A/N: Sorry about this horrific delay in getting this chapter up. The end of the semester got crazy, and finals week almost killed me, but I'm on break for the next week so I'll definitely have another chapter up before I head back to school. My goal is to have this all done before the season finale, so hopefully that works out.

Thank you all so incredibly much for reading and reviewing. You all are seriously the best ever.

Enjoy!

"Fitz?" Mack stared at him appraisingly through the gate. "That was the name of my wife's first husband. Did you happen to have a cousin named Eoin?"

Fitz shrugged rather than make up a fake family history. "There could have been one somewhere down the line; there's a lot of Fitzes."

Mack nodded. "He would have been a good bit older than you anyway." He narrowed his eyes. "How old are you? You seem a little young to be scientist."

"I was sixteen in August," Fitz replied, raising his eyebrows slightly, knowing that Mack of all people should have no problem believing that a teenager could know a lot about science.

Mack and Lance exchanged glances.

"That's funny," Lance said slowly.

"What's funny?" Fitz asked as though he didn't already know what was coming.

"Our resident scientist is only sixteen too," Lance replied.

"Oh really?" Fitz said, concentrating on being as believable as possible. "What kind of science does he do?" If Fitz wasn't suspicious already, he certainly would have been had he admitted to already knowing that the scientist was a girl.

"It's a young lady, actually," Lance corrected, a note of pride in his voice that almost made Fitz smile. "She works a lot with medicine and injuries and various natural phenomena."

Fitz fought back a laugh, knowing that "various natural phenomena" was a direct quote from Jemma that Lance would have never come up with on his own.

Beside Lance, Mack himself was laughing uproariously at the shorter man's pretended knowledge.

"That's very interesting," Fitz said, trying his best to ignore Mack's laughter (and Lance's glare at his friend). "I've been working on ways to reduce deaths on the battlefield as well as ways to treat injured men. I'd love to meet this scientist." Fitz knew it was a little forward to say that he would "love" to meet Jemma, but he couldn't really stop himself. He had always heard that the best way to lie was to stick as closely as possible to the truth, and certainly his wanting to see Jemma was nothing but the truth.

"Is that what you're here for then?" Mack took over again, back to business, though there was still laughter behind his eyes.

Fitz nodded. "I've heard such wonderful things about the lab at the palace, and I'm in need of a place to work for these winter months. If the king would be so gracious, I would like to work here in his name."

Mack and Lance looked at each other in silent conversation that Fitz could understand since he knew both men so well. Both were skeptical, he could see, but neither was threatened by him, and Fitz knew before they told him that he was going to be admitted through the gates.

Leaving one of the other men – Sir Richard, Fitz recognized – in charge, Mack and Lance led Fitz down the path toward the castle.

"I'm Sir Alphonso Mackenzie, by the way," Mack introduced himself. "And this is Sir Lance Hunter."

Fitz nodded politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you both."

Mack and Lance asked casual questions about where Fitz was from and where he had learned about medicine, to which Fitz responded with vague answers, though not vague enough to warrant him being removed from the premises.

"You have a family?" Mack asked as they approached the buildings outside the main palace walls.

"I do," Fitz replied, but then he amended his statement. "Well, I did."

Lance threw him a sympathetic glance.

"Do you both have families?" Fitz asked after a moment.

"My wife and I have no children," Mack replied. "Her sister has a daughter though, Jemma. She's been like a child to us. She's actually the scientist you'll be meeting."

Fitz smiled, biting the inside of his cheek to keep his emotions in check. "And you, Sir Lance?"

A shadow crossed Lance's face, and Fitz instantly grew worried. Had something happened to Bobbi?

"His wife was injured rather recently," Mack said quickly. "She'll soon recover, but Lance has been very worried. They have no children either, though they certainly feel some sort of parental affection for our Jemma, and even for Princess Daisy. She and her brother, King Grant, are staying at the palace for the winter as well."

Fitz nodded, still concerned. "I had heard something to that effect at an inn on my way here." He watched Lance from the corner of his eye. The typically jovial and teasing man was far more solemn than Fitz had ever seen him. It was beyond disconcerting.

