Chapter Text
Beatrice: I love you with so much of my heart that none is left to protest.
Benedick: Come, bid me do anything for thee.
Beatrice: Kill Claudio.
-Much Ado About Nothing
April 2014- one week before SHIELD fell
Fitz couldn’t sleep.
Jemma was out like a light, thankfully. She’d been working hard in the lab, trying to understand what the hell the GH was and what it had done to Skye.
It was strange to see her struggling so much with something. That didn’t happen very often.
He couldn’t quite put his thumb on why he couldn’t sleep. He was certainly tired enough. He was used to being squished in with Jemma, too, her being there made the bed more comfortable at this point, so it wasn’t that.
He slipped into the kitchen and squatted down to open up an inconveniently placed cabinet. He had to reach into the very back of it to find the hot chocolate mix Jemma stashed there. It wasn’t an expensive brand or anything like that. She just always made sure they had it for him.
He hadn’t been thinking of his mum- not consciously, at least- but the urge to make a cup of the sweet drink told him he was missing her. He moved on autopilot while his mind buzzed away.
Sometimes he wondered what she would think of the man he’d turned into. It wasn’t a path he liked to wander down. He knew very well what she would think of some of the things he’d done.
Maybe if she’d met Jemma, she would have understood why he’d done all of it.
He blinked and the milk he’d been simmering was nearly boiling. He turned off the burner, eyeballed the right amount of powder, and stirred it in.
He’d made enough for two people. He always did. When Jemma made it, she’d hand him a travel mug filled to the brim with both servings. She never drank it. She just made sure he always had enough.
He poured himself a mug and took a deep sip.
It was good, but it wasn’t right. Jemma got close, but he’d never have it exactly right again.
Soft footsteps announced that his solitude would soon be disturbed. He hoped they belonged to May. He didn’t want to talk.
He softened when he saw Skye, looking sleepy. She was dwarfed by the operations academy sweatshirt she wore.
“Hey,” he said. “What are you doing up?”
She shrugged and sat down at the island. “I don’t know. What are you doing up?”
He shrugged back and took another sip.
“What did you make?”
“Hot chocolate. You want some?”
He didn’t know why he offered to share it with her. He never offered to share it with anyone.
She tilted her head in thought. “I don’t know. Doctor Simmons might not approve.
His smile curved around the rim of his mug. “I won’t tell.”
She gave him a pointed look.
“Okay, I probably will, but I’ll take the blame,” he said.
She softly smiled. “Okay. Maybe a little.”
He didn’t let himself overthink it. He pulled another mug out, filled it, and handed it to her, then reclaimed his own.
“Thank you.”
She wrapped her hands around it and sipped. She sighed.
“Oh, that’s nice. We have this?”
He drummed his fingers on the side of his mug. “Jemma hides it. It was my mum’s favorite.”
Skye put the mug down. “Fitz, you didn’t have to-”
“It’s okay. I wanted to.”
And he had.
She looked sad. “Okay.”
He focused on his drink and took another slow, deep sip.
A few moments of comfortable silence passed. Then, she sighed.
“I’m having nightmares,” she said. “That’s why I’m up.”
She didn’t sound scared. She sounded exhausted.
“Since Quinn?” he asked.
She nodded. “Yeah.”
It struck him, sometimes, how young she was. The thought was a little absurd- he only had a couple of years on her, and her life hadn’t been easy- but sometimes, the gulf between what they’d experienced felt massive.
“He’s quite dead,” Fitz said. “I made sure of it.”
She sharply exhaled. “I know. I hate that you had to.”
“I didn’t have to,” he countered. “I thought…”
He trailed off, unsure how to finish his sentence. I thought you were dead and I wanted him to suffer was the truth, but he knew Skye wasn’t ready to hear something like that.
“I know,” she said quietly.
She focused on her drink.
He finished his and put the mug down on the counter. He didn’t leave, though. It felt like the conversation wasn’t done. She seemed to be wrestling with something.
She took another few sips before she spoke.
“I haven’t ever had a family before,” she said. “I don’t always understand it. But I’m glad I have it with you, and with Jemma, and the team.”
His chest felt tight.
He didn’t know what to say.
She seemed to know that, though. She finished her drink, stood, and put her mug and his into the dishwasher.
“Thanks, big brother,” she said.
She lightly squeezed his shoulder, gave him a thin but genuine smile, and walked back towards the bunks.
He didn’t move. He hovered there in the silence.
He didn’t have to wonder. He knew exactly what Skye would think of the man he really was.
-
April 2014- a few days after they arrived at the Playground
Koenig sighed. “Fitz, your baseline is going haywire again.”
Something of Fitz’s was about to go haywire for sure if Koenig didn’t let him out of this goddamn thing.
He rolled his eyes and did his best to calm down. He took several deep breaths.
Koenig stared at him. “That did nothing.”
Fitz scowled. “Billy. I’m claustrophobic, I told you that, and you’ve got me strapped into a chair in a concrete box. Also, lie detectors are bullshit.”
Koenig’s eyes narrowed. “You’re calling something Fury built bullshit?”
Yes.
Fitz closed his eyes and took another long, deep, steadying breath.
“Okay,” he said. “Please, lie detect me again.”
Koenig threw his hands out. “I really feel like you’re not taking this seriously.”
“I’m not.”
“Fitz!”
“Billy!”
“Okay. Okay,” Koenig said. “Just. Answer the questions. Alright?”
Fitz huffed. “Fine.”
He’d been given a 101 on lie detector tests a long time ago. The problem was, he could never beat them. He got too annoyed. Stephanie had told him to lean into it, to make it difficult for anyone grilling him to get anything like a solid baseline.
Be difficult? He could do that.
“Name?”
“Leopold James Fitz.”
“Eye color?”
“Blue.”
“Ever been married?”
“Currently am.”
Koenig grinned at him. “Yeah, you two are cute.”
Fitz’s expression didn’t budge. Koenig sighed.
“Have any kids?”
“No.”
“Are you planning on having any?”
“No.”
Koenig raised his eyebrows. Fitz raised his back.
Koenig nodded and continued. “Please list your immediate family.”
“Just me and Simmons.”
