Skye was unconscious for a week. Coulson was depressed, Fitz was nervous, May was angry, Jemma was sleepless, and Ward was punching things.
Coulson and May could be found in his office trying to find people or in the honeycomb cell and interrogating them so they could find the head of the centipede with the intention of cutting it off.
After hearing Jemma's recollection of events, Coulson brought in Ashley, who May quickly beat the crap out of when Coulson wasn't keeping a watchful eye on her.
Fitzsimmons were together more often than not, often with Skye in the med pod. Fitz would attempt to take a look at Skye's technology while Simmons checked that her body was as it should be. Well, as it should be for a comatose patient.
Sometimes when Jemma was alone in the lab she would just sit in a chair next to Skye's bed and read silently, never releasing her hand. She didn't read out loud, the routine was for her own comfort. As a doctor she knew that Skye wasn't able to hear her, so being with Skye could only provide Jemma with comfort.
Jemma was still worried about Skye's brain damage, she had no way to know how extensive it was. She was hopeful that it wasn't too horrible, Skye was able to survive, after all, even if she was unconscious. She wasn't even able to give Skye an MRI because of god knows what installed in her head.
Ward was usually in the cargo hold, punching the punching bag relentlessly until his knuckles were red and bruised underneath his gloves. May had given up on calming him down days ago. Ward wanted to accompany Coulson and May on their missions, but Coulson would have none of it. Everyone knew his feelings for Skye compromised his abilities.
Jemma was especially aware of it. Ward had a feeling something was going on in Jemma's head, but it just didn't click for him. Clearly Jemma paid more attention to detail when it came to people during everyday life.
At least once a day, usually in the late afternoon, Ward brought Skye's old laptop (the one he put in a box eight months ago) to her room and talked to her about everything going on around the world in every social media site she had shortcuts to her on her desktop.
Jemma and Ward never visited Skye at the same time. It wasn't intentional, the two just never happened to go during the same time of day. Ward would go early in the morning before working out and Jemma would visit before bed.
But the last night of Skye's coma Jemma hadn't been able to sleep and was up all night, reading quietly. She had finished her third book at this point and began to reread the first one.
Ward came into the med pod at five thirty on the dot, as usual, but he found Simmons sitting on a chair holding Skye's hand with her nose in a book.
Ward wasn't going to let Simmons stop him though, he had to work out and he wasn't just going to skip talking to Skye either. Ward liked to imagine Skye's smile when he read about people gathering in other countries to stage peaceful protests, he knew Skye loved the clockwork of a group of people working together.
So Ward sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the bed and opened Skye's laptop, clicking the shortcut of the website he'd been reading first.
"She can't hear you." Jemma told him in annoyance when after half an hour he hadn't stopped reading the posts aloud.
"You just have to ruin everything, don't you, anything to show everyone you're smarter." Ward snapped at her. He didn't even realize how mean what he said was until it came out of his mouth. He was tired and annoyed that he wasn't getting his time alone with Skye, and he accidentally pinned everything on Jemma, just because she was in the room.
Jemma huffed and slammed her book shut in her lap before tucking Skye's hand back at her side.
"To prevent further argument, I'm just going to pretend you didn't say that." Simmons told him as she began to stand up.
"Jemma, wait-" Ward tried to stop her, but he didn't need to. Fitz burst into the room, still wearing stupid striped pajamas.
"I think I've got it!" Fitz shouted as he ran into the room carrying his lap top, Skye's wire, and a few other supplies.
"You've got what?" Jemma asked, suddenly very interested in staying in the med pod.
"Skye has had very computer like qualities since she got back, she plugs into things, stores memory, transfers files..." Fitz muttered as he gently plugged the wire into Skye.
"What are you getting at?" Jemma asked him. Ward glanced at Skye's body.
"She could have other parts of her brain that act like a computer. Computers turn off, don't they?" Fitz said excitedly.
"Are you suggesting that Skye has been shut off this entire time?" Ward asked, looking at the laptop and then at Skye as if the two were the same thing. Ward and Simmons both felt extremely frustrated that this solution hadn't been thought of sooner.
"Not exactly. I think the overflow of data she was carrying may have short circuited her centipede device." Fitz said. Simmons seemed to have caught on, but Ward wasn't exactly sure how they were going to fix her.
"If I can open her up a little, will you be able to fix her?" Simmons asked with excitement. Simmons was sure she would be able to help Fitz wake Skye up.
"As much as I don't want to see that, the answer is yes." Fitz nodded.
"What are you guys going to do?" Ward asked, wishing there was just an on button instead of Fitzsimmons having to do what he was pretty sure they were going to do.
"I'm going to expose some of the technology in Skye, and Fitz is going to find the problem and fix it." Simmons was already speaking quickly in the tone she uses when she's about to perform a procedure.
"And Simmons, make sure she's completely out, because if she's not she's going to wake up when I fix her." Fitz added as Simmons retrieved what she would need.
"Of course." She said as she grabbed the extra materials Fitz listed.
"Please inform Coulson of our plan, Ward." Simmons told him. Ward didn't want to leave, but he didn't want to see Simmons cut Skye open, either. So he rushed off to wake Coulson at six in the morning to tell him Fitzsimmons were going to wake up Skye.
"Alright. Let's get this over with." Simmons breathed. No matter how many times she'd done it, operating on people she cared about never got any easier. But this was going to wake Skye back up, so Simmons was perfectly willing to do the job.
Jemma was holding a small scalpel in her gloved hands as she stood over Skye, who was drugged and lying on her stomach. Jemma swallowed, she couldn't help but notice one of Skye's scars poking out from the neck of her shirt.
