There were no attacks over the remainder of Christmas break, and school soon resumed in early January with still only Mrs Norris, Nick, and Finch-Fletchley petrified, and the Chamber once again seemingly closed for the time being. So while FitzSkimmons kept their eyes peeled for any suspicious behavior, they saw and heard nothing out of the ordinary until midway through January, and even it had nothing to do with petrification or the mysterious Chamber.
They were wandering though the castle one evening on their way from the library to their dorm when they heard a sudden and angry outburst by Filch, sounding rather hysterical. Listening carefully, they could hear him ranting to himself about mopping, more work, and going to bitch about it to Dumbledore, so once his mutinous mutterings had faded off into the distance, they hurried to where he still spent most of his time, the corridor where his cat had been found frozen. Upon arriving, they quickly spotted what Filch was so irate about — half of the corridor was sitting in several inches of water, the water clearly coming from Myrtle's out-of-order bathroom. They could also hear Myrtle's wailing, so they picked their way through the water and into the bathroom.
Once inside, they sloshed through the flood to where Myrtle was crying in her favorite toilet, and Simmons asked the ghost softly, "Myrtle? What's wrong?"
"Who's that?" snapped Myrtle miserably through her sobs. "Come to throw something else at me?"
"Um, no…. Did someone throw something at you? It certainly wasn't us," answered Simmons. "We just saw the flooding and heard you crying, and wanted to make sure you were okay."
At this Myrtle finally emerged from her toilet, recognizing that the speaker was one of the only three people in the castle who actually treated her like a real person (or ghost), and didn't make fun of her or just ignore her completely. But upon seeing Fitz standing there again with Hermione (and Ronna), she said sulkily, "He's still not a girl."
"He was last Saturday night —" began Daisy, but Simmons quickly cut her off before she could complete her sentence.
"So someone threw something at you?"
After one last suspicious look at Fitz, Myrtle replied, "I was just sitting in the U-bend, minding my own business, thinking about death, and someone thought it would be funny to throw a book at me so it'd fall right through my head. It's over there now, it got washed out."
Myrtle pointed under a nearby sink, where a small, thin, nondescript book with a shabby black cover lay. Fitz walked over to pick it up.
"Wait!" said Daisy sharply right before he could. "It could be dangerous. Ronna's heard stories from her dad about books that could burn your eyes out, or make you only speak in limericks, or be unable to put them down. We should try to make sure it isn't anything like that."
Fitz pulled out his wand and prodded the book a few times, flipping it over to see if there was at least a title or something written on the outside, but the only thing on the front was the date 1942, and on the back the name of a muggle shop on Vauxhall Road.
Looking over at Simmons and Daisy, he asked, "What year are we in?"
"Just turned 1993," answered Simmons. "Why?"
"This book is fifty years old," said Fitz. "Which is also how long ago Malfoy said the Chamber was last opened. Coincidence?"
"Gibbs' Rule Number 39: No such thing as a coincidence," said Daisy. "Or, I guess, never treat something as a coincidence until we know for sure it is."
"My thoughts exactly," replied Fitz.
"How about we get out of here first before Filch or anyone else comes back, before we look at it any further?" said Simmons, rummaging around in her backpack. "Fitz, here's a scarf, pick it up with that."
"What are you doing with a scarf in your bag?" asked Fitz with an exasperated shake of his head as he picked up the book with the bright pink scarf she handed him, and stuffed the wrapped book in his pocket.
"You never know when we might need to go outside, and it is winter right now," replied Simmons like it was the most natural thing in the world. "I have one for each of us."
"Of course you do," muttered Daisy as she led them back to the door.
"You'll be thanking me if we need to take an unexpected stroll across the grounds," replied Simmons smugly, as Daisy listened at the door to make sure no one was outside.
As they slipped out of the bathroom, Daisy said, "Doesn't mean I won't still make fun of you while I'm wearing it."
"I expect no less — that's why that bright pink one is yours," replied Simmons with a smirk. "Mine is a light baby blue, and Fitz's is dark sapphire blue."
Back up in their dorm several minutes later, Fitz pulled the soggy book back out, and lay it on the table. Using her wand, Simmons opened the book to the first page, where they could just make out the name "T. M. Riddle" in smudged ink.
"Never heard of him — either of you?" said Daisy.
FitzSimmons shook their heads. "Nope." "Not at all."
