It was a busy afternoon, what with getting the universe-jumping family settled in, and the usual post-mission bustle of tending to the injured, taking inventory of weapons and supplies that needed to be replenished or repaired, the long debriefings, and of course, the reports that had to be written up.
Despite all of this, the base was in a good mood. Everyone was fascinated by the family who looked so much like their own respective agents, and May could hear that it was all anyone could talk about as she walked through the halls. Simmons had to shoo people away from ogling at the family through the med bay windows, though May was certain that Simmons herself was barraging them with questions as she ran diagnostic tests and collected samples to study. Fitz was eagerly examining all the tech that Skye had brought from their ship and had generously allowed him to study. He would scribble down notes furiously every now and then as he saw something else that caught his interest. She saw Daisy and Skye chatting together on more than one occasion, and both of them seemed to be having a grand time swapping stories, since they seemed so alike. The other May, in contrast, didn't leave Coulson's side the whole time. She seemed to be working on some sort of high tech tablet, and would glance up at the napping Coulson from time to time, as if making sure he was still alive and safe. That tugged at May's heart, because she knew that would be exactly what she would do in that same situation.
Somehow, Daisy had convinced everyone that they should throw a party that evening. And since the heavier and more urgent post-mission work was done, May allowed it, much to all the agents' delight. May had secluded herself in the Director's office for the remainder of the day, trying to type up a report and wondering how in the world she would explain this mission to Coulson when he came back, without making it too awkward. Hey so me and you are married in another universe and we have a daughter that's exactly like Daisy, and we travel the universes together doing missions, and doesn't that sound like something we could do? May groaned aloud at her thoughts and slammed the laptop shut. She would deal with it some other time, she thought. Her brain was hurting from all the thoughts swirling in her head.
The party was already in full swing by the time May finally made her way downstairs. Music blasted from the common area speakers, the tables were all pushed together and laden with takeout and drinks, and agents were lounging in all the couches and chairs chatting amicably with each other. At the centre of attention was of course, their visitors. May was amused to see that they had parked Coulson's stretcher next to one of the couches, and the other May and Skye were seated on either side of it. Trust Coulson to never miss a party, May thought fondly. He would never skip an opportunity to meet people and get to know them better. Skye seemed to finally be getting around to answering everyone's questions, and the team was gathered around and listening intently.
"So like, yeah, that's the multiverse," Skye said, as May drew close enough to hear what was going on. "There are so many versions of Earth, and so many versions of, well, all of us, but I got to say that it's still fascinating to meet yourself over and over. It's always neat figuring out the similarities and differences."
"That's so mind-blowing," Fitz exclaimed. "And you jump through universes, and have a jump drive on your ship for that? How does it work?"
"Yeah basically," Skye said, then shrugged sheepishly. "I don't super know how it works, honestly; our Fitz and his team designed it for us. You'll have to ask him, if you get to meet him one day."
"So you guys also have a SHIELD, and a May, and Coulson, and Fitz, and Simmons," Daisy listed off excitedly. "Are they all the same across all the universes? Who else on our team do you have?"
"We seem to have versions of most of the agents I see here. Our Fitz is the head of the SHIELD engineering department, and our Simmons is the head of the SHIELD school of medicine. Mack is the head of the Alien Anomalies department, and Elena heads her own tactical team," Coulson began. The mentioned members all grinned at each other. It seemed a good fit for all their personalities here in this universe too. "And well from what I can tell, all the Melindas are the same," Coulson continued, catching sight of May and giving her a slight smile. May offered a tentative smile in return. Daisy turned and saw her, smiled, and patted the seat next to her. May, with drink in hand, sat down and took a sip.
"Yeah, any universe where Melinda Coulson isn't a kick-ass fighter probably doesn't exist," Skye added, with pride in her voice, looking at her mom. May felt her heart do a little somersault at hearing her name and Coulson's together, but of course, this was who this May was. Melinda Coulson. She swore she could feel Daisy's grin radiating off of her at hearing that name as well.
Meanwhile, the other May snorted and interjected. "I would say I'm fairly consistent through all the universes we've been to so far. But him? He's exactly the damn same everywhere we go," she said, jutting a finger at Coulson, and everyone laughed.
"Captain America fanboy?" Daisy asked excitedly. "Loves collecting really old stuff?"
"Has a car named Lola and won't let anyone touch her?" Mack offered.
"Huge history geek?" Elena added.
Has the biggest heart of anyone you know and will do anything for the greater good? May thought, but she kept that to herself.
