Memories of us
Summary: It was supposed to be a simple Welcome Wagon mission
A/N: Written for the Cousy RomCom Challenge, prompt; 'one of them has an accident and gets amnesia'
It was supposed to be a simple Welcome Wagon mission – the gifted person had reached out to them, asking for help, and shouldn't that had warned them?
The last thing Daisy hears is Coulson's voice, calling her name, as she pushes him out of harm's way, shielding him, while also trying to repel the attack.
"Daisy? Daisy, can you hear me?" a male voice called softly.
She didn't want to open her eyes, didn't want to acknowledge the world, just stay here in this warm darkness and the softness of those hands.
"Why isn't she waking up?" the male voice asked, worry ringing in its tone.
"She took a hit from a gifted person, who turned out to not be the one we expected. We have no idea what their power was. She is healthy, as far as we can tell, all tests came back good. It's either her body needing more time, or the gifted put her in a deep sleep." a female voice said.
A hand held gently one of hers, while another carressed her cheeck.
She sighed.
"Daisy?" there was hope in his voice.
She frowned, though, because suddenly she realised she didn't know the voice nor the name it kept using.
"Who's Daisy?" she groggily asked. "Who are you? And where the hell am I?" her frown deepened as she opened her eyes to an unfamiliar place and to unknown people, standing close to her.
The man at her bedside froze. He looked at the tall, blonde woman near him with a lost look on his face, that she would have felt bad for, if she wasn't worried about her well-being and the situation she was in.
"Skye?" the woman asked, carefully.
"How do you know my name?" Skye demanded.
The man drew a breath.
"What's the last thing you remember?" he asked quietly.
"Went to sleep in the back of Cloud. Where's Cloud? What did you do to my van?"
"Cloud's safe. He's in the garage, as he always is." the man said. "I'm...sorry. You...you had an accident." he let go of her hand and got to his feet. "I need to go." he said, to no one in particular.
"What." Skye breathed out, more confused now.
"I'm Bobbi Morse." the blonde smiled. "Nice meeting you again, rockstar."
"Again?"
"You've been with us since 2012. Well, 2013 officially, and you've worked with Coulson – that's the guy that was here – the longest."
"What's the year?" Skye asked, fearful.
"2017." Bobbi cringed.
Skye let out a breath and closed her eyes, suddenly very tired.
"Five years." she said. "I'm missing five years."
"They'll come back. We can catch the guy who attacked you, get some answers." Bobbi said. "We already have a team out."
The day passed with Skye – Daisy – meeting again people who know her. People she knows and has been working with, everyday, for at least three years. Relearning everything about herself, too.
She is a SHIELD agent, Miles and her broke up, she found her parents, she has superpowers.
"People call you 'Quake'." Sam said.
"Sam is one of your biggest fans." Billy, his twin said.
"No one's bigger a fan than Coulson." Hunter, Bobbi's boyfriend, said. "The guy's locked in your office since he found out you lost your head, by the way."
"The guy you brought in..."
"Is your attacker. Don't worry, May's on him." Mack said, sitting down beside her.
"And why's Coulson locked up?"
The people around her exchanged looks.
"You two are pretty close." Bobbi said. "And it took him some time to adjust to calling you Daisy. So it's a double shock for him, in a way. He's also probably trying not to burden you with his panic attack."
"Should I...?" she pointed towards the stairs that led upstairs.
Hunter shrugged.
"Probably would do you both good." he said. "Finally get all that stuff out."
"Stop meddling." Boobi said, lightly slapping him upside the head.
"Whot? May and Piper are hitting it off, Mack and Elena are engaged, you and me are going well, 's jus' those two bullheads that're left dancin' around each other."
Skye – Daisy – got to her feet.
"At least, I'd like to talk to him."
"No one's stopping you, love." Hunter said.
"We'll let you know what May finds out about the guy." Bobbi said, pointing towards the interrogation room.
She went up the stairs and down the hall towards the glass door that led to the office.
