Title: It Would Be Rude Not To
Author: Alysia
Summary: This is a sequel to 'Fate Only Takes You So Far.' Daniel and Daisy are reunited after Daisy travels to Coulson Academy. Though I suppose you don't necessarily have to read that one to understand this one.
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters familiar to Marvel.
Hearing a knock on his door, Daniel Sousa ear-marked his current page in the book he'd been reading before setting it on the nightstand to his left. "Just a moment," he said loudly as he reattached his prosthetic before making his way towards the door. "Hi," he greeted, pleasantly surprised to find Daisy Johnson standing before him. She'd been away at Coulson Academy. With their upcoming space adventure, she'd wanted to check on Kora's progress and find out if there was a possibility of her joining their excursion. Before her departure, she'd confided in him that she'd been toying with the idea of possibly bringing more Inhumans into the program and wanted to bring it to Agent May and get her take on the idea.
"Hey," Daisy greeted as she stepped forward to embrace him. When his arms closed around her, she rested her head in the crook of his neck, breathing in comforting scent.
When she didn't immediately pull away, he simply tightened his embrace. "Everything okay?"
Of course, he probably thought she was behaving weird, she mentally chided herself. She pulled back from him enough so she could meet his gaze. "Everything is…great," she finished, hated the lame word she'd used, but meaning it, nonetheless.
"You sure?"
She offered him a sincere smile. "I just…" her heart began hammering in her chest. "I wanted to tell you…I'm falling in love you." There, she'd said it! She finally uttered the words. The sentiment had been rolling around in her mind, she'd tried to show him in her affection, but until that moment, she'd never uttered the words out loud. But after her conversation with May, she knew that she really needed to ignore the lingering insecurity she felt and just tell him.
"I love you too."
His words were spoken so simply. He obviously didn't have any issues about coming to the sentiment and she'd wondered just how long he'd been feeling such, as he had never once said the words to her. "Just like that, huh?" She asked.
"Just like that," he confirmed, one side of lips curved into a smile. "Would you like to come in?"
Daisy returned the smile and nodded as she followed him into his bunk. "Daniel?"
"Yeah?" He asked, turning to give her his full attention.
She closed the distance between them and kissed him again.
Her actions surprised him, but he quickly regained his bearings and eagerly returned the affection.
When his hold on her tightened, Daisy smiled into the kiss. "Thank you."
What was she thanking him for? "You're welcome…?"
She nibbled on her bottom lip. "May and I had a long overdue conversation. She told me about the conversation you had with her and Coulson when we got back from space." She watched as his eyes fell from hers.
He pulled away from her and claimed a seat on the edge of his bed. "Oh." What else could he say? He hadn't said flattering things about her best friends. Though he still stood by what he'd said then.
"Thank you for thinking of me when I…" Didn't do it? Didn't care? Didn't think I was worth it? "Didn't," she settled on ending there.
Didn't she know that she made it easy to care about her? "Yeah, well, someone had to."
"And I'm glad you're that someone."
"Even when I speak up about your friends?" He asked.
"Even then," she confirmed. "Maybe Fitz did…use his knowledge of my character and built a plan around it, but I would have done what I could to help the team…especially after finding out about Alya."
"And that doesn't bother you? That he used you in such a way?"
"Believe it or not, that isn't the worst thing he's done to me," she tried to excuse, but by the frown on his face, she knew she'd done a horrible job. "It's not a pleasant story and it isn't something that I want to get into tonight, but I will tell you another time." Maybe it was unfair of her to say that, but the memory was something that she would rather forget. She didn't like to think about the betrayal he'd committed against her, even if it wasn't the current version of Fitz that was with Jemma in England. And that alone, was another story that Daniel had yet to hear about.
He knew by the frown on her face that the story behind her words was going to be a doozy. And as much as he wanted to question her about it, he could tell it was a painful one and didn't want to force her to relive it before she was ready.
"Suffice to say, Fitz isn't the person that he once was," she continued. "I don't have any misconceptions about that," she informed him, should he have been under any other impression. "There are things between us that have gone unchecked; and our friendship hasn't been the same since, but he is still part of the team. There's also the fact that Jemma is my best friend and…he's the love of her life. So, if I want her in my life, he comes too."
He supposed that he understood her meaning. Heaven knows he certainly didn't care for Howard Stark, but they were thrown together because of their mutual affinity for Peggy Carter. That being admitted, he hoped that one day Daisy would be able to confront her feelings and maybe even talk to Fitz about whatever was on her mind; and that even if their friendship didn't completely recover, she would find resolution.
"But it is nice to know that I have you in my corner, keeping an eye on me. I needed it…you." And with that comment, she hoped to push the conversation in a much more pleasant conversation. "I wanted you. Everything you brought into my life, I wanted…even…hoped for."
Though he made a mental note to ask for further details another time, he did appreciate the subject change. "Did you?"
She nodded. "Despite my own feelings about Fitz, he loves Jemma just as much as she loves him. For years, I was witness to their evolution. Everything that they did for each other…" She thought back to a few of those times. "When she was stranded on another planet for a time, he's the one that figured out the way to bring her back and when we were stuck in a computer-generated reality, she never gave up on him." Along with that recollection, came the thought of the Doctor. She did her best to push it away.
"A comp-"
Daisy winced. "Another time," she replied softly.
He offered her a nod of acknowledgement, suspecting that it had something to do with the 'unchecked' issues she'd previously referred to.
