Oceans Away || Leo Fitz Book Three

Chapter FortyNine

"You can do it," he said to her, his voice even, grasping her hands in his and nodding. "There's no one I would trust more to save my life than you." And he meant it. Asia was his life, his love, and if anyone could save his life, it would be her. He had always found himself indebted to her. What's one more time? One more shot at their life, unfolding happily?

"Daisy, get out," Asia said after a moment, nodding back to Leo. "I need space, if I'm going to do this. And if I mess up, no one else should be in here." She didn't take her eyes off of Leo, but she heard the doors slide open and then closed behind. "Alright then. No pressure. I just need to..."

"Make your hands as cold as liquid nitrogen, and then touch the thing on my neck," Leo finished for her. "And that should stop it." He said it with such confidence that Asia felt wrong for doubting herself. "You can do it Asia, if anyone can, it's you. And I'll be right here the whole time."

"Right," Asia replied, holding her hands up, noticing they were shaking just ever so slightly. "But if I mess it up we're both imploded into a million little pieces so it's no big deal right? It's not every day you might kill the love of your life."

"Well, you're not going to almost kill me," Leo replied, grasping one of her hands in his own. "You are the most capable person I've ever seen. Anything you've set your mind to, you accomplish. There is no one else I can say that about. And I was going to wait to ask about this but...this seems like a fairly appropriate moment. Asia, will you move in with me? When things settle down a little bit? And I mean more than the room we share. I want a proper place. An apartment. Where it can be just us."

Asia was at a loss for words, so she simply nodded, rapidly, yes. "Great, perfect," Leo let out a breath he hadn't been aware he was holding. "Well, that was the only thing I was nervous about. Let's get on with this then." He let go of her hand, turning his neck to provide the best exposure.

Asia nodded and shut her eyes for a moment, slowing her breath, thinking. She knew the mastery she had over her powers, she had just never attempted anything like this before. She thought about their lives, about the promise of living together, of all the things she hoped for their future. And then she thought about the cold, about saving his life. She opened her eyes and looked down at her hands.

They were blue, icy blue, the air around them smokey with condensation. She looked up at Leo, eyes wide, and he nodded back at her encouragingly. Tentatively, she stretched her palms out, pressing her fingertips against the orange glob on his skin, hearing the his of cold meeting hot, but she couldn't feel anything in her fingers besides the ice.

And then she watched as slowly, slowly, the orange started to fade, turning dull and black against his skin. She waited until it was completely blackened, no dull glow remaining, before she removed her hands from his skin. "It worked," she breathed after a moment, words coming out fractured with excitement. "Leo, it worked!" she dropped her hands, shaking the cold out of her hands.

Fitz let out a gasp, reaching up and tapping the crusty thing on his neck, slowly peeling it off and dropping it to the ground. He leaned onto his knees, reaching forward and wrapping his arms tightly around her. "You did it!" he said, pulling back from the hug and showering her face in kisses; her forehead, her cheeks, her nose, her lips.

Asia leaned into him, breathing deeply, taking in everything about him. She had done it. Really done it. And they were both going to be okay.

As the doors slid open, Asia looked up, eyes narrowing as Daisy stepped back into the chamber. She had taken things too far this time. Leo could have died. She stood up, fists clenched at her sides, standing her ground as she stared Daisy down.

Daisy opened her mouth to speak and in a flash, Asia was standing right in front of her, toe to toe, nose to nose. "Don't say a word," she hissed out. "I'm going to talk, and you're going to listen, got it?" Daisy gave up a small nod, pressing her lips together. "I don't care what kind of mission we have, you don't put your team at risk like that. You decided today that you thought your agenda was more important that his life." She jabbed her finger back towards Leo. "You do something like that again and we're done. Got it?"

"Got it," Daisy said quietly, like a reprimanded child. She backed out of the room, not taking her eyes off of Asia until the doors had shut between them, leaving nothing but the silence and the heaving of Asia's breath.

Asia thought things were fine, that she could just have her time with Leo, making sure he was okay, they were both okay, until Daisy burst back in through the doors minutes later, chest heaving as if she had just run a marathon.

"It's Mack!" She said, trying to catch her breath. "The Watchdog, he talked, they went after Mack. They thought he was the Inhuman. I tried to call him and it won't get through."

There was no time to think, no time to be mad at one another. Asia nodded, standing up. They had a teammate to save.