While Lincoln was helping Joey with the transition process, Coulson called Daisy to his office.
"Yes sir." Daisy said.
"Mack told me what all of your little trips have really been about." Coulson said.
"And?" Daisy asked.
"I just wanted to make sure you know what you're getting yourself into by putting yourself out there again. Remember what happened with the last 2 guys you dated." Coulson reminded her.
"One was a sellout, the other is a Nazi." Daisy confirmed.
"And you got your heart broken by both of them. Are you sure you're ready to put yourself out there again?" Coulson asked.
"This feels more like father daughter talk than a director to agent talk." Daisy pointed out.
"That's because it is. You know the promise I made your father before we put him through the T.A.H.I.T.I. program." Coulson said.
"Since you already think of me as your daughter and I think of you as kind of like the father I never had, he asked you to promise him that you'd be the father I do have." Daisy said.
"And I wouldn't be keeping that promise if I didn't have this conversation with you." Coulson said.
"I understand your concern with my past in the dating department, but I know what I'm doing. Lincoln is different from Miles or Ward because he's a better man than either of them could ever hope to be." Daisy said.
"And there's also the SHIELD protocol about relations between agents." Coulson said.
"Doesn't seem to stop Fitzsimmons or Bobbi and Hunter." Daisy said.
"You sure you know what you're doing?" Coulson asked.
"Positive." Daisy responded.
"Then I trust your judgement. Just don't make me regret it." Coulson said.
"No promises." Daisy said with a grin as she left the office.
Coulson just rolled his eyes at his surrogate daughter's response before grabbing another prosthetic hand from his desk.
*A few weeks later
"Hunter and May's quinjet just touched down. I guess their mission was a success." Daisy said to Coulson as she entered his office.
"Excellent." Coulson said.
"It'll be nice to have May back as second in command instead of me. No offense boss, this job is seriously stressful, I don't know how you and May do it." Daisy said.
"None taken, though I am putting you in charge of the index, specifically evaluation and intake. It's already kind of your responsibility as leader of the secret warriors program, but still." Coulson said.
"Thank you sir, though you'll have to give me administrative access to the index in order for me to perform my job successfully." Daisy said.
"Done." Coulson said, right as Agents Hunter and May joined them in Coulson's office.
"May." Daisy said, holding out her hand, but to her surprise, May actually hugged her.
"Welcome home agent May. Agent Hunter." Coulson said as he shook Hunter's hand and then May's.
"Good to be back sir." May said.
"Hunter, does Bobbi know you're back yet?" Daisy asked.
"Yep." Hunter said.
"I assume that Ward is dead?" Coulson asked.
"No, our cover was blown before we got the chance, but we did manage to snag this." Hunter said, tossing Daisy a hard drive.
"Let me guess, HYDRA's entire mainframe is on this thing?" Daisy asked.
"As much as we could get." May confirmed.
"I'll see what I can do with it." Daisy said as she walked out.
"So, what's been going on at the base while we were gone?" Hunter asked.
"Fitz has been helping both Bobbi and Jemma with their rehab and I think Bobbi is almost ready to return to active field duty, we've made an alliance with the ATCU and Daisy managed to talk Lincoln into coming onto the base." Coulson said.
"How'd she swing that?" Hunter asked.
"For the same reason that you went on after Ward and Fitz was so hell bent on getting Simmons back. Love. Those 2 are in love with each other." Coulson said.
"Hunter, can I speak with Coulson in private?" May asked.
"Yeah, I need to go find Bob before she kills me for not letting her know I was back sooner." Hunter said with a chuckle as he left the office.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Coulson asked, even though, since May was almost as close to Daisy as he was, he thought he knew.
"Are you sure it's a good idea to let her date him, especially given what happened the last time she let herself fall in love." May said, referring to Ward.
"I already expressed my concerns to Daisy and she assures me that she knows what she's doing." Coulson said.
"I know she can handle herself, but I don't want to see her get her heartbroken any more than you do." May said.
"May, we have to trust Daisy knows what she's doing. In the past few weeks she's been with Lincoln, I've seen her happier than I have in a long time. She's been smiling more often." Coulson said.
May was surprised to hear that, since she knew that Daisy didn't smile that often anymore.
"You're certain he's good enough for her?" May asked.
"According to Daisy, the whole reason he was captured by HYDRA was because he was trying to protect her, so I think we can trust that he won't abandon her like Ward or Miles did." Coulson said.
"I'd still kind of like to do the whole overprotective mother thing with him." May said.
"Be my guest. Daisy is already aware of how you feel like she's your own daughter and has warned her boyfriend to be prepared when you got back." Coulson said with a chuckle.
May chuckled as well, right as Daisy burst back into the office.
"What's wrong?" Coulson asked.
"It's Andrew. He's in big trouble." Daisy said.
"What are you talking about?" May asked, getting concerned.
"One of the first things I found after decrypting this drive was one of HYDRA's first directives. Ward put a HYDRA mole at Culver University, as a means to get to May." Daisy said.
"Who is the mole?" Coulson asked.
"Someone who's almost as bad as Ward. Strucker's son, Werner Von Strucker." Daisy said.
"May, get in contact with, Daisy, take Mack and Hunter to run an extraction." Coulson said.
"Yes sir." Daisy and May both said at once.