He ran into Ward on the way back to the Bus. He was about to completely ignore him and continue on his way when Ward nudged his arm in passing.

"Way to go, Fitz. You made Simmons cry."

Fitz groaned in exasperation. "I know, all right?" He didn't need Ward making him feel any worse than he already did. "I'm going to apologize right now." He shot Ward an irritated glance but saw that he had a smirk on his face.

"Hey, I'm just teasing you," he laughed. "But yeah…you should probably go talk to her."

Fitz nodded, not meeting Ward's eyes, and started to leave.

"Wait," he heard Ward say. Fitz rolled his eyes and turned around. "You're just…going to go in there now?"

Fitz didn't understand what the big deal was. "Well…yeah," he responded.

"Dude," Ward said, a flash of alarm in his eyes. "You're gonna need some ammo."

"Well, you see, I'm not actually that angry with her, Ward."

"No, I mean-" Ward sighed and looked up at the ceiling, seeming to already regret what he was about to do. "Oh, come on. I'll help you."

"You're joking," Fitz said when he saw where Ward had taken him.

Ward shook his head, but he was actually trying very hard not to laugh. "Absolutely not. You made a mistake, and you need to show her that you're truly sorry."

"No, Ward, you don't understand. Simmons and I don't operate like this. She's gonna think I've gone mad-"

"Fitz, this is the right thing to do," Ward interrupted him pointedly. He tried desperately to keep the grin off of his face, but seeing Fitz looking so distressed in the middle of the flower aisle of the hospital gift shop was almost too much.

Ward had been surprised. For all the trouble that this medical facility had caused them, and despite being in the middle of Nowhere, Europe, it still managed to have a pretty well-equipped gift shop with flowers that he was fairly sure didn't grow anywhere nearby. He would never understand some of the inner workings of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Fitz was still looking extremely uncomfortable. Ward didn't actually know if making him get flowers for Simmons was the right thing to do. He had found himself in a lot of tight spots over the years, but he'd never been in a situation that had called upon the use of flowers to be part of the solution. (Except for that one time in Dubai, but it had hardly been under the same circumstances.) He just figured it was a nice gesture. Simmons deserved something nice after all she'd been through today.

"Come on, Fitz," he said, crossing his arms.

Fitz gave him a panicked look. He had his hands on his waist and was tapping his foot, turning in tight circles as he looked at the bouquets around him. "Ward, I'm serious. I have no idea what to-"

Ward cut him off. "What's her favorite flower?"

"What, you think I know-" he began defensively, but when he saw Ward's raised eyebrows his voice trailed off. He gave a frustrated groan in response and begrudgingly leaned over to grab a bouquet of daisies.

Ward couldn't hide his amusement anymore. "Now, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Fitz shot him a death glare, but Ward just laughed.

When they exited the gift shop, they were about to part ways when Ward figured that he should probably practice what he preached. "Hey, Fitz?"

Fitz turned around, mouth open to say something in irritation, but he must have noticed the serious expression on Ward's face because he kept his comment to himself. "What?"

Ward hesitated. "Look…about what I said earlier…"

Fitz waved a hand dismissively, but he avoided Ward's eyes. "Just forget about it, Ward."

Ward needed Fitz to know that he hadn't meant what he'd said about him being in the way. He had just been under a lot of stress and lashed out at him. But it had been a manifestation of his own anxieties and had had nothing to do with Fitz. He was actually thankful for Fitz. Skye wouldn't have made it if he hadn't kept watch over her while Ward had been gone.

"But-"

"Just let it go, all right?" Fitz looked down at the ground. "It's been a long day and we've all done…things that we should just probably forget about, yeah?"

Ward wanted to argue with him, but something told him not to push it. "Yeah," he sighed. "Okay."

Fitz glanced up at him briefly and nodded before turning around and heading towards the Bus.

She took a shaky breath and wiped the remainders of the tears left on her face. She really just needed a nice cuppa and maybe a long bath (too bad the Bus didn't have one of those, but she would settle for a shower). The tiredness came in waves, and she felt as if her limbs had been turned to lead. It had been, undoubtedly, the longest day of her life.

Ward had told her to talk to Fitz, but Jemma knew that Fitz probably wanted to be left alone for a little while longer. Most of the time, she felt confident in seeking him out after an argument, but since they'd both been through so much today and considering that this fight was their most severe, she doubted her presence would be wanted. She closed her eyes and sighed, resting her hands on her neck. He had been really upset.

When she heard footsteps enter the lab, she stood up so abruptly that she almost knocked over the stool she'd been sitting on. Fitz was standing there, avoiding her gaze and looking very uncomfortable.

