Measured in Moments
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. I am merely playing in this sandbox for the time being.
This popped into my head and wouldn't leave until I put it down. My sincerest apologies if any character seems OOC. I did not intend for that to happen.
Please enjoy this foray into Agents of SHIELD (and the broader MCU).
1.
The first time he held her, it was after Fury had pulled Fitz and her from the sea.
Fitz was a hair's breadth from death and Simmons had the barest of control over her emotions. The rest of the team danced on egg shells with the issue, careful not to push her too far, not when they had an uphill battle to fight. The good of the world depended on everyone keeping a fighting focus. She knew it. They all did. But it was only a matter of time before everything came spilling out.
Triplett couldn't bear to see her struggle through her emotions, not when her thoughts were clouded with concern for her brother-by-choice. She was barely staying afloat and he didn't know how she managed to keep a smile on her face when Fitz's fate was still up in the air.
She had collapsed into his arms and sobbed – sobbed and gasped out everything that had been welling up inside. When the tears were dried, he carried her to her bed, tucked her in, and sat with her that night.
In the morning, she made tea and he made cereal and that was, as they say, that.
2.
A knitted scarf appeared on his bed, precisely one week later. It was royal blue and bronze and handmade.
There was no note, but Trip could guess who it came from. The neat little way that it was coiled on his pillow was a clear-enough clue for that. He stared at it for a full minute before picking it up, relishing in the softness of the wool. Searching his memory, Trip tried to recall if he ever told her what his favorite colors were, but he had to chalk it up to Simmons being a super genius and simply knowing.
Later, as they gathered for dinner in the communal kitchen of the Playground, he slipped next to her. When no one was looking, pressed a light, chaste kiss to her cheek in thanks.
Simmons flushed and smiled a little at him.
3.
Every afternoon, there was tea for her at precisely half past three.
It usually arrived in a large thermos. Depending on the kind of day it was, the type of tea in the thermos varied. Most of the time, Trip brought it, though, when he was away on missions, May was the one who delivered it.
At first, there were three cups that came with the tea delivery – one for her, one for him, and one that they left empty for Fitz. Later, they added a fourth for May, then two more for Coulson and Skye respectively, and a last one for Koenig, not long after. Eventually, the entire team and multiple thermos arrived at exactly three thirty every afternoon.
No one said anything about this development, but then, no one had to.
4.
The first Thanksgiving after the fall of SHIELD, Simmons decided that they needed to celebrate and Trip didn't disagree.
They stayed up all night, baking, prepping food, and decorating for the day of. When the rest of the team came stumbling into the kitchen, in search of breakfast and the all-important first coffee of the day, pies were waiting for them on the counter and the turkey was in the fridge and waiting to be roasted. The rest of the side dishes were in various states of completion. Streamers were dangling over the set table.
Simmons and Trip were fast asleep on the floor, covered in flour and leaning on one another.
Skye thought it was cute and got a picture. Coulson did his best to rouse them (both needed showers and a few hours in their own beds). May simply took over on the rest of the cooking, assisted by Koenig, who was a surprisingly good cook, as they had found out over the last months.
At dinner, they sat next to each other and traded holiday horror stories with the rest of the team. And sometime during dessert, Simmons slipped her hand into his, under the table, and squeezed lightly.
Their hands stand clasped for the rest of the night.
5.
The first of December that year brought news to the team.
According to Hill, Fitz was almost completely recovered and, as soon as he was cleared, he would be joining them at the Playground. That in mind, she did warn them that his short term memory was hit or miss and there were lapse, when he would zone out and be somewhere else. He would never be able to do field work again and a slight speech impediment would haunt him for the rest of life, even with the best therapies. With all that in mind, it was the belief of the doctors working on him that being with his team would be good for him.
Trip felt his heart surge with joy, seeing the smile that had crossed Simmons' face. He knew that she harbored a mountain of regret for Fitz's state, but he was offering counseling, where he could.
Fitz was coming home to them.
6.
Christmas was spent decorating and getting ready for Fitz's return, on top of their usual assignments on rebuilding SHIELD.
Simmons had a certain lightness to her step again and had taken to humming Christmas carols, when she thought that no one was listening. Trip certainly didn't stop her, when he walked into the lab as she was hanging garland around.
She was almost embarrassed, when she had turned around to find him standing there. But he had started to sing along and helped her decorate.
Fitz arrived on December 23rd, Hill close by, a careful monitor to the recovering agent.
Simmons was the first out to greet him. He recognized her almost straight away, wrapping his arms around her. The rest of the team soon followed, greeting him in their own way – Skye with a hug, Coulson with a handshake, and May with a gentle pat on the back.
