Part I: The Chase

Simmons trailed closely behind Bobbi as they hurriedly made their way down the hall of the underground facility. They had managed to sneak their way into one of Hydra's lairs with a little help from Skye, altering the security desk's systems so that the faux passcards they held would allow them access to the building.

She seriously doubted that the cards would do either of them any good in this particular section however. It was highly restricted, even to Hydra's staff, but they'd managed to get themselves through courtesy of one her and Fitz's older inventions, which had confounded the hand scanner that guarded its access.

A long time ago, before she'd even been aware of Hydra's continued existence, Simmons had used the same device to access a wall panel at the hub. She'd been worried then too, about being caught, about the trouble she'd be in with her superiors. It was a far cry from her current fears, of being tortured and killed or even brainwashed, forced to do unspeakable evils against her will, and she wondered what it meant that she was able to keep her composure now when she hadn't back then.

"Are you nervous?" Bobbi asked casually, holding out her arm to keep Simmons back as she peered around the corner, gun in hand, for enemy agents.

"We've come out of tighter situations than this," she reminded her, thinking of her unpleasantly dramatic exit from her days undercover, as they continued on towards their target. "I am a bit apprehensive, of course, but I'm sure-"

"I meant about your date," the other agent chuckled, glancing back quickly to smile at her, clearly amused. "I didn't think I needed to ask if you were worried about being caught stealing Hydra's new toy," she teased.

"Oh." She flushed, trying not to let the squiggling in her stomach heighten her voice. "Haha… that. Right."

They passed room 122, then 123. They were getting closer, almost there.

"That wasn't really an answer," Bobbi said after a few seconds of silence, honest but not pushing for anything.

She was right, Simmons was avoiding the question. Which was silly, there was no reason to, no reason for her insides to be churning like a lake under a storm.

"There isn't anything for me to be nervous about," she told her rationally. "I lo-" Her chest tightened and she cut herself off, clearing her throat before she continued. "I want this, he wants this, we've planned an activity that we both enjoy, it's going to be fun. There's no need to be nervous."

"I'd be nervous, if it was my first date with someone," Bobbie replied simply, keeping her focus ahead so that Simmons found herself staring at the back of her head. "I even get nervous on second dates sometimes."

"You do?" she asked, taken by surprise at the admission. It was difficult to imagine anything making the cool, level-headed wonder agent nervous.

They'd reached their door, room 143, and Simmons passed the long white spray case in front of the wall beside it, releasing a mist that revealed the hand scanner as it settled, tricking it into to thinking the correct handprint had been placed before it.

"Every time," Bobbi answered, turning the now twistable knob so that they could creep inside. "Now what exactly are we looking for?"

/-/-/

Simmons was sorting through a tray of glass vials, searching through the labels for the serum they were there to procure, while Bobbi stood guard near the door. The two women may have shared a background in biochemistry, but this particular substance was one which Simmons had a special familiarity with.

Footsteps echoing from down hall caught their attention, causing her head to snap up, a jolt of fear speeding up her spine, and she looked to Bobbi who held a finger to her lips before slowly creaking open the door.

Gunshots erupted, bouncing off the opposing wall, and Bobbi ducked back inside, whipping around to face Simmons, stoney-faced.

"We have to leave," she announced gruffly. "Right now."

Despite the urgency, Simmons returned to the vials, hastening her search but still allowing precious seconds that would have aided their escape to slip away, frantically yanking out the vials and swiftly scanning their labels in hopes of salvaging the mission. It was a dangerous risk but the chance of locating the serum, removing it from Hydra's arsenal for good, was too important to ignore.

In her mad rush she nearly missed it. Her hands working faster than her mind, she'd already moved on to the the next label when she realized she'd found what they'd been searching for.

"Simmons now," Bobbi snapped, ready to pull her away.

"Got it!" she cried, scooping up the serum, and jamming it into her pocket, having no time left over to secure it in a proper casing, before hurrying behind Bobbi, who was already cautiously approaching the hallway.

She made sure to keep close to the other agent, watching her closely as she assessed their situation, a disturbingly familiar sinking feeling in her stomach.

"I'm gonna say run, and then you're gonna run OK?" Bobbi said, not leaving much room for an argument against her terrifying plan, but Simmons trusted her and she nodded adamantly.

"Here we go," she warned, hand on the doorknob. With impressive speed, she burst out of the room, sending off a quick round shots towards their adversaries. "Run!" she barked.

Simmons skidded out past her, unsure of her destination other than away from whoever it was that was now shooting at them once more, sending a loud rain of bullets that exploded bits off the wall, alarmingly close.

Bobbi was right behind her, herding her into a stairwell which Simmons nearly slid past, where they raced up the steps three at a time, two, three, four stories up, so that Simmons' heart was pounding against her throat and she was grateful that she'd taken up jogging in the mornings.

When they reached ground level, Bobbi held out her hand for her to wait again as she peered outside, hopeful for an escape, only to be met with a shower of bullets, from multiple weapons this time.

"Damn Hydra," she swore. She pressed a finger to her ear so she could talk into her coms. "May, we need you to meet us at the roof, northwest corner."

Simmons felt her stomach lurch at the implication behind her message. "Oh no. We're not…" she groaned.

Bobbi gave her a brief, sympathetic glance before jerking her head upwards and spinning on her heels to continue up the mountain of steps. "Sorry, I know you don't like heights."

"I don't… like… falling... " she panted, forcing her burning muscles to keep up.

Her friend chuckled with far too much amusement for someone being chased by armed enemies. "We're not falling, we're jumping," she corrected, as if that made it any less terrifying.

'Which inevitably results in falling,' Simmons thought unhappily, but she was too busy running for her life to voice her objections and, anyway, it wasn't as if they had much of a choice.

Mercifully, the building was only five stories above the ground, and they quickly reached the roof, once again intercepted by gunfire, however this time, their foes were under fire as well, by May in an (unpleasantly familiar) jet.

"Ready to run again?" Bobbi asked, and Simmons wondered how she could possibly be smiling at a time like this. Perhaps she enjoyed the rush of adrenaline, the kind she experienced on the roller coasters she professed to enjoy so much.. "We're going to jump when she lowers the jet, but we have a pretty small window so we have to hurry."

"Not that I don't think this is going to work, but have you ever thought about adjusting your exit strategies?" Simmons inquired, her voice rising in fear.

Bobbi scrunched her nose, grin widening. "We'll be fine," she promised. "It's only a few feet."

'Or a few dozen meters if we miss,' Simmons added silently, trying not to think about how high up they were, finding a scrap of comfort when she thought of Fitz instead, and how he probably would have done the math already, maybe even fussing over it as they dashed up flight after flight.

A whir from the Jet's engine caught their attention. "Run, right now," Bobbi commanded forcefully.

Together they darted across the graveled ground, sending tiny stones splaying out behind them before they reached the edge, leaping off of it onto the jet that was now below them as yet more bullets whizzed past and armed Hydra agents flooded out onto the roof.

At the tail end of her frightened shriek, Simmons landed hard on her side, hearing a low crack as something wet soaked into her leg, just under her pocket, and she cursed herself as she realized that the vial containing the serum had been crushed.

However her frustration was pushed abruptly to the side when the jet swerved to the right and she let out a startled yelp as it sent her sliding terrifyingly close to the edge so that Bobbi had to lunge forward and grab her by the scruff of her shirt to pull her back up.

If Simmons believed in such ridiculous things, she'd think that heights were out to get her.

/-/-/

Part II: Waiting

Fitz peeked around the corner towards the front entrance of the Playground, anxiously pulling at his fingers.

"You don't think they should have been back by now?" he asked Mack, who was still toying around with his remote control car, letting it cruise down the hallway, around crates and equipment before it reached Fitz, nudging his feet like a playful puppy.

