Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. The first part of this chapter was originally part of the last chapter, but because I did so many revisions after season two started I decided to send it back for proofreading. I even added an extra scene to this chapter.

I was sort of planning something like this before, but I wasn't sure if it was in character or not. However, what happened in the first episode proved to me that it could happen this way. I'm still amazed at how little I was Jossed by the shows so far. Even May and Coulson are giving off a married couple vibe. Episode 2.4 pictures anyone?

I decided that the Playground is located somewhere in the Panhandle of West Virginia or thereabouts. I already felt that this would be a great location for a secret base, but the first episode leads me to believe that they may be using a similar location. The Playground has to be in an isolated location that's close enough to the DC Metro that you can get there quite quickly by car. An abandoned coal mine would be perfect cover and have flat space to land a plane, although SHIELD planes are special. However, the second episode leads me to believe that it's supposed to be in Roslyn (or somewhere in the vicinity) but as somebody that lives here, I don't think that would work. Also, I've already planned something else for DC. Go with my interpretation.

Chapter 7: Pepper is good at this, I Am Not

Phil sat at his desk with drink in hand not sure what he should do. Shooting Tony probably was the wrong thing, but he couldn't take it anymore and needed to get away. Part of him wanted to take Lola for a drive but it was too dangerous even if there was nothing around except abandoned coal mines and mountains. Besides he couldn't leave. This was why he was hiding his office (the one in the bus, not the one in the Playground with views of essentially nothing), drink in hand watching the video files that Tony gave to him. This time he was focusing on the more recent file.

Phil is almost positive he has never seen Melinda actually cry tears of sadness before. She didn't cry after receiving the divorce papers and she didn't cry after Bahrain. She didn't cry when SHIELD imploded, when she realized that Ward was screwing them all over, or after what happened to Fitz. She gets angry not sad and even then her anger is channeled into something productive.

In fact, the only time he has ever witness her cry at all was the first time they saw each other after his resurrection when Nick brought her to his apartment unannounced. They were happy tears, so he doesn't count those.

But seeing this exchange between lovers was heartbreaking:

"Sometimes at night when I'm alone I wonder what it would have been like to kiss him just once and have it means something. I was always afraid of ruining everything and then it was too late." May confessed after taking a shot of the same type of alcohol that Tony brought Phil earlier. Without even saying his name, Phil was almost certain Melinda was talking about him. "First, he was with Audrey and then he was gone. Now, I wish I'd done it anyway." He drained his entire glass when she said Audrey's name. The last bit of doubt in his mind that this conversation was about him removed. It was about how much pain his death caused her.

"I understand," Steve kissed her cheek gently. Thankfully, the gesture seemed more about giving comfort than overtly sexual. It seemed like their whole relationship was about comfort. Maybe that's what she'd meant when she said it only happened because Phil was gone.

He shouldn't be upset about this. He wasn't upset about Audrey moving on and they were actually together at the time of his death. Yet, watching these two be so intimate with each other bothered him and only a small part of that could be traced to his Captain America crush.

"I don't think you do because at the same time, I would have been just as happy to be Audrey's bridesmaid if it just meant that Ph-James was still alive." The fact that May was so distraught that she almost dropped cover scared him.

"I could deal with him spending the rest of his life married to someone else as long as I knew he had a really good life. As long as he was still with me, I could deal with it. As long as I still had his friendship, it would be okay." That's when Melinda may completely fell apart in Steve Rogers' arms. The tears only subsided a little when she kissed the Captain so hard that he fell into the wall behind them.

He quickly stop the file. It wasn't because of the sex that would most likely follow. He couldn't keep watching because he couldn't take seeing her cry like that. Tears were already running down his own cheeks. He hates seeing her in pain, broken.

He doesn't know what to do now that he has proof that Melinda May is in love with him. These files are the most honest that he's ever seen her. Part of Phil was upset that Melinda was only able to be this honest with someone else even if he was the subject of such confessions.

