The team believe that the biochemist is a bit clumsy. It's understandable really, considering that since they've known her she's been prone to tripping over her own feet or fumbling with things or dropping them completely. What they don't know is that ordinarily she is quite graceful and well co-ordinated. Fitz knows it's not like her and gives her a few strange looks when the clumsiness take over. The thing is Jemma knows exactly what's causing this new found lack of co-ordination; it's Skye. Something about being around the beautiful hacktivist turns her into a blundering imbecile. It's like she can't concentrate or even think straight sometimes and given that she's paid to think, that really isn't good. It's not like she can ask Skye to stop hanging out in the lab because she wouldn't for the world hurt the other girls feelings. Plus she's gotten rather addicted to her presence. So she does her best to avoid moving too far or handling anything too dangerous when Skye is in close proximity.
It turns out Skye doesn't even need to be in the actual lab to distract her. It's enough just to be able to see her through the glass wall, participating in combat training with May. Why the bloody hell did the lab have glass walls anyway? She is supposed to be preparing a growth medium to culture an absolutely fascinating strain of alien bacteria they found on the last mission but one glimpse of Skye mid-training session and suddenly the alien bacteria is no longer fascinating enough to hold her attention. She is heating the medium before pouring it into the Petri dishes when finds herself completely distracted by the way Skye's dark hair is sticking to her sweat damp neck and forehead. She can't help the flash of arousal she feels when she sees the look of steely determination in her dark brown eyes and the exquisite lines in her muscular arms and shoulders as she throws punches and dodges May's attacks.
"Simmons!" Fitz's yelling tears her attention from Skye. She snaps her eyes from the brunette to her best friend and lab partner.
"Shit!" she cries out when she sees that the growth medium on the hot plate has now started to boil and bubble out of the conical flask making quite a mess. She's going to have to start all over. She groans and silently curses whichever genius who designed the lab and it's stupid glass walls.
"What's with you?" he stares at her like she's suddenly a puzzle.
"Sorry, I just got lost in thought for a second there...I was thinking about the nutrient mix and whether it was correct for this strain," she tells him and hopes it sounds convincing. It wasn't a complete lie, that was exactly what she had been thinking about before Skye invaded her mind, so hopefully he'd believe her.
"You sure about that?" he asks and she swears she sees him glance to the window, where Skye and May are now working on kicks, but she pretends not to notice.
"It's just hard when you're working with organisms that are completely alien," she adds, hoping it adds strength to her lie. It must do something to convince him because he drops the subject and goes back to tinkering with his latest prototype. She idly toys with the idea of wearing blinders when Skye was training outside the lab, but that would probably raise too many questions so she just has to breathe deep and try to focus as she starts from square one on the culture medium.
As a scientist she has a complete understanding of why she feels this way. She's attracted to Skye, that much she knew the second she stepped onto the bus all plaid shirts and sarcastic swagger, and that attraction is causing changes in her hormone levels. First came the surge of oestrogen and testosterone that was associated with lust and she certainly lusted after Skye. The more time she spent around her the more the attraction grew. Then came the increased level of adrenaline and cortisol in her blood stream that makes her heart feel like it's about to break through her ribcage when Skye stands so close, too close, to her. It's what makes her palms suddenly become moist when Skye is in the lab, which is why she drops things because her hands are so slippery. It's also responsible for her stomach doing backflips when Skye flashes her one of those dazzling smiles.
Her brain is also stewing in a pool of dopamine, which is why she's having trouble focusing on anything and why spending time with Skye leaves her feeling like she's down 16 cans of Red Bull. The drop in serotonin levels make sure that her attraction to Skye is always at the forefront of her mind. She knows all the science behind it but none of that does her any good. Knowing the names and structures of the hormones involved does not make her immune to their effects. She just has to hope that in time her hormones will simmer down and she will be able to go back to being completely in control of her own brain again.
Skye has set herself up a little den in the lab now, she's sitting typing on her laptop, her fingers moving faster than Jemma thinks is physically possible and she's finding it utterly distracting. She starts to reconsider her blinders idea because she's at a crucial point in her current experiment. Thankfully Skye barely moves from her little den, she hardly even makes a noise, apart from the constant clacking of the keyboard that is. This makes it slightly easier for Jemma to concentrate on her work because if she avoids looking in Skye's direction then she can pretend it's just her and Fitz in the lab. She has successfully loaded her samples into the Mass Spectrometer, without breaking or spilling any, and she's feeling quite pleased with herself when a familiar voice sounds in her left ear.
