A/N: omg i'm so sorry it took so long, i'm angry with myself right now bc i really promised myself to finish this earlier :( but thanks for sticking with me guys, i love all of you 3 and i hope you like this chapter! also, go talk to me on tumblr! i'm lafatyette :D

He's not really breathing and Jemma probably isn't, too. His jaw is clenched and he gulps, cursing himself for coming here in the first place. How stupid one has to be to do something like this?

Not that he finds Jemma stupid, because how could he? She's brilliant. Just, what was she thinking, scaring him like this? She promised him she would be careful and well, she's here now, with him. Although maybe it's not such a bad thing - at least he can protect her.

Or maybe she can protect him, for that matter. What a great time to realize that you have absolutely no experience in dealing with dangerous people, unlike the person you're trapped in a closet with, fortunately.

The killer turns around and Fitz's eyes widen. Is this...?

"Oh god, I feel sick" Jemma mutters and when he looks at her, he notices her face is really pale. He puts his arm around her, helping her not lose her balance and only now he realizes she's shaking. The door closes and the killer leaves the crime scene.

"I'm sorry, Jemma" he smiles at her sadly, still holding her, not sure if she can walk by herself (and maybe, just maybe, he doesn't want to let go). She looks really sick, as she just told him and he'd do anything to help her.

"But... Bobbi Morse, Fitz! I'd never think it's her we've been looking for!" she shakes her head with disbelief and he suddenly feels very useless. Someone stole from his step father's? He's just being sad and bitter about it. Someone murders one of passengers? He's in a room full of people who are trying to find a solution and he's sitting there in awkward silence. Jemma is sad? He can't do anything about it.

He looks at her with a sigh - he still can't do anything - and he notices something new on her face. Her eyes are glistening dangerously. Her teeth are gritted. She's not sad - she's angry. And here it is, back on her face - determination.

"Come on" she says, storming through the door. He has to let go of her but has no time to feel disapointed - she's already on the other end of corridor, not really caring if anyone notices her. Fortunately, there's no one here.

"Come on where?" he asks, going out of the room and closing the door behind him. She stops and there's a littlest, almost invisible smile on her lips.

"To catch our killer, obviously" and then she just goes and Fitz follows her quickly. "We need a proof. If there's no proof, she can't be arrested. Or they. Who knows, maybe Hunter is involved, too? I never believed their little story of how they accidentaly met again on the ship. And an actress? That's typical. When criminals... not only them, when people in general lie, they tend to still keep some part of the truth. And what do actors do for a living? They lie, Fitz. A lot!" she speaks fast and he's really impressed by her knowledge.

She's probably the most brilliant person he's met.

They walk, side by side, until they reach the room that Bobbi told Jemma was hers.

And then they stop.

Because how are they going to enter the room? He wants to ask her about it but she's starring into the distance with her eyes narrowed which, as Fitz managed to learn, is a sign that she's thinking.

"Okay, what do we know about Bobbi? She seems like a clever type. She wouldn't leave the door unlocked" she tries to open it, probably just to be sure but as she suspected - they're closed. "Well, we're lucky my dad was given the ultimate key so he could go on with the case. We're also lucky that I might have taken it from him when he checked on me today" she says the end of this sentence quietly and Fitz looks at her with a huge smile.

"You're a genius, Jemma Simmons!" he announces and if they weren't breaking into someone's cabin to catch a murderer and thief, he would kiss her cheek, cause he's this proud and amazed.

The key fits - obviously - and the door opens. It's messy inside - really messy. Apparently criminals don't care about what their room looks like? - but there's no sign of jewels or anything, really. But then again, what exactly did Fitz expect? Blood everywhere? Some creepy drawings? Knives? That's what psychopath's room would look like and not a smart killer's one and still, probably even a psychopath wouldn't own stuff like that.

And then he remembers they've just broken into a murderer's room.

"Uh, what exactly is the plan?" he asks and swallows, suddenly feeling a bit sick. Jemma seems perfectly fine, though, when she's looking through things in the room.

"I'll look for something that could be a proof and you stay where you are and warn me when someone's coming" she says, opening another drawer and not even trying to be too careful while doing so.

"What if someone will actually come? Jemma, we don't exactly have too much time to hide anywhere, not mentioning that it's not like we have a place to hide! And Bobbi will definitely come here very soon!"

"Yeah. She probably went to..." she freezes, her hand still on something she found in the room. "Oh my god, I was so stupid!" she winces and immediately puts the thing down. "She probably hides things in Hunter's room! She's clever, she wouldn't keep them here! And I'm pretty sure he does know about it. Maybe even it all was his idea, who knows!"

"So what do we do now?"

"Well... we'll have to find Hunter's room, obviously!" he can see that she's ready to do so and he suddenly feels something. He's looking at her - her eyes are glistening like she's ready to become some kind of a superhero and save the world, beating all the bad guys. Her hair is a bit messy - if some old lady saw her, she might think she's been up to something inappropriate - but that just shows how much she's focused on what she's trying to do. There's a little stain on her dress and there's a strand of cinnamon hair on her face but she's beautiful to him. Hell, she might be the most beautiful person he's ever met and he only just realizes that he's known this for some time already but right now it really overwhelms him.

