Bobbi, along with the rest of the pod, was panicking. It had gotten later and later and still Jemma hadn't returned like she'd asked her to. What if something had happened? The sharks could have found her, or any number of terrible things could have happened. She shouldn't have let her go in the first place.
The whole pod was worried, and everyone of age gathered in the water just outside the caves before nightfall. It took quite a bit of debating, many of them wanted to send someone to search for Jemma now, but many argued that it would only endanger more of them to send anyone out at night. In the end, it was still the choice of their pod leader, May, to make the decision. Even though she loved Jemma, May was logical, so Bobbi knew she wouldn't be getting permission to search for her sister until morning.
When the sun did rise, Bobbi was the first one up, having been selected as the mermaid to find Jemma. She knew the whole area the best, having mapped it, and she was a fast swimmer. She also spent the most time with Jemma, so if anyone would know where she was, it was Bobbi.
Bobbi stared at the map she and Jemma had made, trying to hold herself together. She was sick with worry, she wouldn't be able to live with herself if something had happened to Jemma after Bobbi had been the one to let her go the previous day.
As her eyes scanned over the map, they landed on one particular spot. The edge. Jemma was smart, Bobbi knew this. If she had gone to see Skye and it had gotten late, she was smart enough not to get back in the water. Spending the night on shore was horrifically dangerous, though, so it didn't ease any of her worry.
Bobbi took off at top speed, making the ten miles to where she knew Skye seemed to always appear in less than twenty minutes. When she did arrive at her destination, Bobbi's head broke the surface of the water, but only behind the same rock as before. When she did reveal herself, she was surprised, though she didn't know what she had been expecting. Skye was there, and Jemma was there. They were together. This hadn't been the surprise, though, it was the fact that Jemma was currently asleep, her head on Skye's shoulder and chest.
Bobbi was so amazed that Jemma trusted a human enough to let herself be so vulnerable like that, but she was even more impressed that a human was being so kind. Skye looked like she was holding Jemma so gently, protecting her from the world around them.
Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe not all humans were horrible beings. As far as Bobbi could tell, they'd been seeing each other for more than a full moon, and Skye still had yet to hurt her. Bobbi didn't know what had upset Jemma so much the night she'd gotten bitten by a shark, but it didn't look like it was an issue now.
If she wasn't mistaken, Bobbi was actually beginning to feel a little respect towards Skye. The human had managed to make Jemma attached to her, so she had to he a good person.
Bobbi slowly sank back under the water, not wanting to disturb either of them. She could tell the pod that she found Jemma and that she was fine, since it was the truth.
The wind was starting to get warm again as the sun came up, and in her sweater and pressed up so close against Jemma, Skye was starting to get hot. Between this and the seagulls now flying about and squawking everywhere and so loud, she woke up. It wasn't necessarily a gentle, slow awakening...more like she had forgotten where she was and was worried why she was on the beach. She moved to sit up, when she felt a weight on her chest and she stopped.
Skye looked down and Jemma was there, still sound asleep. It made her smile and as gently as she could, she rested back down, not wanting to disturb the mermaid. She was hungry,and her stomach growled, making her cringe and hope that Jemma hadn't heard it. She had forgotten to eat last night, having settled down with the mermaid and then been so taken aback by the 'I love you'. Her heart swelled at remembering, and her hand instinctively now reached up and touched the scale on her necklace. They were together now...or at least it would be official official when Skye made something of importance for her in a similar fashion. She still didn't know what to do, but she did know Jemma would love whatever she gave her.
She also wasn't sure what time it was. She knew she had class in the mornings, but her phone had died overnight and she didn't want to leave the mermaid until she woke up and Skye knew she felt well enough to swim. She also wanted to look at her wounds again before she left to make sure it wouldn't attract any sharks. So now, instead of letting herself worry more, she shifted slightly closer and wrapped both of her arms around the mermaid, one hand holding her back and around her shoulders and another at her waist, absentmindedly rubbing small circles on her scales.
A pleased little noise slipped out of Jemma's lips before she even realized she was awake. She did open her eyes to a pleasant surprise, though. Skye's hands on her tail and her back made her shiver in delight and press herself even more tightly against her.
