The press of the crowd was unnerving. There were so many people.
Jemma was worried the communication device in her ear was falling out but didn't dare try to adjust it since the motion would be too conspicuous. She was sweating, and she couldn't see Fitz, which was making her more panicked than she wanted to admit.
This undercover mission, which was simply to watch for a powered person—who might not show—was getting old quickly.
The crowd swirled and parted for a second, letting her get a glimpse of Ward, who looked the opposite of inconspicuous as he slouched on a bench, holding a paper he obviously wasn't reading as he scanned the passing faces.
They were at a music festival in Seattle, the weather sunny and bright and it seemed like the entire city had turned out for the event. Jemma was pretending to watch a Ska band, though she wasn't remotely interested in their brand of very loud music, hoping to catch sight of a man that'd SHIELD had been informed of who was able to control the temperature of liquid by touching a container. There'd been a grainy security camera photo she'd memorized that morning before the start of the mission.
Really, what harm did someone pose that could keep hot beverages hot and cold ones cold? He could be thermos-man!
She chuckled to herself, then nearly jumped out of her skin as a hand brushed her elbow. Whipping around, she found a not very tall man wearing a hoodie and a hat that shaded his eyes. The rest of his face was obscured behind a bandana. He was clutching a bundle of blankets in his arms.
There was something familiar about him.
"Do I know you?" she asked.
The man didn't answer, hunching over the bundle in his arms.
"I love you," he whispered to it in a harsh voice that was barely audible over the loud music, then shoved the bundle into her arms. "Cassie," he said roughly.
The man's hands were dirty, though the gold band on his ring finger still shone in the afternoon light. He hesitated a second before letting go.
"Cassie?" Jemma echoed. Those hands…but that didn't make sense.
"Keep her safe," the man said, sounding close to tears, though it was hard to tell over the music. Then he was walking rapidly away from her, swallowed up in the crowd.
Jemma looked down at the bundle in her arms. It squirmed and sent up a wail.
A baby. She was holding a baby.
Ward materialized beside her as she moved away from the loud band to stand in the shade of a nearby building. "What was that about?" he asked.
"I don't know!" Jemma sputtered. "That guy handed me a baby." The baby's face was red and blotchy as it howled.
"Make it be quiet," Ward said.
"How am I supposed to do that?" Jemma unwrapped the baby from all the blankets. It kicked its legs fiercely and waved its arms.
Fitz wove through the crowd to her side. "Is that a baby?" he asked.
"Oh, what does it look like?" she snapped. Was the baby—Cassie?—hungry? Tired? "I think she's maybe five months old, but I'm hardly an expert. The guy called her Cassie."
Jemma shifted the baby and cuddled the little thing against her shoulder. The tear-streaked face was turned towards Fitz, and when Cassie caught sight of him, she held her chubby arms out and sent up another piercing wail.
"Hey, little Monkey," he said, taking her from Jemma. "Fitzy's got you."
To Jemma's complete astonishment, the baby's cries trailed off as Fitz snuggled her against his chest. Now that Cassie wasn't crying, Jemma could tell her big eyes were blue. The wispy hair on her head was light brown, and she had the most adorable round cheeks. She was certainly cute when she wasn't crying.
Jemma made a face, feeling odd and lost as Fitz patted the baby's back and cooed to her. "How did you get her to stop crying?" Jemma asked, bewildered and somewhat jealous.
Fitz shrugged. "I have no idea."
Ward grimaced and turned to the side, holding a hand to his ear. "Coulson says we need to get back to the Bus. The mission's been blown."
Jemma nodded, not worried about anything besides Cassie, who was gazing at her over Fitz's shoulder.
"I guess I'll call the cops to come and get her," Ward said.
Jemma frowned. "No." She shook her head. "Cassie, that's her name, was given to me. There are thousands of people here, and there's nothing about me that says I'd be the perfect person to abandon your kid with. And I'm a SHIELD agent. Something's going on we don't know about yet."
