Jemma

She could feel his heart beating through the fabric of his shirt; a soft and gentle thrumming that she couldn't hear enough of. She had barely had to tell him to kiss her before his lips were pressed hard against hers and she was pressed into the wall, that she'd probably have bruises against her back in the morning meant nothing as they gave way to the intensity of their feelings. All the anger and hurt and pain of years of dancing around each other and pushing apart gave strength to them as they fought a savage war of teeth and tongues; they had been through too much together and apart for their union to be anything less than them demonstrating the sheer, primitive need for the other. His lips on her neck, her nails at the base of his spine; marks that would prove it was real in the morning, that they weren't going back.

Over time their passions ebbed and flowed; the need for breath changed the rhythm of their kisses and the desperation was replaced with the simple joy of finding their lost kinship. The pressure on Simmons' back eased as they held one another upright, their wandering hands stilled as they fell into the comfort of the tight embrace. Their battered lips finally pulled apart as she rested her head on his shoulder and he leaned into her hair, swaying lightly as though to some inaudible music. Their earlier forcefulness forgotten she lightly skimmed the pads of her fingers over the base of his spine, her hands having slipped under his shirt. She felt ashamed to feel small pricks of blood from where she had gripped him so tightly when they started but if he minded he didn't show it, frankly she wasn't sure he had even noticed.

It wasn't long until his shoulders started to slump and his head dropped lower and she finally pulled back to take in his exhausted expression; she wasn't sure how she'd missed it but he had gotten so gaunt recently, his once boyish face now a mixture of hard edges and deep shadows. She could see in his eyes he didn't want to break them apart but she doubted he'd be able to stand for that much longer. Reluctantly peeling herself from his arms – giving him a reassuring smile as she did so to alleviate the immediate look of alarm that passed across him – she took one of his hands and led him into his bunk, trying to ignore the feeling of guilt when she saw the poor state of his room and the piles of scrawled notes over every available surface on the Monolith and the planet that took so much from them both. Her heart sank when she noticed the suitcases in the corner, a bitter reminder of his intent to leave.

As they approached the bed he froze seemingly becoming aware of how messy the room was and suddenly shy despite how passionately they had been making out just half an hour earlier. He made a vague effort to tidy up before she caught his arm and pulled him into a hug, leading them both towards the single mattress against the far wall. His eyes were oddly fearful as he opened his mouth to say something but he never found the words. As they both collapsed onto the bed together she buried herself tightly into him and brought the covers up around them both; she hadn't intended to stay the night with him – they both needed sleep, proper sleep – but she just couldn't bring herself to let go, not even for a moment. She chided herself mentally but his words rang in her ears; that some unstoppable force was trying to pull them apart. It might have seemed childish but in that moment she wouldn't let him away from her, she needed him – they needed each other.

That was how she found herself listening to the gentle thrumming of his heart through his shirt, curled up together in his bunk. She felt her eyes begin to shut of their own accord when Fitz swallowed dryly and asked softly, "You're… staying?" His chest vibrated as he spoke and when she pulled her heavy head up to look at him she saw the same fear she herself had been feeling, he was terrified she'd go and that things would just reset.

"Are you?" She asked back, not referring to the bed. A small knot of doubt and worry was still seeded in her that he would leave, even after everything. Fitz was nothing if not stubborn.

"As long as you'll have me." He answered, returning her own words from earlier.

"You might regret saying that… after sixty years or so," she teased as she squeezed his chest and felt his arm reflexively fall on her shoulder, bringing her into him possessively.

"Never," He whispered into her ear, her heart melted as he leaned back into the pillow and looked up to the ceiling. After several comfortable moments of silence he spoke again, softly and sleepily but determined, "You know, I talked to you too… after I woke up…"

"I know." She said truthfully. When she came back from Hydra she'd been alarmed that he spoke to himself, and every time he looked at her it was like he didn't believe she was real. It hadn't taken long for her to realise that he wasn't just mumbling to himself aimlessly, he was replying – holding one half of an impossible conversation. She never really understood it until she ended up stranded on the planet alone; talking to a picture of Fitz on her phone as if he was there with her.

"You do?" There was genuine surprise in his voice, she couldn't help but let out a caring laugh. He was too endearing.

"It didn't take a genius to figure it out, and we are both geniuses." She teased but then felt herself remembering how he was back then; so nervous and insecure and utterly unwilling to speak to her. It was at once so achingly familiar and yet completely different to being around the Fitz underneath her now. She closed her eyes to breathe him in, reassured by his physical presence, and admitted how she had felt back then, "I was actually jealous of her, you know?"

