Skye doesn't want to go at first because, well, parents. She has no clue how to deal with parents at all, she's never had a relationship last longer than the third date, let alone the meet the parents stage, and she's really got no clue what to do.

"It's just a week," Jemma murmurs into her chest as they're lying together in bed, hair tossed over one shoulder and chin resting comfortably enough for her to be able to glance up at Skye's face to gage her reaction afterwards. "They're very lovely, I think you'll like them."

There's no question of Skye liking them, she's sure that if they're anything like Jemma, she'll love them, but she was fairly sure they wouldn't very much like her. After all, in Jemma's own words, she was a bad girl, and they probably didn't want their daughter involved in bad girl shenanigans of any kind.

"I don't know, Jem." She sighs back, her hand absent mindedly stroking Jemma's back.

"I won't force you, but it would mean a great deal to me to be able to show off the woman I love to my family." Jemma's fingers dance across Skye's stomach like butterflies, and she groans and grabs the hand, halting it in its path.

"You don't play fair," She pouts, and Jemma's smirk is instant.

"I learnt from you."

She stares at the huge house and suddenly feels very small, holding her ratty duffel bag in one hand and Jemma's hand in the other.

"Nope, no, nuh uh, we're leaving." She tugs Jemma back towards the car but she refuses to move, giving Skye a steady, loving look.

"At least stay for tea. If you still want to leave after that, then I'll be right behind you." She steps into Skye's bubble and kisses her with those far too soft to be real lips, and then beams brightly. "This is going to be wonderful, I promise."

Skye winces as she looks at the house again, and begrudgingly follows Jemma to the front door. She rings the bell and waits, anxious as ever, unti the door opens and a small boy stands there, unruly orange hair and bright hazel eyes.

"What's your name?" He asks, his voice obviously in the process of breaking as it squeaks half way through the sentence. skye blinks, because she's certain that Jemma's father is much older than this.

"Uh, Skye?" It's posed as a question as she's still very confused, and Jemma seems to realize this and jumps I'm.

"Oh, Skye, I completely forgot, I'm truly so sorry. This is my brother Timothy." Jemma squeezes the hand she's holding and Skye nods, actually a little relieved. A preteen was easier than the people she'd expected, or so she thought.

"Please remove your shoes before you enter, Skye." Timothy asserts, before turning and walking away, leaving the door wide open. Skye blinks at the space where he had been and then quirks an eyebrow at Jemma, who shrugs and smiles.

"He's autistic." She says in explanation, and Skye's eyes widen and she nods.

"Oh," She murmurs. "Does this mean your parents aren't home?"

"Not yet, my Mum's a surgeon and my dad works at the animal shelter, so one of them should be home soon. We may as well unpack and things." It seems the smile can't be wiped from Jemma's face, and she tugs Skye excitedly into the house, both of them removing their shoes hastily before shutting the door.

She doesn't resist as Jemma drags her upstairs, knowing better than to stand in between Jemma and what she wants, and soon she finds herself in her girlfriends old room.

Its amusingly pink, which was the opposite of what Skye had expected, and she can't stop the giggle that bursts from her lips at the sheer abundance of stuffed animals.

"Oh hush, I conducted quite a few experiments with those as my lab partners, thank you." Jemma scowled, indignant.

"I bet they were great listeners," She full out laughs, and Jemma huffs and pulls her hand away to cross her arms, "Oh, wait, I bet they had a lot to contribute. Were they better than Fitz?"

"Will you stop laughing?" Jemma's face is bright red, and Skye suddenly realised that she very well may have made the biochsmist very uncomfortable.

"I'm sorry Jem, I think its cute. Like you."

She leans in for a kiss, but a voice wrecks the moment.

"That's not very sanitary." Timothy is looking at them disapprovingly as he passes by the doorway with a handful of baby carrots, and Skye has to force herself not to laugh because you get more germs shaking hands than kissing, but she doesn't say anything , waiting for the boy to pass completely, before continuing forward and kissing Jemma very passionately, almost to spite the boy.

Unfortunately, she has the worst timing ever, because that's when Jemma's dad gets home and neither of them hear him thundering up the stairs until its too late and Skye's hand up Jemma's shirt.

"Whoa there kids," he chuckles, and the two women spring apart as though scalding hot water has been poured between them, both flushing a bright red.

"I am so so sorry sir, I don't usually um, I don't…oh hell." Skye's very panicked and Jemma grins, finding it adorable, but she isn't the one to speak.

"It's fine young lady, just keep that kind of thing behind closed doors. Now, Jemma bear, Where's my hug?" His eyes crinkle at the corners and his thin lips pull back into a grin. He's quite fit looking, with silver flecks in his dark hair and a very warm expression.

Jemma seems to flush even redder, if possible at the use of the nickname, but she hurries into her fathers arms all the same, and Skye ignored the pang of jealousy because she wants to enjoy this, for Jemma.

He squeezes her tight, and as soon as he let's go he reaches out a hand for Skye.

