Phil got back home not long after sunrise. He opened the front door carefully, to avoid possibly waking the girls. Melinda was probably awake already, but Daisy had proved to like sleeping in whenever she could get away with it.
He was surprised to find the apartment silent when he entered, no noise of Melinda trying to make breakfast, or even the almost silent sounds of her tai chi. However, he was even more surprised at what he found on the couch.
Daisy. And Melinda. Both sound asleep, sitting side by side. They both looked so peaceful that it made Phil's heart ache.
Before he could stop himself, he leaned quietly over Melinda's sleeping form, gently combing his fingers through her hair. "I love you." He murmured.
She stirred, mumbling senselessly as she blinked herself awake. "I know."
Phil smiled. "You two had a girls night, huh?"
Melinda smiled back sleepily. "Something like that." She said softly, glancing to Daisy.
Both realised at the same time that they had never seen Daisy asleep before. "She looks so calm." Phil said softly. "You both do."
May kissed him gently. "It was a good night."
"I'm glad." He murmured, "But she does have school today."
"Eh, she could skip it." Melinda teased with a smirk. "She's a smart kid."
Phil glowered and she leaned over to gently nudge Daisy. "Hey." May said softly. "Daisy."
Daisy jumped back into consciousness, recoiling back from May's touch with wide eyes before she remembered where she was and relaxed. She smiled. "Morning." She said. "You're back."
"Just got home." Phil smiled, liking how happy and relaxed she seemed. "But you've got school soon."
"Oh yeah." Daisy pushed herself up so that she was sitting straight. "How long until we have to go?"
"Enough time for breakfast." Melinda said, dramatically batting her eyes at Phil.
He groaned. "You're lucky I love you."
"Mmhm." She hummed, and Phil shucked off his jacket, rolling up his sleeves as he went to the kitchen.
"Any requests?" He asked, looking around.
May looked to Daisy, who tentatively said. "Pancakes?"
Phil beamed. "Coming right up." He said, rifling through the cupboards. "Go and get ready for school, give me fifteen minutes."
Daisy smiled and she seemed a lot less hesitant than she had before. "Okay." She said.
When the door to her room closed behind her, Phil turned to Melinda. "What did you do?" He asked, astonished. "She's- I don't know, she's just... she asked for pancakes! She's happy!"
May rolled her eyes, moving to wrap her arms around him. "Later." She promised. "I'll tell you everything later."
Phil smiled crookedly, pulling her closer for a kiss. "I missed you."
She cocked her head, looking at him reproachfully. "You were gone for less than a day."
"Yeah, and I missed you."
Melinda rolled her eyes again, but looked away. "I missed you too." She muttered.
Phil laughed softly, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "How did you ever get through your vows?" He teased.
"Force of will."
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Melinda emerged from the shower a few minutes before Phil returned from dropping Daisy off at school. She had just changed into her jeans and a black T-shirt, damp hair brushing her neck, when the front door opened.
Phil smiled. He looked like he was bouncing, actually. "She's got Computer Science today."
"I know." She said, dragging a brush through her hair. "She was excited about it."
Phil huffed, leaning against the bathroom door. "She tells you things."
Melinda smirked. "Are you jealous?"
"No."
"Good." She said shortly. "She needs both of us. She needs all the support she can get."
"I know, I know." Phil said. "I just... She'd never fall asleep in the same room as me."
May put the brush down and looked at him out of the corner of her eye. "You know why." She murmured.
"Of course I do." He sighed. "I hate that I know why, I-I hate that I scare her like that when I'd never hurt her." He stopped for a beat. "I just want her not to feel that way ever again."
"You can't fix her Phil."
"I know." He murmured, noting the double meaning. "I just want her to be happy."
"She is." Melinda said softly, with the hint of a smile.
Phil watched her, eyes soft, until she approached. He let his hands rest on her hips, smiling at her. "I love you so much."
She shook her head, the smile growing. "You always say that."
"It's always true."
Melinda scoffed, burying her head in his chest. "You're a sap."
