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Jemma held two cups of tea in her hands, careful not to spill a drop as she made her way down the hall. It was early, the lab was cast in an orange glow as the sun began to filter in through the windows of Coulson's office as Jemma walked past. Jemma paused in the doorway to take in the sun, thankful she could, it was a habbit now, luckily Coulson seemed to be too busy tracking down Skye to mind.
She continued on her way to the lab and stopped in her tracks when she saw Fitz was not alone. The lab was lit with fluorescent lights, no windows, but it was a place Jemma and Fitz shared, it was their home, had been since the academy. Any lab, didn't matter where, they were all the same in most respects. Except now their home had been invaded.
The intruder was a woman with long flowing red hair-terribly unprofessional in a lab setting, Jemma thought to herself. She wore a lab coat, which was about the only precaution they took as Jemma's gaze fell upon the woman's high heels. What self respecting scientist would be caught dead with heels in a lab? Jemma recalled she had committed this crime before, but in her own defense she had been late to a wedding and had to finish her experiment in a hurry, a rare occasion. Why was she being so negetive? Jemma didn't know this woman, she'd done nothing wrong, except dress almost completely inappropriately for the lab.
Fitz said something, Jemma couldn't hear what, and the woman laughed. That laugh carried through the hall before she put her hand on Fitz's shoulder. That was it. The last straw. Jemma took a deep breath and walked into the lab, almost forgetting she was holding two scolding hot cups of tea. The woman took a step back from Fitz and Jemma stood close by his side.
"Uh, Marly, this is Jemma- Dr Jemma Simmons, Jemma this is-" Fitz began.
"Marly, yes, lovely to meet you," Jemma said with a her best smile, although she knew she couldn't hide the bitterness in her eyes.
"I've heard a lot about you Dr Simmons," Marly replied holding out her hand which Jemma shook, smile still plastered on her face. "I'm Marly Cooper,"
"I was er, just showing Marly my new designs for the drones, she's an engineer from Stark Industries," Fitz explained. An engineer, so they had something in common, but that didn't mean anything. Although the fact that Marly could have stepped out of some high fashion magazine was mildly threatening, she towered over Jemma and Fitz-although the heels probably added a couple inches.
"Stark Industries, quite impressive," Jemma had to fight to be nice.
"Stark Industries has nothing on Fitz's drones, imagine if Ironman had these cloaking abilities," Marly spoke mainly to Fitz, batting her eyes at him ridiculously, Jemma could have guessed she was having a seizure, she was a doctor after all.
"No, I don't-do, do you think Tony Stark-he wouldn't be interested in my designs-would he?" Fitz was stuttering.
"Giving cloaking abilities to a billionaire in a suit of armour, so he can fight his friends whilst remaining invisible," Jemma mumbled before folding her arms over her chest and glaring at Marly. Jemma's eyes caught Fitz's smile drop and her heart broke when she thought she'd hurt him.
"I'll be sure to put in a good word for you Fitz," Marly said seemingly ignoring Jemma and reaching over to touch his arm. Jemma wished she would keep her hands off him. "Anyways, it was great meeting you both, I have to get back, hopefully we'll meet again," Marly looked right at Fitz, Jemma glared at her until she was no longer in sight before turning to Fitz.
"What was that about?" Fitz asked.
"What what was about?" Jemma replied, although she knew exactly what he was reffering to.
"You were a bit harsh on her," Fitz said taking a sip of tea. A bit? Jemma thought that was the understatement of the century. Jemma put her own cup of tea on the desk, sighing when she realised she couldn't lie to Fitz.
"Well what would you expect me to do?" Jemma exclaimed "America's next top model who also happens to be an engineer for Stark Industries comes waltzing into our lab and starts flirting with my boyfriend," Jemma was flailng her arms about trying to get Fitz to see the severity of what had just happened.
Fitz raised his eyebrows, his expression blank and then confused "What-flirting-with me? Really?"
Jemma rolled her eyes at him "Ugh Fitz! You're so blind," Jemma put on her best Marly voice, which turned out sounding like a very Bristish Madonna impression "I'll make sure to put in a good word for you Fitz," Jemma even went as far as to mimick the way Marly had touched his arm. "She couldn't have been more obvious," Fitz grinned before regaining a straight face, Jemma saw him trying to hold back laughter.
"So uh, you don't think she's really gonna talk to Tony Stark then?" He asked.
"Fitz!" Jemma was getting agitated now, a fact that Fitz seemed to have picked up on.
"Jemma, if Marly was flirting with me, I didn't notice, because she's not you," Fitz said sincerely, he put his half empty cup of tea down, it was probably cold by now anyway, and held both of Jemma's hands in his. Jemma felt a huge sense of relief, as well as moderate embarrassment for how petty she had acted.
"I can't lose you, especially not to someone who wears high heels in the lab," Jemma said looking up at Fitz.
"That was a bit random, Stark Industries must have different dress codes," Fitz admitted.
Jemma wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into a hug, it was as reassuring as the sunrise to have Fitz's arms around her. And, just as scientifically certain as the sun was to rise each day, Fitz was to be with by her side. No red headed photogenic engineer could get in the way of science like theirs.
"Was she really flirting with me?" Fitz asked.
"For the supposed romantic one you sure are oblivious," Jemma replied releasing Fitz and smiling up at him. Fitz frowned at her and put his hands on his hips.
"Oh really? For our one week anniversary you got me a dead cat," He pointed out.
"Fitz, it was stuffed, I thought it would be a nice stroll down memory lane," Jemma recalled Fitz's horror at the taxidermy cat and knew perhaps that hadn't been the best gift, but she'd never admit that.
"To the time you dissected that cat next to my lunch?" Fitz questioned.
"You looked very handsome in that shade of green," Jemma told him with a grin.
Fitz dropped his mock anger, his frown fading into a smile. They'd always argued like an old married couple, only at least this time they were an actual couple. Marly was merely forgotten about, Jemma knew she would always have Fitz, all was right with the world. Until the next world changing event happened at least.