Day 119 – Lighthouse Base – Science lab – just after midnight
"Fitz, it can't be…it..it just isn't possible…" Jemma tried to hide the concern she felt.
The young doctor shook his head as he paced back and forth in front of his mas-microscope, hands propped back against his belt. "I have rechecked over a dozen times, Jemma." He stopped and looked at her. "The results are consistent."
"But we would have seen this before…you would have seen this before." She stepped forward, fretting at his tired red-rimmed eyes. He'd gone without sleep for more hours than she could count. He always did when solving the unsolvable.
Fitz put out a hand and opened his mouth to speak, then drew a quick breath. "Yes, yes Jemma, I…we would have if this is what we'd been looking for…but…" He stopped and shook his head again, absently rubbing the same hand through his disheveled hair. "This…" he pointed to the scope and gave a short nervous laugh. "This is something we never expected…never thought…"
"Fitz…" Jemma began again and he could tell from the sound in her voice she meant to disagree or at least convince him to try again.
"Jemma," he spoke her name softly, almost in a whisper. "I know this isn't what you want to hear and it isn't what I want to know, but I'm afraid it is the answer."
Jemma shook her head. "It can't be." She paused for a moment and drew breath. "It just can't be."
Day 119 – Lighthouse Base – Coulson's office – before daybreak
"We've asked all of you here…now…so we can speak to you together…tell, tell all of you…" Jemma began, addressing the team that had become family.
Mack stood in the doorway, arms folded across his chest, clearing expecting the worst but praying for the best. Elena stood at his side, silently reciting the prayers of the Rosary learned at her mother's knee so long ago. It was something she rarely, if ever, did but now…with this crisis…she felt the extra help couldn't hurt.
Coulson leaned against his desk, worry etched across his brow. May stood a few feet away, stoic, hands clenched at her sides. The woman's insides curled with apprehension but she would not let the team see her break. No, there would be time for that when she was alone…alone with the only man that could hold her together…the only man she trusted with her raw emotions. She dared not look to him now. She dared not see the anguish radiating from him or feel the pain of impending loss. There was no way to know what their scientists would say but she was used to hearing the worst. In their world there was rarely opportunity to hope for much more. They were dealt the worst and did their best to make it better or live through what it became.
This however could crush them all.
Fitz stepped next to Jemma, rubbing his thumb into the opposite palm…clearly a sign of his anxiety. "What Jemma is trying to say is we have a answer…a…a…theory really that may explain this situation." His voice was quiet and calm but still unable to hide the apprehension it held.
"Just tell us, Fitz." May ordered through her teeth. "I need to get back to my child." Her words sounded harsh and bitter as she used that anger to hide her growing fear.
"Yes…yes…" Fitz moved quickly using a remote control to flick on the large screen on the wall. He quickly flicked through the samples of Daisy's blood taken at different times then explained the crystal like snowflakes in the most recent. Drawing a quick breath he continued detailing his experiments with heat and cold and then showing the results. The last slide he posted gave him a moment to pause as he told the group it was from the blood drawn when Coulson, May and Daisy returned from the parallel world through Dr. Liu's contraption. At first it appeared no different than the original slides. The young scientist's voice almost took on an excited tone as he explained that adding transfused blood to this caused the immediate growth of the same crystals.
"Are you saying we all have those things in our blood now?" Coulson rubbed a hand on his arm and stared at the screen.
"Damn it," May spat.
"No, no…" Fitz quickly continued. "I've tested both of your samples…all of your samples and no I found nothing."
"So you're saying our blood caused this?" Coulson could not help the concern in his voice.
"No sir, it did not. I did not use your blood or May's in my research." He paused for a moment and glanced toward Jemma. "I used my own." Fitz explained, then quickly continued. "But, I don't think it would have made a difference. I'm sure the crystals have been there since Daisy slipped through that crack between the worlds you spoke of…I think they may be part of the reason she's…she's…well she is the way she is."
"We all passed through that damn crack." May snarled.
"Yes, yes you did." Fitz spoke quickly. "But you and Coulson were in some sort of…of chambers if I remember correctly."
May snorted. "Of course you do. You don't forget a damn thing."
For a moment the young man paused, unsure of May's sudden hostility. He thought back to a time when the woman's glance froze his vocal chords and addled his thoughts. The familiar feeling washed over him with an odd chill. Jemma, ever his defense, took over.