“Parents?”
“Both dead.”
“Her parents?”
“Dead, insane.”
Koenig frowned at him. Fitz shrugged.
“Where is your current place of residence?”
“A couple of hallways away.”
“Be less specific.”
“The Playground, undisclosed location some amount of miles away from DC.”
“Be more specific.”
“I can’t.”
“Because you’re protecting a secret?”
“No, I literally don’t know.”
Koenig frowned. “Really?”
Fitz sighed. “Aren’t we all used to that by now?”
Koenig shook his head. “I’m logistics, so no. What’s the difference between an egg and a rock?”
Fitz scoffed. “What kind of bloody question is that?”
“Just say the first thing that comes to mind.”
“Food, weapon.”
“Have you ever heard of Project Insight?”
“Yes.”
Koenig hadn’t been expecting that. His eyes narrowed.
“How?”
“I worked on it.”
All traces of humor had disappeared from Koenig’s expression. “You worked on it.”
“Yeah.”
“You knew what it was?”
“No.”
“You knew nothing?”
“I knew what they told me and that it wasn’t the truth.”
“Did you question that?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Fitz’s shoulders set. Here we go. “I never questioned anything, Billy. I did what I was told, like everyone else.”
“Did Simmons work on Insight?”
“No.”
“Did she know about it?”
“Yes.”
“Were you married when you told her?”
“No.”
“So you broke protocol to tell your partner?”
“Yes.”
“Are there other times where you broke protocol to give her information?”
“Yes.”
“List them.”
“It would be easier to tell you the times I didn’t.”
Koenig was very, very still. “Alright. Did you ever have contact with Alexander Pierce?”
“No.”
“Are you or have you ever been a member of the organization known as Hydra?”
Fitz snorted. “No.”
Koenig frowned down at Fitz’s vitals. “Give me that one more time.”
Fuck.
Fitz forced a sigh. “Billy. You just asked me about the organization that killed a lot of people I care about. I imagine my vitals changed a bit.”
Koenig gave him an annoyed look. “Why do you think you’re smarter than this?”
“I am smarter than this.”
“Because you’re lying?”
Fitz rolled his eyes. “Billy.”
“This is important, Fitz,” Koenig said. He sounded exasperated. “Stop trying to outsmart it. Just. Work with me here, alright?”
Fitz bit back a very inappropriate response. He was going to be in here for hours if he didn’t get his shit together.
“Fine,” Fitz said. “Ask me the questions they really want you to ask.”
“That’s not how it- okay. Ever had sex in public?”
“Define ‘public.’”
“That’s a yes.”
“That wasn’t an official question.”
“Oh, we’re taking this seriously now?”
Fitz glared hard.
Koenig shrugged. “Sue me.”
“Have you ever had sex in public?” Fitz threw back at him.
“No. SHIELD has been labeled a terrorist organization. Why are you here?”
“Simmons wants to be here.”
Koenig nearly smiled again. Fitz rolled his eyes.
“Where is Grant Ward?”
“I don’t know.”
That was only half a lie. Though Billy probably wouldn’t have blinked twice if Fitz had said eaten by animals, I hope.
-
“Name?”
“Jemma Anne Simmons.”
“Eye color?”
“Brown.”
“Ever been married?”
“Yes.”
“Do you have any children?”
“No.”
“Are you planning on having any?”
Jemma forced a swallow. Her voice trembled. “No.”
Koenig’s concern was obvious and immediate. “Jemma?”
She cleared her throat. “It’s something Fitz and I would rather not discuss. It’s quite private.”
Koenig looked sad. Sucker.
“Okay,” he said softly. “Please list your immediate family.”
“Fitz.”
“Your parents?”
“My father is gone. I don’t speak with my mother.”
“Fitz’s parents?”
“Both gone.”
“Where is your current place of residence?”
“The Playground, where we are currently located.”
“What’s the difference between an egg and a rock?”
Jemma smiled. “How much time have you got?”
Koenig smiled back. “Right. Have you ever heard of Project Insight?”
“Yes.”
Koenig didn’t react. “How?” he asked.
“Fitz.”
“Have you ever broken protocol for him?”
“Yes.”
Koenig nodded. “Did you ever have contact with Alexander Pierce?”
“No.”
“Are you or have you ever been a member of the organization known as Hydra?”
“No.”
She wasn’t some program member. It was her birthright.
“SHIELD has been labeled a terrorist organization. Why are you here?”
Jemma jutted out her chin. “Because it’s the right thing to do.”
For her.
Koenig gave her a warm, full smile.
“Congratulations, Agent Simmons. Let’s get you a lanyard.”
-
May 2014
Bobbi stuck her head into the lab.
“Jemma, Fitz,” she called. “Gonzales’s office.”
She sounded excited. Jemma hopped to her feet and shot Fitz a grin.
He yanked his goggles off and tossed them onto his desk. “Finally,” he muttered to her.
The two of them strode quickly down the to the office Gonzales had commandeered. It was the largest one, of course. Jemma hadn’t fought that. It wasn’t a fight worth having, and besides, the lab was her domain.
Mack was holding the door open. Jemma smiled at him. He looked excited, too.
Bobbi nodded when they entered. “Where’s Anne?”
“Right here.”
Weaver strode in. Mack closed the door behind her.
Jemma looked around. She tried not to look too thrilled. It was just- she was in the inner circle, now. Gonzales, Bobbi, Mack, Weaver, Izzy, her, and Fitz: the controlling interests of SHIELD. It was where they belonged.
Robert sat down behind his desk. “What have you got, Bobbi?”
Bobbi tapped the tablet she held. The screen that dominated much of one of the office’s walls filled up with headshots. Jemma didn’t recognize anyone’s face.
“Names,” she said. “Some of these guys have sold SHIELD tech. Some of them have bought it. Two groups to highlight. First,” she tapped the tablet and three men were highlighted in red, “these three have retained access to a major facility not far from the Triskelion. They’re selling 0-8-4s.”
Jemma felt a rush of butterflies in her stomach.
Now, they were getting somewhere.
“Any relation or crossover with the Index?” Robert asked.
Bobbi’s list thinned. “I have not cross checked that yet.”
