Saving Grant Ward

Chapter Twenty-Four

A/N: Quick shout out to @alwaysawestruck for going through and voting on everything! Thank you and all my other wonderful readers for all your support!

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For the first night in four months, I got to sleep in my own bed. It should have been a relief, but it wasn't. After spending four months being next to Grant 24/7,  I didn't really like being alone.

I tossed and turned for a few hours, trying and failing to get some sleep. Finally, I decided to go see if Grant was having similar problems.

I walked down the hallway of the agent quarters until I came to Grant's room. I knocked lightly on the door, loud enough that he'd hear it if he was already awake, but not loud enough to wake him up.

To my relief, the door swung open.

"Slater?" asked Grant, looking wide awake.

"I can't sleep."

Grant sighed. "Neither can I."

"Can I come in?"

"Sure."

"It just feels so weird being alone now," I said, stepping inside. Grant closed the door behind me.

"I know. Good thing you harassed the director into making us partners then, huh?"

"I did not harass him. And yes, it is a good thing, you should be very grateful your partner is so awesome."

Grant laughed. "Ok Slater, whatever you say."

I looked at Grant, realizing I wasn't sure what to do now. I was starting to feel unreasonably nervous about asking to sleep in here with Grant, especially with how close we'd gotten over the past several months.

What was wrong with me?

Fortunately, Grant dealt with the issue for me.

"I'm glad you came over. It would've sucked not to get any sleep for the first night in four months not sleeping in a tent or a hospital bed," he said, walking back over to his bed and climbing in. I followed him, the weird sense of nervousness suddenly disappearing. Thank God.

I snuggled into the covers on one side of the bed, Grant doing the same on the other. It was nice to have him close again; it made me feel more relaxed. I was exhausted, and now that I could actually fall asleep, I was unconscious before I could even remember to say goodnight.

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I woke up in the morning to find Grant just getting out of bed.

"Morning," I mumbled, stretching as I tried to wake all the way up.

"Afternoon," he replied, turning the digital clock to face me. It read 2:00pm.

"Oh. Wow. I haven't slept this late since high school," I mused, "You must be feeling a deep shame though. You're always the early riser, and now you just slept until two in the afternoon."

"I still woke up before you."

"Touché."

I rolled out of bed, still feeling a little groggy, then looked at Grant.

"What?" he asked.

"I'm gauging my chances to convince you to go get my stuff from my room so that I can lay back down for twenty minutes."

Grant threw his head back and groaned, like this was some terrible hardship.

"Fine, but only if you agree to write a detailed report."

My eyes widened and I sat straight up, staring at Grant in mock betrayal.

"Are you serious?" I whined.

"I am. That's the deal."

"Uuuuuuugh," I sighed, flopping back on to the bed, "Fine. I'll write a detailed report in comparison to my usual."

"I guess that's better than nothing," said Grant, turning to go get my stuff while I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. It was all too soon before he was earth-quaking me awake again.

"Gosh dammit Grant! I thought you were done waking me up like that!" I yelled.

"This is the first time in a long time I've had to wake you up like this. You didn't sleep this heavily in Siberia."

I grunted and buried my face back in a pillow.

"C'mon Slater, time to get up and write that report. It's going on three in the afternoon. Aren't you hungry?"

My stomach growled in answer, and I realized he was right. I was hungrier than I was tired.

"Fine," I sighed, rolling out of bed permanently this time and going into the bathroom to get dressed. When I came out, Grant was waiting for me to leave.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Yup."

"Good. We each have a very long report to get started on today."

I groaned and whined the whole way out the door, protesting the stupid responsibility that was reports. I mean, there must be some exception to the reports rule! What circumstances did I have to create to get away with not writing one?

Once in the cafeteria, I loaded my plate with just about every food I could see. I was sooo hungry. Of course, we'd gotten food in the hospital, but it wasn't the same as piling a plate high and eating whatever you want.

We sat down across from each other, each opening our laptops to start our reports.

I stared at the blank page for a few minutes, then decided to stall.

"How long did the doctor say it would be before we could go out in the field again?"

"Two weeks," answered Ward, not looking up from his computer.

I sighed. "Would you snap if I took that long to write my report?"

This time Grant looked up to give me a death glare.

"Yes."

"Well, I guess I'd better get started then."

Since I'd made a deal to write a detailed report, I decided to start strong and detail everything from the feel of the "icy, biting wind foreshadowing the harrowing journey ahead of us" to "the steel-hard glint of the sun bouncing back off every snowcap to burn us." And that was before we even got to the lab.

After a few hours, Grant snapped the top of his laptop closed.

"Done," he announced.

"Seriously? You must not have written a very detailed report then," I said, continuing to type. I was into the second month of Siberia.

"Or you're just stalling and typing slowly."

"Pft. We'll see. You can read my report when I'm done. This thing is a freaking novel it's so long and detailed."

Grant shook his head, clearly not believing me. Oh how surprised he'd be.

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"Seriously Slater?" Grant was now reading my amazing report since I'd finished it and sent it in. "You don't need to describe the way the sun "glinted off the Quinjet as we were unknowingly deserted." You're being over dramatic."

"Excuse me? This report is a work of art! And it was detailed, just like I promised."

"Find a middle ground! There is an option between summary and novel."

"Pft, you're just jealous the supervisors are going to see that my report was so much more detailed than yours."

Ward shook his head and mumbled under his breath, "I pity the supervisor who has to read that."

I punched him the arm.

"Whatever Ward. So now that we're done with that, what are we going to do for the next two weeks?"

Grant looked at me, realization crossing his face. "I have no idea."