This story takes place in a non-canon universe after the finale where Fitz and Simmons are together and Fitz is pretty much recovered. I have written other stories in this universe and this one takes place between W.A.V.E.S. and Monster Goo. (But you don't really have to read those to read this one.)

They have been together for probably only a few months.

I put a reference to the science fiction show Fringe in every chapter of every one of my stories (usually) so feel free to look out for it if you want even if you don't know what Fringe is. It may stick out as something unusual like a polka dotted cow or pet badgers. ;). Sometimes it is also a line from the show I like or the title of an episode.

Agents of Shield belongs to its creators who make great decisions and ABC and Marvel

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Jemma and Skye waited quietly outside of Leo's bunk. Skye had a finger to her lips and Jemma was trying very hard not to giggle.

"This may actually work against me you know," she told Skye, even though she was grinning. "If he gets scared for the rest of the night it's going to be me he'll be bothering over the walkie talkies."

"You still have those?" Skye asked, raising her eyebrows, a hint of concern in her expression.

"Not for the nightmares," Jemma assured her, scrunching her nose and shaking her head to show she wasn't worried about their return. "Those have stopped, mostly. It's just... nice to have someone to talk too. I think we got used to being a quick flick of a switch away from each other."

There was a loud, high pitched scream from Leo's room. "Jemma!" he called irritably and they giggled together. "Oh yes, really funny you two." He grumbled, stepping into the hallway holding an incredibly creepy baby doll out towards them accusingly. "Is this why you wanted to watch that movie last night?"

He scowled as they continued to laugh at him.

"You should have heard yourself," Skye chuckled. "Besides you started this."

"With the mop in the closet?" he asked, frowning. "That wasn't nearly as terrifying as..." he held up the doll and shook it. "This."

"Simmons screamed almost as loud as you though," Skye objected, laughing and now Jemma turned to her offended.

"Well it was scary," she put in. "All I wanted was a fresh roll of paper towels and I was... attacked-"

"It wasn't suppose to hit you," Leo interrupted defensively. "You weren't suppose to stick your face in first."

"I was just popping my head in to see if we had any near the door," she defended. "Oh don't look like that Fitz, I wasn't mad at you. It didn't hurt, it just surprised me."

"Then why the retaliation?" he demanded, shaking the doll again so that it's bald head flipped back and forth.

"Because it was fun," Skye laughed and Jemma nodded, smiling.

"The mop isn't going to give you nightmares," Leo muttered, glaring at the doll.

"You can always call me if you're scared," Jemma assured him, narrowing her eyes sympathetically and tilting her head before giving him a quick peck then blushing as she sent Skye a nervous sideways glance.

She wasn't sure exactly what was appropriate in front of their teammates which was hard, especially for Jemma who was far more comfortable following the rules. Her and Leo being together would have probably been altogether prohibited before... well before Shield fell, however the old rules had been tossed into the air. On top of that Coulson, their team leader, was the lead of the entire organization now and he'd given them a free pass so long as they kept up their efficiency.

Actually it was more of a trial. Stay efficient, stay professional when you need to be and don't break any of the rules and you can call each other whatever you want. Best friend, partner, boyfriend, he could be any of them and all of them just as long as they followed the rules. The problem was, their leader hadn't been incredibly clear on what exactly those rules were.

Skye didn't seem bothered by her display of affection (though she did have a history of being a bad girl, a rebel) and it cheered Leo up right away, pinking his cheeks and causing the corners of his mouth to turn up in a wide grin even as he mumbled that he wasn't scared, so she didn't regret it.

"Besides Fitz it's Halloween," Skye reminded him. "You're suppose to get scared."

"Well you haven't been frightened yet," Jemma pointed out, crossing her arms and turning to stand beside Leo who mimicked her pose, a mischievous smile forming on both their faces.

"We haven't heard the cry of a terrified Skye this Halloween evening," Leo agreed.

"That doesn't seem fair does it?" Jemma asked him as they exchanged a glance.

"No, it doesn't," he concurred.

"You guys think you can scare me?" Skye challenged, raising an eyebrow, amused.

"Of course we can," "Definitely," they answered and she chuckled at them.

"Good luck with that," she wished them, patting Jemma's shoulder before passing them and heading to the kitchen. "I'm going to have some dinner before we get a case, Trip says crazy things go down tonight."

"OK," "Enjoy your dinner," They replied, waving goodbye.

"Challenge accepted," Leo whispered to Jemma as Skye walked away and she beamed at him. "But first can we..."

"You're hungry aren't you?" she guessed, shaking her head at him but kissing him once more, slowly this time because there was no one around to see, and feeling a small tingle in her chest.

She wasn't sure what he was at that exact moment, her best friend, her partner or her boyfriend.

