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"I just saw Ward and me kissing," Fitz says at the door frame of the infirmary.
"What?" Jemma's head snaps up from the sample she's examining, because of his slightly shaky voice. "That sentence doesn't even make sense." She looks at him closely, sounding worried. "Are you hallucinating again? Does your head hurt?"
Fitz looks weird. His face is flushed and his grip on one of the 'dwarves' is so hard, his knuckles have turned white.
"I don't think so." He closes the door and pulls the curtains closed over its glass, before telling her everything he just witnessed.
"Is it recorded?" Jemma asks, looking at the gadget in his hands. Not out of curiosity, of course, but strictly for scientific reasons. Kara is her patient and if that behavior indicates emotional instability, Jemma has to see the footage and take appropriate actions.
"By the security cameras, maybe, but not by me." Fitz puts the gadget down, sighing. "Unfortunately, it was just streaming..."
Jemma nods, comes around the table, waiting for her best friend to go on.
"That must be what time travel feels like... To a time where he decided not to be part of HYDRA..." Fitz continues. "Or dimension travel, maybe, to one where he didn't lie to us... In those realities many things could have happened..."
"Oh, Fitz..." Jemma whispers sympathetically, squeezing his arm. "Maybe you should..."
"… forget about it, I know." Fitz interrupts her with a sigh, finishing her sentence all wrong. "Can we blame the Hypoxia for everything I just said?"
"Maybe you should just talk to Ward?" Jemma tries again. "Kara had your face on, when she kissed him, so that must mean something, right?"
"I remember it way too clearly," Fitz says, running his hand through his curls. "But it wasn't a romantic kiss or anything. Ward actually pushed her away and they both seemed furious," he remembers. "The kiss was probably meant as some sort of punishment or something..."
"So you didn't even ask him what that was about?" Jemma stares at him in disbelief.
"I asked him how it felt to kiss the mask," Fitz says, looking down. "Besides, Ward didn't look like he was in the mood to talk."
"How kissing that mask felt isn't important at all, Fitz!" Jemma shakes her head in frustration.
"In a scientific point of view it is." Fitz tries, but he sounds like he knows exactly how weak his argument is.
"Isn't it more important to know why it displayed your face?" Jemma looks at him with that expression she knows makes him feel like a student again, and Fitz shrugs.
"What do you think would Ward say? Confess his undying love to me?" Fitz crosses his arms, but flushes.
"Probably not." She sighs. "But it doesn't mean that he has no feelings for you..."
"Look." Fitz rubs his face with his hands. "I know what you're trying here, Jemma, and I really appreciate it, but you don't have to..."
She closes her eyes for a second, to fight the frustration down before she interrupts him, because for someone that smart, Fitz can be really stupid. "He tries to spend time with you every time he's here. And you let him, because you still have feelings for him. Which is okay."
Fitz flushes again, shaking his head, but she adds, "It's okay to still not be sure if you can trust him and it's also okay, wanting to trust him again, Leo. I do, too." Jemma stops for a moment to breathe and blink the tears away that are suddenly filling her eyes.
"He jumped from a plane after me. Without him, I wouldn't be here anymore. I want to fix things with him, because of that alone." Her voice shakes a little. Partly because of the painful memories and partly because Fitz gets teary, too.
They've never actually spoken about the whole mess that Ward caused. At least not like that, so she continues. "I'll probably never tell him that, but I can tell *you*." She pulls her nose, swallowing hard, and Fitz comes closer, grabbing her shoulders.
"Jem, I didn't want to upset you," he says with a tight voice. "You really don't need to..."
She shakes her head. She isn't done yet. "On the other hand, I almost killed him when we were on that HYDRA base," she admits quietly and Fitz's eyes go wide. "He betrayed us, and lied to us, and hurt *you*!" Jemma continues quickly, before Fitz can say anything. "You are my best friend! Seeing you suffer was unbearable!"
Now Fitz's hands are not on her shoulders but also are his arms around her, hugging her close.
"I wanted to kill him too, you know? Back then when you were undercover," he whispers close to her ear. "Knowing that you wanted it too, makes me feel a bit better..."
"I'm glad none of us was able to do it," Jemma says with a sniff, breaking the hug, and wipes her eyes with the heel of her hand.
"Thank you, Jemma." Fitz clears his throat, because his voice is still a little thick. "You are the best friend I could ever imagine."
"Enough now, Fitz, otherwise I'll cry again and there's work to be done!" She smiles, scolding him, good naturally, and he squeezes her arm one more time before letting go completely.