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The lab was sterile, walls lined with servers and computers. In the center two metal exam tables with two sleeping occupants. The pair slumbered, unaware of the lab around them, of the vials of blood that had been taken, and the sensors attached to their heads, mapping out every bit of their brilliant minds.
The slow and steady beep of their heart rates accompanying the hum of the servers as an alarm blared outside in the hall.
It was Fitz that stirred first, the klaxon of the alarm breaking through the fog that had been in his mind. Blue eyes shooting open in a panic. “Jemma!” he cried reaching for her, thinking they were still tucked in their bed back in Perthshire, not a lab.
He looked around the room in a panic, his heart monitor escalating every second as he become more and more aware of the situation. To his relief he found Jemma just a few feet away, on a table of her own, the same tests being done.
Not caring what they were for, Fitz ripped them off of himself, sending the rest of the sensors into a fit, the lights in the room flashing red, alerting someone of his escape. “Jemma,” he said stumbling her side and this time, gently pulling the wires off one by one before placing a kiss to her forehead. “Jemma please wake up,” He begged. He didn’t know how long they had before whoever had brought them here responded to the alarms.
Her eyes fluttered open and she shot up with a start, clutching his hand in her own. “Fitz? Where are we? What happed?”
Fitz wished he knew the answer. The last thing he remembered they had returned from dinner out and for some reason feeling exceptionally tired. Both of them barely able to pull their pajamas on before falling in bed asleep, snuggled safely in each other’s arms. Fitz glanced down and found they were both still in their pajamas, him an old Academy shirt and cotton pants. Jemma a simple gray pajama set dotted with lavender flowers.
“We must have been drugged at dinner,” He said helping her up.
Jemma nodded in agreement taking his hand in her own and them both heading for the door. Neither one intent on sticking around to see who had taken them and what for.
They were both caught by surprise when the door leading into the hall opened without issue and the alarm that had been dulled by the doors now blared almost at a deafening level in the metal corridors. Fitz hesitated for only a moment before turning right. “Perhaps our captors have run into a spot of trouble?” Jemma said hopefully.
“Must have,” Fitz agreed. “Otherwise I don’t think we would have made it ten feet out of that room.” He scanned every door they past, looking for something that would indicate elevator or stairs.
“Hopefully its Shield,” Jemma said “Someone had to have realized we were gone when we didn’t check in or show up in Doctor Radcliffe’s lab.” Ahead she saw stairs even marked with an exit sign, nearly letting out a cry of relief at the site. They were one step closer to freedom.
She went to throw open the door when Fitz suddenly stopped behind her, pulling her back as they were still clutching hands. “Fitz!” she admonished before following his gaze, her heart stopping at the sign on the door.
“Project Fitzsimmons”
They looked at each other in horror, taking a silent moment to agree to move forward, Fitz slowly and cautiously opening the door.
There were hundreds of scenarios running through their heads at what could have been waiting on the other side. What greeted them had not been on either of their lists. Rather than a lab or some sort of torture chamber, was what could only be described as a little girl’s bedroom.
“Fitz,” Jemma breathed as she pushed the door open more, finding a little girl sitting in the corner hunching over a coloring book, head down and intently coloring. Her long brown hair with just the slightest of curls at the end. Clothed in a set of child sized scrubs.
The girl must have heard their entrance, her head whipping up, revealing a pair of stunning blue eyes that Jemma would know anywhere.
“Mummy! Daddy!” she cried leaping up and running too them, tiny arms latching around Fitz’s leg as she looked up at him brightly. “Are you here to take me away from the bad man?”
“Mommy?”
“Daddy?”
The pair said in shock and Jemma felt tears burning in her eyes. There was no question that the child looking back up at them was a perfect mixture of her and Fitz. The little face something that only recently Jemma had started to allow herself to dream about.
“Are you hear to take me away?” she asked again hopefully peering into the hall a fearful expression suddenly upon her face. “Doctor Forson…he’s not a very nice man…he said I’m a marvel and he’s going to make me do bad things one day…”
Jemma watched as the protective fire that Fitz reserved only for her and his closest friends flared in his eyes. “Over my dead body,” he muttered and scooping up the little girl in his arms in an instant. Jemma moving forward to run a soothing hand through her hair just as her mother had done for her so many times when she was little.
By Jemma’s best guess the little girl was no older than six. “What is your name Sweetheart?” Jemma asked tenderly as they started to move.
“Wait!” the little girl cried pointing over to the bed. Jemma didn’t even have to ask, a small black stuff dog and blanket sitting on top of the comforter. Her shock returning as she picked up the well-worn blanket. It had been hers. The last time Jemma had seen it was when she’d taken it out of her hope chest one last time before packing it away in the attic before going to the academy. Whoever this was had been in her parents’ home.
