Disclaimer: I do not own Agents of SHIELD. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
*****
"Honey, I'm home!" Daisy called out loudly, "And I caught dinner!"
Daisy Johnson wasn't surprised there wasn't a reply. For one thing the ship was kind of big, and her girlfriend Jemma Simmons wouldn't necessarily hear her call out, or hear the big doors opening and closing, especially if she was where she expected to find her. Where she was almost always throughout the day.
After all, Daisy was a superhuman, far more capable of hunting without having to worry about Jemma. Meanwhile Jemma was a scientist, and even with limited resources they had she'd done her best research on this forsaken planet they found themselves stranded on, the alien monsters that Daisy killed and bought back to see if they could be eaten safely, and of course trying to figure out a way for them to go home.
Honestly, Daisy had lost hope of ever finding a way home. After all, Jemma had been trying for about a year now, and unless circumstances changed she just didn't have the equipment to send them back, even if she could figure out how to do it. Although for Daisy it wasn't so much losing hope as finding it. True, life could be better.
The water purification system Jemma had set up was far from perfect, their supplies were gone, and there was probably a limit to the alien creatures they could eat, which tasted horrible anyway. But all that was bearable because she had Jemma the way she'd always wanted, and she never got tired of the intimacy of it just being the two of them.
It was different for Jemma. She was going crazy without anyone on her intellectual level to talk too. She never said that of course, but Daisy could tell she wanted to talk science with a fellow scientist, someone like Fitz. And to be in a real lab again, with someone like Fitz. To have a conversation with someone other than Daisy, someone like Fitz. And maybe just Fitz. Because sure, Jemma had reassured her time and again that there was nothing between them.
That she just didn't see him that way. But maybe that was before they had spent so much time apart, and now Jemma realised there was something there all along. Or maybe she would realise it if she saw him again. Which was a really petty and selfish thing to be afraid of, but Daisy just couldn't help it.
So she secretly loved coming home to find that Jemma hadn't made any progress again, because honestly Daisy was far more focused on making sure they could stay alive here, because hopefully this would be their life now.
However instead of finding Jemma sulking somewhere in the ship, or on the bridge poring over her research, or dissecting her last catch, Daisy found her frantically checking the monitors as the machines went haywire. Well, this had happened a few times, and it was never anything good, Daisy fearing the worst, especially when she saw how her normally calm girlfriend was frantically pressing buttons and muttering to herself.
"Jemma!" Daisy exclaimed, rushing into the room and checking to see if her girl was okay, "What is it? Is it that thing? Is it back? God, I thought for sure I killed it last time."
"No!" Jemma exclaimed excitedly, glancing over her shoulder briefly, "Someone's trying to open a portal!"
"Oh!" Daisy mumbled, her heart sinking.
"This is it Daisy! I can feel it in my bones." Jemma grinned, returning her full attention to her machines, "We're going home. Oh my God, I can't believe we're finally going home."
Daisy gulped, and then despite trying not to she then cautiously pointed out, "It could be anything. We can't assume it's our people. We discussed this. It could be-"
Jemma suddenly turned around and cut Daisy off with a passionate kiss, and then told her, "It's them. Trust me. And trust you have nothing to worry about. I'm with you. I love you, with every fibre of my being. Now, give me a second to pinpoint the reading, and then let's go home and tell our friends all about us."
For a few seconds Daisy just blinked, and then she mumbled, "Okay?"
Jemma gave her another soft smile, return to her research, and then without turning around quipped, "But we're not telling them about our bad girls shenanigans on this planet."
"Awww, that's the best part of the story." Daisy quipped back.
*
" Ice cream!"
"My lab!"
"Cookies!"
"New reading material!"
"Cookie flavoured ice cream?"
"A nice bottle of wine!"
"A bubble bath! A real one, with candles, and soft music, and actual bubbles!"
"THE INTERNET!"
Jemma and Daisy exclaimed that last part in unison, which was the end of the long list of things they'd missed while stranded here, which they began to recite the closer they got to the portal. They only finished it when they were almost there, but when they got over the hill, their excitement, and their stomachs, turned as there was a figure standing between them and the portal.
Initially Jemma tried to tell herself that it could be one of their friends waiting for them, but deep down she knew who it was. Or more accurately, what it was. It was the creature which had been stalking them this entire time, and it wasn't about to let them leave without a fight.
They had never actually seen the thing up close before, which turned out to be a blessing, as they had no choice but to head straight for it, and there was a bright light coming out of the portal, which gave them the best ever look at it. Before it had just been moving about in the shadows, and wailing, so much so at first Daisy had tried to reassure her it was simply their minds playing tricks on them.
Jemma had told Daisy that mutual hallucinations were incredibly unlikely, and all but unheard of, making that the rare occasion that Jemma wished she was wrong. Because the thing was truly hideous, looking so much like a man, yet almost literally nothing but skin and bones, and so pale it looked like a literal corpse. Which of course, Daisy had to point out.
