Work Text:
Some things never change
Like the feel of your hand in mine
Some things stay the same
Like how we get along just fine
Like an old stone wall that'll never fall
Some things are always true
Some things never change
Like how I'm holding on tight to you
Alya was fascinated with planet Earth, Fitz wouldn’t like to admit but maybe they have a future biologist in their hands.
Every little thing about the Earth would make her gasp, as soon as she left Jemma’s arms when they met again, she was amazed by the trees. Every step they take, she would stop to grab another leaf or rock.
So they would have known that she would love winter with all of her heart. Every child was beyond fascinated with the first fall of snow, but Alya, whom a few months before didn’t know anything but walls of metal and the view of the stars in the dark void of space, she was left speechless and with a million questions for which their answers weren’t enough when the first snowflakes of the season cover their backyard.
Though they celebrated Christmas while they were hiding in Theta Serpentis and they have wonderful memories with their little girl, this first Christmas on Earth felt like their first real Christmas.
Maybe it was also the fact that now that Alya was four, she was fully aware of what Christmas was about and she was old enough to remember all the details about this day.
They were also excited, they got their first opportunity to get to do Christmas shopping and also to decorate their new home. Even Fitz, who was very known to be a Grinch, was very excited and singing Christmas carols.
Three days before Christmas Eve, they felt that everything was ready. Alya was in love with the Christmas tree and amazed by all the lights in the streets, she didn’t want to take off her ugly sweater and was counting the minutes until Christmas.
Until then, they were showing Alya as many Christmas movies as they exist that were made for kids.
They should have known better. Of course Alya would ask if they were having a big Christmas dinner with all their family.
Both Jemma and Fitz wanted this first real Christmas to be just the three of them, besides, The Team would be occupied in their own assignments and missions. But Alya made the big question, the one that they have been avoiding for over half a year since they got back.
“What about grandpa and grandmas?”
Here is the thing. Last time they saw their parents, back in 2017, they were starting their relationship. That was just three years ago. There was no rational way to explain that they got married without inviting them and now they have a four year old daughter.
Of course, for them it’s been like eight or nine years or so since the last time they saw them and that frame of time was perfectly reasonable for them to marry and then have a kid. But eight years, in this time time, would be 2012 and in that year they were just starting field work.
It was really messy.
Alya forgot her question, they were watching Frozen for the 100th time and Let It Go had just begun. Fitz has memorized the whole movie and Jemma has caught him humming some of the songs while he thinks no one is near, that’s what happens when you have kids.
Later in the night, when Alya was asleep in her room, Jemma knew that couldn’t keep avoiding the situation.
By 8:00 pm, Alya was already in bed, it was their alone time. Being so tired because of parenthood, they choose to get some tea and sit together on the couch while they make plans for Christmas Day.
“Fitz… I think it’s time to call our parents.”
Fitz almost choked on his tea.
“Wha…?”
“It’s just, we've been back on Earth for a while, we have settled down, we have a very stable life for the first time in a decade and I don’t know but… since Alya mentioned it, I can’t help but think about them and how worried they must be.”
Fitz was looking at the Christmas tree, anyone could have thought that he wasn’t listening at all, but Jemma could almost see the gears in his brain trying to work out the issue.
“They don’t even know we are married, that we have a daughter.” Jemma added “And both they and Alya deserve to meet each other.”
“Aren't you scared of confronting them? I mean…” Fitz sighed “how do we explain everything that happened? How do we explain that we have a four year old? Last time they saw us was three years ago and we just started dating.”
“Just the basics. They are going to be so happy to see us and to meet Alya that I don’t think they asked a lot of questions.” Jemma tried to sound enthusiastic and optimistic but she was also very scared about their parents' reaction.
“What if they got angry?” Fitz argued “we disappeared for years, the last thing they knew about us was that we were fugitives. As far as they know, we could be dead. I mean, technically I died.”
“Oh Fitz,” Jemma started to be exasperated, “that’s exactly the reason why we should contact them. Just think about it, we are parents now, how would you feel if Alya just disappeared like we did?”
She hit a nerve, Fitz frowned, he hates to admit that she was right.
“They have already missed enough of our lives. Imagine missing your children’s wedding, their first born…” Jemma continued.
