#simmppaa

Elena glanced between them, then stood up quickly, awkwardlythumbing over her shoulder to the cockpit. “I’m…um…going to sit up there for abit.”

Jemma waited until Elena had taken her seat in the cockpitand was out of earshot before she stood herself, crossing the small space ofthe quinjet to perch on the seat beside Fitz instead. She was quiet a beat,then asked, “What is it, Fitz?”

He looked up at her incredulously, arching his eyebrows andletting out a short, humorless laugh. “What is – oh, I dunno, maybe I’m still reeling a bit from what I thought wasthe sight of my wife dying right in front of my bloody eyes.”

There was another beat, then she questioned, a lick of disbeliefin her tone, “Are you upset with me?”

Fitz held his hands out widely and gaped at her wordlessly,unable to believe that she was being so blasé about all of this. Sure, it was Jemma, and it was perfectly like her todive head-on into a theory once she was sure of it, but experimenting with her ownlife? That was pushing it, even forher!

It scared him to death, wondering what else she might dowhile believing that they couldn’t die until they “broke the loop” (which hestill didn’t think was possible, but that was a whole other issue). He couldn’tlose her, not now, not ever, andespecially not because she was somehow convinced of their own invincibility.

So yes, he was upset; he was also frustrated, and he wasalso tired of something always going wrong and the world always ending aroundthem and always having to worry every single day about her getting hurt somehow.

Jemma was eyeing him impatiently, clearly waiting for ananswer, and he noted that her eyebrows were now arched – she meant business.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Fitz leant forward to rest hiselbows on his knees, burying his face in hands. It made his next words come outmuffled as he reminded her, “An hour ago, you performed an experiment with atwenty-five percent chance of you ingesting a lethal amount of acid, Jemma.”

She huffed in something like affront, and he didn’t evenhave to look at her to know that she was crossing her arms over her chest. “Andan hour ago, I told you that thescience was sound.”

He groaned into his hands, giving a jerky shake of his headbefore lifting it and turning to look at her, narrowing his eyes. “Jesus Christ Jemma, I don’t care how sound thescience was; this is your life you’retalking about.” He noticed her eyes narrowing slightly as well, noticed the waythat she wouldn’t quite meet his eyes, and with a sigh, he sat back once moreand began anxiously bouncing his leg up and down. Keeping his voice low, hepointed out, “If you’re mad at me ‘bout something, you can just tell me instead of y’know…punishing meby making me think you’re dying, or something.”

“I was notpunishing you,” she insisted immediately. There was a moment of hesitation,then she added softly, “Am I upset that you…didn’t tell me about –” taking abreath, she then finished in a rush, “the Doctor? Yes, of course. We’ve spentso much time over the past couple of years trying to figure out how to keepcommunicating and not let things like this come between us, how to be open andhonest with each other, and now we’re…we’re married,Fitz. We’re supposed to trust each other, rely on each other when we need to,and…you didn’t. And as a result, things got so bad that…” She trailed off,blowing out a harsh breath and giving a tight little shake of her head. Whenshe blinked, he could see a tear roll down her cheek before she quickly brushedit away. “If you had just talked tome, come to me, trusted me –”

“I trust you, you know I do,” Fitz cut in to remind her.

He’d been waiting for this emotional outburst ever since hissplit where the Doctor took over; he’d been waiting for her to tell him how shereally felt about it – he’d justnever quite pictured it like this,though. And, he really just wished that it hadn’t taken her experimenting withher own life to get there.

“And I…wanted to tell you, I did,” he went on, “but…somethingalways held me back. Sometimes I told myself that I didn’t want to burden youwith just one more thing, sometimes I was afraid that I’d scare you or push youaway, sometimes…sometimes I just told myself that I was waiting for the righttime. They were all excuses, I know that now. I think…that I knew if I told you–”

“I’d have stopped you,” Jemma finished, releasing a shakingbreath.

“Yeah,” Fitz answered on a heavy sigh.

She nodded shortly in response, as though she’d expected asmuch.

He could also tell, though, that she was blaming herself,taking on the guilt of what he’d done, just like she always did, just like witheverything else. He absolutely refused to let it happen this time, though.

