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The first time Daisy got injured during a mission after she and Sousa got married, he was devastated.
Was it serious? No. And it was not as if he hadn’t seen her tortured and killed and brought back to life within a week of knowing her. But something was different this time.
Daisy was asleep in the new HQ’s med bay. No healing pods. Not even drips. She was just asleep after a long mission and pain meds. She will wake up in a few hours, the medic there told him, then you can take her home.
But Daniel was a mess by her bedside. His hair was mussed, the top buttons of his shirt undone, sleeves hastily pushed up. His eyes were red like he had been crying. Elena—who by some rare chance was on base—came to reassure him that Daisy was fine. It really wasn’t that bad, even by civilian standards. Jemma called too, saying the same, after hearing from Elena. But still, he was inconsolable. Every agent who passed by could see; he sat there, with his head buried in his hands, refusing to talk to anyone else.
It was Mack who figured out what was wrong. He had dropped by after a long meeting. He took one look at him, sighed, and clapped him kindly on the back.
“She’s going to be fine,” Mack said, like Elena and Jemma had. Daniel shook his head.
“I should have prevented this,” said he, lowly as if he was talking to himself. “Should have prevented her from getting hurt.”
“You couldn’t have,” Mack replied. “We all wish we could have done more sometimes–”
“It hits different when you can’t protect you wife.”
Mack’s expression softened. It was like on the Quinjet all over again. These were two people who cared, who cared about each other so much that they always ended up dancing in circles, even pulling their proverbial hair out in their hope of saving the other. He smiled.
“She doesn’t think that way.”
“I know, but–”
“Talk to her. It’s going to be fine.”
Hours later, when Daisy had woken up and the medic was clearing her to leave, Daniel tried to hide all evidence of distress. He had changed into a fresh shirt and tamed his hair just before she woke up. But—and he really should have known by now—there was no hiding from her observation.
“Something’s bothering you,” she remarked as soon as they were both settled in the car.
“I-” He looked over at her. “I should have prevented this. We were both there; I should have stopped you from getting hurt.”
“It’s fine. Things happen all the time, and it’s not even serious this time.”
“But that’s the problem! You’re my wife now and I can’t even protect you from something as small as this–”
Daisy reached over to stroke the back of his hand.
“You know I don’t think that way.”
Daniel turned away, chuckling darkly.
“What?”
“That’s what Mack said. Word for word.” Daisy smiled.
“He really knows us.”
“He does.”
There was something brewing, in the silence as their conversation lulled, each caught in their own thoughts. Moments later, however, Daisy stifled a yawn.
“Babe,” she squeezed his hand, “I would love to carry on with this. But I really need a shower, and the cot back there was uncomfortable. Let’s get home first?”
Daniel flashed her an equally tired smile, and started to manoeuvre the car out of its spot. They will need to talk. But whenever that may be, it might just be easier than he expected, thanks to her.