"They've only been gone two hours," he answered, contrastingly unconcerned. "They're probably just reaching the serum now."

"The… the uh.. the new… the modified centipede… uh … serum," he clarified, finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate as thoughts of what might happen if Hydra caught them- nightmarish things that made his heart clench and his stomach twist painfully- danced tauntingly around in his head. "They need Jemma to… to… they need her to…" He fidgeted unhappily, digging for the words.

"Identify it," Mack supplied, because he too had been briefed on their friends' mission.

Fitz could only nod.

"You think Coulson would let me work on Lola if I got my version to fly?" Mack wondered as he stepped over to him to pick up his miniature red car, probably a feeble attempt at distraction.

"Yeah, in a minute," Fitz answered absently, eyes glued to the door, willing it to open, for Simmons to walk through, unharmed and chirping away like the beautiful songbird she was.

Mack sighed, setting mini-Lola down on a stack of crates. "You know it could still be a few hours," he reminded him, crossing his arms when Fitz's stubborn gaze didn't waver. "And there isn't really anything to do out here… wouldn't you rather-"

Before he could finish however, the doors slid open, revealing a familiar pair of figures, and he fell silent, smiling and shaking his head as he followed behind Fitz, who'd bolted the minute the doors had twitched, to greet the returning agents.

Fitz stopped abruptly in front of Simmons, skidding to a halt as if he'd run into a glass wall, and for a moment they only stared, trying to ignore the broad smile that was plastered across Bobbi's face and the low chuckle that sounded from her as she walked past them to meet with Mack.

It was Simmons who spoke first, warming him with a fond smile as she did. "I didn't miss anything exciting while I was gone did I?" she inquired cheerfully.

Fitz's eyes sparkled, even as he jerked his shoulders in a casual shrug, shaking his head. "At the Playground? Nah we just… there wasn't anything… you didn't miss anything."

A blush coloured her cheeks and her voice lowered so that she was nearly mumbling. "Well... I missed you," she admitted shyly.

His face turned scarlet and he stared down his feet, what was probably a very dopey smile, reaching both his ears. "I missed you too," he told her quietly.

Without warning, she sprung forward, and in an instant her arms were around him, enveloping him in a tight over-the-shoulder embrace as she pressed the side of her head against his cheek. There was a desperate sense of relief, in the way she held onto him, and he heard her sigh, her body relaxing against his as his arms came up to wrap around her, and he allowed himself to melt into her.

"I'm glad you're safe," he murmured against her hair, speaking softly because her ear was so close. "Did you find the serum?"

"Oh. Um…" She pulled back, keeping her the ends of her arms draped over his shoulder but getting far enough away that he could see her uneasy smile. "Ha...Well… we ran into a bit of trouble… we're both fine, really," she added swiftly when she saw his eyes widen in horror, suddenly scanning her for any sign of injury. "But… well… I broke the vial with the serum in it… at least Hydra doesn't have it any anymore… but…" Her face fell. "Oh, it was awfully unlucky… if I could have only kept a sample of it I might have been able to offer poor Dr. Banner some sort of of control over his transformation…"

"Bruce Banner?" Mack asked incredulously from behind Fitz. "You mean the Hulk? What was in that serum exactly?"

"Hydra was trying to combine the extremis serum and the original serum that transformed Dr. Banner," Bobbi explained from beside him. "Apparently they don't mind their soldiers being giant and green, they actually like them that way, as long as they can control them."

"They can control them?" Mack questioned, eyebrows raising in alarm.

Simmons shook her head, pulling her arms back and taking a step away from Fitz, her expression hurt and far away. Fitz tilted his head, narrowing his eyes in concern, but she wouldn't look at him.

"N-no they...not yet… not that I know of." She took a breath, her features scrunching miserably as she gave her head a tiny shake. "I was working on an antidote, something that could reverse the early stages of the process so that they could test it on their prisoners over and over again when… well when they realized they couldn't control them."

She swallowed, eyes bright and Fitz touched her hand, rubbing his knuckles along the back of it until she smiled weakly, though she still didn't look up. It pained him to imagine what it must have been like for her, living everyday terrified not only for her own life, but of the potential damage she could do helping those monsters.

"I was only in the room for one treatment, but it was horrible," she went on, moving her hand around his so that she could clutch it tightly. "If I'd ever had any thoughts of joining Hydra- which I haven't, not ever- they'd have ended then and there."

The others didn't seem to know what to say to that, shuffling uncomfortably and avoiding eye contact but, for once, Fitz did. Or at least he thought he did.

"And that's why… why Hydra's always going to lose," he told her, smiling reassuringly. "Because we have you."

At last she looked up, her eyes brimming with emotion that was part sorrow, part joy and part something else he couldn't exactly identify, but he sensed instinctively that it was meant only for him.

Without speaking, she reached up with her free hand to touch the side of his face, stroking his cheek with her thumb, the corners of her mouth quirking up when his smile widened.

Bobbi and Mack exchanged a glance, grinning knowingly, before setting off to brief Coulson on what had happened, leaving the pair alone to share a slow, tender kiss.

/-/-/

Part III: Jitters

It was a hot, bright morning the next day, and Fitz and Simmons were waiting in line to enter the park, Hero Land, as the large, blocky letters above the entrance proclaimed it.

Fitz was happy, he really was, very very happy, over the moon.

But he also felt as if his stomach had decided it was already on one of the spinning carts swirled around by the enormous plastic Hulk which could be seen over the ticket stand, and from which a few of the early guests were already letting out shrieks of delight (and perhaps also terror).

On the one hand, Simmons was standing beside him dressed in a light, blue and white polka dotted shirt, grinning merrily from ear to ear, her skin flushed from the heat and her eyes sparkling in the sunshine, excited about her date. Her date with him.

On the other hand, he was on a date with Jemma Simmons and his palms were already sweating and he couldn't seem to keep his cheeks from burning and neither of those things had anything (or at least not everything) to do with the burning sunshine.

What if he mucked it up? What if he wasn't a good enough date? Simmons cared about him, he knew that and he knew it wasn't going to change, but what if he was a horrible boyfriend? She deserved a knight in shining armour, or a prince or a hero like the ones the park was named after, and he couldn't bring himself to feel like he was even in the vicinity of being any of those things.

He spotted another couple, a few people ahead of them in the line, completely at ease with each other, laughing and chattering away as they waited. Fitz remembered a time when he and Simmons had been so at ease standing side by side, conversations flowing like open rivers, rich in life and excitement.

Maybe he wasn't a knight, but he'd spent over a decade excelling at being her best friend, her partner. He wanted that now, wanted the exchange between her mind and his, to make her laugh, smile, but his throat was constricting and he couldn't figure out anything to say that would be clever, or funny, or interesting and he couldn't seem to focus on anything besides how nervous he was.

In sum, for the time being at least, it seemed that sparking a conversation had hit a wall.

They were holding hands too though, the chattering couple ahead of them. That didn't seem too difficult, he could do that. Then he'd be one step closer to being, at the very least, an acceptable date… right?

Slowly, because his arm suddenly felt as if it had been wrapped very tightly in plastic, Fitz inched his hand towards hers, brushing his knuckles along the back of her palm before he panicked, wondering if it were too soon to initiate such an intimate interaction, if it would be better if he'd waited (or at least wiped off his own palm because it was probably still sweaty and disgusting).

He was just about to pull away, pretend that it had been an accident, when her hand wove gracefully around his and her fingers wrapped around it, giving it a gentle squeeze. She held on, turning her head to shoot him a shy but satisfied smile.

It was in that moment that he decided that her hands were perfect, the archetype of hands and that nothing in his life could be so bad if he could hold them every day for the rest of it.