"Hey." she called, leaning against the door.
"Daisy." Coulson said, looking up. He cringed. "Sorry, Skye, sorry."
"It's ok." she shook her head. "Apparently, that's my real name, so..." she shrugged.
"But, you haven't found that out yet. Not according to your memories."
Skye smiled at that.
"Are you going to keep calling 'Daisy' and then 'Skye' when I do get my memories back?"
"I...I'm sorry, about that. I...we had come out of a really testing situation and the name change made me feel like I was losing something. I tried not to burden you with my foolishness."
"I can understand, I think. If we're close, changing my name would be a shock. To both of us."
"It's your name. It's you. I have no right to mess this up. Because it's important to you." he shook his head.
Skye sat down at the couch and patted the spot next to her.
"Talk to me? How we met, what we did, what do we do on our free time? Why does Hunter want us to hook up so much?"
Coulson groaned.
"No one should have let Hunter near you." he said, sitting down. "We are close and when he came aboard, we were not talking – because I was being an old fool – and it had gotten in his head that we, too, were having an off-time, like him and Bobbi."
"But we're not like that." she said.
Coulson wondered if he imagined the disappointment in her voice.
"No, we're not."
Skye hummed.
"So. Tell me everything." she smiled, sitting sideways so she could look at him.
And Coulson told her; how they met, their first year, about HYDRA and the alien map. He told her about her powers, about Andrew and her parents. He told her about her team and Hive, about how she left and came back. About the ghosts, about Robbie, and about the LMDs and AIDA's Framework. He told her about the future and how they saved it. He told her the good and the bad.
It had been over two hours since she had come in to talk to him.
"You really like me a lot, huh?" she asked with a grin.
"It would be strange if I didn't."
"You two still alive in here?" a new voice interupted them.
"May." Coulson looks up. "What -?"
"I hope you can hold out for a week, because that's the limit."
"So...in about a week, I'll have my memories back?" Skye asked to make sure.
"Yes." May said, looking at her. "Never thought I'd ever get to call you 'Skye' again. I'm glad you're otherwise well."
"Thanks."
"You're not getting out of morning training because you have amnesia."
"What."
"I'm expecting you, Elena and Joey to keep your training. Don't worry; they'll show you the ropes." she smiled at the face Skye was making and left.
"What." Skye ehoed, staring at the empty spot and then at Coulson.
"You'll be fine." he smiled.
"Are you always like that? With me? Believe I can do anything?" she asked after a moment.
"I know you can do anything."
"You're the first person to tell me that."
"I know." he smiled softly. "It's a sad privillege, because you deserve more people telling you that. But I am glad I get to tell you as often as possible."
"And I never made a move on you?" she wondered.
"I don't think so?" he replied. "I mean, why would you? You could have anyone, so why me?"
"You're kidding me, right?" she looked at him as if he was crazy. "Have you even seen you? Not to mention that the way you treat me – from what you told me and for the time we've been here – it's almost the equivalent of royalty. I am amazed by my self-restraint."
Coulson blushed.
"If you are still interested, after you regain your memories, I won't say no." he said quietly.
"Anyone else in your place, would have tried to start something now."
Coulson looked appaled at the idea.
"Daisy, you're missing a considerable amount of memories, years of your life. I can't..."
"And you wonder why I'd want to." she smiled. "Can we cuddle? I need a cuddle."
"Yes, of course, come here." he opened his arms.
"You called me 'Daisy'." she said nestled in his arms.
"Sorry."
"It's fine. I like the way you say it." she told him.
"Skye." he breathed out.
"I like how you say that, too."
"Do you want to go to your room? Did they show you the way?"
"Yeah, but I like it here. It's warm. And strangely familiar. I'd rather be somewhere that feels like home."
"Okay."
DJ~~~~~PC~~~~~DJ~~~~~PC
It wasn't unusual to see them together most of the time after that. Actually, they more often than not thought she had found her memories faster than anticipated, because Daisy and Coulson were doing their routine.
