Sunday: Old Fashioned

Skye had caught a glimpse of it one day and, due to her curious nature, had immediately started asking questions about it. Simmons immediately taken the chain and stuffed it back into her blouse. She smiled and told Skye it was nothing.

A week later, Skye asked, "So how long have you had it?"

Jemma turned to the hacker, gave her a glare and told her to drop it. Skye was so shocked that the bio-chemist wasn't smiling that she dropped the subject for an entire month.

When it fell out of Jemma's collar the second time Fitz was in the lab when Skye asked about it. The bio-chemist all but dragged the hacker out of the lab to her bunk. She then looked out into the common area and, seeing it was clear of their team mates, locked the door.

She turned to the hacker with a glare and then sat on her bunk.

"This doesn't leave this room. Understood?"

Skye, so frightened by the fact that the usually cheery bio-chemist was looking particualrly angry, quickly nodded her head in the affirmative.

"It was my grandfather's," Jemma stated.

"And that's so emabrassing that you had to drag me out of the lab because..."

"Fitz doesn't know about it."

The hacker looked thunderstruck.

"There's stuff about you Fitz doesn't know about?"

"Yes!" The bio-chemist shouted. "Believe it or not, we don't tell each other everything," she finished in a harsh whisper.

"I still don't see why that of all things is something to keep a secret from Fitz."

"More of the story behind it."

The hacker looked ready to burst, so Jemma pulled the chain out of her shirt to reveal the item that had caught Skye's attention in the first place. It was a beautiful gold woven band with small sapphires imbedded into the gold. It was apparent by the style that the ring was very old.

Jemma then proceeded to tell the hacker the story behind the ring.

"My grandparents were about the same age as Fitz and I were when we met. My grandfather was 19, my grandmother was 17-"

"How old were you and Fitz when you met?"

"18. No interruptions." The hacker clamped her mouth shut.

The bio-chemist went on to explain how her grandparents met, how they had to hide their relationship from her grandmother's father because he didn't approve of the match.

"A year after they met, he was called off to serve in the war. He told her that when he came back, they would make a life together. About a week after the end of the war in Europe, my grandmother recieved a message from him that said : "Together in Paris". This was the signal they had agreed upon before he left, so she knew that it was safe to follow. After convincing her father to let her make an excursion to Paris, she ditched her governess and made her way about the city looking for him. While looking for him, she happened upon a jewelry boutique and saw this ring."

Jemma held up the ring.

"She had yet to get him a wedding band, she couldn't risk getting it back in England with her father watching her so closely. She saw the stones on it and knew it was perfect, they matched his eyes." Simmons looked wistful for a moment, then continued on. "She found my grandfather the following day at the dock they had arranged to meet at. He was waiting with one of his friends, who also happened to be a captain, they were married on the front deck of the boat that evening at sunset, just as the stars they so loved to watch came out."

"Wow," was the only thing the hacker could say.

"Yes. My grandfather passed on a few years ago. I was able to see him one last time before he died and he gave me this," she held up the ring, "and gave me some advice that's stuck with me ever since, especially recently." As she said this, she blushed. Skye then knew it was what her grandfather said that was the secret. not the ring.

"What did he say?" Skye leaned forward, interested.

"This doesn't leave this room?" Jemma whispered.

"Sure."

"He told me to find someone not just to live with, he told me to find the one person I couldn't live without. When he and my grandmother were seperated, it nearly drove them both bonkers. When they finally were brought together again, nothing could tear them apart. Where one went, the other followed. He told me to find someone who I would go the distance for, who I would do anything for..."

Skye gave her a sly smile. She didn't even have to say what she was thinking, Jemma already knew. Skye moved to leave, but before she slid the door open she turned back slightly and said, "He's a lucky man." Then she left.

Jemma continued to fiddle with the ring silently, looking it over. She held on to it tightly one last time, then put the chain back down her collar, got up and made her way back to the lab.

'It's here Leo, whenever you're ready for it.'