"Oh! Um…hi," she stammered, and winced. She hated when things were awkward between them.

He simply nodded in return and seemed to look everywhere but at her. She suddenly noticed the bouquet of flowers in his hands. What on earth…?

"Is that-" she started, and then tried again. "Are those-?" She gave him a look of utter confusion, hoping that he would help her out. He opened his mouth to say something, but seemed to think better of it and simply walked up to her, gingerly grabbed her hand, and placed the flowers in her grasp before awkwardly stepping back a few steps. His face had turned a deep shade of crimson and he was furiously avoiding her gaze. She was stunned, and simply stared in open-mouthed bewilderment down at the daisies in her hands. Fitz had done some strange things before, but this definitely topped the list.

He placed his palm on his forehead and groaned. "It was Ward's idea."

"Oh," she said, recovering her composure. That made so much more sense. "Well…that was nice of him. Um…let me just find something…" Her voice trailed off as she looked around the lab for something to put the flowers in. Her eyes fell on a graduated cylinder and she immediately grabbed it before walking over to the sink and filling it up with water. As she set the bouquet in the glass and began to arrange the flowers, it was her turn to avoid looking at him. "This is probably not very safe, I mean when the Bus takes off it won't be secure at all so we should probably put it upstairs, yes, putting them upstairs would be nice so then everyone can see them." She was rambling. "And obviously we wouldn't be able to keep them in the lab, because we have no idea what kind of bacteria could be on them that could potentially interfere with-"

"Jemma," Fitz said softly. He had slowly walked up next to her as she was furiously arranging the daisies and placed a hand on her elbow. Her movements stilled, but she remained staring at the flowers, unable to look at him. She heard him take a deep breath.

"Jemma, I-"

She forced herself to turn her head, giving him the most sincere smile she could muster. "Fitz, you don't have to say anything. I know-"

"No, Jemma," he said more forcibly. He paused, looking in her eyes with a fierce intensity before breaking away and staring down at his hands, which were absentmindedly playing with a stray thread on her sweater. "What I said was out of line. It was stupid and cowardly and I shouldn't have done it."

She couldn't let him take all of the blame, even though under any other circumstances she would have smiled triumphantly and laughed in his face. "Fitz, it's fine. It's been a long day for everyone. And besides, it's not like you were completely…wrong," she admitted, growing quiet.

He shook his head. "That's no excuse. Especially since you've worked so hard today to save Skye."

Jemma snorted. "Oh, please. Like anything I did today actually helped Skye."

His hands had stopped playing with the thread on her sweater. He looked up at her, and she could feel his concerned eyes boring into the side of her face. "What the hell are you talking about, Jemma?"

She avoided his gaze. Should she tell him about what she had seen under the microscope? She didn't even know what its implications were. All she knew was that there was something different about Skye, that there was something in her blood that was able to naturally stabilize Extremis. Who was she to speculate about what that could mean? Skye was safe, and that was all that mattered. She decided to keep this small discovery a secret. She actually had a feeling that it wasn't quite a small discovery, but for once in her life, she lacked the enthusiastic desire to share it with the world. Jemma felt uneasy about hiding something from Fitz, but she told herself that it was her responsibility as Skye's friend and teammate to keep this to herself. At least for now.

But she didn't have to completely lie outright. "Well…I mean…well, it's not like in the grand scheme of things anything I've done today actually…mattered." She was looking down at the table and could see Fitz fidgeting out of the corner of her eye. Oh, dear. She'd upset him again.

"Jemma-" he began in a strangled voice. She looked up at him in alarm to see a very pained expression on his face. "Skye was practically dead when we found her. You are the only reason that she is alive right now, okay? It was you who thought to put her in that chamber, and it was you who thought to go to London and get that serum for her. We wouldn't even have gotten into this mess if I hadn't-" His voice cracked and he broke away from her gaze, his eyes glistening with tears.

What was he talking about? "Fitz…"

"Why didn't I stop her?" he whispered. "I could've-"

No. This was unacceptable. She turned to face him and took hold of his hand. "As if you could stop Skye from doing anything she set her mind to."

He simply shook his head, not seeing her in front of him. "Shouldn't have let her go after Quinn by herself. What was I thinking?"

"Fitz, don't you dare." His eyes focused on hers at hearing the gravity in her tone. "It is not. Your. Fault," she said firmly. "Quinn is the one who hurt her, and Quinn is the one to blame. Not you." She saw a flash of something in his eyes at the mention of Quinn's name, but he looked away from her again before she could decipher it. She was going to release his hand, but he had absentmindedly started tracing circles on hers, so she remained where she was. They were silent for a few moments, and she could tell that he was weighing the decision of whether or not to say something. She heard him take a breath.

