"I need your advice."
Simmons' voice, softly coming out of Daisy's room, pulled Fitz up short. He had been about to storm into his room, slamming the door behind him after his argument with Simmons. But hearing her tone made him pause. Instead, the engineer gently opened his door and slipped inside his room, pulling the door closed just far enough that he could barely overhear the conversation coming from the room across the hall.
"I don't know if I'm the person for that - isn't Fitz usually your go-to advice guy?" Skye's voice filtered through the gap in his door.
"Well yes, usually, but..." Simmons paused and took a deep breath. Fitz shrugged off his jacket quietly and sat down on the floor near the door.
"I'm afraid that Fitz and I are..." She dragged off and Fitz heard a sniffle.
"Simmons?" Skye asked sharply.
"Well, I think we're through. In terms of what we used to be, I mean," Simmons said, her voice breaking halfway through the statement. "Fitz - he's... He can't forgive me and I don't think he even wants to be my friend anymore, so... That's over."
"What?" Asked Skye, shock coloring her reaction. Fitz squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself to stay in place instead of jumping up to correct Simmons. She was just reacting to what he'd said earlier. The awful, awful things he shouldn't have said.
But that didn't make them any less true. And if he was constantly tripping over himself to apologize to Simmons every time he hurt her feelings, they would never get anywhere.
Still... Certainly she didn't think that they were really, truly, over, did she?
"But I'm not here to talk about Fitz, I'm here to talk about you," Simmons said, her voice suddenly stronger. Fitz could picture her, forcing her impeccably straight posture even more ramrod straight somehow, and wiping tears from her eyes. "Skye. You know I care about you, right? And that you're one of my closest friends - maybe my absolute closest friend, now," she continued, sadly.
"Uhhhhh yeah?" Skye said, sounding confused. Fitz didn't blame her, if he didn't know Simmons as well as he did, he'd get whiplash from this conversation, too.
"I hope that you know, Skye, that I don't what to change you. I would never want to change anything about you. I want to help you. And I -"
"But, Simmons," Skye tried to interject.
"Please, just let me finish," Simmons said quickly. "I... Fitz pointed something out earlier that I'd like to apologize for. I'm not trying to change you, and I want to apologize if I said at any point that I was trying to 'fix' you. That's jut the doctor in me, always wanting to fix everything around me... But I realize now that I shouldn't say I'm trying to fix you, because you're not broken. I'm simply trying to help you. And I..." She paused and Fitz could hear another sniff, this time paired with a soft murmur of encouragement from Skye. "I don't know how. I don't know how to help you. And I'm not used to not knowing! I just want to help and I'm useless to you, and I'm so, so sorry Skye."
"Simm-"
"He said I've changed," Simmons said quietly. "That I don't like who you've become. I don't think that, I swear! I just want.. It's like Fitz's injury all over again," Simmons sighed.
Fitz nodded to himself, that's exactly what he was trying to tell her earlier. She had spent so much time trying to fix him when he was injured that it stunted his improvements - he understood now why she had left, it made sense from a medical perspective. But it was just insane to him that Simmons hadn't learned anything from that, and here she was, trying to fix Skye.
"Yeah, it - wait, what do you mean when you say that?" Skye said.
"I try and try to help, but I just hurt you both," Simmons explained.
"No!" Skye's loud response startled Fitz, making him jump slightly from his position on the floor. "You - what? That's what Fitz said to you?!" Her angry voice made Fitz's eyes widen. He hadn't realized how intimidating Skye could get, just by voice alone.
"Where is that idiot," he heard her mutter, the sound of bedsprings indicating she was standing. "I'm gonna..."
"Wait, Skye-" Simmons' voice echoed through the hall, suddenly much closer to his door.
Fitz shot up and ran to his desk, flipping open his laptop and just having enough time to log in before his door slammed all the way open.
"You!" Skye said, pointing at him. "What did you say to her?" She asked, now pointing at Simmons, who was standing reluctantly in the far corner of Fitz's room, slightly behind Skye. "What?" Fitz asked, not really sure where this was going. "That's not really any of your -"
"Business? Yes, it is my business. It is most definitely my business if you are using my... medical... weirdness... powers... situation... thingy to pick a fight with your best friend!" Skye said, reaching out and grabbing Simmons, dragging her so she was now standing next to Fitz.
The man stood up and crossed his arms over his chest, doing everything to avoid Simmons' eyes.
"Simmons, I appreciate your apology, and I forgive you for saying you want to fix me. But at the same time, I know it's just you trying your best and not knowing what to do," Skye said, facing Simmons. Then, she turned to face Fitz, "Fitz, I appreciate you being there for me through all this madness."
Both Fitz and Simmons nodded mutely.
Skye breathed a deep sigh, "Okay, now that that's over with." She reached out and smacked Fitz lightly on the chest to emphasize each word, "How! Dare! You!" She narrowed her eyes and pointed at a shocked Fitz, "Do you know why Simmons wanted to 'fix' you after your injury? Why she wants to 'fix' me now?"
She paused, taking in Fitz and Simmons' wide eyes. "Because she LOVE US SO MUCH!" Skye said, practically shouting as she threw her hands up. "Simmons will do anything to help her friends - you know this better than anyone, Fitz - and in the past year, she's watched her two closest friends struggle with medical conditions she can't do anything to fix. We are completely out of her control. She drives herself crazy and gets frustrated to the point of tears with us because she LOVES US! How dare you say she's 'changed' when all she's ever done is try to help us. Did she go about it the right way? Not always. But everything she did was motivated in love."
"So get over yourselves, forgive each other, and be best friends again! Because frankly, I'm sick of everyone around here keeping secrets and I'm really sick of watching Simmons cry. We're just a team now, and I want to get back to being a family again. And we can't be a family without FITZSIMMONS!"
At this, she slammed her hand on Fitz's desk, causing the two shocked agents to jump slightly. "So quit being 'Fitz in the garage and Simmons in the lab,' and BE! FITZSIMMONS!"
Skye whirled around and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her, leaving the pair to stare awkwardly at each other.
After a long moment, Fitz broke the silence. "Uhh… When was the last time you watched Doctor Who?" He asked, scratching behind his ear and studying the ground.
Simmons broke into a wide smile.