"So, what would you like to begin with?" she asked brightly, swinging their arms in a playful curve. "We could go on the roller coaster-" a chorus of screams sounded from somewhere behind the Hulk and she cast an apprehensive look in their direction. "-or... or perhaps try our luck at the games?" she suggested hopefully.

Fitz swallowed, heart fluttering from her soft touch. "The games… the games sound… um…They...uh..." Damn it, not now. "They, uh… they sound like a good starting point."

Simmons smiled, relieved. "Yes, they do don't they? The games it is then." She gave out a loud, awkwardly short giggle and he wondered if, just maybe, she was nervous too.

Hoping to reassure her, he chuckled, thinking at last of something to say that he thought would at least be the start of a conversation and swinging their hands gently, the way she had, in a low arch. "We might have a bit of an unfair advantage after professor Ferrer's class though," he mused.

A glow had formed around her, delight dancing in her eyes at the motion and as he spoke her smile widened and she nodded excitedly. "About how to throw a perfect parabola to win a stuffed bear?" she guessed, voice made of yellow sunshine. "Do you think they'll have skee ball? I've heard that everything here is superhero themed."

Fitz shrugged. "They'll probably be calling it Thor ball or Ms Marball- for Ms. Marvel of course, not for marbles," he added quickly. "Marbles aren't super heroes, they're just umm…" he held out his free hand, placing his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart. "They're just wee balls of glass, nothing… nothing super about them…"

"Well, I don't know about that. Antman is tiny and he's a superhero," Simmons pointed out. "Though I'm sure she would be thrilled to have a game named after her. Maybe we could suggest it. I wonder if they have a suggestion box."

"They should have a suggestion box somewhere," Fitz said, searching around for one and noticing with pleasant surprise that his bouncing, buzzing stomach had settled down.

He was out with the woman he loved, on a beautiful day, ready to enjoy the amusement park and now that they had eased their way into a conversation and his throat had opened up again, he was truly beginning to enjoy himself. From the look on her face, he could see Simmons was too.

It was just like it had been before, with a few differences that he wasn't about to complain about (such as the way their hands were linked steadfastly together) and, as an army of warm fuzzy cotton balls assembled in his chest, Fitz was beginning to think that this was going to be a day they'd look back on fondly, the start of a new, fantastic chapter which he couldn't wait to open.

/-/-/

Part IV: Trouble

There were no holograms in the briefing room, only Coulson, standing in the middle as he waited for his team to assemble.

"If I were a villain, I'd at least have the decency to take weekends off," Hunter grumbled, coming to stand between Bobbi and Skye and looking as if he'd only just woken up a few minutes ago, his hair ruffled and his eyes rimmed with grey. He yawned widely before going on. "I mean surely even Hydra grunts would appreciate spending a day in their slippers."

"There's no rest for the wicked," Bobbi answered, shrugging nonchalantly. "Taking over the world is a full time job."

"They could always try not taking over the world," he suggested irritably. "I mean what would you even do with it? The whole world? That just sounds like work to me."

"You really can't think of anything?" she questioned, quirking an eyebrow.

"Well of course you'd have something in mind," he said dryly. "But not everyone needs to be in control of everything."

Bobbi sighed heavily, eyes rolling. "Here we go again."

"I'm only saying-" he began defensively but he was cut off by a disapproving (and slightly impatient) Coulson.

"Guys, do you mind?" he implored. "I'd really like to begin before Hydra unleashes their secret weapon." He frowned, searching the crowd in confusion. "Speaking of weapons, where's Fitz? And Simmons?"

"They're at Hero Land," Mack explained from Bobbi's other side, exchanging a glance with his friend and grinning as he spoke.

The answer only seemed to increase their leader's bewilderment. "What? Already? When did I-"

"I signed the forms for them to have the day off," May informed him breezily. "They'd been sitting on your desk for almost a week."

He seemed to consider this. "We'll need to call them. Skye, do you have their cell phone numbers?"

"No," she answered sternly, crossing her arms.

"You don't have Fitz or Simmons' cell phone number?" he questioned, surprised.

"Coulson… sir, it's their first date," she told him, keeping her rigid pose and staring him down challengingly. "Can't we just… you know, let them have this? After everything they've been through, they deserve a first date that doesn't get interrupted by Hydra's evil schemes."

"I get that, really I do," he said, raising a hand defensively. "But-"

"No, no buts," Skye interjected stubbornly. "You can't interrupt their date. I won't let you. They are going to have a good time and go on one of those rides that are way too big and scary for them but neither of them will admit it so they'll end up buckled in anyway." She was speaking quickly now, words blurring together as she acted out the motion of the too-high-rollercoaster with her hands, waving them around dramatically. "And when it reaches the top of the hill and they're about to fall, they're going to hold hands or something cheesy like that and then- hopefully Fitz won't throw up- and they'll go down it together and probably end up doing math or something to figure out how fast they're falling down the hill, while they fall in love over and over again like the science-y cheese balls they are -and then they'll probably kiss," she concluded, receiving nods of agreement from Mack and Hunter and an amused smile from Bobbi.

"I know this is a big deal for them but-" Coulson attempted to explain.

"All in favour of not interrupting FitzSimmons' date," Skye said loudly, interrupting him once again and shooting her hand into the air, grinning smugly when the others slowly rose their hands in solidarity, even May, who stared Coulson down until he sighed and lifted his own.

"OK. Fine, we'll let them… be cheesey..." he agreed, realizing that he was outnumbered and defeated. "I'm still going to need those numbers though, if we need them in a pinch, we are going to have to call them. Date or no date."

Skye's eyes narrowed and she didn't move.

"We aren't negotiating this," Coulson insisted, sounding more as if he were speaking to his uncooperative teenager than one of his agents. "I want them to be happy as much as you do, but I don't think either of them would be too thrilled if we let Hydra take over the world."

"Again, why would you want to take over the world?" Hunter exclaimed from off to the side.

However he was ignored by everyone except for Bobbi, who muttered something about his lack of imagination to which he muttered something about hers being twisted in return.

At last, Skye sighed, relaxing her stance and reluctantly pulling out her phone.

"Fine," she conceded, tapping at the screen before passing it to him, changing her mind and yanking it protectively away when he reached out to grab it. "But it's only for an emergency," she emphasized.

"Scout's Honour," Coulson promised, smiling gratefully when she finally handed it over, ignoring the way her mouth set in a suspicious line. "What? I was a scout," he replied to her raised eyebrow. "I was top in my troop at knot tying and arts and crafts."

"He still has a lanyard he keeps at the bottom of his suitcase for hotel keys," May added, amused.

"So where's this secret weapon then?" Hunter wondered, addressing their leader as he returned Skye's phone, having copied his scientist's numbers into his own, and the rest of the team perked up, listening carefully.

Coulson shook his head, as if the answer were a surprise to him too. "Actually, our sources tell us it's in Hero Land."

/-/-/

Part V: Sparks

It wasn't called Marball, it was called Spider-ball and there was a net over the top of the holes so that their parabola trick wouldn't work.

Still, Fitz was absolutely determined to win her the Bionic Bunny plush they'd spotted at the top of the prize rack, remembering that Simmons had had a slight obsession with the comic books as a child.

She didn't need him to win of course, the only thing she'd wanted out of the day was to spend it with him, but she couldn't deny that watching him size up the 100 point hole, as if he were sorting out a problem he'd encountered with one of the drones, was endearing and his eyes set in quiet concentration, remarkably beautiful, were making her breath catch in her chest.

"Alright, I think I've figured it out," he decided at last, tightening his grip on the ball and turning his head to shoot her a brief smile which, with wings fluttering in her chest, she returned quickly, tucking a lock behind her ear and hoping he hadn't caught her staring. "Let's win you a super bunny, shall we?"

She nodded, scrunching her nose under twinkling eyes, and he beamed at her before pulling back his hand, readying the toss.

