Day 123 – Lighthouse Base – Med Bay – 615 hours

"Have you gotten her temperature?" Jemma fired as she ran along side the gurney. Coulson had laid Daisy there as soon as the lift doors opened.

May ran along the opposite side. "There wasn't time, Simmons."

Jemma gave a quick nod and fired off instructions to her medical team. At the large double doors that led to the treatment area she held up a hand. "This is as far as you go." She spoke with practiced authority. "I will let you know as soon as I know." With that she turned and pushed through the doors leaving Coulson and May speechless on the opposite side.

Time passes very slowly when waiting on that side of an emergency treatment area. May paced for a few minutes before slamming out of the door and heading toward the gym. If she couldn't be with Daisy she could take out all of her pent up feelings on the bags there. Besides, it was better than cold cocking the next tech that came through that door.

Coulson continued to pace until one of the techs appeared and asked if he would provide much needed blood. There was no need to ask. His sleeve was rolled above his elbow before he followed the young man through the lab door. He was back in the waiting room a few seconds before May returned as well. Neither spoke. There was nothing to say. No words would console or encourage.

Jemma stepped into the room. Without a word said, the parents knew the news was not good. They braced themselves for the worst. Coulson wrapped an arm around May. For once she did not shrug off his attempt to provide his strength. Perhaps he needed hers just as much.

"It's not good." Jemma began, struggling to keep her emotions in check. "Her core temperature has dropped dangerously low. Our attempts to raise it haven't been successful, but we have managed to slow it from dropping lower. Her vitals are weakening as her temperature drops. Right now she is stable but that can change rapidly."

Coulson swallowed the lump in his throat. Just a few hours ago he was telling May the girl would be fine. Was Jemma telling them she was…no…Daisy couldn't. He felt weak but managed to hold on to May who seemed to go almost limp in his arms. He felt the shiver that went through her and felt more than heard the one word that escaped her…'no'.

"I…we…we need to see her." He managed to croak dryly.

Jemma nodded then pushed open the doors and allowed them to pass.

xxxx

May swallowed a gasp as she entered the room. Machines beeped the small girl's vitals. A large mask covered most of her face. It was unusual for the team to have pediatric equipment. Fitz did his best to refit what he could for this Daisy.

Coulson squeezed May's hand. He could not recall taking it into his own. She squeezed back.

"Most of this is to help raise her core temperature. It's dropped to just above eighty-six degrees. We've utilized every method possible to keep it there." Jemma took a moment to pull her own emotions back in check then continued. "I'm afraid that is the best we've been able to accomplish."

May stepped next to the bed taking Daisy's cold hand in her own. She quickly drew back an errant sob. Brushing aside the hair from Daisy's cheek she eyed the mask and turned to ask, but Simmons was quick to continue her explanations.

"We're feeding her warm, humidified air. Right now it is through the mask but we are prepared to intubate if it becomes necessary. I believe she's still breathing on her own due to her inhuman abilities." She looked to Coulson and paused for a moment. "It's probably what's kept her alive this long."

May did not react, simply held her child's hand, hoping the heat in her palm would somehow warm her little girl. Coulson turned to the young doctor. "What are you saying, Jemma?"

Jemma shook her head. "There's nothing more we can so, sir. I'm so sorry." She drew a quick breath as her voice shook with her own dread.

Coulson looked from the doctor to his child and then back, anger pushing his fear to its limits. He recalled a moment so long ago when a much younger Jemma Simmons made a similar remark. Stepping forward, he pointed one finger toward her and demanded. "Don't…don't tell me there is nothing else! Damn it, Jemma, find an answer!"

She stared at him for a moment, seeing a terrified father behind her usually confident commander. A plethora of medical platitudes ran through her mind but she merely whispered, "yes, sir", before exiting the room to let her tears release.

For a moment Coulson merely stared at the door where Jemma had left. He drew quick angry breaths refusing to believe there was no way to help his small daughter…his daughter trapped in a child's failing body. He closed his eyes and quickly said some prayer he remembered from catechism so very long ago. The man rarely thought of God…he'd met gods…they were far from those who answered human prayers. But now, here in this moment he tried to summon that belief…the belief in an omnipotent being that heard the pleas of mortals and granted them miracles. Daisy had been saved once before. Maybe it was science or some alien hocus pocus…but maybe…just maybe it was a miracle. Maybe God had heard him then and maybe he'd hear once again.

