Usually, meet and greets were one of Skye's favorite things in the world, but today her head just wasn't in it. SHe just really wanted to be wherever Jemma was, or on the field with a crosse in her hands and a bad guy to hit. Those were her favorite things in the world. She couldn't believe that she and Jemma had only known each other for maybe six months and she was already this far gone for the Brit.
"Skye! I can't believe that it's actually you." a little girl squealed, approaching her table. The kid was in pigtails and a jersey, with Skye's number, 25, larger than life printed on its back.
"It's me, kiddo, do you want me to sign something for you, or a picture, or maybe both?" she asked, coming out from around the table, despite having been scolded by security for the same thing on multiple other occasions.
"Both, please!" she cooed and the girl's mother passed Skye a miniature crosse. Struck with an idea, Skye grabbed her own crosse from behind the table and passed it to the kid to sign.
"Clearly, you're going to be even better than me one day, so can I have your autograph?" Skye asked, passing a sharpie to her as well.
"I wouldn't have pegged you for a kid person." said a familiar British accent that immediately made Skye's heart do somersaults.
"I guess that there is a lot that you don't know about me then, isn't there, Jemma?" she teased in return after taking back her crosse and smiling for a couple of photos.
"As long as you aren't a serial killer." Simmons chuckled and grinned when she saw Skye's face light up.
"What are you doing here?" Skye asked excitedly, jumping up to throw her arms around Jemma's neck.
"I don't have any more surgeries today and I needed some cheering up, so I came to see you. I realize now that I may not have thought this all of the ways through, you're clearly otherwise occupied with your hordes of fans." Jemma replied.
"Just take a seat here, and I can sign things and be polite at the same time. I cheer you up." Skye said, not sure how this was going to work but definitely not wanting Jemma to go anywhere Jemma sat quietly and watched Skye interact with each fan and soon she was able to differentiate between Skye's genuine smile and her polite 'photo-face' smile.
"Hey, Jemma, get in here." Skye said, a nervous looking fan at her side. The camera flashed almost as soon as Jemma's arm was around Skye's waist.
"What was all of that about?" she asked.
"She had asked if you were my girlfriend and I said yes and she wanted you in the picture. I'm sorry, I should have asked you first." Skye apologized.
"It's no big deal, I was just taking a moment to enjoy the sound of the 'g-word' coming out of your mouth. Feel welcome to use it much more often." Jemma said as the newest wave of attention-hungry fans approached.
Skye smiled, shook hands with, and posed with fifty or so more fans before the meet and greet was over. Finally, Skye returned to where Jemma was sitting in the athlete's abandoned chair.
"So, girlfriend, now that this is accidentally official, how would you like to meet the rest of my team?" Skye asked, looking really and truly exhausted.
"I'd like that a lot." Jemma replied, letting Skye wrap an arm around her waist.
"Good, because this is the only family that I have got." Skye said with a brilliant and completely genuine smile.
"Then I'm twice as glad to have met them." Jemma said with a smile that Skye decided could light up an entire city.
"You want to go to dinner afterward?" Jemma asked.
"Sure thing, but it won't count as my dinner because I've already got mine all planned out special." Skye said as she led Jemma down a hallway and through a series of what seemed like neverending doors and halls.
"What is this place? A maze?" Jemma asked.
"Basically, yes. It keeps fans from following us to our living quarters." Skye explained.
"How often do you get lost?" Jemma asked.
"Yeah, I still get lost. I'm probably going to have to get directions tatted on my wrist." Skye laughed as Jemma grabbed her calloused hand to hold, and pressed a kiss to the older girl's temple.
"Here we are." Jemma took a deep breath and followed Skye into a room that looked just like a living room. A bunch of 20 something-year-olds and two people who looked to be in their mid-40's were spread out across the room.
"Hey, everybody, this is Dr. Jemma Simmons, my girlfriend." Skye announced with a grin and all of a sudden Jemma felt the intense need to run.
"They won't bite." Skye whispered.
"Hello, everybody, it's lovely to meet you. I've been looking forward to this since your game last week." Jemma said nervously.
"Bloody hell, she's British. You really should've mentioned that." Lance Hunter crowed, jumping up and shaking Jemma's hand.
"She did, twice, you moron." corrected Bobbi Morse, his ex-wife.
