Work Text:
Fitz didn't remember feeling so happy in his entire life, probably because he never had. The house he'd built himself, and that had been his fortress for many years, now constantly smelled of flowers. He'd never seen the purpose of having flowers inside since he just had to step out the door to see and smell hundreds of them but now flowers meant Jemma. And Jemma meant happiness. Whether it was the ones she was studying or the ones she used to make their clothes smell nicer, he loved them all because it reminded him that that she had made her home here.
Every morning, he got to wake up with her warm body pressed against his, tender caresses, a sleepy smile or even better, warm lips seeking his before he even had the time to say hello. And every morning, it felt like her belly had grown a little bigger and with it, his love for her.
Sometimes, when he wasn't careful, he surprised himself by smiling for no reason. Or even whistling. His friend Mack from the village had teased him about it. People knew he'd recently gotten married and there was talk of married life having changed him completely. And even though Jemma kept repeating that he was, in fact, the most tender hearted man she ever knew, he couldn't let other people think that. They'd start talking to him and he'd have to be polite and pretend to be interested and he hated that. But it was really hard to keep a grumpy face when he was just bursting with happiness all the time.
Taking the pan off of the stove, Fitz put a little bit of eggs on his plate and a bigger portion on Jemma's. These days, this was one of the only things she always felt like eating in the morning and even though she'd told him that being pregnant didn't mean she had to eat twice as much as he did, he wanted to make sure they were both fed enough. Fitz added the last of the raspberries he picked up from the forest on another plate, took bread and butter from the pantry and put it all on the table. Rolling his eyes at himself as he added a few wildflowers in a vase in the middle, Fitz walked towards the door to tell Jemma breakfast was ready. She loved being out and about just as the sun rose over the top of the trees every morning and, even though Fitz often grumbled about it because it meant she was leaving bed much too soon for his taste, her constant enthusiasm about the beauty of their forest was very endearing. And whatever made her happy, made him happy too.
Which was why he was surprised when he stepped out and heard loud sobbing. Jemma was sitting on the ground by a big pile of leaves and panicked settled in his gut as Fitz ran to her.
"Jemma! What's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?" he asked, kneeling beside her and taking her face in his hands. He'd told she didn't need to do so much around the house. She had her experiments to do and he was perfectly fine doing everything else so she didn't tire herself and the baby. But she rolled her eyes every time and insisted that she wasn't made of porcelain and wanted to do all those things. The previous night, she'd given herself the impossible task of raking the leaves accumulating around the house. It really seemed like a useless thing to do when living in the middle of the forest but he knew better than to contradict her when she had her mind set on something.
"Fitz, I'm going to be a horrible mother," she cried out between two sobs and Fitz let out a sigh of relief.
Oh. So everything was alright. Nothing he wasn't used to or couldn't fix. Probably.
"Oh Jemma, why would you say that?" Fitz asked softly as he swiped his thumbs under her eyes to wipe her tears.
He'd learned that it was useless to just reassure her and tell her that, of course, she was going to be a good mother when she was like that. Her emotions might be a little raw but she was still her own very logical and scientific self and he had to know what had happened to find the words to prove to her that she wouldn't be a horrible mother.
She lifted one hand an unveiled the little creature she was holding in the other. A young squirrel, maybe five, six weeks old.
"I-I think he was playing in the leaves but there were so many and I-I didn't see him and I must have hit him with the rake and now, he's not moving anymore. Look at him, he's such a tiny thing, his mother's going to look for him everywhere and she's not going to find him because I-because I—"
She burst into tears again and Fitz pulled her into his arms, holding her close as he rubbed what he hoped were soothing circles on her back.
"It's not your fault, Jemma, it was an accident", Fitz whispered softly in her ear. Poor thing, it really was heartbreaking but these things were bound to happen once in a while, especially at this age when they were still so small and started wandering out of the nest, lacking some of the adult's reflexes.
"I should have been more careful! What if it was our baby?" she mumbled against his shoulder.
"I highly doubt that human babies are able to crawl out of their crib when they're so young."
"I know that!" she cried out. "But what about when he starts walking and he escapes into the forest and I can't—"
"Jemma, I think it's a little too soon to worry about the baby walking when he still fits in my hands," Fitz said, gently putting his extended palms over her rounded belly. A small smile pulled her lips up for a second.
"But—"
"How about," Fitz cut her off, gently taking the little squirrel from her hands. "we find this poor little guy a nice resting place under a tree so that his body can return to nature. And then we can even— Wait," Fitz cut himself off.
He was pretty sure he felt something as he manipulated the little creature. Jemma frowned but Fitz held one finger up as he pressed another against the squirrel's chest. There it was, a rhythmic beating. It was weak but definitely there and Fitz smiled.
"He's alive, Jemma."
"What?" she let out, voice small and shaky but now tinted with hope.
