Phil and Melinda lay back in bed, looking at the ceiling. "Natasha trained with Clint today." He murmured.

Melinda turned to look at him. "How did it go?"

Phil smiled at the memory. "First time I've seen him get his ass kicked in a while."

"I bet he loved that."

"He did, actually. He's really happy that she's allowed out, possibly joining us."

May hummed. "Speaking of happy, Daisy had a good day."

"Yeah." Phil murmured, but his brow furrowed. "Does it... bother you?"

Melinda raised an eyebrow, rolling onto her side to look at him. "What?"

Phil sighed, rubbing his eyes. "I don't know, I just- the way she hugged Maria goodbye. She won't even let us touch her."

"You know why."

"Of course I do, I'm just scared, okay? I'm scared she likes Maria better than us." He hurried the words out before they stuck in his throat. The silence that followed them made Phil's cheeks flush. "I know I'm being stupid."

"Yep, you are."

He snorted. "Thanks."

Melinda shrugged. "What do you want me to say?" She asked. "We can't relate to her like Maria can. Besides, every kid likes their cool aunt more than their parents."

Phil smiled, turning to look at her. "Have you thought about it?"

"A little." She murmured. "I'm not like you Phil, I can't just decide to change my life like this."

"I know." He said softly, gently kissing her. "Hell, the only time I've seen you say 'yes' on the spot was when I proposed."

Melinda smiled. "That's only because I knew you were going to do it." She said. "Saw it coming a mile away."

Phil shrugged. "You still said yes." He said, then hesitated. "What if Daisy doesn't?" There. He said it.

"She's happy." May said softly. "She had a good day and she's happy because of what you've done for her. Don't turn this into a competition over who she likes best."

Phil sighed. "You're right." He said. "I love you."

"I know."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

It was two days after that, on a Saturday afternoon, when Phil went into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee, that he found one of their mugs smashed on the floor. He frowned. It seemed unlikely that it had fallen on it's own.

He swept up the mess, then knocked on Daisy's door. "Daisy? Did a mug break?"

"Yeah." She called back, not opening her door. "It was an accident."

Phil nodded. "Okay. Next time let me know, and if you're wearing shoes it'd be nice if you could sweep it up."

"Whatever."

He almost got mad at the sarcasm, but let it slide this once. Daisy had probably been scared about accidentally breaking something. Maybe she'd thought that they'd send her away, so Phil didn't think much of it.

The first time.

When it kept happening, he started to get suspicious. What really got him was Daisy's lack of apologies. For someone who had said sorry for everything at first, now she wasn't apologising for anything. He could accept that, he could. She didn't even seem sorry though, and so many things were getting broken by 'accident' lately.

At first it was little things. Mugs, a plate, a picture from the shelf. Every time he or Melinda tried to talk to Daisy about it there was a pause. Like she was waiting for something. Given how much more difficult she got after every time, Phil guessed that they weren't giving her what she expected.

Or what she wanted.

"What if she's acting out because she doesn't want to live with us?" He asked Melinda when they were driving home from work.

She sighed. "I don't think that's it."

"But what if it is?"

May's hands tightened on the steering wheel. "Then we'll deal with it."

"Maybe we should call Maria. You know she's doing this on purpose."

"Of course she is." Melinda said, the frustration bubbling in her chest. "I just don't know why."

Phil swallowed. "It's not our fault, okay?" He said, half trying to convince himself. "If we're not a good fit for her then that doesn't mean we did something wrong or... she's allowed to need a different home."

"I know." Melinda murmured, surprised at how disappointed she felt. "I've been trying though. I know that doesn't mean much, but..."

Phil put a hand on her shoulder as they pulled in to park. "It means everything."

"It's not enough." She said softly, pulling away from him and taking the keys out of the ignition. Melinda hated not being enough. She always had. In everything she did she fought to be good enough, because when she wasn't...

Things happened.

Bahrain happened. So she had to be better.

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

May made an effort to talk more during dinner, even though it was hard. She stopped trying when Daisy only gave her sullen looks and sarcastic comments. She might like this kid, but she wasn't going to grovel for anyone.