The girl snatched them away burying her face in the fabric of the blanket like Jemma used to do when she was overwhelmed or afraid and clutching the dog under her arm. Blue eyes peering out just enough to answer Jemma’s question. “I don’t have a name, the Doctor calls me It or Thing when they don’t think I’m listening.”
Fitz uttered a series of curses in Gaelic under his breath, the girls head shooting up. “Daddy said a bad word!”
Jemma’s eyes widened and Fitz’s cheeks turned bright red. How had the little girl known Gaelic of all things? Jemma herself only knew a few words, mostly curses, and that was entirely thanks to her lab partner of over ten years turned boyfriend using them when he got particularly upset or frustrated.
“Daddy’s sorry,” Jemma said quickly peering into the hall and making sure the coast was still clear. Silently thanking whoever was crashing their prison for such a fantastic distraction. Seeing it was safe she motioned them out, Fitz cradling the girls head as she buried her face into her blanket again against the sounds.
They threw opened the door to the stairwell and began to run up the sets of stairs, making it up five floors before the sounds of fighting started to reach them. The little girl whimpered hearing it. The pair freezing on the landing and trying to catch their breath.
“Do we really want to walk right into a firefight, we don’t even know who is fighting who up there,” Fitz said.
Jemma was inclined to agree, and found herself terrified more for the little girl huddled in Fitz’s arms. “But we have to get out of here, we can just peak and if it’s someone we can-“
The door next to them suddenly opening. Fitz moved in and instant shoving the girl into Jemma arms and placing himself between both of them with his arms out. A small and terrified woman in a lab coat came through the door, tears streaming down her face, and her shaking hands high above her head.
“Keep it moving Love and I swear if you don’t take us to them I will blow your pretty little head off,” an incredibly angry yet familiar voice growled from behind her.
“Please, I’ll take you to them,” the woman begged. “I didn’t know what they were doing-“she pleaded freezing when she saw the trio huddled against the wall before her.
Another angry voice followed as she stopped, “Keep moving!” a female voice ordered, its owner appearing seconds later.
“Bobbi!” Fitz squawked seeing their old friend whom he hadn’t seen since she went on the run back in Russia what seemed like an eternity ago.
“Fitz!” Hunter shouted appearing behind her. “Oh thank God!”
Bobbi ran forward and embraced her friends, “We were so worried,” she whispered. “Coulson called us after you’d been missing for a week….it took us another to track you here.” Hunter crashing into them seconds later.
Jemma felt sick, two weeks, they had been gone for two weeks and she didn’t remember a thing. What had they done to them?
“What’s with the kid?” Hunter asked now noticing the little girl. “I know we were gone for a bit but not that long.”
Before either Fitz or Simmons could explain their new charge spoke, “Hello Bobbi and Hunter, you are good friends of my Mummy and Daddy. They’ve missed you terribly” she said politely.
Hunter let his jaw fall open at the sight, Fitzsimmons head snapping to the little girl. She had heard Fitz say Bobbi’s name but no one had uttered Hunters. “Bloody Hell it’s like someone perfectly combined Fitz and Simmons and put it in an adorable kid sized package,” Hunter blurted out.
“Hunter said a bad word,” The girl said and Jemma shushed her, unsure of how much more shock she could handle right now. “And why are you being mean to Miss Nancy? She’s the only one who is nice to me. She brings me toys, my pretty bed, and some gluten free biscuits…but those aren’t as yummy as the chocolate bars.”
The woman Bobbi and Hunter had been leading down the stairwell at gunpoint had her arms wrapped around her as she looked up the stairs to the escalating the sounds of fighting. Her attention turned to Fitzsimmons. She ran to them and reached into her lab coat and pulled out a thumb drive, shoving it into Fitz’s hands. “You have to get her and yourselves out of here,” She said quickly. “The drive will explain everything, but I’ve named her Antoinette….the name seemed to be of some importance to both of you.”
Fitz tried to ask more questions but Nancy shook her head, “Please Doctor Forson can’t get her again he can’t be allowed to finish her programming-“ the tech getting cut off as a bullet sailed down from above catching her right between the eyes. The looked up to see at least a dozen figures where yellow hazmat suits running down the stairs towards them.
Jemma screamed and the little girl in her arms wailed. Hunter and Bobbi reacting first and grabbing Fitz and Simmons, shoving them through the door they’d come through. Fitz turned wrapping his arms around Jemma, sandwiching Antoinette between them, hearing Bobbi yelling into the comms.
