Making Dates and Missing People

This is set inbetween episodes 2x02 and 2x03. Hope you enjoy~

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Jemma Simmons jolted awake in her bed. The light coming through her window was bright, promising a good day ahead. But not for her.

"Dang it!" She rubbed her head, trying to dispel the images in her head. It was that dream again. The one where he was drowning and she couldn't swim fast enough to save him. The dream had been gone for a week so she thought she got rid of it.

The clock said 5:45 AM. Time to get up and go to work. Be friendly. Pretend to be HYDRA. She sighed and got out of bed.

Simmons usually tried to greet the day with a smile. Not at the beginning of this assignment though. At the start she had dreaded leaving her bed and going back to that place, surrounded by those people. But that only made the days miserable. Being unhappy wouldn't change things, so she tried smiling. The mornings were better that way - a time away from HYDRA, in her own world, enjoying the time alone. This was not one of those mornings.

Opening the fridge, she saw that it was near empty again. Coulson would be angry if he saw this. Since breakfast was out, she went to put on some tea. Her mind wandered to the others, as it did most mornings. Maybe they were eating breakfast right about now. That was a nice thought.

She wondered if he was taking care of himself, if he was getting enough to eat... Not that she could talk. He would probably be appalled at the amount of fast food she'd eaten last week.

And she had to stop there. There was no thinking about him, not if she wanted to have a good day.

                                                       . . . .

The lab was quiet. She was early so there weren't many people around. Simmons worked in silence with her samples, studying their DNA structure. It was easy to focus on these tasks. If she concentrated hard enough her surroundings disappeared and she could forget she was working in a HYDRA lab, studying the enemy's samples. But the symbol on the wall was always watching her, waiting for her to make a mistake. She missed her old lab where she could do as she pleased.

An hour passed this way and scientists or other employees started trickling in. Simmons was engrossed, making faster progress than usual. Her eyes spotted an anomaly in the sample – the kind that was hard to notice, even for a professional like herself. With a sudden surge of excitement she opened her mouth to comment on the DNA's unusual properties, eager to share her findings.

And then she stopped, mouth still poised to speak until she closed it.

"I'm doing it again," she murmured in aggravation. How many times had she begun talking, forgetting for a split second that he wasn't there to answer her? Too many.

"Doing what again?" The sudden male voice made her jump. She turned around slowly to the young man standing behind her chair.

"Hello Dr. Winters," she greeted.

"I thought I told you to call me Evan," he said jokingly. Simmons hadn't forgotten. She just preferred to call associates by their last names, which is what this man was. A fellow biochemist who clearly knew he was good looking but knew little about science.

"Do you need something?" she asked politely.

"Just thought I'd say hi. How's the DNA analysis?" As he asked he came to peer over her shoulder, as if he couldn't wait for her answer.

"It's...ordinary." She'd almost mentioned the rare property she'd discovered but knew this man was not the one she wanted to share that with.

He nodded like he was interested. "Some of us were thinking of going out for drinks later. You want to come?"