Leo scooted up on the bed and patted the covers in front of him. Grant eased himself onto the end of the bunk, careful not to touch the engineer or jostle his injuries in any way.

"I was young and stupid," Leo started. He frowned when Grant went to interrupt him and shook his head "Let me tell it, then you can argue," he said and didn't wait before he carried on "I was a student, young to be where I was in the college but I graduated high school early and there didn't seem to be much use in waiting. I'd been seventeen for two days when I met James and he was perfect. Older, more experienced, a frequent visitor to the college. We fell into a relationship and at first it was everything I wanted. I was with him for two and a half years and the first half of that time was amazing. He was attentive, careful, romantic and I was naïve- too naïve."

He snorted, a shadow passing over his face and Grant saw how he picked at a loose thread in the sheets. Without saying anything he lay his hand down on the bunk palm up. Leo's smile was shy as he took the offer of support, linking his fingers in with the agent's. "I didn't see it coming," the engineer admitted "He was controlling. Small things at first, needing to know where I was, what I was doing. Asking me for favours and never doing me any. He got worse and worse and I never saw it. He never beat me. Not like you were suggesting, he never did that to me but he wouldn't hesitate to hurt me. Not to leave a mark, or at least not much of one. He was rough, you know, when we were…" Leo broke of flushing "Together," he finished. "That was why I left in the end," he said and stopped as if he'd explained everything perfectly.

"Did he?" Grant began. He couldn't make himself say the word rape "Force you?" he asked instead. Leo looked away shrugging uneasily.

"I didn't say no," he admitted "I was so used to what he did to me, saying no didn't even occur to me. He'd been jealous about something, I can't even remember what. It was after and I was cleaning myself and there was blood on the cloth and he looked at me and said, If you ever hurt me then I'll come after you and I'll make you suffer, Leo. And I don't know why but at that moment I realised how screwed up the whole thing was. So I waited for him to leave, go away for a few days, and I transferred to a different college. At first I was afraid he might find me but I, ah, tinkered with some records so he'd never know where I was. I met Jemma two days after I transferred and the rest is history. I got my masters, thought about my career path and a man in a black suit turned up at my workshop and made me an offer I couldn't refuse."

"SHEILD are pretty good at getting what they want," Grant nodded "Am I allowed to talk now?"

"Sure," Leo nodded "not sure what there is to say, though."

"Firstly," Grant began "You're one of the smartest people I know. You were a kid, you were in over your head and he took advantage of that. It's all on him. None of it is your fault, none of it, you hear me? Secondly, you are so brave. No, you are," he insisted when the other man shook his head "You lived through that and here you are and you are an amazing person. You'll believe me one day, I'm very persuasive. Thirdly, I wish I had thrown that son of a bitch off the plane."

Leo snorted delightedly and grinned at the older man. "After, all that," he said slowly, "I'd understand if you said no but I hope you say yes. Do you wanna get coffee with me or, um, or something?"

"Yes," Grant said quickly, "Yes, I'd like to get coffee, or something. Anything. I'd like that. A lot."

"So that's a yes then?" Leo asked but his grin was eclipsed by a massive yawn.

"Yes, that's a yes," The older man said "And you need to go back to sleep," he added when the next yawn had the engineer's jaw cracking.

"Will you?" Leo asked, glancing at the doorway.

"I'll be outside," Grant nodded. He enjoyed the fact that he could tuck the blanket around the other man without worrying about offending him. "Sleep," he murmured "I'll watch over you. With that he took up position where he'd been when Jemma approached him.

It was half an hour later when Coulson approached him. Leo had fallen asleep in less than five minutes.

"How is he?" their boss asked quietly "It's been a long day for him. For us all in fact. I take it that you and he are finally seeing straight?"

"Yes, sir," Grant nodded "Guess we both needed a bit of a push," he said, remembering the fire in Jemma's eyes.

"We all need a push every now and then, agent Ward," Coulson said softly. There was something in his eyes that made Grant ask before he'd thought about it.

"Who pushed you, sir?"

"You were lucky," Coulson said wryly "I had sense kicked into me by the Black Widow. Natasha's never been known for pulling her punches. You did good work today, Ward," he added as he strode away "I'll make a team player out of you yet."

The Black Widow? That meant that Coulson's partner was… Barton? No way. He stopped and thought about the few times he'd met the stoic, occasionally painfully sharp archer and then he played that in his head against Coulson's calm and the dead pan sense of humour. It worked. The combination was never one he'd have come to in his own mind but he could see them going well together.

"I'll be damned," he muttered to himself and resumed his silent guard.