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Daisy stumbles into the apartment she acquired for Jemma, trying not to track blood all over the floor. She doesn’t have the key, so she has to quake the door open. Oh well. She’ll fix it for Jemma later.
She can feel herself getting lightheaded, but manages to find the bathroom and sloppily digs the bullet out of her shoulder. Unfortunately, that just causes her to bleed even more, even if the discomfort from the bullet still wedged into her shoulder is gone. She throws it away, cleans up the sink as best as she can, and makes her way back to the foyer just in time to hear Jemma trying to get in.
“Hello?” she calls from the hallway. “I’m here for the apartment!” The door pushes open and Simmons enters, pausing to look at the broken lock. “Is anybody here?”
Jemma’s hands find her ICER. Daisy closes the door harder than she means to and leans back on it. Jemma quickly whirls around, gun pointed at Daisy.
“Daisy?” Jemma gasps, and she lowers her gun.
“Sorry,” Daisy grunts, lowering down to the ground. Dragging her open bullet wound on the door hurts like hell, but her legs are giving out. She can feel the trail of blood she’s leaving, and vaguely thinks about how this is another thing on this door she’s going to have to get fixed for Jemma. Might as well just get a whole new door.
“I had nowhere else to turn,” she gets out before she passes out.
When Daisy comes to, she’s in the middle of the room, and she can feel Jemma working behind her. She realizes her entire body weight is on Jemma, and Jemma is struggling to keep her upright and patch up her injury. She quickly holds herself up.
“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Jemma says, somewhat bitterly. Daisy can’t blame her for being upset. She did leave her, and the rest of the team, with only so much as a note for goodbye, and she greets Jemma for the first time in six months by ambushing her on her off day and forcing her to take care of her.
“I’m sorry,” Daisy says, and then she adds, “for passing out on you. And showing up like this,” even though they both know that’s not all she’s apologizing for.
“I’m just glad you’re alive,” Jemma replies, and Daisy can hear how this time, when she spoke, her voice was full of warmth and relief. There’s a comfortable pause as Jemma works, and then she says, “Whoever took this bullet out did an awful job.”
“I don’t get an ‘A’ for effort?” Daisy quips.
“You haven’t been to a proper doctor?” Jemma worries.
“You’re hard to get an appointment with.”
“I knew this place was too good to be true. You’ve been tracking my search history.”
“Yeah, well, you were always a sucker for a breakfast nook.” Jemma had told her that one night on the Bus, during one of their girls’ nights. Daisy remembered because Daisy remembers everything about Jemma. “But don’t worry, the place is yours. And it’s rent-controlled now, so…”
“You really should not have…”
“Yeah, yeah,” Daisy brushes off. Daisy’s almost one-hundred percent certain that Jemma knows she would do anything for her. That much is still true even after everything that’s happened and Daisy avoiding everyone for six months.
Jemma’s smart. She’s known Daisy for as long as Daisy has known Jemma, so therefore, she knows a lot about her and can read her like a book. They’ve been through too much together to not. Daisy wonders if Jemma can read her well enough to know that part of the reason Daisy left was because every time she saw Fitz-Simmons together, her heart shattered. She hopes not. Not only for her own sake, but she knows that being torn between her love for Fitz and hurting her best friend would tear Jemma apart.
“You also searched for double-vanity sinks. Things with Fitz must be going well.” Daisy can’t even muster up the energy to sound happy. She hopes it comes off as “I’m depressed because I was mind-controlled and my boyfriend sacrificed his life to save me and I’ve been on the run and depressed and suicidal for the past six months and now I’m in the middle of getting a bullet wound patched up” and not “I’m depressed because I’m in love with you but you’re with someone else.”
“Yeah, though moving in together would put it to the test, I’m sure.” Daisy wonders if Jemma can hear her heart break into a million pieces.
“It’ll be great. I’m really happy for you.” The jealousy seeps into her voice so obviously, and this time, Jemma catches on and mentions it.
“Are you now?” she asks sarcastically. Does she know that Daisy is jealous because she’s with Fitz? Or does she think Daisy’s jealous because Jemma and Fitz are happier than ever together and her love life is literally six feet under?
