Per usual, I own nothing - just having some fun with some characters I love. Hope you enjoy. If you have no idea what this "Prague" thing means in terms of this story, you should read the prior Prague fics - The Prague Solution, and The Prague Solution - a sequel.
And spoiler warnings for any and all things Marvel through Civil War and the end of AOS S3.
No one gives her the assignment. No one needs to. Natasha didn't need more than a single three-minute conversation with Melinda to know what had to be done.
There wasn't a lot she could do for the other people she loved. After she helped Steve break the jailed Avengers out of prison and got Clint home in one piece, they all went their separate ways. Safer that way. And Tony was off limits for now, even if she had slipped into his car one night and caught him alone to say thank you for keeping his word when it came to the Barton farm, Laura, and the kids.
And Bruce… he was still off the grid, hiding, ducking her whenever she got too close. It was frustrating as hell and her visits to the Playground to spar with Melinda had increased in frequency even if it was dangerous as hell to be hanging out with the new director of SHIELD when Black Widow was a wanted criminal.
Melinda laughed every time Nat suggested the director arrest her, use her to secure some serious cred with all the bigwigs in Washington D.C.
"When I start caring what they think, maybe I'll take you up on it."
It was Phil who'd called first, when the director's chair was still his, delivering a more direct command than she'd heard from him in years.
"May needs you to come in. It's bad."
But she'd been at the signing of the Accords, and then the world had caught on fire, and it was weeks before Nat finally got to a secure line and called.
"Prague?" she'd asked, already packed and ready to hop on the first plane.
"Too late for that," Melinda replied, and Nat felt her stomach drop to the floor.
"Andrew's dead. But he saved Daisy. Not that it matters, since she's disappeared."
It took fourteen hours, three airports, and two identities, but Natasha was in Melinda's office by the next morning. It didn't warm her heart to see that Director May was as good at hiding her feelings as Agent May had always been. Somehow it felt like her old friend and mentor had earned a pass… deserved to let her guard down a little at just the moment when she had to curl even deeper into the corners of the protective barrier.
So Natasha talked to people. She got a feel for things from Fitz and Simmons, who were thrilled to chat while they got a first-hand look at Natasha's custom batons. They were certified Tony Stark geeks, so a few stories in trade got her even more information. Then she chatted up Mack and YoYo over a bottle of top shelf Tequila. And then she called up her assets, put them to work, and waited.
The one person Nat didn't talk to about the mission was Phil. Because Phil was lost in the world somewhere, determined to find Daisy at any cost. Melinda was letting him look because he wasn't capable of doing anything else. And because, Natasha knew, once upon a time when Melinda had fallen apart, Phil had stepped aside and let her run as long and as far as she'd needed to in order to find her way home. He deserved the same, even if it was tearing Melinda's gut open to give it.
On the day she got her lead, Natasha was in San Diego, and she strolled along the beach at La Jolla in Prada sunglasses and Stuart Weitzman wedges, looking for all the world like a trophy wife with a very happy husband. When she joined a striking blonde outside a coffee shop, no one batted an eye. Two beautiful women having espresso together was about as common as breathing here… that's why she and Bobbi had picked it.
"How are they?"
Natasha didn't hide her worry as she picked up her coffee cup and took a sip.
"Frayed at the edges. And they miss you. They even miss Hunter."
Bobbi chuckled despite the furrow in her brow. "They must be in a bad way, then."
"May wants you back. She's got pardons in her safe. You should go home."
Bobbi sighed and nodded. "We want to. But someone's been on our tail. Want to make sure we're clear before we head in. And don't worry… Hunter's keeping whoever it is busy today."
Natasha laughed. "Me, worried? I was kind of hoping I could help you take them out. May's venting her frustration when we spar. Makes her harder to beat. And I really need to kick someone's ass."
Bobbi smiled. "Maybe this will help. Garnet Street. Pacific Beach. Regular hang out. Always ducks her head out between midnight and five a.m.
Natasha nodded, pulled out some cash for the bill, and stood.
"I hear she moves around a lot, so I better not waste time. And if you need help with that tail…"
"I've got you on speed dial."
Garnet Street was loud and busy and full of people who didn't care what anyone else was doing. Exactly the kind of place someone who lived under the radar wanted, even if Nat couldn't begin to fathom the why of what then newly infamous "Quake" was doing here.
She found her target in a dive bar that had clearly been recently "freshened up" to attract the tourist crowd. So far, epic fail. The place was full of locals who were already three or four drinks deep. The goth girl in the corner didn't so much as rate a notice from them. And the woman in question didn't look up when Natasha sat down at her table.
