Daisy glanced at the clock on the wall. It read five forty and Daisy sighed before turning over and rolling out of bed. She moved to the small window and lifted the shade seeing it was still dark outside. She briefly thought about climbing back into bed, but shook it off, since her mind was already again processing everything that had happened the last couple of days. She'd lain awake only for a few minutes thinking about everything, or more aptly thinking about her birth parents. But sleep had rapidly engulfed her, she was very tired after all, and she'd slept soundly through the night.
But now once again all the questions and thoughts coursed through her mind rapidly. She blinked the last remnants of sleep from her eyes and unlocked the door and walked next door to the bathroom. She crept slowly out of the bathroom, noticing the hall and living room was still dark, and no one else appeared to be up yet. She swallowed, noting her dry throat, and started walking slowly to the kitchen, tying to not make any noise. She passed the living room and saw Phil Coulson asleep on the air mattress. As she turned past the dining room, she noticed a small light shining from under the kitchen door. So she wasn't the only one up this early.
Opening the door, she spotted Melinda May sitting on a bar stool at the kitchen aisle sipping something. Melinda immediately swung her head in her direction, giving her a smile and nod.
"I hope that's coffee," Daisy said pointing out Melinda's cup as she walked further into the room.
"It's tea. I don't drink coffee."
Daisy stopped and stared at Melinda like she had just grown two heads. After a pause, she regained her voice. "Why not?"
"I don't like it. I don't like how it tastes. I prefer tea."
Daisy was still side eyeing her as she moved to the counter looking for the coffee maker. Spotting it she let out a sigh. "Thank god." She reached for the can of coffee next to it and started making some.
"I could make you tea if you'd like?"
"Nah I'm good. Coffee's good. Though I'm surprised Bobbi doesn't have a Keurig. She seems the type to drink a ton of coffee. You could use one for your tea too, you know. They make cups of tea for the Keurig."
Melinda laughed. "I prefer real tea."
"Ah so what's that mean?"
"Here. Taste it."
Daisy hesitated and then picked up Melinda's cup and took a swallow. She nodded and grinned at Melinda. "Okay that's really good. Don't think I've ever tasted tea like that."
"It's from China. Special blend. I have more if you want a cup. Won't take long to make."
"Uh that's okay. I do like my coffee. Maybe later yeah?"
"Okay." Melinda smiled and watched as the girl prepared her mug with cream and sugar and wistfully watched as the coffee brewed. "You know what they say about watching water boil, right?"
Daisy laughed. "Yeah." She hopped up on the stool next to Melinda. "So you're up really early. Is that normal for you?"
Melinda nodded. "It is. I usually get up at five- thirty."
"Why?"
"I just always have. I do Tai Chi, and then usually go for a run, before taking a shower and getting ready for work."
"Tai Chi. Is that like Karate?"
"It's a martial arts discipline that originated in China and very long time ago."
"Oh."
"Think of it as slow deliberate movements that inspire and relax the body and mind."
"Like yoga?"
"I suppose so. Somewhat."
"Sounds weird. But interesting."
"I could show you sometime."
Daisy smiled. "Yeah okay. That'd be cool." She jumped down and moved to the coffee pot which had finished brewing and poured the coffee into her cup, set it down and jumped back onto the stool. She breathed in the coffee aroma and sighed happily. "So you are like a real life ninja warrior huh?"
Melinda laughed. "I suppose."
"That's like so badass though. My mom- um – I mean Jiaying – she wasn't athletic or anything. I always thought I got my clumsiness and zero athletic ability from her."
"I'm sorry Daisy. This has got to be very hard for you. All this being sprung on you all at once. I am really impressed with how well you've been taking all this news."
"Back atcha."
"I'm a trained spy Daisy. I have been taught to compartmentalize everything, including my emotions." She looked over at Daisy. "Even with that – I am so not okay. Inside my mind is racing, my thoughts are scrambled, and I am barely keeping it together."
Daisy took a small sip of her coffee. "That might actually be the most honest thing any adult has ever said to me." Daisy glanced over at Melinda. "Yet here you sit trying to make small talk with me and not come on to strong or freak me out."
"Yeah. Since we are being honest here, gotta say all I want to do is hug you and wrap you in bubble wrap right now. Maybe run off somewhere to get away from all this bureaucracy crap."
