upstairs: for jemma

[lazy_but_loyal]

[Continued from here.]

Pam slips the key into the lock and pushes the door open, flicking a nearby light switch. Immediately the expansive room is illuminated warmly by a black chandelier in the center of the ceiling.

The decor has an old-fashioned, Victorian feel to it, but with modern sensibilities. And also lots of pink and black.

The walls are a very deep shade of pink; the thick carpet is black. Two chairs set at a round table with a black marble top have gilded arms and backs, with satiny pink cushions. Black velvet drapes are pulled closed and tight against the windows. The bed, at the far end of the room, is king-sized with an ornate padded headboard, the carvings matching the chairs. The sheets are black silk, and the pillows and duvet, of course are pink.

A black armoire stands in one corner by the bed, a matching dresser on the bed's opposite side. Both are empty, only because Pam hasn't had a chance to fill them yet.

Pam shuts the door and makes sure it locks behind Jemma.

"Go on and make yourself comfortable."

Comments

[protect_and_survey]

The snick of the lock makes her jump a little - suave and confident she is not. In fact, she's a bit anti-suave at the moment, twisting her fingers together as the nerves try to take over.

"U..um. I didn't ask, earlier, it... it never seemed to be much of a consideration with... well, h... how does this work with..." Deep breath, pretend its some sort of epidemiology study, come on. "Transmission of infectious diseases, and protection?"

[lazy_but_loyal]

Jemma's heartbeat is loud and fast.

"Vampires don't get sick and don't carry diseases," Pam says simply. "And human illnesses don't affect vampires."

A beat.

"Unless you have Hepatitis D."

[protect_and_survey]

"Ah, no. No I don't." And of course she's deeply curious as to why one hepatitis virus managed to make the jump, but that's a question for another time. "It's... it's been a long time, what with university and... well, all of it, so..."

So basically she's still standing where she ran out of steam, looking nervous and generally in over her head.

[lazy_but_loyal]

"Good," she purrs with a little smile.

She is tall enough, but even taller in stiletto heels, and she fairly towers over Jemma, as she stands before her and runs a hand down her arm, giving it a light squeeze.

"Have a seat on the bed and relax, sweetheart."

Actually, Pam likes them nervous, but it's just a thing to say.

"So you don't have a boyfriend? ...Or a girlfriend?"

[protect_and_survey]

'I have a Fitz' is right there on the tip of her tongue, because really it's the correct answer. But she shies away from seeing Fitz like that because... well. It's Fitz.

"No, not really." The bed is ridiculously comfortable - this is one of those beds she appreciates while on trips and would never ever own because there wouldn't be an alarm clock in the universe that'd get her up in time for work. "I'm not sure if it's the tendency to babble or the fact I do it in multi-syllable words but generally I'm not high on anyone's list."

The fact she tends to have higher clearance than most of the prospects she stumbles across at work doesn't help. Nor does the fact that when they bring her something gross her first reaction tends to be 'ooh goody' rather than something... well. Normal.

[lazy_but_loyal]

The bed is ridiculously comfortable. Nothing but the best.

"Aw, well, that's a shame," Pam coos as she ambles over, slipping off her baubled bracelet to set down on the dresser.

"You could work on the babbling, though."

Yes, she's blunt.

"But, you are cute as a button. And I don't say that often."

[protect_and_survey]

"That's what my mum says. The babbling thing. But she's never tried to out-talk Leo Fitz, so..." She shrugs, it's a trade-off. She's shared a lab with her best friend long enough to have learned that to get any sort of air time she just has to say what she's thinking and go on saying it until he runs out of air first.

It's a test daily, to see who's more stubborn - the English girl, or the Scotsman.

[lazy_but_loyal]

"And Leo Fitz is...?"

The way Pam trails off implies that she suspects it's someone she likes.

Girl talk! This is fun.

[protect_and_survey]

"He's..." For a girl who can talk about venomous snakes for hours without pause without a problem, she has surprising difficultly defining Fitz. "He's my very best friend in all the world."

It's not quite right.

But it's not wrong either.

"Most people, when they come down to our lab, think there's only one scientist down there - a FitzSimmons. Imagine their surprise when they find the pair of us."

There's a pause, and she wrinkles her nose.

"Actually, there's more than a few who can't seem to get it into their heads that there are two of us. They don't tend to last long."

[lazy_but_loyal]

Jemma is so adorable that she makes Pam's teeth hurt.

