Daisy gazed forlornly out the window of the van. It was a state-owned van with Child Protective Services plastered on both sides of the old vehicle. The van shook and shimmied with every bump, making it impossible for her to fall asleep. The ride was a long one, just under four hours as she was being driven across the state to her new home. No, never mind that thought, more like residence. Not home. She hadn't had one of those for a very long time. She turned her head to glance at the front where her new social worker was seated in the passenger seat with the woman's husband in the driver's seat. He had volunteered to drive. Apparently, he did that often.

"How much longer?" It wasn't quite a whine, but it was close.

"Just about a half hour to go, Daisy." Sharon answered cheerfully. "There are a few snacks in the bag on the seat next to you if you are hungry."

She wasn't. They had stopped a couple hours ago for burgers and fries, and she hadn't been hungry then either. She'd barely eaten anything. That feeling in the pit of her stomach had grown, the one she always got whenever she was moved to another place. But this one was different. This one was well over two- hundred miles away from the city she had lived in and as far as she could see, was in the middle of nowhere. It was a ranch. Some kind of ranch - what had Ms. Carter said – oh right, A Dude Ranch. Whatever the hell that was. Her new case worker had finagled her bosses into letting Daisy move way up-state to some foster family she knew well.

She was in a pissy mood and was not at all happy about this turn of events in her life. She had literally grown up on the streets of the city and was perfectly fine in that environment. But a freaking ranch in 'boondockville' was not a place she'd volunteer to live in ever. But she'd had no choice. Sharon Carter had made that abundantly clear. Sharon's cheerfulness was annoying her as well.

"You know they can't make me work. I have rights."

"No one will make you do anything Daisy."

"Yeah right."

"Look I know this is not what you want but it's what you need. Trust me."

Daisy sneered. "The last time I trusted someone I got raped and beaten."

"Daisy. This place is different."

"No don't give me that shit. I know the deal. I will never trust anyone again. And first chance I get to leave – I'm taking it. I don't want to go to this shithole. I've made that very clear."

"You have. All I'm asking is that you give it a chance. Give these people a chance. Three weeks. If you still don't want to be here in three weeks, I'll find somewhere else to place you and come pick you up."

"Sure you will."

"My word Daisy. But you have to at least try. A little. No running in those three weeks, and at least give it a chance. Deal?"

"What's the catch?"

"No catch. But you have to give a little bit. You have to make an attempt to try to get along here. See what happens."

"So how many fosters live here?"

"Just one other."

"I thought – never mind. What kind of ranch is it again?"

"It's a dude ranch. They cater to tourists who spend a lot of money to stay there, ride horses, and do other ranch things."

"So I'm slave labor after all."

"No Daisy. They have plenty of workers. You'll see. It's like a big family."

"Sure it is." Daisy leaned back to the window and watched the scenery through the window. There were a lot of open fields and very few houses dotting the road. She sighed. "The middle of bum fuck nowhere"," she said under her breath.

Melinda was pacing. Phil put his hand over her arm. "Sit. Drink your tea."

She answered by shaking her head. "What are we thinking Phil. We are too old for this. It was different before. When the others came here."

"You know we have Yelena, right?"

"For three years now. We were younger then and she's Nat's younger sister. We spent years trying to get her here. This is different. Daisy's young, Phil."

"She's fourteen. Nat was only twelve. Amanda and Carol were eleven. Bobbi was only ten. Trip was twelve."

"Yes, and now they are all adults. That was ten, fifteen years ago. We haven't taken in any new kids for years Phil."

"And it's really only been four years Mel since Niko came here. Not even four years, more like three and a half."

"But we knew her dad Phil. That was different. He was a friend and we've known Niko since she was born. It wasn't the same."

"Thirteen kids Mel. And all the other strays. Clint, Hunter and the rest. You can handle one more."

"It's not me I'm worried about."

"I'm fine. It's been three years Mel. My heart is fine."

"I'm not getting younger Phil. Neither are you. We are in our fifties. Hell we are old enough to be the girl's grandparents."

"Oh well. Too late. You should have brought up all these arguments earlier. She'll be here in about two minutes."

