A/N: Hey guys. Sorry it's been so long since this story was updated, but here's a new chapter!

This chapter was inspired by "Critical Role," a web show on the Geek and Sundry YouTube network where a group of voice actors play Dungeons and Dragons. I've been binge-watching it all this week and it's just amazing. In this chapter I introduce Skye's D-n-D friends, who come from a variety of fandoms. Patterson is from "Blindspot" and she's played by Ashley Johnson, who's one of the players on "Critical Role" (and voiced Ellie in "The Last of Us"). Mercer was inspired by Matthew Mercer, the dungeon master from "Critical Role." Claudia Donovan is from "Warehouse 13" and Douglas Fargo is from "Eureka." (They're my OTP from those shows.)

I used a D-n-D name generator to come up with Trip and Wanda's character names. They're hilarious. Give them a shot if you're bored.

Anyway, check out "Critical Role" and "Blindspot" and "Warehouse 13" and "Eureka." They're all amazing. Tell them I sent you. :)

Thank you to everyone who reads/reviews/follows/favorites. You're all amazing!

Enjoy!

"Thank you for doing this," Jemma murmured to Fitz as he walked her down the hallway to Skye's ICU room.

"She's important to you," Fitz replied. "I want you to be happy, Jemma, and if that means I have to bring you here, of course I will."

As they approached the room Fitz leaned down towards Jemma and spoke softly into her ear. "There's an Asian woman outside the room."

"A nurse?"

"No, she's wearing street clothes."

"That's Melinda. Skye's mom." Jemma hesitated. "How does she look?"

"Tired," Fitz responded. "And maybe a little worried."

Jemma heard someone take a few steps forward, and then Melinda spoke. "Hi, Jemma. I didn't know you were coming to visit today."

"Is it all right?" Jemma asked.

"Of course," Melinda said, and her voice was kind. "Skye's… she's had a rough eighteen hours or so."

Jemma's heart thwacked painfully in her chest. Then she remembered Fitz was next to her. "Um, this is my friend Fitz. We work together. He gave me a ride here."

"It's nice to meet you," Melinda said to Fitz.

"Nice to meet you as well," Fitz said. "Jem, I'm going to go sit in the lounge. Whenever you're ready, give me a call and I'll come and walk you back."

Jemma turned towards him. "Are you sure? You don't mind waiting?"

"No," Fitz answered easily. "I have work to do."

"Thank you," Jemma whispered to him.

He squeezed her hand and then she heard his footsteps walk away from her.

"What happened to Skye?" Jemma asked Melinda.

"She's still draining blood out of both her g- and j-tubes," Melinda replied. "And during the procedure to put the central line in her neck, she went into vasovagal shock and it took them about an hour to get her oxygen saturations back up, so they had to cancel the procedure and she's still got three peripheral IVs that keep infiltrating and they're forced to move them every twelve hours or so. She's in a lot of pain but she's limited to a couple of very small doses of painkillers given very infrequently since everything else makes her nauseous and we can't risk her throwing up."

Jemma nodded, taking all of that in slowly. "And what's she doing now?"

When Melinda spoke her voice was full of good humor. "Believe it or not, she's flat on her back with her laptop mounted over her so she can join in her weekly Dungeons and Dragons game through Skype."

"What?" Jemma was positive she'd heard Melinda incorrectly.

"Skye's part of a group that plays Dungeons and Dragons every week," Melinda said. "Some of them play together at an actual physical location – Wanda, Trip, and Skye's boss from the store, Kate, play in the community room above the store – and others Skype in to play from various locations. Skye's got a handful of friends around the country, very few of whom she's met in person, who she's extremely connected to."

Jemma felt confused and a bit embarrassed. "Um, well, I can leave…"

"No, of course not," Melinda said firmly. "She'll be happy to see you. But, just to warn you, she might insist you roll up a character and join them."

"Okay, so, you all enter the cavern. It's about a hundred feet high and seems to be maybe seventy or seventy-five feet across. It's made out of the same reddish-brown stone as the rest of the caves you've already gone through. It's very dark, except for a small spot at the far end of the cavern where you can see a small flickering light," Kate said.

"I'd like to approach the light," Trip said.

"Okay. Anyone else?"

"I will also do the approach," Wanda said.

"Anyone else?"

A chorus of "no" rose up from the other players, Skye included. While Kate took a moment to look down at her notes, Skye considered the others on the screen. In one corner of the screen was the Skype window showing Patterson, a gorgeously pale blue-eyed blonde who headed the forensics division at a New York City FBI office. Next to her was a Skype window containing the visage of a scruffy, dark-haired man named Mercer, a voice actor from California. And in the middle of the screen there were two windows; one of them contained Kate, Wanda, and Trip, and the other held Claudia Donovan and Douglas Fargo (chief IT support for an IRS branch in South Dakota and head of a computing firm somewhere in that general area respectively), who were madly in love but refused to admit it, much to the amusement of the rest of the group.

"So Adodithas Smilebeard and Leshanna Silverfrond approach the light," Kate said.

"I'd like to cast stealth," Trip said. "Big W, do you want to do that?"

Wanda frowned. "Do I have this skill?"

