Worlds Apart | Leo Fitz Book Five

Chapter ThirtyNine

Asia knew the second the liquid touched her lips that it wasn't water. It tasted wrong, felt wrong. Her stomach roiled as she barely managed to set the glass back down on the tray before her. She turned to Leo, eyes widening, wishing the glass was gone, that she could dash for him. "Leo," she whispered out, before her stomach heaved and she started to cough as the foreign liquid started to move through her stomach, into her system. Vaguely as her eyes started to fog over, she could hear him shouting. She felt her body hit the floor, but it didn't really feel like she was in it anymore.

A single thought flitted to her mind, filling her with horror. At what point would her powers take over? At what point would her body refuse to let her die? But she knew in her head that didn't matter, because she had rehearsed the plan, over and over. She waited, the pounding in her ears, as she focused on pulling slow, slow bits of water out of the pipes around her, flushing everything bad out of her system, cycling, running things through in a way no one but her could do. She waited until Mack, panicked, had let Leo out. Waited until Yoyo shoved Mack in and closed the door. Then she pulled the last of what she need, body settling, feeling comfortable again.

Mack was shouting, but he grew silent as he saw her. Leo had been rushing down the hall but stopped when he heard her coughing cease, turning to look back. He saw her, sitting upright now, water glistening on her skin. "Oh god. A heads up would have been nice!" he threw his arms into the air. "You scared the hell out of me!" Asia had admittedly felt bad about that part. She had never wanted to deceive Leo, hide from him that she knew she could save herself. But she couldn't let him in on the plan - only she and Yoyo could know.

"Here then," he said, motioning as he stepped towards her, pulling her into the tightest hug she had ever received. "I thought you were dying you bloody crazy person. Don't you ever do that again! But compliments to your acting. I can't believe you hid this from me! Probably the longest lie we've ever had between each other."

"It wasn't acting, or a lie," she said quietly. "I healed myself," and she shrugged sheepishly then glanced back at the liquids. "I wanted to test the theory. That I would be able to do it. I'd be able to save myself without hurting any of you. We know at least the three of us live to get out of here. And you two make it to the lighthouse. So I knew I wouldn't die here." She bit her lower lip, watching as Leo drew a hand slowly down his face, exhausted.

"Let me out of here," Mack said, through the glass, where Leo had been only moments before, leaning forward to look at them. Yoyo stepped forward, hand resting on the glass, and began to speak quietly to him. Asia turned to Leo, letting them talk.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, "But I had to. We have to stop what's about to happen. If for some reason I don't come back...it means..."

"That we've broken the time loop," Asia cut in, looking from Leo to Yoyo to Mack, her hand resting ever so lightly on her stomach. If they could break that, it meant that whatever would happen to their kid might not be so bad. She could save their family. It was the one thing that kept her motivated to do all of this, above all else.

"Well, you know my feelings on that," Leo muttered. "It simply can't be broken." He rubbed at the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Really?" Asia asked, brow furrowed. "That's what you plan to tell your daughter then, too? That her mother will be stuck in ice forever and nothing about the world can be changed?" She knew his thoughts were based in his belief on science, but she didn't agree.

"Maybe, I might," Leo shrugged. "Don't know for sure, I haven't met her yet," his hand found her wrist, thumb brushing over it slightly. Even if he disagreed, he wanted to believe she was right. The knowledge just wasn't sound, the science behind it not lining up.

"Guys!" Yoyo snapped. "You can fight on the way, okay? Let's get moving." She didn't want to watch what she had done to Mack any longer than she needed to. She knew in the end, he would understand, when she was able to fix all of this. She just hoped they could do it in time...

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On the jet, Asia paced back and forth, knots worrying away at her stomach. Leo had designed an autopilot, so at least she didn't have to fly. Yoyo sat up front, caught up in her thoughts, as the plane flew itself. Asia had to keep walking so she didn't start overthinking. Overthinking and potentially icing up their engines. It was a tricky, trying to regain the powers stolen from her. Something about what they had implanted in her had fucked her head. Even her old meditation tactics didn't work as well as they had used to.

"Darling," Leo said quietly, reaching out to stop her, his fingers twining in her cold ones, pad to pad. "You're going to wear a hole in the floor. Why don't you just sit with me for a while? I can help calm your nerves, I'm sure." He smiled at her sheepishly, patting the seat beside him.

She never truly could say no when he called her 'darling' the way he just had, the word falling out of his mouth like petals off of a blooming apple tree. "Alright," She conceded, allowing him to pull her towards him, right into his lap so she sat sideways, legs lying curled on the seat to his left. She let out a small sound of surprise which caused her husband to grin, pleased with himself.

"What has you worried now?" He asked softly, brushing his hand through her hair, back and away from her face, his face so close she could smell the mint from mouthwash, the spice of his aftershave. She loved every moment of him, from the stolen ones like this, to the ones where they spent all day in bed, reading and watching movies. He knew she appreciated when he made these small moments of time for them amidst the chaos, carving out a space for nothing but them, and it was something he could have spent forever sharing with her, if only they had the time for that.

Asia sighed, shaking her head. "It's a lot of things, it'd be hard to explain it all," she dipped her head down, then looked back up at him. "What if we really can't change things?" She asked softly. "What if all of this is for nothing, and I still spend the rest of my life covered in ice? What if this is our last quiet moment together? From here on out it might be nothing but fighting to survive. This could be it." Her voice wavered as she considered how weird those words truly were. The air around them started to crackle with ice.

He pulled her closer, his head burying in the crook of her neck, kissing her pale skin softly. "I know I preach about how we can't change the timeline. The science says we can't. But do you think I'm going to spend a second of my time not trying to prove myself wrong? I would fight the logic behind it for every second of every day. And I'm sure, even in the future, if I can't change things now I'm going to spend every moment trying to get you out of that ice. I get our daughter out, obviously. If I can save her, I know I'll find a way to save you too." He lifted his head again, looking into her stormy eyes, breathing along with her slowly until the temperature around them dropped back to normal.

There were tears in her eyes, but she felt under control. "I know you will," she said softly, looking down at her stomach then up at him. "What if we can't do it, though? What if I never get to see her take her first steps, or any of it?" The tears fell softly over her cheeks, fearful but truthful.

"I won't let that happen," Leo said softly. "I promise. If anyone can figure this out, it's you and me. We're practically unstoppable together. I'm the brains, and you're the brawns, brain, and highly attractive. A triple threat, some might say."

"Some might," she sniffed, a hint of a laugh in her eyes as she pushed away the tears with her finger tips.

"Well I certainly do," he grinned, kissing her forehead, then her lips, capturing her mouth in his in a kiss which held underlying hunger. "And if we weren't on this plane right now, I'd show you how much I believe that to be true." The words were a heavy whisper that sent shivers racing over her skin, and it had nothing to do with the ice in her veins. She smiled softly at him and leaned in, kissing him again, matching his hunger with her own. She wished they were anywhere else in that moment, or that the jet was empty but for the two of them.

"I love you, Asia Monroe, and we're going to fix all of this. Together," he said, when he finally forced himself to pull away from her. Kissing her any longer would be dangerous for his sanity.

She nodded after a quiet moment. "Together," she said finally, liking the weight of the word on her still buzzing lips.