"Sorry, not yet." she'd smile saddly.
It's also more common to see, or hear, them disagree.
Daisy, Skye, she herself has trouble on the name, had been reading old mission reports, the old SHIELD handbook of rules, and her and Coulson would disagree on different points, Coulson mostly amused by it.
"Why are you smiling?" she frowned.
"It's...endearing. You make the same arguements as when we first went through this. It's not that I expected anything else, but I also never thought we'd have the same discussions, about things we agreed and changed."
"I always forget. You told me that again, didn't you?"
"Hey." he said, softly, sitting beside her. "It's okay. It's just been a couple of days. We'll get through this."
"Thanks, Coulson."
"You know what? Call me Phil. You will probably be mad at me for that when you remember."
"Why's that?"
"Well, it took me two years to give in and ask you to call me Phil. And here I am, two days in our new first meeting, asking you to call me by my first name."
"I don't think I'll be mad at you for that." she replied.
"No, you are right." he nodded. "Merciless teasing is more like what I should expect."
Daisy hummed.
"You do look teasable." she grinned.
He smiled softly.
DJ~~~~~PC~~~~~DJ~~~~~PC
"What if I never remember?" she asked him on day three.
"We'll get through that together, too. And...I know it's selfish of me, but not remembering the bad things, even if only for a while... I always wanted to take them from you, so you didn't have to carry those burdens."
"But it's those hardships that made me who I am."
Coulson pulled her to a hug.
"I... We'll find a way, ok?"
"I hope so." she mumbled against his shoulder.
DJ~~~~~PC~~~~~DJ~~~~~PC
The rest of the team had taken up double the amount of missions than usual, because Daisy didn't feel like she could be of any help. She had instictual control of her powers, meaning her body knew not to tear itself and the world apart by accident, but the mind hadn't caught up to them being there.
She did work from the base, though, as their comms officer, reverting to her hacking skills to help them out.
Coulson, too, staid back with her.
"You don't have to stay with me, you know." she told him.
"I know. I want to. Besides, you are my field partner. We'll go back out on the field together, Daisy."
She shook her head, a soft, surprised look on her face.
"Are you always like this with me?"
"How?" he frowned a little, worried.
"No, it's a good thing. You're very conciderate."
His frown deepened.
"Why wouldn't I be?" he asked, sounding as if the idea of being anything else than conciderate, was unthinkable.
Skye only smiled.
DJ~~~~~PC~~~~~DJ~~~~~PC
"D-Skye?"
"Mmm?"
"What are you doing here?"
"Couldn't sleep. Walked around a bit. Feet brought me here." she mumbled against the pillow.
"You should have brought a blanket or something..." Coulson said, taking off his jacket and throwing it over her.
"Smells nice." she sighed.
Coulson blushed.
DJ~~~~~PC~~~~~DJ~~~~~PC
Her memory comes back in pieces, slowly.
It's day six and she walked in their office, with a frown, asking what happened to the Bus and where on earth they were.
"You had an accident." he said softly. "A Gifted with a memory power."
"What happened?"
"Amnesia."
"Shit."
"It's ok." Coulson walked to her, let his hand rest lightly on her shoulder. "By the end of tomorrow, you should be fine."
"What if I'm not, AC?"
Coulson smiled.
"You haven't called me that in a while." he said. "You're getting there."
By the end of the day, she had remembered HYDRA and Ward and Coulson told her immediatelly that he was dead and not in their basement.
"Hey, you're talking to me." she realised.
"Yeah. I am sorry. I was an idiot."
"And I am not wearing my heart monitor."
"You don't need it."
"So what was up with you?"
"I was carving an alien map."
"Are you ok?"
"Thanks to you not leaving my side."
"I'm missing a lot of things, don't I?"
"Less than you did yesterday."
Skye closed her eyes, and sighed, sitting down heavily.
"It's a weird week?" she asked.