“Damn, did you really have to use the kid’s card?”
“Yes. Because I’m a mother now and I’m sure that I would be out of my mind, I didn't have news of my daughter for years and knowing how dangerous her work is. Of course I would be angry to know how much I miss her life but it would be nothing compared with the feeling of relief and joy to see her again.”
“Fuck, now I just want to hug Alya. I blame you for it. You manipulated me” he said, always being a drama Queen “you didn’t have any trouble to manipulate before but since Alya was born you just always got what you want.”
“Of course I got it, I gave birth to your kid” she said with a cheeky and proud smile “I think I deserve it. And she is all your face, I carried her for nine months only for her to be an exact copy of you. At least I should have wife privileges.”
Fitz roll his eyes.
“So tell me, wife, how are we supposed to tell them? I mean, my mum would be happy to hear about me but even she will be driven out of her mind as soon as I tell her ‘hi, mum, sorry for not calling in the last three years for you. Guess what? I married Jemma and I have a daughter’. She is going to kill me with her own hands.”
“We will figure it out.”
She said with a smile but Fitz stares at her with a look of “you just have to be joking”.
“Fine, there would be a lot of yelling and yes, they may forget that they are happy to see us again to just scream at us about how selfish we are but… we could bring the kid’s card.” Jemma said, very proud of herself because she always has good ideas.
“You have to explain that.”
“Just bring Alya into the scene and they would be so in love with her soft little face that they would even forget that we exist.”
“Come on, Jemma. Do you really think…” he didn’t even end that sentence and Jemma nodded with a smile “yes, you are right. My mum has been asking for a grandkid for ages, I wouldn’t even exist as soon as she got her hands on any kid of mine.”
__________
They made a plan, a solid plan.
Linda Fitz was actually very close to them. Just two hours away from their home in Perth.
Next day, they woke up very early and got everything ready to make a trip to Glasgow.
They didn't need much explanation for Alya, as soon as they told her that they were on an adventure that day to meet Grandma Linda, she was running around her room deciding which toys she would bring to show them. She was very excited, not noticing how nervous they were.
Alya sleeps all the way to Glasgow and they remain silent for most part of the road. Jemma noticed how Fitz’s grip on the wheel got tighter as they were coming closer to their destiny.
“Hey” Jemma said “it’s going to be ok.”
“I keep saying to myself that but… I’m scared. I’m not the same man that she used to know. How I’m going to be able to look her in the eyes after everything I have done.”
“Fitz, she is your mother and she loves you. You are a great man and now you have a wonderful life. That’s everything she has wanted for you.”
They arrive at Linda's house, the place Fitz used to call home before he left when he got accepted into the Academy.
Alya woke up as soon as he turn off the car.
“We are here?” She asks, half asleep half awake.
“Yes, baby” he said “Listen, I’m going to go first. You and mummy have to stay in the car just for a moment.”
“Do you think she is gonna like me?” Alya asks.
Jemma and Fitz shared a look.
“She is totally going to love you, sweet girl” Fitz said “Just be patient. I’m going to talk to her and then you can come out. Ok?”
“Ok.” Alya said, satisfied with his answer.
“I have to go.” Fitz said to Jemma.
“Ok” she cupped his face with her hands and kissed him “Good luck. Everything is going to be fine and I’m going to be right here just a few steps away from you.”
“Everything is going to be fine.” He repeated.
“Are you sure that you don’t want me to come with you?”
“Yes. I need to talk to her first.”
“Ok. If you need me, just call me and I’ll be there in a second.”
“I love you.” He said and pressed a last kiss on her lips.
“I love you too.”
Fitz left the car.
Every step from the front yard to the door felt like he was walking to his dead. He shouldn’t be that scared, his mum loves him, but she is a very terrifying woman.
When he was at the door, he took a moment to breathe until he knocked on the door. It takes less than a minute before his mother opens the door.
She gasped, she was left breathless and so did he. He has no idea what to say, he feels overwhelmed about how much he has missed her.
“Leo?” She asks.
“Hi, mum.” He says.
She takes a step and hugs him really tight. Linda was crying.
“I can’t believe it’s you! Please tell me this is not a dream.”
“It 's me, mum. It 's me. I’m here.”