"I did. You didn't listen. No one did."

"I listened Mel. It's just your excuses were all lame."

"Seriously Phil? Are you trying to poke the bear?"

"Bear. What bear?" Yelena said as she entered the kitchen hearing the tale end of the conversation.

"Mama Bear is all worried again."

"Seriously Mom, you need to chill."

"You're just happy you aren't going to be the youngest anymore."

Yelena grinned. "Yeah, that's part of it. But I also will have someone close to my age to hang with."

"Well don't count on that happening right away. You know she's not even happy to be coming here, according to Sharon." Melinda cautioned.

"It will be good to see her and Steve. It's been a while. I'm glad they are staying for dinner and the night." Phil replied.

"Well, it's a long drive for them. Wouldn't want them to turn around and just leave." She turned to Yelena. "Where is everyone?"

"Doing their normal stuff. Like you told them to. Remember that you said we shouldn't all smother the new girl. But I get to meet her because we are sharing a room."

"Lena, we said maybe. She gets to choose. We have a single room for her if she wants. Don't be surprised if she chooses it, okay?"

"I don't know how she could pass up my charming personality and awesomeness though."

Melinda smiled and reached over to give her a hug. "I love you, but please don't overwhelm Daisy. Okay?"

She nodded. "Okay."

The sound of a beeping horn came from outside. "That would be them," Phil said as the three walked over to the door to go outside to meet Daisy.

Daisy's eyes widened as they drove up the long driveway. The sign at the end of it had said Shield Ranch. There were other smaller driveways that branched out and many buildings and acres upon acres of land as the van made its way along. They passed by a huge parking lot and then the driveway narrowed as they passed a bunch of buildings. Sharon spoke. "Those are the guest quarters. A couple bunk houses, some refurbished doubled wide trailers and cabins. On any given week this time of year there are about a hundred people staying here. Busy times there are even more. Summer, late spring and early fall are busiest. Since it's October, the guests numbers have probably starting dwindling down about now."

Daisy looked as they came upon a bunch of larger houses. Three to be exact. They were positioned on a cul-de-sac, the driveway narrowing first and then opening into a large circle. The van drove to the largest house in the middle, a two-story house, and pulled into its own driveway. Sharon's husband parked the van and shut off the engine, blowing the horn a few times. Daisy's heart started racing.

Sharon turned to look at her. "Grab your stuff, we're finally here." Both adults got out of the van. Daisy watched as three people came into the driveway from the side door of the house and Sharon was engulfed in a hug by a dark-haired woman as a teen ran to her husband and hugged him. The man who had a huge smile on his face walked to Sharon's husband and also hugged him. The teen then greeted Sharon with a smile and hug as the women stepped away. Daisy gave a small gasp as she saw the women was Chinese. She had never stayed with fosters who were Chinese before. The woman looked over and stared at her through the window. She gave her a slight smile and nod.

Daisy knew she couldn't stay in the van. She grabbed her backpack and garbage bag with her clothes and put on her 'I don't give a shit face', and opened the door, stepping down from the van and onto the driveway. Sharon moved toward her. "Daisy I'd like you to meet Phil and Melinda Coulson and Yelena. Yelena moved to stand in front of her and offered her hand. Daisy ignored her.

"Welcome Daisy. We're glad you are here." Phil said cheerfully.

Daisy just glared at him.

Melinda watched closely. The girl had walls up the size of Texas and her glare rivaled her own. Her doubts about being able to reach this girl skyrocketed. Then for a brief moment she saw the girl's mask slip and saw a small, scared little girl under all that bravado. Then Daisy's eyes focused on her own as Melinda saw the vulnerability and then how quickly it was replaced by disdain.

"So is there an indoor bathroom around here. Or do y'all use outhouses?"

Melinda suppressed a laugh. Phil stared at her blinking fast. Sharon spoke, "That's not trying a bit, is it Daisy?"

Melinda answered her. "In the house, side entrance, down the hall to your right is a bathroom."

