"Fitz…" Jemma gingerly sat down next to him, noticing his blank stare and uneven breathing. She hesitantly placed her hand on his, trying to give him some sort of comfort. "There's still a chance he's alive. If he didn't react to the icer, maybe the fall would be similar…"

He turned his head to look at her, eyes red, but dry, before turning back to his spot on the wall. "Yeah... who knows…"

Jemma pulled her hand back and looked at her twisted fingers in her lap. Everything felt terrible. Her head was splitting from knocking it against the tunnel opening, her heart ached with the gnawing reality that a member of their team was either dead or lost, and something else felt off. It was as if her whole body and mind were painfully aware of how far she was from Fitz. She just wanted to be close to him again, to know that she had his back and he had hers. She wanted her best friend back and the intimacy that came with him.

"Fitz, I never got to finish what I wanted to say earlier," she hesitantly said, looking at his face for any sign of discomfort.

He looked at her with a slight shiver of panic. "Now's really not the best time," he said defensively.

"I know, but when is?" Jemma pleaded. "There's something I need to tell you and I need you to listen." He began shifting, clearly feeling awkward. "Please, Fitz," she finished, already feeling a lump in her throat and her eyes begin to sting.

"Fine," he said, eyes still glued to the wall beyond.

Jemma took a deep breath. "I didn't leave because you were hurt," she began. "I didn't leave because of what you told me. I left because it was all my fault. I took the oxygen. I didn't swim fast enough, I was hurting your recovery—"

"Jemma—" Fitz began to interrupt.

"Let me finish!" said Jemma, more forcefully than intended. She was getting through all of this, and getting through it now. "I just felt like everything I did was wrong and I felt like you hated me. Coming back it felt the same. Not to mention I never got to tell you that while I don't know exactly how I feel about you, I do know that you mean the world to me. You being in that coma, not knowing if you would wake up—I couldn't—it was too hard, I—" she let out a sob, almost losing it all together.

"Jemma, its okay," Fitz said, wrapping an arm around her awkwardly. "Shh… It's okay…"

"No, it's not okay!" She half-yelled. "If I had just been honest, we wouldn't be like this now—"

"It's not all your fault!" Said Fitz, also in a half-yell. "If I had, um, you know, thanked you…" He paused, breathing heavily, searching Jemma's face and his head for the right words. "…For- for pulling me up! At first I was angry you did it, but I- I'm grateful for it. For you s-saving me. I don't blame you for this." He motioned with his bad hand in the air. "I blame W-Ward and um, Garrett. You di-didn't do this to me, and if you make me worse, it's m-my fault. I'm just, frustrated around you, because I miss who I used to be more when you're around. Okay?"

His eyes locked on Jemma's in a way they never had before. They had never needed a conversation like this before. Everything in Jemma's head was swirling around. There were so many things that she could say—tell him he doesn't have to be a genius around her all the time. Tell him he is so much more to her than just his technical skills. One thought made it through all of the confusion, and Jemma blurted out:

"Can we try and be friends again, Fitz?"

A small smile crept across Fitz's face, as he said, tearfully, "Y-Yeah. Let's try it."

And with that Jemma threw her arms around Fitz's neck, and his arms wrapped around her. She couldn't think of anything except how warm and safe she felt, right there, with Fitz. She wanted to stay like that forever, close to her friend, lab partner, whatever he was, she wanted him close to her, more than she ever wanted before.

Fitz began to slowly break away from the hug, and when he did, their eyes lock onto each other's again, but this time with much less distance between them. Jemma felt her heart race as she realized how close he was to her—how she could feel his breath and warmth just inches away from her. She wasn't sure what made her do it, but she gently leaned forward, closing the distance between them.

The kiss was gentle and soft, yet there was an intensity to it, as if they both had been waiting forever to do this. Every moment of the kiss confused Jemma more and more, as she was enjoying the kiss more and more. She dared using her tongue a little to deepen the kiss, and butterflies burst in her stomach as Fitz responded, placing his hands all over her neck and back, gently using his tongue to explore her mouth. This was so much more than Jemma had bargained for, yet she wasn't sorry for it.

Suddenly Fitz pulled away, looking frazzled and confused. "I thought you didn't know how you felt," he said quietly, still looking at her mouth as if waiting for the okay to kiss again.

"I can't really put a name to it, no," she said honestly.

"Then why did you just kiss me?" He said, pulling away a have inch with a slightly hurt expression.

"I wanted to," she said simply. "I thought it would feel nice. It did." Very nice, she thought in her head.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you're my best friend in the entire world, and you mean so much more to me than any other person," she paused, and then added, "and apparently I enjoy kissing you."

Fitz smiled a bit, and said, "Okay."

"Okay?" Jemma asked, not convinced that he was okay.

"Yeah that's basically how I feel too, there's just you know, another word to describe it, I guess."

"What other word?"

"Ah, you know," he paused, took a deep breath and let out simply, "l-love."

Jemma let out a sigh of relief and a smile from ear to ear. "Yeah, maybe that's it. I honestly don't know yet. But I'm right here beside you, okay?"

"Okay." Fitz matched her smile, and daringly leaned in to kiss her again, pulling her into a kiss that had twice the heat as the previous one. Jemma couldn't believe how much she was enjoying this. All those years being in a lab together and she had no idea how exhilarating it would be to kiss Fitz, to feel his body with her hands, and to feel his hands all over her. She couldn't get enough of it, until—

A large BOOM echoed through the hall, and they broke apart.

"What was that?" Jemma screamed.