just to be clear, this is not part of the series i mentioned in my previous skimmons fic. this is a standalone fic. the second part of the Quake series is still in progress. please be patient.

for now, read, ponder and enjoy this one.

Your resistance to sadness is futile but

You're a fighter, can't stand defeat

You're a magician at hiding the hurt from you

But I see and I hear you

Loud as a bomb

Wanting a shoulder to cry on

-Fly Before You Fall, Cynthia Erivo

Fitz sat down on the stool she'd abandoned just two minutes ago because she wanted to see more clearly into the microscope. She just knew it was him because she recognized the cologne he wore and they weren't best friends for nothing. She chose to ignore him because one, she had yet to forgive him for lying and two, she really wanted to get answer to the anomalies in Skye's DNA.

She waited for Fitz to say something because she was determined not to say anything. So she spent the time waiting making notes and adjusting microscope and jotting down variations. Until he broke the silence.

"Simmons," he pronounced carefully.

She lifted her eyes from the eyepiece of the microscope and turned to him with a poker face. "Yes?" she addressed.

The look on his face was determined and wary, but he was determined enough to push aside his wariness. And she just knew it had something to do with Skye. "The braces," he started. "They won't be enough."

Her lips thinned and she nodded in agreement. "I agree." She then pushed her stack of notes towards him and massaged the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "I've been up all night trying to figure out the anomalies in Skye's DNA and how to stabilize them."

Fitz took the stack and flicked through them, his eyes scanning her handwriting. She could see the screws in his brain turning as he tried to figure it out as well. "I can't understand a word of this," he finally said.

She couldn't help but laughed. She dragged a stool from another station and sat down on it. "Neither can I," she sighed. She tapped the microscope stand to a rhythmic beat as she bit her lip. "You shouldn't have lied to me, Fitz."

He put the notes back on the surface of the station and ran his hands over his face a few times before he sighed. "I just…I don't…I don't know what you were going to do with her if I told you," he said.

"She's different," Jemma stressed. Skye was so different. "She's my friend."

Fitz fixed her an unreadable look. "But she's more than just a friend, Jemma," Fitz said doubtlessly. Jemma froze. He offered a sorrowful smile. "I get it now."

"Fitz."

He shook his head and put up a hand. "I don't blame you. And I shouldn't have lied to you, not when she means so much to you."

"I didn't mean for all these to happen," Jemma said.

He smirked emptily. "Nobody meant for any of this to happen." He played with his fingers. "Now, I just want Skye to be okay." She nodded. "So you figure out these anomalies. I'll try to build a pair of more enhanced braces." He stood up and stared down at Jemma. "She needs you."

She smiled up at him. "Thank you, Fitz."

He waved his hand in the air dismissively and then left after giving her a curt nod. She looked into the air for the next few moments before she stood up herself and pulled the microphone in front of her, taking a pen in her hand.

Back to work.

She put down her stethoscope and jotted down on the pad she had on her lap. Then she forced a smile on her face and looked up to Skye who was staring at her.

"Everything seems fine, Skye," she reassured.

Skye's forehead creased and she huffed. "Don't lie to me, Jemma, you of all people," Skye said dejectedly.

"You know as well as I do that I'm a bad liar," Jemma said.

"Which is how I know you're lying," Skye quipped, tilting her head.

Jemma's smile disappeared and she sat higher up the mattress. "Well, everything will be fine," Jemma tried again.

Skye rolled her eyes upwards and closed them. "You don't know that," she muttered.

Normally, Jemma would insist her point. But now, she just wasn't sure anymore. And she was so scared.

"No, I don't."

Jemma had no idea who this Lincoln guy was. He just came into the premises like he knew about it all along and had the gall to actually knock on the big red door. When the door slid open and he crossed over the threshold, he had two guns aimed at him and two batons waiting to smack him down.

Except he'd smirked and dropped the duffle bag he'd been carrying, putting his arms up.

"I'm unarmed," he said as he kept chewing the gum in his mouth.

