"Who was that?" Fitz asked from where he was leaning against the door of their shared lab and snorted childishly when he saw that he startled her.

"Hmm?" She answered, turning around and looking weirdly flustered.

"The big hog faced guy who just left, don't think I've seen him around before …" He said as he let himself fall on his chair and slide away towards his desk and she rolled her eyes. He knew she always chastised him for acting so childishly in the lab all while secretly wishing she could do the same.

"He doesn't have a …" She started before stopping when she saw his teasing grin. "That's Daniel, the consultant from Nasa I was working with on that anti-parasitic substance …"

"You know I still think it's terrifying that you're working on killing parasites FROM SPACE …" He shuddered.

"I told you they're not parasites from space, it's just …"

"Anyway I thought you'd finished working on this …" He cut her off. "You're not gonna leave me alone with the lab assistants again? I think they're plotting to kill me since I said I could replace them all with chimpanzees …" He pouted and she chuckled. "It was a compliment Jemma! Chimpanzees are really smart AND they can hold things with both their hands AND their feet! Nathanson can barely hold things with his hands ..." He finished and she laughed some more, moving towards him to ruffle his now shorter hair affectionately like he always remembered her doing. He never understood what was this obsession with his hair the women in his life all had and he swatted his hand away in a way that made her smile even wider.

"No don't worry, I'm back at the lab full time but hum … actually I wanted to ask you something …" She let out a little bashfully, wringing her hands nervously in her lap.

"Sure anything for you Jem!" He let out matter of factly and her smile was at the same time fond and embarrassed and his brows furrowed in confusion. It was not like it was the first time he told her something like that.

"Well hum … Daniel actually came to ask me out on a date …"

"Oh … Okayyyy?" Of course Hog face was interested in her. It wasn't the first time a colleague asked Jemma out, she had a charming very friendly personnality and obviously she was beyond smart and pretty but what did it have to do with him?

"And I wanted to ask you first to make sure …"

"What? ask me out?" He cut her off.

"No Fitz! Ask you if you didn't mind me going …" She said with a slightly sheepish smile and he still didn't understand. Did she think HE wanted to go out with her? No that didn't make any sense!

"Of course I don't … Why wouldn't I want you going?" He asked. Well that was a lie of course he did mind. Maybe it was terribly selfish of him but he hated it when she had a boyfriend because they were never good enough for her but it always took her more time than him to realize it and in the meantime, there was less Jemma time for him. Not to mention that he looked way older than she was and he never liked the way lecherous older men looked at Jemma even when she was sixteen.

"It's just … since we moved in together, you've been so great, helping me everyday with Amy and everything, you haven't been going out or seen or met other people and I feel … guilty going out while you don't …" Jemma answered and Fitz couldn't help chuckling, partly from the ridiculousness of her statement and partly to hide his guilt about not telling her about their neighbor. Not that there was much to tell, since that first time she gave him her number a few weeks ago, he'd only seen her two times next to the mailboxes and he still wasn't even sure if she was flirting or not. Which was probably the reason he didn't tell Jemma, he didn't want to bother her with such unimportant things.

"Yeah because I used to be such a social butterfly before …" He let out with a teasing grin and she rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Okay then … are you sure? Cause I said I had to check with you first and I'd text him to confirm or not and I can always cancel and we can order pizza and …"

"No Jemma 's fine! We're 21, at least one of us should have some sort of social life!" He sighed and she smiled sympathetically as she stood up to come closer to him, leaning against his desk.

"Okay then … thank you Fitz." She said, giving his arm a small squeeze before her smile turned a little mischievous.

"Well I don't know about a social life but you could always go and pick up Amy from school if you want a nice ego boost …"

"Urgh again with that! I told you both Principal Whatshername is not interested in me, she's old enough to be my mum it's disgusting … She just finds me interesting and wanted to pick my brain about something …"

"Yeah sure it was definitely your brain she was looking at …" Jemma grinned and his brows furrowed in confusion. "Anyway that's not what I meant. Have you seen how many girls came to the second workshop we gave at the school compared to the first one?" She asked and his confusion just grew stronger.