Daisy nodded. "Thanks." She made her way to the door Melinda had pointed to, carrying her stuff with her. She entered and followed the directions and went into the bathroom. It was small, with just a toilet and sink. It was nice though. The walls were painted a warm green and the fixtures were tan. There were a bunch of soaps in a basket and a hand pump soap that smelled lemony. A couple of country type pictures hung on the walls, and there were yellow and green checkered towels hanging on the towel rack.

Daisy did her business and then washed her hands and then dug out the phone she had pilfered. It was one of those cheap Trak phones and she'd prepaid about 200 minutes with a credit card she's also stolen from some older lady at a Walmart. With any luck she'd be able to use the minutes before the lady noticed the card was missing. For a moment she felt bad about stealing but that passed quickly. She never felt good about stealing but sometimes it was a necessity. She called Miles.

"Hey babe," he answered her on the second ring.

"Where are you?"

"Just hanging. What's up?"

"I'm gonna bug out of here soon. I need you to meet me. We need to get away. Go to LA like we planned."

"Sure. But that takes money babe."

"Well we can do a few scams. Get enough to get us there and then more once we get there. You still have that contact with that group, right?"

"Rising Tide?" Yeah. I still talk to Micro."

"So have him give you some set ups. So we can use them once I get the hell out of here."

"So how's the ranch?"

"It sucks. But I have to play the game a bit. Look I may ditch this phone soon. So just make sure you pick up any number that calls. I may need to snitch a phone here."

"Okay. Hey I got this possible thing where I can make a lot of money. Some weird but pretty lady in a flower dress came up to me while I was bumming the Wi-Fi from a shop. I may need your help though. You have access to a computer there?"

"I'm sure I can get onto a computer. If not here than at school."

"Good. Call me back in a week. I may have it set up then."

"Okay. I gotta go." She hung up and tucked the phone back in her backpack. She opened the door and saw Melinda waiting at the end of the hallway. She walked over to her.

"Yelena is good with sharing her room with you if you want. Or we can give you a smaller bedroom by yourself."

"I get to choose?"

"You do."

"Okay. I'll take my own room for sure."

Melinda nodded. "Okay. Come on. I'll show you where it is. On the way, I'll give a little house tour."

"Okay. Thanks."

Melinda led the way as she showed Daisy the layout of the house, ending upstairs in the hallway. "That first room on the right is a guest room. Next to it is the game room. The kids have a huge stash of video games and movies in there as well as all kinds of board games. It's a larger room. Across here on the left is Yelena's room. Then the main bathroom that you will share. Next to the bath is Niko's room. And here across from her room is the bedroom you can have."

"Niko?"

"Yes. Niko. She's eighteen and one of our fosters. She and Yelena and you will share this bathroom."

"Oh. I guess that room at the end of the hall there is yours?"

"Yes. Mine and Phil's. We have our own bathroom. I left a packet of essentials in your bath with your name. And feel free to use whatever soap and shampoo you want from the closet. Here's your room." Melinda pushed open the door and Daisy followed her inside.

It was actually much bigger than most rooms Daisy was used to. It had two windows with grey window shades and blue and white curtains. The bed was a full size with a navy and light blue comforter. The rug was a greyish blue and there was a full closet. Along with the bed there was a chest of drawers, a shelf and a small desk with a chair.

"It's nice."

"Okay then. You can put your stuff away and check out the house if you want. I'll take you on a grounds tour later, probably best not to wonder outside by yourself yet. Dinner is at six."

"Can I take a shower?"

"Sure. Like I said, you should find whatever you need in the bath closet. Towels and wash cloths are in the bottom cabinets – below the sink."

"Okay."

"Look. I understand how hard a new place can be. But we are really glad you are here. Hopefully soon you will be too." Melinda gave her a soft smile and turned and left the room.

Daisy sighed and sat on the bed. She spoke aloud to herself. "Maybe this place won't be so bad for a few weeks. At least I have my own room."

Daisy showered and put on a pair of old, ripped at the knee jeans and her red high tops with a plain black T shirt, oversized with the sleeves rolled up. She tucked the shirt into her jeans and quickly put her still wet hair into a ponytail. She hid the phone in the top drawer making sure to turn it off, pilling her underwear and other T-shirts around it. She stuffed the rest of her clothes, bag and all in the bottom drawer and put her backpack in the middle one. She checked the small clock on the nightstand and seeing it was close to six o'clock she opened her door. As she walked down the small hallway, she was nearly hit by the door on her left opening quickly.

