(A/N: All rights to Marvel's characters as well as Agents of Shield belong to their respective companies and boards of directors. I'm just taking the ball they started rolling and running as far as I can with it.)
Fitz POV
The flash of the new browser window finally downloading pulls my attention away from the beautiful sight of the Seychelles just past the porch of our quaint cottage.
Beachside view, all expenses taken care of for the two weeks we're here. And here I am researching a monster while I should be working on that list the…Zen guy told us to do.
Simmons and I went to this class today for newly married couples, playing dumb the whole time. It went okay, talked about the importance of trust, honesty, how bad secrets can be. But his main point was that you should never forget why you fell in love with your partner.
Significant other.
My notepad stares blankly at me, "Why I love Dr. Jemma Simmons" with a few jotted down words.
Never ending curiosity. Compassion. Love. Refusing to let anything get in her way.
That one's the big one. I made a couple little note under that one, about not letting anything stop her. Figuring out the flashpoint and the alcohol at the bottom of the ocean. Leaving me to help me get better after that. Powering thru our differences, surviving Maveth, Will, Hive, starting over, or at least saying it then…well…
Sighing, I glance back at the browser window that I patiently let the "high speed" internet load up.
Alveus. Better write that one down too.
I jot the word down in my ever expanding list of categories and look at the results.
Looks like with the Nazi Schutzstaffel, and Red Skull's reorganization of Hydra into the Nazi ranks, it just slips back farther and farther. Mentions of this guy in Bismarck's work, the speeches of Napoleon, plague references being mixed in with vermin like spiders and rats in the Dark Ages, the Crusades, the Romans, Greeks, Alexander the Great has a huge Hydra looking symbol on one of his shields, Persians and the Babylonians. It goes back thru all of time.
Under Alveus, I write "It dates back thru history, secret societies, shells" and flick back to the headlines from just a couple of days ago.
"Stark Industries Jet crashes on Pier, Spider-Man rumored to be involved."
Spider-Man. Probably just another Inhuman we couldn't catch up to in time. The weird thing is that he seems to be fine. More than fine, he's helping people. He was involved in that scrap at the Leipzig-Halle Airport and now he's in New York City, why we don't know.
"Who got to you…?" I mutter to myself and grab my drink, a fruity mix Jemma whipped up earlier. I don't know what's in it but it's good and the beer selection here is terrible.
The door slides open and I click off the browser window, returning to my homepage, "Ascent Corp." and their weekly newsletter. "You're not relaxing. I saw the page open Fitz."
Damn.
I sigh and turn around in my chair to see Jemma in sweats and a tank top, holding a drink with a worried expression. "I thought you were working on the list." She asks, pushing off the doorframe and walking toward me.
"I am." I answer simply, pick up the notepad and show her. "See?" She keeps her slight frown but takes my notepad.
"Why is it Dr. Jemma Simmons? Why not Simmons? Why not Jemma?"
"Because that's your title. You worked as long as I did to get your doctorate. You've earned it." I answer her honestly.
She rolls her eyes. "But I'm not a Dr. here Fitz. I'm…I'm Jemma. I don't want you constantly calling me Dr. Simmons."
"I don't, unless we're at a conference or being awkwardly professional." I fire back. "You're Jemma or Si—"
"Simmons." Jemma speaks over me, then laughs. I smile at her while she glances back at my list. "You're totally missing the part that you dove thru a hole in the universe to save me."
"Okay, then I'll add that right now."
"No no, I'll do it." She dismisses me, grabbing my pen and starting to write on my notepad. "There."
"Dove thru a portal in space. – Jemma" with her signature as well as a small heart next to it.
"A heart? I'm honored." I tease her, getting a grin and another laugh in response.
"You should be, that was the bravest thing anybody's ever done for me." She smiles then looks up at me. "I mean that." I laugh, then smile, causing Simmons to do the same while sliding onto my chair and into my lap. "Beautiful, isn't it?"
I nod. "Gorgeous, but the real beauty was underneath the water."
"So I was right about the snorkeling." She smirks.
"You're mostly always right."
Simmons claps her hands together. "I'll have to remember that for later on down the road."
Oh no.
Groaning while leaning back in my seat, Simmons shimmies closer before laying her head on my chest. "You're also looking at the Spider-Man?" She reaches forward and opens up that browser story.
"I know, I know. It came thru right as we were about to leave to come here. I'm…the story's weird."
Simmons scrolls down. "I know it's weird, all of this is weird. You think it's another Inhuman?"
