Fitz worked around the clock on his device to reverse the brainwashing. He hardly at or slept. He would only really speak to Skye, if he spoke at all. He was hell bent on getting the device completed. Coulson was planning a major strike on Hydra. With Skye's virus working its way through their systems, it was only a matter of time before S.H.I.E.L.D would have to perfect window to attack.

Fitz and Skye became an unstoppable force. They spent every minute they could together. Between meals and training sessions with May, Skye would go to the lab and help Fitz with anything he needed. She even went so far as to let him use her as a human guinea pig, letting him try to erase selected memories from her mind. Nothing important, just little things about the Rising Tide or her time in foster care. Something that she would not miss.

"Right, now the memories we removed yesterday were about the Rising Tide." Fitz muttered as he calibrated the latest prototype of the memory recovery device.

He held up a picture of Skye's old boyfriend, Miles.

"Do you recognize this guy?" he asked her.

Skye studied the picture and her brow furrowed.

"Vaguely. I think…did I work with him at some point?" she questioned.

Fitz pursed his lips in thought.

"Sort of." he responded.

He did some more calibrations on his machine.

"That's good though. Simmons never completely forgot anything, her memories were just…altered I guess." he mumbled.

He stopped working for a second and sighed, rubbing his eyes a bit. He was so tired. As helpful as Skye was trying to be, he needed Simmons. She could give helpful insights as to how the brain worked and suggest different techniques for unlocking memories. As it was, Fitz was having to go through a lot more trial and error than he was used to. He felt bad about experimenting on Skye but, truthfully, that was the driving force of his research. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Skye looking at him with determination.

"You can get it, Fitz. I know you can." she encouraged.

Fitz gave her a small smile and nodded.

"I know. Thank you." he said gratefully.

He went back to his tinkering.

"For what it's worth, you have been a fantastic help. I wouldn't have nearly as much data without you, my little lab rat." he joked lightly.

Skye snorted and rolled her eyes. But she smiled.

"I just wish I could do more. What you really need is a Simmons surrogate. Someone who can speak your language and help you work through things from a medical perspective." she said earnestly.

"Maybe I can help?"

Fitz and Skye turned to see Tripp standing in the doorway of the lab. He walked over to the pair, a determined look on his face.

"You two have been hacking away at this by yourselves for days now. Maybe it's time for a fresh perspective?" he offered.

Fitz and Skye looked at one another. Skye shrugged.

"It couldn't hurt, Fitz." she suggested.

Fitz looked at Tripp. He was not a fan of the guy. Hadn't been since they day he came on the Bus and started, in Fitz's eyes, coming on to Simmons. But he was offering help and Fitz needed as much of that as he could get. So, he smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, that'd be great." he replied pleasantly.

Tripp smiled and came over to check out their progress.

"So, what have you got so far?" he asked.

"Well, I've gotten the memory replacement and erasing part pretty much down. Now I'm just trying to work on the recovery process. I've successfully erased and altered a couple of Skye's memories so now I just need to reverse the process but that's proving a bit more difficult." Fitz explained.

"What about hat machine you recovered when you saved Coulson? The one that helped him remember the truth about T.A.H.I.T.I." Tripp suggested.

Fitz and Skye exchanged knowing looks.

"That's kind of the nuclear option. As much as that machine helped A.C, it hurt him even more. We want to avoid using it on Simmons." Skye explained.

Tripp nodded in understanding and looked at Fitz

"But, you know, it couldn't hurt to take a look at it and see if there is any tech in it that you might be able to use for your device." he suggested.

Fitz blinked in surprise.

"That's…actually not a bad idea." he said.

Skye smiled hopped up off her seat.

"Well, while you two get started on that, I have to take a quick shower and take care of something." she said as she took off.

Fitz went and got his Dwarfs out. Tripp looked over his shoulder and smiled.

"Bet you missed these guys, huh?" he asked.

"I miss Simmons more." Fitz mumbled as he took Bashful out of the case.

Tripp frowned and sighed.

"Look, dude, I know what you and Simmons have is special. I respect that. But don't make the mistake of thinking you're the only one who's losing sleep over this." he warned quietly.

Fitz looked up at Tripp. That's when he noticed the bags under the other man's bloodshot eyes. He wasn't kidding about losing sleep. He looked almost as bad as Fitz did. Fitz offered him a sympathetic half smile.

