Fitzsimmons

Twelve Days - Day 11

Fitz arrived at the Simmons household at five o'clock sharp wearing jingle bell antlers and carrying a pot of poinsettias. He was also wearing one of his mum's home-knit sweaters, which weren't the best quality, but he liked their coziness.

Apparently, he had forgotten Jemma's earlier over-the-phone warning of, "My father is very traditional, so please, act professional."

Luckily, Jemma was the one to answer the door when he rang. "What are you wearing?" she asked in distress, then plucked the antlers off his head and threw them into a nearby bush. Fitz sputtered, but Simmons had continued her assault on his outfit. "The sweater will have to do," she said, then started to readjust the oversize, lumpy thing.

"My mum's gonna love hearing that," Fitz muttered as Simmons pulled him inside. After he hung his coat and gave Jemma a proper hug, her mom came into the entryway and greeted Fitz warmly.

She was an older woman, her hair streaked with grey and dark brown. She wore thick brown glasses and a light green cardigan, and she had a face extremely similar to Jemma's.

"Mum, this is Fitz- Leo," Jemma introduced him, and he nodded. "Fitz, this is my mum, Carol."

"Nice to meet you," Fitz smiled charmingly, and extended an arm. Simmons' mom ignored his arm and lunged forward for an embrace.

"I've heard so much about you," Carol said with a kind smile. "Thank you for taking care of my daughter while she's been gone."

Out of the corner of his eye, Fitz noticed Jemma's embarrassment, and replied with, "Trust me, ma'am. She can take care of herself."

Carol laughed, and it was the same, borderline-insane laugh Jemma often blessed the lab with. Fitz thought about pointing this out, but decided to spare Simmons further blushing. Seriously, her face was like a fire truck.

"Jemma!" a male voice called from the kitchen. Simmons gave Fitz the poinsettias and led him in a brisk walk to the kitchen.

Fitz had been to her house several times before for practice for this moment (just not when her parents had been home), so he knew the way.

"Fitz, this is my dad, Don," Simmons said as they rounded the corner, poinsettias in hand. "Dad, this is Leo," she finished nervously, and Fitz extended a hand to shake the man's hand. He wasn't smiling, which only accentuated the creases in his face and his harsh gray hair.

"Nice to meet you, Fitz," Don said, but it didn't sound like he meant it.

"Nice to meet you, too, Dr. Simmons," Fitz tried to respond with a high level of respect and cheerfulness, and he even used Don's proper title. Dr. Simmons didn't look impressed.

"So," Jemma interrupted the tenseness in the kitchen. "We have a ham, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, salad, and applesauce, all made by my lovely mother. Please, help yourself."

Dr. Simmons gestured for Fitz to go through the line of food first, and he did. Fitz paid special attention to taking the right serving sizes of each dish, like Jemma had instructed him to do earlier, and made it to the table with less food than he thought would fill him up. He sat quietly and didn't take a bite yet, just like Jemma said, then rose and helped Jemma into her chair next to his in a gentlemanly fashion.

Jemma winked subtly at him, and he choked down an out-of-place laugh as Dr. Simmons took his place directly opposite of Fitz.

"So, Fitz," Dr. Simmons started his interview, then ate a bite to make it seem casual. "What kind of engineer are you studying to be?"

"Well, all of the types right now. I personally think mechanical is my best, and I like it a lot, but I want to be able to do more than just machines."

"So you're undecided?"

"No, sir. This year I'm majoring in electrical and mechanical. Next year in chemical, and the year after that I'll be covered for engineering degrees."

"What are your plans for the future?"

"I want to work somewhere that genuinely helps people. Somewhere I can see the way my inventions and innovations change people's lives in an instant. Possibly the military."

"You realize that path is fairly different from my daughter's, correct?"

"Jemma wants to travel the world, too," Fitz replied, but instantly regretted it. It sounded like Fitz was implying he knew Simmons better than her own father.

"He's actually right, dad," Simmons backed him up. "Something about university has made me realize that there's so much more of the world for me to assist. I could be a volunteer clinician in Korea or a battlefield nurse in Iraq. There's so many opportunities for me to consider."

Dr. Simmons chewed on a piece of ham for a long time, then continued his questioning. "How did you two meet?"

"Well," they both started at once, then laughed and gestured for the other to go on. Then laughed again. "We didn't speak to each other at first, but then we got paired up as chem. lab partners. Simmons- Jemma was smarter than I am in that particular subject, but after a week or so of working together we realized it would be best to just team up and combine our intelligence."

"Lots of professors on campus refer to us as Fitzsimmons," Simmons added with a grin.

"Have you had any major fights?"

"Several, actually. We practically live in my dorm at this point, because she always stay overnight studying and such, so inevitably, there are fights over organization and cleanliness."

"That's adorable, honey," Carol said with an excited smile. "Your father and I started out like that." She looked over at Dr. Simmons, whose face had finally softened under his wife's gaze.

"Leo, I'm glad I met you," Dr. Simmons said again, genuinely this time. "And I'm glad Jemma become so close to you. She was always such a shy child, and it's refreshing to see her all grown up with a boyfriend."

"Dad," Simmons stopped him, but he continued grinning and talking about how he couldn't wait for a wedding and grandchildren, to which Fitz's eyes widened significantly.

"Just go with it," Simmons whispered in his ear. "I've never seen dad so ecstatic."

"And just know, you could have my permission any time," Dr. Simmons finished, and Fitzsimmons forced smiles onto their faces, even though their situation was incredibly awkward.

"I think Fitz has to leave soon," Jemma faked with a brief look at the clock.

"Really?" Carol asked. "Doesn't he want to stay for presents?"

"I actually have to get back to my mom before Christmas morning, so I'm afraid I can't stay," Fitz improvised.

"We'd love to have you longer," Dr. Simmons insisted.

Fitz stared at Jemma, waiting for her to come up with something. In a split second, she grabbed his half-finished plate and began rambling about him missing a flight. Fitz agreed as much as he could, and hurried to the entryway to put on his coat.

"The poinsettias are my gift to you all. Merry Christmas," he called, then left urgently.

Simmons joined him out on the porch after a few minutes.

"Sorry about that. My parents like to make assumptions," she apologized, her face bright pink from both the cold and the embarrassment.

"It seems like everyone mistakes us for a couple," Fitz said with a forced laugh.

"Yeah," Simmons said, then looked away. "Um, Merry Christmas, Fitz," she said quickly before kissing him lightly on the cheek and turning back inside.

"Merry Christmas," Fitz whispered back to the empty porch. He let a natural smile rise to his lips, then fetched his jingle antlers out of the bush before leaving the Simmons' house with a warm feeling settled in his stomach and keeping out the cool, biting wind.