Chapter Text
“So, I was thinking we should get a dog.”
Skye rolls over in their shared bed with a crease in her brow. “You wanna what?”
Jemma’s tone is lighthearted, but she looks like she wants to smack herself.
They’ve been sharing a bunk for months. Their new Bus, the Helicarrier, isn’t quite as cozy as the old Bus, but it works. Skye has her own bunk in the west wing where the the Inhumans will train once the area’s completely refurbished. She prefers to stay with Jemma in her bunk close to the labs.
Skye’s face doesn’t change in the long moments that she stares and it makes Jemma fear that she’s said the wrong thing. But after a moment, Skye sits up and reaches out to tuck some of Jemma’s hair behind her ear. She’s been growing it out and it makes Skye think of the good ol’ days when S.H.I.E.L.D. was whole and their team was something like a family. “Why do you want a dog?” she asks flatly, if only to entertain Jemma.
“No reason.”
Skye raises an eyebrow. “You’re getting better at lying, Jem, but you can’t fool me.”
Despite the tone in Skye’s voice, those words mean a lot to Jemma. She’d pondered the suggestion for days, thinking it through again and again, and it had come out all wrong.
“Is it because you wanna meet my dad?” Skye asks, looking a bit bemused.
Jemma groans and runs her hands over her cheeks the way she does when she’s feeling anxious because this is going all wrong. “When you say it that way, it makes me sound really selfish.”
Skye huffs out a slight laugh and reaches out to take Jemma’s hands in her own. “What’s this about, Jemma?” She begins pressing kisses to Jemma’s knuckles and Jemma really, really loves her.
Skye probably doesn’t mean to distract her (or maybe she does), but it takes Jemma a moment to compose what she wants to say. “You haven’t visited your father in months,” she says, “and I know how hard it is for you and you always go alone and I just wanted to know if it’d be helpful if I went with you. And we don’t have to get a dog if you want because it’s a big responsibility even for people who aren’t supposed to be protecting the Earth and it’s probably not even protocol but…”
She trails off because Skye’s giving her that look that’s a mixture of amusement and adoration that makes her knees go weak.
“I love you,” Skye says easily and Jemma will never get tired of hearing it. “Screw protocol. Let’s get a dog.”