"You're the one who's blushing."
"Am not."
Phil laughed softly, tugging her into the living room. "Come on, you need to tell me everything about your little girls night."
The two fell onto the couch and Melinda snorted. "Well, first we braided each other's hair-" She teased, getting a poke in the ribs.
"Nice try." Phil grinned, an arm around her shoulders.
May smiled and shrugged against him. "We just talked." She said softly. "I ordered Chinese food, we watched a movie and... talked."
"What, all evening?" Phil said, feigning concern. "I didn't know you could talk that much."
She snorted, punching him gently. "Shut up." When he obeyed and was quiet, Melinda continued. "I showed her how to use chopsticks." She said softly. "She kept trying to say the Chinese phrases from the movie, and... she asked me what I see in my nightmares."
Phil's arm tightened around her. He'd spent a long time trying to keep from asking her that question. May continued. "I asked her what she sees in hers." She murmured. "And after I told her, she told me what she dreams about."
Phil was silent for several seconds, processing, imagining, realising how very similar the two of them actually were. After a minute of silence he curled closer to her, resting his head against hers. "I'm proud of you." He said softly. "I know it's hard to talk about."
"I had to though." May said. "For her."
Phil hummed in agreement, "Still." He said. "It's good."
When Melinda was silent, he asked, "Have you got work today?"
She shook her head. "No. You?"
"No. They gave me the day off after the mission."
A smirk grew on May's face. "So we've got the house to ourselves all day?"
Phil grinned. "Yep." He stretched, going to stand. "Well, I think I need a nap." Before he could take a single step, Melinda had pulled him back by the arm. He stumbled, lost his balance, and landed half on top of her, both of them laughing even as their lips crashed together.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
It was several hours later when Phil went to pick Daisy up from school, but he still had that smile on his face. His girls were doing good. He watched as kids spilled from the main school entrance, heading for busses and cars, waiting until he saw Daisy emerge.
With others. Friends. Phil wasn't surprised that she had made friends, but he was relieved. She was a great kid, she deserved to have some friends.
Making a decision, Phil got out of the car. "Daisy!" He called, waving, "Over here!" He knew he was pulling a majorly embarrassing move, but he didn't care. Maybe she needed an embarrassing dad for once.
He walked over to her and her friends, watching some of them disperse. "Hey!" He greeted. "Let me get your bag."
Daisy looked down, clearly embarrassed. "It's fine." She muttered.
Phil grinned. "Hi." He greeted the remaining girls, "I'm-" In that split second he realised the hole he'd dug himself. Daisy wasn't comfortable calling him 'dad', that much was clear. But introducing himself as Daisy's guardian would out her as being a foster kid. "I'm Phil." He settled on, shaking one girl's hand. "What's your name?"
The girl smiled. She had bright blonde hair and glasses. "I'm Felicity." She said, "Nice to meet you." She caught sight of her mom across the car park. "I'll see you tomorrow Daisy!" She said brightly, hurrying over to them.
Phil grinned at Daisy, walking to the car with her. "How was school?"
She smiled in a way he had never seen before. "Really good." Daisy said warmly, eyes darting back to the car park. "I had Computer Science, that's where I met Felicity."
"You had fun?"
"Yeah." Daisy grinned, climbing into the car. "We're both way better at it than the teacher."
Phil gave her a reproachful look. "Don't tell your teacher that."
"He'd never believe it anyway." She said, waving a hand. "He said that girls aren't good at computers."
Phil grimaced, annoyed. "I think I've got five feet of proof to the contrary right here."
"Five feet two inches." She muttered.
He smiled thinly, pulling away from the school. "I've got half a mind to complain about that guy."
"Please don't." Daisy said quietly.
The fear and timidity there made Phil's anger at the teacher melt away. Daisy didn't need him making a fuss. For now all she wanted was to pass under the radar, be ordinary. "Okay." He said. "As long as you know that that's not true."
"I hacked a government organisation from a broken laptop."
