For a couple of hours, Skye's sleep was actually fairly restful. She'd been so physically, mentally and emotionally spent and then so calm and relaxed with Jemma holding onto her that her body had just naturally shut down to go into sleep mode in an attempt to reset from all the damage and trauma. In the middle of the night, however, her body took a swift downward turn. A fever took hold and she started to sweat heavily. Despite the fever, she was extremely cold and because of it she was shivering so hard her teeth were actually chattering. The wound on her back was a big source of the heat making her sweat. The entire scratch was raised and swollen, hot to the touch and seeping slightly. The longer she shivered and the longer the fever tried to burn her up, the harder it became to breathe normally. Her breath came in rapid, short, shallow bursts and gasps through her mouth, hitching on occasion.
The discomfort pulled her from sleep but when she tried to open her eyes, her vision shook violently back and forth in a blur before a they rolled upward in their sockets and brought her back into darkness. Her arms were limply around Jemma's middle and she couldn't seem to work them quite right, though her nails managed to dig in slightly at Jemma's back in an effort to rouse her. Her legs, which had been tingly and numb earlier, had no feeling in them now, which was more than a little alarming. Skye tried to speak but the words came out choppy and barely audible because of her extremely shallow breathing. Most of the words were unintelligible, but she kept mumbling them even as she fell in and out of actual consciousness. "L-legs," was among them but so were: Banana, something that sounded like 'arthuropurpleosauradon,' something that vaguely sounded like Odysseus, Falling, Freckles, Jemma's name was in there a few times, something stammered that sounded like 'Tie's crooked,' but was very choppy, and a few other stammered words. They were on a random loop. Half the time they were stuttered through her chattering teeth and stumbling choppy breaths.
Skye couldn't open her eyes again but she could feel them rolling wildly beneath her closed eyelids. Her fingers gripped deeper into Jemma's back for a moment before she could no longer actually control them since her shivering was so intensely shaking through her, or at least through her from the hips upward. Skye wasn't sure about her legs because she couldn't feel them or her feet.
Jemma woke to a slight discomfort in her back and frowned when she realized Skye's fingers digging into her were the cause. When she fully woke, she could hear Skye mumbling something, but she couldn't quite understand.
"Skye?" Jemma was wide awake now and she pulled back so she could see Skye's face. She was sweating profusely and her face was twitching, sending Jemma into an immediate panic. She hadn't realized how warm Skye was until she saw everything going wrong. "Skye?!" Jemma repeated, this time with more urgency. She sat up and was on her knees by Skye's head in an instant, tapping on her cheek with one hand and gently shaking her shoulder with the other. She wasn't waking from whatever state of unconsciousness she was in and Jemma immediately scanned over her, looking for signs of a known illness. Something was very wrong.
Skye barely registered any kind of movement but she did feel the arm that had been around Jemma's middle as it fell to the bed cushion when Jemma moved. She heard Jemma's voice and felt the tapping on her cheek. Skye fought to open her eyes but was unsuccessful at first. She tried to sputter out Jemma's name but the first time, it just came out as a chattered, strangled groaning sound from her throat. The second time was a strained, raspy, "J-Je-J-Je...mm..." She struggled to make her tongue work and to try and breathe deeper to be able to speak but her tongue felt thick and heavy in her mouth and she had no control at all over the rapid, short, ragged, shallow inhales and exhales as if even her lungs were shivering or spasming.
After some shaking, some tapping and hearing Jemma's voice rise, Skye managed to force her eyes halfway open. All she saw was a fuzzy back and forth blur of darkness and dim orange light from the fire as her eyes not only raced back and forth but rolled all around in different directions. The only other word she managed to stutter out through the strangled grunts was, "Le-le-...l-legs" She had a split second where her wide eyes were just barely still enough to focus on a double vision blurred version of Jemma before her eyes rolled up into her head again.
"Skye! What about your legs?!" Jemma was shouting. She didn't think Skye could hear her and she was panicking, her own heart rate raising rapidly. She shoved Skye's shoulder to get her situated on her back to take a look. She looked up and down Skye's legs. She couldn't see any blood through her pajamas and she would have known if Skye had a broken leg (even though that wouldn't cause this). It didn't make any sense.
"Skye, wake up!" It seemed like a ridiculous thing to say, as a biochemist who saw sickness and disease quite frequently, but she said it nonetheless. She needed to know what happened so they weren't flying blind. "Can you hear me?" Jemma shook her shoulders again.
Skye wanted to fall asleep. It was the strongest urge she had; just let her eyes stay closed, curl up into herself for warmth and fall asleep. She needed sleep. That was all, she just needed sleep. Skye couldn't exactly roll over and curl up, though. She couldn't even move her legs, so there would be no curling up. Oh right, legs. What did Jemma ask her? Skye gurgled out another strangled groan. "C-c-can't," She sputtered. She kept trying to open her eyes and every time she did, they jumped back and forth and rolled into the back of her head, which lolled back and forth between Jemma's shoulder shaking and Skye's harsh shivering. Her hands clenched, straightened, contorted in spasm. Muscles in her face twitched. What was she saying? Jemma was shouting something at her. Skye couldn't make it out. "F-Fe..f-fe-feel," She was talking about her legs. It took struggling through a few more burbles and grunts, an excess of saliva and her uncontrollable, swollen tongue before she sputtered out, "L-le-legs."
Being on her back brought new discomfort; the pressure of her weight on the swollen, itchy, hot, painful scratch. Skye's back arched to try and lift off the pressure but it was only the middle of her back that lifted up. The lower part of her back down by her hips didn't lift up. Her eyelids finally popped open, pupils dilated so far they engulfed all but a tiny ring of her irises. She still couldn't see anything due to the blurry nature of her vision coupled with the rapid jerky movements her eyeballs made. "B-Back…" She rasped. She tried to tell Jemma it hurt but she couldn't get the word out around the gurgled groan that escaped her throat. Each of her shallow gasps of air began to take on a wet sound, wheezing as the saliva coated and filled her throat faster than she could swallow the thick, almost foamy globs of it. She fought as her eyes tried to roll again and kept trying to roll up into her head. Her eyelids fluttered, closed, open, fluttered, opened, closed, fluttered. Her eyes jutted back and forth, up, down, to the side back and forth, up into her head, unfocused. Was this how she was going to die, whatever this was?
"You can't feel your legs?" Jemma was dying to go into doctor mode, to rationalize everything and put her feelings aside so she could focus. It was one of the most difficult tasks she'd ever faced in her life, to not freak out right now. Skye needed her as Jemma, but she also really needed a doctor. So Jemma stopped, took one deep breath, and dove back into the case. She could see now that she was looking that Skye's legs were oddly still compared to her shivering body. Skye said something about her back and Jemma's first guess was that she had an injury to her spinal cord that affected her nerves and that an infection had given her a fever. Naturally this was a terrifying conclusion and Jemma sought out proof that this was not the case immediately.
"I'm sorry, just hold on." Jemma told Skye. She had one hand on Skye's shoulder opposite the side she was sitting on and the other at her waist. It took quite a bit of force to move Skye's dead weight onto her side again, but when she did she pulled up the back of Skye's shirt frantically to look for any severe wounds. She gasped when she saw the scratch on her back and how swollen and inflamed it was. She hadn't spotted it earlier as other injuries had taken precedence, but now Jemma was horrified that she missed it. It looked infected, but Jemma found yet again that she was wrong.
