I don't own Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

My last one-shot was all about Fitz being unconscious. I wanted to try one where he wasn't. I also wanted to explore more of what Simmons felt for Fitz. Of course, I found I couldn't do all this in a one-shot, so this is a two-parter.

He's Awake

Part 1

With Skye at her side, Jemma Simmons ran down the concrete hallway.

"Welcome back!" Billy Koenig said as they disembarked from their latest mission. "Be sure to pick up your lanyards once you're through the retinal scanners. They've been kept for you, just through the doors to the left—"

"Thanks, as always, for your thoroughness, Agent Koenig, but I think we know the drill by now," Director Coulson said, cutting off the rambling instructions they'd all heard half a dozen times in the last couple weeks.

Skye and Simmons raced through the tunnels, slamming their way through every door in their path.

"How is he?" Simmons asked Billy once she'd walked down the gangplank from the Bus. May and Triplett followed Coulson, but Skye stayed back.

"He?" Billy blinked. "Oh, your little science friend. Right! Yes. He's well. He's awake, actually."

"He's WHAT?" Skye gaped. She and Simmons exchanged a glance.

Then they took off running.

"Simmons," Skye said as they reached the hospital wing. "He's been comatose. You're the medical guru here, so you know that even though he's awake, he still might be—"

"I know, Skye," Jemma said. She didn't mean for her voice to sound rude, but it definitely came out that way. "I know," she repeated, a bit softer. "And thank you. For your concern, for…for everything."

Skye smiled and squeezed Jemma's shoulder. A doctor passed them, telling them they were welcome to enter the chamber they'd stopped in front of. Skye let go of Simmons and opened up Fitz's hospital room door.

Jemma braced herself as it swung open. There, under the bright hospital lights, sat Fitz, awake and working on a tablet he held with his right hand. He looked up from it and his mouth fell open.

"Jemma," he said. On the second syllable of her name, a smile spread across his face.

From the doorway, Jemma made a small noise in her throat. She was rooted to the floor, her eyes dampening by the second.

"And Skye," Fitz said, as Skye leaned around Jemma to wave. "Glad to see you made it through everything."

"You're one to talk," Skye said, smiling. She took a step forward, but then stopped herself, letting Jemma get first dibs on hugs.

"Oh, Fitz," Jemma finally managed to say. She walked over to the bed, sat down, threw her arms around Fitz's shoulders, and squeezed him into a hug that could rival the gravity between the Earth and the moon. "You're awake. How are you doing? Are you okay? What was the last report your doctors gave you? Do you need anything?" Each question stumbled over the last.

"Hey, hey." Fitz hugged her back with his right arm, shushing her gently. "I'm okay. It's okay."

Jemma leaned back, wiped at her eyes, and then promptly pulled Fitz in again for another giant hug. "You scared me so much," she whispered. "Fitz…I thought you were dead for sure, and then you weren't, and then you were in a coma instead..."

Instead of replying out loud, Fitz just held her tighter. The two of them stayed like that for several moments, and only pulled apart reluctantly after Fitz looked up and saw that Skye was still patiently waiting her turn.

"Try not to pull stunts like this too often, okay?" Skye said, taking her chance to hug Fitz. "You scared all of us. Not just Simmons."

"Yeah. Uh…sorry," Fitz said as they separated.

Skye pushed his shoulder a little as he shifted his left arm to a more comfortable position in its sling. "Hey, don't apologize," she said. "Just try not to make a habit of almost dying. Trust me, it's not fun."

That got a smile out of Fitz and a wry laugh out of Jemma.

"Speaking of," Fitz said next, looking at Jemma and narrowing his eyes. "How did I live through that? The doctors here couldn't tell me."

"Simmons totally saved you." Skye beamed at Jemma. "She dragged you up from the bottom of the ocean, like some sort of she-Hulk."

"Skye, I told you, Fitz saved me," Jemma protested from where she sat on the other side of the hospital bed.

"Okay, whatever, so you saved each other," Skye amended.

Meanwhile, Fitz's eyes flashed with about ten dozen different emotions. "Jemma!" he exclaimed. "You could've died doing that! Seriously, weren't you even listening? I told you what you had to do to get out—"

"You told me how to save myself," Jemma interrupted, wiping away a tear with her palm before balling her hands into fists. "But in all of your rigging and mathematics, you forgot to calculate how to save yourself!"

Fitz stared at her like she had just dropped a hundred IQ points. "Um, that wasn't the point, that wasn't important—"

"That's ALWAYS important!" Jemma's fists trembled. "How could that not be important?! And you wouldn't even let us talk it over, you just blew the side in—"

"What? I—" Fitz blustered. "—Oh, come on, we were running out of time—"

"And who gave you permission to be in charge of how we spent it?"

"You know why I did what I did, Jemma!" Fitz's entire expression was pained. Lines creased on his forehead.

"Yes, and you never even gave me a chance to properly respond to what you—!" Jemma cut herself off, glancing at Skye with widening eyes. "I…I mean…" she stammered, throwing her hands over her mouth. "Oh, I should really shut up now."

Skye blinked at them—the first actual motion out of her in a considerable while. "You know, this sounds like a conversation the two of you need to have on your own," she said. "How about I wait outside? I'll let the team know you're okay…or…something."

Before FitzSimmons could reply, Skye scooted out of the room, shutting the door.

Fitz and Jemma looked back at each other, and it was impossible to say who looked more panicked.

Part 2 coming soon!