"Did you?" Phil asked, feigning surprise. "When was that?"
Daisy snorted and he smiled. He was getting better at cheering her up. "But other than that guy, school was good? It looks like you made some friends."
"Yeah, me and Felicity had lunch, CS was right before break." Daisy said, looking off into the distance. "She's really funny. But kind of a dork."
"Not that there's anything wrong with being a dork." Phil said, gently nudging her.
"Sure." Daisy grinned. She was surprised at how happy she felt. She'd had a passable first day of school, a really fun night with Melinda, eating really spicy food and watching movies, and now she'd had her first CS class, where she'd met Felicity. There was a deep contentment settled in her stomach, but also this voice inside that said this could be normal. That it was already becoming normal.
Maybe someday, this kind of thing wouldn't even warrant a thought, let alone that bubbly happy feeling inside. For now, though, that feeling was there, and she would savour it for as long as she could.
-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-
Melinda tried to keep from smirking as she listened to Daisy babble about school. It was good that she had fun, that she'd made friends. School could be a nightmare for some, and Daisy had more than enough nightmares as it was.
Though given how much she talked about this Felicity and the look in her eyes as she did, Melinda doubted that Daisy was just happy to have made some friends.
She hoped that Daisy knew that they didn't care what her sexuality was. But it was probably a little early to have that conversation. Well, to make Phil have that conversation. Not that he seemed to have noticed.
No. For now Daisy should just enjoy her little crush, and they would have the conversation later, when the time was right.
They were all happy now, Daisy was laughing at Phil as he dramatically lip-synched into a wooden spoon, dinner simmering on the stove. It had been a good twenty-four hours. For the first time since Bahrain, she genuinely felt like things were getting better.
After dinner, Daisy excused herself to her room to do her homework. Half an hour later, Melinda decided to make some tea. "Daisy, do you want some tea?" She called.
"Sure!" Daisy said back. "Thanks!"
May couldn't help shooting Phil a smirk as she made two cups of tea and one of coffee. He rolled his eyes and grinned, but said nothing. He didn't need to.
She stirred in Daisy's sugar, removed the bag, and blew gently on the cup before taking it to her room. Melinda knew that something was different from the moment she entered, but it wasn't until she put the mug down on Daisy's bedside table that she realised what it was.
Daisy had the blanket Melinda had gotten her all those weeks ago wrapped around her. The blanket that had, until now, been left sitting, carefully folded in the wardrobe, along with the stuffed dog Phil had got her.
May masked her surprise and instead of commenting on the blanket, said, "Need any help with your homework?"
Daisy looked up. "No, I've got it." She said with a smile. "But thanks." She hesitated, seeing in May's eyes that she'd noticed the blanket. "And... thanks for this too." She said, pulling it more tightly around herself. "I was kind of cold, and it's really nice."
"I'm glad it helps." She said softly.
"It does."
"Good." May said, "Now get on with your homework."
Daisy grinned. "Yes ma'am."
Daisy continued with her homework, wrapped in her blanket with her bedroom door open, for another twenty minutes. After she had drained her cup and read a book for a little while, she felt her limbs growing heavy from fatigue, and stood to wish Phil and Melinda good night.
"Hey." She greeted softly, and the two both looked up from their work. "I'm kind of tired, so I thought I'd hit the hay."
Both nodded. "Shower in the morning?" Phil asked, noting that she hadn't that evening.
"Yeah."
He nodded. "Night night Daisy."
She smiled sleepily. "Goodnight." She said softly, turning to go back to her room. She closed the door behind her, but when her finger found the lock she hesitated, and after a moment, left it unlocked.
Both Phil and Melinda stopped their work when they heard no click of the lock on Daisy's door. Their eyes found each other, surprised yet hopeful. "Did she..." Phil asked.
Melinda nodded. "Yeah." She said, knowing that Daisy had been under the belief that they couldn't hear her locking the door at all. She wasn't doing this to prove something to them. She was doing it because she felt safe.
She felt at home.