"Skye."

The former hacker halted halfway down the hall to her room, turning to look back at the person calling her name. Coulson waved a little at her as he approached from behind, his stride calm but his face almost the exact opposite. Exhaustion was pressing at her body and right now all she really wanted to do was sleep (Simmons had, thankfully, cleared her to do just that). The look on Coulson's face pushed all thoughts of sleep from her mind though, bringing her focus solely onto her boss. "What's up, AC?"

"I need you to come with me," stated Coulson simply, motioning for her to follow him back the direction he'd come. He didn't offer an explanation though- just turned and headed back the way he'd come as if he expected Skye to follow.

She didn't think twice about following him, if only because she was curious about what could have Coulson on edge. "Is something wrong?"

"Yes and no," replied Coulson with a shake of his head, maneuvering down the halls towards the hanger. Whatever this was about, obviously Coulson wasn't going to just tell her. Which meant it was probably personal, and the most personal issue Coulson could have that he'd need her help with was Ward.

"Okay, so, there isn't a problem?" prompted Skye, following him all the same. She just really, really hoped this wasn't going to take long. Her bed was calling.

"There is," stated Coulson, turning into the hanger and heading for the Bus. "But that isn't why I need you."

"Alright, so why do you need me?" asked Skye, rubbing her head a bit. Simmons had given her some painkillers, but they were only doing so much (which really wasn't much of anything) and it was killing her already limited patience.

Coulson sighed as he entered the Bus, heading up the stairs towards the lounge. "I promised Grant I'd bring you up if he would lay down."

Yep, it had to do with Ward. "So he really was fall over exhausted?"

"Basically," confirmed Coulson, shaking his head a bit. He paused when they hit the Bus' lounge, motioning for Skye to stop as well. "Skye, we need to convince him he doesn't have to leave."

Skye couldn't really help the snort that escaped her. They weren't going to be able to talk Ward out of running- that just wouldn't happen. She knew from personal experience how badly having to face the people you'd betrayed made you want to run. She'd been betrayed twice and betrayed the people who'd accepted her for a man. For the wrong reasons. Ward had basically been through the same thing, he'd just killed some people in the process. And she really, really needed to sleep if she was thinking about something like a person's life in such light terms. Not that she'd been a great fan of Hand to begin with, but still, the woman hadn't deserved to die like that.

"What are you thinking?" asked Coulson suspiciously, his eyes narrowing a little. The way his face scrunched up almost reminds her of a disapproving father.

It almost made Skye laugh and she definitely needed sleep if Coulson's suspicious/disapproving dad face was making her want to laugh. "I'm thinking that stopping him isn't a) possible and b) smart. It's not easy to face the people you betrayed and there's no way to make that kind of thing easier. If he's not comfortable being around us all the time right now, we need to accept that. When he's ready to face everyone, he will."

"Skye, we don't even know where he's staying," argued Coulson, his lips pursing in frustration. "We have no clue if he's even safe. We're wanted criminals, if you'll recall."

"Yeah, I know," growled Skye, irritation born of exhaustion, pain, and stress flashing up like a fire. "But you know what? He feels stupid right now. Stupid, embarrassed, and like he can't trust anyone, including himself. He feels like he made an idiotic mistake, like the floor's been pulled out from under him and he needs to go put himself back together before he can start talking to people again."

Coulson actually recoiled a bit, blinking at her like he'd been bitten. Which, well, she had snapped at him and he really didn't deserve it (he was just worried about his son after all). He settled back into furrowed-brow secret agent mode quickly though, so obviously he wasn't too shocked by the whole thing. "Did he talk to you about this already?"

"He didn't have to," dismissed Skye, pressing against her temples slightly in an attempt to make her head stop pounding for half a second. "I've been where he is, I know what he's going through."

"Right," muttered Coulson, rubbing his eyes. "Miles."

"Yep," confirmed Skye without going into further detail. He was still a semi-sore topic, mostly because he was a jackass that still e-mailed her on occasion in an attempt to get back in her pants. She'd crawl into bed with Garrett's ghost before she let Miles within five feet of her. "So I know what he's feeling. Well, I know what he should be feeling. Garrett had control of him for a long time I think, so who knows what he's for sure thinking. But, it seems like a reasonable assumption that he's probably pretty confused. Plus, you know, he keeps saying things like how he 'doesn't deserve to come back' and he has to 'redeem himself'. That's pretty typical post-betrayal/post-betrayed stuff."

Coulson leaned heavily against one of the chairs in the lounge, eyes focused on some spot on the ground only he seemed to be able to find interesting. "I still want you to talk with him. See if you can convince him to stay. It's safer if he's here than if we let him disappear again."

"Even if it's only to a cabin maybe two miles from here?" countered Skye, her own eyebrow trying to rise only to be stopped by the pain. Slowly shaking her head, Skye forced those thoughts away and focused entirely on Coulson. "Look, he's upset. He feels abandoned. And when he gets up, I'll talk with him about all of that. But right now? I'm going to go into his bunk where I'm assuming he's sleeping, crawl on top of him, and sleep myself. Because I have a concussion still and Simmons only told me I could go back to sleep because she doesn't believe I'm going to die if I do. Apparently that whole coma thing is mostly a myth." Stepping around Coulson, Skye headed into the corridor leading to the bunks with a wave. "Later AC, go get some sleep yourself. And by sleep, I don't mean sex with May. That's not gonna help you get any rest."

The sound of Coulson choking followed Skye down the hallway to Ward's quarters. The door to his former room was open, presumably never closed by Coulson. Especially given Ward was actually asleep inside. Indeed, the former specialist was passed out on his bunk, facing up and sleeping like a rock.

Skye didn't hesitate to close the door behind her or saunter over to the bed. She also didn't hesitate to crawl onto the bed with Ward. The agent in question turned as soon as she started to slide in, wrapping his arms around her waist and tugging her close while he slept on cluelessly. He would be mortified when he woke up, but they could deal with that later. Right now, she just wanted to sleep and Ward's arms weren't stopping her.

Closing her eyes, she forced herself relax into Ward's grip. It wasn't as hard as she thought it would be. She was falling asleep almost as soon as her eyes were closed. Less than a minute after entering the room, Skye was asleep wrapped in Ward's arms. They slept on like that through to the morning.