“Hey,” he started, trying to catch her gaze, but to noavail, “it’s not your fault, okay? This is all on me.”

Jemma shook her head, finally turning to him, and he couldsee the hurt and the sadness and the guilt written plainly in her eyes, makinghis heart constrict in his chest. “I should’ve noticed that something wasn’tright, Fitz! I’m your best friend, I’m your wife,I should’ve – but I wrote off all the signs as stress and a lack of sleep and –”

“Because I was tryingto hide it from you, from everyone!”

“It doesn’t matter! I’m supposed to know you better than anyone! And because I didn’t, people gothurt and –”

“That is not yourfault,” he argued, his tone firm as he held up his hands, putting an immediatestop to that thought. “You don’t get to take responsibility for that, Jemma.You were just as much a…a victim as anyone else.”

Just then, remembering the sight of that gun pointed at her,all because of him, had his handsshaking slightly in his lap. Was there anyone he hadn’t hurt that day?

He’d been trying his best to block out the memories, butthinking about them now had them resurfacing with a vengeance, and his disgustwith the darkness that was living inside of him and how it had caused him toinflict so much pain on the people that he loved made his stomach churn.

Keeping his voice low, Fitz told her, “You shouldn’t beworrying about how this could somehow be your fault – you should be worryingabout what it means.”

At first, there was only silence in response, save for thequiet sound of her failed attempts to hide the way that she was sniffling.Finally, though, Jemma asked, “And what does it mean, Fitz?”

He let out a shuddering sigh, but he just couldn’t quitebring himself to say the words, so he talked around them, muttering, “Look, Ijust…I just don’t want anything to happen to you, okay? And…yeah, okay, maybethe last time we lived all of this, things were different. I dunno, maybe…maybeI told you about the Doctor, or maybe a bomb never exploded next to a bunch ofmonoliths and created that fear rift so none of this ever happened. Maybe thenwe were okay, and you could trust me, and we…and Deke’s mum was born, but –”

“What are you saying?” she cut in, her voice barely morethan a whisper.

“All I’m saying is…you think we’re supposedly invinciblebecause we have to live to have a daughter, but…”

“I thought you believed that we couldn’t change anything,”Jemma reminded him, her voice rising slightly, and she really sounded upsetnow.

“I meant about stopping the planet from blowing up,” hepointed out. “That’s what all of this is leading to, what it’s always led to.It doesn’t matter what we change, and I’m sure we’ve probably changed thingsbefore, hoping for a different outcome every time, but it’s always the same and–” That time, he cut himself off, breathing out harshly. “But, that’s not thepoint. I just want you to…be more careful, because us having a daughter in aprevious loop doesn’t mean it’ll happen this time, okay?”

She stood up abruptly, and his gaze automatically followedher. From the expression on her face, Fitz could now confirm that Jemma was indeedupset – very upset.

Before she could say anything, though, he hastily added, “Jemma,I’m just trying to save you from having to – you deserve more than this, and after everything I’ve done, Idon’t deserve your forgiveness – anyone’sforgiveness, actually – let alone deserve you.”

Jemma gave a teary, humorless laugh, rolling her eyes andshaking her head fiercely. “This is just like you, isn’t it? You always makethese sacrifices, deciding for mewhether or not I can live without you, about what I do or don’t deserve. My god, Fitz, I married you, didn’t I? That’s not justsome small thing; it means that I’ve tied my life to yours, for better or worse. Remember?”

He wanted to point out that they didn’t actually say those words at any point duringtheir wedding, but he was wise enough to know that now was not the time. “Yeah, but you didn’t have all the information then –”

“I certainly had enough!” She blew out a breath, her gaze flickingupward as she blinked rapidly a couple of times. When she’d seemingly gottenher emotions under control, she reminded him softly, “Fitz, after everything we’ve been through… Yes,things are…complicated now, and maybe I was – was a bit upset, a bit hurt, butwhat I did wasn’t some sort of punishment. I am truly convinced that myhypothesis is correct, and I knew that I was going to be alright. I’m sorrythat I didn’t warn you, but…” She moved to sit back down beside him, cautiouslyreaching out to take his hands in hers, as though she was afraid that he wasn’tgoing to let her. “I know that we can get through this, just like we havegotten through everything else before this. We just need to trust each other,count on each other, and work together.” A little smile flitted across her lipsas she finished, “That’s how we work best, isn’t it?”

