When She Knew

"Clear." Skye heard Coulson say over the coms "This is a bust. Whoever was here is long gone now."

"I don't like it." May replied.

"Setup?"

"Most likely."

Skye was on edge, and scanned the video feeds again. She and Fitz were monitoring the situation remotely. Simmons was in the lab, looking over the data that brought them here. The energy readings seemed to indicate that another inhuman (as the team had taken to calling them) was living at the rest of the team's location.

Apparently not, and Skye couldn't find any sign of suspicious activity- Skye felt the gun to the back of her head. "Don't say a word, Skye." Ward said calmly, and she felt a chill run down her spine.

Skye, seeing no choice but to comply, for now, let Ward lead her out of the room. She didn't want to unleash her powers on the bus where her friends could get hurt, but once they were out she would have no qualms in flattening him.

Agent 33, still looking like May, was outside the room. Fitz looked like he'd gotten the worst of an encounter with her and had a gun held to him as well.

"Coulson's team is on the way." Ward told her "We need to leave quickly." Skye hoped that she was the one they were after, and that they would leave Fitz. If they didn't, she didn't know if she could unleash her powers without hurting him.

Icy dread filled Skye's gut as Agent 33 led Fitz at gunpoint in front of her. She could see that he too was concealing panic at their predicament. Come on Coulson, Skye prayed, even though she knew that the team was at least 10 minutes out.

However, what none of them counted on were Simmons and Mack still being aboard. Mack tried to strike Ward on the head with a large wrench. Ward blocked the attack, but it gave Skye the opportunity to elbow him in the gut and grab the pistol from his grip.

Simmons was wielding an ICER, but it appeared that Agent 33 had seen the attack coming and ducked out of the way. She was now using Fitz as a shield, arm around his neck and gun to his head.

"Nobody move! Or I'll shoot." She threatened.

Skye, with Ward's pistol levelled at the agent, responded coldly "If you shoot, you're dead." Skye could feel the fear and rage twisting within her. Suddenly, she was acutely aware of how close she was to losing control of her powers.

And then she snapped. The entire room lurched to the side, sending everyone (save Skye) flying. A gun went off. Skye's heart stopped.

Fitz was on the ground, and there was far too much blood pooling from a wound in his chest. Oh god, please not Fitz, please.

Skye ran to him, skidding to her knees as she reached him. "Fitz!" She choked out. The intense pain in her chest, as if she'd been shot herself, was making it hard to talk. The pain burned up her throat and hot tears stung her cheeks. "Oh god. Simmons! Help him."

Fitz mouthed her name, but only the faintest noise came out. Skye felt another twist of pain in her chest as her vision blurred with tears. She ran a horribly shaking hand through Fitz's hair in an effort to comfort him, and perhaps herself.

Simmons staggered to her feet, a look of numb shock on her face. "Simmons!" Skye shouted. Why wasn't she doing anything? Couldn't she see that Fitz was hurt?

"Get him to medical." Simmons finally responded with grim determination. "I- I need to prep."

Skye was reeling. Despite Simmons' assurances that Fitz's injuries had a high survival rate and Coulson reminding her that Fitz had survived much worse, she couldn't stop her mind from jumping to the worst case scenario. What if Fitz died? What if she never saw him again?

Every time her mind went down that track, the small table beside her chair would begin to vibrate, reminding her to take May's advice to breathe deeply and clear her mind.

If only it were so easy. Even when she forced her fears out of her mind, she was left with a nearly as terrifying truth. She felt it, a warm pulsing feeling, the affection, the trust, the love.

And it terrified her, because there was no way to deny it to herself, she was in love with him. She was in love with him and she might be losing him. The table next to her was rattling again; she hadn't been this out of control in months.

How did this happen?

It wasn't exactly a secret that Skye had a type. Fitz wasn't a 'bad boy', he was nothing like Ward and Miles or any of her other crushes or relationships. But he was loyal to a fault, and kind, and trustworthy, and caring. Fitz had wormed his way into her heart without her even realizing it.

He did it with by sticking by her side when everyone else was afraid of her, by believing in her when she was having trouble believing in herself. He did it with halting conversations about his time after his injury and nights together on the couch watching whatever cheesy movie caught their fancy.

He had become her closest friend, most trusted confidant, and now his absence was making her acutely aware of how much she relied on him. What would she do without him?

She promised herself that if, when Fitz woke up, she'd tell him how she felt. Life was too short to waste.

A/N: I'll just put this here. Hope you like!