Chapter 45

You Don't Have to Tell Me

Skye looked down at the haphazard outfit she now wore. At ten she was hardly the size of anyone in the base, not that there was much of anything left anyway. Even petite Jemma was quite bigger than the little girl. A pair of shorts hiked as high as possible and a t-shirt cut and tied to resemble some weird version of a shirt that wanted to be a dress was the best anyone could do.

"Think of it as setting a trend," May suggested weakly as she stepped back to view the little girl. She had to admit, if only to herself, that it was pretty shabby.

Skye frowned. "I don't think my mom would let me out of the house like this unless it was Halloween."

May raised an eyebrow. The kid was probably right, even the homeless had better fashion sense. She let out a sigh. "Sorry, kid, it's either this or you make the scene in your birthday suit."

Skye's eyes widened as she shook her head and giggled. "Nope, this is fine. I kinda like it." It was hard to tell if May was teasing, but she hoped she was.

"Okay, ladies," Coulson stepped through the door and clapped his hands. "Ready to roll," he smiled.

Skye failed to hold the laugh that escaped her even though she had slapped both hands over her mouth. May bit her lip and shook her head.

"What?" He asked, innocently.

"Where did you find this?" May pulled the baseball cap, complete with false ponytail hanging from the hole in the back from his head. The jacket he wore made him look thirty pounds heavier and at least twenty years older.

"Found it downstairs," he almost pouted as he pulled it back on his head. "Not much to work with around here and we…"

"Are not going anywhere with you looking like that." May raised an eyebrow, stepped back and pointed at him before letting out a laugh of her own.

He took off the cap and stared at it for a moment, shrugged his shoulders and tossed it on the sofa in the com room, the jacket followed.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," Skye sighed. "I don't even have any shoes and these flip-flops are really big and they kinda hurt." She paused for a moment and stared at her feet then pulled them out of the oversized beach shoes. "I'm not really hungry for ice cream anyway." The little girl let out a soft breath and stared at her wriggling toes.

Coulson and May exchanged glances and moved to comfort the little girl. "I know it's hard, but we'll get you back to your folks." Coulson smiled as he wrapped an arm around the child's shoulders pulling her into a half hug.

She looked up at him, then May and then back. "But you're my parents…aren't you?"

Again the agents traded a quick look.

"Or you're gonna be, when I grow up." She mumbled. She rubbed her left hand staring at the long white line that ran along the wrinkle under her thumb. A smile spread across the little girl's face and spoke quietly, almost to herself. "She's okay now. She knows they love her."

"Did something happen, Skye? Is Daisy okay?" Coulson was concerned.

The little girl smiled up at him. "They must believe her because she feels better. She knows now." Again Skye rubbed a finger along the scar in her palm.

May held out a hand to the little girl. "Come here, Skye." She coaxed gently.

Skye looked at the hand for a few seconds before putting her own into it and allowing May to lead her to the couch. The woman sat and tugged the little girl to sit next to her. Coulson sat on the opposite side.

"We know there is so much you don't understand," May began, looking from the child to Coulson and back. "And there is so much we just can't tell you." She smiled and pushed a hair behind the little girl's ear. Skye chewed her lip and nodded her understanding.

"You tell me that a lot," the little girl snorted. "That I'll understand when I'm older but I do understand some things." She looked a May and then at Coulson. "I know I love my par…you while I'm little and I know I'll love you when I grow up. But then I know Daisy's afraid to love you but I don't know why. I mean if I love you now." She paused, took a breath and scrunched up her face. "Was I bad? Did I have bad friends or use drugs or get in big trouble? I'm sorry if I did. I'm sorry I made you angry or sad about me."

May took the little girl's hands in hers and patted them gently. "No, no Skye, Coul…your dad and I always loved you, no matter what." She realized, in that moment, she was speaking the truth. Yes, she had always loved Daisy, always considered her family. Even when she was nothing more than a street wise smart ass looking for someplace to fit in, May couldn't help the feeling that the kid needed protection…a home…someone to care about her.

Skye shook her head. "Daisy doesn't know that…not really, she's just afraid about it." She stopped and lowered her gaze to the floor, almost mumbling, "but doesn't want you to know." Peeking up at May with one side of her face she waited for either adult to speak. When they did not she took a deep breath and looked ahead, not really focusing on anything and giving the appearance of someone deep in thought.

