The thing about Skye
Expansion off: She doesn't talk about it
When Dr. Garner said, as her shrink, that one day she would have to face herself- that she would come face-to-face with her past and not be able to hide from it, she didn't think it would be so literal. He probably didn't mean it like this, either.
Regardless, Daisy finds herself frozen, staring her eleven-year-old self in the eyes. One of Skye's eyes is black, along with almost the entire rest of that side of her face being swollen and just mishappen enough to twist something instinctual and wrong in anyone's gut, but it makes Daisy's burn and churn. She has a busted lip, too, crusted with blood and run over again with another layer of red.
Daisy had a habit of chewing on her lips when she was younger. It always made her split lips take forever to heal when she'd just gnaw the wound right back open. Shit, was Daisy really that skinny back then? How did no one notice?
She's too small for this to be the right time. She shouldn't fit in that closet so well. Daisy remembers the closets being unbearably small- the walls so close that they'd be crushing her. They are crushing her now, and she's the one standing outside it, staring into the depths like an idiot.
"Daisy? Daisy, we have to go now." A hand is laid on her shoulder, and she breaks her gaze away from her own wide, younger, eyes, only for it to land on the crumpled body. Mr. Fields. His face is peeling off and little lights spark from the Chronicom, metallic, crater of his face. She doesn't remember doing that. Her knuckles throb violently.
Her anger spikes in response, burning hot and painful. Anger at Mr. Fields and everyone like him, anger at her teachers and neighbors who never caught it, and anger at her younger self for being targeted, and hurt, and making Daisy face this period of her life all over again.
"Daisy," the voice breaks in again, and Daisy finally comes back to herself, the sound rushing in. "Grab Skye. Let's go. I hear sirens."
She turns back to Skye. Forces herself not to freeze this time. She reaches down and very carefully lifts her to her feet by the front of her jacket. Skye immediately smacks Daisy's hands away, curling into herself and pressing herself into the corner even though Daisy knows she wants out. Just, sometimes staying in is safer. Especially when faced with an unknown.
"Who the hell are you people? Did you just kill Mr. Fields?"
"Mr. Fields was already dead. That wasn't him." Not that Daisy wouldn't have done the exact same thing with the real Mr. Fields. Her fists clench reflexively, stretching her heartbeat around her knuckles. She wonders why her instinct was to punch his face in, instead of quake it. She waves at the body. "Now, you can try to explain this, before going back to St Agnes, and get shipped to the next shit-hole in a few weeks, or you can come with us and get some answers."
Skye doesn't really have a choice, because the Chronicoms will still be trying to kill her, but it'd be a lot easier if she wasn't fighting them the entire time. Besides, Daisy knows how much they hated it at the orphanage. Nearly as much as the closets. But, like the closets, sometimes it was safer just to stay there.
"I'll go with you," Skye says quickly, and stumbles out into the hallway where the sparking Chronicom is even more visible to her. She stares until Daisy reaches for her, to drag her along, and Skye instantly shoves her hands away with a "Don't touch me!"
Right. She forgot what a little asshole she was.
That's the only protest she gives as she follows her, Coulson, and May's quick pace back to the Zephyr.
And in that whole time, Skye's eyes don't leave Daisy's face until they are walking up the ramp of their plane/time ship. Her wide gaze takes in everything as she quickly scrambles after them.
"I'll get us in the air," May says, striding past while shooting a dark look at Skye's injuries. Daisy knows what the look was for, but Skye flinches away from May and ducks behind Daisy. Daisy's fists clench again as May's expression blanks from the move. But before Daisy can offer any defense of her past self, she's already gone.
Jaw clenching, Daisy looks down at herself. Skye is already looking up at her again, and her eyes are shining in wonder.
"You look just like me. Are… are you my mom? Are we aliens?"
"That's… complicated. But, no, I'm not your mom, kid."
She feels… A bit like she's dying. She wishes that Coulson would step in and take control like he always does. He remains silent, just observing.