Linda took a step back and took his face in her hands, looking at his face. Fitz knew what she was thinking, he looks very different from the last time she saw him, years have passed and were reflecting on his face.
Fitz was relieved, his mum looks very happy to see him, she was smiling and crying, that was a very good reaction from her.
But he knows his mum better. She went from happiness to anger in a second and she hits his shoulder.
“Ouch! What was that for?” He asks.
“You little ungrateful kid!” She screams “it’s been three bloody years and you just appeared in my door?! Like you didn’t disappear! I have a TV, Leo, and I watch the news. Last thing I knew from you, you were on the fucking news because you were being search as a TERRORIST. A call would have been nice.”
“Ok, but… Ok, I should have called but it’s been very busy for years and can we talk inside, please? There is so much that I need to explain.”
“Yes you are, young man!” She said and stepped aside for him to come in “maybe not so young, what the hell happened to you? You look old for a thirty three year old.”
“Thanks, mum.” He said with a sarcastic tone.
“Where is Jemma? Is she ok? Please tell me you didn’t let go of that wonderful woman. Oh my god please tell me that she is alive.”
“Do you think I’m that stupid? Of course not. She is waiting for me to talk with you.”
They made it to the living room and Fitz take a seat on the couch.
“Why didn't you bring her? You two have so much to explain.” Linda asks.
“Because I need to prepare you for the news.”
“What else is more…? Oh God! She is pregnant!”
“No, she is not,” he said and made it to hold the ‘yet’ “but a lot has happened in the last few years so please, can you listen to me?”
“Fine.” Linda said and took a seat in front of him.
Jemma made a script for him to follow, he memorized it, he just had to say word by word what Jemma prepared. But finally facing his mum… he would have to go with it.
“Mum, I’m very sorry” he said “I’m very, very sorry. I wish I could give you a better explanation but… half of it is classified so I’m going to do my best.”
It wasn’t easy.
He explained how they end up being fugitives, he mentioned the Framework but just the part where they were kidnapped and not everything he did inside and the thing with Ophelia. He mentions how after that, Jemma got kidnapped again and how long it took them to find each other. But he didn’t mention the part when he dies or that in some point of his existence, there were two versions of him.
“Mum… for what comes next I need you to listen to me and not to freak out.”
“Not to freak out?! I’m about to have a heart attack. You are going to kill me one of these days, Leo.”
“After Jemma found me, I proposed to her.”
“Finally!” Linda said, all her worries go away just for a second “we have so much to do and to plan! Have you told Jemma’s mum? I need to call her to set up everything for the wedding.”
“Mum, mum” he interrupted her “Mum… please, just listen to me because here it’s when it gets complicated.”
“Oh dear, isn’t it already complicated? Baby, I don’t need to hear all the details, I’m happy that you are here. Call Jemma and we will talk about the wedding” she said and got up from the couch “there is so much that we need to do.”
His mum was on her way to the kitchen and Fitz ran behind her.
“We are already married” he said, otherwise she would start to chat about the wedding and he wouldn’t have the heart to tell her the truth “we… we didn’t want to wait.”
Linda stopped dead in her tracks.
She was going to kill him.
“You what?” She asks, facing him.
“We… we were on a very dangerous mission and you know, we wanted to be married just in case something happened and…”
“You got married and I wasn’t there?!” She screamed, at this point he could have given her every single detail of the mission and even the part where he died and she wouldn’t care about it, she would be just focused on the fact that she missed his wedding.
To be fair, he missed his own wedding too.
“Mum… please, let me explain to you” he said, feeling scared as she was walking towards him “we were in a deadly situation and…”
“You are my only kid! I have been waiting for your wedding since you were in diapers!”
“It wasn’t a big deal, we just exchanged vows and rings! I wasn’t even wearing a suit!”
That was half true. His other version was wearing a suit. He was half naked and they were alone in their room, finally, after months of being apart and it was just the right time to swear eternal love. He was also sure that ‘‘twas the night they conceived Alya.
“Oh!” She said, changing her mind “well, it wasn’t official then. Good, thank God” she laughs “you should have started with that.”
“What… what the hell, mum?”
“Don’t curse!”
“You curse all the time!”
“I’m your mother, I’m allowed to curse.”
