Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was so quick.

Daisy didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.

They’d been about to go on a mission. It was supposed to be normal; a completely regular scouting mission of an old warehouse that was suspected to have an 084.

Everything was going right, until everything went wrong-

Elena was the first to go.  She yelled on comms that her legs were disappearing.

(Everyone thought it was a splinter bomb, at first. Then they thought it was the 084. They didn’t know it was Thanos until after everyone had been long gone.)

A stream of rapid fire curses in portugese hit them until they stopped. Elena’s heart monitor screamed at the base that she was gone.

Gone, just like that. A fire that burned bright was now... gone.

“Yoyo? Yoyo!” Mack was yelling into his comm device. He’d been running point. “Check in! Elena!” 

Daisy had decided to stay back for that mission. She had just returned from space with Fitz and was too compromised and tired to go out. She had planned on observing, but began to panic when Elena went silent. She started checking in with everyone else on the others: May, Coulson, Piper, Lowell, and Miller. She stole Davis’ computer and began accessing their heart monitors.

“No, nononono,” she muttered as she saw May’s heart monitor flatline. “Crap! Mack!” She looked up to tell him that they needed to be pulled out, but there was nobody there. He was gone. “What the fuck? Davis-” she turned to look at the communications agent, but he was gone too. She looked around as roughly half of the people in the room began turning to dust. “What the hell?” 

She turned around as the large screen in front of them displayed that Coulson and Miller went dark as well.

“Piper! What happened?!” She said into the mic. 

“I- I dunno, they turned into dust! I’m with Lowell right now, east corner.”

“Retreat. Come back right now!”

“Copy.”

Daisy swallowed and stood up, looking at the remaining people's faces in horror. They all looked at her. 

“What do we do?” One of the younger agents asked. 

“Uh. Um.” She stared at them blankly, vaguely realizing she was going into shock before remembering that Fitz and Jemma were upstairs. She took off, sprinting around corners of the lighthouse and heading up the elevator. She started gulping in fast, panicked breaths and shot out of the elevator when the doors opened to the lab floor.

She heard screaming.

“No, no!” She stopped at the large doorway of the main lab to see four or so agents in tears. None of them were FitzSimmons. 

“What happened?!” she demanded.

“We don’t know! They- they just crumbled into ash!” Agent Tracy responded, her face red and stained with tears.

Fuck.

“Including Fitz and Simmons?”

A couple of them nodded. Daisy felt her legs go weak under her, then took a deep breath to steady herself. 

“Okay,” she said, taking temporary charge. “I need everyone to make their way down to the operations room. Understood?” A few of them answered in the affirmative, so she left. In the elevator, she restrained herself from breaking down and crying. 

They’re not dead. They’re not. They can’t be.

When the doors opened, she grit her teeth and pretended to have an air of calm so the others wouldn’t panic. She strode into the operations room falsely confident, seeing that quite a few more agents had arrived. Everyone looked bleary eyed and terrified, though some masked it better than others. 

“Ma’am,” one of the agents caught her attention, “Look at the news.”

Daisy watched for a few seconds as the news reported half of the world being wiped out of existence.

She couldn’t breathe.

“Uh- okay. Okay.” She turned away from the monitors and addressed the room.  “Everyone!” They all fell silent. “We need to keep our heads about us. I’m not sure what happened, but I have a feeling the 3.5 billion people-” she swallowed, “-left will need someone to protect them. That’s us, alright? Work through the pain. We’ll get to the bottom of this. For now, I need this to happen.”

Everyone looked at her with their full attention. Daisy swallowed. “Decker, Whill, I need you two to get in touch with the US government. Find out who’s dead there. Fedder and Davis, I need you to take your strike team to the streets. Make sure that nobody is taking advantage of this to commit crimes.” As she listed off jobs, the agents wiped their tears and walked off to complete their missions.

Once the room was mostly empty, she saw Piper walk in with Lowell. In 3 quick steps, she hugged the last person alive in her family and broke down for the first time since everyone began disappearing.

Piper just held her.

“We’ll help them. We’ll fix this,” Piper soothed as she helped Daisy crumble to the floor. They sat there for a moment, the last two of the core SHIELD family left, for all they knew, and cried.

They all were gone. Sweet, funny Fitz, badass, caring May, her family . They were gone.

“Director,” someone said as they walked into the room. Daisy looked up, startled. “Director Johnson,” The agent clarified. Daisy sighed and wiped her tears, shouldering her burden, and walked over to the man.  After helping him, she looked back up at the large display showing terrorism running rampant and steeled herself for what was to come.

Piper walked up behind her. “Welcome to the end of the world,” she muttered.

End of the world, indeed.

Chapter Text

They came back in the exact spot they left in. They were still outside of the warehouse, sans Piper and Lowell. They didn’t have their comms or their guns.

“Did- did we- what the hell?” May stared at Coulson. She knew something was wrong; something had happened. She just had no idea what.

Phil gaped at her before moving forwards and folding May into his arms, where she rested her head on his chest. “You turned to dust.” He turned to Elena. “So did you.”

Melinda sighed. “We have to get back to base.”

The four of them found a jeep and hotwired it to get back through the town to the Lighthouse. Along the way, they noticed people stumbling around and yelling at each other. There were a lot of disoriented men and women arguing and breaking into stores, but a small percentage were hugging each other and laughing and crying. There was trash along the road and lots of crashed cars that looked really old. 

“There’s no way all of this happened in the ten minutes we were on the mission.”

“Agreed.”

“Maybe the 084 froze us in time or something?” Miller asked.

“Then why does it look a little like a reverse apocalypse?” Elena pointed out.

Nobody had an answer so they just sat in silence, tension pooling in their stomachs.

They arrived at the lighthouse fairly quickly due to the minimal traffic. There was nobody at the entrance, but the inside of the base was haywire. Agents were running around yelling and crying.

“What?” May shot Phil a look. "What is going on?"

Before he could answer, they saw FitzSimmons at the end of the hallway hugging each other and crying. “Jemma!” Elena ran forward and put her hand on her shoulder. “What happened?”

“We- um- you should come to the operations room.” she said with a weak smile. She pulled Elena into a hug and then acknowledged Phil and Melinda with a nod. The 5 of them (Miller walked off at some point) weaved through all of the agents and went down the elevator downstairs.

The large, spacious operations room was also in chaos, but it seemed for a different reason then the rest of the town and the base. There were agents on 10 times as many computers as there were when they’d left. They were all speaking into comms rapidly, overlapping each other. 

Two agents were keeping any of the agents from the hallway from entering, but allowed the five of them to enter. They were herded to the second floor balcony, overlooking mission control, where they found Mack.

