Chapter 19
AN: Hope you like this chapter. I'm going to update every second day from now on, may go up to every day if I keep writing at the rate I am writing at.
March 16th 2005
Almost four months have passed since Bobbi was invited to Melinda's for thanksgiving, and ever since Bobbi has spent a lot of out of work time with Melinda, Phil, and Daisy, including joining them, Kora and Gordon for Christmas.
It's mid-week and while Melinda is on a mission with Bobbi, and Natasha, while Phil and Maria are running back end, Daisy is being looked after by Kora who was able to get away from Afterlife for a few days.
"We're not going to get in there easily," Bobbi notes as she, Melinda, and Natasha are outside a building in South America which is heavily guarded while an item they need is inside, and as she speaks she notices Melinda and Natasha exchanging looks. "What is it?" Bobbi asks, having noticed the look between the two veteran spies.
"We have to split up," Natasha explains.
"What? No? there's too many guards. We only have a chance together," Bobbi argues.
"No, we only have a chance apart," Melinda admits. "Bobbi, go with Nat, get the item, get it to Coulson and Hill," Melinda instructs. "I'll distract the guards," Melinda instructs.
"No way in hell. You're good Melinda, but you'll be overwhelmed," Bobbi objects, not understanding why Natasha isn't objecting.
"The mission comes before the man," Melinda tells Bobbi.
"That's bullshit, we both know you'd never leave me, or Nat, or Coulson, or anyone else on your team, alone," Bobbi says, knowing that all to well. "And now you're telling me to do exactly what you wouldn't do?" Bobbi asks, not wanting to do that as Melinda is like some hybrid combination of a friend, mentor, mother, and sister to her; basically, she has become family and has helped a little with that empty feeling that Bobbi has had her entire life.
"Bobbi, we can't leave the item in enemy hands, it's too dangerous," Natasha tells her.
"We're wasting time," Melinda says, knowing that they cannot afford to do that. "Bobbi, I am giving you an order. Go with Nat. I'll meet you back at the van," Melinda says, before hurrying off.
"May's right, we've got a job to do," Natasha tells Bobbi. "Let's go," Natasha tells Bobbi, and despite her better instincts, Bobbi goes with Natasha to complete the mission.
About an hour later Bobbi and Natasha have collected the item they needed and are getting back to the van where Coulson and Maria are.
"We've got the item," Natasha says, as they climb into the back of the van.
"Good," Phil says relieved.
"May back yet?" Bobbi asks, looking around.
"Wasn't she with you?" Maria asks confused.
"We had to split up," Natasha explains.
"We didn't have to do anything. You and May decided that the only way to get the item is to split up," Bobbi says annoyed. "I'm going back," Bobbi says.
"Let me call for backup first," Phil requests, honestly wanting to go look for Melinda as much as Bobbi does.
"How long will that take?" Bobbi asks.
"Hopefully not long," Phil says, trying, and failing, to hide how worried he is.
Forty minutes later backup, being led by Clint, has arrived and so they are able to go back to the building where they last saw Melinda. To their horror when they get back to the building they see no sign of Melinda.
"I knew we shouldn't have left her," Bobbi says, guilt in her voice.
"It's not your fault, you were doing your job," Maria says as Clint walks over to Phil.
"If she was dead they would have left her body," Natasha says, not realising that that is not true because of who Melinda is.
"Hey, this is May. She wouldn't have gone without a fight," Clint tells Phil, who is actually displaying how afraid she is.
"I know," Phil says, though he can't help but be worried about Melinda.
For the next twenty-four hours Phil, Bobbi, Clint, Natasha, and Maria all stay near the last location they saw Melinda and have been doing everything they, along with the team they have working for them, can to try and find her. Unfortunately, they have had no leads.
While the others work on the small clues they have Maria, who was on the phone with Fury, walks back into the main area of the small safehouse.
"Fury got anything new?" Phil asks, from where he and Bobbi are working at a small table.
"No," Maria answers. "But he's going to tell Daisy, and Kora," Maria answers as Fury has met Daisy once but never met Kora.