As Jemma was looking at the wound site, Skye's body started convulsing violently and Jemma yelled in surprise. "Skye?!" She moved back to her face and she wanted to throw up when she saw the whites of Skye's eyes and foamy saliva at the corners of her mouth. Jemma was frozen. She didn't know what to do. She knew Skye was having a seizure and she knew she had to let it finish, but she had never been more terrified in her life. She had almost died herself, but watching Skye like this, she felt more pain in her chest than when she had drowned and she didn't think she'd be able to survive if Skye died.
"What is wrong?!" Jemma knew Skye couldn't answer and probably didn't even know, but her hand was on Skye's cheek anyway, not holding too tightly lest her muscles resist and she hurt herself. An infection wouldn't cause a seizure this quickly. Jemma sat back on her heels with silent tears streaking down her face and her bottom lip quivering with a near sob. Her hands were in her hair, tugging at it and trying to get herself to think. She ran through every sickness she knew and then she realized. It wasn't a sickness. Skye had encountered so many creatures in the jungle, there was only one possibility. Venom.
Jemma scrambled for the first aid kit and frantically dug through it, tossing away the bags containing supplies she didn't need to open up room for her shaking hands to find what she needed. The small case of anti venom held several vials each for different creatures and Jemma frantically looked back and forth between it and Skye. Pick the wrong one, and she could die, but if she did nothing Skye could die anyway. Her seizure hadn't stopped and her violent jerking continued, but Jemma didn't know. She didn't know if what had bitten or stung her even existed in the real world and had an antivenom in the case, but she had to try.
It wasn't a snake. It could be a sea creature since they had been in the ocean, but Skye's back had only been submerged for a few moments and she would have had a reaction if she'd sustained the swollen injury while she was in the water. That left the scorpion. She had no idea if they lived on the island or if the antivenom would even work, but she had no option. She grabbed the vials with the proper labels along with the syringe and hurried back to Skye's side.
"Shh, it's alright, stay with me." Jemma stroked Skye's hair as the seizure finally died out and Skye fell still. Her face was a mess, but Jemma didn't even care and she wiped it clean with the blanket and continued. Skye seemed unconscious, so Jemma hoped she wouldn't move again while she was working. She did her best to estimate the dosage she needed and once it was in the syringe, she set it to the side in the case and found her long forgotten necktie in her bag. She tied it around Skye's arm above the junction of her elbow and slowly inserted the needle into Skye's vein and pushed down on the plunger.
"Please don't die." Jemma begged. She couldn't lose Skye.
Skye didn't wake up again for a couple of hours. The sun was getting ready to come up so when her eyes cracked open, everything was shades of blue and lighter than the nighttime darkness she'd gotten used to on the island. She wasn't profusely sweating anymore but there were beads of sweat on her forehead and her neck still. She'd stopped shivering and her eyesight, though still somewhat blurry, was steadier since her eyes weren't jutting back and forth anymore. She was wheezing on each inhale and exhale still. She had no idea what the fuck happened. Her head was pounding and she exhaled a small, tired groan. And then she realized she couldn't move her legs. Her eyelids jumped open and then drooped halfway and her breathing became more labored. A few sounds left her throat but they weren't the words that she was trying to force out, they were somewhere between a groan, a whimper and a grunt strangled up in her throat.
Jemma's head shot up when she heard the teeniest variation in noise from Skye's labored breathing. She had been sitting next to her, medical kit within reach, the whole night past when Skye had had the seizure. She had done quite a bit of crying. Her eyes were puffy and she had only stopped because she seemed to run out of tears. When Skye started to wake up though, Jemma was back to full attention, eyes and ears alert. Her breathing didn't sound good by any means, but it was still there. Skye hadn't died overnight.
"Skye, hey..." Jemma got closer. She could tell Skye wasn't as present as she could be. But she was alive and improved from her post-seizure state during the night. It was something. "Blink twice if you can hear me." Jemma knew she wouldn't be able to speak after such a large scale seizure and still recovering from the effects of the venom. She just wanted to know if Skye's mind was any further along than her body, if she was stuck in her own body, confused and scared.
Skye's brow creased. She kept trying to move her legs but couldn't feel them moving. Her arms didn't work either but that was more that they were stiff and sore from injuries, especially her left arm. Moving them hurt multiple muscles groups. She squinted when Jemma spoke and tried to focus on her face. Everything seemed blurred around the edges. It took a moment or two to sort through Jemma's words and comprehend what she was saying. She moved her eyelids afterward, blinking them twice before she was back to squinting slightly. The fact that she couldn't move her legs was really starting to freak her out. She put her left hand on the bed cushion and tried to push herself to sit up but her arm wobbled almost immediately and she flopped back down. Shifting her head, she let out another one of the grunted/groaned whimpers, and lifted her head to look toward her feet. Lifting her head made her dizzy though, so she clenched her eyes shut as she put her head back down. Skye had no idea what happened. She remembered shivering. She remembered her fever. There was some back pain. Skye couldn't remember a whole lot else about waking up in the middle of the night. If she couldn't walk in this place, she was as good as dead and, more importantly, how was she supposed to protect Jemma if she was...paralyzed? Skye's heart began to race wildly in her chest, which made her breathing quick and shallow.
"Don't try to move." Jemma told her quietly. She started stroking from her forehead into her hair again and leaned to her right, where she had a coconut shell filled with water and a wet cloth. She squeezed it into a ball with her free hand to let the excess water dribble back into the shell before she spread it out across Skye's forehead.
"Don't be afraid." Jemma's hand cradled Skye's cheek and she leaned over her to deliver a feather-light kiss to her lips. "I know you must be scared, but it's going to be ok." Jemma was going through every form of comfort she knew and she was grabbing for Skye's hand and giving it gentle, periodic squeezes.
"You had a seizure. My best guess is that the scratch on your back is from a scorpion. It's the only explanation." Jemma tried not to let her troubled mind express itself in the tone of her voice. The anti venom seemed to help, but she was only guessing here. "It could take a few days to get back to yourself. Do you understand? Blink twice for yes."
Skye struggled to process everything. She felt relief from the cool wash cloth but anxiety at the same time, because of the paralysis. She tried her best to calm down, or to remain calm, but it was a struggle. She blinked twice to let Jemma know that she heard her. Against her better judgement, Skye attempted to shift whatever parts she could move closer to Jemma. One of her hands caught the material of Jemma's shirt as another one of those whimpers escaped her throat. She felt pathetic. What was she going to do for multiple days? What if she didn't actually recover? What if this was permanent?
"Shh, just rest." Jemma came closer and slipped her hand between Skye's hand and her shirt. Tears were spilling over her eyelids and running down over her cheeks. She was infinitely relieved that Skye was awake and communicating and understanding. Her guess seemed to have been close enough to the truth for the anti venom to work and she had faith that Skye would continue to get better.
Skye curled a couple of her fingers around Jemma's hand when it picked hers up from the shirt material. Her body definitely wanted to go to sleep, but Skye didn't actually want to. Jemma was crying. Skye frowned. She tried to squeeze Jemma's hand tighter, but she couldn't make words come out. She wondered how long that was going to last. She had no idea when a scorpion could have stung her. Her back...how had her back been injured? She scratched it when Ward threw her at a tree? Skye closed her eyes. Even though the rag was on her forehead, she leaned into Jemma's shoulder without thinking about it and within a couple of minutes was asleep again.
"How is she?" Fitz's head popped into the shelter around the tarp about an hour later. He came around the tarp when Jemma waved him in and sat down near their bed. Bobbi had come in to check on them when she hadn't seen Skye in the morning and word quickly spread about the incident. For the most part people were leaving them alone, but the occasional checkins were nice.