Upon noticing them, he buried his face into Yo yo and squeezed her tight. He then proceeded to explain exactly what happened.

“An alien named Thanos got access to these 6 infinity stones that gave him unlimited power. After fighting the Avengers, he snapped away 50 percent of all living things. After 5 years with 3.5 billion people on earth, Bruce Banner had gotten them all back to the same spot they’d died in after traveling through time. At the moment, they’re fighting Thanos. All of the busy agents in the room are running the mission on comms.”

They stared at him. “What?” Elena asked. “Who got snapped?” Melinda demanded. “All of the agents in the hallway?” 

“So it’s really been five years? Where’s Daisy? Is she okay?” Phil asked.

Holy shit. Daisy.

Before Mack could answer, Piper walked up the stairs to them. “He doesn’t know any more than that; he was snapped too.” 

They all turned to stare at her. She was wearing a black catsuit with a leather jacket. Her hair was almost shoulder length, and a muted mint green, and she most definitely looked more mature than the small feisty twenty-five year old that they all knew.

“Piper?” Simmons asked, a little in shock.

“Hello,” she smiled, and before getting a chance to continue, Melinda embraced Piper and held her tightly, who tensed, and then relaxed into it. “I missed you, May,” she said softly before they let each other go.

“I’m going to need you guys to stay here. Right now, we’re coordinating a battle and I need to get back to it.” She turned to leave but Phil grabbed her arm. “Where’s Daisy?” He repeated. 

Piper gave him a wry smile. “In the thick of the battle, of course.” She walked away and began giving out orders to a cluster of agents on the other side.

“This… this is too much.” Elena said, then slid down the wall and hugged her knees. Melinda and Phil looked up at the new multiple-display monitor that took up all of the left wall. It showed a map on one side of a large area that seems to have been a building at some point, but now was a crater, then had lots of code and information on the other side. 

A video feed from somebody’s suit was in the lower corner and displayed a battlefield with thousands of people on it fighting. There was a lot of smoke but she could make out Spiderman, Ant Man, and a glowing lady shooting fireballs out of her hands. The agents were remaining mostly calm, though some were shooting glances at their group huddled to the side.

Daisy… she stayed behind. We all died. She watched us all die.

Melinda lost control of her knees and leaned into Phil abruptly, giving him all of her weight all at once. “Woah, hey, Mel,” he grabbed her and eased her down to the floor. “You okay?”

She barked out a short, shaky laugh. “Phil, if we were gone, but Daisy stayed behind…”

“She was all alone.” Fitz finished. 

“Omigosh,” Jemma’s face went white. “She had to deal with all of us dying at the same time.”

They sat there in somber silence, trying to avoid thinking about how lost Daisy must’ve been, watching the feeds as the agents whipped around and eventually began passing a gauntlet back and forth with the Avengers.

Nothing happened for a while until all of the agents in the room became silent as they watched Tony Stark grab the 6 infinity stones and snap, causing Thanos and the rest of the aliens to dissolve into dust, and then he collapsed.

Everyone breathed out a collective sigh of relief. “Medical team stat!” Piper barked out into her ear piece. She seemed to listen into it, nodding an affirmative, then turned to all the agents with a grin. “We did it. Thanos is gone.” A cheer erupted from all 40 or so agents in the room, which was then caught and continued by the agents in the hallway; the contagious success resonating through the entire Lighthouse.

Chapter Text

The next couple of hours were a blur, partly from the shock of the team's new situation.

Glowy portals began opening up for everyone, and the scattered agents began leaving. The agents that had blipped back were picked up by family members and the news outlets were going haywire. The politicians blipped back were not given back their original spots of power because they had no idea what the economy or the state of their nation looked like at all, but a majority of civilians maintained their jobs, somehow.

The economy fluctuated and stock prices were insane for a bit, then stabilized some. The demand for essentials rose again as twice as many people than there were a couple of hours ago began to need housing and food.

The six of them remained in the silent compound, after almost everybody had left. They had been sitting on the second floor, staring at the news as it reported various new developments in the world, when Piper finally came up to them.

“We don’t have anywhere for you to stay on base," she explained. "Your bunks were given to other agents."

They exchanged glances.

Fitz spoke up. “Okay. Is there a hotel-” 

Piper lifted a hand to hush him. “Of course not. Daisy reached out. She’s busy at our main compound in New York and will be for a little while, but she wants you guys to stay with us. We have plenty of space.”

Main compound... So they moved their base of operations.

“Us?” Phil echoed.

Piper gave them all a little smile and then lifted her hand to show the smooth, silver band on her hand. “Us.” she confirmed.

Melinda let a grin escape as she stared at the ring.

Jemma squealed, ran past Melinda, and crushed Piper into a hug. Melinda looked at Phil, who had a dopey, but sad, smile on. As always, they exchanged sentences with eye contact. She took his hand and he squeezed it.

We missed her wedding,  he said silently.

I know.

“Congrats, tremors!” Mack said quietly, as if to Daisy (wherever she was), then hugged Piper as well. Melinda squeezed her shoulder with a smile.

“Okay. Um," Piper grinned, bewildered, as if she hadn't expected the positive feedback. "Like I was saying, we have plenty of guest bedrooms for you guys to sleep in. Dais will probably be in New York for the next day or so.”

“Are you sure?” May asked. 

“Course. We wouldn’t have it any other way. You guys also need your clothes and stuff, which we have.”

“Thank you.” Phil told her.

“It’s nothing. Uh, ready? Everyone else cleared out.”

They shrugged and followed her out to the balcony surrounding the garage, which housed- holy crap.

“That’s gotta be at least 50 quinjets.” Mack remarked. The garage, which to them had held only 10 vehicles total just a day ago, now held about 40 to 50 of each a van, quinjets, bikes, and had 3 sleek zephyr-looking planes.

“Where’d you get the money for this?” Phil asked as Piper led them down the stairs to the ground floor.

“Taxes.”

“Taxes?” Jemma echoed, then cocked her head. “You’re government-run now?”

Piper laughed. “We are the government. Part of it, at least. After Thanos, everyone was begging for an agency to protect them from the aliens. We were here. The Director built the agency up from 200 agents to 90,000. Well. More now, now that so many are back from the snap- which we're calling the snap that brought everybody back the blip.”

“I- Uh- what ?” Fitz stopped and stared at her, causing Jemma to run into him. "Sorry, love," he murmured.

Piper turned around and addressed them all. “We have fourteen SHIELD academies around the globe and 289 bases, not including Avengers bases. We’re working on 3 more SHIELD-issued ones right now.”

