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"Skye... Do you have a moment?"

Simmons' tentative question came as she lingered near the door of the common room where Skye was perched on the couch, eating popcorn and playing video games.

"Uh... Yeah," Skye said, still focused on the screen in front of her, frantically pounding away at the controller. "Just... Yeah... Hold up... High... Score!" She finally said, dropping the controller on the couch and throwing her fists up in victory.

"Suck it, Trip! He's gonna be so pissed when he sees I beat his top score," She said, grinning wildly and turning to look at Simmons. "Okay, sorry about that. What's up?"

Simmons smiled cautiously, coming to join Skye on the couch. She was so used to tiptoeing around Fitz and convinced that Hunter and Mac already didn't like her that it was a relief to be around someone it was still easy to talk to.

"I was wondering..." Simmons started, then trailed off as she tried to think of a way to rephrase what she was thinking. "I know that this is a painful topic, Skye," she began. "But I was hoping you could talk to me for a little bit about Ward and Hydra. Specifically, if you could ask me some questions about Hydra and SHIELD."

At this, she pulled out a small instrument from her pocket and set it on the cushion next to her.

"Um... Simmons, what's going on?" Skye asked, confused as the scientist began unwrapping cords from around the instrument and Velcroing them on her fingertips.

"Oh this is just a mini lie detector Fitz and I -" Simmons paused momentarily, staring at the instrument and collecting her thoughts, "That we built back at the Academy. Has a 99.7% success rate."

Skye's eyebrows rose. "Impressive. You didn't wanna whip this thing out at any point over the last year?" She asked.

"Well, it's only something I thought of recently. When Fitz was... Sleeping," Simmons said, stumbling over the words again, "And I spent some time with his mother, she brought me some of the projects he had been storing at his home. She thought it would be a good way to..." Simmons cut herself off, pulling the Velcro straps even tighter and turning on the machine, which shone a bright red light from the top and emitted a very soft hum. "A good remembrance, should he not wake up," she finally spit out, then focused on Skye.

"Okay, I'm ready," she said, smiling the fake smile Skye had seen far too often in the past few weeks. The light on the machine turned green.

"Oh, look, see! I'm telling the truth! I really am ready!" She said.

"Simmons. Why am I asking you questions about Hydra?" Skye asked, still confused.

"Oh! Of course. Sorry," Simmons said, flustered. Ordinarily, this would've been the kind of thing she did with Fitz, whom she was used to never having to explain herself around. "Well, it's crossed my mind that I may have been brainwashed during my time at Hydra. So, if it's not too painful, I'd like you to ask me questions about touchy Hydra subjects while i'm hooked up to this lie detector. This will hopefully assuage all of my fears and wIe can move on."

"Huh," Skye said, taking in the girl in front of her. Her friend, whom she had watched barely hold herself together for weeks. She took in the dark circles under Simmons' eyes, the makeup that got heavier and heavier every day to hide how pale she'd become. And she had been watching the way she interacted her Fitz and it broke her heart. It was time to fix that. "Well, you don't need a lie detector, let's just get Fitz. Yo, Fitz!" Skye yelled at the engineer who had just passed the door to the common room.

"Oh no, that's not necessary," Simmons said quickly as the pair heard Fitz's footsteps stop in the hallway. "I'm sure he's very busy with the - with, um.."

"Yeah, tell that to your blinking red light, Simmons," Skye said, staring pointedly at the lie detector that was furiously flashing red.

Simmons blushed deeply as Fitz entered the room. She ripped the wires off her fingertips.

"Yeah?" Their friend asked, sticking his hands in his pockets and hovering several feet away from the couch, carefully avoiding Simmons' gaze.

"Hey, so I need you to do that psychic link thing you two do and tell me if Simmons has been brainwashed," Skye said with no preamble.

Fitz's head instantly shot to Simmons sitting on the couch, "What?!"

"Oh, Fitz, it's fine," Simmons hurried to explain, nervously tucking her hair behind her ears. "If you have something else you need to be doing, it's not a big deal, I'm sure you're very busy right now, it's just a little request I made of Skye."

Fitz's expression didn't change as he remained fixed on Simmons' face, studying it intently.

"Yeah, so Simmons said Hydra sometimes brainwashes people and she wants to make sure it didn't happen to her," Skye barreled on, ignoring Simmons staring daggers at her.

She was going to get the two nerds to talk to each other, no matter what.

"You were brainwashed?" Fitz says, even louder than before, finally addressing Simmons.

"No, no, no, of course not!" Simmons said, then shrunk in on herself when she saw Skye's cocked eyebrow. "At least... I don't think so," she admitted quietly.

"So you don't know," Fitz said.

"Well, technically speaking, I wouldn't be able to, right?"

The former partners stared at each other for a moment before Fitz grumbled in frustration and pulled a chair over from the nearby table. He sat down near the two girls and crossed his arms. "I swear, Simmons..."

"It's not like I actively tried to get brainwashed!" She defended herself, while a tiny part of her was selfishly pleased to see his reaction. He was acting just as frustrated with her propensity at getting herself in trouble as he always had - maybe there still was hope for them after all.

"Okay, so this is a just-in-case type situation," Skye said. "Simmons, strap yourself back in." Simmons obeyed, putting the lie detector back on. "And Fitz, you can tell me if she's lying, too."

Fitz's gaze dropped back tot he floor, "How should I know? She's gotten really good at lying. Especially to..." He trailed off, seeming to think twice what he was saying. His hands were furiously massaging one another.

"Oh, Fitz," Simmons whispered, tearing up.

Skye's eyes widened as she stared back and forth between the two best friends. "I... Uh..." She started, then stopped, not sure what to say.

"I have to go," Fitz muttered, standing quickly and hurrying out of the room.

"What was-" Skye started, but Simmons was already sniffing and finishing her work to connect the wires on the lie detector test.

"Oh, that's just..." She started, then halted in her thoughts and process, not sure what to say. "We're..." She trailed off again, staring at the machine in her hand. "It's been difficult. Since... It's been difficult." She said again.

Taking a final breath, she strapped on the wires and looked at Skye again. "Okay, do your worst."

Skye, clearly still confused about what exactly she had just witnessed, took a deep breath. "Okay. This should be fun... What is the mission of Hydra?"

An hour of questions and two hours of stress-relieving video games later, the two girls parted to their bunks, satisfied that Simmons' brain had remained her own during her time at Hydra.

Skye plopped down on her bed, kicking off her shoes and pulling her laptop onto her lap. Before she could even get settled in, a soft knock sounded on Skye's bunk door. "Come in!"

Fitz lightly pushed the door and stepped in, quietly shutting the door behind them, checking if anyone was in the hall seeing him enter

"I just wanted to see... I, ah... She. Is... Is she okay?" He asked, staring at his shoes.

"What?" Skye asked, unable to understand him.

"Simmons," Fitz said firmly, looking up. "Is she okay. She's not... She's not br- brainwashed, right?" He asked, looking at Skye with such desperate hope in his eyes.

"Nope," Skye said softly, smiling. "She's still our Simmons."

Fitz smiled softly and nodded once, satisfied. He pulled his cardigan tighter around him. "Good."

He turned to leave, but Skye stopped him with a quick, "Hey, Fitz?"

The engineer paused, looking back.

"I'm certain she's not brainwashed, but coming back from that place - being surrounded by that evil for so long - has been hard on her." Skye said. "I'm sure she'd love to spend more time with a friendly face," she suggested.

Fitz looked at Skye for a long moment before finally saying, "Thank you for being there for her." With that, he left Skye's room as quietly as he had come.