frequently that other specialists had started calling him Honeypot.

Ricky’s response was the middle finger, and Natasha smiled. “Charming. I’ll never understand what women see in you.”

“I’ll have one of the club melts,” Tripp told Grant as he glanced up from the menu.

Grant looked at Natasha. “You in?”

“Same,” she said.

Grant followed Ali to the bar, where they placed their order with one of the bartenders and waited for the beer.

Ali leaned back against the bar. “I thought I’d see you around more now that I’m at the Triskelion.”

“Flash missions are keeping me busy,” Grant answered.

“Well, you know what they say about all work and no play,” Ali murmured, her dark eyes flashing flirtatiously.

It was an invitation, one with which Grant was very familiar. Alisande Morales was a beautiful woman – long, black hair, dark eyes, a curvaceous figure, and a fiery Cuban nature were all things that had attracted him in the past. It certainly wasn’t the first time they’d played this game, and as long as they both remained single, it probably wouldn’t be the last. It was always a simple arrangement with them, and Grant appreciated that simplicity.

But ever since he’d met Skye, he found himself avoiding short term flings. He’d initially put it down to lack of time, but now he knew it had more to do with a lack of interest on his part. He’d been assigned to the Triskelion for just over three months, and he’d spent a lot of time with Skye during that period. Her involvement in flash missions had increased, and though Grant hadn’t yet told her, he knew that the agency was considering bumping Skye’s clearance level since she was routinely being approved for higher level operations on a case by case basis anyway.

For the second time in as many weeks, Grant chose to ignore Ali’s thinly veiled invitation. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Ali shrugged as the beer arrived, and she helped him carry it back to their table. Grant sat back and listened to the others trade good-natured barbs, smiling at a few of them. Since he’d been back in D.C., he’d spent quite a few evenings at McGillevrey’s with Tripp and Natasha. While he still worked long hours, it was probably the first time since his academy days that he’d spent so long in one place.

It allowed him to relax his guard a little and reinforce friendships with fellow team members. The bond of being in the field together would always hold up, but the more casual environment fostered a different dynamic between them all. He’d been irritated when Garrett forced him out of the field, but he was beginning to see the benefits of the breaks other agents occasionally took from deep cover operations.

And then there was Skye. He’d bonded with her as well over the past few months, planning flash missions and subsequently poring over intelligence gathered on those missions. Grant had argued in favor of using Skye for higher level missions because in his opinion, her talents were being wasted at the lower levels. Missions that fell under Victoria Hand were usually a problem because she was a stickler for hard rules, but Coulson and Hill had both approved Skye’s involvement on a number of level five and level six missions that Grant was overseeing.

They often had lunch together, though they were also frequently joined by her boyfriend Patrick Donnelly, who was a computer engineering expert. He’d looked into Patrick’s background, and there were no skeletons. He was a genius in his field and only a couple of years older than Skye. Patrick was also not the average science geek – he was a hipster who played drums for a local band on weekends, and he could find the humor in almost anything. In that way he and Skye were well matched. But as far as Grant could tell their relationship was no more serious now than it had been a few months ago, and he was happier about that than he had any right to be.

He should probably take Ali up on her invitation. But while it was one thing to indulge in a form of no-strings release, it was another to use a friend as a stand-in for someone he couldn’t have. And whether Patrick was in the picture or not, Grant knew he couldn’t have Skye. It wouldn’t work for a number of reasons, the biggest one being that eventually he’d go back to deep cover operations and she would remain in D.C.

It didn’t mean that he didn’t want her, and that tension had been building steadily in recent weeks. A part of him wondered if she felt it as strongly as he did, but the larger and more rational part of him didn’t want to know the answer to that question. Because if she did feel it, he was afraid he’d be tempted to cross the lines he’d been busy drawing in the months since he’d been back.

He rarely saw her after hours, preferring to keep most of their interactions confined to the Triskelion. They had to work late on occasion, and they’d order dinner in on those nights. However, he tried to limit late nights, especially the ones where they were alone together. They were friends, but not the kind who hung out on weekends. They did run into each other at McGillevrey’s fairly often now that he was spending more time there. Skye seemed less comfortable being around the other specialists, so she rarely stuck around long when he was with the others.

As if his thoughts had conjured her presence, he saw Skye at the bar talking to A.J. She was alone, which meant she was probably meeting her friends there. It was Friday night, and Patrick usually had a gig at a local bar not far from McGillevrey’s. He knew that Skye sometimes met Fitz and Jemma there before they all went to watch the band play.

A.J. nodded in his direction and Skye looked over, lifting her hand in greeting when she saw him. He waved back, and she passed some money over to A.J. before walking over to his table.

“Hey,” Skye said, nodding at everyone. “Good game? I noticed the Patriots are losing, so I figured you’d be happy.”

He couldn’t help smiling at that. “It’s the little things in life, right?” He pulled out the chair beside him and she sat down, though he noticed she didn’t remove her jacket. “Getting takeout?”

She nodded. “I’m meeting Jemma and Fitz at my place, and then we’re going to watch Patrick’s band. Do you feel like joining us?” She glanced around the table. “I mean, you’re all welcome, obviously. The band is playing over at Black Cat this weekend. It’s pretty low key.”

Grant saw Ali and Ricky looking at Skye curiously. “Skye, I don’t think you’ve met everyone. Alisande Morales and Ricky Mathis – you’ve probably heard their names before. This is Skye, one of the computer analysts who’s been working with me on operations.”

Skye shook their hands. “I have heard the names.” She looked over at Tripp. “You’re coming tonight, right?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there,” Tripp replied as their food arrived. He took his plate from the waitress. “I like Patrick’s band. They’re pretty good.”

“I haven’t been to a live music venue in a long time,” Natasha commented. “I’m in. Honeypot?”

Skye raised a brow at the nickname. “Honeypot?”

“Oh, the stories I could tell,” Natasha said with a smile even as Ricky flipped her off a second time. “Ricky has a very specialized skill set.”

Tripp and Ali laughed, and Grant shook his head in amusement.

“Fuck you, Nat,” Ricky replied, though he was clearly fighting a grin.

“I really should,” Natasha said easily. “Hell if I know what all the fuss is about. You can’t be that damn good.”

“Oh, I’m good,” Ricky told her.

The waitress approached the table again, this time carrying Skye’s takeout order. Grant watched her as she stood up, carrying one bag in each hand. “Are you taking the bus?”

She gave him a knowing look. “I’ll be fine. It’s only two stops down and believe me - I am super aware of my surroundings after being mugged at Brookland. You don’t have to worry so much.”

Grant stood up. “I’ll walk you out.”

Skye shook her head but didn’t protest when he took the takeout bags from her. Outside the sun was fading on the horizon, and the evening air held the cool, crisp notes that signaled fall was just around the corner. At the bus stop, Skye took the takeout bags from him, and he felt that familiar spark of awareness when her fingers brushed his. He’d hoped it would fade with time, but so far that hadn’t happened.

“Thanks for the escort,” she said, looking up at him with a smile. “See you later?”

Tripp and Natasha were going, so it was likely that Ricky and Ali would join them. “Yeah, I’ll drop by.”

Grant kept his eyes on her as she went up the steps of the bus and settled in a seat by the window as the bus pulled out. He walked back inside, ignoring the brow that Natasha raised in his direction and the way that Ali was watching him, a thoughtful look in her eyes.

***

Skye sat at a front table with Jemma, Fitz, Skye and Natasha and tried not to stare at Grant and Ali at the bar. The way Ali leaned into him was pretty telling, and she was sure if they weren’t lovers now that they had been in the past. And from the looks of it, it wasn’t entirely in the past.

Jemma was talking about an incident that had occurred in the lab, and Skye forced her attention back to the conversation.

“They were caught in flagrante delicto if you know what I mean,” Jemma said. “In the lab!”

“She set herself on fire?” Skye asked, confused. Everyone immediately laughed.

“What? No, although perhaps figuratively that’s accurate because they were quite loud,” Jemma replied. “Poor Dr. Perkins was just mortified, as was I when I followed him into the room to see what the yelling was about. They were hopping about trying to locate knickers and trousers. I saw much more of them than I’m comfortable with.”

Skye laughed. “Nice visual. So, what was that word for fire? You know, the bananas at the restaurant?”

“That’s flambé, Skye, not flagrante,” Jemma said in an exasperated tone. “Remind me never to take you abroad. We’re likely to be arrested for the kind of language mistakes you make.”

“Hey!” Skye protested. “If it’s a computer based language I can kick ass and take all the names, and I’m good at English. Mostly.”

“Need I remind you of the Koreatown pharmacy incident?”

“Fine. I suck at languages. But the fact that the Korean word for intestinal problems sounds an awful lot like salsa is so not my fault,” Skye retorted. “I thought she was asking me if I ate bad salsa or something.”

“Well, I suppose you’re not completely off in thinking flagrante means fire,” Fitz told her. “It’s Medieval Latin and loosely translates to being caught in the midst of a blazing crime. Perhaps you’re improving.”

“Improving?” Grant asked as he, Ali and Ricky rejoined them at the table.

“Fitz is being all bright side about my sad lack of foreign language skills,” Skye explained. “Only slightly embarrassing since I’m sitting at a table with a bunch of language experts.”

He slid a fresh drink in front of her. “True, but none of us can touch you when it comes to computers. We all have our particular skills, but I’ve never seen anyone break through firewalls as fast as you do. I can think of several recent missions that wouldn’t have gone as well as they did if you hadn’t been involved.”

Skye knew that Grant didn’t dole out praise lightly, and he always meant what he said. Though she knew her own value, she couldn’t deny that it was nice to get that validation from someone like Grant. “I’m glad that I’ve been cleared to work on so many of your missions because they are a lot more interesting than most of the work I usually do.”

“Speaking of which, something came up today that we might need to move quickly on,” he told her. “I’ll start going over the intel this weekend, so drop by my office first thing Monday morning.”

Intrigued, she asked, “Do you need me before then?”

Grant shook his head. “No, you should enjoy your weekend. Monday is soon enough.”

“Hey now, no shop talk,” Tripp said, raising his glass. “We all need a break tonight.”

Skye was a little quieter than usual, sitting back and letting the others take over the conversation. She rarely saw Grant outside the office these days. They had lunch together a few times a week, especially if they were going over mission parameters or intel, and she occasionally saw him at McGillevrey’s. They had settled pretty firmly into the work friends category, and they worked extremely well together.

So why did she feel like something was missing? She was tempted to push for more of a relationship outside the office because she liked spending time with him, but then she thought of the sparks that still flared up between them at unexpected moments. She’d felt it again earlier at the bus stop – that residual attraction that seemed intent on sticking around despite her best efforts to ignore it.

Maybe it’s better this way, she thought. Only it didn’t feel better, it felt… wrong.

Jemma was eyeing her with concern, sensing her mood was off, so Skye made an effort to rejoin the conversation. When the band took a break, Patrick joined them.

“Hey, Tripp,” Patrick said, slapping him on the back as he rounded the table. Dragging a chair up beside Skye, he nodded at Grant. “Ward. Nice to see you outside the office.”

Ward nodded in response, and Skye felt Patrick shift awkwardly beside her.

No matter how many times Grant joined them for lunch, Patrick was never quite as comfortable around him as he was with Tripp. When she asked him about it, Patrick sheepishly admitted that Grant intimidated him. Skye could see why that might be true; Grant projected a serious vibe at the Triskelion, and he was self-contained in ways that made it difficult for others to get to know him. He relaxed his guard around her and with friends like Tripp and Natasha, but she’d quickly realized that most people at work were as intimidated by him as poor Greg had been. Jemma and Fitz had admitted to being impressed that she was able to work with him so well since he’d sent more than one analyst and scientist running with a hard stare whenever he didn’t get the answers he needed.

