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It’s several days before they leave the Lighthouse. There are meetings, debriefings, and paperwork, and multiple discussions about Kora. Plus, they’ve all got injuries to tend to, and Daniel has to get caught up on all the vaccinations that weren’t around in his original lifetime.
(He’s miserable afterwards, but also slightly awed).
But then, abruptly, it’s over.
Daisy finds herself with no obligations, no plans, and two people in her life who haven’t seen enough of the world. She rents a van and tells Daniel to pick a direction.
Their first stop is Niagara Falls because it’s close by, so they might as well see it. Kora makes a beeline for the observation tower as soon as they park, and Daisy and Daniel follow at a slower pace.
“That wasn’t here the last time I visited,” Daniel remarks. Then he tells her about his family’s journey from Idaho to Pennsylvania, and the detour they took along the way. “It was our first and last real vacation,” he says. “We came back east because my grandmother was ill, so Ma was always looking after her. Pa was at the steel mill. Long hours.”
“We could go there next,” Daisy says. “Pennsylvania.”
Daniel considers it for a moment, then shakes his head.
They head east instead.
They walk down the quaint main streets of a dozen New England towns, exploring craft fairs and farmers markets. Daisy is surprised that Daniel can read the French signs in the shop windows until he laughingly reminds her that he’d helped liberate Paris during the war, and she hopes he’ll tell her that whole story someday.
(She hopes he’ll tell her all of his stories).
In the evenings, they eat lobster rolls and fried clams, and listen to the bands that play on the old village greens. On one memorable occasion, Daniel teaches Kora a few basic swing steps, and Daisy thinks her heart is going to burst as she watches them dance.
“Thank you,” she tells him afterwards. “For giving her something she never got to have.”
“It’s something I got to have back,” he replies, glancing down at his leg. “Wouldn’t want it to go to wa-”
She kisses him before he can even finish.
In Boston, she dreams about her battle with Nathaniel. She wakes up gasping and trembling, and stumbles through the door between her room and Daniel’s before she’s really aware of what she’s doing. She gets all the way to his side before she comes back to herself, and she starts to turn, but then he stirs.
“Daisy?” he asks groggily.
“Yeah,” she says, and sits down on his bed. “Sorry. Uhm. I dreamt about Malick, and I didn’t want to wake Kora.” She doesn’t want to add to her sister’s guilt.
“M'kay,” Daniel says around a yawn. He wraps an arm around her waist, pulls her in so she’s lying against him, and falls back asleep.
Daisy does, too.
(Their rooming arrangements change for good after that).
They decide to skip New York City even though Daisy can tell Kora’s disappointed. She promises her sister they’ll visit another time; she’s just not up for a place that’s quite so hectic yet, and she knows that, for his own reasons, Daniel’s not ready to return there either.
They end up in Washington D.C. instead, and spend days strolling around the Mall and through the Smithsonian. Daisy loves watching Daniel at the Museum of American History, and impulsively buys him one of the overpriced books on the modern era so he can learn about the time he missed.
After they tour the Air and Space Museum for a second time, Kora hesitantly asks, “Do you think I could… Do you think S.H.I.E.L.D. would teach me how to fly?”
It’s the first time she’s mentioned something she wants for her future, and Daisy squeezes her hands and promises, “I’ll make sure of it.”
They visit Arlington, and Daniel’s quiet for the rest of the day.
Kora asks in a worried whisper if there’s something they should do, but Daisy shakes her head.
“Sometimes grief is something you have to sit with for a while,” she says.
Her sister looks startled, as if she's just heard something that had never occurred to her before, and maybe it hadn’t. Daisy remembers what May told her about the day they’d arrived at Afterlife, and all of Kora’s actions with Nathaniel, and she feels a dull ache blossom in her chest.
They're all quiet in the morning.
They reach the Outer Banks just before sunset and watch the wild horses running on the beach. Daisy hears the click of a cell phone camera, and wonders what look she has on her face that made Daniel want to capture it forever.
She smiles at him, then takes off towards the water. She and Kora wade in the shallows, hand in hand for balance, and, after they heckle him for several minutes, Daniel cuffs his pants with a put-upon sigh and joins them.
He misses the conspiratorial look Daisy shoots her sister as he bends to pick up a sand dollar. He starts to straighten up, and-
Daisy barrels into him, and they tumble down into the waves, and come up sputtering and laughing.
Kora spots an advertisement for a "New Classics" outdoor movie showing as they approach Charleston, and Daisy decides they have to go. They buy blankets and cheap camp chairs at a local shop, and find the perfect spot in front of the huge projector screen. There are 4H kids selling popcorn and cotton candy, and Daniel insists on buying both for them.
He dozes off during The Princess Bride, which Daisy thinks is almost inexcusable, but he did do the bulk of the driving that day.
Kora loves it, though. They spend the next day quoting lines at one another and generally driving Daniel crazy.
They’re in the middle of Georgia when the message from Mack comes through: there's a soon-to-be-commissioned Zephyr in need of a command crew. It’s so perfect that Daisy almost laughs. She hands her phone to Daniel and watches the smile blossom on his face as he reads.
“You think we should do it?” she asks him, even though she knows he’s not going to turn down the opportunity to go to space again (especially since the fate of the world isn’t depending on it this time).
He answers by handing the phone to Kora and saying, “Hey, you still want to learn to fly, right?”
“We don’t have to turn around just yet, though, do we?” Kora asks, sounding a bit hesitant.
Daisy understands wanting something but not being quite ready for it. “Not just yet,” she says.
It’s late when they make it to Savannah, but none of them are ready to go to bed.
Daisy and Kora stand out on the balcony, enjoying the warm night air and the quiet of the city at rest.
“It doesn’t seem right,” Kora says softly. “Getting to be happy... after everything I did.”
“I don’t think happiness is something we earn,” Daisy answers. She glances over her shoulder at Daniel, who’s sitting on his bed, reading his history book. “I think we just have to learn to be grateful while we have it.”