He let it fly, up under the net, and it nearly wound up falling into the 100 hole, except that he'd aimed a bit too far to the right and instead it bounced into the 10 ring and was guided to the hole at the bottom.

His face sank, crestfallen. "That… that's never… I usually… but I guess… I guess now I won't have enough points…" He glanced at the plush, then back at the one ball he had left in the holder, shoulders sagging in disappointment.

Simmons understood what was upsetting him. He'd been good at skee ball before- and it wasn't as if he were horrible at it now (it could have been just bad luck that made him miss the shot)- but she knew how frustrating he found it when he discovered things that had once been effortless required a bit (or a lot) more of a struggle.

She could only guess how frustrating it must have been, and now those lovely eyes of his were clouding over with sorrow. They couldn't have that, so she stepped towards him, shrugging her shoulders and keeping her voice light. "It doesn't look nearly as suitable to cuddle with as you anyway," she said, taking his arm so she could hold it as she leaned her head on his shoulder, nuzzling into him to demonstrate her point.

He froze, his ears rivaling ripe tomatoes, and for a terrifying moment she worried she'd embarrassed him, being so openly affectionate in public, but he soon relaxed raising his hand to gently rub her knuckles above her fingers that clung to his sleeve.

"It's just because I wear a lot… a lot of layers," he kidded and she chuckled before kissing his shoulder and moving away.

"I think it might also be because you cuddle back," she added, amused.

His eyes were more starstruck than clouded now, which she liked much better, especially since the way he was looking at her was making her feel a sorts of thrilling (and admittedly a bit frightening) new feelings.

Then she remembered that they were still at the skee ball stand, and that someone else was going to want to play eventually.

"Fitz," she called, causing him to shake his head, looking as if he were waking from a trance.

"Hmm… yeah?" he asked, fogginess remaining.

She jerked her head towards the basket. "There's still another ball..."

He wiped around, turning his attention to it in surprise, as if he'd forgotten about the last dusty white orb. "Oh… er… yeah, of course… I still have to…" He cleared his throat, scooping it up. "Right."

Simmons shook her head but her heart swelled with affection and she found herself enjoying the pleasant sparks that were arching across her stomach, dazzling and stochastic like a meteor shower.

/-/-/

Part VI: Spies

Bobbi and Hunter perched in the maintenance box near the top of the Drop Zone, surveying the park below as they were serenaded with the screams of strapped in thrill chasers.

"Look at those saps, it's like watching a pair of penguins," Hunter said with a disapproving shake of his head as he watched Fitz and Simmons through his slim, SHIELD-grade binoculars, pink to the tips of their ears and grinning like it was Christmas morning as they strolled through the park.

"Penguins?" Bobbi questioned, eyebrows raised as she aimed her binoculars at the two Hydra agents they'd been sent to track.

He shrugged, shuffling towards her and resetting his sights to match hers. "Stupidly cute, painfully awkward, penguins."

"Stop spying on Fitz and Simmons," she scolded, moving over to give him room, but there was fondness in her tone and a soft glow in her eyes as she briefly glanced up at him that hinted at the true depth of her love for the man beside her. "We have a job to do."

"I'm just making sure they haven't been ambushed by all the Hydra creeps skulking around this place, that's all" he defended hotly, missing the hint entirely. "I have a respectable concern for my team's safety."

Bobbi allowed her attention to waver again, just long enough to shoot him a look. "How's their date going?" she asked breezily, returning to the task at hand.

There wasn't really anything exciting happening down there, at least not where they were meant to be looking, as neither of their marks seemed to have started whatever it was they were there to do yet. On the contrary, they looked almost bored, wistfully eyeing the fried doughnut stand until one nodded her head towards it and the other handed her a couple of bills.

"What do we have here?" Hunter sang, following the agent's path to the doughy treats.

"Doughnuts," Bobbi answered. "You can get them sprinkled with powdered sugar or cinnamon. We should actually-"

"I meant what are they up to?" he deadpanned.

"Buying doughnuts," she told him, as if it should be obvious.

"Hey, it could be part of their plan," he pressed, offended once again and setting down his binoculars to frown at her while she continued to observe through her own.

"No, but I'm pretty sure that is," she said, pointing at the other Hydra agent, the one who'd stayed behind at their post.

"What?" Hunter scrambled to get a glimpse of what she was seeing, knocking his eye with the lense in his haste and cursing under his breath.

The agent had taken out a small, long cylindrical object. It actually almost looked like a pen except that there was no tip to write with and it was cast over with a silver metal everywhere but a small, black window near one end and a red light at the opposite tip. She was being unnervingly subtle about it but, as Hunter and Bobbi continued to observe her it soon became clear that she was using it to scan the people at the park.

"What's that she's got?" Hunter wondered, narrowing his eyes suspiciously. "I get the feeling she isn't looking for lucky visitor number eleven."

"Maybe Hydra doesn't have the weapon," Bobbi ventured, her expression matching his.

"You think one of the guests is carrying it around?" he inquired incredulously. "They just woke up this morning and decided 'yeah, I think I'll bring my super weapon to Hero Land, have some fried doughnuts with cinnamon, kill a few people?"

"I'm gonna let Coulson know," she told him, ignoring his comment.

"You think we should warn the lovebirds?" Hunter asked, once again setting his sights on the two scientists who were now being buckled into the Iron Man Rocket, one of the worlds tallest roller coasters.

They both looked nervous but their hands were clasped together on top of the cushy harness and Fitz must have said something sweet because in an instant Simmons was swooning at him like a lovestruck cartoon character. Hunter could practically see the tiny heart bubbles floating up around her, especially when Fitz leaned over to kiss her cheek and she giggle so enthusiastically her shoulders shook, her face bright red and emanating delight as Fitz pulled back to watch her in dazed amazement, grinning like an idiot.

It was sickening. (It was adorable.)

"Let them be for now," Bobbi decided, shifting her attention to the pair momentarily, a small smile curving her lips. "Skye's right, they deserve a day."

"Tell that to Hydra," he muttered as she tapped on the com in her ear, ready to report their findings.

/-/-/

Part VII: My Hero

Fitz and Simmons wove their way through the crowd, hands held loosely, swinging a little as they walked, both glad to have their feet firmly on the ground once more.

"You can't tell me you weren't a bit scared when reached the top of the drop," Fitz said, grinning teasingly at her, eyes lit with affection. "You almost cut off my circulation you were holding on so tightly."

"I was holding on tightly?" she questioned, shaking her head, though her mouth twitched in amusement. "You should have felt your own grip." Her gaze softened like warm butter and she moved closer so that their arms were pressed together, crinkling his stomach and making it so that his breath caught in his throat and he found his tongue become dry and heavy. "Besides," she cooed, "I had my brave hero with me. There was nothing for me to worry about."

His cheeks burned and his stomach dropped the way it had on the roller coaster. "I… I'm… I'm not… not… not a real one…" he mumbled.

"Oh yes, I forgot we don't measure heroes for their courage and their selflessness, but for how bright their spandex is," she replied sarcastically. She stopped, turning to face him and her expression grew serious, looking into him with a powerful, steadfast love that made the world around him stop, the music falling silent and the crowd growing still. "You're my hero Fitz," she told him firmly. "However you see yourself, to me…" She smiled, pausing to run a warm gaze across his stupefied face. "...you're superman."

Fitz found, for a moment, that he couldn't speak, frozen in shimmering ice. Then she rose herself onto her toes, bringing her hands up to his shoulders to kiss him and it melted, whirling around them like a rainstorm until she pulled away, keeping her hold on him and watching in satisfaction as a smile stretched across his face.

"Just… just remember I can't fly," he managed after a few seconds, causing her to chuckle softly and leave a quick peck on his nose before moving away and reclaiming his hand.