"I don't know what to say to that." Daisy looked into her coffee cup.
"I do."
Both Daisy and Melinda turned to the voice. It was Phil.
"There is no more running. No hiding. And definitely no – no laughing at me. Why are you both laughing?"
Daisy chortled louder as Melinda's face morphed into amusement as she continued to laugh.
"Nice bathrobe." Melinda was able to spit out
He looked down at himself and finally realized how ridiculous he looked. He had on his boxers and T shirt to sleep in and had grabbed a bathrobe from the back of the bathroom after he'd heard voices in the kitchen when he had woken up. The bathrobe was pink. Very pink and sported pictures of all three power puff girls.
"It's definitely your color Phil. Makes your paleness stand out so much more."
Daisy howled louder at Melinda's deadpan comment.
Phil looked unamused. "Very funny." He moved to the coffeepot and poured a generous amount into a mug. Then he sat down next to Daisy. "You're easily amused I see."
She nodded, still laughing.
Melinda spoke again, "Your easily amusing Phil. Always have been."
He stared at her a bit shocked at her playfulness. This was the Melinda he'd fallen head over heels in love with all those years ago. The lighthearted, quick-witted woman who used to laugh and smile and pull pranks. The woman who never took herself too seriously and was overly sarcastic. The woman he could talk to about anything and the woman who gave so much of herself to him. He'd forgotten how much he'd missed that, and now his heart hurt thinking about it. Thinking about them.
"You okay Phil?"
He looked over at Melinda's now concerned face, and grinned back at her. "Sure. What have you two been talking about?"
"Tai tea." Daisy easily answered as she sipped on her coffee.
"Ah two of Melinda's favorite things Speaking of favorites." He jumped down and started rummaging through Bobbi's cabinets. "Ah here it is. She didn't toss it out. I bought this for her when I lived here." He pulled out a waffle maker. "I can make waffles for breakfast."
"Waffles sound amazing." Daisy looked at him wide eyed. "You can make them from scratch?"
"He can." Melinda moved off her stool and opened the fridge. She pulled out some strawberries. "I'll take mine with Strawberries. I hope there is whipped cream in the freezer." She opened the door and looked and then pulled out a container and grinned at them.
"Waffles with strawberries and whipped cream? Never had it."
"Actually you did. You loved it." Phil's remark was made nonchalantly. "In fact, I made it for you whenever Melinda was gone cause it cheered you up and you were pretty pouty when your mom had to go on a mission and so..." He trailed off with his brain finally catching up to his words.
Daisy was staring back and forth at the two of them, her eyes even wider. Phil turned to look at Melinda.
She had grown still, holding the whipped cream and strawberries. She slowly put the items down on the counter and gave Phil a forced smile. "I remember. I have the video of the first time we gave it to her. She was covered head to toe in strawberries and syrup and cream."
Daisy sat quietly processing the conversation. Well she did love strawberries. Pie. Shortcake. Plain. It made sense. But now something that was supposed to be a good memory was obviously a painful one for the two other people in the room. Daisy was sad at the fact that she could not remember. Wait...what had Melinda said. "You have a video of me?"
That brought a real smile to Melinda's face. "I do. Quite a few actually."
"We even have one of you being born."
Daisy raised her eyebrows at him. Precisely the way his ex-wife did. It was uncanny.
"Well I mean right after you were born. Not while being born. It was after I cut the umbilical cord and while you were being weighed and cleaned up and then when the nurse place you in Melinda's arms."
Daisy grew pensive. She thought back to the pictures she had of herself and her parents. Well Jiaying and Cal, the people she thought were her parents. They didn't have any videos of her when she was a baby. A few pics of her birthdays and stuff. Turning two. A couple holidays. School pictures. They had never made a big deal of such things. There wasn't any other family around, and her parents never really had people over except the ones in their club or whatever it was. And most of them weren't friendly to her. Once she was in school, she was far more apt to go to friend's homes then have them come to theirs. Now she knew why all of that was why it was. She was kidnapped. Her parents were criminals. The man she had called dad might be a murderer. She felt it coming. She could feel her breathing was getting too fast. Her heartbeat was in her ears. She felt hot and a crushing feeling of doom engulfed her. She tried to focus on her techniques, but it was too late. She felt herself falling to the ground and started rocking back and forth.