"Better." Jemma rubbed Skye's temple with her thumb and kissed her cheek. She moved Skye's hand to rest at her side so Jemma could sit up and talk with Fitz. She really was relieved he was finding ways to live with his extended feelings for her. She was sure the outburst he'd had that caused their fight was stress induced. Nobody had a completely rational mind in a situation like this.
"I brought you both some food. I don't know if Skye's eating, but I know you should be, and you haven't come out of the shelter..." Fitz trailed off. He took off the backpack he'd been wearing and pulled out a leaf-wrapped package of cooked fish. Jemma had the fruit in Skye's bag, but she hadn't been eating it and hadn't had anything to eat in a while, so the sight of the fish made her stomach grumble slightly.
"Thank you, Fitz-" Jemma took the package, but Fitz had finished yet.
"I also brought this. For Skye." Fitz pulled a familiar wrapper out of the side pocket of his bag. It was one of the birthday cake flavored bars, probably the last. "I never ate it in the airport. I got my bag back when she and Bobbi went diving. I'm sure Skye would appreciate it more than I would." Fitz acted like it was nothing, but Jemma's smile was wide and her eyes were watery. It was a drastic change from his treatment of her earlier and Jemma couldn't wait to see Skye's face when she woke up. Surely she liked them if she'd brought a whole box of them to Indonesia. It might lift her spirits once she could eat again.
"This is wonderful, thank you so much." Jemma opened up her arms and Fitz moved forward to hug her. They'd been distant since the fight and still awkward after Fitz's apology, but Jemma believed that now she and Fitz could go back to being friends like they were meant to be.
It was another hour after Fitz left before Skye woke up again. Ace had come to the shelter, with two water bottles. He was trying to whisper since when he first walked in, Skye was asleep. "Trip says to give these to you for Skye," He held the bottles out to Jemma. "We opened lotsa coconuts," He informed her, trying to keep his voice low. "He says it'd be better than just water," Ace shrugged his shoulders as gave her a bashful smile before he peered around Jemma to look at Skye. At that point, it wasn't obvious that Skye was awake because she wasn't quite fully awake. She could hear their voices. Even with her eyelids closed, she knew it was day time from the brightness through her thin eyelids. Her brow furrowed a bit. Her left foot was full of constant intense pins and needles. Her legs from hips to ankle were still numb, she couldn't feel them, but her left foot was full of pins and needles. Skye tried to pep talk herself into forcing her eyelids open so she could, eventually, try to talk again. Her mouth was dry but her tongue didn't feel like it was terribly swollen anymore.
"Well thank you, Ace, this is very kind of you and Trip. I'm sure Skye will appreciate it when she wakes up." Jemma made sure to smile at Ace and make sure he thought this was something as simple and easily recovered from as an average cold. She had no idea how he could possibly be feeling as a child going through all of this, but she wanted to help keep him as innocent as possible through the ordeal.
Jemma took a sip of the coconut water in her bottle to show Ace she was happy with it, and she put the one reserved for Skye with the protein bar by the bed. It was a kind of hilarious version of the bedside table of a sick person in a hospital. Instead of flowers and teddy bears, there was coconut water and a measly granola bar, but here it was a big gift. She was sure Skye would be happy when she woke up.
Ace smiled at Jemma, but then looked past her toward Skye again. It was weird to see her just lying there instead of constantly up and doing things around the camp. He leaned closer toward Jemma and asked. "Is she gonna die?" He asked.
"Ace," Mike had been waiting outside the shelter since Ace said he wanted to bring the bottles in on his own. Now he poked his head in as he gave Ace a stern look. He looked at Jemma. "Sorry," He said. "The more the story circulates, the worse it becomes as people exaggerate, y'know?" He frowned when he saw Skye just laying in the bed, breathing a bit unsteadily after few breaths. He put his hand on Ace's shoulder. "We'll get out of your hair, but let us know if you need anything, okay?"
"She'll be better in no time." Jemma nodded at Mike to let him know it was okay. She said the words reassuringly to comfort Ace. He didn't have the intuition yet to see the strain in her eyes as she said it. Ace seemed to be put at ease by the doctor telling him Skye would be just fine, and she waved them off as Mike put a hand on his son's shoulder and led him out.
"Won't you?" Jemma turned to Skye with a sad smile and took up Skye's hand into her own again. The fever was starting to come down and Jemma knew she would be in and out of consciousness for a day or so, but she wanted to see Skye better immediately to put her fears to rest.
"You'ave mom voice," Skye's words weren't perfectly clear, they were slow and a good bit raspy but they were there at least as Skye's hand curled around Jemma's. It still took her a little while to make her eyes open most of the way, though the lids still drooped a bit. She squinted to try and clear her vision around the edges and before she could really stop it, a stupid smile curled across her lips as Jemma's face came mostly into focus. "Sooooooo pretty…" she murmured, sounding more like she was a sleepy drunk than recovering from nearly dying from a scorpion venom induced seizure.
Jemma felt a swell of emotions suddenly come up to the surface. She was relieved and happy Skye was awake, flustered at her unabashed statement about what she thought of seeing Jemma, and amused because of her voice and the way she almost seemed hopped up on drugs. It was like seeing her after getting her wisdom teeth out and Jemma was going to act like that was what it was. They could forget for a single moment that all they had been doing since the crash was barely escaping death.
"Oh, stop. You're silly." Jemma teased. She playfully tapped at Skye's shoulder with her free hand and gave Skye's hand a firm squeeze.
The dopey grin stayed on Skye's face. "You are…" She insisted. A moment later, her face fell more serious and her brow creased a bit in confusion. She leaned closer toward Jemma and murmured. "M'foot," She frowned and looked down toward her feet. Her left one was on the bottom since she was turned on her left side, but her toes were twitching a bit. "Feels like pins," and needles. Skye's brain wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders so it was jumping around a bit. It was hard to talk in full sentences, or in fully coherent phrases but the effort was there at least.
Jemma's brows furrowed as well when Skye's carefree expression dissipated. She was very concentrated as she spoke and Jemma only let go of Skye's hand so she could get up and move a bit on her knees to get to Skye's feet.
"This one?" Jemma wrapped her fingers around the foot that was just barely moving and gave it a squeeze. This meant the feeling was slowly coming back from the effects of the venom on her nervous system. She would be ok. Happiness tugged at her heartstrings and the corners of her mouth alike. A joyous little smile splayed across her features and she tickled the bottom of Skye's foot with her fingertips. "Can you feel that?" Jemma didn't even know if Skye was ticklish, but she was going to find out.
Skye's eyelids flew open wide for a moment. "Stoppppppppppp!" Skye's toes and foot wiggled but the rest of her leg and her right leg remained still. She wiggled her toes about to try and evade the tickling and pushed her face into the pillow cushion and let out a few staggered snickers. It tickled, yep, she was ticklish - which was probably a secret no one else knew? - but the pins and needles hurt too. They were fairly intense but no matter how much her foot moved they didn't subside and the rest of her leg wasn't full of them. Skye thought that might be a good thing for the moment because if she had them from hip to toe at the moment, it would probably be agonizing.
Jemma's laugh was loud and she was quite amused, but she wasn't cruel and held her hands up when Skye protested so strongly. Her giggles still hadn't died down when she crawled back onto the top half of the bed and laid down facing Skye, hands together under her cheek as a bit of extra pillow. She smiled widely at Skye and couldn't help the bubbliness she felt in her chest. It was a nice change.
