A/N: I spared no mercy with the word limit. I am so not sorry. Also, once you get past the first line break, LISTEN TO RE:STACKS BY BON IVER. Don't ask me why, just. Do. It. It fits amazingly for the long second scene. More author's notes at the bottom!
"Hey, so Mom had to leave really early this morning," May said as she walked into the kitchen, handing Skye a small parcel. "She wanted to give you this, though. Said it was about cementing a family bond," She frowned as she took in what Skye was eating. "Skye, are you eating joong for breakfast?"
"We had nothing else in the fridge, so I thought it'd be better than nothing," Skye shrugged, forking a clump of rice before shoveling it into her mouth. "Besides, I need the thinking power if I'm going to succeed in my plan."
"Which is?" May asked as she fished her own joong out of the fridge. "Don't tell Coulson" was all she said before plopping the mass in the microwave. "If you're going to marry Lincoln, at least give Coulson and I time to give him the shovel talk."
"What? May, no!" Skye exclaimed, choking on a peanut. "Besides, I've already said to Lincoln that he's gotta ask you, Coulson, Lian and the ancestors first." She chuckled. "I think that's scared him off for at least five years."
May took a seat next to Skye, drizzling soy sauce all over her joong. "Good. I'd hate to have to threaten him during the New Year. Happy last day, by the way." Without looking up, they clinked their coffee cups. "You guys get to open your red envelopes today."
"Sounds exciting," Skye said, shovelling some more rice into her mouth. "Personally, I can't wait to see Hunter get less money."
"You get married, that's what you get," May shrugged. "Red envelopes are really meant for those who aren't."
"Remind me to never get married, then," Skye noted through a mouthful of peanuts. "I'll watch everyone else get married. Like Bobbi and Simmons."
"If they ever recover from yesterday," Lincoln scoffed, shuffling into the kitchen. "I'm pretty sure they're way past that stage of pretending they could be just friends and freezing each other out instead." He stopped, staring at the two of them. "Are you two eating joong...?"
"Yes."
"Good morning, Fitz!" Simmons chirped as she sailed into the lab, two mugs of tea in her hand. "How's the progress on Sleepy going?"
Fitz took the mug without even looking up from the holotable. "Isn't there someone else you'd like to say 'good morning' to, Jem?" Simmons' eyes scanned over the lab, determinedly ignoring Bobbi. The biochemist seemed to get the message and turned away miserably, defeat in her stance.
"No, I don't think so," she said, sipping her tea. "There's only you this morning, unless Skye's around here somewhere. That'd be quite the mystery."
"Jemma..." Fitz sighed, flipping his goggles off of his head. "Don't you think you're taking your grudge against Bobbi a wee bit far?"
"Me? A grudge against Agent Morse? Why ever would I do that?" The door to the lab slammed shut, and they turned to see Bobbi slumping down the hallway to the bunks. Fitz turned back to Simmons.
"Tha's the first time she's left the lab since we got back from the cemetery yesterday," he said gravely. "I've been, uh, watching the security cameras at night, and she doesn't leave, Jemma. Ever. She doesn't sleep. She doesn't eat. I watched her try to sleep once, and she tossed and turned for an hour before getting back up. She's a mess, Jemma," he concluded, tapping away at a tablet. "At the rate she's going, she's going to pass out from dehydration and exhaustion soon."
"I fail to see what part I've got in that," Simmons protested feebly, although she knew full well that events of lately had been a large factor in her...what, exactly? Her friend? Her teammate? Bobbi would never be her girlfriend, that was for sure. She herself had said it.
"Here," Fitz thrust the tablet at her, rewinding the security footage he'd pulled up. "I think the audio's plenty explanation for you." With that, he left the lab, leaving Simmons to press a shaking finger to the screen.
