Welcome to chapter 13! I can't believe we're here.

Please note: Daisy's going to seem very weak in this chapter. She won't be doing much talking and there will be none of her POV. Expect a lot of Mama May moments in this chapter.

Chapter Thirteen

May's POV

"What time is it?" I asked Jemma. We were in the common room with Yo-Yo. Mack and Fitz had already gone to bed for the night.

"Close to three in the morning," Jemma told me with a yawn.

"I think I'm going to head in for the night," I declared, standing up from the couch. "Or do you need me to stay up on Daisy-watch?"

"I've got it," she said. She looked exhausted, though.

"Simmons, you look like a trainwreck. Get some sleep. I can stay up if you need me to. Besides, I don't think it'll hurt Daisy if we get some shut-eye."

"What if she has another cardiac scare while I'm sleeping and I was too late?!" The color left her face.

I rolled my eyes. "Jemma, please. She'll be fine." I grabbed her hands and made her stand up. I motioned to the exit with my thumb. "Go join your husband."

She sighed and nodded. "Okay." She staggered, exhausted, to the door and left.

Yo-Yo stood up from the kitchen counter. "Should I stay up?"

I shook my head. "You go get some rest. I'll check on her before I turn in for the night."

She smiled. "Thanks, May."

I headed towards the locker room and grabbed a fresh pair of clothes and my toothbrush. I yawned as I took off my shoes and socks and tucked them into my locker. I stood up and put my hand on the handle of the shower room, but it didn't budge. "What the..." I whispered to myself. I leaned my ear against the door and heard a shower running. I tugged at the handle, but it was locked. I went to the other door, but that one was locked, too.

Who was in there? "Simmons?" I shouted so that whoever was in there could hear me. There was no response. "Yo-Yo?"

Still no response.

It could be any female agent here. They probably just couldn't hear me.

I decided just to brush my teeth somewhere else instead. I left the locker room and went to the lab to check on Daisy. But she wasn't in her bed.

"Daisy?" I yelled, looking around the room. I checked every nook and cranny of that room but found no one. "Where are you?"

The realization dawned on me and my eyes widened. I sprinted as fast as possible back to the locker room and banged on the shower door. When no one opened it, I kicked it down like I do on missions. I entered the room and found Daisy sitting on the floor of a stall, fully-clothed but soaking wet. Her eyes were closed.

"Daisy?!" I said, quickly turning off the water and squatting to her level. I gently shook her to try to wake her up.

Some kind of noise escaped her lips.

"What did you say?" I asked her frantically.

"M-May..."

"Yes, Daisy, I'm here. What's wrong?"

"H-H-Head..." She leaned over and vomited onto the floor next to her, getting it all over herself.

"Oh...Daisy..." I patted her back. She leaned back against the wall and shut her eyes again. "No, no, stay awake!" I said.

"I am..." she croaked. "Just...p-p-pain..."

"You're in pain?"

She nodded.

"Can you stand up?"

No response.

My fingers immediately went to my pager to contact Simmons, but then I remembered how exhausted she looked. I decided to at least try to handle this myself.

I grabbed Daisy underneath her arms and lifted her to her feet. She started to collapse again, but I wrapped my arm around her waist to support her. We staggered out of the shower room and I sat her on a locker room bench. Her eyes were slightly squinted open by now.

I got an extra towel and wrapped it around Daisy. I rubbed the throw-up off of her and trashed the towel. She was shivering. "I'll get you back in the shower in a second," I assured her. I peeled her soaking-wet shirt and sweatpants off and stood her up again, walking her back to the showers. I led her into a clean stall and turned on the hot water, then held her under the faucet.

I heard a small sob escape her lips. "I'm s-s-sorry..."

"Hush," I scolded, rubbing her back with a soapy washcloth. "I'm here to help. That's what family does."

She was grinding her teeth. "It h-hurts..."

"Headache?"

She nodded.

"You're okay," I told her, wringing out the washcloth. I helped her wash her hair and rinsed it out.

I turned off the showerhead and led her out of the stall, wrapping a warm, dry towel around her. I brought her back outside the shower room and helped her into a clean S.H.I.E.L.D. t-shirt and running shorts. I combed and blow-dried her hair for her.

She seemed to feel better, but she still looked like she was in pain.

"Want me to get Simmons?"

She shook her head gently. "Please, no."

I pursed my lips. "I suppose I won't..."

I brought her back to the lab and laid her on the bed. I put a garbage can right next to her bed and pulled a blanket over her.

"Sleep well," I whispered to her, but she was already asleep.

Jemma's POV

"Wake up, hon," Fitz said to me. He was gently stroking my hair.

I smiled at my handsome husband and kissed him. "Good morning, babe."

He beamed as he sat up. "I'm really glad you finally got to sleep."

"Yeah, well, thank May for that."

He nodded. "I'll be sure to."

When we got to the common room, Mack had cooked waffles for everyone. We all thanked him profusely, and I made sure to make an extra plate to bring to Daisy in a little bit.

"How was she last night when you checked on her?" I asked May as I took a bite.

She froze. "She wasn't at the lab."

My heart sunk. "What?!"

