𝐓𝐇𝐘 𝐑𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐋, leo fitz

xxiii. Abandonment

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✧·ﾟ:CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE*:·ﾟ✧

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✧·ﾟ: *✧·ﾟ:* 　a fractured house　 *:·ﾟ✧*:·ﾟ✧
date: 7th March 2015
location: the Playground, Classified

    ━━Five thirty. Five thirty, on the dot, every morning. With no sun, no clock, no light ... no way to tell what time it was. And yet he was up at that time, every morning. Agent Clarissa Roy had been staring at her tablet, watching the cameras of Vault D, and seeing Ward get up, work out (same time, every morning). She felt some comfort, knowing that he was locked up in there, unable to get to anyone. To get to her. To get to Fitz. She made sure that the technology keeping him in, was up to date, that there wouldn't be any chance━the slightest of chances━that he could escape.

    (It was better than being in the lab, for sure).

    "You've been watching him?"

    Clara glanced up and smiled to see Skye hover by her shoulder. She narrowed her eyes down at her tablet, clenching her jaw. Ward's betrayal still hurt them━all of them, more than they'd like to admit. It still hurt Clara━far more than she'd ever like to admit. 

    She nodded, and let out a sigh, her gaze returning back down. "Every day before I left, every day since I got back. I don't know how you do it," her voice turned to a mumble, "going down there ... talking to him."

    "Sacrifices we make for valuable intel, right?"

    Clara scoffed a little, agreeing. "Yeah..."

    Skye sent her a gentle smile. Her hand squeezed her shoulder. "I'm glad you're back," she said. "It's been lonely here without you."

    With a deep breath, Roy crossed her arms over her chest. She sighed it all out. "Me too," she said in the end. "But I just needed time ..."

    "Which is completely understandable," Skye told her.  A small silence settled between them. Everyone has been cautious around Clara, and she didn't blame them. They all just wanted to make sure she was okay, and that they wouldn't say the wrong thing. But at the same time, it made her feel like she was going to break, and she wasn't. She won't break. "How ... how have you been? Since...?"

    Clara had to remind herself, she's only trying to help. So, she forced the smile on her face and met her gaze again. "I'm getting better every day. I had Coulson there to help me through all of it. No matter how much I pushed him away, he wouldn't let me do it. So ... I owe a lot of my progress to him."

    Skye nodded, understanding. "Yeah ..." she murmured. "He has that effect on people, doesn't he?"

    Yeah, Clara thought. Yeah, he does.