Jemma opened the door to her darkened apartment, Skye following closely behind her, and flipped on the light. She stood to the side holding her bag and smiling curiously as Skye walked in and looked around with wide eyes. The apartment was neat, just like Skye figured it would be, however she was surprised at the quality and the size of the establishment. She nodded her head and smiled as she took in the corners and the environment.
“This is..”
She shut the door, still looking around, and backed up slightly till she was nearly leaning on the wood door. She chuckled.
“Nice. This is seriously nice, Jemma.”
The scientist hopped slightly and smiled brightly, in complete contrast to Skye’s tired and perhaps nervous face.
“Thank you! Here, let me show you around.”
She took Skye’s hand and led her around the spacious and seriously clean apartment, showing her practically every nook and cranny in the place. Being with Jemma took a severe weight off of Skye’s chest that she didn’t even know was there, sure she was terrified and uncomfortable with having absolutely nothing but as Jemma chatted away, it took her fears and made them seem obsolete compared to how happy this woman was simply with her presence. Skye was comfortable with many people but for some reason it seemed like Jemma walked through her barriers without even trying. Skye’s mind wondered as Jemma took her through the gorgeous apartment, however the scientist pulled her out of her fog while they were standing in the living area.
“You’re staying here, right? I mean, tonight?
There was absolutely no judgment in the British Woman’s voice but Skye certainly got the impression that she truly wanted her to stay the night (Which was wonderful since she had no other place to stay and no money)
“Erm.. Yeah, if that’s all right?”
“Yes! Yes of course.”
She gestured to a door, happily,
“Here, you can have the guest bedroom, if that’s good?”
Skye nodded and followed her into a beautifully furnished bedroom, Jemma walked over and opened the blinds letting a ton of natural light into the room. She talked absently as she moved about the room while Skye stood in the doorway looking around astonished.
“I got a two bedroom apartment for when my parents visit. It seemed a good investment even though I’ve been living alone most of the time unless they’re here.
She messed with the table, wiping off any dust and patted the pillows down fretfully. Skye laughed and she looked up from her seat on the bed perturbed.
“What? What is it?”
Skye put an amazed hand over her mouth, shaking her head.
“It’s just… I was thinking I’d be, like, on your couch or chair or something. I can’t believe this.. This is absolutely… Nice.. Just so nice. Thank you, Jemma, this is amazing.”
Jemma’s face softened and she stood up, wrapping her arm around Skye’s arm and leading her to the bed. She dropped her one bag in the corner and spun around looking at everything. Simmons smiled and walked to the door respectively.
“Would you like to take a shower before dinner? I want you to know that you’re free to use anything here.”
Skye laughed.
“Yeah, I stink pretty badly, that would be wonderful, thank you.”
Jemma huffed.
“You don’t smell that bad, you smell like…”
She sniffed the air around Skye trying to get a whiff of the perfume.
“Like..”
Skye cut in, smiling,
“I believe it’s called ‘Sex on The Beach’”
Skye cocked an eyebrow and Simmons laughed, leaning in the doorway.
“What? That’s what it’s called! I bummed it off a lady at the airport!”
Jemma continued to laugh as she stumbled out of the door and out of Skye’s sight, she stood there grinning like an idiot for a while after Jemma left, staring at the doorway before leaning over and putting her bag on the bed. She opened it and pulled out a new pile of clothes, they weren’t anything special, just a T-shirt and Jeans, but at least they were clean unlike the clothes that she was wearing. She walked out, past Jemma who was toying with her laptop and gestured to the bathroom door. Simmons smiled and gave her a thumbs up from her seat on the island.
Skye never thought a shower could feel so good as she finally washed off the grim and sweat from her body and washed the tangles and oil out of her hair. Even in her old apartment in America hot water was a maybe and there wasn’t much of it if it was there. The shower lasted longer than she had expected and she hoped the Jemma didn’t mind. She got out and brushed hair, dried off and slowly started pulling her clean clothes on.
