Jemma laid out the outfit, swallowing hard as she looked at the fabrics she had ever-so-nearly died in. Triggers were her best option at this point, and to be quite honest, she was getting desperate.
His memories were spotty. He couldn't remember most of the chitauri virus, bits and pieces of most missions, as well as everything that had happened as soon as they had been captured by Ward.
The scientist was determined to focus on one event at a time. First up, in her mind, was the virus. She could trigger visual memories, and possibly audio and vocal recognition. Straightening her sweater a bit, she put her chin up and headed out of her bunk.
Fitz was working when she arrived. His head was bent and he greeted her without a glance up, fingers pulling and twisting at the tiny device in his hands. She returned the hello and went about her own work, throwing questions and comments back and forth as they usually did.
It was a good hour into the day when he stood up, turned to look to where she was tending to the lab rats, and dropped the (thankfully inactive) prototype. Her head jerked upright as the clattering reached her ears.
"Fitz?" He stumbled at her words, balance off and terrifying Simmons. His hands struck the counter and his breathing was hard, heavy as he gripped the edge.
"You almost died." She looked around the room, praying not to see anyone. She saw Coulson round a corner and stop dead, then nearly run from the scene. Good. No one was there to ruin anything.
"You almost killed yourself, Jemma, right there." His arm was thrown up and wavered in the air, finger accusing the loading ramp.
"Oh god, Jem, you almost died."
"So did you." He glanced up at her, then cringed away as though her face only wounded him further.
"Jemma- you- falling- the virus- oh my god," he panted. Like he was a wounded animal, Simmons took a small step forward and lightly placed one of her hands over his.
"Fitz, I'm here," she whispered. "Yes, I almost died, but I'm okay. Just like you."
"Oh my god," he breathed.
"Leo?" He glanced up at her. "How much do you remember?"
"Just- just the chitauri virus. The firefighters, you contracting it, trying to find a cure, the fire- oh my god, Jemma, you hit me in the back of the head with a fire extinguisher." A bit of bubbly laughter escaped the biochemist's lips. "Hey, it's not funny!"
"Of course you remember the fire extinguisher, Fitz. You were ever so indignant about that." Even he cracked a small smile at that, shaking his head slightly.
"Jemma," he sighed, enunciating every syllable and drawing out the name in exasperation.
"Well, you remember now. And we know that visual triggers seem to work for certain events." Grinning, she practically skipped back to her work while Leo muttered something about "too bloody peppy" and "sure, club me with a metal cylinder and laugh". "Now all we have to do is find the triggers for the rest of your memories." The engineer scrunched up his face and rubbed at his eyes, smile barely teasing the edges of his lips.
"Goddammit, Simmons. Don't you ever-"
"Oh, don't you go acting as though you didn't try and do the exact same thing-"
"-and dangerous, and you're not even cleared for combat-"
"-and your stupid self-sacrificing without even considering that I-"
"-plus, we had the cure already-"
"-not even trying to look for another way out-"
"-and just plain stupid."
"-idiotic." There was a moment of silence.
"Jemma, I couldn't keep going without you, you know." The biochemist let out a long sigh, leaning forward on the counter as if to hide.
"Leo, you act as if I don't feel the same," she responded, voice cracked and wounded. Silence rolled in like a fog and lay heavy in the lab as Simmons did her best to keep her eyes from tearing and Leo grasped onto the edge of the counter for dear life.
"Woah. Oh shit, I walked in on something, didn't I?" The two looked up as one and Skye looked just about ready to bolt for the door when faced with teary faces and bags under the eyes. "Right. Okay. Work it out, you two. Laters," she quipped, siding out of the lab, laptop balanced in her hands.
Silence hung by a thread between them. Idle fingers twisted and turned at the hem of a sweater, blue eyes followed the movements as the thread slowly began to fray.
Silence fell to the ground and shattered between them and they both spoke at once.
"Sorry-"
"I'm sorry." Simmons let out a soft sigh and glanced up at her partner. He gave her weak smile and lifted his arms slightly, offering.
She practically ran into them.
They stood there for a moment, holding each other, until Jemma mumbled something into his chest.
"What?" Smiling, she pulled back a bit.
"I'd make you promise never to do something that stupid again, but I could never make that promise myself," she whispered. He nodded slowly.
"How about we promise to talk about it first? No more fire extinguishers and last-minute plan changes." She tilted her head a bit and nodded, tucking herself a little tighter into his embrace than before.
They stayed like that, comforting one and other.
(That is, until Skye wandered into the lab with a bullhorn, repeating "PDA, PDA alert" in a monotone voice with the sound of sirens playing on her laptop behind her. But that's another story.)