"Yeah well our first one was amazing, especially that part I did on the drones, prettttty proud of myself on this one!" He grinned.

"Oh sweet innocent Fitz ..." she let out, shaking her head in amusement. "WE were really good but have you seen the way those girls looked at you?" She added with an arched eyebrow.

"Oh yeah all whispering and giggling together ... probably making fun of us nerds ... vicious little creatures fifteen years old girls, I remember them!" He said with a slightly disgusted face as a shudder literally ran through his body. To be fair he'd been twelve when he had to hang around fifteen years old girls but most of them had been just as ruthless with him as they were with each other.

"Well I remember BEING a fifteen years old girl ..." Jemma answered, poking at his chest. "And even with my superior intellect I wouldn't have been able to resist a handsome older man with a charming exotic accent!" She added, making Fitz blush slightly until a wide grin appeared on his face.

"So handsome man with a charming exotic accent ... Is that how you see me?" He asked, arching a teasing eyebrow.

"Well ... being English, I don't exactly consider a Scottish accent to be exotic ..." She answered smiling softly down at him and his heart made a funny little flip in his chest when their eyes met and locked for a moment. Until he remembered she had a date some time soon and what his own perspectives were.

"Well great … it's good to know I just had to wait till I was twenty one to attract fifteen years old girl ... " He said pouting. "While you're on your date I'll go invent that time machine and tell my fifteen years old self about that, at least that should make HIM feel better!"

-0-0-0-

He was able to whip out a small essay on space-time theory and quantum physics in about an hour and still get an A yet somehow Fitz had been thinking on what to write in this text message for the better part of the afternoon and for now all he had was "Hey Linda, this is your neighbor Fitz :-)" and he wasn't even sure about the smiley face, might make him look immature considering she was already older than he was.

He'd thought about several options to finish it: "I was wondering if you were actually flirting with me the other day and if that's so just give me a few days to decide if I want to do something about it." or "I don't know if I'm interested in you but my best friend's on a date and it bothers me so would you like to go out on a potentially very depressing kind of date with me to probably talk about the confusing images of half human half hog babies I've been imagining these days" but somehow he'd dismissed them all.

Because it was true that being home while Jemma was on a date with Hogface, he realized that it bothered him more than he thought it would. Yes he thought this guy probably didn't deserve her and yes he didn't want this guy to take up all her time but there was something else also. The beginning had been a bit complicated but now it really felt like they were a strange little family the three of them -even though he didn't really know what their roles were supposed to be- and he didn't want some guy to disrupt this nice balance. It had to be that, it couldn't be anything else.

"Fitz!" The shrill voice of Amy interrupted him in his reflections as she came into the living room from the hallway.

Fitz quickly put his phone away, he really didn't need her to put her nose in his very hypothetic social life.

« Yeah?"

"What are you doing?" She asked with a suspiciously sweet tone as she flopped down beside him with her notebook and a pen and he squinted at her.

"Depends on what you're going to ask of me?"

"Whaaaaat?" She answered, trying to look shocked. She really wasn't better than her sister when it came to lying. "I'm just interested in your life Fitz …"

Fitz crossed his arms over his chest and gave her his best disbelieving look.

"BUT …" She finally said with a too soft smile after a moment, "If you happen to have a bit of free time at the moment, I would really appreciate if you could check my maths homework … it's nothing big really, shouldn't take more than a few minutes with your amazingly brilliant brain and I really need to ..."

"Fine fine I'll do it! No need to butter me up … just give me that …" He grumbled before taking the notebook she handed him. Even as basic as this, working on some maths problems should take his mind off all those things that left him too confused.

