Retrograde

Chapter four: Hiding the truth behind Asguardians

"How are you feeling?" Coulson asked Skye.

"Good. Well as good as someone who, I assume, got the crap kicked out of them to the point of losing their memory can feel."

Coulson smiled "That's all we can ask for." He shared a look with Hunter and Ward before sitting on the bed next to Skye.

"Gonzales," he began, not sure how to tell her "He's not just after me. He's hunting you too."

"Me? What the hell did I do?" She was honestly slightly pissed. This man she had never met was trying to arrest her? Rude.

"He thinks you're a threat because of the miracle drug, same as me," he hesitated "But not only that. Remember how I told you about your past?" He hated to bring it up and hated it even more when he saw the look that crossed her face because of it.

"Yeah." She gulped, voice wavering in anticipation.

"He knows about your 084 status."

She was about to speak but he continued.

"And he's not the only one. Hydra does too." He told her, watching the colour leave her face.

"How?" Was all she asked.

"I don't know." He had to lie, not able to tell her about her powers just yet.

"But the point is they're hunting you. So I need you to promise me something. That you'll be even more careful than we normally have to be and you'll never go anywhere by yourself until this whole thing blows over."

She didn't respond.

"Promise me." He pressed, needing her to cooperate with this.

"I promise."

He searched her face to make sure she was telling the truth.

He nodded, not seeing any trace of deception "Thank you. There's too much at risk here to play around with anyone's safety."

She gave a small nod, her eyes darting to Ward and Hunter.

"They know about you being an 084." He saw the question on her face.

"You told them?" She said, more of a statement than a question.

"Yeah. Like I said this is about safety now. Everyone needs to know what they're getting into."

She looked to Ward "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you. I figured it was better to keep it a secret. It didn't turn out too well for most of the other people who knew."

Ward watched her while she explained, eyes wide in panic like she used to look at him when she'd done something that she thought would disappoint him or make him mad. It was the same look she had when she had been found with Miles. As if begging him not to hate her.

She just didn't know it was now him who had to do the begging.

"Skye," he tried to reassure her that it was fine but she kept going.

"And it wasn't exactly like there's ever a good time to say 'hey, by the way, I'm a human 084' you know? And if I told you I would have had to tell Fitzsimmons and they probably would have freaked-"

"Skye," he finally stopped her "I understand. Remember when I told you that people keep secrets for a reason?"

He hated the sticky sensation of guilt and shame that accompanied him saying that sentence.

She didn't know what his secret had been, wouldn't know until her memories came back.

And he highly doubted she would like it any better the second time around.