She stopped just outside the doors of the lab, bouncing on the balls of her feet nervously. 'No reason to be nervous, Jemma.' She counseled herself. 'It's just Doctor Who.' Even as she said it to herself she called her own bluff. Sure, they'd gotten together for Doctor Who a million times before, but this wasn't like those million other times. Not by a long shot. To begin with, they hadn't watched an episode since before the Medpod. Well… there was one time after he came out of the coma, but that didn't count because he couldn't really watch it. So that fact alone made the invitation Jemma planned to extend extraordinary for them, but there was more to it than that. Doctor Who was really just an excuse. What she was really orchestrating was an opportunity for a real conversation, the likes of which they'd not had for about as long as they'd not had a Doctor Who date.

Jemma took in a sharp breath and charged into the lab, not giving herself any more time to back out. "Fitz!"

He didn't look up from what he was working on. "Hey Jemma. What's up?"

"I was just about to take off and I thought I'd come see what you were working." She wondered if it was obvious that she was talking too fast. Probably.

"Yeah, it's the uh… dendrotoxin." He spoke slowly through that word so as not to stumble. "I'm seein' if we can alter the casing to be more effective against zombie Ward. We might have better luck if we are able to deliver it-"

"-it directly to the brain, yes. Good idea."

"Yeah, so the data from Mike Peterson is helping too."

Jemma pulled herself away from her fascination with the new possibilities to remind herself why she was really there. "Right, so you're busy then."

The hint of disappointment in her voice made Fitz stop. "Well… only sort of. Why? You need help with something?"

"Oh, no. It's nothing really. Don't want to interrupt your work. It's just I was going to take off a bit early today. Get some things done, you know. I've still trying to catch up on all the things I missed while I was gone. I should really catch up with some of my old contacts. And I've not watched an episode of Doctor Who since… well, it's been far too long. So I was just going to see if later you wanted to come over and watch an episode. After you were done of course. But you don't have to. What you're working on is really important and, well, anyway, I'll see you tomorrow-" The fact that she'd forgotten to breathe as her ramble went on caught up with Jemma, and she tried to hide her slight gasping by turning to leave while Fitz stared at her with his mouth slightly agape.

"No!" He blurted. "Erm, I mean, this… this can wait. I was, uh, just about to set a simulation to run and it could take a while. Like, maybe overnight. So I really won't have anything to do anyway…"

A blush touched Jemma's cheeks. "Alright then. I'll see you in a couple of hours?"

"Yeah, good! Um, commons?"

"Actually, someplace a little quieter would be nice." She waved her hand to her ears to remind him that she was still somewhat sensitive to sound.

"Oh, right. Your bunk then."

"Very good. I'll see you." Jemma slightly suppressed the smile that threatened to break across her face as she walked away.

Getting ready for the evening, Jemma tried not to let herself read too much into Fitz' reaction to her suggestion. The interaction replayed in her mind anyway, and she thought she caught a hint that he might have been as excited to do this as she was. Whether that was truly the case or not, the idea gave a certain energy to her movements as she first poked around her dorm to make sure it was reasonably tidy (there wasn't much to do there) and then take inventory of her food situation. She found her stock to be dismal, and noted to herself that they might have to make a run to the mess hall for a quick dinner. Finally, an hour and a half after she left Fitz in the lab she swung her closet door open to reveal all her barely touched apparel having quite suddenly gotten an itch to exercise it.

She slid each piece across the rack thoughtfully, finding herself especially attracted to some of her old dresses and she decided she might as well dress up just for fun. 'This night might be a good one for an experiment', she considered, 'to see if I can tolerate it. If I don't feel comfortable, I can always change.'

She slipped on the polka-dotted flared dress and found to her delight that the fabric was not as uncomfortable as she'd imagined and she took this as a good sign she was re-acclimating to her old environment. No sooner had she made the final verdict to stick with it did she hear a knock at the door, right on time. She did a quick shuffle over to open it, seeing his head pop up in response to the movement. As soon as he laid eyes on her he looked awed.

"You look uhrm…" He stuttered and she blushed. "I mean, that's uh, a nice dress. I didn't know…" He looked down at his own casual jeans and cardigan. "I should go change."

Jemma smiled and gently tugged him by the arm. "Nonsense! You look just fine Fitz. Come on in."

"I brought popcorn, so… yeah." He said, awkwardly handing her an un-popped bag of the microwave variety. She'd lectured him in the past about all the manner of poisons they used in making such a product, but her speeches might have lost their impact since she usually did so while stuffing her face with it.

