Being trapped inside an artifact was strange to say the least. Simmons knew she should be panicking, but was unable to do so. Her emotions were slow and lazy, like something was stopping them from bursting. Senses were working differently for her now, making her feel like floating, hearing steady drumming and indifferent to any kind of touch or temperature. She could see but the vision was blurred, like she was looking at things through a thick mass of transparent material.

Fitz came to the room, lost and confused, looking around, searching. For her. He thinks I bailed on him, she realised. He was thinking that she had run away from their date. As if that would be possible after how long they were both circling about the topic.

They had a talk when he came back, after she took care of Coulson's arm and the other's injuries. After she made sure he was not hurt, they were standing in the corridor, near the vaults and finally just talked about it. That was only the beginning though. They had explained things, but they had not decided what to do with the future, barely making peace with the past. Saying the words that needed to be said and admitting the feelings they both kept ignoring for way too long. Tonight, they were supposed to finally start building after clearing things and making a foundation.

Fondness welled up in her when she noticed that Fitz looked so handsome in his shirt that for once was not wrinkled and he had even put on a blazer. She wanted to reach for him, call for him, but she couldn't move. She wanted out of there and to be with him, but she was trapped in something she couldn't even begin to comprehend.

Not fair, not fair! They'd barely fixed the most crucial issues, and now here they were, her consciousness flying, him running around. Her being locked, him trying to go out with her.

Simmons could clearly see the moment when he noticed. When he saw the door to the cage wide open she could practically see his brain processing everything into conclusion. He took a step closer and she wanted to scream again, this time for him to run away, to stay back and be safe, to warn him. He took another careful step closer and she felt her prison shift, preparing to catch another victim.

No, no, no, Fitz, stand back, she shouted but her muscles were not moving and he couldn't hear. It was Chitauri virus all over again, her breaking and him rushing to support her regardless of danger.

At least we would be together, whispered a traitorous part of her mind that she immediately forced back. Because, no, not like this. They will be together outside when she gets out of here.

He took another step closer and the artifact moved fluidly, reaching for him, along with Jemma who was trying to fight it, stop it or at least slow it down enough for Fitz to run away.

He did. He jumped back, out of the reach, crossed the door and shut it behind him.

"Mack!" She heard him shout. "Skye! We have a big problem!" He had to move away because his voice was getting faint. "Check the security feed! I'm afraid I know where Jemma is..."

"It was made by Kree, right?" Fitz was pacing back and forth in the lab, the rest of the team looking at him with worry when he waved his hands. "And they... they were turning people into stones, so that they emerge from them and become Inhumans. Changed. They were closing them inside cocoons. And this... thing, Jiaying said it's lethal for Inhumans, right? So maybe... maybe they made it as something similar but different? Maybe it was meant as a protection against Inhumans... Maybe it's another type of cocoon, that's trying to defend itself, so it trapped Simmons to... to change her so it can release her later? Maybe it's like Tesseract, maybe it took her somewhere, and w-we could reopen a path and bring her back..."

"Fitz," Skye said in a quiet voice, trying to sound reassuring when all she wanted to do was cry and scream. "It has been two weeks already. I know how you feel, but you have to accept that Simmons is..."

"No. I don't have to accept anything. What I have to... have to do, is not lose hope when there's still a chance. You were turned into a stone and you're walking just fine right now! We just have to.. to figure out how to get her out and see what happens next," he said looking at them with bewildered eyes. "I don't believe that Kree just designed a stone that would randomly ruin people's lives by eating them. It must have a purpose. It must want something with her. I was standing there before it took her and it didn't move at all. We discover its purpose, we will know why it chose Jemma. And then we will figure out how to get her back. What interest it could have in simply ki-" he couldn't finish, his voice trembling. He took a deep breath. "She can't be just... gone for no reason..." he added quietly, resigned.

Simmons had no idea how much time had passed. If it passed at all. Fitz looked different. He had different sweater and a lot more scruff on his face. He also had black bags under his eyes and pale skin. There were other people in the room too, but she was never able to focus on them, they were mere shadows while Fitz was as clear as ever.

"Jemma?" He whispered to the glass cage. "I don't know if you can hear me, and I don't know if you are even there, if... If it's you and you're still... Anyway I just wanted to tell you that I... I will get you out. And whatever happens next, we will deal with it. Together. Yeah? So just... Hang on a little longer."

She nodded her head, even though he couldn't see it. He really didn't have to tell her this. Even for a moment she hadn't thought that anything different could happen.

There was a switch and a feeling of falling and a crushing sound when everything around her was moving. There was a pain when her knees hit the ground and a wave of cold air hitting her skin.

Simmons saw the light just the way she should see it, the way humans see it, not the way this Kree rock was allowing her to see. She could breathe again with her own lungs and she could move. Seeing Fitz just a few steps away made her smile when tried to stand up, moved her legs to get closer, even though she was exhausted after being trapped for so long. Raising her trembling hand to reach for him was difficult, but she managed and was rewarded with him taking a step closer to meet her in the middle.

Then she heard the clatter of loaded guns and saw men in black raising their weapons and aiming them at her.

"Agents Simmons, don't move!" barked one of them and she freeze, confused.