Immediately after she finished eating, Daisy stood and left, leaving her dirty plate on the table and not saying a word. As she moved, her hand caught Phil's glass, sending it crashing to the floor. "Oops." She said flatly, and Melinda could see it, the way she was waiting for them to react, goading them.

She didn't react. "Careful of the glass." May said, standing to get the broom to clean up the mess.

She didn't miss the annoyed look on Daisy's face, or how she slammed her bedroom door behind her.

Phil sighed. "We should call Maria." He said softly.

"Yeah." May said, tipping the glass into the bin and reaching for the phone. "We need backup." She hesitated. "Do you want to do it?"

Phil shrugged. "Might as well." He said, taking the phone to step into the hallway where there was no chance of Daisy hearing.

Maria picked up after three rings. "Phil?" She asked. "Is everything okay?"

Phil sighed and leaned against the wall. He just felt tired. Deeply tired. "I don't know." He said. "I was hoping you could tell me."

"Is Daisy okay?"

"I-I don't know." Phil said again, turning his head to look at the front door. "She's acting differently. She keeps breaking things, and she says it's an accident but I know it isn't. And she never apologises for it, which I know, I told her she didn't have to apologise all the time, but it's like she's not even sorry. I know she's doing it on purpose, but I just don't know why."

Maria was silent for a long moment. "Has she said anything? Did anything happen?"

The questions sent a feeling of dread coursing through Phil. If she had to ask those questions, Maria didn't really know why Daisy was acting like this. "No." He said quietly. "I thought- part of me thinks it's because she'd rather live with you."

"No, that's not it." Maria said immediately. "That kind of acting out isn't her."

Phil groaned internally, frustrated. "Then why is she doing it?"

Maria bit her lip, sitting in her own apartment. "I'm sorry Phil, I don't know." She hesitated. "We're not the same. I told you that."

Phil sighed. "I know." He muttered. "It's not your fault, I just- I thought we'd made progress."

"Maybe this is progress though." Maria said, looking out of the window at the sky, darkened by clouds. "You know how after undercover missions, when you're in deep, how long it can take to process that? Remember how many weeks May tried to just keep going after Bahrain?"

"You think she just... feels safe enough to process it?" Phil asked, looking at the ground.

"Maybe." Maria murmured. "I don't know. I wish I did."

"Me too." Phil said softly. "I don't know what to do about discipline. I mean, she can't keep doing this, but I don't want to scare her."

"Give her a little time." Maria said. "Once she's cooled off a little talk to her. Just be calm about it, explain."

"Okay." Phil said. "Thanks for your help Maria. You should come over for dinner some time."

Maria smiled sadly. "That sounds nice. Let me know how things go with Daisy."

"I will."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

It was another two days before Daisy finally cracked. Two days of long silences and sarcastic remarks, glares and never leaving her room. Melinda and Phil did their best to keep their worries in check. After all, they were spies. They would never have graduated from the academy if they could be goaded by a fifteen year old girl.

Melinda couldn't stop the frustration though. Daisy needed time, she knew that, but she hated that she couldn't just understand that she was safe now, that they wouldn't hurt her. May knew that it made her a hypocrite, given that she was still hiding in administration. She didn't care though.

She just wanted Daisy to be happy.

That said, she couldn't help the flare of anger when, one evening after dinner, Daisy stared them both down and very intentionally pushed a framed picture off of the bookshelf.

Daisy continued to stand there and Phil and Melinda processed what she had just done, continuing to watch them, waiting as usual.

"It's okay." Phil said after a long pause. "We can get another frame."

Daisy snapped. "What do I have to do?!" She shouted, accidentally knocking a book off the shelf and jumping when it thumped to the ground. "G-get mad at me! DO something!" Blood pounded in her ears and somewhere inside she wished she could just shut her mouth.

Phil and Melinda looked at one another. "Daisy..." He started carefully, but was immediately interrupted.