Jemma narrowed her eyes from the doorway of the lab. There was something about this guy that unnerved her. She fidgeted with the test tube in her hand.

"How do you know about this place?" Coulson demanded.

The guy slowly lowered his eyes, eyes widened in such a childish attempt to deflect the weapons trained on him and to prove he was harmless. "Don't worry, you guys are hiding very well," he emphasized. "We just know more about you than you do about us."

"You're not really helping your case right now," May snapped.

"Well, okay, I am Lincoln. Just Lincoln." He smiled again. Jemma's ears perked up at the way he said his name, sounding almost the same as when Skye had introduced herself to them. "And I'm here to help you with a mystery that I'm sure you guys have no way of handling."

Coulson took a step forward. Lincoln towered over him but Coulson held his stance firmly. "We don't need your help."

Lincoln smiled down at Coulson as if he was an innocent child who knew nothing. "Oh, Director, you do. Desperately."

"I swear to god I will beat you to a pulp –" Bobbi growled.

"I know there is a girl who has the ability to create earthquakes in this place," Lincoln interjected loudly. Jemma's grip on the test tube tightened. "And you don't know how to help her at all," he added. A shiver ran down her spine when his eyes met hers over the top of Coulson's head. "I can help you help her." Lincoln tilted his head.

"How do we know you're not Hydra?" Coulson asked.

Lincoln squinted slightly, still staring at her. "You just have to trust me," Lincoln drawled quietly. "I mean, it's not like you have any other options." Lincoln pivoted and lifted his duffle. "I promise, I can help you."

"That's not good enough."

Lincoln shook his head, a look of exaggerated disappointment on his face. "Seriously, your trust issues are so troublesome," he sighed. "Fine, how about you do that lie detector test and give me a lanyard?"

Damn mysterious guy got a lanyard.

"Sir, you can't be serious," Jemma argued the second she walked into Coulson's office.

Coulson dropped the paper plane he'd been folding abruptly and looked up at her as if that didn't just happen. "Pardon?"

She didn't glare. She just looked at him in a way that was similar to a glare. "He got a lanyard?" she hissed.

"He passed the test."

She put her hands together and put them atop her nose. "Ward passed the test!"

Coulson picked the paper plane back up and went back to folding. "We have a more enhanced equipment now. And Ward almost failed the test until the question regarding his motive was brought up. And his motive was for Skye."

"Sir, we're getting off topic."

"Lincoln passed the test. He didn't almost fail the test," he said. "May and I had similar concerns as you did so we have restricted him from accessing the weapon room and the inventory and pretty much anywhere that could allow him to harm us in any way."

Jemma licked her lips. "I still don't trust him."

He shook his head. "Neither do I. Agent Simmons, believe me, I want him out of here as much as you do but no one has been able to promise me that they can help stabilize Skye and actually help her so far. And then he waltzes in and promises that he can." He pursed his lips and smacked his hands together gently. "I'm running out of options." Jemma was still skeptical. And Coulson could see it. "What's this really about, Simmons?" he asked, tilting his head.

Jemma sat down on one of the two chairs in front of the desk and cleared her throat, ready to go on a long speech on why she didn't trust Lincoln. But when she was about to speak, no words came out. She just wasn't sure if Coulson should know.

Lincoln was a stranger. Lincoln was good-looking snarky stranger with a sick sense of humor with possibly empty promises. She couldn't possibly allow Skye to be around the guy who might not just put up with his end of the deal and might even do more damage than good. She couldn't even sleep in peace, knowing that he was lingering in their quarters.

All in all, Skye just meant too much to her for her to just permit him to even be in the same room with Skye.

"Hey," Coulson called to her gently, a knowing look on his face, "we're as close to a family as Skye can get. And we promised her that we would help her. Lincoln is the help we can get right now."

As much as Jemma wanted to reject his logic, she knew that he was right. So she stood up with a dejected sigh. "I can't promise that I won't shoot him in the foot if he does anything disorderly," she warned.

He smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

She'd requested that one of the cameras be left on. They were all more than happy to oblige. And they watched the monitor as Skye and Lincoln talked.