Fitz bounced Cassie in his arms. "We should take her back to the Bus and hold onto her until we know more." He smiled at the baby.
"Fine. Don't look at me when Coulson throws a fit." Ward was typing a message on his phone and kept his eyes mostly on the screen as they made their way to where their SUV was parked.
Jemma opened the door, but then froze and blocked Fitz from getting in. "We don't have a car seat," she gasped.
"It's not far," Ward said.
Fitz put a hand over Cassie's head. "But…it's incredibly dangerous."
Ward crossed his arms and glared.
Jemma pulled her phone from her pocket and powered it on. "Oh, there's a drugstore the next street over. Maybe they'll have one. And we need quite a few other supplies."
She pointed which direction to walk, and Fitz started that way, Cassie's head against his neck.
"I'll stay here," Ward said, gesturing at the SUV.
"You will not," Jemma replied tersely. "We need someone to carry stuff."
Fitz couldn't stop looking at Cassie. She was adorable. Neither he nor Simmons had any siblings, and he had never even held a baby until an hour ago, but Cassie was completely precious in a way he hadn't expected.
Currently, she was sleeping in her car seat as Ward drove them to the hanger where the Bus was parked. The car seat was in the middle of the SUV's rear seat, and while the box had assured him that the seat had exceeded all safety requirements, Fitz had been less than impressed as he'd strapped it into place. There were at least fifty modifications he could make that would vastly improve its protective capacity, and those were only the most obvious ones he'd thought of off the top of his head.
Jemma was sitting facing the baby, the corners of her mouth turned down and the fingers of one hand resting on the pink blanket that Cassie was snuggled under.
It was a bit disconcerting in a way he couldn't define. Like he hadn't ever really thought about Simmons and babies in the same context before. Or much about babies period. Now…ugh, he didn't know. It just looked right somehow.
Ward went through a security checkpoint at the airport and drove to the hanger and up onto the Bus's rear ramp. As soon as the car was parked, he was out and brushing past Skye, who'd just come down the stairs. She made a face at his back as he clanged up the metal steps.
"Hey, guys," she called. "The sound was kind of garbled on our end, and Ward's texts didn't make sense. What happened?"
Jemma undid her seatbelt and got out of the SUV. "Someone handed us a baby."
"What?" Skye asked, wrinkling her nose. Fitz looked at Cassie. She was awake, with her eyes wide open.
"C'mon, Monkey, time to get you out of there," he said, undoing the woefully inadequate harness of the car seat.
"Let me get some of the things out of the back," Jemma said. The instant she wasn't in view, Cassie let out a full pitched howl. Fitz quickly untangled her from the harness and picked her up, but this time she didn't stop. He scrambled out of the car, not sure what to do.
Skye was gaping.
"Simmons," he called, but she was already heading for them, her hands fluttering.
"Shh," she said, putting a hand on Cassie's back. The baby turned her head towards Jemma, and her cries trailed off. Fitz shared a glance with Simmons. "I guess she likes us both?" Jemma bit her lip.
"Yeah. What a naughty Monkey you are."
Cassie put a hand on his face, and his heart melted. She was so vulnerable. And alone. Something ached inside him. It wasn't right. She should be loved and treasured.
"I think she needs to be changed," Jemma said, leaning against his shoulder and stroking a finger over Cassie's hair while the baby patted his face. The ache in his chest grew. "Skye, can you get the supplies out of the car and bring them to the lab, please?"
"Sure," she said, not moving for another moment. She was watching him, Simmons, and Cassie, with her head tilted to the side and wearing a puzzled expression.
"Now," Jemma said in a clipped tone, walking to the lab. Fitz trailed behind.
Jemma immediately pulled out one of the water baths they used to warm graduated cylinders. She wiped it down, even though he knew for a fact she kept everything meticulously clean, filled the reservoir, and started it running.
"For the bottle," she said in response to his raised eyebrow.
Skye, loaded down with bags, came huffing through the door. "Did you buy the entire store?"
