Sorry for keeping this summary a bit cryptic but I didn't want to spoil the plot. You'll get where this is going within the first few chapters though. I started writing this months ago actually but then came the Framework and with all the angst in canon, I was in the mood for something more fluffy at the time. But I still like this idea so I thought I could finally come back to it.

The first chapters are already done so I'll try to keep to a weekly update (the first chapter is quite short so maybe chapter 2 will come a bit sooner!)

"Fitz, do you realize this is probably one of the last times we walk out of this building?" Jemma cried out enthusiastically, turning around to look back at it the second they were out the door and Fitz rolled his eyes in fond exasperation.

"Yeah ... until we come back tomorrow because you want to make another last minute check on our project ... and the day after that and in a few years when we both become co-directors of the SHIELD academy!" He teased and she bumped his shoulder before turning around and walking again. She pretended not to notice that he had followed and was now walking next to her for a moment but she couldn't keep a straight face for long, not when he had such a genuinely amused smile on his face. Fitz didn't smile so wide very often, though she liked to think that she had something to do with the fact that he did it a lot more now than when they met a few years ago.

"Come on Fitz, am I not allowed a bit of nostalgia?" She sighed and his smile turned softer.

"Of course you are ... but things won't be much different, we'll still be working in a lab together, except it's going to be our own lab and it'll be much bigger and we'll get paid to work there!" He said as he stopped walking for a moment to face her and she grinned at the obvious excitement on his face.

"I know, this is gonna be great ..." She said, grabbing his arm to make them walk again. "... I don't think we'll get to be directors of SHIELD academy though ... you know we applied for field work right?" She added.

"Yeah ... but we didn't pass our physical assessments so ..."

"But it's only a matter of time, we'll just have to train a bit and we can take them again in six months or so ..." She cut him off, feeling a little worried now. "... unless you've changed your mind?"

"No no no of course no ... it's just it's ... scary is all" He answered with a reassuring smile and she relaxed a bit.

"I know but we'll do it together right? ... and it'd be so rewarding to see our tech actually being used on the field don't you think?"

"Yeah yeah Simmons, you don't need to convince me a second time ..." He mumbled. "... as long as I'm with you I'll be fine anyway!" He said louder and her heart melted a bit. Sometimes, he could say such sweet things without even realizing it.

"What is it?" He asked and it was only then that she realized she had stopped walking.

"Nothing ..." She breathed out with a soft smile as she resumed walking. There was still a bit of shyness in him and she didn't want to embarrass him by telling him how adorable he was.

-0-0-0-

They walked in silence for a moment, just enjoying this nice late spring evening. The weather had been perfect all week with a nice blue skye and the air just warm enough that you could go out without a coat or sweater during the day. Somehow it felt like it reflected their happy mood of the moment. Classes and exams were over, graduation was two weeks away and soon they'd leave Boston for the vacation they'd been waiting to go on for years.

They'd spent pretty much every waking moment together since the day they've met, in a few months they would be sharing a flat and a lab together, yet somehow he couldn't have been more excited to spend another three weeks with his best friend. If someone had told him a few years ago that things would go this way, he wouldn't have believe them. He's had a few friends before, in high school, but being always smarter and much younger than everybody else never made things easy. He didn't keep contact with any of those friends and never needed or really wanted to see them outside of school. With Jemma, it was different though. Of course they shared science but it always felt like their minds worked the same way and whatever the topic, talking about it with her was always interesting. And she'd also been the first person he felt comfortable enough with to share more personal things about his life. When he thought about it, it probably had something to do with that softness in her eyes when she was looking at him sometimes. He'd watched her closely over the years and never saw her do it with anyone else, even the few boyfriends she's had.

"I guess being directors of SHIELD academy can wait until we become too old for field work ..." He conceded after a moment and they both laughed.

"Yeah ... I guess you could probably talk me into that ..." She answered before looking at her watch. "Fancy getting some takeout and go eat by the lake? Sunset should be amazing tonight ..." She asked as they were getting to their dorm building. Fitz held the door open and gestured for her to get in with an exaggerated arm gesture, and she did, scrunching her nose in that cute way she did whenever he did something a bit odd.

"Sure, that'd be nice, I could probably use some fresh air!" Eating their meals together was not even a question anymore, the only question was what they would eat and where they'd eat it.

Just as they were getting into the elevator leading to the upper floors, Jemma got a notification on her phone and got it out of her bag.

"Strange ..." She half whispered. "My sister tried to call me, must have been while we were in the engineering building, there's no signal there ... but she should be in bed at this hour and she almost never calls anyway, always texts or emails me if she wants to talk ..." She added, looking a little worried.

"I'm sure it's nothing ..." Fitz said, putting his hand on her shoulder with a reassuring smile. "... but you should call her back just in case. I'll go put these in my room ..." He added, nodding towards the pile of books he was holding. "... grab a sweater and a blanket and I'll come pick you up in ten minutes so we can go get dinner, yeah?" He finished and she smiled back at him.

"Yes ... of course. see you in a bit then ..." She answered when the elevator door opened to Fitz's floor.

"See you!" He answered and got out to walk towards his room.

-0-0-0-

Fitz didn't really need ten minutes to get to his room and gather a sweater and blanket but he thought he'd give her time to have a proper conversation with her sister if she needed to. Jemma and Amy hadn't been really close until a few years ago. Jemma was six years older which didn't make things easy in the first place and even though Amy was a smart girl, she wasn't Jemma smart and for a long time they had trouble communicating. But when Amy started changing from a little girl to a teenager, she reached out to her older sister for advice about boys and other things Fitz probably couldn't understand and Jemma was over the moon. She was really happy to finally have a relationship with her sister.

When he thought enough time had passed, Fitz put the blanket and his sweater in his backpack then grabbed his keys and left his room to go to Jemma's.

He knew something was off the minute he got out of the elevator and saw that Jemma's door was open. She never left her door open. He ran for the few remaining meters and was startled when he found her just behind the threshold, her hand on the door handle like she was about to go out. She was pale as a ghost and her face was completely devoid of expression, which usually never happened. Jemma always wore her emotions on her face but in that moment, she could have been a robot version of herself except for the shaking of her hands.

"Sim-Jemma, what is it? What's wrong? Are you sick?" He asked, trying not to let the panic in his voice show too much.

She didn't react.

So he gently took her hands in his and made her walk backwards until he could close the door behind him. Whatever was wrong with her, it was no one else's business.

"Simmons? Jemma?" he asked softly one more time. "Talk to me Jemma ..."

"I-I wanted to come to ... to see you but I-I ..." She started, her voice breathless and barely a whisper like she'd just run a marathon. "I couldn't ... move ..." She finished, still not looking into his eyes but at a distant point over his shoulder.

"That's alright ... I'm here now ..." He half whispered, unconsciously lowering his own voice to her level. Keeping her hands in his, he started rubbing his thumbs softly against her palms. "Tell me ..."

"My parents ... on the road ... there was an-an accident and ..." She started, finally looking into his eyes and something clenched in his chest. It seemed like she was finally out of her trance and her eyes were rapidly filling with tears. He didn't need her to finish her sentence, he could read it in her eyes. People had been saying that they shared a psychic link for years and for once he wished that it wasn't true, that he couldn't read her so well, that he was mistaking.

"They ... they didn't survive Fitz ... they're-they're ..." He was just quick enough to gather her in his arms before she fell. He couldn't stop her from falling completely though. It felt like she had all the weight of the world on her shoulders and he wasn't strong enough to hold it for her. He managed to slowly make her sit on the floor with him and he could only hold her as she broke into pieces in his arms.