This also raised the question of why she neglected to tell him any of this after he returned from the dead. Why was she keeping this from him? He understands why she kept TAHITI from him. Actually, why she did what she did makes even more sense now. The night everything fell apart she said she did what she did because she cared about him. And now that he has seen these two video files, he knows exactly what that meant. But what does he do now?

He's had relationships with other agents before and it's ended in disaster, almost dying, or reassignment. His relationship with Clint was one of the few that did not end up that way. However, their friendship was never the same and that made Phil very wary of risking another friendship.

His last relationship before Clint was what caused him to put a moratorium on dating fellow agents in the first place. Of course, he broke that moratorium for Clint because Hawkeye doesn't take no for an answer. (Melinda May does not either.)

The incident involved a girlfriend, who sold secrets to a terrorist organization and then had him tortured for more secrets which resulted in him being forced to kill her. In hindsight, Phil wondered if she was actually Hydra and the entire incident was engineered to break his faith in the agency and go over to the Hydra side. The only thing that incident succeeded in doing was to make Phil decide to never date a fellow agent.

Except he broke that rule for Clint. He was grateful it didn't implode; they just didn't work. Basically, Clint said that Phil was meant for better things and felt that they should go back to just being friends. A short time later he met Audrey and he didn't think about it again. If he broke that rule once, he could do it again. But did he want to deal with another fractured friendship? Maybe that's the real reason for his reluctance.

At the same time, things are much more complicated now. He is trying to put SHIELD back together again. Other agents would soon be arriving (Isabella and possibly Dr. Hand, Victoria Hand's widow). What kind of example would he be setting for his agents if he started dating his Deputy Director? Phil was going to make her his second in command because she was the only one he trusted in the position especially with things as precarious they are right now. They already made a deal; he was in charge of rebuilding SHIELD and she was in charge of him.

He didn't have time to think about this anymore because he heard footsteps approaching his office. He quickly grabbed his ICER and pointed it at the door.

"Don't shoot or rather don't shoot again. I can only take being knocked unconscious once a day." Even though it was Tony, he still kept the weapon on him.

"You should still be unconscious." He said slightly concerned. May woke up in a fraction of the time it normally takes for somebody to recover from an ICER shot as well. Maybe something was wrong with the ammo?

He couldn't ask Simmons to look into it because she was in a bad place as evidenced by her earlier breakdown. Without Fitz here, her heart wasn't into this anymore. She hated not being able to visit the engineer even though they were less than 90 minutes away. Simmons was even more upset about the fact she couldn't even let her parents know that she was all right. Phil was tempted to ask Tony to take her back to SI. At least then she could have of life where she could talk to her parents and spend time with Fitz. Part of his mission was to find people who were dedicated to their mission to help humanity and he wasn't entirely sure about her right now. (Also today's outburst proves that she needs psychological help that they can't provide right now.)

"I think there's something off. I had the same problem with Agent Scary." Stark's words echoed his earlier thoughts.

"I'm not apologizing for shooting you." Phil said finally putting the gun away.

"It's fine. I don't blame you and I get it. You're finally no longer under the Pirate's control and you want to do things your way." That was probably the closest Tony Stark would ever come to apologizing.

"That's not exactly..." Phil started, but was cut off by Stark.

"The money from the patents is still yours or rather the organizations. I think most law enforcement agencies would be interested in ICERs." Phil could actually hear stammering. That was strange for Tony.

"You're out of the weapons business." Phil responded.

"I'm out of the killing people business. We still make things like body armor, flying suits, and other things to keep people from getting killed in the field. Anything that keeps an innocent kid from being shot to death counts. We can talk numbers in a few weeks. Pepper wants to speak with you." Tony tossed a cell phone at him.

"Are you using a regular cell phone in a secure facility?" Phil asked annoyed throwing the phone back to Stark. If they have to evacuate tonight because of Stark, Phil was going to shoot him again and this time it won't be an ICER. "It was bad enough you showed up in the middle of the day."

"Genius, remember. First, I came here in stealth mode. So did Steve for that matter. Your car now has cloaking technology and if you asked nicely, I may arrange for something similar for your bigger baby."

