Lincoln never wanted to die despite whatever Jemma had said about him having a death wish. Even in his darkest hours, filled with self-loathing, and anger, and cheap alcohol, desperately wishing to get rid of that emptiness inside of him, he never thought about ending his life. He didn't want to die – but he didn't lie to Daisy either: it did feel right. He thought he would die in a bar fight, too drunk to even realize it, or in a Hydra base, being experimented on by evil scientists, or in a crossfire during the mission for SHIELD he wouldn't want to be on. But this – saving the world, saving Daisy – this was something he was okay with.
Elena's cross flew out of his hand, just like in Daisy's vision, and Lincoln knew he had a few seconds to live left.
He had a pretty shitty life full of shitty decisions, but… He did good at the end. Right? He tried, he really tried to make up for his mistakes, helped Inhumans and cured humans… Maybe dying for them was finally enough. Dying for her definitely was.
Lincoln felt bad about leaving Daisy, especially after what Hive did to her. But he believed Hive when he said he would never make her fully happy anyway. She deserved so much better than him. She was beautiful, and strong, and smart, and amazing, and a genius hacker, and a powerful Inhuman. He was… well, the haircut. Thank you, James. Daisy was supposed to be with someone worthy of her. Maybe Coulson would introduce her to Captain America one day… He just wished she would be happy. That was all he ever wanted for her. Even if not with him.
God, he loved her so much.
Lincoln took a deep breath and closed his eyes, ready to meet the inevitable.
"I love you, Daisy," he whispered quietly.
"Better tell her that in person," a sudden voice broke the silence.
His eyes snapped open and he saw a teenager in front of him. A weird choice of his brain to hallucinate a strange kid in his final moment.
"What the…"
"Come on, we gotta get out of here, fast! Hold tight".
The teenager put something on his wrist and everything went white.
Daisy was sitting on her bed staring numbly at the white walls. She was allowed to leave the cell but she couldn't come back to her room. She tried once, but saw his sweater on the floor – exactly where she threw it herself while impatiently ridding him of his clothes the night before everything went to hell. She shivered and rubbed her neck as the memories of his lips on her skin and hands all over her body flooded her mind. She didn't know how much longer she could do this. She just needed him. So bad. Her craving for Lincoln's presence was stronger than for whatever Hive infected her with.
Daisy didn't know what to do. She wanted to drink herself up to unconsciousness when they got back to the base, but the first sip of alcohol made her sick. Lincoln wouldn't approve this way of filling the void. He wasn't there to judge but still…
Her vision blurred again and lowered her head on her hands. How could she even still cry? It's been five days and her tears never ended.
"Please," she croaked, not knowing who she was talking to or what she was begging for. "Please, oh my God, please make it stop, please, make it stop, make it stop, I can't take it anymore…"
Daisy fell silent as she heard someone knock.
"Hey, Tremors," Mack called quietly, looking at her through the window in the module. "May I come in? I brought you something".
She just nodded and the door slid opened. He entered the room with a food tray.
"I'm not hungry".
"You need to eat something," he said gently. "When was the last time you ate?"
"Yesterday?" Daisy shrugged. "Or the day before, I don't know. Who cares?"
Mack sighed.
"Okay. I'll just leave it here".
"Thanks".
He put the tray on the table. She didn't move. Mack looked at her carefully but kept quiet. She knew how he felt – she couldn't find words when Rosalind died either. There was nothing she could do that would've made Coulson feel better. Just like there was nothing for her now.
"Do you need anything else?" Mack asked awkwardly.
"Lincoln," she snapped and he winced. "Sorry. That wasn't… I just…"
"It's okay," he shook his head. "Don't apologize. I cannot even imagine what you're feeling".
"I hope you'll never know. How's Elena?" she asked, suddenly remembering that the other Inhuman was badly hurt and she hadn't even made sure she was okay.
"She's doing better," Mack nodded. "Look, Daisy…"
He stopped midsentence when they heard a loud noise. Something's happened. People were shouting: multiple "Oh my God!"'s and "Call the doctors!" and "Stop the bleeding!" and then Jemma was calling Lincoln's name. Daisy's heart was beating somewhere in her throat and she couldn't move. She misheard, or misunderstood, or Jemma went crazy, Lincoln was dead, it wasn't possible, he was blown up in the friggin space, he couldn't be here, oh God, please, please be here… She couldn't hope, she wasn't allowed to hope, this would destroy her later, and Lincoln was dead and was not coming back. Why had Jemma called his name?!
