Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. 1. Once Upon a Time

It was nearing dinner time and Fitz was on his way to make himself something to eat, Simmons keeping pace with him though she had declined he make extra for her. (When did she eat? He really hoped she wasn't skipping meals.)

"It might make you feel better," she insisted, hopeful.

"I'm no good at stories Simmons," he objected. "You know that, and besides I can't... can't..." He frowned.

"Remember," she reminded him patiently.

"Remember, that's it, I had it," he answered, a little less patiently. "I can't remember words half the time, I'd be no good at it."

"That's what I'm here for," she smiled. "Oh look," she'd spotted May, Skye and Trip walking towards them. "Maybe they'll want to hear."

"I don't think they want to hear a story," he mumbled, keeping his voice low, but May heard him anyway.

"Did you need something Fitz?" She inquired, polite, even if there was an edge to her voice and a darkness behind her eyes.

"I... um...," he fumbled.

"You wanted to tell them a story," Simmons whispered.

"I wanted to tell you a story," he repeated automatically and then turned to her, irritated and feeling betrayed. What was she doing? She must have known this was a bad idea. They already thought he was crazy, waltzing up to them and offering to tell them a story wasn't going to help with that, it was weird, impulsive.

"A story?" Skye asked, striding up to him. She was looking more like May every day, in the way she dressed, the way she held herself. He wasn't sure if he liked it, he missed his friend, missed her being carefree and happy. "I'd love a good story, how about you Trip?"

"Sounds much better than sitting through that talent show again," he joked and she rolled her eyes at him.

"It's awesome," she insisted, then she turned back to Fitz. "But... of course, if you wanted to tell us a story I'd much prefer that."

They were placating him, he could tell (did they really think he couldn't?) but he went along anyway because he was lonely and because he'd suddenly had an idea.

They gathered in the sitting room, Simmons waiting until everyone had settled in before taking the empty spot beside May, and Fitz stood in the middle, between the television and the glass table, a little nervous at having everyone's attention on him. He wished Simmons would come stand beside him but she seemed comfortable perched next to May and he didn't want to call to her in front of the others.

"Once upon a time," he began. Someone had told him once that all good stories started with once upon a time and ended with happily ever after. He wasn't sure if he dared believe his story was a good one, but he started it that way anyhow, just in case. "There were two inventors who lived together on a... on a...," he clenched and unclenched his fists, searching for the word. "A ship," he decided. No, that wasn't the word, but it would do. "A flying ship, whose sails caught the wind and... caught the wind and blew... through the clouds, like a great white sea."

"A ship," Skye tilted her head, curious. "Like a sailing ship?"

Fitz smiled, enjoying the way she was looking at him, the way everyone was, as if he were smart again, creative. And Simmons... she couldn't have looked prouder.

"Yes," he told her, nodding. "A sailing ship, that could fly," he explained, motioning with his hands. "The inventors made it and... it looked like... um..."

"Magic," Simmons whispered.

"Magic," he repeated. "Only it was science."

He could see it, as he told that tale, cursing himself a little for not having the words to describe the awesome beauty of it. The smooth, red tinged wood, the tall majestic sails and the black eagle perched at the bow, wings spread out to soar across the sky.

"And they weren't the only ones on the ship of course," he continued, grinning because, despite his inadequacy, his team was listening intently, eyes shining. "They had a captain, Captain Phillip, but he was never there because... because.. he... he had... um... important," there was the word, Simmons beamed at him for remembering it on his own, "important things to do, stopping pirates who stole something more valuable than gold, they stole knowledge. So, you can see, that took priority, and everyone understood why he was gone so often."

That made the others uncomfortable. Skye smiled, but it wasn't a real one, he could tell, and he knew he'd hit a sore spot so he continued quickly. "But they had a brave, mighty co-captain, The Mighty May, who took his place and watched over them when he was gone." He chuckled, "she watched over Captain Phillip too, even if he didn't notice." Another sad smile, he needed to lighten the mood. "And they had a... umm..." he snapped his fingers, "don't tell me, I have it on the tip of my tongue... um... a princess! Former princess of a kingdom called The Rising Tide, Princess Skye."

