They met Skye back where she and Fitz had left their game. She hadn't had any luck tracking down Lev and it was a big plane, he could be anywhere.

A big plane filled with wiring and sensitive equipment the little animal could chew on, damaging the Bus and potentially killing himself in the process, losing Simmons months of work and possibly grounding them.

It was a disaster.

"There must be some way for us to track him," Simmons said, narrowing her eyes and searching her mind for a solution.

"You could always look for angry rat villagers with pitchforks," Skye joked.

Fitz chuckled but Simmons shook her head disapprovingly.

"He isn't a monster," she told them. "He's just a rat with-"

"-monster DNA in his cells being transcribed and translated into monster proteins," Fitz put in, raising his eyebrows.

"-complex alien compounds in his system which I'd like to get back," she finished.

Another flash of lightning lit the night outside the small windows of the plane, followed by low rumbling thunder.

"The weather's right for monster making," Skye grinned, having far too much fun feeding into Fitz's paranoia. "Didn't that Frankenstein guy just need a good jolt to bring a corpse back from the dead?"

"That part of the story is said to be inspired by galvanism," Simmons let her know. "But it isn't actually possible."

"Galvanism?" Skye asked, tilting her head.

"A muscle contracting when stimulated by an electric current," Fitz explained. "When it was first discovered that that it was possible to make corpses move with a 'good jolt' some people believed you could bring back the dead using electricity but-"

"-it's not life," Simmons went on. "If you shock a dead frog's legs they might twitch but he isn't going to get up and hop away, off to eat flies again."

"I guess I'll scratch lightning off my list of ways to resurrect people," Skye kidded.

"They'd smell awful anyway," Fitz told her, scrunching his nose. "Old and decayed, it's horrible."

"Not that you ever stay in the lab long enough to really get a good whiff," Simmons mused.

"I can usually smell it through the door," he countered, still making a face and Simmons was torn between annoyance and amusement. "You don't need to be a bloodhound to detect the stench."

"We could use a bloodhound," Skye pointed out.

"Yes," Simmons agreed. "But we don't have a lot of time and where are we going to get-"

A thought suddenly occurred to her and, by the expression on Fitz's face she surmised he'd had it too.

"We could modify it," he said.

"Change the scent it's set to track," Simmons agreed.

They grinned at each other.

"You have an idea, don't you?" Skye guessed.

"Yeah," "We do," they answered, turning to face her synchronously.

:O :O :O

Twenty minutes later, the trio was back with a small glass enclosure for Lev and the odorless scent tracking device had been altered, set to track Lev's odor-full scent using a few hairs he'd left behind on his favourite toy.

"Are you sure those hairs were his?" Fitz questioned as they prepared to turn on the machine.

"None of the other rats would risk going after Lev's toy," Simmons told him, starting it up.

Fitz raised his eyebrows at her, wearing his best 'I told you so' expression.

"That doesn't mean he's a monster," Simmons protested, rolling her eyes. "He just... isn't very social."

"Maybe he's lonely," Skye put in, peeking over their shoulders as the device began to scan the area. "Why don't you build him a bride, you know, like in the movie-"

"For the last time I am not Dr. Frankenstein!" Simmons exclaimed. "I'm a scientist doing an experiment- a completely reasonable-"

"There he is," Fitz interrupted, poking the screen. "Damn it, it looks like he's gotten up into the wiring."

They followed the signal until the flashing dot told them they were right under their escapee and the three of them stared up a the ceiling where he was.

"So... do we drill a hole?" Skye wondered.

"There's a hatch, to get in," Fitz told her. "I can go up..."

"No, he's my rat," Simmons objected, shaking her head. "I'll go get him."

"I know the wiring better," Fitz argued. "I'm less likely to electrocute myself."

"Less likely?" Skye questioned worriedly, turning to him in alarm.

"I'll be fine," he assured her, lowering his gaze to meet hers and smiling encouragingly.

"Yes, you will, because I'll be the one going up," Simmons added, glaring at him.

Fitz sighed. "Simmons..."

"Why don't you guys do that rock, paper, scissors thing?" Skye suggested.

That did seem fair.

"Alright," Simmons agreed, holding out a fist.

"Fine," Fitz replied. They needed to hurry, however much he feared Simmons going after the rat alone and possibly electrocuting herself in the process (if the little monster didn't get her first).

