Hourglass

We

"Push against my hand," I say and Skye lifts her leg. I cup her foot in my palm and she follows my instruction. She's much stronger than she was.

"It doesn't really hurt that much anymore. I can almost walk and run normally now," Skye says, her facial expression much less pained than before. It's good, she'll be able to train soon, but I don't want her back in the field until I know for sure that her leg won't slow her down in any way. "I'm lucky it wasn't any worse."

I nod and remove the bandage, covering the healing wound with disinfectant and taking a look. "There'll be a scar, but the skin is starting to heal itself now. The stitches might be able to come out soon, but I'll ask Trip what he thinks."

"Great," Skye says happily. "Not about the scar, but that it's healing. Although, I'll look really badass."

I roll my eyes and pick up another bandage, placing it over the bullet wound and taping it down. She winces slightly when I put pressure on the area but it doesn't seem to hurt her that much.

"Stand up, let's see how you run."

Skye heaves herself off the bench and gingerly places her weight on her leg, taking a couple of small steps before easing into a walk. There's an obvious limp, but otherwise she's walking normally without assistance, which is what I'd hoped for. She heads over to the treadmill in the corner and switches it on.

I follow her and gradually increase her speed. She struggles to keep up the more I make her go faster, which I had expected. Not wanting to cause her any further injury, I turn it off. She's sweating already.

"How far do you think you could go?" I ask and she shrugs.

"Maybe from one end of the BUS to another? I haven't actually tried -" She's cut of by my suspicious stare. "Honestly! I haven't been off my crutches yet when you haven't been around to monitor me, the last time was when we sparred - fine, okay, I did try. But it was really driving me mad, having to hobble around on sticks like a grandma."

"You said before that you could almost run normally. Please don't lie to me, Skye, I'm only trying to help you and I don't want you making stupid decisions that could ruin all of the work we've done so far," I say, feeling slightly annoyed.

She bows her head. "I'm sorry. I should have followed your instructions."

"Just don't do it again," I say sternly.

"Is that it? I thought you'd make me do a million pull ups, Ward would have," she says doubtfully.

I take her old bandages and toss them in the bin. "I'm not Ward."

She sighs in relief, walking back to the bench and climbing onto it. Her legs swing, heels knocking against the cupboard doors underneath the glass bench top.

"But that doesn't mean that I'll just let you get away with it. Get in the hangar, I want one hundred push ups," I say.

Her jaw drops. "Seriously?"

"I'm not joking, Skye," I reply. She groans and slides off the bench again, walking out of the lab. I trail after her and take a seat next to the big mat in the centre of the floor. "Drop down and give me a hundred."

Arms shaking, she pushes her body away from the ground. "Back straight," I instruct, taking a sip of cool water. She shoots me a vicious glare and adjusts herself as she does push up after push up. I count them out loud, occasionally critiquing her posture and speed.

"It's things like this that make me miss Ward," she says, panting. "Even though he was a psychopath."

"You were in love with him, weren't you?" I ask, crossing my legs and leaning back in my seat. She's not even halfway through her push ups yet.