"Good news! ISO-8 appears to be fully inert in its solid state. It poses no carcinogenic or radioactive threat." Jemma announced proudly to Mack, Coulson, and May when they came in to check the progress the next day. It had been a relief to get out of those protective outfits. They were effective, but not designed for extended wear. She and Fitz agreed they got stifling after a while.

"That is good. So… you're saying we now know what it doesn't do?" Commented Mack. Jemma nodded earnestly, hoping that didn't indicate Mack was disappointed by their progress. Surely as someone who knew his way around a lab he understood that those were some of the most important things to find out about newly discovered matter. And even that information is challenging to come by with a material no one had ever worked with before.

"But do we know what it does do? Are we even sure this is the same element Jaiying used?" May challenged.

"No. Not for sure. Yet." Jemma conceded. "We still have many more tests to run."

"But eh… it's looking good!" Fitz hesitantly piped in from several feet behind Jemma, eavesdropping as usual whilst working on the computer. "In the cave I was able to confirm the earth is laced with it. It's everywhere. Since it's not naturally occurring, it must have been put there for a reason. That much of something doesn't just accidentally get there."

"Well, keep up the good work then. And keep us posted." Coulson concluded their meeting.

"Will do, sir." Jemma confirmed as Coulson and May went their separate ways. Mack, though, lingered. He went over to Fitz and began chatting with him quietly. Jemma returned to her work aggregating the data from their various instruments, but glanced up at them from time to time, trying to do so in a way that concealed her interest. She saw Fitz apparently show him in more detail the results they collected from the Mass Spectrometer. Though Coulson was back to work, Mack had largely maintained the responsibilities of Director. Coulson said he needed some time off and Jemma was inclined to agree. But she could tell Mack missed the Lab and the garage. She would often see him coming in and out, inquiring about Fitz' latest scheme and even briefly chatting with Hunter when he would wander in. Which he seemed to do a lot when he was bored. Usually with a beer.

Truly, though, she wished she could hear their conversation for a reason besides an interest in the test results they were considering. Mack had this way about him that somehow made him comfortable asking questions that she was never comfortable asking, at least with Fitz. And Fitz was comfortable answering. Part of her had wanted to ask Fitz how he'd fared being in the cave considering their mutual history with small spaces and alien rocks. It would have made her anxious to be there, despite her excitement to study something new. She loathed that feeling, judging herself fragile since it was irrational and she would never have had that problem just a little while ago. She reminded herself to be patient, all of the books said it would take time to get reasonably back to normal.

But in any case, she had no idea when a good time to ask such questions would be or even how she would phrase it if she did. And she got the sense that the subject would only exacerbate the discomfort between them. She knew they would have to have a conversation eventually, but for now they were avoiding anything that touched on the uncomfortable topics of their recent history. She wasn't sure what she would have to say about it- her thoughts were still very disorganized in regards to everything that had happened and she didn't like trying to communicate when she didn't even know what to express or how to do it. And he seemed to be guarded when it came to his side of the experiences. She still wasn't sure whether he thought he was protecting her or himself from his feelings, but Mack seemed to be able to go there with him. She was glad he had someone to talk to, but a little jealous too. Not really of his attention - that would be childish - but of Mack's ease with such things. Jemma ached for the days when she and Fitz were able to talk openly about any topic without hesitancy. So far such easy comfort was relegated to the past, but she hoped that their future included it as well.

Too soon the day drew to a close. The outcome of their labor was unsatisfactory, much work remained and Jemma didn't really want to quit. But when her vision would occasionally blur because her eyes could no longer focus, she knew it was getting too late. Not much more could be accomplished in this state, she thought to herself. So might as well go to bed. She thought wistfully back to her days in the academy where she could stay up all night on a project and still make it to class the next day. Not anymore.

She walked over to where Fitz was staring blankly at nothing in particular and chewing on his pen. He seemed to be in the same state as she, but then she knew he zoned out when he was thinking as well. "Well!" She started to get his attention. When he jumped a bit and looked up at her, she gave him a small smile and continued. "It's getting late, I think I'm going to head off to bed."

"Oh, yeah." Fitz glanced at the time and rubbed his face hard with both hands to wake himself up. "Right, better finish up myself." But he gave no indication of moving, rather relaxing back into his chair even more than before. Jemma looked at what was on his computer screen.

"Unsatisfying." She sighed.

"What?"

"These results. I assume that is what you were thinking about."

