The Look — Chapter Twelve

It was September fifth, two days away before schools started in New York— Queens specifically. Lucky for the kid, he had passed all of the going home tests and Dr. Buckerds had given the go ahead. Other than him being inhuman there was no other real reason to keep him here…

Daisy's gut had it's reserves anyways. It was just a feeling, about what— she didn't know specifically. Something was telling her sending him home was wrong— maybe it was the fact that it was dangerous out there as an inhuman, maybe Hydra was still looking for him (they knew they were stockpiling inhumans), maybe it was the signs Lukian showed. Last week didn't help the feeling go away any more either.

Lukian cleaning up the debris all by himself and getting cut on something was no help to the case.

Lincoln had checked him out and cleaned the injury up, so far no infection which was incredibly good and amazing all on it's own. However, it didn't help the fact that the kid kept popping his stitches out basically every day like he didn't have a care in the world. He should have had them out a week ago and the cut should have mostly healed by now, but no. It was definitely going to be a decent scar now. It's a miracle that something hadn't gone wrong with it all yet (which was why he was being closely monitored by Lincoln), the fact that the cut still had the ability to heal was a testament to how different Inhuman biology was to just humans'.

The last time he had popped the stitches Simmons had given him a good talking to and confiscated his tennis ball. Daisy noticed the kid had a habit of throwing the ball as a way to relieve stress. She had also noticed he did it whenever he got little sleep (the watch monitors a lot of things), and ever since he accidentally destroyed the column— he's gotten a very miniscule amount. She had a feeling that the reason why— was related to the feeling in her gut.

The days he took the to go home tests he slept more, probably out of exhaustion. It had gotten pushed back a couple of days due to doctor's orders, but they had all agreed that having Lukian be home in time for the beginning of school was important. Especially since it would be his first day of highschool.

Even with his injury, Lukian performed to the best of his ability during the tests, which meant more stitches popping (she swears he does it on purpose) and had passed with flying colors. Then after a physic eval by Dr. Buckerds, who was very glad to give the green light to let him go back home— everything was set. Well except for the covers and the story, for that she still had no clue what they were doing.

And that was why she had gone up to Coulson's office to ask him the plan.

She was sure she could figure something out herself, but with this situation hacking and creating false identities could only go so far. The whole missing child report and mom's boyfriend being a detective throws a wrench into the plans.

A big one.

"Hey, Coulson, you got a sec'?"

Coulson glanced up from his desk that buried basically up to his nose in files. She could see it in his eyes that he was bored out of his mind and desperately wanted a break from whatever still awaited him lying on that desk.

"Not really," Coulson tossed a file down with a plop. "But please give me one anyway."

Daisy smiled lightly as she sat down in one of the chairs in front of him. Curiosity getting the better of her, she leaned forward to examine the endless pile of files. Even though probably all of the stuff was more classified than the real story of how Fury lost his eye. Daisy hadn't even met the guy personally, but she's heard like sixteen different stories that are probably all really bad guesses, most were from FitzSimmons— the rest were a drunken Hunter.

"What is all this?" Daisy inquired.

Coulson let out a huff. "Talbot is a dick."

Daisy rolled her eyes and muttered. "That's not exactly new news."

Coulson inclined his head in agreement at that. He folded his hands on the desk together, fiddling with his thumbs in such a Coulson manor. "So, what's up?"

"It's the kid." She cut to the chase.

Coulson cocked his head. "What about him? Did he finally get that infection?" He asked grimly.

Daisy's lips parted slightly as she furrowed her brows, silently asking how he knew that.

"Simmons and Lincoln were discussing his lack of self care over dinner the other day."

"That's… honestly not surprising. But no, no infection so far. Lincoln will be hopefully taking out the stitches for good later today." Daisy explained.

"Okay, well that's good news. So then what's the problem?"

"He's passed the tests, and Dr. Buckerds gave him the green light to go home— which is all awesome." She beamed. "The problem is... there's no way we can just slip him back into his old life without trouble. His mom's boyfriend is a detective who's dipped his toes quite a bit into the case so far. He won't just let him jump back into everything again without procedure, and whatever else goes with a child being kidnapped at gunpoint— goes missing for four months, then randomly shows up on the doorstep a day before school starts. No one's gonna go for that."