Fitz still wasn’t completely convinced that it would be sosimple, so easy, nor was he at all convinced of her invincibility theory or herbelief that they could break the loop and stop the planet from cracking apart.But, he would always believe in Jemma;that was something that would never and could never change.

And, well, as long as he stuck by her side and did his bestto help her try to stop the world’s oncoming destruction, he could keep an eyeon her and put a stop to anymore needlessly risky experiments before they couldbegin.

-

“Oof!”

Fitz let out a grunt as something heavy landed on top ofhim, startling him from his restful sleep into wakefulness. The moment that hiseyes sprung open, he found Evelyn grinning down at him, missing teeth and all.

Pressing his lips together to hide his smile, he declaredloudly, “Oh look, there’s a monkey in my bed.” Then, before Evelyn could react,he threw an arm around her little shoulders, rolling them over until she wastrapped in the blankets with him. “Go back to sleep little monkey,” he mumbled,the words now muffled by his pillow.

Evelyn’s childish giggles reached his ears then, and he felther squirming desperately to free herself from his grip. “No!” she cried through the giggles, “It’s time to get up, Daddy! It’sDaddy’s Day!”

That time, Fitz couldn’t help the grin that spread acrosshis lips. Before Jemma, before Evelyn, he’d never imagined that he could lovebeing a father as much as he did, that he’d be as suited for it as he’d come to realize that he was over the years.After Evelyn had been born, loving and caring for her had come so easily, sonaturally, leaving his fears about becoming like his father unfounded – there wasno boo-boo left un-kissed, no monsters hiding in the closet or under the bed,no nightmare he couldn’t hug away.

Truly, he didn’t know what his life would have been like ifhe hadn’t ended up sleeping with Jemma at Bobbi and Hunter’s wedding, though itwasn’t something he cared to give too much thought to (though, there was stilla part of him that wished that they could’ve done it right, dating and fallingin love, then getting married before Evelyn came into the world – but,everything still worked out, even if it hadn’t happened in the “correct” order,so he wasn’t one to complain).

Rolling over onto his back, Fitz tugged Evelyn into a warmhug and kissed the top of her curly mop of hair. “Oh?” he asked teasingly, “Doyou have something to say to me then?”

Evelyn let out another peal of giggles, then folded herhands on his chest and dropped her chin onto them. Beaming up at him, she saidhappily, “Happy Daddy’s Day!”

“Well thank you, Evie.” He dropped another kiss on herforehead, then arched an eyebrow at her and asked, “Do I smell pancakes?”

Evelyn’s eyes grew wide and she nodded rapidly. “I made themall by myself!”

“You did?”

She made a face, then tacked on reluctantly, “Mummy helped.”

“Well, I’m sure you did all the hard work.” When Evelyn’ssmile was once more plastered across her little face, Fitz told her in a hushedvoice, “We better hurry before Mummy eats them all herself.”

As Evelyn gasped in horror at the very idea, Fitz climbedout of bed, grabbing her by the ankles and playfully yanking her to the edge ofthe mattress. As she shrieked in delight, he threw her little body over hisshoulder, carrying her out into the kitchen with him.

Jemma glanced up at their entrance, rolling her eyes fondlyat the sight she was met with. As he set Evelyn down on the ground, he teasedJemma, “I got your wake-up call.”

“I see that,” she shot back, a little smirk playing on herlips as she turned to hand him a plate stacked with pancakes. Though, before hecould go anywhere, she leaned in to give him a kiss. “Happy Father’s Day, Fitz,”she told him softly. Then, with a sly smile, she added, “And that’s from bothme, and the baby.”

Setting his plate down on the counter, Fitz squatted downuntil his was eye-level with Jemma’s stomach, cupping her bulging little babybump lovingly. “Well then, thank you,” he murmured, planting a kiss in thecenter of her stomach.