Patrick was an easygoing guy, and he had the sort of laid back personality that allowed him to get along with everyone he met. He was open where Grant was reserved, and it was usually pretty easy to tell what he was thinking. After being burned by one douchebag too many, Skye liked that Patrick was an open book. But there was a certain challenge in getting close to a man like Grant, and the moments when he let her in felt like an accomplishment.

They were as opposite in appearance as they were in personality. Patrick was a few inches shorter and of average build. He hit the gym regularly, but he wasn’t a field agent and didn’t train in the same way. His brown hair was long enough to push the boundaries of SHIELD dress code and had copper highlights that brought out his green eyes. He pulled off the casual hipster look he favored well – he was currently sporting fitted black pants, a Ramones t-shirt worn under a plaid shirt, and a black beanie.

Patrick was handsome, smart, funny and sweet; still, he faded a bit next to Grant and the memory of that night.

It always came back to that night, and Skye knew it wasn’t a fair comparison. That night had been an anomaly. It was perfect because it had been a moment – a fleeting moment of beauty that she had no hope of recapturing. And she genuinely cared about Patrick. He was accessible and available, he was genuine, and he cared about her. So whenever those comparisons rose in her mind, she made every effort to shut them down.

But when Patrick went back for the second set, she couldn’t stop her gaze from drifting to Grant. He might not be accessible or available, and he was way too serious most of the time, but she felt drawn to him. While she was honest enough with herself to admit it was partly physical, she knew that wasn’t the whole reason. And when he left an hour later, offering a ride to Ali, she felt a twinge of jealousy that she knew she shouldn’t be feeling.

A/N: I know it’s been way too long since I updated, and I’m sorry about that. Unfortunately, it couldn’t really be avoided. Anyway, I’m back with part 3 of The Head and the Heart. This installment is two chapters, and I’ll post the second chapter in a couple of days. There will be more of all the characters, and Skye’s SHIELD agent father makes his debut. Then we have Skye’s first time in the field and things don’t go as planned. In other words, lots of things are happening. I should be able to get to the next chapter of Under My Skin by the weekend. Thanks for reading :)

Chapter Text

Grant arrived at the office much earlier than usual on Monday morning. He’d spent the weekend poring over intelligence reports that implicated SynesTek, a company involved with cutting edge nano-technology development, in research and experiments involving 0-8-4 technology acquired on the black-market. Since SHIELD regulated all such technology very carefully, it was now Grant’s job to organize a flash mission to recover the 0-8-4.

If the reports were correct, SynesTek scientists were experimenting with something of Chitauri origin, a likely leftover from the Battle of New York. Various weapons and technological devices had littered the streets in the aftermath of the battle, and many of them had been collected and sold by opportunistic bystanders. SHIELD had been busy tracking and recovering the items for a couple of years.

However, recovering this particular item was going to prove difficult because Grant had yet to figure out a clean way into the research facility. Located in Arlington, it featured top-of-the-line security and a heavy rotation of armed guards, though he was less concerned about the guards than he was about cracking the security system to get into the facility. It was offline and not susceptible to an outside hack, which meant it would have to be done on site. And if the intel he had on the system was accurate, it was going to be a bitch to crack.

He only knew three analysts who could get around that system. There was Greg, the nervous young man he’d encountered on his first day back at the office months ago. He’d worked with him a few times since then, but he didn’t have a very high opinion of the man’s ability to work well under pressure. While Greg had completed some field training at the academy, he’d never been recommended for any live ops.

Mark Freemont was an analyst with a level six clearance. Unlike Greg, he had advanced field training and worked well under tight mission constraints. Unfortunately he ‘d had a bad experience six months before and had yet to clear the psych evaluation that would allow him to work in the field again.

That left Skye, and Grant had serious reservations about using her in the field. She hadn’t even attended the academy, much less received any sort of field training. Field work was about more than just following a mission protocol. It was also about knowing how to adapt on the fly to changing conditions. If things went sideways, as often happened with live ops, she could be hurt.

Grant rubbed his jaw as he considered the information before him. They wanted to switch out the device rather than steal it, which would likely prompt SynesTek to procure another one through black market channels. They also needed to download whatever studies their scientists had already recorded on the artifact. The key was to get in and out of the facility undetected, but the number of guards meant they needed a distraction. If the guards were all looking one way, he could sneak Skye into the facility. He would stay with her from beginning to end; he could even tap another agent to work with them, forming a three man team to recover the artifact.

But first he’d need the okay to take Skye into the field in the first place, and that might be a hard sell with Coulson. Though it was still early, Grant knew Coulson would likely already be in his office. Deciding to take the direct approach, he grabbed the intelligence report and walked down the corridor to Coulson’s office.

The door was open, and Grant paused when he realized Coulson wasn’t alone. Seated across from Coulson was Agent Clay Quartermain, a level eight specialist who headed up SHIELD’s Paranormal Containment Unit. Grant had never worked with Quartermain but Garrett had, and Grant had heard the stories from their time tracking Plan Chu in China more than two decades ago.

Both men looked up at Grant, and Coulson motioned him in. “Agent Ward. What can I do for you?”

Grant nodded at Quartermain and approached Coulson’s desk. “I have the intelligence report on SynesTek. I reviewed it this weekend, but there’s a problem. Their security system is layered, and it’s offline. Getting in to switch out the 0-8-4 without their knowledge is going to be difficult.”

“But not insurmountable if you’re here talking to me,” Coulson observed. “It’s not like you to beat around the bush, Ward.”

No, it wasn’t. Grant got to the point. “There are three analysts who can get around that system, sir. Freemont could do it, but he hasn’t been cleared for field work yet and I can’t afford to take him in if he’s going to crack mid-mission. Greg is capable, but I think using him in field ops is a bad idea because I know he’ll crack mid-mission.”

Coulson nodded. “Agreed. That leaves Skye, doesn’t it?”

“Yes, sir.” He watched as the older man flipped through the intelligence report, his expression inscrutable.

Finally, Coulson looked up at Ward. “I don’t have to explain my concerns, but I’m going to anyway. Skye is capable, yes, but she’s impulsive and she lacks field training of any sort. You and I both know that makes her an incalculable risk in a field mission. I’ve approved her to work with you in the planning stages, but frankly, I wasn’t expecting you to want to take her into the field.”

Ward had been expecting this argument, and he’d already thought of how he would counter it. “I’m aware of the risks, sir, but I think she can handle herself. She might be impulsive, but if we give her this chance, I think she’d follow the protocol exactly as I give it to her. I’ve been working with Skye for months now, and she hasn’t disappointed me yet. She’s smart, and she has good instincts. Her mission assessments have been spot-on.”

Coulson sighed. “What are you proposing, exactly?”

“A three man team disables the security system and gets into the main facility while a second team sets up a distraction to take the guards’ focus off of us. I would stay with Skye from start to finish, sir.”

“Taking untrained personnel on field ops is a damn risky business,” Quartermain said, his customary Texan drawl on display as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Sounds like a bad idea to me.”

Coulson glanced at the other agent briefly but didn’t respond. “I want a full mission plan on my desk with every contingency accounted for before I even consider saying yes, Ward. Sit down with Skye and hash it out today and then get back to me.”

“I’ll be hanging around here for a couple of months, and I was planning to volunteer for flash ops,” Quartermain told Grant, his blue eyes assessing as he ran a hand over his stubbled jaw. “I could step in if you haven’t picked a third for your three man team.”

“You just told me that your sister and her family are in town,” Coulson pointed out. “I’m sure you’ll be busy with them.”

“We’re talking, what? A few hours at most? It won’t be the first family dinner I’ve missed,” the other man replied easily, ruffling his dark blonde hair casually as he stood up. “My teenage nieces will probably want to go shopping anyway, and I’d rather be dropped into the middle of a live fire fight than take them to the mall again. So, what do you say, Ward?”

Grant glanced between the two men but refrained from giving a direct answer as he tried to get a feel for the undercurrent that told him he was missing some crucial information. “You can drop by my office after I work up a mission protocol.”

After Quartermain left, Grant closed the door and turned back to Coulson. “Sir, is there some reason why you don’t want Agent Quartermain involved with this op?”

Coulson sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. After a moment, he finally answered. “I don’t believe he and Skye would work well together. If I approve Skye’s involvement, I think it would be better to use someone else.”

There was definitely more to the story. However, Grant let it drop because he could see that Coulson wasn’t planning to share it. “Understood, sir. I asked Skye to come by my office this morning, so I’ll get to work on a mission plan and full risk assessment. I’ll have it on your desk first thing tomorrow morning.”

Coulson nodded, and Grant headed back to his own office. He was already hashing out a rough plan when Skye arrived holding a tray of coffees and a small pastry bag.

“Hey,” she said, setting the tray and bag on a corner of his desk before passing him one of the coffees. “You look busy.”

“Thanks,” he told her as he accepted the coffee and took a sip. “I’m working on a mission plan for a new flash op.”

“What can I help with?” she asked, sinking into a chair opposite him. “AC said it involved me when I dropped off his breakfast a few minutes ago.”

“If you’re willing, I want to take you into the field on this one.”

Skye leaned forward, surprised. “Wait, seriously?”

Grant nodded. “Seriously. But there will be a strict protocol and you’ll have to follow every order without question. We’ll need to plan this out carefully, consider every potential problem, before Coulson will even consider approving it. Assuming that he does approve the mission plan, is this something you’d be interested in?”

“Yes,” she said without hesitation. “Would I be going in with you or someone else?”

“You’d be with me,” he confirmed, “and maybe one more person.”

Skye took the intelligence report he handed to her and began reading it carefully. After a few moments, she asked, “Why swap out the artifact instead of just taking it?”

“We’re hoping that if we swap it for a modified artifact that they might lose interest in the research altogether,” Grant explained. “We’ve had some success with bait and switch missions in the past. If we steal it, they usually just attempt to get another one through whichever black market channels are providing them. Unfortunately for us, every time we shut down one market, five more spring up.”

“I know,” she said. “I helped Stark develop a Tor-based search engine for the dark web and SHIELD has been using it to uncover black sites selling technology found after the Battle of New York. We’re modifying the program to search within other networks but you’re right – by the time we get one, several more pop up.”

“Besides swapping out the artifact, we’ll also need to access and download whatever research data they’ve already amassed,” he told her. Passing her another folder, he added, “Here’s what we know about both the security system and their internal systems.”

Over the next several hours, they went over the intelligence reports amassed on SynesTek, the blueprints for the building, the specs for both external and internal security, and employee profiles.

Skye had been busy with her laptop for the past hour while Grant made notes on the perimeter security. When she started snickering, he looked up. “What?”

“The CEO, Alan Synes, is also one of the head scientists,” Skye said, “and he seems to spend most of his time at the office. Like, almost all of it. No wife, kids, girlfriend, not even a dog. If we need to get into his computer, we need to make sure he’s not hanging around the lab that night, right?”

“Right,” he said. “Any ideas?”

“It turns out Dr. Synes has very singular tastes,” she said with a smirk. Turning her laptop around, she showed him a web page featuring a busty woman dressed in black leather. In her hand was a padded leather paddle.

Grant stood up and rounded the desk to sit in the chair beside Skye. “He visits the site or the women?”

“Oh, he’s definitely getting paddled for real,” Skye said. “It looks like he had a standing appointment with Miss Spanks-A-Lot up until she dropped all of her clients a month ago. No explanation, though she offered a referral service afterwards. Now, if I can interest him in a new Mistress of Pain, we can be sure he’s otherwise occupied when we go in.”

“How did you even find this?’ he asked curiously.

“Their security system and data may be offline, but they still use the Internet. He used his phone to arrange appointments in the past – not his smartest move,” she told him. “I can route messages through this server so that he thinks he’s getting a referral from a known source. The question is who to refer him to?”

