Thanks a lot to everyone who liked and commented on that first chapter :) Hope like this new one as well, next chapter should be up in about a week or sooner if I can work faster :)
As he slowly started to regain consciousness, the first thought that crossed Fitz's mind was that it must have been one hell of a party for him to be so out of it. Of course, as he regained a little bit more consciousness, he remembered that he still hadn't made any friend at the Academy or anywhere else in this country and however pathetic he could be, he wouldn't go as far as drinking on his own, not that anyone would sell him alcohol anyway. But it's when he finally found the courage to open his eyes a bit that the last few hours came back to him in a bit of a blur. That soreness in his muscles and fuzziness he was feeling were probably due to anesthetics and not alcohol. Now he remembered the car hitting him (thankfully not as hard as it could have thanks to his reflexes or he might not be waking up at all), the ambulance driving him to the hospital as he struggled to stay awake and then being rushed to surgery for his leg. He supposed he must have been unconscious all night and some of the day since he remembered the Sun was setting when he had this accident and now he could feel -even through his closed eyelids- that the Sun was definitely up and probably high in the sky. The beeping of the machines and the rays of light coming through the windows were almost too much and he considered just fall back into sleep and enjoy the surprising comfort of the hospital bed until the drugs were completely out of his system.
But then he felt a presence, someone sitting on the chair next to his bed. A woman from what he could tell, his vision being still quite blurry. At first, he thought of his mom but he clearly said he didn't want them to call her. There was no need for her to worry and she wouldn't have had the time to make the trip so quickly anyway.
Blinking several times to force his eyes to focus a little bit more, he thought he could make out the face of…
Jemma Simmons?!
No, that wasn't right. Why would she be here? How would she even know he was here? Still, with her soft chocolate curls and big doe eyes looking down at the book she was reading, it really looked a lot like her. And with the sun hitting her from behind, there was a halo of light all around her and she almost looked like an …
No! no no no! Stupid drugs! She looked like his annoying lab partner who, for some totally incomprehensible reason, was seating at his bedside, most likely waiting for him to wake up. He still felt really drowsy and considered just going back to sleep once more and wait for her to leave, but sleeping under her surveillance would just feel too weird.
"Looks like I died on the operating table and was sent to hell …" He croaked, surprising himself with the roughness of his voice. "Mom was right about the afterlife after all …" He added and Simmons lifted her head from the book she was reading, trying to mask the surprise and -was it relief- by rolling her eyes at him.
Yep that was definitely her.
"Well you do look even paler than usual so who knows?" She replied as she carefully slid a bookmark in her book, giving him an exaggerated and not at all sincere smile.
Still, she stood up from her chair and came closer to look down at him with an expression that was definitely new on her face when directed at him. It was almost … soft? Then, turning around, she filled a glass of water from the bottle on his bedside table, put a straw in it and placed it before him so he could drink a little. He was so surprised by the gentleness of her gestures and the fact that she knew exactly what he needed that he didn't even question it and just drank.
"Thanks …" He said, his voice slightly less crow-like once he'd downed almost all of it, and she gave him an actual small but sincere smile.
"So … how are you feeling?" She asked and if he wasn't still feeling so weird, like there was a strange echo in the room, he would have sworn there was a slight tremor in her voice. Did she actually worry about him?
"Hum … like those posters we had in high school were right and you really shouldn't do drugs …" He sighed and this time he was positive: she chuckled at his lame joke. Probably a pity laugh though. Maybe he was in an even worse state than he felt like. "But other than that … alright I guess. I'm just really really confused … would you mind hum … refreshing my mind a bit?"
"Wondering why I'm here?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, amongst other things …"
"Well I suppose you still remember getting hit by a car, right?"
"Yeah and then I got to the hospital and then I went to surgery and then …"
"You had a bad reaction to the anesthetics." She cut him off. "They said you didn't want to call anyone but since it was gonna take some time for you to wake up, if you … woke up at all …" She trailed off, her voice definitely betraying some kind of emotion but he decided not to say anything about it. "Anyway, they thought you'd like to see a friendly face when you wake up and since I was apparently the only person you had on the phone in the last few weeks, they supposed …"
"Told you …" He grinned and she rolled her eyes but he couldn't help noticing a bit of a blush on her cheeks. "So why didn't you tell them we …"
"… weren't friends? Trust me I did, they just wouldn't take no for an answer!" She cut him off.
That didn't sound very convincing but he had more pressing questions anyway.
"Okkkayyy … So how long have I been out? twelve? eighteen hours maybe?" He asked and she let out a weird nervous laughter, which made him frown in confusion.
"Fitz! It's been four days!" She almost cried out.