"Good morning." Jemma sighed happily, breathing in Skye's scent. She wanted to stay like this forever, but she knew Skye probably had places to be, and they could do this any time. The pain from her back and shoulder had dissipated overnight, so Jemma sat up slightly and held her weight on her elbows, just laying on her stomach and looking at Skye's face with a small smile on her own.
"I feel a lot better now." Jemma told her happily, moving her shoulders slightly to show her. "How did you sleep?"
"I slept fine," Skye smiled and sat up too, propping herself up on her elbows as well, her back only a little off the blanket since she seemed to sink some in the sand when she pushed against it. "Did you sleep alright? You were super tired..." She chuckled. Once Skye had said they could sleep, Jemma had practically drifted off right then. The day before had been a big ordeal for her, so she couldn't blame her.
She was very glad too that Jemma was feeling better. She had hated the sight of her in pain and bleeding when Skye had first seen her the day before. She had practically had a heart attack. She wanted to lay here longer with Jemma, but she knew they both probably had things to be doing. They had both stayed out all night, which might be common for Skye, but she knew it wasn't for Jemma. She was surprised Bobbi hadn't come to harass her to let her sister go yet. Well, Jemma had some news for her.
"I don't want to get up..." She complained and rolled over onto her side to get closer. Skye hesitated a second, but she leaned over and gave the mermaid a gentle kiss before pulling away, looking a little embarrassed. She wanted more of that too, but they had plenty of time for that later, just not right now.
"That's uhm...that's a good morning kiss. It's a thing..."
"Is it now?" Jemma chuckled at the embarrassed look on Skye's face. "Well, if it's a thing..." Jemma grinned and leaned in a second time, pressing her lips up against her partner's. It was sweet and lasted a few seconds longer. Jemma thought she was getting better at this, if Skye's face had anything to say about it. She was all red and flushed and it was adorable.
"As much as staying here forever would be nice, I should get back to the pod and let them know I haven't been eaten by sharks." Jemma joked. "And don't you have class?" She asked.
The artist was fairly certain she would never be able to get over kissing her. She had kissed other people before and she supposed she had enjoyed it, but this blew everything out of the water. This was better by a long shot and honestly, Skye hoped she never got used to it. She wanted it to feel this amazing every time.
Jemma spoke the truth though, and Skye's embarrassed face fell into a small frown, "Yeah...I do." It came out like a grumble as she eyeballed the blanket. Her eyes lifted back up to Jemma then, looking sad, "Guess we have to get up then...I'd rather just stay here though. Who really needs to learn about the French Revolution? Certainly not me," she chuckled, but forced herself to sit up all the way. She was a sandy mess. The blanket had helped, but sand would always, without a doubt, get everywhere she didn't want it. She would have to hurry too, since she didn't know the time.
Jemma finally managed to peel herself away from Skye, and she laughed at her joke even though she had no idea what the French Revolution was. It felt odd now to be in the sweater, and now that the sun was about to start beating down on them, she figured it was time to take it off, even if it did smell wonderfully like Skye.
It was easier this time, Jemma managed to pull the sweater over her head with ease now that her injury was probably no longer an injury. Mermaids healed pretty quickly, and whatever magical something the shaman could have added to her medicine the day before would have helped too.
Skye was already trying to shove everything back into her bag. She could shake the sand out at her house after class. When Jemma took off the sweater, she shoved that in too, before taking her own off and putting it in as well. She had a white T-shirt on underneath, and when she pulled her sweatpants off she had some jogging shorts under there as well. She was practically ready for school, all she had to do was drop by her house and pick up her bookbag and drop these bags off.
She shook out her hair before pulling it back up and finally turned to Jemma, seeing the bandages.
"Here, let me check to make sure you're alright. You can tell me you are but I'm not gonna believe unless I see," she emphasized the last word and knelt down next to Jemma, undoing the gauze she had wrapped the night before and took away the padding only to be confused when she saw no wounds at all, only a series of small scars where the punctures had been.
"Uh...uhm...you're uhm...what? You're all better? What kind of mermaid voodoo is this? You're like the Wolverine or something?" She realized then Jemma wouldn't get the reference and she sighed, "Is this more magic stuff I don't know about?!"
