Coulson took a clue Fitz found to a professor he knew was Asgardian, hoping he could help with it. They got him back to the base and showed him the monolith, which he seemed very interested in. His theory was that something was triggering it when it gushed into liquid. He agreed to help as long as the portal was destroyed after.
When Fitz showed him the parchment with the Hebrew word that was found with it, Randolph said he had seen it carved into the walls of a castle in England. So off they went.
Meanwhile, Daisy waited for Dr. Gardner's assessment of an inhuman they recently brought in. Her and Natasha watched the screens for any more action from this new government organization when he walked in.
"Let me guess, Joey Gutierrez isn't ready for action emotionally and physically." Daisy guessed.
"He can't open a door without melting a doorknob." Dr. Gardner confirmed. "My psych 101 students could tell you he's not ready, maybe with time."
"We are running out of time." Daisy stood up. "Between the ATCU and this new guy, you should have seen him."
"I get it there's fires you need to put out but you can't be reckless about it." The doctor pointed out.
"He's right." Natasha agreed. "Desperation can be dangerous."
"You're laser focused on putting this team together and I'm concerned about you." Dr. Gardner said.
"It's more than that, when I changed I felt like a monster. I needed help. Nat, my parents, they did what they could but they didn't know how to handle me." Daisy said.
Natasha felt a little hurt by that but she knew Daisy was right, as much as she cared about the other woman there was only so much she could do.
"So you want to make a halfway house?" Dr. Gardner asked.
"No, Jiaying made a halfway house and it wasn't enough. I want inhumans to take action with SHIELD, to show them that being different can mean making a difference." Skye plead.
"Skye, no ones going to be better for this than you." Natasha put her hand on Daisy's shoulder to reassure her.
Daisy smiled over her shoulder at her in thanks.
Soon after that, Coulson called in and asked that the monolith be brought to them in England. They had found a machine that looked looked like it was over a hundred years old and made to make the monolith melt at will, opening the portal.
They managed to lower it straight into the hole. May, Daisy, Natasha, and Mack went into the castle and the room where they would open the portal.
Several things happened at once when they turned on the ancient machine. It did open the portal, and Fitz began screaming for more light to try to see in. Mack saw the machine being overloaded and told Bobbi to help him shut it down. Coulson and May grabbed each other by the hand to attempt to steady themselves. And Natasha, who was standing right by Daisy, noticed the other woman wincing and grabbing at her head.
"Daisy?" Natasha managed to step closer to her. She noticed blood dripping from her nose. "Shut it down now!" She screamed.
"I'm trying!" Bobbi yelled back. She yanked at a switch which broke. The machine got stuck and completely stopped working but Daisy collapsed.
Natasha caught her before she could hit the ground and controlled her own drop with the sudden weight of the other woman.
"Daisy!" May rushed over. She moved hair out of her daughter's face and lightly tapped her cheek. "Come on!"
"Mom." Daisy managed to mumble.
"I'm here. Are you okay?" May cupped her cheek.
"Yeah." She tried to sit up, Natasha helped push her from behind where she sat. "That pulsing sound was killing me."
"What pulsing sound?" Coulson asked.
"Are you serious? It was deafening." Daisy answered.
Her powers had evidently made her sensitive to vibrations too, and this machine was too much for her senses.
"She needs to stay out if you're going to fix this thing." Natasha told Fitz who immediately went to work.
"No, no hang on." He said. He went on to explain that the machine was built to resonate frequencies.
"So you're saying you know how to fix this?" Coulson asked.
"No I'm saying-" Fitz started but Daisy cut him off.
"We don't need to. I can hold it open."
"Absolutely not." May stepped in. "Did you see what just happened?"
"Mom, we can get Simmons back." Daisy plead.
"I just watched you collapse. No." May put her foot down.
"May's right. We can't risk one person for another." Natasha agreed.
"Okay hey, in the room here and it's up to me." Daisy raised her hands.
"Daisy..." Natasha said.
"I'll be fine." Daisy smiled at her assuringly.
"How long can you hold it open?" Coulson asked.
"Phil!" May said.
"Maybe a minute." Daisy ignored her frustrated mother.
"If it's too much, you pull back. Nobody cares if we lose the probe." Coulson told her.
They set everything up to send a probe to the other side and get a visual. Randolph asked what Daisy was going to do, after which she began to quake the machine at the frequency it was at before.
She got it open, but Fitz didn't do what they planned.
"Hold it open as long as you can!" He yelled before jumping in with a cable attached to him.
"Fitz no!" Coulson screamed but no one could stop him.
May noticed Daisy's nose bleeding again and her struggling and took a step forward. But Coulson grabbed her arm.
"Wait." He said. She looked at him with a face that pulled at his heart strings. So he pulled her to him and held her tightly from behind. She gripped his arms and watched her daughter fight to bring her friends back.
Her nose began to gush and Coulson had to hold May back.
"Dammit pull him back!" He yelled at Mack.
Natasha and Bobbi held the machine steady while Mack pulled Fitz back.
"I can't hold it!" Daisy yelled seconds before the portal burst into a million small rocks and she fell backwards, both of her parents rushing forward to catch her.
"You're okay. It's okay." May said to Daisy who was laid across her lap.
Natasha came over and checked on her too before looking down into the hole. She held her breath as Fitz appeared in the rubble and then dug Simmons out. Natasha released the breath and smiled at Daisy, nodding. The inhuman relaxed against her mother, her job done.
They boarded the zephyr where Fitz laid Simmons on the bed in the containment module. She fell asleep after Bobbi attached an IV. Coulson and May looked on and Daisy was sitting against the wall, leaned over on Natasha, asleep as well.
