This fic takes place in the same universe as the previous two from "Pictures from Balamb Garden" series- canon compliant until the end of season 2, starting from there with Jemma being simply trapped in the Monolith and then Fitz getting her out.


After a full day of worrying about all the things that could go wrong on their first date, Simmons ended up late - only a few minutes had been stolen by her uncooperative hair curler, but enough to make her feel even more nervous. Fitz was waiting for her, walking from one wall of the Playground's corridor to the other and trying to look casual while holding something tiny and gray in his hands. She stopped in her steps for a second to take in the sight of him, simply glad she was able to see him - alive, safe and just a few feet away from her.

"I'm sorry to keep you waiting," she said, instead of a greeting.

"It's just a few minutes, It's nothing," he smiled at her, patient as always when it came to giving her time. "You look beautiful Jemma."

"Thank you. And I wasn't talking only about today," she clarified, thinking about all the time they'd wasted.

"Worth it," he murmured, not taking his eyes off her. "That's for you." Something cold touched her hand and she looked down to see a flower made of metal and glass, all shiny and sparkling. "Still no flower shop around, and since it's our first… I mean first official, uhm, date... Well I just thought flowers are an absolute must, so I made this from-"

"It's beautiful," she cut in, taking it from him and lifting it up to see the detailed work. "Truly lovely. Thank you, Fitz."

He smiled at her, and for a moment, she thought everything would be just fine. And for a moment, it was. They were chatting as always during dinner, they were joking and talking about their teammates and science and stealing not-so-secret glances at the other just to shyly turn their eyes away a second later. Everything felt exciting, new and yet comfortable.

All was well until they were heading back, walking close to each other, their hands hesitantly brushing just to shyly move away, as a strange silence fell around them. This feeling was completely new and unfamiliar, a tiny slot of time when they both realised the change was approaching and there was no running away, it was either a step forward or backward. On her previous dates this was always that strange moment when she didn't know what would happen next, who should make a move and if she want things to be moved at all.

Now they were walking down the quiet road back to the car Coulson had let them borrow, their sentences suddenly feeling strange, conversation no longer going smoothly, breaking every few minutes. This was an unknown territory for both of them.

She saw the slight tremble of Fitz's fingers as his hands twisted more and more when he tried to hide it. His words became increasingly unclear when he started to stumble over them just a bit, and then a bit more.

After a few minutes, she saw him look away with the expression she had learned to hate more than anything, the one that meant he was nervous and irritated with himself, thinking he's worth less than the world to her. Simmons wanted him to stop, wanted both of them to get out of this strange uncomfortable atmosphere, back to the bliss of the dinner. She wanted to go with him hand by hand and not worry about anything. She wanted him to know she was enjoying every second of their date and she wanted him to do the same.

Looking up, searching for the way to fix things between them, she saw the stars, tiny lights above them, scattered around the moon, and suddenly she remembered something from years ago decided in a whim to just go with what her heart wanted and embrace this moment.

"Will you dance with me?" She asked turning to him.

"Wh-what?" He looked at her surprised.

"I would like to dance with you if you don't mind," she said, feeling less confident about her idea with every second. Maybe spontaneous moves were overrated?

"You wanted to go dancing today? I didn't thought... I- I mean, we could go somewhere-"

"No, I'm not saying I wanted to go somewhere else, this restaurant was great," she tried to explain while taking a step closer to him. "I meant now. I just felt like dancing with you. Under the stars and moonlight. It's quite a nice evening and they are shining so bright and it made me remember that when I was little I dreamed of dancing under stars with my future boyfriend." He just stared at her and she realized that maybe it was too soon to call him her dreamed boyfriend after one dinner. Well, technically, it was two already but clearly still too soon. "It's nothing, you don't have to, I mean, it was a stupid idea anyway, there's no music in here and it's just a childish nonsense-"

"I like this idea,." Fitz was suddenly grinning wide and caught her hand, cutting off her rambling and making her smile in return.

Jemma let him pull her into his embrace, happily enveloped in his warmth and the smell of his cologne. They were terrible dancers, both of them, so they just swayed from one foot to the other, circling slowly around a tiny spot on the ground, just as they had been circling around the wonder of love for years. There was no music to guide their moves, only the darkness of the night wrapping them in silence, but with Fitz it wasn't scary nor did it made her feel lost, instead it was wonderful and full of possibilities. Whatever step they took next, they were going to take it together, and she wouldn't have it any other way.

The awkwardness and nervousness melted from their bodies and left behind only a soothing feeling of being in love and a happiness of being there together.


A/N:

This is a draft I had half-ready for 9 months so I guess it's time for it to see the light of the day.

Huge thanks to lettertoelise for beta reading!

The title (as always for this series) is a quote from Final Fantasy VIII, it's something Rinoa told Squall: "I'll be waiting here for you, so if you come here, you'll find me. I promise." If an idea strikes me I might add something to this verse (but I'll have troubles with a title since I used the quote to it's fullest ;)

Thanks for reading! As always, remember there's a correlation between feedback and motivation.