... My head... Skye couldn't help but groan as she regained consciousness with the feeling of something bashing on the inside of her head with a saucepan, the lights were blinding as she tried to open her eyes.

"Someone turn off the lights" Skye mumbled, clamping them shut as her voice dry and croaky. Water sounded like heaven.

"Sure," a voice replied next to her, jolting in surprise and instantly regretted it because for that few seconds she opened her eyes it felt like two branding irons being shoved into her skull before clamping them shut again.

But she did catch a glimpse of Fitz who must have been sitting next to her on the opposing chair.

"What happened?" Skye asked quietly while she heard a curtain get readjusted which meant the sun was bothering her eyes and not the lights in the room, slowly opened them and the room began to focus on the room around her.

"You don't remember? Well, I'm not surprised the way to hit your head..." he trailed off, a flicker of guilt washed over his face as slouched in his seat.

Fitz leaned in and muttered, "When you went four layers down, the dreams became unstable and began to collapse on each other all at once in your dream world. It ruptured a blood vessel in your brain, and you collapsed. Fortunately, it wasn't a big bleed. But you had a minor operation. I'm guessing that you didn't collapse right way was of the time difference between dream to hit you in reality, I need to look into this to see if there's a solution, so it doesn't happen again"

Skye nodded dumbly at him; her head was still thumping. He continued after a short pause obviously in deep thought, "I found a way."

In the understanding of what he meant her brown eyes widened in surprise and excitement.

"H-how?" She croaked, sitting up a bit. He smiled a bit then frowned, "Not here" he whispered tapping his ear, understanding what he meant she leaned back, sinking her head back into the pillow. He did get up to pour her a glass of water from the jug from the side, she adjusted her bed upwards to drink it. It was heaven on her dry lips and throat.

As she sipped it, she noticed him pull a small box decorated with a small bow from his pocket and he handed it to her, opening it, there were two things in the box one was a leather cuff which had a black STARK Watch built in the middle, currently with a clock on the screen, and the second was a metal spinning top.

Skye threw him a questioning look; he pulled his jumper sleeve up from his wrist showing he also had one.

"It's wireless" he responded to her confused look, her eyes widening in shock then a smile made its way to both their faces. Now she didn't have to sneak around anymore.

"Now get some sleep, I'll talk to you later. Oh, also May and Coulson popped in yesterday after your surgery. Thought you should know." He said getting up from his seat and way to the door.

"K," Skye muttered tiredly but not before putting the cuff on, slipping her hands under the cover, though a slight smile on her lips when she saw her metal band around her wrist was gone.

She just had a hospital band instead. A slight weight did indicate it had some form of metal in it so probably to keep track of their patient. They most likely needed to remove it for a CT or MRI scan. Feeling lighter with it gone she drifted to sleep feeling much better than before.

Xx

Fitz sat by her bed for hours before she woke up, guilt churned in his stomach from what had happened, he created it. He knew he should have run more tests before letting Skye get involved. It was his desperation that got the better of him. The desire to connect and share without judgment.

But it wasn't in the romantic sense he cared for her, at least not yet. It was best for any sort of relationship to take time to build on. Skye was in no emotional state to start a romantic life.

He was content for Skye to be a best friend. If she wanted to pursue anything he would be by her side.

Not looking where he was going Fitz neatly walked into the glass doors out of the medical bay in the hub.

Spotting Coulson making his way over to the glass doors from where he had come from.

"Hey, Coulson" Fitz called, Coulson's head snaps to him, making a beeline towards him.

"How is she?" He asked. By his tone, he was being genuine and not out of obligation. Perhaps Skyes' collapse had knocked some sense into him, or maybe it was guilt. If she had died and that had been treating her like shit...

"She woke up for a few minutes but now she's gone back to sleep. She seems fine, no brain damage from what I could see" Fitz replied seeing him sigh in relief before passing him to visit Skye.

"...Oh, and Fitz go get some sleep you look like you could drop at any moment" he added before vanishing behind the doors.

Fitz nodded and walked back to the temporary living quarters at the Hub.

Fortunately, he didn't meet anyone else when got to his room. Sticking a 'do not disturb' sign on the outside of the door. Opening up the dreamscape, setting up three hours on the clock making sure his own and Skye's cuffs were connected to the dreamscape. It would give him 108 hrs or 4.5 days in the dream world.

