Breaking The Habit
Title: Breaking The Habit
Author: Diane
Pairing: Grant Ward/Skye
Rating: Teen Rated
Disclaimer: I don't own a thing!
Spoilers/Warnings: An AU future fic which mentions something specific to episode 2.06 “A Fractured House”.
Summary: Even now, after all of the time that had passed and everything that had gone down, you could still set your watch by him. Glancing over at the clock on her nightstand, the bright red LED numbers told her it was 5:29 and, for some unknown reason, she decided that today was the day she was going to try and break him out of his habit.
Author's Notes: I'm not really sure what to make of this piece. The idea popped into my head earlier today after watching (and *cough*re-watching*cough*) that scene and I decided to just go with it. Apologies if it's just a long-winded ramble. ;)
Skye recalled all of the times on the Bus that, bleary-eyed, she would arrive at the makeshift gym to find Ward already there, a fine sheen of sweat covering his skin. She'd put him being awake so early down to his S.H.I.E.L.D. training but, over time, she had come to doubt her reasoning. The memory of watching him on her laptop when he'd been locked in the vault at the Playground and seeing his eyes open at precisely 5:30 every morning before he then went through a fairly intensive workout caused her to believe those doubts were valid.
Even now, after all of the time that had passed and everything that had gone down, you could still set your watch by him. Glancing over at the clock on her nightstand, the bright red LED numbers told her it was 5:29 and, for some unknown reason, she decided that today was the day she was going to try and break him out of his habit.
When about twenty seconds later Ward's eyes opened and he automatically started to get up, Skye curled her fingers around his bicep and pulled him back into bed before rolling on top of him, effectively keeping him in place.
“Skye, I—”
“Need to have early morning sex with my girlfriend? Why yes, Mr Ward, you do,” she teased. Brushing her lips over his, she then slanted her head and deepened the kiss; moaning into his mouth.
“And I will,” he told her, “but after my workout.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head, “do it later.”
Gripping her upper arms, he tried to move her off of him but she quickly sat up and squeezed her inner thighs into his sides. “Skye, please...”
“No,” she repeated. “You've been doing this every single morning for years and I... I don't want it to control you anymore.”
“What are you talking about? I'm just going to exercise.”
Skye bit her lip. “Why can't you do it later, then?” Gently caressing his cheek, she smiled sadly at him. “Why is it that no matter where you are in the world you wake up at precisely 5:30am?”
Ward countered her questions with one of his own. “Why are you all of a sudden asking me about this?”
Shrugging, she replied, “I don't know but it's not the first time I've thought about it or wanted to bring it up with you. “It's not something that started at the Academy, is it?”
He released a quiet sigh and closed his eyes, opening them a moment later. “No,” he stated simply. “It started with Garrett.”
She'd figured as much and, what must have been the millionth time, she cursed the son-of-a-bitch.
“He said real men didn't need much sleep and that a healthy body created a healthy mind.”
Skye frowned. “He left you out in the woods for long periods so it's not like was standing over you or anything.”
“Yeah but I never knew when he'd turn up or if he was out there somewhere watching what I was doing.” Intertwining his fingers with hers, Ward ran his thumb along the back of her hand. “He always appeared when I'd least expect him.”
When he'd first set up his camp using whatever he could find, he'd stolen a wristwatch from someone's tent when they had gone to wash up at the nearby river, and every night he would set the alarm for 5:30am. By the time the battery had gone flat a few months later he'd already conditioned himself to wake up without it.
She could easily believe Garrett would be out there lurking, ready to pounce and catch Ward unawares. It was just another way for the sick bastard to exert more control over him and always have Ward be on his guard. Leaning forward, she snuggled into him and sighed contentedly when he wrapped her in his warm embrace. Her face was tucked under his chin and tilting her head back, she grazed her lips against his chiseled jaw.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Shouldn't I be asking you that?” she said softly. “I'm sorry I pushed you, baby.”
It wasn't the first time she'd called him that but every time she did so he felt a rush of pure warmth run through his entire being. “You didn't,” he reassured her. “How did you know? I mean, you're usually fast asleep when I wake up.”
“I, um, used to watch you on the security feed,” she confessed; her cheeks heating up.
“Every morning?”
“Most mornings.”
He hadn't expected that, figuring that if she did happen to be awake at that time she would've been training with May. “I'll bet I looked pretty creepy.”
“Are you kidding? I thought you looked hot even if I did try to convince myself I was watching you purely for intel purposes.”
Ward's lips quirked upwards. “So, are you going to be waking up before me every morning now?”
“Maybe. Just so you know, I wouldn't be opposed to you waking me up for a more... personal kind of workout.”
“Says the girl who used to bitch at me non-stop for those early morning starts.”
Propping herself up on her elbow, Skye looked down into his whiskey-colored eyes. “A lot's happened since then.”
Sucking his bottom lip into his mouth, he nodded. “I know.”
Brushing her fingers through his thick hair, she smiled. “Listen, I'm not going to complain about you getting up super early to workout. If it's something you want to keep doing, then that's fine. It's just... I don't want Garrett to continue having any kind of hold on you. He's gone and can't hurt you anymore. Whatever you do now is completely your choice now... no one else's.”
Ward swallowed thickly around the lump that had suddenly formed in his throat.
There wasn't anything all that surprising about a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent being an early riser so it wasn't something he'd felt he needed to hide and, besides, when he'd lived on the Bus most of the team were up and about by at least 6am, if not earlier in some cases; Skye, of course, being the exception. The only real difference was that he had this ability to wake up at 5:30 on the dot every single day which he'd drummed into himself out of a sense of... fear and not wanting to disappoint Garrett.
Skye was the first person – that he knew of, at least – who'd wondered if it was connected to something else.
As usual, she'd been right.
“God, I love you so much,” he told her.
“I love you, too.” Their lips met and they shared a long, lingering kiss. Drawing back from him, she raised an eyebrow and asked, “So, do you want to workout now?”
Banding his arms around her waist, he rolled her over onto her back and settled himself in the cradle of her hips. “You know what? I think I might give it a miss this morning and sleep in.”
Flashing him a naughty smirk, Skye rubbed her thumb along his lower lip. “Oh, I can safely guarantee there won't be any sleeping going on.”
Fin