“Seems important.”
“We’ll do it before we make a move,” Mack said. He glanced around the room. “Are we making a move?”
“We have to, don’t we?” Izzy said. “Can’t imagine people are dealing in dangerous tech just for the fun of it.”
“Do we know what’s been sold and traded?” Fitz asked. “There’s a big difference between ‘we’re pretty sure this rock is from Neptune’ and ‘plasma laser.’”
“We had a plasma laser?” Mack asked.
Jemma nodded with Fitz.
“Tesseract tech, actually,” Fitz said. “Nasty bit of business.”
“It was slated for the Slingshot, but, well,” Jemma shrugged. “That turned out to be a bit of a fairy tale, didn’t it?”
“Possibly a good thing with that one, considering we don’t know what would have happened if someone threw a tesseract at the Sun,” Bobbi pointed out. She sighed. “And to my second point: I did cross-reference this group with the list of escapees from the Fridge.”
Two additional pictures lit up, this time in blue.
“They’re buyers?” Robert asked.
Bobbi nodded. “Best as I can tell.”
“Those guys, we’re definitely doing something about,” Mack said.
“We need more manpower,” Jemma said. “There are all of twenty people on this base, and half of the ones outside of this room aren’t field ready. Going after any one of these men could mean knocking multiple field agents out of commission.”
“Little faith, Simmons,” Robert said. “We can hold our own.”
“Until we can’t,” Bobbi countered.
Izzy was nodding to herself. “Alright. I’m putting it on the table. I want to bring some of my guys in.”
Mack and Bobbi exchanged a look. Jemma’s curiosity was piqued.
“Your guys?” Weaver asked.
“I was under deep cover for years,” Izzy said. “I made friends with some of the mercs I worked with. They’re good guys. Yeah, they’re gonna be here for money, not the cause, but it doesn’t matter when it comes down to it.”
“Doesn’t it?” Fitz questioned.
Izzy shook her head. “No. They’re hired based on word of mouth. It’s in their best interest to keep everyone they’re with on missions alive. Also, they’re not assholes, they’re not abandoning anybody.”
“Isabelle,” Bobbi said.
She didn’t continue talking out loud, but her expression clearly spoke volumes to Izzy.
It was a little funny, seeing other people have a silent conversation. Jemma wondered if what she saw was what she and Fitz looked like.
Bobbi sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“Idaho?” Mack asked.
“And Hunter,” Izzy said.
“That’s not Lance Hunter, is it?” Robert asked.
He actually looked amused. Jemma hated when Robert was amused.
“Yes,” Bobbi said. She looked around the room and sighed again. “Full disclosure: Hunter’s my ex-husband. He does not say nice things about me. But, he is a good man and no matter what he says about the money, he’ll throw himself in front of anybody.”
“And what’s the rest of that full disclosure?” Mack pointedly asked.
Bobbi glared at him. “I wasn’t aware of anything else.”
“I’ll say it, then. We will have to deal with them fighting all the time,” Mack said.
“Is their fighting funny?” Fitz asked.
Jemma bit her lip so she wouldn’t laugh.
Mack shrugged. “Sometimes.”
“I don’t think we have a choice,” Izzy interrupted. “We need more skilled back-up. They’re a start.”
Jemma liked Izzy a lot. She was fun, but no nonsense, and she took Jemma at her word. Smart, but not concerned about proving it to anyone. She trusted Izzy’s ability to bring recruits in.
Also, mercs would be perfect scapegoats for her and Fitz, should some be needed.
“I think Izzy is right,” Jemma said.
Fitz nodded next to her and Mack nodded, too.
“Well then. Let’s say Izzy can get them,” Weaver said. “What will we have them do?”
“Maybe they can be in the market for some SHIELD tech,” Mack threw out.
“It’s a start,” Weaver said. “Are we waiting for them to go after the Fridge escapees?”
“I don’t know,” Bobbi said. “I would want to start handling them a lot sooner, but I don’t want us to be underprepared. We don’t have many fighters yet.”
“Maybe we can use them,” Robert said. He was staring hard at the screen. “See if our expertise on the Fridge can be leverage for our relationship with Talbot. We have more information than he does.”
“That’s a hell of an assumption,” Fitz said. “Black Widow dumped everything online. I haven’t gotten through all of it for us, but Talbot’s got countless analysts to scour it with.”
“So why hasn’t he done anything?” Robert countered. “If he’s aware of these threats and hasn’t taken action, why?”
Mack grimaced. “If he’s got everything, there’s all lot more he’s looking for than just some weird bad guys.”
-
Fitz finally had what he needed to get his workstation up organized up to his standards. He was fully into a groove, cleaning all of his tools and putting them in the correct spots. His brain was buzzing pleasantly as he worked.
“Fitz,” Jemma said. “You good?”
“Yup.”
Jemma made a thoughtful noise. He ignored her. She could throw all her pens about as she needed, that was fine.
“You’re cute,” she said. He could hear the fondness in her voice.
“Am I?” he said absently.
“You are. With your tools.”
He smiled a little.
He liked their new lab. He and Jemma were slowly getting it up to par- slower than they’d like, really, but they couldn’t exactly buy in bulk, and Billy was stingy with their budget anyway. Laughter and voices occasionally drifted in from the hallway, but that was okay. The two techs they’d hired kept to their own workstations and had only brought genuine problems up with them so far. That was the real key: no one bugging him while he worked.
Jemma came up next to him. She was allowed to, of course.
“The new guys are here,” she said. “I’m going to go say hello. Join us when you’re done?”
He nodded. “Yep.”
She dropped a sloppy kiss on his cheek. He laughed and batted her away.
He took his time finishing up. Everyone was just saying hi. A bit later, he wandered over to the lounge. Most of the people on the base were scattered over the couches and around them, drinking beer and chatting. The two new men were speaking with Izzy.
Mack was staying back and observing the group. Fitz joined him.
“So,” Fitz said quietly. “What should I know?”
“You’ve got nothing to worry about,” Mack said. “Idaho was SHIELD for a long time. Something happened with his family that made him step away. He didn’t tell me what, and I’ve never asked, but he never seemed to resent the organization at all. He started working again a couple of years back. Told me he needed the flexibility of being a merc. Maybe he’ll tell us why some time.”