"It's not like we had any supplies here," Jemma said, grabbing the can of powdered formula and frowning at the directions.
It was becoming increasingly obvious that Cassie was wet and needed changing. With her in one arm, Fitz located the supplies.
Spreading out a padded changing blanket on the floor, he set Cassie down on her back and ripped the tags off a yellow stuffed elephant. There hadn't been a lot of toys to choose from, but he'd found it incredibly sad that she didn't have any and had bought every single one that Simmons had approved as age-appropriate.
"Here comes Mr. Ears," he said to Cassie, walking the elephant across the floor to her. She squealed happily and grabbed for the stuffed animal. He let her have it and laughed as she immediately bit down on the poor elephant's leg.
He glanced up to find Skye and Simmons staring at him.
"Mr. Ears?" Skye mouthed.
Simmons didn't say anything, just stood there clutching a pink bottle. The look on her face was one he'd never seen before, and he had to look away after a few seconds. He understood Jemma so well that to abruptly not know what she was thinking was uncomfortable. He returned his attention to the baby.
"I'm going to change the Monkey!" he said, smiling as Cassie waved the elephant at him.
The outfit she had on was simple and looked homemade. Fitz quickly undid the snaps holding it together and removed it and the soaked cloth diaper. Cassie didn't seem worried at all about being naked.
"That's an excellent way to be peed on."
Fitz looked up at May as she knelt beside him.
"You want to have the next one ready before you take the old one off," May said, handing him several baby wipes. As he cleaned Cassie, she made faces at him.
"Sorry," he mumbled. "I'll make something so those wipes are warm from now on."
May patted his shoulder and set the diaper and a new pink onesie beside Cassie.
It took Fitz two tries, but he secured the diaper and managed to get her into the onesie. The socks were more of a challenge, and he apologized for having to grab her tiny foot by kissing her toes, which made her smile and laugh. The sound went right to his heart.
Really, who knew babies were so wonderful?
"It's a good thing that wasn't a dirty diaper," Jemma muttered as she measured out the formula and screwed the lid onto the bottle. Fitz probably wouldn't have appeared nearly so capable and gag-free if that'd been the case.
Skye leaned against the counter. "I really didn't think Fitz would be so…I don't know, good? With a baby?"
Jemma frowned and shook the bottle rather more violently than she probably needed to. Her whole world was off kilter. "He's always been excellent at nearly everything," she said. "I don't see why this should be any different."
Skye snorted. "Uh, whatever." She flicked her hair over her shoulder and dropped her voice. "Do you think Coulson's mad at us?"
May was helping Fitz, but Coulson had his arms crossed and was standing just inside the lab, looking askance at the baby items strewn over the normally pristine counters and floor.
Jemma shrugged, then busied herself with the bottle and preparing some basic tests to run on Cassie. It wasn't like they could just ignore the fact they knew nothing about her.
Fitz stood with Cassie in his arms. May was smiling at the baby, who had her stuffed elephant in one hand. With the other, Cassie reached up and grabbed one of Fitz's curls and tugged.
"Hey now, Monkey," he said, but made no move to stop her. Warmth flooded Jemma, and she took a sharp breath. What was wrong with her? She felt flustered, and really, it was just Fitz holding a baby.
Coulson cleared his throat. "This is not a situation that this mobile base is in any way set up for."
"I'm well aware," Jemma said, feeling defensive. "But someone handed a SHIELD agent a baby and disappeared. We have a duty to investigate."
"And that required six-hundred dollar's worth of baby supplies?" Coulson asked.
Fitz grimaced. "She had nothing," he said, walking over to Coulson and finally untangling Cassie's fingers from his hair.
Coulson sighed. "She can't stay here. We're not set up for a baby." Fitz held Cassie out, and Coulson took her after a moment's hesitation. She leaned against him and bounced slightly, smiling up at him.
"Her name's Cassie," Fitz said. "And she doesn't have anyone in the world right now except us."
