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“No,” Fitz crossed his arms. “No, I won’t bloody do it.”
They’d asked him once already and he’d said absolutely not, but apparently, he’d been overruled, and his lab was about to be invaded.
May sighed and left after giving Coulson a clear ‘this is your problem’ glance.
“Talk to him, Ward.” Coulson still seemed calm and collected, neither thing which Fitz was.
Skye made a face. “Will it really be that bad?”
“Yes, yes it will.” Fitz jabbed a finger in her direction. “I know you’re a beta so it’s not the same for you, but having two alphas on this plane already makes it a sea of hormones. A contained sea. A fish tank of intense, conflicting scents. And now Coulson is telling me he wants to throw an omega into this mix. One that will be my lab partner which means I’ll be the one responsible for her. Every time she turns around and everything is too much for her, I’ll be the one who’ll have to make sure she’s okay. That’ll have to keep her safe. My blasted instincts will force me. And she’ll probably smell terrible, to me and Ward, so I’ll have a weepy, miserable, timid omega to watch over who’ll need constant supervision, and then every three months when she goes into heat, we’ll have to find her a center because she can’t do with suppressants and a wank like the rest of us.”
“Oh, wow, too much information.” Skye poked Ward’s arm. “Like Coulson said, you tell him.”
“We need her.” Coulson looked unmoved, damn him.
Ward leaned his shoulder against the wall. “Really, it won’t be that bad. She’s got two doctorates and is a trained agent. You’re not being handed some feral omega who hasn’t been introduced to soap.”
“Well thank god for small favors.”
“You can handle this.” Ward tilted his head in the most infuriating manner. “You’re an alpha, Fitz. Just tell her what to do, she’ll do it.” He pressed his lips together. “Or is that the problem? You don’t think you’re alpha enough to have control over one little omega? I can help. Help her through her heats as well.”
Fitz bristled. He’d never had the chance to be with an omega in heat. He’d always been too busy with school, studies, and training before being tapped to run the mobile lab on the bus. The prestigious position as part of Coulson’s team was his due as an alpha, but he hadn’t known he’d have to put up with an ops alpha meathead.
“She’ll be in my lab. I don’t need your stink in here mucking things up.” Fitz raised his chin. He didn’t have the height and weight of most alphas, but he was all alpha where it counted. He knew his worth. Without Fitz’s brain, Ward would be helpless in the field.
Ward rolled his eyes.
Fitz heaved a huge sigh. Coulson was right, they needed a biochemist, but why, why, why did it have to be an omega? How could she possibly be smart enough to overcome all the problems her designation carried with it? He had no fantasies of ever meeting that one special omega that would change him into a ninny who would turn himself inside out to cater to their slightest whim. Would he like to know how it felt to properly knot someone? Yeah, of course, but being completely responsible for caring for an omega sounded miserable.
Not to mention the odds were against him. Less than twenty percent of alphas found their mate, so most alpha-omega pairs were in the “good-enough” category. Which sounded like the worst kind of hell. Loving someone while knowing that at any moment they could meet someone else that’d instantly make you chopped liver? No thanks. The most he hoped for was, sometime in the future, a relationship with a very understanding beta.
“Whatever,” he said, rubbing at his temples. “Bring her on board, but if she’s a pain in my arse I will kick this Doctor Jemma Simmons right back off.”
**
Jemma forced a cheery smile at the rangy alpha that’d been sent to meet her. Behind her, the helicopter that’d ferried her to her new assignment took off again in a swirl of noise and rotor wash.
She had a lot of misgivings about her new post, mostly about working on a plane with two alphas, but she’d fought like hell to win the respect of the SHIELD brass and she didn’t want to turn down such an honor. Coulson had hand-picked her and sworn that while her lab partner would be a grumpy alpha, he would also quickly warm up to her.
Jemma had her doubts, but she also had an array of ideas ready to go, good enough that she was certain she could wow even an alpha. She’d read everything he’d published in the public record as well as his classified SHIELD files. Dr. Fitz was remarkable, and she wanted him to respect her.
She cared much less about impressing this ops meathead who wore a smirk like he was god’s gift to omegas.
His hand brushed her back and she forced herself not to shudder. Cripes, how was she supposed to cope with being cooped up with his dirty gym-sock smell?
