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Daisy had been in love once before. But she didn’t realize it until he sacrificed himself to save the world. To save her. They didn’t get to do what normal couples do. Dates were close to none, anniversaries were unknown, and Valentine’s Day? It went over their heads. So, now that Daisy’s in a steady relationship with an amazing man, she wanted Valentine’s Day to be something special. She knew that Daniel had no qualms about celebrating the day or not. Neither did she. But this is the first time she’s truly happy in a relationship. And she couldn’t help but crave all the fuss that comes with being someone’s Valentine.
Few days prior, Daisy visited May to ask her for advice. And to just see her. She missed that woman. Someone who’s more like her mother than her mother was. When she arrived in the Academy, May was giving a lecture to a group of students. Her S.O. quickly spotted her with one raised eyebrow and a twitch of the lips.
May dismissed her students a little bit earlier, wanting to know why Daisy had come by without informing her first. May’s glad that her emotions had come back. It took time. It’s been over 6 months since the whole debacle with Malick, and her own emotions had gradually come back up to the surface. She did have to learn the differences between all the various kinds of emotions, and to differentiate between hers and others.
“Daisy.” May started, before feeling the need to wrap her arms around the daughter she never thought she would have. She knew that Daisy was jittery and nervous about something. But there was something else underneath. A hint of something. “Is everything alright?”
“I—” Daisy sighed. Why did she come here again? “I wanted to talk to you about something.”
May noticed the way Daisy kept wringing her hands while her eyes were darting all over the room. “Okay. Let’s go to my office. There’s another class coming in soon.”
Daisy’s eyes widened. “Oh. Are you busy? I don’t want to—”
“I’m not. It’s not my class, Dais.” May stared at Daisy, trying to decipher the emotions that’s coming off of the younger agent.
The two walked towards May’s office, which wasn’t that far from the lecture hall. Unfortunately. Because Daisy didn’t know how to start. Too quick for her liking, they had sat down face-to-face, with May’s table in between the two.
Neither of them spoke a word. Daisy was trying to stall by looking around the small office, while May’s focusing her energy to not bleed Daisy’s feelings into her own. But the silence was stretching for too long.
“Daisy. Say what you want to say. I could feel you being anxious over something. What’s wrong?” May sternly questioned her.
Daisy mumbled something under her breath.
“Speak up, Daisy. I couldn’t hear you.”
Daisy took a deep breath. “Valentine’s Day.”
“And? What about it?”
“I don’t know what to do.” Daisy confessed. She felt relieved to finally voice it aloud.
“Have you talked about it with Sousa?” At the mention of her boyfriend, there was a surge of contentment amidst the affection that suddenly flooded May’s senses.
“Sort of. We agreed to not do anything about it because honestly, the day’s overrated.” She shrugged. “But—”
“But this is the first relationship you have that you’re incandescently happy and in love?” The words spluttered out of May’s mouth before she even processed what she’s saying. She schooled her expression and let the information sink in. Daisy’s happy and in love. That’s what she was feeling before. Something that she knew she felt when someone mentions Coulson. When he came to visit. When they were together. But now that he’s an LMD, the whole idea of a relationship went out the window.
“Yeah.” Daisy bobbed her head, not really listening to what May had said. Then, she finally heard it like an echo, and snapped her eyes to the other woman’s face. “Wait, what? I never said I was in love with him.”
“You didn’t.”
Daisy mulled over the idea of being in love again. This time, there was no war, no impending end of the world, no more traumatic events (hopefully ever). Just two people, ravishing in each other’s company, teasing one another, leaving trails of kisses all over the other’s face, writing little notes, receiving them, just being there for each other. Is that love? That’s not the love she had come to know.
“What—what does being in love feels like?” Daisy’s voice was small. It was as if she was back in the orphanage again, asking the nuns about something controversial, hoping that she wouldn’t get shut down this time.
“Are you sure you should be asking me that?”
“Yeah. You’re—” She gestured everywhere with her hands, trying to express that May’s someone she could go to with something like this. Just like a daughter could go to a mother, gossiping about boys and such. Right? She sighed exasperatedly, not being able to put into words how much May means to her. But May knows. Because her eyes softened, and a genuine smile grazed her lips.
“You really wanna know what it’s like being in love?”
“Yeah. I-I do.”
There’s a question on the tip of May’s tongue. Because she’s pretty sure Daisy’s been in love before. But she’s not going to bring that trauma up right now.
