No time to edit so if there is a problem let me know. I hope you all continue through this rough ride with me, because I know it's pretty different from the original story, but I think it's interesting. Enjoy.

Chapter 10

"Dad?" Daisy's voice rung over the phone, and she received silence in return. "Dad are you there?"

"Daisy," her father finally answered, sighing in relief. She was okay. She was fine. "Daisy where are you?"

She looked around the restaurant, trying to find some sort of answer. There was nothing though, and the kind woman who'd lent Daisy a phone had stepped off to the side, unable to be asked.

"I don't know, just track it," she finally answered, biting her lip. "I just… I just need you to come and pick me up."

Tony felt sad that Daisy even felt she had to say that. "I'm on my way. Just don't leave, okay? Are you hurt? How is your shoulder?"

Daisy reached up to rub the wound. It hurt like hell, but she didn't mind. Pain was just a part of the job. She had to be hurt so she could comply, but her dad couldn't know that. He wasn't allowed to know about her compliance. "I mean I haven't bled out yet. Is Steve okay?"

"Yeah honey, he's fine," Tony assured her as J.A.R.V.I.S pinged up her location. He'd been flying around searching even before Daisy called, and so, with her location in mind, hurled himself towards her. She was only a few minutes away; they hadn't even taken her out of D.C. "He's worried about you, we all were."

Daisy felt bad that her father had been upset; she hated hurting those she loved. Still, it had been in their best interest, it had been in the world's best interest. "I'm okay dad, I promise. I just want to go home."

Tony just wanted to take her home as well, but they couldn't just rush back to Malibu. They needed to find whoever it was that took her, and so Daisy would have to explain what happened. Daisy would have to be debriefed by her stupid bosses at S.H.I.E.L.D before she could even go home. "I know you do honey, and you can soon."

He made it to her soon after, and pulled her in a hug that only ended when Tony realized she was bleeding again. He helped hold down on it until Natasha pulled up with an actual car and drove them towards the S.H.I.E.L.D facility. There they stitched Daisy up, pulled out the bullet that had been steadily wreaking havoc in her shoulder for a week, and then waited for the anesthesia to wear off.

When Daisy blinked awake, she was aware of her father, Steve, and Fury sitting by her side, talking quietly. They didn't appear to notice that she'd awoken, and Daisy realized how easily she could kill them all at that very moment. Fury had a gun clipped to his belt, right within Daisy's reach. She'd take her dad out before he could get the suit on, then Steve whose shield was nowhere in sight. Fury would be easy to kill then, but she didn't even need to. He wasn't an Avenger.

But she'd need to kill him or he'd stop her from going after the others. The others would know she was coming though, and so Daisy didn't reach for Fury's gun. She needed to wait until all the Avengers were within her grasp.

"Dad?" she whispered weakly, attempting to reach out and grab his hand. "Am I at S.H.I.E.L.D?"

Tony stopped speaking mid sentence and moved to grab her hand. "Yeah, at the Triskelion."

Daisy nodded, attempting to rub the confusion from her eyes when they set upon Steve. "You're okay?"

"Of course," Steve promised, coming over to grab her other hand. "Daisy I'm so sorry. It's all my fault."

She tried to shake her head, but the nausea it brought upon stopped her quickly. Pushing it down, she managed to speak, trying to keep the pain from her voice. "It's not your fault Steve. It's mine. If you'd been hurt…" Daisy couldn't have lived with Steve just dying because he tried to protect her from the Winter Soldier. He was supposed to die to save the world from the Avengers. She was supposed to kill him; she'd have been devastated if he had died because of her.

"You say it's your fault," Fury finally spoke up, eying her wearily. Daisy felt a chill on the back of her neck when his eye locked on her. He knew. She didn't know how he knew but Fury knew. Somehow he knew of her compliance. "Why were they after you?"

Daisy looked towards her dad. He'd be devastated to know she'd been kidnapped again because of him, but she had to tell the truth. She hated causing him pain, but she couldn't change the reality of it. "You. They were planning on using me to kill you. I mean all the Avengers but… but it has to start with you."

Tony's nails dug into his hand at her words, but Steve was the one who growled, "You were bait? They chained you in a warehouse for a week as bait?"

Daisy wasn't surprised they'd figured out where she'd been held. She only hoped that all traces of Hydra's presence had been whipped out. They had to be kept a secret or everyone would set out trying to destroy the evil Nazis who wanted to take over the world. Daisy wanted to kill them herself, but that would not be considered compliance.

"And do you know who it was?"

Of course she did. "No. The guy who took me left and then I never saw the others, only heard them a little."

"How did you escape?"

Escape. Daisy hadn't escaped. Daisy was still their prisoner. "I don't think they knew, that I was trained I mean. I worked my way out of the binders and then ran. There was no one guarding me at all."

It seemed odd to everyone that they could not know Daisy was an agent when the Winter Soldier attacked her at the Triskelion, but Fury was the only one who thought about it. Tony and Steve were just glad their Daisy was safe.

Fury wasn't so sure she was. "It's S.H.I.E.L.D protocol for any agent to speak with one of our psychiatrists after a traumatic ordeal. I set you up with Dr. Andrew Garner for tomorrow. Once you've spoken to him we can discuss you going back to work."

