Rising From The Ashes (Book Five of the Bad Wolf Chronicles)

History Lessons

OK, so I lied. I am able to steal my dad's laptop for a day while my parents are out at Hoover Dam . . . I am horrible with heights. I am dreadful with heights. Red Rock Canyon yesterday was horrible. :/

Anyway . . . who's important to Fitz in this chapter? }:)

***

"Oh, my God, you are so kidding me!"

Fitz snorted and woke up with a start, looking around. "Wuzzat?" he asked dazedly before he realized that Jenny and Steve were gawking at an iPad screen. "What's that?" he repeated again.

"Look at this!" Steve pulled up two different images for him to see, and Fitz's eyes widened.

Two of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings were up, the still life of sunflowers and Starry Night. There was a little note on each one.

On the still life, there was a note that said To Amy, Vincent.

Under Starry Night, there was a wolf lined in gold howling up at the stars. "Has that always been there?" he asked.

"No," Steve shook his head. "The Doctor said that when you travel in the TARDIS, you remember things differently. There was no note to an Amy in the sunflowers, and there was definitely no wolf in Starry Night."

"So the Doctor, Mum, and a girl named Amy met Vincent Van Gogh?" Jenny asked, just to clarify.

"Yes," Steve nodded.

"Must be a new companion," Steve mused.

Fitz tilted his head to the side. "Amy," he repeated to himself. "There was a friend I had when I was younger, before Jemma and I joined SHIELD . . . Amelia was her name." He frowned. "What brought that up?" he wondered out loud.

"Do you still have an idea why Jemma was so upset the other day?"

"I'm forgetting something!" Jemma shouted, storming in, staring hard at a photograph in her hands. "And I don't know what!"

Fitz took the picture and looked at it. "When you were in middle school," he recalled, seeing Jemma there, smiling happily. He blinked before shaking his head. "Oh . . . "

"What is it?" Jenny asked.

"I could have sworn I saw someone else there for a second . . . "

Steve held his hand out, and Fitz handed the photo over. Steve stared at it for a few seconds, then shook his head. "No one else is in there."

"It's this picture," Jemma insisted, pointing at it. "I swear it is!"

"Jemma, there's nothing we can do," Fitz sighed, shaking his head. "We need the Doctor and Jessie back, now more than ever, but we can't even get a hold of the TARDIS."

"I need someone to talk to," Jemma mumbled. "Someone who won't think I'm mad."

The other three in the room looked at each other . . . and grinned.

***

"You're telling me that a few days ago," Tony Stark began from where he was pacing in the kitchen area of Stark Tower, Pepper Potts watching him in amusement as Bruce and Saleen watched, trying to hold in laughter, FitzSimmons sitting at the dining room table, heads in their hands. "You just suddenly felt as if something was wrong with your entire life, and it all seems to revolve around one photograph that Jemma can't keep her eyes off of?"

"Yes," Jemma nodded.

"Can't help you there."

"Maybe the Doctor and Jessie know?" Bruce suggested.

"We can't get in touch with them," Saleen shook her head. "The last time we saw them, they were in so much pain, though they tried to hide it. They were regenerating, I'm sure of it. For all we know, we could have passed by them in SHIELD, and we wouldn't even realize it."

"I think scanners would have detected aliens with two hearts," Tony pointed out.

Saleen held her hands up in a helpless gesture. "Well, I can't think of any other reason. J's phone got destroyed, or something. I haven't been able to reach her number."

"We need their help," Fitz shook his head. "We need them now more than ever . . . and we can't even reach them."

"Sir," JARVIS's voice said. "Phil Coulson is on the line."

"Is he?" Tony sighed.

"I am, Mr. Stark, and I'm looking for three of my agents," Coulson said. "They'll be interested in hearing what I have to say."

"What is it?" Jemma asked with a sigh.

"Cameras caught a quick glimpse of the TARDIS in Colchester." Everyone's heads shot up. "And they caught two people leaving as well. I think we've got it. I think we've finally found the Doctor and Jessie again."

***

. . . :) How many people guessed this, too? Again, I say reference the beginning of "11:03." I've been hinting at this for a while.

Anyway, I have no doubt that I can get "The Lodger" episode up today. Won't say if Jessie's in it or not, but if she is . . . oh, dear, Craig might need to kick them out because of how much innuendo they spill nowadays. ;) Seriously, they're getting as bad as Jack. :P