Chapter 25

Daisy closed her eyes and listened to the music coursing through her iPhone as she laid on the bed with her eyes closed. Admittedly, she still felt numb to the world. She knew she was being harsh on Simmons, but she couldn't find it within herself to care.

She wondered if it would always feel like this. She continued to focus her attention on the music, ignoring the other sounds in the base. Sometimes, she wondered if she should ask Gordon to lock her back up into the isolated box, because at least that way she could be alone. She could go all out on her powers, and not worry about the repercussions of her actions.

Daisy could tell that everyone was giving her space, and she appreciated it. She picked up her phone and checked the time. It was 2 a.m which meant no-one was awake. Good. She stood up and got changed into her workout clothes. She put her phone in her pocket and continued to listen to her music as she walked into the gym room.

She didn't bother putting any wraps around her knuckles, she just punched the boxing bag. She kept punching until the numbness that was consuming her began to be overpowered by the feeling of anger. Anger towards her father who did this to. How dare he… How dare he claim that he had done all of this for her!

She didn't ask for this!

She didn't ask to come back to life!

She should've died!

She should've stayed dead!

Why the hell couldn't he be normal?

Why couldn't he be a father?

Her punches became more ferocious and she felt her knuckles burn, but she didn't give a damn. She needed to feel pain. She needed to feel something.

This numbness… made her cold.

It made her feel like she was standing in the middle of the thunderstorm, eyeing down her targets and slaughtering them as if they were animals locked in a slaughterhouse.

Images of her father started popping up in her head. Images of her blindly laughing at his stupid dad jokes. Images of them going out for lunch after she completed a mission. Images of them being a dysfunctional, yet familial pair.

PATHETIC!

The speed and strength of her punches started to cause a tear into the boxing bag, making it bleed sand out but she didn't notice. She continued to punch her frustrations out, frustration of everything that her father had made her go through.

"You're weak!"

Daisy heard Calvin's words whispering into her ear.

"You let yourself get attached? Pathetic!"

Shut up….. shut up, shut up, shut up.

She felt beads of sweat pouring down her forehead and her back. But that didn't stop her, nothing was going to stop her.

"Kill them!"

NO!

"I made you! I made you into what you are! You can't escape it"

Something within Daisy snapped. She let out a roar and shouted, "GET OUT!" before releasing a powerful punch that shook the entire base and caused the boxing bag to fly off of its hook and into the wall.

"Daisy?"

Daisy felt a presence behind her and without thinking, spun around and quaked the person into the wall. When the adrenaline finally died down and her eyes began registering she was, panic began to settle in. She pulled the earphones out of her ear and froze when she saw who she just quake into the wall, "M-Mack?"

She stumbled back in fear, fear of herself and what she had just done. Mack let out a groan when he felt his body hit a wall, but it was going to take a lot more than that to take him down. For a second, he couldn't help but feel annoyed but then he saw the fear in Daisy's eyes. She looked like an injured deer who's been caught in the car's headlights. He slowly and cautiously stood back up on his feet with his hands out in front of him, trying to show Daisy that he was okay and mean no harm, "Hey" his voice was softer than usual, he felt his heart shatter when he saw Daisy's shaking brown eyes, "Hey, look at me. I'm okay. It's okay, you're safe"

Daisy blinked a few times and swallowed the salvia that was building up in her throat. She made eye contact with Mack and immediately, felt the numbness that she was feeling earlier, disappear. Instead, she was feeling waves of guilt and self-anger, "I-I'm so sorry" Daisy knew her voice wasn't steady but she didn't care if she sounded weak, "Um…" Daisy turned her head back and tried to search for the first aid equipment, she didn't know why but she felt the urge to remedy the situation.

Mack watched as Daisy ran over to the kitchen counter in search for something. He cautiously yet quickly walked over to her and said, "I'm fine. I think you're the one that needs medical treatment" Daisy frowned in confusion until she followed Mack's eyes and saw that he was eying her knuckles and torso that was starting to bleed again, "Sit down"

Daisy shook her head, "N-No I'm fin—"

"Sit. Down" Mack's voice was more firm, and Daisy knew there was no room for argument. She sighed and sat down on the bench while Mack came over with the first aid kit. He looked up into Daisy's eyes and saw that there was no signs of emotions, but he would bet all of his money that she was feeling too much hence, her trying to hide it, "Mind telling me what the boxing bag did to you deserve that treatment?" he joked.

Daisy didn't seem amused by his joke.

Yeah… he didn't think that she was in the mood for his jokes. He realised how much Daisy has change in the six months that she was gone, for one she seemed to have a handle on her powers, but there was also the noticeable dark look that Daisy didn't have before. He was sure that she had it before, but it was less prominent. It was as if the darkness within her grew.

"You seem to have your powers under control" Mack stated as he bandaged Daisy's hands. The girl once again didn't reply or say anything however, he saw her jaw slightly twitch, as if she was going to say something but immediately stopped herself, "Is this how it's going to be from now on?"

