"I can't believe you didn't tell him!" Skye had hissed into her ear as she hugged her goodbye.

"I will, eventually," Simmons replied sheepishly, "It just... It wasn't the right time,"

"Well, when is the right time?"

"I don't know, Skye, but definitely not now. We're all under stress lately,"

"Okay, but really, Simmons, it isn't like you have that long to wait before it becomes obvious," she said, prodding lightly at her currently flat stomach. Simmons shot her a grimace before shouldering her large black duffle bag; She couldn't bring herself to be annoyed.

Skye had been her life support since she had found out about the pregnancy. She had held her hair when she was sick, found her new clothes when hers had started to get tellingly tight, thanks to her having gone up a full cup size, and had even cleared the security footage of the mysterious disappearance of the chocolate pudding cups, but not before lightly chastising her for not sharing. Simmons honestly didn't know what she would've done without her.

"Just keep me updated okay and be careful,"

"I will, Skye, stop worrying, there is no place safer for me than the hub," she smiled half heartedly, "you stay safe, and keep and eye on Fitz for me," she whispered the last part as her partner emerged from the bus, giving her a big cheesy grin once he caught sight of her.

Skye smirked and squeezed her arm before retreating back towards the bus. He closed the gap between them with a few quick strides and enveloped her in a tight hug.

"Be good, Fitz, don't you do anything rash while I'm gone," she teased him.

He made a face. "Alright mum, I just came to give you something,"

She barely had time to cringe at his reply before he had shoved a tin foiled and sandwich bagged package into her hands. "Prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella," he grinned.

"Thank you, Fitz," she replied. Tears burned the back of her throat. Stop being so bloody emotional.

"Here let me give you a hand," he reached for duffle bag, gently brushing against her stomach in the process, causing Simmons to jump back a step.

"No! Err... No, don't worry, Agent Triplett was going to help me,"

She tried to ignore the wounded expression she had put on his face.

"Okay, well, I'll be in touch, good luck, Jemma..." he said. Fitz turned and started for the bus without another word, leaving her alone on the empty cargo deck to wait for Triplett.

"Bye, Fitz," she whispered, though there was no one there to hear her.

There was blood everywhere. Sharp pains shot through her abdomen causing her to cry out in agony. She found herself digging her nails into somebody's arm "Fitz!" she managed to get out through her tears, "Something is wrong, I..."

"Jemma, Jemma calm down," he replied soothingly, but his bright blue eyes were filled with concern, "you have to lie down now Jemma, lie down,"

"What? No, Leo, please," she begged desperately as two pairs of gloved hands gripped her upper arms gently and tried to restrain her. "NO! Leo don't let them, don't go, don't leave me, don't..." she shrieked as a needle was carefully inserted into her forearm.

"Everything will be okay, Jemma," she heard Fitz say as blackness washed over her.

Jemma woke with a start to her own screams ringing in her ears. Her heart was racing, and her stomach twisted with nausea. She tried to find her bearings, and her face flushed when she realized where exactly she had dozed off. She was at the hub, and she was supposed to be prepping for her fourth debriefing. Simmons glanced at her watch, which told her it was approximately forty minutes after it was scheduled to begin.

She rubbed the weariness from her eyes as she stiffly stood to gather he things. She crossed the room towards the exit to find Agent Triplett lounging casually by the door in the hall.

"Agent Simmons," he smirked as he caught sight of her, "I was wondering when you would come around,"

Simmons blushed furiously. "Why didn't you wake me!" she hissed "Did we miss the debrief? God that is so unprofessional"

His eyebrows shot up at her anger, "No, It's alright Simmons, it looks like we don't need to do debriefs anymore, and when I saw you'd fallen asleep, I thought I'd wait until you'd woken up to tell you,"

"Oh, well, thank you, but why don't we have to do debriefs anymore? Did they catch Deathlok?" she said, her eyes widening, she hoped they didn't have to hurt him.

"No, Garrett and your team managed to track down the Clairvoyant, Agent Ward took him out,"

"What? Why would Ward do that? I thought he was supposed to be brought in for questioning,"

"Yeah everybody's a bit shook up, he was in a vegetative state,"

He explained, "And its all been kind of hectic out here, people running around like crazy, It might have been a set back, but at least its all over,"

Simmons nodded slowly. She should have been happy that the threat was gone, but all she felt was anxiety and dread gnawing at the back of her mind.

"Are you okay?" the older agent said, noting her poorly disguised distress.

"Um, yeah, its just... Its a bit of wasted morning really," she replied weakly.

"Right" he said carefully, "well, since we're pretty much free from now, would you like to get a bite to eat?"