“We have them!” She shouted, “Every one converge on the exit! AIM is closing in so be ready to take off when we get there!” Deciding to explain their recent addition when they got there.
“Copy that,” May said calmly through the line.
They ran in silence, Fitz relieving Jemma of Antoinette once she began to tire. And with every hall they passed they began to feel safer as they picked up more and more Shield agents as they went. Mack, Elena, Joey, and finally Coulson. All saw Fitz carrying the little girl but no one said anything, instead on focusing on keeping the path out clear.
They finally arrived in the hanger. Daisy at the door using her powers to barricade every other entrance into the room off. The still smoldering hole in the ceiling telling him that Coulson had opted to knock not so politely when it came to getting in.
And once everyone was through Daisy sealed the last entrance, staying alert until the cargo bay doors closed and May had got them into the air.
It was in the hold, they sat panting, the tactical agents making themselves scarce and allowing the close knit group some time alone, one agent even taking over for May once she’d gotten them out of AIM’s airspace.
Fitz first assuring himself that Jemma was okay before running at gentle hand through Antoinette’s hair, getting her to peak out. Wide eyed she took in the others and her surroundings, “Daddy’s plane,” She said after a few moments of looking around.
Unable to help herself Jemma answered, “That it is my Darling,” ignoring the shocked looks that surrounded her.
Fitz however didn’t miss them. “Before you ask we don’t know what happened…the last thing Jemma and I remember before waking up was going to bed. We understand it’s been at least two weeks…” he said his voice going quiet. Coulson merely nodding to confirm, yet his eyes were still fixed on the little girl sitting calmly in Jemma’s arms. “The tech said everything we needed to know was on here,” he said holding up the drive. Part of him desperately curious how the little girl knew so much about him while the other was terrified as to what had happened while they were out.
Slowly he pulled up a tablet and inserting the drive, a picture of Antoinette flashing on one side of the screen and the schematics for the most sophisticated android Fitz had ever seen on the other. With a shaking hand he pressed a button, putting it on the main screen. Unable to continue and sinking back into Jemma embrace as a video began playing on the screen. A man they had never seen before peering back at them. The timestamp a mere hours before.
“This is Doctor Andrew Forson with an update on Project Fitzsimmons. Utilizing the technology and components we obtained from Doctor Radcliffe we created the next generation of AI. Unfortunately there was only enough materials that we currently have to settle for that of a child. Though in hindsight this will make the programming and transition easier. Doctors Fitz and Simmons were obtained and have been undergoing scans, those scans were combined and uploaded into the subject last week. Within minutes of activation it demonstrated the memories we fed into her of her ‘parents’. Testing is underway to see if we were also able to translate their intelligence-“
Jemma couldn’t take it anymore and with tears welling in her eyes looking desperately around to her friends. Bobbi was the first to pick up on her and apparently Fitz’s distress, the engineer looking just as close to a breakdown as she was. Bobbi moved quickly, kneeling down in front of Antoinette and it was surprisingly Hunter that joined her and spoke first. “Hey Toni, why don’t you, me, and Bob here go raid the galley.” Lowering his voice into an exaggerated whisper that everyone could still hear, “I’ll show you where May keeps her secret bar of chocolate.”
Antoinette giggled and grabbed their hands, allowing them to lead her away. Jemma barely waiting until they had disappeared around the corner before she bolted as well, Fitz hot on her heels. They practically ran to one of the containment pods, Fitz closing the door before turning and allowing her to crash into his arms sobbing.
He folded around her, tears of his own threatening to fall. “They used us…to make a child….” She cried muffled into his shirt.
“I know,” he said his voice cracking.
“The blanket, it was mine,” she said now trembling. “Fitz they were in my parents’ house to get it.”
“I know,” he said. “The dog…it was mine. My mum’s had it on a shelf in my room ever since I outgrew sleeping with it.”
Jemma pulled back in a panic, “Our families! They are in danger! We need too-“
Fitz shushed her again, holding her tighter. “I mentioned it to Coulson as soon as we met up with him in AIM,” he said. “Shield teams have already been dispatched and they will be moved to safe houses.” Finally feeling Jemma relax into his embrace finally.
“What do we do Fitz? That little girl…no matter what she is thinks that we are her parents. She is the combination of the two of us in nearly every sense of the word. We can’t just leave her or turn her over to a lab where they’ll treat her like an experiment. We can’t let that happen.”
“We won’t,” Fitz said firmly, tilting her face up gently to look her in the eye. “You said it, she is the combination of us in nearly every sense of the word and there is no way in hell that I’m allowing anything we created be taken away from us.”