Jemma grinned as she took it from him. "That was thoughtful! I'll pop this in the microwave. Do you want to get the tele set up? It never seems to cooperate with me." The base, of course, had cable but they were fairly limited when it came to streaming on demand options. But that wasn't a problem, because between Daisy and Fitz there was always a way around that.

Fitz cooperatively went in to work on the television, and she meanwhile went into the kitchenette and set the bag in the microwave. Her mind raced as it popped, trying to find the right way to start the conversation. Her heart pounded ever harder as she walked into the room, bowl of popped popcorn in hand. She found Fitz stooped over muttering incoherently at the TV, cursing whoever designed the bloody thing and postulating the various ways he could improve the design. She stood behind him for a while trying to get herself to say something. It was now or never.

"I'm tired of this Fitz." 'Eh, not the best start' she thought to herself with a cringe.

He looked up at her, confused. He logically assumed her out of the blue statement had something to do with what she was holding. "Of popcorn?" He asked incredulously.

Jemma briefly considered taking the excuse and backing out of the conversation. But this had to happen. "No! Not the popcorn. The popcorn is great." She quickly set it on the table and took to wringing the edges of her sleeves, a bad habit she'd meant to quit. "I'm tired of US, Fitz." As soon as she heard the words come out of her mouth she grimaced. She'd mucked it up, as usual. She didn't want to look at him because she knew the way his hurt would undoubtedly be written across his face would make her completely lose her thought. But she wasn't going to give up this time, either, so she closed her eyes and pressed forward. "No, no not…" She took a breath and tried again, slower. "I'm tired of… us… not really talking about anything until one of us is about to die."

She popped her eyes open soon enough to see his facial expression change from wounded to serious as he realized what she was trying to do. He wrapped his arms around his chest. "Oh, really? Yeah, cuz… I thought that was just our thing. I was about to volunteer for the latest death defying mission just to have a proper conversation with you." He said sarcastically.

That made Jemma chuckle and drop her arms against her sides. "No need for such drastic measures. Although I know the team would be better off for having you."

"Bloody right they would. I'm very useful out there."

Jemma grinned at him for a moment before looked at the carpet again and said quietly, "I've missed you Fitz."

Fitz paused a while, kicking the floor a bit. "Yeah, well, I'm right here, aren't I? So… what do you think we should talk about then?"

Wanting to ease into the topic, Jemma asked first, "How are you feeling?"

"Better. Feel like I haven't eaten in a week, but my voice is back, so that's good."

"It must have been awful, having something controlling you."

"Eh, it was a bit like dream-walking. I don't remember a lot, and what I do remember is... blurry. I know "I" was doing things, but it doesn't feel real. It's weird, though. Knowing something can just take over you like that."

"I think that's scary for all of us." Jemma gave a little wince to express her sympathy. "Fitz, about what happened in the cave-"

"Yeah, thank you, by the way. For… um...getting me out of there, and all. It was very brave-"

"No, Fitz. I'm sorry." Jemma almost became discombobulated by the incredibly attractive way Fitz' lips parted slightly in protest, but she carried on before he could stop her. "I'm sorry because it was my fault. All of it. If I hadn't been so obsessed with getting Will back, Hive would never have gotten here and you wouldn't-"

"Jemma, stop." Fitz commanded. "Trust me. It's not your fault. It's Hydra's. They're the ones that were obsessed with getting Hive back, and they were going to get to us whether we were investigating Will or not. I'm sorry because after all that I just ended up killing him."

"Oh, Fitz. You didn't kill him, I did. He died saving me, remember?" Her lingering self-loathing slipped into her inflection.

"But what if there was something... what if he was still there, like I was?"

"I don't think so, Fitz. The injury you described… doesn't sound like he would have made it far. It was too late for him. I'm just glad you got back, safe and sound." Jemma knew it was time to move forward. "And now that we're both here…"

"What do you think we should do about it?" Fitz finished before she could, a wry smile quirking the end of his lips.

She gave him a tight smile in return, definitely noticing how he had turned the tables to make it up to her. But since he did- "Fitz, were you going to transfer to the Bus?" She needed to know where he was at; she didn't want to be insensitive to his needs, a mistake she was conscious to avoid repeating.

His sad eyes gave her all the answer she needed, but he replied anyway, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, Jemma, I was going to tell you… and I'm sorry you had to find out that way. Um, I hope you don't-"

"No, no, of course. It's just, well..." not really sure where to go next, Jemma said the first thing that came to mind. "You were going to do that before, you know."

"Yep." There wasn't really much more that Fitz could say about that.