Her heart and stomach dropped five stories as she noted the timestamp in the corner. It was three bloody am. What was Bobbi doing? She watched as the other woman let a test tube slip from her hand out of exhaustion, cursing under her breath. Sweeping up the shards, Bobbi rested her forehead on the counter for a moment, taking a deep breath. "I gotta get some sleep,"
"Yes, Bobbi, please do," Simmons whispered timidly to the screen, uncaring if anyone heard her or not. "You shouldn't put yourself through the paces like this." She watched as Bobbi gingerly lay down on the small couch they kept in the lab, curling into the wall before shutting her eyes.
Simmons quickly noticed Bobbi didn't quite know where to put her hands, shifting them several positions before setting them down vertically, and even then that didn't work. Next, she reached for a pillow, hugging it against her before tossing it away in disgust. Finally, she sat up, hugging her knees to her chest before fishing her phone out of her lab coat pocket and pulling up a video. Though the sound was tinny, Simmons could make the voices out clearly.
"And here we have the biochemist extraordinaire," Bobbi's teasing voice echoed through the speakers, and Simmons could imagine the grin that was on her face as she turned the camera to her subject. "Jemma Simmons, what are we up to today?"
Simmons vividly remembered that day; Bobbi training a camera on her, laughing as Simmons managed to stumble her way through an explanation of what she'd been working on at the moment. Blushing as she'd wrapped Simmons in a hug before darting off to film Fitz. How the space around her had felt empty after Bobbi had left; how the lack of warmth had stayed with her for the rest of the day.
She watched as Bobbi pulled up another video, tears clinging to the edges of her eyelashes as more sound exploded from the speakers. "I come home, in the morning light, my mother says what you gonna do with your life..."
"Oh my god, not that," Simmons' hand covers her mouth briefly in spite of herself, staring down at the tablet. "Not the karaoke video." She can vaguely hear Bobbi and the others cheering her own, the individual voices drowned out by the pumping bass of the music.
One more video turns into two, then three, and soon an hour passed with Simmons simply watching the feed, in awe of just how many times Bobbi had managed to catch her on camera. Sometimes she was the victim of a prank. Sometimes she was the mastermind of one. Other times, it was just Simmons simply sitting around, doing what seems to be some quiet activity, sounding surprised when Bobbi's voice rang out with a simple, yet amused, "Hi, Jem."
Finally, an hour and a half after Simmons had started, and when tear tracks had etched themselves onto Bobbi's face, the last video was played. She watched as Bobbi slowly lowered herself to lie down once more, the glow of her screen emphasizing her puffy, red eyes. A moment of silence passed before the strains of a piano began to pipe through the speakers. The music grew as Bobbi had seemingly stepped into the room, and Simmons' heart stopped as she heard the voice accompanying it.
"I'll tell the world, I'll sing the song
It's a better place since you came along
Since you came along
Your touch is sunlight through the trees
Your kisses are the open seas
Everything's alright when you're with me"
She apparently hadn't been alone that day.
On the screen, Bobbi watched the video play through before inhaling shakily and pressing the play button again, setting down her phone, turning up the volume and closing her eyes. As Simmons' voice flowed through the room, it was only then that Bobbi seemed to fall asleep, her arms curled around herself as if holding someone imaginary.
The timeframe sped up then, and Simmons watched as Bobbi didn't stir, save for a few twitches, finally slowing down to that morning, when Fitz stepped into the lab, his face morphing into pity as he found Bobbi asleep on the couch, her phone beside her.
Slowly, he bent down to shake her. "Bobbi? Wake up, Bobbi."
"Jem?" Bobbi muttered sleepily, tightening her arms around the invisible mass of air. "No, come on, Jem, stay for a while..."
"Bobbi," There was absolute pain in Fitz's voice as he shook Bobbi's shoulder again. The pain echoed in Simmons' own heart, stabbing at her windpipe as she gasped, tears threatening to spill from her eyes. "You gotta wake up." This time, Bobbi seemed to register that she was hugging empty air, and opened her eyes, instinctively curling in on herself as she registered Fitz standing above her.
"Fitz?"
He nodded. "Sorry."