Jemma smiled at Skye's amazement, it was like she was finally seeing how she acted herself most of the time. She hadn't really explained a lot of it, so she might as well now, if Skye was curious.
"Well, every pod has a shaman. They do all kinds of magic, like making that potion I used to go on land the other day. They're also our healers, since magic is a lot more effective." Jemma explained in the simplest way possible. The look on Skye's face was priceless, and Jemma wondered if that's how she looked most of the time.
"He put a solution on the wounds the night it happened, and apparently it just took effect last night. He used the weak stuff on me, the more powerful, fast-acting ones are saved for life or death emergencies."
"Well...that's awesome. I mean at least you have stuff like that...we have doctors but they don't use magic. People would probably like it better if we did..." She didn't know how to explain doctors and what they did, so she didn't try to. She just told that they were sort of like shamans. It sounded like if magic was involved, mermaids couldn't really die. People died all the time because they didn't have proper care.
"I'm glad you're ok then...I can worry about you a little less," Skye rubbed a finger over the marks before pulling away and packing the rest of her things.
"I really need to go now, Jems...I'm gonna be late, if I'm not already..." Skye said, but she was still hesitant to leave her. She didn't want to, not ever.
"I know. You better hurry." Jemma told her. She would rather Skye never left as well, but they both had things to do at the moment and it wasn't like they would never see each other again.
Jemma slid off the quilt so Skye could pack that up too, and she tried not to feel disappointed when Skye was ready to go. She really shouldn't have been, it would probably only be a few hours until they saw each other again.
"When the sun is high?" Jemma asked with a laugh and a hopeful smile as she slid back down to the water's edge. It was almost strange to feel the waves lap against her tail again when she'd been so dry. She knew Skye liked to see her swim away first, so she was ready whenever Skye was.
"Yeah, definitely," Skye smiled and packed up the bags, slinging her satchel over her shoulder. She turned to watch to make sure Jemma left alright, waving to her before she left. Once Skye felt satisfied she hurried to the rock wall and got up and over it as quick as she ever had. She had to sprint down the beach and then pedal at top speed to her house.
She ignored her mother as she rushed up the stairs, and dodged her questions as she rushed back down, bookbag in hand, and pretended not to hear her mother call for her as she got back onto her bike and pedaled away, leaving her with only an "I'M LATE!" as an answer.
She was, of course, late to history, and Ward noticed, but she slipped in and took her seat, looking a hot mess. She had spent the night on a beach after all and hadn't gotten to do any of her regular morning rituals. The teacher unfortunately took notice as well and called her out on it which made her face go red.
It had all definitely been worth it though and as she opened her notebook to take notes she found herself drawing out ideas for a return gift for Jemma that would be the symbol of her eternal love. No pressure at all to make it perfect...sarcasm of course, because she felt a lot of pressure to make it perfect. It had to be waterproof, it had to be special, it had to be as beautiful as Jemma, and it had to mean something.
She could see Ward eyeballing her from her desk and so she slowly shifted till her free arm was shielding the paper from his view. She was so enthralled with it that she didn't notice class was over until a big hand slammed down on her drawing.
"Whatcha doing there, Johnson? Miss me yet?" Ward was looking down on her with that smug smile she hated.
"No, and none of your business," she shoved his hand away and shut her notebook quickly, standing up to find only that he didn't move and he was much too close to her for her liking, leaning over her.
"Move Ward, you're going to make me late," she shoved past him, annoyed and also afraid. Since she had stopped being 'friends' with him, he hadn't exactly been nice...not that he was nice before.
"As I recall...you were already late. And you missed yesterday. You never miss...I think you're up to something. Seeing that cute friend of yours? She give you that necklace? You two best pals now...or more than best pals? Benefits kinda pals? See Johnson, if I wasn't such a good friend, I might try and get some of that for myse-"
"Back the fuck off, Ward!" Skye shoved past him and grabbed her bookbag, slinging it over her shoulder, and stormed out of the classroom.