Continuing to flip through the book using her wand to turn the pages, they saw that the diary was completely empty — whoever T.M. Riddle was apparently hadn't been interested in keeping a diary or journal. FitzSkimmons were, however, interested in why someone had wanted to throw the fifty year old book away in the toilet instead of in the waste basket or even a fire, and who had a book from T.M. Riddle in the first place, as there were definitely no Riddles at Hogwarts at the moment.
Once it had finally dried out, Simmons tried a Revealer that Hermione had bought in Diagon Alley on it, and multiple spells to see if there was any hidden, secret writing in the book, but they found nothing. And despite several weeks of research in the library around the time of fifty years ago, they found out nothing about who Riddle was other than the fact that he'd been Head Boy, or anything at all about the student who had been murdered the last time the Chamber had been opened, or about the person who had been expelled for said murder.
So they left the book where they'd thrown it on the mantlepiece above the fireplace for safe keeping, until they had some reason to do something with it.
When FitzSkimmons walked through the doors of the Great Hall for breakfast on Valentine's Day morning, they nearly hurled.
The walls were covered from floor to magical ceiling in lurid pink flowers, the tables were littered with pink flowers in pink glass vases, red heart-shaped confetti was falling from the pale blue ceiling (constantly falling, but magically not accumulating on the floor and tables and everything), and Lockhart was wearing blinding-pink robes to match the gaudy and quite frankly sickening decorations. Not that FitzSkimmons had anything against flowers or the color pink, because they absolutely did not, not even Fitz, but this was killing a fly with a sledgehammer and then lighting the whole building on fire when it came to tasteful Valentine's Day decorations. A few hangings sprinkled along the walls, and a few vases on each table would have looked reasonable and even romantic if half the school hadn't really been too young to start dating yet, and nearly all of the school was too young to be in relationships that would become the 'til death do us part' variety, but as it was it was just plain horrendous and nauseating.
But not to be outdone by his decorations, for they were doubtlessly his, Lockhart announced during breakfast that dwarves were going to be invading the castle delivering valentines, and that if anyone didn't particularly value their life (though he of course didn't say it in such words), they could ask Snape to teach them how to brew a rape-potion (once again, not his exact words, instead calling it a 'love potion', as the wizarding world apparently had yet to realize that forcing someone to be infatuated with you against their will was no different than a date-rape drug in the muggle world, and could very easily be used to rape said person), or ask Professor Flitwick for some Entrancing Enchantments, which didn't sound any better.
FitzSkimmons were able to avoid the dwarves for the most of the day, though they felt really bad for anyone who did have to receive a valentine from one of the short fellows, until that afternoon when they were heading for Charms class. Walking up the stairs, they heard from behind them a gruff, "Oy, you! 'Arry Potter!"
Turning around, they found a particularly grim-looking dwarf elbowing everyone out of his way to get to Fitz, looking about as happy to be delivering valentines as most of the people who had received them that day had looked to be getting unsolicited valentines in front of everyone. Knowing it wasn't from either of his wives, as they would never embarrass him in front of half the castle, and especially not when they were for the most part still trying to keep a low profile since they weren't actually who everyone thought they were, Fitz wrapped his arms around both of his girls' shoulders to make it clear to everyone watching — especially the delusional valentine-sender should they be in the vicinity watching, or should there be someone there who could go back and report to the sender — that he was already full up on hot chicks, thank you very much.
As the dwarf pushed his way through the crowd to get right up to Fitz, everyone else in the hallway stopped to listen so they could taunt and ridicule Harry as soon as he'd received his valentine, including a line of first years containing an abnormally red-faced Ginevra Weasley, though FitzSkimmons didn't notice this, all their attention focused on the poor dwarf.
When the dwarf got right up to them, twanging his harp threateningly he said, "I've got a musical message to deliver to 'Arry Potter in person."
"Kind of got that, what with the whole you calling my name thing," retorted Fitz boredly, pulling Jemma and Daisy into his sides a little tighter.
But before the dwarf could get started, they heard a cold, drawling, "What's going on here?"
The holdup in the corridor had apparently attracted the attention of none other than Malfoy himself.
It also apparently attracted Percy Weasley, as his voice joined in with, "What's all this commotion?"
Ignoring all of this, the dwarf began singing way off key, "His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad; His hair is as dark as a blackboard. I wish he was mine, he's really divine; The hero who conquered the Dark Lord."