"Ah, right, yeah. So far it doesn't seem to do much, huh?"

"I can't imagine what the purpose was bringing so much of this to earth. It doesn't seem to react to anything. Perhaps it is simply a byproduct of the terragen." Jemma glanced at Fitz to see if he was thinking the same thing. But his face revealed nothing, he was just staring into the distance again so she continued. "I mean, we've not completely figured out how the reaction occurs within the body in both humans and Inhumans, or what it leaves behind."

"Yeah, I don't think so though Jemma." Fitz finally replied, scratching his jaw absentmindedly. "I think the Kree engineered this compound specifically for earth."

"Really?!" Jemma was shocked he was able to conclude that from the same data she was looking at. But then, he was better at induction than was she. "How do you know?"

Suddenly he looked mildly embarrassed. "Erm, I don't really. It's just a theory. But eh, you see the molecular structure, yeah?" He pointed to the diagram floating on his computer screen in case she hadn't noticed it before.

"It is a very unlikely combination to occur naturally. But then, we don't know the conditions of the natural planet." Jemma thought out loud. "This would be a lot easier if we had some indication what that environment was like." She sighed.

"Right, but the simulations couldn't come up with ANY environmental conditions that create this." Before she could ask why he hadn't told her before that he ran simulations he added "Besides, we know that the genetic mutation is unstable at the time of exposure to the terragen and an outside element must be introduced to complete it. We also know that these experiments were not successful on other species. They probably didn't even get to the point with other species where they needed to be able to control their abilities."

His line of reasoning was coming together for her. "So they would have had to create a compound specific to our species and earth's environment! Of course!" She took a moment to relish the epiphany and let it network with the other data in her mind. "But then…" she looked again at the results displayed on his screen. "What does it do? How does it interact…." Then it hit her. "If we were building a particle for a particular reaction, we would make it react to a single trigger. The Kree probably did the same thing!"

Fitz snapped his fingers. "Of course! But how do we find the key component?"

Jemma finished the puzzle excitedly. "Simple! There are a limited number of things that are unique to the circumstances for which this was created. We just have to isolate those things and test them to see what activates it!"

Fitz suddenly leaned forward and started scribbling on a pad of sticky notes on his desk. Jemma walked around to see what he was writing, but he read it to her anyway as he went. "Inhuman DNA, that's an obvious one."

"We've already been able to identify the genetic markers." Jemma agreed.

"Terragen compound or residue," Fitz continued

"Right! They would still have it on them when they came out of the chamber!" Jemma offered.

"Brain patterns and electric charge."

This one surprised Jemma. "You think it could alter their frequencies consistently?" She inquired.

"I don't know. But it's worth checking out. Whatever it is, it has to be something that can be detected outside the body on the skin or somthin'. Otherwise, how would a bunch of rocks know to start a reaction?" Fitz kind of chucked at the ridiculous notion that the rocks would somehow be conscious of when they were needed.

"Alright, it wouldn't hurt to investigate that. So we will need some Inhuman DNA. I'm sure Daisy, Lincoln, and Joey will help us out."

Fitz' eyes lit up. "Right! We've got them right here!"

The spark in his eyes fueled the exhilaration that surged through her. "As long as they're not out on a mission," confirmed Jemma, "but I'm sure if we catch them first thing in the morning they'll have a few minutes!"

"Think they'll agree to an EEG?" Fitz wondered aloud.

"Maybe we can convince them. And we confiscated synthesized terragen compound from the Hydra lab at the A.T.C.U.!"

"Perfect!" Fitz slumped back in his chair with a completely different expression than a few minutes before. He was clearly satisfied now, and his face betrayed his excitement. He looked up at Jemma with a particular smile she hadn't seen in far too long, and she knew she was smiling too. She was far more encouraged now, and would sleep much easier knowing they had a specific plan for the next day. They really did work better together.

A few moments passed where she and Fitz just thought together in silence. Jemma sensed she was pressing her luck by lingering- she was apprehensive that she might catch him with the burdened face he made when they were falling into old rhythms and then he remembered the great divide that kpt them out of sync, if only kept in its place by the memory that it existed. But for once the reversal of mood never came. Still, as nice as the moment was, Jemma knew she needed to tear herself away. "Right, well, best be off to bed then. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah! Sleep well!" Fitz wished her. Jemma turned and walked out of the lab, the smile still on her face. She felt like she could feel his eyes on her all the way down the hall, but then, that could have been her imagination. Or just wishful thinking.