Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Fitz, do be careful with that, we don’t know what it does yet. And I’d like to keep the samples stable long enough to find out.”

“I know, Jemma.” Fitz sighed into the com. At times like these, Fitz could almost forget all that the last three years had wrought. Betrayal, brain damage, the fall of SHIELD and a couple trips to an alien planet had left them very different people from when they’d joined Coulson’s team. It seemed like a lifetime ago. But things had slowed down a bit since he and Coulson had gotten back from the planet and the Hydra castle was destroyed. Which was good because they all needed some time to get over that. And it’s true, he and Jemma were still a bit awkward around each other, and he still caught her looking sad sometimes, but none of that mattered when they were working. When they had a project they might as well have been back at the academy – teasing and bickering and reading each other’s minds. He supposed that’s why they both seemed to have made a silent agreement to keep busy, spending most of their time scrounging up projects to do and being together in the lab. They still hadn’t had the conversation that filled the air with a tightness like a heart attack any time they weren’t working, but they were together- for now.

‘Can’t last forever, though,’ Fitz reminded himself sadly. He’d stuck around to help Jemma recover, but it was approaching 8 weeks now and Jemma seemed to be getting better. He had been toying with putting in an application for transfer to the Bus for a while now because he was afraid that Jemma was planning on making a move soon. He knew how she hated to disappoint people, and he suspected that she would feel like she should go on a date with him just because she thought that's what he wanted. And he did. But that wasn’t what he wanted their date to be. That said, he wasn’t really sure he’d have the strength to say no if she offered. Which is why he was going to spare them both and just get out of there.

Fitz gave her one more update. “I’m almost done here, Jemma. Sleepy is taking one more reading and then I’ll be on my way back.”

“Alright. I’ll finish getting the hyperbaric chamber calibrated and the protective suits ready. Do hurry!” with that her end of the com clicked off.

Fitz could tell from her tone she was equal parts excited and anxious. While he began to pack up his equipment he fondly imagined her bustling around the lab, unable to keep still, perhaps gently scolding the techs they’d brought in to assist. While they still didn’t have a lot of personnel, Mack had brought in as many people as he could, any that had even the slightest experience in a lab environment really. Not the best situation, but they did need the help. The new substance they’d found in the caves around the old temple they’d collapsed after Daisy’s ‘metamorphosis’ posed an intriguing possibility. With all the people now being exposed to the terragen contagion Daisy’s team continued to face the challenge of helping as many people as possible adjust to their new abilities without causing damage. One thing that had become apparent is that that adjustment did not happen quickly or easily, nor even naturally for most people. Outside help was required to stabilize the reaction in the body. Lincoln had consulted with them about the therapies Daisy’s mother used. He didn’t know as much as Fitz and Jemma had hoped, he was a doctor but not a xenobiologist after all. And this biological process and the methods Jiaying used to assist those it affected was definitely engineered by aliens. But a breakthrough had come with the discovery of this substance.

Fitz glanced at his monitor and realized Sleepy was taking much longer than it should for the last measurement. Recognizing the necessity behind Jemma’s admonition to hurry back to the lab (they ‘didn’t know they decay rate of the element once it had been removed from its natural environment’ she’d reminded him), Fitz decided to head down to where his dwarf was supposed to be doing its work. He was still receiving a signal from it, so it wasn’t broken, but he feared his little bot had gotten itself stuck. So, despite his misgivings about wandering farther into the cave, he flicked on his head torch, grabbed his tablet and headed inward. At least this particular cave wasn’t underwater. That was the only reason he’d agreed to this mission. Still wasn’t too fond of tight spaces underwater.

As he followed the map his tablet lit up, Fitz imagined the ancient Inhumans who volunteered themselves for the transformation walking through the very corridor he now traversed. He shuddered, remembering how confused and in pain Daisy was when they’d found her, and how gruesome Raina had become. Did the sacrificial victims from so long ago know what it would be like before they went through it? In any case, the research the team had done about the temple recently revealed that the temple was designed with an array of caves surrounding it, all of them filled with the mysterious material they were now calling ISO-8. According to the old documents Jiaying had kept, those that survived the initial transformation as Daisy had were left to wander their way out of the labyrinth of caves on their own. The strong ones who were able to do so were said to leave the caves a fully developed inhuman, with full control over their powers. There were, of course, many who did not make it. Evidence was building that the alien race who’d started this did not place a high value on human life.

Fitz wound his way around yet another curve, watching his red dot come closer and closer to the dwarf’s yellow dot on his map. The space seemed to be getting narrower, further confirming to Fitz that the dwarf was stuck in a tight spot. He just hoped it wasn’t too small for him to get it out. Sleepy was his favorite. Shame they still wouldn’t let him get a monkey. This is exactly the kind of thing it could be useful for. Even a golden retriever could do this.
Quite suddenly, Fitz found himself take a step that resulted in the map he was holding blinking out of existence, leaving only the two dots representing him and the dwarf. After his initial alarm, he remembered that he’d been gradually walking downward, and concluded that he must have gotten deep enough to loose connection with GPS and satellite signal. The Bluetooth capability built into all his bots was still working though, which is why he could still see its relative position to him. Fitz figured he should probably alert Jemma to what he was doing, but upon going back 30 paces or so he realized he must have lost com signal quite a ways back. Considering the dwarf looked to be only 20 meters past where he lost GPS, Fitz decided to just quickly retrieve it and get back to the surface as quickly as possible. No need to bother anyone at the lab, really. Just a short walk, that’s all it was.

Fitz moved forward boldly, trying to convince himself that he wasn’t at all bothered by the fact that he was underground in a dark tunnel alone with no way to contact anyone. Now, with little to focus on besides the dark solitude around him, he began noticing the noises of the animals for whom this cave was still home. He busied his mind coming up with the scientific classifications of the animals that could be going about their normal lives so very comfortable down here while he was so very not. But once he rounded the final bend he realized that there was one animal he had not thought to account for.

Fitz yelped and scrambled backwards when the bright light of a torch was shown directly into his eyes out of nowhere. He blinked furiously, willing his eyes to adjust to see just who was accosting him in this cave where he should have been completely solitary. When at last his eyes did adjust to the light, nausea came over him.
“Ward!?” he closed his eyes and shook his head forcefully, determined that what he thought he saw must be a hallucination. But when he stopped and opened his eyes again, Ward still stood there with that cocky grin on his face. “No, it can't be. You're not here, you died on that planet.” Fitz muttered under his breath.
Ward moved forward, keeping the cold smile on his face but cocking his head to add to the threatening air of it. "It's good to see you again, buddy. Did you miss me?"

Fitz instinctively flinched away from Ward's movement. "I saw you die! Coulson killed you!" Fitz shouted, half hoping that if he said it with enough finality it would make it true and he could wake up from this nightmare.
"Did he though? I mean, what really is death? A rock? A planet? Or maybe just a new beginning." Ward postulated, starting to pace around the small cavity they were occupying. Fitz struggled to hold his ground and maintain defiant eye contact with Ward in an attempt to deny him the satisfaction of knowing how much he terrified him. All the while his mind raced to solve the puzzle of Ward's continued existence. He had seen Coulson come away from Ward once he'd finally finished It/Will. Ward had been dead, or so he thought. Could Coulson have gotten it wrong? Could Ward have faked being dead and gotten off the planet behind them or.... suddenly a dread came over him.

"You're not Ward." Fitz declared.

"Right again! You are a quick one aren't you? Tell me…”- ‘Ward’ leaned over to look directly into Fitz’ eyes- “does that make you more or less scared of me? I know what he did to you." 'Ward's grin widened into a smile that was somehow more unnerving. "So, what do you think of the new look?" He did a proud turn about as if to show off new clothes. "I gotta hand it to you, you made quick work of the last one. But then, that wasn't really my style anyway. Too much Boy Scout. This, THIS is more like it. Young! Strong! And just a touch of dark side."

Fitz was only half listening. Instead, he was using to It's monologue to calculate the odds of his current situation. It seemed to pick up certain traits of It's host, and It could be remarkably strong and durable. Fitz assumed this was due to the puppet - like nature of the body to It, it wouldn't be bound by the limitations normally self-imposed on a living body to prevent injury or in response to pain. But considering how It had hobbled on Will's leg, It did seem to be impeded by damage to the host body. Fitz quickly tried to tabulate the possible injuries Ward's body had received upon his execution and how that might affect his mobility. Coulson had not gone into detail regarding Ward's final moments, something he was grateful for at the time but now wished he had provided a bit more data. It was not obviously disabled when it came to standing and walking, but if Ward's chest had been crushed, perhaps his spine would have suffered some damage too that would make anything more demanding than a walk impossible. Oh, he wished Jemma were here. She would be much better at this than him.

But It was going on. "Almost a shame he had to die, this Ward guy. I think we would have gotten along well." Fitz scoffed at this. 'Probably,' he thought, 'you two could be psychopathic monsters together'. "But I am sure you can understand, this body doesn't do me much good in its current condition." It feigned a look of self-pity. "Just look at these eyes! People will think I'm a vampire! Which, actually, is not too far from the truth. But still, can't have people running in terror just yet. And that's where you come in!"

"I will never help you." Fitz stated, a bit proud at the determination his voice conveyed. A menacing looking woman stepped out from the shadows, moving around and behind him. Fitz instantly recognized that she must be inhuman too, and was leery of what her powers might be. He also realized just how foolish his escape fantasy was. Of course It would have a lackey with him. It was very Hydra. "I don't care what you do to me. I won't make anything for you." Fitz reiterated. 'After all, what would Jemma think?' He thought to himself. He had already broken both promises he made before he went to the planet- he'd returned without Will and now it turns out he had brought It back with them. There was no way he was going to do anything but stop It now.

"Oh, oh no! I think you've misunderstood. You see, this is really more of a Biochem problem, don’t you think?" It put additional emphasis on Biochem to make sure Fitz caught the significance. As It spoke, the woman who was now behind Fitz stepped close to removed his helmet and then brought it to Ward. He gasped as he felt a gash open on the back of his neck. Fitz didn't understand how it had gotten there as the woman had neither drawn any weapon nor had made any move toward him in order to make the cut. But when he reached back he felt blood slick his glove. His eyes shot back to It though as he remembered It had alluded to Simmons.

"You see, I need something that will maintain this body, keep it from decaying. And that's kind of Simmons' thing, right? Grant's memories tell me you've encountered something before that may be helpful. Oh, don't worry. I'm not going to hurt her. No, I've got a better way to get her to cooperate." At those words Fitz felt himself forced to his knees, effectively pinning him down. It didn't matter how he struggled- he was trapped as if he were made of metal and someone had hidden an electromagnet on the ground. It continued to talk as it lowered Ward's body to a sitting position on the ground facing him, still grinning meanly. “I used to be like you, you know. I used to be human. But then some blue angels came and took that away. So now, I'll have to take your humanity.” Fitz watched in horror as Ward's facial features first relaxed, then became even paler. This effect moved down his body gradually until he slumped over. A slug looking thing came slithering out of his mouth, dropped onto the floor where it slimed It’s way toward Fitz. Fitz' heart began to pound as he intuited Its plan. His panic grew as the squid drew closer and closer until he couldn't hold back his terror anymore. "NO! NO NO NO NO NO! NO!" He begged continuously, struggling against invisible binding, his frightened cries echoing around the chamber. His pleas grew louder still as It glided up his arm toward the cut that was made just seconds ago. And they continued still as he felt the cool, unnatural tingle of It slipping inside his body. And still he cried out until he gradually became aware that his ears had stopped hearing his voice, and now his screams were only echoing inside his own head.

He felt himself rise involuntarily off the floor. He could tell his heart rate had slowed although his panic had not subsided. He heard his voice tell the woman who had been somehow holding his him down to take the body to the stasis chamber. And finally he watched as his hand picked up the lost dwarf he'd nearly forgotten, obviously intentionally held hostage by It and his witch, and turn to walk out the way he'd come in.

Chapter Text

Jemma Simmons glanced at the radio again. It had only been 15 minutes since Fitz's tracker had lost connection and she'd already buzzed him 6 times. She knew she was over reacting, but honestly, he knew that the policy was to inform someone before you go off radar. What was wrong with him?

"Doctor Simmons? Would you like to check the calibration of the chamber?" The voice of one of the lab techs distracted her from her worrying momentarily.

"Yes, thank you Agent Evans. I'll be right there." She considered calling Fitz one more time but thought better of it. What use was it anyway? Surely he was fine. But as she turned to leave, the radio sprang to life.

"Jemma?"

She was embarrassed how hearing his voice made her heart leap. She whirled around and nearly fell on the intercom. "Fitz! What happened to you!? I've been paging you for the last 20 minutes!" She hoped to disguise her overprotectiveness with irritation, but she knew she had let a little too much of her relief through if he was paying attention.

"Oh! Er, yeah, sorry about that. Um, Sleepy got stuck and..."

"Oh dear, is he alright?" She asked with sincere concern and just a hint of amusement. She knew he cared for his toys like pets, and Sleepy was his favorite.

"Yeah, yeah. A bit banged up but nothing that can't be fixed. Erm anyway, just lettin' you know I'm on my way back so...”

"Right, I've got everything ready to go when you get here."

"Good, good. See you soon then."

Jemma looked back at the monitor to see Fitz' tracker was once again active. Her nerves eased, she was able to give her full attention back to the task at hand. She followed the path Evans had taken to the room with the hyperbaric chamber. She looked it over, checked that it was working properly and was set to the right level. She made sure their spectrograph was ready to receive the samples and the rest of the equipment was sterilized. For being untrained as most of them were, the techs had done a good job of getting the space ready. She only had to make a few adjustments. Still, she found it hard to be still and wait for Fitz' return patiently, so she found herself checking all the equipment again, and repeatedly checking on the progress of some of the other projects she and Fitz had going- such as a full work up of the Maveth shards to discover what gave it such unique properties. Each time she found the progress disappointing, however, and so couldn't be more relieved when Fitz finally arrived with the samples.

Upon hearing the hangar doors engage she flitted out of the room and towards the west doors, the techs on her heels. She hastily put on her protective suit and entered the hangar just in time to see Fitz stepping off the Bus with care, trying to manage a large shielded case that dwarfed him on top of a briefcase of tools and instruments. Jemma rushed towards him and reached out her hand just in time to stabilize the organizer that was about to lose its balance.

"Fitz! I told you we need to be careful with these! Honestly, what do you think you were doing?" She scolded, gently removing the case from his grip. The techs rushed around them into the Bus to retrieve the remaining equipment and samples.

"Sorry Jem. But I'm sure they'll be alright. They're basically rocks after all."

Jemma chafed a bit at his cavalier attitude. "Rocks that contain an unexamined isotope with unknown decay and radioactive effects!" She corrected.

"Well then, we better get started, huh?" Fitz replied with a grin, all but ignoring her lecture. Still, she couldn't help but return his smile as the excitement of discovery came over her. This was when she was truly happiest, she thought. All of the secret agent stuff, leave that to the others. She belonged in the lab with Fitz, making discoveries and inventing things that would go on to save good agents and help good people. She sometimes wished she had realized that three years ago. But for now she just turned on her heels and made her way back to the lab with the chamber they'd set up.

Jemma got there well before Fitz and began delicately removing the vials and baggies from their transport. When Fitz arrived, he gave her more information about each of the samples.
"Um, that one... That one is from 958 meters inside the cave. Elevation about 1465 meters above sea level. Data set G.” She held up another “yeah, that… 623 meters inside cave, 1479 meters above sea level. Data set B- er no. C.”
Eventually they finished sorting all the samples and began the work of prepping them for the various tests they were planning to run. Later on she would find it odd that none of the samples they looked at together lead to an interesting anecdotal story. But surely he was tired after the misssion.

Chapter Text

“Good news! ISO-8 appears to be fully inert in its solid state. It poses no carcinogenic or radioactive threat.” Jemma announced proudly to Mack, Coulson, and May when they came in to check the progress the next day. It had been a relief to get out of those protective outfits. They were effective, but not designed for extended wear. She and Fitz agreed they got stifling after a while
.
“That is good. So… you’re saying we now know what it doesn’t do?” Commented Mack. Jemma nodded earnestly, hoping that didn’t indicate Mack was disappointed by their progress. Surely as someone who knew his way around a lab he understood that those were some of the most important things to find out about newly discovered matter. And even that information is challenging to come by with a material no one had ever worked with before.

“But do we know what it does do? Are we even sure this is the same element Jaiying used?” May challenged.

“No. Not for sure. Yet.” Jemma conceded. “We still have many more tests to run.”

“But eh… it’s looking good!” Fitz hesitantly piped in from several feet behind Jemma, eavesdropping as usual whilst working on the computer. “In the cave I was able to confirm the earth is laced with it. It’s everywhere. Since it's not naturally occurring, it must have been put there for a reason. That much of something doesn’t just accidentally get there.”

“Well, keep up the good work then. And keep us posted.” Coulson concluded their meeting.

“Will do, sir.” Jemma confirmed as Coulson and May went their separate ways. Mack, though, lingered. He went over to Fitz and began chatting with him quietly. Jemma returned to her work aggregating the data from their various instruments, but glanced up at them from time to time, trying to do so in a way that concealed her interest. She saw Fitz apparently show him in more detail the results they collected from the Mass Spectrometer. Though Coulson was back to work, Mack had largely maintained the responsibilities of Director. Coulson said he needed some time off and Jemma was inclined to agree. But she could tell Mack missed the Lab and the garage. She would often see him coming in and out, inquiring about Fitz’ latest scheme and even briefly chatting with Hunter when he would wander in. Which he seemed to do a lot when he was bored. Usually with a beer.

Truly, though, she wished she could hear their conversation for a reason besides an interest in the test results they were considering. Mack had this way about him that somehow made him comfortable asking questions that she was never comfortable asking, at least with Fitz. And Fitz was comfortable answering. Part of her had wanted to ask Fitz how he’d fared being in the cave considering their mutual history with small spaces and alien rocks. It would have made her anxious to be there, despite her excitement to study something new. She loathed that feeling, judging herself fragile since it was irrational and she would never have had that problem just a little while ago. She reminded herself to be patient, all of the books said it would take time to get reasonably back to normal.

But in any case, she had no idea when a good time to ask such questions would be or even how she would phrase it if she did. And she got the sense that the subject would only exacerbate the discomfort between them. She knew they would have to have a conversation eventually, but for now they were avoiding anything that touched on the uncomfortable topics of their recent history. She wasn’t sure what she would have to say about it- her thoughts were still very disorganized in regards to everything that had happened and she didn’t like trying to communicate when she didn’t even know what to express or how to do it. And he seemed to be guarded when it came to his side of the experiences. She still wasn’t sure whether he thought he was protecting her or himself from his feelings, but Mack seemed to be able to go there with him. She was glad he had someone to talk to, but a little jealous too. Not really of his attention - that would be childish - but of Mack’s ease with such things. Jemma ached for the days when she and Fitz were able to talk openly about any topic without hesitancy. So far such easy comfort was relegated to the past, but she hoped that their future included it as well.

--

Too soon the day drew to a close. The outcome of their labor was unsatisfactory, much work remained and Jemma didn’t really want to quit. But when her vision would occasionally blur because her eyes could no longer focus, she knew it was getting too late. Not much more could be accomplished in this state, she thought to herself. So might as well go to bed. She thought wistfully back to her days in the academy where she could stay up all night on a project and still make it to class the next day. Not anymore.

She walked over to where Fitz was staring blankly at nothing in particular and chewing on his pen. He seemed to be in the same state as she, but then she knew he zoned out when he was thinking as well. “Well!” She started to get his attention. When he jumped a bit and looked up at her, she gave him a small smile and continued. “It’s getting late, I think I’m going to head off to bed.”

“Oh, yeah.” Fitz glanced at the time and rubbed his face hard with both hands to wake himself up. “Right, better finish up myself.” But he gave no indication of moving, rather relaxing back into his chair even more than before. Jemma looked at what was on his computer screen.

“Unsatisfying.” She sighed.

“What?”

“These results. I assume that is what you were thinking about.”

“Ah, right, yeah. So far it doesn’t seem to do much, huh?”

“I can’t imagine what the purpose was bringing so much of this to earth. It doesn’t seem to react to anything. Perhaps it is simply a byproduct of the terragen.” Jemma glanced at Fitz to see if he was thinking the same thing. But his face revealed nothing, he was just staring into the distance again so she continued. “I mean, we’ve not completely figured out how the reaction occurs within the body in both humans and Inhumans, or what it leaves behind.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so though Jemma.” Fitz finally replied, scratching his jaw absentmindedly. “I think the Kree engineered this compound specifically for earth.”

“Really?!” Jemma was shocked he was able to conclude that from the same data she was looking at. But then, he was better at induction than was she. “How do you know?”

Suddenly he looked mildly embarrassed. “Erm, I don’t really. It’s just a theory. But eh, you see the molecular structure, yeah?” He pointed to the diagram floating on his computer screen in case she hadn’t noticed it before.

“It is a very unlikely combination to occur naturally. But then, we don’t know the conditions of the natural planet.” Jemma thought out loud. “This would be a lot easier if we had some indication what that environment was like.” She sighed.

“Right, but the simulations couldn’t come up with ANY environmental conditions that create this.” Before she could ask why he hadn’t told her before that he ran simulations he added “Besides, we know that the genetic mutation is unstable at the time of exposure to the terragen and an outside element must be introduced to complete it. We also know that these experiments were not successful on other species. They probably didn’t even get to the point with other species where they needed to be able to control their abilities.”

His line of reasoning was coming together for her. “So they would have had to create a compound specific to our species and earth’s environment! Of course!” She took a moment to relish the epiphany and let it network with the other data in her mind. “But then…” she looked again at the results displayed on his screen. “What does it do? How does it interact….” Then it hit her. “If we were building a particle for a particular reaction, we would make it react to a single trigger. The Kree probably did the same thing!”

Fitz snapped his fingers. “Of course! But how do we find the key component?”

Jemma finished the puzzle excitedly. “Simple! There are a limited number of things that are unique to the circumstances for which this was created. We just have to isolate those things and test them to see what activates it!”

Fitz suddenly leaned forward and started scribbling on a pad of sticky notes on his desk. Jemma walked around to see what he was writing, but he read it to her anyway as he went. “Inhuman DNA, that’s an obvious one.”

“We’ve already been able to identify the genetic markers.” Jemma agreed.

“Terragen compound or residue,” Fitz continued

“Right! They would still have it on them when they came out of the chamber!” Jemma offered.

“Brain patterns and electric charge.”

This one surprised Jemma. “You think it could alter their frequencies consistently?” She inquired.

“I don’t know. But it’s worth checking out. Whatever it is, it has to be something that can be detected outside the body on the skin or somthin’. Otherwise, how would a bunch of rocks know to start a reaction?” Fitz kind of chucked at the ridiculous notion that the rocks would somehow be conscious of when they were needed.

