Apparently, telling herself repeatedly that she should be sleeping by now is not an effective way to fall asleep. So after an hour, Jemma stops trying and gets up. She has a book waiting for her that could maybe help her fall asleep but she decides to go down to the lobby. Fitz might be there too and she finds that her sleepless nights are a lot more fun when they're watching TV together. It's been a while since she's had a friend with whom she can be herself completely with all the sciency and nerdy stuff and it feels very relaxing.
When she gets to the lobby, she can hear the sound of the TV, which makes her smile because no one else ever comes down at this hour of night, so it has to be Fitz. But before she has the time to try and scare him again, she hears his voice.
"Jemma, stop hiding. I brought snacks and tea!" He says, a playful tone in his voice.
"How did you know it was me?" She says, pouting, as she sits on the couch next to him a moment later.
"I didn't. But no one else ever comes here at this time of night so I took my chance." He says with a small smile while handling her a cup of tea.
"Thank you." She answers as she takes the cardboard cup and drinks a sip from it. "Yeah I was bored in my room and I hoped you might be here ... not that I hoped you had trouble sleeping again but you know ..." She says smiling apologetically and he grins playfully at her slightly sheepish tone.
"So how did you know I would come tonight?" She adds gesturing to the cup of tea he just handled her.
"I didn't. I thought it would look cool if I acted like I did. I just had to bring one more cup of tea and I would have had no trouble eating this chocolate on my own anyway!" He says, his grin even more playful and she rolls her eyes fondly.
"So what are we watching tonight Fitz?" She says, bumping his shoulder.
"The stars!" He answers enthusiastically. "Well a documentary about the stars, but it's a good one, it's fascinating." He continues, not taking his eyes off the TV which makes her smile.
"You really are a tasteful person Fitz."
"Right back at you Jemma." He says smiling and turning to face her. "Always regretted not studying astronomy at university." He adds with a sigh.
For a moment, Jemma seems to be lost in thoughts. But finally a spark seems to ignite in her eyes and she gives him a mischievous smile before saying:
"You know what's the best place on Earth to watch the stars?"
He turns to face her again, raising his eyebrow and she answers his silent question:
"The desert, Fitz!" She says as she playfully punches his shoulder.
"Oh ..." He says, starting to smile.
"Come on, get up, let's go watch the stars, I know a few things about it too!" She says, her smile growing wider.
Now that he knows Jemma is actually a genius, he shouldn't be surprised that she somehow studied the stars at some point. He's not easily impressed by someone's intelligence but Jemma keeps doing it and it's so refreshing. Also, the look of child like anticipation on her face reminds him of how he feels about engineering or science in general ... or monkeys, and he can't help smiling back at her.
She gets up and offers him her hand to get up, which he takes, and they make their way to the door, their tea and chocolate in hands. Before they get out Jemma grabs one of the blankets at the clients' disposal in the lobby.
"Don't you want one? It gets suprisingly kind of chilly at night here." She asks when Fitz doesn't make a move to take one.
"Please, I'm Scottish, this is a hot summer day for me! The temperature is finally tolerable, I'm going to enjoy it a loooooot!" He says, boasting. Jemma tries to hide the small smile on her face at his sudden outburst of machismo that is somehow contradicted by his blue eyes, blond curls and slim build that give him this especially sweet and juvenile appearance.
"As you wish, Fitz. I won't say I told you so!" She says teasingly.
When they get outside, they realize that there's still too much light in front of the hotel to watch the stars properly. So they start walking away into the desert until the light from the hotel is far enough and their only source of light is the moon and the stars. As they sit next to each other on the sand, surrounded by the stars, they are both awestruck by the beauty of it all. So for a few minutes, they just remain there, their head tilted upward, looking in every direction.
"So Doctor Simmons, what do you have to teach me about the stars and the universe?" He says, with a teasing grin she can barely see in the darkness of the desert.
"Oh I like it when you call me doctor. It's been a while since anyone called me that." She answers without thinking, and she's glad for the obscurity hiding her blush when she realizes how her playful tone might have made her sentence sound dirtier than she intended.
"Just lie down with me and watch." She adds and Fitz chuckles loudly as he lays on the sand, his hands under his head. "You're such a child." She says with an annoyed tone but she cannot help the smile that makes its way on her face when he starts laughing even louder. When he doesn't stop after a minute though, she pokes him on the side of his stomach to get his attention.