He knew he wasn't being fair, he was planning on giving Daisy time to heal on her own but he knew people like Daisy, the more space you give them, the more time you give them to be consumed by their darkness.

Daisy looked up and looked at Mack with cold eyes piercing into his soul, "And how do you want things to be?" she questioned.

Mack knew what she was doing and he wasn't going to fall for it, "I want you to not shut us out. This act that you have going on, isn't going to work on me". He watched Daisy rolled her eyes and swing her legs over the seat. She was going to leave but he wasn't going to let her off this easily, "I know what it's like to lose someone close to you"

Daisy froze at that, yeah, she knew to. She knew what it was like to lose people but this was different. This one fundamentally shattered her hope that there could be peace. She doubted that Mack or anyone on this damn team could relate to that.

He saw anger flash in her eyes and knew that he needed to be more specific if he wanted to make Daisy open up to him, "I'm not talking about Trip or… my S.H.I.E.L.D members… I'm talking about family"

Jesus Christ, when was Mack going to let her go back to her room. She, annoyingly so, sat back down in her seat and gave Mack her full attention, giving him a chance to break through to her.

"I had a daughter….", Daisy sucked in a deep breath and could feel her heart clench when he used past tense, "When she died… so did my hope"

Daisy knew that Mack wasn't telling her this because he wanted to, she doubted that the rest of the team knew other than Coulson and May. He was telling her this because he wanted her to know that he could relate to her. She sucked in a deep breath and thought that maybe Mack would understand. But what good would telling him do? Why was this team so adamant about getting her to open up about her feelings.

Mack himself, was wondering a similar thing He wasn't sure where the feeling of protectiveness came from, but he suddenly wanted to protect Daisy from suffering anymore pain. She was 20 years old yet her hope for peace is already shattered. She's been through too much. When Coulson debriefed them on why Daisy had left and starting to leave a pile of dead bodies in her wake, he felt regret.

Regret for not being able to do anything.

Regret for not showing Daisy that she could come to them.

He felt responsible for being so cold with Daisy.

He used the excuse that it was because he was an undercover agents who was sent to infiltrate the team, but he knew deep down that it was because Daisy reminded him of his daughter.

His daughter who would never get the chance to see another sunrise.

If Daisy went down the wrong path, he knew that he was at fault. If there was a chance, even the slightest chance that opening up to Daisy will bring some light into the darkness, then he will tell her everything in a heartbeat.

He was tired of distancing himself, and knew that Bobbi was too.

Daisy sucked in a shaky breath and Mack watched as the ice that was covering the emotions in Daisy's brown eyes, began melting away. What he saw underneath, made him feel motivated, motivated to protect his team and Daisy from any more harm, "When…. When my mum died… it felt like my idea or hope for peace died with her" she admitted softly

Mack internally smiled when he heard her opening up to him. Even if it was a short sentence, it carried so much weight and emotions. He could tell how hard it was for Daisy to admit that out loud, and he was proud of her. She was trying to change, "Peace… it's such a fickle thing"

"Peace doesn't exist" Daisy replied back.

Mack looked at her with an understanding look, "It feels like that but… it depends on your definition of peace"

Daisy thought about what he said and couldn't help but feel her eyes begin to tear up, "For the first time… I actually thought I could live a normal life"

Mack felt his heart clenching when he saw the way that Daisy was trying to stop the tears from flowing out of her eyes. He knew exactly how Daisy felt, when he had Hope, he had thought that he could live a perfect life, but all of that shattered the night she had died. His heart still shattered when he thought about and it's been years since it happened. For Daisy, who has been bottling it up for 2 months, everything was still fresh and painful.

"People like us, who lost their sense of hope… don't live normal lives. Not anymore. If we did, we'd be consumed by our own darkness which is why it's good for us to be around good people…" Mack knew that she didn't want to hear words of comfort, she needed a realistic answer.

Daisy let out a watery chuckle. She knew that he was going somewhere with his talk, he was convincing her to stay in S.H.I.E.L.D and to open herself up to the organisation. She hated to admit it… but his words struck a chord, "I see what you're doing".

Mack smirked when he heard Daisy's tone lighten up a bit, but he knew that it was going to take a while for her to heal. He closed the first aid kit and said, "Come on Tremors, let's get Simmons to check your wound"

Daisy raised her eyebrow at the new nickname, "Tremors?"

"What? You make things shake" He said as he walked back to put the kit away.