The jealousy is from the former, though the latter is also true a little.
Daisy reaches for the vodka Jemma used to disinfect her injury and takes a long drink. She’s glad her back is to Jemma because she doesn’t have the strength to keep the pain off her face. She doesn’t think she could pass it off as just from the bullet.
“Oh, self-medicating?” Jemma’s voice is still laced with sarcasm. “Those bone-restoration pills you’ve been stealing don’t relieve pain. Are you using your arm gauntlets? They don’t work perfectly, but we specifically designed them so that they—”
“They’re not exactly incognito,” Daisy snaps, interrupting her. “Stop mothering me, please.”
Daisy feels Jemma’s sigh on her skin, and she feels the hairs on her neck rise and goosebumps form.
“There,” Jemma says when the bandage is in place. She stands up. “Now you can get back to lone-rangering or whatever it is you’ve been doing.”
“Not yet,” Daisy also gets up, holding her broken arm to her stomach. This is the first time she’s gotten a good look at Jemma, face-to-face, since her vision was already almost gone when Jemma first came in. Her traitorous heart flutters. “I didn’t come to you just for the Band-Aids. I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone.” She holds out a piece of paper, and Jemma takes it.
“Am I the bird or the stone?” Jemma asks indignantly, then she unfolds the paper Daisy gave her and gasps. “These are…”
“Inhuman asset numbers and GPS coordinates.”
“Why do you have these?” Jemma scolds.
“Snagged them from a group of Watchdogs on my way here. Got a bullet for my trouble. They’re hacking into S.H.I.E.L.D. servers. That’s how they find their victims,” Daisy explains.
“Impossible,” Jemma scoffs. “S.H.I.E.L.D. servers are more secure now than they’ve ever been. They’re held offline in protected government facilities to—”
“Keep out people like me? Yeah, well, they’re getting in somehow. And I need you to do the same for me.”
“You want me to help you hack my own organization?” Jemma squeals, shocked.
“Simmons, they’re targeting Inhumans,” Daisy cries. “They’re murdering us.”
“There are protocols, Daisy. I take mandatory lie-detection tests. I can’t just voluntarily aid a wanted vigilante.” Jemma is gathering her stuff as she rants, and even though she’s admonishing her, Daisy can’t help but feel herself warm up at just how Simmons it is.
She gets an idea, suddenly, and reaches for Jemma’s ICER.
“What if it wasn’t voluntary?”
Jemma whips around, and Daisy sees her eyes flick from Daisy, to the ICER pointed at herself, and back to Daisy.
“I’ve missed you, too.” Then she smiles.
Daisy smiles back.
The mission to plug the flash drive in was a success, even if it went a little differently than Daisy had planned. And if she was turned on by Jemma’s show of power and her little declaration of, “I’m the boss,” then no one needs to know.
Back at the apartment, Daisy sat on the counter with her laptop in front of her, waiting for the information to come through.
“Every Inhuman has a wristwatch, an Asset Communication Device that tracks location, vital signs, et cetera. I mean, it’s for their own safety,” Jemma explains.
“Yeah, how’s that working out so far?” Daisy quips back.
“Well, I…”
The computer screen loads, and Daisy perks up.
“Elizabeth Albee came through. Looks like an encrypted third party’s hijacking the stream of information…”
“As the devices send and receive signals,” Jemma finishes as she comes to stand beside Daisy and lean over the computer screen, and Daisy ignores her heart fluttering at the way Jemma can finish her sentences.
“So much for new security measures,” Daisy says bitterly.
“If they can tap into the data directly, then they have—”
“Information on a lot of Inhumans. I warned everyone on this list, but…”
“Let’s just see how many compromised names you weren’t able to…Wait, I recognize that number. Who is it?”
She clicks on the number and it loads to reveal…
“James,” Daisy sighs and closes her eyes. “I haven’t seen him since…Hive.”
“Right. Well, withdrawal from Hive’s sway hit him even harder than you.”
“I can imagine.”
“We did everything we could for him, but like yourself, it seemed he couldn’t get away from us fast enough.” Daisy chooses to ignore this jab at her. “Only shows his faces at mandatory check-ins.”
