Don't You Worry Child

Eyes Open

Chapter Summary: After their last meeting, Samantha decides she has unfinished business with one Grant Ward and decides to re-interrogate him.

Soundtrack: Eyes Open by Taylor Swift

She was being forced to return home. Okay, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad, she'd be able to train with Natasha and Clint so she could be better equipped to deal with situations she may or may not be placed in. Aside from the positives of it, she'd miss the S.H.I.E.L.D. base. She'd become friends with everyone there, particularly Skye and Fitz. Coulson was incredibly nice and Samantha had to keep reminding herself that he was, in fact, her boss. She laughed and joked with Triplett and Hunter. Even May had started to warm to her. She'd learnt that everyone went by surnames in S.H.I.E.L.D. Skye had been the only exception from that rule because she didn't have a surname and because Samantha was in the midst of changing from Montgomery to Stark so did she.

She stood, attempting to close her suitcase pushing all of her weight on it. The case hadn't been that full when she'd first arrived but Coulson had given her a load of files to read over. Coulson had also prescribed mandatory psychiatric appointments with a S.H.I.E.L.D. approved psychiatrist something which the teenager was not looking forward to at all. "Here let me," she heard from a certain Scottish scientist who must have crept in at some point.

Samantha looked up and behind her and smiled "You can try, not sure what good it'll do though," she said before moving away from the suitcase so that Fitz could give it a go.

"I'm going to miss you, you know. It's been nice having someone who doesn't treat me like a complete invalid," he announced, a tinge of regret to his tone.

"They don't treat you like a complete invalid. They just knew who you were before Ward did what he did and they really want to see you get better. Speaking of which..." she trailed off before she went rifling through her black leather tote. Once she'd found the pieces of paper she was searching for, she handed them to Fitz and told him "I found these. They're exercises for speech therapy. I'm not saying they'll work because the problem is a disconnected brain connection or something like that but it's a start right?" she smiled at him hopefully. She wanted the best for her newfound friend and she knew that Coulson was basically side-lining him. Fitz' problem was his speech; nothing more, nothing less yet Coulson was treating the scientist like all of his intelligence was completely gone and she hated to see it.

"Thank you," he said "You'll be back right?"

"Are you kidding me? Ward and I still have unfinished business," she joked. Truth was she wanted to talk to Ward again about as much as she wanted a hole in the head. At the same time she knew she needed the closure.

He laughed along with her then excused himself from the room. "So you're leaving us then?" she heard Coulson's voice from the doorway.

"Temporarily and,if I recall correctly, on your orders Director," she retorted with a laugh before taking on a more serious tone "I am fine though, you don't have to worry about me,"

"Yeah and your father isn't a billionaire," he answered sarcastically "You have put yourself in the line of fire more times than should be necessary. Not to mention what happened in that interrogation room suggests the very opposite of fine,"

"First of all, I was doing my job on my day off so you should probably thank me. Secondly, I do want to talk to Ward again,"

"About what?" he asked, his face softening. The tests they'd run on her had been inconclusive and Samantha knew that and understood that she wanted answers – he'd wanted the same thing after re-discovering Project TAHITI – but he wasn't about to put Tony Stark's only daughter back into an interrogation with Grant Ward without a good enough reason.