The thing about Skye
Expansion off: She won't let them go (obviously- they're family, damn it)
Daisy hates waiting. Hates having nothing to do to occupy her mind. Because then her mind wanders and the things in her brain aren't very nice. It's a shitty place to be, if left unengaged, so Daisy hates waiting, but here she is anyway.
She didn't think it'd take so long, and she's already snooped through every drawer and under every surface. She shouldn't be so surprised to have found so many weapons, but she guesses even retired spies don't lose their paranoia.
Without snooping to keep her occupied, Daisy perches herself on the windowsill to wait, and tries to think about things other than the doubt trying to wiggle under the surface of her skin. She shoves it away with a ruthlessness she didn't used to have, but she's grown. She's matured from the insecure, whinny, traumatized, little shit that she was.
Daisy chews on the end of her sleeve before catching herself. Forcefully stopping herself.
She has it all under control now. She can love. She can accept love. Even if she hasn't seen Bobbi and Hunter in nearly five years, and was told she never can see them again…
Thankfully, the door bursts open before Daisy can get too lost in the all-too-familiar self-doubt. Unfortunately, Daisy's old teammates come stumbling in, locked at the lips and already shedding clothing even before the door is kicked shut.
"Seriously?!" Daisy groans. For being paranoid enough to have so many stashed firearms and knives, she thought they would have noticed someone broke into their apartment.
"FU-" They rip themselves apart, each diving for a hidden weapon. Only, Daisy found all of them, and they now sit in a pile on the coffee table, because she knows better than to surprise spies- retired or not.
"Yeah, I already found all those," Daisy chirps, insecurities wiped away in the face of her wayward family.
Bobbi rises from her crouch, an incredulous expression on her face.
"Daisy?! What are you doing here?"
"Here to see you guys- duh," Daisy grins as she stands. "Can you please put your shirt back on? Sorry I haven't visited, it kind of got crazy after you guys left. Like, really crazy."
Hunter lunges for Daisy, scooping her up in a huge hug, and she laughs in relief and joy, and clings to his shoulders. When he releases her too soon, she's immediately scooped up into Bobbi's arms, who thankfully has her shirt back in place.
"You shouldn't be here," Bobbi murmurs into the top of her head.
"Like protocol has ever stopped me," Daisy huffs, because even though she's matured, she hasn't matured that much. She clings to Bobbi's arms even as she pulls back, reluctant to lose contact after being separated from these pieces of her family for so long. "I really would have been here sooner, but, like I said, things got a bit crazy and I've been in space the past two years."
"You what?"
"Okay, right. So, um, quick rundown of everything that's happened. Coulson killed Ward, Ward's body got possessed by a space octopus, space octopus mind controlled me into killing a bunch of people. He got blown up in space, I ran away and self-destructed for a while, but then I came back. Everyone got replaced by robots, we killed the robots, and the main robot girl stuck all of us in a hellscape matrix world called the Framework. After that, we got kidnapped by a robot alien and sent to the future where the world was cracked in half and humanity was breeding slaves for the Kree. We got back from the future, Elena got both her arms cut off, we saved the world, Coulson died again, Fitz died- oh don't worry- sorry- Simmons and I went into space and found past Fitz (he took the long way to the future). Coulson came back, but he didn't have any memories- but then it turned out that he was an alien from another dimension hellbent on destroying every planet in the universe. May died, we saved the world, but then May wasn't dead and ended up with empath powers. FitzSimmons invented time travel in two seconds and sent us to the past to preserve the timeline, Coulson was suddenly a robot and died I-don't-know-how-many more times, I got a 90 year old boyfriend, I suddenly have a sister, the timeline became irreparable, and then we came back to this timeline and saved the world again. FitzSimmons suddenly has, like, a four year old kid, the team splits up, and I became a space ambassador with my bio sister from another timeline and my boyfriend who fought in WWI."
They stare at Daisy, and Daisy smiles serenely. It's fine. Everything is fine. A lot has happened, but she has emotional maturity now. She's dealing with it. "So, that's what's happened since you guys left."
"Um." Bobbi's throat bobs as she swallows. "How much of this is classified?"
Daisy shrugs. "All of it? It's fine, you guys are family."
