"Are you guys okay?"

Melinda looked over at Daisy. "What?"

"You and Phil. You barely said two words to each other at breakfast and it was just weird."

"We're probably just both tired Dais. And I have a lot of stuff going on, and I'm sure Phil does too." Melinda tried to shrug her off. Cause yes, it had been a bit uncomfortable this morning as both she and Phil had steered clear of each other. Her reason was to hopefully make it abundantly clear to Phil that they were merely roommates and nothing more. Cause last night she had concluded, after thinking for hours, that was best for everyone. She assumed Phil felt the same way and had arrived at the same conclusion which she was grateful for.

"No, something is definitely up."

"I have no idea what you think that would be. Really. We are fine. Just tired."

"Yeah well, I haven't know you for very long but – nah, something's weird."

Melinda shook her head and before heading out of the dining room, turned to say, "Fitz will be here at three. The roads are pretty clear, he said, and he called and said you should make a list of questions about the things you are having trouble with as a starting point."

"Okay."

Melinda retreated to her room intending to lie down and take a nap. She was tired and had not gotten nearly enough sleep the last few days, with all the emotional revelations and then with Phil last night drawing out feelings she had put to rest a very long time ago. She crawled under the covers and her last thought before drifting off was to call Jeffrey Mace. He'd made it very clear to her he would be interested and had given her his number the last time he'd stopped by her office to flirt with her.

Phil was pacing. He was not surprised at how Melinda retreated emotionally, after all it was her modus operandi. But it still had gotten to him. Her all business persona concerning him was in full bloom again and he didn't like it. Not one bit. He'd thought they had moved way beyond that and frankly her cold shoulder this morning was not sitting well with him. He was also positive that Daisy had noticed it, based on her poignant looks to both of them throughout breakfast. He had quickly retreated to the basement before saying something he knew would have Melinda retreating behind her walls even further.

"Damn it." He kicked the basketball laying on the floor and reverberated off the wall. "She's so damn stubborn. I should march right up there and tell her exactly how I feel."

Dumbass. You did that last night and she shook it off and retreated, his mind said back to him.

"So? I should just keep saying it til she accepts it cause she feels the same. I can see it in her eyes."

His mind laughed at him. Sure go ahead. Cause Melinda never runs when she's pushed. Dumbass.

"So what the hell am I gonna do. I can't just stop loving her. I never stopped loving her."

You need to be very sure she still has those feelings for you. Or this whole arrangement could get very awkward very quickly.

"Oh shut up." Phil told himself. He grabbed his phone off the desk and dialed a number. "Hey Maria. How are you? Listen uh, a lot of stuff has happened, and I wanted to talk to you."

Melinda walked by the dining room and headed to the kitchen. She nodded to Fitz who was in the middle of a sentence explaining something to Daisy who was raptly paying attention to him. She smiled. Opening the kitchen door, the smells assaulted her senses. She had forgotten Phil would already be up here cooking dinner. She stood by the door for a moment watching Phil as he worked.

"I don't bite."

"I – I was just going to get a cup of tea."

He grabbed the teakettle and put fresh water in it and then set it on the stove. "Should only take a few minutes."

"So you decided on lasagna after all?"

"Yeah. With garlic bread and a salad. I made a cherry cobbler and an apple pie too."

"I see that. Everything smells fantastic."

"How are they doing out there?"

"Good. Daisy is paying attention and things seem to be going well."

"Good."

She stepped around him to get a mug and her tea. "So how long before dinner is ready?"

"Probably around a half hour."

"Good. I'm hungry. Bobbi called and she has at least eight people willing to play tomorrow. We have seven sures and four maybes."

"Who are the for sures on our side?"

"Well, me and you and Dais. Fitz and Jemma. And Carol and Trip. Nat, Roy and Robbie and Piper are the maybes. Bobbi and Hunter and Mack and Elena, Izzy and Vic, and a few other police officers are interested."

"Robbie huh?"

"It's funny that he's the only one who grabbed your attention."

"Yeah well, she's only 15."

"Phil. I warned him. It's fine."

"It actually might be a good thing. He'll see that not only does Daisy have us, but her aunt and uncle are police and many of our friends are in law enforcement as well."

"Sure Phil." She was almost laughing at him as she poured the water into her mug."

Fitz shoved another bite of garlic bread into his mouth as Daisy explained something else about hacking to him. He nodded, clearly impressed with her words. The dinner conversation had slowly evolved into a one about computers and Melinda was just content to listen as the other three talked. She was both impressed and aghast as Daisy spoke easily about her hacker exploits and how easily she was able to play the system.

