The Buddings of Office Romance
Prompt Seven: A Little Office Romance
Rows and rows of computers with people hunched over, clacking away. Jemma wondered what had she gotten into. This was SHIELD, but it wasn’t the SHIELD she had imagined back at The Academy. In fact, this looked like any old rubbish office building with droves of people tailoring away at mundane tasks all day. That’s not what Jemma signed up for. She wanted to be out in the field, doing science.
This was Sci-Ops, what Jemma had been taught as the operational brain for any scientific venture SHIELD pursues. But it looked so terribly boring. Jemma did not just spend years cooped up in a lab to spend years planted on a desk.
How wonderful, she thought.
The secretary brought her into a conference room for an on boarding/new employee presentation. She had been early, so she had to wait for the rest of the new recruits to arrive before they could start. She walked around the long oval table to the side with the floor to ceiling windows. A massive parking lot lay before her, and she could even pick out her car. Driving here was different; the security to get in was insanely tight. She felt like it was a police state. The tall wall surrounding the entire property also seemed to help that cause.
Jemma sighed. She longed to go out and collect specimens, study new species and other anomalies of the world. She wasn’t going to be making discoveries sitting at a desk. And besides, it looked like she wasn’t even going to get her own office. She had TWO Ph.D’s that meant something. Not… interpreting data all day.
The sound of shuffling feet meant more of the new employees Jemma was starting with had arrived.
Several people walked in, and at the end of the group was a slightly shorter man with a familiar face. Yes, Jemma recognized him from the Academy, but he had never seemed to warm in her presence. Still, it was someone she could probably befriend due to shared experience. Jemma introduced herself while taking her seat again.
After the polite introductions, Leo Fitz was the last one to say hello, because of where he was seated.
“You went to The Academy, right?” Jemma asked, after he said his name.
He arched his eyebrows.
“Oh, yeah, engineering,” he said, using as few words as possible. He still seemed to give Jemma a cold shoulder. She wondered what his deal was. She busied herself with looking at all the different corners of the room. None of that was entertaining. It was a boring conference room. After a few more minutes, the human resources coordinator bounded in, all bubbly and energetic for a Monday morning. She stood at the head of the table and looked around. She introduced herself and then had everyone at the table introduce him or herself as well.
After Fitz had introduced himself, the coordinator called him and Jemma aside, and told them she would be sending someone to get them. They were in a different department.
Thank goodness, Jemma thought. She knew she didn’t belong here. Fitz and her waited outside the conference room for another employee to swoop up and grab the. There was uncomfortable silence between them.
They were going to be working with each other, they should be talking and getting to know each other. This was a new frustration for Jemma. He hadn't been very receptive to her, and she just wanted to know why. With a few more minutes of silence passing through, they continued to wait. Luckily, Jemma was saved from even more awkwardness when an intern jogged up to them, sweating profusely.
"I am SO sorry for the wait," they stammered, nearly loosing the stack of papers in their hands. Jemma and Fitz both went to help the poor frazzled kid. He thanked them both graciously and then told them to follow him. The intern brought them outside to the hallway, and instead of returning to the elevators Jemma and Fitz had used to get up to this floor, the intern walked through a restricted door. In that restricted room, was nothing but another set of elevators. The intern stopped in front of them.
"I can't go any further, both of you have to scan your hands to unlock the elevator," he explained, nudging to a device on the wall in-between the pair. Fitz and Jemma handed back the papers they had been carrying for the intern. He wobbled with the extra weight, thanked them, and bolted outside the room.
"You first," Jemma said to be polite.
"Ladies first," Fitz said, extending his hand out.
Jemma tilted her head. Why was this guy so puzzling? She bowed her head at him and placed her hand on the scan. In another quick moment it recognized her name and had a picture of her on the screen. It was her picture from her Academy graduation. Jemma smiled at the delightful memory. She graduated that day with two Ph.D.'s of course she had a lot to smile about. She was surprised this device had this information.
After Jemma moved away, Fitz placed his hand on the scanner and had the same reaction. His picture popped up and it wasn't as flattering as Jemma's, for sure. Jemma could not help but giggle at his bad picture.
The elevator on the right's doors slipped open, and the empty lift waited for them. Jemma let Fitz step in first and then followed. Their immediate reaction was to ask each other what floor they were supposed to, thinking they missed that vital piece of information from the intern. However, when they glanced down at where the panel would be with floor numbers, it was empty. There was not one button.
The doors slid closed.
"Well this is certainly an adventure," Jemma said, with excitement and anxiety in her voice. She loved the unknown, because she loved figuring out the unknown. It was largely the reason why she became a scientist, because she would have the ability and support to find this information.
The elevator began to descend immediately after the doors completely shut. It either already knew where they were supposed to go or only went to one particular area. That was Fitz' guess at least.
It was a quick ride, but felt longer due to the silence. Fitz hummed.
The elevator stopped smoothly, and a second later the doors were peeling back open. Jemma was nearly o her tiptoes, ready to welcome this new life. She had worked so hard all these past years and now she had something to show for it.