"I think I can remember that," she mused.

/-/-/

"You mean Hydra doesn't have it?" May questioned, her voice low so as not to attract attention from the sea of the guests that flowed around her and Skye, happy people with balloons and junk food and wide, excited grins. Completely unsuspecting of what was hidden amongst them. "Who does then?"

"We don't know," Coulson told her over the com in her ear, concerned. "They were scanning the guests with some sort of rod. I've sent the pictures Hunter and Morse took back to our lab at the Playground but-"

"We aren't getting Fitz and Simmons involved," Skye interrupted stubbornly, listening in on the conversation through her own com. "We have other scientists working for SHIELD don't we? What do they do all day, play galaga on their fancy holo-tables?"

"You'd be surprised how many many people play games when they're suppose to be working," Coulson pointed out.

His gaze flicked pointedly towards Skye and her hand fell subconsciously to the pocket her phone was peeking out from before she quickly jerked it away, shrugging her shoulders and raising her eyebrows as if she didn't have a clue what he was implying.

"We'll keep them out of it for now," May promised, meeting Skye's gaze seriously. "But if we need them-"

"You have them on speed dial," Skye finished for her, nodding to show she understood. "I just hope we don't need them for this, Hunter says their date is going well." She grinned fondly. "I think his exact words were 'they're a pair of stupidly adorable penguins'," she mused.

"That sounds like a good sign," May agreed, the corners of her mouth pulling up in a small, warm smile. "Now let's figure out who has this weapon."

Skye nodded quickly in agreement. "Yeah, because the last thing anyone needs on a first date is a surprise attack with a super weapon."

"It didn't work out too badly for me," May shrugged.

Skye raised an eyebrow.

May smiled. "I'll tell you about it later."

/-/-/

Part VIII: Mjölnir and Monkeys

Fitz tossed the wrapper of his snow cone into the garbage, warily eyeing the wasps that buzzed around it.

"Oh look, yellowjackets," Simmons chirped excitedly, bobbing up behind him to throw away her own wrapper.

"Do you have to stand so close to them?" he complained worriedly, tugging at her sleeve and attempting to walk away.

She tisked at him. "Oh Fitz, I'm only looking, it isn't as if I'm going to start banging on the trash can and get them riled up," she assured him, however she allowed him to lead her what must have been, in his mind, a safe distance from the buzzing swarm.

"What did you want to do next?" he asked, unfolding the large, shiny paper map he'd stuck into his pocket.

She shuffled closer to him, partially so she could have a clearer view of the map, but also because the feel of his arm through his shirt and the way his scent pooled around her sent sparks across her stomach.

How strange it was, the way he could electrify her without even trying. How exciting it was that when his arm slid across her back so that his fingers could hook on her shoulder, her pulse quickened and her breath caught.

The feeling was foreign and familiar, both at the same time. Familiar because his touch, his scent, the sound of his voice, had always invoked a warm glow of love, much like the one she felt in that moment, even if it hadn't been as loud and noticeable as it was then. However it was foreign too, because now the very same emotion was accompanied by a hungry wanting that left her lips numb and a warm tickle that flowed down from her chest.

She pointed to a ride on the map, symbolized by a bone and a firehydrant. "Perhaps we can take Superdog on his own ride," she mused, referring to the small stuffed dog whose floppy-eared black and white head stuck out the top of her bag, his red cape draped over top the zipper.

Fitz had presented it to her, a bashful smile on his face she hadn't been able to resist landing a quick kiss onto, after he'd won it at the skee ball stand, and she was certain that the floppy-eared pup was going to take up permanent residence in her bunk.

"I think that ride's for children," he told her, pointing out the area it was in. "We'd be… we'd be too… too uh…" He held a hand above his head and she nodded to show she understood.

"We'd be too tall to ride it safely," she finished. "Shall we try our luck at a few more games then?" she ventured. "It wouldn't be fair if I were the only one going home with a prize."

"I think I can manage without-" he began but he stopped, eyes round as something caught his attention from across the pathway and she followed his gaze, grinning widely and chiming out a fond giggle when she saw what it was.

"Changed your mind have you?" she mused, kissing his cheek before taking his hand to pull him along behind her. "I can't promise I'll win you the big one, but I think I can manage the little one."

"I'd treasure a pair of socks if they came from you," he said softly, causing her to turn her head, sweeping a loving gaze across his beautiful face.

There was a gentle light that would shine behind his eyes, softening his features, a light only for her. Once it had frightened her, she'd been afraid she'd never be able to live up to what he saw her as, that she'd let him down, whatever she did. However she knew now that there was nothing for her to fear. She knew now that all he needed was for her to be herself, and that was all she needed from him too.

"Let's try to get you a monkey first, yeah?" she teased, nodding her head towards the row of small plush simians that hung under their larger, less numerous counterparts, available in a wide assortment of colours, none of which were likely to be found on natural animals, each holding a miniature Mjölnir in their tiny fists.

"I'd like that," he agreed happily.

"Ready to try your luck at wielding Thor's hammer?" the carnival worker asked cheerfully as they approached the game. "Do you think it will deem you worthy young lady?" he challenged.

A solid looking metal hammer, clearly a replica but designed to look like Mjölnir, lay next to a tall tower with a round, bronze bell at the top. Cartoonish images of Thor battling what looked to be Chitauri, decorated the sides of the tower and a platform with a square strike-pad lay at the foot.

"Yes please, I'd like to try it," she answered brightly, pulling two dollar bills from her pocket and handing them to him.

The man pocketed the cash and turned to his wall of prizes. "If you get it in the green zone, you win a big monkey," he explained, shaking the toddler-sized (appropriately coloured) plush so that its fuzzy fur ruffled. "In the yellow, you get a small monkey." He tapped a bright green one with his index finger, a little smaller than a baby doll. "No prize for red but if you get the bell at the top to ring, you can bring home this." He rattled the hand-feet of the enormous monkey that hung high above him from the booth's ceiling. It looked to Simmons as if, held upright, its head would reach her chest.

"I could sleep on that," Fitz commented, nodding approvingly at it. "Not that I need you to win it for me," he added quickly. "Er… I mean… I mean it isn't that I don't… don't uh… uh, don't think you could but… but if you can't… it's… er…"

"All you need is a pair of socks," she chuckled, prancing over to the hammer like a fawn through freshly opened flowers, filled with spring and butterflies. "I know sweetheart."

She froze, her hand halting on the edge of handle, as she realized it was the first time she'd called him that, and maybe a first date was too soon to be using pet names. However, by the way he smiled at her as he reached her side, she guessed the hadn't minded, the opposite actually, and her shoulders relaxed and the birds in her head resumed their singing.

A first date it may be, but they'd loved each other for a lifetime, or so it seemed. Perhaps that was why the word had slipped out so easily. This wasn't square one for them, it was the next square in a long series of squares.

"You just need to hit that circle with the hammer as hard as you can," the man said, following behind them to watch. "And don't worry about breaking anything," he assured her, stamping a foot on the pad in example, pushing the pin into the yellow zone. "It's made to be smashed."

'That might actually be rather satisfying,' Simmons thought. She wasn't one for violence and destruction, but throwing away restraint to smash something…. it seemed like it could be fun. Especially if she couldn't actually break anything.

"Watch your chin, I don't want to clip you" she warned Fitz, lifting the heavy prop over her shoulder.

He laughed. "Everyone watch out for Jemma with a hammer."

She scrunched her nose at him before bringing it down with as much force as she could, allowing its weight to help her along, and it hit the square with pleasing boom, just before the pin shot up the tower, striking the bell so that it clanged loudly.

Simmons frowned up at it, confused, as Fitz stared with his mouth hanging ajar and the man who ran the game shot his gaze between her and the bell incredulously.

