A/N: Yay - it's finally the meet-up chapter! I hope you all enjoy it!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This fic is co-authored by therealshawn, and she and I are also co-authoring the other side of this fic on her account. It is called "Monsters in your Head" and shows this same story from the Skitz viewpoint. I strongly suggest reading them both! This fic will be a complete story by itself, as will the other one, but they will complement each other, give you scenes that you normally wouldn't see, and give you large parts of the story that happen while the characters are split up.

Enjoy!

"You know, there are other ways to deal with problems that don't involve...well, murder!" Jemma argued hotly. She had been trying to get her point across all morning, but Ward had been turning a deaf ear to her words so far. "No matter how awfully this man treated you - and I'm not excusing that he's probably a bad person - he doesn't deserve to die."

For the first time since she had brought the topic up, he turned to face her, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "Doesn't deserve to die?" he demanded incredulously, rising from his seat and approaching where she rested on the couch. "He's a monster!"

Her shoulder twinged painfully as she forced herself up so she could look him in the eyes. "He doesn't have to make you one. Because, if you do this, that's what you would be." She was trying, and failing miserably, to keep the fear and anger out of her voice at the thought of what Ward could, no would, do if she didn't talk him down.

Abruptly, Ward pulled back from their staring match. "I don't have to listen to you."

"Of course not!" Jemma threw her hands up in exasperation. "Why would you listen to the voice of reason? The only sane person here at the moment is me, and if you'd just take a break and cool off for one second you'd realize that I'm right and you're being-"

"-what?" he interrupted, taking another angry step towards her, smoke starting to rise from his forearms. "What am I being exactly? Protective? Willing to risk everything so I can live without watching over my shoulder?" His hands rose to grip her upper arms in a grip that just verged on being painful. "How is that insane?"
"Ward," she muttered warningly, keeping a careful eye on his hands. In his current frame of mind, it was entirely possible that he could hurt her without even realizing it. "You need to-"

"-find Garrett and murder the filthy-"

"-calm down before-"

"-he murders us both. Or tortures us to death. Or just keeps us in his lab like some sick science experiments." Ward's voice rose in volume and intensity with each additional sentence.

"Will you STOP yelling for a moment and listen to me?" she screamed at the top of her lungs over his rambling. "We need-"

Suddenly, a wave of flame exploded from Ward's body, the hungry flames leaping eagerly towards Jemma. She had a moment, a brief moment, to feel terror at the thought of her imminent death as the sickeningly twisted tongues of fire approached in what seemed like slow-motion. Then, she saw - or maybe felt - something extend out of her. Something shimmery flickered at the edge of her vision, but then a blast of heat hit her and she closed her eyes, bracing herself for the agonizing pain.

It never came.

"No…" she heard the breathed exclamation, coming from Ward who was shrouded in the smoke filling the small room. The cry was full of sorrow and pain. "Not again…"

"Ward?" she mumbled, staring at the unblemished skin of her arms in wonder. Not a single burn mark marred her flesh - but how?

"Jemma?" The question was stunned and incredulous. It sounded like he was too scared to even hope that she was still alive, as he couldn't see her through the cloud of grey smoke. "Are you-?

She coughed as the vapour filled her lungs. "Aside from difficulties in breathing, I'm fine," she responded. Then, her scientific brain kicking in, she dropped to her hands and knees and crawled to the window, forcing it open with the heel of her palm to allow some of the noxious gas to escape.

Through the haze, she saw a dark figure stride towards the door and fling it open before turning to look at her through the slowly dissipating smoke. "Maybe I'm already a monster."

The door slammed shut behind him.

…

Ward's emotions felt like a frenzied hurricane within him, tearing him up from the inside. His grip on control was tenuous and barely regained, so he knew that he should try and avoid highly populated areas, but reasoning like that was currently escaping him.

Only one thought stuck - find Garrett. Kill Garrett. End this torment, this constant running, the ever-present fear.

In his distracted state, he paid no attention to where he was going. If he had, he would have tried to avoid stalking down a street crowded with people and little shops. He also wouldn't have taken a bit of care to remain inconspicuous, to not attract attention.