It was more technical then that, but she will let it go for now. She'll leave the scientific talk for the science nerds. She sighed and followed behind Mack, she suddenly felt small when she stood beside him. She realised the time and thought that everyone would be asleep. She opened her mouth to stop him from waking up, but then she saw Fitz and Simmons in the lab with a coat on. Both of them were looking at something that looked like a weapon. "She's analysing the splinter bombs we found a couple of months ago"

Daisy nodded her head. She watched as Mack knocked on the glass door, grabbing the science twins attention. She felt pathetic for hiding behind Mack but she couldn't help it, one minute she was feeling numb and the next she was opening up to the Big Mack, "Simmons, Daisy needs another check-up"

Jemma tilted her head to the right to see Daisy standing behind back wearing a singlet that now had a slight blood stain on it. She gasped in surprise, she literally stitched her up 6 hours ago, how did this happen?

Jemma immediately put on a clean pair of gloves and ran over to Daisy, who remained silent. She gently lifted up Daisy's shirt and saw that Daisy had torn the stitch apart and the scab around Daisy's burn wounds were peeling off. Mack visibly cringed and gagged when he saw the wound, "What the hell happened?"

Jemma guided Daisy to the table where she could treat her wounds, and shot a glare towards Fitz and Mack who were staring, "Some privacy?" Jemma said. Daisy didn't seem to care whether they were here or not, but Jemma did.

"Right" Mack said as he turned on his heel and walked over to Fitz to turn the little man around so they were no longer facing Daisy. Jemma saw a small smile ghost past Daisy's lips at the gesture, but knew better then to tease or joke about it. Not when Daisy was in this vulnerable of a state, "So Tremors, how'd you get that wound?"

Daisy winced when she felt Jemma pulled out the ruined stiches and poured disinfectant onto her skin. Jemma looked at her sympathetically, but what surprised Daisy was how silent Simmons was being, usually she would start blabbering about nothing. She realised that she was too harsh with Simmons yesterday and needed to listen to Mack's advice about not shutting the team off.

"Ward" Daisy's voice was soft yet filled with steel. She remembered the battle and for a split second, she thought that saving Ward was going to be impossible, she was willing to kill him if it came down to it.

Both Jemma and Fitz froze. Daisy thought maybe it was better that she didn't say anything. Mack, who was the only one who didn't freeze, asked, "What's his powers?", he knew that Daisy didn't give up information like this easily, but Ward was an enemy of S.H.I.E.L.D and he hoped that Daisy knew that and respected it. Even if Ward was her friend.

"Pyrokinetic" Fitz answered which surprised both Daisy and Mack.

"How do you know that?" Mack asked.

Jemma looked up at Daisy and saw confusion in her eyes. Right… she didn't know that her inhuman friend was the reason why they found her in the mountain. She was going to keep her mouth however, because she was afraid of saying something wrong that would make Daisy angry or upset with her.

Daisy was expecting Jemma to answer but instead, the young scientist kept her mouth shut and let Fitz explained, "You're umm… Inhuman friend said told us"

Daisy sucked in a deep breath and sighed, Yo-Yo was terrible at keeping secrets, but she knew she had to thank Yo-Yo for disobeying her request.

"You encountered another Inhuman?" Mack asked.

Fitz nodded his head and began delving into the story about how they met her.

Daisy turned them out and focused on Simmons who was cleaning her wounds… again. She gulped down her pride and decided to ask Simmons whether she was mad at her, usually she didn't have to ask… well, usually she didn't care. But having Simmons mad at her was weird and foreign, "Are you mad at me?" she questioned with a soft tone.

Jemma was going to say no, of course not.. but she couldn't help but feel angry. She wasn't sure who she was angry at, was it Daisy? Yeah, a bit. But it was mainly herself. Jemma was trying to think of an answer but Mack and Fitz's voices were too loud and intrusive.

"She's like a Yo-Yo, she can superspeed towards a certain place and at an accelerated rate but once she reaches her limit, she snaps back to her spot"

"And she's HYDRA?" Mack asked.

"Haven't met one that hasn't been yet"

"Boys!" Jemma shouted which caused both Mack and Fitz to jump at the sudden voice, "When I said privacy I implied leaving the lab!"

Jemma's voice made everyone in the room flinch, including Daisy who was thinking about sneaking out of the room too. Daisy watched with pleading eyes as Mack and Fitz left her in the room alone with a seemly pissed off Jemma.

"Ummm… So I take that as a yes"

"Angry? Of course I am. My best friend leaves for 6 months without saying a word and I have no idea if she's safe or okay! Not only did she not contact anyone, but she also left a pile of dead bodies for the past 2 months which made us all think that she was being controlled by her lunatic father but it didn't make sense since you were killing people who used to work with your father and your victims, quite frankly deserved to die. But then, we find out that you've actually been fighting a war against your father who killed your mother who you discovered a month ago and you know what's the worst part about all of this?" Jemma slammed the forceps and needle into the tray causing Daisy to lightly jump but she her body relaxed when she Jemma's eyes watering, "You didn't come to us for help and… we thought you were dead"

Daisy had to give herself a few minute to comprehend and register everything that Jemma had blurted out. Every wall that she built to protect herself from talking to the team, crumbled into a pile of dust when she saw tears dripping out of the young scientist's eyes. There was something about seeing your best friend cry, that just made you want to start crying too.