Melinda glanced at Phil.

SHIELD academies. We’ve always dreamt of starting them up again,  she said with a pointed look.

That’s amazing,  Phil replied through his smile.

May grabbed his hand, squeezing it tight. “Who’s this Director that managed all of this?” Melinda asked, though she had a sneaking suspicion exactly who would’ve been able to accomplish all of this. 

“Oh.” Piper gave her a funny look. “I thought you guys knew? It’s Daisy. She took charge almost immediately after the Snap.”

They looked at her, then at each other- and then all started talking at the same time.

“Damn, Tremors.”

“That’s amazing! I always knew she could do it!”

“How- That- Wow,”

“I knew it would happen one day. She’s just so... Daisy.” 

“I’m not surprised.”

Piper turned to Mack, her face turning a little wary. “Are you going to want to take that position back?”

They all looked at him.

“What? No, uh, no. Not if she wants it.” Mack shrugged uncertainly, unsure about what he was supposed to say in his position. Elena put a hand on his arm.

Piper sighed. “Alright, good. She’s worked so hard to make a place in the world for SHIELD.”

“Evidently.” Jemma gave a tiny giggle. “That’s insane! Government agency SHIELD! It was barely that even back with Fury!”

Piper turned around with a small smile and led them across the quiet garage to a sleeker quinjet near the back. It was sharp and a dark black, and looked almost like a small, private plane. “Hey, Jay,” Piper said to the air, hitting the side of the jet with her hand twice. “Open up.”

As the door opened automatically and shot out some mechanical stairs, Piper motioned towards the jet with her head. "Stark's AI, Jarvis, has been integrated into the quinjet."

"Hello, agents," a polite british voice came out of seemingly thin air.

They all boarded as Fitz began peppering Piper with questions about how they’d managed to put an AI that required literal tons of code and hardware on a small plane. She shrugged and climbed the stairs last, the door closing automatically behind her.

The inside of the jet was different than any of the jets they’d gone on for missions. It was like a mini Bus or Zephyr, with comfy seats surrounding a table facing the cockpit. Bunk beds were folded into the walls and a mini kitchen area was comfortably set into the side. 

“Alright, Jay,” Piper said once they’d all gotten situated; Melinda sitting close to Phil and resting her head on his shoulder. “Take us home.”

May barely felt it as the plane lifted off and the hanger doors opened. As the plane smoothly exited the compound and flew off into the dark night sky, she grabbed Phil’s hand again and he squeezed comfortingly in response. 

You’re not alone anymore, Daisy.

We’ve got you.

Chapter Text

Forty nine weeks and three days after the snap, SHIELD was officially a government agency. 

Everybody had been begging for SHIELD or the ATCU to return; to save them from another Thanos-like threat that might come, so the newly appointed President Jones (President Ellis was snapped) approached Daisy by encrypted channels and let her know that SHIELD would be public again.

After Daisy announced it in a live special announcement from the White House, reporters bombarded her but she raised her hand for them to leave her alone and left the podium without a glance back. Reporters immediately started rumours online that she was ‘cold’ and ‘harsh’, after seeing how she never smiled, not once.

Even though they had suffered losses themselves, they still didn’t seem to understand what losing everybody you love can do to a person.

As she maneuvered through the various people in front of the building, six SHIELD agents surrounded her (she insisted that she could protect herself, thank you, but Deke had insisted), she met with Piper, who smiled and kissed her. “That was great! You looked confident and badass,” she praised. Daisy didn’t smile, but twitched the corner of her mouth up and grabbed Piper’s hand. “Couldn’t have done it without you,” she told her wife honestly. Piper squeezed her hand in a comforting response.

They got into a nondescript van together and took off towards the Lighthouse. The new base of operations in New York was still under construction, so they were still working out of the bunker.

The pair returned to cheers and a room full of agents, some more than a little tipsy. They were handed two Zimas by Deke. “That was great, Daisy,” he told her. “Perfect blend of intimidating and- intimidating.” He shrugged. “Sounded good.”

“Thanks,” she responded absently as her phone began to alert a call in mission control. “Hold on, got to answer something,” she told Deke. “Party isn’t over, but I gotta go.” She put her untouched beer down on a table, half-heartedly lying that  she’d get back to it.

She and Piper made their way down the freight elevator and to the nearly empty mission control room, where a call was waiting. “Who even has this number?” Daisy wondered aloud. “The president, Bobbi and Hunter…”

“Maria, but- she’s dead.” Piper added with a shrug. “Answer it?” she asked.

Daisy nodded her assent and Piper pulled up the answer button.

A face with blond hair and a (handsome) jawline filled the screen. “Hello?” he asked, too close to the camera to be discernible.

“Who are you?” Daisy asked without preamble. This could be a serious security risk.

The man pulled back to reveal-

“Steve Rogers,” Daisy realized.

Steve nodded solemnly. “I heard SHIELD was up and running. You’re the director?”

Daisy nodded, pursing her lips.

“Did you work with Fury? Or are you somebody new trying to start this again?”

“I worked with Director Coulson,” she answered.

He blinked at her. “Um, what? Coulson, as in killed-by-loki Coulson?”

Daisy nodded again.

Steve raised his eyebrows. “Wow. Nat’s going to kill him when she finds out.”

“She can’t anymore. He was snapped,” Daisy explained, rattled at the topic but not letting it show on her impassive facade.

“Oh.” Steve sighed. “I’m sorry.” He looked down for a second, and Daisy could see the mirrored pain that everybody who had survived the snap had; a sort of empty aching loss that was indescribable and yet obvious when you looked into the haunted eyes of the people who lived.

“Why did you call this number?” Piper asked.

“Oh. Well.” Steve breathes in deep. “I want the Avengers and SHIELD to work together again.”

Daisy stared at him, then exchanged glances with Piper. “Why?”

“Because- Well, because right now we need to stick together; re-” he paused. “Rebuild. What’s left of the world still needs saving.”

Daisy cocked her head at him, then nodded. “Sure. Rebuild. Let’s do it.”

...

Present day:

The quinjet landed on a strip of tarmac on a large grassy enclosure that held 2 other jets and a helicopter, both with the sleek black look of the plane they’d arrived in. Trees could be seen at the edge leading into a forest, and a garden at the opposite edge of the area led to a pastel yellow mansion at the end with lots of balconies and a round, modernish style. There was a tennis court and a gigantic pool surrounded by bushes on the garden half of the grass, next to the house.

Mack whistled as they stepped out of the jet, looking around. 

Piper walked ahead of them as she said, “Sorry, but it’s a little bit of a walk. We keep the tarmac and the vehicles further away from the house for… various reasons.”