"So you need to find a way to get around procedure and keep this quiet with few to none questions."

Daisy let a breath and slumped in the chair. "Yes, exactly that. If they go broadcasting his magical return on News 12— Hydra will no doubt catch wiff and then we'll be back at square one."

"Alright," Coulson nodded. "Any ideas?"

Daisy smiled. "I've got one but it won't work without a tie in the CIA to back it up."

Coulson shot her that look. The same look he always gae when she had an illegal idea, even if it was only slightly.

"You do know your whole spy organization is illegal, right?" She shot back, her voice flat.

"It's a work in progress." Coulson quipped, looking down at his mount Everest of files. He sighed. "May's got a few connections in the CIA, I'm sure she can pull a favor or two."

"Her mother, right?" Daisy checked.

Why that shocked Coulson as it did, she didn't know. "How'd you know that? She told you?"

Daisy scoffed. "Please, this May we're talking about. I hacked her file."

And there was that look again. "Skye..." His tone warning.

"Daisy."

"Daisy…" Coulson repeated in the exact tone making Daisy crack a mischievous little grin.

She relaxed a little in the chair. "Don't worry A.C, it was a long time ago. Just shortly after I had just been kidnapped by scary men in dark suits." The old tease rolled off her tongue.

Coulson smiled, crossing his arms. "I know— I'm intimidating, no?"

Daisy just laughed much to Coulson's dismay.

"Hey!" He protested. Which only made Daisy laugh more.

After calming herself down, she got back to business. "I can create identities and fake aliases but I'll need the CIA connection to make it look more official on first glance. There's only so much I can do. With something as big as this is, we can't have anyone asking questions."

"Inhumans aren't exactly a secret anymore, Daisy." Coulson acknowledged.

"I know but he's just a kid and with Hydra erasing every bit of info of him I'm worried they're gonna try and get him back. I want to keep him off the books and as far from them as possible."

Coulson nodded in agreement. "That's fair, and understandable."

"Thank you." Daisy inclined her head. "I'll consult with Fitz a bit on the covers. I created some mean fake I.D's back in my day but Fitz is a god. And a genius, but mostly a god."

Coulson chuckled, shaking his head. "Create a background story, go over it with the kid— make sure he has it down and can sell it. If you're trying to keep this on the downlow, his acting skills is what may end up keeping the boat from tipping over."

Daisy nodded. She had absolutely no doubt that Lukian would be able to pull the act off. Which she wasn't sure normally was a good thing, however right now it was outstanding. Honestly he was like a mini spy with his capabilities.

"Hey, Dais?" Coulson asked, pulling her from her thoughts.

"Hm?"

"Just so you know, we had a crime on base yesterday." Coulson's voice was deadly serious as he spoke. "Somebody went through my secret twizzler stash." He gave her a very pointed look.

Daisy immediately bit back the reply of Maybe May had finally discovered it and hit it from you, only she knew that wasn't true. The mysterious random pack of Twizzlers Lukian was munching on earlier today made a whole lot more sense. And when she had asked where he had acquired them, his only response was Mr. Mack (and Daisy found it incredibly endearing that he called everyone by Mr. or Ms.).

"Blame Mack." Daisy blurted out and a smirk quickly found her face.

Coulson raised his eyebrows. "I know it was you Dais, you're the only one who knows where it is."

"Okay one, it wasn't me. Two, everyone here is a spy and your hiding spot sucks. It's a complete miracle that May doesn't know about it."

"I thought my hiding spot was pretty superb." He pouted.

Daisy patted his hand in mock sympathy before getting up to leave. She had work to do unfortunately. She also had to do her chore before Coulson found out and May kicked her ass.

"Hey, Daisy," Coulson called out, stopping her. "Don't forget to call his mother today. You can't just drop him off on the doorstep without warning— CIA, or not."

"Got it, yes sir." Daisy understood.

Coulson studied her for a moment with the small (never ending) smile growing on his face, then he spoke. "You're proud of the kid aren't you?"

Taken back by the comment, Daisy stuttered. The tips of her ears were pink and thankfully covered by her hair. "Well— I mean, y-yeah. A bit, sure. I did train him after all."

Coulson gave her a soft look that she couldn't understand. "You do know May feels the same way about you, right?"

Daisy hesitated, but it was only for a moment due to the emotions rushing within her.

"I know."