Part two. Simmons realizes something.


Jemma awoke in the middle of the night to a soft rapping at her door. She pulled herself out of grown, still half asleep and groaning. She stood at her door for a minute before unlocking it, an inkling of dread beginning to build up inside of her. What could possibly be so dire or important that one of her team members would need to wake her at three in the morning?

She was relieved, at first, to see it was just Fitz and the expression on his face was one of excitement rather than panic. The moment of reprieve passed, however, and replaced with one of utter annoyance.

"What is it?" She snapped, leaning against the doorway.

He grinned stupidly and leaned over to yank out a strand of her hair, causing her to cry out in pain and shove him in the shoulder.

"What the hell, Fitz?"

Before she could say anything else, he pulled out the particle analyzer from where he'd been hiding it behind his back and placed the strand of hair over the highly-sensitive screen. Within seconds, the machine projected a hologram that displayed not only the identification of the item, but the genetic composition of it as well.

Her eyes lit up as she reached forward to take the piece of equipment from his hands.

"You finished it?" She asked, her voice filled with awe.

"Well, no. Not exactly finished. But it finally does what we intended it to, so we are getting somewhere." He grinned, unable to contain himself. This project had taken much longer than anticipated and all of his efforts were beginning to seem futile (and neither of them could seem to figure out why) - it was nice to see progress, finally, after all this time.

"We'll celebrate first thing in the morning. I'll make you breakfast."

Fitz's broad smile softened a bit as Jemma returned the particle analyzer to him. "Okay," he began, "I will see you in the morning, then. Good night, Jem."

"Night, Fitz." She whispered, quietly watching him head to his bunk, cradling the device in the palm of his hands.

x.x.x.x.

She woke again a few hours later; as usual, before anyone else. She headed to the kitchen and began whipping up the breakfast she promised Fitz, hoping the rest of the team would remain sleeping until she was at least done cooking. Fitz's appetite was enough; the last thing she wanted was to end up making pancakes for everyone on the bus.

Like clockwork, Fitz found Jemma just as she was finishing up.

"Do you just follow your nose or something?" She laughed, sliding the last pancake on top of the already impressive stack.

Nothing seemed to wake Fitz up quite like the smell of food. He could sleep through almost any commotion, but crack open an egg on the frying pan and he would find you in minutes. She often joked that what he ended was a bacon-scented alarm clock.

"It's got a life of its own. Can't blame me." He situated himself behind the counter right next to her, leaning forward on his elbows. "These look delicious."

She blushed at the comment, feeling silly. It was just food, and Fitz really wasn't much of a picky eater, but it was always nice to feel appreciated.

"Well, eat up. We undoubtedly have a long day ahead of us," she said, giving his right shoulder a squeeze. She grabbed the smaller stack of pancakes and the two of them sat there together, eating breakfast in a comfortable, familiar silence.

x.x.x.x.

Fitz received a call from Agent Dawson, much to Jemma's annoyance, later on that afternoon.

They'd been working in the lab when his phone buzzed repeatedly on the table, shaking him out of his concentration.

When Fitz's eyes widened and he stammered out Lara's name, it was all she could do not to sigh. Weren't they finished with this already?

Surprisingly enough, she noticed Fitz's hesitation before sliding his thumb across the screen to accept the call, excusing himself from the lab to take the call privately.

For an entire 135 seconds, she clung on to that look of hesitancy. After all, it meant something that he wasn't excited to hear from her. It meant something that his date with a tall blonde bombshell - who seemed to be absolutely taken with him - didn't mean more to him.

It all had to mean something.

Shamefully enough, and she would never admit it, but every second Fitz was out of the lab were some of the most uncomfortable seconds of her life.

Fitz slipped back into his lab and sighed heavily, pointedly ignoring Jemma's gaze.

"What was that all about?" She asked, curiously glancing at him over her shoulder.

He shrugged, ignoring the question. She didn't miss how confused the expression in his eyes was; a little lost and a little sad.

"Fitz?" She turned and waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello?"

"Nothing," he finally spoke, after what seemed like minutes (but was probably just a few seconds). "Lara wanted to know if I wanted to go out with her again."

"And?" She urged, both eager and afraid of hearing his response.

"I said no," he shook his head.

"Why do you look so upset?"

"I never rejected actually rejected anyone before. I'm not sure if I like the way it feels."

She frowned, her eyes casting down to the floor - unsure of what to say and afraid she would sound too optimistic or too happy or insincere. Because truthfully, she didn't want Fitz going out with Agent Dawson again, even if he did want to. And she still couldn't bring herself to explain why.

x.x.x.x.

Upon Fitz's request, the two of them later found themselves curled up in Jemma's bunk, quietly watching a DVD on her computer. It had been awhile since she really had Fitz to herself, so she took advantage and made the most of it, using the chill of the air on the plane to snuggle in a little closer to him than usual.

He didn't seem to notice and even if he did, he obviously didn't mind much.

The last thought she has is of Fitz and her feelings concerning him in the past couple of days. She still wasn't completely certain why she felt jealous - she could admit - but she couldn't explain why.

So she finally let her mind go there completely. It was like Skye said; or a part of it anyway - her feelings of frustration and jealousy were fueled by her instinct to protect her best friend. She was unused to the idea of having to share Fitz, yes, but also unused to the idea of someone else wanting to share him at all. She didn't know Lara Dawson, but she knew Fitz. And she would protect Fitz at all costs.

But it was also something else. She didn't envy Lara Dawson because she was beautiful and Fitz paid attention to her. Fitz paid attention to a lot of women, especially if they were beautiful. It was the way she paid attention to him that bothered her.

What bothered her the most was that it took another woman to help her come to the conclusion that, yes, her feelings for Fitz did border on slightly-more-than-just-platonic. That was not the kind of person Jemma was, nor was it who she wanted to be.

x.x.x.x.

She doesn't remember falling asleep, but when she wakes up in the early hours of the following morning to find his head resting on his shoulder as his chest heaved slowly in a rhythm matching her own, she finds she doesn't mind much either.