Chapter Text
Jemma wakes up to an empty bed and a pit in her stomach when she reads Daisy’s note.
May called in the night. He’s gone. I’ll be back tomorrow. Love you, D.
He really was gone then. It’s such a strange thing to think, Coulson recruited her to the team and changed her entire life. He’s always been there and now he wasn’t, it doesn’t feel right. But she knows that what she feels won’t even begin to compare to what Daisy will be feeling. Coulson was like a father to her, she’d spent the past year trying to save him from his inevitable death before he took the choice out of her hands.
But she knew that she’d support Daisy in any way she could, she owed her that much after all that happened when they found out about the time loop and the future and his looming death. Also because she loved her.
She loved her. And Daisy loved her back. The feeling of warmth emits under the sudden sadness like a fire, pooling in her stomach and filling her with light.
She cleans up the cabin before she ventures out to Salutem. Their Thai from last night is put in the trash, clothes stripped off at the edge of the bed in their passion filled haste picked up off the floor, blankets folded. She feels a lot calmer when it’s done but there’s still a dark hole in her stomach where she’s worrying about Daisy.
“Hey, short stack.” Hunter calls when she walks outside, clearly heading to her cabin anyway. He’s a lot more tan than he was when he was an agent, probably to do with the Idaho sun. He’s looks a lot happier too, healthier, it’s a common theme around here.
“Hey, Hunter.” Jemma replies, pulling on a jacket. It used to be Daisy’s, but she claimed the old Columbia bomber when Daisy switched strictly to leather. Not that she’s complaining.
“What’s your plan for today?” He asks, standing at the foot of the cabin steps. He’s in hiking gear and Jemma is pretty sure she knows where he wants to go.
“Nothing, Daisy’s...away. She’s not back till tomorrow. You want to go hiking?” She doesn’t know how much they know about Coulson’s condition and about Tahiti.
“Yeah she radioed Bobbi when she was leaving, making sure her flight path was clear. We can go up the cliffs if you want to, I can show you all the great spots to take your new girlfriend.”
“Am I going to get the shovel talk?” She laughs, although she already knows she’ll get one from Mack and one from May. Daisy will probably get one from Bobbi and Elena though, so it’ll balance the scales. Not that either of them had it in them to hurt each other, not after everything they’ve been through together.
“Nah, I’ll leave that to the more eloquent of my peers. I just wanted a catch up.” He says as the set off, past the cabins and the playground and onto the cliff path.
“I’m sorry, Jem, I don’t think I ever said it, but I am. You know, I never expected him to yknow, go to the dark side and whatever.” Hunter admits when they’ve walked a little up the steep path.
“What?” Jemma asks.
“Fitz. He said something about a darkness within him but I didn’t think he would do... that. ” Hunter says, keeping his eyes focused on the ground like it is his fault.
“You mean what he did to Daisy.” Jemma says quietly, volume not needed for this type of conversation.
It weighed on her mind a lot, what happened to Daisy. Seeing her on that table...it opened her eyes to the things that were wrong. It wasn’t a “moral grey area” like she told Fitz when she was trying to stop him collapsing in on himself, it was wrong. It was a big, black hole of wrongness that she knew Daisy was still struggling with. She’d accidentally brushed the cut on Daisy’s neck two nights ago and Daisy had instantly frozen before trying to pretend that it was okay, but Jemma saw. The fear and the pain and the anger. It was all still there, just waiting for the right moment, like a time bomb. And she didn’t know how long the clock had left.
“Yeah, do you know she phoned us? Right after it happened, she phoned and we were gonna fly out but she said it wasn’t safe and she would be fine, but she’s not, is she?” Hunter says and he looks at her this time, properly looks and Jemma tries to find the words.
“She’s a bit better now, this vacation has helped a lot. And the fact that he’s gone, she doesn’t need to see him everyday helps too I think. It’s probably good that you didn’t come out, we could barely leave, never mind you two. Although I hear your names are cleared?” She switches the subject rapidly before the blame game could begin.
“Yeah, Daisy pulled some strings. Or she hacked the Russian government and got our names cleared, who knows. We can go back to SHIELD if we want, travel around the globe again, go back to Russia.” Hunter laughs and the heavy atmosphere lifts.
“Are you going to come back? The team really misses you and we do need more agents.”
“Nah, we’ve got a good life here. This is our mission, we look after the Inhumans here. We gave up a lot for SHIELD and we’re getting it back now. Besides, we might have something else to stick around for soon.” Hunter says vaguely which all but screams to Jemma that he’s hiding something.
