The Lighthouse was eerily empty. Still, it looked different from months ago, when Fitz first set foot into it. Then it was just a forgotten monument to an apocalypse that never came to pass. Now it looked like a battle zone; with burnt-out barrels, turned over furniture, supplies piled up in corners and part of the roof missing.

Fitz crept along the walls with his heart in his throat clutching his ICER tightly. Suddenly, he heard a noise behind a door – someone was there. He slammed the door open and pointed the ICER at the figure crouching in the middle of the room. "Hands up and turn around slowly." Fitz said on the most commanding voice he could muster, trying to fake a confidence he did not have.

The man spun around with a startled expression, which was quickly replaced by a wide grin "Fitz, thank God, man." he said his mouth full of candy. "I thought everyone just vanished. Poof. And really, I thought we are past the point-the-gun-at-my-head thing and are at least in the hi-Deke-how-are-you stage?" he accompanied his tirade by an array of unsettling gestures.

Fitz looked at the man bewildered, taking in his appearance – his scruffy hair and beard, not unlike his own. He was in his late twenties, early thirties just like Fitz, clad in a simple pair of jeans and a black T-shirt. His eyes were intense, it was possible that he was mentally unstable, Fitz thought. But how the hell did he know my name?, he wondered. Then again, their faces were plastered all over the news not long ago when the military was looking for them. He lowered the ICER slightly but kept his clutch tight on it. "Who the hell are you?" he asked the guy suspiciously.

The man threw his hands up in the air with a grimace. "OK, you know, this is not funny, old man. I came back here to check on you guys, because I heard of the mayhem and all, and Johnson is missing, in fact everyone is missing – and by the way, I did not blink out of existence, thank you very much, so I guess we can settle for once an all that we are dealing with a multiverse, just like Simmons and I…." the stranger rattled on as Fitz just stood there perplexed. The guy looked around, craning his neck in all directions "…wait, where is Simmons? I thought you guys had a rule. It was a good rule and bad things happen when you break the rule…"

Fitz ran his hand across his forehead in exasperation. So the nutjob not only knew him, but also knew Jemma and Daisy. Maybe he was hallucinating? It would not be the first time. "Who are you?" he asked again, stressing each syllable.

"What's wrong with you? Did you hit your head?" the man asked stepping closer with a concerned expression on his face.

Fitz raised the ICER again and pointed it at him. "Stay where you are." Then just to be sure, he ran his hand all around his head, checking for bumps. When he was satisfied that there were no signs of injury, Fitz shook his head. "No, I don't think so."

The guy nodded. "Good. Then let's get to the control room, man, and do that thing you do with your all-go-rhythm or whatever and let's find them. Did you hear the part where I said Johnson is missing? If you can find a flying ship, you should be able to find them too. Right? Right?"

Fitz stared at him in confusion. "So who are you?" he asked the third time with an exasperated sigh.

"Deke." he said spearing his arms, like it was a widely known fact that everyone should be aware of. "And you are hurting my feelings. I thought that meeting your grandson would make a bigger impression on you… It's good to know I'm so forgettable", he added sarcastically.

Fitz tried to process all he was saying, but his brain just shut down when he got to the last bit. He stared at Deke, mouth agape…"Wait…? What? My… what?" he said gasping for air and had to lean against the wall as he started to feel dizzy.

Now it was Deke's turn to look at him confused and puzzled. Then after a few moments of silence, his face lit up. "I know, I know – I've heard there used to be these things called "twins" – two babies who look the same… You must be Fitz's twin, right? That's why you don't have a ring… It's strange – mum never mentioned it… but right?"

Fitz shook his head. "No, I'm an only child. And I'm pretty sure I have never met you before, Deke. You'd be kind of hard to forget," he added drily. "So why don't you take a deep breath and tell me exactly when and how you think you met me."

Deke put his hands on his hips and rolled his eyes. "Fine. It was back in the future – the bad kind, you remember? With no ice-cream? And in which you guys blew up the world? Well, you know when you and Simmons and Daisy were running away from Kasius' – and those Kree were not to be messed with, I told Johnson, but she was so bull-headed…- and you were injured. I saved your asses by the way, not that any of you ever thanked me – after Coulson locked me up." Deke said all in one breath.