"But you got caught." Fitz said around a mouthful of lasagna."

"Yeah but only cause I got lazy. Let my guard down."

"Ah, got a bit full of yourself, did ya?"

"Yeah. Lesson learned."

"I think it was fate. Meant to be. Cause look where getting caught landed you. Back with us. Back where you belong." Phil smiled at her.

Daisy grinned. "Yeah.

They were watching a movie and Daisy was slowly losing her fight with sleep, snuggled into Melinda with her head resting on Melinda's shoulder. Phil glanced at them from his seat on the armchair.

"She's almost out", he said quietly to Melinda.

Melinda nodded back to him as she looked down at her daughter. She took in her long lashes on her eyelids which Daisy was valiantly trying to keep open. She marveled, not for the first time, at how absolutely perfect she was.

"I'm good. Not sleepy - wanna watch movie." Daisy mumbled.

Melinda laughed. You can't keep your eyes open baby girl. We can finish the movie tomorrow. Aragorn and Frodo aren't going anywhere. Come on. I'll help you to bed."

Daisy made a few half-hearted protests but allowed Melinda to lead her back to her room. She quickly threw on the pajamas Melinda gave her and crawled under her covers.

"You good here tonight?"

Daisy gave her a sleepy smile. "Yeah."

"Okay." She bent down the kiss Daisy on the cheek. "My door is always open, okay?"

Daisy nodded as her eyes closed. "Night, mom."

Melinda's smile grew larger as she watched Daisy fall into a deeper sleep. It amazed her how so very quickly their bond had become so strong. Oh, she always knew she'd love Daisy but the fact that she was so endearing, and that Daisy truly liked her was so special. They were becoming a little family, true – a bit unorthodox maybe, but a family, nonetheless. Heck, they even had a dog now. She looked over at the dog bed against the wall and the dog who slept in it. Leia stayed with Daisy wherever Daisy ended up each night, whether in her own bed or sleeping with Melinda.

Melinda got up and bent over Daisy, puling the covers tightly around her. She walked over to the dog who was watching her carefully.

"You keep an eye on Daisy, okay girl?"

The tail thumped twice as if in answer to her. Melinda turned off the light and walked out the door. She walked down the hallway and into the kitchen. Phil was there cleaning up.

"She's sleeping?"

"Yes, out like a light. I'm going to read a little and then get to bed too. We have a adventurous day tomorrow." She reached into the fridge getting a bottle of water. "Good night Phil."

"Good night Melinda. Sleep well."

"You too."

He could have kicked himself. They were back to being nice. And polite. And of course, completely ignoring the fact that there was a ton of emotional baggage to deal with. Well maybe Maria would give him the kick he needed to push Melinda. After he'd talked with her last night for over three hours, filling her in on everything, she'd told him she was flying out there soon. Tonight, he'd gotten a text that said she would be arriving Monday night. And yes, the guest room would be a great place to stay while she was in Chicago. After all she wanted to spend time with her goddaughter.

"I'll wait to tell Mel tomorrow night." He said out loud to himself.

Melinda and Phil both had to drive to the Paint Ball place. Not only had Fitz and Jemma and Trip and Carol shown up as they said they would, but Nat, Roy, Robbie and Clint had as well. The latter four had been driven to the house by Robbie, while Trip had picked up Carol and Jemma and Fitz had driven themselves. After Paintball both Jemma and Fitz were staying to tutor Daisy, so Melinda was paying for their way at Paintball as well as for all the kids. Piper was going to show too but was meeting them there since it was out of her way to drive to the house. So they had twelve on their team. Melinda figured if Bobbi's team was shorthanded, she'd ask for volunteers to defect to the enemy.

Daisy had giggled when she called them the enemy while Phil had just said, "just wait. You'll see how intense this will be."

They arrived at the Paint Ball Range at quarter to one. They had reserved the private party section for three hours, from one thirty to four thirty. Bobbi and some of her team were already there and those who didn't own equipment were picking theirs out.

Piper saw them and joined Melinda's team.

"Hey Piper. Glad you made it."

"Wouldn't miss it ma'am."

"Lose the ma'am for the day, okay? Just call me Melinda."

"Yes Ma'am."

Melinda rolled her eyes. "Hey Piper, you know the drill here, right?"

"Yes Ma- Melinda."

