“No one can know we’re gone, we not supposed to be doing this so thanks for covering for us Deke,”
“Yea no problem, you guys deserve a honeymoon of some sort. I'll be waiting for you when you come back.
“Thank you Deke,” Fitz walked up to him and pulled him into a quick embrace before retreating back to Jemma’s side
“What are those?” Deke pointed to the two small, black discs in Jemma's hand, “They look a lot like metrics.”
Jemma hesitated, slowly handing one to Fitz before stuffing hers in her pocket. Not wanting Deke to know where they were actually going she quickly made up a believable excuse, “Uh, yea. Fitz invented them and based them off the design of your metric, it’s really a much easier way to store cash.”
“Alright, have fun you two! I expect news of my mom when you get back”
“Deke, that’s not how it works,”
“Yea yea whatever. Love you guys!” Deke quickly gave Jemma a hug before giving Fitz a high five and then stepped back as a precaution.
“Love you too Deke,” Jemma responded with a loving look on her face until she elbowed Fitz in the side expecting him to do the same,
“Yea, love you too Deke.” With those last words FitzSimmons disappeared in the blink of the eye leaving their grandson alone in their living room,
“Be careful….”
----------
The ringing in their ears slowly died down as they felt their feet hit solid ground,
“Are we here, did it work?”
“We have to check around first Fitz, come one.” Simmons grabbed his hand and guided him out of the corner they had arrived in. As soon as they stepped out they were nearly hit by a wave of people rushing by, their metrics on their rest mixed with colors of red and blue.
“Jemma,” Fitz gasped, a wave of panic sweeping over him, “We have to hide,”
“There! Come on,” She pulled him over to a side door and quickly opened it pushing him inside before following and closing the door behind them. A bit of light coming from a corner illuminated the small room and they could make a out a small figure holding the candle,
“He-hello?” The small figure asked, slowly sinking back to the wall and pulling their knees closer,
“Hey little guy,” Jemma stepped forward towards the boy, the light making her face visible, “Don’t worry, we aren't gonna hurt you,” She slowly knelt down next to him and Fitz sat down next to her, resting his head against the wall.
“What’s your name?” She asked, sitting next to Fitz but facing the boy,
“Um…” The little boy looked in between Fitz and Jemma and then his posture softened once he realized they were no threat to him. “Deke.”
Jemma stuck out her hand towards Deke as he awkwardly took it, “It’s nice to meet you Deke, I’m Jemma, and this is Fitz,” She pointed to him as he stuck out his hand towards Deke as well, getting the same awkward welcome.
“So Deke,” Fitz asked, “What were you doing here in this closet, when we stumbled upon you?” Fitz inched closer to the boy and suddenly he got the answer to his question, his puffy and red eyes gave him away. “What happened?”
“M-my mom, they took her,” His eyes began to well up again as Simmons pulled him into a hug,
“Who took her Deke?” Simmons asked, gently stroking the boy's hair in an attempt to calm him down.
“The Kree, sh-she was talking about the prophecy and- and then they took her, and killed her.”
Fitz and Simmons shared a look, they knew Deke's mom had died when he was young but they didn’t know that they would arrive on the day she went. Instead of their peaceful visit they had hoped for, they now had to take care of a 10 year old on top of themselves.
----------
After all the racket outside had died down they decided that it would be best for them to stay in ‘Deke’s business area’, as he called it.
As soon as they stepped in they were bombarded with junk and trash all around, well to them it was junk and trash, to Deke it was history and artifacts. At the end of the room there was a small television that had several cracks and a desktop computer that seemed to be working perfectly.
“Wow Deke, this is all amazing!” Fitz immediately walked over to the computer and began typing on the makeshift keyboard,
“Hey, hey careful with all that,” Deke pushed Fitz to the side, making it so he couldn’t touch the keyboard anymore, “It’s still very fragile and it took me a while to fix it up in the first place.”
“You built this!” Jemma stepped up next to the computer admiring its complexity and well built structure.
“Well, my mom helped me salvage some extra parts after we found it in one of the old levels and decided to fix it up. She taught me how to fix things, and how to ‘fly under the radar’, or at least that’s what she called it”
“How’d she learn how to do all that?” Fitz asked, gently leaning on one of the tables leaned against the wall.
“My grandparents, they taught her everything she knew and then she taught me,” Slowly he pulled out a small grey multitool from his pocket and handed it to Jemma. “Bobo gave me this when I was three, before they disappeared, Nana said they would only be gone for a little bit but no one has seen or heard from them since. My mom had hoped that they were still out there but… but now that she’s gone, there’s no hope.” Jemma handed the tool to Fitz who took it and turned it around, admiring the familiar indents and the number 17 carved into it.
“Your grandparents, and your mom, they sound like they were wonderful people,” Fitz commented, handing the tool back to the younger boy.
“Yea, they were,” A small smile grew on his face and lingered there until the thought trailed back to him, “I just wish I got to spend more time with them.” Fitz pulled Deke into a light hug, surprising both the boy and Jemma,
“You will, don’t worry.”
----------
“Should we tell him that we’re leaving?”
“No, he should be alright, we left him our metrics and a note so he should know that we’re safe.” As they retraced their steps towards the closet they had arrived in Jemma brushed her arm up against Fitz’,
“You know, I’ve never seen you that affectionate towards him,” Fitz mouth tugged up as he pulled Jemma into a side hug,
“I didn’t realize what he’d been through, but now I do, and I understand why he’s like what he is.”
“What is he like Fitz?”
“Over caring, determined and a pain in the ass.”
“Fitz!” Jemma slapped her hand against Fitz shoulder before opening the door to the closet and leading them inside, “Do you’ll think he’ll remember who we are when we get back, as in that we were the people who suddenly appeared on the day his mother died,”
“Time is screwed Simmons, who knows.”
“He was a nice boy though, he welcomed us in even though he barely knew us.”
“Yea, he’s also a very smart boy. Probably not as smart as we were at 10 but, he could have some PHD’s in the future, if they're still a thing.”
“We’ll have to wait and see.”