Previously: After try to go to Wolfe early, Skye is ordered to to be watched by someone on the team at all times. A couple days ago when Graviton attacked the BUS, Fitz had been acting very strange, but that was forgotten by Fitzsimmons and Triplett when they woke up.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Skye knew that Fitz had run after her because he felt bad though he should have probably continued working, but to be honest, she was up for having some company. It wasn't as though she really believed she was keeping him from anything important anyway. Even if they could defeat Hall she would still have to go, right? Her father would undoubtedly find another way to harm people. And her life far under weighed any lives she'd put in danger.

That's what she told herself. What she had to keep telling herself, because that was the logical solution. The compassionate solution. But at the same time…

It was so hard to be brave.

She didn't have to be brave with Fitz, though. They talked, they snacked on the groceries the team had managed to pick up between the café and dropping Skye off, and they even played some version of tag with the DWARFs. It was pretty ridiculous, but honestly the first time she had cracked a genuine smile since she'd been informed of her death sentence.

A few hours in, Simmons came up to inform Fitz she had some test results that could work with his machinery, but that he should take a rest before he attempted to work on it.

Skye felt bad. He probably should have been sleeping before then, but he wrote her off with a quick "Nonsense, spending the day with you was a much more valuable investment of my time."

Now it seemed to be Jemma's turn to babysit, but Skye's mood was lightened enough that she didn't even think of it as monitoring. After all, it was true that they could do it easily enough through the surveillance video.

What they happened to be doing kept her mood up as well.

"I basically forced them to get Mint Chocolate Chip," Skye stated cheerily, grabbing the ice cream from the freezer. "Triplett nearly had a heart attack, but Coulson was cool with the splurging."

"Well done, then. I could do with some ice cream," said Simmons. "Though I actually prefer good old fashioned vanilla."

Skye took a spoon into the open container, grabbing some of the cold treat before mumbling out with a full mouth, "that's pretty lame."

"Excuse you!" said Simmons indignantly, as if Skye had actually offended her. The hacker couldn't keep the grin off of her face. "Vanilla is a classic flavor and shouldn't be made fun of for its traditionalism. And what do you think you're doing? Use a bowl."

"Nope. I've claimed this as Simmons and Skye's ice cream. No bowl necessary."

Simmons scoffed. "Well, you can do as you'd like I suppose, but before it's completely tainted I would like to get some in a bowl."

Skye offered up the container in front of her and Simmons went to work doing just that. Only problem was she seemed to get the sum amount of one spoonful.

"That's it?" Skye said incredulously. "A mouse would be disappointed with those rations. No wonder you're so skinny!"

"You're not exactly a chubby monkey yourself," Simmons pointed out.

"The way I eat? I'm going to look like that giant marshmallow dude from Ghostbusters, just give me time," Skye said, and she felt the color leave her face. She knew it was just a saying, but she couldn't help but overthink it. It seeped into her consciousness and doused her good mood.

She didn't have time.

"Fitz kissed me," Jemma said abruptly. "Twice."

"What?" Skye asked, unable to hide the excitement as she scooted closer to the scientist, instantly forgetting her woes. "Is this the first time it happened? Other than the whole twice thing, because I thought maybe at the academy… Wait, when did this happen? Was he good at it? Sorry, ok, shutting up. Just tell me everything."

Simmons looked almost embarrassed. She definitely wasn't glowing with excitement at the prospect of Fitz' romantic advances. But given what Fitz had said in the lab, which they forgot due to some freak amnesia, maybe Jemma wasn't on the same page as him.

"Well, the first time was actually in the woods, right when we found him. He saw me and… he kissed me."

"Jemma Simmons!" Skye laughed, or maybe giggled. She was feeling incredibly girlish. It was nice. "How have you not told me this earlier?"

"We've been a little too busy to be discussing something as trivial as my love life!" she stated.

Skye's raised her eyebrows with intrigue. "Love life. Is that what this is? Did you two finally realize the inevitable?"

"The inev… It has not been inevitable!"

Skye took another mouthful of ice cream. "Maybe not to you guys, but…"

"I don't know," she interrupted, doubt in her voice. "Fitz has been acting so strange lately! When I thought he might, well, not come back, I began to maybe realize I had feelings for him."

"You did? That's great!"

"Yes but since he's been back, I don't know… he's just not the same."

Skye looked down. Well, she might as well tell her. "You know, you guys were having a pretty big fight or something right before Graviton attacked."

"We were?" asked Simmons curiously.

"Yeah. I walked in kind of near the end… but I caught some stuff. You were being really insistent on finding out how he got miracle cured, while he was really insistent that you didn't. And he brought up… he brought up the fact that you didn't want to date him."

Simmons cheeks flushed. "Oh… I suppose I must have told him then."

"Told him what?"

"I'd been debating telling him that I really didn't want anything romantic at the moment. But after the attack, he almost seemed to be himself again. So I just decided to see how it goes."

"That's great! I'm glad."

"Me too," said Simmons, a great deal of relief in her voice. They sat for a moment and Simmons pondered something as she looked at her ice cream.

"This would go really well with some apple crumble," she said wistfully.

"Hmm. Want to make some?" Skye asked. "We have apples."

"You want to bake?"

Skye shrugged. "I'm feeling adventurous."

"Well I don't know the recipe! And I highly doubt we have all the ingredients."

"Let me go grab my laptop," Skye said, getting up and doing just that. She came back holding it to her stomach, the thing still open from the last time she used it before Fitz had caught up to her earlier.

"What's that?" asked Simmons, pointing to the screen.