"No, don't be sorry," Bobbi groaned as she slowly sat up, rubbing at her eyes and rearranging her hair. "'S nothing. Happens all the time." Fitz handed Bobbi her phone, an eyebrow raised, and she sighed, ducking her head. "Yeah."
"You miss her." It was more of a statement than a question.
"Like hell. Worse than hell." A grim smile touched Bobbi's face as she let out a small, humorless laugh. "She doesn't miss me, though. I'm sure I'll be okay eventually." As Fitz turned towards his lab bench, she touched his arm, causing him to stop. "Hey. Thanks."
"Now you know."
Simmons looked up to see Fitz standing before her, an unreadable expression on his face. She put down the tablet gently, her mind refusing to process what she'd just seen. "I..." she began, fanning a hand over her face. She'd gone and stuffed all of that up. "Bloody hell," she whispered, her voice cracking. "Fitz, what have I done?"
Fitz cautiously gathered Simmons into his arms as she burst into tears, sobbing on his shoulder. "Why would she do that?" she demanded in between sobs. "Why would she tell me I was just a friend, then...then...she couldn't fall asleep without me, for fuck's sake!" Images of Bobbi's tear-streaked face flashed into her mind, the raw grief in her eyes haunting Simmons' soul.
What had she done?
In a wild attempt to rectify things, her mind grasped wildly for moments before she'd gone and ripped their entire relationship to pieces; of Bobbi laughing as her blue eyes danced with amusement, of her casually throwing an arm around Simmons' shoulders during movie nights, of anything that would just give her back the Bobbi she so achingly loved.
They only served to torture her more, flashing side-by-side with the Bobbi that had cried herself to sleep with a video. Deeply wrecked by the tainted images, Simmons broke into another fresh wave of tears, clutching madly at Fitz's shoulders.
Only...it wasn't Fitz she was clutching at.
Fitz had always been a little too warm when he gave his hugs, but this warmth was just right. Almost as if she'd been made for it. Did she dare to look up...?
"Jem,"
Yup, she was going for it.
Simmons looked up, and instantly, Bobbi's lips met hers, pressing in a soft, insistent kiss that radiated apologies and demanded forgiveness all at the same time. Simmons wrapped her arms around Bobbi's neck, quietly accepting the apologies and attempting to convey some of her own. When they broke apart, Bobbi's eyes were sparkling with tears, but it was with concern that she reached out and wiped a tear off of Simmons' face instead. "Jem, you alright?"
"I'm so sorry," Simmons blubbered out, the dam behind her regrets suddenly breaking. "I'm sorry I shut you out and pushed you away and it was the worst things I've ever done because I never was done with you, Bobbi, it was a stupid thing to say and stupid of me to ever think that I could even for a moment get away with it and I - I - I'm just sorry," she sobbed, shuddering as Bobbi rubbed gentle circles on her back. "I've stuffed up awfully horribly and you probably do hate me which I'm perfectly fine with -"
"Jemma," Bobbi gave a watery laugh. "I don't hate you."
"-although that doesn't explain what you're doing here, really, what are you doing here - did you say something?" Simmons hiccupped, some stray tears making a last run down her cheeks.
"I don't hate you," Bobbi said gently, pulling Simmons into her arms. "God, Jemma. I could never hate you. I'm just an idiot, y'know?"
"What?" Simmons asked, a faint note of outrage in her voice. "Bobbi, you're not an idiot! Whatever makes you think that?"
Bobbi sighed, casting her eyes skyward. "Here goes nothing," she muttered to the ceiling. "I fell in love with someone who doesn't love me back," she admitted. "And then I was stupid because I kissed her over a game of spoons. I freaked out and made it seem like it was for the win."