"I like that," Skye laughed and Trip wiggled his eyebrows at her, laughing along.

Good, good. They were happy again. Simmons gave him a thumbs up.

"Princess Skye had the power to find almost anyone, or anything, using something called cloud-fi, and her trusty cloud book. Now... I know what you're thinking," he told them, raising a hand, "It sounds a whole lot like magic but it's-"

"Science," they chorused cheerfully.

He chuckled. "Exactly. And, finally, they had a warrior, one from an... um..."

He looked to Simmons.

"Ancient," she offered.

"From an ancient line of warriors," he went on. "He didn't like people talking about that though, he wanted to be his own person." Fitz looked at Trip who smiled back, understanding. "His name was Triplett, and he could do almost anything."

Skye nudged him. "Don't let that get to your head," she teased.

"Aw, C'mon your royal highness, Princess Skye, you know Fitz is only telling it how it is," he teased back.

Fitz wanted to dance, this felt good, it felt right. But dancing in the middle of the sitting room, without even any music, might be a little strange and he didn't want them to go back to looking at him as if he were having a breakdown so his feet remained rhythm-less. Simmons danced for him, a tiny little victory wiggle beside May and he narrowed his eyes affectionately before continuing.

"The two inventors were as close as two people could be," he went on. "And they were incredible. They made things like... um..." He was having trouble, finding the words, remembering real things that would be impressive.

"Make them up then," Simmons suggested. "This is a story after all."

It was, and couldn't anything happen in a story? Wasn't that why you told them? To make new, incredible worlds. To create. So you could have a happy ending.

"They made golden clouds," he announced waving his arms dramatically. "And... um... flowers... that could grow anywhere, even in snow, and vegetables that tasted like... tasted like, don't tell me... I've got it...," he snapped his fingers again. "That tasted like sweets. They made wonderful things and, together, they filled the world with goodness."

"That sounds nice," May commented, smiling again. He wasn't sure if she was sad this time, couldn't tell. He hoped the next part of his story didn't upset anyone.

"Now... um... before I continue," he warned. "You should know that... that this story is going to get sad."

The others frowned at him, sympathetic, but Simmons circled her hands encouragingly, signalling for him to go on.

"But it'll get happy again OK?" He promised. "Just... if you can... bear with me."

"We can do that," May assured him.

He took a breath. "OK. Everyone was happy, and they spread good throughout the world except there was a... um... pirate... onboard their ship, pretending to be their friend."

The tension in the room was thick, sour sludge, choking him, but he had to go on because he couldn't get to happily ever after unless he did.

"And the pirate tried to steal... their... um... their," he bounced anxiously on his toes, needing to find the word before the sludge suffocated him.

"Knowledge," Simmons reminded him, strong, breathing evenly.

"Knowledge," he repeated, the sludge retreating a little. "The inventors tried to stop him but he threw them off the ship and they fell through the clouds."

He paused as Trip and Skye flinched but May remained stoic, blinking slowly. "Go on," she encouraged quietly.

"They were going to die," he told them sadly. "And they were scared but at least they were together. Then... then they..." he stopped, straining to remember the foggier part of the story. "Then they had an idea, they could make wings, from the crystals in the clouds, but the one inventor, his name was Leo for the..." he squirmed on the spot, trying to recall the word. "It's with stars... the... the constellation. He was named after the constellation, and he knew that they could only make one set and he loved his partner- her name was Gemini- he loved her so much that he gave them to her and they caught on the wind like the sails of the ship and she soared away from him."

He could see her, so beautiful, rising up past the clouds. Her wings were like the wings of a dragonfly, clear like crystal, the sunlight filling them with rainbows and he closed his eyes for a moment, holding onto the image of her face, comforting even if it was soaked in tears.

