Jemma held her breath as she punched the last sequence into the watch. Fitz watched anxiously and they both sagged with relief when it beeped twice, signaling that it was primed.

"Alright Coulson, its ready," Jemma said softly.

"Good because there's a group heading your way and it looks like they have a young girl with them."

Fitz rubbed Jemma's arm comfortingly.

"You sure about this?" Jemma nodded.

"I have to get her back." Tears pricked her eyes and Fitz pulled her into a hug.

"We will," he told her.

"They're entering the warehouse. You just have to throw and run." Coulson's voice was calming and comforting over the comms. Jemma pulled away from Fitz and squared her shoulders, steeling herself.

Let's do this.


Coulson watched the two scientists on the video feed that played directly into the van that the extraction team was hiding out in. He held his breath, watching the gang of kidnappers enter the garage.

3...

2...

1...

Coulson silently counted down in his head, then watched the warehouse turn into a huge ball of flame. He let out a tiny breath of relief when he saw two figures flee up the hill, away from the fire. Suddenly, there was a tapping on the car door. A frown formed on Coulson's face and he whipped around and pulled his gun. He slid the door open cautiously and his jaw fell open when he saw who was standing there.

"Hi there."


Footsteps echoed through the empty warehouse. Jemma drew her arm back, bracing herself. A group of four men entered the open space and Jemma threw the watch without hesitation, not waiting to see if Becky was with them or not. Fitz grabbed her arm and they fled out the door behind them, scrambling up the hill toward the van. Heat seared their backs as, wherever she was, Rebecca detonated the explosive. Hearts racing with fear and adrenalin, Fitz and Jemma came to a halt next to the van. They leaned against the sleek black exterior and Fitz let his head roll to the side so that he was looking at Simmons.

"We just did that." A little bit of wonder colored the exhaustion in his voice.

"We did, didn't we?" Jemma started to laugh, a nervous giggle that enveloped her until she slid down into a heap on the ground. Leo joined her, both of them laughing hysterically to cover the way that they were shaking with nervous energy. The door of the van slid open and Coulson looked down at the couple lying on the ground.

"I think they're going into shock," he said over his shoulder to the other people in the van. Simmons looked up at him, shook her head, and looked back down at Fitz.

"How soon can we go down to get Becky?" asked the latter, pushing himself into a sitting position.

"You don't have to," said Coulson evenly. Jemma jerked slightly and whipped her head up to look at the senior agent.

"What are you talking about?" Panic and anger ran across her face, "Of course we do, that was the purpose of all of this!" Coulson moved slightly to the left, leaving a bit of space in the doorway of the van.

"Really Jemma, you didn't actually think I was going to use an untested suit in a life-or-death situation, did you?" Jemma and Fitz's jaws dropped open as a perfectly fine Rebecca clambered out of the van.

"What-how-what-" Fitz spluttered, eyes flicking between Coulson and Becky until they finally settled on the young girl, "Explain yourself!" Becky opened her mouth to respond when suddenly the wind was knocked out of her by the force of her sister tackling her with a hug.

"You're okay, you're okay." Jemma repeated the words like a mantra, ensuring that her sister was truly alright. Rebecca returned the hug tightly and smiled at Jemma.

"Yes I am. Also, at the next opportunity we are going to work on your running away skills, cause that run up the hill was pitiful." Jemma pulled back and glared at Becky. She kept one arm around her sister, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Okay, now explain yourself."

"Well you see," began Becky, "they didn't search me or anything, which was quite stupid really. So I knew that I could get a message to you by hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D. and leaving it there."

"Did occur to you that S.H.I.E.L.D. is very well protected electronically?" asked Coulson. Rebecca shrugged.

"It's not that difficult to crack and it's not like I haven't hacked into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s systems before." She dropped that fact casually, causing Jemma to gasp and stare at her with wide eyes.

"Rebecca Grace Simmons!" Becky winced slightly at the use of her middle name while Fitz chuckled softly to himself. Even Coulson was having trouble concealing his smile.

