Chapter Text
Simmons ran through all the possible scenarios in her head. She couldn't tell May that she had given the real cube to Fitz but Jemma couldn't lie to her either. So consumed by her thoughts Jemma had not realized she had walked into Bobbi until they had collided. Jemma caught herself and held onto a nearby beam for support. She smiled shyly at Bobbi, "Sorry about that."
Bobbi straightened up and returned Jemma's warm smile. "It's my fault, I should have paid closer attention to where I was walking."
"No, the fault is mine. I was a bit distracted," Simmons insisted.
Bobbi's eyes narrowed cautiously. "You'll get Fury's toolbox open Jemma don't worry."
Simmons shifted uncomfortably and faked a smile.
Bobbi stepped closer."Is there something else that's bothering you Simmons?"
Simmons shook her head. "No, not really," she told Bobbi, who was not buying any of it. So Jemma let out a deep breath and thought of a good lie on the fly. "..well I'm a bit concerned about Fitz. You see he hasn't made contact with me, not even a call to let me know he's found somewhere safe to stay."
Bobbi smiled, understanding immediately. "Fitz is probably fine Jemma, he's quite the survivor."
Jemma nodded. "You're right."
There was a small lull in conversation before Bobbi's phone beeped. She swiftly pulled it out of her pocket. There was a brief sparkle in Bobbi's eyes and it left just as quickly as it had come. Bobbi's eyes scanned the phone screen and she nodded slightly before putting it away. Swallowing hard, Bobbi cleared her throat. Jemma still had not quite forgiven Bobbi for the betrayal but she could tell something was truly troubling her.
"Is everything alright Bobbi?"
Bobbi ran a hand through her blonde locks and bluntly. "I'm fine."
She started to walk away when Jemma pulled on her arm. Bobbi turned to face Simmons. “Whatever it is, you can tell me ."
Bobbi bit her lip, deciding whether or not to tell Jemma.
Jemma stepped closer to Bobbi without removing her grip from Bobbi's arm. "No more secrets Bobbi," Simmons pleaded.
Bobbi sighed and nodded. She lead Jemma back to her room on the base. Once inside Bobbi sat down opposite Jemma on her bed. She took out her phone and handed it to Simmons. Jemma took the phone and read the message thread. Bobbi let Simmons read through the entire thread before talking. Simmons heart sank; all the messages were about finding Skye. At least she knew Fitz was okay but Simmons had no idea where her other best friend could have gone.
"It's not what you think Jemma," Bobbi informed her as Jemma handed Bobbi back the phone.
Simmons tucked some of her brown hair behind her ear. "And what exactly is it that I think?"
Bobbi met Jemma's gaze. "You think S.H.I.E.L.D is trying to find Skye to kill her right?"
Simmons didn't say anything. That wasn't exactly what she was thinking but now that Bobbi had mentioned it she wouldn't put killing Skye past someone like Agent Calderon(who had already tried and failed).
"Well it's not like that at all. Jemma nobody knows these agents are searching for Skye, no one but you and I," Bobbi explained with a cautious look in her eyes, hoping that Simmons would understand.
Jemma knitted her eyebrows together, she wasn't exactly following. "Why are they looking for Skye, if S.H.I.E.L.D didn't tell him to?"
Bobbi sat up. "Because I told them to."
Jemma gave Bobbi a curious look. "Why?"
Bobbi looked away from Simmons and down at the phone in her hands. "It's complicated."
Simmons still wasn't quite following. If Bobbi had sent out a search party surely her superiors would know about it. Then again Bobbi didn't technically have any superiors in the new S.H.I.E.L.D. Simmons reached out for Bobbi's hand. She laced their fingers together and gave Bobbi's hand a light squeeze."I think I have the time."
Bobbi stared at their intertwined fingers and smiled. "It's not a long story- just complicated."
Jemma smiled and lifted Bobbi's chin up to meet her eyes. "I think I can keep up."
