Now - I don't know if you noticed the (AU) in yesterday's chapter title, but that chapter never actually happened - what did happen, was Fitz got home about 4am Christmas Eve, perfectly fine if a bit grumpy that Simmons won the bet, and they lived happily ever after until the scene in Day 12 (Simmons' Death).


So - I take it you really like the heart wrenching tales, and want more of them.

(I kid, I kid ... but feel free to tell me if you like having your heart torn from your body, and I can write some more - not that I probably won't anyway, this way I can just see what sort of soul crushing destruction you like to read.)

And please return to your regularly scheduled fluff.

But - I beg you - to continue leaving your wonderful, amazing reviews that just light up my day because ... well, they light up my day.

(This is a very weird request, I know - but I've been doing my family history, and there's a whole story I don't need to go into - but the Scottish family 'Eaglesham', I can't find a tartan relating to it at all - and there's a bloody town in Scotland called Eaglesham, so I'd expect there to be something, so if anyone knows anything I've been too stupid to overlook, please tell me in a review or a message or something. Thanks)

(Song is 'Baby, it's cold outside' - in case you were wondering, and one of my favourite Christmas related tunes)


It was quiet.

They weren't on a mission, there hadn't been any disasters in the last twenty four hours or so, nor was there any work of vital importance in the lab - but still the two scientists found themselves down there, encased in their own world as always.

Uninterrupted in the silence of their work - save for the small radio that they had more or less tuned out as background noise - they almost didn't notice when they both began humming along to the same tune as it played at a volume nearly too quiet to be audible.

Music lessons as children (at first, forced by parents and grandparents in an attempt to be more like other children, later, because they actually enjoyed them) had left both with fairly good tuning - neither would be abandoning their field in favour of music any time soon - but they wouldn't embarrass themselves (too much) at karaoke, or damage any delicate sensibilities, in the near future either.

"This evening has been, so very nice." Jemma switched from humming to singing softly underneath her breath, her eyes catching Fitz's, a small smile creeping across her face, as she tried to force herself to concentrate on her work.

"I'll hold your hands they're just like ice." Fitz replied in time with the line of the song, and by then, there was no way that her work was going to hold her attention any longer.

They met in the middle, her arms winding around his neck as they began to twirl along with the music, somehow the fact that they were still in their lab coats and she still had her overly large lab glasses on her face just making it all the more ... them.

They sang along softly, their voices inaudible to those more than a metre or two away, their eyes never leaving the other's face, expressions tender - not wanting to be anywhere else in the world - unaware of anything outside of the little world they had created.

"Oh, but it's cold outside," they finished, together, Jemma pushing herself onto her tiptoes so she could press a kiss to Leo's face when a sudden cough drew their attention and they jumped apart as if they had been scolded, immediately trying to stammer out explanations, their voices overlapping as they were so apt to do, falling silent together at the unchanging expression on the intruder's face.

May stood in the entrance to the Lab, with no indication as to how long she had been waiting for them to notice her, her usual expressionless features fixed on them.

"Mission briefing in ten."

Well ... that answered the question about whether she knew or not.


Thank you for reading, and please review,
Mia