It was a strange day for one Jemma Simmons.
She usually got up at six, but she woke up at eleven. Though, if she admitted to herself, she was more tired than usual yesterday. She usually was in the lab by eight, but apparently she was banned from the lab for the day, well more like after the meltdown in the lab, Coulson ordered her to relax.
Though I don't think he meant for me to be cooking. Simmons thought to herself as she busied herself in the kitchen. She just finished making Trip's favorite sandwich, a white bean and mozzarella sandwich with one white chicken breast, Skye's favorite sandwich, a panino with ciabatta, provolone, ham, and olive tapenade, extra crispy. And finally a third sandwich that she had subconsciously made, a prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella sandwich with a hint of pesto aioli.
Well, it was still a delicious sandwich, waste not, want not, and grabbed plates for everyone. She laid a few carrot and celery sticks on Trip's plate, a healthy dose of the salt and vinegar chips for Skye, and finally sea salt chips for herself.
Taking Skye's and Trip's plate, she made her way to the lounge room. They had the TV on, but they were concentrated on a game of scrabble.
"Fancy a sandwich?" Offering each their respective plates, she smiled as they thanked her and left to get her own sandwich when Trip spoke up.
"You didn't have to Jemma. You should be relaxing."
He was cut off by Jemma sighing, "Well doing something that doesn't really require that much thinking is relaxing to me." Having said that, she hurried off to grab her own sandwich before anyone else could speak up.
Trip looked at Skye, "It's not healthy for her to continue on this one track mindset. Or else she'll suffer another meltdown before we know it."
"We don't know that, maybe that's her way of relaxing." Skye took a moment to look at the sandwich and took a bite out of it.
"I'm not only talking about relaxing, I'm talking about what happened with Fitz. I know he ended up in a bad situation, but there has to be more than that." Trip looked at Skye eating and shook his head.
"Why do you say that? I asked her about it, and you know she's a terrible liar, if she had lied to me about anything. I'm pretty sure I'd have caught it." She swallowed and looked back at Trip, "If you want me to interrogate her some more, then I'll do it."
"Listen Skye, I liked and probably still like Jemma. She's someone way out of my league, with or without SHIELD, she'll go far in her life. A person with beauty and brains is hard to find, and it was easy as hell for me to spot that Fitz holds a torch for Jemma." Trip picked up his plate and stood to exit the room before adding, "If Fitz knew that he was sacrificing his life, I'd bet everything I own that he told her his feelings. Just so that he'd have no regrets going through with saving her."
Skye nodded in agreement and took another bite out the sandwich before noticing that Trip had already exited with his food. Sighing inwardly, might as well prod a bit more I suppose. Taking a few more bites of the sandwich she smiled. This sandwich is just delicious. I have to see what else Simmons would recommend for food. Definitely my favorite sandwich.
Simmons entered the room with her plate and looked around confusedly. "Where's Antoine?"
Skye looked up, "Said that without Fitz there was no handyman to make repairs on the Bus." Pausing to take another bite, and with a mouth full of food, "He said it was a delicious sandwich and practically inhaled it in three bites."
Simmons smiled, "Well I guess I can add chef extraordinaire to my resume." She placed her plate on the table and sat down.
Skye smiled back, "You know, I can always get your credentials back... If you wanted to ever go back to the normal life."
Skye paused to look at Simmons, who looked as if she was seriously contemplating the prospect of leaving SHIELD. Before Simmons nervously laughed, "Well I don't think I cou.."
"Stop Simmons. You're a terrible liar. Do you want to stay here? I mean, I understand how you feel. Partner in crime is gone. And the entire world is hunting you on top of a secret organization."
"I do want to stay and help. But, it just feels different without him."
"You mean Fitz." Skye looked determinedly at Simmons.
She involuntarily flinched before nodding, "Yes… without Fitz."
There was a long silence before Skye decided to take a gamble, "Did Fitz say anything to you… like about how he was madly in love with you?"
"Wha…what that idea is absolutely prepos…"
Skye cut her off a second time, "Oh my god. I'm so sorry." Her sandwich forgotten completely, she stood up and put a hand on Simmon's arm. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Simmons looked up at Skye and opened her mouth only to close and open it repeatedly. She shook her head, trying to figure out the next few words.
What to say. What to say. Simmons finally started, "You know when I first met Fitz. He was an awkward little thing. Skinny and didn't like to talk. Also very sarcastic and very defensive about anything he did. On top of all that, I just wasn't looking for any type of relationship. And neither was he… I think." She paused to take in another breath, "That's why we worked so well together. We just wanted to study and prove ourselves to the world."
She went on, "And honestly, he had a bad taste in clothing and a horrendous haircut. I helped him become more social, found a better wardrobe for him, and a decent haircut. It felt as if I was helping a brother, and so I equated any feelings towards him as brotherly."
Skye just nodded as Simmons continued, "It was only after I saw him date other women, that I started to realize that maybe it wasn't brotherly love, and maybe I saw that he might've fancied me. It didn't matter in the end because we both silently understood that we didn't want to destroy what we both had with feelings. God knows how many good partnerships were destroyed by breakups."
"Well what do you feel for him exactly then?" Skye finally questioned as she sat back down.
"Do I find him attractive? Sure. In his own certain way, but it's not like how I found Antoine attractive." She pushed away her plate, it looked like her hunger completely left her after all. I guess we're going to have to deal with this sooner or later.
Skye huffed, "Of course, Trip is like sculpted out of marble. Trip loves working out and only eats healthy. He'd probably work out in his sleep if it were possible. And Fitz, well, Fitz seems to have a good metabolism at least, and he's adorable."
"Well what's wrong with wanting to be with someone other than Fitz anyway? It's just like when we were at academy. Everyone thought we were together. It's why every relationship we had failed in the end. No one could quite believe that we weren't snogging everywhere." Simmons rested her head on the table.
"Nothing's wrong with that. It's just that you haven't said if you like him or not. You just said that he was attractive." Skye said pointedly.
Simmons visibly tensed up, and whispered, "I haven't decided on that yet either. Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. It doesn't matter now. He's not even here. And even if he does wake up, hypoxia can lead to altered personalities, short or long term memory loss, and in some cases lead to permanent loss."
"Well, keep your head up Simmons, you never know. And when he does show up, you might want to have an answer for him. Regardless or not if he remembers confessing to you. I think he's liked you long before you realized that he might like you." Skye picked up her sandwich and took another bite, "You know, I never knew I had a favorite sandwich until I ate this. You should recommend me more food to eat. It'll probably become my next favorite whatever."
Simmons lifted her head and shared a smile with Skye, "Of course, Fitz always said I could pick out what people liked without them ever knowing they liked it."
"You should eat Simmons. Wouldn't want you to faint while mixing something, or forgetting to put on your safety goggles on because of hunger. You know, Carol never wore her safety goggles… Now she doesn't need them." There was a small silence, followed by laughter as they both laughed at the corniness before Simmons pulled the plate toward her and started to eat, all semblances of the serious conversation gone.
A/N: Don't own Marvel or Agents.
I took some ideas from notapepper's story Oh To Be Young, which is probably one of the best origin stories on here about Fitz and Simmons. I really just liked the idea that Simmons influenced Fitz to improve himself. Socially (at least tried), clothes, haircut, and finding a new favorite sandwich.
Beyond that, I always saw Simmons as a bit of a mother hen as well. A bit overbearing, but loves to help around.
Also, those sandwiches are just random ones that I pulled, but they sure looked delicious haha.
Reviews are always helpful. I wrote this tired and my mind probably added a few words. I read this probably 5 times over, but at this point, my brain is kinda mush.