May walked over. "How is she?"
"Tired." Natasha looked down at her shoulder. Daisy was sleeping heavily, completely exhausted.
"I never want to see that again." May confessed.
"Me either. But unfortunately she's going to do what she wants to do." Natasha grabbed Daisy's hand.
"That's what I get for wanting kids. Should have know if I had a girl she would turn out like me." May grumbled.
"So you admit it." Natasha smiled.
"I own it." May smirked back and walked back to Coulson.
"How's our girl?" He asked her.
"Asleep. Nat has her." May told him.
"And you?" He gripped her hand in his.
"I've had better days. But I'm glad you're here." She smiled at him.
They got back to the base. Natasha got Daisy something to eat while Fitz took Simmons to a containment room to sleep.
May found Coulson in his office and walked in, shutting the door.
"What is it? Is it Daisy?" He asked. She looked emotional.
"I'm sorry." She admitted.
"For what?" He was confused.
"You're right. It's been long enough, and I can't keep letting my issues get in the way. The truth is, I never stopped wanting you either." She admitted.
Coulson wasn't quite sure what to do with that information. Even when they were married, May wasn't the most open person but he accepted that because she showed she cared in her own way.
"I think it's safe to say we've both earned this." She said as she walked forward. She stepped into his personal space and put a hand on his cheek.
He smiled and leaned into her touch, wrapping his arms around her. He leaned down, giving her every chance to pull away before he kissed her.
"Uhh." They heard from the doorway. May turned around, Coulson's arm still around her waist.
"I can come back later." Daisy started backing out of the room.
"Wait." May said with her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose. This isn't how she wanted her daughter to find out her parents were together again.
"Mom, it's fine. Really." Daisy smiled.
"We just want you to know that we're not playing around with this. We don't want you to be scared off." Coulson said.
"Dad, come on. This is what everyone with divorced parents wants. And I mean I didn't have you guys for twenty years. Of course I'm okay with it." Skye said.
"And no matter what happens with us we'll always work it out for you, even if we're not together." May assured her.
"We're all adults, I get it. I just want you guys to be happy." Daisy told them. "I actually came here to let you know that Nat dragged me to medical and I'm cleared. No injuries. So you're free to go back to-"
"Skye..." May warned.
"Right, good night. Love you." Daisy skipped off.
"That contribution is from you." May turned to Coulson.
Daisy took a shower and made her way back to her bunk, running into Nat along the way.
"Boy do I have some news for you." Daisy smirked.
"Good, tell me on the way to your bunk." Natasha stepped into stride with her.
"Nat, I'm fine." Skye rolled her eyes.
"Daisy, your nose was gushing blood and you collapsed, twice. I'm keeping an eye on you."
"Like you would let anyone else watch you like that. You would tell me to go to hell."
"That's me. If anything happens to you your parents will go ballistic. So what's this news?"
They had reached Daisy's door, so they opened it and walked in. Daisy and her sat on the couch on the other end of the room.
"I walked in on my mom kissing my dad."
Natasha looked unsurprised. "Yeah, I saw that coming from a mile away."
"What?!" Daisy demanded.
"Daisy, I've been trained to be a spy my entire life. I can read tells, and those two never stopped loving each other." Natasha smiled.
"Way to be a buzz kill. I wanted to see you shocked for once."
"Sorry to disappoint. Now get some sleep." Natasha pointed at the bed.
Daisy sighed and got up, pulling back the blanket. Then she turned to Natasha.
"This is the part where you go back to your bunk." Daisy said.
"Kicking me out?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.
Daisy crossed her arms. "You don't need to babysit me. If I feel bad I'll go back to medical."
"Your parents are occupied, someone has to keep an eye on you." Natasha said.
Daisy cringed. "Come on, you didn't have to go there."
"Just wanted to see you react."
"Okay well you don't have to sleep on the couch."
"It's fine. I've got the best cushion picked out already." Natasha fluffed a pillow.
"Nat, seriously, that couch isn't made for sleeping. Come on." She climbed in the bed and moved over, leaving room.
Natasha stood up and silently climbed in the bed. Daisy turned off her bedside lamp and settled in, feeling Natasha behind her. She slipped off into oblivion easier than she had in a long time.
The next morning when Nat woke up, she hadn't opened her eyes and she felt something on her. It was warm. The events of the previous day dawned on her.
Daisy collapsing, her heart stopping. Skye doing it a second time on purpose, feeling scared and an emotion she could only describe as "what the hell." Fitz getting Simmons back, feeling like coming back to SHIELD may have been a mistake because it was always one thing after another. But she didn't think she could walk out those doors.
She opened her eyes to see Daisy next to her, using her arm as a pillow, curled into her side. This probably scared her more than anything else she had been through lately, but she didn't have it in her to take her arm back. So she alternated between staring at the ceiling, lost in thought, and watching Daisy sleep. The mighty inhuman who could take down a building if she wanted, slept curled up like a cat.
Daisy finally yawned and turned over, giving Natasha her arm back. She got up and stretched, wondering what time it was. She usually made herself get up early but she didn't care today.
"Hey." Daisy said. She turned around and saw her sitting up.
"Hey, how do you feel?" Natasha asked.
"Hungry. Let's go get my dad to make breakfast. I can't cook the save my life and I love your sandwiches but I have a feeling that's all you can do." Daisy retorted.
"You would be correct." Natasha confirmed. She walked around the bed and met Daisy at the door.
"Thanks Nat, it's nice to have someone look after me like this." Daisy said with her hand on the door knob.
Natasha smiled back, cupped the back of Daisy's neck, and kissed her forehead before they left the room.