Decisions

The Zephyr had a myriad of features that served the team well during their missions.  Precise and innovative weapons.  State-of-the-art cloaking.  Simmons even installed wirework to allow the ship to go underwater.  In Daisy’s opinion, though, the most useful feature was the kitchen’s cappuccino machine.    Caffeination was important, particularly when there was a long day of tracking Chromicons ahead.  

Daisy pressed the machine’s buttons on autopilot, afterwards bracing her hands on the counter and closing her eyes as the machine whirred to life.  She felt pretty much back to normal after the hyperbaric chamber, but there was an emptiness that she couldn’t shake.  She knew now how Jiaying must have felt after Whitehall experimented on her.  How it left a mark that no amount of blood transfusions or hyperbaric chambers could erase.

“Agent Johnson, hi.”

There was only one person on the Zephyr who called her that, and she smiled slightly before looking over at Daniel and saying, “You know, you can call me Daisy.  We did almost die together.”

“Yeah, I guess we did.  Well, I’m glad to see you’re feeling better -” he paused and added, “-Daisy.”

“There you go.  That wasn’t too bad, was it?”

“No, not bad at all.”

“And, thank you,” Daisy added.  “I was definitely in good hands.”

“Agent Simmons is pretty remarkable,” Daniel said.  “Is there anything she can’t do?”

“Probably not.  But, I didn’t just mean her.  I haven’t had a chance to thank you for before. I wouldn’t have made it out of that barn if it wasn’t for you.”

“It was a team effort,” he said in return.  “I couldn’t have gotten us out if you didn’t sneak out that shard of glass in your palm.”

“Dude, take the compliment,” she said with a goading smile.  

Daniel laughed and said, “Okay, okay, well, you’re very welcome.”

He still looked uncomfortable with the compliment, so she didn’t mention how he had kept her company during the hyperbaric chamber.  Not that she had any actual memory of it.  She had still been unconscious, but Simmons told her, slipping it in as an aside when she told her that Daniel stayed with them for the time jump.

The cappuccino machine beeped and Daisy removed her mug, the rich scent of freshly brewed espresso meeting her nose.  

“Any chance that makes regular coffee?”  Daniel asked.  

Daisy smirked.  “Regular coffee?”

He gestured toward her cup and said, “I still can’t get used to that fancy stuff.”

“Well, lucky for you, Daniel, this machine does it all.”  She opened up the cabinet and pulled out the K-cups.  She began to ask if he wanted something flavored, but after the look on his face when she proposed hazelnut, she said, “Okay, donut shoppe blend it is.”

“Sounds good to me.”

As the coffee brewed, she turned to face him and casually leaned back against the counter.  "So, you decided to stay for the jump.”

Daniel nodded.  “Yeah, I decided to stay for the jump.”

“You must like us,” Daisy said, missing his reaction as she turned around and grabbed his mug of coffee.  As she handed it over, he said, “I’m also supposed to be dead.”

“That is a very fair point.”

“But, I’m happy to be here,” Daniel said.

Their eyes met, and Daisy felt a strange, but familiar, pull at the base of her stomach.  Oddly, she found herself at a loss of words and covered it by clinking her mug against his.  The noise broke the moment, but her eyes still followed his mouth as he took a sip of coffee.  He nodded appreciatively and said, “Not bad.”

He took another sip, his tongue darting out to catch a bit of coffee at the edge of his mouth after, and Daisy quickly said, “Alright, I should see if May needs me.”

As she walked away, she heard him say, “Okay.  I’ll see you later, Daisy.”

When she took a sip of her cappuccino, it burned her mouth, but she didn’t notice.