Chapter 10: Begin Again (Just, Please, Don't Trust So Simply)

Only, it's not the pizza guy outside.

Two people. One male, one female. The male is shorter—no, younger, Lily's age. They're both your average "brown hair, brown eyes, white" (though the woman might be a Latina—Lily can't quite tell). The woman's pretty and looks like a badass. The boy's a little scared; Lily thinks she can take him, easily.

When the blonde realizes what she's doing, Lily makes herself stop sizing them up. No need. Just a woman and boy with a mysterious dish-like thing which totally isn't a holding weapon.

Right?

Before Lily can really freak out and do something bad, Simmons is there, pushing her out of the way and shielding her with the door.

"Hi. Is this a bad time?" the woman asks, sweet as honey. Her voice drips sincerity to the point where Lily's almost sick.

"No, not at all," Simmons lies.

She's not very good at it, is she?

"It's just, we saw you moving in… I'm Piper and this is Peter."

"Jemma. Jemma Simmons."

Lily is debating whether to run or stay around and listen in. The later wins out. Damn curiosity.

"This is for you," Piper says, shoving the dish into Jemma's hands. The scientist isn't ready and almost drops it. "And welcome. To the neighborhood."

"Yeah, thank—" Whatever overly nice thank-you Jemma had planned is cut off by Bobbi coming down the stairs.

"What is it?' Lily's mom asks before seeing the open door. "Oh. Hello." The SHIELD agent's hands go to her back, and Lily knows she's fingering the tips of her batons, just in case.

"Hey," Piper says somewhat offhandedly. It just seems to be the way she says things, which is cool. Lily likes her jacket. And her haircut. And her—"Are you two…?"

"What? No, she doesn't… well, sometimes… but… we're not dating," Jemma explains. Badly.

"What's goin' on down there?' Lance asks in his trademark "I don't really give a shit but I kind of do—also, I'm British" accent.

Piper smirks. Lily isn't sure why, but Jemma's ears go slightly read and Bobbi looks amused.

Grownups are weird.

"Why's everyone shouting?" Skye asks, running down the stairs with an empty box in tow.

"There's someone at the door," Lily explains.

"And who's that?" Piper asks, even nicer than she sounded before. Which is saying something.

Lily looks at the grownups worriedly. Skye nods at her, but Lily still feels scared. It's the same overly nice tone the scientists used to use before the blonde got her Centipedes and could kill them all.

There's a pause, and it's too long. Piper's smile is getting forced, now, and Lily's heartbeat is speeding up. She can't remember the question.

Hunter jumps to her aid. "Lily. She's a bit shy around new people."

"Uh-huh. So's Peter sometimes."

"Are you her dad?" Peter asks quietly.

"Yeah, mate. And Bobbi's her mum. And Skye and Jemma—"

There's a pause. Lily thinks fast. "Jemma's dad's sister. And Skye is her girlfriend. They share a room and everything."

The adults join into a small burst of laughter while Lily and Peter both make confused faces. "You know, so they can—"

"Okay, that's enough," Bobbi says teasingly. She turns back to Piper and Peter. "Do you two live on this street?"

"Right across from you," Piper responds, nodding towards a one-story house facing theirs.

"Does Peter's dad live there too?" Lily inquires, peeking out from behind the door to look at the windows. There weren't any lights on.

"No. And Piper isn't my mom," Peter answers.

(Family friend, Piper mouths to the grownups.)

"Oh." Lily wishes she could tell him she used to not have parents either, but it's probably not a good idea.

"Yeah. Piper feels bad about it so she buys me Legos. I like to build things. Want to see?"

Lily nods quickly, moving toward the door. The adults continue on with their conversation (boring!). It's all quite awkward in the doorway, but Lily understands why none of them would really want to invite anyone inside. The agents hadn't found the time to hide any of their ICERS, yet, so they were all piled up on the kitchen table.

Peter shows her a small grey thing. It's got a shallow cup on one end connected to a small, thin tower of blocks. That was connected via hinge to a long, horizontal block which was also connected to the cup, but by rubber bands.

"It's a catapult," Peter explains. "You cut the rubber bands and it throws whatever's in the cup."

"You must use a lot of rubber bands," Lily comments, inspecting the toy.

"Yeah," Peter replies sheepishly. His empty hands retreat to his jeans' pockets. "I'm working on the design. Most of the time this one ends up throwing the cup. Piper thinks I'm going to dent the walls."

Lily nods. "It's the hinge."

"I know. I have one at home which works better, but you have to hold it down. This one will be much more efficient when I figure it out."

"What are you trying to hit?" Lily asks.

"Nothing, really. I just like making things, then making them better. Are you going to Greenway or Fairview?"

"What?"

"School. Greenway or Fairview?"

