Coulson burst through the doors just seconds after Ward had knocked Garrett out, just as Ward turned to sever Skye's bonds. Ward saw relief wash visibly across the man's face, followed by a mix of anger and exhaustion and just a hint of admiration.

He walked forward and pulled Ward into a tight hug. "Don't you ever do something like that again," he said sharply, and Ward nodded against his shoulder. "My god—I thought—I thought I'd find"—

Coulson shook his head, unable to say the words aloud, and released Ward. He turned and lifted Fitz, who was still unconscious. As he did so, the door burst open again and Ward found himself face to face with the rest of them—Darcy and Steve at the front, with Thor and Jane at their heels, followed by Natasha, Clint, Tony, Bruce, and—looking hopelessly out of place in dim farmhouse—Pepper.

Darcy crossed the room to hug Ward, pulling Skye into her embrace too. When she released them, she stepped away, making sure to trample on a few of Garrett's splayed fingers.

"We're going to get you back to the Hub. Steve, is a team on their way to take Garrett?" Coulson said, shifting Fitz in his arms.

"We notified Hand," Steve said. "She's bringing a team to collect him and transport him to the Fridge."

They boarded a transport vehicle waiting outside after Coulson transferred Fitz to Thor's arms so Jane could examine him as best she could. The farmhouse was surrounded by now; level eights securing Garrett and a med team assisting Jane in caring for Fitz. Agent Hand approached their transport vehicle, her usually cold face bright with anger.

"You saved them," she said bluntly, folding her arms and looking down at Ward, who was sitting next to Skye and trying to still the shaking in his hands. "And you didn't put a bullet in Garrett, which is more than I could have done."

He stared back at her, unsure of what to say.

"He set up a live feed of the building, did you know that?" she continued, and Ward looked up at Steve, who had climbed in next to him. "Because he's a sick bastard, and he was planning on making all of us watch when he killed you."

Ward shuddered instinctively, and Skye took his hand, her fingers cold and shaking.

"Do you know what Garrett was going to do?" Hand asked, her dark eyes flashing with anger at the thought as her eyes rested briefly on Skye. "Before you got there, he spoke into the live feed and said"—

"Victoria," Steve said sharply, and she shut her teeth with a sharp little click.

"Where are you taking him?" Ward asked quietly, hating the tremor in his voice.

"The Fridge," she said. "It's our most secure prison. I'm taking him myself, and Thor and Banner are accompanying me. Do you want to come and see him put away for good?"

Ward hesitated, and then shook his head. "No," he said. "I don't care what you do with him, I just don't ever want to see him again."

Hand nodded curtly. "Of course," she said. Impulsively, she reached out one slim hand and patted his shoulder awkwardly. "And what you did tonight, kid? That was the bravest thing I've ever seen."

Then she turned and walked away quickly, her steps clipped and measured as always.

Ward sagged against the seat and closed his eyes. "Can we go home now?" he asked as the others piled into the car. His voice shook just slightly, and he clenched his fists, willing himself to remain steady. "Can we please go home?"

Natasha entered last, took one look at Skye, and then pushed her way on Skye's other side. Skye curled closer to her, her face pale, and Natasha wordlessly braced one arm behind the girl's back.

Grant pushed his way through the mass of people—between Tony and Bruce and then past Clint—until he ended up next to Coulson and curled in beside him. Coulson threw an arm across his shoulders and gave the order to move out, and it was only then that Grant found he could breathe again.

It seemed strange, he thought suddenly, that he could be surrounded by super-soldiers and gods, but that he felt safest beside this man in a business suit who had brought him home on that cold day in September.

They arrived back at the Hub, and they were met with what could only be described as a mob of SHIELD agents. They let out a rousing cheer when the doors to the transport opened, and Ward looked up at Coulson questioningly.

"The live feed Agent Hand told you about?" Romanov answered for him. "They all saw it. Garrett wanted an audience. It backfired just a little bit."

Ward stared in amazement. "But why are they all cheering?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"For you, dip-stick," Skye spoke finally, her voice small but as fiery as always. "What you did tonight was… amazing."

Ward's mouth was hanging open, and he stared at all of them; all of these soldiers and scientists and spies who were giving him a hero's welcome home.

When the crowd in the main courtyard didn't immediately move aside, Coulson barked an order to a group of level sixes, and then led them through the group, the adults surrounding Skye, Ward, and Fitz so the crowd couldn't jostle them.

"Give them space," Coulson ordered curtly, and this time the agents fell back, still cheering for him.

When they reached their quarters, Lily and Jemma Simmons were waiting there with Maria Hill and Sister Monica from St. Agnes, as well as another woman Grant didn't immediately recognize. She turned out to be Fitz's mother, and when Steve carried him in—awake now, but with a throbbing headache and no memory of the kidnapping—she ran forward with a desperation in her eyes that Ward understood.

