One strip of daylight falls precisely over Skye's eyes and she stirs slightly. Her cheek is pressed against something soft and warm that rises and falls with her own breathing, her legs are tangled up in the sheets and it feels like someone is painting the Mona Lisa between her shoulder blades.
Even without opening her eyes she realises she's not in her own house, or her own room. It smells different, more feminine for some reason. It smells like Jemma; like soft soap, lotion and the remnants of perfume. Skye is lying on Jemma's bare tummy, her arms wrapped around her, the covers draped around them.
At a young age Skye learnt that she's not one for early mornings. She already realised that in pre-school when her teachers would get mad at her for being late, same thing for high school. The easy thing with Shield was that she could work in her own timelines as long as work got done before the deadline. She only needed to come in every now and then to get updates, for meetings and trainings, but those were often enough scheduled in the afternoon.
Skye now realises that if this was a way to spend her mornings, pressed up against Jemma, she would trade her beauty sleep without hesitation.
"Good morning, Skye," Jemma whispers when Skye slowly opens her eyes and rubs one of them with her wrist.
"Hey. Morning." Skye smiles softly and presses a kiss to Jemma's abdomen.
"Did you sleep well?"
"Like a baby, really. What time is it?"
"Nearly nine," Jemma answers and slowly threads her fingers through her hair.
"Happy birthday to your daughter. When is she getting here?" Skye yawns and scoots up slowly to rest her nose in the crook of Jemma's neck, who simply wraps her arms around her and kisses the top of her head.
"Thank you. She should be here in about an hour."
"That's soon," Skye mumbles and presses a kiss in the hollow behind her ear before sighing.
After a few more minutes of comfort and cuddling the inevitable comes, however, and they need to get up. Both because Jemma needs to prep for the birthday, but also because they are getting hungry and Sarah will come home sooner than later.
* *
"So, what's the plan?" Skye asks and leans back in her chair, one of Jemma's purple mugs in her hands, blowing on her hot coffee. A trail of nervousness lingers in her voice and she dips her finger in the syrup on her plate.
"What do you mean?" Jemma quirks an eyebrow at Skye and takes a bite of her pancakes. It showed last night that Jemma is better in the kitchen than Skye, but it had showed while moving in that Skye is the absolute queen and ruler of pancakes, so Jemma just let her go ahead and fix them breakfast while she made coffee and tea, and prepared for Sarah's arrival.
"Well... I mean I slept over, obviously. Sarah didn't see me arrive, but I don't know if she'll find it weird if I'll be here when she arrives. And your mother, she'll drop Sarah off, right?"
"Right..." Jemma frowns subtly but then shrugs. "Well, Sarah likes you, obviously. I mean she talks about you non-stop. Like 'when is Skye coming to watch Adventure Time?' and 'can Skye teach me how to make pancakes?' The best one yet is 'mommy I want to be an Avenger'. She talks about you more than I do. I don't think it'll matter. She'll either figure out that something is going on, or she won't. I mean the concept of two women together isn't very difficult, really."
"Alright, I didn't doubt that she liked me, I just didn't want to... I don't know... I want to be around you all the time and if we're going to spend more time together I think that Sarah and I will be seeing a bit more of each other as well... I don't want things to get weird or difficult."
"It will be fine, Skye. Sarah is a smart child, and for my mother. She's seen me date stranger types over the years, I guess. And after I split up with Sarah's father, I just think she wants me to be happy, you know."
"So you think I'm strange?" Skye asks with a grin. "And you want to date me?"
"I... Well..." Jemma is stammering, realising what exactly she said to Skye. In her head it all made perfect sense to say that, but now the words are hanging in the air between them, she doesn't know what to think anymore.
The look Skye gives her is enough to laugh a shaky laugh and nod. "Yes. I think you're strange and I want to date you."
"I would kiss you right now, but your mother is waving. I don't want to make a bad first impression on the mother of the woman I'm dating," Skye answers with a happy grin and motions her head in the direction of the window, where indeed stands a very British woman with a young child in her arms.
Jemma pokes her in the side when she gets up and Skye squeals. "You're insufferable, Skye."
"For the record, I think you're strange too, Jem," Skye calls after her and she can hear Jemma laugh before the click of the front door.
Skye hears the muffled sounds of people talking, but she can't hear what exactly they are saying. She just hears her name once or twice. And then she hears rolling footsteps.
"Skyeeeee!" Sarah busts through the door with her hands in the air, wearing a party hat. She's still wearing her scarf.
"Sarah, hey, happy birthday!" Skye laughs and sweeps the girl up in her arms before pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Did you sleep well? Or were you too excited?"
"It was okay. I missed mommy though. But I got a nice present. It is a book; do you want to see it?"
"Yes, of course. Go get it, we'll take a look."
Sarah dances out of the room and is met halfway by Jemma and her mother, who come walking in, chattering in their awfully cute accent. Skye's surprised she doesn't hear the word crumpet.
"So there she is," the woman says and Skye rises to her feet as if there's a cord attached to the tip of her head. "The woman who would like to date my daughter."
There's a stern look on her face, but Skye manages to smile anyway. She extends her hand to introduce herself, which Jemma's mother shakes. "I'm Skye, nice to meet you, misses Simmons."
