"Jemma's going to be soooooo pissed at you!"
"Urgh Fitz! I didn't do anything wrong. It's not my fault their methods of teaching are cruel and archaic!" Amy answered with a roll of her eyes that reminded Fitz of her sister so much he couldn't help grinning slightly.
"Maybe but still ... Jemma she loves rules so much she makes them up when there are none to follow! That one time we went on holidays together, I actually had to use a chair to block the door so she wouldn't barge in my hotel room and force me to wake up at ungodly hours because she had a complete schedule for the whole trip!" Fitz said in a low voice, still grinning as he remembered how annoyed she'd been for having to start the day at ten instead of eight.
"Well imagine being in the same room for three weeks and six years younger ... She made me want to go back to school Fitz!" Amy let out and they both snickered.
"Mr Fitz?"
"Doctor!" Fitz answered almost automatically to the middle aged woman who interrupted them with quite a severe look. "But hum ... yeah that's me ..." He added, blushing a bit. He might be here as the autority figure for Amy but considering he was still a student only a few months ago, he felt honestly much closer to her than to the strict looking woman giving him such a disapproving look. Amy had adopted a surprisingly adult look with her blouses and smart jackets and even though she shared Jemma's brown hair and hazel eyes, she was already taller than her sister and would probably even grow to be taller than him. Sometimes, it felt like it was only yesterday that HE was fifteen and getting recruited by SHIELD and he wondered if he really did look like he was six years older now.
"Misses Jamison will see you in a few minutes." She said in a very serious tone like she was telling them the time and date of their execution.
"Okay ... thank you" He answered with a slightly confused expression. The woman nodded and went back to her desk.
"What's the point of coming just to tell us that she'll basically be back in a minute to actually let us in the principal's office?" Amy whispered as she got a little closer to Fitz and he chuckled as it mirrored his thoughts exactly.
"Shush! You're supposed to be ashamed of yourself and I'm supposed to be mad at you!" He whispered back. He'd never been in the principal's office back in high school except that one time he'd short circuited the whole building's electric system while trying to make it more efficient. But a week later he did manage to do it, saving the school quite a lot of money and the "incident" was soon forgotten. Still, he felt like this was the type of place where you were supposed to whisper and look sheepish.
"Oh yeah you look really mad ..." She teased.
"I can get really mad. Haven't you heard of my famous Scottish temper?"
"Oh sure I did ... Jemma says it's adorable!" Amy grinned even wider.
"Hey I'm pretty sure my lab assistant's terrified of me!" He answered, perfectly conscious that it sounded terribly childish and probably made things worse, but still incapable of stopping himself.
"Oh please ... there's not a single version of reality where Doctor Leopold Fitz is scary!" She let out and he groaned.
"Not a single version of reality ..." He repeated with a ridiculously high pitched voice and a bad impression of her accent. "You're such a nerd!"
"You're one to talk ..." She replied, bumping his should for good measure. "Now will you please start sounding like an adults so you can tell her you agree with what I've done and she doesn't expell me!" She added and he rolled his eyes.
"I never said I agree with you ..."
"Oh please I know you do ... just imagine it was a monkey ..."
"Oh no ..." He almost whined at the sad image that was now imprinted on his brain and she grinned, knowing it was probably enough to convince him. "You're evil you know that right …" He added.
"No I'm a good person, a hero actually!"
"Yeah yeah ... a true Hermione Granger you are!"
-0-0-0-
From the way Jemma looked at them BOTH, Fitz would have thought Amy and him had been planning the frog's escape for days. When the high school principal had called, Jemma had been stuck in a lengthy reunion about one of the projects they didn't work on together and since Fitz was logically the second emergency contact for Amy, he'd been the one to answer the call. Considering what happened to Jemma's parents only five months ago, he'd been incredibly relieved to hear nothing had happened to her and she'd just "misbehaved", refusing to kill and dissect a frog, walking out of class with the amphibian that had the luck to fall into Amy's hands.
"I can't believe you're taking her side Fitz!" Jemma cried out, looking angrier that he'd ever seen her, at least when the anger was directed at him. "This is serious Fitz! What if she gets expelled? You were supposed to be the adult in this!" She added and Fitz sighed in exasperation.
"Oh come on it's not so bad, it's not like she set the building on fire or something, they're not going to expel her for that …"
"You don't know that!" She cried out, poking her finger into his chest.
