Chapter 54 - Family Stories
Skye knocked on the door to Cal's room. "Come in," she heard him call, so she swiped her key card and let herself in. "Oh, Daisy," he said with a smile as he stood up. "Let me help you with that. Please, come sit." He approached carefully, taking the tray she carried. He set it on the coffee table without opening it up, content to wait for her to share.
"Hi Dad," she answered pleasantly. "Are you doing okay in here? I mean, it's not the Hilton, but…"
"No, no. It's fine," he insisted as she sat down. He sat in a chair across from her and gave her a small smile. "After what I've done, I'd imagine I'm going away for a long time."
"Maybe. But I'd hoped…" Skye paused and took a deep, calming breath, "before anything like that happens… would you tell me some more stories, please?"
"What kind of stories?"
"I want to know about our family. I want to hear about mom, before I was born. Your first date, your favorite song to dance to, together. I want to know if I have cousins, uncles, grandparents. Please, Dad."
Cal's expression softened and he gave her a gentle smile. "Oh, angel. Of course I'll tell you. Anything you want to know."
"Tell me about falling in love with mom, please?" she asked as she took the lid off the tray. Under the cover was a white Chinese tea pot, a couple of paper coffee cups, and a box of almond cookies with some napkins.
He blinked as she poured him a cup of tea and opened the box of cookies. "Did you do this for me?" he asked, his voice choking up a little.
"Yeah," she admitted softly. "Tea. Little almond cookies. No flowers, but I didn't think you'd mind."
He shook his head, smiling fondly and blinking back tears. "It's perfect. I always imagined you perfect, you know. But you're better than I imagined. Way more interesting than that."
Skye chuckled a little. "I wonder where I get that from," she commented dryly.
She sat back and sipped her tea as Cal began to tell story after story about Jiaying. How he learned that she was one of the village Elders, despite her apparent age. Hearing stories about Jiaying's parents, though they passed away years before he'd ever met her. Learning about her gift and hearing the tales that the family passed down about the Blue Angels who changed their people, gave some of them special abilities. Dancing under the stars to whatever music his beat up old am/fm radio could catch. The very simple, rural wedding ceremony that was still somehow the most perfect day he could have imagined. The little house they had together in China, and how they spent so much time adding and decorating a new room when they learned Jiaying was pregnant.
He told her about going to medical school in the US to get away from his overbearing, wealthy parents and old family traditions. About falling out with his parents when he decided to join Doctors Without Borders and only learning about their deaths via a news article and a letter from their law firm detailing his inheritance.
"Oh, that reminds me," he said as he paused in his story telling. "I didn't want my parents' money, Daisy, but when you were born I arranged for it all to be transferred to a trust in your name." She blinked at him, shocked, started to shake her head. "No, no. Don't argue with me. It's yours, whatever you choose to do with it."
"I… thank you, Dad. I don't know that I need it; Brock made a ton of money over the years with SHIELD. But… it's nice to know it's there, if something ever happens," she said after a long moment.
"Whatever you want, angel. So, where was I?"
They talked for hours. Until the tea was long gone, and Skye had the names of a few of Cal's aunts and uncles, and some of his cousins that might still be around. It wasn't a lot to go on, but several members of the family had been pretty prominent in various medical fields so she had a chance at least.
It was approaching dinnertime when Skye's phone went off. She checked the alert and sighed. "I'm sorry; I have to go. I'm… needed."
"No, it's alright. Thank you for this. Today. It was…"
"Let me guess," she interrupted. "Best. Day. Ever." She laughed softly. "You have a lot of those."
He shook his head. "No. Just one. April 9, 1988."
Skye teared up and as they got to their feet, she moved to hug him tightly. "There's something I need to tell you before I go," she said as she pulled back. "We know you've done a lot of bad things…"
"I know. And I don't expect the Hollywood ending. Came close, though. I found you. Paradoxical, isn't it? My love for my family drove me mad, and now..."
Skye smiled sadly. "And now I have something for you, too," she interrupted. "A chance at a fresh start. A chance to be better."
"What do you mean?"
"We have a protocol, code named Tahiti. We can wipe out your memories. The years of madness and loss. Give you a new identity and a new life."