He drove her in a blessedly open-topped jeep, the hot summer wind blasted away his scent, to where the mobile base rested on the tarmac. Jemma opened her door and jumped out before Agent Ward could try to do something like open it for her. She knew his type, how he’d ask to help her through her next heat because he was so selfless and so good at it. She’d rather rub against an actual gym sock than this alpha. It irked her that, depending on the situation, she might need him.
Suppressants and her didn’t get along. She was allergic to an ingredient and gone into anaphylaxis the first time she’d taken them, which left her in need of an alpha four times a year. She’d gone through her heat a month ago, like always with some boring alpha who did the opposite of rock her world. Jemma always told them how amazing they were, but it was a bunch of lies. They were functional, kind of like an ugly cock radio. You could use them to do their job, but you didn’t really want to look at them.
The last one had smelled like artificial bananas, and she hadn’t been able to eat a real one since.
But if they were too far or too busy for her to get to a center, she’d be going through heat with what she had available, which very much might mean this dip. She hoped her lab partner would smell a little less unappetizing but there was no guarantee and she might be better off not sharing unsatisfactory heats with someone she had to work with.
And anyway, heats and ruts meant nothing, she could deal with this lout of an alpha and maintain a professional relationship with him.
Up close the plane was so much bigger than she’d thought. It would be so exciting to see new places. A part of her hoped she’d meet her alpha while on board. That was a fantasy for when you were a new omega, dreaming of that alpha who’d knot you and take care of you like you were precious, but then you actually got to know what most alphas were like. Only it was a dream Jemma had never quite given up.
She always felt something was missing from her life, a piece of a puzzle that left a void in the vicinity of her heart.
“C’mon, let me get you introduced to Fitz and then I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.” Ward did something with his eyebrows that Jemma supposed he thought was suggestive, but that mostly made him look like he was having a seizure.
She forced her lips into a smile again. “Thanks.”
“Be prepared, he sort of smells like seaweed.” Ward briefly touched her back again. “I was worried about your omega scent, but it’s nice. Like cookies.”
Jemma had always been told she smelled like vanilla. It made things easier for her that the vast majority of alphas found her scent acceptable if bland, and seaweed could be worse. “I do like sushi.”
Ward chuckled. “Don’t be too put off by your new lab partner. He’s a lot of bark but very little bite.”
That didn’t sound promising, but like always, she’d do her best. Jemma straightened her spine as they walked up the ramp and into her new home.
“Wait here,” Ward said. “I’ll get him, he doesn’t like being surprised.”
“Well, there go all my plans for his birthday.”
Ward shot her a confused look before walking through the laboratory doors. He apparently wasn’t one for sarcasm.
“Jemma!” A familiar voice called. Agent Coulson hurried down the stairs, the steps clanging under his feet. “Hello, welcome, I’m glad you made it.”
“Thank you so much for giving me this opportunity,” she said.
“Give? You earned it.”
Jemma beamed as she shook his hand.
“Now come meet Fitz, I’m sure the two of you are going to get along famously.” He walked towards the lab doors, which whooshed open.
A very exasperated, very Scottish voice spilled out. “I heard you the first bloody time. She’s here, fantastic, I’m busy and she can wait.”
Jemma flushed at the way her omega instincts froze her feet in place. She was waiting because an alpha had said to. Her jaw clenched. It made her feel like a blasted idiot, but she couldn’t bring herself to do what she wanted, which was to march into the lab and give Dr. Fitz a piece of her mind. She was worth a moment of his time when they’d be working together to save innumerable lives.
Instead, she was being incredibly omega. From the timbre of his voice. She hated it.
Coulson frowned at her, and she shrugged. “He said wait,” she tried to explain, not sure a beta would remotely understand the interplay of hormones and instinct that had her feet rooted to the deck.
“Fitz, get out here and greet your new lab partner, that’s an order.” Coulson crossed his arms and nodded at her.
“Fine, fine, I’m coming,” he groused.
He marched out, a set of magnifying glasses in place. He pushed them up to reveal a surprisingly sweet face with startling blue eyes. He was shorter than Jemma had expected with him being an alpha, but he had wide shoulders and curly brown hair that framed strong features.
He wore a smart red button-up, jeans, and a lab coat.
“Hi, hello,” he said in Jemma’s direction then fixed Coulson with a scowl. “There, I greeted her. I’m going back to work now.”
