Love Is An Open Door

A/N: Last chapter is finally done, sorry for the long delay, I apologise. :P

Jemma FitzSimmons placed her daughter in her bassinet and tucked her in. She switched the nightlight on and started the electronic mobile that her husband had designed. Lizzie May gurgled at her mother as Jemma gently stroked her head, singing the lullaby her mother had taught her. The 18 month old gurgled for a few more moments before slowly falling asleep, her hands curled around her blanket. Jemma gently shut the door, heading back down the hallway and down to the lounge.

"She in bed?" asked her husband as she entered the kitchen. Jemma smiled and nodded heading over to the little girl sitting on the counter.

"Yep, tucked in bed and hopefully asleep," said Jemma as she hugged Chloe watching her husband create his masterful creations with ice cream "You got enough sprinkles there, Leo?"

"Not enough," said Chloe

"You are going to be a hyper Monkey if you have all these sprinkles" said Jemma; she turned to her daughter "You want me to plait you hair or do you want to leave it?"

"Plait her hair, Jem, you're leaving early tomorrow and I'll just have to deal with it in the morning. Apparently I can't plait hair," Chloe giggled as Jemma grinned at her husband, kissing him on the cheek as he moved closer.

"You do alright," said Jemma laughing, helping her daughter to the ground watching as she ran up the stairs to grab her hairbrush. She turned back to her husband watching as he placed the last spoon in the bowl. "We need to talk about Chloe"

"About what?" asked Fitz turning towards her

"You don't need me to tell you that she is special, she's already finished the physics book Coulson gave her for Christmas. We need to talk about school, you and I both know that she needs to go somewhere were she can get the education she needs. She's bored with the things that the SHIELD teacher is giving her on the BUS, she needs stuff that challenges her"

"You and I both know she can't go to normal school, she'll be picked on. She's not normal, I don't want her to have the same experience I had at school. Or you had at school" Fitz looked at her "Think about Lizzie, she's with no doubt has an IQ of at least 170 if us being her parents says anything. These are not normal kids Jemma we can't send them to a normal school"

"I'm not saying to send them to a normal school-" she started

"You want to send them to SHIELD Academy?" interrupted Fitz "No, not in a million years" he turned away from her and placed both hands on the edge of the counter, his head bowed.

"I'm just saying we could research for other schools," said Jemma

"And just leave her here, Jemma we can't just dump her at boarding school and then spend the rest of our time running around the world" Fitz turned back to her "I can't leave her here and neither can you"

Jemma rung her hands together "I was thinking that we could stay here" she moved forward "Skye is thinking about settling down too, she has Elmo, Teddy and Jemmy, she's talking to Ward right now. Coulson and May are have been talking about retiring, the BUS is looking at being either re-teamed or shut down. SHIELD has offered us a place at the facilities here, for our own research. Ward and Skye have been offered their own places here, and we have Lizzie and-"

Fitz looked at her with a confused expression "You want to stay here?" interrupted Fitz

Their conversation was postponed by Chloe running back in to the kitchen a silver hairbrush in her hands. Fitz watched as Jemma brushed and plaited his daughter's hair, their conversation light and full of laughter. He placed their ice cream on the table and watched his wife the whole evening, watching her mannerisms and her actions.

Jemma noticed his eyes on her all evening, but it was only after putting Chloe to bed, an hour later, in their bedroom that she turned to him and watched him as he changed for bed. "Is there something you want to ask me?"

"What made you change you mind?" asked Fitz turning towards her, pulling on a shirt "3 years ago we had a fight about whether to stay on the BUS or not, I vividly remember you throwing your engagement ring at me, in fact I still have the scar under my eye from it. Now you change your mind, you want to stay here and now suddenly Skye wants to stay here, Coulson and May want to retire"

Jemma remained silent watching him as he continued, "Have I missed something?"

Standing up she moved to his side, winding her arms around his waist. She rested her head on his shoulders "Maybe it's time to settle down" she looked up at him "And maybe I might be on maternity for a little longer" Fitz gave her a confused look as she grabbed his hands and rested it on her abdomen.

"Are you?"