It was quite possibly the longest night of Ward's life.

Coulson made him and Skye both take a trip to the med wing, just to make sure there were no injuries, and afterwards the whole group stayed for hours, talking together in terse tones about inside men who had let Garrett out and might-have-been scenarios and new security measures.

Sister Monica left, but Coulson convinced her that they would bring Skye home later that night when they had confirmed news that Garrett was secure in the Fridge facilities. Fitz's mother, who stood shyly at the back with him, looking out of place, was pulled into the group of women—Pepper and Jane and Maria Hill—who were discussing security measures.

As it turned out, Fitz wasn't the only one bright one in his family, and by the end of the night, both Pepper and Maria had offered her a job working in the tech branch of security for their respective companies (Fitz's mother chose Stark Industries).

It was a long time before everyone had cleared out of the main room. Thor had returned and he and Jane had gone to bed (only after Thor had sternly told him that not even the son of Odin attempted rescue missions alone and Jane had hugged him so tightly he almost couldn't breathe). Banner had returned and gone directly to bed, pale and exhausted, and Darcy had left the room, yawning and ordering Ward not to go after anymore madmen without at least carrying a taser.

Lily and Jemma left, followed soon after by Fitz and his mother, and Maria and Pepper excused themselves soon after.

"Tony, you should come home to bed," Pepper urged, but Tony, lounged on the couch in the main room, ignored her.

Ward leaned against the doorframe to the kitchen, and closed his eyes, exhausted.

Steve joined him, his face still paler than usual as if tonight had left him particularly shaken. He ruffled Ward's hair with one hand and shoved his free hand into one of his pockets. "Don't run off on us like that, kid," he said gruffly. "We need you. And we don't ever want to lose you."

Ward nodded silently, and Steve's mouth quirked into a smile.

"I suppose it isn't much use to tell you that, though, is it?" Steve asked, and Ward looked up at him quizzically. "Because you would stick with your friends through anything. I had a friend like that once."

Ward knew he was talking about Bucky—he had a certain tone that was all Bucky—and he leaned his head against the man's shoulder briefly. "You know what it's like then," he said quietly. "You'd want to go save your friend, no matter what. You'd follow them to the end of the line."

Steve drew his breath sharply, and Ward looked up at him.

"Did I say something"—

"No," Steve said quickly. "No, it's okay. You just remind me a lot of him. My friend Bucky."

Steve excused himself and slipped off to his room soon after, and Ward was left with Clint and Natasha, who were sitting together on one reclining chair and arguing about how to adjust the setting, and Tony, Skye, and Coulson.

Skye, who for some reason had decided that Stark, the most unapproachable person on the planet, was her friend, had curled up on the couch beside Stark, and he—even more inexplicably—had wrapped a blanket around her shoulders. When Ward joined them on the couch, he found that Skye had fallen fast asleep, her head on Stark's shoulder.

"You should bring her home, Stark," Coulson said softly, and Tony nodded.

(Skye would never be able to quite remember later if the memory of being carried—flying—through the cool night air back to the orphanage was just a dream, but she did know that someone's arms carried her to her lonely bedroom and tucked a blanket over her, and she did know that she slept more peacefully than she could remember in a long, long time, despite the terrifying events of the day).

When Tony had left to bring Skye home, Natasha and Clint headed towards the roof to spar, and Ward climbed onto the couch next to Coulson, who threw a blanket across his shoulders.

"Are you okay?" Coulson asked quietly, and Ward nodded bravely.

"It's been a long day," Ward said. "Night," he corrected himself. "It's almost morning. Shit. Do I still have to get up early tomorrow?"

Coulson smiled slightly. "No," he said. "You can sleep for as long as you want."

Ward sighed in relief, and felt his eyes beginning to droop shut as he leaned against Coulson's shoulder.

"Natasha and Clint will be home for the next few days," Coulson said after a pause. "Natasha said she has some new sparring techniques, if you wanted to start lessons again."

Ward looked up at him, and Coulson grinned.

"Are you serious?"

Coulson nodded. "I ran after you—I didn't take any of the transports—so I didn't see the live feed everyone else saw, but Steve showed me tonight. And I can say I've never been more proud."

"You said I had a choice," Grant said, his words beginning to slur with sleepiness. "I just didn't know until tonight that I could… that I could make the right one, I guess."

He fell asleep like that in the main room, and woke briefly when Coulson carried him to his room and tucked him under the covers.

It was dark and warm and his eyes fluttered shut again, but just before he fell asleep, he realized at the back of his mind that in this most unlikely place to find a home, Grant Ward finally knew how it felt to be somebody's son…

Author's Note: Stay tuned for the (most likely final) piece of this story, a sequel called Into Marvelous Light III (Grant Ward, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.).