"What Fitz is trying to say is that you and Coulson had a modicum of protection coming through whatever it was you had to come through to get back. From what you've described Daisy had only some sort of helmet. She was unprotected as she came through and none of us are sure of what that might have been." The young doctor shot back with her own degree of hostility.
"We also know, from what we've been told…by you…" Fitz found his voice and stepped between the two women. "This Dr. Liu had to use young Skye's DNA or HBM as he called it, in order to make his inter-dimensional head gear operational."
Coulson nodded. "That was his explanation…something about hoping Skye could duplicate that Everest guys trip across the great divide."
"Huh," May snorted. "Over my dead body…" She glanced at Coulson for a moment. "You really think I'd let that happen with my kid? In any dimension?"
For a moment no one really looked at any one else but shook their head or mumbled their negative replies. None of them had met Twin World May but each imagined her just as May-ish as the one standing before them. Nope, this Dr. Liu character would have a better chance of passing a watermelon through the eye of needle than using young Skye as a guinea pig.
"Actually, he hoped she'd be a willing participant when she was older." Coulson reminded her.
May rolled her eyes. "Like that would make a difference."
Fitz waited a beat then continued. "Since I have no way of accessing Liu's research I am taking an educated guess that he may have used that H…er…DNA in some way to have the head gear function, taking our Daisy from there to here and somehow adding it or using it to recreate her at arrival. If I am correct the process would have somehow disassembled her cellular structure to send it through the dimensional rift then reassembled her before tossing her through the tear in between."
He paused, hoping the others understood. When no one looked totally baffled he went on. "Somehow in that process, I believe Skye's DNA combined with Daisy's…" Fitz slipped his fingers together and pulled them apart rapidly before locking them together in a combined fist. "The rest is mere conjecture, but either the crystals are a natural occurrence in their dimension or Skye's DNA combined with Daisy's inhuman DNA created them."
May drew a breath and swallowed the crack in her voice. "So you're saying there's nothing we can do."
"No," Fitz answered quickly, moving closer to May. "I'm saying it's already being done. The crystals have a limit and from what I've seen they've been expanding since Daisy became…became a child." Fitz shook his head at the absurdity of the statement.
"But you said…" Coulson began.
"As I said it is conjecture but I believe whatever it is or however it occurred, it is part of the reason Daisy returned as a child and most likely what is working to return her to her normal self." Fitz scratched his head, used to speaking of such fantastical theories. "For lack of a better term," he added quickly.
"So we just do nothing…just let take our chances on a 'maybe' this is the answer?" May was clearly appalled.
Coulson shook his head. "We can't take that risk. There has to be something else. Jemma, you said the transfusions were helping."
"But it's only been a temporary solution," Jemma explained. "And Fitz feels it may be creating even more crystals."
Before anyone could react a voice crackled through the antique PA system summoning Jemma to the med lab…stat. She quickly exited the office followed closely by Coulson and May.
Day 119 – Lighthouse Base – Daisy's med room – early morning
"I am finished, Dr. Simmons. I'll spend the rest of the month in holding rather than spend another minute with that hellion!" The med tech Jemma had left in charge was more than flustered as she growled her fury and slammed the clip board she held to the counter with a loud bang.
Jemma, who had just hurried into the room expecting a medical crisis, jumped back a step as the incensed woman pushed past her and stormed out of the room. The young doctor stood with her mouth open for a moment before a loud crash startled her a second time.
"What the hell?" May snarled as she and Coulson backed out of the angry woman's path. A second crash brought their attention to Daisy's room. They exchanged a quick glance and hurried into the room.
xxxx
When I woke up it was kinda dark in my room and I knew there was nobody there, no May and no Coulson. I don't know why but I got scared, that kinda scared when you wake up from a nightmare but you aren't sure if it was real or not or even if you got away from it. The IV pole was gone, so was the bore my arm was taped to all that time. All I had was a big ass band aid but I didn't care cuz everybody was gone, even Jemma and her damn thermometer. I just figured they left me again, got tired of me again cuz of all this sick stuff and all the work that needed to be done.
That's when the med tech/nurse/whatever the hell she was came in all smiley and good morning-ee. I wasn't taking any chances. I wrapped the blanket sheet thing around me like a mummy and pushed myself as far back on the bed as I could. This broad was not getting any of my blood and she sure wasn't stickin' that damn thermometer where the sun don't shine.
