Chapter 3

(weeks later)

Disclaimer: I did look up episode transcripts for this chapter, so there are a few things in here that aren't mine.

"Any word from May?" Daisy asked one quiet night as she sat with Coulson in the lounge. The rest of the base appeared to be asleep or otherwise engaged and it was a rare moment that they could speak alone without being behind his office door.

The director only shook his head in negative.

"You guys up for some more company?" Mack asked, approaching the pair. In his grasp, he held up a six pack of beer for them to see.

Free beer? She wouldn't say no to that. "Well, come on over," Daisy greeted happily, patting the seat next to her. "You bought us beer?"

"Technically, it was supposed to be for Hunter and Bobbi, but…" he wrinkled his nose thinking about the scene he walked in on. "Why they can't keep their playtime to their bunk is beyond me."

Daisy smirked at him. "Because what would be the fun in that?" She asked with a small wink at him.

The tall man grimaced. Aside from the possibility of getting caught by anyone, what they were doing was very unsanitary. "Anyone seen Fitz tonight?" When both his companions shook their heads in negative, he sighed. "He's pulling away."

"I don't know what to do for him anymore," Coulson confessed then. It had been months since Jemma had disappeared. Each day that passed was a bitter reminder that they were no closer to solving the mystery of what happened to her. Lincoln was still in the wind and they had no leads to work off of.

It hadn't been the easiest couple of months. May had gone on vacation with Andrew and hadn't come back. He didn't blame her for taking her chance at happiness and running with it, but he missed her. She was his second-in-command, had been since he'd recruited her for the Bus. They'd worked side by side for so many years that they were able to anticipate each other's moves under various situations, and it was something that he missed. She almost always knew what he was going to say before he said it, and her absence deeply bothered him.

Sitting across from him, Daisy reached for the bottle of beer in front of her. "I don't think any of us know what to do," she corrected. She hadn't been able to find anything on Lincoln over the past few months, not that she expected to.

Lincoln wasn't a bad guy, but he didn't trust easily. His time at Afterlife had both harmed him and benefited him. By the time she'd met him, he'd had such control over his powers and had been a huge factor in helping her. However, her mother had managed to encourage distrust for the outside world. In hindsight, Daisy realized it wasn't for the sole benefit of warning Inhumans to be cautious as it was doing what she could to gain more control over them. He may have been willing to help SHIELD when Jaiying proved her true motives, but that distrust had been deeply engrained within him and he still held onto it.

"I think it's time that we…move on," Coulson tacked on after a moment, thankful for the privacy. It afforded him the opportunity to be candid with her. It wasn't the first time the idea occurred to him, but it was the first time he'd admitted it to someone else. Unfortunately, just because they lost Jemma didn't mean the world stopped. While Daisy and Mack had been out in the world helping those inflicted with the 'alien contagion,' Coulson knew more time and resources could have been devoted to it.

He turned his focus on Daisy. When she'd joined them on the bus, she instantly gravitated towards Fitzsimmons, which he understood since they were closer in age. Daisy and Jemma formed a very tight friendship, despite the differences in their backgrounds. The only time they'd ever been on opposite sides of a situation had been back after the events in San Juan. However, they'd still managed to come back to each other. He waited with bated breath, wondering how she would feel about his decision.

Licking her lips, Daisy exhaled heavily and nodded. She figured it was coming, she'd been dreading it for days now. Despite the personal relationships between the group, Coulson still had an organization to run. Honestly, she'd been surprised he'd waited this long to say anything. Looking next to her, she exchanged a glance with Mack.

"We'll have a service for her," the director added. "It's just…the Inhumans and this…ATCU, there are different areas we need to be putting all of our focus on."

"You don't have to explain yourself," she told him quietly. He was the boss.

"But I do," he insisted. If she had been anyone else, he may not have, but she wasn't. "I know how close she was with you, and especially Fitz."

"You're a good man, DC," she said after a pause. "Unfortunately, you're right. The real world can't wait forever. I…you know I support you and I will follow along with your orders."

"But?" He asked, anticipating one from her.

She smiled at him. "But," she emphasized the word, "I hope you know that I still intend to look for Lincoln." She hadn't had any luck thus far, but school was just around the corner. He'd be returning there sooner or later.

He'd have been surprised if she hadn't. "If you could keep that to yourself for the time being," Coulson replied, knowing there would be no stopping her. "Fitz is torturing himself enough as it is." He knew that if Fitz learned of Daisy's search, he'd be distracted. It had been difficult watching the hope fade from the engineer's eyes as the days passed.