"No," Phil says, realising what he has to do. "I'll do it," Phil says, causing everyone to look at him. "May wouldn't want Daisy to hear this from Fury, she'd want me to," Phil admits. "I'll go back to DC and tell Daisy and Kora, the rest of you keep working to find May so she can go home to her family," Phil requests.
"I'll go with you," Bobbi says, and everyone turns to look at her. "I'd rather do something that just sit here with no leads," Bobbi admits, and as she is still blaming herself she would like Daisy and Kora to hear it from her.
"Okay," Phil says, with a nod, as he suspects that Bobbi may be able to help Daisy when he breaks the news to her. "Call back Fury and let's get going," Phil requests.
After a pretty tense and quiet trip back to DC Phil and Bobbi are walking up to Melinda's apartment where they know they will find Kora and Daisy inside. As they get close to the door Phil and Bobbi exchange looks, and once they do Phil opens the door so that they can both walk in.
"Cols!" Daisy says excitedly from where she is at the table, eating dinner with Kora. "Bobbi!" Daisy says happily, as she gets up and hurries over to them so that she can hug them both, as she does Kora looks for Melinda and as soon as she doesn't see her sister she looks at Phil, and realises what her niece hasn't realised yet. "Where's Mom?" Daisy asks curious.
"Daisy, you might want to sit down," Phil suggests.
"Phil, what happened?" Kora asks worried, as she gets up and walks over to Daisy.
"Is Mom alright?" Daisy asks worried, as Kora puts a hand on Daisy's shoulder.
"That's the thing, Daisy. We don't know," Phil admits.
"What do you mean?" Kora asks, needing some answers, and feeling terrified for her sister.
"Melinda's missing. She split off from the rest of the team on a mission to handle something and we don't know what happened," Phil admits, trying to give enough information while trying to be gentle for Daisy's sake.
"NO! NO! NO!" Daisy yells before, moving away from Kora, and running into her bedroom.
"I'll talk to her," Bobbi says before following her.
"How long as she been gone for?" Kora asks, trying to focus.
"Twenty-four hours," Phil answers. "She was last seen in a building in South America, but there's no clues," Phil explains that can explain what happened to her.
"I see…" Kora says he mind going a thousand miles a minute, feeling terrified that she is never going to see her sister again. "Excuse me," Kora says, before heading into Melinda's room.
When she enters Daisy's room Bobbi isn't at all surprised to find the young girl on her bed, crying, looking at a picture of Daisy with Melinda that she keeps next to her bed.
"Daisy," Bobbi says, walking over to her, and sitting down on the edge of the bed. "I'm here if you want to talk," Bobbi says, desperately wishing that she could take away Daisy's pain, and in response Daisy just throws herself into Bobbi's arms.
"I can't lose my Mom Bobbi," Daisy says through muffled cries.
"I'm know," Bobbi says as she runs her hands through the hair of the young girl she has started to see as a little sister.
"Daisy, your mom's tough," Phil says, walking into the room, and over to Bobbi and Daisy. "She's going to do whatever she has to do to come home to you. I know that, without a doubt," Phil assures Daisy as he sits down and puts his hand on Daisy's back as she clings to Bobbi. Like Bobbi Phil desperately wishes he could take away Daisy's pain.
After walking away from Coulson, even though she knows what she is risking, Kora walks into Melinda's bathroom where she shuts and locks the door behind her.
"Gordon, I need you now, Mellie's in trouble," Kora says, and to her relief, Gordon appears a few seconds later.
"What's going on?" Gordon asks, the second he appears, sounding worried.
"Mellie's gone missing on a mission. SHIELD can't find her," Kora reveals, showing how worried she is.
"But I can," Gordon realises. "This will risk exposure," Gordon reminds Kora, feeling the need to do that, even with everything else that is going on.
"It's Mellie, I don't care," Kora admits as unlike her sister she can't put the mission before the man.
"Me either," Gordon says, before disappearing, focusing on Melinda as he goes.