Trip was tempted to hang back with Koenig, but Fitz didn't have any of it, offering a fist for a fist bump. The two shared a smile and Trip put a hand over Fitz's fist, a deliberate repeat of an earlier action from the Scotsman. It took a few seconds for it to sink in, but Fitz laughed and they were all relieved.
7.
The week leading up to New Year's was spent in quiet reflection.
Simmons had spent much of the time since Fitz's return acquainting him with their new digs. Skye was an almost constant companion in the lab, dutifully watching their returned teammate. Tea time was still sacred though and there was a sense of completion with Fitz's presence.
It was true that Fitz wasn't quite the same. The old working relationship of FitzSimmons was stilted and took time to get rolling. They were able to get the same place, though by different thought processes now. If it bothered Simmons, she didn't let it show. Besides, with Skye there, the old ways of FitzSimmons no longer applied anyway and it was the hacker who provided the catalyst for the new working rhythm of the lab.
And, when the old year gave over to the new one, Jemma was the one who pressed a kiss, sweet and chaste, onto his lips.
Antoine was the one who initiated the second kiss.
8.
It was Valentine's Day when they made love for the first time.
Jemma had been worried that Fitz wouldn't take this new development between Antoine and herself very well. She had eased into that particular discussion a few times with Fitz before it sunk in. Well, that and Antoine made a point of spending time with the recovering Scotsman, both in the lab and outside of it. Whatever issues Fitz might have had with the other agent weren't there anymore and he didn't seem fazed when the proximity of the two.
Antoine was determined that Jemma would never forget their first time and, it seemed, she was of a similar mind for him.
He enjoyed learning her body and her response and she was the consummate scientist, determined to have a proper sampling of everything. Even though he was trained as a field medic, she was the one with the medical degree and he was pleasantly surprised about what that brought to the bedroom.
Later, as they basked in the afterglow, tangled up in one another, she offered her heart and her confessions of love. He returned that confession with a kiss and a quiet "I love you"
9.
They could not always be safe in the Playground.
He was a field operative, first and foremost. Coulson needed him and Skye in the field, dealing with a Hydra-related issue and neither one wanted to let their new Director down.
Jemma didn't directly talk about the issue, but Antoine woke up, the morning that he and Skye were set to go out, to find her sitting on the edge of the bed, something in her hand. He shifted and molded around her, pressing a kiss to the side of her neck.
"Take this with you," she asked, dropping a chain into hand. He looked at in and realized that there was a pair of worn bands attached to the chain. "They belonged to my grandparents. They'll keep you safe."
And, when he and Skye took off for their mission, Antoine tucked the necklace underneath the collar of his shirt.
10.
Skye flew them back. She had to.
He was barely conscious and bleeding through the bandages that Skye had tied around his injuries. From the back of the Jump Jet, he heard her radioing in, her voice frantic and worried. Antoine didn't remember anything else of the return trip.
The next thing he did remember was waking up to find Jemma hovering over him, checking his vitals. The worry was as clear as day in her eyes.
He caught her hand and smiled, saying quietly, "They did keep me safe."
11.
No one quite forget finding out that Fitz and Skye were together. Antoine and Jemma certainly wouldn't.
She was helping him into the lab for tea time and they apparently caught the two quite by surprise. Fitz was flustered and had a lapse in speech sputtering immensely. Skye was bright red, as she hurried to fix her shirt.
Antoine was quick to joke about certain incentives must have been the reason that Fitz's mental lapses were fewer and far between of late. The man in question didn't say anything and just went to his corner, Skye following after with two mugs of tea in hand. In retrospect, since his return, it was Skye who was able to connect with Fitz better when he regressed or lapsed and she could coax him out with simply a smile or a word.
In the dark of the night, as he held her tight, Jemma confessed that she thought that they were good together – far better than she and Fitz could possibly be. They were still FitzSimmons, but whatever romance might have happened had been aborted long ago.
12.
Antoine moved into Jemma's quarters the day after she took out his stitches. The decision hinged upon the fact that her quarters were slightly bigger, had more closet space, and was further away from the quarters of the rest of the team.
Plus, most of his books were already there anyway.
13.
The Playground might have been their unofficial new headquarters after Coulson was appointed the new Director of SHIELD, but it became the functional new headquarters when SHIELD operations got up and running full time.
Most governments still considered SHIELD to be an organization of ill-repute and should not be trusted whatsoever. Hill had managed to downgrade them to that from terrorist organization, when she had presented Congress with concrete evidence that Hydra was the real threat here. No one wanted to have dealings with either organization and both were treated with extreme prejudice.
