Work Text:
2031
It's was a lovely day at the Fitzsimmons cottage in Perthshire, Scotland. The Fitzsimmons family sat out in the garden, having one of their famous family picnics. Jemma leaned into Fitz's side as he held her with her arm. Together, they were raising their three children.
Alya's life definitely started out interesting. She was technically born in 2020 on Zephyr 1 while they were out in space, trying to find a way to save their team back in 2019. Alya was raised inside the aircraft with outer space being her only view for the first four years of her life. It was definitely a relief to both parents when they finally returned to Earth and traveled back to 2019. Of course, with the time travel involved, they had to change somethings on her birth certificate, making her birth year 2015. When they had met up with Bobbi and Hunter again, they were surprised to see the couple with a five-year-old daughter, considering Jemma was trapped on Maveth during the time Alya should have been conceived. Now, Alya was sixteen years old. Her hair was now a light brown color as opposed to the platinum blonde she had as a kid. However, the traits she did continue to have throughout her life were her parents' intelligence and love for science as well as her kindness towards others. The teenage girl sat beside her parents, enjoying the outdoor breeze while fiddling with her phone.
Jemma smiled at her before turning her attention to the two, young boys running around the garden: their sons. Christopher was eight-years-old, and, personality-wise, was quite the surprise for both parents. Both Jemma and Fitz were relatively calm children, and they were super glad Alya was the same, especially given their circumstances at the time. Christopher came out of the womb with endless energy. The red-headed boy definitely gave his parents a run for their money, but they wouldn't want it any other way. They adored their son's energy and enthusiasm. He laughed and giggled as he chased after his younger brother.
James Fitzsimmons was definitely his father's child. The five-year-old, who sported his mother's brown hair, loved to invent and build things. Every so often, Fitz would let him into the lab and watch him work. James was very observant and took in every little detail his father did. Last Christmas, the couple had bought him a toy work station, with toy tools and everything. James was really becoming an inventor himself.
After chasing each other for a few minutes, Christopher and James came running towards the picnic blanket and tackled their older sister. Alya laughed as she wrapped her arms around her younger brothers, totally forgetting whatever she was doing on her phone.
The family sat together as they enjoyed their lunch. "This was really good, mom," Alya said, complimenting her mother's work on lunch.
"Why, thank you very much, Alya," Jemma replied. "Boys, do you like your sandwiches?"
James nodded fiercely. "Uh-huh. You always put the right amount of pesto aioli."
Fitz chuckled and smirked at Jemma as she looked at him. "That's definitely your son," Jemma added.
However, Christopher had barely touched his food. He didn't look sick or upset, which definitely would have worried his parents, but rather, he seemed rather deep in thought. "Something up, Christopher?"
Christopher's head snapped up as his attention was now to his parents. The little boy shook his head. "Nothing's wrong. Just thinking."
"And what's going on in that big mind of yours?"
Fitz took a big bite of his prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwich as Christopher responded. "Where did you guys come up with my middle name?" Fitz's mouth was filled with the sandwich as he looked to Jemma. It's not that they wanted to keep this from their son, it's just something they didn't realize he'd be so curious about. "I mean," Christopher continued, "it's a really unusual name. Alya's middle name is Rose, which is normal. Almost everyone at school has normal middle like Michael or Patrick or stuff like that. Even all of our cousins have normal middle names."
Fitz laughed. "I highly doubt Alphonso is a normal middle name."
"But Damien gets his middle name from Uncle Mack because Aunt Bobbi and Uncle Hunter wanted him to be named after him. Why is mine weird."
"And mine!" James added, referring to his own unusual middle name.
"Your middle names are not weird. They're just unique," Jemma said. She then turned to Fitz and whispered, "I'm telling Mack you said that."
"He'll laugh about it," Fitz answered, knowing one of his best friends could make jokes.
"Should we tell them where we got their middle names?"
"I don't know," Fitz said, scratching the back of his head. "Obviously Alya knows what James's middle name is, but I'm afraid if we tell them where we got it, it'll ruin the timeline."
"Then we leave that specific part out," Jemma explained. "He's a lot more to us than just that."
"Alright." Fitz turned back towards his kids. He clapped him together as he addressed them. "Alright. Who's ready for storytime?" The three kids crowded closer to their parents, listening intently. "I wanna say about thirteen to fourteen years ago, your mother, aunts, uncle, and grandparents were all swallowed by a monolith that took them to space and time."
"The monoliths are those big rocks that turn to liquid and bring you places, right?" Alya asked.
Jemma nodded. "And trust me, those things are not fun at all."