“I might know someone,” Grant said. He considered his contacts – specifically, a woman named Kiara who occasionally passed information to him on the minor peccadilloes and more serious offenses of D.C.’s elite.

“Oh, really?” Skye said, raising a brow in a teasing manner. “So were you the spanker or the spankee? I wouldn’t have pegged you for that kink, but I like that you’re unexpected.”

Grant tried not to smile, but with Skye that was so often a losing battle. His lips twitched, and he said, “Sorry to disappoint you, but neither.”

“What, no kinks? I really don’t believe that. It’s always the buttoned-up types,” she said, clearly amused now.

“Everyone has a kink,” he told her. “Anyone who says otherwise is a liar or they’re fooling themselves.”

“Well, you know what they say,” she said, leaning forward slightly. “It’s only kinky the first time.”

A throat clearing in the doorway interrupted them, and Grant leaned back when he realized how close he was to Skye. Looking up, he saw Coulson standing in the doorway, and he shifted uncomfortably as he wondered how long the older man had been standing there. “Sir.”

“Ward.” Coulson looked at him for a moment before shifting his gaze to Skye. “I’m ready for lunch if you are.”

“Yeah, I’m starving,” Skye said, closing her laptop and standing. “We were just discussing how to find the good Dr. Synes a new dominatrix. Apparently Grant knows someone.”

“Kiara?” Coulson asked.

“Whoa, hold up,” Skye said, turning to Coulson. “You have a kink? One – eww. Two – I don’t need to know that. Three – eww.”

“I don’t have a kink,” Coulson told her, looking exasperated. “She’s a contact.”

“Sure,” Skye said. “Does May know what kind of contacts you have?”

“May also knows Kiara,” Coulson said, raising a brow.

“Well this day is just full of surprises,” she replied. “Let’s pretend you didn’t just tell me that you and May like threesomes.”

“We don’t…” Coulson stopped suddenly. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Yep – you’re so easy,” she said with a smile, grabbing her bag.

Ward realized he was smiling again as he watched Skye winding Coulson up. He would never have suspected that the two of them would be this close. They’d clearly fostered a relationship that was part mentor and mentee, part father and daughter, and there was clear affection between them. He turned to go back to his desk, but Skye stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“Aren’t you coming with us? I mean, it is lunch time,” she pointed out. “You could use a break if we’re going to be at this for the rest of the day.”

He hesitated. “I don’t want to intrude.”

“You’re not intruding,” she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him along. “Come on, Agent Spanky.”

He tried not to laugh. “This is going to be a thing now, isn’t it?”

“Welcome to my world,” Coulson said drily.

Fifteen minutes later they were at a popular nearby park that featured several food trucks and a picnic area beside a pond. A walking path circled the pond, and several people were feeding the ducks as they walked. Although the daily temperature had cooled, the days were still warm enough to encourage people to enjoy the sunshine as much as possible before the long D.C. winter set in.

Grant watched as Skye went straight for the ducks with the bag of food she’d brought them. While most people tended to feed the ducks bread from their sandwiches, Skye had picked up duck pellets and various seeds from a local pet store, and she kept a bag of the food at the office so she could feed them whenever she had time. He suspected she’d keep coming to feed them until they left the area for warmer climates during the winter.

Coulson had insisted on buying and was standing in line to pick up their orders while Grant chose a table near the area where Skye was sharing her bag of feed with a small, pig-tailed girl and her mother. He smiled as the little girl shrieked with laughter, tossing the pellets wildly when the ducks got close to her and ducking behind Skye, who was also laughing.

When a shadow fell over the table he looked up to see Quartermain standing beside him.

“We meet again,” Quartermain said with a smile. “How’s that mission plan coming along?”

Grant stood up. “It’s coming together.”

“Good,” Quartermain said as a tall, blonde woman who appeared to be in her late forties joined them. She was followed by two teenage girls, probably eighteen or nineteen. “This is a co-worker of mine, Grant Ward. Ward, this is my sister Alanna. She’s visiting from Texas for a couple of weeks. And my twin nieces, Henrietta…”

“Henna,” the girl replied, rolling her eyes.

“Henna, and Jenny,” Quartermain continued, shaking his head with amusement. “You used to like it when I called you Henrietta.”

“I was eight, Uncle Clay. I’m in college now and Henrietta sounds like a grandmother,” Henna told him as she sipped her iced coffee.

“Yeah, I guess it does,” he conceded, reaching over to ruffle her blonde bob, earning him another eye roll. Then his eyes shifted to something over Grant’s shoulder; anyone else might have missed the way his shoulders tensed up, but Grant noticed it immediately.

Grant glanced to his left and saw Skye approaching the group slowly. “Run out of food already? I noticed you were sharing.”

“Yeah,” she said, smiling at him hesitantly, but it was clear that her earlier good mood was gone. She seemed nervous, biting her lower lip as she nodded at Quartermain and his sister.

“Men are terrible with introductions,” Alanna said, smiling at Skye and extending her hand. “I’m Alanna Johnson, and these are my daughters, Henna and Jenny.”

Skye shook Alanna’s hand briefly before pulling away. “I’m Skye.”

“Skye – that’s a pretty name,” Alanna commented. “Have you met my brother, Clay?”

“We’ve met,” Skye replied shortly without looking at the tall agent. She crossed her arms, looking relieved when Coulson joined the group with their food.

Grant noticed that Coulson went straight to Skye, taking up a casual, though defensive, stance near her. “Alanna – it’s been a long time. Missing the D.C. intrigue yet?”

“Not at all,” she answered, looking at Skye quizzically. “I’m just your average librarian these days, but the girls are at Georgetown now. I try to make it up a few times a year. How’s May?”

“Running the recruits ragged,” Coulson replied, placing the bags on the table. He touched Skye’s elbow, a brief gesture of reassurance, and Skye relaxed slightly. “You know May.”

Grant was surprised that Coulson seemed to know Quartermain’s family so well and reasoned that Alanna must have worked for SHIELD in the past. Despite the familiarity, the mood was rapidly becoming awkward. Alanna was looking between her brother and Skye, while Skye was actively looking everywhere except at Quartermain.

“Well, we won’t keep you,” Quartermain said suddenly. “We were just heading out anyway. Ward, I’ll drop by your office later today.”

Alanna stepped forward and gave Coulson a hug. “It’s been too long. Tell May I said hello.” She hesitated but then reached for Skye’s hand, squeezing it. “It was nice to meet you, Skye.”

Skye nodded but didn’t say anything. Quartermain looked at her, a faint line between his brows betraying the carefree smile he wore, before turning to join his sister and nieces as they walked towards the park exit.

A heavy silence settled in their wake, and Grant could almost see Skye mentally closing herself off.

“I got that burrito thing you like,” Coulson told Skye. “And the churros.”

“I’m not hungry,” she replied quietly. “Sorry, I just…” she broke off and walked back towards the pond, sitting on the bank and drawing her knees up under her chin.

Coulson sighed. “Do you think you could give us a minute?”

“Why don’t I take the food back to the office,” Grant said, even though a part of him wanted to go to Skye and let her know she wasn’t nearly as alone as she looked in that moment. He watched as Coulson walked over to Skye, sitting beside her without speaking.

Grant felt like he was intruding so he turned away and began walking back to the Triskelion. He might not have all the information, but there was clearly something going on between Quartermain and Skye. He mentally connected the dots as he walked. Quartermain had worked in China for a couple of years when his unit was tracking Plan Chu, and some of that work had been undercover. That was roughly twenty-five years ago, and Skye had admitted that the biological father who had abandoned her was a SHIELD agent.

Clay Quartermain was Skye’s father.

A/N: Okay, so this is now three parts because I'm incapable of editing without adding and adding and… yeah, you get the idea. Really, I had no intention of adding the meeting with Alanna here. It was supposed to happen in part 4 and in a different way, but then I just suddenly felt it needed to be here and in this way. Chapter 3 is written, I just need to tweak a few things. I'll try to get it up before the end of the weekend, and that will complete The Only Exception. If you're familiar with comics, I've dropped a few Easter eggs here that I'm planning to mix a bit with current canon (Plan Chu? Anyone? I'm taking liberties though.) I'm pulling this version of Clay Quartermain from Earth-616, though he's clearly my take on the character. I'm picturing him as a slightly older (fiftyish) Gerard Butler, with dark blonde/light brownish hair. He fits the look of the character for me and could certainly portray a Texan specialist IMO. In comics he had a brother named Alan and two nieces, but I changed Alan to Alanna for reasons. Hope you enjoyed the update!

Chapter Text

Skye kept her eyes on the water as she tried to get herself under control. She’d known about Alanna, of course. The second she and Coulson figured out her father was Clay Quartermain, she’d dug up every piece of information on him that she could find. She knew he’d grown up in Austin, Texas with his parents and a sister. She knew Alanna had worked at SHIELD before she was married and had twin daughters, both sophomores at Georgetown.

She knew that Quartermain had followed in his own father’s footsteps by entering the SHIELD academy. The unit assigned to track down Plan Chu in China had been his first big assignment, and he’d been about her age at the time. She knew he must have met her mother there, and that he had smuggled her out of China before leaving her at the orphanage in Austin. Ironically, she’d grown up with no family only a few miles away from her biological family.

Coulson had been sitting beside her for the last ten minutes, apparently content to let her start the conversation.

Skye sighed and turned her head, resting her cheek on her knee as she looked at Coulson. “I’m fine. It’s just… that was the first time I’d actually seen Alanna and the twins, in person anyway. I’ll cop to occasionally stalking their social media.”

“You and Alanna have a lot in common,” Coulson told her. “She was an analyst when she worked for SHIELD, and sources tell me she’s an amateur hacker.”

“Better than amateur, actually,” Skye said, reaching down to pluck at the grass by her feet. “She helps the Austin PD track online activity for child pornographers and sex offenders in their area. She’s even consulted with the FBI on a few cases.”

She knew it wasn’t healthy to keep such close tabs on a family that wasn’t hers to claim, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. She had something in common with her biological aunt, and Henna and Jenny were both smart, capable young women. Henna was pre-law and had interned at an Austin law firm over the summer. Like her mother, Jenny was good with computers and though she hadn’t yet declared a major, she was considering computer science studies.

They were all tall and blonde and beautiful, hailing from a long-established Austin family who were well respected in the community, and the cynic in her couldn’t help wondering if Quartermain had been ashamed to bring his half-Chinese bastard daughter into the family home.

As if sensing the direction of her thoughts, Coulson said, “For what it’s worth, Alanna never would have left you in the orphanage if she’d known about you. I’m guessing that’s why Clay never told her.”

“I just wish I knew why!” she exlaimed, feeling that familiar frustration boiling up inside her. “Why even bother bringing me back here only to dump me off at St. Agnes? I know he told me that my mother died, but they have orphanages in China. What the hell difference did it make? And when I asked him that, do you know what he told me? That he didn’t want to deny me my American citizenship. God, what an asshole.”

“He’s deflecting, Skye. I’m not denying that you have every right to be angry, and I’m certainly not denying that he can be an asshole, but the only reason he could have had for placing you in an orphanage in his hometown was if he was trying to protect you. From what, I don’t know, but we’ve been over this. There is more to the story than he’s telling.”

“Well, apparently he’s planning to take it to his grave,” she replied, ripping up a few more tufts of grass and tossing them towards the water. She watched the ducks swim over to investigate before turning their attention to a couple of kids tossing bread pieces. “I just want to know something – anything – about my mother. Her name, what she looked like, where she grew up. How did they meet? Did he care about her at all, or did he just feel obligated to clean up his mess?”