"Fascinating — can we go now?" Fitz said dryly as soon as the dwarf was done, before turning around without waiting for an answer and resuming their journey down the hall towards the Charms classroom, Simmons and Daisy right in step.
As Percy tried to disperse everyone to where they were all supposed to be going, FitzSkimmons heard Malfoy yell spitefully at someone behind them, "I don't think Potter liked your valentine much!"
Looking over their shoulders, they saw him glaring furiously at a line of first years, and they spotted Ginevra Weasley running into her classroom with her face covered with her hands, clearly crying. Apparently infuriated that Harry hadn't had any reaction at all to being embarrassed in front of everyone, Malfoy had just had to lash out and try to bring someone to tears, and knowing that it wouldn't be Fitz, had spotted Ginevra and decided to pick back up his 'girlfriend' line that he'd had success with (against Ginevra, not FitzSkimmons) in Flourish and Blotts over the summer.
But caring precisely none what Malfoy or Ginevra or anyone else in the hallway were doing, FitzSkimmons resumed their saunter down the hallway to Charms, happy to let anyone think whatever they wanted to about any possible Harry/Ginevra relationship if they were so blind as to not be able to see that he clearly spent an inordinate amount of time with two girls already.
At the end of the final Transfiguration class before the Easter hols, Professor McGonagall announced to them that they would all be choosing at least two additional classes to add to their schedule for the following year, in addition to the classes they already had.
They were each given a list of subjects to choose from, though without any description of what the classes actually were for all muggleborns, and half-bloods who didn't come from a wizarding background, and therefore didn't already know what the classes were, or any other indications as to what subjects would be needed for getting what kinds of jobs once they graduated Hogwarts in a little over five years.
"I know you two are the school nerds with your four PhD's and Shield Academy graduations, as opposed to my high school dropout ass, but it seems like picking subjects would be rather important down the road, and not something that should be left up to the whims of a bunch of twelve and thirteen year olds, with absolutely no guidance," commented Daisy as they walked up to their dorm room after class.
"I would certainly imagine so," answered Simmons, looking over the list. "Hermione and I have the general gist of what these subjects probably are, but even we don't know much about what the jobs in the wizarding world are, so simply knowing what the subjects are isn't really all that helpful."
"Then what should we pick?" asked Fitz. "Or, I guess, really, how should we choose? Even with all my schooling, I'm still kind of at a loss for figuring out how to choose this."
But Simmons gave them the last answer either of them would have ever expected from her.
"Randomly."
As Fitz and Daisy stared at her in surprise, she continued on, "It doesn't matter for us, as if we ever get brought back here again — which thanks to Daisy we probably will be —" here she gave Daisy a bit of a mean look, and Daisy had the decency to look slightly guilty " — we'll be having to take whatever the characters chose in the book, not what we choose now."
"Oh."
"What? Not the answer you were expecting?" smirked Simmons, wrapping her arms around her spouses' shoulders.
"No, and you knew it when you said it," retorted Daisy with a roll of her eyes, slapping the back of her hand against Simmons' tits.
"We're really going to just randomly pick?" asked Fitz from the other side of Simmons.
"I figure we should pick three classes together, and all sign up for those," answered Simmons seriously. "I don't know how much our professors, or Head of House most likely, is actually going to look at any of this before we all leave at the end of the year, but if we pick three, we're showing more initiative than just doing the minimum two, while not raising any flags trying to take too many classes that could result in Professor McGonagall wanting to meet with us, and us having to explain our choices, that aren't going to matter at all anyway. But like I said earlier, Hermione does know the general idea of these classes, so it shouldn't be hard to pick three that sound theoretically interesting."
"And you already have the three picked out, don't you?" teased Daisy.
"Care of Magical Creatures, which sounds a lot like zoology, and Arithmancy and Runes, because after dealing with Robin I don't think any of us want to take a class on fortune telling, and given how absolutely nothing wizards know about muggles, Muggle Studies seems like an exercise in futility and a major case of stress for us knowing the truth but not being able to teach the class ourselves," answered Simmons.
"And you said pick randomly," said Daisy, rolling her eyes.
"Yes, well, it was funny," replied Simmons with a smile. "And definitely took you two by surprise."
"That it did, wifey," said Fitz. "That it did."
