X marks the spot

Ye Who Enter Here

"Hey Mack. Nice car." Was the first thing Rebecca said as she saw her friend driving a toy car around, one that was just like Lola. It stopped when it hit Fitz's feet, the man lowering himself to pick it up.

"Hey, hey, take it easy with that. I made that for Coulson." The engineer said as he approached the two.

"Wow. Hey, you know, if you're looking for vacation time, bribery will get you nowhere. Cause I've tried." Rebecca smiled at Fitz's words.

"Nah, I'm hoping he'll let me work on the real thing." Mack told them.

He looked at Rebecca at her whistle, "That's gonna be a hell of a try, buddy. I wish you nothing but the best on that." The two chuckled at her words. There was something in Mack's eyes, be that proudness or a fond look; she wasn't sure, but she was a little intrigued by it.

"You got me there, kiddo."

"Brilliant. And, um, so how do you get it to fly?" Fitz asked, but they both saw Mack was distracted. They followed his view, seeing Bobbi and Hunter in the kitchen together, laughing.

"It doesn't." The man said, not completely airing his friend as he watched the two.

"What, something wrong?" Fitz asked, finally seeing it, but having to lean forward to do so.

"A storm's coming." Was the answer.

"No, weather's fine, actually. There's not a cloud in the sky, I checked." Fitz said, seemingly missing the joke.

"No, never mind. You were looking for me?" Mack asked.

"Yeah, actually, um, I need to go to the plane..." Mack tried to finish it for him.

"What, you need help with the holographic towers?" But failed.

"No, no, no." So, he tried again.

"With the descender rig? What..." Only to again fail, but this time with a reasoning.

"No, Simmons. I have to...I have to give her a case, and then..." This time, Mack didn't try and finish the sentence, he just tried to give his friend a push.

"You know, at some point you're gonna have to talk to her, right?" It didn't sit well with the man who it was said to.

"Good luck with the car." The car was handed back to the taller man as the younger one walked onward.

"Hey –" Mack said, knowing he'd hit a nerve.

"Just let him go, Mack. He knows what he needs to do, it'll just take time to get there."

"You're very lucky, Trip. If they hadn't used that clotting agent on your wounds...Well, let's just say I'm glad they did." Jemma said, stopping herself from saying the obvious to the man as she patched him up after they had returned to base.

"I'd recommend a week of solid bed rest." She told him.

"Bed rest? Where's that in the SHIELD handbook?" Trip asked in a joking manner.

"Since we rewrote it." They turned and saw Aaron walking towards them, smile on his face, "Glad you're ok, Trip." He meant the words.

"Thanks, kid, good to be back." The man said in response.

Trip had obviously not known the boy as long, or been as close to him as Jemma was. She knew him well enough to know when something else was going on, something under the surface, it was a feeling she got and a certain look in his eye. As Aaron looked Trip up and down, she got that feeling and he had that look in his eye, but he seemed to be trying to disguise it.