"Oh my god," a gasp draws their attention as Simmons appears out of the lab. "What happened? How close of a call was it?!" The doctor descends on them, fretting over the child's obvious injuries, and while Daisy relaxes into the familiar worry, Skye stiffens up and dodges the overbearing scientist with wide eyes. Jemma quickly herds them both into the med-bay.
"It wasn't the Chronicoms that hurt her," Coulson reveals darkly. It was actually the least dramatic Cronicom encounter they've ever had. Daisy doesn't even remember it past seeing Mr. Fields going after her young self.
Simmons pauses in her mad, but efficient, scramble for medical supplies. "Then how did this happen," she waves at Skye's entire, general, pitiful appearance.
Simultaneously, both Skye and Daisy roll their eyes and say, "Don't worry about it. It's not that bad."
Skye narrows her eyes at Daisy. The doctor does too.
Jemma slowly starts moving again, setting her gauze and disinfectant gently on the table next to Skye's leg. She sits stiffly on the counter already, now that she knows the fretting lady is a doctor (though she's a far more manic doctor than she's ever encountered before).
"This happen a lot?" Jemma inquires, distracting Skye from Daisy again.
Daisy would be grateful, if it wasn't for the line of questioning.
"Sure," Skye shrugs, letting Simmons baby her injuries with only a slight grimace. And the something that's been slowly coiling in Daisy finally releases, suddenly and violently.
"Shut your fucking mouth," she snaps, the building unease and panic of being here, in this time, with Skye sitting right there, warping and sharpening enough that it bursts out (seemingly) unexpectedly. It makes everyone in the room jump. She continues, snarling viciously at her younger self. "Don't get your hopes up. You're not staying."
"I know!" Skye burst back, defensively, in her own explosive anger. But Daisy knows her. Was her.
"Then stop it, stop thinking, and get in through your thick head that no one is going to want you."
"Fuck you!" at the same time as-
"Daisy!" Jemma gasps. Shocked. Horrified. Glaring at Daisy like she's a monstrous person, and it only makes Daisy's anger sharper and more wild. A beaker across the room explodes into shards.
"What, Jemma," she demands, whirling on the scientist. "I'm right here. I'm right here. You wanna know? Ask me. Me, not her." Daisy suddenly notices the other people that weren't there when they first came on board, but must have searched them out once the Zephyr lifted off. Enoch, Mack, Elena, Deke. Daniel. She turns her glare, her overwhelmed fury, on them. They are just standing there. Watching.
"What the fuck are you looking at?! Get out!" They are shoved backward with a forceful wall of vibrations- Daisy just wanting them to go- to leave- and they quickly scatter as more beakers and glass shatter.
Simmons' entire being droops, her flash of righteous anger draining out of her with a single exhale. "It's not… She's not you. She won't be you. It can be different. The timeline-"
"She's me," Daisy snaps. "That's my past you're asking her about."
"Because you don't tell us anything! It's been years, and the only things we know about your past are the things we accidentally find out or what we can infer for ourselves, and it's clearly not enough to help you! You won't let us help you! But maybe Skye will."
Daisy's heart is beating too wildly, and the things on the shelves are rattling to the point that they are going to start falling off soon. She needs to get a grip. They are in the air right now. She can't lose control, but her nerves are on fire trying to hold back the building waves of distress.
The plane rocks with turbulence.
"That's-" Daisy's voice cracks painfully. Her throat is too tight, like there is a hand wrapped around it, slowly closing off her airways. She needs to let loose some vibrations. She needs to breathe.
She starts purring, weakly. Not her comfortable, happy rumbles, but the kind like sick and dying cats do
"That's not how it works. There's a lot she hasn't even experienced yet."
"That's a good thing, Daisy. The timeline is already entirely different from ours, and we are still here, still have our memories. We aren't trying to keep it the same anymore. What if we can make it better?"