"I….I didn't think you'd care" Daisy's voice cracked when she said that out loud.

Jemma's light brown eyes that were shaking with tears, looked up to see how broken her best friend looked. She saw that Daisy genuinely didn't think that they would shed tears over her death.

"My entire life… everyone expected me to die, they're prepared for it because I'm a soldier. Simmons… unlike you, my life is expendable. " Daisy needed Simmons to not expect her to live, it made it easier for when she actually did die. Even Ward and Yo-Yo were prepared for her death. Out of nowhere, Jemma picked up the bandages and began throwing it at Daisy angrily, "Simmons! What the hell?" she shouted as she jumped down from the tablet and ran to the other side of the room to hide from the crying scientist.

"You are not expendable you… silly and stupid goose"

D-Did… Jemma just call her a goose? She can get past the silly and stupid part.. but a goose? Out of all insults, she went with that one.

Jemma was too emotional to care about the fact that her insult was weak and pathetic, "No-one on this team expects you to die" she shouted as she continued to throw anything and everything at her stupid-stupid best friend, "We expect you to live! We want you to live because you're family! Maybe that's selfish of us! But if you want to die then go and ahead and die!" Jemma cried as she ran out of bandages to throw and started throwing metal objects at Daisy's head.

Daisy had to start quaking them away. Jemma was too tearful and frantic to realise that the metal objects were no longer being throw towards her but instead, they were floating mid-air due to Daisy controlling the vibration of each and every object. Daisy felt like time had slowed down when she heard Jemma telling her that they expected her to live… she never heard that before. Everyone expected her to die in a battle, hell, even she did. Yo-Yo did too which is why she was so calm about her going to fight her father. It wasn't because Yo-Yo was heartless or didn't care, it was because dying has been normalised.

"I'm sorry" Daisy muttered as she cautiously walked up to her best friend who was practically sobbing. She surprised herself by initiating the hug between them, but the second that Daisy put her arms around her, Jemma began sobbing harder which made Daisy start crying.

"I just missed you so much and I've been so worried about you because you're so reckless" Jemma sobbed. Daisy nodded her head understandingly but kept her face buried in Jemma's neck. The two kept crying for a solid minute before Jemma's vision cleared and she realised the floating objects, "Daisy… is my cornea still blurry from the tears in my eyes or… are those objects floating?"

Daisy pulled out of the hug wiped away her tears, "Oh yeah" Daisy stopped using her powers, causing everything to fall to the ground.

"What in the bloody hell happened in here?" Hunter questioned as he bit into his apple and saw the mess in the lab. He had felt slight tremors from outside and wondered what was going on.

Daisy hid her face by looking down at her feet while Jemma stood in front of her, knowing that Daisy didn't want anyone to leave, "None of your business so run along". Hunter was surprised but Jemma's forceful tone and walked away to find Mack and Fitz.

Daisy wiped away her tears and looked at the mess, "I can't believe you threw a scalpel at me" she muttered.

Jemma realised what she had done and immediately started apologising, she didn't know what came over her. She was just so fed up with Daisy thinking that she wasn't good enough for this team or that she was disposable. She wanted Daisy to have some self-worth, "Oh my god… I'm so sorry"

Daisy, for the first time since coming here, cracked a genuine smile at Simmons's apology. She was glad that not much has changed… other than her temper maybe, "Don't be and it's not like what you said was wrong"

Jemma smiled at that and began cleaning up the mess she created with Daisy, "I see you have control over your powers"

Daisy nodded her head, "I'll let you and Fitz study it to make up for the 6 months that I was gone"

An excitable smile appeared on Jemma's face and she began telling her about all the biological studies that she wanted to perform as well as physical examinations. Daisy didn't care, as long as Jemma was happy and not trying to kill her, she was happy. Hunter walked pass the lab again, but this time he came with Fitz, Mack and Bobbi. Strength in number right?

"My lab" Fitz said as he walked into his office and saw all the mess.

"Oh… sorry Fitz" Jemma apologised.

"What happened in here?" Bobbi asked as she looked to make sure nobody was injured, but other than a few tear stains on both Jemma's and Daisy's cheeks, nothing seemed out of place.

"Simmons has some serious anger-management issues" Daisy said as she finished picking up the equipment and putting it back into the tray.

Bobbi saw that Daisy was no-longer ignoring the team so that was a good sign. She found herself walking up to Daisy and pulled the young agent into a hug, "I'm so sorry about your mum" she whispered in her ear. Daisy stiffened when she heard that, but she relaxed into the hug and hugged Bobbi back.

"Thanks" Daisy replied as she pulled out of the hug.

"You've been back for less than a day and you've already created all of this mess" Fitz shouted although Daisy could tell that he wasn't really angry at him.