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just…"

Fitz looked down at the Dwarfs.

"When I was six years old, my mum's old transistor radio broke. It was the only thing she had left from my dad. She was devastated. So much so that she didn't want to throw it out. While she was at work one day, I got it out of her bedroom and started messing with it. I spent hours taking it apart and going over every piece. I even asked my neighbor, who had a collection, if I could borrow one of hers so I could see what it was all supposed to look like. My mum came home and I brought it to her. When she turned it on and music came out, tears came to her eyes. She hugged me so tightly…."

Fitz trailed off as he turned Bashful over in his hands, inspecting his little gadget absently.

"Ever since, I've always loved fixing things. Everyone in my neighborhood would come to me with all sorts broken things; from farm equipment to computers. And I could always fix it. Even if I had never seen anything like it before, I could always figure it out."

The engineer tried to keep his chin from trembling and his voice from breaking but he didn't have much luck.

"But now…when the woman I lo-… the woman I care for…when she needs me the most…It's not something I can fix. I keep trying, thinking 'If I can jus-t run a few more simulations.' or 'Maybe a few more tests will give me the answer.'…but I'm failing."

Two large teardrops splashed onto Bashful and Fitz tightened his grip around the device.

"I'm not like you, Tripp. I'm not a specialist. I don't have a varied skill set that I can whip out anytime I need it. Fixing things is all I have. And I can't fix this. I'm…I'm useless!" he whispered fiercely.

After a moment, Tripp spoke up.

"If you really believe that, then maybe you are." he said plainly.

He grabbed Fitz's shoulder gently and turned him around to look in his eyes.

"I've seen what you can do, Fitz. Fixing isn't all you've got. The things you make, the things you do…it's incredible. Now maybe your physical skill set is limited. But you have heart, Fitz. And that's what matters at the end of the day. Any dumbass can learn how to shoot a gun or how to kick a guy's face in. But no one can learn how to have heart. You either got it or you don't. You got it in spades. And that's what makes you so good at what you do. Sure, a lot of it has to do with how godamn smart you are but the real important thing is what you put into it: your soul."

Tripp leveled his eyes a Fitz.

"That's why I know you can figure this out. You're right, Jemma needs you. That's why you're going to fix it."

A smile pulled at the corner of Fitz's mouth.

"You're right."

He took a deep breath and sighed.

"Simmons needs me. I can do this." he said, reassuring himself.

Tripp smiled and patted Fitz's shoulder.

"There you go, big guy." he encouraged.

"Now let's get to that machine." he coaxed.

Fitz nodded and wiped Bashful off before grabbing his controller and following Tripp to the storage room.

~*#*~

It only took a few minutes for Fitz to do a complete internal and external scan of the machine. Once he was done, he and Tripp headed back to the lab to go over the specs together. Tripp was no Simmons but he was still a lot of help in the 'spitballing' process. The two went over the layout again and again and always came back to the same conclusion: the most effective way of bringing old memories back was with pain. Physical or emotional, it didn't matter. Pain was the most sound, most effective, and most consistent way of digging through the brain and bringing to light the things that people forgot. Fitz sighed and dug his fingers through his hair.

"There's got to be another way." he whispered hopelessly.

Tripp rubbed the back of his neck and shook his head.

"Maybe, man, but it's gonna take us a lot longer to find it." he said, resigned.

Fitz looked at the data again and shook his head.

"Well, the only way to be sure is with testing. I'll go see if Skye's up for it." he said as he left the lab.

He went out into the hall and started toward Skye's room. On the way there, he ran into Hunter. The mercenary agent smiled.

"Well, finally come out of your secret lair I see. Finally get to missing the real world?" Hunter teased.

Fitz smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Nah, the fake world of Science and Engineering is much more fun." he joked back.

Hunter laughed and patted his shoulder.

"Looking for something then, mate?" he asked.

Fitz nodded.

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, have you seen Skye?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, she's in her super-secret basement room." Hunter said with a nod.

Fitz looked at the other man questioningly.

"Super-secret basement room?" he asked.

"Yeah, she goes down there every once in a while and comes back really pissy. I think there's someone down there, an ex-Hydra agent or something, and she practices her interrogation skills on him." Hunter explained.

