Inhuman!Simmons AU - everything is canon until end s2 when Simmons encounters an Obelisk and sprouts wings. Literally. Part 1. Part 2.
AN ~ so “sometime this week” turned into “probably a few over the week”...haha...based on/developed by some ideas for the finale.
Simmons sat at the head of the table, propping her heavy head on her arm. There was a litany of pill bottles scattered around her and a glass of milk in her hand. She tapped idly at the side of the glass, letting her eyes droop closed every few seconds before blinking them frantically open again, trying and failing to pay attention.
Fitz glanced over his shoulder at her. Coulson eyed him until his attention returned.
“You know she wouldn’t listen if we sent her to bed,” he remarked.
“I don’t know.” Hunter shrugged. “Looks like we could send her to the moon and she wouldn’t notice.”
“Just as long as we don’t put her in the quarantine bay,” Skye put in. “She’s not sick.”
“I know, I know,” Coulson assured her. “Got that message loud and clear. What about your people? Do they have any kind of procedure for this?”
“They do,” Skye said, “but they’re…not really fans of Simmons.”
“So you don’t trust them, now?” Hunter jabs. “That would have been nice to know yest-“
“I trust them. They don’t trust her. And she doesn’t trust them, either.”
“Hey. If someone from Hydra just happened to come across you bleeding out and you woke up in a Hydra facility and they told you they were saving your life, how would you feel?”
“But they can help her, can’t they?” Fitz interrupted. “They’re the only people who can?”
“Well, yeah, other than me.”
“Then I think Simmons would want us to talk to them. It’s the most effective solution. That’s – that’s how Simmons decides things. Plus, she’s one of them – ah, you – now. The way Jiaying was talking, that means a lot, right?”
“Sure it does, but they don’t take well to traitors or people who bypass the rules. That, plus Simmons’ record against Inhumans – plus her connection to me, and they have this whole favouritism thing…I dunno. It’s risky.”
“What if we kept her here?”
May didn’t seem surprised when all eyes turned on her.
“Simmons stays at SHIELD. You bring one of your Transitioners over, temporarily. We can prove we won’t hurt them because we need them to help Simmons, and they get to help one of their own.”
“She’s one of our own too,” Coulson reminded them. “And she deserves more of a say in this than all of us. Right now, the concern should be finding her a place to sleep.”
“I have an idea,” Fitz offered. “If we could set up a rig that held her wings level with her shoulders, we could minimize the strain if we set her on her back. At first I was thinking, a stand for a broken bone, but that will require her w- the, uh, the wings, to only be held up by a few points. They’d strain. I think we’d be safe – safer setting up benches or beds either side of her and resting the wings on those. She’s not usually a messy sleeper, plus she’s taken a lot of anti inflammatory and muscle relaxant. I don’t think she’ll be rolling over or anything.”
Skye nodded, thoughtful. “The medbay beds are adjustable, right? We could move some of those into her room. If we can angle the wings close to parallel, they should fit.”
“Given that level of bruising, she’ll probably want morphine too,” May added.
“What if she wakes up in the middle of the night and forgets she’s got these bloody contraptions either side of her?” Hunter gestured at the nearest wing, which had drooped to the floor, and now rose and fell softly with Simmons’ drowsy breathing.
“I’ll stay up with her,” Skye offered. “My room’ll be occupied anyway.”
“And me,” May put in, with a glance at Skye.
“We’ll roster it,” Skye suggested. “In pairs. Coulson, you’re with Fitz. May-“
“And what do I do?” Hunter interjected. “Take minutes?”
“You pair up with Fitz,” Coulson amended. “I’ve got to meet with HQ early and figure out what to do about this whole…situation. On May’s idea – Skye, you think that’s viable? Will Lincoln or Gordon be willing to help?”
“I can ask. I’ll find somewhere quiet tomorrow and talk to them.”
“Good.” Coulson nodded. “Good hustle, team. You’re our MVP today, Jemma. Rest up.”
She nodded, and stood up proudly. At a 100-degree angle, but she was trying. Fitz and Skye moved in to help, and Simmons tottered off toward her room as if she was walking on clouds, while Fitz and Skye maneuvered her wings – which Simmons probably couldn’t feel at all, by this point – after her.