Melinda turned back to the group. "Who's played paintball before?"

Trip and Clint's hands shot up along with Phil's and Piper's. Melinda sighed.

"Any experience with air soft or BB guns? Or laser tag?"

Robbie, Roy, Nat and Carol's hands shot up.

"Laser tag, a lot actually, said Nat. Clint too."

"I've done Airsoft and BB guns." Roy added. Robbie nodded.

"I've shot real guns before on my granddad's farm," Carol added. "And BB and Airsoft.

Jemma looked at Fitz who spoke up, "Me and Jemma never played any of those before."

"Okay. Piper is going to get her equipment and run you all through the basics. Trip and Clint can help her out once everyone goes to rent what they need. Phil you can oversee this with Piper, right?"

He saluted her which caused Daisy to giggle. Daisy was dressed in layers, which Melinda told her to do. She also had on a pair of waterproof hiking boots which had mysteriously appeared in her closet along with a pair of camo snow pants and matching jacket. Just like Melinda was wearing. Everyone else had on similar type outfits they'd either owned or borrowed.

Nat and the others had been impressed with the unusual amount of camo things Carol had brought along to share. She was in fact wearing a camo jacket and pair of pants over her jeans and sweatshirt.

Melinda went over to Bobbi to lay down the ground rules for the afternoon.

Soon everyone was ready with their masks, and other rental equipment and the Paintball guns. Piper and Trip were showing everyone how to load and use the paintball guns. They were just waiting for a few more of Bobbi's friends to show for her team. Turned out she had ten total and they agreed it was pretty fairly matched considering Melinda's team was mostly newbies and filled with teens even though they numbered twelve.

Soon Mack pulled up with Davis and Elena who got out of the truck carrying their own equipment.

"Hey Mr. Mackenzie sir. How are you." Robbie had stepped out from the group when he recognized his mentor.

"Hey Reyes. How you doing? Don't tell me you're here with this bunch?"

"Yes sir. Daisy invited me."

"Wait. How do you know him?" Daisy looked from one to the other.

Robbie grinned. "He's my boss. At the police station. Where I work on their vehicles. The sweet gig Mr. C got for me."

Mack smiled. "He's a great mechanic. And a hard worker. We're lucky to have him."

Bobbi moved in front of Mack. "Well just don't go easy on him while we are playing. He's on their side."

Mack looked at Bobbi. "Wasn't planning on it. But you might want to dial that competitiveness back just a notch or two."

"Yeah we are here to have fun, yes?" Elena said.

"You know what's fun?" Bobbi spoke clearly. "Winning." She turned and moved back to her group followed by Mack and the others, while Melinda joined her team.

The referees – there were two for the private party - came out then and went over all the rules and then everyone moved to the playing field.

Melinda checked her watch. It was quarter to four. The remaining members of her team were hiding behind a stone wall taking a break. Each team was allowed two ten-minute time outs if they wanted them. During timeouts both teams had to remain where they were.

"How many do they have left again?" Melinda asked.

"Well, we took out five of them. They had ten to start – so five." Fitz answered her.

"And we have five. We can still win this. We need a plan."

"Actually what we need are Piper and Roy back. They were two of our best." Daisy grumbled. "Piper should have never sacrificed herself for me. I'm pretty useless."

"You are not useless. And Piper at least took out Davis while protecting you. I did ask her to keep an eye on you."

"Well I don't seem to be able to hit the broad side of a barn with this."

"It's your first time chica. Can't expect to be an expert. No one expected that."

"He's right Daisy. I'm not any better. I'm only here cause Roy pushed me down and I was able to crawl to cover." Jemma added.

"Look. We have Robbie and myself. We are both excellent shooters. We just need a plan. Any ideas Jemma? Fitz?" Melinda looked at them expectantly.

"Well yeah I actually think I do. Look they have two of the bigger targets left. Mack and Bobbi. Hunter's small and quick and so are Elena and Trevor. And since Bobbi's their team leader, if we take her out, the others might fold easier."

"Yeah well, they are probably planning on taking out mom and Robbie cause then we'd be sitting ducks." Daisy added her gloomy thoughts.

"Daisy, you're pretty fast. So is Melinda. And Jemma can move rather quickly if motivated to do so." Fitz had their attention. "I say we stockpile four weapons with Robbie, set them up so they can be discharged quickly by him, I stay to help him load and maybe back up shoot and the three of you lead the enemy here. It's a quite good place to make a stand."