"Thanks Fitz, you're the best!" She chirped before planting a kiss on his cheek and standing up to go towards the kitchen. « I'll go make us some tea" She added, giving him a more sincere smile. As much as she liked to abuse of his tendency to do pretty much anything for -apparently- both Simmons girls, he knew she actually really appreciated him for him and not only for that.

"Yeah yeah … we'll see if you still think that when I finally cash out on all those house chores you promised to do for me in exchange for checking your homework …" He answered, mumbling under his breath and she giggled lightly. Apparently his grumpy Scott act had already lost all impact on her … well at least it still lasted longer than it did on Jemma who'd taken on ruffling his hair and smiling fondly like he was just a hungry little puppy. Which probably didn't help when she did in front of Amy.

-0-0-0-

"'s almost all good! You just need to re check this last equation, you dropped a sign at some point, makes it all wrong after that." He said when she brought tea and biscuits on the coffee table a few minutes later and he couldn't help a pleased little smile when her eyes widened at how fast he'd been. It was still nice to be reminded of his genius, even if it wasn't exactly genius level mathematics.

Thanking him, she took the notebook back and sat down next to him on the sofa as she waited for the tea to cool down a bit. As the silence grew longer, Fitz started getting lost in his thoughts again. He'd brought tons of work to keep busy that night, not feeling like watching the documentary on the Amazon they had bookmarked for weeks and which Jemma had forgotten about when she agreed on the date. It was fine really, they could always record it and watch it later but still …

"Here … drink it before it's cold." Amy said, giving him his cup as she apparently picked up on his distractedness.

"Thanks mini Simmons …" He answered almost automatically as he took it from her and she sighed. He'd taken on the habit of calling her that when she did something very Jemma-esque like telling him to eat his vegetables or chastise him when he left mugs of untouched cold tea all around the apartment.

"You know I'm taller than Jemma, right? So it really doesn't make any sense to call me mini-Simmons, if anything she …" She said, crossing her arms on her chest with a slightly smug smile.

"It's not a matter of height, she was born first so …"

"And I will probably grow to be taller than you too …" She cut him off and he glared at her.

"Oh okay … then maybe I should call you mean-Simmons you tall freak …" He grumbled and she grinned widely. "And we're not short, it's other people that are too tall …"

"Sure Frodo …"

As annoyed as he tried to appear, he kind of liked this type of banter he had with Amy. He grew up an only child with no other relative leaving close by and no cousin that he knew of. And even if people used to say that Jemma and him were like twins the way they finished each other's sentences, their connection was something different and unique he didn't even think could exist back when he was a child and fell asleep wishing he'd have a brother or sister because they would HAVE to love him and then his life wouldn't be quite so lonely. But with Amy, they didn't have much in common. Without certain circumstances, they would probably never have talked to each other but now they could count on each other whatever happened all while really enjoy teasing each other and he gathered that it was the best definition of siblings relationship.

"So … Jemma's working late tonight?" Amy asked after some time.

"No … she's on her date …" He mumbled back.

"Oh riiiiight …" She let out with a small knowing smile. "Forgot it was tonight … that's why you're in such a bad mood …"

"What? No I don't care ... Why would it put me in a bad mood?" He asked, wincing at how unnaturally fast the words came out of his mouth.

"Duuh … maybe 'cause you like her?"

"Of course I like her, she's been my best friend for five years! Good job on this one Sherlock …" He grinned.

"No you idiot, you LIKE her like her … like you wanna marry her and live with her in a cottage in Perthshire with a huge garden full of daisies and give her plenty of tiny genius babies!" She said, arching a defiant eyebrow. "Okay the Perthshire thing is Jemma's but you're Scottish so it still works!"

"What-what … that's ridiculous … Jemma wants to live in Perthshire?" He asked and chastised himself for the little flutter in his chest at the idea. Perthshire really was a beautiful place and it wasn't surprising that Jemma would want to live there. It didn't have anything to do with him.