They followed her across the grass into the garden, which was a beautiful area with a couple of fountains and lots of bushes and trees, including a small wood playground area with some tire swings and a tree house. Melinda stared at it for a few moments, then gestured at it to Phil, wide eyed. 

Kids? Melinda asked with her eyes wide.

Looks like it.

They passed by a couple of groundskeepers and butlers, who all were very kind and welcoming. Most of them wore casual clothing and ID badges. 

It took them ten minutes to walk through the garden, ogling at the beautiful, colorful flowers and the technology casually incorporated into the nature. Some of the trees and plants had holographic screens on them, displaying the amount of water they needed and the health of them. There were a couple of benches scattered around, but they floated- they had no legs connecting them to the ground.

“Technology really has developed,” Fitz marveled, hand in hand with Simmons.

“Yeah,” Piper responded. “You’d think advancements would slow with half our engineers and scientists gone, but…” she shrugged.

“Motivation.” Fitz finished with a head tilt. 

They continued following her to two large glass double doors, revealing a large tiled foyer inside that led to two curled staircases and large doorways leading off to other areas of the mansion.

“Again. Damn .” Mack remarked.

Piper smiled wryly at him, then turned to the two doors. “Theta.” She called out clearly.

“Password correct. Voice recognition: Piper Johnson.”

The doors opened automatically and let a wave of cold air wash over them as they stepped into the crystal clean lobby. Piper led them to the left of the first floor, into a large kitchen with large marble countertops, two sinks, and a long wood island. There were windows everywhere, overlooking the gardens and flowers outside. 

“Make yourself at home,” Piper told them as they uncomfortably milled around the kitchen. “I have to go help Daisy soon, so I’ll be leaving you guys alone and I can’t give a tour, but we have three live-in help on staff. Just ask them for anything you need. Jarvis is also always available, and can contact anyone in the house or in SHIELD for you.”

“Hello,” the pleasant british voice floated from the ceiling.

“We have five guest bedrooms, though one is technically reserved for Bobbi and Hunter-”

“Holdon-” 

“ Our Bobbi-”

“Sincewhen-”

They all clamored over each other in surprise.

Piper chuckled. “They aren’t in hiding anymore; they really aren’t anybody’s focus anymore, what with the Snap.”

The team brightened at the news. 

“Why do they have a room reserved for them? Do they live here?” Fitz asked in confusion.

“Often, when Dais’ and I are on assignment, they stay and watch our kids.” she explained with a soft smile.

The six of them stared at Piper.

“I knew it!” Jemma exclaimed. “Why else would you have a playground?”

“Are they here right now?” Phil asked, positively beaming.

“Yes, they are. They’re probably in their rooms. If you want to meet them you can, but I figured you’re still adjusting…” Piper shrugged.

“I want to meet mini Daisy,” Yoyo spoke up. The others nodded their agreement. 

Piper smiled. “Jarvis, can you send the kids down?”

“They’ll be here in a minute, Piper.”

“Thanks, Jay.”

They waited patiently, taking seats on the rustic wood stools around the island.

Two minutes later, a four or five year old and a nine or ten year old walked in, bickering over something. 

The younger one looked to be of asian descent, possibly korean but likely chinese, if May had to guess. Her hair was in two neat pigtails. 

The older one had glasses and braces and long jet black hair, and looked to be of native american descent.

Piper grinned as she hugged both of them. “Hey guys! Have you two been watching the news?”

“About the Blip?” the older one said excitedly. “Cool! Does that mean our family’s back?”

“Yup. They’re actually... here.” she told them kindly.

It was then that they noticed the six strangers in their house. 

“Uhh- momma?” The young one asked, her eyes wide open as she clambered onto a stool.

Piper turned to the gawking team with a smile. “This is Gemma Pippa Johnson,” she motioned to the older one. “And this is Měi Yoyo Johnson,” she gestured at the younger one. 

Wait- What?

She kissed her children both on the heads. “I have to get back to HQ. Jarvis, let me know if there are any problems.”

“Of course.”

Piper smiled at them all. “I trust you guys with them. No swearing, or Daisy will have our heads. I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Be good.” And with that, she left the two children and six shellshocked adults to learn about each other.

Chapter Text

The team was left staring at the two children.

“Uh. Hi.” Gemma said, clearly uncomfortable.

“Hello!” Jemma quickly recovered from realizing she shared a name with the girl; much sooner than Melinda. “A question- you’re adopted; you must be. You’re much too old to have been adopted as a baby, so is it just coincidence your names mirror ours?” She asked.

Gemma shrugged before answering, “We were rescued from an illegal organization that was trying to make soldiers. Because we’re potential inhumans, they stole us and killed our birth parents,” she said, as if she’d said it more than a couple of times. “We didn’t have names. Just numbers. I was DP-184692.”

Jemma’s face fell from the horrifying explanation, but she, May and Yoyo were still glowing from realizing Daisy and Piper had named the two after them.

Before they could offer sympathies, the younger girl spoke. “But now we do have names!” Měi exclaimed before flopping the upper half of her body onto the table, giggling as she melted off of it and back into her chair.

Melinda felt Phil grab her hand from under the table. She squeezed it tightly.

“What are your names?” Měi crinkled her face up curiously; adorably. 

Gemma nudged the girl.

“Shì tā de gùshì, hái jìdé ma? Tā de fùmǔ qùshìle. Zài túpiàn zhōng.” 

(They are from her stories, remember? Her parents that died. In the pictures. )

Melinda gave out a strangled gasp and fought to keep from melting into the floor from so many emotions.

“Oh.” The tiny girl stared at them with wide eyes. “Wait. Are you Melinda May and Phil Coulson ?”

“Yup,” Phil answered for the both of them.

“I’m named after you.” Měi informed May proudly. 

Melinda nodded, smiling shakily. 

“Because you’re a ninja.” The young girl elaborated. “Mom said you’re a super fast ninja that she looked up to.”

“You trained Mom!” Gemma grinned.

Melinda wiped at the tears threatening to fall. “Thank you,” she said, and squeezed Phil’s hand again. He squeezed back, an anchor for her to clutch onto.

“Bobbi and Hunter and Momma and Mom told us about you!” Měi disappeared from view as she plopped onto the ground and ran around to hug them. The little girl’s arms wrapped around Melinda, and with a moment's hesitation, she hugged back. Měi continued down the six of them, giving them all sweet hugs; eliciting grins from each of them.

“Mom always thought you would come back,” Gemma said with a smile. “And Hunter said you were too stubborn not to, but he used a bad word-”

“The D word!” Piped up Měi from between Mack’s arms.

