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"Are you sure this'll work?" Fitz glances over at Skye where she's sitting beside him on the couch flipping through a small notebook.
His friend glances up at him in astonishment as she processes his words before leaning forward and gaping at him. "Am I sure this will work?! Fitz, this was your idea!"
He nods and waves dismissively at her as he leans back against the couch. "No, I know! I just meant… Are you sure you think it's a good idea?"
The nervousness in his voice is evident and he begins to anxiously tap his fingers against a pillow as he awaits Skye's response.
Her initial response is nothing more than a snort and a shake of the head. She's silent for a few moments before she moves her gaze back to the notebook and she verbally answers him. "I think you've spent the past week blowing through your funds and putting all of this together so it had better be a good idea."
"Right." Fitz's hands begin to twist nervously in his lap and he feels his heartbeat quicken.
Skye must be able to sense his nerves because she quickly puts the notebook down and turns to face him fully. "In all seriousness… Yeah, I do think this is a good idea. It wouldn't be a good idea if it were anyone other than Jemma but… it might just work. That being said… I think there's every possibility that it could completely backfire and blow-up in your face but… I really hope it doesn't."
He nods his head once before glancing back towards his friend. "She… she doesn't suspect anything?"
Skye shakes her head at him with a small smile. "Nope. None the wiser. She thinks I'm taking her to lunch to thank her for saving your ass and to give her updates on what's been going on since the hearing."
Fitz gives her a tremulous smile and nods his head once in satisfaction. "Good."
-O-
Fitz is pacing around the lab, eyes flitting in every direction to make sure that everything is in place. He and the SHIELD crew had worked tirelessly over the past few nights to make sure that everything from the largest appliance to the smallest beaker is in its rightful place and he's happy with how his newly leased laboratory looks. But it's not himself that he wants to make happy; which is why everything has to be perfect because he only has three minutes.
Oh god. Three minutes.
He casts one last cursory glance around the small lab before nervously moving to the center of the room. He stares at the door in trepidation, slowly counting down the seconds until Skye is due to arrive. He's bouncing on the balls of his feet, hands clenched at his sides, and when he reaches 180 seconds in his head he holds his breath and strains his ears for any sound.
He doesn't have to wait long, another minute at most, before he hears the buzzer. He quickly moves to click the one along the wall near the light switch before making his way back to the middle of the room and fixing his gaze on the door. He holds his breath again and feels his heart begin to hammer in his chest when he hears a feminine voice that doesn't belong to his roommate.
"Skye I really don't think we're meant to be in here… Are you sure you got the address right? This doesn't look like a café to m…"
Jemma's voice falters the moment she walks through the door and sees Fitz standing awkwardly in the middle of the room. She stares open-mouthed as her eyes flit around the lab and take in everything that Fitz had spent every day since the hearing working on. Jemma's eyes land on him again and she makes to turn around but Skye is blocking the doorway with an apologetic look.
"Skye, move."
Skye shakes her head resolutely at the other girl. "I'm sorry Jemma but I really can't do that."
Jemma glares at her in complete betrayal. "You promised! You promised me that you wouldn't get involved!"
Her voice cracks halfway through the sentence and Fitz can see the way that Skye's face falls at the sound.
"I know. I know I did but… I lied! I'm sorry."
Skye's voice breaks just as much as Jemma's had and her face falls even more when Jemma laughs humorlessly and takes a step away from her.
"Of course you lied, must be something in your apartment's water. Skye, please move. I really don't want to do this right now."
"I know. I know you don't, but we both know he's not going to stop." They both glance over to him and he quickly nods his head and shrugs in confirmation at Skye's words. He can see Jemma's jaw tense before her eyes quickly move back to the other girl.
"Please move."
"Jemma, hear him out. Just give him five minutes and then you're free to go. And… and then if you never want to see either of us again… We'll both leave you alone. Fitz will stop sending you the daily apologies and I'll stop helping him do it. If it's what you want, we'll both drop off the face of your earth."
Fitz's mouth drops at Skye's words because this had not been part of the plan. At no point had they discussed Skye losing Jemma. It hadn't even been a consideration and, the fact that she's offering it now sends twin jolts of dread and hope through his core. Dread because it's just an added bit of pressure and hope because he doesn't think Skye would offer to give up her friendship with Jemma if she didn't honestly believed that Fitz could convince her with his plan.