"Please, darling. Call me Mary. I'm glad to see that Jemma is so excited about someone again."
Her face breaks in a very Jemma-like smile and Skye shoots a glance over at Jemma, who trailed behind a bit. She's absolutely flustered. Probably because she didn't think that a) Skye would agree to dating her so quickly and that she would b) meet her mother within ten minutes.
"Yes, well I'm very excited about her, too."
"Would you like some tea, mom?" Jemma asks with a hand on her shoulder and Mary nods with a soft smile.
"Yes please, love. Thank you."
"Skye?"
"Sure, tea is fine. Thanks." She smiles a warm smile at Jemma, who scoops up the remains of their breakfast and disappears into the kitchen, leaving Skye alone with Mary.
"So how did you two meet exactly?" Mary asks while Sarah climbs onto Skye's lap and puts the book down in front of her, flipping the cover open.
"I moved in next door this week, actually. Sarah here kicked her ball over the fence and was so polite to come ask if she could go and get it with your daughter. We got to know each other because she offered to help me unpack and paint my living room. It was very nice."
"Oh, how convenient then. The kids these days seem to have a knack for long distance relationships. I started to worry that my Jemma had gotten a foreigner on the hook."
"Mother, Skye is from around here. She works for Shield as a computer scientist," Jemma says when she pushes the door open with her foot and sets down a tray.
"I'm hardly a scientist, though. I am very good with computers, but you're the tiny scientist here, Jem," Skye answers with a chuckle and Jemma blushes again.
"Excuse me," Jemma says before walking out again, clearly having forgotten something.
"And with this one here, Skye?" Mary asks with a slight nod to the little girl sitting in Skye's lap.
"What about it?"
"Does it bother you that Jemma has a daughter?"
"Not at all. Why should it bother me? I knew about it from the start, I really like her, I really like Jemma, and we get along well. I don't think it'll cause a problem. Sarah is a smart child."
"I am," she pipes up and the two women laugh.
"You're not bothering her with questions, are you, mom?"
"Not at all, sweetheart," Mary answers with a soft smile and cups one of Jemma's cheeks gently when she sits down. "I just didn't think you would end up here. That's all."
"Well, I didn't think you would end up in America. When is your flight back?"
"Tonight, I'm sorry your father was ill. You two should come visit us soon."
"We will. I haven't been to the UK in ages."
"No, before you know it you'll lose your accent and marry a woman. That's what America will do to you, darling." Mary laughs and Jemma blushes again, which happens a lot around her mother it seems. Skye thinks it's adorable.
"Right, before this gets any more uncomfortable for the two of you, and before a herd of children come rushing in, I shall get going. It was lovely to have Sarah with me and even lovelier to see you, darling. I will call you tonight."
Their goodbyes are said and even Skye gets a hug. "Take good care of her, alright?" Mary whispers in her ear and Skye just nods. Of course she would.
They start decorating the cake soon, Skye bakes another pile of pancakes for the children to enjoy and Jemma changes Sarah into something more festive.
"You should wear a party hat, Skye," Jemma mumbles when Sarah is out of the room and presses a quick kiss to her cheek. Skye just rolls her eyes at her, but wears one anyway, for as long as the party lasts.
* *
"Hey little Avenger. Didn't I say that I had a present for you as well?" Skye asks when all the washing up is done, when all the children have left the house and everything is quiet again. Sarah sits up immediately and nods slowly. She obviously doesn't dare to ask for it.
"You didn't get her something too expensive, right, Skye?"
"Don't worry," Skye answers and takes the bag from the table. She motions for Sarah to come over and sets her down in her lap.
"Open it, it's for you."
Sarah meticulously rips open the wrapping paper and tosses it on the table, before tearing the bubble wrap off and spinning the plastic cup in her hands. "It's a cup! I also have a cup! Thank you!"
She jumps off her lap and bounces to Jemma to show the red plastic cup with the Iron Man logo on it.
"Look mommy! You have the green one, Skye the other one, I have the red one!"
It takes a few seconds before Jemma realises what happened. Sarah must have obviously seen that she had been drinking from the Hulk mug at Skye's place while Skye just picked an Avenger mug at random, since she had all of them anyway. But Sarah always drank from a simple glass, since she would just drink juice or lemonade. But not anymore.
"I am an Avenger now, mommy."
"Yes, you are, honey." Jemma smiles brightly and lifts her onto her hip. "Thank you, Skye. That was really kind."
Skye just shrugs with one shoulder and grins lopsidedly. "I saw it and just had to get it for her. I'll leave you two to her birthday dinner now. You two deserve some time together. I have to work tomorrow, but maybe we can see each other soon?"
"Yes, that would be lovely. We are dating after all, Skye."
"I'll think of something to do!" Skye puts her hands over Sarah's eyes and ears and presses a kiss to Jemma's lips. "Blindfolded hugs we call that, Sarah. Don't tell anyone. It's our little secret," Skye whispers when she pulls back and ruffles her hair. A blush has crept onto Jemma's cheekbones again and Skye winks.
"See you soon."
"Bye, Skye. Thanks for your help."
"It was great. Thank you."