Cal seemed to consider her words very carefully. "I don't deserve that, Daisy. I've done too much."
"But in the end, you made the right choice," she argued. "You saved a lot of people, not just me. You worked with us to right the wrongs that you'd helped enable. Director Coulson - and most of this team, really - are all about second chances. I want to give you a second chance, Dad. To do some good in this crazy, messed up world."
"Is this really what you want?" he asked, studying her expression intently.
She took a deep breath and nodded. "I would rather have you alive and able to give something back to the world, even if you don't remember me."
His eyes met hers as he searched for the truth in them. At last, he nodded. "Alright, Daisy. If this is what you truly want… then I accept. Do you think… you'll ever visit?"
She nodded. "I will. I promise. I'll check up on you sometimes, and I hope you'll be happier this time around."
He shook his head and gave her a teary smile. "Right here, right now… I couldn't be happier, angel. You're an amazing woman, and I'm so very proud of you."
Skye flung herself into his arms again, holding him tight as he caught her gently. "You have no idea how much I always wanted to hear you say that. Thank you, Dad. For everything." Cal smiled gently and just held her, pressing a soft kiss to her hair. Only when her phone beeped again did he let her go.
"I love you, Daisy. Your mother and I both loved you so much. I'm sorry we weren't able to give you the life you deserved."
"It doesn't matter," she answered tremulously. "I know now that you wanted to, and that's what counts." She smiled at him as she headed to the door. "Goodbye, Dad."
xoxoxoxoxoxoxox
"You again," Alisha said dryly as Brock and Lincoln re-entered the Vault. Brock couldn't help but stare at her, trying to find something of himself in her features, but she was a fair-skinned redhead; he was swarthy-skinned and black-haired. "What?" Alisha scowled as he stared at her.
"Alisha," Lincoln spread his hands placatingly, "we ran your DNA results, and something strange flagged up. What can you tell us about your family history?"
Alisha frowned at him too, and then shrugged. "It's not like it's a big secret. My father was one of the Elders of the Inhumans, it's why I grew up at Lai Shi. My mother was an aid worker, an administrator for the Red Cross who spent a couple of years in Kathmandu. She wasn't Inhuman so she was never allowed to come to Lai Shi, Dad lived in Kathmandu with her for a while and they had me. When she was posted back to the States, she didn't particularly want me, or want her family to know she had a baby, so she left me with Dad. She got married and had more kids. I don't keep in contact with her though, why? Is one of them on SHIELD's radar or something?"
"No," Lincoln shook his head, glanced at Brock. "It's the other side of your family. Your father. Did I ever meet him?"
Alisha shook her head. "He died before you came to Lai Shi. Almost six years ago, now."
Six years. His father had been alive until just six years ago. Brock took a deep breath, focussed on controlling his emotions, not spreading them outwards towards Skye. He could tell that she was doing the same thing as she talked to her father.
"Your DNA results flagged that you have another half-sibling," Brock said gruffly. "Me."
"What!" Alisha had been sitting cross-legged on the bed; she shot to her feet so fast she almost fell over.
"My mother had me following an affair with a guy in Kathmandu," Brock said flatly. "That's all the information I've ever had about him. She didn't even put his name on my birth certificate, and she certainly never mentioned it to me. She died when I was a kid."
Alisha was staring at him, her eyes tracing his face, looking for similarities to her own and not finding them, Brock assumed - at least until she said, "You have his eyes."
He nodded slowly at that. "I suppose I must, though I never really thought about it. My mother had green eyes, but I do mostly resemble her otherwise. At least, I assume so."
"You're sure about this?" Alisha asked, slanting a glance at Lincoln. When he nodded, she sighed. "Well. That puts a rather different spin on things, doesn't it?"
"I'm not expecting you to suddenly change your mind about me," Brock answered with a shrug. "Or about SHIELD or the situation we're all in. But…" he hesitated but, like he'd told Skye, if he didn't ask for the answers he'd never get them. "I'd like to know you better. I'd like to know more about our father. Like Skye, I grew up without any family at all. If I have a chance to learn more about them now, I don't want to let it go without at least trying."
"Is that why she's not here?" Alisha asked with a touch of curiosity.