Maybe a bit of all of them, she decided. Nothing in the world was truly separate from what was around it, not even her emotions. It was all mixed together and reacting and interacting, coming apart and coming together. Nothing and no one was truly alone in the world.

"It is dinner time," he reminded her, taking her hand which made her both happy and nervous because she wasn't sure if that was allowed. She should ask Coulson to make a list or a guide of some sort for them. "And I want to eat before it's too late. Skye's right, we're probably going to get a new mission tonight. People are always up to no good on Halloween."

/-/-/

The train was about to leave the station and people were taking their seats.

"Would you like some help with that sir?" a kind looking attendant offered as Donnie fumbled with his bag.

"Oh, umm... no I'm OK," he told her, gazing apprehensively at Kenzi who glared back at him before he remembered they weren't suppose to know each other.

Everything was fine, this woman had no reason to be suspicious of him. He took a breath to calm himself. "Thanks, but I got it." he insisted and she left.

He shook himself to clear his head before stuffing his luggage into the overhead compartment.

Kenzi bumped him roughly as she walked towards her seat. "Don't screw this up newbie," she hissed and her aggression hit him like slap.

He felt incredibly alone, even among allies but he tried not to think about that. He tried not to think about how much he still missed Seth, tried not to wonder what it would have been like if he hadn't died. Life was a lot harder without your best friend.

But this was his life now. This was what he wanted... he thought... and he would be furious with himself if he screwed it up.

He watched Dave help an older lady hoist up her carry on up into the overhead compartment and smiled when his new friend shot him a quick grin.

Dave, at least, he liked. He was far kinder than Kenzi and let Donnie call him by his normal name. Kenzi insisted on being called Kelvin, like the unit to measure temperature, and couldn't understand why he had trouble with that. He had trouble talking to her period, to most people, but he wasn't so bad with Dave. Or Whirlwind as Ke- Kelvin would call him.

She never called him Donnie. He was Blizzard to her. Which was weird but he wasn't sure how to complain about it without getting an earful about how he needed to leave his old life behind.

He watched the houses go by as they left the station, clicking along the tracks, and then the trees as they left the city for the woods between towns.

Were his hands shaking? That was strange, they were usually so steady. Well this was his first train robbery.

After they'd been traveling for around an hour he felt Kenzi tap him on the shoulder as she strolled by. It was time to begin.

He lay his head against the back of his seat and stared at the ceiling for a few seconds as he gathered up his courage. It wasn't too late to back out.

Yes it was. The others would track him down if he tried to run, he knew too much about them. He wasn't sure what exactly they'd do to him but he didn't want to find out so he rose to his feet and followed Kenzi and Dave up the train to first class.

"You aren't suppose to be up here," a security guard warned them as they filed into the car.

"We know," Kenzi told him before Dave began spinning like a human top.

It was incredible and Donnie still didn't understand entirely how he did it, but it made him fast enough to get behind the guard and slam into him, pushing him out of the car past him and Kenzi who moved to the side to let them through.

The door closed behind him and Donnie froze it shut, coating it in a thick layer of ice before dashing to do the door near the front.

People screamed and some moved towards the windows in a panic but Donnie glazed them over too, not wanting anyone to make the stupid mistake of trying to jump out, on top of preventing their escape.

"Shut up!" Kenzi shouted and the empty seat beside her erupted into flames. "Or you'll have to choose between chilled, spun or broiled." she threatened and the car fell silent. "Now give us all your valuables and we'll leave. Don't and..." another seat caught fire, melting the ice on the window beside it.

The passengers were extremely frightened by this and moved quickly to hand over their watches and wallets. Dave collected them in a bag, moving from seat to seat.

When they had stolen from everyone, Donnie took the device he had stored in his pocket and flipped a switch on the side. The train screeched as it halted, sending a few people toppling off their seats.

He wasn't just the one who froze the doors, Donnie had been an engineer longer than whatever he was now his new team valued all his skills.

Dave spun again, this time at the side of the train and punched a hole in it which they followed him through.

Kenzi lagged behind for a moment, to Donnie's horror setting fire to first class car.

"What are you doing?" he exclaimed, panicked, angry.

"Relax Blizzard, they'll be fine," she told him. "We need a distraction so we can get away."

Donnie exchanged an uneasy look with Dave. They may not be... maybe he should stay and help them.

"Hurry up you two, we're going to get caught standing here like a bunch of morons," she scolded and Donnie knew she was right so with one last glance at the burning car he turned away and followed them into the woods, back to the rest of their team.

/-/-/

Wasn't he right? Or wasn't Skye right... or Trip... well anyway they had a mission.

Coulson had called them into the meeting room halfway through his and Jemma's omelets. He'd scarfed his own down quickly but she had wrapped up hers for later and he wondered if she was regretting it now as she stood beside him while they were being briefed.