“Alright, it wouldn’t hurt to investigate that. So we will need some Inhuman DNA. I’m sure Daisy, Lincoln, and Joey will help us out.”

Fitz’ eyes lit up. “Right! We’ve got them right here!”

The spark in his eyes fueled the exhilaration that surged through her. “As long as they’re not out on a mission,” confirmed Jemma, “but I’m sure if we catch them first thing in the morning they’ll have a few minutes!”

“Think they’ll agree to an EEG?” Fitz wondered aloud.

“Maybe we can convince them. And we confiscated synthesized terragen compound from the Hydra lab at the A.T.C.U.!”

“Perfect!” Fitz slumped back in his chair with a completely different expression than a few minutes before. He was clearly satisfied now, and his face betrayed his excitement. He looked up at Jemma with a particular smile she hadn’t seen in far too long, and she knew she was smiling too. She was far more encouraged now, and would sleep much easier knowing they had a specific plan for the next day. They really did work better together.

A few moments passed where she and Fitz just thought together in silence. Jemma sensed she was pressing her luck by lingering- she was apprehensive that she might catch him with the burdened face he made when they were falling into old rhythms and then he remembered the great divide that kpt them out of sync, if only kept in its place by the memory that it existed. But for once the reversal of mood never came. Still, as nice as the moment was, Jemma knew she needed to tear herself away. “Right, well, best be off to bed then. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yeah! Sleep well!” Fitz wished her. Jemma turned and walked out of the lab, the smile still on her face. She felt like she could feel his eyes on her all the way down the hall, but then, that could have been her imagination. Or just wishful thinking.

Chapter Text

Jemma thought she'd set her alarm early the next day- she was impatient to get started on the tests she and Fitz discussed the previous night- so she was surprised to see Fitz already there setting up the equipment for the tests they were going to run.

“You’re here early!” She quipped as she walked in.

“So’re you. Wasn’t expecting ya for a while yet.” Fitz replied.

“Yes, well, we’ve a lot to do today, haven’t we?” Jemma floated over to her work station, sending out a text to the three resident Inhumans requesting that they present themselves in the lab at once.

“I’ve requisitioned the concentrated terragen samples we’re gonna need. I’ve also booked the EEG machine. All we need now are the test subjects.”

“Fitz!” Jemma chided. “They are not lab rats, they’re our friends!”

“Sure. Friends whom we just happen to be performing tests on. We’ve all been there.”

It was true that in the academy, most of the victims of the tests they performed for their projects were fellow students. Still, Jemma had a feeling normal people might not have ‘been there’ and might not take kindly to being called test subjects. Nevertheless, she was humored by the reminder.

“I’ve already messaged our friends” Jemma emphasized the word to make her point, “so they should be here any minute now.” Her ears pricked at the sound of the lab doors opening. “What perfect timing! I was just saying you should be arriving…” When she turned to greet the people she’d summoned, she was taken aback to be facing Agent May. “Oh! I’m sorry Agent May. You weren’t who I was expecting. How can we help you?” Jemma recovered politely.

“I just thought I’d stop by to see your progress. I noticed Fitz requested access to the EEG and EKG machines.” May stated matter-of-factly.

Jemma found it curious that May was so interested in what they were doing as, it was usually Coulson who was nagging them about updates. “Yes! Fitz and I think that the ISO-8 particle is reactive to some result of the evolution that occurs in Inhumans. We plan to use that to see exactly what has changed in their macrophysiology that may have an effect on the ISO-8.”

“You think that the ISO-8 only affects Inhumans?” May clarified.

“Yes, precisely!” Jemma smiled at May, who must have shared her enthusiasm since she actually volunteered an “Interesting" before taking her leave.

May brushed past Daisy in the doorway as she headed out.

“Whoa. Everything alright? May doesn’t usually spend a lot of time down here.” Daisy noted.

“It is unusual. She seems to have taken a special interest in our latest project.” Jemma gazed thoughtfully at the place where May exited the room, trying to solve the puzzle.

“Which is?” Daisy interrupted her thoughts. “You called me down here, remember?” She teased.

“Oh, yes of course!” Jemma shook her head and pulled Daisy over to Fitz' station so they could explain together what their plan was. First, filling her in about the ISO-8. “You know that Fitz went out on a mission a couple days back to collect samples from the caves around the temple where…” she trailed off, not knowing exactly how to sensitively describe all that had happened there.

Daisy picked up where she left off. “Yeah, I heard about that. I was surprised there was anything left, I thought we’d collapsed the whole place.” Her distaste was not lost on Jemma.

“Yeah, mostly. But there were still these caves….” Fitz agreed. “So I volunteered to go down there to see if there was anything interesting.” He puffed his chest slightly.

Daisy grinned at his not-so-subtle brag. “I’m guessing there was?” She prompted.

“Very.” Simmons savored the reveal. “We think that the foreign substance we found there was intentionally placed by the Kree to assist with the transformation.”

Daisy processed the information. “So, like, what Jiaying did for me at ‘Afterlife’? Healed me, made it so my abilities were a little more… controllable?”

“Exactly. It may even be the same thing she used. But we’re having a little trouble figuring out what it does or how it does it.” Jemma added.

Fitz eyes lit up again. He loved explaining the process they used, it made him feel clever. “Yeah cuz yesterday we did all sorts of tests, right? Turns out, it’s not dangerous. The results from the electron microscope and the mass spectrometer proved that it’s inert.”

“To normal humans.” Daisy finished for him. It didn’t sound like she liked where this was going.

“Well, yeah. And, we don’t really know what it does to Inhumans so…”

Daisy turned to Jemma. “You can’t be serious. You want us to be lab rats?”

“No, no not at all!” exclaimed Jemma, glaring at Fitz. “We just need a sample of your blood and maybe a quick EKG and EEG test.” She tried to make it sound trivial. Daisy didn’t buy it.

“Lincoln will never go for this. Joey maybe. But Lincoln, he’s still a little skittish when it comes to normal humans investigating our powers. He’s got good reason to be.” Daisy half apologized.

“I know. We were hoping maybe you could convince him to cooperate. It is for the purpose of helping Inhumans after all. We don’t have Jiaying’s instruments from Afterlife, and …” Jemma paused briefly, “this could be the first step to coming up with something similar.” 

“Yeah, it wouldn’t even take very long. You're not going to be exposing you to anything dangerous.” Fitz argued.

Daisy sighed. “Just… let me ask him, okay? I’m not guaranteeing anything but I’ll ask.”

Jemma gave Daisy a wide smile. “Thank you, we really appreciate it.”

“Does that mean you’ll let us take your blood too?” Fitz deduced.

“And do an EKG and EEG?” Jemma added hopefully.

Daisy rolled her eyes. “I guess. But only because you’re my favorite mad scientists.”

That made Jemma do a little hop out of excitement. “Do you have to be anywhere?” She asked, anxious to get the tests done so they could see the results. “And do you have any idea where Joey is?”

“No idea about Joey. And I’ve got a meeting with the Director in a little bit…” Daisy didn’t seem to mind putting this off.

“Well, we can at least take a blood sample right now.” Jemma compromised. She drug Daisy out of the lab and to the Med Bay. There were three hypodermic needles waiting for them in one of the exam rooms.

“Well, that’s not scary at all.” Daisy commented sarcastically, noting the needles and plethora of vials Fitz had prepped for them.

“Oh, don’t worry! They’re not all for you!” Jemma assured her cheerily.

“I hope not.” Daisy muttered, settling herself on the cot in the middle of the room.

“We were really counting on you agreeing to all this.” Jemma confessed.

“I can tell.” Daisy was quiet for a bit as she watched Jemma wash her hands and put on gloves. “So… It’s been a while since we’ve caught up. How are… things?” Jemma disliked how everyone seemed to ask that question delicately. It did not make her inclined to open up.

Jemma spoke quickly as she prepped Daisy for the puncture. “Good! Never better! We’ve lots of projects going on. The additional data Fitz returned with from the no fly zone has opened up an entire new world –so to speak- and now with our discovery of the ISO-8…” Jemma paused her ramble to find Daisy’s vein, “I think we are really going to make a lot of progress in helping all the new Inhumans to control their abilities! Besides, understanding the function of the monolith with be an enormous breakthrough in the physics of the time space continuum. It will revolutionize space travel as we know it…”

“Jemma.”

Jemma finally looked up from her task to see Daisy giving her a look that said she wasn’t going to accept that. She was looking for a real answer. Jemma caved. “Alright. Maybe things have been better. I’m still a little sore from that time at the castle, and have some claustrophobia and hypersensitivity to sound. I try not to think about it though. Focusing on work has helped.”

“You know it will-”

“Take time, I know.” Jemma interrupted. “It’s just frustrating, that’s all. Not being able to do what you used to.”

“It’ll keep getting better.” Daisy sympathized. “I know a little about change.” She grinned. “But you know what Fitz told me? He said, ‘nothing is wrong with you. You’re just different now. And that’s okay.’” To Jemma’s chagrin Daisy’d attempted to imitate Fitz’ Scottish accent. But she could imagine him saying the words, and that made her smile as she removed the tourniquet, then slid the needle from Daisy’s arm and covered the pinprick with a cotton swab. “Speaking of, how is Fitz doing? I haven’t had a chance to talk to him either since he’s been back. Really!?” Daisy looked incredulously at the neon pink bandage Jemma was about to put on her. “Yeah, that’s totally subtle.”

Jemma giggled. “Sorry, it’s the only color we have left. Unless you would prefer neon green?” Daisy just shook her head. “And Fitz… seems to be doing well."

“Have you guys….talked?”

Jemma intentionally missed her meaning, and nervously turned away to clean up. “Of course. We’ve been working together silly-“

Daisy wasn’t going to let her get away with that. “About things other than test results? I can tell when you’re not telling me something, remember?” She held up her hand by way of indication.

Jemma jumped on the change of subject. “Technically, you might be able to tell when I’m lying, but we haven't even proven that. And even if you can, there’s a difference anyway. Being able to tell when I’m hiding something does not require a superpower.”

Daisy brought it back around. “Fair enough. But you guys need to talk, Jemma.” Her eyes pleaded Jemma to consider.

“We will, of course we will. It just- There doesn’t seem to be a good time.” Jemma rationalized.

“Well, promise me.” Daisy demanded. “Promise me you’ll do it before it’s too late again?”

Jemma just nodded, wishing to get off the topic. “You’re all done. Would you like a sucker?” She mocked.

Daisy rolled her eyes at her. Grabbing her jacket, she made for the door. “See you later?”

“Sure!”

Alone in the room, Jemma put additional notes on the sample’s labels and thought about what Daisy had said. Daisy knew about what Fitz said in the medpod at the bottom of the ocean, but she hadn’t told her that before she got taken to that planet she and Fitz might have been going on a date. Or that she made a video diary to him while she was there. Or that they’d already kissed…. Jemma forced herself to stop thinking about that, it was distracting. But really, where would they start? So much had happened, and she was still feeling guilty about Will… another topic she shunted from her mind. It was all too much. Should they just pretend none of it had happened? She chewed her lip as she thought. That was the easy way out, but the counselling books she purchased told her denial wasn’t a permanent answer.
A knock on the doorframe saved her from her thoughts.

“Hey Simmons. Joey came in and…” Fitz leaned against the door as Joey walked in.

“Ah, good!” She put on a smile for them both through her blush. “Have a seat Joey. Fitz did you already explain…” she turned to get a fresh pair of gloves on. “Um, what we’re doing?” She finished.

Fitz took a breath to answer but Joey beat him to it. “Yeah, he told me. And I get it, I think. You think you found something that will help people like me control our powers?” Jemma was impressed that after working with Daisy and Lincoln, Joey seemed to be adjusting remarkably well to his new circumstances. He seemed relatively unfazed by this.

“That’s right. We’re not sure how it works yet though, so we need some blood and a quick scan. That’s alright then?” Joey nodded but still looked ill at ease. Jemma tried to reassure him by refreshing her smile. “It’s alright, if you have a seat it will only take a moment.”

“Right, well, I’ll uh…be back at the lab.” Fitz scratched the back of his head as he excused himself. Joey watched him go.

Jemma applied the tourniquet around his arm and began feeling gently for his vein. “Hey Agent Simmons, no offence, but I’m not really a big fan of needles... or doctor’s offices…”

“I know, Bobbi told me. And you can just call me Simmons. Or Jemma. Jemma is fine. How are you doing with the new team? Any exciting missions yet?” Her attempt to distract him succeeded, she pressed the needle into his arm without any reaction from him.

“You mean besides the freaky Hydra castle where we almost died? No, nothing like that. But we’ve been out to pick up a couple of newly ‘terra-morphed’ people.” Joey tried out the new vocabulary word Daisy explained to him. “It’s a lot less scary without a black ops team trying to shoot you.” He grinned when Jemma chuckled politely.

“That’s good news. I’ve had a chance to look at the charts for the new intakes. I look forward to learning more about their abilities. Well, I think we’re finished here. Thank you very much Joey.” Jemma removed the needle from his skin and dismantled the barrel before placing the bunch in the biohazard bin.

“Yeah, I think they do too. It’s not an easy thing to come to terms with, but understanding it helps.” Jemma gave him a look of sympathy because she knew he was speaking from experience. “Speaking of, Age- er, Simmons- do you know if there are any side effects to my abilities?” A vexed look suddenly came over Joey’s face as he looked back at the door.

“You mean besides the potential to suddenly find yourself in a puddle of liquid metal?” Jemma tried for a joke but it didn’t go well, Joey just looked at her quizzically. “Never mind. Is there something new you’ve noticed?”

“Um, I don’t know for sure…” He was clearly hesitant to confess what he had in mind. “You know what? It’s nothing. Just a weird feeling I got this morning. Thanks.” Joey stood up, put on his jacket and prepared to leave.

“Okay, well…” Jemma stood awkwardly unsure if she should press it. “If anything does come up, you’ll let us know. It could be important. And if you head back to the lab, Fitz can get you set up for the EEG and EKG.”

Joey mumbled his acknowledgment, but if she didn’t know better Jemma would say there was a fleeting look of terror across his face as he turned away from her and walked out the door.

Jemma brought the samples she’d collected from Daisy and Joey back to the lab a little while later. She’d not hurried out of the med bay in case Lincoln stopped by, but no such luck. Daisy must not have had a chance to talk him round yet. Right away she moved over to the centrifuge and pipetted the samples into test tubes to separate out the different elements of the blood.

It was about halfway into her work that she noticed something was wrong. She looked around, trying to identify it until it dawned on her: Someone was missing. Fitz, more specifically, who had not run over to her to detail the results of Joey’s tests. She quickly set the next round to run in the centrifuge before she went to track him down. There were only a few places he’d be, and the bioengineering lab was her first bet. Sure enough, that’s where she found him. Curiously, he was fiddling with a hand.

"Did Coulson's hand go haywire again?" Jemma inquired.

Fitz started at her voice. "Yeah! I keep telling him, it is still a delicate instrument, he can’t just go around destroying things with it!"

"What's he gone and done this time?"

"I don’t know. They were out on a mission after one of the guys that escaped from the Cube all that time ago, and I guess he decided using the door wasn’t cool enough, so he went through the cement wall instead."

"Sounds like Coulson alright. Will you be done with that soon? I wanted to go over the results of our tests with you."

"Aw, yeah, nearly there. And the results of the EEG are pretty weird. I’ll be back in a bit."

"Great, I'll finish up the blood samples I’m working on." Jemma turned to leave, but Fitz' voice stopped her.

"Hey Jemma! I’ve been thinkin' about this though cuz these appendages keep breaking down -not cuz a design flaw, they just can’t stand up to what Coulson is doing to them- but why haven't we looked into Extremis?"

Jemma couldn’t believe her ears. "Fitz you can’t be serious!? Do you want Coulson to explode? Because that's what it does, remember? Just ask Mike Peterson."

"No, I know- I’ve been doing some reading and Stark Industries published a paper on how they were able to reverse the effects, prevent someone from burning up. Besides, Coulson already has the GH formula in his blood. That might be enough to keep him stable. We could figure it out, is all I’m sayin'."

Something nagged at Jemma about this. It didn’t seem right. On the other hand, if there was a way to regenerate Coulson's lost tissue surely that would be preferable to exchanging a cybernetic replacement once a week. "Reversing the effects is a lot different than maintaining the effects while stabilizing the reaction. And there isn’t enough of the GH formula left in his system to help with any recovery he may need. But… maybe we could ask about reviving that program." She conceded. "But only after we've figured out this ISO-8."

Fitz gave a quick nod of agreement and went back to the delicate work of repairing the damaged apendage. Jemma walked back to the chem lab, but the conversation still stuck with her. His reasoning made sense, she thought, but for some reason she balked at the idea. Was it only because it had been used for evil ends in the past? This wouldn’t be the first time they had fixed something together which was once used as a weapon. Still... something wasn’t right.

Chapter Text

Midafternoon in the lab, an alarm on her computer jolted Jemma out of her concentration. She growled at the interruption, and then groaned inside herself when she remembered why she’d set the alarm in the first place. Mandatory counseling. It was Mack’s idea. It wasn’t just Jemma either, most of the team confessed he’d assigned it to them as well. Jemma couldn’t deny it was the responsible thing to do, the problem was that their last counselor had turned into a genocidal mutant and thus was unavailable for consultations. And it turns out there was a limited number of counselors who knew how to work with powered people, law enforcement, AND were willing to associate themselves with an underground organization operating somewhat illegally.

Doctor Brashear wasn’t bad, really, and Jemma felt he really was well intentioned. Unfortunately she found his style unhelpful at best and offensive at worst. Physics had been his post grad focus, but he minored in psychiatry and got his masters in science, eventually getting his license as a counselor since getting grants for his research in theoretical physics was unreliable. Even now he spent most of his time giving online lectures about physics and pursuing his theories. Jemma felt positive he could be of more use to her in the lab than when she was on the couch. Alas, he kept insisting that was not his purpose for being here.

Walking grudgingly toward the eastern most side of the SciOps complex where his office sat, Jemma thought about what she would say today. Though he tried to gain rapport with her via their shared scientific background the result was mainly that he would try to walk her through things logically. She could do that on her own, and even though she wished that was all it took to solve her anxiety she had to recognize that her issues were not interested in what was “reasonable”. She didn’t really find his advice practical, and being as she was familiar with the scientific community she could easily identify when someone was using her for research purposes. She didn’t really like feeling like the main purpose of her visit was so that someone could write an article about her and her friends. She usually tried to whittle away time by talking about their latest puzzles in the lab, but to his credit he typically saw through that.

“Jemma! Come in!” Brashear welcomed her with a handshake. “Please, make yourself comfortable.”

‘Comfortable isn’t really the way I would describe your office.’ Jemma commented in her mind, but she resisted the urge to be rude and sat down instead.

“How are things going with your research? I hear there are some promising developments!” Brashear inquired politely.

“Oh yes. We are working with a new material we discovered in caves near the Inhuman temple. The progress is slower than I would like, but Fitz and I are following a few leads.”

“I know the feeling. Advancements in my own field are often more time consuming than my patience can tolerate.”

“Actually, what we’re working on would be right up your alley! This material interacts somehow with the Inhumans, sparking a change in it that acts as a catalyst for some of their transformation-“

“Sounds engaging. But right now I’m more interested in hearing how it went at the commons. Did you get to try my suggestion?”

Indeed she had. Last time she confessed to him that loud areas still gave her trouble. His suggestion was to sit in the commons and try to study, read, or work on a logic problem. He said it would retrain her brain to ignore ambient noise. All that it seemed to do was give her a headache. “Yes. It was somewhat uncomfortable. And I didn’t get much accomplished.”

“That’s to be expected. But keep it up. Your brain is still in survival mode. You really haven’t had much chance to relax and become reacquainted with your environment. And lots of noise makes it hard for it to identify sounds of danger. So the goal is to make your brain recognize that it is not in danger and doesn’t have to be on level 10 alert all the time.”

He’d told her all that last time too. It made sense, in a way. But her experience on the planet was complex, and she felt there was a lot more to it than her brain simply being on high alert. But perhaps she should bring up a related problem since she was there anyway.

“About that. In order to get the samples of the material we are working on-“

“Jemma, I’ve told you before, I’m not here to help you in the lab.”

“No, doctor-“

“Please, call me Adam.”

Jemma sighed. The idea that this might be how others feel when she finishes their sentences drifted through her mind. At least she was normally right about where they were going. “Adam. The samples were in some caves near the Inhuman temple, as I told you before. We needed to go out and collect them. Fitz volunteered, but I hesitated. It made me nervous to go there, with what happened before to Mack and Trip-“

“And Trip is your teammate who died at the temple, right?”

“My friend who died, yes.” Brashear scribbled on his notepad, which for some reason irked Jemma. But she pressed on. “It also made me nervous to imagine being in a dark cave, surrounded by rock.”

“Did you think that since the rock was alien, it might hurt you like the monolith?”

“And the temple. I think that is why I was anxious about the mission, yes.”

“Looking back, do you think your concepts of such danger were realistic?”

“Of course. It was an unknown material. But those caves aren’t the monolith. They aren’t even Maveth. And we were sending the team with sufficient protection and gear.”

“So how do you wish you had responded to that situation?”

“Well, I wish I had the confidence to volunteer as quickly as Fitz did.”

“Do you think it’s fair to compare your recovery to his?”

“No, but that… I don’t think that’s the point.”

“Why do you feel like you should have gone?”

“Well…” Jemma wasn’t sure that she felt like she did something wrong by not going, but she wished it didn’t scare her. But she had wished she’d been there with Fitz. Especially when he went off com. “Fitz has always had my back. We should have been working there together.”

“So you were worried about Agent Fitz.”

“Well, yes, of course. But I know he can handle himself.”

“Sure. But you two are close, right? You told me he is the one who fought to get you back from the planet and helped you try to find Will. It makes perfect sense that you would want to stick with him. He represents security, dedication. Safety. And you want to be there for him like he was there for you.”

This was definitely not going in the direction she’d intended. Everything he said was true, but it was not her question. “All that is true, yes.”

“So do you think your anxiety stemmed more from being apart from him?”

“I’m not a canine Doctor. I do not have separation anxiety. I was asking because I wanted to see if you had any suggestions for dealing with irrational anxiety in that situation.” Jemma worked to quell the annoyance bubbling in her chest.

“Irrational anxiety is tricky. You can’t always reason yourself out of it.” This Jemma knew too well. “Perhaps if such a situation comes up again, you can talk to Agent Fitz about how it makes you nervous and ask if you can accompany him. He seems like the kind of guy who would understand and be okay with that. And facing these sorts of things with someone you trust like that may give you the support you need to overcome such anxiety.”