Melinda saw it first. The telltale signs of a panic attack. Too many emotions, too much information, a bombardment of thoughts and memories and just like her when her own attacks happened, she watched as her daughter spiraled. She moved quickly when Daisy fell backwards, and half caught her, and half let her fall on her. She was on the floor in an awkward position with one leg jutted out and the other under her and Daisy's weight on top of her. She saw movement and Phil was there, and he helped lift Daisy some with her help, so they slid Daisy next to her keeping her very close to her. She still had her arm around Daisy's shoulders and kept it there. She moved her leg out straight and immediately started speaking in a low tone to Daisy.
Phil had not picked up on anything being wrong until he saw Melinda's face and then saw her jump out of her seat quickly to move to Daisy. He reacted and was able to help Melinda and Daisy fall a bit more gently to the ground. He helped Melinda situate herself and Daisy before backing slightly away, now at a complete loss as to what to do. He'd seen panic attacks before, but this was his kid. He moved to kneel down with them, but Melinda gave him a slight head shake. Then her eyes focused on him and she spoke very quietly.
"Just make sure no one comes in here please."
She went back to speaking in a quiet almost monotone voice just assuring Daisy she was safe and that no one would hurt her. Phil nodded and moved over to the doorway positioning himself in it, holding the door slightly open so he could see both into the kitchen and down the hall.
Twenty minutes later and Daisy started to be able to find herself again. The first thing she noticed was a quiet reassuring voice, and pressure on her shoulders and pushing against her leg. Normally that might have freaked her out but for some reason the voice put her at ease. She heard the voice telling her to breathe in slowly and to focus on one thing. So she did, slowly taking deep breaths as she focused on the low tonal calm voice. Her eyes were squeezed shut but as she felt her body relax her other senses kicked in as she felt the soft touch of a hand brushing over her face, and the semi tight hug she was currently in. She smelled coffee and faintly a jasmine and lavender scent close by. She grasped for her coping techniques and spoke one word "purple". The other voice must have understood and spoke back the word "red". Daisy decided whoever this was with her would understand so she continued.
"Summer".
"Spring."
"Penquins."
"Pandas."
"Stars."
"Sunrise."
They went on exchanging words for a few minutes until Daisy paused and was able to open her eyes. She saw Melinda and nodded at her. She realized she was nearly sitting in Melinda's lap and shuffled away a bit but allowed Melinda's arm to stay around her shoulders. They both remained quiet then for a few minutes.
Melinda waited patiently letting Daisy take the lead. After a few more moments of silence Daisy cleared her throat and spoke softly almost whispering.
"Sorry."
"Nothing to be sorry about."
Daisy sighed and then spoke again this time a bit louder. "It hardly ever gets this bad anymore."
"That's good. But it's also okay."
"I should have been able to stop it. Mostly I can."
"Me too. But it's okay when you can't."
"You too?" Daisy's shock was clearly evident in her tone.
"I've had a few bad ones. Even when you can see it coming, sometimes it cannot be shut down."
"Yeah." Daisy was becoming more attune to her surroundings and finally stopped clenching and unclenching her fists. Able to relax more. As she did, she pulled further away from Melinda still processing that Melinda had panic attacks. "Why do you have them?"
"Something that happened a long time ago."
"Cause of me?"
"No. Cause of something I did."
"Oh."
"But I did change a lot after you were taken. Things like that – they change you."
"Yeah. I feel like I am in a nightmare, you know? My parents, my life, everything I thought was real – it was all a lie. I'm not who I was, I'm not their daughter, yet I am cause it's what I know. It's so – I don't know – I guess maybe it hit me - you know. You have videos of me doing things I can't remember, and pictures of me I never saw, and memories I – I won't – I can't share. It's like that kid you remember is a different person. I know it's me. Blood tests and all. But it's not me either."
"Surreal. As though you are watching everything happen and not really a part of it."
"Yeah. It's so new. Fresh. It's exciting but also scary. Like totally Paranormal Activity scary. It's hard to focus on so much information."
"I know. Maybe we need to all just take a step back and breathe. Take things more slowly. Ever since I found out I've just wanted to be with you and maybe we've all been too smothering."
"It's also endearing you know. Like I haven't had people that just want to be around me. Mostly people tend to be annoyed with me. I can be a smart ass, you know?"
"No? Really?" Melinda rolled her eyes and smirked at Daisy.