She asked me how I was feeling and I told her I wanted my mom. That's when the whole mess started. She told me I wasn't a baby and I should know my mother had other things…important things…that had to be done. Then she told me Jemma was busy as well and she would be in charge today. I told her I wanted my mother and she told me she was in charge.
I told her to call my mom cuz I needed her to help me get to the bathroom.
She held up a bed pan.
I shook my head and said I wanted my mom.
She just kept coming and I had no choice. I just blasted that pan right out of her hands and it went bang clanging across the floor. It was a little quake. I didn't hurt anything. And while she was still wondering how it went sailing I slipped right of that big bed and got my wobbly legs working pretty fast but not pretty good. I did some kind of crazy scarecrow dance across the floor and I almost made it too but that nurse lady was faster and well, her legs weren't made of jello.
She snagged me around the waist and started dragging me back to the bed but I was kicking and screaming all kinds of words May would skin me alive for using. I called her a whole bunch of things I haven't even heard since I was on the streets. She was one strong lady and well when all else fails use what ya got. I couldn't really quake her…she was kinda old and hell, she was on our side…but I had my old fall back. Hadn't used it in years but I bet it still worked sooooooo…I bit her.
Dropped me like a hot rock and I couldn't run but I could scoot. So I did…right under the bed. Of course there's not a lot of stuff to defend yourself with under a bed. Hell, there aren't even dust bunnies under a hospital bed so when she got down and reached for me I was sunk. She grabbed my foot and yanked me out all the while telling me she was in charge and not putting up with this nonsense. Man, she plopped me right back on that bed and told me to stay there.
I screamed at her that I was going to the bathroom and tried getting up again but she stopped me and well I really had no choice. I quaked her right on her ass…but in one of the chushie chairs May and Coulson always used. She looked stunned for a second and that gave me a shot at getting across the room on my wibbly wobbly legs that seemed to working better. I got there before she got herself up and out of the chair. I slammed that door so hard I thought it would come right off. But it held and I flicked the lock then slid right down on the floor and leaned against it. Then I laughed. She was out there banging and telling me she'd get the key and well it didn't matter cuz I did what I needed to and even washed my hands. Then I just opened the door and walked right past her back to the bed.
Then I told her I wanted my mom. She let out this kinda growl scream and just left the room.
I heard her calling Jemma and figured I was dead meat.
The room was a giant mess cuz I knocked a lot of stuff over. I tried picking it up but some of it was just too heavy and I had to use the bathroom again and my legs were still a little wobbly and I knocked over the waste basket and had to pick up all the paper I dumped. I found the IV pole too…well actually I guess I must have knocked it over too there it was on the floor with one of those blippy machines next to it. It didn't look to healthy with all its little gauges cracked and a couple sparks coughing out of it a few times. I tried to pick it up but it was all poley and heavy on one side and tippy and well I almost had it and CRASH…just missed my toes. I got so mad I just kicked that damn bed pan and watched it go slam banging across the floor into the wall. It kinda bounced off and banged off the pole, did a little spin and ping panged off the leg of the bed into the bathroom and made a cool noise when it smashed into the toilet. I probably would have laughed but it's not real smart to kick a metal potty with your bare foot.
I think I broke my toe. I was sitting on the floor hugging my foot and crying when Jemma, May and Coulson came in all flustered.
Coulson scooped me up and I didn't even care that my bare ass was givin' everyone a free show. He squeezed me tight and kissed my head. I didn't want to look at May cuz I knew she'd have the 'Mom-face' and I'd have lots of explaining to do. I knew she was standing there with her hands on her hips looking at all the mess and wanting to know what the hell happened. That's exactly what she said.
I said I thought I broke my toe.
Jemma said she better take a look so Coulson put me on the bed. May just kinda gave one of her 'uh ha' looks while Coulson kinda half hugged me and Jemma wriggled my toe around a little. I made a couple 'that hurts' sounds but she said it wasn't broken. It was gonna hurt for a while and probably be pretty sore but I'd live…well long enough for May to kill me. She still had that look.
Then Jemma said she need to take a little blood and I wanted to sink right into Coulson…of course she wanted to check that damn temperature too and I just shook my head til I thought my eye balls were gonna roll right out. I just grabbed Coulson's arm as tight as I could cuz I knew she wouldn't do anything as long as he was there…they promised me that. But May said she was sure I wasn't going to give her any trouble and did that eye talk thing with Coulson.