"You should drink." Jemma seemed to remember her caretaking duties once she calmed back down from her short, giddy high. She twisted at the waist and grabbed for Skye's bottle of coconut water. "A gift from Ace." Jemma explained, holding the bottle in front of Skye so she could see it.
Skye smiled another dopey little smile when Jemma returned. She reached her hand up, movement still a bit stiff and sluggish. She touched Jemma's jaw for a moment before Jemma spoke and turned. "Tequila…?" She murmured, only half joking. She squinted at the bottle. She could see it was clear liquid but it didn't quite look like water, though.
"Oh you'd like that, hm?" Jemma gave her a fake suspicious frown, but it broke after a second. She couldn't keep a straight face because of how silly she was acting. "It's not alcohol, but it's still good." Jemma slid her hand under the side of Skye's head to help lift her up enough to take a sip. She held the bottle firmly against Skye's lips so she wouldn't spill any when she drank.
Skye gave her a crooked smirk. A couple of tequila shots after all they'd been through would be much deserved, indeed. If Skye wasn't as tired, sore and a great deal still heavily out of it as she was, she would have felt entirely pathetic being unable to properly sit up and drink her own bottle of (coconut) water. Her mouth and throat felt extremely dry, though so as soon as the first gulp of the coconut water was down, Skye was eager to chug as much of it as she could without choking. Despite their best efforts, a little trickle of it went down the corner of Skye's mouth and spilled down her chin but she was too busy chugging down multiple gulps of the rest of it to really care about dribbled bits. She was a little bit breathless by the time she was done drinking through half of the bottle. Just getting through drinking that bit was tiring. She leaned her head against the upper part of Jemma's arm near her shoulder and slowly caught her breath. She wasn't wheezing on every single breath but it happened every so often still. "It'd be," she said between slow breaths. "Better with tequila," She murmured to make the joke.
"Oh no it wouldn't." Jemma scolded lightly. "You need to stay hydrated." A bit of the doctor in Jemma was coming out and she just wanted to do something, anything, to make Skye feel better, even if that was just helping her drink (not alcohol) and comforting her with soft touches.
"You can sleep, it's ok." Jemma laid down completely with her once she capped the bottle and stroked Skye's hair. She kissed her forehead, which thankfully was less warm than the night before.
Skye shook her head. She moved her arm loosely around Jemma's middle. She had only a vague idea of how much time had passed. She knew it was daytime because it was bright out even inside the shelter. Some of her memories of waking up in the night before the seizure had returned but they were extremely hazy. Honestly, she was a bit afraid of going back to sleep. What if she didn't wake up? What if something happened and she didn't wake up? What if Ward and the rest of his crew attacked the camp again? What if she went to sleep and when she woke up again, her foot was back to having no feeling at all instead of pins and needles. "What'f," she inhaled a slow breath and frowned, her brow creasing. "My legs don't come back?" It was a little easier to talk now that she'd had some of the coconut water to drink but her words were still slow and sluggish on her tongue. If she didn't regain her ability to use her legs, she would be a waste of resources and, more importantly, a clear weak link. What would she do if Ward came back for Jemma? She wouldn't be able to keep her safe and if Jemma was trying to keep her safe in such a situation, she would surely stand the biggest chance of being killed at that point. That was completely unacceptable. Skye frowned as her mind rolled through possibilities, none of them good.
"They will." Jemma assured her. She refused to think any other way. It was the venom, Skye would be back to normal once she worked it out of her system. "The cut on your back isn't deep and there's no spinal or brain injury. Your legs will come back." Jemma used Skye's words to make sure she understood. "Just rest now." Jemma pressed their foreheads together and closed her eyes to try to encourage Skye to go back to sleep.
Skye felt skeptical. She knew they were limited in what they could and couldn't both figure out and a do in regards to medical incidents. She also knew this place was full of things that didn't exist in the real world anymore. There was little she could do, however, while Jemma was lying there with her, stroking her hair and trying to ease her back to sleep. Her eyelids closed but her brow remained full of worry creases and the frown was still on her face. Whether it was because of her condition or because it was Jemma that was with her, Skye let out a shaky breath and whispered. "I'm scared." Under any other conditions and circumstances, Skye would have never, ever admitted this outloud. Ward could have had her tied up and tortured for days and Skye would've gladly died rather than admit such a weakness. She spent her life relying just on herself. There was never anyone to admit it to before but herself.
Jemma took a deep breath and held it in her chest for a moment before she slowly let it out, trying not to immediately say "I'm scared too". It was a valid fear that Skye wouldn't get back to one hundred percent, but they couldn't think like that.
"We'll be taking that hike to the waterfall in no time." Jemma promised. She held the hand that wasn't across her waist and brought it to her lips between them, kissing around her split knuckles.
Skye fell quiet and let her fingers curl a bit around Jemma's. "I really did want to take you," She said after a long few moments of silence, sounding sleepier than before since having her eyes closed was slowly pulling her back to sleep. "Before," She added, to explain that she meant her previous promise to take Jemma to the first waterfall. "I wasn't just bullshitting," She murmured. Things had never really had a chance to 'die down,' really. If it hadn't been for Ward and Garrett's breakaway and robberies, things might have been calm enough to bring Jemma on the trail, while bringing Buzz along with them perhaps. But everything just seemed to hit the fan all the time. Skye's fear was that it would happen when she had no way to protect Jemma, or anyone else.
"I know." Jemma breathed. It didn't go unnoticed to her that for the first time since her seizure, Skye's words were clear. Her mind was coming back and Jemma knew her legs would soon enough. She sat up, but only to pull the thinner blanket of the two up over them. She let her legs intermingle with Skye's so that when she could feel again, Jemma would be there too. "I know." Jemma repeated. She kissed Skye's forehead and pulled her close so she could sleep.
Skye struggled to try and stay awake. It was a losing battle and she knew it but she fought it anyway. She could feel the light pressure in her foot when when of Jemma's legs moved. Despite the pins and needles whenever she moved her toes or foot or whenever it touched against anything with even the tiniest bit of pressure, Skye couldn't help but move her foot along the bit of foot or ankle, whatever it was, Jemma had wound up resting against her tingling partially numb foot. Within minutes of the movement, curled up in Jemma's arms, Skye lost the battle and fell asleep, breathing evenly after her muscles finally went slack.
There was a small buzz about the camp about an hour or so after Skye fell asleep again (though it wasn't from Buzz, the dragonfly, who was currently perched on a section of the shelter wall near Skye and Jemma's heads). within a few minutes of whatever people were squabbling over, a knock came to the wall of the shelter next to the tarp and afterwards, Lincoln pushed it aside and leaned through the doorway. "Hey-," he paused and lowered his voice when he saw that Skye was asleep. For a second, he thought Jemma was too with them all curled up together so he dropped his eyes away since he felt like he was intruding. "Hey, I'm sorry to bother you," he said when Jemma looked his way. "We had a problem with one of the troughs. It's fixed now but we're gonna need to go on a run to refill it. Bobbi asked if I'd come let you know," he said. "Is there anything you need that we might be able to bring you from out there" he asked with another glance toward Skye. "Besides water," He clarified.
At first when Lincoln began to explain, Jemma's brow creased with worry, but as he explained that the trough had been fixed, she relaxed ever so slightly. She was frustrated that they seemed to have lost all of their extra rainwater, but maybe that had been the cause of the trough collapse. They needed to be more careful.