Daisy smiled almost shyly. "I know right? Do I get that from you or Phil Coulson?"
"Definitely from her." Phil moved into the room and answered her. "It's part of her charm though."
Melinda looked up at Phil and flashed him a smile. "How about you get started on those waffles Philip and Daisy and I will get dressed." She pulled herself up and offered a hand to Daisy. "I'm sure Bobbi and Hunter are up by now and Bobbi strikes me as the type to need a few cups of coffee immediately in the morning."
Daisy stood up and looked over as Bobbi hurried into the kitchen. "Oh thank god." She moved to the counter and poured a huge mug of coffee and stood there breathing in the fragrance."
"Come on." Melinda beckoned to Daisy and they left the kitchen passing Hunter on the way. As the door closed, they heard Hunter's loud bellow and Bobbi's cackle.
"Pink is your color Phil," sang out Bobbi's voice.
Daisy pushed her plate aside and pulled her mug filled with tea toward her. Melinda had made her a cup when she'd made her own and now, after eating a ton of waffles, she was very content. They'd all eaten together, and the light conversation included talk of all their jobs, and other safe things. Daisy simply ate and listened and did not offer anything to the conversation. Melinda was right though. She adored the waffles with the fresh strawberries in syrup and whipped cream. It might have been the best breakfast she'd ever had. Or at least could remember. She quickly pushed that thought away and focused on the conversation of the others. Apparently, Melinda was leaving to go to her apartment and pick up some clothing, Bobbi and Hunter were going into work and Phil was staying with her. The guy was probably okay and safe and all that, but Daisy was still starting to get a bit nervous.
"So hey Melinda. Can I go with you?"
"Oh I guess but I thought you might just want to rest and enjoy some peace and quiet here with Phil. I mean I'm just going to my apartment to pick up some things and stop at my office to request time off. I have to fill out some paperwork. Did you need something, cause I could pick it up for you if you want?"
"Nah I don't need anything. I just thought I could see your place and maybe some more pictures. Oh and hey you said you had those videos too."
"Oh I was planning on bringing those along back."
Daisy bite her bottom lip and looked at Melinda. "I'd really like to go for a drive. Clear my head and all."
"Okay." Melinda gave her a smile and then sipped her tea and tried to ignore Phil's disappointed face.
"Well Don was going to drop off some of my things later, but I could just head home myself then to pick them up. I could drive you, Melinda, and we could all go together."
"Okay. I was going to call Uber."
"You don't have a car?" Daisy asked her obviously surprised.
"No. I live close enough to my work that I just walk, and if I need to go somewhere, I take the bus or occasionally a taxi or Uber. Couldn't see paying the parking fees and insurance for a car I would use only a few times a month."
"Yeah, good point."
"So I'm gonna make a couple calls and if you're ready we could leave in about ten minutes?"
"Sounds good Phil."
Daisy was currently standing in Melinda's apartment. Phil had dropped them off and was parking his car. Melinda was in her bedroom packing clothes and Daisy was just waiting for her. The place was sparse and void of much color. The kitchen had two stools at the counter and a small two seat table. The cabinets were black and walls in all the rooms were white. Across from the kitchen was a living area with a beige colored couch and armchair, with one bookshelf holding mostly DVD's and a Tv stand with a large screen TV on it. There was one picture hanging on the wall in the living area and it was a picture of a lighthouse in mostly blues and greys. Daisy saw the short hallway had three doors and she moved to the first one. She opened it and there was a small room with a washer and dryer and a metal shelf which looked like it was for storage items and boxes. She moved to the door next to it and opened it knowing that Melinda had entered the door opposite this one. The room she entered was the bathroom and held a nice large shower, sink and toilet all white while the floor was a darker tan. She excited the bathroom and stood in front of the door Melinda had entered. She hesitated, and then knocked.
"You can come in. I'm nearly finished."
Daisy opened the door and stood in the doorway. The bedroom was actually full of color which surprised her. Oh the walls were white but there were brightly colored pictures hanging up of scenes and people and there was a bright purple comforter across the large bed with purple and white floral curtains on the windows. There was a very large bookshelf that was filled with books. Melinda had her closet opened and was tossing a few things on her bed which also held a large open suitcase. Melinda popped back out of the closet and started folding the items she'd tossed and placing them in the suitcase. She looked up at Daisy and smiled.
