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It was over.
They had broken the loop. Talbot had been stopped, the Earth was saved and even Coulson was going to live. She had stayed until Coulson was well on the road to recovery, but now she stood next to his bed with May sitting in a chair on the other side.
“I didn’t want to leave without saying goodbye this time.” Daisy said softly.
“You can’t leave, Daisy.” Coulson argued, trying to sit up. “We’re still fugitives.”
“I think I’d feel safer in prison.” Daisy muttered to herself before responding to him. “I can’t stay here. I can’t stay around him. Coulson, Fitz had me knocked out by an LMD, paralyzed and strapped down so that he could rip that inhibitor out of my head. He said it was The Doctor, and the might have been partly true, but when the time came, it was all Fitz. And everybody thinks that I should just get over it because I’m miraculously not paralyzed and his idea worked.”
“Daisy…” Coulson began, but she kept speaking and the room began to tremble.
“He d-didn’t even have the decency to do it while I was unconscious. Every time he opens his mouth, I hear him tell me to try and get comfortable. When he looks at me, I see that cold, empty look he had right before he sits down and rips out the implant that Simmons said could leave me paralyzed if removed incorrectly. I can’t be in the same room with him without wanting to quake him as far away from me as possible, and I can’t sleep because I’m scared of where I’ll be when I wake up, and because I know that he wouldn’t hesitate to do it again if he feels it necessary, I’m terrified of the next catastrophic situation.”
The room was fully shaking and May moved quickly to take the traumatized girl in her arms. A heartbeat later, Daisy was sobbing as she finally broke.
“I-I can’t, May. I can’t s-stay here.” Daisy cried. “I c-can’t forgive him and I can’t m-make Jemma choose, b-because she’ll always c-c-choose him and t-then she’ll f-feel guilty. W-Why did it h-have to be him?”
Coulson forced his aching body to move until he could hug Daisy from behind, keeping her safely cocooned between him and May. He understood the last question. While FitzSimmons had quickly become the siblings that she’d always wanted, Fitz had been the first of the younger agents to truly forgive her after the Miles incident, and he’d been the first to comfort and protect her after she’d come into her powers. Daisy had been at Fitz’s side through every step of his recovery, even after Jemma had gone undercover without telling either of them. For it to have been him was worse than a violation. It was a betrayal of a trust sacred to an orphan who had been hurt so much.
“I don’t want you out there because it isn’t safe for you.” May spoke for the first time. “Not as a SHIELD agent and not as a known Inhuman. You don’t have to forgive Fitz if you feel that you can’t. You don’t have to interact with him, or even be in the same room unless it’s a mission debrief. You never had to be alone with him again. And believe me, I will make sure that he understands what will happen to him if he even attempts something like this again.”
“Daisy, it doesn’t matter if his science was sound, or that he knew you’d never agree to it. Even though your powers were needed in that situation, what he did to you was still wrong. Maybe it was the only solution, but he still should have talked to you about it. I’m also sorry that we’ve made what you went through seem unimportant, because that isn’t the case. I can only imagine how you feel. I was furious with May for keeping secrets, but that’s not the same as if she’d been the one to put me into the memory machine. It will take time for you to recover from this, whether you eventually forgive him or not. Now that the Earth isn’t about to be destroyed, we’re going to find a psychologist for you to talk to, for you both, and you have my permission to re-program your door lock so that only May or myself can override it. You don’t have to suffer alone anymore. Stay, sweetheart, and let us help you.”
Daisy rested in the embrace of the only two people she truly considered to be her parents. The emotional outpouring left her lightheaded and exhausted, especially considering her lack of sleep, and her powers slowly tapered off as her sobbing did. She knew that they were aware of what they were asking of her, and she wondered if she could do it. She felt Coulson press a gentle kiss to the back of her head and listened to the reassuringly steady beat of May’s heart. These two people had never let her down, even when she’d given them cause to. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, she hugged May tight with one arm and clutched Coulson’s arm with her free hand.
“I c-can’t.” Daisy whispered. She took another deep breath. “I’ve been in enough bad homes to know that getting away the first abuse just makes it easier to do it the second time. You can say that he won’t do it again, but I can’t risk it. Fitz corralled everyone before he went to work on me. He, or the Doctor part of him, planned for Mack and even Jemma’s interference. I’m sure he had a contingency plan for if you guys had come back early. He cut into me while I begged him, I begged him, to stop. Then Jemma and Yo-Yo broke him out when I locked him up for it.”
“Daisy…”
“No, May.” Daisy pulled away and backed up towards the door. “Jemma and Fitz will always put each other first, and Yo-Yo made her feelings perfectly clear. I’ve left you guys a way to reach me if you need to, and I promise to stay under the radar.”
Before she could walk away, May stopped her again. “Stay for twenty-four hours, please. I’ll make some better arrangements.”
“May?” Coulson turned to his partner, shocked.
“I will not have her out there in the cold, alone, Phil. Better with people that we trust, that we know she can trust.”
Coulson lowered his head as he laid back down, heartbroken that it had come to this. “Who are you thinking of?”
“Clint. He’s been off the grid these past few years, with Laura and the kids. She’ll be in a safe place, and will be able to talk to people who understand. Besides, it’s past time that they knew you were alive.”
Daisy fidgeted as she considering May’s request. Finally, she closed her eyes and nodded. “Okay. Twenty-four hours.”