Right. Talk to Fitz. It sounded simple, but who was she to trouble him with supporting her more when he had already done so much for her? He was dealing with his own things too, she could tell, and she knew if she told him all the things that she still struggled with he would only worry more. “I might try that if it happens again. I don’t want him to worry though. And anyway, I’m pretty sure I could have handled myself if I had gone.”

“It’s important to open yourself up to your friends Jemma. Otherwise they won’t be able to help you. I had this friend you know, he was in a war. He was taken to an enemy camp and tortured. His people got him out, eventually, but when he came back he never really told anyone what happened to him or how he was feeling. He is actually how I became interested in psychiatry. Of course, he had PTSD, which is to be expected. But since he would never tell anyone what was going on in his head, to others it seemed like he would just explode at the most random times. But there were always triggers….”

Brashear rattled on like that for a while. When all was said and done Jemma left as frustrated as she had arrived. But there were only a few more mandatory appointments with him, and she did not intend on making more. That is why she’d invested in her own psychiatry textbooks. It wasn’t her favorite field, the subject was fascinating but the brain was so poorly understood any science relating to it changed almost daily. And in Jemma’s opinion, much of the "studies" done were either highly subjective or based off an insufficiently diverse cross-section of the population, both of which she did not consider to be acceptable in real science. Still, it wasn’t an especially hard topic to delve into and she figured it couldn’t be any worse than these appointments.

When she returned to the lab Fitz was waiting for her.

“Finally got the hand working again?” Jemma joked as she sidled up beside him.

“Yeah. Still didn’t add that laser finger he’s been bugging me about though. He doesn’t need any more toys.” Fitz said with a grin, and Jemma chuckled.

“Good thinking. You’re saving him from himself, really. Wouldn’t want him to accidentally set the drapes on fire.” She teased.

Fitz’ grin turned bashful. “Oh, go on. Don’t you have test results to look at?”

“Indeed! You said the results were unusual?”

“Unusual is an understatement. Here, see for yourself.” Fitz grabbed the tablet laying nearest to him and tapped vigorously to find Joey’s test results. “There, you see?”

Jemma studied the graph intently. It didn’t take her long to identify the abnormality. “His frequencies are highly irregular across the board! But these Theta and Delta waves…”

“Yeah, so, I decided to tweak the range on the EEG. It’s not easy to pick up the slower end of the Delta frequencies, so I played with the sensors a bit. Then I turned up the other end too, to look for the extreme end of the Gamma waves. But the adjustments to the low end sensors paid off the most.”

“Brilliant, Fitz! It makes sense that the brain waves would change in response to trying to control a new anatomy!” She could practically kiss him- an expression that was becoming less and less figurative of late- but continued her analysis instead. “Look at these- there seems to be bursts of waves in the 5-6 hertz range and in the .5-1 hertz range. But they are wildly erratic. We need to compare these to Daisy and Lincoln as soon as possible. If it’s the same for them…” Jemma quickly pulled out her phone to summon the two again, but caught a look at the time with dismay. "Well, it's too late today anyway. Dinner is coming up, and I think Daisy mentioned team building this evening. We'll have to catch them first thing tomorrow morning." Jemma made a mental note to still shoot a text to Daisy in a bit. In the meantime, there were still some things they needed to tidy up before they ate dinner themselves. Turning her attention back to Fitz and the test results, she asked, "Did you happen to ask him to exercise his power while attached to the machine?"

Fitz scoffed. "Yeah, cause there's lots of disposable metal lying around amidst all the delicate electrical instruments. Come on Jemma, that's way too risky!"

Fitz was right, of course. All three of their Inhuman friends had abilities that did not lend themselves well to demonstration in a delicate laboratory environment. Still, it could be very useful to see which brain waves were associated with them, if there was any consistency between them. “Perhaps we can sleep on a solution to that for another time. Could be enlightening.”

“Right. Tricky, but I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

Jemma nodded, finally setting the tablet down. “I think I’ll go try to finish up the tests on Joey and Daisy’s blood before dinner time.” She paused, stomach suddenly feeling tight as it always did before she asked her next question: “I’ll probably be here pretty late tonight. Are you… do you think you will be working late too?” It wasn’t really a necessary question, as neither of them really knew how to stop working. But one of these days, that question might just lead up to asking him to dinner.

Fitz answered nonchalantly though while logging back into his computer. “Yeah, I expect so. Plenty to tinker with still, but you probably won’t see me around here. Gotta check some of the equipment on the quinjets, and then I thought I might start on the research for the revival of centipede.”

‘So no chance of an awkward encounter with just the two of us in the lab. Good.’ Jemma thought to herself, denying the disappointment she felt at hearing his answer. The mention of centipede still made her frown though. “I thought we agreed we’d only start that once we were done with this project.”

“Yeah, I know. It’s only if I have time. But I figured we should have our research done before we propose it to Mack or Coulson.” Fitz’ reply was still logical, and yet it still nagged at the edge of Jemma’s mind. Why did he seem so anxious to get started on that? Was he that sick of fixing up Coulson’s hand? She recalled that he’d once said it was one of the projects he’d found most interesting.

Jemma caught herself giving him a strange look in response to the questions going through her head. Instead of arguing, though, she just shook her head lightly and replaced her skeptical look with a small smile. “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Walking away, she got that text sent off to Daisy:

-TALK TO LINCOLN ABOUT TEST. (please)

Daisy’s reply came through before she even got back to her workstation:

-Did. He’s not biting. Doesn’t look good.

Jemma sighed. That was not acceptable.

-I have confidence in you.

Giving it a moment’s thought, she added,

-Need to get it done tomorrow AM. No product in hair.

To that Jemma got a series of emojis that included a side eye face, a gun, an alarm clock, and a line graph as well as a fire and a person cutting hair, and of course the strangely friendly pile of poo. Jemma hadn’t become skilled at interpreting emoji sentences, but she gathered her friend disliked mornings, tests, and the idea of not styling her hair.

-At least I’m not making you do it tonight.

The next string of emojis was much friendlier, if a little sarcastic, so Jemma took away she would be seeing Daisy, and hopefully Lincoln, first thing tomorrow morning.

Mood swings.

That's what Fitz would remember as the most frustrating thing about having IT in your head. Aside from not being able to control your body, that is. He wasn't conscious a whole lot, "sleeping" most of the time. The times he was awake were a bit of a blur. Not being able to decide what your eyes focus on … it's very disorienting, not unlike a soap drama filmed by a toddler. Would have been likely to make him sick actually, if he had control over that sort of thing.  

The brain is a control freak. That is the only thing he could attribute the mood swings to. One minute he would be apathetic, the next he would have an overwhelming urge to laugh uncontrollably but there wasn't anything funny. Not a moment later though he would feel like sobbing in a way that he had not done since he was a boy, like when a child is exhausted and can do nothing else. Other times he would be overcome with rage or anxiety, almost claustrophobia. That one was the only one that made sense, he thought. If he were able to speak to Jemma, he was sure she could tell him all of the chemicals that were washing through his brain as it tried in desperation to regain control by the most wicked storm of neurochemistry it could come up with.

Watching his life go by in this way reminded him, actually, of being a freshmen and agreeing to participate in a senior's thesis involving canibis and televison. At least that was what he was told it was at the time, later on he had suspicions about the validity of that thesis. In any case, Fitz recalled wanting to laugh or cry at the most inane things, but not being able to do much of anything at all due to some lack of connection between his brain and body. So he was left just sitting there stunned there with no sense of the passing of time trying to put together pieces of a puzzle that he just couldn't make sense of, but was enrapturing nonetheless. And just when he thought he had it figured out, the program changed and he was lost again, and what he thought he had didn't make sense anyhow. 

Of course, the cause of the same symptoms was drastically different. For example, the reason he had no concept of the passing of time (aside from not being conscious for most of it) was because IT did not seem to be concerned with time at all. Fitz couldn't count a single time IT decided to look at a clock. Fitz figured tracking the minutia of time must not be terribly important for a being who has lived for thousands of years, but as a result, Fitz had no idea how long he had been living this way. Could be days, weeks, months, he couldn’t say.

Despite his difficulty concentrating Fitz was determined to take some action. Collect as much data as possible, try to find a weakness or a way to reach his friends. He wasn’t able to hear what IT was thinking, and over time he figured out that IT couldn’t hear what he was thinking either. He knew this because when IT was with Simmons Fitz would find himself mentally finishing her sentences, or coming up with new ideas. If it had any interest in maintaining a cover and could read his thoughts, IT would do a much better job of stealing them. It also seemed as though it had access to memories, but only when they were triggered naturally. IT didn’t seem to need sleep, but his body still did. Not as much though as normal though; since his mind was already getting ‘sleep’ it was only for the purpose of giving his body a break as opposed to letting his brain go through the sleep cycles.

From time to time, Fitz would concentrate very hard on a single motion to see if he could override IT at all. Most of the time nothing happened, but once in a while Fitz thought he might have made a difference. If he did, IT always played it off anyway and it didn’t seem to alert anyone to the fact something was very wrong. Sometimes he managed to catch Simmons giving him an odd look and he knew it was because of something “he” said or didn’t say. He wondered if she suspected any of what was going on right under her nose, but he couldn’t rightly expect her to as the invasion of the body snatchers would never have crossed his own mind before this.

He couldn’t help but hope, though, as he mentally called out to her again and again.

Chapter Text

“Please!? This might be the key to understanding how to help new Inhumans get a handle on their powers.” Pleaded Jemma to Lincoln’s cynical face.

Daisy crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “I told you.” She said to Jemma before turning back to Lincoln. “Listen, they’re just trying to help.”

“I’ve had other people try to ‘help’. It usually means they want to know how they can use our abilities. You said yourself that we were first created as weapons. We were created by beings that wanted to use us. And they probably told the people back then that they just wanted to ‘help’.” Lincoln did not take his eyes off Jemma, who tried to make her face as innocent as possible.

“Lincoln, they’re not trying to weaponize us. And they’re not trying to take away our abilities either. You know we’re out of our depth with all these new recruits. How are we supposed to help them if we don’t even fully understand it?” Daisy reasoned.

“For now maybe. But who are we actually working for anyway? Coulson? The United States government? How long before somebody powerful sees our ‘potential’? They are either going to want to use us or put us down. And this is how it starts.”

Jemma had no interest in getting in the middle of this particular fight, especially when she could tell by the look on Daisy’s face that it had been ongoing for some time now. But she had a goal, so she decided to take a new angle. “You’re right Lincoln.” She declared. Both Lincoln and Daisy gave her a funny look.

Daisy was the first to break the ensuing silence. “Um, Jemma? You’re not exactly helping your cause here.”

“No, but he’s right. It would be foolish to deny it. It is entirely possible that someday Fitz and I will be tasked with finding ways to exterminate your people. Or ways to make you their private army. Or they may want to use the research we are conducting right now to help them with that. But Lincoln, you should know that I consider us friends. And Daisy is one of my best friends. You have my word that should that day ever come I will be proud to stand, even fight, on your side. And to prove it, I think you should work in the lab with us, when you’re not needed on your missions that is.”

Lincoln and Daisy both stood agape. He was clearly not expecting that proposition. “I’m not a…” Jemma watched him search for the word that would describe why he didn’t fit in with the agents in the lab. “…genius.” He finally finished.

“Perhaps, but you are a doctor. That should qualify you plenty for this project, and any others relating to Inhumans and their powers.”

“But…” Lincoln moved to protest again, but Jemma intercepted him. “Just let us show you around the lab, and what we’ve got so far. We’ll show you where we are going with this, and if you aren’t comfortable with it… well, I guess we’ll change it.” She vowed, although making that promise made her nervous. She wasn’t entirely sure she could make that call.

The important thing was, though, that it worked. “Okay, fine. I’ll come with you. But I won’t promise anything. I’m not going to let you run any tests until I know what happens to the research you do, and talk to Fitz.” His demeanor was still defensive, but ultimately she’d won.

“Excellent!” Jemma beamed and motioned toward the lab. “Let’s get started then!” She moved purposefully to lead the way, ignoring Daisy’s obvious bafflement at what had just transpired in front of her.

"Fitz! We have guests!" She called as she marched into the lab with Lincoln and Daisy in tow. She hardly needed to announce their presence, however, since Fitz was already walking towards the door when she came in.

Fitz nodded a greeting to Daisy, and held out his hand to Lincoln. "So, she managed to talk you into it, huh?"

"I haven't decided yet." Lincoln replied, shaking Fitz' hand professionally. "But being allowed to monitor the project personally might make me more comfortable with the whole thing."

Fitz didn't look at all surprised. "Sure. Glad to hear you're keeping an open mind."

"I promised Dr. Campbell here that we would show him around, and then we could discuss how we're going about this mission and hear his concerns." Jemma explained, suddenly getting nervous that she'd not asked him before making that offer. "I hope that's alright."

"No, yeah. Always good to have another voice on board." Fitz replied to Jemma's relief. There was still a chance she'd hear about it later, but Fitz' voice carried none of the off put tone Jemma'd grown adept at identifying over the decade they'd worked together, so that was a good sign.

"I'll try not to get in the way if I do end up sticking around. I don't know how much I'll be able to help, but I appreciate the opportunity."

Fitz looked around awkwardly, unsure how to proceed. “I suppose we should start here. This is the Medbay, in case you’re wondering.”

Lincoln chuckled. “Yeah, I’ve been around this part a few times. Wouldn’t mind getting a look at the other side of the curtain though.”

“Yeah, right of course. Um… I can show you the engineering lab and then the bio and chem labs. That’s probably more up you’re alley.”

“At the chem lab we can show you the progress we’ve made with the samples. You can see the results from the mass spectrometer and we can explain our thoughts behind the EEG.” Jemma offered.

“Not that that doesn’t sound FASCINATING,” Daisy jumped in, “but I’ve got mission to prep for… so how about I just let you do your thing and come back…”
Jemma wasn’t about to let her put this off again, even if she was already backing away towards the door. So she grabbed Daisy’s arm and said to the boys, “Fitz, how about you show Lincoln around while I get Daisy’s EEG done so she can get started on her mission prep?” Fitz and Lincoln both agreed, so she continued, “And I don’t think I need to remind you, Fitz, that we need Dr. Campbell to feel comfortable so that he will help us?”

Fitz grinned at Lincoln. “Leave that to me.”

Jemma pulled a grudging Daisy out of the lab toward the EEG room. Once they were out of earshot from Fitz and Lincoln, Daisy clarified, “So… let me get this straight… you just recruited a member of MY team for your lab while I was standing right there?” She was clearly still dumbfounded by Jemma’s technique.

Jemma smiled. “Hardly!” She said, “I just thought it would make him more likely to cooperate.”

“I think I’m starting to get the rivalry between SciTech and Operations.”

“In fairness, I think that had more to do with funding.” Remembering the somewhat good-natured competition between the two academies made Jemma smile. “The most successful school got the most funding. And there might have been some competitive recruiting as a result.” She acknowledged.

“Sure. Well, when Lincoln starts spending all his time in the SciOps wing I’m going to blame you.”

This made Jemma laugh. “I’m sorry. I should have asked you first. Actually, I hadn’t given it any thought at all, it was rather spur of the moment. Have I mentioned this is a very important project?”

“Yeah, you don’t seem to stop.” Daisy flopped into the reclining chair Jemma motioned to.

“Few things I need to ask you,” Jemma began as she carefully attached each electrode to Daisy’s scalp, “First, have you taken any drugs or medications in the last 12 hours, including NSAID pain relievers or caffeine?”

“No.”

“Are you fasting?”

“No, I ate breakfast. Was I supposed to be?”

“No, it’s a good thing you’ve had breakfast. And there are no styling products in your hair, right?”

Daisy rolled her eyes. “Yes, I followed your instructions, no conditioner even.”

“Excellent!” Jemma finished setting up the machine. “The rest should be very easy. Are you comfortable?”

“As comfortable as I can be with wires coming out of my head.”

“Good. If you’ll kindly close your eyes, I’m going to need you to be as still as possible. I’m going to be sitting on the other side of that window so that I don’t cause distraction.”

“Um, doc? What if I fall asleep?”

“That won’t be a problem. You can if you want. If you do I may wake you up toward the end to have you do some breathing exercises."

Jemma turned on the EEG and watched the progress for a moment to ensure it was running smoothly. Then she quietly exited the room and seated herself in the observation room.

A little under 2 hours later, the test was complete. She had to awaken the dozing Daisy, asking "Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?"

"Yeah, I think I could use a nap more often. Wanna convince Mack & Coulson this is a mandatory daily test? I'd settle for weekly. But maybe we could skip all these electrodes and this… ew… gel."

Jemma smiled. "Sadly I don't think even I could get them to buy that. You could always get kidnapped to another planet for 6 months though. People don't usually complain when you take a nap break after that."

Daisy gave Jemma an apologetic smile, to which Jemma gave one to let Daisy know it was okay. That was one of the most persistent symptoms, she found: exhaustion. For being back on a planet with lower gravity, it might as well have been twice as severe. The first few weeks had been really trialsome, and even now cloudy days made it especially difficult to function. But luckily for her, everyone had been extremely understanding when she needed to pass out for an hour or so in the afternoon. She suspected Fitz had a lot to do with that, but they never talked about it. She was also trying to get on a regular sleeping schedule, a more difficult task than she anticipated.

Having finished removing the multitude of wires from Daisy's scalp she informed her she was free to go.

"Okay, thanks. I'll see you around. And if you see Lincoln again, tell him he's late for the mission." Daisy joked on her way out.

Jemma made sure to reset the machine and sterilize the area before she headed to her work station to get a preliminary look at the results. She wanted to have a little more information for Lincoln before she saw him again, just in case he needed more convincing.

"Agent Simmons! Did the EEG work alright?" Asked a passing lab tech.

"Um, yes Agent Jones. It seemed to work just fine. Was it acting up yesterday?" Jemma suddenly became worried. If something was wrong with the machine, all their tests so far could be meaningless.

"No! It's just that Agent Fitz asked me to play with sensors, make them more sensitive to the lower frequencies. I just wanted to make sure I'd done it right."

"Oh! Yes, as far as I can tell the machine is operating perfectly! I'm sorry, Agent Fitz left me with the impression he'd made the adjustments himself."

"Figures!" Jones huffed, clearly indignant. "I slave over that thing for 3 hours just so he can take credit..." the grumbling continued as the agent hoisted the load he had been carrying back into his arms.

"A miscommunication I'm sure!" Jemma quickly tried to reassure the young man. "And it was a job well done, too, since I didn't even know Fitz hadn't been the one working on it."

Jones simply grunted once more as he walked away, not fully appeased. Jemma felt bad for the man. And a bit concerned, since it wasn’t like Fitz to take credit for another's work. She’d have to ask him about that later.

For now, though, she glanced over Daisy’s marks. To her elation she noticed a unique pattern in the same ranges that were most unusual in Joey’s results. She rushed to the chem lab straightaway to share her discovery, but to her disappointment found Lincoln and Fitz to be absent. She quickly ducked into the MedBay area, Bio lab, and even the engineering lab, inquiring along the way if anyone had seen the two. Finally, one of the techs was able to tell her she was under the impression they were on their way to the EEG room.

Sure enough, that’s where she found them. She burst in, panting slightly- she reminded herself she’d not been making time for physical fitness since her return, and needed to begin a regime again if she was going to start training with Bobbi.

“Hi Agent Simmons.” Lincoln greeted her first.

“Hello Lincoln. I didn’t realize you’d gotten started already!” She said pointedly to Fitz.

“Yeah, well, after I showed him around a bit and showed him what we’ve got on the ISO-8 so far, he told me he wanted to do the test. Sorry I didn’t find you first, didn’t know where you’d gotten off to.”

Jemma gave him an exasperated sigh, then asked Lincoln, who was sitting in the reclining chair getting his hair mussed quite ridiculously, “Did you have any concerns or questions?”

“Nope. I feel very confident in your hands.” He gave her a small half smile which, to Jemma, made him look almost dazed.

“That’s good to hear… Well, while Fitz gets you ready, I wanted to share what I saw on Daisy’s results. I didn’t look at it in depth, but I noticed an unusual pattern in the same ranges of frequencies that Joey demonstrated.” Jemma waited for some sort of response from Lincoln, but he just kept looking at her, so she continued. “I suspect this is in response to the development of your powers, which your test results will either support… or disprove.”

“Cool.”

“Good!” The conversation had suddenly taken a turn for the awkward, so Jemma was relieved that Fitz was just about ready to turn on the machine. “Looks like Fitz is ready to begin, so I’ll step out and let him get you started. And really, Lincoln, I can’t thank you enough for agreeing to this.”

“No problem.”

With a final nod, Jemma stepped to the other side of the door and watched Fitz talk Lincoln through what they needed, as a doctor he didn’t need much explanation on the procedures. She observed him cooperatively close his eyes and lean back, being very still. Fitz turned on the machine and shortly after stepped out the door after her, tablet in hand to monitor the progress.

They stood in silence for a minute watching Lincoln, and for some reason Jemma felt that to an observer they might look very much like parents watching to make sure their young child goes to sleep. The analogy sparked very uncomfortable plume of feelings for her, so she turned sharply away from the window and looked at Fitz instead. “Did you hear what I said in there Fitz?”

“That you looked at Daisy’s results without me? Yeah.” Fitz teased, still dutifully keeping his eyes trained on Lincoln to watch for movements that might affect the outcome of the test.

“I didn’t look at it closely.” She reiterated. “But isn’t it exciting, Fitz? We could be seeing actual changes in the operating of the brain in response to the terragen evolution.”

“Yeah. Very neat.”

“We should definitely try to get them to agree to an MRI. Maybe we could make it standard intake procedure for inhuman team members.”

“Good luck convincing everyone of that.”

“I’ll have you know I’m very persuasive. I got Lincoln here, didn’t I?”

“Yeah, but I’m the one that got him to agree to the test if you’ll recall.” Fitz jabbed.

Jemma couldn’t think of a good come back to that one, so changed the topic instead. “How do you think they became… you know?”

“Who?”

“Lincoln and Daisy, of course. She’s rather dodgy about it.”

Fitz was quiet for a minute. “She said she met him at Afterlife, right? She went there after she changed?”

“Uh-huh.”

“That’s a rough transition. You feel lost, like a freak. She’s lucky she didn’t have much change to her appearance. That makes it even worse. But even still, when you’re making things happen and you don’t know how, or how to stop it… when you’re hurting the people you care about… Well, I can imagine if he were her guide, how easy it would be to fall for someone who knew what you were going through, had mastered it, and maybe made you feel like you could be… amazing.”

Jemma stared at him in astonishment, her mouth hanging open slightly. “Her guide?!” She demanded incredulously.

