Fitzsimmons

Coulson's Plan

Quick Note: Fitzsimmons locked in the honeycomb room of death with truth serum.

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"Coulson, I'm certain this is against protocol!" Simmons protested as he shut her in the interrogation room on the bus.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. is destroyed. There is no protocol," the director yelled back from the other side of the door. "I'm sending in Skye with the truth serums pretty soon."

"Serums? Plural?" Simmons asked in fear, having not realized there would be another person in the room. She spun around to find her favorite scruffy engineer, staring in equal fright at the door.

"Hi, Fitz," Simmons greeted cautiously. They hadn't spoke since their experience with the city collapsing on top of them. Fitz wasn't entirely sure he hadn't just been dreaming, and Simmons was trying to pretend that kiss had never happened.

"Jemma," Fitz said back, eyes still fixed on the door. Simmons was so intrigued by his eyes, it took her a moment of mental scolding to continue.

"How have you been?" she tried awkwardly, sitting in the only other chair in the interrogation room.

"Better," Fitz replied, a subtle, genuine smile spread across his lips. Simmons liked his rare smiles, and found herself watching his mouth more and more often. She swallowed, as if that would push the thought from her mind.

"I'm glad," Simmons said stiffly. This wasn't how their conversations should flow. Both knew it. Especially now that they had forgiven each other and made amends. It should have gone back to normal.

Simmons avoided looking at him as he avoided looking at her for several silent minutes. The silence was eventually broken by Skye entering the room with a tray holding two needles.

Fitz, always the squeamish one, flinched at the sight, while Simmons just shifted uncomfortably in her chair. These were truth serums, actual truth serums, more revealing than a drunken night at the pub.

"Do you mind if I do the injecting?" Simmons spoke up as Skye had lifted a needle.

"Yes please," Skye seemed as uncomfortable with the needles as Fitz. Simmons retrieved the two pointy objects, and Skye scurried out of the room with a wink.

"Can you, um, pull up your sleeve?" Jemma ordered quietly, voice shaking. Fitz did as he was asked, and Simmons poked him as fast as possible. Next she pulled up her own sleeve and pricked her own arm.

Simmons set down the empty needles and took her place in her chair, waiting for the oncoming brain alteration. The truth serum didn't actually force you to tell the truth, but instead removes your 'filter', as Simmons liked to call it. You were more susceptible to blurting out secrets or acting impulsively.

"How do you feel now?" Simmons asked Fitz, already feeling her mind clouding.

"Terrified. I don't want to tell you everything I remember," Fitz looked slightly shocked at himself.

"Me neither," Simmons agreed, then blurted, "What do you remember?"

He glared at her, and she looked at him apologetically before the serum kicked in and he answered the question.

"At the city, I remember the ceiling burying us. Then I passed out and choked on the dust. You saved me, then we cried for a long time. Then we kissed," Fitz started to tear up slightly at this point in his confession. "And it was a good kiss. And I think about it a lot but it could have just been a dream or a hallucination." Simmons didn't know what to do, so she just looked at him sadly.

"What do you remember?" Fitz asked suddenly, blinking hard.

Simmons took in a deep breath, then started talking. "I remember the city collapsing and saving you, and I also remember the kiss." He made a little sound of surprise and looked at her, begging her to elaborate.

"Um, it was fantastic, and I think about it a lot, too, but," Simmons stopped herself from going too fast. "You're my best friend. We have all those years together at the Academy and at MIT, and we never once acted on any impulse to be together. I honestly thought it would never happen, but then we came to S.H.I.E.L.D. and realized how much we needed each other, and how easy it would be for one of us to die on a dangerous mission. You were the courageous one. You actually accepted your feelings to be true. I would just shove them off until they didn't plague me any more. I turned them into just a friendly care for you, when it obviously could have been more..." Simmons took a shaky breath, and a tear escaped her.

"You can stop, Simmons," Fitz suggested. "I don't want you to be hurt. Especially if it's over something as insignificant as your feelings for me."

"No, that's not true. I spend at least half my time thinking about you. I've only just noticed the deep blue of your eyes, and the symmetrical shape of your lips, and I want to know how it feels to rake my fingers through your hair." She was shaking now. "And I want to kiss you again, but I'm afraid I'll ruin things beyond repair."

"I'd say things are thoroughly ruined," Fitz tried to cheer her up with a smile, and Simmons felt her chest clench. "Do you mind if I bare my soul next?" he asked with a gentle grin. Simmons nodded, then wiped at her wet face.

"I've been in love with you since the day you jumped out of this plane. It put into perspective how important you are to me, and I've never fallen so hard. When I thought I would die in the ocean, I only told you because it was my last chance. I was trying to suppress it. I didn't want to make you feel guilty or pressure you into feeling something. I still don't want you unhappy," Fitz leaned forward in his chair and brushed some of Jemma's tears away.

"From that first day, several hours were spent noticing things, like the smell of your hair, or that scar on the back of your neck. Things you probably didn't notice about yourself. Then I would daydream, and I'd imagine what it'd be like to be able to kiss you on the cheek any time I wished or how it would feel to fall asleep by your side," Fitz was more confident after what Jemma had said.

"I wanted to do everything with you, and it nearly killed me when we weren't talking. Lance and Mack kept telling me to get over it, and that you didn't deserve me, which is clearly untrue. I might've been able to shut you out physically, but I couldn't get you out of my head. Then we kissed, and I was elated, and half-conscious. I wanted it to be real so much, but I knew it wasn't likely after what we had been through. I don't even remember it that well, to be honest."

Simmons, without hesitation, captured his lips with hers, muffling a surprised sound. She laced her fingers in his curls, smiling slightly as he responded with his hands around her waist. When they pulled back, noses rubbing, they were both grinning.

"Was it really like that?" Fitz asked in awe, and Simmons nodded with a laugh. "That was the best thing I've ever done!"

"I liked it, too," Simmons replied in a satisfied whisper, before leaning back in for another one.

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"Coulson!" Skye protested as the monitor they had been using to watch Fitzsimmons turned off. "It was just getting good!"

"Privacy will be respected," the director replied, smirking subtly as he walked back to his office. "You can unlock the door now, but no interrupting."