"I don't think there's anything else I need here. Thank you for asking." Jemma said just above a whisper. She didn't dare even shake her head lest the movement wake Skye up after she finally went back to sleep. "Be safe." Jemma added after Lincoln nodded and started to back out of the tarp.
Lincoln gave Jemma a nod and a small salute. "Will do," he gave her a small smile and retreated, making sure to pull the tarp back into place as he left.
Skye was out cold for a handful of hours. It was mid afternoon when she woke up again. She was breathing easier, though every so often a wheeze still appeared on an exhale or so. She tried to turn her body to roll onto her back instead of her side and was disheartened to realize that the only thing she could feel from her waist down was still her foot full of pins and needles. She sighed and shifted back onto her side, her fear rekindled, frustration growing. She reached up to rub her forehead, her closed eyelids and the bridge of her nose.
Jemma had managed to lull herself into a catnap so she could stay with Skye, but when she started shuffling about Jemma's eyes opened too. She could see the disgruntled look on Skye's face and quickly sought to kiss it away.
"How are you feeling?" She asked after the short (but sweet) kiss. She didn't get time to hear Skye's answer, because Bobbi seemed to appear out of nowhere. She pushed the tarp aside and Jemma knew something was wrong the instant she saw what a mess she was.
Skye was momentarily distracted by the little kiss. She exhaled a small sigh and was preparing to lie and say she was fine but Bobbi appeared before she could.
"We need to talk." Bobbi looked back and forth between Jemma and Skye, not quite sure who she needed to talk to or both. Jemma looked back and forth between Skye and Bobbi, trying to figure out if she was talking to her.
"I'm coming." Jemma said after a short moment. She knew Skye would want to know what was going on but the second she heard of trouble she would want to be trying to resolve it and she needed to stay put in her condition. "Stay here, I'll be right back." Jemma laid a hand on Skye's shoulder and pushed herself to her feet.
As soon as she spotted Bobbi's harried appearance, Skye tried to push herself to sit up. She didn't get far before Jemma's hand on her shoulder eased her back down. Skye was much too worried to just lay there. She frowned when Jemma told her to stay put, because it wasn't like she could go anywhere without her legs. After Jemma stepped out of the shelter, Skye grunted and ground her teeth as she used both hands to roll herself. Her hips and legs only turned part way from the carried motion of turning her torso. She put her palms down on the bed cushion and pushed herself to sit up. She regretted it instantly as a dizzy spell overtook her. She leaned forward and dropped her head into her hands, clenching her eyes, attempting to both stave off the world spinning and to keep from falling back. While all of that was happening, she also tried to hear what Bobbi and Jemma were discussing.
"Lincoln's dead." There was no way to sugarcoat it. Bobbi told her clearly and without a doubt, but that didn't mean tears didn't make their way onto her cheeks. She was a ruffled mess, sweat soaked and covered in dirt, so the tears made tracks down her cheeks.
"What happened?" Jemma surged forward and grabbed Bobbi's upper arms. She was falling apart and melting through her fingertips. Jemma knew Bobbi was among one of those who had seen the most death, but she needed her to pull herself together enough to tell her what happened.
"There was a giant snake. I mean giant, Jemma." Bobbi grabbed Jemma's shoulders with equally as much force as Jemma had on her arms. "The size of a bus. Bigger!" Bobbi shook her slightly and Jemma just stood there, eyes wide with recognition and fright. There were more dangerous creatures in the jungle than Jemma had originally thought possible.
"I know what it is." Jemma assured Bobbi so she wouldn't have that crazy you-have-to-believe-me look in her eye. Lincoln had been killed and most likely eaten by a titanoboa or something of the like. One more reason Jemma almost hoped Skye wouldn't be able to get back up and go into the jungle. At least without the feeling in her legs she was alive.
"We didn't get the water." Bobbi lowered her voice. She didn't want everyone to panic and she needed to pull together the group that seemed to lead things to figure out what to do next. "I'll bring everyone here to talk, update Skye." With that Bobbi was gone before Jemma really had time to process. Another person was dead and they were back to possibly dying of thirst. Somehow she managed to walk back into the tent looking cool and collected.
"Skye! You should be lying down!" Jemma's exclamation was shrill when she saw Skye trying to exert herself too soon. She hurried to her side and slowly, also a bit forcibly, pushed Skye to lie down. The last thing she wanted was for Skye to hurt herself.
All Skye heard was 'Dead,' 'bigger than a bus,' and something murmured about water that she couldn't quite make out. Her head was still spinning from the sudden way she had pushed herself up when Jemma returned. Skye winced when she shouted. "I'm fine - Jemma! What happened? I can sit, I'm-," She grabbed onto Jemma's closest arm to try and stop her from forcing her to lay back down but Jemma was way stronger at the moment than Skye was. She clenched her eyes shut again at the jostling since it made her dizzy again. She forced herself to lean up on her elbows so she wasn't flat on her back. "Who's hurt? What happened?" And why wasn't Jemma going to help? Her mind was running through all the possible people who could have been on that run - Bobbi, YoYo, Mack...who else did they bring with them? "What's going on?" Her words weren't as sluggish as before and they were a good deal clearer than before but Skye still sounded a bit like she had had a good few shots or strong drinks in her.
Jemma wanted to say "it's fine" or "nothing", but she knew that wasn't what Skye wanted and Bobbi would be coming back with the others and they needed to decide what to do next. So she sat down next to Skye and tried to prepare the words in her head.
"Bobbi and her team didn't get the water. They came across a titanoboa- it's a giant snake. Lincoln is dead." Jemma sighed. It may have been concerning that she no longer got watery eyes when she heard a person had died. She was ready to move on and continue to help the rest of the group survive. She was hardening and Jemma knew her defenses would melt away eventually, but for now they were useful.
Skye didn't have the control over her fears and emotions that she normally had in place. They were considered auxiliary defenses and her body was more focused on surviving the venom more than keeping herself guarded. Her face fell, her hunched shoulders sagged and she looked toward the tarp door as her brow furrowed. Her eyes watered over, not just because of another death, not just because there was another terrifying predator to add to the list, but because she was relieved Bobbi, Mack and Yoyo weren't on the dead list. Outside of Jemma, she had spent most of her time with them on the jungle treks. They had each other's backs but knew they wouldn't fault each other for running if something got one of them before there was any chance to help.
Her eyes shook with the unshed tears as she looked over at Jemma, her mouth slightly agape, struggling for words. "W-What about Mack and Yoyo?"She asked. "Was anyone else with them?" She tried to sort through the haze to compile her thoughts properly. "Are they hurt? Was Bobbi hurt?" Skye hadn't had enough time to check. She didn't think Jemma would have let Bobbi just leave if she was hurt, but she also knew Bobbi was capable of making quick getaways too. She could see the closed off difference in Jemma but Skye was still struggling to organize everything reaching through her mind just then.
"As far as I know, everyone else is fine. Bobbi would have told me had someone been hurt." Jemma saw the panic welling up in Skye's eyes and reached for her hand. She didn't want her to worry even if there were ample things to worry about. It was her time to rest and Jemma felt bad Skye was pulled into this at all, but she also knew Skye wouldn't have it any other way.
