All of Me - Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D

Chapter Thirteen

Lab

Jemma was furious. “How do they not trust us … after everything we’ve been through over the last five months!!” she exclaimed as she walked towards the hooks on the wall to where their lab coats hung and grabbed her’s off the hook. She then pulled it on. “We’re a team, we’re not meant to keep secrets from one another.”

Leo let out a sigh as he let his best friend vent. He knew that it wasn’t healthy to keep things bottled up inside which Jemma tended to do a lot. He was equally upset but knew that she needed him to be the rock right now. Leo turned and faced her, placing his hands on her shoulders and gave them a squeeze.   

“Don’t they trust us, Fitz?” she expressed with hurt in her voice.

Phil entered the lab upon hearing the biochemist words, they ripped through him.  “I think we should talk,” he told them.

Jemma and Leo turned their attention towards their boss, the pair remained silent.

Phil walked further into the room. “I know that you both feel that something is being kept from you,” he expressed, solemnly as he crossed the floor towards them. “Well that’s because there is. You two knew that when you joined this team that there were certain things you would have to keep secret. That certain things might have to be kept secret from you. It’s the burden we take on when we join a classified government agency and I know at times it might not seem fair,” he supplied, stopping  a few feet from them.

“We just want to help her, Sir,” Jemma expressed. “Skye is family. She is like a little sister to both Fitz and I.”

Phil nodded his head. “I understand that … that is why I am gonna share with you what is going on, but first I need you to promise that what I tell you cannot leave this bus, this lab. It’s for your own safety, the teams safety and Skye’s.”

Jemma and Leo were now concerned, they turned their heads towards one another and shared a look.

Phil folded his arms. “Do you still want to know?”

The two best friends nodded their heads, their focus back on their boss.

Phil knew that he could trust the two scientist. He gave a nod of the head. “I cannot not divulge the full story for your own safety, but what I can tell you is that what you witnessed earlier with Skye was her empathic ability at use because of something personal that Agent May and myself were going through and she picked up on.”

Jemma and Leo stood their befuddled for a long minute as they processed the information that was delivered to them.  

“How is that even possible, Sir?” Jemma questioned after a moment trying to wrap her mind around it.

Phil raised an eyebrow. “After everything you’ve seen on this job, you’re still questioning it?” he asked as a smile tipped his lips.

Jemma didn’t know how to answer that. Mostly everything that has happened through this job has been explained by science.

“Why are we only seeing it now?” Leo inquired. “We’ve been through a lot over the last five months since Skye joined the team.”

The older agent let out a sigh. “I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “I have yet to have that discussion with her, but I do believe we have seen her ability in use at smaller doses that she has managed to cover up.” He turned his eyes onto Jemma. “For example during your time with that virus in your system, Skye could sense your fear and everyone's concern and sadness even they tried to mask it. She was able to pass it off as being a concerned friend, but it hit her hard. I even caught her crying in her bunk at one point.”