Evelyn hurried to his side, dancing anxiously on hertip-toes as she cried, “I wanna say hi to the baby too!”

Chuckling, Fitz straightened up and stepped back so thatEvelyn could brace herself on her mother’s legs, leaning up to peck her stomachas she said, “Hi baby!”

Fitz ruffled her hair affectionately. “You know sweetheart,next year, you and the baby will both be able to celebrate Father’s Day withme,” he reminded her, though a moment later he went on with a laugh, “And then I’llhave two little monkeys keeping me from getting a good night’s sleep.” WhenEvelyn simply grinned up at him and shrugged innocently, he snorted and gentlypushed her over in the direction of their dining room table.

They all sat down at the table together to have breakfast,Evelyn claiming pointedly that she was a big girl and could cut her pancakesherself, then that she could pour her own syrup (and Jemma, being thewonderful, patient mother that she was, only grimaced a bit when the sugaryliquid had oozed over Evelyn’s entire plate). When their plates were clear andEvelyn’s face was sticky with leftover syrup, she announced excitedly, “I got apresent for you!”

As Fitz raised his eyebrows in surprise, Evelyn climbed downfrom her chair and hurried off to retrieve said present. Turning to Jemma, heasked curiously, “Did you know about this?” After all, for each of his previousFather’s Days, Jemma had been the one to purchase a gift “from Evelyn” to giveto him.

“It was all Evelyn,” she assured him, shaking her head. “Herkindergarten class had a special art period dedicated to making Father’s Daypresents last week.”

When Evelyn came darting back into the room, Fitz scoopedher up to sit on his lap, making sure to wipe her face clear of syrup before hefinally took the little gift bag she was waving impatiently from her.Wordlessly, he threw a glance at Jemma, then at the gift bag, before liftinghis gaze pointedly back to her.

“Alright fine,” Jemma admitted with a huff, “the gift bagwas me, but everything else was Evelyn.”

“Daddy! Open it!”Evelyn insisted, making a displeased face and squirming unhappily on his lap.

“I am, I am!” Fitz assured her, quickly removing the tissuepaper from the bag so that he could take out the present Evelyn was so excitedfor him to see. It was a small, square picture frame made out of popsiclesticks and painted green, with golden glitter glue spelling out in Evelyn’smessy and childish handwriting, “Best Daddy”. Inside the frame was a picture ofFitz and Evelyn, taken on her fifth birthday the previous year.

He couldn’t quite help the way that he got a bit choked upat the sight, though when Evelyn began to look concerned, he cleared his throatand gave her a tight hug. “Thank you, Evie, I love it.”

After they’d helped Jemma with the dishes, Fitz took Evelynoutside with him to “help” with the few outdoor chores he hadn’t had the timeto get to quite yet, such as fixing the fence and mowing the lawn. Instead,however, he ended up spending the day playing with Evelyn, pushing her on thelittle swing-set they had in their backyard and finishing up the kites they’dbeen making together in their garage, taking them out for a test run in theafternoon breeze.

Fitz figured that he could do chores any old day – today, hewas celebrating being Evelyn’s father, and what better way to do that than tospend the whole day with his favorite little monkey?

Toward the end of the day, the three of them piled into thecar and headed over to Bobbi and Hunter’s, where they were having a littlebarbeque for the holiday. Almost immediately upon arrival, they lost Evelyn asshe ran off to play with Bobbi and Hunter’s almost-three-year-old daughterElle. Fitz drifted over to join Hunter by the grill, and at his approach,Hunter glanced up to ask with a smirk, “You feeling old yet, mate? This isyour, what, fifth Father’s Day?”

“Sixth, actually,” Fitz corrected, shaking his head andsmiling warmly as he watched Evelyn playing a game of tag with Elle in thegrassy backyard. “Even though it seems impossible, each year is better than thelast.” Turning back to Hunter, he advised, “You just wait until Elle’s a bitolder, then you’ll understand.” As he thought back over the day, he gave alittle laugh. “You know, six years ago I never would’ve imagined myself nearlybursting into tears over a popsicle-stick picture frame, but here I am – and Iwouldn’t trade it for a bloody thing.”

