Saving Grant Ward

Chapter Eight

Thankfully, the journey out of the rainforest didn't take as long as the trek in. Ward and I had already forged our path, so now it was just a matter of following it back out. The woman we were now carrying slowed us down a little, but not by too much.

We managed to get back to the Quinjet just before dark, which I was incredibly happy about. As much fun as it had been camping in the rainforest, I wasn't super excited to do it again.

The woman we'd found stayed limp for the whole way, but thankfully, Ward didn't make me try to carry her. We both agreed she might be faking her unconcsiousness and waiting for an opportunity to escape, so we were as careful as possible not to give her one. Still, it was a relief to hand her off to a waiting agent from Vargas' team.

We debriefed with Vargas, and I listened in when Ward called to report to SHIELD. They told us to finish up in Costa Rica and leave the woman with Vargas, then to make our way back to base once we were done.

"So... are we spending the night here?" I asked, looking at Ward hopefully as he clicked off the Quinjet's communications. He sighed.

"Vargas offered, so we might as well. We'll get an early start back to headquarters tomorrow."

I nodded and followed Ward out of the Quinjet, waiting for him to add some snippy comment, or be snarkier than he needed to be or whatever else. He'd been doing it every day I'd known him so far, but this time, it didn't come.

I tried not to let my surprise show as we met back up with Vargas, and one of his agents showed us to two rooms we could stay the night in. We didn't have anything else we needed to deal with, so after a short (and slightly warmer than before) goodnight, I was completely alone in my own space for the first time in a long time.

It was weird. But it gave me a lot of space to think, and to process everything that had happened today.

I'd been on a real-life SHIELD mission, and I'd taken down an enemy Paula Pinske-style. And, icing on the cake, I'd finally managed to break through the first layer of Agent Ward's crankiness.

This had been the best day ever!

****************

I woke up early the next morning to three different alarms, all set a minute apart. It was probably overkill, but I'd just gotten Ward's respect. I didn't want to lose it by seriously oversleeping and making him come in here to wake me up.

I met Ward in the hallway, and we had a quick breakfast and said goodbye to Agent Vargas before getting back in the Quinjet. It was just after eight in the morning, because Ward said he'd wanted to get an early start, which was absolutely horrible. Waking up before eight at any time was absolutely horrible, but it became so much worse when there was no reason for it but travel.

I yawned as I plopped into the copilot seat. Ward started the engines, and I decided to make another attempt at bonding with him. If it worked, waking up this early might actually have been worth it.

"So..." I said, not quite sure how to start. "We're in Costa Rica."

"Just figuring that out are you?" he asked, not even glancing at me as we lifted off the ground.

"No. But it seems wrong to come and not, like, go to the beach or something."

That got his attention. Ward turned from the controls to look me dead in the eyes before he responded.

"You have to be kidding."

"Why?" I shot back, meeting his gaze.

"What?"