I know everyone does stories like this. Buttt...
I've had a lot of ideas throughout the seasons for moments between the little found family that we didn't get to see, snapshots of Daisy's past that are never discussed, or even just an AU where Philindaisy is a real, established family together with a whole life made for them. So essentially, this is sort of like a brainstorming place for me. Especially where my other story Between the Lines is so dark, this is a great place to take a bit of a break from that.
This might become very chaotic, jumping between those three concepts. We're gonna be jumping timelines and timeframes all at once. So, if it gets to be too much, maybe I'll separate this into three different stories for the three categories of oneshots I'll be writing. But honestly, for right now I think this format will work fine.
And of course, every oneshot will have a little summary at the start, just for some context of where/when we are.
Set between 2x22 and 3x01, before May takes her vacation. Upon learning Daisy's real birthday, Coulson makes sure she gets to celebrate it this year.
Coulson knew his team needed some uplifting these days.
With Simmons gone, Fitz seemed so lost. Everyone felt her absence like a constant void in the room, but Fitz especially took it hard, isolating from the team and pouring every minute of every day into trying to get her back. Mack was questioning everything about S.H.I.E.L.D. after everything that had happened with the Inhumans, even his position as an agent. Bobbi, understandably, wanted to quit S.H.I.E.L.D. altogether after being tortured by Ward, and of course Hunter was pissed that it had even happened. May was ready to leave on vacation with Andrew, they just needed to make a few more arrangements and they were off.
And Skye?
Coulson was worried about her. After her lifelong search for her parents, she finally found them... and her dad turned out to be what they'd called a "monster." And then her mom tried to kill her. And then she watched her dad kill her mom. And then once they found some good in her dad, they had to put him through the T.A.H.I.T.I. protocol to give him a better chance at life... which meant he didn't remember her. At all.
And so after a haircut and a name change - Skye was now Daisy, which Coulson was struggling to adjust to - Daisy jumped right into building the Caterpillars program. Endless paperwork, multiple all-nighters every week. She never sat with the team to eat anymore - she took her plate to wherever she was working and would eat while she worked. She never really brought up what had happened with her family either, or talked about really anything besides whatever mission she was sent on and the Caterpillars program.
While most of Coulson's team seemed ready to leave due to what happened, Daisy seemed to be avoiding dealing with it altogether and instead was burying herself in her work, which also wasn't good.
But, today was June 30th.
Coulson remembered that July 2nd was Sk- Daisy's birthday.
And, knowing the shape his team was currently in, he figured he'd kill two birds with one stone. For one, it would give the team something to celebrate, something uplifting to boost morale once more. And, more importantly, Daisy would get to celebrate her birthday, her real birthday, for the first time.
She deserved that much at least.
He'd convinced the team to meet at midnight, when he knew Daisy would be in her bunk too preoccupied with work to know. In front of him stood his exhausted team. During operational hours, he knew they were able to put aside their personal baggage and do good for the world. But after hours, they all looked utterly defeated.
"Okay team, I've called you here because I have a top-secret mission for you," Coulson started. Bobbi, who was honestly showing the most wear and tear of the group, raised her hand to interrupt.
"Sir, where's Daisy?" she asked.
Coulson smiled. "She's the mission."
May glanced over at him, her eyes full of confusion.
"July 2nd is Skye's real birthday," Coulson started.
"Daisy," May corrected.
"Right. Well, Daisy's never had a real birthday celebration, has she?" Coulson prompted the team. "I doubt her foster families or the orphanage were big on birthday celebrations, and on the off chance that she's had one, it wasn't on her actual birthday."
The team nodded in agreement. He could tell they were starting to perk up a little at the prospect of throwing their teammate a party.
"This needs to be top secret you guys. She can't know about any of it," Coulson reinforced. "Who's in?"
Bobbi and Hunter, hand in hand, nodded in agreement, huge smiles on their faces. Fitz even cracked a small grin. Mack chuckled, a signal that he was in. Finally, Coulson's eyes landed on May.
"Mel, are you in?" he asked.
She nodded briskly. "I'll tell Andrew we need to postpone our trip a few more days," she responded curtly. But Coulson could see a glimmer of excitement in the agent's eyes.
"Alright team," he continued. "We're gonna need balloons. And cake. And candles."
"And games," Hunter cut in.
"And gifts," Bobbi added.
"We should get her a card and each write something nice in it for her," Mack suggested.
Coulson smiled. This was perfect. "Alright team. Here's the gameplan."