With that, Daisy slams her laptop shut and jumps down from the counter to pack up the rest of her things.
“Thank you for your help. It was good to see you,” she says, and she mentally pats herself on the back for sounding nonchalant.
“Where are you going?” Simmons cries.
“James is next on their to-do list. I have to get to him before they do.”
“ We have to get to him. In case you don’t remember, that’s my job,” Jemma rebukes.
“I appreciate the help, Simmons, but I can take it from here, on my own.”
“You can’t have it both ways, Daisy!” Jemma admonishes. “You can’t push us away and then come crawling back, half-dead, only when you feel like it. It isn’t fair! You’ve already put a gun to my head. We’re in this together now, so suck it up.”
Daisy can’t help but just stare at her, mouth agape, as Jemma berates her. Her heart flutters, and she feels a warmth pool at the bottom of her stomach…and even lower than that. She quickly gathers herself and follows Jemma, who is already halfway out the door.
Jemma offers to drive, since Daisy’s left arm is in a sling and she still has a bullet wound in her right shoulder, but Daisy insists on driving. Jemma reluctantly gets into the passenger seat. Daisy really can’t blame her. Even with both arms injury-free, she was never the best driver. Personally, Daisy thinks her driving is just fine, but Jemma always has a vice grip on the handle when Daisy is driving.
“I meant what I said earlier,” Jemma says after Daisy punches in James’s last known coordinates. Jemma puts her hand over Daisy’s, which is on the gearshift. Daisy freezes and her stomach leaps up to her throat and she feels warmth spreading from where their skin touches. “I missed you.”
Daisy looks over to see Jemma intently staring at her. She swallows.
“I missed you, too. A lot,” she replies, and glances down at her lips. She looks back up to see Jemma’s eyes still intently on hers, blushes, and turns away. She puts the car in drive and Jemma lets her hand go. Daisy misses the contact.
The drive to James’s workplace is spent in comfortable, yet slightly charged (at least on Daisy’s part), silence.
Daisy’s jaw drops when she sees where James works.
“This is where James works?” she says, astonished, when they get out of the car.
“Afraid so.”
“Well, whoever’s running the Terrible Ideas Division is crushing it.”
Jemma raises an eyebrow and they turn and head into the fireworks store.
James is pitching a sale to three teenage boys when they step in.
“Hello, James,” Jemma says, and the smile on James’s face drops. He sends the boys over to his coworker.
“Agent Simmons,” he says.
“How are you?” Jemma asks.
“Surprised to see S.H.I.E.L.D. at my doorstep,” he turns to Daisy, “and with the infamous vigilante in tow. Quake now, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t come up with it,” she sighs with a roll of her eyes, “but it’s growing on me.”
Jemma and Daisy fill him in on what they’ve found out about the Watchdogs hunting Inhumans and tell him to take off his watch.
“I wasn’t really a willing participant in this little security measure,” he snarks, holding up his wrist with the watch. “Mine doesn’t come off.” He looks at Daisy expectantly, and with a quick glance around, Daisy quakes it off. She winces.
“Daisy.” Jemma turns to her worriedly, touching her arm. Daisy tries to gather her bearings again, swallowing down the excruciating pain her left arm is in.
She convinces James to take a stand with her and fight back. They make plans to meet at the storage place next door after the store closes, and Daisy and Jemma leave.
“You need to be more careful,” Jemma chides when they are back in the car. “If you don’t stop using your powers, you could shatter every bone in your arm.”
“Yeah, it feels like I’m pretty close to that,” Daisy replies, wincing as she tries to put her seatbelt on.
Jemma purses her lips and says, “Please, Dais, let me drive.”
Maybe it’s the nickname, maybe it’s the way her voice is filled with worry, or maybe it’s both, but this time, Daisy relents. Jemma smiles, and they switch places. As they pass each other outside, Jemma’s hand reaches out to grab Daisy’s waist, avoiding her injured arm, and she stands on her tiptoes and kisses Daisy’s cheek. Daisy’s eyes flutter closed at the contact, and Jemma pulls away, a smile on her face. Daisy feels her face burn as she looks at Jemma. Then Jemma continues walking to the driver’s seat, and it takes Daisy a second to snap out of it before she gets into the passenger seat. Neither of them mention it.
