"So do you think -" Fitz started.
"Romanov actually beat it? I don't know!" Simmons responded.
"I don't either! But there's no way she could, right?"
"She couldn't possibly!"
Fitzsimmons were in the small lab in the hidden base, talking excitedly back and forth as they poured over the design schematics of the lie detector they had just used earlier in the day.
"Do you think Koenig -" Fitz began again.
"No, I doubt it."
"That's what I thought. The way he was going on and on."
"He wouldn't have said all that if we knew you were the one who designed it."
"We were the ones who designed it," Fitz corrected.
"I never thought we'd actually get to see it in use!" Simmons said excitedly.
"The questions were interesting," Fitz added, turning on the holo table and pulling up a 3D image of the eye scanner he had imbedded in the lie detector. "How do you think they landed on those?"
"I thought they were odd, too, but it was fairly simple to trace those back to their psychological root," Simmons agreed, peering over his shoulder as he zoomed in on one facet of the design, floating in mid-air in front of them. "Egg versus rock can trace back to the offense versus defense mindset. Are you just surviving or are you fighting?"
Fitz nodded, attention still on the design in front of him, his brain running through multiple scenarios at once on how to improve it now that he had seen it in action.
"And of course, the island question revealed what you relied upon for survival. If you desired a weapon, you rely upon yourself. If you desired food, you can easily adapt to circumstances, and so on."
Fitz hummed, keeping his attention forward, away from his partner. He had a feeling he knew what was coming next…
"What did you say for that, by the way?" Simmons asked.
Yep. He was right.
"Ah," he scratched behind his ear, awkwardly. He hadn't been thinking about ways to escape the island, he had been thinking about what he would want on a deserted island if he were to be stuck there forever. He briefly wondered what that meant about his own personality when he realized Simmons was still staring at him, waiting for an answer. What the hell, he may as well come clean, "I said you, actually."
"Oh, Fitz! Of course!" Simmons exclaimed, clapping her hands together. She looked so pleased, Fitz noticed with relief. Not embarrassed or awkward at all. "Of course if we were on an island alone we'd find a way to get off together."
Fitz flushed bright red. She had no idea how right she was.
"What did you say?" He asked quickly.
"Oh, I said the Tardis," she admitted with a sigh. "We're always discussing how having a Tardis would solve literally every problem we can think of, and it's just the first thing that popped into my mind." She looked disappointed, "I'm sorry. I didn't even think to say you - he asked 'what' is in the box, so I didn't even think about the possibility that I it could be a 'who' instead of a 'what.' "
Fitz shrugged, smiling "I don't care. Just as long as your first stop is to pick me up in that Tardis, I'm fine staying behind at home while you have your island holiday."
The scientists laughed. "One day, Dr. Fitz, I look forward to that happening. In a Tardis that you and Tony Stark designed together."
Fitz rolled his eyes, playing along. "Sure, Simmons. Me and Iron Man, just hanging out. Time travel. Not a problem at all."
The pair continued to banter and make notes on potential improvements for the lie detector.
After several moments of comfortable silence, Simmons sighed wistfully. "That was so sweet, today. And so sad," she added. "I guess I never realized how much Coulson had given up when he faked his death."
"I thought the same thing," Fitz said softly. He knew their leader's life revolved around SHIELD, but today was the first time it really hit him just how all-encompassing that statement really was.
"I can't imagine lying to someone I loved like that," Simmons continued, staring off into space. "Watch them grieve, but never be able to comfort them. It would just be heartbreaking."
Fitz just hummed in agreement as he continued to scribble notes. He was mildly surprised at the turn this conversation had taken. He knew Simmons liked her girly movies - he had lost count of the number of Nicholas Sparks movies she had dragged him to over the years - but usually the occasional chick flick or trashy romance novel was as far as her romantic side reached. She never let romance cloud her clear view of reality, even when she regularly dated in school. Fitz was far more the dreamy-eyed romantic of the two.
"We should set up a way to contact one another if we have to die," Simmons' voice suddenly broke into his thoughts.
