Daisy tried moving her arms for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last five minutes. She was convinced she was swimming…in Jell-O…orange Jell-O. It made her giggle. Giggling made her hurt. She never liked Jell-O, but she like to see it wiggle and once she heard that people were going to wrestle in it. A boy in her sixth grade class tried to get everyone in the school to donate a box of the stuff so he could add it to his backyard pool and try diving in to it. She never got to find out if it worked.

But now here she was in her own pool…er, lake…pond…something full of it and she didn't like it very much. 'Too restricting,' she told her self in spy-speak. 'So hard to move my arms and legs and soooooo sticky.' She didn't like sticky…dirty, grimy, even greasy was okay but not sticky. Yuck!

She really wanted to get out…out of this sticky mess but no matter how hard she tried she could not move forward or backward for that matter. Geez, maybe it wasn't Jell-O…maybe it was glue…yeah…crazy…no, no that other stuff…gorilla glue. She tried again to move her arms…nothing. It was so damn frustrating and now…oh gawd…now she was crying…again.

What the hell was it with all the tears? Maybe it was the gawd awful pain in her head, not a headache her whole head hurt…even her face…eyes…cheeks…nose…oh, even her ears hurt. Was it possible for your eyelashes to hurt? She could not ever remember ever having such a terrible ache in her head. The ringing buzz in her ears wasn't helping either. She knew her eyes were closed because she kept trying to open them…with no luck. The pain kept them glued shut. (yes, that damn glue again…must have splashed it in her eyes…)

She wanted to pull herself into a tight little ball and allow her head to just implode…yes, implode and not the opposite…but she couldn't move. It felt like it was sucking into itself and she almost laughed thinking of that weird scene at the end of Beetlejuice. No…no laughing, no talking…do not even breathe loudly because it would just intensify the pain.

Pain…aggravated nerves…that's what they said. Who are 'they' and why do 'they' keep saying things and why was she thinking such ridiculous thoughts. Pain it was the pain's fault…her fault. If she just did as she was told…just followed directions…orders…if she was good she wouldn't be in such pain…no…no…she wasn't a kid anymore…was she? No! She wasn't a kid. Oh gawd…why wouldn't this pain go away…why wouldn't someone just make it stop?

She tried again to lift her arm, to press her hand to the pain but she remembered the Jell-O…that damn orange Jell-O gorilla glue sticky crap that held her in place. And then another pain…something bit her arm…no…stabbed her arm...and she was crying…again.

"Shhhhh"

She tried to turn her head toward the sound. What was it? Air…wind…a tea kettle…no, that would whistle.

"Shhhhh"

There it was again. It was quiet. It sounded calm. It was close. She could almost feel it. It was warm and why was she so cold. But the cold was good…and the warm was better. And her fingers were moving…but she wasn't moving them…how? The warm shush was moving them. It was slipping something around them. She wanted to pull away and she didn't want to pull away. She wanted to feel the warm shush…it didn't take away the pain, but it made her feel… feel like she could get out of the Jell-O…the sticky gorilla orange Jell-O. She hated orange Jell-O.

She wanted someone to take the pain away…the shush squeezed her fingers and…something touched her cheek…something wiped the tears.

"Shhhhhh…shhhh"

Daisy mouthed a word…a word she couldn't say…couldn't say because her voice would crack the last part of her skull that was holding her mind intact. She knew it would so she wouldn't even whisper.

The shush was singing, something quiet and soft. She couldn't really understand what it said, but it helped her…just helped her be quiet as well…quiet and still…still and not fighting to move through that damn gorilla sticky orange Jell-O. She hated orange.

She mouthed the word again but knew she was alone. There was no one to answer. No one to come even if she could call out, even if her head did crack. 'Mom', it was just a word, not a person…but something in her desperately wanted her mom…no not her mom…not that monster. She cried harder and a sob escaped, a real sob…she heard it before she felt the crushing pain. Pain that started behind her ears and crackled through her cheek bones and into her eyes.

She pulled her feet free of the sticky Jell-O, but something…or was it someone pulled them back and again something bit her…bit her hip. She cried harder…pulled harder and took a deep breath.

"Mommy!"

The word leaked out in a weak stream…in a wish…a prayer…a brokenhearted plea for the person who never existed yet Daisy's heart still ached for her. She convinced herself after that woman who bore her tried to kill her that she had no need for anyone to fill that void…but it was not true. Especially now…when the pain…and that awful Jell-O orange gorilla sticky was probably going to kill her…now…just this once she wanted to unchain her heart and need her mother. Just this once she wanted to have someone love her and need her and want her more than anyone else in the world…as much as she wanted her mom.

