Dear Inkdrops, here chapter 11. Please let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I don't own AOS

Chapter 11: New people

The S.H.I.E.L.D. lab was...well, it was a lab which was currently empty besides herself and Fitz. Concerning the size, it was nothing compared to Stark's workshop or Dr. Banner's lab at the tower, but it was definitely equipped with every piece of high tech that Xandra could imagine. Fascinating and intimidating at the same time for a mind like hers, who would have loved to analyse every little part of what she could see, but was nearly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of it. Fitz took something that looked like a prototype of a sidearm off a table and handed it over to the young woman.

"This is a new version of the.. ahhh..the ICER. It is a.. it is a gun, but it doesn't kill."

With a confidence that testified a lot of practice, Xandra took the gun and cocked the trigger, obviously without pulling it.

"Beautifully balanced!" she exclaimed, "this is wonderful work!"

The man looked a bit flustered, but pleased nevertheless.

"Yes, thank you. This is one of my...projects."

"So do you have others?" she asked him curiously, but he just shrugged.

"I am kind of stuck. Not moving, dead end... the ideas are not working."

When he started to turn away from her, the Swedish held him gently back by the arm. She couldn't bear seeing this brilliant young man so disheartened, not when she was sure that he was wrong about himself. That was what her gut feeling told her about him, even after such a short period of acquaintance.

"Listen, I think they will. You just need some time. And maybe a little pet project? Something you are just doing for you, for nobody else."

Instead of turning away completely, FItz seemed to open up a little.

"What do you have in mind?"

"Well, I don't know, you are the engineer super-brain here."

"I was," he argued bitterly, "now that brain is only mushy rubbish."

"That's not true!" Alexandra replied, but suddenly sounding totally different. Her voice was firm, commanding, not leaving room for any discussion. It made him look up wide-eyed, apparently nobody in S.H.I.E.L.D. had dared to talk to him like that after whatever had happened to him, all afraid he might shut them out completely. Xandra didn't have to those fears, she just met his with her very blue eyes, locking them, not letting him look away.

"You listen to me Fitz," she began, "no matter what happened and what there was before, now it is different and you have to deal with it. That's it. That's the hard truth. It will get easier, it will get better, but until then, you have to keep your head up and kick ass anyway. Do you hear me?"

When he nodded, thunderstruck, she went on.

"Those people here, they love you and they are not giving up on you. But they also have to adapt and you have to let them do that. Without being angry. Because they are only human as well. And you know what? I think the two of us would make a great team for the time being, so when I have cracked the fucking code, I will come here and we start building something, deal?"

A small smile started to play around the man's lips.

"You mean it?"

"Hell yes, sure I do. Pinky promise."

For the first time since they had met, Fitz broke out in real laughter.

"Who is still using pinky promise?"

Walking back towards the entrance door, looking over her shoulder, Edvardson smiled back at him.

"I am, obviously!"

Outside, she was basically running into Hunter who picked up on her great mood right away.

"What makes you beam like that Love?" he wanted to know.

"Oh, Fitz just showed me around the lab and we talked. It's pretty cool. And I promised to help him with a project," she answered excitedly.

"Oh my goodness," Hunter faked horror, "that means I will have to put up with you even longer. How will I bear it? Does Coulson know?"

The short woman playfully elbowed him in the stomach. She wouldn't let such an answer go by unpunished, at least not from Hunter.

"You are already head over heels for me Douchebag, and you very well know it. And no, the boss man doesn't know. But May made me go with Fitz in the first place, so I guess she will be on my side with this one."

The older man eyed her wistfully.

"May likes you. Try to stay in her good graces. Then you will live longer. She hates me however and I am fearing every night that I will wake up with a slit throat."

"Thanks, I'll try and remember it. But may I point out, yes that pun was intended, that if May slit your throat you wouldn't wake up at all. And what the hell did you do to her?"

"He shot her!" an amused voice said from behind the two, making them turn around. A young, attractive dark skinned man was grinning like the cat who had just eaten the canary. Xandra hadn't seen him before, he must have just gotten back from a mission or something.

"So you are little Peggy Carter 2.0," he stated merrily, making her frown.

That didn't sound well, if he started off with this comparison. She tried to keep her body language as neutral as possible, not to let too much uneasiness flood through it.

"What do you mean by that?" the scientist asked hoping it didn't sound snappy.

"Codebreaker. Smart. Sounding British and posh from what I have heard," the new guy explained, "also worked with a Stark dude. Now part of S.H.I.E L.D. Do you want me to go on?"

The tension in her shoulders dissolved and she started to genuinely laugh at the statement. Okay, so he had let her off the hook easily.

"I take that as a compliment then. Now, I have to go back to code breaking I guess. What's your name anyway?"

He shook the hand she offered him.

"It's Trip."

Thank you for reading!