Chapter 1
“Well… This is it…” Scott said as he and Daisy stood on the top step. “Our house…”
“Yeah… our… house…” Daisy said, with a slight tremble in her voice. Scott had long figured where this was coming from. Every time Daisy had found some joy in life, it got taken away. This day, this place, it represented something she thought she’d never have.
It was a nice sized, two story home in the Forest Hills Gardens section of the Queens. Just the right size for their growing family.
They had been called to a nearby Inhuman activation a few weeks prior, passed the house with a “For Sale” sign outside, and immediately agreed that it was perfect.
It had a yard and a garage and was a relatively short drive for Scott to the hanger at Kennedy Airport where Zephyr Zero was now being stored, and a few blocks walk to ether the Long Island Rail Road or the E subway to get Daisy into Manhattan to the field office off Times Square.
It was also a rather expensive piece of property, the area being one of the few private areas of New York City. One of those places where the co-operative organization owns even the streets. It had been paid for with what was left over from Daisy selling the building in Milwaukee her dad owned, with the balance a blank check from Scott’s maternal grandfather, given to the two as a wedding gift behind his Grandmother’s back.
“something the matter?” he asked her as he saw her lips quiver.
“You know, it’s like… this is the first real, like, home I’ve ever had.” She said, “A place to call my own.”
She looked up at him “Well, our own. That place in DC I had… the apartment in Brooklyn, those didn’t feel much better than my room back at the Playground… This is a house. A house. Our House… We own a house. I never thought I’d get to this point…”
“Don’t worry about it, I understand.” Scott said as he unlocked the door and pushed it open. “How about we start this on the right foot?”
“the right… Whoa!” She yelled as he picked her up and carried her inside.
“Was this really necessary?” she asked as he stood in the entranceway.
“What… I indulge you all the time.”
“That… doesn’t… OK fine…” She admitted.
A few more moments passed before she finally asked, “So… Um… Can you put me down now?”
He let her back down and the two stood in the hall, holding hands. “Besides, I think you like it…” She said, poking him in the nose.
He rolled his eyes slightly at the suggestion.
“I still can’t believe it.” She said, running her hand up the staircase banister “after everything we’ve been through. Never thought I’d get to see the day I’d have an actual home. A place without an engine or blast doors. Windows that looked out to a real street with real trees. Not holograms on a wall.”
“No explosions, no guns, no homicidal AIs.” He said, looking down at Tallus “Only noise around here will be the pitter patter of teeny, tiny little feet.”
“Little feet…” she repeated in agreement “wait…Little feet?”
The two looked at each other.
“We left Toni in the car!” They said simultaneously, before running back to out to get their baby daughter.
Most of their stuff had already been brought in by Scott and a few of the others, but this was Daisy’s first time in there since they’d closed on it two weeks prior. The pair had placed Toni in her crib for a nap and were starting to unpack the last few things they’d brought when the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” Daisy yelled up to Scott who’d taken a box up to their new bedroom.
“WOOOO! Party time!” Barry yelled as she and Iris entered, both carrying beer and snacks.
“Scott…” Daisy said, looking at him, still at the top of the stairs, with her hands on her hips. “A housewarming party? Seriously?”
“The others insisted.” He said with a shrug. “what was I supposed to do? Say no?”
“Since when do you bow to peer pressure.” She asked as he came down
“When you try getting someone to help you get a couch moved in these days…”
“YOU HAVE TELEKENISIS!” She hissed.
“Yes, but that only works when I’m here, now doesn’t it.” He said, “It was delivered while I was off on my last recovery mission.”
There was a knock on the door behind them.
“Sorry, door was open, figured I’d let myself in.” Coulson said, holding a bottle of champagne.
“Didn’t fathom you for the type.” Daisy said, as she accepted the gift. “First time at a wild party?” she asked, looking at Barry, who already had to be yanked off the coffee tabled by Iris.
“Well, considering I’m on my third chance, I’ve learned to live a little.” He said with a smile as Skye and Jas arrived with the twins in tow.
“Just… a word of caution.” Daisy whispered to him “You might want to keep an eye on Agent Allen over there, she’s kinda been reveling in the ability to get drunk again.”
The party didn’t get too crowded. Fitz and Jemma arrived about half an hour after the others and Mack and Yo-Yo about an hour after that, but the pair didn’t stay late.
Daisy was in the room Scott had set up as an entertainment room, having just finished showing Coulson the video of her and Scott’s wedding.
“Yeah, that last part always makes me cry two.” Daisy admitted as she put the DVD back in its case, seeing the tears in his eyes.
“Where’d that song come from; it was perfect…” He asked.
“Would you believe Disney World…” She said with a laugh. “Scott and I did the Epcot Crawl and got pretty wasted. We danced to that drunk as all hell and ended up tripping over each other and landing face first in a bush. I was pulling mulch of my hair the next morning…”
“I feel like I missed so much.” Coulson said. “You’re almost like a different person. You’ve grown so much. God, I still remember the day we found you and now look at you.”
Daisy sat next to him.
“You have no idea how proud I am of the woman you’ve grown into.” He told her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
“I still wouldn’t have gotten here without you.” Daisy replied with a smile
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” He added.
“It’s okay… I” Daisy began to say before Coulson interrupted her.
“I know what you were going through. The others told me. I’m sorry I put you on the spot like that, if you weren’t ready for it. I didn’t realize what it would do to you…”
“Strange as it seems, I’m okay with it now.” She said before her phone beeped “oh, would you look at the time, I’ll be back in a second.”
Daisy left the room, only to return with a bottle in one hand and baby Toni in the other.
She sat down next to him again and started to feed her child.
“Tell me the truth, Phil, you ever think you’d see me sitting here like this? A Mom?”
“Gotta say. No, not really.” Coulson said, smiling at the sight anyway.
“Barry, you’re bigger than me, I can’t hold you!” they heard Iris yell before hearing a loud thud and crash.
“I think you two need to get to know each other.” Daisy said, as she passed Toni to him and got up. “BARRY, You better not have dented anything!”