I won't be much longer. Clothes are nearly done, and my shoes and bath stuff are in that bag by the door."
"Cool. You aren't going to forget the videos and pics right?"
"That's next." Melinda closed the suitcase and swung it off the bed. "Can you grab the other bag, and we can put them by the door. Daisy nodded and they put the two items by the apartment door. Melinda walked with Daisy back to her bedroom and opened her closet grabbing a smaller bag and then moved back to her room. She bent down and pulled a long flat metal box from under her bed and opened it. In it were three photo albums and four DVD's. Daisy watched as Melinda started placing the items into the duffle bag. Then she noticed the dresser with nick-knacks and a few picture frames. The first frame was the same picture Melinda had given her of herself but this one was an 8x10 size in a nice frame. The second was a picture of Melinda and Phil holding her as a baby, a picture Daisy had not seen before. It had been taken at the beach with the ocean behind them. Daisy stared at the picture.
"I've never been to the beach. I've never seen the ocean. Yet this is me, huh?"
"Yes. You were just a little over a year old in that picture. It was at Ocean City, Maryland. We were visiting my friend Maria. She was stationed at Dover Air Force base at the time. You loved the sand and playing in the shallow water pools the tide left in the sand."
"I can't swim."
Melinda paused a moment. "That's okay. Maybe I could teach you sometime?"
Daisy nodded. "Yeah maybe." She picked up the picture and continued to stare at it.
Melinda finished putting the photo albums and DVD's in the bag and stood up. She grabbed the bag. "You ready? You can have that if you want it."
"Don't you want it?"
"I can get another copy made. I kept all the negatives."
Daisy put the picture frame under her arm. "Okay."
They walked out of her bedroom and they heard the sound of someone at the door.
Melinda gave the bag to Daisy. "Let him in and put this with the other bags okay?" She moved to her kitchen.
Phil entered the apartment and gave Daisy a smile. Then he yelled over to Melinda, "I'm parked at a meter and only had a couple of quarters. You almost ready?"
"Yeah I just want to bring this food along since some of it won't stay fresh for long. And I need to take my trash out to the garbage shoot."
He walked over to her. "Here, I'll get rid of the trash. Where is it?"
"Turn right and just down the hall, at the end on your left."
"Got it." He grabbed two small bags from her and exited the apartment, returning a few moments later he saw Melinda was ready. She'd packed a small cooler and had two duffle bags and large suitcase by the door. "So we good to go?"
"Yep. Here you take the suitcase, Daisy can you grab this bag, I've got the rest."
The three left and made their way to Phil's car putting Melinda's things in the trunk. Melinda got in the back and Daisy rode in the front with Phil still holding onto the picture frame.
She turned it over and stared at it again. Phil glanced over and was surprised to see the picture. He kept the exact same one on his dresser at his apartment.
"Melinda give that to you?"
Daisy looked over at him and nodded. "Yeah. It was sitting on her dresser in her room."
"It's one of my favorites." He looked in the rearview mirror and caught Melinda smiling. "So next stop, your office?"
"Yeah. I need to fill out some paperwork asking for emergency time off, and I'm gonna grab a few files to finish up at Bobbi's and transfer to someone else to work on. It's on Roosevelt Road just a half mile away."
They arrived at the FBI office and Melinda used her ID to get them into the parking garage. Both walked with her to the entrance where Melinda had to sign them in, and they also had to get visitor passes. They all passed through a metal detector and two more secure doors and one more set of security officers.
"Just stay with me and don't wonder." Melinda ordered both. "Human Resources is here on the first floor. Then I need to go up to the eighth floor to my office."
"You have your own office?"
"Actually, it's got three other employees, but I do have my own cubicle."
Melinda filled out the required paperwork and submitted it, and then the three rode the elevator to the eighth floor. They walked down the hallway, with the people they passed nodding at Melinda and greeting her, and a few giving Daisy and Phil curious looks. Entering the office at the far end on the left, Melinda greeted her fellow employees and moved to the back to her cubicle. To her surprise, sitting in the corner by a table was Fitz.
"Hey Leo. Too noisy in the lab again?"
"Yeah, always. You don't mind eh?"
"Not at all. In fact, you're welcome to use my desk for the next few weeks. I'm taking an extended leave. Oh this is Daisy and this is Phil."