"Oh get over it" Daisy said with a casual tone, "Plus… I'll make it up to by letting you test my powers"

Everyone except Simmons, froze when they heard that. They had almost forgotten that Daisy had inhuman abilities, "Seriously?" Fitz asked with curiosity and excitement. He looked at Daisy and then Simmons who was sharing a similar excitable expression, "Oh… this is going to be so cool", he'd be lying if he said that he wasn't curious about inhuman powers and how it happened.

"You know… I always that the reason why you left was because you were too scared of a rematch" Hunter stated with a smirk, it was his way of saying he missed her and was glad that she was back.

"You wish. Now that I have complete control of my powers, you don't stand a chance" She replied with a cocky smile. She hasn't felt this way in a while. She began to realise that when she was around the inhumans, she felt like she had to be this strong leader who everyone expected something from, but with her team… she could just be a 20-year old agent who had trauma to work through.

"Prove it" Hunter said, not believing that she can control her powers until he saw it for herself. Daisy raised her eyebrow at him, and saw that everyone wanted to see her powers.

She walked over to the beacons and poured water into each glass. She remembered Jiaying doing this with her and she felt a wave of nostalgia flow through her which made her freeze for a few seconds. Bobbi, who was standing next to her seemed to notice so she grabbed a glass and helped her feel the water up.

After that was done, she lined the beacons and took a few steps back, "Play a note" Daisy said to Jemma who was quite excited about seeing what Daisy was going to do. She dipped her finger in the water and began twirling it around the rim of the glass.

Daisy closed her eyes and drowned out everything but the vibrational sounds that the glass was emitting. Once she locked onto it, she opened her eyes and raised her hand to aim at the glass. In a matter of seconds, she was able to control the vibrational frequencies and produce different sounds that sounded like music.

"Bloody hell" Hunter said, clearly impressed with the music that she was able to create with her powers.

"Holy shit" Mack smiled when he saw how Daisy had full control over her powers. Even he had to admit that it was pretty cool. Bobbi watched with a smile on her face when she saw how Daisy effortlessly controlled her powers.

Jemma couldn't help but think about how proud she was of Daisy. So far, they've only seen her being able to use it on a destructive scale by accident, or by analysing the cause of death from the bodies that she left behind. But this… this repainted Daisy in a whole new light.

"Oh this is cool…" Fitz really wanted to analyse her powers and create new equipment for her, maybe a pair of gauntlets that allowed her to better control her aim.

"Impressive"

Daisy's attention snapped, and she lost control of her powers and accidentally shattered the glass. Her eyes widened with fear when she saw what she had done. Panic began to settle into the pits of her stomach. No-one seemed to register the panic in her eyes except for the person who accidentally broke her train of concentration.

"Hey, it's okay" Daisy's eyes moved from the broken glass to Coulson who was now standing in front of her. She looked around the room and saw everyone Bobbi, Hunter and Mack moved to clean up the mess while Fitz and Simmons were talking about the different possibilities of her power. Daisy didn't realise that Coulson had moved her out of the lab where May was standing with concern in her eyes, "You okay?"

"What?" Daisy snapped out of the memory of her foster parents slapping her after breaking a crystal decanter when she was 8 years old, "Oh yeah". That was weird, she never had that happen to her before, after HYDRA she never even thought about what happened to her back in the orphanage. It was stupid and pathetic.

Coulson knew that look, he had seen that look in May's eyes before. He saw May looking at Daisy in a similar way as he was, "What happened?" He asked.

Daisy blinked a few times, as if she was trying to register the fact that she wasn't in the orphanage anymore, but she was actually in the base in S.H.I.E.L.D, "Um… I don't really know" she admitted with confusion. Both May and Coulson knew that she wasn't lying.

"You looked like you were having a flashback" May knew from experience what it was like to be set back to a memory.

"A flashback?" Daisy questioned with a smirk on her face.

Coulson realised that Daisy didn't know what was happening to her, "A symptom of PTSD" he stated.

Daisy instantly scoffed, "PTSD? Sorry A.C, I think your diagnosis is a little off"

"Then why'd you freeze?" May asked, crossing her arm over her chest. She herself, denied numerous times that she didn't have PTSD, at times, she still denied it. But now that she was seeing the symptoms in Daisy, she was beginning to realise that she should have taken it more seriously when Andrew told her about his diagnosis of her.

Daisy tried to come up with a sarcastic answer but couldn't think of one. She smacked her lips and couldn't help but feel tired about lying about her feelings. She sighed and said, "It's… stupid…"

"Obviously it's not stupid if it made you freeze like that"

Daisy bit her lip and looked past Coulson and towards the shattered glass, "Back… when I was in the orphanage…I was placed in this foster home and the family were chill and all…but once I broke their crystal decanter they hit me and sent me back"

May's mouth slightly dropped in disbelief at the implication that Daisy was hinting to, "They hit you? And send you back over a broken glass?" May couldn't help but raise her voice at that.

