[1] Take the Shot | Leo Fitz

6

Trust didn't come easy for Nina. It physically pained her to put her hopes into someone other than herself. Ward had to prove time and time again that he was worth that trust and it took May and Nina sharing their origin stories for an unbreakable trust to be built between them. As the weeks passed, Nina had learnt to trust Skye, from their first mission together to Ian Quinn; Skye was always there, happy and eager to assist so Nina trusted her.

That's why it hurt so much to get May's report and to see Skye in the apartment of the hacker they'd been trying to locate. Nina had trusted someone and once again it was biting her in the ass. 

"I know how this looks-" Skye tried to get the team to understand. FitzSimmons ignored her focusing on Miles' computer while May watched over the aforementioned man in the bedroom. Nina just stood at the door, staring at the window completely hiding how much anger was surging through her body.

"How long have you two been in contact?" Coulson silenced the traitor with a raised finger. He was the most heartbroken, having trusted Skye and allowed her on his Bus so it was normal for him to feel cheated.

"I contacted him once, the day I joined to tell him I was okay, and once earlier today," Nina scoffed at the admission of her betrayal but never took her eyes off the window.

"When you tipped off an active suspect?"

"No, it's not like that. Miles and I... we met when we were both a little screwed up. Scratch that, he was a little screwed up, I was a lot. But we looked after one another. That's why I warned him, not because we're working together on this, but because we're... friends," Coulson made no move as he stood and listened to her with a blank face.

"I'm really sorry," Skye's apology didn't soften Coulson's features and Nina clenched her fist in hostility, drawing blood as her fingernails dug into her skin. It was hard for her to tell if the anger was towards Skye or herself for trusting someone against her better logic.

"Noted. If not you, then who is Mr Lydon working with?"

"No one. He's an idealist, believes in freedom of information."

"That information cost a man his freedom and you sabotaged our attempts to remedy that," Coulson was referring to Chan Ho Yin, an enhanced street performer they were trying to locate.

"No, I came here to find out what Miles knows about Chan."

"And?"

"Nothing. Miles is a dead end. He's harmless," Skye, despite the situation, was trying to stick up for Miles and it made Nina nauseous. If only Skye was as loyal to SHIELD as she was to this hacker.

"We'll see," Coulson turned away from her, Skye noticed the wall he was beginning to put up and spoke quickly, her voice full of worry.

"Really, I was gonna find out everything I could to try to help. I just... I felt like I couldn't tell you guys everything," Coulson tensed up at her words, with his face directly in Nina's line of sight she watched as he showed emotion for the first time before becoming stoic once again.

"I know. That's why I asked May to follow you. Seems like that wasn't a dead end," Coulson walked away from Skye and towards the room that held May and Miles, he didn't spare her a backwards glance and the pain of that was evident on Skye's face.

"I'm sorry, Ward. This is not what it looks like," Skye tried to reconcile with her SO but to no avail. He didn't look at her and just continued to peer through Miles' possessions. The hacker looked to FitzSimmons, who wore their hurt on their faces while talking to one another. Skye glanced at Nina last, knowing that she may have just severed the most important relationship she could have had, "Nina please, say something."