Trip leaned over and pointed at something on her sheet. "Right there."

"Oh. Good. Yes, I will do this," Wanda said. "Also, do not call me this."

"We'll see."

Skye smiled.

"Make a roll for a stealth check," Kate said.

Trip and Wanda both rolled dice. Trip grimaced. "I rolled a natural one."

"Wanda?"

"Thirteen."

"Excellent," Kate said. "So Leshanna basically disappears into the shadows, while Ado seems to clomp along as though he's wearing big cooking pots for shoes."

Skye laughed and then winced. "Guys, don't make me laugh."

"You look all right," Patterson observed. "Much better than when you'd just recovered from the vasovagal episode."

"I'm still flat on my back and I feel like I've been hit by a – holy shit, you're here!"

"What? Who is it?" Fargo asked.

Skye grinned. "It's my gorgeous girlfriend."

"You have a girlfriend?" Patterson's voice rose and her pale face went rosy with excitement. "Good for you, Skye!"

"Hi, Jemma," Skye said. "I can't turn my head towards you so my voice might sound a little funny."

Jemma found the chair next to the bed with her cane and sat down. "That's all right. I'm just glad to hear your voice at all, considering that last time I saw you, you were on a ventilator."

"And she's British?!" Patterson's voice rose another octave with delight. "Oh, Skye, amazing!"

"Who's that?" Jemma asked.

"It's Patterson, being her overly excitable self," Skye said, rolling her eyes. "Guys, will you all say hi to Jemma and introduce yourselves?"

The group readily agrees and so for the next few minutes Skye has time to consider her feelings. She hadn't had much time to consider her thoughts on their relationship, what with the blood clots and being unconscious, and now she couldn't even turn her head to look at Jemma.

Am I still mad? No. Not really. Jemma's used to hanging around with people who've got more degrees than I've got letters in my name, and I'm not used to those kind of people, either. Maybe our friends just aren't compatible. Yet. And I really love her.

Wait. Did I just think the word "love"? Have I told her I love her yet? No. No, I haven't.

Maybe I should get on that.

"Skye?" Jemma's voice broke through her chaotic thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Your friends want to know if you'd like to continue playing, or if you've had enough for today."

"Oh. Um, well, I don't want to ignore you…" Skye said, although what she really meant was I want to keep playing, because this makes me feel normal.

"She could roll up a character," Mercer suggested.

"I think that might be kinda hard," Skye said. "But that could be something we could talk about once I'm out of the hospital, and if Jemma's interested."

Oh, how she wanted to look over at Jemma, to read Jemma's expression. But she didn't really want to pass out again.

Is this how Jemma feels, unable to see the people she cares about? God, this sucks.

"Why don't we stop for today," Kate suggested sensibly. "We'll let Trip's poor dice skills take a break."

"Sounds good," Claudia said. "Fargo and I have some work to finish up anyway."

"We do?"

"Oh, come on, guys," Mercer said. "We all know you're going to make out in the closest storage closet."

"We are?" Fargo sounded truly bewildered.

Patterson laughed. "We'll explain it to you when you're older, Dougie."

Fargo went bright red.

"Patterson? That all right with you?" Kate asked.

"Yeah. I've got to get back to work anyway. I'm analyzing some fascinating…" She froze. "… and very classified material."

One by one the Skype windows closed, until it was just Kate, Wanda, and Trip looking at Skye. "Hey, I'll let Wanda and Trip say their goodbyes," Kate said. "I'm going to clean up the shop. Skye, we hope you'll be back with us soon."

"Me too," Skye said. "Thanks, Kate."

Wanda gave Skye an appraising look. "You are getting better," she said. "Maybe very soon you will go home. Three days mostly."

"That's good to hear," Skye said.

"And when you get out of there, we'll have a D-n-D marathon," Trip said. "Patterson's going to be visiting Chicago to talk to some agents out here or something, and she'll come see us once she's done. And Dougie and Claudia have the week off from their job for some reason, so they're up for anything."

"We are to missing you," Wanda said. "I am doing the praying for your good health."

"Thanks," Skye said softly. "I miss you guys too."

She closed the Skype window and gingerly turned her head a few inches to the side. "Sorry about that, Jem."

"It's okay," Jemma said. "I'm just glad… I'm just glad you're awake. And alive."

She found Skye's hand and squeezed it. "Although, uh, I didn't know you were into the dragons and dungeons sort of thing."

"We've been playing together for more than two years," Skye said. "I figure we'll be playing for the rest of our lives."

She sighed happily. "I missed you."

"Skye?"

"Hmm?"

"I wanted to say… I'm so sorry for what happened on trivia night," Jemma said, somewhat shakily. "I should have stuck up for you. I never want to make you feel like you're less than anyone else. In my eyes, you're so much more than everyone else."

Skye felt tears flood her eyes and she swallowed hard. In order to cover her emotion, she said, "I don't know if I'd trust your eyes. They're not so good, you know?"

Jemma squeezed her hand again and leaned a little closer. "If I kiss you, will you promise not to have another vasovagal reaction and pass out?"

"No promises, but why don't you try it and we'll find out?"

Jemma smiled and Skye felt whole for the first time in a week.