"No!" She snapped, her hands clenching into tight fists. "Just get it over with! Get rid of me, I know you're going to so just- just DO IT!" Tears burned her eyes and she cursed them, hated herself for being so afraid. "What's it take to get kicked out of this place?!" She exclaimed, her voice raw.

Before either of them could say anything, Daisy turned and left, hurling a book behind her.

Melinda caught the book before it could hit her and watched Daisy slam the door behind her. When Phil stood to go after her, she put a hand on his arm. "Give her some time."

There was an anger to Phil that she didn't usually see. "She could have hurt you."

"I know." She murmured. "But she didn't, and you're both upset. Let her get ahold of herself before you talk to her." Phil sat down and she relaxed a little. "Besides," Melinda said slyly, "We both know no one in this apartment can get the upper hand on me."

Phil smiled, despite everything. "That's true."

May stood, picking up the shattered picture frame with a sigh. "We'll need to get a new one."

Phil came up behind her. "The picture's still good?"

"Yeah." She murmured, looking down at it. Their academy graduation. The two of them had been there with a group of friends, laughing, happy. Half of them were dead now.

Melinda swallowed. "We're not sending her away." She said firmly. "Not ever."

Phil gently kissed her cheek, wrapping his arms around her. "I know."

"She's the one who needs to know that."

"I know."

-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Daisy sat on the floor next to her bed, her head buried in a pillow that she hugged close to her chest while useless tears flowing from her eyes. She hated this. Hated it. Why couldn't they just get rid of her already? Phil and Melinda were nice people with a great apartment and good friends who understood what Daisy was feeling. They could cook, they bought things just because she'd stopped to look at them and they thought that those things would make her happy.

And she was happy. She was so happy that she felt like it could choke her.

Happiness like that never lasted. Every time she felt like she was at home, every time she felt like she might be allowed to stay, that family sent her away just like every other. Every home begged her to believe that they were different from the others, but in the end they never were.

In the end there never was a home.

Every sound from outside sent a thrill of fear through her. She didn't want to leave. She wanted to stay with Phil and Melinda in their nice apartment and hang out with their weird friends and hear about missions she wasn't meant to know about. She wanted to go to school and learn to cook from Phil, maybe learn some Chinese from Melinda. She wanted all of that.

But how could she even ask for it now? After everything she had done?

The knock at her door made Daisy look up. She swallowed. There was no way out of this room but the door. No way to just run and save them the trouble.

"Daisy?" It was Phil. Of course it was. He was probably more angry with her than Melinda. He'd put way too much faith in her. "It's me. I'm not angry, can I come in?"

Daisy swallowed. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to look at Phil and see how disappointed he was with her, have him give her the awkward speech about how maybe they just weren't a good fit. She couldn't do it, she knew that much. If she did, she would break.

Phil sighed, looking at the door. "I'm coming in." He said softly. "I just need to talk, I promise."

Seeing Daisy like that, curled up on the floor, her bag hastily half-packed and her eyes red with tears, broke Phil's heart. He didn't even know what to do or say for a moment, and he simply stood, frozen.

Daisy sniffled. "Please don't kick me out." She whispered.

The words broke through Phil's trance. "Oh," He breathed, "No, Daisy..." He crouched down to be on her level. When he reached out one hand for her, Daisy flinched away. "It's okay." Phil tried to comfort, sitting near her. "We're not going to send you away."

Daisy bit down hard on her lip. "Wh-why not?" She asked, feeling her heart jumping in her chest, her breath becoming hiccupy from the excessive crying.

Phil let out a sigh, wishing he could just hold Daisy until her fears went away. He hated that he was one of her fears. "You're going through a rough time." He said. "That doesn't mean you deserve to be alone."

Daisy shuddered, bowing her head. "I'm not your problem though." She said.

"You are," Phil said, "If we decide that you are. And we have. You're allowed to have bad days, but they don't change who you are. You're still the same kid who hacked my computer." He tilted his head to catch her eye. "You never did tell me why you were doing that in the first place."

Daisy sniffed, wiping her eyes. She shouldn't tell him, but she wanted to. "I was looking for my family."

