A/N: I feel like I am too emotionally attached to this fic...it's so stressful to write but so fun as well! Anyway, that's my way of explaining why it takes so long to update…. But please review so I know that other people also love it…

One more note: Remember that everything here is set after "Turn, turn turn," so I'm pretending that the rest of the season didn't happen, and that it is the sequel to "Without Expectations." If you keep that in mind, all the relationships will make more sense - I promise!

"Any word yet?" Leaning on the desk with one elbow, Fitz looked at Skye intently and asked the same question that he had asked every twenty minutes for the last couple hours.

She sighed. A part of her found it extremely endearing that he cared so much about the safety of their undercover teammates, but another part of her just wanted to find some duct-tape to silence him so that she could work in some semblance of peace and quiet. "No, Fitz," she replied, forcing herself to be patient. "It isn't safe for them to contact us - they can't risk blowing their covers."

Straightening up, he exhaled and ran one hand through his curly hair, a gesture which she recognized as concern tinged with frustration. "I know. I just thought that they might use the encrypted phones that we sent with them."

Skye twirled her desk chair to face him, briefly admiring her makeshift office. Coulson had set her and Fitz up with all the latest technology in an apartment near Garrett's hideout before he and May left to lead Hydra on a wild goose chase. Their little apartment was close enough that they could keep tabs on Ward and Simmons and interfere if they were made, but far enough away that they wouldn't accidently bump shoulders. "They could use them," she acknowledged his point, "but only the first time they contact us is truly safe - after that it is pretty easy to track them."

"So they can only use them in emergencies."

"That's what I've been telling you," she said, letting a teasing smile appear on her lips to show him that she wasn't actually very frustrated with him.

With an exasperated sigh, Fitz sat down on the vacant chair next to her and put his face in his hands. "I'm just a little lost," he confessed, his voice muffled. "I have never been without Simmons during a mission and I don't really know what to do."

Immediately, Skye's heart went out to him. She knew that he and Simmons had a special bond, kind of like she and Ward had had before his horrible secret had been revealed. Scooting her chair closer to his, she laid a hand on his arm. "I know how you feel," she said softly. "Or, at least close to it."

Fitz was silent, but hopefully he was listening. Hopefully she could say something that would help him, somehow.

"I'm worried about her too, and Ward betrayed me as well." Fitz lifted his head then, and she could see the sheen of unshed tears in his eyes. She felt tears form in her own eyes in a response to the anguish in his; the anguish that she felt deep inside. "But now, the only way we can help is by doing our job as quickly as possible so we can get them out of there." She forced a watery smile. "We don't want them to have to use the emergency phones, after all."

He stared at her for a second, then an involuntary chuckle escaped him accompanied by a rueful smile. "We wouldn't want that." He sat up straighter, his eyes hardening in determination. "What can I do to help?"

"Well," Skye scanned the small, single-roomed apartment, taking in the two beds, the stack of boxes filled with equipment, and the small partially-assembled workspace she had put together with her laptop. "If you could unpack and help me set up all my computer systems?" That would at least give him something to do while they waited.

"Shouldn't we be trying to hack into Garrett's network to get information on which SHIELD agents are Hydra?" Fitz asked even as he moved over to the large stack of boxes near the door to the tiny bathroom and pulled down the one on top. "That is our job, after all."

Following a couple steps behind him, Skye remarked, "We will. But I have to wait until Simmons plugs in my bug."

"Ahh." Fitz's bright eyes lit up in comprehension. "Nicely done, Skye."

She bit her lip to keep from smiling too widely at the praise and at the use of her name - for some reason, coming from him, it had this ridiculous fluttering effect on her. "Thanks," she said, focusing her attention on the nearest box to hide her blush. "Also, the hack will be much easier if I can set up all my stuff before Simmons gets the bug in."

"Sounds like a plan," he said, grinning at her in his adorable way. "And Skye?"

She looked at him, curious. "Yeah?"

"Thanks. Thanks for everything."

Again, she stared at her box, fighting to hide the feelings that his words aroused in her. Feelings that Ward had never aroused, no matter how much she had tried to pretend that he had, not even when she had kissed her. Feelings that both terrified her and excited her at the same time. "Anytime," she replied lightly. She knew that now was not the time to admit to Fitz that it was him, not Ward, that she had feelings for. But soon, she hoped.

Please, please, please review!