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"I hope he's there," Will says before flicking on the machine and quietly stepping away to another part of the cave, giving her some privacy.
"I hope so, too," she whispers, gripping the telephone-like device tightly, pressed to her left ear.
She has to allow for patience. The device she is attempting to connect to is no doubt buried in one of Fitz's many unfinished projects pile somewhere in the lab (their lab). He'd developed it after Sif's last visit, a communication device for her and Coulson to connect, should the need ever arise; or for a simple check in, versus physically traveling across the universe. At the time, she'd had to swallow down the burn of jealousy that grew at Fitz's eagerness to stay connected with Sif, before upon reflection, realizing how useful this open communication could be, and how fascinating! Connection through universes? How incomprehensible! Fitz was brilliant to have started the project, but in his eagerness, had forgotten to tell the Asgardian warrior about it before she left (in order to get some sort of connection information) and therefore had ended up having no way of testing the device, so in to the unfinished projects pile it went.
Well now they could test it. And all her hope lay with it and Fitz's genius now.
beep beep
beep beep
beep beep
With every unanswered beep her heart sinks.
beep beep
beep beep
beep beep
beep beep
beep beep
beep beep
beep beep
beep beep
Her stomach tightens, lungs threatening to release the sobs caught in her throat.
beep beep
beep beep
beep beep
beep beep
beep bee-the last beep is cut off sharply and her heart clenches. Static and what sounds like someone scrambling for the receiver come over the line.
"Hello?" His voice is scratchy and desperate, heavy breaths puffing over the distance between them. But it's also so beautiful that it nearly stops her heart.
"Fitz?" She whispers in disbelief. Part of her wants to burst out laughing at the ridiculousness of his simple greeting, like this is any other phone call. The rest of her is desperately holding the sobs at bay.
"Jemma??" He shouts in disbelief.
"Fitz!?" Her entire universe is contained in that name. "Fitz. You answered, Fitz!" She can't explain why she keeps repeating his name, like her brain has stopped properly functioning at the worst possible moment but she finds insurmountable comfort in saying it, knowing he can hear her.
Silence and fuzzy static overwhelms the phone before she hears him again.
"Jemma, where are you!?"
She gives a watery laugh. "I'm um-" right, it's not time to have a breakdown, so she squeezes her eyes shut tight to refocus, ignoring the tears that drip down her face. "I'm in a bunker, I, um, I'm on a planet in a different universe," she can't help but scoff at how ridiculous that sentence sounds. "My God, Fitz, is that really you?" She sniffs.
"Yeah! Yes it's me." His voice is thick with emotion.
"You didn't give up on me," she sobs.
"Jemma, I've been looking for you for the past 6 months! I know about the planet, I've been researching the monolith-" a thick wave of static cuts him off. "and when some sand came through that's when I knew, you had to be be alive. I wouldn't believe anything to the contrary, even though the others thought I was crazy." His voice fades in out and she can barely hear him, as if the distance between them is stretching even more.
Jemma presses her hand to her other ear in an attempt to hear him better, knowing it's a futile action.
"Jemma, are you still there?!" Fitz shouts, fear and distress drenching his voice.
"Yes, yes I'm here. I'm still here, can you here me?"
Static crackles over the connection before dissipating completely.
"Yeah, yeah, that's better," he says, and his voice is so clear and so perfect and she gathers all her strength from it.
"I love you, Fitz," she whispers. "I've always loved you" Nothing has ever been truer. From the very first interactions with the quiet, handsome but pasty skinny boy at The Academy, she had loved him. Following him around, desperate to make him her friend, recognizing the brilliance in him, the kindness, the loyalty. It might not have been romantic love at first, but it was an all-consuming love just the same. The kind of love she wouldn't be capable of living without. Their connection the perfect concoction of familial, friendship, and now romantic love that cannot be broken even by separate universes.
"I'm so sorry." She's not sure what she's apologizing for. Maybe for taking so long to tell him? For the pain of the past year? For leaving him twice (albeit involuntarily)? For missing their date? For bringing so much danger to his life by encouraging him to join SHIELD? For taking the last breath? For everything. "I love you," she repeats.
"I love you, too." The sheer emotion in his voice brings her to her knees. The tears fall freely and get caught in her smile as the dirt of the cave floor digs into her knees.
A loud crack of static comes over the line and she knows their time is about to cut off. Fitz must sense it too because they both start speaking rapidly.
"I don't know where I am, but-"
"I'll find you, Jemma-"
"I promise-"
"No matter what-"
"I'll come back to you-"
"I won't give up-"
"I promise-"
"I promise-"
"I love you."
"I love you."
Static overwhelms the line and then finally goes dead. But Jemma feels the farthest thing from death and doom since the moment she was sucked up and thrown on to this desolate, dark planet. Hope and love has engulfed her soul. Fitz will find his way back to her, she has no doubt. He'll use the connection that was forged between her device and his and that with whatever the monolith can do will bring them back together.
She has no doubts.
Fitz will find her and bring her home.