She looked at Mack who seemed as shocked as she was. The voices wouldn't shut up.
"Stay here," he told her and hurried out of the room.
It felt like he was absent for weeks, but Daisy couldn't bring herself to get up. If Lincoln wasn't there, she wouldn't survive it. When Mack finally came back she stopped breathing.
"Come on, Tremors, you'll want to see this".
"Mack?" she prompted, waiting for confirmation, because whatever he'd just said did not answer the question.
And he smiled.
"He's here. He's alive".
The crowd parted when she ran into the living room and she saw him. Two agents had already put him on a hospital bed following Jemma's instructions. She tried to say something but Daisy ignored her.
"Lincoln," she whispered unbelievingly and made her way to him.
He was pale and sweaty, barely conscious, with blood still seeping from his side. She took his hand and felt him trying to squeeze her fingers in return.
"Dai…sy," he rasped weakly and she shook her head.
"Shh, don't try to talk," Daisy said gently and brought his hand to her lips. "You'll be okay, Lincoln".
"But I need to… tell you," he was staring at her intently, fighting to stay awake. "I need to…"
"I love you," she blurted out suddenly.
She'd never said it to anyone in her life and that – in sobs, in front of all those people, while he was almost dying – was definitely not how she planned to tell him for the first time. Not that she cared – she got to tell him. She thought she never would, but she did. Because he was here. Alive.
"Oh my God," Daisy laughed hysterically and buried her face in his neck. "I love you. I love you. I love you…"
It was like she said it once and could not stop anymore, whispering those words against his skin again and again.
His hand slipped out of her grasp and he circled his arm around her waist, pressing her closer to him.
"I love you so much…" he said and she thought she could her tears in his voice.
"Daisy," Jemma put a hand on her shoulder.
"No," she said refusing to let him go.
"Daisy, please," Simmons pressed. "We need to treat his wound. I'll call you when we finish and he'll be all yours".
"Okay," she sighed nodding against his neck. She pulled away slightly and brushed a light kiss against Lincoln's lips. It was hardly enough for her to believe he'd really come back to her, but she'll just have to wait until he recovers. They had all the time in the world now.
The medics rolled his bed out of the living room and Daisy felt her knees giving up. Clearly exhaustion and lack of sleep caught up with her. Someone put their hand around her shoulder, steadying her, and she saw May when she turned her head.
"Come on, you need to sit down," she said leading her to the armchair.
"May," Daisy swallowed a lump in her throat. "May. I'm not going crazy, am I?"
"No, you're not".
"He's really here?"
"He is," the woman smiled slightly.
"How is it possible?"
"We don't know yet" Fitz appeared in front of her carrying a glass of water in one hand and two weird-looking bracelets in the other. "I mean, obviously that guy used some kind of a teleporting device to bring Lincoln here, but we have to wait till he wakes up".
"What guy?" Daisy furrowed her brow in confusion.
"Oh, right, he was the one who saved Lincoln".
She followed his gaze and saw a kid, hardly older then eighteen, lying on the couch. He was wearing a white t-shirt, jeans and converses – nothing that screamed "I can pull someone out from space and bring them to a secret underground base". He had short dark hair and pale skin, and Daisy was sure she had never seen him before in her life.
"Who is he?"
"We don't know".
"Well is he okay?"
"Yeah, his vitals are fine, he just passed out".
Daisy emptied the glass of water Fitz gave her and put it on the coffee table. She noticed her hands were shaking.
"Are you okay, Tremors?" Mack asked with concern.
"Yeah," she smiled weakly. "It's true, right? Lincoln…"
"Lincoln is back, he's in the med bay," he replied patiently.
"Thanks. I just needed to check".
The kid started to stir and all the attention turned to him. He blinked a few times, sat up, and his eyes widened as he looked around.
"Oh shit, that really happened," he muttered under his breath. "How long was I out?"
"About twenty minutes," Fitz said. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine" the teenager shook his head. "Time travelling makes me a little dizzy".
"I'm sorry… Time traveling?!"