"Ro Sham Bo," the chanted, waving their fists.

He landed on paper and Simmons chose rock.

He wrapped his fingers over her fist. "I go then."

Simmons didn't seem happy about that but she nodded. "Be careful," she requested, eyes on his hand which still held her fist like a blanket.

"Of course I'll be careful," he promised, touched by her concern.

"And don't hurt my rat," she warned, handing him the enclosure and pulling her hand away.

"Of course not," he answered sarcastically, taking it. "Wouldn't want to injure the blood thirsty monster."

"I think in the movie he just strangled people," Skye told him cheerfully. "So there really wasn't a lot of blood."

"Thank you for that Skye," he frowned and she shrugged as if to say 'you're welcome'.

"Hey, monster-rat can't strangle you," she reminded him holding up her hands, making a grabbing motion with them. "His little paws are too small."

He shook his head disapprovingly as he walked away to find the hatch. "I'm sure Lev will think of something," he called over his shoulder and he could feel Simmons' eye roll burning into his back.

:O :O :O

Fitz crawled past the wiring, grateful for the headlight he'd brought with him shining a beam to guide the way.

It would have been terrifying, trying to find the little beast in the dark, he was already unnerved by the cramped space. His enemy had a clear advantage, being so tiny and ready to scurry like... well like a rat.

"Have you found him yet?" Simmons demanded over the coms.

"Not since you asked me thirty seconds ago," Fitz answered grouchily, coughing on the thick dust. "We really should clean in here more often, all this dust can't be good for the- wait I see something."

Something small was running up ahead of him, little footsteps clapping on the metal floor.

"Is it Lev?" Simmons asked excitedly. "Hurry up! Go get him!"

"That's what I'm doing," he told her, crawling ahead as fast as he could. "I thought you were more worried about me electrocuting myself, don't go rushing me."

"Hurry up, and don't get electrocuted," she clarified.

He grumbled under his breath. "Yeah, I'm on it."

She was right, he really did need to hurry. The rat was quick and, wherever he was going, he was in a rush to get there.

Fitz followed him for almost three minutes, checking the scanner when he lost sight of him. Finally he cornered him at a dead end, placing the cage down to block his escape and attempting to shoo him inside.

The little monster wasn't at all thrilled about being herded back into an enclosure and (though Simmons denied it) had a special grudge against Fitz. He growled at him, snapping its fangs when Fitz's hand came too close. Stubborn beast.

"Get. In. The. Cage!" Fitz growled back, becoming increasingly frustrated as the rat dodged away from him, charging at him every so often and attempting to take a chunk out of his hand, until the last word was shouted out in aggravation.

He must have startled it with how loud he was because the little creature squeaked in distress and, to Fitz's horror, erupted into a hot, orange ball of flames.

:O :O :O

"Hurry up and don't get electrocuted," Simmons clarified, rolling her eyes as her partner grumbled a response. "I should have gone," she told Skye, muting the coms so Fitz wouldn't hear.

"He'll be fine," Skye assured her. "You'll have your monster-rat and your Fitz back before you know it."

"He's not..." Simmons protested, blushing. "I mean... I wouldn't call him..."

Skye raised her eyebrows. "He's gone up into a freaky cramped space, chasing down something he's terrified of, just so you can have your experiment back," she told her. "He's your guy."

"And so we don't break the Bus," Simmons added feebly but Skye continued to look skeptical. She sighed. "Yeah, he's my guy and maybe I'm his too... or... girl. But don't tell him I said that OK? He'd take it the wrong way, you know how easily embarrassed he is."

Skye grinned, looking smug, but she nodded in agreement.

What the right way to take it would be exactly, she didn't know, but she wasn't going to admit that out loud, not yet anyway.

"Get. In. The. Cage!" Fitz shouted over the coms and Simmons was about to tell him to keep his voice down, that he was going to frighten Lev, when the coms went dead and a scream made it's way through the walls.

"Fitz?!" She exclaimed.

"What happened?" Skye demanded.

Simmons shook her head. "We need to go get him."

In silent consent, the two of them sped off towards the hatch.

:O :O :O

They found Fitz dropping ungracefully out of the hatch, cradling his hand against his body and looking livid.

"He exploded!" He raged, sounding almost offended. "The bloody monster turned into a hot ball of flaming death right before my eyes! Don't worry, he didn't hurt any part of the Bus, it wasn't that big an explosion. Though, he did burn away a bit of the dust." He added the final thought as if stating a bright side.