When he opened them he saw Skye biting her lip, eyes bright and Trip staring unhappily down at his hands, but both May and Simmons nodded for him to continue so he did.

"Leo was falling, the earth was getting closer, ready to swallow him up, but he was ready for it because he knew that Gemini would be OK, that she could fly away now," he told them. "Only she didn't fly away, because she loved him too. She swooped down, her... her wings..." he made the motion, pushing his arms against his sides. "tucked... no... Folded! Her wings were folded against her body so she could speed down and catch him before he hit the ground and she carried him up, back to the ship." He frowned. "But they dropped something, something fell out of Leo... his...," there were no words that could describe it though. "It was important. Very, very important, but he lost it. It fell, somewhere on the earth so when they reached the ship again... he was... he couldn't do things anymore."

He let out a shaky breath. The worst part was coming, but he needed to get through it if he wanted to get to the end. Trip and Skye looked to May but she was staring at him, listening.

"He was sad," he pushed on. "And the others... they tried to... um... help, but they couldn't. Not even Gemini could help him and he couldn't help her anymore either and she was sad too, so the inventions stopped and the rest of the ship's crew had to go on on making the world a better place without them. There were pirates everywhere though, hurting people, trying to take what the crew had left so they had to land, to hide and they buried their beautiful ship... um..."

He looked to Simmons.

"Underground," she offered.

"Underground," he repeated.

There was that sludge again, thicker now, clogging his nostrils. But he had to go on.

"They made tunnels, a whole network, with labs and an office for the Captain and places where they could keep the pirates they captured but it was horrible. It was very dark, under the ground," he described. "and cold, but life went on because they had to keep helping people, keep making the world a better place." He sighed heavily and Simmons rose to place a hand on his shoulder. He resisted the urge to place his own over it but alllowed himself to stare back at her gratefully, feeling stronger. "But no one could make Leo better and one day, Gemini left." His eyes grew hot and his breath caught in his chest. "She spread out her wings, filled with rainbows, and flew away."

"Fitz..." Skye began, but May placed a hand on her arm, silencing her, and nodded for him to continue.

"She had to leave, there was something she needed to do, it was... it was... _important_... but Leo didn't understand because he was...," again, there were no words, "he didn't understand. And it hurt so much, it almost... _almost_ broke him. He called after her, even long after she was gone, begging her to come back." His voice fell to a whisper. "Come back, please come back." He was fighting down tears now, scrunching his face in a feeble attempt to keep them in. He had to go on, he couldn't stop there, drowning in sludge.

"But... but she left something with him." He persevered, touching his chest. "A piece of her heart, to protect him. _She left him something to protect him_," he insisted, but a hard lump had formed in his throat and he lost his battle, tears filling his eyes before he let out a whimper and May stood, slowly stepping towards him to place a hand on his shoulder.

He wanted to jerk away, at first, but the feel of her fingers, gripping onto him, holding him down was comforting, something he'd been yearning for. Their eyes met and there was a strong kind of gentleness in hers, like a firm embrace.

"Do you want to stop," she asked softly but he shook his head.

"N-no."

She nodded and drew her hand back, he was almost disappointed.

That was the worst part. He was through it, now he only needed to get to the end.

"She took out a piece of her heart, a blue feather, the colour of the sky, and left it beside his tools for him to find," The story had stopped making sense, if it had at all to begin with, and he really hoped no one thought he was crazy. It was only a story right? "It turned into a person, who looked like her because she was a part of her, so even though she was...," his pause, for once, was not created by a forgotten word, but rather one he didn't want to say. "Even though she wasn't there with him, she could watch over him."

Simmons looked sad and he thought, maybe, she'd blurred a bit around the edges.

"Gemini had to go, she had something important to do, it was very, very important," he pressed.

"And what was that Fitz?" Simmons asked quietly.