A smile spread across the little girl's face as she spoke, again to no one in particular. "She's not afraid now though. Mommy's probably hugging her and Daddy too." She looked up at May. "Maybe everything will be okay."

Coulson, once again, pulled the little girl into a haphazard hug.

xx

"Time travel," Phil smiled and shook his head. "I knew they were working on something down there in research." He let out a low whistle and shook his head again. "I just never imagined it could be something so….so…."

"Insane?" Melinda finished for him.

"I was thinking more like impossible or fantastic. Mel, do you know what this could mean?" His smile was enormous and Daisy almost felt guilty for the flat out lie she was letting them believe.

"A ride through hell," Melinda huffed.

Daisy blew out a slow breath. "Really? Am I that bad?" She heard the sarcasm in her own voice before she could stop it. The look on Melinda's face told her she hadn't missed it either. Daisy shrugged her shoulders and stuffed her hands into her pockets.

"No, you're not," Melinda snarled. "Well, most of the time you're not, but I'd really like to know how you got to be such a smart ass. I am certain I would never stand for it." She folded her arms over her chest and waited for an answer.

"Kids go through that stuff, Mel. Now you know, so you'll be more vigilant." Phil's excitement was showing as he spoke to his wife but faced the young girl. "I've heard they're trying to resurrect some of Stark's work and that playboy son of his is about to inherit the whole shebang. How's that turn out?" He looked at her like a kid waiting to open his gifts on Christmas morning.

Daisy narrowed her brow and stared for a moment before shaking her head. "Um, ah…n-no…" she shook her head again. "I mean I don't know and I've…I've already told you more than I should. I told you this whole thing is classified."

"Right," Phil snapped his fingers. "The less we know the safer everything remains. But…"

"I don't suppose sharing the name change business would be risking too much." Melinda grumbled. "Johnson, I take it you've married."

"Married!" Phil grabbed the girl by the shoulders and gave her a soft shake.

Daisy pulled back and looked at him as if he'd lost it.

"Grandchildren! Are we grandparents?" He turned to Melinda and laughed. "Mel, we're grandparents." Then back to Daisy. "How many? Two…three?"

Daisy shook her head and grimaced as she backed away from him. "No, none…I mean, no I'm not married…I…"

Phil let out a disappointed sigh. Melinda rolled her eyes.

"I…" 'Damn!' Daisy thought to herself. 'How the hell do I explain this?'

Since this whole thing began she'd thought about her name more than once, lying in bed at night, staring at the ceiling and wondering just who the hell she was. Cal gave her this name. That crazy, sad man that stole a baby to pacify his even crazier wife then went even loonier because he lost said baby. From what she understood, the Sisters of St. Agnes found her when she was less than five months old so crazy Cal and jaded Jiaying never had the chance to raise her. She didn't even want to think about what went on in those few months, but the nuns said she was healthy so someone made sure she was fed and cared for properly. She became Mary Sue Poots, lovely name or curse as the case may be, and spent the next sixteen years bouncing around the system, courtesy of SHIELD in order to protect her, until she ran and never looked back. She chose the name Skye just because it sounded free, kinda like all those hippie do your own thing people she read about in old newspapers, and it was a hell of a lot cooler than what she'd been given. That's who Coulson pulled out of a van in some LA back ally and that's who drove May insane, befriended FitzSimmons and eventually hated Grant Ward.

Then she changed, became something more…something frightening and different and it forced her away from the people she loved. Cal finally had her, courtesy of Ward and the minions of Hydra and before Coulson could save her she was whisked off to Jiaying who, along with Cal, professed to be her parents, her real parents…the people who brought her into the world.

That turned out to be one big fat lie.

She was so caught up in the realization of her life long dream that she forsook the people who had already become the very same. She left them, betrayed them, hurt them and could not forgive herself…even when they did. And now she was caught up in this crazy attempt to correct all of that, to get back the time that a desperate doctor and his deranged wife stole from the mother and father she loved from the start. So she stood here staring into the eyes of that mother, who wasn't really that mother and that father who wasn't but was.

Daisy put a hand to her head. Suddenly that bump was throbbing…probably overtaxed by the plethora of thoughts running rampant in her mind.

"Hey," Phil's soft voice was close. She felt him take her arm. "You don't look so good, kid. Maybe you should sit down. Geez, Mel, how hard did you hit her?" He scowled at his wife as he led Daisy to the bed and helped her to sit.

Melinda watched but offered no response. She waited until Daisy was seated and looked a little better.