A sprawling lab was splayed out before them, and there were hordes of agents and scientist’s crossing the floor. Everyone looked purposeful. Jemma stepped out first, practically on the tips of her feet, excitement pumping throughout her body. She was bold. Fitz slowly followed her. The slouch in his shoulders suggested he was more nervous. But that wasn't something for Jemma to be concerned with. In fact, now that she was where she was supposed to be, she probably didn't need to be around Fitz anymore. She would make new friends here. Her co-workers would probably be as enthusiastic as her about this.
Co-workers! The very word in Jemma's mind caused her to smile. She wasn't sure where to go after stepping out, but let her eyes scan the floor side to side. She felt home.
A man impeccably dressed in a suit branched off from the sea of scientists and agents and stepped up to Jemma and Fitz, who were now standing shoulder to shoulder.
"Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz, Welcome to SHIELD," the man said with a smile.
Jemma beamed back at the man, eager to start. Fitz mumbled a hello back.
"If you follow me, I will give you the tour. But, I don't usually give tours around here. My name is Phil Coulson, and I am so glad I have both of you to join my new team," he stated, beginning to walk down the hall.
"It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Coulson... sir," Jemma said, trying to be polite as possible. He led them passed a kitchen and pantry, briefly giving their description. After a few more rooms, including a gym, training room, and also one of the three labs, he abruptly stopped the tour.
There was still much of this floor left to see, so Jemma was confused that Coulson had stopped.
He was soon joined by a woman with a stern face. She was older, but her beauty had not diminished a day.
"This is Agent Melinda May, she is part of the team you will be joining.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Agent May," Jemma began politely, "but what team are we joining, if I may ask, is that different from SHIELD? I'm afraid I don't understand."
"I am putting together a small team of agents and scientists to traverse the the world, eliminating threats, curing alien diseases and also taking care of any other business that comes up. The world is a lot crazier then people know it is, so we need to keep things a little contained so there's not mass hysteria. I selected both of you since you were at the top of your fields," Agent Coulson explained.
Jemma was shocked, this was definitely not what she thought she signed up for, and although it was intimidating, she couldn't stay away from the adventure. Fitz actually seemed to perk up too, but his was accompanied by a look of sickness.
"Now, if you follow me, I will show you The Bus," Agent May took over. Coulson excused himself, and walked away hurriedly.
Agent May brought them to a hangar with a large aircraft inside of it. Plenty of personnel circled it, filling it up with supplies.
“This is The Bus. After I give you the tour, you will each have a car take you to your residencies. Pack only the necessities. You are expected back in three hours from there. Wheels up in four hours,” Agent May added.
A half hour later, Jemma and Fitz were in separate cars. Jemma was still trying to process everything. Fitz, on the other hand, was nervous in every sense of the word.
The day didn’t start out easy for him. He walked into that conference room, and there was that girl from the Academy he had secretly pined for year after year. But she was too beautiful and too intelligent and that kind of thing always scared Fitz away. He spent hours wondering how she could ever give him the time of day, not ever believing she ever could. She was too hard to approach, always so sure of herself and her studies. And now he would be working with her. In the same lab. He would have to talk to her. Fitz sighed, it was nerve-wracking enough to be starting a new job, but to be the lab partner to the girl you’ve only been in love with since day one... that was an even tougher situation.
Back on the Bus, Fitz and Jemma got to meet the rest of the team in a sort of sit-down icebreaker session. At the end, Jemma excused herself to go and check out the lab again, she wanted to make sure it was to her liking.
Fitz took this as a good opportunity. After a few minutes, he went down to the lab as well. Jemma was checking out her main work station, Fitz’ was just across the way.
“Hi, Jemma,” he said, sheepishly walking into the room.
“Oh, hey, how are you liking all of this?” she asked. She was so friendly.
Fitz looked around the room, and smiled.
“I never thought I would get hooked up with such a nice lab straight out of the Academy,” he said, he let a grin come over his face.
“Right? It’s wonderful,” Jemma agreed.
“This morning when I walked into that conference room, I couldn’t help but think about how terrible it would be if I had been assigned to a desk job,” Fitz confessed.
“I was pretty bummed out about that,” he added, as an excuse for his poor behavior.
“Really? I had thought the same thing. I for sure thought that I was doomed to the life of a miserable worker bee,” there was excitement in Jemma’s voice. The same kind of excitement she had when she talked about science.
“I also wanted to apologize, for if I ever came off as rude to you. Sometimes I just can’t help the grumpiness,” Fitz said sincerely.
A huge sigh of relief happened internally in Jemma. Oh my gosh, she thought, he didn’t hate her.
“Well all I can say is I look forward to working with you, Mr. Fitz,” she smirked.
“Oh, just Fitz,” he corrected, graciously. He meant to say his first name but now it was too late, he bit his tongue. Crap.
“Fitz,” she smiled. And such a glorious smile she had. Now he had a reason to look at her.
“I look forward to working with you,” he said, extending his hand.
Jemma took it, his hand was so warm. She didn’t want to stop holding it.
Fitz retrieved his hand and slid it into his jean pocket. He gave Jemma one last smile before bowing out.
After he left, Jemma put her hand to her forehead, she was feeling flushed. He was so handsome up close. She wondered if she was going to get any work done.