"Nooooo …" He breathed out. His accident was last night, he was pretty sure of it. But why would she lie to him about that? To torture him? No that didn't make any sense and it wasn't like he couldn't easily verify her claim.
"Do that!" She said, putting her hands on her cheeks.
He didn't know what that meant but still, without thinking, he did the same.
"Oh…"
"See? I'm pretty sure you can't grow a beard like that overnight …" She said before a teasing grin tucked at her lips. "A surprisingly very red beard …"
"I am not ashamed of my Scottish ancestors!" He retorted, which only made her grin even wider.
"So you stayed here, waiting for me to wake up all this time?" He asked, changing the subject with a teasing waggle of his eyebrows, which didn't help with the slight lingering headache but it got him a very satisfying roll of her eyes and a sigh.
"Oh yeah, I sat at your bedside reading poetry and counting the hours until I could hear your annoying voice again. Even gave you a sponge bath …" She said in a fake enamored voice.
"Ah ah ah that's hilarious Simmons …"
"That's a really cute birthmark on your left butt cheek …" She grinned.
"What? No you didn't ..." He squeaked in a high pitched voice as he reached uselessly to hide himself better under the fine sheets of his hospital bed. Like it would change a thing if she actually saw him naked already. But no that wasn't possible. Why would she even do it? Would she really go to all this trouble to make fun of him later? But then how could she know about his ...
"I'm kidding Fitz!" She said with a small chuckle. "Your mom told me about it."
"Oh ... ah ah that's so funny Simmons. Shame on you for torturing a man when he's at his weakest! Can't believe you ... WAIT WHAT? How do you ... When ... how did you talk to my mom?" Fitz stammered. Somehow, he felt like Jemma Simmons talking with his mom was potentially way worse than her seeing him naked. After all he was a bit on the skinny side but he knew he had nothing to be ashamed of and if he believed the only girl he ever made out with, he even had a really nice butt. But her mom, who had no notion of privacy, chatting with his enemy well ... that was a recipe for catastrophe.
"I called her Fitz!" She cut him off in his internal ramblings.
"But why?"
"Ugh Fitz honestly … You've been unconscious for four days, you had us-your doctors … worried. She needed to know, what if you never woke up? Can you imagine what she would have felt like knowing her only son died alone in a hospital thousands of miles away from home without her even knowing about it?" Simmons admonished him and it sounded suspiciously like her mom was speaking directly through her and it felt weird and wrong in so many ways. Still, it made sense and now that he thought about it, if the roles were reversed, he would have been pretty mad at her for not telling him.
"Oh …" He let out sheepishly and he must have really looked quite pathetic because she added in a much softer tone.
"But hum … I guess it was kind of thoughtful and … courageous in a way. Not wanting to worry her ... But now she knows and she's really pissed!" She grinned slightly. "I guess it's a chance it took you so long to wake up or it might have been way worse. She's the one who suggested that joke about your birthmark … she seems to believe you've always been a bit too prudish …"
"You must be enjoying this soooo much …" He sighed.
"Ah well it's only fair I get something in return for coming here every day since Friday!" She replied with a smile he couldn't quite decipher. It wasn't warm exactly but not teasing either. It was all so strange.
There was a moment of silence as their eyes somehow remained locked on each other.
"So hum … Why did you come really? When they called you. And why did you come back? I mean you could have said you were busy or that we really weren't friends or … I don't know, anything …" He asked, keeping his tone as soft as he could. He didn't want to appear ungrateful, he was just really curious as to why she went through so much effort for him.
"I … I just-I thought …" She stammered, looking down at her lap where she was wringing her hands together in an apparent bout of shyness he'd never seen on her before. "No one should be alone in the hospital …" She finally let out in a quiet voice. "… or worse wake up alone without a friendly or well ... at least a familiar face..." She corrected herself and they both smiled at that, making it hard for Fitz to remember how deeply she usually aggravated him. "to make this all less … overwhelming … So I thought I'd keep you company for at least a little time …"
He couldn't understand why she looked so embarrassed telling him all that when he thought it might possibly be the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for him, especially considering she couldn't stand him. And OH GOD NO, now he could feel himself tearing up! It had to be because of the drugs still coursing his veins. Yeah that was it, like this time he had two wisdom teeth pulled out and took a ton of painkillers and ended up crying his eyes out when he thought about getting a dog but then thinking how sad he would be when the dog would die and how awful it would be to tell his imaginary wife and kids even though he was only fourteen at the time.
Fortunately, Simmons didn't seem to notice his sudden emotivity, too busy that she was smoothing out inexistant wrinkles on her blouse. And a few seconds later, she came back to something that felt more familiar.
