This story is based on a suggestion from thelooster. Thank you so much for the request! I hope it is what you had in mind.
The story takes place about 2-3 years from now and has a lot of assumptions including that Simmons and Fitz are still alive and together (of course they will be!) and they still work for someone similiar to S.H.I.E.L.D.
Agents of Shield belongs to its lovely creators and ABC and Marvel.
Jemma leapt up from her book and ran excitedly to the door when she heard the key in the lock. She was embrassing him before he'd taken off his shoes. He laughed, returned her hug and kissed her quickly before pulling away.
She looked Leo Fitz, just Leo now, up and down. He seemed weary but unharmed, which she suspected she had May and Skye to thank for.
It had been strange, at first, calling him Leo instead of Fitz. However it was made easier by how much his name suited him. She had learned that Leopold probably meant something along the lines of brave as a lion, which Leo most certainly was.
"Are you hungry?" he asked, as he managed to remove his shoes and place them neatly on the mat. He sounded strange, but she guessed he was just tired from the long trip.
"I was planning to make spaghetti," she informed him and her stomach grumbled at the thought.
"I'll do it," he told her, already walking towards the kitchen.
"Hey," she protested, sitting down up on the sofa and crossing her arms. "That's it? You've been home for less than five minutes and you're off?"
"Aren't you hungry?" he asked. But a small smile formed on his exhausted face.
"I can wait," she assured him, patting the space beside her.
He settled down and rested his head on her shoulder, eyes dropping shut, while she wrapped him up in her arms. It felt like her heart was returning to its place inside of her.
"Are you sure you don't want me to do it?" She offered, kissing his face.
"No," he insisted quickly opening his eyes again. "I'm fine." It would have almost been convincing had he not yawned just after.
Jemma raised her eyebrows, "If this is because you don't want carrots in the sauce..." she began.
"It's not," he interrupted. "It's because I love you."
"So it's love spaghetti," she laughed, feeling a wonderful surge of affection for him.
He nodded, grinning.
"Alright," she conceded. "Stay and talk for a bit first though. I missed you."
He kissed her. "I missed you too. I hope you weren't too bored without me." He added teasingly.
"It was awful," she joked, "I had to resort to watching grass grow."
"You like studying how grass grows," he reminded her smiling.
They talked for around half an hour, swapping stories about what had happened while he was gone. She suspected that, like she had a habit of doing after a mission without him, he was glazing over some of the dangers he'd faced. No mission went that smoothly and she was glad he was home, where she could keep him safe.
A grim thought crossed her mind that, consideriring all she'd seen, she should know better than to think anyone she cared about was ever completely safe or that she had the ability to fully protect them from the horrors that waited around them. She pushed the thought away though because, at least for now, they were both alive and happy and that would need to be enough.
"I should go start the food," he announced finally.
She held him tighter for a momment but her stomach growled loudly.
"I'd better be quick," he chuckled, as she released him.
"Why don't I help?" she suggested, standing up.
"No!" he said louldly, and she tilted her head questioningly. Why was he so adamant on doing this?
"It's a surprise.," he explained and she could tell he was nervous about something.
"I already know you're making spaghetti," she reminded him, suspicious, "how much of a surprise can it be?"
"So little faith in my abilities to amaze," he mocked playfully.
She rolled her eyes. "Alright," she chuckled, deciding to let him keep his secret for now, "go make your surprise love spaghetti."
He kissed her once more and she watched him fondly as he dissapeared around the corner. She then retrieved her book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and settled back down. She was confused but satisfied with her decision not to press him on why he had to make the spaghetti alone. It was no fun when people ruined your surprise for them.
"Why is there glowing grass on the counter?" Leo called from the kitchen.
Speaking of surprises.
"It's bioluminescent," she informed him proudly.
"It isn't toxic like that omlet was is it?" he wondered and she groaned internally as she heard the apprehension in his voice, "because I thought we agreed not to keep things that are toxic in the kitchen."
