Mack

His footsteps echoed in the empty hallways as he entered the Command Center of the Lighthouse. Mack sighed heavily as he sat down in the chair. He had so many chances to leave, but something always kept him back, until he ended up the last one holding the baby, so to speak. Exactly what SHIELD was supposed to be about anymore? He had no idea. Which was rather inconvenient, considering he somehow ended up being the Director of it.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. He had planned to get out finally of this flying circus, to take Elena and find a different life; one without killer robots, blue aliens, time travel or a computer game that can swallow you whole, chew you up and spit you out a different person. But he always stayed. There were people to protect, debts to pay and things to fix.

He had thought, surely after they saved the world it would be someone else's turn. But the truth was, with Coulson gone, he felt responsible for the fate the team, and Fitz's death haunted him - he knew he would have no rest until they rescued him. Then he had thought once they found Fitz, they could all finally call it quits, with everyone going their merry ways - mission accomplished. But of course things were never quite so simple. There was always a new mystery or a strange object. There was always One Last Thing to be taken care of - the end of the line was just an optical illusion.

"Looks like we are not the first visitors here." Daisy's voice came through the intercom, interrupting his gloomy thoughts. "And these other guys are not partial to cleaning up."

Mack could see the knocked over furniture, clothes, books and decoration thrown all over the floor through the video feed. "It's unlikely that we'll find anything useful here." he grumbled.

"Might as well check, since we came all this way." Elena said. "I'll take the basement."

"Be careful, guys, it could be a trap." Mack warned. He had a bad feeling in his stomach. Of course, as Elena liked to point out, he always seemed to be uneasy whenever she was out in the field. As her boyfriend (lover?, partner? He knew, of course, it was time to take the next step, but the fact that they were tied to SHIELD for now made it seem like the time was not right ), he only ever wanted to protect her, but as Director of SHIELD, he did not have the luxury to keep one of his strongest agents benched. It was a schizophrenic feeling. Not for the first time Mack wished he had asked Coulson how one could balance duty and family, even though he had the feeling that he already knew the uncomfortable truth: you can't.

"Tranquilo , big man." came Elena's mocking reply. "It's not our first outing" Daisy added. Mack sighed - trying to give orders to the two of them felt on most days like herding a pair of feisty cats.

"I found the body upstairs." Daisy said leaning over the dead scientist, who was lying in a pool of blood. "His throat was cut."

"Get out of there - law enforcement could arrive any minute." Mack warned them.

"I think I've got something down here." said Yo-Yo pointing to a closed door in the cellar. Mack watched intently the blurry video feed. She pushed the handle and slowly opened the door. It looked like a home lab - with beakers, flasks, test tubes neatly lined up on a shelf.

"Looks like the earlier visitors did not bother to look down here." Elena entered the room.

"Well…looks like we finally hit the jackp..." Mack started, but the sentence died on his tongue when he noticed the device in the corner. "Elena, Daisy get out right now - the place is rigged to blow."

"No worries, I'm already outside." Daisy reported.

"Hold on, I can do this." Elena said and Mack saw her feed get all grainy - she was using her speed.

"There is no time, Elena, go now." Mack yelled with desperation. She snapped back to the door and started to run up the stairs. There was a bright flash and the feed went dark.

"Guys?" Mack asked. There was only silence. "Anyone copy?" he asked with cold panic settling in his stomach.

"We're here, Mack. She's been knocked out, but she's OK." Daisy confirmed. Mack sighed in relief. That was a close call again.

"Head back right now." he ordered.

"Copy that, Director." Daisy replied. "Davis, help me get her on the Quinjet."

Elena

"Which part of get out of there don't you understand?" Mack's pupils grew dark with anger.

Elena sighed - here it was again; the same old argument. Mack was accusing her of being reckless when she was just doing her job. Sure, he was Director, but she was the field agent who had to make split-second decisions and she trusted her gut. But Mack could not - not when it came to her. He did not seem to understand how weak it made her feel. She met his furious gaze defiantly and retorted "I'm here and at least we did not come back empty-handed this time." she opened her palms - revealing a small test tube with a tiny amount of some kind of liquid in it.

