2013/09/30, 0700 hours, Budapest.
Skye feels the heat on her back, and an arm loosely wrapped around her waist – turns out Grey is a cuddler, who knew! The thought amuses her. She turns gently to refrain from waking the girl, and watches her sleep for a bit – she has a tranquil smile on her features, the kind you'd expect from Jemma Simmons in the mornings. One that carries a pure, sincere aura, and possibly can calm anyone, even in this Hydra mess. Just looking at it throws all thoughts of recent events to the back of her mind.
She realises she's staring after a couple of moments and diverts her eyes, a bit embarrassed. She looks to the sun rising through the window instead. The unforgiving rays make her squint her eyes, and she raises her hand to shield from them.
Then she hears a yelp.
"I couldn't believe you're actually a cuddler either, but I'm not complaining", Skye smirks, and faces the girl, who's moved as far as the bed let her. There is a mix of terror and lack of understanding that Skye wasn't expecting, "Grey, c'mon, it's not that big of a deal – I won't tell if you won't tell", and she throws a wink for emphasis.
"Skye, what are you talking about? Who's Grey? I'm supposed to be in the Bus! Oh, Fitz must be worried sick!", and it clicks: that's not Grey, that's Jemma Simmons.
"That's going to be super hard to explain, then", Skye purses her lips and looks to the side, sighing in the process – almost a non verbal form of her statement, her expression.
Jemma's clearly nervous, she's got widened eyes, she's rather conscious of her poor clothing (thus the death grip on her poor blanket), and she's shifty. Plus, it's quite clear she can't believe she's sharing a bed with Skye (much less cuddling with her), but that seems to be a minor detail, since she should be at the bus recovering from her third degree burns in the first place.
"So, yeah, how do I start?", Skye scratches her chin playfully, "you appeared here, told me your name was Agent Grey. Then you went on the mission with me: you spoke perfect Russian, impersonated someone else flawlessly, knocked down a couple of guards with headshots, we avoided an international crisis… and you gave me CQC advice. I think that sums it up. Oh, no, no! You also drove like a Bond girl, which was a terrifying experience"
By the time Skye's done, it isn't humanly possible to scowl further than Jemma's currently doing. She shakes her head, trying to make sense of it all. "What?", she finally asks dumbly.
"I know, right! Apparently your other personality's super cool", Skye finds the girl's confusion amusing, especially because it mirrored her own confusion last night.
"I don't have other personalities!", Jemma shrieks.
"Evil twin, then?", Skye tries to lighten up the mood, but it doesn't work, "Hey, listen, chill, okay? You kind of saved the day, there, with your superspy skills", Jemma stares at the wall, with an expression that's perfectly in between 'I'm about to cry' and 'I can't bloody get any of this'.
"What more did I do?"
"I think you flirted with the Bulgarian ambassador, who seems to think you were a charmer, he even invited you to go to Sofia. Don't know after that, you kind of disappeared for half an hour or so", Jemma's utter shock face evokes a chuckle in Skye, "Kidding! Ha, boy, that was a good one… ouch! Right, sorry!", she recoils her arm and massages the part Jemma just hit.
They're interrupted by Coulson's call on the comm.
2013/09/30, 0830 hours, somewhere in the Hungarian air space.
"Take a seat, you two", Coulson motions at the chairs.
Jemma's stomach sinks. She feels like she's in the principal room, ready to be punished for skipping class. Which she thinks isn't far from the truth, except for the skipping class part – more like skipping recovery, which is even dumber.
"Yesterday I received two mission reports, interestingly, considering this was Skye's solo mission", he puts his hands together with only the fingers touching, and rest them on the table, looking from Jemma's anxious expression to Skye's laid back smile. He grabs a page from his drawer – Grey's mission report – and reads it out loud. He finishes with "I can't say I'm not surprised"
"We're all surprised, AC", Skye cuts in, "Simmons here almost had a heart attack when I told her what I knew this morning", she lifts the corner of her lip and eyes Simmons, who looks like she wants to sink into the chair.
"And I'm assuming you wrote it all on yesterday's report"
"Yes", she throws in an emphatic nod.
"Simmons, do you know something else besides what Skye told you?"
"I have no recollection of what happened, much less how it did, or why", she seems genuinely embarrassed to admit, straying her gaze down to her lap. In that moment, to further her self-consciousness, May joins them in the room, standing by the door.