"You do realize that he's going to be upset, right?" Daisy inquired after a pregnant pause.

"Yup," the director said before tossing back the rest of his beer.

"We'll help him through it," Mack added.

"Can you believe this?" Steve asked, watching the news. Another person infected by…what the news was calling an 'alien contagion.' He looked to Nat, wondering if she'd been following along with the recent news. Cases had been popping up everywhere the last several weeks.

Natasha shook her head. "These poor, unsuspecting people…" She couldn't imagine going through what these people were. Her life hadn't exactly been easy, however, she'd spent years preparing herself.

"What are we going to do?" Steve asked after a pregnant pause. Would this be something the Avengers would have to deal with?

She frowned, first at the flat screen and then at him. "Does this require us to do something?" Nat asked, considering his question. It had been weeks since the first cases popped up and the government still hadn't determined exactly what caused it, or if they had, they hadn't shared yet. Until there were answers behind who was responsible and what not, there was no reason for it to fall to them. "This…ATCU sounds like they have everything under control, or at least getting there."

He nearly scoffed. Yeah, they had everything under their control. He wondered if these people were actually being taken care of. As an enhanced individual himself, he couldn't help but feel a slight kinship with these people. There was also the possibility that a not-so-good person could become advanced and use his or her newly acquired ability for something nefarious. "I think we should at least keep an eye on the situation," he shared. He knew how SHIELD dealt with powered individuals. Who knew what this ATCU was capable of?

"Absolutely," she agreed easily. She remembered how SHIELD treated powered individuals in the past and wondered what this new organization was doing in order to 'control' the situation. "Do you know who might know something about this?"

He sighed. Daisy. "Really? This, again?" Her number was still programmed into his phone, but he had yet to dial it, and he didn't have the courage to erase it completely. He wasn't sure why he held onto it, but it remained unused.

She could only shrug her shoulders. "I'm not wrong," she pointed out quietly. SHIELD was always there to deal with any weird crap, this was right up their alley. If SHIELD was back, they would have been dealing with the so called 'alien contagion.' "Why won't you call her?"

"Because she lied to me," the man out of time insisted. He had enough issues in his life, the last thing he needed was to invite someone into his life that was untrustworthy.

Natasha shook her head. "She didn't lie, she just didn't divulge the information." Unfortunately, her friend could be very stubborn, once his good opinion was lost, it tended to stay that way. It was a shame too, because Steve appeared to be pretty interested in her that first night.

"A lie by omission is still a lie," he argued.

She shrugged. "And I still think you should give her a call."

"Duly noted, don't want to," he replied flatly. "Now, can we please change the subject?"

She dramatically rolled her eyes at him. "Fine weather we're having…"

Steve frowned at her. "I actually had a subject in mind. Nat, I was wondering if you could help me with something." He didn't wait for her to acknowledge what he said before plowing on. "I think it's time I look for Bucky."

She stopped upon hearing the news. She still couldn't wrap her head around the fact that the Winter Soldier was in fact James Buchanon Barnes. She'd worked with the Hydra assassin in the past and knew exactly what he was capable of. She had nearly been bowled over by the revelation that he was Steve's best friend from his life back in the 1940's. "Are you sure that's the right thing to do?" She wasn't aiming to insult him or talk down to him, but he didn't know the Winter Soldier the way she did. Despite their confrontations, Steve still managed to see the man for what he once was rather than the killing machine he'd been turned into. She just didn't want her friend to be disappointed if things didn't work out the way he wanted them to.

"I need to find him, Nat," he confessed. "I need to do what I can to help him."

She shook her head. "You know the things that Hydra is capable of, what if he can't be helped?" She hated mentioning that, but she couldn't not remind him just how screwed Hydra was and the horrific things they did to people.

"I refuse to believe that," he breathed. There had to be something they could do, something he could do to help his friend. "It could have just as easily been me that fell off that train and into their hands."

"But it wasn't," she denied. "You haven't seen him the way I have, you…the things he's capable of…" Fighting against him a handful of times didn't provide Steve with the insight that she had. She wasn't exactly trying to talk him out of his decision. No, she just wanted to make sure that her teammate went into the situation without any surprises.

"He deserves a chance, Nat," he argued. "We at least need to try."

She nodded at him. "I'll start a search, I can't guarantee anything, but I will at least do that. Just…" She trailed off. "He may be beyond help at this point," she warned him, not wanting Steve to get his hopes up too much.