"I didn't know it was dendrotoxin, Jemma," he murmured, still staring at her hand in his.

She had been expecting him to say something about Quinn, so she was momentarily thrown. He hadn't known what was dendrotoxin? Her heart started hammering. Had he figured out about Skye?

"What?" she breathed.

He hesitated again. "The grenade you threw yourself at. I didn't know it was dendrotoxin."

"You didn't?" she whispered. She had assumed after she had woken up in the luggage car that both Fitz and Skye had already figured out its effects. Fitz continued to avoid her eyes, and she focused on keeping her breathing steady. She knew that saying it would change things between them. She knew that saying it was admitting to something that she herself hadn't even realized. Saying it would introduce a whole new set of problems that they would have to deal with. Saying it was going past the point of no return. But she owed him this much.

"Me neither," she said. His head snapped up at hearing the tears in her voice.

And then there was no space left between them. She was in his arms and sobbing into his shoulder, and he was gently stroking her back, murmuring that everything was going to be okay. She'd cried so much today, but this time she was crying for something that she didn't quite understand.

She had been so excited to join this team, and she thought she had known what she was getting herself and Fitz into. But the situations they had been placed in were unlike anything she could have anticipated. She thought that being a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the field meant putting everyone else's needs ahead of her own, regardless of safety. But as Fitz tightened his arms around her and rested his head on her shoulder, trembling slightly from his own tears, she realized that she had been reckless. Jemma Simmons? Reckless? It was absurd, but deep down she knew it to be true. She hadn't thought about how her actions would affect Fitz, because she hadn't thought it would have been a big deal to him. But she now understood that that had been wrong of her. If he had done the same things she had, it would've destroyed her. They were FitzSimmons, for goodness' sake. He was Fitz and she was Simmons and they could function without each other but why the hell would they want to? They were better together.

After a while, their tears had stopped, but they still held onto each other. She knew that she should probably break away, but for the moment she was content to just be in the arms of her best friend. They both sighed at the same time and laughed a little at their unintentional synchronization. (Not that their synchronization had ever been intentional.)

"Fitz," she mumbled into his shoulder. "What's wrong with me?"

He stiffened a little in response and gently removed himself from her arms so he could look her in the eyes. "Nothing is wrong with you, Jemma."

She sighed in exasperation. "But you yourself said that I have some kind of death wish!"

He smiled a little, but she could still see anxiety on his face. "I'll admit, you are showing signs of having what I think I'll refer to as a Captain America Complex." She laughed despite herself, but couldn't keep her face from falling again. "But Jemma, whatever…this…is," he said, gesturing towards her vaguely, "we'll figure it out. We'll do what we always do. We'll fix it…"

"Together," she said along with him, and it was like a huge burden had been lifted off of her shoulders. He smiled and reached out to brush a lone tear off of her cheek. His ears turned pink as he seemed to realize what he was doing and he quickly removed his hand, staring down at the floor. She was blushing, too, but she didn't quite know why.

"You owe me ten quid, by the way," Fitz said. She looked up at him in confusion.

"What? Why?"

He smirked at her and folded his arms. "Fury definitely sleeps with it on."

May had to admit, she didn't think it was possible that anything could surprise her anymore. But when Coulson had explained what he had found out about Skye in London, she had been stunned. She had remained silent as Coulson avoided her eyes and told her about how he had given Skye the dendrotoxin, and even though May felt immense relief for Skye's recovery, she couldn't help but be alarmed with Coulson's behavior.

"Why did you do it?" she asked after he had finished.

He glanced up at her confusedly. "Do what?"

"Phil, they were going to give her that stuff anyways. Fury said so. And still you fought tooth and nail, risking the lives of the rest of the team so that you could…what? Give it to her yourself?"

Coulson looked conflicted and let his arms fall at his sides. "What else was I supposed to do, May? I couldn't let them touch her." His voice faltered, and he paused. She was about to respond when he took a deep breath. "Skye is on this team because of me. She's my responsibility. And now that we know more about her past, she's in more danger than ever. We…I need to make sure that she's not as vulnerable as S.H.I.E.L.D. wants her to be." He paused again before looking her in the eyes. "What happened yesterday can't happen again, May. Our team can't handle it. I can't handle it."

She walked up to him and placed a hand on his arm. "I think you underestimate yourself, Phil." He gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. She lowered her hand and sighed.

"You know he's not going to let you get away with this, right?"

He winced. "Yeah, I guess what happened back there was pretty bad."