"Well… I did drink their very expensive scotch" Daisy tried to lighten the mood but both Coulson and May didn't seem happy about her story, "But yes… they did. When I broke the glass I just…"

"You're afraid of being sent back" Coulson realised, he couldn't help but smile at how open Daisy was being with them, "No offence Agent Johnson, but we literally can't send you any back anywhere… except to your room maybe but that's about it"

Daisy chuckled when she heard Coulson calling her by her last name, "You know that Johnson came from my father and Daisy came from my mother" she didn't know why she was telling Coulson and May this fun fact about her.

May and Coulson also seemed surprised by the fun fact but they didn't mind it. They liked that she was opening up to her.

"I assume your perception of your father changed" Coulson didn't want to push her to talk, especially when it was so soon, but he was giving her a chance to talk about it if she wanted to.

Daisy knew nodded her and looked down at her shoes, "Yeah... don't get me wrong, he was still an lunatic who experimented on me but…. he was just a father keeping a promise"

May and Coulson could hear that there was a story under beneath the tone, and they wanted to ask but they thought it was too soon. Before anyone could say anything, Bobbi and Mack walked towards them with an anxious expression, "Oh, we're not interrupting are we?" Mack asked. Hunter stood up from the lab and chose to follow the group as he knew why Bobbi and Mack wanted to talk.

Daisy shook her head, instantly wanting to get out of this conversation, "Nope, their all yours" she said as she walked up back into the lab.

"There's grill cheese in the kitchen" Coulson said as he gestured for Bobbi, Mack and Hunter to go to the office.

"So, long story short, Bobbi and I were actually sent to infiltrate your team a year back by the Real S.H.I.E.L.D which was reorganised by Gonzalez who is after Nick Fury's toolbox because they think that you have too much power as the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D and think that whatever alien drug running through your system has compromised your ability to be a good agent!"

Mack and Bobbi sucked in a deep breath as they told Coulson everything that they had been bottling up for the past year. They had to admit, it was great getting everything off their chest, but they knew that the damage was done and by the stern faces on their bosses face, they knew that they weren't going to be let off the hook that easily.

Hunter was in the corner, thriving off the fact that Mack and Bobbi were finally coming clean. There wasn't much convincing needed since the two of them were already feeling guilty about everything.

"Why didn't you come to us sooner?" Coulson was no longer the happy-go-lucky S.H.I.E.L.D. director that they were so used to. After spending enough time with the Director, it was easy to forget that he was their boss because he acted more like an older friend or father of the group. Typically, this tone was used for people he distrusted, and it wasn't nice being on the other end of his serious tone.

"At first… It was because we genuinely thought that you were the threat" Bobbi admitted with guilt dripping in her tone.

"And now?"

Bobbi looked at Mack and knew, without saying, that they would lay down their lives for Coulson, "Now… we think that there was a reason why Nick Fury entrusted his tool box to you"

"We're sorry sir" Mack apologised while looking down at his feet, believing that he didn't even have the right to look at the boss.

Coulson showed no signs of accepting their apologies. He didn't like traitors, especially those who pretended to be a member of his team for an entire year. He wanted… no, he needed to know where their loyalties lied, "If it comes down to it, who will join. Me? Or Gonzalez?"

Both Bobbi and Mack were taken back by that, there wasn't going to be a war between the two S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Sir… with all due respect we're not picking sides", Mack stated although, it's more like he didn't want to pick a side.

Coulson didn't seem to like that answer. Of course he didn't like that answer, he didn't know who was loyal to who and he didn't trust this REAL S.H.I.E.L.D bullshit. He was pissed, no, he was fuming. Now that he got Daisy back, he was slowly trying to earn her trust and show her that this was a safe place, but he couldn't do that when there was going to be a power struggle between the two S.H.I.E.L.D's.

May watched as Coulson began thinking about what to do, she then turned to glare at Mack and Bobbi who were looking down at their feets with guilt. Wait a minute, why the hell was Hunter here? And why'd he looked so smug?, "Why are you here?"

Finally, someone noticed his presence. He continued to cross his arms and gloat in the corner, "I'm here to see the look on your faces when they tell you the truth"

"You're not in on this?" May asked.

"Of course not" Hunter said with offence in his voice at the accusation.

Coulson didn't pay any attention to them. He kept thinking about what to do, and what was best for his team. He had to give the duo some credit for coming clean to them now then later… although they did wait an entire year before telling him this. He didn't want a war with S.H.I.E.L.D, he wanted them to work together. He just hoped that Gonzalez and his band of superiors felt the same way, "Set up a video conference. I want to talk to the man who sent two spies to infiltrate my team"

The spies could hear the distrust in Coulson's voice, and they didn't blame him, but they were hoping that he would trust them again.

"Yes sir" Both Bobbi and Mack said.

"After the video conference, I will inform the team of the conclusions that we have come to"

"Actually sir… we'd like to tell the team individually" Bobbi and Mack had agreed that it would be better to tell the team individually. It was better they find out through them, then through the Director who was already pissed at the team.

