This is a oneshot I've written for FitzSimmons week on tumblr, which takes place July 13-19. Happy FitzSimmons Week!
Simmons opened her eyes to a familiar room. She sat against a metal wall on a cold floor. Everything was as she remembered it. The dim light, the dark ocean outside the narrow window, and the cold air that seeped into her skin. But unlike last time she didn't have the suffocating fear, only the depression that followed her everywhere.
"Did I wake you?"
The voice startled her. She looked up to see Fitz sitting across the small room, leaned against the wall like she was.
"Fitz?" she asked. "What are you doing here?" He was dressed in the same clothes as last time, his arm still in a sling, and his face bruised and cut, just like it had been.
He shrugged. "This is the last place you remember me being so…here I am."
She frowned. "That's odd. You weren't here last night. I distinctly remember going to sleep and dreaming of this place, except the water was flooding through the window." She shuddered. "It was so clear.
"So is this a dream then?" he asked. Fitz's face seemed to say I'm not falling for that one. "Nice try Simmons. Just cuz I'm a bit sleepy doesn't mean you can go and pull a prank on me. I still haven't forgiven you for the last time."
"What? The shaving cream? I told you that wasn't me."
"I know it was you."
"It wasn't!"
He frowned in confusion. "Now that's a mystery. But it doesn't change a thing."
"So you think we're awake?" she asked.
"Yes," he said confidently. "We're under the ocean and the only way out is to blow the glass. It's an excellent plan and it's going to work."
"You don't seem very concerned," she pointed out.
"Please Simmons," he snorted. "It's not like we're trapped in a Russian facility with no extraction plan and a hundred guys out to find us. If I can make it out of that I can get us out of here. Especially without Ward around."
Simmons watched Fitz play with a thread on his shirt sleeve. If only he wasn't just a figment of her imagination. Even in her dreams she couldn't forget the truth: that the real Fitz had yet to open his eyes.
"I'm mad at you."
Fitz looked up. "What? What'd I do this time?"
She rolled her eyes. "Fitz, you can stop pretending. I know you're a projection of my subconscious so logically, you should know everything that I know. You're just avoiding the subject."
His bemused facade dropped and he looked down.
"Why did you do it?" Simmons asked quietly.
"Well that's a ridiculous question. You know why."
"I… What I mean to say is…I wish you hadn't."
He looked up with a pained smile. "Sorry. It was the only thing I could do."
She heaved a sigh. "You could have at least held your breath."
He gave her a pointed look. "I wasn't expecting someone to start pulling me to safety. And now that I think about it, I'm mad at you too."
"Oh, Fitz."
"You weren't supposed to save me. That was a stupid risk."
"Stupid!? That's what I should be saying to you!"
He looked away from her, a dozen emotions flitting across his face. Simmons' irritation receded as quickly as it had come.
"Sorry," they said at the same time. Then they exchanged a smile. Simmons stood up and went over to him, sitting herself down so they were arm to arm.
"What have you been up to?" he asked. "You better not be moping around all the time. That would just make me feel bad."
Simmons couldn't answer truthfully to that one. 'Moping around' didn't seem like a strong enough phrase for what she'd been up to. "Aren't you going to ask about everyone?" she asked. "They're all fine by the way and busy keeping me occupied."
"That must be quite a job. Hey, have any of the I.C.E.R.s broken? Don't even think of letting someone else fix them. And you know my lab space is off-limits to anyone but you. That's an order."
She suppressed a laugh. "Don't worry Fitz. You're going to wake up very soon and then I can show you around the Playground."
"I concur. I've probably had enough sleep now to last me a month. And I wouldn't want you to get lonely."
Simmons glanced down, suddenly feeling like crying. She was already lonely. Unbelievably so. But for now, he felt real and his presence numbed her pain. Simmons put her hand over his. "If you don't want me to be lonely, then you better come back soon." Her next words were almost inaudible. "I need you there Fitz."
The last thing she remembered before her eyes closed and she drifted off, was Fitz squeezing her hand in return.
Simmons awoke holding onto his hand, in the same place she'd been sleeping for weeks. Right at his bedside, where she could watch over him.