"Yeah. She's talking to Cal while she still can. Learning about the family she almost had, before everything went wrong."
"I have to admit, I was a little jealous when I found out who she was. Jiaying was the closest thing I had to a mother after mine left," Alisha commented conversationally. "But she chose not to mentor me; she didn't mentor anyone. She couldn't afford the possible bias as she was leading. But then Daisy - Skye - showed up with you and suddenly those rules didn't matter so much anymore."
"Don't envy Skye, Alisha," Brock said in a gentle voice. "She never belonged anywhere. Never… well, I should let her be the one to tell you, if she wants you to know."
"I figured she'd jump at the chance to belong with us, to have her real family, and she seemed to. But then she fought against us… I was all set to hate her for that."
"I hope you don't, still," Brock answered and smiled a little when Alisha shook her head. "Good. Skye has a lot of heart. She won't stand by and allow people to be hurt if she can do something about it. But if Jiaying gave you the support and the care you needed when you were young, then I guess I do have something else about her to be grateful for."
"She did. But she was - she was hard. Expected a lot," Alisha confessed. "So did Dad. His name was Adam, by the way. Adam Barron. I'm Alisha Barron."
Brock glanced at Lincoln, who nodded. "I'll leave you two alone to chat." He departed quietly, and Brock sat down in the chair, leaning forward to gaze at Alisha. She reseated herself on the bed and gave him a small, but genuine, smile.
"Dad must have been pretty young when he met your mom? He was only sixty when he died…" she trailed off.
"Wow," Brock blinked. "What happened? And - what was his Inhuman power?"
Her smile widened, and Brock realised how pretty she was. He felt suddenly fiercely protective of her - of his little sister. "He could talk to cats. All kinds of cats. There was a Himalayan snow leopard that became his, his familiar, I guess. As for what happened, it was a stupid accident." She shrugged, half-angrily. "The roads in Tibet are pretty rough. He was driving the supply truck back from Kathmandu, it had rained heavily. The truck went off the edge of a cliff."
"I'm sorry," Brock said quietly.
"I was already grown up. Wasn't even there, I was finishing off my nursing degree. Gordon came and got me."
"It doesn't hurt any less to lose someone you love when you're fully grown," Brock said, saw her shoulders hunch and suddenly realised that she was grieving for Jiaying, too. "If I drop this screen, are you going to make trouble?"
"Why would you do that?" she said, her voice slightly thick.
"Because I think my sister needs a hug."
A tear dripped from her eye to her cheek, and she nodded mutely. He didn't hesitate, dropping the screen and going to sit beside her on the bed. She leaned into him, put her head on his shoulder, and he hugged her close, not saying anything for the longest time.
"Tell me about you," she said finally, surprising him a little. "How did you come to join SHIELD?" There was still distaste in her tone when she said the word, but far less than there had been.
"I was in the Navy, first. The SEALs."
"Really?" Alisha smiled a little. "I never even saw the sea until I went away to college."
Brock settled back against the wall, his arm comfortably around her shoulders. "Well, I'd been a difficult kid. Bounced around orphanages and foster homes after my mom died. But when I was sixteen, I got lucky. Got put into a foster home with a retired Navy captain and his wife. He was a tough old sea dog and he didn't take any shit from me. Kept my nose to the grindstone for my last couple of years of school and then told me I was going to sea. Much to my surprise, I thrived on it."
"We thrive on adversity, us Barron kids," Alisha nudged him with a grin.
"Are there any others?" Brock had to ask. "Since it seems our father had a habit of picking up girls in Kathmandu…"
She chuckled. "Not that I know about. But I suppose it's quite possible, since I had no idea about you!"
They talked for quite a while, sharing little bits of their lives with each other, getting to know each other. Brock didn't ask her to make any decisions. Not yet. But when his phone vibrated in his pocket and he had to go, he left Alisha with a few things to think on.
"It'll be your choice what you want to do next, Alisha," he told her quietly as he stood up. "If you want to just put all this behind you, go live quietly somewhere, I've got money; I'll help you get set up wherever you want to live. But SHIELD could definitely use another medical professional, and someone with your fighting skills, if you're willing. I won't ask you to make a decision yet; the Director will want to talk with you anyway, but you should think about it."
