It was cloudy, as they walked up the cobblestone pathway, but the clouds were light and the weather station had announced no chance of rain.

"You really aren't just doing this for me?" Jemma asked, giving Fitz's hand a slight squeeze as they made their way towards the cottage. It was beautiful, a patchwork of grey and grey-red stone with a shingled roof and four large windows framing a red wooden door. Vines grew up the side and a garden overflowed out of the beds at its base. "You want this."

He turned to her and his eyes were glowing with affection. "I want this Jemma."

She smiled, turning her attention back to the cottage. "It's lovely, isn't it?"

Fitz craned his neck, studying it critically. "Yeah, but it could use a bit of patching up. You know I'm very good with my hands. It wouldn't be too difficult," he added, bragging a little for what she was sure was her benefit. It was sweet, even if she did already know very well how good he was with his hands. "A few adjustments here and there-"

"We could set up a lab in the basement-" she suggested enthusiastically.

"And a workshop in the garage-" he added, grinning.

"Oh and a swing in the garden-" she decided.

"We'll need to upgrade the security of course-"

"Especially around the nursery."

The words were out before she'd had a chance to check herself and they blinked at each other, surprised.

"A… a nursery?" he asked. They'd both stopped walking and he was staring at her with a terrifyingly unreadable expression.

"I… I mean if we have a nursery," she fumbled, cheeks flushing. "If… that is if you'd like one of course…"

'What is the matter with you? Springing something like this on poor Fitz out of nowhere!' She scolded herself. She should have at least prepared what she wanted to say, have a few pros and cons ready, find a moment when they had time to talk, not when they were meeting with the real estate agent in less than five minutes. She'd been so wrapped up in her excitement, and she'd been thinking about it often enough recently, that it had simply slipped out. She wanted to kick herself. 'This is NOT how you're supposed to ask your boyfriend if he'd like to have children with you!'

His mouth twitched, then to her relief a wide smile spread across his face, his eyes dancing with joy. "It is. It… yes. Not now but-"

"Oh no, not right now," she clarified quickly.

"But someday," he finished. "Yeah I would."

"You would?" Her voice was a high whisper.

He leaned forward, lifting her chin before planting a gentle kiss on her lips. "I'd love to raise a few little monkeys with you," he said fondly.

She snorted, half amused half exasperated. "Fitz you are not calling our children monkeys."

His smile only widened. "We'll see."

"We're not," she insisted, though she smiled back, pulling at his hand to resume their walk.

"Oh yeah, I suppose we're only going to call them by their proper names," he complained. "Welcome to the world my little Henrietta."

"Henrietta?" It was almost as bad as monkey.

"It was my grandmother's name!" he defended.

"We'll need to discuss this when we have more time," she suggested. "Put together a comprehensive system of ranking. And we can exclude monkey right now."

"I wasn't going to name any of them monkey!" he protested.

"Not if you were planning on me carrying them," she teased. She pulled up his hand, kissing his fingers. "I think you're going to make a wonderful father someday," she told him, her heart swelling at the thought of him holding their newborn child, so carefully in his arms. Of him reading her stories and chasing her around the yard. Of him spoiling her with affection and loving her wherever life took her. Unconditional and pure, like the love they already shared. And, yes, calling her monkey when he thought no one else was around to hear.

"And you'll be a wonderful mother," he answered. "But first we should probably decide if we want this cottage or not."

"You still think it's sensible to buy it before we're ready to live in it?" she asked. "What if something happens-"

"It won't," he promised firmly, rubbing his thumb across the tops of her fingers.

Doubt prickled in her chest. "How can you know that?"

He shot her a knowing smile. "Because we're buying a cottage. And we're going to have two dogs and a swing in the yard and a lab in the basement and you are going to be an incredible mother to our children who won't be named monkey."

Jemma wasn't entirely sure if she believed him, their world would continue to throw them into danger, but she also knew that she'd never stop fighting for what he was promising. And maybe that was the point of this promise after all, something to fight for, a tangible reminder of their promise to each other, to be together for the rest of their lives.

She smiled back, glad her hand was securely in his, and together they took their next steps towards their future.

/-/-/

Big thanks to notapepper for betaing this story!

And for Aretsuna and agI03 for letting me talk them to death about it :P

So what do YOU think they will name their kids? Not Henrietta (Fringe reference btw :P) or Monkey right?