Phil paused, taking the information in. "Well," He said softly. "Maybe you found it."

Daisy finally looked up, biting her lip hard to keep from sobbing. When Phil held her gaze steadily, she shuffled closer to him, eventually leaning against his side ever so slightly. "I-" She swallowed, "I'm sorry- f-for..." She couldn't finish.

"It's okay." Phil soothed, swallowing the lump of emotion in his throat. He fought to keep still, to keep his breathing slow and calm, not to touch her. It was like a bird had come to rest on his hand. The last thing he wanted was to scare her away. Daisy had never reached out to him like this before. Never sought comfort from him.

"I-I've got- I can replace the stuff."

Phil shook his head. "You don't have to. That's not how our family works."

Daisy clung more tightly to the pillow. "Are you sure you- want me?" She whispered.

Phil smiled gently. "Of course we do." He murmured, then hesitated. "Actually, we've been talking about starting the adoption proceedings."

Something inside of Daisy froze at those words. She should feel something, she should say something, but all that she could do was sit there with a strange numbness permeating her entire being. She coughed, clearing her throat. "I- now?"

"Well, now right now, but yeah."

Daisy's shoulders shook. "After- after everything I did?"

Phil looked at her seriously. "Daisy, I promise you, it doesn't matter what you do, we're never going to send you away. You could burn this building to the ground and we wouldn't send you away." She looked like she might going to break down, so he joked, "Of course, I'd rather you didn't burn the building down."

Daisy gave a wet laugh, which made Phil smile.

He paused, not wanting to ruin the moment, but knowing deep down that he had to. "We're not mad at you," He started. "And we're not going to hurt you or kick you out, but... try not to act like this in the future, okay?"

She took a deep breath. "Okay." She said quietly.

Phil sighed. "Here's what I'm thinking." He murmured. "When you're feeling a bit better, you have to apologise to Melinda. And to make up for this... how about you promise you'll start therapy and try to make it work. Does that sound okay?"

Daisy's eyes burned again and her nose stung. "I-I'm not that good at apologising." She whispered. "I- usually they decide what I did- and then..."

For the billionth time, Phil cursed everyone who had hurt her. "When you feel ready." He said. "You shouldn't apologise because I'm telling you to, you should do it because you feel bad for upsetting her."

"You guys didn't look that upset."

Phil rolled his eyes before he could stop himself. "Daisy, we're spies. Hiding emotion is lesson one."

"Oh." Daisy mumbled. "I-I didn't... is she mad?"

Phil shook his head, wishing he could pull her closer. "She's not mad at you. She's just confused and hurt."

Daisy didn't expect that to hurt more. Didn't think anything could hurt more than them being mad at her. She still hadn't really found a lot of common ground with May. Sure, they both had nightmares, but that wasn't really the makings of good conversation. And yet she wanted May to like her, wanted to impress her. Wanted to be part of her life. Daisy swallowed. "I-I didn't mean to..."

Phil took a chance and put one of his hands over hers. Her skin was slightly cold, and he felt her grow still at the contact. "Good start." He said softly. "Maybe sleep on it, talk to her tomorrow."

"Okay." Daisy said, heaving an inward sigh of relief when Phil pushed himself up and was no longer touching her.

Phil extended a hand to her. "Come on. You've been sitting like that for too long, it'll hurt your back."

Daisy, however, stood on her own. She looked down shyly, ashamed of her behaviour. "Sorry I'm such a drama queen." She muttered.

Phil smiled crookedly. "Don't worry, I am too."

Daisy returned the smile hesitantly, and Phil moved to the door. "Get a good night's sleep." He advised. "I'll make waffles for breakfast."

For some reason that hurt too. That after everything she'd broken and how much of Phil's time she had wasted with her dumb baggage, he was going to make breakfast. "You don't have to."

Phil shrugged easily. "I want to though. We've got muesli though, if you're not in the mood for waffles. See how you feel."

"Okay. Thanks."

Phil smiled, opening the door to leave. "Goodnight Daisy."

"Goodnight."