"Yeah … been wanting this since she was a teenager and we went on holidays there …" Amy answered, her smile now more soft than teasing. "Would make sense to live there with an actual Scot don't you think?"

"Urgh will you stop that? I'm not-this is not why I'm … okay fine that's why I'm in a bad mood but it's not what you think okay?" He finally let out, putting his cup of tea away and grabbing a pillow he hugged to his chest. Amy just gave him an incredulous look. "Look, your sister has a terrible taste in men, you've met Milton, right? » Fitz said and she nodded reluctantly. « And this guy is going to be no better, there's something weird with him, I mean he's too young to have this job at NASA without being a genius -which he isn't I checked- but he's still ten years older than Jem and it's creeping me out … but that's not the point, it's not going to end well and I don't want to see her being sad and disappointed again …"

Amy's look was a little bit more knowing and a little bit less disbelieving. Of course she knew for a fact that all of Jemma's boyfriends had been huge disappointments and that as smart as she was, Jemma was always the last one to notice. But if she was as stubborn as her sister, she wouldn't let go of her theory so quickly.

"Especially since she obviously has the perfect man for her living just two doors away from her …" She finally said after a minute of looking at him with her best enigmatic smile.

"Arghhh" He cried out, letting his head fall into his pillow. "Isn't it past your bedtime already?" He asked, his voice muffled by the pillow.

"It's not even 8 pm … And I haven't had a bedtime in years anyway!"

"Well maybe it's time you get one, you look tired, you probably go to bed way too late!" He grinned.

"Sure … so you and Jemma can get more alooooone time …" She answered, batting her eyebrows at him with an innocent smile.

"Oh just shut up!" He finally sighed, throwing his pillow at her face and snorted when she completely failed to avoid it.

"Did you really just start a pillow fight with me Fitz?" She asked, holding the pillow menacingly in one hand as she straightened up.

"Of course no Amy, I'm an adult!"

"Oh really?"

"Hmmhmm" He said as he discreetly grabbed the small pillow behind his back. Amy would never see it coming.

-0-0-0-

Jemma came home to what looked like a battlefield after a war between two armies of five years old. The couch and armchairs had been turned around to face each other and blankets had been added to create some sort of tent on both sides. Also, it looked like all the pillows and cushions in the house, including the ones from her room, had been brought to the living room and used to fight.

Before she had the time to decide if she was more exasperated or amused by the fact that she apparently moved in with two fifteen years old instead of one, Fitz entered the living room.

"For my defense she started it …" He let out, apparently as a way of explaining the state of their living room. "Well technically no I started it but she was being very annoying …" He added with a slightly sheepish smile as he probably heard how bad of an excuse it was. "You know she has no respect for her elders, you should talk to her about that …"

"Maybe she'd have more respect if her eldest acted like actual older people …" Jemma answered with a wide grin as she took in his appearance. He'd traded the more sober very smart looking shirts and slacks he'd been wearing since they started working at Sci-Ops for jeans and one of his old plaid shirts as well as a tie … tied around his head, karate style.

"Yeah … but where's the fun in that?" He grinned and she could only grab the closest cushion to throw it at his face with a giggle.

-0-0-0-

"So where's my sister and why I am the one helping you put our living room back together instead of her?" Jemma sighed breathlessly as she helped Fitz put the couch back to his usual place on the carpet.

"She was tired and I didn't feel like going to bed before you came back anyway and since I thought you'd be home later …" He said with a slightly awkward smile as he grabbed the cushions piled on the floor and started arranging them on the couch and armchairs. Yes, she supposed that coming back from a first date at 10 PM wasn't a very good sign. But she didn't exactly feel like talking about it for the moment so she decided to focus on the rest of his sentence.

"You're such a softie …" She let out with a smile that was half-teasing half-tender.