He shook his head in negative. "You didn't see him when we were up on that platform," he denied, thinking on his last encounter with the man. "He recognized me, at least some aspect of him recognized me. He could have let me drown, but he didn't."

She placed a supportive arm on his shoulder and squeezed it in acknowledgement. "I'll do it," she said, removing her hand from his body. She looked down at her hands. "Bruce left," she said quietly.

Steve immediately turned his attention on her. "I knew Thor was going to go off on his own for a bit," Steve replied, but he'd had no idea about the doctor. "You okay?" He wasn't exactly sure what sort of relationship Natasha had with Bruce, but he knew it was more than platonic for his female teammate.

Natasha shrugged.

"You want to talk about it?" He offered then.

"No." At least not at that moment.

Daisy looked between Coulson and Fitz with trepidation. She knew exactly what Coulson had planned to say to the younger man and she was worried about how the engineer would take it. Months had passed since Jemma had been consumed by the monolith and they weren't any closer to finding answers than they ever were. She'd been unable to locate Lincoln over the summer months. However, since the fall semester was getting ready to start, she planned on attempting again.

In the time that had passed since her first attempt to locate Lincoln, she'd traveled, looking for and helping any Inhuman she could. It wasn't always easy and she wasn't always a welcomed figure. However, it had been nice to get off the base for several days at a time. She'd met several people and exchanged contact information with them should they take her up on her offer to help. She tended to dread returning to the base given the melancholy air that had enveloped the place since Jemma's disappearance. However, with the understanding that Coulson was finally going to approach the subject with Fitz, she wanted to make sure she there to support her friend should he need it.

Looking at the young man in front of him, Coulson spoke softly, but firmly. "You have shown so much heart, never giving up on Simmons, and I will always, always respect you for it," he began. He'd been trying to work out the best thing to say to the tech genius, and he hoped that his words wouldn't anger and offend him.

Looking at the director, Leopold Fitz didn't react outwardly, but panic beginning to seep in inside his chest.

Coulson continued on. "But look around. We need you. We need that big brain of yours and that heart here. Okay? I miss her, too. I'm having a hard time accepting it all of it. I-I'm on my third hand, but nothing feels normal because nothing will feel normal. May took off on vacation and never came back, so I lost my right hand, too. We have got to accept it, to say goodbye. We need to say goodbye. Jemma would want us to do that. Okay?"

Pursing his lips, Fitz nodded slowly. "Okay," he breathed softly. With one last look at Coulson, he turned around and walk away.

Expelling a deep sigh, the older man leaned against the nearest table top. "Well, that could have gone better," he mumbled. Even as he spoke, he'd watched the hope drain from Fitz and he'd felt horrible.

"It could have, but it could have also been worse," Daisy pointed out moving closer to him.

"I don't think it could have gone any worse if I had run over his dog," the director tacked on in a quiet voice. He'd hated saying that to Fitz.

She shook her head. "You know how close they grew when they joined SHIELD, Jemma has been the one constant in his life," she reminded him. "Of course, he's going to be upset, but he…he understands your reasoning. He may not like it, but he understands," she tried to comfort him. "We'll get through this Coulson, we always do." At least Fitz had a support system. Mack, Hunter and Bobbi were always there for him if he needed someone to speak to. And when she was on base, she was there too.

Scrolling through his contact list, Steve stopped on Daisy's name. His thumb hovered above the number unsurely. Despite whatever his outward insistence was when he was with his friends, his thoughts did stray towards Daisy every so often. He wished they hadn't, but they did. Finding out that she'd interacted with him under false pretenses had been a blow to his male ego, it still stung. Until Clint's reveal, he'd really enjoyed his time with her.

"Hey, Steve? You with me?" Sam asked.

His name being called pulled him from his thoughts. "Yeah…"

"You're concentrating awfully hard on the phone in your hand," the black man observed.

Steve pursed his lips and set his phone down. "I've been going over the idea of reaching out to Daisy," he admitted. Unlike the rest of his friends, he knew that Sam would support his decision without feeling the need to chime in. If his friend had been surprised by the admission, it didn't show on his face.

"What brought this on?"

Steve shrugged. "Nat and I were talking about all this stuff going on in the news and she sarcastically mentioned that Daisy probably knew what was going on."

Sam nodded. It made sense. "And you want to reach out to her because of it? Find out more information?"