"Yeah. All they ever did was cause the team pain. Especially us," Fitz added. "Anyway, I was left back on Earth. With the help of your Uncle Hunter, we found the person who had sent them through the monolith. He was an interesting fellow, that guy. He figured out a way for me to get to the future and meet up with the team. I had to take the long way around and sleep for over seventy years."
"Must be nice," Alya said.
"But I thought you got trapped in space for a year, and you were awake," Christopher said.
"He did," Jemma said. "But things got a little... complicated."
"Anyway, I was in space, going from planet to planet, just to keep safe from whatever was out there after me, because my new friend and I had created time paradoxes."
"Woah," James said as he crawled into his mother's lap. His eyes were wide as he took in his father's story.
"We were basically outlaws. For a while, I hated this new guy. He seemed to always get us into some kind of trouble. Some of these troubles could have potentially cost us our lives. However, one day, I realized that he was so much more to me than just a waste of space. This lonely chronicom was truly one of my best friends."
"He was a chornicom? Like Papa Coulson?"
Jemma nodded. "Eventually, after your father and I came back to Earth," Jemma continued. "He saved our lives. He was with us for those four years we lived in space with Alya."
"I want to live in space," James said.
"No, you certainly do not," Fitz said. Jemma nodded in agreement. "You can even ask Aunt Daisy about it. She loves going on space missions, but she hates having to leave home for long, especially since sometimes she has to leave the kids for a while."
"Where is your friend now?" Christopher asked.
A frown grew upon Fitz's face. He looked down into his lap. "He, um, he died," he muttered. "I mean, I knew he was going to go because of the time stream, but sometimes it still hurts that I wasn't there during his final moments." Jemma placed a hand on Fitz's, giving him some mental support.
"I wish I got to say goodbye too," Alya said. "I know I was only four when he died, but I remember how he used to babysit me while you two worked. He always made sure I had fun while on Zephyr 1."
"But he died to save, not just us, but the entire team. I, your aunts, uncles, and grandparents would not all be here if he hadn't sacrificed his life for us."
"And if you guys weren't here, then all of us kids wouldn't be here either," James said. "Dad and Alya would be the only ones left."
"So I'm named after your best friend who died protecting people?" Christopher questioned. Both Jemma and Fitz nodded with smiles. It was nice to finally have Christopher learn how important his name is to them.
"What about my middle name?" James asked.
"I'll let your mother take this one," Fitz said, taking another bite of his sandwich.
Jemma wrapped her arms around her youngest son. "Well, when me and all your aunts and uncles were up in space in the future. We met this guy. He helped us get out of some trouble. He wasn't exactly a team player though. He was mostly doing things for his own gain. Even got your Aunt Daisy sold to the evil, alien dictator that ran the place"
Alya nearly choked on her sandwich. "I'm sorry. He sold Aunt Daisy to bloody what?"
"Trust me, your father and I were ready to kill him the instant we found out what he had done," Jemma said. "However, even though what he did wasn't right at all by any means, I kind of understand why he felt the need to do it. In this space station, it was every man for himself. You weren't supposed to trust anyone. It was a very kill or be killed society. It was the way he was raised. However, he soon found the errors of what he did and worked to prove himself. He was going to sacrifice himself for all of us to get back to our timeline."
"Did he die too?" James asked.
"Not exactly," Jemma explained. "We thought he had died. There was a big explosion. We were convinced nothing would survive that. Instead, he got sent back through time as well."
"So this guy from the future got sent back to 2018?" Christopher asked.
Jemma nodded. "We were all surprised to find him here. Sooner than later, he was working alongside us. He definitely had a back for science and was much more of an outside-the-box thinker than your father or me. He always thought of the solutions that we thought were impossible."
"How come he's not here though if he didn't die?" Alya asked.
Jemma sighed. "During our trip going back through time, the only way to get back to our timeline was for one person to stay behind in the 1980s and set off the machine. At first, your Uncle Daniel had volunteered to stay behind. I can still remember the look of fear and sadness your Aunt Daisy had at that moment. However, our friend had decided that since he was also a man out of time and had become basically a well-known public figure in the 80s as well as seeing how your aunt and uncle were basically in love at that point, he made the call to stay behind."
"So can't you still talk to him?" Alya asked. "I mean, he's probably all old now, but he's still here."
Fitz shook his head. "It's not exactly like that. When we timed traveled, we created different branches of time, thus creating different timelines that play out differently than our timeline. Basically, everything we did in the past of those timelines had no effect on the timeline we live in. So, here, he actually doesn't exist.