"It hurts so much…oh, mommy…it hurts…" she cried and squeezed the warm shush tightly. It squeezed back. She didn't care that her voice made it worse. She didn't care if her head cracked open because in her mind it already had.

"It's going to be okay. Shhhh, I'm here, right here."

The shush had a voice. It was speaking…speaking to her…close to her…holding her hand…wiping her tears.

"Mommy…mom?"

"It's okay. I'm here. Shhhh, shhhh, let the medicine work. You need to be still, rest…"

The shush started to pull away. She wouldn't let it. She held on tighter.

"No…no…don't go…mom…mom, please don't go."

The tears were running down her cheeks into her ears. The sobs coming so close together she was having trouble breathing.

"I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. Shhhh, please, baby….just let the medicine help you."

"My head is broken." Daisy sobbed. She wanted to open her eyes but they were still full of that awful sticky orange jorilla goo.

"Yes, tiānkōng, but Jemma is helping to fix it. You need to be still, you need to rest."

The shush was very close…close to her ear...no close to her face. Something soft on her eye… and on her other eye…something soft…the shush kissed her…twice…kissed her eyes. Kissed her head. Shushed her and started singing again…quiet and calm…called her tiānkōng…tea and kong…sky…

It was getting harder and harder to think…harder to cry…harder to fight the gicky jorange ello goo. The shush kept petting her throbbing head, wiping her tears and singing so softly…so softly that she barely felt the bite on her hip…barely felt the pain as she stopped fighting, stopped struggling and let the medicine help…because the shush asked.

Twenty hours later Daisy swam back to consciousness. She opened her eyes slowly and listened to the steady beeping of the monitors next to her bead. Raising her hand she carefully felt the large bandage that surrounded her head and tried to quell the panic raising in her gut.

"It looks worse than it is." Jemma smiled as she moved into her line of sight. "Actually it is more for protection than anything else." She moved from monitor to monitor checking and rechecking then turned and removed an empty bag from the IV infuser, replacing it with another. She stopped and looked directly at her. "You really had us worried." She squeezed her hand.

"You should drink." May's voice startled her coming from the opposite side of the bed. She held a glass of water with a straw and put it to the girl's lips. Daisy drank obiently.

"I…" her voice was raspy but May rested a finger against her lips and simply said.

"Shhhhh."

It all came back in a rush…the Jell-O…the crying…the pain…the desperate need…mom. Daisy felt the flush in her cheeks.

"It's okay. I'm right here." May smiled and squeezed her hand.

Jemma smiled and nodded at them both as she backed out the door.

"I'm sorry," Daisy whispered staring at her hand that was interlocked with her mentor's.

May snorted, "For being hurt?" She almost laughed as she squeezed the girl's hand again and shook it a bit.

Daisy shrugged her shoulders. "I had a weird dream."

"You need to be quiet or I'll have Simmons jab you with more knock out meds." May warned. The girl ducked her chin in a slight nod as Jemma re-entered the room carrying a small tray. She busied herself with machines and charts occasionally smiling back at her friend.

"You have very serious head injury, Daisy," the doctor began. "Your luck Angie's friend found you when he did or we might not have been able to help you. You have that huge bandage to protect the area where we had to remove a small piece of skull to relieve the swelling."

Daisy's eyes grew wide as she slowly reached up to touch her head. May gently took her hand back and patted it softly. "It's not like we'll leave a hole in your head," she smiled. "They'll put it back, just as soon as they're sure there's no more swelling."

"You'll have to take it easy for a while." Jemma was using her stern doctor voice. "And I really mean EASY."

Daisy squirmed a bit igniting the pain in her head that must have still been asleep. It woke with a vengeance and she closed her eyes to keep them from melting out of their sockets. "Mommy," squeaked out and May squeezed her hand.

"Okay, that's enough. Simmons?" May commanded and Daisy felt a sharp sting in her thigh before she felt Jemma at her side plugging something into the IV.

"A bit of morphine for the pain, you really need to rest." She smiled. "You'll sleep for a bit."

Daisy held fast to May's hand. "Don't go…"

May smiled and bent down kissing both the girl's eyes and then her head.

The medicines worked quickly and Daisy surrendered to the bliss whispering a wish, "Mom…"

"Sleep tiānkōng …I'll be here when you wake up."