Even in the dim light she saw Fitz’ face get red. “Yeah. Ancient inhuman tradition. The elders assign you a guide, someone to work with you to discover and master your full potential. They usually choose someone whose powers operate in a similar way, they’re usually the most helpful.” Fitz explained, adding quickly, “Daisy explained this all to me after… while you were gone.”

Jemma was shell-shocked by the revelation. “I didn’t realize you and Daisy had gotten so close while I was away.”

Fitz just shrugged, which sent a wave of jealousy over her. There was so much she’d missed while on that hell-hole of a planet. Every week it seemed she learned of something that had happened to one of her friends, or something about them that was now common knowledge amongst the team. Every time it made her feel like an outsider. It frustrated her because she should have been here. She should have found out with Fitz about Afterlife, been the listening ear for Daisy as she worked tirelessly to build the new team. And Fitz should definitely have gone on a date with her instead of spending the months losing himself to get her back.
But there was no time to wallow in that now. There was still plenty to do on their latest discovery. So she quashed her longing for what could have been and started towards the door. "Looks like you’re doing alright here, so..."

"Yep."

"I'll be in the chem lab if you need me. Oh, and you might want to apologize to Agent Jones when you see him."

Fitz' head whipped towards her. "Why!?"

"He was under the impression you took credit for his work on the EEG machine. I thought you were the one who fixed the sensors." Fitz turned his eyes back to Lincoln, so Jemma took the opportunity to study Fitz’ reaction carefully. "I assured him it was a miscommunication, but it may be better if you talk to him." Jemma didn't see much of a reaction to speak of, but her traitorous eyes still scanned his features greedily... dancing from his eyes so big and blue… to his lips so soft and relaxed…

"Hm. Yeah, I'll talk to him. Thanks Jem."

Realizing she no longer had any excuse to stare, she moved to slide past him, eyes stealing a last glance along the way, when they caught on something out of place and half hidden by his shirt collar. "FITZ! What happened!?" Without thinking she brought her hand to the back of his neck where the long scab ran vertically over the vertebrae to get a better look.

Just as soon as her hand brushed him though he ducked away and spun around, hiding the injury from her examination. He had a look of violation as he rubbed the spot with his own hand and Jemma immediately got the sense she'd done something wrong, had crossed one of their de facto boundaries, and she backed away from him.

"I'm fine, Jemma, really. It's, erm, something that happened while I was working last night. You know me, always clumsy. But I already had it looked at and it really is fine." Fitz explained quickly, not looking her in the eye.

Jemma nodded and left quickly, not having the confidence to press further after it seemed she'd betrayed his trust just by initiating brief physical contact. She ruminated on the incident for the rest of the morning trying to figure out what had caused him to react so severely. They'd been maintaining a sizeable bubble of personal space since Fitz returned from the planet, she wasn't sure why, but he'd seemed to be in such a good mood lately, more at ease than she'd seen him in a long time. What was more, though she'd only gotten a glimpse of the cut, but there was no noticeable inflammation and she could have sworn it was in the proliferation stage of healing, which would indicate it was at least 3 days old. But she couldn't imagine why he would feel the need to be dishonest about it. Eventually she was forced to content herself to add that to the list of mysteries she hoped would be resolved once they had a good long conversation.

Chapter Text

Suffice it to say the afternoon could have gone better. Around 14:00 hours a small electrical fire in one of the labs closed down the whole wing for the remainder of the day so that they could ensure the issue was resolved and it was safe to resume work. Two hours of standing around while the fire brigade did their check, making sure the most vital samples were unharmed and the storage lockers were working, and communicating with various personnel finally did Jemma in and she may have snapped at a few people as a result. Coulson told her to “take the night off, you know, get some rest,” so it must have been pretty obvious she was getting overwhelmed.

Not all was lost though. Before the fire alarm sounded, she and Fitz were able to compare Daisy and Lincoln’s EEG reports. While Lincoln’s manifestation of the specific frequencies were far less extreme, the patterns had enough similarity that they both felt confident this was their most promising theory. Over the last several days, Jemma had run several tests that exposed the ISO-8 to Inhuman DNA and terragen particulates with no discernable effects. She had, however, noticed that when she observed some of Joey’s living cells there still seemed to be a certain level of instability in the integration of the macromolecules characteristic of the transformation. Both Lincoln and Daisy’s cells proved to be very stable, which Jemma attributed to either the time that had elapsed from their respective changes or whatever had been done to them at Afterlife.

What was more, Jemma counted herself lucky that none of the samples or data they’d gathered so far was damaged in the fire. The fire fighters insisted that since the source of the fire was electrical, the electricity in that wing be shut down. But after a conversation with Mack and Coulson she got approval to move the storage coolers into the kitchen for the time being, with the caveat that she would make sure they were CLEARLY labelled. It all went against several protocols, not just for the organization but for lab safety in general, but it would do in a pinch.

Before acquiescing to Coulson’s suggested change of her evening plans Jemma conferred with Fitz regarding their plan of attack for the next day, assuming the labs would reopen in the morning. In particular, they discussed the challenges of testing their most recent hypothesis. It would involve recreating the frequencies they observed in the brain scans in proximity to the ISO-8. Fitz said he was sure they had something around that would make that possible. Jemma offered to help, but Fitz declined, citing that he would be around the lab all evening anyway helping to fix the electrical systems so he might as well poke around for what they needed too.
After their conversation Jemma gratefully retired to her bunk. There was actually quite a lot she could do; a few housekeeping chores had been neglected in the days since the samples of the ISO-8 had arrived. In particular, however, she looked forward to resuming her research into psychology and counselling. Jemma Simmons had never been one to neglect her studies, even if the topic did qualify it more as a hobby than necessity. So she confined herself to a short rest of half an hour, and then delved in.

Jemma started by arranging all the textbooks and counselling books she'd accumulated on her bed neatly, organizing them first by type and then by field in order of difficulty. In the middle of it, she precisely placed her laptop, a habit stemming from before the academy. It gave her a certain peace to go through this ritual, and she crawled into her bed carefully so as not to disturb her system. She smiled as she picked up her laptop and placed it on her lap and flicked open one of the textbooks, ready to take notes just as she would for an exam.

It took a bit for her to realize she wasn't concentrating. Nearly two hours after she began, she checked the time with surprise at how much had passed. Or rather, she thought as she looked over her progress, how little she had accomplished in that time. She had read all of one page, and had just one note to show for it on her computer screen. She hardly remembered what that page was about if she didn't look. She sighed in frustration. Studying had always been one of her favourite activities, she considered learning one of the great joys in life. It had never been difficult for her either. Fitz used to tease her about how much she loved homework. Homework itself might not have been high on her list of hobbies, but she admitted she worked at it with more fervour than an average student, even at the Shield academy. A sagacious student, she certainly wasn’t going to waste the opportunity to pad her scores; and besides she relished the feeling she got when her instructors handed her work back to her with a 100% on top and a proud smile on their face, praising her intelligence and dedication. She wished such a feeling of pride and satisfaction was as easy to come by now as handing in an essay or lab report on time.

Much had changed for her; her mind was dishevelled now and not as willing to take in new information. She closed the book angrily and gazed out the only tiny window in her bedroom from which the moon was now clearly visible. She was accustomed anymore to the lump that choked her and the burn in her eyes when she would catch sight of it and flash back to her desperation at the indefinite darkness of the planet. She normally forestalled the tears by distracting herself with her work, another reason she was in the Lab so late these days. But now, in the solitude of her dorm, she couldn't fight it.

The memories began playing at that time when she was alone, miserable and scared. But she remembered meeting Will and their funny introduction. And then her mind began to assault her with the cruellest of fantasies. Mainly, she imagined Will, alone on the planet after Fitz brought her back. Against her will she played out every possible scenario of his death at It’s hands. Sometimes he was stoic, confronting It bravely to distract it while she got away. Other times she saw his face consumed with fear and pain as It stole away his life. Sometimes she would hear him scream out for her to help him. Then too, how long could he have lived in pain with the disabling injury Fitz described? Did It hunt Will like a predator, ‘playing’ with him to extend his suffering? Was it possible Will could have still been alive when It commandeered his body? Every new replay caused another cascade of tears to wet her cheeks. Whatever the case it was undeniable that he didn’t deserve what he got- of course her brain would also remind her of every kind thing he did for her, how funny he was. That he was smart and that he was banished unfairly by people intent on bringing back the thing that eventually killed him. And he’d fought for so long to survive, forced to take action against his own crew. And then she came. Maybe even convinced him to hope again. Only to let him die there while she got back home after a fraction of the time he spent there.

Sobs fell through her lips until she was nearly breathless. She told herself to stop with this unproductive torture- logically she knew it did her no good to revisit her guilt in this way. But she couldn’t stop. Because then her brain moved on. Moved on to getting back, to seeing Fitz. It reminded her of the fact that Fitz never gave up, not even once, on getting her back even though all the evidence pointed to the idea that she was gone forever.

‘He should have given up on me. He should have moved on with his life. He would be so much happier. Why wouldn’t he just listen to the evidence?’ She ridiculed herself as another wave of tears crashed to her bedsheets. She brought her knees to her face and huddled into the headboard in a semi-sitting position, placing the pillow on her knees so that she could cry into it without worrying her neighbours. She thought of how supportive Fitz was when she got back, he almost wouldn’t leave her side. And how did she reward his loyalty? By becoming obsessed with getting back to the very planet he’d spent 6 months trying to save her from. And why? To bring back a man she admitted to him she loved, who ended up being dead all along anyway (because of her, she reminded herself again). And she’d actually asked Fitz to help her. Even worse? He did.

She felt sick when she thought of his face at the castle, when she realized that they’d forced him to listen to her screams as a way to manipulate him - because of course he couldn’t let her be hurt. She’d thought that all she had to do was get through it without telling them anything or agreeing to help them. But really she’d failed, because she didn’t stifle her screams. So Fitz went to the planet. To get the man she loved.

Her mind whispered to her insidiously, ‘But did you? Why didn’t you hold on to him? If you loved him so much why did you let him stay behind so you could go home? Why did you lose him so easily in the storm?’ She felt like she should have loved him, and yes, she did. But she felt guilty too, for how she didn’t miss him as much as she imagined. It’d taken her a while to realize what was wrong with her feelings after Fitz and Coulson came back, but then she figured it out. She liked him, and she felt overwhelmingly guilty about leaving him, but she didn’t feel like she’d lost a lover. It was more just the tragedy that was his life that burdened her. He’d been a duty to her, an obligation of care. How long was it right to mourn someone that you’d spent six months with? She didn’t feel like she did him justice.

All these things filled her head, going round and round. Her own mind abused her, hitting her with all the ways she’d failed and all the hurt that became of it- She’d not helped Fitz the way she should have. She didn’t stop Trip from going into the temple. How many had died because she failed to kill Ward when she should have? She didn’t save Will and Fitz kept on getting hurt because of her. She let Lash kill all those helpless Inhumans to save herself. Why did she deserve to get off that planet? It was dizzying, all the pain that swirled within her. So she closed her eyes tight against the tears that kept breaking through and before long drifted into a fitful sleep.

Jemma woke still propped against the headboard, grudgingly drawn out of a dream where Fitz was kissing her again compassionately. It was such a pleasant dream, a sort of kindness her mind could muster after she cried herself to sleep. She uncurled herself to stretch her stiff neck and back. A glance at the clock told her that it was 4:00 in the morning. She desperately wanted to go back to that dream. The dream where she and Fitz were happy and together. In her dream she was so indignant that the little cottage she’d seen as a child had been sold and the owners were unwilling to sell it to her and Fitz. And to spite her they were going to add a poorly designed addition to the back of the house. So they ended up in a block of flats with her parents on one side and his mom on the other of their module. It was incredibly awkward, of course, but they were still working with SHIELD, their lab was nearby, and every morning Fitz would smile at her and kiss her and honestly there was nowhere Jemma would rather be in that moment. But no matter how hard she tried to bring herself back there the sleep would not come, even after throwing on some pajamas and burying herself in the covers. She tossed and turned another half hour or so before she lifted herself out of bed and sat down at her desk.

If she couldn’t sleep, she might as well make the most of this time. She scrounged out a piece of paper and a pencil. She decided that it was time to talk to Fitz, really talk, as Daisy suggested. And since preparation was still her forte (and emotions were not, she'd found) she was going to draft exactly what she wanted to say to Fitz. Get completely organized so that she could tell him everything. And then maybe, maybe, the eggshells they’d been walking on would dissipate.

Easier said than done, however. It didn’t take long for Jemma to remember why she was putting this off. Where would she even start? ‘Treat it like a letter,’ she told herself.

'Dear Fitz,'

That was right, right? People normally start letters that way. This wasn’t really a letter though. She was still going to talk to him. Besides, it wasn’t like they were light years apart anymore, even if it felt like it sometimes. If she wrote him a letter, she would still have to see him at the lab the next day or whenever, and that would certainly be uncomfortable. No, this wasn’t a letter. Thesis, maybe? State your intent first.

'Dear Fitz Hello Fitz. I think we need to talk about everything that's happened recently.'

Better. But... what was there to talk about, exactly? He'd jumped through a space portal with Ward to get Will back...

'Thank you for your help on the portal. I truly couldn’t have done it without you. And it was very brave of you to go to the planet with Ward to find Will."

That had to be the understatement of the year. How could she possibly tell him just how deeply what he did touched her? He'd had no personal attachment to Will, yet he was the one convincing her to keep going. Not only that but he did it all while knowing what Will was to her... Jemma gave up and decided to keep moving forward. There simply weren’t words to do it justice.

'And your support since then has been a life-saver. It's been so nice to work with you again.'

Another understatement. Should she tell him how some mornings, the thought of seeing him was the only thing that got her out of bed? That when she was consumed by guilt or anger, it was his hand on her shoulder that pulled her out of it, or at least made her feel like it was possible to carry on? That he was the only one who really made her feel like it was okay to cry when she needed to, and as a result, she was feeling less and less need to?

'I would like it to continue.'

Well... she actually wanted much more than that. But all in due time. She imagined Daisy reading her short outline and poking fun at her penchant for inadequate articulation when it came to personal feelings. “Oh my god you are SO British!” Daisy’s voice mocked in Jemma’s mind. ‘Well I am British. So sue me.’ She she shot back to imaginary Daisy.

‘Fitz, I am so very sorry that I roped you into helping me get back to Maveth to save Will, especially since it turned out to be such a futile endeavor. It was rude of me to make you do that, but your efforts have meant so much to me.’ She tapped the desk with the end of her pencil, reflecting, and then wrote the next sentence deliberately. ‘I also regret we did not get to go on our date, and that our last dinner was… tumultuous. That is something I would like to correct in the future.’

Just writing out that sentiment made her unconsciously hold her breath. Once she realized it, she reminded herself breathe, relax. She took a moment to pause her composing and considered his possible reactions to this. He could be happy, but it could also be too late. The way he told her they were cursed… Well, if he still thought that, she might just have to prove otherwise. They’d had some bad luck, sure, but the cosmos as a whole was not capable of having any thoughts or feelings. It was inanimate. More of an intangible concept, really. She considered the happenings of the last 7 weeks, trying to gain evidence for her predictions to the outcome of their very necessary conversation.

The more she did so, however, the more disconcerted she became. She thought again about his determination to resurrect centipede. And how he didn’t mention Agent Jones help or seem concerned that Jones was put off by it. In their fields credit was important, especially when a person wanted to advance. She and Fitz agreed early on that they would be diligent about giving credit where it was due since neither of them believed in cheating.

Jemma became increasingly convinced something was amiss. She’d not recognized how many things just weren’t right – Centipede and Jones were just two examples, but then there was the way he didn’t react quite how he normally would, and he seemed so… relaxed, except that morning when she discovered the mark on his neck; the injury which was worrisome in itself by his attempt to hide it. And they’d ‘bantered’, in a way, but his tone wasn’t right. It wasn’t the friendly banter they used to do, it was half-hearted exchanges like one might do with an acquaintance they’d only just started working with and with whom their only common ground was the current task. She reviewed the instances she’d noticed him not acting like himself and knew that to anyone else these would not seem especially out of the ordinary. And, in fact, taken alone she wouldn’t think so either. But the pieces were gradually forming a picture- something was wrong. Either he was in a very different place than she’d thought in coping with all the events or…

An image flashed in her mind of Agent 33, brainwashed by Hydra and wearing May’s face. Before the mask had become damaged Coulson had only barely been able to tell that it wasn’t her. And by his briefing afterward, these were exactly the sort of elements that he’d said to look out for as a giveaway – ‘the little things’.

Jemma dismissed that possibility out of hand. Surely Hydra was not functional enough to send in a mole with Fitz’ face at this point. When would they have even had the chance? They’d spent most of their time together since he and Coulson got back from the planet. Still, she made a note in the back of her mind it would be prudent to do a little more observation. In this day and age you could never be too careful.

Chapter Text

Jemma’s 5:30 alarm resounded jarringly throughout the apartment, rudely interrupting her musing. ‘Devising the speech will have to wait,’ she thought, because she remembered excitedly that it was Friday, and thus the day Fitz would normally join her to watch the sunrise! Her misgivings quickly forgotten, she whirled around her bed to throw on her usual uniform- much more functional than her wardrobe used to be, consisting mainly of cotton t-shirts, official shield hoodies, and relaxed jeans because a lot of fabrics irritated her skin nowadays- and hurried to the kitchen to brew the both of them some tea.

She waited patiently by their usual window, the one just outside the lab with the best view of the horizon, unobstructed by either the landscape or by city buildings. She set Fitz’ tea on the sill, sipping her own and clearing her mind of all the problems and stresses. She focused on how she could just see the faintest glow beginning to mitigate the night’s overbearing shadow. She allowed the anticipation to build inside her; this was one of the few events of late that made her unabashedly hopeful. She could momentarily forget that this experience was stolen from Will, that she and Fitz were still on unstable ground, and that there was evil taking place somewhere that needed to be stopped. Because it was simply beautiful to watch the light chase away the darkness and see all the living things embraced by its warmth. Of course, Jemma could recount in detail the way the sun, the moon, and the earth interacted with each other to make this ritual happen perfectly naturally, but somehow that knowledge did not make watching it happen seem any less impressive.

It was only when the sun was about half visible above the horizon and Fitz’ tea was getting cold that she began to believe he wasn’t coming today. She told herself that he missed his alarm - not an unlikely event especially if he’d been kept late at the lab last night fixing the various systems that kept the base in working order. As it was he was frequently late, she would hear him padding up groggily behind her, bleary eyed but diligently present. Still, the voice in the back of her mind whom she assigned to study Fitz’ behavior subtly added this instance to the column of things that weren’t making sense.

Once the sun cleared the horizon Jemma gave a small shake of her head to bring her back to the reality that another day had begun, and she had work to do. She turned away from the window with some effort and brought Fitz’ untouched tea back to the break room before heading to the lab, which she confirmed was ready to reopen this morning.

Once inside the lab, she started tapping the first techs she saw to help her bring the storage lockers back from the kitchen. She did not expect to see Fitz, concentrating on his work as if nothing were abnormal. Anger flashed through Jemma at that very sight, although she told herself it was not rational to be angry at this, since they’d never actually discussed their appointments or made plans to so every week. Officially, Fitz had no obligation to be there. Still, she found it hard not to give him a cross word instead of a greeting.

“Good morning Fitz. Didn’t expect to you see you here.” Jemma knew that, despite her attempt to reason with herself, her tone would have revealed her irritation to anyone that knew her, let alone Fitz. But it was more controlled than the sass she was inclined to give him at least.

“Really? Why’s that?”

His apparent ignorance did not serve to allay her annoyance. She tried desperately to seem nonchalant nevertheless, shuffling some of the beakers that had been disordered in the frenzy of yesterday while she talked. “I assumed you overslept since I normally see you at the sunrise on Fridays.”

Fitz slapped his forehead. “Ach! I totally forgot it was Friday! Sorry, Jem. Please forgive me?”

“It’s alright. It’s not like you have to be there.” She allowed.  Her heart fluttered when she decided to speak the next sentence aloud. “I just like it… when you’re there.”

“I do too.” He replied casually.

His excuse wasn’t quite enough to remove it from her reasons for suspicion but she could let it go for now. “I’ve got to go bring the storage freezers back from the kitchen. And I expect the lab will be quite a mess from all the bumbling fire fighters tromping around in there, so I’ll have to clean that up I’m sure.” Jemma groaned to herself, imagining the probable state of things. “But after that will you be ready to start our experiments for the day?”

“Yeah. I think I figured out what we need to get it done, so I’ll bring the stuff over when you’re ready.”

Jemma gave a quick nod and then resumed her task. As she suspected, she found the labs to be disheveled and quickly set to reorganizing them. Even with help, it was a big job. Desks and computers had been moved to get at the outlets, much equipment strewn haphazardly to make a thorough inspection. Furthermore, some of the vials and beakers had been broken in the chaos so an inventory had to be taken. As a result, Jemma was not able to begin that which held her true interest – experimenting with the ISO-8 – until after lunch.

As soon as the last vial was squared away Jemma found Fitz. “Sorry it took so long! Are you ready?”

“Yeah!” Fitz quickly but carefully closed down his workspace and covered his project – Jemma didn’t get a good look, but it appeared to be an automatic subcutaneous infuser of some sort – and showed her to a familiar looking device.

“Fitz! This is a voltage tester. It doesn’t produce brain waves. How is this going to help us?”

Fitz rolled his eyes. “I know what it is Simmons. But I modified it, see?” He directed her attention to a box attached to it that was clearly not part of the original design. “Now it can create electrical fields as well. Better yet, we can control the frequency, and create pulses if we need to.”

Jemma never failed to be impressed with his ideas. “That’s amazing! You were able to get that done last night?”

“Yes! Yes, I definitely did do all of that last night. Not as hard as it looks.” Fitz seemed suddenly uneasy, which made Jemma squint.

“Fitz, are you doing okay?”

“Yeah, 'course. I’m fine. Why do you ask?”

“I don’t know… you just… haven’t seemed yourself.”

“No, yeah, really Simmons I’m fine. Maybe a little tired lately.” He defended, gathering up the modified voltage tester and a couple small metal plates that were evidently associated with his plan. He didn’t look how he did when he was tired.

“Well maybe you should go home early today. Get some rest.” She offered, still doubtful.

“Nah, I don’t think that’s necessary. I’ll be okay. Come on, we better get started on this.”

Jemma relented and followed him to her work station, where she got out the ISO-8 fragments she'd separated and apportioned. While he set up the device she spread the samples into petri dishes with care.

Once everything was ready and the area was cleared of hazards, Jemma asked Fitz, "Are you going to tell me how it works?"

