Author's Note: Time to catch up with team. I try to update daily but with exams coming up its going to get harder. Keep the reviews coming, I'm really glad that I'm not the only one out there hoping for Ward's redemption.

Chapter 7 – Along Came a Spider

To say Coulson was having bad day was understatement, Phil Coulson having a bad week. Don't get him wrong, he was glad that certain members of his team were coming out of their funks, he just wished that he wasn't the target of Skye and May's new team up. Months ago on the bus he had mentioned to Skye about the old Melinda May, who loved to prank people, apparently Skye had reawakened that side of the Calvary and had been roped in alongside her. At first he was happy to see smiles on his team's faces, even Simmons cracked one when Trip had come to breakfast in a pink shirt, which he was forced to wear all day until Skye returned his original clothing. But it was starting to get out of hand, Skye's latest prank involved hacking Coulson's computer and no matter what he searched a cat in a tuxedo appeared on his screen, he didn't know what May's side of the prank was, but he dreaded to think. To limit any exposure to one of May's pranks, Coulson was currently barricaded in his office searching the security feed for any sign of her activities. For a split second Coulson wondered if he was being paranoid, then he remembered the mayonnaise in the yogurt container and decided it's better to be safe than sorry. He had just about resigned himself to the fact that maybe, just once, May hadn't joined Skye in a prank, that was until he saw movement on one of the outside cameras. It was snowing outside and he dreaded to think what May and Skye could do if armed with snow. This time Coulson was going to put his foot down, there wasn't going to be inside his secret base and there defiantly wasn't going to be any snow in the hands of a marksman as good as Melinda May.

Coulson sighed and making sure the coast was clear, headed outside to make sure no snow was being brought into his base. Only it wasn't the Calvary that was outside the Playground, it wasn't even Skye. When the door of the Playground slid open Coulson came face to face with the Black Widow.

Coulson was shocked when the assassin pulled him into a hug, it took him a second to realise that this was the first time she had seen him since New York. That she had thought him dead.

Pulling away, Natasha smiled, "Sorry, I didn't expect you'd be the one to answer the door."

Coulson returned the smile, "I thought you were May trying to sneak snow inside."

Natasha's smile widened, "Glad to see the old May's back."

Coulson laughed, "Stay here a week and you'll regret these words," Sobering he looked the Widow up and down, "Speaking of which, what are you doing here?"

Natasha just raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you just happy to see me?"

Coulson smiled again, "I'm always happy to see you, that doesn't mean you don't have an agenda." He paused, "And another thing, how did you know I was alive?"

Natasha just gave him a knowing look.

Coulson nodded, "Fury?"

The assassin nodded, "In answer to both your questions." She sighed, "Do you mind if I come inside, it's rather cold out here."

Coulson stepped back to allow the red haired woman to enter. Allowing the door to slide close Coulson sighed, "Do I want to know why Fury sent you?"

Natasha laughed, "Don't panic, Coulson," She turned to face the new director, "I'm here to save your engineer. I believe his name is Fitz."

Simmons had had better days but since the day Fitz had saved her life she defiantly had had worse. For almost four months she had spent almost every waking hour by Fitz's side, the time she wasn't at his side she was being forced to eat, sleep or shower by a member of the team, usually Trip. The team tended to leave her alone with Fitz, they visited every so often. Part of Jemma wanted to spend all her time in the lab trying to find some way of helping the comatose engineer, but she couldn't leave his side in search of a cure that may never be found. Every day the biochemist searched for signs that Fitz was waking up, or a sign was to know that he could at least hear her and every day she was disappointed.

Simmons sighed when Trip came in to take her to dinner, she had given up resisting. Standing she kissed Fitz on the cheek and followed the specialist out of the room.

May and Skye were already in the dining area, Koenig, who was actually quite a good cook, was probably in the kitchen. Simmons was surprised Coulson wasn't the first one there, the again he'd been avoiding May and Skye like the plague recently. Checking her chair for any of Skye's surprises, Simmons sighed and sat down. As soon as dinner was done she would return to Fitz for a couple of hours before bed. Maybe tonight would be the night, maybe tonight Fitz would wake up.

When the door opened and Coulson finally arrived Skye looked like she was going to comment about his tardiness, until she realized he wasn't alone.

May looked the visitor up and down, "Romanoff."

Natasha nodded in greeting, "May." She turned to Trip, "Triplett."

Trip nodded as well, "Romanoff."

Skye stood and held out a hand, "Skye."

Natasha shook it, looking as if she recognized the name, "Natasha."

"Romanoff, I take it." Skye smiled.

Natasha just nodded.

Simmons didn't say anything, choosing just to stare at the table. She knew who the black widow was, everyone did, she just didn't care, not today, she briefly wondered if she ever would.

Coulson seemed to understand the biochemist's reluctance to talk, so he introduced her himself, "That's Simmons and I'm sure Koenig's around here somewhere."

Natasha shrugged, "Don't worry, it's not him I'm here to see."

Skye, May and Trip were immediately interested, Simmons wasn't, she wanted Koenig to deliver dinner so she could force it down and return to Fitz. It wasn't until Romanoff placed a vile of clear liquid in front of her that Simmons actually looked up.

Curious, she picked it up, "What's this?"

Natasha shrugged, "I was hoping you could tell me."

Simmons stood, deciding dinner could wait, "I don't have time."

As she turned to leave Natasha grabbed her arm, the assassin spoke quietly, "Whatever that stuff is, I've seen it make a brain dead man walk, not only that I've seen that man run." The assassin smiled at the shock on the biochemist's face, "I thought that might interest you."

Grabbing the vile from the table Simmons all but ran with it to the lab. Maybe today wasn't such a bad day after all.