A request from GinnyWeasley09; A seperate story of Fitz dealing with Jemma getting consumed by the monolith. (Connected to the one-shot It Takes Time) Hope you enjoy! :)
The weight of guilt on his shoulders was too much. He was torturing himself, replaying the footage of her being swallowed by that thing. It was his fault. He could've prevented this. They could be out at a fancy restaurant right now, but no. He had been careless.
"Don't do that to yourself, Fitz." May looked at the young man with so much concern in her eyes.
"I-I can't help it. It was my fault and you all know it." He argued. Normally he wouldn't talk back to the woman, but at this point he didn't care.
He broke off from the team and ran to the lab immediately. The lab seemed empty without her in it. Fitz was reminded of almost two years ago, after his brain injury. He wished he could conjure a hallucination of her again, just to see her face. Every night since then he poured himself into his work.
The others had promised they'd do whatever they could to get Jemma back, his Jemma. They had been so close to finally being something more than just best friends. He'd gotten the courage to ask her to dinner, and she had even said yes. Then fate intervened.
Coulson had done everything they could in regards to providing him with resources and funds for his research, but he could tell they were becoming doubtful. Bobbi was in the lab with him most of the time, mainly because she couldn't do anything else during her recovery. Mack would give him words of encouragement, but after a while that seemed redundant. May had left, he wouldn't admit how much it hurt that she would just leave at a time like this, but he pushed those feelings aside. Although Daisy was busy, she spent all her extra time with Fitz, doing her best to help. After three months of moving nowhere, Daisy began to grow frustrated with the dead ends. She didn't want to lose hope, but she also wanted to stay within reason.
"We're cursed." Fitz mumbled as he ran what seemed like the thousandth simulation of the monolith. As each month passed, it seemed as if another person on the team would lose hope. It was down to just him and Daisy, but even she was beginning to doubt.
"Maybe we should take a step back for a little bit." Daisy had tried to suggest, but Fitz wasn't having it.
"No. I'm not giving up on her, Daisy! I'm not!"
"Fitz-"
"You know what? I think it might be a good idea if you just left. I need to focus and you're just in the way. So please, just… just go." Daisy looked hurt, but didn't argue. She took one more look at Fitz before sulking off.
As soon as the words left his mouth he regretted it, he regretted so much lately. He regretted leaning on the damn monolith case, he regretted constantly snapping at every little thing someone did, he regretted not being able to find a solution, but most of all he regretted waiting to make a move with Jemma. He'd messed up in that department.
He yawned and took note of the time on his watch, 1:32am. Sleep was such a rare occurrence for him lately, but just like everything else he pushed the thought of sleep away from his mind. Everything he did was to find Simmons, his other half.
Six months from the incident he nearly accepted the idea of her being gone. He had been so angry. Coulson said there was nothing he could do, that he had tried his best, but there was no way of bringing her back. He wanted to be dead. For Fitz, there was no future for him without Simmons. She was his everything, and he felt so helplessly angry. He couldn't take it anymore as he stormed into the room that held the dreadful rock to let out his anger and grief. He screamed and cried at the monstrous thing until the team rushed in to save him just in time. It turns out, screaming at the rock had been the best thing he'd ever done, despite the telling off he got from Coulson.
As soon as he got a lead, he ran with it. For the first time in six months the whole team was hopeful. Fitz worked day and night with the team by his side to get the answer to saving Simmons.
When they found a way to reopen the portal he only had one plan in mind; he would go through and find Jemma himself. Was it reckless? Yes, but he would take any consequence waiting for him if it meant finding the love of his life. Luckily, for him the plan worked. He didn't care if him and Jemma were cursed. He promised himself that he would find a way to beat the curse every time.
And he kept that promise.