"Yep" said Jemma kissing him, leaning back in his arms "Chloe and Lizzie can't live on the BUS forever, they need to grow up in a somewhat normal, even if they are not entirely normal themselves. And with this new baby, I think its time we settled down somewhere"

"How long have you and Skye been talking about this?" asked Fitz "She doesn't have another child on the way too? There must be something about Ward, three kids already"

"No, she's not pregnant again," said Jemma grinning, "We've been talking about it for awhile, before Lizzie was born. At first after we married and moved onto the BUS, I was happy that Teddy and Chloe accompanied us where ever we went, but then the missions started getting worse and you or Ward came back injured. They started asking questions; Skye and I kept on coming up with new stories about why. But then Chloe figured it out, she guessed. We're not saying to leave SHIELD, but maybe we leave the BUS and start here" Jemma hugged him "And I don't want to lose you, I couldn't bare it. You mean the world to me and losing you would inevitably lead to my downfall. I couldn't live without you and we both know that. I thought maybe if we weren't on the front lines, back in the lab there might be less of a chance that something could happen to you"

Fitz wrapped his arms around her tighter and kissed her forehead. Jemma relaxed into his embrace, her head buried into his shoulder as a few tears slipped down her cheek. "I couldn't bare to live without you Leo, I've only just gotten you back"

"What's started these thoughts Sweetheart?" said Fitz looking down at his wife.

Jemma looked up at him, more tears in her eyes "Trip died this morning" she buried her face in his shoulder.

Fitz pulled away from her in concern "What?"

"He was on mission, he got shot. He didn't survive," said Jemma "Ward had to tell his wife and children. That's why he was late to lunch. I couldn't bare that happening to you or me, Skye or Ward, that's why Skye and I disappeared after lunch" Jemma hugged him closer.

"I think we need to discuss this more when we don't have a black cloud over our heads," said Fitz gently pushing her towards the bed. "Though it seems as though you've already made up your mind"

Jemma nodded as she climbed into bed watching as him as he brushed his teeth and combed his hair. Snuggling down into the pillows she giggled as Shiloh made himself comfortable on the window seat only to discover that he was slightly too big to fit on the seat. He ended up curling up on the pillows on the floor. Fitz joined her in the bed and wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "I love you Jems"

"Love you too, little lion man"

"Little Lion Man?" asked Fitz

"You're my little Lion Man," said Jemma

They lay quietly, Fitz gently running his hand up and down his wife's spine. Jemma was slipping into sleep when a cry rang out in the silence. Jemma moved to get out of bed, stopping as Fitz placed a hand on her shoulder and got out instead. Jemma watched as he left the room, grinning at his shirtless form. She closed her eyes waiting for the crying to stop and for Fitz to return, when another warm body joined her in the bed.

She moved the blankets away from her face to see a familiar blond head next to hers. "Chloe?" she sat up, peaking over the mountain of duvet at the little girl.

"Lizzie's crying, couldn't sleep," said Chloe as she moved over to her mother.

"Come here Monkey," said Jemma opening her arms.

Chloe moved up the bed and into her arms, hugging her. Jemma lay down, Chloe snuggling into her arms. "You want to sleep here Monkey? We might have to kick your father out to your bed" Chloe giggled in her arms "Do you want a story or do you just want to cuddle?"

"Cuddle and story" said Chloe

"You want both?"

"Maybe just cuddling" said Chloe

Jemma nodded and wrapped her arms tighter around the 7 year old. She watched the little girl fall asleep in her arms, looking up as her husband entered the room. He grinned at Chloe asleep next to his wife as he moved towards them "Am I being replaced by my own daughter?"

"Yes," said Jemma

Fitz pulled back the covers and slid in, looking at his wife "We going tomorrow?"

Jemma nodded kissing him on the lips.

Fitz tightened his hold on Jemma's hand as they walked up the path between the graves. Jemma tucked herself into his side as a particularly strong gust of wind encircled them, slipping her hand into his pockets. In Fitz's other hand were 4 orange tulips wrapped in pink paper with white ribbons. They moved towards a row of headstones down the back, stopping at a marble headstone separated slightly from the rest. Jemma motioned to move away from Fitz as he placed the flowers next to the grave, but stopped as he wound his arm tighter around her waist. "Stay" he whispered in her ear as he kissed her forehead.

Jemma shifted uncomfortably as he moved to sit on the floor, tugging her down with him. Crossing her legs, she leaned into his side, resting her head on his shoulder "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm alright," said Fitz taking his eyes off the headstone.

