InsaneJournal

Jemma, finally getting settled in with Cosima? When are the wedding bells?
Who: Natasha and Jemma
What: Road trip and dinner and putting people in the trunk of the car
When: Recently
Where: Out and about
Status: complete



“Busy?” Natasha poked her head into the lab, looking around for the scientist. “I really hope you’re not busy, because I have a plan and I hope you have a few hours free.”

She tossed a plastic bag filled with beef jerky and vegan trail mix onto the table. “We’re going on a road trip.”

When Natasha poked her head into the lab, Jemma just blinked. Seriously? There was always something that was going on, it was just a matter of how pressing it was. Luckily it was something she could leave to the others without need of supervision.

“I can make a few hours.” Picking up the bag, she noted the beef jerky and shook her head some. “Do I need to bring anything?”

“Just yourself,” Natasha said. “Unless you have a craving for something, then we can make a stop.” It seemed like this might just be a regular road trip of some kind, though why Nat needed Jemma wasn’t obvious.

Sometimes it was just safer not to ask. Okay, usually with Natasha that tended to be the way of it if it wasn’t mission related. And in that case, she would have been given actual information as opposed to just ‘want to go on a road trip for a few hours’. So Jemma wasn’t too worried about what might come up, only mildly.

“Nothing in particular.” She’d luckily already had her salad for lunch so it wasn’t like she was going to be in need of food anytime soon. “Lead the way.”

Natasha nodded. “I got you some trail mix. Might want to snack on the way up and back. We’re just picking up a package.” She grinned at her, and led the way to the elevator, and then to the garage. Today, she was taking a red convertible.

“With beef jerky. Well. If I feel peckish, I can pick around it.” Jemma could adapt. Still, Natasha was clearly up to something even if Jemma had decided to trust her on whatever this road trip was about. Heading to the car, she quirked a brow. Almost like Lola. “Feeling flamboyant today?”

“The jerky is in a separate package,” Natasha assured her. Grinning, she got into the car and pressed her finger against the ignition. “Feeling flashy, but still wanted something with trunk room.”

It wasn’t a small package. Not huge, either.

At least there was that. She probably should have noticed that but with the bit of flurry that was going on given the surprise road trip, Jemma hadn’t. Oh well, it wasn’t that big a deal. It just meant that she wouldn’t need to poke around things now if she needed food.

“Trunk room, hmm?”

Just what were they going to get? No matter, into the car and onto the road to see exactly what this road trip would bring.

“That’s a surprise.” Natasha grinned. First things first, Starbucks, then she got onto the freeway, letting the wind blow through their hair. Two ladies on a perfectly normal road trip with absolutely no ulterior motives.

“Jemma, finally getting settled in with Cosima? When are the wedding bells?”

Of course it was. Still, tea was a good thing for a roadtrip. And of course there was no ulterior motive, why ever would someone think as such? They were quite the picturesque image of women living in Southern California. Though she did nearly choke on her tea at the question.

“It...hasn’t come up.” Yes, they had been together for nearly two years now and in those two years, the dreams had thrown things at them repeatedly and they were still standing. But they had only just moved in together. Marriage?

Really, making Jemma choke on her tea was half the point of the question. The other half of the point was that Natasha was genuinely interested in Jemma’s life. “Ah. Do you want it to come up?”

Natasha actually thought if Jemma didn’t bring it up, Cosima never would. It couldn’t hurt to plant some seeds.

That was the question, wasn’t it? With everything that kept getting thrown at them, it wasn’t like there had been much time to consider it. And now they had been together nearly two years. Nor was it like Jemma needed to worry about the state of her work visa given who she worked for.

“Honestly I haven’t given it much thought.”

She nodded. “Maybe wait until Coulson is around to walk you down the aisle if your dad can’t make it.” It was only half in jest, as Natasha wasn’t sure where Jemma and Coulson stood at this point, but she didn’t think Jemma had that person. “Although I think I can rock a tux.”