And then there's something else.

"Fitz? Are you not coming?" she's standing by the door, her lively eyes looking at him.

"I... look, Jemma, it's gone too far. Shouldn't we tell your father about this?"

"No" she simply says, shaking her head and that catches him off guard. He didn't exactly expect something like this.

"What? Why? Shouldn't your father-"

"I said no" her voice is suddenly angry and she's frowning, her jaw clenched, hands in fists. "I want to solve this case. Alone. I mean... with you. But you know what I mean. Without my father's help."

She surprises him, because to this moment he was absolutely sure that she's got best relationship with Phil Coulson. What's changed?

"Look, if you don't want to go, I totally understand" she sighs and seems genuinely sad - her lip corners are slightly pulled down and the glistening of her eyes dissapears.

"I do want to come! Look, Jemma, you're a genius. An actual genius. But this... this is dangerous. They are... they are murderers. They've actualy bumped someone off and- and look, I couldn't live with myself if something ever happened to you."

And here it is - complete silence, for the first time in last couple of minutes. He realizes now that they're standing really, really close to each other and if he just took a step forward, he could easily kiss her.

For a moment he thinks he might just do this, even if it's inappropriate, even if he's known her for just one day.

But then she puts her hands on the sides of his head, forcing him to look at her.

"Fitz. Nothing bad is going to happen to me. I promise." she gives him a small smile and he can't help but think of kissing her again.

But then she grabs his hand and smiles widely.

"Come on, let's catch our killers!"

It's really hard for Jemma to focus on the case right now. Not while they're both walking really fast down the corridor and he's holding her hand. But she has to stop thinking about... what is she even exactly thinking about? It's just Fitz, her new friend. Why would his presence distract her at all?

They reach Hunter's room before she has time to think about it.

"Okay" she nods "So now we have to find a way-" she doesn't finish her sentence because Fitz just opens the door.

It's good. But it could also be a trap and in this case, they have to be extremely careful. There's no time for making mistakes.

They carefully look around, making sure that no one is here. Jemma looks at Fitz who looks really uneasy.

"Hey, maybe you just want to-"

"I'm fine!" he interrupts her and this time she looks quite sure of it, even if she's not convinced.

Jemma nods and they both start carefully looking for a place, where stolen things could be hidden. She opens every drawer she finds and Fitz does the same thing. She can't help thinking that they would actually be really good partners. If they've known each other for a day and they already understand each other so well, how much of a great team would they be after another month? Three months? A year?

Before she can actually start planning anything - because it's a curse, really, that she just can't stop planning things sometimes - she hears a loud gasp.

"Fitz? What is it?"

Instead of answering, he shows her what's in his hand.

A necklace, not just any necklace, the stolen one. She opens her mouth, not sure if she's going to congratulate him now or remind that they have to go but someone's voice interrupts her.

"Jemma?" both her and Fitz hold their breaths immidietaly and look as much frightened as the other one.

Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter have just entered the room, holding hands casually like they are a couple after a cute date and not a pair of thieves, killers and lord knows who else.

It all happens slowly after that - Jemma opens her mouth but nothing comes out of it and she notices how Bobbi's eyes land on the necklace Fitz is holding in his hand.

And then Fitz grabs the nearest thing, a short knife that's probably for opening up letters and points it in the direction of Bobbi and Hunter.

"You're not going to kill us like you did with poor Mr. Hart! Jemma's father knows where we went, he's already on his way!"

If Jemma didn't fear for her and Fitz's lives so much, she would be impressed by how calm Fitz stays. She gulps loudly and tries to catch her breath while she watches the couple standing in front of them carefully, waiting for whatever they're going to do.

"What?" they hear finally and it takes Jemma a while to realize that the word came out of Hunter's mouth. "What the hell are you talking about, Jemma? We never killed anyone!"

"Why, how can you explain the necklace Fitz is holding? Are you saying it just magically appeared in your cabin?" Jemma asks, for some reason really angry, even though she should probably be very careful with words right now.

Bobbi sighs and her and Hunter look at each other for a moment, something Jemma unserstands as a quiet conversation.

"Look, we have to tell them, okay?" Hunter says, finally, resignation in his voice. "Look, we might have steal the necklace..." Jemma can't help but roll her eyes at how he accents "might", as if it wasn't quite obvious already "...but we've never killed anyone, okay?"

It's time for Jemma and Fitz to have a quiet consultation now. He looks clueless, like he doesn't get anything now and she can't blame him - she really wishes she could finally find out about everything.

"How could we believe you?" Fitz crosses his arms on his chest and looks at Bobbi and Hunter skeptically but Jemma puts her hand on his arm and shakes her head.

"No, it does make sense. I mean, we all got wrapped up in this concept that the thief and the murderer are the same person. But what if they are two different people?"

The tension in the room eases and everyone seemes worried now.

"Great" Fitz mutters, sounding more annoyed than scared "So we have to deal with someone we have no idea about now? Someone who actually killed a man for purposes unknown?"

"Sounds like fun" Hunter says ironically.

Bobbi and Jemma just look at each other. Sure, she and Hunter have a lot explaining to do but at least someone she likes isn't a killer.

And who knows, maybe they do need someone who knows how to break the law on their little detectives team?