Mace regarded the red headset in his hands with suspicion.

"So how is this supposed to work?" He asked.

"We're not entirely sure," Jemma admitted.

She had found Mack and Mace passed out from a tranquilizer in the parked van on the other side of the cabin. When she was finally able to rouse them and lead them to the cabin, they were still groggy, but lucid enough to survey the damage with matching expressions of disbelief.

Ward, the man who drugged them, was tied up and slumped over in a corner of the room. Madame Hydra lay in a heap by the door with an exit wound from a bullet in the top of her skull. The rest of the team, including the infamous Doctor Fitz himself, stood around an open cabinet in the far wall of the room, studying a device that Jemma Simmons claimed would transport all of them back to the "real world."

"If it works like the transcranial apparatus in our world, you just put it on like a regular headset and you'll wake up in your old body," Jemma explained.

"And what happens to our bodies here?" Mack asked.

"Only one way to find out, I guess," Mace replied.

Mack stopped him when he raised the headset to put it in place.

"Hey, are you sure about this?" He asked. "If they're right, this whole world and everything you've ever fought for, it's been for nothing."

Mace scowled and brought a hand to Mack's shoulder.

"Fighting for what's right is never for nothing," he stated with certainty. "What we do matters, whether anyone knows about it or not. Or actions shape us, Mack. They make us who we are."

"Besides," he added, placing the foam padding of the device over his ears. "This is my chance to be the first to take a step into a new world. What kind of American hero would I be if I didn't leap at the opportunity?"

Mack grinned reluctantly at The Patriot's enthusiasm. There was a reason he had made such an effective leader in the Resistance. Everyone was willing to follow a man who would not ask anything of his team that he would not do himself.

"Good luck, Jeffrey," Coulson said.

Mace nodded solemnly and the team stood back and watched as the body of The Patriot dissolved before them like a distant mirage. With nothing left to support their weight, the headset fell in mid-air where Mack caught it.

"So, that's it, huh?" Mack asked. "Everything, everyone we've known here, it's all been a lie?"

"We're not a lie, Mack," Daisy answered softly. "And trust me, you've got someone waiting for you on the other side who is going to be very anxious to see you."

"Yeah?"

Jemma nodded.

"She'll probably be mad you kept her waiting as long as you did," she added.

Mack swallowed and put on the headset. When his body disappeared, the headset clunked to the floor. Jemma picked them up and looked around.

"Who's next?" She asked.

Her eyes settled on Fitz.

The young man had not said a word since he fired the shot that ended AIDA's existence. His arms were folded and he stared resolutely at the floor. Still, he was unable to ignore Jemma's persistent stare.

His head snapped up and he held out his hand.

"I'll go."

Jemma fiddled with the device uncertainly, reluctant to send him back while he was in such a state.

"Fitz, it's—

"Whatever you're about to say, Jemma, don't," he said, finally looking up at her. His blue eyes were shot through with streaks of red and Jemma winced at seeing him in so much pain. "It's not okay. It's not going to be fine. What I've done in here… it can't be forgiven. I know that."

"That's not true," May contradicted. "What AIDA made you do, it's not your fault."

Fitz nodded.

"Not all of it," he agreed. "But enough."

Jemma let out a shaky sigh and handed over the apparatus. Fitz's fingers grazed hers as he took it from her.

"But I won't stop trying to make it right, Jemma," he said. "I promise."

Fitz's body dissolved and only the four of them were left.

"He'll be alright," Daisy tried to reassure Jemma. "It'll take time. But he'll be alright."

Jemma could only smile unconvincingly at the sentiment. She knew it would be a long time indeed before Fitz was the man she remembered from before the Framework.

"Right," she said, turning to face May and Coulson. "Remember what we told you."

"You aren't in the same place as we are in the real world," Coulson recited. "So wait until you arrive to try to leave."

"What are we supposed to do while we wait?" May asked.

"Try and stay alive," Daisy answered.

"Seriously," Jemma insisted, seeing May's raised eyebrow. "Things in the real world are… complicated.

"When are they not?" May muttered.

When Jemma was gone, Daisy stepped forward.

"It'd better be me next," she said. "She's gonna need my help getting to you guys when she wakes up."

She picked up the headset, but instead of putting it on, she turned to Coulson. She surprised him by stepping into his arms and squeezing him around the middle. Coulson exchanged a bemused look with May over the girl's head and returned her embrace.

"Thank you," she muttered against his chest.

"For what?" He replied. "You guys did most of the work."

"For everything," Daisy said. "For believing us."

"For protecting us," she added, glancing around his shoulder at May.

Coulson pressed his lips to the part in her hair.

"You're welcome, Daisy."

She beamed at the two of them and raised the device to place it on her head.

"Daisy," May stopped her. "I—I'm sorry. For turning you in. For letting you get caught. I should have done better."

"It's okay, May," Daisy said. "If anything, this makes us even."

"Even?" May repeated. "How?"

"Oh, one time I threw you across a courtyard in an Inhuman sanctuary in the Himalayas. I thought you were trying to kill my biological mom," she explained matter-of-factly. "It was a whole thing…"

Daisy grinned at May's slack-jawed incredulity and jammed the headphones on her head.

"Anyway," she added. "It's water under the bridge. Stay safe, you guys! See you soon!"

Coulson picked up the fallen headset and eyed them with a rueful grin.

"Guess it's our turn," He said.

May nodded and crossed her arms.

"Who do you think we are in there, Phil? Really?"

Coulson colored slightly at the use of his first name. He liked the way she said it. It sounded right.

"Well," he considered. "According to Daisy and Jemma, I'm a teacher, leader, and the most effective and fearless director in the history of SHIELD."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I feel like we are getting set up for disappointment."

She had to smile at how crestfallen Coulson looked at her quick dismissal of Daisy and Jemma's appraisal.

"Whatever it's like over there, it's got to be better than this place," May amended.

"This world wasn't that terrible," he disagreed. "Not at the end. At least we were all together."

May smiled. He was right about that. The whole world had seemed a lot less bleak with him and the rest of her team in it. All the empty spaces inside of her she did not even realize were there had started to fill up again. As long as the real world had them in it, it would be alright with her.

Coulson considered the headset in hands and then looked back at her.

"I'm right behind you," she promised.

He settled the device over his ears and reached out to squeeze her hand.

"See you on the other side, Melinda."

The warmth of his touch on her hand evaporated along with his body. May caught the headset before it fell to the floor.

"Melinda."

She smiled.

She could not remember the last time she had willingly let someone call her that. As she put the Framework apparatus in place and the world dissolved around her, she decided that she could get used to hearing it more often.

Thanks so much for reading and commenting! I hope you enjoyed it!