The fight leaves her as quickly as it came, and Daisy is left helplessly staring at Jemma. Not even a week ago, she was arguing to let Hydra rise and kill millions, all for the sake of keeping the future on track. Now it's Daisy's past she wants to try to fix? Out of all the other things they can be doing to make the future better, now that they aren't worried about changing the timeline?
A small voice breaks through the silence. "...You're me from the future?" She honestly kind of forgot that Skye was still there at all, despite being the one they are fighting about.
"Yeah, kid," Daisy sighs tiredly, running both hands over her face and through her hair. She can't think. She needs to think (her brain needs to shut up).
"M'not a kid," Skye grumbles.
"Yeah you are. You're just a kid." Daisy slumps backward against the table her younger self is perched on. Her entire body hurts. Everything is too loud.
Her younger self's knees are pulled up to her chest, and Daisy knows exactly what she's feeling by that. Vulnerable and scared. She wants to pull her own knees up to her chest to hug and ground herself, but she doesn't. Even that energy is gone.
She anticipates the next hesitant question before she even asks it. "So I- we- never got adopted? Did we ever find out what happened to our parents? I'm learning computers- I'm actually pretty good. Eventually I'll be able to-"
"No, we never got adopted."
"Oh." The disappointment in her voice hurts, too. It hurts because, despite those notes, there is no surprise in it. "Yeah, I figured."
Jemma closes the distance and tugs Daisy sideways into a tight hug. Some of the helplessness falls away, but not nearly enough of it.
"Not until she was already an adult, at least. She has a big, big, family now, and we love her really a lot. Even though she can be stubborn and frustrating at times."
Skye perks up, smiling brightly. The action makes her lip start bleeding again. Jemma stiffens, and then seems to use her hug to physically restrain herself from restarting first aid. The injuries, while brutal looking, are clearly fine for now. She will satisfy her environment-grown-doctor-instincts later.
"And our parents?"
Jemma hugs her tighter as Daisy stiffens. "Yeah we- I found our parents, but it's… AC, help me out? What should I…?"
Coulson, who had still been entirely silent up until that point, gives her a weak smile. "You know her best. Whatever you think you should tell her."
She hesitates, staring at the scowl slowly starting to replace Skye's eager smile, before Daisy scoffs and rolls her eyes. "Fuck it. Nothing I say will convince you not to go looking. Turns out we are descendants of an ancient, part-alien, race and our mom is their almost immortal leader. We were kidnapped as a baby and she was tortured. Our dad found her body, thought she was dead, and went insane looking for us, becoming a mass murderer in the process. Our mom, who didn't actually die, tried to kill all the humans on Earth because of her fear after what happened to her, but then she tried to kill us when we tried to stop her, but then dad ended up killing her for real just to protect us."
Skye gapes. "...Holy shit." She's so in shock, she doesn't even wince or check over her shoulder for angry nuns.
"Yeah. Holy shit," Daisy agrees. Daisy does check for the nuns, but it's an absent minded, habitual movement that she hasn't done in a while. Being in this time is messing with her head. She can't wait for the next jump. Her head throbs.
Daisy straightens up, pulling out of the little comfort of Jemma's arms. Her eyes lock on the ground, too tired to bother trying to make eye contact or put on a facade of being fine.
"I need you guys to… handle this. I- I can't. I don't know what to do. You can help her. Please help her. If you want her to cooperate, just- tell her the truth. Be very blunt about it, or she won't trust it at face value and she'll go behind your back to find out anyway."
Daisy strides out of the room, pressing the heels of her hands into her eye sockets, and leaves the fate of younger self in the hands of her team. It's fine. That kid will grow up to be so fucking happy with them working the problem. Daisy would just screw it up for her, somehow.
A/N: So I didn't originally plan for Daisy to blow up at Skye- I was thinking a sweet, overprotective, reaction, but then Simmons asked if it happened a lot and Daisy decided to blow. I really couldn't help it. How do you guys think Daisy would have reacted in this scenario?
~Silver~