There was a slightly strained atmosphere in the conference room. For once Coulson looked as uncomfortable as the rest of them.

"I'm sorry," he said finally "Director Fury feels that we need slightly more active supervision."

"So he's sending a babysitter?" Skye asked incredulously. Beside her May shifted slightly, a shadow passing across her usually stoic face.

"With respect to the director," Ward said "another person here, especially a desk agent, could be damaging to the success of our missions."

"The director has factored that into his considerations," Coulson told them "He's sending us an agent with field experience who's been on duty shifts at the slingshot. This James Ebony has experience with the type of work that we're-"

"Sorry, what was his name?" Fitz interrupted. He knew that he should have waited but he had to know. Coulson raised an eyebrow but let it pass.

"James Ebony. Do you know him?" he asked

"I- It was a long time ago," Fitz muttered, looking at the floor "It turned out that I didn't really know him at all." He flushed at their attention.

"Can you work with him?" May asked "We're on slightly shaky ground with the director so if you have a problem then we need to know." Oh there was a problem, all right but what was he going to do? This team was the first place he'd felt like he could fit in for a long time. It might not even be the James Ebony he had known. It was a common enough name.

Leo Fitz took a deep breath and then, for the first time, lied to his team.

"It's not a problem. I just knew a James Ebony once and you caught me by surprise. Let's not give the director another reason to hate us."

"Ok," Coulson nodded "He's due to arrive tomorrow and we're going to have to adjust the sleeping arrangements slightly. I guess I miscounted when I commissioned the number of bunks I needed on this thing." He smiled wryly and made shooing gestures towards the group "Go and enjoy your last night of freedom before we're under constant surveillance. The team split their separate ways and Fitz made himself wander towards his workbench. A little bit of tinkering might help him with the turmoil inside his head.

James Ebony. It had been a long time since he'd even let himself think the name. It was a name that belonged in his past, from when he'd been too young and far too naïve for his own good. He'd never even told Jemma about James- too embarrassed by the stupid child he'd been back then. No, what had happened with James had been his own fault and he was sensible enough to see that now. He'd been telling the truth after all, there wasn't going to be a problem with him and James. He was perfectly capable of taking care of himself and James probably didn't even remember him.

The next day dawned grey and cloudy and Fitz couldn't help but think to himself that it suited his mood perfectly. No matter how often he reassured himself, he couldn't shake his slight unease at what was about to happen. The throb of quickly approaching helicopter blades shook him out of his thoughts and he pasted a smile on his face and joined Jemma waiting on the boarding ramp of the bus. There was surprisingly little fuss about James's arrival. The helicopter landed, Coulson strode forward to meet it, shook the passenger's hand, the helicopter took off and there was two people walking back towards the bus. Fitz couldn't breathe properly. 'You can do this' he told himself. He won't even remember you; it was seven years ago, for god's sake get a grip. The sun was in his eyes and he couldn't see properly, couldn't tell if it was the man who'd come perilously close to breaking him.

"Is that-?" When did they cross the ground between heli-pad and jet? "It is!" the voice sounded delighted and he made himself look up from the ground, past immaculate black leather shoes, up legs encased in black cotton slacks and past a torso that was softer than he remembered. "Leo! It's been forever, how are you?"

Fitz couldn't make himself smile. He knew his face was closed off and a little cold and that his teammates would notice but he couldn't make himself smile. James Ebony had the same piercing green eyes he'd had when they first met, His blond hair was maybe a bit thinner and there were a few mores lines on his face but apart from that he was the same as he'd been when he'd blasted into the life of student Leo Fitz over seven years ago.

"James," he said in lieu of a greeting "I'm… well. How are you?" He could do this, he could play nice. Fury's looking for a reason to take you all out of business, he reminded himself. You're not going to be that reason Leo; you're not going to let him take this away from you. He can't touch you here and he knows it. He accepted the hand James held out to him and struggled to cover his unease at touching the other man. The blond held on for slightly longer than was necessary and caught Fitz's eye.

"I'm also well," he smirked "I'm looking forward to renewing our acquaintance." With that he released Leo's hand and stepped into the bus. All of a sudden it didn't look like the sanctuary it usually felt like to Leo.