“I hear that,” Hunter assured him, raising the spatula in hishand slightly in agreement. Unsurprisingly, he hadn’t been sold on the idea ofhaving kids – even when Bobbi hadtold him that she was pregnant. And, for the next nine months, he’d continuedto insist that he wasn’t father material and didn’t know the first thing aboutbeing one. But, as soon as a tiny little Elle had been placed into his arms forthe first time, he’d been wrapped right around her little finger.

Throwing another glance out toward Evelyn, Fitz told himsincerely, “I know I say this about once a month, but…just, thank you. I mean, if you hadn’t gottenmarried when you did, or hadn’t married Bobbi at all…I might never have metJemma and my life couldn’t possibly have been anywhere near as perfect as it isnow. So just…thanks, Hunter, truly. I can’t say it enough.”

A sly smirk quirked Hunter’s lips and he nodded at Jemma,where she was sitting on the porch with Bobbi, Daisy, and their friend andDaisy’s boyfriend, Trip. “You can thank me by naming that next kid after me,”he offered, crossing his arms over his chest and arching an eyebrow.

Fitz let out a sharp scoff. “I’m not that grateful.”

However, at that moment, Evelyn came running over to them,waving around a small rock curled protectively in her little fist. “Daddy!Daddy! I got this just for you!” She placed it in his waiting hand, and Fitz realizedthen that it was shaped a bit like a lopsided heart.

“Thank you sweetheart,” he said, picking her up to sit heron his hip and telling himself that he would not cry over a rock shaped like aheart, damn it.

“Promise to keep it forever?” Evelyn asked, pouting up athim with her big blue eyes and little bottom lip sticking out adorably.

He wasn’t really sure whathe’d expected (in fact, a large part of him had honestly expected that this wasit, and that death was his next stop), but whatever had been on that list, this certainly wasn’t one of them.

Fitz’s back hit the ground roughly, and he let out a muffledgroan as he cracked open his clenched eyes to find himself staring up at a deepblue sky.

Huh?

Scrambling to sit up, he shot a quick look around, and foundthat everything was blue; the sand hewas lying upon, the rock formations in the distance, and…well, there wasn’tmuch else, really.

Except the two moons,of course.

“The…hell?” hemuttered to himself, getting to his feet shakily, the shotgun still held looselyin his grip. His brain was so busy playing catch-up, it was only at that momentthat it finally occurred to him: the monolith had clearly sent him through aportal to an entirely different planet, which meant…

So had Jemma.

The relief hit him like a two-ton truck, and breathy, relievedlaughs began to fall from his lips. His legs seemed no longer able to supporthim, and he sank back to his knees, dropping his hands to the sand in front ofhim to hold himself up as tears pricked at his eyes. Jemma was alive. He’d been right all along; she was alive.

The only problem was, she’d already been there for sixmonths – she could have been anywhereby then.

Climbing back to his feet carefully, Fitz swiped the back ofhis hand over his cheeks to rid them of the few tears that had managed toescape. Yes, Jemma could’ve been anywhere, but he was going to find her; now that he knew for sure the monolith hadn’tharmed her and they were in the same place, he wasn’t going to give up untilthey were back together.

With that in mind, Fitz rested the shotgun against hisshoulder (just in case – he hadn’t the faintest clue what kind of life thisplanet could have had, no matter how abandoned it appeared), and startedcalling into the empty air, “Jemma? Jemma?” as he began walking.

When he reached the top of the nearest ridge, Fitz foundhimself staring out at miles and miles of nothing but sand.

-

It had been weeksnow since Jemma had sacrificed everything in the hopes that that bottle wouldmake it back through the portal, make it to Fitz,and all of those hopes had been crushed in the same moment the bottle had been.When she’d been forced to return to Will’s little hovel in the ground with nohope of ever returning home, she’dsimply shut down. She didn’t want to eat, didn’t want to sleep, didn’t want toexplore, didn’t want to talk. All Jemma wanted to do with curl up on her cot,revel in the memories she had of home (of Fitz),and pretend she was there instead of here.

