DISCLAIMER: The characters herein are used without permission. No infringement intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I have decided to call this ship Skymmons. Spread the word so it'll eventually catch on. This show it new, and so are the characters to work with. I hope I've done them justice.
CHALLENGE: Written for Femslash Bingo 2013 - Alien Invasion.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
FEEDBACK: To kc_sg27[at]yahoo.com.au
Assisted Living
By KC
Simmons gasped awake. She sat up suddenly and patted all over her body to make sure she was in one piece. She hissed in pain when she knocked the syringe protruding from her left arm. She gripped it firmly and slowly pulled it out. Discarding the used needle in the waste bin next to her leg, Simmons unsteadily scrambled to her feet. She gazed around her empty lab in terror. Her serum had worked, she was herself again, but how was she going to save the others?
3 days earlier – Friday
Skye sat on the bench opposite Fitz/Simmons. They were examining a tree sample that had withstood a meteorite hitting it. She watched their curious faces with amusement, and goaded, "I just don't see what the big hoo-ha is."
The scientists looked up in unison, shock and disapproval clear in their expressions. "The big 'hoo-ha', Skye," Simmons began, "is that this tree withstood an impact of massive proportions."
"Massive," Fitz agreed. "This spectacular piece of space debris should have annihilated this tree."
"Annihilated," Simmons' face was serious. "It's absolutely…"
"Utterly…"
"Entirely impossible."
"Impossible." Fitz nodded gravely.
"Then how did it do it?" Skye posed.
2 days earlier – Saturday
"It wasn't the tree!" Simmons exclaimed. "It was the meteorite."
"Fitz was infected from a meteorite?" Ward asked sceptically.
"Yes, and I cannot rule out the virus being airborne, so Skye and I must remain quarantined in the lab."
"I've always wanted to be a lab assistant." Skye remarked with sarcasm.
Coulson nodded. "Do what you need to do. I'll update the SHIELD and give May our new destination."
He nodded to Simmons and Skye and left the room. Ward did the same and followed him. The women turned to each other and shared a grim smile before they glanced at Fitz's coma-induced body.
"We've been in worse situations before," Simmons attempted cheer.
" Oh, yeah, sure. We got this." Skye stood next to her friend and had a look at the blood samples she had in her hand. "We got this, right?"
1 day earlier – Sunday
"I can feel them…" Skye commented absently as she looked at her arms, as if she could see them too. "I can feel them inside me."
In the last 24 hours Ward, Coulson and May had succumbed to the alien parasite. Not only was this alien life form airborne, it also spread through touch. Simmons had been running extensive tests on herself and Skye to find out why they were immune, but it turned out they weren't. Skye didn't have long before Simmons would need to lock her out of the lab, as the aliens would soon take over motor function.
"We'll fix this, we will. I just need a little more time," Simmons assured her constant companion of the last 2 days. She loved Fitz dearly, but she had to admit to being fond of Skye's presence.
"Look, Simmons…." Skye gently took her arm and pulled her around to face her. "Jemma… I need to tell you something before I'm not me."
"Skye, don't worry about a thing. This is just this week's excitement. You'll be back to boring agent training in no time." Simmons avoided looking her in the eye.
Without warning Skye kissed Simmons. It wasn't hard or passionate, but it wasn't a whisper of a touch either. Caught up in the moment Simmons kissed her back; she'd only been thinking about it for months. But her conscience kicked in and she pulled back. They rested their foreheads together in understanding.
"I will fix this. I promise," Simmons quickly kissed Skye and then ordered her out of the lab. It was crunch time, and she had a lot of work to do.
Now on Marvel – Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
Simmons darted through the corridors of the ship, the night-night gun gripped in her shaking hands. She had loaded the rounds with the serum she had created that blocks the physiological and psychological connection that the aliens have of the host body. All she had to do was hit her targets… Simmons gulped as she heard movement up ahead.
She was glad that they kept Fitz in a comatose state, it made it easier to treat his infection. In a few hours he would wake up as himself. Then all they had to do was electrocute the body to kill the foreign species and he would be right as rain.
Simmons saw Ward with his head in the lower communications shaft. She shot at his back and missed. Luckily it landed in his arse and he slumped to the side. Oh, I'm going to hear about that later… She commented worriedly to herself. A noise to her left and she turned and fired at the same time. Coulson's right shoulder shot back and he fell to the ground in a heap. So far so good.
She was terrified about facing May. She might not have been herself, but the woman still frightened her to no end. Speak of the devil. Simmons carefully aimed and missed May's back from the door of the cockpit. This drew Ms Alien's attention and she was pushed back by a very hard fist. Gasping for air she frantically squeezed the trigger in May's direction.
With an 'oof' and a 'thump' Simmons found herself under the weight of her colleague. "This job was supposed to be interesting, not injuring."
May's body was pulled from her own and then she was lifted into the air. She looked into the eyes of Skye as she grasped as the hands around her throat. Her efforts grew weaker as the seconds dragged on. "S…Skye…" she gasped.
She almost missed it, a small flicker in the eyes, but it was there. Skye's hand loosened and Simmons fell to the ground as Coulson did. She recovered quickly, grabbed the gun and shot Skye in the leg. Another body fell on Simmons but this time she didn't mind so much. She held Skye to herself and let the tears of the last few days finally fall.
2 days later – Wednesday
"All signs of the aliens have gone," Fitz announced proudly. He shoulder-bumped Simmons with a grin.
"Well done," Ward smiled appreciatively before leaving the room. He rubbed his left butt cheek self-consciously.
May nodded and left as well.
Coulson smiled proudly, "Thank you Jemma. You saved us all."
"It was nothing, really."
"Thank you," he said again before he left.
At the unusual exchange of glances between the two women, Fitz said, "I'm going to go catalogue the data."
Simmons and Skye stared at each other. Finally Skye couldn't stand the silence, "It wasn't nothing, it was something. Something amazing." She took a a few steps towards Simmons.
"I was just doing my job," she waved it off.
"Amazing is your job," Skye whispered, only a breath apart from the scientist.
"I had help. You helped."
Whatever words Simmons would have continued with were swallowed in Skye's kiss. It was full of tenderness, nervousness and hope. When she pulled back Skye smiled, "Just so you know that was me. I wanted to do that."
Simmons blushed, but returned the smile. "Experiments must always be repeated until the data is conclusive."
Skye laughed, "I've always wanted to be a lab assistant."
The End