"You don't want me to have to ruin this fine establishment, do you?"
Natasha leaned back in her chair and waited for Daisy to finally make eye contact. It took longer than she expected. Melinda had trained the younger agent well.
"Not here to bring you in. That's not what the director wants."
"Funny, because she's got a team of agents hunting me everywhere I go."
"Or she's letting a friend do what he needs to do to keep his sanity. You seem to be doing just fine avoiding them, I see."
Daisy leaned forward, a little defiant, her nerves on edge.
"Tell May I'm not coming back."
Natasha leaned in then, showing this still young woman what real defiance looked like. She fought back a smile when Daisy retreated a few inches.
"If she wanted to force you back, you'd be back. If you think otherwise, you don't know anything about who Melinda May is."
She let Daisy sit with that a moment until the younger woman nodded and relaxed a bit.
"Then why are you here?"
"To tell you to pick up the damn phone. Because May might understand why you're doing this, and she might know there's no changing things right now. But she misses you."
Natasha saw the argument bubbling up even as Daisy looked for the words. And instead of waiting, she jumped back in.
"I don't care who gave birth to you. Or what biology says. You're on some vision quest, looking for yourself. Fine. But pick up the phone and call your mom. Because she needs to hear your voice."
The redhead jumped to her feet then, dropping a single sheet of paper on the table. She waited for Daisy to pick it up and read the information on it.
"Prague?"
"You're in trouble, you call that number, you say 'Prague.' One of us will come for you. Always."
She was three steps away before she heard Daisy's voice behind her.
"Why are you doing this?"
Nat stopped and turned back, leaning close to the dark-haired younger woman.
"Because we owe her. All of us. For everything she gave up so we could be who we are."
She's about to climb in the shower post Tai Chi when her phone rings. Melinda can't help but groan because any call coming in this early is one of three things: the world is on fire, Phil is falling apart, or her mother wants to complain about how long it's been since they saw each other.
But the caller ID says "unknown," which makes all those things feel impossible. And so Melinda answers, ready to be ambushed by just about anything.
"This is May."
"It's me."
Daisy's voice sounds timid and thready and Melinda wonders if she's been crying.
"It's you."
There's a long pause, and then Melinda hears her take in a breath.
"I'm not ready to come home."
"I know," she replies, sinking down onto the floor, her back pressed into the side of her bed.
"I want to, but I can't."
Melinda sighs, an old weight in her chest as she hears the familiar sounds of pain and loss and self-loathing in Daisy's voice.
"I understand. Home will be here when you're ready. Though maybe shaking the ground less would make it easier for you to stay hidden."
A chuckle. Melinda breathes easier at the whisper of air in her ear.
"I'm helping people. I know I doesn't always look like it, but I am."
"I know," Melinda says again. "Because I know who you are, Daisy. I haven't forgotten."
She doesn't add "even if you have" because it won't help. It never helped Melinda. Only time and distance and doing what she had to do ever helped. That's why she's letting Daisy go even though it takes a superhuman effort every day to maintain her resolve and not drag the younger woman back to base.
"You were right, you know?"
Melinda realizes she drifted a bit. She's instantly grateful Daisy didn't use that as an opportunity to hang up.
"About?"
"You made me an agent. My powers changed what I could do. But you… I'm just trying to be the person you helped me become. Before I lost her."
"You're you, Daisy. That's all I've ever wanted you to be. Just be you. That's enough."
It won't change anything, not right now. Melinda knows. It didn't change anything for her either when the people who loved her told her they just wanted her back, however she came. But eventually she believed them. And she hopes that someday Daisy will, too.
"Do you remember the address I made you memorize?"
Daisy laughs now, and it is the best thing Melinda has heard in months.
"You made me recite it while balanced on one leg. Yes, I remember. 'A safe place to go if I needed it.' It's not part of the Prague thing, is it?"
Melinda smiles at that. So that's why Daisy finally called. She owes Natasha something big for this one. Maybe she can get Mike Peterson to spend some time looking for Banner.
"No, Prague is an agent thing. This is… it's a family thing. My mother's house. And if you can't come here, you can go there. Whenever you need to."
Daisy hangs up then, suddenly, and it brings tears to Melinda's eyes until later that day when she gets a text from a dummy phone that tells her why the call ended so abruptly. Because she's passed on another habit to Daisy… and sometimes there are things we can't say out loud.
Thankfully Daisy has other ways of speaking.
"At Afterlife, you said you hoped my mother was everything I wanted her to be.
You are."