A/N- Day 1 of Fitzsimmons Week Summer Edition 2014. Directly after the season 1 finale. Enjoy!

Her ceiling had twelve and a half tiles, her wall had three chips in it, and there were eight S.H.I.E.L.D. logos visible from her bed. Simmons sighed as she finished counting the logos again, rolling over in bed to see how much time had passed. Big blue lights announced that it was 1:54 in the morning, and she felt no closer to sleeping than she had at 10:45. Finally admitting defeat to the insomnia that plagued her, she sat up in bed, slipping the shoes she wore around the Playground onto her feet, and left her room.

As Simmons walked towards the doors to the world outside, a chill settled over her arms. Realizing that her tank top and cotton shorts wouldn't do much for her in the night air, she detoured to the hangar. The BUS loomed before her in the darkness, but it was a comforting sight. For months the BUS had been home, and she almost took comfort from its presence. The ramp was lowered and she walked up it quickly, the cold pushing her forward. Their rooms and personal effects had been thankfully untouched. His room was easy to find, and she located his favorite cardigan immediately. Hurrying back out of the plane, she made her way out the doors and tugged her arms through the cardigan.

The base was under a small hill, and Simmons climbed to the top before sitting on the ground. The fresh air felt amazing against her skin and in her lungs. She'd found herself longing for more and more open spaces over the past few days. Ever since the Incident, really. The mere thought of it had her burying her face into the sleeve of the sweater, breathing in the scent of him. The scent of Fitz.

Shifting to her back, she thought back to their days at The Academy, pressing the sleeve against her nose to better recall the memories. After stressful tests or bad projects or crappy professors, they would grab a couple of beers, sneak onto the roof of his dorm, and sit it the lawn chairs they had stashed up there.

"There's Ursa major," Fitz would point out to her. "And Ursa minor."

And then Simmons would always cut in, pointing beneath those and saying, "And there are your stars, Leo."

He would groan and take a sip of his beer. "I should have never told you my first name." Simmons would laugh before the conversation would drift from stars and galaxies to Academy work and future plans.

That night, it was just Simmons under the stars. All her life, Jemma had lived somewhere with lights and a city nearby. Never had she realized how bright the stars could be without civilization drowning them out. Or how dark the sky around them could be.

"They're beautiful tonight, Fitz," she whispered into the sleeve. "And look, your stars are shining brighter than all the rest." A few tears slid out of the corners of her eyes. She blinked until the night sky was clear again. It was almost a new moon, and the darkness above her seemed to be tugging her off the face of the earth entirely. If she stared too intently, she would surely fall into it.

And maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. Maybe if she fell, all of the pain and worry she'd been feeling would slip away. Maybe she could fall back to those days on the roof and see her best friend smiling and laughing with her.

"I miss you," she said to the empty air. A breeze answered her admission, and she tugged the sweater tighter around herself. If she chose to, she could imagine Fitz lying beside her, his familiar presence flattening the grass, his arm extending into her view to point out the constellations his mother had taught him. It felt like home.

In the morning there would be a panic inside the Playground looking for Simmons. Coulson would find her curled up on the hill, warm because of the slightly too big sweater wrapped around her, and he would breathe a sigh of relief before reprimanding her for scaring them all to death.

But before she fell asleep, it was just Simmons and her Fitz, gazing up at the stars.

Thoughts?

-princessmelia