"Of who?" He asked, his tiredness evident from the thickness of his voice.

"The Simmons in your head, the one you talked to instead of me, the one that stayed behind to look after you when I…" She said quietly, tears beginning to drip down her cheeks at the mistakes she'd made, not for the first time she wondered what exactly she'd done to deserve the affection of her Leo.

"Jemma," He said, his hand gently rubbing her shoulder affectionately.

"I just…" She said, her voice failing her as the fear that had eaten her for so long rose inside her, "I mean… she stayed, you had a perfect me in your head – and then Mack… how could I compare?"

He scooped her closer to him and pressed kisses into her hair, "Ah Jem, you have nothing to worry about," he breathed into her ear, "I love you." When she let out a silent sob he continued, "the real you…" He ran small circles over her skin with his hands as he calmed her, jokingly adding, "Besides… the you in my head wasn't nearly as sexy as…"

She laughed and pushed at one of his arms playfully, rolling so that she was looking at the ceiling and his arms could rest around her waist. She ran her hands over his and their fingers locked. Feeling the gentle rising and falling of his chest against her back she knew there was no other place she would rather be than there, it was perfect… and yet somehow like a pestering thought that wouldn't die she couldn't help but feel she didn't deserve it. "I just don't understand how you can still love me, I mean after… "

"Jemma," He said authoritatively with the hard edge to his tone that she'd come to expect in the past few weeks, "you're just going to have to trust me that I do." She flinched as he pulled her upwards slightly and pressed a kiss on her collar bone, "Can you do that for me… trust me?"

This was the man that risked everything to help her on the BUS when she was infected, that gave her hope at the bottom of the ocean and that literally crossed the universe to bring her home. How could she not trust him? "Of course."

Daisy

Footage… Daisy thought as she stared at the computer screen, Somehow it always came down to footage… Jemma's phone, the Monolith tapes and now, she observed with a mixture of happiness and horror, the cameras from the Lab. Sprawled out on the middle of one of the tables Fitzsimmons were, well, Fitzsimmonsing… not the cute adorable psychically linked Fitzsimmonsing she had come to expect from them ever since she'd met them on the BUS, no this was very much a physical link and a very physical one at that, she thought with a scoff as she prepared to delete the recording, eyes passing over towards the bottle of wine and sorry note Fitz had left when he asked her to wipe the camera… again... He owes me big time…

She had no idea whether she should be happy that they had finally got themselves together or mortified that her adorable and sweet scientists were anything but adorable and sweet when it came down to it… they were outrageously passionate... On some level she refused to acknowledge the slight pang of jealousy she felt for the strength of their relationship; at first she, like everyone else, assumed that they would return to their more professional appearances at least in public after a few weeks but it was more common to find them with their clothing muffled looking breathless with mussed hair and swollen lips than it was to find them working – she wasn't really sure the awkwardness of walking in on them was much better than the awkwardness that had filled the lab when they were hardly speaking, but at least they were happy… perhaps even too happy.

Sighing as the delete bar hit 100% and the footage was wiped clean she shut down her laptop and walked into the main Playground compound. She laughed to herself as she saw Fitz and Simmons in the kitchen making tea and paused by long enough to raise an eyebrow at Fitz and watch him blush as she wordlessly confirmed she'd deleted it. He mouthed thanks before running a hand over the back of his neck awkwardly and then turning back to Simmons. Daisy grinned at the pair of them and began her walk over to Zephyr One to meet Mack and discuss the state of their team's candidates. She was almost at the hangar when she ran into a somewhat flustered looking Coulson.

"Daisy," He said in his no-nonsense I am the director voice.

"AC?" She asked, mentally noting that she really should say DC now instead but something just didn't feel right about calling him that.

"We've got a problem – Koenig's worried there's a virus in our system, apparently the security feeds keep intermittently disrupting, see what you can do?" He asked before heading towards his office.

"I'll take a look," She said, barely able to stifle a grin as she watched him walk up the corridor wracked with the weight of leadership.

Yep… She thought to herself as she changed direction to see Koenig, Fitz owes me big time.

Author's Note:

Just thought I'd add an epilogue to smooth the ending out a bit more, really just fancied more fluff in the one week hiatus and the ending especially was a lighthearted way of escaping some real world troubles. I really hope you enjoyed, thanks again for the lovely comments - I'm (as you can probably guess) in a dark place right now unfortunately so they really mean a lot. I love writing for this fandom. Thanks again, take care.