Bobbi pinches the bridge of her nose in deep pain. "That's not-" she sighs deeply. "So, basically we leave and everyone except you, Mack and Simmons dies at least once."
"Oh!" Daisy says. "Sorry, I died, too, after we came back from the past. So, only Mack and Simmons. Oh- and Mack is director now. I was director for like a week, before Coulson died the second time, but I didn't handle that well- so I passed it off to Mack. He's doing a lot better than I was."
Hunter's palm smacks against his forehead. "Who thought it would be a good idea to make you Director."
"Coulson, but to be fair, he was dying and we aren't sure if his mind was deteriorating along with his body. Oh! Coulson and May totally made out. I'm pretty sure they're finally together."
"Oh my god," Bobbi groans, head cradled in her hands as she reaches out blindly for Daisy again. She pulls Daisy into another hug with an exasperated sigh. "I missed you."
Daisy clings to her back, chest fluttering and light. "I missed you guys, too. Love you," she mumbles into Bobbi's shoulder.
"Maybe don't break into our apartment next time," Hunter says, swooping down to embrace them both. "And give us a little warning."
"Maybe I should drop by without warning more often. You guys are rusty."
"We're retired."
"You didn't even notice me. I had to announce myself."
"We were kind of occupied."
"You guys are gross."
"Are you not gross with your boyfriend? Who is this guy anyway? Why did you guys take him out of time? I assume you took him out of time and aren't actually dating a 90 year old…"
"Oh, his name is Daniel Sousa. We kinda didn't want to just let him die, so we had to take him to keep the timeline."
Complete silence descends on the room. They both pull back to look at Daisy with wide eyes.
"...What?"
….
"Aunt Daisy!"
Daisy grins, easily catching the child as she flings herself at her. Alya's hair is a pale stream behind her.
"Hello, my little star," Daisy hums, burying her face close as her chest fills and overflows.
"Purr, Aunt Daisy, purr!" the young girl demands, and Daisy doesn't hold back a happy rumble. She pulses it louder, and releases a soft quake against her, and Alya breaks out into peels of delighted laughter.
Daisy reluctantly lets the girl down when she starts to squirm restlessly, and then she's sprinting as fast as her short legs can carry her back toward her parents. Jemma catches her as she flings herself at her waist.
"Mommy, Aunt Daisy is here and I can actually touch her! She's not a hologram!"
"I can see that, baby," Jemma says, running her fingers through the fair hair Daisy doesn't know who the girl inherited it from. Jemma tried to tell her once, she thinks, but Daisy is more interested in the characteristics that are undoubtedly Jemma and Fitz.
Daisy flings herself at Fitz, first, since his arms are unoccupied, and his arms are a lot like coming home. It amazes her- the relief she feels come over her- after each hug she gets from her old team. Each time, it feels like coming home, and each hug unlocks something deeper in her that she didn't entirely acknowledge she was missing. She couldn't acknowledge it- otherwise she never would have left Earth- left them.
It must have been good for her, or something, because she doesn't feel like she's going to fall completely to pieces anymore.
Daisy sighs shakily. Even with holograms and weekly calls, Daisy missed this. She missed their hugs- their smells- the feel of their vibrations interacting with the world. She couldn't feel any of that in simulations. When designing the tech, Fitz didn't want it too much like the Framework where it could be mistaken as real.
"Move over, Fitz," a voice demands, and Daisy laughs as she is tugged out of his arms and into someone else's. An echo of a memory pings around Daisy's skull as she clings to the new arms and a new piece in her chest is slotted into place.
Jemma's eyes bore into Daisy in a familiar, searching, way as she pulls back. "It's so good that you're back. Where is Daniel?"
Daisy laughs sheepishly. "Placating the Director? I kind of ditched before we could do debrief. Mack hasn't called demanding his jet back, yet, so I figure I have maybe another week before he sends Yo-yo after me. Nice digs, by the way. Definitely nicer than the bunks on base."
Daisy stares up at the castle of a house, rising up into the cloudless blue sky. It's picturesque. The kind of home Daisy always imagined as a child when she dreamed of her parents showing up to take her home.
The melancholic thoughts are shaken away as a small hand slips into Daisy's, giving an excited tug. "Come look at my room, Aunt Daisy!"
