Begin Again

Day nineteen

"Tell me... how we m-m-"

"How we met?" She asked, and he nodded. "Do you want to hear it again?"

He smiled.

"Well, it was back at the Academy, and I was trying to get permission to use one of the labs after hours to develop the dendrotoxin I was working on. The professor, let's just say he didn't like me very much, and he was saying that the lab was closed for maintenance when I knew the team didn't come for another two weeks."

She scowled at the memory and Fitz grinned.

"And then he said, 'Stop asking why,' and I replied with, 'With the greatest of respect sir, I am a scientist. It is my job to ask why, and make sure I get an adequate answer.' He kicked me out of his office."

"Sass" Fitz said shortly and Simmons patted his hand.

"That's exactly what you said to me when I stormed out of the office and crashed into you. And you dropped the beaker you were holding and it smashed. There was glass all over the place, on the floor, on our shoes, and I seem to remember that a shard ended up in your sock. Your face went so red and you kept mumbling apologies, and I kept telling you it was fine."

Fitz went a bit red then, and Simmons couldn't help but draw parallels between the two scenarios.

"Then you said that you had permission to use one of the other labs and would I like to use it with you. Of course, I agreed. And things just escalated from there. We worked so well alongside each other that we became lab partners in class as well, and then when I was invited to a party and you weren't I stayed behind with you. We were the best of friends, you know."

She hadn't even realised that she was crying until she felt the cold tear drip into her lap, and looked up and saw that he was too. "Oh Fitz, please don't cry."

"I... lost what we had."

"That doesn't mean that we can't begin again."

~*~

Skye walked in to find a giggling Simmons and a grinning Fitz.

"And then you fell off your seat and landed on your bottom and Fitz, you bruised your coccyx and couldn't walk for a day and a half! I had to carry you -"

"Sorry to disturb you guys, but I found a portable DVD player and the first season of Doctor Who, and I thought you might want to, you know, catch up a bit."

Simmons knocked the wind out of Skye in a hug that could have resembled a tackle.

"Thank you so much, we'd love to. Do you want to stay with us?"

"No, I can't. Coulson gave me so much paperwork this morning that I couldn't see the floor in the office I share with Billy."

"Oh. Well, I'll let you finish that." Simmons said, and released her friend.

"I doubt I ever will, to be honest."

~*~

He was the same old Fitz, just without the memories.

It felt like she had almost gotten her best friend back. She was transported back in time to the Doctor Who marathons in his dorm at one in the morning, to lying on her bed and discussing everything under the sun. He was stuck in the present, and there was still a small barrier between them, but Simmons felt like it was nothing they couldn't tear down. It would just take some time, that's all.