She raised an eyebrow. Pretty bad? Yeah, she supposed blowing up what had to have been a billion-dollar project and knocking out the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. was considered pretty bad.

"You didn't just go against protocol. You jeopardized the whole T.A.H.I.T.I. project."

He avoided her gaze again, a guilty look on his face. "What?" she asked.

Coulson seemed to weigh his options and then must have realized to whom he was talking. "I…didn't exactly jeopardize the whole project."

"What do you mean? The lab's gone, isn't it?"

"Well, yes, that's true…but I have all the results of the trials," he responded with a glint in his eyes. "Everything, May. The names of all those kids. What they gave them, where they are. Everything."

May was baffled, which on her face just meant that she looked really ticked off. "So you agree with what S.H.I.E.L.D. has been doing? You gave that stuff to Skye so she could…what? Lead an army against the Clairvoyant?"

"Maybe," Coulson replied, looking doubtful. At her angry expression, he held up his hands. "Okay, no!" He groaned. "I don't know! I just- Fury's right, May. We have no idea how to deal with these threats that keep coming at us. We need something different. Maybe these kids are what we need."

"But they didn't ask for it, Phil." Her voice was deadly quiet.

He nodded, trying to get her to calm down. "You're right. They didn't. And that's why we're not going to do anything about it until we know more. If Skye wants to do it, she will, but it'll be on her terms. And that goes for all of the rest of the kids. Nothing more will happen to them without their permission."

"Phil, when I say that Fury isn't going to let you get away with this, you know what I mean, right?"

Coulson met her gaze and she could tell that he knew all of his hopes about T.A.H.I.T.I.'s future were pointless. He nodded. "Yeah. I know."

There was a heavy pause. "It's been a pleasure working with you, Melinda-"

The moment was interrupted by the sound of a call coming onto the screen. Coulson immediately turned around, and she saw him straighten up to his full height as Fury greeted them.

"Agent Coulson, Agent May, we've got a problem. I'm sending you some footage, it should be coming into your feed right about now."

Coulson looked confused but seemed to recover his composure as he and May watched the screen fill with a news report showing what looked like massive destruction in a downtown setting. The news title on the bottom of the screen read "Red-Haired Beauty Wreaks Havoc in Hungary." Fury continued to speak over shots of a girl with flaming orange hair walking through the streets, wearing a very flimsy getup. Cars were being blasted with what appeared to be lightning bolts, and as she made her way along the middle of the road, men were literally falling at her feet. Oh, no. Not again.

"It looks like we've got another Stuttgart situation on our hands. Only this time it's not Loki tearing Europe apart. We don't really know who this girl is, whether she's Asgardian or Loki's evil ginger girlfriend or whatever, but we're gonna need your team to go in, assess the damage, and apprehend her. And you're gonna need to do it now."

Coulson looked dumbfounded. "But-"

"Now, Agent Coulson." Before he could respond, the screen went black as Fury ended the call.

Coulson looked over at May. "Guess I got off easy, huh?" he asked. He was smiling, but she could see the fear in his eyes. She just gave him a look. There was no way that this was over. And there was no way that whatever this was, was getting off easy.

Garrett was standing outside of the conference room when they walked out. "Well, Coulson, you sure know how to throw a party."

"It's not over yet," Coulson smirked. "How would you like to stick around with us for a little while? We've got another Asgardian on the loose, and S.H.I.E.L.D. is making us the welcome wagon."

Garrett sighed, looking wary. "I don't know, Coulson. Those people always bring a little too much baggage with them, you know? This guy doesn't have a hammer, does he?"

"No," Coulson replied. "She doesn't."

"Yeah, you know, I could use a break from London. Those Brits are too serious."

May wrestled with all of her inner demons to keep from rolling her eyes.

"But, uh, I've got some stuff to take care of before we jet off to capture this alien goddess. Shouldn't take too long. Just try not to leave without me." Coulson nodded in response and headed towards his office.

May waited until Coulson was out of earshot before turning to Garrett. He looked as if he was about to say something, but before he could process what was happening, she had pinned him up against the wall, her arm shoved under his chin cutting off his airway.

"Losing your touch, Garrett?" she hissed at him.

He tried to say something in response, but she pushed her forearm further into his neck. "No. Don't speak. I know you had plenty of time to disable the bombs in that warehouse. And if you had failed, you wouldn't be here, so listen carefully. If I find out that you endangered the lives of my team by letting those bombs go off, I will make your life so miserable you'll wish you had stayed in that hellhole S.H.I.E.L.D. found you in."

"It's good to see you, too, Melinda," Garrett croaked, trying to smile at her. She released her grip on him and stormed off, leaving him rubbing his sore neck.