Skye frowned. She squeezed Jemma's hand a bit tighter than she intended to. Would Bobbi have been coming to tell Jemma that she was dead if she'd been physically able to actually join the trek into the jungle? Would a gigantic snake follow them back to the beach if it wasn't completely full with one human devoured? What about the water? What were they going to do about that? Unless they had a big rainstorm one somewhat full trough would only last them so long. Would anyone go back into the jungle with all the animals that they could run into after this? Skye would begrudgingly do it still, but she couldn't and she couldn't make other people do it in place of her. She was still lost in an unending panic reel of thoughts when the others arrived at the tent. Bobbi was the first inside and Skye's eyes followed her immediately, trying to find any wounds she might not have told Jemma about and attempting to assess her mental state by sight alone.
"How are you feeling?" Bobbi ignored the pressing issues at hand to check in with Skye. It was clear that she was upset. There wasn't a person standing in the tent who wasn't, but Bobbi knew Skye personally and knew that even if she hadn't been there, the burden would still find its way to her shoulders.
Bobbi came and sat at Skye's side opposite Jemma and gave her shoulder a jovial, but very gentle, shove. Coulson and May trailed in after and looked uncomfortable with the casual exchange, but found places to sit in the sand nonetheless.
"Me? Are you alright?" Skye meant physically. She knew it wasn't possible Bobbi was alright mentally. Even though Jemma had tried to make her lay back down, Skye had been mostly leaning up on her elbows. She tried to push herself up to sit again, which was entirely a bad idea because every major movement made waves of dizziness wash over her. "What happened?" She asked as Trip, Mack and Yoyo followed inside, squeezing to sit or stand in the bits of extra space inside the shelter. Fitz and Will arrived behind them, likely following the scent of something afoot. They crowded just inside the entrance of the shelter. Skye looked over Mack and Yoyo when they came in but they seemed like they were alright outside of being a bit disheveled.
"I'll live." Bobbi nodded. She gave Skye's shoulder an awkward little pat before Coulson cleared his throat. Jemma moved to sit behind Skye so she could lean against her and not have to try so hard to stay sitting up. Fitz and Will were shooed off with the job of keeping the press (just a few of the loud, noisy people like Victoria Hand) away from the shelter as they talked.
"We'll all mourn Lincoln's loss later tonight with everyone. Right now water is priority." Coulson spoke up. He was right about compartmentalizing. They only had so long in here before the group demanded to know what was going on.
"How much do we have?" Jemma asked.
"About seven water bottles full. Enough for about a third of a day for all of us." Bobbi piped up. This was including the fact that their numbers had decreased to just over twenty.
"Don't forget about the coconuts. That adds about five bottles." Yoyo reminded them. It was a good addition but still only bought them less than a day's time.
Skye leaned back against Jemma, muscles sagging in relief at not having to strain so much. She frowned, first at Bobbi's answer since Skye had used answers like that herself and then at the rather dire water situation.
"There are a lot more further down the beach we haven't gathered yet," Trip said. "That will add to both food and water stores," He said.
"It will, but will the expenditure of effort outweigh its return?" May piped up.
"I don't think we have a choice," Mack shook his head gravely. "We'll have to go back in."
Skye glanced at Bobbi and then looked around at the others. "How much do we have stashed with the tail salvage?" She asked. She had been keeping track of these things but her brain was still fairly muddled.
"I'll check." Jemma said. "Bobbi?" She looked between Bobbi and Skye and the tall blonde moved to support Skye's weight while Jemma crawled over to her bag and rummaged until she found the inventory composition notebook. She came back and reclaimed her place behind Skye while flipping through pages.
"We have about fifty varying sodas. There are fifteen water bottles." Jemma told them. This was the solution, it was just a matter of not angering people when they came up with water and soda that the rest of the group hadn't known about. They hadn't originally used the water because it was emergency storage. They had also lost quite a few water bottles during the siege and the few deaths in the jungle, so it would be good to have the cans and bottles to use for refills as well. "It could give us maybe two days." She added.
Skye murmured an apology to Bobbi , while Jemma went for her book, both because she hadn't been with them when it happened and because of the whole supporting her weight stuff.
"So we have time to get back there for a run in the next day or two," Mack reasoned.
"While that's happening, we'll be collecting more containers as we go through the emergency supply," Trip nodded, though the grave look of concentration hadn't left his face.
"We could do two shifts of runners, the first group can go in the morning, second shift leaves when first one returns," May reasoned. She surveyed the whole group of them while she spoke but paid special attention to Bobbi. She didn't want to force them to go back into the jungle.
"The trail through the jungle from the beach is marked, right?" Coulson asked. Mack nodded. "So we could gather a second group and take them along the trail tomorrow. Give you three a rest. You've more than earned it."
Skye's brow was creased as she struggled both to take it all in and to try and keep her guilt at bay since sh felt entirely useless to the group in her current condition. "No one's going to volunteer for that after you tell them what happened to Lincoln," she frowned. Except Skye. Skye would have volunteered to do it (and likely would have fought with Jemma over it). Bobbi, Mack and Yoyo still might, but it wasn't right to put that burden on them.
"We should probably hold off on breaking out the emergency supply until tomorrow at the earliest," Skye added, trying her best to keep her focus dialed in. They had about a day's worth of water left. They had more food than that and opening the coconuts would add to that at well. "We don't break into the tail salvage for the food until we have to as well." She looked at Trip. "How long would it take you to make more traps to scatter down the beach if you had help?" Maybe she couldn't walk but she would get them to prop her against the shelter wall and she could use her hands.
Trip considered it a moment. "If we worked a bit into the night I'd say we'd have at least...four, maybe five by morning to put out for the day?" he answered.
Skye nodded. "What other options, any at all that you can think of, do we have at our disposal?" she shifted her gaze around to each of them.
"Hunter has been wanting to go on more treks. He got over the compy scare. He and I can make a run for water. It's almost safer in small groups." Bobbi pointed out.
Skye understood the logic of going in duos instead of groups. It was less to worry about, even if it was still dangerous.
"We can make up a second shift when you get back," Mack spoke up after glancing at Yoyo for a nod of confirmation. "We'll spend the morning gathering whatever food we can close to the shoreline to build up our stocks.
Even if their hidden stock would tide them over for a few days they needed to actively work toward a more stable life source. There was a possibility, but as Bobbi glanced at Skye she wasn't sure she should bring it up. The conversation was open though.
"The area around the second waterfall is secured by cliffs and dense trees. I think it's worth considering a move." Bobbi's jaw tightened as she said it and she looked around, trying to read faces.
Skye had indeed opened the conversation to any possibilities. She gave a small nod to confirm what Bobbi said was true and reached out to give her closest forearm a reassuring squeeze. "It would likely need some prep work to make it permanent. It currently requires climbing up and through the giant trees that close off to ring the last side."
Coulson and May exchanged a glance. Trip seemed to be considering the options. Mack and Yoyo waited, watching the others for their reactions. Skye closed her eyes a moment and tried to force herself not to flinch, thinking about the spider incident and feeling the dull throb in her left arm beneath the gauze covering the scratches Alisha made. She opened them again when Coulson spoke.
"Maybe one of us," Coulson motioned between himself and May as he spoke, "Could go with one of your shifts, so we can get an idea of what we're really talking about here," he said. It was clear he felt hesitant. Leaving the beach meant accepting that no one was coming to look for them, that all they could do was dig in and hope to survive.
"You could, but it's much safer to leave expeditions to the experienced until the actual move, if it comes to that." Jemma claimed. she flipped a few more pages across the crude maps of the island they had made and continued to update with new trails and dangers.
"Skye, you could draw it instead." Jemma put the composition book and one of the pens they'd found in Skye's lap. It was something she could do to be helpful and they really did need to know what the area was like to make any sort of decision.