Will had tried multiple times to get her to at least speak afew words here and there, but Jemma just couldn’t muster up the energy. She knew it wasn’t exactly fairto Will, given that he finally had company after all those years alone, but shejust couldn’t; she was broken and emptyinside, and there was nothing she could do about it.

After all, what was even the point of continuing to try, oreven continuing to exist if this waswhat the rest of her life looked like?

Jemma had always been strong, had always been able to lockdown her emotions and hide them away, turn them into the energy needed to keeppushing forward. But this time? There was nowhereto push forward to. All she had to look forward to was either wasting awayalone on a deserted planet, or finally getting caught by the mysterious anddeadly IT that Will so feared.

After the future she’d thoughtshe was headed toward just months ago, both possibilities were ridiculously, laughably pale in comparison.

Jemma barely glanced up when Will entered the back roomwhere they slept, leaning up against the doorway and narrowing his eyes. “Alright,”he said after a moment, his tone firm, “I’m going out to look for food.” Shestarted to give a tiny nod in understanding, but then he went on, “And you’recoming with me.”

Instead of offering a verbal response, Jemma simply scoffed.He couldn’t make her do anything, andif she had any say in it, she was staying right there, thank you very much.

But, apparently, she didn’thave any say in it.

A moment later, Will had come to stand over her cot, and beforeshe could protest, he was grasping her hands and yanking her up and off of it. “Will!” she cried, struggling to get himto let go, but after so long spent wallowing in a deep depression, her strengthhad been sapped and her attempts to fight back were weak. “Let go of me!” she finally insisted,scowling fiercely up at him.

“No,” he replied simply, then proceeded to drag her alongbehind him to the exit of the cave, all-but pushing her up the rungs of theladder until she’d (very unhappily, she must add) ended up back in the bleakblue landscape waiting for them outside.

“Just what do you think you’re doing?” Jemma demanded assoon as Will had exited and secured the cave behind them, planting her hands onher hips.

“You’re wasting away in there,” Will said plainly, placing ahand over his gun, ready to shoot at a moment’s notice, as he started wanderingin the direction of the sparse plant life growing nearby.

“So?” she asked snidely – she was the doctor of the two ofthem, of course she knew what she wasdoing. “What other option do I have? Spending the rest of my days hiding from somemonster in a cave? Will, that’s not alife. You may have had nothing tolose back on Earth, but I had everything,and now I’ve lost it again, this time for good.”

She knew her words were harsh, but she was miserable andempty and missed Fitz so much that her chest never stopped aching – Will couldn’t possibly understand that.

“Being stuck here, it’s…it’s not the end of the world,alright?” he told her, his tone sharp and almost frustrated, as though therewas something else he wanted to say, but was dancing around it for some reason(which was odd, normally he was jarringly blunt and to the point).

Jemma arched a disbelieving eyebrow. “Oh? That’s quiteunbelievable coming from Mister Doom and Gloom, you know.”

Will released a tense sigh, pausing and turning to face herangrily. “Look –”

However, it was at that moment that Jemma spotted a darkblob standing out against the never-changing blue horizon, just over Will’sshoulder.

“What the…?” she cut into whatever it was he’d been about tosay, stepping absently past him and squinting to try and get a better look.

He spun around, peering across the distance as well, andwithin moments his gun was out and cocked. “We need to get back to the cave, now.”

However, Jemma didn’t immediately listen – this thing didn’tlook like IT had, and the sandstormthat seemed to always follow the monster around was pointedly lacking. Plus,she didn’t quite care anymore whether that beast got her, did she? “Hold on amoment, will you?”

Even though he called at her to stop, Jemma took a fewsteps, getting closer and closer as the shape on the horizon continued tosteadily grow and grow until she saw something she couldn’t quite believe –

But Jemma would know that frame, that gait anywhere, even from this distance, evenon an alien planet.

Blinking back tears, she immediately rushed forward andcalled out disbelievingly, “Fitz?”because it couldn’t really be him,could it? Was she just delusional from the lack of sleep and a healthy diet?Had this planet finally gotten to her?

Then, she saw the form pause, followed by the muffled shoutof, “Jemma?” and somehow, it was him, it was his dear, dear voice (even if she knew nothingelse, Jemma would be able to pick out Fitz’s voice among any crowd).