"Oh no, thank you Agent Triplett, I'm not really hungry..." Simmons replied, but was betrayed by untimely growling of her stomach, "I mean... I brought lunch anyway, besides, I do have some work to do, and I need to check up on Fitz... He'll be in trouble..." wait, what?

Triplett raised an eyebrow quizzically, but didn't comment. "All right, suit yourself, just don't go too far, I promised Coulson I'd keep an eye on you,"

She gave him a nod and a nervous smile as she shuffled past him to get to the elevator and the sub ground labs.

Ideally, Simmons had wanted to use any free time she had to hunt down any superior officer and try to talk about her situation, but the hub at the moment was like a ghost town. Her skin prickled as she walked through the eerily empty halls towards the labs. Something felt off.

Her thoughts were cut off as her cellphone chirped loudly from her breast pocket, causing her to jump and almost lose hold of the binders she was carrying, which she maneuvered strategically so she could wedge her phone between her ear and her shoulder in order to answer the private caller.

"Fitz?"

"Don't use my name, Jemma!"

"Why not?" she asked impatiently, "I thought you said you were going to use an encrypted line?"

"You're cutting in and out, hold on" she heard him put the phone down and movement on the other end of the line.

"Are you there? What happened with Ward?"

"What? Oh yeah, Ward, took us all by surprise, just hang on, keep talking... I'm gonna see if I can clear it up,"

"So you have no idea?" she said, growing slightly impatient "Because there's been a great deal of commotion on this end,"

As she spoke, the elevator doors opened and waves of armed agents and guards dodged past her and hurried in their multitudes towards the situation rooms.

"Hang on, now I think I've found the problem..." she heard from Fitz's end, though she had stopped listening, "looks like someone's tapping the hard line..."

"Wait, Fitz, I think something's happening... There's agents rushing to the situation room-" at that moment an had agent knocked into her, sending her cell phone clattering across the floor to get trampled by the an army of heavy boots. She muttered a curse under her breath, but decided to leave it. It was far past the hope of salvation, even for Fitz.

Simmons dodged her way through the crowd that was currently not getting thinner, something really must have happened, she thought anxiously. She spotted two officers who seemed to be in charge, and were simultaneously barking orders into their radio comms while ushering the small army of men through the narrow hallway. She tapped the smaller one on the shoulder to get his attention. "Excuse me," he half shouted over the rabble, "what's going on?"

The two agents stared at the small woman with slight bewilderment, "Who the hell are you?" the smaller one asked suspiciously.

"Err, Agent Simmons, uh, level 5… Biochem…" she replied waving her visitors pass meekly, "uh, is something happening?"

The agents glanced at each other; the larger one shook his head slightly before turning back to her, fake smiles plastered on their faces. "Its nothing to worry about, Agent Simmons, just a level eight operation, but we'd prefer it if you would stay out of the way,"

"Of course, I'm sorry," she stammered, but they had already started following the rest of the team down to the situation rooms. Nothing to worry about Jemma, she repeated to herself to shake the feeling of unease as the heavy doors of the lab slid shut behind her.

The sound of Simmons's fiercely growling stomach echoed throughout the otherwise silent lab. She had tried her best to ignore her hunger, after having to throw away the sandwich Fitz had so thoughtfully prepared for her, the scent of the soft cheese had her throwing up her breakfast into the chemical waste bin. Looked like for the little train wreck growing inside of her, Mozzarella was a no go.

"Not hungry, huh?" Triplett smirked from beside her.

"Thank you for that, Triplett,"

"You can call me Trip,"

"Thank you, Trip," she replied dryly. Simmons felt mildly guilty for treating him so harshly. It wasn't his fault she was so irritable, she had been an emotional rollercoaster all week, and she was especially weary now after the video call from Professor Weaver. Don't trust anyone.

She let her mind wander as the communication system began to connect itself to the Bus. She was deeply worried about her team. She hoped to god they were okay, that they had managed to separate themselves from the fire, but she just knew that Fitz was going to try to find at all costs.

"So who's the guy?"

"Excuse me?" she spluttered.

"The father?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," she replied far too quickly.

"Simmons, I may not be a Doctor, but I'm not blind. You've displayed five symptoms of the early expectant mother, not to mention you have been unsubtly patting your stomach for the past half hour,"

She dropped her hands from where they had absently wandered and glared at him in defiance.

"I don't want to talk about this with you," she muttered as she tried again to reestablish the connection, "Its hardly the appropriate time,"

"You know I'm not here to judge,"

"Then why are you here?"

"I told you, I'd promised Coulson..."

"You'd keep an eye on me, yeah that's what you say, but how can I trust you?"

"Do I look like Hydra to you?"

"How should I know what Hydra looks like? For all I know you've been trying to get us to sympathize with you only to stab us all in the back,"

"That's really not my style,"

"Then what is your style, Triplett?"

