But there was the earthquake. Raina did go into the tunnels with the Diviner, Skye, Coulson and Trip at her heels. Trip did not make it out of the tunnels, and a few sparse Hydra agents did shoot at the team, despite their leader being dead and gone.
Fitz was hit, and although Jemma knew the bullet only scratched his skin, the presence of blood soaking his shirt and pain on his face left her shaking from head to toe. She knew she was not going to lose him, but she could have. Trip was gone. Trip was gone, and almost immediately after learning that fact, Jemma was hit with the realization that Fitz could have been gone, too.
Jemma tried to remain focused as her and Mack eased Fitz onto the plane, May running to the cockpit while the rest of the team fired shots at the enemy. Raina had disappeared to who knows where, with Jemma only catching a glimpse at her new, strange physique.
As they reached the medical unit of the Bus, Mack lifted Fitz onto the bed. A rush of affection cursed through Jemma as she looked onto the man who they thought was lost forever, but had somehow survived. He was alive, and for that Jemma let out a sigh of relief, before grabbing the needed supplies to clear Fitz's wound.
Lifting his shirt over his head, Jemma examined the substantial, but not life-threatening wound. As she began to clean it, Fitz swore from the pain of it.
"I'm sorry!" Jemma said shakily. "I'll be done soon, I promise. Mack, please get the ibuprofen out of the top drawer in the corner—he'll need about 800 milligrams."
"Ibuprofen? Not something stronger?" asked Fitz, scrunching up his face in pain as Jemma continued to clean the wound.
"Once I'm done cleaning, the ibuprofen should be fine. Most of your pain now is from the rubbing alcohol. If it's still bad after cleaning, I'll give you something stronger. Okay?" She looked into his face, and almost broke down. He was in pain, and it was breaking her heart.
He must have sensed her emotions, as he gave her a small, grimacy smile and said, "Yeah, that sounds okay. I'll be okay."
"Need anything else, doctor?" Mack asked, feigning formality with a smile.
Jemma smiled back. "No, no, I'm about done with the cleaning now—just need to patch him up. Feel free to help the others if you'd like."
"All right, Turbo," said Mack, as he clapped Fitz gently on the shoulder. "See you later, man."
Fitz let out a shaky sigh as Mack left the room. "You were right about the city possessing him, thank god," he said, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers and shutting his eyes tight.
Jemma had seen him do this few times before, usually when he was feeling some emotion he wanted to control, almost as if he wanted to squeeze it out of his head before he looked vulnerable in front of others.
"Yeah," was all that Jemma could say for a while, as she finished placing the bandages on Fitz's abdomen. Now that Mack was out of the room, she normally would have felt more comfortable in letting her own emotions spill over, but she didn't know if she could risk it now. Things seemed slightly better between her and Fitz, but there was still some wall between them, keeping her from breaking down in front of him, as she desperately needed to do.
She knew she couldn't keep her cool much longer, and needed to get away as soon as possible. "There you go, Fitz," she said in an unusually high voice, "all better!" The smile that stretched across her face must have given her away, as Fitz gave her a look of concern. She busied herself by crossing to his other side, putting away the supplies in the nearby cabinet.
She took a deep breath to stabilize herself, and said, "Okay, Fitz, I'll be right back, going to go check on the rest of the team—"
"Jemma," he said, as he caught her hand before she left his side. "Jemma, please don't go yet," he finished, pools of unwanted tears forming in his eyes.
And the dam broke. Jemma let out a mighty sob and clutched onto his arm, running her hands up and down it, making sure that he was really there and really alive. She somehow maneuvered herself onto his cot, clutching onto his whole body (except his wound), never wanting to let him go because if she did, something could happen to him again.
"Jemma," Fitz let out shakily, "Shhh… Jemma, it's gonna be okay." But he didn't sound very convinced.
She looked up to his face, tearful eyes meeting tearful eyes, and she couldn't stop herself from saying it. "Please don't ever get hurt ever again." She knew it was a ridiculous request. She knew he could never promise that. But God damn it, she was asking it anyways.
"Jemma," Fitz started, locking eyes hers, "You know I can't p-promise that… No one can, even people with, ah, n-normal jobs can't promise that."
"I know, I know," she responded, looking down towards her hand resting on his chest. "I just don't want to lose you," she choked out.
She felt his lips press warmly against her forehead, his arm reaching around to pull her closer to him. She closed her eyes, reveling in this new warmth, this new closeness that somehow appeared between them.
"I don't want to lose you either, Jemma," Fitz choked out, and continued, "I'm so sorry for how terrible things have been, for, um, pushing you away—I thought that's what you wanted, but I didn't even ask—"
"Oh, Fitz," she sobbed, "I'm sorry, I thought I was hurting your recovery, maybe I shouldn't have left—If I had just been honest—"
"Let's just, not do that ever again. Let's work this out," he added placing another kiss on her forehead.
Jemma vigorously nodded yes in reply, before snuggling herself closer to Fitz, closing her eyes again, trying to regain control of herself.
After a few moments of calm, Trip's face somehow popped into Jemma's mind. His warm smile, his encouraging words. She almost lost control again. After a few deep breaths, she managed to ask Fitz simply, "Trip is really gone, isn't he?"
There was a long pause from Fitz, and a few sniffles, before he responded. "Yeah, but we'll make sure he didn't go in vain."
They seemed to stay like that, curled up in each other's arms, for hours. Jemma was so relieved that she could be there, in that safe place, vulnerable but comforted. They stayed like that until sometime later, when Mack appeared. "So what's going on here?" he said with a chuckle.