"No I told you, it only made sense that …"

"No Fitz, you'd do anything she asks of you because you always wanted a sibling growing up, and it's adorable but you don't have to do so much for her to like you, and I know you would have stayed up all night to make sure I'd come home safe, you already did that at the Academy and we didn't even technically live together …" She said and his small blush told her that he knew she was right. And she knew that as well when she was on her date with hog … Daniel. And even though she should have focused on getting to know him better, she couldn't help wondering what Fitz was doing at the moment and she actually hoped he'd still be up when she gets home. Because even though they'd been spending pretty much every waking moment together in the last few months, she'd actually missed him that evening and that fact was a little confusing.

"Well … yeah … I like our strange little family and … you're my favorite person, of course I wanna make sure you got home safe!" He answered matter of factly.

"Oh Fitz …" She sighed as she let herself fall on the couch. He was so completely adorable, how could anyone compare to that?

Recognizing her slightly defeated attitude, he didn't say a thing and went straight to the fridge to grab two beers, opened them and came back to sit next to her. For a moment, they just drank in silence, appreciating the familiarity of just being in each other's presence.

"So I take it the date didn't go too well …" He let out, his tone sympathetic but she could swear there was a hint of hope in it. She knew he never liked any of the few boyfriends she's had since they joined the Academy. And she couldn't blame him because in the end, she'd almost always had to admit he was right from the beginning. To the point where her first criteria when deciding wether to go out with someone or not was to ask herself if Fitz would like him.

"Urgh!" She cried out, letting her head fall on his shoulder and he immediately opened his arm for her to snuggle closer.

"I'm sorry Jem …" He let out as he let his own head fall over the top of her head ans started rubbing soothing circles on her arm. "Is that because he really had a hog face?" He whispered in her ear and she burst out laughing.

"Thanks for that by the way ... couldn't think of anything else all night!" She whined. She could have swatted his chest when she felt him grin but she was much too comfortable that way.

"Must have kept you occupied at least …" He let out and she could have thought he sounded a little too pleased that she had such a disappointing evening if she didn't know he just liked having her all to his own in a way that was probably not completely healthy but really sweet.

"You're not even wrong …" She sighed. It's not that her date was a complete disaster. Daniel was still attractive, even though she couldn't completely deny the fact that he kind of had a hog face, and he was just as nice and funny in a dark way as he'd been when they worked together. But somehow chatting ten minutes every once in a while on their coffee break wasn't the same as spending several hours together. They went through the usual topics of conversation people had during a first date and it was interesting but it just lacked passion and that "something more" that told her that being with him could be nice but would never last in the long term. Just a year ago, she would probably have given him his chance and gone on a second date but now she didn't feel like wasting time and preferred to spend time with the really important people.

"I don't know why I bother spending time with other people, should have stayed here … looks like you two had way more fun than I had." She let out after a moment and he chuckled.

"We did … but don't tell Amy I said so!"

"Promise …" She grinned. "So who actually won?"

"Theoretically it's not over yet. We agreed on a truce to go get something to eat and then we got lazy …"

"So food really is the solution to world peace …" She let out, her voice slightly muffled as her face was still buried in Fitz's shoulder.

"Always said so!" He said with a childish smile she could feel more than she saw and she felt a sudden wave of tenderness for her best friend. Maybe it was his endearing enthusiasm about the simplest things or the soft feel and nice smell of his shirt but she couldn't help snaking her arm behind his back to hug him tighter. She thought she'd noticed he'd bulked up a bit around the chest and shoulders in the last few months but now she could definitely feel it and it was confirmed by the way the shirt he didn't wear in months hugged his frame a bit more than it used to. She realized she shouldn't care about such things concerning her best friend but it felt nice, confusingly so.

"So what about the plaid shirt? Haven't seen it in a while …" She asked with a soft voice.

"Well I was fighting for Scotland, had to look the part … it was either that or the kilt I wore to my cousin's wedding and I wasn't ready to commit this much …" He answered and they both chuckled.