"Somewhat." he smiled, sitting beside her.
"I'm sorry. You probably need me out there and I can't help with my memory loss."
"It's ok. You took a much needed rest."
Skye leaned on his shoulder.
DJ~~~~~PC~~~~~DJ~~~~~PC
The tremors woke them all up.
Coulson ran straight to Daisy's bunk, before the rest of their team could get out of their beds, and burst in.
"Daisy, hey, you're safe." he said, as he climbed on the bed, gathering Daisy in his arms.
"Coulson..." she cried. "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. Your hand..." she said, among her sobs. "I'm so sorry."
"I got a prosthetic with cool gadgets. See?" he showed it to her.
"But...it's my fault, Coulson. If my mother..."
"It's not your fault. Nor it is your mother's. I don't blame either of you." he said, seriously.
That made Daisy cry harder.
"I lost them both. I berely found them and then I lost them again."
"I'm so sorry, Daisy." he said, softly, leaning down to place a light kiss on the top of her head.
"Promise me that I won't lose you. I can't lose you, Phil."
"Not if you and I have a say in it, you won't lose me." he said. "And even when I think I don't have a say in it."
"I...remember so many things. Why all these things happened to us? What did we do?"
"We did what was right. And sometimes that means the bad guys try to hurt us. But sometimes, it can be good guys that react, too, believing through the experience of their own hardships, that we are wrong. And maybe we might be, sometimes."
"'The way to hell is paved with good intensions'?"
"Something like that?" he said. "Not really, though."
"It's not like we don't fix what we break, right?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks for sticking this out with me."
"For you, anything." he smiled. "You remember...?"
"Up to the guy trying to hit you and me pushing you out of the way, yeah." Daisy nodded. "All the past five years are here. I'm me again."
"You always were you."
"And sorry, about crying all over you."
"Please don't be sorry. You can always cry all over me, anytime you need to."
"You're the most supportive boyfriend I ever had and you're not even my boyfriend." she shook her head. "Kinda want to rectify that."
"I was always yours." Coulson said, looking at her lovingly.
"Oh." Daisy breathed, and rached up to kiss him.
He didn't push, but he kissed back, tightening slightly his hold on her on reflex.
A knock on the door brought them back to the present.
"Are you two lovebirds coming for breakfast, or should I bring breakfast to bed?" Hunter called.
"Hunter!" Bobbi hissed.
"No, wait. Are you two decent?" Hunter asked, loudly, not caring who heared.
There was a thumb and a moan of pain – more than likely exaggerated, knowing Hunter – and another knock.
"Breakfast's ready, if you two want to join." Piper said through the door.
"Thanks, Piper!" Daisy called.
They heared feet scuffling away, and then Daisy looked at him. And laughed. Coulson chuckled.
Daisy kissed him again, sloppily, smiling, drinking his laughter. Coulson ran his fingers through her hair.
"I love you so much." he sighed into the kiss.
"You kinda told me." she smiled. "No universe where you'd leave me behind, huh?"
"Mmhmm. It's the truth, though. There is no universe where I'd leave you behind."
"Thanks. Love you, too."
"Fucking Finally!" Hunter shouted from outside. "Guys! We're having a party! They finally kissed and made up! Mom and Dad are back together!"
"HUNTER!" the collective shouts by ten people echoed through the halls of the base.
Daisy and Coulson stared at each other, before Daisy broke down in laughter, hiding her face in his chest, while Coulson chuckled, head thrown back.
"This is going to be a little awkward, isn't it?" he chuckled.
"You mean Hunter?" Coulson nodded. "We can always put him on inventory duty." she said. "But, I think the others will deal with him."
"What do you want to do?"
"You know, breakfast in bed doesn't sound too bad."
"Do you really want me to leave, though?" Coulson smirked.
"Such a hard choise..." she smiled against his lips.
"Maybe in a minute?" he asked against her lips.
"Mmhmm."
They didn't get up in time for breakfast in the end.