Chapter Text
Chapter 7: Celebrations
*
Daisy wakes with a start, groaning slightly as she jostles her still healing body. She lays in her bed in her bunk, Jemma wrapped around her body, listening to the other woman’s calm breathing against the back of her shoulder, her warm breath tickling the surface of her skin.
It’s been 2 weeks since the disastrous mission to the factory, two weeks since she and Jemma were finally able to discuss their feelings, and Daisy wishes that there had been more of a resolution of the matter. The feelings were confessed, acknowledged instead of burrowed deep inside of them, festering, but now that the feelings were out in the open, nothing more had come of them yet.
She's been out of medical for a week, and her ribs still ache deeply, sometimes taking a breath hurts her actual lung instead of her ribs. It still doesn't hurt as much as the run around that Jemma seems to be giving her about the two of them.
She doesn't think it's on purpose, she thinks that Jemma doesn't even realize that she's doing it, but despite Jemma being around Daisy at every hour of the day that she can be, she avoids the subject of “what now?” And it hurts Daisy, but she tries to be flexible for Jemma. The woman obviously wants to spend time with her, but isn't sure what that makes them.
It would be less confusing if Jemma was less affectionate to Daisy when it was just the two of them. Daisy would usually get a quick kiss in greeting when Jemma would come to check on her in medical, (it wasn't just the collapsed lung that would take her breath away), and Daisy was almost certain that she hadn't gotten a moment of sleep that didn't feature Jemma Simmons hogging the covers since being liberated from the med bay. The physical contact is nice, it’s validating. It validates her feelings for Jemma, it validates that Jemma has feelings for her, and it validates the questioning that Daisy has been doing for so many years about her sexuality.
But there's still the pain of uncertainty in not knowing what Jemma really wants her to be, wants she wants them to be. It causes a coil of doubt and anxiety to build up in Daisy’s chest when she thinks about it.
Jemma stirs and takes a deep breath. Daisy grins and carefully rolls over to face her, careful as she lays on her injured left side. She places a small kiss on the end of Jemma’s nose. Jemma smiles and pulls Daisy closer to her. “Good morning, Daisy,” she murmurs sleepily. Daisy snuggles into Jemma’s chest, breathing deeply to take in her scent.
Jemma reaches behind her to pick up her cell phone, squinting against the bright light of the screen. “It's time to get up, Daisy,” she murmurs, “It’s 6:45, and you have an appointment at 7:30 to get those stitches out!”
Daisy groans into Jemma’s shoulder. Jemma had been awake for a total of maybe 30 seconds, and she's already chipper. Daisy needed at least an hour and maybe an entire pot of coffee to achieve that in the morning.
Jemma lays a kiss on Daisy’s forehead and pulls away from the warmth of the bed. Daisy groans again and flops herself on the now empty side of the bed, watching as Jemma disappears into Daisy’s ensuite bathroom to change into her clean clothes that she had brought from her apartment.
Daisy lies on her stomach for a few minutes, enjoying the smell of Jemma on her bed. Day dreaming about the things that she was planning on doing with Jemma when she was back at full strength.
Jemma brings her a glass of water and two pills, bone regeneration pill and a pain killer (which Daisy had not wanted to take after being released, claiming that good old ibuprofen and ice would take care of her pain, but Jemma had overruled her). Daisy swallows the pills with a few swallows of water and grimaces, she's tired of the taste of pills.
“Oh it's not that bad, Daisy,” Jemma scolds playfully. She's wearing a very sensible white button down shirt under a navy cardigan sweater. Her hair is pulled back into a ponytail. There’s something about Jemma in a cardigan that gets at Daisy. It makes butterflies flutter around her stomach, especially when she smiles at her.
“Now come on, we need to get moving!”
Daisy groans loudly, lamenting each movement as she rolls out of her warm and soft bed. She grumps her way around the room, collecting a clean pair of jeans, a black tank top, and her favorite flannel shirt. It takes her longer to get herself dressed due to her still healing injuries.
*
Jemma supervises the lab technicians as they take a few films of Daisy’s chest, checking for any excess air in the pleural space that could cause another lung collapse, and to check how the breaks on Daisy’s ribs were healing. Jemma smiles when she looks at the films, “Everything looks really good, Daisy. You're healing up nicely!”