Over the Easter Hols, they frequently heard fellow second years in the Great Hall at meal times discussing what classes they should take, and numerous of the older students putting in their two cents worth, but never once did they see or hear about any teacher helping any of them pick, or give any details about what the classes meant and what one could do with them when one graduated. And in their first Transfiguration class back after Easter, McGonagall simply handed them all sheets of paper to check off which classes they wanted, still not discussing a damn thing about it with them. Severely disappointed in the quality of adulting at this school, FitzSkimmons checked off the three classes Simmons had picked out for them, and handed their sheets of paper in to McGonagall at the end of class. After which, they heard nary another peep about it all for the remainder of the year.
A year that after quite a bit of excitement during the first half, what with two attacks by an unknown creature and blood messages written on the wall, was downright boring the second half.
FitzSkimmons of course kept themselves well occupied with schoolwork, learning spells on their own, and brushing up on their physical combat skills with Captain Johnson, but for three people used to not only the Shield life, but also quite a bit of excitement there at Hogwarts the first year and a half they had been there, it was a very quiet five months since school had resumed in the new calendar year. The attacker had apparently either completed his mission, got scared, or been captured by the professors without them ever alerting the students that it was safe again, as there were no more attacks, and no more threatening messages written on walls.
And so the school year made it to the end of May, when one day at breakfast Professor McGonagall informed everyone that the mandrakes were finally ready, and Finch-Fletchley, Nick, and Mrs Norris would all be revived that night.
"I wonder if Finch-Fletchley or Nick saw their attacker, if the teachers haven't already caught the law-breaker," said Daisy quietly to the other two. "I doubt Mrs Norris will be much help."
"Where's a good Time Lord when you need one," sighed Fitz wistfully. And Daisy's questioning look, he continued, "They can speak cat. Or at least the Doctor can."
"Well, hopefully Finch-Fletchley or Nick can tell us something," said Simmons, bringing them back on track. "Whoever it was seems to have stopped attacking, but it would still be good to catch them — although, to be perfectly honest, it doesn't really matter since everything's about to reset anyway as soon as the train returns to London."
"We will at least know for the inevitable next year, if they didn't figure it out in the books," said Fitz.
"True, although it's a book series for kids, so it's pretty much guaranteed they do figure it out and capture or kill the bad guy," replied Simmons. "Like Quirrell, last year."
But any further discussion was interrupted by Ginevra sitting down next to Daisy.
"What is it?" Simmons asked in concern, as the redhead looked tense and nervous and was twisting her hands in her lap.
Ginevra looked up and down the table with a scared look on her face, clearly not wanting anyone to hear whatever it was she had to say.
"It's okay — you can tell us," prodded Daisy gently.
After one last look up and down the table, Ginevra finally mumbled to her hands, "I've got to tell you something."
Yeah, no shit — else you wouldn't be over here looking like Dobby when he wanted to tell Harry something he couldn't, thought Fitz to himself, but all he said out loud, in what he hoped was a reassuring tone, was, "What is it?"
For several seconds, it looked as though she couldn't quite find the words to say, so FitzSkimmons patiently gave her time to come up with whatever she wanted to tell them. Finally she did open her mouth, but if any words came out they were too quiet to hear, and none of FitzSkimmons could read lips that well.
So the three of them leaned in really close, and Simmons, making the connection that maybe whatever Ginevra wanted to tell them had to do with the Chamber that's secrets would hopefully soon be revealed, asked, "Does it have something to do with the Chamber of Secrets? Have you seen something, or someone acting oddly?"
Ginevra took a deep breath, but right as she was about to say whatever it was she had to say, Percy Weasley walked up and rudely said, "If you've finished eating, I'll take that seat, Ginny. I'm starving, I've only just come off prefect duty."
Ginevra leapt up from her seat like she'd been shocked, practically running away after giving her older brother a fleeting frightened look, as FitzSkimmons stared at the prefect in shock and disbelief at how rude and inconsiderate someone not named Malfoy or Snape could possibly be, having practically told his own younger sister to get the fuck out of the chair, he wanted it, without having any clue as to whether she was actually done eating or not (not that it actually mattered whether she was done eating or not, as it still would have been an incredibly rude thing to do even if she was finished), and when he'd never sat next to them during meals before.
As soon as they realized Ginevra and whatever she wanted to tell them was running away, FitzSkimmons immediately jumped up as well and hurried after her, Daisy only pausing long enough give Percy a scathing, "Thanks a lot, asshole! She was about to tell us something before your bullying ass showed up and told her to fuck off without having any clue whether she was ready to leave yet or not! Your own fucking sister!"
