Chapter 35
"She's really going to have to stay in here eight or ten days?" Skye asked Jemma as the two of them tried to find places to set all of the flowers. What had Agent Sitwell done, bought out a florist's shop? Shouldn't he have avoided buying peace lilies, though? Those were funeral flowers, she was sure.
"To be on the safe side, yes." Jemma said. "I think she's out of immediate danger, but I want to make sure she's past the risk of a secondary infection as well. The fever's left her exceptionally vulnerable to that. I can tend her on my own, though, if…."
"No, it's not that. And it seems like she's being a cooperative sick person, not a big, scary, feverish bear like I was expecting. I was just wondering if we ought to be figuring out some way to keep her entertained? She's feeling awful now, I know, but I'm betting pretty soon she's going to get to the point where you're feeling better, but still not good enough to get out of bed, so you're stuck and going nuts. Do you think we could get AC to find a TV and some movies or something?"
Entertainment. Jemma hadn't thought of entertainment, but if they were going to be sharing a sickroom with Agent Hand for that long, she probably should have. If they didn't have a distraction to offer her when she was feeling a bit better, she would probably want to try getting back to work, much too soon. "Movies might be good, or a book? Do you have any books on your phone? I really wish I remembered where I left mine."
"I've got something, I can find your phone for you when we get out here. As for books, what do you think she might like?" Skye asked as she connected to the internet. She doubted that Agent Hand would be impressed by some of her book choices, but surely she could find something that would work. Amazon had about a million books of all categories. Surely they had a category for literature suitable for a rule-abiding, sick superior officer.
Twitter was going crazy as Skye started to open the bookstore app, and out of curiosity she clicked that first and a moment later she turned to Jemma and shoved the phone at her. "Look." She didn't know what else to say. "Just look."
"What?" Jemma's jaw dropped and her eyes went wide. "A eulogy? By Director Fury?" He wrote a eulogy for Agent Hand? What was he thinking? He knew she was recovering and… Anger washed over her. First he had tried to insist on tests that could have endangered Agent Hand or possibly killed her, and now he had put her EULOGY in the newspaper and on Twitter? Had their leader lost his mind?
Skye took the phone back without Jemma noticing, and opened her browser. "Jemma, this is bad." She whispered a moment later. "She's really asleep for the moment, right?"
"She was in so much pain, I gave her a bit stronger dosage. She should sleep for at least a good six hours before needing something else." Jemma nodded. Agent Hand had been hurting so much, and she had fought so hard, had somehow survived something that would have likely killed or severely damaged most people, and the Director had…. If Agent Hand woke up and found out about this now, the damage the shock could cause…. Was Director Fury trying to KILL her?
"I'm calling AC." Skye pulled up his phone and dialed.
"Skye?" Coulson said as he answered the call. "What's…."
"Agent Hand's fine. She's fast asleep. But could you please tell me why when I went online to try to find a book or something to keep her occupied while she's stuck in bed, I found her obituary and a eulogy by the head of our organization trending on Twitter? And her funeral is scheduled for tomorrow? Is there a reason that Shield keeps wanting to have funerals for people who aren't dead yet? Did someone maybe misunderstand the concept of pre-planning a funeral? Because if they did, I am suddenly rethinking the entire becoming an agent thing. I don't want to know what else they could have misunderstood." If they thought it was fine to have your funeral before you were dead, what if they thought burying you before you were dead was a great idea?
"I was going to come up there and talk to you about what's going on." Coulson said. "How's Victoria?"
"Sleeping, which is a really, really good thing, since someone at the White House is giving a press conference about her death right now." Skye said as she flipped to a news website streaming the conference live. They were saying really nice things about Agent Hand and her devotion to Shield, but they were also talking about her tragic death, so she doubted the senior agent would be very impressed.
"Sir, what is going on?" Jemma demanded, taking the phone away from Skye "If Agent Hand finds out about this…. She's not in danger at the moment, but she's still incredibly weak. Do you know the damage a shock like this could do to her? She needs rest and peace to get her strength back not…. Something like this could kill her!"
"We know. We know." Coulson said. A press conference? The White House was giving a press conference on Victoria instead of answering the director's calls to let them know she wasn't dead? How in the world was Fury going to fix this. "The director's working on fixing this. It's just a matter of time before he has it corrected, but until then…. Victoria's asleep. How long is she going to sleep, do you think?"
"The current dose should keep her sleeping for at least six hours. Sir, what is the director thinking? He doesn't have the flu to, does he? And possible hallucinations?" Illness was the only explanation Jemma could come up with for how the situation had occurred, either illness or a mass outbreak of insanity.
"He's probably wishing he had the flu right now. Just for the moment, can you make sure Victoria says asleep? Fury's working on it, and things should be fixed soon but until then…"
"I will, but not for the director's sake. Agent Hand doesn't need the trauma hearing about this would cause her." Jemma agreed after a moment. "But please, get this fixed soon!"
"We're working on it. And I'll tell John to call. Hopefully he'll have some ideas for ways to entertain Victoria, as soon as this is fixed and it's safe for her to actually be awake."
"The director is working on fixing this." Jemma told Skye after ending the call.
"Good." Skye sat down on the floor by Victoria and Jemma sat on her other side. "He better figure out a way to fix it fast." As she talked, she reached out and gently brushed a strand of the oddly colored red hair away from Agent Hand's face. Even with the fever down, she looked so small and sick still from the pain. If she found out about what was going on, Skye didn't want to imagine what damage it would do.