"Ouch! Okay, sorry. I'm sorry, please show me the stars doctor." He says in a slightly low voice and when she turns to look at him with a raised eyebrow, this time they both burst out laughing.
After a good minute of laughing, they finally regain some seriousness and they go back to lying down next to each other. "That's it, no more calling me doctor, you've ruined it for me. now let's watch the stars." She says with an annoyed tone that is contradicted by her amused smile.
"Okay, I'm all ears Jemma. What are seeing here?" He answers with a slightly sheepish smile.
"Well, you see that big white thing shaped like a croissant? Well that one is the Moon." She says, grinning.
"Wow, calm down Jemma, I think this might be a little too advanced for me." He answers, grinning back.
"Yeah, thought so. I guess I'll have to dumb it down for you." She says and it's his time to poke her on the side. "Ouch, okay. Let's be serious for a moment." She adds. "Follow my finger. See these seven stars shaped like a dipper, well that's Ursa Major or as we so poetically call it in english the big dipper." She starts.
"Well, at least it's easy to remember." He says smiling.
"Yeah I guess. And the one over there shaped like a W is Cassiopeia. This one is my favorite cause she has a pretty name." She says with a child like tone, which makes him smile wider. Her contagious enthusiasm about everything she likes is one more thing he's really come to appreciate about her.
For the next hour she proceeds to show him every constellation and planet visible to the naked eye, explaining the origin for every one of their name. And even though, he knows some of those informations, he lets her speak without interrupting her. She sounds so happy to share her knowledge and her voice is so sweet and soothing that he feels like he could fall asleep here, if not for the air growing so cold.
At some point during their observation, as she predicted, Jemma had started to feel a little cold so she put the blanket on her shoulders. As they are starting to run out of stars and planets to talk about, a companionable silence has settled between them. They are left looking at the immensity and beauty of the night sky. After an hour spent in the dark, their eyes have adjusted and the numbers of stars they can see, in the unpolluted sky of the desert, is breathtaking.
Jemma is interrupted in her reverie when she catches Fitz shivering from the corner of her eye, which makes her smile because, of course, she knew he would get cold at some point.
"You're sure you're not cold?" She says innocently.
"Yeah yeah, I'm fine." He answers visibly trying to hide the slight trembling in his voice, but failing miserably.
"Mmhhmm."
"Fitz?" She says after another few minutes of silence filled only by him shaking his legs unconsciously to try and warm himself up.
"Yeah?"
"Do you want to share my blanket?" She says, turning to him with a slightly teasing grin.
"Yes please!" He says sheepishly and her smile grows even wider. They both get back to a sitting position and she spreads the blanket on both their shoulders. Fitz hesitates to put his arm around her shoulders to get closer and take advantage of each other's warmth. Even though they've grown close quite rapidly, especially for him, he doesn't know if it would be appropriate and he doesn't want to make her uncomfortable. But Jemma being a lot more at ease with physical contact, she doesn't hesitate to put her arm around his waist so him being a little taller, his arm naturally goes around her shoulder and they share a shy smile as Jemma tilts her head to rest it on his shoulder. As they're starting to feel sleepy, they know they should both get up and go back to their rooms to try and get some sleep, but it feels so nice and peaceful that neither of them wants to say it. So they enjoy each other's warmth for a few minutes before Fitz breaks the silence.
"You know I'm only doing this for you, right? To keep you warm. Because I could totally do without the blanket." He says, a big smile on his face.
"Of course Fitz. Just to save me from hypothermia, you're heroic really." She answers, gently rolling her eyes.
"Exactly! I mean I could be in my room right now. It's just that I'd feel bad leaving you here on your own." He says, grinning even wider.
"I know. It's not like it feels nice or we're having a good time together or anything like that." She says, smiling up at him before putting her head back on his shoulder, making her point.
"I couldn't have said it better!"
Another minute of silence.
"So tomorrow is Doctor Who night." He says tentatively.
"Yeah?" She says innocently, perfectly knowing where he's going with that.
"And the day after tomorrow is our day off."
"Right." She says, enjoying the way his voice is starting to sound nervous.
"So unless some miracle happens, I'll probably be in the lobby watching it." He says with a shy smile as his hand to his neck in a nervous gesture she has come to recognize.
"And I'll bring the drinks!" She says after a minute of him stealing glances at her. And she can't help smiling when she feels him relax.
"Jemma?"
"Yeah?"
"I had a really good time with you tonight."
"Me too." She says, tightening her arm around his waist.