“-And mom yelled at him. But he was right.”

“Yeah, he was.” Mack agreed.

“They told us stories about you.”

“Robots!” Měi said, climbing back up her stool.

“And superpowers,” Gemma added.

“And Skull Guy!”

“And Daisy’s not-parents.”

“Not parents?” Yoyo questioned.

“She has not-parents and parents. Her not-parents were mean.” Měi pouted.

“That’s an understatement,” Mack muttered. 

Parents? Are we…?

Melinda didn’t even try to entertain the fact. She didn’t want to get her hopes up. She could sense Phil doing quite the opposite and assuming what the children were implying, but hiding it well.

Gemma giggled. “She had holograms of you guys. So we would know who you were, except someone still didn't recognize you.”

She shot a look at Měi, who shrugged. 

“I don’t pay attention.” she stated matter of factly.

“Ah.”

“So, uh- what’s life like, with Daisy and Piper?” Fitz asked.

“Good. Good-er, with you guys!” Měi replied.

“Better.” Gemma whispered.

“Better.” Měi grumbled.

“Mom and momma go on a lot of trips, but we have Uncle Hunter and Uncle Bobbi a lot.”

“And Uncle Deke!” Měi giggled.

They all looked at each other with wide smiles. “How’s he doing?” Jemma and Fitz asked eagerly.

“He sends us fuzzy lemons with faces and pictures!” Měi exclaimed.

“He travels the world and we get a photo every day of his stuffed lemon sitting somewhere cool,” Gemma elaborated.

“He got me a lemon named Mr. Mister!” Měi informed them. “He only knows chinese, though, not english, so anything you want to ask him has to go through me,” Mei said proudly.

“How do you know mandarin?” Melinda asked, curious.

“Mom. She said that her mom taught her.” Gemma said with a smile. 

“I- I taught her,” she said softly, not wanting to hope -

“ You did, Wàipó.” Gemma confirmed.

(Grandma.)

Melinda swore she felt one of Phil’s fingers pop from the sheer pressure she was putting on it. 

“We’re her parent s,” she whispered, almost to the world. To put it out in words. 

“ Now you see it,” Yoyo remarked dryly.

“Congrats, it’s a girl,” Mack told them with a grin. 

Melinda looked over and saw Phil watching his granddaughters with a dopey smile and knew that her usually stoic face probably mirrored his.

They were her parents . 

“Food!” Měi suddenly shouted. They all turned to look at her as she scrambled across the kitchen to an older, plump lady in a simple black blouse and pants with grey and white hair pulled into two buns. She’d just brought in a plate piled high with various sandwiches, and everybody’s stomach began to complain loudly as soon as the food came into sight. 

“Zue!” Měi exclaimed happily.

“Dinner is in an hour. These are not for you,” Zue told the small girl, not unkindly.

Měi began clinging to Zue’s leg. Zue sighed. “What about an apple?” she offered.

“No.” Měi pouted. 

“Then you’re not hungry.” Zue informed her firmly before walking over to the team and set the plate down for them. “I figured you’d be starving; you poor dears. I went ahead and made some food for you all.”

They warily stared at her. 

“Eat one first,” Yo-yo suggested.

Zue sighed. “They’re not poisoned . I’m a good friend of Daisy’s; I know who you all are. Of course you’d think that. Now- eat up, please, or I’ll have wasted time on making these.”

“I’ll take them!” Měi piped up from behind Zue.

“ No. ” The older woman led the girl back to her seat. “Eat, please.” She told the six, then left.

“You don’t have to ask me twice,” Yo-yo murmured as she grabbed one and began cramming it into her mouth; the others following suit.

“I literally haven’t eaten in 5 years,” Mack joked as he quickly began on his second. Everyone began smaller conversations; Gemma talking excitedly to FitzSimmons about something science related.

“Me either!” Měi looked at the sandwiches with longing, then at Phil with what could only be described as puppy dog eyes.

Oh no. He’s going to break, Melinda thought, amused.

“Grampa?” Měi asked with a small, adorable voice. Melinda looked over to see Phil barely holding in his love. 

“She called me grampa ,” he whispered and nudged her.

“Phil. Don’t give her any food.”

“But,” he gestured at the girl, who now had her head on the table, tilted up at them with a quivering lip.

“Phil,” Melinda warned.

“ Please ?” Měi barely got a chance to squeak it out before a sandwich was thrust into her hands. 

Phil put his head into his hands. “I’m so weak,” he muttered.

Měi happily chomped into her cheese and ham sandwich as Phil watched on in absolute adoration. 

“You’re already in love,” Melinda nudged Phil.

“I am,” he agreed resignedly.

She chuckled and rolled her eyes playfully as she grabbed a small sandwich. 

“She called me Grampa !” Phil defended.

“Just like you and Daisy,” she muttered. “You just can’t say no!”

“Is that bad ?”

Melinda rolled her eyes in response as Měi polished off the last of her sandwich with a large, innocent grin.

“So,” Melinda decided to start up a conversation, “What do you do for fun?”

Měi seemed to think for a minute, then giggled. “Riding. On the plane.”

“The plane? Is it because it goes fast?” Phil asked curiously.

“Mmhmm. Mom likes it. She lets me sits in the cockpit sometimes.” She bit her lip thoughtfully. “Ooh- Or sometimes Mom will make the pool have waves, and it’s like the ocean!”

“That sounds like fun,” Phil told her.

“Or ninja. We play Pretend like we’re ninjas.” She giggled. “I’m Agent Měi and Gemma is Agent Pippa.”

“Why Pippa?”

“That’s her middle name. And her nickname. I call her Pippa sometimes.”

“Can we call her Pippa? Or is that name reserved for sisters only?” Phil teased.

“Yep! It’s for family!”

Melinda and Phil exchanged smiles.

The group’s conversations ceased when Jarvis said, “I recommend going to your rooms now; settling in before dinner.”

They all shrugged and got up as they finished eating, trying to stack the plates and trays to make it easier to clean for whoever was supposed to help with it.

The rooms were on the second floor, and large, with floor to ceiling windows and chandeliers and soft fluffy beds. The couples each took a room; then were brought whatever items were in their bunks after the Snap.

Melinda changed from her uncomfortable shield uniform and into one of her favorite button up denim shirts and leggings that weren’t dusty at all.

After changing and freshening up, Melinda and Phil found themselves alone for the first time since the Blip, and all they did was hold each other. Melinda clutched his arms and buried her face into Phil’s chest.