"Now let's do this properly," He beams, and she finds herself smiling back because its so hard not to when he and Jemma share the same smile. "I'm Ted,"

She takes the offered hand and shakes it the way her social worker taught her to, firmly but briefly. "Skye,"

"It's lovely to meet you, Skye. Make yourself at home, Mary will be home in 45 minutes if she doesn't work overtime tonight, and then we'll all sit down for tea." There's a glint in his eyes, and he leans in and says "So I really don't think nows the time or place to be finishing what you started."

Skye can't seem to stop blushing in his presence and she nodds quickly through her embarrassment to Ted Simmons, who gives he a nod back, kisses Jemma on the forehead and says,

"I'm going to check on your brother." Before leaving the room, with one last look back at the two.

They wait a minute before they look at each other, and when they do, Jemma groans and Skye let's out a breath she hasn't realized she was holding.

"That went well," Skye jokes, and Jemma gives her a hard look that she can't keep up for too long before coming to her side and pecking her on the cheek.

"Despite the precarious position he walked in on, I think he quite liked you," She grinned.

"The first time I met your dad and I was feeling up his daughter, i'm sure he likes me," Skye grumbles sarcastically, throwing herself backwards onto the bed and bouncing against the surprisingly soft mattress.

"I'm sure he isn't lingering on that. You look very nice on my bed," She grins, and climbs on herself, laying beside Skye.

"This is actually one of the comfiest beds in the world." Skye reaches out and pulls Jemma close so they can cuddle, when a voice calls through the house from Timothy's room.

"That door stays open!"

Mary returns around two hours later and instantly finds her way to the sofa, removing her shoes and rubbing her feet. She's like a carbon copy of Jemma, but with flaming orange hair and a slightly more sly smile. Jemma and Skye had been cuddled up on the futon in front of the TV, and both jumped when Mary suddenly appeared out of what seemed to be thin air.

"Oh, hello. Sorry, I didn't see you there," Mary smiles brightly, and stops touching her feet, looking almost embarased. "40 hour shift, I'm exhausted, you understand."

Skye nods quickly. "That sounds sucky." Jemma elbows her hard, and Skye mouths 'what?' To her, before she realizes. "Sorry, I meant to say I'm Skye, Jemma's girlfriend."

"Of course. You may address me as Mary." There is no hand shaking this time, probably because all three are all too aware that Mary's hands were just on her feet, and so they all just awkwardly smile, and then Mary says, "Did your father mention what was for tea?"

Jemma nodds, eager to end the silence. "Oh yes, we're having meat loaf."

How utterly stereotypical, Skye thinks, but its still really nice. The whole vibe of the house is warmth and comfort and just so, Jemma.

"lovely, i'm starved." She gets to her feet, not bothering to put her shoes back on, and enters the kitchen to join her husband.

"Well she couldn't wait to get away from me," Skye muses, covering up her dissappontment the only way she knew how.

"Oh no, she's always like that. Flighty, Dad calls her." Jemma reassures her, "you were great, and she was really nice to you."

"That was really nice?" Skye whispers, so as not to have Jemma's parents overhear. Jemma just laughs.

"Yes, she's not exactly the most emotive person," She admits, but smiles at Skye's nerves. "How could they not like you, Skye? You're great."

Skye stares at Jemma for a moment, wondering again how she'd ended up with someone so sweet and loving and dorky. She concludes that she's very lucky.

Dinner, or Tea as Jemma's family all called it, was actually quite nice.

Up until the questions started about five minutes ago, and they weren't stopping anytime soon.

"And what did you so before you joined our Jemma's super secret organisation thing?" Mary obviously doesn't know much about S.H.I.E.L.D.

"I, was a hacker," Skye admits, wincing a little at how it sounds. Sleazy. "I still sort of am, but now I work for Shield."

Mary nodded her acknowledgement. "And how long have you two known each other then?"

"Just over a year," Jemma answers for her, rubbing her upper arm comfortingly to calm the nerves jumping around inside of her.

"And when did you know you were interested in girls, Skye?"

Ted choked on his admittedly delicious meatloaf and glared at his wife.

"Marianne!" He scolds, his own face redder than either of the girls.

"What?" Mary frowned. "I'm curious."

Timothy lets out a disgruntled groan from his seat at the table. "This is not our regular dinner conversation." He stabs a piece of broccoli in irritation, shooting very indiscrete glares at Skye for causing the disruption in his daily routine.

"I'm bisexual, actually." Skye mumbles, wishing she could disappear.

"I have one more question," Ted pitches in, leaning forward, "are you allowed to tell us about your missions? I'm very interested."

And so thankfully, the conversation turned to missions and funny moments on the bus, and Skye and Jemma were able to relax.

They pull back the sheets on the bed together, and Jemma climbs in first, Skye tossing all of the plush toys into a corner to get them out of the way, despite Jemma's pout.

After a a few minutes, all the toys were gone and Skye threw herself into the bed, letting out a satisfied moan as she sank into the mattress.

"This is great. I could stay here just for this mattress," She rolls on her side and looks into Jemma's eyes, "and the beautiful girl in the bed with me. And dinner was awesome apart from your moms super duper awkward questions, and your brother hates me…but I think we should stay."

"Really?" Jemma reaches out and pulls her close, "you're certain that's what you want?"

Skye nods and pecks her on the lips, and Jemma just keeps on beaming.