"That's… huh, well I guess we have a winner," he conceded after a moment of shocked silence.

Fitz turned to her with wide eyes. "How…. Jemma how...?"

She shook her head, at a loss. "I must have hit a weak point, or swung the hammer just so…" she guessed.

"Yeah… yeah it seems that way," he agreed, puzzling over the strike-pad for another few seconds. Then his face lit and he grinned at her, an impish glint in his eyes, and before she knew what was happening he'd lifted her off her feet and was spinning her around triumphantly. "You won the big monkey!" he cheered. "That's my girl."

Half laughing, half squeaking in surprise, she grabbed his shoulders as she was lifted into the air, feet spinning out from under her, and managed to wrap her arms loosely around his neck when she landed so she could nuzzle her nose against his. "I don't know why we need another silly monkey," she teased fondly.

He tilted his head, genuinely perplexed. "What do you mean another one?" Her eyebrows rose and she smirked at him until she saw understanding dawn on his face. "Oh… oh, you mean me?"

"Yes you," she chuckled, marveling at him for another moment before she moved her hand to touch his cheek, her heart fluttering joyfully. "You're my silly monkey... and I love you," she murmured, bursting with glee at the way his gaze moved across her face, like sunshine on water.

He didn't need to say it, it sounded from his expression like a symphony, but he did anyway, his words the bowed chords of a violin. "I love you too."

/-/-/

Part IX: The Weapon

"Well that's odd," Hunter remarked, still spying on the crowd from their perch atop the scream cloaked tower.

"What's odd?" Bobbi wondered, realigning her view to match his. She sighed, exasperated, as she peered up from her binoculars to frown at him. "OK, it was cute in the beginning, but this is getting out of hand, we can't watch Simmons and-"

"I wasn't watching them," he shot back indignantly. "I was watching my mark, same as you, but then Simmons made a bell ring and suddenly Hydra creep number one is interested in her. She's even waving that rod thing at her."

"What?" Bobbi demanded, taking in the scene a second time, eyes narrowing. "What do they want with Simmons?"

Neither she nor Fitz had noticed, but the Hydra agent was still waving the rod towards her. The light on top had began flashing red and the agent was saying something in a rush to her companion over their coms.

"Damn it," Bobbi swore. Pressing on her own com, she quickly made contact with the rest of their team. "They're moving in on Simmons and Fitz," she warned them hastily. "The tower game, in the Asgardian Village."

/-/-/

Fitz and Simmons were captured before either of them knew they were being ambushed.

In what might have been the blink of an eye, they'd been grabbed roughly around their forearms and dragged with brutal force behind one of the rest houses that lined the perimeter fence.

Fitz felt the barrel of a gun pressed against his temple and, to his horror, soon saw that Simmons too was being held at gunpoint, her eyes wide with fear and shock.

His first thought was that Simmons was in danger and he needed to get her out of it. His second was that they were likely in the process of being mugged, and cooperating with whoever this was was their best bet at coming out unscathed.

"You can… you… you can take..." he tried to say, but his words were met with a sharp jolt to his ribs, a painful shock bursting out of the end of some sort of weapon they'd brought with them, one that arched electricity at the end of a long, black rod.

"Shut up," the one holding him hissed, jolting him again when he yelped in pain.

Simmons struggled against her own captor's firm grip, distress ringing out of her as she fought to get to him, her breaths coming in fast and panicky though she didn't dare cry out, for both their sakes.

The woman holding onto Fitz exchanged a glance with her companion, intrigued.

"I think we've made her upset," she noted, as if they'd made a particularly useful discovery.

'You THINK?' Fitz thought, both furious and indignant. 'It isn't as if you've just handed us a cup of tea you ninny! You're holding us hostage, of course she's upset!'

It still hurt where they'd shocked him though, and if he spoke again they might turn that thing on Simmons, so he kept his mouth shut, trying to seem brave when her gaze met his, bright with concern and silently asking if he were OK.

The other one raised an eyebrow, amused, as if this were a game, as if she were having fun. "Do you think we can make her angry?"

Fitz's goon shrugged, detached, bored almost. "It's what we're here for."

What the hell were they talking about? What were they going to do to her?

Before he could worry further however, another bolt stabbed through him, longer this time, and he grit his teeth to stop himself from crying out, frightened of what they would do if he did.

"Stop it," Simmons hissed, her eyes flaring and her shoulders tensed. She glared at Fitz's tormentor, steaming fury. "Leave him alone," she growled.

"Not until we get what we came for," she snapped, unintimidated.

She jabbed the end of the rod against Fitz's chest and this time he couldn't keep from yelping.

"What do you want!?" Simmons demanded shrilly, and the way she said it, the way she was looking at him, tears in her eyes, he knew that whatever it was she was going to give it to them.

"We want to see if the formula works," the one restraining her answered calmly.

Simmons shook her head, lost and even more terrified for it. "W-what? I don't- I don't under-"

Fitz's captor adjusted something on the rod and when it touched his side again the pain that pierced through him pushed a scream from his throat.

"Stop it!" Simmons shrieked.

As his eyes cracked open again, Fitz saw her fighting against her restraint, face red and contorted with rage, and….

And suddenly she was screaming, falling to her knees after she was abruptly released and holding her head, fingers digging into her hair, pulling at it as thick, white, sharply pointed quills erupted from her back and her arms and legs swelled in size, ripping through her shirt and turning a brownish grey.

Fitz was released as well and he scrambled over to her, calling her name as her cries continued. Piercing through him like poisoned arrows.

"You filming this?" one of the of the women asked quickly from behind him.

"I've got it," the other replied, positioning her tiny camera so that the lense captured the scene before them.

The only thing Fitz registered was Simmons' screaming, and the way her body was ripping itself apart. His throat filled with barbs that dug deep into his flesh as he realized how helpless he was. That he had no idea what to do, how to stop it.

"Jemma?" he whispered, reaching out a shaking hand to touch her shoulder.

She didn't look like Simmons anymore. Now over triple her actual size she rose to tower over him, bulky and well muscled, resembling a haphazardly thrown together porcupine-human hybrid and roaring ferociously at him like a rabid beast, causing him to yank his hand away instinctively and stumble backwards.

"Fitz!" It was Skye, dashing his way and jamming herself protectively in front of him, gun pointed at Simmons. "Where's Simmons?"

"Don't shoot!" he shouted, pulling frantically at her arm to hold her back. "Skye don't, that… that… it's Jemma!"

His friend whipped around, shocked. "What? How-"

She swiftly cut herself off, shoving him back and darting out of the way, when a great, clawed paw swiped through the air where they'd been only a moment before and Simmons fell with a crash onto all fours, growling at them. Growling.

Fitz landed hard on the grass, grinding dirt into his elbow and the side of his leg which throbbed from the impact, though he barely had time to register any of it before he was scrambling to his feet.

"Jemma stop, it's us! We're your friends!" he begged.

His sudden commotion snapped her attention towards him and he froze as they stared each other down, her beautiful brown eyes reduced to beady black dots that held no hint of her kind soul as they blazed over him and she bunched her muscles, preparing to leap at him.

Then there was a loud popping and bullets struck her chest and face, bouncing off like pebbles but stinging enough to make her roar at them again, revealing wicked fangs that didn't look like anything a porcupine would need, her newly formed snout scrunched fiercely in a snarl.

Poor Simmons, she'd be so embarrassed if she could see could see herself. Not that she needed to be, none of what was happening was her fault and she seemed as much in control of the situation as he was, meaning not at all.

He needed to do something, to help her.

Another round of bullets bounced off of her and this time she whined, wincing away and pawing at her face before turning to flee.

Horrified guests leapt out of her way, bolting towards the exits, screaming in terror. It was chaos, but she didn't harm a single person, she only ran. She ran because she was scared, because someone was attacking her.