"Your Aunt Daisy doesn't exist in his timeline either," Jemma added. "Her mother was killed before she was born in that timeline, but our friend did promise to look after the rest of us in his timeline."
"So I'm named after someone who saved you guys too?" James asked.
"Yes, you are," Jemma said, squeezing her son.
"Hey," Alya said to her brothers. "Christopher Enoch and James Deke don't seem like such terrible names after all."
"I never said my name was bad," Christopher said. "I just said I didn't know why my name was so different from all the other kids."
Pretty soon, Alya and Christopher were in one of their petty arguments with James putting his input in whenever he felt fitting. Jemma leaned into Fitz once again, enjoying the time they had with their children.
After about another hour, the family of five went back into the house. Christopher and James went to their rooms and played while Alya helped their parents clean up. Jemma and Fitz whispered to one another so their daughter couldn't hear the conversation. "You didn't want to tell them about that interdimensional communication we and the others use to communicate with Deke through space and time?"
Fitz shook his head. "I still feel like them seeing him could alter our time. Don't we want Alya to still give birth to him?"
Jemma gave Fitz a laugh. "My, have you changed cause I remember when you first found out Deke was our grandson you said, and I quote 'our daughter's obviously gonna marry some belligerent space goon if she's going to give birth to a Deke'. That's what you said. You can't deny that."
"Technically, I didn't say that. Your first husband did."
"My first husband was still you," Jemma said. "Any news from Deke recently?"
"Believe it or not, Grant Ward is doing exceptionally well. He's top of his class at the Operations Academy and is getting Victoria Hand as his S.O. It also turns out that he's actually really nice to other cadets and helps them out."
Jemma sighed. "Nice to know he's not a psychopathic killer in at least one timeline."
"And just recently, they discovered someone who has the inhuman gene."
"Well, that's nice."
"They found him because he and his ex-girlfriend got in a car accident. The car was practically wrapped around the telephone pole. Luckily they were able to save them both. The inhuman is now under SHIELD's watch."
"That story sounds oddly familiar. I feel like it was something Daisy once told-" Jemma stopped mid-sentence, realizing who it was. "Lincoln?"
Fitz nodded. "Deke said he's still not in the greatest shape, but he's making good progress. They're currently educating him on his inhuman genes. Still wants to become a doctor though."
"Well, that's good. Anything else?"
"Um..." Fitz looked up as he tried remembering their last conversation. "Oh yeah! Bloody hell, You're never gonna believe who got together in that timeline." Jemma raised her eyebrow. "May and Coulson."
Jemma practically dropped what she was doing. "What? Like... together together?"
Fitz nodded. "And not just together. They're married!"
Jemma was at a loss for words. "Shut up! I... I can't believe it."
"And not just that. They have a daughter."
"Really?"
"And guess what her name is?"
Jemma's eyes grew wide. "No..." She was even more shocked than she was before. "Are you serious?"
"Their daughter's name is Skye," Fitz answered. "And the freaky part is that when Deke showed me a picture of her, she looked exactly like Daisy!"
Jemma laughed again. "Hey, for a while, back on the BUS, we did have that theory that Daisy was May and Coulson's secret love child that they had to give up due to their SHIELD lives, which could put her in danger, and they were keeping everything from her because they didn't want her finding out."
"Yeah, that was definitely shot down quickly," Fitz said. "I mean, it's not that bad. Daisy sees them as her parents, and they see her as their daughter, so it works both ways."
"I just... you know Deke definitely had something to do with it," Jemma said. "May and Coulson married with a daughter named Skye. Are you serious?"
"Are you serious about what?" Alya asked, walking in from getting things from the yard.
"Oh, nothing, sweet girl," Jemma played off.
Alya nodded. "I find it funny that James is named after someone because I was going to name my future son after him."
"What?" Fitz and Jemma were caught completely off guard.
"I know it'll be a long time until I get married and have kids, but I already have a full list of names I want to use for future kids. At the top of my boy list is Deke." Jemma and Fitz looked at each other with shock. Maybe things were destined to happen after all. "What?" Alya asked, noticing her parents' shock.
"Oh, um, nothing," Jemma said. "It is a nice name. I'm sure your brother will like that."
Alya gave her parents a smile before heading back towards her room. Fitz turned to Jemma. "So our grandson is named after our son, who is named after our grandson." Fitz groaned. "Bloody time paradoxes."
Jemma rolled her eyes before planting a kiss on Fitz's cheek. "Hey, when has our lives ever not been affected by space and time?"
Fitz shook his head with a smile. Space and time may have separated them on multiple occasions, but it was what also brought his family together, and he wouldn't want it any other way.