She nodded. "I couldn't find her. When I did, she'd locked herself in the shower room. She was just sitting on the floor, in her soaking-wet clothes, under the showerhead."

"Why?"

"She said she was in pain, a headache."

My eyes widened. "But I gave her medicine just a little bit earlier!"

May shook her head in disbelief. "She threw up, she was in so much pain. I cleaned her up and tucked her into bed. She fell asleep, but-"

I interrupted her and abruptly stood up. "No wonder she was acting so weird." I headed to the door and left the common room.

Once I got to the lab, Daisy was lying in the bed, sweating profusely and writhing in pain.

"I wish you would just leave me alone," she said.

"Me?" I asked, a little hurt.

Her eyes opened. "No, J-Jem..."

"Then who?! Are you talking to yourself again?!"

"Technically, it's...it's not m-m-me..."

"Then who is it?"

"Sara," she replied.

"How are you talking to her?"

"She's-she's in hibernation. Sh-She can communicate to her victims..."

I rushed to her side. "Why didn't you tell me earlier?!"

She shrugged. "I hate to see you so worried about me."

I facepalmed. "Are you kidding me?" I shook my head, jabbing an IV starter into her arm.

"Hey! What was that for?"

"I need to give you some stronger headache medication. May told me everything about last night."

She looked down self-consciously. "I'm sorry I left, I just...needed to clear my head. But Sara is still here."

"Are you sure you aren't just hearing things?" I hung up the IV bag of medicine and hooked it up to her arm.

"There's no way of being sure, but she talked to me like this in the memories, too..." She almost screamed out in pain.

"Hey, hey." I grabbed her shoulders. "What's wrong?"

"She told me I've told you too much..."

I gawked. "What? How-"

I quickly paged May and Mack. When they got to the lab, I filled them in on what was happening to Daisy, or at least what she thought was happening to her.

"Should we bring her to Sara, and hope that helps?" Mack proposed.

"No!" Daisy shouted. We all turned around to see her. She was standing up, her arms raised as if she was ready to quake one of us.

"Calm down, Daisy," I said to her. "Lie back down, please."

She was breathing hard. "Don't bring that thing near me."

"We won't, not if you're not comfortable with it," May said to her soothingly.

Daisy exhaled, her eyes closed, and nodded. She sat back down on the bed. I checked her IV to make sure she didn't rip it out. "Jemma..."

"Yes?"

"I know how to fix this."

"We're listening," Mack said.

She looked at all three of us. "You have to wake her up. Once she does, she leaves my mind forever."

"But what if it's hard to wake her up?" May asked.

"I don't know, but you have to try." Daisy bit her cheek.

"We will," Mack declared.

"Please don't let her hurt you. You do not want her to strike you."

"She's wearing cuffs that don't let her shoot anything from her hands. She couldn't hurt a fly."

"But she can hurt me," Daisy muttered.

"Hey," May said, holding up Daisy's chin to make her make eye contact with her. "We've got this. You're going to be okay."

Daisy nodded and looked away from May. "Thank you."

May's POV

"I feel so bad for her," Mack said to me as we headed toward the pod we were keeping Sara in.

"Me, too," I agreed. I shook my head sadly. "She's gone through so much already. She didn't deserve this, too."

"This'll sound selfish, but I'm worried about my friendship with her. I think Sara forced her to relive the memory of when she was hurting me. You know, when she was infected by Hive."

"Oh, gosh," I huffed.

When we got to the pod, Sara was still sleeping on the cot.

Mack banged on the window. "Wake up!"

Nothing.

"GET UP!" I screamed, pounding on the wall right next to her.

Still nothing.

"That's it," I declared, opening the pod door. I stormed inside, grabbed the syringe of adrenaline that Jemma gave me, and jabbed it into her thigh. She jerked awake.

"What the heck..." She groggily sat up. She groaned. "Dang it, I knew Daisy said too much."

"Yeah, well, now you're out of her head," Mack said angrily. "And you are never going back."

She shrugged. "Fair enough. But her memories..." She shivered with joy. "...they were invigorating."

I rolled my eyes and groaned. "Please. You've caused her so much hurt."

"But you see, woman, that's the whole point of my powers. To cause people to hurt."

"That's not why you're given a gift. Your gift should be used for good," Mack lectured.

She looked up at him, grinning oddly. "But what do you define as 'good'? Because people's bad memories sure make me feel good."

"You evil bastard..." I couldn't contain it any longer. I smacked her across the face.

"May!" Mack scolded. "No violence!"

I waved him off as Sara smirked at me, a tiny cut forming on her lip.

"I do wish I could see your memories. I have a feeling something terrible agonizes you every day..."

"Shut up," I said to her. "Or you'll be smacked again."

Mack grabbed my forearm. "I think it's time we go." He pulled me toward the door as I glared at Sara.

"Bye-bye!" she said to us, waving cheerfully.

"I swear, something's terribly wrong with that woman," I grumbled on our way back.

"I think we can all agree on that."

Thank you all for reading! I promise, Guest reviewer, that what you requested is coming soon. I just haven't found a good space for it in the story yet.

Question of the chapter: I had a favorite TV show before AoS, can you guess what that was? Also, tell me what YOUR favorite show is, 2nd to AoS.