45. Broken Home

'Though I am thankful that Coulson trusted me with this' Grant thought remembering their talk from yesterday.

FLASHBACK

Grant poked his head into Coulson's office. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

Coulson nodded and gestured for him to enter, staring at something on his desk but as Grant came in, he looked up. "Close the door behind you," Coulson said, giving him an intense stare.

Grant felt misgivings wash over him. He didn't think he was close enough with Skye that Coulson will give him his fatherly talk about Skye and how he had better not hurt her again.

"I want you to know that I am happy with your recovery Ward. All those tests and therapy sessions with Fitz showed me that you have improved a lot, moreover, you saved Hunter's life on your first mission back, then saved Donnie Gill on your second mission. I can say that you are trying to prove yourself and are doing a good job at it." Coulson said

Grant nodded "I am happy that I am able to redeem myself, sir." He waited for Coulson to speak but the man was silent, looking down at the floor almost like he didn't want to continue. Usually, Grant didn't mind the silence as it let him think about things that he needs to do but the current one didn't wait right with him and he couldn't stand it any longer. "Is everything all right? Has something happened that I am not aware of?"

Coulson looked up startled. "Oh no, everything's fine. Well, sort off. This is more of a pre-emptive strategy." He sighed, "I am just having a hard time with it because I am not sure whether you should be involved in this or not. After all, you may be getting better but this is something a normal Agent would say no to"

Grant was curious, from all the time he knew Coulson this was one of the few times he has been this serious, and a mission this serious was good enough for him to prove himself so there was no way he was going to say no.

"Sir, whatever this assignment is, just tell me I can handle it," Grant said

Coulson sighed again. "I know you can but it's just that you shouldn't have to." He paused a moment then seem to steel himself to continue. "After the SHIELD fell, I managed to find a lot more about your history, about your life before Garret. Not everything was as it appeared to be was it?"

Grant was confused. "You mean with my family?"

Coulson nodded, "Yes, with the Wards the closest family we have to political royalty outside of Kennedys. We are all aware of who your family is, Grant. Not only are they respected but they are pretty much loved."

"Well" Grant replied with a bitter smile, "Every family has its secret doesn't it"

"Exactly and that's where you come in," Coulson told him. "Your bother has been looking for you for years in fact. I don't know how he found out that you were working for SHIELD but once he became senator, he tried to get access to SHIELD's personal files. We gave him some of the administrative files but never released any specialist information. Those files are so classified that even members of Congress can't know about them. All he knows about you is that you are part of our Organization." Coulson ignored Grant's poker face but he was surprised that there was not even a little reaction from him."It's possible that he got rumors about you being Hydra. But we both know that he doesn't know about you being exonerated."

Grant didn't show any physical reaction to it but having access to previous Grant's memories of his big brother didn't help with his feelings. It took his all to not shout in anger and go out to kill Christian. Coulson leaned forward and touched Grant lightly on his shoulder.

"I can't even begin to guess how difficult this is for you but I know enough to realize that asking you to deal with your brother is awful." He smiled ruefully, "In fact, I still fear the conversation I will have with Fitz and the psychologist he is exchanging notes with for your condition. I am sure both of them will disagree to allow you to be anywhere near Christian."

"Why do you even care about Christian?" asked Grant

"We have reason to believe that he is a power player, particularly in Senate Intelligence Committee, which until recently was where we got a large portion of our funding. Christian came to our attention several years ago when he first got a seat on the committee. We monitor all the senators of course but he was different." Coulson stated

"How so?" asked Grant

"Well for one he was inordinately interested in whether or not you were working for us. Sadly, we didn't understand the true reasons for his obsession until lately." Coulson said making an apologetic face "So it's possible that a little information about you got passed along to him." At Grant's look, Coulson raised his hand and said "Don't worry. I am pretty sure it was just rumors but ever since the Fall, he is been on the warpath against SHIELD, talking particularly about the kind of people we have working for us."

"And you think this focus has to do with me," asked Grant

"We are not positive but unless you can think of another reason, it makes sense," Coulson said

"No, I agree I am a loose end one of the few who knows the truth about our family" Grants said as he let out a deep breath.

"If we have our psychology right, the other part that he hates is that you are a wild card. You have not only caused him to be vulnerable in the past but you could do so in the future as well. Both politically and personally. He can't control you" Coulson said

"No, he can't so what do you want me to do" asked Grant

"What I want is simple, all the information on Christian and your parents and the best way to deal with them. Truthfully Christian has been a thorn on our way since the fall and looks like he plans on lowering the boom on us, we can't let him do that so we need to know how to stop him" Coulson looked at Grant speculatively. "Let me tell you I am asking you this and not ordering you, personally I don't want you to do this but it's up to you to decide that"

"No it's fine I will do this but we won't be telling anyone unto I am gone for this mission," Grant said

"You want me to take the full brunt of it," Coulson said

"Hey, you are the director its time you SHIELD one of your agents," Grant said

FLASHBACK END

"Good we are on time"