The girl smiled at Phil. "I'm okay." She assured him.

"I suppose the name is classified." Melinda snarled.

"No," Daisy shook her head, immediately regretting it. "When I joined SHIELD, I…we thought it would be better for me not to be associated with you. Nepotism and all…accusations of special treatment," she raised her brows hoping the story wasn't too contrived. "I entered the Academy with that name…ah, created a whole history for myself." She looked from one parent to the other and waited for a reaction that did not come. "You, me and Fury are the only ones that know."

"And who created this identity?" Melinda wondered.

"I did." Daisy responded without hesitating, she was pretty good at lying. She'd had a lifetime of practice. "You gave me that laptop for Christmas and well…we found out I had a real talent for ha…" She stopped, looking into Melinda's still angry eyes. "Ha-having an interest in computers," she finished quickly.

"You found out about SHIELD?" Phil tilted his head and asked. He and Melinda had done everything they could to keep their espionage life from their child.

This time Daisy rolled her eyes. "Come on, you didn't think that corny insurance cover-up was going to work forever. I'm a smart kid."

"You told her." Melinda accused.

"No way," Daisy countered. "She's gonna figure that out on her own in about six or seven years." Daisy estimated the date of the Bahrain incident and hoped it never happened in this reality. She thought for a moment. "The secret computer room in the closet is a dead giveaway and no I didn't tell her about that either. It was me that broke in and found out where you were." Both parents glared at her.

"Hell, the kid was terrified. I was trying to help. And you were hurt, both of you." She pointed at them with both hands.

"Don't say 'hell'," both parents said in tandem while still glaring at the girl.

"All of this does not explain where Skye is," Melinda sneered.

Daisy scrunched up one side of her face and gave a slow nod. "I'm guessing that since I'm here…physically here," she pointed to the floor. "Then she must be there," she pointed forward and shrugged her shoulders.

"Where exactly is 'there'?" Phil asked before Melinda could accuse.

"With my you," Daisy smirked, then realized how stupid that sounded. "She's where I was, with Co…my dad and mom."

"Your mom and dad?" Phil repeated, raising his brows. "Us? We're there…in the future?"

Daisy opened her mouth to answer but Melinda replied before she could.

"She can't be more than," she looked Daisy up and down, "what? Twenty-five? Six? This future is not all that far away." She shook her head.

Phil smiled. "Well, it's good to know we survive whatever comes along and make it that far."

Daisy looked away for a moment then offered a small smile. "Ah, yeah…yeah, you survive…we all do." She thought about what they'd been through in the past five years and what both May and Coulson survived and didn't survive as well. How the hell could she explain how they had both come back from the dead…figuratively and actually?

"Is she safe there?" Melinda asked softly, looking away from the girl who sat in front of her. Heartbreak was evident in her tone.

Daisy nodded. "She's with you." She smiled. "How could she not be safe?"

Phil laid his hand on top of hers and squeezed gently. Melinda let out the tense breath she held and sat down next to Daisy, laying her hand on top of both of theirs. For a moment they sat, listening to the silence of the room, digesting all that had happened and letting the familiar feeling of family rest around them.

"So," Melinda broke the silence. "How do we get our girls back where they belong?"

xx

Skye sat on what might have been a table at one time and swung her feet while licking the drips of rainbow vanilla ice cream from the side of the cone she held. Maybe that Piper lady wasn't so grumpy. She'd shown up with cones for everyone right after lunch. She even made sure to get everyone's favorite, including a double dose of chocolate sprinkles on that rainbow vanilla. She smiled at Phil who was truly enjoying his chocolate peanut butter.

"Do you have to stay in here forever?" She asked around a slurp, quickly catching the dribble that ran over her chin with the palm of her hand. May shook her head and passed a few napkins to the girl.

Phil wiped the dribble from his own chin and thought for a moment. "We hope not." He looked around at his dilapidated base. Its condition was more than depressing. "This is temporary…just until we find a new base. Daisy's a big help with all the files she can get into for us."

"You mean jacking." Skye nodded with pseudo-authority as she perfected a three hundred sixty degree lick around her ice cream.

"Hacking," Melinda corrected, handing her another napkin and pointing to the drip running down the side of her hand. Skye smiled and licked it clean. Melinda blew a breath over her lip and shook her head. Some things never changed…or would never change.

