A/N:

This is un-beta-ed.

Apologies in advance for making them ooc.

It was only when she was in her room later that night, feeling more emotionally exhausted than she thinks she should be, that Skye realized that she never got to tell Simmons what Fitz had said to her.

She supposed she could send an encrypted message but upon thinking about it further, she decided that there were some things better talked about face to face.

She stared up at the ceiling, her mind too awake to get some sleep. She kept playing in her head the conversations she'd had with both scientists and sighed, knowing that she'd let herself be dragged into a situation where she ought to act as the mediator. Frankly though, she didn't know what to do. She knew how Fitz felt, saw how Simmons was when Fitz was in a coma and she finally, found out how Simmons felt. She tried to tell Fitz but he wouldn't listen, and somehow Skye knew it was a bit hard to believe that Simmons felt the same way about him, especially since Simmons didn't really say goodbye and had not even contacted him in the three days since she left.

She thought she was starting to understand what was going on. But first she had to get the story straight and decided she would set out to do that in the morning. Knowing she had a long day ahead, Skye gingerly closed her eyes, finally letting the exhaustion pull her to sleep...

What does the fox say?

Skye jolted awake at the sound of her alarm. "Shit."

Ring-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding! Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!Gering-ding-ding-ding-dingeringeding!What the fox say?

She glanced at her phone. 4:45 AM. "Shit." She shut her alarm off. Should probably change alarm tone.

She drew her covers over her head wondering if she should just lie in. She threw the covers away a few seconds later knowing that May would skin her alive if she missed her training. She had expected that May would be stricter than Ward-No, don't go there, Skye scolded herself.

She took a minute to compose herself and glanced again at her phone. The clock read 4:48. She had 12 minutes. She let out a huff. "Thanks FitzSimmons." she muttered.

When Skye got to the training room at five o'clock, May was already meditating.

She learned early on that May could not (should not, unless you have a death wish) be disturbed once she's started so Skye just grabbed her yoga mat and took her place beside May.

It was almost like an early morning prayer, really. They did this every morning as part of their training routine. It was apparently a way to center energies or whatever you call that. While she has always liked the idea of centering and relaxing before the grueling part of the training, she has never been more grateful for this pre-training meditation more than she was at that moment. The meditation usually lasts for fifteen minutes and she had every intention of using it as an opportunity to take a nap.

"So, May, uh..." Jab. Straight. Duck. "I know, this probably isn't the best time to talk about this but I was—ow!" she exclaimed when May's left hook hit her jaw.

"Hands up."

She held up her hands in defensive stance.

"M-hm. As I was saying—"

"Left foot forward," May instructed.

She did as told.

"Anyway..." Jab. Straight. Hook.

"So this is probably the best time to ask but-" Duck.

"-I know maybe you think this is none of my business but-" Jab. Straight. Duck. Jab.

"-it sort of is because you know, they are my friends and I think that's what friends do-" Duck.

"-you know, look out for each other." Jab. "Ow."

"Break," May finally said, standing up straight and looking Skye in the eyes.

"Okay." Skye said. She knew the look. It was the "You have five minutes. Spill." Look.

"I'm sure you've noticed something's off between Fitz and Simmons, I mean, they're not being FitzSimmons. I've only noticed three days ago but I'm using the excuse that I was away for a long time but—" she stopped at the slight change in May's features. She was now sporting the "Get to the point" Look although there was also a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"What happened when Fitz woke up?" she finally asked.

That day at the motel when May unofficially became Skye's new S.O., Skye made it her personal mission to be able to read every flicker of the eyes, quirk of the mouth, change in stance and each and every combination of those that May made and what they meant.

Right now, her body language conveyed sadness, and a hint of resignation.

It was a few seconds before she spoke. "We're just starting to rebuild S.H.I.E.L.D. and Coulson needed all hands on deck," she said. Skye noted that she sounded apologetic.

"We were all relieved—happy-when Fitz woke up, which was why Coulson broke protocol when he contacted you to let you know."

"I wanted to come back here."

"And we wanted you to. More so a week after he woke up but for a far more compelling reason other than just for a family photo op. We couldn't risk contacting you again, though."

Skye waited. May had always been direct to the point and she wondered why she was suddenly giving these details but she knew that May always did things deliberately.

"He requested not to see Simmons."

Skye felt her jaw drop.

"We thought it was the trauma. That maybe being with Simmons triggered memories of Ward and being underwater and that these were detrimental to his recovery. We honored his request. At least until he was still in the hospital wing. He stayed there for three more weeks."

She couldn't speak.

"I was sent abroad the day he got discharged from the hospital and I can't tell you any more than that. I just returned a day ahead of you. But I know that being with Simmons did trigger memories, and I could tell that they were not about Hydra or Ward, or the trauma of almost dying. We knew that something wasn't right between them, but maybe we all hoped that they could sort this out on their own. They have a solid history, but...I should have learned from experience that sometimes a solid history is not enough when emotions are involved."

She regarded May for a moment. She felt the load of everything she said, and the unspoken plea to help them sort this out. She nodded once.

May nodded back. "Hands up, left foot forward."