He had no business asking her about her life. He had no right. He especially had no right to ask about Jemma and it nearly set her on fire to think on what he had almost said. If Jemma was ever on land again, and he touched her, she'd kill him. Without hesitation she would take her bare hands and strangle the shit out of him. Skye was so worked up she didn't notice her bag was lighter than normal.
Jemma didn't have to rush as much as Skye to get home, though she didn't take her sweet time either. She knew her pod would be worried, she was actually surprised they hadn't sent Bobbi to hunt her down sooner.
"Thank Hygieia you're all right." Bobbi caught Jemma in a hug the moment she reached the edge of the caves. Bobbi knew her sister wouldn't particularly appreciate the spying she'd done, so she was just going to pretend as if she hadn't seen anything at all.
"I'm perfectly fine." Jemma chuckled and returned the quick hug, also having to move on to assure several other mermaids and mermen that had been concerned about her that she was alright.
Bobbi would have been lying to say she had been expecting Jemma to be at least a little more upset than this. She'd been bitten by a shark and even after that she'd seemed like something huge was bothering her, but she looked like she could literally light up the cave with her smile. It was a complete change from the last time she'd seen her, but Bobbi couldn't quite pinpoint what seemed different about her.
Even though Jemma insisted she was fine, May still ordered her to stay in the cave for a little while and basically assigned Bobbi as her babysitter, which wasn't new. Jemma was a little old for this, she had to admit, but the whole pod knew she was sometimes too curious for her own good.
"What are you so smiley about?" Bobbi finally asked with a laugh after nearly an hour of them working on little details of the map on the wall. Not once during the whole thing was Jemma not smiling, and it made Bobbi curious.
"It's nothing, really." Jemma said, but she was still smiling. If Bobbi didn't know any better she would have thought her face had gotten stuck. There really was no explanation for her sudden burst of happiness. Yes, she'd seen Skye, but as far as Bobbi could tell she'd seen Skye every day. So what was different?
Bobbi's eyes searched over all of Jemma, mostly focussing on the pouch at her waist. For some reason it looked like there was more inside than before she met Skye, and it made Bobbi want to look at the contents, though she would never invade Jemma's personal space like that.
There was one tiny detail though, and if Bobbi hadn't been staring at the pouch she wouldn't have seen it in the first place. There was one spot on her tail where there should have been a scale, but there was only a partial one. It was growing back. That couldn't have been from the shark, could it? It wouldn't have been just one scale. When the realization finally hit her, Bobbi gasped.
"Jemma..." She practically whispered, not taking her eyes off the small spot on her tail.
Jemma froze. Just by the tone in Bobbi's voice she just knew she knew somehow. When she turned to face her, Jemma followed Bobbi's line of sight with her own and realized what she was staring at.
"I...have a partner?" Jemma said, shrugging. She didn't really know how Bobbi was going to take this and her words came out nervously. It wouldn't take a genius to figure out just who Jemma's partner was. She hadn't taken a particular liking to any of the mermen- or even the mermaids, as that was accepted, though not common- and she spent all her free time with Skye.
"You didn't." Bobbi was in denial, clearly. There was nothing Jemma could really do but wait for the information to sink in. When it did, she saw the look in Bobbi's eye that meant she was very upset and Jemma was about to have it laid on her.
"I can't believe this." Bobbi groaned, massaging her temples with the thumb and middle fingers of one hand. "You can't partner up with a human!" Bobbi started, and Jemma knew she was in for it. "Well, you can, there wasn't a clearly stated rule about it, but that doesn't make it right!"
"Why not? I love Skye and she loves me, it's no different than my mum and dad, May and Coulson, or any other partner here." Jemma tried to make Bobbi feel better about this, but there was really no way to explain the way she felt about Skye or how it was possible.
"Even if that's true, and I'm not saying it is, it can't work!" Bobbi started. She'd definitely lost what little respect she had for Skye now. She wasn't sure Skye was aware of what this meant. The two of them were bound for life, and if something happened to either of them they wouldn't even have anyone ever again. That was it. For Jemma to choose such a liability as a partner... It was crazy. "You can't live together, you can't stay on land and she can't stay down here. And what are you going to do when we migrate? Bring her with us? You know as well as I do that we don't stay in one place forever."