—
Sure the food wasn't bad, and the air was fresh but Skye missed her family, her S.H.I.E.L.D family. Everyone here, wherever here was, were nice enough but she missed Coulson, Jemma, Fitz, May and...Bobbi. Something inside Skye twisted at the thought of Bobbi. The last thing she remembered was getting chased by agents and hearing Bobbi shout her name. After that things got a little blurry, she wasn't quite sure she wanted to remember. Bobbi's look of anguish was permanently etched into Skye's mind. Things had gotten so hectic so quickly that she never got that chance to explain to Bobbi how she--No Bobbi was with Hunter, it wouldn't have made a difference.
Skye threw herself on her bed and sunk her face into the silk pillows. She heard a knock, then the opening of her doors. She didn't care who it was; most likely it was Lincoln coming to tell her it was dinner.
"Skye," she heard a familiar voice call. Skye turned around and saw the worried look on her mother's face, "Is everything alright?"
Skye sat up and removed a few stray hairs from her face. "Yeah everything's cool, what's up?"
Skye's mother, Jiaying, smiled softly. "Dinner's ready," she said plainly.
Skye stopped smiling. "It's all right, I'm not very hungry."
Jiaying sat down next to Skye. "Are you sure everything is okay?"
Skye looked at her mother fondly and smiled. "I'm sure. Really I'm fine, just not very hungry tonight."
Jiaying nodded, not wanting to push her daughter's boundaries she stood up and walked towards the door. She turned just before leaving. "If you need to talk, you know where to find me."
Skye nodded and watched as her mother left. She fell back down on the bed and covered her face with her hands. Just then there was another knock. Skye sat back up. "Seriously I'm not hungry," she yelled.
Lincoln walked inside with a plate of food. "Brought you a plate anyways."
Skye smiled at him, he really was a nice guy. Such a nice guy that Skye felt like she should be developing feelings for him instead. Skye shook her head, no she couldn't do that. It would not be fair to Lincoln or to herself....or to Bobbi.
Lincoln sat at the foot of Skye's bed and placed the plate of food in front of her.
"Come on it's pizza night, Gordon got your favorite," he insisted as he pushed the plate towards Skye.
Skye grabbed the plate and placed it on the nightstand next to her. "I'm seriously not hungry."
Lincoln furrowed his eyebrows. "Is everything alright?"
Skye tried her best at a smile. "I'm fine."
Lincoln's forehead wrinkled. "You're lying," he boldly stated.
Skye huffed. "I am not."
"You didn't meet me in the garden earlier today like we had planned, you ditched the group for karaoke, which you love, and now you're refusing your favorite type of pizza. Do you really expect me to believe something isn't wrong?" Lincoln reached out for Skye's hand. She didn't pull away from him rather she let Lincoln hold her hand. "You can tell me what wrong Skye, you can trust me."
Skye let out a breath. "Yeah I'm not so great at the whole trust thing."
Lincoln nodded slowly. "Alright then, whenever you want to talk I'll be here."
Lincoln let Skye's hand fall on the bed as he got up and walked towards the door.
"Lincoln," Skye called out. Lincoln turned around with a small smile on his face. Skye rolled her eyes at him. "I'll tell you but promise you won't think any different of me after I tell you."
Lincoln's eyebrows creased. "Why would I think of you differently?" He walked back to Skye's bed and sat down in front of her.
Skye sighed, "Just promise me?"
Lincoln smiled and grabbed her hand. He gave it a light squeeze. "There's nothing you can tell me that will make me think of you as anything other than a great girl."
Skye chuckled. "Yeah hold onto that."
—
Jemma blew out hot air as she sat stunned. "I never knew, never would have guessed you..," she said nervously.
Bobbi smiled. "Yeah most people don't look at me and think raging bisexual."
Jemma chuckled. She squeezed Bobbi's hand. "Why didn't you ever tell Skye how you felt?"