Bobbi began in pursuit, gun raised, but Fitz intercepted her, launching himself through the air and tackling her to the ground.

"Fitz what are-?" she shouted, struggling against him as he attempted to wrestle the gun away.

"It's Jemma!" he screeched, fighting hysteria. If he hadn't worked for SHIELD so long, seen what he'd seen, he might have lost it by now. "Stop shooting her! It's Jemma!"

"That thing is Simmons?" Hunter inquired incredulously, hoisting a flailing Fitz off of Bobbi by the scruff of his shirt.

Fitz twisted away from him, distancing himself and nodding vigorously, needing to make them understand.

"How the hell is that Simmons?" Hunter demanded.

"The serum," Bobbi realized, eyes widening. She groaned and smacked her palm to her forehead. "Damn it, how could we have been so stupid?"

"She- she didn't... she hasn't had… had any…" Fitz objected.

"It spilled, on her leg, through her pocket while we were escaping," Bobbi explained grimly, shaking her head. "It must have been absorbed through her skin..."

"How… how…" Fitz grit his teeth, inhaling sharply through his nose. Now was not the time for him to lose his head. He needed to stay calm- or at the very least stay focused. For Simmons. "How do we… how do we get her back?"

"I don't know," Bobbi admitted.

The cries of the crowd grew louder and Fitz looked to see that Simmons had began climbing the crisscrossing silver beams of the American Shield Ferris wheel, rising quickly towards the white star at the center between red and blue stripes.

"What's she doing? She doesn't even like heights," Fitz fretted, watching her winding ascent. "What if she falls?"

"I have a feeling she'll be OK," Hunter guessed dryly and Fitz shot him a scowl.

"She's not OK," he snapped, heat rising in his chest. "You didn't hear her screaming when she… when… when she…" His throat tightened and his lip quivered as he turned back to her, rubbing the sides of his arms and feeling helpless.

"Fitz we're going to get her back," Skye promised gently, patting his shoulder and giving it a firm squeeze. "It's based on the serum that transformed Bruce Banner right?" she reasoned. "And he transforms when he's angry." Fitz remembered what their assailants, Hydra agents he now realised, had said about making Simmons angry and nodded numbly as she continued. "What if we just calm her down?"

Fitz scoffed at the plan's simplicity, narrowing his eyes and shaking his head. "That's ridiculous we can't…" Then he frowned, thinking it through, going over what he remembered about Bruce Banner from the academy. Besides the dozens of papers the man had written. "Actually… yeah that… that could work."

"So how do we put her to sleep?" Hunter wondered. "Shoot her a few times with one of the ICERs? Do we even have enough rounds to-"

"Woah, woah, woah!" Fitz exclaimed, rounding on him. "An ICER?! Are you bloody insane! Didn't we just…. didn't we….she could fall. She could be… she could...she could be killed!"

"She seems pretty solid mate," Hunter pointed out, ignoring the rise in volume.

"You don't know that!" he protested. "No, no… no ICERs. I'll go."

"You'll what?" Bobbi questioned, leaning forward as if she thought she hadn't heard him properly.

"Fitz…" Skye whispered, slowly shaking her head. "No."

"She knows me," he insisted, keenly aware of the seconds ticking away, the time lost before someone else decided to try to hurt her, or one of the bars on the wheel snapped and she fell to her death.

"She attacked you," Skye argued, unconvinced. "Remember that? Simmons is in there, but I don't think she's the one in control."

"She's just scared," Fitz defended, crossing his arms stubbornly. "I can calm her down."

Bobbi and Hunter exchanged an anxious glance and Skye bit her lip, staring back at him unhappily as he silently pleaded with her to understand.

"Give me a chance to get her down safely," he implored.

Skye swallowed, miserable but nodding in agreement. "We'll get one of those parachutes, the ones they hold under people who get stuck in trees," she said.

"Yeah, good idea," Fitz agreed, even though they both knew that the fall would be too far for something like that to do any good.

For him at least, he could only hope that Simmons had taken on the Hulk's incredible durability. He wasn't about to gamble her life on it though.

"I can see the headline now," Hunter commented. "Giant porcupine falls from Ferris wheel. Caught by spies with very large sheet."

"Nobody's falling," Fitz told him determinedly. "I'm getting her down from there."

/-/-/

Part X: The American Shield

The American Shield was terrifyingly high and, porcupine or not, he couldn't believe that Simmons had willingly climbed it.

She must have been frightened, and confused. Who knew what that serum was doing to her head, mixing her thoughts with mutant porcupine ones? He needed to help her before one of the trigger happy agents who waited below decided to shoot her down.

Up he went, trusting the rungs of the ladder to keep him from plummeting to what would surely be his death, despite the wind that seemed determined to knock him off.

"Jemma!" he screamed, hoping she'd hear him over gale, trying to convince himself that she'd recognize his voice in her current state.

If she had heard him, she was ignoring him, continuing to heave herself up using the skeleton of the Ferris wheel and he continued to follow her, scrambling to keep her close while keeping his hold.

Up and up they went, the tiny human chasing what appeared to be a giant monster, begging her to come back down where it was safe, where he and their team could protect her.

At last she stopped, more than halfway to the top, perched between two of the cars where he couldn't get to her, because the highest point of the ladder only reached the star in the centre of the wheel.

"You have to come down!" he called again, glancing warily at the armed agents that had gathered below before returning his gaze to her, eyes bright. "Please Jemma, they'll shoot you."

Her attention was held by the agents however, and she took no notice of his pleas as she snarled at them, causing one to point his gun up towards her, taking aim before someone, likely May or Coulson, must have told him to stand down.

What would happen to her, if she were hit by a bullet and knocked off? Bruce Banner was seemingly invincible, unaffected by smashing into the earth from thousands of feet in the air, but the serum she'd taken was clearly different and Fitz was terrified of what would happen if her snarls startled an agent into taking the shot.

"J-Jemma please!" he choked, but he could have been a piece of algae shouting at a shark (if algae could shout) for all the notice she took.

How could he help her if she wouldn't listen?

Desperate, he slammed a hand down on the bar, wincing as the shock of it jolted up his arm and the skin stung where it had crashed against the solid metal. "Jemma!" he bellowed, fear making him sound angry when he wasn't, not at her.

Her head snapped towards him and she roared, sounding and looking more like a beast than the woman he loved. But he couldn't think that way, she was in there. She had to be in there or… or there were no other options.

Slowly, like a predator stalking its prey, she lumbered towards him, shaking each bar that she gripped, an enormous, menacing presence, her face twisted in fury.

Fitz gulped, icing over with fear, but he held his ground, hugging the thick metal beam that rose to the top of the wheel, as he watched her approach.

"Uh...OK… good, you- you're coming down.. that…uh, that's really good," he encouraged, unable to keep his voice from rising in panic. He loved her, and he wanted to keep her safe, but she was really, really big and her claws were gigantic. She could seriously injure him, even without intending to. "Now we can… uh… we can talk about this… this whole angry rampaging business-"

Another roar, loud enough to make his ears ring.

"Right, I'll… I'll talk," he corrected uneasily. "I'm… you might… uh… you might remember that that isn't exactly my… my strong suit right now..."

She screeched, an awful grating sound and violently shook the beam he was gripping onto, shifting the entire wheel only to become even more enraged when it moved out from beneath her and she fell a couple of feet, catching on the tangle of bars with a loud smack.

Fitz let out a yelp and hastily moved down, away from the unsteady beam, nearly slipping off before he managed to hook his arms around the top rungs of the ladder and used them to anchor himself onto it.

"No, no stop!" he shouted. "Jemma stop it, you're only making it worse," he begged as she continued to pull madly at the metal, twisting and tearing it until the bar she was perched on gave way underneath her and she plummeted down several more feet. "No, Jemma no!" he screamed.