Jemma hadn't thought about some of the things Bobbi was saying beforehand, things had just happened. She still couldn't find herself regretting it, but she was concerned about the things Bobbi was pointing out. All Jemma could ever give Skye was afternoons and evenings, and not even all the time, since pods migrated, sometimes moving away from their previous places of residence for months, years, sometimes never even coming back at all. What would she do if her pod decided to leave?
"What happens when someone besides me inevitably finds out about you two? You could be banished, and that's only merpeople! I know you trust Skye, but if another human found out on accident, you could be caged, prodded with, and even though it sounds ridiculous, harpooned, or something similar." Bobbi made several good points, points that made Jemma bow her head as Bobbi continued to speak. Still, she didn't regret any of it.
"I didn't choose my partner on technicalities or for convenience, Bobbi." Jemma told her, her voice cracking slightly. "I chose Skye because I love her more than I love anyone else, and that's what partners are." With that, Jemma slipped into the water and began the swim back to the beach, trusting Bobbi not to say anything about this to the rest of the pod. She had to do it at the right time and it had to come from her, if she was going to tell them.
Skye spent the rest of her classes brooding and when at last she finally got out, she hurried home in an effort to avoid Ward. She took a quick shower so she would at least smell a little less rustic for Jemma and put on her usual now that all of her bruises had faded.
She felt in the mood to draw Jemma today, like she did every day, but today felt extra special because now they were partners. Skye was hesitant to say girlfriends because it was more permanent than that. They weren't exactly married either, because that was a human concept, and she liked Jemma's word. Just...she couldn't find her sketchbook for anything. She searched everywhere and finally when she realized she was already late, she left the house without it.
So she had to run once she got to the beach, lest Jemma start to panic. She tossed her bag and then soon followed, landing on the other side of the wall and didn't even look for a rock tower before she was already calling out Jemma's name, a huge smile on her face. She was a little peeved she hadn't found her one free sketchbook but she had so many she probably just misplaced it. She did want to see what Jemma thought of the drawings she had done of her ideas for her gift, to see which one she liked the best, but she had left it in her rush to get here. It would just have to be a surprise.
Skye was already stripping off her shirt, revealing the bikini top, glad now that she could do this again since her bruises were gone. She was sure Jemma would appreciate it just as much as she did.
"Skye." Jemma grinned and slipped out from behind her rock, pulling up onto the shore and laying on her stomach like she had the first day they met. She was still a little down from Bobbi's verbal scolding, but meeting up with Skye again wiped away all of that. There was a little debate going on her her head, though, it didn't really affect her, at least not yet. She'd much rather enjoy her time with Skye when they were both happy.
Instead, Jemma had a surprise planned, though she wasn't sure Skye would exactly like it, at least not at first. She wouldn't be offended if Skye didn't want to try it, either, since it was in the water. It was lucky that today had been the day Skye had decided to wear a swimsuit again, not just for the sake of Jemma's eyes.
"I have a surprise for you if you're willing to go out of your comfort zone just a little bit." Jemma told her, holding up two fingers only an inch apart to try to show her how little it was. Maybe that was lying. Jemma widened her fingers quite a bit more and gave Skye an apologetic shrug.
"Uh…that doesn't really look like a little, Jems," Skye laughed and slid out of her shorts and left her shoes in the sand before she walked down closer to the water…which Jemma was still in a little bit. Skye found this only a little odd. Normally she was all the way up by now but it was hot out so maybe she was just trying to keep cool.
"Do I really want to know what it is? That's an awful wide space between those fingers…" She chuckled and knelt down in front of Jemma, probably giving her a bit of a nice view as she did before leaning forward, a lot less hesitant this time, and pressed her lips against Jemma's for longer than she had this morning. When she pulled away, she was grinning, "And that was just because I missed you…it's a thing."
"Mhm... I'm sure it is." Jemma chuckled, cupping Skye's cheek with one hand like Skye had done to her before and kissing her again. This was definitely a perk to having a partner that was human, what mermaid would do this? Jemma nuzzled their noses together a little bit before finally pulling away, a slightly mischievous grin on her face.