Daisy notices Jemma is in a much bubblier mood than on the drive there, and suggests that they go out to eat. Daisy immediately agrees. Jemma babbles on and on about this and that from work, avoiding the heavy stuff. Daisy also notices how Jemma doesn’t mention Fitz once. She guesses it’s probably for her sake, considering she’s literally been stalking Jemma for the past several months and knows that she and Fitz are mostly happy in their relationship right now. She internally kicks herself for being so obvious.
Jemma pulls into a little café. Daisy looks around as they walk in and admires how cute it is. The interior has brick walls covered in probably fake vines with hanging plants dangling from the ceiling. Most of the light is natural, but there are hanging lamps, as well. In the back of her mind, Daisy muses that this feels like a date. She quickly pushes that down and grabs a menu.
She sees something on the menu called a “white chocolate tiramisu” latte and can’t resist it. She also gets a fancy omelet because she figures that would be easy enough to eat with one hand. She doesn’t think she can trust herself to not combust if Jemma has to feed her. Also that would be really embarrassing.
Jemma orders an iced latte and a sandwich.
“Not tea?” Daisy asks with a raised eyebrow. Jemma blushes.
“I’ve taken a fancy to lattes recently. Also I wanted something iced and didn’t really want tea to be iced. Also I don’t trust Americans to make my tea properly, no offense.”
Daisy pays for their food and Jemma raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything until they’ve sat down at a table.
“You didn’t have to pay for both of us. I can pay you back for mine,” she says, already reaching for her wallet. Daisy stops her.
“Please don’t,” she says. “It’s on me. Besides, I kind of have a lot of money right now. Don’t ask how it was obtained.”
Jemma raises both eyebrows at that but puts her wallet away. Daisy ignores how this really feels like a date now.
When they get their drinks, Daisy takes a sip of hers and her eyes widen.
“Wow…” she breathes. Jemma looks amused.
“That good?” she asks, and Daisy vigorously nods her head as she takes another long sip. “Can I try?”
Daisy holds out her drink and tries to not watch how Jemma’s lips wrap around the straw. Key word being “tries”.
“Wow, that is really good,” Jemma says, and Daisy takes the drink back, taking another sip.
They chat as they eat, keeping the conversation topics light. Jemma rants about the new director and talks about how Mack requested an exploding pen. Daisy notices she still avoids mentioning Fitz.
“The store doesn’t close until midnight. We could binge watch something until then, like the old days,” Jemma says with a grin. As they get into the car. Jemma gets into the driver’s seat and Daisy gets into the passenger seat without a discussion. “But my apartment is entirely unfurnished, and you’re in a van, so we could get a hotel room?”
Daisy raises her eyebrows and smirks, biting back a laugh. “Moving a little fast, are we?”
“Wha—no, I—” Jemma stutters, then rolls her eyes. “You know what I mean, Dais.”
Daisy is fully smiling now and says, “Yeah. A hotel room would be great.”
Their room has one queen-sized bed. Daisy quickly kicks off her shoes and climbs under the covers, and Jemma follows. Daisy can’t resist curling into Jemma’s side. Jemma’s arm wraps around her shoulders as she thumbs through the TV guide.
Daisy’s distracted by Jemma’s scent and warmth and the fact that she’s curled up into her side, but she’s pulled out of her reverie when Jemma gasps.
“Hmm?”
“ Doctor Who ,” is all Jemma says, in awe, and Daisy brings her attention back to the TV. Sure enough, one of the channels the hotel has is currently playing Doctor Who .
“Sure,” Daisy says because she doesn’t care what they watch, just that she’s with Jemma. Back on the Bus, they would cuddle close in Jemma’s bunk and marathon this show. They hadn’t had time to since the original S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, and Daisy misses it.
Jemma cheers and selects it.
They’re watching it for a while when Daisy murmurs, “I missed this.”
Jemma looks down at where Daisy’s head is resting on her shoulder. Daisy turns her head to look up at her.
“I missed this, too,” Jemma replies, and Daisy grins and leans up to kiss Jemma’s jaw. She hears Jemma’s quick intake of breath but quickly turns back to the TV.