What was it? He closed his eyes, thinking, concentrating, and then it came to him.

He opened them again, ready to continue, to explain to his friends why she had left him, so that they'd understand, the way he was trying to.

/-/-/

* * *

This story was inspired by an episode of Fringe (Brown Betty) like most of my stories are XD, in which Walter tells a story to Olivia's niece while Olivia is out looking for his son Peter. The story is about a detective (Olivia) searching for a missing man (Peter) who stole a mechanical heart from a dying scientist (Walter). It was a fun episode, kinda whacky but in a good way and it was a really good way to put a gap in the angst haha. I'm not sure this story is as crazy or whacky yet, but next chapter we get to see what Fitz thinks (or imagines) Simmons is up to, and that might get a little whacky.

I know a lot of people don't like it when Fitz is called Leo, but there were two constellations that sounded like their first names and I couldn't resist. Besides it's not really him, it's the character he based off of himself and it isn't short for Leopold. I didn't want him to put Simmons' name in the story, because I feel like he is kinda detached from her leaving so I came up with Gemini (sounds a bit like Jemma) for her and then Leo fit for him.

There is a reference to Fringe in the story, it is the line "all good stories start with once upon a time and end with happily ever after." Ella (Olivia's niece) tells this to Walter when his ending is not happy. (Then she fixes it haha).


	2. And They Lived Happily Ever After

They had moved to the kitchen, after several stomachs had grumbled and May had insisted they needed to eat so, while Skye and Trip prepared a stir fry, May made tea and Fitz sat at the table, cutting up anything that was given to him, as he continued. Simmons watched the knife tip wearily but he gave her a reproachful look and she stopped, staring up at him instead.

"She needed to create something, a light that would bring the ship and it's crew out of hiding and expose the pirates wherever they were," he explained. "But she couldn't do it without a special artifact, a 4-80. No one knew what it did, or what it looked like, but she knew she had to find it."

"How was she going to find it, if she didn't know what it was?" Skye wondered, slicing chicken into cubes. Fitz really hoped she'd be careful to avoid cross contamination, the last thing they needed was a bout of food poisoning.

"It was in a box," he explained. "One that had 4-80 printed on the cover, and she knew where the box was, it was in a secret base underneath a mountain, Princess Skye," he smiled at Skye, who seemed pleased to have mention again in his story, "had found it using her cloud-fi."

_Gemini was on a train, speeding towards the base of Mt. Tahiti, the snowy peak already visible in the distance, hugging a small, ceramic jar to her chest which contained the map to the 4-80 in the form of a cloud. She could tip open the cover to see it, but she had to be careful that she wasn't seen and that the cloud didn't escape because she needed the map. The base beneath the mountain was a labyrinth of tunnels and she'd never make it to the object she needed if she didn't have it._

_It felt as if there should have been someone sitting across from her. Not Leo, though she missed him, but someone else. Her captain maybe?_

_She shrugged off the feeling, she needed to concentrate, there could be pirates anywhere, and they'd want to get to the 4-80 before she did, to destroy it or use it themselves. If they had someone like her, someone who knew how to use it._

_There was a bang, near the front of the train and people began screaming, rushing past her seat to get away. Her wings fluttered, she wanted to fly, get out, but she couldn't leave them to be hurt by whatever it was so instead she pushed her way back, against the river of panicked passengers, towards what they were running from._

_It was a man, tall and strong and fitted with mechanical parts that looked painful against his skin, half his face bearing a gruesome scar. At first glance, he seemed dangerous, he was ripping apart the train, tearing the metal as if it were paper, threatening to hurt people, but when she looked into his eyes, Gemini could see he was sad, that he didn't want to be doing what he was doing-_

"It's Mike," Skye realized softly, thankfully giving her hands a thorough wash and pulling Fitz out of his head. He'd almost forgotten they were there, listening to him. He hoped he'd been telling the story the same way out loud as he'd been in his head, hoped he'd gotten all the details. He reasoned that he must have, if Skye knew it was Mike.