The men finished their walk in silence, leaving Fitz to look around at the home that had forgotten him. He had walked down this path a hundred times before, but never had he done it as a stranger.

They walked by the forge where the swordmaker who had once been so irritated by Fitz hanging around barely looked up as they passed.

They next came to the stable where Fitz could see several squires and stable boys taking care of horses. Fitz's own horse stood right near the front beside Jemma's, and Fitz was grateful that it had made it home, even if Fitz hadn't.

As they entered the palace, Fitz pretended to be amazed by the beauty of the architecture and artwork. Of course, it was beautiful, but it was all so usual a sight for Fitz that he had never really given it much thought.

"You've never seen the palace before, have you?" Mack remarked, grinning good-naturedly.

Fitz shook his head, grateful for the acknowledgement that he was actually being convincing.

Mack waited with Fitz in the foyer as Lance hurried off to see if the king was even available to meet with Fitz.

"Do you live here regularly, or are you just here because of all the conflict up north?" Fitz asked conversationally.

Mack smiled slightly. "No, I live here, Lance too. There's a good group of knights that stay in the palace. The king needed some extra assistance a good decade and a half back, and I just never left. I met my Maggie, who was still suffering from the loss of her husband the previous year. His mother lived here, so she and her sister didn't want to leave, and I just stayed too. I'm glad of it. It's been wonderful to watch Jemma grow up, and the king is very good to all of us. There's nowhere else I can imaging calling home."

Fitz kept his eyes on the ground, not wanting to betray how moved he was by Mack's words. Fitz knew Mack incredibly well, but it was odd to hear him be so sentimental.

"That's certainly nice to have." There was a bitter edge to Fitz's voice that he hadn't anticipated.

Before Mack could respond, Lance returned.

"The King can see you now, if you'll follow me," Lance said, sounding more like usual Lance than he had earlier.

"Is the Queen with him?" Mack asked, his eyes troubled.

Lance shook his head. "She's still feeling poorly, I'm afraid."

"Is there something wrong?" Fitz interjected before he could stop himself, his voice filled with worry.

Mack looked at him oddly. "The queen's been under the weather since we've returned, that's all."

Fitz nodded quickly, shrinking back slightly, grateful that nothing was terribly wrong with his mother, but not wanting to make any more of a scene.

Fitz followed Mack and Lance down the familiar corridor to the throne room. He wasn't sure when he had last been inside. It might not have even been since his father told him about Maveth two years previously. Another lifetime ago.

Mack and Lance opened the doors, and Fitz followed them inside.

The King was seated on his throne at the far end of the room with pageboys at attention on either side. He was in deep, whispered conversation with Doctor Garner, May's husband Fitz now knew. Both men were grime-faced, and Fitz instantly grew worried.

"Master John Fitz, Your Majesty," Mack introduced with a bow, Fitz instantly bowing himself behind Mack.

Fitz nearly laughed at the title of "Master," but he was supposed to be a scientist after all.

The King dismissed Doctor Garner with a nod and then directed his attention to Fitz, raising his eyebrows as his eyes fell upon him. "You're very young, aren't you?"

"I'm sixteen, Your Majesty," Fitz said formally. "But I've had a good deal of experience. I've worked treating injuries in the Northern raids." Fitz was grateful that he'd absorbed enough political information from his father and Daisy in the past two years that he knew where various smugglers raids had been and that the raids in the north the previous year had been particularly bloody.

The King leaned forward slightly in his chair, clearly interested. "The Northern raids, you say? That's all been straightened out, hasn't it?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Fitz replied, knowing that a messenger to his father had said so months ago. "But because of those injuries, I've been working on ways to reduce deaths on the battlefield and to better treat injuries. I have a good background in the natural sciences, as well as astronomy, and I've worked in a lab for years. I'm rather good at building things as well."

"And you wish to work here?" the King asked.

"Yes, for the winter," Fitz replied. "If Your Majesty will have me."

The King frowned slightly. "You might get on well with Miss Simmons. She's the noblewoman who runs our lab. She's just your age."

