Skye woke up with a jolt as Jemma screamed next to her and she sat up in a panic, no matter how many times this happened it never got any easier for her. The scientist was kicking and clawing at invisible water and her head was extended up while she screamed and yelled for help, sometimes she would yell out Wards name. Skye took the woman’s shoulders and shook them with one hand while checking her head for a fever with the other. Jemma woke up with a yell and panicked even more as her limbs got caught in the blankets and Skye was forced to take her hands away from the flailing arms. Jemma jolted up, smacking her head on the pillow that Skye had nailed to the top of the bunk weeks ago since the scientist bloodied her head during a dream. The soft mass took away from the severity of the impact but Skye cringed at the thump it created.
“Jemma! Jemma! It’s okay, you’re fine, you’re here! I’m right here baby.”
But the agent’s words fell on deaf ears as she continued to yell, kicking at the covers and backing harshly into the wall. Skye got a quick kick to the side of her face but she shook her head and continued to try to talk her girlfriend down. However, no matter how many times the agent said her name or tried to comfort her, the scientist still never snapped out of the nightmare. Realizing that nothing was working and that Jemma was going to hurt herself at this rate, Skye grabbed a pillow and used it as a flimsy shield against the scientists kicking and got next to the woman. She dropped the pillow and proceeded to pull her arms around her struggling girlfriend, keeping her arms from moving to much while the agent wrapped her legs with her own, almost in a wrestlers pose.
“Jemma, Baby I got you!”
Several elbowed ribs later and a bruised chin, the scientist’s eyes finally snapped open with a loud whimper. She looked around, suddenly realizing where she was and the agent immediately let go afraid of scaring her even more. The scientist took deep shuddering breaths before backing into the corner, her back turned to Skye and her face hidden. Skye watched from on her knees, her face red and her eyes wide. She reached a shaking hand towards the scientist.
“Jemma?”
Her voice was soft and genuinely curious but as her hand touched the poor scientist shoulders, she jerked away, smacking into the corner making Skye cringe and pull her hand away.
“Get away from me!”
Jemma’s voice wasn’t really her own as she thrashed a hand in Skye’s direction. The agent looked down, she was crying now but she wiped her face and cleared her throat lightly.
“Baby?”
“No!”
Came the harsh reply. The scientist was sobbing loudly from the corner, not that Skye could see her face but she could see the shaking. Under normal circumstances, the agent would have her arms around her while she cried, being there to comfort her and not being able to help of even touch the scientist broke Skye’s heart.
“Get OUT!”
Skye understood that this wasn’t Jemma talking but the words hurt her anyway. She understood that Jemma was still partially inside the box or swimming for both her and Fitz’s life and that it would take time for her to completely come back to reality and Jemma lashing out was juts a side effect of this. So even though the agent cringed at every word, she remained behind Jemma on the bed. She was on her knees with her arms supporting her and her head down, waiting patiently while Jemma cried in the corner, sometimes shouting random insults.
Skye didn’t know how long it took but eventually the scientist’s sobs decreased into light crying and she finally and slowly turned her head away from the corner to her girlfriend sitting quietly behind her. She sniffled and looked around, reality creeping back into her eyes and recognition of what was happening. Skye looked up and Jemma put her shaking hand over her own mouth as she realized everything she had said and done.
“Oh, Skye… I--I’m so--”
“It’s okay, baby, I’m glad you’re back.”
Skye smiled reassuringly but the look of horror didn’t leave the scientist’s face. She turned around slowly and reached a tentative hand out, Skye opened her arms with a sad smile on her face. Jemma quickly crawled over into the agent’s arms, holding desperately onto her waste, still crying but for different reasons now. Skye was holding her tightly while stroking her hair and rocking back and forth lightly.
“I--I didn’t mean any of it!”
“I know, sweetheart, I know.”
“Skye, I’m so sorry!”
“Don’t be.”
She pulled the scientist up so that she was looking into her eyes, making sure that she understood that everything was okay and she was telling the truth.
“It’s over now. And don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.”
Jemma cried softly at those words and limply fell back into Skye’s arms. The agent continued to rock and stroke her hair.
“It’s going to get better, I promise you, baby.”
Jemma smiled in spite of everything and hummed lightly into Skye’s chest, letting the agent hold her tightly. A few minutes later and Jemma turned her head up towards the agent, never moving away.
“You’re perfect, you know that, right?”
Skye scoffed
“As if.”
Jemma smiled tiredly, reaching a hand under Skye’s arms and touching the bruise that her foot caused on the agent’s cheek.
“No I mean it, you’re perfect.”
Skye didn’t answer as she continued to hold the scientist.
“Thank you, Skye..”
The agent looked down for the first time.
“For what?”
“For not leaving.”
She added slyly
“And for being perfect.”
Skye kissed Jemma’s warm forehead, letting her lips linger for a few moments
“Not in a million years.”
They didn’t move for a while after that, until the door to their bunk slid open slowly, just enough for Tripp’s hand to enter. They couldn’t see anything but they figured the rest of the team must have been there due to the light mumbling they heard. He reached in and placed a bottle of water on the bed and as the team handed him things he placed them with the water. One by one, a bottle of Advil, an ice pack, some gauze, and one of May’s night shirts, (sure enough, Jemma looked down and her thin night shirt had been ripped up pretty badly). The last thing he put on the bed was a cup of tea in thermo mug, Jemma reached over and squeezed his hand thankfully before he respectfully shut the door and they heard the rest of the team walk away. Jemma leaned on Skye as she picked up the tea and took a small sip, Skye had already placed the ice pack on the throbbing bruise on her face.
“I love you, Skye”
“I love you, Jem, more than you could possibly know.”
No comments:
Post a Comment