Skye punched and ducked for the rest of her morning training. Of all the things May told her, only one fact nagged her thoughts and it was that Fitz deliberately asked to be separated from Simmons.

Skye took an extra thirty minutes of post-training meditation, which was really thirty more minutes of nap time.

She had another reason for staying behind, though. Her earlier conversation with May just made her even more determined to find out what happened that month that Fitz was recovering and there was only one other person in the whole Playground that she could press for information. And she happened to know that that person came into the gym for training exactly thirty minutes after her and May.

"Thought you should be finished by now."

Her eyes flew open when she heard his voice. She didn't realize he was there already.

"Hey, Trip." she called out. He was leaning against the door frame arms crossed over his chest and sporting an easy smile on his face.

"You gonna make me leave? You don't own this gym, you know." she teased.

He grinned and walked up to her, yoga mat in hand, and proceeded to sit next to her.

"I was actually waiting for you," she said, the moment he sat down. Her stomach did an involuntary backflip when he faced her with his million-dollar-toothpaste-commercial smile and she mentally kicked herself for it. Remember, Ward! She scolded herself. Actually, no. Don't. But you get the idea.

"Want to spar?" Trip asked, oblivious to the internal battle waging inside Skye's head.

"Nope. Actually, I want to talk."

He regarded her for a moment before asking, "What about?"

"FitzSimmons," she replied.

She watched as comprehension dawned on his face.

"I want to know what happened when he got discharged from the hospital wing."

"What do you know so far?"

"He didn't want to see Simmons."

Trip was silent for a while and Skye thought he was never going to answer.

"I don't think it wasn't that he didn't want to see Simmons," he began. The seriousness in his voice made her shift positions so she was facing him completely. "I think it was more like he was afraid of how she would treat him if they were in the same room together. We all know something happened when they were trapped underwater. Maybe you know more than the rest of us do. But I know that if you're certain you were gonna die, the last thing you'd want to do is to be able to say goodbye to the people you loved. And if you happened to be with that person, you'd want to tell that person just how much she means you."

He paused so Skye gestured for him to continue.

"It was clear that Fitz loved Simmons," he pressed on. "And I think he didn't just love her. He was in love with her. And like I said, if you know for certain that were gonna die, you'd want to tell the person you love that you love her. And I think that was what he did. He was prepared to die, but he didn't. And now..."

"So what happened? What happened when he got discharged?"

"Well, being cleared from the hospital meant that he no longer had an excuse to hide from Simmons without hurting her feelings even more. I would see them around the base together since but I could—we all could—tell that something was off. You know them better than I do and I know you know what I mean. But I did notice that they were weirder, or at least Fitz was, whenever they knew I was around."

"What do you mean?" Skye knew that Fitz used to be jealous of Trip, but she thought he had warmed up to him since.

"Well, I daresay he's warmed up to me since he recovered but every time I'm with the both of them, he'd be all smiles and chummy...and he kept insisting that Simmons should spend time with me."

"He what?"

"Yeah."

"But...did you know he used to be jealous of you because of Simmons?"

He nodded. "Exactly."

Skye had been very patient with Fitz. She knew and had tried to be understanding that he was wounded by self-doubt. She'd played the role of sympathetic friend but now that she had a better picture of what really transpired, she just thought he was being stupid.

She made a beeline towards Fitz the moment the lab doors hissed open and without preamble smacked him at the back of the head.

"OW!" His hand flew to the back of his head. "What the heck was that for?" he rounded at her.

"You prat!" she shouted.

"Do you even know what that means?" he exclaimed, his voice a pitch higher.

"You're an effing idiot!" she said, glaring at him.

He stared at her for a second. "Touché." he scoffed.

She ignored his remark. "You. Were. Deliberately. Pushing. Her. Away." She punctuated each word by jabbing her forefinger to his chest.

She watched as his expression changed from annoyance to confusion to comprehension and finally to shame. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it again after a second and proceeded to stare at his feet. She felt a tug at her heart at how pathetic looked and her irritation dissipated somewhat.

"I thought you love her." She said, kinder this time.

"You don't understand Skye. I know my place," He replied, still staring at the floor.

Skye didn't know whether to hug him or to slap him so she resolved to just plant herself firmly where she stood and let the silence take over.

She watched as he went back to his work table, and she felt her heart clench when she caught the blank look in his eyes. She was just about to say something—anything—when the lab doors hissed open again. They both looked up to see who came in and Skye felt her heart skip a beat.

"Jemma," she heard Fitz whisper.

Simmons was back, the elephant trailed behind her and Skye swore she almost heard it go "Toot." And it was like her alarm just went off in her head.

[A/N: What does the fox say? Ring-ding-ding-ding-ding-e-ring-e-ding...

The Fox is actually my brother's alarm tone. It's weird, I know. And he sleeps like a log so I hear it like 5 times every frickin morning.

My apologies for being so bipolar with this fic. Not just this chapter but the whole fic.

As for the final chapter, I wanted to have it posted it by tomorrow before the premiere airs but I couldn't find the proper emotional disposition to be able to write it down so I'm going to be realistic, I'm gonna finish this story but likely not within the next few days.]