Fitz nodded. "Yes, Sir Alphonso and Sir Lance were just telling me. I was quite impressed to hear of another scientist so young. She must be brilliant."

The King smiled slightly. "Yes, my wife and I saw great potential in her when she was young, and we determined that she should be as well educated as possible. We have no children of our own, you see."

Fitz swallowed hard. "That is a great thing Your Majesty has done for her. Science is so very important, and to give an opportunity like that to a noblewoman truly shows a greatness of character. Your Majesty is most generous and Miss Simmons must be most grateful." Fitz knew that his father was less swayed by flattery than many kings or even noblemen, but if Fitz was playing the part of a scientist trying to secure a place at a royal household, flattery was certainly to be expected.

"I believe we are more indebted to Miss Simmons than she will ever be to us," the King replied.

Fitz fought back a smile, filled with nothing but pride for Jemma.

"Peter!"

One of the pages turned to the King. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Have Miss Montgomery prepare the blue bedroom for Master Fitz to stay indefinitely."

Fitz let out a breath and finally allowed himself to smile. "Thank you so much, Your Majesty."

The King nodded at him. "Sir Alphonso, would you show Master Fitz where he will be staying and then introduce him to Miss Simmons. Is she still working with that knight of King Grant's?"

"I believe so, Your Majesty," Mack replied. He bowed and gestured for Fitz to follow him.

A knight of Grant's? Fitz had no idea who that could mean. He felt a strange sense of foreboding as he followed back out of the room, but words from his father drove that concern from his mind.

"Lance, how is Bobbi?"

"Unchanged, Your Majesty," Lance replied, his voice shaky. "We still aren't sure what happened to her."

Fitz couldn't see his face, but Lance's tone of voice was unlike any he had ever heard from the other man. Fitz found it very difficult not to turn around and go to his friend.

"Lance's wife Bobbi was hurt during a rescue mission a week ago," Mack explained quietly as he let the doors close behind them and led Fitz down the corridor. "Our Jemma had been kidnapped, and Bobbi and King Grant went to rescue her. They were separated, and no one knows what happened. King Grant saved Jemma, and he was fighting with some evil men, but the next moment one of his knights was running out of the fortress carrying Bobbi, unconscious. And then we retreated as quickly as we could. Winter was taking its toll on everyone."

Fitz nodded his understanding as he tried to piece everything together. The curse had taken effect between Grant saving Jemma and whoever this other knight was bringing out Bobbi. But Fitz had no idea where one of Grant's knights would have come from. It had just been Grant and Bobbi in the fortress…

"Here you are." Mack stopped outside one of the rooms off the corridor that led to the lab. It was a fairly plain room that had often been inhabited by some tutor or other over the years. Fitz was just grateful for a warm bed to sleep in, though he couldn't help but miss his bedroom back in the royal quarters of the palace.

Fitz dumped his cloak and the bag that contained the clothing he had been wearing at the fortress plus a couple shirts and a pair of trousers that he had stolen from the tower room where Jemma had been held captive, on a chair, planning to maybe put them away later. He was about to rejoin Mack outside when he stopped and pulled Jemma's letter out of the pocket of the cloak and stuffed it into the pocket of his trousers. It was the most valuable possession he had. A last little bit of his Jemma.

"All set?" Mack asked as Fitz rejoined him.

Fitz nodded in reply.

"Well the lab's just down this way. I-"

"Alphonso!"

Mack turned around, his face lighting up.

Fitz knew what was coming.

"Maggie! Isobel! Agnes! It's lovely to see you all."

Fitz turned around and, sure enough, there was Lady Mackenzie, Dame Isobel, and Lady Simmons, all smiling at Mack and glancing over at Fitz curiously.

"Who's your new friend?" Dame Isobel asked, smiling in a way Fitz knew well, part-friendly, part-teasing.

"This is Master John Fitz," Mack introduced. "He's a scientist working at the palace for the winter." He turned to Fitz. "And this is my wife Lady Margaret Mackenzie, her sister Lady Agnes Simmons, and Dame Isobel Fitz."

Fitz pretended to look intrigued by Dame Isobel's last name.