Fitz looked up, quickly. "Wha?"
"Fake dies, I mean. Or suddenly disappears," Simmons continued, pulling up a fresh page on the note taking app on her tablet and starting to furiously type. "I will not put you through the agony of not knowing," she said resolutely.
"Not knowing what?" Fitz asked, still trying to catch up.
"If I'm actually gone, or if I'm faking it," Simmons explained, her voice getting annoyed. "Honestly, Fitz, keep up."
Fitz nodded, "I know what you meant, I just…" He trailed off, trying to understand how it was that Simmons had gone from discussing Coulson's girlfriend to the two of them in the blink of an eye, as though she viewed both partnerships as the same. "Never mind," he muttered, unwilling to jinx it.
"Okay, this is easy enough," Simmons said, leaning forward and tapping a few buttons to connect her tablet with his laptop so they could both look at the same thing.
"If ever either of us is in a situation where we have to disappear or fake our death or something like that, and cannot tell the other the truth before going into hiding, we communicate via message boards."
Fitz nodded, "That's probably easiest. Pretty hard to trace, unless someone knows exactly what they're looking for, and fairly innocent. Plus, it works in the movies."
"Exactly," Simmons smiled. She pulled up a message board they often read for Doctor Who spoilers. "Let's set up accounts in this message board. Using untraceable e-mail addresses, of course. We'll never post anything to the message board itself, but will update our profile with information if we need to."
Fitz nodded, quickly trying out user names. "Has to be something no one would ever connect to us."
"Right. So your user name can't involve monkeys, or science, or…"
"Or Scotland. Or you."
"Ha! I believe we just summed up Leo Fitz in 4 words," Simmons joked, smiling. "Not to say that I'm not an open book either."
"Jess21?" Fitz asked, peering at Simmons' screen.
"Jessica is one of the most common female names in the world, and 1921 is the year Peggy Carter was born."
"I thought you said nothing could connect us to SHIELD."
"I know, but… 21? I think 21 is okay, don't you? Just the number?"
Fitz thought for a moment, then nodded. "Okay, fine." He continued typing into his laptop for a second, then turned the screen to face her. "Say hello to Mike11."
Simmons stared at the screen, pursing her lips. "Mike for Michael, which is also a very common name, and eleven for…. Your favorite doctor!" She realized, snapping her fingers when she figured it out.
Fitz nodded and the pair high-fiver. "Nice to meet you, Michael," Simmons said.
"Likewise, Jessica."
"So. To review. If one of us ever disappears, they will update their user profile with some sort of information. So, if for example, you wake up one day and Coulson tells you I'm gone, or I've left," Simmons said, ignoring Fitz's instant paling at the thought, "You go on this website, find user name Jess21, and check out her profile information. Anything you need will be referenced in there. And same vice-versa."
Fitz nodded,"Got it. Anything we put in the profile will have to be cryptic, of course."
"Of course."
"So I assume we'll just use the code we developed second year that still remains unbroken by the brightest minds in the spy world?"
"How right you are, Dr. Fitz!"
The pair smiled and returned their attention the devices in front of them. Simmons started to scour the web for a generic Shutterstock image she could use for her fake profile picture. "It's a shame Coulson couldn't have set up something like this for his girlfriend."
Fitz stared at her in surprise. Was she even aware of how much she was implying that they were together?
"But that'd be too complicated to develop with a civilian, I suppose," sh e continued, sighing. "I still don't know why he doesn't just tell her now."
"Sometimes knowing is worse," Fitz said quietly.
"What?"
"Sometimes knowing is worse than not knowing," he clarified, suddenly wishing he had never said anything. "Just… What happens if he says something because he can't take it anymore and she is so furious at him for saying anything, the wonderful relationship they once had is now ruined and clouded with the pain."
Simmons rolled her eyes, "Well, that's just absurd. It's better to know, no matter what. Besides, if they truly cared for one another, she'd understand. He should just tell her."
"Yeah," Fitz agreed. "Maybe he will one day."
"I hope so."
