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They got Jemma back to Zephyr One as quickly as they could and handed her over to the medical team.
Half an hour later the agent appeared from the medical bay.
“Two of you can go in and see her,” they said. “But don't wake her, she needs to rest.”
Mack motioned for Daisy and May to go in. They slipped into the room and went over to sit next to Jemma's bed. Their friend was asleep, face pale against the pillow and dark hair spread behind her. She wore a hospital gown and had a number of wires linked to her. Daisy sat in the chair beside her and took Jemma's hand in hers.
“Get better soon,” she said quietly. “None of us want to see Fitz's face if we kick these guys' asses, but lose you in the process. I've seen you without him, no one wants to see your positions reversed.”
Jemma shifted in her sleep and the sheets moved, leaving one of her sides exposed. The hospital gown she was wearing was cut-out at the stomach to allow access to the bandages around her ribs and upper stomach. Daisy moved to automatically smooth the sheet back over and tuck her friend in and something caught her attention.
“What the?” she murmured, craning her neck to see.
“What is it?” May asked quietly from Jemma's other side.
“It looks like some sort of strange scars on Jemma's stomach?” Daisy replied distractedly. “Come and see.”
“Strange scars?” May asked, standing and rounding the bed. Daisy pushed the sheet back further so May could see the long marks on Jemma's lower stomach more clearly.
May bent down and her eyes widened, but otherwise she betrayed no other sign of surprise. “Tuck the sheet back in Daisy,” she said quietly. “And then we need to go and talk to Mack. Jemma will be okay, she's not going to wake for a while, but the Director needs to know about this,” she gestured at the marks that were now hidden by the white sheets.
Daisy looked up at May and then nodded and rose, following her former SO out of the medical bay and back along to the bridge. The others were gathered there and they fell silent when the two of them walked in.
“May? Daisy?” Elena asked. “Is Jemma alright?”
“She's fine,” May replied. “Asleep, but we found out something about what happened while Fitzsimmons were upgrading the Zephyr.”
“How?” Deke asked.
“Jemma has some strange marks on her lower stomach,” Daisy said, then raised a hand forestalling Mack, Yoyo and Deke's exclamations. “Not scars exactly, but I don't know what. They were exposed by the hospital gown when she moved in her sleep.”
“I know what they were,” May said quietly. “Which is why we came here straight away. They're not scars. They're stretch marks. Jemma's had a baby.”
“What?” Deke exclaimed.
“Are you sure?” Mack added intently, eyes fixed seriously on May's face.
“As sure as I can be,” May answered. “Silvery, slightly raised, faded marks on her lower stomach. They look like scars, but not. Here.”
She moved to the console and typed at it for a moment, before pulling up a picture.
“That's what Jemma's stomach looked like,” Daisy said, pointing at the image.
“That's a picture of stretch marks,” May said. “I think we need to revise our estimate of how long Fitzsimmons had up by a lot. At minimum a year.”
“At minimum?” Yoyo exclaimed.
“Yeah,” Mack agreed. “Nine months of pregnancy, plus the fact that her body has adjusted back to what she normally looks like, organs shifting back to their usual places and so on.”
“And she's not leaking breast-milk,” May added. Daisy and Deke shot her disgusted looks in tandem.
“It's true,” Mack said. “If she'd left the baby just after he or she was born her body would still be expecting to feed him or her. I think we're looking at closer to two years separation.”
“Two years?” Daisy's eyebrows went up.
“That actually sounds more realistic,” Deke admitted. “Even with Enoch, and how brilliant they are, I wasn't sure Nana and Bobo could get all of this done in only a couple of months. They would have had to work crazy fast.”
“So do we mention that we know to her?” Daisy asked, eyes going to Mack.
Mack sighed. “If it becomes relevant yeah,” he decided. “But she obviously didn't tell us for a reason, she was probably worried about the Chronicoms finding out about the baby and using him or her against us.”
“It also explains why we know so little about where Fitz is,” May agreed. “I know she's said she can't know because the Chronicoms have their joined brains, but a baby is even more reason to keep his location secret from the rest of us.”
“Poor Jemma,” Yoyo said quietly. “Having to leave her bebé to come and rescue us, and not being able to know where they are.”
“Even more reason to get this done quickly,” Mack said. “Get her back to Turbo and their baby as quickly as we can.”
The five of them exchanged nods as they stood in a quiet circle.
“Alright get back to Simmons,” Mack said. “Let's make sure she doesn't wake up on her own.”
Daisy and May nodded in agreement and started for the door. Daisy paused en route to clap Deke on the shoulder.
“Hey,” she teased. “You've got an aunt or uncle!”
Deke half-laughed as Daisy hurried out the door after May, back down to where their team member was asleep, holding a terrible secret that she hadn't been able to share with them.