Finally being able to land back down in America, May was caught in a state between anger and disbelief; she was pacing up and down the hallway that led to the cockpit. The girl was a damned scientist, not a operative, she had no business jumping out of the damned plane! She would have died! And Phil's comment about dealing with the Moroccan office was no exaggeration. Those people.... the less said about that the better.
Phil said that she was completely fine, that you'd never even know what happened if you weren't there. But May knew how these things worked. She knew how fast "legends" like this spread. At least 70 percent of the agency would know the story by tomorrow. Felix wouldn't tell anyone except Sitwell. But Sitwell was a notorious gossip, he'd tell EVERYONE.
It was quarter until one and she knew everyone was asleep in the plane, (Skye might be on her laptop, but she'd stay in her room.) so May decided to go wait outside her door just in case of nightmares. She knew about them, God she knew about nightmares. No one needed to go at it alone.
When she got there she couldn't say she was totally surprised but Skye was waiting outside the door typing away on her phone. Sensing her presence Skye looked up. May just tilted her eyebrow.
"Back in the orphanage I was there the longest and the oldest so I became the unofficial 'big sister' to the group. At least one a night I'd be woken up to comfort people's nightmares." Skye whispered. "I'm guessing you're here doing the same?"
May shrugged and sat down across from Skye. Together they sat there for another hour before they heard Simmons' moans and groans. May went to get up before Skye's hand shot up as a deterrent. Then they heard her crying in her bunk. Skye got up then to go comfort her.
"You go ahead. You clearly have more experience in this area." May said, stoically. She walked back up to her bunk by the cockpit. This damn girl... she couldn't get attached but they were getting under her skin. Even Ward.
There is no reason she should have done this. SHE WAS A DAMNED SCIENTIST!!!!
Coulson still hadn't issued out the punishment yet. She got an unofficial verbal discipline and she'll be issued an actual punishment. All of the records of course. Phil didn't like dirty laundry aired and things were dealt with pretty quickly with him. He was the master of punishments. They were just bad enough to deter the bad behavior, but not to bad to step over the line.
Plus the fact that HE as the one disobeying orders not Simmons... that led to some pretty confusing rule bending. She had never actually heard the order from Blake, and ignored her commanding officer's orders.
Just then she heard Skye comforting her and a memory surfaced. May smirked to herself as she went up to Phil's room and knocked on the door. He answered he door rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"May? Wha's going on?" He slurred.
"Have you decided Simmons' punishment yet?" May asked, curtly.
"No." He said, through a yawn. "I told her that I'd inform her by tomorrow though, so I have to think of something. Was it really necessary to wake me up to just ask the question though?"
"No. I have something for you." May said, smugly.
Jemma hadn't had the best week so far what with almost dying and whatnot. She hadn't anticipated the nightmares, but she also hadn't anticipated living through the ordeal either. To top it off Skye had to comfort her in the middle of the night! She hadn't let her sleep in there because she was afraid that she'd wake her up but the eejit came in anyway. May was right there they were supposed to be discreet dam it!! But then there was the call to Coulson's office.
"Simmons?" May said, durning breakfast, "When you're done Coulson wants to see you in his office." Before she could respond May was gone. Skye squeezed her thigh, their own private way of saying it was fine
"I hear Coulson's punishments are usually something else!" Ward said, whistling. Simmons visibly paled at the thought. Fitz and Skye both gave him dirty looks.
Once she was done she put the rest of her food back in the fridge. Her appetite had abandoned her once she heard that the punishment was coming up. She marched up the stairs, giving Skye's arse a pitch for good luck (she hated that like nothing other) once the boys weren't looking.
She knocked on the door and heard the confirmation to come in. Coulson was sitting behind his desk, finger tips pressed together. "Agent Simmons. Please sit down." He said gesturing to the chair in front of the desk."
"Sir, I--" She started, but he held up his hand.
"Agent Simmons, you deliberately disobey my orders. I believe that is justification for a C.O.P. is it not?" Coulson asked.
"Well technically I was obeying orders." She said before she could stop herself.
"Congratulations, Agent Simmons. Your punishment just moved from ten days to twenty. Better yet why not make it an even three weeks." Coulson said, like he was giving her a reward. She kept her mouth shut after that. "Now as I was saying. This could go one of two ways. You take the commanding officer's punishment and this is over in three weeks, or you take the formal discipline and it goes in your permanent record."
"Can I find out what the C.O.P. is first?" She asked meekly.
"No." he said. When she nodded her head he took that to mean C.O.P. "Very well. C.O.P. it is."
Her eyes widened as he handed her the formal form. "For the next three weeks, you are not allowed off this plane without a supervisor." She breathed a sigh of relief. That wasn't so bad. "Agent May will accompany you whenever you leave this plane. No exceptions. Same with the lab. You stick to her side like a shadow. Understood?"
"Yessir!" She said nodding her head very quickly. It was less of a punishment and more of an helicopter parent but she got off very easy. Ward wasn't exaggerating when he said what he said about Coulson's punishments. She got up and left very quickly.
"You didn't tell her the other part." May said, as he continued typing.
"Hey, it was on the form. If she read it she'd know. Not my fault." He said with a shrug.
"Hey." Skye said rubbing her arm in Jemma's bunk. "That's not to bad."
"But science!" Jemma said.
Three days later there was a mission. The insects were going crazy in a town in Kansas. This would be the first time that she would be off the plane since her punishment. She went to meet Agent may in the hanger.
She was talking to Fitz and Skye when she felt May come up behind her. May took both arms and lifted them to shoulder level. "Don't move." she said as she put something over Jemma's shoulders. Then the straps were secured over her chest with a lock. Both Fitz and Skye's eye widened, both trying to stop from laughing.
Confused, Jemma turned in horror. Her eyes widened and then shut tight. May had just put her in a child safety thether. Better known as a child leash.