Begin Again

Day twenty-four

The water had felt surprisingly pleasant against her skin, and she had taken a long shower. May had stayed outside for the whole time, silently offering her one last hug before disappearing to head back to work.

She was glad that she had gotten over her phobia of water. Now things might be able to go back to normal again, or at least as normal as they possibly could be.

Fitz watched her through bright blue eyes as she read him a story, one of his all time favourites from back at the Academy. It was, of course, about monkeys.

"Oh Fitz, listen to this! Monkeys have an IQ of 174 - almost as good as you or me! That's why you always wanted one as a lab assistant, and I always turned you down because of the monkey's insatable curiosity and impatience, I was scared of it blowing up the lab or something."

"Why have I always wanted a monkey?" Fitz asked, his face eager and excited.

Simmons smiled, setting the book down on her lap. "We went to the zoo on your birthday the year before we graduated from the Academy. You lingered by the monkey enclosure for far too long and I kept trying to drag you away to look at the elephants. Then a zoo keeper saw your fascination and offered that you come inside the enclosure and meet one."

"Did I?" Fitz asked with a broad grin on his face.

"Of course. We went right up close and the zoo keeper gave you one of the tamer monkeys to hold. But when you did, it cuddled up for a while before stealing your camera and hopping away."

"Did I ever get it back?"

Simmons shook her head. "No, but you weren't all that bothered, you thought it was hilarious. I got out of there pretty quickly after that, you stayed in and made freinds with a couple of them."

Fitz grinned. "So your dis-a-proval towards having a monkey lab ass-istant is partly pre-dju-dice."

She frowned, protesting. "No, no, no. Not predjudice at all, just - oh, never mind." She raised her hands in surrender. "You got me."

"Can we get a monkey? Pretty please?" He pleaded, using his puppy dog eyes to melt her yet again.

"Maybe. If you do extremely well with your therapy, then I might consider it."

"You're no fun." He scowled, folding his arm over the one with the cast and pouting.

"No, I just have a little bit of common sense."

~*~

She fixed her own food for the first time in weeks, munching on the sandwich that she so frequently used to make for him.

Thoughts of the impending departure to the safe house kept invading her mind. She wanted a lab, at the very least, and a study so that she could get them ready for running Sci-Tech. And of course, she'd have to get Fitz back to where he was so that he could be her partner again.

Another thought, one slightly less welcome, was that she would be alone in a house with only Fitz for company. This would give her a great opportunity to become friends with him again, but what if things went pear-shaped? And the thought of other... dirtier things crept in too but she grabbed the key and locked them away. Very securely.

~*~

"When can I eat actual food? This hos-pital stuff is rev-ol-ting."

Simmons smiled sympathetically. "Truthfully, Fitz, I have no idea."

"I'm kinda in the mood for a - a - a sandwich." He said thoughtfully, his face intensely serious. "Maybe a pros-cuitto and buffalo moz-zarella concoction."

Simmons burst into tears.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"No - you said it all right."