Opening her eyes slowly, it took Jemma a moment to realize she was in Fitz's bunk. The memories of the night before flooded her insistently. She had kissed him; she had kissed Fitz. And he had kissed her back. In all of their years of friendship, nothing like that had ever happened. Sure, there had been a time that she had wanted it more than anything, but the longer they were friends the harder she buried her feelings. She had never thought he had felt the same way and the last thing she wanted to do was ruin her friendship. Or get her heart broken.

Had it been just them caught up in the moment? Had it actually meant something? And to that extent – what did it mean? She shifted slightly, turning to see Fitz still fast asleep. He looked so peaceful, lying there with a small smile on his face. It made Jemma wonder what he was thinking about. Was he thinking about her? Stop! She couldn't get herself worked up. This was Fitz – her best friend, her partner. Maybe it meant something; maybe it didn't – either way she couldn't lose Fitz in her life.

Jemma quietly slipped out of the bunk to make the trek back to her own bunk. The door slid open and she tiptoed out. A small smile tugged at her lips until she looked up and saw Skye and Ward staring back at her in shock. Immediately her smile faded and her face flushed. She knew what this must look like. Her hair was sticking up in weird ways and her shirt was still wrapped around her waste. "I… uh… we… uh…" was all she could say as she dashed into her own bunk.

She was sitting on her bed, trying to work through her emotions, when a knock came at her door. She stood up and slid open the door, not surprised to see Skye standing there with a silly grin on her face.

"Hello, Skye," she said simply, backing up so Skye could come in.

"Did you spend the night with Fitz?" Skye asked immediately, practically beaming.

"Yes."

"Did you two…"

"No," Jemma said quickly. "No, nothing like that. I just… I couldn't sleep."

"Nothing like that?" Skye asked, a hopeful look in her eyes. Obviously the Bus didn't already have enough entertainment for her, so she wanted to turn in into a daytime drama.

"No…" Jemma replied, but she was a terrible liar and the look on her face had not fooled Skye. Skye gave her back a disbelieving look that Jemma couldn't resist giving into. "Okay… we kissed."

"He finally kissed you!" Skye said, almost bouncing off the walls in excitement.

"No, well, yes, but… I kissed him. Wait… what do you mean by finally?" Jemma watched the hacker closely. Why had she been so sure that Fitz would be the one to kiss her? There had never been any signs that he had been attracted to her. But one look at Skye and Jemma knew she had obviously missed something.

"Jemma." The way Skye said her name, Jemma almost felt like she was a child getting a lesson from an older, wiser classmate. It was almost patronizing, but Jemma had to admit that when it came to things like this, well… she was just a child. "Have you not seen the way he looks at you?"

"I've seen the way he looks at you."

"Me?" Skye replied with a laugh. "Sure, he looked at me the same way any guy watches an attractive woman, but when he looks at you it is that and so much more."

Jemma watched Skye carefully. What was it like to have the confidence that she had, to be used to guys fawning all over you and be able to just laugh off a compliment? Jemma had never considered herself pretty, especially when compared to girls like Skye. Skye radiated that confidence, which only added to her physical beauty. Jemma gave a derisive snort as she thought about Fitz ever looking at her the way that he had looked at Skye.

"Seriously, Jemma." Jemma actually blinked as she saw the sincerity in Skye's eyes. "Fitz loves you."

Jemma sat quietly on her bed, letting the words sink in. Maybe Skye was right. Maybe on some unconscious level she had always known that. And maybe there was even a part of her that had always felt the same way.

Suddenly the door opened and Fitz was standing there, dressed in his usual tie and sweater. He looked surprised to see Skye in there too, but his eyes went straight to Jemma. "Coulson has called a team meeting. They found Daecher."


Coulson stood at the holographic projection table, waiting for the rest of the team to show up. Slowly they began filing in one by one. Coulson saw a sour look on Fitz's face as he peered up at a picture of the man that had abducted them. Coulson could sympathize with what Fitz must be feeling, but he also hoped that Fitz could keep it together while they tried to find Daecher. The last thing he needed was for Fitz to do something that would compromise their mission.

Skye walked in, followed closely by Simmons. Coulson watched as the color drained from Simmon's face as she looked up at Daecher's picture. Simmons walked over and took her usual place by Fitz's side. The last person to walk in was May, who Coulson had a feeling had been waiting in the hallway until everyone showed up so she could avoid any downtime small talk.

"Right," Coulson began, getting right to business. "As you all know, Benedikt Daecher was not in the Manor when SHIELD raided it shortly after FitzSimmons' retrieval. We managed to freeze his assets and holdings, but a man like Daecher always has money tucked away that even SHIELD couldn't control. He went underground, but we were able to track him down. Thanks to some digging that Skye was able to do, we think we have a pretty good idea where he is. We are going now to try to collect him."

"What can we do?" Fitz asked, his voice harder than Coulson usually heard it.

"FitzSimmons, I need you to take a look at this." He handed them a drive. "This is all of the information that we dug up about what Daecher has been up to. He is not as far along as Centipede is, which is why he needed you two, but he still has gotten pretty far. You know the science behind this stuff better than anyone. I need you to find out what he knows and what he is still missing."

Coulson turned his attention to Skye. He was about to say something when Fitz broke in.

"What about when we get there?" Coulson turned to look back at Fitz. "I want to help when we go get this bastard."

Coulson regarded Fitz, his lips closed tight. He recognized the look in Fitz's eyes; it was the same look that every agent got when they were on a revenge mission. "WE will see, but for now, I need you to work on this."

Fitz shook his head slowly.

Satisfied that Fitz would not break in again, Coulson turned to Skye. "Skye, I need you to continue looking into any and all associates of Mr. Daecher. No matter how clean they look we need to check them out. It is imperative that we know if Daecher sold any information to anyone else. The last thing we need is to take him into custody but still have this information out there. We need to nip it all now.

"Okay, you three may go," Coulson said, looking at FitzSimmons and Skye. He waited quietly for the three youngest members of the team to leave before turning to look at Ward and May.

"Sir, are you really going to let Fitz go after Daecher with us."

Coulson looked at Ward, contemplating the best way to answer his question. "I don't know yet."

"He's only going to get in the way."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that. We have already seen what Fitz can do when he is motivated, and well… I don't think I have ever seen him so motivated. I think we would be surprised at what he could do."

Coulson had watched his team for months. He knew more about each one of them than he would ever let on. He knew Fitz and he was sure he had a pretty good idea of what happened when they were in Daecher's possession. Fitz would do anything for Simmons – Fitz would do anything for love.


Thanks for all of the likes/favorites/comments! Keep 'em coming, I love to hear what you think.