"Yes, well, I was stupid because I took this girl seriously when she told me I was a great friend," Simmons rolled her eyes self-deprecatingly. "I should've told her I was in love with her instead." She looked up at Bobbi. "Maybe we both should've been a little more direct with our approaches towards those people,"
"Alright," Bobbi shrugged. "The sky is blue, we need oxygen to breathe, and I love you,"
A smile bloomed over Simmons' face as she leaned up to kiss Bobbi again. "Water is dew, cars need gasoline, and I love you, too."
"MORSE! SIMMONS!"
"While we're stating facts, May is probably going to kill us if we don't get over to the lounge with our red envelopes," Bobbi said nervously, still letting a stupid grin dominate her expression. "We'd best better go."
"Yeah, Simmorse!" Skye whooped loudly as Bobbi and Simmons darted into the lounge five minutes later, an arm each wrapped around each other's waists. "About time, too!" The two of them only traded looks of long-suffering amusement before settling into a couch, Simmons sprawling across Bobbi's lap.
"Can we just bloody get on with it?" Hunter whined, tugging at the flap of his red envelopes. "I just want to find out how much money I got already!"
"Are you sure?" Coulson asked, raising an eyebrow from the bar. "Because that's your paycheck for the year."
"He's trying to tell you you're not getting anything," Lincoln deadpanned, breaking out into laughter when Hunter let out a small screech. "No, seriously, I wouldn't expect much," he added, this time more seriously. "Red envelopes are for people who aren't married yet. You already got married, man."
"I want you all to put this tissue down before you start piling the money on the floor," May said, passing around a box of Kleenex. "Regardless of whether we exist or not, money is still dirty, and I just cleaned the floors last week." Each of them took a tissue, laying it flat on the floor. "Have fun."
Skye let out a cheer as she opened each envelope reverently, taking out each bill as if it were a precious commodity before smoothing it out and laying it on the tissue. Hunter was a lot less reserved about his, eagerly tearing into his envelopes and shaking out the money. Beside him, Joey was laughing as Mack struggled with his envelopes, his fingers too large to deftly extract the money.
Finally, he held out his hands, and Mack sighed, handing Joey the envelopes.
"Skye, have you opened the box I gave you this morning?" Skye, who was cuddled into Lincoln's shoulder, looked up from where she was examining a five dollar bill. May nodded at her. "Do it."
With one hand, she opened the box while idly playing with the jade pendant May had given her a couple of days ago. A delicate gold chain bracelet lay nestled in the velvet, and it took all she had not to replicate Hunter's screech.
"Holy shit, Lian," Lincoln muttered from beside her. "How much is that thing even worth?"
"What'd she give you?" May craned over to look inside the box, smirking when she saw what was inside. "Oh, that."
"What do you mean?" Skye asked, snapping the lid of the box shut and turning to May. "What do you mean, 'Oh, that'? Is there something I should know about this?"
"That bracelet has literally seen every corner of the world," May chuckled. "Lian used to wear it when she was on missions. She told me she once lost it on Everest and it showed up at our doorstep a year later."
"But why me?" Skye asked, confused. "Why didn't she just give it to you? Obviously, you'd be the next one in the line to receive it, right?"
"I think she figured you needed it more than I did," May said after a moment of thought. "The point of it is to say that no matter how far we all may go," She sat down beside Skye, throwing an arm around her daughter. "Family will always come back to you."
"Hear, hear," Coulson echoed, starting a round of applause. Even Hunter stopped counting his money long enough to clap, although he was the first one to stop. "Although this does mean one thing," he said.
"What's that?" Skye asked, her voice cracking slightly with emotion.
Coulson turned to Lincoln. "We need to have a talk. My office, 1300 hours tomorrow, and don't give me a reason to get the shotgun."
"Dad!"
More A/N: LET ME KNOW IF YOU LISTENED TO THE SONG. Please. I need to know if anyone cried (or nearly did) like I did!
And with that, thank you all so much for going through this roller coaster with me! I'd love to hear what you thought (even if it ends up being your only review) and I'll see you all soon! (On Biochem, which you should really check out if you haven't; and another Smorse story at some point BECAUSE I LOVE THEM SO MUCH.)