"Well there you go, you're exactly the same here too," the other May deadpanned, and everyone laughed good-naturedly, Coulson included.
"I'm always telling my wife that one day, we should have a gathering of all the Phil Coulsons and we can compare Lolas, Captain America trading card collections, cooking skills, all of that," Coulson said with a twinkle in his eyes. "I think I would have them all beat."
"That would be awesome!" Daisy gushed, and everyone else exclaimed their agreement. The love for their Director was obvious, and May's heart was warmed at how Coulson's fondness for this team was always reciprocated.
"I can barely handle two of you in the same room during our missions," the other May snorted. "I can't imagine a whole room full." But the corner of her mouth tilted up in a smile, and her husband grinned back at her.
"So I gather that you jump between universes and everything," Mack said, "but what exactly do you do?"
"We're actually a research team," Skye said. "We go across universes and see how those SHIELDs are doing, and what problems they're dealing with. We offer help where we can, but we try and be careful. They're all…hmmm how do I say this…" Skye said, gesticulating with her hands and frowning. "They're all on different points of a similar timeline, I suppose you could say. For example, most universes that we've been to have already gone through the fall of SHIELD and the Hydra takeover, the slow rebuilding of SHIELD, and all that. But some haven't. And so the help we offer can't reveal anything about what might happen next, or introduce tech that they aren't ready for yet. Otherwise, we might severely alter their timeline, which could make way for other problems that may be much worse than the original ones."
"That's fascinating!" Simmons said. "Just the thought of a multiverse was mind blowing in itself."
"Isn't that difficult, though?" Daisy pondered thoughtfully. "Knowing what will happen but not being allowed to interfere? I mean, think of all the lives that could be saved!"
"It's hard," the other May acknowledged. "But again, no timelines are set. There seems to be some key events that occur in every universe, but the rest of the stuff in between can actually be very different from each other. There's always variances in the problems that each SHIELD faces. For example, you mention that you have Inhumans, and our universe doesn't. There's no way to tell what other problems present themselves if we give them all the answers that we know work in our universe, but may not necessarily work for theirs."
"And that's the whole point of our little research team," Coulson added. "We're seeing how much we can help out without affecting their timeline. It helps when we find two universes that are similar enough to each other that we can assume their timelines run fairly similarly, and even more helpful when one is farther into the 'future' than the other. We can share the strategies that one universe used with the other, and see how it turns out. Hopefully, we save more lives, minimize damage."
"That's why we visit as many universes as we can; the more info we have, the better we're able to extrapolate," Skye added. "We make notes, compile data, and report back to our own universe's SHIELD at regular intervals. Then, our scientists analyze the data, and we decide together how we can proceed. If it's deemed appropriate and safe, we then send out an op team to help other SHIELDs carry out suggested interventions. We're the diplomats that smooth out the initial confusion and establish relationships and connections."
"Then if you're just a research team, how'd you end up here, with a damaged plane and monsters on your tail?" Elena asked curiously. Skye grimaced.
"Well, we stopped at a planet to refuel. Not all Earths we visit have the technological capacity to meet our ship's needs, so we often have to stop at alien planets to do so. The universe we just came from was fairly new to us, and we didn't really know the surrounding planets too well. It's always a risk landing on a new planet, but we had to. So when we landed on this particular one, these monsters jumped us almost right away. They did a number on our ship, and on Dad," Skye paused, but Coulson gave her hand a squeeze and an encouraging smile, "and the jump drive, so we used our last bit of fuel to jump here, which was the next closest universe. We didn't have enough remaining fuel to make it back home, unfortunately. We orbited your Earth for a while, trying to send out signals to locations where we know SHIELD facilities tend to be on different Earths, and hoping that we reach one in time. And we did," Skye finished with a smile. "We honestly can't thank all of you enough."
"Isn't that amazing?" Simmons sighed happily. "Just when we think we're all alone in the universe, something comes along and proves that we aren't."
"Honestly, it's all a little difficult to wrap my head around," Mack said gruffly. "But I'm glad to know there's other SHIELDs out there, protecting their universes the same way we are."
"That's my thought exactly," Skye said. "That's why I wanted to do this in the first place. Letting other universes know that they're not alone in the fight for the greater good. It's a pretty new concept, so most of our agents were pretty hesitant about going. But it was my idea, so I thought, well, I'll do it first. And I dragged mom and dad with me," Skye grinned.