As a precaution he placed it open under the bed and with the black cloth covering it, it blended well into the carpets and the darkens from under the bed. If anyone did come in they would only see him asleep on the bed. Fitz quickly stuck his hand under the bed to press the button under the cloth then retracted it back as he started to drift off.

Opening his eyes next he was pleased to see Skye wandering around the empty roads that lead around a deserted city.

"Hey Skye," she turned and looked at him with a smile then a flash of worried passed her face, she opened her mouth to ask but he cut her off. Fitz knew what she was going to say.

"Yes, this is safe for your head so it's best not to worry, the wireless connection that you have is only effective one layer down. But as a precaution let's not go down the dream layers again but I do have a theory on how to go down the layers without harming ourselves however that will have to wait until later.

"Ok", was her simple reply, the two of them walked around their dream world, so he began to explain the time difference that they had in the dream world so letting her know that they had 4.5 days available, after about ten minutes of walking Fitz brought up on what he was going to ask her, "Could you teach me some more hacking. Please."

"Really? Sure, how much do you already know, then we can go on from there." Skye said, half surprised by his request.

The duo began and finish with the basics after the first two days and began with the harder ones which took the last few days. But also, during the last two days, they began to make plans to leave the team and perhaps shield if they weren't allowed to leave Coulson's team. Fitz couldn't leave shield with the dreamscape as all the components were of shield property. It would be stealing otherwise.

Rebuilding it wasn't much of an issue barring the power source. In time he could make more improvements to it but after he sorted the power issue and created another made out of non- shield stuff. They made plans just in case the first option of leaving the team didn't work. But Fitz wasn't going to leave all his hard work behind. And he needed to teach Skye all he knew. And perhaps all of Shield had to offer.

But going as Fitz would draw attention. He would have to go as someone else. A plan B option. He was a scientist and an engineer.

Making a mask shouldn't be too hard. He had read the newly released papers on the theory of creating the Photostatic Veil. It was a high clearance, but it shouldn't be too hard to hack or convince a higher agent to allow him to see the papers. He liked the first option. The latter would bring unwanted attention.

The last few days in the dream world he was getting use to her company, he was able to talk for hours on end with her listening without being interrupted or talking over, she would raise her hand to ask questions but that was it.

He couldn't help but feel appreciated for his brain and not used to solving everything with her.

When the timer for his awake up call, making sure he left the dreamscape on so Skye could train with her projections, so a projection of himself showed up to teach her some engineering whilst he works in the real world.

Upon waking up was strange he was a half a week ahead of everyone.

Going straight to his computer with the newly improved hacking skills, Fitz called in a few favours that people owed him, so he and Skye had some fake IDs, passports in user different names and making sure they were being inconspicuous then deleting any trace that he was ever there and given a prompting, they would need picking up tomorrow.

Fitz then bought with a few random housing places for hideouts, just in case. Thanks to Mum and dads inheritance and the years of savings at shield it allowed him to purchase these places and to be fair they weren't that expensive. Making sure to put each one under different names.

Fitz made sure to save all the work he had done, every single piece of work he have ever done to a memory stick, along with the basics in other departments in which he kept in a secret pocket he had lined in the top of his underpants, in case of a strip search. He also made sure the memory stick was waterproof in case he had forgotten it when doing laundry.

Now he needed to get more time. More time in the dreamscape.

Sitting back in his seat rubbing his eyes, Fitz couldn't help but feel a bit of relief and nervousness sinking in.

His hands drifted to the chain necklace around his neck. It was his mother's wedding and engagement rings. Leo had already made up his mind that his mother's wedding band was going to be his totem in the dream world in which would flip in the air and when it came back down it would spin around hovering over his hand or a surface. Skye's totem he had given her would spin on any surface.

Turing the laptop off, Fitz glanced at the clock...two hours since he had woken up from the dream world which means Sky has been in the dream world for about...72hrs he calculated.

So that five minutes was 3 hrs in the dream, 30 minutes would be 18 hrs and an hour was 36 hrs, so in total Skye has been in the dream world for... Three days.

Feeling his stomach churning with hunger, he had to remind himself that he also needed to take care of himself too.

Getting up he decided to grab some food from the canteen.

"Excuse me? Agent Fitz."

Fitz turned to see a young man approach him, he didn't look familiar though.

"I am Agent Charles," he introduced offering his hand out to shake.

"Uh, hello." Fitz offered out, confused about why he wanted to talk.

"I must say, I'm a fan of your work-"

Fits stopped listening as he felt something slip into his palm as they shook hands, Agent Charles winked as he leaned forwards.