Bobbi glanced away from Simmons and shrugged. "It was just-"
"Complicated," Simmons interjected.
Bobbi nodded. "Yeah."
Jemma lifted Bobbi's chin up so that their eyes met.
"I'm positive that wherever Skye is she's okay," Jemma told Bobbi.
"But what if she isn't? What if she got taken by people who want to hurt her?" Bobbi pulled her hand away from Jemma's. She got up and started pacing back and forth. "I could have saved her Simmons, I should have done more to make sure Shield didn't go after her."
"Bobbi there's not much you could have done on your own. This S.H.I.E.L.D isn't like the old one."
Bobbi sighed. "I told everyone to use icers, and only if they had to, but most of them were carrying guns with real bullets. Calderon, he...he was going to," Bobbi's voice faltered and she turned away from Jemma. She tried to blink away the tears that had been picking at her eyes for days. Bobbi closed her eyes and all she saw was the scared look on Skye's face when she saw the bullet shooting towards her. Bobbi felt hands wrap around her from behind.
"It's not your fault Bobbi," Jemma whispered as she swept Bobbi's golden hair to one side and pressed her face to Bobbi's back.
"The worst part is not knowing if she's even alive Jemma," Bobbi whispered.
Jemma took a deep breath. She smelled the faint gardenias of Bobbi's perfume.
Simmons smiled. "Bobbi.. I know Skye," Jemma began. Simmons unwrapped herself from Bobbi and walked around to face her. "And if I know Skye, I know one thing for absolute sure."
Bobbi sniffled and wiped away some stray tears from her cheeks. "What?"
Jemma stepped close to Bobbi and stared right into the taller woman's eyes. "She's a survivor Bobbi. I know Skye's out there, and I know she's okay."
Jemma smiled and Bobbi tried to return the warm gesture. Sniffling again, Jemma wrapped her arms around Bobbi's waist.
—
Lincoln looked away from Skye and at the slice of pizza resting on the nightstand. "Can I have that?"
Skye nodded silently and handed Lincoln the pizza. Skye wasn't sure what she was expecting his reaction to be but it sure wasn't asking Skye for her slice of pizza. They sat in silence as Lincoln ate. Well at least he wasn't yelling awful things at her right? This can't be the worst coming out reaction, Skye thought.
Once Lincoln had finally finished his pizza slice he looked back at Skye. "Who else knows you're bisexual?"
Skye winced a little at the word, she wasn't quite sure she wanted any labels. Weren't powered freak, and orphaned child enough labels? All the same she sighed and answered Lincoln's question. "Just you."
Lincoln took a deep breath. "Well I didn't see that coming," he confessed with a smile.
Skye chuckled. "In all honesty neither did I."
Lincoln gave Skye a puzzled look. "You mean she is the only girl you've ever felt this way for?"
Skye thought hard. "Well, I mean there was this thing I had for my friend Jemma but those feelings ended as Jemma and I got closer. I thought the same would happen with my feelings towards Bobbi but they've gotten stronger if anything."
Lincoln nodded. They were silent for a few seconds. "You thought that I would think of you differently just because you have romantic feelings for a girl?" Lincoln asked her sounding rather annoyed.
Skye nodded. "Well yeah I mean I see the way you look at me sometimes and I thought maybe you'd be angry that I don't feel the same way about you."
Lincoln frowned. "Skye it's 2015, and I'm not a neanderthal. Just because you don't feel the same way about me doesn't mean I'd get angry at you or anything."
"I'm sorry Lincoln." She told him and really did mean it. Skye had just assumed he would see her differently, after all Ward did when she drunkenly confided in him about her feelings for Simmons.
Lincoln took a deep breath. "It's fine, besides this isn't about me. It's about you and uh- what was her name again?"
Skye smiled, she always beamed at the thought of Agent Morse. "Bobbi," she told him and Lincoln could hear the glee but also the pain in her voice.