She didn't start classes until after New Year's, but tickets from Heathrow to New York (not to mention all the connecting flights to the middle of nowhere a classified location), were hard to come by in December, so she took a November flight and spent the interlude at a b&b in Connecticut. She spent the first week trying to use adapters for her hairdryer and phone before giving up and buying new ones. At least her laptop wasn't a problem. SHIELD had provided the latest model for her, and the recruiter had hinted there'd be more. "The latest and the best."
She wasn't homesick. She wasn't intimidated. When she was in primary, she'd heard someone call her 'brilliant,' and she spent the next week watching everyone she passed to see if they glowed. Because that was what brilliant meant, didn't it? Bright? Even after she realized that it wasn't quite that literal, she couldn't shake the idea that people should glow, that there should be some way of seeing who could think on her level. With each year, she thought it would get better, but it didn't. In her first university class, she made a causal comment that made the room fall dead silent, because there was no way someone her age could know that. Yes, they all knew it, but they were supposed to know it, they'd taken A-levels and studied for hours to know that.
So had she, but they didn't know that.
Entry requirements: 1 PhD.
Sure, the language was far more formal, but she knew what it meant. Smart people only. Brilliant people. Since accepting, she's dreamed about it-a star that is also a building, with flickering lights like Christmas tree strands going in and out.
God, it sounds cheesy when she put it like that. She's Jemma Simmons, double PhD at an age where most people are taking GCSEs or checking UCAS requirements for uni. She's not going to Hogwarts (yes, she read Harry Potter. Liked it, but that's not the point.) She was even thinking about a career; because as much as everyone praises geniuses, not many want to employ them. Anyway, the point was, she was ready for this. The extra month is just a matter of scheduling. Acclimatizing.
But a massive snowstorm slammed through the state two days before Christmas. It didn't affect her 'plans,' because she didn't have any to begin with, but it means that it's just her and the owners (Mr. and Mrs. Halvorson and their eight-year-old daughter Marie) for Christmas. She wasn't expecting them to invite her over to watch the queen's speech on telly.
"We get BBCA. Honestly, it's no trouble."
Simmons was too polite to explain that she wasn't really interested in the queen's speech, and she'd always wondered what Americans did on Christmas. Eat, as it turned out, and then nap afterwards. Oh, there were a few presents-even a box of chocolates for her-but the Halvorsons weren't the partying sort. She ended up curled on the sofa, reading her copy of Steven Pinkton's How the Brain Works while the Halvorsons napped and Marie played with her new beaded jewelry set.
A few minutes before seven, Marie raced into the room, grabbed the remote, and flipped the channel to BBCA,
"Why the hurry?"
"Doctor Who's on in a few minutes!"
"Who?"
Marie giggled. "Doctor Who, of course. Don't you watch?" The swirling title sequence filled the screen.
Simmons set down her book and watched for a few minutes. "Wait, who's the skinny bloke?"
"That's the Doctor. Rose saved him from the Daleks and then he saved her and he kissed her and he went all glowly and woosh!" Marie waved her hands. "Merry Christmas."
A spinning Christmas tree? It's so ridiculous she couldn't help laughing. It reminded her of the EastEnder specials her grandma insists on watching.
"Help me," the girl whispered, and the man bolted upright, pointed his little rod-'sonic screwdriver' Marie reminded her-at the tree, and it fell over.
"Remote control. But who's controlling it?"
Okay, that's new. Not 'what's going on' or 'Christmas trees don't attack,' but 'who.' A question that cuts to the relevant issues.
A scientist's question.
Jenna could like this show.
Notes:
Just in case somebody besides me cares: in our universe, Christmas Invasion didn't air on BBCA till 2007. But the MCU isn't our universe, is it? ;)