“You’re not a mess, and his lack of a relationship with you is his loss,” Coulson stated firmly. “I suspect he knows that. I also suspect he wishes things were different. He never participates in flash ops, but he volunteered when he heard Ward say he wanted to take you into the field. And he may think I don’t know this, but he’s kept tabs on your progress within SHIELD.”

“He’s probably afraid I’ll embarrass him,” she commented with her usual snark, wiping her hands on a napkin she pulled from her pocket. “What did Grant tell him?”

“I don’t know, but I think he’ll probably want to talk it over with you first,” Coulson observed as he stood and offered her a hand. “Ward’s not stupid. He’s going to have questions about Quartermain now.”

“I told him months ago that my father was a SHIELD agent,” she said as they began walking back to the Triskelion.

Coulson looked surprised. “Really?”

“It kind of came out when he asked about how I knew you,” she explained. “I mean, I didn’t name names, but he might guess now.”

“It’s up to you if you want to tell him,” he told her. “I noticed that you and he seem to be friends now.”

“Mostly work friends, but yeah,” she admitted. “Kind of surprising, I know.”

“You know, he wasn’t very happy about being assigned to the Triskelion, but he seems to have adjusted well. Better than I was expecting,” he added. “I’m glad you’re getting a chance to pad your skill set with the flash ops.”

“Are you really going to approve me going into the field or am I wasting my time today?” she asked.

“If I think Ward can get you in and out in one piece, I’ll approve it,” he answered. “Since I don’t think he would have suggested it if he didn’t think he could keep you safe, I’ll probably say yes. But I still want to see that mission plan on my desk first thing in the morning.”

Back at the Triskelion, Coulson got his food from Grant’s office and left, while Skye sat down with her now cold burrito. She could sense Grant watching her, assessing her mood, putting pieces together. She was almost certain he knew; however, he didn’t pry or ask questions, choosing to let her finish her lunch as he went over the blueprints for SynesTek once again.

Grant had sent a runner to talk to his contact Kiara, who was now waiting to hear from Dr. Synes. Skye set up a net to catch messages going to and from Dr. Synes before sending the referral.

“Okay, it’s done,” she stated, looking up at Grant and stretching. “Now we wait to see if he takes the bait.” The sun was fading outside, but Skye knew they had several more hours of work ahead of them if they were going to nail down the plan for Coulson by the morning.

“He will,” Grant confirmed. “That’s not a cold turkey kind of kink, and from what you said, it’s been over a month since his last appointment.”

“How can you be so sure, though?” she asked curiously. “I mean, this Kiara might not be his type.”

“It’s not really about having a type, and humans are predictable by nature. They like patterns and routines, and he’s been off his routine. Kiara knows how to work that to her advantage when necessary.”

“I’ll bet,” she quipped with humor. “So how do you know Kiara?”

“That is classified, Skye. I could tell you but then I’d have to kill you,” he declared with a small smile, his dark eyes fixed on her with that same intensity that always made her pulse race.

A knock on the door interrupted her before she could answer.

“Come in,” Grant called out.

The door opened and Ali sauntered in. She smiled at Skye. “Hey. Mission planning?”

Skye nodded. “We’ve been at it all day and we’re still not finished. AC wants to see it tomorrow morning.”

“Ahh.” She glanced at Grant. “I guess that means you won’t be joining us at McGillevrey’s later?”

“Probably not,” Grant said. “How was your weekend?”

Skye kept her eyes on her laptop screen, but she couldn’t ignore the little burst of relief at the realization that Ali and Grant hadn’t spent the weekend together, followed by a twinge of guilt. She’d been moody all day on Saturday, and Patrick had noticed and commented on it. She’d dismissed it, not wanting to admit even to herself why she felt out of sorts.

Skye continued to work as Ali and Grant talked. But when Ali mentioned Quartermain, her fingers paused on the keyboard.

“He doesn’t usually volunteer for this kind of op, but I heard he’s offered up his services. I bet you jumped on that,” Ali was saying. “Do you know how many people you’re going to need yet?”

“Not yet, but I’ll let you know,” Grant replied.

After Ali left, Skye bit her lip and looked over at Grant. “About Quartermain. I know you could probably use him on this mission.”

Grant stared at her for a moment, and it was clear that he was weighing his response carefully. “You’re the key to this mission going off smoothly, Skye. That means all factors need to be adjusted accordingly. If something will be a distraction, or if it will upset you, then it’s not something we need on the team.”

“You probably figured out that he’s my father,” Skye said, her tone matter of fact even as she swallowed down the nerves that erupted at saying the words out loud. When Grant didn’t look surprised, she sighed and added, “And for the record, I don’t usually react like I did earlier. I knew who he was before I came to work here. I’ve run into him here before, and I’ve had to deal with him in a professional capacity once or twice. It’s not exactly fun, but it is what it is at this point.”

Grant stood up and came to sit beside her. “Coulson thinks it’s a bad idea, Skye, and I’m inclined to agree with him.”

“Coulson is overprotective,” Skye said with a smile.

She thought about what Coulson said earlier about Quartermain trying to protect her. She told herself not to ask, that it didn’t matter why he’d volunteered for the mission. Despite having resigned herself to her orphaned status, she occasionally found herself hoping for more. In those moments she reminded herself that her life wasn’t a Disney movie.

Skye nibbled her bottom lip and pulled her legs up into the chair. She played with the ends of her hair as she asked, “Did he volunteer before or after he heard I’d be going into the field?”

“After,” Grant answered. “He asked about it again earlier too, at the park. It was what we were talking about when you walked up. He said he’d come by my office later.”

She mulled that over as she continued to play with her hair, eyes on the floor. Her fingers stilled when she felt his hand on her back, and she raised her head to see him looking at her with concern.

“I don’t have any problem telling him no, Skye. Yes, we could use him, but we can also manage without him. Ali, Natasha, Ricky and Tripp are all available.”

“Yeah, but we’re going to need a big team on standby, for the distraction and for possible extraction assistance if there’s a problem,” she pointed out. “I hate to tell you this, but if the bullets start flying I won’t be any help at all. My shooting skills suck – the last time May took me to the range, I kept hitting the magazine release instead of the safety release.”

Ward laughed. “I bet she loved that.”

“Her sense of humor isn’t as well developed as AC’s,” she said wryly. “She says the only thing keeping me from being field trained is a mental block, but I don’t know.”

“If Agent May said that then it’s probably true. You’re one of the smartest people I’ve met here, Skye. I think you can probably do anything you put your mind to.”

She stared at him; the steady reassurance in his eyes took her back to that night she first met him at McGillevrey’s. She’d felt like she could talk to him about anything that night and he’d listen, and she felt it again now. And it would be really nice to talk to someone besides May or AC about Quartermain.

Licking her lips nervously, she asked, “Do you want to get a drink when we’re finished? I know we still have a couple of hours’ work to do, but I’d really like to tell you about him – or what I know, which isn’t much.”

He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear. “Yeah, we can do that.”

***

Skye accepted the glass of Scotch from Grant as he joined her at their booth and took a small sip. “Wait – is this the same whisky we shared that night at McGillevrey’s?”

“Johnnie Walker Platinum Label,” he confirmed, smiling at her. “I figured I owe you for sharing the bottle that night.”

They’d decided against McGillevrey’s since it was likely there would be a lot of SHIELD agents there. Instead Grant had driven her to a small jazz bar located in his own neighborhood, and the mellow lighting and music suited her pensive mood.

He listened without comment as she related what she knew of her history. When she was finished, he said, “It’s likely that your mother was from somewhere in the Hunan Province. Agent Garrett was on that mission and from the stories he’s told me about Quartermain, they spent most of their time there. It’s possible that Garrett knows more.”

She was so tempted to have Ward look into it, but she knew it was probably a bad idea. “AC would be cranky if he thought I was stirring this up again. He thinks my father was hiding me in that orphanage and that’s the reason he never told anyone except the family priest. When we went back to St. Agnes to ask questions, Father Thomas admitted that Quartermain confided that I was his daughter. He also confirmed that I was born in China and brought into the country in secret. All of my birth documents were falsified under the name Daisy Johnson, and my mother was listed as a deceased prostitute, father unknown.”

“Johnson is his sister’s married name,” he remarked thoughtfully. “Maybe Daisy was actually the name your mother gave you.”

“Maybe,” she said with a shrug. “I honestly don’t even know if my birth date is accurate since he’s refused to talk to me about any of it. You should have seen his face the day Coulson called him into his office and he saw me sitting there. It was like he was looking at a damn ghost.”

“Well, to be fair you said you made Daisy Johnson disappear after you ran away. If he was keeping tabs on you, he never knew what happened to you. And a fifteen year old girl on the streets… he might have thought you were dead.”

“I would be really surprised if he cared enough to keep tabs on me,” she said, staring at her glass.

“Hey,” Grant said, reaching out and placing his hand over hers. “I’d be really surprised if he didn’t because Coulson has a point. He had no reason to keep you that close to home under the care of the family priest. That doesn’t scream indifference, Skye – and frankly, neither does volunteering to come on a mission that you’re involved in.”

She turned her hand over and linked their fingers together. “I guess I just think it’s safer to assume he doesn’t give a damn. The only people at SHIELD who know he’s my father are Commander Hill, AC, May, and now you. They all agree that it’s better if I don’t poke the sleeping bear and risk dragging up secrets best left buried, but sometimes I think having no family, no sense of self or personal identity, is even worse.”

“You have a lot of people who care about you, though. Maybe Daisy Johnson was a lie, or a partial truth, and maybe you’ll never know the whole story. The important thing is you made yourself the person you are today, and Skye is pretty great.”

“You know, I think this hardened agent front you put on at work is hiding a teddy bear at heart,” she teased him. “Why are you so nice to me?”

“You deserve nice things,” he said quietly, running his thumb over her knuckles before releasing her hand. “Don’t let anyone tell you differently.”

Skye drained the final sip from her glass. “You know what? Put him on the team. I knew what I was getting into when I came to work for SHIELD, and I don’t want mission parameters changing because I have daddy issues. If you can use him, then I’m fine with it.”

He observed her closely for a moment. “You’re sure?”

She nodded firmly. “Absotively, posilutely sure.”

“You’re making up words now, so I think it’s time we get you home,” he joked, referencing her habit of loosely interpreting English whenever she was tipsy.

Grant drove her back to her apartment and walked her up to her door, ensuring she got safely inside.

“Do you want to come in?” she asked, flipping on the lights and slipping out of her shoes.

He shook his head. “It’s late, and I’m presenting our mission plan to Coulson in the morning.”

“Well, we’ve locked that baby down, so I have high hopes he’ll approve it.” Leaning up, she kissed his cheek as he stood in the doorway. “Thanks for listening. I didn’t realize how much I was holding in. I mean, I can talk to May and AC, but May kind of hates Quartermain. I hate to give her any more reasons to give him the stink eye whenever she runs across him at the Triskelion.”

His lips quirked up as she spoke. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Skye.”

She closed the door and locked it, grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge, and sank down onto the sofa. Pulling out her phone, she saw two missed calls from Patrick. She groaned and curled into the corner of her sofa as she pulled the throw blanket over her head. Why did everything have to be so damn complicated?

She liked spending time with Patrick, but she was beginning to suspect she didn’t care about him as much as she should. They’d been in a holding pattern for months, and she was reticent to change anything one way or another, which wasn’t exactly fair to him. Skye wasn’t in the habit of fooling herself – she knew that she had feelings for Grant and that was a large part of the problem. She just didn’t know what to do about it.

***

Skye spent most of Tuesday practicing her hacking technique on a security system Patrick, Greg and Fitz had mocked up for her that closely resembled the one she’d encounter at SynesTek. She’d been at it all morning, and she groaned when she checked the stopwatch to see that she’d passed the eight minute mark once again. “Damn it.”

“Don’t worry,” Jemma said in an encouraging tone. “You’ve only been practicing for a couple of hours. You’ll get it.”