"So will you keep an open mind?" Jemma asked, trying to think of the best way to convince Skye to get in the water. "I want to show you something really great, but you have to get in the water." There really wasn't an wasn't an easy way to tell Skye this, she just really wanted to share this with her and hoped Skye would be able to overcome her fear, at least a little bit.
"I'll be holding onto you the whole time, just like when I saved you the second time." Jemma assured her. "And you don't have to go underwater." She added, just for extra measure. Skye had explained the concept of puppy eyes to Jemma before, so she used her knowledge, tilting her head slightly and doing exactly what Skye had pointed out, trying to look as adorable and similar to a cute baby animal as possible.
Skye looked skeptical, and that was putting it lightly. Her face didn't really get any better either when Jemma mentioned she didn't even have to go under water. If anything covering the top of her foot, she tended to freak out about it. Of course a shower was a different story, but that and drinking it were really the only two ways Skye was going to actively take part in water. It was a relief to know that Jemma would be holding her. She was a mermaid…so obviously an excellent swimmer, but still.
She drew back a little, still frowning, looking past Jemma and out at the water. "I…I uhm…" She couldn't really form words. The mermaid looked so cute, and Skye knew she was using what she had taught her to her advantage of course. She hated to say no to Jemma but she was too afraid of water to even think about it. If she couldn't get in more than an inch how was she supposed to get deep enough that Jemma had to hold her to keep her safe?
Jemma had come up on land, but that's because she was curious. Skye was not. She was not at all that curious enough to just go, jump in, and see. In her nervous stuttering and looking into Jemma's eyes a half strangled, "sure" came out, which suddenly horrified her and she was practically frozen there on the beach, unable to retract her statement because of the excited face Jemma suddenly had.
Jemma's face did light up. Even though Skye didn't look so sure of herself, she was so glad that she was at least going to try it. Maybe what she had to show her would be worth it, she hoped at least.
"I promise you'll be fine. It'll be just like the ferris wheel, but switched. You've been on the ride a bunch of times and know it's safe, and I can assure the same thing for you." Jemma held out a hand for Skye, who looked terrified, honestly. Jemma appreciated her doing this and she was going to make sure Skye was perfectly safe. "You can hold onto me as tightly as you need to." Jemma told her.
"Y-yeah? I-I may s-strangle you…o-on accident of course," Skye gave a nervous smile as she took Jemma's hand and slowly took some steps into the water. It took her a moment to move beyond that, her mind and body battling between running back and going deeper. With Jemma guiding her, she settled on going deeper and the second the water got to mid-calf, Skye was gripping Jemma's hand tightly. She couldn't bring herself to move further, so she let Jemma pull her in, and soon enough Skye was deep enough that she was alternating between breathing too heavy and too quickly, and not breathing at all, arms wrapped securely around Jemma's neck and shaking in the water.
"S-So much f-fun…" it was sarcasm of course, which Skye had explained to Jemma before. Her legs were trying to wrap around the mermaid's waist in the water too. She didn't want her feet touching the bottom, feeling around to get messed with whatever could be down there in the sand. If she couldn't see them, she wanted them up.
"So…s-so what's my surprise, huh? A heart attack? Because y-you're doing a damn fine job…"
Jemma just smiled reassuringly and kept one arm wrapped around Skye's waist to help hold her up, though Skye was doing a sufficient job of it on her own, the human girl was clinging to her like a starfish. Jemma had to admit that she was not opposed to all of Skye's warm skin against hers, so she held onto her tightly.
Once Jemma was far enough into the water that her own tail didn't touch the ocean floor, she stopped and made sure to tread water and keep Skye's head and shoulders above the surface. Instead of answering Skye in English, she let out a call that sounded distinctly more high pitched and dolphin-like than the usual language of the merpeople.
It took less than a few minutes for Jemma to hear a nearby return cry, and even less time for a dark shape to slowly rise up in front of them. She could feel Skye tense, probably thinking a shark was about to snatch them up, but Jemma knew better. It was a long, thin, grey snout that poked out of the water, and soon the entire dolphin's head shot up, only a few inches from the odd pair. It squawked and made several series of clicks, and Jemma laughed as it nudged her with its nose.
A little click from Jemma soon had it calming down, and it floated there with a content look on its face as Jemma reached out and rested her hand between its eyes, rubbing gently.
