Chapter Text
Bobbi had a word stuck in her head. Tumorigenesis. It wasn’t unusual for Bobbi to imprint on different words, especially if they sounded particularly pleasing when rolling around in her head. She’d been absorbed in reading about the genetic and epigenetic causes of cancer for the past week. It had been a long time since Bobbi had been devoted to a research lab, but her old love for the work never died. It was good to keep herself updated on the latest findings in the field in the event that SHIELD ever collapsed again and she needed to find new work. Plus, she found the stuff enthralling. Hunter did not.
“Can you please stop mumbling that word?” Hunter looked at her over his half-eaten sandwich.
“Tumorigenesis?” She had not been aware she was mumbling it at all, but who could blame her? What an interesting word. It sounded like an unfolding. A blooming. Of something deadly, unwelcome. Carcinogenesis meant the same thing, of course, but it didn’t have quite the same mouthfeel.
“You haven’t touched your food at all,” he said to her. Oh. She looked down at her full tray of food, which did not seem at all appealing. She was not hungry. She was thinking about proliferation and apoptosis and what happened when the balance between the two failed. “What’s going on up there?”
“You wouldn’t be interested,” she told him, dutifully dunking a baby carrot in ranch and snapping it between her teeth because he was still watching her. “Science stuff. Oncology."
He raised up his palms in defeat. “I love you, Bob, but you know it’ll go over my head. Maybe you can talk with Fitz and Simmons about it? They’re always down for a chat. I think they look up to you.”
She made a face. “Don’t make me sound old, Hunter.” She looked down at her chicken wrap. She didn’t realize until now that it had cherry tomatoes in it. She despised tomatoes. Their texture- and flavor- were never consistent. Hunter sighed softly.
He folded his hands together and rested his chin on them, looking up at her. “You’re not going to eat it, are you?”
“Save it for me?” She gave him an apologetic grin and kissed the top of his forehead before dashing off toward the lab. Her thoughts were building, building up in her head, and she felt like she was going to explode if she didn’t spill them out to someone.
Fitz and Simmons were in the middle of an argument about something when she burst in. They immediately fell silent.
“Oh, hello!” Jemma said, grinning in a strained manner.
“Tumorigenesis!” Bobbi blurted.
“Sorry?” Fitz’s head tilted slightly.
Bobbi stilled herself against the tabletop in the center of the lab and took a deep breath before speaking. “Look, I’m not religious, but you have to admit there is a terrible and magnificent order regarding genetic causes of cancer. I mean, take the Phildelphia chromosome for example. The erroneous reciprocal translation is precise enough to code for the hybrid protein BCR-ABL1 that causes uncontrollable proliferation. You would think that somehow our genome would evolve against this occurrence, but it happens frequently enough to be given its own goddamn nickname!”
Both Simmons and Fitz gaped at her. She couldn't stop herself.
“I was reading an article about the cause of myeloproliferative neoplasms the other day, and I found myself interested in JAK2, which isn’t even a receptor-binding protein, but fusions with or mutations of this one little tyrosine kinase can cause clonal eosinophilia forms of leukemia and so many myeloproliferative disorders. But also, its N-terminal is essential for Golgi processing and expression of the erythropoietin receptor, so it’s not like you can just knock it out of the genome without consequence. It’s so infuriating and intriguing all at the same time!”
They were both still looking at her like her skin had turned blue. She ducked her head, feeling self-conscious.
“Okay.” She slapped her thighs. “That was all, folks. Thanks.” She turned to walk away, but Simmons stopped her.
“How long have you been holding that one in?” There was a tremor of amusement in her voice.
Bobbi's eyes narrowed in thought. “Mmm… I’ve been researching for about a week. I know it's a waste of time, given that the subject matter is not remotely close to anything we do here, but I can't help myself.”
Jemma gave a sympathetic chuckle. “Well, hyperfixations aren’t always pertinent to daily life, unfortunately.”
Bobbi's eyebrows raised. “A- hyperwhat now?”
A blush immediately spread across Jemma’s face, and she gave Fitz a furtive look. He returned it with equal intensity, widening his eyes at her. Simmons turned back to Bobbi.
“Umm… never mind. It’s normal to have a hobby, is what I meant. Your whole life doesn’t have to be about your work.”
"Yeah." Bobbi sighed. "I just wish I could have a hobby that other people were interested in hearing about."
"Well, luckily you’re not the only biochemist here! I, personally, am very interested to hear what you’ve found!”
“Yeah, and I- I am too!” Fitz said, raising his hand for good measure. “I don’t have quite a background in biology like Jemma, but I’m happy to listen. Especially if you’ll listen to my rants too.”
Bobbi grinned. “It’s only fair.” She let out a long exhale. “God, I forgot how nice it is to be around like-minded individuals.”
Jemma and Fitz shared another long look that she didn’t understand.
Bobbi’s watch beeped, and she groaned. “Ugh, lunch is over. I’ve got to run. Talk to you guys later?”
They both gave her a thumbs-up that was way too enthusiastic.
Weird, she thought. But she appreciated their willingness to listen.