Daisy grins at her eager niece and readily follows the child up the marble steps and through the clean hallways. Alya gives her a tour of the entire house, and Daisy eagerly takes in the warm home. Even the labs Alya enthusiastically shows her feel familiar and like home.
"I know you probably won't use it, but we made up the guest room for you," Fitz says when there is a pause in Alya's thorough commentary of her home.
"How'd you know I was coming?"
Jemma snorts. "May called after you crashed her class. Said to expect you to show up soon."
Daisy's cheeks ache with the grin that splits her face.
Fitz is right in that she doesn't end up using the guest room. Once they put Alya to bed and retire to their own room, Daisy hovers just outside the door. She stands there, uncertain of what to do, for only a moment before it opens back up again and Jemma latches onto her wrist with a roll of her eyes.
"Well, come on, then. If you're going to come in, just come in."
Fitz is already crawling into bed in flannel pajama pants and an old t-shirt Daisy recognizes from their early days on the Bus. It's faded and frayed by now, and when Daisy lays her cheek on his chest- it's soft, too. She doesn't know how it has survived all the destruction of multiple ends of the world and the many times the bases have been attacked.
When she closes her eyes, she can almost remember the smell of smoke and smoldering concrete- and her vision flashes with blaring sirens and the screams of dying.
Daisy's eyes fly open, heart racing, and she reaches backward searchingly. Jemma slides into the bed with them, and their vibrations are familiar and alive and more real than the images that play out behind Daisy's closed eyes.
"We're here, Daisy," Jemma says, hugging her from behind. "Go to sleep."
Daisy doesn't sleep, though. She's not tired, and her mind won't quiet, and old memories try to push their way to the surface when she closes her eyes. Daisy doesn't know how long she lays still, in a state of tension, until the door cracks open.
Jemma's arm has loosened around Daisy in her sleep, and it falls away as Daisy sits up fast- tension radiating through her body as she lifts her hand and vibrations hum in her fingertips.
"Mommy?" a sleepy, meek, voice calls from the doorway, and Daisy's arm immediately drops in recognition.
"Hey, baby," Daisy calls softly, and Alya pushes forward into the room. The door remains ajar as she runs into the end of the bed and then crawls up.
"Aunt Daisy? Did you have a nightmare, too?" she asks in a loud whisper that is all gusting breath and noise. A tiny hand gets jabbed in Daisy's soft spots as the small girl worms her way into the non-existent spaces between Daisy and her father. She wiggles and squirms and kicks down until she's good and wedged, and Daisy's heart stutters. "Mommy and Daddy always make my nightmares better."
Daisy reaches out and snuggles down against the child, and she knows Jemma is awake now because she reaches across Daisy's body and strokes Alya's face, but Fitz is still somehow dead to the world even with all the movement.
"Yeah," Daisy whispers back. "They help my nightmares, too," she tells the child who is already yawning and ducking her head up under Daisy's chin.
"Don't worry," Jemma hums groggily, "We will protect both of you."
"I know, Mommy," Alya sighs before her breathing evens out.
Daisy hesitates a little longer before quietly mimicking the unwavering faith. "I know."
The images are gone. The tension chased away. Daisy's eyes droop in sleepiness despite the rest she got only 24 hours ago.
With adopting the child's faith that her dreams will be protected by the others in the bed with her, Daisy lets herself sleep.
A/N: Attention, my wonderful readers! I've gotten kind of stumped about any new chapters (other than the ones I already am currently working on and editing), so I've decided to try something new, to me, that I'm kind of excited about (for the moment).
Send me your favorite ship with Skye/Daisy, and I'll make a chapter on it taking place in this little expanded universe I've made. If you want to, you can specify if you want an already existing chapter to expand on the pairing, or I can make an entirely new chapter focusing on it. If there is just a pairing you want to see and don't care about anything else, I'll attempt to use my own prerogative. You can try to say if you want fluff or angst, but it really just depends on what ends up getting spit out of my head.
These separate little ship chapters will just be a link at the end of one of the normal chapters, so if you don't want ships, or specific ones, you don't ever have to see it. I will say what ship you will be following the link to, so that part won't be a surprise.
Let me know what you guys think! On this chapter as well, please, if you have anything to say about it.
~Silver~