He paced outside of the doorway, seriously considering throwing away the yellow roses he had in his hands. He didn't even know why he had picked yellow. Ward considered himself a pretty simple guy, and he figured roses were a pretty simple flower. But he thought red would be too weird and when he'd seen the yellow, he thought that she'd like them. Yellow was a happy color, right? He thought she had said she liked yellow…or maybe it had been purple. Ward stared at them in panic. He was not good at this.

He had just made the decision to toss them when he heard a voice coming from inside the room. "You gonna take off your coat and stay awhile?" He closed his eyes. Of course she had realized he had been standing there. He sheepishly leaned in the doorway and tentatively made his way towards her bed. Skye's eyes lit up when she saw the flowers.

"Are those for me?" When he gave her a small nod, her smile grew wider. "Wow. Agent Grant Ward got me flowers? It must be a special day."

"All right, all right," he said, rolling his eyes playfully. "I get it. The Tin Man has a heart after all."

She laughed as he placed the flowers in the empty vase beside her bed. "They're beautiful, Ward. Thank you."

He gave her a curt nod, avoiding her eyes, and looked around for a chair to sit down in. She moved her legs over to the side and patted the spot in front of her. When he eyed her skeptically, she rolled her eyes. "Don't worry. I'll leave room for Jesus."

He hesitated before gingerly sitting down on the bed. "Um…so you're all…uh…okay, I mean?" he gestured vaguely towards her stomach, and winced. Had the day's events completely erased his ability to form a complete sentence?

He saw her suppress a snicker. "I'm fine, Ward. I'm totally healed. I actually don't even know what I'm still doing here. Although, I hate to admit it, but the food here is slightly better than that stuff we have on the Bus."

Ward ignored her last comment, surprised at her recovery rate. "Wow, I guess that stuff really worked on you, huh?"

He saw something unreadable pass through her eyes, but it disappeared as she smiled again. "Yeah, it's amazing. I feel fantastic." Her eyes widened as she looked at his right shoulder. "Whoa. Ward. What happened to you?"

"What?" He glanced down at his shoulder in confusion and saw the still-healing wound. "Oh, yeah. Oh, that was…I got…stabbed." At her alarmed expression, he held up his hands to reassure her. "Yesterday. On the train. I'm fine." He'd actually completely forgotten about that particular incident. Had it really only been yesterday?

"Still," she said, awe in her voice. "You should get that looked at."

He looked at her incredulously. "You were shot!"

She smirked a little and placed her fists on her waist. "'Skin deep. Nothing to worry about,'" she said in what he assumed was supposed to be an impression of him but just made her sound like she had a really nasty case of bronchitis. He didn't really sound like that, did he?

"You know that's not actually what 'skin deep' means, right?"

Skye rolled her eyes. "I know, Mr. Grumpy Pants. I was just trying to lighten the mood." She sighed. "It's been a hell of a couple of days, hasn't it?"

"Tell me about it." He was starting to feel the exhaustion of being awake for so long, not to mention the soreness in his muscles from overexertion. As he glanced over at her, he saw a compassion in her eyes that startled him. How could she be looking at him like that when he had failed her?

"Skye…" he began, unsure how to put what he wanted to say into words. He looked down at his hands. "What happened yesterday…was my fault. As your S.O., I should've been there to make sure you didn't get hurt-"

"I swear, if one more person blames themselves for my stupid mistakes, I will explode." He glanced up in alarm to see her giving him an expression so angry he nearly backed up off the bed. "Grant. I am the only person to blame for what happened yesterday. Not you. Not Fitz. Not Coulson. Me." He didn't completely agree with her, but for the sake of appeasing her fury he nodded in response. She relaxed a little before saying, "And that douche, Quinn. I mean, obviously. He's the one who actually shot me."

She was trying to get him to smile, but her words weren't very comforting. He started absentmindedly playing with the fabric on the bed next to her hand. "We're glad you're okay, Skye." He corrected himself. "I'm…glad you're okay. You scared us there for a bit."

He still couldn't look at her, but when she grabbed onto his hand he glanced up to see her grinning. "Hey. It's gonna take a little bit more effort to get rid of me. Besides, I still haven't become a full-fledged S.H.I.E.L.D. agent yet." That managed to make him smile a little. She gave his hand a squeeze before releasing it and settling back into the pillows.

"So, Mr. Supervising Officer, sir, are you gonna yell at me for barging into a hostile situation with no backup or do I have to do it myself?"

He fixed an expression of mock austerity on his face and folded his arms. "You're right. That was pretty stupid. And you're definitely going to be paying for it in pull-ups once you get back in training."