As she turned and hurried after her husband and wife out of the Great Hall to find Ginevra, she heard Percy call out after her, "That has nothing to do with the Chamber of Secrets!", but other than flicking a middle finger at him over her shoulder she completely ignored him, not caring one iota what he thought his younger sister had been about to say after he kicked her out of her seat.
Unfortunately, Ginevra apparently knew the castle quite well by month ten of living in it, as she had completely disappeared out of sight by the time Daisy caught up with FitzSimmons, who had paused at the head of Gryffindor table when they realized Daisy wasn't with them, and was giving Perfect Prefect Percy a well-deserved dressing-down for his Malfoy-like bullying.
As they stared around the Entrance Hall for any sign of what secret corridor or hidden staircase she might have disappeared through, Daisy said, "You should have gone after her — I probably could have spotted you before you disappeared, and even if I hadn't, you're both full-fledged spies, you can take care of yourselves."
"Yeah, well, one of the enjoyable things about this place is the fact that we don't have to run towards danger all the time like we do at home," said Fitz. "So I say nothing lost by not hearing whatever top secret information she had for us that would have doubtlessly left us running towards a weird, scary sound."
"Unless someone dies later today because we didn't find out what Ginevra had to say and run towards the scary noises and dark hallways," countered Simmons, but without any real conviction.
"Everything will reset here in a week or two, though, right?" said Daisy. "To the best of our knowledge, even if someone does die because we took a personal day, they'll be back alive and kicking next year."
"Fair enough," acquiesced Simmons. "Although we really probably shouldn't trust that as an excuse not to try to do our day jobs while we're here."
They didn't see Ginevra for the rest of the day, nor did they hear of any new attacks. On the other hand, they also didn't hear or see anything more about the petrify-ees being unpetrified, and so they went to bed that night wondering if something had gone wrong, or if the professors just weren't telling them anything.
But the next morning, as they walked from their dorm down to the Great Hall for breakfast, they saw Mrs Norris prowling around one of the secret staircases they walked down, and knew that the mandrakes had worked for at least one of the three parties that had been petrified. And when they walked into the Great Hall a few minutes later, they saw Nick, the Gryffindor House ghost, floating at Gryffindor table once more as well. Not seeing Finch-Fletchley at the Hufflepuff table yet, they took their normal seats at the Gryffindor table to see if Dumbledore or any of the professors were going to tell everyone who the culprit had been, and if not then go ask Finch-Fletchley himself if he'd seen anything once he arrived. They knew they could ask Nick as well, but he wasn't floating anywhere near where the three of them normally sat, and as FitzSimmons still scientifically had a problem with ghosts existing even if this was their second year around them, they were hoping to get all the answers they needed from an actual (fictitious) human instead of from a ghost, to a question that really didn't matter much as they were about to leave anyway as soon as Hogwarts Express Day arrived.
To their disappointment, but not nearly as much to their surprise as they knew it should have been considering the fact three castle members were petrified for six or more months, the staff made nary a peep about any of it, not even to just tell them whether the culprit had been discovered or that no one had seen anything, even if they hadn't been willing to tell all the students who the culprit actually was. So when Finch-Fletchley got up from the Hufflepuff table a while after he'd arrived, as it was a Saturday so they had no classes, FitzSkimmons followed him out into the Entrance Hall before approaching him.
"Hi Justin," greeted Simmons. "We were wondering if you happened to see your attacker. The professors didn't say anything about it this morning. They didn't even mention that you, Nick, and Mrs Norris were back, Professor McGonagall just told everyone yesterday morning that you were supposed to be revived last night and we had to see for ourselves that you were okay."
"Well, like I told them, even if they didn't tell everyone, all I saw was a giant snake head, and I mean absolutely giant snake head, with a pair of yellow eyes, through Nearly Headless Nick, and the next thing I knew I was being reawoken in the hospital wing," answered Justin.
Something suddenly clicked in Daisy's brain, and she quickly leaned over to Fitz and asked quietly in his ear, "Harry's talked to snakes before, hasn't he?"
Fitz thought back for a second, before replying in an undertone, "Yeah — the summer before he first came here, at the zoo."
"That's what I was thinking," mumbled Daisy, before turning back to Finch-Fletchley and saying, "Thanks, Justin."
"Did they ever catch the Heir of Slytherin?" asked Finch-Fletchley.
"No, but the attack on you and Nick was the last attack that happened," answered Fitz. "And I'm sure the teachers will have it all sorted out by next year."