Unfortunately, he was much too caught up in his vengeance to think rationally.

Then, even in his current state of frenzied emotion, his instincts broke through, putting him on red alert. Someone was following him.

He felt a tap on his shoulder and, reacting automatically, he whirled around and reached out to grasp the arm of his assailant. His other hand rose up to circle around the attacker's throat, ready to crush the windpipe if necessary.

The attacker cried out, and the sound snapped Ward out of his reflexive response. For the first time, he took a good look at the woman he had at his mercy. "Skye?" he muttered, his grip loosening as his eyes widened almost imperceptibly in confusion. As soon as he was positive that he wasn't seeing things, he released his grip on her entirely, hoping that his heated skin hadn't been hot enough to burn her.

"Yes, idiot." Skye coughed and her hand rose up to rub her neck. Ward felt a little guilty, but he was relieved that she didn't seem to be seriously hurt. "Nice to see you, too, Ward. Where have you been?"

He tensed up, immediately feeling protective of Jemma and unwilling to say anything that might put her in danger. "What are you doing here?"

"No way, I asked first. Where the heck have you and Jemma been?"

Ward almost winced at the sound of her name, remembering what he had just done. Or nearly done. Somehow she'd managed to be okay, but it was no thanks to him, and that made him feel guilty and sick about what could have happened.

"Where's Simmons?" Skye's voice broke into his self-recrimination. He could hear the suspicion in her tone and it put him even further on the defensive.

Narrowing his eyes, Ward starting to walk away. Over his shoulder, he added, "That's none of your business." And it wasn't. Jemma's safety was up to him, and he was going to take care of her. He wouldn't let what had almost happened happen again.

"Umm, excuse me? How is that not my business?" Skye caught up to him and continued her verbal assault. "Leo and I were gone for less than two hours, but we came back to find that you guys had vanished. No calls, no texts, no 'hey we're running away' notes. We were completely freaked out! Of course it's my business! We were taken-" Ward, who had started tuning Skye out in an attempt to make her leave him alone, suddenly became very interested in the conversation. "-aback," Skye finished in a rush. "We were taken aback by your disappearance."

He shot her a disbelieving look. He didn't think for a second that Garrett would've passed up the chance to interrogate anyone who had associated with either himself or with Jemma. That suspicion, coupled with Skye's quick cover-up, made him even more suspicious of the brunette.

"Leo's been really freaked out," she changed the subject. "Having his best friend disappear like that. Could you - could you please just tell us what's going on? What happened to you guys?"

Ward paused, weighing his options. It was a risk. But he knew how much Jemma cared about Fitz, and how devastated she would be if she missed an opportunity to see her best friend. "Fine," he finally found himself muttering. "But not here." Skye looked at him questioningly. "I don't know if we're secure here," he provided by way of explanation. "I haven't scoped out this area at all. BUt we can meet tonight, somewhere public, and I'll bring Jemma." After I make sure that no one is following us, he added silently.

"Okay," Skye agreed. "Well, there's a block party tonight, near that bakery you just stormed past. I saw a flyer - it should be pretty big, and public. If we meet there at 10 tonight, will you have enough time to 'scope it out'?"

Ward paused, then nodded. That should be more than enough time to check it out and get back to Jemma. "That should work." He nodded and turned to leave.

"Ward!" Skye's voice interrupted him again. He bit back a sigh and glanced back to see what she wanted now. "It's a Halloween party, so we should probably wear costumes. You know, to blend in."

He frowned, but nodded thoughtfully and finally made his escape.

...

The door banged open.

Jemma squealed and shot out the shimmery shield that had protected her from Ward's blast earlier on reflex, hoping that it would protect her against the intruder.

A muffled curse met her ears as an unmistakably male form was thrown backwards out of the small bolthole and into the wall at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the outside world. "Guess I deserved that," a familiar voice winced.