She frowned, giving him some very convincing puppy eyes, and they both burst out laughing. When the laughter had subsided, she groaned. "I'm so lame. I can't even go on a real mission without getting shot and almost dying."

Ward smiled in response but felt a pain in his chest. "Well, what did you expect? You're not done with your training yet. And besides…you're only human."

Coulson looked up when he heard a knock on his open office door.

"Yes, Agent Fitz? Is everything all right?"

He stood up as Fitz entered the room. "Yeah, yeah, everything's fine, Simmons just went to go see Skye, I think. Um, sir, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a minute?"

"Actually, Fitz, I've got a lot on my plate right now…" he began, but changed his mind. He had been making arrangements for them to leave for Budapest immediately, but he still had to inform the rest of the team of their assignment, and since he knew Fitz had been through hell today, he figured Asgard could wait a little longer. "You know what? Yeah, I've got a minute. What's up?"

Fitz nodded and closed the door behind him, looking nervous but oddly calm. He walked up to stand in front of Coulson's desk, and Coulson felt a small pang in his heart at seeing Fitz hold himself so formally. He was a lot older than the kid who had joined his team only a few months ago. They all were, really.

"Sir, I realize that it probably won't happen right away, but I was wondering if, the next time we got back to the States, you could maybe arrange for me to retake my field assessment."

Coulson was surprised. He had been expecting Fitz to address a concern about Simmons's recent altruistic behavior, or even to call him out on his own strange behavior today. But as he thought back on the day's events, Coulson realized that he probably should have seen this coming.

"Agent Fitz, if this is about last night, I'm really sorry for having left you here. But those orders? They didn't have anything to do with your lack of abilities. It was actually the opposite. I knew that you were the only one capable of making sure that no one hurt Skye. And I was right."

Fitz was shaking his head, but Coulson could tell that he was a little shocked at his words. "Thank you, sir, but that's not why I want to retake the test. I wasn't ready to take it the first time, but I am now." He was looking at Coulson with a resolute determination.

Coulson hesitated as he considered the options. "Okay," he said. "Yeah, I think we can arrange that. But it'll have to wait a little while. We've got some business to attend to."

Fitz nodded, looking extremely relieved. "Yes, of course. Thank you, sir."

Coulson sat back down at his desk and looked down at the piles of paperwork he had in front of him. Without looking up, he said, "I'll talk to Ward and see if he can help you with your preparations."

"Actually, sir." Coulson glanced up. "I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me prepare." Coulson must have looked completely baffled, because Fitz's eyes widened. "It wouldn't have to take a lot of your time and I can actually probably do a lot of it on my own, but-" He sighed, and looked like he was trying very hard to get the next words out. "Ward's…great…and all, but I'm not like him. I don't have the same kind of…strengths…as he does."

Coulson was trying not to smirk. What was Fitz getting at? That Coulson also didn't have the same kind of strengths Ward had? He thought about being offended but realized that Fitz was right. Coulson wasn't scrawny, but he also wasn't Ward. And as he took in the young engineer in front of him, Coulson realized with a heavy heart that Fitz wasn't scrawny either. But, well, when you stood him up next to Ward…

Fitz must have realized what he had been implying because his eyes widened even further. "Not that you don't have similar strengths as Agent Ward, sir, but I uh, I just-" He sighed again, gathering himself. "I think I could learn a lot more from you, sir." His face had turned red and he was looking like he was regretting this request more and more with every word. Coulson decided to put him out of his misery. But if he was honest with himself, he was actually very proud of him.

"I'd be honored, Agent Fitz."

She managed to give Ward a tight smile, hoping that he wouldn't notice her faltered expression. She was still reeling from the recent developments regarding her own identity. She could barely understand it herself, let alone discuss it with Ward. Thankfully she was saved from responding when Simmons nervously ducked into the doorway, knocking lightly. "Um…Skye? Oh!" Simmons noticed Ward and looked like she was about to run away when Ward immediately stood up and moved to the side of the room. She looked over at Skye with wide-eyed apprehension.

Skye simply held out her arms and the next thing she knew Simmons had run over to her and threw her arms around her. Skye laughed and hugged her tightly. She would never have guessed that she would ever be friends with someone like Simmons, but life had definitely been full of surprises lately. Skye knew that under all of Simmons's scientific bravado and introverted behavior, she had one of the kindest hearts in the world. Skye had a fleeting thought that if she could have a sister, she would want Simmons. But she pushed that thought away. However close she and Simmons had grown over the past few months, Skye knew that Simmons would treat her differently once she knew about her past. It was in her nature.