She's about to ask why she and Leo aren't together, when she's reminded of her own current relationship status with Eric. While it can't be defined in human terms, being as complicated as it is, she actually...knows that feeling.

Remembers it.

"Sounds like the best kind of partnership."

Pam comes over and sits on the bed beside her.

[protect_and_survey]

"I'm lucky." She knows it very, very well. And now she's going to press her luck, chin raised despite the way nerves are making her heart beat near out of her chest.

"But somehow I don't think you brought me here to talk about Fitz."

[lazy_but_loyal]

"Clever girl."

She smiles, her eyes narrowing like a cat's.

"You might want to take--" (she gestures to the top half of Jemma's outfit) "--this off. It could get a little messy."

[protect_and_survey]

"Right." She can understand that, even blood draws with hypodermic needles get messy sometimes, if someone flinches at just the wrong moment. This... won't be with needles.

She shrugs out of her sweater and undoes the buttons of her shirt with shaky fingers, made clumsy with entirely too much adrenaline.

"Y... you said it would hurt?"

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam takes the sweater and neatly lays it aside. It's a cute but rather...utilitarian sweater. She gets a twinge. Just. Some kind of urge to raid Jemma's closet and give her a makeover.

"A bit. It's like any bite that punctures the skin. Some people have told me my bite stings. I probably didn't like them very much. But I'll be careful with you. Promise."

[protect_and_survey]

She shrugs her shirt off as well, just about as pale underneath of it as she is anywhere else. Sunbathing doesn't make it very high on Jemma's list of priorities.

What she's sort of wishing was a little higher on her list of priorities was packing some fancier bras on her trip, but honestly she thought she was going to spend the entirety of it elbow-deep in someone else's disaster of a study. She packed for comfort, not style.

[lazy_but_loyal]

Sunbathing is also not very high on Pam's list.

Pam watches Jemma as the shirt comes off, and she smiles, taking the garment as well and laying it over the sweater.

"Now, you? Have an adorable figure. I bet you'd look fabulous in something leather."

She sweeps her hair away from her neck, her cool fingers brushing against her skin.

[protect_and_survey]

"That's not very practical for the lab environment." She protests, but it's breathless. Jemma whimpers, caught right on the edge of losing her nerve altogether.

[lazy_but_loyal]

She sweeps the palm of her hand down her bare back and leans in close, her mouth near her ear.

"Oh, sugar," she purrs, her breath oddly cool, "you've gotta think outside the lab once in a while."

And she kisses her, lightly, just under her ear at her pulsepoint. Pam's lips are also cool, but soft, as she follows the smooth slope of her jaw.

"If at anytime you want me to stop...I probably won't. But tell me anyway."

She smirks between kisses.

[protect_and_survey]

"I..." Her hands are tentative, delicate, searching more for a point of reference (reassurance) than anything else. "You said you'd tell me how...?"

[lazy_but_loyal]

Pam raises her head, and cupping Jemma's cheek, turns her face toward her.

Parting her red lips to expose her incisors, her fangs suddenly come down with an odd-sounding click, like a tiny snap of bone. They're very white, conical-shaped, and dangerously sharp.

"This is how, honey."

[protect_and_survey]

"Oh wow..." She's forgotten to be afraid, faced with this new variation on morphology. "They're gorgeous."

[lazy_but_loyal]

...Well, that reaction was unexpected.

And she smiles, her fangs stark and white against the red of her lips.

"Why, thank you, sweetheart."

She sounds genuinely flattered.

[protect_and_survey]

"Are they hollow? There's a design, well, similar, but not really, amongst the pit vipers and adders, but they all have hollow fangs, very fine, to inject venom - these look quite a bit more sturdy, more like a carnivorous mammal, but there's nothing there with a similar retractable design."

The babbling is back, but this one is full of 'the universe is awesome!' rather than nerves.

[lazy_but_loyal]

The girl really is amusing.

But she shakes her head, sweeping the pad of her thumb over the corner of Jemma's mouth.

"Not hollow. No venom. We're our own special kind of carnivore."

And she leans in to press her lips against hers. Maybe to keep her from babbling. Maybe to let her feel how dangerous it is to kiss someone with very sharp teeth.

[protect_and_survey]

There's a soft hum of appreciation, her heart rate picking up for a different reason than the fear she's neglected to remember again.

Perhaps she has so little luck back home because no one's tried to seduce her with a stack of technical journals.