"Hey!" He shouted back, moving away from her. "I didn't do anything, just gave my opinion, it is actually pretty archaic and …"
"Oh please it's not the problem, you're the adult, you were supposed to make her follow the rules. I can't have you both …"
"Hey you know what?" He cut her off with an angry voice and from the look Amy gave him, maybe she was starting to believe he could be a little scary after all. "Since you won't listen to me and I have better things to do than being yelled at like I'm a kid again, I'm gonna leave and let you two deal with that on your own!" He finished, grabbing his messenger bag and jacket and walking out the door but not before giving them both one last quick look and seing how shocked Jemma looked and how sheepish Amy obviously felt.
-0-0-0-
Fitz felt a little immature slamming the door like that but he had to admit it made him feel a little better. He thought Jemma would be a little annoyed by how he had dealt things at Amy's high school but he didn't think she would flat out yell at him like that without even letting him explain the situation. He loved his best friend, he really did but sometimes he wondered if she ever acted as a child or a teenager once in her life.
"Trouble in paradise?" Fitz was interrupted in his internal rambling by the voice of his neighbor who he was ashamed to admit he still didn't remember the name after several months of politely saying hello in the hallway and her accepting a few deliveries for him during the two months when he was still alone and ordering a lot of things on internet for their flat.
"Uh?" Was all he could answer and she chuckled as they both got into the elevator.
"Sorry … didn't mean to pry it's just … I heard you slam the door and since you and your girlfriend usually seem to get on so well I thought …"
"Jemma's not my girlfriend!" He interrupted her without really thinking about it. They'd been getting this so often that it'd almost become a conditioned reflex.
"Oh … sorry ... I just assumed she was since you seem to spend …"
"'s fine we get that a lot … Jemma's my best friend. We met at uni and we work together so it only made sense to be flatmates!" He answered and she smiled a little differently and only then he realized how it might have sounded like when he rushed to tell her Jemma wasn't his girlfriend.
"Oh so you three are roommates then … I don't know how you do it, I couldn't live with one roommate even if she was my best friend but two, that's something …"
"Well I didn't really have a choice … " He let out matter of factly and she looked at him a little bit confused. "Amy's not a flatmate per se, it's not like the brat's paying any rent!" He said chuckling and the woman, Laura or maybe Layla, he was pretty sure it was Layla actually, arched an eyebrow. "She's Jemma's little sister. Their parents … died last summer and Amy didn't want to live with an aunt or uncle so …" He trailed of, giving her that awkward smile he had when he talked about their situation. Because he knew that most people didn't know how to react apart from saying how sorry they were. That was why he didn't tell most people about it but he had to admit it felt nice once in a while. The only person he talked about it sometimes was his mother but it always ended with her saying she was proud of him for being there for his friend but that she was worried he was putting too much weight on his shoulders and just because his father hadn't been here for him didn't mean that he had anything to prove. Anyone could see he wasn't like him.
"So things are good most of the time but I guess there's bound to be disagreements every once in a while … " He added when she just gave him a sympathetic smile.
"Yeah … so it's more like a Party of five kind of living situation!" She said with a soft smile.
"Oh no it's only the three of us!" He answered, quite confused as he opened the door to the building for her and she gave him an amused smile and a nod as she walked through it.
"No actually it was a TV show about this family whose … but never mind I think it's pretty amazing what you're doing for your friend …" She said and he blushed a bit at the compliment.
"Oh it's normal really but hum … thank you … hum …"
"Linda, my name's Linda …" She said with a small grin. Close enough.
"Ah sorry it's just …"
"That's alright Fitz, you've had a lot on your plate recently!" She cut him off and he smiled sheepishly at the fact that SHE obviously remembered his name. "Well it's been nice talking to you but I really have to go now …" She added.
"Oh yeah sorry … didn't mean to tell you my whole life story …"
"Oh no it's fine really, I'm the one who asked you a question in the first place and hum actually …" She said as she started rummaging through her purse for something until she finally seemed to find it. "Here's my card …" She added with a slightly bashful smile, giving him what seemed to be a business card. "That way you won't forget my name again and you can always call me if you feel like talking again. My cell number is on it as well …" She added and before he had the time to say anything, she started walking away.
"Thank you!" He almost cried out as she was already a bit far when he found his voice again.
