Chapter Sixteen

"We're back," I said, gently shaking Ward awake. He had slept the whole plane ride and I was so tempted to yell in his ear and earthquake him awake like he did to me, but then I reminded myself he was injured. My revenge would have to wait.

We stumbled off the plane together and into the hanger bay where, to my surprise, Phil Coulson was waiting for us.

"Agent Slater. Agent Ward. Good to have you back," he said.

"Good to see you again," I said, giving him a big smile, "What's the occasion?"

"I'm here to pick up the orb you two brought back." My smile immediately dropped.

"Samantha's got it," answered Ward. That was the first time he'd used my first name in regular conversation to someone else. I guess a near-death experience can really change a person. I tried not to look shocked as I spoke.

"Yeah, but I'm not handing it over to anyone until we get some answers," I said. Phil raised an eyebrow at me so I continued, "Last time we dropped off the orb and didn't get any information. This time we almost died getting a second orb that is identical to the first, and I want to know what's going on."

Grant shook his head, "Sorry about her, sir. Samantha, just give it to him."

"No." Grant gave me an exasperated look, but Phil stepped in before he could say anything.

"That's alright. I've been assigned to go with John Garrett to investigate another report and it wouldn't hurt to have two more capable agents with us. I'll keep you in the loop if you're willing to keep chasing these things all over the world," he said.

I wanted to shout Deal! right then and there, but I wasn't sure Grant would agree. It felt like overreaching to make decisions on the missions we'd be taking while Grant was still technically my mentor. To my surprise though, he spoke up immediately.

"We'd be honored, sir."

"Great," said Phil, "That girl you brought back from Costa Rica hasn't said much yet, but it sounds like there's another orb in Málaga, Spain. We leave in twelve hours."

"We'll be ready," replied Grant.

"You got shot," I reminded him. I'm pretty sure his wound needed more than twelve hours to heal.

"I'll be fine," he said.

"Report to medical anyway," said Phil, "Get it looked at and cleared. And Agent Slater, if it's ok with you, I'll take the orb."

I sighed and handed it over. I was confident I could trust Phil, and he'd promised to tell us more. I didn't need the orb anymore.

"Thank you," said Phil, "I'll see you both in twelve hours."

"Alright, let's get you to medical," I said, walking out of the hanger with Grant. If we were going to be ready to leave in twelve hours, he needed to see a doctor as soon as possible.

****************

"Just chill out," I said for what felt like the hundredth time. I was sitting with Grant in medical, and while the doctor checked him out and stitched him up, my job was to submit a joint report. He was micromanaging me for no good reason.

"For the first draft of the report you just wrote: 'Greenland is freezing and the first city we went to was just cover-building, so let's move to the city with the action'," he said. Alright, maybe he had small reason to micromanage, but still!

"Well, we already fixed that one and I said I would read you the report when I was done, so until then, relax. You're going to pop a stitch or something."

I could see how frustrated that last remark made Grant. His hands slowly curled into fists and he closed his eyes and breathed deeply while crinkling the sanitary doctor's office paper. It took all I had not to laugh.

Finally, I finished the report. Since this was the only report getting turned in, I couldn't use May's trick. This was painstakingly detailed.

"You done?" asked Grant.

"Yup."

"Read it."

"What's the magic word?"

"Now." He didn't even smile when he said it! I couldn't help it, I laughed.

"Pretty sure the magic word is please," I said, trying to keep a straight face, "But I'll read it anyway because you're injured."

The report was six pages, so I won't go through it all, but I thought it was stupidly boring. Early on, whenever I tried to add humor, Ward shot me down, so for this joint report I just decided to be as dry and factual as Professor Binns. When I was done reading I looked at Grant and fortunately, he seemed to like it.

"That was good," he said. I resisted the urge to snort. It was boring, but I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere with him.

"Great. I'll send it in now," I said, hitting the 'submit' button. Just then, the doctor came in.

"Alright, you're good to go," he said, "I know you're getting ready to head out for a mission and I'm clearing you for all field activity, but please, be as careful as you can considering the job you have, ok?"

"Yes sir," said Grant, hopping happily off the table, "Let's go Slater, we've got some packing to do."