Jemma’s flush returned tenfold. What an arse. “Excuse me,” she said. “I’m Doctor Jemma Simmons—"
Fitz waved a hand at her without bothering to look. “I’m busy. Go find your bunk and then brush your hair or whatever omegas do when they’re not needed.”
Her mouth fell open. “I can’t believe—” She’d been warned more than once that he was a grump but this was infuriating. He did not get to just dismiss her.
Her skin prickled with anger as she fought the urge to do what he said.
“Don’t worry,” Fitz continued. “You’ll get fed and I’m sure I can find some task to keep you busy tomorrow.”
She wanted to choke him. How dare he. “Do you think I’m not qualified to be here?” How could he be handsome, clever, and such a dedicated arsehole? She turned to Coulson. “You expect me to work with him? I have more credentials and publications than he does but all he sees is an omega. I can’t do this if I’m going to have to work with someone who thinks I exist for alphas to use me. I’ve fought for every bit of recognition I’ve gotten, not sailed along on my alpha status like some.” She huffed anger at all the times she’d been treated poorly because of being an omega welling up. “I’m sorry, Coulson. I can’t do this. I can’t be expected to work with this … this … alpha. Send me back to Sci-Ops, please. I’ll make do with the omega lab there.” It was a sorry little thing, but she’d cobbled together enough equipment to conduct her research. Or at least she did when she could convince everything to work.
“Fitz,” Coulson said, disapproval colored his voice. “I know you’re not a people person, but—”
Fitz snorted as he interrupted. “You heard her, she thinks I coasted along on my status. And lass, regardless of how many degrees you have, you are still invading my lab. Which the English are bloody good at doing, yeah? I don’t need some omega in the way screaming every time there’s turbulence and expecting me to jump to her rescue every time she bats her eyelashes.”
“Is everything okay down there?” a woman’s voice called. Jemma glanced up to see a slim woman with long brown hair peering over the railing.
“No,” Jemma said.
“No,” Fitz barked at the same time.
They eyed each other while Agent Coulson heaved a sigh.
“Be nice, Fitz,” the woman said before disappearing.
“And you,” Jemma spat at Fitz and his stupidly symmetrical face. “Coasting along on your good looks and you want to accuse me of batting eyelashes.”
Fitz squinted at her. “Do you need specs? I’m not anything like an ideal alpha, I’ve fought like hell to get here. I’m not some gorgeous show poodle who can crook her finger and have alphas falling at her feet.”
She turned to Coulson, who had a hand over his mouth but an impassive stare. Guess he wasn’t going to be any help.
“Poodle? What poodle do you know had to work in horrendous lab conditions with secondhand instruments and invented an entirely new sort of toxin? I read your work and it’s proper brilliant and was looking forward to a first-rate lab and someone who understood my work but instead, I’m finding out you’re … you!” She shouted the last.
Fitz propped his hand on his hips, his mouth hanging open. It snapped closed. “Well, aren’t you clever? And for the record, I’ve only known you’ve existed for a couple of hours and have only had time to glance at one of your dissertations and you should have won some bloody award for it, would have if you weren’t an omega.” His jaw firmed. “But you are and all you’re going to be with your shiny hair and lovely tits is a distraction.”
“Oh, like I’m supposed to deal endlessly with your wide shoulders and perfect arse?”
Jemma felt like she might have lost the plot a bit. What, exactly, were they arguing about again?
Oh, right, how he was a genius, handsome git who she couldn’t work with because he had the personality of a starving badger.
Fitz groaned and dropped his face into his hands as he turned his back to her. He unfortunately really did have a nice rear.
A warm breeze blew up the ramp from outside, ruffling Jemma’s hair and batting hotly at the back of her neck, fanning the flames of her anger.
The wind sighed past her and further into the plane.
Fitz froze, then turned slowly towards her.
His expression glazed over as he inhaled deeply, nostrils flared.
Jemma took a step back, her stomach dropping to her shoes. Surely, he couldn’t be one of those alphas who went a little nutty over any omega. Coulson wouldn’t have invited her on board if Fitz was like that. He yanked the magnifiers from his head and let them clatter to the floor. He was in front of her in three long strides, arms around her pulling her close as his nose went to the corner of her jaw.
She squirmed, trying to get away, and took in a deep breath to scream—
Oh.
Oh.
The scent of clear ocean air rolled over her. It felt like she’d been choking on rubbish fumes for her entire life.
She breathed deeply and her body lit up like a New Year’s fireworks display.