Why did he think anything that glowed was toxic?
"The grass is perfectly harmless," she shouted back, disappointed he wasn't more impressed with it, "and it wasn't an omlet it was a protein rich incubator. And it was only a little toxic."
"I was sick for a week," he protested, returning to the living room and crossing his arms.
"You had a rash on your tongue," she said dismissively. "And, in case you forgot, you set me back by three weeks on that project."
"Well it isn't my fault." he exlaimed. "It was a trap."
"A trap!" she repeated incredilously, "A trap with a sign saying 'do not touch'?"
He looked like he wanted to continue arguing, but instead he sighed and shook his head.
"I'm sorry," he said, surprising her, "the omlet wasn't entirely your fault."
"Protein rich incubator," she corrected him automatically. "It was both of our fault," she added, feeling it was only fair to meet him half way on this one. She'd been taught her whole life that you don't leave food in the lab and it wasn't a far leap to reason that you shouldn't leave lab where you food.
"The grass is actually really neat," he admitted, beaming at her.
"I think so," she grinned back, glad he liked it.
He dissapeared back into the kitchen. To her amusement she saw the lights flash off and on again before she heard the clanking of pots.
He turned the lights off once more to look at the glowing grass. It was beautiful (and not toxic). It would make an excellent light to guide them when they got up in the night. He felt a warm glow of pride for her cleverness.
Their vacuum Snow (after Snow White) rolled over his feet and he pushed it away. He and Jemma had designed it together. He'd programed it to find areas of the house that were dirty, in this case his feet, and clean them. She'd made it so that it seperated and degraded organic material for them to put into the compost. It was extremely efficient except for the fact that it also liked to clean dirt off their socks. It was constantly tripping him up and he would have reprogramed it long ago except that Jemma loved the way it tickled her toes and he loved how her face lit up when it did. Besides he had grown use to dancing with it.
He began to cut up the vegetables (including carrots for Jemma) for the sauce. As he did, he thought about how much he'd missed her when he was gone and how amazing it felt to reunite and exist beside her once more. Wherever he went, she kept his heart and he would always return to her.
His train of thought steered towards the question he wanted to ask that evening and he felt his stomach churn nervously. He was afraid he was going to mess up, to ask in the wrong way. He wanted to make this special so that they could look back and feel good about it but he didn't know how.
He reached into his pocket and found the ring he had made. For perhaps the hundredth time he held it up to his face and examined it. It was a silver band with two human hearts opposite each other. The hearts were connected by a network of veins and arteries so that they were two pumps for one vascular system.
He was hoping it would appeal to both the biologist and the Doctor Who fan in her (timelords have two hearts) but he was also worried he'd got it wrong. What if he'd messed up the anatomy of the hearts or, worse, what if she missunderstood and thought he didn't respect her as an individual? He knew that, despite thier synchronicity, they were two organisms not one. She was just as much seperate from him as she was a part of him.
It was a dumb worry, he knew. She would understand that what ran through the vessels was love not blood. Or he would simply explain it to her and the problem would be solved.
The ring still in his hand, he turned on the burner. So many scenarios of what could go wrong were playing in his head that he hadn't thought of how it would be safer in his pocket. While the coils of the element heated, Snow nudged at his feet again and he stumbled, dropping the ring into the space under the coils.
Cursing and still not thinking clearly he shoved on an oven mitt and tried to reach for it. The oven mitt, of course, caught fire. Startled, he tried to yank his hand back but it was caught. The fabric burned through and he cried out in pain as the hot coil of the burner pressed against his skin. Panicking, he pulled his arm back with all his strength and managed to free himself. The mitt flew into the air and landed on Jemma's grass which ignited.
Jemma heard him cry out before the smoke alarm went off. Fearing something horrible had just happened she raced to the kitchen.
