Chapter Fifty-Five

We turned into Phil's new office to find the rest of the team. Everyone had similar reactions to Fitz when they saw us holding hands, and it was nice to be all together again. After filling each other in on the goings-on while we were separated, Grant asked to talk to Coulson alone. He agreed, and the rest of us headed out.

Before I left, I pulled Grant into a hug.

"It'll be okay," I whispered. "Just tell the truth, and please don't be too hard on yourself. You are absolutely a good man."

He hugged me tighter, but didn't say anything. I wished there was something more I could do for him, but I just had to put my trust in Grant and Phil that they would work everything out okay.

I left the room, not feeling great as I closed the door behind me. I turned around to come face to face with someone I didn't recognize.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Uh... I think that's my line."

"No, no way. I know everyone on this base. If you're not authorized, then we're gonna have a problem."

I honestly jerked backwards I was so shocked. This dude was a solid foot shorter than me, and he didn't look like a fighter. He wasn't a member of the team and he honestly made Fitz look menacing, but he was still trying to threaten me.

"I think we might already have a problem," I said, eyebrows furrowed. The guy rocked back on his heels, like he was getting ready for a fight, but before he or I could take a swing, Skye came around the corner.

"Samantha, where- oh, hey Koenig. Samantha, we're all in the kitchen. What are you still doing in here?"

"Koenig wanted to start a fight."

"She refused to identify herself!"

"He's the one who's never been on Coulson's team!"

"Alright, stop it you two! Samantha, Agent Koenig was left in charge of the base before we got here. He's pretty... security conscious. And Koenig, this is Agent Slater. We've been waiting for her for a while."

"Oh. Well then, welcome. I guess we don't have a problem, as long as you don't break any rules."

I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. I just smiled and offered my hand for a handshake, which Koenig accepted.

"I'm going to go get everyone's lanyard screening set up." With that, he strutted back off down the hallway.

"He's certainly... interesting," I noted.

"Yeah, but he's a pretty cool guy overall," said Skye. "C'mon, there's food in the kitchen."

I tried to eat something, but I didn't have much of an appetite. Phil and Grant had been talking for a long time, and I was getting nervous.

"Everyone, listen up," called Koenig, who had materialized in the room. "You will follow me down to our lie detector. You will be asked a series of questions. If you pass, you will be given a lanyard. If you fail..."

He just patted a gun at his hip and let us fill in the blank.

I rolled my eyes, but started moving with the rest of my team. When we got down to the room with the mega lie-detector, Phil and Grant were there, too.

"Hey," I said, moving to stand with Grant. "Everything okay?"

He nodded. "Coulson wasn't quite as crazy as you, but after a pretty candid conversation we came to an understanding."

I nodded. I looked over at Phil, and he waved me over. I gave Grant a nudge, then headed towards Phil.

"Let's talk," said Phil, heading out of the hallway everyone was in. Koenig was explaining the lie-detector, and I honestly wasn't sad to miss out on it. "Agent Ward told me you already know everything."

"Yeah. He told me on the Jump Jet."

"You're not upset?"

"Honestly Phil, no. Maybe I should be, but he was never really did anything on Hydra's orders. He kept the secret for a long time, but we've lost so much and so many that I'm not willing to lose him over this too."

"You think he's sincerely cut ties with Hydra?"

"Oh yeah."

"How can you be sure."

"Garrett. I saw his face when he turned and looked at Grant after the Quinjet came in. Coulson, he looked murderous. We've seen him act all kinds of things, from betrayed to furious to vengeful, all of it. This wasn't an act. He looked crazed, and like he was going to literally tear Grant apart."

Phil nodded. "He's still going to have to pass the lie detector, but I trust your judgement. Koenig's making everyone go through, so you're going to have to step up for some standard questioning."

"Did Grant say anything about telling the rest of the team?"

"He's telling them now."

My eyebrows shot up. "Did he say if he wanted us there or not?"

"Specifically asked that we wouldn't be there. I don't think he wants us adding our input."

I nodded. I understood, but I didn't like it.

Phil and I hung out in the hallway a little longer, until Koenig came around the corner.

"You're up with the lie-detector."

"Great," I said sarcastically. Phil gave a small smile as I rolled my eyes and followed Koenig down the hall.

Outside the room, the entire team was waiting, Grant included. Much to Koenig's annoyance, I stopped.

"Hey. How'd it go?" I asked Grant.

"Fine. I'm going to do the lie-detector with everyone watching though, so there's no more confusion or suspicion. I'm done with Hydra."

"Good." I smiled and leaned up to give him a quick kiss before following Koenig into the lie-detector room.

"We're going to start with some easy questions to establish a baseline," said Koenig.

I just nodded.

"Can I have your full name?"

"Samantha Anne Slater."

"Eye color?"

"Brown."

"Ever been married?"

"No."

"Please list your immediate family."

I paused. All my blood family was dead.

"Phil Coulson. Melinda May. Leopold Fitz. Jemma Simmons. Skye."

Koenig gave me a look, but let it slide.

"What's the difference between an egg and a rock?"

I had to pause again. "What kind of question is that? It'd be faster to list the similarities. Other than potentially being the same shape, they're literally different in every way I can think of. Maybe the same color."

"Have you ever heard of Project Insight?"

"No."