He turned from his thoughts and stepped behind May wrapping one arm around her shoulders. Placing the other hand over hers and Daisy's, he gave a gentle squeeze, adding his own warmth to the grasp. May let her head drop back against him. There were no words, nothing either could say that would comfort the other. They'd been here before, twenty-five years ago on a rainy night in a tiny village somewhere the Hunan Province in rural China. What could have been the beginning of life became a nightmare that tore them apart and left both missing a piece of their souls. That feeling fell over them now, with a renewed vengeance.

May had not cried that night. All she felt was numb. Coulson had put his hand through the flimsy wall of the ramshackle clinic where they had lost their child. No convincing could keep May there to recover and they had left as soon as the sun rose, separating after a quick briefing and remaining apart for more than a year before their jobs brought them together once again. By that time they had simply compartmentalized the memory and moved on never to speak of it…never to recall or remember the little body they had buried somewhere outside that small village. No marker noted its location. No bouquet or sprig of flowers ever bloomed there and when the village was burnt to the ground and trampled by Hydra a few months later it was lost to time…forgotten. The were many times Coulson hated himself for not bringing the child home, for not providing a quiet place near his own parents' grave. He'd not only lost his tiny child but abandoned her as well. Even the recent discovery of the truth of that night gave him no rest for what was done in the agony of the moment. If May had similar feelings he would never know. It was a subject they swore never to breach.

Now he stood, holding on to the woman he'd loved for longer than he could remember as they watched their small child draw shaky breaths. The little body shivered with the cold it could not regulate. Even the heated blanket that covered Daisy was not able to alleviate the trembling her falling temperature produced.

"They haven't tried everything." He said, just above a whisper.

May turned only her head and looked to him for some small bit of hope.

Coulson slid his hands from hers and patted the blanket. "We'll keep her warm."

She nodded her understanding and climbed onto the bed, snuggling next to her child. Coulson did the same on the opposite side, cocooning Daisy between them.

Day 123 – Nowhere – time non-existent

How I got here is any body's guess cuz the last thing I remember was May singing that song she sings every night…even when I'm a rotten little bitch. Best I can think is that it is some kind of wild dream. For a minute I thought I was back in the nowhere place but it doesn't feel the same. Then I thought maybe I was dead and this is what came after. Boy, the Sisters at St. Aggie's would be shocked…no pearly gates or St. Peter…damn, not even the fires of Hell. So much for all that blah, blah.

But no, I'm not dead cuz if I was I am pretty sure I'd be big me not this puny little me. I thought I could hear Jemma but she was real far away and sounded pretty frantic about something. That's when I noticed I was butt naked. Geez, it was one of those dreams where you end up at school or someplace like the Mall and find out you got no clothes. You spend the whole dream looking for a place to hide! This was worse. There was nothing, not even a damn tree to hide behind. It was just nothing forever and ever. I guess it didn't really matter because I was the only one here…well, except for hearing Jemma…and…and Coulson and he was pissed. He was yelling at her for something but then he got real quiet and I couldn't hear anymore. Well, except for that beep, beep, beep and that was pretty damn annoying.

I called out a couple times but nobody answered so I just kept walking only it didn't matter cuz nothing changed. I don't know if I got anywhere because everything looked the same…all kinda blue like the sky but no clouds. All around was the same color, up, down and both sides…everything was sky blue. After a while I got tired. There was no place to sit so I just plopped down on the…the…well whatever the 'the' was that I was walking on for like the past day. I guess I shouldn't have bounced down so hard on my naked derriere cuz it reminded me of May's reaction to my great escape yesterday…or today or a week ago or whenever it was. It was like time didn't matter here.

She was pretty ticked when Coulson told her he found me on that beach about two miles from the base. He asked me how I got there through all the rocks and stuff. I just shrugged but it's pretty easy to plow through that crap when you just quake it apart…or and then back together to cover your tracks. I didn't tell him. I wasn't gonna risk another paradiddle on my tukus from AC.