“Yeah, well, I need to get it today,” Skye grumbled, resetting her stopwatch and standing up to stretch. “Starting tonight, we’re on standby and could go at any time.” The nature of flash ops meant being ready to go in at a moment’s notice. In this case, they were simply waiting for Dr. Synes to take an evening off, which would ensure most, if not all, of the other scientists also being out of the office.

“Oww!” Fitz jumped, pulling his hand from a metal plate he’d been resting it on.

“Level?” Jemma asked, pen poised above a pad of paper.

“Probably a five,” Fitz told her, shaking his hand.

“Excellent! That should be sufficient for us to gauge the remaining pain responses,” Jemma replied, making some notes before setting the pad of paper aside.

“I can’t believe you guys are shocking each other to test the new stunner guns,” Skye remarked. “Don’t scientists use mice or monkeys for that kind of thing? Not that I’m suggesting animal cruelty is the way to go, but there has to be a better way than human trials.”

“Skye has a very good point,” Fitz agreed. “If we had a monkey…”

“Oh, Fitz!” Jemma interrupted, crossing her arms and raising a brow. “We both know if you had a monkey in this lab, it would never see an experiment or a day’s work.”

“Well, I could teach it to assist me in the lab,” he protested. “Patrick said he’d help me.”

“I think a monkey in the lab is a great idea,” Patrick offered, looking up from the computer across the room. “Okay, I’ve input that data, Simmons. I’ll add another circuit board, and you should be good to go.”

Skye tuned them out as she got back to work, hacking the system again and again over the next couple of hours.

“You’re under eight minutes now,” Patrick noted at one point, strolling over to check her progress. “That’s good.”

“Grant said the closer I can get it to five minutes, the better, so I’m going to keep going,” she told him. “I think I can at least break six minutes by the end of the day.” Compared to the external system, she was pretty sure the firewalls on the computers inside would be a piece of cake, but she planned to run through several of her programs that night to determine which ones might work the best.

“It’s so exciting that this is your first field mission!” Jemma exclaimed. “But with all the armed guards, it does sound quite dangerous. I’m actually really surprised Agent Coulson approved it, not to mention Commander Hill.”

“She’ll be with Agents Ward and Romanoff,” Fitz pointed out. “They’re the best of the best, and then agents like Quartermain, Morales, Mathis and Tripp on the external team. She couldn’t be safer, really. And besides, they probably won’t even know they were there. That’s the whole point.”

“Best case scenario,” Jemma argued. “What about worst case scenario?”

“Yeah, apparently that one involves us going out the back door,” Skye interrupted. “And by back door, I mean Dr. Synes’ office window on the twentieth floor while Romanoff runs interference. I really, really hope it doesn’t come to that because I’ll probably throw up all over Grant on the way down.”

“You’ll be fine, but if you do throw up, I’ll forgive you. And we can practice the jump at the range tonight if you want.”

She turned to see Grant standing in the doorway. “Yeah, no thanks. I’m currently living in denial that this will be even remotely necessary.”

He walked over to her and nodded at the mocked up system. “How’s that going?”

“I’m under eight minutes,” she said, holding up the stopwatch to show her last time of seven minutes, fifteen seconds. “It’s starting to go faster now, so I think I can break six by tonight.”

“Alright good. I’m going to order dinner in while I work through the plans with the team. Do you want anything?”

“What are you getting?” she asked.

“Cheeseburger.”

“Ooh, rebel,” she quipped. “If it’s from Eddie’s, I’ll have the same but…”

“Hold the lettuce, extra sauce,” he finished the order. “Fries and a vanilla shake?”

She nodded. “Can you order the chicken sandwich for AC? He’s working late again tonight, so I’m going to make him take a break and eat with me.”

Grant left and she checked her watch, sighing when she realized she had a good three hours of work ahead of her.

“You know, Agent Ward would probably make a good boyfriend, the way he remembers the little details,” Jemma observed. When Fitz and Patrick turned to stare at her, she hastened to explain, “Not that I think he should be anyone’s boyfriend, but it’s nice that he remembers what Skye likes. Of course, you do that too, right Patrick? Of course you do. And really, it’s probably his training and nothing more than that. He even remembered what kind of sandwich I like at the panini place that day, and we’ve never…”

Skye was behind Fitz and Patrick, and she threw up her hands when Jemma paused, a clear sign that she should stop talking.

“Uh – we’ve never spent any time together, really,” she finished awkwardly.

“What are you blathering about?” Fitz asked incredulously. “Do you really want to date Agent Ward?”

“Of course not. Don’t be ridiculous,” Jemma answered him, raising a brow in Skye’s direction. “It’s merely a scientific observation.”

Skye rolled her eyes and turned back to the security system, resetting the timer and before connecting her tablet to the mainframe and getting back to work.

A/N: Okay, it's now four parts lol. I decided to post the parts as I'm finishing since there's so much more happening here than I originally planned for - this chapter alone is over 4,000 words. Next up we'll have some planning leading up the mission, the mission itself, and the aftermath. We'll get some May, too, because I've finally decided how I want to use her in this story. Hope you enjoyed the update! Last part coming soon :)

Chapter Text

Skye pumped her fist in the air as she checked her stopwatch. “Yes! Five fifty!”

“You’re under six minutes?” Jemma asked, turning away from her computer with a smile.

“Finally. This system is a bitch,” she answered, slapping the screen. “The security is layered and contains an impressive failsafe protocol. Trip something and you have a problem that usually involves starting over.”

“Hey now – hands off the hardware,” Patrick protested, though it was clear he was teasing her. “What did she ever do to you?”

“Besides take up my entire day?” Skye rolled her eyes and raised her hands. “Fine, hands off your precious hardware.”

Flexing his bicep, he wiggled his brows suggestively and said, “If you want hardware…”

Skye snorted with laughter. “Stop. Just no.”

He grinned playfully and walked back over to the workstation he’d set up with Fitz. Skye couldn’t help smiling when she realized they had Planet of the Apes playing as they worked.

“See, I knew you could do it,” Jemma told her. “Do you think you’ll actually go in tonight?”

She shrugged. “Grant seems to think Dr. Synes is going to jump at the chance to set up an appointment with his contact.” When she saw how Jemma was looking at her, she asked, “What?”

“Oh, nothing.” Jemma busied herself with straightening up the area where Skye had been working.

“Nothing?” Skye crossed her arms as she looked at her friend. “Just spit it out.”

“It’s just that you’re spending a lot of time with Agent Ward,” Jemma said quietly, glancing sideways at Patrick and Fitz as if to make sure they weren’t paying attention. “And you talk about him a lot.”

It wasn’t the first time Jemma had dropped less than subtle hints about Skye’s feelings for Grant, and as usual Skye chose to deflect because she just wasn’t ready to go there yet. “We’ve been working together a lot. It’s not like we’re hanging out after hours.”

She hadn’t mentioned going for a drink with Grant the night before. Jemma was perceptive and since she knew their history, Skye didn’t want to give her friend any more reasons to continue prodding for answers on a topic she was still mostly avoiding.

Jemma didn’t look like she believed her, but she let it drop. “So, how do you suppose he knows a dominatrix? Was it an undercover case? Or do you think he… you know.”

Skye raised a brow. “What?”

“You know…” Jemma prompted. “I mean, does that seem like something he’s into?”

“Why are you asking me?” Lowering her voice, she continued, “We slept together once and it wasn’t like that, anyway. It was…” she paused, beginning to regret bringing it up.

It was beautiful, and it was something she’d been trying to put behind her for months – ten, to be exact. She’d even thought she was successful for a while. But she couldn’t say that to Jemma because if she did, she’d never hear the end of the topic. Jemma was curious enough about the enigmatic specialist and Skye’s feelings for him. Skye definitely didn’t want to encourage her.

Jemma let the subject of Agent Ward drop once again, but Skye knew it was only temporary as she turned her attention back to the security system. Working for another hour brought her time down to five minutes and thirty seconds, and Skye was feeling very pleased with herself by the time Grant came by the lab to let her know the food had arrived.

“Five thirty,” she told him smugly, holding up the stopwatch. “I’ve been throwing down with that system all damn day, so I feel very accomplished right now.”

He nodded in approval as he smiled at her. “I never doubted you. I knew you were the best person for this assignment.”

“Do we know if we’re going in yet?” she asked as she gathered her purse and jacket from Jemma’s workstation.

Turning back to him, she tried not to let her eyes wander his tall, lean frame. Grant was dressed more casually now in dark jeans and a white T-shirt, and she looked away quickly. She didn’t want to notice how his T-shirt always molded to his biceps and drew attention to the spot where it tucked just above his belt buckle.

“We should know within the hour,” he replied.

He was leaning against her workstation, his dark eyes following her movements closely in that way that always sent awareness shooting through her veins. It was something she was used to, this low level buzz of excitement that hummed to life whenever he was near. But getting used to it didn’t make it any easier to ignore.

“We’ll be working late,” Jemma said as she joined them. “I want to know the moment you’re back.”

“Jemma, you don’t have to work late because I’m going into the field,” Skye told her. “I’ll be fine.”

“Oh, we have a lot of work anyway,” Jemma explained, waving a hand at her pristine workstation. She paused and cleared her throat. “Well, I might not look busy, but appearances can be very deceiving.”

Grant’s lips twitched at that, and Skye pursed her lips to keep from laughing. Instead she stepped forward and hugged her friend. “You are really not subtle, but I still love you.”

Jemma hugged her tightly before releasing her and fixing Grant with a stern gaze. “I expect you to take care of her.”

“Understood, Dr. Simmons,” he answered formally.

Patrick and Fitz joined them and Fitz held out something in his hand. “Here. I want you to have this for luck.”

Skye smiled as she took the small, wooden monkey from him. Carved by a street artist, Skye had given it to Fitz as a good luck present before he passed his boards for his last doctorate. “You realize I’m just going upstairs to eat dinner, right? We might not even go tonight.”

“Still, the luck can never start too early. We’ll wait here for you,” Fitz insisted.

Patrick squeezed her hand and said, “Come see me before you leave, okay?”

She nodded and then followed Grant upstairs to a conference room that had been taken over by SHIELD specialists.

The entire team was there, including Natasha, Ali, Tripp, Quartermain and Mathis. There were also a few new faces, and Skye bit her lip, suddenly feeling shy about being part of a team including the likes of the Black Widow. They were already seated at the large conference table, passing bags of food amid a buzz of at least half a dozen conversations, but Skye hung back when Grant crossed to the table.

Almost as if she sensed Skye’s sudden reticence to join the group, Natasha pushed out the chair next to her at the conference table. “How’s it going with the system?”

Skye sat down and smiled at the other woman. “Five minutes, thirty seconds.”

Natasha nodded approvingly. “You know that’s the best time anyone’s ever recorded for cracking a system that complicated, right? I admit I doubted that you’d be able to break six, and especially not by tonight, but Ward had faith in you.”

Skye struggled to contain the giddy feeling that came with words of praise from someone like Natasha. She was definitely having a fangirl moment, one she was trying to hide. “Computers have always been easy for me.” She noticed Quartermain watching them, but she ignored him as Grant slid a couple of bags over to her.

When she stood up, Natasha raised a brow. “Not sticking around?”

“I’ll be back, but I have AC’s dinner,” she answered, holding up the bags. “He’s been a workaholic lately. Sometimes I think the only time he takes a break is when I’m there.”

“I’ll let you know if we get the call,” Grant told her. “If we’re going in tonight, we’ll have the mission brief in about an hour and we’ll hit the facility around nine to take advantage of the shift change preparations that start between nine and ten.”

Nodding, Skye left and went down the hall to Coulson’s office, listening to make sure he was alone before entering without knocking. “Dinner time – Grant ordered a chicken sandwich for you.”