“Daisy,” was all she whispered. He squeezed her lightly and brushed his lips to her hair.  “She’s okay,” he reassured her. “She’s got-” he paused heavily, “- kids now. And a wife.”

She smiled. “A wife. Piper.”

“I’m not too surprised,” he murmured. “They worked well together.”

“She named her kid after me,” she whispered. “Měi.”

“Of course she did,” he scoffed, resting his chin on her head. “You’re her mom,” he said with a smile.

“I guess I am,” she said faintly.

Phil kissed her again as she thought about how different Daisy would be. 

Things like losing everybody you loved; that changed a person. She hoped to any god out there that Daisy hadn’t suffered too much; that she’d taken comfort in Piper and moved on.

Chapter Text

Dinner ended up consisting of the six of them, Měi, Gemma and various delicious platters of food. Piper wasn’t able to make it, saying that she still needed to stop at every compound and help agents settle in and get living spaces and badges and assignments. Daisy was in DC, meeting with the new president, Alexandria Tena, to discuss jobs and homes for the people that came back. 

After dinner, Gemma went to go complete her homework and Měi dragged Melinda, Yoyo and Jemma to her room while the rest of them decided to start contacting people and checking up on everybody.

“This is Mr. Mister!” The little girl claimed excitedly to the three of them, thrusting a small stuffed lemon into their faces. 

“Adorable,” Yoyo praised.

“He only knows chinese,” Měi pouted. She turned to Melinda. “What’s adorable in chinese? I forgot. I need to tell him!”

Melinda smiled. “ Kě'ài de ,” she told her.

“ Tā shuō nǐ shì Kě'ài de !” Měi relayed on to her lemon. (She says you’re adorable!)

“He says thank you ,” Měi whispered loudly to Elena. 

Jemma giggled. “Do you want to give us a tour of your room?”

“Yeah!” Měi grabbed Melinda’s hand and tugged her and the others around the large room which had pastel purple walls and a white carpet.

First, she stopped at a little white dresser that displayed a carefully placed pile of stuffed animals, pointing out how she had plushies of Captain America and the Black Widow; Melinda mentally filed away that fact to use against Natasha next time she saw her. 

The next area of her room seemed reserved for crafts, and had an easel with a canvas to one side and a shelf with baskets labeled with various supplies. Měi showed them some stuff she’d drawn recently. For a five year old, it was really good. “Bobbi taught me some,” she told them, much to their surprise. 

“She paints?” Jemma asked. “Since when?”

Měi just shrugged. “She painted that,” she said, pointing at a very realistic painting of Steve Rogers above her bed. “For my birthday. I really like Captain America. Like Zǔfù .” 

Grandpa. Phil,  May realized. Melinda rolled her eyes. “Now there’s two of them,” she muttered with a proud smile.

Měi led them around the rest of her room, pointing out various things that she liked, then brought them to her nightstand.

“This is my super secret nightstand,” she informed them.

“Why?” Jemma asked politely.

“See?” Měi opened the top drawer of the white stand and pulled out some small action figures.

Action figures of them .

“It’s you!” Měi informed them excitedly, handing them their respective figures as they sat down in a circle next to the drawers. 

“What?” Yoyo chuckled as she was handed her doll. The figures each wore a variation of the SHIELD uniform, and looked remarkably similar to their counterparts.

“We have action figures?” Jemma beamed. “That’s… odd, but amazing.”

“It’s the fallen heroes thingy. For the avengers and SHIELD agents that got snapped.” she told them.

“Oh, wow.” Melinda said softly as she turned the doll in her hand. 

“They made figures of the ones who were snapped. Wow. I wonder if they’re commercial?” Jemma mused.

“Commershal?” Měi asked, crinkling her nose.

“Do they sell these in toy stores?” Jemma translated.

“Some of my friends have them from SHIELD fest or Toys R Us. And my friend in China has a ‘Yoyo’ figure because she lost her arm too,” she told them, causing them all to smile again at the adorableness of that. "I keep these in my super-secret nightstand."

“Why is it super secret?” Melinda asked, suspecting she already knew the answer.

“Because it makes Mom cry when I play with them in front of her. Pippa says that she misses the real you.” Měi said, putting a small dampener over their excitement over the minifigures.

“It doesn’t need to be secret anymore, then,” Melinda informed her quietly.

“Yay!” Měi exclaimed, enveloping Melinda into a hug, which she quickly reciprocated. 

“Do you wanna do art?” Měi asked the women as she put all of the figures back into her super secret nightstand.

“Sure,” they all chorused, unable to even think of refusing the sweet little girl.

As they got up to go over to her art area, Jarvis spoke up. “Ms. Daisy and Ms. Piper will be arriving late tonight. Daisy asks that the children go to sleep at a normal time, but would love to say hello and catch up before you all go to sleep. She will be here tomorrow morning as well.”

“Yeah, of course!” Jemma told Jarvis, followed by agreement from Melinda and Yoyo. 

Měi pouted. “I haven’t seen her since she went to go time travel, ” she whined. 

Melinda decided to ignore that statement temporarily; not wanting to get wrapped up into any sort of logical conversation about that mess.

“Sorry, Tián ,” she said, kneeling down to meet the girl’s eyes. “She’ll be at breakfast. Don’t you want her to hear how good you were and how you went to sleep on time?” The girl cocked her head, then nodded eagerly, still maintaining a bit of her pout. “Great,” Melinda said with a smile. 

“Art time!” Měi exclaimed, and ran over to the easel.

.o.

After a couple of hours of making a mess with paints, Zue came in to usher them out so that Měi could sleep, and Melinda found herself taking a shower back in their room. 

The bathroom, and the shower by extension, was large and filled with tech. The expansive mirror doubled as a screen, and Phil quickly found himself entranced with all the features. “Look, Lin, it can play a movie! It’s got netflix!” He exclaimed as he tapped away. Melinda switched off the shower by voice command and stepped out. 

She pulled a towel around her body and then wrapped her arms around Phil from behind, comfortably sticking her chin onto his shoulder to see what he was doing on the screen. She absentmindedly watched his fingers flit around on the mirror as she asked, “Did you talk to Gemma? When I passed by her room Fitz was helping her with her homework.”

“A little,” he murmured. “I still can’t believe we have action figures.”

“It was probably Deke’s idea.” May commented. “At least partially.”

“Maybe. You know, Gemma’s fluent in mandarin.”

“So is Měi,” she said, getting warm every time she said the girl’s name. “Daisy taught them well.”

“I’m so, so proud of her,” he said abruptly, dropping the screen on the mirror. He turned around to wrap his arms around her.

“Měi?”

“Daisy.”

“Me too.”