Jemma is nothing but gentle as she cuts the stitches out of Daisy’s side. Her fingers graze Daisy’s skin every so often, and it takes a lot of Daisy’s self control not to shiver at her touch.
Gathering together her courage, Daisy turns her head to look at her friend, “Sooooo,” she starts, pulling out her “smooth voice”, “Now that I seem to be medically sound, what do you say about you and me, going off base for a nice dinner?”
Jemma stops removing stitches for a moment with a soft “Oh.” She looks at Daisy in the eyes for a moment, and then looks away. She takes the last stitch out of Daisy’s side and starts taking her gloves off.
Jemma takes a deep breath panicking, “I don't know, Daisy.”
Daisy doesn't say anything. She waits for Jemma to continue her statement, but it doesn't come. She just sits up, pulls her tank top down over the newly bandaged wound, and she moves to leave.
After everything they've been in the last two weeks, especially the last week, and Daisy feels completely betrayed.
“Jemma, I need you to tell me what you need me to be,” Daisy almost whispers, her head hung in hurt. She glances back at the woman fleetingly, and then walks out of the medical exam room, tossing her flannel shirt over her shoulder.
*
The doctor clears Daisy for light duty (paperwork) after her stitches came out, so she plans on spending the day writing reports on different missions that she has been putting off for occasions such as this.
She spends the majority of the day in her bunk, sitting at her desk and writing. She doesn't see Jemma at all during that time, only receiving a text message at 11:30am to take her pain medicine. Daisy grumbles and complies with the instructions. (Jemma would find out if she didn't take it, she always does).
Daisy shuffles through the paperwork, creating piles of what tasks need to be done, and in what order she should procrastinate them. She comes across a form, HR Form 15A: Declaration of Relationship with Fellow Agent.
Daisy’s heart drops into her stomach. It’s the form that she meant to file nearly a year ago, when she was with Lincoln, but she had barely managed to fill in her information into the form.
Her eyes fill with tears, and Daisy pushes the form to the bottom of the pile. That's something she isn't ready to tackle quite yet. Not a wound that is totally healed from losing Lincoln, and not a wound she's willing to acknowledge yet with Jemma.
Daisy works for another few hours, only to be stopped by a rolling growl in her stomach. She laughs out loud and decides she needs to take a break for dinner.
Daisy heads to the kitchen, and boils herself some pasta to cover in Parmesan cheese. She's eating happily, browsing Reddit, when Jemma comes up beside her at the counter. Daisy sighs deeply and goes to stand and move, not sure if she wants to talk just yet.
“Wait Daisy, hold on. I told Fitz about what happened in the factory. I told him about us being together, Daisy,” Jemma deadpans. Daisy drops her fork in shock, looking directly at Jemma.
“And…?”
Jemma sighs deeply, a look of pain on her face, “He said ‘I know’ and hasn't said a word to me in a week and a half. He’s- he's processing what I told him.”
Daisy isn't sure how to respond. She picks her fork up and pushes her pasta around in circles on her plate. It explained a few things. She had been in the hospital a week and a half ago, and Fitz had come to see her then, but he was distracted, a little far away. She sighs. “He hates me now, doesn't he?” She asks softly.
Jemma reaches over and grabs Daisy’s hand. “No, no. Fitz could never hate you. He's processing. He has some trouble understanding social situations sometimes.”
Daisy nods, she knows how Fitz is, she loves him for it, but she's confused. “What does this have to do with what you need from me?” She asks, cutting right to the chase.
“I need you to understand why I'm hesitating about this, about us. I need you to know that I need to speak to Fitz before this comes what I want, what we want it to be, Daisy.”
Daisy nods once, understanding what Jemma needs. “Are you staying tonight?” She asks finally.
Jemma smiles and nods. “I'm planning on it, if that's alright with you.”
Daisy grins and steals a kiss on Jemma’s nose. Jemma giggles and returns the favor.
(What neither of them notice is Fitz stop in the doorway to the kitchen, turn around, and walk away.)
*
Jemma is anxious.