Jemma seems just shocked by the other girl's words and she looks as though she's about to argue but then she pauses and just nods her head.
"Okay…" Jemma turns to face him. "You have five minutes. And when those five minutes are up, I'm walking out that door and neither of you will follow." Both he and Skye nod at this before Jemma continues speaking.
"And after I leave… we're done okay? No more cookies, no more flowers, no more tea. You stop with all that and give me the only thing I've asked for during this whole debacle: time and space."
Fitz nods again, slowly and deliberately, and tries to infuse as much sincerity into his expression as he can. Jemma turns around to face Skye, who nods quickly with her hands up before backing away and shutting the door behind her.
Fitz watches as Jemma breathes deeply and turns back around to face him. Her face is carefully neutral, fixed into an impassive expression that reveals little about what she's actually thinking and feeling. It's silent for a few long moments before she crosses her arms over her chest and raises an eyebrow at him.
"I'd like to offer you a job."
Fitz winces at his delivery, or lack thereof, and grimaces at the fact that he's just blurted out something that he and Skye had meticulously recited and planned for days.
Jemma's arms fall to her side as she blinks in shock. "Excuse me?"
"I…umm… I'd like to hire you. To work. I'd like to hire you in any capacity."
Dear lord could he at least try to get through a sentence without stumbling.
Jemma stares at him in silence, likely trying to determine whether or not this is him being serious, before straightening and moving to turn towards the door.
"Goodbye Fitz."
His voice is laced with desperation as he all but yells across the room. "Wait! No, no, no! You said I could have five minutes. Just hear me out please!"
Fitz frantically takes a few steps towards her, arms outstretched as though he's approaching a wild animal. The way she's glaring at him makes him think that a wild animal would actually be preferable right about now. It'd be far less likely to kill him than Jemma seems to be.
Jemma stills, back facing him, and makes no move to actually open the door so Fitz begins to slowly walk towards her as he resumes speaking.
"In exactly one year, two months, and thirteen days, my non-compete will have run its course and I will officially be able to start patenting my designs again."
Jemma whirls around at this, looking startled for a moment by his proximity before her face shifts into an expression of combined anger and derision.
"Well that's just great for you Fitz, congratulations! I don't understand what this has to do with…"
He cuts her off before she can continue and quickly shouts, "I'm working on a prototype! For a gun!" He winces once again at his piss-poor delivery of the news as Jemma takes a step back from him and gazes at him cautiously.
"What?"
Fitz groans at his idiocy as well as her dubious reaction towards his comment. He hastily tries to explain that he's not on the brink of creating a deadly weapon.
"A non-lethal gun. And I've been trying to figure out the non-lethal aspect when I remembered something that an insanely intelligent slash beautiful woman told me about dentrotoxin…"
Jemma's eyes narrow at his words but he can see the immediate interest that the word dendrotoxin has sparked in her. She looks as though she wants to pester him with questions but refrains from doing so and instead just gestures for him to continue.
"So…well… I managed to get my hands on the stuff…"
This causes Jemma's mouth to drop open in surprise and what looks like excitement. She moves closer to him, stopping a mere two feet away, and it takes everything Fitz has not to jump in eagerness at the small progress they've made.
"You what?!"
Jemma's voice is both louder and two octaves higher than usual as she stares at him in complete bewilderment. She doesn't look quite as angry as before so Fitz lets a small, very small, smile cross his face and he decides to just stop holding himself back and answer eagerly.
"Yeah, got my hands on some dendrotoxin… in both a literal and figurative sense."
Her eyes open slightly at the first bit of his sentence before narrowing at the second.
"I used the patent money I still had laying around to buy the dedrotoxin, that's the figurative bit, and then physically picked some of it up, that's the literal…"
Jemma's eyes narrow even more at physically picked some of it up and she moves closer to him, now just a foot away. "How did you pick it up Fitz?"
The tone of her voice clues Fitz in on the fact that she's likely expanded on his vague description and has pieced together what exactly he hadn't confessed to yet. He quickly tears his gaze from hers and glances down at his shuffling feet.
"You know, I just… I just lifted it!"
Jemma groans in exasperation and pinches the bridge of her nose between her forefingers. "Oh Fitz."