"Another Fitz then!" Dame Isobel said grinning. "I have a few sons off in the far reaches of the kingdom who rarely write home to their mother. I do hope you're not a grandchild I've not been informed about."

Fitz forced a laugh. "I don't believe so, um, Dame Isobel."

Lady Mackenzie looked uncomfortable, and Fitz knew she was thinking about Eoin. Fitz, for his part, was remembering the last time he had seen Lady Mackenzie and Dame Isobel, standing in to corridor by the foyer. Lady Mackenzie had been worried as she told Fitz to figure out how to destroy Maveth. And Dame Isobel had been anything but worried as she told Fitz to remember true love. Fitz wasn't quite sure what good that advice was going to do him now.

"Will you be working with my Jemma?" Lady Simmons asked curiously.

Fitz breathed in quickly and nodded. If there had been any good in the world, Lady Simmons would have been his mother-in-law by now instead of a woman who had just met him for the first time.

"Oh good," Lady Simmons replied with a smile that was so like Jemma's. "Jemma's been needing someone else down in the lab."

"She does have that knight who rescued Bobbi," Lady Mackenzie said, frowning slightly.

Lady Simmons nodded seriously. "That's true. Though I haven't really gotten to know Sir William at all. Have you spoken much with him, Alphonso?"

Mack shook his head. "Little more than when we met on the battlefield."

"Hmm. We must have to have him for tea then," Lady Simmons said with some finality.

"We certainly must," Mack agreed. "I'm taking Master Fitz down to meet Jemma right now."

"You must come to tea as well, Master Fitz," Dame Isobel added quickly. "We always have quite the party, and we need more young folks to lighten things up."

"I would be honored, Dame Isobel," Fitz replied with a nod.

"Now, we must get on," Mack said glancing down the hallway toward the lab. "I'll see you all later." He kissed his wife, and he and Fitz said their farewells.

"Everyone's so kind here," Fitz said after a moment.

Mack smiled. "I'm glad you think so."

Mack pulled open the door to the basement, and Fitz followed him down the familiar steps to the lab. It was home. But Fitz was much too nervous to be happy.

Because right there at the bottom of the stairs was Jemma.

The logical, scientific part of Fitz knew that after not being recognized by Master Sitwell or Mack or his father or any of his other friends, there was no chance that Jemma wouldn't recognize him. But he couldn't stop himself from hoping. Because if even just Jemma remembered him, Fitz would be okay; he could survive anything with Jemma.

But even the logical part of Fitz wasn't prepared for the degree of indifference, the utter lack of interest, let alone recognition, let alone love, that he found on Jemma's face.

"Jemma, this is Master John Fitz. He's another scientist that will be working at the palace for the winter," Mack introduced hesitantly. "And Master Fitz, this is Miss Jemma Simmons, our resident scientist, and Sir William Daniels of the cavalry of King Grant."

Fitz hadn't registered the presence beside Jemma. Sir William was taller, older, handsome with a glinting smile that he flashed at Fitz before nodding. He reminded Fitz almost of Grant. Perhaps all men in Grant's kingdom had that odd, uneasy comfort about them.

"How do you do, Miss Simmons," Fitz said after a moment, suddenly realizing it was his turn to speak.

"Quite well, thank you, Master Fitz," Jemma replied, her words too formal, her eyes wary.

"I must take my leave," Mack said glancing between the three of them before bowing and hurrying back the way they had come.

"Where do you come from, Master Fitz?" Jemma said, crossing her arms in front of herself.

"Up north," Fitz replied, keeping his words brief in the face of Jemma's odd stare.

"And you're a scientist?"

"Yes, J- Miss Simmons." Fitz hadn't stumbled over any of his friends' formal titles yet, but this was Jemma. Not calling her Jemma was nearly impossible.

Jemma narrowed her eyes at his almost slip-up. "What kind of science?"

"I have a fairly wide background," Fitz replied quickly, "but I've done the most work in battlefield medicine: treating injuries, reducing casualties, that sort of thing." He paused. "I heard you've done a good deal of work with this as well."