I wasn't running away. I just needed some time…alone…real alone without someone helicoptering over me. Coulson thought I was…running away…again. Man he smacked my tush so hard I thought my eyeballs would pop. I didn't cry, though…well not at first and not cuz he whacked me. I cried cuz I felt bad that he was so scared I would do it again…run.

I don't know why I was so mad at May. I guess cuz she was the one all hovering over me and not giving me space to even breathe, even though I knew it was cuz she cared. She was scared too…scared cuz of all the sickness and all that other crap. I told her I was tired of being a kid and of trying to be an adult in a kid body. I was tired of asking permission and following dumb kid rules and being afraid and just not being myself. So, I snapped without thinking and wham, bam, thank-you-ma'am…my butt was blazin'. I'm pretty sure she was remembering my little jaunt to the unknown after…well, after all that stuff happened…after Lincoln…cuz she did not hold back and I was sure I would not sit down til Hell froze over and then thawed out again.

So, yeah…I was still feelin' it.

Or maybe I was just remembering and imagining I was feelin' it. Cuz in all honesty I couldn't even feel whatever the hell was holding me up in this sky plane.

I really didn't like this place, but I certainly got what I wanted. Guess it's really true that you should be careful what you wish for cuz I had plenty of alone space here. It wasn't really quiet cuz I could people…not exactly what they were saying but just sounds that let me know they were somewhere. That was even creepier than having them be there where I could see them. I thought about the word 'murmur' and yeah that really described the sound. It was like everyone was saying 'murmur…murmur' over and over.

CRAP! Then I thought maybe this was one of Fitz's ideas to kick start me into growing back into myself. Damn! What if this was some kind of containment pod and they were watching me on some kind of feed back.

Hey!

I'm naked!

I scrunched my body up as small as I could and covered everything that was coverable with my arms and legs, well except for the part I was sitting on. What kind of crazy idea was this? Then I thought about it again and well…Fitz wouldn't do something like that and anyway how could he make it so big that I could walk for like five hundred miles and still be inside the dumb thing.

I tried yelling again…even used some choice words just incase May was listening. Yeah, if she heard even half of that she'd be all over me.

I tried crying. Coulson would come if he heard me. I knew he would. So would May…they wouldn't leave me alone…if they knew where I was.

If they could hear me.

Day 123 – Lighthouse Base – Med Bay – 1100 hours

Coulson paced outside of Daisy's room. Jemma and a small group of techs had asked him and May to step outside for a few moments. He watched as May paced at the opposite end of the small room. He knew better than to try to comfort her. For as much as they needed each other at this time, they also needed to be apart…to deal with the raw emotions they could not control.

Both stopped when Jemma stepped into the room. "She seems to remain stable. Her temperature is still 86.3. We cannot let it get any lower without serious repercussions. I'm afraid we have had to use some more invasive procedures." She explained.

"What kind of procedures?" May was alarmed. She stepped closer to Simmons, waiting for an answer. Daisy was a small child. How much could her little body take?

"Our main concern is keeping her vital organs at a safe temperature. That involves introducing a warm saline solution into the peritoneal cavity, pleura and vesicle for twenty to thirty minutes at several intervals throughout the day." Jemma replied professionally.

"Damn it, Jemma," Coulson exhaled, "in English please."

Letting out a short breath and looking from Coulson to May, Jemma shook her head. "We are treating her as if it were hypothermia. Keeping the stomach, lungs and bladder warm will help keep the temperature of her other organs as well." She did not ad the 'I hope' that hung in her mind.

May merely looked at the doctor for a moment before moving to the door. "I need to be with her."

Jemma quickly stepped in front of her. "The techs need a few minutes May. They will let you know when you can go back to her. For now…" She waited a moment to let May absorb the request. After the woman gave a quick nod the doctor continued. "For now, why don't you tell me about yesterday? Maybe there's something we missed."

May walked to the far end of the room and let out a long breath. She turned and shook her head. "I'm not even sure anymore." The woman's usually strong voice held a hint of panic. Her deep timbre was laced with a higher pitch than it normally held.

Coulson shook his head. After the disappearing act and its repercussions he'd spent yesterday monitoring that damn anomaly in St. Louis. Nothing had happened…yet, but it was ominous and something that could not be ignored. He and Mac had spent the day developing plans to send a team to investigate. Even though Hydra had long since been dismantled and as far as they knew Hale and Sitwell were chilling out in some cell about twenty miles under Antarctica, it could not be ignored.