****************

Before I knew it Ward and I were sitting on the Quinjet waiting for Phil and Agent Garrett. I'd never met Garrett before and honestly, I was a little nervous. He was Ward's SO. It felt a little like meeting someone's parents for the first time.

"You two ready to go?" asked Coulson, suddenly coming up the ramp and heading for the cockpit. Grant and I were stuck in the back.

"Ready!" answered Grant.

"Good!" A man I didn't recognize (so I assumed he was Garrett) boarded the plane, closing the ramp behind him.

"Long time no see, son," said the guy, going over to Grant and giving him a friendly handshake and clap on he back. Then he turned to me. "This must be the girl you're mentoring."

"Yes sir, this is her," said Grant. He was smiling more and being louder than I'd ever seen before. "Samantha, meet Agent John Garrett."

"Nice to meet you," I said, giving him my best smile as I shook his hand. I was surprised someone could call Grant 'son' without getting a punch in the face, and needless to say, it just made me more nervous. But I was a spy. I was trained not to show it.

"Nice to meet you, too. So," Garrett leaned in close, "how's he doin' as a mentor?"

"He's doing good! But," I leaned in close this time, "he can be a little gruff."

Garrett laughed and I felt my heart lift. I was doing good! I mean, Ward wasn't exactly smiling at my words, but who cares?

Before the meet and greet could continue, Phil called from the cockpit.

"Everybody buckle up! We're headed out!"

"I'll leave you two here," said Garrett, "I'm riding shotgun."

He headed up to the front with Phil and I strapped in to the seat next to Ward.

"Gruff?" he said, not looking at me.

"Yeah," I agreed, then made my voice as low as possible, trying to mimic how Grant talked, "'Slater, wake up now. Slater, sleep lighter. Read the report. Now.'"

He rolled his eyes, but I caught him smiling to himself.

"I do no sound like that," he said.

"You kinda do."

"No, it's more like Slater, I've got tons of experience so you should listen to me," he said.

"Oh, well, how am I supposed to compete with that? Of course you're going to do a perfect impression of yourself."

To my surprise, he laughed. I gaped at him.

"What?" he asked, surprised by my expression.

"It's just... I mean, this is one of the only times I've been able to make you laugh on purpose."

"This is one of the only times you've been funny."

This time my jaw completely dropped and Grant laughed harder, pleased with himself. I shoved him playfully but I started smiling too. He'd just joked with me like normal friends!

"So where are you from?" asked Grant, surprising me.

"Uh... New York, born and raised," I answered.

"Siblings?"

"Nope, only child," I answered, still feeling bewildered. Apparently, it showed on my face because Grant started to explain.

"On our way to Greenland you asked me a couple questions, so I feel like I should get to know you too. So, what were you doing before the academy?"

"Trying to drag my way through school," I answered, trying not to show how excited I was. This was the most interest Grant had shown in me as anything but someone to mentor.

"Not for you, huh?"

"No, not really for me. Thankfully though I got recruited to SHIELD, and so far that's been working out pretty great."

Grant nodded and leaned back in his seat. I wanted to ask more about him, but I was worried it would make him shut down again. I didn't want to destroy any of our progress.

"So do you know exactly what we're doing on this mission?" I asked instead.

"Nope. I was in medical with you, remember?"

"Hmm... they'll probably fill us in when we get there, right?"

"I'm sure."

I sighed. "I can't wait. I hope we get some time to see Spain. I've always wanted to go."

"You have the heart of a tourist, don't you?" asked Grant, looking at me in amusement.

"I prefer 'a wandering spirit' but yeah, it probably manifests itself as a tourist."

"Well, aside from the deadly missions, you picked a good profession if you want to see the world."

"Yeah, I did," I sighed, feeling totally exhausted but happy all the same. I'd hardly slept since Ward got shot, and it was seriously starting to catch up with me.

After a minute or two of comfortable silence, I closed my eyes and laid my head on Ward's shoulder, starting to drift off to sleep.

"I'll wake you up when we get there," whispered Grant.

"Please don't," I mumbled back. I heard him laugh softly as I drifted off to sleep.