"Oh hey. Sorry. You must be Daisy."

"Yeah."

"I'm Niko." The shorter teen held out her hand. Daisy shrugged and then took it.

Niko smiled. "Come on. I'll take you to the dining room."

Daisy dutifully followed the girl down the steps and through the house to the dining room.

Phil Coulson was in the kitchen and saw them enter. "Hi Daisy. Hey Niko. How were your classes today?"

"Oh you know, the same old same old. You need help?"

"Yeah. Could you pour the water, please?"

"Sure."

As she walked into the kitchen, Melinda arrived with Sharon and Steve. Melinda smiled at Daisy. "You find everything you needed in the bathroom?"

"Yeah."

"Good. If there's something not there you need or want, just let me know and I'll put it on the shopping list."

"Okay."

Sharon moved closer to Daisy. "You doing okay?"

She nodded.

"Okay. You have my card and number. Call anytime if you need anything. But you should be fine here. Why don't we sit. Phil's a great cook." She moved to sit down at the table, 'hey Phil what's for dinner tonight."

His head popped up from the oven as he looked over. "Beef brisket, roasted red potatoes, mac n cheese, biscuits, corn bread, and salad."

Steve spoke then. "Yum. Can't wait. I'm starving."

Daisy looked at him trying to figure out how he could be starving. When they'd stopped for lunch, he'd had two large burgers and a large fry, a chocolate shake and an order of mozzarella sticks. But looking closer now that he had his jacket off, she saw he was a pretty big guy with huge muscles.

Sharon laughed and spoke to Phil. "Hope you made double for this one here, Phil. Seems like I buy groceries three times a week and still can't keep up."

"There's plenty, don't worry."

Melinda also sat down and motioned to Daisy. "Come sit over here Daisy.

Daisy started to move and narrowly missed being run over by someone. "Slow down Clint." Melinda chastised.

"Sorry." He nodded at Daisy. "I'm starving."

"I've heard that's going around." Daisy snarked at him.

Melinda smiled. The young woman following behind laughed. "Let me guess, Steve is starving too?" She held out her hand to Daisy. "I'm Natasha. That's Clint. And you must be Daisy."

"The one and only."

Nat grinned. "I like her, Mom."

A few moments later, after Daisy sat down next to Melinda, Yelena also joined them and Phil, Clint and Niko brought out the food. As soon as everyone was seated, the conversation flowed much as the food did around the table. As each dish came to her, Daisy put a sizable portion on her plate. You never knew what might happened down the road was her reasoning. Might as well eat as much as was offered while the social worker was still around. She piled beef, potatoes, mac n cheese, and some roasted vegetables on her plate, took two biscuits and a large piece of cornbread and plopped a good size portion of salad in her bowl. She drenched the salad in ranch dressing. She started eating as she listened to the conversation.

Melinda glanced at Daisy occasionally but did not address her. The girl seemed content to listen while she ate. And eat she did. She was not shy about piling her plate full and going back for seconds on Phil's Mac N Cheese and cornbread. When everyone was nearly finished, Melinda asked who wanted coffee or tea. She got up to get both and Natasha followed her to help.

"She eats well." Nat said as they got out of earshot of the dining room.

Melinda nodded. "Good. Sharon said she barely touched her lunch on the way. Probably just nerves about meeting everyone."

"She doesn't strike me as the nervous type."

"Well, you know how people can hide things Nat."

"Yeah, I know. She's very quick witted. I like her."

"I'd appreciate if you'd hang around a bit more than usual. I need all the help I can get." Melinda gave her a smile.

"Sure." The two placed the cups and pots of coffee and water on the trays and carried them into the dining room.

Phil passed by them as he went to get his dessert. He'd made strawberry shortcake. He brought it out and offered it to Daisy first. Daisy took a piece of the cake, poured the strawberries over it and then poured milk and covered it with a lot of whipped cream. She also took a cup of coffee.

"I wasn't sure you'd have room left for dessert. Not sure where you put all that food you ate."