"Chivalry,"

"Chivalry is just a conceited idea of human decency,"

"Call it what you want, Simmons. I'm not going to hurt you either way,"

Simmons paused before sighing. They might die together, but she wasn't going to die at his hand, she shouldn't be at his throat.

"I'm sorry,"

The agent shook his head, "Don't worry about it, and focus on the team now, how are we doing?"

"I'm telling you the signal is clogging everything up," she replied, unease settling in her stomach, "something terrible must have happened,"

They both jumped as the heavy double door was kicked down and the couple of agents that Simmons had stopped before burst in, along with three other handguns aimed at both of their chests.

"Freeze! Show me your hands!" the bigger man commanded, "show me your hands,"

Simmons lifted her arms above her head, fighting her urge to instead wrap them around her middle as another agent searched her body for weapons. He missed the knife. She realized, glanced at Triplett as they were marched hastily down to the situation rooms, where they waited for none other than the figure of Victoria Hand to emerge from the shadows and take a seat in front of them.

"The rest of your possibly very short lives hinges on this moment," she stated. Simmons swallowed her nerves as she paused. "Hydra has successfully infiltrated S.H.I.E.L.D. at the highest level. It only took seven decades, and today is our coming out party. We have the support of the level nine and level ten agents, and those who have resisted Hydra have been crossed off. Director Fury included." Simmons inhaled shakily, we really have no chance she thought desperately, angry tears filling her eyes.

"I am here to offer you a choice, and a simple one at that, either swear unwavering loyalty to Hydra right now, for all time, or share Fury's fate."

The guns that had been dropped were now pointed at their heads. Simmons met Triplett's unusually composed gaze. Are you sure you can trust him? She found herself thinking. He stared at her in such a way that she knew he was thinking the exact same thing, almost challenging her.

"I won't wait long,"

Without breaking eye contact, Simmons nodded mutely at her only companion, and he automatically snapped into action. Her heart pounded as he took out the nearest agent, grabbed the knife as she tossed it in the air and pressed it against his throat like a choreographed routine. "Cross us off," he growled, "and one of you goes too,"

Hand smiled in satisfaction, "Right answer," she rose from her seat as the five guns were lowered, "the number of people I trust is now seven,"

She and Triplett shared a confused look, "that was a… a test?" Simmons gasped, her heart rate slowing.

"That very few have passed,"

"I thought we were dead," she sighed with relief, "You're not Hydra, thank god,"

"Well don't celebrate just yet, we may not be Hydra, but your friend Coulson, he is,"

Dozens of conflicting emotions were swirling around Simmons' head, namely dread and distraught filling her from her very core; she ignored the lump in her throat, trying desperately to hold herself together. Coulson isn't Hydra, May isn't Hydra, Ward isn't Hydra, Skye and Fitz are safe, she chanted silently to herself. Her entire world was crumbling around her as the room filled with the tense voices of agents and soldiers who no longer belonged to a cause.

"Are you alright," Trip asked softly, noting her distress. Due to their low status and lack of experience, they had been pushed to the side and were waiting for any news about her condemned unit.

"Yes," she replied unconvincingly, "I'm just really worried, you don't believe all that, do you? You don't believe Coulson could be Hydra?"

Triplett watched her for a moment before he sighed, "honestly, I don't know what to believe any more… ten years serving an institution that turns out to be the opposite of what I signed for, my trust is a little bit broken right now,"

Simmons bit her lip and looked away, "I understand,"

"At least I know I can trust you now, you did give me my knife back,"

"Yeah, I'm sorry for being so insufferable earlier… I should really thank you for protecting me,"

"Its alright, you don't have to thank me, I told you, I'm Chivalrous, what else was I supposed to do?" he replied light heartedly.

"Okay, but if we get out of here, I'd like to make it up to you"

"Well, maybe if you're that grateful, you could name your kid after me,"

Simmons half snorted and shook her head to mask her forming smile.

"What?" he said jokingly, "Antoine is not such a bad name, I've learned to live with it,"

"I doubt that F-" she stopped herself, "I... I'm not that grateful Trip," she finished weakly.

Trip studied her with a twinge of pity, "he doesn't know, does he?"

"I don't know how to tell him... I mean, I had been planning to do it once this was all over, but now everything just changed," she swallowed back tears.

"I'm sure everything will be okay, he can't blame you."

"I suppose... But I just don't know it can possibly work out, what with everything that's happened... Throw a child into the mix, it just creates one huge mess..."

Simmons squeezed her eyes shut in despair.

Suddenly she was confronted with an image of Fitz's tear stained face, stood solemnly in a line along with May and Coulson. You're going to suffer for what you've done, he swallowed, and I plan on being a really big part of it

Garrett laughed and shook him by the shoulder as if he weren't about to destroy his life.