When he looked down at the card, he got even more confused by their interaction. He'd always been terrible at flirting or noticing when someone else was flirting with him but he was almost completely positive that's what just happened. She seemed a bit older than he was but not old enough for it to be weird and anyway, all the women he'd ever dated, well all two of them, had been older than he was. And it only made sense since being a genius, he'd always been around older women except for Jemma. And if it hadn't played in his favor in high school, at the academy, a place where intelligence was praised, being the young new prodigy had at least appealed to a few girls. But the card read: Linda Martin, psychotherapist. So has she been flirting or trying to find a new client?
-0-0-0-
"Well … now that Fitz is gone, can you please explain yourself?" Jemma was already exasperated that she had to leave work so early to try and fix Amy's mess but now she'd managed to get herself into a fight with Fitz and that pretty much never happened, not seriously anyway.
"There's nothing to explain, they wanted me to kill a frog to teach me something they could have taught me a thousand other ways and I refused and I left class … What did you want me to do?" Amy let out in a much calmer tone than her sister.
"Oh I don't know … just do as you're told so you don't get expelled and deported!" Jemma cried out, finally stopping her rapid pacing to stand in front of Amy with her hands on her hips and Amy rolled her eyes exaggeratedly.
"Oh please Jemma, don't be so dramatic ... I'm not gonna be deported for leaving one class …"
"You don't know that!" Jemma cut her off.
"And anyway, mum would have supported me, she always said you should fight for your principles!" Amy barreled on.
"Oh please don't use mum against me, things are different now!"
"I'm not using her I'm just trying to remind you that sometimes moral principles are more important than rules!"
They were both screaming at this point and Jemma felt like she was back when they were kids and so different that it was sometimes hard to understand each other without fighting and screaming.
"Oh that's easy for you to say, you never had to deal with the consequences of your actions but I do Amy! I have to keep you in school and I have to deal with so many things these days I barely have the time to sleep. I'm just so …"
"Oh sure it's so easy to lose your parents in a car accident and then lose all your friends to move to another country just so you …"
"Hey I didn't force you to come! You could have stayed at Aunt Beth's!"
"I CAME TO BE WITH YOU! I thought things would be easier if we were together but maybe I was wrong, obviously things would have been much easier for you if I stayed with Aunt Beth right?"
Jemma was about to answer that yes, things would have been much simpler without her, that she could be spending evenings out with Fitz and getting to know her new colleagues instead of being home and making sure Amy came home safe and did her homework. She was just 21, she was supposed to focus on her career and have fun, not act like a mother when she wasn't even sure she wanted kids for herself someday.
But then, she realized how awful that sounded and how Amy was just as helpless as she was in this situation. Sisters had a way of being able to know exactly what to say to hurt the other the most and Jemma didn't want to go there, not when they were finally so close after having such a complicated relationship for years and especially not now that they only had each other … and Fitz. And suddenly she wasn't so angry anymore, just a bit sad and tired and guilty.
"No … of course no Amy …" Jemma let out with a sigh as she plopped down on the couch next to her sister. "It's just … it's more complicated than I thought it would be and I'm kind of tired I guess …"
"Yeah I know …" Amy answered, bumping her shoulder in what Jemma knew was an offer of peace.
"And I don't want to have to deal with Misses Jamison, she was so annoying the last time we talked …" Jemma let out with another loud sigh and Amy gasped in fake shock.
"What? Saint Jemma trash talking about someone? I can't believe it!" She cried out and Jemma gave her another much less softer bump in the shoulder.
"Urgh I hate it when you call me that!" She cried out and Amy snickered. "And I wasn't trash talking, I'm just saying she was kind of dull and really I just have better things to do …"
"Well if you let him talk instead of getting all crazy, you would know that Fitz already dealt with her …"
"Oh …"
"Yeah … He said you and him could make a little speech or a workshop of some kind for the students interested in science and I could help organizing it as a punishment instead of being expelled or doing detention."
"Oh … that's actually a really good idea …" Jemma let out, feeling terribly guilty for getting so angry before they even had the time to tell her everything was already fixed.
"Yeah you're not the only genius living in this house you know!" Amy teased, making Jemma roll her eyes once more. She did that so often since Amy came to live with her that she was afraid she would really get stuck someday.
"And what did she say about it?"
"She loved the idea actually … I think it helped that Fitz was the one suggesting it though …"
"Uh?"
