Jemma nestles her head contentedly on Fitz's chest, listening to his even breaths and steady heartbeat, while he plays absent-mindedly with her hair. The days after he appeared so miraculously to save them from Kasius have been difficult. But now they were getting close; they found the monolith, and with some luck tomorrow they would get back to their own time.
"So, you haven't told me yet, what kind of wedding you planned?" he asks quietly.
"What makes you think I planned one?" she counters playfully unable to hide her smile.
"Well, for one you proposed to me…" Fitz says– "oh, let's not start that argument again" she interjects quickly, "and I know you – you always have a plan. And then a backup plan and a backup-backup plan as well, in case something goes wrong." Fitz snickers.
"Well, OK. Maybe there was a time when I imagined a big wedding with out extended families. But now. I'm thinking about something quiet and simple. After all, SHIELD is back in the shadows." she confesses finally.
"And technically, I am on the lam." Fitz nods, adding quietly.
"Yeah, right. I forgot about that part." Jemma says, imagining if someone told her ten years ago that shy and timid Fitz would end up as fugitive, she would have laughed in their face. And yet here they are, in 2091, on the remnants of the earth they still don't quite understand how it fell apart.
"So, no parachute jumping?" he asks with a smirk. She shudders, "No, I think we can exclude diving too." The nightmares that have long haunted their dreams have faded a bit, overwritten in the darker imprints of newer horrors. Every time they imagined nothing worse can happen, they have been proven wrong.
"Yes. Most definitely. How about a planetarium?" he asks.
"Oh, I think I've had a lifetime of space." she sighs immediately. The stars that have once inspired her as a child, now feel like thousands of mocking eyes.
"Courtroom then." they both say at the same time.
Jemma raises her head to look into Fitz's eyes. "How did you get through it?" she asks.
"Prison?" he shrugs. "Well, I spent most of the time coming up with crazy theories about what happened to you. And yelled at the TV watching football."
"Of course, you did." Jemma says and she can almost imagine him getting frustrated, the same way he always has whenever the solution to a particular problem didn't come to him. "Did you figure it out?"
Fitz shakes his head. "Not even close. The closest I got was an alien abduction."
"I bet that went down well with the military." Jemma notes drily.
"No, they were about to take my TV away, but luckily Hunter intervened."
Jemma closes her eyes and sighs. "I miss Hunter. And Bobbi."
"Me too." Fitz agrees as he kisses softly her forehead.
Then something occurs to Jemma, "Since we are all illegal again, I guess we can invite them to the wedding?"
"Yes, definitely." Fitz nods enthusiastically. "It wouldn't be the same without them". Then he asks "And what happens after?"
"After what?" Jemma doesn't quite understand where he is going with all this. They have always been good at talking in parables and similes – this direct line of questioning feels out of place. But his hand keeps caressing her back, and she is lost in the sensation.
"After we get married and save the world, of course?" he asks lightly and cocks an eyebrow, but she notices a slight trembling in his voice she cannot place.
"I don't know, Fitz. I suppose we'll finally get that place together." Jemma can not imagine anything she wants more than starting a real home with him. She longs for the mundane; picking colours for the curtain, assembling furniture together on the floor, taking an empty space and filling it with their essence as couple.
"With space for Bridget on the wall." he nods.
"Right, always focus on the important details." she mocks him gently.
"Yeah, like a breakfast nook." Fitz snorts. Then after a pause he asks "What about children?"
Jemma wonders. It is not something she thought about much, until recently. But since whenever she imagined their future together, somehow the cottage always had a swing set in the garden and sometimes she even saw a child with unruly curls and sparkling blue eyes looking at her. "I suppose, yes. I mean it was always something down the line – but, yeah, I guess, the line is getting closer. I want it all with you. Do you?"
"Yes, absolutely. I'd love a little girl, exactly like you. Curious, kind, funny, amazing. I'll teach her how to make pancakes, because we both know I'm the better pancake-chef and we'll build stuff together – I mean, obviously, I don't have the best role models what it means to be a father…" he wanders off and Jemma quickly interrupts him lacing her fingers into his "You'll figure it out, Fitz. You will be an amazing father, I have no doubt."
"Thank you." his voice breaks a little with emotion as he continues, "For believing in me – that there's still good in me. Without that I would have never made it after the Framework. You saved me, in every way possible all these years, and us, together is all I ever wanted." he says now solemnly. There's a lump in her throat.