"She had a point," Steve grudgingly admitted. In all honesty, that wasn't his only reason for wanting to get into contact with her. "I may have overreacted," he tacked on. As the weeks passed, his anger about the situation faded. "When I woke up, SHIELD was there for me." He couldn't honestly say what he would have done had he been alone. "But it didn't take me long to realize what they were about. They…at one time, I think they may have thought they were doing right by wanting to protect the world from powered individuals, but somewhere along the way it changed." It wasn't so much wanting to protect the general public as it was control those certain individuals. If he, Thor or the Hulk weren't under their thumb, would they have been locked away?

"What makes you think that's changed?" Sam inquired after a short pause.

"Honestly, I don't know if it has," he admitted. It was the main reason why he'd been so against anything related to Daisy. "But Thor seemed so confident that there was something special about Daisy. He said that he could 'feel' her," he shared with a frown. "How could that be unless she had some kind of power? What if she does have powers? That night at the club, she willingly left with that guy, said he was her partner. If SHIELD is working with powered individuals that must mean they've changed, right?"

Sam could only shrug his shoulders. By the time he'd met Steve and Natasha, everything had already gone to hell in a handbasket. The only things he knew about the organization were things that the others had mentioned around him. "If you want to reach out to her, then do it because you want to, not because someone said it was a good idea or because you're trying to get information from her."

Steve nodded.

"You want to call her?"

Steve considered the question for a moment. Did he want to call her and invite her into his life? He couldn't rightly say, but he did want to talk to her and at the very least find some sort of closure and wash his hands of her completely if he needed to. "Yes," he admitted.

"Then give her a call."

Feeling a momentary flash of bravery, Steve reached for his mobile device and scrolled through his contacts before settling on her name and pushing the little green phone icon and put it on speaker.

"Johnson, here."

Whatever sudden courage he'd experienced only a moment ago instantly deflated. Words failed him, and Steve began to panic. His eyes widened and he turned to look at Sam.

"Hello?"

Sam, using his hands, prompted Steve to respond.

Clearing his throat, Steve spoke into the phone. "Daisy? It's Steve…Steve Rogers."

As cool as she'd tried to play it since parting from him that night, more than once she still found herself wondering why he hadn't called her. The first few times that she'd received a call from an unknown number, her heart would pound with anticipation, only to be let down when she realized it wasn't him. She'd pretty much given up on the idea that he would.

"I didn't think you'd answer."

If he didn't think she'd answer, then why had he called? "Oh, uh, hi," she stumbled over her words. "I didn't think you'd call." Though between things at the base and tracking down powered individuals kept her busy enough, she couldn't deny the flash of excitement she felt when she realized it was him calling her.

"I almost didn't," he confessed. He listened to the background noise fade away on the other end of the call. "Did I catch you at a bad time?" He waited for a response. For a moment, he wondered if he'd lost her. "Is everything okay?"

"No, not really," she admitted before clearing her throat. "My friend is missing and we haven't had much luck in locating her."

He filed the information away. "I'm sorry to hear that," he offered.

"Yeah…" She muttered. "I'm…I have to go. I'm following a lead and I was getting ready to get on a plane when you called."

"Oh." He fell silent for a moment. "Uh, long flight?" When he met Sam's amused gaze, he scowled before looking back at the phone.

"No, thankfully. Steve, can I give you a call back at this number when I get a quiet moment?"

"Sure. I guess I'll talk to you later."

From his position across from Steve, Sam could only shake his head. What an awkward conversation. He watched his friend disconnect the call before turning to him.

Steve frowned when he noticed Sam shake his head negatively. "What?"

"You remind me of a twelve-year-old boy having his first phone conversation with a girl."

Had he really sounded so bad? He knew he'd stumbled over his words a couple times, but surely being compared to a pubescent boy was an exaggeration…

"Things are a little different than they were back in the day," Steve excused, hating that he'd sounded so unlike himself during that call.

Sam snorted at the excuse. "Yeah, I'm sure that's the problem." Amusement set aside, he looked at his friend in all seriousness. "I'm glad you got over yourself and decided to call her."

"You ready?" Mack asked, approaching Daisy from behind.

Forcing her thoughts onto the situation at hand, Daisy pocketed her phone and nodded. "Yeah, lets go." When her phone chirped, alerting her to a text, she fished the device back out of her pocket and unlocked it. "It's Coulson," she told her partner as she read the message. "Fitz discovered something. Coulson wants us to hold off on the trip."