A/N: Apparently the prospect of Jemma and Ward sharing screentime again was just too much for my muse; I've been writing 2x18-related drabbles like it's going out of style for the past week. So today you get seven drabbles of varying lengths and degrees of shippiness.
The first five chapters of this are just reposts of what I've already put on tumblr; the last two will be new. So if you follow me on tumblr, feel free to skip to chapter six.
Title is from Daughtry's Traitor. Thanks for reading and, as always, please be gentle if you review!
Jemma doesn't speak during the meeting—or debate, rather. Through all of the shouting, insults, and threats, through May and Fitz storming out in opposite directions, and even through the eventual compromises, she keeps her mouth firmly shut. She is, by her own choice, a mere observer.
Until, that is, the very end, when Bobbi turns to her and asks, "Well? What do you think, Simmons?"
Suddenly, the eyes of the whole room are upon her. Coulson's face is expectant; presumably, he anticipates her support, which has been unwavering for months. She went into HYDRA on his order, kept secrets from everyone, even Fitz. Why should he expect this moment to be different?
The fact that he actually doesn't know is just more evidence of how far gone he really is. She lifts her chin and meets his eyes squarely.
"I think you should have shot them both," she tells Bobbi, without breaking eye contact with Coulson.
He looks betrayed. Beside him, Ward looks amused.
"That hurts, Simmons," he says. "Now, what did I ever do to you?"
That's it.
She turns to Bobbi. "Give me your gun."
"Simmons," Coulson says, voice sharp. "That's enough." He takes a few steps towards her, softening his tone. "Look, I know this isn't ideal—"
"Ideal?" she demands. "Isn't—" She scoffs, shaking her head. "I trusted you! All the things Bobbi and Mack and-and Gonzales have been saying about you, I've insisted that there must be a reasonable explanation. And after all of that, you show up here with him?"
"Wow," Agent 33—Kara—says in an undertone to Ward. "She really doesn't like you."
"Yeah," Ward agrees. "I don't know what's up with that."
"You nearly killed me!"
"I saved your life," he counters.
"And I saved yours," she snaps. "Three times." She turns to Coulson. "On your orders, if you'll recall. Because I trusted you." She takes a deep breath. "Because I trusted you, I repeatedly saved the life of a man who had tried to kill me only weeks before."
"And I know that was hard for you," Coulson starts.
She turns away from him, back to Ward. "Do you know, that first time, they hadn't even let Fitz out of the infirmary yet? I was called out of his room in the middle of the night to save the life of the man who put him there. And I did it."
"And I'm grateful," Ward says, quietly sincere. "I was in a bad place, then. But I'm better now. I want to help you."
"No, you don't," she scoffs, and looks to Coulson once more. "And with all due respect, sir, if you believe that he does, there might actually be something to Gonzales' claim that you've been compromised. This is insane."
Coulson looks incredibly displeased by her words, but he makes an attempt at a patient tone.
"Simmons, I understand where you're coming from. I really do. But desperate times call for desperate measures."
She's heard those words before.
"That's what you said when you sent me into HYDRA," she reminds him.
"Wait, what?" Ward asks.
His gobsmacked expression is, admittedly, incredibly satisfying, but Jemma and Coulson ignore him.
"It is," Coulson admits. "But times are getting increasingly desperate."
"As are your methods," she says. "It's a slippery slope you're on, sir, and I'm sorry, but I'm simply not willing to follow it any further."
Just last week, she would have said she would follow Coulson to the death. But the evidence against him has been piling up, and this is simply the last straw. That he could bring Ward—Ward, of all people—in as back up, that he would turn to their team's own personal boogeyman for assistance in a time of need…
Jemma has honestly lost count of how many times she's been betrayed in the past year. She's reached the end of her rope.
"Jemma," Coulson starts, and she shakes her head.
"I'm sorry it had to come to this, sir. But my decision is final." She gives Bobbi a nod. "I've chosen my side, and it's not yours. It seems the other SHIELD had the right of it, after all."
"The what?"
Ward's clear confusion is gratifying, but it's Bobbi's hand, warm and sympathetic on her shoulder, that gives her the strength to continue.
"When Ward betrays you again—as you must know he will—and leaves you in the lurch, please do call me. I'll do what I can to help you. Until then, however." She takes a deep breath. "I believe we're finished here."
That said, she turns on her heel and leaves, following the same path May took nearly an hour ago.
Her heart is heavy in her chest, but for the first time in weeks, she doesn't feel conflicted at all. It's a hollow sort of victory.