Fitz took her hand and delicately placed her fingers over the squirrel's chest. Jemma's frown slowly disappeared and then turned into an actual smile when the small creature's paws started shaking weakly.
The little creature was most likely stunned so they decided to take him back inside and keep him warm until he was completely recovered. He opened his eyes about twenty minutes later and Jemma fed him half of her breakfast. After that, he went back to sleep so Jemma kept him on her desk as she worked, all tucked up in a piece of wool inside a little box. Fitz had always had a weakness for squirrels anyway and seeing Jemma tend to him like this filled him with more joy than he could ever have imagined. And, of course, she was going to be a wonderful mother.
In the afternoon, Calum, as they'd decided to call him, was again as jumpy an energetic as you could expect from a young squirrel so they decided to bring him outside and see if he could find his way home. They placed him on a lower branch of a nearby tree but Calum didn't go far and went straight back onto Jemma's shoulder. They tried again several times but Calum always came back, climbing their legs as if they were trees and burying his little face in one of their necks, making Jemma coo and squeal in delight every time. The little thing was indeed awfully adorable. They waited a little longer but his mother didn't come either. If he was old enough to leave the nest, as Fitz supposed from his size, then his mother must have considered he was a precocious one and didn't need her help anymore.
"Well, I suppose we have a new baby now," Fitz said and Jemma laughed as she moved to snuggle against Fitz's side, Calum still on her shoulder. It was the middle of October and, even though the days were still reasonably cold, the nights were starting to get much colder than what Jemma was used to, especially in the forest, and she barely ever left his side once the sun had set these days. Fitz wrapped his arm around her and pulled her even closer.
"Just for a short time, a few weeks at the most, until he's old enough to find food on his own and make a little nest," Jemma added, as if Fitz really needed convincing.
"Took you a lot more than a few weeks," Fitz replied with a teasing grin.
Jemma pinched his side making him squeal and Calum jump onto Jemma's other shoulder.
"It's only because someone didn't want to let me do anything because I was pregnant."
"Fine," he said, pressing a kiss to her hair. "Let's go to bed then."
"I promise I won't let him sleep with us though," Jemma said teasingly before kissing his cheek.
"Of course, he won't," Fitz replied. "But I'll make him a proper bed tomorrow, something he can build a proper nest in, maybe carve it out of chestnut wood, add a few little flowers so it feels— What?"
Jemma's smile widened even more.
"You're adorable."
"No, I'm not!"
"Yes, you are."
He squinted his eyes at her for a second but it was already hard on most days, and when she had a baby squirrel nesting in her big wooly scarf, it was a lost cause.
"Well, fine. But you can't prove it," he said before taking her hand as he pulled her inside, muffling the sound of her laughter by capturing her lips into a passionate, and not at all adorable, kiss.
-0-0-0-
"Fitz, is everything alright?"
He quickly wiped his eyes and turned around to find Jemma only a few steps away from him. He'd been so focused on looking into the trees that he hadn't even heard her come out of the house.
"Yeah, yeah, I—"
"Fitz, are you crying?" Jemma cut him off as she took the last few steps separating them to cup his cheek.
"No, I—" She raised her eyebrows and gently ran her thumb over the apple of his cheek. He sighed. "Alright, it's just… he left. Climbed up that tree, just looked back once and then he jumped onto that other tree and I lost sight of him."
"Oh, Fitz, but that's what we wanted for him," Jemma said with a soft smile, although Fitz was pretty sure he could see unshed tears forming in her eyes, which only made the tears still pooling in his roll down his cheeks.
"I know. It's just… I'm going to miss him."
"Me too," Jemma said softly as she wound her arms around his neck and pulled him into a hug. Fitz sighed as he took a deep breath, the floral scent of her hair and the feeling of her rounded belly against him always working wonders to make him feel better. "He'll be with his own kind and find himself a nice little squirrel lady when the time is right."
"Yeah?" Fitz asked, moving back a little to look her in the eyes.
"Yes." Jemma replied before her smile widened. "And make sweet love to her against a tree."
"Jemma!" he cried out and they both laughed. It still always surprised him but he loved how his wonderful wife had become even more inappropriate since she'd come to live in the forest with him.
"I don't think squirrels do sweet love though."
"Well, neither did we," Jemma replied, chuckling.
"Hey!"
"That first time, at least, and it was wonderful anyway," she replied, her voice turning all soft as she pushed up on her tiptoes to kiss his lips before pulling him back into a hug. "Fitz, you're going to be the most adorable, wonderful father in the world."
"And you’re already the best mother this unborn baby could have. And, in four months, I will shower you with love and not let you do a single thing in this house for weeks!"
"Oh, no. How am I ever going to—"
He cut her off with a kiss as he tightened his hold on her. And as she melted into the kiss, her fingers sliding up into his hair, his arms moved down and he lifted her from the ground, making her squeal as he started walking towards the house. Nothing said he couldn't start with the love showering immediately.