An amnesia au for aos has been something I've wanted to write for quite a while but I never had the inspiration to get started. After what happened in the season finale and not even getting to see Fitz waking up I knew I would have to write this. Hope you like it!
Fitz was kept in the air with Fury's med team until the threat Garret had created was eliminated. The plane then landed at the nearest SHIELD hospital and the young engineer was deposited into his very own room. He was in peaceful unconsciousness for six hours then abandoned in a strange world that never made sense.
He was left in the little room for two days, the silence he bathed in only punctuated with doctors checking in on him. He knew it was the morning when the first occurrence happened because he had been distracting himself with the golden light pouring in through his window. Sometimes he could even recall the sound of birds fading in the distance. A doctor was placing his chart back into its slot at the bottom of his bed when he smiled slightly at Fitz. "We've had your friend calling every few hours since yesterday," He said in a casual tone, not noticing the spark of confusion flicker behind his patient's eyes. "Asking for updates and such. She seems like a very kind woman,"
"Did she give a name?" Fitz asked in a voice that crackled from disuse.
The man's eyes flickered up to the ceiling just long enough for the information to surface in his mind. "Doctor Jemma Simmons," He answered, almost sounding proud of himself for retaining her full name. He paused a moment and seemed to register the turmoil echoing through Fitz. He knew that name… At least he thought he did anyway. The name came with a concentrated form of disorientation that had appeared when he had linked the endless wash of blue outside his window with the word sky. The same kind as when a nurse said having his own room was nicer than being on a ward. It was even comparable to being told the month was May after he couldn't recall the information himself.
"Everything alright, Leopold?" The doctor questioned as he drew closer and plucked what looked to be a little white pen from his breast pocket.
"It's all hazy," Fitz admitted, the words tasting rotten in his mouth. He tried not to shrink away when a light was flashed in his eyes and complied with doctor's request to follow his finger. The man then stood back, dropped the flashlight back into his pocket and exhaled a breath that did nothing to reassure Fitz.
"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about," The doctor said, his voice coated with what sounded like a commonly repeated speech. "We'll run a few extra tests just to be sure," He added, flashed a smile then left the room.
Fitz's fingers curled up into a fist, nails briefly scratching against the sheets before they found his skin and grounded him in the stormy tide inside. Tests were ran, as the doctor promised. A pleasant nurse sat down next to him and explained that he was suffering with something called retrograde amnesia. She told him that it was brought on from a quick change in pressure and the brain being starved of oxygen. He would likely recover enough to resume life as it had been before but the time frame of this could vary from days to months. The possibility of never regaining his memory was quickly smoothed over before moving on to the recovery plan.
On his fifth day in the hospital Doctor Simmons came to visit.
She was a very pretty woman, Fitz had noted as he watched her enter the room and stand in front of his bed next to the doctor. "Hello, Fitz." She greeted. The words ran round inside his head as he tried to place the accent, finally linking it to England. English and pretty, he thought while smiling ever so slightly. This seemed to nudge a reaction inside the woman who turned to the doctor with an almost gleeful smile. "Does he…?" She asked in a soft tone.
The doctor's shoulders twitched up into an almost-shrug before he dropped them back and took on the formal approach. "Leopold, do you recognise Doctor Simmons?" He questioned.
"I…" Fitz's fingers twitched beside his body and he nervously tugged at the frayed corner of a blanket. "It… I think…" His voice trailed again and he rubbed at a crease on his forehead.
"We can take a break if this is too stressful for you, Leo" The doctor stated in a gentle tone.
Fitz was considering taking him up on the offer when he saw Simmons' eyes flicker then go dull. He had been something special to her, he could feel it. "No…" He said, his vision dropping down to lock on the blanket that covered his legs. "Jemma," He breathed, the word leaving a strange taste in his mouth. It was the flavour of brown sugar and melted butter and candy canes. And for a moment Fitz's heart ached with homesickness.
He shook his head, his teeth grazing against his bottom lip. "You feel familiar," He finally said then exhaled a long breath. Simmons put on a tight smile and nodded her head. It made Fitz crave the feeling of his heart being in a clamp that was constantly tightening with every bit of hurt he put this beautiful woman through. Instead he just felt tired and not entirely whole.
