Chapter Text
2007
“This is all your fault”
“Me?” Coulson rebutted. “I’m not the one who decided to run in guns blazing and call it a day.”
“You followed,” May just stated. “You could’ve just let me go in by myself”
“Right now, I wish I did”, Coulson responded back, followed by a yelp as May smacked him on the shoulder. “You are helping with the paperwork, it's the least you can do.”
“I’m hurt.” May looked at Coulson.
Coulson rolled his eyes in return. “Of course, you use that as an excuse.”
“I’m not wrong, am I?”
“In this case, yes, you very much are.”
On the opposite side of the room, Maria gave Fury a look. “Sir, are you sure this is a good idea?”
“Right now, I'm seriously reconsidering it,” Fury stared at the bickering agents with his one good eye. “There is no one else I trust with this more than them, unfortunately.”
Fury waited another moment before he slammed his hand on the desk in front of him. “Agents, are you two done?” Fury was again regretting assigning these two together all those years ago. However, no other team, not even Strike Team Delta, has a better mission success rate than them.
May and Coulson quieted down and stared at Fury.
Maria, who was slightly snickering, got a glare from May and immediately sobered up. Even after years as deputy director, Maria still withered under the glare of her former SO.
“I have a mission for you,” Fury started, “a SHIELD team recently recovered an 084, and I need you two to look after her.”
“Her?” Coulson pointed out, “A living human 084?”
“We are not currently sure if she even is human. She was rescued from one of the last remnants of an organisation that, unfortunately, specialised in human experimentation.” Maria pointed out, “We still have no idea who was behind the organisation.”
“This is a level 10 classified mission. Here is the full file should you accept the mission.” Fury paused for a moment and then continued, “I know it's a big ask, a lot is going to change, but there’s no one else I'd trust with this.”
May and Coulson looked at each other.
“If you guys need some time to th-”
“We’ll do it”, May cut him off as she picked up the folder.
“When do we meet her?” Coulson asked.
“She’s currently still unconscious in medical,” Maria added, “I believe it would be good for you two to take a few hours to check out the new house and get everything ready. It’s already been set up with the newest security measures and emergency systems. You can meet her after.”
Turns out preparing a new house takes more than a few hours, by the time they got back to medical, it was already late afternoon.
“It’s not a pretty sight, I thought the initial report was bad, but seeing her in person-” Maria sighed, “just be prepared, she’s been through a lot.”
“I was under the impression that nothing fazed you,” Coulson responded, looking at Maria with a strange expression.
“This is different.” Maria stated ruefully, “She’s so young.”
Maria pushed the door open and led the two agents in.
“Hi Daisy, how are you doing?” Maria asked the young girl who’s not even old enough to go to high school yet. She should be safe and happy with a family who loves her or maybe going out with friends to the movies, but instead she’s here.
Daisy just continued staring at the wall in front of her while the doctors around her were finishing their check-up.
Maria really believes that Phil and Melinda can give her what she needs. Damn, she was already attached to the girl.
“Leave us,” Maria ordered as soon as they were done.
She then turned back to Daisy, “These 2 agents are Phil and Melinda, they’re the ones i was telling you about earlier.”
Daisy was still silent.
Maria turned back around to face the two agents, “I’ll leave you to it, either Fury or I will check up in a few days.” She then walked out, leaving them to properly deal with the kid.
May turned to Coulson with a look, and he nodded in return.
She then walked to Daisy’s bedside and knelt down to her level. “Daisy, is it? Or is there any other name you’d like us to call you?”
Daisy looked at May with a slightly hopeful look.
“I don’t know.” She then whispered.
Melinda’s heart broke at the sound of her broken voice. She looked at Coulson for help, but it was clear that he was as uncertain as she was.
“Yes, from now on you get to choose for yourself,” Coulson sat next to her but still kept a comfortable distance, “I’m Phil, and that’s May. We’ll be the ones looking after you from now on.”
Daisy just stared at them.
“We just want you to be safe and comfortable. You can be honest with us, and we’ll listen.” Coulson said gently, "I promise.”
Daisy gave no acknowledgement.
This was new territory for both agents. When they were called in for a meeting with the director this morning, this was the last thing they expected.
“You wanna hear a funny story?” Coulson started, “It’s the story of how I met May in the academy.”
Daisy perked up a bit at that, and Coulson took that as a win.
“We were doing a joint course between the two academies when I saw May walk in with a bunch of big, scary dudes,” Coulson started, telling the story animatedly, gesturing with his hands “There she was walking in, and everyone thought she would be easy to spar with, a tiny little asian women.”
“Tiny enough to kick your ass to high heavens.” May cut him off.
“Yes, I know, trust me, I learnt that lesson repeatedly,” Coulson rebutted, “as I was saying, everyone wanted to spar with her, thinking that it would be easy, but oh boy was they so wrong. May took down the first guy in a record time of 7 seconds.”
May had a little smirk at that.
She stole a glance at Daisy and saw that she was attentively looking at Coulson as he was talking. She smiled a bit at the scene.
“Then it was my turn up at the mat with May,” Coulson then leaned down a bit and whispered to Daisy, “I was so scared to the point where I was ready to surrender right there and then.”
Daisy giggled a little at that.
Coulson’s smile in response was so bright that it could rival the bright, glaring lights of the hospital room.
“I know you probably don't trust us right now, and I think both May and I want to have a chance to earn that,” Coulson said to Daisy gently with a smile, “So what do you say, you want to come home with us?”
Daisy nodded tentatively with a small smile.
May held her hand out for Daisy to help her get off the bed, and she took it as a win as Daisy kept holding on to her hand on the way to the car.
As they drive home to their new house, with Daisy asleep in the back seat, they both know that their life will be completely different from now on.