“You trust him?” Fitz asked.
Mack nodded. “I do. He’s never given me a reason not to.”
Izzy’s laugh filled the room. Mack smiled at the sight of her whacking the blonde man’s shoulder.
“Hunter is a soft guy, under all of it,” he said. “He was British Special Forces. Don’t ask him about that. You’ll hear him harp on the money, but it’s all talk. He cares…too much, sometimes, I think.”
“And you’re good friends?”
“We are,” Mack said. “I trust him with my life. He’s smart and capable. He just also…well. Honestly, Bobbi makes him stupid.”
Fitz snorted. “I can’t really throw stones at that, can I?”
Mack grinned. “From what I’ve seen, you and Simmons make each other smarter for the most part, but yeah. I’m sure she’s got that power over you.”
“I have yet to become friends with a woman who wasn’t terrifying,” Fitz said bluntly.
“See, I just think you have a type.”
“You’re probably not wrong.”
They were interrupted by the slow, almost meandering approach of the blonde man. He clapped a hand on Mack’s shoulder.
“Good to be working with you again, mate,” he said.
Mack shrugged. “I guess.”
He rolled his eyes.
“Fitz, right?” he said. He offered Fitz his hand. “Lance Hunter.”
Fitz shook it. “Glad to have you onboard.”
“Thanks. You’re the smart one, I’ve heard.”
Fitz snorted. “Depending on who said that, it might not have been a compliment.”
Hunter waved his hand. “Nah, it was.”
He kept looking around. Fitz felt like he was casing the place.
“This feels weirdly homey for a SHIELD base,” Hunter said. “Guess things really have changed.”
“We didn’t have a choice,” Mack said. “But things are going to be different this time. Better.”
Hunter looked thoughtful. “Would be thrilled if that were true. The blind loyalty thing…well. We all know what happens with that.”
“Nothing good,” Fitz agreed.
“I like you already,” Hunter said easily. “You going to be joining me on any of these top secret missions Izzy’s hinted at?”
Fitz shrugged. “Probably. We have a lot to do.”
Hunter nodded. He started looking around again.
“So we’re just stuck underground?” he asked. “No bar hopping? No girls to talk to?”
“This base is 90% women,” Fitz pointed out.
“Yeah, but,” Hunter clicked his tongue, “young and single ones? Not so much.”
“Tell you what. When things have settled down, we’ll hit Vegas,” Mack said.
Hunter shook his head. “Sure we will.”
“I mean it. I’m a wild partier now.”
“Sounds like you, yeah,” Hunter said with a grin.
The two of them were so comfortable together. Mack hadn’t offered Fitz the details of how he knew Hunter, but Fitz had been able to infer some things from speaking with Izzy. Long missions, especially undercover ones, endeared people to you.
Well. Some people.
“Not like I’m here to find a girlfriend, anyway,” Hunter said. “I’m pretty excited about the sizeable paycheck coming my way.”
“Glad to hear you don’t have any alternate motives,” Mack said pointedly.
Hunter shook his head and took a sip of his beer. “Please, no,” he said. “I signed up to get paid, not to be entranced by that she-devil again.”
“She-devil? Really?” Fitz asked, amused. “I like Bobbi.”
Hunter frowned. “Do all of you know our business, then?”
“Bobbi was up front about it,” Mack said. “Too much at stake here. We’re all very honest.”
Jemma’s laugh suddenly caught Fitz’s attention. He looked for her and smiled. Her and Weaver were huddled together on one of the couches, giggling.
“Careful,” Hunter said, pointing at him. “I know that look. You’ll think you’re just shagging a cute bird, but before you know it, she’s hogging the covers and running up credit card debt under an assumed name on the guise of helping out an animal shelter.”
“That is. So specific,” Fitz said.
Hunter slowly nodded. “That was a weird couple of months,” he muttered. He shook himself. “Anyway. Learn the lessons of my youth and proceed with caution.”
“Yeah, I married her before we hit our one year, so,” Fitz shrugged.
Hunter barked out a laugh. “Maybe you aren’t the smart one after all.”
Fitz bit back a rude comment. Guy talk. It was just guy talk.
“We’re good,” he said instead.
“Well, watch her,” Hunter said. “She might seem like an angel now, but-”
“Jemma Simmons has not been an angel for a single day of her life,” Fitz interrupted.
Hunter tilted his head, considering it. “Nice.”
Fitz rolled his eyes.
-
June 2014
Jemma’s partner was an idiot.
Fitz was so bloody stubborn. Sometimes it made her absolutely mad. She couldn’t believe he was being this ridiculous.
Fitz was glaring at her just as hard as she was glaring at him.
“Do you just not care about my opinion?” he bit out. “You’re in charge, end of story?”
Usually, yes. She could have screamed.
“I value your opinion and you know it,” she said. Her voice was carefully controlled so it didn’t shake. “I just happen to disagree with it this time and I am the expert here.”
“Oh right,” Fitz snapped, “what knowledge could I possibly have to offer?”
Jemma threw her hand out, pointing so hard at her computer screen that her finger bounced off of it a bit. “This model works! It does exactly what we need it to and I know I like it!”
“You couldn’t use anything else?” he demanded. He rapidly tapped his own monitor. “None of these features would come in handy?”
“They COULD, maybe, but I am quite an intelligent woman-”
“-maybe when you’re being REASONABLE-”
“-do not need the bells and whistles just so you can feel-”
“-it’s not a feeling, it is objective fact based on research and-”
“-limited budget needs to be spent wisely and-”
“Hey!”
Jemma jumped at the intrusion and stopped talking. Fitz did, too. Hunter had entered their lab at some point, apparently. He swung his finger back and forth between them.
“Are you two actually fighting?” he asked. He looked delighted.
Jemma huffed. Fitz muttered something belligerent under his breath. Jemma shot a glare at him.
“Alright then, couples’ counseling,” Hunter said. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. “What’s the problem? Someone caught in a lie? Suspicious private browser tabs? A letter with a broken wax seal?”
Fitz shook his head. “A broken wax seal?” he asked.