He obliged her. “This sends an electrical current to these two plates." He motioned to the metallic plates he'd set up with about a six inch space between them. They were attached to Fitz' apparatus via thin wires. "I can use this dial to change the frequency, and this button to turn it off and on, creating pulses. We just have to place the petri dish between them," -he took one of the dishes she'd prepared and did so as he explained it- “Annnnnddd... you’ll probably want to step back for this part.”

Jemma complied and Fitz pressed the device’s power switch. If she was expecting something as dramatic as sparks and flickering lights she would have been disappointed, but she knew Fitz’ handiwork better than that. What she did get was even better. While there was little indication that the machine was doing anything at all, except for a small light on the device itself to indicate it was working, the effect on the sample of ISO-8 was instant and extraordinary. She drew closer to the dish in awe, having to remind herself not to reach out and pick it up, because the solid rock she had prepared had suddenly turned into a puddle, completely liquefied, at least to the naked eye. “Turn it off!” She called to Fitz, anxious to get a better look at it.

To Jemma’s dismay the rock re-solidified as soon as he did. She still snatched it off the table and examined it closely. She observed that while it had been in small shards when she put it in the dish it now formed a single chunk. "Are we able to set that up near the microscope?" She inquired of Fitz excitedly about his device. "We’ll need to observe what is happening on a molecular level to fully understand this. And we’ll need to test several different frequencies, and pulse patterns as you mentioned. We should probably keep a chart to record what we test-” She knew she was talking a mile a minute, but she didn’t care.

“Sure, I’ll go set this up by the microscope.” Fitz responded, clearly flustered by her whirlwind of words. Jemma made a mental note of this as well, since he usually had no problem keeping up with her. But she had no time to be concerned with that now.

Jemma set to work making up an organized chart to record their findings, as well as setting up a recording device for evidence. They reconvened at the microscope a few minutes later and went about testing different frequencies methodically. There were a few things they discovered:

1. She was right when she noted that the liquefaction appeared to be thorough, the crystalline structure of the element completely dissipated in a way similar to how ice changes to water. It changed back into the solid state in the same way water does too, with the exception that it happened much faster than it normally does to water.
2. The ISO-8 responded the most to frequencies in the .5-1 hertz range. Any higher than that and they would just rattle.
3. The material seemed to be some sort of conductor for those frequencies, matching them and then amplifying them within itself.

“It may be concluded from these findings that although this compound appears to be mineral-like, that description is not complete. While it is presumably inorganic and certainly crystalline in structure, its behavior has more in common with metals or organic molecules such as water. Further study is required to properly define ISO-8 as a compound.” Jemma summarized for the benefit of their recording.

Fitz frowned at it. “But we still don’t know the point of putting it there. We got it to do something, but it still doesn’t change anything.”

Jemma agreed and thought back to the other possible keys they’d identified: the blood and the terragen. It gave her an idea.

“Fitz, now that it is responding to a stimulus, perhaps we should try exposing it to the terragen and Inhuman DNA again. Perhaps in its liquid state it will have an additional reaction to those factors.”

“Perfect! Let’s try it!”

Jemma brought out the blood and terragen samples. First, they placed a dish with the ISO-8 on the microscope within the field of the machine and turned it on to the frequency with the best reaction just as they had been doing in their previous tests. They observed that just as in their previous experiments, the ISO-8 liquefied and began harmonizing with field Fitz’ device generated. Then Jemma carefully dropped in a solution of terragen particles. It mingled easily with the liquefied ISO-8, but with little discernable change. Until, that is, Fitz modified voltage detector suddenly detected a frequency different from that which he was generating.

Fitz was alarmed at this development, bopping, shaking, and examining the apparatus, convinced it had gone out of order. “Sorry about this… I may need to make a few tweaks…” He said and shut it off. But Jemma wasn’t so sure.

“Turn it on again.”

“But Jemma, it’s not working-“

“Please, Fitz?”

Fitz did as she commanded, turning it on and watching the same ritual happen again. She insisted he keep it on, and she ran to find Mack because if anyone on the base knew where she could find a back-up voltage detector, it was going to be Mack. He provided her what she needed quickly, responding to her insistence that it was urgent with only mild confusion. She ran back to the lab and turned the device on as she approached. Just as she suspected, the new detector confirmed that the reading on Fitz’ detector was correct, the frequency of the field was higher than the one Fitz had set his device to. It was also much stronger than it should have been.

“Well then there’s got to be something wrong with the generator. The setting got messed up or something…” Fitz insisted, shutting off the device once again.

“There’s an easy way to test that.” Jemma replied, and removed the now solidified ISO-8/terragen combination from the microscope and the generator. “Okay, turn it on again.”

She took the reading again and found that Fitz’ invention was operating perfectly. “Do you know what this means, Fitz?” She asked excitedly.

“What?”

“When liquefied ISO-8 comes in contact with terragen particles it is able to convert and amplify electric fields. Assuming that the brain wave irregularities we saw in Joey are consistent in newly transformed Inhumans, exposure would activate the ISO-8 and create a potentially more stable frequency. And since the human brain likes to harmonize with its surroundings…” She looked at Fitz expectantly, waiting for him to get where she was going.

But he didn’t. “So what?”

Jemma moaned at his slowness. “It means that it’s possible that this was used to stabilize the erratic brain waves using brainwave entrainment, possibly helping them to enhance their control and stimulate healing in response to the change!”

“So this could actually be what we’re looking for then.” Fitz stopped to let that realization sink in. “We need to find out what effect this has as quickly as possible.” He concluded.

“I agree, Fitz, but how? I’m at a loss- there really isn’t anything comparable to the human or inhuman brain in this way.”

“Well... we do have three inhumans already in-house.”

Jemma stared at him in shock at what he was suggesting. “Fitz! How could you say that? For all we know, this frequency is designed to make them more violent or unstable. And you want to expose our friends to it with insufficient information and no trials?”

“Discovery requires experimentation, yeah?”

“No! Discovery is never worth risking the safety of anyone. I may have been reckless in the past but I know it painfully now! And the fact that you could even suggest it… well… you’re not the Fitz I know!” It was an unexpected outburst, even to her, but for once she was not ashamed of it. With all she –they- had been through, the idea SHOULD be offensive.

Fitz got the point and hung his head, ashamed. “You’re right. I don’t know what got into me.”

“Maybe you should just go. Meanwhile I’ll see if I can glean anything by exposing their blood to it. Since that won’t hurt anyone.” Jemma said bitingly.

Fitz protested, “But Jem-“

“Go, I said!” She might have been being harsh, but she couldn’t look at him just now. She turned her back and busied herself cleaning up their mess until he decided to obey, gathering up his gadget wordlessly and storming out.

She tried very hard to concentrate on doing what she said she was going to, but it proved difficult. She tried time and again but wasn’t seeing hardly any results from Daisy, Joey, and Lincoln’s blood samples. Worse, her conversation with Fitz kept playing over in her head. Perhaps she was too harsh. She allowed herself to examine whether he had a point or not, but kept coming up with the same answer: It would be unethical to expose anyone to the ISO-8 before they could firmly say what it would do. 

She needed to know if she was the only one that noticed that Fitz wasn’t acting like himself. She wasn’t sure how to approach someone about it out of the blue though. But then something caught the corner of her eye: the spare voltage tester, sitting abandoned on the table still. She impulsively grabbed it up and strode out of the lab and back to the person who gave it to her in the first place, and incidentally the person besides herself most likely to know if Fitz was having a problem. She found Mack in the director’s office.

“Director! Thank you for letting me borrow this earlier, it was an emergency. Fitz and I were in the middle of an experiment and we found ourselves needing to cross check the one Fitz tampered with-“

She stopped when she saw Mack was gently holding up his hand. “Really, it’s no problem. Nice to have an excuse to dig through the old tools again. But you know once you start talking biochem to me you may as well be speaking Martian.”

Jemma scoffed. “Don’t be silly! There is still no evidence of alien life forms on Mars at this time, and even if there were, there would be no way either of us would know what the Martian dialect even sounded like, let alone if there were multiple languages as there is on earth… Oh. You were being facetious.”

Mack just shook his head. “Well, thanks for returning this.”

“Sure thing!” Jemma chuckled just a bit too cheerily and she kept it going by talking just a bit too fast. “So! Mack! You and Fitz are close, right? I mean of course you are you worked together and you’re obviously friends so I guess I just want to know if you’ve noticed anything off about him lately because I feel like I have but then there’s a lot going on between us and we don’t always talk like we should but I still get worried for him and you just talked to him the other day so I was hoping you could maybe tell me if there’s anything going on with him-“

“Whoa, whoa, slow down Go-Go!” Mack’s eyes were wide with alarm, trying to separate out and piece together all the words she’d just thrown at him. “What’s wrong?”

Jemma took a deep breath and forced herself to slow down. “I’m not sure exactly. It just doesn’t seem like Fitz is acting like himself. It’s a lot of little things that are hard to explain, not just one big thing. And I just wanted to know if you’d noticed the same thing or if you might know why he’s acting strange.”

Mack thought for a minute. “You know, I can’t say I have noticed anything different about Turbo. But then, we’re together a lot less now. I wouldn’t be surprised, though. You two have been through a lot lately. But if you like, I can talk to him, see if there’s something else going on.”

J

emma nodded. “I would appreciate it.” She didn’t feel like it was just the way he was coping.. Something had changed. She hoped Mack would be able to sort it out. Jemma wished Mack goodbye and went back to her work station, her mind not eased very much at all.

Chapter Text

It didn’t seem like very long at all before the lab quieted down and Jemma was one of the last ones in there. A familiar voice startled her.

“Knock, Knock.” Jemma looked up to see Daisy standing awkwardly in the doorway of the lab. She still wasn’t super comfortable there, she’d told Jemma, because she felt sure she was going to accidently rattle some priceless equipment off a shelf and break it. Jemma had assured her that wasn’t going to happen - they could tie things down if they needed to - but Daisy was still standing there with her arms tight around her and not quite completely inside.

Jemma smiled. “Oh, hello Daisy! What can I do for you?”

“Actually, uh- the boys are driving me nuts so me and Bobbi are going to grab a drink. Wanna come?”

The question caught Jemma off guard. It had been so long since they’d done anything like this. “Oh! Um…” She looked around at the multitude of vials, needles, and petri dishes scattered around her at a loss for how to respond.

Daisy read her mind. “You're busy, aren't you?” She said with some regret.

But Jemma didn’t really want to pass this up. “Well, technically, yes, but a drink does sound lovely. What bars or restaurants are nearby?”

Jemma watched Daisy shrug coolly. “When you've got an invisible private jet that can land on rooftops a lot of things are nearby.”

Jemma’s eyes went wide and she nearly dropped the pipette she was holding. “You're going to steal a quinjet!?” It really shouldn’t surprise her anymore, Jemma thought, she should know her friend by now. But her lax attitude toward rules and boundaries somehow continued to unnerve her.

“Not steal!” Daisy quickly corrected. “NOT STEAL!” She called again louder, looking around for any stray agents that might have overheard and misunderstood. Luckily there was only one other person in the lab, and it really didn’t look like they cared, so Daisy returned to her normal speaking volume. “Requisition. And technically Coulson gave me free access to the quinjets since I’m heading up the new team.”

Jemma wasn’t done working this through yet. “But isn't that a bit irresponsible? What if an emergency occurs while we're out? Is it even safe to fly when you've been drinking?”

Daisy sighed. “Jemma Simmons are you coming or not?”

Jemma frowned and looked around one more time. What she was working on could wait until the next day. “Just let me pack up these things for the night. I'll meet you in the hangar.” She responded.

“Good.” Daisy left with a smug little grin on her face.

Bobbi flew them to a city not 10 minutes away, allaying Jemma’s discomfort along the way by explaining the autopilot on the ship was quite advanced, to the point that it was designed to be able to fly itself back to the base in case of emergency. “And anyway,” Bobbi added, “It’s not like we’re here to party all night. We’re just getting a couple drinks.”

The only spot they found to leave the quinjet was in a corner of the top floor of a parking garage. It was at this point that Jemma discovered that only Daisy actually knew where they were going. She insisted there was this awesome place where she ‘knew a guy’, and Jemma suspected she was better off not knowing the story. Daisy assured them the parking garage was fine because the place was only a half mile away.

“So, what kind of place is this, Daisy?” Bobbi voiced the question on Jemma’s mind as well.

“Trust me, you’ll like it. It’s not well known, but they’ve got great ownership. It’s a local favourite.” Daisy assured them.

“One where you have to know someone to get in?” Jemma questioned. It was sounding a little too trendy to put her at ease.

“You don’t have to know someone, but on a Friday night it does help. Besides, it’s a good excuse to visit an old friend.” Daisy clarified as they walked. 

“And how do you know this ‘old friend’?” Bobbi clearly didn’t know what she didn’t want to know.

Thankfully, Daisy did so she gave the short version. “Ummm… it’s a long story. It was back when I was just getting acquainted with the Rising Tide. Not all of my associates were 100% above board. But Don is a good guy.” Just then she stopped them all in front of an unmarked, tattered looking door in a solid brick façade. “Ladies, relax. You’re about to see what I’m talking about.” Daisy swung open the door with gusto, marching inside confidently. “Mikey!” She barked with a big smile on her face to the man slouching against the wall in the tight, dimly lit hallway.

‘Mikey’ looked up and got a huge grin on his face. He leapt over to Daisy and swept her up in a bear hug. “Skye!” He said. “Long time no see! Yo, I heard you got pulled over to the dark side.” He said, squinting at her.

Daisy shrugged off the comment. “Doesn’t mean I can’t have some fun once in a while. The Empire does give us some days off.”

“So it’s true!?” Mikey yowled. “Aw man! I told ‘em, anyone but Skye! Guess I was wrong, huh?”

“First time for everything, Mikey. You know, I found these guys that are actually pretty cool. Speaking of which, I’ve been talking up this place to my friends here and they want to see what it’s all about.” Daisy motioned to Bobbi and Jemma, who both pretended they weren’t bewildered by this whole thing and were actually expecting to be impressed. “Think you could fit us in?”

Mikey sighed. “Skye, you know how it’s like on Friday night. It’s pretty full.”

“Come on,” Daisy pressed playfully. “What would Don say if you didn’t let me at least say hi?”

Mikey eyed the trio again. “I guess we could probably find a place for you. No party crashers, right?”
“Nah, we’re not into that racquet.” Daisy assured him. Bobbi and Jemma shared a concerned look.

Mikey nodded. “A’ight. Lemme check with Don. Wait here, would ya?” Mikey barely waited for confirmation before he slipped through another door Jemma just realized he’d been placed there to guard.

“You were saying about how you knew this place, Daisy?” Bobbi challenged. “So far this seems more like a place I’d go undercover in.”

“Give it a chance, you’ll see.” Daisy insisted.

Mikey re-emerged from behind the door this time followed by a rotund and jovial man in an apron. “Skye! As I live and breathe!” He gasped in a raspy voice, and came forward to hug her just as Mikey had.

“Told you!” Mikey said to the man, presumably Don, victoriously.

“He said it was you and I told him he was seeing ghosts! Now I am too! Why you a stranger these days, girlie?”

“Don’t got a lotta down time.” Daisy explained. “But when we were looking for a place to chill for the evening, I knew it had to be here. So, how about it? Wanna let us in, catch up a bit?

Don looked them over sceptically, but gave in quickly with a pouty look from Daisy. “Ah, I never could say no to you. Sure, come on in. Same rules as always. I won’t have lotta of time to talk, but you’ve gotta promise you’ll stay long enough to tell me what’s been going on with you lately.”

“Some things never change. Promise.” Daisy agreed and Don motioned them inside.

“Nice seein’ ya Skye!” Mikey called just before the door slammed shut behind them. Don led them down another narrow hallway, and just as Jemma was becoming uncomfortable with the tight spaces it opened up into the dining area.

It was nothing like the security and even the clientele would suggest. A little grungy, sure, but Jemma observed small, high tables set safe distances apart; the booths were set up with privacy in mind. As a result, though it was as busy as Mikey and Don indicated, the din of the diners was not overwhelming even to Jemma. The lighting was soft and relaxing, the music was upbeat and playing loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to interrupt conversation. It had the respectful set up of a high-end establishment, but the atmosphere of a casual family restaurant.

Don apologized that they would have to sit at the bar to begin with but assured them that they would have the first table that came available. As soon as he left them to get back into the kitchen, Bobbi and Jemma grilled Daisy about what had just happened.

“I knew that you still don’t like loud places Jemma.” Explained Daisy. “There’s not a lot of cheap places known for their drinks that are also fairly quiet, especially on the weekend. This was the only place I could think of not too far away.”

“I was concerned about that when you invited me.” Jemma acknowledged sheepishly. “Thank you for thinking of me.”

“So what’s the deal with the bouncer and concern with the cops? I mean, I can see there are all types here but there’s nothing going down. And what are these rules I heard about?” Bobbi was fascinated.

Daisy nodded. “Don’s rules are the reason this place is still up and running. Strict neutral ground. No business goes down here, and no questions are asked. Whatever you are on the outside, in here you’re just a customer. Don started this place when the gangs were getting really bad in this area. A lot of restaurants were getting disturbed by either confrontations between the gangs or by police trying to crack down on the stuff going on. He was sick of seeing the neighbourhood he loved torn apart, and he found out a lot of the young guys getting involved in this stuff wished for a simpler life, even for an evening. So he bought this place, refused to get into business with any gangs, and made the rules clear: Anyone is welcome. No business. No fighting. You violate the rules, you get kicked out and no protection. The gang leaders, they didn’t like it at first. They all said they would drive him out of business if he was serving their competition. Don just said they were welcome to try. It wasn’t long before people figured it out- he was serious. This was a safe zone. And then people started to trickle in. Some for the food and drinks, but a lot for the freedom. They would hide their identity at first, swearing him to secrecy because they were afraid their gang leaders would find out. But then the gang leaders started coming themselves. Sometimes it was for a date, or to visit with their families. Over time it just became accepted. People could come here for whatever reason and take the night off. Cops sometimes try to take advantage of it, ambush the people they’re looking for. But Don doesn’t have any of that either. There’s never anything illegal happening here, so they can’t do anything. A lot of times even cops will come here just for fun.”

Bobbi nodded. “I can respect that. It’s a nice idea. It’s amazing he’s been able to keep it up.”

“Don’s built a lot of good will over the years. He’s nice to the young guys, tries to help him any way he can. The gangs aren’t so bad anymore, but everyone kinda thinks it’ll get a lot worse when he’s gone.”

A bar tender finally approached them to get their orders. Bobbi stuck with a beer, Jemma got a glass of wine, and Daisy ordered whiskey.

“The boys were that bad eh?” Bobbi joked.

“Worse. I haven't seen them like this. They were fighting me on everything today. And I almost had to ice them both when they got into it with each other.” Daisy replied.

“Yikes.”

“Must be the day. Everyone in the lab has been on edge too, blowing up over the littlest thing.” Jemma commented.

“I'm sure everyone is just adjusting. It takes time to get used to the quirks of new coworkers. Partners usually blow up at each other at some point, but then they cool down and everything is fine.” Bobbi assured her.

“And that's great - when said partners aren't walking WMD's. We blow up, so does the city.” Daisy pointed out.

“So what did you do?”

“I told them to take the night off, go chill out in their bunks for a while. And if I saw them outside before their heads were right I was going to throw them in the fridge until they got it together.”

Bobbi nearly spewed her beer. “So, wait, hold on. You basically put them in time-out? Oh, that's fantastic!”

“What else was I supposed to do? Not like I could take away their favourite toys. By the way, Simmons, you can officially take Lincoln away whenever you want.” Daisy teased. She turned to Bobbi to tattle on Jemma. “Can you believe she recruited him while I was standing right there?”

Bobbi laughed. “Keeping the old tradition alive I see. I was recruited away from SciOps myself. Thank god.”

Jemma felt the need to defend herself. “It wasn’t like that per say. I was trying to get him to cooperate and offering to let him help in the lab seemed the easiest way to do it at the time. It worked too.”

“How are things over at SciOps anyway?” Bobbi asked. “Heard there was a fire over there yesterday, everything okay?”

“Ugh, it was blown way out of proportion.” Jemma answered. “It was a small electrical fire. It was put out almost as soon as it started. But of course they had to shut the whole wing down to check to make sure it was safe. And the firefighters have no respect for organized systems. I spent half of my day putting things back where they belonged. Put us off by a day at least if not more.”

“Better safe than sorry, I suppose.”

“Anyway, how's it going over at field ops?” Jemma asked, anxious to stop talking about herself and hear what was going on with the other two.

“Hey, yeah! Is it fun working with the old AC?” Daisy nudged Bobbi.

“AC?” Bobbi asked with a tilt of her head.

Jemma rolled her eyes. “That’s Daisy’s old nickname for Agent Coulson. When she first started, before he was director, she thought ‘Agent Coulson’ was too long.” She explained.

“I will point out that he moved from AC to DC when he got promoted to Director, which is pretty cool.” Daisy stated.

“Gotcha. Yeah, it's going good. Some stuff pops up here and there but nothing we can’t handle. Reminds me of the old days, which is nice. And it’s great having the experience of Coulson and May on the team.” Bobbi responded.

“Coulson still isn’t his old self, but who can blame him? I, mean, it’s horrible what happened to Rosalind, and I think it was getting kinda serious. Which I totally called by the way.” Daisy put in.

“Oh, please, like it wasn’t completely obvious.” Jemma scoffed.

Bobbi backed her up. “Gotta agree with Jemma on that one.”

“Okay, fine.” Daisy feigned insult but then continued. “He’s more like the guy I remember, is all I’m saying. I think being Director is rough on him.”

“It’s a tough job.” Bobbi agreed. “I honestly don’t envy Mack right now.”

“He seems to be handling it well though.” Jemma noted. “I’m glad it wasn’t put on May. She’s been through enough as it is.”

“No kidding. I don’t know how she does it.” Daisy agreed. “I still can’t believe what happened with Andrew.”

Bobbi nodded. “I know. I can’t say I fully understand the whole Inhuman process, but I just have to wonder how it could change his personality so dramatically.”

“Well that’s actually what we’re working on finding out right now.” Jemma said excitedly. “It’s a little too early to say for sure, but we think we might have found a breakthrough!”

“You think you could bring him back from his psychotic break?” Daisy asked hopefully.

“I don’t know, but at least I know he would have to want to change. And counselling, ironically, would still be necessary. But I have to say I don’t think Doctor Garner is completely wrong.”

Daisy stared at her in alarm, and Jemma saw a similar expression of disbelief on Bobbi, so she backpedalled quickly. “No, no, I don’t mean… obviously he is completely mad, thinking it’s his job to kill Inhumans willy-nilly to keep people safe. It’s horrifying what he does.” Jemma quickly corrected herself, and her two companions relaxed a bit. “I’m not talking about convicting people before they’ve done anything wrong. I just mean that the fact is that not everyone who goes through the change will want to use their abilities for good. And I’m a little concerned that we are ill prepared to contain the threats as they arise.”