"Ever had any contact with Alexander Pierce?"

"No."

"You wash up on a deserted island alone. Sitting in the sand is a box. What is in that box?"

"How big is the box?"

"Big enough or small enough to hold anything."

"Umm... then, a fully fueled Quinjet with perfect navigation and Hyperspace capabilities."

"SHIELD no longer exists. The Agency has been labeled a terrorist organization. So why are you here?"

"It's my job to serve and protect as a SHIELD agent, and I still want to do it. These people are my family, so I'm going to help them as best I can."

"Congratulations, Agent Slater. Here's your lanyard."

"That's it? Sweet. Thanks Koenig, that wasn't so bad after all."

"You would've realized that earlier if you'd stayed for my explanation of everything."

"Hey, top brass pulled me away. You're gonna have to take that one up with Coulson."

Koenig smiled as we went back into the hallway, and I decided I actually kinda liked this guy.

"Alright, Agent Ward. Your turn."

Grant took a deep breath and pushed off the wall he was leaning on. He seemed pretty relaxed on the surface, but I could tell he was stressed. I put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. He gave me a short nod, then headed to the chair. The rest of us stood in a group to watch.

Koenig started with the same basic questions he asked me. Then, before anything else, he asked arguably the most important question.

"Do you have any current allegiance to Hydra?"

"No."

Koenig checked and double checked every tell on his lie-detector, then turned to give us the verdict.

"He's telling the truth."

I gave Grant a huge smile. I'd been sure he was telling the truth, but now the rest of the team was, too.

One by one, everybody filtered out of the room to let Koenig finish the lie-test. We'd all seen for sure that Grant was definitely clean of all Hydra implications, and the rest of the test could get kind of personal.

Once Grant was officially free, we took a walk around the base. Something still seemed to be bothering him, and I wanted to know if I could do anything to help.

"How are you feeling?" I asked as he swung our hands back and forth.

"Fine."

I sighed. "Grant, come on. You can talk to me."

"Alright... still a little guilty. And... not all of it is because I was Hydra."

I didn't say anything, just waited for him to continue.

"John Garrett pulled me out of hell," he started. He stopped walking and leaned against the nearest wall, looking at the floor. "I never really bought into all that Hydra crap, but Garrett? For a while I would've followed him off a cliff.

"He gave me a second chance when I had given up on everything, including myself. He rebuilt me. And it feels like I betrayed him."

I took a few steps forward and pulled Grant into a hug.

"John Garrett expected you to throw away everyone and everything important. He doesn't deserve your loyalty."

"Do you know what he used to say? Whenever I would get attached to someone or something he'd say 'it's not a weakness, is it?' and I'd cut ties or worse. We aren't supposed to have weaknesses."

"Grant, caring about things isn't a weakness. It's a strength. It keeps you fighting."

"I know. You made me realize that."

I smiled to myself and squeezed Grant tighter. I didn't think there was anything else to say, so we just stayed like that, taking comfort in being with each other. After a while, we finally pulled apart.

"I think I'm going to go take a shower," Grant announced, running a hand through his hair.

I nodded. "Yeah, I need to go talk to Coulson about something, too."

"Alright. Meet you in the kitchen for some food?"

"Deal." I smiled and started heading to Coulson's office, but Grant pulled me back and gave me a quick kiss on the lips.

"I like being able to do that now," he said, grinning at me.

"I like it, too," I said, grinning right back. This was not going to wear off any time soon.

Grant and I turned and walked in opposite directions, and I couldn't help looking back at him before I turned the corner. I caught Grant doing the same, and it only made me smile more.

He had been one of the most important people in my life for a long time, if not the most important. I wanted to do everything possible to protect Grant from all this crap with Garrett, but that was going to be incredibly hard if we had to go into the field and fight him.

I'd been watching Grant, and as much as he was trying to put Garrett behind him, I could tell how much he was struggling. Garrett had been like a replacement father for Grant. It wasn't going to be easy to forget all of that.

I had been running some ideas through my mind, but after talking to Grant in the hallway, I'd decided what I wanted to do. I wanted to run it past Coulson first, though, before I talked to Grant.

When I got to his office, the door was cracked open.

"Hey Coulson," I said, poking my head into the room as I knocked. "Can I come in?"

"Samantha. Yeah, come on in."

I walked to the desk and sat down in one of the chairs.

"There's something I want to talk to you about," I started.

"Go ahead."

"I've been thinking, and talking to Grant, and as much as he's not Hydra, he's still got a lot of loyalty to John Garrett. I'm confident that if it comes down to it, Grant will side with us, but I'd rather not have him end up in that position."

"So what are you thinking?"

I took a deep breath. "I'm wondering if you'll be okay without us for a while."

Phil raised his eyebrows, and I took that as a sign to continue.

"I'm thinking, if you guys can handle being down two agents, that Grant and I will just pull out of SHIELD for a while, at least until all this stuff with Garrett is over."

Coulson paused to take everything in, then looked at me again.

"You think this is the best course of action?"

"I do."

"Then we'll make it work. Have you talked to Agent Ward yet?"

"No, I wanted to clear it with you first."

"Alright. Let me know what he says."

I nodded and stood to leave, but I paused when I got to the door.

"Hey, Coulson? Thank you."

He nodded, and I started heading for the kitchen again. Time to talk to Grant.