After a few moments, she realized that Simmons was crying. She instinctively hugged her tighter. "Hey, Simmons, it's okay," she said, laughing a little. She pulled away to look at her, and Simmons looked down to see if she had brushed up against her side.

"Oh! I'm sorry, did I hurt you? Do you need anything? Any more bandages or something? Well, no, I suppose you wouldn't need any bandages, but-"

"Simmons," Skye tried to interrupt her, but she kept rambling, tears streaming down her face.

"Skye, I'm so sorry, I can't even imagine how much you've been hurt, and I tried to get in to make sure the doctors didn't mess up your surgery but they wouldn't let me in and then I had no idea-"

"Simmons," Skye tried again.

"How to help you and then Coulson had me look at Level 10 records and honestly it was so stressful but I was just so worried that you wouldn't make it and I had no idea what else to do and I'm afraid I didn't help you at all, really, and I am so terribly sorry, Skye, you must think I'm a terrible person-"

"Jemma!" Skye exclaimed. That shut her up. "You saved my life." She paused, trying to keep her own tears from spilling over. "I'll never forget that."

Simmons just looked at her and nodded, unable to speak. Skye searched her eyes for a sign of judgment or fear, indicating how much she knew about her heritage. She was surprised to see nothing but the same kindness and affection as before. Maybe Skye had been wrong. Maybe Simmons wouldn't treat her differently. Or maybe she just hadn't figured it out yet. Skye decided to keep this friend for as long as possible, but she knew that she would probably have to tell her the truth eventually. Simmons was too smart. Still. She would be sad to lose her.

Just then, Coulson and May walked into the room, followed by Fitz. Simmons stood up and went to stand in between Coulson and Fitz, and Skye noticed that Fitz automatically moved so that their arms were touching. Good. Skye didn't want to be in a world where FitzSimmons were fighting (any more than usual). Simmons wiped the tears off of her face and muttered, "Oh, dear. I'm a mess."

Skye was about to respond when Coulson turned and placed a hand on Simmons's shoulder. "No," he said, looking at her with an almost paternal pride. "You were great." Simmons gave a feeble smile in return and stared down at the floor. Coulson continued to look at her with concern, and Skye knew that he was going to be watching Simmons more closely in the future. Which was good, because Simmons needed to stop doing things like jumping out of airplanes.

"Welcome back," May said, interrupting her thoughts. She quickly turned her head to see a small smile playing on May's lips.

Skye was still unused to May's rare moments of affection, but she managed to recover her surprise. "Thank you," she whispered, and May gave her a subtle nod. Skye noticed Ward was looking slightly uncomfortable and had moved a little more to the side. She didn't really know what that was all about, but hopefully they would all have the chance to sit around and exchange stories about what had actually gone down while she'd been out. Maybe they could take a vacation or something, go somewhere nice. Somewhere tropical.

Just not Tahiti.

As she looked around the room at her team, she couldn't keep her heart from swelling. She realized with a start that she loved all of them. Every single one of them. (Yes, even May.) They were more than just her team. They were her family. She had spent her entire life trying to find the place where she had come from, had spent years attempting to track down her real family. But as she saw the exhaustion on all of their faces and the relief in all of their eyes, indications of how hard they had worked to save her, she knew that she had found them. They say you can't choose your family. But Skye disagreed. She had chosen this one. It might be crazy and dysfunctional and she would probably never gather around the table with them for Thanksgiving dinner. But they were hers.

And she wouldn't have it any other way.

"So…I guess a group hug is out of the question?"

May rolled her eyes but had a smirk on her face, and Ward just raised his eyebrows at her. FitzSimmons collectively took a step forward and then looked slightly crestfallen when they realized no one else was following them.

"How about a rain check?" Coulson asked, smiling. "We're gonna need everyone to suit up. We're going to Budapest."

The entire room exploded in an eruption of voices.

He walked briskly down the abandoned alleyway, glancing at his watch. He hoped this wouldn't take long. Coulson and his team were going to take off soon, but Garrett knew that if he didn't keep his appointment, the consequences would be more severe than being stranded in the middle of Europe.

He tapped his foot impatiently and was just about to check behind the next building when he was suddenly grabbed from behind. A fierce grip took hold of his arm, twisting it behind his back, and Garrett glanced down to see a metal leg stepping on his foot, preventing him from moving. Despite himself, his eyes widened. So the rumors were true.

"The Clairvoyant is disappointed in you," a voice whispered in his ear. Garrett fought against the grip on his arm, but his assailant was unyielding.

"I've done what he asked," he gasped against the pain. "I'm practically on the team now. They trust me."

