"Tell me something good. Sitting here in this bed all day is killing me."
Daisy sat beside Yo-Yo's bed. Yo-Yo's speech was slow and her skin sallow, but she appeared more lucid than any time Daisy had seen her since the brutal attack by Ruby.
"Um, well," Daisy began, "FitzSimmons are going ahead with the wedding." She paused. "And – and that's exactly it in terms of anything good happening right now."
Yo-Yo shook her head. "I spend every waking moment in here with Simmons and she doesn't mention it once. She probably doesn't want to make me feel bad for the kind of things I will be missing."
"Yo-Yo, don't. You—"
Yo-Yo cut the younger woman off. "Save it. I need to think about something good. So how are they going to have a wedding here? We're in an ugly underground bunker where the only colors are brown and concrete."
"Yeah. Deke is going out and buying stuff for it," Daisy said, her tone leaving no doubt about her confidence level in Deke. "He's going to be hitting up resale stores."
"Dios Santo! Deke? How does he know what to get?"
"Coulson described it to him best he could. I overheard parts of it." Daisy smiled. "Never before have two heterosexual men had such a detailed discussion of what kind of dress to buy."
Yo-Yo chuckled. "Thank you. I needed that." She paused. "You still don't look like you feel very good about this though."
"There's one other thing that I want Simmons to have, but I don't want Deke to be the one to buy it. She needs something nice to wear on her wedding night! The people who stocked this bunker left us lots of nice flannel pajamas and wool socks to wear, but she's going to be a fricking bride. She deserves something pretty to wear to bed."
"Why are you so worried about this? It's not like Fitz hasn't seen her naked before," Yo-Yo deadpanned. "And besides, this is Simmons – the woman who doesn't like high heels any more than I do. She doesn't need a pretty nightgown either."
"She does on her wedding night," Daisy retorted. "Yeah, I know he's seen her naked before, as you so eloquently put it, but she can be traditional in some ways. I want her to have this. I think she'd like it."
"Then you need to go talk to Deke before he leaves. Since we don't have Amazon here."
Daisy looked down at her hands. "I've had a lot of stupid conversations with stupid people in my lifetime. I can't effing imagine how this one's going to go."
"You can do it for Jemma," Yo-Yo insisted. She wished she could wave her arms around for emphasis. "You could at least try. What's the worst thing that will happen? Deke will make a dumb joke? He says stupid things every day, so nothing new there."
Not long afterwards, Deke entered FitzSimmons's room with a few shopping bags. He had been instructed, both by Coulson and Daisy, to hand Simmons some of the items at a point when Fitz wasn't around.
"Oh Deke," Simmons breathed as she held up the wedding gown. "It's beautiful." She assessed the garment under the room's lights. No apparent rips or stains. Definitely too large for her, but Deke had been correctly told 'better too big than too small.' Nothing that several pins couldn't take care of. "It's – why, it's even something that I might have picked out myself."
"Whoa, that is the best compliment!" Deke exclaimed. "Mission accomplished, Deke."
She almost wanted to hug him. He truly had found a marvelous dress for her. As Simmons reached for a hanger upon which to hang it, Deke rummaged around in the shopping bags. "There's more," Deke said, pulling out a pair of shoes.
"Oh, thank you," Simmons smiled, eyeing the shoes. "Not too high, thank goodness," she remarked about the heel height. She preferred a low heel for comfort, obviously, and also so as to not match or exceed Fitz's height. Simmons assessed the other aspects of the shoes. They definitely didn't gleam with newness, but they weren't scuffed or dirty either. They looked like they might be a tad too small, but she knew she wouldn't need to keep them on for very long. "These will do nicely. Thank you again, Deke."
"And…there's one more thing!" Deke said, reaching for the last item.
"Oh really?" Jemma asked. "Surely you didn't buy a – a veil or a headpiece? I mean, that would've been lovely but we don't want to be excessive. We will have to keep my hairstyle fairly simple, as the people who provisioned the Lighthouse didn't seem to have ladies' hair care products in mind," she added, with a laugh
"Oh, it's not for your hair," Deke said, handing Simmons a garment.
Jemma looked at it. It was red. Bright red. She unfolded it and held it up.
"For your wedding night!" Deke proclaimed.
"It's – um, Deke, it's an apron," Simmons stated. She was holding a red apron. The garment was simple, a halter-style to go over one's head, and ties so the apron could be tied in the back.
"I don't know what a napron is," Deke said, mispronouncing the unfamiliar word. "But Daisy told me that I had to get you something pretty to wear on your wedding night. There weren't that many choices, and some of the stuff available smelled bad or had stains or whatever. But this was nice and clean. And surprisingly soft!"
Jemma noticed that her mouth had been hanging open, so she closed it. She then acknowledged, "It is that. One of the softer aprons I've ever touched." She forced a smile, and then took on a conspiratorial tone. "Thank you, Deke. And of course, as I'm sure Daisy told you, don't tell Fitz about this!"
"Oh, don't worry. I won't. But hopefully the - the napron will help you get on some post-wedding yeehaw! Well, I gotta go now and take the rest of the supplies where they need to go. Enjoy!"
"Thank you, Deke," Simmons smiled, keeping the corners of her mouth up until he left the room.
She stood in place, holding the apron. It was unusually soft for an apron. Her first instinct was to bury it in the back of the bottom drawer. But then she tilted her head. `We haven't had much to laugh about lately,' she thought to herself. `And he's already seen me in a negligee. Perhaps if we're feeling silly after the ceremony….'
Chapter 2 to follow soon. Feedback gladly welcomed.