"Stay strong and don't worry. It will work out." He murmured in his ear.

"See you around kid, keep up the good work!" Charles said leaning back with a grin, slapping his back and slanting off leaving a half-confused Fitz in his wake.

Xx

Skye came round after her training from the dream world, a glanced at the clock on the wall she had been asleep for a total of ...5 hours, she knew she was with Fitz for two days... and herself for three, at least that was what she knew approximately.

When Fitz left her in the dream world, she had fun trained with his projection. She could now hotwire a car and make up a gun from scratch, which felt like a huge achievement. When Fitz came back to the dreamscape and showed him on what she had learned.

He even congratulated her, Agent Ward wouldn't- he would just start on the next thing to do without much of a word and if he did, he would give her a big lecture on what would happen if she didn't do it right...etc.

A glance at the table showed that there wasn't much on it apart from flowers, a jug of water plus a glass, a notepad and pencils, the box that Fitz gave her and her phone. Grabbing the box, Skye pulled out the little spinning top out curiosity.

It was silver with a little hole in the mini top bit, the part where you spin it from, there also saw was a thin cord necklace with a small clip so you could keep the spinning top around the neck and when it was pulled it off it would unclip off without hurting.

A small smile washed over her face; At least she had a way to know when she was dreaming or not.

The two of them had discussed what they could use to make sure to tell if they were dreaming or not, because after using the dreamscape so often it became harder to tell.

Putting it around her neck she flinches at the coldness as it radiated against her warm skin, Skye grabbed the glass off the side and drank nearly half of the water. It was a huge relief to her throat and system.

Taking the notepad off the side as well as the pencils she started to doodle until a knock on the door got her attention.

"Come in," Skye called.

It was Coulson who had popped his head around the door.

"Hey, how are you feeling." He asked coming into the room before then sitting down in the chair by her side with a serious look on his face.

"Apart from a sore head, if feeling ok" Skye replied rubbing my temples before then wincing a bit.

"The doctors say you should be resting for a few days before trying to walk so that they can monitor you for any brain trauma that may have occurred. However, we can move you to a medical pod on the bus in two days." He finished, Skye nodded slightly, jaw twitching as to. Feeling the urge to yawn slightly.

"How long was I asleep for." She asked regretting not asking Fitz earlier.

"Two days and you woke up early this morning when Fits was here and it's about two in the afternoon now. Fitz and Simmons came and visited you while you were sleeping, May made an appearance yesterday..." He trailed off.

"Well, I can't wait to leave this bed, my legs are starting to cramp a bit" she whined, kicking her feet a bit in distaste of not walking or standing in a while.

For the last 15 minutes, they had a little catch up on what had been happening lately, well when she meant lately, he would say paperwork...etc and she would say what she was working on before the incident and which did not at all include the plans to leave but now with her laptop now broken, she would have to collect her data the hard way from its remains.

Beginning to yawn more, Coulson's phone began to ring.

"Sorry Skye got to take this." Taking his phone from his pocket, standing and walked out the door.

She played on her phone for ten minutes before the battery died to her disappointment and annoyance, disappointed that it died because she was on her highest points on Tetris and annoyed because no one bothered to stick it on charge for her.

The wrist with the cuff on suddenly vibrated a bit of a surprise, glancing down at the watch bit which had changed its screen like on a mobile phone and it read. Green was Accept and red was Deny.

Accept is what Skye pressed for a couple of reasons, one she was beginning to get bored and two she had an idea which may need to discuss with Fitz with.

She winced for a moment as the back of the cuff suddenly prodded her with something sharp but before she could react her eyes began to drift shut and like a scene break in a move- the next thing Skye knew was standing in a cafe which was buzzing with people to her surprise. And what was even more surprising was that it was raining.

Well, that's a first...She couldn't help but think.

Pulling her phone from her pocket, Skye simply called Fitz and found him in a green field a couple of miles away standing watching the sunset, getting soaked but still smiling, like all his troubles were melted away.

"Hey." She called to him with a big smile on her face, getting off her motorbike from which she used to get here. Her skill in motorbikes was a surprise to Fitz but then again, he remembered that Skye went through a few fazes especially in her teenage years and the rebellious one was her most fun times before she ran away from 'home'. Made a few bets and won, instead of money, she learnt worthwhile skills from the losers. Cars, Motorbikes lessons, her start-up in hacking, lock picking and other ones like basics in pickpocketing and... Piano. The last one surprised him.