"What?!" Skye gasped.

Simmons groaned, angry that her experiment was ruined and cursing herself for letting him escape in the first place. There went months of work, literally up in flames. And now she'd never know why it had happened or what had interfered with their coms. Well... unless she made another one. It was curious-

"Poor Lev," Skye lamented, pulling her out of her thoughts, "all he wanted was a bride, or maybe some tiny rat villagers to strangle."

"Poor me!" Fitz objected, showing her the hand he'd been keeping safe against his body. "Look at this! I wont be able to shower properly for a week!"

"Let me see that," Simmons demanded, stepping forward to look it over. He'd been hurt? Why hadn't he said anything? She turned his hand over to see. The skin was red and starting to peel but it wasn't too bad. "You'll be OK," she assured him kindly, being as gentle as she could around the injury.

"It still bloody hurts," he grumbled.

"It must," she agreed, sympathetic. "Let's run some water over it. C'mon." She gently tugged at his arm until he began following her.

"I'm going to go get some candy," Skye told them. "All this horror movie drama is making me want treats. You've got this, don't you Simmons?" She insured, already walking away.

"We're fine," she assured her.

"Can you save me some?" Fitz called after her.

:O :O :O

Simmons turned on the tap and let Fitz put his hand under it, watching him relax as the cool water soothed the burn.

Stupid rat, blowing itself up just to make his life miserable. It wasn't as if he needed his hands to do his job. If he wanted to explode so badly, Lev could have at least waited until Fitz was clear, but of course he hadn't. The damn thing had hated him, it had wanted him dead but had settled on savagely burned.

"I'm sorry," Simmons told him, likely misreading his expression, thinking he was angry with her.

"It wasn't your fault," he objected.

She smiled at him but it was forced, she still looked guilty.

"I keep remembering what agent Darveau said to us, back at the Academy," Simmons said quietly.

"You're working with someone else today, stop complaining about it?" Fitz guessed, trying to recall actual words of wisdom from their old professor.

"No, not that," she dismissed, shaking her head. "What he told us before we left, he said-"

"Don't be afraid to cross the line," they finished together, because Fitz had remembered.

Simmons nodded. "He meant be brave, take risks, try new things but..." she looked away. "If it means I could hurt someone... that I could lose you," she shook her head. "I don't think I want to cross the line."

Fitz frowned, shaking his head. "You have to though," he told her. "Maybe not with mutant rats," he added quickly, not wanting to encourage a sequel to monster-rat (Bride of Monster-Rat?). "But agent Darveau was right, we need to take risks, try new things, especially you."

She looked up at him, confused. "Why especially me?"

He grinned at her. "Because you're the one who's going to make that discovery, push forward, save lives with what you do."

She smiled. "Especially you too," she told him, melting him under the warmth of her gaze.

"Especially both of us together," he added and her smile widened.

"Let's see how your hand is," she requested, shutting off the tap and slowly pulling it towards her to examine it. "It looks a lot better."

"It feels a lot better," he agreed, enjoying the feel of her fingers gripping his palm.

To his surprise, she moved her head forward and lightly kissed the skin next to the burn, right where his fingers joined to his hand. Her lips were cool but left a pleasant burning sensation where they'd been and Fitz was sure his heartbeat had quickened, that his cheeks were flushed.

"That should do it," she declared, smiling fondly at him and gently patting his fingers.

"Thanks," he mumbled, 100% certain that he was thanking her for the kiss, as well as taking care of his burn, but hoping she only thought it was the later.

:O :O :O

:O :O :O

Epilogue

Lev scurried out of a pile of soot, unscathed, and wound his way out of the wiring, into the loading bay.

That night, as Fitz, Simmons and Skye left the hangar doors open to gaze at the now clear sky and munch on candy, he tiptoed unseen past them and into the darkness.

:O :O :O

The Fringe reference is "Don't be afraid to cross the line." It is a note to Walter that William Bell (his BFF mad scientist soulmate, yes, there are two of them) leaves in his Will.

The stuff about galvanism and it's inspiration for Frankenstein is based off a show I saw on the Discovery channel a long time ago and Wikipedia. Also what I remember from school.

The exploding because of having Leviathan parts inside you and not being injured is recycled from another story of mine, Monster Goo. If it worked once, right?