Skye was resistant at first, as expected. Jemma couldn't help but be proud of her when she spewed a mouthful of curses at Lincoln like a sailor without any qualms. Lincoln had chuckled and shrugged them off like they were nothing.

And then Skye moved on to another deflection tactic: humor. Lincoln had played along. And then called her out on it.

Skye moved on: sarcasm. Lincoln had nodded in admiration but called her out on it again.

"Deflection isn't going to work, Skye," Lincoln finally snapped, silencing everyone. He moved his chair closer to Skye. "You keep on deflecting; you keep on directing those shakes inward; you keep on denying yourself; and those braces aren't gonna stay on for very long."

"These braces aren't just to sustain the damage I do to myself. They're quite useful when I try to knock a bastard out," Skye deadpanned with a sweet smile.

Lincoln leaned back against the chair. "I used to be just like you," he said, pointing at Skye. "Sarcastic, edgy, basically an asshole."

"Seems like you haven't changed much."

"Oh I've changed a lot," Lincoln disagreed. "You wanna know who helped me? Your mother," he announced.

Jemma could see Skye visibly stiffened in the monitor. She swung around to face the team when the first tremors began to show. "Get him out of there."

Jemma replaced Skye's braces because she'd damaged her old ones during her talk with Lincoln. Her heart clenched at Skye's increasing bruises.

"He called me Daisy," Skye whispered into the air.

Jemma looked up. Skye had a look of contempt on her face. "That's an awful name," she replied.

Skye chuckled. "Isn't it?" Jemma nodded gingerly and watched as the expression on Skye's face changed. "Trip died when I was Daisy."

"If it's any comfort," Jemma offered, "you'll always be Skye to me."

Skye lowered her head and met Jemma's eyes for the first time today. "It is."

"Sometimes your heart needs to accept what your mind already knows."

Skye squinted at Lincoln. "And what does my mind know?"

"We call ourselves Inhuman."

Skye scoffed and nodded as if he made perfect sense. "Right, we have a name now. Inhuman," Skye repeated, as if tasting it on her tongue. "Such a nice ring to it," she remarked. "Is this like a band? Do you guys hang out every weekend and rock out to Big Time Rush?"

"What? Big Time Rush? No, we prefer One Direction," Lincoln retorted.

Skye laughed along. "Lame." They sobered eventually. "Am I supposed to accept that I'm an Inhuman now?"

"No," Lincoln said with a shake of his head. "You don't have to accept it now. You don't even have to recognize that name. It's just a name, to identify our race."

"I'm American Chinese."

"Skye," Lincoln said, "you're not just an American Chinese."

Skye released a sigh. "I know."

Jemma could see the visible change in Skye for the following week. She'd tamed it up. Her bruises were healing. The tremors were decreasing. Even when there were, the bruises that formed on Skye's skin weren't as severe as before.

Lincoln was really helping.

But he hadn't actually taught her anything. No meditations. No mumbling some foreign prayers. He just talked to her like a friend did, only a more carefree way.

"I guess it's just your thing, huh?" Jemma mentioned. She couldn't help the coldness seeping into her voice. "Us mortals wouldn't be able to figure it out."

Skye held onto her wrist when she was about to leave. "Are you jealous?" she asked. Jemma looked back and saw the long-gone light twinkling in Skye's eyes, however faint it was. "Oh my god, you so are!"

"I'm not jealous!" Jemma exclaimed. "It's just that…we've been trying to help you for weeks and we couldn't do anything. But Lincoln came for barely a week and you're almost cured."

"I'm not cured, Jemma," Skye said. "I will never be cured. There is nothing to cure, do you understand?"

Jemma looked at the girl she loved, perplexed. "I'm afraid I don't."

"Does it hurt?"

Skye was quiet. Jemma urged her silently to talk because she wanted to know too. "It does," Skye finally said. "It hurts a lot." She looked down at the braces. "But I'll keep it to myself so it doesn't hurt anyone else."

Jemma ran off from the room.

"This thing inside me," Skye started, startling Jemma. "It's inside me."