“Is Bobbi pregnant?” She asks because Hunter is really, very bad at subtlety.
“Shh! No one is supposed to know! She was gonna tell her yourself when Daisy got back so keep it quiet for now.” Hunter half yelps and Jemma laughs.
“I’m so excited for you! Congrats!” She pulls him into a tight hug and tries to pour all her love into that hug. “I’d better be godmother.”
“You and Daisy are top of the list.”
Daisy’s Quinjet lands the next day and Jemma meets her at the landing site. Daisy and May step off the Quinjet and Daisy immediately barrels into her arms.
“I missed you.” Daisy whispers into her ear, her voice cracked and strained. There are tear stains ingrained on her face and May isn’t looking much better. Both women look hollowed out, the weight of Coulson’s death on their shoulders dragging them down.
“Simmons.” May gives them a curt nod before heading over to Bobbi and Hunter who are waiting on a bench nearby.
“How’d it go?” Jemma asks and Daisy shrugs.
“He wanted to be buried in Tahiti. We picked a spot near the ocean. We said goodbye today, Simmons.” It’s the finality that has Daisy crying again. Fresh tears roll down her face and Jemma pulls her tighter. Daisy trembles and the ground beneath quakes in tandem, rocking them in a way that is strangely comforting.
Jemma sings their lullaby, the one that always works with Daisy and eventually Daisy stops crying, sighing into Jemma’s shoulder.
“Guess we better go get May a bunk.”
“Hey, Jem? Tell me about the stars.” It’s hours later and they’re curled up in bed, under the Captain America blanket. Daisy is wearing an old SHIELD Academy shirt that Jemma is pretty sure she stole from Coulson too. She tightens her grip on Daisy, curling further around her.
“Why?”
“Yesterday and today were...rough. I just want to hear about something good, something you love.” Daisy admits, drawing random patterns on Jemma’s forearms around her waist.
“Well, there’s my favourite, Theta Serpentis, also known as Alya. It’s a triple star system and a binary star. Then there’s Sirius and Orion’s Belt. There’s Hercules and Cassiopeia and Perseus and Polaris and...”
She carries on until she hears Daisy’s breathing deepen and knows she’s asleep. It’s something she used to do herself, on Maveth. The galaxy was so different out there and she’d try to remember all the stars in her own sky back home to keep herself sane. She’d lie on the sandy, desolate dunes and stare into the cosmos of a system she’d never truly understand and try to place where those stars would be. Pisces and Gemini and Ursa Major were her protectors, Alya and Lynx her companions, Cygnus and Auriga her warriors.
And if she can keep Daisy safe with that too, then she’d happily teach Daisy all about the stars.
She has a feeling that the next few months or years are going to be up and down. They’re leaving Salutem in three days, Mack wants them back early because Daisy has to meet with some diplomats and officials, and there’s just been some medical crisis that Jemma needs to look at when they go back.
But they still have those three days in this little paradise. They play with the Inhuman kids, Talia is still attached to her like a shadow and she gives the young girl a lot on insight into the medical world. Talia begs them to stay, as do all the kids, (and half the adults) but they do have to go back to the real world eventually.
Daisy and May spend a lot of time together too, grieving Coulson together rather than apart. They reminisce and laugh and cry a little and Jemma can tell that the two of them are better because of it.
“Glad I dragged you out of that lab?” Daisy smirks into her neck the night before they leave, getting one last night of peace before they go back to thin walls in a spy base.
“Over the moon, Daisy Johnson. You do sometimes have good ideas.” Daisy sighs as Daisy hits that spot on her neck that makes her whimper.
“I love you, Gemini.”
“I love you too, D.”
They leave Salutem with tearful goodbyes and promises of a return trip soon.
“We have a godchild to meet anyway.” Daisy had said to Bobbi and Hunter as they left.
The flight back is filled with a laughter and stories from Salutem and Tahiti as they caught May up on their vacation and she told them about hers. They hear about Coulson’s many Hawaiian shirts and the parasailing, with pictures to match and May hears about the pancake incident where Daisy nearly burned down the cabin and when she tried to water ski using only her powers, succeeding in causing a slight tidal wave.
They land at the Lighthouse and it feels like coming home. She left a different person than she was coming back, she was wound up and angry and pining and stressed. Now, she’s happy and excited about her work again, in love with the girl she’s wanted for years and free. They step into the Lighthouse and right back into the swing of things when Yoyo hands Mack twenty dollars when they see Daisy’s jacket on her shoulders and their entwined hands.
Turns out that SHIELD vacations were just the steps you need to point you in the right direction.