"Amber has her eye on you, you know" Simmons told Ward as they were working together in the Lab. The rest of the team were in the field at another crater site. Simmons elected to remain on the 'bus because her ankle was still weak.

"So that explains all the flirting she's been attempting."

"Yeah. I take it she's not very good at it?"

"What was it Skye called me last year? Bambi on ice?"

Simmons laughed.

"Does she know about me and Skye?"

"I doubt it. At the moment she doesn't know whether you're seeing Nat or sleeping with May. Kain has been hitting on Skye too."

"I bet that went well and why does she think I'm with Nat or May?"

"Skye punched him. Made his nose bleed. You should be proud!"

"I taught her well! Now the other side of it."

Simmons walked around the table and felt a painful twinge in her ankle. Ward could not ignore the gasp of pain from her mouth.

"On the table" he told her swiping the data away with his hand to clear it. He helped her onto the table and removed her shoe. He started moving her ankle to try and figure out what she had done to it and how to rectify it.

"Well all those rumours are still floating around Phys Acc about you and Nat, and your argument was very convincing to everyone by the way. Ahhh."

"Sorry!" Ward apologized.

"And Amber was watching you work out the other day when you were doing that rehab stuff, which by the way, I didn't think you would do, and she questioned your manhood. Ow! Please stop doing that."

"I'm trying to figure out what you've done. And keep going."

"Well, May put her in her place. Basically told her that the argument was fixed and that there was nothing wrong with you and your... you know" Simmons trailed off embarrassed.

"Remind me to thank her later. I can help with that ankle."

"Really? I didn't think you had much of a medical background"

"I don't, but I've had my fair share of torn ligaments."

They agreed on a basic training schedule to help Simmons ankle get better and started working on tracking the Covenant again. Unfortunately there were no inverted pentagrams evident in their attacks this time.

"This is useless!" Simmons exclaimed, frustrated.

"Tell me about it. Maybe you need a break?"

"No. It'll come to me."

"Simmons, take a break. You'll fry that brain of yours. Then we'll be in trouble!"

Looking at Ward and his 'charming smile' she caved and they went to the Lounge to play chess. Each move took a lifetime to take, purely because they were talking about previous tortures they had bestowed upon the interns and what tortures they could in future. They were discussing how to set Amber up playing poker when the team returned.

"Well?"

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

"Skye, why are you wet?" Ward asked, noticing Skye was soaking wet from head to toe and starting to shiver

"I got pushed in the lake. I'm going to go shower." She answered through chattering teeth. As she headed towards the shower Ward went to her bunk. Even though they were sharing the single bed within his she kept all of her clothes in here still. He picked up some clean dry clothes and a towel and followed her. When he got to the shower room Sky was in a heap on the floor.

"Skye?"

She looked up at his voice. He saw the hurt in her eyes and went to sit next to her, putting his arms around her. She put her head into his chest and cried. When she had stopped crying Ward got to his feet and removed his shirt. He reached into the shower and turned it on. He helped her remove the wet clothes she was still wearing and he got into the shower pulling her in too.

"So what happened?" he asked her.

"Kain, he's been hitting on me all week. I've told him I'm seeing someone and he still won't leave me alone."

"He was the one who pushed you into the lake?"

"Yeah. I think it was payback for punching him in the nose."

"I heard about that. I'm proud of you by the way!"

Skye smiled and rested her forehead on his chest.

They re-entered the lounge an hour later. Amber immediately noticed they were holding hands and her heart broke. So the others weren't joking when they said he was seeing someone. Coulson noticed Ward also had wet hair and nodded at him that he wanted a word. He let go of Skye's hand and followed Coulson to his office.

"Ward, you know what I am going to say, but before I do I would like to give you a chance to explain. I don't want to have to send you back to Phys Acc."

"We didn't have sex."

"But you showered together."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Kain has been hitting on Skye for a couple of weeks. She told him she was with someone, when she punched him he took the option to retaliate and pushed her into that lake. When I went to give her a towel and some clothes I found her crying on the floor."

"So you picked her up and comforted her and helped her clean up?"

"Exaclty."

Coulson could never tell if Ward was lying to him, but his gut instinct told him Ward was telling him the truth, and if he was the interns had crossed the line.

"Well in that case." Coulson hesitated before continuing "It's time to 'introduce' them to the family"

Ward understood that to mean 'step up the hazing a gear.