"His name was Mike," Fitz told her. "And he wasn't a... wasn't a... um..."

He turned to Simmons who was watching him carefully. "Monster," she offered.

"He wasn't a monster, he was just a man who was scared and under the control of a real monster."

_Gemini made her decision quickly, racing back to her seat and stowing the jar carefully in her bag before pulling out her kit._

_"Don't be afraid," she shouted. "I'm going to help you," she promised him._

_It was his eye, his eye wasn't right and she'd seen this before. A flower had bloomed from the pupil, pushing it's roots into his head and controlling his actions. "You can't help me," he told her, "you need to kill me, or I'll kill everyone on this train."_

"But Gemini wasn't going to kill him," Fitz explained, obviously she wasn't. "She was good and kind and clever and she knew how to fix him so she mixed together a concoction and ran at him, fearless... um... she was... aiming, that's it, she was aiming for his eye with a syringe." He made the motion of pushing the plunger with his fingers. "And she hit it, dead on, wilting the flower and freeing him from the grasp of the flower woman."

"That'd be Raina," Trip guessed.

They were good.

"Her name was Raina, and she wasn't of this world, she was from somewhere else," he explained. "Mike told Gemini all about it, all about how Raina had come down in her spaceship and planted a bad seed in his eye that grew into the evil flower. There were others, like him, being controlled. Some of them were pirates, or at least she used to think they were, but now Gemini... now she... umm," his fingers snapped. "Ah, she knew better, and she needed to tell her captain about it as soon as she returned because they couldn't risk hurting innocent people who were only doing bad things because of the seeds in their eyes."

May placed a cup of tea in front of him and took over the cutting for him.

"So you can tell the story," she explained, when he raised his eyebrows at her and frowned in objection.

He could have done both, he was more capable than they thought he was, but he didn't want to start an argument when things were going so well so he moved on.

"Once she freed Mike," he continued. "He said he had to leave, because now that he was free he needed to rescue his son."

_Gemini wanted to go with him and help, she really did, but she needed to find the 4-80 so she could stop the pirates and free her crew from their underground prison._

_The train was stopped for good, so she realized she needed to fly the rest of the way. Which was alright, because it wasn't far, so she grabbed her bag and her wings began to flutter rapidly, lifting her from the ground._

_She reached the mountain in good time and made her way to the secret entrance at the base of it, ready to punch in the code that would open the door._

_But it was covered in ice._

_"Help me," someone called, shivering against the stone wall._

Fitz paused the story, wondering if they knew who the someone was but no one had looked up from their work, so he guessed that they didn't, not yet.

_Gemini approached him and saw that his legs had been frozen over, the same way the keypad had been._

_"How long have you been like this?" She asked gently, touching the cool ice to feel it's thickness. She'd need a tool to break through it._

_"N-not t-t-too long," he told her, teeth chattering._

_"Well, your body's still working for you, so that's good," Gemini smiled, hoping to reassure him._

_"Y-you n-n-need t-to t-turn it off," he said, pointing in front of him._

_She followed his finger and saw a machine, spinning rapidly, sending out tiny crystals of ice and chilling the air._

"She tried to turn it off, but she didn't know how," Fitz told them, shaking his head. "She needed Leo, but he wasn't there and even if he were..."

He paused, chewing on his lip, and now the others looked up from their work.

"She found a way though right?" Skye wondered, curious rather than pitying. "She helped Donnie?"

He smiled at her. "How did you know?"

She shrugged, popping the end of a carrot in her mouth, chewing and swallowing before she continued. "Because you said this story had a happy ending," she answered.

"Stop eating all the vegetables before they even make it to the pan," Trip scolded, swatting at her hand and chuckling as she reached for a tomato cube.

She made a face at him, laughing, and Fitz took a sip of his tea, warming his insides and felt a brief moment of peace, of calm, before he continued.

