Daisy squirmed as Fitz's lips pressed hard against hers, claiming her. She felt the wall hard against her back as Fitz pulled them both roughly into one of the Playground's countless storage cupboards and pressed himself into her, her own body moulding into his automatically. She gasped as his tongue forcefully pushed its way into her mouth, not waiting for her to grant it entry – not that she would have stopped him. It took only a second for her to catch up and run her hands over the back of his neck, sliding through his hair. This was not the first time they had done this and yet now more than any other – blood still fresh on his forehead from his time on the other planet – there was a savage urgency behind his actions that both unnerved and excited her in equal measure.
"Fitz." She breathed out in between their rough kisses, groaning as his hand reached up to cup her breast through her shirt and trying to hold off of losing herself long enough to check he was alright. He had said nothing to anybody since they got back from England and when she went to check on him in the Lab he simply grabbed hold of her and marched them both to the cupboard. As far as she could tell between his furious kisses, he hadn't even showered let alone gone to medical – not that she minded him being dirty.
They had never spoken directly about their arrangement; what it was or what it meant for either of them. On some level they didn't have to, ever since her transformation they had both felt the undeniable shift in their relationship. After that night in quarantine where she clung on to at the time her only friend, something had forever changed and although it had taken months for that change to manifest itself into these stolen moments of almost primal intimacy; neither could deny what had happened, though both had when asked. At least for her, speaking about it made it all too real – after everything with Ward and what with Fitz having lost Simmons to the Monolith neither her nor him were in a rush to add tags to the one semblance of peace they had found in each other. Life was unstable, they were living in the moment; never looking back, never looking forward, only looking at each other for as long as they were together.
Now though, as her body ached to give into his demands but her mind struggled to keep its composure, now she knew was the time to finally talk – regardless of the traitorous heat pooling between her thighs. It was already evident to both that it was more than lust – though there was more than a fair share of lust involved – no, years of familiarity and friendship meant it could never only be sex between them… she had almost asked him what this was before but by the time she felt confident enough in questioning whether there was anything more to them than the occasional mind-blowing fuck to take their minds off of everything falling apart around them, he had rescued Simmons and Daisy was pretty certain that was the end of her and him. That was until now anyway, up until now he had been so busy looking after Jemma that, aside from stolen glances, nothing had happened. Daisy had got so frustrated she'd even kissed Lincoln, twice – in part because she really did like him, part because she thought it make Fitz jealous. That last revelation had surprised her.
"Fitz." She breathed into his mouth as his other hand reached round to the small of her back, radiating warmth as it slipped under her shirt and pressed against her bare skin. Feeling the scrape of his stubble against her jawline she desperately wanted to lose the battle; she'd missed him when Simmons had come back – and when she'd heard about Simmons' boyfriend over there Daisy actually felt happy, and then guilty for feeling happy. It was only then that she'd realised at some point things had passed beyond the friends with benefits situation, at least for her anyway. She whimpered when Fitz started kissing her neck and sucking at that soft pulse point just above her shoulder, with her last ounce of reserve she managed to gasp out, "Fitz we need to talk."
He grunted in frustration and slowed his ministrations on her shoulder but didn't stop entirely. In the end she reluctantly pushed him back a bit, pressing her hands against his chest and immediately regretting it when he cursed loudly and sucked in his breath, "Fuck, Daisy!"
She had half a mind to quip back with something like 'we'll get to that later' but the severity in his voice told her that this was too serious a moment for such a light hearted remark. Her breathing grew ragged as she took a good look at him and realised with a start that he was hurt – he was hurt and despite being on base almost an hour he definitely hadn't been cleared by medical. "Fitz lift up your shirt." She ordered, heart pounding as she considered why he had recoiled so dramatically when she lightly pushed him. He hesitated in front of her, not answering but not refusing until she snapped at him, "Fitz, just do it."
In sheer frustration she was about to offer to take off her own shirt if he took off his when Fitz relented and undid the buttons to reveal his surprisingly toned chest riddled with swollen mulberry coloured bruising and a series of nasty looking, if not particularly threatening, cuts. Her stomach seemed to plummet out beneath her as she took in the signs of violence; her eyes flitting to his scabbed knuckles to confirm that this had been the result of him fighting. He nervously pulled the two edges of his shirt back together as though suddenly insecure and then walked to the door muttering, "I'm sorry I–"
"Fitz wait," Daisy said and to her great surprise he actually stopped, "What happened?" When he didn't answer she finally addressed the question that had been burning in her mind since they got on the plane and Coulson had told them Ward was dead but refused to elaborate. "Was it… Ward? What did he do?" She asked timidly, noticing him flinch as she said the name.