If she's Oh Fitz-ing him now just wait until…
"Yes, yes, I know. Skye's already given me the lecture about it. But it was all perfectly fine! There were no issues until…"
"Until what?!" Jemma exclaims.
He glances quickly down at the bandage wrapped around his hand and then immediately looks back up to find Jemma's eyes focused on his palm. She looks back up at him in trepidation.
"Until what Fitz?"
He swallows loudly at her piercing stare and cautiously answers her question. "Until… Well you see… then I dropped one of the little vials and cut my hand trying to clean it up and…"
The next thing he knows the space between him and Jemma is gone and she's gently cradling his bandaged palm in her hands. His heart begins to hammer at her proximity and he finally feels as though they're in a tentatively neutral space until she starts yelling at him as she examines Skye's novice bandaging.
"Oh my god, Fitz! You can't just go around bare-handing a toxin like that!"
He scoffs and rolls his eyes at Jemma's berating because he is well aware of that. "Yes I realize that now… after the brief hour of paralysis…" Jemma's mouth drops open at this so he hastily continues talking before she launches into a lecture. "I've also realized that I have no bloody clue how to actually safely and effectively use the stuff."
"Yes, clearly." Jemma quickly drops his hand, snorting in derision, as she takes a step back from him and looks at him as though he is the stupidest person she'd had the misfortune of meeting. "You're going to get yourself killed."
"Very likely… which is where I was hoping you'd come in."
Jemma takes another step back but he matches her movements and steps forward. Her look of confusion seems to grow and Fitz watches as she tries to understand what it is that he's saying. Her brows furrow again and she shakes her head at him in uncertainty.
"What?"
Fitz takes another step forward as he looks at her seriously. "I wasn't kidding about hiring you. I want to be partners. It'll take about a year for me to get the actual prototype built and tweaked… And I'd like you to work with me. It could be part-time, full-time, any time."
"Fitz…"
"I couldn't pay you a lot… But I have my monthly patent checks, which are way more than I've ever needed, and other than what I'll spend on rent, we can use the rest of the money for whatever resources you'll need! It won't be as nice as SciTech… I know that… But look! I've already paid a year's rent for this lab space and all the equipment… And whatever money we don't use for supplies… It's yours!"
"Fitz…"
"Your biochem skills combined with my engineering… Think about what we could do! We've been working against each other for so long, and I know that's my fault, but Jemma… Just think about the things we could accomplish if we worked together! We could finish the dwarves, we could start something completely new, we can do anything Jemma! We were the best things at SciTech and…"
"Fitz!"
Jemma's shout of his name causes him to immediately stop talking and focus on her. She's looking at him speculatively now and he holds his breath when she opens her mouth to speak.
"I don't know where this is coming from but…"
Please say yes. Please, please say yes.
"…your five minutes are up."
Fitz's shoulders drop in disappointment at her words and he's overcome with hopelessness. This had been his last shot, the last part of his plan to keep Jemma in his life, and he'd blown it. And he'd promised this was the last attempt. He'd given Jemma his word meaning that this will likely be his last interaction with her.
"Right… Right I guess they are." Fitz looks at Jemma in despair and feels his heart sink even further when her eyes turn to the floor. "I guess… Okay, I guess this is goodbye then?"
Jemma's eyes flicker away from the floor and meet his briefly before focusing on a point above his shoulder as she nods once.
Before he can even think, he surges forward and throws his arms around Jemma, squeezing her tightly and burying his face in the crook of her neck. He holds on tight for a few brief moments before stepping back and hastily wiping his face to brush away the tears.
"Sorry. That was… I shouldn't have done that."
His gaze is trained on his feet and when he hears a sniffle, he isn't sure if it's coming from him or Jemma. He keeps his eyes downcast and doesn't move to lift his gaze until he hears her footsteps begin to shuffle away. He looks up just as she reaches the door and quickly calls out for her.
"Jemma?"
She pauses with her hand on the knob but makes no move to turn back.
"I…"
He can't get the words out and gives up trying, instead being his usual cowardly self and choosing to say something else.
"Don't hold Skye to it. The deal I mean. I… I'll hold up my end of the bargain but… don't make her. She needs you."
He lets his silent I need you hang at the end but doesn't attempt to vocalize it.
Fitz watches as Jemma straightens and nods one more time, agreeing to his plea, before she yanks the door open and walks out of his life.