"Well, you're half right," he told her. "Donnie was saved, but Gemini really couldn't fix it, not on her own. She didn't know what to do but she tried, because she would never, ever give up, especially if someone needed her. As it turned out, someone else knew that she needed them."

He really hoped that didn't sound too corny, he wasn't really the best at telling stories, that had always been Simmons' strong point.

_There was a thump against the door of the secret entrance, as if a medium sized object had struck it, and a light drifted out like a ghost through the door. The light took the shape of a person, faceless but clever with nimble hands who kneeled beside her and helped her fix the machine. The voice was familiar, so familiar, but she couldn't place it even though she knew she should be able to._

Fitz looked up, gauging his friends' reactions. Did they know who it was? May had finished chopping and was watching him along with Skye who had sat down beside her to let Trip mix the ingredients together in the large pan. The delicious aroma of food drifted over to them and more than one stomach grumbled. He didn't see any signs of recognition though, so he continued.

"The ice... it... um...," he pinched the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut. "melted!" he remembered, snapping them open. "All the ice melted and Donnie was free and so was the door panel."

_Gemini opened the door to find a box, open and empty with 4-80 printed in thick ink across the top._

_For a moment, she despaired, thinking the pirates had beaten her, that they'd already found it. Then the light being floated over the ground to her side and placed a warm hand on her shoulder._

_"It's you," she realized, turning to face it, finally recognizing it._

_"It is," he replied sadly._

"Wait," Skye pipped up, puzzled. "She found it? That's good though isn't it?"

Fitz tried to smile but he couldn't. "Yeah," he agreed, "it's a good thing."

May understood, she was gazing at him, a sadness in her eyes, though there was something in her expression that told him that she knew why he had to tell the story the way he was and she allowed him to continue without comment.

She'd figured out, just as he had, that even if the story had a happy ending that that didn't mean it was happy for everyone. Fitz, had at last, come to the conclusion that he wasn't going to get a happily ever after.

"Gemini took the light and flew him back to the tunnels," he went on, nearing the end and not nearly as excited for it as he had been a few minutes ago. "He didn't want to go back underground, he'd been under the mountain so long and he hated the dark and the... um... the.. endless...," not very accurate, but close enough, "the endless earth between himself and the sky. He went with her anyway though, because he trusted her and he knew that this was the right thing to do."

Trip had finished with the stir fry but he didn't serve it yet, instead he put a lid over the pan and turned to face Fitz, seeming as if it had finally dawned on him too, what was going to happen.

Skye remained, slightly, confused.

The next part wasn't so bad, it was almost happy.

_Gemini found Leo again, in the tunnels, talking with the feather she'd left for him. He recognized the light being right away and at first he was overjoyed, leaping to his feet and stumbling over to embrace Gemini who squeezed him back tightly, having missed him. For a moment, they were together again but it was only a moment, a final goodbye. She was crying and she didn't need to tell Leo why, he knew._

_"It'll be OK," he promised, pulling away and smiling bravely._

_She looked away._

_"We have to do this," the light being told her._

_She shook her head._

_"You're the only one who can make it," Leo pressed. "Please, I don't want to hide anymore, I want our friends to see the sky again, be free to spread goodness over the world."_

_She didn't want to, but she knew that there was no other choice, so she built the light, the one that would take them out of hiding and save the world from the pirates. When she was finished, she embraced Leo once more and the light being embraced her from the other side, so that she was sheltered between them, between the two broken halves of her friend._

_Then they let go and she watched as they walked into the light, making each other whole one last time before they became a part of it forever._

"The light saved them, it brought them out of hiding and the world was filled with goodness once more," Fitz finished. "And the ship left the ground, soaring into the sky to sail... um... um.."

"Atop," Simmons said tightly, looking as if she'd been betrayed.

"Atop," he repeated quietly. "It soared into the sky to sail atop the clouds and, even though they missed Leo, the crew lived happily ever after. The end."