Hunter shrugged. “Life happens.”
Jemma was still fuming.
“No, Lance,” she said. “We are not fighting. We are-”
“-fighting,” Fitz said, nodding.
Her glare was deadly. Fitz held up his palms.
“We are, baby.”
“Don’t you baby me- damn it!” She whirled back on Hunter. “I am working on acquiring some new centrifuges for the lab and Fitz had to step in and insist he knows better and that his preferred model is SUPERIOR!”
“You are exaggerating!”
“Am I? You’re not a chemist!”
“I’m a bloody engineer!”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Hunter interjected. “You two are fighting like this over a piece of lab equipment?”
“It is not the equipment, it’s the principle of it!” Jemma insisted.
Fitz’s frown turned thoughtful. “You know, this might be the worst fight we’ve had since we started dating.”
“Oh my god,” Hunter muttered.
Jemma’s stomach flipped. “You’re right, I think.”
She hated it when they fought.
Fitz was giving her the sad blue eyes. Crap.
She sighed. “Well. When you point that out, it makes me want to talk things through.”
Fitz’s lips quirked up at the edges. “You do know best when it comes to this,” he said. “If you think that’s the better model, we should get it. I just want you to have everything you need.”
Ridiculous man. She walked over and kissed his cheek.
“Show me what you were looking at,” she said. “We’ll decide together.”
Fitz took her hand and let the smile out. “Yeah, alright.”
“Is that it?” Hunter demanded. “I’ve been waiting for you two to go at it for weeks, and this is how the fight ends?”
Fitz shrugged. “I told you we never fight.”
“I didn’t believe you!”
“Sounds like a you problem,” Jemma quipped.
Hunter turned on his heel and stomped out of the lab, mumbling under his breath.
“He needs to get laid,” Fitz whispered.
Jemma hummed thoughtfully. “It would certainly help.”
-
Ruddy fucking cloaking.
Fitz had mapped out the build. It was complicated, but not so complicated that he couldn’t do it. It was just tetchy and repetitive. Any small issue could set them back hours.
He and Mack had already spent a week carefully piecing together what they needed to make it happen and Fitz was simply going to lose it if they didn’t finish soon. He let his head fall down on the table they had taken over in the corner of the lab.
“Good to see you enjoying your work,” Mack said. “Do what you love, as folks say.”
Fitz lightly banged his forehead against the table.
“I do love all this, actually,” he said. His voice bounced off the floor and echoed back up to him. “We’re just, you know. Doing the work of six people getting these bloody boxes set up, and it’s so much easier to make a mistake when you’re constantly accounting for all of it. Bit nerve wracking.”
“We’re almost done. We’ll get there.”
Fitz lifted his head to look at him. “How are you always so calm?”
Mack shrugged. He kept steadily at the very, very tedious work of putting in nails so small Fitz was shocked Mack could handle them even with tweezers. “We’re alive. We’re with people we trust. We’re doing something important. All that helps, you know? Things were bad for a while. They’re not so bad now.”
Fitz slumped back in his chair. “Well, now I feel like a prick.”
Mack chuckled. “Easy, Turbo,” he said. “No need to beat yourself up about getting frustrated.”
Fitz frowned. “Turbo?”
“Yep,” Mack said. “That mind of yours never stops. Always going full bore. I think you can’t even keep up with yourself, sometimes.”
“Interesting thought,” Fitz said.
Mack wasn’t wrong. It wasn’t easy to shut down his mind a lot of the time. If he didn’t have Jemma using her particular…skill set to help him do it on a near daily basis, he didn’t know what he would do.
“Are we all getting nicknames, then?” Fitz asked.
Mack gave him that easy smile of his.
“Nah,” Mack said. “Just the people who earn one.”
-
July 2014
“It makes sense,” Jemma said softly.
Fitz picked up the Hawaiian dancer that still sat on Skye’s workstation. He made her wiggle and set her back down.
“I know,” he said.
He turned and looked around the small Bus lab that had been their home for so many months. Mack had proposed using it and the cargo hold as a garage. It was a good idea and Fitz knew it, but-
“Don’t know why I feel weird about it,” he said.
Jemma smiled at him from her perch on the holotable.
“A lot of good memories in here,” she said. “Hard ones, too.”
He cleared his throat. “I can’t stop thinking about the virus, actually,” he said.
Her face dropped. “Oh, Fitz.”
He wandered over to her and stood between her knees. He smiled when she looped her arms around his neck.
“Felt like a fool that night,” he murmured. “All the time we could have had. I thought I’d lost it.”
She shook her head. “We didn’t.”
“I know.”
She played with the back of his collar.
“I miss her,” she whispered. “I wonder if it might…help. To turn this space over. It’s hard to see it.”
His heart twisted in his chest.
They’d agreed not to shy away from the topic. It wouldn’t help to hold things back.
The fact that Jemma had pulled the trigger made the grief they shared this strange, twisted thing. They probably shouldn’t be allowed to have it. He wasn’t going to say that, though.
Jemma killing Skye had been another way of her loving Fitz. He loved her all the more for doing it.
She leaned in and smacked a kiss on the tip of his nose.
“Really?” he said.
She shrugged. “Another good memory.”
He took the bait. “Well, if we’re still making memories…” he raised his eyebrows.
She tutted, which had been his goal. “Fitz. We’re not shagging in here.”
He frowned heavily at her. “Spoiling my fun.”
“Do you want any of the people on this base to catch us?” she demanded.
“Oh, are we going down that road?” he murmured.
He’d just been messing with her, but he wasn’t an idiot. He tugged her closer by her knees.
“Fitz,” she said, half-assing a protest. He caught the waver in her voice.
“You love people hearing you and we both know it,” he said.
She had that glint in her eyes he loved so much.
“Do I?” she asked. “Or do you like other people knowing you can make me sound like that?”
Warmth flooded his stomach. He shrugged. “Little of both, I think.”
She lightly kissed him. “Let’s go to our bunk.”
He tightened his grip on her thighs. “Why are we walking all the way over there?”
“I’ll get naked in our bunk. I won’t here.”
Fitz stepped back and helped her down. “Let’s get going, then.”