"Can't you investigate this on the lab, somehow?", Simmons makes her 'I'm thinking super quickly' face. She scowls at the floor for a couple of moments, then presses her eyebrows together, a bad sign, from what Skye knows of her.
"If I can't witness or monitor myself in this alternate state, it's very hard to run relevant tests. I need a partner to conduct this. It can't be Fitz, since he isn't suitable for this biology intensive work", she seems apologetic to be the biologist and the infected person.
"Until we figure out what's happening, the events of last night can't leave this room, am I understood? We don't know what we're dealing with, and after recent events, I want to take no risks", he receives affirmative nods from both girls – a more clenched one from Skye, who predictably disagrees, but chose to stay silent, "now please leave us", they both wait until the girls have closed the door.
"A 0-8-4 and now a split personality disorder? I hope there's still a place in S.H.I.E.L.D. most diverse team contest, we'd win hands down this year", May takes a seat across from Coulson, who chuckles at the deadpan.
"Did you read Skye's report?", he places both elbows on the table and leans on it.
"Grey's right, it sounds like a journal", she sits back in her chair.
"Didn't you find Grey's sequence of actions and abilities rather… familiar?", he squints one of his eyes more than the other.
"I knew you'd say that. But I can't see a reason for her to be involved"
"But we have nothing on it! Simmons doesn't remember, and can't investigate, and Skye only knows what she described in the report. I'd say it's our best shot", he states emphatically, "Maybe she can point us in the right direction. Or she may even know something about it", he offers as afterthoughts.
"Coulson, all of Hydra is also tracking her. This won't be easy",
"It's good that I have a plan, then", he gives the knowing smile he's famous for and May merely sighs, stands up, and opens the door for both of them.
2013/09/30, 0900 hours, somewhere in the Romanian air space.
"We've been tracing increased Hydra activity in the past few days. Very worrisome, since they acquired gravitonium not that long ago, and we haven't heard from them in a while", Coulson begins to the rest of the team in the briefing room, "The spikes come from two major areas – Kathmandu, Nepal; and Bangkok, Thailand", he points to what looks like a heat chart and Skye wonders how he got that information – is Hydra becoming that sloppy that even non existent-S.H.I.E.L.D. can graph their communications? Somehow, she doubts it, but she keeps the thought to herself. "We need to obtain more information on both of these fronts, as quickly as we can. So we're splitting the team – May, you're responsible for the Bangkok operation, take Trip and Fitz along; Skye, Simmons and I are going to Kathmandu"
"Agent Coulson, sir, Simmons cannot take a mission with those burns", Fitz speaks up.
"If she's healthy enough to sneak out and follow Skye to Budapest – to do God-knows-what –, I have to disagree", he smiles in that particular way which reassures people he's right. Skye glances at Simmons, who couldn't be redder, and is shielding herself from Fitz's gaze, "teams, assemble for briefing, we leave tomorrow at dawn"
May leads her team out, with Fitz glancing back every half a second. Once they're out of earshot, Simmons scowls at Coulson, and Skye speaks up, "no offence, AC – and Simmons –, but did you really have to imply me and Simmons are having… something?"
"It's 'Simmons and I', although I agree with your point", Skye rolls her eyes, while Coulson smiles at both girls.
"Well, it seemed like the most believable explanation for your little escapade, since you two are always hugging each other", Skye puts on her confusion face and Simmons lets out an exasperated sigh, "Now shall we get to the mission?", Coulson ignores the two reactions and pulls a map of Kathmandu on screen.
2013/09/30, 1230 hours, somewhere in Iranian airspace.
"I can't believe you didn't tell me", after three hours of briefing, that's absolutely not what Simmons wanted to hear, "you're my best friend, Simmons, we tell each other everything. Why didn't you tell me you were dating Skye?", she puts her book down to find her best friend staring at her, betrayal and seriousness mixed on his face.
"Fitz… ", she starts and is interrupted by Skye coming through the door, sitting besides her, and kissing her cheek. She feels said cheek burning, but Skye doesn't seem to notice.
"It's my fault she didn't tell you, I asked her not to tell anyone", Skye swings an arm over Simmons, "hope you're not mad", Skye swears Simmons is holding her breath, and frozen in place, but she doesn't give it much of a thought. She just concentrates on convincing Fitz that they are a proper couple.
"Surprised would be a more appropriate word", Fitz says, while frowning at the pair, clearly noticing the rather comical vibe they're letting on – Skye's draped over Simmons, who looks utterly uncomfortable with the situation.
