Love's Captured Moments
Disclaimer: Yeah, still don't own anything. I'm just playing in this sandbox.
So, I just finished watching the season two premiere of Agents of SHIELD. Suffice to say, I'm on the nopes-train to screw-that-ville. Also, thank goodness for fanfiction or else I would probably be emotionally compromised. Though, to be fair, B. J. Britt in a uniform is completely drool-worthy and the character of Antoine Triplett is a complete ray of sunshine.
Also, I think it's pretty evident by now that this Moments series is pretty much AU, diverging from canon at the end of season 1. Oh well. Who knows, it might come more in line with canon, if the show decides to go the same (or similar) route as this.
1.
Antoine loves to wake up next to Jemma and truly enjoy having a quiet morning with his wife, when the evils of the world and SHIELD don't matter. Those are the moments when they get to act like just another ordinary couple who love waking up next to one another. The intense pressures that they get put under on a regular basis don't matter anymore and, for a little while, they don't have to think about what might get thrown at them next.
Long, lazy mornings of sweet kisses and gentle love-making are so rare and far-between that, for Jemma Simmons and Antoine Triplett, they might as well be mythical creatures.
That being said, when the bluest of moons happen, both are more than happy to jump on the opportunity because, usually, they're rolling out of bed at an ungodly hour or after too-few hours of sleep. The odd morning when neither (or both) isn't the case is a complete godsend – and both know for sure that they aren't the only ones who appreciate such things.
Contrary to popular belief, Jemma usually doesn't wake up easily. She's slow to get started most mornings, which is fine, since Antoine's the polar opposite after years of being a Specialist. Most of the time, he's up and in the shower before Jemma even drags herself out of bed. Usually, he finds her brushing her teeth and combing out her hair (sometimes at the same time, if they're in a rush), by the time he's out of the shower.
But, on those rare quiet mornings, it's a different story entirely.
Jemma is ticklish, but only in a few, very specific places. Antoine made a point, early in their relationship, of figuring out where those places were precisely. When used accurately, he could be certain to have a pillow lobbed at his head and Jemma's breathless laughing as she tried to twist away from him. To be fair though, she also knew where he was ticklish and was more than happy to get her revenge.
And, nine times out of ten, things would escalate from there, resulting in them laughing whole-heartedly and loving each other with every fiber of their beings.
2.
By now, Jemma could read Antoine as easily as she could read a book or any of the results from her experiments and projects.
When he got a phone call on a secure line from one of SHIELD's assets shortly before he was supposed to go out on a mission with Melinda and Skye, she knew that something was wrong. She could see the sadness in his smile and knew that it was serious, if he wouldn't quite meet her gaze.
The mission took precedence, of course. It always did. They both knew that.
But Jemma made a specific point of gearing Antoine up that day. "Tell me, when you're ready," she said, quietly, reaching up on her toes to press a kiss to her cheek and offering a gentle smile.
"Thanks," he said, plainly. When she made to move away, Antoine caught her with a hand around her waist, pulling her in for a tight hug. "Be safe, Jemma."
"You stay safe, Antoine. You're the one in the field."
His kiss was the only answer she needed.
Later, hours and a successfully-completed dangerous mission later, Jemma found out.
Antoine's mother had breast cancer. The doctors had caught the tumors early enough to operate and there was a high likelihood that she would be perfectly fine, but the news came as a blow to him. It was a testament to the heritage and legacy of the Howling Commandos that, even after the rebirth of HYDRA and the surviving SHIELD members being labeled personae non gratae, there was the concrete knowledge that legacies were always SHIELD. Similarly, by the network in place since World War II, Antoine was informed as soon as possible – and as soon as the line could be established to SHIELD headquarters.
When he told her, Jemma's only reaction was to wrap her husband up into a tight hug and let him bury his face into the crook of her neck. Antoine was hurting and needed her more than any science experiment or Coulson-appointed task did.
And, if he smiled, albeit weakly and very watery, when she offered to look into any treatment options that only a SHIELD-employed biochem doctor could provide, Jemma knew that he was grateful.
3.
Meals were sometimes a hairy thing to schedule, depending on the day. A lot of the time of late, people were left to fend for themselves. Even if tea time still had an element of sacred to it, every other meal was less so.