"Is it…" Jemma cleared her throat to make way for the words. "Is the same now? The reason, I mean?" Hive had indicated it was because he couldn't stand her anymore, which was painful, but if it was true she couldn't really blame him.

"No, not exactly."

Fitz didn't seem willing to elaborate, so Jemma spoke up again. "Well, you should know I meant what I said, before you left for the Triskelion. It really was important for me to be your friend again, and I… I don't think I could stand it if we weren't friends. So, if there's anything I can do…"

"No, no. We'll always be friends, Jemma. I promise."

Jemma dared to make eye contact, only to find that his expression was intense and sincere. So she nodded, but there was still something eating at stomach… what about something more? At that moment, Jemma decided to take the biggest risk yet. "Good. But… is that all? Because now my best friend is standing right in front of me and all I want to do is kiss him."

At that Fitz' eyes widened, searching for understanding. "What're you saying, Jemma?"

"I'm saying… I guess I'm saying that I understand if you need space. It makes sense, and I'm sorry. But… If you wanted to stay...Well, I think I owe you a proper date."

Fitz pinched the bridge of his nose and there was only one reason Jemma could deduce why he would look so deflated, and her stomach instantly turned to knots in anticipation of his reply.

"You don't owe me anything, Jemma."

That statement almost hurt worse than her cracked ribs did. She swallowed hard, trying with all her might to not make him feel guilty by breaking down. He had every reason to deny the offer. "Oh. Okay, I understand if you don't want to… that's fine. I hope-"

"I didn't say that. I said you don't owe me anything." He let his hand drop and he looked at her again with sad eyes.

"...Alright…" Jemma really didn't see the difference.

"I don't want to go on a date with you because you feel like you should, or because you can't go with him. But if you still want to go to dinner with me because…" He floundered at the end of his sentence but it didn't matter. Because that, that thing that he either couldn't bring himself to say or couldn't find the words for? Yeah, it was definitely that.

Jemma nodded vigorously. "I would like that very much, Fitz. It's long overdue." Just like last time they agreed to dinner, Jemma felt a smile grow on her face. This time, though, she made no effort to hide it.

He allowed himself to return the smile, even though his eyes retained their worry. "Erm, just so you know though, that project that I was going to do on the Bus, it'll still need done. So once we've got Hive taken care of, I'll probably still end up being there for a while…"

"Sure, of course. That's fine. Do you know how long it will take?" Jemma honestly didn't care too much about that, or anything else at that point. Because she'd won. She was officially going on a proper date with Leopold Fitz. Reviewing that fact made her smile even bigger.

"No, not for sure."

"Well… we don't have to wait to do dinner do we?"

Then he looked mildly flustered. "No, no. Not if-"

"Good! Sooner we do it less time the cosmos has to cook up something with which to interfere." She said teasingly to him, which elicited a small grin from him.

"Yeah, we definitely don't want that. Okay, um… I can work on getting us another reservation tomorrow." Fitz took a deep breath, and to Jemma it looked like he was 50 kilos lighter. He looked around the room like he was seeing it for the first time. "So… what do we do now?" He asked awkwardly.

Jemma puffed slightly with pride; she'd anticipated this point in the conversation, which is why she'd had an activity in mind ahead of time. "We do already have popcorn and Doctor who…"

"Right. Good plan." Jemma waited for him to choose a seat, and watched him grade the four options to find the least presumptuous. He finally settled on one edge of the couch, to Jemma's delight. She flicked off the lights and he grabbed the mouse to control the computer. Just before he pressed play she flopped down next to him happily, sitting like they used to sit with no gap in between them. Fitz took a moment to grin at her and then started the show.

It was the best night either of them had in a long time. The first episode they watched mostly in silence, but by the second episode they had fallen back into their old habit of making comments at the show and bickering about the plausibility of certain things. They conversed about whether the TARDIS was able to prevent the companions from getting alien viruses, or if they had to be inoculated ahead of time. They both agreed Jemma should be a consultant for the show, seeing as she had to be the reigning expert on alien worlds. They laughed and joked, and kept on clicking the next episode despite their mutual exhaustion because neither of them wanted it to end.

But 5 episodes later they'd both fallen asleep in the middle of one, her leaning against him comfortably. She was first to wake up, but she didn't have the heart to wake him up and send him back to his bunk. So she quietly shut down the laptop and the TV, dug out some extra pillows and blankets, and tucked him into the couch, barely making him stir. She took a moment to admire him, reflecting on how thankful she was that they'd met in the academy, that they'd become friends and got to work together for a decade. And now she relished each moment with him, and promised herself that she would never forget that they'd both stolen time with each other back from the universe by simply refusing to let go.

And she knew she would never would let go.