Skye licked her lips and swallowed, "right, hacking." Suddenly the little girl sat bolt upright and smiled broadly. "Does that mean I get to learn hacking?" She made sure to use the right word.

Phil reached over and gently patted her knee. "Not for a couple more years, kiddo," he smiled.

Skye gave a pout, causing both parents to smile. She recovered quickly then licked her treat again. "Who's gonna teach me?" She spoke with a full mouth. May rolled her eyes.

"Don't look at me," Coulson laughed. "Not really into that kinda tech part of the field." He continued licking his cone.

Skye giggled before taking a few minutes to concentrate on preventing the now very drippy ice cream from completely dissolving the cone. She quickly slurped the ice cream from the side then off the tips of each finger before swiping them on her oversized t-shirt. "Does Fitz teach me?" She wondered.

Coulson looked at May who, at the moment, seemed a little more concerned with the child's lack of ice cream decorum. "You know, it's not good to tell you too much." He smiled at her frown. "Spoil all the surprises you're in for." He explained.

May swiped the cone from the little girl's hand. Skye's mouth dropped open as the woman dropped the cone into a bowl, stuck a spoon into it and handed it back. The little girl stared at it for a moment then frowned. "That's no fun…"

"Neither is cleaning a sticky mess," May frowned right back. "Use the spoon," she ordered.

Phil snickered under his breath a half second before May repeated the procedure and handed him a spoon.

"That goes double for you." She nodded toward a chocolate splotch in the center of the shirt.

"Still tastes the same," he snorted then clinked his bowl against Skye's and dug into the creamy chocolate soup in his bowl. He leaned over and whispered to the little girl. "I really like it when it gets like this."

Skye giggled as she nodded. It was good to know her daddy would stay the same, even when she became… She stirred the pink, blue and white ice cream in her dish, turning it a weird purple shade. "How come…" she popped a spoonful of the now purple concoction into her mouth. Coulson waited. The little girl swallowed hard. "How come…" she started again speaking slowly, then giggled at the look Coulson gave her.

"How come…" He started in a sing song voice, causing her to laugh harder. May shook her head at the tomfoolery.

"How come I'm not me when I grow up?" She finally finished then took another mouthful, crossed her feet at the ankle and swung them back and forth waiting for one of them to answer.

Coulson chuckled as he swallowed a spoon of his own lumpy concoction. "You're definitely you, Skye. You're always exactly who you're meant to be."

The little girl crinkled her forehead and looked at him as she tilted her head to the side. "How come you call me Daisy if I'm always Skye?"

Coulson looked to May and immediately adopted a more serious demeanor. She shook her head. There was no way they could shatter this little girl's memories, even if they were only computer generated. This Skye was safely placed in her mother's arms right inside the delivery room and taken home to a quaint, comfortable home in the suburbs. She grew up surrounded by the love of her parents and grandparents. She was safe and secure each and every day of her life. Someone tucked her in every night, kissed her cheeks and hummed her lullabies. She rode her bike and ate ice cream, skinned her knees and talked back, sniffled through discipline and snuggled into warm hugs. This Skye had everything her Daisy ever wanted and never experienced…and it broke her heart to even think that thought. She wished Fitz could take these fake memories and squeeze them into her daughter's head forcing out all of the nightmares she tried so hard to hide.

"I guess…" he glanced quickly at May, "well, I guess it's kind of a…well it's kind of a nickname," Coulson answered without missing a beat. He took a spoonful of his melted ice cream and pursed his lips as he swallowed. Skye sucked in her bottom lip and gave him a skeptic look.

"Really," he smiled. "It started with some crazy science fair thing." He looked to May. "I think that was the first time, wasn't it." She let out a breath, nodded and waited for him to spin this yarn.

"Oh you were so into showing your skills as a horticulturist, had me growing daisies all over the house for weeks. I started singing some silly song…" he hummed a slow tune then sang, "I'll give you a daisy a day, dear. I'll give you a daisy a day. I'll love you until the rivers run still and the four winds we know blow away.¹"

Skye smiled as she listened to her father's voice and the words of the song. She moved closer to him, resting her head on his shoulder. "Do you still sing it to her? I mean…me?"

