Fitz threw down his screwdriver in anger. He was trying to put together a special transceiver for Coulson that could securely communicate with the Playground from anywhere in the world in a more handheld, portable format, but it just wasn't working. Nothing fit together quite how he wanted it to, and when he felt like he might just be doing it right, his bad hand would slip and ruin whatever piece he was working on. Yes, he was getting better, but it wasn't enough.

"You okay, there, Turbo?" Mack called from the other side of the garage. The mechanic was installing something-or-other in one of the vehicles. Fitz couldn't remember the name at the moment, even though he should.

Fitz stood up from his desk. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just… I'm just gonna go for a minute." He couldn't stand to look at the results of his failures for one more second. He could feel Mack's eyes trained on the back of his head as he left. Mack had been one of the kindest people to him during his recovery, but he still probably thought the damaged engineer was, well… damaged.

Absentmindedly, after wandering around the base for a while, he found himself standing outside the lab doors. Simmons was inside, tinkering with test tubes and blue liquids and some other probably incredibly useful formulas for the saving of humanity. And he could barely build a transceiver.

He pushed the door open and shuffled over to where she was standing, peering into a tube with something clear in it. "Hey," he began. "Whatcha doing there?"

She turned to look at him. "Why, hello, Fitz!" she exclaimed. "It's good to see you!"

He managed a half-smile. "Well, aren't you chipper this morning."

"I'll have you know I'm doing two very important things at once." Of course. She held out the tube. "Firstly, I've been perfecting a clear adhesive which dries in moments, can withstand high amounts of tension, and is completely nontoxic to humans."

Well, that was Simmons. Always the smiler. She was always happy, so long as she was in her lab and working on whatever project had caught her fancy. He couldn't help but notice that her smile was much brighter than it ever had been while he had been working in the new labs with her.

"Right, making superglue. A matter of national importance," he joked. "What's the other thing?"

Simmons' grin subsided to a much more subtle, but almost more sincere, smirk. She reached under the desk and pulled out a patterned blue mug, plopping it on the table. "I'm proving a point."

It took Fitz a second to comprehend. "Hold on," he stumbled. "Isn't that- I broke that mug a week ago. You kept the pieces?"

"Of course, I did. It's very special to me." She folded her arms. "If you look very closely, you'll see that it's not exactly the same as it used to be. However, I do believe that everything that's happened has made it stronger than ever." She beamed. "The adhesive also makes a wonderful protective coating."

Fitz cautiously lifted the mug to examine it. Sure enough, he could see hairline cracks criss-crossing its surface. There was a tiny chip missing here and there, presumably where Simmons hadn't been able to find the most shattered bits. Nonetheless, it was relatively whole once more. He could feel the hardness of the dried coating, shielding the ceramic inside from any further damage.

"It's still very useful," she continued. "It still… holds things, and the natural components won't poison the drinker, and… oh, where am I going with this-"

"Simmons," Fitz interrupted. "I-" He honestly didn't know how to express his gratitude. He wanted to gush, really, like he used to whenever she did something wonderful. He used to know how. The words would roll off his tongue, praising her cleverness, her intellect, her Jemma-ness, but they weren't there anymore. He waved the mug around pitifully before setting it down.

She looked at her shoes. "I'm sorry- analogies aren't exactly my strong suit."

He hesitated for a second, flexing his hands in place, then suddenly reached out and took her head in his hands, running his fingers through her hair. It felt soft. He pressed his lips to her forehead gently and closed his eyes. He felt her tension melt away beneath him, and she leaned into him, hanging her hands from his arms. His thumbs rubbed her cheeks softly. He breathed a quiet "thank you" into her hairline.

When he leaned back and let her go, she was smiling. Good. He always loved it when she smiled.

"I've, uh, got the newest episode of Doctor Who last night DVRed," she said softly. "We could watch it tonight. If you want."

He could feel the grin glowing on his face, for real this time. He didn't know if he could remember the last time he'd actually felt purely, genuinely happy.

"Yeah," he replied. "I'd like that." And he meant it.

A/N: Finally done! (This may be the first fic with more than one chapter I've ever finished. I'm so proud.) I knew I couldn't leave it all depressing-like, so I hope you like how I ended it. Thanks for reading! : )