“Well, that’s what we’re here for.” Daisy said solemnly.

Bobbi had no interest in prolonging this tense topic. “Well hey, it’s great that you are making progress in figuring out how to make the transition easier. And how’s working been? Have you been feeling better?"

“Ah, yes, I’m getting there. By my estimate I should be ready to begin training sometime next week.”

“Wait, training? Like, training training?” Jemma nodded and Daisy continued. “So you asked her to be your S.O. and not me?” Daisy exclaimed. “Okay, now I’m really hurt.”

Jemma giggled at Daisy’s show of offense. “I would have asked you too if you weren’t so busy trying to build and train your team.” She assured her. “And I would still be happy to train with you any time. Bobbi just has a little less going on right now.”

Daisy shrugged. “I guess I’ll accept that, because it’s true I probably am too busy to be your SO. So, hey, what is going on with you Bobbi? How's Hunter?”

Bobbi grinned. “Oh, Hunter is being a complete prat. But, that's not unusual so…”

Jemma smiled. “Prat- there’s a word you don’t hear too often over here.”

“I picked it up from Hunter’s friends. Usually referring to him too.” Bobbi teased. Then a shy smile came over her and she fiddled with her second beer bottle a little bit. “But it's actually going really well. I know I've said it before but… it feels like we actually have a chance this time. We’re actually thinking of taking some time… just to be together away from Shield.”

Jemma’s jaw dropped, but it was Daisy who was able to verbalize her response first. “Whoa! That’s huge!”

Bobbi’s smile grew even bigger. “I know. I don’t think I’ve actually taken a real vacation in…. phew, it’s gotta be 5 years at least? And the last one was to visit my parents. Hunter and I… we’ve never gotten to be a real couple, you know? It’s always been missions and betrayal and then missions and betrayal again. I just wonder what we’d be like without all of that. If we could make it.”

It was Jemma’s turn to respond. “Well, we’ll miss you-”

“And maybe even Hunter sometimes...” Daisy interrupted.

“-But I hope it does work out for you.” Jemma finished.

“Thanks.” Bobbi sighed contentedly, then turned the attention back to Jemma. “And how’s Fitz doing?”

Jemma had to think before she answered that one. “I don't know… he's really not acting like himself lately…”

“Like Lincoln and Joey?” Bobbi inquired.

“Not exactly… it’s actually kind of hard to explain…”

Daisy leaned forward suddenly. “Could it be because you guys never talk about anything?” she asked pointedly. Jemma just glared at her because she knew Daisy was making a point; saying this in front of Bobbi to gain back up on her side. It worked too.

Bobbi sighed. “Simmons, you need to talk to him.” She lectured.

“No, it's not like that…” Jemma huffed. “I mean, yes, I know we need to talk and we will… but I don't think that's the problem.”

“I beg to differ. What's holding you back?” demanded Daisy, possibly emboldened by her drink and having a friend on her side.

“Why do I suddenly feel like this is an intervention?”

“It's not an intervention. We only want to help.” Bobbi replied seriously.

“Besides, it distracts us from our own problems.” Daisy added, munching on the nachos Don had brought to them without having to be asked.

“And that means we have to talk about mine!?” Jemma cried.

“Absolutely.” Bobbi was clearly not going to help her get out of this.

“Oh, come on Jemma.” Daisy said as if it were obvious. “This is where problems really get solved- at a stinky dive bar with girlfriends. It's a fact, regardless of what Doctor I'm-Going-To-Be-Famous and all his buddies say.”

“I don't think he's so bad.” Jemma lied.

Bobbi just raised an eyebrow and Daisy said, “Really?”

Jemma caved. “No, he's terrible. I was just trying to be positive.”

“If it helps, I can pretend to be Doctor Garner.” Daisy offered.

Jemma gripped her glass tightly and studied it, her cheeks getting red. “Please don't.”

Daisy ignored her. “’Jemma, you have to stop deflecting and let other people help you. You’re using work as a defence mechanism to help you avoid dealing with this.’ Pretty good, right?”

Bobbi was snickering. “Perfect, it’s like he’s here.”

Jemma stifled a laugh of her own and shook her head. “Awful! That didn’t even make sense !”

Then they were all giggling, the alcohol lightening their mood. When they got control of themselves again, Daisy asked seriously “Come on Jemma. Why are you so afraid of talking to Fitz?”

Jemma was silent for what felt like a long time. She didn’t make eye contact with either of them, but it didn’t matter because she could feel their eyes on her while they waited for her answer. Finally, she asked very quietly, “How long is it right to mourn someone you knew and maybe loved for 6 months?”

Daisy groaned empathetically and Bobbi reached over and gave Jemma a squeeze. Daisy answered first. “I don’t think there’s only one right answer to that, Jem.”

“And at this point I don’t think there’s a wrong answer to that either.” Bobbi assured her. “It’s really how you feel. None of us will judge you for what you choose to do now. It’s okay if you need more time, and it’s okay if you want to move on.”

“Are you waiting to talk to Fitz because you want something to happen with you two?” Daisy asked more delicately.

Jemma sighed. “I don’t know… I think maybe… It’s complicated. But I’d at least like to do dinner I think. But I don’t know if he still wants to or if…” She couldn’t bring herself to finish that sentence.

Daisy and Bobbi murmured their understanding. “Well I can tell you this at least. Whether or not you are ready to do anything with him now, the longer you wait to talk to him the more likely it is that he will get the wrong idea. Even just explaining it how you did to us just now will make things easier down the line.” Bobbi advised.

“You’re right, I know. It’s good advice. But right now I really am quite worried about him. He’s not the same…” -It would sound rude to say he was too happy- “Some of the things he’s suggested… It’s just not him. And I don’t know if he’s having trouble or…” Jemma thought she’d probably sound paranoid if she suggested that he’d been replaced by a doppelganger.

“All the more reason to talk to him.” Daisy counselled. “Who knows, maybe it’s related.”

“Maybe.” Jemma replied absently. She was absorbed in thought, reviewing her mental notes on his behaviour, including that day’s additions.

Bobbi then turned to Daisy and inquired about Lincoln. Daisy told them about how he was adjusting to life on the base, and some of the funny comments he made regarding it. They all continued to laugh and talk, eventually moving to a proper table and chatting with Don, who had some embarrassing stories about Daisy that everyone except Daisy enjoyed. Daisy explained to Don about her new name and Don struggled hilariously to remember it for the rest of the night. But he congratulated her on finally finding out the truth about her lineage (she gave him the severely amended version of course) and they found out that Don had recently reconnected with his son, who was out of prison now and promised to be on the straight and narrow. Don checked with all three of the girls to see if any of them were single, or had a single friend that might be a good match for his son, whom he assured them was a ‘very nice guy’.

Frankly, though, Jemma didn’t pay a lot of attention. She kept up with the conversation enough to react appropriately to what was said and contribute politely from time to time, but most of her brain power was directed to reviewing the evidence regarding Fitz. The more she did so, the more convinced she was that the man that wore Fitz’ face was not Fitz at all. Especially his statement today, “Discovery requires experimentation,” she felt like she’d heard it before but couldn’t quite place where. But it definitely carried sinister connotations in her mind. She began to formulate what she was going to do to prove it, since the evidence she had wasn’t exactly bullet proof.

 Eventually Daisy checked her clock. “It's 10? I thought it was 1! I'm so tired.” She declared.

“Me too.” Bobbi agreed, and when they both saw Jemma nod her head she added, “Head home then?”

“Fine with me.” Jemma replied, actually getting to point where she was impatient to get back to base, but she didn’t want to trouble them with her anxiety.

Daisy frowned. “Guys, are we getting old?”

“Yes.” Jemma responded too quickly, not thinking it through enough.

“Wrong answer.” Bobbi teased as they got out of their booth and waved goodbye to Don.

“Sorry, it's just, biologically speaking in your mid-twenties your body and mind begin to be less capable of recovering from intoxication and sleep deprivation, among other stressors. Therefore, you are less likely to be able to stay out all night, for example. Since both in anthropology and biology such a lack of elasticity is associated with age, and gets increasingly worse with time, in colloquial terms we are old.” Jemma informed them, receiving disbelieving blinks from the other two.

“And you just made me need another drink.” Bobbi groaned.

“I think I liked it better when I thought I was born in ’89.” Daisy joked.

Jemma laughed at her friends. “I prefer to think of age like wine. It keeps getting better.”

Daisy and Bobbi chuckled and agreed that, yes, that was definitely what was happening to them. Back on the jet again Bobbi hit the autopilot to take them home. They continued to laugh and joke, but the closer they came to the Playground the more Jemma got lost in her thoughts. She needed evidence against “Fitz” and she wasn’t quite sure how to get it.

Back at base Jemma, Daisy, and Bobbi all spent some time in the hangar to say their goodbyes, their merriment causing their voices to become louder than they realized. They remembered the time and hushed each other, exchanging comments about how fun this was and making well-intentioned promises to ‘do this again soon’ that would likely not be kept. At the end of this ritual they turned to go inside when they saw May standing firmly between them and the door with her arms crossed, looking sterner than usual.

“Do you want to tell me where you’ve been?” She asked dryly. It was evident she did not approve of Daisy’s definition of “necessity” when it came to borrowing a Quinjet.

“It was Daisy’s idea.” Bobbi said quickly.

Jemma followed Bobbi’s lead, chuckling nervously. “Yeah, I didn’t even want to go!”

“You should probably have a talk with her about that. So I’ll see you tomorrow then?” Bobbi said cheerfully against May’s critical stare.

“Yes, sleep well!” Jemma agreed and they both darted, leaving Daisy still standing there in shock and feeling very much thrown under the bus.

“Thanks guys!” She yelled sarcastically after them. The last thing Jemma saw as she looked over her shoulder was Daisy giving May a cross between a grimace and an apologetic smile and she hoped there would still be a Daisy to see tomorrow morning.

Chapter Text

Once inside the base, Bobbi indicated she was going to her bunk (which really meant Hunter’s bunk), but Jemma was going directly to Fitz’. She got there and knocked several times, fully intending to wake up whoever was inside and make them talk until she had the evidence she needed. When no one came she let herself in using the secret passkey Fitz had made for them both so they could get into each other’s bunks in case of emergency. She was surprised and suspicious when she found no one in there so she took some time to look around. If “Fitz” came back it would be easy to come up with an excuse – she’d lost something, needed to look at one of their designs, etc.

She moved quietly over to his work table and flicked on a light. The first things illuminated were numerous detailed designs. That was completely normal for Fitz. But then she decided to take a closer look at what he’d been working on. She realized that these were very old designs, but there were notes on them. His notes didn’t make much sense until she looked at some of the research pages that were laying nearby and was so alarmed she accidentally swiped several sheets of paper onto the floor. She bent down to tidy them up, her heart racing. The notes indicated he was coming up with ways to harness some of the more dangerous artefacts of SHIELD, including the “mist” and the centipede serum, and intended to weaponize them. This had suddenly become even more dangerous than Jemma imagined. It was one thing to have a mole, it was another to have said mole actively creating dangerous weapons. There was no longer a doubt in her mind that Fitz was not the person that had been living and working right beside. She also decided that it was dangerous enough that he needed dealt with sooner than later. She abandoned the remaining papers on the floor and dashed out, raiding one of their secret weapon stockpiles for a pistol and using a computer to track down Fitz’ locator. From there she saw he seemed to be alone in the lab.

Jemma's heart pounded in her ears as she strode into the lab with her lips tight, willing herself not to hesitate. She raised the gun in front of her as she got nearer to him, her left hand leaping up to steady the uncontrollable quivering in her right. She knew that a field agent would have come up quieter, but as she suspected he didn't look up at the sound of her approach. He didn't react at all except for stiffening when she determinedly pressed the barrel against the base of his skull. His hands went up slowly. "Who are you. And what have you done with Fitz?" Jemma worked hard to keep her voice steady and authoritative.

"Jemma?! I… I don't know.."

"Oh, stop it! Just shut up!" Jemma cried pressing the gun against him harder so that his head was forced down slightly by the pressure. She struggled to regain her composure. "I know you're not him. Leopold Fitz would never in a million years suggest doing dangerous tests on his friends. Leopold Fitz hates centipede and would never, ever try to weaponize it or the terragen for any reason.  And Leopold Fitz does not have a scar on the back of his neck. This is not an icer. Who. Are. You."

She saw his shoulders relax. He moved his head away from the pistol and slowly turned around to look at her and Jemma didn't stop him. When she caught sight of his face full on, it was different. His eyes were dark and scowly, his face stern.

"Oh, Jemma. Don’t you remember me?"

Jemma shuddered as a feeling she recognized came upon her. Like a premonition that something terrible was about to occur, but so much stronger. It was the feeling which on the planet she instinctively knew was being produced by the creature and not just hysteria induced by Will's warnings. But it was a little different this time. Because last time it was a predominantly sad feeling, but this time it held a sort of wicked determination. Something in the back of her brain told her she needed to put the gun down and help him. But she couldn’t be bothered with that because just now her own feelings were more present as she pieced together the implications of this information: The Evil Thing was on this planet and it had killed Fitz. Fitz was dead. She hadn't realized before just how badly she’d been hoping that he would convince her she was wrong, that he really was Fitz and that he had a perfectly rational explanation of his behavior. But this was not the case. Jemma's hands and feet went numb and was she convinced her heart stopped. She wasn't able to breathe. It felt as if the very atmosphere around her was now poisonous. It was all quickly swirling into a rage balling in her stomach. She re-leveled the gun toward IT but as hard as she tried to control it, she couldn’t prevent her vision blurring with tears. This gave IT just long enough before she pulled the trigger to hit her with an icer.  

When she woke she was in the dark surrounded by rock and her head hurt. She was scared first, but then her last conscious moments came rushing back to her-realizing that The Evil was now on Earth, and more importantly that it destroyed her Fitz. She didn’t care where she was anymore. The tears drenched her cheeks and she released the scream that was choking her. It must have been addictive, because then she screamed again. And again, with everything she had. She screamed at the universe for so cruelly cursing the two of them. She screamed for Fitz going to the planet against her advice. She screamed at herself for all the times she didn’t say what needed said. And mostly, she screamed because she would never hug him again. She would never look into those beautiful eyes and feel the deep connection of knowing exactly what he was thinking. She would never again get to complete his sentences and know the feeling of creating something new with him. And she would never, ever get to kiss him again. Taste his lips, feel his hands around her waist and the warmth of his body pressing against her. She wouldn’t get to run her fingers through his curls and kiss him how he deserved to be kissed, with all of the admiration in the world.

Jemma screamed until it  sobs in between. She didn’t know how long she had spent on the rocky ground in what she concluded was a cave. But when she no longer had the energy to mourn, she had only one thing on her mind: That if she lived through whatever came next, The Evil would regret the day it had taken Fitz away from the universe.

She  for a while, musing over the ways she could make an ancient, immortal creature that could evidently take over dead bodies suffer the way it deserved. But her eyes darted around blindly when she heard echoing footsteps approaching. Jemma scrambled to her feet, not about to let whatever was coming for catch her lying down weakly.

She saw her shadow before she saw the source of the light. She whirled around, finally able to take in the space she was being kept in. It was small, with a peaked ceiling and only one opening. And in that opening stood It, still wearing Fitz’ face, and a sinister looking woman flanking him. IT had an earnest look about him.

“Sorry, uh… I’ve not been a very good host, have I? But then, I couldn’t really talk to you until you calmed down.” It said with a chuckle. “Thank god for the sedimentary rock surrounding us, or you’d be really embarrassed.” It put on Fitz’ teasing smile and patted the wall of the cave, and that repulsed Jemma. Ignoring The Evil’s threatening companions, Jemma aggressively launched toward It. It didn’t even flinch but the woman deftly stepped between them, catching her by the shoulder. Almost immediately she felt her hands slap together in front of her, immobile.

“Yeah, you’re right Jemma. We should get going, don’t want to waste any more time.”

It went back out the doorway first, the woman somehow shoved Jemma ahead of her without ever touching her and then followed behind. The two of them both came with torches, so the terrain was easy to navigate. It didn’t take but a two minute walk through the twists and turns of the cave before she was pushed into a large, fully lit cavern. Arrayed in front of her eyes was a slew of monitors, medical apparatus, and what looked like an isolation chamber and a stasis pod. It went to work flicking on the different machines. She watched him dance around the devices just like Fitz did in the lab.

“So it’s been you the whole time? Fitz never…” Jemma’s voice caught in her throat. So she cleared it and tried again. “He never came back?” It came out as a whisper, but thanks to the acoustics of the chamber It heard her from across the room.

“No! Jemma, don’t be ridiculous. I could never keep up appearances that long. No, remember the caves to get the… ISO-8? Actually, the very caves we’re in now.” He said nonchalantly.

“Doctor Simmons.” Jemma corrected.

“What?”

“You do not get to call me Jemma. Especially not with his voice. You don’t deserve that voice. You don’t deserve that face. You killed him ! You killed Will! Get out of his body!” She jerked against whatever invisible force was restraining her. Her voice wasn’t capable of yelling, but again the acoustic properties the space held worked to her advantage and it came across quite forcefully.

It stopped what it was doing and rested his hands on his back. “No but you’re wrong Simmons. I didn’t kill him. Not yet anyway.”

On hearing those words time may as well have frozen for Jemma. Moments ago she was nearly shaking from rage and exhaustion, but suddenly she felt like her whole body was buzzing with nervous energy. Her mind immediately started working on simulations of what could have happened to Fitz and how she could get him back. But first she needed more information. “How?!” She breathed.

“A body doesn’t have to be dead for me to take it. I prefer the dead ones though. Living bodies need to eat, sleep. It’s tedious.” It returned to its work checking connections while explaining patiently. “Mechanically, the human brain is an easy thing to manipulate. Just press in the right spots and….” His right hand shot up as if to demonstrate. “But then, there are other drawbacks. Like when you get a person with a few dead spots, like this one. Plus, if they’re living, the brain still responds with all those hormones when it sees something it likes… or loves.” It glanced at Jemma significantly. “Dopamine, Seratonine. It’s like being on a constant drug trip. I’d forgotten what it feels like. Anyway, makes you give away a little more than you mean to.”

Jemma was still trying to figure out what this all meant for Fitz. “So Fitz…”

“Yeah, he’s still in here.” It tapped his skull before ducking down behind a desktop to fiddle with some cables. “Mostly unconscious. But you know as well as anyone it’s not possible for two consciousness’ to occupy the same space at once. A person is made up of brain patterns, and when those paths aren’t being used…”

“They fade.” Jemma finished almost subconsciously.

“Right. Much longer in here and your friend Fitz won’t be anymore. Which is why you’re going to help me with what I need. And fast. Lett’r go Trinity, she’s not going to try anything now. And anyway, she’s going to need her hands.” The woman nodded and Jemma felt her hands drop to her sides immediately. They both watched Trinity walk out of the chamber. “Come here.” It commanded. “I have to show you something.”

Too stunned to resist, she walked over to where It was now standing next to the stasis pod. She looked in its window and swallowed the wave of nausea that was induced by the sight.

“Yeah. That’s how I got off the planet.” It looked a bit proud of himself, which was disgusting. “He’s in decent shape, but he’s still trying to decompose. Truthfully Jemma, I don’t even want Fitz’ body. I would much rather have this guy. Ward, I guess.” For some reason she felt indignant at that, even though it was good news for both of them. But Fitz’ body and mind were excellent, anyone would be privileged to have them. On the other hand, if It didn’t appreciate that fact Jemma had the good sense not to convince him of it.

“And what do you need me for?” She asked, preferring not to dwell on the mental image of zombie Ward terrorizing them all again.

“Well, I need you to stop decomposition of course. But I have a few upgrades in mind. Centipede wasn’t really for Coulson, I had a plan for it too.” It revealed with a grin.

She scowled at him and considered her options. It planned to kill them both either way she was sure, but there might be a chance if… “Let me speak to him.” Jemma demanded.

“What?”

“Let. Me. Speak. To. Fitz. You’re essentially holding him ransom, and it is traditional to allow the extorted party speak to the hostage.”  Jemma made sure the words were dripping with the contempt she was feeling.

It stared her down through Fitz’ eyes. In response she stuck out her chin and met his eye contact. A few seconds later it just sighed. “Alright.” It backed up so that it was leaning against one of the tables. Suddenly his head dropped and his shoulders relaxed. When he looked up again, it spoke much too gently.

“Jemma. You-“

Jemma wasn’t fooled for a minute - Fitz was amazing, but bless the poor man if he ever tried to hide his stress.  “One more time.” She interrupted. “Let me speak to Fitz. Or you might as well shoot me dead right here because I will spend every moment of the rest of my life finding ways to end yours. Painfully.”

It’s face once again filled with storm clouds. She didn’t think it was at all scared of her threats, but it seemed to consider how much it needed her. “5 minutes.” It finally said grouchily . This time, the difference was obvious.

“Jemma!” Fitz’ eyes were large and scared. He collapsed almost immediately, Jemma dashing forward to steady him. She wasn’t sure at what point she turned from helping him to just hugging him, but she’d crossed the line at some point didn’t want to ever let him go. “Jemma,” Fitz began more kindly this time. She buried her face in his shoulder and relief flooded through her. His arms came up around her and they stood for a minute as she worked on breathing through the fear and sorrow  that were built up inside her. “Jemma, come on. You have to go.” He finished quietly.

Jemma took a shaky breath. Still talking into his shoulder she asked, “You know what It wants me to do?” 

She felt Fitz nod. “Yeah, but you can’t Jemma. It’s okay. Where’s your phone?” Fitz spoke so calmly she at first had trouble processing what he was doing.

“I don’t have it but Fitz, listen-“

Fitz pulled away from her embrace and moved purposefully toward the computer. His fingers deftly dismantled the casing and he looked inside. “We need to get you out of here. Before It comes back.” He whispered. “The network chip has been damaged, maybe even removed. There’s no way to send a signal of any sort from here. But I think I can jimmy up a distress signal.” He moved around behind her to stasis chamber and began working on the control panel.

Jemma tried again more insistently, “Fitz!”

