Fitz was adorable, and Jemma had never felt so in love with him as she did in that moment. Here he was, leaning awkwardly against the giant glass box that held the Kree rock they were studying, and he was asking her out on a date. Nevertheless, it surprised her.
"Me and you. Maybe we could eat somewhere else, you know. Somewhere nice. "
"Oh." Fitz seemed surprised by her lack of answer, as his hand slipped, and flipped one of the latches on the box.
"Like, on a, um, date?" she asked, moving closer to him to close the latch, not wanting any mishaps with this mysterious rock.
"Yeah, but only if you want to," he said, his face flushing a bit.
"I want to," Jemma said, looking down and smiling a little.
"So, it's a date then, right?"
"Yes," she said, grinning. She looked up at Fitz, who was turning to leave the room, but before he left, she caught a small smile on his face as well. She quickly turned back to the specs on their subject, but her mind was elsewhere.
She was going on a date with Leo Fitz.
[day of date]
Jemma should have been more nervous. She always was. She'd gone on dates before, but this one felt different. It felt, somehow natural. It was a nice feeling, a new feeling.
But there was a certain tension that came with going on a date with your best friend. She'd wanted to go on a date with Fitz for longer than she cared to admit. She knew he had too. But her slightly pessimistic mind liked to tell her all the things that could go wrong. What if they ran out of things to talk about? It's not like animal organs or Newton's laws are great conversation on a first date. Jemma had been reassured by Skye that they'd basically been 'dating' for months but neither of them actually noticed. She continually thought of that sentence to reassure herself that everything would be fine.
What if she completely ruined everything? She wasn't exactly sure how that would happen, but she was almost sure it could. What if she ruined the chance that they could be friends again? It was tough enough after coming back from undercover, but having to deal with a failed date? Jemma wasn't sure she could handle that.
'You look great. Fitz will love you, even more than he already does,' a voice said from the doorway. Skye. She had always been very upfront with the two of them about their relationship. Jemma rolled her eyes at this comment, even though it wasn't outside of the normal things Skye would say.
'Thanks. I'm still a bit nervous, though.'
'It's a first date. I've never known anyone who's not nervous about those. But i'm sure you'll be fine. You two are so tight."
'It's not like there's no chance of this whole dating thing putting us back to square one. I can't handle square one for the third time.'
'I swear, Jemma, you just need to talk to Fitz about this stuff. Not me. I have a crappy experience with relationships anyway, so if you're asking anybody about relationships it should really be….,' Skye paused. 'Nobody. Don't ask anybody on this base for relationship advice. You'll be fine. Stop stressing'
'Okay. Thank you," Jemma said, as Skye left the room. Jemma readjusted the collar on her shirt, and slipped the small 'J' necklace Fitz had given her a few years back onto her neck. She grabbed her purse off her bed and left her room to meet Fitz at the base exit.
[same day/time] [fitz's perspective]
Leo Fitz was more worried than he let show. He'd waited far too long to confess his feelings for Jemma, and when he finally did, he thought he was going to die. But he didn't, and he was grateful to whoever prevented that, because it gave him a real chance with Jemma. The thing was, Jemma had saved his life. It seemed as though their relationship consisted of saving each other. That was okay in Fitz's mind, because at least it was a relationship.
A relationship with Jemma of any kind was better than her time away at Hydra. They'd taken so long to get to this point, and Fitz almost felt like there was the potential to throw it all away. He didn't want that at all.
He had the perfect date planned for them. A nice dinner, and then back to base, where he had arranged for everyone to keep quiet until eleven at night so he and Jemma could have a nice movie night in the common area. This got plenty of whining from Skye, but after a few well worked bribes and some careful explaining of the situation, she gave in. At the time, Fitz questioned whether fifty dollars was worth it, but as the date approached, he realized it was.
He adjusted the tie on his suit, the same one he had worn while trying to shake his 'SHIELD' tail. Jemma had seen the surveillance from the camera in the plane and had not-so subtly pointed out how attractive he looked in it. She was telling it to Skye, but despite the 'top secret' in top secret base, there were less secrets than one might think there would be. It's very difficult to keep a secret from people you see every day and can't often escape from.
Finishing the final touches on his outfit, he picked up the bouquet of roses and set off to meet Jemma.
[jemma's perspective]
He looked so handsome, standing there in his suit and holding the prettiest bouquet of roses she'd ever seen.
'Are you ready?' Fitz asked, awkwardly holding out the bouquet. Jemma grinned, taking the flowers.
She nodded, reaching for his hand.
Fitz had made a reservation at a small italian restaurant in Chicago, because apparently, they were close to Chicago. It was small, and Jemma thought it looked a little sketchy, but Fitz insisted it was delicious and perfectly safe.