Coulson looked tired as he stood and stretched. He’d loosened his tie and rolled up his sleeves, and his desk was covered with the usual mess of papers that he always seemed to be sifting through lately. “How’s your time on the security system?” he asked as he began gathering the papers he’d been perusing and shifting them to his top desk drawer.

“Five minutes thirty,” she replied, waiting for him to finish his task before passing one of the bags over to him and unpacking her own meal. “I mean, did you really doubt I could do it?”

“No. You broke into SHIELD when you were eighteen years old using a laptop and mostly self-taught hacking methods,” he said. “If there’s one thing I’ve never doubted, it’s your skill with computers.”

“I feel a ‘but’ coming,” Skye noted as she bit into a fry.

He joined her on the other side of his desk, choosing the chair next to her and lining his food up beside hers. He took a bite of his sandwich; after a moment, he continued. “I want you to promise me that you will follow the mission protocol to the letter and follow whatever orders you’re given exactly as they’re given to you. Ward is one of the best, and I trust him to get you safely in and out, but you can’t hesitate if he gives you an order – even if it’s one you don’t agree with.”

She nodded. “I know. And I want you to know that I’m taking this seriously. I don’t want to let you down.” She didn’t want to let Grant down either, and it was alarming how quickly his good opinion had become so important to her. “Do you want me to call you when we’re back?”

“I’ll be here,” he told her. “And May – did you know she considered volunteering for the op? But considering the other team members in play, I think she knew it would be overkill.”

Skye felt a tightening in her throat, and she swallowed hard. “I guess the line forms behind Jemma.” When he shot her a questioning look, she said, “Jemma, Fitz and Patrick are pretending to work late tonight, but they’re really just going to be waiting around for me to get back.”

“I know that things are difficult with Quartermain back here,” he told her quietly. “Maybe it’s not much, but I want you to know I’m proud of what you’ve accomplished. We might be an odd little family, but I do think of you as family, Skye.”

She knew he did; she’d known it since her university days, when he would call or drop by to check on her and make sure she had what she needed. He’d paid for her meal plan out of his own pocket, even though he tried to pass it off as part of her scholarship. He’d taken her shopping for warmer clothes before winter set in. More than that, he’d always listened to her.

He could have easily arrested her after the hacking incident, but instead he’d helped her. And instead of washing his hands of her once he got the charges dropped, he took her for dinner at a local diner and actually listened to her story. He’d told her then that if she was willing to do her part, he was willing to help her.

She might be an orphan, but Grant was right at the bar. She had people who cared about her. Jemma and Fitz, Coulson and May – they wouldn’t hesitate to put themselves on the line for her, and she’d return the favor. Slowly but surely, Grant was being added to that circle as well. She knew he was taking a risk on her with this mission, one that could affect his own career if she screwed up.

“I know,” she finally replied. “I know they say blood is thicker than water, but sometimes I think the family ties you build can be stronger than the ones you’re born with. You’re the best family I could have chosen.”

“We’re having a moment – May will be sorry she missed this,” he said, passing her a ketchup pack.

She laughed, knowing full well that May wouldn’t be sorry at all. Although she and the specialist known as The Cavalry had gotten off to a rocky start, with the latter not inclined to trust a smart mouth hacker, they’d long ago reached an understanding. Initially Coulson was the string that connected them, but eventually they found other common ground. Now Skye considered her as much family as Coulson, and she felt pretty sure May returned the sentiment even though she wasn’t given to the emotional bonding that Coulson often initiated.

Skye’s phone beeped, and she pulled it from her pocket to check the messages. “It looks like we’re a go. Is it weird that I’m both excited and nervous?”

“No. Remind me to tell you about my first field op some time,” he answered, looking over at her. “You’ll be fine, Skye. Just follow orders. Besides, I told Ward that if he brings you back in less than perfect condition, he’ll be riding a desk in Alaska for the next two years.”

She raised a brow, wondering if he was joking. “Nice – no pressure or anything.” When she saw him eyeing her vanilla milkshake, she smiled. “You have order envy right now, don’t you?”

He passed her a paper cup from his desk, and she carefully poured part of the thick shake into the cup before passing it back to him. In perfect sync, they both dipped their fries and took a bite.

“It really shouldn’t be, but it is good,” he admitted.

After they finished their meal, Skye went down to let Jemma, Fitz and Patrick know the mission was on for that night. They were all upbeat, but she could sense the underlying worry responsible for keeping them there well past their normal working hours.

***

After arriving at the facility, the two teams split up. While Bravo team was ready to employ a distraction if it became necessary, Grant and Natasha stayed with Skye. Entry into the facility went off without a hitch as Skye bested her earlier time by fifteen seconds. She figured the adrenaline gave her an edge she didn’t have when practicing in the lab.

Ward had calculated the guards’ movements with military precision. They were more relaxed when prepping for the shift change, with longer periods between rounds than usual. Once she’d accessed the security on site, Skye had been able to perform a hack that looped the security feed of the grounds and building just long enough for them to get inside and up to Synes’ office. Once inside she allowed the cameras to go back to normal transmission except for the one in the office, which she kept on a loop. Upon exiting, she would loop the feed again, and no one would ever know they’d been there.

Skye was now at Synes’ computer transferring all the files related to the Chitauri artifact, which Grant and Natasha had found in the adjoining lab. The swap had been made, and he was now waiting for her while Natasha kept an eye on movements within the building via the security feed.

Skye’s brows drew together as she found a locked file labeled Weapons Research. “Since when does SynesTek do weapons research?”

“They don’t,” Grant told her. “They don’t have any military contracts for weapons. It’s all technology based research.”

“Okay, well, I think they’re branching out,” she said slowly as she ran an algorithm to unlock the file. In less than a minute she was in, and she began scanning the document. “Grant, you need to see this. The Chitauri artifact isn’t the only thing they’re experimenting with.”

She felt Grant’s breath against her ear as he leaned down to view the information on the screen. “What the hell is an obelisk?”

“No idea, but it sounds like bad news. According to this, it petrifies all living test subjects – they’ve got photos.” She shuddered as she pulled up a photo of a group of petrified mice in a cage. “Have you seen anything like this before?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“I think the research is in the beginning stages,” she remarked as she continued scanning the notes. “I don’t understand all the scientific mumbo jumbo, but it doesn’t sound like they know what causes the artifact to activate the petrification process. But they are looking into ways to weaponize it, and that sounds like a very, very bad idea to me. I mean, it has to be alien tech, right?”

“Probably,” Grant agreed. “Any idea where we might find it?”

Skye was busy going through Synes’ financial records. “He set aside millions for weapons research about a month ago, and if this wire transfer I’m looking at is for that artifact, it also cost him millions. You didn’t see anything with an obelisk shape in the lab?”

“No.” Grant straightened up and rounded the desk. “Get the financial information on that wire transfer.”

Skye did as he asked and then watched as he began a methodical search of the office. He was running his hands over one of the interior walls when he paused. A moment later, a panel slid out and revealed what had to be the artifact in question. It was encased in glass, but Skye felt the hair along her arms rise up. She could feel the energy emanating from the silver obelisk from across the room.

“Damn it.” Grant motioned for Natasha to join him, and the two studied the glass case. “Ideas?”

“Skye, is there any internal security for this office?” Natasha asked.

“I’ve already cut the internal security,” Skye explained. “It was wired to the computer and the lab door. Other than the cameras which I’ve looped, there is nothing else.”

“Not exactly true,” Grant said. “There’s a pressure sensitive plate underneath the obelisk, and I have no doubt guards will come running if we remove it. But if it’s not tied into the main computer system then we don’t really have time to figure it out.”

Skye looked at her watch and realized they had less than five minutes to get out and make their egress window while the shift change was happening. She could see Grant and Natasha making those same calculations.

Natasha was looking at Ward now, and a sort of understanding passed between them. “We can’t leave behind alien tech like this – not if it’s as dangerous as it sounds and they’re actually trying to weaponize it.”

Grant looked over at Skye, and their eyes met for a brief moment. He seemed conflicted – about what she wasn’t sure, but she assumed he was trying to figure out the best way to remove the obelisk.

“Do you think breaking the glass will set off an alarm?” Natasha asked him as she walked around the case to view it from the other side.

“I think it’s the pressure plate we have to worry about,” he stated. He seemed resigned as he turned his attention back to Skye. “New plan. Once we take this artifact off the plate, we’re going to have company.”

Skye swallowed hard and resisted the urge to look at the wall of windows behind her. “We’re going to take the back door.”

He nodded. “We need to be ready to move the second we have this artifact secured. Are you finished on your end?”

Skye checked the progress of her download, noting it was now complete. She detached the external hard drive from Synes’ computer and erased records of what she’d accessed. “Do you want me to delete the research they’ve done on the obelisk?” When he nodded, she systematically brought up any folders referencing the artifact and deleted them before erasing her trail once again. “Done.”

Natasha passed a small, metal case over to Grant. “I’m going to get into position. Two minutes.” She walked quickly from the room, and Skye took a moment to appreciate that she could look totally calm despite their current situation. Even Grant was tense, so Skye knew there was probably a good reason for her to feel nervous.

Grant hit the button on his comm device. “Alpha team to Bravo.”

Tripp’s voice came across the comms. “Alpha team go.”

“We’re going to be coming in hot,” Grant said, glancing at the timer he’d set on his watch. “Back door exit in one forty-five, Widow is running cleanup. We may need assistance.”

“Understood,” Tripp replied. “En route to egress.”

Skye joined Grant next to the glass case as she tried to swallow the nerves erupting inside her. Between the weird energy the artifact was giving off and knowing she was going to have to jump for it in less than two minutes, her earlier excitement over the mission had been thoroughly squashed.

“The notes mentioned the scientists were using a robotic glove to handle the obelisk,” Grant said, his focus squarely on the glass case. “Check his desk.”

Skye searched the desk quickly and found the glove in question. “I can use the glove while you…”

“No,” he said flatly, his expression grim. “Give it to me. I want you to use the laser to cut the glass open and get the case ready. Under no circumstances do you touch this, do you understand?”

She bit back the argument on the tip of her tongue as she passed him the glove, recalling what Coulson had said earlier. “Yes.”

“If anything happens to me, you go straight to Natasha’s location. You can’t hesitate, Skye,” he told her, dark eyes holding hers. “Assuming we get this out of the building, you continue to egress with the case no matter what happens. If I tell you to go, you go.”

She nodded, trying to still the slight tremor she noticed in her hands. “I understand. Can you feel it?”

“Feel what?” he asked, handing her the laser.

Skye gripped the laser tightly and tilted her head towards the obelisk. “That. I can feel it, like… I don’t know. Some kind of energy.”

Grant looked worried for a moment. “Skye you need to focus.”

“Okay.” Knowing they were running out of time, she quickly used the laser to cut the top of the glass. Then she held the case open as Grant reached in and removed the obelisk.

The alarm was instantaneous, and Skye quickly closed the case and took the glove from Grant, stuffing it into the small bag looped over her shoulder. Grant was already at the window. He used a sonic device to shatter the glass, attached the cord to the heavy door leading to the lab and before Skye even had a chance to look down, he lifted her against him and they were freefalling.

Skye squeezed her eyes shut and turned her face against his shoulder, surprised by how quickly they were on the ground. And then they were on the move. Skye held onto the case and stayed behind Grant as they rounded the first corner. Two guards were there, but Grant took them down easily before they could even aim their guns.

It was when they rounded the second corner that they ran into trouble. Skye stopped abruptly upon seeing the six guards coming at them, but Grant didn’t hesitate to engage. He disarmed two and took down a third. A shot was fired, but since Grant never slowed down, she didn’t think he was hit.

