Flashback

Training Skye was both harder and a lot more fun than Grant thought it would be. She was extremely resistant to any kind of physical training but was a whiz on computers and strategy. She also was quite funny and sometimes it was all he could do to keep from laughing at her jokes or her inventive excuses to try and get out of doing boring drills. He didn't think that smiling and laughing were appropriate behaviors for a Supervising Officer, so he handled her antics by doubling down on being serious. And, since he wanted her to become a good agent, he had to admit that her occasional lack of focus was frustrating.

Take weapons training, for example. Skye seemed to think that shooting a gun was some sort of a lark. Sure, Fitz's "night night" gun would make the weapon less deadly (and he didn't care what Fitz said, they were not going to call it by that cutesy name!) but didn't she realize that learning to shoot could mean the difference between life and death? What did she think would happen if he wasn't able to be there to protect her and the rest of the team?

Early one morning, Grant thought that he might scream with frustration (also behavior not befitting a good SO). Skye had hit the magazine release instead of the safety release five times in a row. Then, when he decided to change things up and start working on the actual pulling of the trigger, she kept saying, "Bang!" with a big smile on her face. At first he wanted to laugh (her smile was really great) but after several times of him telling her not to do that and her ignoring him, he finally lost his temper.

"Damn it, Skye! What do I have to do to make you take this seriously?"

Skye quit grinning and shrugged. "I'm sorry. I just don't see myself doing much shooting. You and May are great shots and FitzSimmons and I will mostly just be providing back-up. Besides, I don't know if I could actually shoot at someone. I mean, what if I hurt them?"

Grant rolled his eyes. "That's the whole point. What would you do if someone was shooting at you?"

"I'd just do what I did in Peru and Malta: run and count on you to save me," she said looking up at him innocently. Grant almost groaned. Clearly Skye had figured out that he had a thing about saving people (Hey! Was that his weird thing?) and was trying to use it to get out of weapons training.

"What if I'm not there?" Grant asked in an exasperated tone. Sometimes she could be so naïve. "I know you think I'm a robot but even robots can't be in two places at once. You need to be able to protect yourself."

"Look, I get that you're worried about this but I just don't think you should stress over it. My skill is CS, so I'm not going to be on the front lines. FitzSimmons aren't cleared for combat. Why do I need to be?"

"OK, forget about protecting yourself. What about being able to protect others?" he asked in a last-ditch effort to get her to concentrate.

Skye shrugged indifferently again. "I protect others by doing what I do best: computers. I can't imagine a situation in which I would need to protect others physically. Really. Do you see me doing that?"

At this, Grant threw up his hands and disgustedly walked away. Sometimes there was just no reasoning with her. He'd try it again tomorrow. He passed Coulson on his way upstairs and noted that he didn't seem to be as frustrated with Skye as Grant was. Maybe he was making this into too big of a deal. Maybe she would just be tactical support.

Their newest mission in Belarus seemed to support Skye's belief that she didn't need to be prepared for combat. Coulson was very reassuring to the rest of the team (sans May who was running things from the Bus) that they were there to provide support only; they wouldn't even be leaving the van.

As Grant drove for the Short Bus mission (Coulson didn't love the name but Grant secretly found it hilarious), he listened with amusement at FitzSimmons' physics-speak and technobabble. Although it could be annoying to listen to them, at times he really enjoyed how the two of them seemed totally on the same wavelength. He wondered if he would ever find someone who would know him as well as Leo and Jemma appeared to know each other. That could be nice. If he ever stopped being a triple spy.

Grant went with Coulson into the village to track down Akela Amador. He was enjoying the time spent with just the two of them; it was rare that they had a chance to talk without being at odds with each other. Grant acknowledged to himself that he wished that Coulson would hold him in the kind of high regard as he did May, Skye and, apparently, Amador. He was doing the best job he knew how to do for Coulson but Grant sensed that it wasn't working and he didn't know what else to try. Coulson just didn't seem to care about him like he did the rest of the team and his eventual reveal as Hydra certainly wasn't going to help. Grant suddenly realized that the Amador situation was quite similar to his own and he wondered how Coulson viewed it. He decided to test the waters.