The two sat down at their table near a window.
'Do you know the only thing that could make this date better?' Fitz asked.
'I don't think so, no.'
'If it were in Scotland.'
"Fitz! England is much better,' she said quietly, with a smug grin on her face. 'And if you feel that way, I'm sure Coulson could have done it.'
'There's this bakery in Glasgow that I would have taken you to, and a little pub that has the absolute worst beer ever,' he paused, looking at Jemma's slightly confused face. 'But they have the best food I've ever had.' This rewarded him with a smile.
'Best food ever?'
'Oh yes.'
'Well, when I was little, my parents used to take me to this little restaurant in London. They had the best crepes, and delicious sandwiches. Best food ever,' she said, her smug grin only getting wider.
'I was going to tell you, you know,' Jemma said after a brief silence as they enjoyed their food.
'Tell me what?'
'At the bottom of the ocean. I, um, was going to tell you that you were more than just my best friend, Fitz. I didn't know you felt the same, and you pressed the button so fast-'
'Hold on, Jemma,' he interrupted. 'Please, uh, call me Leo. We're on a date. I think we can stop with the Fitz and Simmons.'
'Okay, but please just let me finish,' she said. He nodded.
'It killed me. I wanted to tell you. I really did, and the days you were in a coma were the nine longest days of my life.'
'Then why did you leave for HYDRA?'
'I felt like I had to. You didn't seem to be improving, and I assumed it was because I didn't say anything about the pod. I couldn't find a good time to tell you, and i didn't think I would, so I left. I wanted to stay, I really did, but I thought it was what was best for you.'
'It wasn't. Not knowing how you felt was what hurt me the most. I wasn't afraid of rejection, I was just afraid of not knowing. And having you gone, just made it worse.'
'I know, and I feel like I might be apologizing for the rest of my life for that. I was only doing what I thought was right, and that turned out to be wrong. I thought I was making you worse.'
'So to be clear, you do like me?'
Jemma knew he was joking, but did something she'd never done on any first date before.
She kissed him.
It wasn't a long kiss, just a short peck. She rested her hand behind his neck, and placed her lips on his for just a second, then pulled away, smiling.
Leo had never looked more adorable than he did right then. He was so surprised, but in a good way. He was happy, and surprised, strangely like a little boy on Christmas.
'Ah, you just-uh-kissed me,' he said, moving his hands as if trying to work out what had just happened. She smiled softly, biting her lip a little.
'You ready to go?'
Leo nodded, still a bit awkward from their kiss.
'Leo, what are we watching?' Jemma asked, curling into the couch in her tank to and plaid pajama pants.
'You'll see,' he said, putting a disk into the DVD player, and coming back to the couch to sit next to Jemma. She smiled as she heard the familiar tune of the Doctor Who theme song.
'Is this the fiftieth special?' she asked, almost jumping off the couch.
'Maybe,' Leo said, smiling.
'It's one of my favorites!' she said enthusiastically, grabbing her bowl of popcorn.
Just as the Eleventh Doctor threw his fez into the portal, Jemma inched closer to Leo. She wedged herself right into his side, and his arm, which was already high up on the couch cushion, came down to rest on her shoulders. She rested her head on his shoulder, and continued watching. The watching was half-hearted, though, since both of them were less focused on the person sitting right next to them.
Jemma, when she first met Fitz, never thought they'd ever be at this point. In fact, when she first met him, romance wasn't even considered. Near-death experiences really make you think about life. She definitely wished her number of near-death experiences were less, but if they resulted in cuddles and Doctor Who with Leopold Fitz, she'd do it all again.
Leo Fitz couldn't believe the night he was having. Jemma Simmons had kissed him, and now, here they were, back at the base, watching Doctor Who together, wrapped up in blankets and his arms wrapped securely around the woman he was so in love with.
He'd waited a very long time for this very moment, and he wouldn't give it up for the world. When she'd left with no explanation, his world was turned upside down, and after the med pod, he was worried he'd never see her again.
But he did see her again. And she'd even told him that there was something between them other than just friendship. He was almost overjoyed to hear those words.
'Maybe there is.'
He would have kissed her right then and there, had the situation been less dire and urgent. He didn't want to die, and the promise that Jemma was waiting for him just ensured what he already knew he wanted.
Everybody had lived. They had comforted each other through the hard times and the easy. And all of that had gotten them to this one point, where everything was a fairy tale for just the two of them. Leo didn't care that Skye was probably looking at the security cam feeds. He just cared about Jemma Simmons. He placed a small kiss on her temple, and took her hand.
'You've been beside me the whole damn time.' Even after all they'd been through, she was still beside him.