"Jemma." It was Fitz's voice, the one soothing sound in the surrounding chaos. "Jemma, don't panic. Nobody will hurt you, you know that. I'm here. You're safe. We have to check what this... thing did to you. We just have to make some tests. You understand this, right?"

She looked at him with eyes wide open, still confused about everything around her. But he was right. He was there, nobody would hurt her.

She nodded.

"Good. We have to take you to the quarantine, to... to minimize the risk of... of something happening." He wasn't looking so sure about this, but she understood immediately.

She could be a risk. Whatever happened to her, she was just trapped inside an alien artifact and now she was back. There was no way she was exactly the same. This was simply impossible. She could have become changed. Like Skye and Raina. Or like Cal. Dangerous. She could have some new... properties. She could... she could be killing with a bare touch or be poisonous. She froze at the thought and at the realisation that just a few second ago she was intending to hug Fitz as tightly as possible. What would have happened to him? She could have hurt people without even noticing. How could she have been so careless?

"Everything will be fine, Jemma." Fitz was still there, talking to her, noticing the change in her expression and calming her. Chaining her to the reality and making her remember that she's back, she's back and he's here and they will figure it out.

She nodded.

Quarantine was empty. Bed, table, chair, that was all. Glass walls and people in white suits on the other side. They took her blood and some of her hair, put some sensors and left to stare at their tablets.

She was just sitting there, tired and alone. Terrified of what will happen next. What they will find? What had she become? Will she still be the same? What will happen with her? What will Fitz do when he would find out? Will he look at her the same way? Was that why he was not here now? Was he scared like she was of Inhumans, of Raina and what happened to Trip? Was he waiting until the machines would tell him who's sitting inside this room?

She heard some noise and looked up, seeing Fitz coming closer with a huge black backpack, looking at her softly.

"Hi," he greeted her.

"Hi," her voice was still hoarse from lack of use.

"I.. I've got something for you."

He opened the backpack and took two red and white cloaks out. He put one on the table on his side and the other inside the container they used to give her stuff. He moved the table closer, so that it stood just next to hers, separated only by glass. He started pulling away other things, always putting one on the table and the other in container. Matches. Small candles. Plates. Forks. Knives.

"I can't get inside, but I'm right here, yeah?" He told her while placing the last item, a bunch of artificial flowers, into the container. "I tried to get a real one, but the flowers shop doesn't deliver in here," he smiled slightly, looking at her with a dose of uncertainty, trying to judge her reaction while he locked the container and pushed it to her side.

He was arranging his the table and she followed, making hers look just the same.

"I'm sorry that you have to do this by yourself..." he murmured sheepishly. "I'll bring the food," he was gone before she could have say a word.

He was back after a few minutes, two thermal bowls in his hands. He put one in the container and she rushed to it, the smell overwhelming and making her realise just how hungry she was.

"I know it's not exactly some place nice," Fitz shrugged. "But at least we have a dinner."

She opened the box and looked at the warm dish.

"It's seafood risotto," she muttered while sitting on her chair. "You're never eating it."

"You mentioned you wanted some two weeks before... uhm. Before you've..." He scrapped his neck, sitting on the opposite side. "I just thought that you'd like to eat it."

She couldn't stop herself from falling apart under his care, tears welling up in her eyes. It was all too overwhelming, one moment she was happy that he'd asked her out, next she was trapped, then locked in quarantine with nothing but doubt and fear, and now here was Fitz, on her side and supporting her, as if it was the most obvious action in the world.

"Hey, don't... Stop... It's our first date and I already made you cry," he rushed to comfort her, forgetting about the barrier between them and hitting his hand onto the glass.

"No, it's not... I'm just happy," she shook her head, causing tears to stream.

"You don't look like it," he wasn't convinced, looking at her in alarm.

"But I am!... I'm just..." Lucky to have you? That didn't sound good, he was not a thing to possess. "You are..." too good for me? Using "too" would indicate it's something negative. How do you tell someone that they are everything good and wonderful at once? "I'm glad we're here," that sounded so plain in comparison to mountain of emotion she wanted to express. "I mean... Not happy that I'm locked, but that we are sitting here... talking." She simply couldn't find words.

"Me too," he smiled at her with a warm shine in his eyes. "I'll still take you somewhere nice after... That is if you'll still want to..."

"I do," she nodded her head vigorously, not able to tear her eyes from him.

"You should wait until the end of this one to decide," he pointed out.

"I don't have to," she told him with all the confidence she could muster while fighting her tears. "I don't have to wait. I don't need to wait. Well, I do, with the, um, quarantine, but apart from that, yes, I'd want to go somewhere else. No, I mean, not that I don't like it here, I do, well, I like what you've done in here, it's just, somewhere else would be nice too," she couldn't stop rambling, hoping that maybe she would finally find the right thing to say to him.

Fitz was just looking at her, a small smile playing on his lips.

"I missed you, Jemma," he whispered and reached his hand to touch the glass just next to where hers was lying.

"I missed you too," she replied, moving her palm to touch him through the glass.

They were sitting there for a while, smiling, just happy to see each other and no longer be kept apart.

For a moment neither of them was worried about glass and artifacts and the analysis running in the background, because no matter the results, they were together, and they would figure it out.

A/N:

Thanks to TheLateNightStoryTeller for beta reading!

The title is a quote from Final Fantasy VIII.

Thanks for reading this :) There's a correlation between feedback and motivation ;)