Jemma nodded, and Fitz could see that she was interested, but it was almost as though that interest was fighting some other emotion. Something not nearly as nice.

"I'm very excited for us to work together," Fitz said, looking at his feet, if only for something to break the tension.

But something in Fitz's words must have upset Jemma because she said nothing in reply.

Fitz finally looked up and was met with a sight unlike any he had ever seen before.

Fitz had known Jemma for essentially their entire lives. He had seen her get angry at her father for missing her birthday after a trip with the cavalry had been delayed coming home, at her mother for not letting her stay out late with Lance and Bobbi, at Master Sitwell that day during their astronomy class, at Raina and Callie at the ball, at Fitz when he had snapped at her when he found out about the curse, but never had Fitz seen a glare like this. This wasn't just annoyance or frustration or anger… this was hatred. Fitz didn't know what he had done, but Jemma hated him.

And then his father's words came back to him, "he cursed you that though you will be brilliant and hardworking and determined, as soon as you kiss the lips of your true love, all who know you will forget you and your true love will hate you more than anything."

It had happened. Jemma hated him, and that thought alone made his head hurt, made his eyes burn as he fought back tears. He felt sick to his stomach. He couldn't even be near Jemma, let alone be with her, because she just wanted him as far away from her as possible.

Jemma finally turned away from Fitz, pulling Sir William to the corner of the lab.

Fitz dropped his gaze and took a seat at the bench furthest from Jemma, fingering a small vial as though he was examining the supplies in lab and not trying to eavesdrop on Jemma and Sir William's conversation.

Sir William had bent his head down to Jemma's, much too close for Fitz's liking. He said something Fitz couldn't hear, but Fitz's well-practiced ear that knew Jemma's voice better than any other sound in the world heard her reply as clear as anything.

"I have a really bad feeling about him. There's just something wrong."

Sir William said something, but Jemma shook her head.

"The King's allowed him to stay, so I can't do anything about it."

Sir William whispered in her ear, a sly grin on his face.

Jemma blushed slightly, and shoved him away lightly. "Oh, stop it!"

The wide teasing smile she flashed at Sir William was an expression that Fitz did recognize. He just had never seen it directed at anyone but himself. It seemed that Jemma had… found someone else.

Fitz took a deep breath, trying to hold it together as well as he could, ignoring the fact that his heart had just been shattered into a million pieces. He stood up under the pretext of examining the books in the lab collection. Anything to get the image of Jemma smiling at Sir William out of his head.

What couldn't have been more than fifteen minutes later, Jemma and Sir William set down whatever it was they were working on.

"Master Fitz," Jemma's voice pulled Fitz from his thoughts.

He turned to her.

"Sir William and I are going to get lunch. Would you care to join us?"

Fitz was absolutely starving, but the glare that accompanied Jemma's question was enough to make him shake his head quickly. "No, thank you, Miss Simmons."

She smiled slightly and then left the lab, Sir William following her without a glance in Fitz's direction.

He listened to them walk up the steps and heard the door open and shut behind them, and only then did Fitz allow himself to collapse on his old stool, unable to stop the flood of tears raining down from his eyes.

The palace wasn't his palace anymore. This lab wasn't their lab. This stool wasn't even his stool; Sir William had been working there for the past fifteen minutes. But worse than all of that… Jemma wasn't his Jemma anymore. He wasn't her Fitz. They weren't best friends, they weren't in love. Jemma hated him. How was he supposed to come back from that?

He pulled out Jemma's note from his pocket as he rubbed his eyes.

Know that I will always return to you, she'd written. I love you. Yours always.

But this wasn't something Fitz could believe anymore. There was no more Jemma returning to him. There was no more "I love you," no more "Yours always." There was just Jemma glaring at him from across the lab as she flirted with Mr. Perfect, Sir William Daniels, whoever he was.

Everything he cared about, everything he had loved: it was gone. It was all gone.

"Death by punishment," Fitz said aloud. That's was Maveth's policy. And now Fitz knew why Maveth had chosen not to kill him.

Being dead would hurt so much less than this.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Reviews are the best ever!