He turns to her voice.

"Hey," He replied turning back, something was bothering him.

"So what sort of mischief and trouble have we gotten ourselves into." Skye joked though she did see him crack a smile. Looking back at the sunset.

"It really is beautiful," she muttered. It was different when it was on the bus, most of the time it would just sink into the clouds but seeing on the ground with the contrast of colours from the dying brilliant blue sky too and the orange ambers of the setting sun with the trees getting darker in front of us the rain making a small rainbow, it would be a beautiful as a painting.

Her hand fished the phone from her pocket, taking a few steps back Skye snapped a few shots.

Putting it back in her pocket before she walked back to him watching as the sun sunk away leaving a purple sky and stars showing themselves after a moment Skye finally decided to break the silence.

"Why is it raining. I didn't know it was able to rain?"

"It's not supposed to but when I went under I was starting to need the toilet" he muttered in a slightly embarrassed voice.

"Well...at least we know I can rain." She said with a smirk. They made their way back to the city and back to the chatter of the projections and into the big science labs which stood out from the bustle of the New York dreamscape.

"Whilst you were here earlier sleeping. I managed to get us a few passports and IDs under different names. And I managed to get a couple of places to set up at. In a few different locations, the best one to go is the China base because it has heating and plumbing. The others don't have that just yet and also I've made sure to hack the accounts so that the payment was made ages ago so not to arise suspicion, and with each different names if created different bank accounts and stuff like that..." he trailed off a bit, taking a left turn in to one of Fitz's lab

"Coulson wants me back on the bus in two days" Skye announced sitting down.

"I was hoping we could try to disappear before that because there is less security in here, we won't be in the air all the time and if we didn't manage it I will probably be watched even more just in case I suffer another's brain bleed so it would be harder to leave. I had an idea that we could go down a few more levels to we have time to plan and perfect."

She watched as he processes this information whist he rubbed to temples, "Two days, huh?" He muttered then he started to pace in deep thought before looking at her, "so what was your idea?"

"Well... it's a long shot but...recently I've been playing an app on my phone and in the game, the characters can shrink or grow really big and I was thinking that... if we made a box that could carry something or someone it would be easy to smuggle out into someone's pocket...I know it's so out of the box but it just popped into my head and I kinda wanted your opinion... " She mumbled the last piece, couldn't help but feel like that was a stupid idea.

"It's not a stupid idea so don't think that any idea is rubbish Skye...it would be difficult and time-consuming... however it may work..." he said muttering sitting down and beginning to jolting down calculations and other ideas.

After about half an hour Fitz looked up from his paperwork. "I can do it...it's just... we don't have enough...time...it could take months...but perhaps.."

"Ok Fitz time to start and finish your sentence, I'm getting confused" Skye nearly exclaimed loudly after the whole half hour of home muttering. He took a deep breath before answering.

"It would take years of understanding and testing for shrinking anything down. However, we have time if we go down three layers of the dreamscape, we would have 14 or 28 years depending on four or six hours in the real world, to perfect any sorts of shrinking and to practice making it in one and a half days schedule. But three layers down is very unstable... we would need some type of sedative strong enough for that layer trip down..." he finished quietly.

"So to put it short we need a strong sedative to put us to sleep so it doesn't collapse like it did on me which nearly killed me, then either me or you would have to sneak out of a super-secret base without getting caught with the other one stuck in their pocket and evading cameras and people." Skye finished feeling slightly sceptical and they both sat in an uncomfortable silence.

"Skye, I do have a plan that may link with this," Fitz spoke up softly, in his hand he was holding an odd thumb drive.

"But if we're caught, I need to keep you ignorant for the time being. So I can't share information with you. At least not yet." Fitz said, half frustrated but if he was caught, Skye would at least be spared a lie detector test and hopefully in Shield's good books.

"It's alright Fitz. I trust you."

Those words seemed to lift a huge weight off his shoulders from the moment he had seen what was on the drive.

X

Here we go chapter 6. I was uncertain on a few pairing but we see later on what goes on in the story, as a preview that may piss off a few people, there is gonna be a load of references from many fandoms like the flash mainly and stuff like that, so if you're not that interested then don't read, simple as that. : p.

To my loyal readers Have a good day and enjoy. I won't give any indication when the next chapter is gonna be posted as I don't know myself. Too mush going on in my life for consistent postings.