He turned back to face her and pointed to the gash on his forehead, "Ward only did this one." He said in a tone that suggested he was trying to make a joke but it had fallen victim to the thick tension in the small room.
"And the rest?" Daisy asked, teeth gritted together as she looked once again to the injuries across his chest. Fitz's jaw tensed and he took a step backwards seemingly involuntarily. Noting his reluctance to talk she placed a hand softly on the exposed skin between the two sides of his unbuttoned shirt, gently running a finger across one of the cuts as though wishing it would disappear, "You can tell me."
"I can't." He breathed out and a tear ran down his cheek even as the rest of him held up his composure. He looked defeated. "I shouldn't have… I'm sorry." He said and took a much more deliberate step back, his hand grabbing for the door knob blindly. She gripped onto his shirt tightly and leaned in.
"Shhh," she muttered softly and brought herself close to him, taking in his scent and resting her forehead lightly on his shoulder, "It's okay, whatever happened it's okay."
His breaths came in short and sharp as he gave in to her embrace, the hand that had reached the handle of the door snaked around her back and he pushed his forehead into her hair. They held each other in silence for what felt like forever before he finally said, "I killed him." Daisy felt her legs grow weak under her as she heard Fitz say those words, words that sounded so wrong coming from him.
"Ward?" She asked in little more than a whisper.
She felt him shake his head imperceptibly as he answered her, "Will… It…"
Her heart started pounding as she felt him begin to lean heavier against her; a small part of her could've laughed at how he had thought himself up for sex when he was clearly so exhausted he could hardly stand. "I don't understand." She admitted honestly, leaving it up to him to continue if he wanted to, though a knot coiled in her gut at the thought of him having killed Jemma's boyfriend – she pushed the thought back to focus on him.
"I found him, I found Will." Fitz said surprisingly clearly, his voice cold and oddly detached – as though he were describing something that happened to somebody else, "He led us to the portal, and then – he was hurt, even when we found him he was hurt, his leg - it was bandaged and when I stopped to check it…" He stopped and let go of her, sinking to the floor as the full weight of his pain and tiredness caught up with him, grunting as he rested the back of his head against the concrete wall.
"Fitz you need to get yourself seen to." Daisy said as she crouched down next to him but she could see as she looked into his eyes he hadn't heard her.
"He was dead," Fitz said through gritted teeth, "He was dead but we'd… he was dead the whole time." Fitz's eyes darted from left to right as he replayed the memory – she had half a mind to ask him to explain what he meant but she wasn't sure he would've heard her. "That thing wearing his skin… It – the first inhuman – the Monster… it went for the portal, I had to stop it. I had to. So I had to stop him too."
Daisy placed her hand on his arm on his and tried to be encouraging, "of course you did." She said gently and watched helplessly as he stifled a sob and he continued.
"I promised myself not again – after the Hub. I made myself a promise Daisy – I wouldn't be a killer twice over, and then when Gordon… it was an accident," Fitz tensed up as he spoke as though each word was hurting him, she herself flinched as she remembered the teleporter Fitz had accidently impaled – true, he may have turned out to be a villain but she still thought of him fondly for showing her the beauty of her power. She snapped back as Fitz kept speaking, "But he was going for the portal, and I had to stop him. He wouldn't stop – no matter how many times I squeezed the trigger he wouldn't stop. He just kept on going…" Fitz's voice broke into a breathless whisper, "Until I burnt it – I burnt them both, and whatever was left of Will burned too…"
To say Daisy was in shock would have been an understatement – Fitz had fought and killed the first inhuman: the figure Simmons described as taking on the body of the astronaut in the storm. Worse yet it had showed itself as Will to get Fitz to take it to the portal, and Fitz had had to stop it. Her head spun and she was pretty sure the light above them shook slightly as she processed the information, eyes flicking back to the injuries that attested the seriousness of his words.
"I promised her I'd bring him back, and I promised I wouldn't let it come back too… What should I have done? How can I face her?" He said, wracked with pain.
"You did what you had to do Fitz, what had to be done. You're a hero." Daisy leant over and brought herself into him, trying to pretend his worry about how Simmons react didn't make her jealous, "You literally saved the world."
"He was right there Daisy… We spoke for hours and the whole damned time it wasn't him." Fitz said coldly into the admittedly limited space of the closet, "It remembered her, remembered me – it knew my bloody name; recognised me from a photo – don't you see? It didn't just take his body it took him all!" Fitz spat out suddenly angry, the horror of everything writ clearly across his face.