That startled Daisy who looked over at Melinda with wide eyes not deciphering the teasing in Melinda's voice. "What? Did I take too much food?"

"No. Of course not. I was just kidding. You can take as much food as you like."

"Oh. I like strawberries. A lot. Everything was really good."

"I'm glad. You can eat as much as you want. Anytime. The kitchen is always here. You are welcome to anything. Okay?"

"Yeah. I have a high metabolism. I surprise people with how much I can put away." She dug into her dessert and said nothing more.

Melinda wanted to kick herself. Food was always a touchy subject for foster kids. Sometimes it was used as a weapon against kids, by denying them food or having special rules about what and when they could have. She knew better. Both Nat and Yelena had those issues when they came to live with them. Nat more so, as she had taken to hoarding and hiding food in her room the first few months. She glanced over at Nat who had heard the conversation. Nat gave her a small smile and nod. Melinda knew she meant she'd look after Daisy.

After dinner, Melinda caught up with Daisy as she tried to sprint to her room. "Hey how about a tour of the place? At least a partial one before it gets too dark.

Daisy shrugged. "Sure. Why not?"

"You'll need a jacket, it's getting chilly."

"Okay." She ran up the stairs and shortly after Melinda heard a door slam as Daisy ran back down to her.

Melinda led her to the side door and grabbed her own sweatshirt from the rack in the hallway and they went outside. Melinda walked next to her on the driveway. "Our house was built first. You can see it is larger than the other three. As our little family grew and some kids got older, we built this ranch house over here. They had entered the cul-de-sac and Melinda stopped in front of the house on the left. "At first this one was built so the older boys, Sam and Steve, had a place to stay when they came home to visit from the military, a bit more private. Steve was in the Army and Sam was in the Air Force. Bobbi and Hunter live there now. Bobbi is one of our daughters and her husband is Hunter. Another daughter, Darcy lives there with them. Downstairs in the basement Maria shares a room with her girlfriend. The girls – well they aren't girls anymore- they are all in their mid-twenties – Bobbi, Maria and Darcy were adopted after they came to us through the foster care system."

"Yeah, I'm not gonna remember all those names."

"Right." Melinda smiled. "Well – eventually you will get to know everyone. The house next to ours on the other side is where Mack and Yoyo, who are married live. Flint lives there as well. They took him in about a year and a half ago after Mack found him sheltering in one our barns. He's a year older than you – same age as Yelena. The basement apartment in their house is where Steve and Sharon are staying. The others who are not here but visit when they can include Sam – he lives in San Francisco and works with Steve. Also, Lincoln lives about an hour and half away in Redding where he is doing his residency at the hospital."

"Residency?"

"Yes. Doctor."

"Oh. Wait. Steve is your son? My case worker's husband?"

"Well, he's lived with us since he was fifteen. He was the first one we had guardianship of. We knew his parents - they were also in the Air Force. When they were killed in a car accident, Steve came to live with us."

"You were in the Air Force?"

"I was. For twenty years. Phil too. And Carol is in the Air Force, and Trip is in the Army on special forces. They visit when they can."

"So you adopted a ton of kids?"

Melinda motioned to Daisy, and they started walking down the driveway. "We adopted eight total. Yelena. Natasha, Darcy, Maria, Bobbi, Carol, Lincoln and his sister, Amanda. Steve, Sam, Yoyo, Trip, and Niko are not adopted. They were foster kids but for various reasons – were not adopted. Clint also came to live with us when he was fifteen, but we were only appointed his guardians after his older brother went to prison. Mack and Yoyo have custody of Flint."

"Yeah, but still. That's a lot of kids."

"I suppose. Most are grown now. Just Yelena and Flint and now you. Even Niko turned eighteen a few months back, and the rest are in their twenties.

"But she stays here? Niko, I mean?"

"Yes. We're her family. We are all family. Even the significant others of our kids. Hunter goes with Bobbi, Akela with Maria, Karolina with Niko. Clint goes with Nat, and Sharon with Steve. . As far as I know the others are single. For now."

"Okay so Yelena and Niko and me and you and your husband live in the big house. Natasha and Clint live in the basement apartment?"

