I wasn't planning on doing a second bit, but I wanted to show Fitz's point of view during the same time period, and add onto the ending past what the first chapter showed. I'm certain comas don't actually work this way, but it's all metaphorical anyway.

They always ended the same way. Jemma's crying face before he hit the button that flooded the small room with water. He would feel the force of the waves crashing in, and her scream would be drowned out by all the noise as his vision goes black.

His thoughts were all a blur, but his dreams kept returning to that same scenario. He kept reliving their last moments over and over again. If he could think rationally, he'd realize that the fact that he could relive them at all was proof that he was okay and that those weren't their last moments after all. But Fitz couldn't think very rationally. He didn't really have much control over his unconscious mind at all. At least not until he heard her voice.

"Please, Fitz. Come back to me. Please."

It was the first thing in a long time to sound so clear. It was like a lighthouse shining his way home. Where ever he was, Jemma was on the other side, trying to get him back.

His own thoughts returned to him slowly, but until he could wake up, he couldn't shake his dream-like state. His mind was hazy and unfocused, but Fitz could begin crawling towards her.

Time had no meaning, so when he felt her hand on his for the first time he couldn't be sure if hours or days had passed. Her touch would fade in and out, but he could always sense her standing over him, as if guarding him from danger in the night. One night's kiss upon his forehead spun life into his whole body before it too faded away again.

The dreams changed as she pulled him closer and closer back to the world. He would see Jemma standing there, eager and waiting to welcome her best friend back with a hug and a kiss. He would be with her again and tell her all the things he didn't have the courage to say before. He would tell her how he felt. How he lit up when she smiled and how he couldn't sleep without picturing her besides him.

But when he could hear her crying, when he could sense that she was sprawled over him sobbing, he shared her pain. The dreams turned to nightmares of her dying in the waters next to him. Of his return and her rejection of his feelings. Of him never seeing her bright face ever again.

So he crawled and crawled, closer and closer to her voice. He tried desperately to call out to her, to let her know that he could hear her. That he loved her. But he never could make the push out of his haze. He could only wait for her warmth to return to him each day.

When she would read to him, Fitz would dream of the two of them back on the plane that they had made home. When she would sing to him, he could remember when she used to do that for him at The Academy when they were stressed and tired from studying. And when she wasn't there, on the occasions she could muster up the courage to leave for a spell, Fitz feared she would never return; his dreams turned dark and worried, but they were always calmed when she came back and held his hand in her own.

When he finally could see for the first time, it didn't last. An unfamiliar instrument was aimed at his face, and he could feel metal attached to his scalp. The doctors beyond his vision muttered something about his 'response' before he went black again. It was his first view of the world since he had went unconscious; and Jemma wasn't there. He had been hoping she would be there.

But the hope in his dreams was just the thing keeping him going. Hope that he could see her again. Hope that he could grab her face and kiss her until she knew exactly what she meant to him. Hope that he would never be apart from her again. And that hope was enough to finally drag him to the finish line.

"…so that is why I keep running towards you, Ms. Taylor." Jemma read as Fitz finally shook the first bits of haze away. "Because no matter how far from you I am, if I keep running, maybe, just maybe, one day I might finally catch up."

It was his favorite book. He wasn't imagining it, or sensing it, or dreaming it. He had heard it. Louder and more clear than anything Jemma had ever said. The minutes passed and Fitz felt himself slowly waking. His black vision faded away and the room around him come into focus. A mess of brownish-blonde hair lay next to him.

"Jemma? Is that you?" Even in his grogginess he could recognize his best friend. The question was more of a formality.

The first thing he really, truly felt since the pod was her hand sleepily grasping his own.

"Yes, Fitz. It's me. I'm here."

He could tell just how exhausted the poor girl was. But he came all this way for her, and even if she would only barely hear him as she drifted to sleep, he had to let her know.

"Good. I was hoping I'd see the girl I loved one more time."

He clasped her hand and he could see her smile as she snuggled deeper into the bed. But his efforts weren't in vain, as she suddenly tensed up and realized that she hadn't dreamed his words. She looked up and saw him sitting there, smiling at her with a grin she missed so much.

"Fitz! Leo, you're... you're..." words failed her as tears welled up behind her eyes. He placed his free hand on her face and leaned his forehead against her own.

"It's okay, Jem. I'm back. I came back to you."

Simmons began sobbing with joy as she grabbed the back of his head and pulled him in for a kiss. She was tired and he was only recently conscious, but they poured into each other and didn't want the moment to ever die.

"I can't believe you're here. I felt so helpless. I wanted so badly... I just wanted to bring you back to us." She sobbed out as they parted for breath. She stroked his hair as he smiled at her.

"You did, Jemma. I could hear you. In all my dreams, I could hear you calling me back home."

A new round of tears threatened to spring up, so she pulled him as close as she could and held him tight.

"I love you. I love you so much, Fitz. I'm so glad you're awake."

"Well, it certainly still feels like I'm dreaming." Fitz beamed at her she met his eyes.

"We're together again. It's absolutely a dream. But that doesn't mean we're not awake."