"Well, we've been wanting to work as our own team for a while," Coulson said. "So it didn't take much convincing on our part. We always wanted to call our own shots, make our own decisions, without having to answer too much to higher ups. And I'm getting too old to be out on combat ops all the time. So this is a pretty nice retirement gig if you ask me, traveling the universes with my two favourite people," Coulson finished, giving a wink at his wife while Skye groaned "Daaddd" loudly, pretending to be embarrassed.
May smiled at this; Coulson's reasons were a strong echo of what their Coulson had told her when he first asked her to join the Bus team.
"You mean, you were tired of being Director for so long, especially overseeing SHIELD being completely rebuilt from the ground up," the other May answered, and the two shared a look that spoke to May about how hard those years must have been for them. "And I went along to make sure these two didn't get themselves killed in their attempts at multiverse peace and heroism." Despite her light tone, May could tell that of course she had went; she would follow Coulson anywhere to protect him, just like she would.
Skye rolled her eyes in a way very reminiscent of Daisy. "Yes mom, we know," she said, although not unkindly.
"So," Fitz said. "All this talk of different timelines, judging by what you know about our universe, how far along are you in this hypothetical timeline compared to us?"
"We're much, much farther in the future from what I can tell," Skye started. Her mom shot her a look, and Skye smiled apologetically. "Therefore I can't reveal too much, you know, risk of altering timelines and such. And since our universes aren't as similar to each other as others, I think it's safe to say, at least, that…things always work out. Our team always finds a way through. I hope that's not a spoiler." And although the weight of the past few years' events still hung heavily on the team, everyone smiled at each other in hope. It wasn't a spoiler, May thought. Coulson's team would always work the problem, no matter how difficult.
The evening went by fast, questions and stories being exchanged amongst everyone. May mostly listened, most of her curiosity being answered by the questions that her team asked anyways. All of it fascinated her, but what always stole her interest was how tightly knit this family was, and how capable they were of facing all the odds they did and still loving each other more despite it all. Was that ever in the cards for herself?
It struck her how this Coulson looked at his wife the same way that well…their Coulson looked at her. How had she never noticed the love and warmth in them? Or maybe she had, and just decided to ignore it. And did she always look at Coulson with that concern and tenderness and obvious love that this May did? Maybe that's what Daisy was always hinting at. Or maybe it was obvious to her because this other May, was, well, essentially herself.
As the hours went on, the room slowly emptied as agents retired to bed. Coulson, having kept up friendly conversation with almost everyone this whole time, was clearly tired and only had to exchange one small glance with his wife, before the other May made their excuses and pushed his stretcher back to the med bay, Fitz and Simmons following to make sure the equipment was all properly set up. Mack and Elena said their goodnights as well, until it was just her, Daisy, and Skye left in the now quiet common room.
"I have one more question," Daisy said to Skye. "So I'm gathering that we're each other's counterparts in our universes, but why do we look different? Have different histories?"
"That's the most intriguing part, isn't it?" Skye gushed. "I mean, obviously, I'm Phil and Melinda Coulson's biological daughter in my universe, and you're not in yours. But I think I know what you're trying to ask: why our histories are different when everyone else's seems almost the same across universes. We're the anomaly, I guess," Skye laughed, shrugging her shoulders. "In some universes, I'm their biological daughter. In others, we're all really close coworkers and SHIELD agents, like here," Skye nodded at May. "In some others, we're adopted or fostered by them. But despite the circumstances, whether we're Skye or Daisy, the three of us are always a family. And we're always their daughter," Skye finished, and Daisy smiled broadly at this. "If you don't mind me saying that," Skye said, glancing at May.
"I don't mind at all," May replied, and Daisy smiled softly and bumped her shoulder with hers affectionately.
Skye let out a huge yawn and stood up. "I think I'm going to head to bed here, if I'm still going to be able to get up for tai chi with mom tomorrow morning," she said, and Daisy and May exchanged a smile, happy to know that their counterparts shared the same routine.
"I can show you a bunk you can use," Daisy offered, but Skye shook her head.
"It's okay, Simmons also offered to show us rooms we could use earlier, but we declined. We've rigged up bunks next to Dad in the med bay. And I'm sure you think its weird, we already spend all our time together and we're probably sick of each other, and sometimes we are, but we're so used to being together all the time that it's weird if we're apart, you know?"
"Hmm," was the only thing Daisy replied with, her expression thoughtful.
After bidding each other all good night, May headed to her room and flopped down on her bed. Her mind was still spinning from the day's events, and she thought she would be awake for the better part of the night because of it. But she must have been more tired than she realized, as she drifted off to sleep sooner than she thought.