-
September 2014- Present Day
The lab’s intercom flaring to life never failed to make Jemma flinch. Something about the quick burst of static the old technology started every sound with made her deeply uneasy. It always felt like a warning.
She was getting paranoid. She had to watch that.
“Fitzsimmons,” Gonzales called. “Please come to the hangar as soon as you can.”
Fitz stood up and pressed his hands into his lower back.
“God,” he said. “I’m developing a hunch.”
Jemma led him out of the lab. “You could just adjust your seat, you know.”
“I could, yes, but then what would I complain about?”
“You’d find something.”
“True.”
His voice was teasing, but Jemma caught unease on his face that echoed her own. Everyone used the comms to call everyone else all over the base, they were all doing a hundred different things, but Robert was an exception. He had set meeting times with all of them, which he preferred, and he was hardly consulting on the day to day workings of the team. More than half the time he was off-base globetrotting with Hand, identifying and recruiting every person they could.
“Any ideas?” Fitz mumbled.
Jemma shook her head. She had nothing.
Fitz hit the button that opened the blast door out into the hangar. She let him go ahead of her. There likely wasn’t any danger, but it made him feel better.
She saw the jet first. She knew that jet. Fitz did, too. He raised an eyebrow at her and they sped up. On the other side of the jet stood Robert- and Gideon.
Jemma felt a rush of nerves and excitement. They hadn’t seen him in person since he’d appeared and revealed his connection to Robert. Stephanie had called her a few times, but that was it.
She tamped her reaction down. As far as Robert knew, they were friendly with Gideon, but not close. Fitz managed to project calm, but she knew he was excited, too.
“Hello,” Robert said. “Sorry for the cryptic call. Gideon asked me to arrange a meeting with the two of you and that’s not a secret, but I’m hoping to keep the lid on it until the important man with the deep pockets has flown back off of the base.”
Gideon chuckled.
“No worries,” Jemma said smoothly. She smiled at Gideon. “It’s good to see you again, sir.”
Gideon waved his hand. “I told you, call me Gideon,” he said. “Good to see you both. Robert tells me you’re doing very well.”
“We’re doing the best we can,” Fitz said. “We’re lucky to have a good group of people around us.”
Jemma saw Gideon’s lips just barely twitch. He hadn’t seen much of Fitz’s modest, softie engineer routine.
“We’re lucky to have you,” Robert said. Then, he turned to Gideon. “Am I allowed to participate in this meeting, or are you just stealing my science division for a bit?”
“Oh, it’s petty theft for sure,” Gideon said, “but come back in an hour or so. I’ve got a bourbon with your name on it and we’ll talk.”
“Good man. I’ll leave you all to it, then.”
Robert clapped Fitz on the shoulder before he walked away. Jemma really saw Gideon’s lips twitch that time.
“So. Doctor Simmons, Doctor Fitz,” he said pleasantly, “have you ever been on a private jet?”
“Oh, never,” Jemma breathed out girlishly. “That’s ever so exciting.”
“Oh, shut up,” Gideon muttered. He was grinning, though. “Come on, kids.”
He led them up the staircase and inside. Jemma waved at his pilot, William, who seemed to be half asleep in the cockpit. She had fond memories of sitting in his co-pilot seat as a child and terrorizing him.
“You’re not flying my plane,” William called.
“Miss you too!” she called back.
Fitz laughed.
Jemma gasped in surprise when they entered the cabin. Stephanie was waiting for them. She gave the two of them a full smile and stood.
“Hey, you two,” she said fondly. “Do I need to call you sir and ma’am, now?”
Jemma raced forward and hugged her. Stephanie softly laughed and hugged her back. “Missed you too, kid.”
Gideon sat in his usual seat and gestured at the open ones across from him. “Either of you want anything?”
“We’re fine,” Jemma said politely.
Stephanie rolled her eyes and handed her a scotch she’d already poured. Jemma sat down and took it.
“Thanks.”
She sipped deeply. Her eyes fluttered shut. God damn, that was good. It was some absurd price, she was sure. Half the time Gideon’s bottles didn’t even have labels.
Gideon relaxed back in his chair.
“So glad you’re so grateful, son,” he said solemnly to Fitz. “So lucky to be surrounded by kind, upstanding people.”
“Yeah, it’s a blast,” Fitz deadpanned.
The way he was holding himself had changed. It was always so interesting to see how he switched personas. Jemma wasn’t sure if it was even a conscious choice at this point. The arrogant Hydra operative, the sweet engineer, her boyfriend in their bunk: all her Fitz, but all different.
“Please tell me you didn’t get married,” Stephanie said. “I thought I’d beaten that out of the two of you.”
Jemma shrugged. “We got the rings for cover months back and it stuck,” she said. “He hasn’t gotten me to sign anything yet, though.”
“We could do that,” Gideon said easily. “You’d want the full estate wedding, right? A ball? Toasts to true love?”
“You know us so well,” Fitz said. “If you could broadcast it globally that would be ideal, actually.”
“Of course.”
Stephanie rolled her eyes at Jemma.
“How are you both doing?” she asked. “Living underground is. Interesting, I’m sure.”
“It’s alright,” Fitz said. “A little claustrophobic sometimes.”
“We’re not outdoorsy anyway,” Jemma pointed out.
“Good,” Gideon said. He took a deep sip of his own bourbon, then frowned and looked at the glass. “Which one is this?”
“The fourteen,” Stephanie said.
“I don’t know if I like it.”
“This is your third bottle.”
Gideon considered it. “Maybe I like it when I’m a few more deep.”
“I like it,” Jemma said. “I’ll take it with us.”
“I didn’t offer,” Gideon pointed out.
Jemma smiled at him. “I know.”
He looked at Fitz. “Has she gotten worse?”
“Yes,” Fitz said immediately.
Jemma whacked his shoulder. He just laughed.
“I’ll get you a bottle, Jemma,” Stephanie promised.
“Thanks, hon.”
Gideon took another sip of his drink then firmly put it down on the windowsill. Jemma’s spine straightened. Fitz and Stephanie’s did, too.
Time for business, then.
“Don’t have a lot of time, I’m afraid, so I’m going to dive right in,” he said. “There’s a new Head.”