"Are you sure you can do this?" Fitz asked Simmons when he noticed her hesitation.
"I have to do this." Simmons told him.
Jemma moved Skye's hair off to one side, took a deep breath, and cut a small vertical line above Skye's centipede device, hoping that was where all the mechanics really were. As soon as Jemma parted the skin, she was worried that she had cut a wire. There were so many, masses of tiny wires spouted from the device attached to her neck and traveled up her neck. Jemma didn't even want to know how far the wires went.
She shuddered and stepped away, letting Fitz perform his part of the operation. Fitz stepped forward hesitantly, he didn't like blood or open cuts. But he sucked it up just this once, because he knew he had to fix her. Skye was his friend. Skye was Jemma's- well, Jemma's something, and Fitz wanted to make sure Skye was okay for Simmons as well.
"I can't see anything, the wires are all so tiny." Fitz told Simmons. Simmons fetched him a magnifying glass so that he could get back to work. Fitz had to pretend Skye was just a computer, or his emotions would get the best of him and he wouldn't be able to concentrate.
"I've got it." Fitz finally said, breaking the tension in Jemma as she waited to the side.
Fitz had a disconnected wire in a pair of tiny tweezers.
"Is it fixable?" Jemma asked nervously while wringing out her hands in front of her.
"Easily." Fitz told her. Jemma let out a huge breath, one she'd been holding for far too long.
"It's amazing," Fitz started. "It looks like it was designed to disconnect to prevent blowing the system." Fitz observed.
"Fitz, will you please just fix it?" Jemma pleaded with a hint of frustration. She was eager for Skye to be well again, so eager that she was beginning to take it out on her friend.
Fitz hadn't responded yet, and Jemma was beginning to grow majorly annoyed.
"Now is not the time to let your curiosity-"
"It's done Simmons!" Fitz said before peeling off his gloves and clamping his hands down on Jemma's shoulders. Fitz smiled at the expression on his partner's face.
"She'll be up and running soon, you better patch her up." He suggested softly.
As soon as Jemma steadied her hands she stitched the incision on Skye's neck. Together Fitzsimmons returned her to a normal, comfortable position on the bed.
Fitz left to gather the others so that everyone could be present, so when Skye awoke she would find herself in a room full of friends. Jemma stayed behind, to detach all of the equipment that had been used to support Skye during her short coma and prepared herself mentally to greet Skye for the first normal time, without the threat of death, since she kissed her in Skye's old apartment.
Ward came barreling in first, followed closely by May, and then Coulson with Fitz. It was perfect timing, just as they came through the door Skye began to stir and an inaudible noise escaped her lips. Jemma knew it was selfish, but she wanted to be alone with Skye right now. The room was silent, everyone held their breath when Skye's eyes fluttered open.
The first thing Skye was aware of was that the pounding in her head was gone. She could hear other people shuffling around her. She was afraid to open her eyes, she wasn't sure what she would see. She wasn't sure if she imagined any of what she remembered, because it was just so crazy. She didn't know if Ashley had betrayed her or not, if Jemma kissed her or not, or even if she ever got out of the centipede compound the first time. Maybe it was all a dream.
But an odd feeling of contentment washed over her when she sensed Jemma's presence, telling her it was ok.
She wasn't psychic, she was far from it, but she recognized the faint smell of her perfume and the sound of her soft breathing.
So Skye opened her eyes, willingly.
"Hey there." Jemma told Skye in a shaky voice as tears brimmed in her eyes. Skye couldn't understand why Jemma was crying. For a minute Skye's heartbeat sped up as she tried to recognize the faces around her to make sure they were friendly. Skye's nervousness showed on the screen that monitored her vitals.
April. No, May. Skye knew it was a month. Grant. Ward. Skye called him Ward. Skye was frustrated. She knew exactly who these people were, but she struggled to remember the name she associated with the face. Coulson. That one wasn't so hard. Fitzsimmons. No, that wasn't right. It was just Fitz. Fitzsimmons was both Fitz and Jemma, who was just over there.
Skye opened her mouth, but she didn't know what she wanted to say. There was so much to say.
As soon as Skye's eyes opened, the scientific part of Jemma's brain starting listing the symptoms of brain damage she was showing. Anxiety, Jemma thought as the beeping in the room sped up. Confusion, She thought as Skye looked at each of them with a blank face.
It looked like Skye was about to speak, and Jemma hoped to god that she could.
"Th-thanks guys." Skye cried. Slurred speech and stuttering.
"It was mostly Simmons." Fitz said bashfully. Skye gave Jemma a very gracious glance before looking back and smiling at the rest of the team.
"Are you alright?" Ward asked her, brushing his fingers gently against Skye's arm. Skye almost flinched, but let his touch seep into her skin.
"I... I think s-so." Skye muttered. Jemma could see the growing frustration in her eyes as she fought to control the noises coming out of her own mouth.
"I want you to know that we're hunting down the bastards who did this to you." May told Skye. She couldn't keep the anger from bubbling up in her throat, and Coulson glared at her for it. But May's comment seemed to only have a positive effect on Skye, as she began to look less lethargic.
Skye tried to sit up, Jemma tried to stop her, and Fitz stopped Jemma, knowing Skye wasn't going to like staying still for too long.
Skye turned to Jemma.
"Is there something... something wrong with me?" Skye asked her childishly, expected Jemma to have all the answers.
"Nothing that won't get better with time." Jemma sighed. Although Skye did have brain damage and did seem to have a few issues, Jemma knew better than to be ungrateful. Skye was lucky she didn't die, and she was extremely lucky it wasn't worse.