The doctor said something about trying again tomorrow so as not to overwhelm him. Both scientists nodded in agreement, the woman being led out before Fitz curled up on his little hospital bed. One hand reached up under his pillow, his fingertips searching for something that he couldn't place. The other hand curled round a bar below the frame to which he clung tightly to until he drifted off into a cavernous dream.
Simmons visited the next day. She reintroduced herself and he assured her he could still remember her name, saying it twice before pulling his bottom lip into his mouth. The doctor left them alone and she pulled a chair up beside him. Her hand rested on the bed beside him, her eyes pleading for something to spark in his before she pulled back and sucked in a deep breath.
She told him about the academy. About the time they first met when the biochemistry and engineering students were paired together to apply their skills and create a dual project. She explained in detail the workings of their first partnership. Apparently they had both competed on the first three days. They were quietly confident they were the ones leading the task. It wasn't until the fourth day that Fitz developed an appreciation for Simmons' vast knowledge of biology and she had become fascinated with the little gadgets he made in his spare time. This finally sealed a bond between them andt they began working together.
They took first place in the project and even the two keenly competitive youngsters seemed to see this as a bonus compared to their newly found friendship. They were dubbed Fitzsimmons, a single unit in two bodies, after Fitz had introduced them rather quickly to a professor who mistook them for one person. Then siblings. Then boyfriend and girlfriend. It took some time for the hot blush on both their cheeks to fade away.
She told him about sci-ops. How their placements were originally in separate departments but were quickly changed so they could work together after the first disastrous day. She lit up as she explained the first break through with something she called the 'ICEr rounds'. In fact she lit up every time one of their inventions distracted her from the truth in plain sight.
She paused for several moments after finishing the tales of sci-ops, the longest silence there had been since she had begun retelling their story. She smiled ever so slightly and flickered her eyes between his face and her hands that were clasped in her lap. "What did we do next?" Fitz asked in a raspy voice then licked his dry lips and sat up a little further. He liked hearing about this old Fitz, the one who teased Simmons, who had faith in his intelligence, who had intelligence.
Simmons stood and poured a glass of water from the jug by his bedside then handed it to him before settling down again. "We were recruited onto a team," She said, the corner of her lips tugging upward. "By a man called Coulson… Do you remember him?" She questioned in a hopeful tone
Fitz felt a momentary prick in his heart when he shook his head and Simmons' vision dropped back to her hands. Why couldn't she understand that if he couldn't recall who she was, this woman who was so deeply engrained into him, it was hopeless to try to remember the leader of whatever team they had been on?
"A team," He breathed softly just to disrupt the deafening silence that had consumed the room. "With others?" He asked.
This seemed to rekindle the dampening fire inside Simmons, although he didn't have the heart to tell her he had only guessed that three people were not enough to quantify a team. "There were six of us," She began in that same bright tone that seemed to highlight her accent even further. "We met May first,"
"May," He murmured, his eyebrows knitting together as he tried to place it. He could recall a distorted conversation mere hours after surfacing into consciousness in the hospital… The nurse had said something about a person called May… or a month called May. Or maybe May meant something else entirely.
"In the academy we called her the Cavalry," Simmons added in an attempt to stir something inside him. Instead he sat in silence for several moments before shaking his head. This didn't seem to deter her this time though. "We met Ward next," She stated, her happy demeanour faltering for just a moment.
She spent what Fitz estimated as an hour explaining their little team. They had started as a unit of five, their first case being to track down a superhero through a hacker that soon became the sixth member. After each name she spoke she would pause long enough for Fitz to repeat it, sampling the word before nodding for her to continue the story.
She talked of billionaires and scientists, mythology and Gods, spies and super soldiers, ghosts and aliens and everything in between. Fitz listened intently, imagining this other Fitz with excitement glinting in his eyes as he took on the world. It was soothing to think maybe this body he inhabited wasn't always so frightened of what lay outside his room.
Simmons had noted his drooping eyelids a few minutes before her tale had drawn to a close. She poured him a fresh glass of water then left it on the side for him while insisting he get some rest. She wished him goodnight, hesitated a moment then turned to the door. She stopped again on the threshold before forcing herself out and gently shutting the door behind her.
Fitz snuggled under his covers, seeking any form of comfort he could get now he was left all alone. He was beginning to get attached to the company and warmth Doctor Simmons brought. His eyes closed and he drifted into unconsciousness, his final thought of the adventures he had once had with the ragtag team of strangers.