Lily shakes her head. "Neither. I'm homeschooled."

"Oh. I go to Greenway. You're lucky, it's pretty horrible."

"Oh." Lily isn't sure what to say.

"Yeah. You know we're the only people who live on this street?"

Lily isn't surprised, but she knew how to act like it. "Really?"

"Yeah. That lady who came by on a plane earlier? She works for the guy who owns this place. He only rents out these two houses, because the rest are really old. And before you guys came, no one even lived in this house. It was haunted."

"Really?" Lily says skeptically. She doesn't believe in ghosts.

"No. I was just seeing if you would believe me."

Lily smirks, proud she passed his test. "I didn't."

"I know. You're smart. That's good. Want to come over after school tomorrow? You can help me with my designs." Peter pauses. "We could be friends."

Lily nods, then stops. "Shouldn't you ask Piper?"

"Pipes, can Lily come over tomorrow?"

"If her parents say yes," Piper responds automatically.

Everyone turns to Bobbi. She looks doubtful.

"Please?" Lily says, putting on as hopeful a face as she can muster. When that doesn't work, she goes straight too nuclear. "Why shouldn't I be able to?" Lily asks, knowing Bobbi can't say the obvious answer.

"Yes, you can go," Bobbi says after a pause. She isn't happy, but Lily doesn't care.

Lily is on top of the world. She just made her first friend.

"They seem nice, Pipes. Real nice," Peter says after him and Piper leave Lily's house later. "They even gave us pizza!"

It's a little cold outside, so he pulls his hood up. A shoot of webbing follows his wrist and lands somewhere to the right; he and Piper both pretend not to notice.

"People lie," Piper replies, stone cold. Now the "happy" act is up, she almost feels like going goth for a week, just to make up for it. And her face still hurt from the smiling.

Peter kicks at the ground, sending up a bit of turf. He doesn't like where this is going.

"This is my job, Pete. We're just getting information," Piper sighs.

She opens the door, turning on a light and exposing their home. In the back room, a set of computers display certain rooms Lily's home. Right now, the girl is reading.

Peter looks away. "But for which guys: good or bad?"

Piper doesn't answer.

Bobbi pretends to be mad at Lily for manipulating her like that, but in reality, she's jumping for joy. It's the kind of thing all kids do, the kind of thing Lily wouldn't have done if she wasn't completely comfortable with them.

Things are getting easier. Bobbi didn't ever think they would, but they are.

"Time for bed," the mother says eventually, watching her daughter stifle a yawn with the back of her hand. "Come on, little duck."

"Duck?" Lily asks, standing and starting up the stairs.

Bobbi shrugs, following her. "Do you mind?"

Lily thinks for a moment. Bobbi notices she always looks just Hunter when she thinks, on the rare occasion he did ponder something. "No," Lily decides. "It's nice."

"Good." Bobbi stands for a moment in the doorway of Lily's bedroom before following her in, wondering if it's okay for her to enter. She eventually decides it is. "Where are your clothes?"

Lily sits herself down on the edge of the bed carefully, pointing to the top drawer of the dresser.

Bobbi takes out underwear and pajamas. "Okay, why don't you hop in the shower?" Bobbi says. She looks at Lily's hair for a moment. It's getting greasy. "I'll come in and help you with your hair in a minute."

Lily nods, hopping right off the bed and into the adjoining bathroom. It's tiled in blue and white, with a frosted window and yellow lights.

After Lily's showered and dressed, the mother and daughter stand facing the mirror as Bobbi dries her hair with a yellow towel. Aside from the color, it's clean (she checks), and has a flower stitched on one corner.

Their likeness is striking, really. Lily has Hunter's expressions, but everything else comes at least partly from Bobbi. Even that one lock of hair that never dries straight.

"Okay if I brush it?"

"Will it hurt?" Lily asks seriously.

Unwilling to lie, Bobbi nods. "For a little."

"'K," Lily agrees, almost suspiciously. She jumps when they get to the first knot, but it's fine from there. Bobbi finishes by making to braids and telling the blonde to brush her teeth.

Hunter comes then, and he reads her a chapter of her book (the fifth Harry Potter), while Bobbi sits quietly at the end of the bed. Lily's transfixed the whole time.

When it's over, they wish her goodnight, shut off the light, and leave.

And, for once, all three of them feel… normal.

The next day, things get even more normal, and it's great.

Lily wakes up and gets dressed immediately, heading downstairs with her hair still in the braids from last night because she isn't sure how to take them out. Her grey hoodie is new, and so is her black Periodic Table of Minecraft t-shirt (she isn't quite sure what Minecraft is, but she intends to find out), and her Converse.

She feels bright and shiny and new, and she most certainly likes it.