"The phone?" Phil asked because even though they probably needed the cloaking technology for the bus, he wasn't going to beg Stark for it.

"This is the Stark Tech 2792, a Stark-crypted satellite phone. NSA couldn't pick this up even if they knew about it. There's a bunch of this stuff in the trunk of Lola. I figured you guys could use some..."

"Equipment not on the frequency monitored by Hydra or other agencies that hate us?" Phil supplied.

"Yes, just talk to Pepper." Tony said as he pushed the phone into Phil's hand and promptly left.

"Tell me again why did you date him?" Phil asked pulling the receiver to his ear, hoping that she would not start yelling at him immediately for not telling her about being back.

"I was in love with him. I still love him. He's my best friend. As you know, sometimes it just doesn't work out." Pepper explained with a sighed.

"Talking about your failed relationship with Stark is the wrong way to convince me that friends can become lovers." Phil retorted.

"My romantic relationship with Tony did not fall apart because we were friends first." There was a touch of annoyance in her words.

"Honestly, I think that's the only reason why it lasted as long as it did. If I wasn't his friend, I would've ended things after New York. That's when I realized I wasn't cut out to be the superhero girlfriend or more accurately I wasn't cut out to be Tony's girlfriend, but I kept trying to make things work because Tony was-is my best friend. It's just I realize we wanted different things and when Steve came along I realized it was better to let it go and try to get back to that friendship. By holding on to things, we were keeping each other from where we should be."

"How is that going?" Phil asked remembering the last time he dated a friend. They tried to get back to what they were before, but they never really did get there. Maybe things would've been different if New York had never happened, but it did. He's really not looking forward to what will happen when Clint finds out the truth. It will be a small miracle if he walks out of that encounter without an arrow sticking out of a very important appendage.

He's not sure if he wants to risk what he has with Melinda. She's too important to him. He needs her.

It's not like it was in the old days. Even if things fall apart, they have to stay together. It's not like the organization is big enough at the moment to transfer to the other side of the globe so you don't have to see each other on a daily basis. They are the team right now and that's not going to change until he can start bringing others into the organization again. (With the funding from Stark, he may be able to start doing that sooner rather than later.) Even then he was still the one in charge. They would have to keep working together no matter what.

"We're good with phone calls. In person is slightly more difficult, but that may have something to do with the fact that my assistant is trying to get us back together and we are bombarded with questions about why we are no longer a couple." Pepper told him with a touch of irritation. "Even though things are currently strained, I don't regret the fact that we did try. We had a good couple of years together. It's better to try something and fail, then to never try at all."

"Have you considered getting another assistant?" Phil suggested ignoring the second part of her statement.

"HR has had to let go of 10% of our workforce in the last six weeks. Apparently, we were infiltrated by Hydra operatives, representatives from other terrorist groups, industrial spies, and government spies from other agencies. I personally blame Obadiah." Pepper sighed. "Human resources doesn't have the candidates to get me a new assistant right now."

"Melinda is a very efficient assistant. If she still hates me in the morning, I'm sure she would be willing to work for you." Phil suggested in all seriousness. Even though it would hurt him, he would let her go if that's what she needed.

"I doubt she hates you."

"She is in love with me and that's the problem." Phil told her finishing his drink from earlier.

"Why is that a problem? Is it because you no longer feel that way about her?" Pepper questioned.

"It's not that I don't care - what do you mean by 'no longer'?" Phil asked slightly confused by her wording.

"Tony told me that you have gaps in your memory about things that happened right before New York. Someday soon we will have a very long conversation about you not telling me that you were still with us. Unfortunately, it's not the type of conversation you have over the phone." Pepper's voice was slightly higher at that point. Okay, she was very irritated. Actually, Phil was surprised she didn't start yelling about that the moment this phone call began.

"I was ordered not to tell anyone." Saying that seemed so hollow especially after watching Melinda fall apart just minutes earlier. People were affected by his death. They had a right to know the truth.

Another part of him, who sounded suspiciously like Fury, reminded Phil it was for their own safety. Just how far would Hydra have gone to find out the TAHITI truth? Would they have kidnapped and/or tortured his friends? Was that the reason why he was told to stay away?