"You know you really are quite boring when you sleep ... Never thought I'd ever wish for you to speak ..." She teased and he rolled his eyes.
"Well I'm so sorry! I'll consider that next time I get into a serious accident ..." He retorted dryly before his face went back to something softer as he couldn't help imagining Jemma Simmons, the person who liked him less in the world taking so much of her time just so he wouldn't be alone when he wakes up.
"But hum ... thank you Jemma ... This is really ... nice ... I mean more than that even, most people wouldn't even have visited me ... I don't - don't know what to say ..." He trailed off, feeling himself blush.
"Well making you speechless is a reward in itself!"
"But I thought you wanted me to talk?" He teased.
"No I just said I'd rather speak with you than watch you sleep!" She glared at him but for once there was no real bite to it and soon enough her slightly embarrassed expression was back and this time he couldn't hold back his curiosity.
"Is there something else you're not telling me?"
"Nope no ... I just-oh fine, I'm a terrible liar and you'll find out sooner or later anyway!" She sighed, flopping back into her chair. "Maybe I feel a little bit guilty because I've gotten exaggeratedly mad at you for not showing up in class Friday morning and I might have left you a voice mail saying I hoped something horrible happened to you to explain your absence ..."
Fitz's eyes went wide for a moment and Simmons seemed to deflate completely.
"I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have said something like that, I didn't even mean it and …no no no don't do that please!"
Jemma tried to reach for his phone before he could but even in his drug induced clumsiness, he managed to get it first, holding on it tightly so she couldn't take it off him.
With a few swipes and clicks, he was connected to his voicemail, the robotic voice on the other end announcing that he had in fact four voice mails and he raised an eyebrow at her, trying his best not to grin. She obviously felt terrible about it and he wasn't about to let her know that the idea mostly amused him when he could torture her just a little bit longer. Her first voice mail was quite angry but still polite and not really mean. The second, on the other hand, was quite different already and he was starting to get a little scared about what the fourth one would sound like. In the otherwise silent room, she could obviously hear her own muffled voice coming through the phone.
"Fitz really, there's no use listening to those, I was obviously angry I didn't really mean …"
"Nooooo" He cut her off with an exaggerated gasp and eyes widening at the use of a language that sounded so unlike her.
"Fitz please …" She almost whined as she hid her face in her hands. She obviously felt really terrible, maybe he'd tortured her enough. Almost enough. Just a little bit more and he'd stop.
"Hey! How do you even know my middle name?" He cried out as he heard the beginning of her third message that sounded awfully like one from his mom when he'd forgot to call her for some time.
"Ah that's hum … I-I did … I don't really remember, probably just …" She started stuttering what was clearly a lie considering she was blushing a deep shade of red and the fact that Jemma Simmons didn't ever forget anything. She'd reminded him of that often enough in the two months they'd known each other.
And then came the fourth message and he had to admit it was really mean and he would have been shocked and even a little bit hurt if she wasn't in front of him and looking like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole. His stupid drug induced brain even found her kind of cute and it was actually nice to see her anything other than smug, annoyed or condescending and just acting like a flawed human being for once. Still, he couldn't help insisting just one more little time.
"Simmons! That's a horrible thing to wish to someone, I could have died in that accident!"
"I know! Why do you think I felt so bad for the past few days?" She cried out, burying her face in her hands again. And when she looked up a few seconds later, maybe it was just his eyesight that still wasn't completely clear, but it looked like her eyes were tearing up. And panic started to settle because as much as he liked to tease her, he didn't think he could handle a crying Jemma and he didn't want to make her feel so guilty that she'd cry anyway, especially since she'd been so surprisingly nice and selfless. Those were just words said when she was angry, he might not have been much better if the roles were reversed. "I-I should probably go now, you don't need me anymore-not that you …" She started as she walked towards the chair to gather her stuff. There were actually several books, notebooks, a cardboard cup and even an half eaten pack of biscuits and he realized she really must have spent a lot of time here. "Anyway I'll tell your doctor you're awake on my way out, sorry again for the …"
"Jemma wait!" He cut her off, lightly grabbing her wrist. He didn't know if it was his softer tone or the fact that once more today, he'd called her by her given name, something he never did before, but she stopped and turned around to face him, looking surprised and a little confused. He couldn't blame her, this whole situation was so strange and improbable that he still wasn't completely sure he wasn't dreaming it all. "I'm sorry I was just teasing, I didn't mean to … you didn't have to come, that was really nice …" He said, until he realized his hand had slid down her wrist and he was basically holding her hand now. It took him another moment to react and quickly let it go but not before noticing how soft it was and how quite nicely it fitted inside his own larger one. All these months with almost no social interaction and even less display of affection towards anyone had taken its toll and only now that the drugs were making him more raw and emotional, did he realize how he'd missed it and how nice it felt, even towards his supposed enemy and with something as small as touching her hand.