"Right."

"The other house has Bobbi and Hunter and Maria and Darcy and sometimes visitors."

"You are actually listening. Good."

"And the third house has a guy named Mack and Yoyo? That's a weird name by the way."

"It's her nickname. Her real name is Elena. No one really calls her that."

"And a runaway named Flint they found in a barn."

"Yes."

"And a ton of other people who used to live here but don't – but sometimes they visit."

"Yes."

"Oh, and Akela stays with Maria, whoever that is"

"Yes, they've been together a couple years now. Akela manages my Dojo."

"You're what?"

"Dojo. Martial Arts studio. When you pulled into the driveway did you notice it veered off into five driveways?"

"I saw a couple of them I guess."

"Five. The center one comes here, and on the way leads to the housing and parking lot for the Ranch guests. The far left takes you to some of our employee's homes which are on the property. The other left goes to my Dojo. That's the business I started first on this property. Back a long time ago. Akela runs it for me, I only go down a few times a week. Bobbi, Nat and Maria and sometimes Clint and Yelena also teach there as well as two other employees part time. The far-right driveway takes you to the horse barns, stables and corrals. Along with lessons and trail rides for our guests we also provide lessons for the local people. The right driveway close to the center goes down to the swimming pools and sports fields. Keep going even further on that one and it takes you to the corn field and pumpkin patch and garden vegetables area. Darcy and Maria run a pumpkin patch and corn maze there during the fall for about 10 weeks. You can get to all those places by walking on the marked trails too. Or by golf cart."

"So this place is huge?"

"It is. Close to 1500 acres. Plus, we are surrounded on the south and east by public park lands. It's where a lot of the activities are done – trail rides, biking, hiking."

"So how did you get over a thousand acres of land? That's gotta cost a ton of money."

"Today yes. Fifty years ago – no. It was mostly uninhabited. A remnant of the old goldmine camps. My parents came over here from Hong Kong when I was four. They and my mom's sister and brother-in-law opened a Chinese Restaurant in Redding. It's a city about two hours from here. After a few tough years – it became profitable as more people moved into the area. With some of their first profits my parents came up here and bought land. The first parcel was 250 acres of just brush and trees. As they made more money they bought more of the land. The inheritance they left me in the end was nearly 1200 acres. Phil and I purchased the other 300 or so within the first five years after he got the idea to start up a camp and then later a dude ranch."

"But still. That much land was expensive, wasn't it?"

"About 190 dollars an acre."

"And so what's that worth now?"

"A lot."

Daisy rolled her eyes. "Do you know?"

"Yes. We pay taxes on it. It's a hefty sum. The land alone is worth about seven million."

"Holy shit."

"Come on, I'll show you the guest areas."

Daisy followed and as she saw more and more buildings and other structures, she realized that the value of the land they had discussed was probably more than double that seven million Melinda had mentioned. Maybe even triple. She was staying with millionaires.

They continued to walk a bit more with Melinda pointing things out as Daisy took it all in. A little while later they walked back to the house. As they entered the family room, Yelena asked if Daisy wanted to watch a movie with her and Niko.

Daisy shrugged. "Sure. I guess."

"Mom are you gonna watch with us?"

"I can't. I have paperwork to attend to. Next time. You guys have fun."

"What movie?" Daisy asked as she plopped down on a chair.

"We're making our way through some horror movies. Since it's October. You okay with those kinds of movies?"

Daisy shrugged. They really weren't her thing. But she didn't want to sound like a kid either. "I prefer action and drama movies."

"Oh. Well, this one is action too. It's called "A Quiet Place."

"It's supposed to be more psychologically chilling than blood and guts horror."

"Sure. That's fine."

"We make popcorn later about halfway through, cause we kind of just ate dinner."

Daisy nodded and settled back in the chair as Niko clicked the controller.

Daisy made her way to her room from the bathroom after washing up and brushing her teeth. She closed the door and locked it and then dragged the desk chair over to the door placing it under the knob. She then crawled into the bed and reached over to turn off the light praying that the stupid movie didn't give her nightmares. She really should have just told them those kinds of movies freaked her out.