Fitz nodded slowly, not quite sure what to make of the situation.

"Right, um…where is that exactly?" Fitz asked.

Hunter pointed down the hall.

"Follow this al the way down, hang a left to the stairs." he instructed.

Fitz nodded and started off.

"Thanks." he said as he passed Hunter.

Secret room? Fitz had never heard anything about Skye having a secret room. Maybe that was just Hunter messing with him. Well, Fitz needed to find Skye anyway. Might as well see what this was all about. He found the stairs and made his way down. He stopped on the landing and stood in front of the door. He considered knocking. But he was curious. And, if this were really a secret room, Skye would never let him in if he knocked. So, very quietly, he opened the door and slid inside. He froze in his tracks when he saw the secret. In the middle of the room was a chair, which Skye was sitting in. In front of her, seemingly roaming free, was Ex-Agent Grant Douglas Ward. Fitz felt all of the blood rush to his cheeks in uninhibited anger. Ward was the first to spot him. He looked at Skye and pointed toward Fitz.

"We have a visitor." he said calmly.

Skye whipped around. She paled when she saw the engineer.

"Fitz." she whispered, horrified.

Fitz didn't say anything. What could he say? Words absolutely failed him. He just shook his head and stormed out, slamming the door behind him. Once outside, he leaned his head on the wall opposite the door. Angry sobs rose from his chest. He felt so betrayed. How could Skye do this? Keep this from him? The man who had almost killed him, who had put Simmons in the hospital, was living just under their feet. He heard the door open and clenched his fists. He turned on Skye, furious.

"I trusted you!" he spat.

Skye held up her hands, attempting to calm the scientist down.

"Fitz, let me explain." she said calmly.

"What is there to explain, Skye? You kept this from us, I had a right to know! Simmons had a right to know!" he yelled.

Skye shook her head.

"No, Fitz, we were trying to protect you. We knew that thi-"

"We?" Fitz asked, cutting her off. "How many other people knew, Skye?" he demanded.

Skye sighed.

"Just me, May and Coulson." she admitted. "But I swear, Fitz, it was only to protect you!"

Fitz was near hyperventilating now. He paced around, unsure of what to do. He glared at Skye and got right up in her face.

"For nine days, Skye! Nine goddamn days she was comatose in that bed! And all that time, you were having secret rendezvous with her would-be killer!" he screamed angrily.

"What, you think I liked that, Fitz? I hate him for what he's done! You aren't the only one he betrayed! But he knows stuff about Hydra, that's the only reason he's still here! That's how I knew where to start looking for you and Simmons!" she reasoned.

But Fitz was far from reason. He backed away from her, shaking his head.

"You stay away from me! Stay the bloody hell away from me!" he threatened as he retreated back up the stairs.

When he got to the top, Coulson was there, looking at him pityingly.

"Fitz, we didn't do this to hurt you." he said simply.

Fitz looked at Coulson. His faith in this man had been shaken but, other than Simmons, he was the one person Fitz felt like he could really trust. Fitz took a deep, shaky breath and an even shakier sigh escaped his lips.

"Why did you hide it from me?" he whispered pleadingly.

"I thought it was best. I was wrong." Coulson admitted.

"I've been struggling with this T.A.H.I.T.I. thing for so long now that I've forgotten what it was like to find out that it was hidden from me. I should never have done that to you and I'm sorry." he said calmly.

Fitz nodded, tears still threatening to spill.

"I'm still not happy about it but…I guess I understand."

Coulson nodded in understanding and then sucked in a breath.

"I came to tell you both that we're going to make our strike on Hydra. Skye's virus has crippled their systems so, now's our chance. I'm putting you two on Simmons. Hopefully they'll be too focused on the rest of us to worry about her." he reported.

Fitz nodded.

"I'll do my best, sir." he said determinedly.

~*#*~

"I'll do my best, sir." Simmons said dutifully.

Hector smiled and cupped her chin, smiling at her flirtatiously.

"And what will you do your best at?" he purred.

Simmons gave a wicked smirk.

"Killing Agent Fitz." she growled.

Merry Christmas everyone! ^_^ Thank you all for your support! Please review, follow, and favorite! We're in the home stretch now so bare with me for at least two more chapters! Thanks again and I'll see you all after the holidays!