Skye felt stupid. Very, very stupid. If she had been just a little less stupid, she wouldn't be sitting on the welcome mat on her front porch, freezing her butt off in her teenage mutant ninja turtles pajamas.
Skye shivered a little bit and hugged her arms tighter around herself.
Skye wondered if this was something she was going to make a habit of. She had only left the house to go get her mail, leaving her keys on the kitchen table inside. Naturally, nature loved to laugh in her face, so her front door, which had one of the locks still locked, was blown shut when she got halfway down her driveway.
Skye had heard the squeaking of her creaky door and ran back to it, her bare feet scraping against the concrete, muttering 'no, no, no', only to have her palms slap into the front door, just after it closed.
She usually kept a key under the little frog statue beside the door, but she had brought that into the house and accidentally left it there the last time this happened.
The only thing Skye had was her cell phone, so she dialed her best friend, Ward, begging him to bring by his copy of the key, the one he used to get into the house to feed her dog when she wasn't home. Ward was in the middle of a business meeting though and told Skye he wouldn't be able to get over for another two hours.
The street was silent at six in the morning on a Saturday, Skye figured no one in their right mind would get up that early if they didn't have to, so no one would just be hanging out outside to help her. She was only up because she had a project due that afternoon that she had been putting off. She worked from home in computers for a government agency, but she was still dumb enough to lock herself out of her own house.
Skye's fingers were numbing around the varying envelopes and sales ads she retrieved from her mail box. Skye noticed a small snowflake on her forefinger. That's just perfect. Skye tucked her feet underneath her to try and keep them warm and rubbed her bare arms. Now she was starting to wish she wore something warmer and less embarrassing than purple teenage mutant ninja turtles pajama bottoms and a black tank top.
As Dr. Jemma Simmons exited her house to retrieve her own mail, she was startled to see a figure sitting on her next door neighbor's porch. She stopped what she was doing and walked a little further down her own driveway to get a look. The figure appeared to be a young woman shivering on the welcome mat.
When Jemma realized this woman may be her neighbor, her mind was blown. She'd never actually met the person, she assumed he/she was always holed up inside, and that part was true. Seeing Skye sitting there made her feel like she was Scout seeing Boo Radley for the first time. Except this girl was a lot prettier than the pale, almost sickly man from To Kill A Mockingbird.
Jemma was debating in her mind whether or not to approach her. On one hand, she might be sitting there freezing and may need help, but on the other, she might be some crazy psychopath that would murder her.
The doctor half of her brain was telling her to get her ass over there and help the woman before she got hypothermia, but the other part of her just couldn't stop staring. She was absolutely breathtaking, even when in childish pajamas and when her brown hair was messily framing her quickly paling face.
"Excuse me, do you need any help?" She called out before she even knew she was going to. The girl jumped, startled, and looked around for a moment before finally laying eyes on her.
"Unless you know how to break and enter, I don't really know if you can." She called back across the yard. Jemma just stared at her dumbly.
"Joke." Skye clarified. The way one corner of Skye's mouth tilted upwards when she smirked made Jemma itch to get closer. "I locked myself out of my own house." She explained. Jemma couldn't help but giggle a little bit.
Jemma was beginning to shiver herself and wondered how long her neighbor had been stuck outside, where the temperature was below freezing and a light layer of snow covered the grass.
"Do you want to come inside?" Jemma offered, gesturing to her own house.
"Really?" Skye asked in disbelief, like she was surprised Jemma was doing anything nice for her at all. Jemma nodded and Skye stood up slowly, she appeared to be shaking.
"Let's get you inside." Jemma's instincts took over and she wrapped an arm around the stranger's shoulders and pulled her close to lead her inside and keep her warm. Jemma gasped a little and almost pulled away when her skin made contact with Skye's. She was freezing cold and Jemma didn't understand how Skye could possibly be doing so well.
As soon as they were inside Skye noticed Jemma give her a little once over and was suddenly overly aware of her stupid pajamas. She blushed and her hand traveled to the back of her neck, the one that wasn't still clutching her mail.
"How did you end up locked outside?" Jemma asked as she began to make some tea to warm the nameless neighbor up.