"So use Jemma and Daisy and me as bait, while we are actually reeling them in to us?" Melinda asked.

"That's brilliant Fitz. It could work." Jemma smiled at him.

"Great plan dude. I can set the weapons here behind this boulder and place one at each side with one smack in the middle. You back me here with yours, there's plenty of room for the two of us, and they lead them right to us."

"The trick is to make them think we are moving about out there, all of us and we are kind of all just doing our own thing without a clue." Fitz grinned.

Daisy grinned back. "That could work. I can outrun a couple of them."

"And you three are small so you make small targets. They might have played before but it's still rather difficult to hit small running targets full force. Remember if the paint ball doesn't open – you're not out. Even if it hits you a little." Robbie added.

Melinda had a smile on her face. "You guys are geniuses."

"Yeah we are." Fitz replied.

Melinda looked at her watch. "Okay guys – we move out in one and a half minutes. Both of you stay within my sight if you can. I'll cover you if I get a chance to take one of them out. Remember – we want to bring them to that small three-foot clearing over there. That way Robbie has a better chance to hit them."

Fitz and Robbie started setting up their little area. Daisy and Jemma handed them their paintball guns. Daisy thru off her coat.

"Better to run faster. And they know I was in camo. They won't be looking for a white sweatshirt."

"Brilliant. Here wait." Robbie tore off his jacket and pulled off his cream- colored sweater. He threw it to Jemma. She had already thrown her brown coat to the side with Daisy's coat and she pulled the sweater over her head. Robbie shrugged his jacket back on.

"Okay. Let's move out." Melinda led the way weaving in and out of the trees, with Jemma and Daisy close behind.

"That was bloody fantastic." Fitz's grin was huge.

Robbie patted him on the back. "We make a helluva team."

Jemma smiled at them. I had a fantastic time. I never thought I'd enjoy running around in the woods in the snow shooting other people."

"Well you weren't really shooting them" Fitz corrected. "But you did a smashing good job making them targets for Robbie. Both you and Daisy did."

"It was exhilarating. Who knew paintball required strategic maneuvering? It was like a game of chess. Thank you, Melinda for inviting us. We had a wonderful time." Jemma gave her a big smile.

"I'm glad I was able to help in the end there." Daisy spoke up.

"You helped us win Daisy. It was a full team effort. Even those who got knocked out early helped us get to the point we could win. Piper and Roy's sacrifices allowed you two to stay in as our secret speedy weapons." Robbie laughed.

"They are both small." Mack added. Hard to shoot on the run. Whose idea was that anyway?"

"Mostly Fitz. But the team all helped." Melinda answered.

"I'm just glad we didn't bet on the game," came form Hunter.

"Hopefully you learned your lesson about gambling with Melinda and Daisy. Never bet against them." Bobbi came behind Daisy and ruffled her hair. "You did good kiddo."

Daisy grinned. "Thanks. I still want to learn to shoot those things better though."

"Maybe you and me can come back here sometime. I'll teach you." Robbie winked at her.

Phil glared at him.

Melinda spoke up. "Well I hate to break up the party, but Daisy has a tutoring session yet today and it's nearly five-thirty."

"Yeah. I'll round up the kids." Phil glared once more at Robbie before going to the other tables to herd everyone to the cars.

"You know Robbie, you showed a real knack for shooting and aiming. And you were very composed. Have you considered becoming a police officer after graduation?"

"I thought you had to be twenty-one." Robbie looked at him curiously.

"Yes. How old are you now son?"

"I'm seventeen. My birthday's in August."

"There are many options. You could join the military, active service for 3 years or attend a community college and earn 60 credits."

"I'm not college material."

"Don't sell yourself short Robbie. Plenty of people who may not have been the best student in high school, but they shine in college. College classes are tailored to what you want to study, and classes are only a couple hours each week. Plenty of options. Hey I'll talk to you more next week at the shop. Elena and I have to go. Great seeing you buddy."

"Yeah. You too Mack."

"Well Hunter and I are headed home too. We are on the early shift starting Monday and need our beauty sleep. After a couple weeks of night shift, it'll take a few days to get back to normal."

"I know what that's like. At least I used to." Melinda nodded to her. "And great match today Bobbi. Both teams had fun."

"Yeah although I'd have had more fun if my team would have won. I guess you guys wanted it more. Great job Daisy. You'd make a great secret agent, all that subterfuge and hiding you managed to do throwing me off track more than a few times."