Seconds after he disappeared Gordon appears where believes he will find Melinda and to his surprise he finds six people unconscious and Melinda standing in the middle of them, clearly the cause of all the unconscious people.
"Gordon, what the hell are you doing here?" Melinda asks shocked.
"Uh….rescuing you?" Gordon suggests.
"Since when have I ever needed anyone to rescue me?" Melinda asks.
"Good point, but Kora was worried. So's Coulson," Gordon admits.
"Which is why you decided to risk exposure?" Melinda asks, with a disapproving look.
"Well yeah, we were worried. Of course, I wanted to help," Gordon says, like that should be obvious.
"I won't let you risk our people for me," Melinda informs Gordon.
"Do I even have to tell you who you sound like?" Gordon asks curious.
"No," Melinda admits. "But you still shouldn't have come," Melinda reveals.
"So, I take it you don't want me to teleport you home?" Gordon asks curious.
"You can't, it will lead to too many questions," Melinda admits. "But I'll take a lift to a mile from the closest town," Melinda requests.
"Done. Are you hurt?" Gordon asks concerned, as he is sensing something.
"Nothing serious," Melinda admits, as she limps slightly over to Gordon.
"Really?" Gordon asks, giving his equivalent of a disapproving look.
"Shut up," Melinda says, as she puts her hand on Gordon's shoulder and once she does she does Gordon allows them disappear.
Seconds later Melinda and Gordon appear in a different location, which seems to be behind the building.
"Your people are on a block north," Gordon informs Melinda.
"You shouldn't have brought me this close," Melinda informs Gordon.
"Your welcome," Gordon says sarcastically. "Do you know what you're going to explain what happened?" Gordon asks curious.
"Yeah, I've got a few ideas," Melinda responds. "Look, don't think that I don't appreciate you coming for me, because I really do," Melinda admits. "But I don't want to be the reason our people get exposed," Melinda tells Gordon. "I'm not worth risking all our people,"
"Yeah, we're not going to agree on that one," Gordon admits.
"Well you know what, Mom and I may disagree on a lot of things, but she would agree with me on this," Melinda reminds Gordon.
"Well I guess I'm gonna disagree with both of you," Gordon admits, very nonchalant. "Mel, what you do for our people is more than even Jiaying knows, and you matter to much to me, to Kora, to Daisy, to Coulson and your SHIELD family to just do nothing when I can help," Gordon admits.
"We're never going to agree about this, are we?" Melinda asks.
"Nope, not unless you accept that you matter," Gordon admits.
"I know I matter; I just don't matter more than our people," Melinda tells Gordon before walking away.
As she doesn't want to risk anyone figuring out exactly where she just came from Melinda purposely walks around in circles for a little while before heading to the base that Natasha, Clint, and Maria have set up.
As the three of them are so focused on what they are doing, finding her, none of them realise when she walks into the room, and so Melinda realises that there is an opportunity that she cannot pass up.
"You should look about fifty miles to your east," Melinda says and Natasha, Maria and Clint quickly turn around.
In a show of rare emotion Natasha, who unsurprisingly is the first one to react, runs towards her and hugs her.
"I'm okay, Nat," Melinda says in Russian.
"Good," Natasha responds in mandarin.
"Are you really?" Maria asks concerned as she can see some wounds on Melinda.
"It's nothing that won't heal," Melinda says. "Can I debrief on the way back? I want to get home," Melinda says, looking at Clint who is technically the highest-ranking agent not that he would ever act like it.
"Sure," Clint answers, because he knows exactly who Melinda wants to get home to. "But any chance you know where you were held? We could use that info," Clint admits.
"Yeah, I can write that done," Melinda says and once she does Natasha and Maria take a team while Melinda travels with Clint who debriefs her as a medic treats her minor injuries.
After travel time that felt much longer than it was after traveling by Gordon's teleporting Melinda finally arrives home. As she opens the door Melinda isn't at all surprised, even with the late time, when she is almost barrelled over to Daisy who clings to her like her life depends on it.
"I'm okay, Daisy," Melinda says before giving Daisy comforting words in Mandarin.