“She lost us all, and now… she’s got a family, and she’s rich, (which isn’t the most important thing in life, but it’s great for her), and she’s made SHIELD a government agency… “ He smiled to himself. “I’m just so proud.”

“It’s a lot because of you,” She pointed out, poking his chest.

Phil raised his eyebrows a little. “If you say so.”

“Really. If you’d just locked her up way back then like any other sane agent-”

“Thanks-”

“- then this wouldn’t have happened. She’d be just another sweet, lonely hacker. She wouldn’t have grown into the person she is today without your guidance.” 

Phil smiled and pulled her in for a sweet kiss. "Same to you. You made her the badass woman that could direct SHIELD."

May smiled and leaned up to kiss him again, but Jarvis interrupted them, saying, “Mrs. Johnson is on her way home early. She will arrive in 20 minutes.” 

Chapter Text

They all trickled downstairs, nervous. One of the butlers, Pierre, led them to the living room, which was large and circular and faced the forests and the largest pool Melinda ever saw in a house, with large double doors going out to a patio next to the water. The room was large and airy with high ceilings, and an electric fireplace and a large TV. There was even a personal bar in one corner.

“Crazy,” Mack said, shaking his head. “Did you see the mirrors?!”

“I know!” Phil responded as they began geeking out together over the various features of the house.

“I wonder if she has a gym,” Yoyo said to Melinda. She nodded. “Daisy? Piper? Yeah, probably.”

They sat and perched on the main circular white couch, discussing and wondering how different staples of culture had developed in the five years since.

After a couple of minutes, they could hear people talking and entering in the foyer. Melinda’s heart skipped a beat as she recognized the voices. “Where are they?” She heard Daisy ask faintly.

“Living room,” Pierre responded.

Quick steps followed, sounding as if she was running. They all looked up as Daisy burst into the room and stared at them, her breath in her throat.

Daisy was gorgeous . She’d dyed her hair completely platinum blonde with dark brown roots, and it was cut into a curly, highlighted bob around shoulder height but with the lower sides of her head shaved. She was wearing a leather jacket that looked fairly familiar over a black t shirt and jeans, and some combat boots were the tip of her black ensemble. Her face had lost some of the remaining baby fat she’d had, and her nose was narrower; her chin a tad smaller. 

She looked even more like Jiaying now, Melinda realized.

They all stood up, uncertain what to say. Daisy just stood there, swallowing as she stared at all of them. Without warning, she took a few large strides and hugged Phil, finally losing it a little.

“You’re back,” she sobbed, her voice muffled in Phil’s chest as he kissed her head automatically, squeezing her tight. 

“We are,” he replied, snapping (pun unintended) some of the tension in the room away. Everyone went to her and she hugged them all, her face red. When she was done she grabbed Melinda’s hand and sat down, occasionally squeezing it as if to make sure she was still there.

Once they all settled after the initial reunions, she spoke up with a watery smile. “Piper went to go check on the girls, um.” she wiped at her eyes. “Did you meet them?”

“They’re amazing,” Jemma told her.

“You named them after us!” Yoyo exclaimed proudly. 

Daisy gave a shaky laugh. “Of course I did! Měi Yo-yo Johnson and Gemma Phillipa Johnson.”

“Phillipa?” Melinda echoed.

“Did they say Pippa?” Daisy gave a soft laugh. “Měi couldn’t really pronounce it when she was younger and we never really could correct her. It’s still meant to honor you, though.”

Melinda smiled and lay her head on Phil’s shoulder, knowing he was probably melting from joy inside judging by the dopey smile he had on.

“I like your hair,” Elena commented.

“Thanks,” Daisy lifted one shoulder lightly. “Wow, I- this is surreal. I always knew we’d get you back, but- you guys look different than I remember. But you’re the same, so.” She sniffled.

Melinda squeezed her hand. “And you’re different. Director of SHIELD!” She said with a small, but genuine, smile.

“Heh, yeah. I didn’t ask for it, people just looked to me after the snap. I still- still don’t think I’m the best person for the job.” She shrugged, gesturing at Mack and Phil. They both immediately frowned and shook their heads.

“You’ve done so much, though!” Fitz pointed out. “SHIELD academy!”

Daisy smiled a little. “That’s true. Once we were an official agency again, I really focused on that. Donors all over the world helped rebuild SHIELD, and we really wanted to help people start young and defend themselves. We also have a couple of inhuman-specific boarding schools, for young inhumans to hone their powers. Bobbi’s the education director, actually.”

“Right, she’s not in hiding anymore,” Mack said happily.

“Yeah. Sometimes when they suspect assassins or stalkers, they- she and Hunter- stay here. This house is a safe house, by the way; all of the maids here are also kickass agents, though most are retired. My kids are a huge target because of my status as Director.”

“Right.”

“Do you want them to become SHIELD agents one day?” Phil asked.

Daisy shrugged. “They’re potential inhumans, though..." Daisy smiled. "We have developed a vaccine.”

Jemma gasped in surprise.

“We used your old research,” Daisy told her. “Pipes and I decided that they would be allowed to decide when they’re 15 if they want to use the cure or take the terrigen and move to SHIELD facilities. If the cure, well, I found a family at SHIELD, but…. It’s just so dangerous. Definitely not operations, then.” she said. “No offense, May.”

“None taken; I agree. The path of a specialist is a lonely one,” Melinda agreed wholeheartedly.

“You had me!” Phil protested. Mel rolled her eyes. “That’s because you wouldn’t leave me alone on missions, you dork.”

Daisy laughed. “I really , really missed you guys.” She gave another hug to Melinda and Phil, then stood up. “I have to go check up on my kids. I’ll see you tomorrow morning?” she said reluctantly.

They all nodded. “Glad you’re okay, Tremors.” Mack said. Daisy nodded shakily, then left, turning back to look at them multiple times.

The team eventually left to their respective rooms, relatively happy that even through tragedy, Daisy had come out stronger than ever.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Melinda woke up next to a loudly snoring Phil at her usual five o’clock time. After doing Tai Chi, she felt better; she still had her morning time that gave her a semblance of normalcy. 

She quietly walked downstairs to the kitchen they’d been in the day before, a little surprised to see a chipper Daisy boiling water for tea.

Upon seeing May, she gave a big smile. “I had to check with Jarvis a couple of times when I woke up to make sure yesterday wasn’t a dream.”

May smiled a little. “You’ve adopted early mornings, I see?”

Daisy nodded and ducked her head. “After… everything, I kinda adopted your routine. It felt kinda like honoring you, I guess.” she snuck a glance at May’s face. “Sorry, if it’s weird.”