The grass was on fire, as was the oven mitt laying on top of it. She reacted quickly, scooping up the fire extinguisher and spraying the flames. Leo turned off the alarm.
"Here I was thinking you were safer at home," she mused as she finished with the extinguisher. "Let's run some water over that." She led him over to the sink and turned the water on over his burn.
"I'm sorry about the grass," he said, feeling horrible. How did he end up breaking everything she made?
Her eyes drifted over to it, an expression of surprise on her face. "It will grow back," she assured him. "You, however, I only get one of." She placed her hand on the side of his face and stroked his cheek, "Be more careful alright."
"Says the one who once jumped out of a plane without a parashoot," he grinned, leanining into her hand.
He was glad she wasn't angry with him, however the grass was not the only thing on his mind. He risked a look over at the hole in the stove into which the ring had fallen.
Jemma turned off the water and retrieved a box of cling wrap. She tore out a peice and gently placed it over his burn, which was right above his knuckles.
"You'll be fine," she told him after she kissed his fingers. "How did you even manage to burn yourself there?" she wondered.
"I dropped it under the coils," he muttered and then froze, realizing he had betrayed himself.
"What did you drop?" she asked, heading over to the stove and peering into the hole. "What is that?"
Thinking far cleared than he had, she retrieved a pair of metal tongs and used them to fish out the ring.
He watched helplessly, cursing himself for being so stupid, as she examined it.
Her eyes shifted to him and they were filled with that light he loved so much.
"Is this...?" she whispered.
He nodded.
The enormous smile that stretched across her face sent a rush of relief through him. Perhaps he hadn't messed up as badly as he thought.
"Wait here," she instructed, handing him the ring.
"Alright..." he agreed, confused as she skipped away.
She returned a few minutes later appearing exactly the same.
"You can ask me now," she informed him.
No longer nervous, he held out the ring. "Will you marry me?"
She smiled at him and he could see the love in her face. Before replying she reached into her pocket and placed a different ring on his own finger.
"Yes," she answered, letting him put his ring onto her finger.
He looked down at his ring. It was beautiful. Stuck to the band were several rows of tiny gears that actually spun. Some of the gears made up the two hearts which were opposite each other on the band. They were connected by smaller gears so that when one heart moved so did the other.
"They're connected," he marveled.
"By love," she finished, looking at the ring he had given her.
Of course they had thought of the same thing.
She kissed him and pressed her forehead against his.
"I love you," she whispered.
"I love you too," he whispered back feeling light with joy.
Their stomachs growled and they both laughed.
"Let me help you with dinner," she insisted and he agreed remembering that, at some point, they had decided that making spaghetti was a task that required a partner.
Fun Background
Thank you to everyone who liked, reviewed or read my other stories, you guys are awesome. And a really big thanks to thelooster for suggesting this. It was a lot of fun to write.
It was really weird calling Fitz Leo (I think because no one in the series ever calls him that). I actually wrote most of the story without mentioning his name and added it in after.
Their stove is like the one my dad has where it has coils that heat up on top of a hole. You can take off the coils to clean the hole but it probably isn't a good idea to do when they're hot.
I found the button that makes lines, I am very happy about that.
For some reason in my head whenever Fitz and Simmons watch Doctor Who together she covers his eyes at the parts she thinks are going to scare him.
The gear ring was not my idea. I am pretty sure I have seen pictures of something similiar online.
How Simmons treats his burn is based on what I found on several websites on burn first aid. They also said to never put it in ice, use creams or pop blisters that form.
I know that 'you shouldn't leave lab where you food' is not a proper sentence but I liked the way it sounded so much I kept it anyway.
The Fringe reference in this story is the omlet/protein rich incubator. In Fringe Walter is trying to grow a human ear in what looks like an omlet when Peter tries to take a forkfull of it. Walter is (understandably) upset because not only did Peter ruin his experiment but could have died had he eaten it. Peter, not learning his lesson, continues to eat things he finds in the lab with dangerous consequences.