Before she could continue on to the egress point as he’d instructed her to do, she felt a hand on her arm. Reacting instinctively, she turned and swung the case, hitting the guard across the head in a move that sent him crashing to the ground. She tried to move around him but he grabbed her leg, pulling her down as well.

The case hit the ground with her and popped open, sending the obelisk rolling out onto the ground towards Skye and the guard. When it touched her hand it lit up with an orange glow that made them both pause. That energy was pulling at her again; as the guard reached for the obelisk, she grabbed it and hit him across the head with it.

What happened next was horrifying. The side of his face turned to stone, and the man fell away from her, screaming and clutching at his face. She scooted backwards to get away from him, the glowing obelisk still in her hand. Grabbing the case, she dropped the artifact inside and then held up her hand, frantic as she checked for signs of her own skin turning to stone.

“Skye!”

She looked up as Grant ran towards her, grabbing her hand to check for signs of injury.

She shook her head, breathing heavily as she said, “I’m okay.” She looked over at the guard, noting he was still now. Skye didn’t know if he was unconscious or dead, and the idea that she might have accidentally killed him made her feel sick.

However, she knew they didn’t have time for that because more guards were coming. As they went around the last corner on their way to the gate, they encountered two more armed men. When one raised his gun, Grant shoved her against the side of the building. Two shots were fired in quick succession and she felt Grant’s body jerk against her before he turned and engaged both men.

Then Quartermain, Natasha and Ricky were there. Quartermain grabbed Skye’s arm and pulled her towards Natasha. “Get her out of here.”

Skye ran when Natasha told her to. They encountered two more guards at the gate, but they were no match for Natasha, who took them out in a blur of movement. She pulled Skye through the gate and across the road to the van waiting for them.

Tripp slid the door open and Skye climbed in next to Ali. She caught a glimpse of Natasha as she slipped back through the gate before Tripp slammed the door and the van was on the move.

“Are you hurt?” Tripp asked her.

Skye released her death grip on the metal case and raised her hand up, once more checking for signs that she was going to be turned to stone. Her skin looked the same as before. She didn’t understand it, but the obelisk hadn’t affected her in the same way that it had the guard.

“No,” she said, her voice cracking slightly. She allowed Tripp to help her out of the vest, realizing that he was checking her for injuries as he did so.

He ran practiced hands over her arms and then her ribs. “No pain anywhere?”

She shook her head.

“Tripp, there’s blood on the vest,” Ali said, casting a concerned glance in Skye’s direction before returning to her inspection of the vest Skye had been wearing.

“It’s not mine,” Skye whispered, taking a deep breath to quell the nausea that still threatened. “I think Grant was hit.”

“Was he down?” Tripp asked. When she shook her head again, he said, “Okay then, he’s probably fine, Skye. They’ll be right behind us.”

When they arrived back at the Triskelion and parked in the Operations bay, Coulson and May were both waiting outside for them.

“What the hell happened?” Coulson demanded as he helped Skye out of the van. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m okay,” Skye said. Then the nausea she’d been holding in check returned with a vengeance, and she turned away as she lost the contents of her stomach. May passed her a napkin and she wiped her mouth. “There was a second artifact – a dangerous one. We couldn’t leave it there.”

Coulson took the metal case that Tripp passed over to him. “What is it?”

“Don’t touch it,” Skye warned him. “One of the guards… he…” she broke off and looked down at her hands again. She wondered how long she’d continue checking to make sure she wasn’t having a delayed reaction to the artifact. She kept expecting to see a change, but there was none.

“He what?” May asked, watching Skye closely.

“He tried to take the case from me and when I hit him with it, it opened and the artifact came out. We were struggling and…” she paused again. “It touched the side of his face. His skin turned to stone, and it was… I don’t know. Spreading?” Should she try to explain what had really happened? Grant had seen her holding the artifact; that self-preservation instinct that had kept her safe after she ran away from the orphanage was telling her to keep that part quiet, at least until she talked to him.

“He was petrified?” Coulson asked incredulously.

“I don’t know. I guess. It was fast and then we were running again, and there were more guards with guns… I think Grant was shot protecting me,” she said suddenly.

“They’re on their way in, Skye, so I think he’s fine,” Coulson told her as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Let’s get you inside.”

Jemma, Fitz and Patrick were waiting in the conference room where the team had planned to debrief after the mission. The second Jemma saw Skye, she rushed forward. “What happened?”

Skye hugged Jemma tightly. “I’m fine. Maybe a little bruised but fine.” She released her and hugged Fitz and Patrick in turn. Digging into her pocket, she pulled out the little carved monkey and held it out to Fitz. “You have no idea how much I needed that luck tonight.”

Jemma herded her onto a chair and reached for one of the first aid kits on the table. “Your face is bruised.”

“That’s what happens when you get shoved into the side of a building,” Skye said. She meant it as a joke, but if her companions’ faces were anything to go by, it fell flat. “It’s Grant I’m worried about. He put himself between me and two guys with guns, and there was blood on my vest. I think he might have been shot.” She tilted her face up, allowing Jemma to clean and then apply a salve to her abrasions.

“There,” Jemma said, tilting Skye’s head this way and that as she checked for evidence of more injuries. “The salve has a numbing agent in it.”

Skye looked at her watch, wondering how far behind them the other team was, when Natasha, Ricky, Grant and Quartermain entered the room. She stood quickly but only managed a few steps before Grant had crossed the room to her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his concern written clearly on his face. He grabbed her hands and just as she had earlier, he inspected them carefully for any signs of petrification. Seeing none, he ran his hands over her arms and then tilted her face up to get a look at the minor abrasions on her cheek.

“I’m fine,” she assured him. “You’re the one who stepped in front of a bullet, Grant. There was blood on my vest.” She could see it now – a rip in the sleeve of his shirt near his shoulder.

When she reached up and traced the edges of the torn material, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “I’m fine, Skye. It’s just a flesh wound.”

Maybe that was true, but it was a flesh wound he’d sustained taking a bullet meant for her. “Jemma, can you…”

But Jemma was already herding Grant into a chair near her medical supplies. “Sit,” she ordered. “And remove your shirt, please.”

Grant seemed a little bemused by the scientist’s sudden bossiness, but he didn’t argue with her. He pulled his T-shirt over his head and allowed the younger woman to clean and dress the wound before prodding gently at his ribs.

“You have some bruising here,” Jemma informed him, her tone sympathetic.

“I’m aware,” he replied with an uncharacteristically dry humor as he smiled at Jemma. “This is nothing really. Give me a couple of hot and cold packs, and I’ll be fine in a day – two, tops.”

He grabbed a bag he’d left in the conference room and pulled on a fresh T-shirt as Jemma turned her attention to the other team members. After assessing that no further medical care was needed, she packed up her supplies.

Jemma, Fitz and Patrick left before the debriefing and Skye remained silent as the team gave Coulson a breakdown of the mission, only adding information when specifically asked for it. She waited for the petrified guard to come up, wondering how Grant would explain what he’d seen, but Coulson didn’t ask for further details.

But when they were done, he asked her to come to his office. Closing the door carefully behind him, he sat beside her on the small sofa against the wall. “Skye, I need you to tell me again what happened with the guard.”

Fear swept through her. She could tell he knew more than he’d said earlier. “You’ve heard of this artifact before, haven’t you?”

Coulson sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. “When we rooted out the remaining Hydra cells in the late eighties and early nineties, there was talk of an artifact they were searching for called the Obelisk – or at least, that’s what Hydra agents were calling it. They referred to it as a weapon – people who touched it were petrified while still alive, sometimes very slowly. The original Obelisk was recovered by the SSR in the forties, along with documentation of human trials. Most people who came into contact with the Obelisk died horrible deaths, but they documented one or two cases where a person survived contact with the artifact. They were forced to abandon it when they retreated, and that artifact has been locked up in a SHIELD vault for decades.”

“Someone stole it?” she guessed, thinking that’s how it had ended up on the black market.

He shook his head. “They were searching for a second Obelisk, one reported to be in the Hunan Province in China. Maybe they found it.”

Her blood ran cold, and she stared down at her hands again. They were shaking, so she clenched her fingers together to still the small movement.

“Skye, I need you to tell me the truth. When Ward came in, he checked your hands like he was afraid something was wrong with you. Did you touch the artifact?”

“No,” she responded automatically. Coulson didn’t say anything, and the silence stretched out – one minute and then two.

Don’t say anything. That inner voice that had acted as her survival guide for so many years was practically vibrating with the need for secrecy. But another voice reminded her of their earlier conversation. It reminded her that Coulson was her family and if she couldn’t trust him, she couldn’t trust anyone.

Squeezing her eyes shut, she nodded and whispered, “Yes.”

Her hands were clenched together, and she opened her eyes when she felt his hands over hers. He was looking at them, inspecting them for damage that miraculously wasn’t there.

“I could feel it,” she finally continued. “I could feel the energy of the artifact as soon as I got close to it. When the case opened and it fell out, it touched my hand and it started glowing – it was orange, and there were these symbols on it. Everything was happening so fast that I just grabbed it and hit the guard with it. I didn’t mean to hurt him.”

“No, of course not,” Coulson told her. “Skye, you were protecting yourself. And Ward made the right decision because we absolutely couldn’t leave something that dangerous in the hands of someone trying to figure out how to weaponize it.”

“Why didn’t it hurt me like it hurt the guard?” It was the burning question that had been in the forefront of her thoughts since the moment she’d touched it and realized she wasn’t suffering any ill effects.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. He sighed and shook his head. “Right now we’re not going to tell anyone, though. Ward had a chance to say something at the debriefing, and he didn’t. He’s protecting you. I assume he’s the only one who saw what happened?”

“Him and the guard, who’s probably dead by now,” she said, feeling the sting of tears threatening. “It’s not a coincidence that Quartermain was in the Hunan Province, where this artifact was rumored to be, or that he smuggled me out of that same area.”

“No, probably not. The mission that he was on was two-fold at the time. There were rumors of people with powers in that area, in addition to rumors of a Hydra cell looking for alien artifacts. There were also rumors of a specific 0-8-4 that Hydra was after, but we never found out exactly what they were looking for. I think now we can safely assume they were looking for the Obelisk – or one of them. God knows how many of them there actually are.”

“The symbols are different from the Chitauri artifacts I’ve seen,” Skye pointed out. “It’s not Chitauri. And I’ve never seen the symbols before, but they seemed familiar somehow when they started glowing.”

“I’m going to ask FitzSimmons to start looking into it tomorrow,” Coulson advised her. “We can trust them. Meanwhile, I’m going to try to get some answers out of Quartermain. We just have to be careful how we approach this, okay?”

She nodded. “I get it.” She scooted over and wrapped her arms around him. “Thank you.”

“Things will be fine,” he told her. “We’re going to figure it out.”

***

Ward sank into his office chair, still buzzing with adrenaline and a low level anxiety that he’d yet to shake off. He knew it was because of what had happened with Skye. It had started when he realized their mission was about to go completely to hell, and it had intensified in that moment he’d seen her pick up the Obelisk. He’d been too far away to stop her, and remnants of the terror that had shot through him were still lingering.

He had left out intel during the debriefing, something he’d never done before. He should have told Coulson what happened with the guard – that both the guard and Skye had touched the artifact. Somehow Skye had emerged from the contact unscathed, and he recalled her earlier talk of the energy she could feel from the artifact. He hadn’t felt anything, but he could tell it wasn’t just nerves talking by the way she’d looked at the Obelisk. She actually had felt something – he was sure of it.

They knew nothing about the Obelisk besides the fact that it was clearly dangerous. What happened with Skye was surely relevant. It would be useful information for the scientists to have when they began researching the artifact. Still, he knew he wasn’t going to say anything for fear that Skye could end up being tested right alongside it. He’d been with SHIELD long enough to know that people who were different were viewed with suspicion and sometimes dealt with aggressively.