She’s glad Jemma can’t read minds because she spends much too long trying not to think about what other activities two people usually get up to in hotel rooms.
At 11:45, Jemma’s phone alarm goes off. She quickly shuts it off, and at Daisy’s questioning look, says, “I set an alarm so we wouldn’t be late to James.”
Daisy nods and then gets out of bed, puts her shoes back on, and follows Jemma back out to the car.
“So, you’re dragging James into your vigilante quest. Is he your sidekick now? Quake and the Amazing Bomb Boy?” Jemma snarks as they wait for James on the second floor of the public storage place. Gone is the happy energy from earlier. It dissipated sometime during their car ride here. Jemma is pacing and Daisy is leaning up against the wall next to the storage pod James mentioned.
“How about you go wait in the van?”
“We’re supposed to be helping him.”
“I am helping him,” Daisy says.
“You’ve chosen to walk your brooding path. Fine. Don’t drag him down with you.”
“I never tire of hearing two women fight over me,” James says from the end of the hallway, announcing his presence. Both women roll their eyes.
“What do you have for me? We should be on the move.”
“Oh! Well, that’s a nice how-do-you-do. You’re gonna like this. We keep a lot of our raw materials here in storage. Figure some explosives might come in handy.”
“It’s a start. I could use a different type of firepower right now.”
“I’ve got you covered. Remember, I was lighting fuses long before I was the fuse.”
“Maybe doing some good will help you feel better,” Daisy offers.
“I think it might. Yeah,” James says with a smile, and then he unlocks the door.
“This is your plan? Explosives?” Jemma reprimands her angrily. “What is wrong with you? This is not the solution to anything.”
“The Watchdogs are killing people. Violence, retaliation…This is all they understand.” Jemma sighs at her. “If I have to speak their language, then so be it.”
“Hey,” James cuts in. “Just take it easy on her. She doesn’t know what it’s like, to change, to lose everything.”
“I know,” Daisy says under her breath. “That’s the point.”
Then the door opens, and the Watchdogs are surrounding them on all sides. Now Daisy really wishes Jemma went back to the van.
“Fight back, right?” James taunts. “Only thing is, the Watchdogs aren’t my enemy.”
“You gave them access to your watch, let them hijack the signal,” Jemma says.
“You son of a bitch. How could you do this to us?” Daisy cries.
“How could you do this to me ? You’re the one that turned me into this freak of nature.”
“You were obsessed with going through Terrigenesis! I gave you what you wanted!” Daisy yelled, stepping forward.
“I didn’t ask for this. Hive? And bloody misery? If I could take it all back, I would.”
“S.H.I.E.L.D. is putting everything into helping Inhumans,” Jemma supplies.
“Inhumans are a scourge. The Watchdogs have the right idea, so I struck a deal with them. Help them hunt down and kill every Inhuman.”
A Watchdog grabs Daisy by her left shoulder and forces her down. Daisy cries out in pain.
“Hey!” Jemma says, rushing over.
“Hunted like the animals that we are,” James continues. He kneels down to Daisy’s level. “And I’m gonna be the last one to go.”
“You really hate yourself that much?”
“I don’t hate myself. I hate all of us.”
James stands back up, goes to stand next to the Watchdogs.
Daisy turns to Jemma and says, “I told you to go wait in the van.”
With a nod, Jemma ducks, and Daisy sends a quake to the Watchdogs. She cries out in pain. Jemma helps Daisy up, shooting her ICER at the Watchdogs who made it back up and started pursuing them. They find an open storage pod and hide in it, slamming the door down.
Now under the cover of shelter, at least temporarily, Daisy takes a moment to lean against the wall, grimacing in pain.
“Are you alright?” Jemma asks, hastily coming over to help. She lays a hand on Daisy’s arm. It sends a jolt through Daisy that doesn’t have anything to do with pain.
“I’ve been better,” Daisy pants. “Thanks for the assist.”
“Likewise,” Jemma whispers back. “Though another move like that and you’re likely to break every bone in your arms.”
“Yeah, I might’ve done that already. How many shots do you have left?”
Jemma checks her magazine and says, “Not enough.”