She was caught once again by the mesh of metal, bending it around her as she crashed heavily on top of it, rendered momentarily stunned, and Fitz scurried down to her, trying hopelessly to convince her to stop.

Her thrashing foot hit the edge of the maintenance tower, rattling the ladder and making him lose his grip so that he slipped down a few rungs, hitting his chin on the top of one before he was able to catch himself, teeth clacking painfully together.

"Hey! Be careful! I can't fly!" he shrieked, forgetting himself for a moment, forgetting that she probably couldn't understand what he was saying, never mind understand that throwing him off the Ferris wheel would likely kill him.

However, to his immense surprise, she stopped struggling, raising her head to look at him, not with fury but with something much softer and, for a moment, he was sure he saw Simmons gazing back at him from behind the tiny beads of darkness.

Cautiously, she pulled herself up and began making her way towards him. This time, her movements weren't aggressive or menacing, despite her enormous size and strength. She wasn't approaching as if she meant to attack. Maybe it was only wishful thinking, his mind playing tricks on him, but he couldn't help believing that she had recognized him at last.

He watched her, not daring to move, as she stopped only a few feet in front of him, sniffing the air before tilting her head to the side questioningly.

"It's OK, we're going to fix this," he soothed, hoping the low whine that followed his words was a good sign. Every time she moved he could feel her newfound power, as if a mountain had come to life, but he also sensed how vulnerable she was, how exposed.

Carefully, not wanting to startle her, he held out his hand, straightening his fingers so that his palm faced her from the end of his outstretched arm.

She reached out her own hand, hesitantly, and gently touched his with a thick, curled finger which he wrapped his own fingers over so that he was holding it, smiling reassuringly.

"There's my girl," he cooed, certain her eyes were slowly being coloured with a ring of brown, white forming around the edges. "I see you, sweetheart. Now let's-"

"She's gonna eat him!" someone screamed in horror, snapping both their heads towards the ground in time to see that not one, but two of the agents had taken aim and were about to fire.

"Jemma-" Fitz breathed, his blood draining to his toes, about to warn her, tell her to run, but before he had a chance she'd scooped him up, holding him against her and turning her body to shield him from the spray of explosions that pelted her thick skin.

The force knocked them both off the wheel and suddenly they were falling, Fitz's stomach leaping into his throat, worse than any roller coaster. He screamed and Simmons made a noise that must have been the mutant porcupine equivalent of a terrified shriek, though it was far deeper and louder, closer to a roar, than anything he'd ever heard from her.

He held onto her, sure that they were about to die and not willing to lose her a second sooner than he had to. She held him too, anchoring him down onto her stomach and managing to twist herself in midair, moments before they hit the ground, so that he landed on top of her rather than the concrete which she collided with with a boom.

It exploded around her, chunks of debris and dust flying into the air, leaving a crater from which cracks spiderwebbed away and in which she lay at the centre of, unmoving.

Fitz groaned, his body aching and his head spinning, dazed by the impact as her arms fell away from him and she shrank beneath him, her quills shedding and her features turning human once more.

"Jemma?" he croaked, scrambling off of her in a panic when she didn't respond. He resisted the urge to shake her awake, not wanting to risk injuring her further, and instead he hovered over her, reaching out a hand to gently touch her shoulder, his voice hoarse. "Jemma… please. Please be OK."

Her eyelids twitched, then cracked open and she smiled at him as he came into focus. "s-still... my… hero," she mumbled, weak but quickly gaining strength. "Even… even if you can't fly."

She took a deep breath before coughing and struggling to push herself up and he helped her get into a sitting position before throwing his arms around her, gasping in relief and cradling her head with one hand so he could nuzzle against her cheek.

"You're my hero," he told her, his voice thick with relief. "Even if… even if you turn into a… a giant monster."

She chuckled softly, but her grip around him tightened and she leaned into him. "I'd really rather not do that again, if it's all the same to everyone."

They held each other, relieved, until Fitz realized with a start that she was practically naked, her torn clothing doing a poor job of keeping her covered up, and he froze, face hot as he noticed that she was pressed against his chest.

Simmons must have come to the same realization because she coughed awkwardly and they pulled away from each other at the same time, far enough that he could see her cheeks pinkening.

"Umm… Fitz…" she started to say, crossing her arms to cover herself, but he was already taking off his button down shirt and swinging it around her shoulders so that she could pull it on. "Oh… thank you…" she accepted, grateful but still a little awkward while she pulled her arms through the sleeves and buttoned it shut.

"I thought you'd want to cover up," he let her know, unsure where to let his eyes wander. "Not… not that you need to cover up… not that… and you're beautiful…" His eyes widened and his ears burned, mortified. "I… it's not… I wasn't looking, I can just imagine… er I mean-"

Rolling her eyes, she leaned forward to kiss him, stopping him mid-sentence. "Thank you for the shirt," she told him, smiling fondly when she pulled back. Her gaze moved to his arms, bare now because he was only been wearing a tank top, and her smile widened, a faint blush colouring her cheeks. "You look nice in that," she said shyly.

He couldn't help grinning back, but he had no idea how to respond without making things uncomfortable again and he was almost glad when they heard Skye crashing towards them, shattering the moment.

"Are you two OK?" she called.

Fitz glanced at Simmons and when she nodded, still smiling warmly at him, he reached out to take her hand, twining his fingers between hers and giving it firm squeeze.

"Yeah," he told their friend, certain that everything he needed in the entire world was right in front of him. "We're OK."

/-/-/

Part XI: Pancakes

Simmons lay, snuggled against Fitz's chest on the sitting room sofa of the playground, sleepily listening to the track of the film they'd been watching, but not putting too much effort into ensuring her eyes remained open.

He was so warm, and soft and a pleasant fog had settled over her, his breaths like wind on a hammock, lulling her towards slumber.

"How are you feeling?" Fitz asked, for what might have been the tenth time that evening, Simmons had stopped keeping track about an hour ago. He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and she kept as still as she could, enjoying the sensation of it. Relaxed and content. "Do you need anything?"

"Hmmm, no. Everything is perfect," she mumbled, the tail end of her sentence swallowed by a yawn. "You'll have to tell me what happened tomorrow though because-" another yawn. "...I have no idea what's going on."

"How much benzodiazepine did you take?" he asked, half amused, half concerned as he continued to stroke her hair, soothing her further and further towards sleep.

"The wanted to be sure I wasn't going to transform again while the antidote was taking effect," she explained hazily. "But it isn't only the benzodiazepine, the transformation took up a great deal of…. energy."

"Not… not too much energy though, right?" he fretted, worried again.

"Nothing I can't... reobtain," she assured him drowsily. "A good long nap and then… pancakes…"

"Pancakes?" he chuckled, pulling his chin up to kiss her hair. "Are those your… your uh… fuel of choice then?" he mused, however his only answer was her soft, even breathing and he realized that she'd fallen asleep.

He smiled, heart warm and, careful not to wake her, he squirmed his way out from underneath her head and gently placed it onto one of the cushions.

Then he tucked a blanket around her, planted another loving kiss onto her hair, and headed towards the kitchen to warm up the grill.

/-/-/

Here you are my super valentine :D I hope you enjoy it and it was awesome writing to you.

A super huge thanks to notapepper for all your help and SHIELD expertise (you know your Fitzsimmons and AoS :D)

Every superhero mentioned in this story is an actual superhero from some fictional world as far as I remember, and I have added some Marvel movie references too if you can spot them. ;)

The Bionic Bunny is a reference to the series Arthur

The mutant porcupine is a reference to the science fiction series Fringe. The creature first appears on a plane in 1x13 The Transformation and appears "again" in the fourth season episode Nothing is As it Seems.