Biochemist and the Engineer

Chapter 7

 7//The Beast and Belle have dinner together, but the perfect night ends when Belle finds out that her father is in trouble. Finally knowing that loving means letting go, the Beast allows Belle to leave the castle in order to go save her father.// 

7//Doctor Fitz dragged himself away from the pleasure of sleep and into the waking world where every part of him throbbed with pain, and an endless thread of questions ran through his mind. As the fog lifted, he blinked into the bright light that glared into his face. The repetitive beeping of the cardiac machine at his bedside made him fully aware of the needles and wires attached to his arm. He carefully slid the IV needle from under his skin, and untaped the clip of the pulse oximeter, freeing his finger. The machine's dull rhythm became a monotonous screech when he dropped the clip onto the sheets.

Doctor Simmons woke at the alert of the machine, her tired eyes wide with panic. She whipped her head in his direction, and, seeing him awake, took a deep breath. He wasn't coding, he was just being a stubborn patient. She saw him trying to shift around on the bed. "You're going to rip open your sutures!" She gasped at him, and rushed to his side in "doctor mode", forcing him to lay back. He glared at her, but his eyes weren't made of ice anymore.

"I have to get to the lab." He insisted, voice groggy.

She taped the monitor back to his finger, and the machine's wail faded back to his pulse.

"No. You want to be in the lab. You have to stay in bed." She argued, almost absently, as she pulled back the covers to check his bandaged chest.

He continued to scowl. Simmons allowed a thought to break the surface of her mind. According to Coulson, they did need to get to the lab. She heaved a sigh, her mind changing without her authorization. "I will help you with the theory." Her voice was almost inaudible.

Doctor Fitz turned his face to her in total disbelief. "Say that again." He requested dazedly.

Simmons stared back at him decidedly. "I'll help you with the theory." She repeated, louder and more confident this time.

Hope flickered in his eyes and he breathed a chuckle. She almost smiled back at him.

"But first, rest." She placed the covers back over him. His face fell a bit.

"Get yourself checked out while I'm stuck in here, will you." She could see the apology in his eyes, yet the gesture caught her off guard. By the look on his face as the words left his mouth, Fitz had surprised himself as well. He knew he was partially responsible for her injuries, even if he hadn't personally physically harmed her, and he actually seemed to be sorry for it.

The man that Simmons left in that hospital bed when she walked out of the room was an entirely different man than "The Doctor" that she had been introduced to initially. What had inspired Doctor Fitz to change his heart, she did not know. What she did know was that he had thrown himself in front of her as a shield and taken her bullets. He had nearly died for her--and done so willingly. What made her the most curious was the fact that he didn't seem to know why he'd done that any more than she did.

---

Several hours later, Simmons re-entered Doctor Fitz's room. He turned his eyes to her as she entered silently.

"Tell me you got some sleep." She looked on him with pity as he frowned, suggesting that he hadn't. A glow peering out from under his covers caught her eye. She squinted.

"What's--?"

"Nothing." He snapped before she could finish.

But she was just as fast, and before he could stop her, she had snatched up the hidden tablet. Her pity vanished.