“Oh my goodness…” he said exasperatedly, “I’m trying to tell you something very important and you are not even listening.”
“Leo, I don’t see what is more important than your wedding.”
“I proposed to Jemma and married her in 2019, just a few later, we were on the biggest mission we have ever been. There is no easy way to say this so I’m going straight to the point.”
“Stop with that shit. Just tell me the truth.” Linda said, now she was really pissed.
“We have to build a Time Machine to save our friends, that took us years. We started in 2019 and we finished in 2024, just to go back in time to 2019. For me, it’s been almost eight years since the last time I saw you.”
His mum remained silent. She was looking at him like he was an alien.
“In those years Jemma and I were working in the Time Machine” he continued “it didn’t matter how long it took us because we could just go back in time to save our friends. So I lived in peace with Jemma for years, just the two of us for a while and being a normal couple. Mum… we spent almost 5 years hiding. We… we have a daughter.”
Linda was left speechless.
“She is four and she is amazing, the most wonderful girl in the Universe. Jemma and she are waiting for me to talk to you. They are outside. Do you want to meet her?”
Linda nodded.
They went together to the door, Fitz took a deep breath before opening it.
He should have known that Alya wouldn’t stay in the car for so long, she was outside with Jemma looking at the few flowers that survive the cold of winter.
Linda gasped, calling Jemma’s attention. Jemma says something to Alya and points to the entrance door.
Alya opened her eyes widely when she saw Linda and hugged Jemma’s leg. His wife told something to their daughter and took her hand to walk towards them.
“Mum, this is my daughter.” He said and came next to Jemma.
Alya hides behind Jemma and looks at Fitz looking for help.
“This is your grandma, baby” he said to Alya “why don’t you go and say hi.”
Linda smiles in tears. She kneels in front of her.
“Hi, sweetheart.” Linda said to Alya and offered her hand to Alya.
Alya looked at Jemma and she smiled and nodded, cheering her up to introduce herself to Linda. Alya took an awkward step and held Linda’s hand.
“I’m Linda, I’m your grandmother.” Linda said.
“I’m Alya.” She said.
“Nice to meet you, Alya” Linda said “do you want to come inside to get a biscuit?”
Alya look at her parents and Jemma nodded.
“Yes, please.” Alya said with her cute and sweet English accent.
Alya and Linda, still holding hands, go inside the house and both Fitz and Jemma sighed in relief.
“Told you, the kid’s card. She totally forgot about us” Jemma said “she didn’t even notice me.”
It was just a matter of minutes before Alya started to feel comfortable with Linda.
And of course, Linda cried when she saw Jemma.
“You look so beautiful” Linda said hugging her “oh baby, I have missed you so much, my gorgeous girl.”
Jemma cried a little too, it’s been ages and so much has been passed since then.
“How did morning sickness treat you?” Linda asks.
“Ugh, that was the worst.” Jemma said.
“Of course it was, sweetheart. You were having a Fitz baby.” Linda laughs.
Soon, Alya was laughing and following Linda everywhere. They were delighted with each other, so happy to meet and Linda wanted to show her every inch of the house.
Alya wouldn’t stop talking about their home in the stars and how much she loves fish and plants, Linda looks at them asking for an explanation for said home in the stars but Fitz answers with just one look “don’t ask”. At this point she didn’t care about the details, they three were safe and sound and finally back home.
“Please tell me you won’t come back.” Linda said while Alya was looking at Fitz’s baby’s pictures.
“It’s over” Jemma said “we are retired. We would never put our lives in danger again now that we have her.”
“And we bought a beautiful house in Perthshire, just two hours away from here. We are done with all the spies stuff.” Fitz said.
“We want you to join us for Christmas in our home, Linda.” Jemma said.
“Oh my darlings… Of course I’m going” she said and came to hug them “you are not getting away from me anymore.”
“I want a hug too!” Alya said and jump to join the hug.
“Oh! Come here, you little monkey.” Fitz said and lifted her up.
“And we are solving the issue with the wedding, it’s not official yet.” Linda concluded.
__________
Linda has to stay in Glasgow to set up some things and also to get some gifts. That night, they were back in their home, Alya was so excited that she fell asleep very quickly after the emotion of the day.