"Maria explained all the reasons why we couldn't know. I still don't believe half of them. I am very mad at my friend because of that." Again that was obvious from her tone.

"You are still friends after..." Phil was not sure how to phrase the question especially if she was unaware of the sex tape.

"I know about the blackmail sex tapes. I am mostly not mad or rather only slightly upset about it because the only reason why Maria had the tape was she removed it from the system to protect me. She didn't want me to be humiliated by everybody knowing that my boyfriend cheated on me with Captain America." Pepper explained.

"Even though I didn't quite see it that way, I don't feel like watching talking heads on V News speculate about my love life and my ability to be a CEO if I can't keep my boyfriend happy. The network is owned by Tony's prick ex-whatever Tiberius Stone and they enjoy dragging us through the mud a little too much. The fact that I consider Tony and I to be in an open relationship would give them just as much ammunition as actual cheating regardless."

"If that is true, why did she take the footage of Captain Rogers and Melinda together?" Phil asked as he just doesn't believe that Maria was that altruistic, not anymore.

"She didn't want Hydra to use it against him. She said that there were a lot of intense things on those files that would damage Steve's reputation if it became public knowledge." Pepper explained, but it seemed too much like an excuse.

The way Phil saw it was Maria knew things were going bad and she took the files as a personal insurance policy. Considering they have already picked up chatter regarding a former SHIELD agent selling whatever they could to the highest bidder, he should be happy that she's using something as relatively benign as a sex tape to save herself. It did less damage than her giving Providence over to Talbot.

"I don't want details. I'm starting to think the entire reason that Stark told me about Melinda being in love with me was to keep her away from Steve." For some reason, Pepper started laughing hysterically.

"According to Tony that's not the case and honestly Tony would just suggest a threesome." Pepper said once the giggling stopped. "Do you want to know the story of why I'm not mad about the Tony/Steve thing?"

"Yes, mostly because it will probably take you less than an hour to explain." Phil sighed. He really did want to know because nobody could be that gracious.

"You gave me a ride to the airport and I was trying to get more information on the mission you wanted to send Tony on. Being the agent that you are, you distracted me by talking about Audrey and the break up. I guess it really wasn't an actual breakup at that point. You were still technically together, but you were wondering if you should end things officially or follow her to Portland." Pepper explained.

"I don't remember this conversation." He tried to concentrate on the missing moment, but it still did not come back to him.

"It happened though." The woman on the other side of the line assured him.

"I believe you." He does because Pepper would never lie to him.

"The number one reason why you didn't want to leave was a fellow officer you called Melinda. She was your best friend, especially after things got awkward between you and Agent Burton post-breakup. I kept pushing and you finally admitted that you were in love with her, but you were afraid. You were afraid of what would happen if your friendship with Melinda became something more. You were afraid of a repeat of what happened with you and Clint. You were comfortable with Audrey. You knew what you were getting with her. She was not an unknown. At the same time, there was so much about your life you couldn't tell her so much she couldn't know. You told me you liked that aspect in the beginning, but as time went by it became harder to keep up the façade. By the time we reached the airport, I managed to convince you to tell your Melinda how you felt because it would be worth the risk if she felt the same way about you. Then you d—died and that never happened." Pepper choked up a little bit. It almost sounded like she was crying. Fuck!

"Things are too complicated to pick back up from there." Phil wished he could go back to before New York or even just before the fall of old SHIELD. Everything was so much simpler then. For example, he wasn't on the run from people who wanted to use him to find out how to resurrect the dead nor did the FBI consider him a terrorist.

"Why are things so complicated?" Pepper asked.

"This line is not encrypted enough for that conversation." He wasn't joking. Although, in all honesty, it was just an excuse. He wasn't ready to talk about everything.

"I have this strange feeling that's true."

"What does this long story have to do with you and Tony?" Phil asked slightly impatient. He has listened to too many long stories today.

