Drabble 66: Pretend

A/N: Hi guys! I realized that we haven't had a mainly funny drabble in a while, and this idea popped into my head. I hope you like it!

"We're going undercover." Coulson said.

"Everyone?" Simmons asked.

"Yes." Coulson said. "I need everyone in the field, even you and Fitz."

"Are you sure?" Ward asked.

"Yep." Coulson said.

"Do we have specific roles?" Simmons asked.

"No."

"We can wing it." Ward said.

"Simmons can't."

"I can't."

Fitz and Simmons spoke at the same time, and then they looked at each other, smiling.

"What was that?" Ward asked.

"We both know I'm not very good at 'winging it.'" Simmons said.

"She's really not." Skye said. "She can't lie."

"Thank you." Simmons said.

"Then come up with a backstory, and tell us the basics."

"Will do, sir." She said. She looked at Fitz, her eyes gleaming. "Care to help me?"

"Alright. Test me."

Fitz looked at his list. "What's your name?"

"Emily Dale."

"Job?"

"I'm a nurse."

"Pets?"

"A cat named Bobbers, who lives with me at my apartment."

"Relationships?"

"I am currently involved with Mathew Tate. We've been together for two years, and it's very serious."

Fitz laughed and Jemma stopped, raising her eyebrows. "What?"

"You're so straight-faced." He said, smiling.

"This is serious!" she said. "I have to know this by heart!"

"I know." He said. "That doesn't make practice any less amusing." He said, chuckling again.

"Go ahead and laugh." She said. "I'm prepared."

"We should probably tell the others they have roles to learn." Fitz said.

"The sooner we do the sooner they'll forgive us for all the trouble." Simmons said. "I don't know why they insist on 'winging it.' Writing up characters has been great, and this way there aren't any conflicting stories!"

"Let's go, Emily."

"Straight away, Michael." Simmons said, beaming.

"You what?" Skye asked.

"We made up characters for everyone." Simmons said.

"You two can use yours. We'll play it by ear."

"Fitz-Simmons actually has a point, Ward." Coulson said.

Ward looked at him, betraying his shock. "Which is?"

"We need this op to be successful. It's too easy to conflict stories if everyone isn't on the same page."

"But how do we memorize everyone's character info and ours before we have to leave?" Skye asked.

"It doesn't take long to memorize." Simmons said confidently.

"Maybe not for you." Skye said quietly.

Simmons realized her friend had a point. Not everyone could memorize as quickly as she could. The thought made her smile. Maybe she couldn't improvise well, but her mind was quick when she needed it to be.

"I know how to make everyone learn their parts." Simmons said. "We need to act like our characters."

"Now I know you have to be joking." Ward said.

"No, she's not." Fitz said. "She's got a point. If everyone acts like their character, you should be fine for the op."

"Sir-." Ward started.

"Alright." Coulson said with a small sigh. "Let's see our roles."

Fitz passed out the assignment papers, and then he and Simmons watched as their teammates read them over.

"I'm a waitress!" Skye exclaimed.

"We couldn't say you were a hacker." Simmons said.

"You could've picked anything, and you chose waitress." She said. "I could have been a techie!" She shook her head. "Please tell me Ward's something like that."

"Actually, Skye, I'm a soldier." Ward said.

Skye looked at Simmons with her mouth open and Simmons raised her hands helplessly. "He looks and acts the part!"

Simmons thought she heard Skye mutter something, but whatever it was wasn't clear enough for her to understand.

"So how do we all know each other?" Coulson asked.

"Apparently we work together." May said to him.

"May is Skye's aunt, and Ward is her childhood friend. I checked in on Ward after he was injured, and Fitz is…" Simmons cleared her throat. "Fitz is with me."

"Fitz is what?" Skye asked.

"We're always together." Fitz said carefully.

"You didn't…" Skye said. Simmons didn't like to see the smile that formed on Skye's face. "I forgive you for making me a waitress."

"We needed a good reason to always be together, and statistically it's more likely that with this number of people at least one of them would be in a relationship, so there you have it." Simmons said.

"I think it'll work fine." May said.

Simmons looked at her gratefully.

"It'll be great." Skye said. Her smile looked truly evil now as she fixed her gaze on Fitz and Simmons. "Let's start acting."

"How's your leg, Gregory?"

"Good as new." He said, stretching it.

"And you've been doing your exercises?"

"Yes, but I don't need to anymore. It's fixed."

"Keep doing them anyway, at least for now. Where's Sara? She usually comes with you for these check-ups."

Ward pursed his lips. "No idea."

Fitz poked his head in the doorway. "Are you almost done, Em?"

"Michael, I've just started talking with him."

"Right. Sorry."

"I'm fine now, doc. Seriously." Ward said.

"You are now that I'm here." Skye said, appearing next to Fitz in the doorway. "Why did you leave without me?" she asked Ward.

"You seemed busy."

"Nice to see you, Sara." Simmons said.

"You too Emily." Skye said with a smile. "Greg, once we're done here my aunt wants to see us. We've dodged dinner too many times to miss another one for no reason."

"Mary isn't that bad." Ward said.

"No, but she's always around Dave, and he never shuts up about their work."

"It's nice to know what you really think about me." Coulson said.

"Just playing a role." Skye said smoothly.

Simmons shook her head and looked at Fitz. "We were doing so well."

"You knew it couldn't last forever." He looked at his watch. "We did make it longer than I expected, though."

"So we're done acting?" Ward asked. When no one said anything he smiled. "Great. I'm tired of being Greg. He talks too much."

"You know you had a little fun." Coulson said.

"Fun or not, it served its purpose." May said. "We've got the roles in our heads. We won't forget them. We're ready for the op."

"I think so too." Coulson said, looking them over. "Alright. We'll leave in thirty minutes. Go pack supplies."

Coulson, May, and Ward walked out immediately.

"We should go to the lab, go over our materials." Fitz said.

"Why did you two really make up all those undercover stories?" Skye asked.

"What do you mean?" Simmons asked. "We wanted everyone to be on the same page."

"No," Skye said. "There's more to it than that."

"She caught you, Jem." Fitz said.

Simmons smiled. "I wanted the team to get a little bit closer."

"So you forced us to interact with each other." Skye said. She smiled again, this time with respect. "You sneaky little scientist."

Simmons just dipped her head slightly, her eyes sparkling.

"Now tell me something else." Skye said. "Then I'll let you pack."

"Okay." Fitz said.

"How do you expect to fool anyone as boyfriend and girlfriend? You didn't even kiss in all the time we were acting."

Simmons felt her cheeks burning and suddenly became very aware of how close she was standing to Fitz.

"Just think about it." Skye said. Then she walked out.

Simmons kept looking at her feet for a few seconds before hesitantly meeting his eyes.

He looked back at her, shyly but steadily. "We'll do what we have to." He said. "For the op."

That didn't help her blush, but she nodded. She could handle it. It was all pretend.

Wasn't it?