The thing about Skye

Expansion 2 off: She purrs (kind of)

Daisy breathes deeply through her nose, inhaling the scent of after shave and men's shampoo. The lips that glide along hers are warm and gentle, the tongue prodding at hers, inquisitive, but not overbearing. His hands don't wander- only carefully cupping her face, or shoulders, or waist.

Daniel Sousa is a real square, Daisy thinks wryly, and with no small amount of affection. He's gentle, like Daisy's never experienced. Thoughtful, kind. Safe.

She can feel his interest under her, but his kisses are still slow and undemanding. Daisy breathes and fumbles for the buttons on his shirt with trembling fingers. She wants him, she thinks. Her body feels really warm and there is a restless squirm in her stomach. She grinds down with her hips, startling a surprised gasp out of him that breaks off into a moan, and she does it again even as an anxious sweat gathers on the back of Daisy's neck.

"Wait, wait, wait, Daisy, hold on," he gasps, hands clenching on her hips, and she tenses. And then he's pushing her away so gently it's more of a guide. "Let's just… slow down for a minute."

Daisy stares at him. Blinks. Then snorts. Because he's such a square, and it makes her chest feel light. He's such a good guy.

"You're not going to sully my virtue," she smirks, dark humor coiling through her.

"No, it's not that. It's just… I'm not ready. For that."

"For sexy naked times?" Daisy teases, trying very hard to ignore the relief that wants to overwhelm her. Her teasing is rewarded with a light dusting of pink coloring his ears and cheeks, and she can't help reaching out to touch it in fascination. "Okay," she says simply. Easily.

Daisy allows her body to droop forward, resting her forehead on the juncture of his neck and shoulder. She breathes deeply.

Aftershave. Men's shampoo.

Safety.

She remembers feeling safe in another man's arms, once upon a time, and being betrayed.

This feels different, somehow, and she latches onto those differences so the past doesn't overwhelm her. She's gotten better at it. Slightly.

She breathes, and feels Daniel's loose grip- just holding her- even though she still feels the bulge between her legs.

It suddenly occurs to her that Ward was never soft. He was always sharp edges, and passion, and fierce anger. And Daniel is always so calm. Even facing entire new realities, or getting kidnapped, he is calm. And unwaveringly solid.

Daisy sometimes feared Grant's fervor, but she's never feared this kind man out of time.

"Are you…?" The hand on her back pauses its gentle stroking. "Are you purring?"

"Um," Daisy hums contentedly, "Yeah. Sorry. I'm just happy."

"No, it's… it's nice. A little bizarre, but nice."

Daisy can feel the echoes of the spacecraft reflected back at her, and all the people wandering aboard. And she can feel the soothing hum of life and affection directed at her from the man under her. It radiates off of him, like his entire being is just screaming at her I'm safe, it's okay, I won't ever hurt you.

And Daisy has come to trust and listen to the vibrations she feels.

(A/N: I intended for this one to be a lot darker, but then it turned into fluff. I don't even particularly ship them, it just happened. What a strange world this has become. So, then I had to fix it.)

…..

The buzzing is loud in Daisy's ears, overwhelming the sounds of panting and rustling clothes. Lips drag across Daisy's, leaving her feeling breathless as they dip lower, caressing down her neck. Daniel leans back and rolls so that Daisy is slotted underneath him, but his weight hardly bares down on her at all.

Daisy drags him by the face back up, so she can kiss him again. He kisses her slow and unhurriedly, and she aches a bit with the gentleness shown to her. The careful consideration as he slowly lowers his weight against her.

When Daisy runs out of breath again and has to pull back, Daniel takes back up his steady trail down her body, and the world buzzes angrily at her.

She ignores it and squirms and pulls her shirt off over her head.

He pauses for a moment, once the shirt is discarded, and looks down at Daisy with soft eyes. They don't wander. They meet Daisy's gaze with so much affection that it momentarily makes her uncomfortable- before she reminds herself that this is a good thing. It's a positive thing. It's okay.