The grip became tighter, even though Garrett hadn't thought that was possible. "Because of your interference, the girl is still alive. Things are not going according to plan. You need to fix the problem. Soon. I think you know what will happen if you fail."

Before he could say anything in reply, he was released with a push that nearly sent him sprawling on the ground. He quickly turned around to get a good look at his attacker.

The alleyway was empty.

"Fitz, just leave it. We don't have time for this."

"No, Simmons," Fitz replied from under one of the chairs in the hospital waiting room. "We're not leaving until we find it." Jemma just sighed in exasperation.

"What is it he's looking for again?" he heard Ward mutter.

"Oh, it's just a silly little thing, really. It's a brainteaser that he has dozens more of back on the Bus," Simmons responded, aiming that last part at Fitz, who had moved over to one of the sofas and was searching under the cushions.

"So…it's a toy," Ward said.

Fitz rolled his eyes in irritation. He didn't want to explain why he wanted this particular Cube, because it would bring up questions he didn't quite want to answer. So he settled for his usual defense mechanism.

"No, it's not a toy, Ward. It's a highly sophisticated three-dimensional combination puzzle that someone like yourself couldn't possibly even begin to understand-"

"You looking for this?"

They all spun around in surprise to see the receptionist holding up his Cube. Fitz walked over to take it from her and realized that all the colors were lined up. He could've sworn it had only been partially solved when he'd thrown it across the room.

"Did you solve this?" he asked her. She looked a little dazed, like she wasn't used to answering questions a lot, which was pretty strange considering she was a receptionist.

"Is that how you solve it then? I just made all the colors match up. It was bothering me, 'cause I have this thing with colors." At his raised eyebrow, she clarified, "Obsessive compulsive. But anyway, yeah, it took me about a minute. Why, is it like hard or something?"

For about the tenth time that day, Fitz found himself speechless.

Quinn was fairly certain he'd never been more bored in his life. The hours crawled by in that interrogation room, but despite the tedium he figured he probably couldn't be in a safer place. Especially considering the fact that he hadn't managed to kill the girl. No, this was probably the only place on earth where he could escape the Clairvoyant's wrath.

All of a sudden the lights went out. He heard the door open and sighed loudly. "How many emotionally unstable S.H.I.E.L.D. agents does it take to interrogate one guy?" The door closed quietly behind his newest visitor and Quinn squinted in the darkness, trying to identify a face. He felt dread settle in his stomach with every passing second of silence. He supposed he should've known this was coming. S.H.I.E.L.D. was pretty good, but the Clairvoyant had always been one step ahead of them.

The last words Quinn heard were spoken in an icy voice that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. "You failed," it hissed, before something wrapped itself around Quinn's neck. His eyes widened at the voice that he knew he had heard somewhere before. But no…that was impossible. That voice hadn't spoken in nearly a hundred years. That voice could only be heard in archived footage in the depths of buildings even Fury didn't know existed.

The last thought that went through Quinn's head before his neck snapped was:

It actually worked.

FIN

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to read my take on T.A.H.I.T.I. This whole experience has been absolutely mind-blowing. I never thought that I would be able to do something like this, but your kind words and support helped me reach the end. I now know that the March 4 episode will not happen like this, but it's still been an absolute blast to play around with my theories and the characters. I apologize for the small cliffhanger...but I DID say I wanted to make it as much like a real Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. episode as possible. ;)

Below is the track listing for the soundtrack, which can be found on 8tracks (under the username msdevindanielle). These are just a collection of songs that I was inspired by while writing this. It's in some semblance of a chronological order, but most of the songs can be applied to more than one scene/character, so feel free to make your own interpretations.

1. Marvel Studios Fanfare - Brian Tyler

2. 24 - Jem

3. Pompeii - Jasmine Thompson

4. Heavy in Your Arms - Florence and the Machine

5. Set the Fire to the Third Bar - Snow Patrol feat. Martha Wainwright

6. Palladio - Escala

7. Bravado - Lorde

8. A Pain That I'm Used To - Depeche Mode

9. Extremis - Brian Tyler

10. Say Something - Chloe Elizabeth

11. All These Things That I've Done - The Killers

12. The Scientist - Coldplay

13. Human - Christina Perri

14. Skyfall - Adele

15. Safe and Sound - Capital Cities

Also, a huge thank you to my lovely sister Chloe Elizabeth for lending her voice to the soundtrack. She also designed the book/mix cover! Another thank you to my best friend Gabriella for making sure I keep the characters in line with the show. These two ladies in my life had immense patience with me over the past few weeks.

Again, thank you so much for reading.

Much love,

MsDevinDanielle