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“No, I don’t want to do this right now!” Daisy groaned like an annoyed teenager from her bed.
“You’re always jumping at every opportunity to help in the field. Now get up or that is never going to happen,” May ordered the younger girl.
Daisy sighed reluctantly; she knew May was right. She set her tablet that she had been working on aside and threw the covers off herself. Even though Daisy had been half sitting while propped up on her pillows, May could tell that sitting up fully, after a long period of lying down, was a small struggle for the girl. Daisy slowly stood up from her sitting position and carefully stretched out her back.
May still remembered when Sousa had wobbled up the plane ramp with Daisy’s limp body in his arms. Had May been able to feel anything, she knew she would have been horrified by the wounds that had riddled the girl’s body. If not for the healing chamber, May wonders if they would have been able to save her at all.
Now, a short time later, Daisy was getting her strength back with the help of the healing chamber, physical therapy, and a lot of rest. May, having been Daisy’s past SO, was appointed for the job as her physical therapist. Daisy was stubborn when it came to recovering from injuries, and May knew she would be able to stop the girl from pushing herself to hard.
The two slowly made their way over to the gym to begin Daisy’s session for the day. While Daisy’s body was still suffering the consequences of her time in the barn, Simmons had said that it was best to ease her body into strenuous work. May looked down at her tablet, which had a list of exercises Simmons had compiled for Daisy. Most of them were spinal exercises, seeing as that was what Daisy needed the most of. Daisy reluctantly started her routine, annoyed by the simplicity of the movements. Even though she made her annoyance clear to May every session, May could tell that Daisy did struggle with a few of the exercises. This was not surprising to May who knew that Daisy was determined to not appear weak, though in reality, Daisy was one of the strongest people May knew.
Daisy started her workout as normal, May giving her corrections when needed. May also commented various times that Daisy should slow down, or take it easier. Today, May’s words only had the opposite effect, and inflamed Daisy’s eagerness to prove herself. While May wasn’t overly surprised, she knew she would have been annoyed with the girl, had she been able to feel emotion. Did Daisy not understand how helpless she had looked in Sousa’s arms?
After Daisy continued to not listen to her mentor, May sternly said, “Daisy, stop. Listen I understand you don’t want to seem weak, but- “
“May, stop I am not weak!” Daisy shouted back at her. “Stop acting like I’m incapable of doing anything!”
May opened her mouth to chastise the girl, but she didn’t get the chance. While overly aggressively continuing her exercises, Daisy fell backwards onto the floor. She lay, not blinking, staring up at the ceiling, her breath starting to come in laboring gasps. Daisy immediately started to look for May, but found she wasn’t on the Zephyr anymore. She was bound to the barn table, staring up at the face that regularly appeared in her nightmares. She felt the pricks of the needles and gave a feeble attempt to quake her handcuffs off, but to no avail. She gasped and closed her eyes as the pain continued to come. She heard Nathanial’s sickening voice say “Discovery requires- “
“Daisy!”
May’s voice brought Daisy back to reality, and the girl shot upright, wheezing. In doing this, she ran into May, who was crouched beside the destressed agent. In turn, May felt a storm of emotions flood her senses. May started to pant as she was doused in fear, hatred, exhaustion, and confusion. At this, she backed up from Daisy, not wanting to experience the girl’s emotions from when she was tortured.
After May steadied her breathing, she softly commanded, “Daisy, look at me”
Daisy was still staring down at her hands, confused to find they weren’t cuffed and that she was on the training room floor of the Zephyr.
“Daisy, look at me,” May ordered again.
This time it registered in the traumatized girl’s mind, and she looked up to see May’s eyes staring back at hers. They were devoid of emotion, but even so, seeing the familiar women already made Daisy start to relax.
“You’re not there. You’re on the Zephyr and you’re safe. He’s not going to get you here,” May told Daisy. May’s experience with Daisy’s emotions told her she needed to be soothing and gentle. While May couldn’t tell if she was achieving this goal, she thought she must have been, as Daisy started to calm down while listening to her words.
A few minutes later, thanks to May’s counseling, Daisy had calmed down enough to get up off the floor. Shakily, Daisy stood up with the help of a nearby table. Her cheeks reddened from her needed assistance of the table and previous panic attack, regardless of the fact that she knew May wouldn’t think less of her for it.
“Let’s go get some tea,” May told Daisy, who nodded her head in agreement. Needless to say, Daisy’s training session was over for the day.
After their tea was made, Daisy walked over to the common room couch and sat next to May. She sank back into the leather cushions and sighed. She took a few sips of her tea, and glanced over at May, who was staring straight ahead, tea in hand. “I … thank you for helping me back there,” she told her mentor. May nodded but said nothing. Daisy knew May didn’t feel anything. She didn’t understand how thankful Daisy was to have a trusting and nonjudgmental mentor. Daisy knew May didn’t feel any of this, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t.
Setting her tea on the coffee table, Daisy slowly reached out and put her hand on May’s forearm. May inhaled sharply at the unexpected wave of emotion. She also put her tea down and turned to look at Daisy. She felt safety and immense gratitude radiating off her: a sharp contrast to the girl’s previous emotions. But there was another emotion too: love.
After a few moments, Daisy removed her hand from May’s arm and engulfed her in a bear hug, which the older woman returned with full force. Being held in May’s arms initiated a new feeling: relief. Daisy was finally not alone.
“We’ll get through this,” May told her.
“I know,” Daisy replied as she started to pull away. She smiled as she joked, “When did you become so emotional and sappy May?”
The glare May gave her was enough to send anyone running, but Daisy merely laughed. The road to recovery may have been long, but Daisy knew she would always have someone to help her along the way.