"I can only imagine how painful this must be for you, sir. Betrayed by someone you trained and believed in," Grant began. Will he even care when I seem to turn on him? Will he ever believe that I'm a triple agent or will he throw me to the wolves?

Coulson seemed annoyed by this. "We don't have all the facts yet," he replied.

Man, he'd heard that Coulson was a true believer but this was beyond naïve! What would it take for the man to realize there were traitors in his midst? Grant had no idea if Amador was Hydra but, given the situation, it seemed likely. He thought he would gently nudge Coulson in that direction. Forewarned was forearmed and Coulson was going to need it. "True but I have to assume the worst. Amador sold out the other two agents on her mission. I wonder what she got in exchange." Maybe she got a father figure who she could sometimes please.

"I don't know. But until we do, I'm not going to assume anything," Coulson responded shortly as he walked away. Grant stood looking at him for a minute. As irritated as he was with the way Coulson constantly dismissed him (What am I doing wrong?), he was still impressed. This man was loyal! He nodded to himself. Ultimately, this was what made SHIELD different from Hydra. There were people who believed in the goodness of others and would fight to ensure fair treatment for them. Grant could only hope that, at the end of it all, Coulson would believe in him too.

Grant had been annoyed when Skye called asking about bathroom breaks and snacks. Those three couldn't take anything seriously! They certainly were not making him feel better about bringing them into the field because, despite several missions under their belts, none of them seemed much closer to being combat ready than they did in Peru. To add insult to injury, he and Coulson were getting nowhere with tracking Amador. They knew she had been there and couldn't be far but every lead seemed to go up in smoke.

"Try contacting the team to see if they're getting anything," Coulson ordered after about an hour of talking with landlords and shop owners, some of whom had seen Amador (like the woman with the tumor) but none who knew anything about her plans or current whereabouts. "I'm going to talk with one more person," he said as he walked toward another store.

Grant took out his phone and realized that he hadn't heard anything from the Three Stooges (as he internally labeled them after the bathroom call) in over an hour. That seemed wrong. The phone rang about 10 times without being answered and Grant felt his anxiety rise. Why aren't they answering? They know the protocol by heart and it doesn't include not checking in. As goofy as they were, they would never be unprofessional enough to be away from communications. He quickly called May. "Have you heard from Skye and FitzSimmons?"

"No. Haven't you?" Typical May, short and sweet.

"No, not for over an hour. Can you try them in the van?" Grant heard the sounds of May checking the communications.

There was a moment of silence. "They're not answering. I'm going to retask the satellite and see if I can find them," she said. There was a pause and then, "Found them!" May's voice took on an edge of grimness. "You and Coulson need to get there now. The van is lying in a ditch!"

Grant felt his heart stop for a moment. He ran across the street to where Coulson had gone and stuck his head in the door. "Sir! Something's wrong with the team. They need our help." Without waiting for a reply, Grant took off running in the direction of where they left the van. Something had happened, just like he had been afraid it would, and he wasn't there to protect them! Combat was fluid; there was rarely any behind the lines nowadays. I should have worked harder to help them learn how to defend themselves!

As he ran down the tree-lined street, he saw the overturned van with a crowd standing around it. To the side, he noticed FitzSimmons sitting on the ground underneath a tree leaning on each other. Then he saw a man helping Skye out of the van. She appeared to be making her rescuer laugh. Grant stopped running and caught his breath. He heard Coulson run up behind him. "Looks like they're ok, sir," Grant told him, glad to say the words out loud.

It turned out that the van was still able to be driven once they, with the help of the townspeople, were able to set it right side up. That was humiliating but it was better than trying to find another ride. On the drive back to the Bus, Coulson turned around to Skye and FitzSimmons. "OK. What happened?"