"Me too, Fitz. And we'll make it together." she says with conviction, because tomorrow they are going home to fix the past, to live the present, to plan the future.
"I'm sure we will." he says kissing her softly.
The Kree are closing in on the team as they try to make their way to the portal.
"We'll never make it, if we don't hurry." says Mack.
Fitz suddenly stops and pulls out his gun. "Go. I'll hold them off."
"What? No." says Jemma in a sharp voice. The others are staring at him in disbelief.
"Fitz, you don't have to do this." Coulson puts a hand on his shoulder.
"I want to do this…" he says, then he adds facing them "I can't go back, anyways."
"What?" they ask him at once.
"Think about it. It would create a time paradox. If I go back, there would be two copies of me – I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to happen. We can't risk it." He explains calmly. Jemma's mind is racing in panic. She hasn't thought of this, she was so happy to have him back – they simply cannot be torn apart again.
"How long have you known? And when were you going to tell me?" she asks him accusingly.
"Enoch and I talked about it a while ago. It's the safest play. I'm sorry Jemma, I didn't want you to worry about it." he says begging her with his eyes to understand.
"This is ridiculous. I'm staying too then." she retorts angrily, tears gathering in her eyes.
"No, you have to go back to…, well, me. I'm 99% sure I'll be there and I will need you, Jemma." he says taking her hand. Then he turns to the others "You have to go and break me out of the Blue Raven Ridge, a top-secret military prison. By the way they have the Zephyr there too and all the SHIELD stuff. I wrote down the directions. Also to the Lighthouse. Nobody knows about the place, so it will be a perfect place of operations. And then you have to figure out how to save that world. For me, this universe here is the end of the line."
Jemma steps closer and embraces him tightly. "What about the part where you promised that you won't leave me again. You can't die." she whispers.
"I guess I won't technically. Just this permutation of me. But I also don't want to live without you, Jemma. I'm doing this so we can be together, in the time where we both belong. And if I can save you here, now, please, let me… I heard anyways that you prefer me in cardigans…" he adds with a wistful smile.
"Your new look was starting to grow on me." she looks at him, tears running down her face. "You won't remember any of this; our engagement."
"I'll still be me, so I'll get to try again." He cups her face and looks in her eyes. "And this time, maybe I won't botch up the proposal. I love you more than the world, Jemma."
"I… love you too. Always."
"I know. Go, now. It's… OK… I'll see you back there."
Jemma is dragged away by Daisy and Coulson. She keeps looking back at Fitz, who smiles at her calmly, as he clutches his weapon to prepare for the fight. She knows he is right, but can't help feeling the intense pain in her heart. Because even though Fitz is waiting for her somewhere in the past, will he still be her Fitz?
"Everyone's clear on the plan?" Jemma asks.
"I thought that was my line." smiles Coulson. "We'll get on the base in a repair van. Yoyo and I will create a diversion. May and Mack will get the Zephyr ready and load our equipment on it. Daisy and you will grab Fitz. Then you'll get the hell out. We'll meet at the rendezvous point."
"Right. Let's do it." she nods.
Jemma lets out a relieved sigh, when they cross the guard post without a hitch. Daisy and her climb out of the hidden compartment of the van and make their way towards the building where Fitz is held according to the map he made. Jemma nervously thinks about what if Fitz was wrong? What if this timeline is not their original one? What if he is not there?
"This is it." Daisy says, motioning Jemma to step closer. They listen and when the sirens start Daisy quakes the walls until a hole is made.
Jemma sighs in relief when she hears the familiar voice yelling "What the bloody hell?" Then he appears, blinking in the sunlight, sporting untamed curls, the scruffiest beard she has ever seen on him and an orange jumpsuit. After he stops blinking from the light and dust, their eyes meet, and Jemma runs to him to embrace him tightly. Fitz hugs her back, holding on for dear life and she can feel on her neck the moistness in his eyes. "I missed you so much" he murmurs.
Daisy discretely coughs "As much as I find this lovely, we need to move, guys. We are trying to spring Fitz from the prison, after all." Fitz quickly pulls her into the hug too, and then they take off running towards the warehouse, where Mack and May are waiting with the Zephyr.