Letting out a laugh at the image of both, Jemma just nodded. “I will file that away just in case.” Honestly, their team was more or less a family. They sort of had to. “Though I’m sure you could.”

Sometimes you had to make your own family. Natasha had done so, but she’d also repeatedly burned the bridges to those families. It was a miracle anyone in her dreams was still willing to put up with her bullshit. She sobered up a little. “I started dreaming again. The first reality, the one you dreamed of second. I turned on SHIELD to protect SHIELD.”

Noticing the sobering of Natasha’s mood, Jemma waited to see what was about to be said. She might be the one who hoped, but she was also always prepared for the worst thanks to the dreams. One trauma after the other, you had to harden yourself to survive. Still, she did quirk a brow at the comment.

“That’s…. Complicated, but also sounds about right for SHIELD.” She had sworn her loyalty to SHIELD and doing what was right, but SHIELD wasn’t always right. Even if she’d been in a coma for the Civil War, she had not liked what she had heard about the direction Director Hill had wanted to go. And then her first set… well, sometimes you had to do that.

“There are secrets that shouldn’t be let out. Basically I’ve been blackmailed. But I have a few plans and it’s a matter of playing along until I can make my move. But blowing a hole in a helicarrier and diving out probably was pretty impressive to watch.”

“Of course you do.” Natasha wouldn’t be Natasha if she didn’t have plans in the works to put into place once she was able to. Still, she had no idea what secrets Natasha was talking about given her dreams had ended with her as a Deathlok and everyone on the team getting back into the field following the Civil War. “I’m sure it was though.”

“I’ll find out if it worked soon enough.” Natasha had some of her own suspicions about where it might lead, but the clues weren’t clear enough to make an actual guess. Speculation would get her nowhere. “These ones feel like something out of a real spy thriller. It’s kind of nice to get back to something like that.”

“That usually is the way of it.” Because dreams could never just end on an answer. Oh no, they had to be a cliffhanger. It was frustrating. “That’s something at least.” Jemma did prefer when her dreams lined up more with how they used to. The constant trauma and suffering and fear…. It was exhausting.

Their dreams were like comic books, Natasha swore. With all the drama of soap operas. Only with super powers.

Today’s drama was a little less comic book and totally not a spy thriller. Natasha pulled off the freeway, driving through some back streets until they found a nondescript house. “Just gotta pick up the first package. What do you want for dinner? We should stop and get something on the way back.”

Jemma noted where they were and filed it away just in case she needed to. Not that she knew exactly why, however that didn’t stop her from doing so. Habit. Knowing how their lives tended to go. “First?” Because that meant that there was more than one package on the list. But right. Dinner. “Curry sounds good.”

“One big package, one small when we drop this one off. And great!” Nat hopped out of the car. “Curry it is. Wait here, keep an eye out.”

She jogged up and let herself in through the front door. A few minutes later, the door swung open, and she appeared again, dragging a sack that was vaguely the right size and shape to hold a body. Natasha popped the trunk, and hauled the sack into it. She slammed it shut and wiped her hands, satisfied. “Curry really does sound good.”

Leaning against her seat, Jemma nearly blanched when she saw the sack that Natasha was dragging, looking at Natasha not even bothering to hide her confusion and concern. “Do I even want to know?” All thought of curry was gone at the moment given the fact that she wasn’t sure if they were transporting a body or not.

Nat glanced back at the trunk, then started the car. “Hydra. I have questions. He’ll have answers.” She winked at Jemma. “Did you think I would make you an accessory to murder?”

Ah. Hydra, well that explained it. And Jemma had no issues with kidnapping Hydra agents for answers. She probably should but after everything they’d done? What they stood for? It was part of the job and she had made her peace with that. “Honestly, I have no idea and you never know what may happen.”

“The other package is related. I just need to stow this one and come back later tonight. So how about that curry?” Mr. Hydra could keep napping in the trunk. Nat was in no hurry, and it would loosen him up.

Nodding some, Jemma turned her attention forward again. Well, it wasn’t like there was much else to do now. “Curry it is.”