Author's Note: After the last cliff-hanger I thought I'd be nice and upload a new chapter, this was originally chapter 10 and chapter 10 was originally chapter 9 but after the last chapter I really wanted to post a team chapter instead of another Ward one. This is only short and for that I'm sorry but my longest chapter yet is coming up soon.

Chapter 9 – Waking the Dead

For someone who had been in a coma for over four months Leo Fitz was doing remarkably well ad for some reason that worried Jemma Simmons. It had taken almost two weeks of constant testing to convince Simmons that the drug Agent Romanoff had provided wouldn't do Fitz any harm. Unfortunately there was no other way to test if it would do any good without testing it on the comatose engineer. From what little research Simmons had been able to conduct without contaminating the vile she had learned it contained a serum that should, in theory, allow brain cells to regenerate and heal. A week ago the biochemist had reached the limits of her tests, to know if the serum would wake Fitz she had to inject him with it.

Hoping for an immediate response Simmons was disappointed, it had taken almost a full day for there to be any signs of improvement. A day later Leo Fitz had woken up screaming. Simmons had been at his side at the time, it had taken almost an hour to calm the engineer, to convince him they had both survived the decompression of the storage container. The last thing Fitz had remembered was the water crashing into the container knowing he was about to die.

Now after being awake for only five days all Fitz could talk about was getting out of bed. It had taken all of Simmons' skill as a doctor and even some of Trip's brute strength to stop the engineer from getting out of bed on day one. Simmons had run every test she could think of, the lab in the playground was a dream come true but now even the biochemist had to admit there was nothing wrong with Fitz, not anymore, in fact according to the tests the engineer was in better shape than he had been going into the coma. Simmons finally had to admit that Fitz had no reason to stay confined to the infirmary wing of the playground. She smiled when the first thing Fitz asked to do was check on the DWARFS and the rest of the work that had been on the bus when it had been stolen by Ward.

To see Fitz up and around, arguing with Simmons or tinkering with one of his projects, brought a smile to every member of the team's face. Even May cracked a smile when the engineer had walked out of the infirmary without any help. The mood in the Playground had brightened when Skye and May had started pranking but the final dark cloud had lifted with Fitz's recovery. It was almost as if the team had returned to normal. The threat of HYDRA was gone and Coulson could finally focus all of his attention on rebuilding SHIELD.

So when the Black Widow came into his office wearing a rather grim expression Coulson knew it was going to be bad news. He sighed as the assassin sat in the chair on the other side of his desk, "You've been in contact with Fury."

It wasn't a question but Natasha answered it as one, "I have."

Coulson crossed his arms, "For a dead guy he sure has a lot to say."

Natasha mirrored his crossed arms, "The Playground had been compromised."

Uncrossing his arms, Coulson sat forward, "How?"

Natasha shrugged, "No idea, all I know is that one of Fury's operatives found evidence of surveillance on this location." She sighed and answered the question she was sure was coming, "And no I don't who was watching you and I don't know why."

Coulson raised an eyebrow, "You didn't ask?"

Once again Natasha mirrored Coulson's position, "I did, but that doesn't mean that Fury answered me. That man has more secrets than there are people on earth."

Coulson gave a small smile, "I assume the man had a suggestion for our next location."

The Black Widow gave a half smile "I hear London's nice this time of year."