"I was so scared," Daisy admits. "I thought I was never going to see you again," Daisy admits.
"Oh Sweetheart, I'm always going to do whatever I have to do to come home to you. It's gonna take me a hell of lot to be kept away from you," Melinda assures her little girl as she kisses her head. "But you know it's late, and you should be in bed," Melinda tells her daughter.
"I didn't want to go to bed until you were home," Daisy admits.
"I know, but I'm home now," Melinda tells her daughter. "So how about you go get in bed, and I'll be in in a few minutes to tell you a story," Melinda tells her daughter, who looks hesitant. "Just a couple of minutes and I'll be there," Melinda assures her.
"Okay," Daisy says and she walks over to Coulson. "Goodnight Cols, love you," Daisy says.
"Love you too," Phil responds, as he hugs the little girl.
"See you in the morning Aunt Kora, I love you," Daisy says, before hugging her.
"Love you too, Daisy," Kora says in Cantonese, and once Kora and Daisy break apart Daisy walks over to Bobbi, while Kora walks over to her sister, and hugs her tightly.
"Thank you Bobbi," Daisy tells her. "I love you," Daisy tells Bobbi, who is just amazed, and having no idea what to say Bobbi just returns the hug, which lasts for a few moments before they finally break apart.
"Bed Daisy," Melinda says.
"Yes Mom," Daisy responds, and she heads to her room. As Daisy heads to her room Phil walks over to Melinda.
"I'm glad you're okay," Phil informs Melinda.
"Thanks Phil," Melinda responds.
"May, I'm sorry, I…." Bobbi starts to say.
"No, don't apologise," Melinda says, walking over to her. "You did exactly what you should have done," Melinda assures her as she stands right in front of Bobbi. Even though Bobbi is a lot taller than Melinda she honestly feels like she is looking up at Melinda.
"It doesn't feel like it," Bobbi admits. "I left you," Bobbi says, guilt in her voice.
"Because the mission needed you to," Melinda reminds Bobbi. "You raised your objections but still did what you had to do. I am proud and you should not feel guilty," Melinda assures Bobbi. "Do you understand me?" Melinda asks, and not trusting her voice Bobbi nods.
Once Melinda is sure that Bobbi no longer feels guilty Melinda heads to Daisy's room and has to tell her daughter three different stories before she will fall asleep.
After finally getting Daisy to go to bed Melinda had a drink with Phil, Bobbi, and Kora but now the former two have left just leaving the May sisters.
"You shouldn't have called for Gordon," Melinda informs her sister.
"There you go, I was waiting for how long it would take for you to start channelling Mom," Kora admits, with a sigh.
"This is serious, Kora," Melinda tells her sister. "You put all our people at risk by calling Gordon," Melinda points out.
"I didn't see it like that, and I am never going to apologise for that, or say I regrated it," Kora informs Melinda.
"I guess there is no way I can get you to promise that you won't do it again?" Melinda asks her sister.
"None," Kora informs her sister.
"Mom?" Daisy's voice asks and both sisters turn to see Daisy standing at the doorway to her door.
"You okay, Daisy?" Melinda asks her daughter concerned.
"I couldn't sleep," Daisy admits. "Mom, can you and Aunt Kora tell me a story?" Daisy asks curious, and both sisters exchange looks.
"Yeah, I think we can do that," Melinda responds, and Kora and Melinda follow Daisy back into her bedroom.
Once in Daisy's bedroom Melinda and Kora sit either side of the youngest May woman.
"So, do you have any idea what story you want to hear?" Kora asks curious.
"Blue Angles?" Daisy asks curious, and as she does Kora looks at her sister, clearly asking for permission, as she knows that whether they tell this story is Melinda's choice.
"Yeah, I think we can do that," Melinda says, as she puts her arm around her daughter, and she and Kora, for the first time ever, proceed to tell Daisy the story of the Blue Angles. As Daisy is getting a little older Melinda and Kora, without even realising it, change some of the details so that Daisy is told more of the truth than she has been told before.