"Yeah?" She asked cautiously as she looked down at her own hand in surprise before looking back up at him, eyebrows still raised in disbelief.
"Yeah … they were just words, pretty mean words but still only that and you couldn't know I actually had a really good excuse." He answered with what he hoped was a sincere smile and it seemed to work because she relaxed a little.
"Still …" He added with a fake tone of outrage. "I can't believe you called me a ridiculous nitwit!"
For a moment, she looked like she was about to apologize once more but then her eyes crossed his and she saw the mirth in them and they burst out laughing at the same time.
"I swear, the last time someone called me a nitwit was Mrs McCraggy, my teacher when I was eight and she was a very very old lady!" He added, barely managing to contain his laugh and she only redoubled in laughter herself, sitting back on the chair, her head tilted back as she tried to catch her breath.
"I'm sorry, that really was ... a ridiculous insult …" She managed to let out after a while, her voice still breathless and tainted with amusement, a wide smile tucking at her lips and a little pink tinting her cheeks. That was a nice look on her. "You're still a prat though …" She added just before throwing a small cushion at him. "… for trying to make me feel bad while I spent days taking care of everything while you were sleeping!"
"Hey! stop throwing stuff at me, I was in a terrible accident remember?" He replied, trying to lift his arm and leg and quickly realizing it was a bad idea. He didn't even remember hurting his wrist in the accident and now he had a cast on that descended down to his second set of knuckles and rendered his hand pretty much unusable.
"Please, if I wanted to hurt you with a cushion, I would have smothered you in your sleep!" She grinned.
"Fair point …"
"So …" He started after a moment of silence. "What did you do while you were waiting and trying to fight your killer instincts? Did you write a book or something?" He said, nodding towards her pile of books and notes and she chuckled.
"Actually, I spent quite a lot of time checking all your injuries and surgery reports. I looked up your doctors as well -you're in good hands by the way-. The injury on your leg is quite impressive -your tibia broke in two places- but it should heal completely, your wrist only has a small fracture and you broke a few small bones in your hand so that's going to take a little time but if you're careful and don't try to go too fast, there shouldn't be any lasting damage. The other bruises are benign and you apparently didn't hurt your head. All things considered, you've been pretty lucky and … what?" She interrupted herself when she saw the growing smile on his face.
"Nothing just … again it's just such a nice thing to do … no one's ever done something like that for me …" He let out, feeling a little vulnerable basically revealing to the girl who couldn't stand him that he'd never had a real friend in his entire life.
"Oh well … most people don't have the necessary phd to actually be able to understand all these reports anyway..."
"Jemma you know what I mean …"
"Yeah of course I do!"
"You were worried about me …" He insisted with a small grin.
"Ugh please Fitz!" She groaned and it only made him grin a little wider. "We still have to work together for weeks, I had to make sure you brain was still functioning"
"Oh" He let out, his eyebrows raising in surprise.
"What?"
"It's just I … I thought you would have used this opportunity to find another lab partner …" He replied as he realized he was actually glad she didn't.
"Well I have to admit the whole accident thing was quite a good excuse for not showing up so I couldn't really blame you …" She said and he snorted. "And also, turns out you're not the worst lab partner I could have …"
"Oh really and why …"
"Oh don't get me wrong" she cut him off. "You're completely infuriating but I guess you're all also kind of … challenging and you know how to use your own brain. I have to work with Milton in another class…"
"Ugh Milton!" Fitz let out with a disgusted face and Jemma could only nod at his reaction.
"… all he does is agree with me on everything, never has a single idea of his own. I might as well have my teddy bear as a lab partner like when I was eight!" She finished and Fitz couldn't help laughing.
"Nice … mine was a plush monkey but I get the idea …" he replied and it was her turn to laugh.
It was nice, this relaxed atmosphere between them and maybe it was the drugs talking but he felt some kind of connection with her. Maybe it was that thing all their teachers saw and that made them partner him up with Simmons every occasion they got. Maybe the fact that they were both young prodigies meant that they had more in common and that behind all the bickering and the snarky remarks and the apparent confidence, she felt as lonely as he did and as different from everyone else.
His train of thoughts was interrupted by steps approaching his room and the door opening. But just as he expected a doctor or a nurse, it was a much more familiar voice he heard.
"Is that laughing I'm hearing? I thought you two hated each other?"
"Mum?"