Jemma was mostly concerned with the fact that her parents probably believed that she was a terrorist. Antoine didn't know how to fix that.
14.
Melinda May and Phil Coulson tied the knot a little over a year after they arrived at the Playground.
It was a quiet ceremony, with only the smallest of parties afterwards. Since Skye was still building their identities back up from scratch, there was minimal paperwork involved – a relief for all. Hill and Fury made it in, along with a few other members of SHIELD.
Jemma made the cake. Skye provided the music. Fitz built drones that simulated a light show. Antoine took the pictures.
He wasn't going to forget Steve Rogers showing up and the look that Captain American had gotten when he realized that Coulson was alive.
15.
Hydra attacked the Playground.
They managed to evacuate in time, salvaging as much as they could. No one was critically injured during the process.
In the Jump Jet, as they flew away, Antoine and Jemma sat in silence.
16.
They ended up setting up camp in New York, much to everyone's surprise.
Tony Stark was many things and, apparently, more than ready to defy the United States government. He also was very happy to see that Coulson was alive. He had an entire facility prepared, officially built in the name of Stark Industries, but really there for the sole purpose of being the new base of operations for SHIELD.
Jemma was quite pleased with the new labs. At Hill's insistence, she, Fitz, and Sky shared the largest one.
Stark, Dr. Banner, and Dr. Foster were regular visitors.
17.
Life began to settle back into its usual crazy routine.
Antoine went on assignments and Jemma was busy in the lab. The new SHIELD still had a lot of work that needed to be done on it and Hydra wasn't going away any time soon. The rest of the Avengers were in and out of their new headquarters, initially to confirm that Coulson was, in fact alive, but later because SHIELD needed their help.
The moment Antoine met Sam Wilson and Clint Barton, Jemma and Natasha decided that the three should never be allowed to team up on prank wars. Ever.
18.
Jemma was in the field when she was grievously wounded. She saved the day and, in the resulting fireworks, a Hyrda agent managed to get a knife into her gut.
As she lay in recovery from surgery, Antoine slipped a worn band off the chain he still wore around his neck and slid it onto her finger. Hours later, she returned the favor and slid the matching band onto his finger.
19.
Officially, their wedding took place as soon as Jemma was fully recovered from her injury. It was on the quiet side – the team, all of the Avengers who were in town, Hill, Fury, and the other assorted attaches to the Avengers.
Darcy had insisted that Jemma get pampered prior to the wedding. Jemma would have argued the point, but there was no fighting Darcy Lewis, when she put her mind to something. That same logic got Jemma, Skye, Darcy, Pepper, Maria, and Jane piss-ass drunk during the bachelorette party. Melinda (only the team was allowed to call her that) escaped by virtue of the fact that she was the designated walker. Natasha, however, had the camera, the phone, and the keys to the Bus, so no one argued with her about how much she was or was not drinking.
Antoine, on the other hand, was in no place to fly the Jump Jet – which meant that it was a good thing that Stark got a limo for them. That being said, the employees at a particular 24-hour diner in Jersey were particularly surprised, at four o'clock in the morning, to see Tony, Steve, Clint, Sam, Bruce, Antoine, Coulson, Fitz, and Thor show up in varying levels of drunkenness. Coulson and Fitz were the (fairly) sober ones of the bunch and, as such, had the dubious honors of picking up the tab.
Fury showed up halfway through their greasy waffles and sandwiches and no one questioned it when he pulled out a flask and passed it around.
Jemma and Antoine kept it together through their wedding and managed to make it through the important parts of the reception before ducking out. It wasn't for any reason that the guests insinuated.
Both were massively hungover and wanted nothing more than to sleep it off before taking full advantage of an uninterrupted weekend together on Cape Cod.
20.
Unofficially, they were married almost as soon as Jemma could stand up.
Fury officiated. The team stood as their witnesses. She wore a simple white dress purchased on her behalf by Skye and he managed slacks, a button down, and a tie. The ceremony wasn't grand or lavish or anything like that.
It was quiet and simple, just an exchange of vows and a promise to love, cherish, and protect one another.
They wore her grandparents' rings still, though Melinda May had gotten her hands on them and ensured that the rings were resized appropriately. When he carried her into their quarters, it wasn't for any tradition or superstition. It was because she was still in a lot of pain. Instead of cans on the back of a car, Fitz and Skye had decorated their room with strings of lights and fresh flowers and made sure that silly music was playing as soon as the door opened.
And that was good enough for them.
I hope you all enjoyed this. Please review and let me know what you thought!