"It's strange that it just let us go," he commented as they swam together across a narrow portion of the river.
They had decided it would be best to just cross through the water while it was still hot and they could dry rather than look for a shallow point or a bridge that wasn't going to be there. They were a long way from civilization.
She tried to keep her sweater above her head, keep it dry and he did the same.
"I wouldn't say just," she objected, remembering its twisted puzzle. "But it is a little weird."
"Why is it doing this?" he panted, struggling with his sweater and splashing it a little.
"Let's just get ourselves across," she suggested and they were silent until they reached the sandy shore.
They rested beside each other for a few minutes, exhausted by the swim and their hunger and the fact that they'd been running around scared and stressed out for the past few days.
He rolled onto his side and brushed a few soaked leaves off her filthy shirt before wrapping an arm over her stomach and kissing her cheek.
She turned her head to face him, kissing his nose before taking him in.
He was thin and covered in dirt and his hair was dull and muddy but he didn't look defeated. Just tired. She hoped she looked the same way. She really wished they could take a nap, lay on the shore under the warm sun...
Her eyes closed for a moment.
"Why don't you rest while we dry off," he offered. "I'll keep watch."
She opened her eyes again and she searched his face. "And you won't leave," she blurted out before she could stop herself, grabbing the arm he had over her stomach.
He looked away guiltily and the sadness in his eyes made her regret her question a little.
"I won't leave you like that ever again," he promised once more.
"OK," she whispered, that was enough.
She trusted him and felt his lips on her forehead as she closed her eyes and drifted off, feeling safe with his arm around her and warmed by the sunshine.
But her sleep wasn't peaceful and she dreamt of that thing finding them, killing them and hanging their bodies as it had done to Mr. Stevens.
"Jemma? Are you OK," Leo was saying and she opened her eyes to his worried expression.
"What?" She mumbled as her dream followed her from sleep and she let out a groan before pressing her face into his shoulder.
"Are you in pain?" He demanded anxiously. "Did you get hurt crossing?"
"I had a nightmare," she told him, her voice muffled.
"You weren't asleep five minutes," he protested gently.
'Great,' she thought, letting out another groan. 'Shortest sleep to nightmare time ever. I should get into Guinness.'
"Hey, it's OK," he soothed, rubbing her stomach.
It felt nice but she couldn't shake the dread that had made its way into her.
"No it's not," she protested. "We're going to die out here."
"Jemma-" he began pacifyingly.
"We are though," she went on, burying her face further into his shoulder as her tears began. "It's completely in control, we're like rats in a maze. We're only alive because it wants us to be. I was able to rescue you because it wanted me to. It wanted to see what I'd do b-but it could have just as easily skinned you and left you there for me to find. Or killed me while I slept in the camp or kill us n-now."
"Jemma stop," he said gently.
She was stopping, here on this shore. She was done.
It wasn't as if she hadn't tried, done her best to stay strong, be brave for both of them but what was the point of continuing to suffer? What was so wrong with laying here next to him for the short rest of their lives and not having her legs burn and her feet feel like there were nails stabbing into them?
"Tell me you think we can make it," she challenged, drawing back to meet his gaze.
He opened his mouth to say something but closed it and looked away and she felt a small prickle of guilt for dragging him down with her into her despair.
"I'm sorry," she murmured, nuzzling back against him. "I'm letting you down."
"No," he soothed, stroking the side of her face. "You aren't, you've been so brave, so resourceful, so strong. I'm proud of you." He kissed her head. "I'm very, very proud of you."
She wanted to stay there, fall asleep with him and end this. Stop being afraid and hurting. Stop his fear and pain too. Nothing could have moved her in that moment except the Chitauri dragging him out of her arms. Or if he wanted to keep going.
"I'll keep going if you want me to," she told him, rolling over into him and wrapping her arm around his side. "If you want to try to get the plane I'll come with you. I'll keep you safe."
He kissed her again and left his face in her hair. "I know, I'll protect you too."
He didn't say if he wanted to go or not and they remained as they were, silent for several minutes.
"We don't have anything," he said finally, sounding resigned. "It knows where we are, it has food and water. It set all these traps, it has the materials to build them. We only have the knife because-"
"Because it was in the trap." They realized together and she pulled back her head to face him, their noses almost touching. They gave each other a small smile and she felt hope stir in her chest, knowing he had the same thought.
"They're everywhere," she pointed out.
"And we've already set off a few of them," he continued.
"With some work we could... Do you think we could?" She asked.
His smile turned to a wide grin that cleared away her cold despair like a snow plow. "I think we could," he replied as he took her with both arms and sat up, bringing her with him and making her stomach drop like she was on an amusement park ride.
She squeaked in surprise before falling back against his chest laughing. She was laughing, both because of his sudden, affectionate motion and the new hope their idea had given her. And maybe she was losing it a little too, she was so tired.
He laughed with her for a bit before they both turned serious.
"It's risky Jemma," he warned, holding her closer.
"I know," she answered, kissing his cheek. "But I'm tired of running away. There's nowhere to run. And it's you and me," she added brightly. "We can do anything."