Phil smiled at the little girl. Yes, the answer was yes…but Daisy never heard him. He hummed the tune and ran the words through his head. His mother had loved that song. It was a one hit wonder of the early seventies and the only record she ever purchased for herself. She'd play it and sing along. It made him smile even though it was a sad song. He remembered the Mother's Day he saved up and bought her daisies. They were so many different colors and she loved them. He still had the blue and yellow one she pressed into her Bible. She would love Skye…Daisy, his daughter and he regretted the fact they never had the chance to meet. His mother was gone long before his child was born. When he searched for Daisy for all those months just a year ago, he'd sung it to himself thousands of times. He was pretty sure she'd laugh him off if he tried to sing it to her now.

"Naw," he smiled sadly, "Daisy's all grown up, she'd…" he started

Skye shook her head. "She'd like it. I do. She'd like it a lot." She stared at Coulson for a moment turning her head side to side then slipped off the table and set down her bowl. The little girl walked across the room and took May's hand in her own. She turned it over and put her own on May's palm then offered her a small smile.

"It's different here, isn't it?" She asked as she turned back to Coulson.

"Different?" He repeated.

Skye nodded. "It feels different. You're different, so is Daisy, not just cuz she's grown up. It just feels different. I don't think time makes things feel like this."

May squeezed the little hand that rested on her own. Skye was smart, just like Daisy. She was figuring things out for herself. She smiled at the little girl with ice cream on her face. "Well you are a long way from home, Skye. Let's get cleaned up and see if Fitz is feeling better."

"It's okay," Skye smiled back. "I'm not afraid anymore. Daisy's okay and so am I."

May narrowed her eyes and looked over the little girl's head to her partner as. He returned the look, each wondering exactly what the little girl meant by her statement.

What was different?

xx

"I'm not really sure how F…they'll fix this but I know it starts with that laptop you have in your office." Daisy explained.

"That damn laptop," Melinda spoke through her teeth. "I told you it was a bad idea." She snarled at Phil.

Daisy shook her head. "The laptop isn't the problem, but one of the programs is. I just need to restart it and…and…the techs back…back….back home," she settled on for lack of a better description, "will get things moving and hopefully reset time."

"It's that simple?" Phil was amazed.

Daisy's brows went up and then down, if he only knew. "It's a lot simpler than it sounds." She assured him. "You get it to me. I click a few keys and we all get what we want."

"And how did my child get this particular laptop?" She glared at Phil but spoke to Daisy. "You said our techs went over that damn thing…you said it was safe."

"I…" Phil opened his mouth, but had no explanation.

"It's not his fault," Daisy naturally defended her father. "It kinda happened by accident. I mean nobody here did anything." She looked at her hands and searched for a way to explain. She began to stand, stopped and looked to Melinda for permission. The woman gave an indistinct nod.

Daisy stood and walked across the room then turned and almost smiled at the sight of the younger versions of May and Coulson sitting side by side on that little bed ready to hang on her every word. "You see, things got a little wanky a couple weeks ago…you might have noticed." She waited while the couple exchanged a confused glance then looked back to her. "Yeah, well…um…this isn't exactly the first time Skye and I have gotten…" she turned down both sides of her mouth. How the hell was she going to tell them this? She shrugged and decided to just dive in. "It's not the first time we've gotten kinda flipped flopped."

Phil's brows rose as Melinda's drew together. Apparently, that was not the way to do it.

"I mean, we've switched places before..." Daisy paused, hoping they got it this time.

Melinda let out a breath and shook her head. "I am damn, sure I would remember if my child was gone, even for a minute."

Daisy turned up one side of her mouth. "Well, we didn't exactly disappear, not that time…or the other."

"How many the hell times has this happened?" Phil stood up and approached the girl.

"Um, at last count…three," Daisy shrugged with a slight grimace.

Melinda shook her head again.

Daisy nodded. "The first time it was just Skye's consciousness. Somehow we got tangled up and she came back with me. It was only a couple hours and it was during the night." She realized, by their expressions, they did not believe a word. The girl let out a long breath. "Okay, short version, we've been able to think to each other for a while now and figured out how we could share, for a lack of a better term, a body. Skye called it being in charge. She kind of moves aside and lets me…well, lets me be her. We got stuck and well, it wasn't long and I got her back."

"And?" Melinda raised one brow.

Phil could not form a question, this was still unbelievable.

"You remember the day you caught Skye in your room…" she waited. Melinda pursed her lips and barely shook her head.

"She told you she broke into your computer room." Daisy turned to Phil. "Then she said she didn't, but really she did, well really she didn't because I did and you came in all ready to whack my ass and time ran out and I was in control and well, I got stuck in Skye's body and she got stuck in mine. So I was here and she was there except I was her so you only saw Skye and damn it was hard being a kid again." Daisy rambled on with the explanation as the two agents tried to keep up with her.

