Heavy breathing and the sounds of a punching bag being pounded echoed through the Bus. Agent Ward could still feel the effects of the Beserker Staff coursing through his veins and the punching wasn't helping ease any of the anger he felt. Images of his childhood flashed through his mind's eye. Fighting to protect his young brother, suffering at the hands of his parents, and the most prominent one – being forced to hurt his brother himself.

"Ward." Coulson's voice broke into Ward's mind. "I need you in my office."

Sweat poured off him as Ward slowed his breathing steadying the bag. "Give me a minute to clean up."

"Now. I'm debriefing the team in ten but I need you to know about this one first."

…..

Coulson slid a file across his desk to Ward. As he opened it sorrow flashed through Ward's eyes. Ward's eyes drifted over the file of a woman he knew better than anyone.

"You know her." Coulson stated

Ward felt his mouth dry up, the anger he felt earlier came in a new wave. This new anger directed at himself. "Is she in trouble? Is she hurt?" he lifted anxious eyes to Coulson's face.

Coulson watched the Agent's face carefully during the exchange, "She's fine. We need her help. And due to your history I need you running this op."

Ward nodded dumbly, his eyes flitting back to the picture in his hands.

Coulson leaned forward in concern. It was rare to ever see something stump Ward. "Is this op going to be a problem?"

Ward's head snapped up from the file and his eyes cleared "No sir."

"Good."

"Will I be making contact with her?"

"Eventually. We need her to gain access to a party in two weeks. We make contact today and get her comfortable. Then you'll make contact. It'll just be the two of you going in."

Ward started to ask another question but Coulson stopped him, "I'll explain the details to the entire team. I brought you in early because I didn't want you blindsided by this in front of everyone."

Ward nodded, "Thank you for that"

….

The team gathered around the large monitor. Skye glanced over Ward in concern. On the surface he seemed calm, but his eyes showed a wide range of emotion- anger, worry and concern, and what she couldn't understand- sorrow.

Images flew up on the monitor distracting her from Ward. Security camera pictures showed a woman in a flower shop working behind a counter.

"This is Cidney Allan. She is a florist in D.C and we need to get her on our side." Surveillance photos popped up of her on the street, making deliveries, reading in a park, coming out of a bank and coffee shops. "Miss Allan is one of the good guys but one of her costumers isn't. Her best costumer is Project Centipedes' main contributor financially." A picture of an unimposing man in his mid sixties came up on screen. "Meet Jeffery Wilson. According to our surveillance Miss Allan is quite close to Mr. Wilson. Wilson buys from her every Thursday evening, every Sunday he takes Miss Allan to brunch, and every Tuesday she makes a special delivery of bouquets to his mansion. Our job is to contact her, gain her trust so she can help us. We need her to get into a party at the mansion in two weeks."

"Why can't I just hack into the mansion's system? Wouldn't it be easier since we don't know if we can trust her?"

"Mr. Wilson is old fashioned. His security isn't hackable and Miss Allan is the only person to come on the premises who doesn't get checked by security. She has an invite to this party. We need her willing to have an Agent as her escort and we'll have to hope they won't check him"

Understanding flashed through Ward's face, "Will I be the escort?"

"Yes. I'm not the right age for her, and I can't send Fitz into the field."

"I'd be fine in the field" quipped Fitz

Coulson smiled tightly "This is more up Ward's alley."

"What are we going in for, Sir?"

"We need to get into Wilson's office and break into his safe to see if he has anything that can give us more information on Centipede."

"Is there evidence of anything related to Centipede in his office?" Agent May asks.

"From our surveillance we believe so." Coulson assured. "When Miss Allan makes a delivery we will have her plant a bug in the office to see if we can gather more Intel. We wouldn't be doing this if we didn't think there was information to be had. I won't put this team or a civilian at risk for nothing. Simmons, I need you to make contact with Miss Allan. Get friendly."

"Skye would better." Ward announced

"What?" Skye and Simmons uttered together, one offended and one confused.

"Simmons is friendly besides Skye isn't trained." Coulson argued.

"Sir you asked me to run point of this because of my history with her. Trust me. She'll connect better with Skye."

Skye watched the silent conversation going on between Ward and Coulson "I wouldn't know what to say." She confessed.

"You'll be fine. Just be yourself." Ward looked to Coulson and Coulson nodded his affirmation.

…..

Skye placed her earpiece carefully and tested it. Ward approached her "Just relax. You'll do just fine."

"So who is she?" Skye asked curiously "How can you be so sure she'll like me better than Simmons?"

"Because I know her."

"What was she your wife or something?" Skye stated sarcastically.

More pain flooded Ward's eyes and Skye's softened "She was…wasn't she?"

"Fiancé" Ward's voice cracked slightly.

"I'm sorry…I didn't mean to…what happened between you two?" Skye was shocked to see the tin man show any emotion.

Ward ignored her inquiry, "Act like you just moved to town and you're exploring the area. Pretend you still live in your van. The rest will fall into place."

"Do you think she knows Wilson is a bad guy?" Skye wondered

He shook his head, "No…no way."