"I, uh.. forgot the key." Skye stuttered, supremely embarrassed. She felt extremely out of place in this house. Her neighbor seemed nice, but the place made her nervous. It was so tidy it almost looked like no one lived here and it was from an ad in a home decorator's magazine.
"Do you have a spare?" Jemma asked, leading her neighbor to the nearest couch and shoving the mug of tea into her numb hands, taking the mail from her and putting it on the side table.
"Not with me." She answered. "I have a friend dropping it off in two hours." She said.
"You were planning on sitting out there for two hours? You would have gotten hypothermia! You're already beginning to show symptoms." Jemma told her, almost as she was scolding her.
"I'm sorry, but I just have to know your name." Jemma suddenly blurted out while she was flustered. Why did she have such a bad habit of not filtering her thoughts before they exited her mouth?
"Skye." She smiled. Skye twirled her finger into the material of her pajamas.
"Well, don't I get to know yours?" Skye pouted.
"Jemma." Jemma answered her. Without thinking, Jemma pressed the back of her hand against Skye's forehead to check her temperature. Skye looked shocked, but leaned into the touch slightly.
"Your hands are so warm..." She mumbled. Jemma blushed and retracted her hand.
"Your temperature is coming back up." Jemma reported.
"Do you have a stool or something I can borrow? I may actually know a way back into my house." Skye smiled mischievously. Not even knowing Skye, Jemma already had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that suggested she was about to do something she normally would never do.
"Come on Jemma, just a little bit higher." Skye encouraged.
How did Jemma get here? How on Earth was Skye convincing enough to get Jemma to stand on a stool and try to boost someone she just met up to a high window to get into her house?
"You're already sitting on my shoulders, Skye, I can't exactly get you any higher up." Jemma complained, having a mini heart attack and clutching Skye's calves in front of her when she felt for just a second that she was about to fall.
Sure enough, Jemma was right, and she slowly wobbled off the stool, causing both of them to go crashing into the snow.
Skye burst out laughing and Jemma started squealing as snow melted underneath her butt.
"Skye! I'm done! Just wait at my house until your friend gets here!" She demanded, jumping onto her feet.
"But that wouldn't be any fun!" Skye pointed out. "Ok, different tactic. Lock your hands together so I can get a lead up." Skye suggested. Jemma didn't know why, but she intertwined her own fingers to help Skye with plan d, after four other failed attempts to get Skye into her window.
Jemma stood back on the stool, which was beginning to sink into the squishy ground, and Skye put one foot in Jemma's hands, using momentum to throw herself upwards. Skye's thigh was pressed against Jemma's shoulder and Jemma struggled to hold up Skye's weight, not that she was suggesting Skye was fat or anything, because Skye was perfectly proportional and...
"Hey, we're lucky! It's unlocked!" Skye cheered as she slid the window open.
"You're telling me you weren't even sure if that was unlocked the entire time?!" Jemma yelled up at her. Jemma suddenly felt the weight lift off of her and looked up to find Skye partially through the window.
Skye pulled once more and toppled through the window. Jemma heard crashing noises and barking from outside, and was relieved when Skye's head popped out of the window, appearing undamaged.
"Thanks, Jemma!" Skye laughed.
Jemma couldn't stop thinking about Skye all week. She kept thinking about her smile, her eyes, her laugh, and even her teenage mutant ninja turtles pajamas. She thought about Skye twenty-four seven, even when she wasn't supposed to be or didn't want to.
Jemma hadn't seen her since she smiled at her out of her window, a big, goofy grin that was seared into the inside of her eyelids. She saw Skye every time she closed her eyes.
Skye had gone back to being Boo Radley, doing whatever she did when she was locked up. It was driving Jemma crazy. Why didn't she ever come say hi? But Jemma couldn't be angry with her, after all, she never pranced up to Skye's doorstep.
Once Jemma was positive that talking to Skye was a onetime thing, she decided it was time to stop thinking about her. Until Jemma walked outside to get her mail next Saturday and saw her, sitting on her doorstep, wearing teenage mutant ninja turtle pajamas and freezing her ass off, holding a small brown package that had probably been on her porch. Skye saw her and smiled.