He squeezed me a little and kiss my head then said how about he grabs us some breakfast. He was pretty sure it was French Toast and he'd even bring some fresh strawberries cuz Piper got some at some kind of market yesterday. I tried to hold on but he kissed me again and did that 'I'm sorry' smile and was gone.
May still didn't look happy but she held my hand while Jemma took the blood. That little port thing was under that big old bandage so it didn't hurt much. I tried not to cry through the torture temperature hell but I just couldn't help it. Maybe it was worth it cuz when Jemma left May just let me sit with her in the big chair and held me till I stopped. I didn't want to look at her angry eyes so I just cuddled into her and listened to her heart beating. It wasn't all fast and furious. It kinda made me feel calm. I didn't know that big old chair rocked but she had it going just a teeny bit…just enough to make me feel even more calm…
xxxx
"Are you mad?" Daisy whispered, already knowing the answer.
"Mmm hmm," May hummed.
"I'm sorry." Daisy told her fingers.
"Mmm hmm," came the reply. At least she didn't say 'you always are'.
For a few moments mother and child simply rocked in silence, each caught in their own thoughts. For as angry as May was with this little hellion's actions, the same had her convinced her child was on the mend. Maybe they'd gotten past whatever the hell had been happening and all of Fitz's theories and conjecture were pointless.
"I kicked the bed pan on purpose." Daisy admitted softly.
May nodded toward the little girl's very red big toe. "Guess you learned your lesson."
"It was dumb." Daisy shrugged.
"Yep," May agreed.
"I said a lot of stuff you wouldn't like," Daisy looked up with just her eyes. May did not react. "I think I said stuff you probably never heard."
"Doubt that," May disagreed and continued the slow rhythmic rocking.
Daisy thought for a bit, unsure if she really wanted to admit to any more but she also knew that damn camera had been on…she noticed the red light after batting the bedpan into the bathroom. Apparently it was turned off when Jemma an her parents returned. Probably better to just confess and take her chances, or so she thought.
Drawing a deep breath she fiddled with the fringes on the small blanket May had wrapped around her before she pulled her into her lap and settled down on the big chair. She exhaled shakily.
"I kinda maybe…just a little," she scrunched up her nose and held up her finger and thumb a smidge apart. "kinda mini quaked that nasty tech…just a little…just to knock her into the chair…"
"Uh huh," May nodded but did not lose the rhythm of her rocking.
Daisy waited for the axe to fall…and waited, but May simply rocked and hugged her just a little closer.
"So…are you mad?" Now Daisy was confused. She fully expected May's full wrath.
"As hell," May replied without missing a beat.
Daisy swallowed hard, but snuggled into May's embrace. "Are ya gonna yell?"
"Nope," May rested her head against the back of the chair, still rocking slowly.
Resting her cheek against May's shoulder, Daisy traced one of the buttons on her jacket with the tip of one finger. She chewed her bottom lip and let out a long breath.
"I wanted you, not her." She said softly, with just a hint of a sob.
May stopped and looked down at the child resting against her chest. She put a finger under Daisy's chin and raised her head to look into her eyes. "So you threw a tantrum and nearly destroyed the room."
Daisy blinked away the tears threatening to fall and shrugged. "I just wanted you and she wouldn't…"
Swiping away the tear that rolled down Daisy's cheek, May shook her head. "That's no excuse and you know it."
Daisy nodded around a quick sniffle. May wrapped her in a tighter hug.
"Agent Weston should have notified me. I will give you that but even not feeling well doesn't give you the right to behave the way you did." May tapped a finger on the little girl's forehead. "Your adult brain must have…what? Took a break?"
Daisy looked down at her own hands. "Sometimes I'm not sure anymore. Sometimes it's just easier to be a kid and stop fighting it." She shrugged. "Maybe that's why I'm so tired. Maybe my brain just can't do this anymore."
May pulled the little girl into a bear hug and kissed the top of her head. Once again she began her slow rhythmic rocking. "Maybe, baobei…maybe." Fitz's theories haunted her thoughts.
Daisy snuggled back into her mother's embrace. The feeling of May's strong arms around her almost made everything okay. For a moment she listened to the click, click of the old chair rocking them both.
"Mama…" Daisy began then paused and continued in a soft mumble. "You gonna spank me?"
May rubbed a hand on her daughter's back then patted gently. "Oh I think that's a definite possibility." She smiled as she felt the droop in the girl's posture. She kissed the top of her head again. "But not today, baobei…not today."