"Okay, wait until the meeting the meeting is over. Then you can inform the team"

"Sir… I hope that we didn't lose your trust" Mack said, trying to get a read on what the Director was thinking but this is the first time seeing him so distrusting. Coulson usually wore his heart on his sleeves, so to see him closing himself off made them feel like traitors.

Coulson knew he was being harsh, but he was tired of their being conflict in his own team. He thought that they moved on from the distrust and the lies, but all of that is going to pop back up again once Mack and Bobbi reveal who they are, "It depends on the meeting. Your all dismissed" he spoke coldly.

Everyone cleared the room except for May. Instead, the older women walked over to the seat and plopped down on it tiredly, "We've always suspected that something was going on between the two"

"Yeah, I was hoping it was a love affair, not them being loyal to another organisation" Coulson state, his tone was still edgy. May didn't blame him, after all the crap that has happened during these past few years, trust didn't come easily to anyone.

"At least they're not HYDRA" May stated optimistically, causing some of the tension in Coulson's body to dissipate.

"When did you become the optimist?"

May shrugged her shoulder and leaned back on her chair. She began thinking about the new organisation and real S.H.I.E.L.D and realised, that she wasn't sure how Daisy was going to deal with everything. Right now, the last thing that Daisy needed was change. She needed something stable, "We have to do everything we can to ensure that there isn't a power struggle"

Coulson knew that May shared the same thoughts as him. He was glad they were on the same page, "If there's a chance to do this with no conflict, then I'll happily take the chance"

"But not at the expense of your leadership" May stated sternly, "There's no S.H.I.E.L.D without you"

Daisy sat on the couch watching a movie with the team. It was nice and comforting, but she couldn't help but start feeling the numbness from before begin to creep up into her soul. She wasn't sure why she was feeling this way, she should be more than happy, she should be ecstatic that the team was being this kind and welcoming to her, but instead she found herself… closed off.

When Bobbi and Mack came back from their meeting with Coulson and May, she could tell something big had happened. She could tell because Bobbi and Mack both had guilt plastered on their faces, but you know what? She didn't care.

She didn't feel like she cared about a lot of things.

She wondered if killing her father made her a monster.

She snapped out f her own thoughts when she heard Fitz and Hunter arguing over the movie, "I'm just saying that the guy betrayed his own family. Maybe he deserved to die" Hunter said while giving a side eye to Bobbi and Mack who were in the kitchen. The spies heard his comment and shot him is it really going to be like this type of look.

"Yeah, the guy deserved death but there has to be a limit to who you'll kill" Fitz retorted, "They were family… how could he just kill his own member like that so casually?"

Okay, their argument was starting to feel like her life story. She let out a soft sighed and stood up from the couch, "I'm heading to bed", She saw them shooting her worried glances so she plastered a fake smile and said, "I'm just tired"

"Of course you would be" Simmons sat up and gave her a cup of tea that she had made for herself but haven't touched, "Take this with you. The tea could help you sleep"

Staring at the steaming hot tea, Daisy froze for a few seconds. The small gesture reminded her of her mother making tea for her and them talking for hours about nothing, or just simply star gazing. Was it always going to be like this? Was she always going to think about her mother when her team does the smallest gesture?

She covered up her stiff posture and smiled gratefully at Simmons, "Thank you… for everything" she said before leaving to go to her room.

Fitz and Simmons watched her leave with a worried expression on their face, "Do you think that she's going to be okay?" Fitz asked, Daisy was his friend. He wanted to help her, but he wasn't sure how.

Jemma honestly didn't know the answer to that, "Honestly… I don't know" she replied, "For one we're not sure of the relationship that she had with her father. I thought that she'd be more please about killing him since he brought nothing but torment and pain into her life but… she seems upset that she had to kill him… which is understandable if he was a good father but he obviously was not…"

Realisation dawned on Fitz when he heard Jemma speak about Daisy's father. He shot up from his seat, startling Jemma by accident, "He's her father" he muttered.

"Yes Fitz… I clearly just said that"

Fitz shook his head, "No I mean… Daisy's human…" he couldn't think of a way to formulate his realisation.

"Technically she's an inhuman" Jemma corrected, completely oblivious to what Fitz was trying to say.

"No!" Fitz shouted in frustration, confusing Simmons and the rest of the team who suddenly stopped talking to look at him, "Never mind" he muttered when he accidentally shouted at his team before running off to find Daisy to talk to her.

He realised that everyone has been looking at this wrong, Daisy wasn't just upset over the death of her mother, she was upset over the death of her father because she didn't want to kill him. He nervously knocked on her door, but he failed to hear a response. He walked in to see Daisy laying on her bed with earphones blasting through her ears, he wasn't sure how to make his presence known without startling the young agent. Luckily for him, he didn't need to do or say anything because Daisy seemed to sense his presence.

