A little one-shot in Skye's POV after the events of FZZT. Hope you guys like it. :)

Thanks to StarryDreamer01 who has helped edit this.

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN AGENTS OF SHIELD.

Chapter 8

Their lab

Skye was half-sitting, half-lying in the SUV, laptop on her knees with some soft music playing. She had told AC that this was the best place for her to get some privacy, weeks ago, and no one had come to look for her when she'd disappeared from her room.

Now, however, she wasn't relaxing: she was waiting.

She leaned forward and looked at the front of the cargo bay. The SUV's windows were tinted so nobody would notice her staring at the empty lab.

She checked the time: it was almost nine o'clock. FitzSimmons were usually in the lab by this time...

But then again, they might be taking it easy this morning...

Skye stared at the dark, empty lab and felt something clench in her chest.

Simmons had almost died yesterday.

She had been infected by an alien virus and had a few hours to find a way to cure herself.

Skye put her laptop on the seat and sighed slightly.

It was the first time since she'd joined the team that one of their own was in danger. And the fact that the one in question had been Simmons -smiling, sweet, overly-polite and caring Simmons- made it all worse.

Skye didn't want to see her pale and tearful face again. She didn't want to have to watch her work restlessly to save her life and then decide to end it when she realised that she could endanger all of them.

Simmons had jumped out of the Bus -she had jumped out of a freaking plane- to save them.

Skye liked the biochemist despite her incredible eagerness towards science and the fact that she didn't understand half of the things she talked about. She had started to become her friend but Skye never thought that she'd have it in her to do something so... brave.

Simmons had been incredibly brave and selfless.

And it scared Skye to death because she realised that the smiling English girl could have easily disappeared from her life without giving her a chance to get to know her better and really appreciate her.

That was why she ran and hugged her as soon as she saw her. She wasn't going to take her for granted and was going to get to know her better. They'd become real friends.

Skye liked the team and this strange little family that she'd acquired by chance.

She didn't want to lose anyone...

So that's what brought her to sit alone inside the SUV, waiting for Simmons to get down to the lab. Skye wanted to be there in case she-

Honestly, she just wanted to be there. Just in case.

Skye heard footsteps and promptly closed her laptop and peaked outside, hoping that it wasn't Ward looking for her to start her morning training. She really didn't want to start the routine of crunches, pull-ups and push-ups even though, a part of her didn't mind since he was talking to her again...

Simmons appeared at the end of the staircase, looking as normal as ever in her jeans, converse and blouse. Skye wondered how she could look so... normal after almost dying.

The biochemist's eyes wondered around the cargo bay, taking in the SUV and the closed ramp but not lingering on anything and clearly not seeing Skye huddled inside the car.

Her eyes then went to the dark,empty lab and the hacker was sure that she saw the other girl stiffen. Then, she saw the way her features fell slightly, making her look sad in a way that made Skye's insides clench.

Seeing the usually smiling scientist with that look was really horrible.

Skye waited in silence, expecting another set of footsteps and another scientist to appear... but nothing happened. Simmons stood in front of the lab, staring at the closed doors with her back straight. Alone.

Where the heck was Fitz?

Skye hadn't seen the man after finding him by the cargo ramp after Simmons jumped. She had rushed after Ward and found Fitz staring at the open ramp with a devastated look that she hoped to never see again.

He looked lost.

When she asked him what had happened, he managed to stammer that the antiserum worked but that Simmons had knocked him out and had lowered the ramp; by the time he had recovered, she was going to jump.

Fitz had looked away at that point and Skye had waited and not asked questions because his face looked tortured. She could barely imagine what it felt like to see one of your friends -best friend or more in his case- on the verge of killing herself.

Then, he'd mumbled that Ward had taken the parachute and antiserum from him and jumped after her before rushing upstairs.

Skye barely had time to process his words before she followed him and they spent hours, scouring for information on the Internet as Coulson and May used their influence to speak with anyone that could let them know if their teammates had survived.

Skye didn't want to live that moment again. Knowing that Simmons had jumped had been bad but then waiting to know if Ward had reached her in time? Not knowing if either had survived?

She still felt dread at the thought...

Fitz had been quiet the entire time and had just waited for news while he worked restlessly on the holotable. When Coulson declared that they were fine and that the Moroccan agents had found them floating in the sea, Fitz had visibly sagged in relief and then, before anyone could stop him, he walked out and disappeared in his room.

Skye watched Simmons as she stood in front of the lab, looking clearly torn between going in and going upstairs and wondered if Fitz was going through his own tormented thoughts.

Simmons had been infected, trapped in the lab and then jumped off the plane but Fitz had to watch all of this. Skye had watched the video feed while she and Ward had been wondering in the Bus as they waited for Simmons to come up with a cure for herself; she had heard them argue about joining the Team.

Could this have been the last straw for Fitz? Would he want to leave?

Skye stared at the biochemist who had her hands clenched in tights fists by her sides and a pained but firm look on her face. Skye felt a flair of pity towards her. Maybe she should get out and help her somehow...

