Saving Grant Ward

Chapter Thirty

4k!!!!!!!!!❤️❤️❤️

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The medical team that came with Fury pulled a sheet over Phil's head and carried him away. I didn't move, I just kept staring at the place he used to be. There was a bloodstain on the Helicarrier wall now.

I thought I heard Grant calling my name, but he sounded far away. I couldn't focus on anything but Coulson.

Coulson. I hadn't realized it until it was too late, but I considered him my adopted father.

And now he was dead.

I started to feel it now. I felt hot tears streaming down my face, I felt the chill in the air that Coulson used to breathe, I felt the ache in my heart from losing him. And I felt Grant, with his arms wrapped around me. He came to stand in front of me, and I forced myself to focus on him and snap out of it.

"Samantha, please, you're scaring me," he said. I had no idea how long he was trying to get my attention, but I was here now. I was here, and Coulson wasn't, but he would want me to keep going.

"I'm here Grant," I said quietly.

"Thank God," he said, letting out a sigh of relief and pulling me into a hug. I slowly started moving again, wrapping my arms around Grant and burying my head in his chest.

"He's gone," I whispered, starting to cry again.

"I know. I'm sorry. But Samantha, you're not gone. You have to stay here and keep going. You know that's what he would've wanted."

"I know, but Grant, he was-" I choked on the words.

"The person who brought you in to SHIELD? Your first connection to this whole world? I get that, but Samantha-"

"No Grant he was like a dad!" I exclaimed, pushing back so I could look him in the face. I was breathing hard, trying to keep the pain of saying it out loud from overcoming me again. "He was like a dad. I haven't had a dad in a long time. I finally found someone that I could count on like a parent, and now he's dead, just like my real dad."

Grant looked at me for a minute, then pulled me back into a hug. He didn't say anything, just held me there, and I cried into his shirt. We stood like that for what felt like forever, completely silent, not needing words to communicate. Grant was here, and he would help me in whatever way he could.

Slowly, I stopped crying. I wiped my eyes and nose and I pulled back, starting to feel determination steel my heart.

"What can we do now? What can we do to keep Phil from dying in vain?" I asked.

"I'll find out," said Grant, starting towards the nearest other agent, "I'll be right back."

I stared down at the new bloodstain again, then turned away to join Ward. Sitting here and crying was not going to take down Loki, and it definitely wouldn't bring Phil back. I could crawl into bed and grieve once this was over, but right now, I had a job to do.

"So?" I asked Grant.

"The whole ship has been almost completely destroyed. All the superheros SHIELD brought on board—apparently they're calling themselves the Avengers now—took a Quinjet and went after Loki, so don't worry about him, but we need to do everything in our power to get this ship operational again."

I nodded. "Are communications operational?"

"Not sure. They weren't originally, but they might be now. Why?"

"I want to ask Steve to punch Loki in the face for me."

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Grant and I made our way to the bridge (now that everything had gone to hell no one said anything about me being a level 5), and I picked up the first communicator I could find.