"I think she liked him. Like you know really LIKED him. She was all oh, you have such an impressive resume and oh it's so nice of you to do what you do for your friend, you must have so little time for anything else in your life and oh that accent is soooo charming and why don't you come to my house tonight so we can talk some more …" Amy let out in an actually quite accurate impression of Miss Jamison and Jemma arched an eyebrow. "Okay I might have invented that last one but still …" Jemma couldn't help laughing even she was strangely annoyed by what Amy was telling her.
"Urgh but she's old enough to be his mum …"
"I know …" Amy replied looking just as disgusted. "It was so embarrassing to watch but it didn't seem to bother her and I don't think he even noticed anyway!" She added and Jemma couldn't help giggling.
"Yeah sounds like Fitz, he could never … oh no poor Fitz …" Jemma interrupted herself when she remembered how unfair she'd been with him when he'd been so extraordinary once more. "I messed up really bad with haven't I?" She asked, taking her head in her hands.
"I'm afraid so …" Amy said as she stood up and grabbed Jemma's hand to make her stand up as well. "And to add to Fitz's general awesomeness …" She added as she guided Jemma to her room. "Look what he did for Dobby!" She finished gesturing towards what was apparently a makeshift terrarium made from the small fish tank they still hadn't had the time to install and what looked like plants and cobblestones from the park on the other side of the street.
"You know we can't keep it right?" Jemma said, arching an eyebrow but incapable of keeping the small smile that was tugging at her lips when she thought of how much time Fitz must have spent on this.
"I know … Fitz said the same anyway when I said we'd have to feed him insects!" Amy answered rolling her eyes and Jemma chuckled. Now that also sounded like Fitz.
"Dobby though?"
"Yeah, that's his idea you'll have to ask him!" Amy answered, shrugging her shoulders.
"Yes if I can find him …"
-0-0-0-
Fortunately, Fitz was where Jemma thought to look first. As mad as he had been, he probably didn't feel like going very far and since he was on his laptop, she supposed that he had to finish what he was working on at Sci-Ops before he was interrupted.
As always, the small coffee shop where they often bought breakfast on the mornings where they didn't have the time to cook at home, was really quiet. Fitz seemed really focused on what he was doing and for a moment Jemma asked herself if maybe she should just leave him be and wait for him to come home so they could talk and she could apologize for snapping at him. But before she had the time to make a decision, he lifted his head and their eyes locked on each other's.
After a moment of looking at each other from across the coffee shop, Fitz closed his laptop and tilted his head in invitation. Releasing the breath she didn't realize she was holding, she walked the few meters separating them and chose to sit next to him in his booth instead of facing him.
"Fitz I'm so sorry!" She started immediately without leaving him the chance to talk and took his hand since she knew it always gave her courage and a sense of security. "This situation … it's all more complicated and overwhelming than I thought it would be. I'm … mad at my parents for dying and leaving me to deal with all that! I know it's an awful thing to say and it's irrational but I didn't even have time to properly grieve because there was so much to do. Why didn't they die much older like they were supposed to?" She let out, trying her best not to let her voice break and he brought his second hand on top of hers and his silent encouragement was all she needed to keep going. It was such a relief letting Fitz know of these festering thoughts she'd tried to store in the back of her mind for months. If the sweetest, more generous person she knew didn't think she was a monter after that, then she was probably okay.
"And I'm jealous of Amy because she's younger and she doesn't have to deal with all this bureaucratic crap and sometimes I'm so frustrated but I-I … I cannot take it out on her so I lashed out at you and that was completely unfair because you've been nothing less than extraordinary this whole time Fitz and I'm so so sorry …" She trailed off and he gave her a smile that was so soft and tender that she felt like she could cry.
"It's alright Jem" He said, giving her hand a small squeeze. "You're always so in control and contained all the time, you're allowed a little crazy time once in a while, makes you more human ... and you can always count on me to help when it happens!" He finished with a small grin tugging at his lips.
"So … you're not leaving?" She asked, her voice small and uncertain.
"What? What do you mean … Oh! So when I said I was leaving you thought I said leaving like … for good?" He answered, his eyebrows up to his hairline.