Daisy nodded at him and Phil reached out to shake his hand.
"Leo Fitz,' he said as he shook Phil's hand and then glared at Daisy. "You know I can't get in your computer. The police said you would tell them the codes to let me in."
Daisy glared back. "Yeah."
"I have it right here. You want to come clean?"
"It's fairly simple actually. Sometimes you IT guys think everything has got to be complicated." She took her computer and opened it and turned it on. She typed in FLOWER which took her to a password where she typed in HACK which took her to another password djistheBest!. There you go."
"Wait. No numbers. Everyone uses numbers."
Daisy shook her head. "Obviously not. How long has this fantastic FBI hack program been running."
"Since the police confiscated your laptop."
"Lame. Oh if you need help getting into another computer, ring me up, 'kay? I charge a hundred bucks a password."
"Very funny. We have a great system set up here."
"Sure you do. Works really well." She smirked at him. "Wanna bet I could bust into the computers in this office. Say in an hour?"
"Daisy!"
"What? I could. I'm that good."
"Do not hack into any FBI computers. Ever."
"Okay. Geesh it's not like I have a reason to anyways. Don't get all bent out of shape Phil."
Leo shook his head as he worked on Daisy's computer. "I need to make sure you are really working on your own and then give this over to the police and court. I hope I won't find anything incriminating on here."
"You won't. Well you won't find anything except my stuff with transferring money from Phil's account."
"And the other two teachers." Phil reminded her.
"Yeah. And that. Oh and my fake ID's."
"Is that all Daisy?" Melinda gazed at her.
"Yeah." Daisy looked away not about to tell Melinda that she'd erased everything else, nor tell her about her other scams she'd done. I mean she was just trying to get by, and the scams and exploits were her only way to survive on the streets. It wasn't her fault she was placed with so many nasty foster homes. But still, Melinda nor Phil needed to know the depths of her criminal endeavors. After all she'd started to like them. No need to give them a reason to not like her.
"Okay. Just let me grab a couple files and my work computer and we can head out. How's Jemma, Leo?"
"Good. So you'll be off for awhile then?"
"I will. Like I said, feel free to use my desk or hang out here anyway. I expect it'll be a few weeks anyway."
"Yah you want to spend time with your daughter. I get it. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine."
"Okay. You can give me a call if you feel like talking, or venting. Okay?"
"Sounds good. You take care Melinda. I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too. Take care of yourself Leo."
Phil parked in his apartment lot and the three went up to his apartment. He gathered his things and soon they were on their way back to Bobbi's.
"Say it's almost lunch time. We could grab a pizza or something." Phil broke the silence which had started to become uncomfortable.
"Sure Phil. Daisy what kind do you like? Deep dish?" Melinda asked.
Daisy was staring out the window watching the city pass by deep in thought. She looked back at Melinda, the words finally catching up to her brain. "Oh yeah that's fine. Anything really."
"Well I prefer thin crust Phil. So if Daisy doesn't care let's go with that."
"Okay. You still like mushrooms and peppers? That okay with you Daisy?"
"Yeah sure." Daisy turned back to the window and then it clicked what Phil had said. "Did you say mushrooms?"
"Yep. And peppers. Thin crust."
"Yuk. I hate mushrooms. Not fond of peppers either. Least not on pizza."
"So we asked what you do like?"
"Um... Sausage is good. The crumbly kind. Pepperoni. Hamburger. Ham."
"So anything but vegetables?"
"Yeah pretty much."
"Use my phone Mel. There's a pizza joint number that's near the school on it. Fantastic pizza. Call in two. One thin with mushrooms and peppers and one deep dish meat lovers."
Daisy smiled and went back to thinking. Phil's place was a lot more homey-like then Melinda's had been. His apartment had two bedrooms, and a kitchen with a dining area and a fairly large living room. The walls were a light beige and had pictures hanging and the furniture was tones of green and brown. She hadn't seen the bedrooms, but the bathroom was large and had a small jacuzzi tub, a walk-in shower and a two bin sinks. It was also green, a lighter green with tan fixtures. Phil had mentioned that she could live there, cause he had the extra bedroom. After he'd said that, he and Melinda had gone into his room to talk. Daisy thought maybe Melinda wanted her to live with her. That could get pretty messy. But they hadn't screamed or anything. Which was good. Most foster parents she'd stayed with had screamed, and not just at her, but at each other. Hell, some hit each other and threw things as well.