He’d never questioned the right or wrong of that before; he’d simply followed orders. But he’d be damned if he let anyone hurt Skye while trying to figure out the secrets of an alien artifact. Grant wondered when he’d crossed the lines he’d drawn with Skye. He’d been so busy drawing them he hadn’t even realized when they started to overlap, rendering them virtually useless. He’d even briefly considered leaving the artifact behind as Skye’s safety had been paramount. Natasha had also noticed his moment of indecision before he got himself back on track.

His door opened, and he was surprised to see Quartermain.

The older specialist closed the door behind him and crossed the room to stand before Grant’s desk. His posture was rigid, lines of tension betraying that this wasn’t a social visit. Grant remained seated, choosing to maintain a less aggressive stance as he waited to see why he was there.

“I have one question, and I need an honest answer from you,” Quartermain finally said. “Did Skye touch the Obelisk?”

Grant raised his brows. “If she had, we’d all know it. You saw what happened to the guard.” He was wary now but he didn’t allow that to show as he sat back in his chair. “Have a seat.”

Quartermain ignored the offer, his customary friendly drawl gone as he said, “You came in here and the first thing you did was check her hands – fucking stupid if you were trying to hide what happened. So I know she touched it, Ward. She obviously wasn’t hurt. I just need to know that you’re not going to tell anyone about it.”

“She didn’t touch it,” Ward said slowly and evenly as he stood to face the older man. He’d known immediately that checking her hands was a tell, and he’d tried to cover his mistake by checking her for other injuries. Clearly that hadn’t worked with Quartermain.

They stared each other down for several minutes, neither one of them backing down.

“You have a reputation for being a straight arrow – a good little soldier,” Quartermain said. “But we both know how SHIELD treats people who are different. There is no reason to drag Skye into that.”

The realization that Quartermain’s aggression was rooted in concern hit Grant suddenly. “Like I said, she didn’t touch it. It fell out of the case when they both went down, and it hit the guard in the face. The end.”

Quartermain looked weary all of a sudden. “Good.”

He turned to leave but paused when Grant called out to him. “If you care so much about your daughter, you could try talking to her because she thinks you don’t give a shit. Then again, if that were true you wouldn’t be here. You could try telling her the truth.”

Quartermain ignored that and left the office, leaving Grant to think about what had just happened. Skye had been in Coulson’s office for a while now, so he walked down the hall and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” Coulson called out.

Grant entered and looked around but didn’t see Skye. “I just wanted to check on Skye, sir. Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. Jemma was going to drive her home,” Coulson replied.

Jemma, not Patrick. He wondered if there was a reason for that other than maybe Skye still being freaked out by what had happened earlier. “Good.”

Coulson rose and held out his hand. “Thank you for what you did earlier.”

There was subtext to that statement, and Grant realized that Skye must have told him about what happened with the Obelisk. He shook his hand, and a silent understanding passed between them. Before Grant left, he said, “Quartermain came by my office – had a few questions.”

Coulson nodded. “I’ll be talking to him soon.”

Grant decided to pack it in for the night when he returned to his office. Tomorrow would be early enough to deal with the written reports. He got his bike and was halfway home before he turned around, knowing he needed to talk to Skye before he’d be able to sleep.

***

Skye sat on her sofa and sipped the tea Jemma made for her before she left. She’d offered to stay, but Skye needed some time alone to process everything that had happened earlier. Jemma had understood, but she knew she’d hurt Patrick’s feelings when she’d declined his offer to come home with her. He’d been uncharacteristically quiet after Grant had returned, and Skye knew they were rapidly approaching a point where they’d need to talk about their relationship.

A knock on her door startled her. Her heart rose as she wondered if it was Grant. But when she opened the door, she was surprised to see Quartermain. They stared at each other, each assessing the other, and Skye wondered how he even knew where she lived.

“Can I come in?” he finally asked.

She considered telling him no, but her curiosity won out. She stepped aside, allowing him to enter before closing the door. Skye went back to the sofa and sat, feeling a little vulnerable considering she was wearing the Captain America pajamas Fitz had given her the previous Christmas after they’d finished reading the old forties stories together.

“What are you doing here?” she asked. He was still just standing in the middle of her living room, looking around at her home, and it was making her uncomfortable. She knew she wasn’t the neatest person. She wondered what it looked like through his eyes - wondered if he felt any connection at all to her. 

“I want to make sure you’re not going to tell anyone about what happened with the Obelisk,” he told her. “Ward kept it out of the mission debrief, and I don’t think he’s going to say anything.”

“Nothing happened with the Obelisk except that it hit that poor guard when it fell out of the case,” she said, wondering if he really knew something or if he was just fishing. But why would he?

“Good. Stick to that story,” he advised. “I know that you’re close to Coulson and the scientists, but you need to protect yourself first.”

“Except I can trust Coulson, and Jemma, and Fitz,” she shot back. “I can trust Grant.”

“Skye, trust is relative, and it only goes so far. You need to keep this to yourself.”

She stood up so fast that she bumped the table, spilling her tea in the process. “Get out.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re right – I touched the Obelisk and do you know what happened to me? Nothing. It glowed, and it had symbols that seemed familiar to me even though I’ve never seen them before. I could feel the energy – I know it’s alien. I have no idea why the guard was hurt but I wasn’t, but you do, right? You have answers that you’ve chosen to keep from me. You threw me away. You left me in an orphanage with a bunch of lies and fake documents and a necklace I hoped belonged to my mother but for all I know, it’s another piece of the lie you planted. When I finally found you, you stuck to the lies. You refused to have anything to do with me. And then you have the nerve to come here and tell me who I can or can’t trust? Get out!”

She was shaking with her outrage and anger, and all of the hurt she’d pushed down over the years was now threatening to come spilling out. She needed him to leave before that happened.

“You already told him, didn’t you? Damn it, Skye,” he said wearily. “Do you know what SHIELD could do to you? How they handle situations they don’t understand?”

“Then explain it to me,” she demanded. “Who was my mother? Was I born in the Hunan Province? Is that where you met her, when you were there? Was she… different?”

But he shook his head and started for the door.

“Oh right, leaving is what you’re good at,” she lashed out bitterly, feeling the tears start to slide down her cheeks, and that only made her angrier. The last thing she wanted was to show weakness in front of Clay Quartermain. “Don’t come back here.”

Before Quartermain reached the door, it opened and Grant was there. He looked at Skye and then at Quartermain, and then he stepped to the side. “You heard her.”

Quartermain stared at Grant but didn’t argue, and Grant closed the door and locked it.

Skye sat down on the sofa and covered her face with her hands as she tried to stop the tears now flowing freely. She rarely cried, so when she finally let it out it was like a dam opening. When Grant sat down beside her, she turned and wrapped her arms around him as she let herself really cry for the first time in months.

“Hey, it’s okay,” he said quietly, pulling her close.

It was several minutes before she got herself under control. “He has a lot of nerve, I’ll give him that.”

“He came to talk to me earlier,” Grant said, settling back against the sofa and allowing her to settle into his side. “He obviously knows something about the Obelisk, and he guessed that you’d touched it. The thing is, I think he knew it wouldn’t hurt you – how, I don’t know. But he’s worried about that knowledge falling into SHIELD hands.”

“I told Coulson,” she said quietly. “I was scared to death, but he suspected I wasn’t telling him everything and I just… I couldn’t lie to him. He’s keeping it out of the mission details, and he’s going to ask Fitz and Jemma to start looking into the artifact. And I want to tell them. The more information they have, the more we can figure out what’s going on.”

“Is that wise?” he asked. “Look, I’ll trust your judgment, but one thing I agree with Quartermain about is that the fewer people who know, the better. It’s alien, Skye, and your reaction to it is abnormal. He’s right that SHIELD wouldn’t see that as a positive thing.”

“I know, but Jemma and Fitz would never do anything to hurt me. I trust them,” she replied, suddenly yawning. “God, I’m exhausted.”

“You should sleep,” he said. “Between the adrenaline and the emotional rollercoaster you’ve been on since then, you need the rest.”

“Will you stay? Just until I fall asleep.”

“I can stay,” he answered quietly.

Skye pulled her feet onto the sofa and settled more firmly against him, He was stroking her hair now, and she felt her muscles relaxing as she felt herself letting go of the fear and tension of the night.

***

When Skye woke the following morning, she was alone in her bed. She had a vague recollection of Grant carrying her to the bedroom and tucking her in. She thought she remembered the feel of his lips against her forehead, but it was such a sentimental gesture that she figured she’d probably dreamed that part.

It was already past noon. Coulson had told her to take the day off, so Skye wasn’t in a hurry as she made coffee and breakfast and caught up on a few episodes of TV she’d missed while working late in recent weeks.

But she was really just killing time. She took a shower around four and got dressed. She took the bus to the Triskelion, detouring past the park to feed the ducks on her way to the main building. This time she didn’t go to the Communications Division or Operations. She headed to the training wing.

May was right where Skye thought she’d be – in the gym, sparring with one of other specialists. She was also clearly winning.

When she spied Skye waiting for her, she stopped the sparring match and walked over to her. “You look better today.”

Skye nodded, playing with the scarf around her neck. “I feel better today.” And she did. Maybe she’d needed a good cry. “I want you to teach me how to defend myself in the field.”

May grabbed a bottle of water, opening it and taking a sip. “What happened last night with Ward getting winged – that wasn’t your fault. Any agent would have taken that bullet for you, Skye. They knew you weren’t field trained going in and that made you their responsibility.”

“I know,” Skye said. “Still, I’d like to learn whatever you think you can teach me.”

May regarded her, her face impassive. “You took out a guard with the case you were carrying. That’s not a bad start. Defending yourself is as much about reading your environment and being resourceful as it is about being a skilled fighter.”

“Yeah I think that was my fear response,” Skye remarked with a small smile. “But then he pulled me down with him. If not for the… the thing he came into contact with, he probably would have gotten the upper hand again.”

She knew that Coulson had probably already told May about what really happened. She’d told him it was okay, and she trusted May as much as Coulson at this point. If she was ever going to figure out the puzzle pieces of her past, she was going to need all of them to help her.

May chose not to comment on that, for which Skye was actually grateful. “Tomorrow morning, six a.m. sharp.”

Skye groaned. “Seriously? I was thinking more after hours.”

May raised a brow, clearly not willing to budge on the time.

She sighed. “Fine. Six it is. Thanks, May.”

The older woman nodded, and Skye felt a new bounce in her step as she left. There were so many things she didn’t feel she could control, but she could control this. She could learn not to be a liability in the field. It was no guarantee that she’d always have the upper hand or that she’d never be in danger, but it was a start. And just like Coulson had told her years ago in that little diner, every journey began with a single step in the right direction.

A/N: Well this was a long update lol. Like 9,000 words long (yikes.) I was going to make it two chapters, but you guys have been patient so I pushed on through with the editing today to finish it all up. Again, I don’t have a beta so if you see any big errors, please let me know. Editing something this long can be a challenge. I’ll get back to editing Chapter 12 of Under My Skin this week. I’m going to try to update by the weekend because I’m going out of town for a couple of days, but we’ll see how it goes. Hope you enjoyed the conclusion to part 3 of the series! Thanks for reading!

The next installment of this series has had a title change. The new title (and a brief summary) are below:

Maybe your head (is not where your heart is) – Part 4 of The Head and the Heart series.

Summary: Skye continues to search for answers to the questions of her past with the help of Coulson and FitzSimmons. When she has an unexpected run-in with Alanna, both women come to some profound realizations. Meanwhile, Grant is upset when he realizes that Skye broke protocol to get him out of a sticky situation he encountered in the field. As he struggles to put his feelings in perspective and clear his head, Skye starts embracing her growing feelings for the first time, leading to a difficult conversation with Patrick.