Just as she puts it back in the ICER, an explosion sounds from outside their pod. Jemma steps back, closer to Daisy, and raises her ICER.
“It’s a perfect night for a little mayhem,” James’s voice echoes throughout the facility. “Wouldn’t you say, Quake?”
Another explosion rings out.
“We have to get out of here,” Daisy breathes.
“You know, killing you might not bring me peace, but it sure as hell will feel good.”
With that, the door is blasted away, and Jemma and Daisy both fall to the ground. Daisy lands on her injured arm and groans.
James steps into their pod, standing over them, and grabs a chain. He lights the chain on fire and says, “I’m on fire. Well, a little more than usual.”
He whips the chain back, and Daisy and Jemma cover their faces. Just when the chain is about to come forward, though, it’s abruptly stopped and yanked away from James.
“I don’t know who the hell you think you are, but you just made a big mistake.”
“Funny,” Robbie Reyes’s voice says from outside the pod. “I was gonna say the same thing, without the accent.”
“Robbie?” Daisy asks, shocked, standing up. She can feel the confusion radiating off Jemma.
“Take the stairs, find Agent Coulson,” Robbie instructs them.
“Coulson?” Now Daisy is even more confused. And relieved. Very relieved.
“Go.”
With one last look at Jemma, who is picking up her ICER from where she dropped it after the blast, they run out.
Jemma makes it to the lobby first.
“Oh, Coulson,” she says, putting down her gun. Daisy pauses.
“Simmons,” she hears Coulson say. She takes a breath.
“Just in time.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” Mack’s voice asks.
“We came to find James. We thought he may be targeted by the Watchdogs, but—”
“‘We’?” Coulson interrupts, and Daisy figures it’s time to make her entrance.
She opens the door and enters the room, still panting, and sees the shock on Coulson and Mack’s faces.
“That’s exactly why we’re here,” Mack says after a moment. Daisy looks over at Coulson, who is still watching her, a surprised look on his face. “His GPS signal went out, so we came to his last recorded location and found it overrun with these guys.”
Daisy looks back over at Coulson, who looks down. They hear Watchdogs yelling, and Coulson moves to a door. He breaks the end off the Watchdog’s rifle and hits him in the face with it. The Watchdog goes down.
“James turned on us,” Jemma says. “He’s working with the Watchdogs.”
“Then it’s a good thing we brought Robbie Reyes. Fight fire with fire. That’s a saying, isn’t it?” Coulson says, and Daisy can’t help but smile a little. She’s missed him and his dad jokes.
There’s a commotion, and they all rush over to peer into the warehouse.
“Did two fire dudes just drop into a warehouse full of fireworks?” Mack asks.
“You had to see that coming,” Coulson retorts. “Let’s go! Go, go go, go, go!”
They all run out of the building and clear the explosion. Daisy has to admit, a firework store exploding is very pretty. And very loud. She resists the urge to reach out and grab Jemma’s hand.
Robbie comes through the wreckage, pulling an unconscious James along on a chain.
“You said alive, right?” he asks and then drops down to roughly take the chain off of James. He throws the chain over his shoulder and stalks off. Jemma rushes and takes James’s pulse, with a nod of confirmation that he’s still alive.
They all start walking back to the Zephyr, Mack throwing James over his shoulder. This time, Daisy doesn’t resist the urge to reach out for Jemma’s hand. She does, and Jemma laces their fingers together. Daisy smiles to herself, moving closer to Jemma.
When they make it to the Zephyr, Jemma quickly rushes her to Medical and properly treats her arm and bullet wound. Her arm is put into a black plaster cast. She absentmindedly wonders if she should get a metallic Sharpie and get Jemma to sign it.
When she’s done, Mack comes in and tells them that Coulson wants to speak to Daisy and Robbie in the cargo-hold. Robbie is already there.
Jemma insists on walking Daisy there. Daisy protests minimally, mostly just for show, and then gives in. Jemma grins and then wraps an arm around Daisy’s waist. Daisy doesn’t mention that it’s really only her upper body that’s injured, and she can walk perfectly fine. She leans into Jemma’s touch.
When they get there, Jemma helps Daisy into a seat and continues doting on her.