"You have no idea how much your death affected me-us. I didn't want Tony to make the same mistake you did. Actually, I didn't want to make the mistake you did, remaining in a relationship because it was easier than going after what you really want. In the end, I realized Tony and I were only staying together because it was comfortable, but we weren't right for each other. We were making too many sacrifices to stay together. Tony was giving up being a superhero and of raising a family someday while I was putting up with someone who could not give me the emotional support I needed or any sense of normalcy and stability. When Steve almost died, I knew it was time to let go." Pepper's voice started to crack a little.

"At your funeral, I watched your Melinda completely destroy a room because your death hurt her so much. I saw her break down in tears. She really loved you and - I didn't want to see Tony do the same thing if Steve did not come out of DC alive. I didn't want to be the reason why Tony wasn't happy - I can't be happy if Tony is miserable - so I let him go." Since he was listening closely, Phil could hear the telltale signs of crying.

"I was not with Audrey because it was comfortable." Phil wonders if he was saying that more for his own benefit than Pepper's.

"Does she know that you're back?" Pepper asked abruptly.

"I was ordered not to tell anyone." He repeated the ridiculous excuse one more time.

"Yes, but the person who gave you that order is now dead. I don't think you need to follow those orders anymore. I think it's easier for you to play the martyr than to move on with your life." He knew that Pepper was right in that regard.

"I see your point. I don't know how to proceed yet. If I didn't die, things would be so much simpler."

"Maybe things would've been easier, but that wasn't the hand you were dealt. You're not dead anymore and as long as you're not dead you can rebuild." Pepper said wisely. Phil knew that Pepper was right.

With a quick thank you, he ended the call. He knew what he needed to do. Phil quickly pulled up the system to locate May. Hopefully, she was still wearing her lanyard. It was time to rebuild, but first he had to let her know what she was really getting into.

It was surprisingly easy to get Antoine and Skye to leave her alone after they escorted her back to the room after her unfortunate emotional display in the hangar area. All Jemma had to do was remind Skye that she could monitor Director Coulson's conversation with May from the control room without interference from the AI on her computer now.

She just wanted to be alone to think. Not coddled or treated like glass as she has been for the three weeks since almost dying. She loves her friends, but can't take their concern right now.

She felt foolish even more so now that she is fully aware that it would be impossible for Agent Triplett to have non-platonic feelings for her. It was Agent Garrett that planted the idea in her head and she should know better than to believe anything he said.

Jemma barely listened to Antoine's explanation of why he didn't tell her about having an ex-fiancé who happened to be a guy. Basically, some of his friends from GLASS (Gay and Lesbian Agents Serving SHIELD also known as SHIELD's LGTBI employee affinity group) told him that his new SO was homophobic and to keep his head down which is why he never corrected Garrett's assumption. If only his fellow affinity group members had picked up on all the guy's other horrible traits perhaps Fitz wouldn't be in a coma.

Why did she never question what was going on? Why did she keep following rules that made no sense? Why did she not question things? Why didn't she notice what was really going on? She's a scientist. She's supposed to notice things, yet she didn't pick up on Fitz's feelings for her. (She never picked up on Hydra or Ward's treachery either, but that was a question to be meditated on at another time.)

She thought that he was in love with Ward and that was why he was having such a hard time accepting the man's true nature. All the signs of a crush where there and it wasn't like she ever saw Fitz date any girls, just guys. Well, only a couple of guys - Damien at the Academy and Kenny from accounting.

Besides her and May, who doesn't count, Skye was the only woman he talked to. She was aware that there was a lot of stammering in the beginning, which was the same thing he did with Damien, but he also stared at Ward's backside a little too much. Then there was Mike Peterson as well and Donnie too. Actually, she could make a laundry list of guys that Fitz has stared at longingly or tried to flirt with in his way. They talked about this sort of thing all the time and he never mentioned any female names.

It was only natural she was going to conclude that Fitz was solely homosexual. Again, as a scientist she should know better. There are no absolutes. She also had to admit she hadn't wanted to consider the other reason why she was the only woman he wanted to spend time with.

