50. “Why does anyone have to be naked?” + biospec!!!
Immediately following “Waking Up Pt. I. ”
“Your director is Grant Ward?” Jemma said hoarsely, dropping the scrap of paper down on the table, and swallowing hard against the immediate impulse to lash out.
It was so hard, and she was so tired but Will was home, they were home, and apparently Ward had orchestrated it. If there was a Hell designed for Jemma, it couldn’t have been more elegantly constructed, and again she wondered briefly if she truly wasn’t slowly suffocating in a cloud of sand.
“Yes. Though I do believe he wishes to talk to you about it himself, and at your leisure.” Miss Holden said simply, as though she hadn’t just ripped open a hole in Jemma’s life and set the wound on fire.
“At my leisure?” Jemma spat, standing tall again, and not entirely sure killing this woman and taking Will’s body wouldn’t be doable. At her leisure, her ass, Jemma exhaled despite all of this and again tried to center herself in the situation.
“The Director said that you’d be disoriented after your sedative wore off, and would want a shower. After that, he said that you’d want details, and I am here to provide them.”
Jemma took in the room again, immediately finding a keypad by the door, and a retinal scanner. This was a room designed for internal security, as much a place to hide away as to access.
“Will that keypad accept a code I set? If this is real, and I’m slowly beginning to suspect that it is, I want you gone while I shower, and I will let you know when you can come back in.” Jemma said levelly, brooking no debate she hoped. This woman was eerie but she did seem reasonable even if her immediate superior was the absolute worst.
Jemma was putting a lot of trust in the o doubt patient admin staring back at her and shakily eased away from Will’s sleeping body toward the center of the room, but always between Will and this odd woman.
Miss. Holden stared at Jemma with a placid expression, and dark glassy eyes, a hand gesturing toward the open door to the bathroom she’d just put Jemma’s things in.
“I respect that, and yes. You’ll be pleased to know as well that this room is only accessible by myself at the moment. Your privacy is being absolutely respected; as The Director knows you aren’t at your best after waking up, and would want to see to Mr. Daniels’ safety after your assent to our care for him.”
She was right, and that meant Ward was right and it was not easing any of the new hostility Jemma was beginning to nurture. Will was new, and kind, sweet, and honest, Ward would poison him, and she had no way of knowing he hadn’t while she herself had been unconscious.
“Does his paperwork include a complete panel of his blood work, and everything he has been given since I consented? We may be here but Ward is Ward, and Will is nobody to him. What’s he done?” Jemma asked, folding her arms for the comfort it gave her and still further delaying a shower, and whatever minimal comfort it could give.
“The Director hasn’t done anything, there’s footage to prove it. Please, Dr. Simmons, clean yourself up. It will make any further discussion much easier. If you need assurances as to the safety of the shower, I’ll happily go first.” Miss Holden said with almost the hint of a wry smile, pupils dilated to a level Jemma associated with heavy drug use.
She didn’t want to know what Ward did to his assistant just yet, but when she found out, she could undo it.
“I can manage for myself; thank you. If you could see yourself out, I’ll knock five times on the door when you’re permitted back in. I don’t suppose I’ll have your word that you’ll be alone out there?” Jemma bartered, trying to ensure every possible angle was covered.
“As someone who owes much to science, Dr. Simmons, I would be honored to give you my word.” She said, and turned swiftly to leave without a hint of argument.
Jemma almost threw the clipboard she’d left at the woman as the door locked and the codes began to shift. It was too much, but after a shower, she could look Will over; and hope Anissa Holden was as good as her word. Setting the security code to the digits of pi four away from the highest she could remember, and hoped she hadn’t ever recited it in front of Ward either of fun, or profit.
“Time to make a start…” Jemma sighed, and took the things Ward somehow remembered that she loved into the bathroom, willing to hate him again after she was clean.