“Thank you, Jemma. I appreciate the help, really, but I’m fine,” she says, looking up at Jemma.
Jemma pauses and looks back at her. Then she smiles, says, “Okay,” removes her hands from Daisy, and walks out. Daisy watches her leave.
She turns back to find Robbie staring at her with what Daisy can only describe as a knowing look.
“What?” she says, and it comes out as a half-snap.
“What’s the deal there?” he asks, nodding his head to where Jemma just left the room.
“What are you talking about?” Daisy scoffs. Robbie raises an eyebrow, as if saying, Really? “We’ve been friends for years.”
“Don’t bullshit me.”
Daisy rolls her eyes and says, “There’s nothing going on, if that’s what you’re asking. She’s always been with Fitz, even when she wasn’t.”
“But you’re in love with her.”
Daisy purses her lips and looks down.
“Yeah, I am,” she admits eventually, looking away. She can feel Robbie’s eyes burning into the back of her head. She ultimately looks back and almost rolls her eyes again. “It’s fine. I’ve learned to live with it. Really, please stop…pitying me, or whatever.”
Coulson walks in then, but all he does look at her once and then press a few things on his tablet. Daisy feels like she’s a child waiting to be punished by her parents.
“Thank you for saving Simmons and I back there,” she eventually says.
Coulson looks at her. “You’re welcome,” he says shortly, then turns back to his tablet.
“Are you…gonna say anything else?” She knows she’s being petulant now, but she can’t help it. She hasn’t seen Coulson in months and the only thing he can say to her is a “You’re welcome”?
She knows she deserves it, though, no matter how hard it is.
“Nothing else to say,” Coulson replies. “I’m just glad you’re safe.” Daisy looks down.
“The Watchdogs are—”
“The Watchdogs took a hit. They continue to be a threat, but we have to put them on the backburner for now.”
“They’re not gonna stop just because we—”
“We have a more pressing threat on our hands.”
“Sorry, but for me, nothing is more pressing than—”
“Look, I know you two like to work alone,” Coulson snaps, acknowledging Robbie for the first time since he came into the room, “settling scores that are personal to you, but that’s not how we work here at S.H.I.E.L.D. We work together to keep everyone safe.”
Coulson tells them about the Darkhold, then, and about its connection to Lucy Bauer and Robbie.
When they’re done, Daisy escapes without looking at anyone to find Jemma.
She finds her in the lab, typing. Daisy comes to stand next to her, looking over her shoulder at the computer screen. After a few minutes of silence except for the clacking of keys, she closes it and puts it in her bag.
“I’m about to have to leave on the Quinjet. May has been at Radcliffe’s with him and Fitz. We’re going to go pick them up,” Jemma explains. Daisy looks away at the mention of Fitz but quickly recovers.
“Why is May at Radcliffe’s?”
“Well, the thing is,” Jemma starts, and Daisy raises her eyebrow at the tone. This sounds like it’s going to be an interesting story. “May was touched by a ghost which sent her into a state of extreme fight or flight and we had to kill her for seven minutes to reset her brain. Radcliffe has been keeping her there to run tests to find a less deadly cure for the ghost victims.”
Daisy raises both eyebrows this time. “Wow, okay, not for a second did I ever know where that was going.”
“Yeah, well, we figured we’d better go and get her soon if we don’t want to get there and find Radcliffe dead on the floor.”
“Hmm, somehow, I’m not completely opposed to that option, either.”
Jemma chuckles. “Me neither, but his expertise is useful, when he’s not a complete pain in the arse. And Fitz likes him, so.”
“Agent Simmons,” Coulson says from the doorway, nodding his head in the direction of the quinjet. Jemma nods back and he leaves.
“Well, I best be off, then,” she says, starting to head for the door. Daisy nods, but then quickly grabs her arm.
“Stay safe, okay?” she requests, and the look on Jemma’s face is so soft that she almost melts.
“I will. It’s only Radcliffe’s. You take care of yourself, though. Rest. You need it,” she says. Then she swiftly kisses Daisy on the cheeks, and leaves her a blushing mess in the lab.
Robbie comes to lean against the doorway with a raised eyebrow then, clearly having witnessed that entire interaction. Daisy sends him a glare.