A Girl Is Sick (But She Will Not Be Weak, As You Want Her To Be)

Day comes slower than Simmons would prefer, but it does eventually come, and with it comes a battery of tests. She starts with the easy things: height, weight, blood pressure, heart rate. Then come more blood draws, MRIs, CTs and anything else Jemma can get her hands on.

The results come around and Simmons isn't surprised that what she finds is… not good. The girl's liver is shot, her kidneys are close to failing and the stress on her other organs is inching closer to killing her every day.

And then the real discovery comes to pass.

The piece of paper in her hands shows something Simmons knows shouldn't be possible. Only… yes, it is, and this truth sends Simmons running out of her lab.

She hands the girl off to Skye somewhere down the corridor, not giving her a word. The scientist is truly thankful her girlfriend knows better than to ask Simmons is in a state like this, but she doesn't have time to thank her.

Jemma finds herself outside Coulson's door, knocking and not sure how she got there. Her fist sounds on the wooden door, loud and quick, and she enters without waiting for him to acknowledge her.

"She's Bobbi and Hunter's daughter," Simmons blurts out, almost incoherently. Behind her, the door clicks shut, startling the scientist into action.

She goes forward in a flurry of movement, passing May and somehow managing to slap the now-wrinkled results onto Coulson's desk.

"She's Bobbi and Hunter's daughter. Sir."

There's a small pause in which the only sound is Simmons's breath.

May is the one to break it. "The one who was abducted?"

Nodding franticly, Simmons has to take a deep breath before adding, "Bobbi told Hunter she was killed."

Coulson lets out a slow breath. "Just when I thought we were done with family drama."

This statement is odd, but Simmons barely hears it over the pounding in her ears. May, on the other hand, crosses her arms.

"Sir, there's something else. Centipede never stabilized the serum, and if we don't soon, her liver is in danger of failing."

"And you need parental consent. For the file."

Simmons nods quickly. "But it's not just that, sir. She's going to need a support system. People to help her regulate her power. Teach her. Lover her."

"She's part of the family. We'll watch out for her," May says quickly.

Coulson doesn't argue.

"Sir. May." The scientist turns quickly, ready to run back to the lab.

"And, Simmons? Get the consent from Agent Morse first. And please advise her, friend to friend, to tell Hunter as soon as possible."

"Of course, sir."

Simmons has never done this before.

It's actually not that surprising, if you think about it. She's never done a lot of things (though that number has certainly shrunk since she started dating Skye) and telling someone their presumed-dead child is actually alive, let alone that this child was treated as a science experiment and now needed medical attention… well, that was something that doesn't happen every day.

Jemma doesn't even know where to begin.

She finds Bobbi in the gym, running her problems away without actually moving forward. Despite the severity of the situation, Simmons finds herself hovering by the door, unwilling to step forward and set in motion a series of events she has no real control over.

The snowball effect is real. Hydra taught her that.

They also taught her that time doesn't wait for the weary.

Luckily for both her and the girl, Bobbi already seems to know what Simmons means to say.

"She's Lily." It isn't a question.

Jemma nods quickly (her neck is getting cramped), trying to move on to the harder aspect of things.

She takes a deep breath. "The Centipede on her arm is extremely unstable. It could explode at any second. Lily seems to have been unconsciously self-regulating, but in doing so is putting tremendous strain on her body."

"Is she going to be okay?" Bobbi asks sharply, taking a scary step inward.

"Yes! Well… most likely. I need consent to perform a procedure that will stabilize the serum."

"Do it," Morse responds immediately.

"I… I need to make sure you understand the risks beforehand. There is a chance that the strain will put her into organ failure. Possibly multiple organs at once. Her liver and kidneys are the closest to failing, in which case she could receive a transplant from a living donor. But if anything else goes she'll need to be placed on the waiting list."

Bobbi swallows hard.

"There is also a small chance that, given her already compromised health, Lily could die. Immediately," Simmons adds apologetically.

"And… what if you don't stabilize the serum?"

Jemma looks down. "The strain would cause her to go into multi-organ failure, which would mean that she would eventually become too weak to keep her body and the serum and—"

"I've read the files," Bobbi cuts her off. She sits down, putting her head in her hands. "You have to do it then, don't you? Yes."

Bobbi Morse isn't sure where to begin.

After dragging Hunter into her bunk (and ignoring his cries of "I'm not doing this again, Bobbi."), she closes the door and waits. One second, two. Her back is against the doorframe, getting hit with cold air from behind, but she doesn't mind.

"I don't want to—"

"God, Hunter. I don't want to have sex with you. I need to—just… give me a second…." Would waiting help? No. Nothing would. So, she just got on with it. "I lied. She isn't—they didn't tell me she was dead. They didn't tell me anything. They couldn't find her. Lily's—"

And Hunter is flying out of the room, headed straight for Simmons' bunk, where Skye has their daughter.

She follows.

Then she watches.

Lance crouches down, looking into her eyes, which are so much like Bobbi's. She's tall, too. But there is something of him in her smile.

Lily smiles now, as Lance plops down next to her and pulls out his phone.

"Hunter… I—"

"Not now, Bobbi," he says sharply, more harsh than even Bobbi has ever heard him speak.

She watches Skye leave the room, presumably to go find Jemma and figure out what the hell is happening.

When they are alone, Bobbi joins him on the floor. "She needs a procedure." She says it quietly, hoping the girl won't hear.