"Everything was out of the ordinary yesterday." May threw up her arms then let them drop as she paced across the floor then turned and walked back. "She went from hell on wheels to passive compliance with no stops in between."

Jemma furrowed her brow, confused by the reference.

May took a breath and let it out in a huff. "Two days ago she fought me on every front, yesterday she did everything…no, no she did nothing unless I told her to, like some damn robot." Her voice became agitated for a moment before she drew a breath. "I thought it was some kind of game and I called her on it, but she just shrugged her shoulders and stood there. She didn't argue or bargain any time I had to do a temp check, got herself ready…" May paused and shook her head. "When the hell did she do that, Jemma? Even you've had to chase her around the room and have two techs hold her down. But she just laid there…no squirming, no crying…nothing."

Jemma shook her head. It sounded as if her friend had just given up and had no desire to fight anymore. Perhaps Daisy was suffering from some sort of depression. Lord knows, the situation had gotten to the point where that was not an impossibility.

"It didn't change all day. She ate when I put food in front of her but never asked for anything. Never opened that damn laptop, not once, just sat in her room with that damn coloring book…she barely spoke unless I spoke to her and then it was so quiet I could hardly hear her."

May turned and walked away again, keeping her back to Jemma and Coulson who had been listening closely. She hadn't given him this much information last night, but he really hadn't given her the chance.

"I thought…" May took a breath and exhaled. "I thought maybe I was a little rough on her after the Houdini act." She breathed again and took a moment before continuing. "We talked…no, I talked to her about it…she listened, just listened." She turned and faced them again. "She said she understood…that she understood everything." May shook her head again, remembering. "That was the last thing she said to me."

One of the techs stepped into the room telling Jemma they had completed what needed to be done and the little girl was resting. Before Jemma could give an 'okay', Coulson and May were through the same door and back at Daisy's bedside.

xxxx

Fitz paced back and forth in front of his large microscope, mumbling to himself before looking through the eyepiece for the umpteenth time. He'd checked and rechecked his latest theory but still had not built the courage to tell Jemma, let alone Coulson and May, what he had discovered.

With no other options in sight, Fitz had let the crystals form in the latest blood sample without introducing any external stimuli. He watched, amazed, as the tiny snowflake like structures multiplied until they completely absorbed the blood and spilled out onto his specimen slide. There they simply disappeared in the absence of their host. Eventually, within minutes actually, the structures melded into one mass. He sat back and blew a breath through puffy cheeks. He could not imagine what this would do to Daisy or how long it would take for the crystals to absorb her entire blood supply. He did know that with every theory he had tested he had not found a way to stop what was happening. Yes, every one of his attempts had slowed the process but it seemed to be inevitable.

Shaking his head he leaned back to the eyepiece and peered into it again. The solid mass of pinkish white now held miniscule blue streaks that resembled cracks in a piece of glass…or ice. Each streak seemed to glow with some sort of innate electricity. He jumped back for a second with one of the cracks appeared to spark. Jumping up and fumbling with the items in a drawer next to him. Swearing under his breath he pushed aside the clutter and reached back to retrieve a small ammeter.

Fitz swung the chair back to the microscope and peered into it. The cracks had increased as did the tiny sparks. He carefully touched the probes to the slide and jerked back when the needle on the device jumped. The engineer waited a few seconds still watching as the tiny microscopic sparks shot at random from the cracks in the, what seemed to be, frozen blood sample. He touched the probes to the slide again and watched as the needle rose a bit higher. Fitz sprang from his seat and hurried across the lab to retrieve a larger more sensitive voltmeter. This time the probes picked up a stronger charge. The longer he watched the higher the voltage climbed, reaching almost eight hundred before the 'ice' completely disappeared and the blood sample appeared normal. Fitz increased the magnification and watched as, very slowly, normal hemoglobin formed where the crystals had been only seconds earlier.

