A/N: Hello, all! Thanks for the reads, favorites, and reviews - I love them! Keep it coming. This chapter ended up being longer than expected, so Caitlin51 and I had to split it. So...WardxSimmons aren't in this one quite as much as I'd been hoping, but they do still appear. And they'll definitely be in the next chapter. Enjoy!

IMPORTANT NOTE: This fic is co-authored by Caitlin51, and she and I are also co-authoring the other side of this fic on her account. It is called "Crash and Burn" and shows this same story from the BioSpecialist viewpoint. I strongly suggest reading them both! While this fic will be a complete story in and of itself, as will the other one, they will complement each other, give you scenes and character perspectives that you normally wouldn't see, and give you large parts of the story that happen when the characters are split up.

Leo Fitz woke up with a start, looking around the room and immediately groaning at the tight pain in his neck. He had fallen asleep in the lab, on the floor apparently. The soft sunlight filtering in from the one window in the room indicated that it was probably mid-morning, and the rumbling in his stomach meant that it was definitely time for breakfast. When was the last time he'd eaten a real meal? Or gotten a good night's sleep?

Something shifted next to him, startling him out of his thoughts. He looked down to see Skye, still fast asleep, leaning against his shoulder. Had she been there all night? Trying not to blush, he took advantage of the fact that she couldn't scold him for staring and really looked at her. Her hair was a mess and she had something smudged across her cheek, but she was still undeniably pretty. As he watched her breathing deeply, more peaceful than she'd been in the entire 48 hours that he'd known her, he realized that he really knew almost nothing about her. He didn't even know her last name, or where she was from, or how she felt about Doctor Who. Or if she was single.

He shook his head, silently chastising himself. This was a completely inopportune time to be developing a crush on someone. Not that that's what he was doing. He and Skye were just friends. Acquaintances, really.

She shifted again, and he looked down at her as she slowly opened her eyes. She smiled sleepily. "Good morning."

"You can't read thoughts in your sleep, can you?" Face flaming as he realized he'd spoken out loud, Fitz looked everywhere but at her. " I mean, er...good morning."

She sat up and stretched, frowning slightly in confusion. "I...don't think so? Why?"

"No reason. I was just wondering. Not that I was thinking about it. Not sure why I asked, really. So, breakfast?"

She nodded as she stood up. "Breakfast sounds great. How'd you sleep?" She grimaced, "Are you as sore as I am?"

He laughed, rubbing at his neck. "I don't think sleeping at that angle was very kind to us."

"Oh, good, you two are finally awake. I have a couple of theories that I'd like to run past you."

Slowly, his heart pounding, Fitz turned to face the doorway. Jemma stood there, a steaming mug in one hand and a thick folder in the other. She smiled brightly, and he felt his hands start to shake. Crossing his arms tightly, he looked over at Skye, who had yet to respond to or even acknowledge Jemma's presence.

"What's wrong?" both women asked him simultaneously.

"Is...do you…" He took a deep breath. "Do you...see her?" he asked Skye.

Realization dawned on her face, and she gently grabbed his arm. "Come on. We're gonna get out of here. Where do you want to go for breakfast?"

He smiled weakly and let her lead him out into the hall, trying his best to ignore the wounded look on Jemma's face as he passed her.

...

"Can I get you anything else?" The waitress smiled brightly at Fitz. Skye rolled her eyes; this was the third time in about five minutes that she'd stopped by their table, and she had yet to really acknowledge Skye's presence beyond taking her order. After the events of the past two days, she was initially suspicious about all the attention, but the girl's thoughts were simply very loud and very perky and very interested in Fitz's accent.

He barely seemed to notice her, though, and her face fell a bit when he simply shook his head before turning back to face Skye. "What?" he asked when he saw her smiling.

"Oh, nothing," she said, pretending to look at something interesting on her phone. "What do you think of our waitress?"

"Our waitress? She's, erm, nice? I haven't really been paying attention."

Skye tried not to blatantly smile, and she pointedly ignored the inexplicable feeling of triumph that surged in the pit of her stomach. "So, what were we talking about? Oh, right, the physics of the TAR-" she broke off. "Is that...Ward?"

She stood quickly, eyes focused on the man who had stormed past the cafe, and started to move without thinking. Then, remembering where she was, she stopped and looked hesitantly at Fitz, who remained in his seat. He didn't make any attempt to stand, but he nodded at her. "Go see if it's him. I'll...wait. I'll just stay here."

Internally debating whether or not she should really leave him, she looked at him for a moment longer before nodding. "Ok," she said quietly. "I'll be back in a second."