The couple exchanged a glance. The girl's explanation just made things more confusing. Even if she repeated it, slower, it would still make little sense.

Daisy let out a frustrated breath. "If you think it's hard to understand you should try having to explain it or better yet live with it. Just finding the right pronoun to use is mind numbing." She shook her head and shoved her hands into her pockets again.

"What you're saying is that you and Skye can switch places, is that correct?" Melinda narrowed her eyes at the girl.

Daisy nodded. "Yes and no…I mean we can, but we don't do it on purpose. Every time it's been an accident," she shook her head. "Then it takes a while to figure it out and well slamming us back together is what made both of us so damn sick, some kind of weird virus transferred to us both."

"And we're supposed to believe all this?" Phil now sounded a bit skeptical.

Daisy shrugged. "It's just about as crazy as this." She held her arms out at her sides, indicating the present situation.

Melinda shook her head again. "Skye could have told you about that incident."

Daisy shook her head as well. "I suppose, but I'm the one that got my ass blasted for being full of attitude at breakfast, especially after spilling that milk all over. I'm pretty sure Skye wouldn't have shared that. I mean who goes around boasting about a trip over momma's knee." She rubbed her backside for emphasis, then looked directly at Melinda. "You told me I wasn't really sorry, that I just said it because my butt was on fire."

"You were a real smart ass that morning, bao bao, you deserved that spanking." Melinda smirked.

"So you pointed out," Daisy mumbled. "But, getting back to the point, it was a real whacked out situation and it took a bit to fix it. I hacked my way around the protection programs you had on that laptop and got a message to my…base," she settled on that description. "They designed a program and I downloaded it. It's how we got back to our…ourselves." She finished, realizing how ridiculous the whole thing sounded.

Phil dropped back on to the mattress next to Melinda. He swiped a hand through his thinning hair. "I can't believe Fury gave this his okay. This is like something out of some wild Sci-Fi novel or movie of the week.

"Uh, yeah," Daisy snorted. And that wasn't even the worst of it. Somewhere there was an alien body unwillingly donating…donating whatever to create a serum that would someday bring people back to life. The son of Howard Stark would become an iron force to reckon with and someone would find a World War Two hero frozen in the Arctic Ocean who somehow was not dead. They'd join with a god from another planet and a man that turned green with anger to save the world from another insane god and his monsters. Along with a Russian spy and a more than gifted archer they would become heroes and Phil Coulson would bring them together as a team. The same way he brought their team together… Yep, Phil was right, it was like some crazy sci-fi movie or something a comic book enthusiast would worship for decades.

"But this…this fiasco is my fault." Daisy dropped her gaze to the floor.

Melinda waited a few seconds before quietly demanding she continue, "go on…"

"I just wanted to get May and Coulson, my May and Coulson, to admit…to realize…" she'd really backed herself into a corner, now. "I wanted them to remember how much they cared about each other." She practically mumbled.

Phil stood and took a deep breath. "Are you saying we," he looked into Melinda's eyes. "We separate in the future."

"No, no…hell, no," Daisy shook her head. "No way, you two are like this!" She crossed her fingers and held them up in front of her. "Nothing pulls you apart, not…nothing. You're connected, one in the same, peas in a pod, soul mates to the end and probably even longer."

Phil smiled and wrapped an arm around Melinda and kissed the side of her cheek. Daisy looked to the floor and shuffled her feet. It was odd seeing them show affection for each other although she and Jemma had spent many hours in each other's bunks imagining they were clandestine lovers. She almost blushed at some of the scenarios they'd giggled about.

"When they're here, they aren't so uptight about everything and Coulson had those paralyzing headaches and I thought it would help for him to just tell her how he felt…" Daisy attempted to explain again.

"Wait a minute," Phil held up a hand. "I thought you were the only one that jumped through time. Now, you're saying we," he pointed to himself then Melinda several times, "We've been time traveling as well?" His voice almost squeaked.

Daisy bit her lip. This wasn't going well and she was saying way too much. "We were," she drew out the words, stalling for the moment but she recognized the looks on her computer generated parent's faces. "We were all part of the same program…exploring our own past…memories." She fumbled.

Melinda sneered. "What exactly do we need to remember?"

"Nothing in particular…it was an investigation into how memories effect our decisions and actions." Daisy smiled at her quick thinking.

