Chapter Six: The Family

Coulson and Deke were already inside the lab, with cuffs again placed on their wrists and ankles. Each was strapped to a chair, and there was no doubt what would happen next. Fleetingly, Fitz wondered how Ivanov had selected these two to start with. Several Watchdogs stood inside the lab as well; Fitz had almost stopped noticing armed Watchdogs given how ubiquitous they now were in his life.

Fitz also took note of the lab itself. It was clearly the most modern room inside this base; it hummed with a variety of equipment. It was bright, in contrast to the dim lighting inside every other room he had seen here. In completely different circumstances, Fitz would have loved to begin tinkering and building. But here, his stomach turned over with dread. SHIELD agents knew how to resist pain and endure torture. Deke might be a very new – unofficial – agent but he had definitely lived through a lot in the Lighthouse. Still, Fitz knew that he, Coulson, and Deke were in for a harrowing, grueling experience. He tried to mentally steel himself.

"Now then," Ivanov began, looking at Fitz. He had a slight smile on his face. "I hope you've had time to reflect on what we want from you. True, your biochemist wife isn't here but I suspect that you have enough expertise to refine these weapons anyway. I am willing to bet that your work has overlapped with hers enough over the years." He cleared his throat and looked at Coulson and Deke. "So – who should I start with?"

At that point, the building began to shake. Shouts could be heard down the hall, and then gunshot fire. Ivanov gestured at two of the Watchdogs to head outside and investigate.

More shots were fired, and the sounds of men barking orders to each other could be heard. The building shook again. Fitz exchanged a look with Coulson. Either they were on a planet prone to earthquakes or…..

At that moment, the door to the lab flung open and Daisy and May charged in. Daisy fired a quake at Ivanov which sent him reeling back against the wall. May rushed to finish him off. She and Daisy then worked to free Coulson and Deke of their restraints.

"The others?" Fitz breathed, somewhere between relief and elation. "Jemma?"

"They're all fine," May said, slicing off the restraints that held Coulson to the chair. "Simmons is back on our ship. Yo-Yo and Piper are securing the rest of this facility."

"Where are Mack and Davis?" Daisy asked.

"We don't know," Coulson said, rising from the chair and rubbing his wrists. "Other than that they're somewhere on this base."

"We'll find them," May said. She handed the three men various weapons which she had retrieved from fallen Watchdogs.

The next several moments passed in a whirlwind for Fitz. The agents secured the base, restraining or immobilizing any resistance they encountered. They eventually found Mack and Davis's cells. The two men had been badly beaten for their escape attempts, but were at least in stable condition. Mack said he could walk; Davis would need some assistance.

"Let's get them to our ship and get them taken care of," Daisy said. Coulson couldn't resist a smile at her words. Our ship.

"I knew you'd take it over," Coulson said. "You –"

Jemma's voice rang out over comms, interrupting Coulson. "Team, we have a problem!" she said.

"What is it?" Coulson asked.

"It's a UN starship entering the planet's atmosphere. They're sending a message, wait for it." After a moment, Jemma said, "They're stating that we are terrorists and telling us to surrender."

"You sure they're not directing that message at Ivanov and the Watchdogs?" Coulson asked, feeling fairly certain of the answer.

"It's specifically addressed to SHIELD agents," Jemma said. She sighed and added, "Why am I not surprised?"

Despite the chaos, Fitz couldn't help but to grin. That was his Jemma. And at the helm of a starship no less!

"Let's go then!" Coulson said. "Please tell me you have a shuttle waiting for us, and it's fully operational."

"Of course," May answered. Her voice was flat but her eyes sparkled. She and Coulson had taken a couple of seconds to embrace as Jemma had spoken.

"This way," Daisy said, leading the group. Deke and Yo-Yo grabbed Davis and helped him keep up with the others. In a matter of minutes, the team piled into the shuttle and took off for the ship.

The shuttle docked in the bay. The group split – some assisting Davis and Mack to the infirmary while others headed for the bridge. Fitz considered it for a second, knew that Jemma would leave the bridge for sickbay to take care of the injured, and so decided to make his way there. Mack was much more mobile than Davis and he almost smirked at Fitz's offer of help, but it was a friendly rebuke; he knew exactly why Fitz had elected to go to the infirmary.