A shiver of nervous excitement went down Jemma’s spine. “Pierce’s replacement?”
“Yes,” Gideon said. “Daniel Whitehall.”
“Really now,” Fitz said. He seemed shocked.
Jemma was surprised, too. They knew very little of the quiet man holed up in Delaware. Jemma hadn’t ever so much as seen a photo of him. Gideon had always been dismissive of his operation when it had come up.
Gideon looked grim, suddenly. He nodded at Stephanie. She put her drink down and reached into the bag sitting next to her feet. She took a piece of paper out and handed it to Jemma.
It was a familiar photo. Jemma frowned in confusion and tilted it so Fitz could see it: Werner Reinhardt’s mugshot. Gideon had shown it to them years ago when he’d told them about his brother. Gideon’s lingering anger at the old man had been palpable as he’d spoken, even though he’d barely been eighteen when they’d met.
“Did he find something of Reinhardt’s?” Fitz asked. “Some sort of leverage?”
Gideon shook his head. “There’s something I haven’t told you,” he said. “Mostly because I didn’t believe it until I saw him myself again.”
Stephanie took another photo out of her bag. “This is Daniel Whitehall,” she said.
Jemma took it and held it side by side with the familiar headshot. Whitehall’s photo was in color. The two men were doppelgangers.
“Whitehall is Reinhardt’s grandson?” Fitz asked.
But he was asking the wrong question, and Jemma knew it.
“No,” Gideon said. “Daniel Whitehall is Werner Reinhardt.”
Jemma’s heart started racing.
“Pierce let Reinhardt out of the Rat on compassionate release years ago,” Gideon continued. “He disappeared. And,” he nodded at the photos, “Daniel Whitehall appeared. The same man, suddenly young again.”
“What the hell,” Fitz breathed out.
“Correct,” Gideon said.
Jemma’s mind was flying.
“What do we know?” she asked.
“Very little,” Gideon said. “Whitehall is all in on weaponry and, of course, using the Red Skull’s work in new ways. He might have used something in there. We don’t know yet.”
Jemma bristled. Gideon nodded.
“I know,” he said. “I don’t like it either. And that’s why I’m here.”
Jemma put the photos down and picked her drink back up.
“Daniel Whitehall is Hydra’s head in this part of the world,” Gideon said. “I’ve got my part. Our branches are run separately. That’s how it’s always been. But that’s not how it’s going to be anymore.”
Gideon paused and took a sip of his drink.
“I think it’s time SHIELD really starts going after Hydra again,” Gideon said. And a slow smile spread across his face. “You’re going to cut the Head for me.”
Jemma let out a delighted laugh. She couldn’t help it. It was so absurd. So wonderful.
“You always were my favorite for a reason,” she said.
“Thought you’d like that,” Gideon said. “Fitz?”
Fitz was quiet, but he looked just as pleased.
“Oh, you know I’m in,” he said. “This is exactly the sort of thing we were hoping for.”
It was. A power grab in her part of the world. A civil war. Jemma knew that Gideon intended to take Whitehall’s branch for himself, but that was fine.
For now.
“Excellent,” Gideon said.
Stephanie took another paper out and handed it directly to Fitz. Jemma leaned over his shoulder to look at it. It was a photocopy of what seemed to be a faded drawing, or maybe a schematic, of a strangely shaped object. Jemma tilted her head. She thought at first that it was a hexahedron, but then she saw the divots in the middle of the object- like it was a rock that had been gripped hard enough to shape it.
“You can’t keep that,” Stephanie said. “There’s no on-the-level way you could have this information. The image is of something Whitehall is after. He calls it an obelisk. We’re not sure what it actually is or does, our copies of the records are too damaged. But it’s a lead.”
Fitz was studying it carefully. “Any info on materials?” he asked.
“Unfortunately, no,” Stephanie said. “But there are lots of warnings not to handle it with your bare hands.”
“And we will heed those warnings,” Fitz said. He handed the paper back to Stephanie.
Gideon checked his watch. “We don’t have much more time,” he said. “Your orders here are straightforward: latch onto going after Hydra. Whitehall’s headquartered in Dover, I imagine there’s activity there. Look for raids on SHIELD warehouses and the usual signatures, and anything that could be related to that object. Find out everything you can. Exploit it. Keep Stephanie in the loop. Call me if there’s something only I can do.”
“We will,” Jemma promised.
She was so unbelievably excited. She didn’t think she’d been this excited since before SHIELD fell. It was a wonderful feeling.
“What are you going to tell Robert?” Fitz asked. “What’s the cover for us talking?”
To Jemma’s surprise, Gideon started laughing. Stephanie almost pointedly reached for her drink again.
“Oh, you’re going to hate this,” he said. He stood up and walked toward the back of the plane. He was still chuckling to himself when he parted the curtains that led to the plane’s luggage storage and went through them.
Jemma turned to Stephanie. In the corner of her eye, Fitz did, too.
“You’ll see.” Her eyes narrowed. “And you’ll take it seriously this time.”
The statement was underpinned with a threat. Jemma hadn’t been afraid of Stephanie since she was very young, but she still felt it.
Fitz was tense. He would never admit it, but he was definitely still afraid of Stephanie.
Gideon came back through the curtains. He held a glass box with a familiar cut of black stone inside it aloft.
Oh, Jesus Christ, not this shit again.
Gideon sat. With eerie timing, the black stone briefly liquified, filling half of the case, then solidified again.
“You’re telling Robert that you’re working on figuring out what this is for me,” Gideon said. “This mysterious object is something I only trust SHIELD’s very best with, you see.”
“You’re not giving us that, are you?” Jemma said sharply. “It’s so valuable.”
“I’ve got two more of the pieces now,” Gideon said.
Jemma’s eyebrows shot up. “You’ve been a busy man.”
“Aren’t I always?”
He held out the box to Fitz. Fitz took it, and met Gideon’s look with a calm one of his own.
Gideon turned serious.
“I know you don’t believe,” he said. “You don’t have to yet. You have the facts: historically, for generations, we have sent men through the Monolith. Good men,” he nodded at Jemma, “like this one’s great-grandfather.”