As Mack took the tube from her, she watched with longing his warm palm touching the cold metal of her robot arms. As much as those arms had become part of who she was, she desperately missed the simple gesture of holding hands, skin touching skin. She tried to tell herself every day that it did not matter, but she could not help wondering if some part of him could not accept the change, if that's why he was holding back.

"Well, the risk was not worth it." Mack said pointedly..

"Mack, we have been chasing dead scientists for weeks and we had no idea why. At least we may have a lead now why they are being killed." SHIELD has been tracking a ghost who was killing scientist connected to Cybertek. It seemed like a clean-up operation, which was strange, since Cybertek had been gone for years. Why would someone go into all this trouble to bury something now that had been hidden for years? Still, it was unclear at this point what the mysterious killer was after or if it had anything to do with SHIELD or HYDRA.

"Or one of my best agents was put at risk for nothing." Mack grumbled.

"Well, we won't know.. Unless.." Elena shrugged trying to shake off his anger.

"Why don't you run analysis, Elena. Piper can help." Mack replied coldly. He had been giving Elena more responsibilities in the lab, even though he knew she resented the tedious work. She suspected that it was another way of locking her into a cage.

"Oh, not me again." she protested.

Mack pursed his lips. "We all have to do things we don't want to. It is what it is, for now."

"You realize that one of these days you'll have to make up your mind what you want it to be." Elena said pointedly and and she realized she was not just was talking about SHIELD, but also their relationship. She marched off with the test tube.

Daisy

After Elena left, Daisy turned to Mack and raised her eyebrows silently.

"Oh, shut up." Mack growled.

She shrugged. "You're the boss, but YoYo does have a point. Don't you think it's time to get some people to run a proper lab?"

"We can run our own forensics, Tremors, it's not exactly rocket science." As soon as he said the words, they both fell silent. The departure of FitzSimmons left a gaping hole not only in SHIELD, but in their hearts too. Their ghosts lingered on, filling the halls and lab with memories, both bitter and sweet. Daisy still was not sure how she felt about it. At first she thought it was the right thing for everyone. As much as they tried, things were never the same afterwards between them. Not having to navigate the painful memories, unresolved hurt, anger and resentment was a relief. Still, as the months went by, she caught her anger fading and just simply missing them more.

"Can't exactly advertise on Craigslist " secret and illegal spy organization looking for genius scientists ." Mack said sarcastically. Daisy just rolled her eyes.

"You do realize Craigslist is not a thing anymore, it hasn't been for a good twenty years." She stepped closer to him. "But there are ways to find people - if you want to."

Mack shook his head. "No, not yet."

"You still hope they will come back." Daisy noted matter-of-factly. Mack had been hesitant to recruit any new people - it felt like they were all standing still, waiting for something to happen; perhaps a cataclysmic event that would force their hand. "After everything we've been through, you can't blame them for wanting some quiet."

"I don't blame them." Mack said heavily.

"I miss them too." Daisy admitted quietly. After a moment of silence she added, "So you may be interested to know that Fitz was in the system last night."

Mack looked at her surprised, but maybe also a bit hopeful. "Looking for what?"

"Not really sure, he covered his tracks well. But I know he did access this file." She put the tablet in front of Mack with the heavily redacted document.

He squinted as he skimmed through the page. "An old field-op of Coulson with what looks like dead scientists and destroyed evidence? Is this related to Cybertek?"

"As far as I can tell, the mission was about a company called Brand Laboratories, but there is very little in the database. Cutting-edge technologies, with military and government contracts. Fell off the face of the Earth about 30 years ago. But I could not find any connection with Cybertek or Hydra." Daisy shrugged.

"Still, it's a strange coincidence. Why would Fitz go digging for a shady company from 30 years ago? What if they feel unsafe? Maybe they are targeted, too?" Mack seemed alarmed.