Before she knew it, Jemma was dashing across the sand,racing toward him until she was close enough to see his face and it was so beautiful and real that she could have cried (and honestly, she probably was),and then they were collapsing to their knees in each other’s arms.

“You’re here,” shegasped out against his shoulder, grasping the loose fabric of his shirt in herfists, “You’re here, you’re here, you’re here.” The tears were most certainlystreaming down her face now, making the startled, relieved laughter leaving herlips come out watery. “Fitz. FitzFitz Fitz Fitz Fitz.”

“I’m here, I’m here, I’m here,” he promised over and overagain, clasping her to him fiercely, and she could feel the wetness of histears dropping onto her bare shoulder. “Oh Jemma,I can’t believe… I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.I tried so hard, but I couldn’t…”

“Shhh Fitz, it’s alright, you’re here.” She stroked a handthrough his hair, unable to help the smile tugging at her lips because he wasreal and he was there and she could actually touch him.

She had no idea how long they stayed there, hugging eachother, crying and laughing and repeating each other’s names just because they could. Eventually, though, the momentwas broken by a gruff voice saying, “We need to get back. Now.”

Reluctantly, Jemma pulled back from Fitz to glance up atWill’s solemn expression. His mistrusting gaze was placed squarely on Fitz, whoseemed terribly confused by Will’s sudden appearance. “Of course,” she agreed,hastily wiping her tears and getting to her feet, catching Fitz’s hand to tughim up after her.

“Get back to where?” Fitz asked her in confusion.

“To our shelter, of course.” Jemma squeezed his hand, thennodded in the direction of the cave. “Come on, it isn’t far, and we’ve got somefood and water. Plus, it’s much warmer there.”

Fitz followed her willingly, just as he’d always done, andit made her feel warm and full and happy enough to completely ignore Will’sdispleased grumbling as they made the short trek back to the cave.

Once they were inside and the door had been secured, Jemmaled Fitz to one of the chairs at the little table in the main room, but thenshe happened to notice Will hovering near the entrance to the back room. Whentheir gazes met, he nodded her over, and Jemma fought against the urge to roll hereyes. “I’ll be right back,” she promised Fitz, briefly clasping his shoulder,if only to feel the warmth of his skin through his shirt.

As soon as she’d joined Will in the “bedroom” of the cave,he threw a suspicious flare vaguely in Fitz’s direction, hissing, “You shouldn’thave brought him here.”

“And why not?” Jemmademanded, crossing her arms over her chest. “Fitz is my best friend, and Itrust him more than anyone in the world – or any world, for that matter.”

Will shook his head tightly, turning to stalk over to theladder leading out of the cave. “You’re making a mistake, and I refuse to be apart of it,” he told her grimly, climbing up the ladder to disappear throughthe exit. The metal door shut and secured behind him with a clang that rang through the small cave.

She perched on the chair across from Fitz, and they werequiet a moment before he nodded in the direction of the cave’s exit and askeduncomfortably, “What, uh…what’s with him?”

“Will? Oh, he’s an astronaut, who’s actually been stuck herefor fourteen years.” She shuddered atthe very idea, still unable to believe he’d survived for so long in such ahorrible place – especially when six months had already been far too long for her. “It’s kind of madehim…rather pessimistic. And a very underwhelming conversationalist.”

“Fourteen years?”Fitz repeated incredulously. “All by himself? How has he not gone completely mad?”

Jemma shook her head, not entirely sure of that herself. “It’sbeyond me.” Fitz opened his mouth, no doubt to inquire more about Will’s exileon the planet, but at that moment, Will was the very last thing she wanted totalk about.

So, before he could get his question out, she grappled foranother subject, and her gaze happened to land on the gun he’d been carrying,now leaning up against the wall.

“Alright, I have to ask: whatare you doing with that shotgun?”

Fitz seemed surprised at first, but his expression quicklycollapsed into a grimace and he rubbed a hand over the back of his neckawkwardly. “Ah, the shotgun. Yeah, um…I just happened to have it with me, y’know.”