“Not at all. Can I make some tea as well?”

“Well, sure!” Daisy looked confused at the question. “You don’t have to ask, May. You’re family; my house is your house.”

May smiled gratefully and moved to stand next to Daisy, letting muscle memory take over as she grabbed a citrus tea from the cabinet.

“Piper lives off coffee,” Daisy remarked. “She thinks tea is disgusting. I used to like coffee, but…” she ducked her head again. 

May could almost hear the unspoken end of her sentence. But when I adopted your routine, I adopted everything.

“Can’t stomach it anymore, anyway; I haven’t had it in so long.”

May hummed in acknowledgement and poured the hot water into two mugs as Daisy grabbed milk from the fridge. “A question- Have you been teaching your kids that Phil and I are your parents and their grandparents?”

Daisy froze with the fridge door open. “Uh. I can get them to stop…” she said hastily.

“No, no it’s fine,” Melinda reassured her. “I, um, I like it.” she admitted. 

Daisy’s worried expression broke into a grin. “I’m happy about that. I figure Coulson didn’t mind either?”

“You know he loved it,” she teased.

Daisy nodded, then her face fell a little. “You know, I began to forget things. Little things. How you liked your tea, which arm Coulson lost, the color of Yoyo’s eyes, Jemma and Fitz’ organization system - which the R and D department uses now. It’s taught at the academies; I made sure of it.”

May smiled at that.

“I felt like with every little thing I couldn’t recall, I was letting you go. I was letting you all slip away; like I wasn’t holding on tight enough.”

May watched quietly as Daisy closed her eyes and scrunched her face together, then schooled it to a more natural, happy expression.

It was one strikingly obvious thing that pointed out that this wasn’t the exact same Daisy she knew. Before, Daisy would’ve been more tactile, asking for a hug, or someone to just hold her. She wouldn’t’ve collected herself as quickly, for sure.

Another thing that bothered her- The mask that Daisy had just used felt eerily similar to what May had done after Bahrain; suppressing her feelings under a pretense. For Melinda it’d been a stoic demeanor, for Daisy it seemed to be chipper and bright.

At least she had Piper, Gemma, and Měi. She had a family to support her. May just hoped Daisy would let her old family support her as well.

Speaking of… “If you don’t mind, I want to hear about your wedding.”

Daisy pulled oatmeal from a pantry as big as the kitchen. “Sure!”

“It was a year after the snap and 8 months after we started dating. Pipes proposed after a successful mission; on the spot. We didn’t have much money then; SHIELD still was illegitimate. The wedding was pretty small, and lonely,” Daisy admitted as she poured the oatmeal, milk, and boiling water from the tea into a bowl. 

“I’d always dreamed of asking Coulson to walk me down the aisle, and having Jemma as my maid of honor. It still was a nice wedding, even… without my family.” she cleared her throat. 

“Pipes had Davis as her Best Man, and I had Bobbi as my Maid of Honor. Then there was Hunter, your mom-”

May raised her eyebrows. “ What ?”

“- your dad, Mike Peterson, Ace, Deke, Diaz, Miller, Davis’ family and a handful of agents that attended. It was on the cliffside above the lighthouse, overlooking the water. We didn’t have much time, but Diaz and Bobbie strung fairy lights around, and everybody brought food. Piper and I wore the standard SHIELD uniform but white, with veils coming from behind us and flower crowns in our hair, courtesy of your mother and a grumpy Hunter. We kissed, and that was it.” she finished. “Oh, and then we spent our honeymoon continuing to fight crime at SHIELD, but in our wedding uniforms.”

Melinda smiled. “Wedding uniforms. Sounds beautiful. I’m sorry we weren't able to be there.” she apologized wistfully.

“Wasn’t your fault,” the younger woman mumbled, eating her oatmeal.

“Why was my mom there?” Melinda asked, trying not to think of the pain her parents had gone through losing their only child, and silently vowed to give them a call as soon as possible.

“Well.” Daisy flushed. “She showed up out of the blue, then yelled at me for not inviting my grandparents, and then cried when your dad walked me down the aisle. They were real softies. Your mom even brought cookies. They usually visit every other week now to see their great-grand kids.”

Melinda chuckled. “Of course they invited themselves.”

“How did they know about me? And our relationship?”

“I talked about you,” May answered simply. “My mother and I spoke over the phone many times.”

Daisy nodded. “You know, she explains so much about you. Y'all look really alike. I loved seeing you in her when she visited. Made you feel not fully gone.”

Melinda smiled into her tea. “That’s good. How were they?”

Daisy shrugged. “They said you were coming back. They were sure of it.”

She nodded. “I’m not too surprised, though they may have been just saying it. To cover.”

“Right.” They both fell silent. “So, uh, both of us- Me and Pipes- will be at Shield tomorrow because of this whole situation. Normally I’d call Bobbi and Hunter, but they’re busy dealing with some other Blips and Zue doesn’t have the time to take care of the kids all the time. Would you mind taking them to the park, or something? Maybe a movie?”

Melinda smiled again. “I’d love that. Phil will probably want to tag along as well.”

Daisy grinned. “Great! I still have until about twelve, but Piper will be here all day. Bobbi and Hunter are busy setting up homes for the agent’s children that got blipped back but their parents died in combat. So they can’t meet or do much for the next week at least.” She stood up to go wash her bowl.

“Tell me about your kids,” Melinda suggested. “They’re amazing, and intelligent and polite- you did a good job raising them,” she praised.

Daisy smiled, reminiscing. “Yeah. When we got Gemma three years ago, she was terrified of everything. Like her namesake, though, once we gave her a pile of Jemma’s old biology textbooks she holed up for days, reading them. She started opening up once we helped her with her experiments. Měi came from the same place, but she wasn't adopted by us until a year later. She was prone to hitting us when we told her 'no', and would throw things on the floor. When we figured out it was because she thought of us as captors, we took her places and let her out alone in the backyard. She started warming up to us, and now to both of them I’m ‘mom’ and Piper’s ‘momma’.”

Melinda smiled. “They’re lucky to have you two.”

Daisy mirrored her expression. “Thanks. Sometimes I worry, though. It’s not super common for both of us to be with them at the same time. Usually we alternate. I don’t think that’s good for them.”

Melinda shrugged lightly. “You do what you have to.”

Daisy sighed and leaned on the table. “Yeah.” She bit her lower lip and looked off somewhere, lost in her thoughts.

“Tomorrow, do you want to do Tai Chi together?” Daisy asked abruptly. 

Melinda smiled. “Of course.”

The two looked back down at their teas, but now it was in a much more comfortable silence. 

They were finally together.