And as soon as Coulson and the others had reached the bridge and took control from Jemma, Jemma rushed to sickbay. Yo-Yo was there too, to be with Mack.

Both Fitz and Simmons knew that their first priority was to tend to Davis's and Mack's injuries, and that any other sort of reunion would have to wait. Still they allowed themselves a brief embrace before getting right down to business. Fitz enjoyed the glorious three seconds in which he wrapped his arms around her and stroked the back of her head. It was the paradise he had been denied for too long.

Simmons then tended to the wounded, with Fitz and Yo-Yo assisting. As they worked, Fitz couldn't help but smile as he took note of Jemma's attire. The blue dress and low heels she had been wearing were understandably gone. The ship was freezing and her wedding reception garments couldn't have been that comfortable. Clothing options on board the ship had to have been limited though, as Jemma was now clad in what was clearly some cast-off Watchdog attire including boots. All of it was too large for her. Briefly she caught his eye at one point and smirked, "I know. I hate it too, but the dress wasn't quite right. And this isn't Star Trek where we can just replicate new clothing."

Fitz returned her grin. "Well, I'm wearing prison attire – again – so I can hardly judge." The couple shared a laugh. He thought fleetingly of all the times they had been separated, all the times she had been taken from him. The agony of the first monolith, when all he could do was try to determine what the monolith was and hope that she was somehow still alive. When she and the others were grabbed out of the diner by Enoch. Or even all the way back to the time she jumped out of the bus, infected with the Chitauri virus. Their lives had been so different back then, and yet some things didn't change. They clearly were not cursed because they always ended up back together.

When Davis and Mack were patched up, the team reassembled on the bridge. Coulson and Daisy briefed everyone by saying that they appeared to have successfully evaded the UN ship. But now the authorities knew where they were and would likely continue their pursuit. There was a good chance the UN would send a second starship to take them down. The team didn't like those odds.

"And yes, let's appreciate the irony here – they're after us instead of Ivanov's hell down on that planet," Daisy added.

"So, people in the past are clearly as insane as people in the future," Deke remarked.

"What do we do?" Piper asked.

"There's one more thing," Daisy said, looking at Coulson. "We saw something on the other side of the wormhole. Something that made us think we should return."

"And the wormhole is open," Jemma added. "It's stable."

"And we can hide from our enemies. On the other side," May added.

Daisy and the others went on to explain what they had seen and why they thought it was a good hiding place. If nothing else, Coulson said, it would give them time to strategize and plan their next steps.

Not long afterwards, FitzSimmons had what they had dreamed of for so long: private time together. The personnel quarters on board this ship were nothing spectacular: sparse rooms containing a bed, a desk and chair, overhead storage space, and a tiny bathroom.

There was, however, a window.

The couple stood in front of it silently for several long moments, holding hands and looking at the stars. A different array of constellations now that they were so far from home. The view was vast, infinite, awesome.

"Remember when we used to go star-gazing?" Jemma finally murmured.

"I do," Fitz said. He then shook his head. "You're right that we were different people then. Sometimes I can't believe that Leo Fitz didn't see what was right in front of him."

Jemma released his hand and rubbed his back. "It's okay. The old Jemma Simmons didn't either. But at least we knew we would have plenty of adventures together."

"We got that right." Fitz could only smile with bemusement. "We didn't think that we'd be on a starship light years away from earth, classified as terrorists, and heading off towards something that would look right at home on Star Trek."

"Which version of Star Trek?" Jemma wondered, her eyebrows raised. "Although I truly don't like any of them better than Doctor Who."

"I don't know. Next Gen is dated but there was something special about it."

"Hmmmm," Jemma began. "This could evolve into a spirited debate. And that would get me quite excited." She turned her head towards the bed and raised her eyebrows.

"But – " Fitz stammered. "The reception."

It was "take two" for the reception. This time, of course, it would be on the starship. Jemma had explored the ship's mess hall and although the food supplies wouldn't rival anything that the Perthshire inn could provide, she had determined there was enough there for her to make a reasonable facsimile of The Sandwich. And there was plenty of booze. They looked forward to celebrating with their family; it was even rumored that Deke had a surprise ready.

"We have time," Jemma promised. "Plus, it might be fun to show up at the reception with our faces flushed. You often turn a delightful shade of pink when…."

The reception would have to wait. Fitz and Simmons reached for each other's lips.

THE END

Possible sequel to follow