May took a deep breath. Daisy could see the way May started to get misty-eyed and lost in her memories. Whether May was talking about Andrew or Coulson, or most probably both, Daisy's sure that she came to the right person. May knew what it’s like to fall for someone after having lost another.
“Being in love,” May paused, “you can hear it in the silence. When it’s just the two of you. No outside noise. And even the voices in your head stay quiet.”
Daisy was reminded of the time when they had just moved in together to an apartment near HQ. It was empty, except for a bed and several boxes lying around their living room. The two had finished dinner on the floor when Daniel pulled her up and placed a hand on her waist while his other hand was still cradling hers. He started to sway from side-to-side. It was then that she realized what he was doing. And it felt like they were dancing in a snow globe. The outside world stilled. It was nice. Domestic. Content. And since they weren’t feeling particularly tired that day, Daniel suggested that they go on a drive in the night. The cool chain around her neck, a gift from Daniel that was once his mother’s, was reflected by the streetlights. His hands rested on her thigh as he drove past the city sights. One touch lit a fire in her and that’s enough to bring her to her knees.
“You can feel it on the way home.” May continued. “After a long day of work. After you’ve fought all your battles, all that matters is who you come home to. Like a blanket over you, you feel right at home in his arms.”
They worked together. Daisy knew that he kept a picture of them in his office, and a picture of her in his wallet. He really is an old-fashioned square in more ways than one. And she adored him all the more for it. When she arrived home after a particularly long mission retrieving an 0-8-4, their bedroom was dark except for the light that was emitting from Daniel’s bedside lamp. He was fast asleep with a book open face down on his chest. He must’ve been waiting up for her but was too tired to stay awake longer. Right there and then, she felt like time moved too fast. She wanted more time with him than just the mornings. They barely see each other anymore despite living in the same place and sleeping on the same bed. Work kept them apart and she missed him. So, she cherished the mornings she had with him. She tried making him toast the next morning, and it nearly burnt their kitchen down. He was amused for days and kept up with the light-hearted joke for weeks.
May paused, knowing that Daisy’s swirling with memories. “You can see it with the lights out.” Daisy nodded. Eyes filled with understanding. “When obstacles block your view of the future, you can still see one with him.”
Daisy remembered a Sunday when she woke up entangled with Daniel, she was wearing his shirt to sleep after a rough fight against the enemy. When she got home, she shut herself off. She almost died again. And she recognized her will to live. She knew she had a death wish after Lincoln died. But actually dying in space, she didn’t want to experience it again. Though it wasn’t until she had a proper home and a steady relationship that she truly wanted to live. It scared her how much she’s comfortable in her new lifestyle with Daniel. But he kept his word. He picked her up after she ran into that goddamned wall. Even when she gave him the cold shoulder, he coaxed her out of it with forehead kisses and his dorkish words. That night, she told him that a bullet grazed past her ear and it could’ve been her head instead. He held her tighter then and whispered, you’re my best friend, I can’t stop you from doing what you need to do, but please come home to me. She nodded against his chest. A promise to come back to him. One that she would never want to break. She understood now why they lost their minds and fought the wars. To come back home. And for once, she let go of her fears and her ghosts.
May could feel the way Daisy's brimming with love. It wasn’t bottled up like it was before. She smiled. “I've spent my whole life trying to put it into words. You are in love, Daisy. I can see it in your eyes. And I could feel it overflowing.”
Daisy couldn’t do anything other than nod. But that wasn’t the initial question that she asked May. “Yeah.” She whispered. “I am.” Eyes still dazed and glazed with unshed tears, she cleared her throat. “So what do I do for Valentine’s Day?”
“Just be with him. That’s all he wants.” A knowing glint passed by May’s features.
“Okay.” Daisy murmured. “Okay. Thanks May. For everything.”
On the 14th February, a Sunday, a day off for the both of them to actually be together instead of passing by each other in the halls of HQ (which they arranged with Mack, to make sure it was okay. And he was pleased that Daisy wanted a day off each week), Daisy woke up at 4 am with a purpose. She knew that Daniel wouldn’t wake until 7, which gave her 3 hours to make this day a memorable one. For someone who had never celebrated Valentine’s Day, and who thought that it’s ridiculous, she sure did understand it.
So, Daisy went to the kitchen, a place that Daniel had forbidden her to be in because she couldn’t even make toast correctly, she went on her phone and opened up YouTube for a cake recipe.