"Yeah, and that'd make sense. We didn't find him, his powers are subtle enough that nobody noticed, he could hide and all that. But he's got web slinging stuff that dissolves. A suit that I would think costs at least a few hundred thousand dollars—"
"What would an Inhuman have that kind of money for? Wouldn't they hide, with the Sokovia Accords and all that?" Simmons fires right back.
"Well he's not working for Stark. He just crashed his plane."
"But they were seen in Germany fighting together."
"I…" I stop myself and let the air come out of me. "I don't know."
Simmons settles her hand on my chest and adjusts herself again. "It's not for us to know right now. We've got enough going on with Shield being reorganized."
"I don't like it." I shake my head.
"They're breaking us up. We're powerless to stop it too."
"Not totally."
"Kind of!" She says hotly. "What are we supposed to say, 'No we stay with the guy who blew a nuclear warhead above Earth's atmosphere?' That won't fly!"
"We agree." I smile and defuse her, causing her to deflate a bit.
"I'm scared Fitz. I really am. I love our team."
We're a family. After everything we've been thru together. Mack and May and Lance and Bobbi even though they're disavowed, Coulson, Daisy even though she's become "Quake", Trip…
"I love them too." I cough out, then clear my throat. "We'll get thru this."
Jemma smiles while squeezing my hand. "I know we will. And I've got you." Quickly, I laugh, prompting her to laugh and for both of us to be centimeters apart in this deck chair before her fingers find my face and she kisses me. I lose myself in the next few moments, letting my hands find the soft skin around her waist and remembering her familiar taste and subtle but clear desire.
Love.
We break away slowly, reluctantly only to lean our heads together and gasp for air for a moment. "I'm going to go to bed. Please don't stay up too late. We're relaxing."
"I know. I won't." I smile as she extracts herself from me and walks to the door.
"Oh, I forgot. Called Mum today. Finally told her. She and dad are really happy. They want to see us." She turns back and beams proudly.
They're happy they're right. They've made jokes for years about us.
"We can make that happen I think." Simmons smiles warmly, then gathers her drink and slips back inside as words instantly pop into my head.
Event Horizon, transhumanism. Tremors. Kree. Asgard. Icers. Combat ready. Oh I remember how reliant I was on the drones like back when we were in Puerto Rico or Peru. I still don't like the dissection stuff Simmons does, but I can at least handle it. I remember Ward complaining about us not being combat cleared at the start.
Ward.
"Stupid Ward." I shake my head.
Shield. Hydra, Garrett, New Hydra, Actual Hydra. Super freaky alien dude that was the first Inhuman that inspired Hydra…
Writing "Hydra" next to where I wrote "Alveus", I then draw a line.
That conversation right there with Simmons is why I love her. One of the many reasons. It's built on our friendship thru the Shield Academy, then college, seven years of being inseparable, becoming not Fitz and Simmons, but as everyone knew us on the Bus at first, just FitzSimmons. Inseparable. Unbreakable. We can finish each other's sentences, work two steps ahead and get something done in record time, saving lives and helping people.
I can't imagine my life without her, honestly. And I don't want to. Pretty sure that's love right there.
I blink and glance down at my list, which is now a couple of pages long and divided into multiple columns in some places then gather my stuff and start back into the house. Setting my laptop down near the coffee table and the television, I then walk back to our bedroom and see Jemma with her back to the door and the covers pulled up.
"About time…I'm cold." She says, voice muffled by the covers. I quickly slip off my sandals and hop under the covers, grab her and hold her tight, causing her to giggle raucously. "Oh my gosh…"
"You said you were cold. Figured I'd warm you up." I smile at her hair before tucking it behind her ear. She responds by shifting around, then wincing.
"Ow. Did you bring your list in with you? Why's it in bed with us?"
I reach over to put it on the table on my side of the bed. "I just came in, was gonna put it down before you said you were cold. Still in my hand."
"Well put it down." She asks, before I move to comply and—
Out of nowhere, out bedroom window lights up green, causing me to reach across Simmons protectively as she shoots up in bed, leaving both of us looking at the bright green horizon and alight rushing towards us.
"What is it?" She asks, squinting.
"No clu—" I start before a white flash blinds my eyes and obscures everything.
(A/N: I'm taking the starting point of this story as 3 months into "6 Months Later" from the Season 3 finale. Needless to say, I'm changing things up a teensy bit, hopefully you guys like it as well as this first chapter. Watching S4 now online, so no spoilers please, but I'm not as psyched as I was in the first few seasons, and I like this jumping off point, so here we are. Thanks for reading, I'll update soon.)
