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"Although the world is full of suffering,
it is also full of the overcoming of it."
// Helen Keller //
Everything feels like it's too slow and too fast all at the same time. Lincoln shuffles me into his 1957 red Chevy Corvette. I blink and we're pulling up to my apartment, a sunny little brick building, near the historical district. Lincoln parks in my driveway before setting his large hand over my much smaller one. I look over at him finally shaking myself out of the haze I've been in all morning.
"I know you're being deported on Monday."
That sentence hits me in the gut and I just want to curl up in a ball and cry. This is my home. Yes, I'm proud to be English and sometimes I do miss it, but I don't want to go back. There's nothing, but pain left waiting on me in England. I'm sure my father would love to get his filthy hands on me again. I shiver as the cold chill of fear overtakes me. I'm not so disillusioned as to believe simply because I'm an adult that he wouldn't try to do the things he did to me as a child. Tears prick at my eyes before my attention snaps back to Lincoln. Oh, he's been talking to me.
"-fight this. Coulson says that the only way we can prevent this is if you marry a U.S citizen, so hear me out here, we could marry you off to an American guy with a good job and a steady income that knows just how valuable you are. And who knows, you guys might even fall in love in the future, but you need to be legally married so you can't be deported. I know it's crazy, but it's your only option."
I stare at him in disbelief. Who would've thought Lincoln Campbell would be pushing for me to do whatever it takes, a marriage of all things, to prevent me from being deported? It's almost enough to make me cry tears of joy that someone cares enough about me to push for this legal loophole. Of course, only two people know about my situation right now, but still. You would think that my boss who has become more like a dad to me than my father ever was, would be the one desperate to keep me here. I choke out a laugh at the irony, this man has known me a few months and here he is, trying to save me from a fate he doesn't even know about.
"This is absolutely bonkers, you know that right?"
I stare at the determined blonde next to me in disbelief.
"I know."
I know I'm being foolish, I know, but I'm desperate, desperate, to stay out of my father's reach so...
"What's the plan? How the bloody hell are you going to get any man in their right mind to marry me?"
Lincoln snorts and gives me an arrogant look that gives me shivers. But- No Jemma, stop finding your best friend's boyfriend sexy. Bad Jemma! He's just being a good person. Don't muss it all up! And for God's sake don't be obvious about it!
"What man wouldn't want to marry you? I may be in a committed relationship, but I'm not dead. You're beautiful, so fucking smart it's hard to keep up sometimes and this is coming from a fellow child prodigy, you're so sweet it's unfair what life has put you through. Yeah, you're depressed and damaged, but who the fuck isn't after what we've been through? I'm fucked in the head because my mentor and second mom tried to kill my girlfriend, her only child and turn all humans into super powered misfits. Daisy is traumatized because both of her parents and her ex are either psychotic or dead. Everyone we know has some sort of trauma, okay? That doesn't make them broken or any less worthy of being here and being loved, alright? And to answer your question, we're gonna vet men close to the team. Fitz is out for obvious reasons, what, I'm not blind, I just don't like a good 75% of the people I have to work with."
I can't help, but laugh. Coulson has greatly underestimated Lincoln and I'm so thankful for it. I lean into his space and give him a grateful hug. He has no idea what he's doing for me, but I swear I'll make it up to him.
"Thank you. Would you mind telling the team and-"
Lincoln interrupts me with a kind smile and a gentle hand on my shoulder.
"I will. Be ready by 9AM tomorrow, I'm taking you out for breakfast where you'll meet my specially selected team of husband vetters."
I laugh so hard I snort. What a shame Lincoln doesn't have a brother. Lincoln smirks impishly before ordering me in the house like good little bride-to-be. Yes, he actually said that. To which I responded by slamming his car door harder than necessary and flipping him off. Poor Mrs. Gumby next door must have been positively scandalized! Maybe things will work out after all. I smile to myself as I open my front door and enter my lovely little apartment.