With that faulty hypothesis in place, she didn't see the truth of his feelings until their last few moments together. Even when he was saying the words, a part of her was still thinking, 'I don't think you love me. I am just convenient. You're actually in love with Ward and because he completely screwed us over, you now think you have those feelings for me.'

It wasn't until afterwards when she was tasked with gathering Fitz personal possessions that weren't destroyed by Hydra that she found his journal. When she broke down and read a few entries, she realized his affections for her were genuine and not some reaction to Ward's betrayal.

Now she feels guilty. Fitz sacrificed himself for her and now she's just… She doesn't know. She's frustrated. She stuck here and she can't help. She can't even see him because apparently they are still wanted fugitives.

When she gets like this, the only thing that makes her feel better is going to Fitz is room on the Bus and playing with the sock monkey that she got him when they stopped being rivals and became friends at the Academy. She literally couldn't stand it another moment and walks out the door. It was she who had put his room back the way it was pre-infiltration just so he would have a home to come back to once he was ready. (Jemma refused to read anything into the fact that Ward had all their personal possessions locked away in his own room.)

It wasn't like his mom could create such an environment for him. They haven't been able to contact her and not for lack of trying. No one can find her not even Maria Hill.

It figures that she wouldn't be able to get to his room without running into somebody. Dr. Stark was in the living room of the Bus monitoring Director Coulson on his tablet. However, he quickly closed the application when he heard her approach.

"There's no need to stop your work for me. I was just - actually - I…" She couldn't help but stammer. She was still bloody awful at lying especially in front of someone like Dr. Stark.

"No need for an explanation. I will not ask you where you were going and you will not ask me why I am spying on your boss."

"Why are you spying on my boss?"

"I thought we were not going to ask questions." He tried to deflect your question.

"Of course, Dr. Stark."

"There's no need for that. Otherwise, I will have to call you Dr. Fitzsimmons." She frowned at the name.

"Shit! That's not your last name. I always get confused." The genius mumbles under breath.

"Are you the one who came up with the Dendrotoxin that can even knockout a super soldier or are you the engineer that saved Steve's ass with the mouse hole thing? Both were genius inventions." She's not sure at the moment if she was staying silent because Tony Stark offered her praise or because he called her Fitzsimmons. Although deep down she knows it's the fact that Fitz saved another life and he's not around to… He's just not around.

"Jarvis, help?" He called into his watch, but received no response.

"I'm Dr. Simmons. Dr. Fitz is my colleague. However, he…" She sniffled. She doesn't want to break down in tears again in front of one of the greatest engineering minds of her generation. Once was bad enough. She despises this loss of control.

"The one in the- Fuck! I am really bad at interpersonal relationships. Pepper is usually the one who saves me from…"

"Making a complete arse of yourself." She supplied.

"That's one way to put it. Unfortunately, Pepper is currently on the phone with Director Agent trying to convince him not to shoot me again."

"He shot you?" She asked incredulously.

"Just with your special non-lethal gun and I was only unconscious for about five minutes." Dr. Stark shrugged.

"They're called ICERs. Fitz came up with the idea. It really should last longer than that." She frowned, wondering why it was less effective on the doctor.

"I was thinking the same thing. I guess Fitz is your partner?"

"Yes. Fitz will be quite jealous that I got to meet you in person. He respects you greatly. He has read all your journal articles at least three times. You actually went to MIT with his mum for a semester the year before Fitz was born. She talked about you all the time when he was growing up which is how Fitz was first bitten by the engineering bug." She felt better when she could relate happy stories about Leo.

"Was her name Kella Fitz?" The doctor asked.

"Yes, actually." Maybe Dr. Stark actually remembered her. Fitz would be excited to know that, if she could tell him.

"I remember her very well. Actually, we knew each other … Was that why Agent … How many months after she returned from MIT did she have your friend?" Maybe if she wasn't so excited about Dr. Stark speaking to her like an actual colleague she would question the strangeness of that question but she didn't. She also did not pick up on the fact he was now perspiring.