"They would have gone to the edge of the Earth for each other. I mean Jemma traveled the universe to find him," she pushed on. "I wanted that kind of love. And…even though you didn't actually go to the end of the Earth for me, you did choose to stay with me when you were given the opportunity to get off the crazy plane in 1976."
He smiled at the description. "It wasn't a difficult choice," he replied then. Before he'd even gotten her back to the Zephyr, he knew he wouldn't be leaving her. Not only would he have needed to know that she was okay before he even considered leaving, he knew it would only be a matter of time before she found herself in another dire situation. He couldn't believe that she hadn't been more of a concern at the time for the team, regardless of everything else that was going on at the time. It was the first time that he realized that Daisy didn't have the singular support system.
Daisy offered him a sweet smile in response to his words. "Not to mention, you did cross realities for me…" She claimed a seat on his leg and his hands automatically wrapped around her to secure her there.
"I did."
"And I never did thank you for that…"
"By all means…thank away," he told her then, capturing her lips with his.
Twisting further into him, Daisy deepened the kiss as her hands fell to the button on his pants.
"Wow…"
A chuckle tore from his mouth between gasps of breath as he attempted to even his breathing after their coupling. "I aim to please," he told her in a playful manner as he rolled off her.
"Oh, you did," she confirmed, taking a moment to catch her breath. Daniel was always a generous lover that never left her wanting for anything when it came to their bedroom proclivities. But that last time… She was still tingling. She'd had passionate encounters in the past, but it all now paled in comparison. Was it really because of their confessions of love? Gah! Don't over-analyze it. Just enjoy the moment.
He settled on his back with his arms crossed behind his head and turned his attention on Daisy. She was perusing his body given the way she nibbled on her bottom lip, he knew she appreciated the view. "You keep looking at me like that and we're going to have to go for round two," he told her.
She felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment over how transparent she was being in the moment. "Oh no, not that," she replied overdramatically.
When she continued to look at him in such a way, he smirked. "Seriously, Daisy," he told her, internally struggling with the decision of rolling on top of her or finding out how her trip went.
She finally pulled her gaze away. "Sorry."
"Don't apologize," he told her. "I like when you look at me like that, it's just…if you continue to look at me like that, we aren't going to get any talking done and I know you didn't plan that," he stressed the word, "when you knocked on my door."
She had to admit he was right about that.
"So…how was the trip? I never had a chance to ask you about it before you threw yourself at me."
She rolled her eyes. "And I recall you being more than willing to catch me."
"I sure was," he admitted, "it certainly wasn't a complaint." He wanted to make sure that point got across. "So, how was it?"
"The idea of adding more Inhumans is on the back-burner for now," she told him, still slightly disappointed with the decision. "Agent Weaver wants to make sure that they have an Inhuman teacher on the premises, but both she and May are open to the idea of possibly expanding on training them when the time comes."
"It's a smart idea," he said. "I know that Agent May took on the role of your SO. And you said she was able to help you control your powers when they first manifested."
"Yeah, and she helped Yo-Yo."
"And now she's helping Kora and Flint, but there are some things that only someone like you can do, can really understand," Daniel reminded her gently. Yes, Agent May had been working with Kora to help manage her emotions, but Daisy was the one to help Kora feel more comfortable using them after all the events that went down with Malick and the Chronicoms.
"I know," she grudgingly admitted. And when he said it like that, it made sense. While May had done a lot in helping her find some control, it really had been Jiaying that helped her expand her powers. She just hated the idea of someone out there struggling with unwanted powers while there was clearly a place to help them.
"And the mission?"
"May thinks Kora will be ready by then and doesn't see why she shouldn't join us." May made sure to make the point that while Kora had improved greatly, she would still need a guiding hand and that it would fall to Daisy to be that person once they left the planet.
"Did you have a chance to talk to Kora about it?"
"I did," she confirmed with a sigh. "She wanted some time to think about it. She doesn't know if she wants to be away for so long."
"That bothers you?" He asked, wondering why she was reacting like that.
Daisy shrugged. "No, not…bother," she replied, understanding that Kora deserved to find her own footing, if that was what she wished. "I thought she would have jumped at the chance," she confessed, feeling slightly embarrassed over not knowing her well enough to guess. "I mean, I get it…it's a big decision, but I don't want to be away from her for so long." She and Kora spoke every week, but it wasn't the same. They'd hardly spent any time together before Kora headed to Coulson Academy with Flint. She really wasn't looking to be on the opposite side of the universe from her sister.
"When does she have to have an answer by?"
"Mack wants her decision in three weeks, otherwise we're going to start looking elsewhere."
Like Daisy, Kora often kept a lot of her thoughts to herself, so he couldn't rightly guess where she would end up falling on her decision. But if he were a betting guy, he'd have to say that Kora cherished the idea of family just like Daisy did and would want to remain close to her sister. "I wish I could offer you assurances, but I won't."
"I know." And as much as she wanted those assurances, she appreciated the fact that he was honest about it.
"But what I can do is offer you a distraction," told her rolling on his side so his body was pressed against hers. He began running a finger over the skin just above the sheet that hid her naked breasts.
"Oh?" She asked, knowing where their conversation was heading.
Daniel leaned over and kissed the exposed skin. "I will gladly offer up my services to provide you with recreational activity in order to keep your mind on more…pleasant avenues," smiled at her then.
"Taking one for the team, huh?" She playfully asked.
"Well…I am a team player. It would be rude not to," he replied. With quick movements, he rolled on top of her. "Shall I start right away?"
Daisy laced her hands behind his neck. "It would be rude not to," she said, throwing his words back in his face as climbed on top of her.
The End