"I am so sorry," she gasped, running forward towards Ward and kneeling down beside him. However, she couldn't keep the slightly victorious smile off her lips. "I didn't know...it could have been anyone…"

Pushing himself to his feet, Ward shot her a rare, rueful smile. "You did the right thing. May have cracked a couple ribs, but…"

She stared at him, horrified.

"I'm kidding!" He held up his hands in defense. "I'm fine. But how did you…?"

Jemma jumped into full scientist mode at his half-formed question. "While initially I had supposed that the lab accident had given me invisibility powers only, this new evidence seems to suggest that my original hypothesis was incomplete. In fact, I now believe that I seem to have some sort of ability to extend a translucent concentration of energy out from my body in such a way that I am able to deflect heat and possibly-"

"-you have a forcefield," he finished flatly. "And invisibility. You're practically Susan Storm."

Jemma furrowed her brow and looked at him inquisitively, her confusion overriding her irritation that he'd cut off her technical explanation of her newly found power. "Who?"

"Susan Storm. Fantastic Four? Please say you've-"

"Never heard of it."

"Of course not." Ward looked slightly pained. "Although I guess, by the reasoning, I should be Johnny Storm and that…" he looked at her speculatively, "...seems wrong. Although, maybe I should try flying sometime…"

Now thoroughly lost, Jemma decided to move off the topic and address more pressing matters - such as the fact that he'd exploded on her and then'd ran away without so much as an apology. She crossed her arms and glared at him, shifting her weight onto one foot so her hip stuck out. "Now, I believe you owe me an apology…" she told him self-righteously.

A flash of pain-ridden guilt flashed in front of his eyes and he suddenly looked so haunted that Jemma just wanted to reach out to him, to reassure him that everything was going to be alright. Without consciously thinking about it, she did lay a hand on his arm. "I would never have forgiven myself if I'd hurt you," he whispered, bringing a thumb up to stroke the side of her face in a decisively uncharacteristically tender gesture that made her catch her breath and blush.

Jemma figured that was pretty good, as far as apologies went.

Then he pulled back, and the moment was gone.

"So," she started, feeling like she needed to say something to break the tense silence, "I was thinking we should test my new ability, maybe run some experiments. After all, forcefields won't do me much good without practice and a basic understanding of their strength and limitations certainly couldn't hurt."

"You want me to throw fire at you." Ward's voice was expressionless again, his former warmth lost completely as he looked at her like she was a crazy person.

"In a controlled experiment…"

"I could kill you," he argued. "I nearly did, before!"

"I wasn't even burned," she told him, dismissing the potential danger with a sniff. "It'll be fine."

He sighed. "Maybe later. Right now, we have to get dressed." Returning to the doorway, he bent down to pick up a bag that he must've been carrying before Jemma had attacked him on his way in. "Put this on."

He tossed her a package which she caught on reflex, ignoring the slight twinge from her healing shoulder at the motion. "What is…" she opened the package and squinted in confusion at the black clothing inside.

"It's Hallowe'en today."

"And that's supposed to explain the…" she took a closer look at the package, spotting the domino mask and cat ears, "Catwoman costume how?"

"We have to blend in."

"To what?" she demanded, starting to get irritated at his reticence. "For a moment, can you pretend that I have no clue what we're talking about and start from the beginning?"

"I ran into Skye today."

Jemma froze. "Was...was Fitz…?"

Ward shook his head. "No. But they are together, and we're meeting them at a Halloween block party tonight. Skye thought it'd be a good idea to blend in.

Forcing herself to breathe normally, Jemma sat still, thinking through the emotions flooding her brain. Relief. Definitely relief that Fitz was okay. However, there was also a hint of... disappointment? But why would she be disappointed? It couldn't be because that meant that her time with Ward would be over…

"I'm going to get changed - the meeting's in an hour and I want to scout the area before we leave," Ward interrupted her thoughts, standing and grabbing the bag containing his own costume. "You should too."

"Right," Jemma agreed absently. "I'll go..do that."

