A/N: anonymous said: "You have three choices...Run, hide, or die."
"I'm sorry, sir," Jemma says, blinking. "Could you repeat that? You want us to go undercover as a couple?"
"I know it's a lot to ask, Simmons, but it's our only option," Coulson says. "We need a sample of that drug before it hits the market, and you're the only one who can get it for us."
"Yes, but I—"
"You can't go alone," he continues over her. "But the cover doesn't allow for a bodyguard or a platonic companion. It's lover or nothing, and nothing's not an option."
"I understand that, sir, but—"
"And it has to be Ward," he adds. "Frankly, he's the only one I trust to be able to get you out of there if things go sour. You trust Ward, don't you?"
"Of course, but—"
"Ward?" Coulson asks. "Any problems with the assignment?"
"No, sir," he says, not bothering to hide his amusement.
"So everyone's happy and everyone understands their roles," Coulson says, clapping his hands together briskly. "Glad to hear it."
He gives them both a nod and departs swiftly. Jemma, meanwhile, is still standing there stammering. Hearing a low chuckle from the man standing next to her, she pulls herself out of her shock and whirls to face him, thumping him on the arm.
"Grant!" she hisses. "You said you'd talk to him about our relationship!"
"I did," he defends, still chuckling.
"Really?" she asks, disbelieving. "Because that did not sound like a man who's aware that we've been dating for six months!"
He catches her hand before she can hit him again, swallowing back the rest of his laughter. "Okay, I didn't tell him. I went to his office to talk to him and he started with all of that—needing us to go undercover together—and…" He shrugs. "It was funny."
"Funny?" she echoes.
"Yeah," he says, and laughs again. "The look on your face alone…"
She pulls her hand out of his and crosses her arms, narrowing her eyes at him. "Grant."
"Jemma."
"You have three choices," she says evenly. "Run, hide, or die."
"Oh, really?" he asks, the amusement in his eyes sharpening into something a little more…thrilling. "Those are my only options?"
"Yes," she says, even as he steps closer and her mouth goes dry. "Really."
"Really," he repeats thoughtfully. "Because I think I should get the chance to plead my case."
"Should you?" she asks, and takes a step of her own. "I don't know. You'll have to be convincing."
He smiles a bit, wickedly. "How convincing?"
"You just made a fool of me in front of our commanding officer," she reminds him, a touch sharply.
"So I'll have to be very convincing," he muses, and closes the last of the distance between them. "I think I can manage that."
And he does.