Skye's eyes widened and, quick as she could, she minimized the windows.

"Nothing. Just hacker stuff. Boring, normal, hacker stuff."

"No, all those pictures! Who were they of?" asked Simmons curiously. "Come on!"

"Fiiiine," Skye relented with a sigh, bringing the page full of the Asgardian back onto the screen.

"Thor?" laughed Simmons. "What on earth are all these for?"

"It's a subreddit," Skye explained. "I like to look at him- I mean, when I'm sort of down or whatever, I like to look up pictures, sometimes gifs… and… he's really pretty, ok? Don't judge."

Simmons was giggling at her. "Oh Skye, that's completely adorable! He does have nice arms."

"They're bigger than my legs," she said, aware that it was somewhat dreamily. She had to admit, she was definitely a fan girl for Thor. Probably Tony Stark too, given that one time she went and hung out at the entrance to his tower. One time.

So Simmons humored Skye and they looked at Thor for a bit, until she admitted she also had somewhat of a crush on Bruce Banner. And not because of the fact that he could turn into a giant green monster, she insisted, but for his scientific abilities.

They then attempted to make an apple crisp out of apples and graham crackers, finding themselves in hysterics at what a disaster it turned out to be. Skye didn't have many girlfriends growing up, but she couldn't help but wonder if this was what having a sleepover was like.

So when Simmons apologized for becoming incredibly tired, Skye was a little disappointed, but she understood that the girl needed to get some rest. They both went to their bunks even though Skye was decidedly not tired. She didn't feel the need to look at her Thor pictures though, and not just because she and Simmons had already done that. That was her pass time for when she was upset.

Skye tossed and turned on her bed, trying to get comfortable with her laptop. She wasn't sure what to do. She wondered briefly how the rest of the team was doing, but they were in a radio silence and she couldn't check up on them. She hoped they contacted the BUS soon.

Maybe she could go check on Fitz. She knew he was working on the thing that could fuse her blood and some sort of machine together… Ok she had no idea exactly what he was doing but he was trying to take down Graviton. He was being productive, should she really stop him?

As she clicked away from another cat video on Youtube she decided to make that a yes.

Setting her computer over to the side of her bed, she hopped off and and slid the door to her bunk open. She was trying to do so quietly as she knew Simmons was a light sleeper, but nearly shouted when Fitz called her name from so close.

"Skye?" he asked as she made her small jump in shock. He eyed her skeptically. "What are you doing? I thought you were off to bed for the night."

"I couldn't sleep," she told him quietly, aware that Simmons' bunk was nearby. "I wasn't trying to like… sneak out or anything."

"No, no, I didn't think you were, I just… can we talk?"

Skye didn't think Fitz had ever asked her for a private chat, but she nodded quickly and followed him as he sat down at the white seats some bit away from the bunks. He began tapping his leg nervously as she sat down.

"Look, Skye, it's just- I can't do… the thing is… gah, how do I say this?"

"Just spit it out, Fitz," Skye told him seriously, trying to make him get a grip.

"I'm not getting anywhere. On the machine for Hall, that is. I just can't figure out the science. And the blood- your blood… well, despite what Simmons said that doesn't look too promising either. I think she just hid it from you to keep you hopeful."

Skye looked down, trying to hide her disappointment. Sure, she'd been pretty resigned to the fact that she was going to have to go in two days anyhow, but at least there was that tiny sliver of hope that came with her friends trying to find out a solution.

Now there was just… nothing.

"That's ok Fitz. I wasn't… expecting anything really," she told him, putting on what was probably a pathetic excuse for a smile.

"And, well. I have one more thing," he told her. She encouraged him to continue with a nod. "I don't agree with Coulson making us monitor you. If you want to go, you should go."

Skye's eyes widened.

"Are you saying that if I decided to walk off of the BUS right now-"

"I wouldn't stop you. I'm sorry Skye, but you're right. You're very selfless to have wanted to do it on your own but you are just one person. And this is a whole species! If you stay, Coulson may try to not let you leave and, well, that wouldn't really be fair to everyone it would hurt, would it?"

Skye swallowed the lump forming in her throat. Not only was Fitz saying he'd turn a blind eye.

He wanted her to go.

A day ago she would have been happy someone understood, that someone sided with her. But after finally having just a little bit of fun, living normally for two seconds, she didn't want to hear it. She wanted her last days left with her family. She didn't want to go meet up with the man that had fallen out of the sky just to take her life away, she wanted to stay with the people who had given her a life.

But what she wanted and what the greater good needed were too different things.

"No, it wouldn't," she finally chocked out, her voice obviously on the verge of tears.

"It's only if you decide to go but, so you know, I'd come with you," he offered.

She stared up at him. "You would?"

"Sure. Rome seems like a nice place to holiday," he said, and they both laughed half-heartedly. "No but honestly, you shouldn't have to go alone."

He grabbed her hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze with an accompanying smile.

This was it. She wouldn't see Coulson, May, Ward, or Triplett again, and she'd been so cold to them on their op earlier… She wouldn't even see Simmons because opening the door to her bunk would probably wake her. There was no time to write letters. What were the odds that Fitz would be alone again watching her? The team would be back soon so pretty much… none.

She sighed, realizing there was really only one right choice.

"I'll book us a train."

A/n: That sure was some fluffy giggling girl time. Do you guys like fluffy? Like the mix of fluffy and angst and adventure? I dunno. I'm sorry if it was too much, Skye just needed to have some fun!... before we drag her back down with hope being diminished and such. Ah Fitz. I guess he's just trying to do the right thing... right?