Skye looked down at the book and pen in her lap. She picked the pen up as her brow creased and just held the book and the pen for the moment. "Yeah," she nodded, "I'll do that," She could work on drawing it once the conversation was finished. Skye cleared her throat, feeling like many eyes were on her even though she was focused on her lap, and then her currently useless legs. She took a slow breath, sorted her thoughts and looked up. "Any other suggestions in the meantime that will help either with food or water?" she asked. "Do we have enough material to create a third trough to add to what we have for whenever it rains again?"
"The raft from the original hospital shelter is still folded up in the cockpit. It's too torn on the edges to float, but the middle can be used to make a very large trough." Jemma suggested. She didn't like the idea of scrapping the raft for its resources, but the waterproof material was valuable and the thing couldn't exactly get them back to the mainland.
"That's good. Trip, you can get Fitz to work on that in the morning while the two double teams-" Bobbi pointed to herself to mean her and Hunter and then Yoyo and Mack for team two, "try to make more water runs. Skye, you draw that clearing. Jemma, you should probably help Coulson and May with rationing the tail supplies." Bobbi concluded. Jemma had somehow adopted the role of inventory as well as doctor, but she would much rather be running math and sorting things than stitching people up, so it wasn't so bad.
Skye hated to feel like she wasn't contributing to the ideas or to the work, but at the same time she still felt weak and worn down with her condition so she was greatly relieved for Jemma and Bobbi for their suggestions and for delegating tasks. She gave Jemma's closest thigh a squeeze when she suggested using the raft for a bigger trough. She knew that couldn't have been an easy sacrifice to offer up. Sure the raft itself couldn't be used to get them off the island, but it was symbolic of the desire and mere possibility of doing so. She gave a small nod as other murmurs of agreement went up around the group.
Shortly after the agreements, the others dispersed from the shelter, Mack pulled the tarp closed across the entrance to give them both a moment. Skye set the notebook and pen to the side for a moment and, with a good deal of effort, pushed herself to sit upright so she could look over at Jemma, searching her face and her eyes for signs of distress about the situation, about Lincoln, the snake, the supplies, anything. The closed off way she had shared the information Bobbi gave her, before the others arrived, had startled and worried Skye. "Are you alright?" She asked, holding Jemma's gaze in order to gage how truthful she was in her reply, trusting Jemma would know she didn't mean just in a physical sense.
Jemma sighed. She didn't really know how to answer Skye. She knew she would be skeptical if Jemma told her she was fine, even though she sort of was. Honesty was the only way to go.
"Disturbingly, yes." Jemma admitted. She was horrified with herself for not being all that bothered that Lincoln was dead even though he had been a kind person. She was getting used to it and had selfishly only been relieved that those she was friends with had gotten back safely.
Skye was still frowning as her eyes watched Jemma carefully. What freaked her out more than the fact that another one of them had been picked off, this one by a gigantic snake, was the fact that Jemma seemed to be starting to normalize it. She wanted, again, to offer up a promise to Jemma that she would get them off the island somehow, that she wouldn't let them die here. But Skye knew even less now than before how she would accomplish such a thing without the use of her legs. She leaned her weight heavily on one of her hands and reached out to touch Jemma's cheek and jaw with the other. She closed the gap between them and brought their mouths together for a lingering kiss. She leaned her forehead against Jemma's afterward and watched her through her own tired eyes. "This isn't all there is," she said with conviction, meaning the death, the violence, their current situation of being stranded. She didn't know exactly what was ahead for them but she knew there was more than what was happening to them right now, could feel it in her bones (or at least the ones that weren't still numb). She needed to believe it and, maybe most importantly, she wanted to believe it. It was a back and forth tug of war between them, handing off back and forth which of then played the optimistic one. It changed by the minute as things happened and right now, it was possibly a slight balance between them for varying reasons.
"We should probably face the possibility that this may be it." Jemma sighed. Her eyes flicked down at the bed instead of Skye's face. She knew it was harsh and probably not what they needed to hear, but she was realistic. "At least for now. I don't know about you, but I want this to go somewhere." Jemma gestured between the two of them. "That means we need to survive this. Together. If that means we harden for now I can't say I'm not okay with that." Jemma explained her reasoning.
Skye's lips pressed into a thin line as Jemma laid out her reasoning. she couldn't really fault Jemma for going with the realistic approach. It's what Skye had done at the Waterfall when Bobbi suggested the idea of moving to it. she doubted the group would go for it even if it was a safe viable option. Skye was reluctant to go for it, if only because it really meant giving up on finding rescue. She wanted to move there even less at the moment since she literally couldn't pull her own weight. She leaned up, kissed the side of Jemma's head and, with some amount of shuffling her weight for balance, pulled Jemma against her and into a hug.
"I don't want to lose the real you in the process," Skye had done things she had to compartmentalize that was for sure. She had been doing that for her whole life, for different reasons at different times. Skye had very much lost sight of herself in the jungle fighting with Ward, Quinn and Donnie, to an extreme degree, and she was still recovering from that on top of the physical issues from the venom. But she was entirely aware of how far down the rabbit hole of feral fury she had ventured and it hurt to watch as Jemma slowly started down a path of steely resolve, even if it was happening as part of survival instincts.
Jemma didn't know what to say. She leaned into the hug and took a deep breath as she did so. Skye also had a point, but Jemma didn't know how they were supposed to preserve their original personalities in such an environmental extreme. She couldn't promise Skye she would feel certain emotions, but she made a promise to herself to not allow herself to harden without noticing. She would take the time to stop and let herself feel. To start, she would stay with Skye for another few minutes before she had to go dig up the tail supplies and start creating a rations plan.
"The feeling is mutual." Jemma rested her head on Skye's shoulder and put a gentle hand on her waist. They both knew what Jemma was talking about, but she didn't want to say it. She didn't want to vocalize that Skye had killed people because she didn't want Skye to assume Jemma thought it was her fault. She knew it wasn't.
Skye squeezed her arms tighter around Jemma and closed her eyes as she leaned her head against the side of Jemma's. She knew what Jemma was referring to. She didn't want to say it either. She didn't want to think about it, but so far it was always floating around her brain. Mace, Quinn, Donnie, those were directly her fault. Kebo, Alisha, they happened on her watch. She would always have this list on her mind, Skye knew that. She'd find a way to live with it somehow, just like everything else she had learned to live with. She didn't want to do anything like it again, but, if Ward and the rest of his crew came after Jemma again, Skye sure as hell wasn't going to hesitate to destroy them. She didn't want to say this out loud. Actually, she didn't think she needed to say it.
"Trying my best," Skye murmured in return, pressed her fingers firmer into Jemma's back. She turned her head and kissed the side of Jemma's. After indulging in a few extra moments just holding onto each other, Skye took a slow breath and murmured, "Make sure you allot yourself some of those pretzel snack bags in your rations," She teased very lightly.
"We'll see. It isn't food we're short on." Jemma replied. She hadn't realized it as a joke until she'd already replied seriously and she felt the humor die in the air. "Is there anything you need? Or want?" Jemma asked. She allowed herself five more seconds before she pulled her head off of Skye's shoulder and broke the contact between them, but only for a moment. She was back into care mode and helped Skye lie back down on the mattress, proceeding to move the blankets up to her waist-to keep her warm from any breeze that got in but not hot from the weather. She needed to make sure she wasn't uncomfortable in any way before she left.