"Hello, love, I'm Lance Hunter, please excuse my ex-wife, daughter of Lilith herself." he said in his most sultry of voices.
"Mine, Hunter, back off." Skye ordered and he slunk back like a kicked puppy.
"Hi, I'm the demonic ex-wife, Bobbi Morse." she introduced herself.
"Come on, guys you're going to scare her off." Skye complained.
"Come on, darling. I play with people's insides for a living. I don't scare so easily." Jemma chided though her eyes said that she wanted to go anywhere that Skye was.
"Hello, Dr. Simmons, I'm Skye's coach, and manager, Phil Coulson, and this is the team's agent, Melinda May." the older and balding man introduced himself and the terrifying Asian woman.
"But, I call them Mom and Dad." Skye adds with a cheeky grin while Coulson and May roll their eyes.
"They're in here, but they don't know it, yet." he explains.
"So, that's why it says Coulson on your jersey.'
"I legally adopted her a year ago, so that she could have a last name and a family. That's why she lives with me and I was her emergency contact when she came into your ER." Coulson explained.
"The big guy in the corner is Mack, but he's a little bit too involved in his game to care right now."
"I care! Hello, Dr.Simmons." he corrected her.
"Please, call me Jemma or Simmons." she said.
"The guy over there with him is Antoine Triplett, beware, he is a flirt." Skye warned.
"You should've told me about Lance." Jemma warned.
"He's not a flirt, he's a danger to society." Skye says. "There's a difference."
"Rude!" he yelled from across the room with Mack and Tripp,
"Tell us about yourself, Simmons." Coulson said, leading her to a seat at the dinner table.
"I'm a trauma surgeon, New York General, as you know. I graduated high school at the age of 17. That's why I'm so much younger than your average surgeon. I met Skye in my E.R. after she had gotten trampled at a match. She wasn't a pretty sight, but somehow I really wanted to spend all of my time in a hospital room."
"We don't want to know how you two met, we've heard that a hundred times from Skye. We want to know about you. What do you do for fun?" Coulson asked.
"I read a lot, but when you're a surgeon, there isn't that much room in your life for fun." Jemma explained, suddenly very confused and a little overwhelmed.
"Jemma, honey, this isn't an interrogation, just relax a little bit." Skye said, taking her hand, and running her thumb over Jemma's knuckles.
"It's just that most of my life revolves around my work." she adds. "Most of my fun comes from helping people."
"Ours does too." Coulson reassured her. "Do you have friends at work?"
"My best friend Fitz is in Neurosurgery, we met when we were fellows at Johns Hopkins." she answered looking mildly offended.
"What do the two of you do for fun?" Skye asked, now getting interested and invested herself.
"We usually get together and order Chinese, and watch Doctor Who or study for new surgeries." Jemma said, her face going red.
"Doctor Who?" Mack asked, perking up immediately at the thing that wasn't just a show to him, but a way of life.
"It's the only thing I can actually keep up with, given my hectic schedule." Simmons adds, feeling like she was actually handling things quite well, by that point.
"Why, she's a little British nerd hottie." Bobbi cooes.
"I wouldn't go so far as..." she protests.
"Accept it and move on, sweetheart." Skye recommended. "Once she's picked what kind of hottie you are, there is no going back."
"Oh, dear." Jemma hummed, before leaning into Skye. Skye responded by running her hands up and down the length of Jemma's arms.
"You've found yourself a very lovely girlfriend, Skye." May complimented her. "You hurt my client though, and I'll behead you with a spoon."
"And you say that you aren't my mom." Skye teased.
"Hey, little nerd hottie, do you play video games?" Mack asked.
"On occasion." Jemma replied.
"She's good with me." he says.
"She's British and attractive enough for me to be seen around, so she has my vote." Lance puts in.
"I already gave her a nickname." Bobbi says with a shrug.
"I like her." says Trip.
"And no one cares about the rest of the team's opinions so whatever." says Coulson. "Welcome aboard."
"Aboard what?" Jemma asks, making everyone laugh.
------//////------
"So, when we go out next time maybe I could meet your friends?" Skye asked.
"I think that would be a great idea, but you're forgetting that I only have like one friend." Jemma chuckles.
"Well, I'd really like to meet Fitz and thank him for looking after you." Skye laughed as they went into the restaurants.
"I am perfectly capable of taking one of myself, thank you. Remind me once again of how we met? Which one of us was in the hospital bed?" Jemma scolded.