Talking with Jemma’s parents will be harder, since they were several miles away in their home in Sheffield. Jemma would call them and then will offer them to come to their home for Christmas, they will find a way to make them come just in time for festivities.
“Are you sure that you don’t want us to go to Sheffield?” Fitz asks for the millionth time in the day “I’m sure that if we ask Mack…”
“Fitz, I’m a coward” she answered, annoyed. “I’m hiding behind my phone and several miles of distance because I’m scared out of my mind.”
“Ok, ok” he sighed “I just want to help.”
“I’m sorry, I’m just…” Jemma felt her breath shaking “I don’t know how they will take it and I’m scared.”
“Everything is gonna be fine. My mum took it very well. There was some screaming but she was happy to know that we are fine and that we are retired now.” Fitz took her hand “They will be very relieved to hear about you, just imagine the years of horror that they have without any news about you.”
“Fine” Jemma said “I’m doing it before I lost value.”
“I’ll give you some space” he said and kiss her forehead “call me if you need me.”
“Thank you. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
Jemma pressed the button in her favorites list, always first on the list as a reminder of home and the promise that they will be reunited soon. She waited while they answered and as the seconds and the ring of the wait went by, she was starting to feel anxious that maybe they would not answer.
“Hello?” Someone answered, she could recognize her mum's voice anywhere and for a moment she was left speechless “hello?”
“Mum” she said “mum, it’s me. Jemma.”
“Jemma? Jemma, is that really you?” She asks, her voice full of emotions.
“Yes, mum. It 's me.” Jemma said and for some miracle, she didn’t cried in the act.
“Oh my… Jemma!” Anne Simmons laughed and sobbed on the line “Tom! Tom! Tom, come here!” She screams “baby, please, please, do not hang out. Oh my goodness, my baby… I can’t believe it! This is a miracle.”
“I’ll be right here, mum.” Jemma said and laughed, the tears already in the corner of her eyes.
“Are you ok?” Tom Simmons asked his wife.
“Tom! It 's Jemma! She is on the phone!” Her mum screamed “baby? Baby, are you still there?”
“Yes, mum. I’m here.”
“Jem, you are on speaker now. Your father is here.” Her mother said.
“Jemma? Jemmy, is that you?” Her father asks
“Hi, dad. Yeah, it 's me.”
“Oh baby girl… are you ok? Where are you?” Her dad asks.
“Why didn't you call us?!” Her mum asks at the same time.
Her parents were blasting her with questions and she wasn’t understanding anything.
“Mum! Dad!” She said and laughed, “please let me explain to you what happened.”
“You surely have to give us an explanation, young lady!” Her mum said.
“Three years! Three years, Jemma Anne! We haven't heard anything from you in three years” her dad said “You were in the news! The government was looking for you!”
“I know, I know” she answers “there is a very reasonable… ok it’s not reasonable or logical, but there is an explanation. And I’m ok, that’s the most important thing and you had to hold onto that.”
“Where are you?” Her mum asks “is it safe? Oh my god! Are you in jail?! Did they catch you?!”
“Do we need a lawyer?!” Her dad screams.
“No! No! Don’t freak out” Jemma said “look, it’s been a while and so much have happened. I need you to listen to me very carefully.”
“Ok, we are listening, baby.” Her mum said.
She made a script, she always needed to be prepared for every situation, she excelled at preparation. But now she has to face the truth.
How would she feel if Alya one day disappeared and after three years she called to tell her the most insane story in the world?
She avoids the details of the end of the world and the fact that she was left a widow for a while. Jemma thought that it would be best not to explain their missions in the last years, that was beyond their understatement and since humankind and the Earth were safe, they didn’t care about all the details.
“Fitz proposed to me and I accepted.”
She said and smiled looking at her ring, once it was a bittersweet and painful memory of the pain of losing him, but now it was the symbol of the years they lived together.
Her mum was crying, it was too much to understand.
“We exchanged vows and rings, we couldn’t wait any longer and to be separated ever again. I wanted to call you, I thought that we were fine” Jemma said “In 2019, our friends need us. Only Fitz and I could save them and we need to hide away from the danger so we would be able to work on a solution.”
She made a pause, waiting just in case they needed to ask something before she got into the bumpy part of the story.