"Hey Simmons!" That's all she says, a simple greeting is all it takes for Jemma's hormones to surge rapidly into her bloodstream, flooding her brain and making her dizzy. She tries to turn, a friendly greeting on her lips but it never gets voiced because as she turns she trips over her own feet and, unable to stop herself, starts to fall to the floor. She doesn't hit the floor though, instead she finds herself wrapped in two very strong and lovely arms. She looks up and sees Skye's eyes dancing with amusement and a little smirk on her lips, and damn if it isn't ridiculously attractive on her. "Did you just fall for me Simmons?" she raises one eyebrow as the smirk grows. Coming from anyone else that would have been a hideously cheesy line but somehow Skye pulls it off. Jemma can't stop the raging blush that covers her cheeks. She knows it was a joke and that she should laugh it off but the hormone soup that is her blood she has no control over how she reacts.
"What? No, of course not!" she attempts to deny it, but her voice comes out strained and much too high like it always does when she lies. Like Skye knows it does when she lies. She tries to regain her footing and get out of Skye's arms before she says or does anything else stupid.
"I have to go...see to some samples and inform Agent Coulson of my progress and I think Fitz said Agent May was looking for me, so uh, excuse me," she rambles of every excuse that pops into her head and rushes out of the lab leaving Skye behind looking confused and just a little bit intrigued.
The next time something like that happens she is relieved that it's not her fault. She was heading to her room after a long day in the lab, logging and labelling hundreds of samples from the latest superhero/alien calamity. Her back aches from standing all day and she just wants her bed. She turns the corner onto the corridor where her bunk is and sees Skye pacing up and down the hallway. She has her earbuds in and a seriously contemplative expression on her face. She must be stuck on something, a firewall or code or one of those other tech related words she always spouts that Jemma has no clue about. Jemma moves towards her door, about to open it when Skye turns on her heels without looking and collides with the biochemist. Being prepared for it before it happened means Jemma stays on her feet but Skye, being caught off guard, falls to the floor with a thud.
"Shit," she curses as her back hits the floor.
"Are you alright?" Jemma leans down and offers a hand to help the other girl up.
"Yeah I'm fine. Maybe don't tell May that happened; she's always saying I'm not aware enough of my surroundings," she chuckles.
"Well the music blaring in your ears probably doesn't help," Jemma points out.
"So it looks like I fell for you this time," she flashes that disarming grin. That coupled with her remark leaves Jemma feeling flustered and stumbling over an appropriate response.
"Looks like it," she manages to get some words out eventually and she's quite relieved that they're not completely idiotic. Skye catches her eye and there's something in her coffee brown irises that Jemma can't quite place.
"So can I ask you something?" the hacker ventures. "Exactly how many more times do we need to fall for each other before you kiss me?"
Jemma's heart stops and her eyes widen with sheer shock.
"I...uh...what?" she stammers.
"Oh for God's sake!" Skye let's out an exasperated sigh coupled with an eye roll; she's completely ran out of patience . She reaches out, placing her hands on the scientist's hips and pulls her closer. She takes one last look into Jemma's eyes, just to be sure she's been reading the signals right, before she closes her eyes and presses a kiss to Jemma's lips. It's soft and gentle but it's enough to ignite them both. She pulls away wanting to see Jemma's face and know that she made the right move but she barely has time to glance at her before Jemma is pulling her face closer again. The second kiss is twice as passionate as the first, unsurprisingly given all the time they've been dancing around each other. The next kiss sees them blindly trying to enter Jemma's room so they're out of the way of prying eyes. Neither of them knows how long they spent kissing like love struck teenagers but when they eventually do break apart, breathless and smiling widely, they know they don't even have to speak; the kisses said it all.
They lie on Jemma's bed, their bodies pressed together, enjoying the comfort that comes in the embrace.
"Skye, what were you doing out in the hall tonight?" Jemma asks, now she's regained her mental faculties.
"I was waiting for you," she says plainly, as though it should have been obvious.
"Oh," the shock is clear in Jemma's voice and it makes Skye laugh. "I thought you were pacing because you were stuck on something."
"What?"
"Well you have a tendency to pace when you get stuck or if you're trying to figure something out so it was a reasonable assumption."
"I guess that's true. I have been trying to figure out how to get you to make the first move for a while now," she tells her. "I was waiting for you because I've gotten really tired of waiting. I actually almost kissed you the day you tripped in the lab but you were too quick for me."
"You mean I was too busy making a fool out of myself," Jemma corrects her.
"More like you were too busy being absolutely adorable when you're flustered," Skye counters.
"Shut up," Jemma groans and silences any reply from Skye by kissing her again.
Jemma is no fool, she's a highly regarded biochemist, and she knows exactly what comes next. The release of oxytocin and vasopressin in their bodies act on their brain chemistry, solidifying the initial attraction into a lasting pair bond. She knows that logically that love can be broken down into the hormones and neuroscience that are responsible but for the first time in her life she thinks that maybe there are some things science should not be applied to. Maybe her feelings can be explained by science but damn it if it doesn't feel like magic.