"And did we?" Phil asked, still pondering the girl's earlier statements. "Did we remember?"

"I'm not really sure, we got pulled out before," she stopped and stared at him for a moment. "You wouldn't tell me anyway, hell I was just a kid." She grimaced and let out a huff. "All I know is you," she nodded toward Melinda, "were pretty pissed at me for going in alone…again."

"Hmmm, still as stubborn as ever then," Melinda sighed.

"Yeah, well don't think you didn't take care of it…that doesn't change either, seems grandma planned for that." She sighed then smirked. "You weren't such an angel as a kid either, I understand."

Melinda raised a brow. Daisy returned a smile.

"May and Coulson went off to discuss things and well, I had to finish off that twenty-four hour sentence you passed on me. Yeah," she snarled at Melinda's smile, "my May remembered and banished me to my quarters. I snagged a laptop from the computer room and that's when I found out it was frozen. Couldn't do a thing. When I took it back to…the techs…well everything was frozen and they were…were, concerned it could effect what might happen in the future," she chose her words carefully. "We figured I was the only one who could go in and fix it quickly so…here I am." She shrugged her shoulders and swiped her hands down her sides. "Unfortunately it didn't go as planned cuz I certainly didn't expect to end up locked up."

"Your parents…we, in that time…don't know you're here." Melinda surmised, glaring at the girl.

Daisy shrugged. "By now, I'm sure they…you… Damn, these pronouns! Hell, you all know." She threw her hands in the air in frustration. "I'm sure May is warming up that damn Wakatta as we speak." Daisy shook her head and wondered how the hell she was going to explain this then smiled to herself. Fitz would have a lot of explaining to do as well. On the bright side, there was no way May or Coulson could come after her this time. She looked at Melinda who stood with her arms crossed over her chest, still glaring. Daisy swallowed any comment she might make, sure that this version of Melinda might be a bit more intense than her own. She'd been a mom a lot longer and had that look perfected…a look that left nothing to the imagination. It wasn't really a nonverbal threat. Nope, that was a definite promise that she was very close to stepping over that veritable line and she wasn't going to like what waited on the other side.

She offered Melinda a weak smile.

"I'm not really impressed with Skye's use of 'hell' and 'damn'. You've been influencing that." Her glare never lessened.

Daisy put both hands up in defense. "Oh, no…no, no, no. I've warned her plenty of times." She smiled for a fraction of a second and added. "I guess the kid just thinks it's cool."

"I don't." Melinda stated.

"Mel, she's not a kid." Phil reminded her.

Melinda shifted her glare to her husband then back to their grown daughter. "She's my kid." She reminded him. "And her grown self needs to show a little discretion with her not so grown self."

Daisy gave a wink and a thumb's up.

Melinda let out a frustrated breath and shook her head at the girl's attitude. Apparently it hadn't improved through puberty and had grown immensely in young adulthood. The mother had every intension of bringing that to a screeching halt.

"Are you always this sarcastic?" She narrowed her eyes at the girl.

Daisy raised her brows and gave a quick shrug. "Not always, but it comes in handy when I need it."

"You don't need it." Melinda informed her.

Letting out a sideways click of her mouth, Daisy nodded once. Melinda rolled her eyes. Even in agreeing the girl couldn't resist that smart alec response.

Phil watched the exchange between the two women, seeing the stand off taking shape. Both of his girls were as stubborn as…well stubborn enough to stand face to face daring each other to make the first move longer than the North and South Going Zax². He smiled to himself, remembering reading that story to his little girl over and over as she tried to understand its philosophy.

He stared at the girl for a few moments then spoke to Melinda. "I think it's time we got to that laptop, Mel."

"If you just left well enough alone we could have avoided all of this." Daisy mumbled as they moved toward the door.

Melinda grinned and hesitated just enough for the girl to match her stride. She leaned close and whispered in Daisy's ear. "Lose the attitude, Skye, or we can certainly spend the next few minutes making adjustments...privately."

Daisy stopped and looked at the woman in disbelief. That wasn't the threat of an incensed agent but one of a mother one snarky comment short of totally losing it.

Melinda turned up one side of her mouth in a half smile as she stepped aside allowing Daisy to exit the room.

¹A Daisy a Day, Jud Strunk, MGM Records,1973, watch?v=BB8G0SFmJ1g

²The Zax, Dr. Seuss, 1953, Random House, New York, NY