"It was Amador, sir," Skye began. Grant listened only long enough to hear that about how they'd figured out it was her then he stopped paying attention to their report to Coulson. How dare Amador assault my team! They could have been seriously injured; it was only luck that they weren't. Coulson may have loyalty to her but, as far as Grant was concerned, any benefit of the doubt was long gone. It was all he could do to contain his anger.

As the group climbed onto the Bus, Grant saw May standing at the railing watching them. He could tell from her cold stare that she shared his feelings of rage. He breathed a bit easier because he knew she would be his ally in the hunt for Amador. Grant thought that Coulson would now be on their side too. How could he not? But Coulson surprised him again by still seeming to not write her off completely. Grant almost lost it.

"Sir, Amador attacked you and your people," he snarled. He was barely reigning in his temper and his word choice was precise. He wanted Coulson to realize that the attack had been personal. If Amador was indeed Hydra, then she would be expected to use her personal knowledge of Coulson to do whatever she needed to do take him out. Of course, Coulson didn't know how Hydra operated (he would learn soon enough), so Grant tried to explain it as best he could. "Whatever regard you hold for her isn't reciprocated. She just kicked us in the teeth."

Coulson looked unmoved. Grant couldn't understand his calm demeanor. If this had happened to Hydra, they would be out for blood. Why isn't Coulson?

Instead of replying directly, Coulson simply asked, "How's the team?" He seemed unaffected by either Grant's frustration or the day's events.

"Rattled. No broken bones. We're lucky she just knocked the van over so she could get away. Probably take a while for our folks to refocus," he replied with certainty.

None of the team had a specialist's ability to hone in with laser-like intensity. Given the nature of their work, specialists had to be like a dog with a bone in that once they grabbed hold of something, it took a lot to make them let go. But support staff wasn't like that; they were easily distracted and needed exactly the right environment to get anything done. Grant thought it probably would be a while before they were able to concentrate on their tasks. Amador was undoubtedly long gone.

Wouldn't you know it though, right at that very moment, Skye proved him wrong. She poked her head into Mission Control and proceeded to tell them just how she was going to find Amador's feed. Grant was puzzled and a little impressed. Up to this point, Skye's attention constantly wandered. He knew that she was supposed to be good at technology and he had seen her do a few things but he had yet to see the work that had excited Coulson enough to ask her to join his team. This should be interesting.

An hour later, the team watched the feed as Amador watched herself in a mirror and used tools to adjust her eyeball. Everyone flinched; Fitz even went so far as to close his eyes.

"It's her eye! She's the camera," May said in amazement. Everyone continued to watch in stunned silence as the view from Amador's eye feed changed from color to black and white.

"It switches to backscatter when she closes her eyes," Fitz explained.

"You're a robot. Can you do that?" Skye asked Grant.

Will she ever give that robot thing a rest? It had been a bit funny and flattering at first but now he was starting to question why she kept bringing it up. Does she really think that I don't have emotions? He felt a bit insulted. When in doubt with Skye, it was best to pretend he hadn't heard her. Grant closed his eyes (Nope, no backscatter.) and asked Fitz, "Who has tech like this?"

Grant stood silently by as FitzSimmons talked about the possibility of replicating such ingenious technology. He admitted to himself that they were quite impressive once they got going and sometimes it seemed almost as if they shared the same brain. They're stronger than I thought. Based on what he was seeing, the Wonder Twins apparently shook off the accident like it was nothing and just kept going. Remarkable.

Coulson and May started going back and forth as to whether Amador should be brought in or taken out. Grant desperately wanted to weigh in, to shout that they must retaliate for their own safety, but he knew he had to keep quiet. This was between Coulson and the Cavalry. Besides, May was making his case better than he could.

"She's a weapon," she said to Coulson angrily. "You are defending this girl at the expense of the team." Damn right!

"Because we protect our own," Coulson replied calmly. Will you? When the time comes and it looks like I've betrayed you, will you still protect me? I'll deserve your protection because I'll still be SHIELD but Amador isn't.