She was extremely happy to finally be with Jemma but now everything she was worried about was coming back with a vengeance, the dinner, Her impressions on Jemma, being a freeloader, global warming, and God knows what else. She leaned back on the damp wall and closed her eyes trying to calm her mind and focus on what was ahead. Which was the dinner. She was starving but she also didn’t have any nice clothes and she was very tired and she didn’t peg Jemma as the McDonalds drive through type. She sighed, shaking her head, she was just going to go out there with a smile, no matter how many waiters give her a weird look in her T-shirt and faded jeans. She took a deep breath, put a tired smile on her face and opened the door.
Immediately she was hit with a wave of delicious smells, her stomach growled loudly and she made her way curiously into the kitchen. She found Jemma pulling out two plates and putting them on either side of a simple white candle, there was a bag with a Chinese character on it’s logo. Jemma smiled brightly.
“I hope you don’t mind, I didn’t really think that you would want to go to a restaurant tonight, you just look so tired and we can go tomorrow night. I ordered Chinese since you said you liked it that one time. I hope this is okay?”
Every ounce of anxiety that Skye had previously felt fell away and immediately her shoulders dropped and her face softened. Jemma was looking at her, worried that she had disappointed the hacker but Skye didn’t say anything. Instead she walked over silently and put her arms around the scientist in a soft hug. Jemma smiled light and held on to Skye tightly, stroking the back of her head for a few minutes until Skye let go. She felt like she was going to cry she was so relieved but she held back the tears and chuckled, looking around at the food that Jemma had, of course, laud out neatly around their plates.
“This is perfect, Jemma, thank you.”
They made their way to the leather covered stools.
“I’m glad you like it.”
Jemma chuckled, looking down shyly.
“And you don’t have to keep thanking me for everything, you know.”
Skye spooned out a pile of food onto her plate, looking up sincerely.
“I know… I just don’t want you to think that I’m not absolutely thankful for everything you’ve done for me, I appreciate everything you’ve done for me since I’ve arrived.”
Jemma listened intently and then answered tenderly,
“Well, you’re very welcome, Skye.”
Jemma was about to take her first bite when she put her fork down,
“Darn it, I think that they forgot to give us napkins. That’s alright though, I’ve got some in the back.”
She excused herself and Skye nodded, watching her leave, the moment that she was gone the hacker shoved several bites into her mouth. She was so hungry but she didn’t want to seem like a pig in front of Jemma, she closed her eyes with a groan of happiness at the hardy and tasty food. She wolfed down quite a bit before she heard Jemma coming back and she replaced the empty spots on her plate, clearing her throat as the scientist walked back in sporting napkins.
They sat in silence for a while during their meal, neither of them sure of what to say. Skye suddenly found herself feeling as if she didn’t know anything about Jemma, which wasn’t completely true, she knew that she liked Doctor Who, and science, and that she was hard working but as they sat together eating, she went blank on everything. Luckily Jemma broke the silence tentatively.
“Skye?”
“Yeah?”
“You don’t have anything, do you?”
It was a brash question but Skye was glad that she didn’t have to bring up the elephant in the room. She took a bit and then wiped her mouth, shaking her head lightly.
“No..”
She looked down before looking back up at the worried scientist.
“Honestly, I have a laptop, two outfits, two bucks and a tube of chap stick to my name.”
“I’m happy you came but If I may ask, why did you give up everything and come over here?”
Skye laughed.
“Well, in my defense, I didn’t really have all that much over there either but I figured that At least if I was here, I would have you.”
Jemma reached over and Squeezed the hacker’s hand, sweetly, her head turned and her eyes empathetic.
“That’s so sweet, Skye..”
Skye loved being able to hold Jemma’s hand and she lost herself for a moment in the way the candle light bounced off her pale face, her eyes bright and caring as always. She snapped out of her trance.
“But don’t worry, I plan on getting a job pretty quickly, I’ll start looking tomorrow. I’m sure there’s a spot for a computer programmer somewhere in this city, right? So, hopefully I can get back on my feet soon.”
Jemma let go of her hand and patted her wrist, comfortingly,
“Well, I’ll be here for you every step of the way.”