"What? It's not my fault you won't write home about the things you're working on." Fitz full on laughed at Becky's statement. Jemma frowned at her sister, and then rolled her eyes.

"Go on," she said, sighing exasperatedly.

"So anyway, they took my phone when they saw me using it-"

"Yeah, yeah we know this part," interrupted Fitz, "get to the interesting bits!" Rebecca spared a second to glare at him.

"Okay, fast forward. So I had realized that they were locking me with electronic handcuffs, which surprisingly are actually not that difficult to hack from a cell phone. Anyhow, I overheard them talking about some old abandoned train station or something and I guessed, correctly, that they were taking me there for some reason." She took a breath and her audience nodded to show that they were still following the story.

"So I figured that the only way they were going to let me go without getting something in return and without killing me was if they were dead and the only way I could think to get that message through to you guys was if I told you to blow them up. But I also knew that they weren't likely to let me out of their sight, which was a problem. Thankfully, they were a little dense sometimes." Becky rolled her eyes, "I mean, you'd think that after the third cell phone they'd frisk me down or something, but no. So when we were on the way to the train station I hacked the handcuffs and got them loose and right before we walked inside I dropped them and ran for the van that I saw parked up here, figuring it was probably S.H.I.E.L.D." She finished her story with a smile. "Was that explanation up to par?"

"You are brilliant," Fitz told her as Jemma pulled her sister back into another hug. Coulson nodded, looking hard at Rebecca with a thoughtful expression.

"Alright, c'mon," said the older agent, "We should be getting back to the helicarrier." Rebecca's eyes grew wide.

"Helicarrier?" Fitz and Jemma grinned at each other over Becky's head.

"Wait and see Beck," said Fitz and the three of them joined Coulson in the van, heading back to safety.


"Rebecca!" Mrs. Simmons rushed forward and pulled her daughter into her arms. Mr. Simmons embraced his eldest daughter and Fitz.

"Thank you," he whispered to them. They nodded and watched Laura fuss over Becky, checking every inch of her skin for injury. Carl turned to Coulson.

"Thank you so much, for everything." Coulson smiled.

"Just doing my job." Laura finished with Becky and looked up at Leo and Jemma, fixing them with a stern maternal look and giving them a thorough once over.

"Are you two all right?" They both nodded fervently. Satisfied, Laura turned to Coulson, thanking him profusely.

"Is there any way we can ever repay you?" Coulson just smiled kindly.

"I was just doing my job ma'am. I do have a question for Rebecca though." Everyone's eyes swung back to look at Becky.

"Yes?" she asked.

"I'm sure that you know that I can't employ you until you're 18; however, I'd like to ask you to consider signing on as a consultant to the S.H.I.E.L.D. communications department." Rebecca's face melted into a mask of shock. Jemma and Fitz exchanged a surprised glance and Laura and Carl gave each other looks that said Do we really need another S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in the family?

"Why would you want me as a consultant?" Rebecca was totally feigning modesty and Jemma rolled her eyes at it. Coulson smiled at the young girl.

"Because you could easily show up half of the current communications agents and they all graduated from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy." A smug smile fixed itself on Becky's face. Coulson directed his attention to her parents.

"She won't be in any danger-S.H.I.E.L.D. HQ is probably the most secure building in the United States government, the White House included." Laura and Carl nodded, both looking visibly relieved.

"Also," continued Coulson, "Even though we can't technically give her a salary, I'm sure we could work out some sort of compensation arrangement, if you're interested." Rebecca's smile widened and she looked pleadingly at her parents. Her mom sort of sighed and finally gave her a well-if-you-must look. Becky squealed and clapped her hands together. Fitz rolled his eyes good-naturedly and leaned over to Jemma.

"I don't think this is good for her ego," he whispered. Jemma snorted and nodded in agreement.

"C'mon, we can let them work out the details," she said to Fitz, "Let's go see if we can find my brother." Fitz shrugged and turned to follow her. She grinned at him.

"You're going to like Patrick."