"I will," she said, and then as he moved out to put the screen up, she said "Thanks, Brock."
"You're welcome, Alisha," he gave her a smile, which she returned, before leaving her alone.
He met Mack outside the vault door, a cardboard box in his hands. "Hey, Mack, what's up?" Brock glanced curiously at the box.
"I hear you've got a new family member," Mack nodded at the door.
"Word travels fast," Brock said dryly.
Mack grinned. "Don't think there's anyone on base who hasn't heard. Everyone was already talking about the Ginger Ninja in awed tones. Now they know she's a Rumlow too, they're all terrified."
Brock snorted with laughter. "She's a Barron, actually. But she is my sister." He still found it incredible, but it was getting easier to accept by the moment. "What's in the box?"
"A few books," Mack pulled up a flap to show him. "Just paperbacks… I thought she might be bored. May said it was all right."
Brock looked at the big mechanic curiously. Mack didn't quite meet his eyes. Scrubbed his big hand over his bald head.
"I've had a sister for two hours and I'm already thinking about giving someone a shovel talk."
The way a muscle in Mack's cheek twitched told him everything.
"But then Alisha is perfectly capable of kicking your ass all by herselves," Brock grinned at his own joke. "Go on then, Mack. And thanks."
Shaking his head and chuckling to himself, he headed off to find Skye. Passing Cal's door on the way, he paused, checked his phone, and backtracked. He could take five minutes.
Cal's eyes were a little red, as though he'd been crying, but he smiled when Brock came in. "Hi, Brock."
"Cal," Brock came over for a handshake. "How are you doing?"
"Good. I'm good. Daisy and I - we've had a long talk." Cal smiled genuinely. "What an amazing woman she is."
"You'll get no arguments from me on that score," Brock agreed with a broad grin. "Every time I look at her I have to pinch myself to prove I'm not dreaming."
That made Cal chuckle proudly. "She's magnificent. I couldn't be prouder of her. And you, you're a fine man, Brock Rumlow. Worthy of my daughter."
Brock ducked his head a little sheepishly. "I try to be, sir. That's what I wanted to talk to you about, actually."
"It is?" Cal cocked his head curiously.
"I thought - well - I don't know when we'll be able to, but…" Brock was floundering, and Cal's expression was getting ever more quizzical. "It's traditional to ask a father for his daughter's hand in marriage," he managed to blurt out at last.
When he finally understood what Brock was getting at, Cal smiled, though a little sadly. "Does she know yet?"
"We haven't talked about it, honestly. But I thought I should talk to you first," Brock said a little sheepishly.
"I wish I could be there to see it," Cal said wistfully. "I can picture her now, how beautiful she'll be." He sighed, then looked at Brock. "Yes, you have my permission to marry my daughter. Take care of her for me, please. I know I won't be able to, but as long as I know she has you it'll be enough."
"She'll always have me, and I promise to make her as happy as I can. She's my number one priority, always," Brock promised. "And thank you." He held out his hand and Cal took it briefly.
"Welcome to the family," Cal said softly. "I'm glad she won't be alone, when I don't remember her anymore."
"So she spoke to you about TAHITI, too, hmm?"
"Yes. And for her sake, I accept. She wants me to… have another chance." Cal's tone was a little uncertain, but his expression was determined.
"She's like that. Forgave me for being HYDRA, before I met her," Brock answered. "And my body count's probably even higher than yours."
"It's not the same thing, though, is it? You were a soldier."
"There's still forgiveness to be had, Cal. And I think it's an appropriate - penance, maybe is the right word? You'll have a say in what you become. You'll be able to use your skills. You just won't want to hurt anybody, won't remember the things that made you hurt so badly."
"Then it's probably for the best," Cal squared his shoulders, lifted his chin. "If it's what Daisy wants, then I'm certain that it is."
I headcanon that Gordon and Jiaying told Alisha her father died in a truck accident. But in fact, he was one of the Elders who, every few years, sacrificed his life so that Jiaying could stay young.
This chapter makes me swing between laughter and tears. But for both Brock and Skye, it needed to happen.