I like you kid he said before turning towards the handful of armed guards, which lined the wall behind him. All right, let 'em have it, but shoot that one in the kneecaps.

Simmons gasped and shot out a hand to steady herself on the workbench, but instead caught hold of a steady, muscular arm. "Simmons?" Triplett's concerned voice brought her rushing back to reality, "are you okay?"

She met his gaze with equal amounts of confusion.

"I saw Fitz," Simmons gasped promptly letting go of his arm as she regained her steadiness. "And May, Garrett, Coulson,"

"What do you mean?"

"They're in the surveillance room, Garrett… Garrett is the Clairvoyant!"

"What?"

Hand was watching her steadily, "check the cams," she commanded without breaking eye contact with the scientist. The room had grown silent. The other agents studied her with a mix of suspicion and curiosity, until finally and sure enough, four familiar figures emerged on the screen. Garrett, Coulson, May and Fitz. The room froze until Hand finally broke the tension.

"Agent Simmons, I would like a word with you in the hallway, if you wouldn't mind," she said coldly.

"Ma'am, don't you think…?" an agent started, but was immediately cut off, "we have time, this won't take a moment,"

Simmons could only nod mutely and follow the older woman out into the darkened corridor.

"Agent Triplett, your presence is hardly necessary,"

Trip crossed his arms at the woman and gave her an impassive stare.

"With all due respect, mam, I am under orders to make sure nothing happens to this girl, and due to the current circumstances I think it is very necessary," he replied coolly.

Hand considered a moment before replying reluctantly, "Fine, lets make this quick, Agent Simmons, how long have you been experiencing precognition?"

"Precognition? I…I thought they were only vivid dreams, I've never had one while conscious before,"

"They're visions, probably a side effect of… how far along are you?"

"I… What?"

"Please, Simmons, lets just make it easier for everyone,"

"How did...?"

"Please, if you initially had powers, the Academy would have already taken note of that when you were assigned. You have not reportedly been put in a situation which would have exposed you to a material which would have given you such powers, which leaves one possible explanation for your behavior," Simmons' heart was pounding a thousand times quicker by the time she paused, "you are carrying a gifted child,"

Simmons opened her mouth, but she could not make a sound.

"Now if you can co-operate, Simmons, I can assure you that you will be under my protection as a senior agent, if you will help us,"

"Ten weeks," Simmons whispered at her shoes.

Hand nodded thoughtfully, "are you planning on keeping your child?"

"Yes,"

"You realize these powers are only going to get stronger, they could possibly develop into full blown clairvoyance. We will be able to help you control them, and your child when its born, we could use your help in the future, Simmons, but for now its best to keep your circle of trust small, and tell as few people as possible," she paused for thought as Simmons tried to process this information. "There are people who would do anything in order to get their hands on such a power, you have to be careful,"

"Thank you, Agent Hand," Simmons replied softly. She was about to add something more, but a team of agents, storming onto the screen, interrupted her. Hand scowled, "this will have to wait until later, thank you for your co-operation, but now lets go get your team,"

Simmons didn't have to be told twice, she practically led the group down to the surveillance room, mind racing with thoughts of Fitz. As soon as they were given the clear, She burst into the room, pushing past everyone in her way and ran straight into Leo's arms. He held onto her tightly as the shock of the impact subsided, and relief washed over them both.

They had been separated far too long. It was almost laughable how co dependent they had become. Simmons had never been so scared in her life thinking how he had almost been taken from her forever. She could never lose him again.

She found herself releasing all the tears she had been fighting back into the crook of his shoulder.

"Simmons," he whispered almost in disbelief.

"Fitz,"

"I thought you were dead,"

"I'm not," she whispered back, "We're not, we're safe now,"

And they stood like that, lost in each other's arms and only briefly amongst the blood and the chaos; they let themselves forget the world.

A/N: uh, hey guys? I know I'm terrible. I'm sorry, its been ages since I've updated, i can't believe it. life got in the way, namely exams, and honestly i screwed up and had to rewrite a lot of this chapter, and I'm afraid, its not my best.

So there was a lot to cover here, sorry for the lack of Fitzsimmons, but yeah, you know, there just wasn't a lot in the two episodes i covered here, but i will be making up for that in the coming chapters in abundance, promise (they won't take to long this time, i swear).

so what did you think? did I do it justice? anyone else warming up to Trip? he seems to have replaced Ward now anyway, i feel like he's kind of like everyones chill older brother...

ok thats enough from me, thank you all for your loveliness and for sticking with me, and good luck to anyone doing finals atm, god knows I need it too...

Soph :) xx