"Not quite a year perhaps nine or 10 months. She must have met his dad afterwards. I don't know. Fitz doesn't talk about it that much because he has no idea who he was. But then again Fitz doesn't tell me a lot of things… I mean who tells someone that they are in love with you just seconds before they're about to give their life for you?" Her eyes flash up to Dr. Stark's and she covers her mouth with her hand. "I didn't mean to say that."

"I'd say it's fairly common, I tried to call Pepper when… That's not… Why don't you tell me more about you and your friend, maybe some of your inventions?" Dr. Stark definitely was not a genius in the interpersonal communications department, she thought to herself. Thankfully, for him she enjoyed talking about her work.

"We could be here for hours discussing everything Fitz and I have created together from new body armor to an antiserum for an alien virus. We are best when we work together, but…" But now they couldn't. She hated feeling this lost without him. She was codependent on him and that wasn't good.

"By the time we left the Academy, we were known as Fitzsimmons. We were brilliant together much better than we were apart. He didn't want to leave the lab, but I pushed for it. I wanted adventure. I wanted to be in the field discovering new things before anyone else. Instead, we ended up in a box at the bottom of the ocean because someone who…" She stammered. She hated Ward so much, but she mostly hated herself for trusting him. The only time they ever saw the real Ward was when he was holding a certain Asgardian artifact.

"Grant Ward, who was an agent with our team for the last year, was actually a Hydra operative and he tried to kill us by ejecting a medical pod into the ocean with us still inside. Thankfully, we escaped."

She didn't want to say more than that. This was only partially because she really wasn't at liberty to discuss former Director Fury's involvement in the rescue. The majority of the reason really had more to do with her own preference not to discuss Fitz's sacrifice. It still hurt too much.

There was also a strong likelihood that she would start cursing Ward. Jemma often wonders if the only reason why Director Coulson has not brought Ward to the Playground is that he's afraid she may shoot him before they get any useful intel.

"I can relate. The security guard who used to give me candy as a child tried to kill me when everything blew up. Before that, the guy who became a second father to me after my parents died literally ripped my arc reactor out of my chest. This was after he had me kidnapped so he could take over my company." There was a hint of anger underneath the bravado.

"I guess you can at that." She said reflectively.

"We thought we would die down there, but we didn't." She said before going into the specifics of how they got out. Unlike everyone else, Dr. Stark could appreciate the science of it. He seemed impressed by Fitz's creative use of the EKG machine. He was making detailed notes on a napkin. It felt good to speak science with somebody again. It almost made her feel normal. She was so wrapped up in relating the experience that she didn't notice the Director run by them. Of course, Coulson's departure happened at the point in Jemma's story where Fitz sacrificed his own survival for hers. "Leo is my best friend and he just…"

Tony looked up from his notes. "No, I understand. Someday when you're up for it, I have a story about building an arc reactor with a box of scraps in a cave."

"I've read your file." Superficially, she could see some parallels.

"Yes, but Dr. Yinsen wasn't part of it." Considering the dark expression that he was wearing, she felt it was best not to ask any questions.

"I'm kind of upset that Stark Industries did not find you guys earlier or rather first. We have better toys and unlimited funding."

"And you weren't being secretly controlled by Hydra." She mumbled under breath.

"At least not after we lost Obadiah, may he not rest in peace." Dr. Stark joked.

Presently, she wished she did work for his company, now that they were no longer producing weapons of mass destruction. She knew that they were working on things like artificial hearts and artificial blood substitute. She would find such work interesting. Compared to her current situation, she would have a wealth of resources and opportunities there. She wouldn't be hiding or running around the globe trying to stay one step ahead of Hydra. (She knew that they would be leaving the Playground soon. They've already been here too long).

She knew that the man in front of her had protected former Deputy Director Hill from whatever Talbot was planning. She was sure that he could keep her from being deported or imprisoned. He could help her get through the system. She could leave hiding or at the very least she could tell her parents that she was still alive. She could even help with Fitz, if she could get assigned to the research going on at Georgetown Medical Center.

"Are you still interested?"

To be concluded.

I am literally proofreading the last chapter as I post this. If you want me to proofread faster, review. Give me a reason to stay up till at least 11 PM working on this.