Where were we?
A/N: Hi! It's been a while since I posted a story, and I must say I truly enjoyed this one. This fic is based off of and episode of "How I met your mother", and the episode happens to have the same title as this story. Enjoy!
Disclaimer
"So now you're trying to control who I'm friends with?"
"No, I never said that Jemma!"
Jemma Simmons glared at her fiancé. She and Leopold Fitz had been together for five years now, and had even begun to plan their wedding.
The only problem was, Simmons had started to have second thoughts. It wasn't that she didn't love Fitz, she just wasn't sure if she was ready to settle down. Jemma had even been having insomnia, and had lately been taking comfort in hanging out with her friend of many years, Trip.
In the beginning, Fitz hadn't liked Trip, maybe even hated him; but after a while her fiancé had started to become friends with the other man. Although, now that he had found out Simmons had been going to see Trip every night – even though it was in a completely platonic way – some of the old hatred had begun to resurface.
"So you'll be okay if I continue to hang out with him?" she questioned.
"Yes – I mean no! I don't know." Fitz stumbled over his words, not entirely certain what he meant.
"You can't control my life, Fitz." Jemma stated firmly.
"I know! I'm not trying to! It's just, you can't continue to sneak off to see him every night!" Fitz responded, his voice rising slightly.
"I'm not sneaking anywhere, Fitz! If I want to go see my friend, I will."
"Why do you keep seeing him so late, anyway?" Fitz asked suspiciously.
"He's been helping me get through a hard time." Simmons mumbled.
"Hard time? So being engaged to me is hard?" Fitz questioned accusingly.
"Fitz, I didn't say –" Simmons started.
"No, but you implied it. If you're having second thoughts maybe we just shouldn't get married."
Jemma's eyes widened. "Are you breaking up with me?"
"I don't know. Maybe." Fitz said uncertainly.
"Fine." Simmons said calmly, although tears had begun to collect in her eyes. Without another word, she walked out the door.
000
"You broke up?" Skye shouted.
"I guess so." Simmons shrugged.
"No! You can't! What about the wedding?" Skye exclaimed.
"There isn't going to be a wedding." Simmons sighed.
"So, what are you guys going to do now?" Skye asked.
"What is there to do? Nothing. We broke up, and that's that." Simmons stated calmly.
"You're taking this extremely well." Skye noted. A bit too well, in her opinion. Skye hated to see her friend upset, but seeing the other woman calmly accept that her relationship of five years had ended was worrying.
Jemma only nodded.
000
"Fitz, you're going to have to come out of your room sooner or later." Grant Ward shouted through the door that led to his friend's bedroom.
"Actually, I don't." Fitz countered, his voice slightly muffled by the door separating the two.
"Yes, you do. You can't just hide away forever. You're going to have to come out and face this." Ward said, attempting to keep his tone even.
"Face what? I just lost the best girl I've ever met! It's all Trip's fault!" Fitz said.
"Fitz, don't you think you should leave Trip out of this? He didn't intentionally ruin your relationship, stop blaming him." Ward responded, exasperated.
"I'm not coming out." Fitz said firmly.
Ward sighed.
000
"He won't leave the apartment, nor will he eat or drink unsupervised. I have to constantly keep him company to make sure he drinks something besides alcohol! He's always crying and saying nobody understands. It's like having a teenager that's going through an emo faze." Ward complained to his girlfriend.
"Simmons is handling this really well, it's concerning. She dragged me shoe shopping yesterday. And, she bought heels. She never buys heels!" Skye exclaimed.
"I think I know what has to be done." Ward said.
"Yes, we have to get them back together." Skye responded.
"Actually, I was going to suggest we help them move on." Ward took a sip of one of the beer bottles he had stolen from Fitz.
"What? No! That's an awful idea! Fitzsimmons has to get back together! Otherwise, they'll just be Fitz and Simmons." Skye said, scrunching up her nose as if the very idea disgusted her.
"Fitz is a mess. I think it would be healthy for him to meet new people." Ward explained.
"No. I'm going to talk to Simmons right now. They are getting back together."
000
"Come on Fitz, it will be fun!" Ward pleaded, plastering a smile onto his face in encouragement.
"No! I don't want to meet other girls, I want Simmons!" Fitz whined, reaching for another beer before Ward slapped his hand away.
"Fitz, if you want beer you can have some", Ward said, and Fitz began to reach for the bottle again.
"…at the bar. With a girl." Ward finished. Fitz withdrew his hand, before groaning in frustration.
"Fine! I'll do it!" Fitz complied, throwing his hands into the air in a show of exasperation.
"Great! Although, you may want to change." Ward suggested.
"Why?" Fitz asked, looking down to see what he was currently wearing. Realizing he was in a stained t-shirt and dinosaur patterned pyjama pants, he nodded.
"Right." Fitz said, before getting up to find proper clothing.
000
"So, Simmons…how are you?" Skye asked awkwardly, fidgeting slightly in her seat. She was currently sitting in her friend's apartment, not knowing what to say. Skye knew she wanted to get her friends back together, she just wasn't certain where to begin.
"I'm great! I chatted with Trip this morning, then I went out to eat for lunch. While out, I met the nicest person!" Jemma exclaimed, a grin on her face.
"Really? Who" Skye inquired.
"A scientist named Sebastian. He works in bio-chem, just like me!" Simmons started, before continuing to ramble using terms Skye didn't quite understand.
"Have you heard from Fitz lately?" Skye cut in.
"What? Oh, no I haven't. How is he?" Jemma asked, her grin fading.
