Can Ward & Fitz Work Together On 'S.H.I.E.L.D.'?

There was so much old-school greatness packed into the end of last week’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode “Afterlife” that I literally squealed and fist pumped in the final moments. (It’s not that I’m proud of it, it’s just that I just can’t lie to you guys.) FitzSimmons is finally back on track, after faking us out with yet another quasi-breakup fight. It was clever of them to use Jemma’s newfound ruthlessness (a trait I found sudden and a bit off putting in recent episodes) as the key to their squirreling away the toolbox. An excellent bit of spy work from two lab geeks that used to be incapable of lying. The other (more swoonworthy) reveal is of course, Coulson going in search of the one and only Grant Ward. With Fitz on the way to find Coulson, and Coulson searching out Ward, could the three erstwhile agents reunite for the first time since Ward was in uber-jail? According to Entertainment Weekly, a Fitz and Ward reunion may be coming to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. sooner than expected:

Fitz will come into contact with some other familiar faces during next week’s episode, while Simmons may begin to doubt whether she made the right decision when it comes to Fury’s toolbox

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that by familiar they mean traitorous. That would be a heck of a shock for Fitz, and if he managed to get word back to Jemma, there is no way she would be cool with having Ward near the toolbox. If I’m right, you have to wonder if the three of them will be able to get over their differences (read: fury over Ward’s betrayal) and work together to find Skye. I sincerely hope so. I mean, the last time Ward and Fitz were in the field together it was next-level adorable. Remember all this cuteness that went down in Season 1?

I want to get back to that! Yes, the show has improved exponentially since they embraced the darker aspects of spy life and I love the way that everyone has matured — but friendships have been in short supply lately and those are what keep me rooting for these guys. It seems fitting that Skye would be the one to bring them together, since she has such history with each of them.

Fitz is the most likely to hold a grudge seeing as Ward did some pretty serious damage to his frontal lobe/super brain, but I’m going to bet that his friendship with Skye and concern for her will make him work with Ward, even just temporarily. Because real talk, if I can find a way to forgive Ward for breaking my heart, then so can Fitz. That way we can have more of this:

And less of this:

Images: Kelsey McNea/ABC; Giphy; stupidtallperson,agentofgifs/Tumblr