With tensions running high one particularly busy month, Jemma turned to one of the few things that was a guaranteed stress-reliever (that didn't involve anything intimate with Antoine) – working in the kitchen.
She was at a brick wall with her current assignments and desperately needed some space from the lab and its fellow occupants. Doing something in the kitchen, either cooking or baking, would be the best possible distraction right now.
Except, upon entering the kitchen, she found that she wasn't the only one who had that idea.
Antoine gave her a smile when she walked in, before turning back to retrieve supplies from the fridge. Jemma felt her mood improve exponentially at his presence.
Backing with Antoine usually meant that they both ended up covered in flour and eating most of the raw batter of whatever it was they were making. Cooking, on the other hand, was a serious matter for them both and was productive enough to keep them occupied, while actively giving them a break from whatever else was going on.
Judging by what was on the counter, Jemma figured today was a cooking day.
"What have we got on the menu today?" she asked, drawing alongside her husband.
He stood up and turned to her, two beers in one hand and a package of ground beef in the other. "Secret Triplett family chili," he replied, putting the ground beef onto the counter and offering one beer to her. "It's about time you learned how to make it."
Taking the offered beer and opening it, Jemma grinned. "Secret family chili, hm? What would they say about you sharing secrets with someone not born into the family, especially one they haven't met yet."
"Which is why you're learning this now," he said, opening his beer. "Besides, it'll give you a leg up, if we ever end up at a family reunion." Antoine gave her a pointed look. "Only Ma gets final say in who gets to learn."
What was unsaid was the most important thing.
Jemma lifted her beer in salute. "Shall we get started then, chili master?"
Antoine clinked his beer lightly against hers. "Of course, young grasshopper."
4.
Undercover missions that went south ranked among the worst kinds of missions that they had to face.
Jemma was a terrible liar and, as such, only went on undercover missions as a last resort. Antoine, on the other hand, was in the regular line-up for agents that Coulson sent undercover.
One particularly bad undercover assignment had him infiltrating the operations of an arms dealer who had gotten his hands on some errant SHIELD items that Garrett and his team had "liberated." Said mission hadn't gone particularly well, once the arms dealer in question realized that Antoine wasn't a HYDRA agent, nor was he as liberal in killing people as the dealer was. If judged by his ability to infiltrate the arms dealer's crew, the mission was an outstanding failure.
In order to resolve the situation, the mission ended up requiring a back-up team to come in to deal with the situation, a team that consisted of Melinda, Skye, and Jemma, with Jemma posing as the "certified expert" that could verify the items for the arms dealer, while Melinda and Skye tag-teamed to bust Antoine out.
Jemma couldn't lie to save her life, but she did have the ability to get far into character and, once in said character, it was harder to break her. That was a saving grace for this mission. She managed to buy Melinda and Skye time, though not enough to allow them to get back to her, after jail-breaking Antoine. The arms dealer figured out that something was up faster than that would allow.
They were mere moments away from Jemma being shot in the head, when the three managed to get the arms dealer into a stand-off situation. Only Jemma's steady gaze locked on him the whole time kept Antoine from completely losing his cool.
However, since things have a tendency of going wrong – and keep going wrong, the arms dealer used a weaponized version of one of the items from the Fridge to attempt to blow everything up. It ended up being a gloriously failed attempt on his part, resulting in the death of the arms dealer and part of the building collapsing into the shore of the lake on which said building had been built.
And Jemma and Antoine had the distinct misfortune of landing directly into the muddy bank of the lake, when the floor beneath them gave out.
None of that mattered, when the dust settled. Neither one particularly cared that they were muddy, covered in rubber, and had a hell of a post-mission cleanup ahead of them.
The two nearly collapsed into each other's arms, when they realized that they were alive. Once Antoine got steadiness back in his limbs, he cupped Jemma's face, rubbing circles on her skin with his thumbs, even as she had her hands on his hips.
"Thank God," he whispered, pressing his forehead to hers. "You're alive!"
"You too," she whispered back, giving him a little smile.
Well, that's that. Please review and let me know what you think of this new chapter!
If the Muses are kind, I'll be struck with more inspiration soon and have something fun for you all to read in this series.