She stands outside of one of the labs later that night, watching as Fitz moves around fiddling with this or tightening a screw here, working with his hands. Jemma takes a deep breath and knocks on the wall.
Fitz jumps and turns around, ready to yell, before he seems Jemma. “Doctor Simmons,” he says, nodding curtly.
Jemma sighs, “Please don't give me that Fitz. Can we talk?”
Fitz puts his gadget down and places his hands on the table. “What is there to talk about, Jemma? You and Daisy finally admitted your feelings to each other, Mack lost $25, and you're going to live happily ever after. There's not a place where I come in here,” he starts, moving to pick up his tools again.
Jemma throws her hands up in exasperation, “What about the part where you're my best friend, Fitz? You can't seriously turn on me now, after 10 years, and other relationships. I need you, Fitz… please.”
Fitz looks away from Jemma for a moment. They’d been over these conversations after they decided they didn't work, and he knew it was just his hurt talking. Fitz pushes himself away from his station
and walks around to be near Jemma.
“You know, it hurt when I realized that you’re not in love with me. But nothing can compare to the pain I felt when I saw you fall in love with her,” he starts, putting his hands on Jemma’s shoulders.
“ And I lashed out at her when I saw her again after Mack and I picked her up in LA. But I'm past that now. I'm past that hurt. I'm sorry that we didn't work out, Jemma. I really am. But I see in your eyes the joy and love that I felt when I first fell in love with you, when you're with her, or even just thinking about her. And I'm okay with that. You've been my best friend for more than 10 years, and I don't think that I could ever stand to lose that. I just want you to be happy. I love you that much.”
Unshed tears well up in Jemma’s eyes and she charges forward and embraces him. Fitz smiles and wraps his arms around Jemma.
“She asked me out to dinner this morning, Fitz,” Jemma says into his shoulder.
Fitz smiles and rubs his best friend’s back. “And what did you say?” He asks, knowing where this was leading.
“I said ‘Oh, I don't know’, Fitz.”
The chuckles start quietly in Fitz's chest, rumbling under Jemma’s ear. She gently taps his chest, scolding him for laughing at her. But Fitz can't contain himself, and he's soon full on laughing, his head tilted back and tears streaming down his face.
*
Daisy finds that she is incredibly more comfortable now that the stitches have been taken out of her chest. She still can't pull in a deep breath all of the time, and the area on the front of her around where Jemma had to insert the decompression needle is still very tender and bruised, but the lack of discomfort from having the pull of itchy stitches in her side is a huge improvement.
Daisy is already in her pajamas and curled up in bed when her door opens and Jemma slips into the room.
“Hello, Daisy!” She says cheerfully. It causes butterflies in Daisy’s stomach. She smiles and pats the bed next to her.
Jemma slips her shoes off, not bothering to change her pajamas. She climbs into the bed and rolls onto Daisy, straddling her hips. Daisy yelps in surprise, “Hey there, Jemma!”
Jemma chuckles and kisses Daisy, placing her hands on both sides of her head. “How do you feel about me cashing in that rain check?” She says in a low, sultry voice. Daisy’s eyes bulge slightly as she nods, fidgeting her legs as a pool of warmth starts growing between them.
Jemma notices the fidgets and slides her knee up between Daisy’s legs and smiles at the response on the woman lying under her. She gently pushes her lips to Daisy’s pulse point and chuckles when Daisy fidgets more.
Jemma's hands are very gentle as her hands explore Daisy’s body and leaves her breathless (okay this time it is definitely not the chest injuries). Jemma drops down beside Daisy and pulls her up against her bare chest.
“Is that dinner invitation still open, Daisy?” Jemma asks softly, smiling.
Daisy picks her head up and plants a kiss on Jemma’s lips. “You bet your sweet ass it is!”
*
Early The next morning, after a night of very little sleep, Jemma slips out of Daisy’s room, looking tousled and tired, to go shower in the nearby showers.
Agents Piper and Davis see Jemma leaving as they round the corner to head to the gym. Piper elbows Davis in the ribs, “You so owe me $100,” she whispers.
And, of course, by noon, everyone in the base knows that Agents Daisy Johnson and Jemma Simmons are finally together.