"With all due respect sir, she's not one of our own," Grant put in. It was a relief to finally be able to say something. Just then Skye pointed out that Amador was asking to be able to sleep and the situation abruptly changed.

"She's not being watched; she's being controlled. We have to find her!" Coulson ordered. Just like that, the objections were dropped and they seemed to work seamlessly again. The team decided that all of them would watch the feed, with May volunteering to take the first shift. The rest of them set up a schedule of watching and then went to bed.

However, things soon went wrong. May went off book (I should have seen that coming! I would've done it too if I didn't have other orders.) and Coulson woke Grant quickly to explain the situation and give orders before he left to go after May and Amador. "Be ready for anything!" he told him as he went out the door.

Grant had barely gotten much sleep but he forced himself to become alert by a judicious use of coffee and exercise. He checked in with FitzSimmons to monitor their progress and kept a close eye on Amador's feed. He got a bit tense watching the fight between May and Amador but Grant had enough faith in May's ability to come out on top to start making a tactical plan even before the fight was over. After all, May was The Cavalry! Of course she was going to win. Thus, when Coulson called in to talk about the plan, Grant was ready.

He waited as long as he could to give Skye as much rest as possible but, before it was even light out, Grant knocked on her bunk and entered. "Skye, wake up. Coulson has a mission for us," he began standing awkwardly by her bed. He wished the bunks were bigger. This felt awfully close and intimate.

Skye immediately sat up and gazed up at him. "Do you have to be so tall?" she grumbled. She looked out the window. "And it's not even morning yet!" she said disgustedly.

Grant tried not to smile. She was pretty cute when she first woke up. "I let you sleep as long as I could but Coulson has a mission for us."

This got her attention. Even as sleepy as she was, Skye's eyes lit up. "Us, as in you and me?" she asked excitedly.

"Yes. Coulson found Amador and has her under lockdown. FitzSimmons have been up all night creating a pair of glasses that will allow me to access Amador's feed and fool them into thinking that I'm her. I have to complete her mission and I need you for backup with the computer feed," Grant explained quickly. Then he looked seriously at her, "Can you do this?"

Skye actually rolled her eyes at him. "Of course I can. I'm the one who found the feed, remember? You'd think a robot would remember these things. When do we leave?"

Grant almost rolled his eyes back at her but then realized it wouldn't seem very SO-ish, so he restrained himself. When they got back, he was definitely going to look into this robot thing. "Right now. You'll have to finish setting up the monitoring feed for the glasses on the way to the building. Check in with FitzSimmons, get your stuff and meet me in the car outside."

Neither Grant nor Skye spoke much as he drove to the site of their new mission. Skye was busy working on the monitor while Grant spent his time thinking about what he would have to do and worrying. He wasn't stressed about his role in the upcoming assignment; he was too experienced of an agent for that. No, he was concerned about Skye being out in the field so soon after being rammed by Amador. He also was uneasy because he knew that he wouldn't be able to protect her if something were to go wrong.

Grant eased into a space in the parking lot and Skye finally looked up from her computer. "Where are we?" she asked.

"Totteroff Building," he replied leaning forward to visually examine the building. He internally shook his head at Skye's inexperience. Where they were wasn't important. The only thing that mattered was what they were going to do and, for those purposes, official names were hardly a concern. He made a mental note to mention that to her once they were safely back on the Bus.

Grant watched numerous people head into the building. If he didn't know better, he'd think they were back in the 1950s with the look of people entering a factory. "I think it's research, not military," he continued.

"It looks like a prison," she commented. She's right. Damn! That means more security.

Grant wanted to refocus her attention back on the mission. They didn't have a lot of time. "We wireless yet?" he asked briskly.

"Yep," she said just as briskly as she leaned forward. "Ready to detach." Skye reached forward to unhook the glasses from the monitor and accidentally brushed her fingers against his ear. Grant twisted violently in his seat and almost turned to face her. He wasn't used to being touched, especially in such a light fashion, so he had no idea that he was ticklish on the skin behind his ears.