Jemma’s stomach turned. She didn’t like to think about that. Anne had been very young when her grandfather was taken. She didn’t speak much about it beyond telling Jemma that their family’s standing was solidified by the man’s sacrifice.
She must have been horrified when she was old enough to understand what had actually happened. Jemma speculated to Fitz that Anne believed because she needed to think her grandfather would come back one day.
Privately, Jemma thought the Monolith wasn’t a portal at all. She thought it was a death sentence.
She forced herself to focus on the room again.
“We’ve spoken about this,” Fitz said quietly. “We don’t have enough information for me to figure out how the portal works, especially since the Monolith itself is lost.”
“It’s not lost,” Stephanie said.
Fitz exchanged an uncertain look with Jemma.
“You told me you didn’t know where it was,” Fitz said to Gideon.
“We have a lead,” Gideon said. He was lit up with excitement. “It always comes back to us, Fitz. NASA gave it to SHIELD after the mission got shut down.”
Fitz still looked calm. “Ten years ago, then.”
“Yes.”
Fitz rubbed his forehead. “Why didn’t they tell you?”
“I don’t know yet,” Gideon said. “But I’m sure as hell going to find out.”
Jemma could practically see the stress weighing Fitz’s shoulders down.
“I can’t promise anything,” he said. “I really can’t.”
“Because you don’t want to?” Gideon asked.
Fitz shook his head. “Because I value our friendship too much to promise you something when I don’t know what I’ll find.”
Gideon nodded. “That’s good enough for now, son.”
Fitz nodded back, but he clearly heard Gideon’s caveat.
Jemma did, too.
-
A few days later, Jemma was woken up by Fitz’s lips on her neck. She smiled before her eyes opened.
There was a wrapped package on her nightstand. Her smile widened.
“Good morning,” she murmured.
She stretched a little and turned onto her back. Fitz propped his head up on his hand and gazed down at her.
“Good morning,” he said. His voice was still rough from sleep. “Happy Birthday, Jem.”
She widened her eyes. “Is it my birthday?”
Fitz chuckled and shook his head. “Did I get the day wrong? Guess I can put your present away.”
She shook her own back hard. “Don’t you dare.”
He leaned in and kissed her. She hummed happily into it, savoring the slow brush of their lips together.
She ended it. “I want my present,” she whispered.
He rolled his eyes in faux annoyance. “I see how it is.”
He nodded at the nightstand. She sat up and snatched the box.
She loved that he always used drafting paper to wrap his gifts for her. It was so very him.
He sat up with a yawn and she cuddled into him. Warm, shirtless Fitz in their bed giving her a present. An excellent way to start her birthday, indeed.
She carefully tore the paper open. Her heart leapt to her throat when she saw a familiar wooden box. She found the seal with her fingertips and gingerly lifted the top off.
He’d made her another necklace, this time in rose gold. The flat, round charm suspended at the end was engraved with a-
“Lily of the valley,” she said. She traced the impression with the tip of her finger. Beautiful and poisonous. Another one of her favorites.
“I know you’ve used them…creatively,” he said, a tease in his voice. “But apparently, they symbolize, well. Happiness.”
He was adorable.
“I love it,” she said. “Help me put it on?”
He lifted it out of the box and fastened the chain around her neck. He brushed his fingertips along the side of her neck and let them linger, pulling a little shiver out of her.
The pendant settled perfectly on her chest, lying flat just below the hollow of her throat.
She put the paper and the box on her bedside table and turned back to him.
“Thank you.”
She cupped his cheek and pulled him into another long, slow kiss, then burst into giggles when he pulled her back onto the mattress.
“I’ve got another present for you,” he said. His eyes were sparkling mischievously.
He pushed the covers off of her. She shivered at the rush of cold air against her bare skin.
“Oh?” she breathed out.
He was already kissing his way down her stomach. “Mm-hmm.”
She sank her fingers into his curls as he parted her thighs and settled between them.
“Seems like this is a present that you’ll en- oh.”
-
They were halfway through the stack of pancakes Jemma had insisted on making herself when they were called to Robert’s office.
Robert was barely there, but he still had the best one. It annoyed the hell out of Fitz. They used it all the time. Bobbi should have it.
Jemma frowned. “Damnit,” she said.
“I’ll make you whatever you want for lunch,” Fitz promised.
She smiled at him. “Are you just determined to be cute today?”
“It’s your birthday,” he protested. “You deserve all the things.”
Also, he’d needed to sleep for twelve hours after what she’d done for his birthday that year. He’d do whatever the hell she wanted for hers.
Jemma threw tinfoil over the pancakes and they strode quickly down the hallway to join the others. Bobbi and Izzy were sitting on Gonzales’s desk. Hunter was leaning against the window.
“Happy Birthday, Jemma,” Bobbi said. “I got you a terrible gift.”
Jemma frowned. “You’re going to make me watch The Core?"
Bobbi frowned back. “No, I- someone attacked General Talbot. What’s The Core?"
Fitz shook his head hard behind Jemma’s back. It was, in fact, a terrible and scientifically inaccurate film and she absolutely did not need to get Jemma started on it.
“I’ll tell you later,” Jemma said. “Talbot was attacked?”
Bobbi nodded. “Near Dover. And in theory, everything is fine. Talbot’s fine, and they caught the guy.”
Dover. Fitz’s heart started racing.
“So what’s the red flag?” Jemma asked.
Bobbi nodded at the screen on Robert’s wall. It was set to CNN and muted. Suspect Captured in Attack on US General, the chyron read. A headshot was displayed next to the reporter that was speaking.
“That’s Carl Creel,” Bobbi said. “He was on the Index. Then, he was crossed off the Index.”
“As in…” Fitz led.
“Yup,” Izzy said. “John Garrett’s team was sent to terminate him. Reported back that he killed the guy.”
“Garrett,” Hunter said. “Isn’t that the bloke who-”
He looked at Fitz. Fitz nodded.
“Ah,” Hunter said. “So. Hail Hydra?”
“Little bit,” Jemma confirmed.
“Do we know where they took him?” Fitz asked.
“I have a guess,” Bobbi said. She looked deeply concerned. “If I’m right, Creel might be exactly where he wants to be.”