What they experienced

Why should I fear death?

If I am, death is not.

If death is, I am not.

Why should I fear that which can only exist,

When I do not? – Epicurus

He had jumped. Trip hadn't even bothered to put his suit back on, when he had let himself down again. And now what?

What were they supposed to do? They had only managed to get out in time because they had split up… So how could one person manage to prevent the worst?

Fitz looked at Jemma, whose gaze was still fixed into the black tunnel. She was sitting at the edge, glaring into it with a still shocked, but concentrated expression. She was thinking hard, trying to find a way to help their friend … She always had found a way in the past, but this time was different. This time, there was nothing she could do. Except go down there.

And damn it, if she even attempted to move an inch closer to the hole, he'd push her back to the far end of the room, away from the tunnel.

He sat down beside her, watching her closely, when her eyes met his.

"Don't even think about it" she said. "I'm not letting you go down there."

And although she couldn't read his thoughts anymore, a sign that they still had to work on their friendship after the few "normal" interactions they had shared in the past few hours, he couldn't help but to feel a tinge of …relief? Or was it happiness…? After all that had happened, especially her leaving, it felt nice to know that she still cared about him… even though she'd never care for him the way he did for her.

"I'm not" he answered. "A...And to be honest, you are a little too close to the tunnel for my taste" he murmured and gently pushed her back.

She was showing some kind of emotion in her eyes, but he was unable to make it out. She forced a weak smile onto her lips as he sat down beside her, leaning against the wall. Their shoulders were touching, just like back then, when their relationship hadn't been that…damaged.

"Do you think he'll make it?" she whispered, eyes fixed on the black hole in the ground.

"We'll know in a few minutes, I guess." He answered and checked the time, trying his best to avoid thinking about the consequences if Trip wouldn't.

Skye and Coulson were down there too, just like…Mack. He would have been blown apart without anybody jumping to the rescue.

And the worst was that he had helped setting up the bombs. He even did one all by himself. Not to mention that he had almost shot him.

A big lump formed itself down in his throat, making it hard to breathe. He had abandoned his best friend when he'd needed him most. After all the things Mack had done for him, the best he'd been able to do was twice-done attempted murder. Really well done, Fitz, he thought.

Jemma breathed in an awful lot of air, trying to calm down her senses. He did the same, but without any luck. His heart was still pounding heavily against his chest and the dust from the ground had found its way to his mouth, providing him with a terrible taste and a dry feeling on his tongue.

Why did all hell decide to break loose, when they decided to show up? Couldn't their plan work for just one freakin' time without any inconveniences?

That was what he hated about field work… the unknown variables that were lingering in the walls around them, sneaking up on them to turn the tables once again. They had always found a way back, but now it felt like they had emptied their bottle of luck.

Down in the medpod he had felt a similar kind of desperation, though back then he knew that it would end soon. If things would go wrong now, he would have to face the outcome of things.

Two of his good friends dead, just like his best friend, who had a slight chance of surviving because of some weird alien crap. Shield would lack a director once again, which would only worsen the situation of the already crippled organization.

Jemma sucked in another deep breath beside him, interrupting his thoughts and bringing him back to reality.

"Any minute now" he mumbled after checking his watch while his hands shook uncontrollably. She took hold of one, squeezing it with her eyes closed while she hid her head in the crook of his neck.

He didn't have time to think of how nice it felt to have her that close again, because his heart felt like it was about to jump out of his chest from the fierce beating inside of him.

When the watch hand was about to reach the moment they had set the bombs to explode, he too shut his eyelids and clutched Jemma's hand tightly.

And then…

Nothing.

He counted, but nothing happened. And of course, he had added a few seconds just to make sure… so that meant … that meant Trip had made it in time.

"He ...He did it" Fitz said in disbelief and Jemma looked up at him. A smile planted itself across her lips and then they were getting up and hugging each other again, being glad that everything had worked out after all.

His heartbeat decreased his strength to an almost normal level, when Jemma slowly disengaged from their embrace, watching his face up-close. They weren't hugging anymore, but she had only moved away a few inches.

And again, she wore the same unreadable expression while gazing into his eyes.

He was about to ask her what was going on when she interrupted him, saying:" You know, for a brief moment I thought you wanted to… go after him."

He placed his forehead against hers, suddenly feeling brave enough to be that near to her, answering:" You know, that's funny, 'cause I thought the exact same thing."

She grinned, pulling him even closer, murmuring:" Wouldn't have let you anyway. Wasn't sitting that close to the edge for no reason…"

This time he was the one whose face lit up. Being near her, that near, felt better than anything he had experienced the past few months. It was then that he noticed just how much he had missed her presence. His last mission was to avoid her at all cost and now that they somehow had managed to work together almost like way back in the days, he had more hope than ever to at least get her back as a friend. There had been moments where they had been on the same wavelength again, where she had no trouble finding the right words to end his sentences.

Of course, they still had a bit of talking to do, but by the looks of it they were well on the way to reintroduce some of their old habits.

It was really incredible how little time could turn everything around.

Just a few hours ago working beside her had seemed to be impossible and now she was here, in his arms, soft and warm and smiling. Before, they hadn't even been able to be alone in the same room without it getting awkward.

But as every so often in their lives, fate seemed to have decided to not let them have their peace. A strange rumble echoed through the temple, that caused a vibrating feeling in the both of them.

They didn't even have enough time to ask themselves what had happened, when the ground beneath them started to shake uncontrollably.

There were boulders crashing down beside them, missing them by only a few centimeters. The strength of the quake was immense and they both lost their balance. He hit the hard, dirty floor with Jemma landing right on top of him.

She tightly gripped his arm, blinking from all the dust around them. His hands found the way all around her, so that he was holding her tightly. His eyes wandered around the room, desperately trying to find a way out or somewhere to seek shelter in.

"We're okay", he said, not sure if she'd actually hear him. Even more soil made its way into his mouth, but right now he couldn't care less.

There wasn't any way they'd be able to get up, much less walk in this mess, with parts of the ceiling falling down. Their position seemed to be the safest possibility anyway, up until now only minor lumps had landed on their heads.

He didn't know what had happened down there, but that was definitely not the bombs. The shaking took too long, was way too strong up here.

Whatever this was, it wasn't good. Not at all.

Fate was playing a game with them, testing them to see who'd win and who'd lose. The failed attempt of words of cheer to Jemma before, were losing meaning every second, as the ground rumbled beneath them.

And then… silence.

I don't really know if I'll add another chapter, for now I am just going to leave it like that. It's been a bit since I have continuously written in English, so please have mercy with me for my grammar, as English is not my mother tongue.

Also, I'm open to better ideas for a title to this story, I honestly don't like the one I gave it. (That's the best that I could come up with)^^

I'd love to hear your feedback, so if you can, please leave a review!