"Ah, surprised is not that bad", Skye waves it off, giving him a cheeky grin. She throws a glance and a smirk at Simmons, who gives him the worst forced smile in history. Skye holds back a her frustration at Simmons' negative ability to pretend, and kisses her cheek again.
Is that a blush?
"I suppose", he's still in clear disbelief. Skye finds it amusing, but Simmons looks self-conscious, and is trying to avoid Skye's gaze as much as possible. If she could, she'd unwrap herself from Skye too, but that would compromise everything.
"So, how are the preparations for the Bangkok mission?", the change of subject surprises the pair, since they can't stop focusing on the elephant in the room.
"They're fine, I guess", he shrugs, and tries to hold Simmons' gaze. In turn, she's trying to smile, but seems to have forgotten the proper way to do it. Skye watches the interaction and can't help thinking how she misses Agent Grey right now.
"Thrilled to go on a mission with May? I bet you're dying to handle her multitude of expressions", this makes Fitz smile – there's some hope for this conversation, she celebrates internally!
"Not really. I don't think I'm her favourite person", he wrinkles his nose and scratches his neck.
"I don't think May has a favourite person", Skye looks up, as if she was stating a very obvious fact, and she complements it with a nose wrinkling smile of her own.
May's throat clearing comes from the doorframe, and Skye gets this adorable 'I stole from the cookie jar' face, making Simmons forget about the arm around her and muffle a laugh, "Agent Fitz, the briefing's restarting", Fitz jumps from the bed and follows her. The door closes, but Simmons's still holding back a laugh from Skye's embarrassment.
"That was awkward", Skye finally says, and she joins in Simmons' quiet laughs. She's still got her arm around Simmons, and she kind of pulls her into her shoulder while laughing. That triggers something is Simmons' head, because she's back to stiff in less than a second, "oh, sorry, I didn't realise I still had…", Skye mumbles at Simmons' obvious discomfort, "I mean, we had to convince him and all, so yeah"
"Do you think it worked?", Simmons has this down to business tone that suggests to Skye she's hiding something.
"Thanks to your flawless acting", Skye grins at Simmons to explicitate the sarcasm, in case her tone isn't enough.
"You're hilarious, Skye", Simmons shakes her head, trying to smile and keep her annoyance to herself. Skye doesn't miss it though: something about the arrangement is bothering Simmons, and she can't put her finger on it.
2013/09/30, 2100 hours, province of Bihar, India – approx. 100km north of Patna.
The day was rather exhausting, in Simmons' opinion. Somewhere in between finding out she had a second personality, being recruited for an ops mission and faking a fling with Skye to the rest of the team, she found herself at wit's end. She's desperate to be alone and have no excitement whatsoever until their departure to Kathmandu, so she's rather gleeful when Coulson finally announces the end of their mission's preparations, and sends them off to bed.
She takes a long, hot shower, puts on her warm pyjamas, her glasses and cuddles with her latest biology read. The perfection of it all makes her smile.
There's a knock on the door. Oh, no.
Whoever it is knocks again. Simmons feels her dread and takes a deep breath before asking the person to come in.
"Hey", Skye looks at her from across the dark room – the only source of light being Simmons' reading lamp. She's in nightwear as well (albeit much more revealing nightwear), and has her laptop and some papers tucked under her arm. The girl comes in and sits cross-legged on the floor, rather near the bed where Simmons is wrapped under the covers.
She hands the papers to Simmons, "this is my report from yesterday's mission. Just stole it from Coulson's office", Simmons' eyes widen, and Skye's certain her thoughts involve the words 'bad girl shenanigans'. "Thought you might want to take a look at them yourself, you know, because you seem pretty uncomfortable about the double personality thingy – not that I blame you, I'd freak out too"
She waits for Simmons to finish her read in silence, not noticing how she's actually staring at Simmons. To her, she's merely taking in the black-rimmed glasses, which she never knew the girl wore; being amazed by the speed her eyes darted from side to side on the page; and observing how the source of light hits the girl's face, highlighting the burns along her jawline. See? Totally not a big deal.
Simmons, however, is super aware of it.
"Is there something wrong?", Simmons finally asks, not looking at Skye and feeling her cheeks hot again. She pretends she's still reading, but she can't really take in a word.
"Nothing – I just didn't know you wore glasses", Skye again notices the faint rosier colour that arises on the girl's features. Maybe she's embarrassed of faking a fling and doesn't really know how to behave, especially after all the kissing on the cheek during lunch break.