~/~
Daisy yawned, stretching her arms up in the air and shifting her laptop off of her lap. The time in the corner of her screen read Thursday, July 2, 4:37 AM. She'd stayed up all night again.
Closing the lid of her laptop, she stood, her eyes feeling heavy. She made her way to the bathroom and took a quick, cold body shower to wake her up - she'd properly shower after Tai Chi and sparring with May. After brushing her teeth, putting on a black sports bra and a pair of black athletic leggings, and throwing her long hair in a messy ponytail, she started downstairs to the gym where she knew she'd find May.
And of course, as expected, there she was, standing in a Tai Chi pose, her eyes closed and her chest rising and falling as she breathed deeply.
Daisy quickly dropped her water bottle and phone on the bench and joined her S.O., mimicking the pose she was in and closing her eyes too, trying to calm her thoughts into the proper headspace.
Without opening her eyes, May said; "You're five minutes late."
Likewise, Daisy replied, "I lost track of time."
"You stayed up all night working again."
That wasn't a question, and Daisy knew it. Simply, she responded; "Well, the Caterpillars program isn't gonna create itself."
A wry chuckle from May meant the conversation was over. In synch, they moved into another pose.
After their Tai Chi session followed by a 45 minute spar, Daisy sat on the bench, catching her breath and drinking her water, slow enough to not cramp her stomach but quickly enough to replace all she'd sweat out. May stood across from her, taking long sips from her bottle as well.
"Good work today," May said, the tiniest flicker of warmth in her voice. "You've come so far."
Daisy smiled incredulously. "Apparently I have. Wow. That's, like, the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
May rolled her eyes. "Don't get used to it."
"Yes ma'am." Daisy stood, stretching her back before announcing, "I'm gonna go get some breakfast. I'm starved."
"I'll come with you," May said, checking her watch quickly before following Daisy out. Naturally, Daisy matched May's pace, but it felt like she was going oddly slow. Usually, May marched around the base with purpose; a brisk pace showed she had no time for nonsense - she was a woman on a mission and had places to be and things to do. But today, May seemed to be sauntering along, not in any hurry.
"Are you hurt?" Daisy asked. "Did I hit you too hard?"
May snorted. "Of course not."
Daisy decided to disregard the implied insult. "It's just that you're usually a lot more... I don't know. Never mind."
May thought for a moment. "Daisy," she started. "You really shouldn't be staying up all night."
Daisy rolled her eyes. "Yes mom. I know. Bedtime is midnight at the latest."
May stopped. "I'm serious," she said. "We need you at full strength if you're going to be leading the Caterpillars program. That means a full night's rest every night. And for God's sake, stop with the energy drinks, the caffeine is so bad for you."
Daisy studied her carefully. "You're talking a lot," she noted.
"Am I?" May asked.
"And you're doing that overprotective mom thing again," Daisy added. May just shook her head.
"Maybe you need one," May said, turning and starting to walk forward again. Daisy stood, staring in shock for a moment. "Close your mouth and keep up!" May called.
Shaking her head, Daisy jogged to catch up with May, matching her uncharacteristically slow pace again. They walked in silence after that - usually, Daisy enjoyed May's silence, and whenever she needed to clear her head she would sit with her and just enjoy her company. Whether or not the feeling was mutual was still up for debate. But now, Daisy felt a little uncomfortable, and a bit confused.
She didn't have much time to mull it over in her head before May stopped again, this time before they rounded the corner to the kitchen area. "So how's the program coming?"
Daisy groaned. "May, I'm staaaarvinggggg, can't we talk about this over breakfast?"
"I'm just curious. Since you've been spending so much time on it, I wanna know what your progress is," May continued.
Daisy crossed her arms. "Did I do something?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. "You're awfully interested in this whole thing." She thought for a moment. "Look, I know I did some bad things in Afterlife. I apologize. Not a day goes by where I don't feel guilty for kicking your ass and turning on the team."
May snorted. "Kicking my ass? And no, that's not what this is about."
"Then what?" Daisy shot back. "You're so focused on the Caterpillars program, are you against it? Do you think it's a bad idea? Because, it's something we need to do. For the Inhumans. We need to protect them, and if we gain some assets along the way and get to build the Secret Warriors team then I see only good coming from this. If you have something to say about it then say it May. I can't just guess what you're thinking all the time." She stopped, frowning. "Sorry. I'm a little hangry."
"And cranky from not sleeping," May said, smirking as if to say 'I told you so.'
"There's the mom look again," Daisy muttered. "Can we eat yet?"
May glanced at her watch. "Yeah, I don't see why not."
Daisy gave her a confused look as May turned the corner into the kitchen. Daisy followed, and when her eyes landed on the scene in front of her she stopped.