…

Ward couldn't help but stare. Only for a moment, but still… Skintight leather was a surprisingly good look for the scientist. He'd had to guess at her size, but apparently he'd done a decent job since the black leather hugged her every curve and the domino mask and cat ears were somehow both cute and sexy at the same time.

"Yep. Definitely not Johnny Storm," he muttered under his breath, softly enough that she couldn't hear.

"Hmm?" she asked absently, and he noticed that while he'd been staring at her, she'd been doing the exact same thing to him.

He couldn't help but feel smug about that.

"Nothing," he covered. "Ready?"

"Giddye up, cowboy," she responded in a painfully awful attempt at a southern accent.

Ward eyed his fringed vest, faded leather jeans, and cowboy boots with distaste. The shop hadn't had much left in stock and so cowboy had been his only option, but that didn't mean he liked it. "Don't...don't do that."

"It was funny!" she defended herself. "Ooh, and don't forget your hat!" She plucked the large black hat off the couch, plopping it on his head with an infectious smile.

Holding his arm out to her resignedly, Ward waited until she took it before he started out the door. "It wasn't funny."

"Okay, how about a pun - I like your vest. You could even say that I have a...vested interest in it…"

Ward groaned. "That has got to be the worst pun I've ever- hey!" he yelped as she swatted him.
"I'm funny," she grumbled under her breath.

This time, Ward didn't bother to argue with her.

...

"Stay close," Ward ordered, taking Jemma's hand in his. She felt a thrill, like a spark, initiating from the contact and spreading heat up her body.

The fact that his chiseled abs were clearly visible with every movement of his fringed vest certainly only made it worse.

How did someone even get that fit?

"I never realized Halloween was such a big deal," Jemma laughed nervously, pressing herself against Ward's arm as the press of the crowd threatened to pull her away from the security he offered. It wasn't really the crowd that made her feel anxious, though. It was the thought of seeing Fitz again after...everything that had happened. And there was a little pit of dread in her stomach because she was sure that as soon as Ward knew she was safe and sound, he would leave her.

"Where are we meeting?" she asked, glancing up at him and raising her voice to be heard over the noise.

"Just over-" he started to point, but as Jemma followed his gesture, she saw Fitz standing directly in front of her.

A flash of recognition appeared in his eyes as she smiled in greeting. "Fitz!" she cried in delight. "We were...it's been so long...how are-?"

"Jem-" Fitz's eyes widened, then hardened. "Not real," he said, shaking his head, " you're not real, you're not real, you're…" he kept mumbling his mantra, over and over again, as Jemma stared at him, hurt and confused.

"Fitz, it's me. Jemma." She stepped towards him, still not letting go of Ward's hand. "Are you okay?"

Fitz started backing away as she advanced, a look of panic spreading across his face. Then, without another word he turned and disappeared into the crowd.

"What...what just happened?" Automatically, Jemma stepped closer to Ward's solid presence, feeling the need for comfort. While she had been worried about Fitz before, it had just been the fear of not knowing. Now, however, she was convinced that there was something terribly wrong with him and that frightened her.

Ward never stopped scanning the crowd even as he answered. "Something's not right."

Nodding mutely, Jemma allowed him to put his arm around her shoulders and pull her against his side as they continued to make their way through the crowd towards the meeting place.

She felt numb. Her best friend had stood in front of her and...well, she didn't quite understand what had happened, but she knew that it hadn't been good.

"Just over there," Ward muttered in her ear. "Be on your guard. Your friend...he seemed off. I'm a little worried."

"We can trust him," she insisted without hesitating. "It's not a trap."

"I believe that you believe that."

"What are you saying?" she demanded a little more heatedly. She knew that Ward had spent his life on the run, but sometimes the guy was a little too paranoid.

He sighed. "It might not be his fault - he could've been followed, or manipulated, or...anything."

Jemma glared up at him. "And you're only telling me that this is a possibility now?"

"It wasn't important. There." He pointed ahead to where two figures were waiting at a table set up under a large tree, just on the outskirts of the main party. "Stay alert."

"Right. I can do that." Still, she couldn't help feeling some of Ward's paranoia rubbing off on her.

Please review!