Skye was having a perfectly normal day until about lunchtime. The team had gotten a new case for the Welcome Wagon and were currently on their way to a tiny little town in Alaska when the scientist asked to have a word with her.
Jemma Simmons was a quiet but brilliant girl - she and her partner Leo Fitz were the youngest people to ever graduate from the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy. She spent most of her time in the Bus's lab, where she and Fitz would create new weapons and other various gadgets that none of the rest of the team could quite understand, so Skye was slightly surprised to see Simmons knocking on the door of her little bedroom-type-thing.
"Hey, Simmons. I thought you were down in the lab? Where's Fitz? Jemma? What's wrong?" For Skye had just noticed the tears streaming silently down the biochemist's face.
"I was just wondering if I could talk to you?" she said, her voice shaking slightly. Skye nodded, and Simmons walked in and shut the door behind her. As the scientist sat down on the bed, Skye noticed that she was fiddling with something in the pocket of her white lab coat.
"So?" said the hacker. "What's up?"
Jemma was silent for a long while. Finally, without looking up, she withdrew the thing that was in her pocket and handed it to Skye. She immediately recognised the long white piece of plastic in her hand. Looking it over, she saw a display in the middle with a little pink plus.
"Oh, Jemma. You do know these things aren't always accurate, right?" she said, looking up at her friend.
"I did a blood test, too, and… it came back positive. Skye…" Her voice trailed off, and Skye put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Simmons collapsed into her arm and began to cry, not loudly, but violently, with heavy sobs shaking her whole body. They sat like that for a while, until Jemma's tears had subsided enough for her to speak.
"Do you have any idea how far along you are?" questioned Skye.
"Almost six weeks." Skye thought back to six weeks ago, and realised with a start that that was then Simmons had contracted the strange alien virus that had almost killed her, and she had jumped out of the plane in order to spare the others' lives.
"It was only one time," she continued, "right after Ward took me back to the Bus. Fitz and I, we were talking, and…" her voice cracked.
"Does Fitz know?" asked Skye quietly.
"Do I know what?"
Both girls jumped. Fitz was standing in the doorway, staring down at them.
"Fitz!" cried Jemma, immediately sitting up and attempting to discreetly dry her face. She shot a look at Skye, who quickly shoved the pregnancy test in her pocket. "What are you doing here?"
"I was just looking for you, you weren't in the lab when I finished lunch. I just thought I'd ask Skye if she'd seen you. Do I know what?" he repeated.
"That, uh… That Simmons has, uh, fixed the Night-Night gun. She took off the extra ounce for Ward."
"Did you now?" said Fitz, clearly impressed. "He'll be pleased."
"Yeah," replied Simmons. "So why were you, uh, looking for me?"
"Oh," said Fitz. "I was, uh, just worried, when you weren't in the lab…" His voice trailed off, and he looked a little embarrassed. Skye, glancing between the scientists' faces, thought it was quite adorable that Fitz was so protective over Jemma. Even though they had been practically inseparable beforehand, ever since Simmons had attempted to jump to her death Fitz paid more attention to her than was normal.
"But, anyway," he continued, clearing his throat, "Coulson wants to see us all. He's called for a meeting in five minutes."
"Thanks, Fitz," said Jemma. "I'll be along in a minute." Fitz nodded and left, and Jemma walked over to Skye. "Don't tell him, okay? Don't tell anyone. Please."
"You got it. But Jemma," she called, as the scientist had turned to leave. "I get why you haven't told Fitz yet and all, but… why did you tell me, of all people?"
Simmons walked over and hugged Skye, catching her by surprise.
"Because," she said, "after Fitz, you're my best friend."
Skye smiled and hugged her back. She had never had a best friend before.
Coulson's "meeting" turned out to be more of an "I-have-no-new-information-do-you?" gathering. Once it had been decided that they weren't actually doing anything, everyone left and went their separate ways; May to the cockpit, Skye and Ward to their rooms, Coulson to his office, and Fitzsimmons down to the lab.
"Hey, Jemma, did I tell you about a new idea I had for the Night-Night gun?" said Fitz as they were walking down the stairs that led to the cargo bay. "I was thinking we could put the dendrotoxin in a grenade, that way-"
"Fitz?" said Simmons, cutting him off.
"Yeah?" he said, stopping and turning to look at her.
She had no idea what to say, how to tell him. She hoped he would be happy about the news, but what if he wasn't? What if he didn't want anything to do with raising a kid? How could she be sure he would even want this baby? Do I even want this baby? she thought to herself. This would mean having to turn her whole life upside down. She would have to stop her work at S.H.I.E.L.D, live in a normal house, have a normal job, live a normal life. Surely, she could decide no, she wasn't ready for her life to change so drastically just yet. She could take care of this without ever having to tell Fitz… No. She put the thought from her mind just a quickly as it had come. However many things would change because of this baby, it was hers, hers and Fitz's, and she knew there was no way she would ever be able to kill it. She knew what she had to do, and she was going to do it now.
"Um," she started, still unsure of how exactly to break this to him. "Could I talk to you for a minute?"
His smile slowly faded, and a confused, worried look crossed his face. "Sure, Jem. What's the matter?"
She had just opened her mouth to answer when the alarms started blaring and the plane shook violently. Simmons lost her balance and would have fallen, had Fitz not managed to catch her. After helping her back to her feet, he ran back up the stairs shouting.
"What the hell is going on?!" he asked Ward, who had just appeared at the top of the steps.
"Looks like we're headed right into a storm," he answered. "We thought it was just bad turbulence but it turns out a bolt of lightning's fried our electrical systems. May can't take it off autopilot, and if we don't regain control soon we'll be going down for sure."
"I can help with that," said Fitz, who was already running into the lab to grab his toolbox. "Jem, I'm sorry. What were you gonna tell me?"
"Nothing, just go fix the plane!" she cried. He ran off and disappeared with Ward to go repair the Bus. Jemma was slightly relieved. Now she would be able to put off telling him a little longer, though it was a small comfort, seeing as she still knew that she would have to tell him eventually.