Despite the confusing monologue, Fitz started to understand the story finally. He held up a finger. "Slow down, Deke. So you are saying that I made it to the future."

He nodded. "Yeah, a few days after the others, you kind of showed up with this weird robot, Enoch and broke Simmons and Daisy out of Kasius' slave bunker."

"Who's Kasius?" interrupted Fitz, but looking at Deke's expression, he just waved. "You know what? Doesn't matter – just go on. So I saved Daisy and Jemma, then what?"

"Then we went to the surface – and there it was…this airplane – which you repeatedly pointed out how you designed – and we flew back into the Lighthouse through a gravity storm, thanks to you two geniuses. I mean crazy idea, right? Then, Flint built the monolith and I saved you guys again, and poof – we were back here in the past with ice-cream and sunshine and trees and double cheese-burgers."

Fitz thought it was better to swallow all the questions about Flint and monolith not to be derailed again until he understood the basic outline of the story. "So I came back here with the team." Fitz repeated just to make sure he understood well.

Deke nodded and continued. "You guys kind of argued a lot about Hydra and gravitonium and Coulson, and this chick called Ruby who cut off YoYo's arms, basically all the end of the world stuff. And it turns out Daisy thinks lemons are weird, which is kind of mind-blogging." he wondered off again.

Fitz cut him off impatiently. "Deke – stay focused. So what happened to the end of the world?"

"How should I know?" he shrugged. "I figured - I don't know, just before I'd get stuck in the Lighthouse again for the rest of my life, I'd go out and see the ocean, you know. And you were right – it was cold and Tess was totally wrong because there were absolutely no sharkados. But still, it was the most amazing thing I have ever seen." he said with a wistful smile. "So how come you don't remember any of this?"

"I think I'm starting to understand now. Because it never happened to me. I started to go to the future, frozen in a cryopod to catch up with the others – then Enoch woke me up to say that the end of the world has been averted, so we came back to Earth to find the team. But it sounds like another version of me beat me to it…which by the way points to a time-loop..." Fitz slid to the floor with his back against the wall, trying to hide the bitterness in his voice, feeling unreasonably jealous of himself, and feeling utterly ridiculous about it at the same time. "I'm pretty sure there are not supposed to be two versions of me running around at the same time…Like Schrodinger's cat."

"I don't know who that is. But, yeah, that is kind of awkward." Deke nodded in agreement. "Especially considering…" he started to say something, but then cut himself off. Then he put a hand on Fitz's shoulder. "We should still find them, right? I mean… Daisy…"

"…is missing. I get it, Deke. I heard you the first four times." Fitz snapped back, then he took a deep breath. "Sorry. I didn't want to… it's a lot to take in." Fitz shook his head in apology as he tried to identify the strange look in Deke's eyes. Truth was, he needed Deke to figure out what was going on and he needed to stay on his good side as much as he found his behaviour or his ridiculous claim about being his grandson unsettling.

"It's OK, I'm used to it…" Deke muttered with a shrug.

They made their way up into the control room. Fitz turned on the computer screens and started to sift through the files history looking for clues. Deke watched him, crinkling noisily with a bag of crisps leaning back into the chair with his feet up on the desk.

"So you said something about the gravitonium…" Fitz turned to Deke. "Let's start there."

Deke took a deep breath, but before he could form the words, they heard footsteps. Fitz put his index finger on his mouth, jumped on his feet and pulled out his ICER motioning Deke to get behind him. The footsteps got closer… Fitz raised the weapon and turned to face the intruder. To his surprise and relief, he found himself face to face with May.

When she saw him, her normally inscrutable face lit up with a storm of emotions, Fitz could not quite decipher. He lowered his gun. May stepped closer to him, threw her arms around him and pulled him into a tight hug. Fitz forgot to breathe in his shock. May never hugged anyone, and most definitely, she had never hugged him before.

As he awkwardly wrapped his arms around her, Fitz realized that something must have gone horribly wrong.