The man jumped up, causing his chair to tip backward and crash to the floor. He ran both hands through his hair and half laughed/half whooped as he turned in a complete circle and raised a fist in victory. He bent forward and let out a long breath then stretched back and raised both fists, cheering on himself in the empty lab. But Fitz was a scientist and he knew this could be nothing more than a fluke, a once in a lifetime occurrence that could not be duplicated…unless.

He hurried to the storage unit and stared at the last two of Daisy's blood samples. One had been taken the day before she left the med bay and one yesterday morning. He snatched both and began preparing slides a second before he opened a channel to Jemma and requested the most recent sample she had.

This had to be the answer…they were running out of time.

xxxx

Both May and Coulson protested when Jemma brought a blood drawing tray into the room. Daisy had been through enough, they thought. The doctor explained it was necessary and could provide answers they so desperately needed. May pishawed the thought. She'd heard it enough and not once had one drop of Daisy's blood provided an answer. She pointed out that they had taken enough blood from the little girl to fill an entire blood bank, but Jemma insisted and the parents stepped aside.

Without the port, Jemma was forced to take blood directly from the child's vein. Daisy moaned in pain as the needle slid into her arm, whimpering until it was withdrawn. Although the sound was pitiful and caused May an equal amount of pain, the fact that the little girl felt and responded to it was a good sign. She had not slipped into a coma as Jemma had feared and perhaps with a few more warming sessions, she would be even more responsive. The doctor immediately ordered a temp check. One of the techs entered with the dreaded thermometer as Jemma left explaining she needed to get the sample to Fitz immediately.

May glared at the nurse tech who had just asked both parents to step out for a few minutes. She shook her head and held out her hand. If Jemma wasn't going to do this then mom would be the only other person who could. The nurse opened her mouth to protest but stopped when Coulson gently took the instrument from her hand, gave it to May and escorted the young woman out the door.

"I need to know the result." The nurse informed him as the door shut softly at his nod.

xxxx

"Fitz," Jemma was exasperated as she entered the science lab. "What is the urgency? Daisy is not…"

"Jemma," he stopped her mid-entence. "Jemma…Jemma," he repeated her name and kissed her twice before taking the small vial from her hand. "This is extraordinary."

Taken back by his reaction, Jemma took a breath and caught her balance. "Fitz we do not have time for this. I have a very sick child down a few levels and…" She realized he was not listening and had already smeared blood across a slide and slipped it into the large microscope. "Fitz!" She admonished him.

Fitz flicked on the overhead projecter and simply answered, "watch", then nodded toward the screen. "It's happening even faster." He spoke more to himself than to her.

"What, Fitz, what is happening?" Jemma demanded.

Again he directed her to watch as the crystals repeated the same cycle as they had on the last two trials as well as the first only much faster. Jemma watched in horror as the blood disappeared under the avalanche of crystals becoming one solid pinkish mass. She drew a hand to her mouth as a soft gasp escaped. Was this what would happened to that sweet child?

Fitz heard the sound and hurried to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "No, no, Jemma watch…just watch…"

Just as before the deep blue streaks appeared then turned to cracks and sparked with an almost beauty before climaxing into a soft poof and revealing the healthy hemoglobin beneath…healthy and full of life.

Jemma dropped her hand and stepped closer. "My god, Fitz…"

"I've done this four times now and each time the process is the same." He smiled then moved to the voltmeter and picked it up from where he had attached it to the slide. "There's a charge, Jemma. This one is close to one thousand volts…"

"Fitz…what…what does this mean?" Jemma was as horrified as he was thrilled.

"Don't you see, Jemma? This is just part of the process."

"What process?" She was angrily confused.

"The process that will more than likely…" Fitz began.

"KILL HER?" Jemma demanded before he could finish. "Fitz, Daisy cannot survive if her blood supply solidifies."

Fitz raised both hands in mock defense and opened his mouth to speak.

"Insufficient blood flow to the heart muscle can lead to angina. If the coronary artery becomes completely blocked, it will cause a heart attack. Some of the heart muscle can die from a lack of oxygen which will put her in complete danger and that is not even taking into consideration the brain damage that occurs if it is deprived of blood or oxygen which would definitely be cut off if the blood ceased flowing and…" Jemma spoke rapidly firing off the life threatening affects of this hare-brained process.