"How unpatriotic of you … I did miss the plaid shirt though … I like the new super smart shirts, fits you ... but this one is just so soft and fluffy ..." She let out with a contented sigh and even though she was pretty sure he was blushing from her compliment, she still felt him tighten his hold on her in one of his bouts of possessiveness she always found quite endearing. In the corner of her mind, a little voice sounding a lot like Amy told her that best friends were not supposed to make each other feel so warm and content and a little jealous but she chose to ignore it. Fitz and her never had what people would call a normal friendship and she was perfectly happy that way!

"Fitz?" She asked softly after a moment.

"Yeah" He answered, his voice low, barely more than a whisper like he was afraid to break the spell.

"I'm sorry I wasn't there to watch the documentary with you ... I should have rescheduled the date when I remembered it was today ..."

"No 's fine Jem it's just a documentary we can watch it any other time." He cut her off, his tone sincere but she could feel him tense a bit and knew he must have been hurt. She knew of Fitz's abandonment issues and even though he didn't say it, sometimes missing something as trivial as a TV program they were supposed to watch together could make him feel really bad and lose confidence in the strength of their relationship.

"No Fitz I really am, won't happen again for anyone and certainly not for Hogface ..." She said and he laughed sincerely.

"That bad?"

"No I guess not ... but when I mentioned Doctor Who, he said he could never see the appeal ..."

"Ouch ... can't tolerate someone like that in your life!"

"Right?" She said and they both hummed in agreement. "Wanna watch the documentary now? I don't feel like going to bed yet..." She asked as she moved away from him a bit to look into his eyes with a soft smile.

"Sure ..." He answered, giving her shoulder a soft squeeze with a matching smile that warmed her heart.

"Then let me just change into something more comfortable and I'll be right back ..." She said, reluctantly detaching herself from him. But before she stood up, she pressed a kiss to his cheek on impulse and his smile widened.

It was just as well that it didn't work with Daniel really. It's been months now and she didn't feel ready to stop being so affectionate with Fitz and she didn't think she'd be ready anytime soon. When her parents died she supposed that it would just be a temporary thing, the way they seemed to have lost all notion of personal space with each other but now it felt like it was just their new normal. And this was the one unexpected development in her life she couldn't have been happier about.

-0-0-0-

As soon as Jemma left the room, Fitz took out his phone and opened his messaging app. Hesitating for a second, he finally erased the message he'd started typing. His pseudo social life could wait. There would be plenty of evenings spent cuddling and talking and just being around Jemma and that was really all he needed at the moment. And as he waited for her to get changed, he hugged a pillow -one of hers- to his chest and couldn't help smiling as he almost unconsciously stroked his cheek where she kissed him.

Well obviously Daniel is totally inspired by Will but I "changed" his name so this could eventually fit in to canon (even though that's not the plan). I said that I would stop making Will the "bad guy" but apparently I just can't stop myself ^^ Also, Fitz's reasons for not trusting him are obviously the things I thought weren't consistant about the character and made me convinced that there was something wrong with him (even before he died and was infected by Hive). He looked around 35 tops when he met Jemma, which meant that he was 21 tops when he was sent to Maveth, which is really young to already be in NASA. Also who still looks this healthy after fourteen years of seing no sunlight and eating pretty much only plant porridge? And also it's strange that he looks exactly the same as in his picture from fourteen years ago.
So I guess it could have been any slightly boring guy instead of him (and you can chose to read it that way since his name is Daniel and not Will) but I thought it was a good (though much less dramatic) parallel to cannon since I always thought that if Will got to live and come back to Earth, Jemma would have eventually realized that he was a good guy but they didn't have that much in common once they didn't have to fight to survive on a daily basis. Also, I thought it was funny that Fitz voiced the doubts of some of the fans about Will and that he kind of hid behind it to avoid facing his jealousy!

Anyway, sorry for the delay on this chapter and hope you enjoyed it! Hopefully the next one should be here in a week as usual.