Daisy pulled her earphones out and sat upright, "Something wrong?" she asked, her tone was a little off putting but he was going to assume that it was because she wasn't expecting him.

"Um…" He began fiddling with his fingers nervously. Daisy saw how nervous he was but couldn't understand why, "I'm sorry" he suddenly apologised which made Daisy frown in confusion.

"For what?"

"For being insensitive" Fitz knew that Daisy had overheard his conversation with Hunter.

Daisy raised an eyebrow, while she was affected by what Fitz had said, she wasn't going to admit it, "It's a movie Fitz, you're allowed to express your opinions on it"

Fitz shook his head and sat down on Daisy's wheel chair. He awkwardly began moving the chair towards Daisy but kept stumbling due to the wheels not moving in the direction that he wanted to. She rolled her eyes but not in annoyance, but with humour when she saw how awkward Fitz was. She gently quaked the chair to move towards her when she saw that Fitz was getting nowhere, "Thanks…"

"Mind telling me why you're being so awkward around me?" Daisy knew that the only time Fitz was this awkward, was when he was going to be nice to her.

"Ummmm… I know you're upset over your mother"

That wasn't new to her, everyone new she was upset over her mother. So she was going to wait to see what Fitz was going to say next.

"But I also know that you're upset over your father"

There it was. She leaned back on her arms and looked at Fitz with cold eyes, not really wanting to have this conversation with anyone.

Fitz saw how Daisy's walls immediately solidified when he said that so he began rambling to fix the damage that he had caused, "I just mean you're human… or inhuman… of course you didn't want to kill your father. Even if he was a mad man, he was still your father"

"And you know this because?"

Fitz could see that Daisy didn't like him talking about her as if he knew her, but he may be able to relate to her more than she thought, "Because I had an abusive father who would hit me one day, apologise the next and take me out for ice-cream to make me forget about the abuse"

Daisy clenched her jaw when she heard Fitz talking about his abusive father. She knew it was touchy subject, but she also knew that if Fitz was bringing it up on his own accords, then he was doing it because he wanted to help her.

"After several months and his addiction to alcohol grew… there were no long any good memories, only bad ones. There were time when I thought about killing him…" He admitted darkly, Daisy was surprised to hear Fitz talk like this, she knew what abuse could do to someone but this… this was Fitz. No-one would have guessed that he was abused by his own father when he was young, "But everyone time I thought about killing him, I began to think about the times when things were good… when he wasn't an alcoholic and abusive"

"But you didn't" Daisy stated, Fitz was nothing like her.

"You didn't want to either"

Daisy's composure faltered when she heard that, "Yes I did"

"No matter what your father did… he was still you father" Fitz knew that he was treading deep waters by talking to her about this, but he wanted her to know that he wasn't going to judge her for loving her father even after everything that he had done to her, "You're human Daisy… I may not know about your relationship with your father but I know that you feel too much to be able to kill him in cold blood"

Daisy gritted her teeth and glared at Fitz, "I still killed him… because I'm a monster"

Fitz watched as Daisy's façade began to crumbled into pieces like fragile pieces of glass. She was breaking right in front of her and he didn't know what else to do except to talk to her, to let her know that she wasn't a monster, "No! You killed him because that was the only way to save him… to save him from himself". He saw Daisy bury her head into her palms and instantly moved to pull her head into his shoulder. He felt Daisy wrap her arm around his neck and sob into his shoulder.

After a few minutes of silence, Daisy pulled out of the hug but kept her head down to hide her crying face, "Jesus… whenever I'm around you guys I feel like crying"

"Yeah well… I tend to have that effect on girls" Fitz joked, lifting the mood. He felt satisfaction seep into his heart when he saw that Daisy was actually smiling at his dorky joke. He noticed the broken watch on Daisy's bedside table and reached over to inspect it, "Why do you still have this? It's broken"

Daisy's reached out to grab it in embarrassment but it was too late. Fitz twirled on his chair to dodge Daisy's attack.

A smug expression appeared on his face when he realised why Daisy must have kept it, "Oh… you kept this because you missed us"

Daisy scoffed and instantly denied it, "Shut up. No I didn't!" she shouted as she tried to grab the watch back. She was surprised to see that Fitz was faster than he was before, she guessed that it was credited to the fact that he had trained with May and Bobbi for 2 months.

"This is technically mine" He said, making Daisy shoot him a glare, "Also, why do you listen to music so loud? It'll damage your ears"

"It drowns out the sound of your science talk" She spat out good naturedly.

Fitz threw the watch into the air and caught it in his hand, "I'll fix it so you don't damage your ears"

Daisy was going to say that it was fine, but she had to admit she missed being able to turn off the noise. She nodded her head and said,s "Now, can you leave so I can go and take a shower or… are you going to stay for that?". She knew that would make Fitz leave. She watched as Fitz ran out of her room with blushed cheeks.

Yeah… I guess I did miss them…