Jemma pushed weakly at him, no longer wanting him to go anywhere. “I have to go brush my hair,” she said, grinning at his pained groan.
“I’m bloody sorry, that was ill done of me. I was a right ass and I would have been sorry later regardless of …” He broke off into a soft sigh as he nuzzled her.
Jemma pressed her nose to the scent glands in his throat, hardly believing the truth that zinged through her. “You’re mine,” she murmured. “I really did read all your research.”
“You should probably have a collection of Nobel prizes by now, and that’s just based on a skim of one of your papers.” He stroked her hair. “I can’t wait to see what you do here, with excellent equipment and the challenge of the field. You’ll outshine the sun.”
Jemma curled tighter against her alpha, finding herself safe in his arms in all kinds of ways. “I…“I’ve been afraid for so many years, that my doctorates and research would be meaningless because of some unknown Alpha and his scent.” She paused. “You do want to hear about my dendrotoxins? Right?”
“Always.” He kissed her temple, the press of his lips zinging through her. “What do you need for your work?”
“A delivery system, I have to get it to the bad guys.”
“I would like to take a go at it.” His hand settled over her rear. “I really am so sorry, I just have no idea how to make it up to you. Forgive me, Simmons.”
She stood on her toes and brought her mouth to his ear. “If I forgive you depends on how many times you make me come during this heat.” The flush of hormones was starting to warm her up, the first time in her life she’d welcomed them. It was also another sign this was her alpha, he was driving her into heat immediately.
Fitz groaned softly and his hips flexed, shoving his hardness against her belly. His cheeks pinked, then reddened, the color going to his ears. “I’ve never actually … with an omega.” His lashes swept down. “I’m sorry, you deserve better.”
The grumpiness and arguing had been him, she knew that he’d been enjoying himself just a little, like she had, but this was also him. Sweet and considerate, the kind of alpha she wished for when her first heat had hit.
She cupped his cheek, her fingers tracing his jaw in the process. “We can experiment until everything is perfect, though I think you’re not giving yourself near enough credit.”
He leaned close, met her gaze with eyes so blue she thought she might drown in them, waited a heartbeat, then kissed her. His lips were pillow-soft, gliding against her own, and immediately she knew she had walked into the best place in the world. All her dreams were coming true, from an amazing state-of-the-art lab to her very own alpha who thought she was brilliant with nice tits and was going to knot her very soon.
Life was good.
***
Fitz wanted to kick himself for ever thinking he’d not want Jemma in his lab. She was brilliant, could fight for herself, and smelled like fresh biscuits.
“Hey, it got quiet,” Skye said. There was a pause. “Why are they kissing now?”
May murmured a response.
He would have paused to say something, but then he wouldn’t be kissing Jemma and her tongue was shyly working its way over to his mouth. He tilted his head more and stroked the tip of his tongue up the underside of hers, welcoming it.
She shivered and made a pleased little noise.
What a treasure.
Loud steps on the stairs finally made Fitz break the kiss.
Ward thundered down them, bag in hand.
Fitz couldn’t help tightening his grip on his omega and pushing her behind him, so he stood between her and Ward. Damn instincts, though judging how she pressed herself to his back her instincts were in line with his.
“You two stink,” Ward grumbled as he walked past. “I’ll be back in four days.” The last was in Coulson’s direction. He tossed the bag in the back of the jeep and took off.
“Maybe we should get you two to a center?” Coulson asked.
Fitz turned to look down at Jemma. Her eyes widened and he nearly asked what was wrong, but then the scent hit him. She had slick running down her leg. It was sweet and called to him with a siren’s song.
“There’s no time,” Fitz said over his shoulder. He licked the corner of her jaw before speaking to her. “Where do you want to be, Jemma?” Time was running out, rut was starting to grey out his peripheral vision, most of his blood heading to his cock.
“Lab, the lab,” she gasped. “Make it ours.”
“You have the best ideas.” He curled his hands about her hips and directed her towards the doors, which whooshed open. He’d fuck her on every surface in there, then start all over again. And after he’d make her such an impressive delivery system for her toxin that she’d immediately fall in love with him.
He thought he might already be in love with her. Fitz could no longer imagine a world without her in it.
Jemma smiled at him, soft and warm. “Fitz, of course I have the best ideas, they’re mine.”
He backed her up to the closest lab bench. She was right of course.
And that didn’t even make him the least bit grumpy.