"That's a stretch, don't you think?" Maybe Elena was right - Mack was becoming overcautious, seeing ghosts everywhere.

"Come on, when was the last time that a coincidence was just a coincidence, Daisy?" he looked at her. "If I learnt one thing at SHIELD is that everything is a damned conspiracy. See if you can dig up some more on this dead scientist."

"I'll get right on it." Daisy gathered her things and turned to go.

"And see if you can find more on what FitzSimmons are up to." Mack added.

Daisy was taken aback. "You want me to spy on them? Why don't you just call them if you…"

"They know where to find us, but chose not to make contact. We have to respect that. I just want to make sure they stay out of trouble." Mack said. Fitz's death changed him somehow - he became even more obsessed with trying to protect everyone.

"You are the boss…" Daisy shrugged and headed over to the lab where Elena and Piper were working on the mystery fluid.

"You know Mack is driving me loca treating me like a child." Elena grumbled as she saw her.

Daisy had no desire to get into the middle of this particular disagreement between her friends. "He's still trying to find his way. Give him time, it's not easy…He needs our support to find his confidence." Daisy said pointedly and Elena looked away somewhat guiltily. Daisy knew up, close and personal what a burden leadership was and how hard it was to feel second-guessed. She never forgot that Mack supported her no matter what and she was determined to do the same. It was a strange role; not to be the rebel.

Piper interjected. "Elena is right though. We shouldn't be dealing with all this sciency stuff."

"Did you find anything interesting?" Daisy asked.

"No, the analysis is still running."

Daisy nodded and opened her computer. Her email popped up and she smiled as she saw the newest picture from Deke, of a kitschy sunset with pink clouds and a gently rolling sea. Before he left to see the world, she gave him a passport (a really excellent fake, her work was flawless) and a stuffed lemon. It had become their private joke. He laughed heartily and asked if she wanted to go with him. Daisy surprised herself by actually being tempted for a minute. Deke was a dumbass, but a sweet and entertaining one. Still, she was tied to SHIELD by invisible threads of loyalty, friendship and legacy. When she declined with a wistful smile, Deke shrugged, put on his backpack and walked out of the Lighthouse with an excited glimmer in his eyes. But every day, he sent her a picture of the stuffed lemon - always somewhere new and exciting. Deke had an eye for everyday magic - cornfields against the backdrop of infinite sky, a double rainbow, a child's exalted face as they devoured ice cream, a shower of blossoms falling off of a tree - it reminded her that the world behind the walls of the Lighthouse was real and full of wonder, that it was something worth fighting for.

She clicked away the message and started searching for FitzSimmons. Finding their address and workplaces was a piece of cake. It seemed pretty peaceful - medical research and renewable energy - fairly harmless. Daisy kept digging, pushing away the feeling that it was creepy to go into their search histories and other electronic trails, revealing a magically mundane domesticity. Something she knew Jemma had dreamt about back in the days when they still shared their dreams with each other.

A loud beep announced that the analysis of the sample has been completed. Elena looked at the screen. "It's amniotic fluid, apparently." she frowned.

Daisy closed her eyes, mentally running through the information she read about the scientist whose main area of research was advanced weapons. Then somewhere in the back of her brain she started to see the contours of a pattern emerging. A detail, a hidden connection. Coulson always told her that it was a special gift - to be able to look at seemingly random data and see a story. She zeroed in on Simmons' recent medical appointment with a doctor. She went back to check the doctor's credentials - sure enough, it was an obstetrician. Daisy looked at the photo of the smiling doctor trying to organize the thoughts in her head.

Fact no. 1: A scientist was killed.

Fact no. 2: He was working with amniotic fluid.

Fact no. 3: Fitz was digging for information on an old biotechnology firm

Fact no. 4: Jemma was pregnant.

This last piece of information made her stomach squeeze in a strange way. Once it was unimaginable that they would arrive to such a milestone without sharing it with her, she thought with sadness. It seemed to be the final, irrefutable proof that Fitz and Simmons have truly moved on. It also meant that they could be in mortal danger.