Questions
An Agents of SHIELD fanfic by Aisling Yinyr Ngaio

He interrupted her only when she was zipping up her backpack, almost ready to roll. "Hey..." he started, then stopped hesitantly, unsure of how to continue, especially when she turned and saw him.

"Ward, hey. I'm just about done here," she reported briskly, serious and unsmiling, without even a joke or a smartass quip. Instead, she merely hefted her backpack and looked up at him. "Ready when you are."

Ward wasn't a fanciful or imaginative man, but he could almost picture Skye giving him a military-precise salute at the end of that sentence. He frowned, wondering what was really bothering him: that Skye was being more serious and focused on the mission, or that he was annoyed and even a little worried by the change in his carefree little trainee. He was, after all, her Supervising Officer. He should be happy and proud that she was being so committed to their cause. He should be relieved that she'd outgrown the juvenile behaviour he was always wont to complain about in their earlier days.

What had changed?

"Just... um... checking to see if you have everything you need," he hedged, cursing his own deflection. It was almost time for them to leave, but still he couldn't find the words he wanted to say. Only listening with half an ear as she rattled on about her supplies and Fitz taking care of the gadget side of things, he tried building up the nerve to what Skye would term "snooping".

He took a deep breath as Skye's detailing came to a close, but swallowed his words again at Coulson's sudden appearance from his office. His lips thinned when he saw Skye straighten almost unconsciously at Coulson's "Let's go", the matching steely glances between the two, and the way she automatically turned to trail in the older agent's wake. Making an impulsive decision, he stopped Skye at the top of the stairs, and blurted, "Skye, I… You sure you're OK to go in?"

He could see the startled look on her face, but it was too late to take back the words now, even as she asked confusedly, "Why? What do you mean? I've been out with you guys before… so?"

"It's just… uh…" he floundered for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. Finally he settled with saying as nonchalantly as possible, "Just checking is all. You know, being your S.O. means making sure you're ready for this. I mean…" he paused, then ventured with, "You haven't had as much sleep lately, running yourself ragged hunting Quinn these past days."

She gave a small reassuring smile, the first he'd seen in days. "I'm all right, Ward. Really. And I took a nap while Coulson was making nice-nice with that Italian guy about taking over the op. I'm good to go."

There were so many questions he wanted to follow up with, but just didn't know how, or if this is the time and place for it. Like, What happened to you? or What did Coulson tell you? or even Is there anything you want to tell me? But when Fitz hollered at Skye about their ride, he contented himself with telling his trainee, "You'd tell me if… if something's happened, right?"

Skye called down a reassurance at Fitz's openly curious glance, then looked back at her S.O. with a touch of her usual confidence. "Don't worry, Ward. Everything's all right. Or it will be once we get Quinn and finally take down the Clairvoyant. It'll be fine."

He had to nod and reluctantly let her go at that, even as he couldn't erase the niggling sense of unease deep in his gut. As she made her way out of the Bus, and he picked up the bags for his cover identity, he tried to quash down the irritation at that new, unspoken rapport between his boss and his trainee, as well as the insistent thought that this wasn't supposed to be her fight, not yet, not now that it's become so personal to their team… to Coulson.

But it was just a standard undercover operation. They'd made the plans, he'd assessed the risks, and there wasn't to be any engagement with Cybertek forces, so it should all work out fine with minimal room for error.

Right?

- Finis -