Work Text:
Everything was different. Not easier or harder, just...different.
Jemma supposed that if she’d ever put much stock into the words that friends, family, and, yes, even complete strangers kept repeating to her she would have already known that. Every child is different. Every pregnancy is different.
Maddie was two -- precious and precocious -- and about to become a big sister. And somehow Jemma was even less prepared than when she’d been pregnant the first time.
“Mum?”
“Hmmm?” Jemma rubbed her belly absentmindedly in her best attempt to get the little peanut to stop trying to turn somersaults when there clearly wasn’t enough room, when she noticed Maddie squinting her eyes up at her. She’d obviously missed something.
“Where is ducky?” The words were said slowly and deliberately and in a tone that meant Jemma hadn’t been paying enough attention to her daughter. But it wasn’t like she knew where Maddie’s ducky was. She was lucky she didn’t forget her own name these days.
“I’m not sure sweetheart. Why don’t you ask daddy?”
With a satisfied nod, Maddie scampered off to the office where Fitz was working on some calculations. She only had a moment’s doubt before deciding that she needed the rest far more than Fitz did. Being pregnant was exhausting. She sat down on the couch to rest her eyes. Just for a second.
When she opened her eyes again it was to Fitz gently rubbing that spot on her back that seemed to ache no matter what she did, and to the feeling that someone was jumping on her bladder.
“What time is it?” she asked, trying to stretch and yawn at the same time. “Maddie has to get to bed early tonight if she’s going to wake up early enough to go to your mum’s in the morning.”
“She had her dinner, a bath, and a story. And now she’s all tucked in upstairs.” Fitz’s voice was quiet and Jemma finally noticed the stillness of the house.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
Fitz laughed, a gentle sound that made her heart a little lighter. There were times when she hadn’t been sure she’d ever hear that from him again, and look where they were now.
“I think you deserve it.”
Jemma sat up, patting the cushion beside her, before leaning into his warmth. She let out a sleepy yawn.
“Let’s go to bed, Jemma. Unless you need something to eat. I can get you that first.”
Fitz started to move and Jemma grabbed his hand to keep him beside her. “Not yet. Not when this is our last night together.”
“I know you’re not looking forward to tomorrow, but I’d like to think it won’t be so bad that this will be our last night together,” he quipped, and Jemma rolled her eyes.
“Not our last night forever. Just...just the last time there will be any sort of peace and quiet.” Fitz rested his head against her shoulder and pulled her closer. “I just don’t want this to change.”
“Jemma, the way I feel about you will never change. If we made it through time and space, I think we can handle a toddler and a newborn. We have three PhDs, field experience --”
Jemma pressed a kiss to his lips, knowing that there was only one way to get him to stop talking once he got started like this. It was a lesson she’d learned way back before she’d even been sure they’d get their happily ever after some day.
Once they were both a little breathless, though to be fair her own breathlessness may have had something to do with the foot she was certain was jabbing her in the ribs, she smiled at him, shaking her head.
“It’s going to be different.”
“Different isn’t bad.”
“No, different isn’t bad at all. It’s just new.”
She couldn’t quite put her feelings into words, but with Fitz the silence had never meant they didn’t understand each other perfectly.
“And new isn’t something that Dr. Jemma Simmons has ever been afraid of.” He smoothed a hand through her hair. “What is it that’s really bothering you?”
“I think...I think it’s knowing what to expect and still knowing that I have no idea what to expect.” She kept her gaze away from Fitz, knowing what she’d see there. At least there were some things she still understood. “With Maddie it was all a mystery, all a surprise, and now I know that there are just some things I can’t plan for…”
“And that’s the best part of it. Right?”
She heard the uncertainty in his voice and did her best to reassure him.
“Of course it is. But it means I’m not quite sure what to expect tomorrow.”
“Me either.” Fitz reached for her hand. “But I’ll be beside you the whole time. And if there’s anything you need --”
“I know, Fitz. But this time tomorrow we’re going to have another baby. Another person to take care of and teach and --”
“And it’s going to be great. You’re going to do great.”
“I’m pretty sure I don’t have to do much. The doctor will be doing the heavy lifting this time.”
It was an odd feeling. Fitz certainly wasn’t judging her, but this time would be an entirely different experience. No going through labor or having her water break. No waiting and wondering when the baby would come. But it was just another unknown. And she hated unknowns.
“You’re the one bringing a healthy baby into the world. And I can’t wait to meet her.”
“I can’t wait for Maddie to meet her.”
“Yeah, er, I’m not sure how much of what we’ve been telling her is actually getting through. She seems like she understands, and then --”
“And then she says the baby can go back when they’re done playing. I know. I heard her say the same thing.” Jemma rubbed her belly again, this time letting the baby know that she didn’t appreciate being kicked quite so hard. “But I’m sure she’ll be excited once she actually sees her sister. It’s different. Probably.”
“I’m sure it is.” Of everything they’d lived through, having a sibling wasn’t something either of them could say they had experienced. “I mean, it was this or a dog and you seemed pretty adamant that we weren’t getting a dog.”
Jemma laughed, his teasing finally doing the trick. Whatever happened they’d be fine. They were unstoppable together after all.
The delivery was a blur and by the time Jemma was back in her room, a bassinet by her side, she was just coming back to reality. The baby, Evelyn, or Evie as she’d already been nicknamed, had started crying the moment she’d been born and hadn’t really stopped. Once the nurses had relinquished her, Fitz had been holding the little girl, attempting all of the tricks they’d mastered with Maddie. All to no avail.
“I think she’s hungry,” he finally said, a petulant look on his face.
Jemma held out her arms for the baby. She wasn’t very mobile considering the IV still connected to her arm, but it was easy enough to settle the child against her. Baby soft skin and the weight of the little girl almost made her cry, but she’d been through too much to get to this moment to let the tears fall.
“There you go, sweetheart,” she encouraged.
Once the baby started nursing, Jemma looked over to Fitz, who was just sort of standing awkwardly looking at her.
“You can come sit.”
“I know.” He scratched at his forehead. “Yeah, yeah. I know. It’s just that this is something that’s just the two of you. I don’t want to intrude.”
Jemma forced herself not to roll her eyes. It seemed they needed to take turns reassuring each other -- which was why their partnership worked so well.
“Fitz...we’ve done this before. There are things that you do with Maddie that are just the two of you. And it will be the same with this baby. There will be times when you don’t need me -- ”
“I always need you.”
She raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to come to the correct conclusion. And it didn’t take him long.
“Okay, okay.” He held up his hands, finally taking a step closer. “I get it. We always need each other.”
“And the girls do too.”
“And the girls do too,” he repeated quietly.
He leaned down to press a kiss to Jemma’s forehead and then touched Evie’s cheek. But the baby had already fallen asleep again.
“I wish I could fall asleep as easily as she does,” Jemma said with a smile.
Fitz smiled back at her -- a little older, hopefully wiser, and a lot more sleep deprived than when they’d first met -- and it took her back.
“Let me take her.”
Jemma handed the bundle of blankets over to Fitz and settled back on the scratchy hospital sheets. She’d be happier once she was back home, but for now she’d just watch Fitz cradle their daughter in his arms and think about how Maddie would react when she met her little sister for the first time.
No matter how much time had passed since the day she’d met Fitz back at the Academy, they still had a lifetime to experience together.