Chapter 1
“May I couldn’t”
“And why would that be?”
“Well, because” Daisy came up empty handed. She had already turned Jemma down. Even if the scientist was more emotional about the decision, she wasn’t as stubborn or authoritative as Daisy’s former supervising officer. Daisy was able to turn her down gently with a promise to stay with Jemma and meet her family as soon as they caught another break. This time Jemma should enjoy spending time with them. Jemma was also much easier to convince of Daisy's made up home situation. In reality Daisy had no idea where she would be spending the mandatory break Coulson had enforced on the whole team. Daisy hadn’t thought about where her van had been taken until then and it had most likely been destroyed with the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. The young agent had thought she would figure something out.
It seemed however as she wouldn’t be allowed to. Daisy realized she had never elaborated and May was watching her with a tiny smirk knowing she had won from the start.
“May” She willed the woman to understand. Still, Daisy wasn’t even sure of what.
“That is my name,” Melinda retorted. “You’re coming to stay with me, no discussion. I’m not having you homeless or trying to find a place to live on your 'never happening again' break when I have a perfect guest room empty so go pack your things and meet me by the SUV” Melinda dismissed her former mentee and turned around. As she walked away, the lack of sound had her smiling as she pictured the girl dumbfounded in her place until she heard the scrambling steps behind her hurrying further away.
When Melinda was ready to leave the base and made her way to the car, she noticed her agent already there waiting for her. “Where are your things?” Melinda questioned, confused as to why the girl was standing in front of her with only a very small backpack in her hand
“Right here” Daisy said and pointed to the backpack.
“Daisy that thing wouldn’t fit more than some toiletries and barely one change of clothes” Melinda told her until she suspected that was exactly what Daisy owned.
“What more do I need?” Daisy confirmed her suspicions.
“I’m taking you shopping later” Melinda informed her and shot her a look when Daisy was about to object to the statement.
Settling in the car, Daisy leaned her head against the window and relaxed the rest of the drive to the house. Sleeping wasn’t her thing. Most people around her were aware of this. Sleeping meant nightmares and nightmares were not pleasant. Instead Daisy consumed ridiculous amounts of coffee and took what the team referred to as cat naps. The young agent would often take up peculiar spaces on the base, most of them very small, and settle down for at most a couple of hours when her body was about to shut down on her before moving on. May had once found her squeezed inside a cupboard and another time in the server’s room. The places didn’t prevent her nightmares but by not settling in her bed, it somehow tricked her brain to fall asleep despite them. Waking up was horrifying and Daisy wished she could live without ever sleeping.
Settled in the passenger seat next to May, a sense of safety surrounded her and Daisy’s need to sleep had her forgetting that she would certainly be awoken by one of her nightmares in front of the woman. When Melinda noticed the girl dozing off next to her, they were minutes away from the house, so she took a detour to let the girl sleep.
Around half an hour later, May heard whimpers next to her. Daisy was moving in her seat, her eyebrows scrunched together in discomfort.
“Dais” Melinda called out softly to bring the girl out of her sleep. “Daisy hun, wake up. It’s just a nightmare, wake up for me” May tried again, louder. Still not receiving a response, May let go of one hand on the steering wheel and placed it on the younger girl's arm. The touch proved more efficient as Daisy jerked up in her seat and her eyes flung open searching for something familiar to orient herself. “Dais you’re okay. We’re in the car on our way home”
Home. The word was warm in the voice it was spoken, but it had no familiarity to Daisy. No place Daisy had ever been to came to mind at the word. The owner of the voice however felt familiar. Comforting. Maybe that’s how home was supposed to feel. Daisy didn’t feel like thinking deeper about it. She focused back on the voice and tried to decipher who it belonged to.
“Dais, you awake?'' Melinda asked when the girl stopped moving in her seat but kept her eyes closed. She suspected she was in a state of half sleep but was relieved the nightmare was over. If Daisy wanted to fall back asleep May would let her. Lord knew the girl desperately needed it. But now that Daisy was awake after the most sleep she had gotten in months, her body grew accustomed to her irregular sleep and felt alert.
“Yeah” she answered, rubbing her eyes with her fists. When she looked out the window it was dark already. They hadn’t left the base that late. “How long have we been driving for?” She asked the driver, who had gone back to watching the road.
“A while, we’re almost there” She informed her.