She wasn't sure she wanted to live with just Phil though. I mean yeah, he was her blood father and he seemed nice. But they all seemed nice at first. Maybe she could just stay with Bobbi longer. She heard Melinda and Phil talking again and started listening to them. They were talking about Phil's school and classes he taught. She tuned them back out and thought about what had happened this morning and what Melinda had said. She'd said she has had panic attacks too. Maybe if Daisy talked to her about why she had her panic attacks then she wouldn't have to live alone with Phil yet. But she'd never told anyone about those things that had been done to her. For the most part she preferred to not think about it and had pushed it far back in her mind. She looked over at Phil. He saw her and gave her a smile.
"We should be at the pizza shop in a few minutes. Then only about ten minutes back to Bobbi's place."
She smiled back. "Sounds good."
Jemma and Victoria came over that night. Fitz came along with Jemma. It was chilly but they all sat outside by the firepit. They roasted hot dogs and Jemma had bought a huge bag of marshmallows and chocolate and graham crackers for smores. Victoria wanted to talk to them all about what to expect in family court and Jemma was there to explain what the court would be looking for in all of them and what Phil and Melinda should do to prove their actions all had Daisy's best interests first. They'd been discussing it for about an hour, while eating and drinking.
Victoria was speaking, "I've petitioned the court to grant full, legal custody to you both. Equal shared custody. I know that's what you both wanted."
"Yes, it is." Phil looked over to Melinda who nodded to him. "We've decided that to help Daisy's transition and to give her full support from both of us that we are going to move in together."
"What?" Bobbi's shock was evident. The other faces around the firepit were equally stunned.
"Like together together?" Hunter was far more direct.
"Of course not. We are still divorced. But we think having both of us with Daisy will be better for her rather than having her split her time between us. At least right now." Melinda's tone was measured and clear.
"We're buying a house. In the school district where I teach. We actually have a few houses we're going to look at tomorrow."
"You're buying a house? Together?" Bobbi stared dumbfounded at her brother.
"Yes. I have a substantial amount of savings to put as a down payment."
"As do I. We will both be investing in Sk...um Daisy's future and we will live there as roommates. We plan to both be a big part of our daughter's life and neither of us wants to miss any more of it. I need to keep my apartment as well or sublet it as I have a year lease that's not up until June. Phil's apartment lease ends this coming December and he's not renewing it."
"I think that's wonderful." Jemma smiled at Melinda.
"Wonderfully complicated. I mean suppose one of you wants to go on a date."
"As rational adults Leo, I'm sure they will work that out." Jemma frowned at him.
"Well, she's keeping her apartment, so yeah I guess they thought of that." Hunter chimed in.
"Right now, our focus is on Daisy. That's what's important."
"Well I wouldn't want to stand in the way of either one of your sex lives," Daisy added.
"Bobbi laughed. "You mean non-existent sex life in Phil's case.
"Melinda doesn't have one either. She never dates. Much. I don't think. Oh hell I don't know and that was probably inappropriate for me to say." Leo looked down at his gooey messy smore in his hand.
Daisy raised her hand. "Oh hey guys, the last thing I ever want to discuss is Phil and Melinda's sex lives or lack of. Just saying. Like ever. So can we all just pretend I never said anything about sex. Please."
"Yeah. That was far more information than I wanted to hear tonight." Victoria got up. "Anyway, I'm gonna head out. I think you are all more than prepared for the court date, and Izzy should be home from work by now. Call if either of you have any questions. You too Daisy. I'm still representing you."
"Okay. Thanks. I appreciate all you've done for me."
"You're welcome. Goodnight everyone."
"Yeah we need to head out too. I'll see everyone in court on Friday." Jemma and Leo also left.
"I'm stuffed. And tired. I think I'm going to get ready for bed."
"Daisy. You are okay with our plan to get a house together, right?" Phil asked with a worried expression.
"Yeah sure. I mean why not, right?"
"We want you to go with us tomorrow to look at the houses we picked. Okay?" Melinda added.
"Sure. What time?"
"First appointment is at eleven. Oh and I'm making pancakes tomorrow for breakfast."
"Cool. Are you gonna wear your Powerpuff robe again?"
Melinda laughed loudly.