"Of course we do Ms Fitz! It's just a temporary truce while he's in the hospital." Jemma chirped before turning back towards Fitz. "Oh by the way Fitz, your mom flew in two days ago!"
"You don't say!" He snapped back at her.
"I told you to call me Aileen love" the older woman said with a soft smile before she moved towards her son's bed and a frown appeared on her forehead. "Leo, be nice to Jemma, she's lovely and she took care of you while you were alone because you were too stupid to call your own mother!" She chastised him.
Aileen Fitz was hard to mistake for someone other than her son's mother. Despite being darker, her hair had that same thick curly quality to it, she had the same bright blue eyes and soft facial features and of course, an unmistakable Scottish accent. Not to mention that everyone said his weird sense of humor came from her. Not that it could come from anyone else anyway.
He was about to retort something in the line of "not wanting to worry her" and "being old enough to be on his own at the hospital" but then she engulfed him in a tight hug that took his breath away. From the other side of the room, Jemma was looking at them with a mix of amusement and something else he couldn't quite define. When he crossed her gaze though, she waggled her eyebrows at him exaggeratedly and it was completely ridiculous but he still had to bite his lip not to smile at it.
"Well … I'm gonna go now Fitz, you're obviously in good hands." Jemma finally let out with a barely concealed smirk as Aileen proceeded to inspect all of her son's injuries while she chastised him for not being careful. Like it was his fault the car passed a red light when he was crossing the street.
Quickly enough, she finished gathering her books and stuff, put on her jacket and after giving Aileen a quick hug (was she usually this friendly to people she barely knew and was he the only exception?) and came to give Fitz a supremely awkward but surprisingly soft pat on the shoulder.
"Well Fitz I'll see you in class …" She said before turning around.
"Uh yeah … see you in class and hum … thanks again for hu everything …" He replied a little bashfully and he chastised himself internally. Why was he acting so awkwardly with her now that his mum was here? He sounded like he didn't know what to say, like he was intimidated or something when they always knew what to say to each other before. Granted, it was full of bickering and bantering and exasperated sighs but either of them had ever sounded shy when talking to each other except maybe for those five first minutes the first time they had to work together. But they soon got over this shyness when they realized how easily they could get on each other's nerves.
He supposed he was glad to see her leave now before she got to see more embarrassing gestures from his mum but still it had been nice to get a glimpse of what it could be like with her when they weren't constantly arguing over everything. She was really smart obviously but he'd also got to see how funny and witty she could be, even mischievous when given the opportunity. And it was almost sad to think that things would just go back to the way they were when he'd come back to class, hopefully sooner rather than later. When he thought about it, their relationship, if it could be called that, was the only real honest one he had since he came to the US. Most people didn't talk to him and when they did, it was always out of obligation, politeness or worse when they needed something from him. Jem-Simmons always spoke her mind without restriction and he's had some of the most fascinating -although nerve wracking- conversations he's ever had with her.
"Oh and Aileen?" Jemma called from where she was almost through the door.
"Yes love?"
"Thanks for showing me those baby pictures, they were absolutely delightful!" She said with a pointed look and a smirk towards Fitz.
"Ah ah hilarious Simmons! Really funny."
"Okay then goodbye Fitz!"
"Wait Simmons you're joking right?"
"Byyyye" She called out from outside the door and then he heard her walk away.
"Mum she's joking right?"
He turned around desperately towards his mother.
"Of course love!"
He knew that tone and he knew that smile and he didn't like it one bit.
Here it was: catastrophe. Just like he predicted.
"So ..." Aileen let out with another smile he liked even less than the other, like when she thought she'd outsmarted him for once. "When you said you hated her, you didn't mean like that Dudley boy who bullied you when you were ten …"
"Mum that was Dustin, Dudley's in Harry Potter, remember? But I don't know where you're going with that …"
"Oh yeah of course … What I mean to say is that you don't hate Jemma like you hated Dustin right? You hate her" She said, air quoting the word hate for emphasis. "like you hated Jenny, the pretty neighbor's girl back when you were thirteen, don't you?" She finished with a Cheshire cat grin.
"Ugh mum!"
And here it was: more catastrophe.
And okay maybe she'd been right about Jenny and she had been the first girl he kissed and made out with two years later when he was fifteen, but that didn't mean she was right about Jemma - Simmons god damn it- it didn't mean she was right about Simmons. He was almost an adult now, if he liked a girl, he could find other, more mature ways of letting her know.
"I'm happy for you sweetheart, it's good to know that you finally have someone to take care of you ..."
"Mum I don't … she's not ... we're not even friends, we're ... oh never mind, can I get more anesthetics please?"