Fitz put a finger to her lips and softly shushed her. "I don't think that is what is meant to happen. I truly believe this is the answer. I don't believe the crystals are meant to harm but have been part of the process since the beginning. It is highly possible that this is the process that will bring Daisy back."

Jemma shook him off. "But Fitz, it's not without very dangerous affects. No one can survive if their blood supply is completely shut down." She turned and waved a hand at the projection on the wall. "There is no way to know how long this would take. You've got a small sample but we're talking about…about an entire circulatory system." She waved her arms and slammed both hands down on the nearest counter in emphasis.

"Perhaps it doesn't happen all at once. Perhaps that's why she's been failing and then springing back. Perhaps it's already happening." Fitz suggested. "Jemma, the electrical charge is the same as that of a defibulator jolting throughout the entire body in microscopic sparks. It has to have meaning. It has to be the means that will not let her slip away but bring her back from whatever these crystals are doing."

Jemma shook her head. "Fitz there is no way to test this theory. Daisy is the only one with this…this crystalline blood anomaly. We have no way and essentially no time to determine if…if it is safe, let alone live saving."

"Is anything you are doing now helping?" He sadly inquired, already knowing the answer.

Jemma paused then shook her head. "Are you asking me to do nothing…to just let this happen and hope for the best?"

"No, Jemma. I'm asking you to trust the science behind this. Science has never failed us in the past. I'm asking you to trust it now."

Jemma shook her head, blinking back the tears forming in her eyes. "I do, Fitz. I do trust science and I trust you, but I cannot risk Daisy's life in order to prove it. I just can't."

"You're right, Jemma." Fitz shook his head. "We are running out of time."

Day 123 – Nowhere – time non-existent

I thought for a long time and kinda figured that I was in my own head…well, my mind actually. That's not the same as your head or your brain…apparently. Duh! My mind actually made up this place but, hell, I don't know why it didn't give me any clothes. Then again you don't have any clothes on the inside so that goes to show your mind doesn't always know what it's doing.

Well, at least mine doesn't.

This place was boring and pretty lonely. I tried really hard to think myself out of it (with clothes). The beep was getting louder and something bit my arm. Damn, there's some kind of bugs in my mind? Geez now I have a picture of that Oogie Boogie Man in that Nightmare Christmas movie. He was all full of bugs. I threw my arms over my head to make sure there weren't any popping out of me. Dumb, huh? Maybe I was the bug and I could just pop out and be…be what.

Damn, maybe Jemma jabbed me with one of her darts and filled me with some kind of drug that's tripping me off to La-la Land…well, not on purpose but who knows what those drugs can do.

I thought for a minute I could hear May. She sounded mad and for some reason I didn't want her to go where I couldn't hear her. I tried to call her but my voice sounded so little so I pushed myself up and ran to where I thought she was but it was just more sky-blue.

It made me angry and I yelled as loud as I could. So loud it hurt.

Day 123 – Daisy's Med Lab Room – 1900 hours (early evening)

"May!" Daisy's voice was muffled under the oxygen mask. She struggled to pull herself up and reached out one hand toward the door where two techs were ushering both parents out. "May," she sobbed again as she fell back against the mattress.

May shoved the techs aside, rushing back to Daisy's bedside and taking the child in her arms. Machines screamed as leads and wires were jostled by the action.

"I'm here, bao bei, right here." She assured the trembling child.

Daisy dug her fingers into the sleeve of May's sweater. "I don't wanna…"

Coulson wrapped his arms around both of them. "It's okay, angel eyes, we're not going anywhere."

"Agent Coulson, I must insist. We have to repeat the treatment before her temperature begins to drop. It is imperative we keep to the schedule." The tech, that seemed to be in charge, persisted. She watched the family for a beat then looked at her watch. "Five minutes, Agent Coulson…no more." The stout woman waited for him to respond. When he gave a quick nod she returned it and backed out of the room.

Daisy tried to push the mask away from her face. May shook her head and moved it back into place. "No, bao bei, you need this."

"It's keeping you warm." Coulson assured her with a soft smile.

Daisy looked up at him with just her eyes then back to May before whispering softly in her ear. "I got no clothes."

May chuckled just a smidge. "They're trying to help you, bao bao. It's just easier this way."

"But, I'm naked under here." She whispered again, blushing when she realized Coulson could hear every word and probably knew anyway.

