Fitz and Simmons sat on the small sofa next to the large window, each leaning on one end, their feet nearly touching it was so short.

It was evening, not too late for the sun to have set, but dark because of the thick storm clouds that blocked its rays. The pair had turned off the lights to stare out as rain pelted the window, over and over in a steady, soothing beat, leaving a blurry curtain of water over the glass.

Lightning flashed, brightening the sky and illuminating their faces in pale blue.

"One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand-" Simmons counted softly, interrupted by a loud, rumbling sound like an explosion; thunder. "It's getting further away," she commented quietly, almost disappointed.

Fitz chuckled and she turned her gaze from the storm to see him smiling at her, a sweet, gentle expression, contrasting starkly to the wild, violent rage of nature beside them. No part of them touched but she felt as if he'd wrapped his arms around her, silently letting her know that she was precious and that she was loved. She smiled back, hoping he knew that he was those things too.

Another flash threw light into the darkness and they returned their attention to the storm.

"It's remarkable," she marveled. "Water, completely and partially frozen, colliding together because of the turbulent winds inside the clouds, so that electrons are transfered and charges are separated." She smiled again. "Not for long though, they come back together again and when they do," another flash of lightning, a dazzlingly bright, blue crackle against the dark sky, "it's beautiful."

Fitz was silent but she knew he was listening. He'd once told her that she was a good listener and she thought he was too, when things were quiet, when he could hear.

"Do you ever wonder if it isn't just lightning?" She asked, taking in the rain, imagining the smell of it and the refreshing chill the drops would leave on her skin, before she became soaked and uncomfortable. "If maybe, sometimes, it's something else. Like beings from another world or some yet to be discovered phenomenon, disguised as part of the storm?"

They glanced at each other and he nodded, still soft, still wrapping her in an unseen embrace.

"Maybe we'll find that it is, someday." She beamed at him. "I think we're going to discover a lot of wonderful things."

He beamed back, agreeing without needing to speak.

Not all discoveries were wonderful, of course. Simmons had experienced enough to know that the world was filled with both good and evil, but also things that were in between and other things that were neither. She'd felt pain and loss, lived through terrible fear and consuming despair, however, in that moment, she was serene, filled with a quiet joy that left her still and clear like a pond on a calm day. Right then, right there, she was happy and hopeful for the future and very much glad to have the person sitting across from her safe and happy too.

She nudged his foot with her own, feeling his toes through their socks and enjoying the delight the gesture spread across his face, that something so beautiful could be passed invisibly between them, electrons exchanged, charges separated, coming back together in a brief, zigzagging string of light. It amazed her, how big such a tiny place in the universe, such as short moment in time, could seem. To her, what had passed between them could fill all of it and if she were to believe in any kind of magic existing in their world it would be love.

Neither of them spoke for a long while, they didn't touch again either but they continued to exchange that wonderful thing called love and the tiny place, the minute speck of time that they occupied was a very, very good one.