Leo wandered into the lab, doors opening with a light hiss. Jemma smiled and stood, reaching out to steady him by his arm.

"'M fine, Jemma, 's nothin'," he murmured softly, but didn't try to push her off. A glance admonished him and he sighed, letting her help him to the stool. Her fingers moved to his as they settled, her on the seat beside him and their fingers tangled together.

"Fitz, I want you to answer me honestly-"

"I will," he interrupted with a light sigh.

"How are you feeling?" There was a lengthy pause between the two of them as she gently ran her thumb over the back of his hand, eyes posing her question in a soft light.

"I'm-"

"You promised." She cut in, eyes flashing now. Maybe Skye's onto something with the telepathy, whispered a little voice in his head. A huff of defeat flew from his lips.

"M' arm aches a touch an' 'm a bi' sore. That's it. I swear," he told her. She let out a long breath, ever so slightly rolling her eyes, but before she could reprimand him, the resident mercenary walked through the lab doors.

"Fitz." The voice was cold, hard, and Leo didn't like it one bit. Not even stopping to address his partner, the ice-cold killer grunted out, "The Director sent me to retrieve the file."

"File?" he and Simmons quipped at the same time.

"Oh, the new file, about the ICER 2.0," interjected the biochemist.

"Right, we have it here," added Fitz, reaching for the manila folder. Gentle fingers assisted his own, layering his grip and lifting the folder without the usual shakes. Holding it out, he began to ramble on the various improvements, the improved speed of the bullets, the better blast pattern from new capsules, the loss of an ounce, so on and so forth.

"That's… nice," rumbled the man before him, in an obvious state of indifference edged with a thin line of irritation.

"Let's let the nice man go," Jemma said in the breathy voice she reserved for her nerves.

"Alright, then, here." The proffered folder was taken with stiff, jerky movements, and with a nod, the assassin strode from the room.

"Well, he was quite the social butterfly," scoffed the engineer.

"I know," Jemma sighed. "It was as if I wasn't even here." Leo practically snorted. She was right-their new team member had looked through Jemma like she wasn't even there, like she didn't exist, like-

A pit opened in his gut. In fact, nobody had recently. The team had breezed over his partner for the last few days, only the occasional kind, gentle comment from Skye. Mind racing, he sprinted through the facts. Skye only spoke to her when he pointed Jemma out. Her tone was light, but her smile never fully reached her eyes, like a mother telling her child that yes, of course Santa exists, but knowing the lie deep within.

Hands slammed against the counter-tops and he heard the clatter of metal on itself as his projects shook.

"Fitz? Leo, Leo, what's wrong?" she cried, running to him, hands resting on his arm, gentle on tensed muscles.

"Don' you get it, Jemma? Don't y' realize? Chris'," he swore, running his good hand through his hair.

"Fitz?" she asks softly. He didn't respond. "Leo?"

"You're only in m' head!" he screams at her, spinning around, throwing her hands from the limb. "You're a copin' mechanism, y-y-y' left, Jemma, left for some mission 'n dinna come home!" The words stabbed in his gut, the truth a painful splinter embedded in his flesh. He glanced at her, saw the tears filling bleary eyes, running down her face.

"Don' y' notice?" he asked, whisper-soft. "Nobody else talks t' you. Nobody even looks at y', Jem, an' you're amazin'. Nobody could ever do that." There was a pause, and her fingers retreated from his arm. He glanced up, and she was gently wiping tears from rosy cheeks, a small shake in delicate shoulders.

"So where do we go from here?" Her voice was hitching in her throat, choked, pained, and he hated it. It tore into him like a rusted blade, and he could feel the blood rushing from the wound. He closed his eyes and pressed a fist to the bridge of his nose.

"Oh, Jems."

Silence.

And when he looked up, she was gone.