Daisy grinned. "I guess I take after Melinda." She laughed. "Actually, I was just so bad at first especially at shooting the paintball gun, I was glad to be useful. I was always pretty good at hiding and avoiding the bad guys."

Melinda frowned at her last sentence. "Well no more bad guys are gonna be bothering you, or they'll answer to me."

"And me." Bobbi chimed in. "And all my co-workers."

"And me and Roy and the rest of Daisy's friends." Robbie spoke up. "Hopefully Ward got my message the other day."

"Your message Robbie? What message was that?" Phil had rejoined them to get Daisy and Robbie and Melinda so they could leave.

"Oh you know, to stay away from Daisy. I guess Roy's fist wasn't a clear enough message. But don't worry sir, I made abundantly clear that he would deal with me should he harass her again."

Melinda looked at Daisy who had been trying to get Robbie's attention. "You said again. He did something again?"

Robbie glanced at Daisy in surprise and she shrugged. "Yes ma'am. The day I was walking Daisy out from school, when we had our conversation, Ward – um – yeah – uh well – he uh was blocking Daisy's path on the steps and making some not so nice comments to her. I stepped in and set him straight."

"Daisy?"

"It wasn't a big deal. I was fine."

Melinda glared at her.

"I didn't want you to worry. You worry about me enough. Robbie was there and I was fine."

"And you told me that you would tell your mom later."

"Yeah. I – I – I'm sorry." She looked at Robbie first and then over at Melinda. "I didn't want to add crap for you to worry about. I – I was afraid you'd – I didn't want you to get in trouble."

"You should have reported it to the principal Daisy. And told both me and Phil."

"Okay." Daisy refused to look Melinda in the eye.

Melinda took her arm and pulled her away from everyone else out of earshot. "Hey. Dais I'm not angry at you. I get it. I really do. This is a process. Trusting is a process. But you have to promise me that if Ward or anyone else threatens or harasses you that you will tell me. Cause that's not something to ignore, okay? I've seen people like him. Entitled, used to getting his way, getting slapped on the wrist. They think they are above everything. That right and wrong don't apply to them, and they justify their behavior but putting it back on the person they hurt. No act is too small, no words are insignificant when it comes to those kinds of people. You have to promise me that you will tell me if he talks to you again, if he touches you, or threatens you. Okay?"

Daisy nodded still looking down at her boots.

"And honestly I wouldn't do anything stupid Dais. Okay? I'm a trained soldier and spy, and I know talking matters into your own hands is a sure way for things to backfire and for someone like him to use that to his benefit. But sweetie," Melinda lifted Daisy's chin so she could look her in the eye, " Tomorrow you and me and Phil and Robbie are going to the Principal's office to make a record of what happened. Clear?"

Daisy nodded again. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Just don't shrug off any behavior from him. From what I understand, he has gotten away with things before and people have looked the other way. Well this family fights for each other, and we do not allow anyone to hurt each other, especially you."

Daisy fell into Melinda's arms and mumbled into her shoulder. "I'm just used to fighting my own battles. I'm not used to anyone caring enough to fight along side me."

"Well get used to it."

Daisy pulled away a bit embarrassed and with a small laugh.

Melinda put her arm around her shoulders, "we need to get home," and the two joined Phil and the rest of their crew by the cars.

After they got home everyone except Fitz and Jemma left. Phil went to pick up a couple pizzas and they ate and then Fitz and Jemma tutored Daisy for a couple hours. They left around eight o'clock and Daisy continued to work on her math and science for a few more hours. Melinda finished up all her reports and spreadsheets while Phil stayed downstairs preparing for his Monday classes. Melinda was going to follow Daisy and Phil to the school early on Monday and Robbie had agreed to meet them there. They planned to talk to the Principal about the newest Ward incident. Melinda had decided that after work then tomorrow she was going to meet with Victoria Hand to figure out what it any legal action they could take to further protect Daisy. She was thinking a protective order outside of school and an order of no direct contact in school would be good.

She was printing the last of the reports for work in the spare bedroom/office next to Daisy's room. She heard Daisy's door open and then the knock on her door.

"Come on in Daisy. I'm finally done."

Daisy stuck her head in through the open door. "Yeah me too. I mean I got really caught up just not completely, but I can't keep my eyes open and brain isn't processing anything anymore."

"So a good start though. And Fitz is helping?"