An hour later, with flour all over her face and apron, Daisy was smiling down at 2 successful vanilla sponge cakes. She let it cool while grabbing some butter, powdered sugar, milk, vanilla extract and blue food dye. She figured she’s going to go with blue instead or the usual pink because Daniel was wearing his infamous blue shirt during both their first kisses. She got to mixing those ingredients together and a blue vanilla frosting was made. Daniel would be up in an hour and a half, which meant that Daisy had a little bit of time to decorate the cake and letting it set in the fridge.
However, she should’ve known that something would go wrong. Because apparently, she had no artistic skills whatsoever. She placed the cake on top of a cake stand and tried to neatly apply the frosting onto the two-tier cake, but it ended up looking rough. Scratching her head, she decided to mix more blue dye to give it an oil painting look. She added the darker shade of blue frosting on random places before smoothing it over. Finally glad with the base, she moved on to toppings.
She grabbed some Oreos, chocolate sticks, vanilla wafers, smarties and Ferrero Rocher chocolates. First off, she poked a little bit of Oreos on top of the cake, taking up a quarter of the space. Next, she placed the smarties on the side and some on top. But it looked horrendous. She opened up a drawer to retrieve a set of chopsticks before using it to peel off those candies. To cover up the mess that it made, she placed the wafers where those smarties were. She let out a relieved sigh. Then, she took those chocolate sticks and jammed them into the cake with half of it sticking out, in between the Oreos and the wafers. That left the Ferrero Rocher chocolates. She decided to just leave the wrappers on and placed them on the bottom of the cake, sitting up against the cake stand. With a satisfied nod, she opened up the fridge and gently pushed the cake in.
Daisy plopped on their couch to rest for a bit. She wanted to quickly grab a shower before Daniel woke up, but clearly, he had had enough of sleeping alone. He came out of their bedroom 15 minutes later with his adorable ruffled curls and an amused look on his face.
“Morning, sweetheart.” He bent down to capture her lips on his before sitting next to her.
“Hmm. Morning.”
“Dais.”
“Yeah, Daniel?” Her dark eyes looked into his with innocence.
“Why are you covered in flour?” He tilted his head to the side with furrowed brows and pursed lips.
“This? Oh, it’s nothing.” She said nonchalantly.
“Did you bake something?” He narrowed his eyes. “Why don’t I smell anything burning?”
She slapped his arms. “Hey! I’ll have you know that I can bake. I literally just baked you a cake.” Realizing what she had said, she covered her mouth with one hand as her eyes widened in panic.
“You baked me a cake?” Daniel asked with a wonder in his voice. His eyes softened, and a bright smile filled his face.
“I—” She started, trying to find a way out of this hole she had dug herself into. Then, an exasperated sigh came out of her lips as she looked down on her lap. “I did.” She resigned to her failure of keeping one simple thing a secret.
Daniel placed his index finger under her chin as his thumb caressed it and tilted her head up to face him. He gave her another kiss. But this time, it’s sweet and slow, showing her how much he appreciated the gesture even if the cake wouldn’t taste good. Even if it didn’t look good. He poured all his love for her into that kiss and she felt it. She knew that he is in love. With her. And she thanked the universe for giving her him.
Daisy smiled. “Wanna see it?”
An eager nod was a good enough answer.
She grabbed the cake out of the fridge and placed it in front of him. “Ta-da!” She chuckled. “I know it’s not all that decorative, or artistically good looking, and it might not taste good at all . But umm—Happy Valentine’s Day, Daniel.” She said earnestly. Hoping that the love she felt for him oozed out of her and into him.
Before he could reply, the door rang. Daisy looked at Daniel to see a sheepish grin on his gorgeous face. Her questioning gaze was answered with a nod of his head, gesturing towards the door. She strode forward and opened it, only to be greeted with a bouquet of daisies with one single red rose in the middle sitting on the floor. She took it inside, grabbing the card out and reading it aloud.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, sweetheart. Love, Daniel.” Tears gathered in her eyes as she realized that this was the first time someone had given her a red rose. The first time that someone had given her flowers (sans her father, Cal, who gave her a daisy way back when). Someone who she loves with everything in her.
“Happy Valentine’s Day, sweetheart.” Daniel echoed the note. A soft smile was sent her way and she felt her heart melt at the sight of it.
“I—Daniel we agreed not to—I—”
“I know. But I wanted to give you something. The idea of Valentine’s Day is to love and cherish the people close to you. And I believe that we should be doing that every day. But this is just something for today. A red rose for every Valentine’s we spend together. One for now. But hopefully many more to come.” He waltzed towards her and kissed her on the forehead. A simple gesture that meant more to her than he would ever know. It makes her feel safe. It brought her home.
Now, Daisy's sure that this is love. True love.