Daisy had to bite her tongue to keep from chuckling at his inside joke about how everything reset each year, and presumably the culprit was caught in the book, even if he wasn't in their 0-8-4 world they were still in for another couple weeks.
Bidding Finch-Fletchley goodbye, Daisy pulled them into the nearest empty broom cupboard to tell them what she'd figured out, and then probably snog afterwards because why not.
"That snake is what you were hearing those two times only you heard something. You could hear the snake apparently talking to itself while slithering through the castle somehow, since you can talk to snakes. Harry's what's called a parselmouth in the wizarding world. Extremely rare gift, and considered extremely evil since several bad people happened to have the ability over the years. Also I imagine where the 'Heir of Slytherin' being the one to open The Chamber comes from, because Slytherin was one of those bad dudes who could chat it up with our slithery friends."
"So this giant snake is Slytherin's monster, and someone else who's a parselmouth released it a couple times this year," said Fitz.
"Sure seems like," replied Daisy.
"You know, I think I might have an idea about how the snake's been moving around," said Simmons. "This is a giant castle with running water going everywhere, which means there has to be an extensive water pipe system. And given how ancient this place is, and the fact I'm pretty sure no one in charge here has ever seen modern plumbing or heard of pvc, probably fairly large pipes, that a large snake could theoretically move through — although I'm not entirely sure where it would be leaving the pipes in order to attack people in hallways. That part's still a bit confusing."
"Well, as long as it doesn't attack again before we all leave, I say let it be," replied Fitz. "It's been six months since it was last let out for a stroll, or slither I guess, so it seems like whoever's controlling it is scared of getting caught, lost interest, or has been captured."
"And Jemma, dear, if anyone does get et between now and when we go home, we can go tell the professors then what we think, in case they don't already know," added Daisy pacifyingly.
"You know, I wasn't going to object," Simmons pouted cutely. "Do you always have to think that I'm going to try to make us be upstanding citizens? For that I think you should have to kiss me."
Almost immediately, she found herself slammed up against the back wall of the broom cupboard they were in, Daisy's lips crashing down hard on hers as Fitz attacked the sensitive spot on her neck with fervor. Simmons made a mental note in the back of her mind to demand repayment in kisses for mock offenses more often, before the rational part of her brain checked out entirely as Daisy's tongue entered her mouth and Daisy's hands started groping her breasts through her clothes.
As FitzSkimmons had hoped for, there were no more attacks on the school in what little remained of the school year, and exams passed by without incident.
And just like the year before, FitzSkimmons cruised through with little to no stress, as everyone else spent hours cramming up until the very last minute after not spending enough time during the year learning everything they were supposed to. But eventually exams were over, and the day to take the Hogwarts Express back to London arrived.
Boarding the train with everyone else, they noticed everyone was giving them a wide berth, clearly not quickly forgetting how they'd knocked Malfoy out in a single move, and not wanting to be the next to get on the wrong side of them. Which was just as well in FitzSkimmons opinion, as they didn't want to have to spend half the day trying to convince people they were cooped up in a small compartment with that they really were who everyone thought they were, or else rudely kick them out so they could be alone. Even, or perhaps especially, Malfoy came nowhere near their last compartment of the train, and they were able to spend the entire trip doing what they loved best when they were all alone.
Reading. They read third year books Simmons had snuck from the library the day before.
And, well, if a few kisses were exchanged while they were doing so, who could really blame them? — They were married, after all.
When the train finally came to a halt in London, they let everyone else leave before them just as they had the previous year, even though they were pretty sure no one would be paying attention to the fact they didn't reappear on the muggle side of the magical barrier, and they were all fictitious book characters anyway. But FitzSkimmons still didn't want to have to deal with everyone's pushing and shoving, so they relaxed in their private compartment until they were they only ones left.
When they did finally step through the magical barrier, they found themselves back on the Shield base, each where they'd started. Daisy quickly carried the 0-8-4 the rest of the way to storage, being a good girl and making sure not to hit the big, red, friendly button again, or Simmons really would kick her arse. No longer hungry ten months after he'd first tried stepping into the kitchen to get a snack, Fitz walked back out without getting anything, thankful no one was in the kitchen at the moment to see him apparently change his mind. And Simmons looked around the lab in which she was standing next to her desk having been looking at her computer after having irresponsibly sent Daisy to take the 0-8-4 down to storage, to make sure no one really had noticed their split-second ten month disappearance.