"What kind of procedure?"

"Something to stabilize it." She looks pointedly at the bulge under the arm of Lily's sweatshirt.

"Do I get a say in this?"

Bobbi shakes her head, smiling down at the girl, who's very obviously winning whatever game they're playing. She is oblivious to their anger. "I talked to Simmons. She can brief you during prep."

Hunter laughs, high and fake. "You won! And I will. But don't think you're getting away with this."

Morse sighs. The arguments and fear were only just beginning.

But so was their life (however short lived it might be) with their daughter.

Simmons comes by a couple of minutes later and all four troop down to the labs in a mournful parade.

The Brit takes Hunter aside to explain the whole thing while Morse gets Lily—if she even wanted to be called Lily—attached to the monitors.

She decides to ask one more time. Now that Lily had been with them for the night, maybe she would feel more comfortable. Maybe she would talk. "Do you want to tell me your name, sweetie?"

The girl shakes her head.

Bobbi wasn't sure if that meant she didn't have one or she just didn't want to tell her.

"That's okay. Are you comfortable?"

The girl nods, resting her small head against the hard exam table. She's definitely lying, but Bobbi decides to let it go. She would say the same thing.

Simmons comes over, nodding at Bobbi. "You're going to have to leave for this part, sorry."

"Just… take care of her. Please."

Jemma smiles weakly. She didn't ask for this, didn't ask to be dragged into their drama. But she was here now and she was going to do her best.

"Of course."

Bobbi paces outside, watching through the glass. "Jemma just gave her a sedative."

Lance is leaning against the wall, unwilling to watch, eyes closed for good measure.

"Why did you lie to me?" he asks weakly, sliding down the wall. "We could have found her, before…."

Bobbi shakes her head, still watching. "It's just starting to kick in."

"Answer me dammit!" Hunter's voice cracks as his body hits the ground.

"We were ripping ourselves apart. We couldn't take another fall. It needed to end." She sighs. "Simmons is preparing the anti-serum."

"You don't tell a man his child is dead because it's a little hard!"

"Look, can we do this later? She's about to inject our daughter with the—" She stops as Hunter gets up and presses his nose into the glass right next to her.

They watch with bated breath as Simmons carefully pushes the needle into the first line of Centipede.

Lily spasms, her heart rate jumping ten BPM in a millisecond. But, at the same time, it jumps back down. Jemma does this to every piece of the centipede, so they have to watch the process seven times in all.

Every time, their little girl gets more rundown. As her stats inch downwards, they watch her face pale, her lips chap, her hands start to tremble. Jemma has to physically hold her arm down to administer the last shot. By then, the jaundice is starting to set in.

"Is she going to need a transplant?" Lance asks, looking at Bobbi. She's the one with a biology degree, after all. "She's jaundiced… that means she needs a transplant. Right?"

Morse shakes her head. "It might not. With the Centipede, she has accelerated healing. And the liver is the only organ that regenerates itself." She crosses her fingers, hoping beyond hope that she is right.

Simmons checks the girl's vitals one last time before exiting the lab to update the parents. This is not the part she looks forward to. This isn't even a part she usually does.

"Lily's doing well. She should wake up in a couple of hours. It's possible she'll even miss the worst of the pain."

"What about the jaundice?" Hunter's hands are fidgeting. It almost looks like an attempt to cover the way they're trembling.

"Actually, that looks as though it may pass. We're obviously going to monitor her in a closed environment until her liver is completely functional again. Other than that, she did amazing." The scientist snaps off her gloves. "Fitz is going to be watching her while I run some labs, but you can go sit in there if you want. She'll be awake soon."

They file inside without thanking the scientist.

Up close, it Lily looks slightly better. The yellow tinge that had diffused across her skin didn't look nearly as aggressive. Instead of resembling a corpse, Lily looked almost like she could be sleeping. Peacefully.

The only things subtracting from the image are her trembling hands, the sudden cries of pain and flares of orange in her veins. Not to mention the Centipede fused to her arm. In a way, because of the shifting and moving, it almost looks like the insect-shaped device is crawling across Lily's skin.

Bobbi reminds herself it could be much worse.

Instinctively, each parent takes one of her hands, wrapping their fingers around her shorter ones. They're cold, but alive. It's a weird feeling, after all these years. So much they had missed.

Bobbi looks up at Hunter, studying the look on his face. Seeing the pure joy and fierce protectiveness in his stare, she briefly wonders why she'd thought he was unfit to be a parent. But there's sadness there, too, and she knows that's partially her fault.

"I shouldn't have lied to you," Bobbi admits.

She blames herself for the lost moments, rightly. If it hadn't been for her, they would never have stopped looking. They might have found her earlier, before they did this to her.

"Yeah. You shouldn't have," Lance replies, caught up in the hurt.

He cannot stop thinking about all that Lily must have endured, growing up in that lab. An experiment.

Fitz enters, Mack following in his wake. The mechanic slides over a chair next to Bobbi's, sitting down. "Is she going to be okay?"

"P-ph… in her body she will be fine," Fitz says, forgetting his words. "Her um… brain c-could go either way."

Mack nods slowly, giving Fitz the time to find his words. "Good. And have you told her yet?" The question is directed to a space somewhere between Bobbi and Hunter.

"No," Lance replies.

"But we're going to when she wakes up."

Suddenly, the girl's eyes snap open. "Tell me what?" she asks.