At that point they were silent just to conserve oxygen. There was nothing that they could do but sit and hope. After a few more hours, the air started getting thin, so Jemma spoke while she could.

"I was just kidding," she confessed.

"What?" Fitz asked, looking over at her.

"About the Avengers. I suppose I was trying to cheer the pair of us up. Fat lot of good that did. We don't have much time left now do we?" He looked at the sun out the window.

"No, I suppose not," he said. The sun was getting low in the sky now. He looked at her and cleared his throat.

"Jemma," he started, looking down very nervously, "If we're being honest, there's something I need to tell you, and I want to say it before we- we-" He looked up at her. She smiled sympathetically and nodded as if to tell him to go on.

"Jemma, we've been friends for a really long time, but I recently realized something that's really important. I realized that I l-"

"Oh, hush, I know," she interrupted with a little smile.

"What? You didn't even let me finish!"

"I know exactly what you're going to say, and frankly I'm surprised that it took you almost 24 hours of knowing we were running out of air to say so."

"But you didn't even let me say it!"

"I know."

"If you know so much then what do you have to say about it?" he demanded, becoming very frustrated. She made a face that was a sort of a mocking pondering.

"I guess I would have to say that the feelings are reciprocated," she said with a slightly wheezy undertone, kissing him on the cheek, grabbing his hand, and leaning her head on his shoulder. He wasn't sure what had just happened was real. She- what? There wasn't much time left, so he just went with it. They sat together in silence for a few moments. Fitz coughed and looked up out the window. His eyes widened.

"Jemma!" he said, excitement in his voice. She looked at him and then looked out the window. Her eyes widened as she stood up, wheezed, and ran to the window.

"It's a ship!" she exclaimed. A giant freighter had appeared very near to the crate. She started pounding on the window and screaming as loud as she could to get the ship's attention. Fitz joined in on the screaming, but his leg was too bad for him to go to the door. Hope filled them up for the first time since they had landed in the water. They screamed and screamed as the ship went past, but their attempts proved useless. Jemma turned to look at Fitz, a look of utter hopelessness in her eyes. She looked as if she were about to say something, but before she could do anything, she started having a coughing fit and collapsed. Fitz couldn't process what was happening right away, but he scooted over to where she was, wheezing. He shook her shoulders. He screamed her name. Her eyes opened slightly.

"What happened?" she asked weakly.

"You passed out. You were screaming and pounding on the glass. I don't think we have much air left, but your concussion probably didn't help with the lack of oxygen."

"I'm so sleepy, Fitz."

"No, Jemma, you have to stay awake. Please, Jemma, stay awake." If he were not as dehydrated as he was, tears would have been streaming down his cheeks. He could barely speak anymore.

"Please stay awake," he whispered, as she closed her eyes. He began sobbing and wheezing simultaneously. He scooted to sit against the door and he didn't know what to do. He was alone now. There had to be something he could do. Then he did something he hadn't thought of until that very moment. He checked his pockets. He thought everything to be useless until he found it. That quarter that wasn't a quarter. He turned it on and managed to whisper into it.

"This is Agent Fitz. Does anyone copy?" He listened, hoping to hear Triplett. He had never wanted to hear another human being's voice so badly as he wanted to hear one right now.

"This is Agent Leopold Fitz of whatever the hell SHIELD is anymore. Does anyone copy?" He repeated messages like this until he could barely breathe. He had almost lost all hope, when there was suddenly a break in the static.

"This is Agent Antoine Triplett of whatever the hell SHIELD is anymore. I copy. What is your location, Fitz?" Fitz almost smiled, and put all the energy he had in him into hoisting himself up to look out the window. He winced.

"I do not know my exact coordinates, but we are in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico in a giant metal crate." His leg could not support his weight and he collapsed.

"Please hurry, Trip. Jemma- she's- she isn't breathing."

"We're on our way, Fitz- Leo. For now, just, conserve your air as best as you can." Fitz looked around as things started to get blurry. He was counting down until his last breath. As he closed his eyes, he could have sworn he saw someone out the window.

Jemma opened her eyes and looked around. She was in a medical bay on the plane that their team had been on. She felt a bandage around her head. She looked to her left. On another bed was Fitz, his leg properly bandaged. He slowly opened his eyes and saw her. His eyes widened and a huge smile appeared on his face.

"Oh, Jemma! I thought you were- and we were-" Jemma laughed a little.

"We have some things to figure out, don't we?" Fitz looked embarrassed again.

"Yeah, I suppose we do."

"Well, look who's awake?" They heard a familiar voice. Coulson had entered the room, followed shortly by Skye, Trip, and May.

"We thought we'd never see you again!" Jemma exclaimed. Fitz still was smiling.
"So," he said, "what did we miss?"