"It's okay. You've got all these special blankets and I will make sure you have total coverage if you have to leave this bed." May hugged her tighter.

Daisy looked down at her exposed chest, covered with rectangular patches that held wires leading to several machines that blipped at the side of her bed. She snatched the blanket and pulled it to her chin. May felt a shiver go through the little girl's body.

"Maybe, you should lie back so these blankets can do their job." May smiled as she lowered the child back to the mattress.

Daisy shook her head and held tightly. "No, please don't let me go."

"We'll stay right here, Daisy." Coulson promised as he leaned forward and kissed the top of her head.

Daisy's grip began to lessen. The adrenalin that had powered her fright began to drain and left her weakened. She nodded and allowed May to lay her against the pillow and tuck the blanket over her. A knock on the door was ignored by both parents until the nurse tech poked her head in the room and reminded them they had two minutes.

May and Coulson exchanged a glance. While they did not want to leave their child, they also knew the treatment was essential to her recovery. Coulson moved forward and laid a hand on the girl's head. "Hey, the techs need to take care of few things to help you feel better. They want May and I to step out." Daisy was already shaking her head, trying to pull herself back up into a sitting position. Coulson put a hand on her chest. He shook his head. "No…no, it's okay. We'll be right outside the door and as soon as they give the all clear, we'll be right back here." He patted the mattress. "Both of us, right next to you."

Daisy's eyes went wide. She shook her head. "What are they gonna do to me?" Even muffled through the mask the fear was clear in her voice.

Coulson and May exchanged a quick glance before May sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed a hand up and down the blanket over the girl's leg. "They just need to warm you up a little bit."

Before she could continue the techs returned wheeling a cart into the room. "Time's up." The charge nurse ordered.

May stared at the items on the cart and shook her head. "I'm not leaving her." She stood her ground glaring and daring the nurse to argue.

The woman glared back for a moment then spoke to Coulson without breaking that glare. "Suit yourself, put up no interference and Agent Coulson, I'm afraid I have to insist you step into the hall."

"Understood," Coulson nodded. He bent and kissed Daisy's forehead, whispering that he would be right outside the door.

Charge nurse waited for the door to close then pulled on her gloves and directed the others to proceed.

xxxx

"Before we go any further with this," Fitz exhaled. "I don't believe it is our decision to make."

Jemma shook her head. He was right. "We need to let May and Coulson know what you've found. The decision should be theirs."

"The decision should be Daisy's." Fitz corrected.

"Fitz," Jemma sighed. "She is nine-years-old and incapable of making such a decision."

Fitz moved closer and took Jemma's hands in his own. He stared at them together for a moment before looking into her eyes. "Jemma, Daisy is an adult. She has the most to gain…or to lose. The decision needs to be hers."

Jemma pursed her lips and nodded. "I…it's so hard to remember she's all grown up when she's so little." She smiled through her tears. "I know you're right but Coulson and May will never let her make the decision."

Fitz pulled her into a gentle hug. "Then we'll have to remind them that Daisy is not as little as she appears."

xxxx

Coulson stepped around the techs as they exited. Daisy was surprisingly still. He moved quickly to May's side, alarmed by the change in the little girl.

May stopped him with a hand on his chest. "It's okay. They gave her a little something to relax before they started. She's just sleeping, won't remember a thing."

His mouth formed an 'oh' before he asked how she did.

May closed her eyes and shook her head. "I don't know how many times I can witness that and her temp is still the same. Charge nurse said that she's stable but still critical, whatever the hell that means." She let out a frustrated breath and fell against his side.

Coulson wrapped an arm around her and slid it up and down her bicep. "Fitz and Simmons want to see us. Fitz says it's important. I told him we wouldn't leave her but he agreed to bring it here. Not sure that's a good idea." He nodded toward the sleeping child. "She's got enough to handle."

"She'll be out for a while." May tucked the blanket closer to Daisy's chin, adjusting the oxygen mask slightly.

"It's late, let her sleep. I told them we'd talk first thing in the morning. For now she's the only thing that needs our attention."

May rested her head back against his shoulder and gave a small nod before climbing onto the bed alongside her daughter.

Coulson did the same.

Together they would keep her warm through the night