4 May 2012
May was right about Communications. Daisy felt even more at home there than she did while doing her Bachelor's degree. Though most of her classmates there had been guys hitting on her and talking down to her, so she supposed that was no surprise.
There were a lot of options for her classes, and Daisy wasn't surprised to see that computer programming was an option, even if she was overqualified and couldn't take the class.
She'd had more than a few classmates come to her for help. After her first semester at Comms she'd ended up enrolling in almost as many classes at Sci-tech as at her own academy, at the behest of some higher ups who'd decided that her computer skills would be invaluable to SHIELD's sci-tech division. She didn't mind. They had more cool toys to program than Daisy had ever seen, and some great professors who seemed to have no problem with her banging on their doors at all times of the day or night. Maybe they just knew her parents.
She had decided before starting not to tell anyone who her parents were. May was an academy legend, and while Daisy was proud to have her as her mom, the legend that the other cadets told wasn't like her at all.
Knowing that they were talking about the mission that broke her heart only made it hurt more to hear them tell it, but she didn't ask them to stop. Didn't argue. She pretended that it was practice for going undercover.
Maybe it was.
She still visited them on weekends. She never lied to anyone about where she was going or who she was meeting. The others just needed to ask the right questions.
None of them had much time to ask questions lately though. Their second year exams were approaching, and everyone was nervous. Daisy knew that she was at the top of her year, but that didn't matter. She wanted to do her best, be her best.
She wanted to have good news for May and Phil when they got back from their assignment on that weird helicarrier. She couldn't deny that she was worried for them.
That thing was way too easy to hack.
Daisy's final for espionage was in the morning, and she didn't have the time to watch the news. Didn't have time to listen to what people were saying on the street. All she had the time to do right now was to study for this stupid exam that she was definitely going to fail at this rate what was she going to do?!
She didn't sleep that night, trying to at first but then realising that it wasn't going to happen and studying more instead.
She still wasn't ready.
Daisy stood outside the hall where their exam was going to be, wringing her hands and willing herself to calm down. What would she tell her parents when she failed? How mad would they be, after they had put so much hope in her?
Why was she so stupid?
Daisy shook herself. No. She said to herself sternly in a voice that had always reminded her of her mom. I'm not stupid. Even if I fail this exam, I'm fine.
What she wouldn't give for another day to study though...
"Daisy!" She jumped at the voice, louder and closer than she would have expected. "Great news!"
She looked up with a nervous grin. "What, was the exam cancelled?"
Jiya beamed. "Yeah! There was some emergency at HQ so all exams are cancelled until further notice!"
Daisy gaped. "Oh my god, that's awesome!" She exclaimed, running after her to celebrate at the cafeteria.
It wasn't for another minute that a sick feeling settled in her stomach and made her stop dead in her tracks. Emergency at HQ.
Oh God.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Daisy crashed through the hospital door, heart in her throat. "Room 304?" She asked a nurse, trying not to scream or cry. "Please, I'm their daughter."
Another nurse tried to stop her before she went in, but she didn't care.
Her parents were in there.
Daisy's ears picked up the steady beeping sound before she saw anything. Part of her brain reacted to it, reminding her that that was good. That was the heartbeat, and it was steady.
Alive.
She tried to hang onto that thought when she saw the pale figure unconscious in the hospital bed.
Daisy bit her lip, trying and failing to bottle the tears. "M-mom?"
"Daisy!" Phil turned. "How did you- what are you doing here?"
Daisy felt herself trembling, not taking her eyes off May's form. "I-I heard that the- the carrier went down, but no one would tell me anything- so I-I... I hacked the security cameras, and..."
Phil's arms encased her before she could completely fall apart. "It's okay." He murmured, letting her cry into his suit. "It's okay honey, she'll be fine."
Daisy shook. "I-I was happy." She whispered. "I- my exam was cancelled cos of an emergency and I was happy about it."
"You didn't know."
"Shouldn't I?" She asked, looking up at him. "Aren't I supposed to- sense this sort of stuff?" Daisy sniffled. "You- your mom dies and you feel it, right?"
"Hey." Phil said firmly. "She is not dying. You hear me? She's not allowed to die." He turned his head to look at his wife. "Not for me."
"She saved you."
"I know."
The two sat down beside May's bed, trying to ignore how pale she was. Watching the bag of blood drain slowly into her body.
Daisy imagined it pooling on the ground around her. May was so small. She didn't have much blood to lose. "You guys have to be more careful." She whispered. "You- you're not allowed to die out there."
Phil took her hand. "We'll keep that in mind."
Daisy gave a wet laugh. "You'd better."
Phil let the room fall silent, looking at his wife. Please wake up. He begged. Daisy's scared and I'm scared and we can't make it go away until you wake up.
He had never been so scared in his life as when Melinda had come out of nowhere and pushed him aside. He hadn't even seen Loki approaching him from behind, hadn't known what had happened until he heard Melinda's scream of pain.
He shot Loki on impulse. Didn't care that he escaped, not really. They had other people to take care of Loki.
Phil's job was to keep pressure on his wife's shoulder so that she didn't bleed out.