"Well we can't dry off like this," he teased and she leaned back to scrunch her nose at him, grinning when he stuck his tongue out at her in playful retaliation, and wriggled out of his arms to stretch out on her back again.
"Oh... we could have stayed like that for a bit longer," he let her know disappointedly.
He was such a teddy bear she thought fondly.
"We need to dry off sweetheart," she insisted chuckling at him as she took his hand and they began to formulate their plan.
/-/-/
They spent the rest of the day gathering parts from traps they had set off and even springing new ones they thought would be useful.
Jemma seemed to have found her strength again and she worked alongside him with a fierce determination, focused and efficient.
They set off another hamster ball near the river and she rammed herself into it before it could chase them, smashing it with part of another trap furiously.
"No you don't," she shouted at it. "Not this time you damn evil rodent toy!"
When it was crushed into several pieces they cannibalized it for the gas producing pods and moved on.
He worked with what he hoped was the same vigor, twisting and unscrewing things to get the pieces they needed.
"You know this makes me think of that time you took apart my microscope to make that turn table," she teased as they collected pieces from the electric cage.
"Of course it does," he shot back, grinning. "You love bringing that up don't you?"
"Well I did really need it," she replied and he rolled his eyes.
"I fixed it, I used the blender remember," he reminded her.
"My blender," she replied, half annoyed but chuckling at him.
"You never used that thing anyway," he dismissed, waving his hand. "And it was for my grandmother's 80th birthday in case you forgot, she was so happy she could listen to her records again."
"Did you consider eBay?" She countered and he threw a piece of grass at her.
"You have the memory of a super computer," he kidded.
"It's better when it's about you," she told him affectionately and he turned soft and squishy and sweet as if he were made of marshmallows. Roasted marshmallows.
They made a fire again and took turns sleeping cuddled against each other. He put her head down a few times to tend to the flames but she slept on peacefully until he woke her.
At dawn they lay together and watched the sky light up, blue and pink and orange and beautiful but nothing compared to the person laying next to him.
He stared at her as she gazed at the sky and absentmindedly played with the fingers of his hand which she held over her heart.
They could do this, together. He only hoped he would have the courage to let her do her part. To let her go.
/-/-/
"Now when we've got it, you get out," he told her for what may have been the fifth time.
"I know," she assured him.
"Remember it only opens once," he reminded her. "So you make sure you're the one who goes through."
"I know," she said again, taking his face between her hands.
This was a bad idea. It was too dangerous, she was putting herself at too much risk.
"I changed my mind," he announced, placing his own hands over hers. "I think we need a new plan."
"No we don't," she assured him, stroking his cheek. "This will work."
"Yeah?" He asked, giving her a small smile. She seemed so certain. "Yeah, it'll work."
She smiled back and he shook his head. No. No, no, no. This was not a good plan.
"We can trade places," he suggested.
"No we can't," she objected firmly and he knew she was right.
This was the best way to do it, the way most likely to work. It was horrible and the best thing they had.
"I'll see you soon," she told him, her hands falling from his face but he held onto them, staring at her with round, frightened eyes.
She smiled and kissed him and he returned a small smile but didn't move.
"We should get started," she announced, rising but he grabbed her sleeve, shaking his head and she sat back down. "I don't want to do this either you know," she told him.
"Then why are we doing it?" He inquired.
She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows at him. "Because the alterative is probably a horrible death," she reasoned.
"Oh, right," he mumbled, his eyes on her face.
Her sleeve was still bunched up in his hand and she gently uncurled his fingers from around it.
"Let go," she instructed softly. "We need to do this."
He nodded and placed his hand at his side. "You remember how to get out right?" He insured.
"We've practiced, we've been over this, I'm ready," she insisted. "We're both ready."
Her hands shook as she spoke and he knew she was terrified. He should be trying to make her feel better and instead he was probably only scaring her more.
"We're ready," he repeated before wrapping his arms around. "It's going to be OK."
"Yeah," she agreed, returning the embrace.
"I'll see you soon," he said, more a plea than a statement.
"And then we'll go to the plane," she added, pulling away and getting to her feet.
"And get help," he finished, rising with her and taking her hands.
She nodded and smiled at him once more before giving him a kiss and beginning to walk away. He let her fingers slip out of his, heart heavy as he watched her leave.
'Come back to me,' he thought, feeling a lump in his throat as he let her go. "Be safe!" He called after her.
"You too," she called back.
He watched her until she disappeared then, his insides feeling like lead, he left to start his part of the plan.
/-/-/
Thanks so much for all the likes, follows, reviews and reads. :) You are all super duper awesome!
The Fringe reference is the taking apart the microscope to make a turn table to play records. Peter takes apart Walter's microscope to make a device which turns Walter's records into CDs. Walter is mad at first but then happy when he sees what it is.
The FitzSimmons week prompt is nightmares! Yay!
Also I have totally slept for five minutes and had a nightmare. A short nap during exam times when I was super stressed. So it was inspired by that, haha. Maybe five minutes is exaggerating, but it was a pretty short nap.