Thinking now, maybe all that was a little bit exaggerated.
"Strictly for reading", Simmons replies dryly and tries to focus on the damn paragraph she's stuck on for the last minutes. "Wow", she needn't really say it, because the 'wow' is written all over her face. "This is unbelievable"
"Tell me about it! When you started speaking Russian I almost blew the entire mission with my surprise", Skye flashes a lazy smile. "And you were like 'just shut up and smile'. It was this weird role reversal – I kind of felt bad for you afterwards, with all the times I told you the same", Skye's eyes are straying and, when they finally meet Simmons', they look apologetic. It made Simmons smile warmly.
"And why were you so thankful to Agent Grey?", Simmons flashed genuine curiosity.
"Ugh, I don't want to talk about it…", she cringes dramatically. Simmons squints her eyes, raises her eyebrows, and raises the corner of her lip. Looks like Simmons isn't giving up anytime soon. "All right, all right. I kind of made out with this gross security guard because he almost caught me disabling the alarm in my tablet", Simmons starts laughing, with her eyes forcefully closed and adds a 'ew'. Seeing her so relaxed after this overwhelming day makes Skye overlook the awfulness of the memory and join in, "your alter ego even made a joke about it – and that's saying something, she's not much of a joker", and she continues the story, filling Simmons in with the details.
"Are you okay with all the pretending we're doing?", she asks out of the blue, finally finding the moment appropriate – and mustering the courage – for it. Simmons' discomfort comes back in a smaller dose.
"It's not like we have a choice. Director Coulson's right, there seems to be no other plausible reason for me to go down to Budapest to meet you. Helping you in an ops mission is an even worse excuse", she answers quietly.
"But I mean, I could tone down all the PDAs – I really wanted to convince Fitz, but I think it sort of backfired, and made you uncomfortable, didn't it?", she tilts her head and makes another apologetic face – a quite adorable one. Skye observes attentively Simmons' reaction to the question, because she gets the feeling she won't get anything from the girl otherwise. She's certain she sees a shadow of doubt there, but she waits patiently for the answer.
"It's fine, Skye, I was just… taken aback", she states very calmly, in an almost controlled manner.
"Let's face it – it's kind of cool we get to play the best looking not-couple in all S.H.I.E.L.D. Think about it for a moment…", Simmons smiles broadly at the cocky comment. Classic Skye.
"Be right back", and she leaves. When she's back, she's got her pillow and blanket in hand, and Simmons gets this desperate 'that's not what I meant!' expression from the sight, "What?"
"You're… sleeping here?", Simmons grows super nervous, so she speaks slowly, as if that would convince Skye that it was a bad idea.
"Yeah!", she frowns at the obvious question, "C'mon, you went all the way down to fucking Budapest, recovering from burns, to sleep with me – allegedly. Why wouldn't you now that we were outed by Coulson?", Simmons' mouth gaps and she's frozen in place – that's very, very far from what she meant. However – and unfortunately –, she definitely doesn't have a good excuse to get herself out of this one, so she might as well play along, very hesitantly. She lets out a sigh.
"You're right, I guess", she says weakly. Skye then starts making her bed on the floor.
Oh, that's what she meant. Of course.
But now Simmons is beyond torn: her proper side is telling her that she shouldn't let Skye sleep on the floor. Her sane side, however, says that it's for the best. She closes her eyes and concentrates on her breathing.
"I'm not allowing you to sleep on the floor", she hears herself saying, and immediately regrets it.
"It's fine, I know you find this all very awkward, so let's not make it more", Skye pats her pillow and lays on her side, facing the girl on the bed. She tries to hide her pain, but when she adjusts, her hip bone grinds against the floor and she makes a face.
"No, no, you'll get yourself injured, which is the last thing you need before a big mission", Simmons says, then makes space in the bed by moving backwards and pulling the blanket.
"All right, Doctor Simmons", Skye brings her pillow along and lays besides the girl. She kind of wants to make a joke about playing doctor in their pretend fling, but the look on Simmons' face warns against it – she seems nervous as hell. But why?
Skye takes a brief moment to think back through the day, and gets recurring evidence that Simmons seemed to avoid, albeit politely, contact with her; and dreaded it, when it needed to happen. A rather disconcerting, and sad, thought.
Skye turns her back to Simmons, trying to ignore Simmons and her recent conclusion. When she finds out she can't, she says: "It's cool, Simmons. I assure you I only bite on request. Now have a good night"