"Don't look at me," Skye ordered as she physically turned his head back so he was facing the building again. "They need to think you're her. And oh my god, Super Spy is ticklish!" Skye said teasingly. She has to be loving this. Wow! Who knew being ticklish could be so uncomfortable, both physically and emotionally. No wonder it was considered a form of torture. Grant would never admit it but he was embarrassed. Who ever heard of a specialist being ticklish? He'd be willing to bet that May certainly wasn't.

The two of them waited in silence as Skye continued to monitor the feed to ensure that both she and Grant were seeing the same thing. The location for the next mission flashed across the bottom of the screen.

"It would suck to live like this," she commented. "Wondering if someone is watching."

Isn't that the truth! Grant thought back briefly to his time with Garrett. At first, he and Buddy had been left alone to fend for themselves but then came the training. Garrett often would teach him a skill and then give him a few words on a piece of paper. Those words were his mission and, if Grant didn't succeed, there was hell to pay. Although he rarely saw Garrett during mission performances, Grant never wondered if someone was watching; he knew that they were. Of course, Grant wasn't killed if he didn't accomplish his goal but there were other kinds of punishment. It did indeed suck to live like that and Grant felt a moment's sympathy for Amador. At least he'd had down time and John occasionally gave him rewards. And he'd never had to request permission to go to sleep.

But these thoughts weren't going to help with the mission and Grant needed to focus. He touched the side of the glasses. "Testing backscatter," he said.

Skye finished working on the equipment. "Good to go," she said as she handed him his wireless transmitter.

Grant took it from her hand and felt a shiver as their fingers briefly touched. He really didn't like leaving her alone like this. "Remember, I can't look at you, much less help you."

But Skye didn't seem at all phased. "Got it. Don't count on you for help." But after he got out of the vehicle, he heard her say, "I'll be watching." Given her commentary on how being watched would suck, Grant wondered if that was supposed to be comforting or ominous.

As Grant started walking through the various levels of security, he decided that Skye watching him was anything but comforting. He was sure that she was trying to "help" but it felt more like interfering. "Hey! Remember that you have man hands, so don't look when you scan the card," she instructed him.

Grant was irritated. Does she think this is my first rodeo? He could handle himself and it irked him that she seemed to think he couldn't. "I know," he said in a quiet but irritated tone.

But Skye wouldn't quit. "Careful, mirror!" she yelped.

Grant bent his head to avoid looking into the reflective surface. "Don't need your help."

He finally reached a room in which the instructions said his target was located. Grant hid himself in the wall between two windows so that the security guard in the room couldn't see him while he waited for his next instructions. Sure enough, TARGET ACQUIRED. STAND BY. flashed across the screen.

"What do they mean target?" Skye wondered.

"It's never good," Grant replied briskly. "Especially for the target. Let's hope it's a knock-out and not a kill." He never liked killing but his real concern was that it might be too much for Skye.

Sure enough, she said, "You should get out of there!" She's too innocent for this work.

"I've come this far. I'll finish," he reminded her. "Whatever it takes." Clearly she didn't understand what it meant to be a specialist. He was a bad-ass, someone who could handle almost any contingency. This may seem like a dangerous mission to her but, to Grant, this was a walk in the park; it was nothing. He peered in at the guard as his next instructions flashed onto the screen: SEDUCE HIM. Uh-oh. "Help," he whispered.

"I'm sorry. Did you say 'help' because a minute ago you said you didn't want or need my help?"

When they got through with this mission, Grant decided that he was going to kill Skye. He could swear she was trying not to laugh. "That was before they asked me to go all Mata Hari on this guy." He looked again at the guard and considered the possibilities. He shook his head, "I'm just going to knock him out."

"Ward, wait! We may need him to get to the next door. Remember, it said to seduce, not kill."

Grant looked again at the guard. "I don't think I'm his type," he insisted. Doesn't she understand that I'm not good with man people? Now, if the guard were a woman, Grant thought he could hold his own. Women often were fairly easy targets for him and he could be charming when he wanted to be. He'd certainly been forced to be on multiple occasions.