Jemma frowned, furrowing her brow as she turned back to faceFitz fully. “Never in my life have I seen you casually carry around a shotgun.” Suddenly, her eyes narrowedand she said, “There’s something you’re not telling me.”

He sighed heavily, sinking a bit in his seat. “Yeah.”Lifting his eyes to the low ceiling above them, he pressed his lips togetherthen admitted hesitantly, “I may have…uh…used it to…shoot the locks off of thecase containing the monolith?”

Of course themonolith had been in containment after what it had done to her, why hadn’t sherealized that sooner? It was proper SHIELD procedure, after all. “But why wouldyou…” Jemma shook her head in confusion; there was something important she wasmissing, but she couldn’t quite grasp it yet. “You must’ve already studied it,and you knew it was dangerous, so…”

Then, it hit her.

“You broke intocontainment just to follow me here, didn’t you?” She covered her mouth witha hand, feeling her eyes burn with tears once more as the thought finallyfinished forming. Slowly lowering her hand, she whispered, “You didn’t knowwhat the monolith did, did you?”

Fitz bowed his head, letting out a great, heaving sigh thathad his shoulders rising and falling. “No,” he admitted after a long, tensemoment.

“Oh my god.” Jemmatook a couple of deep breaths, closing her eyes and resting her head in hertrembling hands. “You went in there to…to die.”

“I wasn’t positiveit’d kill me,” he insisted, trying desperately to placate her. “I mean, it wasa reasonable assessment, given my previous findings, but…” Her shoulders beganto shake then with restrained sobs, the pent up emotion of the past few weeks,then finding Fitz only to realize he’d tried to die enough to break apart the walls she kept around her emotions. “Hey,Jemma, stop, I’m sorry, okay? I didn’t… I mean, I thought you were…”

Jemma quickly lifted her head, narrowing her eyes around thetears. “That’s no excuse, Fitz! Even if I wasdead, the very last thing I’d want was for you to join me!”

“Yeah, well, I tried,okay? I tried to prepare myself for the possibility that you were…” He trailedoff, releasing a harsh breath, then started again, “I tried to convince myselfto move on, but…but it’s impossible. I…I couldn’t live if you didn’t, alright?It’s just…it’s that simple.”

Her bottom lip trembled as she sniffled back her tears,laughing humorlessly as she told him, “That’s not simple at all, Fitz. Us, theway we…feel about each other? It’s utterly complicated.”

He let out a shaky sigh, giving a small nod of agreement. “Yeah.Yeah, I know.”

Silence descended between them then, and as Jemma brushedaway her tears, she studied him for the first time under the cave’s brighterlight. Though the sight of him was enough to have her heart swelling in herchest until it was painful, there was also a concern rapidly taking shapeinside of her.

“You look terrible,”she commented worriedly, stroking a thumb over the dark bags under one of hiseyes, her fingers brushing up against his prickly stubble.

“Gee, thanks,” he teased, but when she arched an eyebrow, hesighed and gave a wide shrug. “Well, yeah, ‘course I do. I have spent the last six months trying to find you, y’know. Barely rememberwhat sleep is anymore.” When that joke failed to amuse her as well, he finallymurmured, “I’ve been falling apart, Jemma. Everyone’s been telling me formonths now that it didn’t look good, that maybe I couldn’t find a trace of youbecause there wasn’t a trace to find,then Coulson tells me that we need to say goodbye and…”

When Jemma reached out to place a hand over his, hehesitantly raised his eyes to meet hers. “We’re together now, Fitz, and that’sall that matters.” She squeezed his hand lightly, giving a little laugh as shereminded him, “We are smarter together, after all. We can fix this and gethome. With our combined knowledge of the monolith and of course, our combinedintellects, we’ll likely be back before dawn.”

Her words had his lips curling up in a hopeful smile, and hesat up straighter, asking softly, “Yeah?”

Even though she hated the very idea that Fitz had ever endedup on this wretched planet (especially because of her), Jemma could feel nothing in that moment but a surge of uttergratitude – to be seeing him again, of course, but also because if she wasgoing to be stuck on a deserted planet trying to find a way home with anyone,she’d always want it to be Fitz.