The lights in the lab turned on suddenly and Skye jumped and had to clap her hand on her mouth to muffle the shriek that came out as she hit the car roof.

Thankfully, Simmons had jumped too and gasped loudly, not hearing her.

What the hell had happened to her old, super-spy snooping abilities that had allowed her to sneak cookies and candies at the orphanage?

Muttering to herself about having gone soft, Skye peered out and saw Fitz standing in the lab, wearing his lab coat over his usual attire.

Okay... when did he get there? She had been in the car for almost an hour and she hadn't-

"Fitz?" Simmons voice echoed in the silent cargo bay. She sounded just as surprised as Skye was.

"Hey..." He smiled and approached her but he stopped at the lab doors.

"What...?" Simmons took a tentative step forward so that she was standing closer to him but still not inside the lab.

"Coulson said that we're off-duty today but-" Fitz shot his partner a crooked smile. "-I knew that you'd come down nevertheless."

"There's no off-duty for scientists, Fitz," Simmons remarked, rolling her eyes and smiled slightly. Skye realised that her stance wasn't rigid anymore. "What are you doing? In the dark?"

Fitz stared at her and Skye thought that she saw something in the way he looked at Simmons. She had always been puzzling about their interactions and relationship but right now, as she watched him, Skye was sure that Fitz' feelings for his partner were deep.

"I-well..." He scratched the back of his neck. Simmons stared at him but didn't move.

"Fitz?"

"I thought that I could clean the lab.. You know, tidy it up a bit."

"In the dark?"

"The video feed starts as soon as the lights are on," Fitz pointed to a camera over his head. "Coulson would have known immediately so-"

"You waited to turn it on until you were sure that he was in his office," Simmons completed. Skye had to admit that the engineer's words did make sense although...

"I didn't see you," Simmons remarked, taking another step forward but still not going inside the lab. Skye suddenly realised that Fitz was still standing inside and didn't get closer to her.

It looked as though... Oh.

Skye swallowed a lump in her throat, realising what the engineer was waiting for his partner to get inside on her own.

"I wanted our lab to be tidy, as usual, so I came here early and cleaned it up," Fitz said. "Then I went and tidied the storage and started an inventory of the supplies. I kept checking if you were out here..."

"You hate cleaning and doing the inventory," Simmons stated and he shrugged. "Fitz..."

Skye watched in silence as the biochemist approached her partner, standing at the threshold of the lab and sideways to him. He just looked at her.

It wasn't the first time that the hacker felt like she was intruding in a moment between FitzSimmons but right now, she felt as though she was watching something very personal.

Fitz turned slightly and picked another lab coat from a chair behind him: Simmons' lab coat.

"I-I can't cancel what happened, Jemma," he said and the biochemist's eyes widened slightly. Skye wondered if it was because he was using her given name. "But... I can try to make things go back... to normal." He gestured towards the now clean and tidy lab. Simmons just stared at him as he held the lab coat to her.

"It's still our lab, no?" He sounded hopeful and a bit cautious when he asked her.

Skye could see a myriad emotions flitting through Simmons' face and she recalled another moment when she'd seen that look.

Yesterday, when Fitz had marched into the lab with the Chitauri helmet and didn't care about getting infected; when he'd helped Simmons make the antiserum that saved her life.

If Simmons had been incredibly brave to decide to jump off the plane, Fitz had been equally brave to get inside the lab without being sure that he'd be alright afterwards.

Skye realised that Fitz would have done anything to save Simmons. She didn't know if it was just friendship or more but the bond they shared was strong. So strong to make him almost jump from the plane after her or rush into the lab, risking infection.

Or going into the same lab, the day after, to make it seem as though nothing had happened so that his partner wouldn't be too scared and traumatised about it.

Fitz knew that Simmons would have trouble getting back inside the lab and he tried to help her by doing what he could. But Skye realised that he was probably traumatised in the same way and yet... he'd done it the same.

Simmons must have been thinking on the same lines because she kept staring at him, eyes wide and glassy. Fitz looked at her in confusion and his hand shook slightly, making the lab coat waver between them.

"Simmons?" He looked as though he was scared to ask her anything else and that snapped the biochemist out of her stupor.

"Of course, it is," she finally replied, stepping into the lab and smiling at her partner before taking her lab coat and putting it on. "It will always be our lab, Fitz."

Fitz stared and then grinned at her.

On the other hand, Skye was close to jumping out of the SUV and hug the life out of the two scientists who clearly cared more for each other than for themselves.

Instead she hugged the car seat as she watched FitzSimmons walk into the lab and turn on their equipment and computers, already discussing of what they'd work on during the day-off.

Only those two nerds would love science to the point of working on a free day.

But that's what made them FitzSimmons.

She stayed in the SUV until they both left for the storage room and then sneaked out and left the cargo bay and went upstairs. She'd go back down to see them in later.

They were both doing well now.

They had each other and their lab.

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