Skye rushed out of the restaurant and onto the busy sidewalk. She looked in the direction that Ward had gone, but she couldn't see him. Curse that man and his long legs. She groaned and closed her eyes, reaching out mentally to see if she could find a familiar…

Bingo.

Angry, brooding, and flammable, straight ahead.

"Ward!" She shouted, running forward. She elbowed some inconveniently located pedestrians out of the way and called his name again. Finally catching up to him, she reached forward to tap his shoulder, hoping he would finally acknowledge her.

In hindsight, approaching the angry, distracted psychopath from behind was probably not Skye's best idea. He whirled around, one hand grabbing her arm like a vise and one reaching for her throat, and before she knew it she was in a death grip. She cried out when his arm pressed against her neck. Not only was she attacked by a rather unpleasant cocktail of emotions, but his skin was uncomfortably warm.

She felt a slight surge of confusion, and his arm loosened slightly. "Skye?"

"Yes, idiot." She coughed and cautiously rubbed at her neck when he released her. "Nice to see you, too, Ward. Where have you been?"

"What are you doing here?"

"No way. I asked first. Where the heck have you and Jemma been?" She was about to start a lengthy and well-deserved tirade when she felt a twinge of guilt from him. Frowning, she tried to reach out. Guilt connected to...Jemma? Her frown deepened and she hesitantly asked, "Where's Simmons?"

His brow furrowed and he turned to walk away from her. "That's none of your business."

Her alarm deepened and she hurried to catch up with him. "Umm, excuse me? How is that not my business? 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-" She felt a jumbled spike of emotions from him, and suddenly wondered how much of their experience she should actually share. "-aback. We were taken aback by your disappearance."

He looked at her suspiciously, and she tried not to audibly gulp. "Leo's been really freaked out," she said, her voice softening. "Having his best friend disappear like that. Could you-" She sighed and looked him in the eyes. "Could you please just tell us what's going on? What happened to you guys?"

There was a long pause and she was about to turn away when he quietly muttered, "Fine. But not here."

She raised an eyebrow, and he continued, "I don't know if we're secure here. I haven't scoped out this area at all. But we can meet tonight, somewhere public, and I'll bring Jemma."

Skye nearly rolled her eyes at his paranoia, but considered the past few days and realized he probably had a point. "Okay. 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'?"

He considered for a moment and nodded. "That should work." He turned to walk away again when an idea suddenly struck her.

"Ward!" she called after his retreating figure. When he stopped and looked back at her, she bit back a smile. "It's a Halloween party, so we should probably wear costumes. You know, to blend in."

He didn't say anything, only nodded, and she smiled to herself as she turned to walk back to the cafe.

...

A drink. Fitz was getting a drink, that was it. Nothing bad would happen while he was getting a drink.

He shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. He hadn't been able to shake the feelings of anxiety that had been smothering him all day. He hadn't "seen" Jemma since that morning, but he was jumpy and worried and half-convinced that everything he saw was actually imaginary. If it weren't for Skye, he'd probably be curled up in some corner of his apartment, refusing to come out.

Instead, he was at a party. A loud, drunken street party, full of skimpy costumes and poor life choices. Skye had promised to meet Ward here. Had assured Fitz that Jemma would come, too. Had promised that she would let him know when Jemma was actually there. He'd been glued to her side all afternoon and evening, but after nearly a whole day without any hallucinations, he'd decided he was okay to leave their table for a few minutes to grab some drinks.

After hearing his name called by a familiar voice, however, he was really regretting that decision.

Jemma rushed up to him, still in her lab coat. "Fitz," she said again, voice low and urgent. "Something's wrong here, we really need to leave."

He was about to turn away and ignore her when a thought crossed his mind - what if this was actually Jemma? They were supposed to meet here. Maybe this was-

He stopped suddenly, eyes widening as he saw Jemma standing directly in front of him. Frozen, he glanced to his side, where Jemma was impatiently tapping her foot.

...Two?

The Jemma that stood in front of him, inexplicably wearing a catwoman costume, excitedly called his name. "Fitz! We were...it's been so long...how are-?"

"Jem-" he started automatically, but stopped himself. He refused to look at either Jemma, shaking his head. "Not real." He just needed to get back to Skye. "You're not real."

Catwoman-Jemma stepped towards him, a confused look on her face. "Fitz, it's me. Jemma. Are you okay?"

He backed away, his panic increasing, and, with one last glance at both Jemmas, he turned into the crowd and ran back to the table where Skye was waiting.

A/N: Review, review, review! Please!