Jemma sat down next to Skye. Skye was staring at her in such a way that Jemma couldn't bear to disappoint her.

"The…anomalies you see in my DNA; they're this thing." A drop of tear carved its path down Skye's cheek. "And there's no way to get rid of it once it's triggered. And it's triggered."

Jemma wiped a finger across the bottom of Skye's eye softly. "I know, sweetheart."

"Please understand."

Jemma licked her lips and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Skye and letting Skye burrow into her embrace. "I understand."

"How do you stop it now?" Lincoln asked.

Skye was staring at him, refusing to answer.

"Do you think about someone important?" No answer. "Let me guess. Coulson? May? Trip? Fitz?" he started naming. "Bobbi? Hunter? Simmons?" He stopped, eyes trained on Skye. He must have seen something. A smile was curling up on his face. He dropped his hand. "I see."

Jemma had long since stopped seeing clearly.

Fitz was in the room with her this time, a metal briefcase in his hand. Jemma sat on the chair that Lincoln had occupied just two hours ago.

"Fitz has built a new pair of braces –"

"Gauntlets," Fitz corrected.

Jemma rolled her eyes. "Gauntlets." Skye giggled at their short banter. "It's supposed to help channel your energy into a proofing vacuum between the walls. It may also enhance the energy you emanate once you've got a handle of it. But for now, he has not activated that one yet."

Skye was staring at the case suspiciously. "Tell me it's not in pink."

Fitz scoffed. "As if I would make any of my designs pink."

Skye smiled and nodded. "Okay, I trust you guys."

Lincoln stayed by the door, letting it stay open. He leaned against the door panel and crossed his arms.

They couldn't see Skye at all because they weren't watching the monitor. They were outside the room Skye had isolated herself in, just out of her sight.

Jemma's palms were clammy and her heart was palpitating.

"I think it's time for you to come out of isolation," Lincoln declared.

The silence that was supposed to be two minutes felt two hours. And then, "okay."

Jemma closed her eyes and breathed out, relieved. She waited for Skye to come out the door as Lincoln stepped back with a proud smile on his face.

Jemma gasped in liberation when Skye's head poked out first, followed by her body. The girl looked so tiny and fragile. She was looking down at her bare feet first as her body faced them all. They all didn't dare to do or say anything until she did.

And then Skye looked up, with teary eyes and trembling lips and a smile on her face.

Jemma barreled past Coulson and May and Fitz to reach Skye, pushing past Lincoln. Skye had her arms wide, ready for collision.

Jemma stopped short, just a breath away from Skye. And then she took a deep breath and gently interlocked her arms around Skye's waist, inhaling her scent. Skye returned the embrace.

"You need a shower," Jemma whispered.

Skye laughed.

"I know I haven't shown it or say it before but," Jemma paused, leaning back to look Skye in the eye, "I love you."

Skye's smile broadened into a grin. "I know."

As promised, Skye took a shower. Her gauntlets came off after Lincoln's reassurance that she was capable of honing herself in and the gauntlets would only be needed in the field.

They invited Lincoln along for dinner and they were all sitting around the table, sans Mack and Hunter because they still hadn't shown up yet after so long.

Jemma had naturally sat down beside Skye.

"You know I still don't know what your thing is."

Lincoln smiled and put down his fork. He then put his hand an inch away from the surface of the table. "Watch and learn, young Padawan." And then he pushed his hand and it went passed the solid completely, no knocking or howling in pain.

"Oh that is so unfair!" Skye howled with an impressed grin.

That night, Skye asked Jemma to sleep over in her bunk. Jemma obliged. They changed into their pajamas and huddled up in Skye's tiny bed together, pressed up against one another.

Skye tangled her leg with Jemma's and said, "Thank you for being so patient with me."

"My pleasure," Jemma whispered.

Skye was quiet for awhile. "I love you too," she then said.

Jemma grinned and leaned in to kiss Skye.

They may still have a long way to go but Jemma promised that she wouldn't leave Skye if the circumstances allowed it. And her limits were quite flexible.

:D