"Hey…" Daisy whispered calmly, leaning into him even further, "It's done now Fitz. I know that doesn't make it any better or any easier – but it is done now. You're back, and that's what matters."
"I'm so sorry Daisy." Fitz blurted out, catching her by surprise when he turned to look directly at her for the first time since they'd been kissing, "I'm so sorry for everything." He gestured from him to her as she watched the way his glistening eyes shone in the light, "This, us, I shouldn't have tried… I didn't think…"
"I know you love her." Daisy cut across his rambling suddenly and his eyes widened in surprise, honestly she was quite surprised she'd admitted that to herself as well, "I always knew."
"I love you too." Fitz shot back utterly sincerely.
"I know." Her ears were ringing loudly with the thrumming of her pulse as it dawned on her that this would probably be the last time they would be together, that this was his way of saying goodbye. She couldn't say the words back to him; she couldn't say them aloud; not now not ever. Instead she said simply and without malice or intent, "I know you do Fitz, just not enough."
"It's not like that." He told her, and while she knew in her heart he was right she couldn't help but feel the hurt rising in her. The pain swelled even more as she remembered that she herself had once described the link between him and Simmons as psychic – it was him who claimed that he had the same connection with her.
"Where does this leave us?" She asked him, trying to keep her voice from trembling and acutely aware that the light was still shaking slightly. Her eyes searched desperately for answers in his face but he seemed as lost and broken as ever. When it became clear that he couldn't answer her, she accidently let out a single, strangled sob.
Faster than she thought possible he brought his arms around her and held on tight, "I'm so sorry." He whispered into her ear and their hearts burned together.
"So… this is goodbye?" She muttered so quietly he wouldn't have heard her if they won't so close.
"No," he answered quietly, and then when it became clear to him she wasn't referring to their physical locations he sighed deeply and added, "and… yes."
Something shifted in her in that moment, if this was the last time she would have Leo Fitz then she didn't want to remember him sobbing in a closet with her. She grabbed his hand and rose to her feet, pulling him upright and pressing her lips to his firmly when he tried to protest. Breaking apart from what was a surprisingly chaste kiss she opened the door and led him out into the corridor by the Lab. As they passed the door that led into the medical area he looked at her curiously, or at least she thought he did – it was hard to tell through the dirt, blood and tears that stained his face.
"This isn't–" He began; his voice hoarse as she turned around and cut across him.
"I already told you, you needed to be seen to." Daisy said, voice dripping with innuendo and unspoken promise. It had the intended effect as his eyes darkened but he nonetheless let go of her hand.
"Daisy." He warned, worry evident in his face that she had misunderstood the end of their arrangement.
"I know, Fitz." She said calmly, "I just thought we should end, properly."
He was silent for a good few moments and she suddenly regretted trying to push him into one last bout of sex – sure he had tried to screw her but that was before their heart to heart. She was about to walk away and tell him to forget what she said when he stepped forward and, eyes meeting hers with a ferocity blazing that made her tremble slightly in anticipation, he said simply, "Ok."
She grinned and kissed him – even though there was nobody around, it was the most public kiss they'd had, she made a mental note to delete the footage from the lab surveillance later as their lips broke apart. She began to ask him if he was sure when he cut across her.
"You're beautiful." He said unwaveringly in his Scottish lilt as his eyes held onto hers, drawing her in. "You are so beautiful."
Before she knew what she was saying she blurted out, "I'm sorry I'm not as good as her."
Hurt shot across Fitz's face and he took a momentary step backwards in shock. She almost regretted saying it because of how he reacted but at the same time it was how she felt. He regained his composure and moved in closer than ever, so close she need only lean in and she could catch his lip between her teeth if she wanted to. He spoke softly and surely, "There's nothing wrong with you Daisy, you're just different and that's ok…" She laughed in spite of herself at his throwback to the first time they'd ever been this close and was caught completely off guard when he continued by saying, "You really are beautiful."
His gaze was so intense it practically hurt her to be under it and all the pain and hurt she had seen just moments earlier was overwhelmed by the sheer affection and… love… she could see coming from him now, even if it wasn't enough – it would be enough for now, for their goodbye. She seized the moment and took his hand again, walking them towards the door to her bunk and as they fell into a bed together for the first time to make love – something quite difficult at first with Fitz's array of bruises and cuts – she had never felt happier in her life. It didn't matter what the new day would bring when the sun rises, both of them would have this night and each other forever.