The jokes about Gen being dead in a ditch are a recurring gag in this arc and they give me so much joy.
Chapter 174: The Honeymoon Part Three
Bora Bora - 7:53 AM
The next morning of their honeymoon, Emily and Daniel join Keith and Naomi in their hotel room turned on-site laboratory. Emily and Naomi sit at the table with the diamond, examining it to try and triangulate each carbon atom to piece together the scrambled message. At least, the parts they managed to discover. Keith is still working on breaking through the diamond's firewall since he didn't know diamonds could have firewalls. Impressive, really. Meanwhile, Daniel's shadowing them since falls too far from his expertise. He's mostly kept the morale.
"I think you guys are working fast so I don't screw up," Daniel mutters.
"Babe, can you order us food?" Emily asks. She doesn't look up from her work but holds up her card so Keith and Naomi wouldn't be paying for it when he calls room service.
"On it," Daniel responds as he takes her card and kisses the top of her head.
-o-
With the amount of food they ordered, it looked like they were feeding a team. It'd keep any onlookers off their scent since they would be looking for two people at most. Naomi wanted a single black coffee, no add-ins, not even on the side. Emily is eating her hash browns from a wide wine glass. Keith is stress-eating the entire breakfast menu. Daniel got an assortment of raisin and blueberry muffins he was sharing with Emily. She would pick out the raisins and drop them in another wine glass for him if he wanted to eat them. (He didn't). They tried to get Naomi to eat but stress messed with her appetite so she stuck with her coffee.
"Switch me for Gen and you would have your research team," Emily states as she peels the wrapper off another muffin.
"I'm trying to track the ditch she's dead in while we wait," Naomi says, "still nothing. Damn, she's probably still alive."
They're all eating and not getting anywhere with decrypting the diamond. Their current findings weren't anything substantial from yesterday. Their present logs look as if they weren't working since yesterday. It did feel like the days back in the Academy when Daniel, Keith, Naomi, and Gen were research assistants for Dr. BV. There were many days when they would run experiments and get nowhere. At least back then, they weren't dealing with a diamond.
"Maybe you all need a break," Daniel suggests.
Keith closes his laptop. "Great idea."
"I'm gonna read a book on the beach," Naomi says.
Nobody has time to say anything or even nod their heads before she's out the door. Once it clicks, the remaining three are silent before noticing how quickly she got out of the room. Even stranger is that Naomi barely touched her coffee.
"Okay, is she alright?" Emily asks. "I didn't think finding Gen would've been that disappointing."
Keith sighs dejectedly. "This has been stressful and you know how Naomi is when she doesn't know how to solve things she's supposed to. Why do you think she was trying to find Gen? Look, I'll go check on her. You two go honeymoon or something."
-o-
Naomi didn't go far. She was sitting on a beach chair right in front of the hotel, far from the ocean and under a giant palm tree. She lies back reading a book on her phone with her giant sunglasses and headphones. When she looks up, she sees Keith standing there holding a dripping black iced coffee for her. On the now-damp paper cup holder, she spots a smudged par'Mach'kai written as if it's her name. It might as well be at this point.
"I'm sorry-" Keith says as she takes out her headphones.
"No, I'm sorry," Naomi cuts her off. She sips the coffee. "Look, I don't like that we can't solve this, okay? I've been sitting here, trying to read and I can't focus on the love story because I've been checking my phone compulsively for an update on the stupid diamond or Gen's ditch. I swear to the Sci-Tech goddess that I'll get the Gen update first and it'll be that she's alive." Her coffee sipping turns aggressive.
"But I dragged you into this and then thought Emily and Daniel, by association, would bring us somewhere and we're just a slight step further."
"This is our mission. Of course I'm here! I have a job to do and bills to pay."
"It's their honeymoon!"
"How could you have known? Didn't find any bank transactions for a wedding dress purchase while snooping on Emily Stark's computer. Didn't read the enchanting wedding article that came out after they found us? Made me cry, by the way." Naomi smiles at him but his face doesn't budge. "Keith, they could've said no. I mean Daniel did but he's still here because he wouldn't really leave us floundering, honeymoon or not. Both he and Stark wouldn't have but they-"
Naomi's eyes go distant as her voice trails off. Holding her coffee with one hand, she grabs the collar of Keith's shirt with her free hand and pulls him into a kiss as her phone vibrates in her back pocket. Kissing her is the only time coffee's tasted good to him. He holds her waist confused as they part and she immediately looks at her phone.
"Gen's ditch?" Keith asks, still processing the last thirty seconds.
"Unfortunately not."
"Gen's alive?"
"Jury's still out."
"The diamond?"
"Worse," Naomi mutters.
"I kissed you worse?"
Naomi grins a little. "I hate you."
"I thought you loved me."
"I'm multitasking. Look, we have to find Emily and Daniel."
"You kissed me to tell me that?"
Naomi rolls her eyes. "No, I did it to hide our faces because people are here to get us."
-o-
After Keith left the hotel room to check Naomi, Emily and Daniel finished what they could regarding the diamond, which wasn't much, they put everything back before heading out. They went to one of the outdoor restaurants in the resort to get lunch.
"Are you disappointed in this?" Emily asks as she and Daniel wait for their order. All they have are ice-cold drinks chilling in the shade of the table-tip umbrella with them.
"Why would I be?" Daniel asks, looking at her quizzically.
"You said it yourself you were waiting for this honeymoon for eight years."
"If I was really mad, I'd be a particular shade of green, don't you think?" Daniel exhales a small laugh. "I said that out of shock. Admit it, you didn't think they'd be here. If anyone would've tagged along, it'd be James. Look, Em, what I was really waiting eight years for, and arguably longer, was the chance to call you my wife. I didn't care where or how we got married or if we even had a honeymoon. I just wanted you to be my wife."
"I could listen to you call me your wife all day."
"My wife, you got the rest of your life for that."
Emily's cheeks redden making Daniel grin. He moves from the seat across from her to the one next to her. He pulls her close and kisses her cheek and she laughs as he rests in the clave of her shoulder. It was almost perfect timing that he moved seats since Keith and Naomi run towards their table and hurriedly take the vacant seats. Both of them help themselves to the appetizer platter. Emily and Daniel straighten, noticing by their panting that they were here in urgency.
"What is it?" Daniel asks.
"The diamond?" Emily guesses. "Gen?"
Keith nods, using his inhaler for a quick second. "Not Gen but she's probably still in a ditch or cackling at us from a distance. So we just got intel that SHIELD discovered a storage facility in Manhattan was hiding stolen SHIELD weapons. They're seized now but the ones who stole the weapons were the ones using the diamond to communicate."
"Long story short," Naomi continues. "Two people delivered the weapons to the storage facility and the diamond had the coordinates to the final destination. The people at the facility never got the diamond because SHIELD had it."
"But now whoever didn't get apprehended by SHIELD is now here looking for the diamond."
Daniel slowly nods. They're coming for them. "And we're in the middle of decrypting said diamond."
Emily finishes her drink before raising her hand to catch a waiter's attention. "Cheque!"
Hmm, I wonder who was dealing with the SHIELD weapons in the Manhattan storage facility.