He didn't think that he slept. That wasn't what it felt like. It felt like he was looking at Melinda's unconscious body and then he was still looking at her, waiting. But the light from the window was suddenly darker, and the noise from outside was less and he couldn't place when that had happened.
Daisy was asleep in her chair, half fallen out of it. That made sense. She could sleep anywhere.
When he looked back, Melinda's brown eyes were sleepily looking at Daisy too. "She shouldn't be here." She whispered.
Phil hurried to her side. "How do you feel?" He asked, reaching for her but unsure of what he intended to do. "Are you in pain?"
May shoved his hands away groggily. "M'fine Phil." She muttered. "Why's Daisy here?"
Phil swallowed. "She heard about the helicarrier and... you know how she is." May rolled her eyes in a tired kind of way and he carefully wrapped his arms around her. "I was so scared." Phil whispered. "There was so much blood and I thought..."
"You think you were scared?" May said softly. "My idiot husband decided to take on a god with a gun that he didn't even know worked."
Phil trembled. "I'm sorry."
"Don't do it again."
"No more god battles. I promise."
Daisy grunted. "For either of you." She muttered. "You're not allowed to die on me."
May smiled gently. "Daisy." She murmured expectantly, and within moments Daisy too had her wrapped in an embrace. "I'm sorry I scared you." May whispered.
Daisy sighed against her. "I'm glad you're okay."
"It'd take a lot more than a god to take me down and you know it."
Phil and Daisy both snorted. "That's true." Phil said, holding himself back from holding her as tightly as he could. Melinda was in enough pain because of him.
May stifled a yawn and the other two pulled away. Part of her wanted to grab at them. Refuse to let them go. She didn't though.
"You need to rest." Phil said gently, holding her hand. "We'll stay until you fall asleep."
She nodded. "I love you."
He smiled. "I know."
May smiled back in a way that made Daisy want to look away. She joked about her parents being too intimate sometimes, but this felt far more private than seeing them making out in the kitchen. This felt like they could read each other's minds. Like they could never be torn apart.
She would never admit how much she loved seeing them that way.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
When Phil put down the cup of coffee in front of her, Daisy jumped. He wasn't surprised; she looked like she was a million miles away.
He sat down across from her. The hospital cafe was almost empty at this time of night, only a few harried nurses and one couple there aside from the two of them. "You okay?" Phil asked softly, noting how shaken Daisy still seemed.
Daisy tried her coffee cup but her hands were shaking. She swallowed. "Not really. You?"
He smiled sadly. "No." Phil looked at the steam swirling from his coffee. "I made a stupid decision and my wife could have died. I don't know if it'll happen again." He sighed. "We've been hurt before. This just..." He gestured to the TV. "The world got a lot bigger."
"We don't know how dangerous it's gonna get." Daisy mumbled, watching the volunteers dig through New York.
"No." Phil murmured. He was tempted to suggest that Daisy quit the academy and do something else, anything else. But deep down he knew that she never would. That she'd be angry with him for even suggesting it. So he didn't say that, and instead changed the subject. "You know, I met Captain America?"
For the first time since she had gotten the news, Daisy smiled. "Yeah?" She said. "What's he like?"
"Brave, outspoken." Phil looked down with a grin. "He kind of reminded me of you."
Daisy scoffed. "Right, you meet Captain America and the first person you think of is the half-Chinese girl."
"My brave, opinionated, half-Chinese daughter." Phil corrected. "You know, he's pretty handsome too."
"Your wife is upstairs." Daisy said, trying not to let on as to how touched she was. "Besides, blondes don't seem like your type."
"I don't know." Phil teased, "They seem like your type."
Daisy laughed. "I'm not dating Captain America cos you wanna be able to say he's your son in law."
"Worth a shot." And worth the joking around because he'd gotten a laugh out of her.
Daisy caught his eye and immediately saw the thinly veiled worry there. The way he was sitting, waiting for someone to come and give him news.
She looked away and sank into her seat. "It's weird, I always felt like she was just... bulletproof. I mean- I know she's not but... she's just May, you know? She's- she can't..." Daisy blinked back the burn of tears and fell silent, if only to keep her voice from trembling.
Phil took her hand. "She'll be okay." He murmured. "The doctors said there's no nerve damage. She'll be in physical rehab for a few weeks, but she'll make a full recovery."
"This time." Daisy whispered.
He squeezed her hand. "I know you're scared. I am too."
"But?"
He shrugged. "But nothing. I'm- I'm scared for my wife. I'm scared for my best friend."
Daisy bit the inside of her cheek. "She's made it this far though." She said. "That's- that's something." She thought of the wall of valor. All the agents who had never made it past thirty.
"It is." Phil sighed.
"And she's got you." Daisy murmured.
Phil nodded. "And you."
"Maybe that's enough." Daisy said hopefully. "Maybe- maybe we're enough to to keep each other alive." She took a shaky breath. "If- if May wasn't there... you'd be..."
"I'm okay." Phil murmured, his thumb rubbing circles on the back of her hand. "We're all okay."
"Promise you'll be more careful."
"I promise." He said. "Don't worry, we'll be on clean-up for a long time after this."
"Good."