"Do you want me to leave so you can talk to her?" asked Jemma

Fitz looked over at his wife as she fiddled with the cuff of his sleeve. Though it had been over two years since they'd married, Jemma had never actually accompanied him right to this point before. "Stay" he said

They sat in silence, his hand wrapped around hers. Jemma raised her head from where it rested on his shoulder as he motioned to get up. They moved together back to the gates, to where Skye and Ward were waiting for them. Skye linked her arm with Jemma's as they headed back down to the SUV, Fitz and Ward trailing behind them.

"You okay?" asked Skye as they walked through the car park

Jemma nodded, she looked ahead ignoring her friend's attempt to catch her eye. She also ignored her attempts to get her attention as Skye tugged her jacket sleeve. "I don't believe you," said Skye

"He's never taken me there before, and then suddenly he wants me to come. It doesn't make much sense that's all," said Jemma looking over her should at her husband as he trailed behind with Ward.

"Maybe he just wanted to share it with you, you don't have any other secrets between you. Unless you haven't told him about your other little surprise" said Skye nudging her

"I've told him" said Jemma "Good thing too, I don't think I could have hid it any longer, my jeans had a hard time fitting this morning"

"Have you told the girls yet?" asked Skye as they stopped at the SUV

"No, and I don't know how. Chloe wasn't exactly happy about Elizabeth and I know they both hate losing their reading lap to Shiloh and Macey. Imagine what's going to happen when they can't sit there any more because of my stomach" said Jemma "And imagine what's going to happen if it's another girl, poor Leo is going to have to divide even more of his attention"

Skye giggled "I'm sure the girls don't feel that intruded by a cat and dog stealing their reading lap" she nudged her shoulder with Jemma's "And don't worry you will always be Leo's best girl, you're defiantly his favourite"

Both girls looked over their shoulders at their guy as they giggled, laughing harder at the boy's confused expression. Stopping at the SUV they waited for Ward to find the keys in his pockets before hopping in.

"I think the kids are probably wondering where we are now," said Ward as he started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

"I think it's about time to rescue May and Coulson too," said Skye from her place in the front.

"No I'm sure that they're having a ball, with tea parties and dolls," said Jemma

"I never want to see Coulson in that tiara and frilly apron ever again" said Fitz shivering

"At least you didn't see him naked," said Skye laughing when groans of protest filled the car.

"SKYE"

The SUV pulled into the driveway of the modest two-story house parking behind Coulson's red Corvette. Jemma and Skye hopped out quickly heading to the house to save Coulson at least from having another tea party complete with a tiara. Ward trailed behind as Fitz moved to stop Shiloh running out of the door as the girl's opened it.

"Mummy" yelled Chloe running up to her and hugging Jemma around the legs. May peaked her head around the corner giving the returning adults a slight smile. Skye moved to greet her children as Ward picked up their 2-year-old daughter.

"What's gotten you into a big fuss?" asked Jemma bending down and hugging the 7 year old

"I'm just glad you're back," said Chloe hugging her "And that you didn't go away"

Jemma smoothed the little girls fringe away from her eyes. Chloe has suddenly developed a very close attachment to her in the past couple of months, not wanting to be way from her for too long. Fitz had become more and more worried about this attachment; Chloe confiding in him that her biggest fear was that Jemma wouldn't come back and would leave them. He had of course told Jemma about the conversation and they had talked to her own mother who was a psychologist. Elizabeth Simmons had assured them that it was normal for a child to have a bigger attachment to one parent, however when it became more and more obvious that Chloe couldn't spend more than 8 hours away from her mother, they became worried. She had burst into tears at a sleepover at a friends house, having to come back earlier than normal because she wanted to be with her mother. Jemma knew the time would come for them to sit her down and talk about.

"Where's my hug monkey?" asked Fitz

Chloe giggled allowing her mother up, running to hug her father. Jemma moved to pick up her 18 month old who was standing up in her crib. After Chloe had greeted her father she moved to greet her uncle who swung her up onto his shoulders. When Teddy demanded to be picked up as well, Ward moved outside into the garden so the least damage could be done to the household furniture.

Fitz took Lizzie May and Little Jemma after them, Elmo following him out. May and Coulson recovering from their tea party scene followed soon after. Skye turned to Jemma and grinned.

"We did good didn't we?" said Skye linking her arm through Jemma's "Beautiful children, awesome 'grandparents' that aren't actually related to any of them and very sexy husband"

"We did good" said Jemma watching as Ward swung to two eldest around on his shoulders.