"She's not going back to work! She's going home before they come after her again!" Tony objected.

Daisy gave him that look, and spoke much like the 20-year-old girl she was. "Dad."

"No whining. She wants a leave from duty. After all the shit she's endured working for you I think she's entitled to one."

Fury looked between father and daughter before finally nodding. "Yes, for someone not on active duty Daisy has gotten herself into lots of trouble. Still, talk to Doctor Garner before going home. It would serve you well."

It wasn't an offer, but an order and Daisy would comply.

Daisy knew she could easily have liked Doctor Garner had she let herself. He offered her a bright smile as they sat down, and waited for Daisy to actually meet his eyes before speaking.

"My ex-wife always had that same look in her eyes when she used to come home."

Daisy looked at him in surprise. His ex-wife? What did she have to do with it? Daisy didn't think she looked like a disgruntled ex wife so… "Is she an agent?"

Doctor Garner nodded. "She used to be. Sometimes the field kills something in you, and you have to take a step back.

Daisy knew what he was implying, and she didn't like it. While it was likely she wouldn't be returning to S.H.I.E.L.D after her mission, Daisy knew she was cut out to be a top Field Agent. That was what she wanted. "I'm not broken Doctor Garner. I'm perfectly fine with what happened."

"Oh I'm sure you're used to it. After all, this is the third time you've been kidnapped." Daisy was about to say second, when she suddenly remembered Delaney. Damn. She hadn't thought about her former-roommate turned psycho supervillain in well over a year. Not since she'd left the Academy for sure.

"And the first time it happened you were only 15. That must have been rough." Daisy just shrugged. It really hadn't bothered her as much as it did her dad… though being locked in that prototype suit may have something to do with her fear of the dark…

Doctor Garner continued, despite Daisy no longer being able to meet his eyes. She'd never quite realized how much danger she'd been in because of her dad… or how much it bothered her. Even when she found her family she certainly didn't find the normal life she so desperately longed for.

"Daisy, why did you join S.H.I.E.L.D? Was it so you could defend yourself against all those who'd attack you?"

She looked up at him, anger brimming in his eyes. "I didn't need S.H.I.E.L.D to protect me."

"Of course you didn't," Doctor Garner's voice was still nonchalant, but his eyes dug into her. Suddenly Daisy wondered if perhaps this was about more than her most recent kidnapping. If it was about her future with S.H.I.E.L.D altogether. "But did you join S.H.I.E.L.D wanting to protect yourself after seeing how Agent Romanoff fought?"

Daisy remembered her first thoughts on the Black Widow. She'd sure as Hell been impressed… and soon after she'd joined S.H.I.E.L.D. But it wasn't about being safe. No. "My dad's bodyguard had already taught me how to fight. I joined S.H.I.E.L.D so I could fight for someone besides myself!"

"So you want to help people, save people?" Doctor Garner asked, and Daisy sunk deeper into the couch with a nod that made her look more like a surly teenager than competent agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. "You want to be a hero?"

"Doesn't everyone?"

Doctor Garner shrugged, but looked pleased. "You save lives every day when you crack encryptions or track targets. Dozens of agents and even more civilians owe you their lives. Yet you've applied to be assigned to a field team a dozen times in the past 6 months alone. Why aren't you content?"

"Because there's a hole in me I just can't fill! Not with S.H.I.E.L.D! Not with Steve! Not with my Dad! There's just a hole and nothing is ever gonna change that!"

Until the words burst from her lips, catalyzed by stress, brainwashing, and a lack of sleep, Daisy didn't even realize it was true, but it was. For as long as Daisy could remember there was this hole waiting to be filled by something. For fifteen years she assumed it was family, but she'd had a family for years. She had a dad, and a mom, and the Avengers, and Hell now she was going to have a sibling! Family had not filled the hole. And then she thought being part of S.H.I.E.L.D would, that being a hero would, but it just didn't. The whole only seemed to grow, and what she so desperately wanted in S.H.I.E.L.D would never be found.

Daisy, angered by her own outburst, walked out of the room, and Doctor Garner didn't even try to stop her. He'd gotten the answers to Fury's questions. Now all he had to do was report it.

"Well?" the Director asked, staring at Doctor Garner with his good eye. He'd always liked the man, saw him as more than just Agent May's husband. In a way the divorce had been good for Garner's relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D, if not for the two people involved. "Was I right?"

"There's definitely something wrong with Agent Stark yes," Doctor Garner confirmed, looking out of Fury's window. Daisy was standing in the parking lot, kissing Captain America as if she intended to suffocate him. It was amusing to see, and only made Andrew feel worse for the girl.

He turned back to Fury, all business again. "I don't think you have to worry about it affecting her ability to perform her duties though. Something tells me she doesn't expect to come back from this leave of absence, and what we discussed today will only make her want to leave more."

"And what did you and she discuss, Doctor Garner?"

Andrew looked at his old friend and smiled, "That's between Daisy and I Nick, you know that. I'll say this about her though- she's stronger than I am. I think I know why she and Romanoff get along so well, they have bigger balls than the rest of us. It would take them just to get out of bed in the morning."