“We need to build a Time Machine, so it didn’t matter how long it took us” Jemma continued “after everything we have been through since we joined the field, it was our time to be happy.”
“Oh Jemma…” her father interrupted her “are you saying what I’m thinking…?”
“We lived in perfect harmony and peace for five years, it was just us together being normal and… Mum, Dad, to me, to us, it’s been eight years since the last time we saw you.”
“We miss your wedding?” Her mum asks.
“It doesn’t count as a wedding, Anne” her dad argued “we need to plan a real one.”
“I just told you that we time travel and all you are thinking about is my wedding?” She asks, laughing.
“I waited my whole life to walk you down the aisle” her father answered “I thought that you wouldn’t get married until you brought Leo to meet us, we just knew it was a matter of time before you two join one and one and realize that you were made to be together.”
“Oh my God” Jemma said “do you have an idea of how many people have told us that?”
“Jemmy, everyone knew.” Anne said.
“Ok, let’s focus on the matter” Jemma said “I just told you that we lived five years in the future and then we go back to this year.”
“So? You are safe, that’s all that matters for us, baby” Anne said “we were out of our minds thinking that you were a prisoner or even dead, we have no way to contact you. It was a nightmare.”
“We prayed every night for you to be safe or at least to get the chance to see you one last time, dead or alive.” her father said, Jemma could hear the pain in his voice and the tears rolled down her cheeks.
“You don’t need to tell us all the details, we know that you can’t” her mum continues “we wouldn’t even understand half of it. But you are safe and we just… you have no idea how much peace we have in our hearts right now.”
“I love you, I love you both” Jemma said and cleaned her tears “I’m very sorry, I should have found a way to let you know that I was fine but… I’m very sorry.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” Tom said. “All that matters is that you call us now and… we want to see you. We need to hug you.”
“Where are you?” Anne asks “I’m not sure if how but we will find a way to get to you!”
“That’s… that’s what we need to talk about now” Jemma said “there is more. Fitz and I bought a house in Perthshire, we have been living here for a while and we would love that you join us for Christmas. I know that I’m asking a lot with just two days away from Christmas but…”
“We are going to be there.” Tom assured her.
“There is something else” Jemma continued and breathed hard, taking value “while we were hiding, during those five years… Fitz and I… We have a daughter.”
Her Dad gasped, her mum didn’t say anything or make any kind of sound.
“She is four” she continued “and she is wonderful. She is totally obsessed with fish. She has Fitz’s eyes, actually, she looks a lot like Fitz and that is so unfair” she laughs “but she is gorgeous and wonderful, so smart and just a lot. I have never been so tired in my life.”
“What’s her name?” Her mum asks.
“Alya” Jemma answers “Alya Margaret FitzSimmons.”
Her parents laugh.
“Of course you named her Alya” her father said “and of course she likes fish. She is your daughter… you have a daughter.”
“And Margaret, I would have bet that she would be named after Peggy Carter.” Anne said.
Jemma spent the next hour talking about Alya, every single detail about her daughter and time was not enough to tell them everything about her.
She could have talked about Alya for hours and hours and never get tired, but it was too late and her mum told her that they would be up very early because they need to get a lot of gifts to compensate for four years of birthdays and Christmas.
A weight was lifted out of her shoulders when she told them that she loves them and finally hung up the phone.
__________
Linda was in the kitchen with Alya making cookies, Alya was talking nonstop about her plans to design her own fish.
Fitz was looking at their Christmas tree, full of gifts from her mum and the team, all of them for Alya. He looked horrified and Jemma laughed.
“That’s way too much wrapping paper. And a lot of gifts.” Fitz said.
“Come on, Leo” she said and kiss her cheek “it’s Christmas.”
“It’s overrated.”
“Look at her face, is that little face overrated?”
“Please stop using our daughter against me.”
“It works every time.” She laughs.
Someone knocked on the door.
Her heart stops beating for a second. She looked at Fitz for help and he just smiled and took a lock of hair out of her face.
“Everything is gonna be ok.” Fitz said.
Jemma sighed and went to the door, her hand stopped for a minute and looked back to her house. Everything was gonna be ok, they made it, after so many years of suffering and pain, they made it.
She opened the door, knowing everything was gonna be ok now that she has her whole family reunited after so many years and that they would never be far again.