"No … I don't know I just … I wasn't thinking straight and I … I just can't lose you too Fitz but if this is all too much I'd understand …"
"Jemma no!" He cut her off with an intensity that surprised her. "I'm not going anywhere, I just needed an hour or two to vent. I'm not gonna leave you over something so ridiculous. You'll always have me Jemma, whatever happens …"
He'd turned around a bit in the booth to face her more fully and only now she was realizing how close to each other they were. She had promised herself not to cry, she did enough of that in the past months and she didn't want to cause a scene here. But when Fitz was looking at her with such unbridled affection and sincerity and saying such beautiful things, there wasn't much she could do to stop her lips from quivering and the tears from falling.
"C'mere …" He said softly, immediately surging forward and enveloping her in a tight hug. Her arms went automatically around his waist and she nestled her head in the crook of his neck.
"Oh Fitz …" She sighed as she was already starting to relax thanks to the soothing feeling of the impossible warmth of his hands permeating even through her blouse.
"Jemma?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Mmhmm"
"Do you want cake?" He said in his most innocent voice and she burst out laughing through the last of her tears. "What? I'm serious!" He cried out, sounding a little offended.
"I know …" She answered with a big smile as she reluctantly moved away from him. "You really think cake can make anything better, don't you?"
"Well you're laughing and smiling now so it does work!" He grinned.
"No Fitz … you're the one who makes things better." She said before pressing a kiss to his cheek and he gave her shoulder an awkward little squeeze.
"You know for what it's worth, it's only been three months and all things considered I think you're doing pretty good. Things couldn't be better at work, Amy's got good grades but she's a teenager, she's bound to be a little rebellious at some point ... and you even managed to make our flat look like something out of a magazine! I just think you need a break every once in a while …" He said softly. It was true that things had been doing well until now, they were both being praised at work and several of their colleagues joked about the fact that they would probably become co-directors of Sci-Ops before they turn thirty and Amy was fitting pretty well in high school. She already had more friends than Jemma ever had in all her time there, however short it was.
"Yeah … I guess I should stop wanting everything to be perfect …"
"Yes! And if that helps, next time I'll take your side even if it goes against what I …"
"No Fitz!" She cut him off. "It annoys me to admit it but Amy was right when she reminded me that our parents always taught us to stand for what we believe in and so … she was probably right to do so and so did you! You have strong moral principles and I love you for it!" She finished and it's only when he started blushing that she realized what she just said. Of course they were best friends and it's always been implied that they loved each other deeply but now that she thought of it, they probably never said it out loud. She was starting to wonder if she should say something else to defuse the slight tension there but then he gave her a wide, if slightly bashful smile and she decided it was perfect that way.
-0-0-0-
"I can't believe you called him Dobby just to try and influence me!" Jemma said, looking both at Fitz and Amy in the rear view mirror and they both snickered.
"it's not JUST for that!" Fitz answered. "Amy freed him and you have to admit he kinda looks like Dobby!"
"It's green!"
"Well apart from that obviously!"
"And why do you even call him he, how do you know it's male?" Jemma added with a smirk.
"We don't, he just looked like it!" Amy answered matter of factly. "We weren't gonna go and check that, he'd suffered enough, he deserved to have a little privacy … honestly Jemma!" She added, sounding a little offended and Fitz nodded eagerly.
Jemma rolled her eyes at that but she was actually really glad that Fitz and Amy got along so well. They were the two most important persons in her life now and it made her life so much simpler and easier, even if their tendency to gang up on her was quite annoying.
"And I can't believe you're going to make me spend my Saturday afternoon freeing a bloody frog!" She added for good mesure.
"Well we couldn't just free her anywhere could we?" Fitz answered. "And it'll be nice to spend some time outside the city as well, you're the one who said the place looked lovely!"
And it was. After finding a pond that seemed like the perfect place to release Dobby, they took the small frog out of the little box Fitz and Amy had crafted for its transport and put it on the grass just next to it. After a moment's hesitation, the poor animal that probably never knew the feeling of grass or what fresh air felt like, let instinct take over and hopped its way towards the water without a look back. Jemma was pretty sure she saw both Amy and Fitz's eyes get shiny but she didn't say a thing. It was just too adorable that they could both get attached so quickly.
The rest of the afternoon was spent having a picnic under the trees, reading, walking and lying down on the grass having endless conversations Amy didn't even pretend to understand. When they came home after spending hours under the late autumn sun, the three of them had a smatter of freckles across their cheeks and nose and Jemma took a picture that would remind her, years later, as one of her favorite moment with her new family.