"Yeah. I finally understand most of it. He's pretty cool. So is Jemma. She said she'd be better help next year when I take biology, but she was able to help me understand a few things about earthquakes and plate tectonics. So yeah I think I did good this weekend."

"I'm glad Daisy. Fitz said he could come by after taekwondo on Tuesday and again on Saturday. If you think you can use more help?"

"Yeah definitely. Maybe by the end of next weekend I can be totally caught up. Be cool to not have to worry about school so much over winter break. Anyway, I just wanted to say goodnight. And to thank you again for today. I had a blast."

"I'm glad. We'll do more stuff like that over winter break. Maybe even Paintball again. If it's not too cold."

"More skating too right?"

"Sure."

"Yeah good. I want to be able to skate decently by the end of winter."

"Okay. I can help with that."

Daisy flashed her a huge smile. "I love that you want to spend time with me and teach me stuff. And I'm sorry about not mentioning that thing with Ward. Part of me just wanted to pretend it didn't happen and the other part was scared somehow that I caused it, you know. But like you said that's what he wants me to think, like I deserve to be treated like that. I don't. Thanks for reminding me that I don't."

Melinda crossed the room to Daisy and hugged her. "No you don't. Not ever."

"Anyway, I'm going to get ready for bed."

"Okay. Goodnight."

Daisy hesitated for a second before blurting out, "Can I stay with you. Or- um- are you sick of me?"

"I told you Daisy, my door is always open for you. Of course you can. Go on. I just need to grab papers from the printer and put them in their folders and then take these folders to my bag. Then I'll be joining you."

Daisy grinned and went back to her room to change for bed. Melinda grabbed the folders and turned off the printer and computer and headed out to the dining room to put them in her briefcase. Phil was sitting at the table.

"Hey, you get everything done?"

"I did. How about you?"

"Yeah. These are just for basketball. I'm making sure all the player's grades are okay."

"Are they?"

"So far this season."

"Good. I'm heading to bed. Daisy's in with me tonight."

"She okay?"

"Yeah. I think she just doesn't' want to be alone. One of those days."

He nodded. "You mind if I poke my head in to say goodnight?"

"Not at all. She usually says goodnight to you though..." Melinda stopped as she heard footsteps.

"Oh hey. I'm really tired, I almost forgot to say goodnight Phil. She walked over to him and he stood, and she hugged him. "Too much fresh air I guess with all that activity."

He laughed. "Um you're only fifteen. I'm the one who should be tired."

"Yes, Phil we know. You are old." Melinda added while smirking.

Daisy laughed. "Goodnight. I love you."

"I love you too Daisy."

She turned and walked back down the hallway.

Melinda turned to Phil. "Goodnight Phil. You should probably get to bed soon too, old man."

"She had fun today."

"We all had fun. See – it wasn't so bad, was it?"

"No. Other than the fact that Bobbi was gunning for me – maybe next time I can stay in longer with you and Daisy."

"That'd be fun. I look forward to it. Goodnight Phil."

"Goodnight Melinda."

"Are you sure that you and Phil are okay?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"I dunno. You guys just haven't really talked a lot for a day or so. Are you mad at him?"

"No. We've just been really busy. We're fine."

"Okay. I just worry sometimes, you know."

"Neither of us are going to leave Daisy. Even if we were fighting or not happy with each other, we'd always work it out. We promised to give you a home here. Okay."

"Okay. I'm also a little worried about tomorrow."

"About talking to the principal?"

"Yeah."

"Just tell what happened. The truth. That's all you have to do. I'll be there. Phil will be there." Melinda tightened her arm around Daisy.

"I will. Mom?"

"Yeah?" Melinda found her face breaking into a smile and her heart swell. Just like it did every time Daisy called her that of referred to as her mom.

"I keep thinking this can't last. Cause I am so happy and every time something good happens – you know – it never lasts. Jemma says it's cause I have abandonment issues. I talk to her and everything she says makes perfect sense, but I still worry. You think someday maybe I won't worry?"

"I think so. Someday probably when you least expect it, you'll be doing something and all of a sudden, you'll think to yourself that you haven't worried about people leaving you, or getting hurt for a long time. And then you'll know that deep within, you've accepted and trusted the people around you fully and unconditionally like they have done with you."

"Sweet. I wish I could do that right now."

"Me too. But it's okay that you don't. And it's good to remind us once in a while of those things. I'm glad you can trust me enough to do that." She leaned down and kissed Daisy on her forehead. "I love you."

"Love you too. Goodnight."