He ignored her again. “I’m gonna send out a distress signal to SHIELD with our location. Then we’re going to find you a way out. You’ll have to run, Jemma. Run as far and as fast as you can. But first…I need you to do something for me. He can go fast faster than I can. And his empathetic influence has a range. I need… You’re going to have to stop me. I’m as good as dead anyw-“

Jemma had absolutely enough. “Dammit Fitz! Listen !” She strained what was left of her voice and yanked his hand away from the computer piece he was playing with in order to force him to pay attention. He did finally look in the eyes and she got lost in their blue. For a moment her head swirled with all the things she wanted to tell him, all the things she needed to tell him. That she loved him. That she wanted them to live happily ever after. That he was the most beautiful human being she had ever met and she's sorry for all the times she hurt him without meaning to and she wishes she'd said something to him sooner. It was far too much to communicate in one breath, which is why she very nearly pounced on him right then and there to make sure he knew he was hers and she was his and no one else's. But she caught herself. This wasn't how she wanted it to go. She didn't want a repeat of the MedPod, or even their first kiss, where their feelings were communicated as a sort of goodbye to each other, never to be revisited. This wasn't goodbye. This was 'until later'. And she had less than 5 minutes to make him understand that, and maybe get his help. “I’m not trying to get away. I’ve made my decision.” She told him firmly.

Now it was his turn to process. “You can’t though, Jemma. With an extremis body, he’ll be-“

“-Unstoppable. I know.” Jemma folded her arms and stared at the ground, very aware that he was staring at her agape.

“Jemma… what… have you lost your mind? What would Coulson say ?”

“Coulson isn’t here. Neither is Mack. Or May or Daisy or Hunter or Bobbi. It wanted it that way, I’m sure. And no, it’s not responsible, it’s not reasonable. I know.” Jemma said, revealing a bit of panic in her voice, still looking down at the floor.

Fitz was just gearing up his side of the argument. “But say you do this Jemma. Then what? Huh? Cuz there’ll be an Evil unstoppable Inhuman mucking about-“

“You would do it for me.” It was not a question but a fact. She knew they both knew it. But her simple statement seemed to catch Fitz off guard.

“Well yeah, but that’s cuz I…” He blurted, stopping himself a little too late.

“Cuz you what Fitz?” Jemma challenged. “Because you love me?”

Fitz hung his head and shuffled his feet in shame of what his unsaid response implied. And you don’t love me, or at least, not the same way I love you. But he didn’t deny that’s what he meant. “For the same reason I’m insisting you leave now.” He finally replied.

Anger flared in Jemma, but that was okay because it was easier to deal with than the stress of the situation. And it was much easier to communicate than love. “You keep volunteering your life for mine, Fitz!” Her frustration came through in her tone, and she immediately tried to soften the words lest she sound ungrateful. “Which I do appreciate. But has it really never occurred to you, Fitz? That my world might fall apart just as much as yours if I lost you?” At this he looked up again, his eyes meeting hers intense and earnest. “Of course, I did…” She remembered Fitz’ devastated expression when she acknowledged she loved Will before, so she changed her terminology-“care very deeply for Will and I am very sad that he died. Just as I am very sad that Agent Tripplet died. But –oh, forgive me for saying this, but- I can live without them, Fitz. And I can’t….” She wasn’t sure why this was suddenly so hard for her to say. “I can’t… lose you. I can’t.”

Fitz seemed to get her meaning, but wasn’t quick to believe it. “You managed for six months. It will be okay-“

“You’re wrong. It broke me- I talked nonstop to a picture on my phone for five months for god’s sake! Like a bloody lunatic!” Fitz let out a huff at that, and Jemma barreled on . “I’m pretty sure Will did think I was insane for a while. Three times, Fitz. Three times I thought I’ve lost you for good. And every time it has broken me.” Her eyes sprung with tears involuntarily as she remembered how she’d felt hardly more than a half hour ago. But she brushed them away, concealing the motion by rubbing her face. “I can’t… I won’t do that again. And I’m not asking for… This isn’t…” She grasped for the words. “I just need you to understand. If you love me, Leo, if you truly love me you will do this: You. Will. Live.”

Fitz studied her silently, then nodded his acceptance of her statement. But he still couldn’t stop himself. “Okay, Jemma. So you fix up Ward’s body with Extremis. What makes you think he will let either of us live?"

"I have an idea.” She assured him. “But…”

“No, obviously. You can’t tell me cuz he’ll find out.”

“Can you fight it at all when it’s in there?"

"I’ve tried. There's been a few times where I think maybe I’m doing something, other times... it's just hard to stay awake."

"Then do that. When it comes time for him to leave, do everything you can to stay awake. Got it?"

"I’ll try. But even if we do get away somehow...Then what?"

“Then…” Jemma thought for a moment, not really caring there were multiple flaws in her plan. “Then we fix it.” She concluded.

Fitz wore a grave face. “How we always do?”

“Together.” Jemma confirmed. She drew nearer to Fitz and grabbed his head in her hands, reached up and kissed his cheek. “Is there anything else I should know? Anything that could help?”

Fitz thought. “It’s an Inhuman, I found that out. Oh, and uh…It’s a worm.” He said. “Or slug-like at least.” He clarified in response to her look of surprise.

“How appropriate.” Jemma commented wryly. “How does it take hosts? And why didn’t he take me if I was the one he needed?”

“It seems like he needs an access point.” He waved to the back of his head. “That’s where he got in. That woman, she held me down. I don’t know if she is cooperating with him willingly or not.” He added.

“But why you and not me?” Jemma repeated.

Fitz shook his head. “I don’t know for sure…” he said apologetically, “but I think it might be because he needed you to solve problems.”

“Elaborate.”

“Erm… I think he can see my memories but not my thoughts. So he can know how to do anything I know how to do. But he can’t apply the knowledge to new things the same way I or you can. He needed you for the way you think. So he couldn’t take you.”

The gears in her head turned with this new information. She began to take stock of the tools she’d be working with, feeling a little bit more confident now that she was armed with more knowledge. “So, an ancient Inhuman who likes to be worshiped… has a certain level of mind control, but it’s fairly weak, I think… Comes back and the first thing he does is kidnap someone to manipulate another person into helping him. But he first goes into his workplace undercover…”

Jemma was so busy thinking out loud, she didn’t hear when Fitz croaked, “Jemma? I think… I think It’s coming back…”

But she froze when she heard the callused, “So? What do you say?” come from Fitz’ voice behind her. Jemma’s countenance changed as well. She drew up what strength she had to turn to face him, stick her chin out and say “How much time do I have? To save Fitz?”

It gave a dark smile. “72 hours.”

“I thought you were going to say 36. And what do I call you?”

“Sorry?”

“I’m working for you now, and I’m not going to call you Fitz, or just ‘It’.”

It grinned. “I’ve had many identities over the course of eons. But I suppose you can just call me Hive.”

Chapter Text

Hive thought he’d gotten all the things she needed but Jemma quickly added a few things to the list. While she waited for the items she took a much needed rest. It was a good thing too, because once she got started she could hardly stand still, let alone sleep for any period of time. Hive liked to stand and watch her work, which Jemma found very distracting.
“Don’t you have something better to do?” Jemma grouched once after he’d been staring at her for a particularly long time.
“Nope. You’re a clever girl. I’ve got to make sure you don’t try to do something stupid. Like sabotage, for example.”
“I think you know I wouldn’t risk Fitz’ life like that. The least you could do is make yourself useful.” She shoved him a tray of used vials and a cloth.
Hive frowned but picked at them anyway. Jemma had a moment of peace before It decided to enact revenge. “He’s leaving you know.”
Jemma felt ice in her chest, as if she'd accidentally injected herself with the dendrotoxin she was working with. She tried to play it off like she didn’t care. “What do you mean?”
“Yeah, the transfer papers were sitting on his desk. He’s going to the Bus. Can’t stand to be with you anymore.”
Jemma halted unconsciously, but then reminded herself not to give him a reaction. “Well that’s his choice.” She replied tersely. Inside, though, she was beginning to panic. It was exactly what she’d been afraid of. He’d been planning on doing it before Shield fell, before she told him that she wanted something more. Of course he would do it now, when he believed they were “cursed” and there was no future for them. Clearly, Hive could be lying, but she suspected he didn’t need to about this. When she finally brought herself out of her thoughts she noticed that It was smiling at her. “What are you smiling at?”
“You’re adorable. You think that you can punish me by pretending you don’t care. But it’s rolling off you in waves, dear. That terrifies you. Do you think you’ll be able to go to work without him? Or will you just finally roll up and die?”
It took everything she had to unclench her fist not break his jaw. The only thing that stoped her from chinning was knowing it would hurt Fitz more than the Hive. She was going to have to be a lot more careful, try to bury or cover over her feelings more. At this point she decided to turn the tables.
“You’re an empath then?” It tilted Fitz' head at her so she explained. “You can sense and control the emotional states of others. That explains a lot actually.”
It smiled again, giving her chillls. “That’s part of it. But I can do so much more than that, darling. Will was right when he said the planet had moods. Every living ecosystem does, even though humans don’t realize it. And when you can change those moods…” Jemma heard a thunderous rumble coming from outside the caves, and then a his of rain. “You can control the elements.” Jemma saw how much joy It took in demonstrating its power. She made a mental sticky note of that, could be something she could use later.
“But you feed off negative feelings I see. Anger and fear. How unusual.”
“They are far more powerful than the positive ones.” Hive reasoned.
“Maybe. Or maybe you were made to be a tool by the Kree, and they had the most use for someone destructive. And you’re being just what they wanted you to be.” Jemma prodded to see how easy it was to press his buttons, just as he had done to her.
If it was a reaction she was looking for, she found it alright. His faced contorted and he hissed, “I was never their tool. They wanted to destroy me because I was too powerful for them. They wanted to destroy us all because I made them afraid. But I defeated them. They left because of me!”
“Hm. So who was it that banished you then, oh mighty one?” Jemma poked.
She never heard his answer because suddenly she was back on Maveth, blinded by the sandstorm. Will was calling for her to help him. She tried to follow his voice, but stumbled over something… And then that something was Fitz’ corpse, half buried in the sand, bloody face frozen in a look of terror. Jemma screamed and fell back...
...And caught herself on the table on which lied the serum. She snapped back to the reality of the cave, like waking from a nightmare. Hive had gone, so she allowed herself to lower shakily against the wall and get her bearings. ‘Can induce hallucinations.’ Jemma traced into the dirt floor between deep, steadying breaths, relying on her old habit of documenting her conclusions to calm her. She recalled Will’s warning: 'It will do anything to fool you.' Terrorizing visons were no doubt part of that. And unnerving as the experience was, she had set out to test his limits, and she’d just found one. Test: Successful.
As she worked, Jemma’s plan to save both Fitz and herself took shape. Just as she predicted, all the remnants of the pyrokinetic man’s blood was gone, so she had to use an earlier version of the serum – the one Centipede used on Mike Peterson. The only reason he didn’t blow up was because they’d hit him with the dendrotoxin at just the right moment, fortuitous but quite accidental. So her task was to figure out just the right point to administer the toxin in order to fully integrate the serum into the body. And then figure out how to use that as leverage.
Even though she was trying to be diligent about not feeling, she couldn’t keep from getting increasingly anxious as she was doing the final preperations. The time to act on her admittedly risky plan approached. Of course, It noticed. “Getting a little nervous there, are we? Not trying anything clever, I hope.”
“I’d say I have good reason to be nervous.” If Jemma couldn’t hide her feelings, she could at least come up with an alternative explanation. “I’m about to give you exactly what you want. You will have no reason to hold up you’re end of the deal. You could kill us both.”
“Why would I kill either of you when I could have two perfect little pawns instead?” It sneered. “It’s ready then?”
“I believe so, yes.”
“And this will heal the body?”
“It should reanimate the body without resurrecting the mind, just as you asked.”
Hive nodded his approval. “Good. We can get started then.” It helped Jemma remove Ward’s body from the stasis chamber. Jemma was able to observe the crushed rib cage that lead to his death, bruise putting the injury in sharp relief. Momentarily, Jemma wished Fitz had burned Ward’s body instead of Will’s, but at the same time she knew that Fitz didn’t really have a choice in the matter while fighting for his life. Jemma hooked up the body to large bags of saline solution and used a heart-lung machine to move it through his circulatory system. If this was going to work, the serum had to be able to spread throughout the body. Then she attached monitors that showed the body’s temperature and that would show the heart rate once it started beating on its own.
As the final step, she injected the serum into Ward’s corpse. “Now, we wait.” She announced, as much to herself as to Hive. The next part of her plan was especially tricky. She was relieved that there was only three of them present for the operation- herself, Fitz/Hydra, and Trinity- because when plotting her scheme Jemma only planned on having to overpower one lackey. Still, she would have to be quick; she wasn’t exactly sure what Trinity’s power was, but she knew she had the ability take control of her body. Which is why she needed to be taken out first. It couldn’t be too soon or too late though; too soon and It would have too much time to stall, too late and they would all be incinerated.
It was only a few minutes, but it felt like hours standing there, waiting for the serum to show its effects. At last, something started happening. The body temperature started rising and the body exhibited a faint glow. There were some popping sounds that must have been bones going back into place. The heart restarted as it was supposed to but there was no sign of consciousness, which was good.
But of course, the body temperature kept rising, just as Jemma knew it would. It was soon well over 120 degrees and climbing.
Hydra started watching the thermometer as it approached 150. “Is that normal?”
“Yep. Perfectly normal.” She assured him. ‘Not yet’ she told herself.
Jemma watched the thermometer carefully. The more heat the body put off, the faster the fever accelerated. Jemma held her breath until it hit 225 degrees. Then she sprang into action, triggering a booby trap she’d set up with a flick of her wrist, which shot a dart full of dendrotoxin into Billi. In the same smooth motion she placed the last of the dendrotoxin under her shoe. It pleased her to see Hive have a sincere look of fear in his eyes, even if they were actually Fitz’.
“Ach, Jemma. I told you not to do anything stupid. What have you done?”
“Since you don’t have any pyrokinetic blood, I had to use an earlier version of the centipede serum, the kind that you need to freeze the reaction at just the right time to complete the integration with the body, lest it causes a rather nasty explosion. Look in Fitz’ memories, you’ll see I’m telling the truth.” She explained smugly. “Now, under my shoe I have the last of the dendrotoxin, which is what I used to knock out your minion. You try to take it from me, I crush it. I don’t give it to the body at exactly the right moment, we all get cremated.”
“What do you want?”
“You’re going to leave Fitz’ body before I give you this. You will go into Ward and then I will make it stop.”
“Like hell I am! Who do you think you’re fooling?”
“Have it your way. But do you think you’ll survive when we’re all vaporized? You have 1 minute to change your mind.” Jemma’s heart was racing, but she did her best to be filled with determination so that It would believe her.
It considered her for a second, then asked, “And how do I know you aren’t going to just leave me to explode?”
“Like I said, that explodes and we all die. And if I have Fitz I am not going to let that happen.” She answered matter-of-factly. “30 seconds.” Her heart was really pounding now. But then she was at a hospital in a child’s room. The child was in the bed, feverish and propped up weakly. The antidote was laying on the ground, she’d dropped it. Thankfully it hadn’t broken. Fitz was there, urging her, “Come on, Jem, hurry. She’s going to die.” She stooped quickly to pick it up, and then remembered that this didn’t make sense. There was something she needed to remember, something very imporant... Fitz. There was something wrong with Fitz. What was it again? She squeezed her eyes shut and forced them open, and she was back in the cave, just about to pick up the dendrotoxin.
She heard Hive groan angrily and rush to lean over Ward. “Give it the toxin!” It yelled. She watched It closely and saw It hold Ward’s mouth open and hold Fitz’ open mouth above it. Just as she was getting ready to avert her eyes at how intimate this appeared to be, she saw a grey slug drop out of Fitz’ mouth and drop into Ward’s. Fitz nearly fell over again, but this time he caught himself and she instantly injected Hive/Ward with the dendrotoxin. “Are you alright?” Jemma asked Fitz, watching carefully to make sure the toxin was working. He only nodded, and the temperature gauge showed that Ward’s corpse went cold, just as it should. “Can you find your way out of these caves?” She asked, and he nodded again. She quickly grabbed another vial of the centipede serum before telling him, “Okay, lead the way.”
Fitz grabbed her hand and pulled her through the labyrinth of tunnels and they quickly found themselves outside. Now it was her turn to pull him down a highway, flagging the first car they saw. The drivers were willing to give them a ride to town, but both she and Fitz were looking over their shoulders the whole to make sure they didn’t have anyone following them. When they got to town 10 minutes later, Jemma found a tourist restaurant and begged to use the phone. The owner allowed it and she immediately dialed Mack.
“Jemma? Oh thank God. Are you okay? Is Turbo with you?” Mack’s voice carried more anxiety than she’d ever heard from him before.
“We’re okay, relatively. But we need transport as soon as possible. We may have enemies pursuing us. We’re in San Juan, Puerto Rico. How long before someone can get here?”
“We have a plane an hour out. Stay hidden, I’ll send them right away.”
“Yes sir.” Jemma thanked the owner and returned to Fitz, who was sitting nervously at a table. “It will be about an hour. We should probably work on some disguises in case Hive and Trinity make it here.” Fitz nodded again, still not saying anything, causing Jemma to detect something wrong. “Fitz, are you alright?”
Fitz looked down, and then back at Jemma before taking a napkin and spitting in it. It was all blood. “Oh my, Fitz! Wha-“ And then it dawned on her: Fitz said that it needs a wound to get into and out of the head. And It had come out of Fitz’ mouth instead of the original cut on the back of the head. “Open.” She commanded. Fitz shook his head vehemently. “Do it, now!” She insisted. But he looked around to the other diners, enjoying their food like it was a normal day, because for them it was. Then she admitted this was probably not the place for a bloody examination. “Alright. Come with me.” She tried very hard to walk casually so as to not attract attention or cause alarm. They left the restaurant and found a hotel with a public pool and bathroom, and to his distress she casually lifted a bottle of water from a street vender on the way. She assured Fitz they would make good, but it was a desperate situation. She checked that the coast was clear and then tried to lead him into the ladies’ room. He balked initially, but a stern look from her and he slunk inside, looking miserable.
She locked the door and passed him the water bottle and instructed him to rinse. He took it hesitantly, but opened it, took a swig and swished it about and then spat it into the sink. Jemma was normally very comfortable around blood and all manner of bodily fluids, but seeing that much coming out of Fitz made her feel a little sick. She pushed that feeling aside, though, and once again asked him to sit down and open his mouth. He complied this time.
“Ugh, what I wouldn’t give for a proper pair of magnifying spectacles.” Jemma lamented, twisting and turning Fitz’ head every which way to get the best light possible. “I can’t tell much to be honest,” she admitted to him. “But from what I can see the puncture is right behind your sinuses. You haven't passed out yet, so we can assume It didn't burst your artery. It doesn’t seem to be very large either, which means that the blood should start to coagulate soon and seal the wound. But it still hurts to talk and swallow I bet?” She asked, and he indicated she was right. She put her hand on his knee to express her sympathy, and after a moment’s consideration, he put his hand on hers. Out of nowhere the exhaustion of the past three days caught up with her all at once. She moaned and slid down against the wall to sit down. Fitz moved over to sit next to her and he let her lean her head on his shoulder. ‘So tired’ is the thought that ran like ticker tape through her mind again and again. And despite everything, in this instant, she felt safe being there with Fitz.
“Thank you Fitz.” She mumbled. She could practically hear the question he wanted to ask: ‘For what?’ So she humored him. “For everything. For… coming back to me.” Those words hurt a little, knowing what she did about his intentions to move. But she meant them. She wanted to work with him, yes, but for now knowing he was safe was enough.
He surprised her when he leaned his head down so that it was close to her ear and croaked, “Always.” It made her smile and gave her just a few butterflies in her stomach. She snuggled closer to him. Then an aggressive knock came at the door. “Hey! Do I need to call security!?” shouted an equally aggressive voice.
Fitz and Jemma both sighed, exhausted, but nevertheless they helped each other up and exited the bathroom in front of the lady, who gave them a scandalized look when she saw the two of them file out. Jemma almost defended them, but then decided if the lady was going to be that way she wasn’t worth it.
“We need to find somewhere to sit and wait. Out of the way, lots of people, but where we can see the sky to know when they arrive. Should only be a few more minutes.” Jemma reviewed, mostly thinking out loud to herself as they walked down the street.
But Fitz was paying attention because he pulled her into a gated courtyard. Meant as a tourist trap, but never attaining that status, it was a sleepy little garden. The ivy grew over the gates and fence, providing a decent amount of privacy. “Perfect.” They found a bench and sat next to each other, both of them either too tired or too hurt to converse, trying to stay alert for imminent danger, and yet it was still nice. And there they stayed until their saving grace arrived.

Chapter Text

“Let me get this straight. Fitz had a worm in his brain for a week, and now it’s in Ward, who is dead, but also sorta superhuman because of the centipede serum? And you helped him become that?” Mack looked like he was asking himself how he’d let his life get to the point where he was uttering sentences like that. Coulson looked like he was going to vomit.

It had been a tense debriefing. The stuffy conference room was unnaturally still for the number of people huddled inside. Mack, Jemma, Fitz, and Bobbi claimed seats at the round table, May and Coulson stood behind Mack on either side. Lincoln was leaning against a wall in a corner, mindlessly creating sparks as he was lost in thought, and Joey was standing not far from him giving him an intense, unwavering glare that made Jemma wonder if he was trying to find out if his metal-morphic abilities could possibly work on bone too.  Daisy and Hunter both had their arms crossed, Daisy looking uncharacteristically stern standing near the table between Fitz and Bobbi, Hunter leaning against the only window in the room.  All were thoroughly shaken by the reemergence of the fact that their minds could be so easily coopted by another force, a threat they'd experienced before but never quite so intimately. Jemma thought she could almost hear the question no one had asked yet for fear there was no answer, "How do we protect ourselves from something that can take not just our faces and voices, but our minds?"

One other thing hung in the air, unaddressed. Most in the room were at least partly culpable for all that had transpired in the past week, and whatever damage it would soon yield. But while everyone knew that they were to blame, Jemma was acutely aware of the role she played. She'd already tacked this onto her private list of sins she was desperately trying to atone for. But for once, her guilt in this matter did not add to the sandpit she felt she trudged through every day, or the burden she bore every time she woke. And unlike the other things for which she blamed herself that made her feel like a useless weight on the backs of her teammates, this incident did not add to the distance she’d been sensing between them. On the contrary, not since before the "real SHIELD" debacle did she feel so connected to her colleagues. Yes, she shared in the fault for all of this. But they did too, and they were going to work together to make it right.

That was why, when Mack questioned her actions in support of Hive's cause and Fitz opened his mouth to answer for her- probably about to take to take the blame, she was able to beat him to it and answer confidently and unapologetically, "It made me." Out of the corner of her vision she could see Fitz' mouth snap closed and his head swing to look at her. She couldn't see his expression, but she had a feeling his eyes were wide and his eyebrows were high. Never breaking her eye contact with Mack, she mentally willed him to follow her lead. He got the message and looked back at Mack without elaborating on what she meant by her statement.

Mack required no further explanation. May, on the other hand, narrowed her eyes but didn't challenge her on that topic, instead searching for more practical information. “What gave it away that it wasn’t Fitz?”

