#11 The cold never bothered me anyway

The evening air hit her with all its coolness, which really shouldn't have surprised her, given the time and place, but a shiver still ran through her body. It was the beginning of March, which meant that it was still way too cold for walking outside in thin cocktail dresses, yet she was trying to behave like the cold was not bothering her at all. Metaphorically speaking, that was what she had been trying to prove to herself for a few months already. But no matter how much she wanted to convince herself, the truth wouldn't change.

So there she was, standing next to the door to the ballroom, in her pretty dress and the light sweater she'd taken from her chair, trying not to shiver so Fitz wouldn't notice and change his mind about their walk, because the idea of both of them finally alone in nice surroundings was too tempting to give up. So she tried to stop her teeth from chattering and smiled at him, happy that they could spend some time together.

"You're cold," he noticed, and she tried to shake her head to deny it, but her body choose that exact moment to tremble.

"I don't want to go back," she said before he could suggest it. She really didn't want to go back, not when he was finally the one to propose they go somewhere together, even if it was just a few steps outside the building. So she looked at him, face determined and sure, even as the cold bit at her every second.

"All right, take this." He took off his blazer and put it over her shoulders.

She took it with gratitude, pulling her arms into the sleeves and closing the material around her, content to be surrounded by his warmth and smell. She looked up at him, about to thank him, when she noticed that now she had a cardigan and a warm blazer on, while he was standing there in just his pale blue shirt.

"You'll be cold," she whispered, tugging on the material covering her, ready to give it back to him.

"I'm fine, I'm used to it." He waved his hand and looked around, furrowing his brows and taking a step away from her. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that there's... Yes, here, come on." He moved away, giving her a sign with his hand to follow him.

They moved away from the door, walking on the narrow path through the garden to the tiny arbour just a few yards away. When they got there, Fitz immediately rushed to the wooden bench and raised the seat to take out some blankets from storage. He smiled and handed her one, which she took from him with quiet thanks. They both sat on the bench, wrapped in blankets that protected them from cold air and remained silent for a while, neither of them knowing what to do now that they were there.

"What do you think about Cybertech's stun grenades?" she finally asked, because science had always been there for her when everything else failed.

"Nice idea." He nodded his approval. "But they won't be able to make it work, they don't have good enough people. Not to mention that it would lack precision too much to be useful. And the name? 'Sleepy-Sleep Wave'? Sounds like a nursery rhyme and doesn't even make a nice acronym," he smiled, and she laughed at his joke. "It's still better than Hammer's armour. I wonder where they've stolen their idea from, Don Quixote?" he added, his expression deadly serious, too serious for it to be true and she couldn't stop laughing.

"I'm afraid that they could sue you for saying that," she said after a while, when she had calmed a little.

"Nah, they are too busy with all their trials for breaking intellectual property laws," he shrugged.

"And in how many of them are you included?"

"Just a few..." he said, rolling his eyes with a smile. "The security system of the last company that I was working for was not good enough. Still, they made so many mistakes during production that the end product was trash, so not much to cry over."

"I remember when they once tried to hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s server. Skye was laughing for a few hours about it, not only because they didn't manage to copy anything, they also left the window open for her to get into their system."

"Ah, the 'we are sorry for being idiots and apologise in advance for our uselessness, please be so kind as to not waste your time and go to S.H.I.E.L.D.' message on their homepage, I remember that."

They laughed for a while and then continued talking, not worrying about the time and weather, safely hidden from the outside world in their arbour, happy to share a tiny moment with each other.

And as always, when things were going good, something had to stop them. This time it was Simmons feeling a little forward in the nice atmosphere.

"We have a free day tomorrow, since the plane leaves at night, so maybe we could go sightseeing? Maybe you could show me around?" she asked, and there was silence, just a split second too long to be comfortable, especially after how their sentences had been overlapping just a moment before. She instantly knew it wouldn't end the way she was hoping for.

"I already have plans for tomorrow, sorry," he responded after a few seconds, his face no longer happy and relaxed. "I'll be back just an hour before we have to go to the airport."

"I see," she nodded, trying not to loose the cheer in her voice, which was impossible, given how, again, everything had been going nice and smooth, just to crack when she tried to move forward.

Sure, it was no big deal, he had plans, that didn't mean anything. But it was hard to convince herself that it was meaningless when it was happening over and over every single time she thought she was getting closer to him.

They were silent, the carefree atmosphere gone, leaving them both in a cold winter night in a foreign place, away from the lights and joy of the ballroom. She didn't know what to say, unable to smoothly find another topic and behave like nothing had happened. She wrapped the blanket tighter around her arms and looked ahead at the columns supporting the roof, at the lights playing with darkness and shadows. Fitz was throwing her looks, furrowing his brows and biting his lip anxiously and a little guiltily. Finally he took a deep breath and fixed his eyes on the floor.

"I'm going home," he said, his voice quiet and unsure, and she looked at him, surprised that he was giving her an actual explanation. "I wanted to see my mum since I'm nearby. I couldn't come visit during Christmas, the tickets were too expensive, so she was alone. That's why I wanted to go to this conference. It's a few hours by train from here, so if I go early in the morning I'll get to spend an afternoon at home."

"I understand," she assured him, smiling a little, because at least now she could see the reason. At least now she knew she wasn't the source of the problem. "It's nice of you to go see her," she added, and was rewarded with his wide smile and a silence that was no longer uncomfortable.

"You could come with me," he blurted suddenly.

"What?" she said without thinking, afraid that she'd heard him wrong.

"I mean, there's not much for sightseeing there." The words rushed out of him, trying to find his way on new ground. "But there are some nice hills around and a river, so if you don't mind walking, there are some pretty good hiking spots there, I could show you around. Or I could just tell you what's worth seeing in Glasgow..." he added, uncertain, looking at her as if he was going to back away, scared that she wouldn't like the idea.

"I'd love to go," she assured him with a wide, excited smile.

"Yeah?" He smiled a little, still not sure.

"Yeah," she nodded.

They sat there for a moment, grining at each other like two teenagers, happy that for once everything was going nicely.

"The train," Fitz said after a while, furrowing his brows again. "It leaves at 4:20 am, and it takes four hours to get there, you sure you wouldn't rather get enough sleep? It's your free day..."

"I don't mind," she shook her head. "I don't mind getting up early," she clarified. "I want to go."

"All right then." He smiled at her widely. "Prepare to be amazed by Scotland's natural beauty."

"I can't wait."


A/N:

Chapter's title is from "Let It Go" from Frozen.

I'd also like to add that I'm really happy that Glasgow does indeed have an airport, because of course I checked it only after writing the whole thing.

Have i mentioned that reviews make my day? Thanks to all who has left them ;)