The Academy

Chapter 18

"Now, you're not always going to have fishing wire with you," Natasha explained as she put her hair into a ponytail and put her sunglasses on, "so we're going to teach you various other ways to catch a fish."

"Hand fishing?" Skye asked, grimacing.

"That's one of them," Natasha smirked and winked.

Skye groaned and the rolled up her sleeves. She sat down on a log and pulled off her hiking boots and socks. Sarah did the same and the two girls walked into the stream with the other campers and the three leaders.

"I caught one!" one of the boys shouted.

"How...already?" Skye spoke to herself as she looked on in astonishment.

"I really don't want to do this," Sarah cringed as she found a spot and waited for a fish to swim by.

"Me neither, but I would rather catch a fish than die of starvation if I'm ever stuck out here," Skye took a deep breath.

Sarah hummed in agreement, dipping her hands into the water.

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"I caught one!" Skye smiled as she pulled her net out of the water, having abandoned hand fishing an hour earlier with the rest of the class.

Ward walked over. "Good. Now you get to take it out and kill it," he chuckled, seeing Skye's face.

"I thought we weren't eating any of the ones we caught today. We're heading back to the Academy soon."

"Do you know how to kill a fish?" Ward asked, raising an eyebrow. He took in Skye's expression. "That's what I thought. Here," he handed her a large rock, "all you have to do is hit it on the head."

"Ok, now I know, I'll wait until I'm actually starving and fending for food," Skye smiled uneasily as she took the rock and set it back down on the ground.

"Suit yourself, but don't call me for help when you're starving in the forest," he smirked, walking away to check on the other kids.

Skye then looked behind her and spoke to Natasha. "Are we almost done? We've been fishing for about an hour and half. Shouldn't we be heading back soon?"

Natasha checked her watch. "The Quinnjet will be here in an hour. You can stop if you want."

Skye thanked her and pulled Sarah away from the rest of the class.

"Explanation time?" Sarah questioned.

"Explanation time," Skye nodded, starting to climb the tree in front of her.

Sarah climbed up after her and the two women sat on a branch.

Skye took a deep breath. "Okay. So I was a consultant for S.H.I.E.L.D. before I came here."

"Yeah, I remember you saying that. How did you become a consultant?"

"I was a hacker working with the Rising Tide," Skye explained. "I picked up on S.H.I.E.L.D.'s signal and I planted a trap for them. Agent Ward was the agent who found me and he took me in."

"Which explains how you know him," Sarah nodded. "It doesn't, however, explain why you two are so comfortable with each other."

"Well, his team decided to keep me with them as a hacker. I became a consultant for them and helped out on two missions. Then, they decided that I would need an SO if I was going to stay on the team and continue going on missions. Agent Ward became my SO."

Sarah's mouth formed the shape of an 'O'. "You're the rookie we were teasing him about yesterday!"

"Guilty as charged, but look, I don't want anyone else to know. If Fury finds out that I told you, I'm toast. I also don't want word getting out that I'm Ward's rookie. That's a high reputation to live up to, and I don't want all that pressure."

Sarah nodded. "I understand. I'm glad you finally told me. So last night wasn't a rendezvous, just catching up between an SO and his rookie," she teased.

Skye blushed at what she was insinuating. "Precisely. Ward and I aren't dating."

"Yet," Sarah smirked. Skye shot her a confused look and Sarah chuckled. "You guys are adorable, if you became a couple it would be so cute!"

Skye laughed and shook her head. "No. Not happening. Robot doesn't do that kind of thing."

Sarah shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. He seems fond of you."

"That is only because I'm his rookie," Skye held up a finger, defending her SO.

Sarah smiled. "Alright. Any other important, life-changing secrets you want to tell me?"

Skye thought back to the revelation that Coulson was alive and then shook her head. "Nope."

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"Three weeks, okay? You've made it eight months so far. It'll fly by," Ward said as Skye asked if he could pull any strings to bring her home early.

Skye played with the strings on her hoodie as she sat on her couch and frowned. "Fine."

Ward smirked as she pouted and then caught sight of the name on the sweatshirt. It was his. So that's where his sweatshirt went! He shook his head in amusement. Of course Skye had taken it.

There was a knock on the door. Sarah walked in and Ward turned his head to look at her. He gave her a deer in the headlights expression.

"Chill," Sarah laughed, "I know you're her SO."

Ward turned to Skye. "Couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you?"

Skye just shrugged. "She was awake when you and I got back to the campsite last night. She had questions, I answered them."

Ward rolled his eyes. "You realize you can't do this, right?"

"Chill, she's the only one who knows."

Ward sighed. "Fine." He stood up. "I should get going. The team is going to pick me up soon."

Skye stood up and made her way over to Ward, hugging him. "You're getting a hug, deal with it. See you later, Robot."

Ward chuckled, letting her go. "Three weeks, Rookie." Ward turned around and made his way to the door. He nodded at Sarah. "Nice to see you again."

Sarah turned to Skye once he left and Skye took off her sweatshirt, leaving just her catsuit uniform on. "We have class, right?"

"Yeah, should be short though. Nick is just mainly prepping us for final exams," Sarah explained. "We graduate in three weeks."

Skye laughed. "I have been counting down the days until graduation since I first arrived here." 

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