A/N: ATTENTION: this will be the last chapter for a while, probably, because it's the last one I have fully written. I'm about to get very busy, but I'll still try to work on the few current ideas I have half written and/or plan to start writing at some point.

In the meantime, I'm always willing to take suggestions and ideas that you guys want to see.

The thing about Skye

Expansion off: She has abandonment issues

It's been a very bad, no good, day. Usually, Daisy likes days completely filled with just hacking- there have been fewer and fewer missions where that is her primary role, and she kind of misses it- but this bastard is giving her a hard time.

She's better than him, of course, but this guy is annoying in that there's no way to work around the walls erected and jump straight to the end. She has to work through each one, and follow all the tails leading all over the world- and basically it's just over all annoying.

At the moment, she'd rather be training with May than hacking this turd.

Since she's in the main control center on base, people breeze in and out all day, and Daisy doesn't immediately pay attention to the soft footsteps sneaking up on her. But then there is a clinking of a dish being set down on the table beside her, and the sound of a plate getting pushed closer.

Daisy spares a quick glance to the side, and can't help smiling at the carefully arranged fruit. She finds it amusing that it's May of all people who likes to make the food into pretty shapes.

"Thanks, mom," Daisy says absently, and then furrows her brow as she once again has to quickly backtrack because she accidentally went down a false trail.

May doesn't say anything, but she lingers for a moment, and Daisy even thinks she might have brushed a hand against her shoulder before leaving without further interaction. Like every time Daisy is touched, a fluttery anxious longing claws at her chest and she almost abandons her task to reach for her SO.

Obviously, she doesn't. Now isn't the time to let her clinginess out.

A sigh comes from one of the rolling chairs beside Daisy, making her twitch. "Must be nice being able to work with your mom," the agent Daisy had kicked out of her current seat comments, idly twirling in the spinning chair in boredom.

Daisy blinks, and almost trips an alarm. "Wow, that was racist."

"What?" The other agent sputters.

"You assuming she's my mom. Is it because we're both Asian?"

There is a moment of silence where Daisy imagines a shameful expression being directed, but instead, it's a voice full of disbelief rather than an apology. "Are you serious right now?"

"Uh, huh," Daisy says, not looking up from the screen.

"Agent Johnson, look over at me for a second." Daisy does, just for a moment, before looking again. Slightly yellow tinted skin and slanted almond eyes. Overall Asian features, and Daisy feels thrown.

"But- then why would you assume that May was my mom?" Daisy sputters and flushes.

"Because you called her mom?" the agent suggests, and Daisy's fried, overworked, sleep-deprived, brain spins backward in time to go through her short interaction with May again.

Oh. She did call her mom, and hadn't even agonized about it this time, beforehand.

"And- also-" she waves a vague hand at Daisy's snack. "-You know."

"My snack?" Daisy asks.

The other agent frowns. "You know, the fruit."

"So?" Daisy, presses, suddenly feeling like this is important. She abandons the string of code, spinning her chair to fully face the other woman. If her inactivity trips an alarm and she has to start over, she'll start over. "What about the fruit?"

"Oh," the agent utters with an uncomfortable shrug. She leans sideways against the desk, propping her cheek against her fist in the picture of interest. "It's a mom thing in Asian culture. Cutting fruit. It's, like, their way of saying 'I love you' to their kids because they're shit at saying it in words."

Daisy's chest bursts into a swarm of violent hornets stinging and raging inside her rib cage. She clenches a fist and releases it. Then the other. Then both.

"That's… that's what it means?"

"Yeah. Basically."

Daisy presses her hands into the chair between her knees, clutching the edge of it to keep from leaping immediately to her feet in a burst of anxiety and a need to move. "What do I, that is- the kids- do to say…" Daisy struggles with the words for a moment before just jabbing a finger at the plate. "How do they say- that- back? Is there, like, a response? Am I supposed to respond?"

The woman looks at Daisy with dark, calculating, eyes. There is a small glimmer of amusement in them.

"There's not really a response? I mean, if you were a kid, I'd say to get good grades and eat all your food." Daisy spirals for a moment. She got awful grades in school and she still struggles to finish all her food, even though she has gained some weight and now eats more consistent meals. "But since you're not a kid- I don't know- get her a gift maybe? Just look to spend time with her, or cook her a meal. Seriously, you can never go wrong with food."

Daisy calms slightly. Cooking. Spending time with May. She can do that. She already kind of does that when she helps Coulson in the kitchen with their cooking lessons. Maybe she could- she could get May a gift, too? Just in case.

But what kind of gift could she get the super secret special agent? Some knives?

Daisy starts to spiral again as she catches sight of the plate of fruit and remembers that she's supposed to eat all her food, and she hasn't even touched it yet. She was just going to casually snack on it while she worked and not even pay it the proper attention and appreciation. She'd been calling the grapes eyeballs as she ate them, and laughed at them!

Daisy yanks the plate toward herself with wide eyes. She didn't know. Should she have known? She should have known.

Daisy stuffs several pieces in her mouth and kind of feels like she's going to burst into tears.

"Whoa. Are you okay?" the Asian agent asks hesitantly, staring at Daisy. The amusement is gone. Daisy swallows and bobs her head.

"Uh huh. Fine. I, uh… I have to go." Daisy stands abruptly, clutching the plate protectively to her chest as she makes her way toward the door. She needs to find a gift.

"Hey, wait; did you, uh, finish this? Do we have a location?"

Daisy spins again back toward the computer, eyes wide. "Right! I need to…" Daisy shoves some more fruit into her mouth and retakes her seat to continue the hack. This is like… like school work. She needs to get good grades. Except, she's never gotten above a C in her life, and didn't even finish highschool, so maybe she shouldn't pretend this is school work.

The other agent's eyes bore into the side of Daisy's head. "You are way overthinking this fruit thing."

Maybe Daisy can figure out this gift thing while she hacks. And eats. And plans to maybe figure out how to drag Coulson out of his office tonight to help her make dinner. Wait, does it count if he helps?

A/N: Please let me know what you think!

~Silver~