"Let me see," Skye said while zeroing in on the guard. "Cheap haircut. Five o'clock shadow. Nope. Odds are you guys play for the same team. You're going to have to bromance him. Talk sports, vodka, the Victorian Odd Secret catalog. Be friendly, Agent Ward! Can you be friendly?" Skye clearly didn't think he could because she added, "Please don't die!"

Grant rolled his eyes before entering the room to talk with the guard who got up from the desk to meet him. There was zero chance that he was going to be killed by this hulking dude, with or without a bromance. Grant did his best – even he was impressed with his attempts – but the guard wasn't responding to anything. Both men were starting to get irritated. Come on, buddy. Give me something to work with! Finally, Grant realized that it was hopeless (the guard seemed a bit dim, perhaps he was even chosen for his poor intellect) and he had no choice but to knock him out. He knew Skye would be disappointed but really, there wasn't anything else he could do. In fact, he doubted Amador could have gotten any further than he did.

He stepped over the guard and went into the inner-most room. Inside, two men sitting in front of typewriters looked up as Grant walked in. They didn't say anything and soon resumed their typing. This was weird but as long as the men didn't interfere with whatever his mission was, Grant didn't care what they were doing.

"What now? Are you supposed to grab one of these guys?" Skye asked excitedly. Grant almost groaned. She wasn't supposed to get emotional; she needed to remain cool at all time. To give into emotions on a mission was to court capture or death.

Grant just walked around the small room, staring curiously at the writing, mathematic equations and algorithms on the chalkboards. Finally, on the far side of the room, he glimpsed something completely different. An entire wall was dedicated to geometric figures – circles and interconnecting lines – along with some words in a language he didn't recognize. What is all this? Much to his surprise, the instructions flashed onto his screen: MISSION COMPLETE. GOOD LUCK. Now that sounded ominous.

Grant left the room and, to his dismay, noticed a 10 second countdown on the guard's desk. He wanted to kick himself for not noticing this earlier. "Figured out what I needed the guard for," he told Skye disgustedly, not even bothering to lower his voice. "His password."

"Maybe I could talk you through a hack," Skye said anxiously. "Just give me a minute."

The countdown on the screen reached 1. Grant just stood there waiting to see what would happen. There was no point in doing anything else. As soon as the countdown reached 0, an alarm started buzzing.

"No more minutes," he told her grimly. Although, all things considered, the situation could be worse. At least there wasn't an explosion. He reached down, grabbed the guard's gun and told Skye, "Meet me on the south side of the building ASAP," as he started to run from the room.

"Gotcha. Which way is south?" Upon hearing this, Grant made a decision: he was really going to kill her. Slowly.

Grant made his way carefully through the halls of the building, running when he had to and trying to keep away from people. Fitz bothered him for a bit asking questions about Amador's prosthetic eye until Grant saw his reflection and knew that the ruse was finished.

"Cut it now! Cut the wires now!" he told Fitz as he kept moving. "Coming your way," he told Skye as he ran up some stairs.

"I don't know what that means," Skye replied.

Grant didn't even bother responding. She'd either meet him or she wouldn't; there was nothing he could do about it now. He shot his way out of a huge glass window and ran along the outer building. He jumped down onto a garbage bin and then directly in front of the oncoming car being driven by Skye. She looked startled.

Grant calmly got in the car and – without even a hint of emotion, just like she was picking him up from a regular day of work – said, "Let's go."

Skye took off from the parking lot at warp speed.

"Slow down!" Grant told her. "We don't want them to think we have anything to hide. They'll be looking for cars speeding off."

Skye obediently slowed down, looked at Grant, and just started laughing. Grant was confused. What in the world is so funny?

"What?" he asked.