Coulson was frowning down at Cassie. "I was thinking…placement with…"
Cassie giggled and patted his chest with her hands. "Buh," she said. "Buh!"
"Sir?" Jemma asked. She checked the bottle and finding it sufficiently warmed, walked towards Coulson and Cassie. She brought along the supplies for the blood test she was going to need to do.
The baby was babbling and smiling up at Coulson. "Maybe she can stay for a bit," he relented.
"We bought lots of baby proofing stuff at the store," Fitz said, gesturing at the bags.
Coulson nodded. "I'll have May and Ward start working on it."
May grumbled something under her breath but picked up a pack of outlet covers.
"Hold her tight for a moment," Jemma whispered to Coulson, nabbing one of her little feet and pulling down the sock so she could prick Cassie's heel. She glanced over at Fitz, who was wincing and looking down at the floor.
Honestly. "It's just a quick owie so we can know more about you," Jemma said to Cassie, pushing the lancet against the baby's foot and gathering the sample as Cassie's face screwed up for what looked like an epic cry.
Jemma got the sample, set it on the counter, and pulled Cassie into her arms. She had the bottle in the baby's mouth nearly instantly. Cassie looked surprised, but then eagerly started nursing, her momentary pain forgotten.
Supporting Cassie with one arm, Jemma retrieved her sample and nodded to Fitz, who only looked a little green as he pipetted the blood into the equipment that would run a series of basic tests on it.
Once done, Fitz stood beside her, smiling at Cassie, who was watching them both closely.
Skye sat at a computer terminal and began to run through security camera footage from the music festival, looking for the man who'd been carrying Cassie.
The baby finished the entire six ounces, and Fitz retrieved a burp cloth, slinging it over his shoulder like he'd been doing so for his entire life. He propped Cassie up and patted her back. He giggled with her when she belched.
Almost immediately, she settled down and closed her eyes. Fitz hummed and rocked her gently, and Jemma couldn't help but stand with him and watch Cassie as she slumbered.
The tests were going to take a while, and Coulson left, telling them to notify him if anything interesting showed up. Fitz claimed a stool and Jemma sat beside him. She tried to read an article on her phone but kept stopping to look at Fitz as he held and hummed snatches of lullabies to Cassie.
When the computer beeped that some of the test results had come back, Jemma indicated that Skye should pick up a tablet and read what they were.
She flipped through a couple of screens, and her mouth fell open. "Guys…" she said.
"What?" Jemma whispered as Cassie squirmed a little.
Fitz rubbed a hand on Cassie's back and glared at Skye, who was still staring at the tablet. She shook herself and went to the intercom. "Coulson, get down here."
Jemma shushed her in tandem with Fitz.
A minute later, Coulson, May, and a grumpy looking Ward entered the lab.
"This better be good," Ward grumbled.
Cassie lifted her head.
"Damn it," Fitz said. "You woke her." He retrieved Mr. Ears and handed the toy to Cassie, who took it but wasn't fully awake yet. She snuggled against Fitz and stuck one of the elephant's feet in her mouth.
Ward crossed his arms.
"So, what's going on, Skye?" Coulson asked.
Jemma leaned towards Fitz at the same time he swayed in her direction. She could feel his tension, and pressed her hands to her jaw, trying to calm her own apprehension. Surely, whatever the results were showing they couldn't be too bad. Hopefully, Cassie wasn't ill. Jemma wasn't sure she could handle that.
"Well…" Skye said, making a face. "You guys are never going to believe this."
"Oh, just get on with it," Jemma snapped, dropping her hands and curling one around Fitz's arm.
"Hold your horses. This is weird. Okay—" Skye smoothed her hands down the front of her blouse. "SHIELD's amazing DNA technology found Cassie's parents."
"That's good," Fitz said, sounding like it was anything but good. She could feel him tighten his hold on Cassie.
"Maybe?" Skye took a deep breath and turned the tablet around. "Fitz, Simmons…Cassie is your baby."