InsaneJournal

You don’t look so hot.
Who: Jemma, Laura and Natasha
What: Mission complete. Except then Jemma goes into a coma
When: 24 February 2017
Where: Submarine to harbor
Warnings: Low
Status: Log | Complete

The days seemed to drag on and on, and Jemma couldn’t tell if that was simply because of the fact that there was no real way to tell time, or if it was due to the fact that she really did not like being trapped in a submarine so deep underwater. Yes, she understood the why of it and so she was pushing her severe discomfort to the side as she did with all things, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. Most of the time she spent reading different scientific journals or going over notes to update once back on shore. Then there was the slight issue of the bot in her cheek.

Jemma had noticed that there was a slight soreness in the area, but had mostly brushed it off as nerves. However, she also was making sure to make any notations about it and changes she felt. It was mostly a matter of habit, but her medical file would need to be updated and if there was something wrong…. Well, it was important to have that information on hand.

Thankfully the trip was finally coming to an end though. Oh what Jemma would give for solid ground that would let her be able to breathe and not envision herself drowning.

There were some books on board. Laura was glad she knew Russian because otherwise she'd have been really bored. But she'd gotten through most of them and most of them had been mediocre. The Captain had a poor taste in novels.

For someone that didn't generally go stir crazy, Laura was starting to go stir crazy.

"I'm going to be glad to have a real meal again," Natasha said. She never wanted to see powdered eggs again.

"Are we there yet?" Laura asked, smiling when Natasha shot her a look.

"An hour until we're near Long Beach."

Hour until they were near Long Beach. Okay, that was doable. It meant that she could get out of this cursed vessel and hopefully never have to subject herself to the reliving one of her (admittedly many) worst dreams in real time. And here she had thought just having repeats of the dream was bad. Oh no. Ten days stuck in a submarine? It made the pod look quaint. Except the pod had been an attempt on her and Fitz’s lives. This was a mission.

Nevertheless, it was still enough to make her fight anxiety attacks every day.

She did have to smirk behind her reading at the look Laura got though. Really, sometimes there were only so many options one had to say and that was clearly a required question.

“Real food will certainly be nice.”

"We'll start surfacing in 20. I radio'd ahead so no one tries to sink us." Nat needed to dig into the Agency budget and find a proper place to stash the submarine. And it still needed a name.

Laura patted Jemma on the shoulder. "We'll be out of this soon and you can breathe again."

Nodding, Jemma gave a slight smile to Laura in thanks. Even though she knew that she had logical reasons for her reactions being in the submarine (thank you, Ward), she still hated showing weakness even if no one else saw it as such. Breathing would be good though, and staying away from large bodies of water for the foreseeable future.

For now it was waiting though. At least they were expected since, well, she did not want to be shot at while they were surfacing all because of a misunderstanding. After everything they’d went through to procure the submarine, that would just be sad.

Still, she felt a twinge of pain in her head after some time. Atmospheric pressure change no doubt, which meant they were beginning to resurface. That was all it was. So she just pinched the bridge of her nose to try and alleviate the pressure.

Really, whatever it was, Laura understood. She also understood not to call it out. Claustrophobia was a real thing, after all. Even if something smelled off about Jemma that she couldn't quite place.

"We could have some more powdered eggs. Once more for the road."

Natasha groaned. "If you're not joking I'm shooting you out the torpedo tube."

She turned her attention to Jemma as the submarine started to surface. "Thank you, by the way. We couldn't have done this without you. Hold on tight, it's about to get exciting."

To add unexpected insult to unexpected injury, it would be a breach surface. A bit like how a whale would jump nose first out of the water before splashing down onto its belly.

Jemma nodded some at the thanks. And oh joy, now holding on to something. Doing so, the biochemist yelped in shock at the sudden motion of the submarine breaching the surface. And she felt sick. The sudden change wasn’t enough to damage the bot (or at least, not forcibly remove it though she was pretty sure she and Cosima had managed to work around that particular issue), but it was enough to do something.

It was just the sudden motion. It was nothing. Once she was on land, she’d be fine. The dizziness would go away and she could put this entire situation behind her.

Natasha directed the sub to its berth once they had surfaced, then locked the controls. “Lets go see daylight.”

She paused and eyed Jemma. “You don’t look so hot.”

“I’ll be fine… I just need fresh air.” They all needed fresh air, but Jemma was convinced (or maybe she just really needed to believe it) that that was all she needed, fresh air. It wasn’t something to do with the bot. With her health. She just… needed fresh air. Forcing herself to stand up, she pressed her hand to her forehead. She was almost out she was almost….

Or she could collapse to the ground unconscious. That worked too.

“Jemma!” Nat rushed over to her. She was still breathing but something was obviously wrong. “Laura, pick her up, lets get her out of here.”

Lara nodded, picking Jemma up off the deck. She smelled wrong, and Laura frowned. She followed Natasha to the ladder, and together they carried her onto the top of the submarine.

“I’ll call the Agency, they can send a chopper and pick you two up,” Natasha said. “I’ll join you once the boat is secure.”