Skye shook her head. "No, I'm good," she assured. Obviously she was still freaked out by her legs. Her mind still wasn't completely back in the game 100% and neither were her verbal skills as she still sounded somewhat loopy. She would be better when Jemma returned from her task, of course, but she didn't need to tell Jemma either of these things because she didn't want to add to her worry. She stifled a couple of grunts as Jemma helped her lay back down, using her messenger bag stuffed under her pillow to prop her head up enough that she'd be able to sketch out the waterfall area while Jemma was working on inventory and rations. She caught Jemma's hand before she stood up and pulled it in so she could kiss the back of it quickly. She gave it a quick squeeze and then let go and watched Jemma go before she grabbed up the notebook and pen and tried to figure out how she could sketch the waterfall with her limited illustration skills.
After a long rest of the day of creating an inventory rationing plan and helping deal with the outcome of the group discovering they had been hiding the supplies, Jemma finally came back to the shelter where Skye had been resting for the second half of the day. They had had to manage the supplies and explain to everyone that they were strictly emergency reserves before everyone finally calmed down and gratefully took what was allotted to them.
Jemma slipped into the shelter quietly, doing her best not to rustle the tarp as she hoped Skye was asleep. When she looked up and found she was wrong, she sighed and dropped her notebook on top of her bag so she was free to lay down with her. "You should be asleep." Jemma said quietly. She tapped the tip of Skye's nose with her finger and smiled.
Skye leaned up on her elbows when the tarp rustled. She exhaled a sigh of relief when she saw that it was Jemma. Fitz had come by earlier to pick up her sketch so he could deliver it to Coulson and May and after that Skye had heard some of the squabbling about the supplies. It made her feel like shit that they had to field the outrage without her since it had been her plan too, to hide it for emergencies. It was a good thing they'd hid it, considering it would have been halved, at the least, if Ward and Co knew about it. But now Jemma was back.
Skye's eyes were watery from a yawn as she pushed her messenger bag out from under her pillows and laid back. She shifted her upper half toward the side, muscles around her eyes flinching a bit as she did. She smiled, though, when Jemma tapped the end of her nose, going slightly cross eyed as her eyes followed her finger. Her smile was a little punchdrunk. She was tired but she also didn't want to sleep. She definitely hadn't wanted to fall asleep until Jemma was back. She felt too paranoid that something would happen when she was physically unable to go check up on Jemma or the others. "Couldn't sleep," Her voice was a bit more slurred than it had been earlier, brain drained and just a bit out of it. The pins and needles had spread, as well, both her feet and parts of both of her legs had them now. While she knew that was a good sign - no, it was a great damned sign - but it didn't exactly tickle. Every movement at all from the hips down sent shocks of stinging pain through parts of her legs. They still felt heavy and if she was going to move them at all, she didn't think they would move far. Even if they could, each movement was, well, painful. "I want to wait f'you," She murmured as she reached out to rest her hand along Jemma's hip, her movement a bit lazier than normal. "How'd it go?"
"There were a few bumps, but it's all sorted now." Jemma assured her. She shifted in bed so she was on her back, and she pulled Skye toward her by the wrist so she could lay practically on top of her. She pet Skye's hair with the hand wound around her waist and twisted her head enough to kiss her forehead before leaning to grab her book from beside the cushions.
"You still haven't read The Odyssey. Would you like me to read it to you?" Jemma hoped the words would lull her into a sleep, and the reading time would relax them both.
Skye was distracted from the pins and needles zaps of pain by how comfortable she felt curled across Jemma's torso, listening to the steady rhythm of her heartbeat. She let out a slow breath as her muscles settled and relaxed. She closed her eyes as Jemma stroked her hair. She dropped a kiss to Jemma's collarbone and as she did, a sloppy smile curled over her lips. She set her ear back down on Jemma's chest and curled her arm around her middle, fingers playing lazily at Jemma's side, where her shirt hem and pants waistband met. "That sounds nice," she hummed. "Your voice is pretty," she nuzzled closer, as if it was even possible to get closer to her.
Jemma blushed. Even when she knew Skye was exhausted and slightly loopy from lingering scorpion venom in her system, she flushed pink at the compliment. She held Skye more tightly for it and let her leg on the side Skye was on brush against hers to get them more tangled in each other. She got a tiny reaction back, Skye pulled back in discomfort if nothing else, but it made Jemma's eyes wide with excitement.
"Can you feel that?" Jemma tickled Skye's shin with her toe, this time on purpose.
It was reactionary, her leg shifting away, trying to pull away from the sharp tingles that felt like an army of fire ants stinging her legs all at once. Skye's forehead knitted into a mess of creases and a softly exhaled grunt answered Jemma first before she nodded slightly. She wanted to test her legs out, see of she could feel their movement if she shifted but she was reluctant to set of waves of the pins and needles. "They feel heavy," She grimaced at the sensation from Jemma's toe to her shin and then frowned, entirely disliking the idea of Jemma's touch causing discomfort regardless of whether or not she knew it wasn't really Jemma's touch causing it but the agonizingly slow way the venom was leaving her system. Her legs felt clunky aside from the searing, tingly, jolting feelings. It was good, she knew it was good. It meant she was going to be able to walk again, right? Despite this fact, it was immensely uncomfortable.
It wasn't like having just her one foot numb (and ticklish) while she wiggled her toes. It had a radiating effect from her hips down to her toes. "Feels like my skin's crawling with fire ants that can bite deep enough to hit bone," she murmured. Skye wasn't lamenting it, because it might go away at some point and she would be able to get back on her feet again, but between the fiery pins and needles, the pain in her still healing left arm from the scratches and the various other smattering of injuries, there really weren't a whole lot of ways to feel comfortable. Well, when she couldn't focus on just being curled up with Jemma and knowing she was safe as a distraction at least, it was difficult to find any comfortable way to just settle. The times she'd been passed out asleep (which her body had really needed for many more reasons than just because the venom had to work its way out) had been helpful in ignoring the general discomfort.
The general discomfort hadn't been anything Skye had or would complain about anyway, both because she was stubborn and because she was just glad she was alive. This numb, burning, almost itchy sensation was on the forefront of her mind for every muscle twitch or touch, though. It was harder to ignore. Jemma, however, sounded positively excited by the prospect, so Skye kept trying to remind herself that it was a good thing and that, perhaps, soon it would be gone and she would be out of bed and useful again rather than simply a drain on supplies. It was hard to balance her lingering fears about her legs never going back to normal with her hope that maybe she would actually be okay. The part of her brain still haunted by the things she'd done kept trying to creep in and tell her that she didn't deserve to be okay after the things she had done, regardless of their necessity.
Jemma pulled her leg away immediately when she saw the discomfort. Her own face contorted in sympathy for Skye and she rubbed up and down her back a few times to ease her before she went back up to run her fingers through Skye's hair.
"Just rest, it'll be ok. Just wait, in a day you'll be back to normal and up on those feet." Jemma promised. The tingling meant she was getting the feeling back in her legs. Despite Skye's pain, Jemma was very glad and relieved. She opened up her book cover, flipped past the page with her name on it, and started to read.
Skye settled against Jemma again when she felt her hand along her back. She exhaled a long breath and her muscles, at least above her hips, eased and loosened to relax and murmured a quiet, grateful, "Thanks, Jem," before Jemma started reading. Skye was in an out of dozing as Jemma read, nodding off a bit only for a muscle twitch in her calf or foot woke her back up. She focused her attention on the sounds of Jemma's voice and her steady heartbeats to distract from the itch and ache in her legs. Eventually, she did finally fall all the way asleep, unable to fight it any longer and much too comfortable lying against Jemma to want to keep fighting.