Skye stopped laughing but a smile remained on her face. "Nothing. It's just that it was so much fun. I mean," she said quickly after catching a glimpse of his face, "I'm sure it was horrible for you but this mission had it all, just like in the movies: a devilishly handsome Superspy, matching wits with Russians, a secret mission, super cool spy gadgets, and a race against death. If this is the way it is all the time, I can see why you love being a specialist."

"It's not like this all of the time," he answered. "A lot of the time we do paperwork." Skye looked a bit disbelieving and Grant tried to keep his expression blank as he looked out the window. Does she really think I'm devilishly handsome or is she just teasing?

Later, after Amador left the Bus and everyone was enjoying down time, Grant and Fitz decided to play poker. This was something they'd started doing in the evenings after Grant had told FitzSimmons about a mission in Monte Carlo where he had to win the attention of the target by demonstrating prowess at the tables. Simmons wanted to know the science behind bluffing but Fitz had been fascinated by the game itself and asked Grant if he would teach him how to play. Grant's first inclination was to say no but he was supposed to blend in and besides, it would be fun. He had to do something to occupy his time; reading and working out only took him so far.

For someone with such a high intellect, Fitz didn't seem to do well at cards and Grant realized that he was getting frustrated by his constant losses. So, when he noted that Fitz seemed more excited to play than usual, he figured something was up. However, he decided to wait him out. Both Fitz and Simmons were incredibly transparent, so it would only be a matter of time before Fitz let him know the cause of his eagerness.

At first, nothing was out of the ordinary. Sure, watching Fitz purposefully crunch pretzels was weird but, by now, Grant was used to Fitz's constant eating. He did wonder where he put all the food – the boy never exercised – but if he thought crunching pretzels was going to disturb Grant's concentration, he was sadly mistaken. Seriously. You'd think they'd never seen a specialist operate before.

Grant tapped his cards slowly while he watched Fitz eat. "I call." He leaned forward and dropped several chips onto the pile in the middle of the table. "And raise a hundred."

Fitz smirked and set down the pretzel bowl. "You know how I know I'm going to beat you?"

Grant's expression didn't change one bit. "By losing."

"You have a tell. A psychological tic that lets me know you're bluffing," Fitz said.

Grant remained expressionless. Oh really? This I've got to hear!

"If I watch you carefully…." Fitz seemed a bit agitated and then repeated himself a bit louder, "If I watch you carefully…." Suddenly Fitz's expression changed and he almost seemed a bit panicked. "I fold. You win," he said as he abruptly got up and left the table.

Grant swiveled around in his chair to watch Fitz practically run down the hall. What the hell was that about? He cleaned up the cards and the poker chips and went to put them in his room. However, he only got as far as the galley before he put everything down quietly and sneaked back towards the poker table from the opposite direction from which he left. Sure enough, there was Skye coming out of her bunk wearing those damn glasses. She was looking down the hall at the way Grant had originally left, so he leaned against the wall.

"Skye."

He was gratified when she jumped badly upon seeing him. "Ward, you scared me! Are you sure you don't have feline blood in you?"

"Aren't those glasses supposed to be kept in the lab?" he asked without expression. This should be good.

"Well…yeah. But…uh…Fitz wanted to see if we could do more analysis on the range of the glasses and…" Skye stammered. Grant was enjoying seeing her off-kilter, especially considering just how much she usually threw him off-balance.

"So Fitz was trying to get you to help him cheat at poker," he interrupted.

Skye grimaced. "Damn, Ward! There's no getting anything past you, is there?"

"But if that's what he was doing, why did he leave in such a hurry?" Grant asked, puzzled.

Skye shrugged and started smiling wickedly. Uh oh. "I just let him know that if I used the glasses to see your cards, I'd also be able to see him without clothes. I guess he wasn't too keen on that idea."

It only took him a second and he'd thought that his expression hadn't changed but he could tell the moment that Skye realized he knew what that meant. Damn! Oh well, might as well go for broke. "And?"

Skye's smile widened. "Let's just say that if this SuperSpy stuff doesn't work out, you could always have a lucrative career as a stripper." At that, she winked at him and went back into her bunk.

Grant was speechless.