"This is Fitz. He's part of a pod of dolphins nearby. Go on, you can pet him." Jemma grinned and watched Skye's face, trying to gauge her reaction.
"I-I'm not su-sure I want to pet him…" Skye mumbled, still holding tightly onto Jemma, but looking at the dolphin with significantly less fear than she would have had it been a shark. It didn't quite make her forget about the water, but she was now slightly curious…just not quite curious enough to remove her hand from the mermaid holding her up and keeping her from drowning.
With a little more encouraging, and a tighter grasp on her from Jemma, Skye steadily and very very slowly reached out her hand and lightly touched the slick feeling animal a couple of times before withdrawing her hand with much more speed, putting it back around Jemma's neck.
"It's c-cool you can talk to d-dolphins. Y-you're practically A-Aqua Man…" Skye tried to laugh at her own superhero reference but it didn't really work, coming out more of a nervous laugh still that faded a little too quickly.
"I have no idea what that means." Jemma laughed. "But yes, it is 'cool' that I can talk to dolphins. Not all of us can." Jemma explained. She was still focussed on how Skye was holding onto her for dear life, it was almost a funny perk of her being in the water actually.
Jemma made a few more noises and had the dolphin play around for Skye to watch, jumping in and out of the water and doing what sort of looked like dancing backwards on top of it.
Skye seemed to watch with interest, but Jemma could also tell that she very much wanted to be back on the sand. She was grateful for what little time she'd gotten Skye in the water, and that Skye trusted her enough to let her bring her out this far.
"Okay, let's get you back to shore, Starfish." Jemma joked. It was a short but slow swim back, and Jemma had to finally let go of Skye when they were too close for Jemma to actually swim anymore.
The terrified artist managed to give Jemma a quick kiss on the cheek before scrambling up into the sand, soaked and without a towel, since she certainly hadn't been expecting to get wet. She sat up on the dry sand, eyeing Jemma with a smile, "Your friend is nice…I'm sorry. I told you I was useless in the water…" She gave an apologetic smile, but was starting to calm down now that she could feel the warm sand under her toes.
She held out her hand then, motioning for Jemma to come back up with her. Even though she had hated the water for the most part, she had enjoyed being pressed up against the mermaid, and maybe, she might just get some of that out of the water too. "Do you have any more panic inducing surprises for me, hmm?"
"Not that I can think of right away..." Jemma played along, dragging herself up onto shore like always to be next to Skye. They were both coated in sand now that they were wet, it stuck to any part of them that touched the ground, which for Jemma was quite a bit. She pulled Skye into a big hug anyway, half to mess with her and cover her in sand and half just because she wanted to.
"Thank you for at least giving it a shot, even if you felt like you were about to die the whole time." Jemma kissed Skye solidly on the lips once before turning her attention back Fitz, who had started smacking his fin against the water and making a sound that made it seem like he was laughing at them. Jemma replied, and then Fitz was gone, zipping away back to his family like he'd never even come in the first place.
"Mmm…yeah, I'm not really sorry to say that I like this better," Skye grinned, stealing a quick kiss of her own before she tried to brush off some of the sand that Jemma had gotten onto her by hugging her. "I'm going to have to get back in just to get all this off…that's what you wanted wasn't it?" She joked and finally gave up, sitting back by propping herself up with her hands behind her. The artist looked down at the mermaid, grinning still, admiring how her tail glistened with the water on it in the sunlight, being reminded again of a colorful galaxy and wishing very much to draw it, only to remember that she couldn't. It didn't seem like a big issue, so she decided not to bring it up. Her room was a mess and truthfully, her sketchbooks were strewn everywhere. She could simply have misplaced it.
"Oh, I have a shift at the diner tonight so I can't stay as long as normal…I'm sorry," a pout appeared on her lips, but she sat up, changing her position to get closer to Jemma's tail, which she began to rub a hand along slowly, "I was running late getting back here too, so I didn't bring anything to show you today, but we can just talk. How was Bobbi? Was everyone super worried?"