"Yes, Dr.Simmons." Skye said with a sigh.
"How does your hip feel anyway?" Jemma asked as the waiter took them to their seats.
"Just like new." Skye replied as she pulled the surgeon's chair out for her.
"Probably because it is new. Dr.Sitwell did well, then again I wouldn't have let him touch you if he hadn't been." Simmons said and Skye could see her go into what she called 'doctor-face', not to be confused with her 'angry-face' even though they looked quite similar. Sadly, Skye had had to come into contact with them both already.
-----/////-----
"Worst-patient-ever! Every time I freaking patch you up, you're right here in my emergency room again. How do you do this to yourself? Oh, right, you're the world's most klutzy lacrosse player, which is, by the way, the world's most violent sport. Why the hell did I let myself get the most attached to you of every patient." Jemma complains out loud.
"Dr. Rickards, get me some O neg, stat. I need to check and see if the broken bone has cut any arteries. Dr. Lawson, get me some suction in here, and Dr.Broome, get Ortho in here ASAP. I don't care if you have to cause Sitwell bodily harm. Don't you dare die on me, Skye. Don't you fucking dare." Simmons threatened as she busied herself cauterizing the bleeding, trying to avoid the feelings she knew were there and brimming up just beneath the surface. She needed to squash those for the next while and hang on to what was left of her remaining professionalism, at least until she knew that Skye would be okay because Skye had to be okay.
"Come on, you idiot. Work with me here."
"I would if I could feel my hip that is." Skye replied, sounding groggy and in pain.
"Hit her with some morphine." was Jemma's immediate response after a gasp of relief.
"Of all of the stupid, ignorant, suicidal thing to do, you go and get yourself mugged." Simmons fussed, her face contorted in almost rage and she started when the heart monitor beeping picked up.
"What's going on? I got all of the leaks." Simmons asked looking into the bullet wound for another bleeder.
"Dr.Simmons, ma'am, I believe that her heart rate picked up because you were angry with her." Dr. Broome suggested. "You can be quite scary when you're angry."
"Shut up and go get me Sitwell. In fact, all three of you should really be doing something, instead of standing there like a row of bumps on a log. If you don't want to be on my service, leave, and if you want to stay, go do something." Jemma ordered and Skye took the relief of the morphine as an opportunity to take in Jemma's appearance.
Her hair was frazzled under her skull cap where it poked out and her face was flushed, her eyes full of fear and worry for her. Skye started to worry because Jemma was worried and she really only wanted to comfort the doctor.
"Come on, love. Don't you dare die on me." Jemma pleaded. "Oh, Sitwell, thank God." A tall bald man came in and peered into the gaping wound.
"It's gone into the bone, I'll have to go in."
"Ah, shite." Jemma cursed and Skye laughed. This doctor was too adorable for her own good.
-----/////-----
"You were the one who thought it would be a good idea to get mugged." Jemma scolded in real life when Skye mentioned the incident.
"I didn't get mugged though, I pulled a mugger off of a teenage girl. There's a difference." Skye protested.
"You nearly died on my table either way." Jemma murmured.
"And I'm sorry for scaring you but I'm not sorry for saving that girl, Jems." Skye said, her brown eyes hard.
"Sadly, I know that and it is one of my favorite things about you." she grumbled, making Skye grin.
"I honestly wish that I didn't like you half as much as I do." she added as their food came.
"I don't care as long as you still like me, and I definitely do count that as a point in my own favor." Skye joked and smiled at the way Jemma's eyes lit up. Their hazel color never failed to amaze her.
Skye and Jemma could both feel these three little words sitting on the tips of their tongues, trying to force their way out, but swallowed them. They were both also painfully aware of the fact that the timing was dreadfully wrong. The rest of the dinner passed peacefully and both women enjoyed one another's company after all of the food was gone.
"Well, I guess that I had better get going, then. Do you know whether or not you will be able to make it to my next match or not, yet?" Skye asked hopefully even though everything in her entire body wanted her to stay exactly where and with whom she was.
"I'm trying to twist my schedule so that I can come to as many of the games that I can. It'll take some doing, but I'll get there eventually. Maybe you should just stay at my place tonight? It's late and dark and I don't want you trying to save stray mugging victims and ending up on my table again." Jemma joked halfhearted.
"I think that I might like that a lot."