The buzzing gets louder in Daisy's ears as she pulls Sousa into a kiss, as he trails kisses across her collar bones and the swells of her breasts. It gets so loud, that it's suddenly not a buzzing at all- it's not her powers at all- it's a ringing.

There is a ringing in Daisy's ears.

The conflicting voices in her head- the ones saying it's okay and something is very wrong- quiet. Everything does, except for the ringing. And she's just… suspended in space. Floating.

Distant. Disconnected. Unaware.

"Daisy? Hey, Daisy? Come on, talk to me. Come on, come back," a voice tumbles through the static, quietly at first, and then all at once, loudly, as Daisy returns to herself. She's being shaken, which is the first thing she processes. It's a gentle shake of her shoulders before warm hands lift to her face and wipe away tears Daisy didn't even realize she was crying.

She blinks, and Daniel's worried face appears above her, hovering- with a deep line etched across his forehead.

"What… shit," Daisy groans, sitting up and burying her face in her hands. A sheet falls away from her chest, like Sousa had tried to cover her up. It's a nice thought- a sweet one- but effectively useless. She's been in far less than a bra around total strangers. Still, she reaches for her shirt and shrugs it on before reluctantly allowing her hands to fall to her lap. Stares at her limp fingers.

Daisy reluctantly glances toward her boyfriend from the corner of her eye.

"I'm sorry," she sighs.

"You're sorry?" he gapes at her from the other side of the bed. "Daisy, don't be sorry about something like this. I'm sorry. Okay?"

"No," Daisy turns to him. She still feels foggy, and she doesn't want to talk about this- at all- but she reaches for his hands. She's only half surprised he doesn't pull away in disgust. Because he is, after all, such a good guy. "No, Daniel, you didn't do anything wrong, I promise. It's me. It's me that's… wrong. I'm a bit of a mess."

His eyes bore into Daisy, so concerned and so… intelligent. She can see his mind working, parsing through information and forming theories- and Daisy wants to hide. Hide from him, and the past, and from him coming anywhere near her past.

His thumb strokes the back of her hand supportively, and Daisy focusses all her attention on the action, the feel of it, or she might float away again. She already feels a bit separate from her body- her emotions distant. She can't even sense her powers. They feel far off and out of reach.

"Director Mackenzie said something a while back," Daniel says, slowly, like he's giving her a chance to run away. "That you've been hurt before?"

It's an open ended question- a request for an explanation- but Daisy doesn't want to explain herself. Doesn't want to tell him about Ward. Her time in the foster system. Even about Lincoln (who she never even got a chance to truly love before she got him killed).

Daisy just… Daisy just wants to let herself drift.

Daisy turns on her side, turns her back on her super sweet- amazing guy- doesn't deserve this- boyfriend. "I don't want to talk about it," she murmurs, and it's quiet in the room.

"Okay," he finally says. "What can I do to help?"

Daisy sighs. "Can you just-" go- give up on her- leave her alone- "hold me? Please?"

See? She can evolve.

"Okay," he says again, softly. The bed dips behind her, and then his body is settling right behind her, and his arm very carefully wraps around her with the same gentleness that he always uses with her. His cheek rests against her shoulder as he slides his hand into Daisy's limp one. "Okay, I can do that. Let me know if you need anything else."

If Daisy were feeling her emotions, she might cry. He's such a stupid square.

He could do far better than her. Fortunately, she learned not too long ago that it's not up to her to decide for people if they could do better than Daisy. Sometimes, for a reason she always misses, they just want Daisy.


A/N: Daniel Sousa, people. When I originally watched the show, I didn't particularly ship them (I don't think I really shipped Daisy with anyone), but now I think he's kind of perfect. Especially after finally watching Agent Carter. He's just so stable and calm and solid- and that's kind of the perfect thing a traumatized and anxious Daisy needs.

Anyway, please let me know what you think!

~Silver~