Jemma's sigh was a mixed one, partially sad that Skye had to go, but also very content when Skye's hand made contact with her scales. No matter how many times it happened, she still couldn't get over the warm, fuzzy feeling it gave her. Skye's mention of Bobbi, however, was the thing that finally did make her let out a sad little sigh. She'd tried to forget about it, but it still made Jemma sad to remember how Bobbi wasn't even the least bit happy for them, she'd just been so negative. The rest of the pod would probably be even worse.
"Bobbi found out about us." Jemma blurted out. It was probably something Skye needed to know, since it was her family now too, and she might as well be prepared if Bobbi were to stop by again when Jemma wasn't here. "She wasn't very happy, and she said some not so great things, but I'm not going to let her get between us, so there really isn't anything to worry about." Jemma said firmly, though it sounded like she was trying to convince herself.
"Oh…" Skye sighed too, rubbing a hand through her hair before she remembered that it was covered in sand. She gave another exasperated sigh and her other hand stopped rubbing Jemma's tail, just resting on it lightly, "I guess…I can see how she would feel bad about it. I mean…we aren't exactly conventional…at least not by mermaids standards it sounds like. Certainly not by human ones either…" She picked the rubbing back up, trying to sooth the mermaid and make her feel better. Skye hated to see her upset, but she was glad that she sounded determined. She didn't miss the questioning tone, but Skye hoped that it would soon turn into a definite one.
"I'm not going anywhere though…and surely you can get some more leg potion? I mean it should sort of be required for you to be allowed to have some since…you know…your partner has legs. So even if we spend a lot of days on the beach, you could get some that we could go exploring on the island. I'll take whatever I can get of you."
"That sounds amazing, Skye. Truly." Jemma closed her eyes and practically molded into her partner, leaning in against her and resting her head on her shoulder. Skye was right about the pod basically being required to help her keep a supply of that potion. Partnership bonds were probably the most sacred thing in the world to merpeople, so even though there would surely be a lot of skepticism, there wasn't much they'd be able to do about it.
Jemma was definitely looking forward to more time on land with Skye, when she didn't have to struggle to stay comfortable with her tail while spending time with her. She often found herself wishing that she had been born a human, so that she and Skye could have a normal relationship, but she still didn't think she'd trade what they had for the world. It was special, and Jemma wouldn't ever give it up, not for anything.
"You should probably get going." Jemma knew that if she didn't urge Skye to go she'd stay here all night and ignore her responsibilities, so even though it pained her to have to go back to the caves and spend the night trying not to argue with Bobbi, she knew she had to convince Skye to go home.
"I've got a few more minutes…" Skye smiled and just let herself relax, enjoying the feel of the two of them fitting together like a snug puzzle piece. "I can make the beach run in eight minutes now, and then biking home will only take five or so, and then a shower may take fifteen to twenty since I'm sandy, and getting dressed maybe ten and then getting to the diner will be five…so…I can stay for like five more minutes," Skye chuckled. She would take any excuse to be able to sit here a little longer with Jemma, so the mermaid knew her pretty well.
"And I have a test tomorrow in my last class, so I may be a little late. My professor likes to put more questions than students can answer in an hour and a half…" Honestly she probably should have studied more for it, so the answers wouldn't come as quickly to her, and she'd be too anxious and wanting to get to Jemma…Skye sighed, she probably wouldn't be able to focus. "I'll just study tonight after I work and then I can come tomorrow and take a nap with you…how does that sound?"
Jemma laughed at the lengths Skye would go to just to sit here for another five minutes, but on the inside it made her feel so incredibly loved. Skye being late tomorrow would feel a little lonely and disappointing, but she was sure they would make up for it when she did arrive and they could spend a quiet afternoon cuddling and sleeping on the beach.
They sat quietly for those last five minutes, just holding onto each other and relaxing. They were over too soon, and Jemma finally had to pull away, since Skye didn't seem like she was going to.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Starfish." Jemma quickly kissed the corner of Skye's mouth when she said the new little nickname she was quickly growing fond of using. If she thought about it, humans did sort of look a little bit like starfish, and it made Jemma giggle.
"Goodnight." Before Skye could somehow convince Jemma that she had more time and that she should stay, she slipped into the water, already looking forward to tomorrow afternoon, only a little bit past when the sun was high.