"Surprise!" The whole team stood around the table, holding gifts. Balloons and other decorations covered the entire kitchen. On the table was a huge breakfast spread - eggs, bacon, pancakes, donuts, the works. Daisy stood, her eyes huge, unable to process the whole thing.
"Happy birthday Daisy," May said, a huge smile on her face as she took her place next to Coulson. Daisy scanned the room, taking in the scene, her eyes darting from Bobbi and Hunter to the pale pink balloons, to Fitz and then the thick pamphlet on the table in front of him, over to Mack and sweeping across the breakfast spread once more, finally landing on Coulson and May, who looked at her warmly. Daisy opened her mouth to say something, and closed it again as she was unable to form the words.
"Daisy?" Fitz asked.
"You good?" Hunter added.
"I just..." Daisy shook her head incredulously. "This is for me?"
"Of course it is." Coulson gave a huge smile. "It's your birthday, and we figured not only had you probably never properly celebrated, but you also never actually knew your real birthday. We wanted to make it special."
Daisy glanced down at her phone, checking the date again. July 2nd.
So it was her birthday.
Weird.
"Coulson baked a cake for later," Bobbi added.
"And made you a card." Mack held up the pamphlet. "Well. We each made you a card. And Fitz put it together into one big card."
"We all had a lot to say," Fitz admitted. "One card wasn't gonna do it, but I figured you'd want it all in one place."
Daisy's arms fell lamely at her side as she continued to stare. She wasn't sure what to do next.
"Well?" May prompted. "I thought you were staaaarvinggggg." She mimicked Daisy's whine at that point, causing the team to all chuckle. Daisy's smile grew huge, and her stomach growled to remind her that she was, in fact, still very hungry.
"Grab a plate kiddo," Coulson said. The team started serving themselves. Daisy eagerly grabbed a plate and started piling on a little bit of everything, grabbing some coffee to go with it and finding her normal seat at the table next to Coulson and across from May. Mack sat next to her, and everyone started eating and joking across the table.
Daisy had to admit, it had been a while since she'd eaten with the team, and she'd missed it.
"Do you want to open your presents now or later?" Coulson asked as everyone was finishing up. Daisy's eyes grew wide.
"You didn't have to get me anything!" she gasped. "I hope you didn't spend too much."
"Don't worry about that," May said.
"Tonight, I'm making fajitas, I know it's one of your favorites," Coulson added. "Then we'll have cake. And Hunter brought out some games for us all to play after dinner. Also, like I said, it's up to you if you want your presents and card now or after dinner."
"I..." Daisy started, realizing everyone was looking at her. She blushed. "I don't know. I'm a birthday rookie, you know."
"Why don't we do it after dinner?" May suggested. "That way, we don't have to break up the birthday festivities too much between work today."
Daisy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds good."
Coulson smiled. "Alright. Team, finish up, then get to work. We'll meet back here around 7 for dinner."
As everyone started putting their plates in the dishwasher and heading their separate ways, Daisy hung back. "Thank you," she murmured to Coulson and May, her eyes shimmering as they filled with happy tears. "I don't know what to say. This is amazing. You didn't have to..."
"You deserve it kiddo," Coulson replied.
"After everything that's happened, we wanted you to at least be able to celebrate your birthday," May added.
Coulson placed a hand on Daisy's shoulder, looking her in the eye as he spoke. "We know it's been rough lately, but we also just want you to know that we're your family. We'll always be your family. And we're here for you no matter what."
~/~
Later that night, Daisy sat in her bunk, tears pricking in the corners of her eyes for what had to have been the tenth time that day as she held the card her friends had made her. In front of her she'd laid out all the presents she'd gotten - a physics book on molecular vibrations from Fitz, a case of Blueberry Ale from Hunter, a pocketknife from Bobbi, a light up UFO keychain and goofy looking alien plush from Mack, and the two that meant the most to her; one of May's old leather jackets from when she first joined S.H.I.E.L.D., and a simple silver bracelet from Coulson. The bracelet held three little charms, which Coulson had explained as follows - a cloud, to symbolize "Skye" and where she came from; a daisy, a symbol of who she truly was; and a shield, a reminder of her true, found family.
She'd never felt so happy in her life. Her chest felt so light as she scanned over the card again and again, reading every word that everyone had written to her. Everyone had such nice things to say. Everyone kept calling her family.
She had a family.
She finally had a family.
It didn't matter that they weren't related by blood. All that mattered was that they loved and valued her, and had her back.
She loved and valued them, too.