“Like Coulson said with Agent 33, it was the little things. He didn’t react like he normally would. I didn’t know for sure though until he suggested doing dangerous experiments on Daisy’s team and I found blueprints for weapons he was working on using our most lethal confiscated items.” Jemma explained.

“We should be trying to come up with ways to check each other, make sure we aren’t compromised again.” May lectured the team.

Jemma agreed, but wasn’t sure how they should go about doing that. “Anything factual or historical will not be reliable tests since it can read memories. Even-“

“-mannerisms or basic preferences. As far as I could tell, it relied mostly on muscle memory, and that includes things like, erm, word choice and such.” Fitz finished for her. “But I think we should be more concerned about-“

“-allowing it to turn us against each other.” Jemma looked pointedly at Lincoln and Joey while Fitz nodded. As soon as she said that, Joey broke his stare down and Lincoln instantly stopped throwing arcs. “I think it almost succeeded while it was here.” Daisy was looking at them too, and they both glanced at each other, ashamed. “The good news is once you have identified that feeling that it gives you when it changes your mind, it’s a lot easier to fight or ignore it later on.” Jemma added.

“But what we really need to know is, how do we stop it?” Coulson chimed in.

“I didn’t use the serum that was built to be immune to the dendrotoxin, so there’s that.” Jemma offered. “But I’m not sure how effective it will be since he’s mostly dead already.”

“We do have our own Inhumans with some hella awesome powers.” Bobbi pointed out.

“Yeah, our team can take point on tracking him down if you want.” Agreed Daisy.

“Yeah, do that.” Mack instructed.

“I just want to point out that my burly demeanor has finally come in handy as Fitz’ magic worm had no noticeable effect on my personality. You’re welcome.” Hunter joked. Bobbi rolled her eyes.

“Hunter, I think that’s because it only messed with people it wanted on its side.” Bobbi jabbed, falling as she always did for his attempt to lighten the mood.

“No matter, love. Maybe I should be on Daisy’s team, is all I’m saying. It either doesn’t want me or can’t turn me, and either way that makes me someone you can trust.”

“No, Hunter, we need you and Bobbi keeping an eye on Hydra as a whole. They’ve got their precious leader back, we need to find out their next move.” Mack directed.

“Um, I’m not sure if you remember boss, but both our covers have been burned. How are we going to get in?” Bobbi asked.

“You both know your way around Hydra now. You’ll get some of our other agents hooked up with cover stories and backgrounds, and act as their liasons and advisors.” Mack detailed for her.

“We need to get to Andrew before It does.” May murmured, barely loud enough to be heard.

“Do you think he’d work with us? His whole thing is against Inhumans he deems evil. I'd say this qualifies.” Coulson asked May, who only shrugged.

“You can’t be seriously talking about working with Lash!” Lincoln exclaimed, suddenly panicked.

Mack held up his hand. “Calm down Sparky. May’s right. Lash might want to go after It, he might not. But if this… Hive… finds him and messes with his head, they’re both going to be even harder to stop. We either need to lock him up or get him on our side for this purpose only. We’re not going to let him get to any of you.” Mack assured Daisy’s team. “May and Coulson will be working on finding and stopping him.”

“Great. One thing, don’t call me Sparky.”

Mack moved on to the next front. “FitzSimmons, you had the closest interaction with this thing. Think you can find a weakness to exploit?” Fitz and Jemma both indicated they would try, and then Mack added another assignment. “You’ll be responsible for briefing the teams too with any pertinent information. And see if you can figure out what damage he did while he was here too, and undo it.” He turned back to address the rest of the room. “I’ll work up a briefing for the rest of the crew. Everybody got it?” At their murmurs of agreement, he ended the meeting. “Let’s go get ‘em.”

May, Bobbi, and Daisy followed Jemma from the room, Bobbi and Daisy going back and forth with questions that neither gave her time to answer.

“How does it feel exactly when it messes with your brain?”

“Can it read your mind too?”

“Do you think we need metal buckets on our heads?”

“Would that work?”

Jemma mostly ignored them, musing on exactly what information she had to give them. They probably needed to know that she was able to fight it, but if she told them exactly how everything transpired they could rightfully become angry at her.

Once she stopped at her work station in the lab, May put an end to Daisy and Bobbi’s barrage of inquiries. “Let’s start with how you managed to escape when it was controlling you.” She said.

Jemma’s throat tightened and her brain scrambled to come up with a plausible explanation. Failing to do so, she stalled, “A very astute idea Agent May. I assure you it is possible to do so, and we will have more information on how it’s telepathic abilities operate very soon I’m sure-“ The looks on the three women’s faces informed Jemma that she didn’t stand a chance. For possibly the millionth time she cursed her lack of improvisation skills and the fact that all the people she worked with were expert interrogators. Giving up, she told them, “Just a moment,” and locked the door to the lab and activated the privacy screen. Certain they now were guaranteed privacy, she spoke up. “I have something to confess. There is a way to fight it. I was able to stop it from controlling me, very early on actually.”

The others stared at her in confusion, trying to sort out what that meant. "So it didn't make you help?" Daisy asked cautiously.

"It did… just not in the way I may have lead you all to believe."

"Jemma… what did you do?" May demanded suspiciously.

Jemma took a breath to quell her nerves. “It used Fitz, okay?” She admitted. Then it was all falling out. “If it stayed in Fitz much longer Fitz wasn’t going to be there anymore. It was holding him hostage, basically, when it realized it couldn’t control me. The only way to get him out was to fix up Ward’s body. But I used the dendrotoxin as leverage to get us both out. It almost didn’t work and we almost blew up, and now that I think about it I don’t know who was in the area that could have gotten hurt and I feel bad about that but I don’t regret it. Not really.” She thought for a moment and another realization dawned on her, “I don’t really regret any of it.” It was a different feeling than she’d had in a long time, and she wasn’t sure if it was right, but after having so much that she did regret, it felt good to be able to say that truthfully.

Daisy and Bobbi blinked at her, looking shocked. May just looked at her sadly. Her sensation of relief faded quickly when she took their reactions as disapproval. "Oh, like any of you wouldn't have done the exact same thing for Hunter or Lincoln or Coulson!" Jemma cried indignantly and turned away to reorganize papers on her desk that were very uncooperatively perfectly organized already.

Daisy shook herself out of it. "No, you're right, we get it it's just… you’re usually the voice of reason, reminding us all of the bigger picture."

 ‘Well, my reason was stolen.’ Jemma thought to herself. Aloud she just said, “Fitz has saved my life countless times at great cost. It was about time I returned the favour."

"Is that all it was? Some red in your ledger?" Daisy asked sceptically. Jemma slammed the papers down abruptly in irritation. She suspected Daisy was trying to get her to declare her undying love for Fitz, but if she was going to do that, she was going to do it when Fitz was there to hear it. He deserved that much. And honestly there was much more to it than that. It might not have been realistic, but Jemma did feel a bit lighter, as though she’d paid a debt.

May understood her silence, and spoke up on her behalf. "No, it was redemption. Feels like you didn't deserve it, right? Why should your life come before anyone else’s unless you make their sacrifice mean something? Otherwise you feel like you cheated them, fooled them into thinking you were worth it.” Jemma turned back around to look at May only, eyes springing with tears. The older woman’s face was uncharacteristically soft as she continued. “Here's where you're wrong: Both Fitz and Will made their choices because they loved you. You have to respect that decision, whether or not you agree with it. You are not guilty of anything, all you have to do to deserve your life is to do your best with it. And you did. You infiltrated Hydra. You worked tirelessly to bring Will back to Earth. So be grateful, yes. And as long as they're alive, always have their back. But never, for one second feel guilty about their choice or feel like you're not worth it. Because they sure as hell wouldn't agree with you."

"Easier said than done." Jemma’s voice warbled.

"You got that right. I've spent the last 5 years trying to sort that out. Gave up everything I really loved because of it. And now it's too late. I'm hoping I can spare you the same." May said with a sad smile. The weight of her words was not lost on Jemma- she was talking about Andrew, how she regretted leaving him and now he was not the same man. This rare glimpse into May’s mind was exactly what Jemma needed to hear and she spontaneously forced a hug on the senior agent. But to her surprise, she felt May’s arms embrace her in return and Jemma promised, “I’ll try.”

“Your best will be good enough.” May comforted her.

Bobbi gave Jemma a warm smile. “Well, I think you are amazing. You were able to keep the ancient Inhuman out of your head, outsmart him AND save Fitz. You’ve got to tell us how you did it, I’m definitely going to want to use this in the field.”

Jemma gave a half smile and dried her eyes as quickly as possible so that she could finish their briefing, telling them in detail what the hallucinations were like, the things that irked or bothered him, and how to tell if It was influencing your mind. She answered their questions too – no, she didn’t know if a metal bucket would help. Yes, he was stronger and faster than they were. And no, he couldn’t read your thoughts but he could sense your emotions, so be careful that they aren’t too telling if you can. At last the three thanked Jemma and filed out, off to get started on their respective missions.

Jemma had a mission of her own, but it wasn’t one Mack assigned.

Chapter Text

She stopped just outside the doors of the lab, bouncing on the balls of her feet nervously. ‘No reason to be nervous, Jemma.’ She counseled herself. ‘It’s just Doctor Who.’ Even as she said it to herself she called her own bluff. Sure, they’d gotten together for Doctor Who a million times before, but this wasn’t like those million other times. Not by a long shot. To begin with, they hadn’t watched an episode since before the Medpod. Well… there was one time after he came out of the coma, but that didn’t count because he couldn’t really watch it. So that fact alone made the invitation Jemma planned to extend extraordinary for them, but there was more to it than that. Doctor Who was really just an excuse. What she was really orchestrating was an opportunity for a real conversation, the likes of which they’d not had for about as long as they’d not had a Doctor Who date.

Jemma took in a sharp breath and charged into the lab, not giving herself any more time to back out. “Fitz!”

He didn’t look up from what he was working on. “Hey Jemma. What’s up?”

“I was just about to take off and I thought I’d come see what you were working.” She wondered if it was obvious that she was talking too fast. Probably.

“Yeah, it’s the uh… dendrotoxin.” He spoke slowly through that word so as not to stumble. “I’m seein’ if we can alter the casing to be more effective against zombie Ward. We might have better luck if we are able to deliver it-“

“-it directly to the brain, yes. Good idea.”

“Yeah, so the data from Mike Peterson is helping too.”

Jemma pulled herself away from her fascination with the new possibilities to remind herself why she was really there. “Right, so you’re busy then.”

The hint of disappointment in her voice made Fitz stop. “Well… only sort of. Why? You need help with something?”

“Oh, no. It’s nothing really. Don’t want to interrupt your work. It’s just I was going to take off a bit early today. Get some things done, you know. I’ve still trying to catch up on all the things I missed while I was gone. I should really catch up with some of my old contacts. And I’ve not watched an episode of Doctor Who since… well, it’s been far too long. So I was just going to see if later you wanted to come over and watch an episode. After you were done of course. But you don’t have to. What you’re working on is really important and, well, anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow-” The fact that she’d forgotten to breathe as her ramble went on caught up with Jemma, and she tried to hide her slight gasping by turning to leave while Fitz stared at her with his mouth slightly agape.

“No!” He blurted. “Erm, I mean, this… this can wait. I was, uh, just about to set a simulation to run and it could take a while. Like, maybe overnight. So I really won’t have anything to do anyway…”

A blush touched Jemma’s cheeks. “Alright then. I’ll see you in a couple of hours?”

“Yeah, good! Um, commons?”

“Actually, someplace a little quieter would be nice.” She waved her hand to her ears to remind him that she was still somewhat sensitive to sound.

“Oh, right. Your bunk then.”

“Very good. I’ll see you.” Jemma slightly suppressed the smile that threatened to break across her face as she walked away.

Getting ready for the evening, Jemma tried not to let herself read too much into Fitz’ reaction to her suggestion. The interaction replayed in her mind anyway, and she thought she caught a hint that he might have been as excited to do this as she was. Whether that was truly the case or not, the idea gave a certain energy to her movements as she first poked around her dorm to make sure it was reasonably tidy (there wasn’t much to do there) and then take inventory of her food situation. She found her stock to be dismal, and noted to herself that they might have to make a run to the mess hall for a quick dinner. Finally, an hour and a half after she left Fitz in the lab she swung her closet door open to reveal all her barely touched apparel having quite suddenly gotten an itch to exercise it.

She slid each piece across the rack thoughtfully, finding herself especially attracted to some of her old dresses and she decided she might as well dress up just for fun. ‘This night might be a good one for an experiment’, she considered, ‘to see if I can tolerate it. If I don’t feel comfortable, I can always change.’

She slipped on the polka-dotted flared dress and found to her delight that the fabric was not as uncomfortable as she’d imagined and she took this as a good sign she was re-acclimating to her old environment. No sooner had she made the final verdict to stick with it did she hear a knock at the door, right on time. She did a quick shuffle over to open it, seeing his head pop up in response to the movement. As soon as he laid eyes on her he looked awed.

“You look uhrm…” He stuttered and she blushed. “I mean, that’s uh, a nice dress. I didn’t know…” He looked down at his own casual jeans and cardigan. “I should go change.”

Jemma smiled and gently tugged him by the arm. “Nonsense! You look just fine Fitz. Come on in.”

“I brought popcorn, so… yeah.” He said, awkwardly handing her an un-popped bag of the microwave variety. She’d lectured him in the past about all the manner of poisons they used in making such a product, but her speeches might have lost their impact since she usually did so while stuffing her face with it.

Jemma grinned as she took it from him. “That was thoughtful! I’ll pop this in the microwave. Do you want to get the tele set up? It never seems to cooperate with me.” The base, of course, had cable but they were fairly limited when it came to streaming on demand options. But that wasn’t a problem, because between Daisy and Fitz there was always a way around that.

Fitz cooperatively went in to work on the television, and she meanwhile went into the kitchenette and set the bag in the microwave. Her mind raced as it popped, trying to find the right way to start the conversation. Her heart pounded ever harder as she walked into the room, bowl of popped popcorn in hand. She found Fitz stooped over muttering incoherently at the TV, cursing whoever designed the bloody thing and postulating the various ways he could improve the design. She stood behind him for a while trying to get herself to say something. It was now or never.

“I’m tired of this Fitz.” ‘Eh, not the best start’ she thought to herself with a cringe.

He looked up at her, confused. He logically assumed her out of the blue statement had something to do with what she was holding. “Of popcorn?” He asked incredulously.

Jemma briefly considered taking the excuse and backing out of the conversation. But this had to happen. “No! Not the popcorn. The popcorn is great.” She quickly set it on the table and took to wringing the edges of her sleeves, a bad habit she’d meant to quit. “I’m tired of US, Fitz.” As soon as she heard the words come out of her mouth she grimaced. She’d mucked it up, as usual. She didn’t want to look at him because she knew the way his hurt would undoubtedly be written across his face would make her completely lose her thought. But she wasn’t going to give up this time, either, so she closed her eyes and pressed forward. “No, no not…” She took a breath and tried again, slower. “I’m tired of… us… not really talking about anything until one of us is about to die.”

She popped her eyes open soon enough to see his facial expression change from wounded to serious as he realized what she was trying to do. He wrapped his arms around his chest. “Oh, really? Yeah, cuz… I thought that was just our thing. I was about to volunteer for the latest death defying mission just to have a proper conversation with you.” He said sarcastically.

That made Jemma chuckle and drop her arms against her sides. “No need for such drastic measures. Although I know the team would be better off for having you.”

“Bloody right they would. I’m very useful out there.”

Jemma grinned at him for a moment before looked at the carpet again and said quietly, “I’ve missed you Fitz.”

Fitz paused a while, kicking the floor a bit. “Yeah, well, I’m right here, aren’t I? So… what do you think we should talk about then?”

Wanting to ease into the topic, Jemma asked first, "How are you feeling?"

"Better. Feel like I haven't eaten in a week, but my voice is back, so that's good."

"It must have been awful, having something controlling you."

"Eh, it was a bit like dream-walking. I don't remember a lot, and what I do remember is... blurry. I know "I" was doing things, but it doesn't feel real. It's weird. Knowing something can just take over you like that."

"I think that's scary for all of us." Jemma gave a little wince to express her sympathy. "Fitz, about what happened in the cave-"

"Yeah, thank you, by the way. For… um...getting me out of there, and all. It was very brave-"

“No, Fitz. I’m sorry.” Jemma almost became discombobulated by the incredibly attractive way Fitz’ lips parted slightly in protest, but she carried on before he could stop her. “I’m sorry because it was my fault. All of it. If I hadn’t been so obsessed with getting Will back, Hive would never have gotten here and you wouldn’t-“

“Jemma, stop.” Fitz commanded. “Trust me. It’s not your fault. It’s Hydra’s. They’re the ones that were obsessed with getting Hive back, and they were going to get to us whether we were investigating Will or not. I’m sorry because after all that I just ended up killing him.”

“Oh, Fitz. You didn’t kill him, I did. He died saving me, remember?” Her lingering self-loathing slipped into her inflection.

“But what if there was something... what if he was still there, like I was?”

“I don’t think so, Fitz. The injury you described… doesn’t sound like he would have made it far. It was too late for him. I’m just glad you got back, safe and sound.” Jemma knew it was time to move forward. “And now that we’re both here…”

“What do you think we should do about it?” Fitz finished before she could, a wry smile quirking the end of his lips.

She gave him a tight smile in return, definitely noticing how he had turned the tables to make it up to her. But since he did- “Fitz, were you going to transfer to the Bus?” She needed to know where he was at; she didn’t want to be insensitive to his needs, a mistake she was conscious to avoid repeating.

His sad eyes gave her all the answer she needed, but he replied anyway, scratching the back of his head. “Yeah, Jemma, I was going to tell you… and I’m sorry you had to find out that way. Um, I hope you don’t-“

“No, no, of course. It’s just, well..." not really sure where to go next, Jemma said the first thing that came to mind. “You were going to do that before, you know.”

“Yep.” There wasn’t really much more that Fitz could say about that.

“Is it…” Jemma cleared her throat to make way for the words. “Is the same now? The reason, I mean?” Hive had indicated it was because he couldn’t stand her anymore, which was painful, but if it was true she couldn’t really blame him.

“No, not exactly.”

Fitz didn’t seem willing to elaborate, so Jemma spoke up again. “Well, you should know I meant what I said, before you left for the Triskelion. It really was important for me to be your friend again, and I… I don’t think I could stand it if we weren’t friends. So, if there’s anything I can do…”

“Yeah, no. We’ll always be friends, Jemma. I promise.”  

Jemma dared to make eye contact, only to find that his expression was intense and sincere. So she nodded, but there was still something eating at stomach… what about something more? At that moment, Jemma decided to take the biggest risk yet. “Good. But… is that all? Because now my best friend is standing right in front of me and all I want to do is kiss him."

At that Fitz' eyes widened, searching for understanding. "What're you saying, Jemma?"

"I'm saying… I guess I'm saying that I understand if you need space. It makes sense, and I'm sorry. But… If you wanted...Well, I think I owe you a proper date."

Fitz pinched the bridge of his nose and there was only one reason Jemma could deduce why he would look so deflated, and her stomach instantly turned to knots in anticipation of his reply.

"You don't owe me anything, Jemma."

That statement almost hurt worse than her cracked ribs did. She swallowed hard, trying with all her might to not make him feel guilty by breaking down. He had every reason to deny the offer. "Oh. Okay, I understand if you don't want to… that's fine. I hope-"

"I didn't say that. I said you don't owe me anything." He let his hand drop and he looked at her again with sad eyes.

Jemma really didn’t see the difference, but her hope bobbed back up a little after his correction. She waited for him to elaborate.

"I don't want to go on a date with you because you feel like you should, or because you can't go with him. But if you still want to go to dinner with me because…" He floundered at the end of his sentence but it didn’t matter. Because that, that thing that he either couldn’t bring himself to say or couldn’t find the words for? Yeah, it was definitely that.

Jemma nodded vigorously. "I would like that very much, Fitz. It's long overdue." Just like last time they agreed to dinner, Jemma felt a smile grow on her face. This time, though, she made no effort to hide it.

He allowed himself to return the smile, even though his eyes retained their worry. “Erm, just so you know though, that project that I was going to do on the Bus, it’ll still need done. So once we’ve got Hive taken care of, I’ll probably still end up being there for a while…”

“Sure, of course. That’s fine. Do you know how long it will take?” Jemma honestly didn’t care too much about that, or anything else at that point. Because she’d won. She was officially going on a date with Leopold Fitz. And maybe it wasn't technically their first, or maybe it was, but Jemma knew this is the one she was going to count as their first 'proper' date. Reviewing that fact made her smile even bigger.

“No, not for sure.”

“Well… we don’t have to wait to do dinner do we?”

Then he looked mildly flustered. “No, no. Not if-“

“Good! Sooner we do it less time the cosmos has to cook up something with which to interfere.” She said teasingly to him, which elicited a small grin from him.

“Yeah, we definitely don’t want that. Okay, um… I can work on getting us another reservation tomorrow.” Fitz took a deep breath, and to Jemma it looked like he was 50 kilos lighter. He looked around the room like he was seeing it for the first time. “So… what do we do now?" He asked awkwardly.

Jemma puffed slightly with pride; she’d anticipated this point in the conversation, which is why she’d had an activity in mind ahead of time. "We do already have popcorn and Doctor who…"

"Right. Good plan." Jemma waited for him to choose a seat, and watched him grade the four options to find the least presumptuous. He finally settled on one edge of the couch, to Jemma’s delight. She flicked off the lights and he grabbed the mouse to control the computer. Just before he pressed play she flopped down next to him happily, sitting like they used to sit with no gap in between them. Fitz took a moment to grin at her and then started the show.

It was the best night either of them had in a long time. The first episode they watched mostly in silence, but by the second episode they had fallen back into their old habit of making comments at the show and bickering about the plausibility of certain things. They conversed about whether the TARDIS was able to prevent the companions from getting alien viruses, or if they had to be inoculated ahead of time. They both agreed Jemma should be a consultant for the show, seeing as she had to be the reigning expert on alien worlds. They laughed and joked, and kept on clicking the next episode despite their mutual exhaustion because neither of them wanted it to end.

But 5 episodes later they’d both fallen asleep in the middle of one, her leaning against him comfortably. She was first to wake up, but she didn’t have the heart to wake him up and send him back to his bunk. So she quietly shut down the laptop and the TV, dug out some extra pillows and blankets, and tucked him into the couch, barely making him stir. She took a moment to admire him, reflecting on how thankful she was that they’d met in the academy, that they’d become friends and got to work together for a decade. And now she relished each moment with him, and promised herself that she would never forget that they’d both stolen time with each other back from the universe by simply refusing to let go.

And she knew she would never would let go.