"He's uh, fine. He misses you, though." Skye responded lamely.
For a moment, Simmons looked slightly flustered. Although, her face quickly went blank. "Oh. That's nice. Anyway…"
Only half-listening to her rambling friend, Skye sighed. This would be much harder than she originally thought.
000
"That girl looks nice." Ward said, pointing to a petite blonde girl sitting on a bar stool.
"Yeah, I suppose." Fitz responded, looking uncomfortable. He fidgeted with the tie Ward had made him wear, before glancing around the room.
"Go talk to her." Ward ordered, gently pushing his friend in the girl's direction.
"I don't know…" Fitz started, only to be pushed a bit rougher than before by his friend. He stumbled, before gaining his composure and shooting Ward a glare. With a sigh, he walked toward the girl.
"Hi." Fitz said awkwardly, with a small wave of his hand.
"Hey." The girl responded, grinning to display her slightly stained teeth.
"Uh-I'm Fitz." He offered, his gaze going toward his shoes.
"Brenda." The girl said, her grin remaining.
"Oh, okay. That's, um, a cool name." Fitz tried to force a smile of his own, but it was displayed as more of a grimace.
"Thanks. Do you want to sit?" Brenda asked, motioning to the stool beside her.
"Yeah, thank you." Fitz said, before taking a seat.
After a short moment of silence, Fitz blurted out, "I just got out of a serious relationship and I'm not handling it very well."
Watching his friend burst into tears, Ward groaned.
000
"What exactly are you doing?" Skye questioned her friend, praying the other woman didn't spill whatever strange liquid was in the test tube on her.
"Experimenting." Simmons replied shortly, her gaze focused on the tube.
"For what reason?" Skye asked, eyeing the 'experiment' wearily.
"Coulson asked me to." Jemma explained, glancing up at her friend. "Could you pass me that?"
Skye turned, realizing her friend was referring to a different, strangely shaped tube. Nodding, Skye took hold of it and held it out to Simmons.
Simmons took hold of the tube, but as Skye released it her hand slipped. The tube fell, and shattered as it hit the ground.
For a moment, all was quiet as the two woman stared at the scattered remains of the tube. However, the silence was broken by a strangled sob.
"Simmons?" Skye hesitantly put her hand on her sobbing friend's shoulder. Simmons continued to cry, sinking down to the floor and picking up a lone piece of the tube.
"It's broken!" She cried, clutching the jagged piece so hard Skye was worried it would draw blood.
"Simmons, it's okay. It's just a tube." Skye crouched down alongside her friend.
"It's not okay! It's shattered! It's gone and I'll never get it back!" Jemma sobbed.
Skye furrowed her eyebrows, confusion written all over her face. "It's just a-" she started, before suddenly realizing what had sent her friend into hysterics.
"You're not crying over the tube, are you? This is about Fitz." Skye said, rubbing her friend's back in a soothing manner. The other woman only nodded in confirmation
"You're relationship doesn't have to be shattered, you can still fix it." Sky encouraged.
"Yes, you're right. I can still fix this." Simmons agreed, drying her eyes on her sleeve.
000
Ward and Fitz sat, the silence only broken by the sound of Fitz blowing his nose into a tissue Ward had given him.
Ward's phone then rang, and reached into his pocket to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Ward? Where's Fitz?" it was Skye.
"Uh, I took him to a bar."
"Why?" Skye's tone was dangerous.
Ward sighed, "I'm trying to help him move on. Trust me, it will be good for him."
"You what?"
"Listen-"
Suddenly, the men's attention was turned to the scene in front of them. A man was down on one knee, holding out a ring. The girl in front of him was crying, while nodding vigorously. The happy couple then embraced, while the entire bar clapped.
Fitz mage a low sound in the back of his throat, and Ward sent his friend a concerned glance. The other man stood up, before walking over to the couple.
Ward gave a quick "got to go", before hanging up his phone.
"You think you'll be happy together? You think you'll get married and live happily ever after? You won't! It's a lie! Love doesn't exist!" Fitz cried, the entire bar staring at him in shock.
Ward quickly jumped out of chair and grabbed his friend by the arm. As he dragged Fitz out, the man continued to yell.
"You might as well just break up now! Save yourselves the trouble of doing it later!"
"Fitz, shut up." Ward growled. He should have listened to Skye. Trying to get Fitz to move on definitely had been a terrible idea.
000
"I can't believe you!"
"I'm sorry! It's just not fair! Why should they get to be married and happy?" Fitz cried, while the other man shook his head.
Ward opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by the sound of knocking. He got up, and opened Fitz's door to find both Skye and Simmons. Skye looked at him extremely annoyed, while the other woman looked as though she had been crying.
"Who's-" Fitz began, before stopping at the sight of Jemma.
"Hi Fitz." She said, her voice cracking slightly.
"Simmons." He responded, nodding his head slightly in greeting.
"I'm sorry!" the couple suddenly cried at once, before suddenly embracing eachother.
"I'm not having second thoughts, Fitz! I want to be with you!" Jemma said desperately.
"Good, because I want to be with you, too."
The couple smiled at each other, before pressing their lips together.
Both Skye and Ward grinned happily at the display of affection.
"Now that this issue has been resolved", Skye said, her grin fading, "what the hell were you thinking?"
Ward turned to look at his girlfriend, taking on a defensive tone, "I was only doing what I thought was best."
"Yeah? And how did that go?"
Fitz and Simmons broke apart, before shooting each other matching frowns.