[1] Take the Shot | Leo Fitz

38

Nightmares were something Nina was no stranger to. She understood the paralyzing fear dreams could instil in a person better than most. She'd had those immobilizing dreams almost all her life, from the sick jokes her mind played on her when she lost her father and sister, to relieving Cambodia every time she closed her eyes to the spiral of lives she ended following that. Nina's nightmares had started 3 days after she'd been rescued from Cambodia. She had been in the hospital, attached to so many machines when she'd woken up short of breath with the urge to scream until she could taste blood.

Tony had been by her side in a second, calming her down and coaxing her back to sleep. He also knew a thing or two about nightmares, that's why he didn't leave her side until she could sleep through the night without waking up terrified for at least a week. It took 2 months until Nina could do that. Her nightmares still came every once in a while but they weren't as bad as they had once been.

It was true to say Nina knew how to have nightmares, it was false to say she knew how to cope with them.

It had been 4 days since SHIELD fell and 4 days since Fitz had last slept for more than 3 hours straight. The engineer had been reluctant to allow Nina to spend the night in his bunk, knowing she had unhealthy sleeping habits of her own and not wanting to disturb her with his nightmares.

She ignored him of course, sleeping beside him every night and helping throughout the day when his exhaustion caught up with him. She'd encouraged him to take a 30-minute nap now and then; where he fussed over them, saying that Coulson needed him to fix things since they were on a time restraint but still listened to her. No matter what he always listened to Nina.

She was grateful that Fitz's nightmares hadn't been too severe. Although he did wake up in a cold sweat occasionally, he slept through the whole time on his naps and only jolting up during the nights. She was happy to see he wasn't suffering as much as she had, the first time she'd killed someone.

"I'm gonna need a couple of people in the cockpit, the rubble needs to be cleared out before May can finish up her work," Nina said as she climbed onto the Bus. FitzSimmons and Trip were in there along with a galley of technicians working like usual, "word of advice, she's in there so please knock this time. The last thing I need today is a pissed off Agent May wielding a soldering iron."

"Understood ma'am, I'll get right on it," an agent said before rushing off to complete her command. Nina grimaced at the address, knowing that the agent was older than her but also knowing that word had gotten around about what she'd almost done to Garrett and people decided ma'am was safer than Nina or Agent Ramos.

"You need to replace the grounding wires," Simmons' voice caught Nina's attention and she walked over to her friends, shaking her head in an attempt to rid herself of the tiresome interaction.

"There's no time. The ramp needs to be repaired by the end of the day, Coulson's orders," Fitz said as he continued working.

"What? Are they even proper orders?" Simmons scoffed, she'd been the least optimistic since the events unfolded but nobody could really blame her, "SHIELD's been destroyed, Fury's dead, aren't they just requests?"

"Well, either way, I'm in the middle of it," Fitz shrugged holding out his hand, "stator, please."

Nina intercepted Simmons' reach for the part Fitz asked for and grabbed it. She smiled at the scientist before handing it to Fitz. The engineer smiled at her and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek before getting back to work.

"We have no jurisdiction now," Simmons said with a sigh as Nina took a stand next to her, "not to mentions SHIELD's been labelled a terrorist organization."