He worried a little that she was hungry and uncomfortable before Coulson's voice snapped him back to attention.

"A few hours ago a passenger train going from Westfield to New York was robbed," Coulson informed them, showing a picture of a burning train car on their screen.

"And they set it on fire?" Trip asked incredulously.

"Was everyone OK?" Skye wondered.

Coulson shook his head sadly. "There were two fatalities," he said quietly. "Two of the passengers were trapped inside and by the time they got them out it was too late."

"That's horrible," Jemma breathed and Leo nodded in agreement, feeling a pang of sorrow for the senseless loss of life.

"We believe that people with super-human abilities were involved." Coulson went on solemnly. "Witness descriptions were a match for three people who escaped from the sandbox."

"Escaped?" Leo interjected. "You mean they weren't there by choice? Were they criminals?"

"Shield was keeping an eye on them," Coulson explained and he found that made him a little uncomfortable but he didn't comment.

There was a time and place for raising questions like the ones he now had and it wasn't during a mission briefing.

"We've identified the suspects as Mackenzie Malikov, David Cannon and Donnie Gill," Coulson announced as their faces appeared on the screen.

Donnie? Donnie Gill? That same kid he'd met at the academy? It couldn't be, Donnie wasn't a bad person he had just been lost and feeling isolated. Like Leo himself had once been. He wasn't a murderer.

"Sir are you sure about-" he began.

"It's him Fitz," their leader asserted.

"But it's only an eye witness description," he argued, unable to keep the unhappiness from his voice. "How do you know for sure..."

"Fitz," Jemma soothed, touching his arm but he shook his head.

"They could have made a mistake," he insisted.

"I don't think so," Coulson said.

Leo frowned and averted his gaze but stopped arguing. They'd just have to see when they went to investigate. He really hoped the description had been wrong.

After the meeting the plane took off and Leo left to go to his room.

He had just lay down on top of his comforter and was staring at the ceiling when someone knocked on his door.

"Leo... can I come in?" Jemma asked hesitantly.

She must be worried about him to break one of the only rules they were sure of. He almost turned her away but he realized he didn't actually want to be alone right now.

"OK," he replied and she slid open the door before closing it behind her.

He didn't move and she sat on the side of his bed silently.

"Do you think I should have done something?" he asked her after a couple minutes. "Back then, after what happened at the academy."

"What could you have done?" she inquired gently. "Why would you have needed to be the one to-"

"Because I understood him Jemma," he interrupted guiltily. "I could have said something, gone to visit him. He was all alone after his friend died, he needed someone to help him. Maybe if I had just talked to him he wouldn't have-"

"You can't blame yourself for other people's mistakes," she reasoned. "He made his own choice, we all make our own choices and we have to live with them."

"Maybe making the right choice isn't as easy for some people," he said quietly. "Maybe they're in a dark place and they need someone to tell them it's OK to step into the light."

"It doesn't mean it's alright for them to hurt others," she answered, laying down beside him so that her face was a few inches from his.

He turned his head towards her and she stroked his cheek comfortingly. "There was nothing you could have done," she assured him, kissing his forehead softly.

Leo wasn't sure he agreed with her about that but he was calmed by her assurances and her touch.

He placed his hand on the side of her face and she gave him a small, warm smile which he returned.

"Do you think we still have enough time to scare Skye before we land?" he wondered, changing the subject.

Her grin widened into something almost impish and he felt a rush of affection. "I think so," she told him.

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Thank you to everyone who read, liked, followed or reviewed my other stories. You are all awesome and make good choices. haha... a joke. Because there was a thing about choices in here.

The Walkie Talkies are from Blue Bumble Bees. They were using them to communicate from their rooms when Jemma was having nightmares about the box at the bottom of the ocean and Fitz was having trouble with his memories.

The Fringe reference is Alone in the World. It is the name of a fourth season episode of Fringe and the title of this story.

The other reference (this time there were two) is really vague and it is the line "Maybe they're in a dark place and they need someone to tell them it's OK to step into the light." which is based off the line " even when it's the darkest, we can step into the light," from the fourth season episode One Night in October which actually partly inspired this story.

The names Blizzard and Whirlwind are from comic books (according to the marvel comic database). Donnie Gill is Blizzard and his partner Whirlwind is David Cannon. Kenzi is named after Kenzi (Mackenzie) Malikov from Lost Girl. (It's a show about mythical beings and my favourite characters are the two humans haha)

I watched the episode with the 'demon' guy Repairs recently and that is what inspired them scaring each other at the beginning. Fitz's reaction to whip cream in the face, the others giggling at him... haha. There is no real reason this story begins on Halloween, except as slight reference to One Night in October.

Thank you to notapepper for helping me with this idea and giving me some insights on Donnie :).