This story takes place in an alternative (non-canon) world over a year after the season 1 Finale where Fitz and Simmons are together and is a sequel to Monster Goo and Shapeshifters.

I leave a reference to the TV show Fringe in every chapter of every story I write. Feel free to look for them even if you have never watched the show. Look for weird and sticks out haha.

Agents of Shield belongs to its stupendous creators and ABC and Marvel. Yay for all of them :).

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Jemma dangled a few feet from the ground, her parachute snagged in the branches of a pine tree, and her hands shook as she fumbled to undo the buckle which held her in.

She fell into a crouch with a thud, sending an unpleasant shockwave up her legs and hurting her feet. No breaks or sprains though.

"Leo!" She called, an edge of panic to her voice. He hadn't drifted too far had he? She'd seen two chutes above her on her way down, his and the pilot's, falling together and away from her but not far away. "Leo! Mr. Stevens!" She called the name of their pilot as well.

She desperately hoped neither of them had been hurt as they fell, there were so many trees, so many branches to catch on, be injured by.

"Leo!" She shouted, causing birds launch themselves out of nearby trees chirping fearfully at the commotion. Each minute of searching in which she didn't hear a reply caused her chest to tighten and she felt as if a worm were slowly constricting around her heart.

Why wasn't he answering?

"Jemma?" She heard at last, his voice high and scared but strong.

"I'm coming!" She told him with a rush of relief, breaking into a run.

"No!" He protested forcefully, surprising her and her feet halted while her body continued forward, almost making her fall, and she flailed her arms to keep her balance.

"Why not?" She demanded. He didn't sound too far away, only a few meters, but the thick brush kept her from seeing him.

"Just- just come slowly," he instructed and something in his tone made her stomach churn uneasily. "Watch where you step."

She did as he said, placing each foot cautiously in front of the other and fixing her eyes on the ground in front if her until she reached a clearing and saw him hanging by his parachute on the branch of a tree, as she had been, another harness swinging empty close by.

There was a pit underneath him, definitely dug by someone, with thick, sharp skewers of wood pointing terrifyingly towards him. Mr. Stevens had been impaled by several of them and she let out a gasp of horror and stumbled backwards against the twigs of a tall shrub which poked her back and startled her forward again.

"Jemma!" Leo yelled because she stopped only half a meter from the edge of the pit.

"What- " she squeaked, however there was no end to her sentence and she took quick, frightened breaths as the scene before her sunk in.

Mr. Stevens had fallen onto the spikes, probably after releasing himself from his harness. The branches, leaves and debris beneath him caused her to guess the pit had been hidden and he hadn't known he would fall the extra eight or so feet to his death. Why Leo hadn't released his own harness at the same time was a mystery but his hesitation had saved his life, for now. He still dangled hazardously over it on a branch which did not appear as if it would hold his weight for much longer.

"He f-fell in," he stammered. "He t-told me to w-wait so I c-could see how to land." He was trembling, huge, round eyes locked onto Mr. Stevens . "Oh my God... Jemma he's dead."

He was hyperventilating, shocked and Jemma realized she needed to focus him before he too fell into the deadly pit.

"Leo, Leo look at me," she commanded gentle but firm. He did as he was told, eyes misty like he was in a trance. "Its going to be alright." She reassured him and he smiled courageously at her, the mist dissipating.

Jemma thought quickly, the lower branches of his tree were thick enough she could climb them. If she got close enough and he swung over she was sure she could catch him, or at least pull him away from the deep hole so that he wouldn't fall in.

"Sweetheart we need to get you down from there," she informed him steadily, inching carefully around the pit and beginning to climb up the tree.

"Yeah," he agreed giving his head a shake to clear it. The movement caused the branch his chute was tangled around to creak threateningly and he let out a yelp as she fought to remain calm.

"Don't move," she warned softly even though her heart was beating rapidly like the blows of a boxer on a punching bag.

"Yeah, I got that from the terrifying creak," he replied jokingly. Good, he had some of his old humour back. That was a good sign.

"Until I tell you to move," she continued slowly.

He gulped. "...OK."

She took a breath to stop her voice from quivering before she went on. This had better work or... Well it had better work.

"When I tell you to, only when I tell you to," she asserted. "You're going to swing towards me and release the harness."

"What?!" He exclaimed eyes wide. "No, I can't. No, no, no, I'll end up like Mr. Stevens. He didn't even have time to scream, he just died. I can't- I can't. It's too far, I won't be able to get enough momentum to swing over it." He stared at the dead pilot, shaking madly and sending cracks across the branch.

"Yes, yes you can," she insisted trying to draw his attention away from the spikes. "Leo look over here, stop looking down."

His gaze returned to her, eyes pleading and she felt her own burn and moisten so she blinked rapidly and swallowed hard because she couldn't show him how scared she was. She needed to ground him and she couldn't do that if she fell apart.

'I can't let him die,' she thought despairingly. 'You won't,' she promised herself.

"You're going to swing over and release the harness so the parachute doesn't drag you down," she explained. "And you are not going to fall because I'm going to catch you. I swear I'll catch you." she vowed, extending one hand towards him and gripping the tree's trunk tightly with the other.

His eyes met her eyes again, filled with trust. "OK."

She smiled encouragingly at him, determined not to let him down. "That's my brave, wonderful sweetheart," she praised warmly. "Ready on the count of three?"

"Ready," he told her and so was she.

"One, two, three, swing!" She demanded.

He hurled himself at her, unbuckling the harness as he did so and she grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her as the branch snapped and dragged the parachute down with it onto the wooden skewers.

His weight threw her off balance and once he crashed into her they fell together the few feet to the ground with the crackling and slapping of thin branches followed by a hard smack upon landing.

Jemma pushed herself up, sore but relatively unharmed and he did the same beside her.

"Jemma?" He asked anxiously.

"I'm fine," she assured him. "You?"

He nodded and she let out a sigh of relief before pulling him into her arms.

They were both trembling now and for a minute neither of them spoke. She leaned her face against his and breathed in his comforting scent, trying to stop her insides from feeling like jelly.

"Mr. Stevens-" He choked, unable to put words to what had occurred and she felt him shudder.

"I know," she whispered, tightening her grip on him and letting out a sob.

He stroked her hair soothingly and after a small whimper escaped him she rubbed his back gently as they tried to come to grips with everything that had happened.

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Thanks so much for all the likes, follows, reviews and reads. :) You are all traps of cool.

Anyone who has never read a story by me, welcome along!

The Fringe reference is the worm around the heart. In the first season episode In Which We Meet Mr. Jones there is a man named Mr. Loeb who is infected by a worm-like parasite which wraps itself around his heart

The next chapter is going to be going back to what happened just before this, I wrote this one first though and it actually seemed like a fun place to begin.

I don't have a very good grasp on physics (which is probably why my cousin loves to tell me "physics says no" when I try something that isn't gonna work) so I have no idea if the swinging thing would really work haha.

If the plot of this story sounds familiar fear not, I will give mention to the stories various inspirations later. I just didn't want to give away the story too soon ;).