Skye shook her head, aghast. "But... but... what?... you said this story had a happy ending."

"That was happy," Fitz told her.

She shook her head. "We want you here, it's not happy without you."

Simmons was glaring at him.

"No," she insisted, tearing up at the same moment he did. "That isn't how it ends."

But it was, it had to be because anything else would have been magic, would have been a miracle, and he'd stopped believing in leprechauns and miracles a long time ago.

"But the rest of your story was magic," Simmons pressed, not understanding.

'The rest of my story wasn't real,' he thought.

"No," she said again, more forcefully and he smiled sadly at her. "You can't end it that way, you can't stop believing."

He was stopping himself from speaking to her, but staring intently enough that the others were looking at him with that same mixture of concern and pity he'd grown to loath. There was a long silence before she spoke again.

"What if I told you I could show you a miracle?" She said quietly.

He sighed but she was unrelenting.

"Repeat what I say," she demanded.

'OK,' he thought wearily, giving in.

"Maybe I can end it differently," he told his friends who continued to listen. Skye reached out to take his hand and he let her, grateful that she was there and she was real.

"I'd like that," she told him, voice watery.

"I think we all would," May added somberly.

He nodded, allowing Simmons to give him the words for the new ending. "In the middle of the night, when the ship was back in the sky and the light was all used up, a star fell from from the constellation shaped like a lion, past the sails and onto the deck. Gemini found it, a tiny sparkling diamond-" he frowned. "I know that stars aren't diamonds," he clarified, not wanting them to think he was confused, "they're gas, exploding over and over... so maybe this wasn't a star..."

"It can be a star," May assured him.

He smiled at her. "OK," he agreed. "Gemini found the star, a tiny... um... sparkling thing, filled with rainbows, and held it against her heart."

He blushed as he listened to Simmons continue.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about," she insisted. "Go on."

"She missed Leo, so she wished for him to return, and they had loved each other so much that her heart was filled with him and it filled the star with him too so that it became him, all of him, floating out of her hand to... um... to... to form him... in front of her."

Skye squeezed his hand and beamed at him and the others seemed happy too, with this new ending.

"Everyone was together again," he whispered. "The inventors returned to work, making the world a better place and living happily ever after."

/-/-/

A couple hours later, when they had eaten and moved on to other things, May and Coulson watched Fitz and Skye over the monitors, playing a game of Battleship. Skye cheered, raising both hands in the air and grinning while Fitz gave her a tiny smile, shaking his head.

"Do you think he's getting worse?" Coulson asked, concerned. "You're telling me he was making things up?"

"Telling a story," May corrected. "And no, I'm telling you that that was the clearest I've seen him in a long time."

Coulson nodded, taking her word. "But he doesn't know why she left," he said quietly.

"I think he does," May objected. "He just needed a way to explain it to himself that made sense."

"That made sense?" Coulson wondered, questioning but not critical.

"It did to him," May answered.

They went back to watching him, seeing his hand drift to his shoulder, holding something that wasn't there before taking his turn.

"Do you think he can get better?" Coulson asked.

May's expression was unreadable. "I hope so."

/-/-/

* * *

You have reached the end of the two parter. Tada, I hope you enjoyed the story. I tried to put in some stuff from the episodes of season 1 because it was fun and Fitz was probably thinking of them.

The Fringe reference is the part where Fitz says "I stopped believing in leprechauns and miracles a long time ago" to which 'Simmons' responds "What if I told you I could show you a miracle?" It is from 3x17 _Os,_ a conversation between a boy in a wheelchair and a man offering to make him float so he can walk again (with a dangerous concoction that kills the people he gives it to, but he conveniently leaves that part out.)

Also the Labyrinth is a bit of a reference to Notapepper's story Lab-yrinth which is awesome Sci-Ops FitzSimmons fun.


End file.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Fantasy, Hurt-Comfort