Jemma offered at watery smile before kissing him gently. Realizing as she did this was the longest they’d gone without kissing since getting together. That adding a bit of urgency as she deepened the embrace for a few moments before pulling away and snuggling back into his chest.
The sat there in each other’s embrace for a few moments before there was a soft knock at the door. Fitz opening it and Toni running in with a rather large bar of chocolate and bottle of water. Bobbi offered an apologetic smile “She was getting upset without you and said she was getting tired.”
Jemma pulled away from Fitz and gathered the girl into her arms and gave her an Eskimo kiss on the nose. Fitz turning down the bed, “Would you mind asking the Director to come down here?” he asked before turning his attention to helping settle the girl in bed. Bobbi stealing a moment to just watch them. Marveling at how easy Fitzsimmons were taking to this. Apparently taken the moment they needed to decide that the girl was theirs even if it wasn’t by blood.
Her tiny hands pulling both adults into bed with her, bracketing herself between them. She snuggled into her blanket and rested her head on Jemma’s lap. Jemma finding her hands running through her hair on her own accord. Fitz’s hand resting on her back. “I knew you’d come save me from the bad man,” Toni said. “The Doctor would get mad when I’d tell him so.”
Fitz smiled at that, she had apparently picked up both his and Jemma’s propensity for sassing their captors.
“No matter what your Daddy will always come for you, just like he came for me when I was taken all the way across the Universe,” Toni looked up at her, her eyes drooping under Jemma’s tender touch.
“Just like the Princess in my book, the Prince went to a faraway land and battled a big scary dragon to save her,” Toni said sleepily.
Jemma kissed her head as her eyes closed, “The scariest of dragons and he is the bravest of Princes out there.”
“The Princess went a long way in saving herself you know,” Fitz said taking Jemma’s hand, thumb brushing gently over her knuckles. “And that very same Princess has saved her Prince a fair amount as well.”
Coulson cleared his throat from the door, hating to interrupt the moment but there was much to be done in light of the revelations. He anticipated their first question, “Your families are both safe and in route to safe houses. Daisy is currently hacking AIM’s systems to see just how much they know about them…and you. But Fitz, you are going to need to call your mother as soon as we get settled, she took out three agents with a frying pan and another four with one of your concussive grenades. She needs assurances you and Jemma are safe. The agents looking after her are afraid of what she’s got in her purse and that she’s going to use it on them to come looking for you herself.”
“They better be afraid of what’s in there,” Fitz said seriously. His mother’s safety something he didn’t toy with. Not with the likes of AIM and Hydra out there. “I’ll call her as soon as we get this situation straightened out, perhaps I calling with news of a grandchild will protect me from not contacting her for two weeks.”
Coulson looked down at the sleeping AI having watched the whole video from Doctor Forson and promptly swearing everyone in the room to secrecy. The girl before them had been engineered as a weapon, intent to one day become the perfect assassin, a killing machine. While her mind, a mix of Fitz and Simmons would turn out devastating weapons to carry out the attacks Forson envisioned. However the programming for that portion was incomplete, he’d intended to force Fitz to help him program it.
“You want to keep her,” Coulson said it more of a statement than a question.
The look he received in return, the quiet determination from the pair answering without words. “She has thoughts, feelings, and goes well beyond her programming…even beyond Aida and Shield recognizes her as being and not a thing,” Fitz said.
Jemma jumping in right after him, “We’re not keeping her, we’re going to raise her as our own. And we won’t let anyone stand in our way.”
Coulson recognized the unsaid threat that would have followed. “We’re going to be with you every step of the way,” the Director said watching as they visibly relaxed. Feeling it was now safe he approached and got a good look at the girl for the first time. The eyes that Hunter went on and on about closed in a peaceful slumber. “She is a child, she is your child, and that makes her our family. We protect our family.”
Jemma reached out and took Coulson’s hand in her free one, squeezing it in thanks while Fitz managed to extricate himself from the tiny mass of limbs in order to properly shake Coulson’s hands. “Thank you, Sir” He said softly. “And thank you for finding us and getting all of us out before they could finish what they started with her.”
Coulson could only offer a smile, handing Fitz a phone and turned to leave. Wanting to allow Fitzsimmons to call their families and rest up a bit before Bobbi decided it had been long enough and forced them to submit to medical tests. He found that Fitz had already climbed back into the tiny bed, enveloping Jemma and Toni in his arms, placing a kiss to both of their temples.
“Family means nobody gets left behind and nobody gets forgotten,” He whispers and closes the door.
End-
Last quote from Lilo and Stich
Thanks so much for the prompt!!!!