The new kitchen is bright and painted instead of dark and log-y. It's got a big window on one wall and a five-chaired round table just under it. Lily takes the seat farthest from the stove (for some reason, that voice in her head wants her to put her hand over a flame), and watches Skye and Simmons work around each other. They're in sync, and it's beautiful. Skye will get something from the fridge, leave it open, and Simmons will be there a second later looking for something else. If Simmons doesn't like a song, Skye picks up on the slight crinkle in her nose and she'll go change it, herself.

Bobbi and Hunter enter a little later, smiles on their lips and springs in their steps. They sit with Lily wedged between them, letting Skye and Simmons finish by themselves. Simmons is making coffee and toast, but Lily gets toast and juice because "coffee is bad for children".

They all eat breakfast together, talking, and then Simmons and Skye start working and Hunter goes out to scope out the rest of the neighborhood while Bobbi fixes Lily's hair.

It comes out in waves and Bobbi brushes them until Lily's whole head shines. Then she gets a hair tie and bundles it all up into a ponytail. The blonde hasn't got the balls to tell her so, but it's way too high.

Simmons helps Lily with some science work on her computer until noon. Lily isn't hungry, but she eats anyway because Simmons is the kind who watches people. The scientist is waiting for something, but the blonde doesn't know what it is until a stranger is knocking on the door.

The man comes in and Lily has to sit in her bedroom for a bit and read while all the grownups talk downstairs. She wants to listen in, but she doesn't. Last time, with Coulson, it didn't turn out that well. She doesn't want a repeat.

Anyway, Lily recounts this all to the strange man—Dr. Garner—when he comes into her room. "So yeah, we're pretty normal now," she says with a small smile.

"Is that important to you, Lily? Being normal?" he asks.

Dr. Garner is sitting on Lily's desk chair and Lily's sitting on the edge of the bed. Lily has already shown him her things and said, no, he couldn't touch them. That was when the questions started.

Lily thinks for a moment. "Maybe. Not really important, but it's nice. I'm going to the house across the street later."

"Are you looking forward to that?"

"Yeah. Peter seems nice. He said he'd let me help him fix his catapult." Lily had been thinking about that one, in the back of her mind, for the whole day.

Dr. Garner nods. "And what about your parents?"

"Hunter and Bobbi? They're nice. I like them. They used to scream at each other a lot, but now they're… friendlier."

Garner writes something down. "Tell me about Centipede."

"No," Lily answers immediately. It's an instinctive, automatic reaction.

Garner raises and eyebrow. It's judgy. Lily isn't sure she likes him, completely. "Okay. Do you want to talk about—"

Lily hears a car. Glancing out the window, she sees Piper's car pull up outside. Peter jumps out of it and starts running towards Lily's house.

"Actually, I've got to go," Lily says, cutting Garner off midsentence. "Peter's about to be here."

Peter's room is blue and cramped. It's quite nice, with lots of Legos… everywhere. Literally every surface—excluding the bed, which itself is on top of a desk filled with Lego—has at least one Lego creation on it.

Peter pulls out the desk chair, saying "You can sit here if you want."

Lily nods and sits down, spinning around so the fan looks like it's moving, instead of her. "Did you make all of these?"

Peter sits down on the window seat, pulling over a box of exclusively grey Lego. "Yeah. I brought some of them over from my aunt and uncle's apartment in Queens. They're separated by shape and color, okay?"

Lily nods again. "So, where's the better one you were telling me about yesterday?"

"Here," Peter says walking over to the desk. He picks up the catapult and hands it to Lily. "So?" he asks after a pause.

Lily inspects the object carefully. "It's good. Reloading must be hard, though."

Peter shrugs. "Not hard. It just takes a while."

"Well, we'd better make some modifications, then."

Peter grins, pushing over the box of Lego.

After working for the afternoon at Peter's house, Skye comes over to bring Lily home.

"We added a plastic spoon instead of a cup; it makes it lighter so the catapult can go further. And then we put it on wheels so it would be portable. Me and Peter couldn't figure out how to make it so you don't have to hold it down, but we're gonna figure out how tomorrow."

Skye raises an eyebrow. "Tomorrow?"

Lily stops walking in the middle of the road, making Skye let out a kind of yelp. The agent almost pulls her arm out of its socket, forcing her the rest of the way to the sidewalk.

"I can go back tomorrow, can't I?" the blonde pleads.

Skye looks like one of those people who is terrified of giving the wrong answer, but has no idea what the right one is. "The house is clean for bugs…"

"You swept the place?" Lily asks, suddenly indignant.

"It's your parents' decision."

"You mean Bobbi's," Lily mutters under her breath.

Despite the severity of the situation, Skye laughs softly. "Yeah, I mean Bobbi's."

A/N: 1-2 chapter's left! I'm working on a sequel, KIDS.

uh, yeah. Hope you guys liked this chapter!